Nolan

Good plate, only another IPSC shooter will understand. I saw some bone head gang banger wannabe with the plates "IPAKA9" Yeah, what a 9mm, pecker or pistol? My bet wasn't on the pistol!

I agree with Duane, they ain't salad shooters! I use a Hoppes precision oiler bottle (Brownells has several brands) They are very handy, easy to carry, and they are cheap. I've used all the different oils, and could tell very little difference between them if any. When I say 1 drop, I mean 1 small drop. I've seen people try to make a malfunctioning gun run by literally drenching them in oil. Ain't gonna work! It's not friction that is causing the gun to malfunction. Currently I oil my 2011s this way. Slide, 2 drops each rail, one just in front of the thumb safety notch (both rails) and one drop just behind the slide stop notch (both rails). 1 drop in the disconnector cut. 1 drop on the bottom of the firing pin stop where it contacts the hammer. I put a thin film of Medium weight weapons oil or your favorite brand of grease in the slide locking lugs. Frame, 1 drop at the front of the frame rails both sides and 1 drop on the disconnector (make sure it goes down inside the disconnector hole.) Install slide to frame and cycle gently a couple of times. Wipe off the excess. Barrel, 2 drops each side of the barrel link (1 drop in front and in back of the slide stop hole, this also lubes the bottom lug faces) 1 drop inside the barrel link slide stop hole. 1 drop each side of the bottom lug above the barrel link. 1 fine line of oil drawn around the end of the barrel 1/4 inch from end of barrel. Thin film of Medium weight weapons oil or grease over locking lugs. Guide Rod, 1 fine line of oil the length of the rod and smeared around. 1 drop of oil inside bearing end of reverse plug.

I've been doing this exercise for awhile and noticed a couple of things. I can actually form the X on the string and follow it from the far bead to the close bead even when shifting my focus as quickly as possible. Since I didn't try this when I first started I don't know if this is an improvement or not. It's also a lot harder to form the X when the string is quivering. I didn't have any beads so I used some 4-40 nuts and colored them with marking pens. I think their extra weight adds/prolongs the string movement. I sure hope it's the extra weight and not my shaky hands!

I figured the punch line would be: "I make $250,000.00 per week and pay half of it in alimony to my ex." "Don't worry, the Bitch will find me!"

Quote: from 3quartertime on 8:27 pm on Aug. 14, 2002 Nolan, "150+mph speeding ticket" wow!!! What kind of car? Great song. It was a '70 Vette with a hotted up 427, funny thing is the cops never even saw my friends '70 426 Hemi Superbird that I was chasing!!!!

Hawkwind - Hall of the Mountain Grill - Warrior on the Edge of Time Golden Earring - When the Bullet hits the Bone (?) - Moontan (I got a 150+mph speeding ticket in Kansas while listening to Radar Love in '73 and it still gets me jacked up!) Zappa/Capt. Beefhart - The Torture never stops Capt. Beefhart - Big-eyed Beans from Venus - Electricity, Clear Spot ZZ Top - any album Enigma - Leroi ist Mort (sp?), The screen behind the mirror Jesse Cook - Tempest Benny Goodman - In HiFi Art Tatum - Finest hour Tito LaRiva and the Tarantulas - Sound track to Desperado

Raising Arizona. Cages hairdo was priceless, and the prison break/birth scene with Goodman and Forscythe was also very funny. The Curse of the Jade Scorpion has become my favorite Woody Allen movie.

I use a Stanley tool cart that I've extensively modified to carry my guns and gear to matches. It holds 2 guns, 8 mags, my spares and tools, holster & belt, knee pads, etc... It was modified to be legal for air travel, ie it meets all the air line requirements for weight, dimensions, locking, really high visibility to prevent theft, etc... However I haven't had a chance to actually use it for air travel. I used it at last years Nationals, but I had to drive instead of fly. It's been used every week-end since at local matches and is holding up very well. Of course I keep adding stuff to it, I just finished installing the mini-DVD player and flat screen! Just kidding! I have pictures if anybody is interested and can tell me how to post them here. If there is enough interest I'll do an article on it for Front Sight with drawings for the add-on pieces.

