Feralshooter

I'll try to post a picture when I get a chance. It is the bottom edge of the breechface, where it meets the rail that strips rounds from the mag. Please bear in mind this is only my theory and is not yet proven. However I don't see any downside to trying it unless you cut the bevel too big and it could then cause feed problems by riding over the next round rather than pushing it into the chamber.

I understand that this is caused by rounding of the edge at the base of the breechface, where it meets the "middle rail" on the slide. I have experimented with a friend's shadow that has a bevel on this edge and reliably closes on insertion of a fresh mag, vs. my shadow that has a sharp corner and does not auto-close. It seems that the top round in the mag will push against the slide (upward), and this bevel serves to transfer that force to a backward one, taking pressure off the slide stop and allowing it to trip. Similar to if you gave the slide a little backwards pull and release. I intend to follow up by cutting a slight bevel on mine (only 1-2mm) and try to prove my theory, however I'm in the middle of moving so it won't be for a while. Discussed in this post: http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=186748&view=getnewpost

I use Frontier CMJ round nose 124 and 135. I'm still testing both to see if there is a noticeable difference in feel. I find it difficult to tell the difference after the beep. While I found I can seat both of these as far out as 1.140", both showed a marked improvement in accuracy with a shorter OAL. I load the 124's to 1.070", and the 135's to 1.090". The 135's are 0.030" longer than the 124's so the above OALs allow slightly more room in the case for the 124's to accept the additional 0.2 grains of powder required to get the lighter pills up to PF. Hope this helps.

A gun that you don't shoot is no more than a paperweight. Enjoy it. Fair call but what a sweet paperweight. I'm thinking of keeping mine unfired as an investment. My standard shadow is almost perfect now, and since there are only 100 being made, and it only cost a little more than a regular one, I'm hoping it may be worth a bit one day.

I believe the CZ pre-B disconnector is IPSC production legal. Well I bloody hope it is since I have one in my Shadow. It may not be as well finished as the CGW part, but is definitely worthwhile if you're buying a new disco anyway. Just to clarify, the pre-B disco is what the SRT discos are based on. ETA: the above info is for the OP. I re-read it and it sounds like I'm schooling Stuart. No offense mate. You've probably forgotten more about these guns than I'll ever know. ;-) I understand that you can't say "hey, you can't use the competitors product, you have to use ours". ;-)

I totally understand your ideas on the pros and cons of both guns and feel very much the same way myself. I would definitely get the gun that is going to make you happy. I have always been a 1911 shooter but got out of pistols in 2002 when we had some major reforms and all my guns were "bought back". I ended up picking up an old G17 and used it at first when I started ipsc. While it does the job, it does not fill me with confidence accuracy wise, nor does it make my heart flutter when I pull it out of the safe. While my budget will not allow an S_I, I did pick up a CZ shadow and I love it. I would recommend looking at one if you like the 1911 layout and grip angle. The real plus is that they are very good value and very easy to sell used if you decide it's not for you. Most people who go CZ end up with more than 1. Just an alternative suggestion. With regard to reloading, I think it's non-optional. Any dillon will do. My top pick would be a 650 but I only own a square deal. I bought it 20 years ago and could sell it used now for more than I paid for it. Can't lose with a dillon.

Perhaps if you bought a new sear and fitted it without removing any material from the trigger bar leg you could advance the SA break point. Just installing the comp hammer may have retarded it a bit as the hammer end of the sear now sits higher, so the trigger bar end sits lower and therefor more toward the rear. As a result the trigger bar contacts the sear later in the pull. It would only amount to a hair, but that hair, added to whatever was removed from the sear leg when it was fitted, could amount to the trigger position you want with the flat trigger. Hope this helps (and makes sense).

