Friday Range Afternoon

So having reached and overrun my dealing with Stupid People tolerance level for the week, I left the office at noon and headed off to a lunch meeting with the guys.

We then headed to the range.  Traffic there was hellacious for some reason.

I re-zeroed my IWI Masada.  The re-zero was necessary as I had removed the RMR to change the battery and found getting it off rather more difficult than it should be.

After over 2,500 rounds, the plastic plate had the front posts that fit into the front holes on the RMR on the plate broken off sometime during shooting those rounds, transferring all the recoil energy to the screws, one of which decided to become very difficult to remove as a result.

 

As you can see, the front posts are no longer attached to the plate.

So, I changed the broken plastic plate for a CHPWS Metal plate.  An easy swap and the metal plate fits perfectly and the RMR, complete with fresh battery, was reattached and secured with blue locktite, as one does. 

Impressively, at the range it required no re-zeroing after the replacement and was right on target when shooting it, which was nice. 

I also had brought out another handgun for the first time - a mix of classic and current technology.

 

Its a Girsan MCP35 PI LW Match High Power pistol.

The LW stands for lightweight, namely an aluminum frame.  The PI is for the Argentine Detective style slide.

In short, its a handy Hi Power package suitable updated with a flat trigger, a larger beaver-tail, an optics-ready slide for direct mounting of RMSc footprint optics, an ambidextrous safety, and no magazine safety. 

The magazine is also updated to a 15-round flush-fitting magazine with 2 rounds more than the original Hi Power capacity.

 It is a Hi Power with a  Glock 19 form factor.

 

 

It feels good and fits the hand very well. The G10 grips are nice and grippy, but not obnoxiously rough. 

I added a Holosun 407K with a green dot to the top of the slide, and took it to the range.  At 10 yards, it was shooting low, hitting close to the bottom of an 8.5x11 piece of paper when aiming dead center, and it took a fair bit of vertical adjustment, but was otherwise centered horizontally.

200 rounds and zero failures using 4 15 round magazines.  Lots of fun to shoot,  The trigger is heavier than it needs to be, and could be better.  It likely needs to be broken in a bit. Still, it's fun to shoot and knocked plates down with aplomb and speed.

We'll see how it holds up but it feels nice and solid  and it runs like a top so far and is a cool mix of new technology and sizing with the classic lines and feel of the Hi Power.

Not a bad Friday afternoon,  I left the range suitably refreshed, and  I got some more work done and then called it a day.  Range Time certainly helps reset the stupidity tolerance and frustration level quite nicely.

Yesterday It Was 39 Degrees Out And Even Snowed A Bit

In other words, perfect weather for the first USPSA match of the season.

This would be a classifier match with 7 classifier stages and a field course in the shoot house.

So I showed up to the range in jacket and sweater, checked in, and started wandering the stages 

Kinda chilly, but at least the ground on the range was only soggy but not a complete morass of mud.

Spencer, Tosh, Jason, and Steve soon arrived and we then checked out some stages together and then gathered for the shooters' meeting.  

I was RO for our squad and we had two people who had never shot USPSA before on the squad. So after a pretty detailed safety briefing, and going over the basic range commands we got started.

First stage was the shoot house which was pretty straightforward except for one potential 180 trap, and a lot of fun.

Then we started going through the classifiers.

Quite a nice variety with new classifiers I;ve never shot before and the El Presidente for a classic touch.

Lots of fun.  

I did find out the mage pouches I had on my belt didn't quite hold the PDP magazines securely while running.  This resulted in them falling out as I ran to the next shooting position, which got some damp sand/dirt in them. I brushed them off and got what I thought was all the dirt out.

Not so much. This would be a problem on the next classifier stage

I was zooming through the next classifier which had 3 strings with reloads in the first two strings.  On String One I was zipping along did an great mag change, all Alphas and was doing great.

Then string 2.

I reloaded with a mag that had a bit of the gunky sand stuck that had worked its way down in between the top and second round in the magazine and the second and third rounds, stopping the gun twice, and messing up my score nicely.

On the upside, it allegedly made me look really good by immediately acting to clear the sequential jams and taking remedial action to get the gun back in shooting order.

First failure of the PDP and I really can't blame the gun.  Others had similar fun experiences, with even Glocks jamming due to the dirt clumping into the mags.

Annoying enough, when I got home and stripped the mags down to clean them, there was no dirt left inside.  Those two clumps were it. Weird.

It was a fun match and I got in over 12,000 steps chasing after shooters on the stages, especially the fun stages where they started up front with targets and have to run up-range to get to the next array.   A little cardio workout and sprint to stay ahead of them was very much in order.

So I was all sorts of tired by the end of it.  Spencer, Tosh, Jason,  Steve, and I all then went together to a Coney for a quick late lunch and headed off.

The scores came out and I finished in the middle of the pack of competitors and behind Tosh but ahead of  Spencer,  Jason,  and Steve - by three points in the case of Steve, and eight points on the case of Jason so we're all pretty darn close performance-wise at the moment. A fun time with a great bunch of shooters.

Not a bad start to the shooting season, but I certainly can use more practice and need to get to the range more. 

Sunday Range Trip

Given recent events, there was more of a rationale to get to the range and get better.

Met up with Tosh at the range. It was in the low 30s and breezy, 

I had just put a new suppressor on the PS90 , so I took it to the range and got some trigger time in.

