HiPowering Along

Many thanks to the hard work of Dean DeTurk, Janna Reeves, the hardworking RO's and all involved in making the Armalite 3 Man 3 Gun Championship one of the must shoots for the season. I had an absolute blast shooting with a great squad and teammates Laura Torres-Reyes and Virginia Daku. It takes an incredible amount of work for majors to go off without the proverbial hitch and Dean's crew made it happen. Thanks to Armalite for sponsoring the match and all the sponsors who donated for a great prize table. Armalite, Noveske, Freedom Munitions, Fiocci, O.S. Mossberg, One Team - One Fight - and a whole lot of others that my tired but happy brain can't remember at the moment. 3 gun - an amazing sport with amazing folks and even more fun. See ya'll next year!

Thanks, Linda!

What determines the shooter's division - pro / am? Can't locate info on it on the website....

Howard - any slots left for Sunday? Buddy just pointed me to this and the match is always a good one!

What hkguy said above. There are literally tons of guns out there - find some friends that have different types of handguns and spend a day on the range with them. Takes care of a few things at one time - save the retnal at a range, buying a gun that looks good but 'just doesn't feel right' when you shoot it, and you spend a day slinging lead downrange with friends and maybe dinner afterwards. Can't get much better than that. Personally, despite my forum moniker, my actual carry and competition gun for IDPA is a Sig P226 Elite in 9mm. Although I have small hands like most women, I've adapted to shooting the Classic P Series Sigs well. The new E2 series with the slimmed down backstrap is easier to get to the mag release than the Classic series. The Browning HiPower is my favourite, though - first gun I ever bought, fits my small hand well despite being a double stack mag, and points/shoots like a dream. And if I don't bring it out for competition sometime next year, Jane "Beach Bunny" is gonna have a talking with me now that I can put a C&S trigger in it and get rid of the (!^%**@# magazine disconnect. Single action or double action first shot - it's all what you get used to. Find a gun that (A) fits the hand well ( feels good in the correct grip © can be manipulated without undue 'jacking' around in your hand during a mag change, and (D) get a dropped and offset holster from Blade-Tech or Comp-Tec for IDPA use and have a blast shooting with your better half!

Well, I doubt my bench will be this clean for awhile again, so what the heck....guests are temporarily welcome! Built from the NRMMA plans - laid out and cut on the snowmobile trailer just outside the garage at my house. Built in the basement, and unless the place burns down that's where it's gonna stay. It's heavy as sin, sturdy as Hades, and doesn't rock a millimeter in any direction. I love the idea of the extruded rails on the benchtop from a previous poster - just might have to do that one weekend - especially if a third XL650 comes home to roost! The legs on the bench are 42" in height - problem is I'm only 5'6" tall. Works out absolutely great for standing and reloading, but reaching things in the back of the cabinets can be a challenge. That's what a custom made "floor riser" is for! I built the legs long with the intention of cutting them down later - but it's dead level, stable and I'm not arguing with that. Building a riser with the soft industrial foam panels for standing for long periods was better.

Apparently the website had some problems for the Arctic Blast registration form -if you still want to shoot the match (and have no idea why you wouldn't - it's truly a Blast), get in contact with the Match Director (Jerry Greg) for a copy of the application as soon as possible. Jerry can be contacted at beta1 at pa dot metrocast dot net. Match is January 14 - 15 in Wilkes-Barre, PA. Grab your hand warmers, gun gear and a warm sense of humor, 'cause we have a heckva good time!

Newby - you'll be more than pleased with the Unique-Tek clamp kit. I had a worse problem with my 650 in variances in OAL with my 9mm setup. Ordered the kit, simple to tap the toolhead and a few turns of a hex key wrench later the OAL variance is less than .002 per round. The kit is well, well worth the money. HP'ing Along

Way to go, Matt!

