wsimpso1

The matches at Linden are pretty good ones too. They have several bays, break things into morning and afternnon squads, are well organized, and they just roll. I too will keep an eye out for people loading 10 rounds and then claiming CDP. Billski

More news, The customer service folks at Remington think that the feed latch is more likely to be the source of the problem, and they persisted even when I pointed out that it does not malfunction when shooting, it fails while loading... So, I shall look over the latches for proper shape, etc. The more that I think about it, perhaps just training to stuff shells home would be better than modifying the shotgun, although brazing a little extension on the carrier looks to be fun. I am thinking about the 3" Carrier Assembly too (Brownell's catalog says 12, 12 Mag, 12 3" Mag, part number 767-268-750). What are the differences between the issued part and the new one? What is it supposed to do for us? If it is longer, it can preclude this failure, but it seems to come at the price of a more risk of carrier bite. Do I have that right? Does it do anything else for the issues here? Billski

Well, thanks for the commentary. When I left Ilion, it was a transfer to Bridgeport, and the transition was pretty quick. I did make sure that I was well equipped for information on rifles. Remington was my first job out of engineering school, and I only worked about 19 months in Ilion. They needed somebody in Connecticut, and I took it. They really wanted to set up a product engineering group at Lonoke and us northerners did not want to go. They were closing up Bridgeport in 1984 and moved everybody to Ilion, hoping to make some synergy between the ammo guys and the gun guys work. Six months later they were moving the ammo guys to Arkansas, and they were all calling me an "old sage". I saw it coming, and left the company for graduate school in Michigan instead of moving back to Ilion. Life has been good in Michigan, and my shooting friends all marvel how I could leave an engineering job with a gun maker. Let's put it this way - At that time, Remington was a shotgun and shotshell maker who did a little bit of rifle and brass cased ammo. This recently acquired 1100 is my first shotgun, and the last time I fired a shotgun before last week was, um, 1983 on a field test... Let me tell you, it was a job, much like every other engineering job I have ever done. And any new feature or fix that was wanted that cost more than $0.02 was too expensive. As a shooter, it was killing my interest in a terrific hobby. Anyway, I am going to pick up Pat Sweeny's book, investigate the 3" shell carrier, and think about solving this problem with technique vs modifying the carrier to prevent both the malf and the bite... I sure don't think that I want to start playing with the relationship between the latches. Thanks again, Billski

Mine is an older slug gun with rifle sights and a newer plastic stock. I disassembled, cleaned and lubed everything, and added a long magazine tube. I looked at my 870 and it has the same carrier to feed latch relationship, so I suspect that the parts are designed to be that way. It still strikes me that the right way to do this would be to insure that the feed latch has the shell before it the carrier can drop and trap the shell... Billski

Hi, M1100 has given me a nasty little surprise while stuffing shells into it: You can get the shell past the front edge of the shell carrier without engaging the feed latch, and when the shell carrier drops down, the shell is driven back between the carrier and the bottom of the action bars, quite effectively locking up the gun. I have resisted the urge to force it open and just dropped the fire control assembly pins to clear it. I was having a good time in the local 3 Gun match until then... Does anybody know how this is properly fixed? In examining the gun, I found that the front edge of the feed latch is about the thickness of the shell rim forward of the front edge of the carrier. Is this normal? It strikes me that either the feed latch is too far forward or the carrier is too far aft. I can weld the carrier to extend it or grind the feed latch or replace the feedlatch with a different part, whatever is the right ay to solve the problem, but I would rather know what change is right instead of guessing ... Funny thing, I worked for Remington R&D in Ilion NY 23-24 years ago, and I got to know the workings pretty well, but I never came across this info, and now I am wishing that I had... Anyway, any help you guys can offer will be a big help to me. Billski

