Fourtrax's Range Report

[Chris iliff]

Guess not. ^^^^^

CRO'd Indiana SS, Prod, Revo match awhile back. I won the awesome SS 1911 raffle gun.

Not much else to say. Been camping and enjoying that, might get a boat. Not sure yet.

Did trade my 14 year old Grasshopper on a new Grasshopper.

No mental revelations even though I think about shooting a lot. I also pour over results when I know some of my friends are shooting bigger matches.

No desire yet.

[Chris iliff]

A great day tempered by the worse news I've got in awhile. Had some family out and we did some shooting. It got me wanting more. My race gun broke and That was a bummer. So I was thinking, I won that cool as anything 9 mm custom Springfield 1911 A1 that ZRTS worked over at the Indiana single stack match. I'm kinda getting a hair.

Then I walked up to the house soaked in sweat only to receive a call from a shooting buddy I hadn't talked to in a while to tell me that a good friend had passed away.

Rest in Peace Big Pete Briggs.

I will miss you.

[Chris iliff]

Loaded some rounds up for my SS 9mm. Went down to the range and shot some groups, meh, on actually calling them groups,......more like flocks.

Ran the plate machine. Man the cake is calling.

Haven't chrono'd the rounds, but I stole the load from the Internet and the claim was around 130pf. I need to chrono.

I need to dial the sights in a bit, it shot a tad low. Recoil?? I now get the allure of shooting a 1911 9mm minor. Very fun.

I need some magazines, magazine pouches, and a holster.

All in all, I am excited about shooting a match with this SS gun.

I can hear Warsaw calling.

[Chris iliff]

Open gun is now fixed. I Had to decide to complete a SS rig or fix the open gun.

 

Bought the new PT EVO grip and their ambi safety and had Pat Rafferty install them. I have been dryfiring the open and getting used to how aggressive this grip is. You don't change your grip once you draw, that for sure!  I like it so far. I have not shot it yet, but if we get a good day I'll get that done. 

 

I think im going to shoot more this year. Not sure how much, but I've got some goals for turning 50. 

 

Yikes, 50!!!!

[Chris iliff]

Update:

 

I have Shot the PT grip and new safeties and it's really nice. Pat Rafferty did an excellent job. I am very happy with it. 

 

Im in Florida and shot a match at Hansen range. Really great squad. I shot clean, fat and slow. Lol. 

 

It was fun. Unfortunately I did not bring my gun. I shot my Dads open gun. Not that it mattered much, but I had to clear two jams and one magazine unexpectedly dropped after a shot. 

 

Magazine thing was probably my fault, I just didn't slam it home. Funny how they will stay in there while you are running though. 

 

 

[Chris iliff]

Just ordered Dillon's quick change tool head for my 650. I want to set it up for dedicated 9 minor. 

 

I have been been reaching out to those in the know for 9 minor loads. Please feel free to post any info here. 

 

I will be using SNS for bullets. Not decided between 135's or 147's yet. 

 

Will be shooting them from my two Springfields,....an XDM and my 1911 A1, both full size. 

 

So please, post up any recommendations.  

 

 

[Chris iliff]

Went to try out some different loads at Phils house. I shot some 147's and some 127's both right at 130pf. Frankly, the whole 147gr for minor thing is lost on me. Maybe it's all the years shooting open at major PF with 115's and 124's?  All I know is that 147's felt mushy, slow and sluggish. The 127's felt crisp, snappy and quick. I felt like I was on the sight quicker and ready to go!  

 

Maybe its a perception thing, but for now I'll be getting SNS 125's. 

 

Bought my complete SS rig from Stoegers  pro shop. +$300

 

Bought 6 Tripp SS mags in 9mm, +$220

 

geez, that's some chaching. 

 

Shoot A's Chris, just shoot A's!!!

[Chris iliff]

Nothing in the mail. Disappointed. 

 

I have a lot to do before this weekend and my first ever SS match. My friend Phil hooked me up with some very nice 127 gr cast lead bullets that he made. Quality is tops, if you knew Phil you'd understand that he doesn't do anything wrong when it comes to this stuff. 

 

I want to get that rig and my Tripp mags. I need to get some dry fire mag change practice. It will improve over time, but I need those mechanics drilled for a bit. I've almost never had to reload more than once (open) so moving from one pouch to the next I've never practiced. 

 

This is is going to be fun. 

[Chris iliff]

I now have everything. I am SS compliant and gear is squared away. I have redone the rig twice and I am done fidgeting with it. Bullets nose out was weird, I guess too many years of the other way. So, its traditional pouch set up for me. 

 

I thought today would be my first match at BORCC in Michigan, but we read the schedule wrong. 

 

I put the the rig on and adjusted everything one last time and did my first dryfire session. Mostly mag changes working my way through all my new Tripp mags. 

 

I concentrated on smoothness. Just trying to be smooth and clean in the motions. 

 

I will I'll likely go down to my range and get some baseline times down before Wednesday. 

 

Bill Drill

2x2x2

El Presidente

Near to far

Plate Machine. 

