boo radley

Thx, General Chang. I guess. I feel strangely compelled to buy one of these, never mind that I *had* a brass THE magwell, and didn't like it -- made the gun balance funny, I thought, and cramped my grip, and the opening seems huge anyway, especially after reloads with a 1911. I swear, I feel like one of those primitive people that gets freakin' bedazzled when the white, European colonists dangle some glass beads or trinket.... MUST HAVE!

Heh -- I ran into exactly the same issue, when I first bought these pouches. Rescomp's instructions on their gear just suck. Period. I don't have a pouch handy at the moment, and have turned them into Glock pouches anyway, but I seem to remember needing to install the insert sideways inside the pouch which effectively cuts the space of the pouch in half. Hard to describe -- but they do work very well, and no, you can't rely on the instructions.

Well, that's the thing - I don't know what I like, yet. With the SDB, you had no choice in dies. My experience with once-used 40 brass and SDB was that I had a couple nasty problems until I started gauging, and from then a couple per hundred would fail the case gauge (more with KKM barrel; fewer with stock). If I can get similar performance from a plain 3-die set, as Craig suggests, I might not bother with a 4-die, or EGW sizer. At any rate, it sounds like pretty much anything works in this press. Any big benefit to the new dies called "titanium nitride?"

The impending Dillon price increase finally pushed me over the edge, and I ordered a Dillon XL650 and casefeeder in .40S&W from Brian, a couple days ago. I'm still a bit murky about what I'll need for dies in 40S&W....I load once-fired "glocked" brass, and reading this forum it looks like the Lee carbide 4-die set is what I want (and out of stock, at Midway, and Natchez). Are there alternatives or more effective solutions? Could I just get a 3-die set, insted of 4, and add the 'special' sizing die later? For .45acp (which I will also eventually load) is any 3-die carbide set more or less the same? Will most work just fine in the 650? I noticed on my SDB lube builds up pretty rapidly with cast bullets, so maybe the Dillon set, w/quick release pin, is worth the money, here? Thx -- it's a bit confusing.

Bronco -- I was looking through my notebook, and I shot a generic cast 230gr RN bullet over both 4.8 and 4.5 grains of n320 powder, loaded to 1.27" OAL. 4.8 == 181pf 4.5 == 172pf This was out of a 1911 Kimber with 5" barrel.

That's not a bad idea, but man, I hate the thought of putting any practice time in with a pistol that isn't what I'm shooting in matches, vis-a-vis, grip, and sight picture. I do wish there were a way of resetting the trigger on my Glock, w/out cocking it -- wheelgun shooters have an advantage when dryfiring in this regard, I guess....

Atmar -- I recently received a new Dawson extension and two springs. I built two "good" mags using my factory 15-round mags (#6 followers, whatever that means). I noticed immediately how much stronger the new springs were. I shot 200 rounds tonight without a single feeding problem. The other thing I did, was replace the striker string from the R.Sotelo trigger job, with the original spring, minus a couple coils. It's a bit heavier, for sure, but didn't have a single light-strike, either. The spring in Ralph's kit is signifcantly lighter than stock: a good thing in general, but if you reload, or with my reloads, anyway, the occasional issue seemed to arise. I want to shoot another thousand or so, but between the brand-new magazine springs, and heavier striker spring, and care taken with "prepping" the magazine, I have a hunch my fundamental problems with the G35 running consistently are over. <knock on wood>

Rick -- of course. <slapping head> Never thought of just tapping the $*@*(%# timer. I have been playing with both ways -- for some stuff, like "El Prez" drills, I prefer setting a par time, but in this case, I've got something a bit more elaborate, and how long it takes to "shoot" varies by several seconds sometimes. This CED is pretty sophisticated, so I supposed I could set multiple par times, for each 'postion', but it's kind fun just time everything plus the extra motion.

I've been experimenting with dry-fire in my garage, and have a little stage with 3 positions. Near the last position, I put a small board on the cement floor, and stuck a large nut under it, a la a see-saw. When I got done with the stage, I'd STOMP on the raised end of the board, which made a loud "CLACK" triggering the timer. Way cool, since I could run the stage different ways, and see what was fastest, or how I was improving. True, there's some variance in the time it takes to stomp on the board, but not much, I don't think, and it beats the hell out of setting a PAR time of 24 seconds, or something. The only problem is, the board tends to wander, and if I don't step on it with authority, it won't trigger the timer....Anyone have a more elegant way, or other suggestion of something I could build easily? Heh. Next match, I'll get done shooting then probably look around for something to STOMP.

