trevoro

Don't say that...just rise to the challenge!

Damn! V. nice. I wish I had the courage and funds to attempt my own build. Yours looks great.

That sounds good to me. But what about the grandbaggers? Should we give them the option of claiming one class higher? :goof:

That is rediculous! But just think about how happy all those M/GM's were that they didn't have to compete against Travis because he was shooting unclassified! I bet they said, "Yes! I have a chance to win my class!" :goof:

I totally agree. My only opinion on this is that it isn't unfair to the "real" Unclassified shooters. All U means is that a person hasn't shot enough in that division to earn a classification. It is possible that nobody thinks this, but the idea I was responding to was that it isn't fair for someone to sandbag and then win a class at an area match. If someone goes through all the trouble to actually sandbag so they can win a class title at an area match, then more power to him. He is a shallow individual who isn't likely to get much better. That being said, I don't see it as unfair. Others had the same opportunity to sandbag as he did so... WTF? Of course most people want to continually improve, reach for that next class and become better shooters, or should at least. No matter the class I'm in, I try to shoot my best. Winning B class but shooting 50% of the leader to me means that I got lucky to win B class, not that I shot well. I'm just saying if you are classfied in one it should carry over to another division. Going to a state or area match just to have fun and try to get better could be an expensive lesson. These matches typically run $400-700 or more when you figure everything in(gas, food, lodging, match fees). So when going to a major why not be able to be classified and get in on some of the goodies if you perform well instead of shooting U?

Hey CDB , I agree with you. There doesn't seem to be any good reason not to use the "one class below" across the boards. Shooting skills do transcend. I was mainly posting because of a few comments I heard in the background at this year's Area 1. From what I could hear, there was at least one person who thought it wasn't fair that I was shooting SS when I normally shoot Limited. A similar thing happened when I shot L10 last year, but nobody thought I had a chance to win that one. Talking about it not being fair for a shooter to chang divisions before a big match is just stupid. I saw a chance to pay for my weekend by shooting SS. Why wouldn't I take it? The thread you guys had going just reminded me of all that. Jerry probably shouldn't have been shooting U, but in the end it hurt him and his sponsors more than anyone else. Not that he has anything to prove, but not many people are going to pay attention to "Top U, Production" and not many sponsors would be excited to put it in an ad. For a professional shooter, it seems like that would matter. For the guy who finished 2nd U, don't you think he would be happy to be able to say he finished 2nd place to a legend? You can never have a set of rules that will make everyone happy, so why pick them to death. As long as the rules treat everyone the same, they are fair. I don't think our classification system is perfect, but it is as perfect and as fair as it needs to be.

I'm jealous!

What difference does it make? Maybe we should think about what attitude we show up to shoot the match with in the first place (start of ridiculous over-analysis). Do we show up to have fun and improve our shooting skills?--In this case classification doesn't matter one way or the other, and there isn't much argument on either side of the issue. Do we show up to compete against a "class" of shooters, somehow ignoring where we finish related to other classes of shooter?--Here classification matters a lot. With this attitude we will probably talk seriously about sandbaggers and we will probably complain frequently about the unfairness of the system. We might also go home or to the bar to brag about winning B class even if we finished 3rd in C class in the combined results. Do we show up to compete and test our skill against other shooters, period?--again, classification doesn't matter except as it offers extra opportunities to brag when we've done well; if we've done poorly, we will judge ourselves as a percentage of the shooter who won (the match) regardless of his classification. With this attitude the word "sandbagger" is just a fun name to call our friends. Who really cares? The classification system is for bragging rights at different levels, and it is a way to nationals. As most of the people I shoot with don't go to nationals, myself included, it is almost entirely for bragging rights. It seems silly to take the question of "fairness" seriously if the issue is really who gets to brag at the end of the day. I've been solidly a part of each of these different attitudes. I don't know which one is right, but I do know this: I had a lot of fun shooting with the first attitude, but it didn't provide the competitive drive that it takes to really get better. I sat in the second group for a long time, but the drive there only went as far as the ability to pull out a class win. I could have stayed in that class forever. But I'm pretty competitive by nature and I eventually shifted to the third attitude. Shooting with the third attitude is the single biggest factor that contributed to making me a better shooter in the last year. At some point I started comparing myself to the match winner, not the class winner. I started by trying to shoot 50%, then 60%, etc. Thinking like that gave me 40% to improve on and drove me to get better!! For me, shooting 95% of the B class winner and thinking that I need to improve by 5% is too low a ceiling for real growth. As for it not being fair for a better shooter to show up in a division that he can win? F@*&% that! The good shooters want something to brag about just as much as everyone else. Why is that unfair? Add to that a cash payout at major matches and you get the point. The next time a better shooter comes into your division at the last minute and wins, thank him for providing you with the motivation to get better. If you want a match with no competition, shoot by yourself. Here is a quote that helped me become a better shooter: "Willingness to do is the monitor of ability and is the only thing that monitors ability. But this is so condemning that very few people like to have anything to do with it...If you see somebody doing a job very, very badly, you are perfectly willing to assume that he is unable--but that is charity. The point of the matter is, he is not willing to do a better job." L.R.H. We could argue the virtue or fallacy of that quote endlessly. But if it is true, what does arguing about the fairness of a class victory say about my willingness to demonstrate ability. To me it says that I'm only willing to win my class. It says that I believe the victory of another shooter in my class isn't valid if he is classed higher in another division. It isn't "fair" if a M class limited shooter comes and beats me in A L-10? God, do I whine that much? When I forgot about class and just tried to move up the combined overall is when I improved as a shooter. That's my longest post, and even if it's total crap, I'm gonna go have a beer.

