My switch from plastic to Tanfo

[MemphisMechanic]

Pull weights currently are 3.4lbs and 6.5lbs and it's exactly what I want: It should prove to be reliable with any primer and the trigger is incredibly smooth with no stacking. I'll be burning up a stockpile of 15,000 CCI magnum small pistol primers in this gun, so I need the relatively heavy 14lb spring.

I spent the most time polishing the hammer/strut/spring/pins area. Anything that affects how hard the firing pin hits the primer when the hammer falls. I left those rough before, because I couldn't do anything to the pins holes and springs except by hand. Last time my drill was at work, and I didn't have dremel attachments that would polish small areas.

This time chucking a Q-tip in a drill (or rolled up 2,000 grit sandpaper) and running through these areas with polish on it should help the ignition issues I've been having. Everything is smooth as wet glass now.

Provided this gun runs 100% from now on, I couldn't possibly be happier with my decision to switch to it.

Edited December 8, 2016 by MemphisMechanic

[DOODS]

I totally like the approach you did not to go crazy on first pass. Now you can just focus on having fun shooting that S3.

[johnbu]

I like your results and have thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts.  Fairly simple steps to radically transform the feel of the gun.

[Sniperboy]

Likewise, I've really enjoyed reading your posts and thank you for diligently documenting your journey. It was very generous and appreciated. 

Coming from plastic myself I hope to replicate your work maybe around 5.5 DA and 3.5 SA. 

Edited December 8, 2016 by Sniperboy

[MemphisMechanic]

4 hours ago, DOODS said:

I totally like the approach you did not to go crazy on first pass. Now you can just focus on having fun shooting that S3.

The other benefit to doing it in two passes (gun has roughly 800-900 rounds through it now) is that you can see exactly what is rubbing what.

So you spend the bulk of your time on things that matter. Getting the engagement surfaces slick as ice.

[MemphisMechanic]

1 hour ago, Sniperboy said:

Likewise, I've really enjoyed reading your posts and thank you for diligently documenting your journey. It was very generous and appreciated. 

Coming from plastic myself I hope to replicate your work maybe around 5.5 DA and 3.5 SA. 

I'm glad you guys like my "changing platforms" diary. I did it because information on exactly where I'd struggle with the switch was hard to come by. And I'm far from done. At roughly 1% short of A-class I might as well keep this up - at least until my gun handling improves enough to get me there.

For a 5.5 DA you're looking at a 12 or 13 pound hammer spring, which might mean you're going to need to run Win or Fed primers and anything not fully seated is going to go click on the first strike. (Although the upcoming PD heavy firing pin might certainly change that)  Also, if you played with my gun I think you'd guesstimate the trigger to be about 5-5.5 lbs. 

Edited December 8, 2016 by MemphisMechanic

[johnbu]

^ Also, 5.5# DA means a 2 something SA. There isn't any way (that I've found) to drop DA and not affect the SA.

[MemphisMechanic]

Also since two or theee have asked:

I went with the .140 high by .100 Dawson front sight. I'm happy with that choice because it keeps my rear sight down low and screwed in a few extra turns. And they've been known to break on quite a few guns.

Any lower and I'd have a good bit of slide in the sight picture when the front post was a bit high of centered. And anything taller isn't needed.

[LeviSS]

32 minutes ago, MemphisMechanic said:

Also since two or theee have asked:

I went with the .140 high by .100 Dawson front sight. I'm happy with that choice because it keeps my rear sight down low and screwed in a few extra turns. And they've been known to break on quite a few guns.

Any lower and I'd have a good bit of slide in the sight picture when the front post was a bit high of centered. And anything taller isn't needed.

What weight bullet?

[MemphisMechanic]

      

16 minutes ago, LeviSS said:

What weight bullet?

You have andjustable rear sight, sir. All of them.

Edited December 8, 2016 by MemphisMechanic

[LeviSS]

I wasn't sure, because typically 147s shoot high, so you have to get a taller front sight, or I assume lower the rear.  If you had it set for 124s, then switched to 147s, you would have to lower the rear, and you said you were about out of adjustment going down.

Edited December 8, 2016 by LeviSS

[MemphisMechanic]

Not at all: I think I'm about ten clicks from full down when adjusted for 135s, perhaps more.

