Tactica

hkguy, Agreed. No right / wrong answers, but when I see something that looks like a trend, or even something I didn't think about - it still helps me throw it on the list and do some research. If I can make an informed decision, I will hopefully spend less $$ and get it all in one or two orders... heh, wishful thinking perhaps. I want to learn as much as I can from the vets, before I make my own call is all. Holster, I've seen all sorts, but the Safariland (5198 I believe) and the Blade Tech seem pretty common. Any reason folks land there so often? I'm a larger guy, so comfort is a consideration. With mags, Dawson Precision vs. Tripp Cobra mags in the Sentry... anyone tried both? Pros / cons one way or the other that I should consider? Thanks for your thoughts.

Excellent, great feedback gents. Much appreciated. This is exactly what I was after! Cheers, Rob

I'm very new to IDPA. I started in the later half of 2011. I've shot several practice sessions in the summer/fall months and one large match. I just purchased a new STI Sentry in 9mm for use in IDPA this year. It has the FO front. I'm looking to order the parts and get it set up to run smooth in ESP. I'm looking for suggestions. I'm thinking about: DP ice magwell DP mags DP tooless guide rod 9# recoil spring I don't know what to do for grips, mag release, holster or mag pouches. Am I missing anything? Would you recomend anything different? Thank you, Rob

My suggestion: 1) make three rounds with no primer and no powder (case and bullet only) 2) confirm firearm and mag empty 3) load up dummy rounds in confirmed empty mag 4) insert mag with dummy rounds and cycle slide, when letting go, make sure it goes into battery 5) look at all 3 ejected rounds for any type of damage on the bullet like its running into the rifling Assuming all went well, you should be OK... for your OAL dimensions. If you want to do belt and suspenders... go to range real quick and run 20 rounds or so through the firearm carefully. Function check and make sure all is working properly. Inspect spent cases and primers. Make sure the gun is zero'd... etc. Good luck on the match, Rob

The hornady can run without the lid just fine, just tighten down the wingnut (as if the lid was there) and you can watch it all day. ^ Glad I'm not the only one.

Something to think about with the escales... power source, moisture, vibrations, air pressure can all effect the accuracy and calibration of an escale. It has been my experience that some are more reliable than others, but when it comes to consistent measurements in my environment (midwest where we exprience all 4 seasons, in a basement and with three children that can get roudy), a beam balance has proven more reliable for the cost. I went with the Dillon beam ultimately and haven't looked back. With Escales, i found I had trust issues. I kept re-calibrating and getting different results from the same case with / without powder. When I calibrated the beam, it stayed, results were consistent. The calipers I've been pleased with to use digital readouts, but I still have a non-standard set as well. In the end, you can't be too careful... but you can be too careless. Cheers,

For what its worth, I'm using the Hornady. Have been using for 13 months with no problems. It's the only one I've used. It came with two different tops, one with perfs and without. Wing nut and washer to remove the lid... same to remove the whole bowl. That makes it easy to dump contents into a large strainer with large bowl. Sift media to retrieve brass. Quite a simple to use device really with an inline power switch on the cable. The feet are rubberized and spring loaded so had no problems with it walking off of a tile surface either. I've sent about 10,000 rounds through it now of 9mm and .40S&W. I use corn media and couple dallup's of Nufinish. I reuse the media for several runs.

To piggy-back on what was said above, It helps to have a good beam scale for weight, don't just trust the label on the box, digital scales can be tempermental and are subject to all kinds of variables that you may not wish to fiddle with. Calibrated beam scales are what I've found to be the most trustworthy. Measure several bullets to get an average weight. Velocity is measured by using a calibrted Chronograph in proper lighting. Again, fire several rounds through it to get an average velocity. When testing loads, it helps to have 10 or so rounds of each receipe in a zip lock bag or equivilent. Label each bag and start with your lighter loads. Us a log and write down your measurements per load. That way, you can Chrono all of your potential loads at once. Good luck,

