Carlos

Flex wrote: "[1]- Feeding reliability [2]- decreased case pressure" 1)I recently worked on a custom built-from-parts STI that was tight & ran perfectly well & 100% on .40 loaded to 1.200" OAL; there did not appear to have been any throating of the barrel done. The gun was sold to a gentlemen who is limited to factory ammo only (long-loaded .40 not an option). THis STI would not run at all with many brands of factory .40 (i.e. short .40). Some Limited 1911s & 2011s run fine on the short stuff (Every Para I have ever seen/shot/worked on ran on short ammo) - but some do not - or rather - they do not run well. 2) Most reloading manuals will state that the .40 is sensitive to OAL changes. Meaning? -Pressures can dramaticaly increase with small DECREASES in OAL. There are CERTAIN powders that some competitors choose to use in USPSA that would probably generate case-seperating pressures if loaded to "short" lengths like 1.125". What powders? I would not dream of using either N-310 or straight Clays powder to 168-170 PF at 1.125" OAL. I believe that loading .40 to Major at that length WITH those two powders is just asking for a blown case or worse. Those same two powders, however, are often used at 1.200", usually without excessive pressure or other problems. Thus, loading to 1.200" allows the use of powders that would otherwise generate dangerous pressures in .40 at Major. Regards, D.C. Johnson www.shootersparadise.com

For IPSC Production, magazine capacity is critical: Jason UB wrote: "CZ [&CZ clone like Jericho/baby eagle]- 17 round mags - combat accurate which means acceptable - used by a lot of production shooters 5 out of the top 6 finishers at the last World Shoot used either a CZ or a CZ clone. The top guy? Yeah - he used a glock. Does anyone believe the following: "Sevigny would not win at all if not for his Glock brand handgun" ?? I seems to me he did OK at the single stack classic (all 1911, all the time). What about the other 5 of the top 6 using CZ? I think it says something about whether the CZ/Clone is "capable" in either IPSC or USPSA. Accuracy in more than "acceptable"; CZs are very accurate guns. But, CZ was not included in the original post. Rather, its a matter of: Sig v. HK. D.C. Johnson

Seroiously the best holster I own; the Glock version also serves as my IDPA & occasional Production holster. The Gloc version will also fit: Steyr M9 & M40 (tight) CZ -75, 85 Combat (loose) CZ -97B (tight) 1911 single stack (loose) Probably fits some others as well. Great product. D.C. Johnson

Steel Frame 226 over the hk. But then again, I am a CZ fan so a steel frame/slide just feels right to me. The Sigs are know for their accuracy & the triggers are good (capable of being much better). D.C. Johnson www.shootersparadise.com Team Shooters Paradise GSSF I

Welcome to C class! I concur RE: ICORE; its a good sport. If you are in the Washington D.C. area, join us for a monthly ICORE: www.shootersparadise.com Regards, D.C. Johnson www.shootersparadise.com

An elegant solution but it takes all the fun out of: 1) Watching the novice open gunners line up the dot right on the A zone only to launch the bullet through the wall just below the port and 2) watching the novice Limited/L10/Production shooters get too close to the top of the port and cause a malfunction or better yet, send the front sight or at least the fiber optic flying Besides, we need low ports to challenge really tall & really inflexible people like me (I need something to bitch about don't I? ) On a serious note, I do like some of the really narrow ports formed between two walls. A little over .45" is fine by me. Regards, C.

No luck posting pictures over there; it seemed to work in the past. Not the most friendly place. D.C. Johnson Team Shooters Paradise GSSF I

The Rudy stories get much much better; he is a very humble guy (particularly considering his shooting ability) but ask him sometime about the days back when he shot for Glock. We were lucky enough to shoot with Rudy when he lived in Area 8; Rudy had a place out in the country where he could not only shoot on his land, he also kept a horse or two. He told me that often times, it was just easier to hit the nearest convenience store on his horse instead of taking the car. I can just imagine driving along a Virginia country round seeing Rudy in his usual attire - and since open carry of handguns has always been the law in VA, it would not surprise me if he carried that 625 to the store with him. He was & is my inspiration to soemtimes shoot revolver. Rudy: we finally started shootng ICORE at Shooters Paradise; any chance we can lure you back from Texas? Regards, D.C. Johnson

Bob - where have you been?? We missed you at the last couple club matches (though I know its a long drive); you really need to shoot with us again soon (besides, my ears have just about stopped ringing from the last time you let loose with that 9major open blaster while I was your RO ). Hope you have a good one. D.C. Johnson www.shootersparadise.com PS- you missed a hum dinger of a match at Fredericksburg last weekend.

"How many reloads are you folks getting out of major 9 load? I've gone 3 so far with no signs of problems. " Am I being paranoid by only using 1x fired 9x19mm? I load 9Major using 3N38 compressed, N350 and Power Pistol to USPSA's 165+ PF. Pressures appear reasonable. I have a rational basis for my paranoia I think: the brass I do not buy comes from the commercial range where I run a small club match. We sell all our brass to a commercial reloader who reloads it & sells it back to us. Year after year this goes on. How many loads are on some of that brass? Likely its been reloaded dozens of times. I guess I am leary of loading such mystery brass to Major. I use that stuff for minor. D.C. Johnson www.shootersparadise.com

Waiting on those $13 glock mags. What gives w/ the Galil parts?!?! One day they had a ton of stuff, today, nothing but mags! I need a parts source other than Botac. D.

