ScottQ

Sorry, these were all done with Titegroup. Bullseye came in with my .45 Auto loads which I also ran across the chrono with similar results. All of the 9mm were loaded with Titegroup. As far as crazy pressure, I didn't fire that many rounds but they don't show any excess pressure signs to me (not that I'm any kind of expert). At the end of the day the ammo ended up in the general range of most +P ammo, which both guns can handle fine, so I don't think any damage was done really. Other than to my pride. And a good lesson was learned.

Well, as it turns out after I posted I started thinking more about it (sometimes the process of writing up the problem spurs the thought process) and considering Occam's Razer (the simplest solution is usually the correct one), and the problem was nothing complicated or obscure at all. As careful as I was with weighing charges and checking OAL and so on, as it turns out I overlooked a very simple and important step. The Lee Balance Scale was not properly calibrated to zero. Given that all of my velocities were rather higher than I expected, it's likely been off by a bit less than a grain for all of my reloading. So what I thought was 4.3 grains of Bullseye was actually about 5.2 grains. Completely explains my results. As it turns out, I'd already ordered a digital scale to use for double checking myself, and it's a good thing I started out with fairly light charges so my overcharging didn't really create any problems. Lesson learned, Scott

I'm quite new to reloading, but so far I've loaded up 500 rounds or so of 9mm and they seem to be quite accurate and I've had no issues shooting them. So far so good. I'm using a single stage Lee press to begin with, and I'm quite careful and meticulous when I load my rounds. Thus far I've used 125gr Sierra Tournament Master FMJ bullets and two different loads with Titegroup. The first load is 4.0 grains of Titegroup loaded at 1.09 OAL. With the understanding that those were probably a bit higher power factor than they needed to be, I loaded a second batch with 3.9 grains of Titegroup, and an OAL of 1.12 which from what I understand should place the bullet closer to the lands and improve accuracy a bit. My ultimate goal is a nice soft shooting and accurate round for Production class matches using either my Springfield XD or Glock 34. Figuring I didn't want to leave anything to chance, I went out to the range today and broke out my new chronograph, a Chrony F1. This is where the unexpected results come. I was expecting something around 1075-1100 FPS out of the first load, and somewhere around 1050-1075 FPS from the second load, with the second one giving me around a 131-132 power factor, which is around what I was shooting for. It was a nice, cool, cloudy day and seemed like a good day to test my loads and my new chronograph, so off I went. Set the chronograph up exactly 10 feet from the muzzle, with a target dot set up behind it so my rounds should be a nice consistent 4" or so above the chrony. All went well, and I didn't even shoot the chronograph! Except the velocities I measured were much higher than I was expecting, and I was hoping some more experienced shooters and reloaders could give me some insight. Here's the data: Load #1: Sierra 125gr FMJ 4.0 gr Titegroup 1.09 OAL Each string was 5 shots: Glock 34 (5.3" barrel): Average Velocity 1205.2 FPS, Standard Deviation 11.30 Springfield XD Tactical (5.25" barrel): Average Velocity 1238 FPS, Standard Deviation 10.93 Load #2: Sierra 125gr FMJ 3.9 gr Titegroup 1.12 OAL Each string 5 shots: Glock 34: Average Velocity 1255.6 FPS, Standard Deviation 16.0 Springfield XD Tactical: Average Velocity 1267.2 FPS, Standard Deviation 8.17 So I'm confused. I'm getting much higher velocities than I expected, especially from Load #2. I suppose it's possible that my scale is completely messed up and I'm putting more powder in than I think I am, but it's a Lee balance type scale and those are pretty hard to screw up. Any other ideas or insights? Safe shooting, Scott

I just acquired a shotgun so I can start looking into 3 gun matches (a FNH SLP), so my question for all you veterans is simply what method would you recommend a new shotgun shooter to start with?

