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open gun not shooting as flat as i'd like


finz08

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My FGW 38 sc with 4 popple holes loves 10.9 gr. N105 with MG 124's - flat as a pancake - like Neomet said it gets a little messy but well worth it to me.

If you move the powder station one over and learn to put your thumb over the loaded case before the shellplate moves you will SPILL NO POWDER!!!! :D

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here's a pic of my bullet. Also i was thinking if i was using a 10lb wolf spring with a lightened slide would that increase recoil. I ordered some ism springs. a 7 8 and 9lb.

My load with the Bedel TI Comp is 10.5gr of AA#7 with 125gr Zero JHP set 1.235.(38SC). Pushing the load up to 175pf made the comp work a bunch better, it has one #3 poppel hole. N105 also worked good but a bit more slap in the palm. Slide weight 10oz.

The 10# spring worked for me with the bull barrel setup, if you have better recoil control then a 9# would take a little of dip off when the slide closes.

Of note I had to get the comp reamed 4 times to put an end to bullets hitting, and those occasional wild shots. YMMV

Edited by CocoBolo
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Don't worry about the bullets yet. The guy said that after shooting his comp was loose, it's obviously the bullets hitting the comp. If there is any play at all in the comp, even the slightest, the bullets will hit it. Have it properly reamed.

As far as flatness, I echo upping the powder charge and dropping the recoil spring weight. The powder is good. The next step would be to add popple holes. If you are like me, the gun will never be flat enough for you no matter what the combination you use. I use over 11 grains of 3n38 with my 115's and two popple holes, on a shorty, with an older style extended Brazo's comp and I am not happy. I have tried A LOT too, even powders most think would not make major and I just keep forcing in the powder until it does. I want the fastest, flattest recoil cycle possible and I will just never be satisfied with current gun and ammo offerings.

Edited by Whoops!
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I can tell you that Bobby does not put threadlocker on the comp, although he does recommend it. Apparently some customers wanted the ability to remove the comp. Also, try running the power factor up to the 175 range. My dot bounces all over the place with 124gr bullets at a 165PF, but with 115gr bullets at a 175PF, its flat as can be

Leaning on this recipe... Just got my barrel back ;) will keep you posted...

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Do the poppel holes make a big difference with muzzle rise? Why to the comps have ports out the side?

Mostly it does make a difference. It's a personal choice to have the holes but once they're drilled, its there to stay.

I shot without holes for a long time and a few years ago got a new open gun with a couple of holes. Had to up my powder charge to make major and it was a little more "violent" but the dot didn't move as much as without the holes. My scope needed a blast shield to protect the lens, blast shield was really pitted from all blast from the holes.

My new gun I got last year, I stayed away from the holes and once I got use to the recoil I'm just as fast if not faster and don't have to put up with the extra blast.

I believe the side ports have to do with the side to side movement :mellow:

Your loaded round looks a little short. If you load longer you can/have to put more powder to make major and thus have more gas for the comp.

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having an absolutely flat shooting gun is the holy grail and I once had a gun setup with a 4 port hybricomp barrel and a heavy steel 7 port comp that shot so flat, the dot didn't seem to lift,

it dipped down.

and I couldn't shoot it worth a crap, I tried for a year, and finally gave up, took off the boat anchor and put on a simple 3 port comp on and my scores went up.

what I learned was for me, it didn't matter how flat it shot, it matters how the dot tracks, as long as it tracks straight up and drops right back down, it's good.

I guess what i'm trying to say is, instead of trying to find the perfect gun/ammo/spring combo, go out and shoot it a ton, get comfortable with it's recoil, learn to track

how the dot moves and all the other stuff won't matter

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Do the poppel holes make a big difference with muzzle rise? Why to the comps have ports out the side?

The ports out the sides are fashion accessories. There is some myth that is helps keep the gun straight or negates tortional rotation. I have not noticed any such affect.

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having an absolutely flat shooting gun is the holy grail and I once had a gun setup with a 4 port hybricomp barrel and a heavy steel 7 port comp that shot so flat, the dot didn't seem to lift,

it dipped down.

and I couldn't shoot it worth a crap, I tried for a year, and finally gave up, took off the boat anchor and put on a simple 3 port comp on and my scores went up.

what I learned was for me, it didn't matter how flat it shot, it matters how the dot tracks, as long as it tracks straight up and drops right back down, it's good.

I guess what i'm trying to say is, instead of trying to find the perfect gun/ammo/spring combo, go out and shoot it a ton, get comfortable with it's recoil, learn to track

how the dot moves and all the other stuff won't matter

Good point, when you are shooting a stage your focus should be on the shooting, not on the gun, once you start to pay attention to the the sound and the feel of the gun, you are toast. I seldom even hear mine go off it is just the dot and the targets, maybe not Zen but close to it.

You have to be comfortable with the gun, I had one open gun it actually hurt my hands to shoot it, it took a while to work thru all of the "Fit" problems with the gun, had the safety reshaped, did lots of work on the grip etc. Once It didn't hurt any more it became my fastest gun, and my favorite shooter, it is my only bull gun and heavier than the cone comp guns I have.

