andrewcolglazier

You have heard from who? When? Link? Steve, never mind! I'm just happy to hear there is no problem! Thank you sir! Andy

Andy just shoot a 45 ACP Glock. I am sure Steve J. wont mind. Lol!

Dear Steve! I am considering shooting this match, but I have heard that guns with deactivated grip safeties will be prohibited. Is this correct? I can't shoot a 1911 with an active grip safety, so need an answer to this question. Thank you!

This. My advice as well, to a "T". Andy

If you are planning to shoot factory ammo, I see no reason why you can't leave all springs stock. Andy

Handled one at my local GS the other day. Good ergos, lightweight, affordable. What's the word on them? Thanks! Andy

Andy, Note that the link I provided wasn't to the first run of info from the Box O' Truth, it was to the "revisited" testing that they did with "better" ammo. If there is even more better ammo out now, that would be great. Thanks for your data points. Hey Kyle, I didn't know there had been an update. Personally, I have no heartburn with those results. I have come to the opinion that looking for penetration in excess of 12" can cause problems with overpenetration. There is no perfect loading, or perfect handgun, all of them have their positives and negatives. I don't care for the Winchester PDX ammo, as I don't like the inclusion of the BBs in the load. I don't think they serve any purpose, and I agree with the BoT dude that random pellets not on target are not to be wished for. The BBs aside, however, I found the disks to be very accurate, keeping a nice tight pattern from my little Public Defender out to 20 yards. I prefer the Federal offering which is likewise very good out to surprising distances. I carry a mixed cylinder of buckshot and .45LC. Personally I prefer to carry revolvers for my main defensive weapons these (hot)days. They conceal better for me carried appendix than do autoloaders. Here are some pics for some size comparisons with a couple other carry guns, a Glock 19 and a S&W 13-3. Andy

Seems to me that some folks are getting lost in the weeds. It might be useful to go back to basics. What is the number one priority in every match? Have fun? Be fair to the shooter? No. The number one priority of the sport should be safety. Everything else comes after that. I've been shooting a long time. Rules are great, but inadequate in some instances. I know unsafe gun handling when I see it, though it might be difficult to articulate a definitive rule to prevent a particular example. The individual RO has one very important job; to promote safety. The rules should back up that job to the utmost, and not leave someone with such a (sometimes) difficult job swinging in the wind. The rule cited in this case is left somewhat vague for a reason, and that is to allow the RO on the spot to exercise a certain degree of discretion. Almost all NDs occur (mechanical failure notwithstanding) because of shooter error. Almost always they are trying to do something too quickly, without having thought about what they are doing. I would have great difficulty rewarding a shooter for doing something unsafe when my eyes and experience tell me they did something unsafe. And rules be damned, we have to ask ourselves what is more important; satisfying some letter of the law, or preventing someone from getting hurt or killed. If I DQ someone for doing something unsafe and they want to make an issue of it, that's just fine, so long as they get the message that I know they did something unsafe, and I won't let them do it again. Andy

I have two Judges and a Governor. One Judge has the 6.5" barrel, the other is the "Public Defender" model which is very compact. The 6.5" Judge is accurate enough to hit a 12"x12" steel plate four out of five shots, freestyle, at 70 yards using standard RN Lead .45LC ammo. I have also used it to kill several raccoons using standard buckshot. The PD is one of my favorite casual carry guns, and I carry it often when traipsing about the property while walking my dogs. The Governor is a higher quality, higher capacity, higher capability handgun of the same stripe. It is a stronger handgun than the Judges, capable of handling higher pressure .45LC loadings than would be safe in the Judges. With its extra shot capacity and the ability to reload it rapidly via moonclips, I think it is a viable self defense handgun. That said, it is fairly large, and Smith's decision to put a target hammer on the weapon (I had mine bobbed) doesn't help its concealability much. It is concealable, however, and I have carried it often using a soft IWB holster at the appendix position. The Box O' Truth info is oft quoted but out of date. That testing was done using standard buckshot loadings designed for hunting shotguns. Winchester and Federal have both produced buckshot ammo that is designed specifically for these short barreled handguns, which performs much better with much greater accuracy on target out to surprising ranges. If someone doesn't like the guns, they shouldn't buy them. But don't talk out of ignorance about them either. Andy

Hi sir. What handgun were you shooting, if I may ask? Thanks. Andy Glock Ah. Thanks. Andy

Yes. Some more info on the circumstances surrounding the event would perhaps be helpful. I have seen some NDs when shooters have picked up handguns from barrels, tables, etc. They are almost always caused by a shooter attempting to go too fast and using unsafe techniques to pick up the handgun, or because the handgun was placed on the table/barrel in an unsafe condition. Andy

Hi sir. What handgun were you shooting, if I may ask? Thanks. Andy

Stretching helped me a lot. Extend your arm out in front of you with elbow straight, palm down. Bend wrist with hand loosely clenched. Bend your wrist down as far as it will go keeping arm straight. You should feel a pulling in the muscles of your forearm up towards your elbow. Rotate your hand with your wrist bent in this manner, arm held out in front of you. Do this multiple times per day. I had "tennis elbow" in both elbows from work and shooting for months. A friend turned me on to this simple stretching regimen and the pain cleared up rapidly. Now whenever I feel a twinge, I start up the stretching again, and it subsides. Hope this works for you. Andy

What kind of handgun are we talking about here?