It's a Polonium K, replacing the SilencerCo Hybrid 46 that is going to be used on another rifle.  

The Polonium K is both thinner and smaller than the 46 and took only two days of ATFE processing from start to finish (compared to the 46's over a year to get approved) and no tax. Thank you President Trump!

It looks much better on the PS90 than the 46, and given the suppressor bore size, suppresses better than the 46.

 

 

I'm quite happy with it, makes the PS90 package footprint even smaller, and the PS90 keeps running like a champ.

After some rifle and PDW fun, we got on to practice with pistols.

I ran the Walther PDP, and it ran through all the drills without any issues. 

All drills were done from concealment and given the weather we had on rather heavy sweatshirts for the drills. 

We started with the single shot from concealment to the 7 yard A-zone drill.

I definitely had some rust to shake off.  I was getting hits in around 1.5-1.4 seconds once I settled in, with some much higher times as well.

We then did the 3&2 drill and I did better with that  getting under 3 seconds pretty regularly and some runs under 2.5 which was good.

Then on to Bill Drills.  I was able to get under 3.0 seconds which was good, and I'm still chasing the sub 2 second time - from afar.

For the final drill,  the one shot from concealment to an A-Zone at 25 yards we ended with a bang.  My best times were two at 1.60 seconds, and generally I was around 1.78-1.70 on average, which was pretty happy-making for me.

Tosh, by comparison, was averaging a fast 1.65, and had a couple at 1.6, and one at a blazing fast 1.35 seconds which is fantastic. The man can shoot.

A most challenging bit of practice, and it just points out I've got lots to work on to improve.

Saturday Range Trip

So I went to the range today to get some live fire practice in.

I have not been doing dry fire practice on a daily basis as things like trips and other commitments are getting in the way but I got some practice in.

So I was once again doing so single shot draws form concealment at 7 yards.  This time in a sweatshirt hoodie as the cover garment to reflect the current temperatures.

So we would see if I got any improvement since my last outing. 

String 1 had a best time of 1.44 for a hit and the worst at 2.11 from way over-confirming the dot after a shot before that over-confirming shot missed. Average was 1.64 but 5 charlies in the string.

String 2  had a best time of 1.50 with a hit, 1.29 with a charlie, and one real slow over-confirming 2.13 but most were in the 1.5s and 1.6s for an average of 1.65.

String 3 got pretty consistent with only one miss and a high of 1.96, which hilariously was the miss  (don't ask) and a low of 1.50.  Average was  1.58 which was an improvement.

String 4  had a fastest time of 1.25 and a high of 1.69 with no misses which was good.  Average was interestingly again 1.58.

Did some Bill drills and more one shot drills, then shot the plate rack for fun from concealment.  The plate rack was at 15 yards and I got all six plates down regularly six seconds or below with my best time this round being 5.05. 

Did some more one shot drills but the times were pretty trashy and I could see I was getting slow so decided to call that drill a day.

I also ran a box of Federal 124gr HST through the Walther PDP which shot it without a hitch.  That's another 250 rounds through the PDP with zero issues.

I definitely need more practice, both live and dry, but already there are signs of improvement, which is nice.

Saturday Range Time

I've been doing some dry fire practice this week, every other night after work to see if I can show some improvement.

Went to the range this morning to find out.

 First did 18 rounds of single shot at 7 yards drawing from concealment.

Best time was 1.51 seconds, worst was 2.19 from way over-confirming the target after a miss of the A zone into the C area of the target.  Average of the 18 was 1.69, and four missing charlies, all off to the left of the A-Zone. 

 Not bad for a warm up.

Then on to some Bill Drills.

Average time for 6 Bills was 3.57 with the fastest at 3.22.

Then back to some 1x7s.

18 of them.  Fastest was a flow-state hit in 1.17!  Everything just jelled for that shot - from reacting to the beep, to the draw, to the presentation felt amazing. That was rather happy-making. 

Average of the 18 was 1.61 with 4 of the 18 being charlies. So I was showing some speed improvement in the second round. 

My fastest times other than the solitary 1.17 were 1.40, with two of those smacking the A-Zone, and the best average time for an 18-shot 1x7 string was 1.57.  Lots to work on there.

More Bill drills, with the best one of the day finally getting into the sub-3 second range with a 2.95 clean, which was nice.

So the dry fire is likely helping quite a bit as my times are down form before.  Will track this a bit more as I continue to practice and we will see how it goes. 

After finishing 200 rounds through the PDP,  I switched to the Tavor TS-12 and practiced some ammo select drills.  I worked on switching the ammo type form what was in the primary tube to a different ammo selection. 

I now have the action sequence down to do Ammo Selection Drills for the Tavor.

The sequence goes: 

1. Feed substitute ammo into a non-active tube.

2.  Rotate non-active tube to feeding position.

3. Smack the shell carrier lever.

4. Work the action, which removes the current round from the chamber and replaces it with the substitute ammo into the chamber.

5.  Fire the substitute round onto the target.

I find I am getting quicker with it with practice, and that adds to this shotgun's versatility.

It was a solid practice session at the range. 

Sunday Range Day

I met up with Will at the range this morning.

When you're with him it is very important to never give the range command:

"Fire At Will".

Makes him nervous. Quite understandably so.

We started off with some shotgun patterning.  I had recently changed the choke on the Tavor TS-12 to a cylinder choke, for reasons.

