Joe D

Matt, I shoot my G35 at a 135 pf using 180 plated bullets. The sights track really well at this pf. One of my IDPA drills is double tapping a swinger @ 10 yds. that is the same diameter as the 0 circle on a cardboard target. The swinger reacts quickly to the first bullet. A load in the 132-135 pf allows my front sight to stay on the swinger without having to grip the gun too hard. My gun feels a bit slow at 127-130 pf. Funny but my splits run the same. My wife's 34 has more snap to it at a 132 pf than my 35. Recoil is a funny thing. I believe most of it is in our head. I shot an IDPA match last year with my 170 pf IPSC load, took the wrong ammo to the match. I think I shot just as well with it. I do know it is more difficult to do my double tap drill on the swinger at the 170 pf level so there must be some affect.

Maybe I am a little different. I like a G35 over the 34. I shot a 34 for a couple of years. My wife shoots a 34 in IDPA and IPSC. I did not like the way the 34 recoiled with a tungsten rod. Felt nose heavy. I made a full length guide rod out of D2 steel to fit the ISMI spring. That seemed to allow the sights to track better. Matthew I think you will find that the G35 is a softer shooting gun.

Patrick, you are correct about the true hard fit. It took me a little while to figure out how Kimber manages to get a tight fit. The lower barrel lugs are made on a slight taper. This kind of wedges the barrel up into the slide. Cheap approach but it appears to work. When I would look at the top barrel lug recess I could see a contact mark. I used some machinest blue to see the contact point. The amount of contact varied from gun to gun, but they all had some contact. You will not see this contact on a SA, Sig or Colt.

John, how do you get your vest to spring open like it does when you touch that tab. I really like the way your pockets pop open when you do reloads. Are they air or electric powered. Do you use a micro switch or prox sensor?

Rhino, positive lockup is when the bottom barrel lugs ride up over the slide release pin and the upper barrel lug is pushed up into contact with the slide lug. When done properly there is no vertical movement. Correct bushing diameter and barrel hood fit are also important. I do not shoot factory ammo. I did once shoot some Atlanta Arms 230 gr ball reloaded ammo just to see how it grouped. Much to my surprise it grouped about 1" at 25 yds. I think the indoor range in Atlanta my still have that target on the wall. It probably sold a few Kimbers for them. Just think for the price of a LB one can have two Kimbers.

Guess I will have to put a plug in for Kimber also. I have had six of them. I like the CST model. I see no reason to hard chrome these guns. I guess I have never understood the need to spend over $800 on a 1911. All of my Kimbers would group under 1 1/2" at 25 yds. Two of them would go under 1" @ 25 yd. I worked on four of my friend's 1911s. He had two Les Baers and two Kimbers. Each gun had at least 20,000 rounds through it. There was no more wear on the Kimbers than the LBs. Those dreaded MIM parts were holding up just as well as the forged LB parts. Kimber is the only production gun that has a positive barrel to slide lockup that I have seen. None of the other production 1911s (SA, Sig, S&W) offer this. We do need to remain sober about accuracy issues in IDPA and IPSC. The targets we shoot are huge. We are not trying to hit a tiny bullseye at 50 yds. All of the above mentioned guns are more than accurate enough for these two games.

Sorry you are having such a problem with your SA. I could tell you a nightmare story I had dealing with SA. In the end SA refunded the money I paid for the gun. Just have a competent gunsmith install a Kart barrel. Another path is to sell the gun and buy a 1911 in .40. It is almost as cheap to reload for and much easier to make run. A .40 really is softer shooting at the 125-140 PF level.

Not a problem Mark I knew you were. There are only a few that sandbag, but those are so obvious that it kind of rubs me wrong. One of the problems with our system is many times there are never enough shooters in the upper classes to make the 10 minimum. I think if you win your class and your score beats 50% of the shooters in the class above you should move up. Personally I think it is much more of an accomplishment to beat your fellow shooters in a sanctioned match and be moved up than to move up after shooting the Classifier Match. I still like the idea of having a Classifier stage in every local match. There are guys that just can't shoot the Classifier. I know one that finally got moved up to Master in CDP at the Al. Match. I know he shot the Classifier several times before that match to try and make Master. He was by no means a sandbagger. He just could not shoot the Classifier very well. It would be very easy to come up with 20 simple Classifier stages. As I mentioned before the Classifier stages in USPSA are not that hard to set up.

Thanks, John. I know which guy you are talking about. Seems like he was a MM in either SSP or ESP and shot a 150 something score. Boy was that match a disaster for me. I just could not do anything right. I am compiling my list of excuses. It make take a while. I was really impressed with the way Matt S. shot. Beating Daniel's "pop gun" with a "manly gun" was quite a feat. We both enjoyed the match.

Ron, I have just started gathering some info from matches shot in the southeast states over the last couple of years. There are some individuals that are pretty obvious as to their sandbagging abilities. I am going to send this list, with examples, to my AC and to IDPA headquarters. I am real curious as to how often some of these guys have shot the Classifier.

Well said Ron, especially # 7.