Back to flat, I shoot some AASA steel matches where they whine about major loads destroying their steel so I tried shooting minor, ok so with minor the gun just lays there don't maybe flinces a bit, this made it very difficult to shoot fast, so I kept bumping up and changing powders, when I got to 145pf with AC I could shoot again as the gun started to move enough to trigger my normal shooting muscles. I won a few matches then it started affecting my USPSA matches my timing was off so I went to all major and its is the best way.

Once again I'll repeat my expierence on the Bedel TI is it needs a lot of gas to work properly, punch it up to 175 pf. I was shooting 10.2gr AA#7 the gun was a tasmanian devil bouncing all over the place, pushed the load to 10.5gr and it was a pussy cat, easy to shoot flat enough and soft.

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175 power factor would be over 1420 fps. Is that too hard on the gun? Also where do thumb rests come into play. Are they personal preference or do they help control the gun better?

Thanks again for all the help

Yes, it is harder on the gun just like major is harder on the gun than minor, a bit more pressure and a few less rounds before the barrel wears out. Of course leave it in the safe and your great grad kids will say its just like new. However if it is flatter and softer it is not going to batter the gun or shooter as much.

You won't know till you try it, but it worked for me.

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The old power factor was 175; we shot at 181 or so for years & years, with a good barrel (Nowlin, Barsto. and Kart were big back then) you would have a good-shooting gun for 50,000 rounds (or 100K or more). Nowadays there are a few barrel-makers who can't stop re-inventing the wheel and some of them seem to have no problem shrugging their shoulders when they hear the barrel they made is shot out at 10,000.

For side-ports, I never saw any side-side tracking changes; the main benefit is they vent additional gas which creates a bigger push on the comp baffles which gives you a softer slap in the hand. If you drill extra side-ports beyond the original design, the way to go is round holes (or a shape with round corners) on the 1st or 1st & 2nd chambers down low near the inside floor of the comp. There is a risk that you will develop cracks in the comp going from your new side-ports up the sides to the up-port, so leave as much metal as possible between side-port and up-port. If you see a crack, your comp will be trash with a few hundred rounds, there is no repair possible.

Edited by eric nielsen
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I recently loaded up some 9-Major with AA#7. I tried 9.0gr and 10.0gr with a MG 124CMJ at 1.165 with a Fed SR Primer. It is a VERY fine powder - loading 10gr was no problem at all. The 9.0 loads shot OK at a 165PF. The 10.0 loads were the best thing I have shot with a 124gr bullet. They came out to an average PF of 182. The gun was almost as flat as my 115/HS6 load, but softer. Next up...AA#7 and 115 JHPs :devil: This was in a FGW full size open gun with Thundercomp II and no barrel holes.

Edited by Desmo412
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I recently loaded up some 9-Major with AA#7. I tried 9.0gr and 10.0gr with a MG 124CMJ at 1.165 with a Fed SR Primer. It is a VERY fine powder - loading 10gr was no problem at all. The 9.0 loads shot OK at a 165PF. The 10.0 loads were the best thing I have shot with a 124gr bullet. They came out to an average PF of 182. The gun was almost as flat as my 115/HS6 load, but softer. Next up...AA#7 and 115 JHPs :devil: This was in a FGW full size open gun with Thundercomp II and no barrel holes.

Hey did you miss this thread is about 38 SUPER. Luckly you stopped at 10gr and actually I ran 9 major AA#7 at 10gr w/124gr CMJ MTGs for about 10K rounds. I never tried the 115's over AA#7. If that doesn't work out try 3N38. Silhouette is my 9 major powder, shoots soft, but you need to watch the temp as it does die off in the heat.

IMSI springs, they get very light very quickly, a 9# feels great till it breaks in about 2 or 3 matches then the gun gets bouncey. I'm going to go up a pound or two and see if it helps.

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  • 4 months later...

Have you tried a slower burning powder like 3n37-3n38? Maybe that comp just needs more gas. Here is a powder burn rate chart

