twong11219

The camera positions were great. It's nice to see the action from the front end as you don't get to see much when viewed from the back, and yes, plenty of smoke. Especially from the comped open guns. Someone commented about the puffs of smoke looking like a locomotive when seeing it behind a barricade. Glad I got lead to feed my rifle. I'll turn down the magnification next time and run some lighter rounds. I don't doubt the magnification helped me with the hard shots, but definitely hard to track what your aiming at without the peripheral vision. Vtec, you gotta whip out the Taccom next time. Maybe I'll have my White Oak ready too. Will it be an unfair advantage that my muzzle will be 10" closer to the target with my super long match barrel? Lol!

Thanks for all your input so far. I see a lot of 3G'ers running scopes on theirs so that was the bases of my decision to go that route. I can't tell what distances they are engaging and what magnification they are pushing though. I saw the XTR being used often and was immediately sold when I saw one in the store. Drop it down to 1x and turn up the lums, and I can run with both eyes open like an RDS. I still haven't gotten use to shifting focus between eyes with the magnification turned up. I was asking another person that was shooting that day and he said if you got it, turn it up. I guess it was a matter of preference. Now I guess it's all in perspective. I was watching the others roll through the course, and their rifles looked so flat with no noticeable muzzle climb. Now that I think about it, I must've cranked it up way too much. I was thinking that the reticle is flying all over the place, but in fact the target was most of the time in view except for that one incident. For high magnification and still keep a target in view after the shot breaks, my rifle must've been quite flat. I wish I had my friend record me to confirm it. You're right Ronny and 2Alpha. 2 to neutralize, time+ stage. Struggled to stay on target, loosing time reacquiring my sight picture on the second string, getting all the hard shots and of all things having a Mike on the easiest target dead center on the stage. I got lucky I guess. With penalty, I got 4th place on the stage. 3rd if I didn't Mike one. Sad to say, I wouldn't have been so high if some others weren't having FTFs or other malfunctions while on the clock. Definitely addicting. Will do again. Ronny, cool Shongum vids on YT by the way.

That is lucky. I've had none with his lotteries. I was able to snag a textured carbon fiber XM-18 in 3.5" 20CV Spanto glory at a non-inflated price. I got lucky getting on Cook's waiting. He opened up for one day to take orders.opened the lines at night, filled up by morning. I got the confirmation that I'm in. Just waiting for my turn.

If you have any intent of using it while off shore fishing, watch out for the salt water. I was using a Spyderco as a shovel on the beach. Don't ask. Lol! To my surprise, orange spots and pitting all over. It was an old Endura in AUS-8 stainless steel. Strange thing was, you can keep the blade wet, and nothing would happen. Once the sea water starts drying, POW. Spots. Run straight to the faucet and start rinsing away. That's when I learned that stainless is not stainless. Here's a tip if you do start getting a little rusty. Wet a wine cork and dip it into some Barkeeper's Friend. It's a cleaning powder for stainless pots and pans. Works great. Keep it fairly dry and wipe off when done. The wet cork it's just the medium to scrub the powder on the blade accurately without catching the edge and dulling it. Gives that nice brushed satin finish.

I finally had a chance to attend Shongum's rifle stage this month. This was the first time I've ever shot a rifle stage so this is all new to me. So let's cover what platform I was using. I was running a KAC SR15 with a PWS FSC556 at the muzzle and topped with a Burris XTR 1-4 optics. The lead I was feeding my SR with was LC M855s. Here was my first observation. I need to get off the bench and my ass and start practicing more in the standing position. I started off shoulders squared, but as the strings progressed, I was just letting the recoil push me farther out of my stance. I'm not a stocky build, nor am I really strong. That and sweltering in the sun for practically the whole day pretty much wore out any stamina I had left for the day. Another thing I noticed was when the buzzer goes off, all that grey matter between my brain just takes a dump. Ok, enough bitching. Now with my fundamentals issues aside, I had a problem with the second set of strings. It was 6 targets in row. I was engaging as fast as I could trying to maintain muzzle climb and trying to track the target and reticle. Targets were no more than 50 yd I'm guessing. On the third target, the muzzle jumped so much I lost track of the target and had to sweep back to the first target before I could start engaging the correct one. At this point, I think I over zoomed my optics. I was maybe at ~3x zoom. I can see the whole IPSC target left to right. There were some targets with smaller profiles so I bumped up my zoom for them. Now for the more seasoned guys out there, if you had the choice like I do to be able to zoom in or out, how far would you zoom to engage a head shot on a target 50 yd away or run a stage? Any advice you can offer other than telling me to dump my scope for a RDS? Should I have ran 223s instead for a milder recoil? Any info would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Also to add, the knife maker that made my A2 folder says it's a utilitarian tool. Meant for hard work and not to look pretty. Rust resistance it's not at the top of his priorities.

You're welcome. Just checked on some info and it's water quenched. Easier for the knife maker. No big deal. This steel is definitely used for larger edged knives where durability and forgiveness is key. Less expensive too peer square inch. The powdered steel is quite expensive and hard to work with for the knife maker.

I haven't used W2 before, but I have an EDC that's A2 steel. You do need to watch out for rust. In the early stages for me, rust can develop quite easily if you don't wipe it down after use. Eventually it developed a slight patina, and once that happened, the issues of rust subdued quite a bit. Sharpening A2 is fairly easy to do even with a 59-62 Rockwell. The lower chromium content adds to it's ease of sharpening. Edge holding is GREAT! There are plenty of steel out there that will preform just as well. Some with less TLC than others. The popular steel out there is S30V. Good starting point but sharpening is a bit harder to do if you aren't familiar with it. M390, EL-Max and CTS-XHP are also very nice steel. They're recipes are quite similar. All these I've mentioned are powdered steel. I know this comment wasn't about W2, but I hope it provides some comparable knowledge to using carbon steel. I think W2 is an oil hardening tool steel so it should be quite durable. I've only seen W2s on larger fixed blade knives. Not so often in folders.

