ORCA

A little late to the post, but here is what I use: 155 gr Montana Gold 1.200 OAL Winchester 40SW Brass 6.0 gr VV320 SVI w/ 5" Kart barrel and STI w/ Schuman 5" AET Barrel makes 171 PF The recoil is snappy but the gun recovers quicker for me than it does when I use 180's. I'm not looking back. The load a friend of mine uses is: 155 gr Montana Gold 1.130 OAL Winchester 40SW Brass 5.3 gr VV320 Glock 24 makes 173 His Glock use to nose dive with 180's, but shoots flat as a comp equiped gun with a 155gr bullet and VV320. The load works great in other Glock 40's as well. It's enough to make you want to shoot tuperware... We found in his gun if you drop the powder charge to 5.1gr VV320 the power factor dropped to sub minor. VV320 seems to have a point where it becomes sensitive to the volume of powder in the case. As a side note Winchester WST feels nearly identical to VV320.

I believe Phil Strader and Todd Jarret normally shoot the match.

Yes, I unfortunately said D class. I'm one of the top 20 in limited class, as pitiful as that sounds. When I'm on though I give some A & B class shooters fits. Speed and accuracy I got, match nerves and common sense ... I am getting better though, and taking a RO class helped a lot. I've only in the last two months been getting in daily dry fire practice, and I turned that up a notch after Steve's challenge. It's been so wet in VA that it's been hard to get to the range for live fire. There is only one local place to shoot matches, and they don't shoot in the winter, so it takes a while to get bad qualifiers off the average. I recently went to Black Creek, where TJ frequently shoots, and shot a qualifier match. I shot three qualifiers very slow just to be sure I got my hits and didn't mess up and had several people tell me I needed to speed up and quit shooting groups (they were still C class scores), we won't talk about the other one. My draw has always been fairly quick; I've just been refining it in the last month. If I slow it down about .2-.3 I can hit plasters regularly at ten yards. On my reload I came up with a drill that let me radically increase the number I do in a short period of time (400-500 in fifteen minutes). I'm sure some of you do what I started doing, but I haven't seen a drill for it, so I may post it.

Steve, Ok, I took your change. Actually I doubled it. For the last month I've done one hour of dry fire per day religiously. A couple of my goals since I started shooting IPSC a year ago is to get a sub second draw and a sub second reload. After a month I now have dropped my draw average to .87 from 1.07 and my reload time now averages 1.35 down from 1.75 (Everything is done at 10 yards). While I have achieved my draw goal I'm still working on my reload goal. On the bright side of my reload goal my accuracy is very good, 90% + A's. My transitions and splits are better too, but I didn't have any thing to compare them to. My splits are running .17-.20 and transitions are .35-.40 on targets 2 yards apart at 10 yards. Next qualifier good-bye D class, but not before the VA Blast!!!

I'm planning on going with several members from my club. It looks like we are going to try for Saturday afternoon.

I hate the increase in the price of gas. You really notice it when you drive a 4wd V10 2500 Dodge Ram. Little rice burners that try to out run it at lights are also very annoying. Don't even get me started on people who pull out in front of me!!!

I recently tried one and I liked it so much I'm going to build one this spring. There is a little more flip and a little more recoil, but neither is very bad. The gun transitions from target to target faster. I think compensators are very subjective animals, and I would first find one I like and then see about porting the barrel. I'm going to build a modular compensator to allow me to try different port configurations to find what I like with this particular gun and if necessay I will then port the barrel.

I recently finished a gun for myself using a Caspian slide and frame and I was very happy with the results. Thier slides are exceptional, and all slide areas that contact the rails are oversized so the gun can be fit up exceptionally tight. I think the next open or limited gun I build I'll use a Caspian slide on a STI frame.

Using a 180 Montana Gold with a OAL of 1.2 I use 5.3 grains of VV320 to get a power factor of 172. With a 155 I use 6.2 grains of VV320 at a OAL of 1.20 to achieve a power factor of 171. The guys are right a OAL of 1.2 really does feed a lot better than a standard length round.

