Found this buried deep in the berm at the Renton Fish and Game club. It’s a 100 year old silent movie of one of the very first Single Stack matches shot with a then, brand new, M1911 pistol. What a rare find!
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All posts for the month May, 2011
Shot a few more reloads through my Open and Revolver and got the following results.
- 11.0gr N105 + MG 115gr CMJ = 174.7pf ( 7.97 SD)
- 10.0gr N105 + MG 124gr CMJ = 175.0pf (13.67 SD)
- 3.7gr Clays + BC 230gr Moly = 169pf (14.42 SD)
Great!! I got my loads right for Open and confirmed my Revolver power factor for my big Area-1 Match coming next month.
I bought two used Bolen basepads from someone on BrianEnos’ forum recently, thinking that it would fit on my 170mm and be legal (fit in a magazine gauge). After showing it to John from JPL Precision, he checked with his USPSA Mag gauge and it didn’t fit! It was just very so slightly longer.
Coming home, I checked both basepads and lo-and behold, they’re not the same! All this while I thought they were the same basepads. One was just a hair taller.
Reading up online, Bolen has three types of basepads, 3mm, 4mm and 7mm. so I guess the one on the right is 3mm and left is 4mm. What a n00b I am.
Anyway, installed the 3mm on my 170mm mag tube now, and I’m sure it’ll be legal now. Here’s how they recommend we use it in an Open Gun.
- 3mm for 170mm mag tube should yield 28-29rnds of 38 SuperComp
- 4mm for a “tuned” 170mm mag tube should yield 29-30 of 38 SuperComp
- 7mm for a 140mm mag tube for 22-23 of 38 SuperComp
To summarize, I’m perplexed.
| SV Open Gun (115 CMJ) | |||||
| 10.2gr | 10.4gr | 10.5gr | 10.6gr | ||
| 1 | 1430.0 | 1440.0 | 1410.0 | 1451.0 | |
| 2 | 1466.0 | 1469.0 | 1443.0 | 1439.0 | |
| 3 | 1430.0 | 1452.0 | 1457.0 | 1442.0 | |
| 4 | 1415.0 | 1455.0 | 1436.0 | ||
| 5 | 1414.0 | 1423.0 | 1450.0 | 1415.0 | |
| 6 | 1417.0 | 1452.0 | 1463.0 | 1458.0 | |
| Ave | 1428.7 | 1448.5 | 1443.2 | 1441.0 | |
| PF | 164.3 | 166.6 | 166.0 | 165.7 | |
| SD | 19.67 | 15.55 | 18.88 | 16.36 | |
| SV Open Gun (124 CMJ) | |||||
| 9.8gr | 9.9gr | 10.0gr | 10.1gr | 10.2gr | |
| 1 | 1379.0 | 1391.0 | 1384.0 | 1358.0 | 1413.0 |
| 2 | 1397.0 | 1418.0 | 1388.0 | 1413.0 | 1402.0 |
| 3 | 1400.0 | 1404.0 | 1401.0 | 1408.0 | 1418.0 |
| 4 | 1346.0 | 1402.0 | 1381.0 | 1383.0 | 1388.0 |
| 5 | 1413.0 | 1390.0 | 1407.0 | 1396.0 | 1394.0 |
| 6 | 1411.0 | 1394.0 | 1424.0 | 1396.0 | 1418.0 |
| Ave | 1391.0 | 1399.8 | 1397.5 | 1392.3 | 1405.5 |
| PF | 172.5 | 173.6 | 173.3 | 172.6 | 174.3 |
| SD | 25.18 | 10.59 | 16.43 | 19.83 | 12.80 |
| – Failure to Eject | |||||
| – Old Brass | |||||
The FPS hardly changed when adding more powder. According to my gunsmith, John Larson of JPL Precision, the powder I’m using, Vihtavouri N105, could be hitting a plateau and adding more powder won’t make a difference. What I also don’t understand is, using a 115gr bullet with the same charge didn’t give me the increase in FPS that is supposed to happen.
Here’s what I’m using :
- Montana Gold Bullets 115gr and 124gr
- VV N105 Powder
- Winchester Small Rifle Primer
- Starline 38 Super Comp Brass (and some range pickups)
- 1.240” COAL
I also had four “stove-pipes” (marked red in the table above) that looked like this :
and in mid recoil :
think I’m not holding the gun down enough.
and the primers after being fired :
the 2nd one from the right looks like it’s over pressured. Right?
Watch this video (shot by BJ Norris) of the recent Single Stack Classic at time index 2:25 onwards, Dave Sevigny (aka android) shoots a variation of the el-presidente from a seating position. what’s interesting is you can clearly see the holes in the middle target. As he shoots, the 1st shot hits dead center in the A-zone, 2nd shot of the split slightly to the right, as if he’s already transitioning to the far right target.
he does it again, consistently, after the reload. Usually we take both shots stationary, then quickly transition to the next. Talk about saving a fraction of a fraction of a second 
here’s a picture :
Just spent two hours switching my Dillon 550B over to 38 Super Comp and loaded 90 rounds.
Various Vihtavouri N105 powder charge from 9.8 to 10.6 and two bullet weights, 115gr and 124gr.
Now to look for some time to go to the range with my Chrony to see which load works best.
After missing this for the past two months, I finally managed to get the chance to shoot it. There were six field courses and very dynamic stage designs. I came in 9th overall out of 45 shooters. I thought my speed and solution was ok, just messed up 3-4 times by tagging no-shoots and taking unnecessary extra shots at the final hostage targets. I need to build up my confidence a little and stop taking extra shots at that small target.
Checkout the match video here :
Checkout a frame of video that shows four shell cases in the air as I engage two targets side by side with two shots each. Super splits!
Finally got around to driving to Kesselrings Gun Shop up in Burlington, WA. I believe this is the BEST gunstore I’ve been to in WA state. It looks like something out of the 70s, but they have a ton of stuff for gun geeks, from guns to all kinds of reloading equipment and components imaginable. Prices were reasonable too.
If you live in Washington State, you owe it to yourself to visit this store one day. I have to go back there again.
Anyway, the reason for my visit was to get a small number of Montana Gold Complete Metal Jacket (CMJ) bullets for my .38 Super Comp handloads. Now I have everything I need to work up some recipes for my SV Open Gun. Another step closer to finally getting to shoot it.
Closer view of the CMJ bullets :
Case gauges are made for one very important purpose when you’re reloading ammo. It ensures that whatever you load will feed in your chamber. Case gauging will not only stop you from experiencing failure-to-feed malfunctions, it also catches torn or split cases.
When a case is split, it enlarges the case somewhat, making it out of “spec”. Here’s a picture of one I caught today :
It didn’t fit into the case gauge easily, it will if I pressed down on it but that’s not what to do. In this case, when I looked at the bullet, guess what I found :
Some of you might say that it’s still fine to shoot as the gun’s chamber will enclose the entire shell and keep it from tearing apart. Me? No way in hell I’m putting that in my gun.
Pulled the bullet, saved the bullet and powder, deprimed, tossed the case and primer.
Phew! A potential disaster avoided thanks to the Dillon Case Gauge!
Getting closer to finally being able to reload 38 Super Comp. Two things arrived today from Dillon Precision.
.380ACP Conversion Kit for the #3 Shellplate which is designed for the 38 Super Comp smaller rim.
and the 38 Super Case Gauge to make sure the reloads are properly made so I can ensure that each round will chamber. Sometimes bulging cases or cracked ones will creep into my reloading batch and with the case gauge, I can identify them.
Gonna head over to Kesselrings to pickup some Montana Gold 115gr and 124gr CMJs.
Gunbot! 