MikeRush

There are a whole lot of variables in play here. A heavier mainspring and more squared stop might indeed reduce the secondary recoil impulse but the energy isn't disappearing. You are just experiencing it sooner. I experimented with an EGW square stop, beveled as described above. I ended up rounding it. Somewhat recently I tried a beveled stop again... still nope. Since it is less than $20 get one and try it out. EGW and Wilson both make them. Run some bill drills, check your splits, see how the sights track. It is a cheap experiment. There is plenty to read on it, but most of the square stop hype seems to revolve around "that was JMB's original design, so it is better" or "dude, the spring absorbs the energy". I currently have my stop cut to raise the contact point between hammer and FPS, and increase slide speed. Stroking, square stops, and other modifications that spread the recoil event over a longer period of time may very well shoot "flatter" in terms of perceived and/or absolute lift as you have more time to counteract the recoil impulse. Whether or not that results in a faster return to an acceptable sight picture depends on grip, vision, other design attributes of gun... it is preference. Buy one, fit it, try it, time it...

It looks like the other scores were part of your initial classification. Going forward, as an M in Ltd they will only take A class or better runs in Open. Also, were you an M when you shot those (60 and 62) classifiers? They are accepted or flagged based on your classification when the scores are entered.

I was browsing Facebook tonight and thought I would repost a few blasters here for those who don't use social media. There is always variety, but the trend seems to be metal, aggressive grips, a mid length barrel, and a marked increase in RTS2s. Here is Chris Tilley's SV- he is using a very unique single sided mount and RTS instead of the upright CMore now. Here is Brodie McIntosh's- surprisingly simple, essentially a Trubor with some lightening. Here is Shannon Smith's- I believe its a Millennium Custom? Jorge Ballesteros' pair of SVs: Robert Powell's build by Glenn at LSI: Kyle Riojas' V12 Akai- this is a crazy build. V12, plus two vertical poppleholes. 9 grs of HS6 behind a 124...

Perception of percentages is different for each person. The old "squeeze it until you shake, then back off until it quits shaking" seems to work well. Of course the stronger you are the higher that threshold is.

Yes, you need to have the frame cut for ramped barrels. 9 major or 40 are both fairly high pressure pistol catridges. A ramped barrel will provide better case support.

I see what you mean. I don't know what the load is, but given the amount the grip is moving relative to Jorge's hands he doesn't appear to have a death grip on the gun. It looks like it tracks nicely!

This is what I am thinking- should be straightforward to correct. I think it is around 35 for the pair I need. Likely cheaper than buying stacks of pins until I find enough to fill 5 frames. This appears to be the case, as pins from factory guns are fitting very well. Unfortunately, my nice EGW pins (2 kits purchased so far) do not fit. So either I need to find some (slightly) smaller pins, or open up the hole a bit. I don't have a pin gauge set to measure the frame holes, so it is unclear where my frames fall in terms of tolerances.

OK, so why not have one, if it helps even occasionally? I fail to see any DISadvantage to having one. Just to play devil's advocate here: It can get caught on ports, walls, clothes. (I've seen shooters break front sights on ports, and those typically protrude from the slide by what, .18 inches? How far to most rackers stick out?) It may require you to alter your holster position (depending on size/orientation). It adds reciprocating mass. Some people (esp. with larger hands) keep thumbs high enough on the gun that they have had issues with contact while shooting. That said, I am having one installed on my (probably) 9 Major build. Not because they can't run, but because I will run whatever brass I can find (at least for locals and practice) and load the morning of the match (no QC).

I have 7 2011 frames and have traditionally used EGW pin sets for my builds. I have 2 sets of EGW pins on hand. 5 of the 7 frames have pin holes that are too tight for the EGW hammer/sear pins to fit. The two produced most recently take the EGW pins with ease. I have pins from a Kimber, and pins from a Springfield on hand. These will fit in all of the 2011 frames. EGW pins will fit in Kimber frame. I know I can buy the hammer and sear pin hole reamers from Brownells- would this be the preferred method of getting the pins to fit? Is there another make of pins I should look at that tend to run smaller? I can measure the pins/holes, but due to the number of guns I will complete I would like a better solution than get a bunch of pins and hope they work.

Unless you are looking to reduce the grip size (from front to back, like you might want on a carry gun) you could essentially achieve the same thing by running spacers in your mag and a shock buff. Many people prefer the full stroke, and some 9/40 shooters actually pay smiths to increase the distance that the slide travels ("stroking" the gun). I personally don't see the pay off for all of the proprietary parts just to shorten the action by 1/8".

If you currently shoot Open with a racker, I think it could be beneficial to standardize your manipulations. If you don't currently shoot Open with a racker, I would leave it off the Limited gun. I can't have one on a Single Stack or Prod gun, so I'd rather operate all those the same by pinching the front of the slide. Without a scope mount in the way I don't see a need for one...

