CHA-LEE

I don't know everything about metal, but I believe its so hard to work with because it has been case hardened. The only way I was able to make head way on removing the metal was to grind it away with a stone dremel bit. Then finised it up with cobalt drill bits but it still made short work of those bits. I can see why they would harden it so much given that the mag catch hook is pretty small and if it wasnt really hard it would easily get bent or deformed by slamming mags into place.

With the Henning XL firing pin when a round is in the chamber and you lower the hammer manually the firing pin will have a chance of striking the primer. If the hammer slips out of your fingers as you manually lower it, you will have an accidental discharge. A lighter hammer spring (13lb) will lesson this chance because the hammer will be easier to hold back when you manually lower it, but there is still the chance of it happening if the hammer slips out of your fingers. You could shorten the tip of the firing pin so it will not pass into the chamber when the hammer is lowered, but that defeats the purpose of the XL firing pin being longer. From a safety standpoint I wouldn’t recommend using the XL firing pin on a double action pistol. On a separate note, a lighter hammer spring will give you a lighter trigger pull when the gun is in single action mode. But you also have the chance of getting light strikes on the primers with the stock length firing pin. Everything is a give and a take, so all you can do is try it out to see if it works.

Tom Freeman> I hope that I didn’t make it sounds like I was whining about having to shoot the stages from right to left. I am all for shooting in ways that expose my weaknesses. If we don't work on our weak points we don't get better right? When I broke down the second stage I was thinking about skipping the "on the move" target and engaging the three from the final box then coming back out of it to get the "on the move" target last. But I told myself that doing it that way to avoid shooting on the move from right to left wouldn’t help my skill set improve at all. In my next practice session I am going to setup some stages that can be shot on the move equally fast from right to left or left to right and run it both ways until the times and hits are about the same both directions. I just think its cool that it almost always comes down to a limitation of your mind or comfort zone. Once you get past that, it’s not hard at all. I think that confidence in your abilities is a huge aspect of being able to do well. The only way to gain confidence is to do it in order to prove to yourself that it can be done.

rtr> Thanks for the feedback!!! Yeah, the dreaded looking down for the box gets me some times. I think its me subconsciously thinking that I am going to trip on it, especially when they are not solidly mounted to the ground. The PVC pipe boxes were only duct taped down so I was really leery of catching my foot on them and getting all tangled up in it if my foot were to catch on it or slip under it. For some strange reason I don't have the same "looking down for it" problems when they are outdoors and are fully nailed down and solid. My foot placement was fine as I moved into the box so I didn’t mess up my steps, but I still wanted to visually ensure that my foot didn't catch on the pipe as I got my first foot into the box. The last thing I want to do is trip and fall on a stage in the heat of the moment. You see anything else I need to work on?

I shot a local indoor match Monday night and it was a great time. Pretty easy stages as we had to engage the targets from specific shooing locations due to needing to keep all of the rounds hitting the back stop and not the walls, floor, or ceiling. But they mixed it up a little bit and you had some choices on target engagement order. We shot two stages. The first stage went "ok" and felt clunky, but not rushed. I got all of my hits but after watching the other hot shots go at it there was a more efficient way of engaging the targets. My time was only off about a second on this stage. My first stage of the day is always my worst. The second stage was really nice for me. My shooting cadence was great and my movements were good as well. The only place where I think I could have done better was finding and engaging a target through a port faster. I got to the port fast but stopped in the wrong place so I had to search for the target a little bit. Unfortunately I had two misses on this stage. I called both misses while they happened but once again, I didn't pick them up for some unknown reason. Maybe my gambling side was telling me "You will luck out and get the hits" but reality isn't that nice most of the time. I REALLY, REALLY need to take the time to make up the shots that I do call misses when they happen. I have been able to call my shots and I know when I am calling a miss, but I don't know why my brain does not put two and two together and make up the shot??? Maybe I should do some practice sessions where I shoot too fast on purpose and then force myself to make up the shots that I call misses. This is the only way I can think of to burn in a reactionary response to make up shots that I call a miss. There isn't time during a stage to think about making up shots, you have to be able to react and do it instantly without thinking about it. More practice..... MUCH more is needed. Here is a YouTube video of the second stage I shot that night. The basic stage breakdown is 10 USPSA Metric targets (20 shots), all open except for one that has its bottom half covered with hard cover. You start the stage with your hands touching the tape on the wall then engage a string of 5 targets about 15 yards away. Three of them are about 6 inches apart, then another on its own about 10 feet away and then the final target in the string is also on its own, another 10 feet away, but half covered with hard cover. I dropped a shot about an inch in to the hard cover on this target for miss number one. Then you move to a port in a barricade type of wall and engage a single target about 7 yards away and keep moving towards the final shooting box. While moving to the final shooting box you engage one target on the move (7 yards away), this was where I had my second miss as I just nicked the shoulder of the target but didn't break the “D” scoring area perf. After engaging that target on the move you finish up in a shooting box where you engage three targets about 8 yards away spaced about 3 feet apart. I was able to traverse the COF in 12.17 seconds and the stage winner got it done in about 13.5 seconds. The misses killed the run for me in the match results but I was happy with my shooting cadence on the target strings as well as my movement from one shooting position to another. I wanted to engage the one target on the move over the no shoot targets right after the port but the Match Director said that I couldn’t because it was too close to shooting into the wall and he didn't want other people to go after it so all of the shots stayed down range. I REALLY think I could have shot the stage faster and more accurately if I could have engaged that target over the no shoots, but the rules are the rules. I am also finding that shooting on the move from right to left is not my strong suit. I can shoot a LOT better on the move from left to right. I think it’s just easier for my strong hand to guide me though the targets going from left to right. No excuses though, more practice shooting from right to left on the move is needed too.

