And Now for Your Viewing Pleasure . . .

Waiting for me when I got home was an envelope from ParaUSA, with a nice letter from Kerby Smith, a 2009 calendar, and a DVD. On that DVD is the entire six-part Down Range TV series on the Gunblogger's weekend at Blackwater, and in a separate clip, my first run through the shoothouse.

So here, for your viewing pleasure, is my elephantine ass negotiating the shoothouse, with soundtrack and everything:



I obviously need to work on my reload speed.

UPDATE: The original JS-Kit/Echo comment thread for this post is available here, thanks to reader John Hardin.

Hey! We're on Video!

The Down Range TV coverage of the Para/Blackwater Blogger weekend is now up! In six parts!

Excuse me, I've got some video to watch. . .

Quote of the Day

From a post that's just full of them, Tam's ParaUSA LTC After-Action Report:

The special pistol was outfitted with Para’s adjustable rear sights of a BoMar pattern (fauxMars, if you will,) and a fiber optic front. These give a phenomenal, fast-to-acquire sight picture, but their sharp, sure-snag corners make as much sense on an alloy-frame 4.25” carry gun as a kickstand on a tank.

Where does she come up with these phrases?

Going into this event, Tam wasn't really interested. At the 2nd Amendment Blogger Bash she made it apparent that Para-Ordnance was not high on her list of manufacturers to do business with based on her long experience as a merchant of death at Coal Creek Armory, but this weekend converted her:

The acid test? Well, if I have to sell a kidney or get a paper route to do it, I am buying this gun. I may be a starving artist, but even a starving artist knows the value of a dead reliable, deadeye accurate pistol when she sees one.

Attention Thanos Polyzos and Kerby Smith (not to mention Dan Smith of ICC): You just received the highest praise possible from the gunblogosphere for your product.

Expect orders.

Lasergrips

As noted, the pistols we shot over the weekend were equipped with Crimson Trace Lasergrips that, if I understood correctly, were sighted in personally by Todd Jarrett for about 12 yards. The laser emitter is located on the right side grip, about half an inch below the centerline of the bore, so the point of aim and the point of impact are not necessarily the same. As a training aid, the laser allows you to see just how much movement you have while aiming. Todd demonstrated this in the classroom by putting the dot from his pistol on the wall about 10 yards from where he was standing.

I didn't think a human being could be that still. I know I can't.

On Sunday in the shoot house he had us, three at a time, doing drills on targets while the rest watched. One of the things he wanted us to notice was how high the dot went when a pistol was fired - regardless of whether that pistol was chambered in .45 or 9mm. As you can see in this photo, my .45 comes up quite a bit at full buck. The other thing he wanted us to notice was how far down it comes during recovery. When the pistol is held properly, the dot simply returns to the original point of aim. (He showed us that with a couple of full mags, rapid fire.) Held improperly the dot is all over the target, moving in big loops. This is something you can't really notice with iron sights only.

Going through the shoot house, a couple of the targets were so close that using the sights was practically redundant, but on the second trip through there were two "long shots" - bad guys behind no-shoots - at about 12 yards. I decided to use the laser, rather than the front sight. I deliberately put the red dot on the left shoulder of a target and touched off a round. A hole appeared where the dot had been.

And I did that three more times in quick succession.

Crimson Trace gave us t-shirts with their logo on it, and this un-PC marketing blurb:

Helping Bad-Guys Make Informed Decisions
To that I would like to add: Helping Put Rounds On Target, FAST.

More Blackwater Blogger Outreach

Apparently we weren't the only bloggers at Blackwater over the weekend. Mary Katherine Ham, N.Z. Bear, and Armed Liberal were there, too! And nobody introduced us! I'm shocked and outraged by this snub!

Dammit! THEY got to drive on the track!

Flying with a Firearm

Until this trip, I'd never checked a firearm while flying. It was an interesting experience. I took my Kimber Ultra CDP II and my Comp-Tac Minotaur holster. I've modified the Kimber slightly. At Chris Byrne's suggestion I've added a stainless S&A mag guide with an arched mainspring housing, and replaced the original checkered Double-Diamond grips with a smooth set of Cocobolo grips cut for the magwell from Hogue. I packed these in the original Kimber plastic container along with the factory 7-round and one Chip McCormick 8-round magazine. To meet the "original packaging" requirement, I dug through my reloading bench and found a 20-round box that originally contained Cor-Bon 45ACP+P loads, and put 20 of my handloads in it, then locked the box with two sturdy Masterlocks.

