Rob D

For me it was a bit of an addiction. I didn't really plan to toy with my 34 much. The guy I bought it from had put a 5# connector in it, but gave me the stock 3.5# with the gun. Once I felt the difference between those two parts, I wanted to know what else I could toy with. I've been going back and forth with aftermarket parts. Some seem to help, others don't. I'm pretty happy with a stock gun with a 3.5# connector as long as all the parts are polished. Right now I'm using a LWD 3.5# connector, LWD guide rod and 14lb recoil spring, and Lightning strike drop safety plunger. I'm pretty happy with this configuration and plan to stick with it for production.

Lots of helpful information here. Thanks guys. I think I'll throw a stopwatch in my range bag to see how much it helps. Boz- right on about the forward falling poppers. A lot of the matches I shoot are at USSA Tulsa where I'm shooting the same poppers you guys shot at nationals. The first time I encountered these I shot them 2-3 times each thinking I had missed because they weren't falling. That was before I learned to call shots(still learning really). Thanks again.

I've been shooting as many club matches as I can since april. I shot the Oklahoma sectional back in september and was exposed to activating targets for the first time. I've seen them at a few matches since then, and I've noticed that I have plenty room for improvement. I tend to find myself waiting for them. I know this is a waste of time, and there's often targets I can take between shooting the popper that activates the mover and the mover itself. Is there a good way to estimate what you're going to be able to accomplish between these two shots? We usually get to watch it activate once in the walkthrough, but my brain has a hard time translating the timing in the walkthrough into what I'll actually be able to accomplish in that time. Is there a method for timing this or do I just need to shoot a lot more activating targets until I get more familiar with my own abilities? Thanks, any help is appreciated. Also, as always, if it's in another thread just point the way.

Is the 20# 1911 spring lighter than the stock spring? Just want to make sure it will help with cycling those hand loads.

I'm not so worried about trigger weight. The thing that really bothers me is the pre-travel removal. SA only guns aren't allowed in production division, and if you completely remove all the pre-travel from a glock trigger then you've essentially made it single action. Most production guns either had a slack stage in the trigger like glocks or XD's or have a DA/SA trigger that has a slack stage when firing in SA. You can smooth out stock parts to get a 3# trigger, but you have to replace or heavily modify them to get rid of the pre-travel.

They have a rebound spring listed for the XD. Is that the same as a recoil spring? The only other option I'm seeing is to purchase their guide rod and use standard 1911 springs which looks like it may be the smartest thing to do anyway since those springs are so widely available.

Thanks, ordered the sight! Checking out springer precision for trigger parts. Anybody know where to find a recoil spring?

My little brother just got a XD9 Tactical so he can start shooting with me, and I'm wanting to get him a christmas present that will improve his gun. It's bone stock right now. I know he needs a lighter recoil spring because his gun wont run with the 135pf handloads my dad and I shoot. Does anyone offer drop in trigger parts for the XD? I know there is a ton of stuff available for glocks, but I don't know anything about the way the XD works. He wants new sights too, and I'm thinking a Dawson front sight would be a big upgrade, but I'm not sure if it will work with the factor rear sight. Any information would be helpful. If there's another thread that would be helpful, please point me that way. I've searched but haven't found anything. Thanks!

If you consider the connector a leaf spring, it would be allowed. They really do need to make the rules more concrete. I'm going to play by the way Amidon interprets the rules, but there are so many mixed signals. The rulebook itself is very vague and requires an interpretation to form a solid set of rules. The problem is: Who's interpretation? I'm not advocating allowing or prohibiting any specific modifications, but I don't feel like production shooters are all playing by the same set of rules and that bothers me. I originally asked John about this because I thought I had a pretty nice trigger for a production gun, then went to a match and felt the trigger on one of my dad's friend's guns and it felt like a 1911. He had put in an aftermarket striker with a slimmer contact surface, he had bent the trigger bar to eliminate the pre-travel stage, and he had installed a set screw in the back of the trigger housing to limit overtravel. I would guess it was about a 2# trigger with almost no take up or overtravel. I beat the guy, but I wanted to know if I could make MY trigger feel like that. There needs to be a concrete set of rules that eliminate all of these grey areas and interpretations.

There is DEFINITELY a difference between practicing with loaded and unloaded mags. When I started shooting matches back in april, I immediatley started doing dry-fire reloads with empty mags. Over the next few matches, I averaged 1-2 dropped mags per match. I wouldn't seat them firmly enough and they would fall out as I went to set my support-hand grip. Got Steve Anderson's book, loaded a set of dummy rounds(no primers and no powder), and started doing practice reloads with properly weighted mags. I've yet to drop one since then. For safety, I keep my dummy rounds in a box marked "dummy rounds" next to my half-scale targets and other dry-fire stuff. I make sure to check every single round to make sure it doesn't have a primer before I load it into a mag.

That's a good point about the connector itself being a spring. I Got a response back from John A today regarding this issue. My Question: Dear NROI, To what extent can one modify and/or replace the internal parts of a production legal pistol? I'm currently shooting a glock 34 that's almost bone stock, but shot next to a guy at my last match that had replaced his trigger housing with one that has an over-travel adjustment, he had bent his trigger bar so that the pretravel stage of the trigger was almost completely gone(but the trigger safety did still function), and he had replaced his striker with an aftermarket product that had a small contact area with the trigger bar. This made the trigger feel like a 1911 but there were no externally visible modifications other than the fact that the trigger on his gun rested about 1/4" further back than mine does. Is this kind of modification legal in production? Thankyou for your time, Robbie Daugherty A62501 John's Response Robbie, Sorry for the delay, but I found your email in my trash file which I normally do not look at. If you go to www.uspsa.org and click on match rules, then scroll down to NROI rulings, click on that and there is a ruling of 1/31/06 which states Vanek Trigger in Production, there was also a ruling on the same date, that while it deals with a mag release button, the last sentence states that it cannot be modified internally to get an external enhancement. That internal vs external ruling has been retired with the 2008 rule book as Appendix D4 list the authorized modifications and is strictly limited to their stated guidelines and triggers are not one of them. Hopes this helps, I may have to go to the BOD and discuss a trigger weight to offset this type of action if it continues. Regards, John Amidon So if the internal/external ruling is no more, only swappable parts are those listed in Appendix D4? I'm legal, but I bet a LOT of people aren't.

