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Spent a good live fire session at the range today. I can now manage to rip an all alpha bill drill at 7 yards from a low ready (unfortunately no holster work at my indoor range) under 2 seconds. Importantly, I've been working hard to improve my grip so that i can both control and track the sights reliably. It's been a slow process, but I finally have a push-pull type grip which seems to be working well.

I spent today's dry fire session working on my index. Specifically focusing on the arm and wrist tension to bring up my gun with the sights aligned. It's a very weird thing to ingrain into muscle memory a very foreign task. The "right" amount of tension I thought to align the sights actually had the gun significantly pointed to my right. When I adjust it to the correctly aligned amount of tension, my hand feels awkward. But then again, I'm going to take that as a sign that I'm training the correct muscle memory into my system. In terms of the time to draw and get a sight picture, it's about 0.7-1.0 sec for a 15 yard alpha zone. Transitions are still a struggle. But then again, I expect that to be the case given that my index is poor, too.

Background: This is in all likelihood the wrong time for me to start a training diary. I've been shooting USPSA off and on for about 10 months but have moved between carry optics, production and PCC. But I've recently gotten a new Shadow 2 and decided to commit to production. The downside is that I'm 4-5 months out for needing to submit my PhD thesis. So time for anything is at a premium. But I think a training diary will be the best way to keep myself honest but also introspective about what I'm aiming for, expecting, and working towards. Short term goal: I want to improve my consistency at my local matches. Sometimes I shoot 60%, other times I shoot 20%. The goal is to bring that variance down while still improving. Medium term goal: I'm going to nationals this fall as my first major. Simply saying "I don't want to make an ass out of myself" is too vague. Rather, I want to bring my competition ability from local matches to nationals. I've competed nationally for bullseye and olympic style shooting before and have often underperformed on the 'big stage'. My goal is to be consistent and not let the occasion overawe me. Long term goal: I don't want to become a professional shooter. By all accounts it is a hard life of measly 'sponsorships' and lots of travel for teaching. I have full time professional goals ahead of me and rather I want to improve my skill to M or GM. I'd like to be competitive nationally. Other notes: USPSA is honestly such a draw to me because I am a poor grad student and dry fire has been lauded as a way of helping me 'get there'. I'm sure I'll be popping up more in the forums asking naive and obvious questions but hey, as long as I can get an answer to the problems I'm having, I don't care how dumb I seem. Right now, my weaknesses are fundamentals but also transitions. So that's what the majority of my dry fire (from Ben Stoeger's books) is focused on. I also don't have access to a range where I can draw from the holster. But that may change soon, I hope. Either way, gotta start somewhere!

Thank you

Thanks. I've tried looking but could you link it?

I'm fairly new to AR building and was wondering what to look for when my goal is to design an accuracy-focused upper (goal is sub MOA). Specifically, I've read that some upper receivers that have beefier barrel nut areas (such as the Seekins) could potentially lead to grater accuracy because it leads to less flex when loading on a bipod. But how significant is this? Would I be better served by putting my funds towards a higher quality barrel? Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone, I had a chance to actually weigh my shadow 2 and it came in at 45.8 ounces (after using two different scales) with an unloaded mag. This seems rather light given that the OEM listed weight is 47 ounces. Or is this within reason? My gun has grip tape on it as well, but has been refinished in chrome. Does any of that make a difference?

I got a 2 tone shadow 2 last December and asked CGW about hard chroming it. They told me that they do their hard chroming at Ford's Custom in Crystal River, FL.... an hour away from me. So, I went to them and they offered a multitude of polish, etc. Was $375 on a Xmas promo they were running. Would definitely recommend them.

11.5 pound hammer spring. And live fire today of a hundred or so rounds showed no FTF. I haven't experienced the screw issues that George is talking about. Also, I'm shooting CCI small pistol primers, if that makes a difference.

The most surprising result was that it actually decreased my DA trigger pull by 0.5 lbs and my SA trigger pull by a quarter. The reset is as crisp as it was with the previous fitted disconnector. Also, since I have short, stubby hands, I finally can reach the DA trigger at a much more comfortable distance. I, certainly, am one happy camper.

And a direct overlay.

Lastly, we have the whole kit:

Next is the CGW RRK trigger, but NOT the disco. I had a fitted disconnector from their upgrade kit already.

I bought the Shadow 2 RRK on Saturday and it was delivered today. I figured I'd install it and provide a before and after comparison so people could see whether they'd gain anything from the kit. Spoiler alert: I am very pleased. First, the before:

If we already have a fitted disco for the S2, will the RRK work? Or do you need this new disco, too?

I think that's the normal reach reduction kit.

I'm super eager for this as well. Trump-hands checking in!

I've seen people say this but is the shadow 2 really smaller? It seems very beefy.

Were you able to get a successful replacement and make it run? I am interested in getting one myself but would hold off if there are still reliability issues.

Like a lot of people, I've been running an NFA bolt carrier group for my PCC and been running into extraction issues. Now, I'll freely admit that I am partly to blame. I run reloads using range pickup 9mm brass that looks, at times, like it has been through hell and back. But, I'm cheap and a grad student, so poor as well. Either way, I realized that a large part of my extraction issues were due, in part, due to the extractor not having a very firm hold (or no hold) on the battered rims of the brass. So my solution has been to actually grind away part of the bottom part of the extractor. See the red region in the attached photo. Essentially, since this part of the extractor is what rests against the extractor channel, it determines how much 'bite' the extractor has. I only took off about 0.005" based on my measurements, but it seems to have made an improvement. Extraction issues have gone way down. Others may find this helpful. As always, don't go mashing up parts of your gun if you don't feel comfortable accepting the possible consequences. etc. etc.

As an update, everybody, I found out what the issue was. The bottom loop of the trigger spring was slipping out of the notch where it is supposed to rest and sitting higher up. I didn't notice this because it came from the factory this way, but after close comparison to the pictures on the website, I realized what the issue was. I shifted the spring and now all is good. 2-2.5 lb break consistently.

No, I'm not. I specifically held off on purchasing them after reading Hiperfire's manual. I am in contact with their CS department and they're being very responsive. This does go into my gut feeling that I borked something on my end.

I was hoping I could get some input on what others are getting as a trigger weight at the lightest setting on their 24C trigger. I installed mine and it is breaking at 3.5 lbs at the lightest weight. I have a new frontier style Glock lower and wasn't sure if it was just me or whether the geometric differences of the lower's trigger well (if they really are different) meant that the 2 pound break the trigger promises was not going to be possible. If you all are not getting a 3.5 lb weight at the lightest, any suggestions as to how to troubleshoot? I've already emailed Hiperfire.

My impression was that at the Jan 2017 review, Matt Hopkins suggested an increase, but that it was not approved.

For Carry Optics, if the weight limit is 35 oz, does that mean that if you have a gun that is under that, you can add additional weights (say in the magazine) in order to increase the weight up to the legal limit? Or am I just reading this incorrectly.