Paul B

I use a Mercury guide rod in my P16-40 and it does help dampen muzzle flip. It's not because of any pseudoscience like the claims for the Harts, it's because it is much heavier than steel. My rod is made of steel and is hollow and filled with Mercury - no ball bearings etc. Because Mercury is much heavier than steel or even tungsten it is a good way to give a little more muzzle weight in the muzzle light Para. If you can find a hollow rod and get your gunsmith to fill it with Mercury it will be at least a half ounce heavier than the same steel rod. It works for me but your results may vary because it's a balance between barrel weight and rod weight. I don't think there is any real advantage to having the Mercury sluice around inside the rod. Mine is just filled up and capped with a set screw.

OK another war story. Once shot a total surprise match for submachineguns in deepest darkest Ohio. Used USPSA type rules and targets. Match was 600yds long down the middle of a streambed with 30 targets and it was a total mudbath. Luckily it was all downhill considering all the lead I was carrying. You couldn't even see the first target from the start and there was no remembering the course to help anyone else. Shot it with a MAC 10 in .45 caliber and taped 2 30 round magazines end to end for a quick change. When I ejected the first mag the other end with 30 more rounds fell straight into the mud about 6 inches. As a credit to the MAC I shoved it in anyway and it functioned just fine. I cleaned a lot of caked mud out of the gun afterward. Went through 3 or 4 mags as it's hard to shoot less than 3 shots out of a MAC in full auto. Came in second and threw away my clothes, but had more fun than anyone should have.

In my part of the country, every once in a while some one will put on what they call a "driveby" stage. It entails the shooter buckled into a seat in the bed of a pickup truck or a trailer and towed through a fairly long course of fire shooting targets out the rear as they appear. It is rarely less than 50 rounds and the target placement is so far from the "crowd" that no one can put together a map of the course. Additionally the shooter sits inside walls that limit the field of vision (and the field of fire) so it is hard for them to even remember where all the targets are. These stages were usually run on logging type roads at a fixed but challenging speed and the pressure to get every target and keep reloading the gun is amazing. When you are done there are empty cases and mags all over the pickup bed. Love to do another one of these.

Detlef, you are right I might have been lucky, but also I use one of the (I think) (Craig) reverse plugs with the under barrel lug at the front. They are available from Brownells and whatever slop there may have been was taken care of by installing this. Didn't have to weld anything, and so far great accuracy.

Detlef, I agree that the .40 Para barrels leave a lot to be desired in the accuracy department, but I have friends who do very well with them. I replaced the Para factory barrel in my Limited with a Scheumann bull barrel with no problems and it works great with better balance, function and accuracy. It had no trouble fitting in the factory slide, in fact the slide needs to be tightened just a bit at the front for a really good fit. 1" groups at 25 yards are all I can ask. As for bullets and powder fastshuter, I'm using the 180 JHP zeros over VV 320. but will change to WST or Titegroup once my supply runs out just for ease of supply and cost. I think that VV 350 is too slow for the .40 in IPSC if you like a quick recoil/recovery cycle. The Scheumann is the way to go but be sure to get the one with the para cut so it will be easier for your smith to install. As for the factory barrel, these things happen. I've sheared off lugs and cracked barrels before and they were what are normally considered good barrels like nowlin and wilson. Sometimes they just fail. Also, if you haven't done so yet start saving to replace all the small parts in the para like the hammer and sear and extractor as para doesn't seem to have the best quality control in these smaller parts. I did this and mine now has over 50k rounds and 100K dry fires with very few problems

I've got the S&A on my Para and it works just fine. I really think it's more learning the right technique than it is the size of the mag well. If you nail the reload it makes little difference if you even have a magwell. If you miss very very slightly the mag well can salvage an average reload, if you miss bigger a mag well will still not help to salvage the reload time. To put this in time perspective a nailed reload (where you hit the hole with no "net") can give you a slightly sub 1 second reload. One a little off will still cost you up to 1.5 seconds as the mag rubs going in. It's 2 seconds or above if you miss big and the magwell has to "redirect" the mag into the well. The S&A is a good magwell and the Dawson Ice or other larger wells are only really usefull if you are off target more than not. The S&S was easy to put on my Para and it looks fine. The size of the grip is still very generous - more than some of my open guns.

I've used nothing but Para mag tubes in my .40 and my .45 since I got them. Found them to work really well and rarely need to tune the lips. I do use scotch brite pads on the inside when they are new to polish them, but I know a lot of people who do that with the STI mags also. The real advantage to the para mags is capacity. I can get 22 in my .40 with the right follower and basepad and 18 in the .45. That makes a difference for me on a lot of stages.

