New gun

Yesterday I picked up a new gun to replace the old one which died at a match on April 19th.

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It’s another STI. This time a DVC Limited. Again it’s chambered in .40 S&W.

I didn’t realize it but this gun was just introduced at Shot Show this year and they are hard to get. I was going to get another STI Eagle but I saw this on the STI website in mid March and called around trying to find one.I asked the local gun shop if they could get me a good deal on one and after calling their distributors and STI found they could not. Only authorized dealers can get them. There are only three dealers within 100 miles of me. One told me I could get delivery in September. Another told me delivery “by the end of the year”. Another dealer told me they were on sale if I ordered by the end of the month and I would get it “in April or May”. It would have been nice to just “go pick it up” but April or May was a lot better than September or the end of the year. And getting it below MSRP was a big bonus. I ordered the gun and then less than a month later the STI I purchased in 1997 and carried almost daily died.

Getting the gun was a big thrill and I checked the holster fit before I getting in my car. It fit both my competition holster and my IWB carry holster. It was a little tight in the carry holster but not a big deal. I loaded it up and it felt so good to have a STI on my hip again.

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I had been carrying my Ruger P-89 in the Alien Gear IWB holster but after a few hours it was uncomfortable. And when I bent over to lift something the gun would pop most of the way out of the holster. I used to have Kramer holster for it but couldn’t find it.

I stopped off at the range before coming home. I shot factory ammo which I had known to be accurate in my old STI but it was a huge disappointment in this gun.

I bought a different brand in a different bullet weight and tried that. Still horrible.

I was about to give up and go home and decided to just empty the magazine. The last couple of rounds went about six or eight inches right of my point of aim on a target 21 feet away. Oh! I need to check something.

I tipped the gun to the left as I brought it closer to look at it and the front sight fell off:

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That happened with my first STI after a few hundred rounds when I first got it.

I put a 0.004 shim of plastic under the front sight and carefully tapped it into place just like I had done with my first STI.

I went to the range again today and the results were much better. I adjusted the sights for a 25 yard zero and tried it again at 7 yards.

This is five rounds, off hand, from 7 yards away with some of my Montana Gold handloads:

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This is five rounds, off hand, from 25 yards:

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Okay. That’s more like it! Most of the group dispersion is probably just my aging eyes in the relatively low light of the indoor range and the tremors in my hands and arms.

It’s been many years since I could get groups like that with my STI Eagle. I had been wondering if it was my aging fire control system or the gun. I’m pretty sure I can say it was the gun. The slide to frame fit on the Eagle was never very good. The gunsmith who assembled the kit had deliberately put it together with loose tolerances for reliable carry. After 40K rounds through it the tolerance probably increased enough to make the difference that I suspected were aging of the flesh rather than wear of the gun.

The first thing I did with the DVC Limited, assembled by STI, was check the slide to frame fit. I cannot detect any movement at all. It has to be on the order of 0.001” or less gap. Same with the barrel. No detectable motion when I try to wiggle it.

I’m very pleased now that the front sight is staying in place. I can’t wait for the next match.

Quote of the day—Bryce M. Towsley

Don’t get hung up on your gear. You need guns that are reliable and fit well, but that’s it. The next cool rail-mounted gadget will not make you a better shooter. Instead, take that money and buy more ammo for practice. The guy who has burned enough powder so he can hit the target fastest is the guy that will win the match, not the guy who dragged his gun through the gadget catalog.

If you practice with bad habits, you will shoot with bad habits. To learn correct technique, take a class from a professional. But if you don’t have the time and money for that, attend some local matches and learn from the top guys there.

Bryce M. Towsley
July 8, 2013
9 Shooting Tips for Better Long-Range Accuracy
[I can’t emphasis this enough. I started out shooting pistol matches with a Ruger P89. I took classes, practiced a couple times a week, and improved enough that I was occasionally winning the local USPSA matches.

On the Microsoft Gun Club email list other people were discussing which $1000 to $2000 gun would be best for the local pistol league match. I came in near the top in those leagues with my $300 Ruger. It wasn’t until I was certain the Ruger was “holding me back” and I had put 30K rounds through it that I decided to upgrade to a better pistol. I immediately saw about an improvement in my match results and dominated in the league matches.

