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mniels

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About mniels

  • Birthday 06/06/1975

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Marshall, VA
  • Interests
    Steel Challenge
  • Real Name
    Matt Weilmuenster

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Sees Sights (6/11)

  1. Does anyone know if you can purchase the factory parts (pins, etc.) for a Mk IV? In other words, can I build a full pistol with an aftermarket lower, upper, bolt, and trigger assembly without needing a factory lower to source the parts?
  2. That is a good idea, I use that timer as well. Had not thought about using it to record just the last shot.
  3. At the moment I belong to the Quantico Shooting Club on base. Unfortunately, they are so busy that the small arms bays are always in use for competitions or military training. What is the name of the club in Fredericksburg? I shot a USPSA match down that way once, but I think it had Fairfax in the name, which was very confusing. The other problem is drive time. I would love to find somewhere local so I could hop out after work a couple of times a week. I have my kids most weekends, so it makes it hard to drive 1 1/2, 2 hours to go somewhere and then only have maybe an hour and a half to set up and shoot before I have to get back. That, and I try to shoot a match two or three weekends a month. If I practice the other day of that weekend, I might get divorced. I talked the manager at the local Farm and Home store down the street from me, and he said he would ask around for me and see if anyone wanted to make a little extra money letting me shoot on their property. Hopefully something pans out there.
  4. Well, yeah, its always the gun! I actually only dry fire for 10 minutes a day, right after dinner. I pick a stage that I think I need to work on, hit that one for a couple of days, then move on to another one. I think that you can overdo it with dryfire, it isn't exactly exciting, so it is easy to get bored and lose concentration.
  5. The one thing that I have discovered is that dry fire is HUGE. I love the banners. They are expensive, but the fact that they are more realistic works better for me than dryfiring at stickers on a wall. Dry fire played a huge part in my bump in classes. Just helping get your rhythm down is a big plus.
  6. I’m just giving you a hard time, sorry. No hurt feelings, I promise!
  7. To be clear, I am not referring to drive or desire. I dry fire nightly and pay close attention to how I practice as well. I shoot at least once a week at my indoor range so at least I can work on first shot times (which are incredibly good due to that practice.) The simple fact is that if you cannot live fire practice Steel Challenge, you are going to hit a ceiling. It is not a hard stop ceiling, you can still improve, but it will take much, much longer. And you will never be as good as you could be. I live in a semi-rural area, and I have spent the last three months driving around like a vacuum salesman in the 50's, knocking on the doors of local farmers trying to find a place to practice. I have posted online, talked to other shooters in the area, anything I can think of to find somewhere. I have even put up a flyer at the local feed store. I have just been striking out. I have not given up, hopefully I will find something, but it definitely is not for a lack of trying. Also, this isn't about money, I am referring to availability of practice space when I refer to resources. I probably didn't make that clear. However, if anyone would like to start a GoFundMe so I can buy some land, I won't complain! The point being, please don't tell me it is a lack of drive.
  8. I find it interesting to talk to people about this in relation to their skill level/class. Obviously, the guys like Kunkel, Barrett, etc., are able to spend a lot of time with live fire practice on stages, working on particular transitions, etc. I don't believe that there is any way to get that fast. I started shooting RFRO about three months ago (really six months, but I had so many malfunctions with what I was shooting that I could not finish a string without an issue.) I have never had the opportunity to live fire practice a stage; the only time I have ever been able to shoot a stage is at a match. I simply do not have access to land where I can set anything up. I am sure that this is the case for the majority of people. The combination of available time, space, and ammo just isn't there for the average Joe. I do, however, dry fire my ass off (first using the GFDS stickers, then the Steel Shoot Dryfire Banners.) Recently I became curious about the timing of my progress, so I went back into Practiscore and counted how many matches and stages I have shot since the end of May, when I finally had a reliable rifle. Starting with the Area 8 match outside of Richmond at the end of May, I have shot ten matches. Some were eight stages matches, some six, and some four. I went back and added up how many stages I shot in that time period and got 60. So 60 stages in a hair under three months. So here is the thing. In that three month span, I went from a low B to M with a couple of seconds to go to get to GM. I am 46 years old with a VERY bad knee (eight surgeries including a partial replacement, full replacement, and revision.) I am nowhere near what I would call