Johann the Horrible

I got my DQ while my 14 year daughter was watching. Since then she just never lets me forget - ever. I know it is a bad thing but sooner or later she will get DQ`ed and only receive compassion from me. It is our duty to teach the youngsters how to act is it not. The worst of the DQ was that I was teaching my daughter to move with the finger clear of the trigger guard the whole week long and then get DQ`ed on the Saturday for just leaving the finger lying there in the trigger guard.

I went the different way. I lightened the slide and made the frame heavier - much heavier. I found my Para frame to be of excellent quality and have not had a single problem with it - ever.

Do you want to say that you may not own a gun in NY because of the color? If that is indeed the case I could never move there with my pink and grey cammo Browning(the one that my daughter uses). And here I thought we had screwy gun laws in South Africa.

Wow, I grabbed my rules so fast I almost tore them. (No mean feat if you take it that they are digital LOL)Nope, in IPSC we are allowed to do pretty much anything as long as they fit the box for Standard Division, see Appendix D2. Pity that guys doing the same sport cannot get along with each other.

Sorryguys, but I have to go with Hagar the Horrible. I think you will understand.

Right so I got the gun running after stuffing it up at Nats. I stuffed Nats up un the reloading room because the idiot that casts for me neglected to tell me that he started using a new bullet lube. As I tumble the rounds after reloading this new lube cacked on the bullet where it meets the case. Not much, not enough to see but enough to cause the gun not to extract. On one stage 72 seconds went by before the RO could tell me to ULASC. That is water under the bridge and at the next round of Nats 30-31 August this will not happen again. This cone lock-up system sent me thinking: If I was to cut about an inch of the slide off and silver soldered it to the cone would this not bring the recoiling mass down? If you look at the 1 to 3 rule (one ounce on the barrel is equal to 3 ounces on the slide) it could make a vast differents. The cone is long enough to have enough "meat" for the "new" front end of the slide to lock up on. The reason I am typing this and not working with a saw is that, as far as I know, no-one has done this before - or if they did do it it did not work and they told no-one. One fear that I have is that it could greatly exccelerate wear on the lugs. It sounds like such a sterling idea, is it really? Any

We had several occurrences here in South Africa where criminals used police lights and in some cases even marked Traffic police cars to stop and rob. The problem was so bad that the Police advised people not to stop but to drive to the nearest Police station. Currently we have the Zimbabwean army robbing shops and banks in the Northern part of our country. In one shootout several Policemen were killed. Our government is still using its "silent negotiations" to try and rectify what is happening in that deeply trouble country. If there is one place where a invasion would help the citizens of a country it is Zimbabwe. The opposition leader had to flee to the Dutch embassy to escape being murdered by the government

All Chrono`s are not equal. We used to have one at National that constantly read lower than that of the different provinces. At the last Nats it got killed though and we are hoping that the replacement would be more similar to that of the provinces. It is of course quite possible that the provinces Chronographs are inaccurate though.

I always carry, even to church. South Africa is not a country to be in without a gun.

I feel for you guys. Every year we see on telly guys losing their homes and livelihoods to fire. I seriously wish that there was something I could do to alleviate your pain.

After stuffing up the first two Nationals I am hungrier than ever before. I dry-fire twice a week for at least an hour and is working on draws and mag changes as I feel there is a lot of time for me to find there. I also work on leaving on the last shot and to be ready when I arrive at the next "station". The "super squad" lets me shoot with them as they video every shooter in the detail and then let me have a copy of the DVD that they make of the shoot. One of the top shooters then goes over my mistakes with me, giving me advice on how to fix them. What I do realize is that I need to get to the range and do some "Bill drills" as my splits are holding me back. It is still difficult for me to sleep on Friday nights, even before a Level 1.

All electronic equipment needs to be calibrated from time to time. We used to have a Chrono that read about 3-8 PF less than all the other chrono`s. Shooters from all Provinces was complaining. Then at the last Nats a gun malfunctioned and the RO killed the chrono. If his hand was not so sore I would have shaken it. Hopefully the next one would be accurate. In your shoes I would sent it back to the manufacturer for calibration and while they are doing that build yourself a box for the "sky-screens".The box must cover the "sky-screens" completely. If you want to be fancy you could even install LED lights in the box that run of a car battery. This way your chronograph should give you accurate and consistent readings. I chronograph that you cannot believe is about as useful as a udder on a bull.

I myself shoot a .45 and use 230gr RN to exclusion of all others. The guy that do my casting for me uses 255 gr SWC in his 45 and swears by it. The guy that works on my gun warned me saying that the 255`s will accelerate wear on the gun, especially on the locking lugs. He is of the belief that anything over 230 id pushing a 1911 type beyond its design parameters of the 1911 type. BTW, I only shoot lead after getting bumped to minor at the first Nationals of the year(169.9999PF)

And here I was ready to go +1 to the post but luckily read the name of the poster before getting that presumptuous. If a gunsmith of this repute go "there might be another problem" about one of my guns you can bet your last money that my gun would go to a good 'smith to get to the problem.

I think that part of the problem is that new shooters ask the best and fastest shooter what he should use. Now the GM gives the guy the best advice he can- to be a GM and indeed that is top quality stuff. Now if the guy asked a C shooter he would get different advice. Maybe the C shooters advice would be better for the sport but if the new guy is another Saul Kirch of Jerry Barnhardt then the C shooters advice would not have been the best. The problem with most shooters are is that we want to "buy a solution". If I spent half the money on practice that I spent on "improvements" on my gun I would have been a much better shooter that what I am today. I made many an "improvement" on my gun that I did not like and had to remove afterwards. Most of the "improvements on my gun I cannot make use of as I am not a good enough shooter. Still, maybe if I remove maybe another 100rg or so of steel of the slide I would be able to get away with a lighter recoil-spring and maybe gain half a percent of the a whole competition - after all it would be a worthwhile investment wouldn't it? LOL

The shooter is very experienced and also very fast. He did not hesitate at all. It was one of that cases where I just "knew" a AD has occurred but did not see it. I did no make a call as I did not see it.