How many rounds do you have through the mags with the same follower? Did you check the follower for damage? I can see this happening if one of the "Legs" on the bottom of the follower was broken off or cracked and it allows the follower to get wedged in the top of the mag body at a strange angle. They don't last forever you know. If it only happens with that magazine then I would suggest replacing the follower with a new one. If all of your mags do this same thing and the followers look good, then its probably something wrong with your slide release lever. Check to make sure that it isn’t damaged where the follower pushes up on it and also check to make sure that the axel part of it isn’t separating from the lever portion. They are two separate pieces that are pushed together or something like that and can break free from one another. If the lever portion is flopping round then it would cause this same failure mode to happen. Good luck and happy hunting....

I shot a USPSA match today. I had some great moments and some real bone head moments as well. I had more misses this match than I have had in a long time. On a couple of stages I was trying to push myself past my skills and it showed. I can’t “Will” the shots onto the targets, I have to call my shots and I failed to do that a few times. I also had complete brain farts on two stages. On the Classifier stage I failed to prepare myself for the stage before hand and completely botched up the stage procedures. It was the “Quicky II” stage and on the first string you are suppose to shoot the targets free style, reload, then shoot them again strong hand only. Well I shot them great free style, nailed the reload, then proceeded to shoot the targets again free style instead of strong hand only. I can see how this happened because I didn’t program and burn in the stage before I shot it. I was busy taping the targets for other shooters then all the sudden it was my turn so I ran up there and before I realized it I was shooting. The second bone head moment came on a memory style stage with two drop turn targets. I got so wrapped around the axel on trying to time and hit the drop turn targets that I failed to engage the last target on the stage. Then to make it worse the drop turn targets were considered disappearing and all of the top shooters didn’t even go after them to cut 5 – 6 seconds off the stage by engaging most of the targets through two ports instead of four. After figuring out the hit factors on going after the DT’s but running around more to get them verses not even engaging them and only having two shooting positions it was obvious that the later version would be a lot easier to obtain a better hit factor. This was a good lesson in risk verses reward for me. They let me shoot the stage again just for fun and I did it the other way the second time and my stage time was right in line with the other top shooters in my class. That is a hard gauge though because the second time you shoot the same stage it is always easier even if you do it differently. Some times “follow the leader” is the best way for breaking down a stage……. BUT I got over confident earlier in the match when I shot a couple of the stages a completely different way which yielded the best time or very close to it. So I just figured my way of breaking down the stages was best and got my ass handed to me for not keeping an open mind. Yet another lesson learned. My shooting today was solid for the most part. I was able to engage the targets efficiently as I entered and exited shooting positions, hit my reloads and draws but I tried to push too fast and got some misses. The lessons learned today are, shoot at a speed you are capable of and confident with, keep an open mind on stage breakdown, and program and burn in the stage before you start. These are not “new” lessons, same old, same old really but they need to be learned for me to get better. Some times you have to slam your head into a brick wall more than a couple of times before you realize that it might not be the best thing to do. I just hope that I learn these lessons before the damage is permanent. No match for me tomorrow, too much stuff to get done around the house. I do plan on going to an indoor match on Monday evening though. That should be fun as they do low light situations and stuff like that.

