Press Conference. The New Pistol - An Unexpected Eating Exercise

Ok. So I finally made a freaking decision about both my competition pistol and a replacement for my venerable and now retired Sig P226.

For those who missed it I finally put the 226 back in the safe. Made in West Germany she's now pushing hard on 30 years old. She's tired, starting to break down and has earned an honorable rebuild and quiet retirement. That left me stuck. I needed both a replacement and a new competition gun.

But before I unveil the new gun let's go back in time a few weeks to the pistol class I took with Ron Avery. That 3 day, 1500 round shoot-a-palooza that saw changes in both my stance and grip. Turns out I also experienced a sea change in attitude as well. In that course I started to finally see and feel the limitations of the 226. High bore axis. It's heavy, the DA first shot is slower than SA or striker and it's just getting old. I also figured out a grip that will let me shoot pretty much any handgun I pick up with increased speed and accuracy. A worthy learning experience that opened what I thought was a closed door. Ok. Ready? Here it is.

Yep. It's my Glock 35. The same one I've had for about, oh, 7 years or so. The same one I said I was done shooting and gave to Lu. Well, I took it back. (It was a struggle but I claimed victory when she got distracted. I told her that the eggs she had on the stove had exploded. When she went to look I snatched it and ran away laughing maniacally. Win!)

Now, now. Settle down back there unless you want me top have the bailiff clear the room and start whacking pee-pees. Yes, I know what I said a bare few months ago. That I didn't like the Glock and was going exclusively to the Sig because I just liked and shot it better. I may have referred to the Glock as a steaming pile unworthy of my exalted touch but I've now evolved on this issue and have acquired a better appreciation of what the Glock brings to the table. Think this is bad? Wait for the other shoe. Here's my replacement for the Sig P226.

That's a brand spanking new Gen 3 Glock 17. I picked it up today. It's about the same size as the Sig, weighs quite a bit less and is about half the price. I paid $499.00 for this example. The mags are cheaper, hold 2 extra rounds without an extension and are available even at Frank's Bait and Tackle (serving the greater Anal Point area since 1973). It's rugged, dependable and I couldn't care less about it so long as it goes bang when I want it to. I can use it for both carry and the occasional match. I'll probably shoot a bit of USPSA Production with it as well as some 3 Gun. The holster and mag carriers from the G35 fit it as nearly perfectly as one could wish. Plus you know what an obsessive compulsive slob I am about platform compatibility. I tend to want all the guns I shoot regularly to conform as closely as possible. Cheap cost, simple easy upgrades, rugged construction and frankly I don't give a crap about beating on them unmercifully.

So. This is my answer at present. I still think there may be a CZ in my future for Production at least but for now I'm satisfied. Now I can stop shopping and get back to some serious training.

Ok, the floor is now open to questions. Yes, you in the back?

Iqbal Nudnick with The Tactical Timmy Times. Does this mean you've become a Glock Fanboy? Will we now see you on the Glock Forum exclaiming to all the world that Glock is the shiznit and that anyone who doesn't shoot a Glock is an encephalitic retard who needs his hand held when going number 2? Will you now tease your erstwhile buddies on the Sig Forum about bore height, cost and how even their team shooters don't actually shoot Sigs?

No. Stop asking me that! I love my Sigs and I always will. It's not Sig, it's me.


But didn't you say, just a bare few weeks ago, that Sig was the only intelligent answer and that you wouldn't touch a Glock with Gecko 45s paste smeared fingers?

I don't think I went quite that far...

I believe you once referred to Glock shooters as short bus riders who better understood the taste of window snoz than what a modern pistol consisted of.

I never said that! Besides, as I believe I mentioned earlier, my position on this subject has evolved over time. I'm much kinder and gentler than I was in my misspent youth, way last month...

Were you wrong then or are you wrong now? How can we, your trusted and dog like devoted followers, believe anything you now say if your opinion can change so drastically over a few short days? How can we be sure Glock didn't just pay you to switch to their product? After all I believe it was you who once threatened to fly to Europe and cram a Glock up a certain Austrian engineers 4th point of contact so far all he'd taste for the rest of his life would be CLP, abject failure and shame.

