Rob Boudrie

If the hit was below the circle, there is no power factor which, under the rules, "should" knock down the popper. There is also no rule which mandates that poppers which do go down when hit in the circle have the same amount of tolerance for off-circle hits. What is relevant is if hits on the circle were failing to take down the popper. Also, the rules require that the 9mm ammo be chronoed out of the test gun and a record maintained - although matches have been known to overlook this point. I guess they had the need for a calibration gun figured out by Sunday since the RO wore a 9x19 which I assume was for calibrary.

The left popper on the Klondike stage received numerous calibration requests, but as of the time I shot (my first stage on Sunday) every one had passed. The RO mentioned that even low .45 hits would not take it down, but that it passed every 9mm calibration test.

Many of the stages had a variety of shooting strageties where the choice was not obvious except to someone of very high skill. Do I take the head shot or take the time to move a couple of steps for an easy full target shot? Do I take the swingers from further back to eliminate an entire shooting position or move to the easy position to play it safe? Do I try for that very quick popout or take it later as a stationary target? If I take it as a stationary target do I do the atypical (for a right handedshooter) step of going to the rightmost position first since a bit more is exposed after activation than before (shooting this target before activation was permitted, and actually made for good stage design in this case). Target distances ranged from a few feet (4 targets) to 30+ yards and everything in between. Shooters who think that short targets ruin a match had plenty of changes to shoot stages where many shooters were throwing M's due to the distance involved. There was also a decent assortment of poppers, US poppers and plates at distances that were reasonable, but not "speed shooting" range. Stage selection was definitely "US Style" - lots of long stages, no speed shoots, and all Comstock (the one stage advertised as Virginia Count was altered and ended up Comstock). There were no mandatory reloads, an almost totally freestyle approach (with the occasional "Steel must be shot from this box" directive), and no designated single hand shooting. All in all a great match.

Great match - thanks to everyone who put it on. Match Director Scott Chapman told he he would not have access to post scores to the web until Monday evening, and that the posting period for corrections would remain open until about thursday or Friday. The results upload system is working fine - if you are having trouble email me (rob@boudrie.com) with the club code or major match name as well as the password you thing should work. Rob

I hadn't really thought of ordering the USPSA Plate until Andy Hollar told me about the time he was in Fredriksburg, VA for the Ltd Nationals and someone pulled up next to hm at a stop light, noticed his USPSA Colorado license plate, and asked if he was Boudrie. I took it as a sign. Any LEO's on this list who can run a 50 state search and report on how many don't have USPSA assigned yet?

They really underrate his accomplishment: Assuming they are talking about open, the correct figure is .8%, not 5%. If they are talking only about classified shooters, rather than shooters with classifications on file, the total rises to 2.43%. Either way it's nowhere near 5% - and certainly not "5% of shooters in the country"

Do I make runner up?

Google shows that many others also have ticket number 56475600545. You may want to call them and ask if each of you will get the full prize or if the prize will be shared, before you pay the transfer fee and/or taxes which, as a matter of protocol, must be paid in advance and cannot simply be deducted from your winnings. A few years ago, the IPSC list won a big Irish lottery. I told Ivan K. he could keep half the $$ in return for collecting the winnings. Ivan - where's my million?

Prior to 1994, Glock voluntarily restricted sales of its 33 round 9mm lamaginex to LEO/Govt only - even though it was perfectly legal to sell to civilians. I don't know if they have relaxed that restriction in the post 2004 era. I'm not sure exactly why Glock did that, since they have always been one of the strongest supporters of shooting sports and civilian ownership.

One of the big problems with on line shopping carts is security. It is much, much easier to have a shopping cart you THINK is secure than it is to have one which IS secure. Sometimes system security ends up wiht the equivalent of a Medeco lock on a hollow core wood door with a glass window . I have used Americart and CoolCart for a number of sites, but generate the HTML to submit to the cart from a Perl/Mysql/PHP database setup - which gives me absolute control over what is goes to the cart. It also allows USPSA (and others) to add new products to their store via a control panel without HTML programming or use of FTP. This allows me to let Americart or CoolCart worry about the security while I concentrate on other issues. In other cases, I collect the data and then transition to Authorize.net for CC# collection. In each case, I am relying a company which specializes in maintaining a hardened system for the actual processing of credit card numbers. [ Incidentally, Brian Enos uses Cool Cart, however, I am not sure what he uses to create the HTML - I'll ask him at dinner this weekend ] I looked at OS Commerce and liked it - but was concerned about the need to "harden" the server to be secure against highly motivated and well funded attackers. OS Commerce is nice, but to run it effectively, you need a "hardened" server. Consider the following: (1) OS Commerce runs on PHP + MySQL (2) About a year ago, security flaws were found in PHP, and a corrective update issued. Now ask yourself: (3) Did the OS Commerce users apply the PHP patch within 24 hours of release? (4) Did the OS Commerce based vendor send all existing customers a notice "a security flaw was found, and we have no way to know if it was exploited on our site, so we are notifying you?" (5) Does your vendor, or their sysadmin, stay current on all security issues for the server's os? (6) Does your vendor have any unencrypted ports on the server open? Is the MySQL port 3301 open? Is unencrypted FTP allowed? Does the vendor use unencrypted FTP to upload code, but use secure sockets (https://) on the customer visible end? What about Telnet, cifs, nfs, rsh, etc? If you don't understand these questions you probabaly can't evaluate security directly but will end up taking someone's word for it For me, security came first followed by features.