The "SuperSight" on my Limited has walked the hing pin out. It has also slipped the vertical adjustment screw out of adjustment. After trying to repair the walking hing pin the actual hing pin hole cracked. Probably from too much tension being placed on the hing pin. I have replaced it with another supersight but I am not confident that it will suffer the same fate.

I was looking at the stages closely and Stage 2 states that there are 16 IPSC targets but the picture only shows 15. Is there a missing target on the picture or is there a typo on the stage description?

To clear the cache on Internet Explorer you have to go into Tools> Internet Options. This will pop up the internet options window and it should be on the "General" tab. On the General tab in the middle there should be a section called "Temporary Internet Files". Click on "Delete Cookies", when that is done click on "Delete Files". Then go to the "History" section and click on the "Clear History" button. Doing all of this will clear out any prior web page access knowledge and allow all new webpages to be loaded "Fresh".

All of the stages look awesome!!! Stage 5 - Boulder Dash and Stage 13 - Short Rounds Revenge look like nail biters. How is the boulder going to work on Stage 5? Is it going to be a big beach ball that just rolls down the ramp via gravity or is it going to be a motorized thing? I was thinking about it last night and the only way to keep it consistent for all compeditors would be to have a motorized setup that had the boulder move at the same speed every time it "drops". If it was a big beach ball I can see any amount of wind greatly affecting its speed after its released. Either way all of the stages look like they rock and it is going to be a bunch of fun I am sure. Its awesome that the lowest round count stage is 14 rounds. The rest of the stages are all 24 - 32 round stages which is cool.

I made "B" Class in Limited today Now I have 11 more months to make it to "A" Class in limited Gotta keep the nose to the grind stone to achieve that goal.......

John E.> I got some samples made up and going into the mail to you tomorrow.

scorch> Can you fix Henning Wallgren's USPSA number in the USPSA Self Squading system? His USPSA number is listed as "A" and that is keeping him from doing the self squading. Can you change his USPSA number to TY-25335?

Squad 15 is turning into the "Colorado Shooters" Squad.

Thanks for the info. I have been thinking about trying 200+ grain bullets instead of the 180gr ones I have been using. Do you know of any places that make jacketed 200+ grain bullets. Most of the manufacturs I have found only make up to a 200 grain .40 in jacketed form but nothing more.

Ridgerunnr> Henning is the man and will be able to hook you up on what you need. Normally the mags don't start giving you problems until you cram 19+ rounds into them. Less than 19 rounds and pretty much all of the mags work great. If you are going to be shooting Limited-10 then stick with the stock magazine followers and spring and you shouldnt have any issues. You might want to change the base pads simply because it makes performing the reload a little easier since there is more "meat" to grab onto and seat into the gun when doing the reload. Good luck and have fun!!!

What a busy weekend. On Saturday I attended a training class with a local Master shooter (Jerry Westcott). The training was great and he was able to find some flaws in some of my shooting basics. After applying his recommendations my shooting is a lot more consistent. It is nice to get an outsiders opinion and direct input on what you are doing right or wrong. We chewed through about 400 rounds of ammo running through drills and stages. It was well worth the time and money for the class. On Sunday I went to a USPSA match in Pueblo with a couple other shooting buddies of mine. The match was great and we got to shoot six stages instead of the normal five. The club is moving to using Palm Pilots for the stage scoring and it went pretty good given that it was a “new” thing for everyone. Some things could have been done better with the new scoring process but it’s a learning curve for all and I am sure the club will get it all ironed out soon enough. I shot the match pretty good. My movements, shooting cadence, and stage break down processes were coming together nicely. I only had a couple of bone head moments but nothing near the problems I have had before. When going throught a couple of the stages I shot some extra targets that were not part of the stage (some steel in the back of the berm) just for the fun of it. They were these large steel plates in the back corners of the berms that looked like gongs. I figured it would be funny to hear the "Gongs" go off while I shot the stage but I only sent one shot at each one before moving on and missed on them. It sucked that I missed the gongs but it was fun trying to go after them during the stage. I only lost about a second or two on the stage when I tried to hit them so it didn't hurt my overall results too much. If you can’t have fun then why do it right? Much to my satisfaction my stage times were only one or two seconds off of the top Master shooters on almost all of the stages, even when going after the gongs. My hit factors were a little lower due to lower points but it’s nice to be able to traverse the stages in almost the same time as the top shooters. I must be doing something right for that to happen. Overall it was a great weekend of shooting and I look forward to the next match so we can do it all over again.

