Finally an update. Range report.
My good friend Bought a Dark 40 with the factory barrel in it, so i have had the chance to test an almost factory Dark 40 against mine with a Clark Match/Rodger Kotanko custom made Bull Barrel.
I've put around 400 rounds through both, using Winchester 231 & Titegroup Powders. And some factory Remington Pistol Ammo.
Factory Remington ammo was amazingly accurate in both guns and cycled with out malfunction.
I then tried 100 rounds of 5.2 gr of win 231, with 180gr hard alloy lead round nose bullet, WSP primers. worked flawlessly and was accurate, tight groups,
Then tried 100 rounds same powder, weight and primers but with home made bullets, Clip on Wheel Weight Lead. no added alloys to harden bullet. 175 gr Lee swc bullets.
I was even more accurate, a little bit of leading in the chamber and had about 5 failures to chamber, i cleaned out the chamber and no futher problems occured. I Used 4.7 grs with my friends gun and was as accurate with less leading, and chamber was clean.
Then i switched to titegroup. I had ran out of hard cast alloy RN bullets and had to test with the home made lead. 200 rounds on each pistol 4.7gr Titegroup 175gr swc. leading was in my opinion fairly bad, but had no problem with the chambers becomeing fowled with lead. 4.7gr TG had more recoil than the 5.2gr W231 the recoil was snappier with the factory pistol and smoother and softer with the mercury guide rod in mine. Accuracy was same with both pistols.
I found i was having feeding problems with the SWC's but giving them a better crimp solved the problem.
I was told that shooting minor loads would help solve my leading issues, so i reloaded 100 rounds, 50 4.3gr TG, and 50 3.9 TG. Both were extremely mild on recoil, but the 3.9's groups were noticebly tighter with little to no leading. The pistol cycled properly.
(note): I tried this combinations with a shock buffer installed and the odd time the slide would not open far enough and was catching the round before it had a chance to fully pop up in the mag and nose diving it into the bottom of the feed ramp where it became stuck, the softness of the lead most likely also contributed to the happening. with a firm pull back of the slide the round sure enough popped up and chambered fine. I took the shock buffer out and never had this problem again. With the 4.7grs of TG i didn't have any malfunctions with the shock buffer installed.
Conclusions: These pistols like harder cast lead or jacketed ammo major IPSC Major Power Factor. SWC are extremely accurate and with a good crimp will chamber flawlessly. Clip on wheel weight lead for minor loads are perfect as practice ammo.
Smoother recoil wit the Full Lenght Mercury Guide Rod, less snap. The magazines worked perfectly as well.
The accuracy difference between the factory barrel and the match bull, is up in the air. I've only been shooting for just over a year and i've had had guys shoot the pistols that have been shooting for 10 to 20 years. The consensus was that both barrels where just as acturate. with less felt recoil from the Bull Barrel. They were amazed by the accuracy of the Factory barrel. Both barrels are a para cut and both sopported, all his 40 S&W barrels are supported for that matter.
The recoil spring weight is IMHO perfectly balanced. And almost all my Double tapping done resulted groups being horizontally in line with each other about 1/2 an inch to 2 inches apart. Double tapping was effortless.
I still consider myself a novice shooter and i was extremely happy with the results that my experience would allow me. I am very interested in seeing what an experience IPSC Grand Master could achive with a Dark 40. This was truely the the best money i have ever spent on a Handgun. And a loaded match grade IPSC ready pistol for the same price as a brand new Para Ordnance stock, Hey you can't go wrong!
UPDATE: I had the chance to shoot my friends STI Edge 40 S&W and used my lead bullets. Exactly the same accuracy. and cycled just as smoothly. I liked the feel of the grips on my Dark 40 better and so Did the owner of the STI who's name I have sworn never to devolge
Heaven forbid!
I live in Winnipeg, MB and am offering demo's to anyone interested in trying it out.
Please feel free to Private Message me and leave your phone number or e-mail where i can reach you, and we can set up a time, date, and range to meet.
(NOTE): Individuals interested must possess and show PAL Licence. Only factory Ammunition provided by you is accepted. (NO Reloads) If you are not able to purchase your own factory ammunition, under certain circumstances i can provide ammunition for a fee. Please indicate this in your e-mail.
Thanks for reading.
