bayougump Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 What load did you shoot? Don't know, it was a friend who run 38 super in his open guns. I still have a LOT to acquire far as reloading stuff, different powders, rig etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gennaro Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 (edited) BeerBaron: The slides are definitely hard , old or new it doesn't matter. I've lost a few drill bits on my projects, half the time my fault, other half very hard material. The cutting tool I used on my slide is a 4 flute Solid Carbide TiN coated Center Cut Square End Mill. Depending on the manufacturer they can get a little pricey, mine was $25.00 dollars US. There are cheaper tool supply shops out there. When machining the slide, lighter and slower the safer. Do not try and remove more than .003'' inch of material per pass , and see how the mill is running. It may take some time , but you don't want to have to replace a slide , that will cost much more than a $25.00 dollar end mill bit. Let me know how it goes. Best of luck. Here is my V12 with the slot for the guide rod machined out. Edited August 15, 2014 by gennaro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeerBaron Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Thanks so much gennaro. Did you refinish the slide and frame after cutting out the spring tunnel and cutting back the dust cover? I talked to a smith about getting this stuff done and he recommends refinishing the gun which I'd like to avoid if possible. Last question. Is your racker the sidewinder or sidewinder XL? Match went ok. Gun ran really well. No malf at all. I was a bit cautious on some stages and had 2 silly mikes which cost me. But finished the match 59% which I'm happy with. Plus we had to shoot the long 32 round stage in torrential rain where as the bulk of the open shooters shot it dry which cost me about 30 points. That would have got me up near 70%. Anyway. I was just happy it performed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saratoga Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Sorry for cutting in but if you zoom in on my "workhorse" you can see what the frame looks like if you dont refinish and use it for a while. The area without crome gets darker and duller. And this it what it looks like when you do it to a upper with blued finish. sorry for the crappy pic quality, phonecamera Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gennaro Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 (edited) BeerBaron: No I did not refinish the slide after machining all the slots into it. I like the way it looks. However the metal is no longer protected , so I always keep a thin coat of oil on the raw steel , and especially if I get caught in the rain I will immediately wipe it down with oil when I get home. One of the main reasons guns have some sort of a finish on them is to combat against one of our primary enemies known as rust. That said if you don't want to worry about the possibility of surface rust developing on the exposed metal , it maybe best to refinish the gun. But I also don't believe that your gun will be sitting somewhere long enough for rust to attach itself. I have the standard Sidewinder but you may prefer something that extends further out. On the XL Sidewinder , you will have to come up with some sort of a set screw. Your gunsmith should be able to take care of that for you. Here is what the standard sidewinder looks like on mine , If you don't think it extends far enough out , go with the XL , you can always cut it back. Let me know how it works out for you. Best of luck Edited August 18, 2014 by gennaro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeerBaron Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Thanks Saratoga and gennaro. Those pics really help. With only the front edge of the frame and the edges of the 2 slide cuts exposed it's almost not worth refinishing the whole gun. That sidewinder looks like the perfect size but I wonder if it'll clear my 90 mounted cmore. It'd be close. I think I'll order both and see how it goes. As always, thanks for the info. I will say I think the sprinco works. It's not cheap but does seem to help just that little bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saratoga Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Morn Beerbaron, Here is a sidemount with the XL. I do not think that the "stock" size sidewinder will even reach out past the mount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeerBaron Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Morn' Saratoga. That helps. Looks like the xl it is. Otherwise I'll try the cheely long racker. But being straight it'll be close to my thumb. Thanks mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saratoga Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Please note as Gennaro said that the XL is delivered with no thread for the locking screw and "in the blue". The early sidewinder sliderackers from Henning also came with just a set screw drilled straight from the above. (not the angled version sold nowadays). ancient tanfo sidewinder from above and below Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bayougump Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Well I got the Cmore put on last weekend and sighted it in. I was using some ammo from a good buddy who's been loading for years but I I got one round that must been loaded a tad hot and this was the result. The head on the grip screw blew right off, This is gonna be a pain to get out, lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gennaro Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 (edited) saratoga : good picture and info on how much more slideracker you need to have for that mount, and all the different set screws that go along with it. BeerBaron : good choice going with the XL. I've tried the straight slideracker and my thumb kept hitting it , I did not like that. If the XL doesn't work out , maybe find a different style for the right side , and give that a try also. Best of luck. Edited August 19, 2014 by gennaro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saratoga Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Beerbaron, Gennaro, Went from the right side slide racker this year...Have had the Bawo slide racker you can find in the pic of the supershort Tanfo in this thread. Easy, you glue the setscrew and the racker and it stays on for eternity..You can remove the slide with it on and everything. BUT it is a little slow, even the "grande guru" went to a left side slide racker. I also started out with a straight slide racker, it nearly took my my thumbnail... Now Side winder XL, it has been on for this summer, took half the summer to find on the left hand side, the muscle memory always went to the right side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeerBaron Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 Well I got the Cmore put on last weekend and sighted it in. I was using some ammo from a good buddy who's been loading for years but I I got one round that must been loaded a tad hot and this was the result. The head on the grip screw blew right off, This is gonna be a pain to get out, lol ImageUploadedByTapatalk1408448869.315372.jpg That's a little scary. I find it a little hard to imagine just a hot round did that. Seems more like squib damage. Did it break a mag too or at least blow it out? Check everything very carefully before using it again. Give the barrel a clean the get a bore light in there and have a good look. Lucky you are ok! