The 4 rules of gun safety

*The 1st Law of Gun Safety - The Gun Is Always Loaded!


*The 2nd Law of Gun Safety - Never Point A Gun At Something You're Not Prepared To Destroy!


*The 3rd Law of Gun Safety - Always Be Sure Of Your Target And What Is Behind It!


*The 4th Law of Gun Safety - Keep Your Finger Off The Trigger Until Your Sights Are On The Target!

Saturday, December 31, 2011

New post.....finally

Been a while since I last posted. I've been taking off the end of the year to attempt to let my shoulder heal a bit more, so no workouts and no shooting since the first Saturday in December. Shoulder does feel a little better. Doctor thinks it's just a touch of tendinitis left over from tearing the muscle. So, just a couple more days and I'll be back shooting again (first Saturday in January at CCSC). In the meantime, been enjoying the holidays. Hope everyone got what they wanted for Christmas. My favorite toys so far have been my Kindle Fire, and my Black and Decker 1 cup coffee maker.

Today, I took my oldest son to Shooters Express down in Belmont to celebrate his 16th birthday which was on the 27th. I took him to shoot some of the full auto's that they have. We started out with a H&K MP5:
We didn't get very far with it. Seemed like it didn't want to feed rounds very well. The range master had warned us about it, but we decided to try it anyway. After a few futile minutes with the best being a 3 round burst, we switched out to a Colt M16 in 9mm:

The gun we shot did not have the barrel shroud, so ignore it. This firearm ran much better, although it was only semi-auto or full auto, no 3 round burst like the MP5. Because we had so many issues with the MP5, the RO gave us a 15% discount on the ammo. I like Shooters Express, just wish they weren't over 30 miles away, otherwise I'd go there more often. Anyway, here is a pic of my son holding the Colt:
And a video of him dumping some rounds full auto:
And finally a video of semi-auto fire:


Well, that's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Results back from the latest club match

Ok, so I didn't win, but in the end, I felt like I won with the way I shot. I was fifth out of six marksman stock service pistol shooters, but I had the fewest points down at 22, with my closest competitor at 27 points down. Like my mentor told me, accuracy first, speed will come later. Final scores show me with a total time of 127.83 seconds, a raw time of 113.83 seconds, with 22 points down, 1 procedural, 0 hits on a non-threat which I was sure I would get on the clamshell on stage 5, and 0 failure to neutralize. Looking overall, 10 of the 43 other competitors had the same or fewer points down than I did, so I guess this new trigger pull is really making a difference. Thanks go to Morgan Allen for giving me that tip. Now I just need to keep practicing and slowly and safely increase my speeds.

Well, that's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Great fun at the CCSC match today!

Great time today with the folks of CCSC. Richard Hart put on a great match with some challenging stages with lots of movers, droppers, pop-ups, and shooter movement. I don't have any videos of me shooting, but tried to get a video of someone shooting each stage.

Stage one was the most difficult with the most moving targets. We had two drop turners and a pop-up which dropped after a few seconds. I had my worst target on this stage. I missed one shot on the pop-up and a shot in the 1 zone, so that cost me 6 points. Out of the rest of the 6 targets I was clean except for two down. Overall, finished the stage in 31.27 seconds and down 8 points. Missed the pop-up as it was the 2nd part of a dual activator with the other being a double drop-turner. Should have shot the steel, then the pop-up, then caught the drop turner on the second turn. Here is a couple video showing what the stage looked like:

 Basically you shoot both targets to each side, then move up to the barrier. You can shoot either side and I shot the right side first. I then shot the steel which activated the drop-turner. Shoot the drop turner, then the other static target. From there, I did my reload and moved to the left. Hit the steel, then the drop tuner, and tried the pop-up, then finished with the static target.

Stage 2 had a first for me. An electrically activated target. You're standing in a doorway, press the doorbell, and two targets on a rail come towards you. These are like drop turners that move forward. You shoot 2 rounds at each, then move to your right to a window and shoot two targets as they become visible with a non-threat in front of them. After those, you move to the rear and right and shoot a long distance target (guessing 15-20 yards), then another target that is tilted about 45 degrees and under hard cover. Excuse the video, people kept getting in the way...... /sigh. I finished in 27.03 and down 3 points. One point down on one of the targets covered by the non-threat, one point down on the far target, and one point down on the leaning target.


I missed getting a video of stage 3, but the basic premise is that you have 6 rounds in your handgun and you are at the inside corner of an inverted L. From cover, you enter an "alleyway" and fire 6 rounds at a static target, 5 to the body, one to the head while retreating to the next cover point on your left. Once you reach cover, you reload and engage another target to the left with 3 rounds to the body. Went down 6 points on this stage. This should have been an easy stage, but I messed up. Put up and excellent group on the target while retreating. Problem is I forgot I had to put one round in the head. All 6 shots were in the zero zone. Knew I did it as soon as I fired the sixth shot. Oh well. Oh, and you can't reload and re-shoot the target either. After that, it was an easy engage on the other target. Finished this stage in 12.33 seconds and down 5 points for missing the head shot.

Stage 4 was interesting. Your gun starts in a "lockbox" with the magazine installed, but no round in the chamber. You sit in a chair a couple yards away. On the buzzer, you move forward and retrieve your gun, move slightly left to cover as a "bad guy" in view-able through the window. You engage 2 shots on each target to your right, then engage the target through the window. Finished this COF in 10.68 seconds and down 0 points. MY FIRST DOWN ZERO EVER!!!!!!!

Here's Jeff Dampac (really good shooter) showing how it's supposed to be done.

And the last stage..... had a lot of movement starting from left to right, shooting on the move, and shooting a clam-shell target, a first for me. This video gets most of what you need to see. There is a target as the shooter comes around the barricade that must be shot on the move. I finished this stage in 32.52 seconds and down 6 points. Well, that and a procedural which cost me another 3 points. I forgot why I got the procedural, but was excellently surprised when I got a 0 on the clam-shell target. One in the chest 0 zone and one in the head 0 zone. Yeah, that was luck. The clam-shell is really quick. Here's the video:


Lots of fun today. My shooting was much better thanks to a change in my trigger pull which was suggested by Morgan Allen.

On another note, CCSC will be having a "Fun Shoot" on December 31st. You pay a fee and you get to shoot a bunch of different types of guns and at different types of targets from "Steel Challenge", to IDPA, to rifles. Looking forward to maybe taking a couple of shots with an AR type rifle.

Well, that's it for me. Hope you folks have been having a great weekend! Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Match Saturday at CCSC..... and prayers to VT

Going to the IDPA club match on Saturday at CCSC. Should be interesting using my new grip and trigger control. I've been working with my trigger finger and the squeeze. I've gone from being low left, to centered and a bit high, so it will be interesting to see how I shoot.