My Ottocomp 9mm Open WIP as of today. Starting to look like something usable. Slide has holes on top between ejection and comp but hard to see in photo. Plenty of work to go still. 'Hoping' for a 2 week ETA... Not done, but the build plan: STI frame Caspian Slide, custom by Otto Leupold Deltapoint 7.5 MOA sight Ottocomp custom comp Scheumann barrel 9mm, 124-130 gr STI grip, custom by Shanahan at Advanced Performance Shooting STI curved trigger Wolf variable recoil spring EGW Seer & Leaf Aftec Adv Comp Extractor left side removable kickstand / charging handle Custom *thumb rest [generic]* by Mulford STI strong hand thumb guard Nickel Plate finish by Otto SC Tuned mags - Grams springs followers, DP basepads, bead blasted gapped STI tubes Cheers, Rob

The gauge is better used for ensuring the round will chamber reliably in my opinion. It is good for ensuring there no obstructions on the round or that it's diameter is not too large for a SAAMI standard breach. However, a better gauge for this concern would be to remove your barrel and drop in breach. The Dillon case gauge is machined to the minimum chamber and maximum case length SAAMI specs. If your reload fits into the case gauge correctly, your reload should meet case dimension specs. That said, if you are taking the time to reload, SAAMI specs may not be what you want for your gun if you are looking for an optimized load for your firearm. As others have said, pull your barrel. Drop in the round for a breach check. There is some amount of 'free space' before the bullet reaches the rifling of the barrel. All good reloading manuals that I've read discuss this topic. Optimizing your round by eliminating most (not all) of this free space can improve the accuracy of your rounds down range. This is one of many ways to improve reloaded round performance over purchased rounds when used in your firearm. NOTE: just because the round fits well in the breach and you've eliminated most of the free space, it doesn't mean the custom round will feed well. Each aspect of operation should be looked at independently for function testing. Then throw them away and purchase new. There's no sense in measuring with an inaccurate tool. Quality calipers and beam scale for example are worth the investment if you are reloading. Don't cut corners on the tools. When used correctly, accurate measurements from quality tools can avoid undesirable results at the range. Cheers, Rob

That's just crazy talk! Why do you think so many mag tuners polish the insides of mag tubes? To lessen friction, resistance, whatever and make them slicker, faster and more dependable. LOL - got it. Will polish inside. Thanks for setting me straight!

^ Two the last couple of posters: Good point about top round. I'll keep that in mind. I wonder if a high polished 'inside' of mag can cause unwanted double feeding... that is, if you get things too fast inside the mag. Hmm... Also, thank you for the soda blasting definition! I have never read a description of what that process was exactly, but I've heard more than one person mention it. Still not quite sure what value it brings to a magazine tuning, but I suppose it's helping remove any fine imperfections. Since the new open gun is getting close to being done, I think I'm just going to drop off the mags with the smith and have him double check them all. Make sure they fit to the gun well, etc. Cheers, Rob

I picked buy a new gun. If you shoot or have shot IDPA and you are looking to try USPSA, and you are asking a poll question which includes buying a new gun... then you are probably looking at changing out your rig anyway. Who doesn't like a little motivation to buy a new gun? Seriously, what you use / used in IDPA will work. You may have to pick up some more mags and mag pouches possibly, but you can use what you have been shooting. The question is, will that scratch the itch? Or to put it another way, why are you looking to shoot USPSA? That is a rhetorical question... *If* you like shooting what you have and 8-10 round magazines is your comfort zone, but you are looking at USPSA because of some of the stage option differences such as... moving target differences, more steel, the ability to solve the stage puzzle how you want instead of following a scenario recreation - but again, you really enjoy shooting what you have with limited round mag counts - then don't change your gun. Shoot USPSA 'Production' with your M&P or USPSA 'Single Stack' with your 1911 and stick with what you know and enjoy. Then you will focus your new experience on the differences in matches between the two games. You will have a blast and be just fine in these divisions with your gear. You could of course buy a new gun like the XD5.25 or whatever suits your fancy, but no reason you cannot enjoy what you have in USPSA. *If* the USPSA itch you are feeling includes a desire to shoot stages with higher round counts (up to 32), shooting on the move (run & gun), having more rounds at your disposal, reloading fast while moving, and exploring the tech & gear differences afforded to you in USPSA that perhaps were not available in IDPA, then you probably do NOT want to shoot Production, Single Stack or even Limited 10 USPSA divisions... if you fall into this mind set, then you are prbably looking at Limited or Open division. If so, then I would say you are probably looking at a new gun and gear to scratch the USPSA itch you are feeling. If you fall into the Limited bracket (you like hard sights), I would suggest STI EDGE or similar in .40 S&W tuned by your preferred gunsmith to your liking. If you say you want a red dot and a compensator with a 170mm big stick so you can hoze at top speed, you are in Open and you need to explore the realm of options out there, but you are probably going to land with a custom STI, SVI or Caspian based gun in 9mm or 38supercomp In conclusion, I would let your motivation that is drawing you to USPSA guide your decision on which division to shoot. Once you know the division you are interested in, the gear and gun decisions become much easier. Hope that helps, Rob

