Dirtychemist

You haven't ever shot stages with 8 round magazines. Ask me how I know. Limited 10 removes the holster and magazine requirements at the hip bone. If you shoot Major in Single Stack you now buy new mags and you get 2 extra bullets. I can't tell you how many stages I wish I could have 2 extra bullets for magazine changes. Those are the two biggest reasons I've considered the change but I'm aiming for A shooter in Single Stack to show the production guys you don't need that many bullets.

I have a blackhawk Serpa holster. At my last match the RO thought I disabled the lock because I was smooth and fast with it. I showed him the lock worked and I just practice. I was in a hotel the whole week before the match and did an hour a day but its amazing what 15-30 minutes can do.

Which one gets you more ALphas in the shorter time on the same day one the same drill?

I have thought about this and wondered if any course of fire goes that way. I like the draw empty and load and take two shots. Similar mentality to a table draw I had yesterday.

I second this for dry fire. I have it on my phone AND my iPad. I haven't tried it live.

Shot this Sunday. Messed up the reload and dropped probably two seconds. Single Stack Major HF: 4.9666 10.47 seconds 52 points. 8A (4 on the middle target) 2C 2D

The Internet. Midway, brownells, maybe locally, Wilson combat, amazon, eBay etc.

I did the same thing for a while then I'd use Gladware to hold the bags when I went out to the range. Wrote my personal notes about each bullet on the note slip I had with the load info and took it all home. It made it really easy to keep everything clean an organized. You could buy some of the actual bullet boxes and tell yourself the $2 will pay itself back vs plastic bags over time. Do that and buy a notebook and you can keep all the notes you want.

Blackhawk Serpa. I always wonder if I'd be faster without having to push the button but I know it won't make enough difference and shooting better would make a better improvement. I too out the piece of plastic inside my holster and it feels like the gun comes out smoother for me. The retention still works but it doesn't feel like the holster is holding on to the gun as much anymore.

You will be shooting minor from what I understand because I'm 90% sure they'll put you in production. If you want to, go out and make some of the softest loads you can that function reliably. Truthfully, I'm thinking 600 FPS will give you a recoil close to a 9mm and thats what most of the production guys aim for as well. They shoot 40s so it's a little easier to get them going slower. With a 230 gr bullet 600 FPS gets you 138PF. I shoot single stack and locally I don't have a lot of shooters but I enjoy shooting it and it's what I planned to start shooting with. The only other gun I'd shoot would be my Sig 229 SA/DA because I have 5 magazines and a holster for it and I'd only need holsters for the mags. I also started this year so I want to get higher in my class before I change. If you're familiar with the XD I'd just go buy the 5.25" gun after you pick a division you like (production, Limited 10 etc.)

What is the measurement of the mouth of the case after crimp without a bullet? I realized I was seating my bullets to the correct length but my crimp was closing them in at .467 or less sometimes. Also, how wide is it before you're seating the bullet? Just another place to check if the case is being expanded too much.

Same recipe using 230 gr plated from Xtreme Bullets. I make them 1.220" and they cycle my Remington R1 fine. No puff of smoke after (amazing what a difference plated makes). I can't comment on the recoil since I don't pay attention to that too much. I CAN tell you it will put them really close together for USPSA if I do my job.

Picking up 45 brass is actually pretty easy. So many people shoot 40, 38 super, and 9mm and know how precious brass is (especially 45 ACP) that mine is usually the easiest stuff to pick up. I saw one guy who made red stripes around all his brass which made it a little easier to find his stuff (40 S&W) and sort it out of other random brass. I had a 45 ACP and enjoyed shooting it. I only need to make a 230 gr bullet go around 725 FPS to make major. 200 gr goes 800 and is also a good round to shoot. Truthfully if you don't reload 45 (or shoot it a lot right now) AND you shoot 40 a lot then I'd stick with 40. Now, from a competitive standpoint I might go 40 minor just for the extra 2 bullets. I can't tell you how many times I wish I had 2 extra bullets in all 6 mags I have. 12 extra bullets is HUGE!

Shoot the same match with two guns. Do it more than once and switch which you shoot first. Truthfully its the only way to tell.

