Carlos

"If money was no object I would own one, but my wife would kill me." Yeah, I know what you mean - my girlfriend knows how to shoot too - it was dangerous enough for us men back in the days when women were armed only with rolling pins; now they know how to use firearms, serrated knives (shivers) etc. Still not sure how to cover up ordering that .50 cal (the one I really REALLY need to have). Any thoughts on sneaking it into the house unoticed??

In response to an article at cbsnews.com questioning whether women taking hunting or shooting lessons was actually advancing the cause of women in general, I sent the author the following reply including an offer to take him shooting with me next time he is in town. (will wine their hearts and minds, thus winning the war someday): Hi Lloyd! Enjoyed your recent articles regarding the mis-guided attempt to ban competition among children - a phenomenon I helped thwart when working for the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth summer program during the 90s. I also appreciated your story regarding the Kerkorian child support case. Excellent work. My girlfriend and I are avid target shooters and thus, I must take issue with your most recent piece for CBSnews.com (no pun intended). I see the safe and prudent practice with firearms to be an issue of woman's empowerment as well as family/children's safety. I think that women's traditional and archaic fear of firearms often comes from their lack of familiarity with them. Fear borne of ignorance helps no one - least of all women. It is to a woman's benefit to have the basic understanding required to unload a gun and make it safe should the need arise; that knowledge alone could save the life of a woman or a child. To that end, I have instructed several woman family members and past girlfriends on how to render different types of guns safe, and how to safely store firearms. Often, that information was as much as they wanted to know; I am certain that those women are better off with that knowledge than without. Other women I know have sought to obtain knowledge of firearms to show their children the pontential danger of mis-using firearms and to instill wary respect for firearms. This sort of real-world training helps to un-do the irresponsible portrayal of firearm use in movies and ultra-violent video games. Again, knowledge can save lives. As a further example, tn my capacity as an employee of a training facility owned by a Capitol Hill Police officer, I have instructed families that held the firm view that only the Government should have guns and that we, the people, should submit to being disarmed as is the case for British subjects in England. Their political view aside, these parents sought to rent a firearm from me for an hour and, under careful supervision, demonstrate to their children that guns are powerful tools that can be very dangerous if used as portrayed in video games and in popular movies/TV. I doubt we swayed the opinions of those families as to civilian ownership, but we nonetheless provided a valuable service to the community by increasing the families knowledge and ability to avoid accidents borne of firearms ignorance. I also think that if more women sought training and then purchased firearms, the incidents of spousal manslaughter would dramatically decrease. Notice I used the term manslaughter; if more women were trained to use firearms I imagine there would be an increase in the rates of justifiable homicides by abused wives defending themselves against their husbands - does that sound draconian, horrible, barbaric? The Dixie Chicks did not seem to think so when they wrote their chart topping song and accompanying video "Earl Had to Die" where an abused woman chooses to kill her abusive husband - albeit with poison rather than a firearm. Was there a societal back-lash by abusers in fear of their abused wives? Did the men's movement protest the glorification of killing an abusive male? No, rather we celebrated it with chart-topping sales and the Dixie Chicks took it on tour. It would be preferable if spouses - particularly men - would just stop resorting to physical violence. Hoping for something will not make it so and I expect domestic violence to exist for eons to come. Female firearm ownership can level the playing field; it is equality at its best; it is the essence of women's empowerment. I do not expect to change your mind on issues of women and guns, civilian firearms ownership, or hunting with a single e-mail. However, I value your consideration of my thoughts and I make the following sincere offer to you: the next time you and/or family members are in the Washington D.C. area, you are welcome as my guests for a day or two of safety instruction followed by (if you wish) recreational shooting sports practice with safety equipment, firearms, ammunition, and transportation provided - my treat. Let me know in advance and I will make time for you - weekend or during the week. I own several types of sporting firearms and I would be happy to show you and your family how to unload them and render them safe - valuable knowledge to have should you ever encounter a firearm in the future. I am willing to demonstrate how firearms are used in competition and sport. I can tell you what sports-people in the US are choosing to buy and why they would choose to take on the awesome responsibility of owning a firearm. I feel strongly about the issue of firearms ownership rights in the U.S. and I am willing to offer you my time so that you might gain a greater understanding of the issue; of course it is my hope that you will gain an appreciation of my point of view even if you do not adopt it. Thanks again for your fine journalism to date. I look forward to your reply. Sincerely, Douglas C. Johnson

Bountyhunter - lol. Eric - agreed. Also, I forgot GSSF specifies lost brass. Good point.

