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!
Saturday, September 17, 2011
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!
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!
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!
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!
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.
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!
| 11 | John McDermott | 200.92 (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.
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)