Nolan

Slats! We don' need no stinkin' slats! I'm shooting Open this year. I'm going up Friday and help build stages. (I'll be sure and bring my slat buster!) Bring your camcorders to the match. If the weather co-operates I'll have 2 helmet cameras (wireless video cameras attached to ear muffs) for rent at the match. Just put on the ear muffs, plug YOUR camcorder into the remote receiver and shoot the stage. No fanny packs, wires, etc... required. $5.00 per run. $2.00 of which goes to Toys for Tots.

Nope! Your 5.82 seconds down 1 beat my 5.99 seconds down 2. It seemed like it took forever to get back to the USPopper. After looking at the times, it WAS forever!

I loved that little speed trap, er speed shoot. I shot the USPopper that activated the drop turner first, shot at the USPopper for the swinger, missed because I pulled off the USPopper in my haste to get to the swinger before it moved. I went back to the USPopper, hit it and then drilled the swinger twice before it even thought about moving. Then I shot the stationary partial target and finally the drop turner. Good thing for me that I didn't set up this stage, I wouldn't have been so kind as to leave the drop turner visible when it stopped. My excuse for screwing this one up: I was too busy screwing around with my helmet camera, didn't do a walk through, didn't do a visualization, too many people were talking, the sun was in my eyes, I need a new battery in my Cmore, and can we set this one up again?

Erik, I don't think there is anything wrong with your barrel or chamber. I think you've got a bad batch of brass. I've picked up a lot of your brass and haven't ever seen anything out of the ordinary before. I had similar problems with one batch of Starline brass in 38 Super. About 20% split on the first firing. Scared me when I saw how badly the brass had split. Much worse than your measley little 2mm. Some were split half the case length with a few radial cracks as well. I didn't notice anything different in the way the gun sounded or felt while I was shooting. I sent samples of unfired, split and unsplit fired cases back to Starline. They mumbled something about a batch that was too hard when I talked to them on the phone. They promised to replace the bad brass, but I never got around to returning it. Hmmm, there's a project for this week. Have you changed brands of polish or case lube? Buy some Wimpchester brass from a different vendor and see if it splits.

Does it misfire with factory ammo or with reloads? If it is misfiring with factory ammo the firing pin may be dirty or the firing pin hole may be partially blocked with brass debris. It's been awhile since I had a mini-14 bolt apart so I don't remember exactly what the firing pin/spring looks like. It's possible you have a broken/bent firing pin or a broken firing pin spring that is binding the firing pin. If it is with reloads, the rounds may not be properly headspaced (the shoulder set back too far) so when the firing pin hits the primer it just pushes the round forward in the chamber. Another reload problem is high or loose primers. When the firing pin hits an improperly seated primer it just pushes the primer forward.

MCI has been calling me again wanting me to change to them as my long distance carrier. Last nights call reminded me of a call I got from them in 1990. Ring, Ring, MCI:Hello this is MCI calling for 'Friends and Family' Uh, huh what can I do for you? MCI:Who is your current long distance company? CRPA. MCI:Who???? California Rifle and Pistol Association. They have a members benefit package through Wilcox Communications. MCI:Uh huh, well you realize that you are on your mothers 'Friends & Family' list and... No, I didn't know I was on her 'Friends and Family' list. MCI:Well when was the last time you spoke with your mother? If you join MCIs "Friends & Family'... I just spoke with my mother yesterday, but we have more important things to talk about than who my long distance phone company is. MCI:Oh yeah, like what? Well, my murder trial is next week. MCI: (Long Silence) Oh... well thank you. Goodbye. They didn't call back for a looooong time. I mention the California Rifle and Pistol Association and immediately I'm the defendant in their mind. I could have been the Judge, a lawyer, a reporter, etc... I think this time I'm going to be a member of the NAACP!

Quote: from TMC on 12:44 pm on Oct. 10, 2002 If your time is worth anything building a brass marker or marking them by hand is a big waste. If I mark 1 per minute I'm adding $1 to the cost of each round. I don't mean to sound like a snob here, but I'd rather use what little extra time I have for something else. My .02 It doesn't take 1 minute per round to put a stripe around the brass. It probably takes me about 2-3 seconds a round. I use it as part of my inspection process. Today I found a real oddity while marking 500 rounds of 38 Super. One round that had passed the case gauge had a hole in the web of the brass. As I turned the round against the marking pens it hung up on the pens. I have also found a couple of split cases (I had a bad batch of Starline brass that cracked) that passed the case gauge. I can also spot high or smeared primers because the round wobbles against the marking pens. And just to be a snob, my time IS worth money. I do my case gauging, marking, gun cleaning, and dry fire practice at work instead of surfing the internet and hanging out on forum boards. I'd put one of those smiley face things here to denote humor but I forgot how.

