Chuck Anderson

I've got the Pihrana texture grips on a .45 1911 and a Beretta 92. My favorite grips. I really like them. Very agressive but not stabby.

I think it will narrow down the OP's choices if Bedell is the only one that will take his business. As far as shipping to CA, it's a pain in the ass. I do it but I know lots and lots of FFL's that won't. And if you think it's easy figuring out California's laws, ask Shawn Nealon formerly of Cavalry Arms. I still haven't figured out what he did to end up in prison, and believe me I've asked. That right there was almost enough to cut off any shipments to Cali.

Still haven't figured out how I can fly clear across the country to the heart of Bourbon and get stuck drinking Bud Light.

Yeah...There is. Junior Category. Not Class, not Division. It's a category, just like Super Senior, Senior, Lady and Law Enforcement. You know the folks that can't shoot as well any more or yet and need a crutch. Wait did I say LE? Scoring Juniors as major won't do them any favors. It just means they can get wild on the stick and not pay the consequences the way they would shooting minor. As far as the little ones not stacking up to adults, I remember seeing a tiny little spud named BJ Norris a few years back whooping everyone at a shootoff after the Florida Open. Back when he was about 3 feet tall. If you think Juniors don't like Major scoring, see how many will like it when grown men start making snarky comments after they get beat by that kid.

My standard answer is that if you've stopped learning you should get out of the game. Take guys like TGO. He's been around so long he's changed his technique several times. I know he doesn't shoot the same way he did in the 1930's when he started out. A lot of these top level professionals have the range time, ammo and ability to try a variety of techniques and tactics. Much more than even the average GM. It's been a couple years since I took a class, but the last one was after I finished 4th at Nationals. Still learned a lot from Dave Sevigny. How much you learn will depend on what you know and who you take the class from. Some instructors are very good at teaching you the fundamentals of marksmanship. Some excellent at movement. Some aren't the best shooters in the world but can teach you how to break down as stage to maximize you performance. Make an honest assesment of your skills and make your pick based on your weakest attribute. If you shoot really fast and accurate, but still keep getting beat, figure out how to break a stage down. If you can't hit a 40 yard popper to save your life, go take a marksmanship class. If you've hit a plateau and need to do something to improve a class can really help motivate you to that next level. I would say that the more you progress the less benefit you'll see out of most classes. If you're a B class shooter it's easy to go take a class and bump up to A. If you're already a GM you may only pick up one, two, maybe three things. But if it's three things you wouldn't have figured out on your own and you gain a percent or two, well that's worth it to me. That said I've taken classes from several of the best in the business. Each has their strengths and weaknesses. I won't go into a lot of detail on most of them since several I haven't trained with in years. Frank Garcia Universal Shooting Academy (best instructor for teaching you how to train on your own) Travis Thomasie (taught me target transitions are more important than split times) Eric Graufel (excellent movement and accuracy...note he uses a very different grip than any other shooter I've trained with) Dave Sevigny (movement) Mike Seeklander (best prepared instructor...taught me more about how to teach than shooting, but I took a very basic class from him) Insights Training Academy Intensive Handgun Skills course (awesome course. Still need to get it on my schedule to go back.) I'd like to take a training course from Michel, Horner, Bragg, Strader and TGO in no particular order.

My buddy Sent his overnight with FedEx and got in already too. I hope that everyone else sent their app snail mail like me. Sorry Jesse, we all sent Overnight like Sandra said to. I got the last spot in the match. She said they weren't taking any more entries from Oklahoma specifically. Thought it was weird but what do I know. Guess the only way in for you now is to get Stag to donate a ton of rifles to the match. And I mean a ton, let's pass those suckers out with the Shooter's bags. But better do it quick, there are only a limited number of Sponsor slots as well. In fact I wouldn't bother waiting for Sandra to respond just get on Stag right away.

Holy crap! Hey Jeff can I get my refund now? Or at least permission to carry a loaded snake during the whole match? I promise I won't use it during the stages.