Thanks for the tip on DIY overtravel - good work! I did just the hammer thing in 2 rugers - I think it nets about 95% of the gains anyone would want; frankly, I think that $200+ for the triggergaurd2000 is serious overkill when $30 to $40 for the Volq or powercustom hammer alone will get you reliably under 2 lbs. - maybe I am still bitter about the cancellation of the Black Creek match in Area 8 due to the rimfire benchrest nationals.

Noticed this topic on the match etiquette thread. Apparently, some clubs have a policy that squad members or ROs (refered to as "staff" - you have staff members?) should pick up all of the brass for the person who is shooting. Interesting. This is not the general policy at the clubs I have shot with in Area 8; we rarely pick up 100% of our brass. A fellow shooter who moved here from NM was astonished at the volume of .40S&W brass left on the ground after a competition; he told me that at some clubs west of the Miss., there are children present who retrieve you brass for a tip - something like a caddy in golf. Different strokes I suppose. I often leave my .45ACP brass behind because between each shooter, I am volunteering to keep score, paste targets, reset steel, or loading/cleaning my mags -- our squads are so small and move so quickly that there is rarely enough time to pick up brass without holding everyone up (note - we often begin shooting from one position and then advance downrange to fire most of the shots ahead of the start 180 so retrieval of much of the brass is not possible. Moreover, there are often other squads waiting to shoot and one cannot make them wait over a few pieces of spent brass). I respect the practices used in other parts of the country and I certainly police all of my brass in practice; however, please understand that not every club match accomodates those who expect to take away every piece of brass shot in a match. What is the procedure used for brass retrieval at the nationals and WS? Not to say right or wrong - just curious about regional differences.

Had thought about this solution for keeping track of .40 brass before deciding to stick with .45 (lasts forever so no need to count): DyKem metal stain The machinists here can tell you more about it but I understand that its used to stain steel and other metals blue so that scribe-lines for machining will be visible. Hence, it is quite cheap and goes a long way. Does not hurt the steel, and I imagine it would not hurt the outside of a brass case or a chamber. Put a little on a cookie sheet, roll your brass around in it and viola! Red or blue brass that NO ONE will want to touch! (except you 'cause you know the secret!). Another wacky idea I tried was reloading Russian wolf steel .45ACP boxer primed cases - worked great for one load though about 10% showed a minor crack after one reload. Shoot and forget the brass. The indoor ranges would LOVE for you to show up with a huge magnet and offer to get the steel out of their "scrap brass" bins so supply is unlimited. I would NOT try it with their .40 cases on account of the high pressures of that round.

Pdwight: for Walther/SW99 mags, check out: http://www.cdnninvestments.com/walther2.html They seem to cost $29.99 ea. for factory 10 round (I think the "factory" actually has them made by Meggar, but check with the Walther forum guys if you need to verify that) as well as Pro-mag brand for substantially less $$$. I can vouch for CDNN - I order from them all the time (both guns and accesories). Their service is excellent and name brand products are as advertized - some of the more obscure stuff - just make sure you know exactly what you are buying because the descriptions are a bit sparse. If its not in stock, don't expect a raincheck as they specialize in closeouts - when its gone, its gone.

One more source of info for those interested in the Walther/S&W and perhaps they could provide an answer to the verticle stringing accuracy problem: http://www.waltherforums.com Regards, D.

