Steve Anderson

I've been taking GC once a day for two months now and my formerly chronic knee pain is history. I used to have a slight limp every morning and every night from old BMX injuries and just plain bad joints. One of my employees used to manage a GNC and recommended this stuff. I was skeptical, but the stuff either works great or is a damn fine placebo. Either way, I like it. SA

...NAKED!...

Maybe this is the reason many pros start their own companies for training or distribution. They can make money in the biz, but are still shooting for themselves at the end of the day. Thanks for the perspective Phil. I was hoping to get some inside insight. Tell your sponsor I just switched to WCB partly because of you, and partly because of a mention by Ernest Langdon. They just seem to be a little higher quality than Berry's. I wish they offered more HPs, though. Steve

Course these next few weeks it'll be "Kyle Farris, perspiring USPSA shooter" Damn Ohio Summers. SA

...Nevertheless I charged forward, engaging the spinning targets, which were actually...

With all due respect to all parties involved... Why not just learn to shoot a good double action frst shot? Or if it's that big a deal, get an SA gun and change divisions.

If you really want to know for sure, go to a range that rents handguns and do the exact same same drills with each gun, recording your times and accuracy with each drill. You'll need al least a hundred rounds per gun, and there should be at least ten guns in your test. However, as the others have indicated, you'd be far better served by just shooting the living daylights out of the gun you have now, and spend all that time and money getting good. Really good. Have fun, SA

Gotcha. I thought you were defending the mags, not shooting for fun. You're right, no DQ. SA

I just read the hate rant that Brian points to in the above thread. (I'll edit it in at the bottom of this post.) It made a lot of sense. It reminds me of why I quit playing music semi- professionally and trying to "get signed" and get the record deal and all that. When you start a band and get to the point where your band doesn't suck, you have two choices: 1. Play YOUR music, get no gigs, or gigs that pay nothing. Put everything you have into writing music that moves YOU. 2. Play covers at the bar for 500-1500 bucks a night, crank out old Van Halen songs note for note and turn 40 at the bar... We (I) chose #1, and gave it our best shot. We did a cool mix of "Stevie Ray Vaughan meets Soundgarden with Jimi Hendrix playing rhythm guitar (not lead)" We were making some progress, talking to managers and the odd small label when it happened... The guy behind the desk said "your singer's no good, your songs are too long, and your drummer's tempo is erratic." We said "screw you" and went back to writing songs. We entered the Detroit battle of the bands where the crowd decides every round except the last one, and then Ted Nugent's manager decides who gets to open for Ted at the New Year's eve Cobo Hall Nugent-fest. Our band made it to the finals two years in a row and two years in a row Ted's manager chose the other band because they were "heavier" than us. Then Nirvana came out and fun, good time hard rock died. The band decided to go "grunge" and I checked out. Now I play guitar when I want to, write a song if I feel like it and play for fun when the mood strikes me. Just like the good old days... Now, back to shooting. My question is being answered about like I thought it would. When your passion becomes a business things change, and not always for the better. But still...getting paid to shoot sounds pretty good to me, greener grass and all that. I guess I'll never learn! Steve Here's Brian's hate rant http://www.brianenos.com/pages/hate.html#degeneration (Edited by Steve Anderson at 9:22 pm on July 2, 2002)

Even though his mags were measured as too long? "Of course his magazine was too long (measured by the CRO & RM) and his scores were removed from the match. But he was not DQ'ed and no mention was made of his cheating and he was allowed to CONTINUE SHOOTING THE MATCH for fun." I must be missing something... SA

... I yanked at the holster, which loosened my belt...

I bet Flex can find it! SA

If you dive into competition shooting and search for anything related on the net, you're gonna find this place for sure. I saw a review for the book in american handgunner and then the site kept popping up in the searches I was doing. (I'm still looking for the dirty pictures ) SA

I thought that might be the case... I can imagine how the pressure might increase and how the motivations could change. I bet you music lovers think working in a record store would be the greatest thing in the world, right? I listen to mostly talk radio, and we're always hiring... It has to be great though on some level, to make a living as a shooter. I'd love some more detail when you get the time, Brian. SA

I switched from one eye/weaver to both eyes /mod. isoceles at the same time. Very frustrating to go backwards in performance for the learning curve. For me it was a case of first saying, "I don't care how the top dogs do it", to then saying, "there must be a reason why they do it." Sure enough, both eyes are better. Just pick a day and do it. You'll get used to it and then excel with it. SA

I've been wondering this for awhile, and thought I'd ask the panel... What's it like (financially) to be a pro shooter? It seems that some pros hold a job with their sponsor company in addition to being a sponsored shooter. (TGO/springfield) But it seems that more of them start their own training facilities and offer products/services on their own. (Barnhart/Langdon/Garcia, Avery, Burkett, etc.) Benos distributes several lines here, and mentioned being sponsored for reloading components in a thread some time ago... So, does the major sponsor pay a salary, or just pay the bills? Do the minor sponsors pay a fee/contingency for wins, or just give oodles of free goodies? What got me wondering about this was an Avery column in front sight about how he is still a working stiff and pays to shoot out of his own pocket. I would assume that his expenses are deductible for his training facility at least. We all of dream of goin' pro, don't we? I'm just curious what the realities are... Thanks, SA

Thinking about dumping my nylon instructor's belt for the inner/outer belt all the pros (and probly most of you guys) use. The main advantages I see are: 1. Convenience of the gear staying on the outer belt. 2. Consistency of same 3. A wee bit more space between body and gun. What else? And while we're at it, which belt is best? SA

For production: Beretta Elite II in 9 or .40, w/ LTT upgrades (the .40 minor may be softer, still debating) Wilson Tactical assault Holster Wilderness instructor belt (does the inner/outer belt make a difference in anything?) Uncle mike Kydex double mag carriers Nike air rage shoes, 3/4 high, extremely light Steve

Had a lousy match at the weekly pin shoot. Dam things just would not fall down. BUT, this time as I drove home I didn't beat myself up about it. I reflected on the shooting and remembered seeing good sight pictures and pulling smooth shots. I was all set to chalk it up to just "having a bad night", but as I got the gun out of the bag and into the safe, I noticed that the rear sight set screw had backed all the way out and the rear sight was all the way up. No wonder the damn thing felt like it was shooting high...

I heard on Rush that Clinton helped make executive payments over 1 million non-deductible as a business expense. This was said to have exaggerated the optioning of stock as compensation to avoid the tax penalty...Interesting.

I forgot to mention he's also in two pictures, although he looks a little confused in both... ;)

Kyle got a little bit of ink in the new combat handguns (kahr mp9 on the cover) as part of the C&S gunsmith class review. "Kyle Farris, aspiring uspsa shooter..." Pretty cool, small world and all that... SA (Edited by Steve Anderson at 8:54 am on June 28, 2002)

Little more detail... Avery's muffs were turned down, Ro said something and Avery thought he heard LAMR and proceeded to do so. Moral of the story: If you're not sure what was said, ask again. SA

"benchmark target presentation to measure index times" Please expand on that a little if you don't mind... SA

I agree. I'm not sure whether a DQ was warranted in Avery's case, but I'm not an official RO, and I wasn't there, so I'm not qualified to have an opinion. 'course, I do anyway...