Ideal rate of twist (MLP firearms and shooting thread)

[MiniB]

*Mod Edit*

Okay, that was Strike One... and in a two-strikes-only kind of game, no less.

Please refrain from discussing partisan politics in this thread.

 

[SteveC]

Let's leave gun laws out of our fun little thread. Please and thank you.

Ditto... I don't think any of us want to have this thread shut down over that shit. Thanks!

 

[Bigfoot410]

Ditto... I don't think any of us want to have this thread shut down over that shit. Thanks!

 

[sonar1]

Had a terrible round of skeet Sun morning with my new shotgun.
Perhaps it’s the twist (in my rhythm).

Just glad my 33yo grandson wasn’t on hand to share my embarrassment.

Trap, I think, next Sunday is indicated...




with my old shotgun

 

[MiniB]

I'm shooting maybe two more matches, then shutting it down and sitting on my ammo supply until things start to hopefully change for the better, however long that will be. I had a relatively healthy stash 9mm and 5.56 before even the pandemic hit, since then bought a few cases of 9mm to replenish and shoot a few matches....stopped about two months ago at which time it was up to $0.33 per round, and I thought that was bonkers. It's surreal now in terms of prices and availability.

I have enough .22 to shoot a few steel matches with, but that will be it as well for a while. When/if things get started up again like 'normal', it'll be like three years back in terms of getting my skills back.

 

[SteveC]

Had a terrible round of skeet Sun morning with my new shotgun.
Perhaps it’s the twist (in my rhythm).

Just glad my 33yo grandson wasn’t on hand to share my embarrassment.

Trap, I think, next Sunday is indicated...




with my old shotgun

I think that Trap is much better for "breaking in" a new shotgun. The repeatability of it allows you to get used to the subtle (and no so subtle) differences between new and old gun, without adding in the variables found in skeet and sporting clays. That is, of course, after you pattern it at the board

I'm not a Skeet shooter, but I do shoot a lot of Sporting Clays. It was a bitch and a half getting used to my (at the time) new Citroi 725 vs. my old Beretta SP1 when shooting Sporting Clays. A few hundred clays at the Trap range helped iron out the kinks. Sporting Clays were not a problem after that.

I'm shooting maybe two more matches, then shutting it down and sitting on my ammo supply until things start to hopefully change for the better, however long that will be. I had a relatively healthy stash 9mm and 5.56 before even the pandemic hit, since then bought a few cases of 9mm to replenish and shoot a few matches....stopped about two months ago at which time it was up to $0.33 per round, and I thought that was bonkers. It's surreal now in terms of prices and availability.

I have enough .22 to shoot a few steel matches with, but that will be it as well for a while. When/if things get started up again like 'normal', it'll be like three years back in terms of getting my skills back.

I feel your pain. I'm in the exact same place. October's Halloween Zombie match at my club will be the last AR platform match that I'll shoot until the ammo situation becomes un-stupid. My hard stop for that ammo has been reached. Fuck.

I have enough 9mm to shot a few more Steel Challenge matches in Open, but after that it's the Rimfire classes only for the foreseeable future. I do want to shoot in the big December USPA match, too. So, I need to save a few hundred rounds of 9mm for that. Then, done.

Three gun? Ugh... I stopped shooting that in June. The round counts were just killing me. Plus, I'd rather use the shotgun ammo for Sporting Clays. Thank goodness shotgun ammo hasn't been impacted by the current ammo crisis.

I did uber-stock up on .22lr after the last shortage. So, I have a ridiculous (>25Krounds) amount of that. I wish I did the same with .223 and 9mm. I will not make that mistake again, if and when we can ever get ammo at sane pricing again, my minimum stock will be 50K rounds of each.

 

[MiniB]

I withdrew from a few 3-gun matches this summer...really wanted too shoot those since I'm new to it. There are a few shotgun steel matches relatively local so I may try one, but my reloading sucks.

What really stinks though is not seeing a lot of folks that you've gotten friendly with at local matches through the years, and that you normally see each week, and often grab some food and drink with afterwards. One of them passed away...actually one of the first ones I met when I started IDPA, so that hurt. But at least I've saved on gas money!

 

[Neffco]

I shot my 6.5 Grendel, 6.5 creed, 30-06, 44 S&W, and my elk rifle today. The old 300 win mag kicks like a mule! My scoped 44 pistol is dead nuts at 100y. I’m all ready for rifle season.

 

[SteveC]

I withdrew from a few 3-gun matches this summer...really wanted too shoot those since I'm new to it. There are a few shotgun steel matches relatively local so I may try one, but my reloading sucks.

What really stinks though is not seeing a lot of folks that you've gotten friendly with at local matches through the years, and that you normally see each week, and often grab some food and drink with afterwards. One of them passed away...actually one of the first ones I met when I started IDPA, so that hurt. But at least I've saved on gas money!

Use the downtime to practice your shotgun reloads.

