Match Talk 12/18/13

Match Talk

Okay, the 18th came and went, and I dragged my feet getting the video together, and thinking about what went on.  It's been a pretty busy time, I wrapped up my work year yesterday, and am on vacation until the 2nd. Christmas presents are about done, holiday plans are made, and a couple of big decisions were made. More on those a little later.

The only video I thought was worth a thing was that of my classifier.  CM99-28 Hillbilton Drill What went right with it? Well, my draw was pretty solid, I had good transitions, and I executed a solid reload. My hits on the steel were just fine, and I even took two extra shots that I did not need to. On the last two steel, I had hit them, and for some reason thought if I shot again they'd go over faster. That cost me an extra .4. I was looking for a run on this stage of 9.65 seconds or less for a 60% run. My total time was 9.01 seconds, and it should have been 8.61 or lower, meaning I had my time beat by a full second.

So, what went wrong? Everything else! I put exactly one shot out of six on paper.

I'm going to take a few positives, that I can do this, I can shoot at speed, my reloads are improving, my draw as well, and that I have the focus that I need to shoot steel, which for some reason is kryptonite for some people. My struggles with paper are more than mental, although that's a factor as well. I'm still not seeing enough front sight, and I'm shooting thru the target, not driving the gun to the target.

This would have been a good opportunity to get a high classifier score, but I'm not going to cry over spilt milk. There are a lot of good things happening, but the couple of fundamental things that are going wrong are basic, and will have a huge say in how I perform.

So, the decisions. For all I said about shooting the Walther PPQ not two months ago, I went to Les, and he have me his approval to make the move to the CZ. This is going to mean some serious hard work, because I need to learn a lot about this gun, but the truth is I have confidence in the gun, and I believe this will allow me to learn, and make things easier on myself in the short term.  I also made the decision to not make the PPQ a safe queen, and to sell it. While I like the paddle mag release, the truth staring me in the face is that I do a better job with a button. Someday I could buy another PPQ, but it'll be a button version.

It's Official

I'm also going to use the proceeds to pick up the green P-01, which will replace the PPQ quite well. It's about the same size, but heavier, it will be hammer fired like my competition gun, and also be DA/SA. If I'm going to winter carry something, I admit I want something similar to what I'm going to be putting significant rounds down range with. It will also have night sights, the VZ grips I like, and an Automatic Accuracy trigger job. Plus, CZ only makes 200 of those a year, and I kinda like having something that is a little rare, and a little more interesting. Telling you, I'm going to do significant business with those guys going forward. The last Walther standing will be the PPS, which will be a summertime carry option. There will be another Walther someday, maybe a nod to James Bond and a PPK

A Nod To Bond...Maybe Someday

Setting Up The Week

Setting Up The Week

It’s Monday, and that means it’s time to set-up the week as far as scheduling, and so some review on what I got done last week. I was able to validate the week of dry fire in both the match, which I was not happy with, and in the Friday practice session.

5" Walther PPQ Available 2014

After four days of dry fire, 30 minutes each day, I've watched my par times go down. On Sunday, I ran my “medium” 5 minute set at 2.20 seconds, and had no issue with the par times, move then time to 2.00 second and had no issues up close, and kept it the same when I went even further back, the longer sight, and transition was no real issue for me.  Earlier in the week, the further back I set-up, I was more concerned with a slow transition, but now I’m finding the target easily, and I’m breaking the shot as I get to targets. I’m not lying to myself, not every run is perfect, there are some where I know I’m breaking a shot off, or over reaching a target, but it’s getting more and more consistent. One of the keys for me, the further back I go is movement from my hips. I had always kept my hips stationary, but with just my arms moving, I had more bounce in the sights, and struggled to find targets, making me have slower transitions. With my hips moving between targets, my whole body is helping the movement, and I can stay on the sights the whole way. I do notice that after about ½ of a 15 minute session, my shoulders start getting sore, and I can feel the work I am putting in. I’m drilling this relentlessly, and as hard as I possibly can. A week ago, I would not have thought it all possible, but I’m starting to feel the beginnings of this being natural movement, not having to think about it. I know I’m way off from that being the case, but this is probably the best fundamental form I have demonstrated, and bits and pieces are starting to become muscle memory. Another 10,000 repetitions and maybe it will be.