I'm one of the few people that prefers a 155 bullet over a 180. The lighter a bullet is the less muzzle flip it generates. The faster the powder is the lighter the percieved recoil. The combination of a light bullet and a fast powder gives you a gun with low muzzle rise and low recoil. The combination works great in my S_I guns. The combination in a Glock is enought to make you want to shoot one in matches ( my friend gets accused of shooting minor loads or having a comp). VV320 is my prefered powder, but WST feels virtulally the same.

Mechanical Engineers build weapons. Civil Engineers build targets. Electrical engineers find the civil engineers for the mechanical engineers.

Texas sounds a lot like Virginia!

I agree with the sentements of the forum. There is no one correct grip for everyone. I think the best skill I've aquired in shooting is learning to be aware of what I see and feel while shooting, which I learned from Brian's book. My biggest grip problem was the fingers of my left hand would slip off my right hand. I started using Pro Grip and that solved my problem. Jerry Barnhart's video has a lot of good information on grip technique. Jerry cams his left wrist down which reduces the muzzle flip and makes the gun recover quicker. It works great but is hard to do for a extended period of time with most guns until you get use to the stretching of your forearm muscles. I recently built a limited gun and put a STI mag well on it, and to my surprise and delight it naturally cams my left wrist down without my concious thought.

I've been working on performing the draw with just the arms moving and it does seem faster and much more comfortable. Matt B's teaches only the arms should move, you should be totally relaxed, and your gun should be positioned so that your shoulders don't need to move to draw the gun. I also began keeping my head up instead of slightly lowered, which places much less stress on your traps and back of your neck. I found that alone greatly reduced my level of fatigue during practice. The only muscle that gets fatigued is the rear of the deltoid, which comes from raising the gun repeatedly. The combination of having my shoulders in a neutral position and keeping my head up has resulted in a much more comfortable stance with faster draws and transitions.

Brain, Being in business myself it looks like your getting the right idea. Keep it simple. Name recognition goes a long way as well as personal prompt service. Don't try to compete with the giant companies head on (for now...). As for shipping charges and merchant fees remember everything is negotiable, especially when the economy is slow. You can make the shipping companies and credit card services people compete for your business. Demand more from them. I'm sure all the forum members will continue to support you and patronize your online store, and this small loyal core of customers should make it easier to get financing in the future. Ever think of picking up a line of bullets? Consumables can generate a good steady source of income. Montana gold please. (Edited by ORCA at 5:16 pm on Sep. 16, 2002)

I use to be a chonic low left group shooter, and I was always told it was my trigger pull. I worked and worked on my pull with little or no improvement. After I began doing a index drill (I just posted the drill) I found out I was over extending my right arm and driving the shots low left. I would also ocassionally squeeze too hard with my left fingers and pull the gun low left ( I did it a lot with a glock). I rarely pull a shot low left any more.

I developed this dry fire drill originally to develop good form on the draw and to teach myself to get my shots off faster on the draw as well as on reloads. The drill is simple: To set it up take one or more IPSC targets and place several black plasters around each A zone, and place the targets 10 yards away, or whatever your comfortable with. 1. Bring your pistol to the high ready position (the point where your hands meet on a draw). 2. Pick a point on the target and focus on it (type 2 focus). 3. Slowly extend the gun towards the point you are focusing on like you would on the last part of a draw. 4. When you reach your full extension and your sights line up shift your focus to the front sight (type 3). 5. As soon as your focus has shifted immediately break the shot. No hesitation! You’ve seen all you need to see! This is the most important part of the drill. (I usually don’t cock the gun in dry fire. I just press the trigger.) 6. Return the pistol to the high ready position and repeat. Simple hunh? I bought Brian’s book and learned about natural point of aim, focus shifting (I didn’t originally shift my focus), calling the shot, and awareness. I began doing 3-5 sets per dry fire session to develop my NPA and my ability to shift my focus when I noticed when I approach failure my deficiencies with my stance, grip, and trigger pull became much more exaggerated and easy to see. I began to see the problems without going to near the point of failure. Without realizing it I’m calling my shots in dry fire. The next time I went to the range I was able to call all of my shots. Never did that before. About a week ago I decided to perform the drill with live fire while waiting for my shooting buddy to arrive at the range at 15 yards. At the end of the magazine I wasn’t shooting at a plaster any more, just a black hole that had mysteriously appeared. It was easy to call my shots. I tried it again with the same result, and the groups where better than I can shoot when I’m trying to shoot groups. I just saw what I needed to see and shot. Then I got Matt’s DVD and Brian explained it in his interview. My buddy, who had never shot the drill did it and shot a better group than he normally can as well. Sorry the post is so long, the drill just made so many things come together for me.

