Just a few video previews... More details soon
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Thursday, March 13, 2014
The Blues Mobile Stage
The match tonight was generally pretty good for me, but when it went bad, it went bad.
First, the good. Due to common squad logistics, I shot stages 1, 2 and 4 first. The first two were pretty straight forward. For stage two, I had two procedurals. The first, I think, was a cover call in which I fired before moving back into cover. The other was wherein I moved with an empty pistol to another shooting position before reloading. In my defense, I didn't realize the pistol was empty until after I moved, but the procedural still stands. The pistol was not ready for me to move with it (rules 3.9.1) and I missed it. No biggie, really. If I'm going to have a procedural, I prefer something kind of obscure like that.
Stage 4 was probably the most fun. Begin seated facing three targets. At the start, place one head shot in each target. Get up and move to a barrel behind those targets and take low cover. Place two in each of three targets from one side of the barrel, then move to the other side of the barrel and place two more in each.
Inspired by one Master shooter who elected to take the first three from the left with his weak hand, then move to the right with his strong hand and an easy reload, I modified this approach to better suit my current skills. My weak hand is just that, weak, so I decided to engage the right hand targets first with my strong hand only, reload, then take the left hand targets with a standard double handed grip. It must have worked pretty well because that was a zero down no procedural stage! It may have been my first stage with zero down and no other penalties. Granted, all the targets were no more than 2-3 yards, but I'll still take it, especially negotiating the barrel from the floor :)
I can't put it off any longer.
Stage 3 (my last to shoot) had 6 targets to engage. Begin seated facing up range with pistol in a box on a podium behind you and to the left. At the start, stand, retrieve weapon from the box and engage three targets while in retreat to cover. Two targets have hard cover on bodies, so heads need one each. Third is a Mozambique (two in body, one in head). Next shooting position, engage two targets in tactical priority, both Mozambiques. Advance to a third position and engage the final target, again Mozambique.
I had one target without a miss. ONE. Missed both single heads, 5 down plus Fail To Neutralize for both of those. Two 1 downs and missed head on first full target. I don't remember the exact misses on the middle two, but points-wise, it looks like two 1 downs and a missed head as well, though I could possibly have had a 1 down head shot. The last target was a simple two down. Raw time, 27.75 seconds, penalties 29 seconds. Ouch.
The only environmental factor is that end of the range is a little dark, so maybe I couldn't tell I needed makeup shots, but it's not all that dark. The real issue is probably that I was trying to move faster than I could really go.
The way I was shooting *until* this stage, I should probably have had about 7-8 points down and no FTN on that stage, which would have put me around 110 instead of nearly 129. That's even assuming I had the same raw time, though if I had been performing better in general, I might have shaved a bit off that as well. All together, that would still probably have me in about the same position overall, but only because it was so far between my score and the rest of the pack. I'll have to wait for the scores to post online to see where I really ranked in CDP and Marksman.
Ammo-wise, the BBIs treated me well. I had fail to go into battery, at least only one that I remember.
When loading these rounds, I found that quite a few of the rounds failed to fit the case gauge first time. I found that, like many lead bullets, there is a step between the ogive and the bore diameter. What's different here is that I think the lead is at the proper finished diameter, but the poly coating makes it a tiny smidgen larger. I think some of the coating might be shaved during bullet insertion, leaving a ring of displaced material. This ring may interfere slightly with the crimp. While it's not really ideal and makes the overall length a tiny bit short (1.235" typically; ideal is 1.255 +/- .005), I have found that I can seat the bullet slightly deeper and the case mouth stays clean and the finished round gauges perfectly.
In any case, I was happy with the performance of the ammo.
Monday, March 10, 2014
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Holstered BUG Match
I shot in my first post-classification match tonight. With our sanctioned BUG match coming up a week from this Saturday, tonight was a holstered BUG practice match.
When the theme was announced early last week, I immediately ordered two more 6 round magazines for my Kahr CW40 (now have three 6 round and one 7 round) and a CompTac paddle holster and mag pouch.
Although I had to specify straight or FBI cant angle when ordering, it didn't really occur to me that it was not going to be an adjustable holster like the one for my Glock. No matter; it's such a small pistol that it doesn't really make much difference. It's easy and natural to draw as it is. I did not properly test the fit of the magazines in the pouch and it turns out they are a little tight. It was not tight enough to cause troubles, but you do certainly need to intend to remove a magazine, especially from the front pouch. I loaned my allen wrench set to a coworker who wanted to adjust his holster and left it on my desk at work.
