In my zeal to zing 9x21, I forgot to thank those guys (MrTwig-drgrant) who responded to my initial question. So, thanks. I really hope the weather holds up, I'd like to shoot out your way. I went out to Westminster a few weeks ago and was disappointed to find that the pin shoot had been changed to a plate shoot. It's tough to use iron-sighted .45s against .22s with red dots. But I did meet a new group of men and it seemed like a good lot. Everyone was very friendly and helpful.
38supermatt: Earlier I read a piece you wrote about the proper handling of the 1911's lockwork. How not to pork it up. You are the first person I've ever run into who has gotten it right. The 1911 is the only auto pistol I shoot, and has been for 30 years. I learned long ago never to drop the slide on an empty chamber for all of the reasons you outlined. It stuns me when I see people who should know better doing just that in gun stores and at the range. I wouldn't even do it to a modern design like a Glock or Sig. Your point about holding down the trigger when thumb cocking is also true, but I must confess to not doing it for fear of forming a bad habit of some kind and having a bad moment at the range or worse. My point to all this is, you know your 1911s. But do you really think a 125gr at 1400fps can move pins as well off a regulation pin table? (3 feet deep) I, too, own an older Series 70 .38 Super and have experimented with both 125s and 147 grain bullets on pins in my own backyard. (125s at 1347 and 147s at 1128) I do not feel that they begin to approach the ability to move pins - new, lumpy, or otherwise - like a standard weight 230 grain .45 bullet at even modest speeds. I think a factory ball cartridge (45) does a better job than anything in .355 and I've run the tests. When you load that 230 up to 900+fps, it's glaring, the difference. The heavy .45 pushes the pin four feet sideways without barely touching the table. I write this not to light you up. I'm just stymied that two people can look at the same problem see two entirely different results. At all of the pin shoots that I've ever been to, I've never seen any caliber but 10mm and .45acp win or even do well. The men shooting the Supers were having poor luck even when making good hits. Maybe the pins we shoot over my way are just heavier? Yeah, I doubt it too. Anybody who's got a thought on this please chime in. And 38supermatt, I ran into Pistol Pete at MRA a month ago. What he does with a gun is something I'm not familiar with. His speed is really something else. If you gave me half the targests to shoot at I could not match him. But that is steel plate shooting at big targets with easy recoiling guns: his glass-sighted 38 against my stock .45s with iron sights. I found Pete to be a really good kid. I'm just dieing to see what Pete and guys who shoot these types of guns can do against heavy targets that require pinpoint accuracy. Maybe I'll get hosed. Should be good fun to find out though.
Respectfully, SA John