Wakal

I find the Taurus Tracker in .44 is a lot easier to carry and to shoot. I have an Alaskan in .454, and a N-frame 4" in .44, and...well, I like .44's but the Taurus is the cheapest, lightest, (oddly enough) the most comfortable to shoot with full power loads (but only holds five). Of course, the Smith isn't ported and the Ruger is a 4"5" magnum not a 4"4" magnum, but hey, experience is subjective anyway Alex

Legal or not, I like it. Especially the emphasized castellation of slide ...that is a great word Just asked one of the guys at STI if they are thinking of importing any. Or at least a upper half...I'd buy one. Alex

Hmm...never been squadded with (or RO'ed by) my wife, have you? Alex

109 hot like at last weekend's Texas State Limited, or 103 hot like today's 3-gun club match in Austin? Alex

The current record in the Wakal gun shops (there are two, in two different states) is 31 years. And counting. Alex

FN SLP...needs to be welded and beveled, oversized release button/charging handle...lengthened forcing cone... Easier to work on than a Saiga, though Alex

I'm not sure about older SV frames, but I just fit two new 170mm SVI mag tubes to a 2xxx serial number STI yesterday. The mags were the usual condition coming out of SV; lots of belt sanding work to clean up the craptacular welds (front and back), lots of polish, and both mags were not square. They are now square, highly polished, drop free, and feed. I have no idea why we, as shooters, put up with hundred dollar parts that don't work out of the box. Oh yeah, limited supply items from only two sources, one of which doesn't work with 9mm. Sigh. The new logo is spiffy, though (rolls eyes) Alex

Surefire mags fit, too. Another trick (that I prefer to mag pouches) is a 12" by 1" by 1/8" brass bar (available at your finer Ace Hardware type stores) and some electrical tape. Bent the bar more or less in half. If you want to be really sporty, bend the last 1/2" of the bar over itself to make a rounded end, otherwise just file the corners round. Tape the resulting "pocket clip" to the back of the magazine so you can hook the bar in your pocket with the mag running down the top of your leg. Costs about a buck, works great Alex

Great match...the RO's shot all 12 stages today. Hot, yes. Good stages, hell yes Still a few (very few) slots left...show up at 0730 tomorrow (Saturday) and sign up! Alex

Sent in a Doctor for some work back in April 2010, along with some product for him to evaluate. Have since emailed, called, and PM'ed looking for status (staring in December; I was in no hurry) trying to buy mag springs (since purchased from Chuck at S/C, who somehow ships things before you order in some sort of weird time loop trick)...multiple times over the last six months. Very strange. Right now I'm out a Doctor, about $200 worth of product, and patience. I've been friends with him for years, but the silent treatment is wearing thin. Alex

Ah, but he is more cruel than you realize...that is a Classifier Walked the stages today...the gang did a great job! This is going to be a fun match There are still a few slots available! Alex

The magazine removal/replacement process also seems to require three hands and a team of Sherpa From a mechanical standpoint, it looks pretty darn neat in a Rube Goldburg sort of way. With rails Alex

Interesting idea. I was wondering how long it would take someone to build a factory XRail gun, but a rotating mag tube semi-auto bullpup? Link: http://srmarms.com/store/pc/viewContent.asp?idpage=2 If it ever hits the market, it may be fun to play with Alex

H S Precision stocks...they use Lon Horiuchi rather heavily in their ad campaigns. He might be able to help you aim right, as he gives H S the ruby ribbon when it is curtains for the bad guy (or girl) Alex

Fred and I have one in our "one of each" magazine shotgun collection. They shoot fine (at least ours does), and shoulder well, but the lack of mags over five rounds (and no spare parts) relegated this one to the Wall of Shame behind the backup lathe Alex

He answers his phone? I've been leaving emailing and leaving messages for six months trying to order springs and follower sets, not to mention the fact that he has had my Doctor and some other items since April of last year. Great guy, but... Alex

"MGM" you say? Targets? Interesting... (last post before the lock ) Alex

Actually, I did Everyone in one heap, that also fixes the flaw in your "percentage by Division" plan: Hard to compare anyone as a percentage of Horner in T/O on one side vs. anyone against Bob The Lucky in Tac/Iron (assuming Trapr doesn't show up ). One heap, one set of scores. Hand out certificates of some nominal value to the high gear challenged/best beard/shortest/whatever, and run the table in order of finish. ONE set of scoring software, no adding/merging/unmerging/six hours to score, just one flat file Alex

Seems like most folks are shooting Tac/Scope...personally, I think that is because the concept of "Open" makes many new (and quite a few old) shooters piddle their pants, and only a few talented (dedicated? foolish?) souls can run iron sights with anything approaching competence, let alone awe-inspiring mad skilz. So, folks seem to settle on an iron sight pistol, archaic "tuber" shottygun, and a modern rifle Just from shooting and RO'ing various matches, it seems to me that if the "zero magnification" optics are not allowed in Tac/Iron, then folks leave their guns alone (instead of learning how to manfully squint whilst bitching about background colors) and shoot a dot-topped rifle in Tac/Scope. I'd still like to see a pure "Open" match, run what you brung (so to speak)...a "only tac/scope" match, a "only 308 or better" match... The "all irons, all the time" three gun match up at Fort Hood last month was pretty darn entertaining, even if I haven't learned how to squint and bitch (about background colors) correctly Alex

I did not care for the LaRue prize table this year...poorly thought out, and poorly executed. It went through the top three per Division, then through the top ten percent, THEN in straight (combined) order of finish. I'd rather have a random draw prize table. Actually, I'd rather have a fifty dollar match fee and no damn prize table, but I seem to be in the minority Prize tables laid out either 'stacked' to one Division or another, or combined in strange and bizarre ways, seem to foster Division shopping. One of my top tier friends has told me straight out at several major matches that while he would like to compete (and win) Open, he shoots Tac Scope because the prizes five deep are far better than winner/Open. As I think through this (as I'm typing, of course, I type slow but think even slower), perhaps the various "real" (as opposed to "crap" (read: USPSA)) 3-Gun matches need to just man up and call it like it is...like LaRue did a few years ago. Say up front: This is a "Tac Scope" match; no other Divisions are recognized. You are welcome to shoot Irons and perhaps be recognized for top 'irons' or top 'heavy' with a ONLY a piece of paper BUT you will be scored and walk the table in strict order of finish; no special "jump the line" for top gear-challenged, best left handed turnip twaddler, best beard, or what-not. Or, state that this is an Open match. Anything goes, period, with strict order of finish (actually, I'd love to shoot a match like that...) Alex

Two days. RO's shoot Friday, match is Saturday-Sunday. Alex

Two matches, same day, I'm going for the 3-Gun match Corpus is half the distance from my house as it is from Austin If you ever move days, or Austin changes AGAIN, I'll be there Alex

Darn...I'd head south and shoot this every month but I'd rather go to Austin for their "third Saturday" 3-Gun match... Alex

Jim told me that the RO's shoot on Friday; regular (notice I did not use the word "normal") people shoot Saturday/Sunday. Second the vote for "The Ridge" hotel...the owners are just great folks, and the hotel is much better than the price would make it seem! Alex

Cool stages! They were doing "walk-up" shooting on most of the stages until 1700 The "team" event should be interesting. One person per stage, per team...air horn blast when the stage is complete (or timed out) so the next team guy can start. Looking forward to 0800 Alex