chp5

I've not attended, but I've heard great things from shooters whom I respect. I plan to take a class sometime.

This should be a lesson to us in the US. Vote on Nov 2!

Try to shoot both and see which gun points better for you. I own a STI, but I shoot a Glock 22 in LTD because I like how it points and the ultra-light weight. Most people prefer the S_I platform however. IMO, trigger speed is not an issue. With practice, you can shoot fast splits with a Glock - and fast splits mean very little to your overall time anyway. The trigger is only a slight handicap, IMO, on distant/small steel.

A new diode module would probably help far more.

It's the gel or powder you put on your hands beore you shoot. You can get the blue training mags here: CPWSA

+1 on that suggestion. Also, I've found that if you use firmgrip or similar stuff, it makes the Glock mags stick in the magwell.

Jeff - for your first AR, I'd just buy a complete rifle from a major manufacturer or, even better, from Benny Hill, JP or Jim Clark.

If that were true, I guess many top competitors are not real men/shooters, inluding Taran Butler. Weight is a personal preference. Try to shoot different AR's before you buy. For me, lighter rifles transition faster on close-in stages and the 20" gas system coupled with a good comp is so soft and flat there's no need for any extra weight.

Bob - did you have spring bind?

+1

Paul- please tell us more about that load and powder. Thanks.

Who makes 130-135 grain bullets?

I had the opportunity to help a friend go to court today. I never do this type of work so I never go to court. However, today I found myself in a “cattle call” in criminal misdemeanor court. After hours of listening and observing many criminal defendants in court, I found something unexpected: perspective on my own life. If you ever feel down, tired, depressed or just feel like you’re not exactly where you want to be in life, I HIGHLY recommend you go sit and observe criminal court for a few hours. That experience will give you new insight and perspective into your own journey and, very likely, make you understand how very fortunate and blessed most of us actually are. Appreciation for what you have and who you are is a gift - a gift that requires maintenance from time to time with proper perspective.

Paul - is that a compressed load? Thanks.

In many sports, "trying harder" gets you further. Similar to golf, "trying harder" during an IPSC competition is often not beneficial to performance. Conversely, Steve A has an interesting video interview on his site with TGO where he essentially says the he (TGO) got mad after the Dark House stage at the Nationals and then won several stages in a row (I'm paraphrasing). It sounds to me like he "tried harder" and it worked!

J.L., I'm just interested in what people use. I promise I won't mess up the GREAT Open 9 you built!

I just bought an Open gun and I wondering what recoil springs people use. I currently have a 9# Wolf variable in mine, no buffs. It's a 9x19 shorty with a Commander slide.

TGO gives an informative response on this topic at that link. Thanks.

Thanks for the replies. Follow up questions: 1. When trying to estimate your time on a stage not yet shot, do you guys just estimate the draw, splits, transitions, etc. based on past perfromance/experience? Another way to skin that cat might be to use a stop watch (I have one on my wrist watch) and air gun the stage in the walk through and time it. This assumes you can actually move at speed while others are reviewing the stage as well. 2. What about my original question #2: "A 10 factor stage is speed intensive – a 3 factor stage is point intensive. What about the 4-9 range? How do you break them down?" In another thread, Benny Hill wrote: "it's easy. above 7.5 factor SPEED. below 7.5 ACCURACY." Does anyone have a similar or differing rule of thumb?

Factoring a stage, Practical suggestions -merged thread Spinning off from recent threads about speed and shoot all A’s, I’d love to hear practical suggestions about how to effectively factor a stage. As I understand it, factoring is simply figuring out the average points per second of the stage. For example, a 100 point stage shot in 10 seconds is a 10 factor. For a 10 factor stage, each second is worth 10 points – each .10 second is worth one point. Obviously, speed is very important on a 10 factor stage. Conversely, points/accuracy are paramount on low factor stages. So knowing the factor will help the shooter determine how to shoot the stage. Two questions: 1. To determine the factor, you need to know two things: (a) points available, and ( the time it takes to shoot them. You KNOW how many points are available before you shoot the stage, but how do you know the time required to effectively shoot the stage before you shoot it? Maybe you could ask the RO what others have shot it in (in bigger matches), but how else do you know the time part of the factoring equation? 2. A 10 factor stage is speed intensive – a 3 factor stage is point intensive. What about the 4-9 range? How do you break them down? P.S. Please don’t just tell me to shoot 90-95% of the available points at my natural speed or similar advice. I’d like to learn about factoring. Thanks.

. . . and violence against children. The terrorists that invaded the Russian school should be burned to death.

A Pit just mangled a little girl here in GA just last week.

Agreed! Several years ago there were some HUGE spiders above my parents' BBQ grill. I grabbed my mom's pepper spray and nuked the pests. They twitched and then fell to the ground where I smashed them. On the last spider, however, the wind shifted and I got some of the pepper right back into my spider-killin' face. HOLY SMOKE that burned!! I couldn't imagine what a direct hit with that stuff must feel like.

Erik - what do you mean 2 or 3 piece design? Rhino - I have a Smith Enteprises brake that's a decent comp and redirects flash in a positive manner as well. However, it's clearly not the best comp or as good as a flash hider - it's a compromise.