Thanks! If you click on the link I provided scroll down until you see the trigger bows with the black triggers (not the single stack one at the top..... I think it's the 4th and 5th trigger on the link). Those two are made for the polymer grips. Right, I see that- however that will still likely require modification to your grip to fit the wider bow. I have seen issues where the STI bow will rub on STI magazines, so a wider bow is probably not a bad thing- but it isn't a drop in solution.

I shoot with guys who use massive popple holes and tons of powder- only thing I have found that helps is using plugs and muffs, and keeping my mouth closed.

Thank you for the information gentlemen! I think I would prefer something like the zig racker or sidewinder over some of the hollowed, tubular style but was afraid there would be a weight penalty associated with the longer handle. They sound pretty light as is- it is easy enough to get another half oz out of the slide. I may start with the sidewinder and remove some material- Eric, do you have any pictures of rackers you have lightened? I got away without one on my 38, but now that I am likely building a 9 I want to make sure I have a racker installed I know my smith can build them right, but there is so much variety in 9 brass and I don't have a case pro.

Check out this thread: http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=203473 Apparently, you can order one that will fit a polymer grip but I did not see it on the website. Perhaps an email or a call would be in order. I know a friend just bought one (clearly not the correct one) and it was nowhere close to fitting. I ended up going with the INFINITelY less baller (bad pun, I know) STI gunsmith blank, and shaped it exactly how I wanted it. I'll probably do that for the next one as well.

I'd love to see this as well, but it seems like the easiest way to find out who is using what is Facebook. I know we will see the overall breakdowns on caliber, frame manufacturer, etc in FS but I think an article or sidebar on top 16 open/limited guns would be cool. I seem to recall seeing one for some of the top production shooters at one point.

I believe Blake Miguez won the 2012 Limited nats without a single stage win as well.

I've searched, and found relative weights, i.e. "racker x is heavier than racker y" but I thought it might be useful to put together a reference for the weights of the common rackers used for Open. I have zero rackers right now, so I do not have anything to contribute yet, but I am trying to find something more reliable than shipping weights. If you have a racker and don't mind throwing it on a scale please post the make and weight here. Sidewinder SV Cheely Limcat Etc... I am thinking about fabbing up a custom racker, but want to see what kind of weights are out there already. It seems counter-intuitive to spend $$$ hogging out a slide to cut down the weight, then jamming a big heavy racker in your reciprocating mass.

JoJo is local to me so I have seen a number of these mounts installed. I've heard positive feedback from the guys using them so I have thought about trying one on my next gun. I'll ask around again on Saturday and see if I can't look through one.

I had enough close calls on bikes that I decided racing guns was wiser. I had a bit of discussion with kneelingatlas yesterday and am hopeful that we can test a few thought experiments on his GoPro soon.

So I talked to my favorite smith and it sounds like I am building a 9mm. Also going to try to find a mount I like and potentially go for an RTS2 to clear up the ejection port.

Looks like Kincaid switched over from 38 super though. He was posting his DVC was in 9 major.Not sure if you saw the video of the case head separation Shannon had, it's pretty epic though. https://www.facebook.com/UniversalShootingAcademy/videos/822321477866165/ Looks like a .38 in that vid with those barrel holes. In the comments he states it is a 9 Major and he isn't entirely happy with the switch. Autocomp and used brass. I can't help but think that feeding those huge holes and making major must take a pretty stout charge and possibly contributed to the separation.

I appreciate the suggestions! It sounds like it might not be so difficult after all. The mount that Chris Tilley was using would appear to completely avoid covering the ejection port. Unfortunately I already have a traditional CMore ready to go for this and I haven't found that mount anywhere. It would seem that bringing the dot rearward would reduce perceived dot lift but I haven't ever tried anything along those lines.

For which match?Prod top 3's equipment were a Tanfo Stock 2 and two G34s. Limited Nats top 3 guns were an SDC 2011 and a pair of Glocks (both G24s?). I believe Open top 4 were an SV, a Bedell, and then 2 STI DVCs. I didn't go this year but I am sure someone who did can confirm or deny my wild guesses. From the pics off the USPSA Facebook page, it looked like Kincaid was back to shooting a Limcat for Nats.image.jpeg Thank you for the correction. Also, from FB it looks like Shannon Smith wasn't shooting a DVC either- perhaps it was a Millenium Custom. As I missed Nationals this year I was assuming a little too much. OP didn't specify which match so I didn't put a lot of effort in tracking down the pictures to confirm.

I just took a look to see what I could find. Chris Tilley was using one with a somewhat unique mount (saw it in St George, don't know who makes it) that brings it back to where the rear sight would sit. Shannon Smith (it appears) had one on a Doubletap mount, and Kincaid Ross had one on a Limcat mount. Max had a traditional C-More in a plain upright mount.