JimmyZip

Got ot the range early today. Once again I set up in bay 5 This bay is about 60 yds long and twenty wide, my little hovel. I started with presentatios and reloads for fifteen minutes each. I breath and just do this to relax. I woiuld sure like to do this before I compete as it does something to me. As I start slow and build up speed gradually, it seems to turn on my shooting part of my brain. Plate rack today but only from distances greater than 25 yds. I really like this because it was teaching me to consistently squeeeze the trigger. I think that I could slow it down some the next match and just work on smooth and easy. Right now I want to be accurate. I know that may not get me advanced bu, as I'm not even classed as of yet, it might be good to be on target as high a percantage of the time as possible. I have won small steel matches being far from the fastest, but just the most accurate that day. My reloads are getting better. I need a par timer and a better belt so that my draws will get smoother. Right now I am having trouble with my belt and that is going to become a limiting factor.(I guess it already is if I'm having problems) No grouping as I had to leave early. I don't think I'll shoot these loads in matches. Need to burn up this lead and buy some jacketed, but for practice, hey they'regreat. I think that I will start doing my dryfire at the range with targets and poppers that are life size. and real distances. I also like to dry fire as I live fire. I think that it works well to prevent flinching and promotes fluidity. So now I'll just do them like that as to recreate the same experience one way or the other. Funny thing is I didn't feel great today, but after shooting, things were good.

Here we deal with the heat, not so bad as most of us are used to it, as it rarely gets anything close to cold or wet. We are in what is known as a "rain shadow" desert against a mountain range. Hot and mostly dry except for late August-Early Sept.( hot and not so dry) Blowing sand though. I have seen a match closed on account of blowing sand. You can't see anything with sand in your eyes and typical shooting glasses will not keep it out. Will say though that I have shot in a sandstorm with a friend of mine. He was shooting a Star 9mm copy of a 1911 and I a BHP. Even with all the sand those guns functioned well. I'd never seen a Star before that, but it ran well under those conditions. Yeah, sand sucks!

So wrong, so wrong...

A friend of mine wants to start shooting his .45. I said what do you got and he pulls out a 1911 that he got in an estate sale last year. This is the same guy who sold me my last BHP for $250.00. I wish I knew how to post pictures but here's the discription; It says government model and is blued with Bomars. It has a lowered ejection port and the ramp inside the magwell looks polished. The magwell is beveled and the top of the slide is not polished but flat and non-reflective. It is in excellent condition and he took the Hogues off it and put back the stock panels which I think I like better than the Hogues. There is a really nice stippling on the front strap, but it's not checkered. It has a great trigger, probably around 2-3 pounds. My brownings are 4 and this is lighter and crisper. This thread should be Things I Covet. I like Millets because not only are they what I'm used to, but I shoot best with that plain black on black subdued sight picture, but those Bomars are sweet and to me they look the same when I'm looking down the slide as my Millets. So what do you think this thing is worth? Me likee and I think I could talk him into selling it if the price is right. There can't be more than 1K through this thing. No bluing wear, seems like it'd be a great SS gun.

I Ordered some bullets from powder valley in mid December, Fed Ex lost them and I had to do all the sleuth work to find out they were lost. They were re-shipped USPS the second week of this month and were at my door in four days. I work right behind the FedEx ground building and the package was scanned, according to the tracking service, into that building and was to be delivered literally NEXT DOOR! For some reason that package was never to be found again. Must be someone that shoots and delivers FedEX packages in North Palm Springs. I hope hi likes the bullets as much as I do. JZ

Today was the first time this year that I have been out to practice at the range. I just got the key on the 16th and since I have some post-op days left the rest of the week I thought that I would get out and get cooking. I geared up and did thirty minutes of dry fire drill. Half on presentation, drawing slow and deliberate and building speed as the fifteen minutes came to a close. Draw, sight picture, squeeze, reholster, repeat. The second half on reloads in front of the plate rack, sight and squeeze on three, reload, sight and squeeze on three. Then grouping and testing my new loads. They are snappy and I really like them. I just worked the plate rack today and kept to bay 5 like a hermit. I did all sorts of drills starting each slow and building my speed as it came naturally. I'm still a little funky in the head after surgery and my face is still tender, so I was just letting it flow at a natural and not rushed pace. I paid careful attention to track my sights. I finally can see where they go up and slightly left. It is wierd because I can see them fall back into the notch and they come right back to almost dead center. The more I watched it and focused on the front sight and timed my shots in a calm way, it felt good. When I wanted to speed up, I would break the shot in cunjunction to when the front sight was just almost perfect. It didn't have to really stop dead because it seems to come back to the same place and I trusted it to just be there. The visual inputs seem to tell me when I am off and I now know how it is that you just "know" when you have missed. So I loaded six in my mags each and would work the plate rack from 10, 15, 20, and 25 yards until I was consistently hitting a straight string from each distance. Then I went back to 15 and practiced three, reload three until I wasn't missing, then at 20, then at 25. Was getting close to time to leave so I finished the last 50 rounds or so with grouping on the back of an IPSC target oldschool three shot groups marking with a pen, and was getting a 3 1/2 to 4" group size average. I don't know if I will tighten that up until I get off the Powerful Antibiotics I'm on. They make me a little shakey and do affect my acuuracy a little. We'll see next week. Heck I cold come out early Thursday and work in the house for fun, yeah might try that we'll just have to see whatever happens. Time to bring out my poppers and just keep them and my steel in the truck and catch the range after work on Thursdays or Tuesdays.

