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Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

xcount

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  1. 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?
  2. 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.
  3. 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
  4. 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
  5. xcount

    Web Design

    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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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).
  10. Aw geez, another perceived inequity rears its ugly head. Somebody ought to write a rule about this.
  11. 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?
  12. xcount

    Reloads

    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.
  13. Vince, Nice diagram but why doesn't the belt have any curvature to it? My belt buckle is that high only until I breathe.
  14. 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.
  15. 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.
  16. Hadn't thought of the Elsinore in a long time. "Good things happen on a Honda", "Ain't four-wheelin' fun?" and "Riuniti is for lovers" pretty much framed a few of my mis-spent years. Thanks for bringing back the memory, Sam.
  17. OK, time to spin some numbers. Area 7 Director Rob Boudrie recently conducted a survey of Area 7 members. One of the questions he asked was this........... "Would a board policy encouraging, but not requiring, that matches limit the maximum number of rounds from any one shooting position to 6 (instead of the current limit of 8) be good for the sport?" And the results were (envelope please).......... 27% - Yes 44% - No 29% - Doesn't make much difference. Now, here's my spin on this. If you combine the number of respondents who think this would be good for the sport (27%) with those who think it doesn't make much difference (29%) then.......... Those who think this would not be good for the sport are in the minority. Gotta admit, these numbers surprised the hell outta me.
  18. mcoliver, Don't thank me, thank Brian. He started the thought process. Thank Mickey Fowler, I watched him sight in a gun once while someone else held a target above the gun creating a shaded position. That furthered the thought process. I'm just an old bagger (in the golf sense, not the shooting sense) who has picked up a few tricks and odd bits of information over the years and I like to pass them on. If they help someone - great. I hope this one helps you. And thank Brian a second time for providing a place where information and ideas can be shared in this manner. There is a wealth of information out there, available from the old gangsters and the new guys alike, and with a repository like this one we can all benefit from it. A good shot is something to be appreciated and enjoyed. A poor shot, especially one that is a result of a lack of information & understanding rather than a lack of skill, can be very frustrating. Perhaps to the point of turning us off to the sport. But the good shots keep us coming back for more. When I used to play golf I would hack and flail at the ball, sending shots in every direction. Neither worms on the ground nor birds in the trees were safe when I was on the course. And often I would tell myself I ought to find something else to do with my time. But it seemed like in every round there would be one putt or one chip that left me saying "Damn!!!!". And that one shot would be enough to make me want to get right back out on the course the next day. Maybe having this one extra club in the bag (so to speak) will be enough to keep someone in the game. If so, I will have left more of a mark on the game than a 1,000 plaques on a wall can attest to. But, again, don't thank me. Thank the guys I stole it from.
  19. mcoliver, No web site that I am aware of. Some of this I learned from an old book on bullseye shooting (which I can't locate now), some from experimentation. I'll try to explain as best as I can. First, I should say that 6 inches might have been a bit of an exaggeration but I have seen 4 inch changes in point of impact. Here's what happens. If you have strong direct sunlight hitting the front sight and reflecting back at you, your eye will not see or "lose" part of the sight. On the other hand, if you are shooting on an overcast day or from a shaded position your eye will see all of the front sight. So if you have sighted your gun in on an overcast day or from a shaded position and then subsequently shoot on a bright sunny day the reflected glare of sunlight off your sight, causing you to not see part of the sight, will cause you to misalign the front sight in the rear sight notch. I'll make up some numbers to illustrate my point. Let's say your front sight is .125 inches tall. On a cloudy day you sight in your gun, aligning the top of the front sight post level with the top of the rear sight notch (& centered in the notch). You fire some groups, making adjustments to the rear sight, until your shots are impacting just at the top of the front sight post. (As Brian described earlier.) The next day you go to the range to shoot some more groups at the same distance. Only on the next day the sky is