Action Pistolero

Looks great. I have a Ron Power revolver that I shoot when I'm burned out with the auto. I have a good time with it and it makes me concentrate more on trigger control. You going to Lake Charles in April for the regional?

I guess I'm just an oddball. I couldn't find a USPSA match but found a club, that I didn't know existed, an hour away because of a match listing in American Rifleman. I found an article in American Handgunner that featured a bunch of Nyle Leathams photos at Bianchi. I showed up at the match with an Open gun that would have been competitive in USPA in the early '90's. Been hooked ever since. It can easily be done with what is out there now. I believe that NRA has advertised Bianchi in Front Sight. We had Open Modified (USPSA guns) for a few years but it went away because of no participation. There was Rimfire at Bianchi for women and juniors but there again, no participation. Somewhere I have seen a leather holster for a Ruger. I believe it was the Sportsman's Guide. The best way is with a 1911 conversion. No holster problem there. Chuck, When and where are your matches in OR?

Nra does give money to clubs through a grant program. The club has to apply to NRA for it. This is the way the Bedford, VA club got its start. Indoor matches are shot in Berrien Springs, MI, Oneida, NY and Kansas City. The Production rules were changed to read that the trigger must pick up a 3.5 lb weight in the double action mode. No longer single action. There are 17 different courses of fire. I would like to see different courses shot at Bianchi but I found out real quick that I am in the minority on that one. If you have anyone saying that AP is boring, set up the Advanced Military Pistol course and let them say that one is boring. 2.5 seconds to fire one shot at 25 yards and 1.5 seconds to fire one shot at 10 yards. That 4" x ring gets real small on that one. Then there is the 3 targets at 10 yards spaced 9 feet apart. Start facing 90 degrees from targets then draw and put 2 shots on each target in 4 seconds. If a shooter was to semi master all of the courses of fore they would make one hell of a shooter. These courses test all of the shooters skills. Strong hand, weak hand, the draw, reloading, shooting around a barricade, movers, shooting prone, shooting sitting and above all accuracy. For new shooters, we don't enforce the trigger rule or the grip safety rule. If they don't have a holster or don't feel comfortable with it then they can start at a low ready. The scores are not sent in. This is used to suck them in and see how much fun it is. The 22 class is the easiest and cheapest way to shoot the match. Who doesn't have a 22 laying around? There are 3 classes in the division just like centerfire. Open, Metallic and Production.

I guess it's about time I put my 2 cents worth in. I did not see mpolans deleted post either. Knowing that he has numerous times posted on here with his bad attitude that he has with NRA, I can only imagine what it was about. Mpolans has not shot an AP match in atleast 4 years to my knowledge and when he did, he ticked off everyone that was there. He always has something to complain about. NRA knows this and they have no patience for someone who is just a thorn in their backside and does not support the sport. The thing that everyone has to understand is that, for the staff at NRA, this is their job and not their hobby. As a former member of the committee, I can tell you that they are short staffed, overworked and under paid. I would not want to put up with what they have to. Chuck, Your club needs to decide which avenue they want to take. Are they a shooting club that is about the money or about the shooting. As long as they aren't loosing money then what's the problem? AP programs take a while to get started and grow. I'm sure they didn't buy a Mover and the plate rack is already used for something else. Some targets and stands is all it takes.

Hindsight is 20/20 but you should of had an CBP form 4457. This is filled out by a customs agent before you leave the country. I flew to Australia in 06 for the World match and didn't have one. I got lucky. The guy asked if I had anything to declare and I said no, so he let me go. When I went to New Zealand for the Worlds in 08 I had the correct form. It was a hassle as they had to check all the info in the computer but it didn't take very long. I have shot many matches in NY without any problems. Of course, I don't get anywhere near NYC. I was told that the guns had to be in a locked case with a trigger lock. The handgun license is for a resident of NY. I didn't need a license in CA when I shot the Steel Challenge when apparently as a resident of CA you need one. As someone else said, enter the border somewhere other than NY.

Forgot about that one. 2nd Sat. in June?

