Jake Di Vita

Or possibly a Presa Conario. Not mine, but check this one out! Anyone else think "Ghostbusters" when they saw this behemoth?

Yes, the majority of shooters are good honest people. Some aren't. That's neither good or bad, it's life. Someone once told me that locks aren't made to keep criminals out, a criminal will go through a lock. Locks are made to keep honest people honest. Trusting that no one will lie when asked the question "did you round dump?" is naive at best. Put it like this...if someone can get out of a penalty by lying, the rule needs to be changed because it can't possibly be uniformly enforced.

But you really couldn't, Ryan. Unless he has 3 rounds in the -0 zone (and even still), it's still a totally subjective call. I don't know about you, but I can think of a lot of times in stages that things didn't go as planned. I've also made up a lot of 2 A's with another A. Problems arise whenever you have to judge "Intent." What do you do if the alleged round dumping is on a swinger? Even if you heard the guy planning it, could you really give him a procedural for winging 3 at it?

What do you do when the competitor replies "No."? Yes, I know it was asked before, but I may have missed the response to it?

God, you suck. Love ya Micah. Nice job...like that dot don't ya.

Is the gun brand new? Might warrant some breaking in before you make any concrete decisions. Although mag maintenance is never a bad idea.

The first thing I'd do is caliper the feed lip dimensions at the back and front and compare those against data of what they should be (info should be able to be found with a search).

If you have a scanner and your old sheets available, I'd love to see how the information laid out on the paid would look. I'm kind of fuzzy on what pattern to be looking for as well.

We could always just close our eyes and chuck a grenade into the stage.

To me those are two different questions.For the first one - definitely winning. Wins are all I remember for any length of time. The confidence to win again comes from winning the first time. But for which drives me, definitely losing. Mistakes contributing to losses or bad performances massively motivated my training routine. be This.

Not to mention there have been many field courses (especially at Nats) that a 1 second reload on demand was worth about 20 match points. You figure any reload in a stage is going to cost you a half second, so you try to plan the reload where that half second is spent doing something other than shooting anyway. Usually this is during movement, sometimes windows of movement are very small, and that load needs to be completed in one step of movement. Other times you can plan it after hitting an activator before the target presents itself. This is usually very risky as flubbing a load will either cause a miss of the target's rotation (swinger) or missing the target all together (drop-turner) - both of which are unacceptable. Having that sub second load on demand is a critical tool in USPSA. It's practically required for being a GM, and can you imagine the advantage it would give you over other shooters in your class sub GM?

Most stuff has just been covered ad nauseum. There are over a million posts here now....original questions are few and far between.

Yeah, you aren't very far off the mark there at all. Like you said, I knew it could be done. A part of that was proving it to whoever thought (and prodded) that it couldn't be done. I've never been much for setting limitations on ourselves. Men of integrity expect to be believed, and when they aren't they let time prove them right. And for what it's worth, if I didn't love the sport, I wouldn't be a part of this forum. I am not actively competing, very true. The reason, much like John said, was I simply had to make a decision for the betterment of my life. Just because I'm currently inactive in the sport, doesn't mean I'm not training though. I won't come back until I'm ready - mentally, physically, and spiritually.

The first thing you have to do is make a decision on what exactly you are preparing for. This is quite a significant step that most people seem to miss for some reason.

That's a reasonable way of looking at things.

Cha-lee, In my eyes, I use classes simply as a guideline for skill level. For example, if I know the layout of a particular stage, and I know the score of a shooter on that stage, I place them in a certain class based on what I think each class is capable of performing. When you hear me talking about any class, I'm not at all talking about percentages or the actual class system. I'm talking about the skill sets and level I believe someone of that class should have. As another example, take the Bill Drill. If a shooter cleans a 1.8 Bill Drill, regardless of what their actual class is, I view that as a Master level performance. If the same person then shoots an El Prez in 6.0 with 55 points, I view that as a B level performance (even though it comes in as A class percentage wise).

Not a big fan of T-Nation personally - for all the obvious reasons. They do have some decent posts on there though. That isn't how it has to be in 100% of the cases at all. My point is, if you want to be the best or among the best, you sure better be willing to do what's necessary to get there.

Nice. Dan John is legit.

That was my point all along. That's why you aren't one. There's nothing wrong with that of course, I just thought your choice of words was significant.

I'd like to see the details of your training regimen if that's the case. Did you hang on to your log books? True, but I'd say worry about getting the base skill sets of a GM first, and then we will program the areas you need to work on to surpass them. Largely, I don't believe they are much different - although shooting IQ is a big part of it.

http://www.thepaleodiet.com/articles/2006_Oxford.pdf http://www.thepaleodiet.com/articles/Hyperinsulinemic%20Diseases%20Final.pdf

So with regards to the disease of western civilization (Diabetes, CHD, etc) - you are saying there is no cause, cure, or prevention? I surely hope not because there is a very substantial amount of evidence to the contrary.

Mark, Once again, until I have people telling me that they practice 6 hours a day and just can't improve, I just don't agree with it. Most people will never be GMs...sure. The reason is because most people just aren't willing to sacrifice everything else in their life to get there. This is not anecdotal evidence. It's pretty much common knowledge that if you want to be great at something, you must commit to it. I've talked with, coached, and competed alongside hundreds upon hundreds on shooters since I came into this sport. I have NEVER seen nor heard of anyone practicing 6 hours a day that didn't get better. Have you? Didn't think so. I don't really understand what you are arguing here? If you are telling me that there are perfectly capable people that will never become a GM no matter how much effort they will put into it, I'm telling you that you're flat wrong and there is no evidence what-so-ever that supports that claim. Although I do find it amusing that 15 years of being involved with a sport, shooting several hundred matches, ROing many majors, running a club, and personally training dozens upon dozens of shooters is anecdotal to you.

It's thrown in with other diseases of western civilization for the reason that people don't experience these diseases when they have never been introduced to neolithic foods. (I'm sure I can grab citations for this if anyone really wants me to). If that is how you view a cure, then you're absolutely right - it will never be cured. Unfortunately life is horridly unfair and some individuals have to face that choice for the rest of their lives. I don't think that the eat well option should be looked at like a punishment though. I guess it's primarily dependent on what your individual priorities are.

It's the disease of western civilization. Every organism on the planet has a genetic preponderance to a specific diet. When you go away from that diet, there are consequences for it. It sucks, but that's just how it is. Google hyperinsulinism and any other disease you can think of. Not to mention gluten intolerance, acid-base balance, and omega 3 to omega 6 ratios. The problem is most people have too big of an emotional attachment to eating, when for our health it should be viewed with purpose instead of pleasure. Ultimately everyone is going to do what they want to do, but man, I want to be healthy and active with my grandchildren when I have them. FWIW I don't think it's because people are too weak, I think it's because they are largely misinformed and lodged with doubt. Isn't taking pills for an entire lifetime also a "method to control or mitigate a disease process."? Why is it that changing your diet should be viewed any differently? If you had to take those anti-rejection meds to live, you surely would wouldn't you?