With no match this week, and a legitimate concern about my front sight on the .22, I’m not sure what I’m going to be able to do for live fire, as the plan was to shoot on Tuesday night. That’s going to require Dawson to have, and overnight a sight out to me. I’ll go up with Dave to the range and run him if we need to stick with that, but I’ll also need to get up there later in the week. Depending on what Dawson says, I’ll have to ask about re-scheduling.

Accu Shadow (Not Production Legal)

Monday-Dry Fire

Tuesday- Live Fire Practice

Wednesday-Dry Fire

Thursday-Dry Fire

Friday- 15 minute strong hand, weak hand dry fire

Saturday- Off

I'll also be getting my registration for Battle In The Bluegrass V in April '14 in the mail. Still working out the details, but it looks like a trip to St. Augustine the week before that is likely for the Area 6 Championship, which will be my first major match of the '14 season. 

This week, I’ll be keeping a loose eye out on the USPSA website. Classification percentage will be run sometime between the 12^th and the 15^th; with the 11^th being the last date that scores can be entered. Still not sure about what will make it, will my two latest match scores make it or no since they were shot in November? I hope I get my C Card, but if I don’t no worries. I know everyone says it’s not about the paper, it’s about your ability, but in this case, that little piece of paper is a small validation of practice, and encouragement. I can do this

Why I Shoot a Walther

Why I Shoot a Walther

This is a question that seems to crop up from time to time from the various, and rabid Glock fanboys, who automatically assume that anyone not shooting a Glock is just half bright. Oh, how those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Mind you, it's not the average everyday person who chooses to shoot a Glock that I have an issue with, I respect it as a fine firearm, my issue is with the person who feels the need to convince me how right he is. Insecure much?

Is there a more iconic Walther than the PPK? Does James Bond wear it better than anyone?

James Bond, Walther PPK

One of my first experiences when I attended my first club IDPA match, just to watch, was having people ask me what I was going to shoot. At the time I was leaning towards the H&K P30 because I liked the way it felt in my hand, I had rented it, and enjoyed it. I was new, eager to learn, and instead of explaining the sport, I had more people telling me why I needed to shoot a Glock. Anyone who knows me, knows that the quickest way to get me to hate something, is to effusively tell me why I need to like it. Let me make my mind up for myself, I'm not three, I don't need my hand held, and I'm fully capable of making my own decisions. Evidently that concept is a challenging for some folks from the get go. While that night did cement my decision to go H&K, hell, anything but Glock. Even I was willing to admit not long after that I had made a mistake. It was a mistake made because I did not knowing what I did not know, and I did not understand what was going to be important to me. It was hard to admit to my wife that I had made a $1,000 plus mistake, but I kept my eyes open for a Walther PPQ. I kept my eyes open, and finally found what I was looking for. Fortunately I was able to sell my P30L to a friend and not a huge loss, but I also found something that was right for me.

H&K P30

The Walther PPQ was actually a runner-up to the P30L when I started hunting for a firearm to buy. The fact that the Walther I knew best was the PPK, was a negative, it felt like a company that was living on the reputation of a single cultural icon, instead of being a leading innovator of modern, and high quality firearms. In some ways, I attribute that to Walther's curious decision to partner with Smith and Wesson to import and distribute for them in the United States for many years. While it may have made some sense, why on earth would S&W advertise and push a Walther product like the P99 that was arguably better than the M&P product line? When Walther came up with the PPQ, a derivative of the P99, that is a hands down better offering than the M&P again, why would S&W risk losing sales pushing a competitive product? We won't even touch on the slim PPS which offers more than the S&W Shield. Walther righted the ship by opening up here in the States earlier this year, and now they can push their own product here, but unfortunately, they still have a long way to go. A small market presence has done Walther no favors. What made it a challenge, was that to get to know the PPQ, you have to look harder to evaluate information, most gun shop employee's don't know much beyond a few big brands, and tend to steer customers to what they know. I had to look harder, travel a little further to rent and experience it first hand, and since it was a challenge, it never stood on equal ground with the P30 for me, at least until I understood how much the trigger meant to me.

