David Olhasso

The production rules are somewhat of a joke. Take a look at what you can and can't do. This is all from Amidon emails, front page articles, and postings. 1) You cannot install an aftermarket external part such as a grips, triggers, or safeties UNLESS they are identical to the factory part. 2) Ignore #1 if the gun manufacture decides to offer the third party part for sale. Then the part is OK. 3) You can add 2oz of tungsten to the guiderod. 4) You can not add a .2oz piece of plastic to the bottom of a glock grip. 5) You can add a bomar sight that hangs 3/4" off the back of the slide. 6) You can add all the grip-tape you want to the gun. 7) You cannot grind off a single shred of metal from the gun. 8) Magazines with slam pads are not allowed. 9) Ignore #8 if the gun manufacture offers the slam pad for sale 10) If you want to shoot a glock 27, you can't use a 10-round magazine from the 23 or 22. 11) If you want to shoot a sig 220, you can't use a 10-round extended magazine. 12) Race holsters are bad. 13) Race mag holders are good. 14) Extended mag buttons and slide releases are not allowed. 15) Ignore #14 if the gun manufacture sells the part on another gun. 16) And why the heck is it scored minor? Even with all of the BS rules, I still love shooting production.

The beretta can easily shoot better than most any IPSC shooter. The DA trigger can get as low as 5 lbs. The SA trigger can get as low as 2.5 or so. It is very accurate out of the box and I am sure that mine would shoot a sub 1.5" group at 25 yards, but since I can't shoot that well, I can't say for sure. As for what model, here goes. 92fs - standard old boring model - no beveled magwell, no dovetail sights, slide mounted safety. Elite II - standard frame, beveled magwell, extended mag button, brigadear slide, dovetail sights, slide mounted hammer drop Vertec - straight grip frame (more like a 1911), very beveled magwell, standard slide, dovetail sights, slide mounted safety (unless you find a G model) Elite Ia - straight grip frame, beveled magwell, brigadear slide, dovetail sights, no sure on the mag button, slide mounted hammer drop Langdon is fantastic with these things. http://www.langdontactical.com/

Shooting a dot sighted gun takes out one of the variables of shooting: the sights. By removing the sights from the variable list, it allows the brain to more easily concentrate on other aspects of your shooting. When you take out the sight variable, it allows you to more easily diagnose how you can improve. For example: It is much easier to learn strong/weak hand trigger and recoil control. It allows you to learn to call your shots easier. Exactly where was the dot when you pulled the trigger? It allows you to analyze faults in your gun presentation from the draw, after movement, and after a reload. Where does the dot initially go when presenting the gun? When shooting on the move, where does the dot go during recoil? For dry firing, can you keep the dot on a paster at 3 yards, 7 yards, 15 yards while moving around your basement?

All this talk of a relatively loose grip is interesting. Personally, I grip the gun harder than most. It is also interesting to note that Jarret grips the gun so hard that he has broken several swenson thumb safeties. The bottom line is that each shooter must analyze what grip, what stance, what gun, what sights, what load, what holster, etc, etc, work best for them. The trick is to keep learning. Never be afraid to change something about your shooting and then analyze whether the result is good or bad.

At our local club we ususally don't bother with side fault lines. We have an understanding (which we must constantly remind some shooters) that the the edge of the shooting area begins when the berm starts to rise. At a big match, there is almost always a well marked fault line.

Either of your existing guns will be great for production division. If you buy an XD, it would probably be the better of the 3. Remember that in production (much like SSP & ESP), you only need to make a 125pf. If you do buy a 40, then it would be to your competitive advantage to work up a good minor load (as in 130-140pf) for the 40. Also, production only allows 10 round magazines so no problem there.

When considering what frame to use I wouldn't worry too much about the transitions. I would worry more about what shoots well for you and what tracks well for the second shot. I know gms that use super heavy guns and I know gms that use light ones. It all comes down to personal preference. Personally, I prefer a heavier frame (long wide) and a light top end and barrell.

Blade Single magazine holder. Any double holder puts the mags too close together and there is always the potential that a belt loop will be right where the double holder need to sit. The Tek-Lok version is best as you can adapt it to any belt you own. Blade Tech mag pouches

blade-tech. Their moon holders are awesome and they will make any holster you want.

Current IPSC rules state that production guns must have a 5lb first pound pull. I would surmise that the match officials would be very lenient in how this was enforced.

I had not seen the article till tonight and it seems to simple confirm what I already knew about the XD. 1. Based on my defination of Single Action, the XD is in fact a SA gun. 2. The XD has additional safeties that prevent the gun from firing unless the trigger is pulled to the rear. Just like the glock. 3. The XD's trigger feels amazingly like the glocks. Unfortunately for springfield, IPSC took the more logical (in my opinion) approach and allowed the XD in production while IDPA took the more anal approach and disallowed it. As an aside, I happen to think that the 5lb first shot rule in production has some real merrit. A 1 or 2 lb glock, XD, or LDA is not a true off the shelf trigger system. By allowing super light safe-action type triggers, USPSA is handicaping the traditional DA/SA guns (sig, beretta, smith). Rather than continue with a rule outlawing SA pistols in production, it would make more sense for IPSC/USPSA to allow all stricker fired guns and all DA/SA guns that have a first shot pull weight of at least 3.5 lbs and leave it at that. Wording such as this would have the desired effect of disallowing true SA guns while still allowing the new breed of true production type guns.

