Hatcam POV Videos from latest USPSA match in Renton

Went for my first USPSA match this weekend at the Renton Fish & Game Club. I picked to shoot in the Limited class because I didn’t have enough mags for Production and I was shooting .40 S&W. I like this format of shooting, it’s fast, you shoot a lot more and there aren’t that many rules that you have to remember.

I was shooting an XDm .40S&W, with Dawson fiber front sights, Warren Tactical rears, Pistolgear magwell, PRP trigger kit & extended mag release. CR Speed belt, CR Speed double mag pouches & Bladetech Tek-Lok holster. Ears were Peltor S6, eyes E-Rudy Rydons and a Contour HD hatcam. TOO MUCH GEAR!!

here are all the videos from the 7 stages we shot :

 

 

 

 

thanks to RickB & EmanP for being our safety officers.

Dillon Mitch Rosen Mag/Light Pouch

After getting some tips from our forum members about getting a concealed mag pouch that let’s me carry one 1911 single stack magazine and a Surefire 6P light, I ordered one called the SOS-DL One Magazine One Tactical Light Pouch from Dillon Precision. (never knew they sold anything other than reloaders).

Here’s how it looks like carrying a CMC PowerMag+ and a Surefire 6P Defender light :

Wore this on my belt at 8:00 :

 

 

feels really good and the leather is tough and hard. I had to insert the light and mag in and out a few times to break it in.

New Warren Tactical Rear sights for my XDm

Just got this in and went ahead to swap out the stock XDm sights with the new all black and very popular Warren Tactical Sevigny rear sights.

The stock rear sights is really hard to remove. I had to use my heavy duty brass punch to knock it out of place. After 5 minutes of tapping and banging, a clear dove tail 🙂

Knock the new sights in place with a non-marring polymer punch and glue it down with a little Red Thread Locker.

and finally, after carefully aligning the sights. Great sight picture eh?

 

can’t wait to give it a spin this weekend at the Renton USPSA match.

Nice Draw

After tooling around with my Kholster with a scissors and some leather conditioner, I made the leather a lot smoother and curves in the right places. The Crossbreed Supertuck is much better, obviously more expensive, but you don’t have to mess around with it. The original Kholster came as a full circle which is REALLY ugly and huge.  Like this :

Here’s how it looks like worn, I love these IWB format holsters, very comfortable :

I’ve also cut the top part of the Kholster to allow me to find the right spot to grip my gun when drawing. here’s how I do it, notice the rounded top:

That’s where I’ll place my thumb to get the right position :

Then Draw, and thumb is just in place to engage the safety :

This way, my draw is more consistent.

Sight Mods

This evening I did two sight modifications and one step to complete my sight installation on my Kimber.

First I blackened the rear sight dots on my XDm because the two white dots are distracting me from focusing on the front sight. So I took my Citadel Chaos Black acrylic paint and filled in the dots. Easy peasy.

Next, to complete my Kimber sight installation, I had to use Red Thread Locker and secure both the front and rear sights :

Applied it liberally on the base of the front and rear sight, wait a few minutes for it to seep in and wipe it off with cue tips :

Next, because there were reports of the TruGlo Tritium tubes coming off during heavy use, the recommendation was the secure it with some epoxy. I didn’t use epoxy but used a medium called Stik’n Seal Ultra from Loctite. which dries totally clear.

Also, Stik’n Seal Ultra is Extreme-condition medium that is impact resistant and heat resistant. Normal epoxy is rated at -10°F to 95°F while Stik’n Seal is rated at -58°F to 248°F. I figured since the sight is that close to the front end of the barrel it would heat up pretty quickly.

Application is easy but getting a smooth top is a little hard. here’s the front sight before and after :

 

 

You can see the how the Stik’N Seal look when it fills up the gap. next is the before and after for the rear sights :

 

and here’s how it looks filled with clear medium. Looks great!

So all done, leave it for 24hours and see how it looks like tomorrow.

My Ammo choice for Personal Protection

checkout some of the stats they published online : http://georgiapacking.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=25505

 

From Winchester’s Law Enforcement site :

and a caliber comparison using the same brand of ammo :

and here’s a in-depth article about choosing self defense ammo : http://ammo.ar15.com/project/Self_Defense_Ammo_FAQ/index.htm#9mm

 

what do you carry?

My first ever Sight Change

I bought a TruGlo Tritium sight (Green front, yellow rear) from ebay  for my Kimber a few weeks ago and was contemplating if I should try to change the sights myself or send it to a gunsmith to have it installed.

I called around a few places and most of them charged anywhere from 60-100 dollars to do it with a 7-10 week wait! These guys make a ton of money if they have so much work, either that or they need to train more apprentices.

Anyway, I decided to do it on my own to save the time and money. So I ordered a Hammer and Punch set and borrowed a portable vise from a buddy of mine, David and got to work. I followed the instructions on this really concise and clear video by a gunsmith who works for XS Sights :

here’s my vise and slide :

Knocked the sights from left to right with the brass punch and hammer, was a little tight but a few good knocks will unseat it. Just make sure your brass punch doesn’t scratch your slide.

Then installed the new front sight by filing down the dovetail until it slides into place about halfway then knocking it in with a non-marring polymer punch.

To remove the rear sight, I had to first unscrew the locking screw and then using a brass punch, knock the sight out. The rear sight was much easier, removing the screw was hard because it was glued in place using a thread locker.

Also, watch out for a spring that is underneath the rear sight, this holds something in place (I don’t know what that part is called), here’s the hole where the spring sits :

 

and the spring, I found this on my carpet by accidentally stepping on it, and I went, WTF is that? where did it come from? then I found a thread on the 1911 forums that explained it all :

all done! :

 

Now all I need to do is to wait for my thread locker to arrive and glue the sights into place. I also heard that you need to use some epoxy to secure the fiber tubes in place as there have been numerous reports that these sights come off while shooting.

Let’s go plinking!

Who’s up for it? 🙂

VZ Gator Grips & Ed Brown Magwell & MSH

Just got back from San Francisco for a business trip and found these two on my doorstep today. I bought the VZ Gator Back 2 Bottom Grips Black Canvas from John VanZyck of VZ Grips :

and ordered a used Ed Brown Maxi-Welll & Flat Mainspring Housing (MSH) combo from a forum member. Great condition, looks something like this :

Installation is surprisingly simple.  here’s a video of me installing both of them :

 

here’s the result, pretty isn’t it? 🙂