BrianKr

Random gun shops? No. There are good gun shops; they do exist. Then again there are crappy gun shops where the only thrust is to get rid of junk. They shouldn't be in a hurry to purchase, but look around. Ideally they would find a gun shop where guns can be rented and tried. If they're going to get training that's a different story. I was operating off of the premise that they knew nothing and were happy in that state. If they have 1/2 a brain, after the training they'll realize that a home has a downrange and that no loved one should be there, or at least not be without hard cover if there. Home defense is more than about buying a gun. I know the NRA has a home defense course. It would be a good idea to contact the NRA for an instructor in their area. When I take on a client I go to their home and we strategize their defense from the outside of their home to the inside, including safe room and behavior of the owner any other loved ones in the home. After that it's up to them to implement what they will that was suggested, and drill.

Cool! Let us know how you like it! I really liked the price of my TP9SA. Great value. Whoops! I forgot one thing about my TP9SA... my mags would only hold 17 rounds, not the spec'd 18.

Yup light sure will affect things. Our eyes work like a camera lens. The brighter the light the smaller the pupil. Anyone into photography knows that the smaller the fstop the more depth of field. That is, the more "in focus" things are. I knew that intuitively many years ago, but my eye Dr back then was also a shooter and he made it a point to make sure I knew that. I would go so far, understand that this was many years ago when I was shooting bullseye, as to take a tiny quantity of codeine to pinpoint my pupils on match day for an overcast day. Bright, sunny days didn't require it.

I agree exactly with Patricks review. Mine had the sights off, no big deal. But the gun ran fine and the trigger was surprisingly good. I sold mine only because it didn't fit my tiny hands. Mine did come through with a stripped allen screw in the rear sight. But Century took care of that under warranty and had it back to me in a week; that included shipping time. I'd like to see the target model. It won't fit me but I'd like to see and fondle one.

That's true, Alaska, as far as it goes. They'll use better ammo too 'cause they'll have the good stuff. But there's more to it than just buying and defending. My point was that there could be others in the home. It would be a tragedy if an innocent got shot by the homeowner. Handguns have a great deal of penetration through wallboard. That's why my choice is a suppressed AR in .223. One can simplify it too much and look at only the problem of defending the home without looking at the complete picture. That's why I wouldn't get involved if a non gun owner told me what they wanted for a solution. I wouldn't want to be involved in any way in them shooting another family member by accident.

Am I the only person having problems with this request by a non shooter of a shooter? Yes, I know we probably don't have all of the information and I'm not meaning that it was deliberately withheld. Non shooter asks what I need in a revolver for HD. Really? If he already knows he wants/needs a revolver I'd send him off to a gun dealer. I wouldn't accept responsibility for the non shooters selection of a revolver. Now if the non shooter had asked, "I want a HD gun that both the wife and I can shoot, can you help?", I'd say we have some discussion. I'd go over to find where their safe room is, who else would be in the abode, and where they would be located. It makes no difference what I have for HD weapons. It makes all the difference their situation. Frankly a non gun person hasn't a clue and probably only knows what they learned from TV or the movies... Ammo is "bullets", etc. . How do they know they want/need a revolver? Maybe their best bet is to just dial 911. Especially if they don't intend to practice. Not everyone is a sheepdog. I might go with them to the dealer to make sure it fit both of them, but that's about it unless their minds are open to other possibilities that might fit their situation better. We just don't have enough information to suggest anything at this time.

The biggest change I saw was the ability to stipple in areas that previously were a no-no on the frame. Does it also mean the front of the trigger guard? I assume it means a landing area for the trigger finger as well. (IMO that's a safety issue and nothing more.) Anyone? I did ask my area coordinator about stippling mag bases before January, but I see that's still a no-no.

I'm a relatively new USPSA shooter after a lay off of a few years. My eyes just weren't good enough any more and I was dropping lots of points on no shoots and such so I gave it up. I decided to start shooting again and I was setting up a gun for Open even though I didn't want to be there, but I needed optics for my older eyes. Just as I began setting it up CO was announced. I was one happy camper. I changed the ported barrel to an unported one and I was off. The only difference between what I would have been shooting in Open and CO is the barrel. I wouldn't have gone in for a real race gun and all the other paraphenalia. Seems to me that the division was made just for old farts like me who want to shoot but don't want to spend all of the money to be competitive in Open. I want to shoot just to have fun but I also want to have the illusion of being competitive. Sorry if you young guys with great eyes don't see it. Maybe we just shouldn't shoot but others should? When our eyes go to hell we should just what, not shoot anymore? I don't see how it affects anyone who doesn't shoot it, so what's the problem? It brings more shooters to matches. I thought that's what competition was about... bringing folks to the shooting sports. :-) Or are the complainers afraid that maybe an old gent in a walker will show how badly they shoot in comparison? I simply don't get it. It seems to me fragmentation and dividing shooters is exactly what the enemies of shooting want. Instead why not welcome the new shooters who need the new division? BTW, for a few months I was the only shooter in CO locally. Now I see that there are at least half a dozen at each match. I think that's great; now I have people to gauge my shooting against.