I remember one time after doing quite a bit better than another league shooter he said something to the effect that it was the guns we were shooting that made the difference. He was shooting a compact Glock and I was shooting my STI Eagle. I offered to trade guns and reshoot the course of fire. He agreed. He did about the same as before and I did slightly worse. I still beat him by a significant margin.

The “meatware” is far more important than the hardware in almost all shooting matches. This is particularly important true in pistol matches.

In rifle matches there is a bigger difference in the hardware capabilities at long ranges. While you aren’t going to be making 1000 yard shots on USPSA targets with an SKS I’ll bet on Monte Milanuk (who coaches at Boomershoot each year) with a Savage Model 12 F-T/R chambered in .308 over someone who has invested more money than time into long range shooting.—Joe]

Quote of the day—J-

Glockheads are heathens, following a false prophet. Real Americans worship at the Church of John Moses Browning.

Follow not the unbelievers. Heed not the basement dwellers, mall ninjas, and armchair commandos. Do not anoint thy hip with Kydex and polymer.

J-
May 13, 2015
Comment to The New Austro-American Jihad.
[It’s a very well done rant and rave.

Via email from Michael B.—Joe]

Repeat an Insights class for 30% off

I’ve been thinking about doing this anyway:

Memorial Day Sale May 20-26

Repeat any class June through August and get 30% off! Because once just isn’t enough.

Call Jenna at 888-958-0884 or email info@InSightsTraining.com to sign up. This offer does not include Tactical First Aid or Shooting Leagues and may not be combined with any other discounts. This is for repeat classes — you must have taken the class previously.

Visit InSightsTraining.com and find a class that fits your schedule. Stay safe and we’ll see you in class!

Maybe now is the time to go through one of the classes I took nearly 20 years ago. I’m thinking maybe Intensive Handgun Skills.

Images from Boomershoot 2015

This is my impression of Boomershoot 2015 in images and a few words.

WP_20150503_08_05_45_Pro__highresCreating a target rich environment.

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The hillside as seen through a 6X scope.

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Part of the tree line target area as seen through a 6X scope.

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Nearly all of the target areas as seen from a 1.5X scope.

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The fireball crew and their work of art. Barron doesn’t actually walk around with a road flare stuck in his ear. See more details here.

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On the left Janelle is pregnant. On the right her husband Barron just initiated the fireball.
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People inspecting the crater left by the fireball.

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Adjusting the artillery for a long distance shot.

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It wasn’t really indirect fire.

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Appropriate.

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Taking a break.

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This guy did his prep before he started shooting.

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Barb and I patrol the shooting line (photo by Kim).

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The two obvious hits are probably outside the active zone anyway. But the target is mostly empty from the rip in the lower right corner.

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You’ve got the windage down. Let’s work on elevation.

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It’s still a target rich environment at lunch time.

 

Boomershoot 2016 will be April 22nd, 23rd, and 24th. You know you want to. Start making your plans now.

Road flares and gasoline

The Boomershoot 2015 fireball was very well done and impressive. Here are some of the details of the construction.

There were 15 seven-inch square targets, each containing 800 grams (about 1.8 pounds) of Boomerite arranged as shown below around a 50 pound bag of powdered sugar:

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The target in the lower right with the two red dots was facing the audience and shooter. This is the initiating target which propagated the detonation to the rest of the targets.

In the picture below you see 19 gallons of the gasoline/diesel mixture in place on top of the explosives.

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The job of the explosives is to lift the gasoline and mix it in the air. Usually we have a ratio of explosives to gasoline of about 1 pounds to 2 gallons up to 1 pound to 1 gallon. This time it is about 1.4 to 1.

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In the picture above we have the people that designed and constructed the fireball (left to right: Mike, Matthew, Barron, and Ry) along with the road flares attached with rubber bands to rebar and wooden sticks. One or more of these flares ignited the fuel air mixture.

In Phil’s slow motion video below you will see the ignition start on the side opposite the shooter and propagate to the remainder of the fuel-air mixture.

In this frame capture from Ry’s video you can see the dust propelled into the air some distance from the explosion. I suspect this is from the shock wave traveling through the ground.

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In the still picture of mine below you can see pieces of shredded milk jugs which have been propelled beyond the expanding “ball” of fuel and that most of the fuel has been ignited. The flares mounted on the rebar and sticks are entirely engulfed in the fireball.

