Bigzona

I suspect perhaps its as simple as experience. I'm coming up on one year reloading. When I started my failure rate was astronomical, then it plummeted very quickly and continues to do so. I'm currently below 1% now. Also, I'd venture to say the level of time invested in brass prep.

Very accurate. A non-scientific way to validate this is to take a look at their social media platforms for outgoing builds. The vast majority of the output I see from Rafferty, Carne, Infinity and others are LO guns.

Yes Sir. I swear some pistols are individuals! My wife shoots Shadow 2s in CO. Both have well over 5k rounds, and we've never taken out the extractor for cleaning. So yea, prevention is always key as long as the level of effort is reasonable.

Agreed. My point is, shooting minor I was going waaaay longer without any issues than I would shooting major.

Super easy

I agree with everything here, but one thing I'd add that no one mentioned when i started is the extractor channel (depending on your builder....Infinity doesn't have one). Given that you'd be shooting major, you would have roughly 3x the powder charge, and consequently the same amount in carbon build up. My first open gun ran flawless for 5k rounds, and I cleaned it every 500 rounds, but ignored the extractor channel. Carbon build up got so bad that it threw my extractor out of tune, then I started getting malfunctions. The other one I always mentioned was already stated above; recoil springs. Change them every 1500-2000 rounds and you won't have any issues assuming the pistol is built well.

Great Thread! Happy to contribute. I'm almost 2yrs into USPSA, and like most, I dove into the deep end HARD. I'm hyper competitive, and regularly place in the top 5 locally and top 20 in my first majors this year. I shoot in 3 different divisions, and hit M in two. Some of our local top shooters always tell my I'd be better if I just stuck to one division, but my OCD quickly makes things too intense too fast. I found that devoting a few months to each division then switching things up helps with burnout. First, I give myself a bit of grace while re-establishing indexes and queues when I switch division, and second the journey each time I switch becomes refreshing as opposed to the stale obsessive feeling I have if I'm in one division over a long period of time. Just a thought when it comes to managing burn out and the fun factor.

I have an X10 and started with my major load using AA7 for Open. You seem to have taken all the precautions to ensure consistency, as did I. With AA7, I too noticed a bit of variation in the load but usually to the high side, so I didn't worry about not making PF at Chrono. However, it was frustrating in the beginning due to lack of trust, so I'd constantly check more than I'm used to. Over time consistency got much better, but not great. For the off season I've switched to LO shooting WST, and found that this powder meters a lot more consistently than the finer AA7. My point is, your comment about how the specific powder meters might in fact play a role. Best of luck and keep us updated.

I agree with this. I was recently having a discussion with another local shooter about Iron Sight nationals, and very much made the same point as you. It should simply be scaled down tremendously, and an option is less days, and certainly less slots. I appreciate the need to differentiate Nationals from other majors, but the 3 day format doesn't have to be a key lever.

Agreed on both fronts. I was initially surprised that they included LO again, but then thought about it, and it isn't that surprising. They simply don't believe they can sell out the match without LO.

In principle, I don't disagree.

THIS!! We'd be having a different discussion if we were talking about a major power factor gun. I've had 9minor 2011s that went trouble free with really high round counts, and only basic wipe downs and re-lube.

Completely fair! If you can you should, if its a stretch and all your shooting are locals; not worth getting over your skis for a secondary. Humble opinion.

I agree with this. If you're not a serious participant in Major matches throughout the year, then its not worth it IMO for locals. If your gun goes down during a local, eat the $30 match fee and go home. Order your parts and get it fixed.

Open- 1.C Sailer 2.Aaron Eddins 3. John Vlieger PCC- 1. Max L. 2.Tom Castro 3.G. Kunkel Limited- 1.Giani G 2.Joey Saurland 3. John Browning