Vincerama

Well, if a match lasts 5-6 hours, everything else being equal...what do you want to lug around all day?

You know what I'd like to see is a clamp on fake "powder measure". When adjusting the bell/flare of the powder station, it's annoying to make sure you have an empty powder measure attached to the die so that the funnel stops where it should and bells the case. If you don't tighten on a powder measure, the funnel just moves upwards and meets no resistance to make the bell and you can't adjust it. Or is there a simpler solution I missed somewhere. And yes, generally it's a one time adjustment, but if there is a better way, I'd like to know it.

I use this $10 Ikea lamp http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20169658/ It has an adjustable bendy neck and just a really bright LED. It shines nicely into the cases. I'm sure there are better press mounted solutions, but for $10 this is pretty good. Heck, buy a few and use them on your workbench as spot lights! I added the casefeeder to my 550b. At first I wanted to set it up at the range and shoot it to pieces, then I figured out (even though it's in the manual!) that you have to adjust the cam to just place the case only as far as needed and not let it rock/bounce off the shell plate. Now it works 95% of the time. The last few sessions with it were awesome. I actually adjusted the cam by placing masking tape on the inside elbow until it would just barely touch the case on the upstroke (with ram returning downwards) since the case should be centered upon exiting the sizing die. I have both the inline fab and the dillon roller handles. Inline fab has a bend in it, so you have to push it further more for the priming stroke, but it doesn't go as far down one the downstroke, so it's really great for operating the press while standing. The Dillon aluminum roller has a nice feel to it, the inline fab one is plastic. THat's neither here nor their, the important thing is the bend in the handle. My 550b with casefeeder is mounted directly to my "bench" (a repurposed table thing I had originally built to hold recycling bins). I use the upturned lid of a rectangular (decomissioned) tupperware box as my bullet tray. It works well to contain all the bullets and it just sits next to the press. If you have a strong mount, you'd most likely need the Dillon tray as it is attached to the strong mount. ... OR put a tray on a piece of wood to raise it to working level. I have a hard time reloading while seated, as I like to peer into the bullet seating station to check for powder and the handle hits my knees anyway. I might give it another try at another time, but for now, I'm just standing on a cushy-mat in front of my reloading stand. The stand has a lower shelf and I put a large cardboard box in there, extending forward under the press to catch errant primers. Before I installed the case feeder, my primer catcher thingy caught 99.9% of the spent primers. With the case feeder and it's primer chute (they looks the same actually, I don't see what's changed except the actual specimen that came with the feeder) I drop probably 10% of the primers on the ground and/or the primer-mess-catching-cardboard-box.

I accidentally came up with the same solution as adjusting the cam. I should have read the manual! But I figured out that the brass pusher over-pushes the brass and it either bounces or rocks out of the station. So the key (as in the manual) is to adjust the cam so that the pusher pushes the case to exactly where you need it an no further. I fixed it the dumb way, I added painters/masking tape to the inside elbow of the cam to fine tune the pusher so it would place the case where I needed it and no more than that. I went from using my thumb to push the case in, just before moving my left hand to grab another bullet to ... not having to do that. Another handy tip in the manual is to pull the handle before turning on the case feeder, otherwise the bottom case will almost always tip over. I thought I was so clever, and then found the manual online and read the cam adjustment tip, which is the key to success on this case feeder. Also, keep some needle nosed pliers or tweezers handy, so you can pluck fallen cases or double-fed cases out of station one since it's so cramped.

Sorry, i know thus is an old thread, but i just started to reload for the ppq and yes, it has a mighty short throat. I had to load 124 gn round nose (sns casting coated bullets) at 1.060. (+- dillon toolhead squiggle). They run well at that length and ive run about 400 rounds loaded to that length with 4.3 gn of win 231. No misfeeds (or kbooms). I also have about 5k of bear creek 135gn round nose. Hopefully the same oal will work though the bullet is longer ... However the 135gn will also need less powder than the 124s. I did not chrononthe loads. The same 124gn rn loads ran nicely from a cz75 as well.

Youngeyes, thanks, that's what I thought! I know each caliber needs the conversion, I wasn't sure if the plate was the only other thing extra needed.

