Damn_Bastard

So, is this a falsehood, or is it a freak occurance of your happening to ask the 3 dumbest pistolsmiths, the 2 dumbest ROs, a mental patient visiting the USPSA headquarters, and a burglar at the Springfield Armory? I think I know which side of the fence I'm coming down on. A word of advice, kid: If you find yourself in a hole, quit digging.

Wellll.... come on, just because it was first, doesn't mean it has no flaws. I agree that the 1911 pioneered what is probably the perfet broad design characteristics (reciprocating slide, tilting barrel, magazine in the grip, etc.) Just because a genius did an incredible job doesn't mean some other genius didn't improve upon it. And that 2nd genius' improvements does not in any way disparage the achievements of the first genius. The 1911 is great, but it ain't perfect. Nothing is perfect. Especially not Glock, my personal choice in firearm. In 9mm, no less. Hate me now? Oops, sorry. Flex, I didn't read your post until I wrote my reply, above. Grip safety on an XD: Most guns that don't fit you, you can't shoot well. If a gun with a grip safety doesn't fit you, it doesn't shoot *at all*. Flog it, and buy a Glock or M&P.

Well, the Browning high power is carreid cocked and locked, and has no grip safety. The Smith and Wesson M&P is a more or less shameless rip off of the XD, and has no grip safety. The striker is fully cocked in both pistols, one has a grip safety, the other does not. Ergonomically, the grip safety is just... a silly idea. I will also point out that JMB didn't feel it was necessary, but had it forced on him. It's a button you have to push with the hollow of your hand. If you have a nice, high grip, and are not a very thick person, you can completly fail to activate it. I do. Therefore, I'll never be one for the 1911s. To call it a "flame" when someone presents a reasonable criticism of an inanimate object (for pete's sake!) is awfully oversensitive. Just because one person likes it doesn't mean another has to. Just because it works for one person doesn't mean it will work for another.

Grip safeties are why I shoot neither XDs nor 1911s. A completely silly notion for a safety device. "I know, let's put a bump where people have hollows, and make them have to push the bump with the hollow!" I love that sensation of hauling on the trigger, then wiggling the palm of your hand until the gun fires. Sexy!

The Tanfoglio Stock Custom: The reason it was disapproved for PD is this: At the General Assembly, Vince put pictures of various guns on the overhead, and they held an acclaimation vote for each one, based upon a single picture. An acclamation vote is lots of people yelling "Yeah!" or "No!". So, when the Stock Custom came up, lots of the type of people that would waste their time going to a general assembly yelled "No!". All the silly emails and footwork by IPSC since then is just an attempt at justification. The Stock Custom should be production legal, but it's no kind of advantage. My Tanfoglio Stock came out of the box with a 13 lb double action, and an 11 pound single action. WTF. And no gizmos to fix it, as are available for CZ. Suffice to say, I still shoot the Glock. Given the leeway CZ has gotten over the years, if martians show up and submit heat rays for inclusion in PD, they should be approved, just for the sake of fairness.

Hi Gang. Here's one for you: Just got a Tanfoglio stock, after several months of waiting, and it has two issues, right out of the box: 1) Slide to barrel fit: On the Tanfoglio website, it says: "The barrel, with polygonal rifling, has a coned external profile for a better fitting between the barrel and the slide that gives the pistol a remarkable accuracy." On first blush, this appears to be so much marketing hogwash. I have never seen such a sloppy slide to barrel fit. The muzzle can be moved with respect to the slide by about 30 thou. (3/4 of a millimeter). This is more than any gun, of any make, that I have ever seen. The "coned barrel" can even be inserted into the muzzel end of the slide backwards, putting paid to this "coned for a better fitting" nonsense. If the cone had S.F.A to do with the fit, it would be a one way thing. 2) Extremely thin material in a VERY high stress area. The part of the slide that surrounds the recoil spring, and impacts the frame to halt the slide's rearward motion is hanging by a thread. This extremely thin material is in the same location as a sharp inside corner, creating a HUGE stress concentration. And lest we forget, this gun is machined from castings. I have not shot the gun, and truth be told, I may not. The thinnness of that material scares the bejesus out of me. A casting cannot take that kind of pounding in the presence of that kind of a stress concentration. It's failure will send the slide into my eye, at about a thousand miles per hour. I think I'll be invoking the "defects in manufacture" part of my warranty, unless anyone on here has something really convincing to suggest. Take care, guys.

