Liota

I was having similar problems with my open gun. In addition to what Chriss said, Benny also told me to lube it a lot, between stages to keep it wet during break-in. Liota

WINDOWS??? You have windows??? That must be sooooo cooooool! I dream of windows at work... Designated parking, too!!! Where do you work and can I come there, too??? I hate coming back from lunch and having to park a mile away from my building, literally, because the flippin parking lots were designed for 1970's personnel loads!!! Alex wonders why I never want to move my car during the day. Liota

I am military. The benefits are pretty good from that standpoint, but I make up for it with the 16-hour days. Ugghhh! They don't dock your pay for time off. Thank God for that! If they did, the number on my paycheck would resemble a little doughnut. Come to think of it, I have received the doughnut shaped pay amount a couple of times from them... Pooey! If you owe them money because they overpaid you, you get a zero paycheck. If they owe you money because they underpaid you, it will take weeks or months to get the money from them. Better to save that rant for next Friday. The torch is ready and so is the lighter. The annual leave program from the US military is another one of those things that deserves a rant of its own. They give us 30 days of leave a year. "30 days of paid vacation" says the brochure (sucker sheet). What they don't tell you is that if you take from Monday of one week to Friday of the next week, it's 12 days of leave you spend, not 10. They figure you work 365 per year and you get your leave figured appropriately. On top of that, if you don't spend your leave in one year, you can only carry over 60 days into the next year. Anything in excess is "use or lose." It makes your commander look bad if you lose leave, so the unit harrangues you until you take your time off. Even though your work is past due, because you have to "do more with less." Arrgghhh!!! Next Friday... Liota Liota

SIG Lady, That's it! You have to move to a place where the range is always open. 24-7 access to the range is a great thing. Rhino, Happy to hear you feel better. I came down with something similar right after A4. Luckily, all better now. Gstick, That's so cool you're willing to through all that for your girlfriend. Just one piece of advice in Guatemala, though. Stay away from the pointy ends of the local fauna. Liota

Is this really a question???? I agree with Ikytx. Buy the gun, shoot the car. Liota

I liked the action, fight scenes and all the one-liners. The conversation in the camper was a great one between the girl, John Conner, and Arnie's Character. The story was kind of flat, though. I agree with you, Brian, the ending was too explanatory. Liota

This was published in a local paper. Where were the parents??? By JULIE SCHLABS, Staff Writer July 3, 2003 A boy visiting San Angelo was shot in the eye with a BB gun in July 2001, and his mother is going to the courts for relief. According to court records, a young boy and his friend were playing with their BB guns in a living room. One of the boys pulled the trigger, documents state, but he didn't aim at his friend. The BB ricocheted and lodged into the other boys' left eye, where the fated BB remains. The mother of the injured boy filed a civil suit this week in district court against the gun manufacturer and the hardware store that peddled the weapon. She's asking the court to award damages and attorney fees. The suit charges that the two businesses breached products liability and negligently violated industry standards by failing to adequately warn of the dangers of the toy gun. ''The product was marketed as being less powerful than a real gun when it actually possessed power far above that which is reasonable and necessary for its intended use as a 'safer than real' gun. . . . '' the suit stated.

Salary sucks when you see hourly types not having to put in the extra hours due to overtime pay issues. It doesn't suck when you need time off because you're sick or something else and your paycheck stays the same. Liota

Might as well jump in here since my very first handgun was a SIG P226, aluminium frame with a nickel coated slide. I adored the feel of the SIG the first time I picked one up. It fit my hand like a glove. It is big and I do have relatively small hands, but the SIG still felt great. The DA trigger is looooonnnggg and smooth. The SA trigger is smooth and short. I like both. That DA shot was always right in the middle of the A-zone. It's recoil is a bit snappy. It has a little more muzzle flip than I really like. That really surprised me after I started shooting my Para a couple of years ago. I still have that SIG and I still love it. After the nationals I will probably go shoot my SIG in production or maybe even limited, where it started out. Just have to make sure all my hits are A's. Liota

If a "natural" shooter exists, my friend is it. He tells me where I need to be to get the bird and I try it. I didn't get it the first time and am just now catching on. I am one of the people who has to work extremely hard to succeed at anything I do. Of course, if I just quit struggling, I might be successful with practice and mental conditioning instead of all the excess baggage of distraction and fear of looking stupid. Funny, how I don't have that fear in front of my class anymore. Ahhhh! The benefit of practice and just being. Hmmm...Let's see, range bag, 500 rounds, ear and eye protection, 11 days off from work, and a copy of THE BOOK... Liota

