Reloading Notes

1. Titegroup is a very versatile powder. It has worked out well for nearly every load I do from 9mm and .38 Special up to 45 ACP and 44 Magnum. The only issue I've had was when trying to load 147 grain bullets to power factor (125000) for SSP in the IDPA and Production in USPSA. Out of a Glock 34, regardless of whether I used the stock barrel or a Lone Wolf, the bullets grouped horribly, and even tumbled/keyholed every 5-10 shots. Oddly enough, that same load would drive tacks with every other 9mm I've tried it in (Sigs, Kimber 9mm 1911, and HK P30).

2. For 147 grain 9mm loads, everything else I've tried has worked well. I've settled on WSF as the best so far. But I'm giving Solo 1000 a try before buying my powder in bulk. Too many seem to love the Solo 1000 to not at least give it a shot.

3. With 9mm, I've started running into some stuff with an IVI headstamp. This stuff is berdan primed, which is not the nicest thing to do to your depriming pin. With .45 ACP, A-MERC brass is utter crap. The case wall is twice as thick as any other brand, so I would have to crimp the ever living hell out of it to get it to chamber, which is obviously a very bad idea. So anything with an A-MERC headstamp goes right into the metal recycling box.

My current loads for meeting power factor.

9mm
124g
4.3 grains titegroup

147g
3.9 grains of WSF (3.3 grains of Titegroup would work if I wasn't using a G34)

.45 ACP
200g
5.3 grains titegroup

Match Schedule for 2012

After reading this at Caleb's site, I figured I'd lay out my definite and tentative matches here.

Definite:
NC Ironman IDPA Championship 2/11 Prospect Hill, NC
2012 FL State IDPA Championship 3/10-3/11 Clearwater, FL
The Carolina Cup 6/14-6/16 Oxford, NC
IDPA National Championship 9/19-9/22 Oxford, NC
2012 INFINITY Firearms NC Sectional 10/5-10/7 Creedmore, NC
Championship

Tentative:
FNH VA-MD Section Championship 5/18-5/20 Fredericksburg, VA
2012 EGW Area 8 Championship 8/9-8/12 Fredericksburg, VA

Conveniently, the only matches that conflict with my work schedule at the shipyard are all USPSA matches, which works out well since my primary focus right now is getting Master in as many divisions in the IDPA as I can.

I will say that, after looking at Caleb's schedule, I'll have to look a little more into what I need to do to qualify for the Bianchi Cup and decide if I want to try out the Pro-Am in 2013 down in Frostproof.

Update: As I look at this, I'm realizing that trying to do all of these matches and a cross-country motorcycle trip in the same year isn't very realistic. I guess I can ride to Cali another year.