itento

Michael, I wish I could have shot the match. Your shotgun stage designs are always fun and challenging. I will be there next month and we'll see how Dan's $$$$aiga does against the ole JP 11-87.

Ryan, I think you need a new gun for this!! See you there.

After re-reading my previous reply, I recant!! Asking the question is correct. If the competitor says 7 than that's more than good enough for me.

Ah Cheryl, we did some checking at Benning during preload on our stage. One competitor loaded 9 in tube thinking he would just jack one in on line (at least that's what he said). We made him plug the magazine or shoot OPEN. He plugged it. The other procedure was, no ghost loading on line. If you wanted to put in 2 at start, I would have made them clear the gun and show a maximum of 7 round capacity or move to OPEN. If the shooter only had a 7 shell capacity, and wanted to ghost load on line, that was fine as long as we could verify it. I know this sounds picky, but there is an advantage to the shooter who loads to a higher capacity either at start or during execution of the stage. After safety, I think the next most important job of an RO is to make sure everyone plays by the same rules and the stages remain as consistant as possible throughout the match.

I bought the gun from another LEO at an FBI Firearms Instructor Course. I shot maybe 100 rds through it and qualified with it last year, so its nothing new. As far as the barrel, it slightly buldged so there's no fixing. Thought I 'd keep it as a curiousity. The good thing about the popple holes, they probably kept the whole gun from going Kaboom!

Yesterday I was getting ready to shoot a qualification course and I wanted to shoot a few practice rounds with my Springfield XD40. The first couple of shots weren't even on the target. Suspected the sights got bumped so I moved them shightly to compensate. The next 2 shots were pretty eratic so I had my gunsmith buddy look at it. He shot it a coupple of times with similar results. I put the gun away and shot the course with my Kimber .45. Today I broke the gun down and noticed what looked like copper in one of the gun ports (3 poppets put in by Accurate Plating). Looking in the barrel, I found the problem: a full jacket lodged half way down the barrel. I was shooting 180 gr Montana Gold FMJ with a fairly mild load. At this point I'm not really sure how I'm going to get it out, but I thought I'd share this. I can't even figure out how this could happen. Note the rifling marks on the jacket.

The two day format was great for us old timers. When the match was over on Sunday, I felt like I could shoot at leasat a few more stages. Larry, the stages were great as always. Great mix, which is always the hallmark of an exciting match. I'd also like to say thanks to all the Squad 3 members. A truly great team. I've never been on a squad that worked so well together. Thanks again Bill & Cindy

+1 and lots of it.

It's gon'a be a good one. Michael, Cheryl, Norm, Ray and Tony put in a lot of hours on setup. Very challenging.

Just checked Weather Underground. The good news is we will have this match come rain or shine. The bad news is ...there isn't any bad news. All steel or clays except for 4 paper slug targets. We have cover on the bays and in the common .areas. Our typical showers are pretty shot lived anyway

Tristate Gun Club is between Dothan and Enterprise Alabama. Here are the Lat/Longs: 31.268354 -85.758934. Here is a Google Map:

Finally got the stages drawn up and posted to my web site. Michael and Cheryl have done a bang up job in designing some really great stages. This will be a great match. We will be using FB3G rules (time plus). They can be found on several places including on my home page. To view the stage designs, press the 8 Aug button.

Tristate Gun Club will host a Tactical Shotgun Match on Saturday, 8 August. This will be a warmup match for our area 3 gun matches this fall. There will be six stages emphasizing quick setup using lots of clays and steel. Michael and Cheryl Fordyce are doing the stage designs and they promise to be challenging and fun. Setup starts at 0800 with registration starting at 0930. Don't be put off by the August heat. Our bays are well shaded and there is overhead cover at the bays. A map and directions can be found at www.tristategunclub.org at the bottom of the page. Cost will be $15.00.

Hop, Got my application and waiver in the mail today. I also talked to Johnny and he said he would get his off today also. Looking forward to a great match. Tom

If this was from the FB3G, then I was probably involved and I thought I'd chime in since I've thought alot about this situation. First, the FB3G had a specific rule for dropped weapons: After clearing all weapons (loaded rifle, and the pistol did have a loaded magazine inserted and an empty chamber when it dislodged from the competitors holster), the MD was called who DQed the individual. This was a pretty cut and dry situation. Now, I think the question TRAPR and others bring up is; is this a good rule? Like I said before, I've thought about this and as a CRO, I think it makes sense. While we do ground weapons and move down range during a course of fire, grounded weapons at every match I've attended have been in a reasonably secure and safe direction. (I say reasonably because I've seen cases when a gun was tossed/thrown in the direction of a grounding barrel and not quite satisfied that definition.) A holstered pistol satisfies that definition (secure and pointed in a safe direction). A dropped weapon does not satisfy either condition. It could have been pointed in any direction on the way to the ground and could be pointed in any direction once on the ground. The other point, do you let the competitor pick up a weapon from the ground. Most disciplines require the RO to retrieve a dropped weapon. In the case of the stage at FB3G, the competitor already had a loaded rifle in his two hands. The last thing an RO wants to do is try and guess how a shooter will try to execute the retrieval when they are still trying to execute the stage. A good example was a Flordia shooter who recently shot himself in the stomach while tring to retrieve a fumbled Glock. Unsure if it discharged when it hit the ground or because it was grabbed near the ground. Anyway, the first thing a good RO should try to do is stop the action and stabilize the situation. While too many rules can be cumbersome (5 books for USPSA) I think the level of rules we had for the FB3G to be adequate, yet detailed enough to make sure individual interpretation are kept to a minimum.