I agree, and find it odd -- especially in the arena of handguns. How long can you stand and shoot at a target before starting to wonder, "Hmm...am I more accurate than that SOB next to me?" That said, I think USPSA's marketing...could use some work. Before joining this year, I *vaguely* was aware of the sport, and if I had to define it back then, it would be someone in a colorful shirt with logos, and a super high-tech pistol. Only by chance did the local range I shoot at offer a "practical-pistol-like" match, and one of the shooters said, "Hey, if you like this, you oughtta try...." I think gun stores, ranges, gun shows, and hunting/fishing expos should be the target (ha) of displays and flyers, listing the location/date of the next/nearest USPSA match, and a quick checklist oriented towards the new Production or L-10 shooter. In the latest Front Sight magazine, there's a Glock ad showing Julie G. and David S. posed a la the movie, "Mr and Mrs. Smith." It catches the eye -- a life-sized cardboard cut-out of something like that would attract attention at the local gunshow(s), I can assure you. Similarly the mainstream media should be alerted to cover major shooting events. I was somewhat surprised no local TV stations covered our state's Sectional match, that I'm aware of, nor did the Sports section of the newspaper feature this, at all, I don't believe. That said, I've been trying to encourage folks I know and shoot with to try a USPSA match, and had zero success. Go figure.

Me, too! I'm pretty excited about this match -- how many rounds should one bring, do you think? 300? 400? I'm hoping the airline won't be too strict on the "11lb-limit" business.... I haven't received any emails from Wadette(?), but did get a postcard confirming they received my application, along with a corresponding hit on my credit-card. <wince> Almost everyone will be shooting Limited? I need to get my G35 running properly, with springs replaced in both gun and magazine, or I'm going to have to hide in L-10, with a 1911.

About a quart of Robitussin DM ought to prove interesting..... Seriously, brandy or light rum. The stuff is so sweet and thick, there's no point in wasting the subtleties of good liquor, IMO. I'll bet a nice presentation could be had by warming a small quantity of brandy, too, pouring on top carefully, and lighting.

Hiya Rick -- as another data point, I have a huge stack of 9mm 147 RN Zero's (not JHP) sitting on top of about 3.5gr of n320. I haven't shot Production yet, but plan to, at some point, with my G34. This round is very soft, and pretty darn accurate. My G34 is finicky as all hell, and until this point had really just liked CCI Blazers, but the 147gr bullet shoots accurately, too, as everyone says. 320 burns incredibly cleanly too, and there's not that stunning muzzle flash I notice with the 115gr Blazers. IM(very)HO, I believe it provides a competitive advantage, though how great is difficult to quantify. That said, if I had to do it over, I found loading 9mm pretty painful. I use a Dillon SDB, and it's terrific for .40 and .45, but I had some problems with 9 -- first, the cases are smaller and a bit tedious to manipulate. Second, many tended to stick to the powder die. Third, because of "1" and "2", sometimes a few specks of powder would fly out of the case, when the shell plate indexed. Btw, once-fired (or purported "once-fired") is so cheap from eBay, "brassman",etc., that I don't see much point in picking it up, except to keep the range clean. Anyway -- the whole time I was loading the 3k rounds, I kept thinking, "Hmm....$115/k delivered to my door...."

chp5 -- no problems with the 15-round factory mags until this very weekend. That's why I was asking about the temperature. As far as the primer strikes, yup I figured that was a seperate issue. The RSotelo kit has been pretty flawless in both the G34 and G35 otherwise; I think it's possible my primers might have been a tad high in these reloads, and there's not the margin for error with the reduced striker spring. <shrug> I'm using Winchester small pistol primers. The mag feeding issues, I'm still perplexed, but going to solve it during practice. I've mostly been shooting the 34 when I practice, because I have a cubic meter of 9mm loaded up, but need to focus on the 35, label all the mags (something I haven't done), and really debug this. It's frustrating beyond belief, when this happens in a stage, as y'all know. I'm still thinking some of this is due to my grip not being perfect, and not feeling it with the cold weather and bare hands. I know I sometimes notice my thumb hitting the extended mag release....

I have had the exact same problem recently. I have both the KKM and stock barrel for my G35. Since the stock barrel was handy, I used it to case gauge 500 rounds or so (with 2-3 downright no-go's, and 7-8 questionable rounds). Sure enough. The KKM barrel is significantly tighter, and I now do just the opposite -- use the KKM barrel to gauge, and the stock barrel in matches. I don't even know why I bought the KKM, in retrospect, since I don't shoot lead....It's an expensive case gauge!!

