JDBraddy

Too many choices is my problem, I saw someone at the range the other day, with a 16" carbine that must have weighed 16 pounds because of all the crap hanging off the handrail, piston system, bull barrel, etc.... I don't even know what half the crap they put on AR's now is for. When I showed him my 5.5 pound carbine and his jaw dropped and he said WOW! I was thinking around $400-$700 depending on features for an upper, I can add a lower seperately later. I don't have my heart set on anything in particular, don't need fancy, just reliable, accurate, and lightweight, in that order.

I know this question has probably been beat to death, but I've been shooting local carbine matches with a lightweight A2 upper using open sights, and was thinking about getting a flat-top. Most targets at local matches are under 40yds. I wanted something very lightweight, preferably with midlength gas block, and free-floated barrel, but don't want to spend a fortune or wait months to have one built. Options?

Where did you finds this? Anything for 9mm? Thanks, A.T. Accurate Powder SOLO-1000 Data for 9MM & .40 S&W Caliber: 9mmx19P. Barrel length: 4” Powder: Accurate – Solo 1000 Bullet weight: 115grains Start load: 3.7 grains (975 – 1025 Fps) Maximum load: 4.2 grains (1050 -1125 Fps) Bullet weight: 124/125grains Start load: 3.1 grains (900 -950 Fps) Maximum load: 3.5 grains (975 -1025 Fps) Bullet weight: 135 grains Start load: 3.0 grains (825 -875 Fps) Maximum load: 3.3 grains (935 -990 Fps) Bullet weight: 147 grains Start load: 2.7 grains (775 - 850 Fps) Maximum load: 3.0 grains (825 -875 Fps) Caliber: .40 S&W. Barrel length: 4” Powder: Accurate – Solo 1000 Bullet weight: 135 grains. Start load: 4.8 grains (1100 – 1200 ft/p/sec) Maximum load: 5.3 grains (1175 – 1275 Ft/p/sec). Bullet weight: 155 grains. Start load: 4.3 grains (900 – 1000 ft/p/sec) Maximum load: 4.8 grains (1000 – 1100 Ft/p/sec). Bullet weight: 165-170 grains. Start load: 4.2 grains (850 – 925 ft/p/sec) Maximum load: 4.6 grains (950 – 1050 Ft/p/sec). Bullet weight: 180 grains. Start load: 4.0 grains (825 – 875 ft/p/sec) Maximum load: 4.5 grains (900 – 950 Ft/p/sec). Bullet weight: 200 grains. Start load: 3.7 grains (800 – 850 ft/p/sec) Maximum load: 4.1 grains (875 – 920 Ft/p/sec). See also this thread. http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=107388&st=0&p=1278642&hl=solo-1000&fromsearch=1entry1278642

Wow, thanks Jman, what book is that sourced from? Whish I'd had it last night! It would have definately saved me some anxiety testing loads today. Obviously, I'm going to get very different velocity results with my 1 7/8" barreled 340pd than they did with the 8 3/8" K-38 they used to obtain the test data. The 147gr Precision Moly's are sized .358 and I'm seating them to 1.430 OAL. I couldn't find any data from Accurate, and I knew it was pretty close to Tightgroup and Bullseye, so I took a huge chance, looked at starting load data for those two, averaged them, and reduced it by 25%. So I started by loading some up with 2.5gr, 3.0gr, and 3.5gr. Then went out to the range to chrono them, going from low to high, watching carefully both velocity and for any kind of pressure sign. First I shot some Monarch 158gr Factory ammo. The average velocity of ten rounds was 649.6fps. This is only 102.6 power factor, so this factory ammo doesn't even make minor for IDPA/USPSA in this gun. I started with the 2.5gr loads, they where way underpowered, Average velocity of ten shots was 453.7fps. Obviously no pressure sign. The 3.0gr loads ten shot average was 536.5fps and again no pressure sign. Finally the 3.5gr loads, ten shot average was 601fps. again with no pressure sign, this is still only 88.3 power factor, however, this one might qualify as a nice bunny-fart load though. Tonight, I was going to load up some with 3.75gr and 4.0gr to try on my next trip to the range, however the data you provided shows 3.7gr as a max load for 150gr JHP. Since this guns ok for .357 snd most published data is conservative, I might still chance it, but will be extra carefull working up to it. I can't do it tomarrow, since it's turkey-day, but would appreciate more data if anyone else has already done all this experimentation.