With much discussion on the forum about sweeping oneself when holstering and unholstering, I did receive a tip about avoiding it because I was very nearly doing it. When holstering, I was using edge of my hand to move my jacket out of the way of the holster. In so doing, I was pointing the muzzle dangerously close to my own leg.
I had no ammo issues per se, though I did have some kind of feed issue with a round in the last stage.So I had taken 9 of the required 10 shots when the pistol ran dry. Last night, I ran every round through the case gauge and removed the few that didn't pass. Oh, well. In any case, I was able to do a second reload and take that final shot. I don't know how much time it cost me, but maybe it was less than 2-1/2 seconds that a miss would have cost.
Speaking of times, here's my scoresheet: [and the offiicial standings]
All stages were shot with magazines downloaded to 5 rounds each. Stage 2 was actually the first one I shot. It was kinda the most fun, too. There was a barrier with three ports cut in it, two at typical shooter height and one down low. The description required placing one shot on each target from each of the 5 positions, left of the barrier, each of the top ports, right of the barrier and the low port. Then reload and do it again. The shooter was left to decide what order they wanted to shoot the positions.
There was a bit of enthusiastic discussion about whether the stage was legal, since stage design guidelines say that if a kneeling position is required, it should be the final position required so that a shooter does not need to rise again to take another shooting position. I think it was a finally agreed that it is a stage design guideline and not necessarily a requirement.
Most shooters took the order as described, left of barrier, two ports, right of barrier, low, reload, low, then back up for the other four. Most often, shooters took those last 4 right to left. At least one did the low port first, the up for 4, reload, 4 more then back down for the low port. My favorite took the low port not by kneeling, but by bending waaay over and shooting from nearly upside down. Sadly, I am not shaped properly to take that shot :)
Stage 3 was obviously a favorite with zero downs, though I did have one procedural, the only one for the night. For this stage, the description required one shot to each body from a stationary position, then a move to a ported barrier and one shot to each head from the port. I suffered a moment of indecision when the timer started and did not remain stationary, at least not very well.
The last stage was pretty impromptu as time was short, but very cleverly done. Six targets were lined up against the backstop. Six shooters were lined up in front of one target apiece. In turn, each shooter was to take 5 shots at the body and 5 shots at the head. Then step back and the next shooter would go. We were thus able to fit 18-20 shooters into a 5th stage and I was on the road for home before 9PM even after helping to clear the range of props. I had three misses on the head, but that last shot I took after the feed problem was not one of them...
All in all, a decent showing for my experience. I have frequently finished in the bottom 2 or 3, but I was 6-7 up from the bottom tonight :)
Finally, when I signed in for the range, I saw a target paper that was too good to pass up. There is a diagnostic target that helps shooters understand what is likely causing their miss by where on the paper the shot hits. There are 8 zones and each explains likely causes for a miss to have gone into this zone. For example, if your miss is into the bottom zone, you are likely pulling the pistol down in anticipation of the report and recoil.
This is the tough love version of that diagnostic target:
When the theme was announced early last week, I immediately ordered two more 6 round magazines for my Kahr CW40 (now have three 6 round and one 7 round) and a CompTac paddle holster and mag pouch.
Although I had to specify straight or FBI cant angle when ordering, it didn't really occur to me that it was not going to be an adjustable holster like the one for my Glock. No matter; it's such a small pistol that it doesn't really make much difference. It's easy and natural to draw as it is. I did not properly test the fit of the magazines in the pouch and it turns out they are a little tight. It was not tight enough to cause troubles, but you do certainly need to intend to remove a magazine, especially from the front pouch. I loaned my allen wrench set to a coworker who wanted to adjust his holster and left it on my desk at work.
With much discussion on the forum about sweeping oneself when holstering and unholstering, I did receive a tip about avoiding it because I was very nearly doing it. When holstering, I was using edge of my hand to move my jacket out of the way of the holster. In so doing, I was pointing the muzzle dangerously close to my own leg.
I had no ammo issues per se, though I did have some kind of feed issue with a round in the last stage.So I had taken 9 of the required 10 shots when the pistol ran dry. Last night, I ran every round through the case gauge and removed the few that didn't pass. Oh, well. In any case, I was able to do a second reload and take that final shot. I don't know how much time it cost me, but maybe it was less than 2-1/2 seconds that a miss would have cost.
