I had the first local IDPA match with ammo I loaded entirely on the Dillon press. I had several ammo malfunctions, but they were all pretty simple failure to eject the spent cartridge. I have a 13 pound spring in the pistol. I can order an 11 pound spring, and I may still, but in the mean time, I will just twiddle with the carb and richen the mixture a little.

The ammo I had is 4.4 grains of Power Pistol pushing a 180 grain plated RNFP. This load is actually below what’s shown on the chart in my Hornady book for 180 grain FMJ. The intent was to try to get something around 700 feet per second to meet 125 power factor with the softest recoil possible. Seems I may have met that last criteria a bit too well by not generating enough recoil to operate the pistol reliably. I’d say maybe 10 or 15 percent of them stovepiped or rechambered or otherwise failed to eject completely from the pistol. It was even worse on a stage shooting with weak hand while on the move.

The 11 pound spring may help, but the slide on the Glock 20 is still pretty heavy, designed to help absorb the significant recoil generated by the sometimes 700-800 ft-lbs muzzle energy from full tilt 10mm Auto, while keeping the stock 16 pound spring, versus operating on the paltry 200 ft-lbs or so that my soft shooting load is producing.

Because I need 300+ rounds of reliable ammunition *tomorrow*, I am bumping it up more than I would if I were just working up the final load. I’m going to try 5.5 grains of Power Pistol, which should run my 180 grain bullet at about 800-900 FPS.