Pittbug

Shot an IDPA match at Circleville today. It was great having Chad and Conrad turn up and be squadded together. I think they were a little frustrated by all the rules I shot pretty well, I felt like I was on autopilot after the buzzer went and didn't really think about it much. I remember one of the stages had 9 targets, which all needed headshots. I remember taking a few steps to get into position and seemed to be conscious of my movement, but after the 5th target I sudden realized that I had not even been watching the front sight. I suddenly freaked and scrambled to find the front sight, and used it on the remaining 4 targets. I fondled Bill's 9mm 1911 and boy is it smooth. The trigger is light and the slide is really smooth. It makes my p14 seem quite uncivilized in comparison. I'm going to have to see if I can replace the trigger components. I also have to reduce sides of the magwell to fit in the box and get busy with the file to shave off a couple of ounces to make CDP. Either that, or as Bill suggested, run it in ESP and just download my ammo from 170 to 130-135. I might give that a go and see what it's like. If it works out, I guess I could run L10 minor with the same setup.

For the past few years I've been a lazy slob, so I've been working up my training in small steps. I'm now at a point where I'm doing 30 mins of dry fire, 30 mins on the exercise bike and 30 mins weights 5 nights a week, Sunday through Thursday. I rest Friday night, since I typically prep for a match the next day, and Saturday night, since I usually have to do chores around the house, yardwork etc. on Sunday. The Steve Anderson book is still on the shelf, but I think that after another month I'll be ready to start setting up his drills and dry fire routines and work harder at the dry fire. For now I've just been working on the basic techniques. I know that if I try to push the speed without even having the basics, I'll either pick up bad habits or I'll get frustrated.

Interesting read, thanks for posting. I'm currently on my own diet which I've crafted from personal experience. What works for me, is if I cut back on carbs (bread, rice, pasta, etc), candy and sugary foods and dairy products (mainly cheese). By doing this I've lost about 22lbs so far and gone from a 38 to a 34 waist. All I did was read a couple of nutritional books and figured it out for myself. I don't believe in a completely carb free diet, I think you still need some carbs, just not as much as we're usually accustomed to eating.

Shot the USPSA match at Circleville yesterday. It was beautiful weather and I had a great time. I had spent the previous weeknights working on the house and rebuilding my PC (HD failure) so I could only manage 1 dry fire session. I felt slow and wobbly but I was trying hard to ignore that and concentrate on the front sight. It was the first time that I'd shot a texas star and while I heard a lot of negative comments from other shooters like "Oh I hate those". I approached it with a level of excitement, it was a new set of targets for me to shoot, I like that. I look forward to new challenges.

It worked, dremel wins again

Well I got it done with a dremel and a ball end engraving bit. After racking the slide and ejecting dummies for 20 mins, I got it to 100% reliability in locking the slide back. I think it'll stay put under recoil, I guess tomorrow's match at Circleville will prove it. For future reference, here's the brownells 1911 auto detent spotting drill. http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/pro...000&s=19210 Description from their site: "Ingenious, combination step drill and ball end mill cuts new detents quickly and precisely using only finger pressure. Aligns through the plunger tube. Gives both detents a solid on/off click and your 1911 the sound and feel of quality."

Corey: When I played with the frame (sans slide) I was stripping rounds from the inserted mag and slapping the grip. I saw that the slide stop was indeed moving up without anything touching it. I don't have a drill press, but I do have a vice and a dremel, I'll see how it works out tonight. I'm going to drill some dents on some scrap steel to check depth before I attack the slide stop. Last thing I need is to drill it too deep and have the plunger lock in there so hard that the mag spring can't overcome it.

Ok thanks, I'll give it a go tonight.

Bill, did you use a punch or a file? I have a small triangular file, I was thinking about filing a v shaped slot...

joe4d/duane I took the slide off, inserted a mag with dummies and looked closely at what was going on. The rounds are not touching the slidestop, so that's ok. But there's no dimple in the slide stop so I think it's riding up under recoil and locking the slide back. Thanks for the pointers, I really appreciate it.

I find it difficult to learn from hearing or reading something, I need to see it and copy it. When I took a class with Scott Warren, he would shoot every now and then to demonstrate a technique. Each time I would watch his every move. How he prepared, his body position, his head position, how he moved his arms, what he did once he finished the string etc. Being told how to do a technique can only usually describe just a few elements of the overall sequence of minute movements needed to complete the task. The instructor only has so much time to describe a technique and probably won't go into all the minute details of movements and timings. So by watching, you can pick up on all of the unsaid things. Being fairly new to the sport, I want to be wowed. I want to see a champion running at 100%, so I know what that looks like. You just can't get that from hearing or reading something. Even videos/dvds are only so good, I have to see/experience it.

