dzhitshard

I use to think $150+ was too much for a pistol "paint job" After doing a cerakote job on a Glock slide, knife, and AR lower I wouldn't do it for $200. I know when I was complaining about the price I hadn't figured in the amount of acetone use in stripping parts and tool clean up nor the cost & performance discrepancy between 120 grit & 70 grit aluminum oxide.

They "deploy" to hostile fire areas like MAJ Glen Miller did in WWII: Whistle stop tours. In and out before the stomach bugs even hit them. While assigned as a member of AMU no member deploys as an individual augmentee or as a unit to perform combat operations. A few will see the interior of one mega FOB or another and act as an MTT for a short period of time. If they see a foreign national commando, soldier etc in person you can guarantee that said FN has been vetted better than a canidate for US political office and that there is another group of US Service members baby sitting the whole show. Prove this untrue and I will eat this IPad. Each member of that unit is a talented shooter and all who I've ran into seem to be capable to well skilled trainers but saying that they "deploy like everyone else" is a slap in the face to every other service member who actually deploys in support of combat operations for more than a couple weeks at a time. Their job while assigned to that unit is primarily to serve as a recruiting tool and provide limited training functions. I don't begrudge that job but I do hold issue with people alluding to doing things they don't or others just passing out of context comments one of their shooting idols made. From the outside looking in, there are a lot of AMU members who've deployed with their prior units and many who serve their time in AMU then leave to other units that make actual deployments. Don't confuse them with those who report to AMU as their first duty unit, and punch out for greener pastures after their first hitch.

The Military class in USPSA et al is for nothing but sucking off AMU & other services teams & getting them papers for their I love me walls. All I only know a handfull of Service Members (SM) outside of the sponsored units who even bother to check that catagory box when they register. There were some ruffed feathers a while ago from reserve component SM's & active component supporters @ SHOT a few years ago where SOME AMU guys got real butthurt when it was pointedly discussed on top the The Stratosphere that most Reserve Component (RC) SM's actually soldier & deploy more frequently than SM's who spend years sitting in a glorified recruiter's/part time trainer billet. The butt hurt over a piece of paper or a wood chip plaque. Oh, The Days of Our Lives drama

If you do ask, I'd recommend you be gentle in HOW you ask it. Feelings could get ruffled

Bwahahaahahahaha, ... Bwhahahaahahaanahahahaahhhaaaaa, wait a minute, I'm crying here trying to catch my breath over that laugh fest. That's some funny sh!t there. Jax, you should petition the POTUS to be his new minister of disinformation. A "weeks" long MTT rotation is not deployment "like everyone else" unless you're lumping them in with secretary of state. To the OP, I shot competitive matches on permissive TDY for a good bit back in the late 90's as a lower enlisted schmuck. Put face time in at local events and meet some of the other SMs that are riding that hog. If you show any tallent and act personable and professional someone would almost definately take you under their wing or help you out with the process. FWIW, I healed through a lot of my wounds (one of the lesser just happened to be a T compression fracture) and spent a good bit of convalescent leave at one shooting school or another. Follow your profiles and don't risk aggregating your injuries. First it's your ass and career path on the line. Worse, it is your body and you're going to be stuck in what's left of it for the rest of your life.

I want this division badly.

The Gen4's big selling point is that it has a modular back strap assembly. Texture of the grip is far better than anything other than the Gen3 RTF. Better as in, it actually grips. I don't like the Gen4 change in RSA size. It limits choices on aftermarket guide rod & spring selection with a couple exceptions. I am happy with the Jager conversion but they are pricey & have spotty availability @ my regular supply points.

