drewbeck

I understand the want to do a specific drill time cold in dry fire but I think it would be more beneficial to set the goal and track the times for cold runs in live fire. Live fire is the real test and will show you where you're at, dry fire can be cheated much easier if your not careful. The other thing is that really being able to rip off cold dry fire runs at speeds outlined in stoegers books really has little relevance if your personal dry fire vs live fire time conversion factor is larger than his. For example if he has el pres dry fire goal at 3.xx whatever seconds but a 100% run is 5.0 seconds down zero, I think practicing a more realistic dry fire goal closer to your live fire goal time is better because you're able to actually focus on shot calling and solid repeatable runs. If however you practice dry firing it in 3.0secs but your live fire is 6 seconds is your practice realistic? I think a person is much better off incrementally ratcheting both live and dry fire down together so you can actually see and measure how dry fire training translates to your live fire cold times. Having really fast goal times for dry fire isn't necessarily a bad thing, I just think most people try to do the actions in the allotted time without realizing the biggest benefit is what they should be learning and seeing as things start to speed up. If you start to lose your "awareness" of everything going on in order to reach a time goal I think you've then turned off the ability to learn in the process. I think one of the biggest benefits of dry fire is the ability to really focus on and observe what is happening throughout the process without the distraction of recoil. If the focus is on the timer vs observation, you're missing out on the real value of it. I get the mental hangups on classification but at the same time if you go to a major and are able to consistently win your class or the one above you, you'll be bumped up without ever having to worry about classifiers in a match.

What did you learn tonight in your practice? You've put in the work to master the first .6-1.0 seconds of a stage but then what? Not an attack on you just a question to think about. At a certain level , draws and reloads should be thought of more as an item of risk. I.e. Failure to execute will cost you something vs gain you anything. Practice them enough to where they don't cost you but focus your efforts on the improving the time consuming part of a stage which is movement. I'm by no means an expert but I don't waste any more time than necessary on fundamental handling skills. Another way to look at it is like practicing your launch at the start of the Daytona 500, no one wins it in the first 10 feet. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Or buy a mag gauge and adjust a mag that doesn't gauge. One mag gauge costs about the same as a single basepad and spring.... now if you need need an excuse to buy new mags, that's definitely the "best" approach!

How it fits your hand is the only thing that really matters

No judgement here, DI 1 and .75 K for me. The money's in the bank and is no issue, it's the permission from the corporate office that's tough..... oh well, I married a saver and not a spender so at least I know I'll die rich

Mags are not an investment, they are a consumable....you can work on them if they don't work and there's no guarantee that a new name brand mag will work in your gun. If they're in decent shape I'd buy them and use any that don't work as dry fire mags.

Just load a big bucket of boom booms, gauge them and case them before you need them to go boom. I.e. Load them into whatever and then check them all before (a day, week, year) before you're relying on them for a score. how you store them in between is irrelavent as long as they're dry and not soaked in oil

2 singlestack, check 2 limited guns, check 6 open guns, hhmmm, govt pension? just kidding, I see no point in having that many, but don't wanna be judged for the shotguns in my safe either. To me open guns are consumables whereas shotguns/quality rifles are assets/investments.

ALL guns wear and eventually will have things break. I have no experience with cz open guns but would say they are inherently no more, or less reliable than a 2011 platform. Find a good of local open gun builder and you'll pay less than what you're thinking. The biggest thing to think about is that there are less parts and gunsmith that work on cz's, something will eventually break, how you deal with getting it fixed is really the question

I have tried flat, curved, and Enos curve. For me, I had issues with the curve and enos with my finger hitting the trigger earlier than expected due to the length of pull changing depending on where the finger lands on it after a reload for example. the flat is consistent length of pull from top to bottom so if your finger came in a little high or low it doesn't change anything. Much more consistent for me.