I really "prepped" all my mags this weekend, in fact I literally have bruises on my knees from banging the baseplate, while pressing down with my thumb. Now I don't know WTF to think. Everything ran "better," but I still had some problems. One stage was horrible -- constant jamming, along with two light-primer strikes. My salvation was that a new shooter didn't set up the swinger properly, and I got a reshoot. How much is cold weather an influence in magazine feeding and Glocks? That certainly seems to be a common denominator, as the last couple matches have been shot in the 40's. Second, is there anything "spring-related" in the gun itself that could be an issue? I have the Ralph Sotelo kit, which replaces pretty much all the springs, I think except the recoil spring, and there I have a 15-lb ISMI and tungsten rod. I think *some* feeding issues are attributable to not prepping the magazines properly. In other instances, I think my grip might be interfering with the slide. But I think there's something else, too....

Thx man. I actually got back on the horse, putting 500 miles on my truck this weekend, and squeezed in two more matches this past weekend. Saturday, I probably had my best overall match, ever -- shot one stage clean, another 2pts down, no D's, no "no-shoots." Was extremely conscious of my front sight, and came in 8 out of 9 Limited shooters. (I'm actually pretty sanguine about the overall results, since I rarely find myself thinking after the match -- "Gee, I wish had been a bit more aggressive.....). Yesterday, I *was* more aggressive, after a good stage or two, with predictable results -- mikes, a couple no-shoots....I'm reminded of that old slot-car racing game, where you squeeze the trigger too hard, and the car shoots off the track. Not smoothly enough, and it proceeds in fits down the track. I guess if you stay in that narrow band, you're consistent. A better finish to 2005, though, and turned in some solid classifiers, I believe. I also escaped the pain of Christmas shopping with my wife!!

Hmm -- good stuff, you two. I knew nothing of "prepping" the magazine. I've just been shoving 19 or 20 rounds in the mag with my thumb, usually cursing the last round. I thought the problem was not ENOUGH spring, and figured mine had worn out, (since I don't know the prior history). I thought it didn't have enough "oomph" to shove the first or subsequent round up. I will do some more experimentation. I don't think I'm letting my thumb interfere with the slide, because I've shot 1000's of problem-free rounds when practicing with the 10-round and factory 15-round mags I have. I do notice: problematic magazines have a follower marked "5" and the body of the magazine says "LEO/Govt Only". On my factory 15-round magazines, the follower is marked "6". Possibly I should try the springs, Dawson pads on the 15-round factory mags I have?

Lately I've been shooting my G35 in Limited class, using two second-hand magazines I bought with Dawson baseplates. I can cram 20 in there, but have been using them in 19+1 configuration. However -- I've been experiencing jams, more and more frequently. Someone on one squad suggested I was "dragging my thumb," but I'm not so sure -- I think it's one of the magazines. What happens is the round won't feed properly, and the slide gets stuck partially closed. This seems to almost always happen with the first few rounds -- after that it's fine. Is this symptomatic of a weak spring? I've ordered a new Dawson baseplate, spring, and an extra spring, so I can have 3 x identical 20-round mags, regardless....

Hmm...some match experience -- I'm nearing the end of my first year -- maybe 12 sanctioned matches? One major, our state's sectional. Enough to know better. Actually, I had a major epiphany last night. I've been dry-firing in my office -- standing, drawing, aiming at some dots on the wall, reloading...etc. I decided for a change, to clear out my garage, and after a solid hour of cleaning and rearranging the crap, had some nice space to set up a couple shooting positions and a "stage." The first time I ran it was horrible, but I was stunned at how I wasn't adequately aiming the shots, even on dry-fire. Then I rehearsed it as perfectly as I could, in slow motion, making sure I was aiming *exactly* in the center of my home-made target, moving precisely exactly as much I needed to, to get to the next position. Etc. Things got better fast. I also managed one run in which my focus level was *perfect* -- no conscious voice. I think adding movement and a semi-realistic stage for dry-fire practice will provide big big benefits when practicing, especially because my live-fire is limited to either matches, or an indoor range, with some pretty big constraints (no moving, no multiple targets, etc). I know this. It's a fact I always seem to battle, however. I think it's temperment to some degree -- I'm *always* conscious of the time I shot in the stage in, but never pay the same kind of attention to the points, except to groan at a mike, no-shoot, but couldn't tell you, until looking at the match results, how many "A"'s vs. "C's" I shot in a stage. Those are good tips. I will add a small, penciled circle in the A-zone of dry-fire targets. Indeed! So far not a problem -- this sport is so fun, I can't stand it. But the expenses and time committments in shooting matches aren't trivial, and I want to feel better on the drive home, so I'm going to start a more structured plan: 1) Dry-fire in my garage for 30 min on practice stages 3 x week. 2) Live-fire at least 1 x week at the indoor range. Despite the constraints, I have some good drills, I think -- "Zebra drill" I learned at a Frank Garcia class, Bill drills....Accuracy work.... 3) Agility work. At 40, I don't move like I did at 20, and think balance and movement drills will pay off tremendously. Just a hunch. 4) Mental stuff. Visualization, positive thoughts, etc. Need big work here, and I recently picked up Lanny's book, and will look at a few other resources. More immediately, I want to start the next match, to use the golf analogy again, by hitting it safely in the fairway, on the first tee, and accepting nothing worse than a bogey. This is a long, rambling, pretty self-absorbed post, but I appreciate being able to talk out-loud about shooting, and aborb the excellent advice here. I've often wondered if someone -- spending a day reading judiciously selected posts on this forum -- wouldn't have 100% of the theoretical *knowledge*, the know-how, to make GM?

