Bad Form in Competitive Shooting

Have a question and a statement to make.

Do we, while shooting in a squad (either IDPA or USPSA) rat out on a fellow shooter because the SO and scorekeeper did not notice/catch a procedural error? Do you do it? I definitely don’t, unless it’s a safety issue. Why? for one, according to the rules (I believe only in USPSA), you’d receive a Procedural penalty for Assisting or Interfering with the shooter. Match penalties aside and for IDPA, it’s BAD FORM.

It’s like an unwritten code between fellow shooters. You will not ever see me do this, even if it means losing a state/national match. I understand a lot of folks are very competitive in nature, but some lines should not be crossed.

It is also BAD FORM, to do this post match, either on the forums or by dissecting videos. Commenting about procedurals is fine, complaining about them and crying foul is absolutely distasteful.

All Setup for 9mm

Thanks to my lovely wife, I got some 9mm reloading stuff for Christmas and just found some time to setup my Dillon 9mm dies, toolhead assembly and configure them to reload 9mm.

I did have a question to anyone who’s reading this who has experience reloading 9mm, here’s a pic of the finished product, OAL is 1.125 (as suggested by Hodgdon). Why is there a dip (or taper) in the middle of the ammo? Is that normal?

The diameter at the rear of the case is 0.388, the middle is 0.376 and the neck is 0.377-0.378.

Am I doing something wrong?

 

*UPDATE*

From various friends and forums, the Coca-Cola bottle / Hourglass shape of the 9mm round is normal, the case isn’t straight walled like a .40S&W or a .45 ACP. The round above though doesn’t have enough crimp. I’ve added more crimp and taken another picture to compare :

The neck is now .375-.376. Looks much better. That said, when I pulled the bullet, the crimp leaves a mark. I’m not sure if this is good or not.

When should you clean your Revolver?

I’m OCD when it comes to cleaning guns. I love to take them apart and clean them, making sure they’re shiny and free of gunk or carbon. I clean them after I shoot them. I just can’t stand to have a dirty gun just lying there. Some folks might argue that I shouldn’t but it has worked for me. Keeps my gun running great and my sanity in check.

But for those who like to keep their guns dirty, I think you have to clean your gun if it’s internals look anything like this :

Don’t you agree?

Prepping my Dillon to load .40 S&W

I’ve bought the .40S&W conversion kit for my Dillon 550B reloader but haven’t got the time to configure it until today. Had some free time and decided to get my ass off the chair and do something about it. I don’t have all the components yet to complete my reloading but enough to configure my Dillon toolhead and dies.

all I need is Hodgdon Titegroup and some Small Pistol Primers.

I have a 9mm conversion kit, dies and Dillon Quick Change Kit coming so I can reload 9mm too. can’t wait!

Modified Grips for S&W 625 JM

I’ve been using the Hogue Wooden grips for the past two matches and while the size is just right, the slipperiness of it especially during cold/wet days it a little hard to deal with. The Hogue rubber grips that originally game with the gun is just nice but the grooves were a little out of place for me.

It’s designed for someone with slightly larger fingers. When I use it stock, my grip is not high enough. The only way is to modify the rubber grip by cutting off the tangs and smoothen it out.

Here’s how it looks like after cutting and filing it down.

And how it looks on the gun :

Now it’s perfect!

I’ve also changed the trigger weight to 8lbs (average)

 

Hope all those light strikes will go away now.

IDPA Postal Match–Revolver

Shot this today at the Renton Fish & Game Club organized by the NorthWest Practical Pistol Association.

Shot pretty decently, except for one stage where I missed two targets, 2 misses and 2 FTNs (Failure to Neutralize) for a total penalty of 15seconds!! That basically threw the whole match for me.

Before heading to this match, I made sure my Revolver spring tension was set and locked at 7lbs, checked all my primers to make sure they’re below flush and hand seated them.

But I still had one light strike, out of about 60 rounds. I have a theory about what’s causing the light strike and I’ll see if I can remedy the situation. If not, I’ll have to set my tension weight to a higher weight and deal with the slightly harder trigger pull.

Glow Ammo Available in January 2011!

Can’t wait to be able to get some of this from Glow Ammo. It’s a “tracer” like kind of technology that is both chemically and biologically safe unlike traditional tracers. It’s a sticker that you’d stick at the bottom of your bullet just before you reload it. Once shot, the heat (I believe) causes the sticker to glow thus making it look like a tracer going downrange. here’s a video of how it works with .45 ACP ammo :

Watch this space, I’m definitely going to shoot an IDPA match with this and post videos.

Sorting .40 S&W Brass

I wanted to trade some of the .40 S&W brass (3,000) that I had for some 9mm brass that I intend to reload and decided to do it today. I started counting in batches of 5, but after 300 rounds, I can see that this is going to take a LONG time to complete. I decided to use the weight approximation method to count 3,000 rounds. Put 300 rounds on my weighing scale and to my surprise. 3lbs. HMM! Does that mean that 1lb of .40S&W brass = 100 rounds?

I took 10 rounds and weighed them, 1.5oz. Wow that’s pretty close. so instead of counting up to 3,000 which I suspect, would have taken me a good hour or so, I packed three ziplock bags, 10lbs each for a total of 3,000 rounds. approx

10mins and I’m done. Great! Back to some wine and TV.

Custer’s Last Tactical Rifle Match of the Season

Went out to the Custer Sportsmen’s Club for the USTRA (http://ustacticalrifle.org) final TacRifle match of the season. Squadded with a bunch of great & experienced shooters. I came in 6th overall at this match and had a ton of fun. It’s always exhilarating to shoot a Tactical Rifle match, you shoot anywhere from 30-50 rounds of ammo per stage and you get to run and gun with long guns like you would in a traditional USPSA/IPSC type stage format.

I brought out my high-speed camera and gun-cam and spliced them together. Hope you enjoy watching it.

 

Glockworx Prototype CCW Magazine Release for a Glock

Ever since I bought my Glock 19, I’ve upgraded it with a few enhancements, one of them is an extended magazine release. The reason is I find it a little hard to depress the mag release button without having to shift my grip too much. Quickly bought one from MidwayUSA and after a couple of minutes struggling with the small spring tension, I finally got it installed. It worked very well right up to the point I had to carry the Glock in my IWB Crossbreed Supertuck holster.

The extended mag release protrudes out from the frame a little too much for IWB carry and keeps getting engaged while I’m seated or while moving around. This caused my magazine to release prematurely and drop out from the gun fairly frequently. This problem doesn’t exist if you use it with OWB type holsters because you have more clearance between the gun and your body.

Seeing my dilemma, a buddy of mine who works at Zev Technologies (Glockworx) sent a prototype magazine release to me a few weeks ago. I’ve been carrying it in my Crossbreed holster for two weeks now and it works wonderfully. It’s the best of both worlds actually, it sits flush against the frame and yet makes it easier for me to engage the mag release.

How?

It’s cut a little shorter than the stock mag release.

To compensate for not being able to press the mag release as much as a stock one, they moved the spring tension “hole” forward just a hair. This makes it easier for you to drop the magazine. It is in essence, shorter, yet easier to depress than a stock mag release. The feel of it is very similar to the extended one, but without the detriment of accidentally releasing the magazine when carrying it close to your body.

(Top to Bottom : Glockworx prototype, Stock mag release, Extended mag release)

Overall, I’ve very happy with this dual benefit release mechanism. If they had this product available, I would not hesitate to buy it or recommend it to my friends who carry a Glock.