RickB

Prior to 2010, we taped-over the .00 part of the scale readout, and as long as the whole number was "right", the gun was considered legal. This year, we used test weights to determine that the scale was not "off" by more than .2, and then we still allowed .2 "variance" when weighing. So, I suppose were we still allowing as much as 42.4 for CDP and 43.4 for ESP (but not allowing a readout of more than 42.2 or 43.2).

and 100% of your lower body.

The small-radius FPS is not going to have a whole lot of benefit when shooting "major" loads, as there's not a whole lot of recoil to attenuate. With full-power loads, it can reduce slide velocity noticeably, but it does require that the face of the hammer sits square to the firing pin stop when at rest, and such is not the case on many guns. Based on the number of spent cases that I find with very elongated firing pin impressions, most people aren't concerned about premature unlocking, which usually results from springs too light for a given load. With the small-radius FPS, you can reduce spring rates and get good handling without beating-up the gun. The effect wouldn't be desireable in a 9mm, which in a 5" gun is more likely to need help in cycling, such as light springs, or moving the hammer/FPS contact point higher rather than lower.

Thats a malfunction !!!! I would have argued that one until the end. The issue is not whether the slide locked or not, but whether the chamber is empty; insert mag, rack slide, and you're GTG. Insert mag, pull trigger, then rack slide? The latest interpretation of the rules says that as long as the depleted/spent mag is properly stowed before firing a shot you're OK, but it would likely take more than three seconds to retrieve the mag, stow it, and then shoot. A three-second PE is probably the best you can hope for if you don't know you're empty and the slide doesn't lock. Lots of guns don't lock back, some by design, so arguing malfunction might be a tough sell.

How can you possibly overinsert a CMC? With the basepad attached, the mag must be 1/4" larger, in both length and width, than the magwell opening? Now, I've seen a half-dozen Wilsons overinserted when that teeny little tab pops off the front of the tube. Good news is, in exchange for your ruined stage, you'll get a new mag with a little tab that will pop off. The only problem I've had with CMCs, in almost ten years of weekly use, is a tendency for the tube to expand, forward of the feedlips, enough to prevent the mags from dropping free. It's somewhat irritating to have to test and adjust them, but it's become part of my pre-match ritual, and isn't a big deal.

Interesting to see how Dave isn't even remotely complying with the rules on the first engagement. He's shooting at a target that is essentially behind the camera, and he's got his entire leg exposed.

Refinish a near-mint gun? Tell us you're kidding.

People have made similar comments about Colt, every decade. The guns from the '30s were better than the '50s, the '60s were better than the '70s, Series 80 sucks, etc. I have Colts from 1918 to 2004, and they're all nice guns. New production is probably better, in terms of fit, than the beautiful guns from the '70s. You're never going to see finishes like the Series 70 on <$2000 guns in this day and age.

Spoken like a man who's never done it.

I've been shooting L10 almost since the day it was introduced, and have used Power 10s for most of that time. Other than an ongoing issue with spread feedlips trapping the mag in the gun (just one more maintenance item), they've worked perfectly for years. I've known people who use other brands, but have never been tempted to switch.

True dat. The law has actually been on the books for years, but only recently have FFLs been required to act as uncompensated state employees, and collect the tax.

They do everything really fast. Seriously, that's the difference. I compare my classifier scores and stage scores to Masters, and the difference is that they're faster. My raw times on the classifier aren't good enough to make Master, even if I didn't drop a point. I watch a Master shoot it, and he drops as many points as I do, he just does it a lot faster. Same with stage scores. I shoot the stage in nine-ten seconds, down one, and the Master shoots it in seven-eight seconds, down one.

In IDPA, creativity is reserved for the stage designer. For the shooter, it's all about execution.

I won't take "you" personally. I had no input on any of the rules (or, more accurately, none of my 10-15 suggestions was acted upon). The problem, is the lack of "realism" in shooters taking baby steps and shuffling along as they try to get good hits out in the open, when the "smart" thing to do would be to hussle to cover before you get shot. The two rules work hand in hand; you have to engage visible threats before leaving cover, and if the targets appear after leaving, you keep moving to the next cover position to engage. Just as the slidelock reload is the "normal" IDPA reload, engaging from cover will be the "normal" IDPA engagement. If you really want to "get around" the rule, you could use pop-ups or drop-turners that are visible only while out in the open, and so not engageable from cover.