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bayougump Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 Nothing else broke, maybe the screw was just weakened. I gave to local gunsmith to remove screw and will give it a very thorough inspection before firing again. It scared crap outta my buddy when it went off. The brass case that ejected had a huge tear in it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeerBaron Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 How was the case head? Any separation? That could also explain it. Case head separation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nealio Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 overworked brass? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bayougump Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 I'd bet it was over worked brass, I will be checking the gallon I picked up last week from my friend carefully after I tumble it. Course Area 4 coming up so open gun will be on back burner for awhile but I do love how it shoots Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saratoga Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 Sounds pretty dramatic, I shoot 9 major with mixed shooting range brass and although i've seen some cracked brass nothing like that has ever happened. Was the primer intact? Have you removed the firing pin safety? (as is usually done on all Tanfos except the production ones). That would be a theoretical way of getting the pressure down into the mag but not likely. In Open everything happens...No casualties except for your friends laundy bill was good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saratoga Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 BTW what load are you using? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeerBaron Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 well my update is as follows. 2 day level 2 match (12 stages). Have only owned the eric custom for about 3 weeks now and shot it 3 times. basically just enough to work up my N350 load, change cmore mounts and screw with the scope mounting! so I did a very rough zero in the dark on wednesday night. I noticed the mount is not sitting straight but I left it and vowed to put a spanner on all the bolts after each stage. so I ended up shooting 8 stages and the match was called off due to torrential rain. unfortunately the 6 they counted for the match included a single 32 round stage which my squad (mostly production shooters) all shot in the torrential rain/mud. this made it basically a part time stage of 24 seconds. open guys in the dry shot it in 18-20 seconds. in the wet it was walking pace only (was a big run and run field course). plus due to the rain flaring up my dot I got a mike on it too!!! argh. anyway, the gun ran flawlessly. I'm a hack production shooter and only shot this open gun a couple of times, but I finished at 59.13%. that's with 4 M or GM shooters taking the first 4 places, and 6 A grade shooters in the next 6! So not bad to get a high C on my first time out with the open gun. especially since that long stage and a few little fckups cost me a good 50 points. that would have put me around 70%. but yeah, what if, what if, what if...... still, I was happy. well apart from getting soaked! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kneelingatlas Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 Nice work Barron! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bayougump Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 Sounds pretty dramatic, I shoot 9 major with mixed shooting range brass and although i've seen some cracked brass nothing like that has ever happened. Was the primer intact? Have you removed the firing pin safety? (as is usually done on all Tanfos except the production ones). That would be a theoretical way of getting the pressure down into the mag but not likely. In Open everything happens...No casualties except for your friends laundy bill was good! Yea, I honestly am not sure what happened but gun ran fine before that round and afterwards, I think it was prolly a combo of a weak case and a round that was little hotter than others for some reason. But main thing is no one hurt and I still have faith that this Gold Custom will be a tack driver when I'm ready to start shooting some Open. I noticed I shot everything low as I was driving gun down to control recoil out of habit with Stock II's instead of letting the comp do it's job, lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kneelingatlas Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 An overtightened grip screw could've just broke with a little extra impulse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeerBaron Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 Nice work Barron! Thanks mate. I was pretty happy. I figure with the scope zero'd properly, some practice, and working on those few little slips I might just like this open malarky after all. For those interested in loads for their own eric custom/gold team V12 I'm using the following: starline 38 super brass federal small pistol primers (no pressure signs, a little flattening but I get that with federals even in my minor 9mm loads) 8.2gn of VV N350 1.250 OAL 124gn RN CMJ averages PF 168 (I shoot IPSC so only need 160 for major) for a USPSA load in a V12 I'd say probably 8.4-8.6gn should give you a safe 172 or there abouts. I've got a level 3 coming up so I've loaded some more rounds up same as above but with fed small rifle primers to see if that'll get me a more complete burn and perhaps bump up my PF for a bigger safety margin. I've also loaded some up same as above (still with SPP) but with 8.6gn of N350. Some more gas may be of benefit. And I've loaded up even more rounds same as above but with 10.2gn of VV 3N38. One batch with SPP and one with SRP. The N350 is quite nice to shoot. It's a pretty clean burning powder but I do get some unburned powder coming out of the ports etc. I'm hoping the SRP will clear that up. I've tried some of our local 'go to' open powder which is ADI AP100 but it's a bit dirtier burning and seems to be a bit slower than N350 which gives a nasty shockwave. Makes it somewhat concussive to shoot! Whatever you do don't fire a shot with your mouth open!! I'm going to try and stick to either N350 or 3N38 if I can keep getting it. So far I'm really liking the N350 but haven't tried 3N38 to compare yet. 3N37 may be worth a try too, but I don't want to spend the reset of my life trying different powders!! Otherwise I'm going to put in the EGW hammer and sear and perhaps try that with the stock trigger (with a CGW TRS and some adjustment on the pre and over travel) or might just go straight to the henning trigger at the same time. My only hesitation is that I quite like the shape and feel of the stock trigger piece (just not it's operation). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kneelingatlas Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 I think 3n38 is going to end IP being your favorite! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now