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.

Dry Fire: Chasing The Beep

Since I was able to draw and hit the target at 7 yards in 1.17 seconds -- once, just once -- that means it is possible for me to do it.

So, I have decided that that is my current shooting skills challenge: A consistent hit on a 7-yard A zone in 1.17 seconds or less from concealment. 

This will not be easy, at least not for me, hence a proper challenge.

So today, I set the timer for a part time of 1.5 seconds in an effort to start getting my draw time more consistently lower.

After clearing the room of ammo, which is easy as ammo is never stored in that room, I then triple checked the pistol was clear, holstered up and began to practice.

Spent 25 minutes doing draws on an A-Zone at 7 yards away, trying to make sure I had a good sight picture onn the target and touching the trigger before the second beep.

Sometimes it worked, sometimes I rushed and did not have a good sight picture.

Stopped after getting it down to a consistent draw under 1.5 ending with a the dot right on the target and finger touching the trigger.

Next, I'm going to start chasing the 1.4. 

A decent bit of practice, and a step on the way towards the 1.17. 

A Perfectly Dependable Pistol

As mentioned in Sunday's range trip post, I've acquired a replacement pistol for my SIG P320s.

It's a Walther PDP Pro, complete with an ACRO 2 red dot sight.

The Walther Dynamic Perfomance trigger is really great.  Between that and the ACRO, hitting the target was rather easy.

So far with 250 rounds through last Sunday,  I'm just starting to get used to it.  Zero malfunctions so far, and with 18 round magazines, its easy to get ammo going through it to the target so you're shooting more and reloading less. 

Overall it fits the hand well, it comes up naturally when drawn, and the eye finds the dot immediately in the ACRO.  So far, so good. 

Now that I've put the smaller back strap on the PDP, it fits my hand better. I need to get back out to the range to try it out and see if that change improves things.

I also bought a Tenicor Velo 5 holster to carry it in. First time trying Tenicor.

The Tenicor Velo 5, interestingly, is shipped with the clips and camming bar unassembled to the holster. This seems weird but there is a link provided to a Youtube video on how to best fit the holster to your body. Very smart, that.

After sizing it appropriately following the steps in the video, I think it conceals the PDP rather well especially as it is very much a full-sized pistol: 

 

Don't mind the wrinkles too much. The Tenicor makes the Walther PDP disappear under just a plain t-shirt. I'm rather impressed.

The Velo 5 is also rather comfortable for carry in the holster.  No need for a wedge at this point, and the shape of it works very well to both conceal and make it comfortable to carry the PDP. So far so good, it's a solidly built and well thought out holster.

So far the Walther PDP is a worthy and reliable successor to the SIG P320.  Time and more range trips will tell to see if I can shoot better with the Walther than the SIG.