I have adjustable Dawson rear sights or an adjustable RMR on all guns I carry & most I play games with. I'm a right handed shooter & I will never show clear or charge using the slingshot grip on the rear serations. I've had 2 RO's from the same club give me "warnings" & at least 2 lectures about how they want to be showed clear by doing so. When I started this game last summer I was initially using the "tactical" hand over slide grip to rack the slide, collect the unchambered round, & lock the slide to the rear. I was "warned" I would get a DQ next time he (both RO's I reference give me warnings on this practice) saw me do it. The cited safety concern was that my hand covered the ejection port & I could knock the round back in to the chamber area causing the primer to detinate on the ejector & therefore was subject to DQ for unsafe handling. I then moved to using the "tactical cool kid" chamber check technique for unloading & showing clear as well as doing my preholster, chamber check while making ready. That is: the grip forward of the ejection port slide pinch. The thumb extended on ejection port side, fingers extended on the support side: using friction from the web of thumb & finger area to retract & lock open the slide. Then it turns out that one of the same RO's again feels this is unsafe because my extended fingers may get muzzled . . .even though they don't cross infront of the bore at any plane. I got a "STOP" & a warning lecture in front of the squad where he said he'd watch for a sweeping violation. I told him thank you as it's the RO's job to "watch shooters" & it would be real obvious if I ended up grabbing the muzzle edge of the slide & swept myself while clearing as you can't retract the slide 4" if your fingers are caught on the muzzle. Long story short. There are some people who don't like anything but X technique & won't be comfortable unless EVERYONE uses it. Most of those guys don't have the brain power to process what they're seeing if it's not thier comfortable "X" technique & I would ASSume that's why it couldn't be articulated in the OP's example. I've been to about 20 matches of various levels & haven't expereinced more than those couple RO issues. FWIW, In my limited match experience, it also seems the cranky RO's are also the ones who couldn't clear a plate rack in under 5 seconds unless they hit it with their ATV.

The editor had copies of all back issues until his house burned down in 2005. He's been buying back issues ever since but October 1999 has not been one of them. Damn, he never told me he needed back issues. I've been dropping 10+ year old issues into APO care packages as I find them when I crack open old moving boxes etc

I don't shoot open other than a handful of local matches with my carry gun that had a slide mounted reddot and a light. I have 2 guns left that wear slide mounted RMRs. I carried one daily for about a year before I started moving my RMRs clearing up cash waiting for the improved/hardened models to start hitting the hands of mere mortals. in the past few weeks I understand they have started trickling out so I will probably get back on that horse after summer. I haven't carried the RMRd gun for 10 months or so. I do own a couple Aimpoints, most are T1s but I have a couple H1s and a couple older CompM's. I have extensive experience with them and other brands of duty quality models from other manufacturers.

Oh, additionally, the AP models that have been awarded world wide military & Law enforcement contracts aren't the models you're commenting on. There were AP Comp purchases by a handful of units & they experienced a Level3 like failure rate. The information & feedback from those units helped AP produce the hardened optics that later won the contracts you reference. I've seen a fair bit of internet anti - AP rants from people in competition circles who rant about how crappy AP products are ad nausium. It's far & few between after you see the facts laid out to find that the products they're complaining about are either new (not worn out surplussed optics) or from the same product line the MIL/LEO units choose from. My $.02

Seriously? Dude, it's 2013. The Aimpoint Comp & Comp XD has been discontinued since 1999 & 2001 respectively. The original waranty IIRC was 2/10. 2 years for competition equipment & Mil/Police use & 10 for personal use. Remind me to write a scathing internet jab that I can't get factory service for my 1978 Camero tape deck.

I REALLY like MarkCO's hammer/tool analogy & I have subscribed to it 100% for quite some time. I don't mean to be casting stones at you because I myself fight trigger issues transfering from duty guns carry guns & a couple of different game guns. I constantly train dryfire with my carry gun, stock G22 with all factory parts "-" connector. Until Saturday morning my main limited G35 was set up the same except with a light FPS spring. On Saturday I put the whole Zev competition V4 connector & spring set in, completely changing the feel. I'll save myself the embarassement & just say performance of ending 6 stages with 2 Deltas, 2 Mikes, & more C's than a first grade phonix book was less than desirable. Again, remember no Rocks from me: I don't think you're truely grasping it yet. :"For me, the problem is the Glock's different kind of hold and aim" There is no different hold & There is no different aim to any handgun if you're doing it right & doing it with a mechanically sound piece with proper POA/POI zero. There is hold & align the sights differnce from plastic to plastic, to 1911, to 2011 etc. It doesn't change. You would not have dropped a mag's worth of rounds at the plate rack, as you mentioned, with a "holding different" problem. You would have shot s-l-o-w-e-r times due to transitions & sight acquasition being unfamiliar with the new platform but you still would have hit a plate with every round if you executed a good trigger press.

