sledgee

I've been out of town, but wanted to thank everyone for the help--especially parsonm1 (Marvin). I love it when the indicated course of action is to not worry, and just go shooting. So I think I will... Joe

I'm happy with the 3 3/4# trigger in my Springfield 1911. It's very crisp, and has never doubled. I noticed the other day that a fairly hard pull on the trigger will drop the hammer from half-cock to fully down. I know this isn't correct, but is it something I should be worried about? If so, why? Thanks. Joe

Kurt- Got your email, and replied, but it bounced back. I already bought a TA 51 from Brownell's. Thanks anyway. Let me know what 3 gun opportunities you find (or start) around OKC. I'm just 3 hours west of there, with no 3 gun nearby. glockster96- Looks like you're about 4+ hours from me. How can I find out more about your matches? (Especially schedule). Thanks. Joe

Teuton, I paid $235 for a synthetic stocked, 28" vent-rib 1100 at WalMart on closeout. That's a screamin' deal, of course, but it's not hard to find a good used 1100 for around that. I paid Cabela's $140 for a rifle-sighted 21" barrel, but I didn't have to do that. I paid Brownell's $20 for an Ashley post front sight, $30 for a Choate tube, and $30 for an Easy Loader. I installed them, and opened up and dehorned the rear sight. It came with a clean, sub-4 lb. trigger--the best shotgun trigger I've ever had. That's it. Runs great, and I shoot it way better and faster than I ever did my Benelli. It points better for me, shoots softer, and there's that trigger. I've got $455 in it, but that's with two barrels. I agree, if you don't want to or can't do your own work, $700 for a ready-to-race 1100 ain't bad, but it's not hard to put one together for a lot less. Joe

Kurt, You mentioned on the Holosight thread that you have "worked out a way" to shoot your TA 11 well at close range. I have a TA 50 3x Compact ACOG, which also has the BAC, so should work similarly to the TA 11. Have you developed something other than the "Bindon Aiming Concept", wherein one looks at the target with his off-side eye, and sees the lit reticle superimposed on-target, but without actually looking at the magnified sight picture? I haven't used mine enough yet to know if that system is going to work for me, and would appreciate any advice. Good show by the RM3G boys at SMM3G! Poodle Shooter Joe (was M14 Joe)

Thanks, Les. That's exactly the kind of info I was looking for. Joe

I shot a Benelli for years. No complaints. It worked. Then, a couple of years ago, I decided to give up match shooting. I sold the Benelli, 'cause I couldn't hit dick with it through the ghostring; that is, anything flying. I bought a 28" 1100, and I shot it better on birds than any gun I've ever shot before, including a Beretta O/U. I'm damn near certain on pheasants, and doves need fear me. Then I missed combat shotgunning, and particularly 3 gun competition. So I'm back. I bought a 21" rifle-sighted barrel. I mounted an Ashley vertical white line blade, opened up and dehorned the Remington rear, and fitted an Easy-Loader (what an egregiously executed, excellent idea. I pity those without skill who believe that it is easily fitted, as per the instructions). I shoot the 1100 way better and faster than I ever shot my Benellis. I have not yet seen my first malfunction, but I've only got about 1000 rounds through it. Those who quibble about cyclic rates leave me far behind, as my shotgun splits approach .40, if I am to hit my next target. I find the open irons to allow a sliding, "acceptable" sight picture, which is often not much of a sight picture at all. It's just a two-eyed point, which is of course what wingshooting is about. When precision is required, I can shoot <5MOA with slugs @ 100 yards, with my 1100 and WW asskickicking slugs. At 1500fps+, they are thumpy, but very accurate. The ghostring seemed to require a more precise alignment, even when it wasn't necessary. Maybe just me, but still an issue for me. I have seen many Remingtons puke at matches, though, and have not seen a Benelli do so. Given that I have a reliable 1100, are there any steps that I should take to avoid disappointment? Any parts I should replace? I really like the gun, and want to avoid problems. Thanks. Joe

