Super League around the corner

The weekend of 23 and 24 June sees South Africa’s first Super League at Cecil Payne shooting range in Johannesburg. The double league is hosted by TacShac Defensive Pistol Club (TSDPC), who lost the bid to host the 2018 Northern Nationals and decided not to let the booked range go to waste.

The format is eight stages on each of the days, run as a league in its own right. The second day sees eight new stages built.

About 150 rounds per day (minimum) and, knowing Lynette Oxley, there will be lots of paint on the range. So much paint, that I have been co-opted to go and spray some targets before the shoot starts!

Should be a whole lot of fun.

Here is a sample of what is to be expected. This one was designed by the infamous Potgieters and, just looking at it, there could be a challenge or two. It is called Batman: Suffering builds charcter …

Procedure: On the signal throw your baterang (whatever that may be … oh, wait, Wikipedia has an answer) towards the targets. Then engage PP1 (Activator) and the T1&2. PP1 must be engaged first. Then engage PP2. Steel must fall to score and paper gets 2. Then engage all threat targets while making your way through your apartment with 2 rounds each.

Mmm … so, yes. OK. It seems as if I’m going to be moving back after engaging the first set of targets. The COF description states that there is no cover, so crossing an open door or window is not a problem. But keeping the gun pointed in the right direction will be. I’m wondering if I shouldn’t run all the way back after the first targets and then start moving forward from P2.

An interesting challenge. Especially with a mask and a cape on.

Update on the reloading thingy

I changed from round-nosed to flat-point bullets in 124g Frontier CMJ and changed the powder behind them to MP200 from S121. There could be a difference, but I’m not sure I’m good enough to tell.

As stated in a previous post, one of South Africa’s top shooters told me I’d be more accurate with my pistol, if I worked on the ammunition a bit. He said with a slower-burning powder, flat-nosed bullets and a shorter cartridge over-all length (COL), he went from barely hitting the target at 20 m to shooting a group. And the man can shoot!

So I did just that. Loaded to about 1060 fps, I am getting fair results. Most (90%) of the rounds in an 8 inch circle at 20 m. Not timed, but still good for my level of competency.

But is it really better?

Well, I’ve been doing a lot of dry and live-fire recently, so that may have a little to do with my accuracy improvement. But I like to think that the change in loading recipe helped a bit too.

Lots of travel for one medal

It was a little cold in the Free State yesterday

I spent nine hours in the car these past two Saturdays. Nine hours to get to two shoots and back to Johannesburg. One in the North West Province (at Stilfontein outside Potchefstroom) and, yesterday, to KSDPC at Kroonstad in the Free State.

That is quite a bit of sitting to take part in IDPA/SADPA shoots. But, you know what, I thought it was worth it after the car door closed last night. I didn’t win. In fact, I only got a silver medal at one of the shoots.

I did, however, get to take part in two very well organised events.

With courses of fire that tested me as a shooter. Moving targets and half-concealed targets; lots of HONTs and quite a few sitting shots. I got to sit in a boat and shoot … I got to shoot swingers, drop turners and targets moving towards me. I even shot at several targets while sitting in a Mercedes Benz. Papae!

Zero degrees in the quarry and we were drawn to the fire, despite the smoke.

What touched me, however, was the spirit I saw at both these clubs. It might sound slightly disingenuous, but I am quite sincere in saying that I met a few people at these two shoot that could easily be my friends. People who put in a lot of effort to host the shoot, people who had worked hard on their game to take part in the shoot. And then, importantly, people who were prepared to stand around the fire on a cold Free State morning. And talk about things that matter and things that do not matter so much. With a strangely dressed man (it was rather cold) from Johannesburg.

One or two people have asked me why IDPA and not any other shooting sport. I think it has something to do with the people I find shooting this specific game. People with similar interests, concerns and experiences.

Thank you Frontier and Kroonstad Defensive Pistol clubs. You’ll certainly see me at your next league if things go to plan. And I hope to see some of you in Ermelo in August. Another long way to travel; to meet interesting people and … hopefully … to win a medal.

Changing the load for accuracy

I was told by a prominent SADPA shooter on Saturday that I’m not loading the optimal ammunition for accurately shooting my 9 mm Glock. He says changing from a fast-burning powder to something slower from Somchem and shooting a flat point makes a noticeable difference.

My reloading journey is in its sixth year and I have, until now, been happy with Somchem’s S121 and 124g round nose CMJ bullets. I load to a power factor of about 130 … just at around 1050 feet per second.

But I’m willing to change, especially with a slight miss now counting a second towards your final score. So, for the first time since coming back to 9mm from .45ACP, I’m going for a new recipe:

Frontier 124g flat nose
Winchester primers
MP200

I’m looking for a power factor of 130 once again. Three loads have been put together, with four rounds in each. From slightly below the Somchem max to slightly above … this batch is 1.3% below the book values.

I’ll put it through the chronograph it before my practice session.

SADPA league: There may be a clue in here somewhere

Yesterday’s shoot, at the Frontier range in Stilfontein, turned out to be one of the better leagues I had shot in the past year or so. And not because I won (I didn’t, far from it), but probably because I saw where I was falling short. By almost 100 seconds.

I normally don’t shoot with the “super squad”, as I find the top shooters to be an obnoxious bunch; loud, outspoken and with a silly sense of humour. Too much like myself in other words and I like to stand out in the group.