If you're right handed, lower left is invisible anytime your wearing it in a holster or shooting it.... super glue if it makes you feel better, otherwise having a screw there in the first place is a dumb design destined for failure. My opinion is that it's a tool, don't get overly concerned with preserving the sticker on your dewalt. If it's causing grip issues that's entirely different and should be addressed. the correct way to fix that screw would likely entail recessing a T nut on the inside similar to how the frame is held in place and done correctly would cost more than a new grip. Personally it would be a valid excuse to "need" a steel grip and that's what I'd do

This is my opinion and/or experience. I shoot 2011 open guns for fun and competition but I wear glocks for life's daily adventures. in my opinion 2011's are better suited for the game whereas glocks are better suited for wearing. I am in a similar boat as you, I'd prefer the feel and grip angle that ultimately gives me a better grip on a glock than I get on a 2011. The reason I don't try to force a glock/open division marriage is that I think open division punches glocks well past their comfort zone of design vs the requirements that an open gun dictates. In my opinion, Gaston would not have designed the glock the way he did if he wanted to compete in USPSA open division. on the other hand the 1911 was designed to handle 230 gr ball ammo which in turn is major power factor and though the pressures and velocities are totally different in 9mm the design and mass of the gun don't know the difference. I too started uspsa and then open wanting to make a glock work. It certainly can be done but it's gonna take its toll on a glock much quicker than a 2011. if I was to do it now, I'd definitely start with a .40 as opposed to a 9mm just so I wasn't trying to push it so hard. personally I think the issue is the frame design on a glock provides significant advantages in reliability as compared to a 2011 but it come at the cost of strength from constant abuse of an open gun takes. sticking a comp way out on the barrel adds a significant moment force to the barrel, slide, and frame . Mounting an optic on the frame is also challenging to the design. I'm not trying to stop you, it's just an uphill fight with a glock and I think you'll perform better in CO without having to deal with a company.

For which exact length of case? i think the answer would be yes but for 9mm which headspaces off the length and not a rim I would say the answer is typically no way unless the dude trimmed all brass an threw out any that was over .001 shorter that his barrels chamber is cut. in long range (mostly bolt action) head spacing and bullet land jump/distance are critical to repeatability but accuracy at 1,640 yards is totally different than 2-50 yard accuracy tests. i have an open gun that sharply "snaps, snaps, clunks" when unlocking or locking and I believe it has more to do with the angle the lower lug is cut and how that interacts with the link and slide stop and how that interaction takes place during a "slow" manual manipulation of the slide. What youre desiring sound like a gun that has a lower lug cut shorter in length or slightly smaller radius than required for the timing of the slide to cycle but not so much as to be a concern or issue. I think the sound your describing is the barrel hitting the horizontal impact surface from momentum prior to or in conjunction with the VIS and it makes a different sound. the link starts the unlocking process by pulling the barrel down by then if there's nothing to control the "fall" momentum will make it sound like it's smacking something because there is nothing to resist the movement once it clear of the lower lug. sikilar is true on luckup. I'd guess the hood is slightly shorter than necessary and as the lower lug hits the slide stop it "kicks" the barrel up quicker than if it was riding on the stop. id gues the locking/unlocking process is quieter and smoother On a gun that rides perfectly up the stop. in live fire I'd say it's either happening and just too quiet to be heard over the boom or it's not happening because the momentum and velocity of the slide is totally different than a manual cycling of the slide. im not a GS so take this with a grain.