Brian or anyone else, Is this what you mean by awareness? A few days back my husband, a friend, and I went to the local claybird association to practice for an upcoming charity event. I've only shot sporting clays once before this and was trying really hard. Oops! BIG mistake. Once we were done with the sporting clays round we shot a round of skeet. At one point, I just threw the gun up there and took a shot. The bird went to powder. When the gun was up there all I could see was the bird. I didn't aim, look real hard down the rib or anything else. Only the bird and the trigger pull were there. Then they both weren't. Is that what I've been looking for? Liota

Our club makes stands out of the same material, but we put some angle on the back to form a...Oh heck! I'll see about taking some pictures. They work great and you don't have to worry about shooting the hook off the front. It just sits together. Liota

Roy, Haven't been there since 2001 and probably won't return. It's a fun match, but it is too far and I didn't like the management. Liota

Brian, You need a second story on your house to see that thing. Wow! Liota

Simon, You asked about the durability of the SIG P226. My 226 was my first gun ever. I love it. It has 500K+ rounds through it, I think, probably more. Alex and I sat down one day to figure it, but I can't remember how many exactly. It has an aluminium frame and a nickel-coated steel upper. The only malfunction it has ever had was caused by a bad primer in factory 9mm from CCI. Otherwise, that gun has functioned flawlessly. I wouldn't trade it for love or money. It was my first IPSC gun and I occasionally contemplate pulling it out for a match. I switched to a Para because they are easier to shoot and the lighter recoil made reacquiring the sights quicker. My Para is a brick in weight compared to my SIG. It does sit a little higher in my hand, but I adjusted easily to it. The DA trigger in the SIG is smooooth. I have yet to find another DA trigger that smooth. It does literally surprise you when the it fires. The DA and SA trigger pulls are also extremely consistent, even after seven years and 500K+ rounds. The SIG is well worth the money. Liota

Some things I've tried... 1. Cheap gold paint on steel looks just like cardboard from a distance. It's great if you have IPSC shaped steel. You can then only paint the A-Zone gold and leave the rest white. It really causes you to focus on the A-Zone if the rest is a NS. 2. 8" plates spread out over the width of the bay gives me transition practice. 3. After matches, no-shoots are great practice targets. 4. Cheap soda is cheap entertainment...no real training value, but the coolness and fun factors are pretty high. 5. Blank sheets of paper. 6. Pepper poppers left on the range from a match. Liota

Four? Isn't your count three??? Mine's the pretty one. Liota

Ducati, Welcome to IPSC! Glad you're hooked. New shooters are wonderful. The sport is addictive. Ron, we also had a whole bunch of new ones this month. They seemed hooked when they left. One wants to buy a new gun to play with. He said his wife wouldn't let him spend the money for as expensive weapon as an open blaster, but I told him it was a toy, one for training but a toy nonetheless. He did very well for his first match and seemed to have a lot of fun in spite of the constant reminders from the RO to watch his safety issues (e.g., finger in trigger guard, 180, etc...). Once he gets used to it and practices some, he will be a pretty good shooter. Liota

Alan shoots with us. We don't think he's crazy. We know it. He makes the revolver look pretty nice. Jerry makes it look easy. My squad at the American Handgunner shot right behind the revolver guys one year. Between Jerry and Bud Bond, I wanted to shoot revolver right then and there. My husband has more sense than me and pointed out that Jerry is TGO of revolver shooting. After watching him in the shoot-off with Bud...Let's just say it would take an awful lot of guts to shoot revolver at A4. Liota

I echo Alex, even though he only let me shoot it once. My classifier from shooting Lim 10 with his Long Slide was almost 30% better on local match level and 15% nationally at the time. I was shooting an old comfortable Para at the time. I still love that Para, but the Long Slide is an exceptional performer. Liota

We all have to make a few sacrifices to Save Our Sport! If we don't wear the spandex, it'll be much tougher to sell it as X-Treme Shooting!™ rhino I'm willing to make concessions, though. All male shooters will wear a (modestly sized) codpiece. This will prevent offending the ladies (and embarrassing some of the gents). Rhino, I was talking about myself. BDUs hide a multitude of sins. In that regard, I am extremely sinful. Liota

Just found out I don't have to go to Maryland this year. Yeah! Got a new job today!!! Yeah...I think. More responsibility...same pay... Darned military.

Bill, You are sooooo right. The only stage I had difficulty with at A4 this year, I changed the plan once I had it set. Missed one target entirely. Ouch! Liota

Wow! What a video! Cool enough! Liota

Well, I got up Friday morning and spent time in the ER, went home and to bed. Got up in the afternoon and checked my class. Lo and behold, what to my wondering, pain med afflicted eyes see? C Class Open!!!??? I rubbed my eyes, but it's true! Just before the Nationals??? I FINALLY MOVED UP!!! How cool is that??? Liota