Checking in

[melissa5]

Hey guys/gals! I was told that I needed to check in every so often, so here's my story. Hope you are doing great! I'd be doing better if I was working full time. Other than that, I've been busy shooting USPSA, GSSF, and rifle matches.

I won another free Glock earlier this year in a random drawing. Also, I've been able to whittle a good bit of penalty seconds off of my time and am now down to 109 seconds to shoot the whole match in GSSF. Last year I was shooting in the 200 and 300's. I'd like to be under 100 seconds by the end of the year. If I can stop shooting in the D ring, I can easily do it.

As for USPSA, I have been battling double feeds and primers not being popped in my .40 cal race gun. A couple of team shooters are going to look at my gun and reloads tomorrow, so hopefully they will get things figured out for next months match. I've had a couple of Master and Grand Master class shooters tell me that I really need to switch to a 2011 to really move up in open class. So, I've been looking at those and trying to decide between .38 Super or 9 Major. Not sure my reloading skills are up to 9 Major and .38 Super is more expensive because of the brass. What to do, what to do?

A couple of month ago, I started going to a 700 yard range and working on my rifle skills. Also, did a mini 3-gun match there...rifle out to 280 yards, shotgun, and pistol. That was a LOT of fun and I'll be doing that on the 1st Saturday of every month. They have a 2 story tower that you shoot the rifle part of the match from. Maybe I can get some video of me shooting this next month. :)

[LorenzoB]

Yes, video would be very cool.
Love the update. You should check in more often!

[dkmatthews]

Thanks for the update and best wishes on your pistol issues!

[TheTman]

Sounds like you've been having a good time, sorry to hear about your pistol issues. At least you get out and compete, I went and got set up for IDPA, and have yet to make a match. The rifle stuff sounds like a lot of fun. I'd like to try some 700 yard shooting sometime, I think that would be a blast.

Also the Palm Beach Sheriffs dept. is having problems with their Glocks, and the MIM striker wearing out and not firing rounds. Could that be your problem with your Glock not popping the primers? I read on another page that it was the .40 caliber pistols having the most problems, but also showing up in the 9mm.

[Bawanna]

Thanks for checking in Melissa, makes my day and I feel really good that your the first woman to ever do what I said.

You can probably tell by my outfit that I am a chauvinist with much respect for the finer gender.

[melissa5]

Sounds like you've been having a good time, sorry to hear about your pistol issues. At least you get out and compete, I went and got set up for IDPA, and have yet to make a match. The rifle stuff sounds like a lot of fun. I'd like to try some 700 yard shooting sometime, I think that would be a blast.

Also the Palm Beach Sheriffs dept. is having problems with their Glocks, and the MIM striker wearing out and not firing rounds. Could that be your problem with your Glock not popping the primers? I read on another page that it was the .40 caliber pistols having the most problems, but also showing up in the 9mm.

Just go do it, TheTman. Then you'll be hooked.

About the pistol issues, I think I may need to seat my primers a little deeper. Hopefully that's all it is.

[muggsy]

If primers aren't fully seated they will seat when struck by the firing pin and that movement softens the blow. You should be able to feel the primers bottom out when you seat them. I'd be looking at replacing the striker and striker spring if I was encountering light strikes. It a very cheap fix. You might also check to see if the striker protrusion is within specks and that the striker channel is clean. Hope that helps, kiddo.

[getsome]

I had a similar problem when I was using my press to seat primers....About 10 out of 50 reloads wouldn't fire, the primers had a real good firing pin dent but no bang....Bawanna set me straight and told me to use latex gloves when touching primers and to use a Lee Hand primer Tool to seat primers and since doing that I haven't had a single problem....Very simple fix for a problem that was confounding me as to what was wrong....Oh yea, it's good to hear from you Melissa5...Glad your competition shooting is going so well...Good luck to you!!!

[melissa5]

Hmm...what is the reason behind the latex gloves?

[getsome]

Primers are very sensitive to any kind of contamination and your skin has oils that could possibly contaminate a primer and make it a dud...You could also have static electricity built up and cause a spark which could cause an explosion which can also happen in a priner feed tube so it's good to ground yourself and your press but the main reason is to keep anything you may have touched and is on your skin off and out of the primers

[Bawanna]

The best thing is to never touch them at all with or without gloves. The Lee hand primer or even the press tubes etc allow you to go from primer box to priming without touching. If I drop one or spill some or there's usually one or two that refuse to get right side up on the tray I use tweezers to roll them over.

I would think it would be even more of an issue with the ladies with hand lotions and potions and such.

If I'm cleaning or wrenching on guns and then decide to do some loading a good hand washing is in order in between.

[AIRret]

Good to hear from you Meliss5, I think it's great that you are competing. If I can get a few medical conditions straightened out I hope to shoot IDPA.
19 months ago I switched from shooting right hand to left had because of torn ligaments in my right thumb. I can shoot with my right hand but not all day and racking the gun while holding a combat grip is next to impossible. Fortunately, I'm left eye dominate so the switch wasn't too hard.
Then recently I was diagnosed with a trapped ulnar nerve in my left elbow. It has affected the strength in my left hand which doesn't make me very happy. I can still shoot and do fairly well but the DA on my Sig 226 and LCR 357 are too much right now. Fortunately,
the Sig 239, the Kahr PM9, XDs 45, Xdm 5.25 45, the boberg, and the 22 are fine.
We will see what happens over the next couple of months. If there is no improvement I may have to have surgery.

