lee blackman

What you need is about $3500 minimum start up, that is enough to get you in the production division game. You need to budget that into the following: 1) Quality Scope (FFP, MOA/MOA or MIL/MIL, 5-25, 6-24x) with a throw lever and anti-cant device all in a good base or set of quality rings. 2) A rifle capable of consistent and repeatable all day long sub-minute accuracy (not that I had three holes touching that one day off the bench BS), and it needs to be magazine fed, and not some heavy bench monster. Less and less shots are prone, and you'll NEVER shoot off a bench. 3) A good quality bipod with aftermarket claw or spike feet, preferably one that can be easily attached via QR picatinny mount. 4) A butt bag and a pumper pillow minimum (your gonna end up with a bunch of different useless bags till you figure out what you like) and you'll need a 2 point precision rifle sling. 5) Ammo and a setup to reload, I recommend having a good chronograph in the mix with this. This can be as cheap or expensive as it needs to be. All I know is if you end up using compressed loads then buy Forester Dies instead of Reddings, and ALWAYS full size your brass.... 6) A kestrel 5700 elite with applied ballistics is highly recommended. Yes you can do without it, but in my experience you don't want to. You can't develope your own DA trajectory charts on paper, and keep a data book, but don't get in the habit of depending on your phone because you'll shoot places you can't get signal. There are a lot of little items that you can waste money on, and some you can't live without. Shoot at least ONE match before you really start dumping money into stuff. Tag along with a buddy, borrow a rifle.

Its just funny looking back at my original post from 2016.... Since then, they've come out with a 223rem version, and a larger 300 win mag and 338 lapua... That is pretty crazy.

So this is kinda how I learned to call my shots. Its not as fancy or as intellectual as what some of the other posters said, but its another perspective... Basically calling a shot is just knowing if you made your hit or not... without looking at the target. I keep watching this videos online and they overcomplicate it beyond that. Like taking a target beyond the distance a new shooter is even capable of placing a tight group on, and saying he should be able to know where his hit is... Thats not what its about. Its about being able to figure out if you pulled your shot or made your hit without having to visually verify it, and then breaking the habit of constantly looking at the target after you shoot. Trusting your own ability to make the hit using your sights, and knowing if you need to recover that shot or your good. Cause if you look after each time your pull the trigger, your wasting time that you could be using on placing the next shot. Like seriously, its a hard habit to break, the whole shoot, look, shoot, look... And it really adds up on the clock.

Yea pretty obvious that is a single action design. That sear is not capable of cocking the hammer, only releasing it. I do find it interesting that the mechanism is on the removable sight rail. This tells me maybe there are other mechanisms than the one shown in the drawing. Maybe a cocking mechanism beyond part of the slide?

There are three things I can think of off the top of my head that will cause this issue. The first would be out of spec pattern holes (or a defective hyperfire). Overlapping tolerance issue could contribute. Simple solution would be swap out the whole assembly with another and see if you have the same problem. Just for trouble shooting purposes. You said you have one in another gun right? I also recommend a set of KNS anti-roll pins, and a noveske 60 safety. The polish stainless surface of the anti-roll pins, and the hard slightly large milled tumbler of the noveske safety as opposed to cast traditional safety really seem to change the break of the trigger and takes the slop out. The second, and this has happened to me, is you have a piece of primer floating around your receiver in the trigger group somewhere. SImple fix, involving an air blast and visual inspection. The third and probably the worst, is that your bolt carrier group isn't pushing the hammer all the way down as it travels back, and its right on the edge of the reciever gap between the upper and lower. This means that as things flex and bounce, there is that occasional point where it won't go home. My solution, either change to a different trigger, or change the bolt. Anyway the important thing is to trouble shoot to see if this is the actual issue. Next time this happens, don't touch anything, just see if the safety will move to the safe position. If it doesn't that means that the hammer followed the bolt, and didn't cock. If the safety will activate, it means the hammer is all the way to the rear, and everything else is working good, but the trigger spring itself does not have enough lift to reset the trigger, and it sits in kinda limbo. You can push the trigger forward with your finger and it should reset. If this is your problem replace the trigger spring, or at least double check to make sure its not broke, or improperly installed. Best of luck, Lee

Something important I don't often see folks mention is make sure you keep the channel that the striker assembly is in is clean. No oil or anything in it. It rides in a self lubricating liner, just clean with a q-tip, wipe off the spring and striker dry, and reinstall it. Many times I've seen folks dump a buncha oil in the channel or use a spray cleaner and it ends up getting full of carbon and gunk and causing light strikes. If your running handholds, make sure your seating deep. This pushes the cup and the anvil in the primer closer together assuring ignition.

The real question here is do we have to many divisions now, or is the large amount of divisions benefitting participation... If its time to start cutting divisions, I think limited-10 would be the obvious first on the chopping block.

If you already stippled your grip and replaced your trigger with an Apex, then there isn't any reason to get a 2.0. Thats pretty much what it has to offer over the 1.0 is better grip traction and a better trigger.

