38superman

I think I'll just keep my mags thank you. If I had a 40 round mag, someone would set up a 41 shot stage.

I never kept more than 10,000 primers or 20 lbs of powder (usually) before I started reloading for competition. Now that I buy powder in 4 and 8 lb quantities and primers in sleeves of 5000, its hard not to go over that. Fortunately, I burn it up pretty fast so I don't have exceedingly large quantities on hand at any given time. If I got rid of the old partially used cans of rifle powder, I could probably stay under 20 lbs. all the time. I think I will inventory my supplies and see just how much I have. If anyone wants to stockpile supplies I can understand that, but be careful about local laws and storage. Don't ask don't tell might work fine until there's a fire. What will you say when the authorities want to know why your house went up like a shuttle launch?

Jack, I know you are disappointed, but don't read too much into one game. I've been a Auburn fan for 35 years. I have to tell you that, before Spurrier, seeing the Gamecocks on our schedule did not strike fear in my heart. Over the last several years things have changed. South Carolina has become a better team since he arrived and has earned some respect around the league. They are not a team to be taken lightly. They were 7-3 before playing Florida and sort of fell into a late season collapse. That happens even to the best programs. Keep the faith.

Winchester model 70 Ultra Light, Left hand in 270 or 7mm WSM SVI SS 1911 in stainless. JP LRP-07

+1 Gotta pull for the conference. Go Florida, Go Ole Miss Go Kentucky Go Utah. Okay, okay, ........ most of the conference.

There was a cat in the picture??!!

BTW This is a thread from last year. However, for the record, I don't know if I will make it in 09. Funds are too low. Tls

I asked for some infrared skyscreens for my chrono and some Tripp mags for my 9mm. I got a pair of slacks, a jacket, a shirt and a pair of shoes. Go figure. Oh well. I guess I'll try to be better next year. Maybe Santa will be more cooperative.

I don't usually take insurance shots unless I call a mike. Doesn't matter if its a partial or a full target. If I can't call the shot I shoot again. Even on tight targets where only the head is visible, I just slow down a bit and aim a little more carefully. I will on occasion drop an extra shot on a swinger, but there again, only if I don't feel good about first two hits. What I find interesting is that when I do take an insurance shot, I find 3 holes in the target a lot more often than I find two. Also worth mentioning, I have been shooting SS for several months now and insurance shots are just out of the question. The only time you take an extra shot with the skinny gun is when the steel doesn't fall.

Note to self. Never force a primer. Never, ever force a primer. Never, never, ever, ever force a primer. Primers are cheap. Tubes are cheap. Pain hurts. Never, ever.

I'm afraid the options are limited if you have existing mags to be tuned. Beven Grams does fine work but has given up tuning customer's mags. Howard Smith also has a reputation for doing fine work but is backed up badly. It basically took about 6 months to get my 38 super mags tuned. If you want to buy a tuned set (or individual mags), you can get them from Brazos custom. Shooters connection has limited availability on new sets from Howard Smith. If you can wait the wait, send existing mags to Howard. If not, sell your existing mags and apply the money toward a new pre-tuned set. Tony

Thanks for clearing that up Flex. I had no idea that Lim, L10 and SS were all sharing the same HHF's. So what is it going to take before we can all see a day when the divisions are "pure" and HHF's were all created with gear that is compliant with the division rules. How many classifiers is enough? The USPSA web site shows almost 120,000 classifiers on file for L10 There are roughly 92,000 for Production. That seems like a big enough sampling to me.

To the best of my knowledge, there aren't too many classifier stages where shooters fire off 10 rounds before reloading or being completed. There are are comstock classifiers that are 8 round and 16 round. In each case you have a 1 round cushion before you are forced to do an extra reload. That effectively turns it into a Virginia count for the SS. I can't speak for anyone else but when I have no margin for error I have to slow down a bit and make sure I get my hits. I might also add that you don't just get classifiers from shooting classifer stages. You can also get your score in major matches as a classifier. In that case, round count would definately come into play. I will agree with Nik on one thing. Attitude and belief are paramount in any successful human endevour. But so is reality. I'm tired of debating it. Good Night All.

