CutterH

I had a great time shooting the match during the RO weekend and am excited to see the complete results. Special thanks to everyone who made this match come together - the ROs, the sponsors, Sheldon and crew, and everyone else who had a hand in it. This was definitely one of my favorite matches that I have shot. While I'm sure it was difficult on beginners, I liked the 90-second par time - at least during the RO weekend it kept all of the stages flowing nicely. The 90-second fixed time on the long range stage was also a welcome change. The match did a good job of challenging the shooters without making things unnecessarily difficult. Most of the stages were relatively simple in nature, and that allowed shooters to focus on the shooting and not bizarre rules or shooting positions. The stage props were really nice and added to the whole experience. For instance, the "trees" on stage 2 broke up the monotony of the typical dirt boxes we shoot in. Again, thanks so much to everyone involved, and I'm looking forward to next year! Here is my video from the match:

I too had a great time out at the RO weekend! The stages were very fun and challenging, without being needlessly complicated or frustrating, and all of the stages looked awesome. I was very impressed by how smoothly the match ran even though they were still working out a few kinks. The wind was pretty brutal both days, but I guess that's just part of the territory. I wish I could have made it out next weekend to see all of the festivities, but I'm just glad to have shot the match. Best of luck to everyone next weekend.

http://texasmultigun.com/tmg/Docs/2011%20Texas%20Multigun%20Championship%20Stage%20Descriptions%20v1.pdf

Sorry about that, it is remanufactured.

I shot them an email out of curiosity before Mark's post. Just in case you're wondering, Young claims their carrier weighs 6.4 ounces for the carrier alone, no key, as opposed to 6.25 ounces for the JP with key.

I use a combo of bulk M193 and Blackhills 77gr. I've never had a problem keeping up with two different loads, but I don't fret if I have to dump 10 rounds of the nice ammo into paper to get to the long-range targets. I bought my last batch of the Blackhills from OutdoorOutfitters.com for $35 per 50 rounds shipped with no tax to Texas. Arrived in 2 days with no issues.

The only experience I've had with a Stoeger and was hunting about three years ago with my uncle. He was bragging at camp about how it was exactly like a Benelli but for half the cost. Of course when we went out the next day he couldn't get the gun to cycle. He had 4 FTFs in less than a box of ammo while I was smiling with the Benelli. But then again, this was only one Stoeger and I have no idea what kind of care he took of it. I have let my Benelli run a little dry before and had a coulple of FTFs before I realized the problem...

Now that's impressive. I cannot thank you enough, Jim. You have yet another loyal customer. To whoever searches for and finds this thread in the future, sometimes you just have to know when to throw in the towel. What took me about 12 hours and probably a few more choice words than Jim, took him just a couple of hours, and that included fitting the new receiver extension to the receiver.

Thanks to Bob, Fred, and everyone else who made this match happen. It was a very challenging match and really put everyone's skills to the test. This was most certainly an accuracy match and not a speed match. I had a great time and learned a lot about my equipment and my personal limitations. I guarantee before next match I will be working on my pistol accuracy. Those little 2" plates were killer with the pistol - much different than just putting two hits on paper at 5 yards.

Thanks for all of the help guys! I ended up going through 4 drill bits before I finally gave in and emailed Jim at Firebird. I was about to break out the cut-off wheel when Jim emailed me back with an extremely reasonable price and the assurance that it would be done right. Needless to say, I shipped the upper to New Mexico today and I'm anxiously awaiting its return.

I've seen these from the Raven Concealment System before and they looked well put together. It looks like they have all different styles and gun/light options. http://www.ravenconcealmentsystems.com/

Looking forward to it - should be another great match.

I am having some problems removing a stubborn gas block, and any advice would be greatly appreciated. I recently purchased one of the new Firebird/Carbon Arms carbon fiber handguards to replace the 13.2" LaRue rail that is currently on my LaRue Stealth upper that I use for 3-Gun. I have swapped numerous gas blocks and handguards before, so I assumed this would not present any problems. After removing the handguard, I attempted to loosen the set screws on the LaRue gas block. They wouldn't budge, so I used a heat gun for a few minutes to try and loosen them up. After heating the block, apparently I tried too hard and broke off an allen bit in the set screw. I tried unsuccessfully for an hour trying to remove the stubborn piece, but all it did was dull my drill bits and resist every other attempt. That was all last weekend. This morning I picked up where I left off and was able to remove the other set screw by heating it with a torch and applying a tremendous amount of force. I still could not get the broken bit out, so in my frustration I used a cutting disk and slotted the set screw (and put a nice slit in the gas tube). This allowed the broken bit pieces to fall out so I could try again to loose the set screw. Unfortunately, I could not get the screw to budge. Now I'm stuck with the LaRue barrel nut and a hacked up gas block. My question for you is what else can I do, or more likely, who can I send this to in order to get this wretched piece of metal off of my barrel?

It was Darrin Allen. You can reach him at 979.219.0286.

Yep, but that's why we go to these matches: to get better (and have a good time in the process).

