Suburban Commando

Recently loading some 9mm 124gr XTreme plated bullets, I had a bullet push right into a Speer case. Then I tried testing some more loaded rounds against the bench with thumb pressure - most rounds in Speer unplated brass set back, but everything else was okay (Remington, PMC, Starline, G.F.I., Blazer, and one oddball Midway case). Resizing die is Lee that done over 30,000 rounds. i don't load Federal or Speer brass very often, and generally don't like plated bullets, but I want to use these up. Had trouble with horrible accuracy with these bullets before in Federal brass, and now wonder if I just found the cause. About 1 out of 4 rounds would go several inches to the right from Glock or Rock Island barrels, but were oddly accurate from KKM, RRA 9mm AR, or CZ barrels.

Although square corners can be cut with a rotary broach, I have to imagine that this is prohibitively expensive. The company that sells them doesn't have prices listed. I'm batting around a few ideas. I might need to try a couple things on an aluminum mock slide before I attempt to cut a functional steel slide. I think I can mill the corners with a 3/16" end mill, and hide the overcut corners with a bezel on a custom sight base, and have it not look like trash. Or maybe I'll just give up on trying to be fancy, and do it the traditional way with a standard BCMS sight.

I want to do an install like this on a 17L slide, but how do you cut a pocket with square corners? Wilson Combat makes an adjustable sight with a rectangular recoil lug on the bottom. IIRC, a shallow 3/8" slot is all that's required. Looks nice on a 1911 slide, but the Glock slides don't have the round profile on top, so it would look a bit odd screwed onto a large milled flat.

Is there any rule of thumb for sear engagement for a single-action-only CZ-75? The CZ-75 SA trigger is okay, but a bit creepy. For a 1911, I would square and stone the hammer hooks to 0.020", but I'm sure that CZ-75 geometry is different.

I have a Zev stainless steel Speed Feed magwell on a G21 frame that I like, and I would like to find a steel one that I might be able to adapt to a Polymer80 PF940Vs (Glock 17 type frame), but Zev no longer makes any steel magwells. Does anyone know of any steel magwells that are currently available, besides the Carver ones?

Of course. SGM and Beta, to name two. Sent from my LGLS755 using Tapatalk

TATV Canada did some interesting testing, air cooling and water quenching before and after coating, although it seems he didn't check for either age-hardening, age-softening, or checking hardness after sizing. https://youtu.be/2fbjs-lErL0 I will certainly try air cooled bullets. If the easy way works, then I will happily do it that way.

I have about equal amounts of range scrap and clip-on wheel weight alloy. That's as much detail as I can give you. Sent from my LGLS755 using Tapatalk

I've used both Clays and TiteGroup for commercial coated bullets with good results. TiteGroup is smoky with lubed bullets and I wouldn't do that again. Agree that Clays may not be safe with 147gr bullets, however. I have seen some flattened primers. Thanks for the feedback on bullet hardness. Sent from my LGLS755 using Tapatalk

There was a company that made a rail that attaches to a 1911 frame with a magnet. Perhaps a web or youtube search might find it Sent from my LGLS755 using Tapatalk

Gearing up to start casting bullets, trying to figure stuff out. To get started out, at least, I will be loading 124 grain 9mm at about 130-135 power factor with fast burning powders (TiteGroup mostly, maybe Clays). Maybe not the ideal place to start, but that's what I shoot the most. The lead alloy that I have all measures about 11 to 13 bhn air-cooled, but I know that water quenching can harden that up quite a bit. Has anyone already figured this out, and can recommend a bullet hardness for coated bullets? The formula for bullet hardness from chamber pressure gives me 25 bhn, but that was for lubed bullets, not sure if coating changes things.

I loaded and shot a test batch of 4.9gr TiteGroup, but didn't run it over the cronograph. At this point the velocity data doesn't really matter. The primers still look pretty good. Nice and round at the edges. Why? I go further than I need to, because I like to know where the limits are. I don't want to load 250 rounds, only to find that slightly heavy charge results in unsafe ammo, and then have to scrap or take apart almost the whole batch. I don't want to always be at the edge of disaster.

Loaded up boxes of ammo with both Clays and TiteGroup, and tried them back-to-back, and alternating the ammo in magazines. Clays is maybe a little less loud, but it's otherwise it's hard to tell one from the other. The Power Pistol load is a thumper, but the difference between the other two seems pretty marginal.

This is pretty much where I'm at. 4.4gr got me 172PF with 180gr BBI coated flat point, but for bulk loading I would have to go a bit higher to make sure I don't dip under 165PF. I seem to be getting lower velocities than most, not sure if it's the batch of powder, crimp, bullet diameter, or something about the barrel. 4.6gr seems to be the limit - primers are getting flat.

