38superman

Whatever we do let's keep it simple. I have made my vote known (Single Stack Elitist) but I'd rather see it go to "1911 Elitist" than to get carried away. Let's not try to put too much on there. Otherwise it may turn into something like this: "Member of the 1911 Single Stack Elitist Snob Club and Disciple of John M Browning Who Reveres the Classic and Venerable Steel Frame 45 ACP Guns Above All Others Because Real Men Shoot Iron Sights and Only Need 8 Rounds" It's a shirt, not a billboard. Tony

Yeah but its not officially known as the 1911 Division. It's called the "Single Stack" Division. I'm not worried. Our membership director will keep out the riff-raff.

I vote Single Stack Elitist. Tony Rats,... I forgot I'm not a voting member. Oh well. Since I'm paying for the shirt, I'll put in my $.02 anyway.

Here you go. Look for the brass at the top of the barrel. Tony

Congratulations Odie. Now...tell me how that "B to Master in a year" thing works. Instead of spending all this money on guns, ammo, training & travel, couldn't I just buy an A card and be done with it? BTW, I really enjoyed squadding with you at the Miss. Classic. Tony

Just add a 1911 to that ensemble and you become elite. Tacky, ...... but elite.

I'm in. And just for the record, I like "Single Stack Elite" or "Single Stack Elitist" better than snob but whatever you guys want I'm still in. Tony

Match DQ rulings are generally based on the premise of unintentional and unsafe gun handling. An accidental discharge. A dropped gun during a course of fire. Sweeping, 180 violation, etc, etc. About the only deliberate act I can think of would be handling ammo in a safe area. Even then it's usually not malicious. Just a case of brain freeze. Because these actions are inadvertent and correctable, we send the shooter home and invite them to come back and try again. However, when someone intentionally commits a flagrant safety violation, the consequences should go beyond a match DQ. Someone who has a fit of frustration and throws an unloaded gun at a berm is a serious issue. It goes to emotional stability. In my opinion that would warrant a severe reprimand and at least a temporary suspension. Someone tossing a hot weapon in the air is completely reckless. It shows a total lack of regard for their own safety and the safety of innocent people that may be in the vicinity. In the context of our sport, totally unacceptable. If someone is suspended from all USPSA competition, how does that work. Does Sedro keep a list that is updated an distributed to all clubs? Tony

+1 I have to give that picture credit for being the most bizarre muzzle flash ever. Never seen one shaped like that. Tls

Flex touched on my answer before I could type it. You obviously love your SVI and you don't want to part with it,... so don't. I wouldn't spend the time, money and sweat to transform it into an open gun. The real answer here is to correct the sight focus issue. You have identified the problem. That's half the battle. It's a problem with shooter. Why try to solve a problem with the shooter by fixing the hardware? Fix the shooter. Tony

I have a P18.9 LDA that's been in my collection for several years now. It got off to a rocky start because it wouldn't group. I had a Schuemann barrel fitted and the problem was resolved. It's a decent carry gun and that's what I use it for. With 18+1 I don't have to concern myself too much with extra mags. It probably wouldn't be ideal for production but it is certainly usable for that purpose. Tony

N320 is one of many powders that will work great in the 45. N320 is my powder of choice for the .40 w/ 180 I have also used N340 with good results with a 200gr MG in .40 Don't load 38 spl so can't say. I have used N330 in the 9mm with a 147 but prefer Titegroup. Tony

I agree with Flex that expanding into multigun tends to attract shooters that are already involved. If you want to get new shooters, there is a deep pool of potential members out there. We just find the best way to tap into it. There are literally millions of handgun owners and many of them have no idea USPSA even exists. They buy a gun for defense or just cause they like to shoot. They occasionally punch paper at the nearest indoor range or they take their blasters outdoors where ever they can find a place to plink. Get them to one match and they are usually hooked. I know because I was one of those guys. I discovered action pistol when I went to a charity match sponsored and publicized by the local police dept. That got me to a local club and an IPSC career. Something local clubs could do would be a membership drive. Print flyers and place them in local gun shops. Encourage club members to bring a buddy. Better yet give them some incentive. Bring a new shooter to a match and your name goes in the hat for a gun give away at the end of the year. How to grow the sport is and interesting question. That begs the question, grow into what? How much growth would you envision? 20,000 members? 100,000? Where do you want it to go? I think we'd all like to see the sport become more mainstream and a little less fringe. But... There are only so many ranges available to us. A lot of major matches are filled to capacity and some such as Nats and Single Stack Classic have waiting lists. The local guys can always make room for more but there are self limiting factors. When you have so many shooters that every club match has huge squads and takes all day to get five stages in, you will start to push people away instead of drawing more in. Tls