Patterning with it showed nice tight patterns at 10 yards with Flite Control, but it opened up considerably at 15 yards - patterning with three rounds, all pellets but one were still on the target but it had spread quite a bit at that distance.

I'll likely put the factory choke back in when not using the attachment that requires the cylinder choke attachment.

I did a bit more shotgun shooting and found even the el cheapo Euro buck still would stay on the target at 10 yards, but not nearly as tightly as the flite control, which is definitely preferred for self-defense.

We then switched to handguns.  

Since the Sig 320 is currently pistola non grata both at the range and in local competitions and local firearm classes, at least for now, I had to go to an alternative which had just arrived this week, along with a new holster for it.

I'll do a more thorough write up on the alternative in just a bit.  I zeroed the red dot on it, it had come mounted and was shooting a tad low for me.  It didn't take long to get it right on, and I and quite pleased.

Ran it through its paces, and I'm quite pleased with it.  Once home I changed the grip to a smaller one to fit my hand better, which was pretty easy to do.

Did some Bill Drills from concealment and I'm clearly out of practice with times in the low 4 second range for clean runs which sucks. Some of this is due to using a completely new firearm and holster, but mostly it is because I need to get out to the range more to practice. 

We then shot plate racks, and again I was out of practice on that too.  But I soon had times in the 5 second and below from concealment, not great but at least not terrible.

Oh, did I mention the other possible reason why my performance sucked - it was raining cats and dogs while we were shooting the Bills Drills and plate racks?

Because it was, a lot. 

Shooting glasses are kinda hard to see out of when covered in rain, just saying. 

So, after getting pretty thoroughly soaked we called it a morning as Will had an appointment to go to her.

So we packed up, cleaned up the range, and headed off. 

It was a good time with Will, who I hadn't seen in awhile, and a clear sign I need to get more consistent with practicing in order to improve. Fun was had.

A Good Time At The Range Today

Went to the Range with Tosh and his cousin who was in town from new York.

We let his cousin shoot stuff he can;t have in that benighted state.

Heck, he could even have normal capacity magazines for his H&K VP9 here, unlike New York where he's stuck to 10-rounders, so he enjoyed not having to reload quite as much.

I shot my AR15 which I hadn't taken to the range in awhile and the Carmel.

The Carmel continues to function perfectly, and the controls make it very easy to quickly manipulate.  Fully ambidextrous and laid out very similar to an AR15 but slightly more ergonomic, it makes some drills easier.

Speaking of drills, we did quite a few.

Mainly we did the MDFI Qualifiers for Shotgun, Carbine and Handgun.

7 yards for hadngun, 10 for shotgun, and 15 yards for the carbine.

Very straightforward, relatively basic drills that don't take a lot of rounds but get you working on your reloads - something I don't often do with the carbine on the clock.

I shot the IWI Masada for the handgun qual, and The Tavor for the shotgun quals, and shot both the AR and Carmel for the carbine quals. The Carmel seems to be ore solid for the multiple shot parts of the qual and the AR being lighter is a bit faster to move around for the reloads - but the larger magazine well of the Carmel makes the reloads a bit smoother as does the shape of the bolt release on the Carmel, making the overall time for the reloads a little bit faster.

So it was some good practice, and a very fun time at the range.

Fun With Sporting Clays

I was invited by a friend yesterday to do some sporting clay shooting.

Sporting clays was explained to me as being:  "Like golf, but with shotguns". 

This was intriguing, and having never done it before, I said yes I'd gove it a shot. 

So I met up with him at the Detroit Gun Club where he's a member and we got checked in.

I got a loaner gun, an Italian over/under 12 gauge, which turned out to be an over $14k shotgun.  Very nice indeed. It did, however, have one quirk that made for an interesting time.

So we headed out to the sporting clay course.

Having not shot sporting clays before it was rather interesting.

You go from station to station and typically shoot 2 sets of two clays. The clays zip along at different angles and are rather a lot of fun to try and hit.

The quirk of the loaner shotgun was that right above the mechanism to open the action, there was a switch on top inline with the safety, that unbeknownst to me, when I opened the action, my hand also brushed and moved that small switch from one red dot to two. 

It then quite surprisingly fired both barrels at once for a rather spicy shot at the first clay.  Ouch. 

I was surprised, my friend was surprised, the very annihilated clay was also surprised. 

We figured out what was doing it, and I had to be very careful to check each time I closed the action as that switch moved with very little prompting.

So we shot at all 16 stations, and I steadily improved as we went. 

Took quite a bit to figure out how much to lead the clay targets, not to mention where they were coming from at times. and I missed a lot starting out trying to figure things out.

I did manage to have a clean run at one station with all four targets hit, but I was typically 50/50. 

Still it was a lot of fun, and I'd go do it again.

Range Trip - IWI Carmel

I went to the range with Spencer today, and I brought along a new rifle I had just purchased to try out.

It's the IWI Carmel.

The Carmel is a short piston operated semi-auto rifle in 5.56.  Fully ambidextrous, it also has a folding and highly adjustable stock where you can adjust the comb height as well as the length of the stock.

The Carmel can also be easily fired with the stock folded. Due to it being able to do so, and with its overall length with the stock folded, it has the interesting dual identity of being a rifle under federal law but a pistol under Michigan law. 

This means that with a CPL, you could have it loaded in your vehicle or elsewhere where you normally must keep a rifle in unloaded condition in Michigan.  Rather convenient, that

 

I put a Vortex 1-8 LVPO on it, and likely will add a red dot mounted in an offset mount  soon.

