The M&P Shield has been my go-to carry gun for a while now. Whenever I don’t want to carry a full-size gun, I usually end up strapping on the Shield. It is in my opinion the best of the single stack 9mm market.
Continued learning as a shooter
One of my goals is to take one major pistol class every year. Usually I like to do it right before the shooting season kicks off in earnest, as it’s a decent way to tune up before the season and knock any rust off. Since I started this policy in 2011, I’ve taken the following three classes that I personally identify as shooting classes:
- Intensive Handgun Skills, InSights Training Center 2011
- Speed Kills/Get SOM, Todd Green 2012
- Get Better at Shooting, Matt Mink and Ben Stoeger 2013
Each class I’ve learned something new, something different that has improved my skills as a shooter. That’s the point of continued education – I want to keep learning. I have a lot of opportunities for continued learning at a few of the major matches I attend each year as well, because the availability of practice ranges at Bianchi Cup and Steel Challenge allows me to hang out with some of the best shooters in the world and learn things from them.
To enter the realm of opinions, I don’t think I’d recommend taking more than 2, 3 classes tops a year. If you’re taking loads and loads of training, it can dilute your opportunities to actually practice the skills you’re being taught in class, and the training class itself becomes a crutch for not practicing. “I took five classes this year, I don’t need to dry fire.” I’ve seen shooters, myself included fall into this trap when it comes to matches. It’s easy to justify not practicing when you’re shooting 3 or 4 matches a month for 8 months. Big training classes are a lot like major matches in that regard. You make a big commitment, shoot a lot of rounds in a compressed time frame, and then…go home. If you don’t practice what you learned, you won’t improve as much.
Breaking it down further, there are five key elements to progressing as a shooter. The first is Continued Learning. This means attending classes, reading books, watching videos, any way you can absorb information you might not already have. The second is Regular Practice. Take those techniques you’ve learned and practice them on the range, in dry fire, with mental rehearsals. Third is Pressure Testing. Take your techniques off the practice range and put them to use in simulated stressful environments. For must of us, this means shooting matches, so go find a local and shoot. The fourth element is Performance Review. This is where you look at the results of your pressure test, and prepare to make adjustments to your training cycle. Fifth and final is Rest and Repetition. After completing an entire cycle, take a day off, rest your mind and body, then repeat the process again. And again. If you keep these five elements in harmony, you’re guaranteed to progress as a shooter.
Costa, P.I.
This is actually pretty well played, it was a nice humorous start to my morning.
Good Sportsmanship, the Shooting Sports are the Exception
Maybe I’m biased, but I have seen more impressive acts of true sportsmanship from the competitive shooting community than from any other sport in America. Everything from the courtesy extended to me when I visit a match to the written rules of the 3 Gun Nation, lead me to feel this way. I would even go so far as to say that children who participate in the shooting sports seem to be better behaved and have better manners than any other group of kids I’ve seen. Can this all be credited to guns?Continue reading →
Photo of the day: New Gun Nuts Carry Gun, the Morph 3X
Check out my new carry gun for the remainder of the year, the Morph 3X. The 3X uses advanced polymer construction to keep the weight low, and has a true DAO trigger mechanism. Chambered in 4.5mm, it fires a hardened steel ball at velocities sufficient to penetrate corrugated fiberboard armor. It’s been paired with the excellent Redfield Counterstrike combat optic, which because the Morph lacks a reciprocating slide will allow for rapid target acquisition. I’ve already ordered an RCS Phantom for this new rig, and I can’t wait to try it out in USPSA Open!
ATF approves all pending NFA requests, apologizes
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) released a statement today clearing the massive, 9 month NFA backlog and waitlist. Due to the recent boom in suppressor purchases and SBR builds, the single employee at ATF who processes NFA requests had become worked to the point where his standard 20 hour work-week wouldn’t allow him to process NFA requests in a timely fashion.
