What’s that you say? There’s a USPSA match at Atlanta Conservation Club? And it’s on a Sunday, so it won’t interfere with my Saturday work schedule? Fantastic! Nothing like running another 100-200 rounds through the XDM on a beautiful Indiana late summer Sunday.
Shooting sports Jagonizer
Since it’s Friday, I want to present you with a handy guide to “things you’ll hear people say” at action pistol matches, with the explanation of what they really mean. For example, if someone says “I was a little slow on the draw today” what they mean is “I almost dropped my dang gun.” So here we go!
What they say: “The courses of fire were challenging and complex.”
What they mean: “I’d like to get my hands on the SOB that thought a stage with 12 drop turners activated by small poppers at 20 yards was ‘fun’.”
What they say: “I enjoyed the match, the courses were straightforward and fun.”
What they mean: “That was easy, jeez try to thing up some more complicated COFs.”
What they say: “I had an okay match.”
What they mean: “I sucked.”
What they say: “I had a fun match.”
What they mean: “I sucked.”
What they say: “I had a great match, and I’m proud of everyone who came out here and shot.”
What they mean: “I’ve seen a million asses, and I’ve kicked them all.”
What they say: “I’m fine with strict interpretation of the rulebook.”
What they mean: “Someone get that martinet RO off my case.”
What they say: “I understand why I got that penalty.”
What they mean: “That penalty was bullcrap.”
And finally, this last one applies to me in specific, so if I ever say this to you, you’ll know what I really mean.
What I said: “I’m just here to shoot bullets and have a good time.”
What I meant: “I’m just here to shoot bullets, have a good time, but most importantly I want to win.“
Gun Games translator
Do you shoot IDPA? Do you shoot USPSA? Do you shoot one of the aforementioned games but not the other? If you do that, and you’re looking to get in to the other game (so you can get more trigger time, duh) but you’re not sure where your existing gear would place here, here’s a handy “divisional translator”. One quick caveat: in IDPA, all your holsters must be “Production/Single Stack” style, meaning that they have to be suitable for concealed carry and use. The USPSA division will be on the left, and the IDPA division on the right.
Production Division – Stock Service Pistol: these divisions are more or less analogs of one another, with the major difference being that your or my Springfield XD is Production legal in USPSA, but in IDPA shoots in a different division.
Limited/10 Division – Enhanced Service Pistol: A lot of “hardcore” limited guns straight up wouldn’t be legal for IDPA, however if they are, this is where you’ll find them. Designed for single action guns in 9mm and .40 S&W, ESP is the division where the non-.45 ACP 1911s go to play. Oddly enough, by some vagary of the rules, it’s also where you XD shooters will land in IDPA. Don’t ask me.
Single Stack Division – Custom Defensive Pistol: If you shoot Single Stack in “Major” power factor, you probably use a 1911 in .45 ACP (unless you’re one of those .40 guys, in which case go to ESP). If you do this, you’re going to find your IDPA home in CDP, the division built especially for the guys who think the 1911 in .45 ACP is the ultimate in pistol design. Note: all .45 ACP pistols compete in this division, so if you’re running a Glock 21 or an M&P-45 in Limited-10, you’d shoot here.
Revolver – Enhanced Service Revolver: most USPSA shooters I know that shoot wheelguns use revolvers that feed with moonclips, meaning they’d be smack dab in Enhanced Service Revolver division, which is for moonclip revolvers that make Major powerfactor. If you’re running a gun from speedloaders, you’d shoot in Stock Service Revolver and only have to make minor.
Now grab your guns and let’s go shoot some bullets!
FN USA wants to give you free stuff
FN’s 4th quarter promotion, starting October 1st is pretty straightforward: buy a new FNp-9 or FNp-40 in the “Flat Dark Earth” (read: coyote brown) color and they’ll throw in a matching holster and double magazine pouch from Blade-Tech. Pretty cool. FN USA is pretty good about throwing promos out there for shooters, especially on their handguns, and now it looks like they’re taking a run at the IDPA shooters with this one. A holster from Blade-Tech and a double magazine pouch coupled with an FN-9 is all the gear you need to shoot in Stock Service Pistol in IDPA.
h/t Tactical Wire
S&W M&P-15 .22 LR rifles are now shipping
S&W has announced that the M&P15-22 rifles have started shipping. Expect to start seeing the little carbines showing up in your local gun stores soon. I can’t wait, I actually held off buying one of the Colt carbines because I’ve been waiting for the S&W gun to hit the market.
