J.Schmitt

Thanks Randy for supporting the shooting sports and the Law Enforcement and Military communities. Jay

We have many rules. Rules such as procedurals for being over a line and shooting. Safety rules such as the 180. Abandoned gun rules for transition to a second or third weapon. The abandonment rules attempt to provide for safety. Define what is safe. Everyone has a different opinion. My duty handgun is a Sig, no safety, I consider it safe/secure as it sits in my holster or rather as it is abandoned in my holster "hot". We are of course competing and striving for a perfect safety record. Aside from a written rule, is not a gun that is broken or inoperable, safety on or off depending on malfunction, and deposited in a barrel or a box with the muzzle down a "safe" gun. Any gun in a barrel should not be considered a safe gun even with an empty chamber and safety on. All guns are considered loaded all the time as per one commanding rules of gun safety. Are we not putting guns in a barrel or a handgun box that is positioned in a certain manner so that in the deposit phase were it to go off the round would go downrange or into the ground. Without a person to operate the gun is the gun itself not "safe". The above listed items are true as they are based in reality but do run contrary to many written rules. Now I understand that a gun dumped in a barrel with a round in the chamber and no safety engaged is earning a DQ. This topic is making me think. I am still a proponent of a re-shoot due to a disabled gun. Good RO's should be able to see when a gun is more than jammed. Jay

Great topic to discuss Trapr. I've thought of this in the past. I think when the majority of shooters attend a match they want to compete. Its tough to compete against someone who times out on a stage because their gun breaks. I would rather compete heads up and loose to a better shooter than beat them because their gun broke. There are so many rules out there to ensure safety. There are rules about guns that go down. I would rather see a re-shoot offered to person whose gun goes down. That ensures safety. No hurry to try and fix a problem that could become a bigger problem. Jay

We had a 3 gun match at DPMS this Sunday in Minnesota...13 degrees at 1000..warmed nicely to 18 by 1500. Light snowflakes on and off. Got off easy with a 5-7mph west wind. 14 brave souls attended. Jay

I have a SP01 that was worked over by a local gunsmith. Polished internals and trimmed hammer spring. I've squeezed the trigger on it and then on a CZ custom Shadow and they are real close. If money is tight and you can get a good deal on a used CZ-SP01 it can be tuned up nice. As another poster pointed out it is the shooters fundamentals that make the real difference. Jay

As to number 3, if you are careful with the equipment they work fine... while I don't use it often I have a 11" upper with mad dog flip up rear that on any given instance can be flipped up, engage and hit a plate at 200. (note:this is not what I use in comp). My comp rifle has a yankee flip up front fixed rear. I got it for free and haven't changed it yet because it is dead nuts on every shot. Jay

I have also had good luck with the Hornady. No malfunctions. I shoot it for matches. Jay

I enjoyed reading the article. Thanks, Jay

Take a look at Paul Howe's Combat Shooting And Tactics. CSAT. He is located in Eastern Texas. Another location is US Shooting Academy in Tulsa. I've taken courses from both and have enjoyed them. Jay

The round in the bottom of the caddie goes in the gun first. Yep, thats right. So the last round out of the caddy is pinched between my middle finger and thumb. I like to concentrate during practice on holding it real tight so I don't knock it out of my hand when i hit the loading port. Jay

I transitioned to weak hand loading just this past year. I found, that for me, if I tried too much practice in a session I GOT SLOPPY. I kept my sessions to loading 4 to 5 sets of 6 (4) shell caddies. That is 100 rounds loaded. Factor that number out to 700 per week and 2800 per month and keep going from there. My sessions were only about 15 minutes and I focused being fumble free. The part that helped me was when I grab from the caddy, I make sure I PINCH that first round nice and tight between my thumb and middle finger. That is what works for me to learn fumble free. Jay