VV powders are hard to beat. The best price I have found is from Powder Valley. http://www.powdervalleyinc.com Most of the VV pistol powders go for $59.90 for four pounds.

Ron, I'm planning on sending some mags to Gram's and was going to talk to him then. I think Gram's magwells are more aesthetically pleasing that some of the aluminum mega wells. I know I just need to experiment to find out what works on a particular gun with a particular load for me. Besides modifying your guns is fun!! I have discovered I don't like the beating the aluminum wells get, not to mention the burrs. I was digging around in the pile of metal drops in the shop and found some naval brass... might make a cool looking well. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one with a parts drawer. No wife, no kids, guns and bullets, no problem.

DB, yes, it helps. Opinions and observations are exactly what I'm looking for. I'm one of those insatiably curious people who loves to tinker with things, but it helps to have a direction to go in. I will in all likely hood try several different weight magwells with a couple of different weight slides ( normal full profile and one cut similar to a HK USP Expert) to see what effect the changes in weight distribution has on the gun. Reading the posts in the forum has inspired me to try new things and investigate new possibilities in my shooting, my loads, and my guns. All of the input is greatly appreciated. As a slight drift how come none of the regulars in the forum warned us "newbies" how tricky this awarness thing was. I use to never notice the slide now I'm going to lighter loads and guns with lightened slides, the slide on my SVI seems like it takes forever to close, brass floats through the air... I feel like I should have brought Brians book with me to read while the slide closes. I'll let you know about the mainspring housiing.

For .40 I've been using 5.3 grains of WST with a Berry's 180 grain buller with a OAL of 1.20. In side by side comparisons with VV-320 I can't tell a difference in the recoil or accuracy.

I'm getting ready to order the parts for a STI limited gun I'm building myself and I was wondering if anyone had experience with tungsten magwells. I would like to know if the forum users think they are worthwhile or would I be better off with a steel one and saving the money? I was also wondering the same thing about tungsten main spring housings, however I have been unable to locate a source for them. I could machine the main spring housing myself, it's pretty strait forward, but the magwells look like a pain.

I'm a newbie to the forum , but I believe I can inject some good advice on this subject. As a owner of an automation company and an machine shop I've had the opportunity to see several high output loading machines. They are all extremly complex and produce hundreds of rounds per minute. I am a hopeless tinkerer I have looked into automating a Dillon 650. Air cylinders are a decent possibility, just hook one directly to the piston and remove the handle and cam. Hydraulics are extremly messy and expensive. An electric motor could drive a cam and follower to actuate the piston and cycle the press, but that would be expensive as well. All of the above systems have the problem of how to sense primer problems. As all you wish to do is reduce the stress on your shoulder I would mechanically alter your 650. I would use a foot activated lever with a spring return that you could use while seated. Picture a see-saw with the pivot point placed so that a couple of inches of movement from you will cycle the press. A second foot lever could be used to seat the primer and you would still recieve tactile feedback as to wether the primer was seated or not. Hope this gives you some good ideas. By the way most torque meassurements are done with a electric motor and a load cell.