JerryShoots

Here's EEH's rough draft... Let me know what you think and if you want changes. Thanks

It seems to me that it would be really nice to have that chrono available. I have my own but man I sure hear a ton of folks at the bigger matches in Michigan saying "I sure hope these make it" at the chrono stage. This is mostly because they have never had the chance to test their ammo locally. You could even say that failing to give your club members the occasional chance to chrono at their club is doing them a disservice. It's also nice to have a scale for those divisions that weight matters. I've thanked my lucky stars for the old postal scale that I caught at an auction a few years ago. Even changing mag brands can upset the balance if your close to the limit in things like IDPA CDP, ESP or USPSA Single Stack. It's also so very easy to go over since the weights are kind of based around 1911 and there are so many parts to chose from. I've seen enough 42.5's in the last two years at the local club to be very happy we offered the weigh in. Half an ounce doesn't mean much to us among friends but it could be expensive if one of our members only found out at a major. Another thing to consider is your club reputation. Would you rather have folks say "Boy those people from The Dark side of the Moon Sportsman's Club always make chrono and always make weight. Honest players there!" or "Geez those folks from Highway to Hell Sportsman's Club never make chrono and there guns weigh more than Howitzers. Bunch of cheatin creeps." Bravo local club for keeping it by the book. You probably did more of your shooters that didn't make it a favor than any bad turn.

I've got a spare if you need it from my friends ACE. He traded it off and bought a Kimber. PM me you address and give me a little time to find it and I'll toss it in the mail. Oh and P.S. keep a sharp eye on that ejector adapter piece from that kit. That thing went flying when he was swapping his 45 slide out for it at the club and we were all out in the grass hunting PAINT IT ORANGE LOL!

For the last year straight and hopefully many to come.... I hate... Not a damned thing. How cool is that! NOT CLOSED hehe bring it...

There's a new IDPA club starting up next year (if all the paperwork goes through at the next meeting to finalize it) Michigan folks and our neighbors please stay tuned for updates. Looking to start having matches around May 2012. Thank You! P.S. If your in Northern Michigan and an SO and are interested in working the matches please please PM me!

Ah your your suggesting that since the series 80 is allowed this should be as well. That makes sense to me and I appreciate your reply very much. I'd like to get a few more inputs from some more RO's plus any concerns that you or they may have. Thanks in advance for the help folks!

Can I shoot my S.A. 40 S&W Linkless in Single Stack? Do I have to replace the guide rod and barrel to do so? I don't intend to run it often but once in a while it would sure be fun Thank you

Quick update. After about a month I have my new computer up and have photoshop finally restored. I will be finishing up the requests I have so far in the coming few weeks and posting them here. I will also send them to their new owners! Thank you all for your very kind patience! Jerry

Alamo I think I have something you'll like. I'm loading up a new computer over the holidays so I should be able to tackle everyone who's asked so far right after the 1st! Happy holidays all XD

I had a stage once where a guy used the stage prop to knock down a target activator. Of course it was a big wood sword and the prop was a dummy 10 feet away. Right as he threw it he screamed "FREEDOM!!!" Nobody dinged him for it since we were all crying from laughter.

Conclusions COLORS I like the brown paint idea that gives a much more realistic flavor to the practice. OFFICIAL USE For those of you that are still quoting the rules I agree with you and have already abandoned the idea of shooting the steel for score. SCORING LINES We're going to use thicker steel and have very narrow scoring lines engraved in when the plates are made. The very thin surface disruptions should not affect bullet or shrapnel returns but will need to be scraped clean of paint and bullet deposits when the plates are sanded down at regular intervals. While it is very true that bullet construction will affect scoring as some materials will make a larger diameter hit on the steel the center of the hit is what really matters in this practice. Any claims of a 0 that really is a result of the soft bullet making a larger mark will do no useful service to the shooter. DAMAGE As I said before we aren't concerned with the plates being damages by rifle, shotgun or excessive power factor ammo. The club has a well enforced policy on this and we have not had any incident in a very long time. ANGLE I agree that a physical taller target hung at an angle would prevent injury and the optical illusion of IDPA standard size should be enough for useful practice. We're going to try one test plate of each in a smaller size with the test method I mentioned before. We will build the final plates based on the result of those tests. VALUE At a cost of $1200.00 quoted for the three final plates it will take approx. 400 full uses (30 rnds per use) per plate for the plates to reach break even. If properly maintained they should offer thousands of uses. Not to mention double as very fun stage targets from time to time. I also thought they might serve very well as non-threat targets with an attitude on occasion! Imagine trying to send a round between two of these suckers to hit the threat target beyond them. Plang! Damn! Plang! Damn!!! Thank you all for sharing your thoughts and please feel free to continue to post ideas and more input. I'd like to keep this discussion going for as long as anyone cares to share their thoughts.

