boo radley

Hmm....I've been through *exactly* this experiment, lately. I ordered a mini-case of 180 MasterBlaster, and tried them with both Titegroup and n320. I was hoping TG would work, since it's easy to get, and relatively inexpensive. It's the powder I usually use with JHP's. However, there was a dramatic difference in "smokiness" between the TG and 320 loads, IMO. It's possible I'm not sufficiently belling the case, when reloading, and scraping some of the coating off, but regardless -- I'm convinced TG is borderline acceptable, only, with these bullets. Otherwise, I think they're great. A bit hard to load, because they're slippery and top-heavy, but a small price given the low price.

Just add a dimple there, where the shiny spot is? Hmm.. might order a back-up SS, then give that a try. Thx!

So I've been shooting an STI for the last two weeks, and really like it -- it's quite a change from the Glock. The magazines, however, are another issue. I have 6 40S&W magazines -- 4 I bought new from Dawson, and two I bought used. I also bought two Grams spring/follower kits from Chuck. The slide locks open after the last round with every magazine. Worse, with the Grams followers, it locks back with one left in the mag (just found this out today). Called the gunsmith last week, and he said, 'yeah, with some followers, you have to trim them a bit with a dremel..." My understanding was the slide-stop was trimmed to disallow slide-lock on an empty gun. But seeing that with *none* of my followers, this works, I'm wondering if this is the case. Attached is a picture -- has this slide-stop already been trimmed? I don't want to go to work on it, if so. OTOH, if not....It also appears to be an MIM part. Out of curiosity, is the slide-stop MIM on STI's? I read the article on Brazos' page, but it's hard to know WTF to cut and trim, and dremel. My slide-stop has bevels everywhere on the notched part. And why do the Grams followers/springs cause the slide to lock open with ONE round left? With Area 6 in a couple days, I'm inclined to ditch the Grams guts, not touch anything for now, and just live with the slide-lock issue. But down the road, I need to get this fixed...Buy another slide-stop? Grind followers? Grind the existing slide-stop? Thx!

Florida Open South Carolina Sectional A6 (Friday) Va/MD Sectional Summer Blast NC Sectional I went to everything but Area 6 for the first time last year, so I'm looking forward to this second go-round. I wish there were more matches in the Fall. I thought about the Carolina Cup IDPA match, but by the time I got serious about looking into it, 'twas full - it booked-up FAST. Also, turned down a slot to the L10 Nationals, which I'm sorta sorry about...was just a tad too much $ and vacation time. Maybe next year.

Ended up getting 'the shot' today. Needle pinches a tad, no? I was sort of ambivalent about it, but the doc convinced me that sometimes poking a couple holes in there, and starting some bleeding, would actually kick-start the body into a healing process, instead of ignoring the low-grade irritation. Sounded reasonable, and obviously the cortisone is a big plus as well. We'll see. This whole thing has been a surpringly large PITA.

Flex, I'm not sure I know what 'clean' means, or will ever really know. I was looking something up, and saw my first USPSA match was 4/05 -- so I've been doing this for about 2 years. Had a class with Garcia, and another with Tilley, have averaged about 2 local matches a month, 6 majors, and spent a small fortune in ammo. Not once have I shot a match without at least one -- probably two -- penalties, and often many more. It ain't hard to get discouraged. Hell, last summer, when I only shooting 1/2-heartedly, and doing a lot more fishing and other things, I was *better*, than I am now, and since January, I've been dry-firing and live-firing regularly. <grumble> So I shot the plates again Friday night, at a range, with a friend. Couldn't buy a clean run, hardly, and never broke 4.0. DP -- I did try your drill, and THAT'S a lot of fun -- went 2,4,5,6,5,3,3,? I think 1 or 2 at the end. Too disgusted to record it. Part of this is getting used to a new gun (which has solved zero problems, but created some), and part is just...focus, I guess. Just venting. I'll get those %$*# circles THIS week.

Eric -- tagged to disk. Thx, man -- I hadn't thought about alternating sides during a single string, or trying it against a fixed par time. Will give these drills a shot ASAP. I like the idea of moving into a barricade and shooting a plate, too, since how many matches have you running to the corner of something, leaning around, and shooting a popper? Like...all of them, seems as if.

I don't know about y'all, but I'm finding B-ltd a pretty rowdy and teeming pond, with all sizes of frogs. It was funny -- getting out of C-class, at least for me, was just a matter of exercising some visual patience. That's it. However, it doesn't seem like you get out of B without some *skilz*, period. And there is no shortage of really good B shooters in majors happy to kick one's butt, as I've discovered.