Link to Q./answer: http://www.glocktalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=392650 C.

No, not that I know of. THere are no published loads for .40 w/ 320 and 180s; if you adhere to the reloading manuals, this means you should never load N320 in .40 (again, going by the book that is). HOWEVER, many of us use N320 in .40 and I too am curious as to what actual or predicted pressures may be generated by the laods we use (usually @ 1.200"); can someone with access to Quickload give us an idea? I'll start with my current load (WARNING: provided for info only. Do not attempt to duplicate). -Frontier Hard Cast & Plated Rounded Flat Point: 175 grns (avg); Plated/jacketed diameter -4.7 grns of VV N 320 -OAL 1.160" (for CZ Standard IPSC) -Mixed cases; Winchester or Federal small pistol primer -167 PF; SD of 9; 5" Shuemann barrel (non AET) SV .40 Regards, D.C. Johnson www.shootersparadise.com

Pisgarifle wrote: "After it was mentioned to the MD, all we got was a shrug and a "oh, well. X managed to knock it down, I guess next time you'll use heavier shot." Needless to say there wasn't a next time." Calibration & 20 Gauge slugs on steel: I have seen the attitude described by Pisgarifle at competitions; it happened to be directed towards pistol MINOR loads & steel and I think there is NO place for it in USPSA, at a big match or a small local. If ammo is making power factor & steel does not go down, its equipment failure & no shooter should hesitate to call for a calibration. As for shotguns, the same goes for 20 gauge; if a 20 gauge slug fails to knock over steel, then there is a problem with the steel and it must be adjusted or removed from the match. 20 gauge is not widely seen (yet). I suspect that shot steel and slug steel may often be set without regard to 20 gauge; my only evidence for that is that some shotgun steel at local matches has been set heavy enough that certain 12 gauge shot loads would not take it down. As for the "shrug and oh-well" attitude, leave that to the non USPSA 3 gun matches out there. Regards, D.C. Johnson www.shootersparadise.com

A safe edge file is the best & can be obtained from Brownells. Alternatively, there is a brand called Nicholson that is a very old US company; I have a set from around the turn of the century or thereabouts. Home depot sometimes carries such files. I use a benchtop mill for sight thinning. D.C. Johnson www.shootersparadise.com

"4. Plan on shooting some matches while you're here. If you aren't going to bring your firearms with you, contact some of the match directors and see if you can borrow a rig for the day." Agreed. Many of us in the USPSA community have several complete shooting rigs for different divisions & I, for one, would be happy to join a visiting IPSC member on a squad & lend him a spare rig for the match. Don't hesitate to ask. If you only want to do some shooting, you may be surprised to learn that many indoor ranges in the US now rent firearms including what we call "Class III" - in other words, fully automatic firearms usually in pistol calibers. At Phil Strader's place near D.C., one can rent an Uzi 9mm or a .45 caliber Thompson SMG. I believe there is also a 5.56mm caliber AR-15 for rent (sadly, its semi-auto only), as well as an STI Open 9mm for rent at the indoor range. Such indoor ranges are listed in every hotel's phone book under "Guns". In in D.C. you must also visit the NRA's HQ in nearby VA' they have a museum and a shooting range set up down in the basement (though rentals are not offered there). Enjoy your visit. D.C Johnson www.shootersparadise.com

Hey Boo! Why not try some of the Zero brand JHPs? They cost more $$$ than your plated bullets, but the 147s work very very well in the 34. As for Plated, the Blazer brand 9mm uses Plated (Speer refuses to use the "P" word & calls them "TMJ"). Speer also sells plated reloading bullets, but again, they cost more $$$ than your current brand. Regards, D.C. Johnson www.shootersparadise.com Team Shooters Paradise GSSF I

"Great job to the Fredericksburg Practical Shooting Club, BTW. Nothing like a 150+ round club match!" Agreed. Consider this: - 150 rounds, 7 stages (including classifier burn it down) and, - it only cost $20. What kind of stages? Stages featured pressure-pad activated swingers and clamshells, lots of walls, plenty of steel, a classifier-like stage with 15 to 20 yard hard cover/ strong hand only target, huge free fire zones and several 20+ round stages where the stage description was: "engage targets as they become visible"; the essence of freestyle. -Everything ran smooth despite more than 100 competitors. Results? They were completed and e-mail to the competitors by 11 PM that same night. Fredericksburg is an outstanding match. Well done Tino. As for Phil's performance, this match was held in rough conditions with 90+ degree temps & no breeze; it was hot enough to cause some DNF's due to the heat. Impressive. Regards, D.C. Johnson

