Revofan Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 I've ben competing only a couple of years in just steel matches and a little uspsa and icore next season i plan on shooting a lot more i have a 2011 open gun being built and then hopefully (funds permiting) a limited shortly after i shoot limited and open glock now and I'm making the move to the dark side i want to progress as a shooter and im looking to pick your brains just out of curiosity how many of you have back up guns and why ?? was there an incident that made you want a back up ? have you had to use them ? are they equivalent to your daily driver ? is it necessary ? why ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLUTO Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 My experience (limited as it is) is that a lot of the top guys have a backup in case the primary dumps. Comes in handy should it be a major and out of town etc.Ive got 2 open guns but have yet to have the primary crap out. I think if I were traveling around to matches or was good enough that it mattered, I probably would prefer to have more than one of anything. My son had a KBOOM in a limited G35 blowing the extractor across the range. We took a G22 down and pillaged parts. Short of the targets left on the one stage he was able to finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxbat Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 I think you will never need your backup for as long as you have it, but will need one as soon as you get rid of it. I have never had any problems when I had more than one gun, but as soon as I went down to just one, it failed - the Aftec broke clean in the middle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cecil Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 I do have a back up gun for my main shooter.... and I have a back up gun for my back up gun.. lol... but in retrospect... if you are shooting a match... if your primary gun breaks in a stage.. you will get a ZERO for that stage... its difficult to climb out of that hole.. but with a back up gun... at least you can finish shooting the match... but explain to your wife that a back up gun is a necessity... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxshooter Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 I have back up guns for all of my guns. I have only used a back up one time in the last 6 years. I had an ejector break on my open gun and rather than mess around with replacing it I just shot my back up. I had a fitted ejector in my bag for the main gun but did not want the distraction of taking the gun apart, replacing the ejector and putting it back together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 I do have a back up gun for my main shooter.... and I have a back up gun for my back up gun.. lol... but in retrospect... if you are shooting a match... if your primary gun breaks in a stage.. you will get a ZERO for that stage... its difficult to climb out of that hole.. but with a back up gun... at least you can finish shooting the match... but explain to your wife that a back up gun is a necessity... Outstanding reasoning! Unless a miracle happens and your gun breaks on the final shot of a stage you are hosed and the backup only enables you to finish the match. I guess if your are going to the Nationals and spending the better part of $1,500 or more to shoot it might make sense but short of that i'd rather take the risk and use the money for other shooting stuff ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hi-Power Jack Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 I drove to a match 300 miles, each way, and on the first stage my front sight blew off Couple years later, when I went to the Nationals, I'd be damned if I was going to fly from the East Coast to Las Vegas with ONE gun .... So, I bought a second TruBor (matched my first TruBor) and fortunately, never needed it in Vegas, but the gun never missed a beat at the Nat'ls. I LOVE having a 2nd gun I can shoot - I've even loaned it to another shooter when his gun went down - nice to have a 2nd shooter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnote Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 Consider what matches you are shooting and how many. All local??? Driving 6-10 hours and not finishing would suck. How many times a year you may do a major. The cost of a back up equaled my travel expenses for one recent season. So really, most of the money we spend is after the firearm, like match expenses , rounds / reloading supplies , travel etc. Piece of mind allows for better mental preparation Mr Murphy will raise his head at the worst of times, not the convenient ones.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc5 Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 Not ideal or perfect, but I always pack my limited gun as a backup. No optic but better than being a spectator ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 Not ideal or perfect, but I always pack my limited gun as a backup. No optic but better than being a spectator ! Hell, I take my XDM 5.25 and enough ammo to shoot the match no matter where I go. If my Open gun goes down at least I will be able to shoot something! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aircooled6racer Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 Hello: I build my own guns so I just take some spare parts incase I need them. I have never needed them but fixed a lot of other peoples guns when they broke. Spare parts that fit your gun will be all you need if you know how to fix it. If you can't fix your own pistol a spare pistol would be nice. Thanks, Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hi-Power Jack Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 I take spare parts in case I need them. If you can't fix your own pistol a spare pistol would be nice. +1. Eric has hit it right on the head here - best answer, yet. :bow: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowboy1629 Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 The only time I couldn't fix my open gun at a match was when the slide broke. Of course it wasn't until after the match that I figured out what happened. I thought maybe I lost zero on my C-More so as I was trying to zero it in the next day I found the crack in the slide. This was at a local match and the only reason I started looking for a problem is because it looked like I was shooting a scatter gun rather than an open blaster. Had I been at a big match shooting multiple days I would have been out because I don't carry spare slides. Some day I hope to have a new open gun built and I will keep my current one for a backup but until then I will just carry spare parts and hope I don't break a major part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revofan Posted August 16, 2014 Author Share Posted August 16, 2014 Thanks a lot for all the insight I will save and at least for a back up limited gun until then I'll just keep my limited G34 with me at matches just in case on did have