The DMM (Domestic Mail Manual) has a policy for just about everything related to mail delivery in the US. It would be interesting to see if the mail carrier is authorized to refuse delivery.

How did that work? Did the police refuse to take a report on someone in posession of stolen property?

Photos please!

It is very important to make sure each of your loads fully chambers at any rotational orientation (one reason I use a Case Pro). Handguns will fire "out of battery" - the only question is "how much out of battery?" This amount varies from imperceptiable to significant and varies between models of guns and even between samples of a given model. It is not impossible to get tolerance stackup - a slightly weak case, fired from a slightly out of battery condition most cases would tolerate - and kaboom!

Ore more factor in the 40 S&W vs 45 equation: 40 S&W brass is among the cheapest brass to buy one fired surplus. With a bit of looking, you can get 40 S&W brass for less than the cost of primers and not ever worry about picking it up.

Call and talk to Patricia and explain why you are interested in buying an evaluation sample. She may be able to help, and definitely has the authority to make descisions on such requests.

I spoke to a S&W technical service person about this over the weekend. He was not in the office so he could not give me the info on specific parts (he'll follow with me via email), however, he told me there are a couple reasons some parts are restricted sale. Some parts require fitting, and are not "drop in." Other parts may come in several variants (different dimensions) and/or require checking specific part in the gun to make sure the individual specimin is suitable for that gun. [ I can hear the whirring and Eli Whitney spins in his grave ]. These parts are available to factory warrantee stations and police departments (which generally have factory trained armorers on staff). So, it appears there is a rational reason for this approach.

I have good luck getting Federal primers from Bekirch's in East Rochester, NY. If you live in the east you can generally get delivery on their truck (no hazmat) for a $1000 minimum order, though you'll probably need an FFL or club account. On top of that, they are great people and the driver is a Beikirch's employee who will help you unload, not a union driver who will limit his activities to his formal job description. They also have a walk-in sales counter for those of you near Rochester. It's also a great place for getting the larger size containers of the mainstream powders (Winchester, Hodgdon, IMR, Alliant - but not VV ). I haven't seen to many shops which carry 12lb cans of IMR 7625. They're not a great source of bullets unless you want one of the premium brands (Hornady, Speer, etc.)

Add "a lot" vs "allot" vs. the non-word "alot"

USPSA has been maintaining a database of SS classifier scores so we will have some data in the event this becomes a regular division at the end of the trail period. Some info: Earliest SS classifier on file: January 1, 2006 2550 SS scores on file 809 unique members with at least one SS score on file 202 different clubs 650 classifier stages submitted

Glock now requires their armorers to sign an agreement of "professional practices" at the conclusion of the course in order to obtain the certification. This agreement requires that armorers not sell or otherwise provide parts without installing them on a customer's gun. The big difference would appear to be the amount of "leakage" in the process at the various companies, rather than a fundamental difference in policy.

Julie Goloski now works for S&W (wordo corrected), and no doubt has the ability to relay your concerns to the people who make the decisions on such matters.

Mike - does this mean you would have to fly to CA for the premiere?

This is no different than any other company paid expense where you make the purchase. If you've ever checked into a "direct paid" hotel, you'll notice the registraton form contains your agreement to pay he bill if the company doesn't. The real challange is getting to the point where you pay for cars and houses in cash - that way, collection agencies have much less leverage. At that point, all you have to do is send them a "do not contact me" letter, after which only the owner of the debt or law firm filing legal action may contact you.

Credit cards offer several advantages over debit cards, and are just fine if you pay in full every month (the industry has a term for those of us who pay in full every month - "deadbeat"). 1. If there is a fradulent or erroneous charge with a credit card, the default state is that you have the money. If it's a debit card, the other party has the money. In the event the resolution process does not result in an amicable solution, who would you prefer have the $$ by default [ keep the card at a bank where you do not have accounts to avoid the right of setoff ] 2. An erroneous or fradulent charge on a debit card can start a cascade of bounced checks. Sure, the bank will refund it's fees when the fraud/error is reported - but do you really think they are going to reimburse you for all the businesses which imposed bad check fees due to the shortage of funds in your account?