The guy at the Phoenix Delta counter was pleased that I'd followed the rules, gave the pistol a cursory glance to ensure the magazine well was empty, and sent me on my way to the TSA guys and their X-ray machine. They did not ask to see the pistol.

On the way back, the ladies at the Norfolk Delta counter ooh'd and ahhh'd. "That's pretty!" one of them said. "I really need to learn to shoot," said another.

As Tam once put it, I love being in American-occupied America.

The TSA guy in Norfolk wanted to look at the gun. Again, all he did was check to ensure the magazine well was empty and the magazines were unloaded. "Nobody ever checks the chamber," I commented. "We're not allowed to touch the gun," he replied, "but when I put it through the X-ray machine, I'll be able to see if there's a round in the chamber."

As I noted below, I made the flight from Atlanta to Phoenix, but my bag didn't. It's an uncomfortable feeling knowing that your luggage - with a lot of expensive stuff in it - might not be showing up as scheduled. This further reinforces my resolve to drive where I need to go if at all possible.

I'm Going to be On the Radio, er... Internet!

Tonight's exciting episode of Gun Nuts: The Next Generation will be an exclusive follow-up to the Para-USA Weekend at Blackwater. Caleb will be interviewing several of the attendees, including yours truly during the show which will run a full hour rather than the standard 45 minutes.

As always, you can "tune in" at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts at 11:00PM Eastern, or catch it as a podcast the next day.

Quote of the Day

After two trips thru the shoot house, this really isn't that exciting. Hmmm, a motel fire. - Dave Hardy, from a motel in Arlington, VA this morning.

Here's the view out the front door of his room when he awoke:


Apparently it wasn't any big deal to the firefighters either. They didn't bother to evacuate the other lodgers.

Stuck in Norfolk

Apparently Atlanta is stacked up. We were supposed to push back from the gate here in Norfolk at 4:01PM local time, and arrive in Atlanta at 5:50. Now they tell us that we'll depart about 5:30, and nobody knows if our connecting flights will still be on the ground when we get to Atlanta or not.

So I just paid $9.95 for a 1Mbps wireless connection so I could get back on the 'Net and do some surfing. I'm on Boingo. I'm not impressed. When I logged on it immediately gave me a chat screen and a perky salesperson who tried desperately to convince me that I needed to sign up for the $6.95/month service rather than the $9.95 single-use. It was tough to convince her I really didn't need it. Until I mentioned I was a blogger.

I need to learn to control this power . . .

I think I'm going to be late to work tomorrow.

If I get there at all.

The power of blogging is very limited in scope.

Shooting with Todd Jarrett

This is one of the high-capacity scenarios we shot Saturday afternoon. The drill was to advance with your partner, firing three shots each onto a stationary plate. Pass through the "doorway" and then split, left and right. Engage the falling plates and put two rounds onto any "mover" that came into your field of vision. On the ground behind the barricade where you can't see it in this video is another fixed plate you had to shoot twice, then shift to the end and shoot the stationary plate there six times, again putting two rounds onto any mover that entered your field of vision. All reloads had to be done from cover. We were uniformly bad at it, but damn, it was fun!



OK, I have to go to the airport now. No more blogging for a while. Maybe tomorrow.

The Best Picture of Me This Weekend Award

. . . goes to Joe Huffman, who caught me in full recoil, brass freshly ejected, with the pistol about halfway back into battery when I was shooting the 8" plates at 35 yards. And I'm using the proper grip!


Many more good photos at the link.

When I Win the Lottery. . .

I'm gonna build one of THESE:


That's the shoot house we played in on Sunday. AR500 plate walls, movable interior walls also lined with AR500 plate with a plywood skin on the surface, hollow-core doors, and portable bullet traps:




These are constructed of AR500 plate with a piece of what looks like rubber conveyor belt over the open side of the box that traps the splashed particles of the bullet after it penetrates.

If I had unlimited wealth, I would have a shoot house on my property.

I Think Gunsite Ranch was Spying on Blackwater

This is Gunsite's logo, right?



Well, up in a tree a couple hundred yards from the shoot house was a fairly large bird:



That then did this for about ten minutes:



I suspect Ninjas were involved . . .

