Carlos

Pacman wrote: "Stay away from Vulcan Arms - It's the old Hesse." VERY good advice! Stay far far away from this shady operation. They have used cast aluminum lowers in the past; this has been a bad thing particularly when the porous castings broke & Hesse told the owner to get bent. On a related note, another manufacturer also sells a gun under $600; the Olympic Arms "Plinker"; problem is, it also uses a cast lower. Look, I have BUILT lower castings into firearms & sure, they will "work". No question. So why stay away from them? We had a barely used "plinker" at the shop for consignment (I work with the gun's owner; its barely used) It fell from the store rifle rack onto the carpeted floor; a distance of less than 5 feet. ResultL the cast lower cracked into 3 pieces! If you have ever seen the military train with their FORGED lower M16s & M4s, you know this should not happen. You could get it for under $600 & then carefully baby it in 3 gun; I don't think about such things, preferring to concentrate on the shooting. Good advice has been offered; get a quality AR to start and I also vouch for RRA, as well as the "ABCs". Best of luck & welcome to 3gun! More info on building ARs: www.roderuscustom.tzo.com

Vince & Neil: you are my heroes! Perhaps this discussion deserves its own thread let's ditch prize tables altogether; the stuff that is "won" just ends up for sale on the USPSA.com classifieds on Monday after the match anyway. Anyone out there against lower match fees? Anyone think big match fees are too low & would like to pay more? This might be a dead horse but I am curious as to what others think about eliminating visits to the "prize table"

Great Karl! Will bring the scattergun. I plan to help out w/ RO duties most if not all of the summer blast. For those who do not know Karl, he is a long time supporter of the summerblast who makes excellent steel targets designed specifically for USPSA/IPSC; not all the steel out there stands up to constant open gun abuse; Karl's steel is extra hard & seems to last forever.

More things to like about USPSA: -Going on vacation anywhere with the ability to shoot a match within a few hours drive -Getting out of the city for a country drive & enjoying the outdoors in the warmer seasons -or- -Shooting indoors during the winter -shooting a completely different match each weekend & knowing you will never shoot quite the same match again -shooting & talking with others who reload their own ammo Anything else???

DELETED TEXT I decided NOT to post my first response to this question. Rather, If anyone has a very basic question like "Is X gun listed on the IPSC approved production gun list (the one available to the public on www.ipsc.org) or what division is it in under the current rules (available to everyone at www.uspsa.com)??" then it might be best for everyone iy one were to take a moment & look for the answer yourself. Had this been posted in the BEginners section of BE, I might not care but it was posted in the USPSA/IPSC rules section. Your gun is the Tanfoglio 1911?? Or the single shot? Maybe a Tanfoglio single action open gun? Besides being a very basic question, it fails to provide enough info to answer. You also failed to specify USPSA (USA) or IPSC (outside USA), which have different rules for Production Division. I am guessing you are in the US & I am also guesing your gun is one of the more common double action Tanfoglio guns imported into the US (by EAA). If so, its at least 9x19 caliber (since the smaller Tanfoglios are not imported here) and assuming it is double action, and assuming the barrel is not ported, then your gun is suitable for Production Division in USPSA. BTW, I do not mean to come off harsh (hence the edit). Welcome to BE & welcome to the world of competitive action pistol shooting. C.

I can tell you he decided NOT to use N310 for Major .40 and having used N310 personally, I strongly suggest not trying to make major in .40 with N310 (however,.45 is another story altogether & major .45 N310 loads are published by VV). I do not believe Phil is still sponsored by AA so I would guese he is using N330 & West Coast Bullets 200 grn Rounded Flat Point.

I raced on the track with them but did not know them personaly; good, clean, professional racers though & they had some of the most sharp (and fast) bikes in WERA. Ask them about the rainy '99 season opener at Gingerman; 4.5 hours of cold rainy attrition & a 1.5 hour sprint! Every team but one crashed at least once in that race (us & Arclight included). My team had the distinction of having the only F4 on the track and being the only bike out there NOT on rains for the first 4.5 hours; then as the track started to dry, everyone's pit board started to read "FIND PUDDLES!" as the rains started coming apart on the dry pavement. We avoided a pit stop by starting on DOTs. We started out '99 as Team Apache & ended as Team Frost; I still have that F4 parked in a friend's garage. As for Sears point; I grew up in Marin but moved too early in life to have the pleasure of racing there. WHat was it like?

