Throwin Lead

Thanks to all that have replied so far. I guess I'm on the right track - I have copies of Steve Anderson's first book & Brian's book, I dry fire practice at least twice a week, and try to live fire practice at least once a week. I fortunate to have access to a cad department that can print my targets on a plotter. My dry fire course consist of 1/4 scale IPSC targets & poppers, a 2x4 with paper cake plates attached and a few cake plates perched atop lamps for shooting steel plates off a stand. I'm having a ball running my home stages. I'm a fairly patient person - if you all say that fundamentally shoot A's the speed will come sooner or later then I guess that's what I will need to do. One thing about starting out as a D class shooter - I will certainly have the opportunity to climb the classification ladder! About calling the shot - I've really been trying to pay attention to where the front sight is when the trigger is pressed but have noticed that some of the time I'm jerking the trigger taking the shot from what I percieve to be an alpha to a charlie or even at times a delta or mike. Knowing a bit about math & trig, a slight muzzle movement - fraction of an inch -at the firing line will compound drastically downrange into many inches. I'm finding this to be my biggest problem shooting steel poppers. Perhaps it's a mental thing for me as steel has been my toughest target to date - I then try too hard and cause a flinch. Are there good exercises to practice trigger control? I thought of doing Steve's drill #1 live for several rounds then step it up to double taps just to try to get the feel of seeing/calling the shot.

I'm new to shooting period let alone shooting in the USPSA. I have some questions regarding shooting in the production division. Since production is scored minor I think it's best to try to get as many alpha's as possible even if it means a 3rd shot at a target. I'm doing fairly well hitting the A zone and have to "make up" a shot here or there. My biggest downfall right now is speed at which I can complete a stage accurately. I shot a local club match 2 weeks ago and shot a stage Mess Around - 33 rounds 165 points. I scored 30 Alphas, 1 Bravo & 2 Charlies; my time was 57.27seconds. I did well scoring(hitting the targets - 159 points) but the stage points only totaled 54.4748. Needless to say although I shot the stage well I finished last. This was only the 5th match that I have ever shot. There is so much mentally going on - SAFE GUN HANDLING, planning places to reload, remember where some targets are hidden, etc. that I'm a tad bit apprehensive about trying to attack the course "runnin & gunnin". I know my limitations and I'm not ready for that yet. I'm by no means discouraged. I'm having a great time shooting & reloading, have met a lot of great people and have decided that to get better I need to become a student of the game. In contrast the shooter that won the stage shot 29 alpha's & 4 charlies in 18.67 seconds with a stage score of 165. All that said when can I expect it all to come together- accuracy & speed? I dry fire practice 2 nights a week for about an hour or so & weather permitting I shoot a practice at the club once a week. In practice last week I tried the hoser approach. I shot much faster but I didn't score well at all - mostly charlie delta's & mikes with a smattereing of alphas. When I finally get classified I'll probably start out as a D shooter, learning from the practice experience if I adopt the hoser approach I'll be a D shooter for some time. Any suggestions to help a newbie out or should I just soldier along and in due time the speed part will come along? Thanks in advance for your comments.

Don't give up on that .40 just yet! I stumbled on this article while searching some other things in the forum. It's an article about why shooters are using .40 in production vs. 9mm. I found it to be a great read. minor40prod2.doc

I too shot a MP40 in production. I'm a newbie to both shooting a handgun and competing in the USPSA. I purchased my MP40 this past March. Dan Burwell did a trigger job and instaled a Warren tatical rear sight and a Dawson F/O front site. All of those made a big improvement on how much better I'm shooting. I highly recommend a Burwell trigger job. I purchased a used Dillon 550 with a lot of accessories including 40 cal & 9mm dies and powder heads/tool heads for $500. I'm currently making minor loads for my 40 in the 135 to 140 PF range as chronoed. All in all I'm having a lot of fun competeing and have become a student of the game in both the competive aspect as well as the reloading part of it. As stated above for the cost of a new 9mm you could get into reloading. My reloading costs are about ten cents per round or $100 per thousand rounds. I'm shooting 3 matches a month and a weekly practice -about 800 rounds per month. WWB ammo is selling for about $20 per box of 100 at the local Wally World. By making my own I'm able to save some money, tailor the load to my specs & I'm able to shoot more. As a newbie just starting out trigger time is important to me. Doing it cost effectively is a bonus. Think about reloading - it will open up a lot of possibilities for you down the road if you decide to shoot in other divisions or perhaps reload in other calibers. You will learn a lot about shooting by making your own. Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

However, it will work if you are planning on getting some brass cheap. I forgot about the tax and handling fees when I did my numbers. At $20/1000 plus shipping, that will probably come to about $28-$30. At 3000, it would come out to about $80-$90. I think doing the 3000 in the USPS box for $65-$70 is a fair price. I know it's not great, but it's still good. There should be at least 5 3K lots per drum. At $70/3k you would net about $70 profit per drum including handling charge & tax - excluding tolls & fuel. If you buy 4 & sell off 3 at that rate *your lot* would only cost you about $70 for 15K lot of cases. You are right you would get *your brass* for cheap - $4.67/K That's cheap! Something to think about for sure! Not to be the devil's advocate but will almost 30 pounds of brass fit in a USPS Priority mail box? Will 3k of cases fit in Postal Service provided 11" X 8.5" X 5.5" box? From USPS site: Any mailable item sent in a Priority Mail Flat Rate box provided by the Postal Service, regardless of weight (up to a 70-pound maximum) or destination, costs $8.10 If it fits in your box shipping goes through the roof!

Hi folks, I live in western PA near Pittsburgh about a 2 hour drive to Harrisburg where you would have to go to pick up the brass (plus fuel & turnpike fees). The cost of the auction if nobody bumps the lot price is at $255 right now. Final fees are 6% PA sales tax(doesn't apply to non-resident) & a $10 handling fee for a total cost of $280.30. Without fuel & pike fees the brass work out to about 2 cents per case or $20/thousand. I figure there are about 105 cases per pound give or take a few. If my numbers by weight are accurate there will be 15,530 cases per lot. That's a boatload of brass that would keep you shooting for some time. As far as flipping the brass on eBay.....I'd lose money when I add in fuel cost & pike fees to the cost. I did a completed item search for 40 sw brass and find it to be running around $20/thousand + shipping for the past 30 days. At first I was going to buy 4 lots thinking that I'd keep one for myself and sell off the 3 others to basically to get my lot for free. After crunching the numbers it won't work that way unless there is a spike in brass or 40 sw becomes hard to find. I talked with some people and they said they are fairly certain that PSP uses winchester white box at the academy ranges