The transition for me from the H&K P30L to the Walther PPQ was a easy one. They share a similar set of ergonomics, but the PPQ, I felt had a slightly higher bore axis, and was a hair fippier, that said, the 5.5 lb trigger with a clean break, and short reset was a night and day difference from the P30. Of course the general comment most folks would have, is that the P30 is a “combat” handgun, and not a competition handgun, so it’s not like I’m comparing apples to apples, and that I really should be comparing the PPQ to something else. For the purposes of our discussion, let’s move on to the largest perpetrators in the sport, the Glock fans, who automatically assume that anyone not shooting a Glock has something wrong with them.

Out of the box, comparing a Walther PPQ to a Glock 17 or a 19 is almost embarrassing, and not for the PPQ. When I bought my PPQ, I paid less money than a Gen 4 Glock 17 or 19 is currently going for. I shot it for 7 months bone stock, and I finally made the change to the Dawson .100 Fiber Optic Front Sights, and .125 Blacked out Rear Sights. Most Glock owners I know say that the first thing that they do, is get rid of the awful Glock factory sights and go aftermarket. The stock Walther PPQ trigger is smooth as glass, has a crisp break, and short reset, comparing the stock Glock trigger is nearly laughable. People end up paying between $15 and $150 for a better trigger, then having to spend the time or the money to put them in, or have a gunsmith put them in.  Mind you, that’s added expense just to be in as good, or marginally better than the PPQ.

Glock 17

I understand that the Glock is built to last, is accurate, and almost never fails to go “bang” when the trigger is pulled. It may look like an ugly hunk of metal, it may feel like a brick in your hand. I’m not arguing that the Glock is an amazing firearm. It is. Glock has built up a great following due to it’s cheap pricing, solid construction, wide product line, and massive hype machine.  Understand that the Walther PPQ is built well, is incredibly accurate, always goes bang, and has amazing ergonomics to boot, it’s cheaper, and out of the box, it’s a better firearm, you don’t need to spend money like you do with the Glock. Sure, the Glock has better aftermarket support, but then again, it needs it…. Yes, I own a Glock 34, so I’m fairly comfortable saying that it needs work to the stock version.

Walther PPQ

My personal opinion, is that when talking about the best striker fired pistol available on the market today, Springfield and Smith and Wesson are not even part of the discussion. Both are decent guns with plenty of positives and negatives of each. Glock is without a doubt the reigning champion, and you can’t have the discussion without it. On quality and reputation alone, Glock is a heady choice. The Walther PPQ is the discerning person’s choice, it’s for those of us who researched it, who touched it, and ultimately tried it. Not only did we have an open mind, but were not overwhelmed by what the next guy was using, we were comfortable blazing our own path, a better, and untraveled path.

The reality of the situation in terms of shooting sports is fairly simple. I see rabid fanboys of every manufacturer, and all of them think that what they shoot is the best, and only choice on the market, most of them I see spending money, looking for a short cut, and are “C” class shooters. I see people spending thousands tuning a CZ, and the fact of the matter is that they can’t actually shoot worth a damn. Is it ironic that some of the most rabid fan's are those who can't actually shoot well? Perhaps something to explore down the road. My 4” barrel PPQ is a gun I can take to my “B” card and beyond. I have a friend who is about to make GM with a Berretta. I don’t want to say a gun and gear are inconsequential, but most shooters are not limited by their gun, they are limited by themselves. You don't need an XDM 5.25" with match grade barrel, or a Glock 34 (and I own both) to make a "B" class shooter, you don't need them to make master. If you can shoot, you'll do it with anything. So again, riddle me why I need to spend more for a base model, to have a worse grip, to need to spend more to bring it up to par? 

