PPGMD

Last nationals one person in our squad made minor by a hair (125.1 IIRC). We also had bagged timers due to rain. I of course don't have that issue as I'm often pushing 155ish.

I've been through two nationals and several major matches with PCC squads (though we always seen to have one open shooter), we didn't have a single "timer didn't pick up the last shot" reshoot.

We deride paper GMs because they often aren't quite GM material, but even paper GMs are good shooters. They have a good understanding of the basics, and often are just lacking on the overall competition skills which they can gain if they put the same effort into that as they did on the basics required to make GM. Personally my classification is on paper only, due to my own physical limitations I can't perform to my classification in a match with field courses.

That the thing, he shouldn't have to be. You can shoot 223 AR-15s for thousands upon thousands of rounds and never see a firing pin break. My JP GMR-13 only went 12,000 rounds before the firing pin broke, and for all I know the firing pin could've been broken for a while as I only noticed it when I cleaned the bolt of the first time in thousands of rounds (I think the last time I took it out is 6,000 rounds ago when I cleaned it in my ultrasonic). But even I think that is too short of an interval.

Max wasn't the only one, one of my squad mates carried a bolt on his belt. I'm not sure that is the best solution, I think we should have bolts and firing pins that don't break in the first place.

On both practiscore and USPSA.

My opinion of the match, it was quite easy, I think the hardest shot of the optics and factory match was the 20 yard swinger in area 3 during the factory match. I don't think there was a shot that I believed I couldn't make if I did my part. Things I would've liked to see changed, a few of the classifiers turning into more fun short courses like stage 12 or like the classifier on stage 20. I also would've like to see the preferred Frostproof pattern of back and forth instead of going through each area in a circle. And make it harder.

I just notice that mine was broken, JP GMR-13 bolt, with about 12,000 rounds. It was working until pulled the retainer pin.

I had some issues with the 650 at first. Mostly with the shell plate bolt tightening up, and then with the ejection due to the needle bearing that I used to attempt to fix the shell plate tightening up. Even then I would have issues with it tightening up. I finally got it solve completely when I got the brass oilite washer. I tighten it down completely and then loosen until the shell plate just barely moves. I then tighten the heck out of the set screw that prevents the shell plate bolt. Now it works like a charm and my issues are brass related (380 and 38 super brass in my 9mm).

For me the biggest issue was the scheduling. The morning shoot with side matches isn't a very good scheduling, IMO. Also some were told that they should show up 15 minutes before the hour they are scheduled to shoot while others were told to show up based on their relays (ie relay 1 starts on the hour, relay 2 15 minutes past, etc). Of course the international shooters being surprised that they have to pay for their goodie bags with a payment after the awards ceremony was a bad thing, they should've done it immediately after they got the bags so they can decide if they wanted that stuff or not.

Because AFAIK Dillon hasn't sponsored any matches that I've been to. The only Dillon merchandise I've seen on the prize table were donated by Dillon vendors. This type of competition will be healthy IMO, Dillon has been sitting on the top of the mountain without competition for too long. To the point it is common for people to buy a press and then buy a bunch of aftermarket fixes for things that Dillon should've fixed long ago. With competition we might see improvements.

I have a 650, and I wish I had just bought a 1050. For me I reload only one caliber a vast majority of the time in large batches. And along with the fact that my brass often has tight primer pockets (ie I want a swager), are my reasons.

I've said this in Paulie's thread, but I consider the Spare Parts Kit as an essential as well. The $28 it costs will prevent you from having to wait a week to load if a part breaks. You still call and get the replacement sent from Dillon for free, but instead you get your machine working. And if that part isn't the issue you know then, not a week later.

I haven't broken any of the pin hinge ones, but I noticed that with some of my older MTM boxes. I think it is because they are transparent, Magpul has said that transparent plastic isn't as strong as opaque plastic. And the MTM that have survived has opaque plastic on the bottom.

Those look nice I have MTM boxes with a similar hinge, but the Dillon boxes are half the price at quantity.

So I've broken an indexer ring, the primer spring I described, and a MBF motor (now have a spare motor for it as well).

I stopped using the bearing and instead went with the oil impregnated brass washer. It doesn't require any adjustment to the ejection spring. Along with the replacement spring/ball it eliminated the snap and the shell plate bolt tightening.

I would consider the Dillon spare parts kits as a necessity. Sure every time I broke something Dillon sent me a replacement, but it takes a week to get here. Instead I reach into the spare parts kit and fix the issue now, and put the part that Dillon sends me in the kit. In fact I did just that today replacing the spring that pops back the primer lever, called up Dillon and they have a replacement on the way.

I can't say it was the best purchase I've ever made because I got mine off the prize table. OTOH may not be the most expensive item I've gotten off the prize table, but it is the most useful item I've gotten. Thanks to it I case gauge every round I load, as it only takes an extra 30 seconds or so per a hundred rounds to box them up. I also have the polymer flip tray, I used to use another Dillon box, but those are a little tight and there are is sticking.

NRR is an average across all frequencies, higher frequencies you can get larger reductions with very little material, while lower frequencies require a large amount of material to block it. So the more material the higher the NRR. That is why foamies and custom silicon plugs do so well, they have a lot of material is a very small space. With over ear protection you have to balance the material with the size of the muffs.

Back when the division was brand new I proposed to Mike a 30 round limit, because that keeps things competitive as almost every gun has a 30 round magazine, but not all will have the 40+ round magazines. Mike's response was (paraphrased) "I don't want to put an additional burden on the ROs to have to count rounds." So that would be a huge 180 on that issue. And I agree with him, as we see from the recent Florida State Match often ROs have trouble tracking a 10 round magazine

Peltor makes good muffs and they make absolute junk. The key is finding out which you are getting. I actually tried the Peltor Sport Tac 500s, but the Bluetooth sucked, it buzzed anytime it was on. Anyways to go with the topic I've been using the same set of MSA Sordin Supreme Pro X that I got from SRS Tactical almost 9 years ago. They've had to go back twice to SRS, once for warranty and once out of warranty, they it was a quick turn around. And they've lasted a lot longer than most other headphones I've used.

I don't know. I do know that I had a lot of primers that didn't eject. And when I switched to the Lee die, I found that the rate of that happening dropped dramatically. Of course I bought the Lee die because the U dies produce better groups according to my Bianchi friends.

Upgrades I use the most of my 650 Plastic Roller Handle Spent primer catcher Calipers Digital Scale (I got the one that BE sells) Mr Bullet Feeder The replacement indexing ball and spring Lots of primer pick up tubes Primer Flip Tray Tools (in particular a 1/4" socket wrench with a bit for the shell plate bolt) A canning funnel for pouring powder Hundo Case Gauge with flipper tray Lots of Dillon Boxes Extra loaded round catchers with covers to close the front hole Masking tape and sharpie to label ammo boxes Light to light up press while loading Movies or music to make the session not horrible Things I use occasionally: Bullet puller (the hammer kind) Cement Mixer to clean brass Shell Sorters Shaker table to work shell sorters Label Maker to label things Chrono

I deal with a lot of very tight primers. Dillon won't push them out, but if I tighten down the Lee decapping pin it will push them out. I am still on my original Lee decapping pin, but I keep the hardened decapping pins in stock just in case.