Another fun method is scrawling your message in crayon on a piece of torn, blank grocery bag in broken and misspelled english. "Mongo not hapy! Fixx Mongo site or Mongo moe maad!"

Quote: from noname on 1:30 pm on Oct. 1, 2002 This stage design is typical, unimaginative, and boring IPSC garbage. Besides it is illegal (more than 8 rounds from a shooting position). No doubt designed by a highcap shooter. This was one stage in a 4 stage match put on by a small club with a VERY small range. The stages are set up the morning of the match. The other stages were a classifier and 2 field courses with lots of movement, lots of opportunities to shoot on the move, swingers, poppers, no-shoots, hard cover, some hard shots and oh yeah 28 to 32 rounds. The two field courses are on bays that allow shooting into the side berms. The hoser stage and the classifier were on bays with very short side berms so the shooting is very one dimensional. I don't have the club newsletter anymore, but I think the hoser stage may have been designed by a revolver shooter. OK an open revolver shooter. As I said it's a small club, but they have a very friendly attitude and put together a lot of fun, yes I said fun stages. Not every stage has to be the ultimate shooting test from every position posible for a Circ de Solei acrobat.

Doug, EGW makes a piloted reamer for collar type reverse plugs. Brownells carries it for $40.00

Micheal Chiklis for Curly. Quentin Tarentino for Larry.

Home Alone? They stole all of the 3 Stooges gags. Off Topic, but if they do ever make a bio movie of the 3 Stooges I want Joe Pesci to play Moe, & Alex Baldwin for Shemp. I have no idea who to cast for Larry or Curly.

Quote: from EricW on 5:44 pm on Sep. 22, 2002 Instead of paying powder monkies $50,000,000 to blow up every junk car they can they find, Hollywood ought find a top writer and spend ten percent of that on a script. E Hollywood formula: Pay 10 million dollars for movie rights to best seller book. Pay 50,000 dollars to screenwriter to rewrite best seller book. Pay 10-20 million dollars for leading man for a few close-ups and voice overs. Pay 50,000 dollars for stunt double to perform all action scenes. Pay 50,000 dollars for second screenwriter to rewrite screenplay to include all the action scenes and change dialog to monosyllables so leading man can pronounce the words. Pay 5-10 million dollars for leading lady. Pay 50,000 dollars for body double for all nude/near nude scenes. Pay 50,000 dollars to third screenwriter to rewrite the script to include all the gratuitous nude scenes and add 'love' interest to plot. Pay 50 million dollars for special effects that have no relation to reality. Pay 50,000 dollars to fourth screenwriter to rewrite the script to include all the special effects. Pay 50 million dollars for advertising blitz. Pay 10 million dollars to edit, re-edit, and re-re-edit movie in an attempt to make said movie semi-coherent. Pay another 20 million dollars for second ad blitz for Oscar nominations. And you wonder why it costs 8-9 bucks to see a movie.

Memento, or did I already post this?

Anyone actually time a falling popper to see if multiple hits really reduce the hang time? Personally I think you're better off hitting the big popper once, then using the hang time to acquire a good sight picture and shooting the hidden popper JUST over the top of the falling big popper.

I wear Dickies Khaki work pants at most matches. They're cheap, the slash pockets are large enough to be useful but don't get in the way, they breathe well, and they're pretty durable. They are also available in grey, black, blue, and green. Dickies are made in America, I don't have any idea if they are available outside the US. They were about the only Khakis I could find that fit me (try finding 31 inch waist and 36 inseams!) Mona's cooking fixed that and I now wear a 32 inch waist. For my shooting shirts since I'm a cheapskate I buy 2nds/blemished white dress shirts for $10 - $11 at Ross Dress for Less. Of course the underlying reason for this is that my job once required that I (shudder) wear a suit and tie every day, shave, haircut, etc... So I had this big supply of nice white shirts, well you get the idea.

My hay fever was terrible until I started taking Clariten-D. At first I was also using a nasal spray (Flonase). At my first couple of matches it was great! No Hay Fever! Then I went to a big match at Norco and it was even better, no jitters, no nerves at all. Yawn I'm ready for a nap now. On closer reading the Flonase brochure says "inhibits adrenalin production" Whoops! A couple of caffeinated Goo packets and a Red Bull helped, but then I was just a wide awake slow poke. I don't use the Flonase anymore and the Clariten-D doesn't seem to have any adverse effects on my shooting. Who knows what it's doing to my innards, but who cares, I can breathe.

