LJE

You can save this one to your computer. It is chapter three from the USPSA promotional DVD. Mike Voight & Patric Sweeney talk about revolver divison, with clips of Pat & Jerry shooting the gun with that "silly round thing in the middle" TAPS Website - Chapter 3- USPSA DVD Larry

I have experimented with serveral methods of converting 8mm to digital and found that the best results were obtained with a simple setup. The box with the mirrors produced terrible results (flicker was extreme and annoying). My best results were produced by using a digital video camera to record the movies that were projected onto an old movie screen. Set the movie screen about 10 to 12 feet away from the projector. Put the digital video camera on a tripod next to the projector. Start playing a movie and zoom the camera until you have just a small amount of the white movie screen visible around the picture. This will give you the appearance of watching an old movie. After making all the proper adjustments, start playing your movies and recording them. The video camera will also record the sound of the projector's shutter. This will become a very time consuming project. You will be recording in real time, transfering the videos to a computer, editing the videos (old 8mm movies are loaded with bad scenes, boring content and shaking cameras), and then burning the finished product to a DVD disk. If you have a computer with a 1394 firewire port, you can consolidate the recording and transfer operation into one. You will also need video capture software on your computer. Put the video camera in the record mode (do not press the record button), connect the 1394 cable to your computer and start your video capture software. Your capture software will monitor what the camera lens is seeing. Start playing an 8mm movie, watch the image on the computer screen, and when you are ready to record, click the record button in your capture software to start recording directly to your computer hard drive. Work in a darkened room for best results. The sound recorded by the video camera can be rather loud and annoying. Some video editing software will allow editing the native audio track. You can mute the sound or lower the volume level to suit your taste. You could also mix in another sound file with the recording, or record your own narration. While this can be a very time consuming project, doing it yourself will produce a finished product of your choice. Sending them out to be done by someone else will be no different than having to watch the old movies, including the boring stuff. Good luck with the project. I spent several months producing a DVD for my daughter. Larry

The targets for the 2002 Area 8 Race Gun match came from Hotshots. I really hate those thin targets. If you have a rainy match, even with bags on the targets, the heads get limp and bend over easily. We tryed the MGM targets once, targets are cheaper but shipping is a killer. Also these targets are thin cardboard (floppy head syndrome) and you need to double them on swingers or they come loose because they are too thin. Also, the perfs on the MGM targets were very difficult to see in bright sunlight. Dave Zimmerman at Target Barn has supplied us with targets for several area matches as well as our local match targets. If you contact Dave, he might be able to meet you somewhere during one of his delivery trips and save you the shipping costs. Great guy to deal with and good quality targets. Larry

Winchester 231 shoots a little softer than the Titegroup load, but HX-6 is my favorite. In a G-34 I use MG 124 JHP and 4.1 of Titefroup. The HS-6 load I use is 5.5 grains w/MG 124 JHP. This is a really sweet shooting load. OAL in all the above loads is 1.1 to 1.15 Larry

When we are checking credentials of RO's for a major match, we use the USPSA listings, not their cards. I have a pile of them in a drawer somewhere?????? If you put it on your classification card and happen to get re-classified within the next year, you won't have a sticker on your new card. Maybe you could stick it on your gun! LJE

30 fps slower is not all that bad. I have tested several aftermarket barrels for 9mm major and have seen velocities 120 fps slower than a Glock barrel. The polygonal rifling in the Glock barrel creates less drag on the bullet than conventional rifling does. If the accuracy of your new barrel is good, just bump up the load a bit and live with it. Larry

A scoring target must be buff cardboard color, and the back side is white (penalty target). Shoot it frm the back side and you have just scored a penalty hit. Come on guys, get serious here.

I have been using ESP digital (won the analog set at 2004 Area 8 and later upgraded to the digitals) and really like them. The analog worked OK but produced a lot of ambient background noise such as the overly chrunchy sound of walking on stones or a slight breeze in the tree leaves creating very noisy conditions. The digital ESP's produce really high quality natural sound. Set the amplification level to suit your taste. The sound never cuts out like some electronics do, but is limited to a pre-set maximum level. Due to this feature, they will most likely sound louder than you are accustomed to hearing, but the sound levels are not damaging. A gun shot sounds exactly the same as it would without hearing protection, just not as loud. They work so well that I was astounded when I heard my first squib when I was RO at a Steel Challenge Match. I actually heard the primer go "pfsssssssttt" inside the gun. The sound is so natural that I sometimes forget to take them out when I leave the range, until I start the vehicle and hear all the sounds I never knew existed. If you want to hear everything that is going on around you and still protect your hearing, the $2000.00 pricetag can be justified. Not everyones cup of tea. On the fair side of the discussion, when I shoot my hybrid super in a confined area, I will turn them off. If you are looking to suppress sound as much as possible, ESP also offers shot filled sound supressing custom molded ear plugs. I have not tried these, but the theory seems solid. Larry

We buy 10' 1x2's from Home Depot when they have them. Larry

A friend of mine used to load bowling pin loads using 255's and Solo 1000. Had a power factor of 215 and knocked the crap out of a bowling pin.