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The following pictures is one of the most interesting fireball photos I have ever seen. Usually it is mushroom shaped or even flattens out more than the picture above. But this ball of fire barely touches the ground and is a decent approximation of a sphere. I’m not sure what the white streamers coming out of the fire are. Perhaps pieces of burning milk jug or lumps of powdered sugar.

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Here, a fraction of a second later, we have the ball of fire suspended in air on what is a probably a column of water vapor from the explosives:

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Here, another fraction of a second later, we have the fuel still burning high up in the air and forming a smoke ring:IMG_2701CroppedAdjusted

Watch Ry’s video and see the fire roll around in the sky. It’s amazing:

In the picture below, less than a minute after the explosion, we have Barron standing in the middle of the crater he created. But notice there is no fire on the ground. In years past there were patches of burning fuel on the ground. There was none this year. It all went up into the air.

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Another thing, as pointed out by Ry this year and last (edited to add: Ry says the first time was 2011 or earlier), is that nearly all of the flares have been extinguished. Ry is the first person I know who has successfully extinguished road flares with gasoline.

Don’t try this at home. Come to Boomershoot 2016 instead.

Barrel extraction

As I reported last month the barrel in my STI Eagle attempted to spontaneously disassemble. I couldn’t get the slide open and figured I would just put the gun on the shelf that way. But Jacob said he was interested in doing a professional metallurgical evaluation of it. So I put some effort into extracting the barrel from the gun.

First I used a punch and drove the slide stop out far enough to get a finishing nail partially under it so that it was exposed:

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Then brother Doug used an air powered cutoff tool to cut the slide stop almost in two and then pried the slide stop out:

The slide then easily came off. I then used a hammer (and other tools) to tap on the barrel to remove it from the slide.

The end result is that I was able to discover the barrel split about three fourths of its length:

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As I looked at this barrel I remembered something. That flat spot on the bottom of the barrel was not there when it came from the factory. That was machined by an STI gunsmith so that a Recoil Master would fit. This would have weakened the barrel.

Flash Sale on InSights Classes!

Via email from InSights. Highly recommended. I’ve spent thousands on their training over the years. Both for me and my family.


20% Off Selected Classes for the Whole Family

Limited time to sign up — April 29 – May 1, phone orders only:

  • Handgun Fundamentals: $180 only for the next 3 days
    Get better with your semi-auto and get tuned up for GDH!
    May 2, WCA Bellevue
     
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    Get the information, skills, and mindset to carry and use a handgun for self defense.
    May 9-10 WCA Bellevue
    June 13-14 WCA Bellevue
    June 20-21 WCA Everett
     
  • Glock Maintenance: $72 only for the next 3 days
    Keep your firearm in fight-winning condition.
    May 12, WCA Bellevue
     
  • Unarmed Self Defense II: $320 only for the next 3 days
    Build on your USD skills and gain fight-winning techniques against single and multiple attackers.
    May 30-31, WCA Everett
     
  • Defensive Folding Knife: $180 for the next 3 days
    If you can’t have your handgun, have your knife. Great jiu-jitsu repellent!
    June 6, WCA Everett
     
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    Easy to use, easy to carry, legal to have with you nearly everywhere.
    June 9, WCA Bellevue
     
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    Through games, drills, and discussions, your children will learn how to recognize potential dangers and get to safety.
    May 30, Redmond
     
  • Limited Time 20% Off Flash Sale — Train and Save!
    Call the office and talk to Jenna to register: 888-958-0884.

    See you in class!

    New shooter report

    Barb’s nephew Jeff wanted to learn to shoot so Barb reserved the training bay at the local indoor range and I brought a bunch of guns and ammo.

    I started him out with the safety rules, then grip, stance, sight alignment, trigger prep, squeeze, follow through, and finally dry fire. Once he had that all working pretty good he shot a .22 scoped rifle with a suppresser. Then it was the Ruger 22/45 while sitting, then while standing.

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    Then it was the .22 revolver:

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    Then the AR-15. And finally the Ruger P-89 (9mm).

    Overheard

    My lead and I went to lunch with three representatives from a vendor today. One had spent many years in law enforcement and the other two really enjoy hunting.  At lunch we spent a lot of time talking about the outdoors, shooting, hiking, hunting, and climbing mountains.

    While returning from lunch and walking through the parking garage:

    Vendor Rep: Nice Kydex holster for your flashlight. I suppose <company name> has a policy against fully loaded magazines to put in the slot next to it.

    Joe: They just might.

    Vendor Rep: But it’s the only holster you have for the flashlight, right?

    Joe: That’s right.

    It was the law enforcement guy.

    I love this job and the people I work with.

    USPSA match results

    As I posted earlier my participation in a USPSA match today was cut short by catastrophic equipment failure. Even having only completed three and zeroing three stages I still didn’t come in dead last:

    MRCPS April Uspsa
    4/19/2015
    Match Results – Combined
    Place Name Member # Class Division PF Lady Mil Law For Match Pts Match %
    1 Helterline, Nick A24193 G OPEN MAJOR N N N N 745.4775 100.000 %
    2 Ramberg, Tim TY70622 M OPEN MAJOR N N N N 704.8636 94.552 %
    3 Pries, Scott A57006 G LTD MAJOR N N N N 650.9987 87.326 %
    4 Kettels, Tom L465 M OPEN MAJOR N N N N 649.7426 87.158 %
    5 Hoang, Vinh TY55787 M LTD MAJOR N N N N 612.2319 82.126 %
    6 Wiley, John A68387 B LTD MAJOR N N N N 607.1873 81.449 %
    7 Hong, Andrew A83199 M LTD MAJOR N N N N 599.8781 80.469 %
    8 Tan, Loke TY66526 M OPEN MAJOR N N N N 598.7592 80.319 %
    9 Loo, Bob L1770 A OPEN MAJOR N N N N 594.1050 79.695 %
    10 Lee, Yong FY41528 G PROD MINOR N N N N 580.5697 77.879 %
    11 Kim, Hwansik A86278 A PROD MINOR N N N N 539.6461 72.389 %
    12 Eap, Sorida TY76563 B OPEN MAJOR Y N N N 532.4589 71.425 %
    13 Albero, Joseph FY37033 C OPEN MAJOR N N N N 529.1346 70.979 %
    14 LeRoux, Scott L3253 M LTD MAJOR N N N N 525.3467 70.471 %
    15 Tag, Alan A51215 G PROD MINOR N N N N 522.1622 70.044 %
    16 Shoemaker, Floyd L2396 M OPEN MAJOR N N N N 511.6337 68.632 %
    17 Wood, Bruce TY47022 A OPEN MAJOR N N N N 507.5291 68.081 %
    18 Huang, Jemy TY71576 B LTD MAJOR N N N N 491.8023 65.971 %
    19 Cotie, Paul A76039 M LTD MAJOR N N N N 490.3199 65.773 %
    20 Dong, James FY22573 B OPEN MAJOR N N N N 484.1667 64.947 %
    21 Roberts, Kevin A66808 B LTD MAJOR N N N N 471.5292 63.252 %
    22 Olka, Chris TY54513 B SS MAJOR N N N N 470.0700 63.056 %
    23 Nevins, Chris FY75900 A PROD MINOR N N N N 460.1006 61.719 %
    24 Plotnikov, Emanuel L3050 M PROD MINOR N N N N 456.4464 61.229 %
    25 Munson, Lisa A8382 A SS MAJOR Y N N N 454.2216 60.930 %
    26 Galanti, Mike TY13332 A LTD MAJOR N N N N 446.7189 59.924 %
    27 Miller, Tavis TY71173 A PROD MINOR N N N N 441.2201 59.186 %
    28 Roessel, Steven A44141 A OPEN MAJOR N N N N 439.5921 58.968 %
    29 Stockwell, Nicholas A89438 C LTD MAJOR N N N N 432.0450 57.955 %
    30 Leone, Larry L3001 A LTD MAJOR N N N N 426.6662 57.234 %
    31 Noel, Brian A29646 G REV MINOR N N N N 418.1377 56.090 %
    32 McNees, Don A88218 B LTD MINOR N N N N 415.6461 55.756 %
    33 Farrow, Dave B49 B PROD MINOR N N N N 410.6384 55.084 %
    34 Baleros, Rae A83018 B LTD MAJOR N N N N 406.8212 54.572 %
    35 Mouille, Scott TY68271 B LTD MAJOR N N N N 402.2876 53.964 %
