Ross Chevalier

Emerson CQC-7B. Light, superb balance, easy to keep sharp - get the Spyderco Sharpening System for any knives you hope to keep properly honed - and "super reliable don't cut your finger off" lock. Yup I'm biased. $ 4 $ you cannot lose with an Ernest Emerson product. Cheers, Ross

FWIW... This is a personal decision, based upon your position on your "I'm happy" curve. AT our clubs we get the big eastern Canadians out for the L1s and higher. Mike Auger and others still come out for the Club level. There is a learning opportunity through observing other shooters, imho of any level. Even if you have achieved a skill level where the Club match doesn't really challenge you, it is a course designed on someone else's time that you could use as a place to play "outside your box", you can try new stuff. I just spent the weekend assisting on an IPSC course (the Black Badge course its called in Canada - you need to pass the course to be a full member of IPSC Canada - it's different in different places) At the end of the two day program, we set up a quick 20 round course for the new grads, just to build a bit of confidence and to help them pull together their new basic skills. All the students were looking forward to running this very simple course. They also wanted all the instructors to run it, and then to break the thing down. I was very pleased to hear people say "wow I saw what you did there, that looked great, why did you do it that way?" Sometimes we all need to be recharged. If I watch Pat or Auger float through a stage, it charges me up to try harder and improve my own standards. If the only thing shooting local club matches did was encourage new shooters, it's worth it. Personal opinion of course. Ross

FWIW for those of you who shoot the Glock for competition, I bought the Advantage Arms .22 top end about 6 months ago. My daughter (11) loves shooting but the 34 was too big, she didn't like the SW41, and she isn't comfortable with the recoil from 9 or 40 yet. This kit slides right onto the 17/22/34/35 frame and is terrific. You're using the same trigger, same grip etc. so it really points out the flinch etc, plus you aren't messing with differences in bio mechanics et. al. (just got my Ron Avery tapes - thanks Brian- can you tell). I don't shoot the Glock in competition, but am very impressed with the AA conversion that I'll be using the Glock in IDPA when I do get out to shoot. This is a great practice/learning tool. Ross

JMOICBW I have a friend with one of the plain Concealed Carry Clothiers vests. The quality is excellent. It also screams "concealed weapon contained herein". The Coronado Leather vests look better, but thou best be slim to pull it off. On the photo vest side, I have a Jim Domke photographers vest, that is quite stiff, and I use for the odd IDPA match around here. Of course, I did buy it for it's intended purpose, that is carrying photo gear... Cheers, Ross

Up here in the Great White North, Sako is handled by Stoeger. Since I assume you are in the USA Dave, the following link should be of help. http://www.sako.fi/dealers.html Cheers, Ross

Interesting, there is definitely a wee bearing in both of mine. R

FWIW I'm a big Sako fan. There are in fact urban counter sniper competitions involving beer caps at 100+ yds. My personal choice is the Sako TRG-21 (since renamed I think to the TRG-22) It is a .308 rifle, with 10 round box magazine, 60 degree bolt and match heavy barrel. I use the Sako muzzle brake as well. It all depends on how serious you want to be. The Remington PSS is a great value out of the box. The Sako is probably the next step up. From there, go to a custom rifle as Kelly has suggested. BTW, the old stereo rule about how much of your budget goes to speakers applies here but in this case to optics. If your optics are excellent and you can learn to read the wind, even a sub-optimal rifle can make a fine sniper weapon. Take a look at the new Springfield White Feather (Carlos Hathcock commemorative) The gear won't make you better, but it can help.

Works for me...

Double Whew We could find this so funny due to a significant increase in the sociological pressure imposed on us to be more politicially correct, and the inherent pressure to feel guilt for appreciating things that fall outside the realm of "acceptability" Or, could be we're just SICK

SS, You're welcome. Ross

Thanks Duane. Will go a huntin for the book this weekend Ross

I saw a repost yesterday of a statement made in the 70's by one of the deans of Canadian journalism (back when journalistic integrity meant something) Mr. Gordon Sinclair. I offer it to all below. "This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States. When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it. When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped. The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans. I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American Planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon - not once, but several times - and safely home again. You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here. When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke. I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake. Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those." Stand proud, America! I have many friends in America, in law enforcement, in business, and in the military. The incredible shock, and the incredible trauma will give way to what America does so well, to turn tragedy into triumph. Others may vocalize this better than I could, but when the stock markets reopen, I recommend investing in the companies that make the paint for the lines in parking lots. There will be plenty of paving coming. My personal preference of course was already done in the Clancy novel Executive Orders, where the extermination of the terrorist head was televised worldwide in real time. "Hello, I am President Bush. Avon calling." Boom! It is just my opinion and I hope I'm right. Canada is with you. Ross

