New Holster for Multiple Guns

I recently made a new holster that indexes on a Streamlight TLR-1 light rather than the gun itself so that it works with multiple guns. The holster is an open muzzle design, so it will also accommodate comps or full-size guns. I love how quickly and easily I can move the TLR-1 from gun to gun without tools and still use the same holster. The additional length of the TLR-1 is a little uncomfortable AIWB, but I'm getting used to it.

I also acquired new optic-ready top ends for my basic CZ P-07 and my Gen4 Glock 19 FS with Burris Fastfire 3 red dot sights, and green fiber optic front sights (my usual competition setup). The top end for the P-07 was one that I previously sold but ended up getting back.  The top-end for the Glock 19 is a factory Gen 4 MOS complete upper. I really like that I can easily convert these two guns back to stock configuration with iron sights if I ever need to. Now I'm up to 6 polymer framed carry guns with red dot sights! 😜

DIY Titanium Anodizing

While I don't post much of my knife addiction on this blog, I thought I would share some of the cool stuff I've been doing lately with anodizing titanium at home for several of my favorite pocket knives.  After watching what seemed like millions of YouTube videos on the subject, I finally decided to give it a go.  I'm pretty happy with the results! 😎

IDPA Action Pistol Match 10/24/2018

I reached a new milestone as I shot every stage of tonight's indoor IDPA action pistol match clean using my carry gun and off the shelf ammo (T-shirt concealment from AIWB). To my surprise, I also took 1st place Overall as well. I can't wipe this stupid grin off my face! 😁

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDjX-MVAXbs

Outlaw 3-Gun Match 10/21/2018

Yet ANOTHER Outlaw 3-Gun match.  It seems as if I've only been attending 3-Gun matches lately, but other than a few indoor IDPA matches that I didn't record, I haven't attended any IDPA or USPSA matches over that last couple of months due to weather cancellations or scheduling conflicts.  Ah well... shooting is shooting, so I'm not gonna bitch. 😜  The stages at this particular match were all very similar with just a few changes for each stage. It was a little repetitive, but it made for an efficiently run match that actually saved us enough time to run a 5th stage and it was also great practice.  I got several opportunities to do some shotgun reloads as well as match saver reloads.  I'm still not that great at either, but it was good to be faced with them at this match. Despite my shotgun reload challenges, I ended up in 2nd place Overall. 😖

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOHSEPeZPXs

Outlaw 3-Gun Match 09/23/2018

This 3-gun match was rifle and pistol only, and most of it was long distance shots out to 400 yards with the rifle and out to 75 yards with the pistol.  Not much movement either.  There were only four of us that showed up, so it was pretty much just a practice day to see what I could do for longer distances.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbKuLZW8bKs

Outlaw 3-Gun Match 09/16/2018

Not that great of a performance at this Outlaw 3-Gun match near Dawn, TX. I had a few issues with my shotgun not feeding the last round, and I wasn't as accurate with the pistol as I would've liked.  Still a lot of fun though!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RobvX-hX4U

Outlaw 3-Gun Match 08/26/2018

I came in 2nd place overall at this 3-Gun match, which helped ease the pain from my less than normal result from the USPSA match on the previous day.  We had a shotgun heavy stage at this match, and I was really happy that my Franchi Infinity shotgun performed without any issues at all.  I'm still a little slow with my shotgun reloads since I only load three shells at a time (inserting them one-at-a-time), but I'm comfortable with that method for now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsxVOnzcLqs

USPSA Action Pistol Match 08/25/2018

I don't know if I was just trying to go too fast, or if I just wasn't in the zone at this USPSA action pistol match, but I didn't place as good as I normally do (8th overall out of 15 total).  After reviewing the results, it appears my accuracy level suffered from where it normally is.  This is most likely from trying to go faster.  It's very difficult for me to push my speed without directly affecting accuracy, so I really need to just concentrate on being as accurate as I can. Ah well, whether I place 1st or halfway in the pack, I still have fun shooting. 😎

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W3gw_vCtyw

CZ-USA Shadow 2 with Burris Fastfire 3 optic

IDPA Action Pistol Match 08/22/2018

Another 1st place finish Overall at an indoor IDPA action pistol match using my CZ P-07 with a Trijicon RMR in the Carry Optics division.  The video makes me look slow, but I make sure all my hits are solid.  I was only 5 points down for the entire 5-stage match. 😎

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RocYgvHC6aM

Handguns with Red Dot Sights

Well, I'm up to four carry guns with red dot sights now. 😎 This most recent home-built Polymer80 Glock 19 was just begging for a red dot. I was able to find a brand new Trijicon RM01 Type 1 for it fairly cheap, and had the same local guy that milled the windows in the slide do the milling for the RMR.  These four guns are my most frequently carried handguns these days, so I thought it made sense to have red dots on them all.  While I do have some other carry guns (compact metal framed CZs and 1911s), I don't carry them nearly as often so I'm not going to go through the effort of putting red dots on those.  I'm not sure why, but I really do prefer polymer framed handguns for concealed carry.

