AA-Wolf

Thanks for the heads up. I have no doubt the RO's will do the best job as possible, I know a good number of them personally. The RO's will NOT be the problem if there is trouble. I do have one more issue. It's just a math thing... I figure with 300 shooters divided by 2 for the two different day squads equals 150 shooters per day squad divided by 12 for the stages equals a little over 12 per squad. I would think 4 to 5 minutes per stage per shooter and a 5 minute walk through would be right at 1 hour per stage best case with zero re-shoots. This would mean 6 hours to do 6 stages a day, right? If my math is correct, and we start shooting at 7:00AM, the first squads would finish at 1:00PM. The RO's do a 30 minute lunch, shooting would begin at 1:30PM and go to 7:30PM (?). Is this what has been figured by the match director or is my math wrong? So if the afternoon squad of the first day stops when it starts to get dark around 6:30 at that time of the year, where do they make up the extra hour (1 stage by my math)? On Sunday afternoon? If they do, then won't that push the Sunday afternoon squad to shot even later into the evening (they will already be shooting 1 stage after 6:30 according to what I am seeing, possibly 2 if the are delayed in starting at 1:30PM). My math just does not work it out, but I admit I may not be seeing the whole picture. If You could just help me on this point I would appreciate it. If you would like to contact me off the forum that would be fine too. I just need a little hand holding on this, as well as some of my other shooting buddies... Thanks!

I have a few questions on the format change.. First is why? Was there that much of a problem before? If so, I did not see it. Second, what is the Sat morning Sun afternoon squads to do for a full day in Frostproof? I can't imagine doing any site seeing and that is a long down time. Third, and most important, what is the contingency plan IF the Sun morning squads are running late and shoot into the Sun afternoon time? Are the Sun afternoon squads shooting into the dark or are stages being thrown out? An answer on this one is really needed. I know I am not the only one a little worried with a format change seeing what has happened in another recent FL match. Other shooters have expressed their worry but are not forum members so I have posted to get some answers. Hopefully there is a plan in place and not the standard "It will be OK" line. Thanks, oh and yes I have shot the open before so I don't need to hear what a great match it is answer to the questions. I know it's a great match that's why I am concerned. A huge format change like this could be trouble if plans for problems are not in place.

Answers... 1. Stay with steel if you like the way the gun feels now. Tungsten will change the feel by adding nose weight. This may help recoil control, but it will make the gun feel different and is big $$$ compared to steel. 2. You will probably need to replace the reverse plug to "fit" the new guide rod. The recoil master plug has a larger hole and can cause problems. 3. This again is a feel thing. Some shooters use these while others curse them. I personally don't use them at all in any of my guns, but others I shoot with use 2 to help buffer the impact of recoil. These can and will cause problems if they wear out and/or break in the weapon. They should be replace every few 1000 rounds or so. Hope this helps. Also, FYI I use a tungsten rod and 14lbs recoil spring and a 17lbs hammer spring in my STI .40 limited

Matt, That should be my screen name!!! "A class my butt". Now that's funny!!!! Nice run Tammie and Cliff. You two are coming along nicely!!!

Your squad was right next to us shooting (we were on stage 1) at the same timeframe. We also should not have shot in the dark but just wanted to finish the match. We had no idea so many stages were not going to make it.

Wheel of Doom Stage 4, Open class, 29.19, down 13 points. Run up the ramp Stage 5, Open class, 15.89, down 5 points Empty Gun Stage 6, Open class, 22.76, down 3 points. Post'em if you got 'em...

Just not as good as you "master" class shooters... Maybe one day - I can only hope! Good luck in your new class, Yoda. Now you are the master and I am the lowly pupil. I'm not worthy!!!! Glad to have you back! See you Saturday.

Here you go...

Got my Plaque today, VERY COOL. The image is exactly like the shirts the RO's had. Very nice Smitty. Thanks again for a great match and cool new addition for my wall!

baa, I figure if you use the approach you stated the top others ran it with and skip the second set of DT's and use Dean's run (30.68 seconds) minus the 40 points and subtract 5+ seconds (which I believe is max seeing he used the time cutting style you described) you get a time of 25 seconds with points coming in at 179 for a HF of 7.16. Oddly, with him taking the 4 DT's he won the stage with a 7.138 HF. Possibly would have helped the slow guys (like myself) but by the looks of it not the high speed low drag guys. I personally don't see that stage going faster then 25 seconds leaving the second set, but as we all know never say never! Eric, if it takes you 5 seconds to retrieve a mag I WOULD be surprised!

