BPiatt

I was shocked and saddened to hear of Eddie's passing. I sat for some time in disbelief thinking how can this be. You see, since the first time I met Eddie and Vicki, late 1980's my first few Soldier of Fortune Matches, Eddie was in my eyes, a cop that I wanted to emulate. I became a police officer in 1986 and was introduced to Eddie in what I think was 1989. I was trying to just survive my first trip to the Vegas heat, sharp cactus, and choking dust of the Desert Sportsman's Club. Here was Eddie, tall, thin, strong, Boonie hat and shorts, not giving the desert another thought. "I'm out of my league" I thought as I walked away from shaking hands with Eddie. I remember specifically, there was a door we had to open in one stage, shotgun in hand. Everyone waited for the buzzer to beep, opened the door and started the stage... that was until Eddie's turn. The buzzer went off, Eddie yelled "POLICE... GET DOWN" then he proceeded to KICK the door open. That sealed the deal.. Eddie was "the man". After watching that YouTube video on the "What would Eddie do?" shirts... I now have a new internet/texting abbreviation. It's not LOL (laugh out loud), I watched the video and COL -- Cried Out Loud. Rest in peace my friend, you were taken too soon. Bruce Piatt Bruce@BrucePiatt.com

It's nice to have a side saddle available especially when you have a stage that's shot and slug mixed. you can put all your slugs on the side saddle and all your shot on your belt. Reduces the chance of mixing them up.

Lee, I'm using a 1.5 x 6 Burris XTR with the same reticle as you, however I'm using my own reloads. 55gr. Sierra BlitzKings at 3100 fps. They match my reticle pretty close. Close enough that at 300, my 55's hit just at the top of the 300 yard dot. 400 is right on. That is as far as I've been able to do actual range work. The only other distance I can confirm is my 1000 yard reticle line hit perfect at 927 yard (laser rangefinder). In comparision, I have a 77gr. Sierra load that hits at the bottom of the 300 yard dot at 300 yds. Now that dot is 1 minute (3 inches at 300) so were talking just a few inches of differnce between loads. In reality, the measurements don't really matter. As long as you know where to hold at different distances, with your ammo. No matter what you ammo you want to use, zero your gun at 100 then record your ammo results for your reticle. When you travel to a match, you'll usually only have access to 100 yard range. Get a perfect zero when you get there and you know your homework will be good. When I'm shooting for groups, I put a GI ammo can on the bench, put a sand bag on the top and I lay the gun on that. I have another sandbag I put the A2 stock on and hold that with my weak hand, squeezing it for minute adjustments. My sandbags are lead shot bags I've filled with sand for heavy ones, and rice for less weight. The light ones are good for sniper matches when you have to 'hump' all your gear. Years ago I had a gun that was very sensitive to how it was held. The past few uppers I've put together or gotten from DPMS haven't been that way. I know from shooting .308 AR's, you want the gun shouldered well but don't push the gun down into the bags.

http://www.bagmaster.com/website/cart/shopexd.asp?id=376 I've been using a Bagmaster case that is plenty big enough. Fits all three guns, mags etc. plus it can be put on your back like a backpack, freeing up your hands for other gear.

I've played with a lot of different combinations. (3-gun competition applications, semi-auto only) Aluminum Bolt Carrier Tit bolt Carrier lightened steel carriers Empty rifle length buffers removing 1 or 2 weights from buffers Carbine buffer w/ spacer The issue here is "reciprocating mass" of the BCG & Buffer. Just like some people want lightened slides on their pistol, some people like lightened BCG's & Buffers on their rifle. Does it make it different? YES. Does is make it better? Not sure.... There are a lot of factors that are effecting what YOU see down your sights/scope. Compensators, gun overall weight, ammo, how you hold your gun. A gun that recoils great for one person my feel strange to another. Find what feels and works good for you. Get your BCG & buffer too light and you're flirting with function problems as well as sharp recoil impulse. Too heavy and your gun will, what I like to call, feel LUMPY. Kind of slow recoiling. I've come full circle, from very light to my current set up, full weight everything. I tend to think that powder/bullet/gas port size combinations have more effect on recoil than most of us realize. I believe that you can take any gun and find a load (reloading)that feels the way you want it to. In reality, an adjustable gas block does nothing more than give you an easy way to compensate for variences in gas pressure/volume.

Doesn't really matter what barrel you have. Changing bullets can cause point of impact changes. There's not much you can do about it just zero your gun with the load you're using.

I haven't been able to connect to the website. Is it my computer or is the site down?

I'm curious as to what brand and age of the barrel you have? Years ago (about 20 years) the only barrels we could get were big too. I had the same problem and used PMC .38 special 130 gr. FMJ's at .357. They're not made any more but boy did they shoot good.