Here's a list of what I carry. I don't have a spare gun so I carry a pretty comprehensive list of spare parts (too many years spent riding Harleys long distances and as an electronics field service engineer have made me a little compulsive about carrying EVERYTHING I could possibly need.) Accessory gear bag: Shoes Gore-Tex socks Rain gear (one-piece motorcycle suit for those daylong downpours & lightweight 2 piece for intermittent showers) Gloves (leather work gloves and Glacier Gloves for cold) Sweatshirt Clean Tee shirt, socks, & underwear (don’t ask) Bandana Hand/foot warmers Umbrella Hat Garbage bags (rain covers for rangebags) Instant cold pack, & wrap Ace Bandage Cool wrap neckerchief Sun Screen Shoestrings Range Bag: Gun Holster and belt Knee and elbow pads Gun dust cover Ear muffs and ear plugs First aid kit Rule book Calculator Notepad & pen Fitted and tested spare parts: Guide rod, & recoil spring plug Hammer, Sear, Disconnector, & Ambi safeties Extractor Ejector Firing pin, & firing pin stop Pin set Slide stop Mag. catch, & Catch lock Barrel link Sear spring, Mainspring, Firing pin spring, Mag. catch spring & Plunger tube spring Bomar Rear sight blade, cross pin, & spring C-more dot module Scope battery Grip screw, & scope mount screws Cleaning gear: Gun oil, & grease in precision needle oilers Bore cleaning solvent Cleaning patches, & Q-tips Compact cleaning kit with jags, brushes, and rods Bore-Snake Lens pen scope cleaner Tools: Pin punch set Take down pin Hex key set Extractor tension gauges Needle file set Sear stone Super glue 1½-inch inside diameter clear plastic tubes: Magazine springs Magazine followers Magazine brushes Cleaning brushes Squib rod Dillon ammo bag: Double the ammo the match requires. Small Ice chest Water Coca Cola Powerbar/Goo Fruit Frozen Gogurt Tuna snack kit Sandwich Red Bull (generally for the drive home) You will just have to read the Front Sight article to find out how I lug all this (and more!) around.

!!!!!!Shameless Plug!!!!!! Check the next issue of Front Sight magazine (I hope it's the next issue!) for an article on this very subject by the brilliant, handsome, world traveled, all around great guy, and sometimes even halfway decent shooter.......ME! I think Robin Taylor was mumbling something about trying to get into the Sept.? issue. ps watch this space for more shameless plugs on more insightful, tasteful, & inspiring magazine articles and they even got good gammar too!

I made the mistake of using my Dillon ammo bag as a bench rest with a 357 SuperMag once. Damn near set the bag on fire! The cylinder gap blast cut two slots in the top of the bag, one on each side of the gun. I later saw a low light photo of the same gun being fired, 3 foot fireball from the cylinder gap.

They need to update the site. Their records show my old photo of when I still had all my hair.

Quote: from Shooter Grrl on 10:30 am on June 25, 2002 I'm having a great time speaking my mind - but damn, no one seems to want to play Gee, I wonder why? Nobody likes being handed their head on a platter....along with their testicles! I'm just sad that bunch of flamin' jerks didn't want to play. I wanted to watch you eviscerate a couple of self important blowhards.

An interesting common theme seems to be the accounting firm of Arthur Anderson. If you own stock in any company that has Anderson for an auditing firm sell fast!

Silverado. I won't admit to how many times I've seen it.

Quote: from A GLOCKwork Orange on 9:32 pm on June 18, 2002 when we are without our weapons and our pants are around our ankles. -GWO "Whoa, speak for yourself there Buddy. I ain't without no weapon when my pants is down!" Bill Clinton at town meeting in Arkansas. Just kidding.

Quote: from Bret Heidkamp on 1:48 pm on June 18, 2002 But actually shooting it is not very loud - (anymore). Bret Huh? I'm sorry I didn't quite hear what you said.