George wrote: "The targets were cratering real bad and whenever anything hit that spot again, it slung the spatter straight back at the shooter at a real good hunk of V. Not good and something I won't put up with again." HERE is a video of a 5.56mm ricochet from what looks like 50 to 100 meters; it appears the video was recorded way, way out in the sticks as this does not even appear to be a real shooting range but rather, someone's property. It is unclear as to what these people were shooting at exactly, nor is there any apparent backstop. D.C. Johnson www.shootersparadise.com

Don't forget: 9mm Supercomp/Starline 9x23mm Starline 9x23mm Winchester

TriggerT wrote: " It comes to your right to do something that many of us might consider unsafe, and the consequences that society has to deal with when things go wrong." "Right to do something . . . unsafe" - like own a firearm? As a former street rider who ALWAYS wore a helmet, I support a citizen having the privilege to ride a motorcycle with or without a helmet. As for my right to own and carry my guns, that is not negociable no matter what goes wrong or what some people might think. TriggerT wrote: "I totally agree with our right to make our own decisions as adults." Well put. Regards, D.

I used to use by brother's unusual parkerized model 19 for shooting bowling pins; it was before I took up reloading & would just buy Pro Load defensive 125 grn & 158 grn hollowpoints that were both quite hot. The gun was not unusually punishing or hard to handle; it was the only wheelgun I knew back then. Vince, I value your opinion & I can add that after using such harsh loads in my brother's model 19, it went out of time & shaved off jacket/bullet with every round. Well, back it went to the bad-old S&W (the Brit-owned, Clinton-caving iteration) and they returned it several weeks later with new parts and a bill for $80. 1st time we fired it, I got a 1/2 circle sliver of jacket right in the thumb for my trouble (bled all over the place too; what a mess). Took a while to heal up too. Again it went back to S&W w/a letter that I drafted using a healthy dose of legaleze. This time it returned after S&W installed a BRAND NEW FRAME (& no charge - gee). This would have been OK only my brother lived in California at the time & they have full handgun registration that is somehow fixed to his address; now he owned a gun that CA had not given him permission to own. He solved the problem by moving out of state & not looking back. He does not shoot anymore but I bet that gun still works wherever it is. Regards, D.C. Johnson

If you follow the MPSA.NET link to Thurmonst Sportsman's club, you will find a whole host of match formats including our friends who shoot IDPA & CAS/SASS/Cowboy (this year, they will even have one hourse-mounted cowboy match). There are also new 3-gun competitions down it Waldorf, MD at St. Charles (site of the MD GSSF) that follow USPSA guidlines though they are no longer affiliated. Regards, D.C. Johnson www.shootersparadise.com Team Shooters Paradise GSSF I

Redneck, steve & lee have it right. Why NOT use 310? 1) Quickload tells us its way over STANDARD (SAAMI) industry pressure w/ 147s. 2) The primer appearance confirms this 3) V V's own data will not list it for any bullet over 90 grns and most important of all: while it may work for me w/ my careful reloading techniques, there are shooters out there who's techniques will allow a bullet set- back. Considering the high pressures NORMALLY generated, a set-back would probably be catastrophic. I would not dream of ever, EVER loading N-310 without BOTH a Lee brand U or Undersized die AND a Lee factory crimp die & I would NEVER go above 3.2 grns nor shorter than 1.140". If you are not using these exact Lee dies, forget about it. Do you think everyone will follow these safety guidelines? Unlikely. This is why I have, at times, tried to steer people towards TG instead. V V publishes N310 data for .45 ACP. Feel free to follow their book loads; it is an excellent powder. Regards, D.C. Johnson www.shootersparadise.com

If you have a 9mm already, chances are you have practiced with that & should start out with the most familiar 9mm. However, if you are buying your 1st 9mm, I would suggest a Glock 17 or Glock 34 because these guns allow you to focus on your shooting skills. How so? -THey are exceptionally reliable so you will not doubt your equipment. -They are simple to operate at those critical 1st competitions. Just rack the slide, holster, & concentrate on your stage plan. No de-cocking or hammer lowering to worry about at your very 1st match. -They are easy to accesorize if you feel the need to do so (not much to do in Production gun though) and they retain their value if you want to sell it & buy a different gun. That being said, I also like the CZ line of guns & if you prefer a steel frame gun in your hand, I think the CZs are very hard to beat. For starting out, I especially like the CZ P-01, and the 75DB (de-cocker) as well as the IMI baby Eagle/Jericho 941. Once you get the hang of things, the 85 Combat is outstanding. Two other brands that are very popular & succesful are the Sigs & Berettas. I would no count out some of the steel framed S&Ws but be ready to confuse some ROs & have to carry and extra empty mag around everywhere. I think that some models of the H&K are up to the task and H&K have shown support for us this year by sponsoring several USPSA shooters. Please do not take offense if you use one of these, but we rarely see the Rugers or Kahrs; Walther/S&W 99 or sigmas in the hands of successful shooters around here. For whatever reason, these guns do not seem to do very well long term. Regards, D.C. Johnson Team Shooters Paradise GSSF I www.shootersparadise.com