    36 Saslawsky, Mike TY56783 C LTD MAJOR N N N N 391.1727 52.473 %
    37 James, Jason TY75331 B PROD MINOR N N N N 382.9065 51.364 %
    38 Erickson, Aaron TY84885 U SS MAJOR N N N N 374.4335 50.227 %
    39 Domingo, Noel A85786 C LTD MAJOR N N N N 372.3201 49.944 %
    40 Galind, Edward A61323 C LTD MAJOR N N N N 371.2768 49.804 %
    41 Brosas, Albert A54960 B LTD MINOR N N N N 369.2145 49.527 %
    42 Vanlandingham, Greg A90645 U PROD MINOR N N N N 360.9470 48.418 %
    43 Chiou, Roger TY71834 U LTD MAJOR N N N N 359.3018 48.198 %
    44 Roessel, Gary A2757 B LTD MINOR N N N N 358.9575 48.151 %
    45 Slaughter, Rustin A90627 U LTD MAJOR N N N N 354.3652 47.535 %
    46 Tomasie, Squire L1145 A PROD MINOR N N N N 349.1555 46.836 %
    47 Wall, Gary TY41939 B LTD MAJOR N N N N 348.2757 46.718 %
    48 Allen, Craig TY71465 B PROD MINOR N N N N 337.3902 45.258 %
    49 Breitkreutz, Gale TY82582 D OPEN MAJOR N N N N 336.3473 45.118 %
    50 Hodges, Palmer A80680 C PROD MINOR N N N N 336.2436 45.104 %
    51 Straathof, Greg A89323 U PROD MINOR N N N N 331.6126 44.483 %
    52 Pajarillo, Mario A25659 U PROD MINOR N N N N 328.3804 44.050 %
    53 Tsang, Keith A71578 B LTD MAJOR N N N N 323.8689 43.444 %
    54 Hodges, Justin A80693 C PROD MINOR N N N N 323.3540 43.375 %
    55 Harris, Brad A54628 A LTD MAJOR N N N N 322.6308 43.278 %
    56 Sherman, Tod TY37515 C LTD MAJOR N N N N 314.2959 42.160 %
    57 Boffey, David PENDING U PROD MINOR N N N N 309.3078 41.491 %
    58 Mackley, Matt PENDING U PROD MINOR N N N N 307.4944 41.248 %
    59 Mortell, Jeff A86651 C PROD MINOR N N N N 307.4439 41.241 %
    60 Dussault, Kyle A90234 U REV MINOR N N N N 304.4598 40.841 %
    61 Shatto, Rollie TY18977 C LTD MAJOR N N N N 301.6599 40.465 %
    62 Clark, Dean A85321 C LTD MINOR N N N N 295.1779 39.596 %
    63 Harding, Matt A87093 C PROD MINOR N N N N 291.0945 39.048 %
    64 Millican, Arthur L3892 U OPEN MINOR N N N N 286.3976 38.418 %
    65 Tablang, Nelson A86966 U PROD MINOR N N N N 278.4613 37.353 %
    66 Soraparu, Heather TY86040 C PROD MINOR Y N N N 278.0775 37.302 %
    67 Smith, Alex TY78406 C SS MAJOR N N N N 276.6623 37.112 %
    68 Westrich, Chaun A78506 C REV MINOR N N N N 271.8651 36.469 %
    69 Paczosa, Dan 2(SS) A87261 U SS MAJOR N N N N 271.1708 36.375 %
    70 Kellet, Steve TY37763 C SS MAJOR N N N N 270.8322 36.330 %
    71 Paczosa, Conner 1(PROD) A87261 U PROD MINOR N N N N 262.0480 35.152 %
    72 Gross, Brad A89754 U PROD MINOR N N N N 250.8192 33.645 %
    73 Crow, Don A85736 U PROD MINOR N N N N 237.3173 31.834 %
    74 Adam, Brandi A73942 C LTD MAJOR N N N N 232.1828 31.146 %
    75 Fenlin, Jim A77726 D SS MAJOR N N N N 212.6674 28.528 %
    76 Jensen, John TY87846 U PROD MINOR N N N N 211.2494 28.337 %
    77 Parisi, Jesse PENDING U LTD MINOR N N N N 195.8696 26.274 %
    78 Hansen, Susan A89501 U PROD MINOR Y N N N 179.5240 24.082 %
    79 Grover, Jason A86456 U PROD MINOR N N N N 177.4217 23.800 %
    80 Russell, Jim F79157 D PROD MINOR N N N N 176.7931 23.715 %
    81 Huffman, Joe TY29386 B OPEN MAJOR N N N N 147.4298 19.777 %
    82 Rowe, Mark A67862 D SS MAJOR N N N N 132.3297 17.751 %
    83 Bregante, Carlos TY4508 C LTD MINOR N N N N 122.8851 16.484 %
    84 Tolentino, Ronald A90654 U PROD MINOR N N N N 113.1315 15.176 %
    85 (DQ) Soltesz, Bob PENDING U SS MAJOR N N N N 0.0000 0.000 %

