[Filtering Out Distractions]

Interesting question.  I’ll lead with a little background on on my perspective: my education was financed (in part) by a D1 athletic scholarship. I worked with my university’s sports psychologist in an attempt to perform more consistently.  My techniques are not for everyone, especially folks with type A personalities (like my wife).  It is more of an embrace chaos than control it type strategy.   

 

For me, minimizing the perceived effect of distractions works the best.  Rather than think that a stage, race, or test should be distraction-free, I convince myself, with a surprising amount of success, that distractions are expected, don’t matter, and that I cannot control them so I mustn’t concern myself with them.  Generically, I lump distractions into two categories: universal (those that affect everyone) and individual (those that affect just me). Universal distractions are more easily swept under the rug in competition as you can file them away as having the same effect on everyone.   Rain?  Nbd, it rained on the guy before me.  Bad stage design?  Everyone has to shoot it.  Besides, you can’t affect the universal distractions.  You can work these distractions to your mental advantage if you (sincerely) believe that you are better at dealing with them than your competitors are.  

 

Individual distractions are a bit harder to deal with.  You have to convince yourself that they don’t matter, which is tougher when they only seem to be affecting you.  I try to remind myself that the distraction doesn’t truely change my performance.  For instance, tiredness, stress, mosquitoe in your ear; none of those things actually make me pull a shot off target.  Only i can do that by thinking about them.  Individual distractions are just inputs to the system that is me, I still control the outputs.  (Or so I tell myself.)   The other thing that worked for me when I was a serious athlete was to tell myself that distractions just didn’t matter because I was so damn good that I couldn’t be held back by something minor.  Arrogant? You bet.  But very effective.  I got there by competing and training in bad or distracted situations and taking note of the times that it didn’t affect me and by comparing the magnitude of the distraction to the magnitude of preparation I put in. (For instance, I couldn’t let a night of bad sleep outwieght a decade of training).

 

In the end, you must convince yourself that the situation you have at hand is one you can be successful in.  If you honestly believe, deep down, that none of the distractions can really hold you back, they won’t.  

 

An aside on prep: regimen is good, it keeps you from forgetting, but deliberately avoid rituals.  As an RO, I see a lot of folks get distracted by imperfections in self-imposed rituals that cause them to crash.  

 

I hope this helps, but I’m afraid it’s worth exactly what you paid for it.  

[New A5 barrel clamp]

The wife just got me a new A5 for 3 gun!

 

what barrel clamps are you guys using and do you find the center-to-center distances correct? I made my own clamp for my sx3 because the production ones put everything in bind due to incorrect ctc spacing. 

[New SX4]

I just sold an sx3. I loved it, but as mentioned, it's tough to quad load.  I now have an A5 so that I can try quad loading, but I miss the sx3

[Strange SX3 jam]

Against better judgement, I just sold an SX3 that I was using for 3 gun.  I already miss it.

 

So when this happens can you wiggle the bolt at all?  If you cannot, them it is, as you suspect, a mechanical issue and not one with the ammunition. If you can move the bolt a tiny bit, then it may be related to the shell binding.  

 

if it is mechanical, intermittent, and binds in both directions, that suggest to me that the bolt is binding vertically in the carrier.  That could be happening where the lug engages the barrel, at the sloped area that pushed the bolt up, or at the sides of the bolt where it contacts the carrier.  I'd check for abnormally tight fit, debris, and damage in those areas.  It seems like it might be happening when the gun is hot and resolves when cool, which further suggests a tight fit that binds with thermal expansion.

 

if it is not mechanical, but rather with a shell, make sure that the extractor cut in the chamber isn't raising a bur on the plastic hull of The shell

and causing it to bind.  I broke that edge over on mine with a stone to prevent hang ups.

 

any pictures might help.  Hope you get it sorted out!

 

[Rifle build (w/ lathe work)]

I should have. It isn't ultra lightweight, it weighs more than a pencil weight barrel. I think that it is like .550 under the hg.

[Rifle build (w/ lathe work)]

It shoots great! I haven't fine tuned a load, but easily sub inch at 100. No shift or any wonky issues. I didn't open the gas port any. I just keep everything clean, and it runs fine. I actually have an adjustable block that is on its most restrictive setting. It is getting plenty.

[Rifle build (w/ lathe work)]

For all the DIYers out there...

This rifle is a few years old, but I just got around to sharing pictures. Some of you may have seen it around Rockcastle. It was an interesting build to me because I turned down and threaded the barrel. I wanted a 1/9 or 1/10 twist 16" with rifle length gas in a relatively light profile with a high-quality chamber, but couldn't find one at that time. I started with a 24" heavy barrel made by Wilson. This was my first barrel project, and i was afraid of messing up the threading, so I left an extra 1/2" just to be safe. So now I have the only 16.75" 1/9 twist barrel with rifle length gas on my block! I regret not blending the comp in JP style, but it shoots and feel great, so that is the important part.

This was pretty simple to do, the biggest thing is getting centered in the jaws. The SS cuts like butter

I think that we may put a friend of mine's barrel on the same diet!

[Action block recommendations?]