Maybe just rough lips on the new mags caused that feed failure. It may have still happened without the auto close? Anyway, great to hear you like your CZ. I know I love mine. :-)

I just realized I actually have beerbaron's gun in my safe. It is a very early shadow that has been well used. I locked it open and tried inserting an empty mag various ways including slamming it home as hard as I feel comfortable considering it's not my gun (didn't really want to break one of my mags either). It would not release the slide, nor would any shaking or bumping, except of course if I pushed back the slide or hit the slide release. I then tried with a single dummy round in the mag. It closed nearly every time, unless I was being gentle (way more gentle than any match reload). Of note is the fact that if it closed, it picked up a round every single time. I did about 100 reps empty and the same with a dummy round. Inspection of the slide shows about a 1mm bevel on the edge noted in my post above. I then tried the above with my gun (3 months old and around 5k through it). It also would not trip on an empty mag and was much harder to get to auto close, but it would do it. This is new as I know it would not do it before at all. Inspection of my slide showed a very slight rounding of that corner due to use. It used to be dead square. I will try touching up that bevel when I get time and will report my findings. In summary, if you are experiencing this auto-slide release phenomenon, rest assured it is not likely to leave you with an empty chamber when you least expect it.

I believe the cause is when the fresh mag is inserted, the top round pushes against the corner of the breech face and the "middle rail" (I forget the right name for it) that strips rounds from the mag. If there is even a slight bevel on this edge, the pressure pushing up is translated into backwards pressure on the slide. This takes pressure off the slide stop lever, allowing it to fall. If I'm right then you can enhance this "feature" by tuning that bevel. How to stop it? Umm... Got a mill? This would also mean that the slide dropping on an empty chamber is unlikely, as it is a round being in the correct position to be chambered that actuates the slide releasing, similar to pulling on the slide and letting go.

I agree with all the advice given. One thing that really helped me to understand that sights need to set the pace was steel, especially plate racks. I used what I found to show a fellow new shooter the same thing. Set up at say 15 yards from the rack, and have her shoot it as she usually does for a few strings and establish an average time for all 6 plates. Blazing without proper sight alignment will probably have her chewing through ammo and possibly reloading before clearing the rack. Then have her try again but this time get her to watch the front sight and take care with her trigger squeeze and set a goal of 1 for 1. You feel slow as heck the 2nd way but the timer will tell the real story. You really can't miss fast enough. We are limited to 10 round mags and downloading to 10 for the first part will exacerbate what you are demonstrating to her. For the 2nd part you could even download to 6 so she has to hit with every shot to succeed. Best of luck to both of you.

I just gave up froglube. It is fantastic for cleaning and works well as a lube, but not for long enough. After about 150 rounds I was getting jams in my SP-01. I am giving slide glide with Wilson combat oil a go now. G96 for the non critical areas cause it works well and my wife LOVES the smell. I think froglube would be excellent in an AR type rifle FWIW.

Wow. That was just...wow. So much wrong there. 4 wheelers more fun than guns? Nearly dropped $4k on the 4 wheeler when he's broke? Not even going to start on his reloading technique. They say "must've been too much powder", then go on to blame the gun, the guy that sold it etc. He would have been a shoe-in for a Darwin award if things went a bit worse. Is it possible the problem was projectile set-back due to not crimping? Can't figure out how he ended up with that case with the projie inside unless it was the misfire and the setback was due to the blowup.

Rodan, I wouldn't say I hated hearing it, but you can see the shock and confusion on my face and nearly hear the cogs in my head grinding before I laugh it off and show clear again. Still laugh at it now. Wildkcars, absolutely right. I still had a blast, and thanks for the welcome. I think in hooked for life. Kirbinster, I'm sure I've got that to look forward to. Already came close once. a Matt, I'm sure you're right, but next time I'm gunna keep shooting. Lol Wayne's world, that's what I should have done evidently. Eric, I feel your pain. My mentor was watching too and I felt like I let him down. He was ok with it tho cause he had narfed the stage already and reckons I would have beaten him if I shot it clean. Damn, that was my chance.... Ps. Where are the smiley faces? I hope the above comes across as good natured as intended despite their absence.

Excellent thread. Thank you for taking the time to share these pearls of wisdom Sean.

