Vlad

No worries. Even in one of the worst states (NJ) residents can own guns. I am assuming you would move for good, and go for the residency/citizenship path and in that case as soon as you get your "green card" you can enjoy all the rights minus voting. Been there. Vlad

Why bother? Shoot Federal XM193 out of a plain 16" AR, no flash suppresor. Have someone take pictures, because in the bright daylight you get about a foot of flame. Vlad

I am begining to realize that for Erik, shooting is the calm, safe, and sedate sport. I can now almost imagine that he may show up shooting in a blue bathrobe, as it should be at that level of exitement for him. To be honest, I am just jelous. I am to much of a wimp to lunch myself through the air on large engine. Vlad

At least they would be open legal, no? Though I doubt that is what the orginal poster wanted Vlad

I fell your pain, DogmaDog. I had my car quit on the way to a match too. On my way to the local match, 7:30AM on a Sunday, I decided to stop for fluids and snacks, only to come back out of the store and notice that my starter gave up the ghost. My wife was not pleased with the early morning rescue request Vlad

Sorry, I should have been more clear. I tried this with my CZ and snap caps a few times. And I had a hard time not waving the muzzle around. I can keep it in the general direction of the backstop, but it would still look kinda bad. On a stock CZ the ejection port is just small enough that I have a hard time putting my index finger through it, with the pad of my finger facing the chamber. Trying to feed a round that way, will involve holding the gun I my left hand, and moving it at odd angles as I try to drop a round in the chamber, without droping in on floor through the mag well, or getting it jammed, because you can not just place it in the chamber by hand, when you can't fir more then a finger through the ejection port. And oh yeah, I forgat to mention, you can not see the chamber unless you keep the gun at another funny angle. Again, this is handgun specific, and the Beretta is the easiest gun in the world to do this with. And there is not rule against it as far as I can tell. I just don't see a need, if there is a possibility that some new guy with fat finger is going to fumble theirs so bad that everyone around them will hit the floor. All I am saying, I can see why RO's would be nervous. Just my two worn pennies. Vlad

It doesn't quite work that way. The trigger guard stops against a pin which also controls the tention. I could drill a lower whole for it, But I don't know how that would affect retention. I can try it. Thanx all. Vlad

My only concern would be safety. With anything other then a Beretta and its open slide, there may be some odd movements to get it in there. I know that I would feel nervous around someone trying to do that through the narrow ejection port of a CZ, for example. That might result in treating different shooters with different guns in different ways, and I can see why people wouldn't want that. I dont think there is a rule against it, but would it kill ya to keep a spare mag in your back pocket just for this reason ? Vlad

A friend gave me his unwanted H2046 and I was playing around with it and my 1911, and then I got curious. Well it seems that my CZ fits in quite well and works great, except for one small detail: It doesn't look to me like it covers the whole trigger as per IPSC rule book, but I can not think of a scenario where it would get snagged the right way. The picture is not that clear, but about 1/2 of the trigger thickness is covered. I am thinking I can add some little wings and make it right, until I buy a CR Speed, but before I try to be all handy and inventive I though I'd ask and see if the rest of you think I need to. What do you think? Is it legal or not? Vlad

Oddly enough Foxnews had the very same wording in their web article. I noticed it at work today and bitched to my (gun owner and IPSC shooter) officemate. I looked now and they changed "shooting" to "slaying" Here is the link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,110425,00.html

