[New Ride]

Very nice, Colin,

I bought a '10 supercab 4.6 at Thanksgiving. Old truck was a regular cab and I needed to get seats in it for the kids, so I upgraded. Love it, except the 4.6 is a bit weak for the heavier truck (it was fine in my old 2wd reg cab, but seems lacking in this 4x4 supercab). But the year end deals were great.

Haven't used the Sync (my phone doesn't have bluetooth).

Only thing I've done is add a soft tonneau. Oh, and I pulled the light sensor on the dash that controls the lights and spray painted the under-side flat black. Now the dash lights come on when I turn on either the parking or head lights. From the factory, the dash lights wouldn't come on unless it was dark out. Drove me nuts.

-rvb

[basements, sump pumps...]

Good deal, JQ.

I've unplugged my main pump and run on batteries before during a storm while I was home. I wanted to SEE it working for a decent length of time. I let it run on batteries for 4 hrs and it was still going strong. That was before I re-tiled my back yard so now the water gets pumped away better. Previously even moderate rain had the back-up at ~50% duty cycle. Now it hardly has to run in comparison. I don't doubt it could keep up for a day of heavy rains. I also have a generator that I can run the main pump on and re-charge the back-up's battery. And a new back-up main pump in the garage should the main crap out.

Reminds me, I figured I'd replace the battery when it was 3 yrs old... I think I'm getting to that point...

Brent, I had been considering doing two batteries to relieve the long-weekend-away worry. I was in the same boat, previous owners never mentioned a flooding basement. Neighbors knew about it though. Fortunately, since SO much water was always coming into the sump basin I had added the battery unit BEFORE I had troubles. One night I heard the back-up alarming, yet power was on. I went to investigate and the water was coming in so fast the main couldn't keep up, so the backup pump was helping it! I re-tiled the back yard and it's MUCH better now. Had I had a flooded basement, I think I would have gone after the previous owner for damages since they obviously didn't disclose a known problem.

-rvb

["C" clip on sizing die]

c clip

FYI if you are replacing them yourself at the local hardware store... it's a 1/4" E Clip

-rvb

[Fireworks]

I can hear your frustration. I live in Illinois (third most socialist state in the Union) and we have recently banned bottlerockets and firecrackers. I was irritated at the loss of freedom and then again at my neighbors that were totally ignoring the laws and firing them anyway. We don't have the issues of our state burning down, but I was not pleased at the number of rocket sticks and firecracker packaging that I had to pick out of my yard the next day. I hope that you let the city leaders know how jacked up they are. Good luck. Common sense is not contagious, so you are going to need the luck when trying to fix stupid.

I wish it was just bottlerockets and firecrackers. of course they can start fires, too. my neighbors are shooting the big ones that go a hundred feet up w/ at least 50ft wide patterns... the ones that go "thunk" when launched and rattle the windows and small trinkets off shelves when they go boom... great if you have the land. not appropriate for suburbia, IMO.

-rvb

[Other Hobbies]

It's mostly all about the kids now. No real time for shooting, yet alone other hobbies.

I miss my motorcycle.

starting to dable in ham radio. KC9TQY. Just a tech for now. very minor involvement right now. will probably get the General ticket over winter. I put a 2m/70cm antenna in the attic and a radio down in the gun room. a guy I work w/ is going to loan me an old HF rig.

-rvb

[Fireworks]

My town, yes in city limits, allows them the week around the 4th. the big ones. mortars going all night (though they are supposed to stop at 11). and it's been dry here. I love fireworks and big booms, but in city limits where an out control rocket can easily do damage to neighboring property? I watched my cousin's husband burn his truck down when one went sideways a couple years ago, but at least they are out in the country where it was only their property that was damaged. Sad part is it'll probably take a major house fire or injury/death for the law to change. I put it right up there as being as safe as discharging a firearm in city limits....

People across the street put on a big show on the 3rd. Yea, saw one go sideways and went of on the ground in the neighbors back yard, and another go off where they were lighting them. But I guess "no harm no foul" is the rule of the day.

-rvb

[rvb]

Shot Production at Angola this weekend. Came in 1st in PD, and, somehow, first in combined results. But it wasn't pretty.

At least one penalty on 4 of 5 stages. Only shot 83% of the points.

Classifier was 03-11, El Strong & el weak Prez. One Mike, One NS (not the mike'd round, a grazer). 13A, 1B, 9C, 1M, 1NS for 95 points in 18.48s. Very slow on the first shots. SHO/WHO timing was off, had to really steer the front sight.

My initial reaction to a couple of the field course misses was "Hey, I didn't call a miss!" Well. In hindsight I didn't call or see anything on those rounds. That mental focus is what is suffering first in this time away from practice or regular matches. I keep finding distracting thoughts creeping back into my head instead of just shooting.

