Newguy

The people I've seen make the quickest progress are those who stick with one gun (and one load) and really get to know it. They commit more to practice than the kind of gun or equipment they use. It's more boring, though. I've also seen people make good progress when they set a goal for a division, meet that goal, and then change divisions. From my experience, jumping back and forth between divisions isn't helpful for beginners. That's just my observations watching a lot of shooters get better than me in a shorter time.

If you're primarily shooting IPSC there's no downside to also shooting IDPA. But the reverse may not be true -- shooting IPSC may hurt your IDPA scores. IPSC is about safely shooting a course of fire as quickly and accurately as possible. IDPA is about shooting the COF quickly and accurately, but also tactically -- not exposing more than half of your body behind cover, tactical reloads and shooting order, etc. IDPA COFs also tend to be more choreographed. So, some IPSC shooters -- myself included -- end up with a lot of procedurals when we play in IDPA. OTOH, its good discipline and trigger time is trigger time.

Like the other posters, my question is why buy a G34 if you already have a G17? The 1/4 longer slide won't make that much difference, and the slide cut-out in the G34 only brings it to the G17's weight. Almost every time I've based a decision on trying someone else's gun, it's been a mistake. Other people's guns seemed more comfortable, softer and more accurate than mine, at least until I buy them. Trying a gun and living with it are two different things. I compared the 5" XD and the G34 side-by-side. Although the XD's egonomics are better than the Glock's (which gun isn't?), I found the XD had more muzzle rise and was less accurate. I ended up buying the G34. The decision might also be based on whether you're a tinkerer. Since I'm a tinkerer (and in the process destroy parts), I'd never buy a gun that didn't have an easy supply of replacement and aftermarket parts. For me, tinkering is half the fun of shooting. I also can't see spending $135 for a trigger job plus shipping for a gun that cost less than $500.

My G34 started off with horrible accuracy. Disgusted, I borrowed a Storm Lake barrel from a friend and got the same results. After 2,000 or so rounds the accuracy improved dramatically. Two things happened. I learned the Glock trigger and I installed Dawson sights. Personally, I wouldn't invest in an aftermarket barrel until I figured out the trigger and either got used to the stock sights or bought aftermarket ones.

Most local match directors aren't sticklers about different kinds of sights. Besides, you can make a strong case that they are, in fact, notch and post. I have a set of trapezoidal sights on a Steyr. They're quick to acquire at close range -- much quicker than notch and post -- but accuracy degrades big time around 12-15 yds. Accuracy also degrades quickly during rapid fire. Lining up the triangle and small rear notch on these sights would seem to be slow, especially during movement and rapid fire. But, I may be wrong. Let us know how it works out.

I have Sprincos on my Lim. & Open guns. I'm not sure how much of a difference they make -- the same is true for the RM -- but they're built well and I've never had a problem with either. BTW, my L10 has a RM which looks primitive compared to the nicely finished Sprinco.

Have a CR Speed and a Ghost. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. I had a gun drop put of a CR because I hadn't angled it enough -- the gun was straight up and down. With the CR Speed it's also fairly easy to bump gun out of the holster since it's not completely locked It can be drawn in the locked position. I don't trust it bending to pick up brass or set steel. The Ghost has a better locking system but because there's no muzzle cup the muzzle can swing up. If it does that, the gun must be unlocked and reset. Didn't see much speed difference between the two.

You missed a few steps: drop-checking the loaded rounds, pulling bullets that won't fit the gauge, and sorting out Glock brass and crap like Amerc. Although it's sometimes worth it, reloading is a hassle. From everything I've heard the 147 gt. 9mm load is sweet, but when I reload again it'll be a major load for Lim and L-10, where the biggest price difference is. I went to production to take a break from reloading. For me, it's not worth the hassle to load for production when factory ammo is so cheap. But then again, some people enjoy reloading.

I use True Blue in 9mm open (5" gun). At under 8 gr I don't see any pressure signs (I make major with 7.5 gr). At 8.2 or so I did see some pressure signs. I've heard -- but don't know if it's true -- that HS-6 causes excessive barrel wear. Maybe the same is true for Tru Blue, I don't know.

Jake, All of the above. You said the gun ran for 1,500 rounds but are you sure it's the right Aftec -- the one for the 9mm not the .38 super? If it's the right Aftec, try changing out the springs or running it with one spring. Did you try the original extractor? Change out recoil spring? Probably not related but the slide could be moving too quickly. Have you changed anything about the bullets? OAL, bullet lube, etc? I had a lot of extraction problems with open 9 that turned out to be bullet-related.

The Vanek trigger housing has separate screws for pre-travel and reset. I haven't loctited the screws yet since I'm still diddling with it. Even so, the screws are in so tight I don't see much chance of movement. But, it probably wouldn't hurt to loctite them AFTER you put quite a few rounds through the gun to determine reliability. Funny thing is that I did a similar thing to my trigger housing before I got the Vanek trigger -- pinned the ejector housing and drilled a screw for the reset. Mine seems to work just as well, although it's a crap shoot (I just got lucky) to get the exact location to pin it. Vanek's ejector housing takes the guess work out. It also allows you to take some pretravel out while still keeping the safeties intact.

Patrick, How does the width of the grip feel compared to a small frame Glock? Is it thinner? Also, what about the trigger reach? Is it shorter than the SW99? Although the SW99 has an adjustable backstrap, it's long trigger reach -- even with the smallest backstrap -- doesn't make it especially good for small-handed shooters. Just wondering if SW took some design hints from the Steyr M series, at least in terms of ergonomics. Lastly, what about the reset? Short like the Steyr or long like the Glock?

