Clay1

On the hollow point issue, I think that in one of this months NRA publications - probably the Rifleman they discuss the 6.5 mm round and it's application. It is being loaded with a hollow point bullet that is not designed to expand and it is a military round. On bullets coming appart before they are supose to take some SX 22 cal bullets and drive them hard in a swift and they just come unglued at a certain velocity point.

I'm in that same learning curve and also reading Brian's book again. I shot on Thursday at an indoor range before my Saturday match. I tried to pay attention to the sights lifting, but like Brian said in the book make sure you can see the muzzle blast or you are blinking. I saw the blast fine. I shot on Saturday yesterday and things are finally coming together for me. Shot 3rd highest overall at a small, 36 shooters, local IDPA match. The work is showing some results. The book is really highlighting many things that I have already experienced but Brian just puts those experiences in words and shines light on nuances that just flicker past conscious thought. I'm really enjoying the book this time around.

I'm coming at pistol shooting from the opposite direction in that one single season I shot over 10,000 rounds of 12 gauge ammo. I shot skeet and sporting clays. I have hired coach in that game which did wonders for my shooting. Remember that most star athletics, professional sports players of all types have coaches. There are some very good DVDs similar to what Matt Burkett can do for us action pistol shooters men like Marty Fischer, George Digweed and Dan Carlisle. I really enjoyed Dan Carlisle's Complete System For Successful Shooting. Here's a link if you are interested: http://www.shotgunsportsmagazine.com/video...ting_clays.html I also feel strongly that most shooters are made and not born. In other words the sooner that we men get over the macho concept that includes the thought that if we have balls we know how to shoot inately. The concept that if you just do it more than the next guy you will get much better doesn't hold water in my way of thinking. You will get better faster with knowledge of proper technique and practicing the right thing instead of ingraining flaws that will take some time to unlearn. These are just my thought on the subject and are not written in stone anywhere. Good luck developing your own style. Rick

I've seen a couple of people talk about pocketing a couple of rounds from someone else. Anyone else see this as stealing something that doesn't belong to them? In IDPA your ammo can make the power factor out of the longest barrel available and not make it out of your shorter barrel and it is still legal.

Yesterday at my practice session I ran a doz or so EL Pres to see where I was. If you cut my best times in half I am almost at 3 seconds but not quite - 6.07 and they were not all As at that. I practice some more and I'll get into the 5s easy enough. Set a new personal best grip and rip one shot from hands relaxed at side .67 - for a long time I never thought that I would break 1.0. That's not an average but the very best that I have been able to do.

Tank, if you are on this site somewhere inside of you - you really do want to get better. Wouldn't it be nice if you could do it in a matter of a few months instead of years? Really, Brian Enos' book and DVD's by Matt Burkett are wonderful ways to learn the right things from the beginning and saving lots of time and money practicing the wrong things. If you can't make it to the range, but have some time discipline, dry fire on a regular basis and you will still become a better shooter quicker. Good luck to you.

Didn't know about the Levi political position so thanks for the info. Have to dress for success at this shooting business. Plan on 2 matches this weekend IF it isn't raining all day. It's a long season and I don't like getting wet especially if the high temp is forecasted for 56 F.

The Express model differs from the Wingmaster in many ways. I own both. The E has a matt finish the WM is deep blued. The WM has nice Walnut, the E has birch. The WM has metal trigger housing and trigger guard the E is synthetic. My 12 G E is chambered for 3" and you can get them chambered for 3 1/2" 12 G. The WM is available in 2 3/4, 3 and 3 1/2. I actually shoot the E more and have no issues with reliability or performance. Great product at a reasonable price.

