Alan550

Muzzle rise is only one consideration as you have already pointed out about the "aircraft sights to still hit the mover". Keep your ammo around 1,000 fps with the lighter bullets for most lead-factor optics to be dialed in correctly. You really don't have to load to the minimum PF, and if you expect that comp to do much at all, you'll need some more powder in your loads anyway. It reaches a point of diminishing returns in that respect. Try different loads to see what works best insofar as recovery time and recoil softness for subsequent shots, and go with that. The PF of 120,000 is just that, a minimum, with the top end wide open for your best loads. A friend came in 21st this past year at Bianchi running 115 gr. bullets at well over the minimum of 1044 fps for that bullet weight, but the comp was doing its job well enough to keep muzzle flip to a minimum and help with maintaining a good sight picture throughout the match. Sorry if this seems a bit rambling, but bottom line is: keep the load comfortable for your style of shooting, and don't worry about getting it as light as possible. Alan~^~

Don't know what else Ken Tapp has been up to, but until this year, he was in the top 10 or so in the Bianchi cup for the previous 4 years.

One advantage to the XD would be if you're a southpaw. I reccomended one to a club member who wanted an ambi mag release, and he loves his. Trigger is a bit heavy for me, but nicer than the factory GLOCKs I've tried. FWIW

The monovison contact solution should work for those who can successfully wear contacts, but as mentioned, one pair for shooting and another for regular wear. That also works with glasses, but can be disconcerting if worn for extended periods of time, as also mentioned earlier. There's a company called Smith Optics here in the USA that makes a polycarbonate shield set-up similar to the Oakleys that uses an Rx insert to go in behind the shields. They come with mirrored sun, amber and clear shields, and separate nosepad inserts for use "with or without the Rx insert". Get the lenses ground with the optical centers high in the lenses and inset to the nasal side a bit to eliminate the parallax problem and they work great. Any retail optical shop should be able to get these for you. Alan~^~

There is parallax, or "image displacement" as we call it in the industry, once you're looking through anyplace except the "optical center" (OC) of the lens on Rx glasses. The stronger the Rx, the worse the displacement. I'm an Optician who specializes ( after a fashion) in shooting glasses, mainly for friends, and I have them bring the gun in question to the office. I mark the sighting point they're using on the lens and put the OC at that spot. The lenses aren't worth much for just "walking around in" if the Rx is high, but scores always improve. Made a pair recently with an intermediate focal length lens in the sighting eye and a distance Rx in the weak eye for defensive-type shooting. That way, with both eyes open, he could switch his focus between target & sights comfortably and see each clearly, as the brain shuts out the "fuzzy" eye. In lighter Rxs, there's not much problem, but the stronger the lens and the further you're shooting, the worse it gets.....as much as 8" at 50 yds. Alan

I'll have to agree on the "gunking up" part! I borrowed a Ruger Vaquero from a friend for a CAS shoot and he'd been using .44 Spec. brass with lead bullets. I had .44 Mag brass with light loads and it wouldn't even chamber! I took the cylinder out and put it into a measuring cup half-full of Shooter's Choice Lead Remover for 20 minutes. I used a bronze brush and did 20 passes through each chamber and put the cylinder back in the cleaner. After 2 hours of this procedure, along with using a Lewis Lead Remover, the Magnum rounds still wouldn't chamber! I use a 686 and Magnum brass in Action matches with a light Titegroup load like you mentioned, and have no problems with chamber fouling. Insofar as the accuracy question goes, I found no difference with the proper loads between .38 Spec. & .357 Mag., and if I were having to do reloads under the clock, I'd probably go with the .38s because there's a shorter ejector rod throw to get out the empties. If you use the .38s, be sure to clean the chambers thoroughly each time you shoot it (100 rounds or so) so that the Magnum stuff will fit later. My 2 pesos...

lmccrock, The courses of fire were listed in that article, but whoever covered it for the magazine doesn't know the events! They just looked up the COF in the rule book when they gave the specs. The Mover that we shoot out there is actually the "Modified Mover" with 6 shots on each of 2 passes at 10 & 15 yards, and 3 shots on each of 4 passes at 20 & 25 yds. The COF in the article said 2 shots on each pass at 25. Even the NRA people can't get an accurate article published! SHHHEEEEEESH! Oh well, there's always next year!

jmatt, The shock buffs are made by several different places, I use the Wilson Combat design. It's a 1/10th inch thick piece of 'poly fiber" (read plastic) that fits between the recoil spring and the guide rod to help prevent frame battering. The 16 pounder is for hot stuff to slow the slide. I'm referring to a 124 gr. bullet @ 1450 fps........factory 9X23 Win. That was from my old 5" barrel, and I haven't clocked them since I put in a 6", but they have to be faster. Between the buff and the heavier spring, slide speed is pretty close to the same as with the lighter spring & loads. At least that's how it feels to me, the amatuer that I am! :-)

