fatcat

Bob Cogan, right? He made some trick single stacks back in the day.

Call me old-fashioned. Black is beautiful. I would swap of the red grip and put a regular one.

I have heard gunsmiths using either Loctite "sleeve bearing compound" (green?) or "Accuweld" from Brownells. Make sure the threads of both the barrel and comp are ultimately clean and free of any oil, dirt before you do the deed.

I believe that the STI conversion kit is re-badged from Advantage Arms. I called Advantage Arms a few weeks ago about availability and they told me they expect delivery to be 6 - 8 weeks out. Tactical Solutions is sounding very good right about now.

The POF gas piston system is great since it is designed to reduce the amount of cleaning required to keep an AR functioning. No issues of carbon fouling and/or heat. Great for full auto in harsh environments. But you may not like the recoil impulse. The gas system can't be "turned" down to be used w/ lightened carriers & buffers, but heard that others have tried to either reverse the gas piston to the smaller holes or plugging some of the larger holes w/ stainless wire. You could start hogging material off the carrier but it's nickel plated. The upper overall is pretty heavy vs. a similar JP and I find it not as ergonomic. The Predator rail clamps over the top of the upper making it higher that it should. I'm still going to keep mine, but won't be using it for 3-Gun as it comes from the factory.

I also shot these at the X3 match. I had no problem when I shot my 55 grains. As noted there were some issues with reset. The backing was kinda flexible which sometimes got caught in the frame which made it fold over. If it was stiffer it may be better. I would use something stronger than para-cord. Good targets.

With the large amount of variability in mag tubes and followers, in my experience (.38/9mm), the Bolen follower requires more tweaking than some other followers. If it works with your current mag tubes, congratulations! When I tried to use them, the leg on the bottom of the follower is so short that it would fold over the spring and jam the mag. A mag that holds one extra round that's not reliable has no value. I'll use what works that holds one round less.

How far is your brass being ejected (when it does)?. If the cases are "just" barely coming out the port, you are either overspung or the load is a bit light. The 34's and 35's are oversprung with the factory 17 lb recoil spring. If you like your load the way it is, try swapping out the factory spring with a lighter one. I use a ISMI 13 lb spring. My major load is actually a little heavier - 4.4 grn Titegroup behind a Precision 185 grn. Makes 910 fps for 168 pf.

For me, the longer Glocks (34/35) offer increased sight radius and a bit easier recoil over the the 17/22's.

I can speak to not only to the barrels from White Oak Armament, but also to John Holliger's excellent work. He has built 2 uppers for me. Had to twist his arm to do a pretty straight forward build using his SPR barrel, but after describing more of what the 3-gun game is like with the long range requirements and what we are NOT (weekend commando's, etc) he got enthused about it. The upper was built using John's SPR barrel, JP handguard, and a Cooley comp. A bit heavy for my personal tastes, but accuracy is great. Getting about 3 moa with Win. Q3131a, but with my handload using Sierra 69 grn Match king, the groups go about 1.5 moa. That was 3 years ago and I've recommended his barrels/parts/gunsmithing to all 3-gun competitors. I'm building my own upper now with his lightweight 16" barrel and expect to experience similar results.

I came from a similar back ground as you (NRA High Power rifle). Under fixed set time limits (par-time), known target distances, and set shooting positions, the rifles will configured to stabilize body movement (HEAVY). What is being used to absorb recoil is having more mass to overcome the inertia of the rifle's action & round being sent downrange. USPSA hand gun competition adds the factor of time, different shooting positions, foot movement, changing targets (& more). You don't have the luxury of set times to complete the string of fire. You must shoot accurately as fast as possible. The shooter must now use shooting technique the absorb recoil. It's true that your gun can be heavy to try to absorb recoil and most newbies will tend to think a heavy shoots "soft' and feels good. But as your technique improves, you'll find that a heavy gun will be slow during your draws and your target transistions. There is a difference between a stock slide and a lightened slide in the shooting cycle. A lighter slide has less moving mass which will translate to "sharper" recoil but in reality lasting shorter. Before you start cutting slots/holes in your slide, attempt to lighten your gun and see how it feels.

Yup. Cute Videos. Feel sorry for the cameraman, spectators, and novices who got swept everytime the guns were shot and/or dropped.

Another quality measure that you may have overlooked is to chrono your ammo. If you ever plan to attend a bigger USPSA match, your ammo will need to be chrono'd for power factor. You need to check your ammo if it meets the velocity floor for your bullet weight. Don't get hung up on accuracy grouping. If you, your gun, and ammo can group 3" or under @ 25 yards - you're golden. I've seen handloads go both ways: groups well, SD velocity wide. Then some group crappy, but SD velocity is small. If your load groups well, a sample of them (a few groups of 10) shot over a chronograph will often very close in velocity. The reloading practices that have yielded the best results (accuracy/consistent velocity) for me were to ensure that the power measure was throwing at a minimum of +/- 0.1 grains or better, seating the bullet as straight as possible, and putting a medium taper crimp. For .40, try a 180 grn moly bullet , N320 or Titegroup. Good luck!

I stopped fighting iron sights a year ago and went with a dot. I may have been pushed into open, but at least I don't have to fight the dual focal plane issue of the target and front sight.

Put weight wherever it makes the gun balance better for you. I shoot a G35 in USPSA limited class and use both a Tungsten guide rod AND a brass mag well (Dawson's w/full back strap insert). A lot heavier than the stock gun, but still way lighter than the wide body STI/SV's. With both additions, I can drive the Glock faster than the wide bodies. YMMV.

"I think I'm going to try my hand at my first bowling pin shoot next Friday night." Be advised that bowling pins will glance off round nose FMJ loads. Like what Masaad Ayoob said "Aim for the White Part".

The heavier weight in the grip makes the gun more centered in the palm vs. out on the top of the slide (sorry, but that's how i can best describe it). I've shot of couple of guns with Beven' mag well (including his) and it's something you really like or feel like it's a boat anchor. The easiest thing to come close to the weight is using the brass Dawson's ICE magwell + a ZM steel mainspring housing.

I had Rob Melhorn work on my M1-Super90 and it turned out great. Just some basic smoothing and welding up of the shell lifter, and re-springing, but the gun shoots totally different. His prices and turnaround are very reasonable. Since you are local to him, just meet up with him @ Piru when there's an X3 3-gun match. I would go with him because he's local and you can go to him if there are any issues. Beven Grams did (& still does) a lot of the development of this type work. But he's so busy, that the wait may not be practical. He does excellent work and gives good advice.

I would go with your #3 rifle, change out your optics, do what you have to do to reduce the rifle's overall weight.

Wil O'Hara in Corona, Ca. 951-505-8703 He builds a great gun! He services the majority of the IPSC/Steel shooters in So.Kalif

Here's another one: http://www.madtrigger.net/videos/Fresno/fresno%20jack4.wmv

If your groupings are CONSISTENT with the Sig, across the board with different ammo, indoor/outdoor, different ranges, then adjust your sights.

This is what I've had installed on 2 single stacks and 3 STI/SV wide bodies: Koenig Hammer EGW Sear SV Disconnector STI or SV triggers "standard" hammer lever, mainspring housing cap 19 lb Wolf mainspring On one of the single stacks, the frame holes were a little oversized. The gunsmith used a set of oversized pins by Marvel to compensate.

I use the full powered 13 lb spring with no issues. Man, how light are you loading?

A looooonnnnng time ago when Limited division first started, Eric built me an STI wide body. It ran great! Fit & Finish was nice. The new owner also posts on this board so maybe he can chime in.