There is a monthly match in Bedford the first Sat. in June. We get burned out after Bianchi so there are no bigger matches in June. The first regional after Bianchi is the middle of July. Even then, just ask George Martin how hard it is to get the entries for the match in July. I did some chrono testing the other day. Set up the chrono at 10ft from the muzzle and then 50 yards. 10ft High 1147 Low 1123 Extreme spread 24 Average 1136 Stnd. dev 9 50 yards High 1047 Low 1030 Extreme spread 17 Average 1038 Stnd dev 5 Air temp was 60 degrees so speed of sound was around 1117. I have been doing a bunch of reading on the speed of sound stuff. Since bullets are spinning the effect of the bullet passing through the sound barrier causes minimal effect on accuracy. This pertains to pistol calibers and is a completely different story for rifle calibers at long ranges. At long range, the bullet spin slows down enough that the sound barrier does have an effect on the bullet.

I always mail mine in. Is there a way to print to print the entry form? If all else fails, just pay the entry minus the $100 and send it to NRA with a letter. I'd send it to Damien so that there is no confusion. Make a copy of the cert just in case.

My eyes are pretty screwed up as far as focusing goes. I make up for it with glasses. My optometrist set me up with a script so that I can see the front sight clearly. I brought the gun in to her office and she hooked me up. My front sight has a slight ramp too it and I used a 30 lpi checkering file to serrate it. When I focus on the serrations the shots are where they should be. As soon as my attention drifts then forget it.

Yea, it's going to drive me nuts shooting a dirty gun. I will be running a brush through it once to clean the crown. By the time I get done shooting the short distances the barrel will be fouled enough for the longer shots. I'm starting to believe that this speed of sound stuff is a bunch of hooey with pistol bullets. I need to shoot through a chrono at 50 yards to make a believer out of me. All I know is that 1150 fps works very well in my guns. I would tend to think that by the time the bullet gets to 50 yards it has passed through the sound barrier. Travis is busy arresting drunk drivers and other fecal matter. I believe he enjoys it though. He hasn't been shooting much but he did manage to kill a few Deer this fall. He is also finding out just how far a paycheck goes. I don't know if you have heard but he is now engaged. Date is June 2013.

Brownell's has the Briley and EGW has the sidewinder. Need to be more specific in what you want. What kind do you have now?

Dave, I measured the sights on my 6". I'm using an Aristocrat rear which has a .110" wide notch. The front sight is .125". It's probably .1245" as I filed down the sides until I could get a little light around it. I like just a little light around the front sight, I feel it is more precise that way. With the time limits that we have I can still pick it up fast enough. I tried a fiber optic front but it glowed to the point of washing out the sides of the sight. I use the black sights for precision work and use the fiber optic for speed.

Dave, The best all round velocity seems to be 1150. Before you start accuracy testing, be sure that you have fired 200 rounds. For some reason, the Zero bullets seem to do much better from a fouled barrel. When you clean it, just run a brush in and out. This will loosen the powder fouling but leave the copper. The group that I fired a few weeks ago didn't happen until I had 200 rounds through the barrel.

Yea I know, we are spoiled when it comes to component prices. I'm getting an 8lb keg of WST for $95 so 8lbs of N330 would be $256 plus shipping. Doesn't sound like it will be worth the hassle. How's business?

Powder Valley, Winfield, KS, $32.00 per lb.!!!! There you go Kev! Yikes!!!! I may just stick with WST. Thanks Kim. Doug, WST will work in a 9 but it is difficult to make pf. Whichever case can hold the most powder for the chosen OAL would be the way to go.

I had a little N330 and used it to work up a load for a 9mm Open gun. It worked very well. It seems to be difficult to come by though as I haven't found many places that even list it. I never had much luck with N320.

