JWBaldree

For IDPA, Center Target Sports in Post Falls. Indoor range. Not sure if they still have it or not. For USPSA there are two active clubs in Spokane. Sharp Practical Shooters shoots out of Sharp Indoor Range. This match is well run and fills up fast, generally the 4th Sunday. The other is Inland Northwest Action Shooters, generally the 2nd Saturday. This one is held at the Spokane Rifle Club; the host club greatly restricts movement. Both of those clubs move outdoors to the Spokane Valley Rifle Pistol Club in late March. If you don't mind driving, the Tri cities area has a real good club, Eastern Washington Practical Shooters. No web site, so information is generally found by looking up Rattlesnake Mountain Range. USPSA, Steel, and maybe IDPA? Euphrata and Yakima host monthly steel matches. If you've seen Patrick Kelly's videos this is where he generally films them. In the Spokane area, I hold a hybrid steel match, copied from Rio Salado's Tuesday Night Steel. This is held at the Spokane Valley Range on Wednesday afternoon / evenings, and starts up mid-April. If we have a light snow winter, I may do some weekends after the first of the year. Hope this helps, feel free to PM me if I can answer any other questions.

Tried to shoot a match yesterday with my PCC, and had the firing pin break on the first stage. Sucks to be me. Knew something was majorly wrong so I just bagged the gun and RO'd the rest of the match. Pulled it apart tonight and found the pin in two pieces. Total round count less than 250. I'm going with bad heat treat, and will be calling New Frontier tomorrow, but does any one know if there is another mfg's proven firing pin that will work? Thanks in advance.

She is liking metal framed guns a lot. I've had her try various plastic framed guns, P-09, S&W, Glock 34 and a Springfield 5,25. She was pretty much like "Meh" on all of them. She just likes the recoil impulse of the heavier guns. Plastic would be way more economical for Dad, but whatever works for her.

Starting to look like a 75 Shadow Custom build. I think I know where I can get my hands on a Rami, just for her to get a feel for the thin safeties preference wise. Does anyone know if a 85 slide stop will fit in a 75 Shadow, or if that would be worth doing? I'm assuming it can be done, and that the value of doing it is going to be a user preference thing, so probably a goofy question.

Thanks for the responses and the clarification. This is what I was missing to keep my logic train on track.

Shot a match that used 03-07 Riverdale Standards for a classifier. This requires 3 strings of fire on four targets. String 1 is shoot one on each target freestyle, reload, and shoot one on each freestyle. String 2 is shoot one on each target freestyle, reload, and shoot one on each target SHO. String 3 is shoot one on each target WHO. Anyhow, a shooter was one shot into string 2 when his gun broke in a big way, and he was unable to finish the COF. As this stage was already a zero for him (plus he had bigger gun issues), we didn't spend too much time debating about assessing FTE's. However, the question did come up as to whether FTE's should be assessed for the targets not engaged on Strings 2 and 3. Some thought it didn't matter as the targets were all engaged on String 1. Some argued that each string is to be treated separately with respect to FTE's. All agreed it was a moot point in this case regardless as the score was a zero either way. And most agreed it would have been an issue if his gun had puked toward the end of String 3 instead of where it did. I haven't found anything in the rule book regarding the issue. What say the hive on this one?

Started my 15yo daughter on steel and USPSA over the last year. She has been liking the sport and is starting to get into it more. She has been using a 9mm 1911, but is starting to like my CZ Shadow Custom. Thinking about setting her up with her own CZ production gun. As she is wrong (left) handed, we've been eyeballing the 85 as well as the Decocker models. The 85 seems like a no brainer being totally ambi, but she pretty much slingshots from slide lock, so the ambi slide release feature isn't that much of a feature. i was thinking of a decocker as it would eliminate bumping into the safety, and she wouldn't have to deal with lowering the hammer by hand at make ready. She is more than capable of performing that task, but it seems like girl hands and safeties don't always play nice with accidental bumping. Has anyone else gone through this with a lefty with smaller hands? Advice appreciated.

Alan, thanks for the compliment.

