Hank Ellis

Also take a look a bicycling suppliers. I usually support my local shop but every so often I'll order through http://www.coloradocyclist.com. The price I found at Colorado Cyclist was very competitive, like 44% off list.

Great. I've been researching, and following threads on XD's since I'm considering getting one for Production. Just about ordered one the other day. Now I find out that the extractor doesn't make 250 rounds which wouldn't make it through one practice session for me. Hope someone follows through on the problem and it's fixed by SA quickly. Otherwise they may have lost a sale. Waiting for feedback.

When I returned to USPSA/IPSC a little over a year ago after a decade plus layoff, I asked what should I get for an entry level gun. The question in return was "What did you shoot before?" A 1911 in .45. "Get another one and shoot L-10." Dusting off my old Ernie Hill leather I went to work with 8 round mags I had left over (8 round mags were 'hi-cap' in those days). I've since upgraded holster and mags but still pounded out 10K rounds last year. What does this story have to do with this thread? Everything. A SS Division would have been the place for me, the entry (re-entry?) level shooter to compete on a more or less level field without the initial outlay for race gear. It will be the perfect training ground for new shooters and if you wish to get your GM card with a SS and Production type gear, go for it. You will have my respect. Much as Production is introducing the game to the DA crowd, the SS Division will introduce the game to owners of the SA SS. And there are a bunch of them out there. With proper marketing, I believe it will do great good for USPSA. It will be a long road and some of the Single Stack Society rules can be a ROs nightmare. "What's he shooting? 45 or 40? Major or minor? How many rounds did he fire on that string before the reload?" My opinion on that is to keep it at 8 rounds no matter what caliber your shooting if for no other reason than it would be so much easier to enforce. And thank you for leaving L-10 alone.

One of the best descriptions / interpretations I've heard of this rule was a stage briefing at the Louisiana Section match. The boxes we used were 2x4 frames. It was muddy and goopy for that match and it may have been the reason for the extended brief on faults. "Standing in Box A, hands at sides, engage [snip]. Now if your foot is inside the box, your fine. If your foot is on the frame but a heel or toe is touching inside the box, your fine. If your foot is on the frame, but NOT touching the ground, one procedural. If your foot is touching anywhere outside the frame, one procedural per shot." So if your big toe happens to sneak outside the fault line and you fire shots, one procedural. But if your entire size 10 (44 in the EU) goes over the line then there's a significant advantage and one procedural per shot applies.

Tried the ball. Didn't like it. Left blisters in my palm. Put an old sock over the ball held on with duct tape. Much improved but still...... Upgraded the 550 with the strong mount and bullet tray when I built my new bench. When I ordered, Brian mentioned that there was a new item that hadn't made the web site yet, a brass bin. Oh heck, throw that in too, and while you're at it one of those roller handle thingys with the metal roller. The strong mount, bullet tray, and brass bin are nice additions. Speeds up the loading process by economy of motion. The roller handle however ...whoohoo. No more blisters. No more sore arms after long reloading sessions. Well worth the money for me. People who order a new press ought to have the choice of ball or roller as a no charge option.

Havahart traps are the way to go. Used them with great success when controlling our feral cat population. Tuna is the hot ticket for bait. See if any of the local animal welfare agencies have a 'catch and release' program. The program catches the ferals, checks for FIV, spay/neutered, and then releases back to the original environment. In your case you'll have to find another environment but that shouldn't be a problem. We had a similar situation a few years ago. Elderly lady was taking care of a feral colony. When she died the colony was at risk so the cats were trapped, spay/neutered, and adopted out to a farmer who was looking for a few cats to keep the rodent population down in his barn. Worked out well for all involved.

Repeat after me, "I will not try this ever. Not in this or the next lifetime. Not even on a triple dog dare." I came into possession of 400 rounds of .45 that had been in a flood. Wore out my arm in pulling the bullets. Disposed of the powder in an unsafe but entertaining way by igniting the stuff in a cat food can. To get rid of the primers I took a piece of wood, drilled a hole all the way through then counterbored another hole so the brass would set in. Hammer and punch to simulate a firing pin and away I went. Things were going well until one went off with a very noticeable 'BANG'. PAIN! My fingers! Count them! Ten! A good number! Apparently one small speck of powder was lodged in the flash hole and when the primer lit, it lit the powder. This blew the primer out of its pocket, up the punch, then slamming the punch and primer through my fingers. Result was a few blood blisters but nothing broken or blown off. What I should have done with these rounds was use them up in a controlled environment. Probably a 'draw, fire one' drill. Dealing with possible duds, squibs, and weak rounds would have been no problem. Don't ignite powder in any container. Too many variables too mention. I now spread waste powder in a wide area in the backyard. The first rain will take care of it. Primer in upside down? Trash it. High primer in an assembled round? Trash it. High primer in an empty case? Attempt to reset it with the press having no powder or primers in it. And always use safety glasses and hearing protection.

