daves_not_here

I like this video about Kyudo (Japanese Archery). There are Zen aspects in Kyudo and I have found practicing this martial art has been beneficial to my mindfulness practice and other shooting activities.

As a stop-gap have you tried blacking out your fiber optic? It's a pretty big dot and depending on the lighting I go sideways. DNH

Cleaning a glock? Sacrilege! A few things I've had happen. The fingers pressing on the other side of the mag release. It's the part that sticks out on the opposite side. Shifting the gun in the hand cleared that up. I also get more leverage on the button. Worn or chewed up release, I could press it so far that the other side of the release caught the magazine. This started happening a day before a match probably because I was pressing harder because of nerves. $4 fix. DNH

It is possible to get benefit from a laser or airsoft. I have personally used a SIRT. It is a good indicator of takeup and trigger break. I found the green laser paid for itself in saving of ammo by running through stages at the range after local matches. It kept me honest about where shots were going. I no longer use my SIRT since I no longer use a Glock. It doesn't sound like you're doing a program with your dry-fire. I would suggest you buy Steve Anderson's first dry-fire book and a timer. Do the drills and write down the par times in the book. The book is also a log. Buy a real timer. Use real full-size targets along with reduced sized. It will help you hit the A zone or down zero rather than just shooting at the brown blur and hoping you hit well. http://www.benstoegerproshop.com/Build-Your-Own-Scaled-Dryfire-Target-Kit-p/byo-df-kit.htm Don't pull the trigger on the first seven drills. You will get better. Improvement of skills with a good dry fire program will take care of your frustration. It will be cheaper in the long run. DNH

Deburr or round the primer pin. It sounds like the primer is holding on to a burr on the pin. DNH

Get some extra primer tubes while you're calling Dillon. DNH

Stoeger has a table of times for drills in his Skills and Drills book. To improve times for live-fire practices do dry-fire. Anderson's dry fire books has goal times for his drills. For the ones he doesn't list times he explains how to get a baseline time and how much to reduce the time for improvement. This approach will be good for your live-fire. The books by these two guys have been recommended all over this forum. It's worth repeating. DNH

I was warned that this would happen and I have a spare so no real down time. However, I bought this pistol in September! Am I really dry-firing that much? Anyone have suggestions on how to make this spring last longer? No, less practice is not an option and I'm actually starting to ramp up. This is a IPSC production pistol so stock parts are required. Any other CZ factory parts to consider? Is there anything I can do with the trigger area to make it less stressful on the spring? Thanks, DNH

No one has said anything inherently bad about the P226 but only compares the trigger to other pistols and lack of aftermarket parts. I think I'm going to try out the following analogy to new competitors going the P226 route. "Using a P226 in competition is like driving a Formula One race with a Hummer. No one is going to say the vehicle is bad but you really aren't competitive because the vehicle is not suitable for what you're doing with it." I happen to like P226's and consider them fine guns, but have never considered them for competition. Thanks everyone for your thoughts and comments. DNH

Grip and trigger were my first suspicions on why they aren't common in competition. Unfortunately I think these are subtle things that won't be important to enough to a P226 fan. Luckily they're quality guns and you really don't lose your money re-selling them. DNH

I've seen a lot of shooters thinking about competition favoring the Sig P226's. I can understand why people would want that pistol. Similar to 1911 thinking. Why aren't many running them in competition? What are the things about this gun that doesn't make it suitable? I don't want to make this a rant but I'd like to give some good direction to the new shooters who show up with a P226 in a Serpa. Any other suggestions to set them up for success would be helpful. Thanks, DNH

I think you should experiment. Do you get better match results from the M&P or CZ? Run with whatever gets you better results = Use the tool that works better. You'll like the results and the gun, enjoy the sport more and shoot more. This happy cycle will make you a better shooter. Try other things every once in a while because your shooting style will change. You may end up running your CZ or something completely different. DNH

Between these two guns I think it will come down to your personal choice. For me, the final selection criteria for choosing a gun are; how it fits the hand, how it points, the trigger, manual of arms and what kind of aftermarket things you want. M&P's may have more aftermarket things. The two you have proposed are good guns with good support so reliability and maintainability are not really a factor in your decision. DNH

Do you enjoy tinkering? Then don't feel guilty. Unless it breaks the bank and you get in trouble. I think it is important to remember that it's the driver not the gun that improves performance. Reliability is another thing and can be helped with tinkering. There are mental benefits for personalizing your gun, within limits. If you've got a nice gun you'll want to shoot it well. Or, if that gun feels really nice in your hands with those new grips you'll shoot it more. Same with trigger, sights etc. In the end this hobby is about your personal enjoyment. If you want to read more on tinkering do a forum search for 1911. DNH

Run what you have. Borrow what you don't. For the next pieces needed you'll find a way to budget and there will be someone to sell it to you. The payback is the experience and camaraderie = priceless. Just get out there, then you'll know what your budget is. DNH