Part_time_redneck

Pretty much covers it. On the bench make sure it's rock solid. Overkill is just right in this department. You may also want to make sure you have plenty of room around your mounting location to allow for an upgrade like a bigger press or automation later. A little foresight beats starting over from scratch. Search around the forum for threads with 650 mods / improvements. Numerous little tricks and gadgets available to smooth out the 650 - spent primer upgrade, low mass detent ball & springs, ski jump fix, etc. All these add up and really do help. Go ahead in advance and make a good storage area for loading supplies. When you get started loading you will accumulate a lot of stuff quickly. And just like guns, keep detailed notes. Settings, rounds loaded, etc. Finally eyes & fire extinguisher. Hope you never need them but like a carry gun right?

I've only been shooting USPSA for around three years and feel that I have just now graduated from complete noobie to, well only slightly better. I saw some vids online and became interested. I've hunted and been around guns my entire life but never participated in competitive shooting. I simply decided I was going to give it a go. I vividly remember my first match. Watched the first shooter with an open gun hose a small stage in a matter of seconds. I was hooked and hadn't even fired a shot yet. I remember thinking after a few matches under my belt how I had several friends who would love this game. Fast forward a few years and now it's hard to believe how wrong I was. I now occasionally have a friend or coworker who will feign interest, to which I reply, " Sure, whenever your ready just let me know. I have guns, mags, ammo, everything you would need that I can let you borrow. We can go to a private range two miles from my house, set up some targets, and I'll show you exactly what to expect, just us with no pressure. Anytime your ready". This ends the discussion for @ 90 days then I just repeat the statement and the infinite loop continues. If someone I knew did decide to take the plunge and give it a shot ( pun intended ), I would be more than happy to offer any assistance I could. However being a self ordained recruitment officer simply doesn't work, for me at least. I have my own opinions regarding people's reluctance to try shooting, which I will politely keep to myself. If someone wants to get started, they'll find a way.

The old exploding magazine trick. Advanced technique. High risk play. Most people aren't brave enough to try it. Just kidding. GMR-15 with @ 6K rounds. Has been 100% thus far but it's about time to go through it with a few PM parts before it lays down on me.

Fortunately I've never witnessed a flesh & blood injury. However at a local match last year I was with the rest of the squad in the gallery behind the stage loading mags. When I head "stop" I looked up and had a spectacular view of the muzzle end of a Glock. Perfect sight alignment. While no shooter suffered any injury, I unfortunately can't say the same for my boxers. They will be missed.

Matt built this for me last year. Very pleased with it. He was great to deal with and discuss the build. He does have a gallery on his site I believe. Also his Facebook - Cheely Custom Gunworks, he has a lot of pics of his builds.

Right front pocket. Like others mentioned, I clear everything else out prior. It's not the RO's job to help me prep my firearm during make ready and I don't ask them to. However, some guys will try to be helpful and reach for the flag. In that case I just let them and say thank you.

Stage designers throw starts like this in just to attempt to trip you up. Gun is still in the holster. Just get hand on the gun like you've done thousands of times before. I think a little dryfire with hands on a wall in advance would be beneficial. Any more than that and it's just making a mountain out of a molehill. Overthinking an out of the ordinary start position is simply putting you at a disadvantage.

I'm a bit leery of this new technology. Looks like several people are having light strikes. Sorry. Light stripes. Just kidding. If I ran 38SC instead of 9 I would have one as well.

First, nobody get too excited or bent out of shape here, just asking a question. What is the benefit of consolidating divisions? What is gained? Just trying to understand a potential upside. During a lvl2 I enjoy being able to shoot 6 different divisions over 3 days. If you go to a centerfire optics division, as a whole would carry optics be at a disadvantage to open? Some guys wouldn't I know, but honestly, would it be a completely level playing field? As far as adding / changing stages, IMHO a lot of what makes SC what it is is the consistency & nostalgia. In USPSA we are tasked with solving a problem in the most efficient manner. Different stage every time. In SC there are no surprises. If the next stage is Roundabout you know what it's going to look like. SC comes down primarily to execution without the stage planning aspect. And if you add stages to lvl 2 & 3's there goes an AM/PM format. Just my humble $0.02. Please feel free to correct me and everyone enjoy their 4th of July. Happy holiday everyone.

When I shot my first USPSA match I was given a helpful tip by a friendly RO and I have used it to this day. Most shooters do this without thinking but as I said, it was my first match. Final target was far to the left. After engaging I was about to ULSC. All it would have taken was a little point to the left when hitting mag release ( I'm right handed ) and I would have been off to the ice cream store whose name we do not say aloud. He advised me to after finishing first to if not already make sure I'm facing straight down range. I've since given this advice to newer participants and they were all appreciative. Common sense for guys on here, but it was my first match. So, last shot fired. I throw on the safety and make sure I'm pointed straight down range. I then look toward the RO and wait for the " if you are finished" command. After he gives the command, mag out and on belt. Safety off. Rotate a little so ejection port is facing downward and rack slide. Round hits ground. Then I check for empty chamber then hold slide half to 2/3 back so RO can clearly see an empty chamber. I'll stay there until the RO gives the entire " if clear" command. Then point at berm, hammer down, holster and lock. It it may take me an extra 3-4 seconds but the RO doesn't tell me " wait, I didn't see the chamber empty ". I've also never had an RO tell me to pick up the pace during ULSC. No awards for speed here but a lot to lose.

