AustinMike

Yeah, I know the top brands and I'd love to get a good one, but hard to bring myself to spend more on the scope than I did for the rifle! I was hoping there was maybe a sub $100 red dot that would work for local 3-gun matches where about 35-50 yards would be the longest shot. If not, I'll just tough it out with the Pro Diamond on the close shots.

Since all we have are pistol bays for 3-gun around here, I've been using a Mech-Tech carbine conversion on my Glock 17 for a rifle. I've got a Pro Diamond scope on there, but I've found that to be overkill and difficult to get quick target acquisition on the close targets here. I'm thinking of switching to a red dot, but don't want to spend a lot of money, since I only get to shoot 3-gun maybe 4 or 5 times a year. Any recommendations for something fairly inexpensive that will work for this purpose? CDNN and Midway always have specials, but I'm not sure what is decent and what is junk.

I check OAL periodically while reloading just to make sure nothing has moved on me. I have noticed a slight change before when changing to a new box of bullets, all other things remaining the same. I suppose bullets formed on one machine vs. another at the manufacturer might just produce such variances. Easy to fix with that Redding die though!

Heck, yeah! I love those dies! I have them for all the calibers I reload. I really like the micrometer bullet adjustment. Makes it so easy to try different bullets or switch between different bullet types for major/minor loads. I have a list of the mic' settings for each bullet and can change seating depth in a flash.

I'm not shooting Limited a whole heck of a lot at the moment, but when I do I'm using UMC 180gr. and collecting the brass. It doesn't feel too bad for factory ammo and the 250 bulk packs aren't too terribly expensive. I plan to start with a Titegroup load and 180s once I start loading for .40 later this year.

+1. I used to have my weak thumb just hanging out there and someone suggested putting it against the frame. I have to say that really helped stabilize my overall grip and got my weak palm tighter to the grip panel. The thumb points right at the target. Just don't try and "steer" the gun with it. I used to have a hard time shooting Glocks until I started doing this and now they feel natural. The 1911 is the only thing that can cause trouble, if the thumb rubs the slide. I had a burr on the slide stop notch that sliced my thumb open when I got too high up. Filed that down, but I sometimes use tape or a band-aid now as a layer of potection.

Yup, a factory rebuilt 2nd gen. G22 is my Limited gun. Dawson adj. FO sights, RS trigger, KKM barrel in it so far. I plan to add a Dawson mag well and maybe a steel guide rod. Hmm...the parts are going to be exceeding the cost of the gun...

If you're just getting started, Uncle Mike's Kydex is a cheap way to go and works fine. I'm using their holster and mag holders for Production. Paid about $15 each for the holster and two dual-mag holders. Good 'nuf for me so far. Just use blue loctite on the screws to avoid a trip to Home Depot when they loosen and fall out of the mag holders.

We've got a saying in the motorcycle riders' community that applies to guns as well: That idiot is lucky that his stupidity didn't hurt or kill anyone in that room.

I've got some of these i-shot moon clip holders.

I prefer to do it at work! Seriously, too bad I can't dry fire here when I have spare moments. The slow motion thing did seem helpful at the safe area the other day.

I'm going to try and get a practice day while everyone is off at Space City in a couple of weeks. I'd like to set up a par timer so I can practice under clock pressure too.

No, they are flat bottomed. That's what I was wondering about, is if the shorter bullet might not have enough tension. It's easy enough to adjust with the Redding Comp. seater, but I was curious about what others who switch between 125 and 115 do.

One more silly question. I got some Zero 115 JHPs in. They are about .040" shorter than the Zero 125 JHPs that I shoot for major. I load my major rounds out to 1.155". Should I leave the bullet seater where it is or seat a little deeper with the 115s? Thanks!

No classification yet, this was my second open match. You say that like I've got time to watch TV. Man, I barely managed to squeeze in an hour this past week to reload so I'd have something to shoot yesterday! I'll definitely try to get in more dry fire opportunities. Might just have to be 10 minutes before going to work instead of that extra cup of coffee. Ugh...

