Chris Rhines

I'm in the process of setting up my new/old Dillon 550 and joining the world of reloaders. Part of that involves coming up with a .40 load for my forthcoming Limited gun. I was looking at pushing a 165grn. Zero or MG JHP at just over 1000 fps. However, looking thru the forums I notice that most practical shooters favor the 180grn. bullets - is there any particular reason for this? As always, advice is welcome. Thanks, Chris

Shot this one at the VA-MD Championship. C, Limited Minor, 46pts, 10.91sec. Yeek. Still plenty of work to do... - Chris

This does concern me a bit.If any shooters local to the DC area have a tuned-up Glock they'd be willing to let me play with, I'd consider it a great personal favor. I'll supply the ammo and lunch... - Chris

My first big match - I had a great time. Wish my friggin' gun had worked... This was a very technical match, and it was very easy to screw up. I managed to hose my way through Jailhouse Rock, missed two or three shots with two or three more marginal hits. After that, I managed to relax a bit and get better hits. Actually, I finished higher than I thought I would. Lots of ports, which are my personal cross to bear. If I bone a stage up, ports will have had something to do with it. I'm very much looking forward to the next one. - Chris

Outstanding - thanks for all the advice, guys. So it looks like I have three choices: - Wait a couple months and buy a brand-new, fully-tricked out doublestack 1911, - Buy a suitable, used doublestack 1911, - Buy a Glock and add a few minor tweaks. I probably don't have the willpower to wait a couple months for a custom gun; I've already put my 3-gun rifle project on hold to fund this one. The idea of a Glock is interesting... I've never cared for Glocks too much, mainly because of the gawd-awful trigger. So I read about the trigger work that Charlie Vanek does, and think, "Hmmm." A Glock 22 with a Vanek trigger, Dawson/Bo-Mar sights, and a handful of magazines might be just the ticket. I like simple guns that run well, but can be tinkered with a bit. Plus, I could shoot the Glock in IDPA and steel. This may be the way to go... I'm actually buying a Dillon 550B from a local shooter this week. As soon as I have some bench space cleared out, that'll be sorted.I've also got a Safariland Levitation rig...honestly, I'm not too happy with it. The belt is too wide to be comfortable, and it doesn't fit well the holster I've been using. I might keep the underbelt and sell or trade the outer belt and pouches for a 1.75" belt of some kind. Holster will be a Blade-Tech dropped offset - I don't much care for speed holsters. How do Glocks do recoil-wise? Coming from shooting an all-steel 9mm minor gun, I suspect I'll be a bit recoil-sensitive at first. Thanks again, all. - Chris Oh, BTW, the other Chris Rhines is me. I moved from Purdue to the DC Area almost two years ago, and promptly forgot my password. Sigh...

Good question. I can afford to spend about a thousand dollars right now. I am willing to spend whatever it takes in the future, say up to a practical max of $3000. In a way, I'm tempted to scrimp and save for a while until I can afford a perfect gun, rather than settle for a good one right now...I'll take a look at the Paras as well, although I've heard reports of reliability issues with them - unreliable guns make me crazy (well, crazier...) - Chris

Hello all. I've been shooting USPSA seriously for the last year or so. Up until now, I've been using my ancient 9mm CZ-75, shooting in Limited Minor. Lately my CZ has been having some reliability problems, and I think that instead of trying to fix it I'm just going to make the jump to a "real" Limited gun. Sadly, the budget won't support a brand new S-V right now - I can come up with about a kilobuck, give or take. So I've been looking around for used guns and having very little luck - there just aren't that many S-Vs, STI 2011s, etc on the used market right now. Is there anyplace else I should be looking for used Limited guns? Are there any other brands that I should consider? Should I just save my nickels for a while and buy a new gun? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks, Chris