mark dye

Keep on shootin'! This type of crack is common, and is not detrimental to function...unless you have a scope mount attached to the dust cover. If you have it re-welded, it would most likely crack again...don't waste your money. If the asthetics really bother you a lot, then by all means send the gun back to Kimber for a replacement frame. Mark Dye

nice video of our match! thanks for coming to shoot with us...hope to make it up to Lex sometime to play with you guys. Mark Dye

I shot three major matches in the last month with the bullets, and couldn't be happier. Donnie was extremely helpful when he found out that I had gotten my self in a bind, and didn't have any match bullets a week before a big match. I will certainly send as much business his way as I can!!! Mark Dye

I was looking at some new sights for a Sig 226 that I keep on the nightstand. There was an option for either a #6 or #8 front sight. Does anyone know the measurements for each so that I will know which I need to order? Mark Dye

We restore a fair number of vintage Smith and Wesson revolvers. If the lettering and emblems get a little shallow, we send them out to an engraver named Dan Love in Iowa. He does first class work. Mark Dye

Though I don't recall a female pistolsmith (aside from Stroud). I have met a couple of women in the rifle business...one built fancy stocked hunting rifles with her husband (can't recall her name). There are a number of women that do gunstock checkering and engraving. Kay Miculek used to stick 10/22's together at Clarks before I worked there. Hey, if this stuff were easy...even girls could do it!!!! LOL Mark Dye

I just won an AR-24 from a prize table. It is it a direct copy of a Tanfoglio? Will aftermarket parts fit it? I am just trying to decide whether to keep it as an occasional production gun or trade it. I shot CZ's for a couple of years, so I am familiar with the platform. Any thoughts on the gun? Mark Dye

entry fee for this match is $35

Oak Ridge Practical Shooters will be hosting a Single-Stack/Production only match on July 18 (10:00 am). The match will be in Oak Ridge near Knoxville TN (east Tennessee). We will have seven stages and a round count of 200-250 rounds. There will be a cash payback within divisions if enough shooters attend. For match details, please contact me or check out the www.ORSAAP.com website. Mark Dye

I do a lot of large caliber revolver conversions for a living (at Bowen Classic Arms). I have also shot quite a few rounds through pistol-caliber lever guns. A lot of the "should I do this" question has to do with your goals. A .45 Colt loaded with 300+ grain bullets and H110 in a lever gun is a demon! You may want to play with some hot loaded .45's before deciding whether to convert your gun. In my experience, .454's are not as much of an improvement over hot loaded .45 Colts as everyone might think. If you are planning to rely on factory ammo, then you might have a legitimate reason to contemplate the conversion. However, I tend to lean toward the overly cautious side on this sort of conversion. I would personally limit a 92 style lever gun to loads at of 45000 psi or so. A 300 grain bullet at 1600 fps out of a lever gun is nothing to sneeze at!!! Mark Dye

At the recent Area 6 match, I was squadded with a female shooter named Diane Le. She had a really cool hat cam to capture a shooters eye view of the match. I did not ask the make and model of her camera. I have been watching her vids on you-tube, and have decided that I have to get one! Does anyone know what make and model she uses, or where to get one? Mark Dye

I just returned from the Area 6 match. I am disappointed with the results. I turned in a very average performance for my current ability. I shot reasonably consistently (only 5 D's, one miss, and one no-shoot for 12 stages). The miss was on a difficult weak hand standards, the no shoot was a piece of steel with a no-shoot behind it. I have reached a point in my shooting where it is necessary to make some changes in order to break out of a rut. In the last few years, I have spent the majority of my training time developing my shot calling and consistency. It has served me pretty well, and has gotten me to an average Master classification. I can now comfortably deliver a competent Master class level performance on demand (ususally!). What I am now lacking is the speed to compete with better M's and top GM's. For years, friends have told me that I needed to be more agressive, and that I needed to speed up. I am now believing that they are right! Obviously, I need to practice breaking out of my current "comfort zone" by pushing the limits of my speed. How can I do this without feeling "out of control" all the time? One thing that I am planning is to spend a little time shooting a dot. I have always been an iron sight shooter, and am just now beginning to see the value of shooting a dot in relation to overall shooting ability. I would love to hear others chime in on their methods of pushing the speed envelope. Mark Dye

Atlas Shrugged is my new all time favorite book...I have read all of Ayn Rand's major works in the last year. I wish I had done it several years ago! Mark Dye

In about 25000 rounds through 2 CZ's, I broke a half dozen or so slide stops...in addition to a several other parts. The reason they break is the design of the gun. In a 1911, the barrel cams down and stops against the frame, the frame bears the impact of stopping the violent rearward travel of the barrel. In a CZ, the barrel stops against the slide stop...not the frame. This leads to breakages of that part. Stronger slide stops with better heat treatment help, but are just a band-aid rather than a cure of the real problem. Keep a few slide stops on hand! Just my two cents. Mark Dye