I've pondered your question more than a few times. I was active in a club in Phoenix that drew approximately 50 new shooters to its practice match every year, but would only retain 2 or 3 of those as continuing shooters. Kind of frustrating. I'm now in North Idaho and working on growing a club here. In Phoenix, most of the new shooters we got were either friends of existing shooters, or they saw some info about the club at the main range and decided to give it a try. From the people that I've introduced to the sport that have tried and 'died', so to speak, most have just been plain intimidated by the skill level that they perceive, even when they are looking at C or B shooters. In other words, USPSA kind of crushes their egos. Take a guy that thinks he is hot stuff with his group of friends or at the main range, and turn him loose on a 32 round memory course with activators / swingers / no shoots, etc, and watch the buzz kill. Now this guy can be kicking ass on his first match, but if he is comparing himself to a C class shooter who has been doing this awhile he is going to have problems. That C class shooter won't be thinking about safe gun handling, will probably have his routines down if a gun malf occurs, and will probably have at least a basic stage plan. First time shooter, not so much. As a side note, most new female shooters don't have ego problems, and if they have a good time they will come back regardless of their performance. My girls play club softball, and I see the same things with new kids that show up for tryouts every year. They have an expectation of how good / cool they are, and suddenly they find out they have a lot of work to do. The majority give up in the first five minutes, you can see it in their attitudes and emotions. But there are always a few that keep a twinkle in their eye and you can tell they want to learn to play with the cool kids. Same thing with new shooters to USPSA matches. As a partial solution, I would suggest adding a simple practice match along the lines of Rio Salado's Tuesday Night Steel. Scoring is simple, time plus. Targets are simple, steel plate. People can get through the match simply and quickly. It is an easy format for new shooters to compete in. Will you still have perception / ego problems? Sure. But try to minimize them. As far as advertising goes, your best bet will be friends of friends and interest from your main ranges. One would think LGS's would promote the living out of matches, but they don't. Never understood why. Have a web page or facebook where people can find you easily as well. Good luck.

Hey Crash, good for you starting a new match / club. The first few matches will be a ton of work. Been there done that. If you haven't gotten any more volunteers by now, it is time to start advertising for some. Let it be known that you need the help, and more than likely people will respond, especially if they have been enjoying shooting your match. Also be aware that a group of locals will show up and watch everyone else work, only to start bitching if the match doesn't start on time. Every club has this group, and every club learns to ignore them. When you design your stages, have an equipment list for each stage. When people start showing up to help, put someone in charge of each bay, hand them the stage design and equipment list, and let them get busy. As match director you need to supervise and delegate. If someone else can do a task, let them. For club level matches, you should be able to set up on the day of in two hours or less. Setting up the night before is generally a hassle for all involved. Burnout is real, so try and drive volunteer spirit from any and all in your club. The more people involved who can multi task the better. Nothing kills a club faster than having one person be sole guiding force, only to have that person get ill, job transfer out of state, or succumb to other life events. What this means is that you will have to build up a club, and then start turning over the responsibilities for your 'baby' to others. In the end the club will be better for it. Good luck and have fun with it.

I'm looking for a Czechmate

From Las Vegas you have St George, Phoenix and LA all within 4 hours. That gives you area 1, area 2, Western States Single Stack, plus whatever you can find in CA. That should keep you entertained for awhile. Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

I remember the conversation I had when I decided to do my first match. Asked my gunsmith / competitor guru about which gun, holster, mags, blah blah blah. He said just use what you are most comfortable with and have fun, because you won't be winning anything. He then told me that my first job was to go slow and be safe, don't do anything dumb like throw the gun down range while attempting a speed draw, and to make sure I get invited back. Use your first match as a learning experience about the game, not the equipment. And watch out for the adrenalin dump after you shoot your first stage. Follow the ro's commands, and don't take too much advice your first few times out. Focus on safe gun handling, and all we will be good. Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

Weired the stuff you subconcioisly do. I was shooting Outer Limits for the first time in five years last weekend. I shoot single stack and production, so normally I am reloading between arrays. You can guess what happened when I moved between boxes. Took me three runs to break the habit. As to the original question, I usually breakdown stages by shots per array or position. 8, 6, 8, 4, etc. With low cap, I usually track make up shots to avoid standing slide lock reloads. Subconciously run the stage, but conciously track errors until I can get back on my automated program. Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

CHA-LEE, think 1911 / 2011 for a moment. Like an AR, the safety cannot be applied until the gun is cocked, and that cannot happen until the make ready command is given. Pistol shooters engage their safeties at different times during LAMR, depending on their routines and preferences and no one particularly cares, as long as it's done before the gun is holstered. Since we can't holster an AR, I would defer giving the stand by command until the competitor has assumed the required start position. What needs clarifying, and what you pointed out, is what exactly is the penalty for disengaging the safety after stand by but before the beep. Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