Outlaw 3-Gun Match 07/14/2018

This was my very first 3-Gun night match.  I didn't have a way to mount a light on my Franchi semi-auto shotgun, so I used my 20-year old Mossberg 500 pump-action shotgun that has a small 3-position rail mounted on the magazine tube.  It was clumsy to use and slow to reload compared to my semi-auto, and I even had some user induced malfunctions as well.  I was also using my CZ Scorpion 9mm Carbine as my rifle since all of the targets were within 50 yards.  I ended up in 3rd place Overall out of  10 total despite the troubles with the shotgun.  The light on my CZ P-09 handgun is a Streamlight TLR-1s (non-HL version), which was a perfectly acceptable amount of light for the pistol and shotgun target distances. The lights on the rifle and shotgun were both Streamlight TLR-3.  I was afraid the TLR-3 wouldn't have enough output to be usable, but they worked out okay.  I would've preferred more light output for the farther rifle targets, so for any future night matches I'll be using a TLR-1 HL on the rifle (brighter for longer distances) and another TLR-1s on my semi-auto shotgun with a good mount.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DeThZZtF_o

IDPA Action Pistol Match 07/07/2018

I wasn't too happy with my performance at this IDPA action pistol match, as I received one procedural penalty on a stage for having my foot across a fault line and I also had one light strike which took a second or two to realize and push through.  I still had a lot of fun, and ended up in 4th place Overall out of 19 total.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PX7ih_35Wc

CZ-USA CZ P-09 with Burris Fastfire 3 optic

CZ-USA CZ P-07 Handguns with Trijicon RMR Update

I was so pleased with the Trijicon RMR on my black P-07 that I decided to move that slide back to it's original Urban Gray frame (I sold the Gen1 slide with a Burris Fastfire 3), and have the other slide milled for another RMR by Jagerwerks.  I opted to have a window milled into the top of this slide, and I went back with Tungsten Cerakote again.  I wasn't able to source a factory suppressor height tritium front sight for this slide, so I went with a Dawson Precision 0.370" tall fiber optic front (w/green fiber rod) and a blacked out 0.395" Glock MOS rear sight.  I typically prefer tritium sights on my carry guns, but since these are just backup sights, I'm okay with them being non-tritium. I'm very happy with the way these two guns turned out! 😍😎

 

USPSA Action Pistol Match 06/23/2018

Another USPSA match in the Carry Optics division with my CZ-USA Shadow 2. I was trying to push my speed a little again at this match, and ended up in 3rd place Overall out of 16 total and still managed to be the most accurate shooter of the day! 😏 Definitely a decent performance overall despite forgetting to perform a reload and running past a shooting position briefly on stage 4. 😆

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tET7hSL7jmY

CZ-USA Shadow 2 with Burris Fastfire 3 optic

IDPA Action Pistol Match 06/13/2018

I haven't recorded an indoor IDPA action pistol match in a while, so I thought I'd throw one out there.  I was using my CZ-USA P-07 Urban Gray with a Trijicon RMR for this match (one of my actual carry guns), and did really well with it other than screwing up on the second stage where I shot half of the stage with 3 rounds on each target before realizing that I was a dumbass. 😜  I still placed 2nd out of 8 total, so I was happy. 😊

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48Z4ajUrA2M

IDPA Action Pistol Match 06/02/2018

I normally use my optic equipped CZ-USA P-09 at these outdoor IDPA action pistol matches, but I wanted to use my P-07 that I recently installed a Trijicon RMR on to make sure everything was working good with the gun.  Since changing to a higher support hand grip technique recently, I've had an issue with the slide not locking back on an empty mag, so I shortened the slide stop lever 5mm so that my gorilla-sized hands won't affect it. 😜 I'm happy to report that shortening the lever resolved the issue, as the slide locked back every time at this match.  The Trijicon RMR worked very well for me on my P-07. I'm really impressed with the accuracy potential that a red dot gives me.  I ended up in 2nd place Overall out of 14 total, and I was the most accurate shooter of the day with only 4 points down for the entire match. All hail the red dot! 😎

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GV_xPFqhxvM

CZ-USA P-07 with Trijicon RMR optic

Shortened Slide Stop Lever (top)