While I'm personally partial to the full stainless look, that is one COOL Sig you've created - have fun with it! Has your wife found out how much you have in it, or will the divorce cost less? <grin>

the cups have been cut down and a couple other things..... I can't find the original post (again) for the 'Bubberized" thread, but if anyone can use another method to 'Bubberize' the Comp-III's, you can try this: "How To 'Bubberize' Comp-III Speedloaders By The HiPowering Along Method" . I thought ahead enough when doing mine to get some good clear pictures - hope it helps! Oh, yea - hi, Matt!

You'll have to explain that one a little better, Don - not quite getting what you're driving at.... And I told you I wasn't anywhere near your time - good match you had! Congrats!

I think they're talkng about the competitors weight Uh Dave, I was in the slow/fat division, with misfires. But that's nothing new. michaels Personally, I was in "having major brain farts but having a heckva good time" division.... And since the cat is out of the bag regarding "the holstering incident", the gentleman is out of the hospital, doing well and is now on the way home to finish mending for the next match. Can't keep a good man down for long! There were, however, other casualties in that particular bay. Did it have bad karma all the match? Just ask Glockaholic Girl, aka Kitty, aka Thelma. She was awarded one of the two cables she managed to shoot that operated the drop turner and one of the sliding movers on stages 10 and 11 (public range bay, the two on the right side, not the 'house' stages). The -0 ring was safe, but she's heck on 1/8" steel cables!

1911 Sig Revolution STX for CDP Bone stock P229 for SSP/ESP P239 for BUG matches

Had a blast at the Nats, but noticed the lack of a tall, handsome young chap named Donnie Burton. Anyone know what's up with him? Hopefully nothing personally troubling! ---HP'ing Along

I'll save Jane, Walt, Len and Ken additional emails - The match certificates are currently being produced, and will be emailed to the club match directors by Len or Ken as soon as I get them completed. I told them they have to get this to end over Labor Day weekend - last week of August - as this is the second year it's run smack into my state golf amateur prep work. Thank God I shoot better than I golf at the moment... Congrats to all the winners, especially Walt - High Senior! --Cindy

Nearly a poker straight here... ESR - MM (and if the danged moonclip holders would stay on the belt...) ESP - SS by classifier last month CDP - EX by match bump at 2008 PA State match SSP - MA by match bump at 2008 WV State match Cindy Bowser A25582

eBay. The thrifty shooter's friend... Got two of the Woolrich Photographer's vests for less than $20.00 each. Do a search on ' men's woolrich vest ' and see what comes up. If you're the patient sort, you'll find a good bargain there. Or you can pay the straight $70.00 for the Woolrich Elite vest if you want - that's too much ammo money down the tubes for me, tho.... :D

If you're going to use a BHP in IDPA, the only way to go is the newer factory mags with the "mousetrap spring" on them. They literally eject themselves out of the gun when the mag release is hit. If the standard Mec-Gar stainless mags are used, you'll either have to rip the mag out manually, or do the "Browning Shake - n - Jerk" to sling (hopefully on the first try) it out of the mag well. Only drawback to the "mousetrap" mags is making sure you seat them WELL. A smart heelstrike is needed to make certain the mag is seated when reloading. On the other hand, the spring will tell you very quickly upon the first shot if it's seated or not. If it's not, it'll be on the ground in a hurry, aided by the "mousetrap spring"... I won't explain how I know that.... If it's ever declared that removing that miserable mag disconnect - not a mag SAFETY - is permissible from Berryville, I'll have mine back on the hip at matches post haste. Until then, not much. I love my HP, but that dam*** disconnect is a royal pain. HP'ing Along

