JonF

I think you'll like that EBR reticle much better than teh BDC , especially if varminting/hunting is going to be part of your routine. Ranging with the vortex is going to be much easier with a linear system, especially in the FFP.

What mags are you using? Can you describe the feed jam a little more in detail? Definitely put in a stock steel trigger and dump the plastic action parts. I have a Geissele in mine since the stock triggers are generally heavy and ill suited for shooting competitions. Unfortunately you cannot lighten a stock trigger with JP yellow springs or else it will start light striking heavily so an aftermarket trigger kit like a Geissele or a Timney 4#+ is the only options. Once you get a different trigger, try the gun again. If it was having an issue with short cycling because of that plastic trigger, that could be affecting feeding on the rebound stroke.

For a P226, if its pretty much stock, go for "PRODuction" class.

Careful what you ask for around here.

Pretty pretty princess!

And check out inline fabrication for lights, handles and other accessories. http://www.inlinefabrication.com/

Looks like he's charging in station 3 so he's not using a powder funnel. Nick, do yourself a favor as a beginning reloader and get a RCBS lockout die for station 4 and a consolidated seater/crimper die for station 5. Actually this is good advice for a reloader of any level of experience as it will help catch any harmful deviation of your powder charge that you may inadvertently miss, especially as your ramp up your production speeds. Ignore any comments about how you have to seat and crimp in two steps since for calibers like 9mm, its uneccessary since your crimp is merely a de-flare.

Awww, someone has a secret admirer for the valentine steel match. lol

What did you order? I generally support the local folks here that support us back, however, recently i was trying to locate a bolt gun in a more obscure caliber and none of the guys here, nor thier distributors had any and so the only one i found was at Buds so i put in the order. I placed my order no more than 2 weeks ago and it finally arrived at the FFL yesterday after a lengthy wait to ship. Are they limiting this only to semi's or all guns?

Funny you say that, so was i. Got there around 2ish and probably waited for a good 40 mins in the line that was wrapped completely around inside the store. I've never seen anything like that there. The guy seriously needs a cash register or at least a calculator!

kman, this particular barrel is of the tensioned/sleeved variety so the construction is not like a traditional monolithic solid steel bull barrel. On order to achieve the exotic light weight, a minimalistic barrel liner is used and tensioned with a outer sleeve to impart the rigidity needed to stabilize the overall barrel. While its by no means delicate or weak, it won't shrug off an extreme overpressure event like a heavy barrel will. The massive airgap between the barrel liner and sleeve is an unbelievable weight savings but clearly does nothing to support such a "rapid expansion". lol

I ended up with a rail mount that sandwiches between the barrel collar and mag cap and has a pic rail bent 90 degrees off it. The mount is made by Streamlight and is marked for a Remmmy 870 but it fits the Benelli like a glove as the mag tube diameter is identical. From there i clamped on a Gear Sector light mount which puts the end cap well within reach of your thumb when its on the grip. I like this positioning because you dont have to break grip at all to activate it. Just reach forward with you thumb and flick it on or off. Because of where the mount ends up, you have a lot of flexibility for positioning the light fore/aft to get the positioning right for your own reach. I have big hands so the light is mounted pretty far forward but there is a couple inches of real estate on the light body that you slide back on to get it closer. For the light, i have the Surefire 6PX Defender. Its a simple clicky endcap with only 2 settings: momentary and click for on. No highs/lows/strobes.

Tim is definitely top notch in the service dept. For break in, i dont know if it really matters what the actual ammo is. In fact, this instance of a "squib" seems odd in that Federal bulk is always extremely consistent. Coupled with the fact that its generally quite abundant and inexpensive, you see a LOT of people shooting it both casually and at matches so it certainly strikes me as odd that it would happen with this brand. Cheap Remmy or Winny ammo sure, but not Fed. Anyways, the only thing to keep your eye on during break in is leading. I got a fair amount of it with the first barrel and need to run a brush through there fairly often to scrape it out. Eventually after the first 1000 or so rounds, it seemed to stabilize and no more leading but it can certainly wreak havok on accuracy and raise pressures.

I was discussing this with another FFL that i'm personal friends with and he was telling me that recent ATF/NJSP FFL training seminars have been putting a lot of emphasis on straw purchase identification lately. An actual straw purchase is clearly defined as to what it is, however, lately, authorities have been *Stretching* the definition from beyond the "*ADMITTEDLY NOT* the actual purchaser/recipient", to "*KINDA SEEMS LIKE* its not the actual purchaser/recipient". I'm told that they really have dealers SPOOKED on this topic because of all the wacky scenarios they gave as examples of thier stretched perception of a straw purchase. One case cited to me was a father goes into a store to buy a simple starter 22lr rifle and in casual conversation with the owner, mentions that its "for his kid". Literally meaning, he's buying it so he can bring his kid to the range and have something for the child to shoot. Never said it was to "Give" posession of it to the child, rather, just for use at the range under his supervision. To them this is a straw purchase even though the intention is not to give it away. This is comflicted because gifting a firearms is still allowed and its this is not considered a straw purchase, does that incriminate every single parent who has purchased or intends to purchase a CHIPMUNK 22 youth rifle so thier kid can learn to shoot? Ridiculous! And now cases like these where a married couple goes in the store *TOGETHER* (cuz thats what marries couples DO!) to pick up a gun that one of them bought for themselves and one person speaks on the others behalf because he's more comfortable/knowledgable/etc now *SEEMS* like its not the actual recipeint so suddenly its tagged as a straw purchase. Like said, the issuing authorities have the dealers spooked by stretching the envelope for the definition. So natrually all the high volume dealers and the newbies with little experience are going to flag anything that seems like it now.