My employer has a solid history supporting our military men and women. It's written policy that their job will be here when they get back. Depending on senority and other factors, they may have to go to another location but since all of us have to travel anyway, it's no big deal. On top of that, the company will make up the difference between what the military pays and what they would have made in base salary. In other words, no loss of pay going active duty. Why is the company doing this? Simple, we have a highly trained and experienced work force in rotorcraft transportation. The cost of attracting, hiring, and training the work force is very high and keeping these people around is in their best interest. Get a disabling injury? I've seen the company go out of it's way to find a slot for them. Even to the point of creating a new position where their skills can be used. I know that this is the exception rather than the rule but it proves it can and is being done.

I was on the receiving end of a too much gun experience when I first started. A dude I knew invited me out to the range to shoot. At the time all I had was a Ruger MKII. After a while he handed me a revolver and said 'Try this'. Cocked the hammer, pulled the trigger, BOOOM! "Ha haha ha haha. I love the look on peoples faces after they shoot a .44 Magnum. Haha hoho." Jacka$$. Recently I've been bringing a MKII (the same one as above) with OKO optics with me and offer others to shoot it. After a brief lesson on the function of the gun, how to use the optics, and what I want them to do with the target, I turn them loose. After the first mag, I sometimes give a little instruction on grip, stance, trigger control, etc. I love the look on peoples faces when they enjoy shooting and can hit the target they're aiming at. Of course there are those that when they show up, I take a break. Funny how looking down the barrel of a 9mm makes it look like looking down a coffee cup. But thats for another thread.

Try the simple before going to the complex. When my PACT MKIV starts registering echos, I change the battery. Has fixed it every time. No tape, no mic tweaking. It appears that the unit demands a strong battery for it to work reliably. A long chrono session will deplete the battery to the point that when used as a timer, every shot has an echo registered.

I've recently spent a lot of time on the forums at Rimfire Central doing research for my 10/22 project. As JD45 mentioned, there are several schools of thought concerning cleaning. There seems to be one common thread though. More .22 barrels are damaged by overcleaning and improper techniques than simply leaving it alone. My thought on .22 barrels is that the only metal that should go through it is the lead projectiles. Thanks to the folks at Rimfire Central, I've started using these techniques. Use a Bore Snake with the brass brush removed. The brush held in place by the weave of the fabric like a Chinese fingertrap. Be patient, it will come out. My favorite technique is to use weed-eater line. Cut a piece of line 24" to 28" long for a typical 18" barrel. Make the cut at an angle to make punching a hole through the patch easier. At the other end, heat it with a lighter and when it's soft, press it against a metal can flattening it. Congratulations, you just made a great cleaning tool that has no metal to scratch and can be fed through the breech on any rifle. One wet patch followed by two dry patches and my barrel cleaning is done. To clean the action, I use Birchwood Casey Gun Scrub to get big chunks out then use a dry Teflon lube for the trigger group and tiny bit of BEnos Slide Glide Lite on the bolt.

Bring a good attitude. A mind is like a parachute. Neither functions properly unless fully opened. Bring a small cooler with water and snacks. Get into the habit now so that when our Louisiana temperature = humidity summers come around you won't forget. Leave an expectation of your performance at home. What I've found in the year of doing this stuff is that the harder I try at a match, the worse I do. The less I care about my standings, the better I do. Forget speed. Get your A hits. The speed will come later.

Go pick up two copies of the book "It's Not About The Bike" by Lance Armstrong. You know Lance. Tour de France X 6. Whipped cancers butt. You read one, give the other to your daughter. I've given several copies to cancer patients (now survivors) and to a one they came back and thanked me with the statement "What I went through isn't cr*p compared to what Lance went through."

From another view, an amateur video from the airshow line. http://www.avweb.com/newspics/tbird.wmv Article and links http://www.avweb.com/newswire/10_06a/briefs/186633-1.html. IMHO, this guy screwed the pooch. I have no sympathy for those that make basic flight school 101 errors. As the quotation goes "Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of carelessness, incapacity, or mistakes."

Didn't take the test. Don't need to. Already know the answer. Where else but in Louisiana USA do we vote on a state constitutional amendment for the right to hunt, fish, and trap? See Ballot No. 1, Act 927 It passed with 81%.