Quote: from cypher on 5:47 pm on June 6, 2002 So we had to plop a round into the dirt so the RO's wouldn't get antsy. Cypher I turn the gun so the ejection port is down and just dump the round on the ground and warn the RO not to try catching the round. At a local match I'll pick up the round. At a major match I'll just grind it into the dirt and go on. If it goes KaBlooie while ejecting, the port is pointed at the ground. Of course with my luck I'll wind up with a second vasectomy.

I work for two electronics companies owned by the same two guys. One is very small (just me and a part time office person) and the other is about 150 people. When I'm at the small company I bring my guns to work and do 20-30 minutes of dry fire each day. I've got mini targets taped all over the walls. I use the server rack for barricade practice. I also sort brass, gage and mark my brass, clean guns, etc... at work. When business was good they used to let me take paid days off for practice sessions and would pay me a little extra O.T. for travel expenses at matches. Unfortunately now that business is slow I have a lot of unpaid time off for practice. Ick! When I work at the bigger company they let me work on my guns out on the production floor, but I have to do my dry fire practice in a locked conference room. Do I have great bosses or what?

Quote: from Pat Harrison on 2:22 pm on June 14, 2002 For s&g's try holding it one handed with only the middle finger. Only the middle finger and thumb make a grip now (be careful obviously) in their usual locations, but the ring and pink finger do not contact the grip at all. Now bend your arm to about 90 degrees and have no tension in it at all. Pat, that's pretty funny. That's exactly the grip I use to test fire my blasters after changing parts or springs, because if it will run with that grip it will run when you're shooting around some barricade at some weird angle. I also test fire them 'Gangsta' style with the same 90 bent elbow because you never know when you'll have to shoot through some horizontal slit type port designed by some sicko limited shooter. Ooops, I forgot I designed that stage, never mind!

Ron, Try using a plastic mouthpiece. I use one when I'm practicing around barricades, ports or shooting indoors. Makes a big difference. I'm probably just not keeping my mouth shut (big surprise!) Try different powders. AA7 is really loud in my gun, N350 is almost as bad. Sr4756 is moderately loud. Sr7625 isn't bad, but good luck at finding any. Try the 124 grain bullets, that makes a huge difference in noise levels in my gun. It does make a significant difference in dot movement.

Method B is definately the way to go, although sometimes Method C will surface on it's own and surprise the hell out of you! Generally I visualize/program what I'm going to do before I step into the starting position. Then I forget about it, just completely stop thinking about the stage. Joke with the RO, scratch, belch, what ever it takes. Personally I have a mantra (only positives, never ever include 'don't' in your mantra!) At the beep I just go with the sights and shoot what I see. If problems occur that put me out of sync with the stage, I correct the problem such as reload at the earliest possible time and then get back into sync with the stage as programmed even if it means another reload in 6 rounds. My biggest problem remains slowing down just a fraction after the problem (by slowing down I'm probably back at my original pace not the hyper-active pace I'm trying to make up for the problem.) Of course depending on the match there is also Method D. Which is to unload every mag left into the last target array including no shoots at warp speed! Of course the brassers and tapers will hate you. If the blown stage cost you the match don't do it in anger, just do it for the fun of it! It's amazing how much better you'll feel.

Careful Erik, Tim will get a big head if he hears you. Butt that's ok it will match his big............... Heart.

Fun, challenging course of fire are mandatory for good match attendance, BUT that isn't always enough when there are 5 or 6 other clubs within a 150 mile radius. Bill is exactly right that a lot of clubs forget about hospitality and hosting. Some clubs lose sight of having fun in the rush to get the match set up, shooters run through the stages as quickly as possible, stages torn down, and stats posted. There seems to be very little room left for the social side. Maybe that's why the Cowboys are flourishing? So are there any more suggestions?

DISCLAIMER....THIS IS NOT A FLAME.......DISCLAIMER I've been on both sides of this issue. I know what it is like to be unappreciated, but I also know what it's like to be on the other side of that "F**k You!" attitude. That attitude will drive EVERYONE away from your matches not just the lazy cretins that make you feel that way. So please accept this as a hearty pat on the back for putting on a good match, have a nice cold adult beverage of choice and don't let the bastids get you down.