McAllyn

Yes it is --- if it's a loaded gun start..... If you choose to go this route --- be sure to keep track of the +1 mag, and remember to pull the extra round if the stage description specifies an unloaded start.... I caught myself breaking this rule once; been using a Barney mag ever since. FYI, don't ever go prone with a Barney mag in your front pocket. Think falling on your keys is rough? You ain't seen nothing yet. Mac

"he's such a reTard." I loved it. Something fell off the bookshelf and hit my boss, so of course I had to run around yelling, "In the face! In the FAAAAACE!" This is the closest movie to Eurotrip, the comedy that all should be measured against. Mac

One thing that stuck in my head in reading through this thread, people kept mentioning "One in a Million." Now I don't have any idea what the true statistical probabilities of this happening would be, but even something as rare as "One in a Million" when dealing with the amount of ammo we deal with could be potentially VERY common. With many of us sharing common reloading practices, i.e. dumping loaded ammo from one container to the next, dropping rounds in a container after case gauging, etc. the possibility becomes somewhat shared. So between us, we will see a million rounds very quickly. 100 people reloading 10,000 rounds per year would be a million rounds. Someone, somewhere dumping a full akrobin into an ammo can is eventually going to have a discharge. It could be you, it could be me, or it could be the next person. I'm wearing my eye-prot, I hope you are too. Mac

Typical morning at the office: 3 Chocolate Frosted Creme Filled 2 Lemon Filled 2 Chocolate Frosted Glazed Then at lunch I tend to finish them off. Yes, I'm a fat guy, but donuts are nature's perfect food... ok, they are just below pizza, but they're still awesome. Mac

I'm a big proponent of the lump sum payment. Even the severe hit you take on the lump sum + taxes can end up being far more valuable in the long run if you have wise and reliable investment help. Lump sum or annuity payment notwithstanding, the amount of lootery winners that go bankrupt is astounding! Mac

I would assume the Colt Double Eagle would be the closest thing, but they are hard to come by, and the DA trigger is definitely not 1911'ish.

I admire your enthusiasm, and wish you the best in your endeavor. Since my interest is peaked, can I ask you, are you looking at developing an entirely new platform, or working off of a current design?

SS, I'm a big believer in giving something a shot, if it's REALLY what you want. Just make sure you can honestly say to yourself just before you open the doors the first day, "I've done everything in my power to make this work." Logistically, you'll need to consider in-house design and manufacturing vs. outsourced. In-house you're looking about 100k for a minimal amount of quality machining equipment and tooling. Then, unless you're the qualified one, you're looking at labour charges to have someone run it. CAD gear and software will run you roughly 10k, and again, unless you're the one running it, you need someone to do your design work. You could outsource the manufacturing and design stuff to begin with. You'd be paying a premium for the services, but you wouldn't have the major capitol outlay at the start. You also have to consider shipping, receiving, and warehousing equipment and staff. Regulation wise, you'll need a manufacturers FFL, plus any special certifications or licenses from states that require such. Startup advertising budgets will vary, but if you skimp here, you'll pay the price (so to speak.) My guestimate, you'd need about $250k to open the doors, and at least that in working capital for the first year. That's assuming you have only about 5 people working for you. Mac

Man, I'm right there with you. The big joke where I work is ,"When the robots come to take over, FIND MAC!" Everyone knows I shoot, lots ask me about it, several have asked about taking them to the range, and a couple have shown interest in competition. Everyone at my office knows, if you want to shoot guns, go see Mac. My standing offer is, I'll bring the guns, rigs, ammo, and targets. You bring open eyes and open ears. Out of 120+ people at my office, I've had 2 come to the range and no one come to the competitions. I did get one of my best friends and his wife to come to a local match, and he's come back twice, but I'm afraid I'm going to lose him to IDPA. He almost crapped himself the first time he saw a mag drop on the ground with bullets still in it. I've pretty much had to give up actively trying to recruit. I can't even get family members to come to the comps, even though they are hunters/shooters etc.

Started Nov '08 at age 37. Wish I had found USPSA earlier, but until about '06 didn't have 2 nickles to rub together, so I would have been watching.

Ugh, I truly feel for you on that one. Took my XD with its fancy new FO site to a classifier match. After the 4th stage of sub 1 HF, I was beyond ready to pack it in. Finally decided to check things out, get to the safe area, and my front site is hanging off the right side of the gun just enough that when I touched it, it fell into my hand. Had to shoot the last 3 stages with no front site. Still shot horribly, but was comforted knowing that it wasn't ALL my bad shooting's fault.