 

I will be at the NRA convention next weekend. 

 

FUN

[Chris iliff]

NRA convention was a good trip. I talked to Jake while I was there at the USPSA booth. As always, booth was great and busy. 

 

So much rain here that my first match at Wildcat was cancelled today. 

 

I loaded up 4 mags and went down to my pond, I mean range, and shot my plate machine at about Ten yards. Also did some fast berm drills just to get that sight tracking for me. Mainly, I wanted to see if my new mags and reloads were ok. 

 

I need lots more shooting work to be comfortable with these iron sights, but I ain't gonna sweat it anymore. It's not as bad a transition as I thought.  I know that perception might change in the middle of my first match. Hahaha. 

 

Warsaw,....here I come!

 

 

[Chris iliff]

Wanted to mention that I'm shooting 127gr cast w/ 5.4gr of Autocomp at 1.165 OAL. 

 

 

Edited May 6, 2017 by Chris iliff
Double post re-do

[Chris iliff]

I shot my first SS match at Warsaw. It was great to be back on that range (40 miles from home) surrounded by friends I haven't seen in awhile. 

 

The shooting was accurate, but slow. I could have pulled the trigger quicker. I had failures to "magazine eject" on every mag change. This added huge amounts of time to every stage. It was ugly. 

 

Stage plans were good and I executed fine as far as running my plan. But, the whole match could be defined as methodically slow with painful reloads, lol. 

 

OAL on my rounds was too long causing the mags to hang up. This has been fixed. I will probably shoot Atlanta, IN next weekend. 

 

Oh, I checked my classifier on a calculator on the web and it seems to be in the low 60's. Calc said 63%. 

 

1st match

16 out of 27 overall. SS minor. 

Mag changes from hell

B range classifier

 

Fun stuff. 

 

 

Edited May 20, 2017 by Chris iliff

[Chris iliff]

After more testing and OAL changes, I still can't get my mags to drop free if a round is chambered. It's frustrating because I enjoyed my one SS foray. Was looking forward to another match where my equipment worked. 

 

Geez, I've shot Open since 2003 and almost never an equipment problem. 

 

In other words, they drop free, just not after you charge the gun. 

 

I'm a little aggravated. Lots of money for equipment that's not working as I hoped. 

 

 

[CHA-LEE]

Chis> I have faced this same issue in the past. When the magazine doesn't drop free is is due to the top round in the magazine being biased forward? If so there are a couple of solutions.

[Chris iliff]

CHA-LEE

 

I contacted the manufacturer and we had a good discussion. I decided on going the return/refund route.

 

I did try a few simple fixes that I thought might fix the problem. 

 

First, I was loaded long. 1.160 OAL. I reset my die and the new OAL was 1.130. Didn't help. 

 

Second, I loaded up the mags and let them sit for a bit. This did take some tension out of them, but I still got failure to mag eject, even starting with only two rounds in the mag. 

 

You diagnosed the problem perfectly.  When the round was being chambered out of the magazine, it pulled the round below it forward quite a ways. 

 

This caused the magazine to hang up on ejection because the top round was pulled so far forward it touched the inside of the front strap. 

 

 

I am interested in any fix for this. If you have fixes, I'd like to hear them. I'm going to get 6 more magazines as soon as my refund is credited and who knows,...I might experience this again. 

 

[CHA-LEE]

Chris> This type of issue can happen due to a few different things........

 

First, there could be too much friction between the top of the "next" round in the magazine and the underside of the slide. The rib on the underside of the slide that goes from the bottom of the breach face backwards towards the disconnector notch should be polished to a smooth finish. You can rule out this friction issue by putting a liberal amount of oil on this rib then fire a few rounds to see if the forward biased "Next" round issue happens. If the rounds stop being biased forward, then you have too much friction between the "Next" round in the magazine and the underside of the slide when the gun cycles. 

 

Second, if the bottom edge of the breech face is sharp it can dig into the brass of the "Next" round in the magazine and pull it forward. This issue is fairly easy to identify by inspecting the brass on the "Next" round after you fire a shot. If there are any gouges or nicks in the side of the brass then the bottom edge of the breach face is digging into the brass as the slide comes forward while chambering the round. This type of issue is usually exasperated by using an undersize die in your press and the rounds have an excessive coke bottle shape from the undersizing. To fix this issue you need to round the bottom edge of the breech face. The link below is a generic google image I found that has a red line on the part I am talking about. The bottom edge of the breech face should have a pretty decent rounding to it to keep it from digging into the side of the "Next" round.