My vote would be for the Taurus 92/99 series. Beretta clone? Not quite. The Taurus can be fired from cocked-&-locked, or first shot double action, your choice. Can't do that with the Beretta. Also, the Taurus safety is frame mounted like the 1911 you're already used to. Beretta's is slide-mounted and works "backwards"...up is the fire position! You'd have to learn a whole new manual-of-arms to deal with that. The Taurus fits in either Enhanced or Stock for IDPA, depending upon the first shot setup.....DA for Stock and cocked-&-locked for Enhanced. FWIW Alan

After lightening the slide, you'll need to use a heavier spring for your major loads and maybe a shok-buff to boot. I shoot a very light slide for Action Pistol (120 PF) with a 6 or 7 lb spring, but when I go to major loads, I have to run a 16 lb with a buff behind it. The buffs last through several hundred shots with the minor stuff, but get eaten VERY quickly with the spring change and major loads. Just a thought. Alan

I'm not really all that surprised that the Rifleman didn't have an article. The NRA has begun to treat the Cup as a last priority event, and they fired the coordinator, Russ Stott, within a couple of weeks after this last one with no notice or reason given. Participation has dropped off in the last few years (only 149 shooters this year) and the prize money has been nearly halved from previous events. Some other sanctioning body needs to take the Cup over and rejuvenate it, or it's fast headed into the toilet. Just my $.02 worth. Alan

Headstamp is VERY important! There's an article in the newest Front Sight Magazine (USPSA) and the author said he had a bullet telescope into the case as much as .060 on a .45 ACP load because of the thin case walls on that particular brand. He had set up his press for another brand of brass that was thicker, and the thinner stuff wouldn't hold the bullet firmly when it hit the feed ramp. So separate the stuff for accuracy loads. I do that for match loads, along with barrel-dropping every round. It might seems a little anal to some, but little stuff matters in our sport! :-)

I forgot to mention the price.........Widener's has these HAP bullets for $61.00/1000, and Graf & Sons for about the same. Beats the heck out of the Sierra prices for what we've been using!

Just tried some of the new Hornady HAP bullets in my 9X23 and got a 1.25" group at 50 yds in a Ransom Rest!!! My shooting buddy has one of the AET barrels in his 9X23, and got a 50 yd. group UNDER 1/2 INCH!! These were with the 125 gr. 9mm bullets, but they mic .356, so would probably work fine in the Supers too. The 121 grainers weren't quite as accurate, but not slouchy either. The bullets are supposed to be the same as their XTPs without the expansion cuts in the hollow point. They don't expand according to Hornady, just more accurate because of the weight being concentrated in the back end.

I'm running a 125 gr. 9X23 @ ~ 1150, and sighted it at 25 yds. With sight-over-bore at 1.75" I'm still "on" at 50 for the practical, and have to hold a bit [1.5"] high at 10 for a perfect center hit. It's still an "X" ring shot at all the distances with a center hold if I do my part.

NIK, In response to your earlier question of putting this to rest 'cause Doug won the Cup.....True! In Open Class! TGO won the Stock Class where Everett had him BEATEN until TGO complained about the shooting time that Everett had away from his scheduled time, and consequently Everett was DQ'd. After TGO complained, not some RO "discovering" that the schedule had gotten thrown out for the RO's convenience, did the DQ take place. The whole mess lowered my respect for the people involved. Granted, I only have Everett's version of the events, told to me on Fri. afternoon, but when I questioned some of the officials, no one said that version was not correct. Guess there's whiners in all the shooting sports, huh?

I've seen no support, or for that matter, even a mention of the ban by the NRA! Don't look for them to support the withdrawal of it either, for political purposes. They very seldom go on the offensive on issues, only try to defend against the attacks by the antis, and make as few waves as possible. The Action Shooting Division at NRA is the bastard-step-child anymore too. They recently fired Russ Stott, the Bianchi Coordinator with no reason given, and no notice. I agree that "Dubya" would probably sign the bill and let us down like his dad did earlier.

I've used the 550 for 15 years or better, and another point in its favor that hasn't been mentioned is that you can load unusual calibers too (9X23) that you can't get a setup for on the SDB. For some reason (DUH) Mike dillon has no use for that caliber! Must have something to do with that 9X25 thingy he came up with!

Another solution to Shed's lube removal problem is to use a large towel (read beach towel) and dump 200-300 loaded rounds onto it. Then holding the end corners in each hand, roll them back & forth inside the towel about 10 times or so. I use the Dillon Case Lube and this method removes 90%+ of the lube without the hassle of media stuck in the hollowpoints. Works great! Alan~^~