Prayers go out to the fallen officer and family at the Virginia Tech shooting. Remember to thank an officer when you get the chance. I bet they don't hear it nearly as much as they should for the work they do.

That's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Power Factor Show talks about competition vs. self defense

Thought this was a pretty good video and brings up a lot of good points. Really like watching Rick, Steve, and Caleb.


Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Saturday at the range.

Nice time with my youngest son at Shooters Express in Belmont NC. today. Range was very crowded and when we were done shooting, there were about 15 people waiting to get onto a lane. My son had a great time shooting the Beretta CX4 carbine. I shot some rounds out of my Glock 19 carry pistol, but the bulk were shot from my M&P9. I've been trying a suggestion given to me by Morgan Allen to use the tip of my finger instead of the pad of my finger between the last joint and tip. Seems to have made my grouping a little tighter and I shot less low and left. Still left a bit and had 3 or 4 rounds that really surprised me when the gun went off.


I had 5 shots outside of the head which is where I was shooting, but still had a much better grouping that I'm used to, so I guess I'll keep trying to shoot with the tip of my finger. Felt like I had less flinch.

And here is a video of my son shooting the CX4.


That's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Friday, November 11, 2011

Happy Veterans Day!

Happy Veterans Day to all my fellow vets. We remember that "All gave some, some gave all."

FC3 John McDermott
US Navy 1985-1991
USS Yorktown CG-48



I shot these.

That's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Edited to add a link to a video of a Soviet ship ramming us in the Black Sea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SME4w037FgA

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Plans for shooting this weekend

No match plans this weekend. It's my youngest sons birthday. We're going to take a trip to Shooters Express in Belmont and rent a rifle to shoot. He's only handled airsoft rifles, so this is what he wanted to do. He actually doesn't want to try the full auto guns, so we're going to rent the Beretta CX4 carbine in 9mm. I'll also shoot my M&P and probably put a couple rounds through my Glock.



I just purchased some Hornady TAP ammo in 147grain. I want to see how it cycles through my G19 which is my concealed carry handgun. Ballistics tests on the ammo seem pretty good, and I've heard good reports of it cycling through the G19 just fine, but better to check it out and make sure it works before I need it.
 

Well, that's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!



Sunday, November 6, 2011

Little off topic

My youngest son who turns 14 next Saturday has been volunteering as a Junior Docent at the Charlotte Museum of History for almost two years now. He typically volunteers on re-enactment days. He's usually one of the actors during Revolutionary War/Civil War days at the museum and several more in the area. He's been a drummer boy and the son of the tavern keeper as well as one of the actors who shows children about the games the kids played during those times. He really enjoys it, even if he's one of the only boys in it. A couple of weeks ago, he volunteered at the Schiele Museum in Gastonia. He was initially assigned to games again, but asked if he could do something different. He was assigned to work with the blacksmith. He spent all day working with the blacksmith, stoking the fires, adding fuel as needed. Eventually, he was taught how to work the smithy and was able to make a cooking hook.

It's a hook for hanging pots over the fires for cooking. The blacksmith was so impressed with his work ethic and how well he did, that he's been asked to become the apprentice to the blacksmith. Apparently, they've been looking for a couple of years for an apprentice, but no one stood out until my son spent time with him. Looks like he's going to spend one or two weekends a month at the museum helping the blacksmith and learning the craft. Next year, there is a possibility of a field trip to Williamsburg as well to see how they do it up there. I'm very proud of Cuinn. He's been extremely helpful as a  junior docent and he's very much involved in his volunteering. I'm happy that he's found something he really likes to do as well.

Well, that's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Friday, October 28, 2011

New plan for this weekend. Helping veterans out

Found out there is a festival going on this weekend in which a portion of the proceeds go towards helping veterans start a museum in Mooresville. Guess I'll take a trip over there:


MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- The Point Blank Range in Mooresville is hoping to help local veterans during their grand opening this weekend.
There will be music, food and a chance for prizes at Bullets, Bands and Barbecue. Part of the proceeds will go to help veterans buy a property in downtown Mooresville for a military museum. Right now, veterans gather at Richard's Coffee Shop in town, and they've also collected plenty of memorabilia and want to share it with others.
The Point Blank Range is on River Highway in Mooresville between Perth Road and Ervin Road. They'll be celebrating Saturday and Sunday.
Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

This weekends plans

Unsure what I plan on doing this weekend. No plans for matches this weekend, so it's either going to the range to put some rounds out or possibly shooting Sunday in a "bowling pin" match. I've never done one of those, but it sounds kind of interesting.

On another note, I found myself drooling over a Para Ordnance GI LTC. My gun wishlist is down to a 1911 in .45acp, a combat 870 shotgun, and an AR15/M4 rifle. That GI LTC is right up my alley and has an awesome price under $500. Alas, the gun buying account is at $0.


And as I finish up this post, I look and find the gun back up to $632. I knew that price wouldn't last long.

That's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Match at MWDS -

Ok, I participated in another match today at Mecklenburg Wildlife Defensive Shooters. Wow, what a match. All 6 courses of fire were pulled from sanctioned matches, either state, regional, or national. I could have called this match The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. The ugly, man I had a lot of points added to my scores. The bad, two procedural penalties, and a hit to a non-threat. The good, I had a great time! I have no idea what my scores or times were, but it was pretty high. This was my first match competing as a marksman, so I'll have some idea of what kind of folks I'll be competing against once the scores come in. I'm trying to get the stage documents from the match director to add to this post here as well as some photos that she took. Lots of shooting while moving, drop turners, swingers, swinging non-threats etc. I guess this would have been like a mini-state match.

UPDATE: Match scores in. I came in 6th out of 8 in the Marksman class at 209.15 seconds and 83 points down of which 26 came on stage 5 (can't even remember what it was, but seem to think it was a shoot while retreating stage where I only got one shot off on  a drop turner as I took 1 more shot than needed to hit the steel to drop it.
Total = 209.15(83)
Stage1 = 31.44(7)
Stage2 = 39.17(11)
Stage3 = 28.74(13)
Stage4 = 36.42(14)
Stage5 = 40.79(26)
Stage6 = 32.59(12)



That's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!


