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Open mag capacity-27 or 29/30


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New to Open and just getting my gear set up for the season. My question to open shooters is how important is capacity in the 170mm mags? Is there much difference between 27 and 29 rounds when actually shooting stages? Is it worth the extra work and expense for those 2 rounds?

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New to Open and just getting my gear set up for the season. My question to open shooters is how important is capacity in the 170mm mags? Is there much difference between 27 and 29 rounds when actually shooting stages? Is it worth the extra work and expense for those 2 rounds?

Umm its not just two rounds. 140 mm mags (short ones) hold between 21 and 24 rounds depending on what make of mag we are talking about. 170 mm mags (big sticks) hold between 27 and 30 rounds again depending on the brand. Yes you need a big stick. I run my 27 round mag 90% of the time as it makes it so I don't have to reload unless its a very long course of fire. I only use the short mags on short stages with less than 15 rounds or so.

Pat

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At the top level, it doesn't matter much if you have 27, 28 or 29 in the big mag. For years Todd avoided big sticks due to the disaster factor. If you miss a lot and can't reload well, then perhaps some more practice is called for ;)

If you shoot a lot of stages where there's a definite advantage to having 29 rounds versus 27, then petition your MDs to design stages more inline with what you'd see at a major.

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Hello: What I am seeing is more matches that are single stack friendly so the big stick is not as important as it used to be. I have 170mm mags that hold 29 or 30 rounds but my 140mm mags hold 24-26 rounds. You usually have a good place to do a reload so alot of times the 140mm mags will work just fine. Also alot of stages have steel on them so that even with a big stick you may have to do a reload when you miss like I do :roflol: Hope this helps. Thanks, Eric

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I am sooooo jealous right now.

Damn 10 round mag capacity limit...

Open 10 <_< Kind of defeats the whole idea of Open in my thinking.

This is why I'm glad to be an FROM your fair Province. Texas is still free, for right now anyway :blush:

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At the top level, it doesn't matter much if you have 27, 28 or 29 in the big mag. For years Todd avoided big sticks due to the disaster factor. If you miss a lot and can't reload well, then perhaps some more practice is called for ;)

This... and, it's interesting to note that I generally run w/ 28 in my big stick (downloaded by one to save stress on the frame). If it's a stage where I won't need a reload, I run 29 in my 30 round big stick - but that one doesn't get dropped. There are people who flirt with disaster and run 30 round sticks on 30 round stages. I almost never do that, except in cases where the targets are relatively close/easy and the shooting positions relatively close together, or awkwardly spaced/angled such that the risk is worth it, to me... I don't think you'll see the majority of the top shooters do it, either...

I'd add, though, that Todd always seemed to get bit by the big stick - knock on wood, I've had far better success with mine running than he seemed to have there, for a while... Of course, that was before .38 TJ brass was on the market, so ... don't know if he changed his mind after he had brass that was more amenable to running in a big stick, or not... Of course, if you can reload the gun like Todd reloads the gun, you could run 10 round mags and still crush...

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The rule book says something to the effect there should only be a max of nine rounds from any one shooting position. Now shooting areas can get around this but as Eric said, most stages are set up in arrays of 8 shoots with some type of movement between shooting arrays.

My big stick holds 29, the new followers from SV are suppose to up that a round or two. But for the most part 29 in a mag is pretty normal in my limited experience.

I always suspect some stage designers at previous nationals played with the round count to encourage a reload. I think last this did not happen though.

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Getting those 2 rounds is worth it.

It's true that if you can do a 1 second reload, having a big stick at all is not as important, much less having 29 or 30 rather than 27. But most of us cannot do a 1 second reload. And even if you can, it's still 1 second where your focus is not on shooting or moving.

My 140's hold 24 rounds, but I still use my 29 round big sticks really, really often. After all, if you have a 24 round stage, why run 24+1 and risk an extra reload if you need more than one make-up shot? If a stage has lots of tough steel, it's worth using the big stick even if it's only 20 rounds.

Sometimes there's risk in relying on your full capacity. If a stage is 30 rounds, with steel, do you go 29+1? If you fail, it's gonna cost you. But if you succeed, you could gain as much as 1 or 2 whole seconds. The more rounds your biggest mag holds, the more stages give you this opportunity.

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There are people who flirt with disaster and run 30 round sticks on 30 round stages. I almost never do that, except in cases where the targets are relatively close/easy and the shooting positions relatively close together, or awkwardly spaced/angled such that the risk is worth it, to me... I don't think you'll see the majority of the top shooters do it, either...

Yeah, if we _need_ the passing lane (and sometimes we do, and sometimes you see the top guys do it as well), then go for it, but we can't pull out there too many times before a truck comes the other way :D

All things equal, more is better, but unless you know how to keep it running 100%, give up a round for reliability any day. As Jerry (the source of the passing-lane quote) likes to say "you can't win the match on one stage, but you sure can lose it".

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I like that quote Shred!

I can only remember maybe 2 or 3 stages that I shot that there really was not much room to do a reload without losing time on a long fieldcourse. The other couple hundred long courses always had a break or 2 that was easy to reload on the move without losing time. The extra round or 2 are extra insurance but as others have said, can create problems. I watched a very good shooter shoot the first 6 and reload to a 29-30 round big stick only to watch it fall out of the gun when he broke his first shot at an Area Match! Ouch!!!!! That same stage was heavy on steel at the end but also had a 30 foot run to the next position.

They are nice to have but not really needed most of the time.

Brian

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how important is capacity in the 170mm mags? Is there much difference between 27 and 29 rounds

I ran the first 18 months of shooting OPEN with two 20 - round

mags:( But, that's 41 rounds - you rarely (NEver?) need more

than that.

And, as others have said - the long field courses of 28 - 32

rounds - you're running a real gamble to rely on no reloads, even

if you have 31 shots in the gun.

BUT, I do use the 29 round mag A LOT, now that I have it. An

awful lot of stages are 25 - 26 rounds, and that means no reload:)

I wouldn't try that with a 27 round mag, but I use my 29 round mag

all the time.

And, it isn't very much work to get a 29 round capacity - SVI tubes

and you're pretty much set. Harder with STI tubes.

Good luck,

Jack

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This... and, it's interesting to note that I generally run w/ 28 in my big stick (downloaded by one to save stress on the frame).

it still never really made sense to me how a big stick at capacity can stress the frame any more than a 140 at capacity - maybe the extra weight of the big stick hanging off the mag catch?

so, i dont think its that big a deal if it holds 27 or 29. most courses there is a opportune time to reload somewhere regardless if you can reload under a second or not. I shot open for 3 months with only 140's and though it would have been nice to not have to reload it also didnt ruin my score/time to have to throw one reload in.

At practice today I ran a stage with both my limited gun and singlestack. i ended up getting the exact same times(within 2 tenths of a second) with both guns since there was plenty of moving and places to reload.

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This... and, it's interesting to note that I generally run w/ 28 in my big stick (downloaded by one to save stress on the frame).

it still never really made sense to me how a big stick at capacity can stress the frame any more than a 140 at capacity - maybe the extra weight of the big stick hanging off the mag catch?

For reloads and even LAMR, you need to get it to lock in. Ramming a basically solid stack of ammo into the grip and hoping something bends and flexes enough to let it stick is hard on frames. Then all the force you used to click it in is now trying to push it's way out.

Open guys very very rarely load 140's to max capacity...

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