Wake up early, eat breakfast, and show up early enough to help set up. This puts you at a state of being awake, warmed up physically. The next and probably most important thing is remaining calm on your first stage. I blame adrenaline dumps on the failure of many stages, especially for new shooters. You see a guy perfectly calm one minute, then tell him make ready and his hands go all shaky. You can tell the adrenaline already kicked in, his heart rate is elevated beyond where it needs to be, blood is pulling to the bodies core, and the loss of fine motor skill occurs. Following this, my first stage at the local match is often my best. Now I just fight fatigue, old age, being out of shape and summer heat.

No they won't. The lack of case capacity really limits powders, especially when your running a shorty. I actually ran 124's with Autocomp to make major in 9mm out of my SVI IMM Open gun. I have heard from others that AA#7 will get you to major and run fairly flat if you have a 5" barrel and no popples, but that wasn't my case. I started open with a 9 Minor steel master, tried pushing major in it, and was just way to violent. I ran 9 Major in my IMM Open, and it worked, but I moved over to 38super then supercomp. Frankly I'd rather run an old school comp'd 5" 38super any day than an all poppled out custom 9 Major. No matter what a 9 Major will never perform as flat or be as tunable as a super. but thats just my opinion. There may be other folks with different experiences who drew different conclusions than I did.

You'll find a plethora of information if you spend the time to go waaaaaay back. Its a lot of material to cover. I've been there done that, spent a lot of time and money. You'll see popular and common loads and where they shift, mostly for component availability. Open division really has nothing new, and really nothing very new or innovative has come about in a while. There are no new wonder powders, or changes in physics. Frankly IMHO CFE sucks for 38super major, its actually not horrible for minor but not my first pic for anything really. I'm reading a lot of folks using autocomp, and its works just fine, but IMHO its kinda snappy. Autocomp is my first pick for 9mm minor open guns, because it seems to get a lot of gas to the comp for even a minor pf charge. If you can afford to shoot open, then use JHP's because the lead is to the front not the back, its the cleanest and produces the least build up in your comp. Seriously, its the best, other stuff works, but just stick to JHP's. Personally I recommend one of these three, Precision Delta, Zero Bullets, or Montana Gold. Pending whoever is the cheapest bulk at the time price. They are all of equal quality and comparable to each other. I've spent time working up loads for six completely different 2011 based open guns. I started with a STI Steelmaster 9 Minor, went to an SVI IMM Open 9 Major, then to a STI Grandmaster .38super with a Trubor as a backup, then an Akai Katana, now an Akai V8. I'm going to summarize what I learned and what works for me after all the time and money I put into it; .38super/supercomp: If your running a 5" comped gun with no or just a couple small popples, use Hogdon HS-6 or AA #7 with 115gr projectiles.. Seriously this is by far the softest combination. Get a nice traditional soft dot rise and back on target recoil impulse. 115's have less rise than 124's, plus not as much baseball bat hitting post feel in the hand. If your running shorty with popples (stroked or not) use a 124gr bullet and 3n38... Its more of a dot shakes an a lot less rise. Go ahead and order a selection of recoil springs from 7 to 12 pounds, yup that high... After you work powder charge up to a 172~176 power factor (pending what you and your gun likes), find the heaviest spring that doesn't nose dive the gun and go one pound lighter, and your good to go. Shoot a buddies gun after your done with everything, and will put into perspective how great yours actually shoots, cause you kinda get numb during the process. Best of luck, Lee

I'm curious about that 6.5 Hornady PRC cartridge myself. As much of a game changer as the 6.5creedmore was, it just didn't produce the velocity I wanted with the higher BC projectiles, which is why I stuck with 6mm. I'm still drooling over the 6.5 SAUM, and hope to one day put one together. But the 6.5 PRC may be the cartridge I always wanted, being someone can actually buy factory brass for it. And if they are talking only a 30fps deficit compared to a SAUM... That may be the new it cartridge.

The 6XC is this years PRS cartridge for sure. Everyone at the 2016 Finale was talking about how they were going over to it. I actually ran a Ruger Precision Rifle in a .243win with a Vortex PST FFP 6-24x on it. Hey have you tried Hybrid 100V over the H4350? I was able to get another 100fps pushing my 105gr Hybrids, better groups too.

Personally for a 200 yard carbine, that means you can go shorter because velocity isn't as critical. As far as barrel weight, light doesn't always mean less accurate. I mean I've seen a thin profile barrel running hot group better than a heavy profile barrel more than once in my life. And there are plenty of light contour barrels that will perform sub-minute. Its all quality and metallurgy. Imho JP 14.5" with pinned break would be my first choice. Adjustable gas, and low mass. A good trigger, a reliable red dot and your in business. Being shorter, the light profile barrel will be more rigid than a longer barrel of similar profile, and JP quality is second to none. My second choice would be a Noveske (Pac-Nor), my 18" lt wt runs sub-minute cold, about a minute and a quarter scalding hot. Third choice Ranier CHF, which surprised me so much I had to buy a second and it performed equally as accurate.