Two Guesses...

. . . as to who was wearing sandals at the range:

Giving Thanks

I just realized I hadn't done so. My mother would be appalled. So, copying Sebastian, I'd like to thank everyone involved in getting us to Blackwater to shoot Para-USA's guns and IPCC's ammo:

Thanos Polyzos, CEO of Para-USA - the guy who signed off on the idea and had his factory build us a run of really cool pistols. We're not worthy! We're not worthy! But we're very appreciative!

Kerby Smith, Director of Communications for ParaUSA. Sorry about the t-shirt joke, Kerby!

Todd Jarrett, who put together and taught the course. He even tried to get us time on the Blackwater track driving their cars, but I told him it was OK that hadn't worked out. If he'd pulled that off, I'd have to worship him as a God.

Michael Bane, who sent his film crew for DRTV and The Shooting Gallery, and who was, I think, responsible for the idea in the first place.

Patrick Harlan, Internet Marketing Specialist for Crimson Trace who supplied us with laser grips. Seriously - buy some Crimson Trace grips. You will be AMAZED. They'll do a lot to teach you what you do wrong.

All the folks at Blackwater USA. Sorry about the sink. And next time, do you think you could open the Pro Shop for us? I just want to see what Blackwater sells in their Pro Shop. Shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles? Backpack Ninjas? Sharks with frikken laser beams on their heads?

All the folks at Blackhawk, who supplied us with SERPA holsters and rigger's belts, shirts and goodies, and the bus that took us to and from Blackwater. You'll be getting a knife order from me soon, and possibly an order for another SERPA holster.

Dan Smith of International Cartridge Corporation, who supplied us with all our ammunition needs. I'm sorely disappointed that we sent him home with some full cases. But mostly I'm just sore.

"Green" Ammunition

I've posted once before on the subject of "green" ammunition. It seems the U.S. Army wanted to switch to a non-lead projectile due to the incredibly high volume of ammunition fired during training contaminating their ranges, so they chose a tungsten/nickel/cobalt alloy - lead free! Unfortunately in laboratory tests where tiny grains of the alloy were surgically placed into rats, this produced a fast-moving cancer in 100% of the rats in pretty short order.

Oops.

As I understand it, the Pentagon has dropped that idea for the moment.

The ammunition we shot this weekend at Blackwater is also "green" but it contains no tungsten, nickel or cobalt. It is sintered copper and tin. Sintering is a process by which powdered metals are bonded together under carefully controlled heat and pressure conditions. By controlling the process, the final physical characteristics of the sintered metal can be manipulated. Sintering is being used in industry for everything from piston engine connecting rods to decorative gee-gaws. Now they're using it in projectiles.

And they work.

I shot several hundred rounds of International Cartridge Corporation's 155 grain .45ACP Green Elite TR non-toxic frangible flatpoint (loaded to 1,150fps) through my Para Tac-S this weekend without a single failure of any kind. I popped 8" steel plates with it from 35 yards, and I did full magazine dumps on a steel plate from a distance of about three feet without anything splashing back on me but some dust. I didn't have to worry about pieces of jacket coming back and sticking me (which has happened at distances considerably farther than three feet), nor did I need to worry about lead exposure.

In addition to their training ammunition, ICC also makes a line of Duty ammunition. It's still frangible, but by controlling the sintering process it is not as delicate as the training ammo (which, as far as Robb Allen and I could tell, blew up on impact with the plywood interior walls of the shoot house without penetrating.) The duty ammo is the same weight and velocity as their training ammo, but it performs entirely differently. The bullet design is a hollow point, and the forward section of the bullet is designed to fragment, much like the "prefragmented" ammo we've all heard of. The base of the bullet remains intact for deep penetration but if the bullet strikes a hard surface it disintegrates like an frangible should, reducing the possibility of hitting a bystander. They even manufacture pistol ammo capable of defeating a Level II vest, that still performs as though it never hit the vest at all. (But not in .45 ACP. Not enough velocity, I'd imagine.)

This is all very tacticool, and I appreciate the need for such ammunition, especially at places like indoor ranges and Blackwater where so many rounds are fired in a very short period of time. However, I'm more than a little disturbed by the fact that California has outlawed lead projectiles for hunting, that the Violence Policy Center is going hard after lead as a pollutant on public shooting ranges, and, according to the rep, California's law is going to migrate to Arizona.