I really like that, and the father my young children think I am. I strive to be good to them, my dog, and oh yeah, my wife too

Hearing all these old prices and having just started reloading since'87, reminds me of all the times out surfing, "Hey man, you should have been here yesterday." But the lead I bought in December was the same price I payed for jacketed in August. JZ

HSmith, That is EXACTLY what I'm looking for! I just checked it out on the web and I can tell it's what I need. Muchos gracias! JZ

I have an old school holster and double mag pouches that I am happy with for now. What I am looking for is a belt that will not only hold up my pants, but be stiff enough for the draw. If you guys have one that you prefer let me know. I am a 38, but I will probably be a 34 by the end of the year. So here's it in a nutshell. Belt or belt system. Needs to fit in pants belt loops 1-1/2". Needs to be legal for USPSA. Can be either leather or nylon. ( Prefer nylon if possible) I have an Uncle Mikes but it doesn't fit inside my pants and I don't know if it is legal to clip it to my regular belt for competition. I would like to be race ready this year. Thanks JZ

Revchuck, I just wanted to say thanks for the times you have given this noob some great advice. As I've been reading and posting here I have noticed that you give accurate and helpful advice. Rarely do you give an attitude, but rather a helpful hint even when you may not agree with those you are discussing a topic with. Your reloading advice has been spot on and I just want to say thank you. JZ

175,500 and I'm seeing double Hey G-man, you make rehabilitating great!

Well, I for one will say this, I like potable drinking water, firefighters, police and sheriff deputies, garbage collection, food and health standards, passable roads, breathable air, free primary education to the 12th grade, grants for college, national and state parks, a decent if not perfect court system, the armed forces of which I was once one, and the ability to recourse should anything not be what I paid for it. I know taxes are high, and sometimes our gov't gets it wrong, even way wrong but, The Firefighters have saved my skin more than once.( Heart attack at 34!) Cops are a deterrent to some extent and my wife can call them when I am away. I don't care for certain expeditures of my tax dollars, but go to some third-world countries and think about their lives. America may need a tune-up, but I still love this place and I still vote. Sorry if I hijacked this Merlin, I just love this country! (as I'm sure you do too!)

Csemartin, What year should you first get one? I am 38, is that too early? Like said before, I would drink a gallon of that crap to find out one way or another.

GMan, 135,700 choked on the last target of level 15 I play every one of these things! I get hooked until me eyes start buggin from the screen JZ

I feel for your brother, the man should be rewarded not criticized, and I find the shoot to wound thing the craziest! A freind of mine was accidently shot in the leg when we were kids. The bullet hit his femoral artery( I think thats the big one in your leg, I could be wrong) He bled out and died before the ambulance could even get there. What about tazers? Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't, and the guy had a GUN! I'm not exactly the most rabid pro-gun, cop loving person, but I do not envy what it is that they do, nor do I second guess them unless I have seen it all in context. ( which I have only once) It is they that help to keep me safe, and my wife and kids when I am not with them. I will pray that your brother gets through this well. JZ

CSEMARTIN, Thanks for the info. JZ

Last Thursday my Ear/Nose/Throat doctor straightenend my septum and I've been laid up in bed until today. ( With trips to the john and to the computer to check out the forum) My Kids who are great but normally quite a handful have been on their best behavior ever. I owe them big time! Will take them to the street fair in a couple of weeks for a frozen Italian ice and a hot dog. (One of their Favorites) Tomorrow I will spend my day off testing rounds and working up a load for my new bullets Thanks girls I Love You! BDJ( Big Daddy Jimbo)