Sky walker76- I'm considering coming over for this match. Shotguns are just too much fun. If I come over, I definitely want to go visit friends in Switzerland after the match. Rather than travel all over and cross two international borders with a shotgun, I wonder if there would be any way I could leave my shotgun at the match, and pick it up a week or so later in Terni, or, preferably, Rome. Do you know of any Romans who will be at the match who might keep it for me? Will my permit to have a shotgun in Italy be flexible enough in departure date to allow this? Thanks for being so helpful. *************** Kurt- Have you looked into getting a slot from USPSA yet? If so, what's the drill? The best airfares I'm finding are running around a grand. You? Joe

Kurt- Yeah, thinning the front sight doesn't do anything to change the alignment advantages of a longer sight radius. The rifle, er, carbine in question is a Dissipator, though, so there's no place to go forward with a front. I definitely prefer the sight picture now, though, just as I prefer a .100 pistol sight to a .125. Know anyone who has fooled with those crosshair replacement fronts? Thanks. Joe.

I've always thought that the iron sight picture offered by the M14 was just purely perfect. Unlike my friend and patient tutor Kurt Miller, I never considered the NM front, even for Highpower, and I'm a way better Highpower shooter than 3 gunner. 3 gunning revs my engines, though. Been fooling with AR sights, and wondering why I can't shoot the Mousegun as well, slowfire. So I checked the sight radii, and saw that the 14 has 27", and the 16 20". A little obvious arithmetic indicates that a 16 front should be 74% as wide as a 14 sight, to appear the same size. My 14 sight is .072. I was shooting for .052 as I worked down a 16 sight, but I ended up with everything square, centered, and vertical at .049. Good enough. It definitely seems to offer more precision on my 2MOA dryfire target out the picture window (a power line insulator). It's 4 degrees and blowing nine-0 today in the Texas Panhandle, so I'll just have to wait and see, but I think I've stumbled onto something for the long-range use of my iron-sighted AR15. I know that when I first read KellyN saying that Bennie Cooley uses an .035 front, I thought that was plumb crazy. I don't think that anymore. Awful fragile, though. Even my .049 sight is very fragile. I could probably bend it with my fingertip. I wonder about that crosshair front sight for the 16. Seems like the crosshair might be tits for longrange small targets, and the rim useful for hosing, like JP's DoubleRing Sights. Thoughts? Thanks. Joe

Hmmm... I just don't get this fixation on more and more 3 gun classes, as some solution to a non-existent problem. I'm all for being friendly to new shooters. Fact is, I've never been to a 3 gun match where the atmosphere was otherwise. 3 gunners are among the friendliest people I've ever met. At one of my first few matches, I saw Kurt run an M14. I fell in love. No, not with Kurt. With his M14. But he has helped me whenever I have asked since. I am not competitive with him, but I don't doubt that he would help me if I was. I've seen Kurt and his brother Eric bring several new guys into the sport. One of my two or three best friends in the world, Blane West, adopted me at my first match, and has been coaching me ever since. I truly believe that Blane enjoys my occasional successes as much as he does his own. I have since seen him adopt others, including speedy Hmongs. When said speedy Hmong showed up at one of his first few matches, I traded him out of his junk Winchester aluminum base 1 oz. shotshells, because they wouldn't run in his Benelli. Then he beat me. With my shells. I was glad to help. The last thing I would have wanted at my first match was being taken out of the normal deal, though, and the timer turned off, and told my 243 Ruger No. 1 entitled me to shoot each target once instead of twice, and my Citori and Contender are just swell, etc. That's not a match at all! How does that shooter know where he stands? Of course, as Kurt says, I've never seen a person so equipped at a match anyway. AKs, Mossbergs, and Llamas, sure, but not single-shots and over-unders. Come on! It's a shootin' match! I'm all grown up! I don't want to be patronized. Hell, D Class is Newbie class. When I bring a Newbie to a match, I tell him a few things. I say, "You think everyone's watching you. Well, you're right. But they don't care how fast or cool you are. Everyone here cares how safe and sensible you are. Don't run. Walk. Make your hits, however long it takes. That will earn EVERYONE'S respect. Shoot slowly and carefully, and you will do well in D Class. And you will definitely win the respect of the men here. We were all once new shooters." That's my advice. Never been DQ'ed; never been last place. Take care. Joe (Edited by sledgee at 8:45 am on Dec. 15, 2002)