Got to thinking of those BE'ers who may have a SW99 or those contemplating the purchase of one so I did some more searching to provide a reasonable explanation for the problems I see with the gun. On the thread "Malfunctions in a P99?" over on http://www.pistolsmith.com I found a reasonable reply by a P99/SW99 fan acknowledging some early difficulties with the gun - a portion of which follows (perhaps the design/execution will improve?) Feel free to disagree and decide for yourself - the choice is up to you: ""As one of my armorer certifications is for the SW99/P99 Series of pistols, and I carry one that has had a lot of rounds fired through it, I have a passing familiarity with the design. I’m confident the design is a sound one. The trigger is a subjective preference, but for duty issue I’m satisfied with a 12lb DA & 6lb SA pull. It’s not at all unusual for a weapon design to experience “teething pains” during the first few years of its introduction in the marketplace. Walther isn’t the first or only manufacturer to experience this, and it won’t be the last. If you were to make a list of all of the “upgraded”, “enhanced” & “redesigned” parts of the Glock series of pistols, it would probably scare the daylights out of someone unfamiliar with the quality of the current production models. The Walther P99 series, and its S&W licensed version, will probably be with us for some time to come, as it’s a sound design. It’ll probably continue to benefit from minor upgrades and enhanced parts … like the Glock … And thereby become a more refined pistol … like the Glock … And gain an increasing share of the public and L/E markets … like the Glock …. And gain fans from both markets … like the Glock … And introduce more new models, in new sizes and calibers … like the Glock …. And besides, Walther isn’t exactly a new kid on the block when it comes to designing weapons, and the name has earned respect in the firearms world for a reason.""

Neil, in response to some of your thorough comments: "could you see a situation where carefully placed no-shoots (penalty targets) add to the shooting challenge?" As you specified poppers that must fall to incur a penalty, then yes, that sounds like a reasonable solution. Initially, I had some concern about paper No-shoot penalties which might be caused by an errant wad rather than shot/slug, however, I doubt a calibrated popper could be taken over by a wad - has this ever been an issue in the UK? I have never competed in a match with no-shoots on a shotgun stage so please enlighten me. "I'm not keen on multiple runs per stage just to boost factors - it's too artificial. I guess as far as the smaller ranges are concerned then we must accept that they won't have big SG stages but it's still better that they are doing something." -Agreed. "I agree with you wholeheartedly that buckshot should never be forced on people just so that they have to deal with the recoil but our experiences are that buck copes with longer range targets than could be shot with birdshot. In a UK match of say 12 stages sometimes we will see no buck stages and other times perhaps just 1 or 2. Their inclusion must satisfy the course reviewer that there is genuine reason for the inclusion (and not just to achieve sales of buck ammo :-) !! )." Locally, buck shot stages have been problematic from a taping standpoint as well as a lack of experience/predictability as to what buckshot will do on paper; perhaps the disposible target at closer, more predictable ranges would lead to better results. I am not sold on the idea of buckshot as yet. As for birdshot stages, the static frangible target has been a great success and requires nothing more than a length of rebar with a nail attached to one end and a case of clay birds; it takes the same or less time to re-set than a popper and there is little argument about hits as a single pellet hit will count. We have even used steel "windmill" contraptions with 2 birds in motion for an added challenge. Regards, D.

I sell both the Walther and the SW99 at work. We have had limited feedback from customers since both are so new, however the SW99 feedback indicates that it jams whereas the Walther owners praise the reliability of their guns. Why else? Fit and finish quality. The lowers are identical and both are manufactured in Germany; S&W only manufactures the upper components. However, the finish on the Walther is a true Tenifer finish as used on the Glock; the EPA will not allow the use of the chemicals required to apply Tenifer in the US so the SW99 uses a different, and less-durable finish. More important however, is the finish quality of the guns compared side-by-side; the Walther is simply higher quality. Now, I know that looks are deceiving as we have all seen in the excellent, but rough-looking CZ 75s, but in the case of the SW99 vs the Walther P99, the quality differences seem to extend to reliability and I don't care for any production guns that regularly jam. I am not surprised at the S&W99 faults after our own experience with S&W's Sigma; my brother bought one after coveting my Glock but not being able to afford the higher price. The sigma is such a close copy that its slide fits right on my Glock (but has different firing mechanism). Only the Sigma jams and has a weird trigger profile that pulls the whole gun off target - not to mention the lack of reduced power connectors for the Sigma. Has that experience soured me to S&W's new autos? perhaps - although one of my first autoloaders was an old model 39 alloy 9mm that shot extremely well and was 100% reliable so I know that at one time, S&W could build and excellent autoloader- maybe their customshop still can. I have no problem with their revolvers - in fact I just bought a used 686 and in shooting it so far, it lives up to all the good things I hear about S&W revolvers. And I have to give S&W a lot of credit for their change of attitude/ownership after the outcry following their contract with the Clinton administration (check out their new policy statement on the website). Good work, S&W - I no longer have a problem with their politics. However, I cannot say anything good about the Sigma or S&W99 autoloaders since in my experience and the experience of my customers who have bought them, they do not work properly. No, the S&W99 is not a sigma - apples and oranges, etc. But the fact remains that the 99s we have encountered jam with regular factory loaded ammo (we do not sell reloads). I'd like to hear more about your experiences with your S&W99s; perhaps the ones we sold were a bad batch or maybe they had early production problems - if so, I would not want a potential buyer to pass up what could be a good budget production gun. So, can you tell us how many rounds you have fired so far? What works best? Any jams? Apparently, you both had good results as far as accuracy. Did you get the QA trigger of standard trigger? How does it compare? Again, I was surprised to hear of Pdwight's accuracy problems and I suspect a part is broken on his gun since none of our S&W99 owners complained about accuracy - just reliability.

