Jack T

That's a really good question. I have been arround since we only had two divisions and didn't water the system down with all the various categories. I think this hurt the distributors/prize tables because they had to cater to so many divisions/categories. Many of us like a straight "Heads up Competition", kinda like life. Outlaw matchs rule!!

Because you enjoy shooting it. That's what it is all about!! Why complicate it.

I would not DQ a shooter for any of the incidents of which you refered. I don't know which rules would be governing the situations you refer to, but this is my opinion, not necessarily by the rules. If the weapon is abandoned into a dump barrel, muzzle down, I would consider this a safe condition, not the weapon is safed, but a safe condition or as long as it is pointed in a safe direction (into a berm) and the shooter does not advance forward of the weapon. If it is a pistol and the shooter does not advance forward of the weapon system, I don't see a problem there either. Sometimes common sense has to come into play. I have yet to see an abandoned weapon discharge on its own free will. As long as proper measures have been taken to keep the weapon system physically secured during the course of fire (dump barrel, facing a berm, etc.) I don't see where it poses a safety issue. I know my opinion is not in accordance with the letter of the law with some organizations, but I don't agree with the rules in this regard.

There is getting to be some pretty good stuff out there now. It has been a lot of fun working on a new platform and see what we could do with it. Between, Alex/Fred at Dreadnaught, Jim at Firebird, and myself at JT Engineering sold exclusively thru Carolina Shooters Supply, I think you can find some innovative, quality parts to build with. We all bounce ideas off of each other with customer satisfaction being our primary goal! Regards, Jack JT Engineering

Yeah, that was definitely well done! My hats off to you guys. Jack

I have a SDB I gave to a girlfriend, when I still liked her, built a really solid bench, bolted to the floor/wall and welded construction. It started having this problem. I will go take it apart when I head back to Florida next week and see whats wrong with it and get back to you. It's a fantastic machine, and for the cost I never really woried about it, just bought another one! One thing I discovered with the Dillons, if there is a problem, it is generally an oversight on my part. Jack

That seems to be a problem with the Square Deals, I have/had six of them over the years since Dillon first came out with them. I never really tried to figure it out, just went to hand priming the brass and eliminated that step. I actually started to get a little bit of tendonitits in my left elbow from holding the back of the frame to help add more pressure when I would seat the primers. So hand priming is a benefit. Wild ass guess; fatigue/stetch throughout the machine that causes the problem from excessive pressure seating primers. Just bought another one for doing GAP .45 brass. I use the SDBs for traveling. Mount them to a piece of plywood/starboard and then I can clamp it to a motel desk and be able to reload if necessary.

That's about what I get with nickel, maybe more, sometimes less, the neck will start to crack from fatigue. That is actually a pretty light load you are shooting, so there is no over pressure involved. I use an extremely light flare for bullet seating so that is not a factor. It is brittle so it won't stand too many cycles of resizing/fire forming without showing signs of fatigue.

Remember if it is downrange, it will be destroyed. You are putting a match on for the shooters, the shooters come first, that is what this sport should be about. Not to sound harsh, but it isn't about making life easy for you. You set the match up for them not for you. The problem is your props, not the shooters. Rebuild them out of wood and use snow fencing (orange crap). This is pretty cost effective. PVC is easy to put together but there will not be any longevity to it if it is in the field of fire. Take a hard look at your set up as mentioned. You CAN set it up where they won't get shot. But, please, the matches are for the enjoyment of the shooters, keep it fun for them. Jack

You got that right. I just got back from setting up at our Range here At Fort Polk/Leesvile, LA and I am definitely a wuss. It is 43 degress and I am cold. Still use to S. Forida where it is in the 80's right now. Looks like snow this evening, but it should be in the mid 50's by Sunday for the match. Best to ya, Jack

Well, then have Matt (AKA Kid Pebbles) rub you down with fish oil and give you a deep muscle massage. Get some pictures and post them. I am joking arround, but in all seriousness, he has been hurting for a while. Need to go find a good Doctor!!

