Rocket

I havn't been doing much shooting in a while. I have a bunch of N320 and MG 180's left over from when I was shooting 1000 rds./week with my SVI. Now I'm thinking of getting an XD 40 and I'm wondering if I will be able to use my 20 lbs. of N320. Did a quick search and found that max oal for the XD 40 is about 1.155, so it would seem N320 will be pushing it a bit to make major, but what about minor ? If the chamber was lengthend a bit would that help or is it a magazine problem ? Thanks

Rhino , I just saw the USPSA updates and I'm sorry to say they bumped me up into B class Lim. Took just under a year after starting in D last March. I think the next jumps will be tougher though.

I would say it's ok to re-shoot, for classification purposes only, if something weird happens like your gun malfunctions , or if you have a brain spasm on a string and forget to shoot weak hand or whatever ( i.e. 99-17 ). The point is to test your current shooting skill. I guess you could argue that remembering the procedure during the heat of competition is part of the skill being tested and well you are right, but it sure does suck to see that 10% score published on the USPSA web-site for all eternity.

HMMMMM Let's see 350 gn bullet at 500fps = 175 pf , man you better not wait to see your shot hit the paper ........... might take awhile.

It's a good question, what is tension, what is too tense? Tension is a sinister little thing, seemingly with a life and will all it's own. I can only say that if you tense up at the wrong time you will miss the shot. If in the process of breaking the shot you involuntarily move the gun off target and miss, you are too tense or have the "wrong" tension . If you can keep the sights rock solid on your point of aim, break and call the shot, hit what you are aiming at, and have the gun recoil and quickly return perfectly then you are ok. Let your results tell you if you are too tense because there is really no other way to describe it. Tension is subjective and different for everybody. One thing you might try is tensing up your grip and arms as much as you can at max effort, then back off about 50% , and that should be about right , but others may say more or less. The real trick is of coarse keeping the tension constant as you are releasing the shot. The first phase of Matt's timing drills focus on this - finding the right tension that is. It's a great exercise. I'd love to hear Brian's thoughts on this. I bet he would say back off 75%. Bill

I find that when trying to shoot fast splits it often requires me to really over-drive the gun. That brings on tension and really hurts me in transitioning to longer or tighter shots. I'm better off staying fluid and loose so that I'm reading the gun and breaking shots with no excess tension in my wrists or forearms. That way I can react to the sights and transition from shorter to longer shots with no loss of rythm or feel. If the sights are there then break the shot and don't sweat the time. If you are doing it right, it will happen very quickly anyway, only it won't necessarily seem fast as it is happening. Make sense ?? Bill

Chalk up another flu victim. I had the flu shot shortly after Thanksgiving , but succumed to the little Fijian scum virus anyway. I'm just now getting over it after 3 days of missery and fever upto 102 F . I guess the shot gave me some protection as most of my past boughts with Influenza A have lasted longer. It still sucked though. I can't remember a bug that has so quickly poured through the population like this one. Everyone around here has been sick and some schools have even closed due to sick teachers. Probably better those little infection factories stay closed anyway. I haven't even thought about shooting. Hopefully, I'll be getting my long awaited new blaster this week from Kodiak. That should perk me up. I'll post some pics when it arrives. Merry Christmas to All Bill

I've got an Edge 40 and it came with a recoil master which I switched out for a Camonelli frame saver tungsten guide rod with 2 shok buffs. I messed around with different recoil spring weights from 10 - 12.5 lbs, and settled on a Wolf 12 lb. . I load to 1.21 oal with 180 grn JHP's over VV n320. PF 168- 170. I also put on the SS magwell for a little extra weight and durability over the aluminum version. I'm through changing things on my gun. It shoots very soft with this setup, but not as soft as Clay's loaded out to 1.23 - 1.25. Initially, I had some feeding problems with short ammo , but after doing alittle feedramp polishing, it has been absolutely reliable with just about anything I put in it including the short factory stuff.

10 ring mentioned what I was going to say , and that is get behind the gun with both hands. I like for feel some pressure at the base of my weak hand almost like I'm in a position to push the gun straight forward. To get a good nuetral grip you really need to have the same feeling with both hands. Matt does this thing in his videos where he will push backward against your hands simulating the push of the gun. You should feel like you can resist this push and feel steady. The PIP joint of the index finger of the weak hand should fit snugly under the trigger guard and stay there. Make sure your hands are melded together with the fingers of the weak hand.

I fly to Argentina for bird hunting every year. I usually bring 2 shotguns and a rifle. I have a hard case for golf clubs and it works great. Just pack it with foam.

Well said.

Yes , I'll give it some time , it's just that I've been working my tail off and maybe I'm a little too eager to make something happen rather than letting it happen. I see your point but my worst run is usually my first , then my performance improves to a point where it is relatively stable. When I say my performance in practice is usually Master level on some drill , that's an average run that I can reproduce again and again. It's what I expect to be able to do at a relatively comfortable pace. The problem I've been having is just getting to the level of my practice par times. If I let it fly with reckless abandon , sometimes I'll connect, but I would never expect to be able to do that on demand in a match. Ironically, some of the best match performances I've had are when I see something for the first time and have little preconceived notions about what I should do it in. Interesting. Bill

Ron , I guess my biggest disappointment came recently at the Ga State match. I spent a good bit of time working up for that match, but didn't have time to get comfortable with some of the things I was doing in practice at the local match level. I have not shot a local match for several weeks and maybe thats the problem. I need to shoot more local matches. I'm going to shoot two this weekend and try not to get too worked up about it. I feel like I'm ready to break through , I just need to go out and shoot somewhat near my capability. Bill

Sig Lady I think we suffer from the same affliction only for me it's even more profound and frustrating. In practice I'll shoot mostly Master level or even a few GM scores on some drills , but in a match it's B- / c+ land. I think I get to worked up over matches. Things tighten up and I loose my fine motor skills. My index goes to sh$% and I don't seem to have the right focus for the right shot. I really enjoy practicing though and even when I hack up something in a match, I will go practice it till I get it right. There was this stage in the area 8 match called High Standards which I blew with about a 1.8 Hf and several mikes. TJ won the stage with something around 9. I've practiced this drill a bunch and now do it in the 7.5 range which would have got me around 5 th place in the stage right up there with the likes of Erik Lund and Frank Garcia. Of coarse this doesn't mean a whole lot, but I just wondered how common it was to have this type of apparent performance anxiety. Bill

My match performance sucks compared to how I shoot in practice. On classifiers it can be as much as a 30 - 40% drop in Hf . I was just curious how everyone else does and what are some things I could work on to improve this spread. Bill