BLUTO

All true! I was getting Glocked brass and didnt have a roll sizer so I did indeed have a couple KBOOM's - I learned! I use Montana Gold and I have never cleaned a comp (brush it out and be done). Anecdotally I heard form some of the older guys that the 40 recoil did a number on the frame so it wasnt long before I found a great deal on a pair of Brazos 38's and was done with it. As I say I wish I'd have gone with 9 and just slowed down the Mark 7 to not spill like all the other major loaders

If I were to do it again I would go 9mm for the very reason you said - 38 brass is literally gold. Lost brass matches hurt! A buddy and I would practice together and declare ahead how many rounds we were going to use and then stand over each other while we counted out the empties. Ive shot some till they cracked where with 9 I would have tossed them and been done with them. The term brass chicken comes from us 38 shooters hunting for our brass rather than cleaning or resetting - it gets old real fast.

My 1st open was a 40 for several reasons which all made perfect sense to me at the time. All the reasons turned out to be BS - go with a 38 or a 9Major and be done with it. There is no way I know of (there may be) to gas a 40 to actually work the comp without risking blowing the brass. You loose a couple rounds in the mag compared to 38. There are other reasons but suffice it to say there is a reason the big boys run 38 or 9 major - accept it, build one and be done with it. My opinion.

Yeah once you get to these type of blasters they fall onto two categories - clusters and runners. Brazos tend to be runners. You can tweak until you make it a cluster. Build some loads, dry fire and learn the gun - don't over think it I spent a tremendous amount of time trying to make my first Brazos just a hair better until the GM I got it from literally slapped me and pointed out that the gun was a hell of a lot better than I was....

Without being a d*ck - leave it alone! You got it from a M class. It was built that way by Brazos. Your new to Open. Leave it be. I have 2 Brazos blasters and other than stippling and lot of practice they are the way Bob built them.

Well at least you didnt go full potato like I did years ago. My first open gun was a 40 - just made sense (in an alternate universe).........

Speedsouth - sent you a PM

What Trent said. Extractors got nothing to do with it........

I run the Grams setup in my mags but haven't changed out the followers to 9mm nor do I use a spacer. Load a bit long and all is good (from my experience). Most of the problems I've seen come in the 170's using 9mm followers. I don't think you need a spacer with a 38S follower, could be wrong but that's my experience.

CONGRATULATIONS - You found the oddest "secret" in the business. Magpul for example has an airsoft line and a "real gun" line. Made on the same machines, same polymer, in fact the exact same item. Airsoft is less money. I cant tell you the number of real guns running airsoft bought parts. Why this is - dont know. What I do know is that it is that way.........

3N38 = fireballs 124gr is pretty standard in 39SC, but may not significantly change your load. To me the answer is simply the powder - 3N38 is notorious for fireballs.

Following up on Biloxi23's post, I don't know anyone who has ever trimmed or for that matter measured the length of their pistol cases before loading them. The only time we reject them is when they are cracked or just too ugly for our taste. For grins we measured Starline cases straight out of the package and there was a variation in length. The only real reason I can see for not running 9 in a 38S is because we normally have enough trouble keeping the damn things running anyway. Unless you have a very robust shooter or a couple backups the NO WAY folks are probably scared they will have to visit the gunsmith again...........

Not wanting to be left out of the cool kids shooting 9 from a super, I just blew rounds across the chrony from my Brazos 38SC and I survived. That which makes 135PF from a G34 made 121.5 with popple holes and a comp. Not going to run it for anything but maybe steel, but it was interesting to see if the gun would function, disintegrate, or generally puke the 9 back out. Oddly some of the most consistent readings Ive gotten outta any pistol running those loads

Oh I've got popcorn, snacks, and am doing nothing but waiting for answers to this one!

Just got done setting up a belt for Production. Started out setting it up like the Open/Limited rigs which is in back and very quickly ran out of room for the mags. Switched to front and the real estate opened up nicely. Open belt has 3 mags - production has 4 and started further back so space is at a premium.