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When shooting strong or weak hand (open gun) should you cant the gun to the outside or to the inside, and why? Which direction of cant reduces dot movement and controls recoil the best? How much cant related to vertical? I have heard differing opinions on this from some of the best shooters/teachers in the business. TJ once told me during a class that studies and testing had shown that canting the gun towards the outside (both strong and weak) was the "best" way. But, I have heard arguments for canting inwards too. What do you think and why?

+1 for Pro Ears Sporting Clay Plus, best ones I have ever used. http://www.pro-ears.com/shootingsportshearingprotection.htm

Brazos Pro Sx in 38 Super........ 10.6 grs N105 gives me 1380 fps (172+ pf) with 125 gr HAP bullet, WSR primers, and 1.235" OAL. Shoots VERY flat, but loud.

I have heard numerous mention of the benefit of Matt's timing drills but a search here does not reveal anything. Can someone point me towards these drills? Is there a thread at BE that describes them or do you have to buy a book? Thanks.

No, the dies do touch the shellplate.

This seems to have "crept up on me" in the last few weeks/months. Never noticed it before, and I have not changed the setting on any of the dies since this has shown up. Ridge is not nearly as defined/pronounced as those in your photo. Brass is not raised into a ridge you can feel, something visible but not raised. What is the difference between the EGW u die and the Lee factory crimp die I am using now? Plusses and minuses of each? Thanks.

I use a Dillon 550B (loading 38 Super) and have the following dies installed: #1- Redding Sizer/decapper die #2- Powder die #3- Redding Competition Seating die #4- Lee Crimp and Sizer die I have noticed lately a ridge around the finished ammo. It goes around the case a short ways up from the case head. Almost like the die is not sizing all the way to the bottom of the case anymore. I have checked and the bottom of the die does contact the shell plate at the bottom of the stroke. The rounds still fit into my case checker and fire fine. Any ideas as to why this is happening now? Didn't notice it until a few weeks ago. Is there a better full length sizer/crimp die on the market now that people are using that will prevent this ridge from appearing and size the finished round all the way to the casehead? Thanks for any help/suggestions.

I just tried the piece of carpet idea that was suggested by AGYoung. That really works great and it was cheap! Thanks for the post.

A heads up for those looking to find N105 to purchase. Midsouth Shooters Supply just got a shipment in. After the bunch I just bought they still have 30+ cans of it available for $21 and change.

Found some of the N105 and have been experimenting with it this weekend. With 10.4 grs I am making a pf of 172.5 and it seems to shoot really flat. 10.2 grs gets me 170.5 pf, feels softer but dot seems to lift more. Question, I see a couple of posts that say people are using 10 grs +/- and filling the case. My 10.4 grs still has plenty of room in the case (38 Super). Am I missing something? Why do I still have room available?

Thanks to everyone for their replys. I have decided to work up some loads with both N105 and 3N38. For those that have tried both in an open gun, what do you see as the differences between how they shoot? What loads have you used?.......I use 125 HAP's Thanks again.

Who has N105 and 3N38 in stock at a good price? Do they have the 4 lb bottles as well as the 1 lb ones? Thanks.

Bob, Does that go for 3N38 and N105 also?

I am looking for folks comments on using VV 3N37 or 3N38 as compared to IMR4756 as poweders for a 38 Super Open gun, I use a Brazos Pro Sx. If you have used these in a similar gun/comp combination, what are your thoughts as to the ability of each to work the comp? Dot movement? Recoil? I do see that burn rates are similar but would like "practical" information on which ones work better in these types of shortys/comps, and why. Thanks for any thoughts or opinions. I do realize it is personal preferance but there is such a wealth of experience here at BE that I would like to tap into it.

Welcome to Open shooting! A few things to consider: * An Open gun will function better with reloaded ammunition where the load has been developed to work the best in the specific gun that you own. Can't get that quality/consistency with factory ammo, in my opinion. Also, factory ammo will get REAL expensive in a hurry if you do any amount of shooting. * If a member of USPSA you can see Open guns for sale in their classified ads link. * If you are going to do this then buy a gun that will work 100% of the time right from the beginning. If you try to "skimp" and save money on your purchase then you will probably pay more to make it run right. Been there.......done that. * The 2 Open guns that I have, or have shot extensively, and are 100% reliable right out of the box are from Brazos and Dan Bedell, can't go wrong with either. Note: I am sure there are others but these are the ones I can testify to. Good luck.

