Nik Habicht

Gary, I agree - and probably didn't communicate my thoughts as clearly as I should have...... 1. In general - good idea to stick to the range commands - and to repeat "If finished, unload and SHOW CLEAR." Emphasizing the last couple of words will usually get the message across. If that doesn't do it, either try it a third time, or add a couple of words - Please show clear, I didn't verify the chamber and magwell are empty - something like that. 2. Try to avoid using the "stop" command - range lawyers are out there, and sometimes will try to get the reshoot. The reshoot shouldn't happen - but there's a risk, if the Stop is found to be unwarranted. 3. 10.6.1 - is a stretch, if the only words the RO uttered are are the official range commands. Everyone - competitors and ROs should try to adhere to the rulebook as closely as possible. Any better? Happy New Year to you too, Gary!

Good luck with that - my response would be that I wasn't finished with the course of fire. Since the phrase starts with "If finished,....." it;'s a conditional command - so I don't think you can invoke 10.6.1..... Note: If you instead say "Stop! Unload and Show Clear" the competitor must comply, but also has grounds for a reshoot, if the competitor wasn't done. Is it possible that this competitor was angling for that?

The only way I could see that being called a miss, based on description, would be if the bullet first caused a full diameter hit on hardcover or no-shoot, before striking the target. As to the stage question - ~ 15 years ago my squad, and possibly one or two others ran out of daylight on a Saturday afternoon at a Major match - pretty sure it was the Mid-Atlantic Sectional. We were given the option of returning the next morning to finish the match. I didn't make it back the next day - electrical gremlins caused the engine in my 1990 Chevy Caprice ex-cop car to stop running. Oh, that had to make it 2002, because I bought the Tahoe a couple of months later. Others on my squad, managed to finish the match, while I took a towtruck home.... Anyway - if the match is still in progress and scheduled to continue the next day, then asking competitors to return the next day is legit. Ideally this eventuality is recognized early enough, that you can prioritize getting non-locals with travel concerns through the match first. But really that situation shouldn't occur....

Grumpy, friend of mine, who's smarter than me, and has been a mechanic for most of his adult life, endorses the Acura MDX. AAMOF, after a loaded dump truck rear-ended his wife's MDX, they replaced it with another one. They're both solid. My guess is the LX570 is out, since it's Parttime 4WD? What about the GX? It's fulltime 4WD.....

The matches that handled this best, had you start on the longer stage, and the second stage was usually an eight round speed shoot from a box. That speed shoot could be as simple as four paper, or as complicated as four pieces of steel with dual movers.....

That reminds me of the 2003 Factory Gun Nationals, where a lot of people were asking WTF is Matt Mink? He was a B class shooter at the time, and finished the match in 3rd, IIRC behind Sevigny, posting a Master Level score. I believe that got him the promotion to M - but it was 15 years ago, so maybe I'm foggy on a detail or two....

Other fun tidbits - since grip strength is largely derived from strong forearms, Farmer's Carry is also worth spending some time on.....

Guns are either loaded or not. Competitor inserts mag into gun, then proceeds to cock the hammer and dryfire a number of times. There's nothing in 10.5.9 to prohibit that. Now, if he has his finger on the trigger while inserting the mag, racking the slide, dropping the mag to top off, etc - then yes, you're looking at match DQ under 10.5.9....

I don't know that I'd be watching a competitor "like a hawk" because of this - anytime the gun is out of the holster, I'm focused on what the shooter is doing. Worst case scenario, the shooter launches a round, which sails harmlessly downrange and probably into a target. RO says "Stop, unload and show clear, etc." and processes the DQ. It's not like I can prevent the discharge if the competitor makes a mistake....

Yeah, but in forum years, you're older than dirt, Vince. ? How many of us are left that even remember this thread, from it's origination? I still remember seeing a picture of the barber pole - I think the frame was lying in Kyle's window, along with a Pact Mk. IV timer.....

East Coast. We have these things called traffic lights, speed enforcement, idiots driving under the limit in the left lane with the blinker on, traffic congestion, etc....... In Wyoming I imagine that's a 45 minute ride ay 85-90?

1050 or not? I had that quandary once, after moving from a pair of SDBs to a 650. When I was seriously practicing and competing and shooting 20-25,000 rounds a year of 9mm alone, the 1050 made sense. I bought one, fought with it for a few months, and once I finally got it tweaked to reliably prime, and to swage without cracking shellplates, it was the smoothest loading sessions I ever experienced. When I decided to consolidate calibers for pistol competition to one, I decided on 9mm in large part because the 1050 did that so perfectly and easily.

York has a bay with 4 berms - think a room with a six foot wide doorway located in a corner. When they were running USPSA, they used dual 180s, parallel to 2 of the four berms intersecting at 90 degrees. That created a 270 degree area that was in play, and a 90 degree area within the pit that was DQ territory. It wasn't hard to officiate a stage in that bay....

Here's one other concern -- the sport is supposed to test the competitor and the gear. So, switching because a gun breaks, sure. Switching to a special gun and load to shoot the long range standards, and then switching back to shoot hoser stages -- that'd be something different.

What Touji said, you need a slower shutter speed on the camera to capture that. 1/30th or 1/15th should work..... If you're worried about holding it steady, try to shoot 4-6 pictures in continuous, the center images should be sharper because you're not pushing the shutter button down or releasing it.... Bracing your elbows on a table, or other solid service can also help you hold the camera steady....