Jimmy - We've all been guilty of the brain farts or the "180MPH unload and show clear"...and the only allowance for error is the gun being pointed downrange. it's familiarity that sometimes gets us in trouble when a brain fart occurs! Glad no one was hurt... I've had shooters give me venomous looks when I again have them unload and show clear when I haven't seen (better yet, had the correct opportunity to see) the entire process as a good SO should, as my eyes are rated for 120MPH, not 180.... Let me pass along something that I learned in an excellent defensive gun class. The instructor was demonstrating how to clear the gun - with screwups included, using dummy ammo. He played out the scenario you had with the mag still in, racking it once ejecting a round and then asking the class "is it clear"? Most answered yes...until he racked the slide again and again, ejecting more dummy rounds. He then dropped the mag, and with each word racked the slide - "IS IT CLEAR?" I now use that demonstration as a mantra when doing an "unload and show clear" - whether at home or at a match. The slide is racked at least three times - (1) IS (2) IT (3) CLEAR??? If I've screwed the sequence and forgot to drop the mag, it'll become clear real quick if the mag still has rounds in it when they keep flying out of the gun. The third rack is then used to show the SO the empty chamber, finishing the sequence with the SO's "slide forward - hammer down - holster" commands. Kudos to you, my friend - lesser men would have tucked their spanked tail between their legs and gone home. Stay safe and keep 'em zero down!

Reloads were mandatory behind cover on Stage 2. Several shooters were dinged with a procedural for breaking cover with an empty gun, slide locked back while hustling to the second prop for T-7, or simply running while reloading between the car and the RV (?) where T-7 was. Been there, been dinged for that....

Can't remember the gent's name, but he used a Tangfolio Witness - one of the ESP shooters? Not familiar with that particular firearm.... Looked a little on the Italian side, nice looking gent. THAT'S the way to go to a match, if you ask me!

Hi, 00Bullitt - It's appreciated - the support of those that worked the match. I didn't post the comments I did to 'defend' us, simply explain. The thread seemed to be getting to the point that the call was getting Monday morning quarterbacked, and a good SO's name getting questioned for doing it (Mike). Hopefully that's the end of the deal. I support the "nuclear option" of the FTDR for dumping rounds or anything else it's specified for. I also have no problem wth how the rule is written. In this situation, there was a major difference between Vickers and cheating. Vickers is used during the stage to put as many rounds as is necessary to complete your course of fire under the Rules. Cheating is when you use the excuse of Vickers to gain an unfair advantage over your competitors. Thanks for the kind words - the "Dew Crew" appreciates it! ("Dew Crew" due to the inability of the drink cart guy not to give more Mountain Dew to the shortest SO on Bay 1 each time he passed our bay...and she definitely didn't need anymore caffeine!!! )

Well, since my Chief Safety Officer "Iron Mike" has already chimed in on the FTDR, I'll provide the backup since I was the SO that first noticed the round dumping. There is a definite difference between questionable round dumping and BLATANT round dumping. As for the "clairvoyant" tendencies, I have none. However, I can say that after watching a day and a half of squads going through Stage 2 (the car / stagecoach stage with the Newbolds to start it), there was absolutely no question in my mind that the squad had a gameplan on how to shoot the stage. EVERY shooter in that squad dumped three shots on T5, reloaded from emergency slide lock behind cover, and then broke cover to the next prop to take out T7. EVERY ONE. Whether the target needed it or not. I'm not going to go into the exact things that set my mind off to call it, but let's just say that there was no doubt in my mind. I was the SO doing the scoring; I saw EVERY target. I do not like dinging anyone for a penalty, but when you earn it, you earn it. Round dumping is against the current rules, and as a SO, it is my DUTY to protect the rest of the field that is adhering to the Rules as they should. Mike and I had a discussion about it, several more shooters demonstrated the exact same thing, and after a mock bet after scoring the last set to targets, I told him that the next shooter would dump three into T5, or I'd owe him a Texas sized steak dinner and a beer. I don't owe him the dinner. It was after that shooter that we called for the MD, and after the next one (the lady) did the exact same thing in front of the MD, she was dinged (dented?) with the FTDR and the whole squad was put on notice. As a competitor in the match, I don't appreciate cheaters screwing me or any other competitor by breaking the rules and crying "I didn't do it!" when the situation was so blatantly obvious. If anyone wants to second guess me, go right ahead. I know what I saw, how I assessed the situation, and will do it again in a New York minute. Mike is a great guy, a great SO, and gave everyone the benefit of the doubt until the doubt was removed by the next couple of shooters. I'll sleep at night very well knowing that I did the right thing to protect the rest of the field that was playing by IDPA rules, whether they agreed with them or not. Keep safe and zero down!