This stuff is not (at present) available as a component. The bullets are, as you might imagine, brittle. If improperly crimped, the bullet can break just as if it were ceramic, so they don't sell anything but loaded ammunition. I would imagine the same is true for other manufacturers of similar technology - the physics of sintered metal technology makes the bullets rather fragile (though they stand up to being dropped on concrete with no evidence of damage.)

If "Green" ammunition gets a good running start at the legislatures, then handloading is in trouble. I don't have a problem with new and better technologies, but I do have a problem with legislatures destroying old ones.

I Should Not be Allowed Out Without a Keeper

On Thursday evening I was picked up at the airport by Sailorcurt, who was accompanied by JR, Robb and Ahab. We went straight from the airport to a restaurant in the 15-passenger van Curt had borrowed from his church. When I got out of the van, I turned around to open the second door to let JR out of the back, and hooked a belt loop on the bug deflector of a pickup truck sitting in the parking slot next to the van, snapping off about a six-inch piece from the driver's side.

Oh well. I picked up the piece and put it on the hood, figuring whoever owned it would come back to the restaurant looking for the group with the van when they found it. Later in the evening, Curt went out to the van for something and saw an obviously agitated couple writing down the information off the side of the church van. When he unlocked the door, the female of the couple came around and informed him that they'd called the police about the damage.

Curt came and got me, I gave them my contact information and told them to send me a bill. When we came back out a half-hour later, they were gone.

This morning I woke up at about 4:30, and then never really did get back to sleep before I finally got up at 6:15. After I showered I was brushing my teeth and I leaned over on the sink, just a little. (I swear!)



You know, I'm pretty sure that you're not supposed to mount sinks, especially heavy ceramic ones, only with butterfly bolts through the drywall. You're supposed to secure them to, you know, wood.

The funny thing was, I went out to the lobby to tell the desk attendant what I'd done, and brought her back to the room to show her. She looked at it for a second and said, "Do you need to finish?" I explained that the drain plumbing had snapped off, so running more water through the sink probably wasn't advisable, so she informed me that a shower room was available down the hall where I could find a sink and shave.

I promised not to lean on that sink.

I shouldn't be allowed out of my house without a keeper.

Tired, Sunburned, Achy, and Happy

I'm back at the Black Bear Inn after a full (and I mean full) day at the range. We started out the morning with Todd Jarrett checking and correcting our grip on our pistols. Now, I'm not one much for tattoos, but I'm giving serious consideration to having the witness marks he put on our hands with a sharpie permanently replicated in subcutaneous ink. By merely altering my grip and teaching the isosceles stance I firmly believe he has reduced my shot-to-shot recovery time by about half. I have complained before about my split times when shooting controlled pairs. That slowness is due to the fact that I have a hard time reacquiring the front sight after the first shot.

Not today. Each and every time the front sight was RIGHT THERE after each and every shot.

When I did it right.

Now I just have to practice that grip, because I've been shooting with a different (and wrong) grip for so long I instinctively use it. And go slow.

As always, it's practice, practice, practice!

The Para ran almost flawlessly for me today. We gunked it up pretty bad. They told us we'd be shooting like 500 to 1,000 rounds a day. I'd say I did at least 500. Towards the end of the day the slide stopped locking back on some of the magazines.

Whoopee.

There is one fly in the ointment, however. Joe Huffman discovered that it was possible to manipulate the controls on his pistol in such a way as to cause the sear to release without first cocking the hammer on the trigger pull. This resulted in essentially the same condition as a misfire - the round in the chamber had to be ejected to re-cock the action. To duplicate the fault, you have to pull the trigger with the thumb safety engaged, then disengage the thumb safety with the trigger partially depressed. You have to do it just right, but Joe, being the analytical type, was able to duplicate the malfunction on his pistol, and on mine, and on a couple of others. He was not able to get SayUncle's to fail, however. I was then able to do it - unintentionally - on the range.

Solution: Don't use the thumb safety. It's not necessary, anyway. The grip safety and the long trigger pull are safety enough. Not encouraging, really, but I still like the pistol. A lot. I WOULD use it as a carry piece.

We shot paper, we shot steel. We shot standing and we shot moving. We shot moving steel, while standing and while moving.