Thanks, my memory was that you could only get a reshoot if you lost your eye protection. Must have been a previous rulebook. It didn't make any difference since my knee and arm were in no shape to shoot and the blood running down would have ruined the blueing on my gun.

Skywalker, I didn't think of it at the time and it was my decision, but I don't think the current USPSA rulebook has the same rule.

Did you ever feel like there was just a black cloud over your head at a match? This past Sunday I was lucky to escape without being struck by lightning. First stage my Para .40 turns single shot as the hammer follows but does not set off the next round. I stop myself and go to the safe area. Check gun and it works fine hammer doesn't follow when I drop the slide on an empty chamber. I go back and ask the RO to allow me to test the gun down range and being the friend that he is he takes me downrange to test it. The gun now doubles. Back to the safety area and disassemble gun. The 3 prong spring is missing the right (grip safety) spring which must have broken off and lodged under or over the sear spring. Luckily, I have a spare and am back in the game for the next 4 stages, but I zeroed number 1. By the 3rd stage I'm beginning to trust the gun again and shooting OK. Then we get to the last stage, which is a short field course involving a doorway with no door. I shoot the first 6 targets fast and head for the doorway, but trip on the door jam and fall hard on the gravel range. I keep the gun down range and don't AD but I remember looking forward from the ground and seeing the gun pointed down range and my ear protection lying right next to the gun. I stopped myself here also to be sure I could still move, but another zeroed stage. Had to clean my arm and knee with handiwipes and apply bandages, but no breaks just bad gravel rash. I'm hopeing for better luck at the next match.

What Lynn said. I've got a 650 and a 550 side by side on my bench and the 650 is better in every way. The primer feed alone is worth it.

By the way, I'd show you on mine, but it would be too embarassing.

Vince, if you look at many lists of classifiers you will see the USPSA nationals results entered as a classifier.

I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this but I totally agree with Vince. The classic prize table is the root of most of this problem and a lot of others. I just got through reading a lot of criticism about the prize table at the nationals and it may also be a major stumbling block in a 3 day nationals for everyone.

BDH, as you know, I was on that board for over 8 years and have looked at the insurance several times. As Rob stated the NRA club liability insurance is not the best but it is often the cheapest and in some cases the only available. It should cover the officers as insured's for the normal things that happen like someone getting injured. D&O (also known as Association Liability) usually excludes Bodily Injury or Property Damage so it would be for "not running the club well." For example, someone decides to sue because they wanted a different shelter built than was built. This is something I recommended the board buy, but don't know if they ever did. I believe Ohio law also though has a degree of protection for volunteer board members of non-profit organizations. Since this is what I do, I prepared an analysis of the NRA policy a few years back which I will be happy to send to you separately (it's a Word document) if you want. Overall, I think they would be very lucky to have you on that board and you could do a lot of good for USPSA and the club.

I've read about the 4-5 stage a day Nationals schedule and I've seen the squad sizes which ranged from 12-14. I've shot a lot of major matches on this type of format. Past Nationals, the Florida Open and some area matches have had the "big squad slow schedule" approach. I realize that this may appeal to some, but the waiting to shoot and the long breaks in between stages drive me batty and truly effect my performance. Additionally, while I consider shooting to be a social activity and love the interplay with other shooters, even I can run out of things to talk about with 2 hours in between stages. This "big squad slow schedule", overtly is a way to handle large groups, like at the Nationals, where the goal is to keep everyone around till the end of the match for a prize table. (I won't espouse any conspiracy theories about the vendors.) I've always been content, however, to shoot the large matches without picking up any prizes in exchange for getting home after several days on the road. Of course, I've never won one of the bigger prizes, but I suspect if I had I would have tried to have it sent anyway. The first time we shot the Florida open it was 10 stages over 2 days with big squads and the waiting was interminable. The next time we shot it all in one day and it was fun. Is this a personal preference thing? What I like to see are squad sizes that max out at 8-9 and a 10 stage a day schedule that lets you do an area match in a 1 day format and a nationals in no more than 3 days. For a Nationals this would mean a different form of scheduling and I'm sure it would mean that some shooters would already be home for 3 days before the prize table, but that might be what they want. This would mean that a lot of shooters could get the match in during a long weekend rather than burn a full week of vacation. It would also allow juniors to shoot even in the fall. I know this "small squad fast schedule" format is used for a lot of area matches. I just don't know if it could be used at a nationals if the need for everyone to be there at the end were removed.

