I’ve been asked what caliber Open gun would be best for USPSA/IPSC competition a lot this past month. It’s something I’ve had to research a great deal lately because of the Open build Mclearn Custom did for me last month. Caliber is the number one question when building a major open gun and deserves careful consideration.
The two main options nowadays are either 9mm major or 38 supercomp. Both have pros and cons and both are good options. I want back and forth for a long time deciding
PROS & CONS
- 38 Supercomp Pros:
- Softer shooting
- 10 plus reloads per case
- More consistent ejection
- Many powder options
- Able to use standard upright C-more with large viewing area.
- 38 Supercomp Cons:
- Expensive initial investment “Starline Brass”
- Losing brass at major matches that are lost brass matches
- Having to pickup brass all the time
- 9mm Major Pros:
- Little to no initial investment
- Don’t worry about retrieving all your brass
- Major matches don’t cost any extra because of lost brass
- 9mm Major Cons:
- Erratic ejection because of mixed headstamps
- Unreliable with upright mounted C-mores “because of #1”
- Snappy compared to Supercomp
- limited powder choices when making major
- short brass life “2-3 reloads max”
- Need to use micro dot sight or side mounted C-more
I originally wanted to run 9mm and not change my reloading setup or worry about picking up brass like a crazy person. It was a struggle, on the one hand 9mm brass is cheap and easy but I really wanted to run a standard C-more mounted upright, any chance of a malfunction is not an option at nationals level matches. I had to take a deep look at what my goal for the pistol would be. Winning was that goal and after going round and round I finally decided that the extra initial cost of 38 Supercomp would put me in a better position to perform at my best.
Here’s a picture of the completed open gun by Mclearn Custom
Nils Jonasson 