CJW

If by war belt you mean a padded wide belt with MOLLE or other strap attachments, yes, no problem. Really any belt system that holds your gear snugly during vigorous 3-Gun movement is fine. Most folks do use an inner/outer competition belt setup with velcro and/or keepers for extra retention. If you can use some sort of keepers to strap your war belt on to something that goes through the belt loops, you are set. The MOLLE-loks are a good idea for accessories—particularly shotshell caddies—that you might want to remove/reconfigure between stages. Following on thermobollocks's comment, you might want to set yours up to be mounted with the buckle clip at the back. Front real estate is really prime territory that you don't want to lose.

I just put the Battlelink Minimalist on a mil-spec carbine tube build. It is tight. It is adjustable and in the same price range as a Magpul MOE but it has absolutely no wiggle; indeed, it actually takes a little effort to adjust it intentionally. So far, I like it quite a lot.

I had an absolute blast at this match. Outside of a little bit of flashlight and pistol practice, this is really the first time I have tried night shooting; I haven't had this much fun shooting since the first 3-Gun match I did. Chuck, thanks so much for putting this on, and I can't wait to do it again. Also, kudos to Timney for their support; it's going to feel wrong the next time I shoot a match and there's no band playing! Oh, and that prize table would have been impressive for a match twice the size.

Although I usually quad load, I would dual load for an empty gun or a quick make-up. What I figured out from shooting USPSA (Lim-10 or Production) where reload strategies are huge is to get back on the original plan as early as possible. That is, if something goes wrong in the middle magazine 1 and I need to change mags, I then change mags again when my original plan called for me to do so, even if that means I am dropping a partial with a lot of rounds in it. It's a lot easier to get back on your well rehearsed plan than to try to make up a new plan on the clock. For a longer shotgun stage with frequent loads, I try to come up with a plan that goes something like this: (1) Find the spot from which I can shoot the remainder of the stage from a full gun without reloading; (2) work backwards from there to find a way to load what I shoot; (3) find the place where I can get the gun full without wasting time. The benefit to a plan like that is each loading spot becomes "load what you shoot." If you nail all four targets clean, load four; if you take a make-up shot (or two) load more; if you get a couple doubles, load fewer. And sometimes it all goes in the pot anyway and you are just feverishly stuffing shells into the gun hoping you don't run out.

I usually do not run an extension tube clamp on my Benelli M2, and I really have no interest in messing with my slug impact. On the other hand, with Starlight 3-Gun coming up, I needed to get a flashlight on the shotgun. Enter Tac-Com. I downloaded the STL file Tim Ubl posts on his website, in this particular case for the railed clamp (and since I have the M2 Tactical, the slightly wider Mossberg friendly version worked better), and 3-D printed myself a nice plastic free-float railed tube clamp. One quick trip to the ACE hardware store to grab some screws and nylok nuts and I was ready to go. The clamp mounted securely and has just enough clearance around the barrel to be able to call it free-floated. The rail was plenty sturdy enough for the flashlight clamp I intended to use. I haven't had a chance to fire it yet, but I am pretty happy with the way it turned out! Kudos to Tim for making STL files available for parts like this. I think this is a very consumer friendly option!

Chuck, will the zeroing range (Independence Range) at Peacemaker be available to us on Thursday afternoon?

Well, I am as ready as I am going to be!

Well, I have mentioned this one in a few previous posts, so here is the finished product. She's dressed up for Starlight 3-Gun right now—it's a Tac/Ops rifle at heart. Before the night shoot shiny got put on, the rifle weighed in at 8 pounds even, with optic. Even with all the extra doo-dads, it's about 9.5 pounds. Right now it has my backup scope, a Primary Arms 1–6x. It's good enough to get used to the rifle, and has the advantage of being a half pound lighter than my better scopes. Upper: Gibbz G4 Side Charging Upper Receiver SLR Solo Ultralite M-LOK 14" Forearm Stretch-16 Strong Side Tactical low-pro Gas Block Carbon Arms Gas Hog RCA Low Mass BCG (thanks, FNH prize table!) Titanium Firing Pin Lower: Aero Precision Ambi Lower Receiver CMC Trigger (thanks, Texas 3-Gun prize table!) JP Silent Captured Spring Battlelink Minimalist Stock Ergo Ambi Grip I don't have too many rounds through it yet, but I can say when I zeroed it I put five rounds of Black Hills 69gr through a single hole the size of a nickle at 50 yards. It also balances very well and I like the weight. The Gas Hog is a very social muzzle brake; there is no muzzle rise and, indeed, probably some downforce in using it. I need to do some doubles on paper to see how it works in practice. The only actual problem so far is that I can't get the bolt to lock back on an empty magazine with any consistency. I tried every SCS spring. At the lightest spring (white) I was actually getting ignition problems. I settled on the green spring and everything runs fine, though still without consistent lockback.

Most BDCs I have seen are based on 5.56 NATO, and I don't get anywhere near that muzzle velocity from anything I actually shoot out of my rifles. I prefer a .5 mil reticle over a BDC, but with good data and a good tool like Strelok+ you can make just about anything work for 3-Gun distances.

I have an 11.5lb 18" gun. I just built a 16" that is coming in at right on 8 pounds (empty) with optic.