Ted, I thought that it was on Matt's IDPA DVD. Could be wrong though - I just had to question that one because if it says through the loops, I'm a simple guy and would think that means through the loops - all of them. I did find some Sonoma blue jeans from JC Penny that have the belt loops in a different spot that the Levi std location. The One of the left side is positioned so that I can take my mag pouch and slide it all of the way until it contacts the loop and it is lined up with the pant seam. I remember gearing up and their was an SOI there (safety officer Instructor, whom I had recently been certified by) and he said you have to put that carrier behind the loop. I finished gearing up and showed him where the mag carrier rested and he just smiled and said "I'll be damned" or some such comment. So if you shop you can find something that will work for you. One more hypothetical: Can you modify your pants by moving a belt loop and resewing it on in a spot better suited for your equipment or just remove a belt loop from the pants?

Be careful about shooting someone else's handloads in your gun. They could be hot in your gun so hot that things come ungluded. I wouldn't recomend it at all.

I usually wear a Wilderness Instructor CSM belt. When Comp-Tac built my locking paddle to meet the new IDPA no light requirements they asked me which belt I was wearing and true to form they delivered. I also own a CR Speed and some of my other IDPA friends where wearing just the inner belt. I tried just the inner and believe it or not you can see daylight on the locking paddle because it is so thick that it open up the paddle some, with the Wilderness CSM no light. I still will use the CR Speed for USPSA. One question that I have seen come up from time to time. The rules say that the belt must pass through the loops of your pants. How do you interpret this? I believe Matt Burkett on one of his videos said something like put it through most of the loops but it your mag pouches don't line up like you want them to just skip that one loop and you will still be legal since you have the belt through the loops - just not everyone of them. What do you guys think of that one?

Eric, no pro on this end, but just read in Brian's book tonight (still up from yesterday no early riser here) about shooting and transitions. I remember a couple of specific comments from the book. One was that Brian bends his knees more the faster that he must turn. The second point that he made was that he does break his upper body index if the targets are farther apart and snaps his eyes and the gun will follow. The book is at work or I would give you a page number to look at - he describes it so much better than I. It's in the section on specific conditions and right before shooting one handed. Sorry couldn't be more of a help. Rick

If you have to win that bad that you will cheat to do so - how can you value that win? Low self-esteem and the need to make yourself superior by any means is what I am thinking. I guess that undergrad Bachelor's in Psych is starting to show it's nasty head this earlier in the morning.

3 Glock Hi-caps, one with 11 rounds the other two with 10 if they push the new rule. Better remember which one has 11 and load it first. I can see the new rule if you want to shoot it like you might carry on the street with a mag in a pocket. The gamer that I AM wants to know where the pockets can be. I could sew one on my belly so I can reload like the open boys in IPSC/USPSA Just kidding, don't get your undies in a bundle. Rick

Thanks for all of the replys and the opinions. Thought that I might really like to try a mild 147 mousefart load that is just a little less snappy than the Blazer which probably come close to 140 PF out of my G34. The blazers come to my door at $107 which includes shipping from Natchez. When I add up all of the components you can save some money, but with Haz mat shipping fees and I would need to buy brass since I have been shooting aluminum cases, the VERY small cost savings isn't worth the frustration of chasing cases and my time at the bench. My time at the range is limited, and I should just work on the things that will get me the biggest returns at this point. Thanks again everyone. Rick

Congrats to you and your family. It's nice when success strikes.

This is from Shilen barrels: http://www.shilen.com/frequent.htm#How%20s...Shilen%20barrel? Break it in - what can it hurt? By the way the boys that shoot itty bitty groups all break in barrels, so when in Rome. I hang out here now, but for a while I lived on benchrest central, a wonderful BB for paper punchers - check it out sometime. Rick

In my competitive archery days I use to read golf books too. I'm not a golfer but many times talent follows the money. There tends to be more money involved in golf than shooting so guess who gets the bulk of the talent? It got weird when I started to order russian shooting manuals from russian olympic coaches. There is a ton of good info out there, you just have to be open to new concepts. Brian says in his book that you never stop learning or rather you shouldn't stop learning. Hope improved scores are in your near future.