Looks like an R6 or R1? Pic too small to tell. I used to race against both of these (Yamaha R1s & R6s) in WERA (Western/Eastern Racing Association, wera.com) particularly in the National Endurance Series (4 hour, 6 hour and 24 hour races). Everything from stock 600s (like my old Honda F4) to stripped down R-1s on the track at the same time for several hours of racing. We switched riders every 55 min or less or at the a red flag - whichever came 1st. The tires that came out in '99 let you do just about 4 hours & then they were trashed; you could about do a whole 4 hour on one set. Nothing quite like 50 min. of doing 150 miles an hour on a Honda F4 down the back straight of Road Atlanta & getting strafed by a couple of Yamaha R-1s doing close to 170 miles an hour every couple of laps . . . ah, the good old days. Nice ride; I am sure you will enjoy it as its a really nice bike. If the budget allows, get it on the track! www.wera.com

Randy: when he said lead he was talking about the Zero bullets you are using; they have an exposed lead base that causes lead to be deposited in the comp. Switch to a Jacketed Hollow Point (JHP for short) since the base of JHPs do not have exposed lead. Good luck & let us know what you discover. C.

Hodgdon free data lists the load as follows: MAX LOAD (only load listed in the free data): 147 grn Hornady JHP 3.6 grns (again, MAX) Titegroup 1.100" MINIMUM OAL 4" Test barrel Velocity: 929 FPS / 27,500 CUP MY load test resulted in the following: 147 Grn Speer TMJ (TMJ = ELECTROPLATED BULLET!!!! Speer TMJs are electroplated) Glock 17 factory 5" Polygonal rifling barrel (poly = less velocity) 3.3 Grn Titegroup 1.135" OAL Velocity: 874 fps, pressure unk. but NO pressure signs This is an amazingly LIGHT recoiling load. Powerfactor is avg.: 128.4 Were I not using an unpublished load of VV N310, I would probably use Titegroup & 147s. Note: if you use a gun with conventional rifling (i.e. not a Glock) velocity might be slightly higher. If you use my data with a true jacketed bullet like the Hornady XTP or HAP velocity will be lower & even lower still with a brass or bronze jacketed bullet like the Montana Gold. When you test this load, PLEASE post your results here. Thanks! C.

The man who took 2nd at the nationals (by only one single round I might add) used 200s. He was bested by only one man, the great one. He shot an STI Edge style gun, btw. Why ask why? did ANY STI/SV shooter use a 165??? Again, the search function would have yielded all the info on this.

As to RM, I have not tried one but I know plenty of shooters ranked far above me who swear by them. I also know that they sometimes break - just like the Tungsten rods that I like to run. I think the only fact that can be taken from other's experience with the RM so far is: carry a spare (as one would with a tungsten rod).

Yes; good info thus far. I do not want to over-simplify things but if you have a chance, look at the reloading manual published by Lee, Inc. "Modern Reloading". The data in this book ONLY distinguishes loads on 2 factors: weight (in grains) and either Jacketed or Lead. This is one end of the spectrum & certainly safe (otherwise Lee would be sued out of business in short order). Other manuals give the impression that you have to, or at least should, use the exact bullet suggested - one which they will conveniently sell you at a high price. This is the other end of the spectrum. Your idea, of matching weight, and material, but also matching profile is a perfect compromise & a safe way to load; wise decision on your part. You should be able to avoid problems caused by different bearing surface area and different bullet lengths. To see what the majority of USPSA shooters really use as far as bullet brands, take a look at the stats for the nationals.

Excellent parts choice! I have had great success with the triglide parts in my SV .40. BTW, I had a chance to fire a recently made S S Para P16 the other night & in my opinion, it is a fine limited tool that, even in box-stock trim, shoots 90, maybe 95% as well as my SV at less than 1/2 the cost. I am still a proponent of bull barrels & I even run a tungsten guide rod, but the Para shot better than I expected.

Cominoli tungsten double buffer rod (frame saver rod) with 9 lb Wolff spring; 180 grn Zero over enough 320 to make 168-170 PF. SV 40 with classic STI slide & KKM bull barrel.