My particular samples x8 have been in use for almost 1.5 years constantly loaded to 19. No set has taken. I pulled 3 of them off of 9mm mags that I was getting max capacity (23 IIRC) out of. I'll look to pooling all my #5 followers.

You were under the wrong impression then & undoubtedly a victom of gunrag author syndrome. I have demonstrated 100 times that you can make solid hits holding the gun upside down crooked & sideways firing with the oposing thumb. IF your sights are aligned & the trigger press doesn't disturb their alignment with the target you will hit the target [with a mechanically zeroed gun] Again, the "grip angle" only comes to play when your talking speed on follow up shots or initial presentation.

plate rack aside, what are you printing on paper with it at the same distance?

Smitty, this is My Opinion but unless I'm swapping holsters or pouches A LOT, I have grown to despise the techlocks unless I'm using my 2" belt. The belt tension adjustment is always needing attention no matter what generation tech lock I have. This causes holster shift on the draw & defeats the purpose of having a heavy, non torquing belt.

I have a slew of Dawson+5 ez off extended base pads. I've seen the video on trimming the followers. I've got predominately Gen4 mags & I've sanded/filed quite a bit off of the followers but still can't hit the magical 20 round mark. For those who are, what follower # are you using?

"Just play your slice. . . use hold off. . . or zero to your technique flaw. I agree with Mark, what a disservice. Especially being that I've never seen someone who's POI is off because of a technique flaw print tiny groups period.

A grip angle issue doesn't have anything to do with the ability to make a hit AFTER your sights are alligned on a target. Grip angle can, and does for me, make a different on presentation & SPEED getting sights on target. If your shots hit target when you're benched but not when you're offhand/freestyle: the problem is with your trigger press. You'll have to own up to that to get through your hump IMO.

Thank you Down Under man. It's very embarrassing to admit but it seems I was getting some longer mixed brass than I had set the sizing die for. It must have been barely binding up @ the end of the down stroke to a level I can't perceive. That's the way my opinion is leading now. I pulled the sizing die & ran 100 presized cases through. 99 out of 100 perfectly seated primers. The single failure was a crimped case that snuck in & because I have the swage rod backed out of the equation I of course crushed it @ the primer seating station. Again, super embarrassing to find out I was probably ranting at my own simple setup failure but if it helps the next guy when he's searching for why the hell his press isn't working . . .

yep, I do that practice. The head will torque to the right if you don't have it in the down position with the alignment pins in the holes of the frame/lower machine assembly.

Good call, tool head bolt is tight. Part 12189 Primer seating push rod was the part I was referring to adjusting in my original post. I am starting to wonder if it may be a problem. I was just looking at my witness marks & it's backed off a bit again. Previously I had noticed that while slowly lowering the tool head several times the primer seating push rod is making some contact with the lower frame of the 1050 before it enters the hole to activate the primer arm assembly. This causes the entire tool head to shift slightly 2/3 or so through the down stroke. At speed it is less noticeable. I took the head off several times & reinstalled it trying to eliminate this. All the linkages line up on the back side & show no wear nor have any binding when cycling. I haven't had the chance to pull the sizer die process yet but the more I think of it, the more I worry I missed the elephant in the room

Thanks for the reply. No, handle movement is not impeded. This is part of the reason that my swager is not in use currently. The swager rod is backed out so the tip will only slightly enter the primer pocket. I have an RCBS decap & resizing die. I was trying to be frugal & use one of the 3 sets of dies I had on hand instead of buying the Dillon set that was on the shelf for the last month. I am getting a number of pull back primers that are getting reseated by the swager & that's slowing down the process. That's the only handle stroke issue I'm getting. I gave a little flame to Dillon in my original post but I'll pass them some love on the die sets. I really miss the decapper spring my 40 die sets have as well as the seating die take down. Edit, Holy hell, I have set my sizing die to max depth, on the" 3 cases" I ran through it when setting it up. I use mixed case range brass so I suppose it's possible that I could be getting some that are longer & that may be changing it enough to make a difference I can't feel. I think I'll back it completely out after I size a couple hundred cases & then I'll run them through the stations without the sizer in place.

Just stumbled accross that caliber conversion ap I mentioned above in one of the Stickied threads in the Dillon reloading room. Thread title something like. Helpful Dillon links on Brian Enos.com