I believe Brazos also sell lightened "Brazos" cut fitted short blocks but I could be wrong. if you're trying to save money by buying parts and paying a GS to fit the major components but thinking you'll save a lot by fitting and finishing the small parts you probably won't save anything at all. the time it takes to fit those parts if chosen by the gunsmith for how they like to build them is small and not costly if they're building the gun. the reason "unit costs" by GS are higher is because they have to average their time it takes to fit various unknown parts or non working guns so they can make a living. If however they are building the gun, they choose the parts that WORK and are quickest to fit for THEM on average. the alternate to having these flat fees would be that they charge on a Time and Materials basis. This doesn't work in the GS world because the guys that get charged $20 for a trigger job (because everything was close to fitting to begin with and it took 10 minutes) aren't nearly as vocal as the guy that gets charged $400 for the same "simple" job but it took the GS 5 hours of fiddle f$&@"? It to make the gun work to his satisfaction and to make sure you were happy. it comes down to a matter of the cost of RISK on their part. They would prefer to own their own destiny from the beginning that to have to fix or "make right" something not in their control from the beginning. my point is that if money isn't your biggest concern, Buy the parts and finish the smalls yourself. However, if saving money is your goal, find a local GS to buy the parts and build it for you. No quality GS that primarily focuses on USPSA builds is going to use crap parts because their reputation is always at stake, on every gun they make. $2,800 plus $800= pretty close to the price of a quality custom open gun if it doesn't have a popularity contest name associated with it. Nothing against the recommendations that always get thrown out on this topic but there are good of gunsmiths out there that don't spend the money on marketing and instead pass that overhead savings back to the customer.. i.e. You. not sure where you're located but here in CO, Rick Hebert builds 90% of the open guns you'd see running at matches without issues and he doesn't charge much more for a full gun with the same parts built as what you're contemplating spending on a parts and some machining with no guarantee it will run and shipping is easy. dont get me wrong, I have built 2 open guns from raw parts but I chose to do it to learn knowing I would spend more money on them than he would charge me for a complete custom gun. My point is, you won't save any money doing it, and you will trash parts to eventually be replaced. if that scares you don't do it, if you value the learning process as much or more than the result, dive in and try it. Buildong guns is cool shit but you won't be money ahead until you build 10-15 of them.

I was more making the point that, me as a non professional gunsmith, it takes me way more time to do a good job fitting a barrel than it takes a professional gunsmith who has fit hundreds of them. Ie, what I'm really saying is it will always be "cheaper" to pay a pro to do it than to take the time or buy the tools to do it yourself if you value your time from a financial perspective. For example, in my job where I'm a "professional" there would be less time involved for me to work at my job to make enough money to pay a pro gunsmith for the amount of hours it takes him at the hourly rate he charges to do the same job. So for example if I make $100/HR and a gunsmith wants to make $100/Hr where a barrel fitting = 3hrs or $300 "cost", it will take me 3 hours to make the money to pay him for the same amount of time and work. Whereas me as a non pro Gunsmith, it may take me 15 hours to fit a barrel which would equate to $1,500 in lost money I could have made if I spent the same time at my profession instead of learning to fit a barrel. The way I look at it is that it costs me (time vs money) double or triple the amount of hours to build a gun than what I could have spent to have it done by a GS. For ME, that is acceptable as I value the learning aspect and am willing to pay for that experience. I this point, I don't kid myself that I'm even close to breaking even but it's worth it for the value I get from it for personal reasons. The more I build the closer I will be to being proficient and be able to build them in the same time it takes a pro and at that point I would actually break even financially. If I don't place any value on my time then the out of pocket cost per gun could be cheaper but that's a bad way to think about it when debating on whether you want to build your own gun. Time is money, gotta decide which one is easier to give, or impacts you least. At the same time, I know I'm sacrificing my practice time to actually get better at shooting to learn to build guns so that should be part of the decision as well.