Thanks Joe I'll try that out tonight.

Thanks for the clarification guys, it was definitely a gun malfunction. I really need to get my mags figured out because it's getting annoying. I never know how many I can put through the pipe before it locks back, which really messes with my head. On the bright side, it keeps me on my toes and lets me adapt to the situation. Thx Bill

I use the 511 with the internal belt loop cut out, so it doesn't have a chance to get caught on the grip.

My para sometimes locks the slide back with a round still left in the mag. This happened during a match yesterday, so I just ejected the mag, popped in a fresh one and continued. When the stage was done, someone pointed out the round left in the mag and wanted the SO to issue a procedural. I explained that the gun was at slidelock, which the SO accepted, since another shooter verified. Should I have gotten the procedural?

Shot an IDPA match at big darby today and I felt like I was on fire. I was moving fast, getting onto the targets efficiently and reloads were smooth. I'm interested to see how my scores compare to the rest of the guys today. We also had a great turnout of new shooters and it was great watching and helping them. They did really well and I hope to see them again next month. Update: Results are in, I won CDP and came 3rd overall.

That is something like what I was thinking! Boxes just seem tedious when reloading between stages etc. Like Chris K said sometimes there are just too many in the mix to use boxes. The nice thing about the ammo boxes are that you can pop all the rounds in there, run your finger over the top and check for high primers. After that I used to draw across the primers and headstamps with a sharpie to mark my brass. Eventually I ran out of the nice 100rnd boxes, so I just started using a folgers can I happened to have lying around. I have more confidence in my reloading, so I check the first few completed rounds for high primers, then crank out a few hundred, spot checking every 100 or so rounds, when I have to refill the primer tube. Now when I reload, I fill up the blue bin on the 650, dump them into the folgers can, then prop the can up to the ramp and continue filling straight into the can. There aren't many people shooting 45 ACP in USPSA so marking brass is not such a big deal, as they're usually easy to spot. I have a 308 surplus ammo can, which weights 65lbs when full, but is just a bit too heavy to haul around. It's also very noisy which is a problem when I'm getting up early and preparing for matches.

Folgers plastic coffee can

Thanks chirpy, I'll look into the dawson followers.

I just put some in my mags and did some DF practice tonight. Since this weekend is going to be my first IDPA match this year, I thought I'd better do some slidelock reloads. Then I realized that the arredondo followers are shaped so that they do not lock the slide back. I guess I'm going to have to resort to the stock followers, unless there's something I can do?

rangetrace, nice setup! No I haven't been talking to your wife, but since my wife picked the color, perhaps it's a universal women's gym color...

I finally managed to get the basement painted and get the smith machine set up. It's lived in storage for the past 2 years as my waistline can attest. What gym equipment do you have at home?

Did some live fire at New Albany, about 250 rounds, or whatever was left in my folgers ammo can. I concentrated on accuracy and trigger control so most of it was slow fire. I did do some controlled pairs and strong/support hand only strings, because I always do. I finished off using a 1/2 size silhouette with the red center at 50ft and shot the red out of it offhand. I did this to force myself to get a good sight picture and watch the front sight as I broke the shot. I don't consider myself a good shot, but my goodness, there were people shooting at those goofy zombie targets at maybe 15 or 20 feet and missing. I know I've improved, but I don't think I started off that bad. Last night I put in a spacer plate to convert the p14 to a series 70 and it lightened the trigger pull a little. Perhaps at some point later this year I may consider dropping in a C&S ultralight trigger group.

I still have a long way to go (just qualified C in L10), but I think comparison is natural and healthy for someone at my level. I like to use it as a tool to help me understand how much more work I have to do and where I should set my goals. When I compare my times against established shooters, and then beat them, I get a kick, that's the reward for me. Comparison is the competitive spirit defined. Comparing my own training times against previous stats is just one data point and only helps me understand how much I've improved in a given time period. But since I compete against other people, then I have to compare myself with others to know where I am in the field. Ideally I want to improve at a greater rate than everyone else I'm competing against. That's the only way I'm going to win. Perhaps at some point, I may change my opinion as my needs and goals change, but for now I like to compare.

I think I would take it as a compliment because it means that I had thought of doing something better/faster than them.