The dual tool head sounds like a good idea. I was planning on prepping my cases on my Rock Chucker but I might give this a try. Tls

I don't see why this is a bad thing. If you don't care about any of the magazines, dump it. Otherwise, free is free. That said I dumped my for the simple reason that my membership runs for almost another year before it is time to renew. I'm not going to do it early and will never keep up with a coupon for that long. No one can "automatically" renew a free subscription for money if you don't give them a cc number. Tls

So far I have to say I like Chris' picture best (post #10 1st picture). Chris, how about a little info about how that was taken. Tony

I think it has more to do with the longer OAL than the barrel. Tls

Dustdevil, It sounds to me like Howard has given you some good advice. You seem to be assembling your loads very carefully and with due dilligence. However, I think you would be well served by always starting 10-15% below max and working your way up .1 grains at a time. Work up until you get to the PF you want or until loads show signs of erratic result or excess pressure. This method has served me well and have never had a problem in 35 years of reloading. I used N320 for years but I became disenchanted with Viht due to supply problems and decided to give Titegroup a try. TG is a very popular powder for the 40 but I have never been entirely comfortable with it even though it gives better accuracy in my gun. The temp sensitivity, heat and the low case volume of Titegroup in the .40 just makes me nervous. I still use TG in the .45 where there is more room for error. For my .40 I swallowed hard and went out and bought more N320. Here is my data for your reference: Firearm:SVI INFINITY Range: 25 YDS Primer: FED Bullet: 180 ZERO JHP Powder: N320 Case: WIN OAL: 1.175 MV / Charge / 1ST String Group / 2ND String Group / Average 897 - 4.7 - 1.772 - 2.199 - 1.986 910 - 4.8 - 1.220 - 2.095 - 1.658 926 - 4.9 - 1.788 - 2.221 - 2.005 944 - 5.0 - 1.081 - 1.810 - 1.446 950 - 5.1 - 1.537 - 2.044 - 1.791 Firearm:SVI INFINITY Range: 25 YDS Primer: FED Bullet: 180 ZERO JHP Powder: TITEGRP Case: WIN OAL: 1.175 MV / Charge / 1st String Group / 2ND String Group / Average 887 - 4.4 - 1.850 - 1.998 - 1.924 903 - 4.5 - 1.282 - 1.477 - 1.380 918 - 4.6 - 1.421 - 1.730 - 1.576 932 - 4.7 - 1.185 - 0.757 - 0.971 954 - 4.8 - 1.185 - 0.757 - 0.971

Shooters seem to love those moment of firing pictures. It might be fun to post your best muzzle flash photos. Maybe we can have a vote for most outrageous muzzle flash pic. Extra points awarded for capturing a bullet in flight. In stead of a vote, perhaps we could persuade some of the esteemed forum photographers to serve as a panel of judges and pick a winner. ysued, eerw, nik all come to mind, I'm sure there are others. And of course, our host. Tony

Okay, I think this deserves it's own thread..... So I'll start one.

Whoa. That's not muzzle flash. It's a mushroom cloud. Is that open gun nuclear powered? Tls

Okay Siggy, If it's outrageous muzzle flash you want, then you shall have it. Stay tuned. Tony

I guess that's part of the appeal. If you're shooting pics in a studio, you can tinker with it until you get what you want. In live action there's no second chances. You either get what you want on the first try or it's gone forever. Tls

Yeah, that's it. It's ART. I meant to do that! After all,... If you find yourself on the business end of a gun, the muzzel is all you see anyway!

All photographers know that in every batch of pictures some will be crap, others ordinary, and a precious few will make it all worthwhile. Like shooting, we learn the tricks and nuances as we go and the more you do it the better you get. I have been taking photos of IPSC competition for a while now and spend many hours reviewing and processing the pics. One thing that I have a lot of trouble dealing with are those shots that came oh so close to being spectacular but were flawed in some way that couldn't be fixed. There are some things even Photoshop can't correct. There is nothing I hate more than the one that got away. Here is a prime example. Shallow depth of field / focusing error caused the shooter to be in soft focus. Some times getting a picture right is tougher than balancing speed and accuracy while running a stage. Oh well,.... at least the comp looks good.