Yes Poor Alan fell into that trap, of working on other peoples guns, he patched up a few of mine. I almost went down that hole after I became an armorer, but soon learned to leave my toolbox at home, or at least hide it.
About the competition, those were pretty tough days, it sure has changed. I was at a match in 2013 or so, pretty much at the end of my 1500 shooting, and I happened to shoot a 1491. The guy scoring my target (one of the better shooters then) congratulated me and asked if that was my first 1490 score, I smiled and told him,yes--- this decade. He looked at me kinda odd and walked off...