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Messages - rbwillnj

871
As far as I know, Clark is the only one still making a 38 Special 1911, and their price has gone up to $2695.  That kinda tells me that they don't want any orders.

Storm Lake made the barrel that Clark put in my gun.   I don't know if you can buy one directly from Storm Lake or if its just custom manufactured for Clark.  Also, I don't know if Kart still makes them, they are not listed in Brownells or Midway.

The Storm Lake barrel has a tighter chamber than my original barrel, and seems to be tapered.  I had to change to a taper crimp to get the cartridge to drop all the way into the chamber.  I think the main reason for this is that I use the Remington HBWC with are really oversized.   You have to really expand the case to get them started, and the roll crimp just didn't take out of of the bell.......but I never had a problem with my old barrel.

I have slide mounts on my 45s, but I think the frame mount is the way to go with 38 Special.

872
The older Clark barrels, and for that matter the barrels of most of the others who made 38 Special 1911s have the ramp integral to the chamber leaving a portion of the case unsupported.   No problem till you get a double charge then it blows out the bottome of the case, blows out the magazine and the grip panels.   I have seen it happen.   Fortunately the owner wasn't hurt, just got a scare and some blackened hands.   Newer Clark barrels have a Nowlin/Clark ramp with a corresponding cut in the frame.

I have a 70's era Clark 38 Special Heavy Slide 1911 that had the older style barrel.  A couple years ago I had a squib during last shot of the first string of rapid fire.  The gun functioned normally except it stove piped that case.  I didn't think anything of it and continued with the second string.   I actually ended up with 10 on the paper, but two shots were not where I called them.  I also ended up with a nice ring in my barrel and the accuracy went to He%#.    I sent it back to Clark and they installed a new ramped barrel and charged $450.  When they sent it back they had installed a 5# recoil spring.   I reinstalled an 8# spring and that seems to work better for me.

I use 2.7 grains of 700X under a Remmington HBWC.  I have also used 3.1 grains of 231 and 2.7 grains of Bullseye, all of which give about the same results.   I have a frame mounted red dot.  I'm a big believer in finding the load that gives the best accuracy in your gun, then tune the gun to work with that load by changing recoil springs.   Having said that, I think it's a lot harder to do that with a slide mounted dot on a 38 Special than it is with a 45.   The previous owner of my Clark had a slide mounted dot, and he never did get it to function with 100% reliability.   He had Clark install their frame bridge.

 

873
Star Reloaders / Re: priming difficulties (.32 Long)
« on: August 11, 2008, 07:31:57 pm »
Someone else please speak up if you have any ideas regarding jjessip's problem.   Here are my thoughts.

jjessip,   If you are not having any problems with primers when you load 38 Special, than it doesn't sound like it's a problem with your primer assembly.   Bending the cam adjusts the timing of the primer slide relative to the primer punch.  If the primer punch is coming up and binding on the primer slide because the primer slide is not in far enough, or is too far in, then bend the cam until it's right.....but if your not having a problem  with 38 Special than it is probably adjusted properly.

The only other thing I can think of that could cause a problem like this is if there is a miss alignment of the case and the primer punch.  Are you using a Star  32 S&W Shell Plate.  If so, it should be marked 32 S&W on the bottom.   Are your shell base locators adjusted correctly?   They should be adjusted in as far as they will go while still allowing clearance to turn the shell plate.

One other possibility.   I recently had a batch of Winchester primers where the anvil was sitting up higher than usual.  As the slide moved the primer along, the anvil would catch on the under side of the primer socket and deform the anvil (causing some resistance) and would sometimes cock the primer. 


874
Star Reloaders / Re: Decapping pins
« on: August 11, 2008, 02:35:29 pm »
Decapping pins are simply wire gauge #52 Drill Rod (.063") cut to about 7/8" lengths.  On Lifetyme and RLS Precision Carbide sizing dies they are held in place with a set screw, ...just use the proper Allen wrench to remove.   You could probably get by cutting off a piece of 1/16" drill bit, but it would be a little undersized.