I have to learn to shoot a rifle first, which by the way I have little if any experience in. Thanks again! The accessory least used but which will bring about the greatest result is practice ammo. You are going about this correctly. A rifle operators course would prove to be very valuable as well and go along real well with that practice ammo. Too often I observe self taught individuals who are unfamiliar with their rifle. Working on malfunctions would be a topic in point. Easy to read about them, seldom practiced. Jay

I like the idea of spoilers.....curb feelers too....maybe one curb feeler off of both sides of the comp....somewhere near the threads....might provide some stabilization....and the spoiler over the top to vent the gas from any top ports. Great post, what can I say "spoilers" in that context was the first thing that jumped in my head. I gave a Rolling Thunder a go this year in part because of the last article Patrick wrote. Jay

Trapr, I like the common sense in your logic as it relates to this issue. Jay

Agreed, a small trauma kit is essential. I keep a quick clot packet and a trauma compress in my bag.

I like Ditka's. Huge portions if you are hungry. If you like oysters "cowboy oyster shooters" 2 bucks apiece. Oysters in a shot glass with a liquidy hot sauce. (I haven't been to chi town in a couple years but my mouth is watering for those shooters right now. Jay.

There are definitely different detachable front sight sizes. Some are made for mounting on a gas block(they are taller) and some for mounting on the top of a forearm rail(the shorter ones). If you look at the Yankee Hill website they have a couple that are designated as gas block and forearm, they look almost the same except for height. I made the mistake of trying to sight in a forearm sight by mounting it on a gas block after it was given to me and I was told it was the appropriate height. Lets just say you can't get sighted in with that type of setup. Jay

I am nearsighted as well. I take out the contact in my right eye so that my eye muscles do not have to work at trying to adjust from close to far ( target to front sight) over and over through a course of fire. My right eye is left to contend only with a focal point of the front sight. I leave in my left contact to do the distance work and pick up the next target. If you shoot with only one eye open it can be changed rather quickly with dry fire( or actually "dry sight aquisition' practice.

DPMS - St. Cloud Minnesota 200 yards

Those that were there and shot well on stage 6, Patrick and Kurt, would probably agree that the targets were clearly visible. Kelly Neal has some nice video on his webpage and Robbie Johnson just mowed the plates down. Just to keep on track, the targets were out in plain view. The Blue plates just didn't provide the precision target I like to sight in on. I guess all iron, 223 and 308, were on the same page to deal with the same issue with exception of sunlight vs. clouds. Wtih the blurring of the plates however, i found myself comming down from the white overhead flasher and bisecting the swinger stand. Jay

Also, I guess if they can't see their misses due to a target backer they probably don't know where their rifle is hitting prior to the match(point of aim, point of impact). Back to the a prior post on "Best Zero".

For those that were not there, DPMS had 3 steel MGM flashers that were painted blue set at 200 yards. They altrenated blue/white/blue/white/blue. I shoot iron sights and noted that the blue plates blurred when I sighted in on them. They seemed to wash out to the point where they began to fade into the brown dirt behind them. The neck of the Plate was practically impossible to distinguish from the rest of it. Do the iron shooters out there have experience with other matches having "hard to see colors". I was wondering what kind of thoughts the shooters had in reference to these targets as well as difficulties. To wrap up the stage the shooter had to engage the blue targets with a provided bolt rifle with an optic. Blue was easy to see with the optic. Jay

For those that read and we not at the match. Friday and Saturday provided dry weather and sunshine for the majority of the shooters. The ground was a bit soggy in some spots. The RO's were great. Positive attitude. Friendly as always. Not rushing the shooters. Engaging in conversation. That being said, THE RO's SHOT THE MATCH ON WED AND THUR IN DARK SKIES AND RAIN! Great job, Thank you to the RO's. I really enjoyed Tim Ubl's "Prepare for Glory" prior to the start of stage 4. Jay

First day is in the books. The rain stopped right about 0745. Sun showed up after 1100. Warmed to about 70 by 5PM. Ground at most stages saturated. The RO's put down saw dust on some to soak up the water.

I talked to the guy who made the arrangements for it last year and he said the beer is good to go this year too. :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: