Tim James

Do some research on all your options, try them all out, and choose the one that works best for you. You won't be held back by whichever method you decide, but don't just choose based on a forum poll.

Just get a setup like Barnhart had. Hold the gun off to the side for a camera man and run between arrays with a direct-feed monitor so you can still shoot.

My mom always put the local news on as background noise at home, which makes it ten times worse. That's probably why I can't stand the television being turned on while no one's watching. On the other hand, if they had clips on Tuesday morning of Jack Bauer shooting automatic weapons, I'd always tune in.

I notice this gets worse for me when I load up 5 magazines of 15 rounds and shoot through them all at the 15 yard range. A 5 minute break after a couple magazines really helps my grip and accuracy. Remember, we only shoot 30 rounds at a time anyway.

Heck, I felt like I needed a break on Saturday and I've only shot once in the last 3 or 4 months! The only time I practiced was the Friday before the match and wasn't really feeling it, and I started getting a little nervous about having to repeat my previous month's good performance (for me), so I wanted to nip that attitude in the bud. I come out to have fun, but I unconsciously feel uneasy when I haven't practiced or participated in a while. Same thing happened back when I did autocross: I tell myself I don't care about the times, but it still ends up being less fun.I decided to stay home to do jobs around the house and play with my new computer. Had a great day! Hope to see you out at Port Malabar in April. Girlfriend will be out of town that weekend so I plan on doing USPSA and IDPA. Going to try to get my little sister out as well.

I thought this was the most interesting comment in this thread. With everyone drawn up on their own side of the perceived dichotomy, it's nice to see that someone is thinking about a third way. Heck, I don't even want one to be more competitive. I know that my money would be better spent on ammo or practice. I just want it so I can have a huge smile on my face every time I pull the trigger. But I realize I'm in the minority because.. I genuinely wish you good luck selling this sport, because as I've mentioned before, whenever you have a competitive male hobby, you will have individuals who make excuses about equipment, the weather, the rules, the length of the shots, the color of the targets, etc. all because they are afraid to participate and possibly lose. When this proposed rule becomes law, I challenge you to ask those 5 individuals in your club to come back to the sport. I'm quite sure they will have another excuse.Or maybe I'm wrong; maybe it takes some wisdom and experience before you can understand that it's not the trigger pull that matters, and you have to get them in the door first. On the other hand, I can't figure out why I understood this after only a month in the sport. Maybe USPSA should start advertising to get people to improve their personalities?

I guess it all depends on the video quality from the cameras. (Unless the compression/recording format has a big effect on quality for our purposes.) I remember the HoserCam guy saying that he had surveyed the available cameras and there weren't many good ones. The extreme sports recording industry is only beginning to take off, but I was able to find a few reviews at places like http://www.helmetcamreview.com/ Full-size video samples work the best, of course. I know I don't need DVD-quality, just something cheap and convenient with good enough quality that I can send it to my friends and family to watch on their computers or use myself for training. Since I don't have the money for it at the moment, I'll wait to see what rises to the top. EDIT: I think I'm answering my own question. Check out http://www.helmetcamreview.com/Videos/SunnyX3.wmv The one on the lower right isn't bad for half the price of the upper right, but you can definitely see a difference.

I've been following the helmet cam thing because I'm moderately interested, but it doesn't seem like everyone has fleshed out the best options yet. Why couldn't someone get a barebones PVR with A/V-input for $200 off eBay and one of those 520-lines lipstick camera with 120+ degree lens for $150 that I see around the net? Throw the PVR and maybe a battery pack on your belt. Would video quality be too poor? Why not cut the brim of a hat and mount the bullet camera on the same plane? You'd be mostly out of the way of your eyes but the camera would be lower than a hat-top mount. Possibly low enough to see reloads?

Wow, I'm amazed she works instead of helping out with the business or starting something interesting on her own. Is it for the benefits? Not much reason other than that since after taxes and costs to actually get back and forth to work, it's probably not even worth it.Maybe when my fiancee has been working as a pharmacist for a few years, I will go out and start something on my own! When the marginal tax rate on my income and wages is at 50%, what's the point?

Jeez, do people really think like this? I would have recommended The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. At least then you have a chance to enjoy life instead of starting out already as a cynical old bastard. I've read the latter two books from a personal-defense standpoint and didn't recognize anything that would be useful for an enjoyable career. On the other hand, holistic self-help books apply positively to so many different aspects in life. I guess this is a rebuttal in the Hate forum, but it's to a reply, and I'm trying to support the original poster here.

It's amazing what bureaucrats will try to do out of nowhere and for no real reason. It's like if half of them were immediately fired, quality of life would be completely unaffected in America.(Yes, I'd like to see them all go, but there would definitely be a transition period. ) Glad to see our state gets to keep another range.

