bluedevil008

Nope, I'm basically at sea level. Could be that I loaded longer than everyone else? Could also be the CCI 500. Some people are using magnum or SRP which will give you an additional bump.

I wish it was my youth that made me a good shooter so I wouldn't have to spend hours dry-firing every week!

Stage Zero Shooting Supply has some inbound. You can order them now even if they haven'y showed up on the website. I've had the Midway USA 52" for a few years and it works, but I'm going to upgrade to something nicer fairly soon as I just don't feel too confident in its ability to hold a lot of weight. I'll probably go Voodoo route.

I'm obsessed with this gun! Shot large local charity match, 100+ shooters, and grabbed the win. Check out the videos! I also got to test my major loads so I can finally start loading major. Here's the most relevant load: 1.175 OAL 124 PD JHP CCI 500 7.3gr WAC Fiocchi reprocessed brass Avg: 1371 = 170 PF I'm going to bump it up one more tenth of a grain for my loads and just call it good. I'm not a big "experimenter" when it comes to loading. As long as it works, is safe and reliable, I just pick a load and go with it.

21 ROUNDS?!?! what in tarnation?!?! haha

Vortex supports the sport way more than most other optic brands, Trijicon and Burris are pretty invested as well, but because of that, and the culture of the company, I'll choose the Razor over other high-end 1-6x everyday. I guarantee I'm not losing any time because I have a marginally inferior scope on paper. I have a JP CTR-02 which is my dream gun, the only thing I plan on changing is going from a medium to lighter contour barrel next year as well as they're Rapid config handguard to shave another couple announces. I have a TTI M2, and there's not anything nicer, though I wish I also had an RCI My dream 3-gun pistol is a 9mm Atlas Nemesis, but I am switching to Open/2x4 Open and have an ATlas Chaos, which is my dream open gun. Took my 5 years to get here, but not much I'd change if I hit the lottery. Maybe buy a backup of each, and then 500K rounds of ammo!

Yeah they don't do big sales. The sales they do run are pretty modest. I've bought several JP's and use their components in all of my rifles. Expensive, but you absolutely get what you pay for, and their customer service is fantastic. They are also the most consistent supporter of action shooting sports that I'm aware.

It should be pretty dang obvious if it's polymer. Anyway, I would not use a polymer lower. It costs maybe $20 more for an aluminum receiver, a drop in the bucket for a full AR build. If you're looking to save weight, I think there are more important areas that actually affect the balance of the rifle, barrel, scope, stock, handguard, etc.

The local matches I shoot are all 2.5+ hours away. There is one match that is 60 minutes away, but it's absolute garbage. $35 for 4 poorly designed stages and it takes the entire day, so I went once last Fall and am never going again. I try to make the drive worth it by getting a little practice in after the match and also picking up donuts at the local donut shop that my wife is obsessed with.

This is an expensive-ass sport. I commend those who can't shoot that well and still shoot an SVI. As long as they don't have an attitude of "I should be winning since I have the best gun" then I don't really think twice if someone who doesn't know what's going on has a nicer gun than I do.

I have 7-ish MBX mags from 140-170. I had one 140 that caused me several issues, bullets going below the follower, and rounds nose-diving (indication of improper feed lip dimensions.). MBX offered to send a replacement mag free of charge through the retailer I got them from. As soon as I identified that the mag is an issue, it got moved to the side and I don't run it in matches. All the other mags run great in several guns. My older style STI tubes are getting to the point where they don't run reliably, so as they start having issues I move them to the practice pile.

So for anyone who has not held one yet, here's a quick summary of my friend's thoughts. He has two or three pistols built from a local smith that are absolutely gorgeous, great fit and finish, and they run flawlessly. I was going to get one from him, but the smith stopped building. After I eventually settled on the Chaos, my friend was handling it and was instantly sold. He said the fit and finish is a work of art, the trigger is perfect, and it obviously shoots beautifully. He's currently selling some other things to make room for a Chaos. Going up against several Open GM's and M's this weekend at a local 8-stage match, so we shall see how the gun and I hold up! Gunning for a match win, but I'm still fairly new to the open game.

