Ready for cast boolit test
Everything started coming together. The Star size die from Lathesmith arrive the middle of the week & the Arsenal 358-125-TC was in the mail box Friday.
I got up early Saturday while it was as cool as it will be & cast over 500 boolits & sized 200 of them that evening. The Arsenal mold is a beauty, but the boolits as dropped measure .35950 instead of the .358 I wanted. Picking 3 @ random weighed 121.2 gr. each. The good news is the size die from Lathesmith sizes them down to .35650: perfect for the .35540-.35550 bore.
The #1 photo attached tells the story.
Taking the advice from P Flados my test brass is Federal.
I'm starting out with the load suggested by LUCKYDAWG13: 3.8 of red dot. My old Lyman pistol & Revolver book shows this as the suggested starting load.
The #2 photo shows 3.8 of R.D. in the case (I don't see how there would be enough room in the case to add more). Question: are compressed loads normal in the 9?
It'll take me a while to become accustomed to handling these small components.....I've considered tweezers to handle the boolits in & out of the Star.
I'll be sure to equip myself with my shooting glasses + gloves before touching that first one off tomorrow morning.
Henry
Forgot to post the 2 photos
Magazine issue that may effect feeding
Photo #1 is a top view of the Officer model magazine. Note the adapter @ the inner rear wall that I assume serves to reduce the inside length. Also note grooves on both sides that I assume are to reduce the width to accommodate the 9mm.
I notice that 5 rounds are easy to load, but the 6th & 7th are almost impossible to load. It seems like the follower makes contact with something inside the magazine that will not allow the follower to go any further(more than just spring pressure). Increased pressure will finally overcome the obstacle, but the final 2 rounds are difficult (almost impossible) to make contact with the rear adapter. My #3 AOL & the #4AOL & #5OAL in photo #2 feed OK if 5 rounds are loaded. When 7 are loaded a FTF usually occurs on the 2nd. shot.
When I remove the magazine to clear it, the top round is 1/3rd forward exiting the magazine lips. Re-installing that round into the magazine fires OK & the rest of the magazine usually feeds OK.
From this I think the FTF is a magazine problem as well as an OAL issue.
Photo #2: AOL on the left (#4) is 1.090 & #5 on the right is 1.10. I loaded 5 of the #4 AOL with 4.0 gr. HP38 & they fired w/o a hitch. I loaded both magazines (7) with OAL #5 & chambered a round separately. I attempted to fire this 15 & ran into the problem usually after the 1st. or 2nd. shot.
HISTORY: Prior to the reloads I'd fired 65 Fiocchi 124gr. FMJ without a problem.
Following the test of the #4 OAL I fired 15 Fiocchi loads & the problem occurred after the 2nd. round. Photo #3 shows 3 empties from those 15 rounds. The one on the left looks normal. The center one shows primer hit beginning to flow. The one on the right is one that failed to feed, but fired after re-chambering: it is no where near normal.
I plan to call Ruger tomorrow to see if they're having magazine issues with the Officer Model. I don't see any way to disassemble.
P Flados,
After seeing this primer from a factory load, I've changed my mind about the Red Dot load. I was blaming the primer appearance on Red Dot.
The plot thickens.
Henry
I tried 1 time, maybe it'll work this time
Quote:
Originally Posted by
robertbank
Empty your gun and with a mag in or out of the gun hold the slide back slightly. Cock the gun manually and pull the trigger. I have several 1911's and none will drop the hammer if the slide is out of battery. Too, if the gun was firing out of battery you would have more issues then a flat primer.
I don't get the connection between the gun firing out of battery and the magazine. What am I missing?
Good Luck
Take Care
Bob
Bob,
Thanks for your reply & I appreciate you sharing your 1911 expertise. Please forgive me not answering sooner.....yard work interfered.
I should apologize for the phrase "out of battery". "Not fully in battery" would have been more accurate as what I was trying to say, but as it turns out both would be wrong.
I tried your test & the results depends on the word "slightly" (I don't mean to sound like Bill Clinton). To explain, check out the attached photos.
Photo #1: (out of sequence...it is showing as the last one)The guide rod with the slide fully closed.
Photo #2: (out of sequence.. it is the 1st. one)The guide rod with the slide slightly retracted.
Photo #3: (out of sequence.... it's the 2nd. one)The rear of the slide slightly retracted (same retraction as #2).
The hammer fell with this amount of retraction. To be fair: with this amount of retraction, there was no perceptible downward movement of the rear end of the bbl.. Any more rearward movement of the slide rendered the gun unable to fire.
Relationship (suspected relationship) between the magazine & problem:
Background: rounds #1-5 loaded normally. Rounds #6  difficult to load & unable to push them back against rear wall of mag. Round #8 single loaded into chamber & slide fully closed.
#8 fires.
#7 fails to fire. Cock hammer & #7 fires. If I chose not to cock & attempt to fire again, the magazine would look like photo#4 & #5 (round #6 out of place).
I deduct that round #6 slowed the forward movement of the slide & it may not be in the full forward position.
Photo #4: (out of sequence & is 3rd.)magazine with 7 rounds. Note rear of cartridge not against rear of magazine.
Photo #5: (out of sequence & is showing as 4th.)Round #6 forward from magazine
Photo #6: Side view of #5(out of sequence & is showing as 5th)
Preparing to make the photo of the slightly retracted slide, I pressed the front side edge of the slide against the window frame of my reloading room & slowly increased pressure to retract the slide slightly. When retracted in same amount showing in the photo the hammer fell with enough force to close the slide & put a dent into the window frame. That hammer has mucho force.
I tried 2 other times to write this & when finished, it would not upload. This may explain why the photos are out of sequence. The out of sequence photos are confusing, but this is the best I can do.
Regards,
Henry
P.S. I'll try to relist photos in proper sequence. My service is wireless & we've been having bad weather here.