cody6477

Fickle things, these guns...

I learned running marathons that you NEVER do anything on race day that you haven't done in training. Don't eat anything new, don't wear anything new. Saw a training partner of mine get dreadfully sick from a carbo gel he decided to try for refueling mid-race when he couldn't find his usual product. Watched another guy with blood running down his leg from a badly stitched seam on a brand new pair of shorts - 26 miles of anything scraping your skin with every step is gonna get ugly. So - no mags, no springs, no ammo, no nothing that I haven't run in practice.

Amen, amen, amen. Perfectly serviceable gun. Could do a few things with springs and polish internals if he wants, but play the game a bunch and practice a bunch so he'll have a better feel for what he may want down the line, and will be able to tell the difference from one platform to another.

I'm about to find out, maybe. I shot a little CO last year, but recently I drank the Kool-Aid and got myself equipped for Open. We shall see. My CO rig may not make it out of the safe this year.

After I first posted to this thread back in August, I worked my first level 2 (Kentucky State). I got what I was mostly wanting, which was that I learned a lot from the two more experienced ROs I worked with. I certainly can be a labor of love - spent a good part of it in pouring rain. I was also reminded over and over again about why I like the sport (apart from the shooting stuff). Really good people, working really hard to put on a good match for the sport. You can't do one of these things without coming away with a bunch more appreciation for those folks who put out the effort to make it all work. And I can't remember any complainers or problem children. I got to watch a lot of good shooters. I'll be working BITB this year, and I'm looking forward to it.

I usually shoot with friends, and all of them are pretty much way better than me, so the question gets settled by default for me. Every once in a while I'll end up in a squad more like my own ability, and that's kinda fun. Mostly though, I just want to shoot with friendly people who conduct themselves professionally and take care of business running the stages.

Different divisions = different toys = different games. Shoot what's fun for ya.

How true that we assume there's more of a thing to come, and then discover a long time later that it never happened, in part because we just assumed it would happen and didn't actually take the steps to make it so. Probably the same thing happens with people in our lives - we're going to get together with so-and-so, of course we will, but the actual action never takes place. A reminder to take seriously the things we want to do. But hell, maybe not top-16 but still the possibility there to enjoy all the good things that come from playing our game.

Doesn't make much sense to me either. Even with 29, you're gonna have to reload on a 32-round stage. 29 really gonna make a difference over 27 or 28?

Glad it turned out well for you.

135s for me as well in Shadow and Accu-Shadow in Production. Same with XDM I have set up for CO. So pretty much all 135 for minor loads.

Congratulations, Sarge. Happy to see it.

Me to wife: "I really like the people I meet at matches. Friendly, helpful, good humored." Wife to me: "Of course they're friendly, helpful, and good-humored. They all have guns."

Obviously my CO set-up was way less expensive than going Open, but with CO I could also use the same powder and pretty much the same loads I used for Production. Getting into Open meant spending money on different powder, might mean different (and more expensive) brass if you go .38 Super or Supercomp, and investing time in working up loads and all that. Not bad things, mind you, and I'm enjoying it, but more to consider. But yeah, CO is still minor, the gun is not as flat, and the dot moves around more. Like all the other divisions, CO and Open are different games. Each will have its fans.

Well, I'm wondering how it all turned out...

I started with a Lee and the blank discs proved to be the way to go for dialing in loads. It worked pretty well.

Watch, listen, pay attention, ask questions. Most folks are more than willing to help out when you're new. When you're new to pasting, DO NOT PASTE IF YOU'RE NOT SURE THE TARGET WAS SCORED. And in general it's a bad idea to try and impress anyone. Be deliberate and take your time until you've had a chance to get through it a couple of times.

Flipping the safety up still happens to me once in a great while, lol. Fun surprise... Yeah, I think you can expect the kinks to work themselves out with more time.

Already on my short shopping list. Haven't been in a hurry since focusing on Production for last few events of the season. Thanks for the suggestion.

Whether or not the shooter can "handle" extraneous conversation is beside the point. I'm not mad strict about it, but part of my job is staying out of the way. As an RO, I don't have the warrant to take the chance of being disruptive, or the mind-reading skills to be sure I can tell who can or can't respond okay.

My SA 5.25 got a new life from doing that. I went to CZ for production and the SA was sitting in the safe. Swapped out the rear sight for bracket and dot and I get to play in CO. Even better when I did the trigger.

I was using almost nothing but FM reman until I started rolling my own about two and a half years ago. I never had any trouble with it. I never really saw it at matches back when I was shooting it, and I had the impression that it wasn't very well known. I started hearing complaints about six months after I stopped using it, and I've wondered if their quality control suffered from getting bigger market share.

I think that's a good quick summary. We often suggest new shooters go with limited in the beginning, even if their gear is production-type (like 9mm). They can get away with fewer mags etc, and can learn the basics of negotiating a stage safely without the additional demands of multiple reloads and stage planning.

Thanks. I'm going to try it, and I'm going to do the trigger on the XDM as well.

Thank you!!