What PF are you Running for 3gun

[12glocks]

I did a search and found little. I am running a 147 at 875 FPS for a 125 PF. I was thinking bumping back up to 130 something.

Has anyone pushed the PF to low to knock over steel?

Thanks in advance!

[Flatland Shooter]

I use my USPSA Open gun for 3 gun with a slightly lighter recoil spring and 124 gr handloads at 133 PF.

At local matches I've seen some stubborn steel but nothing my loads would not take down.

I've also experimented with 115 gr and 160 gr bullets. Now what is left of them is relegated to practice ammo.

[gerritm]

I have been running the 115gr Extremes in my open Glock 17 @ about 1050-1100fps with 4.2gr of Titegroup and it works really well for my comp.

For my son's G34 and my grand daughter's G19 I have been loading 147's at around 850-875fps with 3.4gr. of Titegroup and they seem to be accurate and shoot pretty soft. They have no problems with steel with these loads. More important to be able to shoot with less recoil and more speed.

gerritm

[rtp]

I just run standard loads ~130PF in most cases.

[LoganbillJ]

I am running 135pf in my open gun. Had a buddy run 104pf last year. Revamped his 2011 this winter for him and he is closer to 120pf this year.

[presadad]

I've been running 125gr at 1000fps and that works well for me. Haven't felt the need for a higher PF.

[jkrispies]

Interesting thread. I have a 9mm that I use in USPSA for minor and some "outlaw" matches. It's definitely above 125 (I chronoed my original attempt at a 125 average, same load and G17 as gerritm above, then bumped it up by 1/10th) but not by a great deal. It shoots great, but while I'll shoot most stages with steel just fine, lately there will be one or two stages where I'll have to put an extra shot or two to get the occassional steel to drop, and that kills my time for that stage or two... which of course kills my overall standing for the match. This seems to be a problem more at the outlaw matches than the USPSA, so I figure it comes down to that steel not being properly calibrated. I'm in the process of switching up my USPSA gun and going back to major, so it's not a big priority for me at the moment... but I do plan to use this G17 for an ocassional multi-gun, and the next batch I load, I'm bumping the powder up so I'm running somewhere in the 130-135 zone. Will probably lean towards hotter, because having to shoot steel more than once just pisses me off to no end...

Edited May 2, 2015 by jkrispies

[naim]

I tried running really light loads for 3 gun (125-135pf) but my gun seems to run the best with a little higher pf. It's currently at about 145-150pf. The gun seems to run better I guess there is more gas to run the comp. my advice is not to count out a little higher pf. softest is not always the best.

[rtp]

I shoot mainly 'outlaw' 3 gun events (cheaper match fees, closer to me), but they still calibrate most poppers and knockdowns to go down around Minor PF.

I figure I'm better off just cranking out one pistol load in bulk, and using that everywhere.

Now, we have seen a handful of people loading 'downloaded' .223/5.56 on occasion, and maybe it works for them - unlike some of you 'pros,' my main goal is still simply to get better than I was last month/year, so I don't worry about it, and generally use the same ammo for 'everything' regardless of match type. I do have one ~120PF load that I'll load up when I can occasionally get my wife out shooting, but otherwise keep the same load for all gun games.

Now, if I start to regularly place in the top 5 and and within a couple of seconds or less of first regularly, I might consider going sub-PF...but shooting a metal CZ, I'm just not seeing the real benefit there.

Saving 1/10th of a cent in powder, and sometimes needing to hit steel twice to drop it?

???

[jkrispies]

Think my next batch will definitely be 135. Once I locate some powder...

[sono]

I guess I'm the minority here. I run around 120 or slightly lower power factor. Yes on occasion I've had steel not fall but that is very rare. My Glock cycles plenty fast with this load and everything falls when hit right. At the Bushmaster Tarheel match everything went over fine and my load is 2.9gr of Tightgroup under a 147 Blackbullet.

It really does make the transitions easy and fast.

[Vlad]

Meh, whatever load I shoot in USPSA. I can't be bothered to have two different loads.

[Maximis228]

I run my major load from USPSA. 173 PF. No excuses for steel not to fall.

[jkrispies]

I guess I'm the minority here. I run around 120 or slightly lower power factor. Yes on occasion I've had steel not fall but that is very rare. My Glock cycles plenty fast with this load and everything falls when hit right. At the Bushmaster Tarheel match everything went over fine and my load is 2.9gr of Tightgroup under a 147 Blackbullet.

It really does make the transitions easy and fast.

Ultimately steel falling or not falling depends on how much attention the host pays to calibrating the steel properly. If I could trust every piece of steel to be properly calibrated that would be awesome, but one or two out of 15 can ruin a day. I can't control the setup but I can control my PF... And 135 isn't that big of a deal considering I shot 170 for Single Stack.