To me, the most rabid fanboys are the Glock fanboys, so they end up the target of my venom in these thoughts. What was the first use of a Glock pistol in the mainstream media? One of those shows that was fun while it lasted, but failed the test of time. Break out your pastel’s, your white one white suit and shoes with no socks. Don’t go all Sonny Crockett on us.

First Appearance of A Glock In Media

Just know Glock Fanboys, this is how I think of you, each and every time you spout your love of Glock, and share with me how it is the best firearm that a person can shoot, yes, you look that dated and dumb.

Glock Fanboys?

On the other hand, Walther is a cultural icon, for the discerning. You may never own an Aston Martin, an Omega chronograph, you may never beat the house at baccarat, save the world from an arch-villain and walk away with the beautiful girl. You can however own, and display the class of a cultural, and generational icon. A refined sense of elegance, of taste.

The bottom line is that people should shoot what they shoot best, regardless of who makes it. The Walther PPQ is a hidden gem, a secret know to the "in" club. It will likely never sell as man units as Glock does, but it will always remain a preferred choice for the intelligent shooter.

While Sean Connery is the ultimate Bond, I have one final thought for the Glock Fanboy's, from Daniel Craig, taken a bit out of context, but apropos, I've got an itch Glock Fanboy's, one that you've long been scratching.

"Now the whole world will know you died scratching my balls."

M.I.S.S. Match 10/16/13

M.I.S.S. Match 10/16/13

It’s an advantage to help set-up the night before a match. One of the better lessons I learned this summer is to be prepared for each and every stage, walk it, memorize it, and execute your plan.  One of the earlier criticisms someone made, when I suspect they had too many easy to point our flaws that might hurt my feelings was that I rarely had a plan, and I needed to work on my prep. When I was getting started, I admit, that was 100% accurate, my thoughts were to be safe, and just “shoot stuff”, I ate standing reloads, I took horrible paths, and I did most of it on the fly. If there is a recipe to not succeed, that definitely is it.

In my video’s, I can see where I started to transition to an analytical mode, and how my stage approach started to change. These days, I feel like I walk thru enough to have my plan in place, and I go with it, it’s almost memory when I’m shooting. There is no “alternate plan in case I miss”. Sure, I can plot better ways to approach arrays, and to leave an array, and sometimes I still need help finding the best way to approach a stage, but this is a part of my game that is evolving.

The Wisconsin Sectional Match (which video is conspicuously absent) was a case in point of why it’s important to go early, walk stages, and be prepared. If you are going to spend time and money on a major match, it really does behoove you to arrive early, walk stages, and get a preliminary game plan in place. Make sure what you saw on paper looks the same, and that there are no surprises to be had. In the last six months, no match set me back more than the Wisconsin Sectional.  I’m just going to say that there were a lot of things that went wrong for me, but one thing that was in my power to have go right, I blew by not being as prepared as I should have been.

Last night at M.I.S.S. I opened on a pretty fun stage, and while setting up the night before, I had two or three ideas on how I could shoot the stage. Kozy made a suggestion, and I was all over it, it was different than I had come up with, but it helped save me a reload. Because I was deliberately slow from draw to first shot, my time was nowhere near what it could have been, so my one less reload advantage was negated. I did however learn an important lesson, and that’s that sometimes I need to take a step back to really see the whole picture. When I finished my round, it was apparent to the Range Officer that I’d been talking to Kozy, because he even commented on what a good plan that was, and that is how he was going to shoot it.  Too much feedback can be bad, but not seeing the whole picture can also not be a negative.

I had two real goals last night, and with Les busy at Production Nationals, the scores won’t be uploaded until next week, so I won’t know until then how many points I shot. I do know that I had zero mikes, zero deltas, 15 C’s, 2 B’s, and all the rest Alpha’s. That’s still not the accuracy that I want, I’d like to cut the C’s in half, but zero mikes and deltas is progress.