I've got the exact same issue - anyone have any good creative ideas? Scott

Congrats! I'm sure you'll both enjoy it! Scott

Hey Rob! Tons of great stuff here, nice to see you! Scott

I've been shooting USPSA for only a couple of months, shooting first my HK USP .40 cause it's what I had, and then my 9mm Springfield XD. Until this past week, I've been shooting purely in production, even using the HK .40 in Production instead of Limited-10, as it's a good reminder to keep getting good hits. Well, my XD was off having some work done, and I had a new 1911 that I wanted to try out, so off I went to my first club match with my 1911. It was going to be my first time shooting Limited-10, and my first time with the 1911, Safariland holster, and 771 mag holders. I'd watched Matt's video, had the holster adjusted so I was happy with it, had the mag holders adjusted just so, and I'd been practicing draws and reloads at home the night before, to get used to the new setup. So I get up to the line, load a round from the 8 round mag in my pocket, and then load up the furthest back of the four 10 round mags I had on my belt. Only a 24 round stage, so I'll shoot 8, reload, shoot 8, reload, and shoot 8. Well, the first 8 go just fine, and I reload and take the next 2 targets with 2 rounds each. Somehow my brain malfunctioned, and while moving to the next 2 targets I reloaded again. Well, that's ok, I have an extra mag, so I'm not worried, other than the small amount of time I lost on the unnecessary reload. Then I get to the last reload, and reach my hand back to find nothing there. Imagine my surprise. Well, I had to dig my extra 8 round mag out of my pocket and load it to finish up the stage, which was NOT very good for the old timer. What do you suppose I found when I got finished? Sitting there right on the front of my belt was a full magazine staring at me. I'd been shooting Production so much, in the heat of the moment I just passed that one by. Lets just say that was not my smoothest stage. Scott

A lot of good suggestions here, and I'll add one more. If you haven't looked at it yet, you might want to take a closer look at the Springfield XD. It's a lightweight gun, like your Glock, but has a very small grip good for small hands (like mine too) and the same grip angle as the 1911's. You can get 9mm if you want to shoot Production, or .40 S&W if you want to shoot Limited/Limited 10 and make major. Out of the box it has, IMO, a much nicer trigger than the Glock, but for $135 or so you can have Canyon Creek or Bar-Sto do a really nice trigger job on it, and it will feel much like a 1911 trigger. My 2 cents, Scott

The Bar-Sto trigger for the XD should involve little more than replacing the factory sear. They are still testing, so nothing is engraved in stone yet. At least that's how I understand it. I'll know more in a few weeks when mine comes back. Scott

I guess I don't really see it as an equipment race. Top shooters have proven over and over again that they can win with most anything in their hand. To me, it's more a question of using the best and most fun tool for the job. If I need a drill to build a deck, I'm going to buy the DeWalt, and not the Black and Decker. If I need a new tent, I'm going to be looking at Mountain Hardware and other top brands, and not a Walmart special. The main reason I shoot is because it's fun. And it's more fun for me to have a good tool (my gun) that's been customized to be just the way I want it. Knowing that I have the best tool I can have helps my confidence, much more so than it helps my shooting directly. Maybe at the higher end of the sport there's an equipment race that I don't see, but for me, it's just a question of having a tool that I am confident in, and have the most fun with. Scott

I've noticed that when I'm feeling confident and good about my shooting, I tend to shoot poorly. That of course tends to put me in a bad mood, which, oddly enough, seems to improve my shooting. And those times when I'm able to just put my mind on coast and let the shooting happen, I shoot the best. From what I read, this is hardly unique, but what are some good suggestions to try to start each stage with the "mind neutral" mode that seems to perform the best? Scott

Bar-Sto is putting their new trigger in my 9mm XD Tactical sometime this month. Another local shooter has one of Rich's triggers, will be interesting to compare them. They are also installing a Bar-sto barrel, a low mount Bomar sight, so my XD should be ready to roll soon! Scott

I have a Sig Trailside, and I liked it quite well until I shot a Ruger .22 (not sure exactly what model it was, it was a range gun). I bought it for more or less the same purpose you did, and while I'm not unhappy with it, I'm not thrilled either. If I were making that choice again, I wouldn't choose any of the guns on your list. I would either look at the Ruger if I needed to stay in your price range, or my first choice would be to get either a .22 Conversion Kit for my 1911, or just buy the Kimber Rimfire Target .22 outright (they look to run about $600, though, so that's a couple hundred bucks out of your price range). I shot the Kimber .22 recently, and I really liked it a lot. Don't know what you're shooting in competition, but the Kimber is much closer to the weight and feel of most competition guns. To me, it would be well worth the extra dough if you can swing it. Scott

