blasterboy

I bought a stock Edge in 40 a few years back. Had feeding issues with factory ammo. Got my press's conversion kit and started loading my own (long - 1.180") tweaked the mag lips a bit to give the bullets a slight "nose up" and polished the feed ramp with 600 grit sandpaper. I think I fired around 5000 rounds before having 1 malfunction. I installed a C&S warp speed drop in trigger kit, it felt a bit better; better option would have been a trigger job by a good gunsmith but there aren't many around where I live. I've fired over 7500 rounds not and love it.

I read a quote somewhere, it went something like this; "Weather you believe you can do something or you can't do something, either way you're right!" In my province (small pool), I go with the goal of winning. When I don't win, I'm usually close enough to say I was in the running. At our Nationals (when I go), I still push hard on every stage (usually too hard). 2016 I finished 20th or 21st. Shot 1/2 the stages very well, the other 1/2, not so much. If I could have limited my mistakes to 1/4 of the stages, probably would have ended up in the top 10. I would have considered that a win for me. Pick a goal, achieve it, pick a harder goal........repeat.

Any time something goes wrong on the press, the first thing I do is dump the ammo already in the bin (it's good). Then everything on the press get dumped into another bucked that I will pull later when I'm loading ammo for practice. Yes, it's overkill, but it hasn't failed me yet.

That's very reasonable! Last time I bought and shipped VV N320 the $180 (Canadian) 2 KG jug became $280 by the time it got to my door with taxes, shipping and hazmat fees.

Love stages with options! Why do so many stage designers place walls and no shoots until there's only 1 place to shoot a target from? It's boring watching an entire squad do exactly the same routine. Let people gamble, this is a physical and mental game, don't make it 1 dimensional. If half the competitors zero the stage or run out of ammo, it might be to hard. If the targets are so close that the fastest runner wins every time, it might be too easy or maybe you need to get back in shape to run faster. I remember a video where a cameraman stays on Rob Leatham as he waits to shoot a stage (he's last in his squad); as he waited, I think he changed his strategy 3 times; at 1 point he says, "there's not a shot in this stage that's difficult, until you try and do it faster than everybody in the world". How true is that?

X2 practice and you can be as fast as anybody. I shoot an Edge and my thumbs wouldn't reach either.

Best advice I can give is talk to some local successful shooters who reload. If they're doing well at matches, they've got reloading figured out. There's lots of great components to choose from, find out what's available in your area. Shipping powder and primers can get pricey, it's unnecessary if you can find something else just as good locally. As mentioned above, there's a lot of "personal favorites". Some guys like there coated bullets, I prefer plated, because locally I get plated for only 20% than shipping in anything else; less smoke and I've had good results. I have some N320, HP38, TG and some other stuff. Now that I know how much powder it takes to make 175 PF in my .40 Edge, I honestly can't feel a difference with each powder. A reloader's rule to live by "trust no one", not shooters or books. Always start making test rounds with less powder than you think you'll need and work up using a crono.

I had some similar problems with my Edge. hammer follow, changed sear spring. Then I was getting light strikes, like 1 per mag. Today an empty mag wouldn't drop, that's when I decided to check the grip screws. Might try some blue locktight, each side was over a turn out, I only shot 2000 rounds since having this apart.

Talking to experienced shooters is a great way to get ideas...but not necessarily answers. Take those ideas to the range, practise them and test them. Then you'll have your answer; what works best for you. On this topic, I shoot left hand - left eye and right hand - right eye in standard division. On those stages I usually place well ahead of my overall match placement. This tells me this is a strength, so I don't spend much time / ammo on it when I am able to get to the range, there's other skills that need my attention at practice sessions.

Last spring, I thought I'd give both eyes open a try (20 years after starting in IPSC). Dry fired maybe 5 times, felt good, felt fast. Went to practice at the range with a buddy, Not good, poor accuracy and slow; buddy was kicking my butt, we're normally pretty even. Went to a match a few days later, halfway through (after tanking a few stages) went back to 1 eye. Managed to salvage some points to finish .2% ahead of my buddy. For me anyway, it would take a lot of work, a lot of time (that I'm not willing to sacrifice) and I'm not sure how big a difference it would make. I think I'll try again in another 20 years when I'm retired and have more time.

Here's a link for storage limits. They're pretty generous, most IPSCers have no problems with these restrictions. https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/explosives/acquisition-storage-sale/9827 As to what press, I'm a fan of the square deal. I load 9, 40, 45. You're limited to I think 8 or 9 different pistol calibers, but it's a progressive press. It can crank out 100 rounds in under 8 minutes. The dies have there own thread pattern that's not universal like the other makes, it all depends what you want to load I guess.

