38superman

I love the commercials but I've been taking this stuff for 6 months now and I still don't think I'm any taller.

Long undies? Floridians are so spoiled. This may not be a repeat of last year's near perfect weather, but it's a big improvement on what's outside my window right now (25 degrees and snowing). 56 degrees sounds down right balmy. I'll take it. Tls

They don't call it Frostproof for nothing.

I started out in L-10 and still shoot it quite a lot. The fact that it is a gateway division makes it worth keeping, but there are a lot of other things going for it. First of all, it is the poor man's open division. Every other division is restrictive on the type of gun you can shoot. L-10 can shoot single stack, single action, double action, plastic, 2011, major, minor, whatever. Short of optics and a comp, name a gun you can't shoot in L-10. Also worth mentioning is much more freedom in holster type and placement. I'm convinced that occasionally running with 10 rounds helps my limited game. It forces better focus on stage breakdown and I get more reload practice under match conditions. It's also nice to come to the line without 80 rounds of ammo trying to drag my belt down to my knees. I see no compelling reason to kill it but that doesn't seem to matter. The controversy surrounding this division keeps going like the Energizer bunny. Why? I seriously doubt it has anything to do with administrative burden or participation. The real problem is resentment due to having it forced upon us by Clinton era anti-gun legislation. A lot of people view it as an uninvited guest that just won't leave the party. That sentiment is understandable, but regardless of why we have it, the division pulls its weight. I say we leave it alone and move on. Tony

There is certainly nothing wrong with sending a pile of money to one of the top smiths. Kick back and wait the wait and you will end up with a fine piece of hardware. However that is not your only option. I bought a Springfield loaded 1911 a few years ago, which is a pretty nice gun to start with. It came with adjustable sights, magwell, target hammer & trigger, ambi safety, etc. The accuracy was acceptable but nothing to write home about. I decided to take the gun to Rusty Kidd of Atlanta to be tuned. He hand fitted a Kart match grade barrel and bushing, and did an action job. The cost of the gun + the gunsmith work ended up around $1,200. The results were amazing and there was no waiting. Sure there are other refinements such as slide/frame fit, etc. that would come along with a custom gun. The question is, how important is that to you. My springer looks and feels great. The trigger is awesome, it will reliably feed any ammo I stick in it, runs great with anybody's magazine and routinely prints 1 inch groups. What more do you want from a 1911? Tony

None...... well, maybe Fla Open since I'm already signed up for it. I went to seven majors last year and got my a$$ kicked so bad I still can't sit on a bar stool. I'll just hang out at the local club and try to get better. Tony

Just curious, but does anyone know how many competitors are signed up this year? Tls

The latest addition to my blaster collection.

If I was headed for combat and all my guns were laid out on a table, the one I'd reach for is my SVI 40. No question about it. It is 2 1/2 years old and has close to 15,000 rounds through it without a single malfunction. It has run in matches over 100 degs, pouring rain, freezing cold and just keeps going like the Energizer bunny. When it comes to attitude adjustment, 20 rounds of 40 S&W is a lot of firepower. I also own a 45 double stack STI Edge which would also be a good choice but has not been as reliable as the .40 The big 45 round just doesn't seem to feed as smoothly from a double stack as the 40. Just my .02 Tony

I shoot L-10 a lot and have been to nationals three times. I shot L-10 twice, once with a SS and once with a wide body. I can assure you that there are plenty of high round count stages. You should start every stage with a mag in the gun and at least four on the belt. You will get pleny of mag changes. If the score matters to you then this is an important decision and there is a simple way to solve it. Set up a standard drill. Run it 10 times with each gun and keep track of the hit factors. Assuming both guns run equally well, the gun you shot the best is the one you take to Nats. I have a practice drill that requires 16 shots with three mandatory reloads. I can run it about 1 1/2 seconds faster with my wide body than with my SS. Take the guesswork and emotional attachments out of the equation and discover which gun is the fastest in your hands. The results will speak for themselves. You will know what to do. Tls

In the immortal words of Darth Vader,.... "Most Impressive".

See what happens when you switch to Titegroup.

All the best. Tls

Okay guys, here's one for you. Tony

just slow down the velocity of the bullet. go sub minor. you should be able to capture the bullet. lynn That's a good thought Lynn. A big, slow moving slug such as a 230 gr 45 loaded down to sub-minor velocities would give you the best opportunity. Even so, a bullet loaded down to 600 fps would still travel about an inch even at 1/8000 shutter speed. Then comes the issue of how to trigger the shutter. To manually press the shutter release at the precise moment the bullet pops out of the barrel would take the wildest stroke of luck. It would have to be triggered by some sort of sensor, such as the bullet breaking an infrared beam. Even then there is a lag time mechanically between shutter release and shutter movement that has to be factored in. It may only be a few milliseconds but must be accounted for when trying to capture a speeding bullet. This has been a long standing goal of mine. As such, I have put a lot of thought and a little research into the issue and it's just not as simple as it might appear at first blush. If anyone wants to give it a try, I'd love to hear about the techniques and results. Welcome to the realm of high speed photography. Tls

