redmanfixit

All true innovation is the propriety of lazy men.

There is a simple visual training technique that helps with "weak accommodation". It's called pencil pushups. A thumbnail works just as well but it's an old name that's been in the trade forever. Hold a pencil in your hand (or look at your thumbnail) at arms length. Move your hand toward your nose till you are unable to maintain sharp focus on the image. Move your hand away from your nose back to arms length. Repeat this often. As the muscles that shape the crystalline lens (the variable power lens in your eye) become stronger, your time lag on focus will decrease. Just like any other muscle conditioning, it's about reps and sets. You can also work on tracking by doing range of motion exercises. Essentially, holding your head still. perhaps pointing your nose at some point on the wall, move your eyes left, right, up and down as far as it's possible to do so. Roll them around smoothly at the extreme, clockwise and counterclockwise. Cross them and try to look at your forehead and then at your upper lip. Repeat these movements while trying to make the movements as smooth as you are able to. Yes, you're going to look really goofy when you do these. You may want to sit down when you first try these as some people get dizzy. As you age the lens in the eye increases in density. You may find somewhat of a lag becoming apparent as you try to return to distant objects (beyond 20 ft is infinity for the human eye, more or less). Shouldn't matter too much as you really don't need the target to be sharp, just the sights. If you've figured out how to use the search function on this forum, you might want to check other posts I've made in the past about visual processing in the shooting sports. Color of sights, checking the optics in your eye protection. Lots of stuff on physical optics and photopic vision curve. As mentioned above, you didn't mention your age, beyond 45 years old, a well fitted set of progressive power multifocal lenses may be just the thing, but the exercises will still be of benefit Shoot well!.

4.1 gr Bullseye under a 124 plated round nose bullet. Knocks steel down NICELY! Cheap. Check the Magazine springs. If they're old, Brownell's or Midway have Wolf spring kits. Clean the magazine body and use a dry lubricant on the interior surface.Older springs often allow the bullet to nose dive in the mag as they are being driven forward toward the chamber. Buy a box of Winchester white box 115 practice ammo. Run them through the gun. If those feed, (they probably will) make your hand loads the same length. Simple setup. My wife shoots a Hi-Power. There is a nice little frame buffer for a Hi-Power that both Midway and Brownell's sell that keeps the frame from getting battered. After you get it running, Install the buffer. It will tend to be hard to lock open by hand till the buffer gets pounded in a bit. My Wife has small hands and a touch of joint problems. The buffer softens the recoil impulse nicely in addition to protecting the frame. Helps a new shooter avoid acquiring a flinch. She has shot THOUSANDS of loads built as described above. I don't like taper crimp dies as the pull pressure is less consistent than using a Lee Factory Crimp die. Because of variables in case hardness and thickness, the Lee die prevents bullet set back on feeding better than the taper crimp. Pressure spikes a LOT with bullet set back in pistol cartridges, check the literature. This is a LAZY man's formula for reloads. We shoot lots of competition and I own a business. I don't want to take a lot of time to sort brass by headstamp and I don't want to blow the gun up either. Spring kits from Wolf are a simple way to bring a gun up to factory standard and they don't cost much. Set up like this, the gun runs most any ammo we feed it. It also runs military surplus ammo that is loaded to the highest safe pressure that 9mm will run routinely and European ammo made for subguns with hard primers. I have several different USPSA production guns that I run the same formula in. Have fun and be safe.

Single Stack is the ONE TRUE PATH!

9mm Major often has propellants that are "gassey" to make the comp work. The volume has to come from somewhere so as mentioned above they don't fit a standard mag too well because the OAL is longer to make room. Problem comes in because the bullet is set forward. On chambering, the ogive may be well into the lands. This results in excessive pressure because the bullet has to overcome not only it's inertia but also the fact that it's mechanically in contact with the beginning of the rifling. You'll notice that when you pick spent bullets that the jacket is embossed with the print of the lands. As you study reloading you will find that lots of research has been done that shows big changes in pressure that result from changing bullet seating depth alone. The pressures can get pretty spikey when it's into the lands that far. Most 9Major guns have an extra long leade to allow the bullet to get moving before it hooks up. It doesn't do your gun a bit of good. I wouldn't feed them a regular diet of 9 major cause I like my hands pretty well. I do lots of things with them.

old standard. very quick. inexpensive. right up there at about #1 on the burning chart. Smoke with lead is very likely erosion of the base of the bullet and lube smoke because it's pretty hot.

