Detritus

First off not sure if this is the right place on the forum for this, please let me know/move it if need be After 16 years away, it looks like I will be moving back to central NC later this year. along with all of the various other concerns related to such a change, I would like to gather as much information as I can about not only current USPSA clubs in the area but also suggestions for what gun clubs / ranges to look into possibly joining and what each provides in the way of various disciplines etc. bear with me while I go through my thoughts here in the hopes that they help clarify what I hope to find... most likely will be moving back to the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area but not entirely sure yet, depends on where I find work. I grew up in Durham (school years + 4), but I didn't do any competitive shooting of any sort until 18 months before I left. heck I never even bought a handgun while living there. in fact the only what you might call "Organized ranges" I ever visited were The Range in Oxford, at the time Mr. Glover offered memberships to folk to shoot there during times when the range wasn't set or in use for a match, and Sir Walter Gun Club in Creedmoor (once). so I don't know anything about what's out there and at what cost any more. I'm looking for info on not only USPSA (and possibly IDPA) matches/clubs but also have interest in F-Class, CMP matches, and a little interest in Clay games. Also any info on the current gun laws etc would be helpful. of course I want to know where the good Gun shops are too anyway, that is what has been running through my mind for half the day. I'm sure something else will come to mind as well, if not of it's own accord then in response to the info you kind folk are able to provide. thank you in advance for any info you choose to share, it is always welcome.

I have thought about that. and yeah I DO like the "bullets out" config. especially like how compactly I can carry 4-6 magazines (in match use I often load the 8-in-line with skipped slots similar to 1-3-5,6,7,8). pretty much all the more common mag pouch types take up more real estate on the belt, and I'm just so used to having what amounts to a bunker load of ammo "right there and all together". And yes I have seen a kydex 6 or 8 slot, bullets out pouch that pretty much IS a kydex clone of the Tuff Products pouch, I just can't remember where I saw it. I do not find myself reaching for the fourth reload all that often, but on stage 5 of my local match (5 is universally our "long course" at my club), I will most often need to drop at least one partial mag and top-off If I want to avoid going to slide-lock in the middle of one of the target arrays. Three out of the last 5 matches I've shot stage 5 was 32rd with alternating arrays of 3 and 4 targets (so 6 and 8 shots each) with a random placement of 4 steel. doesn't make sense to transition to an array where you need 8 shots with 3 in the gun. also doesn't help that I am apparently the only consistent Single Stack shooter in the club right now, I'm a newbie who still isn't all that good at stage planning, and what tips I DO get in that regard I have to mooch off the two guys shooting revolver minor. but i'm there for the fun of it and it's still cool.

been shooting my local matches whenever I could for about a year and a half. problem I'm having as far as seeing what gear works etc, is at this time very few guys locally are shooting Single Stack, two closest groups are pretty much dominated by production and Limited. I think in that 18 months or so I've seen a total of 5 other guys shooting SS. and they're all either new guys like me using scrounged/Whatchagot gear or more experienced and just sticking a spacer into the double stack pouches on their limited/production rig. truthfully, I'll probably find a way stiffen the 8-in-line I have while saving for something like a set of Double Alpha "Single Stack" pouches. just seeing what folks say one way or the other

Recently I've been looking at possible replacements for the cloth 8-in-line mag pouch I've been using for about a year now. This pouch is more meant as a storage item than match gear, but in truth I'm not sure if I really want to change it out, or if I simply want to find a way to modify it a little to give it a bit more retention/stiffness around the mouth of each slot. So anyway, beyond the typical single and double mag pouches that are out there, I've been looking a few different pouch designs that hold 4+ mags. But not having access to examples of these I'm not entirely sure of the legality of any of them for use in USPSA Single Stack. here are the two i've been looking at, plus the thoughts I have on them. Comp-Tac "Belt Feed" have heard conflicting info on this, Comp-tac lists it as USPSA legal but other sources say at least one of the four slots sits more than 2" from the inside of the belt, when used with a Double Alpha or CR belt. Garrett Quad Carrier. looks to take up less belt space than the Comp-tac model and would make the addition of another single or double pouch for use on longer stages easier. But again might run afoul of the 2" max requirement. I also looked at the Garrett SLMC "Spring Loaded Mag Carrier" but put it out of contention because it seems to violate the requirement that "Each magazine must be contained individually within the magazine pouch. " so anyone have these? have insights into their legality for use in the Single Stack Division? or simply advise on these or other mag pouches.

took out a small batch loaded with 5.3grs today. Yep, looks like I just needed to up my charge a bit. still a bit dirty but now it's more on par with what I was getting with 700x. so much more within my personal "comfort zone". thanks for the input guys. now I just need to find someone with a chrono and see if they legitimately make major....

