Vlad

Well its not like we have other examples of rules going odd. If you told me that some shooter will get a procedural for holding towel because of a rule designed to stop shooter from using fake guns during a walk through, I would have said "Get real". Yeah different organization, but now I gotta check my gun for cleanliness lest some overactive RO decide I have intentionally marked it.

In before people tell you it was always banned. This also reenforces my belief that asking for rule clarifications from NROI/BOD is like rubbing the magic lamp and asking for your 3 wishes, how the genie decided to satisfy your wishes my not be how you meant them.

A CZ will function with out it, but you don't want to, as every mag will hang on the now exposed screw mounting extensions in the frame.

As I ponder this (fume over, ruminate?) I guess it comes down the problem of defining competitive advantage, and perhaps a poor choice of words in the rule book. Everything we do is to gain a competitive advanatge, from finding shoes that grip, to picking shooting lenses color, picking reloading powders or exercising and losing weight. How did we get to a point where we ban things because of competitive advantage. I think a better choice of words would be unfair advantage but thats not right either because its not fair that my eyes aren't perfect or that JJ Racazza has some natural abilities that I don't and we don't to legislate against people in better physical shape. I think it boils down to not being able to outspend someone else or make other shooters feel that they have to spend money to win, although even then someone who can afford to practice with 1000 rounds a month and trainers and coaches or purchase an "approved" gun thats hand built by a factory approved gunsmith might still be ahead. Can we ban practice as a competitive advantage? It may sound crazy but it leads into that direction . Ultimately, my friend made what I thought was a great point as I was ranting to him about this issue. He asked "If I bring enough paint for everyone at the match, is still a competitive advantage?" For $50 I can likely get enough nail polish and white out to paint every gun shot in Production with a barber pole. So how can such a thing even be considered a competitive/unfair/whatever advantage?

I think most match directors don't care if they disappoint the BOD but do care about their shooters. The rule regarding refinishing was on the books, sure, but I don't think anyone ever thought that placing a marker on the mag well was refinishing. I have shooters that have been shooting the same guns for years, with the same markings, who have passed through multiple area and national matches and presumably some form of equipment inspection without being an issue before. As for how you could have solved this, to my mind it is pretty simple. A bit of paint is not refinishing and it should simply be ignored. Apply the "random person on the street" test: Would someone not involved in the process look at a bit of paint on the inside of the mag well and consider it refinishing?

BTW I should clarify something thats clear to me, but no to everyone else. Most of my anger at this kind of ruling come from the fact that I have to explain it to new shooters. On any given month I give 1 to 4 new shooter orientations for anywhere up to 20 people a month. When I have to explain production to them is kinda embarrassing, I do get some incredulous looks when I explain what you can do to the gun and still be legal and then I explain what you can't do to it so I can get the truly WTF looks. Whatever the intent of Production was, I have no idea what it is anymore.

It was a question Chuck, I don't keep track of everyones favorite guns, I didn't know that is why I asked, so don't take it so personally. As someone who only shoots production I can say that as far as I'm concerned every time the production rules have been touched in any way they have been made worse. I'm not the only who thinks that. People were putting paint on their mag wells 10 year ago when I started. In production. At major matches. No one gave a hoot. I guess the BOD should be proud for solving a non-problem. As it has always been explained to me by area directors and other such folks the reasons behind limits on production was so new shooters wouldn't feel like they had to spend big bucks. But now we allow such extensive modifications as to make that a laughable argument and then we say that a dot of paint that some NEW shooters put on their guns long before they get to their first match is somehow a problem. I hear you, I understand what the rule says, and I agree that the rule says what you say it says. It doesn't make it a smart rule, a good rule, a new shooter friendly rule, or any damn sense at all. Choosing to interpret it they way the BOD/NROI have chosen is absurd, at least in my opinion. What I'm really curious is if any match director will chose to enforce it and look like an absolute a_-hole to his shooters, or just let the shooter know and inform them they might want to use a different gun a major match.

Oh for gods sakes.... I never painted the inside of my magwell but this is a very silly thing and the BOD should have really applied logic not advanced rule reading skills. Look, EVERYTHING we do we do for a competitive advantage. We wear expensive sunglasses, cleats, fancy no-torque belts, high speed low drag holsters, etc. I've seen shooters wearing over $1000 worth of gear that is not the gun to gain the smallest competitive advantage. We can replace barrels, trigger, sights, grips, slides and make production guns cost as much as limited guns and still be "legal" but a dab of paint for we have currency denominations low enough to represent its cost somehow is a huge competitive advantage. It is a ridiculous argument. I know that when you lock any 8-10 people in a room and you get them focused on a set of rules they tend to lose some perspective, so I don't blame anyone in particular for it, but the end result is institutionalized silliness. In the context of USPSA "competitive advantage" is about as useful as "sporting purpose". It is a phrase to be dragged out when someone wants to ban something but can't think of a reason why. I am production shooter. I couldn't care less if anyone else paints their mag well. You will be hard pressed to find a production shooter who will care that someone else has painted theirs. All I want from the BOD is to STOP MESSING WITH PRODUCTION. Just stop it. No new rules, no new interpretations, let the shooters friking shoot. Wait a few years and see if there is a problem. Do we even have production shooters on BOD, I honestly don't know.