    For some reason they have me listed as being in Open class instead of Limited. I sent them email asking that they correct the error.

    They had a very “interesting” stage where you ran about 15 yards to the first five paper targets then ran about another 15 yards to some more paper targets and around the corner there was a Texas Star and three poppers 31 yards away:

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    A Texas Star is challenging under most any circumstances but 31 yards is almost obscene. Without going to Idaho I don’t have access to a place where I can shoot targets at 31 yards. This was evident in my performance. It took me several shots to discover I needed to hold at the top edge of the plates to hit them. Many people left some and at least one person left all of the plates as misses.

    This was another “interesting” stage. The start position was facing up range with your hands on the X’s:

    WP_20150419_004

    It was very awkward. And the taller you were the more difficult it was.

    The gun is all used up

    I went to a USPSA match today and my gun barrel fractured and locked up my gun. This is a cropped version of the picture I tweeted about shortly after the incident:

    WP_20150419_006Cropped

    Robb Allen almost immediately asked the obvious question, “Your own loads or factory?” And of course the answer was they were rounds I had loaded myself. In many situations this would be the end of the story. The shooter had a squib (a round with no or insufficient powder) which resulted in a bullet stuck in the barrel and the next round set off the automatic self-destruct sequence of events. Another way it could have happened was a round got double charged or the wrong powder was used. In any case it is relatively easy and frequent that handloaders blow up their guns through their own carelessness.

    But as Ry pointed out the head of the shell casing is still there which probably means there wasn’t an over pressure event involved. I was able to hammer the gun open far enough for the shell casing to drop out and confirmed Ry’s suspicion:

    IMG_2613Cropped

    This is a perfectly normal looking piece of brass. Even the primer looks normal so there was no overpressure event involved. I tried putting it in the case gauge and it would only go in about halfway. The chamber of barrel is now, of course, large than spec and the brass expanded just a bit more than normal even though it can’t be seen with the naked eye.

    I tried for quite a bit to get the gun open in the hopes that I could remove the barrel but I wasn’t able to get it open any beyond this:

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    You can’t see it in the photograph but the feed ramp also split.

    I finally just closed it up:

    IMG_2616Cropped

    I don’t know what the root cause was. I wonder if it wasn’t a timing issue which caused some abnormal stress because I had a broken link with this barrel once before.

    Something that is interesting to me is that I had the lugs break on the original STI barrel after about 20,000 rounds and this barrel failed after almost exactly the same number of rounds. I have known the gun was living on borrowed time for nearly six years now so I can’t really complain a lot.

    I’m not going to try to get the gun repaired. As Barb, essentially, and Gay_Cynic said, I used the gun up.

    Update: I should have said that the shot sounded and felt almost normal to me. The recoil cycle wasn’t quite right but there wasn’t a greater than normal impulse or BOOM!

    Case prep

    I thought mine was getting complicated and expensive. Actually it’s complete ammunition manufacturing.

    The guy giving us the tour obviously isn’t a hand loader, is he?

    So anyway; you want a complete home loading facility, it would look something like that. The QA alone is quite an impressive operation.

    I’d need a rather larger spare bedroom than the one I currently use for reloading.

    Hat tip; Sipsey

    Steel Challenge match results

    Ry and I went to a Steel Challenge match today. I shot with a centerfire pistol and he shot a .22 Pistol.

