Thoughts from today's match

[Glenn E. Meyer]

A nice day in TX. Saw some of the Pistol-forum gang.

I shot my fairly accurate but sedate match. Here's what was interesting:

1. Two young ladies (11 and 14) shot with their dad - a service man. They shot Glock 19s very well. While not fast, their scores were respectable and their weapons handling was great. No fumbles, good reloads, etc. So much for you can't shot a Glock - an 11 year old just banged it out.

2. Funny stuff: So this guy has his two mags in a pouch about a 7:00 o'clock. That's a touch far back. There is a stage where you sit in a folding chair. You have to get up and blaze away at the miscreants. Well, the mags hook the folding chair, so when he gets up, the chair is stuck to his tushy. What a surprise. Technique to shoot at targets while retreating was to turn and shoot shot one hand with a ghetto grip as you ran to the next target. Also, used a whole mag to knock down a tiny steel that was holding a swinger. Ok.

3. Scary - old guy shows up with a Glock 30 with a WML. It's in a piece of crap holster. He draws, the light falls off and the light strobes and laser comes on while it lays there. Kind of a disco motif. The poor guy had no knowledge of grip, finger or reloading. Kind of scary. We took him under our wing and tried to guide him through so he doesn't get discouraged. He needs a basic course. He had some strange grip where he put his hand over the top of the forearm of the gun hand? Huh. I had a friend who grasped his wrist as Marine Corp Daddy taught him that. No offense to Marines as we have very top notch Marines shooting with us. Sometimes he had a different grip and crossed his thumbs over the back of the slide.

4. Friend is shooting a Shield. He is a really big guy and has been shooting for years. He's having trouble with the Shield as his big mitts keep pressing on the mag release and disabling the gun. He's working on his grip but defaults to his standard grip and pops the mag. I don't have that problem with a G42 but I'm left handed.

5. I didn't have to be the American flag today. We say the Pledge but someone forgets the flag. Once I wore a Flag t-shirt and had to stand there like Captain America and get pledged to. Today, the cute 11 year had a flag patch on her jacket and got to be the flag. Adorable.

Fine day but I couldn't get BBQ as I had to honey-do on the way home. Sigh.

[gringop]

Glen, please buy Mike and Jennifer a decent US flag. Dixie Flag in SA should have something nice looking. I will pitch in for it. (seriously)

Last month at the carbine match, it was some fat old guy with an indistinguishable shoulder patch. (Not me, nor you, ha!)

I would salute you any day but I'd rather salute a nice purposeful freestanding flag.

I am looking at my sweat stained BCM cap that has a olive green flag on the back. Were it the only flag available, should I stand with my back to the crowd or spin it around backwards and stand facing forward with arms folded like RunDMC?

(PF mini poll) Do you start your pistol matches with the Pledge of Allegiance? If not, why not?

Lastly, Glenn, "The BBQ abides."

Gringop

[olstyn]

(PF mini poll) Do you start your pistol matches with the Pledge of Allegiance? If not, why not?

No, but not for any particular reason I'm specifically aware of. It's just not something we've done. If I had to guess, I'd say that in our situation (start match @ 5 PM, must be done shooting 1/2 hour prior to sunset, per club rules), gathering everyone together to do the pledge prior to beginning shooting could present a problematic time constraint.

Is there some reason you feel it's necessary? (Note that I'm not filled with anti-patriotism; I just don't feel that there's been any detriment to my USPSA experience due to the lack of the pledge.)

[rsa-otc]

Both the clubs I shoot at on a regular basis start with the Pledge of Allegiance.

[cclaxton]

I always try to start my matches with the Pledge of Allegiance. As an adult most of us don't repeat the pledge very often. When I first started it I had a lot of people come up and tell me it really meant something to them. Sometimes I run way behind schedule at the NRA and forget. But I always do it at Thurmont. I started doing the Pledge after having it done at Wilkes-Barre IDPA matches. It it is a good reminder that we are all still Americans.
Cody

[RJ]

4. Friend is shooting a Shield. He is a really big guy and has been shooting for years. He's having trouble with the Shield as his big mitts keep pressing on the mag release and disabling the gun. He's working on his grip but defaults to his standard grip and pops the mag. I don't have that problem with a G42 but I'm left handed.

Hm. I (lefty) shot a rental Shield and the mags kept popping out like Hershey bars at the movies.

I asked over at the S&W Forum but did not get much in the way of an answer if it was that common. First I've heard of that happening here at PF.

I was gripping it pretty hard; anybody know if there is something about the Shield that lends itself to this?

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Do right hand thumbs gravitate to the release? My friend was suggesting that.

As a lefty, I never had any trouble activating mag releases with my finger. I read some gun review that said such was clumsy. Nope.