JUST found a source of Fiber for general purposes as well as for archery and gun sights!!! Looks pretty cool to me although I haven't yet purchased from them. They dope their product with UV sensitive phosphors and design it so that it's primary emission is directional from the ends. This looks like an OEM supplier! http://www.fiberopticproducts.com/Flourescent.htm

I really like TED. I generally find shooters to be some of the nicest people I know. I find many of the shooters I know to be thoughtful people....generally. This takes 20 min or so to watch but I think it's VERY worth the time. I think it's REALLY worth thinking about. Of all the groups I can think of that understand that there is no system of rules that cannot be "gamed" by an individual of ill intent, it would be us! http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_our_loss_of_wisdom.html I'd be interested in thoughts on this.

Steel is fun to shoot and durable, obviously though, consideration must be given to how stages are set up as well as the condition of the targets. Be appreciative if you have one or another of the odd types around that likes to fix things. Most of the problems described above can be managed with a hydraulic press or a heavy truck, some wooden blocks and a welder or torch. It seems that no one wants to mess with the infrastructure. Deep craters in steel are easy to repair with hard facing alloy. Fill the defect and use a grinder to flatten it out. If the steel becomes curved, smaller chunks can be flattened using a press and a little patience. For poppers, a heavy truck and some wooden blocks are really handy and a couple guys that don't mind working together to iron out the curves. Every where I shoot, everyone wants to blow and go. More and more I see piles of broken, cracked steel that it seems no one wants to spend time repairing. When you are lucky enough to find a shooter with blacksmith or steel fabrication skills, encourage them, thank them and provide them with the materials and help to do prudent maintenance. This is an IMPORTANT aspect of maintaining the sterling safety record we have in this sport. I was a Navy Corpsman attached to Marine units for a lot of the time I was in the service. There are actually quite a few of us around. Many of us shoot. Oddly one of the things we learned to deal with were superficial wounds of the kind described above. Generally, when I go out to matches I carry supplies with me that will at least let me clean and dress a shallow wound on site. Not that hard if you have the right stuff in a pile. There are wonderful blood stop preparations that will stop even arterial bleeding well enough, that you have time to get someone to an ER, without them bleeding out from even a severe wound. These work like a charm on capillary bleeding and can get you back on the line not much worse for the wear. This stuff costs money though and clubs are well advised to find an EMT, old Medic or Corpsman or even a sympathetic ER Doc to help you get a first aid kit together and make sure it's around, that someone knows where it is and that someone knows what to do with it. These SIMPLE preparations will support our safety record. ALL the thinking and prep must be done BEFORE the fact. There is no time in the moment. Dress right. If you go out riding a motorcycle, for example, dressed in a t-shirt and shorts with flip-flops on....you're an idiot. No, you may not fall off TODAY or the next day, but you will eventually hear some guy like me telling you, "Look, I KNOW this hurts and believe it or not it hurts ME as much as it's hurting you, but if I don't get this cleaned up correctly, it's going to be a mess!" If you want to understand what I'm talking about, ask ER staff how they feel about dealing with injuries that are avoidable. Yes, it's hot, yes heavier clothing is more restrictive to movement, deal with it. Many of these flying chunks mentioned above can be slowed WAY down by the right clothing and gear. Not always, but often. Think it over. The statistical probability that an accident of one kind or another is going to occur is increasing as a function of our efforts to invite new participants. The experienced shooters that inspect for safety and workability of the stages should be deferred to on the range. ALWAYS! We have a record of deep consideration of safe practice and we have to return to it relentlessly at every turn in managing match setup, stage design, even the way we handle props during the beginning and end of our play time!! Commit to building a culture in your club that chooses the safer path over the "funner" path. I read a nice quote from Jeff Cooper recently. " Safety is NOT something you hold in your hand, safety is something that happens between your ears!" Have fun....play nice, be smart.

Einstein suggested that the apparent sequential progression of events is "A stubbornly persistent illusion". The concept of time in human consciousness can be thought of as a Meme. It has utility in the corporeal world, but like a virus in the computer world, if not contained, will iterate out of control and clog the system hopelessly. You are not your "spacesuit". Your "spacesuit" is what you see when you look in the mirror. "You" is what is looking out. It is a Quantum Universe. Quantum Reality and Zen share much in common. The purpose of both is to find the place of consciousness. There is an "uncertain" relationship between consciousness and the manifestation of physical reality. The "best" place to sit is with the observer. Let it BE, there is no time.

If you look back through time, In the beginning (of USPSA) there were Hi-Powers everywhere. Bill Wilson (yes that Wilson) tells the tale of getting hooked on the, then new, USPSA when he took his Hi-Power to his first matches, while he still ran the family jewelry business!! Here in the future, sadly, there are funny little rule (holes) that put you at a disadvantage. There are lots of parts for them to deal with minor tuning issues and mag holders are findable. There is a nice custom made Blade Tec holster, new in the plastic, at a Police uniform supply in Longmont Colorado called Kinsco. Due to confusing order circumstances, Greg the owner ended up with 3 when really he only wanted 2. I bet if you call him on the phone, it'd be in the mail in a heart beat. The other 2 belong to my wife and I and besides my 1911's, the Hi-Powers are great guns to shoot. The holster is USPSA legal by the way. Play with what you have till you find out if you have the bug. Those are wonderful pistols, yes they are! IMHO

Single Stack is the one true path!

