Tom Balko
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Posts posted by Tom Balko
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While I agree with you Grrl that the difference is what's important, it depends on your frame of reference as to how great is the difference. Radio stated yesterday that average cost per gallon is now up $.70 from one year ago. My guess is the big a$$ truck is taking more like an extra $20 per fill using that time frame. As for me; a buddy and I took an econo car at 30 mpg to Area III this year rather than a pickup truck at 15, and figure that alone bought us one night of our hotel fees!
Many of us can probably find other excesses that can be trimmed to compensate for the gas budget. But for those who have already rounded off the corners, fuel cost has got to be stressing their match agenda.
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I don't know if people will be happy with having the system dictate who can be team members.
What about using a concept similar to golf's handicap feature applied to the member’s actual current classifier percentage rather than their class letter. Determine the threshold at which point your team is shooting "scratch". It should probably be less than 100%, as some scratch players are more skilled than others. So maybe 85% (I don't know, I just picked this for sake of discussion) is scratch. Now, if your team's average current classifier percentage (ACCP
) is less than 85, simply apply the correct multiplier that makes them 85%, to their raw team points total, and there you go. If your ACCP is 85 or greater, you shoot scratch.A similar concept could be applied to the divisions, and then it wouldn't matter what division you shot at the match. Assuming that generally, the order of performance would go: Open, Limited, Limited 10, Production, Revolver, you could mathematically adjust the other divisions up to normalize them with Open. This could work out a couple ways. You could adjust the individuals ACCP down some amount if they are not in Open Division, thereby helping to give the team a higher handicap, or adjust the shooter's raw score upward prior to applying the team's handicap.
Now it doesn’t matter if you’re an Open M, or a Production D, you can contribute to a team equally so long as you shoot to your ability. Now all teams compete head to head. This keeps the payback as large as possible, which helps make it attractive. I’m not sure our pool of participants is large enough to support cutting the teams up into various categories, at least at the start. Obviously some testing would need to be done to come up with the math factors.
Wow, does my head hurt! And now I have to go to work
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Saw Bob in Iowa at a community festival about 4 years ago. I don't think many of the locals really knew of him, but he was the reason I went. The show was great, and he was available after the show in a meet and greet. Because of the situation with the locals, I got to spend about 30-45 minutes chatting with him and getting a close look at the wheel guns he makes his living with. He is indeed a very nice guy. Extremely confident,, but then he probably does ok backing that up too
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I've got STI's, both 140's and 170's for my 9x23. Did some self tweaking on them, and they weren't bad, but not 100%. Sent them to Grams for guts and tuning, and they have been literally flawless for 2 years running. I also agree with Bret that the smaller contact patch between ammo and tube is a better solution.
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I shot it in 8.65, 4 points down. I turned the light on rather than just pressing the button and held it high, next to the cup of my hearing protection. I did see a dot occasionally, but on the early targets that were very close and open, mostly just looked for holes. I lost some time in how I chose to engage the final targets after moving through the doorway. I did not take the far right target as I was moving ahead to the final shooting position, but rather waited to engage the left target around the wall and then cleaned things up left to right. I think that forced more moving time without shooting. It was a rush, though. I was the lead off competitor for that stage, which was the first stage of my first national championship match!
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I know of a high A class open division competitor who uses a dot in the 16 to 20 minute range. He isn't totally blind, but he is color blind. He needs a dot that large as he only picks up the intensity of the dot, not the color. He's very accurate, and always right near the top at our local matches. As a side note, I've seen 20 minute dots used on shotguns that seemed to work pretty well.
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I've heard of starting with a 17 cal rod and brush to get you going in a situation like this. Gonna be a long cleaning session! Good luck.
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If the RO is doing his job he shouldn't be following up and scoring targets, he should be right next to the CRO and keeping track of the shooter, hits, faults, etc.
I'm in agreement with AzShooter. I took my RO class from Arnie C. a year or two ago and it was quite clear from him what the duties of the RO should be while a stage is being shot, and it wasn't scoring targets. The CRO has enough to do watching the gun, without having to watch for foot faults, hard cover shots that still hit a target etc etc. Don't get me wrong, I understand it happening at club level matches. But level II and above, I can see people getting a little more picky. Maybe it's gaming for a reshoot, but just maybe it's important enough, and the shooter believes strong enough, that a mistake was made to make an issue of it. It doesn't really take THAT much longer, does it?
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I saw the situation being discussed and can tell you it was not a light pull on the activator that caused this. The bungee cord attached was intended to pull the activator cord and handle forward and clear of the shooters box after activation as the shooter was going to be crossing this area while shooting as he/she moved from the left side targets to the right side targets. What was not anticipated, and not prohibited in description, was that a shooter may be able to move sideways fast enough at the start so as to cause the bungee to reach it's limits prior to the activator cord jerking the rods out from under the swingers. He pulled the cord as hard as anyone, but got farther to the left than the other shooters during the pull, and geometry got in the way. Subsequent shooters on the squad made a much more deliberate straight back pull on the activator after this happened.
I don't want to offer my opinion as to a resolution as I am too close to the situation (no, I wasn't the shooter) and may decide with some bias. I simply wanted to give the benefit of what I observed to those who did not see it, but are being asked to give opinion.
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The Martel might be pricey, but I'm amazed at how much you still find the HP product selling for. I have a problem shelling out cash for an instant orphan!
Per an email I have from Martel, the MCP8850B is a replacement for the HP82240B. I see the "B" version of the 8850, which uses alkaline batteries is 6 lines per second, while the non-"B" version (rechargable batteries?) runs 10 lines per second. Don't know if there is a price difference or any other differences. Would be worth asking if you check it out. Once at the Martel web site per PistolJim's post, you want to look under "cased printers".