RogerT, It is a small club with some divisions only having 3-6 people in them and the overall match has 30-50 each month. Everyone likes to see how they did against their buddies in the other divisions so the combined results are used for informational/bragging purposes.

Here is the scenario that happened at a local match. Match is finished and results are posted on USPSA "local match results" site. Results are obviously broken down by division. Local club is small and also does combined results for all divisions and these are posted on the club's website a day later. In one of the divisions "A" beats "B" by less than a percent as posted on the USPSA site. When combined results are posted on club website "B" beats "A" by less than 1%. My question is............ If "A" finished ahead of "B" in their division then how, when all divisions are combined, does "B" catch up to and pass "A" for the win? So "A" wins the division but loses to "B" (who he beat in that division) when all divisions are combined? I am puzzled and would really like to the scoring anamolies that would cause this to happen. If "A"s hit factors were better than "B"'s by enough to win division then why are they not still enough to be ahead of him when other divisions are added in to results. Has anyone seen this happen elsewhere? Explanation as to how it could happen? Many thanks.

I took a CMore off my frame and need to clean the blue loctite residue off the screws before reattaching. What can I soak the screws in that will soften/remove that loctite residue? Thanks for the help.

9.3 grs of 4756 with 125 HAP's in my Brazos Pro Sx shorty.

I want to find someone who has Pro Ears Sporting Clays in BLACK in stock at a reasonable price. Does anyone know who has them available right now and what the cost is? Phone number to contact them? Thanks for the help.

Can anyone tell me where to buy the plastic overlays for use by RO's? Thanks. Actually, just found them. Thanks.

I just got back from USA where I took Manny's advanced practical shooting class for two days. This class, limited to 4 students, focused on breaking down stages into smaller segments and then working on each segment to save time through that array of targets. You then put the segments together as a whole stage and hopefully you can turn 18 sec stages into 15 sec ones. What I really liked was that Manny would run the stage at match speed and he would plot the time of every shot on a legal pad. He then calculates what he thinks a "goal" would be for you, say 80% of his time, and calculates all those times next to his. As you work through each segment he then looks at each split, transition, draw, and reload and sees where you are losing time. He then works on that area until you can reproduce that goal number going through that segment. I started out at 80% but by the end of the class I was hitting 90% of his times so I am really happy with the results. The class was absolutely GREAT and Manny is, as advertized, a great teacher. He can "see" things that you are doing that waste time and then he shows you how to do them correctly. You then practice and practice until he is happy and decides it is time to move on. I highly recommend that anyone who has taken his Beginner course look into taking this one. I believe it will really help me with my match shooting in the coming months. If you have not taken the Beginner one you should really look into doing that first, but he is pretty booked up and you should contact him soon if you want to do his class this year. Oh, and the best thing was that the other 3 folks who had signed up for the class were unable to make it so it was Manny and I for 2 days of 1 on 1. I ended up shooting 2100 rds! Off to the Summer Blast this coming week to see if I can use what I learned.

After checking everything as previously described............... I use STI mags (38 Super- Open gun) and like to give gravity an artificial assist to get the mags out as quickly as possible. I have Limcat brass basepads on the ones I start a stage with (the ones that need to be dropped). I also use a strip of lead tape around the bottom of these mags, just above the basepad, for just a little extra weight at the bottom end. You can buy the tape at any golf supply store, used to weight golf clubs. Works for me

Sorry, should have mentioned. Both sets shot outdoors but with infrared lighting screens on the CED.

Ok, so I have been using 4756 for my open guns for quite a while now. Always used 9.0 grs with a 125 HAP for my Brazos Sx shorty. In February (here in NH, temp 35) I chronoed at average of 1390 fps through a CED chrono. Just chronoed a new batch toay (temp 60) and got an average of 1314 fps. A drop of 76 fps with the same # grs of powder? What the heck is going on here? I called IMR/Hodgdon and asked one of their "experts" if this particular powder is reverse temperature sensitive, temp goes up=fps goes down. He swore to me that it wasn't and they had never experienced this. So, how does the same # grs cause a decrease of 76 fps? Could it vary this much from lot to lot? What else could cause this. Nothing else has changed. Thanks for the help.