 

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1920&bih=1099&q=1911+breech+face&oq=1911+breech+face&gs_l=img.3..0j0i24k1l2.2512.11661.0.12221.39.27.12.0.0.0.190.2041.24j1.25.0....0...1.1.64.img..2.36.2016.0..35i39k1j0i8i30k1j0i10i24k1.vwugkEEZPmk#imgrc=ZovQfm3_RgScDM:

 

Third, along the same lines as the second issue, the shape of the sidewall on the brass dramatically affects how easy the ammo can slide against the round underneath it. When the slide picks up the top round and chambers it, the "Next" round is held down by the rib on the underside of the slide so it can't register up to the top of the feed lips on the magazine. Since the "Next" round is being held down by the slide, the only thing holding it in the same position front to back is the friction difference between the under side of the slide and the brass on brass friction between the "Next" round and the one under it. If the Brass on Brass friction is less then the slide to "next" round friction then the round will be pulled forward by the slide. Get some decent quality factory ammo as a reference such as Winchester White Box or similar. Factory ammo will have very minimal sidewall variation verses reloaded ammo. Shoot the factory ammo and see if the next round biasing forward issue happens, If not then the issue is pointing directly at your reloading methods in changing the sidewall of the case. Too much undersizing of the brass will create a coke bottle shape and that will change how easy or hard it is for the round to bias forward. You can also evaluate the brass on brass friction by looking at how evenly the rounds lay on one another at the top of the magazine. They should be laying flat on one another with full brass on brass contact. If the rims of the cases are pinched together and the front of the ammo is splayed apart that is a direct indicator of some strange brass sidewall shape issues. 

[rvb]

Cha-lees advice is all excellent.

 

Some other thoughts...

Do you lube brass when you reload? Leaving some one shot on could help. Or spray some silicone on a rag and give the ammo a tumble before loading them into the mag.  I've even seen using nickel brass solve it.

 

-rvb

[Chris iliff]

Ok, I’m back. 

 

Just spent 9 months not shooting and I think I am in a position to finally shoot. 

 

I just pulled the the trigger on Tripp mags, ......again!  

 

With Cha-Lee’s advice, I think I can get this gun to drop the mags. 

 

I’m not going to get all excited. I’m just going to let the new mags get here and then work at getting them to work (drop free). 

 

Then I will do some load development and get that dialed. 

 

Then shoot. 

 

My my goals are different than before. I want to understand the “Shooting”.  Moving from Open to irons will hopefully allow me to really become a student of the gun. 

 

I’m not so much about shooting a match every weekend, like I used to do. For me, it’s become More about learning, not necessarily winning. 

 

Hopefully though, with a more “student/discovery” mindset, winning will be a by product. 

 

 

 

 

[Chris iliff]

Ok, I rcv’d my new Tripp mags. As before they are top quality and show impeccable workmanship. As before they do not drop free if you fire any rounds. 

 

I took the gun and mags to my buddy Phil. We went over what was advised and 

followed Cha-Lee’s advice above. Stoning and rounding all surfaces mentioned. 

 

If if you are reading Cha-Lee,...how much can we round that edge high lighted in the 

Link you provided above?  We only went as far as “it’s smooth with no burrs”. 

 

We even did the excessive oil trick to see if that would work. Nope. Saturated the top of every round in the magazine, NOPE. 

 

So, right now the mags are crammed full and I’ll leave them sit a week. 

 

I 

 

 

[Chris iliff]

Here’s a link to where I’m at. 

 

 

I just don’t think the Tripp’s are going to get the job done. 

 

I have a 1 Dawson Mag ordered. No hurries, it’ll sort out soon enough. 

[Chris iliff]

Rcv’d the Dawson mag. No more issues. 

 

I think ill I’ll get the Dawson no gap ice magwell also. 

[Chris iliff]

Bought Dawson 1911 no gap ice magwell and another Dawson mag. Should rcv next week.

 

Sold the Tripp magazines. Did not break even, lol. Lessons learned.  

[Chris iliff]

Installed Dawson no gap Ice Magwell. Ordered more Dawson 1911 9mm magazines. Ordered a case of SNS 147 grain round nose red 9mm bullets. Bought 1 pound of Titegroup powder. 

 

Hopefully I’ll get this dialed in and record some base times on some standard drills. 

I’d like to shoot Atlanta Indiana’s first match on March 25th. 

 

 

[Chris iliff]

Mags and bullets arrived. Spent some of today dialing in my load. I’m shooting 9mm using SNS 147 grain “red” round nose bullets, 3.0 grains of Titegroup, OAL of 1.140, Winchester Small rifle primer and BK brass. Ran several groups of 5 through the chrono and I’m right at 137pf. 

 

I have added just a hair more crimp and will probably go out on OAL to 1.150, I’ll have to chrono again. I’d like about 133-135 Pf.  Im almost there. 

 

I shot groups and posted a pic on facebook. Meh, 6 shot group in 2 strings of 3. Not bad, not great. All me. 

 

Ripped some berm drills looking at that front sight. 

 

More to come.....

Edited March 19, 2018 by Chris iliff

[Chris iliff]

Getting some failures to feed at 1.140. Dropped to 1.130 and lowered powder to 2.9gr Titegroup. PF at 134.5. 

 

Going to shoot and monitor next 100 or so and see if the few failures to feed go away. 

 

Magazines are dropping like par times in a Steve Anderson dryfire class. So, I’m very happy with the Dawson 1911 9mm mags.