hkguy

that is only true if you start the stage with a 9 round mag in the gun and one in the chamber, then you would have to load your 10 rounders to 9. If you start with a 10 rounder in the gun, then load the rest to capacity, but you have to stick with the decision through the course of the match.

if your a diehard 1911 guy, i dont know how much your going to like the sig or HK (especially the LEM, i tried one and hated that particular trigger on HK's) I would look for a used HK45, it will get you down a little in price. Between my USPc 9 and P30L, i prefer the SA of the USP over the SA of my P30. The ergonomics of the HK 45 are better than that of the USPc but a USP 45 might fit the bill better than the HK45. Sig triggers can be made pretty damn light. Its really a Ford v Chevy debate IMO either can serve your needs.

while your thought is intriguing, in no way is would it work in practice. there is aprox a 9-15 second difference between CDP and ESR when comparing classification times. How would you suggest this gap be bridged?

drop off sets are not allowed unless your a female shooter.

my spartan 9mm has a armscor frame, slide, and possibly the barrel i believe. the rest of the internals are STI. Fit of the frame and slide of my spartan has impressed many of my shooting friends given the price point.

i was in your position about 4 months ago, i went with the spartan because it gave me more $$ to make the changes i wanted. so far im in this gun $1100 with mags, upgraded parts, trigger work, holsters etc.

i had my smith drop in a new trigger and to a trigger job and brought it down to about 3lbs. made a nice difference when compared to a stock spartan. parts and labor was only $50 too. money well spent IMO

that is going to be a stout load, probably right around the 138-140 pf. Im currently using 124 gr Berrys, CCI small pistol primers, 3.85 gr of TG at 1.115 and getting a 133 pf out of my P30L.

ive had good luck with tightgroup for my 9mm loads. right now im shooting about a 133 pf out of my HK using 3.9 gr of tightgroup with a 124gr Berry's rsds. if i recall, the extreme spread was about 25fps for my loads too

at my club this year, at least for IDPA we started running 101 and 102 classes as well as had a separate new shooter briefing to go over basic commands and expectations before each match. As a SO i take it upon my self to provide new (and seasoned) shooters with feedback, good, bad or indifferent. The key i have found is to reinforce the good behavior and throw compliments at the (new) shooter when you see improvements on things you have corrected before. on a side note, it was great to watch one of our new shooters grow over a 6 month period in both safety and shooting proficiency.

i got my metalform mags from fusion... decent prices too

1. NO, the debate is can you legally alter mags to only hold 9+1 if they hold more. 2. NO. just like a CDP shooter can use either 7 or 8 round mags, in theory you could be at a competitive disadvantage on higher round count stages. 3. your almost there, you can use lower capacity mags should that be all you have, but you have to make a decision on what your starting capacity will be either 9+1 or 10+1 and stick with that decision through the duration of the match, personally i would start 10+1 and keep the 9 rounder on my belt. 4. as stated above,the shooter can use the 9 round mag but has to make a choice of either starting at 10+1 or 9+1 and then use that starting point for the duration of the match, the shooter cannot flip flop between 9+1 or 10+1 depending on how the stages are designed. i surmise that the rules are such to allow shooter who live in states with "high capacity" mag restrictions to be on the same playing field as those who can use/own "high capacity mags". you can use your 9 round mag but you have to make that choice to either shoot 9+1 or 10+1. It is spelled out quite clearly in the rule book about magazine capacity and is included in the description of each division, this is taken from ESP

bill is on the right track. for most, the thought of carrying a 40oz gun all day is not a pleasant thought, its not to say it cant be done, i know some who choose to carry government 1911's. Most want to keep it light and compact. My carry gun is typically a kahr P9 or a S&W 642 and occasionally an HK. Its not hard to hide the barrel of a gun, its the grip frame that is. for a 1911, my ideal gun would be the dan wesson Commander bobtail.

about 10k last year between my wife and I. about 6k 9mm and the rest is .22, .17HMR, .38spl and .45

the belt ride version claims to be IDPA legal, but not the low ride version is not.

i like my spartan, but i had to send it back to STI because it would not feed or extract reliably, but STI sent took it back and shipped it to me on their dime. after they worked on it, is has ran like a champ and ate every thing i can feed it. While the frame, slide, and i think barrel are armscore, the rest of the internals are STI. mine was right about $700 out the door at a local ish shop.

