BayouSlide

On my fourth or fifth loading on my 9mm brass from my G34 brass...have at it, ruready, no issue.

I had the Tasco just for a .22 Buckmark Contour URX, but I'm using the ATN on it now. Get to use it in a 4-gun match this Sunday. I'll keep that in mind about the Tasco if I use it later...appreciate the heads up, buddy.

I've used 'em for about eight months and don't see any visual artifacts other than the occasional "banding" effect that any polarized sunglass lenses tend to cause with certain sorts of window films, etc. No problems with my Bushnell HOLOsight or ATN Ultrasight. Haven't tried 'em with my Tasco Reddot yet.

Another enthusiastic vote for Woodford Reserve.

It would be a heck of a lot less attractive for me, as well. I enjoy shooting my Glocks but I do not enjoy shooting a standard trigger on my competition guns...and do not shoot it as well, as my scores in box stock categories in the GSSF match down here pointed out recently, in case I had any doubts. I'd probably just shoot Limited once in a while with my G34, fully load my mags and take my lumps...and probably shoot only the occasional match and miss the tight competition in Production. Personally, I couldn't justify the additional expense and complexity of a 2011 blaster in what already is a rather expensive sport with gas and ammo component prices...I'm a Glock guy at heart and am danged happy that USPSA saw reason about the trigger pull limitations nonsense. Wardog, you have my sympathy

Thanks for posting, Charlie. Never saw it in the other threads but I saw it in yours, buddy.

Inserts that work rather than being an afterthought...I hear ya there, buddy, and I've been down that road. I am really happy with the Rudy Project Exceptions I have now. The prescription inserts actually attach to the frame and the protective wraparound lens-portion clips securely to the nose piece. The protective lenses flip up or detach easily so you can switch from clear to dark lenses in just seconds. Pricier than the ESS shooting glasses I tried at first, but those had the prescription insert clipping behind the outer lenses. The outer lenses were attached to the frame, which put the insert too close to the face...constantly obscured by sweat or facial oil here in the hot and humid bayou state. Harder to change lenses too. The Rudy's are well worth the extra expense because they work. Bifocal prescription lenses are expensive, so in hindsight the Rudy's, if I had heard about 'em, should have been my solution from the get go, considering the wasted expense of the prescription lenses for the ESS glasses. I guess I'm also happy with my new setup because I found an eye doc who tweeked my bifocal prescription for a special setup for my right eye...it works great and now I can actually see the front sights clearly. I've never tried Oakleys, but do yourself a favor and check out the features of the Rudy Exception series. They're available direct from Rudy via their authorized Web store: http://www.e-rudy.com/

Advertising & design...get to work out of home thanks to DSL and FedEx and have collected a few checks as a folk/bluegrass musician in recent years...the pay is better in advertising, the miles are fewer and the hours are better, BTW. Self-employed for most of my career so all you retirees remain my personal heroes Journalism, photography and marketing/pr have paid the bills in the more distant past.

I currently use Vanek production triggers in my G34 and G17, after using triggers from another vendor for a year or so. Suffice to say, Charlie's triggers have excellent balance between crisp and light, IMO, with all safeties intact and working as Gaston intended. They do everything I expect them to do and I'm extremely satisfied, so I'm not inclined to look further than Charlie's name in my address book and get on with the shootin'.

One of those things that's a piece of cake once you've seen it done once, properly. A picture...er, video, is worth a thousand words of explanation in this case. http://www.dt-concepts.com/images/magdis.mpg Edited to add well-deserved credit for the video creator: Randy Smith of Defensive Training Concepts, Inc.

Welcome to the competitive shooting obsession. This is the best place on the Web to learn...don't think I've ever spent five minutes here without coming away with some very useful info in the endless pursuit of personal improvement.

I started having similar problems with a RS trigger kit a while back and spring changes didn't solve the problem. I had about one year's use on the trigger. Changed to a Vanek kit and chalked it off to parts wear. YMMV. Curtis

I'm with TruStreet. I bought mine (look identical) at Harbor Freight for about the same price. But I use two, mounted via the magnet base, on either side of the base of my strong mount on my 550. That way I have additional illumination on both sides of the shell plate, and great feng shui due to the fetching symmetry

You could use a Wolff extra power trigger spring. I now use Vanek triggers, but when I was using Ralph's trigger, I would use the complete Wolff competition spring pack from here (http://www.pistolgear.com/products.php?id=17) as replacement springs. But if you substitute the Glock OEM trigger spring for the Wolff, you will not give up much and have a more robust trigger spring in the bargain. After having a Wolff trigger spring break on me, I routinely began replacing the Wolff stricker, trigger and safety plunger springs every 6K rounds as preventative maintenance. In my Vanek triggers, I still use the Wolff competition pack as replacement springs, but substitute a Glock OEM trigger spring for the Wolff.

