ruready

I used ISMI 14# on Kimber and I didn't have to cut any coils. If I do the tape or line up trick, it always comes out OK. Am I missing something in the process?

Just to confirm, have you tried shooting with your right hand only, without the weak hand support? If the slide still locks back, it is not your weak hand that's doing it.

Help me understand why majority of IPSC shooters seems to favor SWC over other bullet type. Is there any reason to this besides a nice clean hole?

If you consciously know that your thumbs are not hitting the slide stop on recoil, I would check the distance between the bullet and the slide stop. Often times, a little trimming of the slide stop is needed to prevent the next round from nudging it up, locking your slide open.

Am I wrong in deciding to reload FMJ's only. I know it is more expensive than say lead, plated, and coated but FMJ's are the only bullet type that will feed reliably on my 1911. I've been trying to make plated's and precision bullets feed reliably but I always get hung up with failed to go to battery. It always failed about 3/4 way in to battery. I played with a bunch of OAL's with no success. Could it be because the gun is still semi-new, less than 1000 rounds. I ordered a bunch of 230 FMJ's zero bullets looking to copy factory ammo profiles. Hopefully, I'll get good success with this. Besides cost, what are the disadvantage of just shooting jacketed bullets?

Hehehe. I'm not that popular for someone to take a pic of me while shooting. I'll see if I can pay somebody to take me a pic or a video the next time I'm out. I went down and shot about 100 rounds and not paying attention on the target nor the front sights. I didn't care where it hits the target. My whole focus was on my weak hand. I have observed that under recoil, I can feel that the upper rear left side of the grip is slipping from the meaty part of the base of the thumb. (not sure what the correct medical term for that). My weak hand maybe fighting too much of the recoil instead of riding it. I changed my grips to rubber and shot another 100 and the weak hand seem to follow the recoil better.

Thanks for the tips. I guess my problem is small hands and sweaty. I'll try to work more on weak hand grip strength. Skywalker, I know the left hand should be cammed but with the right hand, I tried it and it's not going anywhere near the cammed angle of my weak hand. My strong hand camming is limited by the grip safety. If I exagerate the cam, my fingers are wrapping way far from the underside of the trigger guard.

How can I make my left grip more consistent. I have to regrip my left hand shot after shot. You can see my grip style on my avatar. As the shot break, my right hand follows the recoil of the gun but my left hand want to stay put where it was just before the shot breaks. It's somewhat slipping off my right hand. If I grip my left too hard, the gun shakes.

What are the signs of barrel fouling? Can these be recognized by an untrained eye?

I've made a test loads of Precision moly bullets and some copper plated bullets. Is it bad to mix let's say 100 of each type in one shooting session?

My kimber is still stock. Does that mean that I can use SWC unless on a I have a throated barrel? I can feed reliably a factory ammo though HSMITH I tried what you said. The factory ball ammo is 1.265. After following your recommendation on setting up my SWC seating die, I ended up with an OAL of 1.305 in SWC which I think on the long side and won't even go in to the mags.

I am consistently getting FTF on my reloads and I think it has something to do with my OAL's. I am using a Precision 200gr SWC @ 1.250 OAL as a start. The bullet goes halfway in the chamber and gets stuck. I know that when varying OAL, my powder needs to be adjusted accordingly, but how does one know when to increase or decrease the OAL to make it feed reliably?

You get the 3 in the picture together with your magwell I've been reloading the dented brass no problems, but just wondering what's causing it. So far, I've got 3 to look at, 1. Recoil spring maybe getting weak and slamming the case to the ejector port. I say these because it apparently does not dent brand new brass on light to medium load 2. Ejector may need to be tuned to toss the brass at a different angle. 3. Extractor too tight and holding the brass longer than it needed.

Here's the pic of the spent brass shot from factory load WWB

I too like the clays 4.2 behind a 200gr plated and I wish it could be a little cleaner. The Titegroup characteristic is more like your .40 which is a snap compared to a push from clays. Merlin, thanks for tip. I have Precision bullets on the way and will try your recipe. Any chance you have chrono'ed your load?

It's a Kimber TLE. It has approx 800 rounds. No brass marks on the ejection port opening.

I just started reloading and began picking up my own brass. I noticed that there is a small dent on the case wall of the spent brass. It only happens when I shoot factory loads and not if I shoot my light reloads. Any insights on where it's getting dented?

That's how I figured out it's the headstamp as I tried inserting it backwards (headstamp first) and it won't even go in like other rounds did. Would a little larger than usual headstamp (rim) cause feeding problems? I have another thread on this one that I am trying to isolate feeding problems.

I may have my terms mixed up. Majority of my loads, the headstamp is flushed on the top of the case gauge. There are some that the rim of the cartridge is hanging Hopefully this picture can explain it.

I know that you are suppose to resize the case before reloading, but what about the head? I case gauge after reloading and some of my ammo does not go all the way in because of the rough edges on the headstamp. Should I be worried?

I now totally agree that the problem are with my loads. The plated bullets are really soft and is messing up the feed. Just for the test , I reloaded 10 rounds with an OAL of about 1.24 and manually cycled them on my magazines. Guess what? The bullets were getting deformed as it hits the feed ramp first before going into chamber. It's like a hit and miss thing. Sometimes it feeds correctly, sometimes it doesn't. I lengthened the OAL to about 1.250 just to change the point of impact on the feed ramp and it performed a lot better. Shot about 50 rounds with only a couple of jams. I was tempted to go 1.260, which I think is the OAL for a WWB but I'm not sure if it will crimp correctly since I'm only using 200gr instead of 230gr. I guess it's time to try other bullets. I ordered sample of Precision bullets SWC and some FMJ's just to test. Hopefully, one of the two will feed correctly. Bottom line I guess is, it's not my 10 round magazines to be blamed.

The feed lips on the magazines are a little bit rough. I'm not sure if that's the one that I was using when I experienced the malfunction. I numbered them now so I can figure it out. I'm going to try that magazine with my new reloaded rounds. Still using plated bullets though and will most likely be getting FMJ's. Would using a LSWC be a better bullet than plated bullets? Superdude, Thanks for the link. Lots of information on your website and wil take me time to decipher what you're saying. I suck in geometry

All of the above you mentioned are correct. The more rounds, the more it is likely to nose dive. The bullets are only plated and I can see some dents on the bullets that jammed.

Thanks.

Is it necessary to sort how many times has been fired? I striped my brass just for the ease of picking up and never really striped it for the purpose of tracking how many times it's been reloaded.