clear and the sunlight is strong. The glare coming off the front sight will cause your eye to not see a portion of the sight. For the sake of illustration, let's say your eye loses .005 of the front sight. You align what you perceive to be the top of the front sight with the top of the rear sight. But you are actually aligning .005 too high. Which means your groups will hit high in this instance. The converse would be sighting in on a bright day, not realizing your eye was losing .005 of the front sight. On a cloudy day, when you could clearly see the sight and align it properly - your groups would be low. The same thing holds true for strong sunlight coming in from the side. In the early morning, with the low sun shining brightly on one side of the front sight, your eye will lose a bit of the sight on that side. Causing you to misalign the front sight in the rear notch. Causing your hits to be off to one side, the side toward the sun. Your hits will follow the sun. This phenomenon is most noticeable with ramped front sights (because more of the sight surface is exposed to the sunlight), less so with post sights, even less so with undercut sights (because they create their own shade). Spray on sight black will help (dulling the glare) but is not a "cure-all" And it is probably not an option for those using fiber optic sights (although I have done this on occasion). One final note. Anyone who shoots nothing but modern day IPSC can file all of the above under "Interesting, But Nothing I NEED To Know". Because at close distances the effect is negligible. But anyone shooting out to 50 yards (NRA Action, PPC, etc.) will be affected by this. And, you never know when some course designer will test your long range accuracy. I remember a stage that had three targets at 45 yards. That was one time I sprayed sight black on a fiber optic sight.
  20. Brian could explain this much better than I, but here goes. All undercutting means is that the rear of the front sight post (the part you see when shooting) is cut at a slight rearward angle. Think of it as being the opposite of a slight ramp, which would be a forward angle. This will give a perceptably darker front sight as the sunlight is not able to strike it directly. (The sight creates its own shade.) When I did the filing on the front sight of my gun I found that I couldn't get the small triangular stone on enough of the sight to create the undercut for the entire height of the sight. So, totally by accident, I ended up with an undercut that was about the same size as the width of the post. This gives the appearance of a small "super-black" rectangle at the top of a charcoal colored sight post. For me, it is very eye catching and allows for fairly quick and precise sight alignment. In catching the eye, it works sort of like a fiber optic but it is at the top of the sight post rather than slightly below the top of the post. So I can see it pretty clearly (like a fiber optic) in my peripheral vision when shooting a greater speed with a visual focus on the target. And yet, since it is at the top of the post, I don't have to adjust or look at a different part of the sight when attempting more precise shots that require a visual focus on the front sight. I simply focus more intently on the same thing I was seeing in my peripheral vision. Hey, it works for me. May not work for other folks. But my old eyes need all the help they can get. One thing that many people don't realize is what they see with iron sights can change a lot depending on the ambient light. The distances we currently shoot in IPSC don't challenge this much but if we start seeing more long shots a lot of people will learn this the hard way. The point of impact at 40 or 50 yards can change vertically as much as 6 inches if thick clouds roll in. If you are shooting on a north or south oriented range your shots will "walk" across the target from morning to afternoon. If we begin to see the longer shots that Mike Voigt advocates I would advise folks in non-Open divisions to do some serious experimenting with both sun and shade on their sights. Hope this helps, Luiz, but if you want a really understandable explanation.... ask Brian.
  21. Just as an aside, I bought this book a few years ago and the author said he liked to have a slight undercut to the front sight. So I did that to a gun I was using at that time. Of course, I moved on to different guns in the years since. And those with iron sights generally came with serrated front blades so I left them alone (except for narrowing them a bit). A couple weeks ago I was looking for a gun to shoot at a local match and thought, gee, I hadn't shot that old one in quite awhile. After all, it's a 9mm Colt single stack with a single side safety and not much of a trigger job. Not real competitive these days. But, what the hell. Funny, but the undercut appeared to be a small super-black rectangle at the top of the front sight. And shooting it kinda felt like putting on an old shoe. Even with my old eyes when I put that gun out there that sight was THERE!!! Just thought I'd let that guy know the more things change the more some things don't. Even though the old-timer only managed to finished 2nd overall, I have to say "Thanks again, Brian".