Speaking of times, here's my scoresheet: [and the offiicial standings]
All stages were shot with magazines downloaded to 5 rounds each. Stage 2 was actually the first one I shot. It was kinda the most fun, too. There was a barrier with three ports cut in it, two at typical shooter height and one down low. The description required placing one shot on each target from each of the 5 positions, left of the barrier, each of the top ports, right of the barrier and the low port. Then reload and do it again. The shooter was left to decide what order they wanted to shoot the positions.
There was a bit of enthusiastic discussion about whether the stage was legal, since stage design guidelines say that if a kneeling position is required, it should be the final position required so that a shooter does not need to rise again to take another shooting position. I think it was a finally agreed that it is a stage design guideline and not necessarily a requirement.
Most shooters took the order as described, left of barrier, two ports, right of barrier, low, reload, low, then back up for the other four. Most often, shooters took those last 4 right to left. At least one did the low port first, the up for 4, reload, 4 more then back down for the low port. My favorite took the low port not by kneeling, but by bending waaay over and shooting from nearly upside down. Sadly, I am not shaped properly to take that shot :)
Stage 3 was obviously a favorite with zero downs, though I did have one procedural, the only one for the night. For this stage, the description required one shot to each body from a stationary position, then a move to a ported barrier and one shot to each head from the port. I suffered a moment of indecision when the timer started and did not remain stationary, at least not very well.
The last stage was pretty impromptu as time was short, but very cleverly done. Six targets were lined up against the backstop. Six shooters were lined up in front of one target apiece. In turn, each shooter was to take 5 shots at the body and 5 shots at the head. Then step back and the next shooter would go. We were thus able to fit 18-20 shooters into a 5th stage and I was on the road for home before 9PM even after helping to clear the range of props. I had three misses on the head, but that last shot I took after the feed problem was not one of them...
All in all, a decent showing for my experience. I have frequently finished in the bottom 2 or 3, but I was 6-7 up from the bottom tonight :)
Finally, when I signed in for the range, I saw a target paper that was too good to pass up. There is a diagnostic target that helps shooters understand what is likely causing their miss by where on the paper the shot hits. There are 8 zones and each explains likely causes for a miss to have gone into this zone. For example, if your miss is into the bottom zone, you are likely pulling the pistol down in anticipation of the report and recoil.
This is the tough love version of that diagnostic target:
Monday, March 3, 2014
The Butterfly Effect
I'm not sure if the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil could set off a tornado in Texas, but I do know that there are some pretty large forces at play in a reloading press and a small error can lead to larger problems and sometimes, those problems may not immediately seem related.
A bit more than a week ago, I was in the workshop on a Friday night loading up a few boxes of 45ACP to take to an IDPA Classifier match when I started hearing a metallic creaking noise from the press on every round. I didn't see an immediate cause, but successfully continued loading. The ammo performed perfectly for the match.
On the Sunday after the match, I was in the workshop while the horses were munching and decided to finish off the remaining plated bullets I had left since I have an order of polymer coated bullets enroute. I spent a little more time trying to track down the mysterious noise and while I saw a few signs of some extreme forces, such as evidence of flex in the ram at the top of the stroke probably due to the resizing die being set too low, I did not locate the source of the sound. However, on one particular stroke, the handle broke off in my hand.
I examined the break and discovered that the lower edges had wear on them that would seem to indicate that the lower edge break happened first and it would make sense that the metallic noise I heard may have been these two surfaces rubbing together. I thnk that if the whole thing had broken at once, both breaks would be clean.
During the week, I receive the replacement parts, which were very easy to install.
Not surprisingly, the press did not make any creaky noises with the new parts and I was able to finish off all the plated 45 bullets.
The broken part did rear it's head later in an indirect way. Last Friday night I really wanted to go to the regular CTIDPA match in Weatherford but with the 10PM finish time, the solid hour's drive home from there and with my wife home recovering from back surgery, I didn't want to be so late getting home after an already long enough work day. I elected to just stop at ShootSmart for an hour or so of live fire practice in a private lane.