Shooting 62 grain 5.56 I bought from Widener's at a good sale price, I soon had the scope zeroed in at 25 yards.

It's very fun to shoot, easy to handle, and recoil impulse is even less than a comparably sized AR-15. Accuracy was excellent, and the trigger is darn nice for a box-stock trigger.

Spencer also liked it quite a lot as well.

Right out of the box, with just a little lubrication applied to the bolt and carrier, 200 rounds through with zero malfunctions or any issues, as would be expected.   Shooting it with the stock folded was no problem, either.

Spencer also had a new to him SIG MCX in 5.56 that he had purchased used.

 The rattle-can paint job came with it.

  It worked fine for the most part. but had a weird habit of the bolt locking halfway back which caused lots of issues.  

Hitting the bolt catch, you could lock the bolt so it was half of the way clear of the ejection port and then you'd seat a mag, send the bolt home, and it obviously would not pick up a round, as the bolt was on top of the rounds in the magazine and not behind it. You then had to work the bolt all the way back to do so.  I haven't seen that before and it may be due to it being used and someone may have messed with it, or it is a quirk of the MCX.  Still, it is quite a nice firearm, even with the recoil impulse being noticeably different, than the Carmel, but still not bad, just a bit more thumpy, as much as a 5.56 gets thumpy, which isn't much.

In any case, we zeroed both rifles, shot them, and enjoyed the experience. 

I'm rather liking the IWI Carmel and its quite a fun, reliable (200 rounds isn't much, but it's a positive start), and accurate rifle so far. 

Gun School - Definitive Shotgun - Day 2

Day 2 began with a discussion about Slugs and their usage.

We then fired some slugs at some steel targets, with amusing results, including one slug that when it hit the steel target, the wood post holding it snaped in two from the hit.  

Then we moved on to buckshot and its usage at longer range.

Good Buckshot can hit a target out to 70 plus yards, and we demonstrated that.

The issue is it will hit the target and likely the target beside it if it is shoulder-to-shoulder.

A realistic usage case for buckshot at such a range is if you're being attacked by a shooter standing alone at that distance and you don't have or cannot switch to a slug for some reason - you can still get hits. Indeed, using FliteControl, we got some very tight hits as opposed to the cheap stuff that we used for comparison that sprayed everywhere - and in 20 gauge  on the vast majority of shots taken, the cheap buckshot actually missed the target entirely with its pattern at that range.

The less realistic and in my opinion far more legally risky usage case that was discussed for buckshot at such a range, is if you're being attacked by a vehicle or a mob bent on destruction.  

Justifying such a long range shot against a group of people, especially as at that range you are going to hit multiple persons with shot,  may be rather hard to do. Short of all of them possessing ranged weapons that can reach you and they've demonstrated a willingness or viable threat to do so it;s going to be hard to justify.   Such justification, while never totally impossible, is still pretty unlikely and I'd recommend not trying to shoot at a mob of people or vehicle from 70 yards away, knowing your shot is going to hit multiple persons.  Short of an end-of-the world, breakdown of society-type scenario, it is likely going to legally end rather badly.

We then worked on ammo select drills - switching from Buck loaded in the shotgun to Slugs when the transition was called for.

Had I been allowed to use the Tavor as designed, I would have had one tube loaded with slugs and the other two with buck and transition would be a cinch, and I woulda seriously smoked everyone else's time doing so, by a wide margin.

That was not to be. Instead, I had to eject a buck round, rotate the tube to the loading gate, load a slug from the shot card on the outside of the gun into the tube, rotate it back and load it and get it done.  Quite a but slower.  It was, however, excellent manipulation practice for me, but I sure wasn't winning the competition that way.

After that, we did some further drills, and then got a chance to try other people's shotguns.

Quite a few people wanted to try the Tavor, and they rather liked it.  I also demonstrated a full 16 round tube rapid dump on target with the Tavor, running it as designed, which is always a lot of fun.

I tried a Beretta 1301 and I do indeed find it to be a very nice and well-designed shotgun. It's impressively ergonomic, well though out and easy for mounting a red dot. I don't think anyone would go wrong by purchasing one and using it as a defensive/tactical shotgun, and it's likely the current top dog in that category.  Of course,  I personally believe the Tavor TS-12 is a similarly worthy competitor for that title and also a top-notch choice for a defensive/tactical shotgun. 

 It was a great class, with a great instructor.  I also ended up meeting a bunch of great people who attended it and it was a great time. I certainly improved in manipulating the shotgun from this class.

Definitive Shotgun is definitely a "Learn to use your tactical shotgun at a fundamental level" type of class, and it excels at that.  Zach Bush as an instructor is very clear with his instruction, explanations, and demonstrations. It is a very comprehensive class on the use and operation of a shotgun for defensive purposes. 

If you're looking for an in-depth class on the fundamentals of shotgun usage, I can recommend Definitive Shotgun. 

Gun School - Definitive Shotgun - Day 1

On Memorial Day Weekend, very bright and early at 5 am on Saturday morning, I met up with Tosh and we drove down to New London, Ohio to attend Definitive Training Solutions - Definitive Shotgun Class.

We arrived at the range at 7:45 and checked in to the class, and did the waivers etc and got our gear set up and set out.

With 16 students attending, it was a full  class. 