Don't you want a .45? Come on...you know you do. The real question is probably, why do you want a .40? Do you think there is a performance advantage? There probably isn't really, but perception is important too. So if you think you can shoot a .40 faster, then you probably can. Can you shoot it enough faster to make up for even one malfunction? I shoot a .45. That said, the Oregon Single Stack Championship was won by a large margin last year by a shooter using an STI Trojan in .40 Hmmmm.....was it the indian or the arrow?

I have an SV sighttracker with AET. I have 10k of moly coated Bear Creek 180g TC through it with no problems. Plenty accurate. Using 4.6 of Tightgroup @ 1.18 oal.

I am using a 14lb recoil and a 17lb main. I have the same malfunction if my chamber gets a little dirty. It can also be caused by an extractor that is too tight...which I learned recently. Good luck.

I set my guns up to shoot to the top of the sight at 15-20 yards. On really close shots, the POI will be a little low (like the middle of the dot). It sounds like you have the sights currently set up the way I shoot mine. It seems like a good idea to me to not cover up your target with your sights. If your target is very big and you are just using the dot, then it doesn't matter much. You are basically just using the dot for something easy to track with your eye. For accuracy you will want to see the POI, which is why the setting you have now should work well. On really close stuff you will still need to shoot to the dot because of the difference between the height of the bore compared to the height of the sights. You probably noticed this less with a gun set up to shoot to the center of the dot because at any distance the dot was covering several inches of target and you couldn't see that you were hitting high or low compared to your sight picture. Good luck figuring it out.

I shoot the Enos top curve because it looks coolaidier than the regular med curved. It also just seems to mold to my finger nicely with a high grip. I don't shoot the long triggers because I tried one once and had an early discharge and scared myself...

I've had 10k + rounds of Bear Creek 180g molly through my plated AET. I have never had reason to complain about the accuracy. It has been great, but I've never tried any other load. I use 4.6 of Titegroup. As for the way the gun feels...I went from an Edge to the sight tracker with accelerator cuts. The first shot I took out of the new gun was a big disappointment because the gun really jumped in my hand compared to the Edge. I was ready for "the flattest shooting limited gun, period!" After a few mags though, I started to love it. It does have a lot of snap to it, but the sights return really quickly also. I think it just depends on what you want to feel. I've now gotten used to the snap, where before I was used to a softer but more drawn out recoil feel. If you like lightened guns, you will like the sight tracker (it obviously has a pretty huge chunk of metal taken out of the slide). If you are accustomed to and like shooting something like the Edge, you probably will not like the sight tracker at first. I don't know which gun is really better for shooting fast because I never did a timed comparison, but I LOVE the SV, and that counts for a lot.

Guys, There was no gun mistake in the end of the movie. He was having flash backs to his indoctrination into the program. During the flashbacks, he was holding a SIG. During real time, he was holding a Glock. No mistake. I didn't catch him "cocking" the Glock earlier in the movie, but that is possible.

I read the article way back when and figured this out. I'm not sure if it is correct or not, but it works for me. Load the shells in the holder with the brass pointing to your left. After the grab, you kind of hold the shells with your hand and the reciever at the same time and shuffle them into the gate with your thumb. I grab three at a time because that is half of 6 and I can't hold 6. It seems like I get lots of suggestions from people telling me to take 4. I just don't listen too good. The gun is a stock Winchester Mark 2. I've played with guns that have the modification done but didn't think it made enough of a difference for me to start grinding on the gun.

