zatchmo

Bolen Follower and spring, should be able to get 29 easily, in STI or SV 170. The only thing that gets tricky when you try for 30 is making sure your mag fits in guage, I had to mix try a few diffrent 3mm and 4mm bolen pads and the Dawson +1 SNL pads and check the rear of feed lips, smooth it out without taking it down too far. Then you have to fix bottom of tube or your rounds may slip past follower and get stuck. To get 31 takes too many things to be just perfect and I was told that it wasn't possible in every mag tube and too risky for that 1 round. Did you go for the "smooth out the rib transition method" or the "extend the rib method"?

Not sure everyone has reliable 30 round reloadable big sticks. Most of my big sticks are a tight 30 with 9mm and I have one that is 30 reloadable with 9mm. I should have noted, this is for 38 super comp. I believe there is slightly more room with these than 9mm.

Is anybody out there making them anymore? Especially for an STI? Or has everybody just gone back to 30 reliable, reloadable rounds?

I was wondering how a super light bullet like that would work in one of these. I have a matchmaster and was thinking about trying to work up a super light bullet load for steel. I didn't know if you could get a 95 grain to feed or not. Good to know!

I had this exact same issue. I used the tape thing at matches, and tried to go without it in practice to figure it out. I got good enough to be able to keep both eyes wide open on single targets, but arrays got me every time. It never failed, I'd drill 2 alphas right into the no shoot, because I'd be looking at the ghost instead of the real target. Ultimately, I bought an open gun. Target focus just works better for me. I know it's kind of like giving up, but I was getting so frustrated, I was ready to quit entirely. Now I have a whole 'nother set of problems... trying to keep up.

+1 I shot a Bedell shorty in 38SC. I bought it off this sight for a good price, and plan on shooting it until it falls apart. I would have bought it if it was a fullsize, or a shorty. Practice makes perfect. This is what I did as well. Went shopping, and bought whatever came up first. I ended up with a shorty, and plan to shoot it until it falls apart as well.

I had one bend in my compact. I straightened it and it was fine for a while, then it bent again. I shortened it, but ended up replacing it. That was in a .45.

I think mine is a 6 and it's a bit dim on the real bright days. I fifth (I think that's about right) the 8 MOA.

Let us know what you find out. I never even thought to check availability on replacement barrels when I bought the gun. I hope I can get one when that time comes.

This is interesting to me. When I originally started shooting, I would try to switch eye dominance based on where the targets were. Meaning, I'd tend to use my left eye for targets left of center-line and right eye for targets to the right. Obviously that doesn't work very well when you try to go fast. I had got a lot of 2 alpha hits right in the center of no-shoots learning that lesson. Everybody I talked to thought I was crazy. Nice to see that others don't have the same dominant eye for everything.

I've been doing this for about a year, so I kind of know what's going on. I'm finally at the point where I feel like I can actually start to see what I'm doing wrong, and where I can make improvements. The first few months are chaos. As far as switching back to right eye, I have tried both. I was forcing myself to use my right eye for a while using tape, and it worked okay. My eye dominance isn't very strong, but it seemed left eye was better for me, so that's where I've stuck. My draw is fairly quick, but it's dot tracking and transitioning I'm having trouble with. Maybe there is no real reason to try and "fix" something that may not be broken. I just noticed it last week, and thought I'd throw up the question. Maybe the tracking and transitions are just something I need to practice more.

Hello, looking for an update from anyone with a Match Master ( MatchMaster ). I am looking at one of these in .38 super for two reasons. 1) Shoot steel 2) Back up gun to my STI Trubore in .38 Super Also of note, I am a C shooter going towards B shooter after two more classifiers (unless I sandbag, LOL ) I would also be interested in load data for both the Trubore and Matchmaster in .38 Super. I am currently loading 7.9grs of Hogdon Longshot under a 124gr JHP from Montana Gold. Its been awhile but, I went with the JHP after chrono tests shows it faster then FMJ. This testing was done in the summer near Fort Collins, CO (5000ft). I live in Minnesota now and had to increase from 7.7grs of longshot to 7.9 after not making major by a smidgen. I have a matchmaster in .38 super. I love it. I run either N350 or Autocomp depending upon what I have at the time. 7.8 of N350 gets me to major here or 7.4 of Autocomp. 7.2 makes it, but 7.4 feels better to me. I shoot about the same, high C, low B and it's a great gun for me. Mine has no extra holes, just a T2 comp, 90* mount and a trigger job.

Can anyone compare it to the shooter's choice red grease in the syringe tubes? I am FINALLY almost out of that stuff, and just curious if this stuff is approximately the same.

Ok, I'm going to try and describe this without a picture, because quite honestly, I don't have any. I am a cross-eye dominant, right handed shooter. I adopted the modified weaver stance putting my left foot slightly forward to kind of force me to use my left eye. While this works well for me, it creates a right-arm locked, left arm elbow-out grip. This works fine normally, but when I have to do weak-hand only I suffer. Also after switching to open, I find myself hunting for the dot far too often, and I believe this may be all related. That being said, I think I may be better off trying to get both arms locked? Any opinions on this, and ideas on how to "train" myself to do this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Is anybody updating this list anymore?

I've heard of a lot of people getting pitting with no blast shield and a shorty. I have a matchmaster, and I haven't seen any yet, but I only have ~4k through the gun so far. EDIT: I have a Cameron's 90* mount.

I used that app for a while. I was SHOCKED some days at how much I would eat. I have since quit using it, as I feel like I know what I'm eating now. It's amazing what just paying attention will do. I didn't lose a ton of weight, but didn't have a ton to lose either.

Thanks for bringing this thread back up. I've been running a sideways mount now for a few months and can't seem to master the dot. I think I'm going to keep an eye out for a standard mount now and give that a try.

I finally made the jump to an open gun and am trying to work up a load for it. The guy I bought the gun from was kind enough to send me 10 of his rounds with the gun, so I could feel how it shot with his load. I don't have those notes with me, but I believe he said it was 7.6 grns of VV N350. (I know for sure it was N350, just unsure of charge weight.) Those are the brass colored brass. I can't get N350 locally, so I picked up some autocomp to try. The autocomp is the nickel plated brass. I was using CCI SR primers, I don't know what was used with the N350 load. Do these primers look ok? The PF on the 2 loads was 167 for autocomp, 168 N350. I'm using 124 grn JHP hornady, 1.235" OAL. Temp was about 52*, very humid. The load feels pretty good, I just want to be sure I don't take out my breech face. http ://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af323/nak_man45z/Reloading/2011-09-17_14-32-05_309.jpg http ://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af323/nak_man45z/Reloading/2011-09-17_14-32-15_564.jpg Autocomp http ://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af323/nak_man45z/Reloading/2011-09-17_14-33-39_155.jpg N350

I just bought a shorty. I'm new to open as well. For me, it was whatever I could find a decent deal on in the used marketplace. I figured I can shoot it for a couple years and see if there's anything I'd like to change. I got a good enough deal where I feel comfortable doing this. If I would have had to buy new, I probably would have stuck with limited.

Another option would be to look in the classifieds and find a used one, shoot it for a while to figure out what you like/don't like, and then order one from a custom smith.

I have a citadel, same as the rock island/spartan and my only complaint about it is the sights and trigger could be nicer, but for the money I don't think you can go wrong. I am with the other guys above. I say get an STI Spartan if you can.