ATF released the steps they took to clear the backlog in such a short order:
- Hired two more full time employees to round out their NFA processing staff to 3
- Increased the standard work week from 20 hours to 40 hours
- Cancelled the formerly mandatory 2nd breakfast, elevensies, and afternoon tea breaks for all NFA processing employees
ATF’s PR Rep also released the following statement: We are very sorry to have inconvenienced law abiding gun owners like this. We realize now that no one would ever go through the formal NFA process if they planned on committing a crime with their legally purchased NFA item. Again, we’re really sorry about all this. It’s just that delaying NFA requests to run redundant background checks is a lot easier than fighting actual crime, like finding out who’s sending all those guns to Mexican drug cartels…
Additional items of note in the ATF release, all suppressors have been moved off the NFA list and will be treated the same as firearms going forward, requiring only a 4473 and NICS check to purchase. While no ATF sources commented on this, it’s believed the decision was driven by high level officials within the Justice Department to “be more like Europe, because European stuff is cool.” Deregulating silencers will also likely have a positive effect on the economy.
With the NFA backlog cleared and now permanently reduced to a cursory 3-day waiting period for all NFA items, there is speculation from the firearms industry about how the new rule changes will affect day to day life for gun owners. AR15.com user “Kunt3r5trik3Tw1nkl3T03z” put up a post saying “If we can’t complain about ATF wait times online now, what are we going to do?” The SilencerTalk forum experienced a 200% decline in traffic as all threads about how long the ATF takes to process NFA items died overnight. Advertising executives from the major firearms ad network expressed concern that the drop in traffic relating to NFA complaints could negatively affect revenues. “Sure, it’s great that the NFA is all cleared up” said one forum owner, “but I need those sweet, sweet pageviews to drive ad revenue so I can buy another boat!”
Regardless of the backlash, ATF is committed to their new, customer friendly policy. Their new agency motto has been changed to “A right delayed is a right denied” and all current employees will undergo mandatory Constitutional Law training, which will explain in great detail what exactly “Shall not be infringed” means.
Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc acquires Kel-Tec CNC, Inc
For immediate release – March 31st, 2014
Noted arms maker Sturm, Ruger & Co has announced their acquisition of Florida based “firearms” manufacturer Kel-Tec CNC, Inc. Ruger is known for their quality firearms that have a well earned reputation for reliability and durability.
“We’ve been taking Kel-Tec’s designs and actually turning them into reliable, working firearms for years now” said Michael O. Fifer, Ruger’s CEO. “We just figured, why not make it official, so we bought them out with some pocket change. Look at this way, now you’ll be able to get a twin-magazine bullpup shotgun that actually works and ships in a timely fashion.”
Full details of the sale have not yet been announced, however industry insiders have leaked that the majority of Kel-Tec’s production staff will be laid off. Certain key former employees of Kel-Tec will be chained to a drafting table in a basement dungeon under Ruger’s Prescott, AZ facility where they will design guns keeping with the Kel-Tec ethos. Kel-Tec’s production facility in Florida and all its machinery have been sold to a manufacturer of toy guns, who was quoted as saying “[I]t’s perfect, it’s like they were already making toy guns here, I don’t have to change a thing.”
Ruger has announced plans to eliminate some guns from the Kel-Tec lineup due to redundancies with their own line, but will ramp up production on specific products in the former Kel-Tec lineup that are currently difficult or impossible to get. The list of cancelled product lines includes the following guns:
- PMR-30
- SU-16 (all makes and models)
- RFB
- PF-9
- P-3AT
Ruger will continue production of the .32 ACP Kel-Tec pistol and the Sub-2000 carbine, a leaked report from inside Ruger listed the reason as “they suck the least.” The desirable Kel-Tec Shotgun (KSG) will be renamed the Ruger Shotgun (RSG) and will come with a trigger that actually resets properly, and controls that can be accessed with normal human hands during the firing cycle. It will also be available next week in reasonable quantities at an affordable price.
Gun News: Sig Sauer discontinues all models but P-series classics and MPX
In news that will shock many, today Sig Sauer discontinued a massive number of guns in their product line. All handguns other than the classic P-series guns such as the P226 and P229 have been dropped from the lineup, effective immediately according to a source inside Sig. On the rifle side, all long guns other than the new MPX submachine gun have been dropped as well. A Sig Sauer insider was quoted saying “Look, we all know what you want is more P226s and P229s, but for years we kept making diamond plate rainbow compact 1911s. We’re really sorry about all of that, and we’re going to go back to making the awesome guns that you actually want.”
