mulrick

So I am by no means a pro and I balance on the line of a B class shooter desperately trying to actually shoot like an A class and not just qualify as one. I try to replicate the stages that messed me up at my local club after and practice until I either reach diminishing returns. Always on the timer and always as if it was a real match.

OK I feel slightly better... that's rough

Reload your mags... I stepped up to the start box this weekend with only one fully loaded mag. Unfortunately for me it was the first mag that was loaded so I didn't feel the difference when I got the LAMR Command. Sooo long story short, first mag had 20, next had 4, number 3 had 15, and number 4 had 7. Course of fire was 38. Lets just say I finished but not with a lot of swearing, racking of the slide and unintentional "click" no boom. Moral of the story don't get sidetracked talking to someone when you are reloading your mags. Had that not been the case I might have had a good day...

Pic's would help. Is the cracking through the frame or is on the surface? In the end call STI, I would be really surprised if they don't help you out 100%.

I run three regular pouches and a a DAA round magnet... gives me flexibility. I normally use it however to hold either the mag that I will be starting with or my top off mag. I have seen starts on a table that required a reload, so it is much faster to throw it on a mag there. But really I have it as a convenience thing, its small, can be placed almost anywhere, it will hold anything metallic. For 3Gun it will even hold a extra slug or buck round just in case. I keep one on a teklock in my bag. It works great when you are at the range shooting other guns and want to practice a reload but don't want to bring an entire rig.

Yep!!! like I said, if it works the way you intended than it's perfect!! The glock in the picture is pretty grippy, it actually kinda leaves your hands raw after a pistol match. I did another one on a carry gun that I ended up sanding down to get a little slicker because it would snag my shirt and print really badly. A lot of the grippyness comes from the angle of the soldering iron.

Just so you know, it is almost impossible to buy stripped frames now in CA, unless someone already has it in the state and you do a PPT.

While the Design is similar, you are comparing very different price ranges. That STI Eagle with a Dawson Precision CRP package is around 2K to 2.3K depending on finish. At the end of the day this is a production gun. Sure its been massaged a bit but it is a production gun off the rack really. A SVI is going to be closer to double the price depending on options... 4K is probably an accurate estimate, plus a year plus wait. A SVI is made to order... totally different animal.

So, I was originally gonna keep my mouth shut, because it is so hard to convey tone over the internet. And because I am by no means an "expert". and because I don't have an example of that golf ball (larger) style stipple on hand at the moment. However I then realized that a huge part of what the gunsmithing forums are about is learning and I learned from another guy on the internet, and basically pay it forward... It looks ok.. but its pretty rough... However if it is comfortable and helps you get a better grip then it really doesn't matter what it looks like. I also want to commend you for even trying, 90% of others would never even attempt it, so for that I say great job! That being said here are some things I learned early on. I of course practiced on P mags and a few other things before I hit a glock frame, so I knew a little bit of what to expect. Here was my first frame I ever did... please keep in mind I shot these photos 10 sec ago on my lap from my phone as I type this from my poorly lit corner of my office, so bear with me, but the photos should give you an idea. And Here So what I learned was this: 1. take your time 2. Well ventilated space... seriously not even close to kidding (or wear a resp) 3. take your time 4. When you press the tip in go to the same depth each time. 5. Our eyes are drawn to straight lines... it is just about impossible to get perfectly straight lines by hand, so don't do it. It is also even more tedious which makes mistakes more prevalent. Instead pick an area maybe 1.5 x 1.5 CM and fill it with random stipples. This will keep the eyes from focusing on one area and in turn actually make everything seem more uniform. 6. take your time (I'm serious, take breaks, do it in chunks) 7. If it is a glock, take the time to undercut the trigger now, its worth it That all being said, great job, and I hope you give it a go on other guns... Each one gets better and better!

