[Why do I really shoot?]

To use my guns. It got really frustrating to buy something for hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars, and just have it sit in the drawer, closet, safe, whatever. After that, it got really tiring to simply shoot at paper for no reason. So, I looked for activities in which I could use my guns in. Competition is much more abundant than training in my neck of the woods, and this is where I am right now in my journey. Maybe I'll get good enough to care about actually winning matches, but I'm just happy seeing how little by little my guns get scratched up, polished in contact points just due to actual USE. Few things irk me more than seeing a super-clean, unused Safe Queen.

[How Many Magazines?]

I went to an IDPA match in July to try out a Sig 1911 I have, where I used some of the venerable Wilson Combat 47Ds. I only brought the mags I would use for the shoot, so 3. Turns out, those plastic baseplates do not hold up to abuse, and I was overinserting the magazine with the damaged baseplate in my 1911 after only 3 stages. I only use the metal or robust plastic baseplates now.

Bring as many magazines as your budget allows, because you will never know when your gear will betray you.

[Best MOA Dot for USPSA.]

I use a 6.5 MOA RMR with the manual adjustments. I just turn it on to the setting I'll be using for the match and run with it. Haven't had any issues hitting targets at 25 yards with it when I'm doing my part.

[How long did it take you to learn to shoot with both eyes open?]

About a year. I got a red dot in 2017, and once I learned how to shoot with that with both eyes open, I started to practice doing the same thing with my iron sight pistols. It takes plenty of dry fire practice and study of proper technique, but now it comes so naturally I don't even notice it anymore. I only shoot with one eye open if the target is substantially far away and I'm using irons. Otherwise, I just shoot both eyes open and let the irons and red dot do their job.

[Who has built an Open Gun? Let’s see your pic.]

1 hour ago, Nic_USPSA_C said:

Looks like it would be fun to shoot - thanks for sharing.

It was. I went to a match yesterday, that's why the barrel is so dirty. Compared to what I've shot before, including this same gun configured for Production Optics, it felt like I was cheating, it shot so well. Now I have to work on myself and my speed, because I love how it's set up now. Thank you for the reply.

[Who has built an Open Gun? Let’s see your pic.]

I don't know if I can say I built it. I like to think I merely upgraded it to where it was always meant to be.

[Hello to the Forum]

Hello. I've known about this forum for a while, but I finally decided to actually compete instead of just watching videos about it. Been in 3 separate matches already this year, and I'm hooked.