Edited December 8, 2016 by MemphisMechanic

[Wesquire]

On 11/14/2016 at 5:17 PM, MemphisMechanic said:

8lb long slide is "supposedly" the same spring they give you when you order a 10lb for the shorter Stock II. But I read that here, on the internet, where someone got it secondhand from a Wolff employee.

So this is an apples-to-oranges comparison.

That was me. That's what the employee at wolff told me he does.

Edited December 8, 2016 by Wesquire

[Sniperboy]

26 minutes ago, Wesquire said:

That was me. That's what the employee at wolff told me he does.

This spring anecdote is also noted on Henning's website.  Don't know if it is accurate but I'll take his word for it.

MemphisMechanic: I reload and use Federals primarily and Win primers for practice, so I am OK with limiting my primer choices.  : ) I have done so for many years now.

You make an interesting observation on perceived weight.  From my target numbers of 5.5 DA and 3.5 SA you can still see I haven't broken up with my Glock yet and am not over her : )  However, johnbu: 2 lbs SA is indeed scary. 

I have not tinkered with a pistol in many years.  I predict this will absolutely devour time - on the bright side, it may be what I need to distract me, cut down on my weekend beer intake and will turn around many failed new years resolutions... : )

[MemphisMechanic]

The 6.5lb DA feels like it's half the weight of my Glocks with 6-7lb factory triggers and a full polish job.

Why? Because it's unbelievably smooth for one. Slicker than a Glock with the 25 cent trigger job polishing.

More importantly, it doesn't stack like a Striker gun. The M&P and G34 both have a large buildup of effort before they break. The Tanfo trigger just rolls smoothly back into the frame without building at all for the final half of the pull, then the hammer drops. 

 

[Wesquire]

2 hours ago, Sniperboy said:

This spring anecdote is also noted on Henning's website.  Don't know if it is accurate but I'll take his word for it.

MemphisMechanic: I reload and use Federals primarily and Win primers for practice, so I am OK with limiting my primer choices.  : ) I have done so for many years now.

You make an interesting observation on perceived weight.  From my target numbers of 5.5 DA and 3.5 SA you can still see I haven't broken up with my Glock yet and am not over her : )  However, johnbu: 2 lbs SA is indeed scary. 

I have not tinkered with a pistol in many years.  I predict this will absolutely devour time - on the bright side, it may be what I need to distract me, cut down on my weekend beer intake and will turn around many failed new years resolutions... : )

Well, they say that if you put a LS spring in a standard gun it adds 2#. That is effectively the same, but it is backwards. A LS spring is just a normal spring of 2# more. So there's really no such thing as a long slide spring. And I'm very skeptical that a round number like 2# is very accurate or a good way to convert between slide lengths.  

Edited December 8, 2016 by Wesquire

[johnbu]

The anecdote is not 100% accurate. I've miked the wires and 8# normal is different thickness than 6# longslide.  However, the extra 1/4" compression adding 2# preload is probably about right on average.  However, I strongly suspect it's 1# ish on the low end and more than 2 for stronger springs ranges.

V

2 hours ago, Wesquire said:

Well, they say that if you put a LS spring in a standard gun it adds 2#. That is effectively the same, but it is backwards. A LS spring is just a normal spring of 2# more. So there's really no such thing as a long slide spring. And I'm very skeptical that a round number like 2# is very accurate or a good way to convert between slide lengths.  

 

v FYI- I run 1# 4oz sa.

 

5 hours ago, Sniperboy said:

This spring anecdote is also noted on Henning's website.  Don't know if it is accurate but I'll take his word for it.

MemphisMechanic: I reload and use Federals primarily and Win primers for practice, so I am OK with limiting my primer choices.  : ) I have done so for many years now.

You make an interesting observation on perceived weight.  From my target numbers of 5.5 DA and 3.5 SA you can still see I haven't broken up with my Glock yet and am not over her : )  However, johnbu: 2 lbs SA is indeed scary. 

I have not tinkered with a pistol in many years.  I predict this will absolutely devour time - on the bright side, it may be what I need to distract me, cut down on my weekend beer intake and will turn around many failed new years resolutions... : )

 

Edited December 8, 2016 by johnbu

[johnbu]

http://s28.photobucket.com/user/john_bud/media/Tanfo Stock 2/20160709_130642_zpsdjbdp5k3.mp4.html

Da pull test video using PD 10 spring.

