Wicked Wrister

"...just keep on pushing hard boy, try as you may, you're gonna wind up where you started from."

I sit down to pee, don't poop and nobody calls me, so I guess I don't really know why I'm chiming in here... Nevermind. Sorry.

The mouth thing is an indicator of too much tension in the brain. Focus your mind on being calm throughout the draw and the firing of the first shot, and the mouth thing will fix itself. I'm curious what significance the open mouth has to you guys? I could see closed eyes, or a vein bursting out of the neck being something to correct, but why the open mouth?

...so we can all use what makes sense to each of us. This reminds me that it doesn't really matter how you set up your sights, as long as you know how to use them and your technique is repeatable. If you know what you need to see to hit a particular target and can do it, that's all that really matters. I like the idea of sighting at part of the plate (bottom or top) as you describe and not over into the brush, but haven't found it necessary if the scope has hold-over info for 300, 400, etc. I see your point though and it's a good one, absolutely.

Why not just shoot Open division if you want more than eight in the tube. The matches I've shot is 8+1 and either you start "shotgun to division capacity (9)" or "bolt closed, chamber empty, tube to division capacity (8)". The Benelli shooters would ghost load a 10th round on the carrier when the chamber was to be loaded, but that was it. The tube could not hold more than eight and if you could ghost load at the start, so be it. At Fort Benning a couple years back, Taran Butler was kicked out of Tactical and into Open part way through the match because his tube was found to hold more than eight. Even though he was only loading eight to start, the rules said the tube could not hold more than eight. He failed to plug the tube and was bumped into open. He went on to win open division with his tactical gear anyway, but the point is, Tactical should be 8+1 in my opinion. Obviously the rules vary, so read them carefully, as most of us could not win Open with Open gear, let alone Tactical gear. I also remember a rule somewhere that your mag tube could not extend more than 1" beyond your muzzle. In order to have a 12 round tube you had to have a 24" or 26" barrel. I have not seen that rule since, not sure if it exists anywhere anymore.

A 200/50 yard zero makes way more sense for a scoped rifle. (25/300 is fine for military irons, but that's a different animal) With the size of the targets we engage, you basically will have point-of-aim/point-of-impact shooting from about 7 yards all the way out to 225 or so. You will only have to consider hold over/under for the point blank head-shot and the 225+ targets. Who cares if your an inch high on a 12" inch plate at 100 yds or hitting the bottom of the "A" zone on 20 yd paper? Much easier to point and shoot on 95% of your targets with a 200 yd zero.

I have had 1st stages that were simply the best stages I've ever shot and some, the worst. Something I have noticed with my personality is that when I start really strong, I put added pressure on myself to continue strong and small mistakes are magnified. On the contrary, when I want to leave after the first stage because it was so bad, I realize I have nothing to lose and tend to both relax and push myself harder through the remainder of the day, feeling like I may as well go for it. At the end of it all, my placement in various matches seems to balance out, regardless if I start strong or not. It is one of my struggles in life to not over-react to both positive and negative circumstances. I will say for certain that when I'm able to roll with the punches, I have better results. Very interesting thread. So many people hem and haw over the weight of their gear or how many mags to carry or whether to wear plugs or muffs. I've always felt that controlling your emotions and impulses is more important than anything else.

Amen! Why not make practice more challenging, like running with dumbbells (weights, not stupid running partners)? If you have the type of range that allows, it's great practice to just pick out small rocks, clumps of dirt or other miscellaneous objects lying about organically to shoot at. There's something very spontaneous and exciting about randomly picking out a target and putting a bullet on it, rather than setting up steel of known size, at a known distance, etc. I have been amazed at how small an object you can hit, even at relatively long ranges, if you simply try. Your focus really tightens up with small targets.

"Loser sounds so harsh. Can't we say father of the boy who doesn't win?"

Although some extension tubes are rough internally, most are very smooth. The noise results from the surface texture of the spring, even when the ID of the tube is baby smooth. Hold the spring on your pointer fingers like a Chinese finger trap and let it slowly roll against a scotch-brite wheel (on a table-mounted grinder). Polish that puppy until it's shiny and smooth, being careful not to flatten it. You have to control its roll as you go. Make a couple passes and also break the edges on both ends of the coil. Some good grease on top of that and you'll stop mid-stage to make sure you're rifle is still cycling because it's so quiet.

The Swedes know how to do it... for example, Meshuggah.

This has been my experience also. With regard to shooting a stage, the more intense my pre-stage mental preparation was, the more I let go at the buzzer. Almost like balancing the scales, the more I concentrated before the action, the more I focused during the action. Whether it's pre-running the stage in your mind, pantomiming every move or simply ignoring those around you, when I have been calm and concentrated, relaxed but serious before the stage, those are the only times I've felt like I'm sitting on the shoulder of a dominant, commanding shooter. On the contrary, every horrible stage I've had was missing the pre-flight check that allowed something inside me to switch on the auto-pilot.