We had a helluva lot of fun. My hands hurt. My face hurts from smiling. My legs hurt from standing all day. And I've got some sunburn despite borrowing some of Armed Schoolteacher's SPF55 sunscreen. I forgot to put any on the sides of my face.

Tomorrow morning we get to shoot in a shoothouse.

This trip is made of awesome.

Report from Blackwater

I could tell you what's going on here, but then I'd have to kill you. . .

No, really. This morning at about 0900 we were picked up by the Blackhawk bus


and taken to their Norfolk facility for a show-n-tell.


These guys are the suppliers to the low-drag/high-speed set. The corporate philosophy is "do it right, then charge what it costs plus enough to make a living." This is American capitalism at its best, from my point of view. They gave each of us a box of swag worth enough to surprise the hell out of me. For example, we each got a gun belt, two holsters, two mag pouches, and shooting gloves. And there was more. I very much like the SERPA holster for the 1911. Positive retention, belt slide or paddle. A lot of thought obviously went into the design. Very, very cool.

Blackhawk carries clothing, literally from helmets to socks and everything in between, knives, breaching tools, and every kind of accessory you can think of. For example, these:



are not knives. No, according to Tam, these are "Klingon marital aids."

These guys carry EVERYTHING!

After the Blackhawk visit, we traveled to "Moyockistan" to Blackwater's facility, and were given the air-conditioned bus tour of the 8,000 acre facility. (Well, not all of it, but I've never seen so many shooting ranges and shoot houses in one place in my life!) It is Disneyworld for gun nuts. We got to see the interior of a shoot house, and got a glimpse of Blackwater's armory.


Yes, that's a gatling.

No, we didn't get to shoot it.

Yet.

After lunch we had our introduction to the other sponsors of this bash, Para-USA, Crimson Trace, and International Cartridge Corp. We also got introduced to our guns. I'm shooting the Para PXT LDA Tac-S, a Commander-sized 1911 equipped with Para's Light Double Action trigger, but much more than that. This pistol is also equipped with a fiber-optic front sight, adjustable rear sight, and Crimson Trace lasergrips! Overall, it's finished in "Coyote Brown" duracoat, and looks very nice. But on top of that, the pistols we are shooting for this event were custom finished for us:


To be honest with you, I was not all that enamored with the idea of the Light Double Action trigger. I normally shoot a Kimber Classic Stainless full-sized Government model 1911, and it has, IMHO, the finest factory trigger I have ever pulled. The idea of a long trigger pull before a 1911 went "BANG!" just didn't do it for me.

Now that I've shot it, I've got to say I like it. A lot. I might not use it as a competition pistol, but it has definite attraction as a carry piece. They tell us that these guns will be offered to us for purchase, but they haven't told us for how much yet.

I'm wondering how I'm going to explain this purchase to my wife . . .

We finally got on the range about 4:00, and I personally was able to put about 120 rounds downrange before we knocked off about 6:00. Tomorrow is supposed to be pretty much all shooting. I think I'm going to find out how well shooting gloves work at preventing sores and blisters.

I'll have more information to post on the ammo we're using tomorrow. We're shooting "green" frangible ammo - sintered copper and tin, 155 grain flatpoints at an advertised 1,150 fps. They hit where the sights are set, I'll give them that. And they do disintegrate on impact with steel!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go back upstairs and rejoin the conversation still going on.

I Want to Thank My 16 Regular Readers...

...and the rest of you who voted for me in the Para-USA Win a Weekend at Blackwater competition. I'm going! So is Tam, Dave Hardy, SayUncle, Robb, Ahab, JR, and Joe Huffman! I don't know who the other two are yet, but congratulations to them as well!

Three days, 1,000 to 1,500 rounds of someone else's ammo, and training with Todd Jarrett? What more could you want?

Only downside? My fat ass will be on television, unless they use some damned creative editing. Michael Bane is going to film the weekend for the Outdoor Channel. He also reports (so it's official now) that Para-USA is relocating from Toronto, Ontario to Charlotte, N.C. in October.

Thanks, y'all. You're the greatest!

UPDATE, 7/8: The last two gunbloggers chosen by poll are Armed Citizen and Mad Duck

And even better news, Bitter Bitch and Sebastian will be going as well, according to Michael Bane. (He needs someone to film while the rest of us are worshipping learning from Todd Jarrett.)