Sticking with 147 gr Zero JHP as long as they can be begged, borrowed or....received after lengthy backorder. They've worked fine for me for a long time...not worth changing and developing new loads to save a handcart of bucks in a bucket truck of shooting expenses

I found the DVD "Competition Reloading" (http://www.brianenos.com/pages/videos.html) offered by our host most helpful when I was getting going on my 550B. Although it features a 650B, the principles, setup tricks and reloading tips are valuable for newbies and clarifies some of the info in the Dillon manual if you don't have a buddy to personally walk you through first-time operation of your press. Curtis

Although my worklife (advertising/design/marketing) is predominately InDesign, Acrobat Pro, PhotoShop and Dreamweaver, I end up using MS Office, mostly Excel and Word with PowerPoint on occasion. The MS products, as usual try to think for you---funny how they never make the same choices I would given my druthers---but are OK and compatible with PC-using clients. However, As Galt's experience showed, Entourage can sometimes be a real problem child, occasionally creating issues on the Mac, particularly after OS updates, etc. I stick with Apple's Mail, myself. Curtis

Curtis, since your name is on page 58 of the Nov/Dec Front Sight as a new RO, they'll have room for you if you sign up as one. I was planning on signing up to RO next year...couldn't help out this year because I had a long-standing prior commitment on Thursday. Honestly, I was just worried about everyone else Curtis

Thanks, Ray...I know you're not just being complimentary because I had commented on your sartorial resplendence in your new RO shirt Saturday morning Congrats to you as well for your new product sponsorship, BTW. With all these great reviews of the Gator Classic, we'd better get our entries in earlier next year, eh, lest we locals get shut out of our own match. Curtis

I saw that and thought "Did he light his hair on fire?" Great Run, you'll have to tell me how you shot that one! You darned well know I don't have enough hair left to burn...though I'd burn the little I have left and my beard besides if I could pull off a run like that on demand Ironically, it didn't feel that dramatic...maybe that's the secret, eh. Sussed out the stage pretty well and just did the business. The buzzer went off and the memory tape started running at full speed. No wasted movement, no hesitation, minimized the shooting positions, sights naturally fell on the targets right where I knew they'd be, broke the As, no bone-head mistakes. First stage of the second day and I was eager to shoot. Seemed like the dues had been paid for a long time to finally get to that one stage where you feel you just "got it right" and were able to execute it as well as you were possibly able to. I still remember a few laps like that from my motorcycle roadracing days...sometimes, on a certain day at a certain track, it just clicked and you found "the zone" and it all came together. Those times were few and far between, unfortunately, but you burned to recapture that feeling the next time. And those moments seemed indelibly burned forever into the memory highlight reel. Striving for that perfect lap...or that perfect stage...isn't what keeps us coming back out to the track or the range every Sunday? Be happy to share the war story with you at the next match---still got that brass of yours in safe keeping, BTW. Considering my "incident", I'll do you a favor and won't reload it for you And a shout-out to AlamoShooter...Would have given you credit by name, Jamie, for that "only complaint is no complaints" comment---shoulda known you were on the forum. By the results, it seemed like you did alright for yourself...you were running that Open blaster well enough to keep me entertained, buddy. You have to remember, to us Production shooters, you Open guys make us "all" look slow.

Great stages, great ROs, great range, as always. As a first time-Gator Classic shooter from Texas joked, as he looked at the comment form in the shooter's package, "My only complaint is that I have no complaints." Overcame being bummed in a big way by a squib (my first and hopefully last) on the first array of the final stage...I guess I'll weigh all my big match rounds now, instead of just case gauging and calipering the OAL . That said, RO and forum member Jerry Shepherd's nearly instanteous response saved my Combat Tupperware from a nasty incident before I dropped the striker on the newly racked round...I was in the "hit play and shoot" mode at the time and just racked and reengaged. He get's a case of Corona next time I see him...thanks again, buddy On a brighter note, a third place finish on Stage 8, "Stomping in the Swamp", was my best stage ever and a personal high point I won't soon forget, especially considering first and second place were Matthew Mink and Tony Phan. It's really encouraging to actually hit the zone and have a couple years of work come together and have everything go your way...not capable of doing it all the time, for sure, but this old dog sure enjoyed that part of his day. We had a great squad of shooters. Enjoyed the friendly "battle of C Production" competition with fellow BENOS member and all-around nice guy Hank Ellis and Ron Harris, plus watching Bionic Man and fellow Bayou Techer Blake Miguez unravel the quickest way through each stage, hit "play" at the beep and blaze...inspiring and awesome to watch. Can't wait for next year and another chorus of thanks to Doc, Barbara and Gary Thibodaux and all the great ROs who made it happen.

Problem resolved. Kingman, you the man I don't use lead bullets but remembered a pile of reloading stuff an aquaintance gave me a year or so back. Sure enough, it contained some 9mm lead bullets. With one of them, my brass rod, a barrel well lubed with the Copper-Klenz and my ever-handy hammer, and the problem was resolved with about 10 hearty wacks. As usual, if you have a problem, someone on the BENOS forum has the answer.

Thanks, Kingman, that sounds like a plan. Appreciate the speedy reply, buddy.

Bad enough to have the first squib of my life in the first array of targets of the final stage of the Gator Classic today, but to add insult to injury (fortunately only metaphorically), the lead core of the JHP separated when pounding the squib out of Glock 34 barrel...lead core came out, the copper jacket is still stuck in the barrel in a thick ring of copper. The only copper solvent available at China-Mart tonight was Gunslick Copper-Klenz and I was going to soak the barrel in it for a couple of days to see if it might loosen it up. But unless the solvent cuts it enough to remove by vigorous brushing, it still need to be removed somehow. Anybody have any better ideas, or a better solvent? Appreciate any advice. Curtis

So that's what occurred. Just had gotten the old rule book under my belt with a recent RO course and I'm looking forward to studying the new one in depth before January. I didn't follow changes affecting other divisions as much as I did Production, but in Production, it seems that the final rules followed some frequently expressed wishes offered by members during the initial comment phase. Thanks again, for the replies, Gary. As I expected, it didn't take long to get some definitive answers on the BENOS forum and I'll be happy to do my part to help spread the word locally on these Production division issues. Curtis