jmac2112

OP here. They ended up adding a fifth barrel in the middle position, which of course made stage planning very straightforward. There was another stage that was supposed to have a swinger and a clamshell both activated by the same popper, but they deleted the swinger., and there were some minor changes on other stages as well. The takeaway for me is to use the matchbook to identify skills I need to work on, and not as a basis for strategizing before the match. This whole experience, including the discussion in this thread, has been very educational, so thank you all again! John

I think they should have worded it to say "all mags and reloads must come directly from barrel" if that's what they meant. I'll ask someone before the match, but at this point I'm planning to put out a bunch of mags and not stow any even if it is permitted.

CZ Shadow 2 with five stock mags, plus two mags for a CZ 75B. Mags for the 75B have a thinner base plate, so no problems with going oversize there. I will definitely be buying more mags in the near future, though!

Southpaw (and Memphis): I think I've got it now. Part of my problem is that I've been limiting myself by only considering the five mags I have that are specifically for my gun, but I also have a couple more that are compatible with it (I just don't like them as much). That brings my total to seven, so I can put two each on the first three barrels and one on the last barrel. That should be enough to get the job done. I'm very glad I asked my initial question, since all of this has forced me to realize things I might not have figured out until it was too late. Thanks again to all!

Joe4d: Good point. I have emailed the MD. Memphis Mechanic: Since there are five shooting positions and only four barrels, I think I will still have to wait until I get to the fourth and fifth positions before I can load for those positions. Correct me if I've missed something.

Doh! Now I see that it says all reloads must come from barrels (not just all magazines). I need to read more carefully.... Thanks, John

I hope this is the right forum for this, and I hope the picture I am adding is visible to everyone. I am relatively new to USPSA, and I'm not sure how to work this stage (coming up on Sunday at the VA state match). I'm shooting Production, and this kind of stage seems designed to mess with us locap guys. At first glance it looks like I would want to start with one mag on each barrel, as in the picture. However, there are five shooting positions, and only four barrel that I'm allowed to put mags on, so I'm going to have to stow at least one mag early on IF I want a fresh mag for each shooting position (which would be ideal). IF I didn't need a single makeup shot, I could get all the way through the central position on two mags, but I'm not counting on that, especially with steel involved. I could put two mags on the first barrel, load the gun with one and stow the other, and go from there. I've had this crazy idea of putting all my mags on the first barrel, holstering my gun at the start signal, stowing four mags right away, then loading the gun and proceeding from there. What do you think? The second scenario would definitely work, but is it worth spending the time up front in order to make the rest of the stage easier/faster? Thanks! John

OP here. Thanks to everyone for chiming in! Special thanks to RadarTech for pointing out 8.3.1, which would have answered my question if I had been patient enough to dig for it. As for why the guy took the mags off his belt, I think it was just an excess of caution. And I think the RO would probably have pointed out the problem if he had noticed. He was standing to the right of the shooter, and the mag pouches were on the shooters left, so it's entirely possible that he just didn't see. Going to the VA state match on Sunday. Now I know to definitely keep my mouth shut if such a thing happens there!

Essentially this rule says that you can't provide any assistance to a shooter "during a course of fire." Here's a situation that I experienced at a recent match: Another competitor at a local match was having trouble with his gun. He removed all the mags from his belt, went to the safe table to sort things out, then came back. At the command "Load and make ready," he pulls a mag out of his pocket (probably had it on him the whole time) and loads the gun. At that point I noticed that he had forgotten to put his mags back in their pouches. I didn't know whether I was allowed to say anything, so I just bit my tongue and watched the train wreck unfold. He was shooting Production, so he didn't get very far.... So my question is, what constitutes the beginning of a "course of fire"? Could I have said something at that point? I'm a relative newbie, so please be patient with me if the answer is somehow obvious. Thanks, John

jeremy kemlo: I have thought about that option, but have been unsure how much it would cost and whether my gun would still be Production legal. If you don't mind my asking, how much did you pay for the work, where did you have it done, and is your gun still legal for Production? Thanks! John

Thanks, nick779! The weight of the Holosun has made me think twice about it, but I really don't know if the .7 oz. difference between that and the DPP would make a noticeable difference. I suppose the weight difference has a lot to do with the solar panel.

Anyone tried the Holosun 507c? Sounds like it could be a good option.

OK, thanks for the feedback! A couple of follow up questions: GregJ, what were the issues you had with your DPPs? nick779, what is it you like about pairing the CGW striker with the HBI trigger?

Hello, all! I've been shooting a Shadow 2 in Production for about a year now, and I'm thinking about trying out Carry Optics next year (don't want to change horses in midstream). After hauling up 46 oz. for so long, I'll probably launch the P-10 F into orbit the first time I draw it! Anyway, I don't actually own a P-10 F yet, but I probably will soon. The other main contender is the Sig P320 X5. I've handled both, and I've even shot the Sig, but I keep gravitating toward the CZ. I love the aggressive grip texture, and from dryfiring the two pistols side by side, I think I prefer the CZ's trigger. My main question is, Vortex Venom or Leupold DPP? The DPP seems to be a little more popular with the competition crowd, but the Vortex is a LOT more popular with my wallet. Does anyone have experience with both? Is the DPP really worth the extra $180? I believe that the Vortex has a slightly smaller window, and I've heard that the dot can appear washed out in certain very sunny conditions. On the other hand, the DPP seems to have the downside of weighing more and sitting higher, which seems like it could be detrimental to getting back on target quickly. Trigger: CGW vs. HBI vs. ???? I think the trigger feels pretty good right out of the box (for a polymer gun), but it might be a little heavy for competition. I really like CGW products, but they don't list any specs on their website as far as what trigger weight to expect. Mags: I've never shot a USPSA stage that was more than about 35 rounds, so 19 round mags seem sufficient. Any reason I would want +2 basepads? I've heard they exist, but I don't think I've seen any yet. I think that's enough for now. Thanks in advance for your comments! John

OP here again. Finally got a chance to shoot the gun with the Hiperfire Reflex. I have no other rifle triggers to compare it to, but I have zero complaints. No perceptible creep, at least while actually shooting, and a good reset. The 3.5 lb. springs are light enough for what I'm doing with the gun. I'm sure there are better triggers out there, but this one does everything I need!