Shotguns ranged  in the pump department from a couple Remington 870s, a couple few Mossberg 590s, including two in 20 gauge brought by the two female shooters attending the class.

In the semi-auto category, there vast majority were Beretta 1301s, one Beretta A300, and my Tavor TS-12.

Only three years ago, at MDFI's shotgun class, the Benelli M4 series dominated.  Now there was not a single one on the line.

The class began with a safety brief and an introduction to what we would be doing and some note-taking on shotgun usage.

We then began by patterning the shotguns with our choice of high-quality buckshot.

 

Two words when it comes to quality buckshot - Federal FliteControl.

Some people tried cheaper buckshot and the difference - in their own shoguns when they tried FliteControl was night and day in terms of putting buckshot on target.

We patterned at 5, 7, 10, 12, and 25 yards. 

Using FliteControl, as seen above, the Tavor TS-12 kept some nice tight patterns, and even at 25 yards kept all the shot on target.

 The ladies using the 20 gauges had major issues patterning. Neither of them had the rare 20 gauge flitecontrol buckshot, and the buckshot they had looked like it had been thrown all over the target at 5 and 7 yards, and most of the shot was off target when shot from farther away. 

Interestingly, the malfunctions this class were all with the pump shotguns -  both of the ladies' Mossberg 20s were new and had issues including the end cap working loose on one and the safety coming loose and off on the other. First time for both of them using shotguns and they brought these new to class and both needed lubrication.  After some teething troubles, they worked but were simply not as accurate as the 12 gauges on the line, especially with buckshot.

In short, ladies certainly can, and probably should, handle 12 gauge shotguns for defense for the benefits from FliteControl alone, and for the much better ammunition choices that are available when using a 12.

Other malfunctions included some jams when port-loading a Mossberg 590, which was caused by the angle the gun was held at the time and was easily solved accordingly.  

The Tavor TS-12 ran like a champ, zero malfunctions.

 

After the buckshot patterning, we switched to bird shot for the rest of the day.

Lots of manipulation drills - loading via both the magazine tube and port, including under pressure during rolling thunder and Peel drills tom get used to moving with a shotgun.

We had an awesome lunch prepared for by the range owner and his wife and it was great - absolutely top rate hospitality and great people.

We also did one handed-manipulation and reloading drills as well. 

We finished up with a drill under competitive pressure which was fun, but the drill as structured didn't let me use the benefits of the Tavor to its fullest extent - namely its multiple tubes for very fast reloading. Instead, I had to load ammo that was loosely in my pockets compared to others who had them on cards secured via velcro on the gun.   This pocket retrieval was notably slower.

The next morning, I installed the cards on the sides of the Tavor.  If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

After the end of the class day, the entire class went out to dinner together.  The Tosh and I headed back to the hotel and got ready for Day 2.

It was a great start to the class.  We prepared to slug it out on Sunday. 

Range Trip - Shooting The Rust Off

Went to the range today with Tosh. It had been quite awhile since I got some shooting time in.

Did a little bit of everything today.

First, shotgun.  

I shot the Tavor TS-12  and ran it through its paces.  Birdshot, buckshot, and slugs all functioned through it flawlessly. Nothing like pumping out 16 rounds of shot as fast as you can pull the trigger and rotate the next tube into firing position. Much fun was had.

I patterned some 9-pellet 00 Buck Federal Flite Control I bought at Lucky Gunner with very good results at 10 and 25 yards. The buckshot was a nice tight group at both distances, staying in the chest of the USPSA target. Quite spiffy, that Flite Control.

I also shot some Federal Truball slugs and again they hit their mark most impressively.  The first one, shot at a steel reduced size USPA target Tosh had setup, knocked the heavy steel target right off the post at 25 yards, even with the retaining clip being in place.  Slugs tend to have a lot of kinetic energy and all of it got transferred to the target there.

I also got to shoot Tosh's Mossberg 590, which was very nice indeed and a joy to shoot, and he got to shoot the Tavor.  Much shotgun fun had by all.

Next was rifle.  I had my SBR'd AR-15 300 Blackout along.  With the AAC 7.62 SDN suppressor and shooting subsonic ammunition, it was pretty much hearing-safe shooting and the loudest sound was the bullet hitting steel 25 yards away. Much fun, and very civilized in terms of noise level.

Next we did some handgun.

I brought the Israeli marked FN Hi-Power to the range and as expected it ran flawlessly. Shooting an all-steel pistol in 9mm after shooting polymer pistols really makes you realize how much a steel pistol sucks up recoil, as in it didn't feel like there was recoil by comparison. Plates fell with aplomb to the pistol and it functioned 100%. Tosh liked it as well. The Hi-Power feels great in the hand, points onto the targets very naturally, and the single-action trigger is rather nice.

It was good to get some iron sight practice in after regularly using red dots.  Fundamentals are the same, but it does feel different, but the time with the dot seems to have made even my iron sight acquisition and accuracy better, whioch is interesting.

Next I got out my Sig P365 and at 7 yards we ran single shot drills form concealment and then bill drills on an A-Zone target, and then shifted to single shot from concealment at 25 yards.

In short I sucked.  7 Yard singles were around 2.0 - 1.7  seconds, and Bill Drills were in the 3.4+ second range.  Single shot at 25 yards were 2.0+.  

Pretty ugly, and certainly shows what happens when you don't practice and haven't shot recently.  Pistol shooting is a perishable skill.