+1 on this. Leaning to use ALL of the time allowed will permit you to maintain good trigger control. I often shoot late shots in practice.... then hear people whispering about it. I know I'm going to shoot a little faster at the match so I don't give late shots a second thought in practice.

Depending on how your gun was built, POA/POI will vary. I sight my gun in at 50 yards for the entire match. The only holdover I have to worry about is at 10 yards but even there it hits 1" or so low. ( this is for a 115gr Sierra bullet at 1140 fps ) Now if your scope is mounted at the wrong angle, or you have some slow moving .38 special or .45acp's, then I've seen people with some strange Point of Impact changes. Some people use hold off and a few click for different yard lines.

Now I'm really confused... There are DA 1911s? There are but that's not what this refers to. A Series 80 Colt (and some other brands) have an internal firing pin safety that many people remove the parts to get a better feeling trigger. This rule says if your frame and slide have the holes/cuts for these parts, then the parts have to be installed and working.

I agree... If you are going to reload, then a .260 is a better choice than the .308.

I agree.. with one additional thought. One OPEN, one Metallic, one Production. Team decides who shoots what event. It will be hard enough to field teams without the residency restrictions. Question/thought - Can a shooter compete in more than one team? I say NO... how say you all? Bruce

The barrel I'm running now is an old 3" hunting barrel. It HAD one gas port, until I got my hands on it. I put a second port in and welded up a new ejector. To make a standard Remington run on light ammo, it needs two gas ports. If you're not sure what you're looking at, compare a 1100 skeet gun to a standard 1100 hunting (sportsman) gun. The actions are the same, the difference is in the barrel (gas ports and ejector location). If it's dedicated for 3-gunning with light loads, it's best to have a 2 3/4" chamber. Not that he chamber is an issue but the ejector is located 1/4" back for a 3" gun. You should be able to switch barrels, as long as they are both 1100 actions. (1100 to 11/87 barrel switches do not work) Once it's a light load gun, you don't want to put a lot of full power slugs or heavy hunting ammo thru it. One, it will kick the snot out of you and two, it will wear the gus quckly. My gun now runs 1oz. 2 3/4 dram loads.

2009 was my first year shooting with Burris and using the XTR's. I was concerned about the reticle/load combo before I went to the range. Once I shot my load thru them at distances, those concerns are gone. I love the fact that I can travel to a match, check my zero at 100 and know you're going to be on at long distance. I found their paperwork explaing the BDC/reticle/loads kind of confusing. I've learned first hand that it's easier to take your load, go to the range and see for yourself. Take my two loads for example: my 55gr. Sierra BlitzKings at 3100 fps hits just touching the top of the 300 yard dot...at 300 yards. My 77gr Sierra MK's hit just at the bottom of the 300 yard dot. If you're thinking about buying this scope and study it on paper/computer, you'll see an impact difference but in reality, you put the dot on target and shoot. I also shot at a Las Vegas range before the USPSA Multigun Nationals and shot my 55gr Blitzking load at a rock 930 yards away. (ranged with laser) I held the reticle for 950 and hit a few feet low. Two shots later, I had the elevation, one more hold adjustment for wind and I hit the rock using the 1000 yard hash mark. The illuminated reticle wasn't a big issue until the second match of the year. In fact I never really practiced with it much, just knew it was there and didn't give it much thought. The FN Midwest 3-gun stage in the woods ..... wow. I turned on the reticle on thinking "it can't hurt" and made ready for the run. Somewhere about the 3rd target into the stage, I felt like I was shooting a pistol. I saw the red reticle on the target and I shooting my rifle like my open pistol. Red dot on target... let'r rip. Then I started turning on the reticle for every stage. Sometimes I notice it, other times I don't. I really notice it on black targets when a normal black reticle would wash out. I often forgot to shut it off overnight and killed a battery or two. I started shooting the 1 x 4 XTR for the beginning part of last year and upgraded to the 1.5 x 6 XTR at the end. I like the extra power for distance and I didn't feel and extra .5 at the lower end hurt any. I used the 1.5 x 6 at the Ft. Benning match with good results. I just received a special order 1.5 x 6 XTR without the large target knobs. Who needs target knobs when you have the BDC reticle? Lower profile, lower weight.... Perfect for a Squad Designated Marksman. I'll have it on my gun shortly and will see you all in Phoenix for the SMM3-G. Bruce

I remember someone shooting creedmore many years ago. At the shooters meeting, 2 or 3 years ago, I questioned the Prone wording knowing that Jerry Miculek has trouble with his neck. He too used a sideways type of laying down and also played with the sitting with the gun between the legs. The concensus of the head table said they "meant" to say "freestyle" but they urged anyone using other than prone so see a judge before the match for a ruling.