Thanks for the feedback once again. My wife liked that her gun was "pretty". Once i add the extended mag release ill check the weight again and may go with the aluminum guide rod or have factory one bored out to trim some weight.

metal form i believe. At least that is what my spartan 9 came with and FWIW, i have not had any issues dropping the mag when cambering a round. Does the "m" look like this?

I just got my wife set up to transition over from SSP shooting with a USPc to shooting ESP with a STI Spartan. I added the features she wanted in a gun and it tips the scales at 42.5 oz with a 10 round mag inserted, with the max allowed being 43oz. My main question is, have i left enough wiggle room in terms of weight? i know that all scales will vary some but i want to avoid getting DQ'd because the scale at the match reads 43.1 oz. I have thought of a couple options to reduce weight like using a GI guide rod set up instead of a full length or i could slim down the funnel/speed chute a bit to take some weight off. Thanks for your feed back/suggestions. Here is a couple of pictures of my wifes new gun to give you an idea.

Coming from a movement science background and still somewhat new to competitive shooting you seem to be flying, im lucky do get my first shot in at about 1.6 seconds for IDPA purposes. I would love to hover right around the 1 second mark. The average person it takes about 130-180 milliseconds to respond to a stimulus, in this case the timer beep. So you are looking at about .2 seconds from when the timer beeps until you start to reach for your gun. then the rest of the time you are going through the draw stroke (which by now is almost automatic). you may have reached your physical limitations for this particular skill. Things such as anticipation, tension, stress, etc will all adversely affect your performance on this task, that is make you slower. Over the course of a match this could add up to a second to your total score in relation to other shooter that have shorter arms, but you can make that up easily by working on your transitions between targets, on your reloads, and in mental preparation for the stage's CoF.

i have shot 124gr RSDS berrys's plated exclusively this year and have not experienced any "tumbling" out of the three guns (P30L, USPc, G17) i have shot for IDPA. my loads have been anywhere from a 148 pf on down to 125pf fwiw

Well i just picked up my GP100 from the smith and got an action job and had the cylinder chamfered. Shot to, and was able to keep every thing on a pie plate at 25 yards shooting mostly contolled pairs. @brewski, what is a load you have found that works well, IDPA just lowered powerfactor down to 105 but i want to keep it at 115-120 to make sure i have enough umph to knock down big steel poppers and other steel targets at 20+ yards. So far i have learned a ton more from this thread and i have in the past week looking around online. Keep it comming.

for me its about saving $10/1k. the 158 lnr are 83/k and the 158swc are 72/k. im still debating. i have some LNR and SWC's lying around and ill practice with both and go from there. Im using a LNL-AP press, looking at getting redding dies. I am using a powder through expander on the second stage, has any one had issues using the hornady system?

you might find they work but thats not a road i will be going down. i have heard of ruger blackhawks having 9mm/.38/.357 cylinders. my 9mm bullets are 124gr berrys and at .38spl velocities that seems a bit to small/light for my comfort. the current bullet im leaning towards is a dardas 158gr SWC and they are running at $74/1000 which are not a bad deal to me.

Are you planning on making your own, or buying them? Store bought bullets are already lubed & sized. If you're going to cast your own, there are a lot of guys here that cast & can help you out, so ask away! for now i am not going to cast my own as of now, i just wont have time or $$ to get that process started. Im leaning towards the 158 gr RN, where are some good places to get bullet from? i typically shoot berrys in my 9mm's.