B.J. Norris

TacSol will soon have grips to fit the newer URX frames, probably within a week or two. However, they are not finger groove grips like the factory guns come with, they look exactly like regular TacSol grips, just sized to fit the frame. Also, there won't be an abundance of them in this first production run, so if you want them, call up there now to get your name on the list.

Paul, Hands down go with the TacSol, especially if you're shooting a Limited gun frame and want to mount a dot. The STI/Marvel conversion itself seems well made, but it doesn't have a smooth scope mounting solution and the magazines are plastic, instead of aluminum barstock like the TS. The TS does a cost a bit more, but it is well worth it, I have had mine on about 5 different frames (2 Springer, 2 STI, and 1 S&W Sc) without any problems. We are also prototyping some modifications for it that will really make it the hot ticket for Steel Challenge.

Thanks John, I knew it was somewhere near those numbers, but I couldn't remember exactly.

Hey guys, Does anybody have a set of milling instructions to cut a frame for the W/N cut? I can't find them anywhere on the internet, and I'm not sure how long it will take for Nowlin to email me back with them. Thanks!

I'm not sure if this, or the new forum is the right place for this, but... A positive piece about the Heller case just aired on the 10PM news of our local CBS station. CBS 19, look for "Right To Own" under the headlines. ETA to fix link.

Another vote for GT Targets, very portable, easy to set-up and tear down. Working in a team, two people can usually have any of the 8 stages set-up in less than 15 minutes. Karl also does a great job supporting matches around the country.

Brian, Rich, Definitely a good idea to lap the slide in on the conversions. They really do need to be loose on the frame, but since the sight is attached to barrel (generally, anyway), you shouldn't lose any accuracy. Whenever I hear of somebody having problems with the TacSol, "how tight is it?" is the first question I ask, most of the time, the answer is "well... it’s pretty tight...". . .22's just don't have the power to overcome much resistance. (especially the cheap, inconsistent Federal crap from Wal-Mart that we all shoot , you should have seen the look I got when I asked for a pallet price) I've used two different conversions on my Dad's Springfield frame, both rattle on the frame when they're installed, and I haven't had one bit of trouble out of either of them. Doug, have you tried sending both the grip frame and upper for the 22/45 back to TacSol for fitting? They sent some Pac-lites on 22/45's down for us to use in an NSSF First Shots in Feb, and those ran 100%, while we have quite a few problems with light hits with the Buckmarks. Ken, If you found lot # of Federal Auto Match that works well, go back and buy all that they have left of that lot#, same thing for the 550 rd Federal Bulk packs. Some lots work awesome, just as good as anything CCI puts out, and then I've found others that I couldn't hit an 18x24" rectangle at 35 yards off of a bench rest. Edited for poor spelling.

#209 for LPR... I'm thinking that I'll have to show up the day of the match and chance it...

From watching the video, it looked like a Kel-Tec P-11, I think I'd take the gas . Now, if it was a P-3AT, it'd be a different story...

Mark, Thanks for posting the link, it encourages me greatly to see that there was a spot for Men's Rapid Fire pistol. I never really thought that this thread would turn into what it did. I was mainly just complaining about the US not even playing second fiddle (for the most part, there are a few bright spots) to other countries in the pistol sports, it turned into a wealth of knowledge, support and encouragement. I do plan on contacting ISSF and asking about eligibility and seeing if theres a chance that I can make a match or two sometime. Thanks everybody!

+1, good movie on many different levels.

I agree that the problem is with the current leadership more than anything. I talked with Jerry Miculek about when they invited the group of action shooters to try out for the pistol team and he said that they are pretty unorganized... The guns they gave them to use would barely hold the x-ring off of the bench, and they gave them almost no ammo to train with (they shot all of the ammo allocated to the group for 2 or 3 days in a few hours...). Without solid leadership and a total team training plan and goal, it's impossible to develop the athletes needed, I've seen it first-hand on the individual level if my own shooting. I do disagree about the cost of the pistols being prohibitive, small-bore rifles and shotguns are just as, if not more expensive. It just has to do with what has been billed as "prestigious" and "proper", and shooting pistols just isn't on that list right now. Mods, feel free to move the thread to a different forum.

