Resjudicata

Very cool looking. It's nice to see something different. Are there lightening holes in the front and side of the slide in the photo? Chris

I mainly shoot limited with a modified 2011. However, I also shoot revolver occasionally. For me, shooting the revo helps jump start my brain and makes me work on trigger control which starts to degrade after a while when shooting the 1911 based guns. This is just for me. But, I think it's fine to shoot other things occasionally for fun and it may even serve a purpose if you look at it as a learning experience. (Which everything is). Chris

Me too. I also can't wait for warmer weather so I can get some outdoor practice in as well. Chris

Yeah, I think so. I'm going to give it one more year to see if I improve any farther. If not, time for the dark side. Be watching for you in January. Chris

Looks good, John. It's going to be good to see everyone again next year. Be sure to practice this winter. Don't let the cold keep you from it. I think I've had a few things done by Warren as well. A couple things that I'm not allowed to talk about. He's the man. One of a very small list of people that I'd trust with one of my guns. Chris

I think it says something that NBC is backing a shooting show. Maybe our sports have a chance to become more conventional and more widely accepted. That's a great thing. I hope this show goes through the roof on ratings. I'll be watching it. Chris

John was a fantastic person to be around as well as to shoot with. Our local shooting community and the sport nationally has lost great guy. He will be deeply missed. Chris

If I'm understanding correctly, the question is whether the Aristocrat can be installed on a slide that was already cut for a Bomar type sight. I checked into that when I had my mover front sight installed and I believe it was possible but there will be some left over cuts from the Bomar. You could have the Bomar dovetail welded up first before cutting for the Aristocrat. Or, just start with a new slide. Or, do what I did and install a longer barrel with a barrel attachment threaded on that accepts the mover sight at a low enough position to match up with the Bomar rear. It works great and looks good, too. Chris Or purchase an STI Target Master top end & fit to your pistol. Yep, that too. Chris

If I'm understanding correctly, the question is whether the Aristocrat can be installed on a slide that was already cut for a Bomar type sight. I checked into that when I had my mover front sight installed and I believe it was possible but there will be some left over cuts from the Bomar. You could have the Bomar dovetail welded up first before cutting for the Aristocrat. Or, just start with a new slide. Or, do what I did and install a longer barrel with a barrel attachment threaded on that accepts the mover sight at a low enough position to match up with the Bomar rear. It works great and looks good, too. Chris

+1 This is a show about the people that happens to exist in a world with zombies. Not necessarily a zombie movie. Also, I expect that there are still things that will occur that will not be what we all expect in a typical series. Maybe. Chris

Congrats to Dustin. Like everyone is saying, he earned that win. Mike, good job getting to the final run. Tough luck on the Benelli. Also, Mike, I'm PM'ing you. That video they showed of you shooting the end of a USPSA stage is from Double Tap. I remember you promising me to send me the copy of me on that stage. I'm going to haunt you until you find it. Chris

I watched all of the first season when it was one last year. I agree that they aren't thinking some of the survival things through properly. There may not have been much ammo lying around with all those M4's and that's why their former owners aren't around anymore either. Just a guess. Still, it seems that they aren't looking for ammo in general like I would expect. Also, the characters keep doing dumb things like in all horror movies that put them into bad situations that they could have avoided. Like just running off? This show unlike a normal horror movie seems to be more about the interactions and issues of the characters in a dangerous environment rather than just zombie hunting like many of the zombie movies have been. The good and evil in each of the characters is coming out slowly but surely. Chris

I have one box of the new style zeros that I need to try. Are you still running the same 1.130" OAL with the new style? Chris

This is the first 25 yard group I shot today while out trying a couple different loads. This is 4.7 grains of Titegroup with a 115 grain Zero JHP set at 1.130" OAL. It's the tightest. I had a couple groups of each load that opened up but that was me losing concentration. 4.4 grains of Titegroup was very close to the same. I'm going to shoot some more of the 4.4 loads to make sure it will keep a good group. I think the only problem at this point is me. If I allow anything short of absolute concentration on a perfectly clear focus on the front sight my groups open tremendously. Even then I don't have the best accuracy with iron sights. But, I think the work on the chamber did help. Chris

I haven't done the testing either. What I would expect to be the case is the same with a 1911. A barrel that is gun smith fit (properly) will make a difference regardless of the brand (factory/aftermarket). Assuming no odd issues like damaged rifling, etc. I think also that slide to frame fit on a striker fired gun is a bigger issue than it is in a hammer fired gun. The trigger system interacts with and may change the condition of the slide to frame fit when the gun is fired in a loose fitting gun. I wonder what Springfield does to TGO's XD to get it ready for Bianchi Cup shooting. I would expect that the slide to frame fit is taken to an almost zero movement fit and the factory barrel is welded and recut to an almost zero movement fit. (Besides the obvious trigger job). FYI, my understanding is that the guy who finished behind TGO in Production Division at the Cup this year used a factory Glock. It must have still been pretty accurate. Of course, that could be a one in a thousand gun, too. Just my opinion. Chris