OK, so checking out the 550b casefeeder and I've read several threads. On Brian's ordering page there is the "casefeed assembly - small pistol", "casefeed assembly - large pistol", then a bunch of "casefeed caliber conversions", then "casefeed plate only - small pistol", "casefeed plate only - large pistol". OK, so I reload 9mm, .38 special, .357 mag, .40 and .45 (and occassionally rifle, but forget that, I understand casefeeder doesn't work for rifle, and I've got a Rockchucker). Do I buy; 1)casefeed assembly - small pistol 2) casefeed plate only - large pistol 3) .9mm conversion 4) .38 special conversion 5) .40 S&W conversion 6) .45 ACP conversion Mainly the question is ... is the "casefeed assembly" for the small pistol case converted to the large pistol case by simply swapping out the "casefeed plate"? Thanks! Sorry if this was covered in a FAQ, I couldn't find it or missed reading it.

Well it's $35 so, give it a try and let us know!

The on roster SP-01 is fine. Get the competition hammer and you're ready to go. For off roster, OK, get the SP-01 shadow, it has no FPB. Realistically speaking, any gun will work because often, it's not the gun that matters. It HELPS if you need the help. (ie if your trigger manipulation needs help, then of course a 1911/2011 will help) if your reloading needs help, then either don't reload much (Limited/Open) or shoot a double stacked gun (ie; not SS and definitely not SS Major or Revo!). THe SP-01 Shadow or non-shadow will serve you extremely well. Just practice safely decocking it (with an empty gun of course). Practice that 1000 times. Or get the decocker version. Even if the decocker takes more effort to smooth out, just send the gun out to be smoothed over by a pro if you want, let them do the hard stuff.

I don't think it would be a problem, and you said "In General" but I think it's really an individual thing. Not all women are made the same and with practice, like anything, it wouldn't be a problem. I like the idea of separate belt rigs and bagging the gun between stages, that makes the most sense. Not the most economical, but makes the most sense in practice. Maybe you could ask the local guys if they have a spare rig/gun for her to borrow outright. Or, for you to borrow for yourself. Sharing belts ... are you the same size? Will the holster and mags fall in the same place? Is this an inner/outer belt thing? If it is, you could get another inner belt or else it's a pain. If it's not an inner/outer thing ... too much hassle. At the range where I shoot though, there are a LOT of shooters and that means a LOT of time between shooting, so you could make anything work really, but you want this to be as easy as possible to maximize her fun so she gets into it. If it's a major hassle, she might associate the match with being a hassle and not want to do it again.

And ... done! Walthers on USPSA production list "P1 (28 oz.), P38 (34 oz.), P5 (28 oz.), P88 (31.5 oz.), P88 Compact (29 oz.), P99 (25 oz.), P99AS (25 oz.), P99C (20 oz.), P99DAO (20 oz.), P99QA (20 oz.), PPQ .40cal 4.17 barrel (24.87 oz.), PPQ 9mm 4.01 barrel (24.52 oz.), PPQ M2 .40 cal barrel 4.1 inch (24.52 oz.), PPQ M2 9mm barrel 4 inch (24 oz.), PPQ M2 9mm barrel 5 inch (24 oz.)"

List of Production guns (Walther) P1 (28 oz.), P38 (34 oz.), P5 (28 oz.), P88 (31.5 oz.), P88 Compact (29 oz.), P99 (25 oz.), P99AS (25 oz.), P99C (20 oz.), P99DAO (20 oz.), P99QA (20 oz.), PPQ .40cal 4.17 barrel (24.87 oz.), PPQ 9mm 4.01 barrel (24.52 oz.), PPQ M2 .40 cal barrel 4.1 inch (24.52 oz.), PPQ M2 9mm barrel 4 inch (24 oz.), PPQ M2 9mm barrel 5 inch (24 oz.) The 5" is now on the production list.

I bought a KWA ATP (Adaptive Training Pistol = Glock-like without the lawsuits) that uses propane or green gas, I bought it from Pyramid Air. Pyramid Air is pretty reputable, and sells a ton of airsoft and air-pellet guns.

Ask someone to take a video of you shooting. I did this and when I watched it ... what?! Am I just walking briskly between target arrays? What on earth and I thinking? It was a surprise! So having seen/realized that, I plan to at least look like I'm running between them! BUT, of course, make sure you do enough matches so that the SAFETY aspect becomes second nature or you will DQ. Like if you speed up your reloads but forget to take your finger out of the guard, or if you run so fast that you risk breaking the 180 ... too fast. Speed up the movement AFTER your brain and body have practiced and memorized the safety. My 2 cents.