CSEMARTIN, What text books do you have for school? There is a machine shop at our factory with a Bridgeport mill in it and noone uses it at all. I have taught myself the basics on the lathe but I would really like to learn what all those end mills, fly cutters and other tools can really do. Unfortunately around here noone has these types of courses as this area is almost all HRM as far as schooling goes. ( Hotel/Resturaunt Management) I am a slow starter as I like safety and my boss says to just get in there and go for it!. I taught myself how to Mig, tig, arc and stick weld well enough to do it as a side job for extra cash building high-end custom doors and modern style fencing/gates. I do most of my own hardened-steel poppers and falling plate type targets. But that mill is calling me and I'm tired of just staring at all of that hardware knowing that I could do something with it. PS We also have a plasma cutter, a metal band saw that cuts tubing fairly well, an abrasive wheel saw, or hot saw, so what I'm interested in is a book on machining with that mill!

Thanks All! Revchuck and AK74 you guys really shine. Well, the shoots I used to shoot were some IPSC and some not. I was not a member of IPSC or USPSA, and my favorite match from that era I am glad to hear is still going strong in Rainbow California. Thanks for the link Steve, that was a real trip down memory lane. Although I was a bit young for some of those shenanigans, it sounds like some of the same type of stuff I used to see around here. The matches I remember the most were Linea Del Fuego? I think in Calexico, Coto De Caza , The old Desert Sportsman( Nick Pruitt and Ray Neal) Which later disbanded and many of those shooters went on to shoot at Palm Springs Gun Club. Once again thanks to you all. You people have been too cool and have made this last week of post-op bearable. This IS the coolest place for shooters on the net. JZ

I also cut my teeth on Heinlein. I was reading that stuff in the 3rd grade. WOW! Louis L'amour, another addiction after RH, There was one about a fighter pilot, stuck in Siberia that was part Indian that I really liked. I even liked the Casca series by Barry Sadler( Ballad Of The Green Berets fame) Tom Clancy,his books have never survived a re-read with me. Below the tech stuff, they are just too cut and dried which is strange because L'amour used the same plot dozens of times and if I go on a plane ride or a car trip, he's one I will always pick up.And who can forget Stienbeck? I loved his books in junior high, Mexican culture? Lluvia Del Oro. Post WWI fiction? A Soldier Of The Great War.Gabriel Garcia Marquez,Coontz, Harold Coyle, W.E.B Griffith, funny thing though, now I just really like historical books. So many crazy things have actually happened that you don't have to invent them. But here goes, thought that I would like to get into shootin again, bought Brian's book and I hated it . Then after burning through several thousand rounds and a dozen matches of frustration , that damn book kept coming back to me. Then it became kind of like a manual for understanding. That book has helped me see some things that have nothing to do with shooting. Weird huh? Now, I must say that I have even suggested it to friends who shoot. Being aware in the moment has made a big difference.

When I was 11 and finally talked my Dad into letting me buy his .38 S&W off him to shoot the 1st Sunday practical matches, things were different. It was IPSC, not USPSA or IDPA. Most stages at most matches ran six to twelve rounds, occasionally more depending on the person setting it up. Reloads were after six if he liked revos, seven if he liked 1911's and all of those with CZ's and BHP's were the devil, minor, or hi-cap freaks! You think this sport is somewhat obscure now? Jeeze! This was 1980, when I stopped competing on a regular basis in 89 I think I still hadn't heard of USPSA. Well now I'm a member, but wanted to know what happened in those years! I feel like I just woke up from Rumplestilkins nap and the world has passed me by. Where and why were USPSA and IDPA created? ( please be as unpolitical as possible) Is there still a Second Chance bowling pin shoot? Anyway, if there is an old timer who's been around fron the beginning and couild shed some light on this I would sure be appreciative. Thanks, JZ

AZgunut, Yeah Tim is the guy that sent my pistol out too. He no longer does much for the private sector, and the numbers he gave me for a guy I tried to reach a couple of years back don't work anymore. Man I sure miss Tim, he was a great guy to deal with and as far as technically speaking, I know of few others who are as talented as him with ANY weapons systems. Heck, he even has some of his stuff in some of the Jane's books. But on electrofilm, yeah, if you hear anything on it in the future, let me know, that stuff was great. JZ

With all the talk of Ion bond, I wonder whatever happened to electrofilm? I had a pistol that was electrofilmed in 85-86 I think. The finish was extremely durable. You didn't even need to lubricate your pistol. The finish came in grey, a charcoal/blue, and a brownish color. Mine was done in grey, but turned a greenish/ grey hue over time. It showed little wear over fifteen years of use. Several friends had their pistols and one Benelli shotgun done also and all were satisfied. The finish was flat like parkerization, but far more durable and corrosion resistance. JZ