875
Star Reloaders / Re: Leaving pdr in mag between loadings
« on: July 20, 2008, 04:30:20 pm »
Actually, the Phelps machines originally came with glass tubes for their powder magazines.  I think they were of a Pyrex type, but were not marked Pyrex.   They were also nice because the bottom was held in place with a rubber grommet of sorts and could be easily removed so the tube could be washed.   They are however Very fragile!

876
Star Reloaders / Re: Leaving pdr in mag between loadings
« on: July 20, 2008, 10:43:43 am »
Absolutely

877
Star Reloaders / Re: Leaving pdr in mag between loadings
« on: July 19, 2008, 09:26:29 pm »
I'm not a fanatic about it, but I do try to remove powder from the powder magazine when I'm done, especially from the machines that are set up for calibers I'm not planning on loading for a while.   

I load so much 45 ACP that the powder magazine for that machine is rarely emptied, but it doesn't sit in there very long either.  Any of the plastics I have used for powder tubes will get dark with prolonged exposure.   When it gets dark I just turn out a new one on the lathe.

878
Star Reloaders / Re: Powder shut-off reaon?
« on: July 17, 2008, 08:55:42 pm »
Personally, I never remove the powder magazine from the powder slide housing.  I just pull the head off, turn it upside down and pour the contents back into the powder container.  Then I switch powder slides while the tool head is off if I need to.  The whole operation takes 30 seconds or so.

I have one of those powder drain blocks, but I never use it.

879
Star History / Re: star tooling
« on: June 26, 2008, 01:51:55 pm »
It sounds as though his brief period of responsiveness has ended and he is back to his old ways.  Sorry, but I just don't have the patience to deal with someone like that.

880
Loading Data & Reloading Procedures / Re: Recomended Primer?
« on: June 23, 2008, 02:52:31 pm »
I too use Winchester and Federal and have not had any problems with either.  I use Winchester mostly, but have to use Federal for a couple of my competition guns.   Federal will go off with a lighter strike.  I only use Federal when I have to.

881
Survey Says... / Re: Values and prices
« on: June 03, 2008, 05:06:16 pm »
I have to admit that $515 for a machine with no head, dies or shell plate seemed high at the time, but in retrospect, not really out of line with some of the recent prices for complete machines.  It did have a case feeder.   For another $400 - $500 the buyer could easily obtain the parts to covert it to a complete machine.

882
Star Reloaders / Re: need info on part not shown in diagram
« on: June 03, 2008, 03:57:13 pm »
I have had a number of reloaders where the head moved without any resistance over its normal range of motion, but seemed very tight when removing and reinstalling the tool head.   Most of the time this is simply because the keyway slot is more worn where the key in the tool head usually travels, and less worn at the top of the shaft.   If you really think that the key is buggered up, I would use a jewelers file to smooth it out rather than try to remove the key.   Getting that key, or a new key back in might prove to be more difficult than you expected.

On some machines, the hole in the shaft through which the taper pin is inserted can get deformed, resulting in resistance when you try to move the tool head over that spot.   You can clean that up with a fine swiss file.

883
Star Lubricator & Resizers / Re: Getting Ready to Buy My First
« on: May 19, 2008, 05:41:54 pm »
If you use hard wax lubes like I do, a heating base is esential.  If you use the soft lubes, you can get by with extenal heat from say a light bulb against the base.   The magma heater is very nice becuause it has a thremostat so you can pretty much set it and forget it.   The heater that I have is very much like them Magma Engineering heater.    Prior to finding my current heater, I used the Lyman heating base.  It's very inexpensive, (only about $35 from Midway) but it doesn't have a thermostat.   Its slow to heat up, and tends to get to hot.  Midway used to sell there own heater that had a thermostat, but they don't seem to offer it anymore.  Sometimes you can pick them up on eBay, but your probably better off to get a new one from Magma.

There is a sweet spot for heat,,,different for different lubes, but its nice to be able to set your heater so it will maintain that temperature.

884
Star Reloaders / Re: Star Press Variation
« on: May 14, 2008, 10:46:48 pm »
I don't think the extra screw was original.  It's probably a later addition.

885
Star Reloaders / Re: Star Press Variation
« on: May 14, 2008, 09:14:55 pm »
On some machines, the rocker arm screw has a habit of working its way out.   I suspect that the extra screw was added as a means of locking the rocker arm screw in place.