Sorry Pat old friend... the 6.66 isn't you, it's mickey D his own self. Next time you're in line for the ol Big Mac, just remember the last scene in Soylent Green

bd, I don't know the order number for the ban, but I will try to find out. Thanks for your support. Ross

Third vote for the Nike Landsharks - gottem after straining my calves running in deep sand. Also explained clearly to the sales boy at National Sports what they were for. Look of horror followed by great and SPEEDY service. Cheers, Ross

Definitely never met you... Pat needs to be careful around most religious icons, it's that spontaneous combustion thing.... Wait that sounds like me...

Do it Ron. The more we do to encourage people by showing "it can be done" the better. I recently had a pretty long fight with another board member of our IPSC club about his attitude scaring away new shooters. Fortunately I won and he is stepping down. This is our game, and making it appear hard to play, hard to join, or filled with arrogant self-absorbed a-holes doesn't help. Our club isn't perfect but we try. Visibility counts for a lot. Look at the Cowboy folks. Like CAS or not, they bring the people out. Better any kind of shooter than no shooters. (except the unsafe ones of course) Ross

Wow! And Canada used to be the worst place in North America to be a shooter... C'mon up gang. The weather is unpleasant for a while, but the sport is at least growing a bit. We have lots of great shooters up here to learn from and to try to emulate, the local clubs do regular matches, and IDPA and GSSF aren't here to siphon off IPSC shooters. Sorry to hear about the anal-retentive company policy Kath. Everyone at my office knows that I shoot and a lot of them actually ask how the matches went, how may shooters, how I shot.. etc. In fact I have a standing offer to any employee that if he or she wants to try shooting, no matter what it is, pistol, revolver, rifle or shotgun, I will make the time to take them out. Conversion factor is running higher than the politicos would have you believe. Now if we could just get dubyuh to rescind slick willie's ban on shipping gun parts worth more than $100USD to the great white north things would be fine. Cheers, Ross

Kath, Well said. My only fear of course is that you're preaching to the choir. Cheers, Ross

To the original question I think, here's my data fwiw 7.2gr N350 with WestCoast 124 gr make 172 out of the STI Grandmaster (describes the gun not me I assure everyone) Ross

Thanks all for your help so far. I have actually found a solution to the base pad question that I have tested on my own Glock mags, and except for the smoke, melted plastic and caustic fumes - it works great. Pat, as I have said many times, your ability to decipher polite cryptography is outstanding. Ross

IMHO, I like the advice given about selecting the mainspring housing based upon natural impact points. For me, I prefer an arched housing on the SVI for the same reason I like the frame style on GLocks and HKs. Ross

Hey gang, I just returned from the Quebec provincials (great match btw) and the buddy i drove up with is a very solid shooter who has gotten to A with a Glock 35. He has tried my new SVI (I smell a convert shortly) and noted a few things about his Glock he would like to change. So I thought I'd ask the experts for opinions. 1) He doesn't use a magwell at all, and plans his stage execution to allow for max time for mag changes. Can anyone recommend a mag well for the G35 that is proven for Limited 10? 2) We were shooting in fairly sandy conditions and he had a couple of jams because the Glock mags are so very difficult to disassemble. Any thoughts on this, including different base pads, shaving the locking ridges, etc. 3) He has to use that mag loader to get the last round into the mag. I remember this from the days of my STI mags, and he was somewhat envious of the ease of loading of my new SVI mags. When he loads a full magazine, he really has to whack it into place. Does anyone have any suggestions? Someone mentioned clipping back on the spring, but this individual is known for being a bit "creative" when unencumbered by facts. Do any of you use extended base pads such as the ones from Lightning Strike that are just longer but add no extra rounds? We cannot add rounds in Canada so pads like the Dawson unit just add trouble. Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks a bunch. Ross

Bill, Patrick and Kelly, thanks a bunch for the comments. Since I've never tried removing the flash hider, does anyone have recommendations on a comp and installation process I could perform myself? Thanks, Ross

SS For the definitive low-down on Astro Glide, you should speak to Mike Fletcher. :biggrin Fair warning now given