I sold my kids so I could get a pair of 1050s, and I rent my wife out as a rodeo clown to pay for match travel expenses. Not really. Andy

In that case it likely won't cause you any trouble unless you exert so much pressure that you begin to rotate it, which is doubtful. I suppose it could be used as an index point for your support hand thumb. But I still wouldn't put pressure there with your grip. Some may disagree, but I have found no benefit to putting pressure on the gun with my weak hand thumb against the slide or frame. I have found that this interferes with the natural recoil movement of the gun and can push the sights off target. Everybody is different though. I have seen many good shooters over the years pressing with their thumbs on the gun. Andy

Generally speaking, riding the slide release will prevent the slide from locking back on an empty magazine. If you are shooting IDPA this is a bad thing, if shooting Production or similar, no big deal as a slide lock reload isn't wanted anyway. If you aren't shooting any gungames but shooting for fun and entertainment, I would recommend not getting in the habit as it doesn't provide you with any benefit, and IMO, putting pressure on the slide/frame of the gun with your thumbs isn't a good thing. Andy

Are you doing it on purpose? Has it caused you issues? I try to keep from riding the slide or otherwise putting pressure on the frame/slide with my thumbs. Andy

Presentation and trigger prep is very important in getting your draw-to-first-shot down to a minimum. This can be drilled in dry fire very easily, and it goes hand in hand with developing the ability to present the sights into your vision reliably. This same trigger prep can also be used during transitions, not just from the draw. Jerry Miculek explained to me that by the time he begins a CoF, he knows when and where he is going to be pulling the trigger. He imagines that the gun is a fire hose. It WILL go off, bullets WILL go downrange. His job is to make sure they hit the targets. As he mostly shoots a revolver in handgun competitions, he has to deal with that long double-action trigger pull, so prepping the trigger during draws and transitions is double important. As you are shooting a Glock, it is also important to take the slack out of the trigger until you hit the hard stopping point. That's one of the reasons I like a stock 5lb. trigger on my Glocks. Andy

I use a powder check die on my 650. IMO this is the best system. The die has a white flag on the end of a rod which will indicate proper powder load, no powder, or excessive powder loads. The flag is located right at eye level and much easier to keep an eye on than trying to look down into cases. I have seen more than a few guns blown up, usually by squib loads, and always recommend the use of a powder check system. I used to load on a single stage press, and checked cases visually. I had an unacceptable level of squibs, as visually checking just didn't do the job. How many squibs out of a few thousand loaded rounds is acceptable? None. I've had at least two shooting buddies who pooh-poohed the idea of powder-check systems on their reloaders who blew up guns . Now they have dies. Andy

When you have a few more matches under your belt, you will feel less nervous, and more comfortable. It is a great idea to have a plan as to how you will approach a stage so that there are as few surprises as possible. I know I've had the best possible run when all I remember about it was how the sights looked while I was shooting. Almost an out of body experience where I'm already watching the first person vid, in slowmo. For your first few matches, focus on safety, having a plan, and getting good hits. Don't worry about how fast you are, or how you compare to anybody else. Watch the best shooters in your squad and try to learn from them, but DON'T try to go fast! That is for later. Good luck and have fun. Andy

I like to at least be able to see the target I will be shooting through the trigger guard, give or take. Andy

This. And relax. Stressed actions will fumble and be slower. My fastest reloads are the ones I don't stress and "just do." I watch the videos later they are much faster than the ones I recall thinking hard about doing fast. Reloads I do while moving are always smoother and more trouble free than reloads done flatfooted. I'm thinking about moving, not reloading, therefore I don't mess them up. Andy

Replace your extractor. I bought a new Gen. 3 G17 a couple of years ago, and it shot great for 5000 rounds. Then, inexplicably, it began to refuse to extract one case in 100, then one case in 50, then once case in 10. Changed out the extractor, problems went away immediately. The failures were basically the extractor releasing the empty case too soon and leaving it half in the chamber or in the ejection port. Andy C.

Bottom line - if doing "X" will likely prevent youi from shooting alphas, do "Y" instead. Watching the top shooters makes it very clear that they don't often take any risks. They must shoot a high percentage of alphas, and they don't do things which might endanger that goal. Andy C.