Wakal

Erik, you need to move back to America. We have been bitching about $1.39 for 87 octane here, much less $1.99 for 85 octane up in that socialist rathole. You can't even find 85 octane around here! Much less that corn-based blended "tear up your fuel injectors and decrease your gas milage" crap pawned off on honest Americans by the blissninnies and their dupes. Alex

Add me to the list of "recommends Shooter's Connection" range bags I started off with a knock-off of the Bagmaster, moved to a Dillon, then a Green Mountain, and now a Shooter's Connection. Despite what they look like, the Green Mountain and the SC have about the same carrying capacity...but the SC is laid out much more conveniently. And the little stage bag is very handy to have. Dealer cost is $109.95, and you can order for that much through your Brownell's dealer account (you have to special order any colour but black, though). Alex

VP, Hey, I want my brownie points back! I pulled the latest and greatest (sigh) rule book off the web...hard copy red book phooey Alex

Yay, brownie points! Distilling the grammar? Erik, not to kick you when you are down or anything but...kick. Try again...it says "External modifications such as weights, or devices to reduce or control recoil are specifically not allowed." Parsing the sentence indicates two conditions that are specifically not allowed: Number one, weights. Number two, devices to reduce or control recoil. I don't see Number Three, slide rackers" or Number Four, Things Erik Doesn't Like" in the list of two (2) categories of items that are specifically not allowed. Since Standard (g) and Limited (g) are identically stated in the rule book... Alex

Why not? If you are going to say "no," then you had better quote a rule... If the width doesn't exceed the 45mm box depth for Standard...a lever to assist in racking the slide isn't a "weight or device to reduce or control recoil"... And Limited has the same caveat prohibiting "weight or device to reduce or control recoil"... So, a slide racker isn't a weight or device to reduce/control recoil...and so must be fine, right? Alex "Show Me The Rule" Wakal

Hotels in Bend were very expensive. And don't get me started about the gas prices...geez...Left Coast/North. Sigh. I, too, would love to see a 20-stage combined "run what ya brung" Nationals. Somewhere warm, with concealed carry reciprocity, lots of inexpensive hotels, and cheap gas. Hey, Florida...what an idea Alex

D-Open wasn't recognized at the 2003 Open Nationals. They only had three shooters (and one of those DQ'ed). They left the plaque laying on the table...not recognizing a under-represented class is correct according to the rules, but IMO that was pretty cold. Yep, he said forty thousand dollars. Bend is WAY too expensive...between the prize table, the awards, putting up all the RO's, renting the portajohnnies, renting the hotel's convention hall, etc etc ad infinium ad nauseum...they lost their shorts (or so he told us when we were talking about hosting the 2005 Nat's). I was very annoyed at the early start for the Limited prize table...and even more annoyed that they didn't start the Open table early as they said they would. Alex

That was it. Just a laminated piece of paper with the stage's artwork (well, since none of the stages HAD artwork, it was a replica of the stage sign and number...) The top 16 awards were pretty neat, about 1:4 scale wooden targets. All the other awards were just screen printed wood...MV said that between the Limited and Open Nationals, they lost $40k. I'd MUCH rather have a cheezy award and a deep prize table than a nice award and a short table. And the prize table was deep...Liota hit 250 or so at both the Limited and Open, and still ended up with a Schumann barrel and a JP AR15 trigger set. Alex

"...cleanup, Stage 4..."

Technically, if I read it correctly, you can't even do the usual empty-hand "...bang bang bang" and reload (stuffing the magazine into your empty-shootin'-hand) "bang bang bang..." thing...since the magazine is part of a gun... Alex

For the Open, they put up a pallet on edge to block off the rear fault line from the start position to the beginning of the Cooper Tunnel Alex

I have both "old" and "new" SpringCo at Stately Wakal Manor. There is just no comparison between the new one and the old one....the new one is a beautiful exhibition of machine work. The old one is a leftover from a batch of three...one of them broke, a friend has (and loves) the second, and the third is new in the wrapper. I didn't like the way the first one felt (before it broke) and so never bothered to fit the third. Alan sent me the new one a few months back (a real pleasure to deal with, too). I think I'll drop it in my Open gun and see if the new one feels better than the old one. Alex

No, you hate not being lucky before Alex

Doc Savage...the original "detective with gadgets" or Bruce Wayne, the point-eared version? I'd say Doc...nothing like the machine pistols (even with the "mercy bullets") in the Bat-Belt Ginger v. Mary Ann? What about Mrs. Howell? She had a mean left hook (as Thurston would attest). Cute is one thing, but money is something else Alex