That was a joke. I was just kidding. Totally. The restraining order ended last week. As a world famous and fabulously wealthy Blogging Gun Idol to millions I am well aware of my responsibilities when it comes to my opinions on all things firearm and competition related. Let me be clear here. I did not and will not accept gratuities in exchange for a positive review of any manufacturers product. (This is an out and out lie. I will so totally do that. Contact me. Please wear a dress. A blue one.) I swear.

But, the children. Aren't you concerned about the children. Why won't anyone think of the children!? By the way. How do you like your Ebon Avian prepared? Deep fried, sauteed with butter or just wolf it down raw?

That's it! End of the press conference! Everyone get the fudge out!

This press conference brought to you by Missed It By A Mile Inc. (an Embarrassment Foods Group Company), purveyors of the finest Crow Meat products on Earth. Remember, if it doesn't say Embarrassment you're not eating Crow!
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Match Photos

I promised pics. I'm extra late so by way of an apology I put up a bunch.

This is from the Berry's Bullets Steel Open. I shot with staff on Thursday so I could RO the match on Saturday and Sunday. It was great fun.

Shooting the plate rack through the barrel. Notice I'm rocking some awesome red shoes.

Some of those plates were awfully small...

The Texas Star. As you shoot off the plates the thing begins to rotate back and forth.

Behind that railroad tie is some small steel plates. You had to shoot under the beam. Plus there's a swinger that rotates a no shoot target in front of the plates. It was lovely.

Locked on target like an old, slow, fat cruise missile.

Strong hand only.

And weak hand only. It was a challenging match.

I love the shoot house. Started outside and then went in for the rest of the string. This started the Par Time stages where you had X seconds to shoot as many targets as you could. Hosing with style baby!

I was rockin' the patriotic shirt. Guns, competition and America FTW!!

Picture proof that I can still squat. A little.

The hoser stages were a blast. Set 'em up and knock 'em down as fast as you could go.

We had several Steel Challenge stages. 5 steel targets with the fifth being the stop plate where your time stopped. 5 runs and throw out the slowest time. Short, easy, simple and fun. I like them.

Surrender start. The stages got progressively harder with the targets getting smaller and further away. Want some real fun? Try these with a red dot .22 rifle. Awesome!

Lu getting stylish with the camera. Do you even operate Bro?

These guys get awful serious. That guy behind me came down from Washington to shoot this match. He's like a batter on deck taking practice swings. Yeah, he beat me.

The Sig ran well all day. I had one feed issue I'm pretty sure was a magazine problem. I'm going to order some Mec-Gars to replace my Pro Mags. Grip is coming along nicely though. I didn't drop a single DA shot in the entire match.

14 stages in 12 bays. We shot the entire match in 7 hours. These were some very motivated folks and great shooters. I learn stuff each and every time out. It was an awesome match and I had a great time. Plus fifth in Production against some top quality shooters! My finish was good enough to get me into B Class (67 percent and change) and that ain't too shabby considering. Lu came along as my range monkey and photographer. No video but I'm looking at a Go Pro. Time to up my level of commitment to the next stage.

Next match is the Southwest MultiGun 3 Gun match in May. I have a rifle class in June (that someone as yet unnamed is coming out to join me at. Yay!) with one of the finest 3 Gun competitors in the business. There may be a 2 gun later this month but only maybe. Until then it's practice, practice, practice. In fact I got in some loading work with the shotgun today. The goal is to be able to load at the rate of 1 shell per second (minimum). I'm just over that at around 1.25 per shotshell using dual loads. Plus losing that last 20 pounds or so. Sigh.

I'm on track for December. So far. We shall see.
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New Sig Scorpion 1911

AKA Car Guy Wins again.

