The sun had been below the treeline for over a half an hour before I fired the last of what I had, so I got to see if there was a flash from this load. There wasn't. I had some old Gold Dots that I think were the short barrel version, and they flashed some, and I had a partial box of 124 grain +P XTPs from Black Hills, and they flashed a lot. I always prefer to test the flash of my carry loads in low light, as with the Nuclear 1911 it was a huge problem. For that reason, I won't carry anything that makes fireballs, as I don't want to be blinded in the rare chance that I would need to shoot to save my life at night.
The Gold Dot bullet breaks into bigger pieces when it hits steel, and I could hear and see bits of it raining down with every shot. Last night was also when I discovered that my weak-hand shooting left much to be desired. I did fine with my strong hand, but had a hard time keeping shots on steel with my left. My draw times were hovering between 1.56 and 1.65 seconds from concealment under a T-shirt. Much quicker than from under a long hoodie. I also put up a cardboard target with a 6" shoot-n-C target to find out where my carry load hits at 30, 40, and 50 yards. I'll take it out all the way to 100 yards one day when I have the time. It's good to know where it hits, just in case.
As you can see, it hits a little to the right, but my grouping was OK considering I was resting my forearms on the back of a cracked lawn chair. I'll have to adjust that to center later.
All in all, I've put 1,112 rounds through this pistol without any problems.
I'm going to start reloading for 9mm in bulk very soon, and I have to place a bunch of orders for powder, primers, and bullets. I have more 9mm cases than I can count, so there's some savings there. I estimate that my cost per 1,000 rounds will run about $110. Time will tell.
A couple of days ago I was loading up some .264 LBC while watching 24 on DVD, and I thought a picture would be appropriate:
Yes, I'm a dork for 24; I have every season including the special 2-hour specials. Something you might not know is that Jack Bauer used a Sig in the first couple of seasons before switching over to a USP. It's old vs new in this pic, and one day I think I'll pickup a USP.
To wrap this up: I decided not to go for the 2,000 round challenge, and cleaned the pistol as it will be some time before I can start cranking out reloads. I'll probably document that when I do it.
4 comments:
The nice thing about 9 mm as (at least around here) you can find a lot of casings at the conservation club that folks don't pick up, for reloading.
That's a big part of me going to 9mm. I'm fortunate enough to have brothers who burn through tons of it and then give me the brass. I don't even have to pick it up!
Nice job, CTone.
Do you think, you might just be pulling right during your trigger pull? How much finger do you have on the trigger?
I ask, because I had a similar problem that was entirely due to having the tip and very little of the pad of my index on the trigger. Once I put put "more finger on the trigger" the groupd straightened out.
About flash, I'm sure you know that old saying: if it rains on you, it also rains on the enemy. The flash that affects you tends to have an impressive effect on the guy at the other end (along with the bang) if he's close enough. This might not be enough of an advantage for the vision cost you incur but it is something to keep in mind.
Terry
With DA type triggers, I have the full pad of my finger on the trigger, with the 1st crease of the knuckle close or touching the right edge of the trigger. When I pull a shot, it's almost always low. I can't predict it, but I can call it when it happens. The Glock trigger is just so much shorter, with a very short reset; the LEM has a distinctive reset, but it's all the way at the beginning of the trigger pull.
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