The picture definately looks like the bullet cutting a path across the frame while the shutter is open. Assuming the bullet is traveling at roughly 1400 fps, even at 1/1000 sec. shutter speed the bullet would travel almost 17 inches during the exposure. As an amateur photographer I have long contemplated capturing a bullet frozen in flight just beyond the muzzle of the gun. The problem is that to freeze the bullet in flight it would take a shutter speed beyond the capabilities of any camera I know of. The second issue is the synchronization of the pistol shot with the camera shutter. I did a little research on this and it may be possible to get the shot with a high speed strobe, but it takes some highly specialized and pricey equipment to do it. Tls

"I hate mysteries Doctor, they give me a belly ache and right now I have a beauty" - James T Kirk I have racked my brain trying to think of what is going on with this load and I just don't see it. The simple problem is that one specific load (that is well proven by others) gives inconsistent and low velocities in your gun. You seemed to have eliminated about every possible variable that could explain it. Its not the bullet, happens with Zero and MG. Its not the chrono, checked with known loads and proven accurate. Its not the powder charges, checked and double checked. Its not an issue with the gun, all other loads perform as expected. Have you tried your Clays loads in someone elses gun? If all else fails, abandon the Clays and use Titegroup. I know legions of Clays devotees will howl at such blasphemy, but I like Titegroup better anyway. Tls

Z, I've got five bucks that says your scales are giving you false readings. What kind of scales are you using? If they are digital they use a strain gauge to measure weight. Its very difficult to measure a charge that small with great accuracy. Most scales claim +/- 0.1 gr. but I suspect that the accuracy of the scale may diminish when working that close to the bottom of the scales range. Suppose the accuracy falls to +/- .2 That means a 4.0 reading could be anywhere from 3.8 to 4.2 in reality. Calibrate your scales with a known weight. If possible weigh a charge on two sets of scales and see if the readings agree. Tls

This is kind of long but there's a lesson learned here so bear with me. After shooting L10 all of last year, I made the decision to jump back into Limited this year and set a goal of getting my A card. My Limited classification stood at about 62% and it was time to go to work on it. I know there is more to advancement than shooting a few good classifers. Overall match performance has to come along for the ride. My strategy was to shoot as many classifiers as possible and try to push that percentage up over 70. Then I would let the season unfold and hope to be in a position to push over the top by the end of the year. Then it happened. I shot a couple of really good classifers (one was 79.9) and presto, 62% turned into 66% almost overnight. I started thinking this was going to be easy. A few more like that and I got it just where I want it. Just when I started to get a little cocky, a special classifer came up at a local club and I figured this is it. If I go down there and blaze through them as fast as I can go, I may crash and burn on a few, but out of 6 classifers I'm bound to have one or two really good ones. As you might imagine it didn't quite turn out that way. I took my hero or zero approach to the match and recorded some times that would make a Master class shooter proud. Unfortunately, I couldn't do it without pullling at least one penalty on every stage. In the end it was just a waste of time and ammo. The lesson learned? Simple. Play your game. Run your drills. Focus on fundamentals. Nothing comes easy, only time and hard work will yield results. Get greedy and try to play at a level beyond your skills and it just isn't pretty. I knew that, ....... I just forgot for a moment. Tls

I'm in. Tony

I doubt they stole it. If they did, Colt would eat them alive in court. The original Colt design is quite old and patents expire and become part of the public domain after a period of time. Tls

That's tough Mark and I know exactly how you feel. Hang on to your faith and remember that time heals all wounds. Tls

I'm sorry Daniel but I couldn't disagree more. When an American company like STI or SVI comes up a with something innovative, it takes time and money to do the product development. First, they thought it up. Second, they invested their money in design, tooling, manufacture, marketing etc. They paid the workers that produced the product a living wage to do it. After they do the heavy lifting they are entitled a return on their investment. If people don't want their product or it is priced too high they won't buy it. The price is set by the cost to produce it and the profit that the market will bear. Nobody forces anyone to buy a 2011. They have other options, Glock, Para and many others. Now comes a foreign company that copies their design and uses it to compete against them. That kind of competition doesn't force a company to produce a better product, it only undermines their business. It means less incentive for companies to produce new and cool toys for us to play with. I will spend my money with SVI & STI God Bless Texas. Tony

Hodgdon published data calls 3.8 gr Titegroup a max load with the 200 gr Hornady HAP bullet at 1.125" OAL. If you are determined to try this, I would back off to about 3.6 and work up from there. Even with a 1.175 OAL I would not go beyond 4.0 I personally love Titegroup and use it extensively with my 45 loads. I still don't think I would put it behind a 200 gr bullet in a 40. Others may disagree but I think this is pushing the envelope a bit. Such a load may be viable but it shrinks your margins for error. There are ways to get yourself in trouble if you aren't very cautious. For example, some shooters on this forum have reported that Titegroup tends to be temperature sensitive. It is now January. A load developed in winter may be perfectly safe but may go over pressure in the summer heat. Take care. Tony

I can tell you that I recently bought a Dell and I was very disappointed. Their laptop display quality (IMHO) does not match the normally high standards of the other Dell equipment I have owned. I bought an Inspiron 17" with their best display and graphics card and the image quality is wretched. All LCD displays have what is called the "screen door effect". If you look very closely, you can see small horizontal and vertical lines in the display. In most displays this effect is very subtle and does not detract from the quality of the image. In the Dell this effect is very pronounced and the display looks like crap. There is no way to adjust it out. It appears to be inherent in the manufacture of the display. My advice to you is to buy an HP. You will be a lot happier with it. Tony