#USPSA

Is clearing dueling trees easy as shooting the breeze?  Do the Texas Star, Whirly Gig, or drop turn targets seem a minor feat to you?  Perhaps you need a target that takes it to the next level in challenging your skills.  The Irish Plate Rack can certainly provide that challenge.

My friend was at a USPSA match last Sunday when the worst case scenario happened. Someone got shot. From what I hear, the match has concrete dividers for the bays. Supposedly a projectile managed to go inbetween a crack between the concrete blocks used as dividers. A shooter was down range in one bay, pasting targets, while another shooter in the bay next door was shooting his stage.

Somewhat similar to Polenar Tactical’s Sh!t You See On The Range, SuperSetCA made a video lampooning seven stereotypical shooters one would see at a pistol match like USPSA.

In the photo above, you can see the 9mm Tavor laying down next to a Sig Sauer MPX SBR. My friend Matt B. and I went to the range last Friday. The MPX is his. I tried his MPX and the 9mm Tavor on a five target steel plate rack. There was no clear winner. Neither gun was any faster than the other. Next up is to test it in a course of fire like those in USPSA.

I have been to a few USPSA matches and it surprises me that many people struggle with a Texas Star. I started shooting in NY and was forged in fire at the local shooting club USPSA matches. The match director usually had a Texas Star on one of his stages. Shooting a Texas Star is only frustrating when you don’t know how to do it properly. Watch any competent shooter and study how they shoot the star. Here Annette Evans walks you through how to shoot a Texas Star. It is fairly easy.

I am a fan of competitive shooting so I found this interesting. In a normal sanctioned match, the RO would have stopped the shooter for losing his hearing protection. However this is a special match for Special Forces they are not concerned about hearing protection. More interesting is the course of fire. The shooter’s hands are handcuffed together and submerged in ice water. This is commonly referred to as the cold pressor test. The Mythbusters used this to scientifically apply pain to their volunteers. Suffice to say, it is an interesting challenge in a shooting match. I have heard of other challenges. Like at a West Point Two-gun match, shooters must carry two 5 gallon jerry cans filled with water. carry them back and forth along the course of fire, something like 50 yards, before picking up a gun and shooting it.  I am not sure what the tactical ninja roll was for, probably just for fun rather than waste time running around the bench. I am rather impressed with the manipulation and reloads while handcuffed. There is a little bit of blood shown where the handcuffs cut into the shooter’s wrists.

This is how you run and gun with a M1 Garand USPSA style. John Z has been using his M1 Garand at the Sir Walter Gun Club for a couple years. Watch him run through these stages engaging targets and reloading his M1 on the run. Looks like fun and some good training for a classic weapon.

Magpul will be releasing longer Glock mags geared for competition use. As a USPSA shooter, I have wondered why companies do not make their third party Glock mags for competition use. Well Magpul has addressed that.

Last year I started to use optics on handguns more frequently. In fact the only time I did not use a pistol with an optic was for the FNH USA 3Gun Championship match where I used my factory Glock 41 in Heavy Optics division. But over the course of a year I have been using some form of pistol with an optic on it.

David Starr has some fun shooting a USPSA match with a 500 S&W and a .50ae Desert Eagle. His reloads are decent. I am curious how he did shooting the 500 S&W. The recoil and muzzle jump is tremendous. His runs were solid looking though. In comparison, the desert eagle looks like a breeze to shoot.

One of my favorite times of the year in the industry is seeing who and what “April Fools” campaigns will be waged. While there are some well-known ones this year (the Glock Engineer), my personal favorite was a blip from Pistol-Training.com.

Gaston J. Glock is making limited edition damascus knives with renowned blacksmith, Balbach. The knives are extremely limited. The reason? The metal used to make these knives are made from the competition Glock 35 barrels of World Champion shooter, Dave Sevigny. Two of the three barrels were used to win USPSA National Championships. The third barrel is from his practice gun that he used to prepare for the matches. Ammoland has the details on these knives:

I got a chance to feel a SV Infinity yesterday and boy is it nice. Matt Trout is a grandmaster in USPSA and the SV infinity is his gun. The one aspect of the gun that stood out for me was the steel grips and the texture that SV machines into them. It is similar to stippling but it is better than stippling. It was ridiculously grippy and the weight really helped with the balance. I wish I could have test drove it to see what a race gun feels like when driven fast.

Allstar Tactical has a new compensator out now. The Hexcon1 is a hexagonal shaped compensator. It has three expansion chambers. The top of the compensator has three ports, one for each chamber. This helps reduce muzzle climb. They keep the bottom of the compensator closed so as to not disturb any dust from low shooting positions near the ground. The Hexcon1 retails for $95 and is available on their website.

John Van Swearingen posted an interesting article over at American Gunfighters. He talks about honing the fundamentals of shooting.