Open gun help

[jpease]

I'm new to open guns and was wondering how you guys get them to shoot so flat. I have put together a double stack 5" 9mm with a 3 port egw comp And mainly all Wilson internals on a ck frame. I'm trying to stay in minor so I'm currently shooting 5.8gr of auto comp with 124gr plated round nose with oal of 1.150. This is somewhat tame but still getting muzzle flip. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks

[GeneBray]

I'm new to open guns and was wondering how you guys get them to shoot so flat. I have put together a double stack 5" 9mm with a 3 port egw comp And mainly all Wilson internals on a ck frame. I'm trying to stay in minor so I'm currently shooting 5.8gr of auto comp with 124gr plated round nose with oal of 1.150. This is somewhat tame but still getting muzzle flip. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks

Disclaimer. Not an open shooter. My guess is the load does not generate enough gas for the comp to work effectively. If correct, more powder or different comp.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mro111lland]

It's not gonna shoot flat with minor loads you need gas to work the comp 

[Supermoto]

A nice strong grip will get any minor gun to shoot flat

[superdude]

Compensators work best when they have lots of gas.  If the powder you're currently using makes your power factor but has too much muzzle rise for you, try a powder that requires more weight to produce the same speed.

 

Powders differ with respect to how much gas they provide for the compensator. Powders that use larger charge weights provide more gas, and more gas means more gas pressure which translates into more downward force on the barrel/gun as the gas blasts upward from the compensator chamber ports and/or barrel popple holes.

 

Powders like Accurate #7 require more weight and will produce more gas and help to reduce muzzle rise.

 

You can get an idea of how charge weight differs by checking out this article: https://www.ssusa.org/articles/2018/1/9/how-to-use-9-major-in-a-short-barrel/

[kneelingatlas]

1. Lighter bullet

2. Slower powder

3. Better comp

 

How much does your slide weigh? (including racker and reverse plug)

[jpease]

Superdude, great article very helpful thanks

[superdude]

32 minutes ago, jpease said:

Superdude, great article very helpful thanks

 

You're welcome. Glad you found it useful.

[Trent1k1]

"Most" comps work best between 170-175 PF.

 

Unless you are using enough gas, the comp is just a weight hanging off the front of the gun.  

 

I use a grain more powder of AutoComp (actually more than 1 grain) and load longer for my Open guns.  I'm about 170PF as that is where I feel the comp is working the best for me.

 

You just need to decide if you want to use the comp to help with recoil by routing the gas appropriately, or as a weight forward on the gun to offset the recoil.

 

[orangeman711]

I;m shooting 6.9grs. of AutoComp. 171Pf and no dot movement.

[Trent1k1]

1 minute ago, orangeman711 said:

I;m shooting 6.9grs. of AutoComp. 171Pf and no dot movement.

OAL 1.165?  That's where I run my 9 Major at.

[Hi-Power Jack]

10 hours ago, jpease said:

I'm new to open with a double stack 5" 9mm with a 3 port egw comp 

 

You don't mention what gun you're using.

 

If it's plastic, you'll get "flatter" with a steel gun.

 

Heavier the better  (Plus the PF/comp thing mentioned above).     

[Part_time_redneck]

If you up your charge in 0.2g increments and do a little testing you will feel when the comp begins to work some. If you're determined to keep running minor just a little hotter load may work better. Only way to know is to try it. You're probably only about a grain away from major anyway. Even staying at minor PF 6.2-6.4 will probably shoot better than the 5.8. 

When I first started shooting open I ran minor for a few weeks. From a competitive standpoint there's just too much left on the table regarding scoring. 

[kneelingatlas]

What is it keeping you from shooting major?  Old wives tales about the danger?

[jpease]

Thanks everyone for the input. I think I might try some major loads and try to get the comp working a little better. I started with minor loads for fear of over pressuring the gun and hurting it because there's not to much info in reloading data (that ive found)for loads in major pf

[zzt]

jp, grip is a large part of getting the gun to shoot flat, as mentioned above.  That being said, I've found it remarkably hard to get a comp only gun to shoot flat.  I did once while really pushing the envelope; however it was so loud and violent i feared for my hearing and the longevity of the gun.  Now I settle for predictable dot movement.  I don't care if the dot moves up, as long as it comes right back down to where it is supposed to be.

 

The easiest way to get a gun shooting flatter is to add poppel holes.

[Hi-Power Jack]

45 minutes ago, jpease said:

 I started with minor loads for fear of over pressuring the gun because there's not too much info in reloading data 

 

I can empathize.   I started with my TruBor 11 years ago, and started shooting a major match

with Remington green box 115 gr ammo at PF 127    

 

Fortunately, I had a fellow club member who would sell 9mm Major ammo to us - and it

was good stuff.

 

He told me his load (at that time) was about 8 gr HS6 and a 115 gr MG JHP - so I bought

a bunch and started reloading PF 145, and then PF 155 and within a pretty short period

of time, I was loading PF 170.   

 

In the past 11 years, there has been published, here on BE, TONS of reloading data for 9mm Major.

 

No more mystery, like there was 11 years ago.   All the pioneering work has been done, and all

YOU have to do is take one of the published loads, back off by 0.6 grains, watch your OAl,

and work up Your Load for Your Gun slowly, carefully and  with a chronograph.

(Don't try this without the chrono - it's only $80)   

 

Be cautious you have the type gun (2011?) that is being discussed - if you have a Glock, then

look for loads designed for Glocks.

 

There are some esoteric loads that are slightly better for experts, but if you're new at 

reloading 9mm Major, I'd suggest you start with WAC or HS6 and 124 gr JHP bullets

at 1.145" OAL or longer, depending on how Your Gun Plunks  

[Broncman]

I have a Brazos Thundrcomp. Been from 165-175+ on PF. I have yet to see the "zero" dot movement....it does stay in the glass better in the low 170's.

 

Don't forget about recoil springs as well. That makes more difference in my dot movement than power factor...

[jpease]

Thanks again everyone my gun is a 2011 and I'm currently running a 7lb spring. I guess it's time to start playing around with some different loads.

[Broncman]

I run an 8. Keep extra springs in your range bag. The problem with weaker springs is you could run into failures to strip a round and fully chamber it when springs get weaker. Murphy says that will be in a match..

 

First sign of failure to fully chamber, throw in a new spring. They are cheap.

[tcazes]

Remember too....not all comps are created equal

[TANFARM]

I’m on the Open pistol learning curve as well..Atlas Chaos. Have read the posts about various Major loads and am going to Chrono about 5 different set ups with 124 RMR RN today as a matter of fact. Was hesitant about the whole Major 9 thing until I started actual shooting them....it’s a whole new world from 9 Minor to say the least.....but man it’s exciting!!

If anyone’s interested I can posts results of this testing....should be interesting for a first try!!

[tcazes]

We have a lot of chaos data over in the chaos thread. Just fyi

[wick]

major load will make the comp work 

[Broncman]

I went to almost 180 pf... Drilled 2 popple holes and it is a different animal. Should have done it much sooner.