I hate that Olympic pistol shooting in the US is practically non-existent and that the US can only send one pistol shooter to the Olympics(Rebecca Snyder in Air pistol)... I've set up a rough ISSF 25M Rapid Fire Pistol course and found it to be a very interesting challenge and wish there was more interest in it. On the past few episodes of Inside USA Shooting, they covered the rifle and pistol World Cup at Ft. Benning and out of two shows the devoted less than 5 minutes to pistol shooting. I understand why they did it, and it was excellent coverage of the match overall, I just find it sad that in one of the only countries where we can actually freely own pistols, there's a severe lack of interest in showing the rest of the world that we can shoot them... I also think there is little hope of IPSC ever coming close to being accepted in the Olympics and that the focus on that front should be shifted to Steel Challenge, but now I'm just rambling... Anybody know how to make a .32 caliber 2011 Steel Gun?...

Karl's targets and service are awesome. He didn't even blink when I asked him if it was possible to rig a mechanical swinger for practice so I didn't have to re-set it after every time. Although, he did act a little funny when I asked for two 18x24 rectangles out of 1/2" AR500 (they weigh about 50 lbs each and take two people to hang on the stand...) GT is first-rate!

Mistral404, It is true that most of the weight of the TacSol 2211 conversion comes from the barrel, and we are working on various ways to bring the weight down for competition. However, for practice, it does simulate the weight of a normal Limited, or Open gun much closer than any other 22 upper on the market. To the best of my knowledge, TacSol has never made a conversion with an Al. slide. They did a great job of reducing the weight of the steel slide so it can function on SV ammo, not just HV. I've shot a lot of different kinds of ammo through mine with nary a bobble. If the slide on the upper you saw was Al., then I'd seriously question whether it was TacSol upper.

Thanks for the encouragement guys! I was pretty upset after Smoke & Hope, however knowing I had alot of ground to make up after it helped me get on the offensive for the rest of the match. My final report is up on my blog, however check back later tonight or tomorrow morning as I think I may add a few thoughts to it. bjnorris.blogspot.com

Day 2 of the open match. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3A3qxbjcvw

Thanks for the comments guys. I've posted more videos from the US Steel Nationals this weekend, and I hope to have the last three stages of the open match up by tonight. http://youtube.com/user/IPSCG34

More vids and standings from today's open match on the blog.

Video of myself, Jerry, Dave and Kay shooting Thursday's Rimfire match. youtube

Hey guys, I am running a daily update, complete with pics and vids on my blog. www.bjnorris.blogspot.com

Here's a copy of an email from Mike Calloway about the rimfire start. "We will be utilizing a low ready aimed at a point down range. The aiming point will be the red dot of the C-More banner positioned at 4 yards from the shooting box. The competitor must be standing erect. Hope this helps, we will go over it on the shooter's meeting also. Thanks, Mike"

Michael, Any idea when Steel Challenge will air?

This year, I'm making a real effort to keep and updated blog with pics, a few videos and day-to-day reports from the matches I shoot. Bear with me while I figure everything out and check often for updates! I'm really looking forward to trying a keep as live as possible info for ya'll. http://bjnorris.blogspot.com/

Jack, Medal of Honor is fun, however the playability is somewhat low for most people. It has a fairly big learning curve to learn the movements, and perhaps bigger, the buttons of the Wii Remote are very ill-suited to a complicated first-person shooter like MOH. It uses every button on the remote, plus the directional keypad for character operations like switching guns, throwing grenades, etc. Since the buttons aren't close together at all, and your other hand is busy with the nunchuck, it makes it hard to real hard to do stuff, while keeping yourself level and not pointing towards the sky. Another bad thing is ammo isn't very common as it is in other MOH and COD games, it's not very much fun to run out of ammo and have to grenade somebody to get some... Although, throwing grenades is just about the coolest thing ever done, I suspect it's just about as close to the real thing as most of us will ever get.