Vlad

If I had to make an argument about it, I'd say it is about "practical". Looking at the military and LEO world, the bolt gun is THE really long range weapon of choice. Sure, we can build semi's which will work just as well on the range, but how tuned and fiddled with are they and how would they hold under field conditions? It is my understanding that MOR grew out of the various sniper matches, and at such it mirrored the preferences of that market. Opening to "race gun" semi-autos would most likely chase away the "real" shooters because the high magazine capacity and quick reloads would put the bolt guns out of the running, independent of how well they perform in the field. On the other hand, USPSA race guns have done a lot to improve the quality of weapons used by the military and LEO's so should we stop the evolution of long range rifles by prohibiting semi's? I hate to say this but we may need yet another division, the equivalent of open vs limited.

... and there seems to be a low profile ARMS 40 on the back, but they would take .. what .. 30min or so do deploy given the number of optics. They are good an fine for TEOTWAWKI, when you can strip of the sights as they fail, but in the middle of a match or some dreamed up home invasion scenario you NEED those side mounted sights DAMN it!. What .. you gonna club the intruder with your rifle? Yeah it weights in at 34lb, but its worth more then your home so you don't want to risk scratching it.

That guns sucks, it has no backup iron sights in case the 5 or so optics failed.

In my opinion you should be ok. I know the wording of the rule might make some believe it would be a DQ'ble offence but in my opinion an aimed shot in the middle of a reload should be perfectly ok, nothing unsafe about it.

CLP, SlideGlide, Mobil 1, and sometimes powdered teflon. CLP I use for cleaning my guns and it leaves a film behind on everything as a bonus. SlideGlide is wonderfull on rails and other such high wear places. Mobil 1 rocks for things that like to be really wet, such as some ARs, 11-87's, and the like.

Thanx TxD, I was looking for that quote but couldn't find it.

This is why I've said over and over again that the Production rules are broken. The concept of "not made for production" is absurd to me. How can anyone know FOR SURE? I depsise the concept of a list of approved models, I would much more like to see a list of approved and denied features, and a listing a models meeting those standards or breaking them. It is a subtle difference but a crucial one. Tanfoglio may really try to sell a gun, but I can't say that IPSC has been stelar in its handling of the issue either. It shouldn't take months and months and then a decission be made on a subjective reason like "We think you made it just for us!". Anyone else think it's strange? It is as if you went to a cake conference, you stood up and said "I like cake. I have lots of money I want to spend on cake. I like strawberry cake with chocolate frosting and little mice made of colored sugar on the frosting" and then when a company came to you and offered to sell you a strawberry cake with chocolate frosting and little mice made of colored sugar on the frosting, you got all upset because it was made just for you. No No ... Everyone should like the cake I do and you should convince everyone to like my cake. Only when you have convince everyone to like my cake, even those who don't like cake, only then will I'll buy your cake. Huh?

I hear that in this season the Galactica breaks in two and crashes on a desereted island where a bunch of desperate house wives end up chasing them through the stargate. Lukily a guy in a phone booth shows up and brings Dr House who figures out a way to turn the cylons into contestants on a dancing show. Sorry ... I'm a bit deranged. After years of not watching Galactica because I didn't much like the pilot miniseries and I had a constant fear that I might have to watch another episode involving four oiled up men in leotards in a triangular pit holding hands and chasing a ball .... wait where was I? ... Oh .. So after not watching the show for 2 years I finally decided to catch up on it and borrowed the DVDs from a coworker and wathed 2 seasons in about a week, trying to get ready before the new season. I may be a bit out of sorts.

Some baby powder helps as well. Also a strong will, a couple of bottles of beer and a dog to give you funny looks. I found that cursing helped a lot too, well at least I think it did, as I was doing a lot of it towards the end right before I was done.

Hmm ... how about we ask Amidon and avoid needless speculation?

Not a thing. It is an evolutionary path that has lead us to a pretty cool game. Going back in time and making a monkey's tail shoter or its ears furrier won't make the human race better.

