Nimitz Posted April 24, 2013 Author Share Posted April 24, 2013 I've been talking with Steve Anderson about this and he says not to worry about if a gun shoots "flat or soft" but how is the dot tracking. As shooter995 said, what's important is that the dot tracks straight up & then comes back down with no dipping or side movement. This has more to do with the gunsmith than whether you get 9 major or 38SC ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BanksBullets Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 I am building a 9mm open gun I will have to say I am surprised by all the work involved in a gun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supermoto Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 I've been talking with Steve Anderson about this and he says not to worry about if a gun shoots "flat or soft" but how is the dot tracking. As shooter995 said, what's important is that the dot tracks straight up & then comes back down with no dipping or side movement. This has more to do with the gunsmith than whether you get 9 major or 38SC ... Probabaly has more to do with the shooter than gunsmith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38superfan Posted April 27, 2013 Share Posted April 27, 2013 Wow am i glad i read this thread! I will be keeping 38 super for my woods toy and go with a 9 major for an open gun down the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted April 27, 2013 Share Posted April 27, 2013 30 is not that hard to do yourself if you know what you're doing. SV mags and a modified Grams follower and I get 30 in Super. Chris I agree, I have a SV tube that is 30 loadable. I was just curious how he was able to get 30 rounds in a STI tube! I was under the assumption that it couldn't be done. Ohh guess it doesn't matter, like sarge said, you still have to reload! Thats the beauty of 32 round field courses! Everybody reloads at some point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted April 27, 2013 Share Posted April 27, 2013 Yeah Matt told me NO shock buff, and I ran one in one of his LTD guns for a couple years. No problems. He also told me to use a 12lb. spring in LTD and I still ran a 10lb. without a hitch. Most gunsmiths know that the average shooter has little, to no working knowledge of their own gun. Many shooters don't even know how to strip down the lower half of their own gun, much less how to identify when their shock buff and / or recoil spring needs replacing. The fact is the lower the recoil spring weight, the more often you will have to replace it. I replace my recoil spring every month. Especially if I have a major match coming up, and since I shoot an avg. of 1 Major per month, I change the recoil spring. But most shooters don't change their recoil spring twice a YEAR, if that. This kind of behavior leads to customers calling up their gunsmith and complaining about how terrible the gun is running, when in fact it's their own doing by neglecting the mechanical aspect of the gun & associated springs. So many gunsmiths will tell people to use a little heavier spring than what is possible, only when extreme care is taken to ensure the gun is not undersprung, feeds reliably, and is changed regularly. That makes perfect sense, I talked to Matt and I'm going to try the 7lb, not at a match of course! I will keep you guys updated on what I find out. Don't forget that Matt knows his $h!t about his guns. I asked him about running a 7 because the gun handled quite a bit better. He said try it, BUT, you will probably find you have to keep the gun super clean and change it more often. Made it through 1 and a half matches then it started not locking up, etc. I went back to an 8 and ran it several hundred rounds before cleaning. My gun doesn't get grungy by any means but I'm not cleaning it every hundred rounds if I can help it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parallax3D Posted April 28, 2013 Share Posted April 28, 2013 Thats the beauty of 32 round field courses! Everybody reloads at some point. I've even seen a stage that was named, "Open has to reload." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramairbrc Posted April 28, 2013 Share Posted April 28, 2013 (edited) Quick notes: I do have to rotate the shellplate on my 550 slower when loading 9mm major than any other caliber. I load 9.3 gr of Accurate Arms #7 on top of a Georgia Arms 125 gr lead bullet. I've owned two 9mm Major open guns since I got back into shooting last year, and they shoot just as flat as I remember my 38 supers shooting. But, I made sure both guns had the longer comp. STI likes to but the T1 comp on their open 9mm offerings, but T2 or a long custom comp like the Brazos is the way to go. And, the horizontal Cmore mount is the way to go... Get a slide racker too! Enjoys open! Edited April 28, 2013 by ramairbrc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pxm142 Posted April 29, 2013 Share Posted April 29, 2013 I've been talking with Steve Anderson about this and he says not to worry about if a gun shoots "flat or soft" but how is the dot tracking. As shooter995 said, what's important is that the dot tracks straight up & then comes back down with no dipping or side movement. This has more to do with the gunsmith than whether you get 9 major or 38SC ... Probabaly has more to do with the shooter than gunsmith I watch my dot is dipping down and left all the time. The meathead driving the gun is jerking the snot out of the trigger! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted April 29, 2013 Share Posted April 29, 2013 "Quick notes: I do have to rotate the shellplate on my 550 slower when loading 9mm major than any other caliber. I load 9.3 gr of Accurate Arms #7 on top of a Georgia Arms 125 gr lead bullet." Wow - I'll bet you really have to go slow with the powder on top of the bullet. Just kidding - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McGlock Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Thats the beauty of 32 round field courses! Everybody reloads at some point. I've even seen a stage that was named, "Open has to reload." Thats funny! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azoneonly Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 For what it's worth. I was one of the R.O.'s at last years handgun nationals. R.O.'s are allowed to pick up brass at days end. I was rather surprised to find that more of the open gun brass I picked up was 38 Super Comp. Here's another fact. Even though 9mm is initially less expensive, it cannot be reloaded nearly as many times as 38 S.C. due to the very high pressures. Some of the R.O.'s were telling me they wouldn't pick up 9mm open gun brass for the same reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lcs Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 Don't believe everything you hear and are told. If one is using a low pressure load in 9 Major, you can reload the brass many times. The same principle goes for 38S. If you run a high pressure 38S-you will stress the brass more and reload it less. I don't pick up other 9 major brass because I have no idea how many times or what load they were using. My 9 brass that I recover from our indoor range-I reload because I know the source. If you shoot major matches you lose brass. 