Mistral404

Max and Travis wrote about match preparation either here or on their website, I think. Lanny Bassham talks about it also. The challenge you are facing is that your are ending your day and going to a match. So your mind and body normally would be going into relaxation mode. Then one day during your work week, you go and shoot a match. So in reality you have to overcome your natural tendency to start relaxing and getting focused on shooting. You can do many things to 'jump start' the mental and physical processes to prepare for the match. A short jog with start the heart pumping faster, stretching will help your muscles get more blood. Mentally, some dry firing at the safety area will help. You might try not to be the first shooter on your squad. Let others show you the way, if you will. In the safety area, pick three spots, then go back to the fundamentals; draw, follow-through, transition the eyes, then gun, follow through, transition eyes then gun, follow through. You do not have to push on this drill. Just focus on doing everything correctly.

Personally, it is a matter of economics. The complaining about having to convert their .40 top ends to 9mm to remain competitive would be loud and almost universal. Add to that, magazines and reloading equipment. That is the only reason why 9 major is allowed in Open and not in Limited. I think that if you can have 9 major in one division you should allow it in all divisions. The concept is capricious and arbitrary. They allow it for one but not for others, as a matter of law or regulation, C&A is generally cause for eliminating the ban. It seemed to me that many of the stages at Nationals were at 22 rounds because the stage designers wanted to force a reload. Unfortunately many did have a 21/22 mag available. Seemed silly to me. But I am highly critical of the stage designs anyway.

BLM land? It issues permits for usage. The dust sign was because the nearby housing development had some residents that complained and were trying to shut the range down due to raised dust--in the !#^!&% desert, gee who would have thought there would be wind and dust in a desert. At least that was what I was told by some locals. LV is good. The range has potential. The staff provided lots of water. But in that heat, the ROs wilted. I would suggest that at least 4 ROs per stage would be ideal. Change the format somewhat, 4 days for Open/Production was a pain.

This was not my first Nationals. I have been to PASA, Tulsa and MT. The sign up process of Open/Production was the worse I have ever seen. You would think that the National staff could have made suggestions to improve that process. One solid line forever and ever. That was very poor planning on the part of the National staff. The awards started late. Why can't they start on time. In the business world, meetings start on time. It is really an insult not to be able to adhere to a schedule. The food pretty much -- was not very good. The calling of names for the prize table was pretty lame. Terrible communication between the main room and prize table staff. It was nice that the folks calling names were good natured. Area 2 was way more organized in this regard. The vendor tent is going the way of the big SUVs. Perhaps there needs to be a re-evaluation of how USPSA manages its vendors. It is way too expensive for vendors to come and set up a tent. The range was ok. I have shot in the desert many times and it met expectations for wind and dust. No big deal here. The stages were typical of the old fashion designers. Little itty bitty shooting areas. Three steps shoot, three steps shoot, four steps. Gee Whiz. It is like the designers are used to small berms with no real movement. I am not talking about the runners you can get at A2 or High Desert Classic but for goodness sake, use the berm! If Tulsa was subjected to poor stage layouts, they have been displaced by this years Nationals. Maybe it is time for a complete turnover of staff doing the stage designs and approvals. Bring in fresh new blood with new ideas on how to actually maximize the use of the berms. The stages should test a shooters ability on all aspects of shooting. There should have been a standards or at least some weak or strong hand stuff. I did not mind the no shoots so much. The target distances and arrays left a lot to be desired. What is with the ports that require you to squat somewhat. Were there three stages that most shooters had to bend their legs, not to a squat but kind of half way between a full squat and an upright stance. How is this a test of shooting? Was there a stage with 11 DQs? Something is seriously wrong here! With the exception of that stage, the ROs did a good job. What was with not having the Palm scoring system? Gee Whiz, we could get to at least the 1990s with regards to technology. Ok, so I saw numerous opportunities for improvement and I know it is way easier to complain than it is to create or execute. But for goodness sake, this is not the first time Nationals has been held, the senior management of the National staff should be held accountable to improve the process rather than just let it be marginal. All in all, it was ok, the local folks did a great job of hosting the event. There is significant room for improvement with the stuff out of the control of the local staff.

