Guy Neill

George - Thanks for the kind words. I also appreciate the link to Sinclair. It's been a while since I visited their website or seen a catalog. It's always interesting to look over the items for super precise loading. Take care. Guy

As George said, the headspace for a rimless cartridge is measured at the midpoint (or close) of the shoulder to the base of the case. The Precision Mic has a "body" piece the case slips into. A "thimble" then screws onto the body and has a hole at the nominal diameter to contact the shoulder at the appropriate spot. When the thimble stops, you can get a relative reading from zero headspace. As you adjust the sizing die you can repeat checking the case against the initial fired case reading to get the amount the shoulder is moved back. Other tools, such as from Sinclair, will do the same. Stoney Point may have such a tool, but I have not used theirs and thought the Chamber-All tool only looked at the bullet with respect to the lands. Guy

RCBS makes a tool called the Precision Mic. It allows getting a reading from a fired case, then you can adjust the sizing die watching the amount the shoulder is set back. It will also allow looking at the contact point for the lands and setting the bullet seating to a distance off the lands. Guy

Excessive headspace for a rimless cartridge would be when the shoulder of the cartrdige is too far back with respect to the shoulder in the chamber. Reloading dies will push the shoulder back to a minimum spec, and if your chamber is at maximum, the mismatch could cause problems. You do want to move the shoulder of the case back a bit to facilitate ease of chambering. Ideal is to only set it back about 0.005". The lands are the rifling. If the bullet is contacting, it will raise pressures. Chamber one of your loads, extract it an look for marks on the bullet. You might blacken the bullet first with a Marks-a-lot or smoke it. Guy

It would generally be considered a sign of excessive pressure. The cause may not be excessive powder. but that must certainly be considered. Other factors may include the bullet contacting the lands, a tight neck or excessive headspace. Guy

Over the years, most seem to have had more enjoyment with shorter ranges. One of the things I have seen is the ranges decrease over the years so that long range is seldom seen these days. Not that I do well at long range, but some long range should be included for all around skill. Just like standards, the shooter needs to be able to handle the task. We'll see what happens in January. Guy

There is so much I wanted to say about Senior in that first post, but so little means to adequately express the man he was. Those that knew him, I feel will understand that staement. Those that did not know him, words fail to do him justice. I'm proud to have known him, and wish I had been able to spend more time with him. Guy

John Nowlin Sr passed away 12-17-02. John's knowledge of the 1911 was encyclopedic, particularly with respect to the dimesions and the interaction of the parts. He will be missed.

The reason for the small primers in the Federal NT 45's is the priming compound. The lead free compounds are much more brisant than lead based compounds. This leads to a probelm with peening the breech face in some guns with continued use. CCI-Speer and Winchester addressed this by enlarging the flash hole to reduce the back thrust from the primer. Federal chose to go with the small diameter primer to reduce the area (and, thereby, the force of the breechface) and they also crimp it in to further prevent the primer from moving back against the breech. From their viewpoint it is a practical solution, but shows that reloading the cases was not a priority consideration. Guy

Congratulations! Making GM is a great accomplishment. Guy

Cooper listed the Advanced Military in his 1974 "Red Book" "Cooper on Handguns" from the publishers of "Guns & Ammo". I believe it actually dates back to the early years of the Southwest Pistol League, so it could go back to the 1960's. We commonly and used the League target all the way through. The Mexican Defense was a course that required a lot of concentration to get the footwork right while shooting. We sometimes joked it was more of a Mexican hat dance than anything else. A lot of the old courses were very good at developing basic skills. A lot of courses today don't combine the same basics, such as long range shooting, but the skill levels, generally, have steadily risen. In the last couple of years we are seeing a new emphasis on "standards" that was missing for many years. Guy

I always liked the Advanced Military. Not that I did that well at it, but I liked it as a course showing general skill. I also liked the Triathlon for the variety it offered. The Cooper Assault claimed more knees after lowering the barricade height than with the older higher barricade. People simply tried to take it too fast, still turning as they landed. The higher barricade had them drop to the ground first, then proceed. In all, there are a lot of good courses, and, perhaps, even more that were not so good. Still, they have all challenged us as shooters, which was the point. Guy

Sorry, no link. I was stating what I heard from the J-P people at the Factory Gun Nationals. It is likely new enough that it is not yet on the website. Best would be to call them and get the straight info. Guy

Check with J-P Ent. They have something in the works that should do the job - the J-point, as I recall. Guy

I believe Marvel is at; http://www.marvelprecision.com Guy