Hey gang. I'm toying with the idea of economizing a bit, and starting to use lead for a certain amount of my practise ammo. 'Round here, if you luck out, you can get plated bullets for something less than twice as much as lead, and the bullet is by a chunk the most expensive part. Hell, the primer and the brass cost about the same. Any thoughts? Experiences? Ignorant invective? Cheers, Dan

I've done the dime game, again and again, with perfect results, every time. My dry fire sqeezes are fine. It's only when I'm hot that it happens, which lends creedence to the flinch idea. Not a fear of recoil flinch, but some kind of undesireable reaction. Bullets downrange is pretty much the only cure, huh?

I like to sacrifice a chicken, and smear some of the blood around under my hairline, and into my armpits. I always make sure to carry 3 quarters in my right hand pocket, all from no later than 1974... Guys.... The slide lock stops the barrel going forward, where it has long been in planar contact with the locking block, holding it up, hard against the inside top of the slide. The accuracy of the fit is between the locking block and the barrel, the front of the ejection port cut and the corresponding spot on the barrel, and the breechface cut and that lug above the chamber. "straight and true"?? who cares? It can pivot, it's spring retained, and it's sitting in a plastic channel! There is an upper limit to the dimensional tolerances of an injection molding and they are far looser than can create the effects you're describing. All it could (it doesn't, but if it could) affect is the front/rear positional repeatability of the fit, which would create angular changes proportional to the surface finish irregularity of the barrel, locking block and inside top of the slide (which are ncie and smooth, especially on a broken in gun). And since the running fit type clearance is larger (of necessity) than the finish spec, what you're describing is impossible. We're talking about angular changes in the micron (millionth of a meter) over the ~110 mm length of the barrel. No discernable effect. Moreover, these angular changes are many orders of magnitude smaller than than provided by the required clearances for operation. Simplest explaination: Psychological effect. Save your money.

When I move back to British Columbia, I am so driving down to Spokaloo for a match! The gun is sighted in, I confirmed that using the time-honored tradition of handing it off to someone else In this case it was a SWAT trainer aquaintance who made a nice little one hole group, dead on POA. What I'd like to do is take a couple of weeks off, but that's not in the cards. The provincial championships are this coming weekend, and the Nationals are one month later. Run run run! Dig dig dig!

I dryfire pretty much constantly, in fact I have some tiny little classic targets and popper silhouttes in view of this very computer, and the gun is sitting right next to me (locked open, empty, no ammo in the vicinity). Every squeeze is perfect(ish), no front sight movement, all it well. I have 10 mags, and every time I reload them, the first and last are slow fire, concentrating on accuracy fundamentals, at a target anywhere from 10 to 25 yards away, randomly selected. When I do the ball and dummy drill (snap cap thing, like you mention), I see the front sight break up and right, evey single time I hit the snap cap. I've tried everything I can think of.... which unfortunately ain't much. I think it's some kind of muscle-memory thing, intended to counteract a flinch I don't have anymore.

Well, I'm getting tired of this particular pecadillo in my shooting. At about 15 meters, my groups are a couple of inches high, and a couple of inches right. A bit on the insufficiently tight side, but *that* I know how to improve. According to this chart... ...I'm "heeling" the gun. Neat, I didn't know it was sick! So, that's all fine and dandy, but how do I get rid of it? I shoot just under a thousand rounds a week, and I'm an IPSC master here in Ontario, so probably the equivalent a high B, low A shooter in USPSA... on a good day. I shoot a G 17 with an extended mag release, Heinies and EricW's TruGrip. I appreciate any suggestions you guys can make.

EXACT same thing happened to me today, same symptoms and everything. Luckily, I'd read this thread, so I knew what happened! Thanks Bill & Sue!

Today it shot great, but the best I could manage was a 2"-2.5" freehand at 10 yards. Otherwise, I shot a lot of A's, and was hitting the 25 yard popper consistently, so I think I'm alright. I can't do anything about the gun until after the nationals, anyhow, so it better be OK! I did break a trigger spring today, though. Shot any number of mags before I noticed Luckily I had an extra.

I should have mentioned: I'm in Canada, so no GSSF matches. If I want to take it to an armorer, it's many months separation. We have some *stupid* laws up here. Vote Republican, Americans. It's my IPSC gun (not USPSA), so no aftermarket barrels. In fact, with the exception of an extended (OEM) mag release, and a set of Heinie sights, it is bone stock.