biggulp

First guess would be gas block alignment. As HRider mentioned, on most barrels, the gas port is drilled to account for a handguard retainer. If your gas block is sitting against the shoulder, it's about ~.030 to far back. If you don't have calipers to measure, a gas block dimpling tool, or gas block alignment pins, then pull a credit card out of your wallet and use that as a spacer.. It'll get you close enough for Government work.

When it comes to 2011s and open division in general, I never really "got it" til I tried it. You spend $3,500+ on a gun and $75+ per mag knowing that none it is really designed to work out of the box. Then you tweak and tune and fix until you get it *just* right with that one particular hand load. Then after a couple thousand rounds, you have to respring a mag or replace a recoil spring and hope that the entire system isn't jacked. Sounds crazy, right? Well, then you go out and point and click your way through stage after stage, shooting well above your ability, then it's totally worth it!

I use a Ziplock bag. Doesn't take up any room when it's empty, and it's easy to move around in the range bag. Also nice to see how low I'm getting on ammo (be nicer if I didn't miss so much, though)

Just curious if anyone knows what's involved/included in the STI "minor tuning package"? I've seen it mentioned a few times, but no details other than "for $285+ shipping, we'll swap recoil springs and some other stuff to make the DVC Open run minor ammo". Wondering what they do for the money to increase reliability with minor ammo.

I tried 11-14 lb ISMI springs with 124 grain MagTech and 147 grain Speer Lawman. After testing 300 rounds of the MagTech and 100 rounds of the Speer, I found that the factory recoil assembly actually got me back on target fastest. It should be noted that my testing was with open sights. Using a red dot and depending on your particular ammo, you may find that a lighter spring works better for you.

Solid plan! A lot of guys who are much better than me and who have their choice of equipment choose to run the ULW upper. As far as the lower, while the PSA lower isn't top notch in fit/finish, it's really hard to beat the price for a complete lower. One word of caution, I've heard of a lot of folks having ejection issues with the PSA lowers. Most of the time, the issues are corrected by adding a slight bend to the ejector.

I just picked up 2 almost new MBX 140/9 mags that were sold as very lightly used and appeared as such. Was excited to get mags that I knew would work for my DVC Open without a ton of tinkering. Well, that excitement was short lived.. One of them needed a minor feed lip tweak (no biggie), but the other is useless. Haven't put much effort into it, but either the tube is out of spec or (more likely) the mag catch is cut wrong. It doesn't feed and it doesn't drop (has to be physically pulled out). Going to call MBX and see if they want to take care of it, but I'm not impressed at all. If they were $5 more than factory STI mags, they might be ok.

https://nrahqrange.nra.org/event-calendar/ eta: a lot of the matches fill up very quickly.

An SP-01 with CGW guts, fiber optic sight, extended safeties, and a good polish job will cost you about $1,000 and several hours of work An SP-01 Shadow will cost you about $900 and require no work The CGW'd SP-01 will have a better trigger than a Shadow, but not significantly better. Problem is, if you buy the Shadow, you'll end up dropping CGW guts in it anyway

If it's for gaming or a range toy, the FSS is the way to go.

Tighten down the Timney screws until the wrench doesnt turn freely anymore, then give them a slight "snug" (another 1/8th of a turn or so).

If you want in cheap but overall decent: Ruger PC9 or PSA complete upper and PSA Glock lower (sub $600) If you want in inexpensive but good: QC-10 upper, Kaw Valley barrel/bolt, Matrix hanguard, QC-10 lower, drop in trigger of your choice (~$950 depending on trigger/lpk choice) If you want in top notch: JP or Leadstar

Skip the high dollar, fancy finishes.. Just tape off the C-more lens and rattle can the entire thing in bright orange. You'll never have to worry about mis-placing it and you'll save a ton of money

Titan Rocket also has one: https://www.titanrocket.com/product-page/palmetto-state-armory-pa-x9-billet-magwell

Err, sorry I missed that part of the original post. My ADM C-More mount came with VC-3 and instructions to use it on the actual mounting screws.

Grab some Vibra-Tite VC-3, it'll keep the screws from backing out without making then to difficult to remove.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner! One of the screws on the trigger guard was backed out ever so slightly. Tightened it back up and the gun now slides in and locks up tight in the holster again. Not sure how long it would have taken me to check those screws.. Thanks a lot to everyone for the help!

When I get home this evening, I'll check. I did check the 2 screws that mount the insert, but didnt think to check that screw that slides up/down to make sure it wasn't loose. Very much appreciate the help, I'm new to race holsters.

Re-holstering for the first ~100 draws was as simple as line up the trigger guard and slide the gun in with almost no pressure required. Suddenly, after that ~100th draw, I slid the gun in, and couldn't flip the locking lever down. Pulled it out, re-holstered, and same thing happened. Had to REALLY push the gun down and wiggle it a bit to get the lever to flip down. After visually inspected and testing with the same result when I got home, I stopped messing with it until I could do some research.

Got an STI insert for my Alpha-X, installed it, and my DVC Open dropped in and fit perfectly. Locking lever was easy to manipulate and draw was buttery smooth over 40 or 50 draws. Went to my buddy's place on Friday and practiced a bit, and towards the end of the evening (another 30 or 40 draws), the gun no longer fit properly and I had to really force it down into the holster to get the locking lever to work. To avoid breaking anything, I stopped messing with it til I got home. Inspected the holster for any obvious issues (junk under the mechanism, etc.,) and didn't see anything. Removed the insert and still saw nothing except some light rub marks on the front edge where the trigger guard rubbed. With the insert removed, the gun still didn't fit properly. Am I missing something incredibly obvious? Is there a chance that it worked out of the box for ~100 draws but now needs to be fitted? Thanks for any insight

Brake Kleen in a non-aerosol spray bottle would work, but it would add time to the job. That high pressure aerosol blast REALLY cuts the crud in short order.

RMR pros: absolutely stupid tough.. when mine was installed on my M&P9, I'd use it as a slide racker on a regular basis just because I could. Also fairly compact, pretty much the perfect for those who want an optic on their real world carry gun. RMR cons: tiny window, huge frame, blue fun house mirror lens, bottom mounted battery (long life, but when it does go, you have to pull the optic and re-zero) Basically, if it's for a real world carry gun, it's absolutely good to go. If it's for a game gun (pcc, co, etc), there are a pile of far superior options.

So, it looks like you'll want to be somewhere between the 1st notch and the 6th notch.. Hope we cleared that up for you

I'm also 6'3 with long arms. I shoot my PCC from a squared stance and my stock is on the 4th notch. For me, extending the stock beyond that made my chest/shoulders feel "tight" during transitions in steel challenge matches. Being on the 4th notch allows me to swing a little easier and the sacrifice in "stability" didn't matter because I was shooting at 10"+ plates at very short distances. When I started doing falling plate matches which involved longer shots on smaller targets, I played with extending further and found that the added stability helped my accuracy a little, but that I was slower to get on target after running from box to box. Ended up going back to the 4th notch for that as well.

I run MagTech 124 factory ammo through my PCC, it's definitely on the dirty side. When I pulled the 24 3g out to replace it, I found significant "sludge" under the toggle frame. With the Timney and other drop ins, there's no where for the gunk to hide. On the plus side, having the spare 24 3g meant I just had to build a 3gun AR