I'm a long time reloader, but new to .38 Spl, I bought some Precision Moly 147gr FP's and have large quantities of Solo-1000 available, as I use it to load 12ga, .45acp, .40S&W, 9mm, .380acp, and thought it would be neet if I could use it for .38Spl also. If not I also have some True-Blue, and small amounts of Unique, and 3N-38 on hand.

Works great in My 550's. As you can probably tell from the picture below, I love this powder, and use a lot of it!

Since everyone here seems to think I'm loading too short, I changed my seating die, I loaded some up with 124gr MG JHP 7.5gr Win Auto-Comp OAL 1.260 String #1 Min Vel = 1344.25 Max Vel = 1385.00 AVG Vel = 1368.9 PF = 169.7 Extreme Spread = 40.75 Standard Dev. = 11.83 String #2 Min Vel = 1318.9 Max Vel = 1368.25 AVG Vel = 1351.7 PF = 167.6 Extreme Spread = 49.34 Standard Dev. = 16.61 It was flat shooting an comparatively mild, it easily makes major without any pressure sign, it was accurate, and cycles well in my gun. I think I just found my new load!!! I love information like this but if someone is not familiar with the various overall lengths then they would have no idea what cartridge is being discussed and even then one might still wonder, least I do. earl Those are either very short 38 Supers or very long 9 mm.

Sorry, the gun is chambered for .38 SuperComp, Federal Primers being softer than most, will show pressure sign sooner. I'm using WSP primers. Altatude is 750ft above sea-level. Looks like I need to bump it up another quarter-grain. If primers start to flatten, then perhapse I can lengthen OAL a bit. 124gr Montana Gold JHP 7.25gr Win Auto-Comp OAL = 1.190 String #4 Min Vel = 1304.27 Max Vel = 1353.26 Avg Vel = 1323.38 PF = 164.1 Extreme Spread = 48.99 Standard Dev. = 16.4 String #5 Min Vel = 1294.65 Max Vel = 1340.38 Avg Vel = 1321.40 PF = 163.8 Extreme Spread = 45.73 Standard Dev. = 13.34 I love information like this but if someone is not familiar with the various overall lengths then they would have no idea what cartridge is being discussed and even then one might still wonder, least I do. earl Those are either very short 38 Supers or very long 9 mm. I would be a littel apprensive at stuffing 8.5gr of TruBlue behind a 124gr in 38 Super 1.240, I tried it and my primers went very flat at 8.4gr and looked like they were at the verge of puch thru. I was using Fed SP which I like to test with since they show pressure signs before it gets out of hand. I read that primers can affect pressue up to 2,000 CUP, maybe they are are the high pressure generators of the lot.

Tried some for the first time today, I have a Caspian with three port comp and two poppel holes. Weather conditions where sunny with 3-5mph wind gusts, 81 degrees farenheight, here's my results. 124gr Montana Gold JHP 8.5gr True Blue OAL= 1.190 Max Vel = 1356 Min Vel = 1338 Avg Vel = 1344 PF = 166.7 Extreme Spread = 18.3 Standard Dev. = 6.0 124gr Montana Gold JHP 7.0gr Win Auto-Comp OAL = 1.190 Max Vel = 1318 Min Vel = 1276 Avg Vel = 1301 PF = 161.3 Extreme Spread = 42 Standard Dev. = 10.6 No pressure sign observed. It was noticably milder report than the True-Blue. I intened to bump it up by 0.2gr incriments and see if it makes major before showing pressure sign.

Yes, I have a pound of Unique as well, but in case you haven't guessed from the picture, I like Solo-1000, and use quite a lot of it. I reload 9mm, 40s&w, .45ACP, and 12ga with it. I buy it in 25lb kegs, and use them to refill my 8lb jugs. I shoot a lot of cast lead, in a variety of loads and calibres, and haven't had a problem with this powder, The few times I have had problems with leading, it was poor quality cast lead bullets, or scratches in the bore, not because of using SOLO-1000. Don't you think that constitutes 'hoarding'? Would you like to sell a pound or two? I called Specialty Sports here in Colorado Springs asking if they had any on hand and the guy said he'd never heard of it. I said it was made by Alliant or Accurate (at the time I couldn't remember which one was still in businss) and he said he knew he didn't have any Alliant powders. Sometimes communication just isn't what it should be. Got any Unique?