Was recently forced by lack of availability to go back to using W231 for my .45acp loads... Maybe I just don't have that good of a memory of it (it's been 5 or 6 years) but I don't remember my previous batches being this filthy. started a practice session today with a freshly cleaned and lubed gun and a shooter that had recently bathed, 100 rounds later the interior of the gun looks like the bottom of a coal bucket and I was covered at least to above the elbow and enough burnt powder to look like I was growing severe mold. Is this normal for this powder or do I need to change something in my load (crimp amount, possible primer change, etc)? thanks for your time eta.. Load is as follows 230gr berry's RN over 4.9gr of 231 with CCI standard large pistol primers which comes in toward the upper middle of the load range listed in both the lee 2nd manual and that on the hodgdon website

to tell the truth, and I should have been a little more specific (knowing that classifier scores are uploaded monthly), I was more curious if maybe scores weren't uploaded to a shooters personal profile till a given number of classifier scores had been submitted? so far I've shot two matches and as I understand things that equates to two classifier stages/scores that could have been uploaded by now (1st on may 10th, 2nd on June 14th) and so far i'm not seeing record of the scores being uploaded to the USPSA site/my profile there. just wanting to understand the process and where to look if i'm wrong about where to find this info. I'm also not finding record of our clubs match scores on the USPSA site, only on the section website

based on some of the discussion preceding and following this months match, we'll be going digital soon. Match director is still getting all his ducks in a row as far as setting it all up how he wants gear (tablets, wifi network, etc) wise. hopefully this will happen soon, kind of an annoyance not knowing results for nearly 4 days after a shoot. As an aside and additional to this thread, when should I be expecting Classifier scores/records to show up on my USPSA profile page? Or should I?

Took both pistols out to the range today before work. I think I may re-evaluate the ideas I've posted here. seems that a great deal of the difference between Trisha's (my wife) gun and Mine was in my head instead of on paper. side by side there wasn't enough difference to amount ot anything Really. Going to shoot my own 1911 in the September match (will be out of town at the time of the July match, and one of the three 3-gun matches is in august) and see how it goes

will add the EGW bushing to the list of things to try. I originally bought this pistol intending for it to be a frame and slide I could eventually gut and tinker/build on to my hearts content. But still be able to shoot it for awhile before I tore it down to bare slide and frame and started over, have done a few small things to it but nothing major yet. It may just be time. Or it could be the EGW bushing makes it shoot like I want and leave me only wanting a shorter trigger and a refinish.

Apparently I don't have enough posts yet to use quotes. but to cover a few questions etc. as far as model/configurations both guns are Identical, they're both Metro Arms American Classic IIs. they've both received the same parts upgrades/swap-outs, S&A magwells, wolf recoil springs, and Wilson slide stops because the factory stops were kind of grotesque looking. Mine was bought first with the intention of it being the subject of future projects/modification. then about two months after I bought it my wife shot it, turned to me said "I want one", sold her XD9 and used the proceeds to get #2. The only thing that I don't like about my current pistol is it's accuracy. If its accuracy was reasonably close to that of my wife's gun this wouldn't have come up at all. as for shooting them off bags, I did that not too long after she bought hers. Didn't get any empirical measurement (inches etc) but her gun would/will chew the x-ring out of a B27 target, mine even off bags always pitches at least one out into the 9-ring.

For the past few months I have been shooting the local USPSA matches using my wife's 1911 instead of my own because hers, due to a nice tight barrel-bushing fit, is the Much more accurate of the two. I have been feeling a little guilty about this and have decided that I need to either get my pistol rebarreled to bring it up to the level of hers or better, or buy a new pistol strictly for match use. so these are the three options i'm currently leaning toward and debating. so I would like input from those more experienced than me. have a new match grade barrel professionally fitted to my pistol, Most likely by Vanden burg Custom up in Webster. and get a few other upgrades done at the same time try my hand at one of the DIY replacement barrels like the Kart Easy Fit kit save a little and buy a Springfield Range Officer. this one is mitigated a little bit since SA doesn't seem to offer any guarantee of accuracy and the gun is pretty much a Mil-spec with target sights and a Beavertail. well anyway those are my thoughts so far. would appreciate any feedback you folks can give. thanks