USPSA Action Pistol Match 05/26/2018

My second time using the CZ-USA Shadow 2 in the Carry Optics division of USPSA.  My performance at this match was decent, but my accuracy was down a little bit from what it usually is, because I was trying to go just a little faster even though it doesn't really seem that way in the video. 😜  I ended up in 5th place Overall out of 15 total, behind two Grand Masters, a Master, and an Open  division shooter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBT0ui44VPU

CZ-USA Shadow 2 with Burris Fastfire 3 optic

CZ-USA CZ P-07 with Trijicon RMR

As I mentioned in a previous post, I decided to install a Trijicon RMR on my favorite and most frequently carried handgun, the CZ-USA CZ P-07.  I've completely embraced the use of red dot sights on handguns, and I feel like the Trijicon RMR is the best optic choice for every day carry due to it's renown durability and improved reliability with the newer Type 2 version.  I've got a Burris Fastfire 3 installed on my Ubran Gray P-07, but I don't carry that gun as often as this one due to the extended threaded barrel and longer weapon mounted light which makes it a little uncomfortable when carried in the appendix position.  I sent the slide that originally came with the Urban Gray off to Jagerwerks to have it milled for the RMR and a Glock rear sight dovetail behind the optic.  I'm using the factory suppressor ready 0.355" tall front sight that came with the Urban Gray along with a Dawson Precision 0.395" tall Glock MOS tritium rear sight, which is the same height as the factory suppressor ready rear sight.  This gives me a great co-witness without blocking too much of the RMR's small viewing window.

Outlaw 3-Gun Match 05/20/2018

I have been attending a lot of 3-Gun matches lately, and I am definitely enjoying it! 😁  A couple of small issues at this match, but overall I was happy with my performance.  I ended up in 2nd place Overall out of 8 total.  We had some long distance shots for shotgun with a slug (I missed that target), as well as a long distance shot with pistol (a little over 100 yards) which made me happy that I chose to use an optic on my pistol.  We also had a difficult left hand lean around a wall to engage several shotgun targets, and a strong-side/weak-side rifle engagement.  Definitely a match full of challenges. 😉

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8oCdDtH3Nw

Outlaw 3-Gun Match 05/12/2018

This Outlaw 3-Gun match had a little bit of a twist... we were required to use actual concealed carry guns with only one extra mag (30 rounds total on the body), and we were limited to 30 rounds for the rifle and  only 7 rounds for the shotgun on each stage (i.e. - no reloading).  I decided to use my Glock 19 based Polymer80 build with a Trijicon RMR, because I wanted to see if picking up the dot with an RMR was as easy as it is with the Burris Fastfire III that I use on my optic-equipped competition guns.  I'm going to be installing an RMR onto an extra CZ-USA P-07 slide and will use the RMR/P-07 combo extensively for every day concealed carry usage, so this was a great test to make sure the smaller RMR was still a good option.  While I am still pretty slow with my 3-Gun performance, I am getting a little bit better and ended up in 3rd place Overall out of 11 total.  Definite improvement. 😀

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6IZIGwlWLs

IDPA Action Pistol Match 05/06/2018

Due to the high temps today, I decided to use one of my actual carry guns with T-shirt concealment at this IDPA action pistol match. Unfortunately, my reloaded competition ammo that I was using at this match was loaded slightly too long for my optic equipped CZ-USA P-07 Urban Gray and I ended up with a failure to eject on the first stage which took some time to clear. At the end of each stage, the chambered rounds were getting stuck in the gun during the "unload and show clear" procedure. My new grip technique is apparently keeping the slide from locking back on an empty mag, so I wasted time on the clock wondering if my gun was actually loaded or empty. 😒 I also lost the front sight off of the gun on the third stage, but I didn't even notice it was missing until after the match was over. 😕 I still ended up in 3rd place out of 13 total overall, but I felt like it could've definitely gone better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv1WX5Xqv8s

CZ-USA P-07 Urban Gray with Burris Fastfire 3

Outlaw 3-Gun Match 04/29/2018

My performance was a little better at this Outlaw 3-Gun match (placed 4th out of 10 overall), but I am finding it difficult to hit small steel targets with my rifle at distances past 75 yards off hand.  It is simply a skill limitation that I am having difficulty overcoming, so I'm going to go down on one knee to stabilize myself for those longer shots going forward. I went down to one knee on the beginning of the second stage and wasted much less time and ammo engaging the long distance targets than I would have if I had just stayed standing up. That second stage also had three shooting positions that were very far apart and made for a long run each time. I am happy that my shotgun ran good though!  My next 3-Gun match will be at a smaller venue, so there won't be any long distance shots.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL1ajJaSea8