I have am a fan of basepads for two reasons: 1) it allows me to run a magazine in between the length of a 30 and a 40 for prone. 2) The added weight makes an empty mag drop quicker. There's been plenty of times where I have shot a 28-30 round stage where a couple extra rounds is helpful, but running a 40 adds too much length and either makes prone more difficult (I'm a shorter guy) or makes dumping it in a barrel just a hair riskier. D60's are not legal at all matches btw.

I'm about 3/4 of the way through, and so far it has been incredibly beneficial. I am taking notes and really applying the positive thoughts and confident-in-ability mindset. I will say, it doesn't do a great job in our sport of addressing the use of video to identify weaknesses. He mentions to focus on good things once done, but we need to observe the bad things to find issues and figure out where to improve. Finding that balance is interesting, a little difficult, but certainly beneficial.

I just said we will have to disagree, no need to get defensive. Well I'll do my best to describe it. The more rigid the body, the more the recoil of the gun pushes it off balance. If you've ever seen the demo of someone hitting a shooters wrist acting as recoil of the gun (usually to get them to flinch), that same drill can be applied to a tense shooter and a relaxed shooter. The tense shooter gets knocked off balance more and has a much harder time returning the gun back on target quickly because the whole body is still recovering from the recoil impulse. If the body is relaxed, the arms dissipate most of the recoil before it hits the body. The body is less affected by recoil and the shooter can drive the gun back on target faster. Since this is an action sport, inevitably some muscle activation is required to keep the body balanced while moving, but I do not apply tension anywhere in my body other than the forearms and hands. Depending on who you talk to, there are slightly differing thoughts on the shooting process. Most of the time it's minor, and I think if we were to talk in person, this 50% tension would be less of an issue than we are making it out to be. That said, my philosophy and process is to be as relaxed as possible. The body reacts quicker when reacted and allows recoil to be absorbed quicker as well as drive the gun back on target quicker. OP, if you have access to a training partner, have him or her put their hands on your shoulders as you draw and begin shooting. Use a timer to add pressure. The hands will force you to keep your shoulders down and relaxed, if you tense up and start turtling, you will notice it before the gun even gets on target.

We will have to disagree on that one. I have studied a lot of great shooters and never heard any of them claim to tense any part of the body except for the forearms as we grip the gun. When I started incorporating a conscious relaxation into my shooting, everything improved. It is now programmed into my subconscious execution.

I disagree with this a bit. You can relax all you want in practice, but if you aren't getting match experience, you may resort to tensing up under pressure. OP, the only tension should be in your forearms during a stage. You need to practice this at your next match. For the first couple seconds of the stage, consciously think about relaxing and it should flow into the rest of the stage.

I am not sure it's "new technology," but they have found a great balance of everything, weight, weight distribution, length, etc. Instead of starting with a short gun, they start with a long gun and cut it back .4 inches. Add that to an extremely well built gun with the best fit and finish and you have an Atlas.

I opted for the Atlas steel magwell, but if you ever wanted to take off a few ounces, you could switch to an aluminum magwell, and I imagine it would do little to change the feel of the recoil.

I disagree, it feels very heavy when you pick it up. Once the timer goes off, I don't notice it though. Hit the gym and it's not an issue!

Try and up my classification in my other divisions!

If it dips below, the gun is wasting time. It is much easier to drive the gun back on target if it returns slightly high (best case it returns to the same spot). Springs have a lot to do with it, but grip is the most important factor in my opinion.

My understanding is that is a very local-heavy match. I'm glad you guys have a place for your particular guns. Are there any other matches that are like that? -9 shooters at Blue Ridge is not many.

It's been many years since I've seen a match, or a shooter shoot an actual "Heavy Metal" set up with .45, pump shotgun and .308. Those shooters are pretty much non existent nowadays so I don't see the point in adding a division for a dozen shooters across the U.S.

I do not live in such state. Don't think you got my joke