I would recomend DPMS's, I am very happy with mine through 5 builds and several reconfigurations. I orginaly got it becasue Mega mandates it usage on their monolithic uppers. Best $40 i have spent in a while.

[My new toy]

So I started with about the two chunks of aluminum I mentioned above. The ones that had two unintentionally tapered holes bored in them. The taper of the barrel hole was serendipitously the same profile as the barrel, so I left it alone, but had to alter the mag tube hole. The bolt holes were too high, and passed through the hole for the barrel, so I milled those off and added a hole to the center. Instead of a wide clamp with two Allen screws, I have a narrow one with a single screw. It seems to do the job though; I didn’t mangle anything at last weeks match. This was all done old-school; no CNC, EDM, water jet or anything like that, just a whooped Bridgeport with worn-out tooling, so it took a bit of time.

[My new toy]

I would like to see your clamp solution. I am not a fan of how the Nordic clamp fits on these guns.

lets try this again...

here is the final product

[2012 Indiana Multigun Series]

I just dropped my registration in the mail today, I am looking forward to the series!

[My new toy]

Looks nice. . should work very well for you this season.

and for you, Englishman!

[My new toy]

yes it has the dura-touch coating from winchester.

Concerning the clamp; if it sounds too good to be true, it is. The guy that was gunna "make it for a case of beer" rushed it through in the last minute. He bored the holes per my drawing at the correct center to center distance...but didn't tighten the bit in boring bar for the final cut, so the holes were tapered when I got it back...and the exterior isn't finished. But he refused payment, so I guess I am ahead. I left the barrel hole tapered, it actually fitts the tapered barrel quite nicely, but I had to bore the magazine hole out to fit the way i wanted it too. The mill is back home at the farm, two hours away, and not in my garage, so this one continues to be a work in progress. I don't really have the tooling to cleanly round the exterior like Nordic does, so I think I am going to give it kind of an octagonal shape, a coat of black powder coat, and call it a day.

[Holster suggestions for EAA Winess Elite Match]

Does anyone other than bladetech offer a holster for the witness with an accessory rail? I bought theirs, but it doesn't fit a new witness w/ the rail (or a CZ-75 w/o a rail) After an email or call every week for a month, I finally talked to someone who could help me return the holster.

[1911 Blew Up LOOK AT THIS]

I can't tell for sure from the pictures, but the fracture surface looks as though that crack might have been in place for a while. Given the relatively low stresses in that area of the slide, it would seem most probable that a crack had been there since the slide was formed. We get all sorts of products in for failure analysis at the lab where I work, but never anything this cool! (probably because we don't have an FFL)

[Anybody shooting Winchester SX?]

Okay, found an SX 2, the guy wants 850 for it, so i write him about it. He tells me that it won't cycle 1oz. slugs. Is this typical for an SX 2?

Thanks

on the price. I just picked up a new sx3 from cheaper than dirt for just over 9.

[My new toy]

Looks great. Have you done any loading with it to see how it all feels? Are you planning to remove some material from the end of the handguard directly forward of the loading port?

Yeah, 10 fit real easy. I trimmed quite a bit off of the spring. As I mentioned above, I am looking for a clean way to trim the forened or hanguard. (I will give you a pass on the account of all the time you spent in Missouri and the impact it may have had on your literacy. I know you just like to look at the pictures)

Perhaps I will bring it up to the farm soon.

[My new toy]

Well after only a few shorts days in the safe and 100 rounds down the tube to make sure it wasn't a lemon that needed to be returned to Winchester, I chucked my new SX3 up in the mill and opened up the loading port while a friend of my fathers tig welded a plate to the lifter. (if I recall correctly, I used an 11/16 bit and a 60 degree chamfer, then cleaned it up with some files and 400 grit paper/WD-40.) The received is made of a suprisingly tough aluminum. I am pretty happy with the way stuff turned out, I am going to add some material to the lifter, smooth the bottom little more, and powdercoat it. and take a little bit of material off of the forend. If anyone has any good suggestions on how to do this CLEANLY, I am all ears. I am thinking a band saw with a fine blade at low speed?

The one size fits most clamp from nordic pushes my extension tube up about 3/16" while in place, so the old man is helping me aquire one with the correct center to center distance. (it has been quoted at 1 case of bud light ) Also, I have noticed that even with the +6 tube (which is about 3/8 shorter than the 26" barrel)as tight as I can get it by hand, I am able to wiggle the mag tube in the hand guard. It is probably OK, but if the clamp doesn't clear it up, I am thinking of making a shoulder washer to keep it and the piston centered. A fiber optic bead and rear sight may be in the furure as well. Anyhow, I thought I would share some photos of the current product.

[Merry Christmas from Southern Indiana]

After wearing out the piston in Vespid_Wasp's SLP, I finally decided to get serious about 3gun and join Brian Enos's forums! Some of you have probably seen me wandering aimlessly through stages in Indiana and Kentucky, enjoying every minute of it none the less. I am looking to pickup an SX3 this winter to spare the Wasp's FN from breaking again, finish a 6.5 Grendel build, and God, my finances, and my wife willing, maybe pickup a Para P18 to replace the M&P long slide. Anyhow, this forum is a tremendous resource, and I look forward to learning more and more from it. Many thanks in advance!