OPENB

Two threads below this one is a 2 page thread on this very topic, and a ton others found by searching.

I got one at the first Rockcastle Pro/Am, before Colt was contracting them out to Bold Ideas. Mine has a Colt M4 receiver, Surefire brake, Geisselle 3gun trigger, low profile non-adjustable gas block. I guess the new ones come with the adjustable block with the knob sticking out the front. I swapped out the Magpul CTR stock for an ACE skeleton, added an ambi safety. I like the rifle, but it is still an assemblage of parts that I could have done myself. AR's are so easy, they're like lego's for adults. Buy good parts, get the proper tools and build it yourself.

Brownells & Midway have the Metalforms. I'd suggest the Dawson/Metalform mag. Polished & an aluminum basepad that will work better in any magwell, especially the Ice. Only a few bucks more.

The Sig & Para are both series 80.

I think you just described the STI Spartan. It's only $100 more than the RIA Tac with better internals. I agree the Spartan is a better overall gun than the RIA but I don't know where you can buy one for $539. Just checked and it looks like the going rate is around $750. That's about $300 more than a RIA. For that much you can buy a magwell, 3 nice 10 rd mags, a holster and mag pouches and be set for IDPA. Sorry, I meant the Tactical II that has the adjustable sights and VZ grips. Just saw one on gunbroker for $579. Spartans are $650-$699. I got mine at Cabelas for $699.There are threads on 1911forum about Academy Sports selling Citadel 9mm's for $329. They are Armscor guns also. No Academy's around me though.

I think you just described the STI Spartan. It's only $100 more than the RIA Tac with better internals.

Same with hard or rifle primers and light mainsprings, helps but not a guarantee.

Might you be thinking of the Spartan, & not the Trojan? The Trojan is quite different from a RIA.

In single stack major, it can happen more often than you think. 8 rds. goes pretty quick. You don't want to go to slide lock if it can be helped, but you are competing with other SS shooters who have to deal with the same stage design. You can't really compare a Glock to a 1911. It's like saying why cant I reload my revolver as fast as my open gun? Cause they are different. Try different techniques (sling shot the slide, shift your grip & get it with your thumb, weak hand thumb, etc.). Find something that is consistent & practice it. That's all you can do. I don't think extended slide stops are legal, but am not sure. They have their own problems with coming up when you don't want them to.

I began using my 3gun cart (a converted baby jogger) for USPSA matches. It carries my shooting bag & a small cooler on top. I have a storage area underneath to stow rain gear or a jacket. On the push handle, there is a tray with lid to hold an ammo box when I top off mags & 2 drink holders. I have a folding camp chair that fits around the push handle. Much cheaper than a Rugged Gear, & works better. I had a RG, & sold it.

I got a Wilson ETM 9mm last week to try. Seems like a solid mag, but I'm not crazy about the plastic follower. My Wilson 45 mags followers would get chewed up by the slide stop. The 10th round is tight, & locking it in place requires a firmer slap than my Dawson mags. I'd recommend the Dawson mags with their basepads & the corresponding Ice magwell. Ready to run.

I'm left handed too. I stood off to the right of the door, actually out of the shooting area, so to avoid hitting myself with the door. I held the gun high, and swung the knob under my left elbow with my right hand. Then I had to get myself back into the shooting area, and swing the gun back to the clamshell. Good plan, poor execution. Fun stage though. I really would have liked to do Kevin's stage over though.

I had a similar issue recently. I first noticed that I was getting high primers even when using extra force to seat them. And if a primer did not get used, instead of cycling around and down the ski ramp, the disc would jam. It turned out to be the screw on the under side of the tray that controls the depth of the seating punch. It is held by a nut that had worked loose, and the punch had "unturned" itself to the point I was getting high primers. I turned the punch back up, then tightened the outer nut, and my primers were then the correct depth, and the occasional unused primer got to take the jump down the slope to the waiting 45acp empty case. If your seated primers are also too high, check the punch depth.

I got a Gen 4 34, and I really like the medium beavertail backstap. Does anyone make a grip plug that will work with the backstrap installed? I saw the Jentra on Amazon, and nearly every review was negative. The Glockmeister has a nice bevel in the magwell, but won't work with the beavertail installed. Seems my choice is one or the other, but not both. I did a search, but did not find what I want.

EGW has a combo M/S housing magwell that is a little more affordable that the Ed Brown or STI.

South Carolina in 2002, they chrono'd some but not all. I know, I was one from my squad to get to make the trip. I made PF, but that is not always automatic with me. I made it yesterday at Ohio at 165.9. Chrono was my best stage yesterday.

I like Lee 4 die set. The Lee sizes down closer to the extraction groove than Dillon dies. Lee makes EGW's U die. If you have a tight chamber, you may need the U die. I've been using the SNS Casting 180 gr. coated with whatever usable powder I can scrounge. Most recently Unique & Universal. I use small rifle primers, but pistol primers will work. Long loaded out to 1.18 to 1.2" will feed in the Edge well.

I had an SV-framed gun in SS built in the early 90's. It had a SS Caspian slide. Sold it here.

This is precisely why I DON'T use my duty gear in USPSA. I don't want to confuse a game for training. I tell guys that at work that some of the components of my sport translate to work, like the gunhandling skills, but the tactics do not. USPSA is not training, and if you carry a gun for a living, please don't think it is. Get real training. Firearms schools have popped up like mushrooms after a rainy spring. Choose wisely. I like the hammer analogy. But, as cops, our handgun is a hammer, and most of the "carpenters" I work with don't know how to swing it very well. I am referring to gun manipulation skills and accuracy, not necessarily tactics.

I just loaded some 9mm loads with Clays since I have 5# of it. 3.5 gr. under a SNS 125RN gave me an average of 1065fps. So soft! Didn't have a chance to shoot groups, but I think I'm in love with this load.

The RIA 10mm is a bull barrel. Not all of the 10mm RIA's have slides cut for the bushing. And the ramp cut is unique that I was told I would have trouble finding a 40 barrel to put in it. I already thought of this, and went with a Para Pro Comp. By the time you buy the RIA 10mm, hope that it has a bushing cut slide, find a 40 barrel that would work in it, pay a smith to fit it all and hope it runs, you could be into a Para or Sig. I gave $902 for my Para, and I saw the Sig for $850 on gunbroker.

I just got the SNS Casting 125RN coated w/o lube groove. They look like very nice bullets, so slippery they are hard to hang onto when loading quickly. If we could just get some freaking powder, I'd be set. I have some Clays I wanted to trade, but I may just work up a 9 minor load with it.

Kevin, I shot with Daniel at BITBG. Evidently he submitted the trigger to JA, who said it was production legal. There was a transcript of the conversation they had about it floating around here somewhere. I just dropped his deluxe kit in a Gen 4 34, leaving the settings as they were, and so far have only dry fired it a couple hundred times. Like it so far. A Glock trigger will never be a 1911 trigger, but you can get used to it. Now, my M&P Shield trigger just plain sucks.

I see it as, if 5" was the defacto max length, why have a box at all? Kind of redundant. Now Blade-tech & Comptac will have to make holsters for 5.4" slides, Dawson will have to make new front sight heights to zero these guns, etc. When will the madness end? Lol.

AA2 is fast, like Bullseye fast. AA5 is more like Unique, useful in a broad range of handgun calibers. AA7 is a little slower yet. Used to be popular in 38 Super at the old 175PF. All meter well. I think you will pressure spike before you make minor with AA2.