Mike, you have tried everything else, why don't you try fish oil enemas? Should be interesting. Jack

This topic is pretty neat, been going on since Clark brought out the Pin Comps for the .45's. Every test known to man has been performed to figure out what makes a truly effective comp work. Recoil is perceived, notice how some days the dot will figure 8, somedays it is straight up and down. It is as much the shooters physiology as the physics of the weapons system in relation to the compensator. This is why no one has designed the perfect compensator/muzzle brake. No two shooters are the same. I am editing here since I have more time and this is easier to explaing with a rifle comp. If I take a shooter out to the range with an M4 to tune the comp to the shooter and have a milling machine to adjust/shoot/adjust. I can tune the comp with clocked ports and such till there is a balance of push forward and downward push to the point which the system will not move. Now the comp is tuned to this system; buffer, carrier, spring rates, and ammunition, etc. Any change will effect the performance. Now, take the shooter away from the rifle for two weeks and make a major physical change in his life, say for example he starts going to the gym and puts on muscle mass, or he can not go to the gym and looses muscle mass, gets sick, etc. Put him back on the same rifle system and It will not perform the same. There is a major difference between a left hand shooter and a right hand shooter. The rifle will inherently torque up and right due to the rifleing. This torque will push the rifle up/right and away from a right hand shooter, but it pushes the rifle into a left hand shooter where it is less noticed. It's all about how the shooter and the weapons platform interact together on any given day. It is less an issue for those shooters who are able to train consistently and over many years and have developed consistency/continuity to their presentation to the point the changes are not an issue. There is not enough pressure in a pistol cartridge to make a compensator work effectively on pressure alone. Not like a rifle where there is enough pressure to make it dance. The weight of the comp has as much if not more benefit than the ports/pressure relationship. Basic physics; more weight equals less felt recoil. Just like in racing, we want to reduce weight for quicker response, i.e. the slide, but keep the weight where it will do the most good, forward on the barrel. Take two identical comps, one in Ti and one in 4140 and there will be more perceived muzzle flip with the Ti. Now this is the interesting point; there are people out there that will disagree with this. This is exactly my point; Recoil is perceived differently by each shooter. Best comp designs utilize as much surface area as you can effectively and asetheticly design into it. You want the comp to push forward to counter effect the energy exiting the barrel and the felt recoil. We find that adding a very light angle 10-15 degrees in the first port will help push forward just a little better than a port perpendicular to the axis of the bore and not direct too much blast back into the scope lense. The whole system has to be tuned: Bullet weight, powder, and especially the recoil spring. We/I run the lightest spring we can get away with as long as it will strip the rounds effectively from the magazine. Again, physiology comes into play. For me, the heavier the spring the more flip I get because it takes more force to compress the spring and that makes the pistol come up. I run a 7-8# spring in my Open Gun. If it is cold out (<51 degrees) I go to a 10# for more reliability. This is one of the fun/great mysteries of gunsmithing. There is no perfect answer and it allows us to keep testing and having fun with designs. Regards, Jack JT Engineering

Keep an intricate log of your performances. When you did your best/worst. Use it to plan your match and post match strategy/training. I am my own worst critic, but it only makes me work harder to overcome the deficiencies. The negatives have no place during the match. We are all different in our mental/physical abilities and how we approach the game. My mind is my worst enemy and I tend to overthink, it always runs at 1000 MPH. I do my best when I just have fun and don't take myself too seriously. If I just learned to stay in my comfort zone I would have consistent top 5/10 finishes. I am not able to do that so I shoot one stage at the GM level and the next at the C level. Horrible consistency! Jack T

Damien, Wish the best to you and your family. Hope to catch you at one of the matches soon. Take care, Jack

Man I will tell ya, I spent years down in Florida where we couldn't go out past 75-100 yards, but mainly run and gun, in your face and my favorite optic was either a 6 MOA C-More or a 8 MOA OKO. Very fast and easy to work with, cost effective and if you go open you can mount it on the Handguard for your close dot sight. Gives more options. Just a thought. Jack

That is pretty neat. I just started shooting a 625 for a change of pace and have developed a new respect for the wheel gun!! Having a blast with it. Jack

Back at the first USPSA 3-Gun (1990, 91 ??), I thought I would be slick and machined/chambered a Douglas Premium Match Barrel for a Ruger Mini 30 chambered for 7.62 X 39 and worked up a great load for it, very accurate. There wasn't a power factor then and .30 made major so I thought I would have a huge advantage with the 30 round magazines and a softer shooting gun. Moral to the story: It ain't the arrow it's the indian. My first 3-Gun and I didn't have a clue. Still don't sometimes. Jack

