Joe D

I prefer a G35 over a G34. The G35 shoots softer than the 34 at the same PF. One of mine is set up for ESP the other SSP. The only difference in the two is one has a full length steel guide rod that I made from D2. Both have Novak rear sights with a large dot Hi-Viz front. I use a 13# ISMI spring with two coils clipped. I set up both guns with identical 1 1/4 lb. trigger pulls. I was told by HQ that the Seattle Slug was still legal for ESP. Guess I need to get that in writting. I shoot the ESP gun when Dave Sevigny shows up in SSP. I like to save him the embarrassment of being beaten by a 56 year old guy.

They are made by Dan Wesson. Not sure if DW will continue to make them now that they are owned by CZ.

I too can get 20+1 in all of my mags. One of them will hold 21+1. I use the early Gen. followers. They look a lot like 9mm followers. I use the Arrendondo entensions

Component cost is a big factor. .40 brass is almost free. .45 brass runs $35-$45m.

Cy, I plan on being in Atlanta this weekend, but my time may be very tight. I will call.

Here's some of the answers. My favorite connector is the old Glock Works 3.5. Company went out of business so I now use the Glock 3.5. The 5 Glock can be used as is to yield a shorter, but slightly heavier pull. I just did the altered nose and 5 connector to see if it would work. This combo works well for folks with small hands as the release point is at the end of the pull. There is a slight amount of stacking with the 5 connector, but some folks like this feel. There are many combinations of pin location, nose profile and connectors that can be used. It all depends on how the customer wants his trigger to feel. The trigger can be set to release and reset toward the front, mid or rear of the pull. I have average size hands. I do not use the short reset method. I am more of a Rob Leatham full release kind of shooter. I like my trigger release and reset to be at the mid way point. Never had any light primer strikes. You guys will have to figure out how to do the rest. I have a drawer full of ruined bars and triggers that I generated while developing my triggers. One other hint, I do not use a screw or block to reduce the take up travel.

I gave the guys on Glock Talk a trigger job hint. Might as well do the same here. One can get a Glock trigger pull under 1 lb. with a little work. I don't like them that light. A short, crisp 1 1/4 lb. works for me. You will have to figure out the rest.

Most gunsmiths/trigger tuners are not aware that there are different nose profiles. The short profile will yield a shorter, but heavier pull. One can modify the profile to where a 5 # connector will have just as light a pull as an unmodified trigger bar and 3.5 connector. The bottom bar is the short nose and top is long nose.

I guess this gets back to the "scripted" stages that IDPA seems to need. Listen, one can get as many walk throughs as needed while repairing the targets. There appears to be three classes of IDPA shooters, those that are just there to shoot and have fun, those (gamers) that want to win and the anal retentive hardcore that actually think IDPA is some kind of training. The last tend to fall into the Bill Wilson anti-IPSC thinking pattern. I designed four of the stages at the last Alabama IDPA State Championship Match. Three of the four had more than one way in which they could be shot. This totally blew a couple of the hardcore IDPA shooters minds. They actually had to think. On one of the stages I just wanted the instructions to say shoot them as you see them. I guess that would have been too IPSCish for some of the hardcore types. As an SO I could care less if a guy is doing a subtle walk through as he is pasteing. Would I allow him to take a firing position and air gun, no, of course not. How is an SO supposed to determine if a shooter is doing a walk through on his way to paste? Kinda falls into the other stupid IDPA rule of dumping rounds. Then there is the brillant rule that says you must retain that empty mag if there is still a round in the gun. Sorry, just had to get that off my chest. The one rule change that did make sense was the two -3s = FTN. Do I like IDPA? Yes, my wife and I shoot 4-5 matches a month. Some of the dumb things just need to go away.

I never had any feed issues with my .40 Kimber. I did load to a 1.200" OAL. I used Wilson, Ed Brown or McCormick 10 rd .45ACP mags.

I got my barrel from Brownells. I think they have dropped that line. They replaced it with Storm Lake ($115). If you want to increase the extractor tension replace the white bearing with the black one. Someone sells the Federal barrels on GT for about the same price. They are actually pretty good barrels. I had to adjust the barrel fit in my G35 as the bullet was hitting too high on the target. IMO the KKM and Barsto barrels are certainly not worth over twice the cost.

I use a cheap, $69, Federal 9mm conversion barrel in my G35 for low cost practice. I have not changed a thing except the mags. I think I have had one FTF in 4000-5000 rounds.

Too bad we shooters here in the US do not have a lower priced option to the overpriced STI/SVI guns.

Aim For A Cure match last weekend. No equipment check. No scale. No box. No chrono. Shotgun start. Got one Procedural Tac Seq. Got on trigger too hard and doubled one of the targets. The two -3 rule bit several people. 1st SSP Master and low match score. The Alabama State Championship Match was just before the new rules, but it was run the same way. ESP Champion. Dave Sevigny just nipped me for low match score. Is 50+ seconds nipped?

Cy, I promise to be back in Atlanta soon to fix your trigger. I will bring several bars and connectors.

The trigger pull weight depends on a lot of things. 1. Brand and type of connector. 2. Nose profile of trigger bar. 3. Pivot hole position on trigger bar and trigger itself. 4. Weight of striker spring. One can get a Glock trigger under 1 lb. with the right combination.

None of the clubs here in Alabama are going by the light in the tunnel part of the rule.

Then there is the Armscor hi-cap in either 9mm or .40. Might just be a deal at $500.

The new rules should make it a little easier to move up by beating a total of 10 in your class or the next higher class. Gun Geek, if you are beating the guys in the class above you on a regular basis at local and state matches have the match director move you up to the next higher class.

Why not?

Beating 10 of my competitors while I was moving up meant more to me that moving up with Classifier scores. I think if a Master wins his Division at a major match then he should move to Grand Master. Problem would be determining what is considered a "major" match. The Nationals of course, maybe the Carolina Cup would be another. I certainly do not consider myself to be a GM even though I won ESP at the Alabama Match. Easiest way would be to take 10-15% off the Classifier Master times. Problem is there are many "Paper Masters". These guys have a Master classification, yet are beaten regularly by Expert level shooters. I guess some just go out and shoot the Classifier over and over again. You have shooters that should be Grand Masters and then there is that elite group of 5 or 6 shooters that should be above that level, Dave Sevigny, Rob Leatham just to name a couple. Maybe there should be a "Professional" class. You have those guys that shoot above the "normal" Masters. There are several here in the South that come to mind, Matt Sims, Tom Carpenter, Danny Pate, Justin Nepa and several more. I would consider all of these guys to be Grand Masters.

I meant to say times, not scores. I don't like the use of a Classifier anyway. The Classifier does not represent true match conditions. I like the way IPSC does it. I would rather move up by beating 10 of my fellow competitors in a major match.

Ben, looking at the IDPA Nationals of last year I would probably pick 2 from CDP, 5 from ESP and maybe 6 from SSP. Not very scientific, just a guess. There is one guy I shoot with that came in 3rd in CDP that can shoot a Classifier in under 80 seconds. I would not consider myself to be a GM level shooter, too long in the tooth. The best I have shot a Classifier in ESP was 82.12

It is about time for a GM class in IDPA. Take the existing scores for Master and reduce them by 10-15%.

Try a 35 yd El Prez.