Why not Les Baer hard chrome? Its their gun after all. If you have a respectable amount of rounds through it, might as well have them give it a once over as well. I went this route with my Premier II when I moved from AZ to North ID and discovered what rust is. Worked for me, finish has been very durable and I'm back to my lazy cleaning schedule. Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

Carrier latch feels like it has a little vertical play, normal? Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

Box stock internals. Just a Nordic tube that holds 9 rounds. Gun has been used more for 5 stand flurry shoots than anything else. Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

Ran my M1 at a shotgun side match today and it death jammed by trying to spit two shells onto the carrier. First time it's done that, and I was more concerned with clearing it and spouting off technical shooting terms than trouble shooting the problem. Soooo, anyone else have the problem and what do I need to look for? Thanks in advance. Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

I rum the same two pistols, a Premier II in SS and a Shadow Custom in production. If you ride the safety on your 1911, you will do the same on your CZ. The whole question becomes a non issue. Also, I like the fat CZ safety as it feels like the Baer *thumb rest [generic]*. Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

There really is no one size fits all applications suppressor. Rifle cans are too heavy to work with pistols, pistol cans were never meant to work with rifle pressures, and .22 is too nasty to put through centerfield cans long term. Having said that, 9mm works in .45 cans, .223 works in .30 cans. Subguns and PCC tend to suppress better with old school volumetric designs. Full auto rated.22 cans are nice, but do you really need one? 1 would suggest a nice 22 aluminum can like the Bowers Paradigm. Great suppression, great warranty, great cleaning service too. For pistols, a Silencerco Osprey in .45, with inserts to fit what you need. If you have a PCC as well, then switch to the Octane. For rifle, Surefire in the biggest caliber that you think you will suppress. Add QD mounts as needed. You can also get more informed info at a NFA sight such as Subguns.com. Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

What are you looking for with the change of scenery? How about prescott, flagstaff, payson, etc if you want to stay close to shooting opportunities, because you are going to be hard pressed to top the Phoenix area. Not sure of anyplace else that you can shoot a match every tuesday, thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Not saying that there aren't other cool ranges, or clusters of cool ranges, but you will be driving, a lot. Ask me how I know. I relocated from Phoenix to North idaho, mainly for change of scenery. Everything is at least two hours from my house. However, a lot of ranges have there act together. The ones that come to mind are SPS in Spokane, EWPSA in Richland, the Missoula and Hamilton Montana clubs, and of course Parma at the MGM range. Shooting oportunities, but driving a lot. I know Seattle has a lot going on, but figure 2 hour drive times to hit most weekends, whereas as Rio is, well, Rio. Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

I'm starting to lose my sense of humor over this. Every so often I get a 9mm that goes bang but the case expands and sticks in the chamber. The case has to be pounded out with a range rod. The brass ahead of the case web expands to .395, everything else looks normal. Details of load are: Mixed hedstamp brass, WSP primers, 3.4 or 3.7 Titegroup (3.4 in Glock 34, 3.7 in subguns), 147 gn Berry's bullet RN, seated to 1.15, crimped at .378. All ammo loaded on a Dillon 550, same as I've been doing for 27 years. Every 100th round charge is weighed when refilling primers, no more than .1 gn variation. Am I just getting "tired" brass, because some of it is probably old, or is something else screwy? Does Titegroup cause the problem, because I never had it before when using 231 or Bulseye. Problem has been occuring over the last half year, and in 9mm only. Thanks in advance for any advice, Jim Baldree Phoenix, AZ

Okay, I'm using Wilson / Rogers mags in my Les Baer. For no reason in particular, a few formerly reliable mags no longer want to fall out of the mag well when there are three or less rounds remaining in the mag. Second time this has happened. The first time I sent two back to Wilson which they replaced at no charge. Getting ready to send two more back, but I would like to know is causing the problem. No visible damage, and the mags are clean. Nothing sticking out inside the mag well either. It seems like the mags just get mysteriously bulged after a while. Thanks in advance, Jim Baldree Phoenix, AZ

Anyone make a decent mag pouch for FAL mags? I'm going to be shooting the SMM3G for the first time and doing it in heavy metal. Anyone have any experience with this match as regards to number of spare mags I should carry? Thanks in advance, Jim