Don't be sad little buddy, next time i promise not to beat you with your own gun.

well folks, the match is officially cancelled. See you guys in March!

Its basically a completely dedicated 22LR AR15. Real AR lower (lightweight polymer) but with 22lr dedicated upper ( barrel is 22lr specific .223" bore, 22lr chamber, no adapter, etc) and a lightweight stock with no buffer system. 15-22 mags work in a AR with some thin spacers you can buy online to tighten up the fit. They work better than all the black dog and cmmg mags in that they have a bolt hold open feature and are easy to load with the follower button (And they're cheap!).

Bryan, this is what is is supposed to look like.

Yeah, it did happen at the last steel match but since my replacement parts just arrived, i was reminded of the incident and figured i'd share. And alec and steve must have been off in the woods screwing around when it happened because it was every bit as exciting as i described! Between the blinding sparks, ear shattering explosion, thick mushroom cloud, women and children screaming everywhere and schrapnel raining down like the apocolypse, it was surely a sight to behold! Actually this and probably most barel kaboom's are fairly mundane. Like an ordinary gunshot, its over before you know it and thankfully a statement like "well, that's that!" is as best as you can hope for in lieu of potential bodily harm. Wanna know the real kicker? Even with the rifle destroyed, Alec lent me his for the rest of the match and i still went on to beat him even with a half botched stage and a unfamiliar gun. Sorry princess, couldn't resist.

Correct on the brand and fortunately no one was hurt in the making of this paperweight. Tim the owner delivers top notch customer service and should be a model for vendors everywhere. Its probably fair to speculate that a heavy bull barrel may not have sustained the same type of damage, however, due to the construction nature of these type of lightweight sleeved design, the liner does act as a safety valve for such an overpressure situation. My only indication of something being wrong was the carbon sleeve and barrel cap going downrange in my peripheral. Luckily the system is very modular and can be easily repaired at minimal cost without needing to replace the entire system.

So there i was, setting record after record and wooing the crowd with my speed shooting skills at the steel match doing elite operator triple and quadruple taps with splits so fast my finger should be tax stamped as a BATF class III device when all of a sudden the front half of my fortune and fame goes flying downrange and ending my dreams of world class steel domination. Well, some of that is true anyways. Looks like a squib lodged itself near the muzzle end of the barrel and the next one pumped into the back of it caused the barrel to blow out catastrophically and completely separate in two and send the front portion flying downrange. The barrel is a carbon sleeved ultralight with a thin barrel liner that is all fastened together with a muzzle cap. Both the cap and the sleeve went flying leaving a stump of a mangled barrel left behind. Check out the part of the barrel peeled back like banana, cartoon style! I was shooting Federal 745 bulk pack ammo which i've never had an issue with before, but there's always a first i guess. The Manufacturer was super kind in getting me fixed up and running again as he's a fellow competitor and very understanding that "stuff" happens. Also put in a claim in with Federal for reimbursement of damages and return/replacement of that ammo. Don't want to shoot any more of that case if there's an issue with the lot. The carnage!

So if you can easily "pop" the flashlight out of the beam-lokr mount, whats to keep it from getting bumped out inadvertently At an inopportune time?

the blam system is the first thing I saw when I started searching for a solution for Benelli specific shotguns. unfortunately because of the gas system that makes the blam way too wide to fit on any pumo but luckily any Remy 700 part like the 1 from streamline or the modular ones from GG&G will work fine.

Manners T5 with a mini chassis. consider what you will pay for a lesser stock plus gunsmith services to bed it and you come out similarly price wise.

Finally figured out how to add some lighting to my Benelli for HD purposes. There's not much out there specifically for the supernova's in terms of attachment either on the stock gun or aftermarket. Basically you have to come up with some sort of mag tube attachment which heavily depends on whether you have an extended tube or not. If you have an extended tube, you can get a tube/barrel clamp from nordic or elzetta but those sit way to forward to easily operate the light without breaking grip. If you dont have an extended tube, there's also a narrow mag tube only clamp from either CDM or L&M that clamps only on the oem mag tube before the barrel nut, however, there's not enough room on the benelli for one of these since the foreend goes all the way up and practically butts against the barrel nut unlike Mossingtons which have acres of room there. The solution i found was a simple thin mount that sandwiches between the barrel collar and mag cap and has a pic rail bent 90 degrees off it. The mount is made by Streamlight and is marked for a Remmmy 870 but it fits the Benelli like a glove as the mag tube diameter is identical. From there you can add any of the offset light mounts like a Gear Sector or similar and it puts the end cap well within reach of your thumb when its on the grip. Simple, lightweight, ergomomic and effective. Me likey!