I have the same issue, except I'm a lefty, so everything is opposite. I've concluded that I push the gun during the trigger pull, but I do it very consistently. With .13 splits at 5 yards and A's and C's on targets at 50 yards; I don't think I'm broken so why try and fix it. As mentioned above, try week hand and see where you hit. When I shoot week hand, I am at the edge of 10 yard poppers and at the center of an imaginary target next to the target at 20-25 yards. If anybody else ever shoots my guns, they hit generally were I hit when I shoot week handed.

Hi, I shoot in New Brunswick. Use an STI Edge. Campro 180 gr TC loaded to 1.18 with 5.3 gr VV N320. I barely made major at Summer slam, needed to weigh the 8th bullet. Loaded a new batch for the Nationals the following weekend with 5.4 and ended up with a PF of 178.

fair enough replies. Everybody re-shooting is possible in the rules (not possible at this match) but so is the competitor whose actions led to the modification. That's the RM's call and I think everybody agrees the decision shouldn't be based on results. Question 4 &5 I know the committee will deliberate in private, and the appellant (me) can be asked to leave while others are questioned...... Does that mean I had a right to be there? Does the RM have a role when the arbitration committee meets?

Here goes! Over 10 things went wrong for this to happen, I'll try to keep it simple. 14 shot the pre-match. On a particular stage competitor 13 realized you could see part of a bobber before hitting the activating popper, so he shot it stationary. I was his RO, I did not order a re-shoot, I think it was a smart strategy on the competitor's part. The next day I am about to shoot the stage when I realize there's now a vision barrier blocking me from doing the same. I make my protest know to the RO and scorekeeper, who say they'll talk to the MD as the RM is only arriving latter that day (it's Friday AM). I shoot the stage, under the belief competitor 13 will have to re-shoot. Nobody is disputing that a modification was made. That afternoon, competitor 13 and RM arrive (carpooling to match) and I let them both know there will need to be a reshoot. Competitor 13 says, "not my problem, I'm done the match, my gun is at home". The RM goes to talk to the MD, no action is taken. Saturday, no action taken. I bring my concern to the RM again, he asks "why are you complaining? you smoked his time on that stage" I replied, "I'm not aware of the results, my competition should have to shoot the same stage I shot, maybe I'd beet him by more?" Sunday morning I filed an arbitration on this stage and another (nearly identical scenario, fault lines moved making stage more difficult before I and the other 35 competitors shot) I referenced rule 2.3.3.1, as the actions of 1 competitor, caused the modification, I asked that a re-shoots be ordered for competitor 13. The arbitration committee, gave me back my money but they tossed both stages, stating it was impossible for everybody to re-shoot the stages, referring to rule 2.3.4 Obviously, I didn't win the match and finished a very close 2nd. Questions: 1. Can a committee do anything else but uphold or deny my arbitration? (I asked for competitor 13 to be ordered to re-shoot, to me it was clear that his actions led to the modifications. I got my money, but they didn't uphold my arbitration) 2. Is "I don't have my gun" not refusing to re-shoot? (2.3.3.3 a competitor who refuses to re-shoot gets zero....) 3. Should an RM ever be looking at stage results when disputes over modification and unfair advantage arise?

Confessions of an RO..... This happened to me last weekend. I did see an empty chamber, the shooter was standing on a 12" platform so I couldn't see down into the gun. As I said "if clear......", my mind was asking, "where did he put the mag?" We all found out when he fired a hole through the wall. I'd rather be accused of coaching a shooter to safely unload, than the alternative possibilities. Safety has to be our #1 priority. If I'm ever unsure, I'll repeat "If finished, unload......" It was the shooters responsibility, but I feel it was also a failure on my part. The good news is it went through a wall and into the berm, no injuries, and I don't expect that competitor to repeat that mistake any time soon, he didn't dispute the DQ and even stayed to patch. JK

Great info here. A few keys to remember for those new to reloading: 1 every gun is different 2 choose a powder / charge that gives you some margin for error. 3 reloading is as much about using a chronograph as a press. 4 successful reloading is about; making PF, safety, reliability and maintaining a competitive advantage (a small margin above min PF and no more) When most guys chrono, they're firing 10 rnd strings and taking AVG. I do the same when setting up my powder charge (Dillon SD), I weigh 10 charges and take AVG. With a light flaky powder (discussed in this thread), after loading 1 or 2 hundred rounds or so, I noticed the charge weight has crept up, sometimes 0.1 gr. The screw hasn't moved, the powder was loose when poured in, now it has compacted and more flakes are occupying the same space. Read the chronoman report in the chronograph forum. Lighting conditions change chrono results....alot. When testing new loads I always fire a string of factory and a string of my trusted match ammo (5.3 VVN320 at 1.18 with campro 180 TMJTC) as a quality control. I've seen factory ammo PF jump 12 when the clouds clear. What does that mean for your test data? If I can't get the expected results with factory ammo, I put the test batches and chrono away and bring out the practice ammo and shoot drills that day. I think my next gun project is to build a chrono box for more consistent data to help my reloading.