Flashooter

Tim, Eric, and Leo (the 'good' Leo) You all have given me some good ideas to help me get started on the 'pop holes' project! Leo and Eric, I hope to see you both this Sunday if I can fix the magazine catch spring and get the Glock working again. My Thanx to all for your responses! Leo (aka the 'bad' Leo)

Flex and RStandley: Several months ago I tried 10 grains of HS6 pushing a 135 Berrys bullet through a Stormlake 6 port barrel. It made a PF of around 175, but I did not like the feel of the recoil. I prefer the feel of the 155 bullet, so I'll definitely try the HS6 with a 155 bullet. Thanx Flex and RStandley! I would still like to get input on how to port (drill holes) in the KKM barrel with comp. So, if anyone has experience with this, I would greatly appreciate your input. Leo

Hey, Eric: I'm glad to hear the spring is replaceable. I'll see if Fred can help me replace it. I hope to see you shoot your new 38 Super at Ruskin on Sunday! Thanx for your quick response, Eric! Leo

Fellow Glockers: Last night while shooting a stage at our Tuesday night mini-match, the magazine catch spring gave up the ghost. The magazines dropped out of the gun about as fast as I could put in a fresh one. At first I thought it was the oversized JP mag release button that I installed about a year ago. However, after I removed the button and mag catch I discovered that the spring itself is broken, or weak, or lose, . . .or something? I practice reloads several times per week during dry fire practice. There is almost no tension to it, and will barely hold a full mag in place. I've never removed or replaced this small spring that sits about half way down on the inside of the grip. In appearance it somewhat resembles the pointed end of an ejector rod. Is it replaceable? How does it come out? Any advice on fixing/replacing this is greatly appreciated! Please don't tell me that I have to send it back to the factory.@$%#^*!? Many Thanx! Leo

Fellow Glockers, I need your help! In order to further reduce muzzle flip I want to add some pop holes to my model 35 Open gun that has a KKM barrel/comp. Currently I'm getting a 181 Power Factor (1167 FPS) using a 155 grain bullet with 5.7 grains of Tight Group. No signs of excessive pressure. I know that by adding pop holes I will lose some velocity, so I want to be sure that I can still safely make major PF . My questions are: 1. How many pop holes? 2. How large? 3. Should they be side-by-side in rows of two 4. Should they be single holes one behind the other Anyone that is using a similar configuration. What is your loading receipe? Any and all advice is most welcome. Leo

I have a couple of glocks shooting stock stides shooting major. The slide (35) is not the issue they are plenty strong. I would take a hard look at the amount of support in the storm lake barel . Although they make a decent product I havent seen any thing they have produced with the material needed at the case mouth to support repeated firings(brass) of major 9 You might get away with new brass or once fired . go beyond that and look out for a 6'oglock rupture. The only barrel I know of and trust is the kkm gunsmith fit in 9 mm . made for 17 slides only . I wish it were better news but i would be carful with this set up. Johnnie Thanx for the detailed explanation, Johnnie! I will heed your advice and not shoot 9 Major out of this barrel. It definitely seems like the gunsmith fitted KKM is the way to go! Thanx! Flex, I recently tried a 135 Berry's bullet with 10.0 grains of HS6 for a 169 PF. There were no signs of excessive pressure, but I personally didn't like the feel of the recoil. Today I tested a new load using a 155 bullet with 5.9 grains of Tight Group. I like it much better than the 135 bullet. I need to chrono it and hope it makes major. I find I'm losing a lot of velocity with the 6 pop holes on the storm lake barrel. I guess I need to part with the $ for a KKM barrel. I've learned a great deal through this forum. Many thanx for your response, Flex!

Below are two pics of my 'poor man's' Open gun. I made most of the mods to experiment shooting the Open division without spending too much $. It's a Glock 35 modified as follows: * Storm Lake barrel with 6 pop holes * Docter red dot sight * Vanek Trigger * Wolfe 14 lb recoil spring * T. H. E. brass mag well * JP large mag release button * Arrendondo mag extension/springs Regards,

Thanx for the link and for your welcome, Rick! I found some more info by doing a search (as you suggested) on Storm Lake Barrel. However, I'd still like to hear from anyone who may be using a ported Storm Lake barrel for 9 Major. Thanx again, Rick.

Greetings, Flexmoney, et al: I have a couple of questions concerning the Storm Lake (SL) barrel. I have a Glock 35 (.40 caliber) with a SL conversion barrel in 9 mm caliber. The SL barrel extends about 1 inch beyond the slide and has a total of 6 ports (pop holes). I have tested it with Winchester White Box and it seems to funnction well for minor PF. My set up includes a Docter dot sight, 14 lb wolf recoil spring and Vanek trigger. This combination shoots very flat and accurate. I'd like to use this set-up in IPSC Open division using 9 Major loads. Can I use this set-up which includes the stock Glock slide and SL barrel for 9 Major loads? Is it necessary to replace the stock Glock slide with an after-market one? Is it possible to safely make major PF with so many ports (pop holes)? Any recommendations for bullet weight, powder type/and amount? Any other advice and insight is most welcome. Thanx!

