Jeff686

iPhone baby!

Search the 9mm reloading section here for lots of reloading data. Remember this is pistol ammo, not precision rifle ammo. There's no need to be as anal retentive as some of the rifle reloaders can be. I bell (flair) the case mouth when reloading pistol, which seems to be the norm, so there's no difference in difficulty in seating any copper clad bullet. Lead bullets sometimes require more bell to keep from shaving lead. I like Montana Gold and Hornady HAP, both are good bullets.

Yes, I agree, generally. The problem is that since I drive to local matches, I ususally throw a few extra things into the car... toolbox, extra ammo, cooler with drinks, some rags, can of action blaster, sweater, spare sox, etc. I have had occassion to use all those things, but just not often. Having to fit into a suitcase is a whole different ball of wax.

Small update to my blog today!

Thanks guys! That's some great advice from everyone. I do want to travel as light as possible. However, I don't want to screw things up by forgettting something important. I like the idea of a trip to Walmart once I get there!! I think I'll reconsider some of the stuff on my list, like the timer and squib rod. I plan to be carefull and only take the bare essential tools and cleaning stuff. Everything else is pretty much necessary. I'm already planning to ship ammo, and I am flying on Southwest. As far as the spare parts, I shoot a Tanfoglio. I don't have to pray to Athena, just Henning. I'll take what I have on hand. I just want to be sure I don't forget something really important. I would hate to not have a left-handed smoke shifter, when everyone knew to bring theirs.

I'm making my packing list for the Nationals. I don't want to take 10 suitecases and a kitchen sink. However, I don't want to forget anything important. Anyone care to review my list? Things I'm not sure about: Cooler for food and drinks - do they have food and cold water at the match? This could be a pain on the airplane. Water bottle or canteen or camel pack (same question as above, is H2O readily available) Personal Computer - I have an iPhone to post online with, but I may go through internet withdrawl without my PC. Depends on how much 'carry on' stuff I have. Cable lock or similar - to lock gun in trunk if I have to leave it in the car, could double as extra lock to keep pelican case inside luggage for air travel CED timer - what for, dryfire in room? Not sure if I'd do that. Gear Cart - I'm spoiled by having a gear cart, but don't know if I want to fuss with it as luggage. I'd really love to have it for a 4 day match. Things I'm sure about: Red Dot Batteries Holster Rig Camera Camera Batteries/charger iPhone, charger, headset Cleaning Rags Ear plugs floppy hat baseball hat gun gun rug magazines Lens Cleaner wipes Magazine brush gun cleaning stuff oil knife pens plastic bags raincoat cash contacts (x2) contact solution & extra case oakleys tape gun + extra tape timer tool kit squib rod knee pads upLula Techwear shirt sunscreen notepad leatherman hand wipes ipuprofen claratin backpack Range bag shooting shoes (2 pair)

Make sure you have a very temp sensitive powder!! 7625 is know to be temp sensitive, but I had to get it up to 150deg before I could see a signal, and then it was only 2pf. Large sample sizes might help, but there is a lot of noise, and the signal to noise ratio is tight between 32 and 100 deg F.

Dude, WSP are the hardest to get. I've had my order in at Grafs for 4 months. Get in line.

Yea, it's called an ultrasonic cleaner!

Check that the powder drop slider is returning fully to pickup the next load. I used to call it short-stroking of the slider. It can sometimes go back far enough to get some powder, but won't get a full load. I had this problem more with finer powders (SP2) because they would get into the mechanism bind up the slider. Some of the older SDB designs didn't have the safety interlock rod, and were spring driven back to home. They were more likely to bind. I don't remember enough about the safety interlock to remember if it always goes back home. I would empty the hopper, remove the slider and clean everything. When using SP2, I used to remove the slider and blast it with some air every time I emptied the hopper.

Henning, will you be at the Open Nationals ?

Shooting the jungle run was fun, but setting the steel wasn't any fun at all. Instead of a jungle, it was more like a briar patch. It made me wish I wore pants.

How about that expanding foam insulation in an aersol can from Home Depot? I wasn thinking of using that (plus a bunch of saran wrap or wax paper) to customize a Pelican type case for my open gun. Or something like this: http://www.cryovac.com/products/protective...uick/quick.html

In a match one night, I saw a guy fire a squib (It was a Caspian .45), which cycled the slide, popped another round into battery, then he fired again. Didn't technically blow up the gun, what it did though was quite strange. It even cycled on the second round, pushing the first round out, lodging the second in the barrel, then bulging the barrel AFTER the slide was in the rearward postion, not letting the slide go back to the forward position to battery . Didn't hurt the frame or the slide, but he had to take a Dremel tool to cut the barrel off just in front of the bushing (while the slide was in the rear position), just to get the slide to drop so he could break it down. He was new to re-loading. The next week (I swear this is the truth! I have several witnesses! ), he did the exact same thing with another Caspian, except this time, it didn't cycle the slide back on the second round, but bulged the barrel inside the slide, where you could not pull it back. Not even enough to get it back to a position where you could take it down to get the barrel out. We told him that if he did come back to our matches (very nicely mind you, as he was pretty upset that he had ruined two beautiful Caspian .45's in the span of one week!), he would have to shoot factory ammo, as the next time, something could go flying and do some severe injury to a bystander. He came back one more time, to sell all of his re-loading stuff. He does have a very nice Caspian paper weight now, though! We never determined if it was low powder, wet powder, no powder, as to why the squibs. On the first occasion, i loaned him my Springfield Trophy Match to finish the match with, under the condition he shot my ammo. Never seen that before! Every primer-only squib I've seen just goes 'pop', no slide motion. I wonder what happended to that guy's load... A comment about the original post: If the problem persists, maybe try a powder cop die.

