10 Year Challenge

[Clusterfrack]

Great thread. It took me on a journey through my Photos library.

2012:
A year after I broke up with the 1911 and switched to Glock for competition and carry. I won a gun at GSSF and bought a G26.

I got serious about USPSA, and less serious about IDPA.

About a year later I became an early adopter of red dots, and carried a G4 G19 with a RMR-06 on a Suarez slide.

So much fun!

[awp_101]

I have bought/sold/horse traded into so many pistols the past 15+ years, I really don’t know what I was carrying 10 years ago. Probably a 19 or 26, I don’t think I’d gone down the G30S or XD-S .45 (or whatever SA called that single stack micro-.45) trail yet.

[98z28]

Ten years ago I was just stepping out of having to live with what was issued (full time law enforcement). I quickly stepped into the “gun of the month” club. Really more like the “gun of the week” club. I was regularly had three or more different handguns I was “evaluating”, though a S&W M&P with CTC lasergrips got the bulk of my training time. I dabbled with or cycled through most of the popular options: Walther PPQ/PPS, CZ P-07, Sig 226/229/2022, Gen4 Glocks, HK P30, Beretta 92…

I’ve been using the Sig 320/365 family exclusively for several years now, for better or worse.

[Wondering Beard]

Ten years ago, if you had asked me to do this ten year challenge, it would have felt like a real long time ago; these last ten years don't feel that long (even though a whole bunch of "life changing things" happened during that time).

Anyway, I carried a G19 gen3 then, I carry a G17 gen3 now.

[ECK]

10 years ago I was still on my 1911/2011 kick. I was shooting Limited division with a 6” 2011 in .40SW that a local gunsmith built for me. 3-gun and IDPA pistol was a STI Eagle converted to 9mm with custom top-end. Carry gun was a 4” STI 1911 with Officer size grip in Milt Sparks Nexus holster.

That was back when I could still see iron sights. Now I have to wear reading glasses and shoot guns with red dots.

[Chuck Whitlock]

10 years ago is pretty easy....my then agency only authorized Glock 22, 23, or 27, so 22 on duty, 23 off duty, 27 BUG. It was in 2013, I want to say February, that I attended TacCon in Memphis, and got to meet a number of the fine folks here in person. Listened to DB talk about street triggers months before his epic post here....really set the wheels turning. Shortly thereafter I really began to understand that the gen3 Glock didn't really fit me...after nearly 15 years with them... and really began to pay attention to grip circumference and trigger reach.

Today....
I went to a plainclothes gig almost a year ago. I typically wear a 1911 or Hi-Power with the dress shirt and tie, and a 1911 off-duty. Sig P250c w/ Wilson grip module when in uniform and nightstand duty. Smaller guns are K9/CW9/SP101/TCP.... so either SAO or DAO.

[Hambo]

Same woman and same guns for more than 30 years. I just put a Holosun on an M&P, so the question is what pistol/optic I'll be carrying next January.

[ASH556]

I just re-read my first posts on here from Feb 2012, so almost 10 years ago. Wow, so much cringe. I had just ditched my Gen 3 Glock 19 with Heinie Straight Eight's and picked up a pair of M&P 9's. Looking at what my past self thought I knew, it makes me never want to profess to know anything again; lest my 10 years future self come across it and be just as sickened as I am by what I just read.

Between then and now, I went from M&P's back to a pair of Gen 4 Glock 17's in 2014. That was the real beginning of pistol shooting for me. I absolutely destroyed one of those guns learning how to really shoot a pistol (or at least comparatively). I had a brief fling with Beretta 92's in 2018 and am now back to Glocks, this time Gen 5 MOS guns with RMR's.

[DC_P]

People still kill each other, same as they always have.

I guess ignorance (on my part) was bliss.

[JDB]

2012: was 3-4 years into serious pistol work.
I'd taken a class with Larry Vickers, was devouring everything ToddG wrote, had moved from a 15 years with the 1911 (in 10mm!) to 3 years with M&P9s. After 5 M&P9s, and accuracy frustration, I was thinking hard about P30s. I'd just made master in IDPA, was dryfiring hard, shooting IDPA classifiers every week and occasional USPSA matches. Shot about 5-6000 rounds a year (a lot for me), with way more dryfire. Lots of Steve Anderson and Ben Stoeger.

I switched hard to the HK P30 and full time AIWB in 2012, eventually sold M&P9s, and kept a couple Glocks.


2022: I focus much more on fitness (really since about 2014), but still dryfire about 1-2 hours a week. Only shoot once a month, maybe 1500 rds a year. 1-2 club matches a year. Still improving, but way slower. Shot a bunch of EIC matches with the Guard (very accuracy intensive), have done well there (got my distinguished pistol really fast), but not really putting the effort into practical shooting like I used to.

I just switched to a G19x with Holosun last month. Loving the dot. It's bred enthusiasm to train seriously again. Really want to put one on a P30.

GJM needs to run a P30 with Wright I-Dot system and dot, short reset and flat trigger through the wringer. GJM's latest antics are 30% of the reason I read here . Just bought a HK45c, plan to make that my outdoor gun with 45 super, and retire the 1911 10mm.

ToddG is still a big influence, thanks for starting this place, and thanks to all for keeping it going.