The majority of the Classifier stages are stand and shoot stages shot without a cover garment. Very few of the stages at any of the matches I go to are stand and shoot. Most have some movement involved and of course cover. I don't see why having Classifier stages at local matches would be a big effort. Every IPSC match I have shot had at least one. I have helped set many of them up. Does not take very long. Smoney, not having to fool with all the droppers and such makes the stages easier to set up not harder. Some folks think I don't like IDPA, that couldn't be further from the truth. I usually SO a squad at our local Steel City match and do the same at some of the out of town matches. Seems like I ran a squad for you Mark at the last SR match. I do not shoot much IPSC any more as I prefer IDPA. My suggestions are designed not to be critical of IDPA, but to perhaps improve it. No, I do not march in step with everyone all the time. I thought we had the right to offer differing opinions. Some take this as a slap in the face to Bill Wilson and crew. Maybe if they would make themselves more available to the dues paying members of IDPA my opinion might change a little. Here's a flash, how about a Q&A section in the Tactical Journal. I think the leaders of IDPA could find time in their busy schedule to answer a few questions about rules and such.

Chris, one of the issues is sometimes there are not enough shooters in a class to have the 10 minimum. The other issue is the Classifier stages bear little semblance to actual match stages. Mark those IPSC types shoot too fast for an old geez like me. You know you are getting old when you check the box on the match application that says High Senior.

I wonder if we will ever get rid of this classification system in IDPA. Seems to me a system like IPSC uses would make a lot more sense. Why not design 20 or so stages that could be used in local matches. One stage per match would tend to eliminate sandbaggers. You could not afford to sandbag that stage and still do well in the match. I know guys that have not shot the Classifier match in years. I am glad they finally put the .45 GAP into CDP. Just kidding about the GAP. Hell has not frozen over yet.

Mine work fine.

Cy seats his primers with his thumb.

My splits with a G35 at targets under 10 yds run from a low of .13 to .17. It all depends on how I am seeing the front sight. I am one of those old shooters that just can't seem to learn how to "index" shoot. I was actually working on just how fast I could draw and fire one -0 shot today on an IDPA target at 5 yds without a vest. I was able to get several shots in the .75-.78 range with one perfect one in .65. Not too bad for a $15 Blade-Teck holster. My realistic times with a vest on during a match run about 1.20 - 1.40. The reality of all this is splits and draws are somewhat unimportant. Transitions and quick movements are what win matches. Look at an IDPA stage that takes a shooter say 16 seconds to fire 13 shots. The actual draw and split times may only take 3.5 - 5 seconds of the total. It is what is going on when you are not drawing or pulling the trigger that determines the match winner. I shot a stage at the 2004 Al IDPA State Championship match a few weeks ago in 16.14 seconds with 0 down. That was the second fastest time on that stage. Dave Sevigney shot it in 13.41 seconds. His raw time was 12.41. I don't think there was any way I could have shot it faster than 16 seconds. Dave is so quick in his movement and transitions. What makes it even better is he was shooting a G37 with factory ammo. I hate to think what he would have shot that stage in with his G34.

I had a SA 9mm a couple of years ago. It was very accurate with just about anything I ran through it. It really liked the 147 gr West Coast bullets with 3.5 gr of Titegroup. I loaded the bullets to an OAL of 1.180". I could get sub 2" groups at 25 yds. with this load. The friend that bought this gun gets equally good groups with a 125 gr lead bullet. I was a little lucky with the barrel in this gun. The barrels that SA was buying then must have been oversize match barrels. You could see where the "gunsmith", and I use that term very generously, at SA ground down the upper barrel lug recess with what appeared to be a hand grinder. Fortunately he missed a spot that allowed the barrel to go into a very positive lockup. I just never liked the way the gun recoiled. My .40 Kimber shoots softer.

I took a little different approach. I mostly shoot IDPA with a Glock 35. My match load is a 180 gr Rainier plated bullet. Costs me about $70m for match ammo. I bought a cheap $68 Federal 9mm conversion barrel. My practice ammo is a 125 gr lead 9mm bullet. My cost drops to about $20m with this combo. I played with the powder charge until I pretty much duplicated the feel of the .40 load.

4.3 gr of TG with a 180 gr. Rainier plated bullet. OAL 1.130". Golf ball size groups @ 25 yds.

You can also shorten the follower to get a little more space in the mag.

Ron, evidently you don't understand how the game is played. You should be placing your order for an SVI Cross Comp gun. A $2,000 carry gun is what you need. You shoot Glocks? I heard they blow up all the time. Plus they are b_tt ugly. Why would anyone want a plastic gun?

The guy at Tripp told me their mag without the pad would. I cannot say as I have not tried one. I wonder if they are using a Metal Form body?

Scan, the rule is on page 40 of the LGB. Funny thing is I see it done all the time. Duane, if recoil is not an issue then why is ESP factored to be more difficult than CDP? Master in ESP = 89.41 CDP = 91.76. Does this not imply that a 9mm/.40 1911 is easier to shoot than a .45 1911? I have had both a 9mm and .40 1911 and the recoil is very minimal compared to a .45 1911. I guess what you are saying is if someone at the "Load and make ready" command has 11 rounds in their mag they should be given a 3 sec. procedural or a 20 sec FTDR. I have never seen these penalities given at the Nationals or any State match.What I have seen is a shooter at the start of a stage show the RO his mag with 11 rounds in it. If hi-caps are such an issue then IDPA should make them illegal. As far as holsters go you are correct in saying any legal holster is considered a carry holster. The guys that use the inside the pants type holster are IMO closer to the "spirit" of IDPA than ones that use the belt type Kydex holsters. I have seen ROs/Match Directors instruct shooters to fill up their hi-caps during a Classifier match to speed things up. Should not be allowed as it makes the gun heavier. I wonder how the IDPA Divisions would have been structured if the hi-cap ban had not been already in place when IDPA was started.

Ghost, it can be installed with a nutdriver. Some of them have to be filed just a touch to get them started into the slide hole. Most don't.