Keeping both eyes open and uncovered means dealing with parrallax. You have to accept one of two things: You put the images of the front sight together, and that leaves you with an extra target, OR You put the images of the target together, and you have two images of the front sight. Practice at it and you may be able to train yourself to pay less attention to the extra images - turn off the input from the off side eye... Putting the front sight images together and ignoring the extra target image is probably easier because you want to drive focus on the front sight, not the target. The cowards' way out is to just put that patch of tape on the off side lense to block you view of either the sight or the target and have at it. By the way, I have recently become a member of the "eye surgery changed my life" club. For a long time, I had thick glasses and I was left eye dominant (cross dominance), but that might have been due to the optometrist not being able to get 20/20 correction for the right eye, and 20/20 was obtained in the left... Then I had cateract surgery (at 44!) and Doc Finkelstein dialed off most of my nearsightedness and a bunch of astigmatism went away too. Corrected, the right eye is 20/15 and and the left is between 20/15 and 20/20. Funny thing, the dominance has shifted to the right eye, but only barely. My eyeballs now are fixed focus, so I have shooting glasses corrected to put the front sight of rifles and pistols into focus, and I just have to accept blurred targets. My solution after that was just to add a dot of tape and go shoot. Yeah, I did just call that the cowards' way out, but as my right eye gains dominance, I am learning to ignore the left eye during shooting and I am having a ball! Now to really confuse things. The other day, I forgot to change to my shooting glasses on one stage, shooting with my regular glasses. Sights a bit fuzzy, double images, etc, and I still dropped only a couple points with a good time (for me). I only noticed that I forgot my shooting glasses when I went to change glasses after scoring... So, whatever you try, do it for long enough that you fully adapt to it before condemning the method and going back to something else... Billski

This Sunday I shoot the Michigan State USPSA Match, and one of the stages promises to be a bit of a nightmare. http://www.michiganstatematch.us/Pipe%20Dream.pdf Targets: Plates, Pepper Poppers, US Poppers, 8 of each; Firing is through pipes only (I assume that they are plastic barrels), there are 12 of them; A continuous vision barrier is up everywhere except where the barrels poke through, making the targets difficult to see while executing the COF except for the ones exposed through the pipe; Any suggestions on how you handle a course like this? I am suspicious that once a hundred shooters have been through the COF, some of the barrels will shift a bit and some of the targets will be hard to find at each pipe, encouraging us to stick the gun right inside the pipe, something that most of us have learned is bad juju. I am hoping to go through the nine stages without misses or procedurals and a fair chunk of alphas, but shooting smart would be a plus, and I need some help to do this one smart... Billski

Well now, That goes to the topic of gun handling, and I sure would appreciate that having a higher least common denominater... Billski

I just have to say "Thank You" for ending up with a set of rules that makes more sense than what I encountered on my first try at a three gun match. As a one time employee of a gun/ammo maker, and as a long time High Power competitor, I do appreciate having some structure in place to enable us to BOTH ensure that the gun has been rendered empty AND allows us to be reassurred when we look at a gun. Avoiding dumb rules that assure neither one of these is sure disconcerting... I showed up for my first three gun match in May 2004 with my L10 .45 and an AR15, intending to shoot the shotgun stages with the pistol. Being as I was, until recently, a High Power Shooter, I kitted up with my gun belt and day pack with all ammo, cased pistol, then uncased the rifle and inserted the chamber flag, slung it over my shoulder, only to have one person tell me that the uncsed rifle may not be allowed, and another informed me that I could get sent home, better put that back into the case... I was confused as could be. There was a bright yellow chamber flag sticking out of the ejection port - this rifle could not have been rendered more harmless AND be immediately confirmed as such. Well, I thought about just dumping my stuff into the trunk and never returning to a club that thought a cased rifle was safe while a chamber flagged one was so dangerous to send me away, but I decided to comply with the DUMB RULE, case the rifle and carried it all day in the case. Now, any chamber flag, including a piece of heavy yellow rope will render the gun safe and able to be confirmed as such. Me, I do prefer the molded plastic flags. Thank you for recognizing our ability to make suitable choices, and eliminatig this silliness of requiring the case... Now if we could get some reasonable gun handling... For those of you who are shocked by the scene of High Power, we have managed to do it safely since 1873, even though you see uncased rifles carried about over shoulders, on top of shooting kits or on our matts. All guns are unloaded untill we are directed to load, and both the shooter and the scorer confirm empty rifle at the end of each stage. While we cross muzzles all of the time, the rifles are stationary and not being handled and nowadays are showing chamber flags. The rifles are not being handled directly during that time. Neither hands nor ammo approach the firing mechanisms until prep period begins, and then the range is treated as HOT. No one forward of the muzzles on the line, muzzles must be forward, etc. It is not as out of control as you might think... Here is to smart rules... Billski