Last weekend at the LaRue multigun I had a "learning experience" that I thought I would share for all the other new guys. I was on my last stage of the match, stage 6. The stage started fairly smoothly with a 2 shotgun strings. I transitioned to rifle, racked the bolt and acquired the target. When I pulled the trigger nothing happened. Out of instinct I slam on the forward assist, pull the trigger again - still nothing. Dry fire malfunction drills kick in and I drop the mag, insert the spare, rack the bolt again, and get a double feed. Clear that and try again with my first mag off the ground. Still won't go into battery. At this point the RO tells me that it's a critical malfunction and to transition to pistol for the rest of the stage. I set my rifle down, draw the pistol. I guess I forgot to load it. Guns aren't any help without any ammo. That was the end of that run. At the line I was able to clear the rifle and saw something down in the locking lugs. It was the backing for paster squares stopping the bolt from going into battery. I must have just put that in my pocket, instead of throwing it in the trash, and it got lodged in the magazine and fed into the gun. Lessons learned: 1 - Trashcans are for trash, and pockets are for mags. No exceptions. 2 - In a match that requires you to transition to a backup weapon for malfunctions, make sure you carry ammo for it. Needless to say, I know these things now.

I'm a pretty new shooter and I loved the long range shooting. It definitely requires the shooters to be well-rounded and not just have a quick trigger finger.

Thanks so much to everyone who had their hand in this! All of your work is greatly appreciated. It turned out to be a great match. The stages had a good variety of different ranges and unique environments. I really enjoyed stage 7 and it's a shame it had to be shut down, but it was the right move to get everyone through. Stage 8 was really fun as well - it's not every day that you get to shoot out of the back of a moving truck. I'm definitely looking forward to next year!

That same thing happened to my dad's Ford Excursion years back while they were on the way to a dove hunt. They popped into Walmart on the way there and when they came out half an our later, all of their guns were gone. The police told my dad that he had just forgot to lock his car, but they busted the passenger side lock. We didn't notice for months. It's crazy how fast this stuff happens.

You might try zooming out within your browser. It will make the text smaller, but you should be able to shrink it enough to see both. On a Mac: Command+'-' On a PC: Control+'-'

Sodolak's Beefmasters - bar none. Of course you could probably find a better steak at Eccell Steakhouse of The Republic, but at Sodolak's you won't have to spend $50 to get it. The steaks (chicken fried included) are great, the cuts are huge, and the price is right. They just opened up a new location on University, but I haven't been there yet. The ones in Bryan and Snook can't be beat though. How can you say no to a place called Beefmasters? I believe it's on the North side of University Drive between the La Quinta and the Hyatt Place.

I'll be there for my first big match. I'll be the guy in the LaRue hat...

I have a new TR24 and I've been wondering what to do with my zero for the upcoming LaRue match. After lots of reading and some hard thinking I decided to go with two different zeros. For the majority of the match I'll run a typical 200 yard zero. That should work great for anything out to 350. At 350 there should be a 4.09 moa drop, so aiming with the bottom of the triangle should be ample. For the long stages though, I'm planning on dialing the turrets to a 375 yard zero. That allows me to sit the triangle on top of any targets out to 500 yards, because there'll be another 5.01 moa drop. What made me decide on these zeros is the simplicity of dialing. To change from the 200 to 375, it's simply 5 moa. With the markings on the TR24, that should be pretty simple. And in the event of some difficulty with the post getting in the way of the 500 yard shots, it's just another 5 moa to dial in at 500. Keep in mind I'm a pretty new shooter and I could be totally off on this. This is just derived from some ballistics calculators using factory data, as I don't have access to a chrono or a range longer than 200 yards out here. The calculations were based on 69gr SMKs at 2850 fps.

I was thinking that as well, but I did so much practicing with the 4 round caddies I attempted a load from the 6 rounder yesterday and messed it up. I got in the habit of just grabbing from the bottom of the 4 round caddy that when I grabbed at the 6 rounder I when into mongoloid mode and wasn't thinking and just grabbed from the bottom and pulled out all 6, didn't work to well when trying to stuff them in the tube. I think I am too slow in the head to switch back and forth from 4 to 6, but that is just me. I was a little worried about that too, but all of my practice was from the 6-round carriers, so I index from the top and didn't have any problems. Right now I've spent enough money on caddies and I'll work with what I've got until I can justify buying some nicer ones.

Well, you guys convinced me and I had to order 2 4-round caddies to go with my 6-round ones and see how they work. When I first worked with them, the fit and finish wasn't as nice as my 6-rounders (all CCW), but that changed when I adjusted the belt clip on the back to increase the tension on the wire retainers. As far as reloading goes, I didn't really notice any difference in speed, but I'm not really an expert at reloading. The 4-round ones are probably more consistent under stress. Last weekend I shot at a USPSA match that had a shotgun side match. The targets were broken up into 4 groups of 3 with an additional 8 at the very end. It was definitely convenient to load up before the buzzer and then load 3 after each group while moving to the next engagement and have a full mag for the last targets. The 6-round carriers were great for that stage, but you would be in trouble if you missed more than one shot. I guess the best option (in my eyes) is to have both 6 and 4 round carriers and configure them for the individual stage.