Sad to say, but in this day and age, 3-gun matches are often won/lost on your shotgun reload times. I wish we could figure out a way to make that not so. I know a lot of really great shooters who just can't reload shotgun fast enough to be competitive.

It took me about 7 months of practice, 3-4 days each week, to get to the point where I was able to learn how shave those last few half-seconds. Break it down: grip (including rotation of gun), extract, present, insert, shoulder. if you can trim 0.5sec from each stage of the reload, you will be doing very well.

Lena has a great video that shows a very nice and easy to learn, twin & quad load style. It might seem overly simple, but to get the timing and the geometry correct - at speed - is a daunting task. But, it can be mastered with practice.

Oh, yea... and weak hand reloading is a whole different animal, too. But, that's for later. Enjoy...

If you want to make the money, you might want to consider her Dad's method... I love Jerry.

 

[SteveC]

Jerry makes me smile and laugh. Most people would be happy to pull off a reload in the time it takes Jerry to do it when they replay it in slow-motion.


Any shotgun reload done that involves taking your firing hand off the firing position is wrong (or just gamesmanship). Jerry’s way leaves your shooting hand where it should be AND gets it loaded quickly.

Those tubes are relatively new... weak hand reloading is not for the faint of heart. I'm pretty good at it, but I can still do it about 1.5 - 2.0 seconds faster with my strong hand. And, that's time to bang.

 

[JonCanfield]

Does anyone know requirements for shipping ammo? I know UPS ground can do it with proper packaging and labeling, but it’s not clear whether or not a license is also required.

 

[SteveC]

Define “relatively new”. I was using them before 1992.

Wow! Really... we weren't allowed to use them in competitions around here until 2010-11-???

That's great!

 

[SteveC]

Does anyone know requirements for shipping ammo? I know UPS ground can do it with proper packaging and labeling, but it’s not clear whether or not a license is also required.

You have to declare it and the package needs ORM-D labeling. No license required, AFAIK.

 

[SteveC]

I just read the patent abstract.... cool!

US Patent for Shotgun speed loader Patent (Patent # 4,509,284 issued April 9, 1985) - Justia Patents Search

The shotgun speed loader relates to devices employed for storing shells and depositing same into a magazine. Improved efficiency and speed of loading shotgun shells is achieved by a loader (11) having a flexible tube wall (16), with slot (18), which snugly holds the shells but which rapidly...

patents.justia.com

 

[MiniB]

Use the downtime to practice your shotgun reloads.

Sad to say, but in this day and age, 3-gun matches are often won/lost on your shotgun reload times. I wish we could figure out a way to make that not so. I know a lot of really great shooters who just can't reload shotgun fast enough to be competitive.

It took me about 7 months of practice, 3-4 days each week, to get to the point where I was able to learn how shave those last few half-seconds. Break it down: grip (including rotation of gun), extract, present, insert, shoulder. if you can trim 0.5sec from each stage of the reload, you will be doing very well.

Lena has a great video that shows a very nice and easy to learn, twin & quad load style. It might seem overly simple, but to get the timing and the geometry correct - at speed - is a daunting task. But, it can be mastered with practice.

Oh, yea... and weak hand reloading is a whole different animal, too. But, that's for later. Enjoy...

If you want to make the money, you might want to consider her Dad's method... I love Jerry.

Yeah I should....even through I probably won't be using the skills for better part of the next year.

 

[MiniB]

Those tubes are relatively new... weak hand reloading is not for the faint of heart. I'm pretty good at it, but I can still do it about 1.5 - 2.0 seconds faster with my strong hand. And, that's time to bang.

I've see those around for a while, but not lately. Didn't realize they were allowed for 3-gun.

 

[SteveC]

I've see those around for a while, but not lately. Didn't realize they were allowed for 3-gun.

That's what I was telling @Who ... I jsut saw them become "legal" for 3G around here recently. I don't shoot in nationally recognized 3G matches, though. they could have been in them for a long, long time. I was blown away to find out they have been around as long as they have been.

 

[smk506]

I haven’t done it in several years, but most*
ups stores won’t ship ammo in my experience.

If you go to one of their hubs that’s open for pickup/drop off business, you should be good to go, at least here in TN.

Try googling ‘UPS station <your city> and see what pops up. A quick phone call and you’ll know where they stand and what you need.



*There’s always that one store someone knows about that will. I’ve heard of such locations, never found one though.

 

[MiniB]

That's what I was telling @Who ... I jsut saw them become "legal" for 3G around here recently. I don't shoot in nationally recognized 3G matches, though. they could have been in them for a long, long time. I was blown away to find out they have been around as long as they have been.

When I first saw them years back, I thought they were silly. Who needs to reload their shotgun that fast? Then I started to get into competitive shooting and when it came to shotgun, I was like 'weren't there these silly speed loaders some years back?'.

 

[Bownse]

Swapped scales on my 1911 today. The fake horn ones were too tall and were encroaching on the ambi safety. The OEM ones were nice wooded ones with that scale type texture on them but I wasn't sure if the finish would last throughout the life of the pistol so I stashed them back when new.

Full sized photo here