I pride myself on hitting As. Everyone says speed comes with time. I've done three matches and a steel shoot and I can see my improvements and how shooting MY way works. W had an area 4 standard qualifier. 6 seconds par time 150, 95, 50 ft distances. 150 ft target I hit the for three. A, C, D. 50 ft was weak hand. 5 shots on the target. 7th for the entire stage out of 50 people. Pactice. Practice. Practice. Practice draws, reloads, mag changes, moving. http://benstoeger.myonlineplace.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=184:15-minute-dry-fire-program&catid=46:dry-fire-training-program&Itemid=64 I do this for AT LEAST an hour three times a week. I've seen myself get better mag changes and smoother draws. I look at the timer for my squad and see if I'm drawing around the same time as the other people. If I think they are fast and see a 1.8x draw to first shot I feel confident in my level of competition. I shoot single stack so I already have to look at a stage differently. By the USPSA membership and keep it up. Ask the guys if they know of other shoots happening. Sign up for different squads and you'll get lots of good help. Then pick someone you think shoots well and at watch yourself vs them. Make your own goals of coming in not last, top half, top 15, etc. it's fun to watch yourself improve and hear people compliment your shooting. Just wait until you try a man on man steel shoot.

http://benstoeger.myonlineplace.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=184:15-minute-dry-fire-program&catid=46:dry-fire-training-program&Itemid=64 I do this. I compete in single stack for USPSA and I had my third match last weekend. I do this for about an hour instead of just 15 minutes and I haven't had any reloads during matches that has e given me a hang up. All my hang ups are during practice and I do the drills again until EYE (emphasis on me) am satisfied with MY performance. I do them at 10-12 yards and my target is the size of the A zone at that range. It's convenient that I have this setup in the house using nothing other than stuff hanging on the wall. It's a benefit of a single bedroom apartment. At this weekends matching w able to watch the production guys I shot with draw and fire and I could see the timer. I saw a couple 1.59 so I feel that practice, not new gear, will help me plus its free and kills a lot of time when I could have idle hands.

If I could shoot two USPSA matches a month at the same range I'd shoot them all and practice inbetween. Think about how often sporting events are held. Football is every single weekend/ Pop Warner, high school, college, NFL etc. Hockey is even more often. Competitions give you time to see how well your practice is going. IF you practice during the weeks you're not competing you can see how your training is coming along. If you're practicing draws, reloads, transitions to weak hand, draw from a box, unloaded draw etc. you might see your times decrease and you could attribute that to your practice. Or you could shoot one match a month and practice live fire and see if that makes a difference. Plenty of free applications are available on smarth phones that are shot timers. They don't work too often on dry fire but you can set the par time to 1.5 seconds or whatever you want and time yourself that way. Hi-Power Jack...shooting the dot torture drill is live fire practice and I really don't understand how you could practice and shoot for YEARS without getting any better but in 4 days you saw improvement. Either you didn't practice correctly or just went to the shooting events to hit targets with bullets. Start working with some local guys and you get better = training program. dry fire drills live fire practice when you can matches to judge youreself. Maybe they'll even let you look at the splits for first shot to see how your draw is going for that day. I can tell you between my first and second match I started doing about 30-45 minutes of dry fire practice draws and I hit a LOT of As. A couple stages it was ALL I hit with some reduced times. I even worked up the ranks and was in the top half vs bottom 5. 40 shooters that day.

Locally primers are selling at slightly inflated prices but the only place that has them sells them out Wednesday mornings in a half hour and they limit you to ONE box. PERIOD. Not one of small/large/pistol/rifle. One $35 box. I have about 700 rounds of 45 loaded up and another 700 bullets. All my brass is primed and I have 7000 primers because I impulse bought them during the summer just so I wouldn't run out or have to go to the store in the middle of reloading. I bought a pound of HP-38 locally two weeks ago so I'm good to load what I have for the season HOPEFULLY. I just keep my eyes out for bullets and check the stores about three times a week. If I wasn't living in an apartment I would have pulled the trigger on a Montana Bullet order in December or January just to have that 2500 bullets stock and maybe a 4 lb powder jug to play with. 223 brass....I can't believe it's going for that much. It's funny to watch people buying components be told they can't buy all they want when they just waited in line and the 20 people in front of them didn't buy everything before this guy walked up.

Just wanted to update this and say 24.5 h335 with 69gr Sierra BTHP is MAXIMUM in my Noveske barrel. I started seeing signs of primer flattening and indentions and it was a sharper recoil than most. I went off the guidelines of working up a load and went over maximum published values by 1 grain (23.8 in Hornady 7th edition) It was nice since it made two cute little holes at 25 yards and zeroed my EOTech in 2 shots.

I'm trying this later today. New to competition and draws and I'm around a comfortable 2 second draw.