DexterBase

Ok... this I gotta see.

(((((ring......ring....)))))

This is actually what the thread was about originally but I've enjoyed the opinions on related topics we've covered here. I have two magazines loaded at all times. One is loaded with Speer Gold Dot (FBI issue ammo) and the other is loaded with Federal HyraShok. I've never shot anyone with either one, but I'm sure both will do the trick. I keep the HyrdaShok in my weapon which stays loaded when I'm home. Read the article I posted in this thread. It gives some valuable insight into handgun wounds and factors to consider when choosing ammunition.

I tried this one in Combat. You're really unlikely to see those tracers. I think keeping track of how many rounds you've fired is a much better method. From now on whenever you shoot, count rounds. Soon counting your rounds fired will become instinctive. A good use I found for tracers was during convoy operations where each vehicle has a turrett mounted weapon system. I would keep a magazine of just tracers that I could use to point out enemy positions to the gunner. I works a lot better than trying to verbally walk him onto target. You get contact left. You see where the enemy machine gun position is but the gunner can't see where he fire is coming from. You slap in your magazine of tracers and tell him, "Follow my fire!" Fire a couple bursts and he'll be able to see where you're shooting. It works very well.

My opinion is that the weapon will never make up for lack of training. Police are often given more credit for weapon skills than they deserve. (Most police are given far less credit in other areas though.) Police officers are given enough weapons training to legally carry weapons but if they want to become truly proficient, they have to pay for off duty training. Regardless of what weapon you choose to use for personal defense, you need to spend a good amount of time on the range practicing using that weapon. Then you need to drill the remedial actions to deal with a malfunction should it occur. As with all things, the more realistic the training, the better it will serve you. In my case, Uncle Sam sent me to the Middle East for some two-way range training.

Shannon, shannon, shannon.... oh man...

I'm pretty unfamiliar with this widespread fear of rear risers in the BASE community. I think as a BASE jumper you'd better know how to use all of your unputs, not just toggles before you ever venture to an object where living may require using risers. Rear risers can and will stall your canopy if you overamp them. Rear risers will cost you precious altitude to avoid an object strike but that's the price you have to pay if you would rather live than hit the wall. Worry about the heading first. If you hit the wall, you won't need to worry about altitude anyway. Heading is always priority #1. If you need to correct your heading to avoid hitting an object, use the risers to turn you far enough so you won't hit the wall, then use your toggles. Don't use the risers to turn all the way around unless you have an endless supply of altitude. Know if you will have enough altitude to correct an offheading opening with risers. If you don't and you don't think you will be able to get on your toggles fast enough to avoid the wall, maybe you shouldn't jump. Practice flying with your rear risers in a friendly environment where you will be able to pay attention to the effect they have on your canopy flight. Practice keeping your toggles in your hands and flying with the rear risers. Rear risers are not to be feared. If you're scared to use them, you don't know enough about canopy flight to be BASE jumping, period.

Probably smarter to get a different (larger) container to jump until you're ready to put a smaller canopy in that wings. Having a main that's too big for your container is probably the worst reason to downsize canopies.

I'm pretty damn surgical with handguns. I know without even using the sights I can put 80% of rounds on a 3x5 index card at distances equal to anywhere inside my apartment. That's squeezing them off fairly quickly too. I've done some shooting in combat situations too. That part I'm not worried about. What I'm referring to is what rounds are the most effective for personal defense. More specifically, what rounds cause the most damage (largest wound channel, highest energy transferred to the target, etc.) in a personal defense application.

I THINK THIS IS BAD NEWS. Just my humble opinion.

I wonder if he's good at Halo too....?

Hello, I have a few thoughts for you. You were exiting from a cessna 182 and you stated that you pitched right off the step. The jump run speed of a 182 can be very slow. Skydiving pilot chutes are designed to function optimally at terminal velocity which is sometimes almost twice the speed of jump run on a 182. Your container is too small for your canopy. How much experience do you have in the sub-terminal environment? I know from pretty extensive sub-terminal experience () that things seem to take a lot longer than you're used to. After your mind dilates the time and your fear level rises, what seemed like five seconds in person can often turn out to be two seconds on video. My advice to you is to pack your rig and have someone your size put it on and lay on the floor. pull on the bridle and see how much force it takes to pop the pin and extract the bag. I suspect you will find everything within tolerable limits. Things happen slower in sub-terminal airspeed including canopy openings. My guess is that your PC did not hesitate, it just didn't have enough drag at that airspeed to make your deployment feel like the ones you're used to at terminal. That does not mean you should switch to a larger PC. The one that came with your rig is the one you need to use. Hop n pops are fun, just be ready for a slower opening.

I recently purchased a HK USP 40 Compact. I have put about 400 rounds through it so far and I put another 700 through a range rental before I bought mine. I absolutely love it. I bought some Federal Hydra Shok and some Speer Gold Dot ammo. Both fire and feed flawlessly through my pistol. I read a rather interesting article and I am looking for opinions on the best personal defense round available to civilians. Any favorites out there?

I don't classify things anymore, I just put them in my log.

Yeah, Tom D is from around here. Shall I PM you his contact info?

So nobody here knows the real reason?

No, a ballpark estimate is good enough. I wonder how old that PC was. Maybe you can give Marty a call and talk about it with him (you can probably articulate the problem better than I could) and see if he's addressed it.

How long ago was that? I have some fairly new PC's that are the same. The newest ones I have are different, having more excess material inside the vent.

If you pull out a vented PC you can definitely see room for improvement on this seam. I think the ticket would be to leave more excess on the vent side of the stitch. Has anyone called Marty and told him about this problem?

Dude... I totally feel you on that one. My car is black. We should tie a bird in the 182 to spot for us!

What a life. Wake up, sing a song, get some grub, and go fly around all day. They don't know how lucky they are.

One more question: have you used that PC for PCA's and if so, what was the method used? That looks like damage that could be caused by poor PCA technique and go unnoticed and then slowly progress over time. That damage looks pretty severe for just freefall deployments. I could be wrong, but it just looks like that fabric was torn by being yanked on.

Do you know the approximate date of manufacture? How many jumps are on that PC? Why did you order that color?

I was just outside and it's not light out yet. The sun is going to rise in a little while but the horizon is still dark. The birds have just started to sing. How do they know it's about to get light? Do they have super-awesome time telling abilities? Do they sense a shift in temperature that hints the sun is about to rise? (This doesn't make any sense to me because it is usually coldest in the time before sunrise) How do they know?

That's a good question because many of the jumpers who are jumping on NPS land aren't going to play by strict rules. The rules are already very strict, yet people still jump. Do you think people already jumping illegally on NPS land will play by the rules if it becomes legal with certain restrictions? If the NPS decides to open it with tight restrictions and a bunch of jumpers are running around doing bandit jumps on NPS land it will probably give the NPS even more room to call us a bunch of outlaws. Jason, do you have any ideas on how to deal with this? BASE jumpers are going to be a difficult group to get to play by a set of rules.