If you get a chance look at the Tuesday Night Steel results at Rio Salado. TGO's game is on! Open-Max Production - TGO L10 - TGO Limited - dark horse Taran (especially if it turns to an accuracy match-A2 two years ago he shot minor and placed 2nd by <10points) Rev - Jerry Top Women - Jessie, Julie, Kippi -- dark horse - Kay

An individual can send a gun to an FFL in another state if that individual has a copy of the FFL. It can be a Faxed copy. This is a change in the regulations. There does not have to be a FFL to FFL transfer. But the sender/seller must have a copy of the recieivers FFL otherwise it jail-time. Every FFL has the right to state their policy with regards to who sends, what they will receive and what they will charge. This is America, past home of the free enterprise system. Personally, I use a gunsmith for transfers. His rates are very reasonable.

Ok, here is a simple easy answer. Do a prelabeled FedEx Box and Packing slip and ship it back to you. Now doing it this way may violate FedEx rules (actually it does) but that is the easiest simplest way to do things. Read the FedEx or UPS rules if you want to comply with them.

I usually do a 171 PF at high altitude on a warm day-80 degrees. I use VV 320. I have never failed to make major. At Tulsa last year, same gun, same ammo back to back Nationals, on the cold day I had a 167 PF and on the warm day I had a 171. If you cut it too close you will end up minor. If you bump it up too much and you are doing a 181 PF. The VV technical rep said go minimum plus 5 and you should be safe no matter where you are shooting. Remember your chono is more accurate than what is used at most Area matches. A2 does it like Nationals, two chronos and a lighted box. Even then each chrono posted significantly different velocities, that is why they use the highest reading for each shot. Some area matches only use one chrono. Again, this is just to warn you not to cut it too close to the 165 PF.

I own a Trojan. Rarely shoot it anymore. I got a custom built SS that is amazing. I have shot SA, Wilson, and Baers. All nice guns. A friend loaned me his SV SS for an Area match and I shot another friends custom built SV SS. The two SVs were premiums guns. Their fit and function was like a Porche. The Wilson and Baers were more like Corvettes. All nice stuff but there no comparison on the intangibles. BTW: My Trojan shoots around 1.2 inches at 25 yrds. Most guns can be made to be reliable and accurate. Custom Premiums guns are way different and IMO worth every penny I spent. But I could afford to spend the money, it did not make be a better shooter per se. It is like owning a Porche vs. Camry.

I really liked this thread. I am working on a new gun-new division. I am still in the early stages. I almost have the sights dialed into where I need them. My draws are sort of strange. Facing up range, turn and draw is now running into the 1.40-1.52 range. But over the next couple of days, I need to be shooting longer distances. This will help greatly.

Sorrry, I used the wrong term, I meant to say recoil and recovery. Matt said if the gun was recoiling to the right, you right hand maybe squeezing too tight. He suggested loosening the right hand.

My RL 1050 has a post with activates the level which adjusts the primer seating. It is located between stations one and two. You can adjust how deep the primers are set. Could that be the cause?

i was at Nationals sitting in the bleachers with a Ghost holster when i bang my gun. It fell. Called the RO. He picked it up and etc. Sure I was embarassed but followed the rules. A lot of our safety rules in in conflict with some of our natural reflexes but the bottom line is that as intelligent beings we are suppose to learn those things that are contrary to our natural reflexes. I fully emphasize with the situation but we need to do what is right (according to our rule book ) vs what is natural. When I was in the service they really push the idea of not doing what seemed natural but what is the smart call. The first example was a guy working with an electricity, the first instant is to grab the guy but that only kills two people rather than potentially one. It is like you do not try to grap a hot iron if it is dropping, you only get burn. When a guy tosses a knife at you, you do not grab it, you let it fall. All this is contrary to our natural instincts. Think of baseball, the idea is to catch stuff, whereas in the real world catching things can get you hurt. DQ is the right call.

I know Safariland is a tad more expensive than others, but they are great holsters and support the heck out of our sport.

Scott did my mine. It is awesome. I am going to use it a Nats Prod in Sept.

Matt Burkett once said, the the 1050, you can always get your money out of it when you want to sell it. I brought a used 1050. I got a smoking deal on it. I will never use anything else. I just brought some caliber conversions for it. That was a pain, at least for the fisrt time. But I have the process down and it seems pretty straight forward. Next time, I will save and buy another 1050-I am basically pretty lazy. Make the plunge and you will never regret it.