OP here. I haven't had a chance to shoot the gun since completing the build a couple weeks ago, but I like what I'm feeling in dry fire. Very slight creep (you really have to feel for it), short, positive reset. I've got the 3.5 lb. springs in it right now, and that feels plenty light for me. blueorison: The only reason the AR Gold was a possibility is that Cabela's had them on sale. I couln't find a Cabela's within driving distance that had one in stock, so I went with the Hiperfire.

When I search I come up with apps named PractiScore Competitor ($9.99), PractiScore (free), and Pract - Competition Management App (free). Something tells me the one you're referring to is probably the first one. Can you elaborate? Thanks, John

Hmmm.... I did not inspect the bullet holes extremely closely, but they all looked the same size to me. I think the RO just scored the two best shots. It certainly wan't obvious which of the NS holes was mine, so it sounds like he should have ordered a reshoot according to the rules. I would have aimed higher the second time if he had! Thanks, John

As to the issue of a reshoot, the RO was paying attention and knew that I had only shot twice on that target. It stands to reason that only two of the three holes could be mine. Was the RO within his rights to assume that the targets had been pasted correctly, and to further assume that my two shots were the A and the NS that broke the edge? As I ask the question, I can see that there is a lot of assuming going on here. For all he knew, I could have shot an A and a mike, and the two NS could have been due to a lack of pasting, or pasters falling off. Or I could have shot two mikes, etc. Well, it's too late now, but I can apply this knowledge in the future. For now, I'm just trying not to beat myself up for shooting so close to the NS in the first place! John

DKorn: I think our posts crossed in cyberspace. I wasn't ignoring your post, you just anticipated my question! Thanks, John

OP here. RJH and amokscience appear to have summed up the situation nicely. If I do the math with 30 points for the As minus 10 points for the NS, then divide by my time, I get the hit factor as reported on Practiscore. Just for learning purposes.... If I had actually shot 5A and 1NS, I would be assessed 1M and 1NS, right? Sorry if that seems really obvious, but sometimes the rules surprise me. Thanks! John

I shot a USPSA match yesterday which included Classifier 18-04, "Didn't You Send the Mailman" (http://www.amshooters.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/18-04.pdf). Two open targets on either side, one target in the middle with the lower half of the A zone covered by a NS. I've got one straightforward question, and one question that might be more complicated. Here's the straightforward question: If a shooter shoots two alphas on each target plus one NS, that's a total of seven shots. Is that one procedural for the extra shot, while the NS simply counts as a NS? I'm new to this, but that's how I read rule 9.4.5. OK, here's where things get more complicated, at least to my mind. The scenario above is NOT what happened yesterday, although Practiscore seems to indicate that it did. THIS is what actually happened: I fired two shots on each target for a total of six shots. When we inspected the targets, the one in the middle showed one A and two NS, all in a pretty tight group. The RO knew that I had only fired two shots on that target, so he determined that one NS was due to a paster getting blown off. I expected when I went on Practiscore that this would show up as five As, one NS and/or a mike (I don't know if you get penalized twice in this situation), but instead it shows up as six As and one NS. Can someone please explain to me whether this is a mistake in scoring, or maybe I just don't know how the scoring works? How should it have been scored? On a related note, the Practiscore page I'm looking at doesn't have a column for procedurals. I thought maybe I needed to scroll horizontally to see more columns, but the "Horizontal Scroll" function doesn't do anything. I know there was one shooter who got a procedural on that stage, but it doesn't show up on Practiscore. Any ideas? Thanks in advance, John

12glocks: Thanks for the info! I will definitely check out those videos no matter what barrel I end up with. And thanks to everyone else for the input!

Thanks, bigedp51, for the specs! I'm no expert on these things, but two things jump out at me immediately: 1) the freebore length for the Wylde is significantly longer than it is for the 5.56 NATO, which is the opposite of what I was thinking; and 2) Clymer has a VERY different idea of what a 5.56 NATO chamber should be compared to JGS and PTG. Beyond that, I can see that there are many variables that I don't yet understand. 12glocks: I will definitely check out the Odin and Criterion barrels. I've looked at Ballistic Advantage before, but I'll have another look at them as well. Does your wife's Ultralyte barrel continue to deliver sub-MOA accuracy after the first few shots? Most reviews I read about the light profile barrels say something like "Things were going great for the first 4 or 5 shots, and then the group really started to open up." Anyone else? Thanks! John

I ended up going with the Hiperfire Reflex. I did check on the AR Gold at the local Cabelas, but they were out. I thought I was getting a really good deal on the Hiperfire until I saw what jon49erfan just posted! I'll have to look into Dvor for the future. In any case, thanks again to everyone who gave me advice!