I shot about 200 rounds of 40 S&W, mostly in the Glock 20 with a Lone Wolf conversion barrel. I was mostly working on draw and grip. The thumbs forward grip is a little short of intuitive for me at this point, but it's general success and wide acceptance would seem to indicate that it is worth learning. For whatever reason, I seem to be able to do it pretty well with the Colt, but my hands forget what to do with the Glock. The two things I found myself doing was either pressing upward on the the slide release with my strong thumb, which can make the slide lock open with rounds still in the magazine or somehow, the index finger of my support hand kept trying to wrap around the trigger guard. I'll keep working on it.
I also ran about 50 rounds through my Kahr CW40. It is a sexy little pistol, but it can be a little punishing to shoot. It's pretty small in my hands and the trigger pull is veeerrrrrryyyy looonnggg. These two combine to make the trigger guard hit my trigger finger with a bit of regularity. In any case, with an upcoming sanctioned BUG match and a BUG practice match before that, I thought it wise to get a few more rounds downrange from the Kahr. I have three 6 round magazines (and one seven round) in hand and a holster and magazine pouch on order. Hopefully, the holster will be there before Thursday's match.
Anyway, you may have forgotten (or thought I had forgotten) that I was talking about the tentacles of failure propagating from the broken reloading press. Before the handle broke OFF on that Sunday, I had been chasing the mysterious noise. This process involved gyrating and orbiting around the press during various stages of the process in an attempt to localize the racket. In so doing, I apparently ran at least one round through the powder stage without a drop and subsequently missed the empty case when I placed a bullet. I found that round at the range on Friday night.
They aren't supposed to stop there in barrel. At least it didn't happen in a match. There is not a provision for reshooting a stage when stymied by a squib; in fact, it's specifically address in section 4.3 of the rules, and if there were, it would kinda be akin to re-running a race because you pooped your pants.
Sadly, that was in only about the 2nd or 3 magazine through the Colt in drawing practice. I had found that I was able to group 8 rounds very nicely, surprisingly nicely actually, using the thumbs forward grip and I was wanting to play with that some more when the squib hit the brakes.
Removing a squib is not particularly difficult with a couple of suitable tools, namely a ram and something to drive it. Most commonly, a tough wooden dowel or brass rod and a hammer will do the trick. Something that wont scratch the barrel but is tough enough to drive the slug out. I did not have anything suitable with me, so I just shot the Kahr a bit more and called it a day.
Perhaps needless to say, the rest of that box of ammo is suspect due to my distraction while loading it. Chances are pretty good that I found the one bad round, but I've thought that before, too.
A bit more than a week ago, I was in the workshop on a Friday night loading up a few boxes of 45ACP to take to an IDPA Classifier match when I started hearing a metallic creaking noise from the press on every round. I didn't see an immediate cause, but successfully continued loading. The ammo performed perfectly for the match.
On the Sunday after the match, I was in the workshop while the horses were munching and decided to finish off the remaining plated bullets I had left since I have an order of polymer coated bullets enroute. I spent a little more time trying to track down the mysterious noise and while I saw a few signs of some extreme forces, such as evidence of flex in the ram at the top of the stroke probably due to the resizing die being set too low, I did not locate the source of the sound. However, on one particular stroke, the handle broke off in my hand.
I examined the break and discovered that the lower edges had wear on them that would seem to indicate that the lower edge break happened first and it would make sense that the metallic noise I heard may have been these two surfaces rubbing together. I thnk that if the whole thing had broken at once, both breaks would be clean.
During the week, I receive the replacement parts, which were very easy to install.
Not surprisingly, the press did not make any creaky noises with the new parts and I was able to finish off all the plated 45 bullets.
The broken part did rear it's head later in an indirect way. Last Friday night I really wanted to go to the regular CTIDPA match in Weatherford but with the 10PM finish time, the solid hour's drive home from there and with my wife home recovering from back surgery, I didn't want to be so late getting home after an already long enough work day. I elected to just stop at ShootSmart for an hour or so of live fire practice in a private lane.
I shot about 200 rounds of 40 S&W, mostly in the Glock 20 with a Lone Wolf conversion barrel. I was mostly working on draw and grip. The thumbs forward grip is a little short of intuitive for me at this point, but it's general success and wide acceptance would seem to indicate that it is worth learning. For whatever reason, I seem to be able to do it pretty well with the Colt, but my hands forget what to do with the Glock. The two things I found myself doing was either pressing upward on the the slide release with my strong thumb, which can make the slide lock open with rounds still in the magazine or somehow, the index finger of my support hand kept trying to wrap around the trigger guard. I'll keep working on it.