I could of course make an excuse that I'm using a rather small pistol to do the drills, but since I often carry it, I ought to work to be good with it.  I will do the drill with the larger handguns as well as I should get better with them, too.

So, lots more handgun practice is needed, and I expect to get to the range more regularly, especially now that winter has left the building.

A darn nice morning at the range.  Then home to give them all a nice thorough cleaning. 

Sunday Range Day

With snow still on the ground, and temperatures a balmy 20 degrees F, I headed to the range to meet up with Tosh and Spencer.

Started out shooting carbines.  I shot my 300 Blackout with the AAC suppressor and was impressed over how very quiet it is.  Haven't shot it in some time and  it shot well, but needed some added lubrication as it hadn't been shot in quite awhile.  That has now been remedied, as well as it being cleaned thoroughly after the range trip.

After the rifles, we then switched to handguns.

Tosh had a new drill he wanted to try: A variation on this impressively difficult shooting on the move drill.

It was a very challenging drill and we certainly didn't hit the 3.5 second par time, especially as Tosh had declared that only A-Zone hits count.

Doing it in the snow, in the cold, and drawing from concealment with all the winter gear on, was quite time-consuming. I used my Sig 320 to shoot the drill.

We managed to do it in around 5-6 seconds per sub stage and now we have a time to improve on.

We then did a variation of doing a Bill Drill on each of the two targets while moving from cone to cone.  It made for a great drill but it eats a box of ammo to get to all 4 cones. We figured out a reasonable par time for that one is 6 seconds. 

This drill is a lot of fun and leads to some practice in an often overlooked area of shooting on the move and combines speed, movement, and accurate shooting.

After that we then shot some other handguns and I brought out the boat anchor.

The S&W 5946 is a heavy 15-shot 9mm pistol. It is still the standard sidearm of the RCMP and has a very smooth double action only  trigger. This one happens to be an ex-NYPD officer's pistol. The upside from all the weight is the recoil is pretty much negligible and quick accurate multiple shots are easy to do, such as on a bill drill. The heavy weight sucks up the recoil and keeps it on target.

3 hours on the range, and it was getting all sorts of cold for everyone and it was time to head out.

Lots of good practice and that's a fun new drill to try and keep on improving.

So, it was a very fun and challenging, and indeed chilling time at the range.

Saturday Short Range Trip

Went to the range this morning, it was sunny but cool out at 31 degrees with a touch of wind. 

 Decided to try out my new p365.

It's the P365XL Spectre Comp in FDE. Got it on sale last month, and just got a Holosun 507K2 to mount on it (EPS Carry was not in stock unfortunately, as I would have liked to give that a go). So, I took it to the range to get it zeroed today.

It was shooting quite low and left, and then I managed to adjust it.

 

Then I shot two B-8s with 10 rounds at 10 yards each, and I'd say it's been zeroed in now.

I was very happy with those results. I'll take 100 points any time, and getting 2 100s in a row was very happy making indeed.

Then I did some Bill Drills.

The slide's integrated comp really does reduce recoil quite measurably, and the dot stayed in the A-Zone box throughout each Bill Drill at 7 yards.

However, combine the winter jacket, sweatshirt, some very cold fingers, and a lack of practice, and my performance was rather off.  

While I wasn't throwing shots out of the A-Zone, the times themselves were rather sub-par, averaging 3.56 seconds per clean Bill Drill with a 1.5+ second draw.

So yep, more practice is certainly needed if I'm going to improve.

I ran 300 rounds through it on this first outing, with no issues whatsoever.  I was by then rather cold, especially my fingers, and decided to call it a day.

As a carry piece, the P365XL Spectre Comp certainly has a lot going for it.  

Recoil is less than the P365X, due to both the slightly longer slide and, of course, due to the integrated compensator which really does work. The trigger is very good right out of the box.  It carries a ridiculous amount of rounds in the magazine (12 flush fitting. 14 flush fitting with a mag guts internal change, or 17 slightly extended). It also is a very compact size and conceals perfectly in a PHLster Pro holster, while still carrying a full-size gun's capacity, and with the comp it feels like it shoots like a bigger gun, too.

In short, I do indeed like this P365XL Spectre Comp, and I'll be shooting it more, soon.

Sunday Range Day

Went to the range today on a chilly day that began around 25 degrees but the sun was out and it got to 40 ish pretty quickly. I met up with Heath, Spencer and his friend Steve who I met for the first time today.

Steve, as it turns out knows his stuff, and was a firearms instructor in the army among other roles. Nice guy, and a solid and safe shooter. Steve had neat drill that we tried that was quite good.

I shot the IWI Masada with the can on it, the PSA Rock (which needed a red dot sight adjustment and is now nice and zeroed but still the Romeo Zero needs to be replaced by a better red dot), some SIGs, including my P365 from concealment.  Concealment on this day meant an open jacket and the P365 under a sweater, and with thin wool gloves on, so the draw took a bit of work but was quite achievable, and good winter weather practice.

I also brought out the Tavor and my latest SBR.

The ATI Galeo pistol which was on clearance. I've Form 1'd it into a Galil SAR.  I've always wanted a Galil SAR after shooting a real one years ago, and now I've got one.

Happily, it functioned 100% even with IWI magazines.  

One risk with the ATI line of Galil clones is that ATI often have them tuned to function with Tapco polymer Galil magazines, which are now pretty much unobtainium.  But, my IWI magazines fit and fed just fine, which was very happy making.

