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ken_mays

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Posts posted by ken_mays

  1. I won’t buy a gun that I won’t shoot.   I just don’t want to be a guy with NIB collector’s stuff.   Now most of mine might not get fired much but all of them have been to the range at least once.   

  2. I picked up a Tisas 2011 last week.   Paid a little over $900 for it locally.   It came with 2x17 round mags and a bushing wrench I'll probably never use.  Trigger was 5.5# out of the box so I adjusted it to about 3# before taking it to the range.  

    It fed and fired fine about 200 of my reloads, which were 135gr coated lead running about 1050 FPS.   The only issue I had was brass to face.  It would consistently put ejected cases on top of my head or in my face. I tightened up the extractor tension a bit but no dice.   I reprofiled the ejector tip and now it ejects properly.  

    Accuracy was good, easy to put them in one hole at 10 yards.  Sight regulation was right on for my particular load but the rear sight gap was slightly wider than I’d like.     Unfortunately, the rear sight seems like a unique dovetail so it might be difficult to replace it with a different aftermarket sight.

    Springfield Prodigy mags worked as well as the Tisas mags.  Slide lock back was consistent with the Tisas mags, can’t remember about the Prodigy mags.  

    The barrel uses a Clark-Para style ramp.  The top of the ramp had a sharp rollover but it didn’t seem to impede feeding.  The throat was long and a 9mm Manson finishing reamer removed no metal at all (the Prodigy required reaming).   The bullet profiles I tend to use in my reloads will stick in barrels with short throats (like FN 509s) unless I load extra super short, so I'll ream the barrels with a finish reamer to cut a proper throat in them.  Fortunately the Tisas shop thinks like I do :D

    One pet peeve was the sharp corner of the frame right below the serial number.  Other manufacturers bevel this edge to varying degrees, but the Tisas had none at all.  Depending on your grip and hand size, this could be a problem.  If you have a high enough grip, this edge will rub a hole in you before too long.  

    The manual said nothing at all about what red dot sights are supported, or what the optic screw pitch was.  The slide seems to be cut directly for the mini RDS direct mount, the RMRCC pattern that is shared with the Holosun 407k/507k sights.

    I have a lot of 2011s of different flavors, and I’m favorably impressed with the Tisas DS, I give it two thumbs up.

    tisas-ds2.jpg

    • Like 5
  3. I have a Browning A-bolt .22 that I swapped an Argentine FM High Power for.   That's about the best trade I've ever made, the A-bolt is extremely well made and lacks no fit and finish just because it's a .22.

    On the other end of the scale I have a Romanian 1959 trainer that's as rough as a cob.   Aside from weak ejection, it shoots pretty well.

    • Like 1
  4. 4 minutes ago, Cottonmouth said:

    Really? Last I heard it was close to a thousand bucks to get your foot in the door there, and four hundred a year after that. They just let any old riff-raff in off the street?

     

    If you can get them to let us have a little meetup there, that would be cool. I think the main problem is that people just don't check this forum that often. There's got to be a way to organize...

    They have matches like USPSA and Steel Challenge that are open to the public.   I'm not sure what the criteria are for hosting a non-member event.

  5. When you're looking at semi-custom 1911s, it all comes down to the features you want, the appearance, and the price you want pay.  In other words, it's mostly personal preference.  For the purposes of this post I'll talk about the $2000-5000 range.

    I've owned Wilsons but never could warm up to them.  They were well built, reliable and accurate, but I didn't really get much enjoyment from shooting them, so I sold them.   I also never had to call their customer service for anything, but I know a few owners who swear by Wilson because of the high amount of hand-holding they do for their customers. 

    I've heard much the same about Nighthawk, but I've never cared to own one, so I don't have first hand experience.

    Les Baer is known for building very tight and accurate 1911s with a more traditional appearance.   They are priced a bit below Wilson and Nighthawk and they offer a bit less fit and finish.

    Dan Wesson makes a very solid production 1911 and they are probably the best bang for the buck currently going, but they can have the occasional issue, and the customization options aren't really there like they are for the semi-customs.

    STI/Staccato is about the same as Dan Wesson, a high end production gun.  They are generally well built and they do a consistently great job fitting their barrels for accuracy, but despite their high price tag, they don't really get the amount of hand fitting and finish that someone like Wilson does.

    On the far end of the spectrum you have Infinity, who'll build you a 1911 or 2011 and give you a large number of options to select.  You pay for the privilege, but they also hold their value remarkably well.

    Then there are dozens of custom shops out there, which are a whole other subject.

    As far as my personal preference, most of what I shoot are Infinity, Les Baers, and random custom guns that I have accumulated or built for myself. 

  6. The SA-35 is a better High Power than FN ever built.  Trigger, sights and safety that are all very usable... which can't be said about the original line.

    The new "FN High Power" is a completely different gun (and an improvement IMO) but more expensive, and in true FN fashion, take completely new magazines.

    My Girsan MC 35 would be a lot more usable if it weren't for the 8 pound trigger... but otherwise I like the features on it.

     

    bhp-series.jpg

    • Like 3
  7. Generally speaking, if the slide will fall all the way back when the recoil spring is out and the muzzle is pointed upwards, it doesn't need any lapping.   I think these have too light of a recoil spring installed, which is why some users are getting failure to return to battery and similar issues. 

    Springfield is really irritating with their 9mm guns because they use the titanium firing pin to make them 'drop safe', but this requires a much heavier mainspring to get reliable ignition, which is then addressed by installing a correspondingly light recoil spring in order to get the gun running.  Everyone I know with a Springfield 9mm 1911 who wants to run them in competition generally trashes all the springs, replaces them with a 12 or 14 pound recoil and 19 pound mainspring and buys an EGW steel firing pin.

  8. I’ve always enjoyed shooting FALs.  The highly adjustable gas system usually means that if it feeds OK, you can shoot about anything.   I have seen DSA rifles going for less than $1500 so it might pay to look around.  

  9. The issue could be with the case or the projectile.  Mark the whole round with a Sharpie and see where the rub marks are when you try to chamber it in the gauge.    There is a commonly seen problem with some of the 9mm bullet profiles available where the ogive gets wide fast and this causes the round not to chamber in barrels with short throats.   Two ways to fix that -- recut the chamber to provide an adequate throat, or seat the bullet deeper.

  10. Beretta 85

    Arex Zero Compact

    HK P2000 SK or P30 SK.

    S&W 6906 or 3913.  Yes, they are no longer made but they also made a billion of them, so they're out there.  Not to leave out the Chief's Special and the other variants.  Even something like the second gen 469 or 669 would be a fair pick.

    The Stoeger 8000 is a decent option based on Beretta's Cougar design.

    There are surplus and newly imported Makarovs as well, but you're looking at either .380 (meh) or 9x18 Mak (ugh) chambering.

     

     

     

     

  11. I know you already decided, but here's my thoughts anyway 😀

    The CZ is going to be better suited to putting a lot of rounds through than a BHP design.   I'm personally not the biggest fan of CZ-75 pattern guns but they are more flexible and customizable than BHPs.   And I think you can get a much better trigger with far less trouble on a CZ.  

    That said, I have a SA 35 and it's a quite nice modernized take on the BHP with a trigger that is approaching decent and a set of sights and a safety that are welcome upgrades over the traditional BHP parts.  

    • Like 1

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