I also ran about 50 rounds through my Kahr CW40. It is a sexy little pistol, but it can be a little punishing to shoot. It's pretty small in my hands and the trigger pull is veeerrrrrryyyy looonnggg. These two combine to make the trigger guard hit my trigger finger with a bit of regularity. In any case, with an upcoming sanctioned BUG match and a BUG practice match before that, I thought it wise to get a few more rounds downrange from the Kahr. I have three 6 round magazines (and one seven round) in hand and a holster and magazine pouch on order. Hopefully, the holster will be there before Thursday's match.
Anyway, you may have forgotten (or thought I had forgotten) that I was talking about the tentacles of failure propagating from the broken reloading press. Before the handle broke OFF on that Sunday, I had been chasing the mysterious noise. This process involved gyrating and orbiting around the press during various stages of the process in an attempt to localize the racket. In so doing, I apparently ran at least one round through the powder stage without a drop and subsequently missed the empty case when I placed a bullet. I found that round at the range on Friday night.
They aren't supposed to stop there in barrel. At least it didn't happen in a match. There is not a provision for reshooting a stage when stymied by a squib; in fact, it's specifically address in section 4.3 of the rules, and if there were, it would kinda be akin to re-running a race because you pooped your pants.
Sadly, that was in only about the 2nd or 3 magazine through the Colt in drawing practice. I had found that I was able to group 8 rounds very nicely, surprisingly nicely actually, using the thumbs forward grip and I was wanting to play with that some more when the squib hit the brakes.
Removing a squib is not particularly difficult with a couple of suitable tools, namely a ram and something to drive it. Most commonly, a tough wooden dowel or brass rod and a hammer will do the trick. Something that wont scratch the barrel but is tough enough to drive the slug out. I did not have anything suitable with me, so I just shot the Kahr a bit more and called it a day.
Perhaps needless to say, the rest of that box of ammo is suspect due to my distraction while loading it. Chances are pretty good that I found the one bad round, but I've thought that before, too.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
I'm Somebody!
First, this is how I feel today having achieved Marksman classification in two IDPA divisions!
There was an outdoor match that included classifier stages last weekend. It was a stunningly pretty day to shoot, too. As things were arranged, I was in a squad with a few first time IDPA shooters and we had a great time.
The logistics turned out well to use two sets of targets and change them out as each shooter completed a stage. The offline targets would be scored and pasted while the online targets were shot, then swapped. This worked really well for the first stages, which took a little while to complete. Once shooters started on stage 3, it was harder to keep up.
Somewhere in the shuffle, a couple of my raw times were not recorded on my scoresheet. When the Match Director was later compiling the scores, he had to use the maximum 30 seconds for each of those strings, which made my score at least 45 seconds longer than it really took. That and 45 points down combined to give me a total score of 230+ seconds, pretty firmly into "Novice" classification. For my own part, I should have been much more intimately engaged with my own score sheet, which would have let me catch this before it happened. There is no specific rule that addresses this particular issue, however the powers that be discussed it amongst themselves and determined that they could still classify me as Marksman based on their personal observation of my performance. The score was adjusted, posted and finalized and as of this morning, my classifications are official!
IDPA rules permit using one score to classify in multiple divisions, so long as the weapon used meets the criteria of the divisions in question. In my case, my Colt 1991A1 can be used in either CDP (Custom Defense Pistol, essentially any 45ACP pistol) or ESP (Enhanced Service Pistol, essentially pistols with a certain degree of customization beyond stock) so I used it.
In preparing for the match, I was not sure I would have time to load the recommended 200 rounds of 45ACP, so I dashed by Cabela's on the way home Friday night and bought some PMC Bronze to ensure I would have ammo to shoot. When I got home, it turned out I did have time, so I loaded about 250 rounds and brought 200 with me on Saturday for a total of 400 rounds. If I didn't get to shoot or complete, it was not going to be because I didn't have ammo. Furthermore, I brought my Glock 20C with the 40S&W barrel and 200+ rounds of ammo for it just in case something went terribly terribly wrong with the Colt.