I've only been reloading for about 1.5 years. When looking at component swapping with an existing or new recepie, I can say that I have had good results with observing bullet weight, type (material) and shape are key to pay attention to and maintain during component swaps. OAL of the round is key to maintain. I interchange 'brand' or 'manufacturer' of bullet freely. Powder type and brand are key to maintain. Brass and small pistol primers manufacturer I interchange freely. I go with CCI and winchester on my limited .40 S&W. As has been said, start low and work your way up with powder loads, especially if you are trying new components. Just play it safe first and you will not have a problem. One other word... only change one variable at a time when exploring new loads. Doesn't hurt to make a few different 'baggies' of rounds with differnet loads, take them to the range and set up the chrono. Look for not only performance, but signs of problems on the primers or cases... Good luck!

Right now my focus is on handguns. I really like the draw, the movement and the skill involved and the competition. However, I enjoy shooting all guns. 3-gun appeals to me, but I have no room or time or the funds to start down that path. That said, I own hunting rifles, shot guns and pistols.. and competition pistols. As far as what I 'like', I'm going to echo No discrimination, which I believe was said above.

Thanks for the reply. I hadn't read about the cloth and dowel yet. I will definitely keep that in mind. I understand the inside needing to be cleaned up good. I expected there to be more opinions / feedback on the outside of the mag finish, but I guess they can get plenty dirty in the course of a match... so perhaps if you just keep them clean enough and they are droping, then you are good to go. Hmm. Cheers, Rob

I guess this also begs the follow up question... is mirror finishing on mag tubes, bad? Cheers, Rob

I'm new to the sport as I've mentioned before here. I realize this may just be a newb question, so I didn't want to clutter up the gun smithing section. I bought some STI Superior Firearms mags from Shooters Connection recently. They appear to be well worth the price. STI tubes, grams springs and followsers, Dawson base pads, mags are tuned. However, they have almost what I would describe in lamens terms as a galvanized look / feel to them. Finer than that, but not a high polish to the body of the mags. I was 'expecting' to receive a high polish 'mirror' finish tube. This is probably because my limited STI Edge gun's STI tubes have that 'mirror' polished finish to them. I had a 'perceived' notion that high polish = quality = drop faster. I called Superior Firearms today and spoke to Joe and talk about these mags. He was quite courteous and patient with this new competition shooter's questions. From memory, he explained that the tubes go through a 3 day polishing process, followed by a soda blast (I don't know what that is). Then, another 2-day polishing process. I told him I didn't have my new gun yet, but was curious if the mags would drop as cleanly from the 9mm open as they high polish or 'mirror' finish ones would from my Limited 40 gun. He explained that although the new 9mm tubes may appear to be 'rougher' than the 'mirrored' looking .40 tubes I have, they should drop as fast if not faster than the .40 tubes. He said in his experience, mirror finish creates a larger surface area for binding to occur. He explained that due to the 9mm tubes being polished through his process, they should have very smooth and consistent planes along the body. However, if magnified enough, they should also have millions of microscopic rounded surfaces creating less surface area and allowing the mag to drop fast. I had no argument, I'm new, this all seemed logical and made sense. Since I can't 'try' it until I get the new gun in, I was wondering if anyone else familiar with this philosophy or if anyone ever tried different surface tuning to the body of mags. If so, what were the results? Does anyone swear by high polish 'mirror' like finish? If so, why? Thanks for your time, Rob