Double action/safe action defination: The action of pulling the trigger puts tension on the hammer/striker and when fully pulled the trigger releases the hammer/striker which fires the gun. On the XD, when the slide is racked, the striker is fully cocked to the rear. The action of pulling the trigger does not move the striker any further to the rear. It only disengages the safeties and releases the stored tension in the striker. Based on MY above explanation of double action, the XD must be classified as single action.

Most people seem to disagree, but in light framed guns such as Sigs, Glocks, and Berettas, I have been using harrts guide rods for years. When I am forced to shoot a production gun without a harrts in it (for IDPA), I can definatly notice a difference.

Other than the injection molded versions, all Blade-Tech holsters are made to order. If you want a high ride, low ride, foward cant, straight drop, rear rake, etc. blade-tech can make if for you.

Use whichever gun you feel most comfortable with as far as reliability and accuracy. It is always best to be able to complete a course with no misses -- whether you are a new shooter or a seasoned vetran. The hipower canno be used in production division, but when you are just starting out -- who cares what division you are shooting. For the adjustable belly mag pouches you are talking about are made by safariland, limcat, USA shooting academy, etc, etc, etc. You can find them at the various competition shooting retailers. My favorite is http://www.practicalshooting.com. For a holster for either gun, I prefer a blade-tech dropped & offset holster. www.blade-tech.com good luck.

Try Blade-Tech (www.blade-tech.com). They will make a holster for just about anything.

the asian military mags are pretty good. aluminum follower & baseplate. Feed well and are of decent construction

Any good quality factory gun that you shoot well is perfect in production. Obviousily I am partial to the Sig, but as long as the gun is accurate and reliable, then you are set. No matter what gun you choose (except the Para LDA) will have one big draw back: No decent sight options!!! All the replacement sights for production guns are of the combat type: big and fast, but not ideal for tight accuracy . Most people shooting limited have a front sight between .085 and .100 wide and a bomar type rear sight. I know of no factory produced front sight for a production gun (except the LDA) that is thinner than .125 wide. And the rear sight options are even worse. Unfortunately, this means that if you want decent IPSC type sights for your production blaster, either buy a mill or be prepared to pay someone to build them for you.

Find a friend (or any shooter at a match will do) who has a gun setup the way you are thinking of and try it!! My limited guns have undergone a transformation from moderate weight slide with bull barrells and 16lb mainsprings to a very light weight slide with bushing barrels and 21lb mainsprings. Along the way, I also dropped to a 12.5 recoil spring (from a 14), and changed my load from 320 to clays. I think my limited setup is perfect for me now. All the moving parts which include the barrel, the bushing, and the slide are super light weight. The non-moving parts are heavy which include the long wide frame and tungsten guide rod. My gun is lighter than ever before and I find that I shoot it better than ever. The bottom line is, you should really find a gun to try before building one.

Jack Norris at http://www.practicalshooting.com !!! He supports the sport and is at every big match East of the Miss. river.

When you buy an ISMI recoil spring, the instructions are very clear about insuring the spring does not stack before the slide fully cycles.

With a little maintence and replacement of old or worne parts, you should be able to keep you edge running for about forever. Triggers will eventually fail. Barrels will wear out after 100,000 rounds or more. Sights will break. The slide to frame may loosen up but even that is easy to fix. Slides may eventually crack. The grip may loose the stipiling and the thumb safety may crack. All of these problems are easily fixed. Easy answer to your question: "As long as you want it to"

320 is on the high end of the pressure curve. VV does NOT list 320 in their manuals for the 9mm 147. That said, I use 320 & 147s in my 9mms. FMy load data (in an Elite II) for a 9mm 147 gr jacketed, federal 100 primer 320 - 3.6gr 7625 - 3.9gr Both load should make about 130pf. With the 147s, you may have to dramatically shorten up the OAL of your rounds.

Glad to see the scheduling conflict has been resolved. A nationals is not a nationals unless the best shooters in the sport are there.

I absolutely love my limcat holster (even though it collects dust these days due to my fascination with production ), but in my testing it doesn't work well with metal framed guns. The limcat uses the bottom side of the trigger guard to hold the in place. This works very well for the STI/SVI because the trigger guard is made of plastic, is very this, and has rounded corners. The problem with the metal guns is that the trigger guard is thin tends to have sharp corners. The net result is that the metal guns tend to 'rock' in the holster which makes for a nasty draw. Also, metal of the trigger guard can dig into the plastic parts of the limcat further aggravating the draw. My limited and open guns are both STI, so the limcat is perfect for me. Unless the Limcat has undergone some design changes, I would not use it for a metal gun.