Better And Better

If you don't draw yours, I won't draw mine. A police officer, working in the small town that he lives in, focusing on family and shooting and coffee, and occasionally putting some people in jail.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Fun shooting steel.

Despite my sore back, I accompanied my father over to the Dallas Pistol Club stop-plate match on Sunday.


Stop plate matches are fun for people who like to shoot a lot. The shooter goes to 5 stages, where 5 plates are laid out in different patterens at different distances. At each stage, the shooter fires 5 strings, on the clock. Makeup shots for misses are allowed. Except for learners and those shooting .22s who start with pistol in hand, the shooter starts with a holstered pistol, with hands up above the shoulders. 5 stages with 5 strings at 5 targets means 125 rounds, if you shoot it clean. Nobody shoots it perfectly clean all the time. The only thing that differentiates a "stop plate" match from a simple "plate match" is that the last plate shot is pre-designated by the red stem holding it up. Otherwise, the shooter may shoot the plates in any order he pleases.

.45 acp race guns are very popular, with race holsters that use magnets to retain the pistols in a drop position, well outside of the belt. N frame .357s of 7 and 8 round capacity are also popular, because the brass is easy to pick up.

I shot a Glock 19.

Hey-- why not?

I carried it in a fairly-close-fitting Fobus pancake holster, and shot Winchester white box out of it. The reduced radius of the shorter slide was noticible, but not too bad. I carry a Glock on duty, and figured that the slight handicap of the smaller gun might offset a little the fact that I was shooting a minor caliber.

The only problem with this was that my giant hands kind of overlap some on grip if I'm not very careful, and slide can bite the webbing of my hand a little, when I'm in a hurry.
Dad shot with his old post WWII '40s era Colt 1911, and practiced "slow is smooth and smooth is fast." Here we see him in mid-draw:

Dad's old pistol did let us know that it was time to replace the old recoil spring, though, when it failed a few times to completely go back into battery. An easy and cheap fix, and it gave Dad the opportunity to practice his failure drill. :)

All in all, we had a grand time.

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5 Comments:

At Monday, May 19, 2008 5:24:00 PM, Blogger Assrot said...

Looks like a lot of fun Matt. It's great to spend time with Dad heh?

I went shooting with my Dad this weekend also. We just shot a few rounds of skeet, trap and 5 station.

We also went to the pistol range and tried out some new to us (but very old pistols and revolvers).

It was a lot of fun. I hope you enjoy shooting with Dad as much as I do.

We both have those big hands and get that "slide bite" now and then. My Dad has an old pre-WWII 1911 US Army Issue .45. I love that gun. I think it shoots better than anything they make these days. Dad keeps reminding me that I will inherit it someday.

Somehow, I don't see much pleasure in that. I'll finally have my favorite gun but my Dad won't be there to shoot with me. I know he doesn't have many years left so I spend all the time I can with him. I hope you do the same and enjoy every minute of it.

Molon Labe,
Joe

 
At Monday, May 19, 2008 6:48:00 PM, Blogger Old NFO said...

FUN!!!! sigh... Our favorite range has closed down thanks to injits shooting tracers that set the place on fire. I found out the other day they probably are not going to reopen, so it's an hour drive to anyplace to shoot now.

 
At Wednesday, May 21, 2008 4:56:00 AM, Blogger John B said...

I've found out the hard way that though the end of the gun that barks is significant, It does have some nasty teeth in the back too. It just about puts me off of Glocks and any of the "Saturday Night Special" variety of weapons although I've had positive experience with the Hi Standard .45. Matt my friend, you are a better man than I. If I was required to carry one of those Glocks, I'd smile and tell them it would either be the Browning Hi Power, or they could continue the struggle without my contribution. I love the Winchester white box for practice. Miss those wal-mart prices of $7-8.00 from a few years back. If I'd known, I'd have got me a few thousand more. I guess Dad and I might grab an annual range membership. Right now he's doing better than I. We have back pain in common. PT guys say they'll have me bicycling 30 miles a day, within three weeks or so...

 
At Thursday, May 22, 2008 9:04:00 PM, Blogger KD5NRH said...

Y'know, a complete Wolff spring kit for a 1911 costs about the same as a box of practice ammo now. I'm thinking about putting mine on an every-other-year schedule just because...even though the set I replaced last year had almost certainly been in it since 1953 with no problems other than the ejection being inconsistent. (it almost always got them out, but they went random directions and distances - now they pile up nicely)

 
At Sunday, May 25, 2008 10:16:00 AM, Blogger Xavier said...

Glock bite......Who woulda thunk it!

Tell Pop he's smokin'.......He's making the 1911 guys proud!

 

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