Shipping is a major problem with reloading supplies. Projectiles are heavy. Powder and primers incur HazMat fees. Get with your local clubs and see what deals they are putting together. We have a shooter who is in the trucking business. He is generous enough to have one of his trucks do a drive-by and pick up a crate of locally manufactured lead projectiles every so often. Result..$30 / 1000. We also are joining efforts to bulk purchase Precision's black bullets. Result..$45 / 1000. Another gentleman has a 'hobby business' (e-reloading.com) of retail reloading supplies. Powder and primers are sourced through him and I pick them up when I'm in the area. I buy my projectiles and primers in lots of 5000. Powder in 4lb jugs and really ought to be doing 8lb jugs to maintain the same lot number for a longer period of time. Less time at the chrono. Be creative. Find others who have similiar needs and join forces for bulk purchases.

ha! you malthusians (followers of thomas malthus, ie, doomsayers) have been predicting that stuff for literally centuries. fortunately for the rest of us the predictions have always been wrong. Take up scuba diving, go to a few reefs, then come back and tell me the oceans are not in trouble. Just got back from Roatan, Honduras and found the reefs and fish healthy and thriving. The reason is sustainable activities that are now or soon will be in place so that the presence of humans do no disturb the ecosystem. The Florida Keys however are in trouble. Many reefs are dead due to excessive diver pressure, sewage runoff and, pestiside runoff. Cyanide fishing is commonly used in Asia to harvest an endangered species of wrasse to supply the market. And by the way, cyanide also kills the coral. The shark population is down 70% due to overfishing and the wasteful practice of finning which involves the practice of cutting the fins off live sharks and dumping the rest overboard to die. Without the apex predators, the oceans ecosystem is way out of balance. The oceans are in trouble. I've seen it with my own eyes. With 2/3 of Earth covered in water, the oceans health is your concern. Oh yeah, I'm over 40 and thoroughly agree with the original first post.

Want to control rodents? Want to restore our nations wetlands? Want to get paid for it? Have I got a deal for you and only you in this limited time offer. Come on down to South Louisiana and participate in the nutria bounty. After filling out a few simple forms and obtaining the permits, you too can help our environment and your pocketbook. You don't even have to bring in the whole rodent, just the tail. When was the last time you got paid $4 for tail. Hurry, offer ends after the first 400,000 nutria have been bagged for the year. nutria.com site Nutria control program.

Scenario? Who cares. Themes? Fun and adds color to a stage. In digging around the 'Net for stage designs, ran across the Thailand Nationals site. Each stage had a theme. The props and scenes had to be something to behold. Just visualize "Radioactive Mutant Ninja Turtles" or "River Rafting". In the end it all boils down to show me the targets and the 180. I'll figure out the rest.

The results are up! Try here http://www.lagator.org/ and hit the match results link at the lower L/H corner of the page. Also try http://www.lagator.org/2003.htm. It brings up the 2004 results also.

Very true. When I first started I threw mikes around like I was laying down cover fire and wondering if the 58 rounds I took the line was enough. So I started working on accuracy. Two matches ago I shot it clean. No mikes. Last match I tanked one stage that had strong / weak hand stuff at 15 to 20 yd. Threw four mikes. Guess what I'm going to be working on at next practice?

I know what you're going through Monster. Our pets are family. Our current brood includes a Mother / Son pair of Maine Coon cats. A medium hair totally tubby tabby. And an ancient short hair tabby. My wife and I volunteer with a cat rescue organization so we have a juvenile tabby foster. And the one I drug home from the heliport just this week (escaping hurricane Ivan) that will be put up for adoption as soon as she recovers from her spaying. Oh yeah, and the Chiwhatzu. Half Shih Tzu, half Chihuahua dog. However, I still think of Fubar, an orange tabby that was my buddy during good times and bad. Lost him nearly three years ago and still miss him.

As the the Grrl stated, the search function works like a champ. 95% of my questions have been answered by digging through here. My setup for Limited 10 using a Springfield 1911 in .45. Safariland inner and outer belt. Safariland 771 mag holders X 4. Barney mag and start mag in back pocket. Blade-Tech DOH holster. The host of this forum can easily equip you with what you need.

No, Lloyd didn't score that run. It was a group effort. None the less, it was a learning experience for many of us. And no harm as it was just a 'practice' match. We make mistakes. We learn from it. We move on. So, back to the question. I believe the correct answer then is 8 Mikes at 15 each = 120 + 1 procedural at 10 = 130 pts dropped for that stage. Agreed? The USPSA 2004 rulebook 10.2.2 clarifies it a bit. In a nutshell, 1 procedural unless there is a significant advantage, then 1 per shot.

My guess USPSA 10.1.4.3 is what was applied. I didn't 'Engage T1-T4 with 2 shots each through port' as stated in the stage briefing. 8 shots - 8 penalties. However it can equally be argued that only one or no procedurals should have been assessed depending on which part of the rules are quoted. My belief is that since no advantage was gained my logging 8 Mikes that adding salt to the wound by adding procedurals was not necessary. My question is, if I run into this again, are procedurals proper in this instance? Luckily this stage occured on a Wednesday night "unsanctioned practice loose rules run-what-ya-brung" match. We use it as a learning tool for all involved.