Chip_E

I'm still relatively new to this. Shot production last year, and started shooting open division in March 2012. I think I did OK on this stage, but I know that I paused at the first array, and could've picked up some time some other places, but I wanted to find out what you guys think I should work on to become a faster and more accurate shooter...and if anybody says lay off the steaks.... Thanks for any constructive feedback.

Interesting.. My flashcat makes 172PF with 7.7 Sihouette & 124CMJ 168pf with 7.6 Silhouette MG 124CMJ I think you can see in my wife's video how flat they shoot. I was recovering from a wrist injury (tendonitis?) so my grip wasn't great.

OK to be fair to wifEy....here's the short fat guy shooting the "HouseCat" in Ohio. Warning...long video.

Here's the wifEy shooting her KittyKat 9Major

My wife and I had a brief chance to talk to you after the Sectionals. You had one of your daughters picking up the good brass for you. :-) We had a GREAT time, and appreciate the honor of experiencing one of your matches. We made some good friends there, and enjoyed the challenging and well organized event. Have fun on your sabbatical. :-) - chip & aya

The wife and I shot SR9s in Production for a year. As accurate as any other handgun in its size. Checkout GallowayPrecision.com for goodies to improve it.

We see lots of this...usually with entry level cars having a bunch of gauges, huge exhausts, and stickers galore. What you purchased is the pistol version of a rice-burner. The good news is, the gun (like the car under all the crap) still has value and can be saved. I can't blame the guy for trying...I've got a friend who owns one of the largest performance parts companies for a certain German car, and he has that same goofy sight mount and same NC Star sight on his Sig. As soon as I can get to his state, I'll let him shoot my open gun....I think he'll rip the crap off his gun shortly after that.

Love this response. I think it's more important to concentrate on improving each time you shoot, rather than just trying to get to C,B,A,M,GM. At the D level, she's really competing with herself more than with others. Her goal should be to shoot as accurately as possible and make her movements as efficient as possible. Once that happens, the classifiers will fall into line.

I like the idea of going to the range and renting a bunch of guns. If you belong to a club, ask members if she can shoot theirs. Instead of trying to find the magic gun that fits all 13 year old girls, find the one that fits her hands and your wallet.

4 problems with sticking your gun into a barrel. You have to pull it out to get going again, you could hit the front sight and lose alignment, you could get a malfunction due to a case coming back into the breach, and you lose a lot of light that's useful on the front sight. As mentioned, there are times when you HAVE to put your gun into a port or barrel to acquire the target, but in all other instances you should only get as close as you need to.

A champion shooter flew into O'Hare last month for a video shoot at Tri-County Gun Club. I picked him up at the airport, and there were no problems entering or exiting with his limited, open and single stack pistols. Also came in with about 500 rounds of ammo...left with none. :-) As long as you transport legally through Illinois (unloaded and in a case) and stay out of Chicago, you'll be fine. As long as I have you (someone from California).... I'm thinking about shooting a local match in San Diego next month. Do I need to do anything special to bring in a couple of STI open guns and high capacity (in California speak) magazines? As in 4 140mm and 4 170mm mags.

Hey Micah, thanks for the input. I literally "Feel your pain". Well, actually my wrist pain is gone, but the swelling is still there. I've got 100% flexibility, but still only about 95% strength. I see you're on the same squad with my wife and I. Good luck to you as well. Go Team Limp Wrist. :-)

I'm not really looking for any magical shortcuts, just good sound advice on preparing for the Ohio State Match this weekend (May 27th). Last week on a business trip to Miami, my wrist felt a little sore. When I picked up some video gear with my right hand (yeah, my strong hand) I shrieked with pain. Soon after, I couldn't even make a fist. The next day I went to the emergency room. After an x-ray it was established that nothing was broken, and because of the onset carpel tunnel was ruled out. The doctor wanted to give me a note to get out of work....I had to persuade the doctor to give me a shot of cortisone to get me working. Within about an hour I was still in pain, but functional. It's been 4 days, and I'm at about 85 to 90% functional as far as motion and very rare pain. I tried shooting today for the first time, my indexing and first shots are suffering...maybe some dry firing will help with that. I don't expect to be competitive at the match, but I'd like to be in the best condition safely possible. Just wanted to pick the wisdom of people with medical experience or first-hand experience rehabbing from a wrist sprain. I'm still icing the wrist for 20 minutes 2 or 3 times a day. Swelling is gone. Planning to start some light wrist curls, 5lbs and work up to 10lbs. Thanks for any advice. - chip

Thread title said "1457 Gr"...now that's a heavy bullet. I've never tried 147s, but I've used 115 and 124 in Minor loads (as well as Major in Open). I really like the 124s for both. However, one of our Production GMs prefers the 147s. I'd say shoot all 3, and see which one works the best for your gun, and your shooting. I think ammo is more like a pair of slacks than a pair of socks. You can get some off the rack and they'll fit most people, but the custom tailored ones will always be better.

They are not all that similar. Kevin, please elaborate. I've only seen the videos of your cart, but I've seen the CED/DAA in person. I'd love to hear your comparison. I'd personally rather have the best solution rather than the least expensive....but without more input, I see the CED/DAA cart as being both...unless you need a built-in seat.

