[Grip Strength training]

Has anyone with tendinitis used any of the these methods/tools and noticed a flare-up of said tendinitis?.....

Or it could just be I'm old.

In about a week's time both my thumbs got bad hotspots in their bases. I've backed off and I'm working lighter weight to build general endurance before going for the heavy squeezes to build strength. I alternate with (flexor, extensor?)work with rubber bands.

And yes, it's hell getting old, slow, dumb and cripple all at the same time!

[dry firing with a full mag of dummy rounds]

I use a dab of Shoe Goo in my dummy round primer pockets. Holds up well.

[Vest]

I like to pretend I am CCW and keep my gun under concealment. Kind of in the Spirit Of The Game and an effort to Do Right.

Bingo. It's the reason I wear an untucked lightweight cotton shirt over a T instead of a vest.

OTOH, once the temps get above the mid 80's I like to pretend I'm in an open carry state and take off that shirt between runs. It got so hot at the last indoor match I shot the match director eliminated cover garments on the last two stages.

[Pinching from my beavertail]

The fit of beavertail to frame on my Spartan IV was bad to the point it was dragging on the frame on one side and has a gap on the other. There were also some sharp points near the hinge area. The frame cut was not very good. A little work with a file solved the problems. The gap doesn't really bother me with the light recoil of the 9mm.

[Holsters for idpa]

Comp-tac for my SR9C, Aholster (Tiger McKee design) for my 1911. The AHolster has a built in replaceable sight hook (slide racker) for one handed manipulations.

[Is is truely possible to get IDPA Master with small guns?]

Pretty sure Caleb G. used a 3.5" SR9C to make SSP Master. Do a search for "Quest For Master Class".

[Wish list of Rule changes]

In CDP and ESP dump the "cone" barrel restriction. Bunch of affordable carry guns these days have them as standard.

[45acp factory ammo for CDP]

Atlanta Arms and Ammo

Both their match and reloaded 230 gr. ball is loaded to 735fps (169 pf). I've run a bunch of their reloaded stuff in both 9 and 45, no probs and excellent accuracy.

[Too Old/Slow for IDPA?]

I hesitate to shoot until I can clearly see (and call) each shot. If I try to crank up the speed I just go all to hell with down 5's and FTN's etc. etc. etc.

Same problem here, so I'm delurking (after 6 years) to respond. 99% of my pistol shooting has been precision oriented (11 years of metallic silhouette). If I try to go faster and maintain that precise picture I end up muscling the gun and putting a big chicken jerk on the trigger.

A few things have helped me the most. To break my mental block I had to literally show myself just how much the sights can be misaligned and blurry and still hit a pie plate at 15-20 ft to believe it. Of course as the distance gets longer the picture need to get better, but it still doesn't have to be bullseye perfect to hit a 12" square at 25 yards.

Lots of dry firing (presentations and transitions on an 1/6th scale target) so that the sights are already aligned as they come into my vision with the trigger loading so that the hammer falls as the gun arrives on target (whether or not the sights are perfectly aligned, clearly seen or not). I still work to get my sights aligned and clear but my trigger finger has permission to smoothly break the shot even if the sight picture isn't perfect. With live fire I work mostly on second shots so the same thing applies as I ride the gun down into the target.

There's an adage in bullseye shooting that you have to "accept your wobble area" and still allow the shot to break. For me to hit these big targets quicker I have to accept a distance appropriate sight picture.

good luck,

Joe