Those of you who are experienced in the Bianchi Cup type matches please offer me some insight. I've been considering attempting this game for several years but I'd like some information first. I've noticed that several guns have shrouds of one type or another added to them in open. Do these shrouds usually involve removing part of the slide? Are different pre calculated optic adjustments made to lead the moving target or is it general practice to develop an appropriate lead of the sights at the various ranges? If I do attempt to shoot a match I'll likely begin with a fairly simple 1911 to learn the rules and procedure. Would a .22 be a useful tool in the early stages of learning for this match? Thank you

I've often considered taking a try at Bianchi Cup. That's a very fine pistol and judging from your results your a very accurate shooter. Would you suggest that a new person begin in the iron sight division or in open to have the advantage of the optics?

I think the current issue has a quote by Mr. Leatham stating that he was unsure how to feel about shooting against his friends kids now. I think he was referring to John Shaw's son Houston. On a more personal note the first time I ever saw any thing regarding IPSC or speed shooting was when I was pretty young. It was a steel shoot-off of some sort with pepper poppers of various colors and matching color stations to engage them from. I have a really good visual memory and I recall Mr. Leatham, Mr. Barnhardt, and another man (who I think was John Shaw) where in a dead heat for the win and the stage they went into had 3 stations with ramps. It kind of looked like two wheelchair ramps leading to one high position. They started at the bottom of one ramp. Shot several poppers then loaded and ran up the ramp to the top. From the top the shot several more and after another load ran down the other ramp to finish off the last set of steel. I had never seen anyone shoot so fast in my life. Not even in movies. Until that day my dad was the fastest shot that ever lived though he made no claim to that. I picked the guy with the beard because he looked a lot like my father and I didn't know who to root for. That guy was Rob Leatham and until months later I misunderstood the commentary and thought he was known as "The Burner". I think Barnhardt won and Leatham came second though I thought he won since I had the nickname wrong. I remember 3 things he said in the final interview... "Springfield Armory", "IPSC", and "Fun". I also remember Barnhardt and Shaw congratulating him like the gentlemen they were. Years later I had a Ruger P-85 of my dad's that he gave me for my birthday when I became old enough to have my own handgun and a few chances to shoot a local Steel Challenge. I had told the Match Director that I had always wanted to compete and I wanted to shoot with Leatham and the other pros someday. He invited me over after that match and offered me a coffee can full of what he promised was at least one and a half 1911's for $50. I looked in the can and saw the word Springfield. I didn't hesitate and I bought the can and my first competition gun. I still have it and a pretty good start to a wall of plaques and ribbons that it helped me get. I always thought I owed part of those awards to Leatham, Barnhardt and Shaw. Thanks for changing my life guys.

$3 every time someone wants to practice adds up very fast. Not to mention it will be hard to leave targets for people to take and put up in a general access area. Weather would destroy several at a time though we did consider putting a sort of vending machine based on those newspaper vending machines out to sell the targets readily and keep them dry. I saw that at an indoor club once. They were using a regular newspaper machine to sell a folded up paper silhouette for a quarter each. Dispensing pasters cold be achieved by swapping out one of the bag o chips slots in the snack machine for paster boxs. Yes the barrel and barricade will stay up. The barrel will have some weight in it and the barricade has legs that will go down into the ground a few feet. I doubt we will cement them in case it ever needs rebuilding. I think I'm going to experiment this winter with all the basic ideas offered thus far. A steel square angled down, one that is convex like I put forth, and one that is straight up. I'll put a .45 in the Ransom (usually the most powerful round for IDPA use) with a screen in front of it and the remote trigger and see what kind of splatter I observe. I should probably set the distance at the 5 yard fault line to give the worst case scenario. Or do you think 4 yards is a better worst case assuming someone is standing right at the fault line with arms fully extended beyond it? I'll also try the welded on beads for scoring versus my overlay plan. Again thank you all for the great input. I'd love to continue to hear more thoughts. Our goal is to make practice readily available to all members anytime. That's worth saving up extra funds even if it takes a year or two to get it all in place and working smoothly. Oh and Chills. Roundabout is my favorite stage ever since Flying M went away!