I'm a computer geek that's wrenched on his car a bit (brakes, clutch, simple stuff) but I didn't have any problem setting up the bullet feeder. Just follow the instructions, and you shouldn't have a problem. If you do, drop me a line with your number, and I'll be happy to do the long distance assist. The bullet feeder and bullet feeder turret make it almost as automatic as a Dillon with a Mr. Bullet Feeder and case feeder....except for a fraction of the cost. Again, not a huge investment...but a huge improvement in productivity.

This is a somewhat anecdotal post. I have a junior shooter (20 years old) that wanted to travel to Illinois with a handgun and ammunition. Spent nearly 3 hours on HOLD with the Illinois State Police, for a 2 minute conversation with the officer's conclusion being...."It's a gray area". As I already knew, it's illegal for anyone under 21 to purchase a handgun or handgun ammunition. They can't even buy .22lr ammo if it's intended for a handgun. However Federal and Illinois law allow for someone over 18 (as long as they're not otherwise restricted from ownership; and if an Illinois resident must obtain an FOID card) to own/possess a handgun that was received as a gift. So there's no law that actually prohibits legal transportation of a handgun through non-prohibited areas, but it's a consensus that if someone between 18 and 20 (unrestricted resident or non-resident) were stopped and found with a handgun, would be charged in Illinois with Unauthorized Use of a Weapon (a misdemeanor), would have the firearm confiscated, and even if they were successful in fighting the case, would wish they'd just had someone 21 or over with them in the car. I just wish they'd fill in these gray areas instead of leaving them open for good young people to fall in to.

Do you happen to know where I can find info on the CED Range Trolley? Know when they will be selling them? I believe the CED Range Trolley will be shipping this month. Drop me an email, and I can let you know when they're in.

Have you guys seen the new Lee Pro 1000s that are shipping? They have a ROLLER HANDLE similar to the Dillon 650. As soon as I saw it, I ordered it from Midway http://www.midwayusa.com/product/772679/lee-pro-1000-and-turret-press-roller-handle-update-kit Cost under $23 bucks at the time of this posting. My wife had always used a ski glove on the old handle, and had to change her grip going up and then down. Now with the roller handle, she doesn't need the glove, doesn't change her hand positioning, and is much faster. I'm a lot faster and smoother with the upgrade too. I've heard people talk about replacing the chain with the spring parts...I'm ordering them today. Hopefully it gets my powder throws more consistent. For those that are worried about squibs (everyone should be) the best way to avoid them is to put an eyeball on every single case that comes around for a bullet drop. Get a LOT of light angled onto the bullet feed station (some use a small flashlight, others a desk lamp). AND....get a Dillon (or other manufacturer) case gauge. My wife and I shoot about 400 to 800 rounds per week, but we still take the time to run every cartridge through a case gauge. This insures that none of the cartridges will be too long, or have high primers. Once we drop a cartridge in, we just feel the primer to make sure it's level. Plus, by checking each cartridge, we have a better chance of finding a cracked case before it finds us. Every now and then, the bullet feeder would knock bullets into the seating die, causing them to fall from the fingers. Check that the spring on the feeder mechanism isn't broken or loose. I've also found that putting a weight on the back of the bullet feeder (like the calibration weight for your scale) will help to insure that the bullet stays low to clear the seating die. I usually only have to put the wight on for 5 to 7 cycles, pull it off, and it runs perfectly. Now that I have the bullet feeder turret installed, and the roller handle, I no longer have Blue Machine Envy.

Custom or pre-built....it's the Indian not the bow. But you'd better believe that the chief's bow looks a lot different from the others. I don't know if my Limcats shoot any better than a stock TruBor, but I do know that it's tuned exactly for me, as my wife's is tuned exactly for her. Oh yeah, and they look pretty damned good too. Kind of like what I'd want if I ever become a chief. I think the best advice is to find some guys here that are nearby, and shoot as many different guns as you can. If you're going to drop $3K to $6K on something, I think it's worth driving a couple of hours and checking out what works best for you. If you're in Illinois, you're welcome to try mine. Start a thread that says, "I'm in BFE and need help finding the right Open gun for me". You'll be surprised at the offers you get.

Great looking guns Chip Thanks PJ...they're a LOT of fun to shoot too. I'm just hoping for a day when my performance is even 50% of what the guns are capable of.

Hey Brad, I said it looks far away. :-) Plus, you're living proof that "It's the Indian, not the bow". Hoping we can learn to shoot our bows as well as you do. Until then, a quote about "cold dead hands" comes to mind. :->

Those good looking Limcats must be very expensive! Yeah...more than I thought I'd ever spend on a gun...let alone 2 of them. But one makes me happy, the other makes the wife happy, and the wife makes me happy....so they're priceless. :-)

I like this idea. My wife always sticks a wash cloth right there...not so much to push it out, but to keep the holster off her bone. I think the overlap of the inner could help. Thanks.

I originally picked up an SR9 for the wife because it's so slim and angled like a 1911. After shooting it, I had to have one too. Talk to Eric at GallowayPrecision.com he has some nice trigger mods, a great magwell, and is working on a mag extension. I think I have everything he makes on my SR9. Well, haven't put on the magwell because the extensions aren't ready. I have his optic mount as well, because I thought about building it into an open gun. Just bought a pair of Limcats instead. :-)