The abrupt cancellation will definitely affect the availability of Sig’s new striker fired polymer pistol the P320 which was in the process of shipping to dealers this week. Inside the Sig factory, CNC machines once dedicated to the production of P238s and Molon Labe 1911s were taken offline, scolded for being naughty, and brought back online to machine slides for new production Sig P229s in 9mm. The real question in this announcement is whether or not the news from Sig will affect the just launched P227, their double stack .45 ACP pistol that rounded out the classic P-series line-up. While not a true classic, it fits within the spirit of the classics, and our inside source reports that it will stay around.
In other news, Sig discontinued all calibers other than 9mm for the P226, P229, and P239. Again, our inside source was quote as saying “These guns were designed for 9mm, and 9mm is just better than .40 anyway.” Additionally, the DAK trigger system has been banned from new production guns, and all P-series pistols will now ship standard with Sig’s Short Reset Trigger. Any plans or references to the DAK trigger have reportedly been taken to the fires of Mount Doom and destroyed by BJ Norris and Caleb Giddings.
Early news of Sig’s plans have been greeted with wide-spread acceptance from the serious shooting community. Noted firearms trainer Rob Pincus was quoted as saying “While I only shoot Glocks these days, it’s about time that Sig dropped those other guns. People want the classics, because the classics are the best. And no more diamond rainbow finishes!”
Sig Sauer CEO Ron Cohen was unavailable for comment.
Playing Beethoven on the steel
Shannon Smith, USPSA National Champion and all around cool dude wins the internets today. Well played!
Only a master of handguns…
I received my official squadding for Bianchi Cup over the weekend, and in the letter I received notice from the NRA that I’d made Master class in NRA Action Pistol.
You classification in NRA AP is based off six shot averages of your scores, so for Master your six shot average must be at least 57.60. Now having made Master in NRA AP (when they re-ran classifications in advance of the 2014 events), I am now faced with an interesting choice. I have Master class in IDPA, obviously, and now Master in NRA AP. There are only two “action” pistol sports that have their own classification systems that I’m not Master or better in, and those are USPSA and Steel Challenge. Dismissing Steel Challenge for a moment, a quick check of my USPSA classification record indicates that when I was shooting USPSA every weekend I was 3 points and change away from making Master in L10.
This morning, I find myself debating an interesting topic. Is it worth the time and effort necessary for me to go out and finish off those last few percentage points and make Master in USPSA? The obvious pros are that training for USPSA would make me better at IDPA. No question in my mind about that. Additional pro, it would be cool to be Master in the “big three” pistol sports, just to say that I am. The cons are that shooting USPSA doesn’t particularly blow my skirt up these days.
But let’s say I do it. That leaves me with another choice, and that choice is important. What division should I chase USPSA Master in? We can all agree on two things: L10 is silly, and no one cares about revolver unless your name is Jerry Miculek. I love wheelguns, but mastering the wheel doesn’t really matter to anyone outside of a very small audience. So that leaves Open, Limited, Single Stack, and Production. Because my focus is on the actual practical application of the pistol, we can rule out Open right away, unless I wanted to chase Master with an RMR equipped Glock. That sounds like about as much fun as getting punched in the sack, so pass.
Now we’re down to Limited, Single Stack, and Production. I will rule Single Stack for one reason: I just spent a year shooting 10,000 rounds through a 1911. It was fun and everything, but I don’t really want to spend that much time working on my guns this year. So then we’re left with Limited and Production. Remember, the goal here is “practical” application of the pistol.
Limited Pros
- Allows me to load my magazines to capacity
- Allows me to carry the gun wherever I want (appendix)
Limited cons
- Forces me to shoot Major PF if I want to be competitive (which I do)
- Gun not really useful outside of USPSA Limited
Production Pros
- Lets me shoot the caliber I’d actually carry (9mm) without a scoring penalty
- The gun would be useful in all other sports (IDPA, Bianchi, Steel)
Production cons
- Makes me use gear that isn’t something I’d carry with (two-piece belt, doh holster)
- Downloading magazines to 10 rounds is silliness.
So it’s kind of a toss-up. Although the deciding factor would be the cross platform usefulness, because I really don’t want to have to mess around with different guns for different games.
So, what do you think? Should I go for Production Master in USPSA?