Posting with attitude is quite rare on this forum but it does happen from time to time. On one topic I asked for advice and had two guys go all stupidly aggressive to each other. I just PM`ed a poster that seemed to know what he was talking about and left the two "unpleasant types" to wee-wee on each other. In the end I still got the answer I needed, and from a world renowned gunsmith non the less. Over all the best forum for shooting advice.

I have the same problem with my Square Deal B. Those proud primers go to the Hand primer and it sots that out.

Oh, Boy! This is another can of worms. Please read NEW rule book. It has been changed in this respect and clarifies what AD means. There are 6 different cases of AD in the rule book and all of them are EQUALLY important. You look for bullet impact when the shot occurred as a result of hard trigger jerk that causes the round to go down (Rule 10.4.2) or trigger pull on recoil - bullet goes over the burm (rule 10.4.1). In both these cases the shooter actually aims at the target and simply cannot control his gun. I did not see what happened, of course, but from information you've provided it sims to me that the AD might have happened in one of the following cases: during loading/reloading (10.4.3); remedial action (10.4.4); transferring gun between hands; during movement (10.4.5). In all these cases you don't need to dig for impact because it is totally irrelevant here. Some times ago I've DQ'ed a shooter that had AD and actually hit a B-zone on the target. He moved laterally left-to-right, gun dismounted pointed down the range, did not even look at the target when the gun went off and hit a B-Zone. Boy, he was upset for this DQ. But he had and AD under 10.4.6 and I sent him home. In a way I did not DQ him. He did it himself. I just happened to be there to see it. I am 100% with you in this one! Sorry, I did not elaborate as I was making a point of what the RO see he calls. It was during draw at a fairly close target, just over 3 meters.

I agree fully with JT above. I would rather shout "FINGER" 100 times than DQ a competitor. However if I see the finger in the trigger guard during movement I have no option than to call a DQ. It is not about my feelings, it is about the rules. It does not matter who the shooters is, if I see the finger on the trigger during movement I have to call a DQ for every shooter, the same for everyone. A while ago I heard a shooter AD but as I could not see where the bullet impacted so I did not call a DQ.(Boy, was I unpopular with the other shooters) It was totally irrelevant that all the other shooters could see that the bullet impacted in under 3 meters, I did not see it so not DQ. If I saw where it impacted and it was indeed under 3 meters the guy would have been DQ`ed. BTW there is not benefit of the doubt - you either see it or not.

I have noticed exactly the same thing. Competitors go through their "pre-shoot routine forever before they are ready. They should do their "exercises" before stepping on the line. Maybe we should limit them and take the time saved there and make the "Conga Line" time longer. I feel that a shooter should receive not more that 1 minute in time from the time that he is called out to LAMR(we all know in what order we are going to shoot, and no than 1 minute from LAMR to Standby.

The onus is indeed on the shooter to hold his finger visibly out of the trigger guard. The rule was made because of safety concerns. Obviously you can run with your finger on the trigger all day long and as long as you hold the gun so close to your body that the RO cannot see it you will not get DQ`ed, until you get an AD. There is many way around this but if the RO does not see you finger out of the trigger guard, he will stop you - if he is not sure he will normally warn you. I just want to repeat: The RO`s are there to make sure of safety first and the rest later.

If he is engaging a target while moving there is no problem, it is the moving without engaging that gets the DQ.

I used to do this a lot. The -40 you earn for that specific stupidity irritated me into spending as much time as possible in the "conga line". At big shoots I get the WSB as early as possible. I make a full study of it trying to decide where my reloads are going to be and what target will be shot from where. When I get to the range, and I try and be there for the pre-shoot, I study the ranges further but without actually walking the stages as this is not allowed under the rules. After working out my "game-plan" I try and run it through my mind several times until I get it perfect. Two shooters before I shoot I double plug and get into the "zone", I visualize getting 2 Alphas on every single target, running while keeping my finger clear of the gun, never mind the trigger guard. And yes I count every shot I fire and start at one every time I do a mag change, I know that I get to 9 before I move so if I am ready to move at 4 or 6 I am missing something. Before I step on the line I know from where I will engage every single target and how the target will look through my sights. I do wish we could be granted longer than 5 minutes walk-through, if only for us lower life forms. The LAST thing I want to here after "attempting" a course is: "IF and I say again IF you are finished....." Designers of lower level shoots can make it so much easier for us if they stick to the 9 shot rule while designing and setting up a range.

If you have to load over max just to factor(and you should factor at least 165 as chronographs differ) you should possibly look towards another propellant for your gun. The last thing you need is a blown gun and some injuries. It seems that you are shooting Open as a 185gr bullet @ 890 = 164,65PF. If you are shooting Open you have a compensator and then maybe something fast like Clays is not the best bet in any case. As I shoot Standard Division I just stick to a 230gr round-nose @ 760FPS for a PF of 174,80. As my bullets normally weigh 232gr I still have a safety net down to 735 FPS. As a start I would Chrono my loads in another gun. If the velocity stays low you Know it is the propellant. If the velocity suddenly jumps higher you know that you have a "slow" barrel. I am very hesitant to advise a competitor to go over the max load as it normally leads to tears, and sometimes even blood.