A highlight of the classifier stages was that I had no ammo issues, though I didn't seat the magazine completely at least twice. Each time, I burned a bit of time cycling the slide and retrying before bumping the magazine and cycling. Similarly, I apparently haven't drilled enough on establishing proper grip upon drawing or if I do then, I revert to poor grip after a magazine change. All of that refers back to very old habits from stationary non-timed shooting and I just have to practice until I stop doing that kind of thing.
In the rest of the match, there were a few fun stages. There was one scenario in which the shooter is basically a spy in a foreign facility. The shooter starts with their hands on the keyboard of a laptop. At the timer start (the alarms sounding), they gather a stack of floppy disks, throw them out a window (presumably to be collected for later analysis) then proceed to shoot their way to safety.
This stage included a disappearing target, which I had not encountered before. This is like a swinger designed to swing only once. It has barbell weights on a peg, which is supported by a stick with a cord attached. The cord was routed such that knocking down a steel popper target would pull the cord and free the weights to fall, pulling the target into view. When the weights pulled it all the way down, they would fall off the peg and the target would now swing back up into the hidden position. The shooter proceeds through the rest of the stage, then from the final shooting position, the disappearing target is again in view. Many shooters took at least the required two shots at the target when it moved, then once the rest of the targets had been addressed, emptied their last magazine at the now stationary disappearing target to ensure it had hits.
When the dust cleared, I had used 151 rounds of ammo, had a mild sunburn on my shaved head due to forgetting to bring a hat and the English muffin sandwich I'd had for breakfast had worn completely off. :)
In very vaguely related news, on Monday I received my spiffy new air rifle, a Benjamin Titan NP, and a couple varieties of heavy pellets. I did some very informal indoor sighting in and it appears to be reasonably accurate at very close ranges and pretty powerful. More as I get it sighted in and tested.
And finally, last night I was killing a few minutes while the horses ate their dinner and decided to load a few rounds of 45ACP. About 20 or 30 rounds in, the toggle that the handle attaches to snapped.
In the interest of full disclosure, when I was loading ammunition Friday night before the classifier match, the press started making a metal-on-metal creaking noise, particularly with the handle at the bottom of the stroke. I looked to see what parts were moving when the noise happened and I lubricated the ram and the pivots on the toggle because it seemed that the noise may have been coming from there. The lubrication did not affect the sound at all, but I continued loading as needed. Now that I was holding the handle swinging freely in my hand, I suspect that one or more of the four individual stress points on the toggle had probably already cracked when the noise started and the continued use of the press just worked away at the others until it failed completely.
The toggles themselves do not appear to be available as a replacement part, however, the toggles and handle together are available as a conversion for presses using the older cast aluminum handle. Directly from Lee Precision, the conversion kit is $32 but MidwayUSA sells it for $25, so I ordered one today. Unless something very serious happens between now and when the parts arrive, I should have enough ammo to get through it.
There was an outdoor match that included classifier stages last weekend. It was a stunningly pretty day to shoot, too. As things were arranged, I was in a squad with a few first time IDPA shooters and we had a great time.
The logistics turned out well to use two sets of targets and change them out as each shooter completed a stage. The offline targets would be scored and pasted while the online targets were shot, then swapped. This worked really well for the first stages, which took a little while to complete. Once shooters started on stage 3, it was harder to keep up.
Somewhere in the shuffle, a couple of my raw times were not recorded on my scoresheet. When the Match Director was later compiling the scores, he had to use the maximum 30 seconds for each of those strings, which made my score at least 45 seconds longer than it really took. That and 45 points down combined to give me a total score of 230+ seconds, pretty firmly into "Novice" classification. For my own part, I should have been much more intimately engaged with my own score sheet, which would have let me catch this before it happened. There is no specific rule that addresses this particular issue, however the powers that be discussed it amongst themselves and determined that they could still classify me as Marksman based on their personal observation of my performance. The score was adjusted, posted and finalized and as of this morning, my classifications are official!
IDPA rules permit using one score to classify in multiple divisions, so long as the weapon used meets the criteria of the divisions in question. In my case, my Colt 1991A1 can be used in either CDP (Custom Defense Pistol, essentially any 45ACP pistol) or ESP (Enhanced Service Pistol, essentially pistols with a certain degree of customization beyond stock) so I used it.