If you use a Full Length die all you need is an RCBS Precision MIC,Product # 88304 - PRECISION MIC .223, this tells you if your sizing die is down enough. Place a case/round in die, dial it down, when it reads "0" you're at a perfect case length. It is guaranteed to fit in any chamber. (we're talking sizing, not length) I actually try for .001 under "0". You can also take a fired case from your gun, put it in the die and it will tell you what your gun chamber is. Most of my chambers are from .002 to .005 over zero, meaning if you take a zero sized case and fire it, it expands .002 to .005 every time it's fired. Military chambers can be much higher. When someone says they neck size only, (ususally only done in bolt guns), then they are leaving thier case at or just under their chamber dimension and only squeezing the neck back to spec. Another use of this die is when you are buying loaded ammo. Many military rounds, especially the european, inexpensive stuff is actually sized UNDER the zero point. (like .005 to .010 under) They do this so that it fits and fires in any gun, no matter how dirty it is. They don't care about case life or accuracy..... they just want the gun to go bang every time. a case that is sized too much will give poor accuracy, pop primers out of the case when fired, or give "pressure signs" on the primer but it's not actually pressure. It's the primer coming out of the case too much when it fires. This is one of the reasons they really crimp the primers in, it allows them to size the case more. For what it's worth, I use a Dillon power trimmer. Once adjusted, you run the case in this die with the power trimmer running and it sizes and trims to length all in one process. Chamfer the case mouth and you're good to go. good luck

right now you're guessing at what's wrong. Here's another trick.. take a loaded round (no need to put powder if you want to be extra safe) take a magic marker/sharpie and mark the entire case and bullet. gently place it the the chamber and let the bolt slam forward. gently extract the case 3/4 of the way, keeping the bullet tip in the chamber, let it slam shut again. do this 4 or 5 times, enough to mark the case. Now gently extract the round and examine where the sharpie is rubbed off. This will tell you your exact problem. Then go to work on fixing that problem.

I really like the way my Safariland RLS sits on my LaRue handguard. I slide it on my upper rail and hang in on the left side of the gun. The swtich button is right at your thurmb. Momentary or constant on. Bright, out of the way when leaning on barricades and it slides on/off in just a second. It can go on your rifle, pistol or clip on your belt without any mods.

There are many different methods to shooting the mover. For years, Doug and I had very differnt styles. Doug would chase the target and fire when the dot touched the X. He would do this for every shot at 20 & 25 yds. He's since changed to more like I shoot it. I draw fast, get on target and track it for about 10 feet. Then I start working the trigger. I've found that by doing it this way, once the shot breaks, my dot returns to the center rather than behind it. It kind of builds the swing into my body. I also like to take my time and really work the trigger no matter how much time it takes, giving no account to how much of the range I use. However, on days when I'm working the trigger well, the shot breaks quicker and I seem to finish quick and may look like I'm purposely shooting in the center of the range. I can confirm that, especially up close, errors are multiplied the further out from the center of the range you shoot. So there is some merit to people who shoot quickly in the center. It's a method that in the shooter's mind, they are preparing to have a bad shot so they are trying to minimize the error. However, if you really focus and work the trigger well, it doesn't matter where you shoot because good shots will be center, no matter where it is fired. When shooting open, I focus more on the target than the dot. I turn the dot way low, almost low enough where I can see thru it. Kind of goes against what many people think is right. The real trick is to practice every way you can. If one day your dot comes off center, then you've practiced "chasing" the center, and you won't go into panic mode because the gun happened to bounce funny that day. If you one day you ride the center well, then you know you have all the time in the world to take your time on the trigger.

Get a calculator out and run these numbers. The speed of you bullets don't really matter that much. 100 fps either way is about an inch. That's no biggie.... but change the speed of the target.... now that's when the leads get screwy.

Randy has done more for the shooting sports than we really know. We all owe him a debt of gratitude. I am so happy for him. Growing his company into what it is today... enjoying every minute of it... and now able to retire to enjoy his family... The American Dream come true.

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This sounds like a lot of fun. Too bad my job doesn't allow a full month away from work. $100,000 worth of prizes does sound nice. Good luck to whoever get's in. Bruce

speaking of shoot-offs...... man, was that fun. Shooting-off for a chance to win a car added a lot of excitement to the entire match. Thanks to Prestige Chevy of Columbus and the sponsors of the shootoff, Para, FN-USA, LaRue, Safariland, and Gemtech. I can't wait to see the footage Scoutten puts out. By the way, the scopes were a 3 x 9 Hamp and crew, thanks for another great match. Nice touch holding the Re-Enlistment Ceremony in front of the crowd. That was a first for me. Sgt. Horner and Staff Sgt. Saint John ... Thank you for your committment. In case the spectators didn't know, Staff Sgt. Saint John is Sgt. Robbie Johnson's spotter, undefeated I may add, in the Annual International Sniper Competition. I'm going to leave it at this......... See you next year.