Monday, October 17, 2011

IPSC/USPSA World Championship in Greece

I don't shoot IPSC/USPSA, but thought I'd throw out a link to their results of the World Shoot in Rhodes, Greece. Seems like the US shooters took home a lot of medals, so congratulations to them. You can find the results here:  http://www.wsh2011.org/results.html

And here are a bunch of videos from folks shooting over there: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5E5740B10AA50451

That's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Back at the range

Yesterday was just a generic shooting day. I wanted to run rounds through all my 9mm handguns (M&P9, PT92, and Glock 19). I ran Winchester White Box 115gr JHP's through my PT92 and Glock 19. Both of the guns gobbled up the JHP's with no issues at all. Well, other than I still shoot a little low and left. I also ran some Speer Lawman 115gr through the Glock 19. The reason I did this is I'm out of USA Ammo 9mm rounds and they're out of stock. Figured if I'm going to use the Glock as a backup IDPA gun, I might as well see how if feeds and shoots the new ammo. Again, no issues at all.

Finally, I shot my M&P with the Speer Lawman ammo. No issues feeding. Seems to be pretty much POA =  POI.

So, another good day at the range.

That's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Friday, October 14, 2011

Classifier Confirmed - I'm a marksman - And a CCW permit holder!

Just received the final scores from the classifier and my math skills aren't so far out of date. I was right. Shot it in 167.27 seconds with penalties added in. Now I know where I'll be when I shoot my next match which should be at Mecklenburg Wildlife Defensive Shooters next weekend.

I also received a call from the Sheriffs office yesterday with confirmation my CCW permit was available for pickup (Thrusts arms into the air. YES!). Picked it up last night after work. Gotta say, I'm a little underwhelmed with it. Just a thick piece of paper which is embossed. Anyone know if you can laminate these things? Seems like they'll wear out pretty fast being in a wallet all day. On another note, anyone have any good recommendations on a good defense round? I was thinking that something frangible might be preferable so it wouldn't do much damage penetrating walls, but haven't done much research on ammo for defense just yet.

So, what will the gentleman be wearing for concealed carry? I decided on a Glock 19 with a Crossbreed Supertuck Deluxe. Already have the Glock and have put a couple hundred through it, but just ordered the Supertuck as I didn't want to spend the money only to find out I was disqualified from concealed carry for some reason. Supertuck should be in somewhere between 4 and 6 weeks according to their website and my order. Received 10% off my order because I'm an NRA member. Also ordered a Bladetech Revolution holster for it so I can use it in IDPA competitions as a backup gun in case my M&P needs repairs or updates and is out of pocket for a while (may be sending my M&P to Dan Burwell for trigger adjustment and new fiber optic sights).

Plan on heading out to the range tomorrow to try some new ammo. Picked up 1000 rounds of Speer Lawman as my usual ammo vendor was out of stock. We'll see how this new ammo works through my 9mm guns.

Well, that's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Classifier fun

Well, ran my very first classifier shoot today. It was a lot of fun, and nerve racking. I still seem to have an issue with my first courses of fire and probably being jumpy. I didn't get video of the first two courses of fire, but did get the third cof. I'll have that video up later after I'm done doing some editing of it to clean up the end.

So, if I figured out everything correctly, with penalties added, I shot the classifier in 167.27 seconds. That places me in mid to high side of Marksman class. I had a total of 87 points down which caused me 43.5 seconds of penalties and shot the 3 courses of fire in 123.77 seconds. I had a total of 6 missed targets which caused me to add 30 points or 15 seconds to my scores. Seems my working on one handed shooting may not have helped me as much as I still missed two targets at 7 yards. The other 4 misses were on the third course of fire which a lot of the shots were at 20 yards, something else I had not worked on much. Kinda surprised I didn't miss any shots on COF2. This requires two shots at each target while moving forward for one string and two shots at each target while retreating for a string. Put all 30 rounds on target in COF2. So, 2 bad COF's and 1 pretty good COF. Still, if the numbers are right, I guess I can't complain too much about being in Marksman class. I've only been seriously shooting since late March/early April when I got my S&W Military and Police 9mm. I'm shooting about 100 rounds a weekend, so there is a lot of room for improvement and MORE SHOOTING! :)

I'll edit this post later when I have the video fixed up and posted. - Update - couldn't edit the video, so just ignore the end :)




That's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Qualifier coming up on Saturday

Saturday at CCSC, I'll be shooting my qualifier as part of the monthly match. The last couple of weekends, I've been working on weak and strong hand only shooting at 7 yards. I'm not a terrible shot at those ranges, but still not very accurate. I used 3 right hand shooting charts and set them up with one on each hook and then taped another target to the bottom. This way I could work at shooting 3 targets quickly while trying to maintain an accurate sight picture. I wound up shooting 42 rounds each with the strong and weak hands, then used the last 16 rounds to shoot quickly two handed. Put all 100 rounds on the paper, but had a handful fall "outside" the designated targets. I have the same issue I have shooting with two hands. Low and left when strong handed, and low and right when weak handed. Guess it's going to take more practice. Just ordered another 1000 rounds as I'm getting low, so at least I'll have something to practice with.



I'm also keeping most of my brass. I'm thinking that someday, I may want to reload my ammo and save some money. Leaning towards a Dillon 650 system, but still investigating/salivating. Maybe if there's a Christmas bonus this year (yeah, dreaming).

That's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

UK marches against loss of freedoms

Excellent video from our friends over in the UK decrying their loss of freedoms to keep arms and defend themselves.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

2011 IDPA World Championship scores

Follow the link here:  http://www.idpa.com/matchresults/2011_Champ/2011_Champ_Scores.pdf

I was pulling for Morgan Allen. He's a member of the club where I shoot and a tremendous asset. Willing to help anyone and give tips.

Massad Ayoob talks with Powerfactor show about IDPA

Good video with Rick from Powerfactor show interviewing Massad Ayoob about IDPA and how it relates to self-defense.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hC_VNi5ymo8

Friday, September 23, 2011

Tips when stopped by police

Probably won't be shooting this weekend, so though I'd share this video by Massad Ayoob and Tom Gresham on how to respond to police when you are carrying concealed.

http://www.gunsandammo.com/2011/05/27/tips-when-stopped-by-police/

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Top 5 Manufacturers at the 2010 IDPA Nationals

Found this on the IDPA website. The list manufacturers for handguns is pretty long, so I thought I'd post the top 5 and their highest representative firearms:

1.Glock = 137 (Glock 17 = 45, Glock 34 = 68)
2. S&W = 91 (M&P9 Pro =  27, M&P9 = 23)
3. Springfield = 30 (1911 .45 = 6, 1911A1 .45 = 6)
4. STI = 29 (Trojan .45 = 4, Trojan 9mm = 4)
5. Kimber = 17 (1911 .45 = 5, 1911 9mm = 2, Super Match .45 = 2, Target II 9mm = 2)

I wonder if we'll get a breakdown of the World Championship firearms. I can't find the link to the breakdown again, but if anyone want's it, I can send the spreadsheet.

That's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Found a good site which explains scoring.