- 16 inch barrel 1 in 15 twist rate
- Will accept 1913 Mil Standard rail accessories
- Looks cool
If you’re an AR shooter, there is no reason you shouldn’t get one of these. Short of building your own .22 LR training rifle from parts, which would cost roughly 1/3 more than just buying the M&P15-22, this is the best .22 LR platform for AR shooters. Here’s why:
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| From SHOT SHOW 2009 |
The safety, unlike the ridiculous 180 degree safety on the little Colt/Umarex M4 .22, is exactly the same as the safety on whatever AR you have sitting around the house that you use for home defense. I am so excited about this gun.
Remington 597 buyback
Remington recalls 597 model rifle in .17 HMR. Apparently, there were repeated issues of the extremely high pressure .17 HMR round reducing the rifle’s action to so much scrap metal. Actually, a friend of mine had a mini-kaboom in his .22LR 597, which did a surprising amount of damage to the gun.
If you have a Remington 597 in .17 Hornady Magnum, stop shooting it and send it back.
That had to hurt
White House affirms 2nd Amendment rights of protesters. A well played decision on the administration’s part (credit where it’s due), and also it has got to suck to be Paul Helmke today. We talked about it a little last night, but when the gun control movement’s “big play” is to complain about people open carrying legally, you know they’re losing. That’s only reinforced by a presser from the White House that basically says “chill out, they’re not breaking the law”.
Josh Sugarmann is taking a long look at that bottle of cheap rum right about now.
Canadian Gun Porn
Following a blogwander that started with the Marines’ debate about switching to the M4 carbine, I found a really old post at Murdoc’s about the Canadian C7A2, the service rifle issued to the Canuckistani military. The C7A2 is unique in that it mounts an A2 length barrel (20 inches) on an M4 style adjustable stock.
I thinknit’s kind of a cool idea, actually. The 20 inch tube allows you to squeeze as much velocity as possible out of the 5.56 round, while the adjustable stock can make it more manageable in tight quarters. Since we don’t live in Canada, if you want an AR in this configuration, it’s as simple as buying a 20 inch flattop upper and sticking it on a collapsible-stock lower. Pretty cool.
Gun Nuts Radio: Open Carry and Tea Parties
In football, there’s a phrase that’s used – “moving the chains”, which is when a team gets a first down and retains possession of the ball for another series of downs. Moving the chains is a good thing, because it gets you closer to scoring. I feel like last night’s Gun Nuts Radio, despite the shenanigans, moved the chains on the open carry debate. At the very least, my opinion is starting to change on the subject, because I used to be 100% opposed to open carry on the grounds that it did more harm than good. But what I’m seeing from these open carry encounters outside political rallies are people obeying the law, and conversations are happening as a result. We discussed the pros and cons of open carrying at Tea Parties – and you can listen to the show by clicking here. If you’d like an .mp3 copy, click here.
We also read off the winners of Steel Challenge, including Julie Golob, Jessie Abbate, TGO, etc, and congratulations to the winners for an excellent match!
As these things do, the discussion swerved into a conversation about how the media treats firearms as subject matter. One of the most interesting trends that I have seen in the media treatment of guns is that you’re getting more shows like Future Weapons and Lock ‘N Load with R. Lee Ermey. These shows are all about guns, and they demonstrate one key fact: guns are f***ing cool.
Check out last night’s Gun Nuts Radio – the debate on open carry at Tea Parties was excellent, as was the conversation about media treatment of firearms. Next week we’ll be joined by Steel Master BJ Norris for the show, so don’t miss out!
Indiana State IDPA Championship
I can’t believe we’re halfway through August already. Before I know it, it’s going to be October, and that means that the Indiana IDPA State Championship is right around the corner. As one of the organizers and Safety Officers for the match, I have some sad news to report: right now, there are more shooters from Ohio registered for the match than shooters from Indiana. We need to fix that, most rickey-tick. If you’d like to register for the match, click here to go to Atlanta Conservation Club’s IDPA Page. We’re going to have a great match this year as we take the lessons learned from last year’s state championship and build on them to help keep IDPA growing strong in Central Indiana.
I realized my ties to the sport at ACC’s Steel Challenge match on Saturday, when a shooter I had never met identified me as “the IDPA guy”, an appellation I’m proud to bear. Last year’s IDPA State Championship was the first major I’d shot since college, and despite being under-dressed for the cold weather, I had a great time. I can say with honest pride that we put on a fantastic match at ACC, and you should definitely register for it. For $55 bucks and 150 rounds, you won’t find a major match priced like this – we like to shoot, and we don’t want to lay a hurting on your wallet.
If you’re not a member of IDPA and you’d like to shoot the match, send me an email at [email protected] – I’ll be able to get you instructions on joining IDPA and set up a time to get you classified so you can shoot the match. Come and join us in October at the jewel of Indiana’s shooting ranges for the 2009 Indiana IDPA State Championship!