Restless Adventurer

30 Apr - 3 May 2012: Spring Break

I've you've been a longtime follower of this site, you'll notice that I haven't been doing much lately - or at least not reporting it. That impression is accurate. Grad school has been killing my free time. I barely did any skiing since January and no other trips. So I was very happy to be off a week for spring break. This is the last time off until December when I graduate.

I needed until Sunday at 10 pm to submit the last of my schoolwork so I didn't leave until Monday afternoon. My destination was NRA Whittington Center about 3 hours south of Denver on I-25. It is just over the border in New Mexico. I learned about it on the Outdoor Network. Basically I spent 3 days camping and shooting.

It was great getting away and not having to worry about homework or think about classes and at the same time shoot a lot of things I don't take to the range very often. And I got to shoot steel silhouettes for the first time. Normally I don't get to shoot farther than 100 yards but here I was taking plenty of shots from 200-400 meters. I even shot out to 200 meters with pistols. For the record I can fairly reliably hit a man-sized target out to 100 meters. I added photos to my "Shoots" section.

The photo is of the NRA Whittingon Center HQ building that is home to the museum, library, and gift shop and is staffed by some of the friendliest people you will ever meet. For a $30 annual membership you have unlimited use of the facilities, otherwise it is $20 per day to shoot there. I think the museum and library are free. It is a non-profit organization and I highly recommend the place.

14 Apr 2012: FRIDPA match

Sorry, I forgot my camera this time. This was my second match and I used the Glock 23. It didn't go as nicely as last month but that's how it goes sometimes. It's good practice. The side match was shotgun and I took my Remington 870 Marine Magnum. I don't practice with it too much but I took it because the red dot sight on the Mossberg "Zombie Gun" needed adjustment. I fumbled up the shot select halfway through but I got all my hits.

10 Mar 2012: FRIDPA match

Wow, I've been trying to make it out to a Front Range IDPA match since Sept and this is my first one! FRIDPA is the local International Defensive Pistol Association's (IDPA) club. I was amazed by all the people that showed up for the new shooter orientation - 22. I half expected to be the only one. Of course most matches since fall have been canceled due to weather so there was a lot of pent up demand, I suppose.

This was my first match and I used two of my carry guns, the Glocks 23 & 27. In the regular match with was four stages I used the compact Glock 23. After that there was a short side match consisting of one stage for sub compacts. I'm pretty damn happy with my results. In the Stock Service Pistol division I was #9 out of 37 and when combined with Enhanced Service Pistol and Custom Defensive Pistol shooters I was still only 12th out of 61 competitors. I was shooting a .40 compact Glock so it wasn't like I was using a long slide competition 9mm. My raw times were middle of the pack it seemed but I shot 2 stages clean, dropped very few points on the one-handed (right then left) stage, and did average on another stage. Only one procedural penalty all day. Points down and penalties are multiplied by .5 and that number is added to your time for the stage. So one's score is the modified time. In IDPA it is better to trade time for better accuracy.

I liked it so much that I've decided to shoot at the Colorado State IDPA Championships this summer even if it means driving to the other side of Colorado. It sounds more impressive than it actually is since there are not any pre-conditions to register. In other words, if you are an IDPA member and have shot the classifier that year (so they know what group to lump you in) you can shoot at the championship. After May I'll be classified as Marksman or possibly Sharpshooter if I have a good day. In IDPA you shoot against others of similar skill level using similar equipment so you aren't just going there to get creamed by Master class shooters with tricked out $3,000 competition guns.

I also joined Glock Shooting Sports Federation earlier this year to get access to their Glock Armorer course but now I decided to register for a match in Greely, CO this summer. I'll be in 3 separate amatuer divisions: Competition with the Glock 22C, Sub Compact with the Glock 27, and standard division with the G23.