Just found a CD by one of my favorite bands from yesteryear. The album is Teenage Head by the Flamin Groovies. The title song is a riot, and the album even has Robert Johnson's 32-20. "I got a 32-20 built on a .45 frame. I'm gonna ventilate my woman if I catch her with another man."

Careful Erik or you'll be in the doghouse with me. I was told that if I badmouth that particular club for that issue or for any other issue I'll be kicked off the RO list and my range privileges suspended. But yes, I've had that problem many times before. Just before the Nationals I wanted to chrono my match loads and do a little practice so I drove the 50 miles up to the range on Wednesday. The San Rafael police dept. had every bay occupied. I found the top cop and basically told him that bay 2 was specifically reserved for chrono by club members. He very grudgingly gave me 30 minutes to do my chrono work, but no practice. By the way they had about 12 cops spread over 5 bays.

Thanks, but I'm only literate because of the spell checker.

I loved the stages! Too bad I didn't capitalize on all of the tall guy friendly stages. I just couldn't seem to find any speed, probably because of all the hard cover/no shoots! Going into the match my intent was shooting only as fast as I saw the sights, but once I slowed down for the tight shots I didn't speed back up for the wide open targets. Boy, I had the best sight pictures I've ever had at a big match. I dropped 10 points on the 50 yard standards, no make up shots. I had one low d hit that was either the first shot (cleaned the gun the night before and didn't foul the barrel before the standards, oops!) or the second shot on the strong hand string (it looks like I may have not followed through on the video). Unfortunately the standards made me feel cocky and I paid for it on the next stage "Cash Problems" I put two rounds into the hard cover by less than 1/4 inch. I called the last one which was the last shot on the stage for me, but the gun was empty so I figured I could live with one miss (first one of the match) Wrong answer Buffalo Breath! When we get back to the second target I see that I have my second miss. Oops! I finished stage 4 in 120th for that mistake. Moved on to "Magical Mystery Tour" and had a complete miss on the left hand/hard cover moving target. Personally I think it was a perfect double....Not! Alpha, miss and 2 alphas on the right hand mover. I had one brainfade on my last stage of the match Stage 10 "Friendly Skies" sorry my keyboard doesn't do Spanish. Didn't pay enough attention to the walkthrough (Big mistake if you're the first shooter!) didn't read the posted course description (Hey I read the one in the match booklet) didn't go to the shooters meeting (the walkthrough will cover any changes, right?) So I shot the hardcover target before pushing over the dummy...Dummy! Fortunately the RO was having a good/bad day and only gave me one procedural instead of two. Then being the Dummy that I am reminded him when he didn't put the procedural on the scoresheet, DOH! I went to the Prizetable 49th and got a $100 certificate for Montana Gold bullets instead of something more expensive that I would wind up selling for....$100 so I could buy bullets! I won't bore you with hitting the coyote or the blown transmission on my trip to visit Dad after the match. On a better note, next time you're in Bend try Toomie's if you like Thai food 5 stars in Mona's book. The Mongolian BBQ 2.5 stars and cheap. Cheerleaders Bar and Grill for breakfast 3 stars and cheap. Anybody else have any good restaurant recommendations?

About 5 years ago I made mine out of .750x.250 aluminum bar about 2.5 inches long.

Quote: from Erik Warren on 4:30 pm on Sep. 3, 2002 Gun #1 is known to be about 3 PF slower than gun #2. Moral of story: Build two identical guns, use 'slow' gun to shoot the match, use 'fast' gun for the chrono stage! Like the famous NASCAR T-shirt says "If you're not cheating, you're not trying hard enough too win!"

I plan to celebrate Patriots Day by raising the American Flag, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, listening to "God Bless America" and LOTS of BBQ Pork, Alcohol, and nekkid women! That ought to piss off all of those intolerant rat bastids. Yes that's right I'm talking about UC Berkley! http://www.calpatriot.org/issueupdate/911.html

I joined the legion, or so it seems, of other BE members who have been published in Front Sight. The latest issue has two of my articles. I have two more waiting for the next issue or issues. I have to give credit to Robin Taylor or whoever did the editing so that I sound semi-intelligent. I guess the spell checker wasn't enough? Now I can add Front Sight to my resume along with Easyriders, and Supercycle.