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Re: Jeep's getting back into the groove - a training journey

Posted: Wed Jan 08, 2020 7:11 pm
by jeep45238
Made some dummy rounds for working on mag changes. There's a decent weight difference between 9/10 of these and a mag tube with a dummy round, which might have a bit to do with the discrepancy on burket reloads at the range and during dry fire.

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No primer and a hole drilled through for easy identification of the dummy cartridges.

Re: Jeep's getting back into the groove - a training journey

Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2020 10:11 pm
by jeep45238
Cranked out a lot of .38 on the turret press for the J frames. Worked on reloads, reloads, reloads, and draws for a couple hours. Wound up popping a bullet our oa a dummy case from the forward momentum.

Re: Jeep's getting back into the groove - a training journey

Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2020 10:37 pm
by jeep45238
Shot the first local IDPA match of the year. 3 stages, all limited count.

Blur got it's first range time, didn't fish for the dot, happy about that. Honestly really happy overall considering that I didn't focus on anything and was just curious what bad habits would creep back up. Increased pressure from the ring/pinky fingers was not done, no non-threat hits, no down 2's. I need to find a classifier soon to get a baseline.

1st stage start behind a door, 8 rounds in the gun. Target order @ 15 yards - shoot ; cluster of 3 targets with the middle target overlaid on the back 2 - middle target is a no shoot ; shoot was the target pattern. 11.5ish seconds, 1 reload, shot from one side of the door frame, dropped 4 points overall pushing my speed (shot this one last)

2nd stage, start sitting, stay sitting, gun and first mag on the table, reloads on your belt. 3 close no-shoot targets, 5 10-12 yard targets behind them, have to lean to make the shots, 2 chest 1 head on all 5 targets. Dropped 2 points, can't remember the time (shot this one first)

3rd stage, 6 rounds in the gun. Target about 7 yards out, one about 15 yards behind and offset, 2 chest 1 head on each, reload, repeat. Dropped one point, 11.29 seconds.



I got complimented by an older (good) shooter who said he didn't notice that I had change my point of aim on stage 2, thought I sent all rounds to the chest bullseye. I didn't wait for the dot to reappear before starting to change my point of aim, so it just looked really smooth. First time I've gotten a compliment on technique in a few months.


Also, the red dot on the slide of a 9mm 1911 is simply amazing. It's got me looking bit time at the STI 2011 offerings with slide mounted options from the factory for a purchase later this year or early next.

Re: Jeep's getting back into the groove - a training journey

Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2020 7:18 pm
by jeep45238
Apparently I was incorrect on my recollection of dropped points - I was down 10.

Snagged 3rd place overall, 1st/2nd were PCC shooters. The % difference between #1 and myself is the same as the last few matches of 2019, which is fine with me completely changing over to red dot and him keeping his gear about the same. Time to go after that % gap and put time in at the range more than once a week to verify my dry fire more often.

Re: Jeep's getting back into the groove - a training journey

Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2020 10:57 am
by jeep45238
Load development 2.0 -

I changed over from Berry's 124 grain plated round nose to SNS 125 poly coated. For kicks I didn't adjust any dies, ran a few, and dropped them into the case gauge. No way do they pass, and it's a good reason to examine why you should double check our dies if you change bullets, even in the same weight range.

The difference is the bullets are .001" larger in diameter, and the straight portion of the bullet profile extends higher in reference to the bullet nose (more gentle ogive) with the bullet being slightly taller and a tapered base. The change in nose profile means the bullet contacts the outer rim of the bullet seater die plug versus the nose - this should result in better concentric runout (it's a semi auto pistol round, whatever) and higher % of rounds that pass case gauge if running near the limits of OAL. This change also means that the OAL must be adjusted at the die, as the bullet shoulder (whatever it's called - the rounded part) will sit deeper into the chamber for the same OAL.

All of this means the bullet must be seated deeper in the case. The taper base also makes it way easier to get the bullet in the case by hand. This means load development and verifying that the ammo meets power factor in both pistols has to be done again. No worries :-)

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For kicks/experimentation I also grabbed the lee bullet feed kit to play around with, and force myself to take a longer break during longer sessions. If you're not familiar with the breechblock auto, the due stations are extremely close, and the corners of the lee jam nuts are almost touching if you have to be in that orientation. Once you add the bullet feeder it make it so the bushings weren't fully engaged in one of my stations, and the other one could wiggle loose a bit. My fix was grabbing the Dillon lock rings as they are 1" across instead of 1 1/8" across. As far as the lee jam nuts providing a small free float, that's true - but this press has the same o-ring setup for the bushings themselves, making those slightly free-floating/self centering so running traditional style jam nuts doesn't loose that benefit. I'm not sold on the bullet feeder, since there's no collator - but we'll see what happens.





My thoughts on this press having ran single stages, turrets, Loadmasters, Hornady LnL AP, 650 w/ bullet feeder and case feeder, and 1050 w/ bullet feeder and case feeder is this:
it is quite a bit slower than the Dillon products due to the priming system having to be manually operated for each cycle and the 650/1050 designed from the get go with a high capacity case collator - add a bullet collator/feeder and you will absolutely never want to run anything else from a production standpoint.

This same system also makes it safer than the Loadmaster in the event of a primer detonation while seating (I've had it happen on a Loadmaster). It is simpler to keep running than a Hornady LnL AP while keeping better OAL consistency. It demolishes single stage and turret presses in volume and my elbow/shoulder isn't tight the next morning either.

For about the same price as a Lee turret you get a pretty reliable system with easy caliber changes that pushes higher production and less rushing. It allows for a simple, non-motorized, reasonably effective case feeding mechanism that the press was designed around, albeit the collator/capacity is low and you will need to rotate the tubes to keep the flow going (it's really a very, very small nit pick). The central rod that indexes the shell plate can be removed, making it manually indexing and simpler to teach people new to reloading what's going on and do a single case at a time. If you're not going to reload much rifle ammo, this honestly is the non-Dillon press to get in my opinion; the money you save will go a long way to buying components and buying an upgraded press at some point if you want to later.

Re: Jeep's getting back into the groove - a training journey

Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 8:42 am
by jeep45238
Went to the range to verify my OAL was good with the new bullet, I'll do a powder ladder soon with the chrono when I get my car back. Forgot my key tag for access to the range on the car keys, which are at the dealer, so it'll be a week or so until I can actually do that part.

Experimented with grip pressures, ring/pinky finger pressures, and support thumb pressure on the front portion of the slide stop. Found when I focused on applying pressure at those 3 locations the dot never left the glass under recoil on Blur. Nice.

Went ahead and did a 10 round version of the 10-8 Performance extractor test. Oddly Blur functioned flawlessly and was extremely consistent in it's ejection pattern and distance. My Valor, not even close at 1 through 9 o'clock; I'll be ordering new extractors from EGW and getting that sorted out.



Good thing I like to tinker as much as I like to shoot.