The other goal that I had was running a “B” level classifier, and I thought it would be a gimmie, and it was not. My first run I ended up around a 48% score, but since we had time waiting for the other squad to flip stages, a couple of us paid our extra money for submission, and did a re-shoot. This time I ended up with a hit-factor of 5.062, which was a 59.737% run, or about .26 short of a “B” run.  Don’t misunderstand me, that’s progress, but during that run I had 3 misses on steel, and if I had one less miss, I’d have had my 60%, if I had run it clean, I’d have been in around a 70%, which is what I was aiming for. Consider a little confidence built.

As a side note, not naming any names, I had a conversation today with a friend, and I mentioned how since this was the 2^nd match of the fall season, it was nice to see some old faces I had not seen all summer at matches. I also noted that last spring I thought quite a few of them were excellent shooters, and shot at a classification lower than their ability. Oh, how a summer has changed me. Today I noted that as I watched last night, I realized that they were not as good as I’d thought; I was able to be objective, and see things that they were doing wrong. It’s not a sense of cockiness, but it’s a sense of objectiveness, and perhaps that I’m finally starting to see, and more importantly gain some understanding of the sport, which can only help me learn and improve my own game.

The Mission

The Mission

After my time this past year, and being exposed to ideas in books, podcasts, and forums, it’s time to get serious. A friend, instructor, and Master class shooter came to me with a proposition. He would spend from November until March doing a class twice a month with myself and another person, and at the end of it we’d come out as “B” Class USPSA Shooters. We’d have to commit to dryfire practice, live fire, and matches. If we make “B” class, we do not owe him anything other than a LOT of word of mouth advertising. I negotiated that to owing him 1,000 bullets plus word of mouth advertising, because it’s worth it to me, and because it’s a heck of a time commitment for someone who could be charging for classes during that time. If however both students do not come out “B” class shooters, we owe him 4,000 rounds. That’s some serious ammo, and it ties the other student and me together, so we are motivated to work together, to push one another, and to achieve our goal.

At this point, we’ve got a schedule: Bi-Weekly Saturday instruction, live fire practice one time a week, twice in weeks we do not have instruction, three 30 minute dry fire sessions a week, and 3 matches a month. Instruction and practice are probably going to be fairly light, so about 600 rounds a month of 9mm will cover those. We will be doing significant work with a .22, and have each put together about 2,500 rounds each. This is roughly 5,500 rounds of ammo, both .22. and 9mm of practice ammo over the course of 6 months, with match’s, this should come in just over 1,000 rounds a month.

I won’t go into a ton of detail about the program, since I expect he’ll want to teach it, as opposed to seeing it “given away”, but in part of our pre-work, he’s helped me come to some understandings of the sport.

When I started, at my first skills and drills class, I had a Safariland retention holster, and my first draw was 3.3 seconds, with practice I got that down to about 2 second draw. These days, on a short, 5-7 yard target, I practice at about 1 second from draw to first shot, and in a match expect to see myself at around 1.3 to 1.5 seconds.  When I started “B” class seemed unattainable, I thought I’d need a 1 second draw reload, and great movement skills.  What has been demonstrated to me, is that it’s about shooting accurately at my level. You could in theory have a 2 second draw, 2 second re-load, and still be a “B” class shooter as long as you are accurate.

My last match, less penalties, I shot only about 80% of the points, and I need to push that to about 90% of the points, but that seems fairly reasonable. I had been practicing El Presidente, and shot it in 7.25 seconds, with 10 Alpha’s and 2 Charlies, or 56 points, my hit factor on that run would have been around 72%. Meaning, a very high “B” run, almost an “A”.  Two weeks ago, I blew my El Pres run for a couple of reasons, but the bottom line is that I know that I can do it. I’m not expecting to get a 10.26 Hit Factor and score a 100%, but I think between 6.16 and 7.7 is attainable.

