Whipped Cream Difficulties

…”Perhaps this will refresh your memory.” The District Attorney suddenly thrust a heavy automatic at the quiet figure on the witness stand. “Have you ever seen this before?” Walter Mitty took the gun and examined it expertly. “This is my Webley-Vickers 50.80,” he said calmly. An excited buzz ran around the courtroom. The Judge rapped for order. “You are a crack shot with any sort of firearms, I believe?” said the District Attorney, insinuatingly. “Objection!” shouted Mitty’s attorney. “We have shown that the defendant could not have fired the shot. We have shown that he wore his right arm in a sling on the night of the fourteenth of July.” Walter Mitty raised his hand briefly and the bickering attorneys were stilled. “With any known make of gun,” he said evenly, “I could have killed Gregory Fitzhurst at three hundred feet with my left hand.”
—James Thurber, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”

Back when I was a teenager in the suburbs of Houston and dinosaurs roamed the earth, I would practice “practical shooting” in my back yard. I’d spend a hour a day, two or three days a week, practicing drawing from a holster and trying to hit shotgun shells from 25 feet away. These were the glory days of the Second Chance matches and I figured if I could hit shotgun shells from 25 feet away consistently, I’d have a good chance on bowling pins with a real gun. Especially since I was using a Crossman 454 pistol with a trigger pull like dragging a John Deere through mud. (Not that I’m complaining: that’s what we had at the time. Kids now days don’t know how good they have it.)

I hadn’t met Karl yet, so my ambition was to be as fast as Jeff Cooper. Or as fast as this guy:

(The curly haired guy with the shotgun is Jim Zubiena, actor and IPSC shooter. That’s not visual trickery; the fast draw is for real. And, yes, I was out of high school by the time Miami Vice came on the air. What of it?)

Anyway, stuff happens. I didn’t get my first pistol until November 7, 2000. (I remember that date for a reason.) And I didn’t shoot a formal sanctioned match until this past Saturday.

(I say “formal sanctioned match” because I did shoot in Karl and Penny’s wedding match. But that wasn’t sanctioned by any organization that I’m aware of, other than Karl and Penny.)

I want to improve my shooting skills, including defensive shooting skills, as well as my ability to handle stress. Shooting in matches seems like a good way to do both. (And it’s a family tradition: my Uncle Luther shot PPC matches, and my Uncle Dick shot metallic silhouette.) Joining the Austin Rife Club was part of this plan. Driving out to Manor at 6:30 AM on a Saturday morning was another part.

I have nothing but praise for the Austin Lone Star Practical Pistol Club and the way they ran Saturday’s match (in this case, it was a USPSA match with six stages. Here’s a USPSA promo video that will give you an idea of what the actual shooting looks like.) 95 people signed up to compete on Saturday; the match started pretty much right on time, and I was finished shooting a little before 4:30 PM. (I’d like to note that you don’t need to be a member of either ALSPPC or ARC to shoot a match. All you really need is a gun, ammo, ear and eye protection, a holster, and $20. And if you’re missing one or more of those things, many of the ALSPPC folks are willing to loan equipment.)

I also have nothing but praise for the people who were at the match. I didn’t meet a single person there who wasn’t willing to help out a first time shooter with tips. I didn’t meet a single person there who behaved snobbishly, or acted like a jerk. As long as you’re polite, willing to listen, and willing to help out (with setup, tear down, and resetting targets between stages) ALSPPC is an accepting and welcoming bunch.

(And we got some really nice goodie bags with our $20 fee. Including some good stuff from LaRue Tactical, who you may have heard me talk about. There was also a prize raffle; fortunately, for reasons outlined below, I didn’t win one of the chocolate bunnies.)

“So how did you do?” Well…

• I didn’t hurt anyone else.
• I didn’t hurt myself. (Though, damn, I’m kind of sore and tired today. But it’s the good kind of sore and tired.)
• I had fun, even though I was nervous as heck.
• With 95 people competing, they didn’t have the match results by the time I had to leave. I’ll update this post once I do get them.

“What did you shoot?” My Webley-Vickers 50.80 Glock 35. My newly purchased Glock 35, which I had not even fired up to that point, in a Bianchi Venom strong side belt holster, with a two magazine pouch on the weak side. (Yes, I know firing an unfamiliar weapon is not the optimal way to run a match. I had personal reasons for doing it this way. I also brought my Kimber, spare magazines, and 250 rounds of .45 ACP as a backup if the Glock wouldn’t go bang.)

“How many rounds did you shoot?” 176. I brought two unopened boxes of Parabellum Research .40 S&W, and I have 24 rounds left. (I also had a 100 round pack of .40 S&W hollow-point in reserve, but I didn’t need to break into that.)

“Any mechanical problems?” One of the 15-round magazines for the Glock seemed to have problems feeding the last round. I need to isolate that one; I spent too much time on some of the stages trying to reload after the magazine failure, because the mag wasn’t dropping away cleanly. (This may have had something to do with the way I was holding the gun while reloading, too.) Other than that, I had no failures to fire with the Glock or with the PBR ammo.

Things I need to work on:

• Er, everything?
• Grip.
• Presentation from the holster.
• Muzzle control.
• Smooth trigger pull.
• Reloading.

I’m planning on signing up for Karl’s competition course at the end of May, so we’ll see how much I improve after that.

Things to remember for next time:

• More ammo. 300 rounds is enough to make me feel comfortable.
• More magazines. Four 15-round magazines is probably ideal.
• I need to look for a Glock magazine loading tool. The title of this post is a reference, but is also serious. I’ve got a nice blood blister on my right thumb from a slip while loading. The 15-round mags are especially hard for me to load, but even the one 10-round mag I had gave me some trouble.
• Probably another magazine pouch. I ran the stages with a double pouch Uncle Mike’s, and kept the other two magazines in the 5.11 “Shoot Me First” vest I was wearing. I’m not sure that was the best possible rig, especially since I wasn’t consistent about where I kept the magazines. (And the 5.11 vest, nice though it is, has deep magazine pouches on the strong side. The advice I got, and which makes sense to me, was to keep the magazines on the weak side, reload with the weak hand, and use the strong hand to maintain grip. Plus the Glock magazines tend to slide deep into the vest pouches and take some fumbling to get out.)
• Bring a cooler with ice. And plenty of water.
• Bring sunscreen. We’re into early April, and it was hot out there.
• Bring wet wipes, and probably a towel. Not that I’m complaining, but the bathroom facilities on the line were a chem can.
• Stop for breakfast before passing the I-35/Parmer Lane intersection. Pickings are slim after I-35.
• Bring granola bars or Power Bars or something to munch on.
• I also need to look into purchasing some of the electronic hearing protectors. I’m currently using a passive “Shooter’s Choice” set of muffs, and I sometimes had problems hearing what was going on at or behind the line. Does anyone have any recommendations?

“Would I do it again?” Heck, yes, and I’m planning on it. Money is the only major issue; the PBR ammo is about $36/100 rounds, so I’m spending roughly $100 a match (maybe more, if you factor in gas and ancillary expenses). Doing this every month might be a stretch.

I’ve pretty much given up the idea of being as good as Cooper or Rehn or Zubiena or Jerry Miculik, though. I am doing this to improve my skills, but also because it’s fun, darn it!

(Thanks again to ALSPPC for putting on such a swell match, and being such a good bunch of folks.)

Edited to add: Match results are up. 89th out of 95. I’d link to the results page, but I’m not 100% sure that’s kosher. You can get there by going to the ALSPPC home page, clicking on “Match Results”, and following instructions from there.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 4th, 2010 at 7:45 pm and is filed under Endorsements, Guns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.