[Wesquire]

1 hour ago, johnbu said:

The anecdote is not 100% accurate. I've miked the wires and 8# normal is different thickness than 6# longslide.  However, the extra 1/4" compression adding 2# preload is probably about right on average.  However, I strongly suspect it's 1# ish on the low end and more than 2 for stronger springs ranges.

V

 

v FYI- I run 1# 4oz sa.

 

 

I have 2 8# LS springs. Even between themselves there's a difference in thickness and length.

[MemphisMechanic]

Teething issues continue...

New load is a Bayou 150gr SWC over 3.0gr of Prima V, and the powder was a huge winner. Soft, and even cleaner than N-320. 

Here she is after 250 rounds. You can still see a clean barrel hood and most of the innards are still shiny:

The bad: multiple rounds going click instead of bang. Most fired on a second DA stroke, but four rounds could not be ignited by the Tanfo, even when ejected and run back through the gun after a dozen or more DA hits.

...And an M&P set all of them off on the first hit.

So I'm looking at the firing pin block, needless to say. Perhaps I didn't fit it sufficiently and things are still dragging. I know it isn't ammo related: an M&P with a far shorter chamber ate it, my barrel has been reamed, and all of this ammo was chamber-checked in the S3 before firing it.

At least I'm finally starting to get the hang of the DA/SA gun. Here's the dot torture drill (I'd never tried this version before) target that I ran at five yards flat out. A few shots got shanked rather badly but it feels like home at last. No more do I feel like an M&P or G34 would have improved my score. But shooting with time pressure? That's exciting when 10-15% of your rounds go click instead of bang...

Edited December 16, 2016 by MemphisMechanic

[Sniperboy]

How absolutely frustrating.  Both for you and for all of the rest of us rooting for you at home! : (  MM were these issues present during your last match?  It didn't seem so..  You do anything significant other than have your chamber reamed and polished to get your final sweet DA and SA pulls??

[MemphisMechanic]

3 hours ago, Sniperboy said:

How absolutely frustrating.  Both for you and for all of the rest of us rooting for you at home! : (  MM were these issues present during your last match?  It didn't seem so..  You do anything significant other than have your chamber reamed and polished to get your final sweet DA and SA pulls??

Yes, they were. It just doesn't light CCI consistently as is, in DA. Remember that the hammer doesn't cock back as far as in single-action so you lose some force.

I've been compensating by finding ten rounds or so which have a primer positively buried down in the brass well below flush, marking them with a sharpie, and loading those last in all of my 11-round 'starter' magazines.

There are two things I need to look at:

1. Is it an issue with my press? I've loaded probably 20,000 round on my 650 with two cleanings of the priming system total. It may be due for some inspection and maintenance.

2. Do I need to check the fit of the firing-pin block? I didn't see any peening on a quick check at the range. Will look harder at the pin & block soon. And I'll be pulling the block out and testing the gun without it if I can't find a clear-cut cause, and testing it in live fire that way.

[MemphisMechanic]

Regarding my pull weights?

Just the parts I've listed and a lot of polishing. Everything in the gun is fresh-dipped chrome now.

[MemphisMechanic]

I'm not using the #550 magnums yet. I have a few K of the CCI 500 standard small pistol primers that I'm working with.

It might not be primer depth, ARy. Not when I can literally - not exaggerating - strike one two dozen times with the Stock 3 in DA (next time I'll also try cocking the hammer) and immediately light that round with an M&P with a factory striker spring.

Worst case, I go up to the stiffer Wolff 14lb or try an E.G. medium spring in order to light the magnum primers down the road. I'm highly curious to see what kind of difference the PD heavy firing pin will make - you better believe that.

I have a number of steps to go through to diagnose. See if I can seat primers deeper. Check FPB fit. Or shoot without it.

We'll see.

 

[bigbob21]

It could be the press...
I'm having similar issues with FEDERALS!
The issues I'm having is with my 650 with only 10k rounds through it...

There's a bolt/spring/Allen wrench contraption (it's called the primer punch assembly) underneath the shell plate that sets the primer depth...
Sometimes it backs out on its own, causing high primers. Sometimes I'll screw it in too far and I'll get deep primers... for some reason, it won't stay in place... i have to be adjusting it now probably every 50 rounds....

I think I'm going to back it out all the way and maybe put some teflon tape on the threads to hopefully hold it in place....


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