Is the series 80 slide the one with the firing pin block? If so, you will need to match it to a series 80 frame and parts or when you pull the trigger the firing pin won't go forward to ignite the primer. Assuming I'm right about the firing pin block on the series 80. Chris

It looks like the gun is grouping better after reaming the chamber to proper specs. Now I will try some of the lighter loads this weekend to see if I can drop my load back down to where it was with the 5" barrel. I'm going to try 4.1 gr of Titegroup like Grant's loads as well as my old load of 4.4 gr of Titegroup. Chris

That's good to know. I'll shoot for a 0.0" hood clearance on my next barrel. Now, I just need to see whether that new barrel will be sooner rather than later. Chris

I use Gorilla tape. It's duct tape that's made strong enough for a Gorilla. And, it comes in tacti-cool black. Chris

That's what you get for cheating and using a scope. I have my sights duct taped onto the slide. So, they are definitely not loose. Chris

The slide stop has good even marks and the feet ride the slide stop fully during lockup. I've seen where the link has been misused to push the barrel up as well. I make sure when fitting the feet and selecting the link that this doesn't happen. I've also read a lot about barrel "springing"(?) or "barrel torquing". I checked that when fitting as well. I'm going to take it out and shoot Wednesday night. I'm in hope that the short chamber was just a little too short and the case head dragged on the breach face a little too much to be overcome by the light recoil spring causing slightly different lockup position depending on the length of the brass. We'll see. What do you think about hood clearance? 0.000", 0.001", 0.002"? I would assume that as long as the cartridge case isn't bound between the breach and the chamber that a small hood clearance shouldn't have a drastically negative effect. Thanks for the suggestions. Please keep them coming. I'm willing to check anything.

I think that may be your problem... Everything I read from accuracy focused smiths says that breechface to hood should be .000" Kevin probably runs his a little tighter than that! Wow, and the guns with zero hood clearance run? I'm surprised. Seems like the hood would bind on the breach face. I've seen that on several guns. Especially on open guns running light recoil springs. Chris ETA: Just out of curiosity I check it again. I noticed that if I pushed on the slide the .002" feeler gauge would stick and not pull out cleanly. I wonder if it's possible that with my short chamber some rounds may have held the slide back a thousandths or so? If so I would expect that to change the barrel angle and have a negative effect on accuracy?

Grant, The crown has been cut twice by our friend here locally. It looks good. I took the gun out for some 25yd indoor time with the multiple different loads. Nothing grouped any better than my current 115 gr load using Titegroup. The different bullet weights and charge amounts ended up with almost identical group size. (BTW, the 4.0 Titegroup with 125gr JHP as well as the 3.5 Titegroup with 158gr JHP felt very soft and nice. Those may get further checked). After this I borrowed a chamber finish reamer and Go/No Go gauges from Jeremy. The Go gauge would not go. So, I used the reamer and took the chamber from .7475" to .750" as measured from the hood. That along with the hood to breach face measurement of .003" brings the chamber depth to .753", just .001" less than SAAMI spec. The Go gauge will just close and the No Go will not even come close. So, I believe the chamber is where it should be now. Now I will try my 115gr loads with 4.4 and 4.7 of Titegroup and see how they do. I'll check these at 1.090" out to 1.69" to see if the length has any effect. I'll start with my existing 115gr loads as a known quantity first to see if just the chamber depth will make any difference. Then check the different grain weights and lengths. Chris ETA: I need to find a way to take my reloader to the range with me so I can run a batch of loads and test, then run some more.

Okay, I've been fiddling with the barrels. I checked and rechecked the chamber depth of both the 5" barrel and the 6" barrel as well as measure my Starline brass. The 5" barrel chamber measured from the hood is .749" and the 6" barrel is .7475". My starline brass fluctuates a bit around .748". So, I'm thinking that the slightly shorter chamber of the 6" barrel may be an issue since it can be a bit shorter than the brass? If so, I just need to find someone local who has a 9mm chamber reamer and deepen it very slightly. What depth should I be looking for? Thanks for all the help and suggestions. Chris ETA: I found the SAAMI spec for the depth from the breach face as .754". My breach face to hood spacing is .003" using a feeler gauge. So, that would make me think the chamber depth from the hood should be .751". Right? Or, should I go just a bit shorter and try it?

My gunsmith is a bastard and I stopped talking to him a long time ago. But, since you bring it up that is something that should be mentioned. The barrel fit is good in the areas of hood, lower and upper lugs as well as at the muzzle. The 6" barrel has a cone style comp blank fitted to it so that it runs in a 5" slide. The 6" barrel fits just the same as the 5" did when I changed it out. Both barrels were fit by me. Chris