jhgtyre: Thanks for the site - its excellent. Erik and Flex: point taken. Perhaps NRA ILA or USPSA would be a better host for state law FAQ. Back on topic: I just picked up but have not tested 2 USA brand steel 40 rounders from CDNN. If they are USA brand, I know they have a terrible reputation for reliability. But, perhaps I can get them to work with decent green replacement followers and some TLC. I like the idea of steel in a mag I plan to drop all over the ground on a regular basis. If I cannot tune them myself, then can we convince Bevin to add AR mags to the list of mags he works on?

I remember the thread! Great insider info and I searched for it all over the forum with no luck - did it get deleted? Thnaks to anyone who could point me in the right direction. D.

Sorry to hear that. My initial thought was that the Walther (not that P*O*S S&W copy) might give the Glock 17 /34 a run for its money in USPSA Production class - it has the desireable features of an adjustable backstrap to really fit the shooter (fit is important) and a QA or "quick action" model with a shorter trigger reset - albeit with a factory setting of over 5 lbs. Sadly, the bore axis is too high - much higher than say the Steyr M series - although there would appear to be potential in the Walther. Please let us know if your gun turns out to be a lemon or whether that accuract is common to the Walther. I suspect you got a bad one and perhaps a part is broken.

Excellent info - thanks guys! Will look for the reamer as well as a good deal on chamber brushes. Regards, D.

Agree - I tumble loaded 45 ammo in course corncob for about 10 min. to remove the Hornady Oneshot lube; if you use the Oneshot like its suposed to be used (ie. lightly) then tubling is probably not needed. I think Brian just leaves it on. I sometimes get too much lube on the cases so a light tumble cleanes them right up. 3 years on, none of my tumblers has exploded.

Thanks Patrick! Good point on chamber gunking, and I remember seeing a "brush-drill" setup in one of last year's Frontsite articles on revolver; I will take another look at the article although I do not plan to switch to revolver for USPSA. Since any benefit would be minimal, will load .38 cases. Found a suggested plated bullet load for the Berry's plated 158 grn RN and my favorite clean powder (straight Clays): 1.525" OAL .475 Crimp 4.X grns of Clays WSP primer I think it was quoted as a 129 PF load for one class of IDPA game. May back it off to under 4 grains to start for mild practice/accuracy loads. The RN profile would certianly help w/ reload speed should I ever use the gun in competition. Thanks again. D.

