If you’re trying to download last night’s excellent Gun Nuts Radio featuring Julie Golob of Team S&W and are experiencing technical difficulties, I appreciate your patience. I am diligently working with the BTR support staff to get this issue rectified most ricky-tick. Thanks again to Julie for appearing last night, and hopefully the episode will be available for download soon!
Tactical Solutions .22LR Glock Upper – TSG-22
Tactical Solutions has rolled out their new website, and what’s the first thing to greet me? An ad for their new .22LR upper for Glock pistols. 
I predict that this upper will sell like absolute hotcakes, as TacSol’s reputation for excellence in .22LR conversions will help drive customers to purchase their upper over others.
Tactical Solutions’ TSG-22 17/22 is a .22LR conversion for GLOCK® Safe Action® Pistols. Designed with more authentic training in mind, the TSG-22 is manufactured from 4140 steel giving the shooter a more traditional weight and feel.
- 15 round polymer magazine
- Last round hold open
- Fits the GLOCK® models 17, 22, 34 and 35
- Factory GLOCK® sights
- 1-16” Twist chome moly steel barrel
I can’t wait for this to hit the market – talk about a great way to get inexpensive practice with your carry gun!
Carbine poll results
A while back I asked you what pistol caliber carbines you wanted to see tested in a head to head shootout. The results are in, and by an overwhelming margin you want to see me test a Hi-Point Carbine, which received over 33% of the votes. The next two on the list were the Kel-Tec Sub-2000 carbine with 22% of the votes, and finally an AR-platform carbine with 18% or so. The other options made up the remaining percentage points, but it looks like our test platform rifles are going to be the Hi Point Carbine, the Kel-Tec Sub-2000, and an AR15 pattern carbine, all in 9mm.
Now the question is how would you like me to test these guns? Accuracy, shootability, take ’em through a carbine course, what exactly? This is your test as readers of Gun Nuts; you asked for this and I’m happy to deliver it. So tell me in comments what kind of tests and what sort of shooting you’d like to see done with these three carbines.
Area 5 Championship right around the corner
While it may seem like it’s still a ways away, the Area 5 Championship is in fact right around the corner. The match kicks off June 11th, which is just a bit over a month away; if you’re planning on shooting the match you need to get your registration in ASAP.
I’m already registered and ready to go, my concern now is practice time. Thanks to weather and other factors, I’ve barely shot my 625 since returning from filming Top Shot, and I still feel like I’m trying to drag my way through all the rust from the off-season. The month of June itself is going to be a busy month with the IDPA State Match, the Indiana Section match, and of course the aforementioned Area 5 Match. I need trigger time!
However, I have a plan for practice. My biggest area of weakness at the last USPSA match I shot were my reloads – my plan is to practice reloads until I can slam them home every time at a high rate of speed. I have trouble sometimes reloading on the run, so for now I’m going to forgo practicing that in favor of getting my basic reload fundamentals locked in tight.
Here’s a basic revolver drill to practice those reloads and good footwork which are essential to success at USPSA revolver. Set up one array of 4 targets, and then about 7 yards downrange another array of 3 targets. This means you’ll to do a total of 2 reloads to practice this array when shooting two shots at each target. Set up the arrays however you like, but make sure that there’s movement required from the first to the second array.
The reason it’s important for the first array to be 8 shots is that USPSA is not “revolver neutral”. You’ll need in a match situation to be able to plan your reloads and figure out the best way to run each stage so that you have the right amount of ammo going into a specific bay. While the experts say that you’ll never be competitive if you don’t load on the move, don’t try to push yourself so fast that you make mistakes. If you can’t load quickly on the move, focus on developing that skill in practice before you try it in a match. There’s nothing worse than looking down at your feet and seeing the full moonclip you just dropped!
Gun Nuts Tonight: Julie Golob from Team S&W
Joining me tonight on Gun Nuts Radio will be Julie Golob, Captain of Team Smith & Wesson and fresh from her win at the 2010 Single Stack Nationals. As always, Gun Nuts Radio goes live at 9pm Eastern time, and you can join us to listen to one of the undisputed great personalities in shooting talk about her championship…and of course about the guns and gear that she used to win this match!
I’m always pleased to have Julie join us – she’s a great guest and a great person to talk to. She’s been a guest a couple of times before, so you can peruse the archives at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts to hear her previous appearances. Join me live tonight at 9pm Eastern time and you can hear all about the guns and gear of the champions! Tonight’s show is going to be heavy on 1911s, so don’t miss out – Gun Nuts Radio on the BlogTalkRadio Network is your source for best in shooting sports coverage!