I wonder why the Walther PPQ (5 inch, regular push button mag release) is not as popular. Great trigger for a striker gun. Some people say it's a touch "flippy" but I don't have first had experience with that. If the VP9 is vlaible, then the PPQ certainly should be.

Post #1 "Glocks suck, I'll never ever buy one" Post #34 "I bought a Glock" Post # 22 "Glocks are simple for the person who wants an easy to clean and handle gun, preferably with box ammo. and that is their idea of professional. I am not one of those. I am a competitive tactical shooter who wants the most for the least, fast." Post #45 "I spent $300 on upgrades and stuff, which I'm waiting for to arrive. And I'll shoot it with reloads". OP, you are a man of mystery! LOL!

I recall shooting the last couple of targets in a stage. Bang! Ping! Bang! Ping! Bang! Ping! then stopping and saying "OK, done". The RO says "Uh .. IF you are finished, show clear", so I do all that. And he turns to me and says "Do you want to call for calibration?" I'm asking "Calibration? Why?" Then I notice one of the poppers standing there mocking me. I just ASSUMED it fell down (bang! ping!) without actually looking! Oops! Well, I called for calibration then and they knocked it down. At least I engaged the target. The RO was perplexed why I didn't shoot the target again .. I just told him I wasn't thinking. So check! Especially if it's the last array of targets on a stage, where you sort of have time to decide if you want to try again to knock it down!

I started changing the oil on a friends car and it took about a pint before I noticed that I was draining transmission fluid. Oops!

Your Glock 35 recommendation makes a lot of sense. Or a Glock 34 if they don't like .40. Local matches probably wouldn't enforce the "no conversion barrels" rule if you wanted to run a .40->9mm conversion barrel in the 35 to make it a 34, but like you said, downloaded .40s would run fine in production div. You can shoo the 35 in almost all divisions competitively. (obviously not revolver or SS). But to start off, a G35 in Limited-10 or production is great.

I stand corrected, I thought there was a minimum bullet diameter for major vs minor but I I see that it applied to Limited Div, but not Open Div.

I bought $40 cleats (soccer? Football? Baseball? I dunno, I think baseball) from Mizuno, and I can stand in them all day without discomfort. Don't forget to bring a folding chair with you, if you want some foot relief!

Unfortunately, "overall" doesn't mean as much when divisions are not accounted for. I mean an Open or Limited gun with 20 rounds and maybe one reload in a stage is pretty much going to beat any 10 round reload division and revolver easily, skills being equal.

Only one rule - don't break the 180 (don't turn around and point a loaded gun at the other shooters). "All the rules" is IDPA .... Get a safe holster, some extra mags / holders/ muffs & eye protection, and go shoot at your local range - just tell them you're new at it. That's a bit simplified. You need to know the local range rules with respect to gun handling as well. For instance, often no ammo even on your body when you go to a safe table. Never handle your gun outside the safe area, except if you are the shooter and the RO has issues the "make ready" command. The 180 rule is the MUZZLE of the gun must not break 180 degrees of down range. YOU can face everyone else, YOUR GUN cannot. That includes up at the sky and down at the ground. Your finger needs to be out of the trigger guard unless you are actively engaging a target (ie out when running or reloading) If in doubt, ask the RO. Tell them you're a newbie, and when you are at the starting line ask him/her "OK, please remind me when I can touch the gun and when I can draw, I'm a newbie, I don't want to DQ". ANd they will help you out. I took a USPSA safety class held by one of the local ranges, this is the best thing to do. Take the class on Saturday, go shoot the match on Sunday. For your first COUPLE of matches, forget the points, focus only on safety. In fact, walk the course, don't run it or you might accidentally break the 180. Forget points, just don't DQ and after a couple of times, then start to try and get faster. If you go fast at first, you might DQ, and then you will be discouraged and might drop the sport. I've seen Master shooters DQ. Usually one guy at a match DQs, don't be that guy! Then have fun! Don't sweat points and ranking. Get safe first and play so the safety rules get imbedded in your brain and are automatic.

Add me Ty 76063 - production Thanks! It.might take me a long time though as I don't actually shoot very.much and I never practice. But.I do have a lot of fun!

In terms of the slide lock, that goes with stage planning I think. I'm a novice as well, but I found I could avoid slide lock if I plan my stage so that I swap mags with a round or two to spare. Shooting production, L-10, SS, revolver really makes you aware of when you reload. Also, reload on move (safely), don't waste time on "standing reloads".