one miss hap at a steel challenge the extractor broke on my mkiii on the first string of the first stage luckily I guy I know on my squad was shooting a similar gun and shared his with me for the match wich was awsome !!!! One thing I can say about this sport (at least for me) everyone I've shot with have Ben great friendly people that enjoy lending a hand giving or receiving advice and just greet conversations !!!!!! Love going to different matches and meeting new people and running into the same ones as well !!! And as far as telling my wife I need a back up gun shiiiiit she don't know how many I have now I'd like to keep it that way !!!!!! I don't need the you bought another gun we need a new roof or new furniture new floor new fans new lights etc. but instead you bought a gun !!!!!! lMAO and yes that happend once and us men as intelligent human beings say I just won't tell her next time lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadyscott999 Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 To say that a match is lost because a gun breaks is no where close to true. It really depends on where you are in the standings what, type of stage the gun breaks on, and what type of match it is. You can certainly zero a short course at and Area match or Nats and still win your class. I am pretty sure Ben zeroed a stage at nats last year and still won the national championship. Yes, a back up gun is a must if shooting major matches. If it weren't, the top guys wouldn't have them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrbet83 Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 (edited) I am pretty sure Ben zeroed a stage at nats last year and still won the national championship.And you'd be wrong**** In fact, if he would have zeroed any one stage, he would have lost the National Championship. Edited August 16, 2014 by jrbet83 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadyscott999 Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 I am pretty sure Ben zeroed a stage at nats last year and still won the national championship.And you'd be wrong**** In fact, if he would have zeroed any one stage, he would have lost the National Championship. I may be wrong on it being at Nats, but he in fact did zero a stage at a major and still won. I will tell you the exact match in a few. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aircooled6racer Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Hello: The only guy I know of that zeroed a stage at nationals and still won was Max a couple years ago. Not sure if he could do that now. If you do buy another pistol make sure they both make major with the same ammo. Thanks, Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadyscott999 Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Hello: The only guy I know of that zeroed a stage at nationals and still won was Max a couple years ago. Not sure if he could do that now. If you do buy another pistol make sure they both make major with the same ammo. Thanks, Eric You are correct about nats. I just talked to Ben. It was Max at the 09 nats. He zeroed a short and still won the match. Ben's was an area match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dranoel Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 I usually have a few spare parts like springs, disconnector and firing pin, but I don't usually have an honest workable spare gun. I could theoretically us my .45 as a back-up for an open gun but as a single stack it would be a waste of time. I have shot steel with it so it could be a back-up for that, I suppose. Just not a very good one. I could use the .38SC I'm building for bowling pins but it would be seriously ineffective. I am, however building a new pin gun so the old .45 would be a backup. But the real key is to make sure your primary gun is as reliable as possible. If you are serious enough about shooting matches to have a backup, you should be serious enough that if you have any doubts about a part, replace it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38supPat Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Backups are nice but its probably more cost effective to be able to have fitted spare parts and be able to replace them yourself. If you are serious about this enough to consider buying a backup then you are serious enough to learn how to do your own basic gunsmithing. I have a back up technically but made the decision this year not to bring it to matches. I will use it if my main gun is out having work done (stuff I can't do). One thing I found was that unless you are able to afford to buipd two guns built identical at the same time what you will end up doing is using your old match gun as the back up and your new gun as your match gun. Anytime you have an issue you will go back to using the old gun until the new one is fixed...then you start defaulting to using the old gun all the time because you don't trust the new gun and it becomes harder to spend the tine fixing the new gun because you have a working gun in your bag. So this year I made the decision to stick with the new gun until its 100%. Having the back up might have saved my Ryan Rocks match but it added incentive to learn how to properly fit an extractor and get it running. And I learned a bit more about what makes a racegun run. What's that old saying about "beware the man with only one gun?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amish_rabbi Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 I dont think anyone has touched on this, but if you have a back up gun you have the advantage of doing most of your practice with that one and limiting how many rounds go through your match gun. It means the match gun lasts longer before it wears out and since the back up is only for practice then you dont mind a little loss in accuracy due to rounds through it. 20k+ a year can equal alot of wear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcc7x7 Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 My open gun has gone down a couple of times usually just foolish stuff but I switched guns and finished the match. Got home fixed the new gun and went on I do a lot of my dryfire with the old (back up gun) stops wear and tear on the new one. Both have same grips, safeties, c-mores etc so they point the same and feel the same Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waynes_world_45 Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 I wish I was in a higher tax bracket because I'd have a back-up Identical to my main gun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryO Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 (edited) I wish I was in a higher tax bracket because I'd have a back-up Identical to my main gun. Like this, waited 11 1/2 months but they finally came this week. Identical except for the triggers. Ones red the other black. Easier to tell them apart. Edited August 30, 2014 by TerryO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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