GRIZ

Russell, I don't think I've made my point clear to some. I see nothing wrong in going to lighter trigger on a striker or SA auto for a comp gun. You are not affecting reliabilty in a Glock going to a lighter trigger generally. If you swap out the trigger connector and safety plunger spring you won't have reliabilty issues IMO. Changing out the striker spring will give a further reduction in trigger pull but can affect reliability. I know of people who changed out all three springs that eventually had problems. They put the std striker spring back in, had a slightly heavier trigger pull, and the reliability issues went away. The trigger pull in a SA auto, a DA/SA auto in the SA mode, or a SA revolver is more dependent on sear engagement than lighter springs. You can make these modifications without hurting reliability. You can have reliable primer ignition using off the shelf ammo. No need for designer ammo for your firearm to shoot. A DA revolver, a SA/DA auto in the DA mode, or a DAO auto rely more on springs. Grant Cunningham, in one of his articles, said you need to balance reliability, trigger return, and trigger pull in a revolver. You can have two but not all three. Cunningham is retired now but many kept him in business for years by sending their revolvers to him. He would lighten triggers but more importantly smooth them out. Smooth is much more important than light. Revolvers would leave his shop with 7-8 lb triggers. IIRC he never guaranteed a very light trigger. He would make it very smooth. Commercial ammo or ammo loaded on a progressive is primed with the primer a certain depth below the case head. Depth of primer pockets varies that's why you see a variance of acceptable depth below the case head. Fully seating (or deep seating as Pizza Bob calls it) primers with a hand primer is relatively safe on empty cases. You stand almost no chance of injury unless you hold the brass up to your eye. Nothing wrong with that. Seating primers deeper on loaded ammo is not safe no matter how many times you've gotten away with doing so. The velocity of the bullet would be similar to that resulting from ammo cooking off from heat. No where near what one gets from firing it normally but quite capable of causing injury to some degree. I am personally aware of several eye injuries and at least one eye lost during recovery efforts at the WTC after 9/11 from ammo cooking off. The Customs Service had a range at 6 WTC that was used by them and several other agencies. Reliabilty is paramount in a SD gun. Same in a comp gun IMO unless you want to spend time checking for squibs.

Pizza Bob, I'll accept your refereeing on this. There's been enough said here for readers to form their own opinion on who's right and who's wrong. I will speak up if I see someone suggest a hazardous practice in the future though.

Sorry to disappoint you. My technology didn't stop 30 yrs ago. That would be before you were born wouldn't it? I don't know what field you work in but i suppose you have no respect for anyone who was doing it 30 years ago. I'm glad you qualified your statement by saying "plenty" and not "all" top tier revolver shooters. Your "plenty" need to go to uber light trigger pulls and specialized ammo to compete with my "plenty" who use triggers that reliably fire any ammo. If you need the uber light trigger and specialized ammo to compete go ahead. Don't fool yourself into thinking you're ever going to be as good as those guys using guns with triggers that reliably fire any ammo. Until you realize you need to put the effort into it like they did. Being able to skirt the rules doesn't make you more knowledgeable. Why don't you share all this technology that makes ultra light triggers work better than they did 30 years ago? I'd also see how more modern technology makes "pre-stressing" primers a good practice.

1. Okay you said it.2. If I ever suggest anything unsafe please make everyone aware. 3. You said boom booms I didn't. 4.You've worked up to 5.5 lbs only a few more to go. I never said anything about cool. Being cool is apparently a concern of yours. You've been shooting maybe 5-6 years. I've been involved in small arms and reloading in the military, law enforcement, and competition for nearly 50 years. I may not be cool. Just know what I'm doing. BTW, I do know quite a few girls who shoot well. I'm not a sexist.

Yeah, I might remind the readers you are the guy who not once but twice blew up your primer feed on your Dillon because of your insistence on using Federal primers when Dillon says no. You're also the guy who isn't strong enough to handle a 7 or 8 pound trigger from a reputable revolver smith. So you did your own action job resulting in a 4 1/2 pound trigger. How come Grant Cunningham or any of the reputable revolver smiths don't offer that. You have that ability to feel .004" using a hand primer? Crushing primers can give you erratic ignition. Look that up in any reloading manual. Seating primers deeper on loaded ammunition is not a new idea. Just a bad idea. Not a practice followed by people who have the skill and strength to deal with a good trigger. I remember you being surprised to hear Miculek uses standard and even extra power springs in his revolver. He's able to handle that because he's taken the time and effort to practice and develop the muscles to do so. He doesn't use any trick ammunition. Trigger return is as important as trigger pull and I'm sure you've given a lot of that up getting your trigger down to 4 1/2 lbs. If you get older and wiser you will learn smooth is more important than light in a trigger. Some gamers in any discipline will follow dangerous practices in order to cover for their deficiencies. Some look for instant success rather than working at something. Keep on with your hazardous practices to be able to produce your "optimal gamer boom booms". That language alone tells me where your head is at. Let us know when they result in an injury so others can be warned.