Erik - clearly the way to go! Thanks - I owe you about $80! As for KY imports, I agree that its better to help gun businesses improve rather than trying to run them out of business. It is with the hope that KY Imports improves that I add the following constructive criticism: I called yesterday afternoon and spoke with a fairly knowledgeable, apparently gun-saavy woman who revealed that she was in the "retail" part of the operation instead of what she called the "warehouse" where guns are kept. I asked her about the used G17s on their website and if they had any 17s left. She claimed there was only one left out of the lot. I expressed interest in buying it on the spot with my credit card, let her know my dealer's FFL was on file with KY, but I had a question or two first. I asked if it was a police officer's duty gun which was traded in (in the hopes that it was rarely shot) or whether it came from a police training academy (assuming that it had seen a zillion rounds). She claimed that KY Imports has no idea if it was even a police trade in and has no idea where the guns they buy come from or what they were used for. No idea where they come from?!? I found that a bit hard to understand or believe so I asked if these G17s were the ones bought from the Baltimore Police Dept since I know they recently upgraded to G22s. She again claimed KY Imports had no idea where or who they buy their guns from. I asked if it was 1st or second generation. She claimed that could not be determined. I asked if it was police dept. marked. She responded that it was impossible to find that information out becuse she is in the retail section and the guns are stored in the warehouse. I guess you can't get to the warehouse from the store - not even for the $400 retail sale I was fully prepared to make. I reasoned that she wanted me to take a $400 gamble on a mystery glock which she refused to tell me anything about other than "its a used 17 and we have no idea where it came from or what generation it is". Not exactly the sort of customer service I'd expect on a $400 sale - yeah, yeah, I know there is not much mark up on used guns - likely less than 100% markup - so we are talking less than $200 net profit. Still, how much are they paying her that she can't lift more than a finger to make a sale? What is her job, if not customer service? She then tried to sell me on the refurbished G17 for the same price as TopGlock.com's retail price of a brand new 17 with 2 mags (instead of 1). I wanted to know if the refurbished G17s had a new barrel installed? She said Glock fixes whatever needs to be replaced - "they look like new guns!" Gee - it will probably function; but will it shoot? What about a plate or popper at 40 yards? Who knows? So the answer was again, she did not know, was not willing to find out, and I should just take a $489 gamble. Instead, I think I will take Erik's advice. Now, I might buy something new from them in the future, but I was not overly impressed with their used gun sales service. Thanks again Eric! D.

Bought an old, used S&W 686 w/ pin on the hammer for $300 last night and want to load up some very light accuracy loads to ease my girlfriend into handgun shooting (she's already a smallbore rifle shooter). Her first impressions shooting my limited .45 and a 9mm Glock were not too positive; unfamiliar recoil seems to be the issue, though I know she will adapt over time. In the mean time:while I know that loading up some plated 158 grn wadcutters or RNs in .38 special cases will certianly work in the new 686, would there be any accuracy advantage to loading them in longer .357 cases? I plan to use position-insensitive powders like Titegroup so I am not too woried about light charges in cavernous cases like the .357. Would the accuracy difference (if any) be noticeable? Would there ba an advantage to magnum primers? BTW, the 686 has a 6" barrel. Thanks in advance, D.

OK- Looking for a cheap Model 17 for production. I don't want the model 34; I already have most of the G-34 parts for a 17 including: 1)3.5 lb Glock factory trigger assembly - it even has the overtravel stop! 2) reduced power striker spring 3)Oversize Glock slide release 4)G34 mag release 5) Meggar adjustable rear sight 6) Found a source of 10 shot mags for about $17 ea. - brand new! Now I need the gun. I prefer a police trade in that was rarely shot - just carried around in a holster or sat in some officer's desk - not looking for a police academy training gun that has seen close to a million rounds (asking too much?) What do you think of this outfit? http://www.kyimports.com/glock.htm#Glock Any other leads would be appreciated. Regards, Douglas