That is a brand spankin' new Sig Sauer 1911 Scorpion. It's a 5 inch 1911 pattern single stack pistol in .45 ACP. It has a tactical rail, night sights and the grips form a modest magwell. It's finished in Desert Tan Ceracote.

The grips are Hogue Piranha and are very grippy. It has checkering front and rear. Mags are 8+1. The gun is tight and very well built with excellent quality control throughout. Plus, it's frickin gorgeous.

There is a logical explanation for this that doesn't involve drooling gun lust and poor impulse control. Well not just that. I swear.

As you know by now I am deeply into learning a new shooting discipline, USPSA and IPSC competition. To that end I have been perusing, studying and considering what guns I need and what guns I simply want. Now, follow me here.

USPSA is broken down into divisions
Open - Anything goes and run watcha brung.
Limited - Mostly stock pistols with some minor modifications that are not factory installed.
Limited 10 - Much like limited but with 10 rounds per magazine required (Thanks California!).
Production - Pretty much stock duty type pistols. 10 round mag limits.
Single Stack - About what you'd expect. Dominated by 1911 pattern SS pistols. 
Heavy Metal - This is 3 gun with a 44 mag. minimum, 12 Ga. pump and .308 rifle. More on this later but this division is a big reason for my latest acquisition.
There are some others but, with the exception of Open, for me these are the most important. All those divisions carry a Minor/Major Power factor penalty and require .40 and above (along with a PF calculation that includes velocity and bullet weight) to shoot Major. That's important because Minor carries scoring penalties for any hit outside the A zone. What that means is that .45 ACP qualifies for Major on all counts as does .40.

Ok. I have a Glock G35 in .40 with 15 round mags. Lu says I can borrow her XDM in 9mm to shoot Steel Challenge where there's no Power Factor penalties. With the Glock I can shoot Production, Limited 10 by simply downloading the mags to 10 rounds and Limited with full mags. With the new Sig I can also shoot both Production and Limited 10 with only a 2 rounds per mag penalty. At my modest level that's no real imposition at the moment. It's made for Single Stack and is perfect for Heavy Metal and I really want to shoot that. Badly. 3 Gun with my M1A, 870 and now my new Sig 1911. Can you say Holy Crap That Is Magnificently Awesome?

I'm ready to go right now on Heavy Metal with at least 2 guns I am intimately familiar with and can shoot reasonably well. The 1911 I can shoot I just need to get reacquainted with that whole safety thing. There's one other consideration in this purchase.

I want to see how well I can shoot this competition stuff. I've hooked up with a very good shooter who is coaching me. I'm starting to improve and really getting hooked. There's a whole new category of pistol out there I was ignorant of until recently, the 2011. It's basically a double stack 1911 pattern pistol. Yep, Para Ordnance has been making them for years but they just never registered with me until now. But the high speed guys are mostly shooting them with a few exceptions like Tangfolio and CZ DA/SA pistols.

So. This new gun will allow me to get back into 1911 shooting at about half the cost of that new STI. I'll be able to shoot it in various matches and see if I can actually run one. I can shoot the Glock as well and see how far I can go in the sport. If I fail I still have a great 1911 pistol for whatever shooting purpose tickles me and I can go back to shooting plastic pistols in competition. But. If I can master this new discipline and reach a certain level with both the Glock and the Sig then I'll take the next step and plunk down something north of 2 grand for that shiny new STI Tactical 5.0 or its equivalent.

See? Doesn't all that just make perfect sense? It's not lust and an enabling wife at all. It's actually science!! Settled and everything (Hey, if the global warmers can get away with it then so can I).

The upside of all this for me is that the reason I stopped carrying and shooting 1911s in the first place is no longer extant. I couldn't get past the manual safety on the 1911 after carrying and shooting SA/DA pistols on duty. It was a safety issue. Since I'm no longer on duty I can try it again. And this is a nearly perfect pistol to do that with.

I am so excited. Stay tuned, I'll be having a discussion about competition versus self defense shooting in the very near future. In the meantime there's a new gun and a couple of boxes of ammo in my safe. Time to go shooting!

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