There is no justification for the price tag. These are not mass-produced so the volume of output is not high like Benchmade, Spyderco, Kershaw or other mass produced brands. That being said, the cost of material and manufacturing for his 2 man shop is high. As I own one of his pieces, these are over-engineered utilitarian tools. Every part, angle, cut and design was thought out from his own personal experience of using a cutting tool in his line of work. This is his interpretation of what he did to fix the flaws of a folding knife, so you are paying for his work of art. It's a light-weight tank that's almost indestructible. Check out his torture tests.

Awesome pieces you got there. Were those XM from the lotto? You lucky to be able to snag 2. I have no luck with his drawings. I've been wanting a Terzoula since I started collecting. Sad to say my funds have depleted my possibility of building on my collection. I Have one addition left to end it all. Been on the waiting list for 3 yrs now for a Scott Cook Lochsa.

Definitely a nice one Bullzeye. They just come out differently when you tell them to build it the way they envision a 1911 should be. I couldn't tell till you showed the close up the subtle breaks he did to the edges. Kart definitely makes good barrels. I chose Barsto for mine as it's one of the harder to get ones.

I use padded zipper pouches and stack them vertically side-by-side on a shelf. I'd prefer to have it as a centerpiece on my coffee table, but with kids running around and the possibility of it falling into the wrong hands, I don't have that luxury. Just need to huddle in front of my safe to admire them.

Nice! Been waiting to see that one. Got the nice gold jewelry on that front sight too. He really mashed that rear sight deep into the slide. Is that a Bomar sight? Interesting beavertail. Looks like it was reprofiled from the ones with a bump.

More lovely examples of quality workmanship. Love that YB'ed Colt. Perfect complement for those roll marks.

Ahhhh, someone beat me to it. LOL!

I use to have an extended slide release on mine. I can reach it with my thumb without needing to reposition my hand. Works very well. You may need to shave a notch in your grip for some added clearance for it to function properly. The added length also allows some leverage to release the slide. The only drawback I have is that I tend to ride my thumb on it so it doesn't slide lock on the last round. I've since removed it for a standard slide release so I can use my 1911 in USPSA single-stack division. Extended slide release not allowed. Honestly, I don't miss it because now I just slingshot my slide to release it. Occasionally I do thumb it to release the slide, but I have to reposition my hand to do so. Now for your issue. Try pulling the slide a little further back from slide lock making sure the hook doesn't touch the notch and slide it up and down to see if it moves smoothly. If it's a bit tight, then maybe it has something to do with the slide stop detent, spring and plunger tube. Maybe the pin isn't sliding smoothly inside. If the slide release works fine, maybe it's the combination of the contact point with the slide release hook and notch on the slide angled a little too aggressively and making it hard to release the slide. It'll wear in and smooth out over time unless you want to do some polishing on the contact face to accelerate the break-in period. With all that said, slingshot it and you won't even notice the problem anymore. Helps reduce the wear and tear on the notch and slide release. Won't even need to shift your hand to do so, and it's practically universal. Slingshot almost any handgun to release the slide.

That's Purdy! If you didn't say 40SW, I'd pass that off as a PEZ dispenser. Very clean work. Thanks for reviving the post and sharing.

CPM makes some of the best and popular steels out there. S30V, S35VN, S90V, S110V, CPM154, etc. My Dreadlock performs just as well as the others. Edge retention is great. Might be easier to sharpen compared to some other steels, but it does have a bit of abrasion toughness.

Yup yup. Was watching a rerun and saw the commercial for it. The gun shop shows get tiring after a couple episodes.

Yeah. That's no standard slide. Don't be concerned from the coating pooling and filling in the detail. My serial # is pretty shallow, and it didn't get hidden. I laid my coating thicker than required or necessary, and it's still clearly visible. Even a thin coating is very durable. As a side note, I wanted to touch up an area after curing. I contacted the company and they told me once it cures, not even coating on top of itself will stick. Need to blast down to the base and recoat everything. The curing creates a durable casing around the substrate.

I've seen some Glock slide cerakoted in digital camp so I don't see why it wouldn't work. You wore through the outer layer of the tenifer finish. Impressive.

I've heard some have used a cheap toaster oven to cure the coating. Not much real estate to work with. I also noticed no detectable odor. I did leave the oven door open and vent going just in case when I was done baking.

Enough to get through a 195rd stage. I think you're short a mag or 2.

I run a 590A1 for clay mainly because that's my only scattergun. It does get heavy fast. I have the base model w/ front sight bead. A cylinder bore will produce a pretty wide pattern. If you want to use your 590 for clay and skeet, I'd suggest getting the barrel reamed and threaded to accept chokes. Mine came modified and currently has an improved modified choke to tighten the pattern. It helps. You'll still need to hit the birds while they are closer than farther. I had better luck shooting longer barreled shotguns. More consistent hits. With the cost to modify your shotgun, may just be cheaper to buy a more dedicated skeet shotgun. An 870 Express can be had for under $300 on sale. The 590's already good as is for it's intended purpose, tactical.

Yup. Stuck it in the oven. Don't tell the wife. I used clothing hangers for holding and hanging the parts. Put the rack to the top, and hang the parts under them. The curing temp's pretty low. The only area I had issues of tight fitment after curing was the front and rear sight. Fitment might get a little tight if you coat it on thick. I did. Here's my Cerakoted 1911. My P228 came out even better. Didn't get a chance to take pics of that one yet.