Check out the following site for a good explanation of scoring in IDPA. I also figured out what went wrong with what I scored and what the official score was. Both of us made a mistake. Doesn't really matter to me though. It didn't cost me anything in the way of place or prizes as it was just a club match, but it did show me that I need to pay better attention to the written times.

Anyway, the IDPA scoring book for dummies like me can be found here.

That's it for me again tonight. Shoot safe, shoot straight!

Scores in for my 2nd IDPA match

Ok, so I don't know how to score things yet. According to the spreadsheet, I placed fifth out of nine unclassified shooters. I would have placed fifth out of seven "marksman" shooters and had fewer points down than all but one of the marksman class. Anyway, here's my score:

Competitor          Total Score      Points Down      Proc.      HNT      FTN      Division      Class
John McDermott    171.17                   34               0             0           1            SSP          UN

Today, I worked on my draw for about an hour. I downloaded a shot timer to my android phone and used it to time my "shots" doing dry-fire. Best good first shot was about 1.76 seconds. That was a shot that I drew, got a good grip with both hands, locked wrists, and target acquisition before I fired. Averages were around 2 seconds. I'm going to try to do at least 100 dry fire draws everyday to work on muscle memory.

Anyway, that's it for me. Hope everyone is having a great day. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Morgan Allen shooting the IDPA match from yesterdays post

Here is a video of Morgan Allen shooting the COF's at the match yesterday. Morgan will be representing the USA in the IDPA World Championship in Frostproof, Florida later this month. Good luck Morgan!

Morgan shoots the CCSC match on 9/10/2011.
and for those without facebook:


That's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

2nd IDPA match - What a blast!

Had my second IDPA match today at Central Carolinas Shooting Club in Edgemoor, SC today. Weather was great. Not too hot, nice breeze blowing. This is especially important for me. I believe I had a heat related illness in the early 90's which really causes me to now have issues when I'm outside and in the sun. Doesn't really matter if it's hot or cold, but it's worse when it's HOT. I usually wind up with a migraine which can knock me down for anywhere from four to six hours. So far, so good. No migraine yet. I stayed very hydrated with water and Gatorade, kept a wet towel around my neck, and attempted to stay in the shade as much as possible. Anyway, now on to the match.

CCSC had five courses of fire in their four berm protected areas today. Berm 3 had 2 courses of fire which you would run consecutively. I do have some pictures of the COF's, but from a camera phone, you can't expect much.

Course one was another first for me.  My first steel targets. I didn't get end stage pictures of COF1 as they were still putting it together as I was getting my pics done. Basically, you had four targets to engage in tactical sequence (each target gets one shot before the targets can be shot a second time). In these four, you had paper, steel, paper, and steel. You could shoot them, left to right, or right to left. Didn't matter. Only issue for me is that the two paper targets were turned on their sides and cutout like dogs. For some reason, I just don't seem to shoot those well. After those four were engaged, you had to move to another position and knock down a target which engaged a drop turner. My first drop turner! I was only down 1 on the drop turner and boy was it fast. After that, you engaged  engage four more targets as they become visible in ranges from about five to 25 yards. On this COF, I shot it in 33.69 seconds with 11 points down.

COF2 also had a drop turner.You started up against four barrels facing downrange. At tone, you engage all the targets as they become visible to you from cover. I was first up on this one which I didn't like, but what the heck. I showed folks how not to shoot it. I engaged my targets going left first. The reason I did this is that there was a drop turner activator to the right which I wanted to save for my last shots. Now one thing I thought I did at the last match was when I was engaging targets from the left behind cover, that I closed my right eye and used my left eye to aim. Not good when that happens. I found myself doing the same thing again. I figured that out and engaged my targets around the left side, a couple pretty far out, maybe 25-30 yards. Engaged as many as I could see, came back to right, engaged the last paper target, then the activator for the drop turner. Hit the drop turner with no issues. What I didn't realize was that it was a double drop, it would be visible twice. This COF turned out to be my worst. I was down sixteen points, but ten of those points were on the furthest target. This is the one I think I shot left eyed. I hit it three times, but one shot was in the three zone, and the next two were outside of scoring (just nicked the target). That gave me a miss (down five), and a failure to neutralize (down five). So that one target cost me ten points down or over twenty-five percent of my total down points. This COF I shot in 33.42 and down sixteen total points.

COF3 was pretty simple. Another first here. I got to shoot a snubby five-shot revolver. You had five targets that you had to engage from a sitting position using the revolver with a "no shoot" covering two of the targets. Oh, the revolver was in a box too, so you had to drop the magazine you were "reading", take the revolver out of a wooden box, and engage the targets with one shot each without hitting the "no shoot". I didn't do too badly here, but I lost some time. Three of the targets were pretty easy to hit, but the two behind the "no shoot" presented a bit of a problem. The one to the right I could get the 0 zone fairly easily, but when I leaned to engage the one to the left, I just couldn't take the shot, so I elevated and gave it a head shot. I lost at least two seconds trying to find the 0 zone on that target. COF3 I shot in 10.83 seconds with two points down.



COF4 would be my best of the day, which is odd because I had another really long shot of about twenty-five to thirty yards. This COF you were standing at the apex of an inverted V. To the right were 3 targets you had to shoot through a "window". One was the long shot, and two were covered by a "no shoot". After those three, you had to engage another leaning target with "hard cover" (hard cover is when they paint the target black and any rounds in the black count as a miss). After that, you had to engage one more paper target and last was another steel popper. I shot this in 31.33 seconds and only one down.

Finally, COF five had you engage a total of eight targets. You had to draw, move forward to cover and engage two targets to the left. From there, you moved up to a "wall" on the left and engage two more visible targets, then move to the right of the "wall" and engage four more targets as they become visible. The first two targets were fairly close at five to seven yards, but the other six were probably fifteen yards or longer. Seemed that way anyway. This COF I did in 34.90 seconds and down eight points.

Anyway, if I figured the scoring correctly (certainly not official here), I shot the COF's in 163.17 and down 38. So, did I improve. Maybe. One less COF, but I didn't hit a "no shoot" and still no safety issues. Still, I had a lot of fun, so it was definitely worth it.

That's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Friday, September 9, 2011

CCW holder stops armed robbery.


