Eric802

I shoot a 92FS, basically because it's what I had when I decided to try USPSA. The two issues I have with it are the sights and the safety. The safety is the easier fix - I can put a G kit in it and turn the safety into a decocker, which would prevent the (rare) issues I've had with either forgetting to flip the safety off after holstering at "make ready" or accidentally putting it on if I run the gun dry and have to reload during a stage (my loads don't always lock the slide back). The sights are tougher, since the front sight isn't dovetailed. I'm contemplating getting a Vertec slide or an M9A3 slide to replace the one I have now. I think the front sight is too thick and short to allow precise aiming on distant or smaller targets. I'd like to be able to replace the front with a thinner sight with a fiber optic and the rear with an adjustable target sight (I could do that now but if I end up getting a new slide I'd rather only do the work once). So, if I was getting into it now and looking for a 92 variant, I'd get one with a dovetailed front sight and also has (or can accept) the decocker.

This. Whatever justification or rationale there may have been for it during the Clinton mag-ban era has long passed.

If you're going to change stuff up, leave CO as it is and bump up the mag limit to 15 in Production. You'd have CO and Prod for minor shooters, and Limited and Open for major. An optic and iron option for each with no artificially reduced mag limits. SS is still there if you like reloading, Revo if you're a real masochist, and PCC if you want to shoot a rifle in a pistol match.

Apparently our sport is now golf. Spectators must be quiet after "Make ready". Maybe the RO's should be given those "Quiet Please" paddles they can hold up.

I snagged 1k from Midway yesterday, shipped immediately. Brownell's has also had SPP off and on, but with higher hazmat shipping than Midway.

You're looking at the classifiers completely wrong. Just think of them as stages; you're right, at this point if you get a classification it's going to be D. So it goes. But you clearly need practice and experience, and shooting classifiers, like any other stage, will give you that. Classifiers are designed to be a test of certain skills, so shooting them might at least help you figure out what you need to work on. However, if you don't at least have some fundamentals, it's going to be a waste of time and ammo. You can shoot stages all day long but if your grip sucks and you don't know it, you will never improve. That's where paying for training can come in. If you're really "not even comfortable" with your gun yet, you shouldn't even be shooting matches. You should be at the range getting comfortable with it. You should also be scouring YouTube for videos from people like Bob Vogel, Max Michel, Ben Stoeger, and other shooters/instructors. There is a ton of information out there for the taking on everything from the proper grip, movement, reloads, stage planning, etc. Watch and try to learn, get comfortable with your pistol and at least get a decent grip, and then you might not feel like you're wasting your time so much. And lower your expectations. You're going to suck for a while.

There's the "start with inexpensive stuff in case you end up not enjoying it" theory, and the "buy once cry once" theory. I was on a limited budget when I started (still am) and went with a cheap belt/mag holder set from a company called Krydex on Amazon - it was less than $60 for the belts (inner and outer) and 4 mag carriers. I've since added a 5th one. I think it's a Black Scorpion knock-off. It is definitely not the best quality - the belt is not nearly as stiff as the name-brand belts, but it holds my holster just fine and is certainly not holding me back at all. I'm not necessarily recommending that route, but it's viable. The first couple matches I shot were actually with a 511 concealed carry belt and USGI surplus mag pouches, so the set-up from Amazon was a significant improvement.

I'm a refugee from Illinois...welcome!

It's not a necessity, for sure, but IMO it's a good idea for a competition gun. I shoot a 92fs and I've had stages where I left the safety on after holstering at make ready, which makes that first shot a little awkward. I've also had a couple occasions where I've run the gun dry and accidentally put the safety on when I racked the slide after reload. The G conversion is one of those things on my to-do list.

It's not for the weak.

Well that didn't last long.

That seems to be pretty much what it boils down to, yeah. And these blanket comments about "legal liability" are baseless. There are all kinds of issues that go into it, like assumption of risk, duty, foreseeability, etc. Putting a note in the matchbook or a sign at the entrance to the bay saying "Bay X is designated for live fire function testing; no supervision is provided, use at your own risk" would probably mitigate a lot of potential liability. As has been noted, this has apparently been going on pretty regularly at various level II and III matches, so it's not like we're getting in to cutting edge legal issues here.

They appear to be on Magnum's website right now...https://magnumshooterssupply.com/OKO-Red-Dot-Reflex-Sights_c18.htm I have one that's probably close to 20 years old that I dug out recently to put on a 9mm PCC build; fired right up and works great.

"Supersonic blast" is, well, something I haven't heard of in 40+ years of shooting. And I can't imagine how it would have any effect on perceived recoil. Unless you're downrange or using a suppressor, any sonic crack is (to me) audibly indistinguishable from the sound of the primer/powder going off.

I was wondering what happened on that classifier...