    I came in fourth out of 30 people which is significantly better than the seventh out of 36 last time with this group. I felt really good about almost all of my shooting this time. Well… except after stage 4 where I had no problems and it confounded almost everyone else in our squad and Taylor said she wasn’t going to hang out me with anymore. I completed it in 19 seconds flat and it took her over 49 seconds.

    Ry made a video of me shooting one of the stages. It seems like my draw is really slow but it seems to be on the order of 1.5 seconds so that isn’t too bad.

    Another thing of interest is that I was wearing a Boomershoot 2006 shirt and the R.O. said the Latin (Veni, vidi, BOOM!) was perfect.

    Here are more detailed results:

    Stage # SCSA ID Stage Name
    1 ?? Go Fast
    2 ?? Star Burst
    3 ?? Concentrate
    4 ?? In & Out

    Centerfire Pistol

    Place Name Comp SCSA Division Aggregate Total Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 DQ Additional
    1 Christian S 58 PROD 57.71 57.71 10.40 15.62 15.48 16.21 Junior
    2 Alexander W 55 3362 OPN 62.61 62.61 9.71 15.71 21.12 16.07 Junior
    3 Connor P 60 A87260 PROD 72.30 72.30 11.00 20.43 20.04 20.83 Junior
    4 Joe H 23 3799 ISP 74.71 74.71 12.54 20.58 22.59 19.00 Senior
    5 Bob S 2 PROD 78.06 78.06 13.02 20.21 22.55 22.28 Senior
    6 Euan G 4 ISP 81.87 81.87 13.85 26.14 20.99 20.89
    7 Jeff K 15 PROD 87.74 87.74 13.69 25.61 20.77 27.67
    8 Matthew M 14 PROD 88.08 88.08 13.94 24.69 25.48 23.97 Military
    9 Dan P 62 A87261 ISP 89.16 89.16 15.05 25.94 24.13 24.04
    10 Eric W 63 3362 PROD 90.28 90.28 16.24 22.62 27.87 23.55
    11 Lukasz T 35 5956 ISP 90.31 90.31 10.87 24.60 26.03 28.81
    12 Bradley M 57 PROD 96.33 96.33 13.15 23.80 29.56 29.82 Junior
    13 Lance B 16 PROD 97.86 97.86 18.22 26.53 25.52 27.59
    14 Tim R 20 ISR 99.84 99.84 18.85 23.81 26.24 30.94
    15 Earl B 10 ISP 100.32 100.32 19.27 24.08 28.13 28.84
    16 Don C 33 A85736 PROD 101.26 101.26 16.96 27.43 29.15 27.72 Senior
    17 Jason F 24 PROD 104.44 104.44 14.90 29.54 30.07 29.93
    18 Jeffrey K 39 A84426 PROD 106.46 106.46 16.19 31.00 25.14 34.13 Senior
    19 Jesse P 28 PROD 109.06 109.06 18.42 29.30 28.91 32.43
    20 Mark B 3 OPN 112.01 112.01 18.79 30.51 29.48 33.23
    21 Bryce K 8 PROD 114.50 114.50 18.86 26.12 30.76 38.76
    22 Brad M 49 ISP 119.75 119.75 16.98 39.49 34.20 29.08
    23 Jason G 27 A86456 PROD 121.79 121.79 17.35 32.19 35.62 36.63
    24 Joel F 7 PROD 124.19 124.19 18.71 29.01 33.64 42.83
    25 Euan G 9 PROD 125.53 125.53 23.00 31.80 37.14 33.59
    26 Patrick D 5 PROD 155.65 155.65 17.15 40.77 49.57 48.16 Military
    27 Denny M 25 PROD 164.79 164.79 27.78 50.18 38.22 48.61
    28 Taylor C 18 ISP 170.22 170.22 20.46 47.90 52.83 49.03 Lady
    29 Gail C 19 PROD 210.22 210.22 29.49 62.28 52.56 65.89 Lady
    30 Paul B 29 A87020 PROD 248.23 248.23 18.95 120.00 42.46 68.43 Senior