I know for a fact that my exact same ammo through my Kart, Nowlin, STI, and Schuemann barrels all have different velocities. The Chrono was done on the same day with the ammo that was loaded as a group. Any "match chrono gun" is not going to be the representative of the velocities in any one of my guns.

Mine was used by a commerical relaoder and it works like a champ. Every once in a while I do something stupid, like a media piece stuck in a case which bends my decapping rod. If I every buy another reloader it will be a 1050.

I had a RL1050. I did send it back to them for a tune up. It did cost me some money. But as usual with them, they gave me more than I paid for.

Virgil built mine. I use only his mags. There may be better ones out there but his work for me. STI trojans are well known for needing extra work to make the .40 run. Virgil, Matt, and Benny are well known for getting the 40 to run flawlessly. The only downside is that I use the same ammo as my Limited gun. With my newer barrel in my .40 is runs a little faster than my Limited guns. So I might have to shift my load down a bit when shooting SS. I have a tungsten and steel guide rods, I do need to weigh it with both of them. I make weight with the steel one and really do not notice the difference now.

My accuracy improves as I improve my trigger control. Drills that re-enforce my trigger control have improved my accuracy. When I have access to a 6 inch .22 plate rack, my accuracy improves by leaps and bound. There is no mercy in a small plate rack. When the is not available, I set my targets so that I only shoot head shots. Freestlye, weak and strong hand. Finally, I use hanging steel at 40-60 yards. My eyesight is bad, so I need to hear the ping. When I am pinging 7-8 out of 10 shots, I am feeling pretty good. On the cheap side, if you do not have access to a plate rack, I use the Brian Enos plate rack--- small paper plates. I tie two strings between target stands and use paper clips to attach the plates. YOu can use par time like at Bianchi or shoot for accuracy with no time. I do incorporate a draw in almost all my drills. There are pros and cons to using the draw. I will, however, being doing the Springer method next week.

For my guns with Nowlin, Kart barrels there is no difference between the two. If I was shooting 50 yards targets all the time, I might need a hotter load. But I run a power factor around 170 almost all the time. This works for the 5 - 50 yard shots. The only reason it does not produce one ragged hole at 25 v. 15 yards is me, not the load. I did experiment with a minor power factor for a few months because I was working on an issue. The lower PF allowed me to focus on the issue. I use VV320 powder so other powders may be different. I get the control and accuracy I want with this powder. It is not the cheapest. Maybe there are better powders, but VV320 works for 9/40/45 and it burns pretty clean for me. I would say, if you have to compromise one for the other (Accuracy v Recoil) - change powders.

Almost all states have a consumer protection, rental resolution, public interest group that you can contact. I was in MN renting an apartment last year and did not read the lease very well. They were going to nail me for an extra months rent but I called a rental outreach program. They did the research and got back to me with the applicable state regulations. The landlord was floored when I cited the regulations and I was not charged. TX has the same type of organizations.

Ambush the drop turner. You should see the vertical thin part of the target. Line your sights on ths axis. As the turn exposes, usually on your left side, fire before the target is fully exposed, then along the same veritcal axis as before you can move your gun slightly to your right. This will give you a wider A zone. You can practice this in dry fire with three targes. The one on the left has only the thin visible edge, the middle target is at an angle so see part of the A zone, the third target is the fully exposed version. Put you timer on delay, on beep transistion to the middle partially exposed angled target, then to the third target. The idea is get your subconcious mind to seeing something other than the optimal fully exposed sight picture as being ok to fire. Work this drill a few times, coupled with the stop watch and you mind will adjust and you will stop rushing the second shot. Our club does a lot of single exposure drop turners. So it is a real challenge to get your hits with one showing. After you get this basic approach learned, the next steps are outlined by Bart. You overall timing improves, you hit the activator, then a static, then the drop turner first showing, move to another static, then back to the drop turner for the second exposure. Forceing this drill really gives you the confidence to never worry about a drop turner again. You will adapt to any drop turner.

Are you doing this without support? I did some shooting from a bench doing a similar task last Friday. My shots were high because I was resting the gun on a solid surface ant the muzzle was rising during the shot. When I was just resting my elbows the hits came down as appropriate. There is a trajectory for all calibers. so you should see some bullet drop at 50yds.