100% functionality is kind of expected, since the Galil is a later development and refinement of the Finnish Valmet, which is itself a later development and refinement of the AK-47 series of rifles and reliability is the touted hallmark of the system.

Everyone enjoyed shooting it, and it's a nice handy and reliable package of a firearm. Shooting 5.56, the recoil is negligible and it is easy to get rapid aimed shots on target. It can also be easily fired with the stock folded. The rock 'n' lock magazine as seen with the AK series makes magazine changes a little slower than an AR or Tavor, but with the charging handle set upward, the firearm can be charged with either hand, letting you keep your firing hand on the grip.

Due to a neat quirk in Michigan law, while it is federally an SBR, it is still considered a pistol in Michigan, so I could legally carry it concealed if I so chose to do so (talk about effective winter carry), or have it loaded in a vehicle, again, if I so chose to do so. Not saying I will, but it's nice to have legal options.

A great time at the range and everyone had a good time. Range time is always better shared with friends.

Went home and got other stuff done, and now I'm about to make Steak Frites for dinner, because, why not?

Last Range Trip of 2023

After arriving back in town on Friday night, On Saturday morning I got up nice and early and headed to the range to meet up with Tosh, Jason and Spencer.

Weather was cold but not terribly so but compared to where I had been it was kinda cold indeed.  So we got targets setup and commenced shooting.

We started off with handguns and I fired my Black Friday purchase for the first time.

A PSA Rock in 5.7 to compliment my PS90.

I had thrown on a Romeo Zero Pro (will be changing for a better optic shortly) and had it ready to go.

 First impression: Rather impressed. It came with two 23-round magazines, and was optic-ready right out of its very nice carrying case.

The firearm grip is not nearly as bulky as I thought it would be and it fits my hand well. Interestingly, the Romeo Zero Pro as installed was right on and required no adjustment to zero which was nice.

Spencer also had his new to him Smith and Wesson M&P 5.7 along for comparison.  We both found that the M&P 5.7's grip is more rectangular and feels like a 2x4 compared to the Rock's.   The M&P also carries one less round at 22 in the magazine.  The Rock's trigger was also better, and is better than a stock Glock.

Recoil on both was pretty much negligible, and the lack of recoil was made up for with rather loud and enthusiastic muzzle blast from each pistol.  Didn't time it, but Bill Drills were ridiculously fast as the guns simply didn't shift in recoil and stayed right in the A-zone the whole time while firing.

I'd say PSA got the Rock right and its one very attractive package both cost and functionally speaking for people looking to pickup a 5.7 pistol.

Fired 250 rounds through it with zero failures and big smiles from all four of us.

I then pulled out the PS90 and those 50-round mags got fired quickly and accurately by all, again with some big smiles.  Too much fun.

I also shot my IWI Masada, as I hadn't taken it to the range in a while, and it performed perfectly as expected.

We shot quite a few more handguns including Jason's new Beretta 80x and his new Stoeger STR9-F that he got for a steal of a price with its rebate. The Stoeger STR9-F feels kinda like a reshaped Gen 3 Glock, and at the price he got it for, it is one amazing value.   It was a nice shooter and had zero issues.

Since Spencer and Jason were going deer hunting after the range trip, they brought along their 450 Bushmaster rifles for us to try.

Spencer had a Savage in 450 and Jason had a Ruger American Ranch in 450. 

The 450 has lots more recoil than the 5.7, to say the least, but both were perfectly good shooting rifles with very smooth bolt actions.  Lots of fun was had by all hammering steel plates at a distance with them.

I then pulled out the Tavor and Jason and Tosh their AR-15s and we did some magazine changing drills on the clock.  Need more practice with that, but lots of fun.

It was a great way to close out the 2023 Shooting Year.

Range Trip - SIGs, Bullpups, And More

Went to the range this morning with Tosh.

We started off doing some handgun practice.  

Tosh wanted to work on splits so we setup a silhouette target at the center of the Bay and another on the far right side and worked on transitions between them. Good practice and we hadn't done much on transitions before and it showed.  Need more practice with that,. My heavy sweatshirt got in the way a few times as well to slow me down, so it was good to practice with different clothing on.

Then we moved on to Bill Drills, and my lack of range attendance the past couple months showed there.  While I fired three sets all clean, none were below 3 seconds. Shooting is a perishable skill and ,my Bill Drill progress sure perished.  Need to get to the range more.

After handguns, I broke out the PS90 and we each shot a full magazine of 50 rounds through it. Quite simply shooting the PS90 is a ton of fun.  No recoil to speak of, multiple shots right on target as fast as you can squeeze the trigger as the firearm simply doesn't move, and its' a nice compact package.  It's a fun gun that never ceases to put a smile on the face of whoever shoots it.

We then moved on to rifles, and I shot my Tavor  X95 and Tosh his shorty AR. he was getting a ton of gas blow-back from his Griffin Armaments suppressor. So much so that the charging handle occasionally flew back all by itself while shooting.  It's a great suppressor that works amazing, and a great value for the price, but you do pay for that sound reduction in gas right to the face.

We then decided to work on rifle reloads because that's not a thing we typically do, as in just about ever. Reloads were out of our back jeans pockets as we hadn't brought rifle magazine holders out.