I guess maybe some of you won't care, but I have some Power Pistol data, so I'll post that too. Making major with Power Pistol is easy. You have a much larger margin for error. It's not real soft shooting ammo. 180 BBI over 6.2 to 6.4gr Power Pistol (ammo kept warm) Shots: 5 Min 970 Max 1006 Avg 982 S-D 13.8 ES 36 PF 176.76 Speed 982 ft/s 970 ft/s 1006 ft/s 977 ft/s 977 ft/s 180 BBI over 6.2 to 6.4gr Power Pistol (ammo kept in cooler with ice packs) Shots: 5 Min 974 Max 1000 Avg 985 S-D 11.5 ES 26 PF 177.3 Speed 978 ft/s 996 ft/s 974 ft/s 1000 ft/s 981 ft/s And. . . just because I had it handy. . . 1.2" OAL - Same seating die setting as with the BBI bullet. 180gr Roger's Cast Lead RNFP over 6.6 to 6.8gr Power Pistol Shots: 5 Min 1036 Max 1083 Avg 1060 S-D 19.8 ES 47 PF 190.8 Speed 1044 ft/s 1071 ft/s 1070 ft/s 1083 ft/s 1036 ft/s 180gr Roger's Cast Lead RNFP over 6.6 to 6.8gr Power Pistol Shots: 5 Min 1023 Max 1079 Avg 1064 S-D 23.9 ES 56 PF 191.52 Speed 1079 ft/s 1065 ft/s 1077 ft/s 1023 ft/s 1079 ft/s This load produces some sharp recoil and is rather uncomfortable to shoot.

Okay, now Hodgdon Clays. Just regular Clays. 180 BBI over 4.4gr Clays (ammo kept warm) Min 945 Max 969 Avg 958 S-D 9.6 ES 24 PF 172.44 Speed 963 ft/s 969 ft/s 964 ft/s 953 ft/s 945 ft/s 180 BBI over 4.4gr Clays (ammo kept in cooler with ice packs) Shots: 5 Min 947 Max 963 Avg 954 S-D 6 ES 16 PF 171.72 Speed 956 ft/s 947 ft/s 963 ft/s 954 ft/s 950 ft/s 180gr BBI over 4.5gr Clays Shots: 10 Min 968 Max 984 Avg 977 S-D 4.7 ES 16 PF 175.86 Speed 982 ft/s 978 ft/s 977 ft/s 977 ft/s 984 ft/s 968 ft/s 973 ft/s 975 ft/s 982 ft/s 974 ft/s 180gr BBI PCRN over 4.6gr Clays Shots: 10 Min 988 Max 1001 Avg 992 S-D 3.8 ES 13 PF 178.56 Speed 994 ft/s 996 ft/s 991 ft/s 992 ft/s 1001 ft/s 990 ft/s 993 ft/s 989 ft/s 994 ft/s 988 ft/s This last one seems to be the highest pressure of the whole bunch.