Hmmm...I've never actually bought a NEW pistol. Now that I mention it, I think I should change that. Ha Ha. I've bought 3 guns, two limited and one open, off either this forum or the USPSA classifieds. They have all been as advertized and have run great. The last one was a practically new SV sight tracker that I saved 600 bucks on by buying it used. I think the people you will find here are pretty safe to buy from. Don't worry about getting screwed. Every one here wants to contribute and see the sport grow, etc. Good luck.

I'm using an SX2 Mk2 and loving it. I don't think the ghost ring sights are very good for airial targets, but they work well for most of what we shoot in 3-gun. They are just too high off the bore. The gun has run great since day one. The only trouble I had was getting it sighted in for slugs. The sights need more adjustment as I'm pretty much maxed out on the front and rear sight adjustment with a 50yd zero. This has been true with all the slugs I've tried. Great gun though.

The guy from Florida has already shot the entire match. Still, it is tight among the usual suspects. I so wish I was there.

IMHO 1) Shooting all A's slowly will almost always put you near the bottom of the competitor list. 2) Shooting a lot of A's quickly will obviously put you near the top. 3) You will never, ever win by shooting slowly. 4) Shooting the match like your butt is on fire, on the ragged edge, will probably win you a stage. 5) Shooting the match within your ability to see the sights and call your shots will probably end up placing you higher in the match than you finished on any one stage. Consitency wins matches, not stage victories. 6) A stage with lots of no-shoots and hard cover should be shot for points only because the "disaster factor" is too high to shoot for speed. 7) Shooting really, really fast can win stages by a little. 8) Shooting really fast with accuracy can win stages by a lot. I shot the Area 1 match last year with my entire strategy based on the advice of a local GM, Keith T. It was a pretty technical match with a high disaster factor. He told me that most other shooters would be trying to burn down the stages. His advice was that I slow down and shoot A's. The reason that worked though was that the match was so technical. It wouldn't have worked at a club match with a lot of wide open targets. I shot a consistent match and did very well, but I was far from the fastest shooter there. What made the difference for me was that I didn't crash on any of the stages. Lesson learned. That being said, it's much more fun to shoot like your ass is on fire! Ha ha.

I love spending money on guns, but the last post has some good advice. You don't really need a Wilson barrel, etc. The Oregon Glock championship, with over 100 shooters and many, many modified Glocks, was won last year by an almost stock Glock 35. All it had was an ICE magwell. Most guns shoot very well right off the shelf.

Seems to me that the mag well is to make a mistake less costly. They aren't really designed to have your mag bounce off them every single reload. I don't think Travis was banging his mags off the side of the mag well in his video. That wouldn't be smooth. Practice with what you are going to shoot, definitely not with a bigger mag well like the ICE if you're not going to use it in the match. If you practice with a small one and shoot with a big one, your margin for error will be huge!

I think the biggest time eater is target to target transition when they aren't just sitting there in the open. A lot of time is lost moving into and out of positions, mounting and unmounting the gun, etc. Most inexperienced shooters whill shuffle from side to side or take three different shooting positions to engage targets through one port. Each shift of the feet costs them 3/4 of a second. It is really important to get set up in a position where you have to shift your feet as little as possible to engage the targets you plan to take from that general position. I've seen it get really bad. One shooter that I know moved laterally a few feet to engage each wide open paper from a slightly new and head on position. Talk about wasting time! For example, you wouldn't want to set up where you can see all of a full paper target and only a sliver of steel behind a barrel. You have to shift your feet to engage the steel like that. Your hit factor will usually be higher if you set up to see a partial of the paper and all of the steel, as long as you don't shift your feet and you don't shoot worse than A, C or heaven forbid if your shooting minor C,C.

I got some good advice from a local GM who told me to leave the foot I swing around (not the pivot foot) slightly unsettled, sort of still on the toes. Leave it this way as you break the shots on the first set. On the reload, go for your normal footing. Doing this gets you on target faster with less disruption of the sights. I don't think I explained it well, but I saw him do it and he was fast!

I agree that handling the gun every night for 20 minutes is important, whether you are dry firing or not. It is really obvious at a match which shooters are comfortable with a gun in hand and which are not. The ones that aren't comfortable spend time thinking about their grip, the 180, their trigger finger being out of the trigger guard, etc; they are the slow ones. The ones that are comfortable and familiar with the gun spend their time focusing on the sights and the targets; they are the fast ones. I'm still somewhere in between