Basic setup was a full magazine in the back pocket, a round in the chamber and an empty magazine in the gun. On the beep, safety off, come up and shoot the silhouette and then immediately drop the mag and reload and fire a second shot at the target. Then safety on, pickup the empty mag from the ground and reload it into position and full mag back into the back pocket and repeat. Both shots had to hit to count.

We did this on the timer and the lack of practice showed. Managed after a bit of initial fumbling to get the time from first shot to second shot hitting after the reload down to 4ish seconds but with practice I think I can get it faster.  Great practice and the Tavor does handle differently from an AR for reloading. But, once you have the process down, you can do it at a decent clip.

Then, we moved on to shotguns and did transition shooting with them.  I brought out my third bullpup of the shoot, the Tavor TS-12. Tosh brought his Mossberg 590A1.  With 16 rounds loaded on the Tavor it was fun to just keep right on shooting and hitting the targets long after he ran out of his 9 shot and was having to reload.  Much fun was had and I tried out his 590A1, as he got to use the TS-12, and it was a lot of fun and rather smooth - he's upgraded the safety and the magazine follower and it works quite well, and the pump action is rather smooth after all the rounds he's run through it. He's considering SBS'ing it and if he does I'll help him with his doing a Form 1 for the first time.

It was a heckuva good time at the range on a beautiful clear if cool morning.

A Red Dot Is A Cheat Code

Most especially when mounted on a shotgun.

Aiming both much quicker and more accurate that relying on a bead or ghost-type rifle sights.

Especially with my new shotgun.

The Tavor TS-12.

3 tubes of 5 rounds each with one in the chamber for 15+1 shots without a reload.  You can also ghost load it, if you so desire,  for a remarkable total of 17 rounds on board and ready to go. Plus, as my friendly local dealer remarked, it looks like a space gun.

The push button at the front of the trigger guard allows you to quickly rotate the next tube into position after you've emptied a tube.  It's both intuitive and very fast to hit it with your trigger finger as the support hand rotates the new tube into position. 

There is a loading port on either side of the firearm, and shells can also be easily ejected from the tubes without cycling the firearm.

Cross bolt safety is right where you would expect it to be, and it is solid and easy to operate, and the charging handle is similarly easy to use.

In short, I should have bought this rather than the Turknelli from the outset and would have been a lot happier.   It's actually more ergonomic, handles better, is much easier to take down and clean, and is much more reliable.There's something to be said about buy once, cry once.

Size-wise it's pretty darn amazing.

 

Same barrel length, in a much more compact package, with more rounds on board to boot.

For whatever reason, the recoil impulse is also softer than the Turknelli - the heavy 12 pellet 00 Buck recoils subjectively much softer in the Tavor than the Turknelli, and bird shot is a non-issue recoil-wise - you can keep it on target and just launch 16 rounds of birdshot without pause. I also found I did not get any gas in the face when firing the TS-12.

The Tavor TS-12 also balances better and you can shoot it much more easily and accurately with one hand.

Spencer and Tosh both tried it for the first time Saturday, and they both liked it quite a lot.

500 rounds through the Tavor TS-12, a mix of 00 Buck and birdshot so far and zero issues.

I'm certainly liking this shotgun.

Range Trip: Focused Practice

Yesterday I headed out to the range in the afternoon to get some focused practice in since I hadn't been shooting much recently.

Shot some B8s which went well. Shooting a Sig 320 at 10 yards and, on the third run through of 10 shots at a medium cadence it gave a very happy result:

My first perfect string of all Xs with the Sig 320.  This was rather happy making.

Then I did two Dot Torture runs.   

On the first run, I stupidly missed just outside the circle on dot 4, going just a bit too quickly rather than settling in, so that ended any chance of a perfect run on that drill right there.  Still I finished the drill as its good practice.  

On both runs, I messed up the weak hand only portion and dropped two shots out of the circle on each drill. Well, I know what I need to work on more then. So no perfect Dot Torture runs to report.

I then moved on to some Bill Drills.

Ran seven of those all clean:  3.33, 2.97, 2.95, 2.91, 2.49, 2.50 and 2.66.  So most were sub three seconds which is great and where I want to be as a personal standard, and I'm starting to get close to the 2.5 second mark, hopefully on the way to the elusive (for me) 2.0 second Bill Drill.

Then I shot six 3x2 drills all clean with 3.33, 3.29, 3.08, 3.36, 2.98 and 2.81. Not great, but not terrible either, and not near my best speeds, but still all clean so that was something.

It was a good time at the range and 300 rounds went by rather quickly.

Sunday Match Day

Went to Romulus today to shoot the regular USPSA match.

It was a very full match with over 100 shooters, and 8 challenging stages.

It got a little backed up at times, especially when some of the stages got to be a little complex to score and reset after each shooter. It was also rather hot and humid, so I was drinking a ton of water during the match.

I had a darn good time, and was shooting with a great squad of people.

I'm quite pleased with the results so far, as I await the scores to be posted. No hit factor was under 3.1 and many were much better than that which was happy-making.

I also shot two stages clean with all Alphas.

Best of all, I had zero, count 'em zero, misses the entire match. Every round hit, mainly Alphas or Charlies, and maybe a one or two Deltas the entire match I'll have to check the official scores when posted.

I'm rather happy with that, as Romulus always puts on a fun and challenging match. I seem to be improving with stage planning so I would leave no target behind and my accuracy is increasing including on swingers and disappearing targets which is great.

A great way to spend a Sunday, and it's nice to see some improvement in my shooting.