Hits: CED 7000 timer - the way a timer should be! UpLula - Mine works great, saved my thumb for the big sticks Used Aimpoint XD - great bang for the buck Surefire EarPro SonicDefenders - love them better than muffs! Good for rifle/shotgun too. Misses: Wrist strap for CED 7000 Stroller as range cart (too skinny, need different model) Oakley Sunglasses - the paint peeled

Umm... squibs are no fun, but are they really squibs? You mentioned that you worry about doube taps. I don't really understand this statement, since every squib I've seen won't cycle the slide. To be dangerous, you have to cycle the slide manually then pull the trigger. Unless you mistake a squib for a FTF, you should be OK. Now, if you're talking about LOW powder, that's another story. Anyone know if you can pick a powder charge strong enough to cycle the slide, but weak enough to not shoot the bullet?

Added a new post tonight, first in several weeks!

Those are the EarPro Sonic Defenders. I've been using them for two years now. They work really well and are cheap. In a nutshell, the design is such that they allow sound under 80db (might be off by a few, this is from memory) to pass with negligent reduction, so conversation, etc, is almost normal. Inputs over that peak threshold are reduced by something like 28-30db, never exceeding 80db they claim. I don't have any measuring device to verify that, but I will say that they work great. I also use them on long plane flights and they lessen the ear fatigue you get there too. They are washable and infinitely reusable. Cheap at around $12.00. Surefire's website has more info. Geoff Yea! Sonic Defenders are great!! I shoot open, and muffs were not enough, plugs + muffs were way uncomfortable. The sonic defenders are great. I can have reasonably normal conversations, but shooting my open gun is very pleasant! I'm going to order a few spare sets.

Thanks guys. Since money is tight, I decided only to upgrade a couple of the base pads to 23rnd. I'd love to have a couple of those no-rib 24 round chromed mags that henning sells, but just gotta watch where I spend the cash. With a max of 32rnds/stage, I may be gambling on my big stick a little, but should have plenty of 23rnd mags...

I've been checking an cleaning my magazines this week for our sectional championship. I also want to be sure they are all functional and tip-top for the nationals. However, I'm starting to wonder if I should upgrad them a little. I'm shooting Open, 38 super, Tanfoglio. I have: 1 big stick (28 rounds) 1 standard + x-base pad (23 rounds) 2 standard + stock base pad (18-19 rounds) 1 barny mag (10 rounds) Now, I assume that four mags (+ barney) is enough. However, should I upgrade two more of them to 23 rounds?

They actually had both SP and SR, but with the 5k limit the shipping and hazmat just add too much for it to be worth it for me now. The SP lasted little over an hour, the SR a few minutes I called within 30 seconds of receiving the message from Midway on my phone. It seems others got the message faster, since they were out....

Is primer flow/flattening/cratering simply an indicator of pressure, or does it indicate an imminent failure of the primer? If you switch from SP to SR because they start to look flat or cratered, have you really made things safer, or are you just hiding the signs of high pressure by using a different primer?

The range is 10 miles from the match hotel (New Orleans), and 11 miles from the south end of the strip. Remember, a mile in traffic is a long way. I do not know if there is a shuttle between the hotel and shooting range. I plan to have a rental car, since I like to come a go as I please. I'll probably be willing to give rides to people, but ad-hoc, not pre-arranged. I'm staying at the match hotel. I've stayed on the strip many times; Bellagio, Harrahs, Treasure Island, Mirage, and Imperial Palace (yuck), so I don't feel an urge to stay there this time. Plus the table limits are likely better at the New Orleans, and they have a theatre and bowling alley (fun!). If my wife was going, she would definately want us to stay on the strip, so she could sightsee. Don't assume that the strip will be a lot more expensive than the New Orleans. My wife has seen some killer deals at many of the major hotels. Get online and start searching! If you don't already have your airline tickets, try Southwest Vacations for a combo package. Just stay away from Imperial Palace and Circus Circus. The strip is not far from The New Orleans (1 mile from Tropicana Hotel, south end of the strip), but too far to walk. The New Orleans has a shuttle to take people to and from the strip. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong about the schedule. However, I think in the past you shot for 1/2 day, alternating beteween the days. You might shoot Morning-Afternoon-Morning, or Afternoon-Morning-Afternoon. I'm not sure you can be sure of your ending time, but you'll have a good idea if you look at the Squad Matrix. Example of the 2008 matrix is here: http://www.uspsa-nationals.org/08LimitedNa...sSquadSched.pdf

Here's an example of how it might look in Excel. There are lots of way to make the graphs, but I'm not wild about this one, since it only shows average. You can get Excel to show individual data points and ranges and such, but it's a pain. Personally, I like JMP. It is harder to add fancy titles or labels, but makes nice quick graphs that have a lot of visual information. Here's an example:

Yes, but Twitter is free. Beta and HD-DVD were a significant financial investment.