Believe it or not we leave all our steel out and not a single slug or rifle round has hit them. Shotgunners are allowed to practice on the steel using bird only and there is some permanent rifle steel out as well. It took us awhile to get to this point but the rules are posted on a large sign and the range once had a camera. After a few "evil doers" where sent packing the club honor system was well received. I like all these ideas. I really appreciate all the good contributions. Please don't hesitate to offer the critical it will help this project either by showing us the wisdom in abandoning it or by making the final product better. Keep it coming!

Thank you That's a good point. A little close for comfort on that 1 string. Setting the steel up in the Steel Challenge way of making them slightly convex to destroy the bullet in a 360 degree perpendicular pattern might fix that. Then it's just a matter of some straw bails under them to stall the splatter.

I was talking about how easy it is to see that nice black mark on white painted steel.

We were thinking clear lexan overlays with the scoring rings to figure out the points down. I'm a believer that if you practice without the lines and get in the habit of hitting the 0 zone your going to get way less PD in a regular match. Plus the steel ringing could really help you get instant info in the challenging 3rd stage. Thanks for the input so far keep it going!

Our club is beginning an IDPA program this spring. We are thinking of dedicating a space to a permanent classifier and I heard an idea from a member that was interesting... How about a steel classifier? 3 steel plates IDPA target sized and at the proper height and spacing painted after each stage to save paper and be able to leave it up 24/7 for folks to practice on. My question is would we have to swap them for paper when someone actually shot for official scoring or could this be used. My thinking is no since there is a clear statement in the rules that the IDPA official target is the ONLY target but I was just wanting some insight from those more experienced than myself.

Carry guns only Throw down the whole setup: -Carry Weapon (Oh no he said weapon 0.o) -Rig including holster, mag pouches and your prefered belt -Mag type and how many you carry -If your someone who carries a light and a blade too include them -And let's not forget our little unsung pals the back up gun I'll Start... Custom M&P 40 and a Sig P238 Meyer Knife Serpa Holster and Mag Pouch. Fastory Sig Kydex Holster and I use a Bianchi Belt (Not Pictured)

Nice photos! Heres one of mine... M&P 40, Beadblasted slide relieved and then 3/8" pass through cuts on sides and top. Stippled frontstrap and grip insert. Beavertail removed (I'm a Glock guy so this fits me better plus the tail kept jabbing me in the ribs in an IWB holster) The Heinie sights aren't here yet so I threw the factory set back on to test fire it. IDK about replacing the barrel but if I do I may go to a 357 Sig.

Which M/P is it? I might actually have a stock block here new for it.

Hey folks, Drop a list of the top 10 rare, out of production or special guns you'd love to own (If money was no object). Anything goes they don't have to be practical they just gotta go BANG. I'll start... 10. A Ruger SP-101 in 9mm 9. A .45 Liberator (the gun to get a better gun) 8. A Webley Auto Revolver (You can actually kinda Tap Rack it ) 7. A nice old Double Rifle 6. A German belt buckle gun SS marked 5. A Clark Meltdown 4. A Second Chance Prize 1911 with a full mag of the old pin stickers 3. A Bianchi Cup tuned Rossi Cyclops (big rib sights, no trigger guard, epoxy grips rolled in sand and spray painted The Works!) 2. A Craig Ltd. M-11 Merc in 9mm And the number 1 pick since we're dreaming here... 1. An honest to god Rob Leatham gun used to win a match! Preferably that rockin' Open gun he used at '03 Nats!