Hi folks, I though I mostly understood the physics involved in reloading and what affects what. However I have been reading some of the older threads and now I am a bit confused. For the scope of these questions, I am going to use my current 9mm loads as examples. I am currently loading 147gr Zero's over 3.4gr TG, OAL 1.155. 1) Is the relationship between powder charge and bullet speed close to linear in the %10 charge interval before published max (assuming all other variables stay constant). I assume that the velocity is a function of pressure, so the more important questions is how curved is the curve of pressure in those last %10? Is a linear approximation close to accurate? This is somewhat important to me as I don't own a chrono and I try to estimate velocities. 2) How much of a difference does barrel length make? Most published data I saw uses a 4" barrel. I shoot a CZ with a 4.75". In rifles, you can often lose or gain 100fps per inch. How does that translate for handguns? I see loads posted by people here, which wouldn't make minor using the published data for 4" and assuming a near linear curve as in (1). For example someone mentioned a minor load using 3.2gr of TG under 147gr in a G34. That would be 121PF out of 4" barrels. However the G34 has a 5.3" barrel. Is that why such a load makes minor? 3) How much velocity difference does bullet design make? Do hollow points move slower or faster then FMJ? Lead and plated are in their own land, but how about different designs of FMJ, like RN of flats or SWC? 4) Seating depth vs velocity, whats the story? Note that earlier I said that my loads are 1.155, which is quite long, but my CZ has no problems with them. However the TG data is for 3.6gr at 1.1 OAL. Obviously going too short can create pressure problems, and my current load seems to be under-pressure as I get soot about 1/3 of the way down the case. I load as long as I can, because I have no idea what the actual sizes of bullets used for testing are. To my thinking the external length is only part of the problem. Bullets with different designs (HP vs RN) will most likely have different length for the same weight. A such the OAL tells me nothing about the volume inside the case. Should I load shorter to get higher velocity out of less powder? Go until I see pressure signs, and then back down? 5) How much does crimping affect pressure? Where does one get information about how much of a crimp is to much, how little not enough? 6) How does load data get decided? I was quite confused about the data for TG and 147's in the Hodgdon manual. The max load they list is 3.6gr for a pressure of 27,500 CUP. I would think that is peak pressure, or otherwise the data is meaningless. However other loads they list go as high as 31,000 CUP. Nevermind the SAMMI 35,000 PSI listing and the CUP vs PSI discussion. Lets assume that for lawyer reasons they decied to not publish anything over 33,000 CUP (They have some loads close to that for 124gr). Why stop at 27,500 for TG and 147s? Not that I have any need to go beyond it, but I am curious? Sorry about the size of my post. I supposed a lot of these could be answered by buying myself a chrono (it's on the list, but somehow there is never enough money for the the whole list) and doing a lot of testing. However I figured others have already done most of the work, so lets ask questions first. Vlad PS: There are partial answers to these questions here and there in the archives, but often the contradict eachother.

Sorry, no pictures. I was rather busy at the time. Well, I guess you all do it pretty much the same. But the tub of butter idea actually sound pretty good. I'll try that. Thanx, guys. Vlad

This might be a dumb question, but what this the "correct" way to empty the Dillon powder hopper? "My" way has been to remove the whole tool head and tip the thing over gently, putting the powder back where it came from. The only problem is that with the tool head attached the balance of the whole mess is really strange when you have it upside down, and last nite I managed to knock over the powder bottle itself with the powder messure. So there I am, in my garage, with 1/2lb of TG on my lap, and on the front of my shirt, holding my legs tight together, trying to figure out a way to recover the powder, and most importantly not get it all over the floor. Needless to say I only partially succeded at both. There has to be a better way. This is where I really think that Lee had the right idea with the shutoff valve at the base of the hopper and a detachable hopper. Vlad

Well, I got my first classification. A lowly C in L10, shooting minor. As long as I make B by next year, same time, I'll be happy. Hopefully I'll be shooting major soon. Vlad

Crummy picture of my Savage 10FP, Rifle basix triger, Bushnell Elite 3200 10x MilDot, large knob bolt handle. I like it. Click on it for the large version. Vlad

Accoring to people who say they worked security for him during filming of "A Beautiful Mind" Crow is very much a gun guy. Vlad

The Mauser is a controled feed action, which means that the extactor does not snap over the rim, but that the rim comes up under the extractor as it rises from the magazine, and then it is carried into the chamber by the bolt, with the extactor holding it against the bolt face. That being said, the standard Mauser extractor is this almost 4 inch monster. If you look at it you will note that it has two contact points with the bolt body. One is on the extractor sleeve and one further back at the rear of the extractor. The first front inch is "free floating" for lack of a better term, though it generally contacts the front of the bolt some, in the groove that controls its path. Now, if you drop a round in the action (not in the magazine), push it gently with the bolt, while putting pressure with your finger on the extractor between the extractor sleeve and the rear contact point, the front of the extractor will rise and snap over rim. I don't know that I would do this all the time. I don't think it would harm the extractor any, but it is a pain in the butt. It is actually a bit more usefull on some Mausers where you can get an extra round this away, assuming that the mag spring has enough flex left to allow you to press down on the top round with one hand while you push the bolt forward with the other, and push on the extractor with the third. Which is not so hard to do with a straight bolt, but a pain with a bent one. Vlad PS: I am not a gunsmith and I do not play one on TV. I doubt that what I described will hurt your extractor, but I might be wrong.