My Area Coordinator wrote, or conceived of, anyway, both of the rules being discussed. We conducted a SO class about a week after the addendum was published, so we spent plenty of time discussing the new rules. Despite what the rules may appear to say, the intent of the shooting-on-the-move rule is that no shots be fired while moving between cover positions; if there's cover here, and cover there, engage from cover. The port/window/open-ground rule requires that any threats visible from one side of the port/window must be engaged before crossing. The wording of that rule is terrible, but that's the intent. I'm not a fan of the first rule, as it severely limits stage design. A bread-and-butter stage for many years at our club was, "shoot to cover, then engage from cover, then engage while moving to the next cover postion, then engage from cover." A hundred variations on that theme have been done, but apparently, no more.

All the early .38 Super comp guns were Colts, and that's when major pf was 175.

The rules addendum includes a bit about shooting the ammo in your revolver that's indicated on the revolver, as a means of preventing shenanigans such as shooting .45 GAP in .45 Auto/ACP revolvers. Or shooting .38 Colt in .357 Magnums. I don't think there has ever been a factory revolver made that indicates it's chambered for .45 Auto Rim (my Hand Ejector Mk. II has had ".455" overstamped so it reads ".45AR", but it didn't come out of Springfield that way), so some take this to mean that the rules addendum has banned Auto Rim use in Auto/ACP revolvers. It does not.

I've been shooting "competitively" for twelve years, and that's always been the case. Is there some sport that favors slow, near-sighted, fat guys? I think I could win at that! Hey Rick, maybe we could do stationary soda cans at 15 feet with pump shotguns and birdshot, if we have no rules, they can't make any useless ones But, you've already made five or six rules, in that one sentence! The target must be a soda can, it must be stationary, it must be fifteen feet from the shooter (fourteen feet earns a PE, thirteen feet a match DQ?), it must be shot with a shotgun - only a pump shotgun - only with birdshot only. The second edtion rule book for your sport, scheduled to come out in 2013, will probably be five pages long. You'll need to define "soda can", develop some dimension and weight specs, come up with a standard target stand and target height, etc. Must be 12ga shotgun? Different divisions for different gauges?

I've been shooting "competitively" for twelve years, and that's always been the case. Is there some sport that favors slow, near-sighted, fat guys? I think I could win at that!

So why then no Auto rim in SSR. 45AR is no way shorter or faster than using 45ACP on moons which a 625 is designed for. Auto rim haves identical internal cartridge specifications, and is only cosmetically different. Why is 45AR getting a death sentence. I understand GAP and short colt that has a motive behind it. Whats the motive for banning 45AR? The sky is falling! .45 AR has not been banned from revolvers marked .45 Auto. Or revolvers marked .45 ACP.

The presence of a cover postion defines "availability". Clubs used to make up stuff, like "cover that's two steps away (three steps, four steps, five . . .) is available." If a stage includes a cover position, it's available. If you are moving from one place to another, and no threats are visible, you are "behind cover", even if you are moving across what is obviously open ground. The solution is in a good written procedure: You may reload between position one and position two. You may not reload at the vision barrier between postion one and position two. If the procedure doesn't address that, it's not a rules issue.

The shortest one was 1.25", and that was the one with the FC/61 headstamp. The 1918 round went 1.27"; longer than I ever load RN bullets. '41 Colts are worth a good amount of $$$, especially with a CSR inspector stamp (left side of frame, just below the slide stop). If it's all original and in anything like "excellent condition", take good care of it.

I seem to recall mine being 16" high at 100. Not to be argumentative, but was that zero assuming the use of M1 ball, M2 ball? That is, when M1 ball was adopted, it would change the zero for existing rifles, unless the sights were adapted to the new round. Either way, hitting a target at 100 yards, if you didn't know the gun was going to hit a foot high, would be difficult.

The M1903 battle sight, with leaf folded, is zeroed at 400, or maybe even 450 yards, for maximum point-blank range when firing at human-sized targets across flat land; aim at a man's belt buckle, and you'll hit him. Trying to hit a 12" target at 100 yards, without knowing that, and without feedback, would be all but impossible. If the target backer were three-feet square, you would have been able to see that you were over a foot high, and you could have walked the rounds in using "Kentucky Elevation". Tough situation.

I have samples of G.I. hardball, dated 1918, 1943, and 1961, and the shortest one is 1.250" OAL. Also, an army Field Manual, dated 1942 indicates the same 1.275" max OAL; seems like the same specs we're using today.