WALTERBORO — A pair of Smoaks men who tried to rob a woman stranded along Interstate 95 but found themselves on the other side of an Iraq War veteran’s gun now face decades in prison.
A jury convicted 22-year-old Antwan McMillan and 20-year-old David Jakes in circuit court Thursday of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, three counts of attempted armed robbery and three counts of first-degree assault and battery in the 2010 botched highway robbery in which the serviceman shot Jakes.
A judge sentenced McMillan to 30 years in prison and Jakes to 35 years. The case against a third man, 21-year-old James Davis, is pending.
An Army specialist, his wife and mother-in-law were heading south in two vehicles on I-95 one night in June 2010, when one of their vehicles had mechanical problems.
The solider, just back from the Middle East, began working on the vehicle, when another car with three men inside pulled up.
Jakes pointed a gun at the man’s mother-in-law and demanded money, officials said, but the soldier popped up with his own gun and ordered the men to leave. When the robber turned to point his gun at the veteran, the soldier shot Jakes three times, according to authorities.
McMillan fired a gun from inside the other car, and Jakes crawled back to it.
The men drove off, but sheriff’s investigators found Jakes at a local hospital and arrested McMillan and Davis later that week. McMillan had been out on bail on a murder charge from a November 2009 shooting in the Johnsonville area of Colleton County.
Colleton County deputies determined that the robber’s pistol had been stolen and that the soldier had a valid concealed weapons permit.


Read more: http://www.thestate.com/2011/09/03/1956839/two-men-found-guilty-of-attempted.html#ixzz1XSoosHjG

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Scores back from my first IDPA match

I was so excited about the match, I never got my scores. They were finally posted. Yep, I don't totally suck! I posted right in the middle of the un-classified shooters.


11John McDermott200.92 (52)28.88(7)32.88(13)42.32(7)42.91(6)26.44(10)27.49(9)


I started on stage 2-6 and went back to stage 1. At stage 2, when I asked how I did, the SO said I needed to relax. I was so hyped up, I was shaking and he could see it. Well, you can see from my scores, it was my worst stage. It was the one where I had a failure to neutralize on the last target. I think stage 5 is where I had the shot on the friendly target.

So, just about where I thought I would be. Looking at the rest of the SSP scores, I would have come 9th in Marksman, and 2nd in Novice. Truthfully though, I'm not really worried about the scores yet. I'm not competing with the other folks, I'm just competing with myself and hope to see solid progression in the future matches. Sure would be nice to find a local classifier shoot so I could figure out where I really belong.

Well, that's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!


Monday, August 29, 2011

Opinion Piece

Ok, so here is an opinion piece. Hope I don't offend anyone, but we all know what opinions are like.

So, the mainstream media seems to love to point out how bad guns are and to an extent, how bad gun owners are. Very rarely, well, almost never do you hear or see a story in the main stream media that shows the positive side of gun ownership. You only really ever see the "6 people killed by man with gun". If you read the comments in these stories, it's almost always negative against guns and gun ownership. If you attempt to even show the "other side" of the story, you're instantly branded a lying, right wing, conservative nutjob, a member of the Aryan nation, and someone who has the mental capacity of a moron. I've even had people wish that I was dead and they wouldn't throw you a line if you were drowning. It's really sad how bad the mainstream media portrays us.

The strange thing is, is that the gun owners I've met have been nice, educated, welcoming, friendly, and helpful. While there is the usual "redneck" banter, you don't really see that at a range or at a match. I've met shooters since I've started who have been doctors, lawyers, airline pilots, mechanics, engineers, IT technicians  etc, so the education issues don't seem to be valid. We see a lot of folks from all races and color of skin and we're accepting of those things because it's the way things are done when you are courteous. Maybe it's the conservative way of life, where we help one another, we watch out for each other, and we're taught to be nice until it's time not to be nice. Maybe it's just a phenomenon of legal gun owners.

I'm not sure what the answer is, but we could really use some more stories about the good things we do, and less of the bad stories about illegal gun ownership and what those folks do. Now if the mainstream media would actually run them.

Anyway, that's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Sunday at the range

Well, after yesterdays fun at an IDPA match, I wanted to shoot again today, so I headed over to Elite Firearms Academy to throw some more lead down the range. Today, I decided to shoot my Taurus PT-809 9mm.

Had been a while since I last shot this gun, so I couldn't remember the aim point. First fifteen rounds were low, but worked their way up. After that, just about everything was in the 9, 10, and X rings with a nice big hole in the 10/X ring. Had a few over left in the 8 ring, but I guess I'm used to that by now. Seems like I was better on target with this gun once I had it down than with my M&P 9mm. Did get burned by one round today that lodged between my glasses and forehead. People watching must have thought I was doing a rain dance or something. Kept the gun downrange and finger out of the trigger guard, so at least I was dancing safely.

No pictures today. Didn't take my phone with me.

Well, that's it. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Saturday, August 27, 2011

First IDPA match today!

Yes! What a blast! Ok, so this is what I have been missing. I did my first IDPA match at Mecklenburg Wildlife Defensive Shooters club in northwestern Charlotte. They have a great club over there. There were 6 courses of fire and all were pretty challenging for this newb shooter. I was only able to get pictures of one COF and it was my last one. I wasn't really thinking about getting pictures and COF information, so I blew it there.

Anyway, first things first. I didn't get disqualified for breaking any safety rules. That was my number one priority at this match. Shooting and having fun came next and I did both. The folks at MWDS were very friendly to new shooters. I think we had about 80 shooters and between 10-15 first time shooters. I don't know what my scores were and truthfully, I wasn't really worried about them. I do know I had one procedural penalty, one failure to neutralize, and one hit on a friendly "no shoot" target out of a total of about 35-40 total targets. Five of the six stages were using standard vickers scoring which meant you could shoot as many shots as you wanted, just takes you longer and one stage was limited vickers which means you can only shoot the number of rounds prescribed for each target. Also had one stage where we needed to shoot while moving, this being the 2nd time I've ever done that. I also had one "doh" moment.

My failure to neutralize came on my first stage. Guess it was a bit of "stage fright" and adrenalin. I think it was six targets and I hit five pretty well, but my last target from about 15 yards I hit in the 3 zone and one just outside the scoring area. If you don't get at least one shot in the 0 or 1 scoring zone, it's a failure to neutralize.

One of my "doh" moments came and my one procedural came on the first shots of another COF. You were supposed to draw and shoot the target in front of you twice while retreating, then advance and shoot two targets that were behind walls. Well, I drew, shot the front target twice, then retreated. "DOH!". I probably could have shot two more times after I had retreated, but wasn't thinking about that at the time.

Another "doh" moment came in another COF. I was at the point of reload and couldn't get my magazine to drop. Push, push, push, no drop. It was then when I realized I was pushing my slide lock instead of my magazine release. "Double-DOH!". Got the magazine out finally, replaced it, and racked the slide to get a round chambered and continued on.

I think I hit the friendly "no shoot" target on my first or second course of fire. I only grazed it. The rest of the no shoots I did fine with and I think there were at least 3 or 4 others that I did not hit.