Yep, too long for Limited.

I've seen that done a couple times and I did it myself once. But isn't that really pressing the limits of 10.5.9? If there is no mag in the gun then you are either unloading or reloading or clearing a jam, in any case, your finger cannot be on the trigger. And that's where I have a problem with the action in the original post not being a DQ. Regardless of what the shooter in the OP was doing his finger should not have been in the trigger guard. The only thing keeping this from being an outright DQ is that the RO didn't see an empty magwell until after the shot was fired. Or am I being overly picky? Yep, being overly picky. Imagine the scenario, similar to this, but the shooter is definitely engaging a target. Say, end of an open field course, he drops the mag, looks up sees an Alpha, Mike, No Shoot, raised the gun back up to eye line and shoots another alpha. At that point he is most definitely not loading, clearing a jam etc. He is engaging a target. Perfectly legal.

I've RO'd lots of stages, mostly at club matches where it is not possible to see the gun all the time. Poor course design yes, but it's the way it is. Until we all hire professional crews to come build our stages. Normally happens with a doorway or deep port at the end of the course. I'm not going to fault the RO in this case. I've also seen shooters who unload, drop the gun and see that last target they forgot, point shooting it with the last round to save the FTE. No harm no foul. Normally, if I've been paying attention, I kind of expect it. But I agree with everyone else. If you don't know, no DQ.

17C. Really the best choice there. Barrel and slide length mean nothing (practically) on an open gun with a red dot. You'll have more holster options with the shorter gun as well. The 31 and 35 will have a .40 breech face. While a lot of guys have used conversion barrels with great success, I have not. I will never try again either. You want to shoot 9, you've got a 9. There you go.

They are focusing on different shooters each episode. Not just team FNH. They focused on Pat Kelley and Team Noveske at Ironman. The idea is to focus a but tighter on a few shooters so that the non 3-Gun community gets to know them. The upside is you get a lot more detailed view of the shooters. Down side is not everyone will get airtime like last year.

I think you're totally hosed equipment wise for what you have now. The CR Speed and Double Alpha mag pouches won't be legal in IDPA (no double layer belts) and Saul's mag pouches are definitely race gear. I believe, and the guys who have them can correct me, the gun should come with a holster and double mag pouch as part of the package. That should be enough to get you started for IDPA. As far as the holster if you want someting a bit quicker, I'd imagine CompTac and Blade Tech either have the holsters already available or will very soon. If not on open botton holster for the XDm should work. I know my BT Glock holsters for the 17 work just fine with my 34.

I feel dumber just for having watched part of that.

I had this conversation with someone else just a week ago. The match entry fee really is a small portion of the overall event cost. For me it's airfare, hotel, rental car, ammo, shipping gear, food etc. A bump of $100.00 or even double the cost really doesn't make a dent for me. Of course I shoot some other matches like Bianchi that are just stupid expensive. Like paying $400.00 plus for a 4 stage pistol match. Ft. Benning previously was able to charge what it could because of the location, cost to pay the support folks (not much), fact they couldn't make a profit, knowledge the match would fill and dozens of other little money savers the Army helped out with. Now we're moving to a private facility, that requires leave and travel for all the match staff. Uncertainty about how the match will be attended, rental or purchase fees for many of those same things we used from the Army. Ft. Benning was a really unique match. Hopefully this will be every bit the quality of that match, but it's not going to be the same price.

I've only shot a few IPSC matches, couple World Shoot Qualifiers, an IPSC US Nationals and the World Shoot back in Ecuador. I don't recall seeing class awards at any of them. It also appears that not many IPSC competitors have classifications either. Not sure how the classification system runs for IPSC but it doesn't seem as easy to obtain a classification as in the USPSA.

Lol! Some guys were saying things like I'm not good enough to do a profile. I was thinking I'm not either. Hell I barely made the list! Must be the Stag rifle that pushed you over the top and made you into the 3 Gun shooting machine you are.

