elenius

I ended up getting a Kimber Custom II. The most basic version, blued and fixed sights. It was $728 plus taxes and CA DROS fee, not too bad I think. Ordered the rosewood grips and the black magwell from Kimber. Now I'll have to start learning about 1911 triggers...

The Eclipse Custom Target II has an MSRP of $1261. Prices in my local stores are usually about 10% less (and then you add tax and CA fees, and it's pretty much back where it started). It's a really nice looking gun, although they don't make a matching magwell in that dark metal finish. I don't think I can order a gun customized from Springfield. They have to sold be exactly as they were shipped to the CA DoJ for testing, as I understand it. I can send it back to them later, but that would cost me shipping two ways. I would rather find a local gunsmith. I searched a bit, and it seems like some of the gun shops have gunsmiths, so I'll check that out.

Thanks for the replies, guys. I shoot in Richmond (bay area). Does anyone know of a gunsmith in my area who does a good inexpensive trigger job in a reasonable amount of time? I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this. You guys don't think either of these triggers is good enough stock? How light would you go on the trigger? (I can get a para wide body, but I want a single stack for now).

I am buying my first 1911 next week, yay! It's going to be a single stack 45. I live in CA, so I can't get STIs (or the new Taurus, which otherwise seemed like a good bargain). I am considering: 1) Kimber Team Match http://www.kimberamerica.com/pistols/goldmatch/teammatch.php 2) Springfield Trophy Match http://www.kimberamerica.com/pistols/goldmatch/teammatch.php (sorry, no way to link directly to the gun on their new web site) Both have very similar sets of features: Stainless steel, adjustable sights, fitted barrels, magwells, etc. Local shops have both for about $1280, which seems like a good deal. On the Kimber, the grips definitely have to go, so that's another $60 for rosewood ones. I also like the look of the frame and slide a bit better on the Springer. But according to the specs, the Kimber has a lighter trigger pull: 3.5-4 lbs vs 4.5-5 on the springfield, which seems kind of high. But will I notice a difference? Is the Kimber trigger really better? I was hoping someone might be able to help me with my decision.

Geez, I was going to get one of these till I read this thread. Chrono/Timer unit sounded nice. For what it's worth, I tried it again today, and it worked flawlessly. I did three things differently: 1) Kept the two cables separate. 2) Put the timer unit off to the side instead of right under where I was shooting. 3) It was sunny, last time it was kind of gloomy.

I got one of the new Mk IV XP models recently. Only used it once. I chronoed some loads, and then it started giving me an error, something like "can't read stop screen". So I didn't get the error when I hooked in the cables or started it up, only after each shot. I may very well have had the cables together, however. I will try it again this Sat.

Don't get me wrong -- the 3/2/1 recommendation didn't sound fun to me. I was just curious why this was in there, and like I said, they already took care of it

I just noticed that they have removed 1.2.1.4 in the 2008 draft rules. They still have the definitions of short/medium/long.

I'm reading the (2004) rule book (for the first time), and this surprised me: 1.2.1.4 The recommended balance for an IPSC match is a ratio of 3 Short Courses to 2 Medium Courses to 1 Long Course. where Short,Medium,Long courses have been previously (1.2.1.1-3) defined as being no more than 9/16/32 rounds. I've only shot 4 local club matches in Richmond, CA, and I'm pretty sure that ALL stages I've seen were Long Courses, except the classifiers. I also watched Matt Burkett's "IPSC Strategies" where he shoots the 2005 Area 2 championships, and all those stages seem to be of the Long kind as well. Is this just a recommendation that everyone ignores? If so, why is it in the rule book in the first place? Is this a USPSA vs IPSC difference? Did stages use to be much shorter?

I meant low-end in terms of equipment. That's interesting!

The idea was to strengthen the V aspect, in the sense that it would actually become part of the DVC trade-off, i.e. there would be a real choice. I also like the idea of more different options in terms of equipment. To be honest, I didn't think much about Limited (or Open) division. I can't play it myself, being a new Californian. I was just considering Prod/L10/SS/Revolver. It's in the "low-end" divisions that we have most of the confusion and arbitrary rules. Also, in these divisions, there are more ways to make the PF choice interesting: By limiting mag capacity as in SS. Hmm, come to think of it, how about 8 rounds minor or 6 rounds major for revolver? BTW, moderator, can we move this to the USPSA Rules section?

Do you think it would be ill received because people would feel a need to get new equipment? Because people are averse to change? Or for some other reason?

I may be a rookie, but I lurk a lot around here This is exactly what I'm getting at! You expressed my thoughts very well And once the DVC trade-off is once again interesting, major could also be allowed in Production. And then one might as well merge it with L10 (especially given the arbitrariness of SA vs DA, the issues about defining what a "production" gun is, and so forth). That was roughly my line of thinking. And about the "magnum PF" being too high for most guns, well, then don't use it. It would also make the DVC trade-off more interesting. BTW, why was the major PF reduced to 165?

I got sick of cartridge heads catching on the chamber edges, so I got a 1/2" counter sink from Home Depot, and I'm about to do some damage to my Ruger GP-100 However, I would feel much better about it if I had actually seen chamfered cylinders before How much should I chamfer? Anyone with a 38/357 out there who can tell me what the max diameter of the chamfered hole should be? What do I do about the extractor star? Should I just chamfer with that in? Will it still push out the cartridges ok, or will they slip off the star because of less contact surface?

This is a followup on the "Too many B.S. rules" thread, but I thought it might warrant its own thread. I'm a pretty new shooter myself, 4 matches shooting Production so far, but I'll throw in some observations anyway. Just tell me where I'm wrong, I can handle it First, I don't think the exact setup of divisions is going to alienate any potential new shooters. Shooting IPSC is so damn fun anyway. If someone likes to shoot, they will come. I would still shoot with my near-stock glock even if there was only Open division! Having said that, it seems to me like the current setup of divisions, which has sort of evolved over time, is getting to be a bit too complicated and somewhat arbitrary. I would suggest that the following principles should guide the rules. It would be very interesting to see what people here think about each one. I'm sure each point here could spark a major controversy 1) It should be possible to say whether a gun is ok for a division or not (any division) by just examining the gun! One should not have to know about its history (e.g. the company that made it made x units per year, the gun had a checkered grip from the factory vs it was checkered by the owner, etc). Consider the controversy of the sp-01 shadow gun too. Almost all shooters like to tinker with their guns eventually. They should not have to step into another division to do this. These things don't give that much of an advantage, and completely new shooters with stock guns don't expect to win anyway. 2) Single action or double action triggers should not matter. Is a tricked up 1.5lb glock trigger worse than a 6lb stock 1911 trigger? 3) Minor and major power factors should be a *neutral* choice. What I mean by that is that the scoring penalty should be just large enough to offset the reduced recoil advantage of the gun. Right now L and L10 shooters more or less have to shoot major, which almost eliminates the point of having a minor/major distinction. It would be more interesting if the choice was actually difficult to make, and about half of the L and L10 winners shot minor. 4) The power factor choice should be available in all divisions. This would allow people to shoot e.g. a stock .40 with factory ammo as major in Production. Right now the only viable choice for Production if you don't reload is a 9mm. A PF choice would allow more people to just enter the sport with what they already have. 5) It would be interesting to add another power factor: "Magnum" at PF 200 or so. This would again allow more people to shoot what they have, and also for more experimentation and development in the high end power factor ammunitions. It should be a viable option for 45 acp, 357 magnum, 10mm, etc. As it is now, all of the big bore calibers have to be downloaded a lot. Again, this PF should be scored "neutrally" vs the other PFs, and the choice should be open to all divisions. One could also consider "micro" at PF 80 or whatever, but it may not be possible to set up the steel that low(?). So where does this leave the divisions? I think folding Prod, L10, and SS together into one division would be a good idea. Keep the L10 rules for this division, except maybe keep Prod holster/mag pouch restrictions. Call it Production (or "Stock") still. As for the PFs, there are many ways to set up the scoring. It would be difficult to make the choice "neutral" as I suggested. One could experiment with different scoring systems and let some decent shooters shoot the same stages with different PFs a number of times. Ideally, the scores should be close. For example, one could do: "Magnum" - A 5 B/C 4 D 3 (like current major) Major - A 5 B/C 4 D 2 (a little lower than now to make it more even with minor) Minor - A 5 B/C 3 D 2 (same as now) Another way to make the PFs more neutral is to have different mag capacity limits, like in SS, but I'm not sure this is a good idea in general. For example Magnum 6 rds, major 8 rds, minor 10 rds (this would only apply in the new Stock division, of course). edit: If this was done, we could probably do away with Revolver division too, as they could compete with 6 and 8 rounders in the Stock division without any great disadvantage. Ok, too many ideas at once. Let the flames begin