Does anyone have any ACTUAL pressure data on their 9mm major loads? I am trying to keep a friend from doing a project that I personally don't think is advisable. I didn't have any actual pressure data to back up my argument. Mark Dye

I am glad to see that there are others who agree with me. My friend who I spoke of in the original post...the pretty good GM... actually causes 1911 triggers to do a lot of funny stuff due to his trigger technique. He has an extremely fast finger, .11 and .12 splits fast. He also insists that he only releases the trigger to the reset point. Somehow in this combination he causes a syndrome where the hammer follows (also known as the Phil Strader syndrome to a lot of folks). He can repeat this on ANY 1911 regardless of the make or gunsmith. Basically, he is apparently catching the timing of the disconnector and causing the sear to trip. The best fix I have found so far has been to remove his overtravel stop completely, give him very light trigger return spring pressure, and a lot of sear engagement. This makes the reset point a little harder to find, and forces him to release the trigger a little more. I haven't found a lot of merit to this technique, but others continue to swear by it. I guess it is just diferent strokes for different folks. G-man, I enjoyed your coments about the sensor that tracks trigger movement on a graph. I would love to play with that gadget just to learn more about my own trigger control!!! You Feds get all the cool toys! Mark Dye

I think I am going to stir up a hornets nest here! When someone recently asked me how the trigger reset felt on my personal gun...I just responded: yes, it resets every time I let go of it!!! I personally almost never feel the reset point on a trigger. The only time I really do feel the trigger reset is when I am doing some relatively precise shooting such as a 50 yard standards or the 25 yard bianchi plate rack. I have made it this far (mid level master) by spending my time worrying about pulling the trigger consistently, feeling it break, and calling the shot by correlating that break with the relationship of the sights when the gun fires. I pull the trigger...let go of the trigger...repeat as necessary!! I have always just listened with mild curiosity when I hear other shooters talk about how important the length and strength of the reset in their gun are to their shooting. Todd Jarrett told me last year that his finger often hits the front of the trigger guard when he releases the trigger. Videos of TGO that I have watched reveal similar technique...his finger coming fully off the trigger between shots. Conversely, a good freind of mine who is a pretty good GM shooter is obsessed with where the reset is and how it feels on all of his triggers. He is often more worried about how the trigger resets than how it breaks. Obviously what we have here is a difference in technique. Am I missing the boat, or are the "reset shooters" needlessly worring about the wrong portion of the trigger stroke???? As a full time professional gunsmith, I certainly want to give my customers what they want. I never heard anyone talking about trigger reset 6 or 7 years ago. At first, most of the "reset shooters" that I talked to were Glock shooters. Since I don't work on Glocks, I just dismissed it as a foible peculiar to that gun. Since I do a fair number of M&P trigger jobs, the reset is a definite area of contention. Recently I have been seeing more and more customers talking about the reset even on their 1911's (which is largely controlled by the position of the overtravel stop). I will continue to try to give folks the kind of trigger that they want, it just becomes more difficult when there is such a difference in trigger technique. I would love to hear some other thoughts on this topic. Mark Dye

I will make every effort to attend the GA section next year regardless of the date. This year, I was covered up with matches in April and October (5 matches that I wanted to attend in Oct.), but nothing to shoot in July and August. I like the weather in spring and fall as much as anyone, but somebody has to shoot when it is hot! My opinion would be to simply try to schedule next year's match when it won't conflict with other matches in the southeast. Mark Dye

I just wanted to thank the folks who put this match on! Georgia can always be counted on to have one of the best section matches around. It was very well run, despite having to shoot in the pouring rain on Fri. Of course I especially enjoyed the match since I was able to pick up my first major match win in Limited If I had know that Jessie Abbate was shooting so well, I would have had to pick up the pace a little!! Thanks and congrats to all Mark Dye

I tear the tab and upc code off the primer boxes (each box of 1000) and write the gun they were used in on the back side. I toss these in a tub on my loading bench. I can get a reasonably accurate count at years end by simply counting up the tabs. I am just not anal enough to worry about super exact counts or spreadsheets. BTW the frame on my SV limited gun built in 1999 is up to 93,000 rounds! The top end was replaced at 42k. For years this was my only gun. Mark Dye

Does anyone know if the range will be open for practice after shooting is completed on Friday and Saturday? Mark Dye

I was referring to single stack frames. Mark Dye

Does anyone make an aftermarket beavertail that fits a factory cut Kimber or Springfield Armory frame (no mods necessary)? I don't recall seeing any, but it is hard to keep up with all the stuff out there on the market. Mark Dye

You have a couple of obvious options: shorten your front blade or have somebody install a shorter one. The other is to install a taller rear sight...either by replacing the blade in your sight or buying an aftermarket one. The Bowen Classic Arms S&W sight is a good one, and a tall rear blade is available. Mark Dye

I saw a quote from Ben Franklin several years ago, and have never been able to find it again. I am hoping that someone here can help me . The basic jist was this: "only a weak person will allow an excuse such as race, sex, or humble beginings to prevent them from acheiving". Mark Dye