They will be posted no later than October 1st.

Not sure about that far down south. I know Eugene has a monthly IDPA match. You also might want to give Steel Challenge a try as well. Fun shooting with very little movement. Always good to try different things. If you come back to USPSA there's a good group of clubs down there as well.

22" was the default length at SOF. They didn't have a capacity limit, but had a barrel length limit with a tube restriction of no more than 1" past the barrel. That's part of the reason Benelli's did so well in that game, you could ghost load a round onto the carrier, effectively adding an extra round over what every other gun could have. And that was back in the day when Kurt couldn't load 8 rounds weak handed in 2.1 seconds. I still like the 21-22" barrel. When I'm shooting a match that has a capacity limit, like USPSA or FB3G I use the tube that's flush. Allows me to better (a little) get into and out of ports. If you watched the Shooting USA episode on FB3G from last year and saw guys trying to stuff their shotguns into the Cooper Tunnel you know what I'm talking about. If I shoot a match with a start only capacity I can go longer on the tube.

Because in USPSA we don't ride horses during matches, or allow the gun to dangle by a lanyard, so there really is no reason for a grip safety. You'll also find many guns that have the Series 80 Firing Pin block removed. Caspian makes a shim to replace the parts when you pull them out. Does your 1911 have the Series 80 parts, or cut? Do you feel any less safe than a shooter with a stock Series 80 Colt? The gun was designed over a hundred years ago. Not everything that was needed then is needed now.

Boxes and boxes of used primers and creepy little 5 toed shoes? Awesome!!

This is an argument USPSA has struggled with for sometime. Local/Level One matches are free to recognize anyone they wish. But the higher level matches do have restrictions on what can be recognized. Yes it sucks for the shooter who doesn't get recognized. But recognizing everyone for everything would diminish the efforts of those who were official winners. Take a hypothetical Nationals match with 35 Revolver shooters, 1 GM, 2 M, 1 A, 15 B, 10 C and 6 D. How would you feel if you came in 2nd overall at the match as a B class shooter to have 1st M, 1st A recognized the same as you. The goal wasn't to denigrate anyone who shot well but to make the title of 1st whatever worth something. We've literally had class or categories with one or two people at a major match. If someone says they won first B, or High Lady, at a major match, it should mean something, not that they were the only participant.

Welcome John. Where in Oregon are you at?

My first 2011 Limited Gun was built by EGW. At the time Edge guns were all the rage (it's been awhile). I talked to George at length about what I wanted in a gun. I was running a Glock 35 at the time and not having trouble with the recoil. His recommendation, and what he built me, was a short dust cover, bushing barreled .40 with a lightened slide and a tungsten guide rod. I've got two set up the same right now. If you're looking for peak performance you'll want to use the lightest gun you can absolutely dominate and control. If it takes an Edge with 20 oz of lead hanging off it to do so, well man up Nancy boy. Just kidding...kind of. The lighter gun will allow you to draw and transition between targets more rapidly. That's why Steel Challenge guns are light. It's all about draw and transitions. USPSA adds the element of recoil management with multiple shots as well as higher powered ammo. If you have the ability to deliver fast accurate fire with a light gun, there is no advantage to adding weight. It just makes you slower. If you have trouble controlling a light gun, a heavier gun might be your pick. I'm a fairly substantially sized individual (read big fat bastard). What works for me may not work for you. As far as the specific question about Bull/Bushing. Bull barrels have the advantage in strength and durability. There is no bushing to fail. Bushing barrels get the nod for a lower reciprocating mass (at least that's was EGW said). Less weight moving back and forth translates to less flip. Bushing barrels, fit properly can also be more accurate. This isn't really an issue for USPSA as a bull can be fit very well. Certainly well enough for anything we do in USPSA. The Bushing accuracy really doesn't show up till you get into NRA AP or Bullseye.