Last stage for me was the one I got a picture of. The scenario was that while walking through the woods, you come upon a field of pot. One bad guy needed to be shot with two rounds and then you needed to shoot five targets which were on their side. This was like a dog running at you that needed five rounds to take down. Big dog I guess. Each dog target required 1 shot in either the 0 or 1 scoring area or it was a failure to neutralize. After shooting those 5, you moved to cover and shot another target at around 15 yards which signified someone carrying a rifle. You had to shoot him 6 times.


Great time today. I also met Morgan Allen. For those who don't know, in September, Frostproof, Florida will be holding the IDPA World Championships. Morgan is going to be representing the US at this match. It's also cool that he's a member of Mecklenburg Wildlife Defensive Shooters and the Central Carolinas Shooting Club. So, GOOD LUCK MORGAN! He's a real treat to watch shoot. AND, I found a video of him shooting the stages. Here you go.

Anyway, that's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

What to carry when my CCH permit comes in?

As I sit and wait for my permit to come in, I'm starting to wonder what to carry when it does come in. I qualified on my Smith and Wesson, Military and Police 9mm which is an excellent firearm, but it's also my IDPA firearm. If I use that, I can't really make any changes to it other than maybe sights which I want to replace anyway. I also have a Taurus PT-92 which is a great shooter, but is even larger than the M&P9. Last, I have a Taurus PT809 which is smaller than the PT92 and the M&P9. All of them are 9mm firearms and I shoot them all pretty well, but I'm wondering if maybe I should go up to .40 or .45 for concealed carry. In the future, I will get a 1911 model .45. Can't go wrong with John Moses Browning's design which just had it's 100th birthday. If I decide on the 1911 for concealed carry, it's a toss up on going full size, or going commander size which would be a bit easier to conceal.

After I decide on my concealed carry firearm, I'll then have to decide on the type of holster to wear. I only have one holster now and it's a Bladetech outer waist band for my M&P9. It's a belt type holster and not paddle, so it's not the perfect solution for concealed carry because you have to take it off your belt when you want to remove it. I do prefer it for IDPA as it's nice and snug. No drawing the gun and the holster together :)

Decisions, decisions. At least I have time to investigate and evaluate before I have to make the final decision.

That's it for me. Shoot safe, shoot straight!


Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Turned in my CCH application today....

For those in North Carolina and really probably all the states, you might want to call your sheriff's or local law enforcement offices to find out if you need an appointment to get fingerprinted. In Union County, NC, the sheriff does require an appointment. Also, if you are former military, you'll most likely need your DD-214 form. Just remember to take the long form. The short form DD-214 doesn't show if you were honorably discharged or not. /doh!

The sheriff's office told me that they're running right around 90 days to get the permits back assuming I'm not crazy or a known felon. I guess we'll find out.

That's it for today. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Passed my concealed carry handgun course!

Yippee! Passed my CCH course today. Great class at Elite Training Academy in Monroe, NC. Kelly Eads was our trainer and did a great job going over the North Carolina concealed carry laws and the use of deadly force. The class was fun and informative with a lot of interaction and great questions from the students. We watched several videos from the North Carolina Department of Justice which gave a very good (if dry) explanation of the laws and where you can carry as well as some videos that showed specific situations regarding the use of deadly force. Learned some great information in this class. We finished up with a part of the course on gun safety, handling, maintenance, ammunition types, and types of handguns. This was a lot of review for me and several people from the class as it's based on the NRA basic pistol class which I took back in April.

The class was filled with folks with different levels of experience from someone who had just purchased a handgun and was just learning to several ladies who were applying for their armed security personnel license.

After the standard classroom teaching, we went to the range to shoot 40 rounds total from 3, 5, and 7 yards into a B27 target. This was a little different for me as Elite has a rule that you should shoot no more than 1 round per second, so shooting as fast as I could pull the trigger and as quickly as I could get my sights on target was fun. Kind of reminded me of doing IDPA practices with the folks from Central Carolinas Shooting Club. We shot a bunch of the rounds with either the strong or weak hand, usually in 6 round courses of fire.

All of my rounds found their way into the 8 ring or better with 34 in the 9, 10, and X rings. I was then able to shoot my last 10 rounds after my scoring was done just to finish off the box. All of those rounds were in the 9 ring or better.

All in all, I had a great time with Kelly and the class and would definitely recommend anyone in the Charlotte area in taking the class with Elite.

That's all for this week. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Another Saturday at the range.

Well, just like all the past times at the range, stayed at 10 yards at Elite Training Academy here in Monroe, NC. I like Elite as it's close to home and has 12 bays, so there are usually a couple open with no waiting. I put up another B27 target and ran 50 rounds of .22lr at the head of the target which can be seen below.
 As you can see, I'm still a bit left, but getting better and having decent groupings. Next I ran 90 rounds of USAAMMO.com re-manufactured 9mm rounds through my M&P. My first ten rounds had 7 in the 9, 0 and X rings and 3 in the 8 ring to the left. Yep, still left. I didn't have any issues with my slide not locking back today. I tried not jamming my hand right up to the top of the grip. This seems to have fixed the slide lock issue and appears to have helped me not be quite as left as I have been in the past. You can see my 90 rounds in this photo.
You can see two rounds high up in the 8 ring. These were two "accidental" double tap second shots. I'm not releasing the trigger all the way, trying to find the reset point and would up with those two firing off as the muzzle was still rising. Still left, but working my way to the right. Tried harder to just use the middle of the pad of my trigger finger as well, so hopefully that will get me pointed in the right direction.

Won't have a range report next week as I'll be taking the NC Concealed Carry class on Sunday. I'll post a brief and some pictures of my target once done and let you all know how I did in class. Hopefully by the end of September, I'll have my concealed carry permit.

That's it for today. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Saturday at the range.



Went to the range Saturday with my youngest son. I didn't do a whole lot of shooting today as I wasn't feeling the best. Changed up targets and used a letargets.com SEB special weapons team target. Don't have a picture of it unfortunately as I left my cell phone at home. It's a target that looks somewhat like an old milk bottle which has 3 internal smaller target zones (2 squares in the body and a small triangle in the head) and 6 small targets outside the bottle shape. I put another 50 rounds of .22 at one of the small target circle #2 at 7 yards and the triangle in the bottle at 7 yards. Didn't really have any issues there at all. Good groups with two hands, but my strong and weak hand still need a little work.