Most ranges won't let you shoot food as you never can clean it all up. I shoot plastic bottles. Remove the caps as you'll never be able to find all the pieces.

Trying to seat primers deeper on loaded ammo is reckless advice.

Good idea. Stay with factory weight springs. Many problems with handguns start when someone thinks they know more than the engineers who designed the gun swapping out different springs.

I've never shot a 300 blackout. I have shot of variety of firearms with suppressors I don't know what kind of suppressor you're using but most will get noise down to 120-130 db. I think you're fooling yourself about shooting all day long without worry of hearing damage. My research shows any prolonged exposure above 85 db will cause hearing damage. You are damaging your hearing at 120-130 db. It does take longer for the damage to occur. 5.56 would be louder than 300 sub as you have the sonic boom. Not a valid comparison. If you like a 300 go for it. I just consider it a designer caliber with little, if any real need that cannot be adequately filled by an existing caliber.

To reinforce what HE said above, you may only be capable of holding off death a bit longer. Gunshot wounds (GSWs) are just one type of emergency that would normally require a medevac for surgical intervention.

I've carried full size SAs and revolvers for years. Carry it often enough and it won't seem so heavy. A good holster like a pancake type mitigate the weight significantly. The extra weight is worth it when you get a gun easier to shoot well and a longer barrel and/or a more effective caliber. Concealing a full size gun is not as hard as many think.

Is this a game gun or SD gun? If SD I would rather go to a heavier spring for reliability.

Why are you looking for soft primers?

Lambo, I've seen mobile home parks that give residents a little yard. If you have exclusive rights to a little yard. That would be property you rent. Check your lease if this applies.

I carried a 59 for a couple of years and was issued a 659 I carried for 5 years until they made me give it up for a 6906. Never had a malfunction with the 659 and loved the all steel construction. There's only 3 issues I ever saw with this class of S&W semiautos: 1. Cleaning the slide upside down and letting all the crap settle in the firing pin channel. This would lock up the firing pin and is not your problem. Blow it out with Gunscrubber, Brake Kleen or air. 2. Recoil springs changed about 3-4k rounds. 3. The tip of the ejector would break off but the gun still would run okay. Compare yours to what it's supposed to look like by looking at an exploded view on Numrich's website.

Don't count on the bad guy standing in front of the fireplace.

All good answers so far. Anything smaller than #4 buck lacks sufficient penetration in the target. That's the most common shortcoming in using small shot. Another not often mentioned fault of small shot in this application is small shot that doesnt hit the tartget will ricochet off metal surfaces. Think refrigerators, doors, office chairs, etc. No need for 3" or bigger for SD. Before you settle for a load get a few 5 packs of buckshot and pattern them in your gun. What works well in mine may not work well in yours. A open choke will generally give a spread of about 1 inch per yard. Don't be fooled by some that argue barrel length determines shot spread. Thats all about choke. Low recoil buckshot loads usually patterns tighter. I like 12 ga low recoil 00 buck. No need for slugs unless you contemplate having to shoot over 15 yds.

A quality holster will already be designed with this in mind. If you abuse a holster (store it so it's squared flat, use the wrong products to maintain it,etc) you can ruin a good holster. While I generally agree with not storing a gun in a holster I don't think that's an absolute (like most things). It most likely is a good idea for guns with a high polish blued gun. My Ruger P90, S&W M60, and other stainless guns have been stored in holsters for 20 or more years. My blued Taurus 1911 is about 10 years old. Supposedly notorious for having a poor finish. It's been in the holster unless I was shooting it, cleaning it, or showing it all the time with no bad effects for those 10 years. It's also the one I pick when I carry a 1911 over all my others which are older Colts. That's a topic for another thread.