Martel has a USA distributor located at:
Current Components
8600 Myersville Road
Middletown, MD 21769
(301) 473-5333
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Thanks for the info Phtoshp and Bill. The host club web site had more detailed info regarding hotels than the A3 site did, so the link to the posted stages served double duty for me! Looking forward to coming to KC this summer.
Tom
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I see there are three hotels listed as having blocks or rooms reserved. Is one of them the "match hotel", or is that not being implemented at this match. Also, any info regarding distance from the range,,, or any other qualitative reasons
that might help a person choose a place to stay will be appreciated -
While I was never more than a very casual pin shooter, and I've never shot one of these guns, what about considering the 50cal setup that is available now in the 1911 platform. I've only read an article or two on this creature, but it might be at least worth investigating if you're going to build something that's "pin gun exotic" and would have the budget to feed that monster. You need a BIG hole in that barrel if you're going to throw a bowling ball through it! It is a new concept that should really maximize that pf equation. Open division is as good a place as any for new concepts.
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Not sure how it would work on lead deposits as I shoot jacketed ammo only in my open blaster, but for carbon fouling I recently tried "Blue Wonder" gun cleaner.
I think I first heard of it from the unofficial ipsc list, and later found it in a sporting goods store. It worked extremely well on the carbon deposits that are left after shooting a large volume of jacketed ammo. It significantly reduced the ammount of scraping required, which has got to be a good thing,,, for me and the gun! All applicable disclaimers apply!
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I've always used the aerosol and it's worked well for me. My system is an old bath towel to act as a blotter under the brass. I make sure all cases are on their side so I don't shoot into a case mouth, and I always use the extention tube that comes with the can. That seems to keep the aerosol effect down and the lube spatters onto the brass more, yet distributes nice and even before drying. It's amazing how ritualistic we get isn't it?
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I had four new s_i tubes, one big stick and 3 regulars, in 9mm. They were quite unreliable "out of the box" and I did do some tweaking on them on my own, which helped, but there was always a doubt as they still did not reach 100%. After much phone time (thanks Bevan!) I sent half my mags to him for tuning, basepads, and spring follower kits. I was so impressed I couldn't get the others shipped fast enough! That step took my equipment to 100%. There are many aspects of the magazine that can be out of tolerance, including the feed lips. The important dimensions are the internal measurements. Without the proper mandrels, I don't know how you can do it right yourself. If you have no feeding problems AT ALL, consider yourself fortunate, otherwise, have Grams bend your mags and put new guts in em, you won't be sorry. I guess you could say I'm a satisfied customer!
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The "OK" process should work, but is hard to describe in text only. Try picking out your small target with both eyes open, but leave your hand low and out of your site picture. After you've got the target acquired, raise the "O" you've made with your thumb and finger somewhat quickly so that it encompasses your target. As soon as it's there, close the eye you normally close and see if the target stays in the "O". If it does, then you are sighting with the dominent eye. If it doesn't, the closed eye is dominent. You have to move these steps without a lot of hesitation, or things may get icky! I've not seen anyone not be able to accomplish this test,,,, but then I've never had to explain it in writing only. Good Luck!!
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There will always be a double sight image present when shooting both eyes open, it’s a matter of training to ignore the sight image from the eye that you are normally closing. If, however, the eye you normally close is your naturally dominant eye, I would guess that the task becomes more difficult. I’m not sure how shooters have dealt with this when their naturally dominant eye is opposite of their strong hand, but I would guess that at least some of them are “cross-sighting” so they maintain reference from the dominant eye. I’ve seen people use the tape-on-glasses approach. It worked great for some, and for others it became a crutch that they never really got over. I simply trained by establishing the sight picture with one eye closed, and then concentrated on the sight picture while slowly opening the closed eye. Once I could maintain concentration of the “correct” sight image this way, I started moving the sights to a different object once both eyes were open. Once you get it, it’s cake. Both eyes open will be possible even through a rifle scope. I believe it’s a significant advantage to have this ability down cold!
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I agree with Little Bill. I ran SP2 in my 9x23 with 121 gr HAP for as long as I could find the powder. I loved it! Other than your 1284 chrono, the deviation looks to be right in the ballpark from my experience. I messed around with 3N38, a little, but am gonna try IMR's 7625. I can get a load that "feels" very similar to SP2, it can be found for a pretty good price if you look a little, and one improvement I've found over SP2 is MUCH better deviation on the chrono. I've had a five shot string run 8fps extreme spread, and less than 20 seems easily doable.
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12 lb conventional with one buff.
My setup is 9x23 with 121gr., std length slide with 3 angle top cut and rear site plow cut, and STI S2 Trubore barrel. Runs fast and positive for me.
) is less than 85, simply apply the correct multiplier that makes them 85%, to their raw team points total, and there you go. If your ACCP is 85 or greater, you shoot scratch.
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Have Gas Prices Affected How Much You Shoot?
in Miscellaneous Topics That Do Not Fit in Any Other Forum
Posted
It's great that your circumstances have changed to allow you to absorb the changes without affecting your budget, but most of us have probably not relocated away from an area that must be nearly the most crazy in the country for gas prices while at the same time reduces our driving demand by 90 miles each day! Your circumstances don't change the fact that the national average for gas today is 70 cents per gallon more than it was a year ago. If you live and work in the same places you did a year ago, and are still driving the same vehicle, you are spending more for fuel today than you did then.