I really like Tripp and Dawsons. I think they are the best, especially with 10 rounders. Dawsons have CNC basepads that are pretty slick And to this I would say 700 rounds really isn't a great indication. I mean that is less than 100 reloads... I can burn through 700 rounds in a day of practice and one match...

Yeah Stay away from a Ported barrel... in fact I would shoot one before you even think about it... they can be... well... pointless. If you shoot open with an optic and thumb rests and red dots and all that jazz, then comps are great. However if you do just about anything else with a pistol... they are kinda pointless. The suck for HD or carry because the blast at night makes vision and follow up shots much tougher. The only time I might consider it is on a super compact carry pistol intended for a couple super close range shots. I know some departments that carried the ported Glocks, but most of those have switched these days.

I should say, I still run them slower but probably only 10-15%. Because the only time I do this (run other guns) is in local outlaw action pistol I have no real data except that I seem to fall in about the same place against the same shooters at that match weather I run my Limited rig, or my production glock, SS 1911, Sig P226/9, M&P, etc etc. But this is within about a 10% margin. If I were to walk out and try and compete at the B level with a Glock in Limited I know I would be outpaced...

So I can't chime in on the TS, but for me a heavy gun with a sweet trigger was well worth the cost. Ok, so for a long time I subscribed to the notion that the gun really doesn't matter. And while yes this is true, especially at the A class and above, I think the D/C shooters benefit the most from an equipment upgrade. I hit a plateau in C range that seemed hard to overcome... It was frustrating and got in my head a bit. I Shot a glock at the time and struggled with most things a C class shooter struggles with I needed to put more time into fundamentals instead of trying to go fast. When I bought a new gun it instilled some confidence to push the gun harder and faster while practicing good fundamentals. I shot it more accurately (I think it pointed better with a better balance in my hands and was softer recoiling) In turn I started having more fun and this greatly improved my shooting and I surpassed my old abilities quickly. Now I have once again plateaued but I know full well its because I need to spend more time practicing. And when I do run my glock (or any of my other guns for that matter) from time to time, I run them in step with my high $$$ customs or semi custom guns with great triggers, etc.

My Limited gun is right under 2lbs (EGW Ignition kit with an SVI trigger)

Yep, that is also the conclusion I came to. Leaving mags originally intended for less rounds fully loaded could potentially cause the spring to deform, its fairly unlikely. If we were talking about HD mags that are loaded and left for the oh $#*! moment, then downloading 1 is probably suggested especially if left for long periods of time. But if we are talking about compressing the spring enough to seat a little better, then the Sharpie method above will produce results the fastest without removing metal from the tubes (which I would not do until I was positive its not just a new spring that is really tight.)

This is just my .02 but I have never followed the line of thinking that leaving a magazine loaded will help. Now I base this on magazines that have stayed loaded for years, and then shot, vs competition mags that get used all the time. In my experience it is stress-strain cycles play a much larger role in spring wear. Ferrous material like most steels exhibit an infinite lifetime under a particular amount of stress amplitude - not the absolute stress, which is generally far less - (the so-called "fatigue limit"). Less ductile materials like aluminum and titanium have a finite cycle life regardless of the stress amplitude; however, parts designed with these materials generally have lifetimes in the millions of cycles and fail by different modes long before the lifetime is reached. So obviously, the life of the spring depends on proper design and materials choice. The spring steel that your gun would most likely use is a moderately-high carbon steel, with potentially nickel, silicon and manganese alloying agents in small quantities. It should, even at full capacity be far short of the "fatigue limit" and would exhibit no change. So basically this is a long winded way of saying it might be more beneficial to sit in front of the TV and load and unload the mags a few hundred times... Read more: http://www.physicsforums.com

Well I cant say anything about 9mm... but I just started shooting a double stack 6" gun in .40 from Canyon Creek Custom, and I have to say that I totally love it. I think a single stack 9mm 6" while possibly fun, would not really be a good game gun, except steel challenge possibly. However a double stack would be a great 3 gun pistol and could play in limited minor as long as you know these limitations going in. 6" guns are really awesome, my .40 with the right load feels practically like my Ruger 22/45... Plus they just look cool, my non shooting buddy dubbed mine the "Punisher" when he first saw it... I guess he was not far off

Thanks! That's really reasonable

Cool, what was the cost to do just the slide and pin stop? I know most pistols run$2-400 but that is the whole gun with sanding and prep work.