Nik, I think you're missing the point. The fact that I can draw and reload faster with a 2011 over a 1911 has nothing to do will attitude, philosophy, expectations, whatever. It has to do with physical reality. The larger magwell and grip combined with a tapered magazine is much more forgiving of error. As for gear placement, I start a stage with a mag in the gun and four on my belt. To run a long field course I often have to use them all. It's a long reach to get to the one in the back. True if I work hard with the SS to the exclusion of other gear, I could probably raise my skill level with the skinny gun to the point that my times would be comparable. However, if I raise my skill level, a rising tide lifts all boats. I suspect that all that work would push my speed up in the other divisions as well. The point is that all other things (skill level) being equal, there is a natural advantage to the 2011 in L10 both in the physical charachteristics of the gun and gear placement. There is also the matter of the round count advantage that L10 holds over SS. That ain't going away either. I would really like to propose an experiment. Any of you folks out there that have a SS rig and a high cap L10 or Limited rig with a speed holster. Do what I did. Go to the range and do 30 one shot draws with each rig in sets of 10 and average the times. 7 yds and only A hits are scored. If it's not an A, throw it out and don't count the time. Alternate the guns in 10 shot sets. Then ad reloads and do the whole thing again. Draw, one shot, reload, one shot, reload, etc until you have cycled through five shots and 4 reloads. That will force you to run though four magazines from your belt. If we could get a few of you to try this and report back, I would LOVE to see the results. Volunteers? Tls

You are absolutely right Flex and I agree. The HHF will be set by the top shooters. When there are enought GM classifers on file, they probably won't vary much from L10 I am not missing the point. I get it. No one is graded on a curve. That said, I'm simply looking forward to the day when the SS division gets it's own HHF's shot with actual SS guns. I guess I'm just a purist. Tls

Thank you Boz!!!! L-10 and SS are NOT the same +1 I have shot enough in the high cap divisions and in SS to say that no one is going to convince me that I can reload or draw a skinny gun just as fast as a wide body. "I" being the operative word. Maybe the elite shooters can do it. Their reload alignment is going to be close to perfect everytime, so the smaller magwell won't matter much. As for the great unwashed masses, I have bobbled reloads on my skinny gun that would have sailed into an big mouth magwell. No one is going to convince me that I can draw from a SS legal holster placed behind my hip bone as fast as I can draw from a speed holster that's placed several inches forward. I have timed myself through enough one shot drills to be able to see the difference. When fractions of a second count, you take every advantage you can get. This is why I shoot lim10 with a wide body 2011. This is why I shoot L10 with same race holster rig as I use in Open and Limited. SS is not L10. I can only hope that in time the Classification system will be brought in line.

If I wasn't so freaking competitive I would shoot my 9mm SS against the POGs at the hillbilly. I'm to competitive and have a high desire to win.....at all times. I only lost to a Smith and Wesson sponsored shooter shooting a POG last time though. I think I could hold my own though against the POGs since there isn't a round count advantage we both would have 11 rounds to start....I just wouldn't do as well against the Major Stackers. What was I thinking? You're right, both guns would have the same scoring and round count. That would really be interesting wouldn't it? However, I don't think too many folks would take a competitive disadvantage against the other SS's just for the sake of experimenting with this division vs. that in a major match. I do have a brand spanking new 9mm SS Springer,...... Hmmm I should have it tuned up and race ready next spring. I'm looking forward to playing with it, but not at the Hillbilly. I plan on blowing really big holes in those targets. Tls

Fair enough. Since I don't shoot IDPA I tend to forget that other people do. Tls

Highvelocity, That shouldn't be hard, since most polymer guns are used in production. One of the things the SS/Production matches have shown us is that the 1911's have a clear advantage. If you look at the combined scores in most matches, the aggregate SS scores should be higher that the plastics. Individual shooters may be the exception but as a general rule the SS's will win. This appears to be due to power factor. The advantage of shooting major outweighs the advantage of two extra rounds in the plastic guns. That trend may be reversed if everbody in SS was shooting minor. In that case, I would expect the round count advantage to carry the day. Don't look for that to happen though. Single stackers love their .45's.