John> I will Gizmo some cases with the standard Dillon die and the EGW U-Die and send them off to you this week.

Cy Soto> Glad to help. Now come and shoot with us. Just think of the snow at the range as white sand at a beach Its all in how your mind perceives things anyway right???

A big step in my shooting came when I finally told myself to stop overanalyzing everything and try to plan for every aspect of a stage. Such as "draw to this target, move over here, shoot these targets in this specific order, did my hits go where I wanted them to?, etc......". There was a classifier stage that I was getting way out of hand with trying to analyze every little aspect of it and then I just stopped myself and said "What am I doing??? Just shoot the targets after the buzzer goes off as fast as you can call your shots" That’s it, the whole plan, the only plan I set for myself. Then when it was my time to shoot, the buzzer went off and I shot the stage as fast as I could call my shots. Much to my amazement, everything fell into place without even needing to think about it. I didn’t even remember the draw, the reload, or the transitions from one target to another. I just let my auto pilot take over and it did great. That was the best classifier I had shot up to that point both in time and points. Since then I have used the same strategy of coming up with a basic stage plan then right before the buzzer goes off I just let go and allow my auto pilot to take over. The only thing in my mind during the stage is find the target, shoot it, find the target, shoot it and before I know it, the stage is over and I have a great stage time with all of my hits. I guess this really translates into having enough confidence in your basic shooting skills to let go of forcing yourself to do it and to let it happen on its own. Having the confidence to know that my shooting index is correct, my shooting cadence is good, I am able to call my shots, and I am able to move in and out of shooting positions efficiently was a monumental step forward for my shooting. I am now seeing that in order to shoot better and faster than I currently am is more of a job of highly polishing the basics (draws, reloads, transitions, movement). The more I perfect those basic's, the better and faster my auto pilot can put them to use during the stage.

It is also good to point out that SS and Revo classes usually come down to who can reload the best/fastest anyway verses shooting speed. Since most USPSA stages are setup in unfriendly target strings for SS or Revo shooters there will usually be at least one or two points in the stage where you are doing a reload while standing in front of targets. So that is a totally different game in its self.

steel1212> I don't mean to litterally plan for 2 shots on every piece of steel. I mean to plan for the possibility of an extra shot on the difficult targets, which there are ususally not more than one or two on any given stage. A good example of this would be a texas star. Given the relatively unknown outcome of the shot difficulty for every plate, if you have a miss on one of the first few plates and the whole thing starts to swing around excessively you better have some extra rounds to clean up the rest of the plates. So why not plan for it by having extra rounds to start off with and then plan for a mag change after regardless of how good/bad you shot the star? If you incorporate your mag change into your move from one shooting position to the next you won't lose any time. If you shoot it dry and are standing in front of targets as you reload that is a huge waste of time.

Is it really that hard to come up with a stage plan that keeps you from shooting your gun dry? No matter if you are shooting to slide lock or empty it is still a waste of time to do it during a stage. You would be better off rearranging your target engagment strategy to keep your mag changes conservative so you never run out of rounds. For example, if a stage has steel that is hard to shoot account for 2 rounds on each steel target, then set a reload point not long after the steel regardless of how many rounds you still have in the mag. Its a lot easier to implement a position based mag change strategy and end up dumping extra rounds left in the magazine verses counting your shots and trying to do an unexpected mag change when you run out. The only time I will shoot my gun to empty is if the last round is for the last shot on the last target and I don't have to do a mag change during the whole stage. In that situation I will still have an emergency reloading point set somewhere in the stage in the event that I have to take an extra shot. Keep in mind that you can do things a lot faster when you expect it to happen. If you keep blasting until you run out, you won't expect it and your recovery will be at least 2 - 3 times longer than if you were expecting it. If you are shooting a stage that should be shot in 10 seconds and you waste 2 seconds trying to recover from an unextected slide lock condition you are wasting 20% of the stage time. Thats a big punch to the gut when your hit factor gets tallied. To each their own though. This is a game of trial an error with instant feedback as to what was the right or wrong way of doing things. So it shouldnt take many times of doing it the wrong way before you realize its really the wrong way.

They should have put an angry kangaroo under that desk so when you flip it up you would have to dodge its kicks to your face while engaging the targets...