I really liked the stage I designed. Going to have to remember that for a major some day. In the video it's the one with the TX Star. Amazing what a piece of steel hardcover does. Man did that mess with people's heads. The stage had a lot of options, but they weren't obvious. Had several folks accuse me of an illegal stage and it took some convincing that there were in fact no dissapearing targets. It was my worst shot stage (9 rounds I think on the star!, should have been ~5 seconds faster), but my plan put me in position to avoid a disaster.

The last stage was a real hose fest. 26A, 5C, and... do'h 1M. I called that on the very edge and opted not to make it up, it skimmed the paper and stick just outside of the D. Shot broke during the transition between targets (4th target on the array on the right behind the wall).

remembered the vid this time:

http://www.youtube.com/mdhoser#p/a/u/0/Y0TVRilGhUI

Was a great day to be shooting. Next match is IN State. Might try to fit some dryfire into my crazy schedule for the next month...

-rvb

[Fourtrax's Range Report]

The classifier was crap. Prone sucks! I had two misses and called them. One prone. One SH. When I got to WH I was figuring the math in me head and thought it would be worth it. At that point it was just WH practice anyways.

Corey and I thought surely his would come in higher. He did good on it and it doesn't seem like a classifier that would be set up and burned down upping the HHF. Glad he won it.

Prone is definately something I'm guilty of not working on enough, so yea, it sucks. But it seems a select few classifiers are the only time we see it needed. Corey just gave up a few too many points to get into A territory. Looks like he needed 111 points vs his 102. Looking at the hhf on this one, I think it's reasonable.

I know in my case I just flopped mentally. I was thinking and reacting not executing. and by the last 2 strings I started thinking "hurry." I wasn't ready to shoot at all... had been setting up calibrating steel, then ran score sheets, then when given "Make Ready" oops! my gun was back on the safe table... so I was scrambling/hurrying mentally before the buzzer went off.

It happens.

-rvb

[Fourtrax's Range Report]

Not to be picky, but I think I won the classifier stage

Sorry Mr. Picky. I meant win one against Chris.

-rvb

[Fourtrax's Range Report]

I won HOA at Ft. Wayne. It could have went to 4 different shooters. I'm glad it was me.

RVB whines about reloading, but as a Master class Production shooter who has beat me often, don't you guys

buy into it. That guy reloads so fast it's easy to miss!!

don't sell yourself short either. You beat me on every stage except the classifier (wtf is up w/ the extra shots?! but that didn't hurt you too bad cause I stank up the classifier too). Your consistancy on the field courses is definately improving.

I'm glad to see you are dryfiring again. I seem to recall getting on your case about that last year when we were talking at fort wayne.

While I'm taking my break from the game and struggling to maintain proficiency, guys like you and Corey and BillD and Nick and Rick will be passing me by, and soon I'll be bragging how I managed to win a stage against you guys (heck, that's what happened this weekend! Thanks for sandbagging the classifier so I could win beat you on one!).

-rvb

ps.. the magnet mag holder huh? no wonder you got me by 4 seconds on that stage while I was stuffing mag after mag into pouches. Gamer.

[Corey's road to success]

Who was HOA? Ryan?

against you dot ridin', big-stick loadin', major scorin' open hosers? I don't think so! Pick a fair fight, won't you? You know how many damn mags I had to pick up off that table and stow on my belt? I bet you WOULD hit a kid with glasses, huh?

Seriously, good shooting, both you and Corey. We'll have to try to squad together next time. Maybe one of us will think to turn on a camera.

-rvb

[Corey's road to success]

I had my vid equipment and didn't tape a single stage. Both Phil and I, didn't think of it till it was all over!! So it wasn't just you.

Ditto. mine rode along in the range bag all morning and never thought to turn it on.....

d'oh.

-rvb

[rvb]

Shot production at Ft. Wayne, IN05, yesterday. Good for them in getting the club back up and running! Those field courses w/ lots of movement will keep the crowds coming.

Nothing stellar performance wise, but it was a fun match.

Shot just 89.4% of the points, so a little weak on hitting the A zone. 5% of which were given up on the classifier! Throw that out and my field course % was about 94%, which I'm quite happy with. Only 1 D on field courses.

One plate gave me trouble, took 4-5 rounds on it, otherwise I was one for one, incl the tx star which had to be engaged through a LOW barrel. One stage had 4 poppers close to each other... any one of them activated two disappearing drop turners. I was happy I was able to clear all 4 poppers and get good hits on both DTs, except for the one D on the last shot I snagged just as the DT was getting sideways.

