Messages

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Star Reloaders / My Intro to Star Reloaders from Bob Chow

« on: February 09, 2020, 03:31:45 pm »

After my first 1911 was built by the late Master Gunsmith Bob Chow he asked me what I was used for reloading. After I told him he said "That won't do, come by next week with your primers, power and bullets and you can use by Star". The next week my brother inlaw and I went to the shop and Bob taught us how to use his Star Reloader. What a fantastic machine, construction and quality second to none. So every couple of weeks we did our reloading at his shop, one day Bob called me and said they took in a Star and to come by. I had no ideal what was going on, we arrived at the shop and he said this is ours and to take it fully apart and clean it. The Star came with 45ACP and 38SP tool heads and the lubersizer. I asked him how much he wanted for them? Bob said we'll talk about it later, everytime I went to the shop I asked how much, finally a year later he told me. We were pretty much surprised at the price.

A couple of years later I found myself helping him out on Saturdays, he taught me how to accurized 1911's. Bob only taught maybe five people his method of build 1911's. I felt very honored, back in the late 1950's he had another student, a gentleman named James Clark. When I met Clark at a NRA convention and told him who taught me, he replied "Bob thought me more about accurizing 1911's than anyone else". Bob also taught me how to shoot in bullseye matches, and general gunsmithing. I guess he knew a little about pistol shooting since he was on the 1948 Olympic Pistol Team and held 29 world shooting records. Bob and his wife Bobbie always treated as one of their own, this something I have always treasured.

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Loading Data & Reloading Procedures / Re: .38 Spec Cases

« on: April 14, 2012, 12:28:48 pm »

What kind of problems are you having with your Clark? I might be able to help you, I learned how to accurize guns from the late F. Bob Chow who also taught Clark.

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Loading Data & Reloading Procedures / Re: .38 Spec Cases

« on: April 13, 2012, 09:10:43 pm »

Back in the late 50's and early 60's the Army Advanced Marksmanship Unit ( now known as the Army Marksmanship or AMU) was concerned with the major problem of proper functioning of the rimmed .38 Special cartridge through converted 1911 pistols. The major problem was feeding-there was a noticeable difference in the position of rounds in the magazine between the first and last rounds. To overcome this problem magazines were modified, feed ramps were polished, and the chambers enlarged to allow the cartridge to ride up the ramp and into the oversized chamber. This oversized chamber caused problems with accuracy.

To alleviate the feed problems Herman Gano, an AMU gunsmith came up with the ideal of the .38 AMU cartridge. The .38 AMU is basically a .38 Special with a semi-rimmed head, like the .38 Super. When used in appropriate guns, nearly all the feeding problems were eliminated. The first cases were hand made by turning down a .38 Special case in a lathe to remove the rim and form an extraction groove. Later the Army contracted Federal, Winchester-Western and Remington to produce the .38 AMU cartridge.

Colt Industries followed through by producing a conversion kit to be fitted on both the 1911 and Colt .38 Super pistols. The conversion kit consisted of a .38 AMU slide with all the innards, recoil spring, magazine, barrel bushing and a .38 AMU barrel. One interesting note, other than ID markings, there's no difference between the .38 AMU and .38 Super slide. The barrel is unique in that it had only one forward locking lug so the gun wouldn't lock up too tightly and hinder proper cycling with midrange ammo. The work required to "convert" a pistol to .38 AMU is approximately the same as a full accuracy job. The slide must be fitted to the frame, the barrel must be fitted to the slide, and the barrel lug fitted so it cams with the slide stop pin.

.38 AMU never really took to the shooting crowd for several reasons. There were no empties available for reloading, (most shooters were geared for .38 Special), the conversion kits were somewhat difficult to install by the shooter, the advent of the .38 Special Gold Cup magazine which solved the feeding problem with regular .38 Special wadcutters, and the introduction of the Smith and Wesson 52, an out of the box match gun.

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Star Reloaders / Re: Back Home

« on: March 16, 2012, 05:24:22 pm »

As everyone has said, WELCOME BACK!

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Loading Data & Reloading Procedures / Re: .38 Spec Cases

« on: December 29, 2011, 05:01:36 pm »

38AMU is basically a 38 special case with a 38 super rim. I reload them on my Star with the 38 special head with a 38 super/9mm shell plate. I was given five thousand empties and two thousand factory rounds from the late Master Gunsmith Bob Chow.