    .22 Pistol

    Place Name Comp SCSA Division Aggregate Total Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 DQ Additional
    1 Christian S 59 RFPI 46.69 46.69 7.16 13.10 14.21 12.22 Junior
    2 Connor P 61 A87260 RFPI 47.66 47.66 7.74 12.04 14.85 13.03 Junior
    3 Lukasz T 34 5956 RFPO 50.86 50.86 8.54 14.39 13.33 14.60
    4 Bradley M 56 RFPI 53.63 53.63 7.28 14.55 17.20 14.60 Junior
    5 Jeff K 6 RFPO 55.02 55.02 9.39 14.23 15.63 15.77
    6 Stephen D 1 RFPO 56.18 56.18 9.83 16.39 13.44 16.52
    7 Alexander W 54 3362 RFPI 57.27 57.27 8.91 13.97 15.88 18.51 Junior
    8 Cel A 48 4893 RFPI 58.49 58.49 11.97 15.46 15.82 15.24
    9 Lance B 12 RFPI 72.81 72.81 12.20 17.27 21.37 21.97
    10 Addison L 52 RFPI 73.83 73.83 9.14 20.13 26.24 18.32 Junior
    11 Earl B 11 RFPI 79.23 79.23 9.65 19.77 24.54 25.27
    12 Michael M 50 RFPI 93.87 93.87 17.92 26.63 23.32 26.00
    13 Erik F 17 RFPI 95.71 95.71 14.51 26.51 30.53 24.16
    14 Denny M 26 RFPI 103.69 103.69 11.45 29.27 36.83 26.14
    15 Ry J 21 TY76202 RFPO 112.62 112.62 18.63 24.50 34.05 35.44
    16 Adrian C 38 RFPI 113.81 113.81 15.13 25.98 35.98 36.72 Junior
    17 James W 32 RFPI 116.89 116.89 13.68 40.04 35.67 27.50 Senior
    18 Sara W 45 RFPI 117.25 117.25 30.42 30.62 30.36 25.85 Lady, Junior
    19 Sabrina W 43 RFPI 125.27 125.27 19.81 37.65 36.21 31.60 Lady, Junior
    20 Joey M 47 RFPI 143.40 143.40 44.56 42.90 26.41 29.53 Junior
    21 Ezzy A 44 5478 RFPI 153.70 153.70 21.73 42.75 44.20 45.02 Lady, Junior
    22 Isabelle M 42 RFPI 198.93 198.93 23.24 104.72 34.68 36.29 Lady, Junior
    23 Paul B 30 A87020 RFPI 228.11 228.11 18.52 120.00 52.80 36.79 Senior

    Rounds in the last month

    Here is an update on the total number of rounds I have reloaded:

    223.LOG: 2027 rounds.
    3006.LOG: 467 rounds.
    300WIN.LOG: 1351 rounds.
    40SW.LOG: 38807 rounds.
    45.log: 0 rounds.
    9MM.LOG: 21636 rounds.
    Total: 64288 rounds.

    This is a delta of 3064 rounds since last month. This is composed of 1,137 rounds of .40 S&W and 1,927 rounds of 9mm. So far this year I have reloaded 6,859 rounds.

    This morning I ran some bullets over the chronograph using the ETR7 powder I got last month. Using the Montana Gold 180 grain JHP and the loads suggested somewhere else I tried 4.5 grains and 4.8 grains with an OAL of 1.135. The results were a little lower velocities than what I expected. All tests were with the muzzle 10 feet from the first screen of the chronograph and an ambient temperature of 32F. The low temperature may have affected the velocities some but I need to be able to make major power factor (165) even when it is cold out.

    4.5 grains of ETR7:

    Mean Velocity: 861 fps
    Standard Deviation: 17.5 fps
    Minimum Velocity: 832 fps
    Maximum Velocity: 891 fps
    Extreme Spread: 59 fps
    Power Factor: 155.07

    4.8 grains of ETR7:

    Mean Velocity: 891 fps
    Standard Deviation: 20.6 fps
    Minimum Velocity: 864 fps
    Maximum Velocity: 935 fps
    Extreme Spread: 71 fps
    Power Factor: 160.54

    The suggested max load is 5.0 grains. But what I need to do is check the primers of the 4.8 grain loads before bumping the load up to the max. And if linear interpolation is valid for this range of loads 5.0 grains isn’t going to get me into major.