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Bruce, Not to add any more pressure but my job requires that we draw vacation a year in advance. Vacation draw is Thurs, DEC 2. Any info you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Thanx Craig PS. I promise I can keep a secret.

Bottom, In those same publications I listed above look for a gel comb pad which will reduce what you take to your face very well. Take care, Craig

Bottom, You might also get a hold of a trapshooting or sporting clays publication ( Trap and Field, Sporting Clays). You can probably go to a near by trap club and find someone with a couple of back issues. Look through the mags as there are several recoil reduction products to be had. Gra-coil is one that comes to mind. In this respect trapshooters who shoot several hundred rds of 12 ga a day have developed tons of goodies to curb recoil. Again, Good luck, Craig

It seems like in this case it is somewhat unfair to use the generic S-I due to the fact that the customer service at one S-I tends to be a little more responsive and efficient than customer service at the other S-I.

Bottom C, Much like Larry just said, by the time you factor in the 20's lighter weight, my opinion is that similar loadings still give similar recoil gauge vs. gauge. I would say that adding weight or mercury type recoil reducers could help but I assume your medical condition also wont be helped by carrying extra weight. My suggestion is find a gas gun and tune it to work with some of the ultralight 12 loads out there. Don't forget with any gun, backboring and lengthening the forcing cone will also significantly reduce recoil. One option if you don't like all the gun tinkering is to opt for the Winchester SX2 and then purchase the factory sporting clays gas piston which is designed to run on much lighter loads. Mine feels great with light 1oz loads (haven't tried anything lighter). Take care, Craig

Eric, I'm with you, although the NOVA's action isn't what I would call horrible there is definitely no way that it works out of the box smooth/fast enough for the shooting he pulls off. I have seen and done quite a bit of shotgun worth in my former gun game life and don't see the nova working like that. The other part of it is Tom Knapp is quite possibly the 2nd biggest arrogant a$& in shooting sports (i'm keeping my #1 slot open in case I ever meet someone worse). A very good waterfowl guide friend of mine (definitely world class in all respects) was offered a business deal in which one scenario would have Tom endorse his line of duck and goose calls. This would have given my buddy an ungodly increase in exposure at a time he dearly needed it. After one day in the blind with Tom and his ego he let the it be known that he would not do the deal and he was gladly pay off any expense that had taken place to make the hunt happen. He has since built his business on a reputation of working his but off and maintaining a great reputation the old fashioned way.

You definitely do not need the steel.

Truegent, +1 on what Eric said. From what I have read a lot of guys load a little long to overcome any mag problems that may be related to a shorter cartridge than the 1911 design length. The extreme example would be spacers in 9mm mags for the doublestacks. Anyway my SVI in .40 will run all day long on factory length ammo or it will run just fine longer. Good Luck, Craig

Alan Thanx, that is exactly what I was looking for. Between flat, primers, primer flow, cratering, headspace questions, I was very much looking for a place to start. The factory ammo plan sounds pretty solid. Take care, Craig BTW I will post Power Pistol Data sometime this week if I can get a good Chrono day.

I have just recently started to shoot and load for Major 9 and I have been spending a lot of time reading and learning all I can. The one question I have for you guys is will everyone please post what they think are pressure signs as they relate to an open 9mm. So far some of the descriptions seem very subjective. I would appreciate a little objective guidance, maybe even some pics. Thanx alot, Craig

Having owned most of these guns(870, 1300, nova) except the Mossberg, I want to chime in. I would rank them in this order. #1) Win 1300---absolutely the fastest action of the bunch. I am not sure if it is based solely on the rotary bolt or not but I have never experienced the action binding after firing a round. Not as many accessories available but plenty to cover your needs for three gunning (sights, sidesaddles, stocks, slings, etc). In the time I have had my 1300 it has shown me no sign that it is not more than robust enough for hard use over a long duration. Not to mention, a great bargain over the same priced 870, no plastic for $200-250. #2) Rem 870---legendary gun, you won't be giving up much to the 1300 in terms of action, and in the right hands very competitive. Ton's of accessories, however many of them not needed for three gun. You need to do a little more research and spend a little more money to insure you are not getting an express model with the plastic action parts, however you can also find police tradeins at absolutely smoking prices. #3) Nova--- so far it seems to be a well built gun (2 years of brutal waterfowl and upland hunting no problems), but definitely not as proven entity as the 1300 and 870. It seems for me that I have to be a little more deliberate when cycling the action or I get a little bit of bolt binding in trying to unlock the action. This could probably be easily fixed with a little time and a dremel I just haven't had the need to investigate it further. The polymer receiver IMHO needs a few more years to show there won't be problems. There is no option for stock replacement as it is part and parcel of the receiver. There is a shortage of accessories, probably enough to get you by, but when you find them they usually cost a premium. Due to the length of the forearm there is only room for 4 shells in a sidesaddle. All in all a good gun but not the one I would pick for trooper/ironman class. Good luck, I hope this helped, Craig

Nik, I'm always nice . and yes Rob's idea is a good one. No I guess I was just very surprised that all along emails were answered, dropoff's pickups were arranged etc. etc. but in the end effort was made for what I see as a very small benefit to the company. 500 bullets cannot be worth what it cost them to ship twice yet they expended extra effort to save them. Oh well. I guess a good analogy would be that you go to a restaurant order a meal take a couple of bites realize it was made with spoiled ingredients, point it out to mgmt. they are cordial, tell you to pick another meal and then bring it with a couple of bites missing, and still expect you to think you got a full meal. Anyway, have a wonderful weekend, I am eating enough turkey tomorrow to keep me asleep until Saturday morning's match.

