Zero 185 SWC and got "Dairy Queened"

[SW CQB 45]

My shooting season (Revolver/Semi Auto) has started off very rough this year. And I actually think I have improved my abilities of marksmanship, but simple mistakes and mishaps keep occurring.

Today was extremely hot (0900 hrs) and decided to shoot revolver first with a person goal of scoring a minimum of 495 out of a possible 500.

at the 15 yard line (12 shots in 35 seconds), on my reload....all is well but the rounds would not line up on the cylinder from my Comp III speed loader. For some reason, one round was not lined up and I had to force it to get the rounds to drop into the cylinder. This ate up about 4-5 seconds.....as I began to shoot, I looked over at my watch and noticed 31, 32, 33 seconds....so I would rather take any score over a zero....I pumped the remaining rounds center B27 and doinked 3 in the 9 ring.

The last 18 shots are from the 25 yard line in 90 seconds. Well I ended up with a fricken 491. Those 3 NINEs from the 15 yard line were costly.

I marked my three 15 yards mess ups before going back to the 25 yard line.


OH it gets better.

I cleared my mind in preparation for semi auto match(my Colt 5" with a Kart Barrel 45acp). My newly tested and loaded....

Zero 185 swaged LSWC loaded with 4.2 WST set at 1.250" using a CCI primer and mixed range pickup brass. I had ran 100 rounds previous to test and my Colt seemed to like this load.

at the 15 yard line, 12 shots in 35 seconds.....I had loaded my mags 6 and 6. On my mag change.....I am shooting the remaining rounds and get an odd malfunction. The slide appeared to be locked to the rear but upon close inspection, the slide stop lever was not engaged into the slide. I recall looking in the ejection port and seeing an empty chamber but panic mode set in as the time was ticking away. I tapped and racked and the slide went into battery but had to shoot hastily because the time was almost up. I doinked two rounds into the 9 ring. URRRRRRHHH!!!!!

I marked them before I went to the 25 yard line.


HANG ON....it gets better.

I was the third target over but there was only one competitor to my left. He shoots very well (retired Border Patrol). He was shooting on the second target over and the first target was empty (no shooter).

My nemesis (I actually beat him last year by 6 total points) who is a good friend had told me to "fffnnn clean" the 25 yard line (18 shots in 90 seconds)

I cleared my head and focused on the center "shot out" hole on the B27 target. I took my time, focused on the front sight and straight press to the rear. Everything felt good as I am pressing through 18 shots. As I did my mag change.....I noticed holes being punched into the target I was shooting. I yelled at the shooter to my left......"your shooting my target". He promptly yelled back......"no I'm not". I started shooting again and the person to my left is still shooting at the target I was shooting at. I said again that he was shooting my target.

We finished shooting and this is the target I walked up too. Its a 50 round course of fire......ahhhhhh thats more than 50 rounds.



I shot the wrong FFFFFNNNNN target and got DQed. I was the joke of the match..HAHAHAHA!



I was so focused on getting my 18 shots in the X/10 ring....I shot the wrong target. On an important note.....only 2 shots in the 9 were from my 45. The shooter to my left shot 38 revolver.

Horrible day....not really. Even though I messed up.....I am still pleased with my shooting performance.

The 185 seems to work well in the accuracy dept on my Kart barreled Colt but baffled on why that one round did not feed.

I did not have to time to really identify the issue.
When I did glance....empty chamber and slide lock lever was not engaged into the slide notch.
I cleaned and heavy lubed my 1911 the night before and only shot a total of 50 rounds that day.
I have noticed with the prior testing....my rails and area are very black sooty with the lube. The swaged rounds are a little sticky and I did not wipe them down.
I am using a 14 lbs recoil spring with decent slide movement.
I did clean all my mags to ensure trouble free feeding. The hang up was with a 10 round CMC mag that has never failed before.

I may reduce my OAL to 1.245" as the loaded rounds seemed to fit perfect in the mags (meaning any longer they would not insert)

I have loaded hard cast 200 LSWC since the 1980s with never an issue at 1.250". IIRC, this is my first time shooting swaged lead and wonder if the softness of the slug may have been the hang up. I only purchased the 185 lead as Zero had no 200 LSWC in stock and I wanted to try the lighter bullet to see if my felt recoil would be reduce to aid in front sight recovery.

any thoughts on the hang up using swaged for the first time are greatly appreciated.

ENJOY THAT "DQ" BeltBuster on me!

 

[Qc Pistolero]

Well!Reminds me of one such competition.First 5 shots as sighters.We all shoot and I look through my scope to find 10 shots in my target.I tell so to my left fellow shooter and he starts cussing so loud that everyone with 1/4of a mile would hear how clumsy he was to shoot into someone else's target.He keeps on insiting what an imbecile he is for doing so,all in pretty strong words...until I figured it all.I had shot my sighters into HIS target!Kinda hard for me to tell him who the imbecile was!!!but I did.He went quiet real quick...and if I recall correctly,I didn't shoot to good that day!
Qc

 

[Qc Pistolero]

Forgot to say;you know how good you shot that day for even though you got dq'ed,you and only you know how hot you were that day and you can't lie to yourself!After all,competition is about beating your previous best score,ain't it?
Congrats!That's darn good shooting!
Qc

 

[BUFF]

S&W CQB 45:

It's not the same bullet, but close. I've shot a few thousand of Speer's 200 grain swaged SWC in several Colt 1911's, stock guns at that, without any stoppages. The 185 grain swaged Zero is an extremely popular bullet for match shooters and has a good reputation for reliability, so I don't think swaged and soft had anything to do with it. My last Winchester data shows WST and a 185 SWC at 4.3 to 5.3 grains, so I think it may be something else like a burr on a case rim, or if your top end is new, maybe it needs some more break-in to run smoothly with light loads.