an athlete, and have not been for quite some time. I have been shooting in general for a long time, dabbling in USPSA for a bit until I realized that I could not be even remotely competitive because I quite literally could not shoot from a knee. In fact, I began shooting SC because I wanted to compete, and there is almost no movement on the clock. However, I can't help thinking about how fast I could shoot if I had the time to really practice. I would never be "top tier," if for no other reason than my younger years are behind me, but I believe I could be pretty damn competitive, at least at the regional level. I am sure that my story is not unique. There have to be a lot of folks out there with at least some kind of a natural affinity for shooting fast, who just can't be as good as they are capable of due to lack of time, practice space, etc. Now, since I know someone is going to bring this up, I do realize that the different classes allow us to compete against those of a similar skill level. That is the whole reason they are there, so us average shooters have someone to compete against. But I am talking about those of us who dream about being able to shoot those sub 60 times and wondering what could have been... So the question all of this is leading up to is, how good do you think you would be if you had access to those resources outside the reach of a "typical" shooter? I believe that there would be a LOT more competition at the top of the leaderboards. What do you guys think? (On a side note, I compete because I enjoy it. Through Steel Challenge I have made a couple of great friends, one of whom could be my brother, and we all shoot the same matches and and squad together. I am definitely competitive, but I am out there because I am having a blast. Thankfully, I am not one of those people who cannot have a good time unless they always finish first. I decided to add this little post script because after reading my post, I do sound like the only thing I care about it how fast I can shoot and whether or not I win. Don't get me wrong, I like both of those things, but that isn't the reason I try to get out and shoot three or four matches every month. I am however, genuinely curious how many great shooters there could be out there given all of the things I have discussed.)
  9. I prefer a stage I am super comfortable with, like Roundabout or Showdown. I like to be warmed up a little when I hit a stage that I am working to improve on.
  10. Thank goodness I don't need a cleaner that big. It would cost $270 to fill it with the Lucas bore solvent! The solution will last a long time, but that is still a lot of scratch....
  11. I've only ever used the welding spray, so I cannot speak to the cooking spray. Presumably, it is manufactured to withstand a decent amount of heat, but I don't think you are going to save any money by using it instead. For the record, this is the stuff I use. It is $9 a can and I am not even close to it being empty. A little bit goes a long way. Also, following up about the Lucas Oil Bore Solvent....the stuff is pretty amazing. It does not need to be diluted, so you just dump it directly into your UC. It is, however, expensive. I have a smaller cleaner, it took 32oz to fill it up to the point where I normally do with water and the Hornady parts cleaner. However, you do not dump it. Apparently you can leave it in there for up to a year before you change the solution. Just lift up the basket, drop in your parts, and go to town. Just make sure that you run a de-gas cycle in between cleanings. I am also using it to clean by Volquartsen competition bolt for my 10/22 build. I just run it for 30 minutes on a heated cycle, then pull it out and rinse it off. Works great, and no more scraping crap off of your extractor!
  12. Anyone out there know the recommended torque limit for the receiver set screw? I realize this is not as important as the v block, but I still think it would be nice information to have. It looks like the v block is 15lbs, or at least Fix It Sticks sells a limiter called the "Ruger 10/22 Torque Limiter" that is set to that weight.
  13. Thanks for the info. After doing some research I think I am going to go with one of the Peltor models. The one that does not have the charging case is about the same price as the Axils. I am not using them for more than 5 hours or so at a match, so having to plug in a cable to charge them isn't a deal breaker for me, and well worth saving $150 bucks. Apparently that is the only difference between the two.
  14. So I committed the cardinal sin of accidentally dryfiring the Kidd trigger when it wasn't in the receiver. Luckily, the hammer strut spring did not go flying 30 feet away. I also managed to do this right after I purchased the trigger and was taking it of the package a few months ago. That first time I was able to pop the hammer strut spring right back in, cock the hammer, and install the trigger. For some reason, this time I cannot get the hammer to cock after putting the hammer strut spring back in. The hammer moves freely all the way back without the spring in place, so I think it has something to do with how the spring is interacting with the hammer, but I will be damned if I can figure out what it is. Messed with it for 45 minutes then decided to seek help. Any troubleshooting suggestions are appreciated!
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