Bear1142

Erik, You may have a blown primer in the recess of your bolt cam pin (ask me how I know this.) I think if you pull both pins, you'll be able to get the upper off and pull it apart. Erik

Rich, The ladders are press fit in. Start on the left side and use your thumb to roll the ladder across the rail and press in the other side. They fit very tight, but will loosen up over time. Erik

Yep, that one's gonna leave a mark. Erik Alright, that's it! Erik

Kurt, You are a hypocrite and a gamer! Look at the little "nipple" on the bottom of the buttstock. You need to get that thing pierced! And you dare give me grief! How dare you, Sir!! I demand satisfaction! (virtual slap!) I will see you on the field of honor at Ft. Benning! Erik

It's an AK. It'll run with any mag! Seriously...I like the polymer ones. I think they are Bulgarian, but I'm not sure. Check out K-Var (google it.) They have just about everything you could want for an AK. Prices, selection, and quality are very good. Erik

Lets see.. Seeklander- Springfield XD 5" 9mm Angus- 9mm Mink- 9mm Horner- 9mm Avery- Shot a 5" XD, I think 9mm, but not positive. Erik

Yeah, but I heard his ammo-fu is weak!

My favorite show, period. I missed the first two episodes because my hotel at the Nationals didn't have the SF channel, but I got back up to speed with the help of another BE BSG fan and a website. I still can't believe Saul put down his wife. After what she did, I'm not sure I could have done it. I hated to see this also, but she did take out three base ships. How about all the firepower she poured on the first ship when she came to rescue the Galactica. I love the close combat scenes, like when she went right down the middle of all the base ships and was taking on all three. Pretty awesome. (I know, I'm a geek, but I'm comfortable with it. ) Erik

All, I appreciate the observed period of mourning. I would like to thank all of you for your support. Having said that.....Gentlemen, you may commence firing, Fire at will. Erik

Alan, I'm pretty sure they used the CED chrono to calculate the HF, but I'm not positive. I was kinda in a daze at that point, if you know what I mean. From what I remember, the averages seemed pretty accurate. That was one of the primary reasons I choose not to do an Arb. Flex was kind enough to help me take a quick look through the rulebook, but Greg has been doing to chrono for years and is thoroughly familiar with the rules and procedures. Once again, the big issue was there are no guidelines for how the ammo is stored if it is to be kept overnight. All it would take is a simple rule that states, " Comp. ammo must be stored at room temp. if kept overnight." If it's the middle of summer and the low for the night is 70 degrees, then keeping it in the trunk of a car is fine. If it's going to be near freezing, then bring it in for the night. It won't solve all the chrono issues, but at least it would show the officials are making an attempt to keep it fair. The real difficulty was the wide temp. swings this time of year. It was 35 degrees at 8am, but it got up to 70 by the early afternoon. Timing went against me and I had to chrono at 8am. If I chronoed at 1pm, things probably would have been different. Quite correct. Greg did extend me the courtesy of trying three more out of my bag. But he did advise me that those three rounds don't count for anything official and to make it more official, I signed the chrono sheet before I asked him to shoot the rounds so there wouldn't be any misunderstanding about what I was asking for. Greg even extended the courtesy of re-checking my pulled round to make sure the initial weight was accurate. Greg was very professional and did everything he was required to and more. Instead of arbitrating the chrono, I wanted to re-chrono. It's within the RM's discretion to require competitor's to re-chrono for a variety of reasons. There was obviously an issue with my particular situation and I felt like the RM could authorize a re-chrono, but like Bruce stated, the first test is the definitive one. Even if I did re-chrono, I can't go up. Basically, any competitor required to re-chrono can only stay at the level he's at or go down, he can't be elevated. The example that was relayed to me was, say I declare minor at a match and chrono at minor. For some reason I have to re-chrono and when I do I actually make major. I don't get to move up, because the first chrono is the definitive one, and even though I made major, my first chrono was minor and the re-chrono confirmed I did in fact make the PF I declared. Yeah, I agree with you, but this was factory ammo and I didn't think I would lose 40 fps, but I did, and I'll learn from it. Erik