I've had a rare chance, lately, to do some live fire at a "real" range, with a plate rack. I'm coming to believe that more than anything, the skills required to shoot a plate-rack quickly are those I need to work on. So I'll get up to it, and think -- "ok...pretend this is a match...must shoot it smoothly and clean...," but part of my brain is also thinking, "wow! wouldn't it be great if you established a cold-run time of ***". So I'll draw, shoot it, and miss a plate. I'll spend the next few runs getting progressively more angry, with no clean runs. Finally, I'll get disgusted, and exaggerate the aim on each plate, shoot it clean a few times, then go work on another drill or two. When I come back, (now after ~200 rounds) I'll get my better runs in on the rack, but still only shooting it clean about 50% of the time, and my times are -- if I'm honest -- around 4 seconds. Sometimes 3.8. Draw is about 1.5, 1.6. I would dearly love to be able to shoot the rack clean, on demand, in the mid 3's. So shoot w/out the timer for a while? Forget setting a par time in dry-fire? (I have some circles on the wall in my garage for a fake plate rack -- I shoot those no problem in 4.0). Stay at a level where I'm always at 50/50 of success, aiming more/less deliberately as needed to maintain that pace? signed, "plated" in NC

Cindy & Co -- What's the traffic like around the range in the evening? I'm shooting the match on Friday, and was thinking about driving down from Raleigh about noon on Thursday (6hrs?) but didn't want to end up in a huge traffic jam around Atlanta in rush hour, or something... In that case I'll just leave a couple hours later. Thx

Great match -- very different than last year, IMHO, in challenges of stages. Jack/Linda/& staff put on a hell of a show, and we, as shooters, never had to touch a paster or reset steel. Plus, given the number of shooters, things flowed pretty well! A slight backup on 1 and 3, but otherwise when we arrived, we shot. I was lucky to be put on a super-squad of top Limited shooters, and it was a great watching Phil Strader, Mike Seeklander (though he was shooting SS), Jason Koon, Robbie Wheaton, etc, plan and shoot stages. Very educational. I'm still amazed by stage 3 -- the Pink Floyd "wall" stage. Phil said, "I'm going to shoot this all A's, except for 1 C." And did so. And with the 2nd fastest time. For the hell of it, I shot a video of that, on my camera, and it's flat-out amazing, because not *once* does he look like he's doing anything but calmly and deliberately aiming and shooting. There's a lesson there. JFlowers -- we started on your stage Saturday (Hurricane Aynor?) and don't recall anyone having any problems with the poppers. JFD -- stage 8 was *great*. The timing of those swingers was diabolical, and those plates seemed to give some fits. It was interesting seeing some on our squad shoot the left-hand swinger as the last target from the middle port...How many shot it that way? A bit disappointed in a mid-pack, B Ltd finish, but only because I hadn't thought I was shooting too badly. Got work ahead; gotta lose those 'mikes.' Again, terrific match, weather and staff, and great to be on a squad with terrific and friendly shooters.

Hey all -- What are the range hours for this match? ie, what time do you expect the squads to start/finish on Friday and Saturday. Many thanks, Steve

Yeah - this totally sucks. Finally went and saw an orthopaedic specialist today, after another two weeks of ibuprofen and ice and a forearm strap. Tennis elbow, aka 'lateral epicondylitis.' The elbow would get a bit better, then I'd go shoot, or lift or twist something, and I'd be right back again. For sure, shooting is not good. There's something about the grip pressure in conjunction with recoil that really concentrates the 'ouch.' I used a heavy-duty staple gun, and couldn't believe how much it hurt, from the spring recoil -- almost more interesting than painful. Truthfully, I was hoping for a shot of cortisone, based on what I've been reading, but he wants to go a week on some Rx NSAID and a different strap, before giving me a shot. I'll shoot the SC match, then really take some time off, or shoot very lightly. Hell of it is, I'm really motivated to practice, and have a new gun, etc. <grumble> Enough whining, but damn.

Ha -- it was almost a *really* short day. Drove up there with another forum member, 'bp78'. First stage, and "LAMR'd", and on the beep -- BAM! Sent a shot 11' into the dirt in front of me. I felt like hell; the AD wasn't close enough for a DQ (barely), but still...Caylor gave me the trigger I asked for -- I just have to learn how to use it. Shook that off, and the rest of the stages were pretty rough, but that's my fault, not the gun's. Had mike's left and right, a blown reload, where I didn't seat the mag...<shudder> One of those days where I don't really want to see the results. Good match, though with some nice stages. Martin changed up his field course a bit -- was very interesting. Are you shooting South Carolina? I think I'll be bringing the Glock, until I can get some serious practice time in, with the new gun. BNorth -- sent you a PM, in case you still see red X's. My hosting company is flaky. Steve

Yup, the serrations are an anchor point for the weak-hand thumb. Wasn't my idea, but it's a nifty touch... Barry -- I am relieved and pleased. I think I will bring it next Tues., I can probably get by with RWR's, since the slide doesn't lock back, but they're going to hate seeing the CR-Speed rig. <grin> Speaking of which -- I think it's time you visit USPSA Single-Stack, or L10, with that fine Nighthawk you just got in. You should hit tomorrow's match at Sir Walter. Seriously. Drop me a PM, if you want to ride up there...

