Wouter's Blog

Took the Garand, the Auto-5, the Browning Semi-auto 22, the Norinco JW-21, the Freedom Arms 454, and four Spanish pistols to the range, along with two pups of the female persuasion.

The Freedom Arms has a new front sight blade, it was terribly high with the old blade, now it looks like I can come up a few clicks at 50m, so that’s all good. That’s why I went, to check the difference the new front sight made. The rest was just fun.

Practicing for the shotty, which kicks a bit more than a 22.

Norinco 22 levergun — copy of the Winchester 9422 — fun little gun, as is the Browning.

Three diminutive 1911 rip-offs. Star in 9mmK, Llamas in 32 ACP and 22LR. The 22 is straight blow-back, the other two are toggle-link.

Star Model B. Almost a full-size 1911 rip-off.

Fun was had.

My Dedicated Hunter certificate came today. To get this, I actually had to study — there’s a test on animals and habitats and ethics and all kinds of stuff, there’s also a shooting test (Impala target at 100m sitting, 200m prone, 50m standing, three shots at each distance).

I am now a Dedicated Hunter, Dedicated Collector and Dedicated Sport Shooter in terms of the Firearms Control Act.

Now I can apply for the 300 Winchester Magnum Howa 1500 I bought a few months ago.

The SADPA postal shoot consists of four stages, shot by local IDPA shooters, to get an idea of where you rank. You can shoot multiple times, but only the first score you submit counts — which leads to some people shooting and then tearing up their score sheet because of completely missing the 15m target. But Richard Dews is a rather large fellow so we don’t argue with him.

Anyway, I shot it on Saturday at FBGC and I sucked. But maybe less so than last week. This time I shot both the revolver (SSR) and my 1911 (CDP).

Modified Bill Drill (Stage 1). Three targets at 5, 10 and 15m. Six shots at each target. Boring :-) Except I completely stuffed up the 15m SSR stage and got 22! points down. SSR raw time 19.35, CDP raw time 21.84 with 8 points down.

Standards #708 (Stage 2). This was a fun one. Six targets from 4m to 25m, with no-shoots in front of the front two targets. I really thought I was going to plug the no-shoots but I managed not to. And I even hit the 25m target a few times. SSR 36.91, 10 points down, CDP 35.83, 12 points down. Both revolver and pistol required two reloads — I’m only marginally slower with the speed loaders, but that’s just because I’m way too slow with magazine changes.

Seated (Stage 3). Four targets, all 5m away. One no-shoot. Tactical sequence, which means one shot to each target and then empty the magazine at them. 12 shots, that’s one reload for the revolver as well as for the pistol (7 round magazine, so I started with 8 shots in the gun). SSR 18.03 and one point down, CDP 18.89 and 4 points down. Gotta work on those magazine changes.

Quick Standards (Stage 4). This one was… weird. Seven shots at 3m… and yes, you can miss at 3m, but only if your brain comes undone, like mine (of course) did. Note to self, seat the bloody magazine properly. I can’t think of any real-world scenario where I would draw with my strong hand and then transition to weak hand only — but then, IDPA is a game. SSR 6.49 no points down, CDP 6.89 and two points down.

I figure that when the nationwide results get published I should probably look for my name on the last page or two…

The IDPA postal shoot consists of four stages (this year, at least) which are shot by IDPA members all over the world, as standardised as possible, and then collated to give you an idea of how much you suck compared to… well… the world.

We shot it today at FBGC. And I sucked*.

In the order we shot it in:

Bike Crash (Stage 3). Lying on your weak side, with the firearm on the ground in front of you, and three targets mounted horizontally to simulate dogs, 7 – 14m away. My grouping was excellent. My aim, notsomuch.

2-0, 2-2, 2-2 (means two shots on target, in the zero zone on the first target and in the -1 zone on targets two and three, for two points down on targets two and three), raw time 6.95.

Bucket Brigade (Stage 2). Starting with a bucket in your weak hand, two targets on the move strong hand only, then two targets (with a no-shoot (hostage)) 7m away through a gap, then two more targets around a corner, 8 1/2m away, with another no-shoot.

2-2, 1-5, 2-0, 2-0, 2-0, 2-1, raw time 21.34. Pretty good, except for the one handed on the move with bucket in hand first two (two shots in the -1 zone on first target, only one shot on the second target).

Dinner Interruptus (Stage 4). Start sitting down, both hands on table. Four targets, two 10m away, two 21m away. The bottom half of the front two targets is blocked out, so a shot there is a miss. And the two back targets flank a no-shoot.

3-2, 2-6, 3-7, 3-5, and a hit on a non-threat. Ouch. I need to practice my shoot-sitting-down a bit. Raw time 22.46.

“Cup” Standards (Stage 1). For this one you don’t need concealment, but hey, who cares. Three targets 10m away, two of them flanking the inevitable no-shoot. Two shots each, then another six shots strong hand, then another six shots weak hand. With a revolver**, this needs two reloads. All timed as one string.

6-0, 6-0, 6-0. Damn I’m hot. Except that I also plugged the non-threat. Twice. So if you know I’m around, try not to get taken hostage ‘cos I’ll prolly end up taking you out as well. Raw time 33.47, I also need to practice my reloads.

Next week we’re doing the SADPA postal. Looks like it might be even more fun.

* I suck a whole lot less than I used to, and a whole lot more than I will in future, but I suck.

** Taurus Model 66 (357 Magnum) stainless, 3″ barrel, shooting 38 Special SWC reloads (158 gr at about 920 fps).

Edit, 2013-01-14: I’m #11 out of 38 SSR MM-level shooters.