Come on guys, no one really needs 10 guns a month! And I didn't know that four in ten guns are solid with absolutely no background check. None!! I would love to work together with the Brady Campaign to prevent violent crime, but it seems like all they want to do is hack at the leaves.

I think you mean 1 miss! I got a few charlies. That damn long-distance target off the draw got me -- too hyped up and shot before I could calm myself down to keep from flinching and milking. Besides, you shouldn't compare me to Dave, I have much more potential than him! (My fiancee asked if you were at the range that day and wanted to know if you commented on my "potential" again. ) If you weren't aware, I am also cross dominant. I think it's barely strong enough that I don't see 2 targets and get super distracted, so I'm comfortable shifting the gun over and using two eyes. I thought about shooting left-handed because I'm fairly ambidexterous, but I guess I won't bother if Dave can do it righty just fine! To everyone else: no need to turn this into an eye dominance post; I've looked into this and worked on this a lot (I believe everyone has to choose the strategy that works best for them) and I'm good to go now.

I used to do controlled triplets to make sure I hit everything until I got too many 3-alphas and someone chided me to just shoot twice.

I know everyone's eye issues are different, but here's another great reason why no one should panic right away if they find out they are cross-dominant.

Those Demotivator posters are kind of funny, but I once saw them hung up on a wall in a well-travelled hallway at work. I thought it was really stupid of the person to hang those where a customer could see them. Dumb idea.

Eric, I think you guys are missing out on a great opportunity. You can coax out-of-town shooters to your range for a match and discounted Disney tickets, then trap them in a room for a seminar on timeshares. Your club will be rolling in money! Possible stumbling block: the guests will have guns.

I did this with my XD and all my groups are on the right side of the target! What does this mean?? It is kind of sad when that happens, but I'm practicing.

Latest Front Sight indicated that they are good for reducing shrapnel and debris for ranges like USSA that have bays behind other bays.

I was in a Sports Authority in Tampa that had gotten rid of all their firearms and gun supply stuff. But the local one here just expanded the section. I'm not sure I buy the dollars per square foot thing, wanting to use that space for something more profitable. The gun displays only take up about 8 square feet. Most of the Wal-Marts I see still have the ammo counter and hunting aisle, so there has to be another reason to get rid of just the guns. I'm not ready to conclude it's just due to political correctness or a liberal agenda. Could it also be that their employees can't handle the forms and paperwork? Worried about the ATF on their backs? Then again, maybe they are going to put pole dancers or sell drinks in the place of the gun displays? That would make some money.

Man, it takes 4 whole clicks of the mouse to order all that! I'd rather see 1 click, or maybe 0. Oh well, at least the ammo loads itself once it arrives, right? A data point from someone who is still a couple years away from reloading: I found it useful to have a final total cost for what I'd probably need so I can set my expectation and budget. I actually did this very exercise the other day adding up what I thought I would probably buy just because I was curious about the "true cost" to get into reloading. This new webpage makes it easy to determine what I'd need to spend.

I forgot to reply to this. Lee, what do they usually sell for on sale? I notice online they are advertising it at $40/250 for 9mm. Do they ever get up to 25% off sales on ammo?I'm over on the east coast of Florida. If you ever see a huge sale like that, send me a private message and I'll drive over for a few thousand rounds.

Call all your local Wal-Marts. I was able to find one that still at Winchester 9mm at 12.88/100. I bought 4 cases.

Someone alert the Maryland representatives -- they forgot to restrict bayonets!!

So what's the problem? They can't learn, practice, compete, and win with those guns? What is it with men in any sport or hobby that think they can't even play the game without spending a bunch of money on equipment? It pissed me off back in the day trying to get friends to go drag racing or autocrossing: "dude, I need new tires, those cars are way too fast." It still pisses me off nowadays in USPSA. HEY IDIOTS, JUST COME HAVE FUN!! Ahem.. thanks, I needed that. On the other hand, I have a friend that is a little shy about handgun competition because he admits that he's not the best shot in the world and doesn't practice often. I can forgive him if he doesn't want to attend because it can be intimidating if you can't hit anything, though even that isn't a big deal if you have the right personality. (He is interested in our local close-range hosing 3-gun matches, so that'll work!) Now that I think about it, most male newbies who say they are afraid to attend due to perceived equipment discrepancies are usually just embarrassed about their lack of shooting (or driving or stick-and-ball) skills. The ironic thing is that changing Production division doesn't remove the underlying ego issues, it just removes an excuse they can use and annoys existing competitors. USPSA needs to strike at the root if they want to bring in new shooters.