Joe4d

well bullet weight can make a Huge difference if you buy cast 180's that actually only weigh 174 grs and then go to the chronograph with loads you have tested but didnt weigh the bullets. Happened to me at a Hawaii state match, luckily my fudge factor enabled me to come in at 165.0. But not really the bullets you can get in mass quantities are close enough, the ones I have checked are right on. Any change of components in reloading and you should back off and recheck your loads.

half a dozen of one six of the other,,, alot of people get way to involved with extremely minor differences in powder. Yes some are cleaner, some recoil a little less, some work better with moly coated or cast, etc etc,,, load to power factor with the bullets you have, buy some TG and load that, the difference in your score wont amount to even a small bump of beans.

IPSC Open division has a minimum bullet weight of 120, hence the 121 weights, I also think if you look the 121 gr bullets come from filling the hollow portion of a 115 gr hollow point. the 124/125 gr 9mm bullets are just the popular standard that duplicate the military ball ammo weight. Lots of people are gonna look for that weight.

You asked for any and all insight,,,, I have chased rainbows in the past pouring money into a non competitive gun. So it's not like I am a genius. But honestly money spent on up grades, mag pads trigger jobs etc are realy going down the drain. If you get into this sport you will eventually want to move to a more competitive platform. There is a reason a handful of guns dominate the shooting sports over and over. Keep it the way it is and run it for a while and just enjoy shooting. Play with a couple other platforms to which of the winning guns suits you best. Then spend your upgrade money on one of those.

I'd have to be convinced there was a serious problem before I would support any change, Id never really thought about it before though.

I found the 180 gr PD's to be slow, they required quite a bit more powder than Hornady HAPS or Magtech RN's and hollow points. OAL didnt seem to make much difference.

3 of 5 stages ? Talk about over kill, I'd say once or twice in a years worth of matches is an interesting diversion. But only if it is on extremely easy shots. Blind stages never are for everyone and should not be used. You'd be hard pressed to run a match where, no match staff, no match setup help, no scorers or pasters are allowed to shoot the match. and then guard the stage after construction.

Very nice, and you were very good with both guns, neither gun swept the other hand or arm.

A thought was presented in another thread I thought was worth exploring and seeing how others felt. Some Areas have a much larger membership than others, Currently our Directors are elected based on geographical lines like the Senate, a thought that maybe this was leading to a small group being over represented and a large group under represented on the BOD. My initial reaction is if it aint broke dont fix it, rearranging the lines every year or so will just create confusion. I also dont see how this will help grow or make the sport better so maybe our energies can be spent elsewhere. Based on voting turnout about 70 percent of the members are only involved at the local level and it doesnt really matter to them one way or another. Another thought would be to allow people to pick the Area when they join or renew with USPSA, I know of one club in Area 7 that it would surprise me if even a single shooter lives in Area 7, It is right across the border from a large metro area in area 8, I have heard of similar situations in Western PA, Not really taking sides just wondering what others think.

I never said there should be 50 area directors, You stated voters wouldnt tolerate unequal representation, I stated they would and do under the Senate system which is a representation based on geographic lines, Nothing wrong with the way it is now, The Areas have different issues with laws, land masses, population densities, cultures etc etc, In order to go to a population based Areas we would need to redraw the lines constantly, doing nothing positive and only creating confusion. A major change like that should only be undertaken if it is somehow going to make the sport better or bigger, Not sure if this was ever presented to the BOD, but I would express to my area director not to mess with the Area borders. This is getting off topic from the original thread, I have some thoughts I'd like to explore along this topic and will start a new thread.

Doing "like" matches ends up alienating people and causing confusion it's also real easy to give the impression rules are being made up as you go along. Pick a sport and follow the rules, USPSA seems hell bent on getting steel challenge going. Contact the USPSA director for your area and let him know you have the range and the will and want to get a steel challenge match up and running, you might open up alot of help and discounts for your club.

With the cast Unique would probably be ok, For non compensated loads generally something faster burning will generate less recoil, I used 135 gr lead over WST in 9mm quite a bit with no issues that I recall. Not much data out there so you will definitely need a chronograph. I am not sure of the twist but your Beretta just may not stabilize 147 gr bullets unless you get close to max charge, which is kinda defeating the purpose, I had a Browning HP and a Walther that keyholed 147's till I got up to around 1000 fps.

I used the extra stand/lean/ sit seat from my bass boat so kinda do all three.

Shibby hit the scale variance nail on the head.

Maybe we elected a "New" area director because we only have 1560 members and limited places to shoot. Not saying Alan didnt work at it each and every day, but sometimes new ideas come with new people You also have to look at Area 8 being partially behind the iron curtain compared to Area 6 being all free states, just alot more handgun shooters. I can only imagine Area 7 which is completely behind the iron curtain is even lower. The US does tolerate such a system. Its called the Senate, each area (state ) has the same representation so one geographic area doesnt take over.

what was area 8's numbers ?

The barrels are short (sub 5") and they have DA first trigger pull. Horrible triggers, little to no support, refusal of HK to send anyone but a HK dealer even a simple part.

Bladetech, comptac, lots of leather choices, Get a decent belt and belt holster, Paddles suck, sooner or later your gonna draw and come out with the gun and holster still on the gun.

I recently canceled a couple mag pouch order when they added $12 shipping, to items that can fit in the $4.95 flat rate box. Which the post office provides for free so there isnt any box costs either. One other thing you can do that I did is email them and make sure you let them know why you canceled your order.

Trijicon lists mounts that go on Doctor, and some other "reddot" mounts but they both look the same.

I think auto part stores are the worst for this

How about both knees down then lean left and right at the waste.

You can save some bucks by ordering just the tubes from Brownell's. Most likely you are gonna change the springs,followers and basepads anyway.

you need a different powder, faster is better, Tight group comes to mind, could probably find loads for WST or Clays. How low you can go is gonna depend on what works in your gun and what kinda sport you are playing, most have minimum some have maximum power factor requirements.

I really liked HAP's, more competition and more bullet choices on the market is a good thing, although I am not much of a fan of zero's business practices and will continue to patronize the handful of companies that concentrate on sport shooting.