That's not a bad idea, .... but. I have shot SS exclusively since October. That's one major and four club matches. Unfortunately, the club where I do most of my shooting doesn't always have a classifier. The club is heavy with open shooters (and quite a few limited) and the course designers among us seem to prefer to set up long field courses. As such my last five matches only produced two classifers. The point I'm trying to make is that classifiers may not be the best measure of participation. I agree with encouraging everone to shoot SS as much as possible. However, I'm not sure it's the best idea to start placing requirements. If you start trying to force people into doing something they didn't want to do, you only alienate them. If people want to shoot SS they will. I believe the division is great fun and seems to be growing. It can stand on its own merits. Tony To be in a mustang car club you need to own a mustang right? That's all I'm saying. OK, so instead of saying two classifiers a year, why don't we just say at least 2 club matches in a year. Have you noticed how many of our members have never shot in SS division at all?!?! Does simply owning a SS garner you membership into this club? Yep, to be in a Mustang club you need to own a Mustang. (or at least have made a trip to the Mustang Ranch). But I doubt there are too many clubs that have stipulations on how much you have to drive it. IIRC, you have to have proof of two matches to get in this club. That requirement may be waived but no voting rights bestowed until you meet all requirements.

That's not a bad idea, .... but. I have shot SS exclusively since October. That's one major and four club matches. Unfortunately, the club where I do most of my shooting doesn't always have a classifier. The club is heavy with open shooters (and quite a few limited) and the course designers among us seem to prefer to set up long field courses. As such my last five matches only produced two classifers. The point I'm trying to make is that classifiers may not be the best measure of participation. I agree with encouraging everone to shoot SS as much as possible. However, I'm not sure it's the best idea to start placing requirements. If you start trying to force people into doing something they didn't want to do, you only alienate them. If people want to shoot SS they will. I believe the division is great fun and seems to be growing. It can stand on its own merits. Tony

I only used the word "may" because: I did want to acknowledge that the rules had changed. I have no reason to doubt it. However, I hadn't read that particular rule personally, and I didn't want anyone to think I was trying to confirm or deny it. I stand corrected. The rules HAVE changed. Tony HAVE a nice day.

Almost agreed... IPSC Rule 8.3.7.3 If the gun proves to be clear, the competitor must holster his handgun. Once the competitor's hands are clear of the holstered handgun, the course of fire is deemed to have ended. Definately DQ! I believe that was the basis of the argument at the time. The instant I took my hand off the gun the course of fire was over. "Range is Clear" does not end the course. It is a notification that the course has ended and it is safe to go down range. I have no idea how that played out later and I do not subcribe to either side of the debate. As Troy stated, the rules may now be different. I'm just glad I didn't get sent packing. I've never DQ'd but that's about as close as I want to come. The best idea is don't drop your gun. Tony

I think I'm in a pretty good position to answer this. During the 2005 Nationals I finished a stage and holstered my gun. It was a speed holster and apparently the gun didn't seat properly. The instant I took my hand off of the gun it tumbled onto the ground. The R.O. wanted to D.Q. me. He took the position that the course was not complete because he had not called "Range is Clear" yet. The matter was referred to the Range Master (Amidon) and it was his opinion that once the gun was placed in the holster, it was no different than dropping a gun anywhere else on the range. I was not DQ'd and allowed to continue the match. As we all know dropping a gun is not a D.Q. offense as long as you don't pick it up. It requires an R.O. to supervise. This incedent touched off a fire storm of controversy among the powers that be, regarding when a course of fire actually ends. I'm told that rules were being considered or amended to deal with this. I did not know any of this had happened behind the scenes until I was taking my Level I R.O. class. The instructor mentioned the incedent and when he found out he was talking about me said "Oh, so you're the one that's responsible for all this". I'm not sure how it was resolved at the NROI but I can tell you for certain that Amidon ruled in my favor. I suppose that the specifics of what happened will make all the difference. If you drop the gun before it actually goes into the holster, that's a different matter. Tony

I own an STI Edge double stack .45 My experience with the gun has been that they require a little more tuning to get them to run, but once done, it is has been reliable as any of my other guns. When the gun was new, I experienced a lot of feeding problems that turned out to be magazine related. I had Bevin Grams tune a set of mags for me and the feeding issues melted away. However, I discovered that his follower was radical enought to lock the slide while there was still a round in the gun. I ended up having to modify the followers and the slide stop. It seemed the the tang on the slide stop would rub the ogive of the bullet and the bullet would engage the slide stop. Once that was done all issues went away. I use the gun for L10 so I rarely load the mags to capacity but have never been able to get them to hold more than 14+1 loadable. Now that the gun is tuned up, I would have no problem using it for self defense. It's just too big and heavy to carry but 15 rounds of 45 caliber attitude adjustment makes it an excellent choice for home defense. Tony