.40 Long data is not widely available, so I'll share some of my data. Your results, I'm sure, will vary some. Glock 20, Lone Wolf 20T slide, 5.15" Lone Wolf .40S&W conversion barrel. Chamber throat was pretty long the way they sent it to me. Didn't ream it. These rounds plunk into the chamber, and drop out. The Following applies to all data to follow: 180gr BBI (Black Bullets International) round nose flat point bullet OAL 1.195" max WPA small pistol primer (getting same data as with Winchester WSP) Mixed brass These are test batches, and variance of powder charges is pretty low, maybe +/- 0.03 grain, unless noted otherwise. I'm using Lee Factory Crimp die. Chronograph - Magnetospeed V3. Results with factory ammo seem to match up with real-world data that people get with traditional sky screen chronographs. Loads fired outdoors. Temperatures not exceeding 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Have not formally tested for group size. I was really only out to find loads that make major. I think that should cover the background info. Lets get to it. None of these loads showed signs of pressures higher than factory defense loads. 180gr plated FP Freedom Munitions reman (control group) Minimum velocity 922 Maximum velocity 970 Average velocity 938 Standard Deviation 17.1 Extreme Spread 48 Power Factor 168.84 Speed 949 ft/s 970 ft/s 922 ft/s 930 ft/s 929 ft/s 922 ft/s 922 ft/s 950 ft/s 959 ft/s 936 ft/s I'll start with TiteGroup, since it's pretty widely available, and seems to be a favorite of many. The first day I tried testing loads kept warm vs. cold ammo, to try to get a feeling for temperature sensitivity. There didn't seem to be too much difference, and it's kind of a pain in the butt, so I gave that up. 180 BBI FP over 4.5gr TiteGroup (ammo kept warm) Min 901 Max 910 Avg 905 S-D 4.5 ES 9 PF 162.9 Speed 901 ft/s 910 ft/s 904 ft/s I overcompensated for not having a copper jacket, and set the sensitivity too high to start, and the first two rounds registered ridiculous velocities of over 2000fps. Oops! Only 3 rounds recorded with reasonable velocity. 180 BBI over 4.5gr TiteGroup (kept in cooler with ice packs) Min 868 Max 903 Avg 890 S-D 14.1 ES 35 PF 160.2 Speed 896 ft/s 868 ft/s 887 ft/s 903 ft/s 900 ft/s 180gr BBI PCRN over 4.6gr TiteGroup Min 886 Max 934 Avg 917 S-D 14.8 ES 48 PF 165.06 Speed 920 ft/s 933 ft/s 906 ft/s 906 ft/s 928 ft/s 886 ft/s 915 ft/s 916 ft/s 928 ft/s 934 ft/s 180gr BBI PCRN over 4.7gr TiteGroup Min 916 Max 951 Avg 929 S-D 11 ES 35 PF 167.22 Speed 930 ft/s 920 ft/s 945 ft/s 925 ft/s 916 ft/s 933 ft/s 951 ft/s 929 ft/s 920 ft/s 929 ft/s 180gr BBI PCFP, 4.8gr TiteGroup Min 935 Max 972 Avg 957 S-D 12.2 ES 37 PF 172.26 Speed 935 ft/s 964 ft/s 966 ft/s 952 ft/s 960 ft/s 938 ft/s 968 ft/s 958 ft/s 972 ft/s 957 ft/s Pressure seems to be mild. There was one primer of 10 of the 4.8gr load that was a little flat, but the other 9 were still pretty round.

That sounds similar to what I'm dealing with. I do have 147gr hardcast and BBI coated flat points, and it was the hardcast 147s that I first wrestled with. The BBI 115gr coated RN bullets aren't as pointy as the ZERO FMJ bullets that I was using, I believe that the full-diameter of the bullet sits farther out into the barrel, so it jams into the throat if I try to use the same seating die setting. I'm not ruling out the crimp just yet though. I'll try mic'ing the mouth of some factory loads, FMJ loads, and lead/coated loads, and see how they compare.

We're not allowed to use jacketed bullets on steel anymore, which is causing an issue for me. My M&P 9 Pro doesn't seem to get along with coated or hard cast bullets. Unless I load shorter than the minimum listed OALs, the bullets jam into the chamber throat. Doesn't seem to matter if I use 115gr round nose bullets or 147gr flat point. Same rounds plunk into the barrels of other pistols like it's nothing, even if I load a bit long. Has anyone else run into this problem? The only thing I could find was this: http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=178302&hl=%2Bm%26amp%3Bamp%3Bp+%2Bthroat#entry1969779 "OAL in MP 9mm" I have a 9mm throat reamer that I bought for my Unlimited pistol, but I wanted to check in before I did anything irreversible. I'm also wondering if the reamer will have trouble cutting a Melonite barrel.

What OAL was that? I've used 3.2 of Clays at 1.140 (RNFP) with no issues. I had to look it up. OAL is 1.115" Looking back at my notes, I decreased the length, because the bullets were sticking the leade of my M&P 9 Pro barrel.

2.6gr of Clays with a 147gr cast bullet started to flatten the primers. I load pretty long too. I stopped there, and started backpeddling. A lot of times, I think printed load data is too cautious. I don't know what happened with that one. And, yes, loading cast bullets over TiteGroup results in lots of foul-smelling smoke.

Just so we're clear. Is that Hodgdon Clays, Universal Clays, or International Clays?

I don't know if I've ever seen Solo 1000 for sale. Hodgdon, Winchester, Alliant, and IMR powders I've seen, but I don't think I've ever seen Solo.

Up til now, I've just been ordering jacketed bullets in bulk. I have pistols with polygonal rifled barrels, and I just used one load for everything. The 3-gun match director isn't allowing jacketed bullets for the steel targets though. I've been using TiteGroup, which works for cast bullets. . . sort of. It's kind of a smoky, smelly mess. Doing a search, it seems like the HS-6 that I have, is a little dirty when loaded under cast bullets. So what powder should I look for next month at the gun show to use for cast bullet loads in 9mm? If it works for .38 Special and .45ACP also, that would be a big plus.

Yeah, I guess it is. That's a start.