rpcruab

Nice! Found yourself a keeper!

Looking forward to seeing your progress! I am also using a M&PL in 9. I havent made any modifications to the pistol yet, but have heard great things about apex...how are you liking the trigger? I am also going to be getting into reloading soon, and will be curious to see what sort of load recipes you have success with, as we are shooting the same pistol. congrats on the win and good luck! Oh, and btw, I need to lose weight too! Haha

Looking forward to stepping up my game for 2013. Still getting used to the M&P, but I am feeling more confident with each range session. The IDPA postal match results have been posted and I ended up placing 40th out of 234 shooters in ESP SS, which is funny considering I shot the match as a MM. If my scores were listed in the classification I shot in, I would have been 9th out of 318 shooters. Then again, I feel as though I was shooting at SS level with that platform during that time anyways. Shot my 3rd sanctioned match, Wilkes-Barre's Arctic Blast, on Saturday. I was doing pretty well despiste my lack of practice over the winter, and was sitting 2nd place SSP SS until I totally BOMBED one of the last stages. Realized I didn't have my mags on me when called to shoot, (wasn't expecting to go first as I went first on the previous stage), so I ran to my range bag, grabbed the mags, ran back to postion, and wound up huffing and puffing myself to 6th place in one stage. Still won an award, as there were plenty of shooters in that class/division, but certainly nothing to brag about. I have convinced my wife to let my begin reloading my ammunition, which is awesome! I'm hoping to develop a soft shooting round that will cycle well and meet power factor...I guess that most folks are! I've been dry firing about once a day, and have been working on simple techniques such as reloads, draw, and trigger movement. I figured it would be best to work on fundementals up until the shooting season, as everything feels a bit different with the new pistol. When I have been live firing, I have been working on grouping, bill drills, and hitting the 100 yard gong at our range. I am going to start wearing my head cam again so I can analyze what I am doing after the fact. -GOALS THIS YEAR- Make SSP and ESP EX Shoot more USPSA matches Become classified in USPSA Learn how to reload Get in shape

Thanks for the update. I've been looking forward to seeing the results.

Missed SSP Expert by 5 seconds. Guess I'm ESP and SSP sharpshooter for now.

Currently ESP SS through match bump. Shooting SSP in a classifier on Sunday. Hoping to make SSP expert!

Welcome from a fellow PA resident! What's your youtube channel?

Haven't checked this thread in a while. Life has been kicking my ass lately. I reached a personal peak back in October, when I won 1st place in ESP MM at the PA state IDPA match. After accomplishing my goal of getting the win and match bump to SS, I decided to switch things up, and sell the XDM for a M&P so I could start working on SSP. Unfortunately, I have been in hibernation since that point, and have hardly shot at all! I feel as though I have regressed, and I am nowhere near as confident as I was on my previous platform. I shot at a local toys for tots benefit match on Sunday with the new pistol, and ended up placing 19th out of 52 shooters. I plan on getting back into the swing of things after the new year, and will start updating this thread at that point. I would post my thoughts/realizations regarding the past few shoots, but to be honest, I have been so busy/stressed with everyday life, that I couldn't begin to remember what happened at those last few matches.

Sounds like a plan Robert! Good to see you on the forums.

Just purchased the kindle version on my phone and am going to check it out on my trip home Tuesday ...seems like a good way to kill 6 hours while I'm wedged between two people on an airplane.

Thanks! Now it's time try out CDP or SSP!

Shot the 2012 PA State IDPA Match on Sunday, and ended up placing 1st in ESP marksman! Great way for me to end out my first year of competitive shooting. I'm not sure if any of the staff from that match are on this forum, but I congratulate them on running an awesome match. BTW: It was nice to see a brianenos.com sticker in the goodies bag they handed out when I got there.

First sanctioned tournament officially completed! I ended up placing 2nd in ESP marksman! Certainly nothing to brag about, but happy to win my first medal after shooting for a year. I shot waaaaayyyy too slow and deliberately, but was super safe and maintained decent accuracy throughout the match. I forgot simple things, like shooting strong hand when I was supposed to, and nipped a couple non-threats, (which screwed me out of 1st.) Definitely had a blast, met some new people, and was put in my place. I am addicted to sanctioned matches now, and can't wait for the state match this month! There is so much to analyze from this weekend...I need another week to mentally sort everything out and write it down.

Just checked with HQ...good to go! Thanks for the info. Feeling better now! The magwell I ordered does not require basepads, and I am using stock sights. Should be good to go. I am going to pop my Hogue sleeve back on, and cover it in a tasty layer of grip tape. Thanks for the help.

Nice! With that in mind, back to the main question, how would you go about increasing grip size/mass while retaining a grip tape surface?

So grip profile is of no concern? Just overall pistol dimensions within the box?

