Paul B

Had a pair of GSG9's and stopped using them. Found that ankle support was actually too good for me and I could not make as fast turns and transitions as I wanted. Maybe because I am taller I tend to lean more than move for a shot.

I also have two ratcheting belts and the inner belt is a real uncomfortable problem bunching up. I believe the rules could allow the outer belt without an inner belt because the ratcheting belt can be very very secure. "The belt or the inner belt or both must be either securely fixed at the waist or secured with a minimum of three belt loops."

Have one from Caswell. Bought on Amazon and it works great on a flat surface like concrete for 9 and 45. Noticed the case has to be parallel with the wires to pick up best. Use mine all the time and has worked for several thousand cases. Admittedly slower that sweeping or picking up by hand but saves my back and it is worth it just for that.

My brother had his S&W MDL 29 cut for moon clips and used automag brass. This brass is the same as .45 acp rim and the moon clips were for 45acp. The 25 cylinder should be the same diameter. The drawbacks were that the machinist said the MDL 29 cylinder was so hard it was very hard to machine. This was in an original 29 with rebated cylinders - .44 mag rim enclosed in the cylinder. Might not be so bad with the newer ones with no rebate. The other drawback is the gunsmith was a friend and he is out of business. Others may take on the challenge.

Recently found out that bullet ogive can be a big factor. Shot a ton of truncated cone blue bullet 147 9mm in my x5 with no problems but they would not seat in the match barrel of my 9mm 1911. I had to shorten them. The same thing happened with blue bullet 230s in my 1911 .45s. One liked them and they would not seat in the chamber of the other. A bit shorter load worked. The interesting part is that the same bullets in jacketed form and the same length worked perfect in all the guns and they all fit the mags just fine. Just a matter of fitting the bullet to the gun - plunk test could have saved me some time.

Just listened to the podcast and the comments I got were that those of us who have been doing this for 20 plus years just need to be re-educated on the rules and WSB's. Like it was said above "only" means "only" and if that isn't enough the first definition of "only" is "and no one or nothing more besides; solely or exclusively". I guess if you think about it long enough the color red does look kind of like blue.

Agree with Farmer. Makes it a lot harder for those of us that have to get a wheelchair or walker out of a vehicle. I always take a picture of the license plate so I will know who banged up mine when they backed out.

Renewed our vows on our 50th - that was 6 years ago. Been a member of my local club for 51 and still shooting but can't move as fast --- or shoot as straight. Hell!

I stand corrected and thanks for the video. I thought the only spring to look at was the mainspring but did find the tiny spring inside was broken and in fact part was gone! Thanks for the help.

First thing checked was the spring it is not broken.

My x5 has had over 10,000 rounds through it. Mostly 147's at 132 PF but with a few 115"s for practice. Recently did a complete cleaning and noticed that the striker assembly firing pin was protruding when the slide was open. Not much but concerning. I disassembled and checked the striker assembly found no problems with the spring but did notice a little play in the firing pin extension out of the rear assembly. Thought it was just dirt so did a complete cleaning of the channel and reassembled with no lube as recommended by the factory. It still happened when the slide was cycled the firing pin still protruded. Luckily I had a replacement striker assemble as I keep a stock of parts for this gun. Put in the new striker and no longer a problem. Firing pin retracted as normal. I can only surmise that some of the parts of the striker assembly just experienced wear and tear. Through all this the gun functioned normally but the threat of it going full auto was there I guess??? In any case just a word to those using high mileage p 320 check that the firing pin is fully retracted when you open the slide.

I have measured my Sig factory 21 round magazines several times with different rulers and they are always in compliance using the method in Appendix E-1. Just to be sure I shaved a little off the back of the basepad but remember there is an alternative of using a ruler if the mag guage does not work with a certain type of basepad.

Recently had a similar problem. A para frame that had been used extensively in competition with no problems whatsoever. Decided to rebuild the upper with new barrel and slide etc. Started doubling consistently 2 shot doubles (considered leaving it that way but decided it probably should be fixed ). First blamed it for just sitting in the safe for 15 years (you know safes damage guns) but eventually replaced all parts - no luck. Finally, got a disconnector that was slightly longer and the problem went away. Amazing what a few thousands will do. The new slide must have had a slightly different disconnector notch.

Did just that on a Ruger 22/45 frame. 6 holes with locktite. Lasted about 500 rounds and shot loose. The threads eventually just stripped. No cracks but that is with a .22. Now have a Vortex on the reciever.

After you ream the chamber. The nominal SAAMI OAL of 10mm is 1.260. The old magic length for 38super was 1.255 and some reloads went out to 1.270 just based on the random resistance of the loading machine. These worked fine in para 38 super mags so the magazines for the .40 should work but may need some tuning for the right cartridge angle. For safeties sake would suggest doing this in a supported chamber barrel because the 10mm operates at a little higher pressure than the .40.

There are a few firearms that just look like works of art to me. Among them is the original Model 29 with a 6 or 6.5 inch barrel and rebated cylinders (the gap in later models hurts the look a little). Some others that fall into this category are the 1886 Winchester lever action, the luger and the Browning Hi-power. Yes my 29 kicks harder than my Super Blackhawk but it is still a joy to shoot with a great trigger and excellent accuracy. I do not really shoot the 29 a lot but when I do it is just a joy to look at and handle.

Agree Brooke. Incredible faux pas by USPSA to not even address this problem. The muzzle loading nationals are in Friendship Indiana and several years ago the state police actually set up roadblocks to check for gun violations -the competitors didn't just carry vintage arms. At that time you actually had to have a permit to carry outside your home (but with the permit you could carry concealed almost anywhere including bars). Never heard the outcome or how many were cited - maybe none but it did occur. All it would take in Colorado is for an anti-gun group to raise enough stink with the state police to start something up like this. Don't blame the state or those people who will surely ignore the law but what a testament to USPSA leadership.