Mark, It's late so sorry for the short reply with little detail. In a sentence I would change: DROP THE WHOLE THIS IS THE "TACTICAL" WAY TO DO IT BS! I have been to training at H&K, Gunsite, and Trident Concepts. I have taken multiple classes from each of them and I practice/receive team and individual tactical training every month. There is no consensus on the most effective reload, movement scheme, kneel, squat, stand, run, jump, kick, scratch, poke method out there. Therefore I see it as impossible to try to limit a sport to a few of those methods. In the real world we will have our equipment (gun holster etc.), our environment (stage design), and whatever rules of engagement govern us. From there we will have to solve the problem in the most immediate/effective way possible. Let the rulebook and the sport reflect this. Set up a situation stipulate the rules clearly and let the shooter solve the problem. If a course designer would like to setup a stage to specifically target a task or a skill (reloads, shooting position, etc.) let that be part of the stage design. Keep the actual skill performance out of the rulebook. I am very much in agreement with Sam in that the rules should address equipment divisions, scoring classification, stage design, safety, and organizational structure. Oh yeah, and increase your club's safety officer salary by 500% (oh shit 500 x 0 is still 0 isn't it) Take care, Craig

Larry, No sweat, have a good day tomorrow. Craig

Larry, I don't exactly consider getting 95% of what I paid for, GREAT service, not to mention cost of powder primers and the time on the chrono. God how I hate load development. I will say they did make an effort to solve the problem though, and admittedly in the grand scheme of things 500 bullets isn't a huge deal. BUT.... Everyone else. Thanx for confirming my feelings. I too expected an extra or a rebate or whatever as an apology for my trouble and the delay. However I was somewhat taken aback when I saw the effort they made to replace the bullets only for it to be overridden by the pettiness in trying to save themselves 500 bullets. After the holiday I will give the CS rep a call and see what they have to say. I will admit though that I am not very inclined to do business with them again. IMO there are just too many other people in our sport who are great to do business with. Take care and have a happy Thanksgiving. Craig

Definitely go with the MK I. The FO is great for anything like plates poppers or clays and out to 75-100 yds I dont even flip up the rear sight. If you center the FO in the picatinny rail trough it shoots slugs to point of aim. Now as to where to get one, I got mine from teh classifieds here and you might want to try on the USPSA classifieds. I got mine very gently used for $750. Other than that you will probably need to order one from your favorite dealer.

Sorry for the length of this post and I am by no means trying to trash anyones rep, but I am in a quandry and would love to hear some opinions on a customer service issue. Last month I ordered 10k bullets from a well respected maker in order for them to arrive early enough for me to begin load development for a new gun. So bullets arrive and I load about 200 rds with 3 different powders at different charge weights BLAH BLAH BLAH. I head to the range and begin chrono testing and my velocities are all over the place. I check all three loads, same thing. I go back make some more reloads, more carefully this time, meticulously checking all the factors that I felt could affect my velocity variations and again same thing. All told I have used 300-350 of the bullets by now. As I am going thru all the things I could think of, and low and behold I find that the bullets I received are oversized. Not by much but enough so that in my new gun there is a little shaving at the chamber mouth. I call the retailer who I got them thru and was then contacted by the company themselves. They immediately stated that I had been mistakenly sent bullets from a run that was oversized and that the bullets I had would be replaced with bullets of the correct dimension. So far I am thinking this is no big deal, pain in the ass yes, but understandable and the service so far has been great. I was asked how many of the original bullets I had left (9500in boxes...approx 150 or so loose) so that they could send shipping labels for the return of the boxed bullets. I receive ups labels in the mail to send the oversized bullets back and I am told new bullets should be arriving soon. So today the UPS man comes picks up old bullets and drops off new bullets, and I get very excited because all told it has been 3 weeks of setting in my reloading room looking at a new gun I can't shoot. I open the boxes to find that they only replaced 9500 of instead of the 10k. Now on one hand yes indeed I only returned 9500 bullets and the replacement process was costly, but it was due to the companies mistake that the 500 bullets were useless as originally intended. On the other hand I paid for 10k of the CORRECTLY sized bullets and have now been waiting for a month since the original order to be able to use them. So my question is: How would you guys look at this service? Is it out of line for me to expect 10k of the correct product? or was it worth it to this company to save the $20 on 500 bullets? Thanx in advance, Craig BTW Yes I know I should be contacting the company however it is a holiday and I am thinking I should just get loading and shooting and let this debacle go.