I'd have to second the VV N320. While one of the pricier powders, its definitely one of the cleanest and least "smokey"... hmmm, is that a word?

As soon as Midway gets these back in, I'm going to grab one. I have an old CH single stage press that I currently have a Universal Decapping Die but it rarely gets used. I'm very interested in experimenting with this G-RX to see if it will cure the issues my Square Deal B has with Glocked brass not gauging. If I'm not mistaken, in the other thread about G'd brass and the SDB, some people mentioned that even their "U" dies didn't correct the bulge issue.

WWB 9mm from WallyWorld is 19.97 per 100. Atlanta Arms 9mm run 11.97 per 50 at my local range. I don't buy .45 enough to know prices off-hand, and I don't have a .40 yet. I just recently got into reloading with all the brass I've been collecting for the last few years, and my ammo prices have dropped like a stone. Now I can load a round that feels like a .22 out of my 9MM XD Tac. As far as how many rounds per week, I generally run about 300-400 per week. Oh, I forgot to mention, while the Beretta 92 is not used often in comp for it's DA pull, changing out the mainspring to the "D" spring will help greatly. Mac

I'm using two BladeTech doubles with Tek-Lok for my Production rig. They are adjustable, so I can use them for my M&P mags, XD's, and Beretta's. They are much faster than I am, meaning, they will release the mags a whole lot quicker than I can grab for them. Mac

Greatest movie of all time: Braveheart After that, my list is varied and in no particular order: Eurotrip The Matrix (ONLY the first one) Blade I, II, and III Godfather I and II Ronin The Devil's Advocate The Italian Job (the new one is better than the old one) Star Wars (the originals. have no idea what is up with the new ones... ugh) Thomas Crown Affair (like the new one a little better than the original) The Bond Series (but lets just forget that whole Timothy Dalton era, ok?) Hackers (one of AJolie's first movies) pretty much anything with Jason Statham (he's a BAAAD man.) Young Guns I and II Silverado Gladiator My Guilty Pleasure movie (you know, the one's that are on TBS or TNT on Saturday afternoon, and you just HAVE to stop and watch it) Fifth Element For any Moviephiles out there that are not aware, IMDB.com is probably the greatest place in the world to get movie info.

Thanks, guys, for the input. I've never been known to be extraordinarily competitive, so I'm not looking to make GM anytime soon. Right now, as a beginner, I feel my time is best spent watching and listening to the experienced shooters, learning the safety and rules procedures, and building strong fundamentals. I'm interested in shooting in the other divisions just to see what I enjoy the most. Open is out for me right now just because to get my hands on a decent Open rig would be a little outside the finances, but I can piece together pretty much any other division. I would tend to think that the basics apply to all of the divisions though: safety, breaking down arrays, movement, and site tracking. Wouldn't increasing any of these fundamentals tend to spread to all divisions? Thanks, Mac

Hello, All. Been lurking for months, finally decided to ask some (hopefully) intelligent questions. I started shooting Production with a local club here in Middle TN at the end of last year, and I'm totally hooked on this game. I'm curious to know what you guys think of shooting multiple divisions? Our club shoots one match a month with two rounds on Saturday and two rounds on Sunday. So far, I'm only shooting Production with my XD Tac, but I'm considering adding SS, Lim-10, and possibly Limited in there as well, to maximize the fun over the course of the entire weekend. I have an SA Loaded 45 for SS, and I'm looking at an STI Edge for Lim-10 and/or Lim. Are these reasonable pieces of equipment to at least compete in their divisions? I'm not good, by any means, even with my XD, but I love to get out of the house and shoot, so as long as these won't gimp me any further than my poor skills will, than I think that's the way I'll go. Finally, if anyone knows a reliable Gunsmith in the Mid TN area, could you point them out to me? I'd like to get some work done, and I always try to support local businesses first. Thanks in advance, Mac

If it helps any, I use 124g RN's loaded at 1.145 in my XD, M&P, P6, 92F, and Cougar. It fits very well in all my mags and chambers well in everything.

I'd have to agree with the Springers mentioned already. I have a Champion .45 that has an amazing record of reliability. I'm pretty sure I paid below $750 for it, and that would leave a lot of room for a rig and ammo. Now, if I were going to compete in SS, I'd probably lean towards one of the S_I's mentioned, but without a lot of searching, you'd be hard pressed to get a good complete rig for sub-$1000. Mac