Try visiting an indoor public range and talk to the manager. I buy my 9mm, 40 & 45 brass from a local indoor range. They sell it to me for scrape prices (that's what most of them do with it, sell it for scrape). Even with the current high prices of metals, I get a 5 gallon bucket for $45.00 Edited to add: a 5 gal bucket of 9mm is 7000 pcs of brass and a 5 gal bucket of 40 is about 5000 pcs of brass. Larry

Shot stages are now posted. Topton Action & Practical Shooters Larry

Eric, better ask a tire shop or whoever mounts the tires for you. Every tire I ever helped to mount or watched being mounted, required the tire to be pushed down towards the center of the rim while the other side was being pulled over the rim. I don't think you can stretch a tire hard enough without allowing the opposite side to settle down into the center of the rim. Larry

You can shoot 38 Super, 38 Supercomp, or 38 TJ in your gun, but you will probably have some ejection/extraction issues. The 38 Super is a rimmed case and the Supercomp & TJ are rimless. The extractor needs to be adjusted differently for a rimless case. Aftec makes an extractor for 38 Super and a different one for Supercomp. Best to decide which one you will use and have the gun tuned to work with that case. Stay away from plated bullets in the 38 Super. Use a jacketed bullet. LJE Edited: Sorry, forgot about the bullet. The .355 bullet should work fine.

The Rifle Match Final Results have been posted. TAPS Rifle Match Final Results Larry

5.0 Grains of IMR 7625, MG 124 JHP, OAL=1.15 should yield around 1050 FPS. IMR 7625 is clean and very consistent. (It also works for 9mm Major)

Rob, I installed Gallery 2 for our club. You can have a look at it if you like. The only problem I am having is installing the ffmpeg module to allow thumbnails for videos. The binaries are not installed on my server and I have not been able to install them. Perhaps you can help? Topton Fish and Game Association Photo Gallery Larry Eckert TAPS AMD

As an alternative to that template, you can download mine if you like. It has everything you need and more, but you will need PowerPoint to use it. Stage Template - LJE Larry

The rifle match stages are posted. Topton Action & Practical Shooters Larry

Two questions: (or more) The specs say this tape is only good to 50 degrees. What do you do in cold weather? Where do you get it? I have searched, but so far all I get a re vauge references and specs. Thanks Jim Jim, you can find the tape you need at McMaster-Carr. I bought some from them for Topton for a 3 gun match. It is kraft paper tape (real close match to the targets). They have a warehouse in Phila. and ship almost immediately. I had my order the next day (ordered through a local hardware company that deals with them). Use the search box on their site and search for "kraft paper tape". http://www.mcmaster.com/ Larry Eckert

When I need to move files these days I grab a 1GB compact flash card --- my zips are a thing of the past.... Nik, if you ever need to transfer larger quantities of files to another computer, don't forget about the MP3 players. I have a 20 Gig MP3 player with 15 gigs free space on it. I use that to take files with me to my friends house and tranfer them to his computer. Larger capacity than a flash card, and relatively fast. With Windows XP, just plug it in and go. Larry

Changing or reducing the grip of a Glock (or other production gun) will require you to enter the match in limited, L-10, or open division. If you have entered a match in production division using a gun with a reduced or altered grip and the RO happens to notice, you will automatically be moved to open divison. Rule 6.2.5.1 - However, if a competitor fails to satisfy the equipment or other requirements of a declared Division during a course of fire, the competitor will be placed in Open Division, if available, otherwise the competitor will shoot the match for no score.

Bill, I sent you the application (PDF version & also the Word version) Larry Eckert TAPS AMD

The guy you talked to was "up to speed". KKM previously offered a 4 port comp for 9mm, but currently offer only the 3 port comp (Kevin told me on the phone that he changed to 3 port because some people had functioning issues with the 4 port). The threads are also different on the current barrels than on the older ones. Larry

TJ's are rimless, but have a deeper and longer extractor groove taper than the Supercomps. Most guns need some extractor tuning to run the TJ's. They are built like a tank, but not quite as strong as a 9x23