MQW

Used guns can be a good buy also, all of my current 2011'a started out as used guns and I had them rebuilt over time; that saved me a lot of wait time and money, just make sure you get a good base gun to start with.

I believe you have read right, I saw that ad a while back.

Bedell Custom is also a great operation, but it you want it fast, go thru Velocity Shooters and Tony Pignato, Tony P. can probably get it done for you in a reasonable amount of time.

If you time it right and you know someone that has an in, with say Millennium Custom, Derek can get a new gun done in 8-12 weeks max. sometimes sooner if you provide parts; might try Matt Burkett's new custom gun operation, Predator Tactical, I think he can get guns out fairly quickly; Tell him Mark Quinn told you to call, we have known each other for a long time and that might get you some consideration.

There are some excellent gun smiths that do awesome custom work on Hi-Powers.

$300-$400.00, depending on how many mags he is throwing in with the gun; I actually started shooting a Hi-Power in '83 in IPSC in Minor, but quit shooting due to deployment schedules and just never got back into the game until I actually got into the industry side in 2000. Hi-Powers are one of the great all time guns available, it is the the most copied handgun in the world today.

I have been shooting Limited Div. now since I trained with Taran Butler back in 'late 05 after I got back from my 2nd tour of active duty; I started shooting USPSA in 2000 in the new production div.; I have been shooting an STI-based Custom gun by Millenium Custom shop in Florida; the Accu-Trac, similar to the sight-tracker by SV; great gun but this past April, I had elbow surgery due to a rock climbing injury I sustained back in '99 and found that I had a hard time controlling the recoil and "muscling" the gun when shooting thru fast, close sections of stages; I tried a friend's ALL-Steel SV Sight Tracker and was amazed at how different it felt and handled; his gun had the CZ style grip kit so it fit my hand almost perfectly and it handled like night & day compared to my STI with the Plastic Grip Kit; I was able to shot it faster & more accurately than the STI, due to the natural balance the All-Steel SV gun had; I re-shot the last stage of this year's Limited Nationals with the SV gun and shot it a full 2 seconds faster, down 2 points total; I had two mikes the first time I shot that stage and it was all I could do to keep the sights on target during the weak-hand portion of the stage, no so with the SV, it transitioned so much faster & cleaner and laid in right on target while shooting weak-hand; that sold me immediately, but I have since shot this SV gun many times and it just performs so much better than anything I have ever shot in Limited Div.; this is because I can shoot my sights, i.e. "let them be by speedometer" and really not have to worry about changing how I grip the gun vs. the STI, which I had to consciously change grip from hard to lighter & back, depending on the speed I was shooting a particular part of a stage at. I will be converting to the SV Sight Tracker for all of my Limited guns over the next year. I would highly recommend this platform to anyone that doesn't mind spending some serious money on an excellent quality competition gun.

Check out this article on "Mental Training"; solid mental conditioning is THE key to successful competitive shooting; this is the one thing that isn't really paid the attn it deserves. here is a good link to an article on the subject: http://www.mind-fitness-training.org/JFQ_Mind_Fitness.pdf

Might suggest you check out the Gargoyles website, just google it and go to it; they developed some of the best glasses on the market in the 80's and are back in the game real strong; they have a Shooting Team now and are sponsoring numerous major matches; check out these models: Tractions, Strikers, Intervals and their Aviator style, don't remember the name of the aviator style off the top of my head. their new Ballistic Defense Lenses are unbeatable in quality and pricing.

Having spent the last 32 years of my life in the US military and 10 of that in the SOF community, I Believe I have a unique understanding of what stress is; I would highly recommend googling anything written by Dave Grossman, LTC (ret); he has authored the books "On Killing and On Combat", he has also developed a proven style of "Stress or Combat breathing" that I know it works, because I have used it on more than one occasion; there is even an IPhone app now available on it, this is the first thing I would recommend; the other is "Stress Inoculation" or as Saul Kirsch puts it in his book on mental conditioning, "training under match stress", adding the buzzer during practice, competing against and training with shooters at a higher level than yourself and also training with people that will help bring you up, not bring you down, if you know what I mean; some people just like to " bust on" other shooters and are just plain mean spirited, all the time; stay well away from these types, you will learn nothing from them other than how not to succeed; There is a group in the DC area that is actually teaching the "how" of mental training, which is not really being done much at all; there is a lot of the "whys" but hardly any "Hows", here is a link to that group:http://www.mind-fitn....org/index.html

"Look at Nothing, see everything", is good mindset to have but getting there is not easy; this is hardest part of training and there are not many organizations actually teaching you the "how"; I have been working with the group listed at this link, they are dong a study with the US military and I have spoke with and I am corresponding the individual running it; this is exactly what we need as shooters, it falls in line with what the Olympic Trainers and competitive shooters have been talking about for years; check out this link: http://www.mind-fitness-training.org/index.html

Phil, Tim & Todd Kunz and I all agree that stage 2 is our 1st pick and Stage 4 is our 2nd pick. Thanx, Mark Quinn

I would try Taran Butler, he is one of the best guys I ever worked with. He is in the LA area and very easy to work with.