But yesterday our group was too big and I got moved to another, allowing me to shoot with the best shot of the day, it turned out. I picked up quite a lot from him, but most surprisingly, I don’t move that much slower than he does. My raw time was only around 20 seconds slower than his. So, as you might have guessed, the difference lay in the “points down”.

I had two PEs. He got a hit on a non-target on the last stage. With the HONT, he had eight points down for the eight stage match. Eight. That’s three hits outside of the zero-down zone in eight stages. More than 120 shots. Mine was close to 60 points down. It doesn’t take a genius to see where a lot more work is needed.

Take a step down in practice

So I need to work on my accuracy when in a COF. There’s no way around it. From Monday my dry-fire regime will have to change and I’ll cut down on the speed drills in my live fire practice as well. I fully expect this to be a long, drawn out process. But that is what improving on anything is about, I guess.

As for the shoot: What a good one. The stages were well planned and set up. Lots of movement, with sometimes two movers on the same COF. Shooting out of a (decent size) car, a drop target that was moving towards you and quite a bit of steel as well.

I had to spend five hours in the car yesterday, going there and back, but it was worth it. I’ll be back for the next one. And the burgers sold at the range were fantastic, too.

Stock stop saves time, keeps the slide open

The extended one on top was taken out and replaced by the original

I have had maybe one failure to lock open the slide in every three magazines while running empty, in the past four months or so. I had basically given up on my old (six years, some of them) magazines and was set on buying new.

But then I came across this thread on Gunsite and decided to put the old slide stop back in the Glock 17 last night. I took it for a spin this morning.

100 rounds and at least eight magazines ran empty. And locked the slide back without any issues.

I think my thumb was resting on the extended one and that caused an issue.

I finished with the normal Wilson 5×5 drill, and while quite a bit slower than last week, my time on the magazine change improved. Be careful what you change on your firearm.

New shooter orientation in Brits

The Brits Defensive Pistol Club (BDPC), under the able administration of the Meyers, is hosting a New Shooter Orientation (NSO) this Saturday, October 7.

This is the announcement as sent out by Michiel earlier today:

If anyone is interested, we at BDPC will be hosting a NSO at our shooting range here in Brits. For more information please visit our website at www.britsdefensive.co.za.

To book your place for the NSO please send an email to santie@britsdefensive.co.za
Only shooters with valid SADPA numbers can attend. (This means you have to have registered and paid your SADPA fees and you have to have joined a SADPA club).

Cost is R150 per shooter and includes range fees. Bring a minimum of 100 rounds of ammo and please read through the rulebook

NSO starts at 08:00.

If you think of joining SADPA but am not sure if you will enjoy it, please come through and have a chat to us. I am sure we can convince you to join us. 
Spectators are always welcome.

T’was a little wet

Our match today got clipped short by the first decent summer rains this year. While I still had a complete blast (pardon the pun) and managed to complete all seven stages, others were not so lucky and ran away from the thunder and lightning.

No results yet, no medals and no rewards. Guns very wet, but now dry and cleaned.

I’ll post something as soon as we have a result or two.

Thank you Tacshac, it was a good experience.

DMG at last

So this weekend I’m trying my hand at Defensive Multi-gun (DMG) for the very first time. My home club, TacShac, is hosting the “Enter the Sandman” league on Sunday and it is turning into a really early start!

Registration is expected to start at 07:00, but the courses of fire have to be built still … we’ve been advised not to leave stuff overnight. So EVERYTHING happens on Sunday. Builders gather at 05:30.

As always, preparation is not perfect as life gets in the way, but I managed a practice run yesterday.

Not shooting everything into the same hole, yet, but at least the dust is now out of the shotgun barrel and some dust have gathered on the Micro Roni.

While this might sound like an early excuse, I’m certainly not looking for medals on Sunday. Just a good, fun shoot; focusing on getting proper shots on target. All the time.

Transitions is obviously new to me, so I’ll do some dry fire “safety on, safety off” drills today still. If things go to plan, I may have another hour on the range tomorrow.

The rules of the new game can be found here. I will read through them again today.

 

Brits league this weekend

So the hunting season is over and the shooting season is drawing to a close in South Africa. I take some time in the summer months to play with new things at dawn or dusk as the African sun tends to punish me for my lack of hair and pigmentation.

My spot in the veld near Vosburg in the Northern Cape. Done hunting and singing at the top of my voice here. No springbok came close after.

But I promised Santie Meyer from Brits that I’d do their league this year … and so it is on!

At the moment there are only two spots open in the field for Saturday. I’m in a squad full of good shooters and I’m slightly worried for my form, but I was on the range Tuesday to do a bit of accuracy training. I’ll be back there tomorrow for some movement … which is more than I normally manage for a league shoot.

The match is on the Eeufees range; it’s almost half the fun getting there, especially if you drive something “low-to-the-ground”.

I have enough ammo with the last of the S&B primers borrowed from a shooting friend. But from next week it’s back to the more expensive Winchester SPPs. Seems as if the Sellier & Bellot stuff is stuck on a dock somewhere.

But next week is the TacShac DMG league. It’ll be my first. Winchester primers or not. I’ll write a little bit more about that prep from next week. Doesn’t leave me with a lot of time, but so be it. I’m not going for medals, but I still expect a steep learning curve.

First I have to shoot against Frikkie Streicher on Saturday. 🙂

Here is a link to the Courses of Fire