She exaggerates slightly...it wasn't a whole finger, just the top slice (so to speak) with most of the fingernail on it. I don't know about Liota, but I'm VERY happy it grew back! Bleah... Alex

I run one laid over in the potbelly position, and three around the side. Running Open and Limited, I use the front one and the two rearmost ones. For L10, I use all four. When I shoot revolver, though...I'm Mr. Moonclip Man Alex

L-10 as it stands now is nothing more than a sop to the egos of the gun-grabbers, and a direct attack on gun rights by showing said gun-grabbers that The Big Dawg of "combat" pistol shooting doesn't need non-gelded magazines. Changing L-10 to a production-type holster requirement would make it more of a single-stack division. It would let the IDPA/CDP crowd run both sports, same exact gear. After the AWB sunsets, then we can drop the 10-round limit on it AND Production. Politically correct IPSC divisions...grrr.... Alex

Open: STI in 9 by 23, C-more, comp (a Benny gun, of course) AR15, JP tank brake, JP trigger, 18" barrel, Leupold 3.5-10 with Armalite mount and a OKO on the handguard. http://www.dreadnaught-industries.com/imag...aceAR15E2_2.JPG USAS-12 with Briley choke job and a ATN sight on a custom "scout" mount off the carry handle. 10 round stick mags beat a speed loader http://www.dreadnaught-industries.com/imag...s/USAS_race.JPG Limited: STI in .40, Benny "Fat-Free .40" AR15, Bushy LEO M4 or Colt HBAR (still debating the 20" v. 16" issue) SX2 Practical MK1, lots of 3GunGear.com stuff all over it Alex

Oh yes... A

I have a brand new Briley mag tube for a Gold laying around here somewhere...still in the wrapper. $40? One of the guys in my club runs a Gold (with the same model mag tube) on it in Open, once he put the extra strength recoil spring in the darn thing the bolt closes all the way every time (sigh) and he seems a lot happier. The autoload feature is quite spiffy if you should happen to run the gun dry Alex

Reasonable advice IF we were talking only about in-state CHL's. But for those of us a thousand miles from Florida, that advice isn't very useful. My FL "out of state" card was rather easy to get. Sent the application, check, fingerprint cards, and a photocopy of my NRA TC certificate...received the FL CHL in the mail about three weeks later. Those FL folks can't vote, but they can sure process paperwork (dons flameproof undershorts)... Unlike FL, I consider a USPSA card to be proof of competency and would be happy to work out some on-line training for folks hankering after a certificate valid in FL (a quick aside...FL CHL is valid here in Texas...and is cheaper than Texas's CHL...and easier to get than Texas's...hell, I'm a state-certified TX CHL instructor and I STILL have a FL CHL ) Alex

Just to clarify...I did start with the bolt locked back on an empty chamber. It made seating the 20-round drum just that much easier http://www.dreadnaught-industries.com/imag...s/USAS_race.JPG We did score rather well, more due to the fact that we had NO problem re-engaging missed birds two or three times Sometimes the right tool is the wrong tool. Alex

Don't get me wrong, I think it is personally offensive to have to ask "mother may I" to exercise a right clearly defined in the very bedrock of our laws. However, I'm not unreasonable...as I keep telling those morons from NRA Telemarketing Central. I'm willing to bend a bit if the other side will give me what I want. However, the current (since at least 1934) NRA strategy of reactionary politics instead of taking action directly is not the way to go. Of course, I also think that Wayne Lapierre is a slick-haired forked-tongue politician with no place in my organization (and told him so to his face, several years ago). We, as honest gun owners, are represented by the NRA in just a reactionary fashion...as it, the Forces of Evil demand sacrifice, and the NRA gives up half or two-thirds of the lambs to the slaughter and then crows about how they "saved" the rest of the lambs. Bullshit. To continue the metaphor, if they want some of my lambs then I had better get goats in exchange. No freebies. Alex

I'm all for a 40-hour course in order to exercise your Constitutional right to keep and bear arms...IF that training came with a nation-wide unrestricted carry licence. Nation-wide...all fifty states. Unrestricted...as in "...the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Alex

It sure tried hard to be showy...but all the low-end extras lounging around in the "vampire castle" trying to look cool every time She Of The Pleather Buns stalked through the foyer...sigh... Loved the "out-Croft'ed" USP Match pistols. Barrel weights AND full auto Hated the "wall-crawling" werewolves. Acceptable for a afternoon of mindless fun. Alex