Griz

+1 The rounded edge on the primer absolutely rules out any kind of over pressure in my mind. It actually looks like much lower pressure than normal to me, which would be consistent with an out of battery ignition. I have seen a buddy's 1911 fire slightly out of battery and that is exactly what the case looked like. Afterwards we were able to intentionally make it happen dry-firing, the disconnector was not working correctly 100% of the time. Some of the remaining ammo was not fully resized and wouldn't chamber fully, which combined with a flaky disconnector caused the kaboom. His kaboom blew the floorplate out of the mag and sprayed brass fragments in his face. For weeks afterwards, he'd occasionally get what looked like a zit and have speck of brass come out when he popped it.

For me, putting scotch tape on my weak-side lens is key. When the sun is glaring and I go prone, if I squint that off side eye, I suddenly have a very hard time seeing my sights. If I have taped my glasses and leave both eyes open I am OK.

Does the lock slide forward and back the same as the 013? The picture on their website looks like 013 guts with a new frame and a bigger control on the lock.

The plates are intimidating to most of us mere mortals even in local matches, never mind the intense pressure at the Bianchi Cup. There are no 8s or 5s to let you survive a less than perfect shot... You won't win the match on the plates, but you can easily lose the match there.

The dis-advantage of the 21" is that you can't buy one... I haven't found one anyway

I use the autodisk measures too for most of my calibers. They work great and you know that the setting won't change. I use the spring return though. The only downside is the low powder capacity.

One I haven't seen mentioned is Brotherhood. It was a Showtime series about 2 brothers in Rhode Island. One is a gangster and the other is a state congresscritter. It was kind of like The Wire crossed with The Sopranos.

Short answer: Get a 650 with casefeeder unless you can affort a 1050. Long answer: I have loaded 100s of thousands of rounds on a Pro1000 and 10s of thousands on a Loadmaster. I now use a 650 and have played with a 550 and 1050. I'll probably end up with a 1050. I found the Pro1000 was a very good press if you are mechanically inclined enough to tune it up and keep it running well. It is high maintenance and you have to replace parts as they wear out (parts are cheap though). The Loadmaster is a hunk of junk. The 550 without casefeeder will be much slower than the Pro1000 *when the Pro1000 is running correctly*. The 550 is a lot less work to keep running though so it will pull ahead in the long run. The time to load 100 rounds on the 650 will be almost as fast as the Pro1000, but is held back because of how long it takes to fill a primer tube. With the Lee, you shake the flip tray to get the primers all right side up and then install the flip tray on the press and start loading. With the Dillon, after you have flipped the primers, you have to spend a long time pecking them into a tube. Again, assuming the Pro1000 doesn't need maintenance. If you get a vibratory tool to fill primer tubes, then the XL650 is faster hands down. Speed aside, any of the Dillon presses are less of a headache to tune up and maintain.... much, much less...

I don't have that scale, but my RCBS scale has weights that you use to calibrate it before every session... Does your scale have a cal routine?

You are the only one who gets it. Your laser analogy is 100% spot-on. ETA: Everyone else is thinking about the glass.. That does move more, but we are not focused on the glass, we are focused on the dot/target. The dot will move exactly the same amount no matter where the glass is mounted. The only time it would be an issue mounted forward would be if muzzle rose so far that the dot moved off the glass.

In my experience, steel is safe at very close ranges if it is flat. If it is cratered, there is no safe distance.

I had people start shooting while I was downrange at the national forest range near Blacksburg, VA. They had acknowledged a cease fire to change targets, went and set up their beer cans at 10 yards, then cut loose while several people including me were at 100 yards... Everyone started yelling and waving, they stopped shooting and yelled back that it was OK, we were not in their way....

What does "Limited" mean in the stage descriptions?

The way I heard it was measure twice, cut once, weld, then cut again Did you do any fitting of the OD of the barrel to the ID of the slide? That's the part I'm trying to figure out. I suspect that the sight being on the barrel makes the fit at the muzzle less critical than on a bushing gun, but I haven't done the math to figure out if it even has a chance. I'm considering this for a NRA AP gun so I need it to shoot into 1.5" at 50 yards or preferably half that. I know how to get there with a bushing gun, but I would like to try something new. (I haven't asked my AP mentors because I know they'll tell me this is a dumb idea Cat's out of the bag now though) On a side note, I notice that you had the slide in the vice rather than the fixture for cutting the slot. I have similar slide fixture but have only used it for mounting sights, I wasn't sure I trusted it for big cuts. I'm guessing from your photos that you feel the same way?

So... after some more research around the interwebs, I may be wrong, but I think that most "reputable smiths" do not fit the muzzle end of a sight tracker at all. They just cut the slide, fit the normal stuff on the back end of the barrel and accept whatever fit that slide/barrel combo gives at the muzzle. Sight Tracker type guns also don't seem to be used in any numbers in accuracy intensive games. I'm sure they are plenty accurate for USPSA, but what a USPSA shooter calls accurate and what a Bullseye or NRA AP shooter calls accurate are entirely different things

That doesn't sound like any fun... If I just wanted to spend money, there are a lot of things I need more than another gun. The obvious way to fit it would be to ream the slide to fit the barrel, but I was hoping to benefit from the insights and/or mistakes of those more experienced than me before I make new mistakes of my own.

1) How do you fit a sight tracker style barrel? 2) I guess this depends on 1), but what kind of accuracy can you expect? It seems like the sight being on the barrel would make the fit at the muzzle less critical, but I don't know how that works out in the real world. 3) I forgot what my third question was.

They are prone to hyperbole. After all, they say the "best shooters in the world" are on the show.

Just a wild-ass guess, but could a 40 or 45 breech face on a 9mm gun result in the extractor shoving the case over to the side so that the primer would regularly hit the ejector?

55,000 psi tends to clear out any foam that makes it into the gas tube

It depends on how you define "returns to zero". On 1 MOA 3-gun rifles, they are fine. BUT, the ones I have do not return to within zero MOA, more like 1/2 MOA. I have one on a precision rifle with a heavy NF scope and it would not hold zero until I tightened the lever down so that it was no longer QD... Not that I need QD anyway.

This is turning into a discussion so it'll probably get locked, but to clarify, the reason I hate being *repeatedly* asked "how much" is kind of selfish. I have no interest in doing hobby work for hire. I have a day job that pays well and I highly value my leisure time! I don't want people thinking that they can buy my leisure time, it's not for sale! But I enjoy helping out a friend if I have skills or equipment to get something done that he can't do himself. I appreciate being asked once, and when I reply "just pay it forward", that should be the end of it. Don't embarrass me.

I don't know why, but it annoys me when friends offer to pay me for doing them a favor. I sometimes machine custom parts for friends and they always ask if they can pay me. My standard answer is that I don't do machine work for hire and if I did they couldn't afford it, but they usually ask again a couple more times. I know they are just trying to be considerate, but it still annoys me. I think next time I'll quote $100/hr just to see a buddy squirm

I have bent a few Deweys trying to force a patch through that I shouldn't have. I have used a Tipton carbon fiber rod for years now and abused it pretty badly, but it won't bend.

If you're interested in history, you're on the wrong channel.... er... wait...