  22. By all means, IF a division has to go, let's chop revolver. No great loss, right? However, if cutting one division is good for the sport and helps local clubs with their awards budgets, surely cutting two would be twice as good. John Amidon once told me everyone has freedom of choice in deciding what equipment to use at a match. And, having made that choice, everyone must live with the consequences of their decision. He was speaking of bringing a six-shooter to a match with 8+8 speed shoots at the time. But his logic also applies to Production division. Currently, if a shooter wishes to use a Glock or other non-SA pistiol in Open or Limited divisions they are free to do so. They just have to live with their choice. Why, then, can't that same requirement be applied to Limited 10 division? Instead of having 2 divisions, one for single action guns and one for other actions, why not eliminate Production and have 1 division that mirrors Limited division in rules except that magazines with capacity of greater than 10 rounds are disallowed?
  23. On the IPSC list Area 7 director Rob Boudrie has posted that he has requested of Mike Voigt that this rule be changed. Area 1 director Bruce Gary has concurred. Too bad someone always has to take the hit to expose and make an issue of obviously flawed rules and interpretations, rare though they may be. As for not allowing an arbitration, bad idea. Sometimes protests have absolutely no merit at all and the shooter would be better off spending the $100 in a local gin mill crying in his beer. However, I don't see this case as unwinable. I would ask the arbitration committee to consider this question....... What is the purpose of the several restrictions placed on equipment modifications in Production Division? For examples: Maximum weight - plus 2 ounces; Sights - square notch & post only; Single Action pistols not allowed first shot must be double action; Grip sock or skateboard tape allowed but no modifications to grips; External modifications other than sights not allowed; Heavy barrels or barrel sleeves not allowed; 10 rounds maximum in magazine. If the arbitration committee (or anyone, for that matter) can say these restrictions do not exist to preclude one competitor from having an equipment advantage over another competitor, then the case is lost. But if the arbitration comittee (or anyone, for that matter) admits the restrictions do exist to preclude equipment advantage then I submit no equipment advantage is gained unless one or more of these restrictions is violated WHILE THE COMPETITOR IS SHOOTING. And if a violation of the restriction is obviated prior to the competitor actually shooting, I submit that the competitor is still in complience with the spirit and intent of the division regulations. To penalize him for not doing something (gaining an unfair equipment advantage) he is not supposed to do is unjust.
  24. Swede, When I read this interpretation in the NROI column a couple years ago (I think) I knew something like this was going to happen to someone sooner or later. When the Production Division equipment requirements were written an exception allowing 11 rounds in the magazine for LAMR purposes could have been written in. But it was not. Whether this was intentional or an oversight, we will never know. I would suspect an oversight. Why would NROI want you to handle the gun/magazines twice on LAMR when it could be accomplished with one action? But that's just my opinion and no one has ever solicited my advice on how rules should be written. At least you can still shoot the rest of the match. How are your chances of winning Open Division?
  25. I ran a stage once that was "semi-surprise". At the extreme up range area of the range the entire squad was given part of the course description. Basically, it said there were two "rooms" (actually a divided range) with 5 targets to be engaged in each (long time ago, we could do that back then). All were advised that further & final instructions would be given individually just prior to shooting. A 16' wall obscured the view of the door and window openings into each room where the shooting would take place. Each shooter was taken to a point just past this wall and told to LAMR. They were then directed to a start box behind the wall and told the start position was facing up range. Once they faced up range they could see stapled to the down range side of the wall a standard white No Shoot target and a brown target with a white head. At this point each shooter got the final instruction - "Under rule 6.05 both of these targets are designated No Shoot targets. Are you ready? Standby...." Each "room" was sprinkled with both types of No Shoot targets. The room with the door had one on a swinger activated by the door. Of course, this was a white-headed No Shoot. I could tell the stage was OK when one of my friends shot it sort of like this... ba-bang, bang-"You son of a bitch", ba-bang. And one of the most frequently heard phrases of the day was, "Screw you, you'll find out." As a side benefit, since only those who had already shot the stage were allowed to tape targets we had no lack of tapers that day. The guys literally ran down to tape targets, see how many No Shoots got hit, and bust chops on the shooter.
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