All things considered, a bad match day is better than no match at all! Best PPC match I ever shot, I got DQ'ed because the moron next to me put 6 rounds into my target, a nice little group in the bottom of the 8 ring. And I was on the very end of the firing line with no targets to my left to confuse a normal person.

 

[SW CQB 45]

thanks guys.

You may have hit the nail on the head Buff. I did not have time to plunk test all 50 rounds into my barrel.

My Colt build was in 2005 so its plenty worn in.

I am using range pick up brass and my bad for not checking. Lesson learned...again.

I am going to start carrying a can of red spray paint.....so I can paint a dot on my upper left of the target to ID from the 25.

 

[rwsmith]

All of the above are good ideas.....

There's nothing wrong with your shooting just little bugs give you trouble while shooting.

I agree that if relying on good feeding range brass needs to be graded and plunked.

 

[RobertJ.]

That was a great story! It's not always easy to tell on yourself.

And, it'd be worse if you'd shot poorly!

 

[Wise_A]

Got one better for you.

I shot an annual 900 rimfire bullseye match last year, got a new gun four or five months later, and really looked forward to competing again this spring. I'd done really well the first time around, 2nd in class, 9th overall, and thought I stood a decent chance of beating that.

I spent the whole month practicing two or even three times a week. I got my gun running perfectly, without a single misfire in about 600 rounds. I cleaned the pistol, shot one more 60-shot practice string, and attended the match two days later.

My first slow fire shot was on the paper. And that's about all you could say about it. Both 10-shot slow fire strings sucked, frankly.

I got lucky when my gun suddenly stopped functioning. Could barely get through a string. I alibi'd the first rapid fire, and only got two shots off on the alibi string, so I promptly withdrew, but kept shooting.

My next rapid fire target--and the only target I got all 10 shots off, for the rest of the match--I cleaned. A perfect 100 out of 100, my first one ever, and the only one I've shot since.

Turns out I'd overtightened the recoil spring guide that secures and positions the upper on the frame (it's a 1911 conversion). I'd basically gotten really lucky with the 60 practice shots. The really dumb thing is that that conversion is so slick, I've since gone hundreds of rounds in between cleanings, so there was really no need to disassemble it.

 

[SW CQB 45]

My next rapid fire target--and the only target I got all 10 shots off, for the rest of the match--I cleaned. A perfect 100 out of 100, my first one ever, and the only one I've shot since.

DAMN!

I too have been chasing the elusive 500 for me. the best I have done was a 498/500 with a revolver several years ago and ....


Last year (2015), I decided to shoot my first match of the season with a then recent Custom Carry Springer Build 9mm. Shooting 115 LSWC.....with the sun to my rear around 0900 hrs,

498/500. if my custom carry was a 45acp....this would have been a 500.



plain jane sleeper but accurate



I am still chasing a 500.

 

[Qc Pistolero]

Congrats WISEA.100/100.I've been running after that elusive mark and,even in practice couldn't hit it.Quite a few 95s and 96s,one or two 97 but 100....WOW!
Qc

 

[BE Mike]

There are only two kinds of competitive pistol shooters...those who have cross-fired and those who are gonna! I'd check the rules to see if that red dot of paint is allowed. I know it's not kosher to make your target different in bullseye, but it's been a long time since I shot PPC. Good shootin' BTW!

 

[SW CQB 45]

they are very "laxed" at this match but I would ask first and I know one shooter draws a circle around the head of the B27 and I never asked but now I know.

When I shot PPC at the DPS range in Florence (fancy range BTW), each lane was marked with one of three colors and then it would start over (red, blue, white....not sure in that order).

I would always remember my color and at 50 yards, I would always "drop" my gun below target level to verify I was aiming on my lane.

I was always worried about shooting the next lane target at 50 but never thought about it at the 25 yard line.

 

[BE Mike]

they are very "laxed" at this match but I would ask first and I know one shooter draws a circle around the head of the B27 and I never asked but now I know.

When I shot PPC at the DPS range in Florence (fancy range BTW), each lane was marked with one of three colors and then it would start over (red, blue, white....not sure in that order).

I would always remember my color and at 50 yards, I would always "drop" my gun below target level to verify I was aiming on my lane.

I was always worried about shooting the next lane target at 50 but never thought about it at the 25 yard line.

Some ranges do line up kinda weird and make it easy to cross fire. The color coding of the target stands helps a lot, especially at those askew ranges. 50 yds. is always the worse.