Does your printer have the ability to print out a multiple page poster? Or can you take a file somewhere to get it printed? I just scanned the drawing as a .jpg and I can size it to anything you want. I'll need a place to send it to. A PM would work to get an email address if PM don't allow attachments (do they?).

Well, maybe, maybe not. I held off on getting a dot because every one I looked through gave me either a comet or a halo instead of a dot that was while wearing my glasses. I'd get my eyes examined for years and the Dr would tell me, "You can fill this or not, your vision hasn't changed much.". So I wouldn't. That went on for many years. So I finally got a clue and in discussing it over the phone and what could be done he suggested I come in. Well, all of those "fill it or not" Rx's must have had an effect because the new Rx was just the ticket. The dot was in focus; everything else had been right along. Of course my experience is with CO division but the dot would be the same with Open. It's my understanding that some folks with a certain condition can't use them (astigmatism?), but that's just scuttlebutt that I've heard.

Hopefully. If it works for me I'll report back. I have really high hopes. I never knew such a thing existed for production/carry optics.

Well, I'm going to try a BOSS. I have problems with my right wrist. I'm lucky I can use it all, but it doesn't like bending certain ways. I'm presently using a Blackhawk and to use it I've got to have the holster muzzle forward and I'm drawing up into my armpit. The wrist doesn't like that at all but it likes it vertical or muzzle to the rear even less. That's the pits for draw speed, but it's all my wrist can do. I think lowering the holster might allow me to have the holster more to the vertical AND make my wrist happy. Even if it just gets me out of my armpit it would be a plus as the angle would be less acute and more to the liking of my wrist.

I have some fudge factor on COAL also Jamie; at least as far as the magazine goes. I never did try different lengths with the BB 160s to see if they would feed into the chamber, but other loads and lengths make me think that the gun is not very sensitive to COAL. I think I mentioned that they might be a bit sooty. To correct it, before I add more powder I think I'll load them a bit shorter to let the powder get cozy with the neighbors and up the initial chamber pressure. You might not have any problems with burning with a faster powder. Please be sure to let me know how you like them. Do you have any plans for Sunday? It appears that it's going to be a decent day and I might be able to open my range. No promises as I don't know what's going on yet (honeydo list). Too, I have a lot of bottling and packaging to do. Trying to get ready for the warm weather so that I don't need to use summer for the business. But when it comes to shooting I've been known to just go shooting and do the work some other time. :-)

