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It seems counter-intuitive but I find longer side radius allows me to shoot quicker unless you go to extremes. A coarse sight picture results in a good hit where with a shorter sight radius you have to be more careful or a called good shot won't be there. I shot a Steel Challenge type match with a 10 inch iron sighted Ruger 22 auto and put up my best times ever even though it weighed a ton.

I've had a couple of the American Classic, they are decent guns for the price. I have a problem spending money on any of the cheaper frames because of resale, you lose more money than if you had built on a Caspian or something more mainstream.

If you change to a lighter mainspring in that Springer (and I think you should) you also need to change the firing pin to a steel one. Springfield uses a combination of light titanium FP and heavy mainspring to pass the drop tests and still have decent primer hits. You will need the hardware inside the mainspring housing also to get rid of the lock and to use the shorter standard size mainspring. It will lower your trigger pull weight but you will also be able to detect more creep. You can always have your gunsmith do a trigger job at the same time and have the best of everything. I've used a 17lb for all calibers in all 1911s for years and never had an ignition problem but I do use steel firing pins and check that my primers are seated full depth.

One thing I haven't read being covered is the hole in the frame for the slide stop. I would measure and check it carefully, they can be oversize and egg shaped, however that is a lot of error for that to cover. You are describing a set of circumstances that really can't happen, if everything is good the pistol has to shoot better than that. I have had terrible luck with plated bullets, I would test it with some Hornaday XTPs or Sierra HPs in new cases to eliminate ammo. Anytime I'm presented with impossible results I go back and look at the data. Something that is reported to be good must not be for some reason. The only thing besides ammo I've seen make a 1911 shoot that bad is very excessive clearance between the hood and breach face. Even a bullet hitting the comp or messed up crown will shoot ok groups just in the wrong place.

If you want absolute dependability no, not only are the lips too wide so is the body and the rounds can stack up wrong, all it takes is a tiny hesitation in the round coming up and the timing is off = a jam results. Then the rule kicks in that the once in a while jam only happens when you are killing on a stage.

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I find it has the same appeal as Carl repairing lawn mowers.

Well Jaffo your standard of "close to perfect" and mine are obviously light years apart. Good luck with that fantasy, she's Daddy's little girl ya know.

I hate being shined.

I hate electric fuel pumps, they don't give any warning like the old mechanicals did they just quit.

The tubes for the rocket launcher looked like galvanized steel tubing to me. The guy stick welding them would have to be darn good to weld aluminum tubing to the steel angle they used for support. Welding galvanized is a very very bad thing, breathing the vapors will kill you. I hope next season they visit Dill Areo, that would be a nice change.

Gangsters Paradise and I'm ready.

This episode blew. Why tomahawks and blow guns? It's Top Shot, that means things you shoot, you don't shoot a tomahawk or a blow gun. You don't call the world champion tomahawk thrower a marksman. Come on Top Shot keep the show on subject, there are plenty of guns to pick from to keep it interesting. I'd be ok with muzzle loaders and air guns if you have to but not blow guns. If you want to have a "Top master with whatever you could use for a weapon any time in history" show start one. I'm starting to think the producers don't want a top rated competitor to win this thing. I also know that being a top USPSA shooter only will not give you much of an edge in a well rounded shoot all kinds of guns situation. I agree with every one about Jerry M, he would be awesome on this show, they could throw in alligator wrestling too and he'd win. The one guy who would be the absolute best is John Shaw, he can shoot anything extremely well and I guarantee they would be all the drama they could handle on the show.

I shoot an auto so I don't need no stinkin pump handle!@!

Yes and they've done the same thing on previous shows just not as blatantly. Then they just have to go into the same old reality tv personality conflicts, I guess that's what sells.

You are doing one thing at a time, it has to be slower.

Why do we have classes anyway? ( not to be confused with Divisions) The answer I hear most often is so the less skilled shooters don't have to compete directly with the better shooters. But those same people will insist on a section of the monthly results being tabulated with every division combined so they can brag that their limited run beat Billy Bobs open run. How do you square that? Could it be we have classes to soothe the fragile male (and sometimes female) ego? If so human emotions are involved so there can be no perfect solution. The old original Steel Challenge with no classes sure worked nicely best I remember. But the prize table was deep, all the way to last place deep.

Shooting off balance magnifies any deficiencies in your depth of mastering the basics. I humbly suggest being careful not to put too much emphasis in polishing the minutiae of your barricade techniques while compromising those basics.

See the front sight and it will fix itself.

Exactly what I was thinking. Edit to add, unless there are "sack tappers" lurking about.

I was surprised to see International rapid fire pistols with a lot of light around the front sight. Your vision abilities will play a big part in what will work best for an individual person. Don't expect that the latest trend will necessarily be best for you.

Do you bring the pistol in towards your eyes as you go for the button or are you keeping it out? I find a little movement towards my eyes makes it easier to do the "toss" or whatever you have to do to reach the mag button. I also think way too much worry is put into not being able to reach the mag button without changing your grip.

Maybe faster splits are not what you need to improve your game?

With my first open gun I shot hoser stages faster with my Limited, but a stage with tricky or hard shots the open gun was quicker. After a lot of work I was able to shoot the hosers just as fast if not faster with the open. I look at it as two different skill sets, not worlds apart, but enough to require a certain amount of effort and practice to maximize your potential with either. IMO if you have no experience it is more difficult to start out with an open gun, get to a high proficiency level with it, and then pick up the iron sighted guns.

I have a very excellent machinist, he is anal and wants to know the angles of the side cuts mostly, I took him some pics he'll figure it out. It is a standard STI slide. Thanks to all that responded.