I have to admit, with some shame, that I didn’t spend a whole lot of time on the blog this year. I had a nice run of SHOT posts, but real life was so busy that it was hard to find time to finish a couple of bigger articles I had going. I had a great shooting season anyways.

I took 4 classes this year. I enjoyed all of them, except for the W&C class which was just a jump-through-hoops waste of time:

• Green Ops Advanced Competition Pistol Class
• Gorospe x Wampler Collaboration Advanced Practical Shooting Class
• FPF Training Practical Revolver Class
• Private MD wear & carry permit class

That’s 40 hours of classes, which is pretty low for me. That said, I also spent some time working professional (CSM, CSPO) and personal (CPR) certifications, which took a bit of time out of the schedule. There was one class that also got cancelled.

I shot 22 matches (!) of varying sorts in 2022, at least according to Practiscore. If you were wondering where some of the class time went, this is where it went. My son has started shooting IDPA, which has also shifted my emphasis a bit. Overall, I would say that I had some good matches and bad matches, but at least my IDPA skills have gotten to the point where I place in the top 25% of my division with some frequency.

I also listed off a number of goals last year:

Goal #1: get my competition rifles 100%. Done.

Goal #2: shoot at least 12 matches. Done and then some.

Goal #3: shoot a clean bill drill under 2.5 seconds. Didn’t spend any time on this. Maybe next year!

Goal #4: Clear dot torture at least once. Didn’t spend any time on this. Maybe next year!

Goal #5: Dry-fire every day in a structured fashion. I was better about doing this, but still not there yet.

Goal #6: Shoot revolver in a match at least once. Done. One each of USPSA and IDPA. I very much enjoyed it, and it has taught me many, many things about reloading and shooting that I had not really thought about before.

Some other stuff I’m proud of:

1. I started getting more into low-light and night vision shooting. This is an area I’m still learning, but it’s a fun, exciting way to spice things up.
2. The SASP team I coached did really well at Nationals. This is mostly the kids’ hard effort, but we have one podium finish.
3. Became self-sufficient in terms of loading .300 AAC BLK, .357 Magnum (minor PF), and .45 Auto ammo.
4. Got my son into shooting IDPA with his PCC. His gun handling still needs work, but as he gets older and a little stronger, it’s improving.
5. Got my concealed carry permit, and even carried a bit! Too bad Montgomery County promptly banned it. Maybe I’ll get to do more of that next year.

Just because it’s fun to reflect, I’m also going to go over firearms purchases and sales in 2023:

SOLD: SAR USA K2. Didn’t need it anymore after buying an SAS II in .45ACP. I hate selling a gun a year after I buy it, but that’s life.

SOLD: S&W SW9VE. Totally superfluous to my needs at this point.

DESTROYED: two PF940 frames. Thanks, MD.

DESTROYED: BUL M-5 frame after busting the area around the mag release. Might be fixable, but not so far. If I can’t resurrect it, I may chop it up to show the original BUL M-5 steel frame in a post.

BOUGHT: BUL SAS II Bullesteros. A buddy online sold it to me for cheap.

BOUGHT: BUL SAS II TAC Commander SC. I managed to source and install a factiry steel grip into this gun, and it’s pretty sweet. I am still getting used to the way it shoots, and suspect it may need a slightly heavier recoil spring.

BOUGHT: BUL SAS II TAC Commander (optics-milled with the Trijicon plates), running an RFX-35. This had some tweaks that I’m a little meh about (the Vario trigger is good, but the bow tends to impinge on mags), but it shoots well otherwise.

BOUGHT: BUL SAS II TAC 5, also with an RFX-35. I have been shooting this in IDPA CO (it fits the box, barely) and it’s totally awesome. Possibly my favorite new gun of the year. Also paid for by work.

BOUGHT: BUL SAS II TAC Government in 45ACP. Heavy metal gun for 3gun. The trigger is very nice. Unfortunately, it has a bull barrel, so I can’t use it in IDPA CDP (although this is not what the rules as written really say).

BOUGHT: Ruger Mark IV 22/45 LITE for my kid’s use.

BOUGHT: VQ LLV Upper for the Mk3 22/45.

BOUGHT: CCF Stainless Steel Race Frame to replace one of my destroyed Glock frames. I installed the Timney trigger and Johnny Glock trigger shoe into this thing, and, geez, it’s a 2lb trigger with no take-up and minimal over-travel. Only bad thing I can say for it is that the grip texture sucks, so some skateboard tape is in my future. This may become my night-vision-use gun.

BOUGHT: a few random BUL M-5s for experimentation.

BOUGHT: Cosaint COS11. I bought this to run in Single-Stack and CDP. Unfortunately, it had some issues out of the box. Fortunately, Cosaint has excellent customer service and is making it right.

BOUGHT: BUL Impact compact (mostly because I was able to source the rare extended mag with spacer).

BOUGHT: Sig P365X. This was a private purchase (through an FFL, natch) and had some cool upgrades (Icarus grip, PMM comp, optic, etc.). Bought it because I finally got my W&C permit.

BOUGHT: Sig P365X Macro. Another W&C permit purchase. This one spends most of its time wearing a Wilson P365X grip, though. I also have a P365 OG slide and may eventually try using it in IDPA BUG.

BOUGHT: Sig P322. Impulse buy. They happen.

Now, what are my goals?

Goal #1: get serious time shooting with night vision. I finally took the plunge and got a night vision setup, which I may do an article about eventually.

Goal #2: shoot at least 20 matches. Assuming my professional situation doesn’t change, and I am diligent about sign-ups, this should be accomplishable.

Goal #3: take at least 4 classes. I’m signed up for three already, so this should also not be too tough.

Goal #4: Clear dot torture at least once. Should have done this last year. It’s still on the list.

Goal #5: Dry-fire every day in a structured fashion. Maybe it’s time to really use that Steve Anderson book.

Goal #6: Finish some big posts, and post more. I’ve got at least 2-3 posts of considerable size that really just need some pictures and final tweaks. I also have some cool stuff (night vision, 2011s above, etc.) that I haven’t written a word about.

Goal #7: Shoot IDPA CDP and USPSA Single-Stack matches. My COS11 should be back early next year with a new magwell and improved reliability, and I think this will be a good entrance point for shooting some matches with it. I did shoot one single-stack match last year, but it was a disaster from the gun not working right… going to give it another try.

Goal #8: Shoot USPSA Open with my Bullesteros. I have a real open gun, I have a real open rig, and I’ve got a pile of 9 Major. There’s no reason I shouldn’t shoot in Open division at least once.