as a Major fan and user of Lee reloading gear 1. No. and for the average (non-commercial) hand-/re-loader there is no legit need or real benefit of carbide dies for bottleneck rifle cases. the Dillon Carbide rifle dies are marketed for "High volume" reloading whatever they mean by that. they still require that the cases be lubed for full length resizing, with longevity/toughness being the only listed benefit. to put this in perspective last year I was forced to retire an RCBS .308 FL resizing die that was 60+ years old (dad bought it 2nd hand in '64), not because it was worn out but because I under-lubed a case, got it stuck, and it was cheaper and easier to buy a Lee RGB 2-die set than to unstick that case. Uness you go from newbie to loading 1,000's of rounds a month, or are abusive to it you're NOT going to wear out a steel sizing die fast enough to make up the price difference between the Dillon carbide .223 set ($163) and the non-carbide Lee RGB set ($20) 2. In my opinion Lee Dies are great, though I have to admit other than that one now retired RCBS sizing die I've only ever used Lee dies. their neck-sizing and seating dies very well respected among the benchrest crowd with a number of still standing records having been obtained using Lee equipment. personally I use them to make my pistol ammo and match grade ammo for my bolt guns. Have not yet tried to keep an AR fed using Lee gear so I can't comment on that. 3. Don't know, as I said I've only ever used Lee presses so i'm not sure if the 650 uses a different die size/thread

I'm in Lake Jackson. An hour south east of Houston and about the same south down the coast from Galveston. So far since I first posted this I've found a few different small scale Mini-/practice matches offered on a close to weekly basis, within an hour to 90 min drive.. Possible issue is that the local monthly matches that I'm shooting in and trying to get my wife introduced to are USPSA, and all of the weekly practice goings on are IDPA. and I'm not entirely sure how well that will cross over for smoothing the entry of a new shooter. I don't want the additional restrictions on gear and procedure to complicate matters or scare her off. Plus I've only shot IDPA once, sixteen years ago, and the experience was not pleasant (long story, some other time), and it left me with a personal bias that I am still working on overcoming/moving past. Don't know, maybe I'm way over analyzing it all. But I just want to find the best solution I can for her comfort and enjoyment

This looks like the best place t put this, if not let me know In this case I am searching for this for my wife's benefit. even after spectating at the matches I've participated in, she would like to find a class or regular place to make a more gentle transition into the sport than jumping in with both feet. And I can understand why. She's a rather good shot, but she's never practiced or dealt with the rest of the match experience, multiple targets, movement from one position to the next, shooting on the clock, etc. though at least some of this is on the agenda for our personal range visits in the coming year. What she's looking for is a class or other opportunity to be able to be exposed to an practice those aspects of a match that currently make her nervous in an environment without the pressure of a match. how'd she put it? " I don't want to go out there the first time, having never done this before, having never walked through a stage much less with someone explaining what's what, feeling like everyone's watching me, and guy with a timer, and a scorekeeper following me! I want the chance to practice this stuff a few times where I don't feel like folks might laugh at me" A few days back I came across info on a monthly class held at Double Tap ranch in Wichita Falls that sounded like exactly what Trish wanted. But a seven hour one way drive is a bit much to attend a two hour class, So I was wondering if anyone knew of a similar class or similar in the Houston area? One suggestion that was made in the thread I started on another forum were the various IDPA practice/mini matches that occur weekly around Houston. Personally I'm unsure of how well IDPA and USPSA cross over as far as practice for one Discipline helping or hindering a shooter mainly focused on the other. so any insight on that front would be appreciated as well. Any way it's late and I'm rambling thank you for your time and any info or advice you choose to share.

Well, the results posted sometime between 12:30 and 6:30pm today. And unless I'm really crappy at reading the results, I came in 20th overall and 1st in Single stack. Realistically, the 1st in SS has to be viewed as being due to there only being three of us in the division, and the more experienced shooter taking 0-pts on the third stage somehow. and the 5th stage seems to have eaten the lunch of half the shooters, penalty wise.

To be honest, I think part of my impatience has to do with some "drama" occurring during the setup phase of the match and a feeling on my part that some of the delay in posting this month's results may be as a result of that. won't go into details, but the listed contact/Match director left the range prior to sign-up.

Obviously I'm new to all this, seeing as how this past Saturday was only the 2nd USPSA match I've ever shot, and the first one was close to two years ago, But. How long Should it take for the match results to be posted. Apparently, and I have no idea if this is normal or not, my local club does not announce/reveal/how ever you wish to term it results the day of the match and instead uploads them to the section website. I was told Saturday that they should be up by Tuesday evening. Now I know that it's only been 24 hours past the expected posting time, and I may be perceived as impatient, but 4 days Just to find out if I did as well/bad as I think I did is starting to make me slightly twitchy. So as I off base and being overly impatient, or is this unusual?

New guy from an hour SE of Houston. Been shooting for 25 years, finally able to start shooting pistol matches. this past Sat (may 10th) I shot my third pistol match ever (2nd USPA). not sure what all else to say. well anyway Hi there