I've never had a problem with any order from Brian, though I have not ordered a press. Great customer service and strong customer vendor relationships are hard to come buy these days. It's really refreshing to hear such testimony. When I do decide to purchase a second press, it will likely be a Dillon would definitely come from Brian. I would have liked to seen Dillon step up to the original request, but failing that, hat's off to Brian. I've seen it more in this sport / hobby than any other... folks seem to take care of one another. That's just the way things ought to be. Cheers, Rob

I took the plunge into reloading about 18 months ago. I shot USPSA for 1 season. The press and all materials paid for themselves. I had to buy it all: 2 reloading books (Lee and Hornady) Hornady Lock n Load 5 stage press 9mm Hornady die set 9mm taper crimp die 9mm powder through die (I didn't use it) 40 S&W Hornady die set 40 S&W taper crimp die 40 S&W powder through die (I didn't use it) Powder cop visual inspection die (I didn't use it) Extra case activated powder drop & power measure for simplicity in swapping die set ups Extra LNL bushings for second set of dies Hard Wood work bench from Harbor Freight Dillon beam scale (recomended) Hornady digital scale (not recomended) Dillon bullet puller Electronic and standard calipers (both work well) Hornady Brass tumbler Brass polish and corn cob media for brass tumbler Hornady one-shot case lube Hornady dry lube and degreaser 5-gallon bucket for primer removal and bad brass Chronograph I spent right around 1100 for everything. I went down to local ranges and picked up some brass from friendly neighbors that didn't want it, and I picked up 500 rounds of both 9mm and 40 S&W brass that was fired and already polished by the range. This also gave me two buckets with which I use for sorting. I use only components I can get locally to minimize cost and avoid shipping issues. Being a member at a local range also affords me discounts on components. I pay for the membership annually anyway because as a result, i get to shoot for free at the range and participate in all the monthly member only events... the discounts are really just a bonus! Used brass is $15.00 / 500 and most of this you will accumulate and reuse after a while. I buy powder in large containers... 8 lb I believe, which will get you a rediculous amount of rounds. You have to do the math, but you will get over 10,000 rounds out of that much powder if memory serves and I pay a bit over $100 for Titegroup in that container (I would have to go look at container for actual size, see if it still had cost sticker and perform math to calculate actual round count... buy you get the idea). I'm buying CCI or Winchester Small Pistol Primers for $20-23 / 1000 rounds Montana gold bullets are sold on the shelf at by the 500 count boxes, but at the case price in the local store... so, that's quite convenient. Finally, in my opinion, though I have saved money per box of ammo, and quite significantly for what 50 rounds of factory costs me, I find that reloading really allows me to shoot more. I would spend the same amount of money for shooting whether I was buying factory ammo or reloading. However, reloading is what allows me to shoot as much as I do. If I was only buying factory ammo, I would not get to shoot nearly as many events in a season. I am reloading for around 1/3rd or less the cost of equivilent factory ammo. Moreover, I am able to tune my rounds to my gun. If you swap out your springs, guide rods, etc, then you want to chrono your load again. Make sure its doing what you think it is. Fine tuning your round to eliminate the free bore space, getting a few points over into major power factor and adjusting the powder type to get a burn fast or slow feel plus the accuracy improvement from different bullet types is all interesting, and can assist you in competition should you want to take it that far. I personally see reloading as a completely seperate hobby of the shooting sports and it compliments my shooting just as dry fire practice does. Good luck,

Is there a good place that has outlined all of the info (requirements, process, time line, cost, etc) in obtaining an FFL? Thanks,

