ah1356

Count me in. I shot in the same squad as Manny at A6. Great guy. If he trains half as well as he shoots this will be an amazing learning experience.

To remove the follower from a 9mm ETM mag you have to sort of rotate it backwards through the gap between the bent in tabs at the bottom of the tube. If you can get the back of the follower out then you can rotate the rest out through this gap. Reverse the process to reinsert. To clean the tubes I just use a piece of rag and shove it through with a wooden dowel.

The G-10 grips are heavier than the stock wood ones, but the .45 barrel is lighter than the 9mm. My 9mm Trojan with ambi safety, stock guide rod, stock grips (sanded smooth), grip tape, and Dawson ice magwell weighs 42.9 OZ with an empty Wilson ETM mag. My guess is that the steel S&A is heavier than the Dawson Ice, but that is a guess.

Here's my setup. Shot this at Battle in the Bluegrass and AL state as well. Started as a 9mm STI Trojan then added: Dawson Ice magwell no gap (with steel MSH) Dawson FO front sight Ed Brown ambi safety Brazos hammer and sear Wilson ETM mags Base pads made by combining the original wide ones with modified extended after market ones. Fits the box (just barely), fits the ICE insert, and wide enough to seat easily with 10 rounds. Skateboard tape on grip panels and front strap Total weight: 42.9oz Sure am glad the scale at A6 agreed with my kitchen scale. A bit too close for comfort...

I just wanted to say thanks to Corey and everyone else who helped make the BitB a great match. I'll definitely be back next year. Aaron

I saved a few seconds by forgetting the last steel plate. This may not be the ideal approach...

The mag is seated to deep, and hangs on the ejector. I had that happen during a run with my ICE and a CMC 10rd power mag. I have no idea how it happened because I left the stopper where it belongs, but had to dremel down the sides of the pad to fit against the magwell. You go to seat the mag, it pushes into the ejector, the slide wouldnt close and had to pull the mag back out. I'll be testing that some more before I seat one of those hard again. I have encountered (created) this problem too with my setup (9mm Trojan, Ice, ETM mags). One more reason not to shoot to slide lock! Totally agree about speed vs. margin for error for any given reload. But over the long run errors slow you down, so more margin of error = fewer errors = less time.

I switched from the S&A to the Ice. Reloads are faster for me, but the main reason I like it is the added shelf for my hands. I have applied small pieces of grip tape to the sides of the magwell and I really like the improved grip. I had to get longer base pads for my Wilson mags, which I had to reshape to fit the box and the no-gap Ice insert. I have not tried the techwell and can't compare that, but I did use Alumagrips for a while. My gun (9mm Trojan) would not make the weight limit with the Alumagrips, but the Ice allows me to use much lighter wood grips wrapped in grip tape. I doubt I would be under the limit with a techwell setup. YMMV, but I'm really happy with the Ice.

Sensitize it is. Thanks for the insight guys. FWIW, I also had this issue. I sensitized my grip safety so that it only had to move about 1mm before it disengaged. This worked better, but I still missed it a few times on the draw. My solution was to fit a new grip safety that was totally disabled and keep the sensitized one in case I wanted to reactivate it or needed a backup.

You didn't mention caliber. If you want .40 or .38 super then you'll have to get the Trojan because I think the Spartan is available only in .45 and now 9mm. I have the Trojan in 9mm, which I bought for target shooting and home defense before I started practical shooting. I now shoot it in SS and L10 with exactly the same setup and mags (Wilson ETM's). If I knew then what I know now I would get the Trojan again but probably in .40 because it is tough to shoot C's fast enough to keep up with the guys shooting major. FWIW, my only complaint about the Trojan is the front strap. It is too flat for my taste and the "STIppling" is worse than useless. Easily resolved with a file and some grip tape. Other than that, I also added FO front sight, ambi safeties, Ice magwell and trigger group from Brazos. It is 1/4oz under the weight limit. I have never shot a Spartan, so I can't compare the two directly, but I am very happy with the Trojan.