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Thanks for the reply. I thought about replacement mags but have only seen ones that go for about $50 a pop and that can get kind of expensive at that rate. Any sources of less expensive ones that you know of?

I have a Colt Series 70 9mm with 9 round magaziness. I thought I recalled Chip McCormick making a "10th round" spring and follower kit for both .38 Super and 9mm but when I checked his site all that was listed was the Super. An email to CMC got a response that 9mm kits "may be available sometime later this year". Does anyone have any experience doing their own modifications to get that 10th round in one of these mags? I'm thinking a replacement spring of some kind or physical modification to the factory follower. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks for the responses, guys. One thing that hasn't changed in 5 years is the helpfulness of fellow shooters. OK - did a little more digging. Turns out what I have is 8 pounds + of Universal Clays - must have been planning on loading a lot right before I quit. At the time I was using a S&W 610 with 155 gr. round nose Precision moly bullets so I suspect I bought this for that load. But, the 610 is gone and so are the bullets (at least from Precision). What I have for bullets on hand are some 220 gr. Precision TC and some Berry's 180 gr. JTC so I guess I will load those up for the Para. I did find one record for UC - a 200 gr. LTC loaded to 1.220 OAL with 4.6 of UC -- record says just over 900 fps. These were for the old major power factor. I know I never worked up a load for either of the bullets I currently have -- but did find some info on the reloading data page. Anyone want to throw any more suggestions my way - I'll gladly take them. Again -- thanks for the help. BTW - the wife just asked me, "Does this mean you're gonna be gone every weekend again?" So you all may be contributing to my delinquency - just so you know who will get the blame. Thanks, Dave

Have not shot a match in over 5 years and it has been that long since reloading as well. Now that retired thinking about playing again a bit. In going through my supplies I find a unopened can of Universal Clays, plus a partial can. Problem is I lost part of my load data and have nothing listed as using Clays -- and a failing memory, too boot. Toward the end, I was shooting .40 revolver using Precision 155 gr. round nose -- and I think the Clays was for that. I only shot .40 and .38 Super so it had to be for a .40 recipie -- but damned if I can remember what. Clays in .40 ring a bell with anyone? I sure appreciate it. Dave

This may be a reach but I am looking for advice on web design software. I know so little about it that I don't even know where to start looking, so I am starting here. The company I work for had a web site designed by a couple of employees a few years ago using MS Front Page 98. The site is pretty crude and, for the company's purposes, useless. The company would like to re-do, update the site. At least, that is option #1. Assuming we can obtain access (from former employee who, it turns out, owns the domain) and software, we plan to update the existing site. Option #2 is to forget about the original site and create a new one. This is where my question comes in. I will probably be tasked with this job. Web design is not something I want to make a career of. Designing this ONE site is not something I want to make a career of. I want to do it as quickly and easily as possible, hopefully without having to learn a whole new language (like HTML). Can anyone recommend a web design software that is pretty much drag & drop in nature or does no such thing exist? Any help, ANY HELP, would be greatly appreciated even if it is simply referring me to another forum where I can ask this question. Thanks in advance.

Chuck's mention of Australian teams triggered a Cup memory I'll bore you with. In 1993 my friend Jim & I made the trip. There was a range not far from Columbia that allowed practice on a daily membership basis. Jim was a freak for detail stripping his gun and liberally using Hoppes after each practice. I told him the stink was going to get us evicted from the hotel. A couple of nights before the match began I ran into the Australian team coach in the Holiday Inn bar. Their team consisted of 3 guys, one lady, and one junior and all 5 of them were banging away all day, every day on the practice range. Geez, I said, how much ammo did you guys bring with you? Just our match ammo, the coach replied. Then where are you getting all this practice ammo from? Reloads, he said. You're BUYING reloads over here to practice with???? BUYING? Hell no, mate, we're MAKING 'em. What? We have a Dillon 1050 c-clamped onto the dresser in the room upstairs. And the hotel management let's you get away with this? Oh yeah, the maids even straighten up the ammo boxes when they clean. That night I told Jimmy to go ahead and clean his gun all he wanted.

This may not be what Grant is thinking of but I'll relate a little story about AP at the club level in the early 90's. I was part of a club in upstate NY that hosted a couple states and one regional championship. When the weather was decent we shot at least one, if not two, AP matches a month. We offered all 4 Bianchi events including the mover. Our mover had 4 rail mounted target carriers and was as slick and smooth as any other. We had folks tell us it was too good - no bounce or sway as with overhead cable mounted movers. We had two plate racks, two sets of barricades, two practical event set-ups. The range was built in 1991 specifically for AP. And we drew a pretty good number of shooters. A couple of our regulars were IPSC shooters as well and they urged us to shoot IPSC matches. But we resisted as there already were IPSC clubs within 20 miles to the east and west of us and we wanted to offer something different. But in 1993 we noticed a drop-off in attendance. I think the reason for this was AP was (is???) a "technique" sport and those that put 10,000 rounds a year downrange practicing the techniques needed to shoot well did shoot well. Those that did not practice did not score as well and began to get discouraged and started dropping away. But that's not what really hurt us. When we started the club in 1991 the NRA registration fee was $2 per shooter. With our match fee of $15 this left enough to buy trophies and targets (god, those D-1's were expensive and we used a lot of 'em). And a little left over for the club. In 1993 they raised the registration fee to $3. Well, a buck less for the club but not the end of the world. Then, in 1994, shortly after the NRA moved the headquaters to Wappinger Falls they sent out a notice that times were tough, financially, and everyone had to do their share including the competitive shooters. Therefore, the registration fees would henceforth be raised to $7 per shooter. I remember the guy who handled NRA admin duties calling me and telling me this. My immediate reaction was "Screw them (or something like it), we'll shoot IPSC instead!!!" Having said that I called the president of one of the local IPSC clubs, asked if he thought there was room for another, and by the end of the summer we were a brand new USPSA club. We did shoot unsanctioned AP matches for another year but interest steadily dropped off and by 1996 what used to be an active and thriving NRA AP venue was nothing but a fond memory. Don't know if anything like this happened elsewhere that that's the story of the demise of one club.