Although I reloaded Berry 200 gr. SWC a while ago, I remember a problem when loading at normal OAL's for 200 gr. SWC. IIRC. the ogive of these bullets were much different than the H&G mold. I kept on playing with the OAL until I found one that sorta worked. Finally gave up on that bullet, although other Berry's seem to work fine. My advice is to shoot up what you have for practice and find more conventional ogive 200 gr. SWC for matches.

I'm also happy with Sotelo's trigger. But, the RS trigger doesn't do much for the long pretravel and reset. If you spend another $35 for Charlie Vanek's trigger housing -- with pretravel and reset set screws -- the Sotelo trigger is even nicer. 2 3/4 lb trigger pull, less pre-travel and a shorter reset. If you're halfway handy, you can add your own set screws to the trigger housing, although it's tricky to get the holes just right.

I've seen new G35s go for $550 at gun shows. Since the new gun comes with 2 hi-caps, adding a third raises the price to $580. Adding $50 in sales tax (TX) on that (the same cost as overnight shipping) brings the total to about $628. IMHO, a used gun should be discounted at least $100, especially based on the hassles of shipping (having to be at home to receive the gun) and FFL transfers. Personally, I wouldn't pay more than $450 plus shipping. But then, I live in a relatively cheap gun state.

I'd hate to see the new 1911 ss division turn into a gun show, where shooters prance around with their newest, expensive and niftiest custom guns. I don't think that's the purpose of the division. While I have nothing against gunsmiths, I don't think the division was created to give them more business. Most 1911s are competitive enough out of the box.

Gunscrubber or brake cleaner will corrode ALL fiber optic sights. The problem with these is that if they're corroded the fiber optics can't be replaced. Solution: keep that stuff away from them.

T.R. Graham showed me one of his slide locks at a gunshow. As much as I begged, he wouldn't sell me the only one he had left. IIRC, T.R. explained that it wasn't that the slide lock was extended, but that the groove in his was narrower than the Glock part and was straight/true. T.R. gave me an old Glock slide lock he had lying around he knew was straight. Although the lockup on my original barrel was still sloppy, it was about 50% tighter. I suspect the barrel fit would be even tighter if I had a properly fit slide lock.

T.R. Graham is having some slide locks made that will be ready within the next couple of months or so. You can reach im at Ph. 678-517-0988 or grhm458@cs.com

Brownells carries them as does Dillon.

If I understand your question, you want to spend $1,000 and then send the gun to a smith for reliability? Why? A lot of the reliability argument goes back to the 70s when guns didn't have lowered ejection ports or were finicky about ammo. Most new 1911s are already reliable, at least in terms of modifications. My suggestion is to first decide on the "must-haves," adjustable versus fixed sights, ambi-safety, front strap checkering, etc. After you have found a gun in your price range, check out the reliability and then decide if a smith needs to touch it. A lot of new guns are hit or miss in terms of reliability, but are a lot more are hit rather than miss. Invest in some good mags (CMC or Wilson), which is where a lot of the reliability issues comes from. All the major 1911 manufacturers make decent products, such as Kimber, Springfield, S&W, Sig, etc. For service, S&W can't be beat. Springfield service is also good. I'm not so sure about Kimber, unlless they cleaned up their act recently.

I decided to try out rear and front fiber optic sights for my G34. Although the Dawson was the logical choice, I just couldn't see spending $120 for a sight system I wasn't sure I wanted. So, I decided that for under $50 I'd try the Tru Glo sights. For whatever reason, the sights were designed with a green rear and red front. (The fiber optic rods are permanently attached.) It probably should have been reversed since the rears were so bright that they drowned out the front sights. Took some black market and colored the top of the fiber optic rod which really tamed the green down. The sights shot more or less to POA, although at 25 yds it may have been an inch or two high. They were definitely fast to acquire. I'm surprised at how well made these metal sights are. The fiber optics on the front and rear are so recessed that you'd have to purposely try to destroy them. The sights also use a set screw and fit snugly in the dovetail. I think it's a great buy for under $50 and I'd be surprised if they don't hold up.

Not taking anyone's advice (a serious personality flaw), I decided to try a Storm Lake barrel in my G34. Although Storm Lake is cheaper than a KKM barrel, I figured they would shoot about the same. The Storm Lake ran flawlessly. It ate WWB and Blazer without any reliability problems. In short, it was as reliable as the original barrel. Some posters had mentioned tight chambers. Storm Lake may have redesigned their barrels since the chamber was actually a little looser than the Glock barrel. Although the Storm Lake was slightly tighter and had less side-to-side and up-and-down play than the Glock barrel, this didn't seem to translate into any noticeable improvement in accuracy. Both barrels shot about the same. I was a little disappointed since the shiny Storm Lake barrel "looked" like it should be more accurate.

How do you figure 74 boxes? Maybe 74 cases (74,000 bullets), but that's only maybe. The fact is that I can't reload 9mm for much less than $3.50-$4 a box if I use FMJ bullets. That's about the same price I pay for Blazers. A decent reloading machine -- a Dillon SDB, 550B or 650XL -- with the tumbler, dies, gauges, calipers, reloading manuals, scale, media, etc., etc., will run anywhere from $500 and up. It would take a long time to recuperate that money given the cheap 9mm ammo at Academy or Wal-Mart. Reloading .40 and .45s is another story. What separates out this issue for me is the fairly big price difference between the cost of factory 9mm and .40s. On the other hand, there isn't much of a price difference in terms of reloading the two calibers. It's a simple question of economics.

Some of us shoot production precisely because we don't have the time or desire to reload. These days, my time is limited so it's great to go to Academy, buy cheap ammo, and head off to a match. I think I also got burnt out on reloading, case gauging ammo, etc., etc. Once I start reloading again, which I'll eventually do, I'll go back to Lim or L-10 (.45 ACP).