My 22 year old Lyman Case Tumber is still going strong, but since I got involved in USPSA/IDPA style shooting, I'm reloading ten times the volume I used to. I need to upgrade, but I'm not sure whether to invest nearly $200 in a larger, heavier duty machine like the Dillon 2001 or buy two or three smaller machines like my current lyman for around $65 each. Are there any clearly superior machines in terms of bang for the buck? Also, wanted to ask what others are doing about dust control? After running a couple thousand rounds, the dust is unbearable when dumping it into and using the case seperator. I can only hold my breath so long, and the dust and residue gets everywhere making a mess. How do you high-volume shooters control the dust from your tumblers?

A couple years ago, I wanted to try open, and bought an inexpensive used Caspian, an tried shooting open for several months, I had trouble indexing the dot, didn't like the feel of the grip, and didn't like chasing the expensive Supercomp brass, the 3N-38 powder I was using became expensive and hard to find, finding mags was a problem, and the lense of my C-more is etched from muzzle blast, so I decided to go back to limited. The Caspian had been unused in my gunsafe for almost a year now, and I was trying to peddle it off at the last match. The gun functions and shoots well, so a shooting buddy talked me into giving open one more try. Would like to put grip pannels on the gun to see if this would help fill my hand and improve the feel of the grip, and he suggested trying a Quin mount with a larger dot module since I planned to transition back and forth from limited to open. Other suggestions before I do this?

My wife and I had a conversation quite a few years ago, about buying used guns and trying to customize them, vs going ahead and spending the money to buy the custom or semi-custom I wanted to begin with. This prompted me to go ahead and pay the $875 at the time for the lightweight Volquarzen custom, and mount a Weaver V16 scope. It was the best move I could have ever made. The gun came perfect strait from the box, 100% reliable and groups better than either my Kimber or my Anchutz. It's probably got 200K rounds through it now, and even with all the new and innovative stuff that's come on the market since then, I've never had any desire to change anything on it.

Thanks Jerry, the E.C. picked the classifier, I drew these three stages up today, mostly just playing around trying to learn how to use the software. BendinRiver.DOC SwinginSteel.DOC Long_Star_Boogie.DOC BTW, since all three clubs in this area have a lot of steel, does anyone have templates for various kinds of plate racks, like ducks in a row, regular 8" plates, Dueling posts, etc...?

I volunteered to direct my first local club mach the end of this month, Need to draw up some stages, get some staff together, and assign duties. Where can I get the neat software you guys use to draw up stages?

I have the Peltor Tac-6's and the Dillon HP1's, I already have Tinnitis and some hearing loss. I find the Dillons bulky and the sound quality abismal, they hum and have static sounding cut-out that is very distracting, and make it impossible at times to hear commands and conversation. The ear seals have started cracking, and chafe. I tossed them in the back of the closet and never use them. The Peltor's are usable, but the sound will not turn up loud enough to be usefull for me, and the cups are too small for my ears. The head band gets in the way of my hats, and the seals are uncomfortable. I bought the JR's hearing muff sweats for them, they helped some, but not enough. I keep em in my range bag to loan out to other shooters, but have gone back to using my 20 year old, Army issue tripple flange, orange earplugs. They're just more comfortable to wear all day, don't get in my way when wearing a hat or shooting long guns, and are just as good at reducing the noise. I'm not going to waste another $200-$300 bucks on another pair of electronic earmuffs, unless I've had the chance to try them out several times for myself, and determined they are a vast improvment over these two useless pair, I currently have. I can't believe with the technowlegy available today, no one can produce a comfortable electronic earmuff with decent sound quality and volume for under $200.