Kurt, Maybe I'm slandering Federal unfairly then. It's been a couple of years since I bought any Wal-Mart promo shells, and I was thinking I had trouble with both the Federal and the Winchester, but maybe it was just the aluminum-based Winchester. If the Federal works for the Rocky Mountain 3 gun gods, who am I to argue? BTW, I've kind of cooled on scout scopes. I'm hunting with a 1.75-6X VXIII these days. (Don't tell CC). Oh, and we had a GREAT dove season here! Joe

Mistral- If you mean you are worried about safety using slugs in a modified choke, don't be. Not a problem. The 1100 barrel I'm fooling with puts 3 WW full-boat slugs into <3" at 50 yards, with the Mod Remchoke installed. Not exceptional, but plenty good enough. This same setup holds 7" patterns at 15 yards with Brenneke 00 Buck, and that IS pretty special for a factory barrel/choke combination. Now I need to get it to open up to about double that with a 1 1/8 oz load for 3 gun. Shouldn't be hard, as it shoots most buck about that way. Any common lead factory load can be safely fired through any common factory barrel/choke combination. (Same chamber length, of course). Including slugs. With the liability vultures so prevalent, manufacturers couldn't afford for it to be otherwise. The way barrels/chokes/ loads will work together is pretty unpredictable. You just have to 'speriment. Regarding Wal-Mart ammo. It sucks. Here in Texas, I can buy Remington 1 1/8 oz Heavy Dove 3 1/4 dram loads, in either 6 or 7 1/2, for about the same money by the case at Academy Sports (a big chain). That Winchester aluminum base crap Wal-Mart sells is the worst shotgun ammo ever made, and Wal-Mart Federal isn't much better. Joe

Thanks, All. That's pretty definitive. Guess I'll try to fit it today. Any tips on that? Whether/how short to cut the forks? (Edit: Never mind. I went ahead and cut the forks back about 3/4", and fitted it. Big improvement!) Hi Dean. Yeah, I'll be in Raton. I'm slated to help out with the match. Probably see you before that at some RM3G matches next Spring, though. Joe (Edited by sledgee at 8:00 am on Dec. 2, 2002)

I'm outfitting an 1100 for 3 gun competition. Does anyone load fast using the stock release button, or do all good 1100/11-87 shooters use the Easy Loader? I also use the gun (with different barrel) for bird hunting, and hate to hang that hay fork on the bottom of it, but the small button definitely slows me down compared to the Benelli I used to shoot. I'm wondering if enough training will solve the problem. I'm aware that I can cut the Easy Loader down, but it's still a big old thang. Thanks. Joe

Hey, Kurt: Looks like the cavalry arrived in the last week or so, but an excellent holding action until they did! Many of us prefer 3 gun, and came to 3 gun, because it is primarily hard men shooting real guns. We need not be ashamed of that. The men who run big 3 gun matches are not generally UN types, so it only makes sense that individual match directors will each do things a little differently. So be it. The UN types who insist on uniformity can be safely ignored in 3 gun, I reckon. At least it seems to have worked so far. Oh, the He-man class is VERY cool. I think I see your imprint on that...Sadly, I can't see the best sights ever put on a rifle (M1/M14) well enough anymore, so must use the AR15/ACOG option. Ain't no He-man no more...gone and got old. I've also recently moved to an 1100 from a Benelli, and my 20 3/4" Remington factory barrel couldn't meet the 1" rule with 8+1 tube. So I went to the 7+1 tube. Therefore, I fully support the 8-round maximum rule. For everyone, everywhere, forever. Keep thinking real-world. Competition need not be irrelevant. It just usually is. Joe (Edited by sledgee at 5:37 am on Dec. 1, 2002)

Blane, You knew I'd have to join up when you mentioned open class "holsters". I used to design an occasional stage for RM3G, and mine were always 2 gun. You'd think I'd required all open class shooters to shoot with a Bic pen 3 inches up their noses the way they whined about having to actually MOVE with a holstered pistol. Pistol holsters are for holding your pistol while you do other stuff. If that thing on your belt won't hold your pistol while you do other stuff, it's not a holster. And that's not MY fault. Simple. Joe (Edited by sledgee at 4:28 pm on Nov. 30, 2002)