I then proceeded to shoot 30 rounds of the USAAMMO.com once fired ammo at the center mass box in the bottle at 10 yards. Interesting thing is that shooting at that box, I didn't have the low/left or left issue as much. I did have a couple of throw-away rounds that were low and one was left. Of the 30 rounds, 26 were well inside the box with the rest within 1 inch of the box. The last 20 rounds, I shot at the small triangle in the head at 10 yards. I did 10 rounds strong hand and 10 rounds weak hand. Little bit harder to hit the triangle as it is pretty small. Of the 20 rounds shot at the triangle, I had 7 misses, but only 3 out of the "head" of the target. Still need to do more one handed shooting.

Another thing I'm noticing is my having trouble with the take-up of the trigger after a shot. I'm releasing the trigger and having trouble again finding the spot where the trigger resets. Not sure how to work on that. Still having issues with the strong hand thumb riding the slide release and causing it not to lock back on the last round. Lots of work to do.

For those interested, the big boxes are 6inch boxes, the small boxes are 3.5inch boxes, the circles are about 3.25inches, and the triangles are about 3inches per side.

Well, that's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

2011 Alabama State IDPA Championships

This match was held April 16th at the Central Alabama Gun Club. Looks like I'm having issues finding videos of multiple shooters and stages, so you'll have to watch the videos that individual shooters made. This video was pretty good with each stage shown from behind and from a hat cam. Enjoy!



Remember. Shoot safe, shoot straight.

Some IDPA state and regional championships

Thought I'd throw together some posts showing 2011 state and regional championship videos. I wasn't in any of these, but there are some excellent shooters and some great stages. Enjoy! First up is the 2011 Florida State Championships held on March 11th to the 13th. Looks like some great stages.


And here is a link to the stage design documents: 2011 Florida State IDPA Championships.

Remember. Shoot safe, shoot straight.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Saturday at the range.

Good and bad. Ran another 150 rounds down range again. Same as all the other times. Sent 50 rounds of .22 at  10 yards into the head of a B27 target. Decent groupings, but still left. In this photo, you can also see my first 20 rounds of 9mm. Still running left doing the 1 shot per second with only one round almost out of the 9 ring.

I then put another 60 rounds down the range doing the same 1 second per shot. I'm still left and got worse the  more I shot. I'm having difficulty finding a good grip that is high, but not riding the slide release. I'm having issues with the slide not locking back after the last round, so I worked multiple grips trying to find one that doesn't ride the release. Nothing good came from those types of grips. May wind up talking to some of the folks at CCSC to see if they can help out. Worst comes to worst, I can always pay to have someone help me with the grip and the left shooting issues.

In any event, I shot the last 20 rounds as strong and weak hand only from 7 yards at the head of the target. Not too bad. Once again was left, but had a good grouping of 17 shots with 3 still in the head.

All in all, not terribly happy with the session today, but did end up relatively happy with the weak/strong hand shooting.

Well, that's it for this week. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight.

Shooting the IDPA qualifier - Stage 3

Caleb Giddings goes through the 3rd stage of the IDPA qualifier.

http://outdoorchannel.com/sharevideo.aspx?pid=AiAZ7VN_SqS2PhUFIPolHT0ICKMpr_3K

Shooting the IDPA qualifier - Stage 2

Caleb Giddings shows how to run the 2nd stage of the IDPA qualifier.

http://outdoorchannel.com/sharevideo.aspx?pid=i1oZNqtxyRNn2HmU4dcw0okAHykMsH2t

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Weekend practice at the range

Put another 150 rounds down range. Warmed up with 50 .22 rounds to the head of a B27 target. All shots wound up in the head with them all slightly left, but getting better. Used Federal Ammo last week and this week. Last week, only had 2 failure to fires with the Federal Ammo. This week was much worse with about 10 or so failing to fire. I'll clean the gun up real well and see if it makes a difference. Each round had a good strike on the rim, so I'm not sure what happened this week.

As to shooting the M&P 9mm, I put 100 rounds of the PMC bronze down the range this week. Again, like all the previous weeks, the PMC bronze has shot perfectly. I did notice that my first 10 rounds were left at around the 9 o'clock area. Five out of the first 10 rounds were in the wide 8 and 7 rings. Gun felt a little different in my hand. Was about that time I remembered I had taken off my large back strap and put on a smaller one to try it out. Put the large back strap on and it started bringing everything back towards center. Next 90 rounds were pretty much in the X, 10, and 9 rings. Still left, but getting better. Keeping my follow-up shots at around 1 second and focusing on the front sight acquisition over the target.

All in all (other than it being extremely hot inside at the range), it was a good day. Shoulder is a little sore and tender, so I'm doing the heat and ice for 20 minutes each to get it straightened out. My co-worker seems to think I might have a bursa sack issue. She's going to give me a set of instructions on how to work out my shoulder to get the flexibility back and hopefully reduce the soreness. Also been doing fewer shoulder exercises for the front and back of the shoulder.

Anyway, that's it for now. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Excellent Quote

"The unarmed man can only flee from evil. And evil is never overcome by fleeing from it." 
Col. Jeff Cooper

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Guns Magazine - September 2011 Commentary

You have to read the "Home, home on the range - sorta". article on page 78 and 79. That was one of the funniest range stories I have ever heard or read about. The blurb about "Pepe" was priceless.

http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/GUNS/GUNS0911/

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Review of the Double Tap Championships with Steve and Rick

Great review of the first 4 stages of the Double Tap Championship in Wichita Falls, Texas. Steve and Rick do a great job talking about the stages and how they ran them.

Sunday at the range

Ok, so put 150 rounds down range today. I did 50 warmup rounds with my S&W 22A as head shots on a B27 target at 10 yards. No issues there. All rounds in the head and had decent grouping. All rounds were shot with a goal of less than 1 second a round and I pretty much felt like I maintained that.


I next put 50 rounds of the USA Ammo that I bought through my S&W Military and Police 9mm. Forty-five of the rounds were in the 9 ring or better with only 5 in the 8 ring. Again, all shots were taken with a goal of less than 1 second per round and I felt like I was right there.

The last 50 rounds were again USA Ammo which I shot through my Taurus PT-92. For these, I put up a small orange target between the 7 and 8 on the B27 target and used that to focus on. Seems my groupings were better again with the PT-92 than the M&P 9mm. I'm guessing it's because the PT-92 is slightly heavier. The only problem with the 92 is that the grip seems short and my off hand pinkie finger hangs off the bottom, so that doesn't feel real comfortable.


As you can see, I'm still predominantly left in my groupings, so still have a lot of work to do there. Anyway, the USA Ammo 9mm shot flawlessly. No failures to fire, eject, or feed. Not smokey at all, but I did wind up with a lot of burnt powder on my arms and it was a bit dirtier than the PMC Bronze 9mm I shot. Still, for getting it less than $10 a box, I'll take the extra time to clean my guns. Now that I'm a customer with USA Ammo, I've received two coupons for half off shipping. Next time, I'll probably order 1000 rounds and including half off shipping, get them for less than $9 a box.