Picked one up yesterday. Scott

I'm still digesting it all, but I love what you said, and it really resonates. We have a few M and GM shooters here locally, and I've certainly noticed even as a newbie to IPSC that regardless of the stage, regardless of how far/close the targets are, or how fast they shoot, they almost always shoot A's. So as I'm learning, I try to shoot all A's, and let the speed come as it comes. The more I practice, the more quickly I can shoot good shots without "rushing". As soon as I cross that line and try to shoot too fast, those A's instantly turn into D's, mikes, etc, and even though my times are better, my scores nosedive. Great post, L2S!

As a brand new shooter (both to IPSC and to shooting in general) I've been trying to learn as much as I can, soaking up lots of info and ideas, and having a lot of fun. A question has come up, though, that I just can't seem to find an answer to. In Matt Burkett's video, Brian talks about how valuable it can be for new shooters to learn to shoot from a bench or rest. I've seen other folks talk about that as well. I've searched the Internet, and these forums, and for the life of me I can't find anything about how to go about doing this properly. I see all sorts of articles on benchrest shooting of rifles, but can't find a thing on pistols. Should I be looking to shoot off of some sort of stand? Bags? Or just with my freestyle grip supported on the bench? Any other tricks or tips? My goal here is twofold. One, I have just purchased a new pistol specifically for USPSA production shooting (yeah, I'm hooked!), and I want to see what it's capable of shooting, accuracy wise, before I get any work done on it. Two, Brian's suggestions (on Matt Burkett's video) make a lot of sense to me, to use benchrest shooting as part of my practice, as it can help to isolate things like trigger control, and watching the sights, without worrying about holding the gun still, etc. I'm sure I already have enough bad habits going that I'd like to try to avoid adding more, so any suggestions or thoughts are appreciated! Thanks, Scott

I just picked up a Springfield XD, and talked to Rich at Canyon Creek about some of the things he can do with it, including the extended magazine release. His answer was basically this (if I understood him correctly). What he does is modify the existing magazine release so it sticks out farther on the left side, and less far on the right side. As such, it's using the same stock magazine release, and is actually an internal modification to the gun, and not an external one. I don't know how or if this applies to the Glock, but this was the logic behind this type of modification on the Springfield XD, according to Rich. Scott

I'm in Georgia, and usually shoot with GPSL (www.gpsl.org), which is a great club. A few of those folks post here occasionally.

This sounds like really good advice, but so far I've found it somewhat more challenging than I expected. The first thing I did was to talk with the instructor at the local range I usually shoot at. He's an NRA Certified instructor, has shot IDPA, IPSC, PPC, etc etc. Has a long list of credentials and experience, so when he suggested I start with his basic handgun class, I figured why not. After all, I'm still quite new to all this, so I figured some basic instruction in the fundamentals would be a good place to start. Well, it turns out this course was an utter and complete waste of $100. Apart from 2 hours of range time and 2 boxes of .22 ammo, I got essentially nothing from the class. Everything we covered in there I already knew. I sorta figured there was gonna be a problem when he said to start with a target (standard 25 yard NRA bullseye target) at 10 yards, and when you can get 8/10 into the black, move it back, etc. Well, I could put 8/10 in the black (about 5" diameter) at 25 yards before I ever walked in. So now I'm not sure what to do. I've watched the Matt Burkett videos (1-3) and I'm in the process of reading Brain's book, but a fair amount of what's covered there seems to be beyond my current skill level. I'd really like to find some good instruction that is tailored to my current skill level (or lack thereof ), but I'm having a hard time finding something that's target at the right level. My next step was going to be to ask the club members if anyone is willing to help, or knows of any good instructors that can help, but I'll ask that here also, does anyone have any suggestions on good instruction for new shooters?