Mark, That is in a nutshell much of the problem. When you get an MD who does not know how to temper his knowledge/opinion and becomes somewhat tyrannical with "his rules". There is no other game in the world that allows a person to make significant rules decisions on the basis of "in his opinion". No one is trying to turn IDPA into IPSC but at the same time I don't think it is too much to ask for: 1) An updated rulebook. If the Tactical Journal can be published on the highest quality magazine stock available, then IDPA definitely has the resources to produce an updated rulebook every two years. 2) Cohesive, objective and categorized rules in that rulebook. 3) Elimination of subjectivity based on "the doctrine". If you want a rule and a procedure to be followed then make it so. Don't rely on hundreds of MD's to develop their own interpretations. There are too many ideas/interpretations of said doctrine which I feel is a root of many of these discussions. 4) Enough already of trying to outdo/be different than IPSC. Stand up, be IDPA, evolve/solve problems and watch the sport flourish. Look carefully at these four things and imagine them being solved. IMO it would not only significantly improve the sport but would at the same time eliminate 95% of the internet bellyaching we all participate in. Maybe then we would have a little more time to shoot, practice, and enjoy the sport. Take care, Craig

Mark, As far as the question of evolve into what? A better IDPA. Do you honestly feel that there are no improvements to be made to the organization/clarity/coverage/definitions in the IDPA rulebook? My term evolution maybe led you to think that I was trying to direct to more of a USPSA direction. That is not the case. My point was simply: anything that is stagnant dies. Only those things that improve on their strengths and reduce their weeknesses progress. IDPA has some improvements to make. Without that constant "evolvement" then the growth and strength of the sport will suffer. In many eyes it has. Take care, Craig

Roy, They certainly have gone above and beyond with respect to #1, 4 yrs and counting. Anyway, I love to shoot, but the fact remains that there are problems. As with any process, we learn more about what we need to do the longer we do it. To deny that learning process is what seems to be happening at IDPA HQ. The intentions of IDPA's founders are not in question. However to try and halt progress/evolution dooms you to repetitive problems. Noone is trying to evolve IDPA into IPSC, that battle was fought when the sport was developed. But the BOD needs to realize that change/evolution is inevitable and to continue to deny will result in a negative result. Take care, Craig

Roy, I think this reflects in many of your posts. You wrongly assume that the reason someone has problems with IDPA is because they are trying to do some kind of voodoo USPSA conversion. I know for a fact that for me and many others, this is not the case. I am lucky enough to have two IDPA clubs and two IPSC clubs within an hour of me, with each shooting on a different Sat. I shoot 4 weekends a month. I have no problem following different rules. However I get frustrated when a legitimate question/problem comes forth and members such as yourself blow it off as simply a "gamer" trying to change the rules for an advantage/dislike/ etc. IDPA is faced with some serious growth problems. They are legitimate and will only grow larger the longer they are ignored. Bill and Ken need to step forward and clarify some rules and update others. It is very evident to myself and many others that the reason for not doing so does not have so much to do with doctrine as it does personal egos. This is sad. Solutions to almost all the current questions could be easily developed and implemented while still remaining true to the IDPA doctrine. It is only a matter of Bill and Ken stepping up and doing the right thing. Time will tell, but the matters will need to be addressed. Take care, Craig

Low 50's with a little rain, hell I think that is still short and t shirt weather.

As a little sidenote I read that Ron Artest had just asked for time off from his busy NBA schedule to promote his rap album. Looks like it was granted

rmills, No one is looking for problems that don't exist, problems do exist and that is the heart of the issue. There are numerous boards with identical threads. Not every participant is an anti IDPA pro USPSA foil hatted lunatic. Many like me have great home clubs and love the sport, but we have legitimate gripes about the organization. If IDPA HQ does not want to look at the problems fine, if IDPA is a dictatorship so be it. But if the emperor would simply step to the plate and address the issues that continually rear their head the sport would be better for it. Simply taking the attitude that "If you don't like it go away" is detrimental to the sport and divisive to shooters in general. It sounds as though you look at admitting IDPA has real problems to solve, somehow admits wrongdoing and jeopardizes its credibility. My arguement would be that by being honest and solving it's problems, the organization increases its credibility and would thereby support more shooters. Take care, Craig

Nick, For out of the box use I will have to give the nod to the SX2. With a little work all the other guns run fine, but why smith if you don't have to. I have done nothing to my SX2 and it runs like a sewing machine. It has run S&B slugs, Fed tactical slugs, Rem slugs, and Winchester slugs with no problems. For shot keep the shot load at 1 1/8th oz or higher and powder at 3 drams or higher and you are good to go. I shopped around religiously before I decided on one, and I have nothing but good things to say about it. 2200 rds and counting thru mine so far and I have done nothing other than clean it. Good luck Craig