Poplarville puts on great 3 gun as well as USPSA matches. You can also check Magnolia in Byram. Pistol and I believe they still run 3 gun from time to time. Brothers in Arms in Hattiesburg has a rifle inclusive match occasionally and monthly pistol. And for pistol only you can shoot MPSA in Vinegar Bend AL which is about 90min south on Hwy 45 for you. They run 2 and if there is a fifth Saturday 3 per month. Also look at Brock's Gap in Hoover AL. A little longer drive but they run almost everything and it's a great place to shoot.

For a DQ you have to quote the rule that was violated. Both scenarios sound like you just fired a mike. Shooting sports are a lot like golf. The rules work in your favor, if you know them well. Your post does show that you exibit good sportsmanlike behavior though. Take those scenarios as a wake up call and bump up the dry fire.

My old now backup gun is an STI lower / SV upper with an Infinity ultimatch barrel. New gun was made by Matt Cheely. KKM barrel. Both guns run Matt's 4 port comp and both have 2 - 1/8" poppel holes. My load is 7.9g of HS6 behind 124g PD JHP's. CCI 500 primers loaded to 1.170. New gun made 171 PF at the MS classic. Using my chrono and everything being the same my backup with the same loads makes 168PF while still on my chrono new gun makes 171. My differences aren't as drastic as yours but my SV barrel is definitely a bit slower. When experimenting i think with 115's I was around 8.5-8.6g of HS6. Just my personal opinion but I wouldn't want to go higher than that with the 124's. I love and swear by Precision Delta for open, PCC, and CO, but it might be worth experimenting with something else. Im sure this is probably not the issue but couldn't hurt to borrow a small amount of HS6 from someone else, verify results just to rule out powder contamination. Good luck.

Pretty much sums it up.

I have two friends who ran JP's and they were almost boring to watch as far as reliability. They never faltered. That was the primary reason I went with one. It does seem like the Sigs are pretty ironed out now though. Lots of guys swear by them. My JP is stock except for the buffer and shoots great. Only complaint is it's a bit heavy on the front end. Still considering putting it on a diet.

Definitely dry fire. Whenever I get a chance to live fire practice I always start with groups. Just 2 strings of 5 each FS then SHO then WHO. Just a little practice WHO pays big dividends.

Again on ShootersConn. Got mine from there. Yes the impatience thing. They just have good inventory on hand, are fast and good to deal with.

I ordered a plain Jane model from Shooters Connection and had it in a couple of days. As far as ordering direct from JP, they've always been pretty quick. The few times I've contacted them they were good to deal with. I'd just give them a call. Suspense kills me too.

I replaced all internals in my MBX mags with Grams and they work great. Also used Atlas guides on specs.

Just one. 2 1/2 miles from the house. $75.00 / yr with a 30yd / 30yd pistol bay and 100 & 200 yd rifle. I got lucky. Very close and 95% of the time I'm the only one there.

I load PD JHP 124's at 1.170. Had Matt Cheely build a new gun for me and had a few feeding issues. Turned out mag springs were way overdue for changing. New Grams guts and an evening of tweaking ( not twerking ) mags and all is well. Runs like a top now. I had an easy fix. But as you stated you have new tuned mags from the builder. But you say you had 1 bad mag. Was this from the builder as well? Not knocking anyone, just asking. Personally I would go through all the mags myself just to eliminate one possible issue. I would also sort a good bit of same headstamp brass just for testing to eliminate another variable. And keep good notes and change only one thing at a time, then more testing. Is this a new gun? Talked to the builder about the issue? From the OP a 25% failure rate is pretty rough. Best of luck with your troubles.

Down south we call that the "spin cycle". Always gets a grin.

Steve Anderson describes it as such. Accuracy mode. Not the speed where you get almost all Alphas. Only Alphas. Accuracy is the only thing important. Goal is to learn to fire accurate shots. Speed mode. Massive speed gains are the only goal. Accuracy is not judged in this practice mode. You are still calling your shots but not making up any poor hits. This is why he advocates using shot up targets or even no targets and just shooting between the target sticks. Only thing is working time down and not being concerned with hits during this mode of practice. Match mode. Only leaving acceptable hits on targets. Time is not judged. Therefore alphas or close Charlies. What looks like wide Charlies have a way of becoming deltas. Any shot called as unacceptable is made up instantly. Check out his podcast. He can explain his philosophies much better than I can. The common denominator between all his practice modes is to only work on one thing at a time. Narrowly define success as he puts it. If I made a mistake in my explanation above, I apologize. This is just my interpretation of Steve Andersons work. As as for A / C ratio, get ready for the debate. Too many variables to list. If you're calling your shots and leaving acceptable hits, the Charlie ratio will work itself out. The entire scoring system comes down to a balance of speed / accuracy.

No experience with Brazos. Have fondled and fired a few Atlas's. Own a new Cheely, so yes, I'm a bit biased. Toward the latter part of '18 I wanted a new open gun. Contacted Matt via e-mail and we set up a time to speak about a day later. Great guy. Very easy to talk to. We went over every aspect of my build and it was an enjoyable process. Basically it went down like this. I went through what I wanted, he listened and made notes. He then offered his opinions with the reasoning behind them and awaited my response. There was a lot of back and forth, vs " this is how I do it". Through out the build when he had a question as to how I wanted something, he simply contacted me and we discussed. A decision was made and he continued. There was constant correspondence throughout the process, which as a consumer / customer means a lot to me. The few times I contacted Matt with a question he always treated me like an old, valued customer and had time for me. As for a difference between the 3 you mentioned, they are all top notch quality items. You really can't go wrong with any of them. I had a good experience dealing with Matt and due simply to that fact he has gained a repeat customer. Furthermore, the fit, finish, & function of my pistol is superb. Extremely happy with it.