I just ordered an IDPA legal magwell for my XDM, for use in the upcoming PA state IDPA match. I have rather large hands. The magwell fits using the medium size backstrap, and I am currently using the large backstrap, (which is already small for my hands.) I know that I could do some dremel work on the large backstrap to make the magwell fit, but really don't want to start grinding down my equipment. Here's my question: can anyone suggest a method of legally increasing grip size/mass while staying IDPA ESP legal? I have a rubber Hogue grip with finger grooves, which certainly increases grip area, but I don't think that would be legal, as the finger grooves change the pistol profile? I also like the idea of grip tape over rubber, especially when I am sweating or it is raining. Could I do something along the lines of wrapping the grip with electrical tape, and putting grip tape over the electrical tape? That's just one idea I had in my head. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am trying to figure this one out as soon as possible, so I can get some practice in before the big match. BTW: Not sure if I posted this in the right section? Thank you!

Thank you for the continued support and advice, DNH! I appreciate any and all help. After reading your post, I have been practicing moving/leaning/awkwardly positioned reloads with some improvement. I shot a local steel match Wednesday with mixed results. My reloads were killer, which is great, but I was stuck in super-high-speed-trigger mode. I haven't done that in a while, which is weird, just sort of reared its ugly head...(mental management went out the window). I was shooting faster than my sights at certain points, which was an embarrassing issue I never like to experience. I shot at a 15 yard plate 6 times before hitting it (barely) . Still placed 6th overall, but wish I did better for myself. I was shooting at about 115%, when I should have been shooting at about 90%. Shooting my first major sanctioned tournament this Sunday, (after two days of long, late work ), and will post video/results next week! CAN'T WAIT!

Haven't posted in a bit. Shot two matches as of recent. Local Match went OK: 2nd Place ESP, 10th place overall. Most of my lost time came from a no-shoot, but I felt as though my fundamentals were with me otherwise during that match. I then shot an out of town match over the weekend, which happened to be the IDPA Postal Match. I felt that I did pretty well there, although I lost a bit of time on a few less than desirable reloads. I ended up placing 1st place ESP and 8th overall out of about 60 shooters, which is great for me! I sometimes wish I would have bought a Glock or M&P, rather than a XDM, so I could just shoot SSP, (I haven't even modified my XDM to take advantage of ESP either!)...then again, I suppose that is just an excuse to not shoot to my full potential. Hopefully I can compete with all those IDPA legal magwells when I shoot the state match this fall! On a separate note, I have been forgetting to record my matches...hopefully I can remember this week! Reviewing my runs does seem to help me out a bit. P.S. Is it a bad idea to record my runs at the state match? I heard people get finicky when it comes to video at sanctioned matches.

Rock on! Keep posting! Very motivational! DNH Thanks, will do!

Anyone shooting Sunday? I may be squaded with someone here.

I'll see you at the Patriot, I'm working. See you folks there!

Results are in. I placed 6th overall. I was 1st overall on stage 1, and last overall on stage 5.

Decent match today! Shot an "in the zone" stage today, as I did a couple weeks back. Everything seemed to come together on that run...it was almost as if I was just "along for the ride". When the buzzer went off, I shot a moderately complicating stage with ease. While shooting, it was sort of like watching a video of myself firing first person. I just pointed the pistol at the 0 down zones and shot them. Probably sounds a bit ridiculous, and overly simple, but this is all I can really remember happening. I don't remember making the reload at all, which scares me! When I was finished with the run, I immediately listened to hear how my time was, as it didn't feel very fast. The time was great...not the best time of the bunch, but very respectable! I didn't bother to look at my shots on the cardboard, as I almost knew where all of my shots were landing as I shot the stage. Ended up 1 down on that one, (thought it was clean), which was also great considering the difficulty/placement of a few of the targets. The following 4 stages were progressively worse. Stages two, three, and four were a tad slow, but accurate and procedural/non-threat free. The worst of those would be stage 4 (second clip on video) in which I was a too slow, and had a crappy reload (still accurate though!).....then there was STAGE 5. After spending too much time trying to analyze and replicate what happened on my first run of the day, (MISTAKE!), I added to my fleeting thoughts, an overconfidence/lack of respect, based upon the simplicity of the stage, and BOMBED IT! BAD BAD BAD! When the dust settled...I was 6 down, 15 seconds, on a 3 target stage. We were supposed to make 2 shots to the body, and 1 shot to the head on three cardboard's while retreating. Buzzer goes off...BRAIN DEAD. Started by engaging the first target WITHOUT moving and with a make up...then I started to retreat and threw the head shot on the second target despite trying to make up the shot 2 TIMES!...last target: 2 to the body...SURPRISE SLIDELOCK! Of course, this should not have been a surprise considering I have made 11 shots at this point. Look at the pistol, slide magically falls forward, I blank out, pull the slide back and lock it, stare at the empty chamber, THEN I reload and finish the head shot. It's funny how much I can remember from my HORRIBLE run, and how little I remember from the awesome run. OW WELL! Only recorded 2 runs out of 5. Will post scores when up.

WOW! Just came back to this thread and saw all the replies. Sorry I didn't respond, I just forgot about the thread and remembered to check now. Valuable tips! Thank you for the advice everyone, I appreciate it!