9 is cheaper than 38S and nobody can argue that. If I pay $30 for a thou once fired 9 and I pay $143 for a thou of 38S--well you can do math. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted May 3, 2013 Author Share Posted May 3, 2013 yeah I've heard that before ... also, it looks like the gun I'm leaning toward can't be chambered in 9 major so I suspect I'll end up with 38 SC ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lcs Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 yeah I've heard that before ... also, it looks like the gun I'm leaning toward can't be chambered in 9 major so I suspect I'll end up with 38 SC ... You just need a new barrel to go 9. If its 38SC, the AFTEC need not be changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted May 3, 2013 Author Share Posted May 3, 2013 actually that won't work for the gun I have in mind. Can't get enough powder in a 9 major case to build up enough gas for the comp to work effectively with the length of barrel this gun would have ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
remoandiris Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 I have one of the longest 9s many at our match have ever seen. Dean joked about it a little when I first got it. I get plenty of WAC in the case to make the comp work. Bill Q is uses a shorty and has no issue getting the comp to work. Just sayin that long or short, the comps work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted May 3, 2013 Author Share Posted May 3, 2013 Ok, I'm just repeating what Bob Brazos told me about his BSG Pro Sx which had a 4.5" barrel ... He said he doesn't make that gun in 9 major because of the barrel length so that if I wanted the gun in 9 it would have to be the 5" version ... I'm certainly not smart enough to know which is which but I assume he knows what he's talking about, maybe I'm not conveying what he talked with me about correctly ... I barely understand how a Glock works after all .... Good thing I have lots of time to figure this out..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aircooled6racer Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 Hello: Buy a 5" pistol in 9mm and don't look back. I had a shorty and now shoot a 5". The 5" shoots flatter and softer. It is also faster for me shooting major and minor. Bob builds a good pistol but he really likes 38SC. I am sure there are a couple of 9mm Open pistols where you are that the guys will let you try. I am getting 5-8 reloads out of 9mm brass but I use a case pro to resize it. The primer pockets get big and won't hold primers after a while. I have not had very many that actually split the case mouth( maybe 5). I still pick up my used up brass and sell it for scrap. Hope this helps. Thanks, Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramairbrc Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 Hello: Buy a 5" pistol in 9mm and don't look back. I had a shorty and now shoot a 5". The 5" shoots flatter and softer. It is also faster for me shooting major and minor. Bob builds a good pistol but he really likes 38SC. I am sure there are a couple of 9mm Open pistols where you are that the guys will let you try. I am getting 5-8 reloads out of 9mm brass but I use a case pro to resize it. The primer pockets get big and won't hold primers after a while. I have not had very many that actually split the case mouth( maybe 5). I still pick up my used up brass and sell it for scrap. Hope this helps. Thanks, Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramairbrc Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 I too had a shorty 9mm major and then a 5.5" Trubor, and found the Trubor shot softer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfwmiket Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 Shot a match last weekend using a 9 major gun as opposed to the usual .38 super I'm accustomed to...... since the loads sorta make it apples and oranges, tough to make a comparison but I will say I am in no hurry to do 9 major now; I've always liked super, it's flat, lots of powder options and load options, and well, not quite so "violent". YMMV....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CocoBolo Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Shot a match last weekend using a 9 major gun as opposed to the usual .38 super I'm accustomed to...... since the loads sorta make it apples and oranges, tough to make a comparison but I will say I am in no hurry to do 9 major now; I've always liked super, it's flat, lots of powder options and load options, and well, not quite so "violent". YMMV....... I'd say it wasn't the caliber that did you in! I've RO'ed a number of majors where a big dog daddy's gun took a dirt knap and they borroed someone elses gun and went form GM to C class. I've got a couple of 9 majors that also have 38SC barrels and comps switch back and forth in the same gun, maybe I shot too much Major 9 but 38SC feels kind of wierd.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted May 5, 2013 Author Share Posted May 5, 2013 I appreciate everyone's inputs but I don't think I'm getting any closer to a decision. This is starting to look like a Ford vs Chevy thing .... the brass issue is real as is the number of powders available but those may or may not be drivers for me. Hopefully I'll be able to eventually shoot some 9 major & 38SC guns side by side so I can see if one is really softer & flater than the other ... that's probably the only way I'll be able to decide ,,, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RideHardStayHard Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Hello All, I’m new to the sport of USPSA and having a lot of fun. Also, this is my first post. I just picked up an Open Class Gun. This is what it has - Caspian HybriComp 38Super top end on Tripp Research 2011 frame. Hard Chromed frame and slide. Second complete top end Nowlin comped barrel in 38Super setup for shooting steel minor. Optima Dot sight mounted to slide, SV modular trigger. Custom grip with Dawson Magwell. Arredondo thumb rest, "PowerPack" sight mount and mag followers. 3X 140mm and 1X 170mm mags. Email me and at djc02848@yahoo.com and I can send you a video of the gun. With all that said I need a little advice on changing it over to a 9 – Why you ask? Ammo / brass. I also have about 8k round of 9 brass. I will be shooting USPSA and anything else I have time for. After reading so much about different barrels and there is so many choices and models to choose. It makes your head go in circles. I do under stand that the most important factor is fitting of the barrel, bushing, slide and the frame. If you owned this gun what would you do to it? I do re-load so that won't be a problem. I think I will be ok with my mag’s if I load 147g at .1190. Thanks Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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