thermobollocks

Standing anywhere gives the competitors something else to think about in stage planning. More so if the stage doesn't lend itself easily to a simple left to right or back to front approach.

Depends on how loud the royalty free techno music is.

Inappropriate discharge.

Yeah. Used them a few times at locals, once when I had a wicked OOB that killed an extractor, once when it turned out my sear spring was worn out and my gun went burst mode, and once when my dot wandered loose.

Yep, the Squirrel Daddy does okay with the tiny little Norma flash holes. My RCBS pin, not so much.

This is the way I like to use, and also things like pull ropes on ports can be neat provided your club can put them together. It takes a little creative stage design to make shooters think about whether doing a shuttle run is worth it, or whether strong-arming is worth it. Though, now, I want to see some PCC shooters do the Rhodesian wall, just because.

Yep! It's right in the instructions.

Can you set aside some of the high primers to verify whether it's a single headstamp?

The way Taccom does their feed ramps can interfere with the last round bolt hold open setups. Their press-fit ramp is like that, and I don't know if their fully ramped barrels have that issue with every manufacturer. Angstadt it's not an issue, but it's also one more part that can fail. I left mine out since I'm basically never shooting to bolt lock. In my case, I'd only ever want it for some of those insane high round count 3-gun stages, and even that is just because I don't practice reloading into a 40-rounder.

Heavy bullet going fast. Give me that fireball. I do prefer 147's for USPSA and 3-gun mainly for effect on steel. Subjectively, I enjoy the recoil more especially out of my plastic guns, but I also haven't done a huge amount of split testing. If you're going for PCC, it's a completely different equation. You'll have a whole separate pile of things going into the recoil system and feeding.

Since you can rake up as much 9mm brass from the public range as you like, I've not found a reason to care about any of the gimmick cases they're coming out with.

Low standard deviations are neat, but it's not on my list of things to worry about in pistol territory. I'll worry much more about what the bullet does on paper. There's also a reason that so many USPSA shooters will gravitate toward certain bullet/powder combos. Of course, it's also true that testing in your own gun is key: I have a PCC that just doesn't group heavier bullets well, for example, despite my preference for heavier bullets to make sure steel falls.

Being as pessimistic as possible for .40 major, if I get exactly one brick of SPP's off Midway it's about 120 dollars. So, twelve cents for the primer alone. If I'm stuck buying Gallant coated bullets by the box of 500 at Sportsman's for 60 bucks, that's another twelve cents for the bullet. If my cost of brass amortizes out, which it tends to for pistol, we ignore that. It's easier if you can just rake up all the 9mm brass you want. With 4.8 grains of N320, 153 bucks off Powder Valley (or 175 off Midway) for 4 pounds, that's still only two to three cents per round for my Gucci powder. So, 27 cents per round on .40 major. The biggest thing that can save you money is bulk-buying bullets. That can knock a solid 40% off your cost of lead compared to retail. Likewise, a bit of patience on the primers and being able to get 5,000+ at a time to save on Hazmat can get your cost of primers down some, but not a lot. I think my last Natchez order wound up being "only" 9 cents per primer. For .223, it's....not fun, but it's still cheaper than factory. Same cost per primer, 12 cents worth of H335, and whatever 55 grain Hornady is cheapest (about 11 cents per). For cases, it's a bit different, as I tend to only get 5 or 6 loadings out of them before the primer pockets become unacceptable, so my cost per case is divided by 5. Ideally, I get range brass and swage it myself, but if I don't, say I buy Top Brass for 25 cents a case (divide by five...) This winds up still being 40 cents per round. Powder and bullet selection can start to matter, but fortunately most of my needs are met by 55's. If you take your 3-gun rifle past 300 yards, that's when something heavier to actually smack the target can help you out, so you've got that choice to make as well. Don't even ask how much my He-Man rounds cost...

Galco Summer Comfort like a baller.

I've never had POI issues going from a 147 grain minor bullet to a 105 grain sub-minor, at the distances involved in Steel Challenge, at least. What does it for me is whether you practice enough with the light loads to actually realize any speed gains, or are you really putting in the reps with minor and just "going light" for steel because you can? In my case, if I'm not practicing consistently with the light loads, I'm not realizing a benefit. Also 2.8 grains of Clays with a Bayou 105 in a Short Colt case is hilariously fun.

Is it a true taper crimp or is it Lee's FCD? Also is it for a profile with no crimp groove?

You can, but it's more competitive with a +10 basepad.

If they don't have an address and a phone number If they only take sketchy payment apps If everything's in stock ...It's probably a scam.

Hell of a match. Be there next year.

The frequent strategy is to change bullets and keep the charge the same. When you start reducing velocity on those 200s there's a chance you'll run into stability problems. Maybe try to obtain some 135s or 155s of the same profile.

Load for the worst conditions you expect and don't try to push it closer when you can get away with it.

Best to check it. I've had .223s that need it and .223s that don't. I also use just a smidge of crimp to deal with any irregularities from potentially ham-handed bullet seating issues. This is less of an issue with .308 but happens.

This is a huge step to ensuring successful and fun stages. Go through them beforehand (as in the week beforehand) to make sure they're legal and relatively free from hiccups, to make sure you have enough equipment to get it done, and to make sure the match is relatively balanced for shooting challenges. You don't want stages with 8 whirligigs and dingleberries or whatever to become a complete logistical nightmare even though on paper it looks fun. You also probably don't want each stage to be a 32 round jungle run. Also, the clubs I have seen be successful have ways of making it be pleasant to be on the BoD. If there's no incentive to get up early and bust humps other than "we get to have a match," it's incredibly difficult to retain motivated staff. No one's going to get rich, but an annual cookout and a comped range membership or something go a long way.

There's a lot of them that will work well for those applications. Titegroup and N320 are my go-to for a ton of stuff, and if you're not trying to game power factor, that opens up a ton of stuff that aren't considered "optimal" (e.g. fast burning and low charge weight). I want to say Unique is also super versatile but not really my favorite.

I use CCI, Winchester, and S&B (RIP) in both pistol and rifle with no ill effects, but only in guns with factory power mainsprings. High primers are what tend to cause me issues rather than the primer itself, so part of my ammo gauging process is to watch and feel the primer to see if it looks derpy. Of course, anything with a reduced power mainspring is Federal territory for me.