For those that don’t know, or understand, let’s talk Hit Factor for a second. A hit factor calculation is simply points divided by time. When looking for a percentage, on Classifier Calc, you want to find what 1% is, what 100% is, and with that info you can figure out what a 60-75% is (B Class Rating). When you have that, you can do the calculations on points and figure out what time you need to hit. It’s unrealistic for me to think I’m going to shoot 100% of the points, but I have done calculations of where I need to be if I shoot 80% of the points, and 90% of the points. What I found amazing is that the difference can be a second or more on some stages, and if I shoot between .20 and .25 (currently between .25 and .28) that means 4 extra shots. Not that I want to shoot more, but it means I have that much more time to insure a good sight picture, and get good hits.  I know all this sounds complex, but it really is not, especially once I did the math on a few, and saw what a 10% increase in points shot would really mean for me.

I've done my reading of Brian Enos, Steve Anderson, and BenStoeger, but I’m going to be putting some of that behind me. I know my draw, reload, and transitions need work, and they will improve with practice. I’m getting better at stage planning, but I still have a ways to go. My movement leaves a lot to be desired, but like the other things, it will improve as well. I suspect that the plan will have a focus on keeping on that front sight, and shooting all the points possible. My gut feeling today, is that a “B” class shooter has those fundamental skills, but the transition from “B” to “A”, to “Master” to “Grand Master” is where the ability to do that at speed is going to matter more. A feeling that the game changes, where seconds, and tenths of a second can matter.

I have a match tonight at my “home range”, with my “home club”. It’s been a good summer, doing outside matches, but it’ll be nice to be back someplace I’m comfortable. The classifier tonight is CM 06-10, Steely Speed VII, I’ll need a hit factor in the mid 6’s, which means I have to hit all the steel, in just about 5 seconds. This should be a gimmie. Even if I have a 2 second draw, that means I have 3 seconds for 6 targets, or a .5 transition.  Normally I love steel (I hate forward falling steel, that’s caused some nightmares this summer, and I don’t even want to talk about it….) but I focus on my front sight, and am accurate, I can do this.

Finally, I don't want anyone to think that "B" is my destination. It's almost a starting point. I need to get there, I want to see how good I can do, how far I can push myself, and how good I can get. Can I get my "A" card by the end of 2014? Can I push for a Master or Grand Master card? I don't know, but I have to take this first step to start.

Gear for this journey, which won’t be changing until I hit “B”, is as follows:

Walther PPQ

DawsonFiber Optic Front Sight .100

DawsonBlack Rear Sight .125

Comp-Tac International Holster

Double Alpha Belt

Ghost Mag Pouches (5)

Shooting 147 grain re-loaded Bayou Bullets with 4.4 grains of Power Pistol

(This will change to 124 grain Bayou Bullets with Tite Group fairly soon)

One Black Under Armor Hat (Okay…that may change….)

Growth By Video

Growth in Video



I'll start by saying that I am nervous to share my video's, in part because in my early ones I can see how horrible I was, it was everything I could do to hit a target, not even worrying about getting good hits. Ultimately I decided to share a few, because they do show growth over the last six to seven months, and while I still have a long way to go, it helps me see exactly how far I have come.



First Match with the PPQ:

March 20th, 2013

June 2nd 2013
Illinois State IDPA Championship:

August 25th 2013

NISA USPSA

September 22nd 2013

NISA USPSA

October 2nd 2013

MISS USPSA

October 13th 2013

OPSC USPSA

I'll re-iterate, I know how horrible I was seven months ago, it is literally painful to watch me shoot, and then I see my most recent matches, and while frustrating, there is a level of confidence that I have now that I did not have then. I see progress, and while a lot of my practice and work has been lacked focus, I'm excited for the next six months, where my practice will have a plan, and where my time invested will see some payoff. There is no doubt in my mind that if I'm willing to put the time in, I've got the right person directing me, that I will be a "B" class shooter.

A Shooting Journey

A Shooting Journey

In August of 2012, I picked up a handgun for the very first time. I was never an anti-gunner, or a gun grabber, I was just monumentally disinterested.  Growing up, sure, I played with toy guns, I suspect most boys growing up in the late 70’s and 80’s did the same. My father had a revolver, and a shotgun locked up in the attic, and while I saw them, I never touched them, never knew where the key was, and never really cared.

