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kcobean

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Posts posted by kcobean

  1. I had a $90 set of custom molded plugs made in April. They're ok for pistol, but when I put my cheek down on a rifle the plug seal breaks. I seldom shoot 3-gun, so I discovered this unfortunate fact 'on the clock' sitting 3 feet from a guy shooting an Armalite comp. It was painful. I'm thinking for 3-gun, I'm gonna use regular foam plugs because of their flexibility. I like my molded plugs for pistol, though one generally seats more completely than the other. Not sure why that is.

  2. Time to start weight lifting through the pain....

    That's a good way to turn an injury that needs a couple weeks of rest into one that needs a couple months of rest...

    When I say "weight lifting", I mean doing it like the physical therapist recommends in the videos at the link in your first post in this thread...not heavy weight lifting. I can barely "reverse wrist curl" a 3 pound dumb-bell right now. I'm determined, but I'm not crazy.

  3. Really glad I found this. After a hard fall onto my right arm at the Area 8 Championship in August, I started getting some serious pain in my elbow. X-ray showed nothing and working with a physical therapist has been a slow process. I'm at the point that picking up a coffee mug with palm down (fingers around rim) is difficult at best. It's SLOWLY getting better, but it's very frustrating. I'm an IT guy, so my right arm operates a mouse all day long and gets stiff as can be. Time to start weight lifting through the pain....

  4. I find for a couple reasons that prescription shooting glasses (mine are Rudys) are the way to go. The glasses I wear that look okay don't offer any protection from the sides and bottom, and on top of that there will be a frame in the way if I try to shoot my rifles.

    Did you get the inserts or the prescription lenses? I'm looking at getting the prescription lenses because I'm not a fan of the inserts. They are pricey though (not that my eyesight isn't worth it).

  5. I have traditionally worn contacts and proper shooting glasses, but my eyes don't do well with the contacts in all the dust, sweat, sunscreen, etc. By the end of the day my eyes were so irritated I could barely open them. So, I started wearing my regular prescription glasses. They do not offer the same side protection, but they're much more comfortable and they are polycarb impact rated lenses. I plan to buy some prescription Rudy's here soon, but they're in the $350-$400 range to get them with presc. lenses.

  6. As a lefty, and with an partially amputated left index fingertip to boot, my advice is to stick with the standard release and learn to activate it with your index finger. You don't have to shift your grip on the gun to activate the release and I'm as fast this way as I could ever be using a thumb release. I considered the Mitchell conversion, but I'm glad I didn't do it.

  7. I was the last shooter on my squad (or near last) on stage 1 at the Area 8 Championship this year. It was our first stage of the match. Afterwards, I grabbed my stuff and walked over to stage 2. It was staff day, so we were all RO'ing for each other, i.e. you stay busy.

    When it was my turn to shoot stage 2, I got the make ready command, inserted my barney mag from position 3 (of 4) on my belt, chambered a round, then put it back on my belt. Grabbed my start mag from position 4 and realized that it was empty from the previous stage. So, I pulled it out of the gun, put it back on my belt, grabbed my first reload mag from position 1 and oops, it's almost empty too....it's the other one I used from the previous stage. So I have two full Limited mags in positions 2 and 3 (minus the barney round stripped out of 3) for a 24 round stage, no worries. So, I put the second empty mag in position three, move full mags to positions 1 and 2. All good now, right?

    Are you ready?

    Standby!

    Beep!

    Bang

    Click!

    (tap/rack)

    Click!

    Look in magwell...there's no mag! After the shuffling, I never put a mag back in the gun. Spent a few seconds with my brain in total meltdown looking for a mag that had bullets in it, not remembering that I had moved them to the first two positions on my belt. Cost me probably at least 5 seconds.

    Lesson: If you're not ready, don't shoot. Ask the RO to ULSC and go top off.

  8. I started out on a Dillon 650. It can be done. I did not find it very hard at all. I found it very time consuming. I did my homework (actually read reloading manuals) and read the hell out of this forum and relentlessly asked questions and watched videos. I do not have an engineer's mind either. I was shooting 5 to 6 thousand rounds of store bought ammo per year before I started to reload. Now I shoot 10 to 15 thousand reloaded rounds a year. You WILL NOT save money. You will just shoot more.

    If you are handy, and you know you will reload for a long time, then jump in with both feet. If you have any doubts, then start out slow like others have stated above. Good luck.

    All true statements. Like Red Ryder, I bought a used 650, bolted it to the bench and just learned on it. They're not complicated machines and it's easy to figure out most issues if and when they arise. Dillons hold their value pretty well. Even if you only keep it for a year, reload a few thousand rounds on it and then sell it, you'll have gotten your money out of it just in knowledge alone, IMO.

  9. I don't understand this whole conversation. It's not a DQ to have the hammer back in the holster with the safety on or off, as long as the gun is unloaded:

    10.5.11 specifically says "Holstering a *LOADED* handgun, in any of the following conditions:

    --------10.5.11.1: A single action self-loading pistol with the safety not applied

    All these conditions apply the entire time the handgun is in the holster. See 8.1.2.4

    8.1.2.4 "This safety must be on while the firearm is LOADED in the holster or LOADED inany other location stated in the WSB in order to be in compliance with 10.5.11"

    So I see nothing here saying a cocked hammer on an unloaded gun is an issue.

    That said, it still seems like a bad habit to me.

  10. I'm not posting any specific load data, but I will say this, I've shot thousands of 200 grain Bayou bullets, but I use VV N320 powder. It's a fantastic combination, IMO, and N320 requires less powder for a given velocity than Titegroup. It's a slower burning powder, which as I understand it is better for shorter OALs like what the M&P will require (I'm loading Bayou's out to 1.180-1.185. They probably wouldn't even fit in an M&P mag).

  11. Reloading is an addictive hobby all its own.

    I honestly recommend you don't start with anything smaller than a Dillon XL650. It's an auto-indexing 5-stage press that can do everything except for primer pocket swaging, and if you're shooting range pickup brass that's really of little consequence. As your shooting ramps up, you'll be very happy with this choice. A 650 can do 800 rounds an hour once you really get your rhythm down, and with the addition of a bullet feeder, all you have to do is pull the handle and keep feeding it components.

    As for the statement that you need to reload to be competitive with the 9mm, there's really no logic in that. If you're going to continue shooting Open division (which I presume you are since you're shooting a comp'd pistol), then you'll want to reload just so a) you can ensure your rounds are making major PF (you can shoot minor if you want, but it's much, much harder to be competitive shooting minor PF) and b ) you can use a gassy powder that optimizes the operation of your comp.

    As for cost, the difference between major and minor is going to be a few grains of powder, so the price will be nearly identical. I'm reloading .40 for just under 16 cents per round. That's $160 per 1000. You can't touch manufactured ammo for twice that, so is it worth it? Yeah, it is. You should be able to load 9mm for probably 14 cents per round, maybe less.

  12. First things first....WELCOME!

    My worthless 2 cents to you is this: Don't modify your firearm at all from how it is right now. Bring 5 magazines (one for the gun, four for the belt) and load them to capacity and shoot Limited. You'll be scored using Minor Power Factor, but who cares. As a new shooter, the question you want to answer is "is this something I want to keep doing" and it's not your score that's going to make that decision for you, at least not initially. IMO, you're better off trying to answer that question without worrying about running out of mags on a 32 round stage and only 50 rounds on your person. You WILL have fun, I promise you that. So enjoy the game first, get into 'restrictions' later. If the USPSA bug bites you, there'll be plenty of time to spend stupid amounts of money on gear down the road.

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