Gun Nuts

These circles are where the stage Safety Officers would stand to monitor your usage of cover on their stages. This only happened on one bay.

I do not think very highly of this practice.

I love how the cylinder discoloration looks on the GP100 when I shoot it a bunch.

This post isn’t going to be particularly well laid out, because I wanted to create a place that I could collect all of my thoughts on the 2014 IDPA Nationals. I actually spent more time thinking about this match than I usually do, probably because I tend to get introspective when I’m trying to stay warm. Which actually brings me to my first thought:

Anyone care to take a stab at what those little spray painted circles on the ground are for? For shooters at the match, don’t ruin it. I’m going to elaborate later in a future post. To see the image full size, give it a click.

Here are the current leaders for each division at the 2014 IDPA Nationals:

The NRA Museum has a unique S&W model 642 on display. It’s the model 642 carried by NYPD police officer Walter Weaver as he went into the North Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Officer Weaver died trying to evacuate citizens trapped in a burning hell unleashed by vile bastards intent on the destruction of Western Civilization. Much gets said on the internet about the militarization of police and use of force issues, but none of the rioters or complainers ever seem to mention the Walter Weavers out there who will literally run into a burning building to try and save the lives of innocents.

After looking at several options, I selected the S&W 638 as my new small revolver.

Gun: Ruger GP100 Match Champion
Vest: Armadillo Concealment
Holster: Garrett Industries Silent Thunder

I’m also rocking my 4Wheelguns speedloader holders and Safariland Comp-III loaders.

Yesterday, the day before IDPA Nationals kicked off, IDPA announced via email to members and a post on their facebook page that the CZ Accu-Shadow was not legal for SSP. The internet reacted predictably, with at least one shooter affected by the decision voicing his displeasure here in the comments. Many other shooters not affected by the decision, or even shooting IDPA Nationals, also voiced their objections. Objections to the decision fall along two fairly broad lines. 1st, the timing of the announcement by IDPA, and 2nd that the ruling banning the Accu-Shadow is not consistent with IDPA’s other rulings. Let’s take a look at both of those.

This literally just in from IDPA HQ prior to Nationals:

Check any internet gun forum, and one of the most common threads will be complaints about the customer service in gun stores. “I went into Fred’s blast town and had to listen to some 19 year talk about being a Delta Navy Ranger Seal and how the Taurus is the best handgun for special operations.” Or the classic “I went into a gun store to buy a 1911 and they tried to sell me a 38 snubbie because the 1911 might be too much gun to handle.”

I’ve never had this happen before, so I wanted to share it with my shooter buddies and see if anyone had any insight. Shooting my GP100 Match Champion, if I close one eye bullseye style and shoot with a hard front sight focus, the gun’s point of impact is ~4 inches to the right at 25 yards, with the front sight centered. No problem, I could just drift the front sight over. However, here’s the weird thing. If I open both eyes and don’t use as hard a front sight focus, but just kind of center the fiber in the rear notch, the point of impact shifts back to dead center, with about 0.50-1.00 inch increase in group size.

I’ve never had this happen before, and I’m kind of wondering what caused it. My current theory is that because I’m not as hard focused on the front sight, there’s a slight amount of blur on the fiber that’s “filling” in the gaps. So a centered green blob puts hits on paper but opens up my groups a bit.

Thoughts?

Seen on facebook, likely sourced from a Japanese airsoft page. But I’ll be honest, if this was a real thing? Kind of want. Because there’s no attempt to make this a “srsfightingpistol” it’s just a big ol goofy clownshow. Like a Pagani Zonda, it’s all about theatre.

I am going to cut right to the chase here: now that I’ve had the time to practice with it, use it, and really work it, I can say that the Garrett Industries Silent Thunder OWB is the best revolver holster I’ve ever owned.

Hilton Yam answers the question of “do I need a gunsmith?” Spoiler: if you have to ask, the answer is yes.

Slow motion video is interesting. The .38 recoils in slow motion exactly how I imagined it would, which is to say not very much at all. The magnum on the other hand appears to be way more violent in slow-motion than it did when shooting it. In fact, in the slow mo video you can see my grip comes apart at the end of the magnum relay, which is something I didn’t really notice when shooting it live.

BRB going to the range to play with this thing.

And the Walther CCP.

I really wanted to work a quote in here about witnessing the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station…and I guess I did. To the point: We now have dates for our Basic Pistol classes and a location. Classes will be held at Beacon Hill Rifle and Pistol Club in Brookings, SD. The first class is Sunday, September 28th. Here’s a class description:

I’ve noted before that the typical good guy who takes care of his family, goes to work every day, and generally interacts with other human beings without any intention to cause damage or harm doesn’t really “get” bad guys. In other words, his/her brain doesn’t really work the same way that a hardened street criminal’s brain works. To illustrate the magnitude of the difference, consider this: I attended a lecture by William Aprill some years back on criminal actors and one of the things that stuck in my mind the most was reporting that someone gave jailed violent criminals a survey asking them about motivations for their crimes. A sizeable chunk of them reported a feeling of accomplishment.