Thanks Al!

So I headed down to my favourite range in the bay area, The Optimists Rifle and Pistol range in San Leandro. It's my favourite for a number of reasons, first, it's got a damn good name. Second, it's next to one of my other favourite places to go, The Dumps (Technically the Davis St. Transfer Station). It has an indoor range and a set of nice out door ranges, one 50 yard and one 100 yard. It's off the beaten path yet it's near stuff, and it's just a nice place to go. Well it just got extra points in my book today.

I went there and was trying to figure out what is wrong with my shooting, grip, stance, sight image, what ever. Well the first target I had was proof enough that I had all of it, and probably more, going on with my shooting. I had everything all over that damned target, low, left, right, center, all over the damn thing.

Then this little older asian man walks up to me. Waited for me to stop firing and said "You are pushing the gun forward, don't do that". It was in a nice tone, and he showed me what I was doing, I was anticipating the shot. He nicely went over everything that I should be doing, and was a really nice man. After his instruction I went out and got a new target, and instead of being all over the place I was a perfect triangle from the center out, all in the jerking / tightening fingers of the Shooter Correction target but only out to the 6 ring on a NRA 25 yard timed rapid pistol target. His name is Al, and he is one of the volunteers at the range. Really nice, sweet old man. I was very lucky to have run in to him.

I am gonna try to get out more and work on eliminating that flinch and building up my muscle memory for other things, like my grip and what not. I also ran in to an issue where my slide wasn't locking back after I would fire the last round of a magazine, at first I thought it was an issue with the magazines then I remembered something that Brad had said at the safety class yesterday, and that was that with a high thumb grip an extended safety on a glock could get in the way of the thumb. I think what I am doing is when I grip it I depress the slide release a little bit and prevent it from locking back when empty. I will have to adjust my grip, or just replace the slide release.

Also, I know that GLOCK refers to the thing as a slide stop, but come on, I have no interest in fooling myself, it's what I use most of the time to release the slide from the locked back position.

Anyhow, If you are in the area, do check out the Optimists Rifle and Pistol range. It's a great experience and I really like the facility. Very much my speed. Thanks again Al!

Finally put up the videos. You can see both of them at the following links, or just check out the youtube thingy I made just for this dumb blog.


Video 1: Where I do fine enough, but am pretty slow.

Video 2: Where I take about 6 shots to hit a popper, and because of it, I ran out of ammo. But I do have a pretty kick ass mag change while moving in this one.

My Youtube whatever

Depending on how stupid I am tonight, I may or may not go to the IPSC thing at richmond tomorrow. I am shooting like crap in general with my glock, and I think I should avoid the IPSC thing, and instead go to Bullseye and priactice on that first. I also need a good refresher on the basiscs, it has been toooo long.

That took a while.

So I went to the Shooters Saftey thing for competing in ISPC at Richmond Rod and Gun club. Boy was it fun and defeating, all at the same time. The first part was a class, I really liked it and the guy teaching it (Brad) was really good. Then we went out to the range, and were supervised while drawing and doing reloads. Of course everyone had an outside the waistband holster, if not a couple mag holders. I had an IWB, that while it kicks ass, wasn't working so great. I also had exactly 2 magazines on my hip, so when we ran a stage at the end I was fishing magazines out of my pockets.

All in all it was fun, I brought way too much food for the "lunch" time, and I ran a stage twice. Once for funsies, and once scored. Brad did me the service of not actually scoring me in the scored one, I had probably the worst, time wise I was good, but shot wise bleh.

I know a poor craftsman blames his tools, but I honestly think that my glock is shooting off, in combination with my crummy skills. I suspect the culprit is the sights I installed, not that they are poor or something, but I fear that somehow I messed them up when I installed them. I need to bring them somewhere and see whats up.

Anyhow, I plan on competing tomorrow, so I am gonna head off to Bullseye and see if they have a decent holster for me, and maybe some more magazine holders. Maybe even a fancy belt, and a... et cetera.

I also need to remember to get a whiteout pen and number the magazines. I seem to have a little problem loading one of them, and I want to make sure it's the same one, and not just me being a weakling.

Anyhow, I am still hyper and need food, and gonna head out to Bullseye, so this post isn't that coherent.

Also, I asked someone (Also named Chris I think) to video me while I ran the stages. He did a great job and I am gonna put them up when I get back. He also won the scored section, and over all was a good guy. The 2nd place guy, who I think his name is George, missed 1st by .01. Pretty cool overall.

Things to see, people to do.

I registered for the first shooters saftey class required at Richmond Rod and Gun . It is coming up tomorrow (August 15) and I think I am prepared for it.

I got all my kit, I should of picked up some gloves and maybe knee pads, but I can wait for that stuff. I also got a bunch of snacks, printed out the handbook they require and I am gonna go to sleep right after this post.

I went out and bought a Flip Vid Ultra . I have been fooling around with it a little bit, and I like it a lot so far. The video quality on the non HD version is really nice, I could just imagine what the HD one is like. I hope that if we run some strings tomorrow at the saftey thing that I will be able to get someone to film my run. If not, I plan on attending the Sunday IPSC match, and gonna try to make it to some of the next weeks GSSF stuff and will get some videos during that. I am also gonna put up some videos of me doing dumb dry fire practice and training stuff. Ok, gotta go to sleep now, got a big day tomorrow.

Been a While.

