Saturday, September 12, 2020
USPSA Action Pistol Match 09/12/2020
Not a great performance for me at this USPSA action pistol match in Lubbock, TX. My first stage went horrible because I was trying to go too fast and I had two misses on a long distance head shot. I also had a no-shoot/miss on the classifier stage at the end of the match (again... trying to go too fast). All of this put me at a 40-point deficit, which is impossible to place well with. I ended up in 12th place overall out of 48 total. From the video, it looks like I did pretty decent on stages 2, 3, and 4, and those all felt good, but the damage was already done on the first stage. 😞
Sunday, August 2, 2020
USPSA Action Pistol Match 08/02/2020
This was an outlaw action pistol match (USPSA scoring on the paper targets) at a brand new local range built by a fellow local shooter. There were a lot of small steel targets at this match, so it took a lot of precise aiming and disciplined trigger control. Most of the paper targets were at least 12 to 15 yards out, so there wasn't any "hosing" at this match. We even had some really awkward shots through various ports in a barricade on a few stages. I ran in the Open division so that I could use my new STI Tac-Lite 4.0 carry gun in my normal concealment setup. The gun ran great, and the match was really fun. I am looking forward to shooting more matches at this new range. I ended up in 4th place Overall (11 total), and I was the only idiot at the match using a carry gun from concealment. 😜
Wednesday, July 8, 2020
STI Tactical Lite 4.0 2011 Handgun
Hey... remember when I was considering buying an STI Tac-Lite 4.0 with a compact VIP grip as a second 2011 carry gun, but ended up buying the Bul SAS2 Ultralight instead? Well... I got tempted into buying a Tac-Lite after seeing it unsold on GunBroker week after week for what seemed like months. It was apparently the LAST brand new Tac-Lite 4.0 in existence for sale. I probably paid too much for it, but I'm so glad I bought it! 😎 I had to sell three competition guns that were no longer being used to help fund the purchase, but it was worth it. I really wanted to buy one of these guns about 5 years ago when they were still in production. I had planned on selling several guns to fund the purchase back then too, but I just couldn't stomach the price tag and gave up on the idea. Now that I've already purchased a few other 2011s and have gotten over the "hump" of paying over $1500 for a handgun, I decided to buy this one and turn it into my "ultimate" carry gun. By the way, I don't regret buying the Bul SAS2 UL at all. I actually like that gun so much that I've placed an order for two more Bul SAS2 handguns that I'll be using for both concealed carry and local shooting matches.
The first thing to do was to buy and install a shorter VIP grip since this would be a carry gun. I haven't seen the VIP grips readily available that weren't already stippled, but STI just happen to have a few brand new ones in stock on their website, so I ordered one the second I won the auction for the gun on GunBroker. After I installed the VIP grip, I was playing around with the tactical magwell that came on the full size grip and realized that it actually fit onto the VIP grip and was held firmly into place solely by the tension against the bottom of the mainspring housing. I really like the look of the tactical magwell on the VIP grip because it looks too "cut off short" without it. The gun prints a little bit more with the magwell installed, but it looks awesome and actually helps with reloading quickly. I also blended the inside of the mag opening in the grip to transition smoothly from the magwell as much as possible and I inserted a small piece of soft rubber hose into the magwell to fill the gap between the magwell and the bottom front lip of the VIP grip.
After putting a couple hundred rounds through the gun to make sure it functioned properly, I sent the slide off to Vulcan Machine Werks to be milled for a red dot sight and I also had them cut a window into the top of the slide to reduce the weight a little and increase the cool factor a little. While the slide was away getting milled, I struggled with whether to stipple the grip or leave it with the classic checkering. I ended up stippling the unused full size grip first to see how it would turn out, and that convinced me to go ahead and do the VIP grip. I also used melted plastic from a sacrificial STI magazine base plate to fill in the faux screw holes at the bottom of the grip to give it a more custom look. I am extremely happy with how everything came together on this gun!
Is this gun the "best" carry gun that I own? Probably not. 😐
Is it the most practical carry gun that I own? No. 😕
Is it the most expensive carry gun that I own? Yep. 😳
Is it the softest shooting carry gun that I own? Yes it is! 😀
Is it the COOLEST carry gun that I own? Absolutely YES! 😁
Tactical Magwell Update...
I've been wanting to acquire and install the updated version of STI's tactical magwell, but unfortunately they have been discontinued and unavailable for a while. I ended up buying a replica version of that magwell that is meant for an airsoft gun, and it fit exactly like the STI magwell. I think it looks better, and there is less bulk at the bottom of the mainspring housing around the back of the grip, so it feels a lot better in my hand when gripping the gun and it also prints less when carrying it concealed.
Sunday, July 5, 2020
IDPA Action Pistol Match 07/05/2020
It's been September of last year since I shot an outdoor IDPA action pistol match, so it was really nice to get back to it. This one went surprisingly well for me other than a few trigger reset issues with my CZ P-09 on the first two stages. I'm not sure what was going on there, but it never came back throughout the rest of the match. After reviewing the video, I honestly don't think I made any mistakes at this match, which is awesome for me as I usually have one or two brain farts at IDPA matches due to all their strict rules. Some of the rules in IDPA can be fairly annoying, but unlike USPSA the scoring puts more emphasis on accuracy rather than speed, so I typically do better at these matches. I had a great time and ended up in 2nd place overall (20 total) and had the least amount of points down at only 3 for the entire match. 👍
Saturday, June 27, 2020
USPSA Action Pistol Match 06/27/2020
Another USPSA action pistol match in Clovis, NM. Ended up in 6th place Overall (26 total) and had the most "A-zone" hits of the match... again. This was a decent performance for my B-class skills... not pretty, not fast, but fairly accurate. 😜 Every time I try to push my overall speed, my accuracy goes to absolute shit, so I just stay focused on trying to be as accurate as I can while maintaining a decent pace. One thing I've noticed from watching some of my recent match videos is that I need to pick up the pace on targets that are 5 yards or closer, as my accuracy shouldn't suffer much at that distance. I can tell in this video that I did indeed pick up the pace on shooting the closer targets, so I'm definitely making small improvements based on what I see in my videos, which is the whole reason why I record my matches. 😊
Saturday, June 13, 2020
USPSA Action Pistol Match 06/13/2020
Another great post-COVID USPSA action pistol match in the books! I decided to use my CZ P-09 with a Trijicon SRO that I normally use for IDPA at this match because I haven't had a chance to shoot it at a match since installing the SRO. For a polymer gun with a trigger that is not as smooth as the Shadow 2, it worked really well for me! I ended up in 6th place Overall (45 total), and had the most "A-zone" hits of the match.
Saturday, May 23, 2020
USPSA Action Pistol Match 05/23/2020
My first USPSA action pistol match since the Coronavirus pandemic! I finally got to shoot my CZ-USA Shadow 2 with a newly installed Trijicon SRO using a new CZ Custom multi-optic plate for the RMR/SRO to replace the Burris Fastfire 3, which I installed onto my old CZ SP-01 with a rear sight dovetail mount for use as a backup match gun. The SRO is such a great optic for competition because it has such a large window and the dot is very bright. I like the SRO so much that I ended up sending a spare CZ P-09 slide off to get milled for an SRO by Jagerwerks for my Urban Gray P-09 that I use for IDPA. The match today was kinda thrown together pretty quickly, so the stages weren't all that complicated, but it was still great to get out and shoot a match again. I ended up in 5th place overall (26 total) and had the most "A-zone" hits of the match.
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