I'll go against the grain here in my recomendation I guess.... I'd say, evaluate your motivation and interest in the sport first - that is, what are you looking to get out of the sport? Then, examine the rules and see if one or the other division aligns with your interest better. Third, I would recommend you take a look at your equipment and gear and consider what additional equipment, if any, you need to shoot the division that best aligns with your interests. The goal is that you hopefully make an informed decision about the divison you choose and you base your decision upon your motivation to shoot, rules restrictions, equipment and budget.... in that order. For me I like to tinker with the guns and ammo, I like less restrictions on what gear I wear and how I shoot and I wanted to shoot what I perceived to be a higher end piece of equipment. I also liked the idea of not having to figure out where to do more reloads but I do like the advantage of major power factor in the game. The sport is less about winning for me, and more about having fun shooting the way I want to shoot. So, for me, the decision was very easy, go Limited to start. In very short order following that, i decided I wanted to shoot open as well... so, I talked to a gunsmith and placed an order about 5 months after shooting limited. Good luck,

Nice looking blasters. I've tried the green now, and I can say it seems to be the right choice for me for overcast / indoor situations. I have not tried it on a bright sunny day yet.

I'll expand a bit. Though it's clear above, to a new shooter that explanation may get lost in translation somewhat.... so from this new shooters perspective... Par times are used in course descriptiosn at a match. Normally you here the start buzzer and take as much time as you need to in order to complete the stage to your satisfaction and there is no stop buzzer. In a Par Time stage, you will have both a start buzzer and a stop buzzer. You incur penalties to your performance if you take shots after the stop buzzer tone. If a stage (or a string) has a par time, this is the maximum amount of time you are allowed to complete a stage without incurring a pentalties for taking too much time. In example, if a stage (or string) has a 5 second par time, from the start of the first buzzer to the tone of the stop buzzer, you get 5 seconds to do the best you can. In par time stages, it is possible that you will not engage all targets. + + + + Draw times are used for practice. If you are practicing Draw Times, those can change by the distance of the target. The further away, the more dwell time you may have (that is , the time you take with the gun up while obtaining the necessary sight picture before you break the shot). If you draw and the target is only a few yards away, you are likely going to have a fast draw time. Improving your draw time for targets at 7 yards and 15 yards progressively should improve your overall match performance as you improve your ability to obtain an adequate sight picture at targets further away from drawing your firearm. + + + + Split Times are used for practice. These measure your time between shots. This is commonly used to measure follow-up shots on the same target. Several instructors seem to use this to assist improvement in your overall gun handling abilities with a focus on your stance and grip many times. + + + + Someone mentioned the 'start' of the buzzer above and this is a good point. I used to have a tendancy to wait to draw until after a heard the buzzer complete. It may seem trivial, but drawing at the start of the buzzer vs. waiting for the buzzer to complete can improve your draw time and your overall performance in a match noticably with practice. Cheers,

I'm a new competition shooter as well. I've been at USPSA a bit over a year now. So welcome fellow newb. Mental Game is quite a broad statement. Assuming you are talking about nerves, self imposed expectations, pressure to do well and not to make mental mistakes, etc... some of this comes from dry fire practice and some of this comes from confidence. This may be something you are already beyond, and it may sound very novice or trivial, but for me the following was an important step. I found that when I quit "trying to shoot as good as someone else", and I just got comfortable shooting for me [at my skill level], to the best of my ability... that is, "shooting the best that I knew I could - at that time" several things happened: - I quit putting false expectations on myself. - I relaxed and got comfortable on the line and at a match - faster. - My confidence was no longer an issue of concern, as I was shooting for me and to my ability, not to be as good as someone else or to an expected level - My total match scores started improving on their own and I moved from a D to a C class shooter without really 'trying' to improve at all. - I started to learn from my own performances and could objectively critique them better ... and from practice / experience alone, I moved to a point to where I wasn't focused on drawing, breathing, aiming, stance etc. I spent more mental time thinking about how to shoot the stage. I definitely have not mastered this yet. However, I can use that 5 minutes before shooting much more effectively now than I could when I started, that's for sure. Good luck,