I Haven't posted in about a month, big surprize. Anyhow, I ended up buying a Comp-Tac Minotaur the MTAC holster. I got it with the idea of it being able to service both IDPA, and IPSC. However, now that I got it I suspect that I am gonna have to get an outside the wasteband holster for IPSC et al. I do like the holster, and holy shit Comp-Tac was great to deal with. They were quoting 10 days from order the holster would be made (If I remember correctly they make every holster they sell to order, by hand) and it only took 5 days. They also included some free Smarties. If I ate that kind of candy anymore I would totally of scarfed them down when I opened the package, but instead I gave it to my cousin.

I get my mail, all the stuff I have been sending away for, delivered to my grandmothers house. It gives me an excuse to go visit her more often. When I got my sights she didn't understand why it cost as much as it did, but she was still interested in what I was getting. When I got my holster, she wanted me to put it on, and show it to her. Even though she watches a lot of TV she never knew that there were holsters that were inside the wasteband, she thought it was really "nifty". And the best part, she wants me to take her shooting at some point.

I also installed the extended controls. Much easier to release my magazines. and I have been practicing mag changes. It is so nice to not have to break my grip to release a mag.

I also took out my Glock to the range a couple times. I don't know if I am shooting too low, or that the sights are set for a further distance. Once I have some more time I have to go and figure it out some more.

In my Sights.

So I took delivery of a nice set of Warren Tactical / Dave Sevigny sights with the Fiber Optic front blade, and I installed them all by my self.

I tried removing the old junky sights without a vice, instead I used a C-clamp to hold the slide on a table, but it felt really ghetto, and while I removed the sights, I knew I couldn't install the new ones with out access to a vice of some kind. I also discovered that you have to file down part of the dove tail connector on the sight itself to actually get it to fit, so while I went out to get some files before trying to figure out where I was going to find a vise that I could use for a while I stumbled upon something great down at Home Depot. It's a clamp on vise. I don't have a place where I can install a vise and keep it there, so the clamp on version is perfect for me, I put it on the side of my desk put a shop rag around the slide to make sure I didn't mar the finish and proceded to butcher the bottom of the sight until it was just right.

Found some nice videos on the internet showing how to instal a sight, not the Warren/Sevigny sight specifically but close enough.

This one is nice and from the guy who makes the XS sights

This one is more hillbilly, dosen't mention a lot of things and makes it seem as if instalation is more simple then it really was. Extra bonus: And from the guy who thinks it's ok to have people down range while shoting at targets less than a foot from their head.

Now I am waiting for the rest of my bits and baubles to arrive and instal them. I ordered the mags from Dallas Shooting Supplies and the service was so kick ass, I got an e-mail from the owner about 10 min after I ordered thanking me for my order and in general being a nice guy. I don't know what he was doing up at 5:30 AM, I know that I was just starting to get ready for bed. I am also trying to locate a camera so I can take some pictures of the process of installing stuff and whatnot.

The List

I have a list of the things I need to get, I have eyes and ears already, so I don't need that, however, I need a bunch of other stuff.

Holster: I have heard good things about the Minotaur MTAC, and I have looked at some Bianchi holsters. I know I don't want a Serpa, and I am not gonna actually be CCWing it (California :( ) nor will I be using it for some kind of duty (That would go over well at the bar). The only reason I need this is to shoot, so I want something that I can use at both IDPA and IPSC.

Extended Controls: At the moment my Glock has stock mag release and slide stop. The slide stop isn't that bad, but the mag release is a real pain. I don't quite understand the rules for production class in IDPA and the glock, I know that I can use extended controls because it comes stock on the 34, but does that mean I have to get the factory extended release and stop? the slide stop, not a problem with it, but the magazine release seems like it has sharp edges and might snag or be discomforting when I grip. I have seen some extended releases that look junky and comicly large, but I have seen some that look nice, I just don't know if they are able to be used for IDPA, so I gotta find that out.

Sights: I have ordered a set of Sevigny Competition Sights with a fiber optic front blade. I like fiber optic sights, and I have heard some really good things about these.

Mag Carriers: I havn't really thought about it, but it seems pretty straight forward. I am not trying to set up some kind of speed rig here, I just need something that covers enough for IDPA.

Belt: I have a nice belt, that is slightly under 1.5 inches, but I don't know if I get a fullsize 1.5 fancy belt from comp-tac or something like that (beltman is a name I think I have heard before) that the thing will fit in my belt loops on my pants. I only own slacks, and they barley fit my belt now, I don't know if the extra .2 inches will be able to fit.

More Mags: I found some at a decent price ($25) from Dallas Shooting Supply, the places near my house either don't carry them, or have them at $35 or more! It's kinda funny to hear the owner complain that the internet is stealing all their business, and then ask you for about 40% more than one can get them for. I'm not even figuring in sales tax in this.

I'm gonna buy some kind of grip tape decal set, I just haven't actually gotten around to it. I want to try to see if I can get a bunch of this stuff at one place and save on shipping, but I doubt it.

If anyone has some recomendations please feel free to comment on it.

Well lets get this rolling.

My Name is Chris Strong, I have lived my entire life (pretty much) in the East Bay, Northern California. I am a Barman at an English Style Pub.

I have started this blog as a place to follow my start and eventual development in the field of competitive shooting and a place to deposit my musings on general life stuff.

I have wanted to get in to idpa/ipsc style shooting for a while now. I recently purchased a slightly used Glock 17, 2nd Gen to do so with.

Currently I am in the buying equipment phase, I still need a couple more mags, a decent holster, some mag carriers and some other misc stuff.

I plan on going to the First Shooters orientation for the local idpa action range on August 15.