USPSA Northwest Section Series Match–Renton

Shot this big “slot” match at the Renton Fish and Game club over the weekend.  The Northwest Series is a "series" of matches run by the Northwest Section to determine who get’s a slot shoot at the Nationals. It’s a point system based on result and participation. There are 6 clubs in the Northwest Section that runs these series matches. You can find out more about the Northwest Section at http://northwestsection.org/

 

It was a looooooooong day. we started shooting around 10:45am and didn’t finish till 5pm. Round count was 228 over 8 stages. There were 87 shooters participating. I came in 2nd Overall, 1st A in Open. Here are the results :

I didn’t think I did very well. I was expecting to run each stage as perfectly as I can, and as you’ll hear/see from my “comments” on the video, I made some silly mistakes. I’m curious to see how well I perform if I didn’t have those mistakes. This is the case of shooters getting placed high in the rankings due to consistency. The saying goes where the 2nd place winner in all the stages typically is the overall match winner.

I had fun, knees hurt though from standing and running shooters as an R.O. for 7 hours.

Three awards for the 1st NWPPA Annual BUG Championships.

Just got this today from the match director. It seems I won three awards at the recent BUG match.

Overall Match Winner:

Top International (for me being Asian I’m sure):

Top CDP (Custom Defensive Pistol for shooting my Kimber CDP 45ACP):

M&P 9 Shield–Extended Safety

The M&P 9 Shield has been very well received. I’ve seen so many people talking and expounding on it’s conceal ability. The only problem I’ve heard is the safety is too small and hard to engage. It’s not as easy to engage like the M&P 9s or 1911 thumb safeties.

Here’s Falia talking about her experience with the gun.

If you don’t like the safety, what options are there? S&W is supposedly going to release a new version that does not have a safety, but here’s a very simple instructional video showing you how to remove the manual safety. Obviously doing so will put you in all kinds of legal hurt if you actually have to use the gun one day, but if you don’t give a damn, it might help.

 

 

The better option of course is for someone like Apex Tactical to manufacture a slightly bigger extended safety lever that’s slightly thicker and longer. If I had some CAD skills I’d totally design it but I don’t. so here’s hoping they’ll make one quick.

Lansky Professional Knife Sharpening System

Saw this at Caleb’s blog a while back and thought it’s about time I sharpened my knives. I have been carrying my Spyderco Delica 4 for a year now, used it on many occasions but never kept it sharpened. Thought I’d bring up all my knives to give them a new edge.

Here’s what’s in the box :

The color handles are actually sharpening stones of different grains. Yellow is the finest stone and the grey stone is for sharpening serrated edges.

Here’s how you pinch/secure the blade :

Then you install the rod to the stone, and choose which angle you’d like to sharpen the blade with. The angle is determined by which hole you insert the rod into :

Top most is 30degrees for razor blades, next is 25 degrees for kitchen knives, then 20degrees for hunting and outdoor knives and last is 15degrees for heavy duty use on cardboard etc.

The way to do it is to start with the coarse stone, and work gradually to the finest stone to smoothen the edge.

After finishing my knives, I switched to sharpening my Kitchen knives.

I would say that the knife sharpening system works really well. I can’t show how sharp the knives get but it’s definitely sharper, and smoother too.

here a cool demo video :

1st Annual NWPPA BUG Championships

Shot the first ever BUG (Back-Up Gun) Championships setup by NWPPA this weekend. It was a really fun event where all shooters must adhere to the BUG rules as stipulated by IDPA in the rule book. The match comprised of 14 short five-round stages. I wish there were longer stages with the ability to reload but were restricted because the current IDPA rules did not have any provision for allowing reloads or stages longer than five-rounds.

I won the match by half a second and took Overall Champion with a score of 69.18 seconds. I shot it with my Kimber CDP Ultra Elite II which falls under the CDP Division as well as being compliant as a BUG gun.

Full results here : http://www.nwppa-idpa.com/2012-06-09.htm

As you can see from the results, there is no provision for the BUG division in the scoring software, so we tried to identify what IDPA division the gun would probably fit in and lump everyone else into ESR-UNC as a catch all for unidentified BUG guns.

Unfortunately we weren’t allow to take video, so I can’t show you guys the match. I hope one day they’ll lift the ban so we can show how much fun some of these matches are and help to grow the sport.

here are some pictures I took :

hang on to buzz with strong hand and engage targets with weak only.

Me and my fun squad. It’s the people that make these matches so good to shoot at.

That’s all I had to lug around with me! As compared to my HUGE CED bag that I carry with me to the other matches. I’m all about shooting light from now on.

Rick, the Match Director kicking off the event.

It has been a while since I’ve shot such a fun match. I hope IDPA HQ and the Tiger Teams would change the BUG Rules to allow reloads and stages longer than 5 rounds so we can shoot stages that are more dynamic.

A Look into my 38 Super Comp USPSA Open Division Gun

Here’s a deep dive / review / look into the USPSA Open Division race gun that I’ve been shooting for a year now. It’s built a decade ago by a local GM. I bought it used from a fellow shooter here in the PNW. Here’s the breakdown :

Caspian Slide
C-More Serendipity
DAA Foldable Jet Wings
KIDD Blast Shield
38 Super Comp Ultimatch bull barrel
SV (Old STyle) Compensator
EGW Extractor, ejector & lockwork
SV Frame with stippled polymer grip
Infinity TriGlide widebody trigger bow
Infinity long flat trigger insert
Infinity round commander hammer
Dawson Magwell
SPS magazine 170mm (w Grams guts & 4mm bolens) 29rnds
SV Magazine 170mm (w Grams guts & 3mm bolens) 29rnds
STI 140mm (w Grams guts & 7mm bolens) 22rnds

 

Hold Fast IWB Holster from Peter’s Custom Holsters

I ordered this holster six months ago almost and it wasn’t after some “chasing”, I managed to get them to deliver it. I’m sure their business is booming and they have a long backlog, but six months is just too long for me.

The quality of the holster is good, except for their belt straps. It feels flimsy and is very soft. I’d prefer if there was something harder. There might be some value to it being soft, time will tell I guess.

The gun fits perfectly and slides in and out very nicely I must add. You can feel the quality construction of the holster.

I got the holster for my M&P 9mm with a Streamlight TLR-1 weapon light. Here it is on my belt :

Holster is a little fat and a little “loose” on my belt, unlike a hybrid holster like a Crossbreed. This one keeps the gun riding a little high up so the grip portion flops around my belt. I would have preferred it to ride a little lower and tighter to my body.

Will update after wearing this for a few weeks.