Jack, Thanks for all the information, I really appreciate it. Believe me, I have no plans for trying to break the land speed record with an ATV. My real interest in getting at least a 500cc engine was to make sure I had enough power. By the time I strapped on some gear and myself, I could easily see the scale reading 300-400 lbs. and I wanted to make sure any engine I got could handle that much weight. I'm pretty much set on staying around the 500 mark. I see no need for me to get the bigger 700's. So the consensus pretty much seems to be a Yamaha or a Honda. Looks like I'll be heading to the two local dealers to start checking them out. Thanks to all who replied for your comments and help. Erik

That was the average of my highest three. No, you don't get zeroed. You can continue to shoot the match, but your scores are removed from the results when the overalls are posted. I got to keep all my scores sheets so it wasn't too hard to calculate HF's and figure out where I finished. I wish I could have, but there are no rules about storing competitor ammo, so there was nothing I could really arbitrate. Several squads had to chrono in the early morning cold weather, so it wasn't like I got singled out. Although I did have the chrono guy shoot three more rounds that were in my shooting bag and not stored outside and I picked up 25 fps and made the PF, so I know the cold weather was a factor. Yep, that was me. Nothing like screwing up right out the gate and your own place. Erik

There..I changed it for you Kurt to be more accurate. It was factory ammo that previously PF'd between 128-129 on two other occasions. It was supposed to be loaded with N320, but I'm not positive. Erik

Not really looking to do anything specific with it. Mostly recreational riding and maybe some light work. Erik

Interesting. There's a Polaris dealer about 2 mi. from my house. He's actually the closest dealer to me. Erik

I'm considering getting an ATV in the spring and I have no idea about quality, reputation, or reliability, of the various manufacturers. I do know that I want a 4x4, with independent suspension, with a minimum engine size of 500 cc (to haul my large a** around.) Any recommendations? Erik

I hate the fact that my turn at the chrono was at 8 am, in 37 degree weather, after my chrono ammo got left outside all night in some persons trunk in near freezing weather. Result- Average of all 7 chrono rounds? 1084.6 for a 124.7 PF What I needed? 1087 for a 125 PF (115 gr. load) 2.4 fps! UGH! Yes, it was my responsibility....but I can still hate it. Erik *edited after Kurt's post to reflect a more accurate description of the weather.

When the range is completed, we will have two 100 meter bays and a 300 meter bay (350 yards for the metrically challanged.) No 600 yard range....yet. Erik

Eric, I organize my training days by training type. There are so many important, yet diametrically opposed skills in our sport that I don't like to combine them on the same training days. Think of it like lifting weights. You only work on certain complimentary body parts each session, not the whole body every day. I have four types of sessions. The first is what I call the Core drills. These are the most basic fundamental drills required by our sport. I do them every practice session, period. They are usually only about 50 rounds of work, but I do them everytime I'm out, so you don't have to hammer a lot of rounds doing these drills. The other three training types are grouped by skills. They are Accuracy training, Speed training, and Movement/obstacle training. I rotate these training sessions everytime I'm out regardless of the amount of time between the practice sessions. If my last practice session was Speed training, then my next one will be Movement training, etc. I usually get to the range for live fire once a week minimum and when major matches are approaching, I'll get to the range 2-3 times per week. Prior to ramping up for a major match, I'll evaluate my performance for the last few matches and see which techniques are starting to deteriorate. Then I'll incorporate the appropriate extra training session to address those issues. For example, over the last few weeks I've been getting ready for the Production Nationals. Shooting minor places a premium on accuracy and points so on my extra training days I've focused on my Accuracy sessions. So if my first training day of the week is Speed work, my second and third session that week will be the Accuracy training session. If my Accuracy session is up on the rotation for the week, then I'd actually be getting three Accuracy sessions in for that week. Hopefully, you see how the rotation works. As for the "X's, Y's, & NN's", my recommendation is to evaluate what your weaknesses are and then hit the BE forum for some shooting drills to help with that specific weakness. Respectfully, is sounds to me as if your training sessions need more organized focus, not more generalized shooting drills. Erik

