I appreciate all the info fellas. I had back surgery earlier this week, so I'm spending my down time reading up on load data for the 10mm. I've got a few thousand 180 grain Montanan Gold JHP and about 5 lbs of Longshot waiting for me on the bench, so this info is exactly what I needed!


Eric

I wore a Serpa to a three day handgun class a few years back, and on day one it jammed up after getting a little dirty so that I couldn't draw from it any longer. So I've ditched all my Serpas now, just don't trust them to be reliable after that experience. As far as retention goes, the passive retention provided by a good custom molded kydex holster is more than adequate for my needs. Quality kydex offers enough retention to secure the weapon when I'm active, and when I do open carry I feel plenty confident in something like a Raven Concealment knowing the design of a good kydex rig makes it difficult to snatch a weapon without drawing pretty straight up from the holster.

Old thread, but since folks are still posting I'll jump in as well. I like TFO's if you want a night sight, although I've got to be honest and say I've had more than a few problems with the fiber optics actually falling out of the sight. The new TFX sight looks pretty promising if you like that style, and seems to be a lot more beefy as well. I much prefer however a blacked out rear with a little wider notch and a fiber optic front over a three dot sight. So I like Warren Tactical sights or a Dawson Precision front sight with something like a Heinie Ledge rear.

Someone mentioned Serpa as a decent holster earlier, but if it were me I'd avoid Serpas like the plague. I took a several day handgun class a few years back and used a Serpa only to discover on day one that once it got dirty from shooting out or improvised positions on the ground it locked up and wouldn't have work to release my weapon any longer. I've taken a few classes since then and seen similar problems for others, so that I just don't trust them anymore if your holster is going to see anything approaching hard use. I can't say enough about Raven Concealment though as a kydex rig. Switched to their stuff a while back and have never looked back.

Well I think I've narrowed it down to the ProChrono Digital and Competition Electronics F1 after these and several other recommendations. Any reason you'd opt for one over the other if the prices are comparable?

QuoteHere's the deal.. You can buy an F1 Shooting Chrony for only $79 on sale but to "access" all the cool features like Hi, Lo, Average Dev, Standard Dev, extreme spread, etc you need to buy a "remote" or printer that plugs into the "FU" jack.. I thought it was funny that they called it an "F-U" jack since it's such a simple device to exponentially increase the usability of the device - FU obviously means "function"

On a 1/8 inch stereo headphone jack there are three poles - the tip, the middle, and the "base". Even though it is a two pole connection, the Chrony uses the middle and base connections on the plug. All you need to do is solder a length of speaker wire to the above mentioned poles of the plug and put a momentary contact switch at the other end!

Please note that the "tip" connection on the jack's plug is NOT used. I'm hoping that sharing this information will nudge few of my fellow loaders into plunking down for a Chrony now that all of the features can be accessed without purchasing expensive "Extras".

The FU jack? Thanks for the good chuckle, I surely needed that the way this day is going! Thanks also for your suggestions on the DIY remote. I enjoy a little electronics tinkering myself, so that's something that's certainly of interest to me. Any opinions on the ProChrono Digital by Competition Electronics? I've had a few friends recommend that one as well, but again don't have enough of a knowledge on the subject to do much by way of comparison. I mean what is it really that I should be looking for at chronographs of comparable price, or are there not really that many differences anyway?

Ok, help me out on this subject gentleman. Looking to purchase my first after using them just a little bit on loan from others, but really don't know much about them beyond that. I've been a long time reloader and definitely see the value now of having one, but I'm not entirely sure where to start. I searched the site and found one thread a year ago with just a couple of posts recommending the F1, RCBS Ammomaster, Caldwell, and Competition Electronics - but not a lot on the site beyond that. So figured I'd start a new thread to see if y'all can point me in the right direction. Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide!

