New Forum Member - Old School Shooter

[aalbert]

Started shooting USPSA in the 90s, in Austin, TX...  For the first year or so, I just shot, and didn't bother to become a USPSA member to get classified... Around 1995 I became a member (member number under 30,000), and also did my NROI class.

 

It was a great time to get into IPSC / USPSA style shooting, and I happened to be in a great place to do it.. The 2011 was just taking off, and our club members included folks like Sheryl & Virgil Tripp, Dave Skinner (who bought STI from the Tripps), Dave Dawson, Benny Hill, and a long list of other "guest" shooters who happened to come to town to visit STI..  Prototypes and concept guns would make it out to the range, and we would hear the inside dirt whether at the range, or when eating cheap Tex-Mex food afterwards. My brother and I were impressed with the concept, so he bought a 2011 Eagle, which we shared at matches (I had been using a Springfield Armory 1911 up till then) - shortly after buying it, the 10rd magazine ban hit -- we called in all our favors, and were each able to secure enough mags to get us by (8-10 each), and even bought some of the EDM 10rd pre-fragmented magazines to use for practice.   From a shooting standpoint, folks were evolving from a weaver type stance to a more heads on approach, and the whole concept of gaming was taking off..... 3 gun was faltering, even with folks like Benny Hill coming in every month for our matches, we couldn't ever get a solid interest going  - fast forward to today, and wow has that changed.

 

I left the Austin area in 1996 to come to Miami, and work kept me from competing, but I still had the itch and bought a STI Edge when they first came out (actually did a custom order with a custom serial number for an Eagle, but they talked me into an Edge and let me keep the custom serial) - also bought a couple Benelli M1s, and a SR25 for 3 gun -- but never got back into the sport.... They haven't gathered dust though, as I still enjoy taking them out to plink and have fun.

 

2018 comes, and my son is now 13, going on 14yrs old... He has been trying his hand at Olympic style 3 Position Smallbore with an Anschutz rifle for the last few years (practices 3 times a month), and goes to one machine-gun shoot a month ( sturmgewehr.com  / biggerhammer.net /  machinegunboards.com belong to our family ). My son has been enjoying shooting 22 for the 3 Position and on plinking days, but I can see he really wants to try out my STI , 1911, Glocks etc -- so recently we did, and he seemed to be able to handle 9mm well.... Thus our search for a pistol for him began, and he really liked the SIG P320 X5 -- so that will be waiting for him under the XMAS tree this year... Which brings me back to here.

 

Being gone from the game for so long, I am now having to immerse myself into what has changed (boy there are a lot of classes to compete in now - never mind IDPA having blown up on the scene so much).... My Hellwig  and Ernie Hill holsters are now antique, and both have exited the market... Kydex reigns supreme, and leather is now a thing of the past, and there now seem to be multiple standards for mounting, and more rules to wade through than before...  So now I am here to digest what is what in the accessories game, and pick up a few things for my son to have some basic gear --- I plan on just having him work with the gun on our MG range days, and if takes a liking to it, will let him compete now and then (but the Smallbore takes priority when it comes to competition). 

 

Cheers.. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ngodwetrust21]

I have to say, that was a very enjoyable read. Fun to hear about how things have changed over the years. Really awesome your son has taken an interest in it as well.

 

Glad you are both getting back into the shooting sports.

[aalbert]

Thanks, it was fun to reflect back - glad you enjoyed it.