USPSA Action Pistol Match 04/28/2018

I was really excited to run my new CZ-USA Shadow 2 in USPSA's Carry Optics division for the first time.  This gun is absolutely the best competition handgun that I have ever owned.  The double action trigger pull is very smooth, the weight of the gun is great for recoil mitigation, and the ergonomics are perfect for me.  Adding an optic to the gun makes it even more fun, as I absolutely love the Carry Optics division.  I had a lot of new things going on at this match... a new grip technique that I've been practicing in dry fire, new Boombah Hellcat shoes to replace my worn out Salomons, new mag pouches in the bullets out configuration, and obviously a new gun.  Other than a stupid little brain fart on the second stage, I was happy with my performance. The last stage was a strong-hand/weak-hand classifier stage, which I usually have problems with because I don't live fire practice that at all anymore (I know... I should). However, I did fairly good on that particular stage (placed 3rd).  As usual, my focus for the match was more about accuracy than speed, but I still managed to place 5th out of 14 overall behind four Master or Grand Master shooters.  I am finding it difficult to put more priority on speed over accuracy at these once a month USPSA matches, because I shoot three IDPA matches each month and there is way more priority on accuracy in IDPA.  Oh well, there's nothing wrong with being the most accurate shooter at a match. 😛

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5wigGEhD84

CZ-USA CZ Shadow 2 with Burris Fastfire 3 optic

Adjusting My Handgun Grip Technique

I've been working on adjusting my grip lately in my dry fire sessions so that it is more consistent across all of the different platforms that I carry regularly and compete with (CZs, 1911s, and Glocks).  A few months ago, I started placing the index finger of my support hand on the front of the trigger guard. This is not a common technique, but my hands are so big that when I grip a 1911 my index finger naturally goes in front of the smaller trigger guard anyway. This technique actually allows my support hand to get higher up on the gun. I'm now trying to keep my support hand thumb off of the frame of the gun. While dry firing with several different guns back to back, I realized that the placement of my support hand thumb on the side of the frame was in a different spot depending on the gun I was holding, and it would actually touch the slide on my 1911s, which could potentially cause a malfunction. Keeping my thumb off the side of the frame eliminates any left-to-right pressure that may inadvertently affect accuracy, and it allows me to put more pressure on the side of the gun's grip with the palm of my support hand, which is a good thing. I just need to keep practicing this in dry fire so that it becomes subconscious muscle memory rather than a deliberate effort. 😜

IDPA Action Pistol Match 04/07/2018

I'm definitely not happy with my performance at this IDPA action pistol match.  It was very cold outside for the first 2 stages, so my hands weren't really cooperating with me.  I even dropped a mag during a tactical reload. Then after it warmed up, we had a stage with two 40 yard targets.  I had three misses on those two targets and my one hit was barely there.  I think my shots were hitting high at that distance, so I need to take the time to go see where all my current competition pistols hit at 50 yards.  The last two stages went well (I even won the last stage!), but my poor performance on the first two stages put me at 4th overall out of 11 total. 😕

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceRbaIUfDFo

CZ-USA CZ P-09 Urban Gray

CZ-USA CZ Shadow 2 Handgun Update

In February, I sent the slide of my CZ-USA CZ Shadow 2 to CZ Custom to have it milled for an optic, and I just got it back today which was much faster than I expected.  I also had them do some extra milling to the slide to lighten it up a little more, so that it would make the weight restriction of 45 ounces for the USPSA Carry Optics division rules.  To keep the gun under the weight limit, I'm using a Burris Fastfire 3 optic, thin G-10 grips from LOK Grips, Mecgar +2 magazine base pads, and special springs/followers from CZ Custom that give me 21 rounds in each magazine (reloadable with a closed slide).  I am VERY excited to run this gun in USPSA! 😎  My optic-equipped CZ P-09 will now be my dedicated IDPA Carry Optics gun.

I've also installed a 0.275" tall Dawson Precision front sight on my CZ Shadow 2. The front sight psuedo co-witnesses with the vertical white line on the back of the Burris Fastfire III optic as shown in the photo below on the left. This can effectively be used as a backup sight system out to 10-15 yards if the red dot ever fails for whatever reason. The photo on the right shows what it typically looks like when I'm shooting at targets. The front sight is also used as a reference point to help me find the dot much quicker when I bring the gun up during my draw or when the dot is not visible due to an awkward shooting position (prone, weak hand, etc.). I normally like a red fiber optic rod in my competition sights, but I am went with green in this one, because I want it to contrast with the red dot of the optic.