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

Started in CO, moved to Open, bought a Limited gun last year, finally shot it for a couple of months after Area 4 this year to learn irons. The division is dying, but I hope it doesn't go anywhere. I learned a ton shooting 40 and irons. Before going back to Open, I shot a handful of matches in LO to quickly get classified. Made M. 9minor feels like a .22 after shooting Limited Major, and the dot made for easy visual processing compared to irons at speed. Made LO feel easy. In summary, I think newer competitors that are getting serious can benefit from learning to run irons at speed. The exercise does require humility and patience, both of which aren't abundant for most.

I'm 20 months into the sport, and my sources are IG, Podcasts and YouTube. IG and YouTube are useful to watch videos of top performers and I've found it to be a great learning tool. Podcasts are awesome for breakdowns; either interviews of participants or something like the HitFactor podcast. I'd definitely be into reading member experiences on here too, but as stated, I haven't found that to be the case since joining the forum.

I've been following your videos and I think you're doing great. Question. Are you bumping up the safety with your support hand thumb drumstick thingy? I ask because your grip is great...for glocks, striker fire and maybe a shadow 2 with the flat safety. I am a 2011 guy that played with the shadow 2 for a year, with a flat safety. I took advantage of the in frame slide with a super high/canted support grip which kept the gun from moving. When I moved back to 2011s, I was bumping the safety with my support hand. Two things. Strong hand thumb pressure on the safety to keep it from bumping up, and reducing the cant of the support hand....problem solved. I know you'll be crushing in Open very very soon!

Speedy recovery!! That's a beautiful piece and you'll get to shred with it soon. Some good advice in this thread on cardiac rehab.

I’ve got mine in a box waiting to assemble it in the next week or so. This was helpful. I’ve been watching bragging rights YT videos and I recall he mentioned this in one of the many videos he has. Also glad you got it figured out!

Beautiful pistol! Frankly, your commentary leads me to believe your technique yields the desired outcome if you're keeping the dot in the window and it returns appropriately to zero. I also believe an element of joy in our sport is exploration. Just remember, the lighter you go on recoil spring, the higher the frequency for replacement. To answer your question, I've often seen 9-11lbs as the general recoil spring range for competition double stack 2011s. I seldom see anything for hammer springs other than 17lbs. I strongly recommend using your phone to capture slow motion video and review how it's returning to zero. Enjoy!

Another vote for AA7. When I started in Open, I began with WAC. Made PF no problem and the gun was pleasant enough to shoot. A few local shooters kept pushing me to try AA7. Finally did, and the difference was noticeable. Used slow mo video to really observe what was happening and for final tuning. The comparison was striking. Give it a try.

+1 Also, locally I'm seeing plenty of our top CO performers just throwing a magwell on their polymer guns (and in many cases even the shadow 2 shooters are doing the same) and just shooting LO.

Fair. My comment was in relation to 1911/2011 platform. I haven't shot the TSO or Checkmate.

.....and safety trigger prepping where appropriate on a stage while moving aggressively with a sub 1lb trigger likely isn't ideal.