Gotta tell this story. Some may find it humorous. I used to own two houses, mine and the father-in-law's. Had insurance on them through different carriers (same agent). When I wanted to add a rider for the guns the agent tacked it onto the policy for the father-in-law's house as the rate was much better. Well, father-in-law passed away and we sold the house. I called the agent and asked what to do now. "Let me get back to you", he said. The next day he called and said he had noticed the school bus shed at the end of my driveway. Did I have any fire insurance on it? "Whaddya, nuts?", I asked, "Why would I do that?" He said he could write a fire insurance policy giving me $500 coverage on the school bus shed with the company I used to have the other house insured by. Then he could add the gun rider to that policy and the total cost would be about $85 a year as opposed the the $300 or so it would cost for a gun rider with the company which insures my home. So I now tell people I keep my guns in a school bus shed.

1. Never tie Styrofoam sheathing to the top of a customer's car, especially on a windy day. 2. It is OK for the customer's small children to ride in the back of a pick-up truck. (Daddy said so.) In some locales it's even OK if they drink. (Note: as long as they don't throw the empties along the roadside. A parent's gotta set limits, you know.) 3. The weekend know-it-all who is most likely to regale you with his ingenious construction tips will be the least likely to ask you for your wisdom and advice. (But he'll be back Monday morning when the project didn't pan out, saying you "measured wrong".) 4. Regardless of training, software upgrades, and technical support you can never, ever, make the new $6,500 computerized estimating system work. 5. The fastest way to quickly fix a second-to-low materials bid is with: 1. free tickets to the (fill in team here) game or 2. a case of (fill in malt beverage here). 6. No matter how fast you drive a forklift in reverse it is still next to impossible to get it airborne without building some type of makeshift ramp. 7. Your bosses' and your own definition of what exactly constitutes paid overtime will vary considerably. 8. A hundred different, colorful names for certain body parts. 9. Exactly how many 16d nails can be flung and stuck into a ceiling tile before it collapses. 10. The boss (fill in name) doesn't understand that it's impossible to (fill in task) by (fill in time).

Aw geez, another perceived inequity rears its ugly head. Somebody ought to write a rule about this.

A number of years ago I knew a guy who converted one of these to take moon clips. He used the gun for NRA Action Pistol shooting (higer velocity of the 9mm cut down the lead on the mover). It seemed to work well in that application but I doubt the IDPA rules would allow the modification. As for the French police story, I wouldn't doubt it. Another Bianchi shooter (held a couple records at one time) used a French 9mm revolver. Can't remember the name of it. Manurin or something like that, maybe?

I have used revolvers for a number of years and, until a couple years ago, always reloaded with the strong hand. That is, as previously described, I cradled the gun in the weak hand, ejected spent cases with the weak hand thumb, and retrieved & inserted ammo with the strong hand. Looking back, I had reasons for doing so at the time. My first experience with revolver reloads was with duty gear which included a 12 round loop cartridge holder worn immediately in front of the holster. Not much choice there. This was followed by duty gear using speedloaders at the same location. Again, not much choice. When I got into Action Pistol I just did what I had been doing for 15 years. But all these guns were either K or L frames. When I bought a N frame I discovered it was a tad big for me to feel comfortable with the weak hand cradle. I always felt like I didn't have as much control of the N frame as I did with the smaller frames. So I tried reloading with the weak hand. I have no idea how fast this is but I've had folks comment about how quickly it gets done. One thing I did learn about this style is that it is important to immobilize the cylinder with the trigger finger while inserting the reload. Just what works for me, for what it's worth.

Vince, Nice diagram but why doesn't the belt have any curvature to it? My belt buckle is that high only until I breathe.

Some questions come to mind. How many slots will there be in total? How many slots will be distributed through the first 3 parts of the slot distribution policy? (X # won at 2003 Nationals, Y # won at 2003 Area Championships, Z # won at "the first 8 non-Area major tournaments of the calander year".) Now, how many will be available through Section and club distribution? How many will be left over and available for procurement via the "Nationals Slot Waiting List"? How many people will kick themselves in the butt for not meeting their Section or club eligibility requirements? (Join a club, work matches, etc.) This could get interesting. A slot to the 2004 Nationals might just have some new found value.

There are a few from this area who were, at one time making an issue of closed meetings, conspiracies and general shenanigans. Their absence was disappointing. JMD, Just taking a guess here but it is possible that those members lobbying for open board meetings didn't necessarily want to attend. It is possible they just didn't like being told they couldn't attend. And now that meetings have progressed from "closed" through "open to section coordinators" to "open to section coordinators and life members" and have finally arrived at "open to the general membership", it is possible those members are now happy. And, since someone (in this case you and Denise) will attend to keep an eye out for (and report) any conpiracies and / or general shenanigans, those members don't have to actually attend. Or I could be totally off base.