As a brand new shooter, I've been reading a lot of posts here and elsewhere, but haven't been posting much, as I'm trying to learn from the vast amount of knowledge here. So my question is a simple one... What do you know now, that you wish you'd have known when you were new? Thanks in advance for your input! Scott

Before I reply, let me introduce myself. I'm about as new a shooter as you'll find, having purchased my first handgun only about a month or so ago. I've been reading the forums here for several weeks, but this is my first post. In my particular case, I decided to purchase a handgun for personal defense reasons, and I figured there wasn't much point in having one if I didn't learn how to use it, so I started looking for resources on the Internet to help me in that task. I may be a bit unusual in that I own an Internet business, so the Internet is generally the first place I go when I'm looking for information. I read a lot of general information articles on the Internet, and read a few handgun magazines, when I stumbled across the website of a local USPSA club. What I read there sounded both fun and practical, and their website sounded very welcoming to new shooters, so I went to check things out. At this point I did not own a gun at all (actually I had not completely made up my mind to purchase a gun at all), so I mostly went to see what it was all about, and see if it looked like something interesting. Shooting a few rental guns at the range and a basic handgun safety class a few years back was basically the total extent of my firearms experience. What I found was the people were every bit as friendly and welcoming as the website lead me to expect, and the shooting looked like a perfect way to learn how to effectively use a handgun. And of course it looked like a lot of fun. Well, the following weekend I bought my first gun at a local gun show (an HK USP Compact 40) along with some extra magazines, holster, mag holders, etc. Some enterprising gun dealer out there ought to put together a starter package for USPSA/IPSC, cause that process alone can be pretty intimidating and expensive. So the following week I headed out to the weekly club competition, for my first actual try at shooting IPSC. My introduction consisted basically of about 15 minutes of overview of the safety information and the basics of how to shoot a stage, along with a couple of handouts. Now, I may be unusual in that I had already read just about everything on the very excellent GPSL website, and had read most of what was available on the USPSA website, along with having already watched a match, so I was already pretty familiar with how things were going to go. I set three goals for myself before I went out, which were as follows: 1) Be safe. 2) Have fun. 3) Try to hit the targets. I'm sure most of you remember what it was like the first time you ever did something like this, but for me that memory is very fresh, as it was only 4 weeks ago. It was truly amazing to me how much of a blur that first stage was. For someone new, there is just SO much going on all at once it's hard to process it all. I don't recall a single target, nor do I even remember the gun firing during that first stage. So much of my attention was on keeping the gun safe (remember, this was the first time I've ever shot with other people around), remembering how to operate the gun, and negotiating the course of fire, I'm amazed I actually hit anything. I still remember being surprised to look up and see the slide locked back a couple of times, and practically forgetting what to do when that happens, depsite having practiced reloading at home for hours on the day before the match. For the record, it took me 76 seconds to shoot a 24 round course, and I had 2 misses. My hit factor was 0.8325. I don't think the grand masters need to be worried about me catching them just yet. After I was done, I was totally convinced of two things. One, this sport is a LOT of fun! And two, while I hope never to need to use a gun for self defense, the training and practice that I gain here will be very valuable. I'm not gonna get into any sort of debate about various types of training and competition, but for me, I wanted to learn how to operate a gun under pressure, and have those skills so ingrained that I don't have to consciously think about it. Shooting IPSC will be a good start down that road. So, all that being said, how does this relate to the original question? Well, speaking for myself, I love the mentor idea that was mentioned here. I've certainly found that lots of the more experienced shooters have been extremely helpful, but if I had a mentor assigned to coach me through the first few weeks, I think that would have helped a lot. It certainly would have made me feel a lot more comfortable. A second issue for those who haven't competed before is "stage fright". It's inevitable that a new shooter is going to feel nervous before their first time shooting in front of 30 or 40 people. I would have loved an opportunity to shoot a practice stage with a more experienced shooter, more or less walking through it in slow motion with live fire. I think another local club has a little more extensive new shooter training class, but I'm not sure if it includes this type of thing or not, since I haven't yet gone and done it. I'd have certainly felt more comfortable had I been able to do something like that, and I'd have been much more aware of what was going on around me. To me, that awareness is pretty important. With greater awareness a new shooter will be safer, and have more fun. We can only process so much new information at one time, so the less new things we have to deal with that first time up on the line, I think, the better. And I'm not talking about awareness of the sights, and the targets, and all the sorts of things the more experienced shooters focus on. I'm talking about awareness of my position, the position of the gun, the range officer, their commands, etc. The sort of awareness that's focused on keeping the whole thing fun and safe for a new shooter. Scott