In preparing for the match, I was not sure I would have time to load the recommended 200 rounds of 45ACP, so I dashed by Cabela's on the way home Friday night and bought some PMC Bronze to ensure I would have ammo to shoot. When I got home, it turned out I did have time, so I loaded about 250 rounds and brought 200 with me on Saturday for a total of 400 rounds. If I didn't get to shoot or complete, it was not going to be because I didn't have ammo. Furthermore, I brought my Glock 20C with the 40S&W barrel and 200+ rounds of ammo for it just in case something went terribly terribly wrong with the Colt.
A highlight of the classifier stages was that I had no ammo issues, though I didn't seat the magazine completely at least twice. Each time, I burned a bit of time cycling the slide and retrying before bumping the magazine and cycling. Similarly, I apparently haven't drilled enough on establishing proper grip upon drawing or if I do then, I revert to poor grip after a magazine change. All of that refers back to very old habits from stationary non-timed shooting and I just have to practice until I stop doing that kind of thing.
In the rest of the match, there were a few fun stages. There was one scenario in which the shooter is basically a spy in a foreign facility. The shooter starts with their hands on the keyboard of a laptop. At the timer start (the alarms sounding), they gather a stack of floppy disks, throw them out a window (presumably to be collected for later analysis) then proceed to shoot their way to safety.
This stage included a disappearing target, which I had not encountered before. This is like a swinger designed to swing only once. It has barbell weights on a peg, which is supported by a stick with a cord attached. The cord was routed such that knocking down a steel popper target would pull the cord and free the weights to fall, pulling the target into view. When the weights pulled it all the way down, they would fall off the peg and the target would now swing back up into the hidden position. The shooter proceeds through the rest of the stage, then from the final shooting position, the disappearing target is again in view. Many shooters took at least the required two shots at the target when it moved, then once the rest of the targets had been addressed, emptied their last magazine at the now stationary disappearing target to ensure it had hits.
When the dust cleared, I had used 151 rounds of ammo, had a mild sunburn on my shaved head due to forgetting to bring a hat and the English muffin sandwich I'd had for breakfast had worn completely off. :)
In very vaguely related news, on Monday I received my spiffy new air rifle, a Benjamin Titan NP, and a couple varieties of heavy pellets. I did some very informal indoor sighting in and it appears to be reasonably accurate at very close ranges and pretty powerful. More as I get it sighted in and tested.
And finally, last night I was killing a few minutes while the horses ate their dinner and decided to load a few rounds of 45ACP. About 20 or 30 rounds in, the toggle that the handle attaches to snapped.
In the interest of full disclosure, when I was loading ammunition Friday night before the classifier match, the press started making a metal-on-metal creaking noise, particularly with the handle at the bottom of the stroke. I looked to see what parts were moving when the noise happened and I lubricated the ram and the pivots on the toggle because it seemed that the noise may have been coming from there. The lubrication did not affect the sound at all, but I continued loading as needed. Now that I was holding the handle swinging freely in my hand, I suspect that one or more of the four individual stress points on the toggle had probably already cracked when the noise started and the continued use of the press just worked away at the others until it failed completely.
The toggles themselves do not appear to be available as a replacement part, however, the toggles and handle together are available as a conversion for presses using the older cast aluminum handle. Directly from Lee Precision, the conversion kit is $32 but MidwayUSA sells it for $25, so I ordered one today. Unless something very serious happens between now and when the parts arrive, I should have enough ammo to get through it.
Friday, February 7, 2014
Airsoft Drilling
Other than the blaze orange barrel tip, the Black Ops USA 1911 is a remarkably realistic airsoft pistol. It's hefty, fits my holster perfectly, the controls are all there and operational. The slide cycles when it's fired, giving it a little recoil. Its more like 22 than 45, but it still kicks a bit. It makes enough report to trip a timer.
It shoots airsoft BBs reasonably accurately at short ranges. Since I have targets now, I will do some live fire drills soon. For now, I'm just moving, covering and watching that darned trigger finger.
Normally, the slide locks back on an empty magazine, so I had to do a simple modification to keep it from locking back. I tried a couple of blocks, but what works best is a wire bent into a double hook to keep the magazine spring compressed.
I get about 40 shots out of a cylinder if I don't run it too fast.
Since I'm doing these drills indoors, every doorway is cover and anything I can focus on becomes the target. I pay special attention to maintaining cover and getting my finger out of the trigger guard before my feet move. On the other hand, I can claim that all stages are 0 down :)
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