Teams? YES, a stated earlier, a major caliber, a minor caliber and a single stack would be a team. special awards for single stacks and minor? Sure, why not. High LEO, High Lady, High Junior (probably givens) All courses 14-31 rounds? Sounds fair Other ideas? I always like odd starting position and ready state of the weapon, but I know most shooters do not, but it just makes things different. Also an all steel stage without a par time, just to see who is the fastest. Another idea is a theme for the match, like following a movie or a book, just to give it some life. Or scrape all these ideas and just run a down home shooting match if that's what most shooters want. Hell, put a poll up for that!

Maybe, but we can walk it through and estimate pretty quick in seconds. Here we go: 2 for the draw and steel, 2 over to the window, 2 for the targets with hard cover, 3 for the swing and the two targets through the window, 2 back to the middle window, 2 for the paper, 2 for the popper and swinger (slow to activate), 1 for the popper/window open time, 2 for the popper swinger (slow to activate), 1 for last popper, 2 to the window, 2 for the targets with hard cover. Total looks like 23 and some change to me, but I know I am not the fastest guy in the field. And I actually gave closer to 12 on my estimate on the above post. So figure saving 13 this way, 151 points by 23.5 seconds equals 6.42HF beating my run by .2 HF... That would do it! I personally don't think I would try it this way: I had tried the math earlier before I ran and could not see how giving up 80 points over 10 seconds would be worth it, but saving 13 looks like it would have. Again being dog slow like myself is not the best person to go by. Give me some feedback on how my time estimates look.

DP stated: Another idea, instead of the hated LEWIS system, might be to treat the match as a classifier, 1st 85-95% is 1st M. Now that's a cool idea the more I think of it. YOU, the match director, sets the classes and where the shooter falls is where he falls into the class. You may be on to something here...

Here is why: I shot that in 36.89 with 229 points, giving a HF of 6.2. I also have video of me on that stage and agree with saving 10 maybe 11 seconds on the DT's. So let's take off the 78 points I shot them for, giving me 151 points in 25 seconds (best case of saving 11+ seconds) equaling a HF of 6.04. Better to do the DT's for the points on this one according to my math for me, for others it may be different. Thanks for your RO'ing on that stage. You did a great job of no re-shoots with my squad!

Sounds fine, but you are setting yourself up for a small showing by leaving classes out. You may want to think about doing the Lewis Scoring system to give everyone a chance to win, this way ALL shooters have a chance in their "possible" division of Gold, Silver or Bronze, as well as an Overall winner. Better chances for a gun equals more shooters wanting to get in on it. Also not sure why you would want to exclude Open... Hell, I thought some of your best buddies shot open! I guess PaulW is on the out with you?? Just kidding about Paul, but not about Open. Why would you exclude a complete group of shooters... This is not the Limited Nationals (at least not yet), but more of another large local match with out of state shooteres coming in for the fun and thrills! You know Malabar "may" be the place to try and hold something like this. Plenty of Hotels very close which is very important. I'm just saying... Just some things to think about.

Super match. Great job by Smitty and the RO's. Thanks everyone!!!

AHHH... Coming to the darkside. We will be glad to have ya! See you at Titusville in a week or so.

Anyone know where I can get a fiber-optic post for my M1 Benelli with factory Ghost Ring sights? I have looked around at the normal suspect places like Brownells, but no luck. I am looking to replace the tritium blade I have on there now. Any help (or ideas) is great. I have thought about using a AR15 type hi-viz but don't really want to do this if there is a better idea or the real thing! Thanks.

This is SO true. I have a modified factory gun that has run well in the past but lately is having the occasional jam for no apparent reason. This has thrown my whole game into a downward spin. I tend to focus more on the gun now then my actual shooting. My shooting has suffered from this, be it I'm no M or GM. I can say I will be seeing a fully built custom gun in the near future. The cost may be high but the savings in frustration is priceless. Nothing worse then gun problems taking you out of the running.

Eric, Have you seen Jack Travers 6" ? (boy that sounds dirty) Derek did one up for him (with that super cool coating) and it shot nice. You may want to give his a drive to see what you like and don't like on it (again that sounds bad) next time you are at Malabar.

Congrats Paul. This is where your streak begins! Great match and good job to all the winners. See everyone next year.

I second the Super 8 in Lake Wales. Just 19 minutes to the range. My first Open and all went as good as I can ask for.. 19th place in Open.