matt2ace

He is very hard to contact. I have never been able to get a direct e-mail or phone contact number for him.

Depending on your budget, you can expect to spend from $2000 (used) to $5000 (new) for a open class gun with all the needed accessories. I would suggest you check out the STI and SVI websites, and search for gunsmiths who will build you pretty much anything you desire. Also check the classified ads on this site and on the USPSA website for used guns. You also need to budget for magazines (3x 140, 1x170mm at minimum) and holster/belt (~$250-300). Most of all, take your time and do a LOT of research. Talk with open shooters at matches. Know exactly what you want before you jump into a purchase that you could regret.

I recommend you search the Open Pistol forum. There are a several threads covering the aluminum grips. In general, there are mix opinions on the grip, mainly due to cracking of early versions. I have 2 of them and would never go back to plastic grips. I have had to replace them on one gun twice, but the latest version seems to be holding up just fine.

In my experience, Autocomp is pretty close to AA7 in softness, but a lot cleaner. I am using 7.1-7.2 gr as well with a Gan's #12 comp (3 up, 2 side). AA7 and HS6 are dirtier than Autocomp, but you should try them to see if YOU feel any difference with your setup. I have been looking at lighter bullets (121 or 115 vs current 124),as others have suggested, to generate more gas with the higher velocity loads. No results yet..........

Chris....I use a 4! Even a 6 looks big to me I know there is a survey on the forum, but I could not find it with a search. As many have commented, dot size comes down to personnal preference. I suggest you start with an 8 as it is the median size used by shooters. You can always change it if you find it too large or small. You might also ask other open shooters to let you handle there guns in the safe area before you buy. See if the dot size they use works for you and go with it.

You can probably ROI that $600 investment on the $$$ savings in brass alone, especially if 38SC is getting scarce in South Africa. Can your source Shuemann barrels in SA? Might be less expensive to go for a 9mm Shuemann barrel and get a comp made locally, if you have a good smith in the area.

Shooting against a red-dot open shooter of the same class.....red dot will win. Put the C-more on and learn to shoot with it, you see just how much faster it is versus open sights.

When I first started out in open, I would think about going slow and steady....shoot a good first stage to start the match. As I have learned more about the mental game, I have come to the same point, though not in skill , as BE....10% mental slow down. For me, viewing the first stage mentally as if it was the last stage of the match keeps my head in the right place to just shoot it smooth and as fast as the sights allow. When I hear a new or inexperienced shooter say "Oh, I never have a good first stage", I will take the time, if they are receptive, to discuss the mental game and coach them on how I handle it.

Thanks Uzi....I just registered. Looking forward to making some contacts (and new friends) will in Germany on assignment.

I just accepted an assignment that will put me in Dresden, Germany for 6 week periods through July/August of 2011. I have looked around the IPSC website, but could not find much information on IPSC clubs in the Dresden area. Can anyone point me to clubs within 2 hours of Dresden? Contact names? I am not sure if I want to go through the trouble of bringing one of my guns over. I do hope to get a chance to shoot some IPSC while in Germany. Open or modified would be great, but I will shoot whatever someone would be willing to lone me.

Looking forward to meeting a fellow squad 9 member. 2 open and 2 L10 carpet baggers from the east looking forward to meeting the rest of our squad.

I recently used a friends casepro on about 1K rounds of 9major brass I had shot 2-3x. I noticed that those cases bulged more when shot with the same load that showed no bulging in once-fired factory brass. I believe this points to a loss in overall strength of the 9mm cases when loaded multiple times to major PF.

I love the aluminum grip, put it on both my guns. However, one has cracked at 3K rounds, replaced, and cracked again at 500 rounds. The other has not cracked after 3K rounds. Not trying to make this thread another cracked grip thread....nuff said

7.2gr, 1.185OAL, 124 MGD CMJ makes 170-171 PF for me. Gan's #12 Comp, Shuemann AET 9mm barrel Much cleaner than AA7, less snappy (dot jitter, felt recoil) than Silhouette.

You got me beat JT Geometry of the scope on the gun should not have any bearing on function with a C-more. It's all solid-state electronics.

Hey Flyin........I have thumb rests on the right side of both my open guns, never had a problem with them.

Welcome to the forum 5.4-5.5 gr 231 behind a 200gr SWCL will make ~170PF in my experience. I would setup some test loads starting at 5.2 and work up to 5.6gr in 0.2gr increments. You might find that you need a bit less 231 to make major with plated bullets. Keep in mind that 231 is very temperature sensitive. 165PF at 70-75F will end up at 175+ at 85F and PF will go down at it gets colder. OAL looks good at the range you quote, set it so the gun feeds reliably. I suggest you search through the reloading section of the forum for additional info.

I have used both canted and 90-deg mounts on my open guns for 2+ years without ever experiencing what you describe. One of my guns has at least 15K rounds through it with a 90-degree mount with no problems.

I am a lefty and would rather buy 2 right-handed pistols than one (very very cool) custom left-handed pistol. I have never been limited by the configuration of the gun. I can just imagine trying to get left-handed extractor or ejector parts quickly if needed. I am extremely impressed by the work. It's great that he can build himself a left-handed gun. The price just does not justify buying one (IMHO) as there really is no advantage....as any current left-handed GM (there are left-handed GMs right? )

I have come to realize that one of my strengths in shooting fits well with your analogy. I find that I have developed a mind that, at least with my shooting, does not dwell on mistakes during stages. It seems (feels) to me that I just flow through them as they occur and continue on with my shooting as if they never happened. I shot a big match last weekend where I had several problems (dropped mag on unloaded start, light strikes, red dot went bad). I found myself enjoying those stages as much as my best performances at the match. Why, because I simply felt the flow of my mind solving the the problem and continuing to shoot at my pace achieving good points, even when the times were long. Several people on my squad commented to me that I seemed to just stay calm, smooth, and fast despite the problems. By finding joy in each stage, the frustrations don't exist the match becomes fun, and I improve as a shooter! I am learning to apply this same philosophy to other aspects of my life, with great success.

Even for limited, you are at a serious round count disadvantage. The porting is the problem as you note. You are going to need a new barrel to move out of open with that gun. Why not go for L10 where a 45 (with the proper barrel configuration) is the gun of choice for major PF. Probably less important who built the gun than the condition it is in now and how much work is needed to configure it for the division you want to shoot. Have a trusted gunsmith inspect it and talk with him about what changes can or should be made.

Turning towards your weak-side may not be slower, but it is riskier for a DQ. With practice, it can be just as fast as a strong-side turn, IMHO. I watched an A-level production shooter on my squad at the 2009 Nationals get DQ'd doing a weak-side turn and drawing too-soon resulting in a DQ for breaking the 180. IMHO, learn to turn to your strong-side and practice it regularly. BTW - I don't use CW and CCW in this reference because I am a lefty. The rest of you do it backwards from my point of view.

Welcome to the fourm. The gun could have been built by any number of smiths. Pic will probably help. So, yYou plan to shoot a single stack 45 with 10 shot capacity versus every other open shooter with 24+ rounds?

15 minutes to home club in Dutchess county, NY. Everything else is 1.5+ hrs away.

I seriously doubt that you will make major with that factory ammo. 166PF is too close to the edge (165) to rely on making major a big match.