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Building a Limited Gun


Donho

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Its a personal preference thing. Have you tried shooting a heavy and a light gun??? I shoot a heavy gun and I am doing quite well with it. It may be slower in transitions but i have found it to be more forgiving than a lighter gun. I could also track the sights better which has helped quite a lot.

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Like Bulm540 said, its personal preference. I have been shooting a heavy set-up for years. Recently, I noticed that I was having a tough time stopping the gun on the "A" zone when indexing from target to target. Because I would get impatient, I would break the first shot early. It seemed that my first shot after the transition was either a "C" or a "D" and the second shot would be in the "A". So, I tried a friends light gun (a Brazos) and that made a HUGE difference. So, I had a new gun built that is very light. My hits have improved significantly. Recoil does not bother me that much so I can't tell a difference in felt recoil. What I can tell is that I can move the gun from target to target faster and stop it exactly where I want it. You can see pictures of my new pistol at this link:

My Webpage

The best thing you can do is try different set-ups. What works for me might not work for you. Bob Londrigan has a good list on his website about how to choose between a heavy or light setup. But the best thing is to try different setups. If you are going to the Georgia Sectional next weekend, and if they will let us test fire guns, you can try mine. Hope this helps.

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Scooterj makes a good point. I had mine built with the long dust cover. It can be hacked off if I want it lighter, or if I want heavier, I can add a tungsten GR and/or a bull barrel. Try to leave yourself some options.

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Be very carefull about shooting other guns. Aside from the obvious difference in static weight and felt recoil you won't really know if it is right for you until you practice with a particular gun for some time.

Build a heavy gun like an STI Edge. Shoot it for a seaon. Have it lightned if you not happy with the gun's performance.

Remeber it is a lot easier to make a heavy gun lighter than it is to make a light gun heavier.

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A lot of it is personal preference. That said, here's my dream limited gun if I were starting with an STI long dust cover frame.

I'd want a 6" slide for the longer sight radius, but lightened alot for less reciprocating mass.

Tungsten guide rod

Fiber optic front sight (red or green, I'm okay with either)

Bomar rear sight

Titanium hammer, strut, and mainspring cap (I'll live with the decreased life, I want the ultra quick lock-time)

Brown or Swenson ambi-thumb safety.

Brown beavertail grip safety, pinned

Some sort of mag funnel.

Contoured/stippled grip. I like to have the under side of my trigger guard thinned a little and stippled.

Basically, I want any part of the gun that moves to be as light as possible, and keep any part of the gun that doesn't move, heavy.

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The first thing that I would decide is a 5" or 6" gun. I never really bought into the whole 6" deal until I shot a friend's 6" Eagle in 10mm. Pretty sweet. That being said, about 8 months ago I picked up my Brazos BCG Pro Series Limited. I set it up with a long dustcover, full profile slide and bull barrel. Steel guide rod and aluminum magwell. I used to shoot limited exclusively and my last gun I loved. It was a full profile frame and slide with a bushing barrel. Really light and fast and most of all, like Jack said, stopped on a dime. Well the 2+ years of shooting Open, made my delicate hands go into shock when I started shooting with the some friends' limited guns. So when I ordered my gun from Bob, I was fortunate that we were at a match where he had various setups and loads handy to compare and contrast between heavy guns, medium weight guns and light guns. I chose what would probably be considered a "medium" weight. When I get back in the groove with Limited, I may have Bob swap the barrel out to a bushing'ed barrel, or just have him flute a bull barrel. Either way, I'll start shaving weight again.

Hope that helps.

Rich

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George Smith (EGW), in addittion to be one heck of a gunsmith, is also a great shooter. Take advantage of his knowledge and ask him what he thinks. He built my Super, .40 and AR. For me, a std length modular frame, 5" slide, bushing bbl and 5oz tungsten guide rod works.

Next time you go IPSC'ing, try out different people's guns. In the end, it all boils down to personal preference. Anyone who tells you that this or that setup is the "right" or "correct" one is wrong. There are too many differences in people in their physical makeup, shooting style, vision, etc. for anyone to say that there is only 1 right way.

-David

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Cool, I'm hoping to visit EGW next week to drop off my STI long wide frame. I hope George is in next week...I haven't heard back from him today yet.I plan on asking him for a bunch of recommendations on parts and setup so I'll let you know how it goes.

jon

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It doesn't look pretty, but I used a full length frame, and put a classic flat-topped slide on it. I did pretty well with that one. My new one's even nicer, but the only real difference is the slide on the new one is even lighter. Heavy frames and light slides are always a pretty good choice.

Phil

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I think we have a nominee for Understatement of the Year! Phil is being modest...he's a nice guy.

For a list of his numerous accomplishments, see:

This page

gmshtr said:

It doesn't look pretty, but I used a full length frame, and put a classic flat-topped slide on it. I did pretty well with that one. My new one's even nicer, but the only real difference is the slide on the new one is even lighter. Heavy frames and light slides are always a pretty good choice.

Phil

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