This is coming from an older and admittedly not a great shooter (A open) but I have seen a lot of popper problems as an RO, CRO and competitor at local matches and majors. Some Anecdotes for discussion. 1. At local matches and even majors I have seen and done the finger calibration when resetting poppers. This has always worked and had literally no problems edge hits did not drop the popper but any hit elsewhere did. After 1000 or so matches you do develop an educated finger - I am sure the rules nazis will hate this. Let's face it with chronos the use of poppers to check power factor is not necessary and they should all be set to go down with the lowest reasonably powered hit. 2. Once at a major I was shooting factory .45 ACP ammo (bought locally) that chronoed 175+ and had a center hit on a popper but about 4 inches below the circle (calibration zone). The popper did not go down and the RO reluctantly agreed to a calibration and the popper did not go down under the old system so I got a reshoot. Even at a major these things do happen. I believe this was the only time I have ever asked for a calibration. 3. Once CRO'd a match that in the afternoon a strong sustained wind was blowing down range. The kind of wind where you have to tighten up your hat or hold it on with muffs. The poppers set to any reasonable calibration would simply blow over all 4 poppers on the stage. In the end we had to set the poppers very heavy and repaint in between shooters. If we saw a hit we scored it that way even if the popper did not go down. Perhaps the stage should have been thrown out but it wasn't. 4. Once had a popper fail to fall to a pro-shooter who aced the course otherwise. Was about to call for a calibration when one of the newer helpers went over and touched the popper - automatic re-shoot. Overall, I think the new rule is a step in the right direction, but is overly complicated - simply reset the popper and shoot the calibration shot - better would be to set the poppers so you know they will go down if hit and let the chrono decide on power and cheaters.

Before cutting any metal try what I did for my wife and a para frame. No grips and just skateboard tape cut to fit. She also might like the color choices. Made a huge difference in the feel for her.

The real argument is about what is target displacement and being a quarter inch off would be stretching the term "displacement" beyond its breaking point. It was always my practice to mark the sticks then remove and replace the target to the marks but if anyone thinks even this could not result in the replacement target being off by a quarter inch they are not living in the real world. Just some wind could move a target more than that. It is up to the shooter to engage the target as presented and not hit what may be behind or in front of it. What about shoot targets that appear edge to edge or a no shoot ahead but not overlapping or even a cardboard backer for the targets I have seen all of these. This should be called a miss because if it is REF then we will have constant reshoots as competitors get out their tape measures and magnifying glasses.

Probably won't make you feel better but I took my regular sized GMC van into a parking garage in Houston a few years ago. Easily fits in a standard garage, under the height sign at the entrance and every other parking garage but this one was exceptionally low on the upper floors and the van had a very low roof rack. The garage ceiling was high enough but not the bare fluorescent lights. Took out a whole floor of lights before I realized the cloud behind me was breaking lights as there was little or no feeling of impact. Good news - no roof damage to the van.

Seems you have checked most things but I had the same problem early on and it was caused in the reloading process. If you have too much crimp it can cause this as the bullet is effectively reduced in size. Also slug the barrel to see exactly what bullet you need to shoot. I have heard 9 mm liking .355, .356 and even some at .357. In my case the crimp thing was the problem.

As regards the comments above about it being faster to reload from pouch than turning a mag around - this is absolutely true as 30 plus mags end to end are like a heavy baton you are twirling. Not to mention the probability that you will drop the whole contraption when you release it. Shot an outlaw machine gun match with this kind of setup once with a MAC 10 and two mags end to end. The moment I pushed the mag release the loaded mag dropped straight down 3 inches into mud. Postscript: I pulled the mag out of the mud and stuffed it onto the MAC and it fired the whole mag with dried mud falling out of the gun when I cleaned it.

Have loaded and shot thousands of 115's in 38 Super cases using 3n37 Viht. Three popper holes and comp. Gun shoots very flat and a lot of gas for the comp and holes. Great accuracy. My gunsmith tells me they are just beating the heck out of my gun whenever he works on it though so I changed to 124's. Only notice a slight difference and that will probably go away with practice. Cannot help with 3n38 as I have never loaded it but used 9.9 of 3n37 (all caveats in place as this load may not work or even be safe in your gun) and oal of 1.255".

Sorry to resurrect this thread but I have to air some frustration. I guess you could call it shooter burnout but I stopped shooting USPSA matches after over 30 years of shooting or working matches mainly because the squad sizes and the 'stand around" time just became to large and long overshadowing the fun of the competition. Match directors are probably just trying to accommodate more shooters but it often turns into an all day, dawn to dusk, stand around affair and that is often incompatible with any other family or personal obligations. I am seeing squad sizes of up to 20 people with 15 being the norm. At 3 minutes per shooter, with no problems, that is 45 minutes per stage and with 6 stages that is at least 7-8 hours adding in set-up, sign-up, and tear-down, not to mention travel time. SCSA has now become much more popular and is suffering the same problems. I have left matches because I was waiting well over an hour and a half between shooting due to squad sizes of overtly 10 but with 2 guns each it becomes a squad of 20. additionally I now see squad sizes on practiscore of 15 again. I can only socialize so much without beer and nachos. The discussion above is very good at how these matches should be organized - squad sizes should be based on the guns not the shooters and limited to 10 guns per squad. That way matches do not drag on and on. I know if I want it changed then volunteer to run it - been there and done that for over 30 years and while I will help, I do not even want to work a match that takes that long. The solution is limit squad sizes to 10 guns - add stages or matches (different day) or limit participation if needed.