Spendy!

The fiber I've gotten from Novak 's has been the best and most robust fiber I've found. The UV sensitive phosphors have given me the best all around visibility of any I've seen. The adhesives you use on these fibers are important as they can cause degradation of the polymer if you're not careful. Also the optical performance of them is somewhat degraded as they rely on internal reflection to direct light out of the ends. (Look up: Total Internal Reflection) The wrong glue or too much, messes with the surface characteristics of the rod and therefore the reflective properties of the rod internally. If you'd like them to be maximally bright, put a tiny dab of brilliant white paint on the muzzle end of the fiber. When you mushroom the fiber to fit it into the cage, avoid overheating it by keeping it well away from the flame. If you overheat it, there is a fracture line that forms internally in the rod. A TINY spot of super glue on the bottom of the cage at each point where the fiber is supported will retain the rod well and maximize the optical light gathering properties that make the point bright to the eye. Remember that the rod emits from BOTH ends. The white paint will send more photons toward the eye. A polished surface on the "eye" end of the rod will give the brightest, smallest point to catch your eye.

Definitely the SWC. Any of the three propellants mentioned should work fine. A classic target load for .38 spcl is 3.5 Bullseye under a 158 gr bullet. Accurate, cheap, soft shooting.

Make sure you don't have expansive soils or code that calls for floating walls in basement construction. If you do, the details of construction on those are quite different. As far as anchors, I think power nailing is the hot set up!! Ram Set if you can rent one or there are perfectly serviceable "Powder Actuated Fastening Systems" made by Remington That are set off with a hammer blow. Use yellow loads and 2 1/4" nails on 2x4 lumber. If you have high soil moisture in your area (slightly damp basement) use pressure treated lumber for the bottom plate and galvanized nails to nail the bottom of the wall.

The sun has a lot of iron and sodium in it. At atomic temperatures, those elements emit strong yellow (sodium) and green (iron) light. the photopic vision curve ( the sensitivity curve of the human retina in daylight) peaks it's sensitivity at the highest level of output of the solar luminosity curve or more correctly, emission curve. (Interesting correlation) Humans do generally see best in the boundary area between those two colors, given that the lens system in your eye is not far or near sighted. Also, as we age, there is a protective yellowing of the crystalline lens in the eye and there can be clouding also for a variety of reasons. These effects may effect the preference you show as regards color. Tinted lenses can interfere with the sharpness of your vision, especially very dark lenses, due to aperture effect. This is huge for older shooters that are afflicted with presbyopia and experience compressed depth of field anyway. More light = smaller pupil = sharper sights. Lenses that block wavelengths from 400nm to about 410nm or 420nm (near blue range) will give sharper vision also. Blue photons have very high energy and will overstimulate photo receptors of all kinds. Think of it as optical noise. It is VERY important that you be certain whatever lenses you wear, ESPECIALLY if tinted darkly, absorb or reject UV range wavelengths. (below 400nm) If anyone would like an explanation in greater detail of the optical physics of this, I'd be happy to stupefy you with boredom as regards why all the above is true. If you must wear tinted lenses, a light grey or neutral density will give you the best color rendition. If you can get a fiber for the front sight, in any color that has UV sensitive phosphors added to it, it will fluoresce in daylight and especially in cloudy or early morning/late evening light conditions. (lots of UV around) So the sights will be VERY visible in comparison to materials that do not have this "doping". It's easy to see on a cloudy day or under a "black light". These are the physics and of course they do not account for "human preference". If you test it though, you'll find that equipment which matches these criteria, allows you to get on your front sight faster. Brian mentioned in his book, that he didn't like yellow so much as it seems too bright, as I recall. There are variables as regards individual retinal sensitivity, when you introduce the fact that 78% or so of males have a red green color deficiency. Your results may vary. Call now our operators are standing by this offer is not available in stores!