Thx all -- good tips on the mags! I'll shoot them as-is for a bit, and see what happens. Paul, I probably will shoot Sir Walter tomorrow - hope to see ya' there! TexasHK -- no, the wait wasn't much fun, especially since it was unanticipated. First, spent some time being remorseful (still a twinge of that). Deep down, I really do know it's the Indian, etc, and a Glock wasn't holding me back. Second, it's flat out *AMAZING* how many great guns at steal-it-now prices roll across the classified section of the forum, while you're waiting for yours. <grin> Third -- at some point, it seems to make perfect sense to get on the phone to Speed Shooters, and get a brand-new SVI in your hot hands..tomorrow. Just a matter of a credit card.

Last summer, in a moment of weakness, I got really tired of wondering if I'd shoot an STI better than my Glocks in Limited, so I put in an order for a custom build -- fairly basic gun; short dust-cover and no frills. I thought about a stock Eagle, or something, but conventional wisdom here says -- "Get a gunsmith to build one -- you'll never regret it." So I did a little research, and a guy out of Texas, Mike Caylor, of Caylor Custom Guns, has been recommended here by a couple folks, and he offered exactly what I was looking for at an attractive price, as a package. He was a former gunsmith for STI, too. Well, 'twas a bit of a wait, I must admit, but the communication was good, and I know he had some health problems. He also went above and beyond in making things right, by way of apology. Two days ago the gun arrived, and it's something else. Shot a couple hundred rounds through it last night, which did nothing to help a nasty case of tennis elbow, but couldn't resist. Very accurate, no issues. I will need to get used to the trigger (about 2-2.5lbs, with Extreme Engineering parts), after the Glock. I doubled it twice, accidentally, riding the reset. Next weekend is the SC Sectional, and I'm thinking, "Hmmm..." Maybe spend some time with her, first. Also -- bought some new Dawson 140mm mags, and with the +1 basepad, damned if I can figure out how to get more than 18 in each. Anyway:

I hear ya', Steven. I'm certainly not at your level, but can empathize a bit -- shot an IDPA classifier, for the hell of it, with no expectations, ended up "MA" and have consequently had *dreadful* IDPA matches, with a huge focus on speed....But that's a devil I'm used to carrying on my shoulder, and one I need to exorcise, regardless. No, I'm thinking more along the lines of saying (which is what I'm doing): "OK. I'm at 70%...next year by this time, I'd like to be at 80%. What areas am I weak in? What do I need to practice to improve in these areas, and how committed am I?" So I guess it's sortta getting to the same place -- improving fundamentals -- but with a "class" related goal, but not a "class focus?" Or hell. Rambling and thinking out loud. Maybe this is all so much bullsh*t; we're all completely ego-driven in this sport, and the bottom line is you ain't going to get There from Here without solid fundamentals, no matter what is lighting your fuse.

One tip with the Cr-Speed holsters -- I like to cut the "end" off 'em. Even with my G24, it's longer than needs be, and helps eliminate some of the poking. It's easy to do with a hacksaw.

That's a darn nice looking pistol there, Barry! Two weeks *ahead* of schedule??

I'm a fan of the latter solution. On my Les Baer PII, I dropped in a full length rod. Then had to buy a metal bushing wrench to turn the bushing.... Then I thought -- I paid all this money for a super-tight (probably needlessly so) gun, why am I grinding away on the bushing/barrel fit? If I ease the slide back a 1/2" or so, I don't need to use undue force to turn the bushing -- but I can't do that with a full-length rod. LB shipped with a GI-style anyway.

I'm not being contrary, but I do wonder what's so bad about using class as a goal? Why is it mutually exclusive from learning the fundamentals? Obviously some perspective is necessary -- driving 9 hours each weekend, to hit special "4-classifier matches", or constantly turning in reshoots on Classifiers, etc. -- is a different issue. But I don't see what's wrong with saying, "Objectively I'm at X class now, and by Y date I'd like to get to Z class....What skills do I need to improve to reach this goal?"

I glanced at a couple of Z's videos in another thread -- that one stages (Dentist theme) looked identical to what I remember from the Florida Open. Were some of the same stages shot again?

+1 I learned an interesting lesson when I made the horrible mistake of filing a claim for about $9k of storm damage on my house....How could I have been so stupid? Even so -- I'm fine with free market principals, but when the industry continues to make record profits (and their business is, after all, investing YOUR premiums), year after year after year -- in SPITE of Katrina....Don't then lobby Congress to create a Federal reinsurance fund, or otherwise try to pass off future claims to taxpayers.

Game! Set! And...Match! Well played, well played, sir.