Shoulder doesn't hurt near as much after this 150 rounds, so that's definitely a plus. I do think I need to stop doing shoulder exercises for a while though to see if it will help reduce the aching further. Seems like my posterior deltoid really aches for about two days after doing those exercises. Maybe if I stop completely doing them for another month or so, I'll be back to normal.

That's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Survive the zombie apocalypse

Some good information here. Take heed.



20 things you need to know to survive the zombie apocalypse.

Gotta love the next generation....

Really like seeing the young Americans getting involved in shooting sports. Congrats to Justin and his proud father.

Well, I didn't get to my first match

but I did put another 100 rounds down the range on Saturday. Shoulder was only mildly sore afterwards. I shot 50 rounds at 10 yards with my M&P 9mm and 50 rounds with my Taurus PT-92. Shot a slight bit better with the PT-92 which surprised me as I haven't shot that gun in over a month. I've still a ways to go before I'm ready for the next IDPA club match, but my shoulder is feeling stronger every day.

Just ordered my first ammunition from USA Ammo. It takes a while to get it from the west coast to North Carolina (almost two weeks), but the ammo looks good and was pretty in-expensive. I purchased 250 rounds of the 9mm 115gr once fired, reloaded ammo for $42.25 and shipping was around $13 dollars. Hard to find 9mm ammo here for less than $11 a box, so all in all, it was a good deal. I'll shoot some of that ammo this weekend to see how it goes.

Well, that's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Wanted to add the grip chart....

Here is the pistol shot correction chart I may have alluded to earlier. My issue was shooting low and left, which would have indicated trigger slap, or tightening fingers. I kinda focused on a lighter grip and smoother trigger pull this last time out and the change was very evident with my grouping. Still a little left in my earlier post, so I'm going to work on that now the next time I'm out at the range. This chart is for a right handed shooter. For a lefty, it's just a mirror image.

Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight.

Oww, still a little sore.

Went to the range yesterday with my youngest son to try out my shoulder . Was able to get through about 150 rounds, but felt uncomfortable doing it the whole time. Still, a bad day at the range beats a good day at work! Smith and Wesson M&P 9mm feels a bit awkward right now, but I'm guessing it's due to lack of shooting. May try shooting at Central Carolinas Shooting Club IDPA match on July 9th depending on how my shoulder holds up and how I shoot next weekend.

Shooting at 10 yards for the bulk, I would up with the following target (many of the .22 shots to the head are mine, but the rest of the .22's are my youngest sons shots. All 9mm shots are mine and in this picture, it shows around 80 shots of 9mm - basically the two large holes that are connected).

So, hopefully I'll get back on the path to shooting my IDPA matches and we'll see how it goes. And just for fun, here's my youngest son shooting my M&P.

That's it for today. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Slow posting.... again

Sorry about the delays in posting. Real world issues with real world implications. Not only that, I wound up injuring my strong hand shoulder for the second time in 4 months. Still trying to recover. Haven't lifted a gun in almost 3 weeks now.

Anyway, I'm at a point right now where I don't look like I'll be shooting again until late June or early July. I'll try to find some good websites, videos, and helpful tips for folks trying to get into IDPA competition.

That's it for now. Shoot safe, shoot straight.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

New Website to check out

Check out www.rangelog.com. It is a website where you can track all your range, competition, and practice sessions. The basic log is free, but you can pay for a higher access which will also allow you to track your practices on an Android phone and the iPhone application is coming shortly.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Not IDPA related

Thought I'd share this article regarding a Philadelphia man and his encounter with the Philadelphia Police Department.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/stossel/blog/2011/05/16/philly-police-harass-threaten-shoot-man-legally-carrying-gun#disqus_thread


A story in today's Philadelphia Daily News shows why it's so important that citizens be allowed to videotape cops - it can be citizens' only way to fight back against police abuse of power.
This incident happened several weeks ago in Philadelphia to Mark Fiorino, a 25-year-old IT worker who carries a gun on his hip at all times for self defense. He got the gun after several friends were mugged.
But he didn't count on attacks by police:
On a mild February afternoon, Fiorino, 25, decided to walk to an AutoZone on Frankford Avenue in Northeast Philly with the .40-caliber Glock he legally owns holstered in plain view on his left hip. His stroll ended when someone called out from behind: "Yo, Junior, what are you doing?"
Fiorino wheeled and saw Sgt. Michael Dougherty aiming a handgun at him.
What happened next would be hard to believe, except that Fiorino audio-recorded all of it: a tense, profanity-laced, 40-minute encounter with cops who told him that what he was doing - openly carrying a gun on the city's streets - was against the law.
"Do you know you can't openly carry here in Philadelphia?" Dougherty asked, according to the YouTube clip.
"Yes, you can, if you have a license to carry firearms," Fiorino said. "It's Directive 137. It's your own internal directive."
Fiorino was right. It was perfectly legal to carry the gun. But that didn't matter to the cop:
Fiorino offered to show Dougherty his driver's and firearms licenses. The cop told him to get on his knees.
"Excuse me?" Fiorino said.
"Get down on your knees. Just obey what I'm saying," Dougherty said.
"Sir," Fiorino replied, "I'm more than happy to stand here -"
"If you make a move, I'm going to f------ shoot you," Dougherty snapped. "I'm telling you right now, you make a move, and you're going down!"
"Is this necessary?" Fiorino said.
It went on like that for a little while, until other officers responded to Dougherty's calls for backup.
Fiorino was forced to the ground and shouted at as he tried to explain that he had a firearms license and was legally allowed to openly carry his weapon.
"You f------ come here looking for f------ problems? Where do you live?" yelled one officer.
"I'm sorry, gentlemen," Fiorino said. "If I'm under arrest, I have nothing left to say."
"F------ a------, shut the f--- up!" the cop hollered.
The cops discovered his recorder as they searched his pockets, and unleashed another string of expletives.
Fiorino said he sat handcuffed in a police wagon while the officers made numerous phone calls to supervisors, trying to find out if they could lock him up.
When they learned that they were in the wrong, they let him go.
But only temporarily. Fiorino posted the audio recordings on youtube, and now they are harassing him again:
A new investigation was launched, and last month the District Attorney's Office decided to charge Fiorino with reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct because, a spokeswoman said, he refused to cooperate with police... He's scheduled for trial in July.
If one listens to the audiotapes, it's hard to imagine how a reasonable person could charge Fiorino (and not the cops) for disorderly conduct.


Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/stossel/blog/2011/05/16/philly-police-harass-threaten-shoot-man-legally-carrying-gun#ixzz1McOxa7Vd