Great post. I had my first match in April. My Dad and I had heard about "practical shooting" and decided to give it a try since we both love shooting. We were walking around the range looking lost and a couple of local wheel-gunners took the time to stop their walkthrough and give us the basics. They walked us through new shooter orientation and let us squad up with them so they could help us get a feel for the game. We immediately felt welcome and haven't missed a match at that club since. I shot that match with a sig P225(8 shot single stack 9) and pulling magazines out of my back pocket. You can ALWAYS spend more money to get more competitive equipment. I've spent plenty since then, but I think the best part of my first match was just having my hair blown back by the sport. After being raised to shoot as a hunter and constantly being told, "Slow down, take your time." It was such a rush to get to run through stages and shoot as fast as I could. I completely agree. Encourage people to come out and compete with whatever they have. This game is A BLAST to play, regardless of what equipment you're using. It's not like first time shooters are trying to beat anyone anyway.

I did this as well. One really cool feature of this method is that you can load them into almost ANY cellphone via bluetooth or memory card(or you can use myxertones.com to send them as MMS messages). Since the beeps are only a few seconds long they take up less space than most ringtones. If you don't have an mp3 player and don't want to shell out the cash for one, this is a good alternative. If anybody needs help with this feel free to PM. I work for a cellular carrier and answer phone questions all day anyway.

+whatever for Slide-Glide #1 I used gunslick for several months then switched to Slide-Glide and immediately noticed a reduction in felt recoil and trigger mush.

I've seen a few different version of the internal glock magwell, but they pretty much all seem to fill the backstrap with acraglass(sp?) and then cut out an angled channel for the mag to slide in. The effect seems like it would be minimal, but one of my Dad's friends bought a Glock like this last week and the bug bit me. Now I either have to put one in my 34 or convince myself it's not worth it. I am interested in advice and opinions that could help me with either one of those goals. Anybody know a thread that covers the installation process? How tricky is it? Anybody notice a big change after adding this mod? Thanks in advance!

I guess there's no way to guarantee that the grip shape/size hasn't been altered at all, but it seems like it would be a LOT of work to significantly alter the shape and size of your grip with a soldering iron or wood burner. Granted, somebody who wanted to cheat the system could probably do a grip reduction, then stipple on top of it and nobody would know, but I feel like that's how most of the rules are in production division. Especially since not many matches actually check your gun in detail.

I'm pretty sure stippling IS legal under the 2008 rules as long as you don't change the shape or size of the grip.

Has anyone that's had problems with the LWD barrels contacted LWD about them? If so, how was their customer service and what was their response?

This is a little off topic and a total rookie question, but when you say you stoned the trigger bar nose true, what kind of stone did you use and where can I find one? I keep seeing references to "stoning" trigger parts, and I assume it's some kind of grinding stone, but could somebody give me a little more information about what I need? Thanks in advance.

+1. I know this sounds odd, but are you SURE you didn't accidentally put in a stronger trigger spring? I believe the stock one is roughly 4#. When I put a 6# aftermarket trigger spring on my 34 I had the same problem you're talking about, the trigger not resetting all the way forward. In my case the trigger would reset far enough to fire, but not far enough to let the trigger safety engage.

Thanks for the input Joe. I've been on the fence, and I think you convinced me to save the cash and get a lone wolf. My stock barrel is way more accurate than I am, but I'm shooting enough to make it worth the switch to lead.

I'm going to have a G34 in exactly that condition in a couple months. I'll let it go for $1200. That's a friends price if you count all the time I spent smoothing out the trigger for you I've been playing with my trigger for a few months and I think I've settled on stock with the exception of a LWD connector and a 4lb striker spring. I like it. If I wasn't shooting production I think I would try a much more aggressive trigger job. I could get used to a less definitive reset if I never had to worry about slacking out the trigger.

That was my initial thought. I know I can get a glock replica airsoft way cheaper than I can get a .22 conversion for my g34. I also like the idea of being able to practice in my house. Have you found airsoft to be pretty helpful with trigger control? I posted on my local shooters forum asking about airsoft for training and immediately got half a dozen replies to the tune of "<----- The Airsoft forum is THAT way!!"

+whatever on the Glock I shoot a 34 and love it. My Dad has shot an XD9 Tactical since we started shooting matches back in april and he liked it until he shot my Glock.

I've read in a lot of places that precision shooting skills are a perishable skill that you need to constantly practice. My dilemna is that I'm shooting on a very limited budget and want to spend as much of my ammo budget as possible on matches. I'm thinking that if I get a .22 pistol I can afford much more consistent practice sessions and still shoot the same number of matches. Does anybody have any experience with this? I know that practicing with a .22 isn't ideal because it's a different gun with a different trigger and the recoil is pretty much non-existant, but I'm wondering if I can save some money by pushing a lot of my practice to the .22 then using the vast majority of my ammo budget to shoot matches. Does anybody do this or know anybody that does? Also, I searched but did not find. If there is another post that talks about this please point me in that direction.