*** Burn Rate Comparison Chart << FASTEST 1. R-1 (Norma) 59. HS-7 (Hodgdon) 117. Varget (Hodgdon) 2. N310 (Vihtavuori) 60. Blue Dot (Alliant) 118. 5000 (Vectan) 3. Titewad (Hodgdon) 61. 571 (Winchester) 119. AR2208 (ADI) 4. AS- 30N (ADI) 62. N105 (Vihtavuori) 120. 4064 (IMR) 5. Nitro 100 (Accurate) 63. No. 9 (Accurate) 121. 4064 XMR (Accurate) 6. Bullseye (Alliant) 64. Enforcer (Ramshot) 122. 2520 (Accurate) 7. Solo 1000 (Accurate) 65. 4100 (Scot) 123. 4320 (IMR) 8. Red Diamond (Scot) 66. Steel (Alliant) 124. N203 (Norma) 9. AS (Vectan) 67. 2400 (Alliant) 125. N140 (Vihtavuori) 10. Red Dot (Alliant) 68. N110 (Vihtavuori) 126. N540 (Vihtavuori) 11. Promo (Alliant) 69. Lil Gun (Hodgdon) 127. 2700 (Accurate) 12. Titegroup (Hodgdon) 70. R123 (Norma) 128. Big Game (Ramshot) 13. No. 2 (Accurate) 71. H110 (Hodgdon) 129. Reloader 15 (Alliant) 14. American Select (Alliant) 72. 296 (Winchester) 130. H380 (Hodgdon) 15. AA Plus (Winchester) 73. AR2205 (ADI) 131. 760 (Winchester) 16. Clays (Hodgdon) 74. SR-4759 (IMR) 132. Brig 4351 (Scot) 17. N320 (Vihtavuori) 75. N120 (Vihtavuori) 133. H414 (Hodgdon) 18. Competition (Ramshot) 76. 4227 (IMR) 134. N150 (Vihtavuori) 19. Royal D (Scot) 77. H4227 (Hodgdon) 135. N550 (Vihtavuori) 20. WST (Winchester) 78. 5744 XMR (Accurate) 136. 4350 XMR (Accurate) 21. AP- 50N (ADI) 79. 410 (Alliant) 137. 4350 (IMR) 22. HP38 (Hodgdon) 80. N130 (Vihtavuori) 138. 7000 (Vectan) 23. AO (Vectan) 81. SP-3 (Vectan) 139. AR2209 (ADI) 24. 452AA (Winchester) 82. 680 (Winchester) 140. H4350 (Hodgdon) 25. 453 (Scot) 83. N200 (Norma) 141. N204 (Norma) 26. 231 (Winchester) 84. 1680 (Accurate) 142. Hunter (Ramshot) 27. Zip (Ramshot) 85. AR2207 (ADI) 143. Reloader 19 (Alliant) 28. 700X (IMR) 86. H4198 (Hodgdon) 144. N160 (Vihtavuori) 29. Green Dot (Alliant) 87. N133 (Vihtavuori) 145. N560 (Vihtavuori) 30. AS- 50N (ADI) 88. 4198 (IMR) 146. 4831 (IMR) 31. International Clays (Hodgdon) 89. BM1 (ADI) 147. Brig 4831 (Scot) 32. 473AA (Winchester) 90. Brig 4197 (Scot) 148. AR2213SC (ADI) 33. HS-5 (Hodgdon) 91. 2015 XMR (Accurate) 149. N205 (Norma) 34. WSL (Winchester) 92. Brig 3032 (Scot) 150. 3100 XMR (Accurate) 35. Unique (Alliant) 93. Reloader 7 (Alliant) 151. WMR (Winchester) 36. Universal Clays (Hodgdon) 94. 3031 (IMR) 152. H4831 (Hodgdon) 37. N330 (Vihtavuori) 95. Benchmark (Hodgdon) 153. MRP (Norma) 38. AP- 70N (ADI) 96. BM2 (ADI) 154. Reloader 22 (Alliant) 39. Power Pistol (Alliant) 97. N201 (Norma) 155. 785 (Winchester) 40. SR-7625 (IMR) 98. Brig 322 (Scot) 156. H450 (Hodgdon) 41. HS-6 (Hodgdon) 99. AR2219 (ADI) 157. Mag Pro (Accurate) 42. Silhouette (Ramshot) 100. H322 (Hodgdon) 158. N165 (Vihtavuori) 43. WAP (Winchester) 101. X-Terminator (Ramshot) 159. WXR (Winchester) 44. N340 (Vihtavuori) 102. 2230 (Accurate) 160. 7828 (IMR) 45. 540 (Winchester) 103. 748 (Winchester) 161. 8700 (Accurate) 46. Herco (Alliant) 104. Reloader 10X (Alliant) 162. H1000 (Hodgdon) 47. WSF (Winchester) 105. BLC-2 (Hodgdon) 163. AR2217 (ADI) 48. SR-4756 (IMR) 106. AR2206 (ADI) 164. Magnum (Ramshot) 49. AP- 100 (ADI) 107. 2460 (Accurate) 165. Reloader 25 (Alliant) 50. Solo 1250 (Accurate) 108. H335 (Hodgdon) 166. AR2225 (ADI) 51. 3N37 (Vihtavuori) 109. TAC (Ramshot) 167. Retumbo (Hodgdon) 52. 800X (IMR) 110. H4895 (Hodgdon) 168. H870 (Hodgdon) 53. No. 7 (Accurate) 111. 2495 XMR (Accurate) 169. N170 (Vihtavuori) 54. Longshot (Hodgdon) 112. AR2206H (ADI) 170. 24N41 (Vihtavuori) 55. Solo 1500 (Scot) 113. Reloader 12 (Alliant) 171. 50 BMG (Hodgdon) 56. True Blue (Ramshot) 114. 4895 (IMR) 172. AR2218 (ADI) 57. N350 (Vihtavuori) 115. Brig 4065 (Scot) 173. 20N29 (Vihtavuori) 58. 3N38 (Vihtavuori) 116. N135 (Vihtavuori)

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