I don't think it's worth messing with, it's cool on it's own and reason enough to own it in my book. whats 25% off equate to? Just curios

Im in the same boat, I have two mills now... though I still prefer to use files and stones for everything but aesthetics cuts on the slide. Useful tip (depending on your tooling) is that if you don't own a starrett rail mic, $280 ish look on eBay for starter "can" or "can seam" mic. Same thing without 5 min to clearance fringing and $35-60 typically. The rail mic tells no lies

Thats unfortunate, not sure where you are but make sure to do some digging. The local may not be CK, Atlas or Akai but that doesn't mean they don't know how to make them run. local matches are the best place to figure it out. Local is convenient, neither case is end of the world

Buy local... things break, have the GS cut it how you want it. Broken guns suck, taking it back to GS to fix is a pain but way easier than shipping and waiting. I would love to have a gun from any of the builders listed but when something breaks id take it close by instead of shipping so id rather have it be built by the guy who will be working on it all the time. my opinion, atlas guns look rad

Yes, just hot air. Heating the tape to (not totally sure) but maybe 125-150 degrees makes the plastic more malleable, makes the glue more active, and makes any air trapped under the tape less dense so when it cools the molecules contract and shrink. You can also slide the tape easier and push out any air bubbles. basically the opposite of trying to put it on when it's frozen. You will get a much better bond if you heat it and plasticize the glue. if you life in that hot of an area, maybe think about covering your gun between shooting so the sun doesn't do the slams thing. also maybe try an epoxy type glue or one that is two part with catalyst and hardener. I don't have experience with it on grips myself and is probably a bad idea because it won't soften with heat to remove it but at the same time, it will not move in you. just an idea

Get a pt aggressive grip, and never have an issue again? If you have to use tape, heat it with a heat gun and make sure to pull the air out. Never realized how much air was left until I used clear skateboard grip tape and it was shocking

Visialize these two parts interacting, I'm guessing you don't own the tools to measure the depths of the lugs and ways of the barrel and slide so think about what's happening and during lockup/unlocking and see if that makes sense. If the slide show contact in all areas but the barrel only shows contact on the "higher" points, that means the barrel is bottoming out in the slide and making full contact. Because there is no contact in the ways of the upper barrel lugs means that the barrel lugs are taller than the slide lugs are deep. In order to get contact on the ways of the barrel lugs you'd need to make the high points shorter so the height of them is the same as the depth of the slide lugs. If you do that, where does oil, grit and grime fit? Is there any tolerance left for anything at all? ideally what is in your head is a "perfect fit" and logical, in reality though, that scenario is jam city because there would be no tolerance for lock/unlock and it would bind something fierce. without measuring lockup or seeing it, there's no way to tell but what you're describing is normal. A great thing I've done when learning and building my own is to sharpie a known working and well fit gun and compare wear patterns For parts as I go. It won't be the answer in all cases but is a great gut check

Where's the dot when the gun goes boom #2? low is probably too much spring, low left is probably too much spring and trigger mash.... or it's all just trigger mash. What's the dot do in dry fire with the same double trigger pull?

What I see is a guy paused by his gut saying stop..... running back towards those two guys is dangerous and unsafe....wait that's the only way I can go to finish.... they should move....check gun, ok move. If the RO's wouldn't have been there, I would almost guarantee he wouldn't have stopped or hesitated in his retreat. We work hard to shoot stages subconsciously, the RO should be very conscious and thinking during the stage. To me him stopping to not put people in harms way, regardless of the first thing out of his mouth is the time the RO's need to man up and acknowledge the cluster F for the situation it is and tell him to stop. Will the shooter shoot it better on a reshoot, maybe or maybe not, but to me on an interference call like this, the shooter should get the benefit of the doubt, and the RO's should be respected for being fair in giving it to him. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ya, it's like this "who built your gun"? I did, "oh sweet, you want to fit a barrel for me"? Sure, it'll be $1,500... "what"? Ya $1,500 cause that's what I make in the amount of hours it took me to get this one one fit and running well.... Or, ya sure but ya gotta ask my dogs and wife to see if they're cool with me not walking them (dogs, not wife...) next month, and it'll only be $750..... For me, it's as much fun playing/making them as shooting them but I know for a fact I'd be much better off if I spent that time and money dry firing or practicing and instead pay a pro for the work than I am spending my time learning to do it myself. Time or money, which doe you vale more