A 300 blackout supersonic gives you ballistics of a 7.62x39. That also means excessive penetration of that caliber in building materials compared to a 5.56. The 300 blackout surpressed meets these specs as a tactical weapon: 1. Reliable functioning in AR platform 2. 130db surpressed 3. Close range penetration similar to 7.62x39 4. 600 ft/lbs energy You can meet 1,2, and 4 with a 5.56. You can meet 2 and 3 with a 45 acp carbine with 500 ft lbs of energy. You can get 1 and 2, adequate 3, and 400 ft lbs with a MP 5 or 9 mm AR. To use Jeff Cooper's response to some things in the firearms world the 300 blackout is "a solution to a problem that doesn't exist" AFAIC. 9mm, 45 acp, 5.56, 12 ga, and 300 blackout unsurpressed all put out 150-160 db. About the same as a M26 fragmentation grenade at 50 ft. Shooting a 44 mag puts out about 165 db. No real advantage to using an unsurpressed 300 to save your hearing. That all makes enough sound to be painful. I know there is a significant difference but most consider 140 db or more painful. You can do more damage to your ears playing music at 100-110 db for prolonged periods. Too many people put too much into eliminating the "crack of the sonic boom". Yes, a 300 blackout subsonic with a surpressor puts out about 130 db. That will damage your hearing. You need to put things in prespective. I can only speak of my own experience. I was exposed to small arms fire, explosions, outgoing and incoming artillery fire literally thousands of times before I was 19 without hearing protection. I didn't refuse to wear it, it just wasn't given or feasible for what I was involved. For example, a 8" howitzer gives off 180 db, way more than any small arms. If you are on a gun crew you couldn't wear ear plugs and hear the firing commands, what charge powder and fuse setting. Today, gun bunnies have more sophisticated hearing protection. Since then, my exposure to to loud noise has been more limited. The source of that noise has been the same but limited to much less. However I also have a few hundred hours in small aircraft which can cause significant hearing damage. Did all this result in significant hearing damage? Sure it has but I am far from deaf. I do have a hearing aid but don't wear it often. Any ambitions to be a piano tuner have been shattered. One can probably do that electronically now. I have friends who are musicians with more hearing damage. I don't think my ears are tougher than anyone else's. The question is will discharging a firearm in a confined area without a surpressor damage your hearing permanently with or without a surpressor? Sure it will. Will it make you permanently deaf? I would say 99.99% no. Shooting in SD situation without hearing protection? A bit of hearing damage vs dead? Tinnitus vs dead? I know what I've picked.

You get about 1000 fps with 230gr 45 acp in a while 16" barrel. The 300 will shoot flatter and retain velocity better due to ballistic coefficient. Not a big advantage all in all unless one wants to argue it's "better".

Don't get me wrong. I like DeSantis but have and use Bianchi, Milt Sparks, and others. Some of these are over 40 years old...and still safe.

Want a good leather concealment holster? In case you haven't heard me say it before try a DeSantis Speed Scabbard. You can get it with or without a thumb strap. I prefer the one without. It holds the holster very secure as it is. The Mini Scabbard does the same for smaller guns.

Leather or kydex has nothing to do with tacticool. Kydex has legitimate advantages in some situations. Military use is one. If you get a leather holster wet it will take days to fully dry. Kydex you just have to wipe dry. Having carried sidearms in interesting places in the military I'd say kydex wins in that application. Kydex sucks for concealment IMO. I never saw a Kydex OWB holster that didn't leave the gun sticking out from your side compared to comparable leather. IWB will work because you have your pants and belt blending the holster in. Kydex will get hot and uncomfortable unless you have leather on the inside. The popularity of kydex was brought on by the introduction of Fobus holsters. The main reason is they are cheap in price compared to leather. The much lower costs of material and manufacturing processes mean they can be sold cheaper.

Whoa! Watch your language. I'm not a hunter and not a gun game boy. Referring to me as a fudd is insulting even if you put a smiley face at the end. You really have little idea of my background and what I do. Just because we're old doesn't mean we don't know stuff.

This guy and his technique in disarming land mines is not surprising. Many people in many parts of the world have little regard for what we call safety. I've seen this in Eastern Europe and Asia. Another factor in what this guy does is this guy is Cambodian. Nearly all Cambodians are Buddhists and reincarnation is a basic belief held by them. No, not the reincarnation we commonly understand. I'm not trying to turn this into a theology thread.