Kurt, We ran our local Multigun this month using IMGA/Horner and administratively, it was much faster and easier than San Angelo. As Dawg said, scoring at FB3G was super fast which prompted me to switch for our match. My only critism from an administrative point of view is the use of half seconds. Whole seconds are just much easier and you don't have to worry about adding 5 seconds when it should have been .5 seconds. From that same perspective, using minus and plus time would seem to complicate scoring. I would vote for a system with all pluses whatever the point values. Here is the score sheet Scoresheet.ppt I used to run the match. The score sheet was done in Power Point. 3 stages to a side. I also did an Excel program which lets you enter the total times per stage, converts stage times to point based on lowest time, accumulate total time and allows a sort for final placement in division. Here is a link: Excel Program. Feel free to modify or use.

We are in the beginning stages of planning a match at Tristate Gun Club (www.tristategunclub.org) for 12 Oct 2009. We are located in SE Alabama close to Ft Rucker, and hold about 6 multigun matches a year. We have 8 bay including a shoot house, a seperate jungle run, and a seperate, large multipurpose bay with shots out to 125 yds. In addition, we also have a 15 point rifle range. We meet all the NRA requirements (shelters on bays, running water, electricity, ample parking, etc.). Over the years we have accumulated a number of excellect props and targets (swingers, drop turners, clamshell, flash targets, mousetrap activater, clay pigeon holders). Our club holds monthly USPSA and IDPA matches and has experienced CRO/RO/SOs to run stages. We have a close relationship with area LE and will host an area FBI Firearms Instructor course again this spring. We provide facilities and support for firearms qualifications to several area sheriff/police departments and a large DoD security contractor . Stay tuned for further info.

I'd like to announce a multigun match at the Tristate Gun Club just east of Enterprise, AL. We've been running multigun matches for several years now and we think we're pretty well organizied and have some great props to provide challenging and fun stages. Our matches are held bimonthly (every two months) on the second Saturday with registration starting at 0930. On the odd numbered months, we hold a pistol only USPSA match. We will have 6 stages, consisting of 1 multigun (drop turner and clam shell activated by mousetrap), 1 shotgun/pistol (shotgun out of car trunk), 1 rifle/pistol (Standards), 1 shotgun only (jungle trail with 2 flippers), 1 rifle (25 to 120 yds) only, and 1 pistol only (shoot house with target recognition required). 158 rounds minimum (68 pistol, 47 rifle, 39 shot). Scoring will be IMGA - Horner (Time plus penality). Match Fee is $15.00.

My buddy and I have worked up a great load with 7625. We're running 7.5 gr to 2.242 OAL with MG 124 CMJ and running in Brazos and Dawson guns with poppets. Cronoed at Area 6 in cool/cold weather at 169.7. Very consistent. We both really like this load.

Just thought I'd pass this along to everyone. I have bought numerous brands and loads over the years, but these are definitely the worse quality I've ever seen. If I couldn't reload any better than this, I would quit. I always heard AA's were among the best, especially if you want to reload. I probably bought these a year ago (3 boxes) and just opened one up to relax a magazine sping. I was shocked to see the crimps. Not all are as bad as the two shown, but most would hang up loading in a semiautomatic. I checked some of the other Winchester loads and found the grey AA Super Sports to be great. Very uniform and precise crimps. The Winchester code on the bad boxes are AAM129 .and AA128.

Here's a picture I posted earlier. Fairly simple process. This one is for a 2 sided Cmore but I also have one for my Brazos 1 sided mount. Just cut the front with a hot knife and heat with a blow dryer and spread with fingers or pliers.

I picked up a 40-9 LoneWolf barrel for my G35 and love it. During a FBI Firearms Instructor course I shot 2500 rods and didn't have one problem with either factory or handloads. I liked it so much, I just ordered a 40-9 threaded barrel which I will mate to a suppressor.

It's interesting this subject comes up now. I've been considering switching to IMGA rules for over a year and, quite frankly my loyality to USPSA has prevented me doing that until last month. Here is what I posted to our web site: I then posted the Ft Beening 3 Gun Challenge rules with 2 small changes to meet our range requirements. One of the driving factors for me is: I HATE ARTIFICIAL RESTRICTIONS IN OPEN. I want an OPEN class that is truly open (no comp restrictions, no optics (laser) restrictions, no rounds loaded/capacity restrictions. As I see it the only restriction in OPEN is bacially the 170mm mag in pistol (and I may do away with that also). Not that I think I would see 190mm magazines, but if that's the next generation step, so be it. The other classes seem okay to level the playing field for both newbies and experienced shooters.

I find it interesting that you can't possess a handgun in D.C. until its registered (can't bring it into the city) but once it's registered, you can't transport to the one place it would be legal to possess it (the home).

I'm a firearms instructor for our SO and we do a lot of the LEOs in our area. The number one factor in general poor performance is lack of training (how to shoot accurately) and lack of practice. I have two carry weapons, an XD in a Level II Serpa I carry high on my duty belt (makes entrance and exit from vehicles much easier) and a G35 I have in a Level III Serpa (a little more secure to guard against snatching in a crowd). I shoot the G35 in competition IPSC and IDPA and can easily qual with a 100. The XD is fairly new to me and I'm not quite as good with it yet. Also, when I went through the FBI Firearms Instructor course, we fired about 3000 rounds. With the the G35, I changed out the barrel with a Lone Wolf 9mm conversion barrel and shot white box target rounds at a conciderable cost savings. My advice is buy what you will practice with. A well placed .40 will stop much better than a poorly placed ( or missed) .45. My motivation is watching the COP shows and seeing 3 squad cars surrounding a suspect car and shooting 50 some odd rounds and never hitting the bad guy. Shoot often, shoot often, shoot often and if your having problems, ask someone for advice.