I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for being willing to take on that burden!

What a horrible morning I had. Took my "new to me" open gun out to my second IPSC match shooting open. I'm fairly new to competition shooting (started last summer) and got the open gun recently because I've had a number of people tell me it can help improvement by training you to present the gun consistently, etc. Anyway, the first course of the morning today was a set of par timed strings. Two seconds to draw and fire at a paper target, then 4 seconds draw and shoot a popper, reload, shoot another popper, then 4 seconds to draw and shoot a six plate rack. At this point, I'm lucky to get a good draw and acquire the dot in 2 seconds, much less hit anything. Threw a Mike on paper, got one popper down, and didn't even get a shot on the plate rack. Couldn't find the dot under pressure and froze up solid, didn't even bother pulling trigger. I felt like such an idiot and would have crawled under a rock if I could. My confidence was shattered after that and I was about to just bag and call it a day for shooting. The guys told me to go to the safe area and just practice draws for a while. Over there, without the pressure of the clock I could calmly draw and find the dot. So, I told myself to ignore the clock, just go have fun and do what I could. I got my hits and disregarded time completely. To remove all pressure, I didn't even look at my times, just the hits. No misses after that. The rest of the stages progressively felt better and I was glad I stuck it out. I doubt I did very well in the overall results, but at least I was able to bring back the enjoyment of an afternoon of shooting. I definitely need a LOT more dry fire practice. The problem for me is that my work schedule is so full that I just don't have time to do much dry fire practice right now. And the last thing I need is to make a second job out of shooting. I'm wondering if it might be better to shelve the open thing until I have more time to spend learning it? Or just say the heck with how well I do and just go out there to the matches I can make, forget about scores, and just have fun and learn at my own pace? Not sure this fits in the Match screw-ups category. I think I needed to vent more than anything! Maybe someone else will at least benefit from knowing that it is indeed possible to mentally recover from even the most heinous stage performance! I sure would have liked to have had my iron sights today!

They have manuals online here.

I just put an 8 MOA dot on my C-more (Xre's old one, in fact) because I was having trouble picking up the 6 MOA dot. I'm brand new to open shooting, so that may change over time. Anyway, the 8 dot looked fine outside, but looked big inside. I briefly thought of the same possibility of changing modules, but when I checked zero the 8 was hitting about 4 inches low and left. I'll probably stick with the 8 for now, at least until I get more used to picking the dot up.

Very true, Merlin. I should have clarified that I did start the charge low and work up. Interestingly, I was using data that Hogdon shows as using a 1.200" depth!

Sweet!

I've got an I-Shot Range Rug that holds the mags and gun. My 170mm fits, but it's a little tight. This fits in my range bag and I use it as a stage bag. I got tired of lugging my big bag around so this goes with me from stage to stage now. Works for me anyway. Range Rug

Thanks, ya'll. I have a few things to experiment with now.

I bought a used 1100 from Cabelas (they also have the 30 day warranty on used guns.) It didn't have an o-ring in it. The gun was fairly cheap, but I told them to knock 10% off, put an o-ring in, and I'd take it. Done deal. Runs like a champ. Don't pay $5 or more for a little piece of rubber. Order you a mess of o-rings from Eric Wesselman. I replace mine every time I take the gun apart to clean. It's cheap insurance that it will run on match day.

The OAL in the manual is maximum. Every gun is different and actual length that you need will vary by the bullet you use. I usually use 1.250 with FMJ, but I've had to so as deep as 1.235 with some bullets, like the Precision coated bullets. Load a dummy round and try dropping it in your barrel. You want the rim to go just a hair below the hood on the barrel. Seat deeper until you find that, then load up several dummys and test feed a mag full through the gun. When setting up your press, always have a case in every station to keep pressure on the tool head consistent. Otherwise, you will see more variance in your measurements.