Our local 3 gun matches always have a pistol spinner or 2. Normally one is around 7 yards (easy) and another at 15 (gets hard to do under stress) with a 60 second penalty for a failure to flip the spinner, this can obviously make or break a match. The top guys in our club are shooting tricked SVI's in 9mm with light 9mm loads and then throwing in some 124gr loaded a little hotter for the spinners. The thought being 3 or 4 9mm's on target quickly has more energy than 2 .40 rounds. However after playing with .40 minor loads, I would way rather have 165's making 135-40 or so PF, they are just so soft, I feel like I have no disadvantage to the 9mm guys. That being said, my next gun is going to be 5.4" sighttracker 9mm that will be 3-gun specific (mainly just because) Action Pistol matches at the same club have 3 spinners that need 2 hits top and bottom to neutralize but a 30 sec bonus to spin. Which when done correctly allow you to go negative on time for that stage. It seems a lot of the 3 gun guys bring their .40's out for these matches, but a lot of this could be just for USPSA practice.

It's funny. I've only shot my Beretta a couple times at USPSA matches (only once after getting it back from Dave Olhasso) and I've already had to endure one "use a real gun" comment. I think ultimately it's a matter of settling on your chosen pistol, getting the trigger and sights where you need them, and then just spending the time putting the rounds down range with the gun. I'm sure some pistols are better than others, but I've seen enough people shoot really well with the Beretta series pistols in USPSA matches to come to the conclusion there isn't any reason why you can't excel with a Sig product like the venerable P226. And don't the Navy special warfare people use a P226 variant? Bet they aren't complaining about high bore axis.... When it come to absolute reliability, I don't think there is a better platform out there, period. Funny, you couldn't be more spot on. I carried a DA/SA gun my entire military career. Starting with the M9 and then Switching to the .40 DAK P229 when we got picked up by DHS. I never felt the DA/SA or the DAK was a setback, it just needed training. I never, let me repeat this, NEVER have had an issue with any of my sig pistols. I mean absolute utter reliability from the get go, no break in, and fantastic accuracy considering the smaller-ish barrel. I didn't start shooting competitively until after I left the service, which at the time the fad meant I bought a glock g35 and did the normal mods. For at least 2 years I struggled to shoot it well... I ended up going back to the 226 and 228 when I would get frustrated by the sea of Charlie Mikes because I could hit with it. Fast forward now a few years and I have switched to the 2011 platform and I am quite happy... I think if it were not for the cost of an X5 or X6 I would consider shooting one, but as it stands I can get a SVI for the cost of one here in this stupid state...

Yeah its a major grey area. As it stands it is not illegal to own or use standard or "high-capacity" mags but it is illegal to manufacture (build from parts, raw material whatever) import (including driving across state lines) or sell. It is legal to replace worn out parts on your legal magazine. Since it is impossible to track when parts were made, it is one of those don't ask don't tell things. My last local outlaw action pistol match had 55 shooters, only 3 or which were shooting limited 10. There is no way all of those shooters have had their mags since pre 99, and really for us in CA its pre 94... As someone else pointed out, the streets of Oakland and LA aren't being sprayed with .38 Super openguns and .40 cal limited guns. Just show up to a match and you will see that no one cares, lots of shooters are LEO, lots aren't... I have never heard anyone ask about mags from a legal point.

I might be interested

Dang this inspires me, have a file but need a jig

So i have a 25lpi file and I am thinking about doing it with the jig but waiting on it to come in stock, or another jig that isn't $300+ I have found the first couple 1911's cost way more than the 30th does, so little by little