A Police Officer friend talked to me about shooting from time to time, and I suspect that’s a large part of what got me interested. Not just shooting, but finding some way to compete shooting. I last played football in college, and at 38 I was a horrible golfer, a bad tennis player, but I still had a competitive streak a mile wide, and no outlet for it. I looked online, when I had the “idea” about shooting, and found things like IDPA, USPSA, PPC, and Steel Challenge, and was made more curious.  Before I could embark on anything like that, I had to talk to my wife, because a firearm was a big deal. It was an emotional discussion, and being a husband, and a father, we had a lot to talk about.

The journey began in earnest with both of us applying for our Illinois FOID cards, which in and of itself was an experience, and I got to know my State Representative a little better than I anticipated, as the Illinois State Police were slow to process my application. At this time, we signed up, and took a basic firearm’s class. We learned some fundamentals, how to be safe, how to hold a gun, aim a gun, and pull the trigger. It was an interesting affair, and my wife who was on the fence put her first two shots in to the dead center of the bullseye, and got a little more interested.

I joined some forums, went to stores, started to look for something to buy that I wanted. I rented all sorts of guns, and I admit I made some mistakes. In our class, I found that the H&K P30 was a great fit in my hand, and ended up deciding that I should go “all in”, invest the $1,000 it would cost, and buy the P30L. As excited as I was, I had more equipment to buy, and I wanted to go see the local IDPA club shoot a couple of times, I wanted to know what shooting sports was all about. Seeing a YouTube video is a long way from seeing something in person.

I had exchanged e-mails with the club president, and he referred me to another shooter there who also shot the P30. I went and watched a match to see what things were all about before signing up for a match the following month.  The other P30 shooter was a mentor, helping me with gear for my first match, as I needed extra magazines, and a holster since mine had not arrived. He spent a good amount of time talking to me about safety, and fortunately was RO, patiently explaining things to me, insuring that I was safe.  I don’t think I’ll ever forget that first match, my only concern was being safe, (no cover required for the first match) I’m not sure I hit targets too often, but it was an adrenaline rush. I had an inkling of how much fun this could be. The range we shot at was tiny, there were all sorts of issues with ventilation, and with one range, you shot, stopped, broke down, and had to reset stages. People were nice, but I felt a little out of place, and despite having fun, I was not quite sure what to make of things.

From October ’12, thru December ’12, I shot a monthly IDPA match, I tried a match of USPSA, and was baffled by the rules, and shocked seeing people shoot Limited and Open guns. I was still at a place where I knew I liked to shoot, I struggled doing it, and I was more focused on being safe than anything else. It was a slow transition for me, but the people in the club were supportive, were helpful, and were encouraging for a  new shooter, without them, I suspect I may have never ended up where I am today.

In late January, having put in the V1 P30L trigger (“light” LEM) and still struggling with it, one of the local master shooters suggested I pick up a .22, and start practicing with it, because ammo was expensive, scarce, and I needed trigger time. He also turned me on to a few books, The Ben Stoeger series of books, Champion Shooting, and his Practical Pistol book. The books were an eye opener for me, and gave me a place to start practicing dry fire at home. I found a Smith & Wesson M&P22, in part because it was about the size of my P30, and gave me a similar feel in the hand, when compared to a Walther P22, or Ruger. A few days after I picked up the M&P 22, I went back to a local gun store, and saw a Walther PPQ in 9mm. The Walther was my “runner-up” when I set out to purchase a gun, and now having shot for a few months, I picked it up, and had a new appreciation for the trigger. I made a phone call to the wife, told her what I’d found, and her response was “Happy Valentine’s Day.” I looked, realized it really was, and wrote the check anyhow. (Have I mentioned how incredibly awesome and supportive my wife has been in this journey, and without that, no chance I’d be writing this today?)

I needed gear, and had to find and order extra mag’s, mag pouches, and so on, so I continued to shoot the P30L until I could get my gear completed. About that time, my wife decided that she was ready to commit to shooting, and she wanted something of her own. She repeated the process I went thru, renting guns, trying them out to find something she liked, and she was between the Glock 17, the Springfield XDM, and the Walther P99 A/S which ended up winning out, in part because we could share magazines, and some gear.  The only other piece of gear that I bought during this time, was a little video camera, suggested because watching video after a match would help me isolate things that I was doing wrong, so I could practice them. Let’s just say that I was train wreck, and you really could have started anywhere, and not gone wrong.