You can connect with Gun Nuts Radio online now at Facebook, and help keep Gun Nuts on the air and free of charge by purchasing Gun Nuts Radio Gear.
Indiana Primary today
Alright Indiana residents, our primary elections are today. If you’re a resident of the 5th Congressional district, you have an opportunity to vote “pro-gun” today by voting for either the incumbent Dan Burton or State Rep Mike Murphy. Both are solidly pro-gun and will represent us well.
In the Republican primary for Senate, remember that when he was previously in Congress, Dan Coats voted FOR the Clinton Assualt Weapons ban. He is no friend to gun owners. Marlin Stutzman is, and has earned his A rating from NRA.
Check out NRA-PVF’s website for a complete list of endorsements and grades for candidates. If you’re an Indiana resident and not sure where to go to cast your vote, the Secretary of State has provided a resource to help you find your polling place.
Ohio and North Carolina also have primaries today – this is where the rubber meets the road and the activism has to start turning into votes. Let’s support Pro-2A and pro-small government candidates today!
Smith & Wesson 686-Plus Pro Series now available
This is why I regularly browse Gunbroker.Com – so I can see when guns are actually getting out to the market for shooters. During SHOT SHOW, I was very excited to see the new revolvers that S&W was adding to their lineup, especially the 686-Plus Pro Series revolver. I have a 686SSR Pro Series, however, the -Plus model has several key differences.
First off and most importantly, the 686-Plus Pro Series is a seven shooter, that extra round of .38 or .357 means that this revolver is now better suited for ICORE Limited Division or Steel Challenge than USPSA or IDPA competition. Additionally, the new 686-Plus Pro Series gun is cut for 7 shot moonclips, and comes from the factory with a patridge front sight and a 5 inch barrel as opposed to the red ramp front sight and 4 inch barrel on the 686SSR Pro Series.
From what I’ve seen on Gunbroker and other sites, the new 686-Plus Pro Series is running from $700-$900, which is definitely lower than its MSRP of over $1000. I can’t wait to get my hands on one of these and shoot it – I’ve been shooting my 686SSR and have developed quite the fondness for L-frame guns in .38 Special. They’re fast to the target with mild recoil, and are simply all around pleasant guns to shoot. The 686-Plus Pro Series shouldn’t be an exception to that, and with the addition of moonclips for loading and a seventh round this could be a turnkey solution for Steel Challenge and ICORE Limited Division shooters that may not want the sizable platform that an N-frame represents but still want a firepower upgrade from a six-shooter.
2010 Single Stack Nationals results
The shooting is all done at the 2010 Single Stack Nationals, and the results are in. Coming in first place for the umpteenth time is Rob Leatham – I believe this is his 16th win at the Single Stack Championships, showing the kind of dominance with a 1911 in his hand that Jerry Miculek shows with a revolver.
Ladies’ National Champion is Julie Golob, who secured another national title for Team Smith & Wesson. She’ll be joining me tomorrow night on Gun Nuts Radio to talk about her win at the Single Stack Nationals as well as the guns and gear she used to get to the podium.
Here are Top 10 shooters from the 2010 Single Stack National Championship!
- Rob Leatham
- Taran Butler
- Phil Strader
- Todd Jarrett
- Shannon Smith
- B.J. Norris
- Glenn Shelby
- Manny Bragg
- Eric Fuson
- Bill Filiaga
The Women’s Top 5 break down as follows:
- Julie Golob
- Sara Dunivin
- Kippi Leatham
- Nancy Huspek
- Tori Nonaka
Congratulations to all the shooters who competed at the recent match – and of course to the winners. It looks like the contingent of shooters from my home range at Atlanta Conservation Club had solid finishes within their classifications as well! It’s also interesting to note that BJ Norris once again placed in the Top 10 of the Nationals shooting minor power factor, which while you’re allowed to load two more rounds per magazine scores lower on hits outside of the A-zone. He’s definitely keeping the debate open about whether or not minor power factor is viable in Single Stack!
British sniper sets new record
Corporal Craig Harrison set a new record for longest confirmed kill in Afghanistan with two hits at over 8,000 feet with a .338 Lapua rifle. As impressive as that is, it’s also not the most badass thing that Cpl. Harrison ever did – he also had both his arms broken in an insurgent attack, then after only six weeks in recovery returned to the front lines to keep fighting.
I give England a hard time – but at the same time they have such men as these, maybe not all hope is lost.