[melissa5]

Good to hear from you Meliss5, I think it's great that you are competing. If I can get a few medical conditions straightened out I hope to shoot IDPA.
19 months ago I switched from shooting right hand to left had because of torn ligaments in my right thumb. I can shoot with my right hand but not all day and racking the gun while holding a combat grip is next to impossible. Fortunately, I'm left eye dominate so the switch wasn't too hard.
Then recently I was diagnosed with a trapped ulnar nerve in my left elbow. It has affected the strength in my left hand which doesn't make me very happy. I can still shoot and do fairly well but the DA on my Sig 226 and LCR 357 are too much right now. Fortunately,
the Sig 239, the Kahr PM9, XDs 45, Xdm 5.25 45, the boberg, and the 22 are fine.
We will see what happens over the next couple of months. If there is no improvement I may have to have surgery.

Holy cow! I couldn't image trying to switch hands. I hope things get better for you fast.

[muggsy]

Primers are very sensitive to any kind of contamination and your skin has oils that could possibly contaminate a primer and make it a dud...You could also have static electricity built up and cause a spark which could cause an explosion which can also happen in a priner feed tube so it's good to ground yourself and your press but the main reason is to keep anything you may have touched and is on your skin off and out of the primers

Not to pick on Bawanna, Lord knows I love him like a brother, but modern day primers are not all that sensitive to oil or moisture. The priming compound is sealed with a foil. Still, is a good idea to avoid handling them if possible. I've included a link that explains things a lot better than I can. I too, use a Lee hand priming tool. Never reload after eating KFC with your fingers. :)

http://www.exteriorballistics.com/reloadbasics/primer.cfm

[AIRret]

Thanks Melissa, with God's help I'll deal with what I have too!

[ltxi]

Not to pick on Bawanna, Lord knows I love him like a brother, but modern day primers are not all that sensitive to oil or moisture. The priming compound is sealed with a foil. Still, is a good idea to avoid handling them if possible. I've included a link that explains things a lot better than I can. I too, use a Lee hand priming tool. Never reload after eating KFC with your fingers. :)

http://www.exteriorballistics.com/reloadbasics/primer.cfm

Quit beating around the bush. Just come right out and say it. You think the Col is an idiot who's stuck in back in the corrosive primer days.

[Bawanna]

I kind of resemble that but I'd definitely go along with that concept.

I'm still not touching my primers though.

[ltxi]

I kind of resemble that but I'd definitely go along with that concept.

I'm still not touching my primers though.

Sorry...not really though. Check my edit.

[AIRret]

We haven't been handling the primers but that wasn't because we had the knowledge, it's simply because of the primer tools.
I'm always learning on this forum!!
THANKS

[AIRret]

Since we are talking about primers does anyone know if there is something a person should use to seal a primer if you plan on storing the bullet more than 1 year?

[Bawanna]

Since we are talking about primers does anyone know if there is something a person should use to seal a primer if you plan on storing the bullet more than 1 year?

Really no need to seal them if your storing them someplace dry and in boxes. Once the primer is installed Muggsy is right, they are pretty durable.

I learn stuff here every day too. Today I learned I'm an idiot cave man.

I'm kind of proud of it.

[Barth]

Hi Melissa!

Good to hear from you.
After about 7000 rounds and only minor cleaning my G27 is finally
starting to FTF about (1 in 1000).
Not bad, but maybe a deep clean and some new springs are in order.

My Arsenal SLR-106U 5.56 Suchka wouldn't feed hollow points with 1 in 10 FTF.
Sent it back to Arsenal Las Vegas for warranty service.
They sent me a much newer replacement pistol that eats anything and runs like butter.

My MK40 Elite continues to run flawless.
But I'm mostly carrying and shooting my HK45CT and HK P2000SK.
The 45 has a Light LEM trigger with a crisp clean 3.9 lbs break!

Hope you get your gun problems worked out.
It always weights heavy on me when one of my handguns is misbehaving.

[jocko]

Hell I thought all people from washington were vborn in a cave,kinda like the gypsies. not alot of difference really. Except gypsies carry 9mm.Most of the gypsies around my area were either honey dippers or black toppers besides bing the thieves they are.I think they even have a code name for when gypsies enter these wal mart stores around this area. No sh!t, my wife works there and says when that code is announced over the PA , everyone knows the gypsies ar ein the store and they have all scattered. they are truly theiven bastards, but thosde gypsie always drove vancy trucks.

[ltxi]

Yep...but dry means dry. Unless you seal them, don't get the cartridges seriously wet or plan on 20 year storage.

[ltxi]

Really no need to seal them if your storing them someplace dry and in boxes. Once the primer is installed Muggsy is right, they are pretty durable.

I learn stuff here every day too. Today I learned I'm an idiot cave man.

I'm kind of proud of it.

You are not an idiot cave man. I'm not even old enough to qualify as a cave man.

[Tinman507]

Really no need to seal them if your storing them someplace dry and in boxes. Once the primer is installed Muggsy is right, they are pretty durable.

I learn stuff here every day too. Today I learned I'm an idiot cave man.

I'm kind of proud of it.

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o542/tinman507/colonel-caveman_zpsf104832e.jpg