Postage scales won't work for reloading, or did I misunderstand? You're going to weigh powder to 1/10 of a grain and a grain is 1/7000 of a pound. A letter or package is weighed in ounces; 16 of them to a pound. Let me tell you a story, and it's a true one. I had a friend who had a family, they've since moved away. His very young son saved his money and for a first press got a Dillon 550. I warned him against the purchase, but he knew far more than I did about it. I'd only been reloading for 30 years at that point and reloading wildcats to boot. So his press came in and knowing that he knew more than I did and that it would be a waste of time for me to tell him anything I kept my mouth shut except to ask questions and maybe get him to think. He was loading .223. He bought a mess of bullets and a pound of powder and went to work loading. He ran out of those bullets and powder and went to another store and loaded all of those components up. This went on for some time. He was cranking out the ammo at a furious rate. I did ask what he using for a load and he replied, "Loads from the manual", so as to tell me to shut up. Then came time to shoot the stuff and he had pressure signs and all sorts of problems. Then he came to me to ask what was wrong. So I went through it; it took awhile. The gist of it was that I suggested that he buy a bullet puller to salvage what he could, and since the ammo used many different powders all mixed up en mass in a .50 caliber ammo can, that the powder be trashed. I know of another person locally, I've never been around him when he shoots and never want to be... he fills the cases when he reloads. Thankfully he never reloads handgun. He's a moron and everyone who knows him says that he's an accident just waiting to happen, yet they shoot near him. I don't get it. I don't even know if he has a powder scale. You do not want to be that person. A progressive press is a terrible press to learn to load on. Even an inexpensive single stage press is better, then move to a progressive once you learn what you're doing. But I know you want to crank out ammo and my advice will be ignored. So ask plenty of questions and be very in tune to double charges. That was one thing the little arrogant brat didn't do because his loads would have overflowed the case had he double charged, but with handgun it's very easy to do that. You won't fire very many double charges of fast powder even if you load a few hundred of them; you might not get more than one touched off. FWIW, I still use my single stage press, at times, for load development and for cartridges were I only need a few and don't want to buy a cartridge conversion. It's a wonderful press to actually learn reloading on BEFORE using a progressive. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Too, you may think safety, but you really haven't a clue as to what can go wrong. You're a welder and you know welding safety. It would be like me, as an amateur welder (I am), Stating that I'm going to buy a welder and make a container ship. (bad analogy, but you get the point) Or like the "millwright", in name alone, no training, who used a huge grinding wheel. It blew up on him and he killed himself at a local mill (true story). My point is to learn to crawl, then walk, then run. Having written that I'm sure I stepped on many toes of folks here who have progressive presses, learned reloading on them, and have so far been successful with them. That was not my intent. But I'm always someone who has to understand why something is the way it is, what can go wrong, and how not to make it go wrong. As a wildcatter I have come to respect the high pressures that we work with. Pressure is a friend, but it can get out of hand in a nanosecond. I hope that I've impressed upon you the danger that reloading can be. Forget the postal scale and get a proper powder scale. If I haven't been successful, I hope no one is around you when you learn the hard way. I wish you nothing but the best. I hope you understand that.

I've never used that specific solution, but I've been using skateboard tape and I really like it. If it doesn't need to be pretty I got mine from e-bay for a whole $2 for a piece 10"x 40 or 48" for $2. Shipping was $4.

Forget pressure signs in the brass. Unless you are in the vicinity of a catastrophic failure you won't see any at handgun pressures. I know you said you're new to handgun loading so be safe and use heavier bullet load data (of a similar type) and you should be safe. It's like any other loading... heavier bullets produce higher pressure, as do jacketed... generally. Faster powders produce higher pressures than slower, generally. Of course there are other factors such as seating depth, but just stay within general guidelines and you should be OK. I like my expander ball to be small enough to show a bulge after the bullet is in place to insure the bullet goes no lower in the case to produce pressure spikes from too little powder space. The crimp should just straighten out the case as many auto handgun rounds headspace on the case mouth. If there really is a crimp it could be a major problem on ignition since the case and bullet can't occupy the same space. Pressure is a friend, but it gets out of hand easily and rapidly. When you see pressure signs it's too late. Stick to load data.

Exactly the way I feel about it. I'm way over $2k so far this year. Instead of buying a new gun to save money I'd have been much further ahead to just keep shooting Single Stack. Of course there were other reasons.

I wish my M&P had a hook on the trigger guard so that I could at least try it. It makes sense to me. What would it have cost S&W to put it there? Use it or not, at least if it was there it would be an option.

Eric, first I would try the new barrel as already suggested. If that doesn't do it for you I would get an APEX gunsmith installed barrel. I'm almost to that point but I have more shooting to prove the need.

Whoops! Absolutely correct. :-)

What GT wrote is correct. Just change out the barrel. I'm shooting one with a Wilson barrel in CO division, which is basically "Production optics". Of course with that gun you can compete in any USPSA division except revolver, assuming you outfit it correctly.

Just an update for those who might be interested... With a proper two handed hold it's no problem whatsoever to stay right on target even during recoil with this load. There is virtually no barrel flip at all. I see where Black Bullets has a coated 160 and they will custom size them. Just another option.

Welcome to the forum! Another old fart here who enjoys shooting USPSA for fun.

Chronologically 63, my times told me that I was 45-27 with most being in the low 30s. My shooting times don't reflect that though.

Yikes! It's only powder and it's inexpensive, everything considered. It makes for a spectacular 4th of July fire plume if you don't want to use it on the grass or the garden. The last pound of powder I burned this way, on a boulder in the middle of a field, yielded a fire "geyser" at least 15' tall and lasted for maybe 5 seconds. It was rifle powder from the year 190x and was definitely degraded. Or why not hold onto it? You might find a use, or just trade it as miranda suggested. I'd rather not see you or your rifle hurt.