Ok, I am a newcomer here but not to competitive shooting nor to other competitive sports. I also know the people who sparked the conversation with (I assure you) innocent acts, so I hope my personal bias' towards them will not interfere with the bigger discussion. I also understand that hindsight is great, but maybe this can be a rehersal for next time for all of us. First: Why is it that the "offended" shooter did not go to the folks in question and talk to them. Please, be a grown up. Talk to them yourself and cut out the middleman. If you can solve it yourself, the overworked RO (a volunteer!) doesn't have to get involved with one more thing. Maybe you can make a new friend at the same time, but do it before you get all pissed off, mess up your day, and spoil squad cordiality all at the same time. This could have been a brief conversation with either the guy or the lady (in this case her English IS too short for the subtleties of the topic) and I truely believe that she would have found out that her "educational" walk through was interfering with a squad member's prep. The rest of the topic is the bigger thing. Now with the benefit of hindsight, we know that we could have suggested that she could get her "educational" walk through while picking brass and pasting targets. I understand that it was a short squad, and a dual purpose (scoping the stage while picking/pasting) might have even been helpful and welcomed... Next: Since when is a stage with FIVE shooters really too crowded for an enthusiastic beginner to scope it with them? Yeah, one extra might be too many for a really tight stage, and five spectators could definitely clog things up. So we don't have the whole answer here yet. Finally, and the Bigger Topic: We are going to have spectators and beginners that do not feel up to shooting the big matches attending our matches. I think that we want these folks to show up, get involved, etc. Many of these folks are going to want to see what the stages look like, partially because they can not see the whole stage from behind the safe lines, and partially because we all want to get the view that the competitiors will have... Hmmm. What to do about this without discouraging folks from attending? As long as you only have one or two spectators that want to see the stage, make it part of the walkthrough script that spectators WILL leave the course to the shooting squad only AND offer to let spectators be educated on the stage by helping with brass picking and/or target resetting. That may cull the curious from the serious and get you some help in resetting the stage. Only trying this will show if it really works, but it is one starting point. If you find that you get too many spectators for the first method or that they are hurting things more than helping things, then take out the spectator's participation in resetting and add a quick spectators' tour after each stage is finished. This may also cull out the merely curious and leave you with the truely interested, as well as providing a way to encourage spectators and newbies. This was an awkward and uncomfortable incident, but maybe it points the way to how we can accomodate spectators and newbies to come see what we do without detracting from our individual performance? There have to be other ideas besides just excluding spectators, which is about the same as a big "GO AWAY" sign at the gate. Any other ideas... Billski

Has anyone else found that the primers can make that much difference on simple low pressure ammo? Here is the story... I started loading 45 ACP for this sport, with Federal Large Pistol Primers, VV N320 and 230 grain bullets, and when I shot the stuff over a chrograph, the velocities were way low, and the load was dirty! Thinking that the chronograph had given somewhat lower velocities than I expected with NRA High Power loads, I set up another chrono and fired ammo over both simultaneously. Nope, nothing wrong with the chronos, but the powder charge that I worked up to (5.2 grains) should have given way over 750 ft/s I was looking for. OK, Make a note - do not let anybody shoot this ammo except in this gun. And it was still dirty... Changed to Rem primers, dropped the charge to start, and it was fast and gave high pressure indications. So, back to book powder levels for 750 ft/s with N320, N310, and Bullseye. Nice shooting Major ammo with all three powders, nice clean burn, no flakes on my arms and glasses. Hmm. Apparently the Federal primers were just not igniting the charge. Now this is the same batch of primers where I had a few squibs (no powder, powder meter issue, written about elsewhere) and some of the bullets barely stuck in the throat while one other had full length rifling marks... so some of the primers were not without a poke. Yet it seems that they were just not lighting the powder... So, have any of you seen this behaviour, or should I go buy a lottery ticket? When you saw it , was it Federal primers? Thanks. Billski