No, I certainly agree -- that sounds like a terrible loss for your friend. The personal connection aside, I was just genuinely curious how these things work, is all. If I had my car in a shop, and the shop burned down, I would expect to either get a check for the value of my car, if the shop's insurance company declared it a loss, or get my car back plus a check for the cost of repairing the fire damage, so I could take it somewhere else and have it fixed..... I'm wondering if guns, musical instruments, jewelry, and other items of value work the same way, when the repair shop is damaged, or broken into?

Well, I *think* I'm aiming in the right place, but I certainly don't have that fine a sight picture that I can say I'm aiming at the center of the A, as opposed to the "middle" of the target -- that's for sure. I'm 90% positive that the misses I'm having on paper are from the 2nd shot being wild: alpha-mike. That accounts for most of the damage. I think I'm just rushing to get to the next shot.... Then there are misses where I could swear I called the shot on all the poppers, but one is still standing after the stage. Don't know what's up with that. Finally, there are misses from doing stupid things. Just shot my 4th match in Ltd, and I'm still figuring out the mag change business, and am guilty of trying to avoid reloads. The stage had 15 shots from one postion (steel and paper), and 4 from another position (2 paper), a short dash away. I thought, "20+1, no need to reload, and I'll have 2 extra if the steel proves tough." I was so suprised to find myself at slide-lock at the last target, I took the miss. Guess I took one more shot than I thought on the steel. I don't know if the sin was in missing the steel 3x, or in not throwing a reload in as I moved, or both! I'm going to try again keeping the mantra of "just aim," or I also like Flex's: "see sight lift", in my head. I'd like to have the first stage set a positive tone. Glock17W -- nice link and interesting information!!

I sometimes shoot a local match in this area that's run under "IDPA-rules" but not sanctioned. I like the members that run it, and I like getting the additional trigger-time, though I almost always manage to collect one procedural for an IDPA no-no.... Almost to a person, these folks are IDPA die-hards. I didn't understand it at first -- I have nothing against IDPA per se, and couldn't fathom not wanting to shoot IPSC, too, as verily it is more fun, or at least a different challenge that's kinda the same. Fact. But I have discovered, in at least some cases, the reticence isn't so much an "anti-IPSC bias," as simply not wanting to develop habits that will hurt them in IDPA. <shrug>

Out of curiosity, how does insurance come into play on this, or does it? And who/how repairs and evaluates your gun? The same gunsmith? And in what order -- least damaged guns, first? Plus he's got no shop, left, no? Man

I hear you. Actually, I'm finding this a case of being careful what you wish for -- the last couple matches have been consistent, in fact -- a consistently terrible performance. I'm not at all burnt out, and my interest level is high, but I'm giving serious consideration to taking a month or two off from shooting matches. My psyche ain't fragile, but I'm getting a bit frustrated. When I started playing golf seriously, there was a period in which round after round would be trash, because of triple-bogey's (or worse), or shanking it on the first tee, etc. There would be some solid holes in the round, but not enough to offset the damage. I feel like I'm in that state, now. First stage, "bang bang bang....." Look at the targets, oh, there's a no-shoot, a mike and a delta. WTF??? I *was* aiming, too. I need to get through this, or I'll remain a solid C-performer, like the weekend golfer who can't legitimately break 100. May time to modify the way I practice, or go back to a 1911 for a while from the Glock. Change something.