Flex, you can probably tell by the way that I posed the question. I like not having to reload. The Blazers are cheap and shoot great out of my G34 so why do I want to mess with a good, cheap thing? I thought the mouse farts, might give me the edge for competition. I do realize that I won't go from a C class shooter to A class shooter with just different loads. Time spent reading and practicing what's in Brian's Book is giving me a good return on the time invested. It takes technique and being able to "see" more than what I might get from mousefarts. Would love to hear more opinions on this one. Thanks again guys.

Chills, this comment: "But so much more I could have done, especially if Illinois had a shall issue CCW law. It was a while before the police caught up to him. But then again...." is NOT going to help IL pass a CCW law. So what do you think you could have done legally in this case that would affected the outcome in any way?

Guess I'm going to have to stop rehersing what I am going to do during the stage -NOT. Don't be goofy, of course I will plan that I will stand here and engarge this target first etc. I will plan where to do my reloads. I will see if I can shoot any other targets from the location where I can first see them no matter what the designer tried to do. I see it as the designers job to set up a challenging COF and my job to see how best to shoot the COF. OK, I can't air gun like I do in USPSA, but now I can't stand and look around a barricade. In my mind I will know what I will do in as much detail as my mind can invision it. This is a game and I am here to do the best (get the highest score) that I am capable of getting without cheating. I don't accept that this is cheating, I accept that it is competitive and smart.

You made me smile at least. The 450 is no speed demon that's for sure. But it is a solid press that I have control over each of the stages, which I like when reloading rifle cartridges. By the way it's not much different than a 550 except for the changeable tool heads and that's what Brian recomends on his board. I wasn't trying to say it is a 650, was just curious about trying a new load or just shooting what I have been. Thanks for the smile though.

Little background: have been reloading for 20+ years. Have an OLD dillon 450 and have loaded 7mag, 7mm-08, 22-250, 357 and 44 on it. Never have loaded any 9mm on the thing because the cost of Blazers are so inexpensive why would anyone want to reload??? I've been reading all of the recent post on V V 310, 320 even 350 and the Titegroup posts. I think that I might want to try a softer shooting 9mm that won't save me a dime on ammo and will probably cost more and have me running around picking up brass again. First off is this a worthwhile pursuit for a guy in his first year of USPSA shooting? Should I spend the limited time I have with my G34 in hand at the range or should I be spending some of this time not saving a dime but looking for the uber load? OK, if I'm going to pull the handle again on the Dillon, I need a good recomendation on loading dies for the 9 since I don't own them and it's been years since I bought any dies. I usually just buy RCBS, but there might very well be something better suited these days. I don't plan on blowing anything up with V V 310 so it will be V V 320 (notice how I put a space between the two Vs - it looks like a W if you don't and confused the hell out of me to begin with) or it will be Titegroup. Found a good deal on 147 gr JHP Zero's that might be worth a try on this experiment. I have 2000 rounds of Blazer 115 gr left. I know that they aren't at 125 PF but they feel damn mild to my 357 or 44 mag hunting rounds. They shoot exceptionally well in my G34's so no issues with accuracy. Teetering between being a brass chaser again or just focusing on pulling the trigger and seeing what I need to see with what I have - could really use a push in the right direction. Thanks guys. Rick

Having never loaded V V before and reading this post and another on N310 and very high pressures why would you load V V instead of something like Tite-Group? Can someone explain to me why pressures rise dramatically when the OAL of the round is reduced? Is it because you compress the load? In rifle reloading if your OAL is too long so that the bullet touches the lands the pressures go through the roof to dangerous levels so in rifle I am more concerned with too long and OAL for pressures and feeding reliability. In handguns the first thing that comes to mind is compressing the load. An explaination would be wonderful - thanks. Rick

Must be timing - I came home this morning to find an Email from Burkett saying that his DVD will be available 6-1-05. Rereading Brian's book - almost done with the chapter on creative shooting - wonderful stuff. Ben, you might be right - not yet but soon my friend. Rick