Tanfo .40 Limited, OAL problem.

[Jimdoe]

I’ve been reading some of the forums regarding problems with .40 limited OAL but I’m a little confused. What is the problem with regards to OAL factory ammo? Is it because of the magazine as well just like with 9mm? I’m about to purchase a .40 limited and I just want to get a heads up on things (problems) I’m going to encounter. I don’t have a reloader yet and will be using factory ammo for now. So can someone shed light on this matter. Thanks in advance.

Jim.

[sinnsyk]

Hey Jim

You can shoot the factory ammo if you'd like, but I recommend using the mags with the spacers in the front. Otherwise you will have issues. The 'competition' mags are too long for factory length. The spacered mags work 'okay' and is the best alternative. You will have to use the factory follower/spring in those mags which will give you 15 round capacity. For better feel etc you can put my H-400 pad on it which is a solid aluminum pad instead of the cheesy plastic pad it comes with. Several shooters do this when they want to shoot their guns with factory ammo.

The whole thing about loading to 1.175" is that it fills out the magazine so that feeding is working properly. And all the work I've done with Grams followers, springs and my H-141, H-520 and H-550 pads is that it increases magazine capacity to it's max potential. Here in New Zealand where we are shooting right now, I can fit my Limited 40 gun in the box with H-550 pads and get 19 + 1.

For USPSA I can reload to 21 rounds easy.

[Jimdoe]

Henning,

I kinda had an idea of what was going but thanks to you I shouldn't have problem dealing with this situation. Just placed my order from Chris for 40 limited. Can't wait to start shooting it. Next thing is to get all the accessories and be ready for the next IPSC match. Thanks again man.

Jim.

[sinnsyk]

Sounds good. I'll be available for longer chats again around Nov 28th when I'm back in the country. You're welcome to call me after 12pm Pacific time. We can go through everything if you want.

;-)

[Jimdoe]

Thanks H. Ill give you a call once you get back in the country. How are your matches going along? how about posting some match pics.

[Jimdoe]

Finally got my limited from Chris at CPWSA.COM yesterday. Xmas came early for me. Soon as I got home wiped off all excess oil and swapped the iron with FO sight, and just like I've said before, why the hell does it have to be a bitch to remove and attached the darn sight?? Won't be able to shoot it till saturday, but I did try loading the mag to the max with reloaded ammo and racked the slide to see if it has cycle problems which it didnt. What I did have problems though was the other two mags that I bought (bit stick black), the slide hitting the mag follower, or shaving the follower. I think a little sandpaper/dremel would fix the problem. Just a matter of tuning the mag to its liking I guess. I hoping those are the only bugs the I needed to get rid of to get this running. Just have to wait till saturday.

Jim...

[CHA-LEE]

Food for thought, when running the 21+ 1 mags there is a ton of spring tension on the first 3 - 4 rounds and that is where you will run into nose dive issues on reloaded rounds that don't have a 100% straight case. If you have a roll sizer then you can get the cases back to normal, but if you don't then you will be forced to use other "measures" to minimize the effects of the nose dive.

The solution that I found to minimize the nose dive issues on regular reloaded rounds with less than optimal case straightness is to use the black 10mm mags. Then run an OAL of 1.225. I know, that is super long. But I have found that with it being that long if the round starts to nose dive as the slide starts picking it up, the nose of the bullet hits the start of the barrel feed ramp and is able to climb up the ramp and chamber as it should. On shorter OAL's (1.175 - 1.185) the bullet can drop below the start of the barrel feed ramp and ends up butting up against the base of the barrel feed ramp causing a jam.

How smoothly the rounds are picked up out of the magazine is very dependant on the straightness of the cases. When using new brass that is 100% straight an OAL of 1.175 feeds perfectly all day long. If the base of the case has a ramp or bulge in it at all it allows the cases to catch on one another as the slide tries to pick it up and that causes the nose dive situation. For me, its not practical to spend $700+ on a roll sizing machine or use brand new cases every match. Using brand new cases every match kind of circumvents the whole cost savings purpose of reloading anyway. At least I think so.

So your options are as follows....

(1) Use new 100% straight cases.

(2) Get a roll size machine to make the used cases a straight as you can.

(3) Use an extra long OAL (1.225) to fend off the nose dive condition that will happen when using cases that are not 100% straight.

[CHA-LEE]

I also wanted to add that for some unknown reason (I can't figure it out) the 10mm magazines are a lot less susceptible to the nose dive issue than the .40 mags. I have done a ton of testing with all kinds of OAL's on the .40 mags and they intermittently jam with nose dives on the 2 - 3 round when loading them to 20 - 21 rounds. Of course, if you use 100% straight cases they feed fine. But overall the 10mm magazines work flawlessly, at least in my gun.

Edited November 23, 2008 by CHA-LEE

[LeoHallak]

I have never had a problem on my limited with the Tangfo grams setup, using a lee U die, and loading to 1.175.. usually much longer then that is when I run into problems. Only problems I have ever had with the mags are when they get a little bit of dirt in them they tend to act up.

Leo

Edit: thats with once fired brass. I shoot anything but speer. usually Federal and Aguila.. thats using Clays.

Edited November 24, 2008 by LeoHallak