Hey, I did not find it on another thread, I just talked about an obvious (to me anyway) method of clearing a squib. But then I have had the benefit of 4 1/2 years as an R&D engineer with Remington Arms, so my background may be a bit deeper than most... The other thread is interesting... A lot of discussion is on the legalities of this in a competition COF. That never entered my mind. Let's put the discussion of its safety in perspective. If I am in competition and I think my gun has a squib caught, I am done on that stage, and after demonstrating to the RO the gun is indeed cleared of the ability to fire, I respectfully retire to the Safe Area, and knock the bullet free with my squib rod and a mallet. After having done that with my batch of suspect ammo, I retired that batch to practice only, fixed the problem with my loading press, and carry only known good batches of ammo to matches in order to minimize chances of having to go through the embarassment of stage retirement. Now, if I am in a practice session at my home range shooting from that batch of ammo known to occaisionally squid a round, I clear the gun, check for unburned (but burnable powder), check that the rest of the gun appears safe to fire, hand cycle my special case with a short charge of powder but no bullet, clear the squib, hand cycle a (more or less) normal round into the chamber and continue with the practice session. This practice of seperate projectile and powder charge is a standard way of operating many types of powder burning guns. The 16" naval guns of New Jersey class battleships and the like and current 155 mm heavy artillery both do this, as do schuetzen rifles, late 19th century Palma (long range) rifles, etc. A bunch of modern high power rifle shooters soft seat, with barely any neck tension, the round loaded longer than the throat will allow, so that closing the bolt shoves the bullet back in case and the round starts with the bullet engraved into the origin of the rifling. It is safely and regularly done out there, and in an environment where accuracy matters more than in our game. In all of these cases, the loads are specifically worked up and developed around the bullet being seated to a given location in the throat. My squibs have had bullets that barely required a tap to dislodge and others that had full depth rifling marks over the entire bearing length of the bullet. I am not bothered at all by someone using a reduced load to clear that bullet, but the thought of their trying to load to give Major with it is scary - there is just too much variability in where the bullet is and thus in the loading density... One scary squib condition is a very soft primer (low proportion of primary explosive). This will go pop, might get the bullet into the rifling, but the powder charge does not light. Now you have a bullet in the bore, a slug of unburned but burnable powder mashed against the bullet, and if you seat a powder charged case behind that and fire it, you may have both charges go bang. You folks do know what happens with a double charge, don't you? No, I would require a more careful review of the gun before allowing a powder but no bullet to be fired through the gun, and that is just not compatible with doing it during a stage. So, while the practice of clearing a squib with a special round has every appearance of being entirely safe, I support the range officer putting a stop to things right now, clearing the gun, scoring the CoF, and sending the shooter to the safe area for non-pyrotechnic means of repair. But at my home range with time to inspect carefully prior to actually pulling the trigger again, well, the special ammo seems a lot easier on everything than beating on a rod stuck down the muzzle... Billski

I know a couple of High Masters in NRA High Power that just love H4895 for both Service Rifle and Match Rifle (AR15's through bolt action rifles). It meters well, shoots great and stays nice if the temperatures are high or low... I was going to experiment more with it, but lost interest in the game, then got all interested in shooting pistols at Mach speed. The best stuff I used before that was 69's 77's and 80's with RL15 and Rem 7 1/2's: itty bitty groups. Billski

Well, I had trouble with my meter not dropping powder every once in a while, and I had 300 suspect loads that would stick in the bore. I splintered a hardwood dowel one time, and then decided that if I can make ammo with a bullet but no powder, I can make ammo with powder but no bullet. 155's are done this way... I charged sized and primed cases with 2.5 g of Bullseye, took a fired case as a tool and blanked some wads from 3/8" PVC rigid foam (I am building a fiberglass airplane), and seated the foam wads solidly down over the powder. The case ID is smaller as you go to the bottom, so the wads seat and stay quite nicely, but if you were the least bit uncomfortable, you could seal it with a few drops of candle wax. They reside in a ziploc with the suspect ammo. I will only shoot this stuff in practice sessions, and when I get a ping, I clear the gun, confirm the squib, seat a mag with the special ammo in the top space, and send the stuck bullet downrange. The load is so soft that it barely opens the gun, and I am back in business is 20 seconds. Oh, my progressive press now has a Dillon powder meter on it. The standard meter worked great for 25-40 g of RL15, etc, but the little dinky charges that just make Major in .45 ACP was just wrong for it... Billski They are so convenient, that I