Thanks for the tips all. I have been reading on this forum about visualization and doing it pretty well on most stages. On this one it just all fell apart. Lol. The real lesson I learned, that is probably well known by everyone else, is that the penalty for forgetting these targets was so high. I had previously wasted some time with makeup shots for C or D hits and was told to just let those points go rather than spend the extra time to get all available points. I applied that logic to this situation and so decided not to reload and finish these targets. ? When I worked out that I ended up with 60 points in 31 seconds, it was clear that a time up to about 80 seconds with the full 165 points would have still had a better HF. ? Now I know. Even if I forget my plan or things go wrong, it's always going to be worth the time to pick up multiple unshot targets. Of course a solid plan would negate this ?

Had a total brainfart this weekend at our local match. It was the most complex stage I had shot in terms of the number of ways it could be shot and in the end I had it narrowed down to 2 ways. Anyway, the RO hit the delete button and sure enough my brain rebooted. Completely forgot my plan and therefor the 2nd port on the left. The video actually shows the targets before the start, almost like "watch him forget about all these ones". The close paper was from port 1 on left and the 2 low papers and plate were only visible from the 2nd port on the left. At the end I see my mistake but stupidly thought the time to run back, reload and engage then would blow my run even worse. Later I realized that if it took me less than 50 seconds more I still would have been better off. 3 FTE, 5 mikes and 25 points missed equals 105 points down on a 165 point stage. Lesson learned. Had a good laugh about it, especially when a couple of master grade shooters who hadn't seen my mistake heard my time - sure got their attention for a moment. Before I cop too much flak for my form and (lack of) speed, I should mention that I'm a complete beginner. I started shooting IPSC 3 months ago and had never shot in any competition before that. Please be kind (smiley face ). Oops, seems I can't post links yet. If you search YouTube for videos by feralshooter, it is the only one and is 1:11 long.

This one reminds me of a local story. For context I should piont out that here (in australia), you need to show a genuine reason to own any firearm, and self or home defense is not considered a reason. In fact it is illegal to use a firearm to defend yourself. Jim was 78 and retired. He was asleep in bed with his wife when he heard a noise from his back yard at around 2am. He got up and looked out the window and saw 2 men trying to get into his shed. He went to the phone and dialed the police. A police officer came on the line and Jim explained the problem. "I'm sorry sir, we don't have any available cars in that area. We won't be able to get there for at least 3 hours." Jim was slightly shocked by this but nevertheless thanked the officer and hung up the phone. 5 minutes later Jim called the police again; "Hello, I called earlier to report 2 men breaking into my shed." Jim explained. "Yes sir, I took that call. " replied the officer. "Well I just wanted to say not to worry about rushing over. I just shot them both dead so there's no rush." With 7 minutes there were 6 police cars at Jim's house and they found the 2 men in the shed alive and well, although quite unhappy about being caught. The officer in charge went to Jim and said; "I thought you said you shot them?" "Funny" said Jim, "I thought you said you couldn't get here for at least 3 hours!"

I think it's still there, the above link took me to a list which included "Telekinetic coffee shop surprise" by "CarrieNYC". I'm pretty sure that's the one.

I had to sign up just to jump on this (probably long forgotten) thread. I have been using cast projectiles coated with hi tek for 20 years now, as has everyone I know. I have never had any leading or any other problem with them. I have fired literally tens of thousands through various handguns including factory glock barrels. I recently purchased some re- manufactured ammo from ultratech who use westcastings projectiles. After shooting around 100 of these pills the leading is so bad I can no longer see rifling in the barrel. It has taken around 2 hours after each shoot to clean my barrel. I couldn't get rid of them fast enough. Suffice to say I am not at all impressed with the westcastings coating and will never use their product again. If it isn't hi tek I won't touch it. I am not affiliated with hi tek, and in fact only learned this week about the history of the product. I would like to see evidence of the "questionable quality" of the hi tek product. Seems more to me like cost saving by making an inferior product in house and selling it on the reputation of the existing hi tek coating. It sure doesn't work as well (if at all) but does resemble the "real thing". The posts above by westcastings really got under my skin so I had to sign up to better balance the above argument and add an independent perspective. Cheers, Nick