The question that needs asking is "Is a generalist somewhat who has not found something to specialize in yet, or is a specialist someone who needs more contact with the rest of the games?" I guess I count myself as a specialist, though I spend more money on USPSA then the rest combined. Of course, buying milsurp Mausers whenever you see a deal, and shooting them with 60year old ammo (almost as cheap as .22) is a cheap game. Plus they are fun to restore on cold winter nights. Vlad

I recently quit, for health reasons, and money reasons. When I noticed that a pack of smokes is was more then a box of ammo, I started to give it some serious thought. Plus I was getting sick of being wet and cold, runing into the weather to catch a small crapy buzz, as there is almost nowhere you can smoke indoors anymore. It is true that I ran into more smokers shooting USPSA then anywhere else, but I would guess only about %30 of the shooters around these parts. Indoors it is a big no to begin with. Also outdoor most people seem to be quite considerate and step a bit back when they light up. Maybe I am just lucky in my area. Vlad

Well the manual tells you. You grab the hammer between thumb and forefinger (tip to tip or tip to knuckle) with your weak hand, press the trigger and manually slowly lower the hammer. CZ will tell you to only lower to half cock notch, and many RO's insist on hammer all the way down. I do it all the way down. I have the 75B and for production I would say go with the decocker model for simplicity. Or get the the .40 version with the manual safety and then you can shoot Production or L10 depending on your mood. Whatever you do, DO NOT DECOCK WITH THE THUMB OF YOUR STRONG HAND. Think about it for a minute and realize that if somehow the gun fires while you are decocking if you are using the weak hand you will get some bruised knuckles and ego, if you used the strong hand, you know have a broken thumb. Vlad

Nik, actually I have nothing against Glocks, outside the fact the my wrists don't bend that way, which is the same reason why my Ruger MkII is only used to introduce new shooters. I like a more vertical grip. I have been eyeballing a G35 but I am not crazy about the unsupported chamber and then getting a grip reduction. Bucky, as much as I would love a CZ97B, try holding one. The thing is pretty huge, in a nice and comforting way, but a bit to much. And an STI Ranger would be nice but that would kinda stretch my budget. I like the way that Kimbers feel, they seem more svelt compared to the Springfields, but I have heard a number of people worry about the new safety and I did just see one go select fire set to burst. The Dan Wessons look almost to good to be true, yet all the owners of Patriots seem very happy. I am going to try to find one to feel up. No one has yet address the issue of how well any of them stand up to being send to EGW or somesuch. Do good gunsmiths prefer one over the other? Thank you all. Vlad

If you had to pick one of the ~$700 1911's out there, which one would you pick? The big two are Springfield and Kimber, but then you have Dan Wesson and a few more. If you had to pick one for all around game shooting (IPSC L10) and personal defence, and which you were going to have work done on later on, which of the many offerings do you think would hold up better to wear, smithing, and ease of maintainace (by which I mean aftermarket parts are likely to fit well)? Is there any real difference? Vlad

Not really, as the safety is on the slide not the frame, and the baby eagle has a decocker as well. They are however related, as far as I can tell. Vlad

You are not kidding! I called the Enos family for an order on Friday and got the box in the next day. Not to mention how pleasent it was do deal with them. A big Kudos to them. Vlad PS: Slide-Glide IS a wonder product, and the book is also well worth it.

Thank you all. It looks like I could get 7625 for $74/5# or TG $85/8#. From a price point of view the TG beats all as far as I can tell, plus seems to really work in everything. Thank you all very much. This is the kind of help that one can not easily get elsewhere. Vlad PS: hey Buckey, I am holding you responsible for not seeing my post earlier. How dare you not check by hand and trust the board???