On the bright side, it is a capacity issue, I'm pretty sure we are not running out of carbon.

Far from it, I'm at the mercy as of the oil man just as much as anyone else. However I have learned that conspiracies are almost never true. So when ammo prices go up all at the same time from all the manufacturers are they all in the same bed as well? How about the price of letuce? The price of lead and the weather in California affects all the producers and consumers more or less the same. The oil industry has a couple of extra helpings of crazy added to it because of spot markets and futures markets and loons with nukes. I'm not saying they aren't trying to make money, nor should we blame them for it, but I think complete control of the oil market is impossible and without it the whole consipracy theory folds. My morning drive takes me down a major highway. There are two gas stations facing eachother, from two different companies. I can buy gas from one or the other, on my way to work or returning. For 5 years I've been watching them change prices. If one drops its price in the morning by $0.02 by the time I drive home, so does the other one. If one goes up by $0.02 the other one goes up by at least $0.01. If I drive to a station off the main drag I can get better prices. All of those things are prime indicators of demand and supply and economics at work. At the end of the day a product, of any sort, will cost as much as people are willing to pay for it. If it costs to much people will buy it from the competitor. If it costs to little you won't make all the money you can from it. Do you really want to tell me that a Glock costs $450 to make, distribute, and retail? I'm guessing that everyone would still make a profit at $350. A Sigma costs what, $250? How much harder is to build a Glock? But optimum combination of volume and price sets the price at $450. They could proabably sell more guns at $400 but make less money over all, or fewer guns at $500 with a higher profit margine and make less money overall again. Gas is no different. If it is too expensive, you drive less, and they start not making as much money as before. I'd like to remind you all again, that a gallon of no-name spring water at my local ShopRite costs $2. This was made locally, water came out of the hose, and shipped maybe 100 miles. Your gas came from across the globe, after much effort in getting it out of the dirt, got refined and blended a few times, shipped to your station, taxed like nothing else, and it wasn't much more expensive then that bottle of water. All the while, loons with guns where kidnapping oil workers, blowing up pipes, hurricanes where trashing refineries and terminals, and the occasional drunk captain drove his boat into a rock. If you really think ANYONE could really control that mess I have a fake lunar lending to tell you about. I don't like paying the high prices any more then you do and if you want to start a company that makes a car the runs on water, or sand, or good feelings, I'll gladly back you up. If you want to blame market speculators for stupid fluctuations in the price of oil or of gasoline spot markets, I'll back you all the way, while remind you that our 401k's might have made some money too out of the deal. I'm just not buying the picuture of fat cats in tuxes, sitting around a table smoking cigars and trying to figure out how to steal your milk money ... and nobody having any actual proof of it beyond midnight bull session type of speculations. It kind of reminds me about the Brady bunch and their theories on how gun companies get together and find a way to get guns to criminals so people will be scared and buy more guns. Also accusing politicians of controling the price is a bit strange too. Not only can't they control their own staff, not only can't they get a blowjob without being all over the news, but does anyone really think that Bush (or anyone else for that matter) would take a 5 to 7 point drop in popularity (thats the range some people estimate the gas prices cost him this summer) just so he can get some it back right before the election? Selling off that much political capital for almost two years to get back a 1 or 2 point rise before the election makes no sense what so ever. It doesn't matter how much money Exxon is giving you, 5 points in the polls is worth more then all of Exxon itself to a politician.

How about you prove you are right? I have an invisible dragon living in my attic. Prove me wrong!!

Hmm .. There are some implications in that which would assume that a huge number of governement and private employees could keep a conspiracy secret. I don't have that much faith in their competency. I'd say that oil prices dropping to $60 from nearly $80 might have something to do with it. Maybe the end of the summer driving season might also have something to with it. Just some alternatives. Oh yeah .. $2.29 in NJ

Depends .. what game do you think they are playing? Oh wait .. you already figure out what the game he is playing really is. I'd say he's winning at it. It just happened to not be football.