He doesn't. Ever.

I have large hands and I've been going back and forth between medium and large (until recently). The Small feels nice but it allows no contact between my left hand the the gun, as my right hand completely surrounds the gun, which I find detrimental to recoil control. For a while I used the large as it placed my finger in the right spot on the trigger, or so I thought. Then I stippled the large insert and then I DQ'ed twice in one months. Why? Because apparently when I reload with the large grip I shift the gun in my hand enough so I can reach the mag button, which with the factory patter is no big deal as it slides around (although I guess I have to rebuild my grip after every reload, so not so good anyway), However doing the same move with a stippled grip is harder (friction can be a bitch some days), and my trigger finger was tensed and brushing the side of the trigger. I've let 2 rounds go when I didn't mean to that way during reloads (in a safe direction). So .. I've gone to a stippled medium grip, that doesn't happen anymore, and I don't have to rebuild my grip for every reload.

You know, some of your comments show quite a bit of disrespect for everyone who disagrees with you, you might wish to look at why you are so angry at people when a machine doesn't work. Also .. who is everyone else? I'm only asking because I suspect 90% of the people on this board use a Dillon and they sure load a lot of rounds.

I don't think action shooters are EXCLUSIVELY action shooters. Lots of people here like tinny groups out of bolt guns. Just shoot the gun.

It isn't really ANYTHING internally, you can't change the geometry of certain parts (like moving the pivot points of a glock trigger) or removing any safeties, etc

Are you sure you've followed the setup instructions correctly? Are you aware that your press comes with a life time warranty and you could ship it Dillon and ask them to fix it?

Did you tell them how ridiculous their big hair high school photos are going to look 20 years down the line?

When I say that open is dead, I don't mean we don't have people shooting in open, we do. We just don't see people transitioning to open from other divisions. A new shooter may start in production or single stack and move to Limited, but most of the open shooters around here are the same ones that shot open when I started 10 years ago or aging folks switching due to eyesight. It isn't really about the laws, and it isnt really about a lack of competition either, JJ shoots at our clubs for example. I just think its the local flavor. A local flavor I personally like.

The skills are practical, the positions we shoot from are practical, some of the guns we shoot are practical, the speed is practical, the accuracy requirement is practical, etc. The round count is fun, because this is what we do on the weekend, not the the invasion of Panama. You might be ok with paying your money, and helping at the match (you will help, right?) and standing in the sun waiting for the other 70 shooters to get your turn ... only to shoot 8-10 rounds, but me, I'd like to have some fun while I'm out there. Certainly if you are confronted by 18 armed opponents I recommend you run the other way and call for an air strike instead of charging with a handgun, but this ain't snake eater school, its a friking hobby. In other news, where I live Open is nearly dead, or at least it feels that way despite of handful of very talented open shooters. The Fun times are in Production and Limited as far as I can tell, and those guns are quite practical and they don't cost a lot. You can make yourself a decent limited Glock for $800 or so, which is what you used to pay a gunsmith to install real sights and polish the crap out of a factory Colt in the "good old days". And you still only had 7 rounds or 8 if you felt adventurous with your magazines. No thank you, round capacity has a very good purpose, it wasn't solely invented for the benefit for competition shooters. Neither was the .38 Super for that matter.

Because you shoot .40 minor in production, you can't mill the slide, and you would like the gun to cycle reliably? Oh sorry, I don't think you wanted that answer Let me try again .. Real Men shoot full power .45 ball and like it 'case it killed Nazi's just fine for my grandpa. Putting holes in those slides to make them lighter is for poofters and those guns will break in the mud of the jungles of Vietnam!! *rabble**rabble* There .. was that the answer you were looking for?

Or do it yourself. Some people are dangerous with a screwdriver, a hammer, and some punches. If you can avoid hurting yourself with those basic tools, and are willing to buy/borrow/steal $50-$150 of specialized tools you can build an AR. They REALLY are very simple to build with a handful of tricky spots for which the internet has provided a large list of videos to help you along. Somehow I think putting it together yourself has the makings of a more interesting article then "I picked some parts and dropped them off at the gunsmith", although I would probably read it anyway.

Just use a $30 plain stock, there is only one trick the stock needs to do which is provide a reliable interface between our shoulder face and hand.

Welcome to the human race.

The skeletonized hammer is a nice touch, but do you offer a slide racker attached it? I would be faster to cock it that way I think and less interference from the cmore mount.

Point of order: Popcorn farts are indeed steam, thats what makes the popcorn explode so popcorn farts should be pretty moist. Eww. I'm never eating popcorn again.

There was absolutely no disrespect intended in anything I wrote. I just don't understand revolver shooters, but as I said they seem to have a blast so more power to them.

It is my impression that most cowboy loads are far lighter then the powerfactor we require in our guns. I suspect they would be somewhat harder to shoot at that speed with power factor ammo, but hey .. I might be wrong.