Eric

Well, I double checked to make sure I wasn't crazy and verified that the factory standard on the Compacts is a 17# spring. So the 14# might just be too light a spring so that the slide is cycling too quickly for the magazines to catch the slide on the last shot. It's common to have the other problem as well where the loads are too light for the heavier recoil spring so that the slide doesn't cycle fully and lock back, but it's hard to imagine that would be your problem with mid-range loads and a lighter weight spring. So like someone already said, I'd start by ruling out anything that's magazine specific, but if it isn't that I'd try swapping back to the factory spring to see if that makes a difference. Do you know if they changed out your hammer spring at the same time as the did the recoil spring, like if they moved to a lighter weight recoil spring and a heavier hammer spring as is common a lot of times on the 1911? Just wondering if there's anything else they might have changed that may be causing your slide lock woes.

Eric

I'd check the mags too just to verify their function, but I wouldn't rule out the possibility that the failure to lock is a recoil spring issue. I'm pretty sure the factory spring on the CZ compacts is a 17#, which may mean at 14# your slide is cycling a little too fast for the magazine to lock it open on that last shot. So I'd try maybe swapping back the recoil spring to see if that makes a difference as well. Any specific reason you went with a lighter spring?

Quote from: gandog56 on February 21 2015 01:05:28 PM MST

Quote from: sqlbullet on January 31 2015 12:51:55 PM MST
Heavier bullets need slower powders for best performance velocity wise in the same cartridge.  Heavier bullets don't really equate to softer recoil.  In fact, the opposite is usually true.  A full power 10mm 200 grain will about 1 additional lb of free recoil than a full power 135 grain load.

Force = Mass X velocity

Perception of recoil might be a totally different story though. Sometimes a faster powder and lighter bullet feels much sharper while a heavier bullet and slower powder might feel like a slow push by comparison. So it's hard to make a lot of hard conclusions based on physics alone when it comes to recoil because so much of it a matter of individual perception.

My wife is always asking me why I don't run the heat in my shop where I reload. I can't seem to make her understand that if I keep it cold out there no one will come bother me...

Heavier bullets don't typically equate to softer recoil, but I would say you're on the right track in looking at heavier bullets in the 9mm as the 124's and 147's do seem to produce noticeably softer recoil than the 115's. As far as your powder inventory, I'm happy to give my take/experience on some of what you've got listed.

E3 is a pretty fast powder that works well for general plinking rounds. I've loaded it in 45ACP and 9mm, although Bullseye is more of a standby for me at a pretty comparable burn rate. So I'd use either of those for some of your general plinking rounds, probably in 9mm or 40 based on what you've listed. HP38 is the same powder as W231, and is a decent all around powder. For the calibers you've got listed I really like 231/HP38 with the heavier weight 9mm bullets. My standard load is 4.6 grains of 231 under a Montana Gold 124, and I've literally shot tens of thousands of those and love that recipe to death.

Unique is another great all around powder that'll do such a wide range of things it's almost a must-have for the reloader. In the calibers you've listed specifically, I really-really like Unique in the 40. It's one of those powders that I've had best luck with when it's loaded at closer to max levels, and in the 40 it's one that fills the case well and has always provided me good accuracy and velocity. So of the stuff you've got listed I'd personally look at using the Unique in your 40 recipes.

BE-86 is one I've not shot at all yet, so I don't have much to say from first hand experience. My understanding is that it's pretty comparable to Power Pistol, and in fact depending on who you ask some are saying it's the same powder with a flash suppressant added since Power Pistol is known to be a little flashy. But again, I've got no first hand experience to say one way or another. I have however loaded a lot of Power Pistol through the years in a wide range of calibers. It's a powder that works really well with medium-to-full power jacketed rounds, so it's one I've used to duplicate a lot of SD loads. So it would work well in any of the calibers you've got listed, but is obviously a great powder for the 10mm specifically. So based on what you've listed I'd save the Power Pistol for 10mm or any other high velocity jacketed rounds you want to load. But with powders like HP38 and Unique on your bench, Power Pistol would probably be best used for 10mm given what you're looking to load. Silhouette and N340 are powders I've got no experience with, so again I can't say anything to help you much on those.

Hopefully some of that is helpful to you and best of luck on your loading endeavors!

Eric

Hello all. I'm Eric, also from Spokane Washington, and just getting back more seriously into the 10mm. I've been a lurker on the site for a while but am looking forward to becoming an active participant. Thanks for keeping up such a great site, I look forward to becoming a part of it.