"I think the major drawback of SiG pistols is their excessive height above the hand and high bore axis." Agree. Eric & David have it covered. Again, original poster said IPSC, not USPSA.

Apologies to Mr. Sweeney!!!! Imagine, I not only offended a USPSA-shooting author, but a fellow forum member to boot!! ( I am as embarassed as Howard Dean after his primal scream). Again, I apologize & also thank you for the pearls placed in Peterson's 1911 special edition of G&A. The part of my post about demanding more N310 from local retailers stands. Regards, C.

Top of the line: Nowlin billet steel one piece slide stop. Worth the $$$$.

While they certainly have their share of odd ideas and dated info, the magazine "Guns and Ammo" recently put out a special issue (available now) called "The complete book of the 1911" (mostly ignores current winning USPSA technology like recoil master, .40 S_I guns, 9mm Major, but oh well- they claim its complete). A section on Handloading praises VV's N-310 and the Oregon Trail LSWC 200gr. as the absolute best accuracy round. It just so happens that gun Maker Bill Wilson (the Wilson in Wilson Combat) uses this exact load to accuracy test his guns before they leave the factory (if I recall, it was 4.5grs of V V N310 but call Wilson's customer line to double check). If your local store does not carry N310 or even Vihta Vouri powder, I think they owe you an explanation as to why not - especially if they sell Wilson guns & then refuse to sell or order even the brand of powder that Wilson swears by for testing. Signed: "Tired of gunstore employees' response - Vihta what??? Never heard of it!!!"

In area 8, most of the outdoor matches might as well be called "lost brass matches". Lost brass is not the rule but holding the match up to hunt & peck a few pieces just does not work around here; the matches are simply too large for this. Moreover, we often shoot over cut grass & brass often disappears. I do understand that in some places like out west & maybe the southwest, folks expect to leave with 90% of the brass they came with; but it is not the practice everywhere. Even indoors where brass is never lost, we have 6 person squads every hour on the hour. Falling behind is not an option. Since this is a volunteer sport, I expect shooters to first tape, then reset steel/props, and finally, if there is time, they can pick up brass. I cannot hold up a 4 stage match because an open shooter is short a couple of pieces of brass. "Where's Angus with his "not-picking-up-brass-is-rude rant"? At local matches it's pretty annoying since the "I don't pick up my brass" crowd no longer picks up anybody's brass, then gets whiny when I go looking for mine. Again, I understand where you are coming from. Just understand that things are done differently in other areas. As for Angus, well, he is the God of CZs & a personal hero! If I ever get to shoot with him, I'll have to remember not to piss him off with my usual practice of leaving all brass where it falls. Regards, C. BTW, what Areas are people from? How is it done in your area/club?

"I have seen clubs use old "wreck" cars for stages, but using a person personal auto just doesn't seem vert smart." I believe Phil has a video of a stage with cars on it here: www.shootersparadise.com Check under "Videos" . The cars are all wrecked cars. As for the unsafe gunhandling after range clear, maybe it is one of the psuedo-IPSC "tactical" matches like SOF; do they have rules for those?

Check new data available free online from V V: V V PDF of new data A quick search on "320" here in reloading section will reveal scads of N320 information.

BTT

Above post has been edited to read: "book loads: N330" Did not mean to suggest V V endorses N320 and 147s in 9x19mm. However, to answer your question, I just did a search in "Reloading" using the following query: " N320 AND 147 " 5 results apeared, the one mentioning "IDPA" contains another members data on N320/147s for Minor. I have only used Titegroup, N310 and N330 in 9mm w/ 147s. I have not used N320 for 9mm (but I do use it for .40). As you observe, N320 is not in the V V manual for 147s so their advice would be "use a different powder". As I recall, their 9x19mm data for 147s begins with N330. Two tenths below their starting load for N330 / 147s produces a decent steel load; have not chronoed it yet so I can't say if it meets minor. If you want a "book load" it looks like 330 is the fastest V V powder you will find. Regards, C. (AKA TY-44934) www.shootersparadise.com

Have bought 3 of the BSA brand, 42mm Red dots & all are still going strong on my 22s after several years of use; I think that Zanders had these on sale for $24.90 - not sure if they still do: Item # PB42.