True Punisher is right and a good tool for cleaning the female threads is a 4-40 carbide tap. Run that through the screw collars (carefully) and it will remove the old Loctite residue. To reiterate what others have said, plan on completely re-installing the trigger group in another receiver. If the parts all drop in without re-adjustment, it is pure luck. That being said, good luck.

A friend of mine had constant feed and extraction issues with a variety of ammo in his 10/22 conversion (different animal, I know, but not really). He started placing a small drop of gun oil directly onto the top round of the loaded magazine, just every so often, and that completely solved the problem. You have so much mechanical resistance and friction with relatively low energy to overcome it with the rimfire, that a little lube goes a long way. Let's face it, the .22 is dirty anyway, a little added oil to the chamber, magazine, etc. isn't going to hurt anything. In my friend's case, it made all the difference. To be clear, we're talking about a small amount of oil here, not a huge drop on every loaded magazine. Just enough to take the edge off.

Another thing to bear in mind is slinging the rifle, particularly with the trend in true tactical matches, where you actually do have to sling the rifle. The larger the latch, the more it digs into whatever part of your body the rifle is slung against. For me, that's right between my boobies. Not very comfortable. I use the BO Tac-Latch, the larger style with the "hollowed square" profile. I have tried their Gen II version, which is substantially smaller, but profiled in such a way to give you maximum purchase. I would go with something like this, a well designed middle-ground, not just the biggest, baddest thing you can find.

If I use the bathroom as a guest at someone's house and realize that the toilet paper is installed backwards (toward to wall), I get up and leave. No wiping, no goodbyes... I just leave.

Mark Buchanan from 3-Gun Gear offers a nice heavy duty webbing, thigh rig. It is quick detach from a belt clip that stays with your belt and has an adjustable thigh strap. I've used this double pouch for years and it has never let me down, nor have I ever needed room to carry more than 2 reloads. Frees up belt space and keeps the mags handy while prone. 3-Gun-Gear is easiest to get through Dillon Precision or direct, though Mark's website comes in and out of existence. http://www.3gungear.com/Pages/3_rifle.html

Amen on the backpack straps. I also have a 5.11 double. I have enough Molle pouches on it that I can fit EVERYTHING I need for a stage on my back, hands free. Blue Ridge and Rocky Mountain have some hiker stages and having your arms 4 inches longer by the time you get there sucks. No matter what style you get, make sure it has backpack straps, not a shoulder strap, I mean backpack straps.

Williams Fire Sights are tough to beat. The have rib-mounted versions as well as barrel-mounted. Red fiber optic front and green fiber optic rear (3 dot) with a nice long sight radius. You can accurately and confidently hit 50-100 yard slug gongs with those sights and still take the flyers, flippers, movers and other close range clays. A lot of guys go with a bead and that's fine for flyers, but you really need rifle sights for precision work. 50, 75 and 100 yard slug targets are more common and a bead doesn't cut it.

The Weaver Classic 1-3x20 is tough to beat, beginner or not. The very first 3-Gun I shot was RM3G 2006. I had a used-up 16" JP-15 with a Weaver 1-3 and I got all my hits. Those little scopes rock. $150 + a nice one-piece mount like the JP and you're set-up for well under $400. If you decide to "upgrade" later you still have a kick-butt little scope to throw on the rimfire or the trunk-gun.

The amount of erosion is largely irrelevant. JP recommends a MINIMUM of .040" over bore diameter for the final exit hole of their comps. That gives you maximum gas redirection and baffle surface area while maintaining enough clearance for the bullet. The exit hole will get larger over time, but I have seen no appreciable difference even with a final exit hole at .100"+ over bore. Even a .308 comp will give great performance on a .223, especially when compared to a flash hider or some other muzzle device. I say, don't sweat it. It's not likely the comp will fail and I don't see the need to change comps between barrel changes.

Fire control groups would all be interchangeable and would be the same parts the .223 rifles use. Small pin (.154) triggers. Most lower parts are compatible such as stocks and grips, but other than that, not much is truly interchangeable in the "large frame" .308 platform. The type of mag used certainly affects the type of barrel extension/feed ramps, etc. It's advisable to do as much compatibility research as possible before you start dropping those yankee dollars.

JP LRP-07 with 18" lightweight Supermatch barrel, adjustable gas, low mass carrier and comp. That is the golden ticket for He-Man! Recoils like a .223, side charger is super slick and handles like a small-frame AR. Spendy? Sure, but what fine tool is cheap?

Absolutely, an adjustable gas block is more important than a low mass op system for recoil reduction. After a good comp, adjustable gas is the next logical step. Low mass op system is the last thing to add if you can't do everything. I have found that if I adjust my JP gas block to where it will not consistently lock open on an empty mag, back it off until it does, then back it off another 1/2 turn, that gives me a nice adjustment that works with a wide range of port pressures. I never have to re-adjust the system.

Also, the JP Low Mass Rifle Buffer is designed to be the same weight as a mil-spec carbine buffer. By running a JP Low Mass Carrier with a mil-spec carbine buffer and spring, you have a complete low mass operating system.