Hmm, are you saying the shorter 1911s have smaller frames than the full size ones? I'm not really clear on this. I think the one you linked us to did: "Compact Stainless II has a shorter frame yet retains 7-round magazine capacity. " I think that is an aluminum framed gun as well. Being of lighter material, many suggest them for carrying a lot, but maybe not so much for shooting a lot. If you end up renting the M&P, make sure to have them put in the different grip inserts. The one I linked to is stainless steel, not aluminum. Hmm, I didn't notice that about the frame. Maybe they mean the grip is shorter, *vertically*? That would make sense given the comment about retaining mag capacity. Why would someone think a *horizintally* shorter frame reduce mag capacity? Good point about the grip inserts on the M&P.

Actually, a glock 22 is what I reload for right now, and I did the A-merc thing with that. I haven't discovered any problems with them yet. I've reloaded them up to 5 times I think. But I hear you about the super, and looking at the price of brass, it seems to be even more expensive than I thought. I think holding the gun up is a big issue for her, and this is with my glock 22! She likes the smaller grips of 1911s, but I think a 4" M&P in 9mm or 40 (with Heinie night sights) may be the ticket. We'll rent one for her to try. I know *I* love them. Wish I'd known about them before I bought my glock. Hmm, are you saying the shorter 1911s have smaller frames than the full size ones? I'm not really clear on this. Yep. She does appreciate my kitchen table glock trigger job though, so I don't think she's that picky with the trigger.

Well, I meant she didn't like the *amount* of recoil of a 45 S'pose I could load really light ones, but that kind of defeats the purpose of having such a big bulky cartridge. I don't like what I'm hearing about the reliability of 9mm and 40 1911s, and anyway, very few of them are available here in CA.

http://www.kimberamerica.com/pistols/compa.../procarryhd.php Ok, so she likes the feel of 1911s, but not the recoil of 45s. There are not that many non-45 1911s on the CA approved list, but this one is. I'm thinking she can shoot it in Single Stack (minor). This would be great a she wouldn't have as much of a disadvantage as shooting L10 in minor. Also, she likes the shorties better than the 5" guns. I would add a magwell (is this allowed in SS?) and maybe change the front sight to FO, but otherwise leave it as it is. As for ammo, I'm thinking of buying a couple 1000 cheap American Ammo 38 supers from sportsman's guide, and then reloading using that brass. (I refuse to buy brass for $70/1000!). Anyone have any thought or experiences of this gun?

What's the problem with A-merc? I bought tons of this ammo (.40S&W) before I started reloading, and I collected the brass so I could re-use it. I've loaded a couple thousand of them on my 550. No problems so far, but I would like to know what to look out for. I do load minor (for Production) so that gives me a lot more safety margin...

But it sure is butt ugly, no pun intended

I used a) A rubber mallet A vise c) A little screw (as a push) to install my Sevigny rear sight. It took hours of banging the sight in, seeing that it didn't fit, banging it back out, removing some more material from the sight, repeat. Somehow I managed to center it perfectly, but with the benefit of hind sight I wouldn't recommend this procedure

The Keltec looks interesting. Do you have a link for the "Robson rifle"?

Hmm, Ruger's web site says "CA legal: N/A" on all its rifles.

Are there any reasonable CA legal rifles that are useful for USPSA? Is the 10 rd mag restriction a real killer, or does it not matter much for the types of stages used in 3gun/rifle matches? Would a springfield M1A socom work? Looks like this should be legal w 10rd mags. HM division? Or should I just go for a MOR? Daniel