I run a S&W 686SSR in IDPA, and as much as I do like it, I honestly I wish I would have bought a GP100 Match Champion. Because you don't have to do anything other than a spring swap to get the trigger pull weight down and your done. Get some jetloaders, and call it a day. I fitna SDM fiber optic front on my 686, was a pain in the rear. The ruger already comes with one. I'm going to refrain of a diatribe of my experience with S&W MiM internals also...

Do to budgetary options, I decided to give 115's a try. I have been loading 124gr MG JHP's with 3n38 since I got my first 38super. Mainly because coming over from 9 Major to 38 Supercomp I had a ton of 124's. I didn't shoot 115's because it was hard to push them to major in my shorter barreled IMM Open 9mm gun. Anyway my 124's dried up, I bought a case of 115's, and tried some old school loads with AA #7 and HS-6... Wow! Yea, I probably won't go back to the 124's.

Cough Cough..... I think someone needs a bar of soap in their pocket....

Geiselle.... Best two stage triggers I've ever fingered.... Solid lock time too with that speed hammer. Really makes a difference down range.

Is there anyway to flip that Giruard upside down and mount it on a toolhead?

Your gun should feed and run when it bump fires..... AR's don't have "limp wristing" issues...... Its not a polyframed short barrel semi-auto handgun. You should be able to float that thing upside down off your pinky while drinking a tuna salad sunday smoothy on the angry biting pony ride at the fair.... and it still run. My vote, toss that one mag.... Pmags are great, but like everything they do eventually break. Double feed in an AR, 99.7354671 to the cagilianth % of the time is a mag issue. Use a different mag, tell us if you have the same problem.

2 feet? On an 11lb recoil spring....Dude, add some powder to the loads man... Man go buy some off the shelf ammo, tell us where that ejects.... Yea it will actually make a difference. My regular G34 (all stock) likes to throw brass in my face when I run loads that are to soft. Extractor isn't going to do anything, honestly that was probably a waste of money. Unless you just really hate MiM parts for some reason. You could play with extractor spring tension and have some effect but I don't think thats your issue. You would have other problems if your extractor tension was to weak or to strong. If you need to change your ejection pattern, general rule of thumb is look at the ejector.... Aside from stepping up on powder which I'd gamble will actually resolve your issue, is either changing where the ejector contacts the brass by tuning the ejector or changing the brass which probably won't help as much as tuning the ejector. Don't waste money on an extended ejector, if anyone even makes one, I'm not spending time to google it. All an extended ejector does is start ejection sooner, and then you can have a whole new world of problems. Like not being able to get unfired rounds out of the chamber, lol.

9 pound spring with an alumabuff is what I run, been working for me for a while.

That seems to make the most sense.... I mean if the wind blew a wall down during a course of fire and a whole array is now visible from where it wasn't before... so the shooter shoots it, why would the shooter be penalized or reap the benefit? The course of fire was changed. If the shooter accidentally shot a stack of barrels over because some of his shot hit while trying to get a tight angle on a visible target around the barrel, its pretty much the same. Yea the person who designed the stage (unless specifically calling that shot a forbidden action) is at fault. Toss the stage, or fix it. Cut open the side of the bottom barrel, toss a couple sand bags down in it, then use target sticks and wood screws to connect the top barrel to the bottom, I've seen it done plenty. By all common sense and practicality, circumstances would dictate thats a range equipment malfunction. Most necks of the woods, a range equipment malfunction is a mandatory reshoot. Now, benefit of the doubt always favoring the shooter, if he shot them down on purpose to try to cheat the stage, and is stupid enough to persistantly argue the point wanting the score, all things considered, DQ his stage score, or walk him (DQ) from the whole match... Unsportsmanlike conduct...

You know when you go into one of those independently owned gas stations and they have the display case with all the multi-color assorted cheap pocket knives... Just reminds me of that for some reason. I just keep scrolling thru the pictures waiting to see a gun painted old school army man camo with "Special Forces" and "Rostfrei" engraved on the side hahahahaha

PRS doesn't really have as much prone shooting as you think. Obviously its a necessary position to master, but generally PRS is more like awkward supported shooting positions without names kinda thing. One stage you might be shooting reverse kneeling over a big rock, the next your shooting off the low limb of a tree. Not to distract from your original post, just a point worth mentioning. I recommend getting a decent assortment of bags and figuring out what you like. I personally like armageddon gear bags, just because they have a lighter fill than some of the others. If your shooting with a bipod, get some Hawk Hill or some kinda spiked feet so you can front load the rifle without it rolling forward on you in prone. I have a few different bipods and I really like the Atlas but I always ended up going back to the Harris for various reasons. 6.5 Guys has a youtube channel with some awesome information. Best thing to do IMHO is find the closest club that has PRS matches, and just show up! Seriously