The thing that makes our kind of shooting interesting is the ingenious moving props that have ben incorporated into our stages. I'm all for any of these props that come along as long as they work consistently and don't effect the score of the shooter more than the shooters own skill. If the famous tri state clown stage had windows that opened for 2.5 seconds for 1 shooter and 3.5 seconds for another, I think that is a problem. That is the real challenge to those who run these types of stages at a major match. The same thing applies when a cable from a popper stretches to the point that there is a visible difference in the time to activation. I've seen and given re-shoots when this occurs. With a texas star, it is very hard to get a consistent result even if the plates are shot in the same order so it is not just like 5 plates in a line. Once again, start it spinning at a specific speed and I'm there. Practice - yes, club matches - maybe, major matches - no.

The only time I've seen a competitor refuse to paste was with some of the more upper class South American shooters. I attended a match in Florida, which will remain nameless and was squaded with 3 obviously well off South American/Central American shooters who never lifted a finger to help throughout the match. My wife later asked one of their wives and it never occurred to them to help as they had servants for that where they came from. Where can I hire someone for this job? Price would be commensurate with enthusiasm and services rendered.

I'v had some fun shooting these contraptions because a few local clubs have bought them. Once bought they seem to show up in matches a lot because someone wants to justify the purchase. They do test shooting skills and I will fully admit I've never cleaned one in 5 shots.(6 is my best) It must take exceptional skill and/or a good deal of luck to do it. That said, I don't think they really have a place in major matches. If we apply the creed of consistent challenges to all shooters, the texas star does not measure up. I've seen arbitrations because a mover was moving at a significantly different speed for different squads and shooters. How can you compare the times from shooter to shooter in such a case. The same thing goes for those target arrays that appear at "random" each shooter is actually shooting a diferent course of fire. A texas star is ok for practice, but probably not in a match. It could work very well if motor driven at a constant speed for each shooter. In fact that would be a blast.

I've always heard that many timers start to lose shots below .11 or .12. Something to do with the microphone. Many fast full autos like a MAC 10 or a 1911 in full auto will often not register every shot or do other squirelly things because of the sound waves and/or other circuitry delays. I have to wonder how accurate some of the really fast splits are and if they would be different on different timers. I can regularly do .12 or .13 splits just using a stop watch that you can hold like a trigger, but rarely get better than .14-.15 with a timer. Not even sure it makes a big difference. I really believe it's the transition time between targets that is the secret. If I have a 20 round stage and shoot 10 double taps at .15 instead of .12 that means I've lost .3 sec. If I have 10 transitions at .50 versus .20 then I've lost 3 seconds. If my math is correct.

That is one spectacular fireball. I know a few people who shoot with this much fire every time, but it is disconcerting to me so I try to avoid it. I have noticed that VV 3n37 and N350 give a rather bright flash when the temperature is below 50 and now I know that 3n38 can also. It's interesting that some slower powders, even VV N105 don't do this. I was once told that this is a characteristic of a barrel that is getting shot out, but I don't know.

BDH the fast way to shoot that stage was apparantly not to go prone. You know how big I am and I folded myself up and shot sideways from kneeling. The good news is my fat compresses. Those muscle bound guys can't squeeze it like that. By the way will someone help me straighten up.

I had an early Olympus digital with only 1.4 MP's and it really took great pictures, but I recently got a Canon S50 with 5+ MP's and it really rocks. I know it isn't a professional model, but it's small and has the Canon algorythms which are just the best available. Better yet I can take movies of stages instead of just stills and can get a whole match on a 256 MB card. If I ever move up to a professional camera it will be a Canon.

Welcome to the list Badger. Hope those websights help, but I'll bet Dave can modify the slide for a cross dovetail pretty fast.

I'm not so sure the problem is in the minutia of the ammo used in the "calibration" gun as it is in just the set-up philosophy of the crew. I've always believed that the poppers should be set up light enough that they could be knocked over with a very light tap of my finger. Just light enough that they won't fall over in the prevailing wind of the match. After all does anyone think that we are actually and carefully setting poppers so that the callibration gun just barely takes it over. I know for sure when I'm running a stage that the poppers will go over with the calibration gun, but they will also probably go over with a .22 short, but we don't test for that. Calibration challenges are usually because someone has set the popper too heavy - maybe by accident or maybe feeling this is the way the rules must be enforced. It is just not necessary - thats what a chrono is for.