Ryan, Many thanx for posting your collection of drills. I printed them and plan to use some of them in the near future! Regards, Leo

"Secret mantra: "Loose the tension (grip is firm), Float the finger (interface with trigger bow only), Track the sights (omit this for a dot and replace with "Project the ball"), Snap the eyes (to the next target, array, position)." Crusher, thanx for your reply! In the beginning I used a ' death grip,' but I'm fairly certain that I have removed any excessive tension especially from my strong hand and trigger finger. However, your post reminds me that I still have a great deal of tension in my upper arms, shoulder, and neck. I like your secret mantra and will be using it! It's a positive way to remind yourself to do everything right. I promise, I'll keep it secret. Warm regards, Leo

Thanx for your prompt reply, Brian! I experimented with pulling the trigger while watching TV last night. In just one session of repetitively pulling the tirigger slowly at about 2-seconds per pull, I have increased my awareness and feel of the trigger pull. I can tell this drill will help me! BTW, I found where you describe this drill in your book under 'Trigger Contol" on page 83. I read and highlighted this paragraph about a year ago , but forgot about it because I have been working on the following paragraph that deals with how to cure the flinch. Again, many thanx for your reply! Leo

Any suggestions welcome! I have been shooting about 2 years. I am a D shooter in Limited 10 and more recently in Open. My old eyes can see the red dot a WHOLE LOT better! I'm using a metronome (music tick-tock device) ocassionally for dry-fire practice and to determine how quickly I can pull the trigger without disturbing the dot. I find that the fastest I can pull the trigger continuously without disturbing the dot is only about 2 pulls per second. At 3 pulls per second the dot moves quite a bit, and at 4 pulls per second the erratic dot movement indicates 'mikes' or D hits at best. Pulling the trigger at this speed also causes 'trigger freeze.' I currently dry-fire about an hour per day, 4 days per week. I include pressing the trigger at least twice with every single dry-fire practice drill, which include draws, indexes, transitions, reloads, shooting on the move, moving into and out of a 3-foot box, etc. I have incorporated practice drills from this forum as well as some from the Anderson book and the Matt Burkett web site and video. Overall, the dry fire practice has helped me to improve quite a bit! It seems that I have improved in all areas (including accuracy, draw, movement, reloades, transitions, etc.), but I am still shooting at a top speed of only about 2 shots per second (I think this is called "splits?") in live fire and during a match. When I try to push beyond this my accuracy suffers greatly. How can I increase my ability to pull the trigger quickly while not disturbing the sights? Any suggestions or insights are most welcome! Leo

Flexmoney, you're correct. My problem of light strikes with Dale's trigger turned out to be a defective ISMI 15 spring. I installed a new spring and fired about 400 - 500 rounds. Upon removing the spring for cleaning, I noticed that the spring had compressed, losing about 20 - 30% or more of its original length. It was several inches shorter than my buddy's identical 15 lb spring. I contacted ISMI via telephone, and learned that ISMI thinks that one batch of springs (mostly 13, 15, and 17 lb) was not properly heat treated. The fellow I talked with was quite helpful. He instructed me to send him the defective springs for immediate replacement. With a good spring, the Dale trigger now runs fine, so there is nothing wrong with the Dale's drop-in trigger that I installed in my G-35. BTW, Flexmoney, I've learned a lot from your posts! I printed and put your recent post "Kyle's Flinch Breaker - 101" into my range bag. I've read these same concepts in BE's book, but it helps me to see them again....and again....and again ...Duh!? Flashooter

Greetings, Dale and fellow Glockers! Many thanx for your clarification concerning the confusion about adjustment, and your reminder to clean the firing pin tunnel! I 've been using your 2.5# drop-in trigger kit and it has functioned flawlessly for about 1,500 rounds. However, today I experienced 10 light primer strikes (primer did not ignite) out of 200 rounds. Also, the trigger gradually began to feel much heavier, loading up toward the end of the pull. I field strip and clean all of the visible contact surfaces (connector, cruciform, bar, etc.) after each practice, but I've never cleaned the firing pin tunnel. Guess what? After thoroughly cleaning the firing pin tunnel, the trigger has returned to its original light, smooth pull, and the light primer strikes appear to be corrected. I had only 20 rounds left for a brief test fire, so I don't know for sure. I was surprised to learn that a slightly dirty firing pin tunnel could make such a huge difference! I also experienced what I think is an unrelated problem by installing a 13# spring. On several instances, the slide would not fully close into battery. It lacked only about 1/4 inch or less. All it needed to go into battery each time was a very gentle push on the back of the slide. I've gone back to a 15# spring, hoping that this will fix it. I hope the problems don't reappear at my weekend match tomorrow morning!! I'll let y'all know how it goes! Leo

Hi, Chris. That's a great explanation of how the Glockmeister trigger reset works! I recently bought one. Like you, I found the pull a bit too heavy. In fact, after dry firing for a couple of sessions, the pull became heavier and even started to bind/stick. I added a few drops of oil and the pull smoothed out and reduced by a couple of pounds. Now it's almost too light!? Ron, I'm also new to Glocks, and I find the Glockmeister tirgger reset very useful for dry fire practice. It does not perfectly replicate the feel of the normal trigger, but it's close enough to be helpful. Regards, Leo

Greetings, Steve & Phara. This is my first post, after lurking for a while. I'm a newbie. After about 6 months of shooting, I recently recieved my 'D' classification in Limited 10. Steve, I received your Dry Fire book a few days ago and have not been able to put it down. First I read it from cover to cover, and then I created an indoor dry fire "range," using scaled-down, miniture IPSC and paper plate targets, since I have only 10 feet of space to work with. In the past I did some limited dry fire practice, but I was not approaching it correctly, and not doing enough of it. Your book spells out everything that a beginner needs to know!! I've learned more from your book in the last 4 days, than in the last 6 months on my own. I've been dry firing the drills from the book very slowly for now without a timer. I also ordered a Club Timer from BE, and I'm very eager to get his Beyond Fundamentals as part of the special deal. Phara, I saw Steve's turn/spin technique on the video, and it's definitely not an about face! I know, since I'm retired Air Force. BTW, Steve, your Bill Drill on the video sounds like FULL AUTO!!! Waay Kool. Steve, thanx for a GREAT book and fast response! Flashooter