I know this has probably been discussed ad-nausium, but I've starting to shoot 3-gun at local club matches, and am using a 16" AR Carbine with an A2 style handle. I've been using iron sights, but bought a cheep Barska electro sight just to see if I'd even like using an optic and I do, but the damn thing won't hold a zero more than a couple of stages. I have about a $200-$250 budget and can't aford a $600+ optic like Aim-Point, Trijicon, or Meopta. All the cheap red-dots ranging in price from $50-$200 appear to be the same three or four imports that have been rebranded with whatever company's logo, I can't tell them apart, and they tend to have have too narrow fields of view. So I need some help selecting a quality budget optic for my AR. Are any of them of better quality, or are they all about the same in this price range? I've even started looking at scopes like the Weaver V-3 and the Millet 1-4X24. I'v mounted one of my larger scopes, a Weaver V-16, but of course it's too much power, and too narrow FOV. All the targets at local club matches so farr, have been under 50yds, and high round count hoser stages because of range constraints, so true 1X and broad FOV are the most desired fetures. Honestly, I could shoot these stages faster and more accurately with my open gun than I can with the carbine, but I've come to play so would appreciate any advice I can get with picking a good budget optic for my carbine.

I tried some 170gr RNF Precision Molly's, and here's what I got. Can't really detect any difference in accuracy or feel from the 185's, but they're $10 cheeper per 1000rnds. 170gr RNF Precision Molly with 5.0gr Solo-1000 at 1.220 OAL, Mixed Brass, CCI Sm Pistol, (10 shots) Avg Velocity 989 Power Factor 168.1 Extreme Spread 14.85 Standard Deviation 4.69

A good point. There's a world of difference between "Can I buy the best gear for $100?" and "What's the best gear I can buy for $100?" Good equipment can be had for not that much over your budget, and will last you a lifetime. If you have to buy it a piece at a time and borrow stuff for a couple matches, then do that, but you'll save yourself a lot of money in the long run, buying good stuff start with. A holster rig is simply not the place to scrimp. CR Speed belt....$60, Safariland 560 paddle holster.....$60, Some Blade-Tech or Safariland 771 mag pouches $60-$80, and you're all set with first rate equipment.

Try Solo-1000, just as nice at half the price, is redilly available, and works great in .45, .40, 9mm, .380, and 12ga as well!

I've been shooting Precision 185 Molly's with 4.8gr Solo-1000 to an OAL of 1.225" in my SV. Have shot about 8K now and I Love this load!

Thanks, I've always been more of a shooter than a collector, but I'd be interested in reading what you've got.

Nice mini-blaster! Here's my old guy....4-digit serial number produced in 1958. Note the old style frame without the relief cuts behind the trigger and the serial number on the left side....similar to yours. Since all the early guns like ours came with 7 3/8" barrel with the compensator and false muzzle I'm curious about the barrel on yours. Is that a later barrel or did you have it modified to remove the comp/false muzzle extension? Mine is a later model, actually a model 46 bought in the 1970's, they where essentially a budget model, the same gun as the 41, except they didn't have the mirror polished bluing and high grade wood. JDBraddy

Over the years I've owned a Ruger, a High Standard, a Buckmark, a Colt Woodsman, a Hammarlii, and a S&W-41. Of these, my reccomendation is the S&W-41, of all these, It's the one I've loved the best, kept the longest, and shot the most.

I wouldn't be too suspicious, I only got about 20fps difference with a quarter grain increase in powder weight, It only makes sense that variations would decrease as pressures get higher, and I've seen changes in temp, humidity, and altitude have more of an effect on velocities than 20fps. Honestly, we should all make a habit of re-chronographing our loads over time, documenting changes in ambient temp, altatude, etc.... so we can put together a consensus of how this powder reacts to various changing conditions. For example, I live in San Antonio, at 750ft above sea level and it was almost 100'f when I chronographed these loads, will I get the same velocities at 34'F? Will they go up, or go down? What if I shoot a match in Colorado, at 13,000ft? How will velocities change at that altitude? The only way to know, is to chrono lots of samples, under different conditions, over time. 185gr RNF Precision Molly with 4.75gr Solo-1000 at 1.225 OAL, mixed brass, WSPM Primers, (10 shots) Avg Velocity 921.40 Power Factor 170.4 Extreme Spread 27.02 Standard Deviation 7.68 185gr RNF Precision Molly with 5.0gr Solo-1000 at 1.225 OAL, mixed brass, WSPM Primers, (10 shots) Avg Velocity 940.68 Power Factor 174.0 Extreme Spread 46.96 Standard Deviation 14.66 Damn...