I often tell new shooters the best way to start shooting Action Pistol (Bianchi matches) is to get a rimfire and put red dot on it. The rimfire class is a lot of fun and the guns are cheap. Unfortunately, we cannot shoot a rimfire at Bianchi. That being said, the cheapest centerfire would be a revolver. A 686+ with a red dot would be a good way to go. I have an old Ron Power open class revolver that is a joy to shoot and is what I use when I get burned out shooting the auto. The iron sight division is separated into 2 categories, Metallic and Production. The difference between the two is the Metallic guns are tricked out autos and revolvers. Production guns are basically right out of the box DA/SA autos or revolvers. For the purpose of this discussion, we'll just deal with Open and the Iron sight divisions. I would suggest Open class to a beginner for 2 reasons. A red dot is easier to be precise with and faster to align the sight on target allowing the shooter to concentrate more on trigger control. It is also easier to make the time limits because of this. Your scores will also be higher in Open giving a positive feeling about your shooting therefore making it more enjoyable. In the mid 90's, I decided that I needed a comped 45 single stack Open gun to shoot USPSA with. Just goes to show what I knew at the time. A so called gunsmith messed up the barrel and slide trying to build it so I went to another gunsmith with a new slide and barrel and ended up with a 9x23. I couldn't find a USPSA match near me but I did luck out in finding an Action Pistol match so I had it set up to shoot minor. I started shooting more matches in Open and slowly built the gun into a full blown Open gun. I tried iron sights but had a hard time with it. After I shot Open for a few years, I picked up the iron sighted gun again and did a lot better and started to enjoy the challenge. By that time, the time limits were second nature so I knew how long that I could take to align the sights and work the trigger. Hope this helps and let me know if I can help with anything else. Jeremy, It would be very nice if I could shoot that well through the 4 events. If I could just get all 48 in the 10 ring on the Mover I would be happy. What did Kevin say about loads and velocities? A friend of mine wanted to convert his STI Trojan into an Open gun so I suggested that he get a KKM barrel. He told me that he talked to Kevin and he told him what I posted. I'll have to send Kevin an email or call him and discuss things. What first impressed me with the the KKM was the deep cut rifling. I had always used Kart until a few years ago when I noticed that the rifling was shallow. They didn't shoot as well for me then the older ones.

I believe it has something to do with the nut behind the trigger and how much alcohol he consumed the night before. KKM barrels are 1:32 twist. I have been told that this is the standard twist that they use. I was never a believer in the 1:32 twist but I'm a believer now. You can request a 1:16 and they make a 1:24 for Montana Gold bullets. I have 2 KKM's now and will be changing all my guns to use them as their barrels where out. My gunsmith has 5 Action guns in the works now and they all have KKM barrels.

Hello Dave, What rock did you crawl out from. Haven't heard from you in years. Thought you dropped off the face of the Earth. The 135 looks like an HAP except a 115 grain and it has the same base as the R125. I had a picture showing it in here somewhere but I haven't found it. Looking to make a comeback?

Yea, I will be sending an email to Fred telling him to be sure and make several tons of them quickly.

Sure, Tom. No problem. I believe the nut behind the trigger could use the training.

Did some more ammo testing last weekend. This time I used the new Zero 115 grain JHP product #135. Group was fired from 50 yards. The group measured 0.473". Used the same gun as last time but it now has a KKM barrel. I like to call these pictures, now you see it, now you don't. Group was covered with a nickel.

My concern would be the difference in the breech face between the super and the 40. Using the same slide for 9mm and super is one thing but the 40 needs a bigger breach face. I have a friend that had a 9mm with a bunch of jamming issues. Turns out the slide was a 40. I am also skeptical about the barrels already fitted to the slide. The barrel is normally fitted to the slide and frame as a unit. If the frame that was used to fit the barrels to the slide is not exactly the same as the new frame there will be problems. The hood fit with the slide and barrel on the new frame will likely need to be re fitted and if not welded up will produce a sloppy fit. It would be much better to get a different slide for each caliber. The last issue would be the ejector but considering they both use small primers that may be okay.

Not bad. You broke 1000. I know a bunch of shooters that don't do that their first time out.

I've shot at the range that you are going to many times. You couldn't have picked a better range or a better bunch of people. There's nothing to be nervous about. The guy who runs the match is Gary Yantis. He is a very good friend of mine. He's real easy to spot. He usually has a big old cigar hanging out of his mouth. Gary will guide you through each string of fire. Just remember to watch the front sight and squeeze the trigger. Most of all, have fun. Wish I was going to be there. Tell Gary that Kevin says "hello bub"