The question is .. does it matter? Is American pride really hurt by it? I think if you ask 10 Americans, 9 of them won't even know what the Ryder cup is, and more then half of the rest won't give a rats behind who wins it. Same with basketball, which seems to have lost its glamor with some of the greats leaving the game. How many people even noticed that team USA has been loosing lately? I think overall Americans can be the best at ANYTHING they want to be best at, but after some time they stop giving a damn about the subject. How many times must Lance win the Tour? How many times must Tiger win? How many world shoots does TGO have to win? How many flags do we need to plant on the Moon? How many Nobel prizes? At some point winning becomes routine, interest wanes, winning stops being important, and the it stops all together. I bet we could field the best chariot racing team on Earth, but why? At then end, winning is only important the guy winning, and no matter how loud the cheer squad gets, the team doesn't score if they don't care and if the spectators have moved on to different entertainment.

Well ... A lot of young people have been busy joining the military for the last 5 years or so. In record numbers. If I'm not mistaken viewership of televised spoting events is also down. As a whole I think we are seeing a decline in interestest the average American has for spectator sports, or international sporting competition in general. That has to have an effect on the performances of the participants.

If there where equal numbers with and without playing the game then it wouldn't be true. As there are fewer with, more of them have sponsors. Supply and demand.

Anyone else wondered where the MG rounds that didn't hit the car went? he seemed to be shooting over his backstop. Looks fun though. I need to borrow a car for a few days, who can spot me? I'll bring it back in one piece, scouts honor!

The other thing to consider is that reloading changes the curve of your expense. It make take a while to pay off the equipment, but after the original investment, your monthly expenses are less. In my case I find it easier to dump a large chunk of cash every now and then and then spend less every month, then to spend a more every month.

Also keep in mind that brass you reuse. In .45 you reuse brass a lot, in fact I lose it before I need to throw it out. The price of brass should be quite low.

As opposed to a trip wire try a charge bar. I horizontal stick at about waist level hinged at one side attached to whatever. A couple of eye hooks on the stick and some rope and you can now activate targets with the shooter just walking "through" the stick.

I have a big mean looking dog. Well sorta, most people go "How cute!" and some cross the street. I don't get why so many different reactions. That said leaving your dog to run around uncontrolled should be a criminal offence and in my state a dog attack is considered assault by the owner (as Raz-0 pointed out). I walk my (well behaved) dog for miles every day and so far I got charged by loose dogs about 7 or 8 times. Most of the time my dog gets in a defensive posture and stand between me and the other dogs and the other dogs just back up. One got hit by a car as it ran across the road at us. Two got pinned to the ground by my dog (no damage to either dog). People need to friking control their animals. I have a big dog, an American Bulldog. You know what? It is a dangerous animal because of his size and strength alone, no matter how sweet his demeanor, and that means you have to friking train them and you have to make sure they are under your control, ALL THE TIME. I just loved the idiot across the street from me when his german shepperd charged us from across the street. After he retrieved his dog, and I yelled at him to not let his dog loose, he tells me his dog NEVER gets out. Well it just did nimrod, which means "Never" doesn't really apply. What also PO's me is that a few untrained dogs give all others a bad name. We all hear about pitbull attacks and have an idea that for some reason pitbulls are so much meaner then other dogs. The things is .. there are just a lot of pittbulls around, more then people realize, in some state they are more popular then labs. Of course you are going to hear about a lot of pitbull attacks, no one bothers to have a news conference with the dumb pug down the street bites someone because it dosen't do much damage. That doesn't mean that one breed really is more violent then other. That being said, it stinks that your friend and his best four legged buddy where attacked. I'm glad thate he lives in a state where he was able to defend himself and his dog with the most efficient tool we have yet invented. Buddy seems to be recovering well, and now he has some scars to show off to his doggie friends together with his new green fuzzy toy.

Storing many 1000's of bullets on your loading bench does wonders for stabilizing it too