So far as I can tell, from looking at it for about 35 years now, the oldest lineage system is Hatha Yoga, followed shortly by Tai Chi. I suspect they influenced one another and the roots for both appear to be in Egypt at the time of the Pharaohs. The principals of these two systems are found in every Martial Art. It is an issue of engineering, not philosophy. The human musculo skeletal system is all about levers and pivot points. Whatever "form" one chooses is as much a function of fitting the kinesthetic patterns of the practitioner to a system that "feels natural", usually. Both Yoga and Tai Chi have, as a final goal, being able to maintain balance when your feet are in shifting sands. Except in broad terms there is no predicting how a dynamic situation will unfold. There is a profound failure of natural language when it comes to description of internal processes in the experience of consciousness. NO ONE can tell you how this "balance" "feels". A good instructor can however, observe the student and correct or "reform" a physical process to allow the student to "feel" the path. Both the student and the instructor need to forget everything they "know" and be present during instruction if a peak teacher/instructor dynamic is to emerge. That's hard, but exquisite when it happens. What CAN be spoken of is the principals of balance. This is the root of the Tao, Yoga, Tai Chi....all of it. There is a profound subtlety in the relationship between consciousness and how we humans manifest our physical being. Each affects the other. You can change consciousness by changing the body, just as the body can change consciousness. Seek balance. Be flexible. Balance the muscles so that they all are equally long and strong. Range of motion and strength allow a Martial Artist to find balance in chaos. The system you choose is a matter of your energetic "fingerprint" more than any thing else. They are ALL manifestations of the same principals of balance and one is finally no better or worse than another. It is the balance that matters. If you are wearing armor, present the plates to the threat. If not it, may be wise to present a minimal profile. Use whatever in your surroundings you can find for cover. It's better than nothing. Hide, move, remain still. Finally it's awareness and kinesthetic patterning, in balance, that might get you through. It is the dance of Shiva. It is the dance of particles in a Quantum Vacuum, Quantum Flux. It IS better than nothing.

Does not look like a keyhole to me. You can see the "grease" marks on most of the holes below the torn out part. Those appear round. The tears are oddly regular but that may be because of the way the paper is made. Most targets are not printed on high quality paper.

Godiva Belgian Dark Chocolate. Paroxysms of Bliss!

Dude!! Like WOW! That's like Harry Potter or Dr. Who!! I'm thinkin' Tardis man. But he forgot the sonic screw driver!??

My CZ75B is pretty much stock except for sights and a little cleanup. I've run thousands of Wolf primers and now some of the Tula primers and virtually never had a FTF that was not obviously my fault as regards quality control at my press. I use them for my match ammo as well and all the ammo my wife shoots through her Glock and a Hi-power she runs too. I have no complaint about their quality or a need to change anything on any of my guns. No worries.

Was talking to a guy the other day about how things often turn out differently for young men when they marry. Turned out differently for me. I have been educated by my experience. Good Ol "So Crates Dude" said, "Of course a young man should marry....If he gets a good wife, he will become happy, if not, he will become a Philosopher!" The link http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=pjkLf_X88WM&vq=medium Bet it was fun to make this.

Sorry...Ever since I was a kid, I haven't been good at time. Largely for me there only two "times" Night time and Day time. There IS a third "time" and that would be the "Freezing Dark Time"! Perhaps this explains some of the more "Odd" things my friends see me do and talk about when I'm not listening. Since my parents were proponents of "Percussive Correction and Behavior Modification", I have a line of defensive excuses. Here in the future, this can get a parent into mandatory classes which they themselves must pay for, counseling and supervision by so called "Social Services" persons that are rather like vampires, once you get them into your house you can't get rid of them!. In any case, .40 S&W has a rep for a tendency to clip the primer during the theatrical flip that many shooters like to use to promote the illusion of "studliness". Where ever you place your hand during this move, a burst cartridge in an open ejection port isn't a bit funny. It is a hazard to at least 3 people on the range that is entirely avoidable. In a sport that is justifiably obsessive about safety, I think it is a discourtesy to the RO, the Scorekeeper and anyone else close enough they might get some bits of metal blown their direction. I have treated lots of wounds of different sorts, I don't mind the blood a bit and I have never felt a bit of pain. But it is messy on the range and inconvenient to clean up. So... I'll fix the date! I know the displays of "studliness" often continue well beyond the time that good solid evidence indicated that they should be stopped. Oh Well!!, the song remains the same. The outcomes are consistent. "It's always good fun till someone gets their eye poked out!" - Uber Mensch That doesn't sound so much like "flipping" the round as it does covering the ejection port to let the round fall into his hand. I'm more interested in how he managed to shoot a match a month into the future!!! ...can he get me the lotto numbers ???

Last Sunday 29 June 2011 at the Boulder Rifle Club USPSA match, a VERY experienced and VERY safe older shooter had a classical .40 cal open breech detonation, flipping a round at ULSC. Blew a big hole in the "karate chop" portion of his hand, as his technique places that part of his hand partly over the ejection port with thumb and fingers on the back of the slide. I have seen him do it hundreds of times. I bet he dosen't do it any more. I personally have had brass surgically removed from my fingers as a result of open breech events because I was moving too fast with a bolt gun. So...it looks pretty cool but I always say "no pain....no pain!