Classifier was 99-51, Single Tap Standards. I simply tanked this one. I got into positions quickly and smoothly, but I was horribly slow getting off my first shots. I'd ballpark 3 seconds from the time I was prone to the time the first shot broke, and my prone index was good, I was just WAY too cautious on the DA trigger prep... WAY over-aimed. Same w/ kneeling. I ended up rushing the SHO/WHO strings cause I let the time get into my head. 3 Ds! only 84/120 points (9A/12C/3D) in a sorry 18.97. I was innacurate, but I made up for it by being slow.

Opted for plans that ran the gun dry a couple of times and both times the slide didn't lock back. Letting my WH grip get too high again.

Really enjoyed being out shooting w/ a good group of people. Really wish I could get out more, and the lack of shooting/practice is starting to show a bit, but I'm working hard to not let it bother me and just enjoy my limited time on the range.

-rvb

[Beretta 92FS Lock-Block]

This is still an interesting issue to me. I bought my 92FS back in '89, its had at least 125k thru it with no apparent issues. I sometimes wonder if it will just explode into small pieces when it finally gives up

here is what happened to my circa 1991 vintage police trade-in with similar approx round count on it....

http://ingunowners.com/forums/handguns/78818-busted_barrel_beretta_92_a.html

(frame damage updates on pg 3).

-rvb

[Is USPSA about accuracy?]

Something I didn't see mentioned: Rather than restructuring the target or the scoring, perhaps through stage design the emphasis can be put on accuracy. We have fixed time scoring in our tool box, for example. Upper A zones can be utilized. No-shoots and hardcover can quickly create a penalty for too much emphasis on speed.

I too was surprised at some of the performances such as hitting the billiard balls. See what you need to see, right? Can't miss fast enough to win, right? Granted most of Top Shot has very little to do with shooting guns, but there are some examples where sight alignment and trigger control simply didn't happen.

And this talk of "acceptable accuracy" vs bullseye accuracy... not a whole lot of difference between an upper A zone and a billiard ball. In one case, points are earned for a "miss" (ie the B zone) and some points percentage is "acceptable." In the other case, a miss is, well, a miss. I shot a stage this weekend w/ 4 targets w/ only head shots available. I had 5A,3B. 62.5% hit rate and every shot earned points. You could say that was acceptable, or you could say that was roughly a 1/3 failure rate... If B zone was hardcover, you can bet my emphasis on hitting the A would have been higher.

Perhaps the sport is a little more specialized than we had led ourselves to believe. I've reflected on that, too, Coach. But I'm ok with that. Why did you get in to practical shooting? The appeal of being able to shoot a golf ball at 10 paces with any random gun, or because of the Principals of USPSA Competitions (specifically 5 and 6).

-rvb

[rvb]

Shot Production at Angola, in17, this weekend. A big turnout for the club, 42 shooters. Would be nice to break the 50 mark.

I was pretty happy with this match. No major issues. Nothing stellar, but no crashes. That's how I hope to shoot IN State.

Came in 1st PD, 3rd over all (~96%). I shot 90.5% of the points. 4 Ds. One mike: I left a steel standing because my reload plan forced me to slide lock so a make up would have cost me a reload... fastest time of all divisions on that stage (ie I should have done what it takes to make that hit).

Classifier was 03-07 Riverdale Standards. Shot it just well enough to count and drag down my % for the next year or so (should come in ~81.5%). 86 points in 14.36. 14A, 5C, and [doh] 1D. Strings were in the 5.2, 5.5, 3.7 range IIRC. I felt I was way too slow getting the first shots off, both out of the holster and after reloads. I think it was a lack of trust in my index and what I was seeing on the sights (like I was over-aiming it). Once the first shot was off, splits/transitions felt good.

I dryfired for 3 nights prior to this match, focusing on basic draws, index, and reloads.

-rvb

[Corey's road to success]

Congrats, Corey. Sounds like you had a great match!

-rvb

[recoil spring 92fs]

I'm running an 11 lb.

W/ a 10, I sometimes don't get the gun into battery from slide lock.

-rvb

[Berretta 92fs]

I use a 15 lb 1911 mainspring (w/ Fed #100 primers!)

make sure the top of the hammer strut is mirror smooth. light polish on all contact areas affecting the DA pull.

polish the sear w/ a good smooth ceramic stone, and add a small secondary angle (such as you'd find on a 1911). Cut the hammer hooks to ~0.020 and polish w/ a fine stone. My result is ~7 lb DA, and right at 3 lb and crisp for SA. That's w/ factory trigger return spring and all safeties working. I had SA as light as ~2.5 and DA at around 5.5 lb by cutting ~1/4" off the mainspring, but the lock time was horrible, so I went back to a factory 15lb 1911 spring.

DA can be made as nice as a revolver if you polish EVERYTHING. pins, the springs, safety levers, etc.

Done this on a couple of guns w/ 10s of thousands of rounds on each and they are perfectly reliable w/ this set up.

good luck.