Replying to a thread I started regarding proposed IPSC shotgun/3 gun rules, several BE members including Vince Pinto and Neil Beverley posted further updates as well as their thoughts on the matter. Neil's latest post is re-printed below (please take a look). Here is another oportunity for BE forum members to add constructive input and help IPSC develop internationally- appropriate shotgun rules. I have weighed in generally in favor of the use of slugs on both steel and poppers under limited circumstances; perhaps others can add their experiences/thoughts to this topic? Finally, a big "thank you" goes out to Vince, Neil, and Brian for offering us the opportunity to share veiws/thoughts/experiences in this area. ""Further to the reply from Vince I would advise that the proposed revisions and updates for the IPSC SG rules were accepted for 2003. But there is a proviso and this is that the rules need to be further considered alongside the handgun and rifle rules so that proper commonality (wherever possible) is achieved. This therefore gives us a chance to re-visit any rules that would benefit from a change. Of course we can't assume that everything will get approved but at least everything can be considered. We also must remember that we must produce rules that are appropriate for IPSC shooting and acceptable in all Regions. And we must attempt to write rules that won't cause significant problems in other Regions. With regards to the subject of slugs on steel targets: what minimal distances are suggested? Should the distance be the same for plates and poppers? Does anyone think that there should be a suggestion for restrictions on backwards falling poppers (I doubt that this would be approved) or minimal thickness of steel? I am also interested in peoples views on the min and max round counts per stage and per match. I am aware of one Region who would like SG stages restricted to a max of around 15 rounds but personally I would not be happy with this restriction. What distances are you shooting the average target at? What are the views on unloaded starts? These feature in UK matches and at least make sure that everyone starts equal regardless of gun capacity. The difference between a handgun with an 8 round mag and one with a 15 round mag is one reload but in SG an extra 7 reloads (assuming no speed loaders). The queries above are just some initial thoughts and I'm sure there will be others from me and hopefully from others as well. I await your replies with interest. Please note that after next year the intention will be to leave the rules alone for some time so we have just a few months to consider any new ideas. Is everyone happy to carry on in this thread under the heading of "Proposed Shotgun Rules" or should we consider starting a new one? As requested by Vince can you please direct SG rule comments to me as I will be particularly involvedin the process of producing next years proposals. Thanks. More soon. ----- Neil """"

Found the link: http://www.schuemann.com I don't shoot Schuemann's barrels since one did not come with my STI Edge, but I was intrigued by his article and asked a few others about it. Stopped cleaning about 4,000 rounds ago without noticeable effect on accuracy. Not cleaning works for me; if you prefer to clean your barrel, thats fine too. To each his own.

Tree Rat: Excellent post. My findings agree w/ yours as to TG being clean in high pressure loadings(like 9mm and .40) but less clean in low pressure loadings like the .45ACP. Good point. Also agree w/ comparison (in MINOR .40 S&W, not major) loaded w/ straight Clays vs. VV N310. For MINOR .40, Clays may be the ideal low cost powder. BTW, I am still using straight Clays in MAJOR .45 while recognizing that it may not be the best powder for making major PF in the .40 S&W.

Before dropping the $$$ on jacketed, you might try plated bullets from WestCoast, Ranier, Berrys, or even speer (more $$$ though). Cost less than most jacketed bullets, though more than lead. I switched away from lead for many reasons; one of them being the article on Schumann (sp) (the barrel manufacturer) website about stainless barrels - after reading it, I completely stopped cleaning my barrel in the STI and it shoots fine many thousands of rounds later. You read right - I never clean the barrel. I clean the chamber on occasion - but never the barrel. Can't say I miss it or the lead in my environment. Now you can't get away with this in you .223 rifle, but for 1911 barrels? Throw the brush away.

This is a good point and perhaps our host might consider helping us set up a FAQ or database covering USPSA/IPSC/IDPA equipment affected by particular state laws. For example, this issue came up recently in Area 8 where a major factory gun match was held in New Jersey. State law forbids any magazine over (I think) 15 rounds; my STI mags hold 16 rounds - never mind the fact that they don't work with 16 - I apparently could not bring them into the state "as is". Could I temporarily modify them to hold less? What modifications are allowed under the new laws? Who knows? Fact is that many of these state law questions present "novel issues of law". As a lawyer for an appellate court dealing with the application of new laws to specific factual scenarios, I am not surprised at the confusion preceding the New Jersey match. New laws require precedential cases to interpret the bounds of the law intended by the legislature. For new laws, such precedents do not yet exist. I believe a basic, state-by-state FAQ of the new gun laws might be helpful to us in avoiding becoming the "test case" for such laws. In particular, the IPSC-related equipment laws of California, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Hawaii might be particularly useful. We would, of course, add the appropriate disclaimers regarding checking with the NRA or the state to verify that the information had not changed, etc. What do you think Brian? (Edited by Carlos at 9:05 am on Oct. 2, 2002)