By St. Patrick’s Day, my wife and I were able to shoot our first match together (she had shot one a few weeks earlier using a borrowed P30) with our own gear. I watch the video’s today, and I feel as if we were going in slow motion, no confidence, more things wrong than right, and if I’m going to be proud of anything, it’s that we were safe. A week after that, I was ready, and made my switch to the Walther PPQ, which is where I am today.

In the past 7 months, I’ve found myself hooked by the sport. I found myself taking skills and drills classes monthly, I started shooting every match that I could locally, and then willing to drive a few hours away to shoot. This summer I have shot about a match a week.  I gave up on IDPA and moved entirely to USPSA, and never looked back. My feelings on IDPA can easily be the subject of another entire blog. I won a gun at an IDPA State Match that turned into a Glock 34, I bought a Springfield XDM 5.25” with the intention I’d switch to it. Instead, my wife sold her P99, kept the XDM for herself, and I have no intention of switching until at least I earn my “B” class USPSA card. The Glock 34 is in the safe, and if Walther makes a 5” barrel PPQ, with paddle mag release, I’ll be all over it in the spring. For my 40^th Birthday, my wife got me a Walther PPS, something that I wanted eventually for Illinois CCW.  A year ago, I had one handgun, and thought that would be all I’d ever own, need to own, or want to own. Today I have five, and I’m starting to look for a bigger safe, because I know these five will grow. I bought a Dillon 650 so I could reload my own ammo. It turns out everyone was right, you don’t save money doing that, you end up shooting more.

In the past year I got interested in the 2^nd amendment, in firearms, I started to educate myself on facts, and started to form my own opinions. I joined the NRA. I found something that I can so, and share with my wife. I took my 7 year old daughter shooting, and not only did she have fun, she decided she wants to shoot in the Olympics. She wants Santa to bring her a .22 Rifle, if she does not get one for her Birthday first. I’ve taken classes, I’ve gotten involved with the local club, I would always help tear down, paste, but now I go a day ahead of time and I help set-up for a match.

When I went to my first IDPA match, I had no idea what kind of people went and did that. My preconceived notion was that I was going to see a lot of camouflage, and farm equipment hats. I know that’s not exactly flattering, and I’m embarrassed to admit it, but that’s about what I thought. I could not have been more wrong, I met doctor’s, policeman, professionals, construction workers, I met an amazingly good group of people. I can say it today, but it took me 39 years to meet a group of people that I felt totally comfortable with, that I respect, and would give the shirt off my back for. It’s a group of people who have been open, honest, helpful, and have gone way out of their way for me, and my family. They define what it means to be a friend. I’m grateful beyond words to these people.

So here I am, I’ve spent a year toying around, and finally getting serious. I’ve went from painfully horrible (I still watch the video’s) to being alternately painful, horrible, to feeling occasionally good about myself. I’ve got some definitely goals, I am going to be a “B” Class USPSA shooter by the end of March ’14, there is a substantial bet that goes with that. Since I was a journalism major in college who has never used it, I wanted to blog my experience, from now thru March, I want my writing to detail what I’m doing, so I can look back at it. I’d also hope that what I say, or do will inspire someone else to put in the effort to meet their goals, and finally, because I think this is an amazing community. When the media, groups like Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and other gun grabbers try to paint guns and gun owners as unsafe, I wish those of us involved in shooting sports could be held up as a rebuttal. We come from all walks of life, we own weapons, shoot, and do so responsibly. We abide by the laws, and prove that guns are not the problem. Most owners do own responsibly. Okay, I suspect that from time to time as I detail my progress, there will be an occasional entry where I express my feelings, political or not.

If my ramblings do nothing more than chart my progress, so be it, if someone reads and enjoys, then I’ll be glad.

Cheers