-rvb

[rvb]

lubed up the .45 and added some extractor tension last night.

Gun wasn't always going into battery (a new problem w/ this gun; that's not happened before, have some investigating to do).

Well, since this problem was new, and I had done some work on the extractor before this match, I thought the extractor might be a good place to start. Easing a round into battery it pretty consistantly hung up as the case rim came into concact w/ the extractor. So I pulled the extractor and it fed smooth as butter. Ah-ha, right?

I had taken just a couple thousands off the pad that limits how far towards the center the extractor can reach to give it some more bite. (It did seem to cure the random/sparse extraction problem.) So I added a little more bevel to the bottom of the extractor, and smoothed/rounded it really well, and it's again feeding as smooth as butter, with the additional extractor range of motion. The very last round still hitches a bit since it doesn't have another round below to help nudge it up behind the extractor, but it's only noticable if I work the slide slowly by hand. All other feed very smoothly.

Getting the urge to play in SS more, especially if all the bugs really are worked out of this little project gun. New 771s are here. May switch to SS for IN Section??

-rvb

[Fourtrax's Range Report]

nicely done on HOA!

THANKS!!!!

Way to Go!

-rvb

[rvb]

What's a matter Corey, afraid a little rain/mist will frizz your hair?

Anyway, shot the special classifier at Angola on 5/1. I shot SS (since COREY talked me into it). Rusty describes my shooting well. No glaring problems, again just not maintaining mental focus all the way through the stages. A couple of "near miss" no shoots in there. Also had some equipment problems. Mag fell out of the pouch on can you count, so no mag to reload to. Gun wasn't always going into battery (a new problem w/ this gun; that's not happened before, have some investigating to do). I actually shot through some of the stages a second time to get something on the board to try to bring my % up to where it should be. Did manage what should be a ~84% on can you count (~3.3/3.6 seconds, down 2), and a ~77% on Paper Poppers (~6.3 down 2 with a couple of extra shots). Nothing stellar but it'll move my % out of C class.

New Mag pouches showed up Monday.

-rvb

[rvb]

atta boy! now we just need the rain to hold off. I dont want to shoot another classifier match in the rain up there again like last year, haha

Im thinking i may try to add a production score to my name as well this weekend.

Now the forcast is calling for partly cloudy w/ only a 20% chance of rain.

Lasts month's match was rain w/ some snow mixed in... that sucked...

-rvb

[rvb]

SS it up with me!

ok, Corey. you talked me into it.

I ordered some mag pouches (Safariland 771s), but they took 3 weeks to ship and now I don't think they'll be here in time. So I'll have to use my old idpa pouches (only have 2) plus my pockets... but that should be ok for a classifier match, just not as "racy."

lubed up the .45 and added some extractor tension last night. Got in about 20 minutes of dryfire (no timer). Let's see if I can start earning that A card in SS (currently an A at 58%! ha! I can't go down!).

-rvb

[rvb]

I got to fire a gun!!

First time pulling the trigger on a live round since Oct! 6 months. A record!

Been working ~20hrs OT/week, in addition to dealing w/ the new baby and 2 yr old.

This past Sunday I shot (and worked) the Angola match.

Shooting was dismal as it always is for me at that club... setting up for a couple hours, then rushing to get a couple stages in before shooters start is bad for the mental game, especially when your game has been on break for so long.

I haven't dont any dryfire since Jan, so I wasn't expecting much. The night before the match I did a few draws and found my index to not be as perfect as it was. Did about 5 minutes of "practice" and that helped a little to knock off the cobwebs.

1st stage was 99-11 El Prez. 6.2x, 42 points. Do'h. Blew the reload. Really Blew it. T1 was 4A... that was the target I started and ended on. T2 was 4C, perfect verticle 8" string just left of the A-zone. Obviuosly pushed that middle transition a hair. T3 was 3C1D, the target I came in and out of the reload on. Obviously rushed after the botched reload.

2nd stage, I had a couple extra shots on a plate, hitting a little low.

my stage... I had planned to take a mike (two 6-round arrays real close, was going to fire 11 rounds) to save a reload and avoid some long shots, but I forgot and reloaded between arrays anyway. Game plan meets window.

last stage... major trigger freeze on paper! also nicked a NS. However, I dominated a row of 8 poppers... I was about done with the array before the 1st hit the ground. Perfect shot calling

Things I noticed...

basic motions not as smooth. to be expected.

recoil control seemed as precise as when I hung up the gun at the end of last year. The FS seemed to lift straight and settle right back where I wanted it to.

On the first two stages I had a little trouble keeping my attention where it needed to be, but by the end of the match I felt I was doing much better.

Next month is a classifier.

Debating if I want to wreck my PD %, or play in SS...

-rvb