Oh, I am all for supporting sponsors of the sport, but when I picked up the PA they were the only ones offering that kind of scope for that price. The next time I need to pick up an extra back-up scope, I will certainly look at the Vortex. Now, is Vortex going to come out with their version of the PA 1–8x FFP?

Well, I think useless is a little strong. Give me a reticle and some zeroing data, and I can have Strelok+ tell me exactly what any given stadia line on that reticle means for any given load. It may be sub-optimal to have a 342yd hash mark, but that doesn't make it useless.

Anyone have this and the Primary Arms 1–6x scope? I am curious how they compare side-to-side, other than the reticle—honestly, crossgun's description sounds like it could have been written about the PA. I also note that they are the same weight and the same price.

Okay, how do I find that root cause? 55gr Atlanta Arms ammo, Stretch 16 barrel with the included gas block, RCA lightweight BCG, and (as of this point) stock JP Silent Captured Spring. (Need to play with spring strengths because right now lockback is intermittent on an empty mag.)

Out of curiosity, which scope died—was it the first gen 1–6x, the second gen 1–6x, or something different?

Mark, is there any good way to tweak to reduce downforce? The square port on the top can be opened up more. But I would try doubles on target. I have yet to see anyone have it overdrive except using NATO loads. A faster powder helps. My "up close and personal" ammo is Atlanta Arms 55gr---don't know what powder they use. Both my g/f and I noticed a tendency towards down-left on follow up shots, but I need to test it out a bit more to see how it looks on paper under game conditions.

Mark, is there any good way to tweak to reduce downforce?

Darn. I was going to ask you to to start scratching up the lens to see how much abuse it can take and still be usable!

I am a righty. I use a VTAC 2-point sling muzzle down (right shoulder to left hip) in front if I don't have to move much. If movement is involved I just rotate it, muzzle following the sling until it is muzzle up (left cheek to right shoulder blade) in back. When it is in front I can shoulder it without removing the sling if need be. When it is in back I just grab the stock with my support hand and pull it forward until the firing hand can grip it, then keep rotating it up into firing position. ETA: Yep, just what's in James's video, except I don't recall ever having to pick up and sling the rifle on the clock, rather than just starting with it slung.

I just put a Carbon Arms Gas Hog (CAGH) on a new upper. I have only fired a few rounds through it for zeroing and a couple of shots offhand, so this is a very preliminary impression... It is an effective comp. I am not going to try and compare it directly to anything else with so little time behind it, but, if anything, it pushed my muzzle down. It is quiet. Not like suppressor quiet, of course, but let me put it in perspective. My zeroing range is closed and covered, open only on the downrange side of the benches. It is a loud space and I would normally shoot with both plugs and muffs. After zeroing that way and thinking it wasn't too bad, I ran a few rounds with the muffs off; with plugs only, it was still comfortable on the ears. I even stood aside (in RO position), plugs only, while somebody else shot the rifle and it was absolutely nothing like the eyeball-flattening experience of standing in the same zip code as an SJC Titan. I think the tradeoff is that the CAGH doesn't actually reduce recoil very much, but is almost entirely focused on reducing muzzle rise, which would be perfectly reasonable for a .223 round. I took some video of my offhand shots and I could see the rifle move straight back into my shoulder but not lift at all. If that impression is correct, then I assume very little gas—hence very little noise and concussion—is coming back uprange.

So we are looking at Friday night awards instead of Saturday night concurrent with the Magpul shoot? That's important to know, as it will save me a night of hotel!

Well, what I need to tune is a Stretch-16 with the included SST gas block and an RCA low-mass steel BCG (more or less—titanium firing pin and Gibbz side-charger special cam pin). First function test cycled great but locked open maybe a quarter of the time on an empty mag. Ammo is 69gr Black Hills. I figure if I set up for that, the 55gr Atlanta Arms will be no problem. The RCA was off a prize table and I only just realized that some of their carriers come with the adjustable gas key—I hadn't even thought to look for that—so I may be able to tune things without changing springs at all. I have to go have a closer look... Either way, my g/f has a pinned 14.5" with a Syrac adjustable and, I think, a Young's low-mass BCG pushing a JP SCS. That will probably only run 55gr FMJ, but it doesn't lock open even with the Syrac at full gas, so I will definitely be fiddling with that one.

Well, I am a righty and I haven't had a problem with strong side load. For one thing, my pistol and rifle mags are opposite the holster on the left side, so the shot shells go in front, which means it's not a huge difference for strong or weak (I have done both). For the vast majority of stages I end up running an Invictus 12Q right in front of my holster, slightly angled to match my strong side grab, then I run an 8Q right behind the holster. That's 20 rounds in good location for strong hand, and they don't get in the way when I go prone. For longer stages, I may add another 8Q in front of the 12Q (so, basically appendix carry position). When needed, I run a Chameleon chest rig, which is easy to rotate out of the way if I need to go prone with it. I am not trying to make you change your mind, of course; I just wanted to point out that there is enough flexibility in equipment location to load with either hand.

Yeah, I watched their video, so propane torch for the screw, and acetone for cleaning off the gunk. So, do you think it makes sense to leave the residue on until I am done testing, then clean and reapply when I am completely done?