Until the rules change, you don't gain a thing on the .223 except a higher CDI factor. Stick with the .223 for competition. Erik

17 Every red-blooded American should own one. Erik

Alright Skipper, you've got the bad one out of the way. Pin your ears back, put your nose into the wind and go get'em! Erik

Cy, Give me a call. I've got an Olympic 9mm upper with the SOCOM block and I use the Sten mags. They have some minor issues, but I'll let you try it out. Erik

Ara, Yep, I'm with you. I don't have a problem with defining a good mission statement for Production, regardless of the emphasis (Traditional factory gun vs. Exploring real world technology.) As you well know, "intent" makes poor law. I would like to see the "Spirit" spelled out as well as possible to clarify rulings, and some consistency in the interpretations of questionable rules, regardless of how the mission statement is defined. Erik

Flex and all, I'll offer my take on the milling the slide issue, but the reasoning goes much deeper and is a symptom of the larger problem and as such must be touched upon. Okay, here is the real problem...and I'm going to use his name because all of the issues in Production today are a result of Amidon's inconsistent rule interpretations. I agree with most others that milling the slide for sights is mostly a preference and not a real competitive advantage, but I am completely against it, based on his previous rulings. Here's my real issue. Sight work is expressly allowed and Amidon has interpreted that rule to include milling the slide. So under the precedent he has now set, Sight work (including milling the slide) does not violate the External modification clause. This means that the Sight work clause supercedes the External modification clause in the rule book. Okay, no problem. But now we move to trigger work, which is also expressly allowed in the rule book, but Amidon now makes the rule interpretation that a overtravel screw or speed bump on a trigger is considered an external modification and prohibited, even though trigger work is clearly allowed. So how does this work? What logic did he use to interpret this rule? Limiting overtravel on a trigger has always been a very important part of trigger action work. Okay, so now Amidon has established (incorrectly, I might add) a rule interpretation precedent where the Sight work clause supercedes the External modification clause, but the External modification clause, supercedes the Action work clause, even though the same logic applies to both modifications and I could make the argument that it applies more to trigger work than to sight modification. Okay, stay with me. Now comes the whole bevelling the mag well issue. Amidon has ruled that if you bevel the inside edge of a magazine well to remove burrs and sharp edges, which eventually happens if you practice your reloads, even just a little bit, you have now violated the external modification clause. HUH?! but breaking the edges off the inside of the magazine well is, by statement, inside the pistol! It's not an external modification. Amidon stated that when you look inside the pistol you can see the modification, so it's an external modification. So now, we have a situation whereby if you can see into the internals of a pistol and visually observe a modification, the External modification clause applies and the rule has been violated. But wait, if you look into some pistol models with the slide locked to the rear, you can see the trigger overtravel set screw internally, so that should be illegal based on the visual observation clause of the External modification rule, and because the as we've previously established, the External modificatin rule superceded the Trigger work rule, but yet Amidon has ruled this is legal! The whole situation completely boggles the mind! How is one internal modification legal but the other one isn't? These are just a few of the problems, I could cite several other issues. The real problem with Production is the myriad of rule interpretations by Amidon and his lack of consistency in the application of the rules. The Production rules need to be scrapped and completely re-written to remove inconsistent interpretations and the whole "Spirit" of Production issues. Anytime you have "Spirit" guiding your interpretation of a rule, it was a poorly written rule. For the record, do not read into my remarks as my support for the examples I've used. They are used to make a point, not as an example of my position on any particular issue. My recommendation for fixing Production is to establish a 3 or 5 person committe of people who ACTUALLY compete in Production to draft a completely new set of rules for presentation to the BOD. Anybody interested? Erik