First, it is the 6.8 SPC aka the 6.8x43 mm. Not 6.68 SPC. Second, the 6.8 can make major out of an 18" barrel 1:12 or 1:11 twist and 115 or 120 grain pills. But the 130 speer does it easiest, 29.5-30gr H335 should get you over the 2461fps needed to make major. I know of several gents who hit 2520 with a 18" WOA about 4 years ago. I called Art of Silver State Armory and he is looking into loading some for me at this time to play around with in a Noveske 18" 6.8 barrel. As an aside, a new SAAMI spec for the 6.8 SPC, is rumored to be released around/durring or after the SHOT SHOW 2010 in Vegas. This might play a part into some of the loading aspects of the ctg with respect to safety concerns etc. Third, the 6.8 case necked up to 30 call, dubbed the 30 Herrett Rimless Tactical (30 HRT) can make major last I knew, but I was also told such loadings were in the "danger zone" back in 2006-2007, again this may have changed. I have a call into Marty TerWeeme of Teppo Jutsu after talking to a buddy on the phone about this venture yesterday. Marty is well known in all things wildcat in the AR platform. For those who dont know www.teppojutsu.com and www.tromix.com are the places to look for more info. ALSO, www.ar15barrels.com info on the 30 HRT http://ar15barrels.com/prod/30hrt.shtml Randall R does good work just gets behind sometimes. I dont reload so I cannot speak to these things from direct experience, I just have a wee bit of background in the 6.8 SPC is all. Sorry, I made the correction, meant 6.8SPC but typed 6.68, excuse me, had too many 6's in my head. The minimum velocity required at that time was 3000 fps by the powers to be at McDill (CENTCOM). You have to know where it all began to understand why it was never taken seriously in the Spec Ops Community. Jack

One aspect to look at and it has probably already been addressed by the AMU since I am sure they did not foot the bill for the mods and ammo just for their personal use. Their budget is not that great. That aspect is the possible adoption as a replacement for the 5.56. The 6.8 SPC never met the minimum velocity requirements and really doesn't deserve the attention it got. The AMU was the final independent deciding factor in the decision not to further develope the 6.8 SPC for Military utilization. Perhaps the "Gremlin" may be the answer. What is the velocity of the 125 grain bullet? Jack

But as Dave mentioned the muscles you named aren't leg muscles, obliques are abdominal muscles. Also I think it very difficult to argue that the adductors are most important or prime mover leg muscles in any shooting activity. And the exercises you listed don't target the adductors, they are just stabilizers in them. I think of what I read once, when I read your posts. Argueing on the forum is like running in the special olympics. You may win the race, but you are still retarded. Have a nice day, I gotta go!! Jack

That’s like saying: “The most important thing to accuracy is your extractor (the circular thing that the bullet flys out of). It’s the part of the gun that ensures you are keeping everything aligned with the target, and you can improve it by scrubbing your magazines.” I didn't say the most important muscle overall, I said the most important LEG muscle. If you target these leg muscles, the major muscles get worked out also. Kinda hard to target/isolate one muscle without working out the rest. Especially in the legs. Jack

Everyone is different and you have to find out what works for you. I am a 56 year old, cancer survivor, and I can still spank the young kids when it comes to shooting and moving. Like my 90 year old uncle tells me all the time, look you little bas@#%d, you don't get in shape, you STAY in shape. Our sport is more physical than shooting. Like Phil Strader once said, the order of importance: Physical conditioning, gun handling, and then shooting ability. Target the muscles you use which are mainly core muscles. You do not have to go out and run 3 miles to get in shape. The most important leg muscles are the inside obliques (inside of thighs) these are the muscles which give you the explosive power in and out of boxes and from a dead start. Work these by doing box drills (jump from flat feet up on an object and down) or by biking. Not pleasure pedaling, but like Bicycle Motocross Pedaling. Short intense exercise, take a break and repetition. Lots of pushups, situps and pullups. I recommend using dumb bells for shrugs, curls, and military press and if you have a bench then the various bench exercises for strength. Physical endurance is great, but we spend most of the time pasting targets, and sitting on our asses getting ready to shoot a stage of fire that only last for a few seconds. Endurance will get you thru the day, but you have to train in fast intense sessions that replicate the intenstity of a stage/course of fire. Sit down when you are not busy taping, etc. Conserve energy!! If you want to run, I recommend wind sprints over distance running. Again you HAVE to replicate what you do at a match. Quick bursts of speed. I found that when I ran for distance, it does not develpe the fast twitch muscles. You have got to develope the muscles the way you use them in a competition. Cross training is great, but just how much time do you have to train. Prioritize your traing and stick with it. You just gotta have the comittment to do it. What are your goals? Is the shooting important enough that you take your fat ass out and accomplish getting in shape and staying in shape. Not implying that you are a fat ass, just a means of expression. Later, Jack Travers PS: F@#k Tai Chi. When was the last time you did tai chi at a match?? Get your ass out and work

Advantage for the local guys that shoot all summer in this heat. Yeah, but us South Florida boys go up north after October and we are like reptiles. Gets below 50 and the hands/feet don't function well. Jack

Greetings all, I can be reached at 561 317-9096. Regards, Jack Travers JT Engineering/Millennium Custom 561 317-9096 jdtravers@hotmail.com mcguns.com