IDPA Classifier

[DC Plumber]

Hey folks,

Shot my second classifier yesterday. I shot my 4" 586 and made marksman for the SSR division. Out of 30 of us, only two were shooting revolvers. Last year I made marksman in the CDP division with my Sig 1911. I've been shooting for 30 years, but not competition. I am pleased with my shooting.

Out of the auto loaders I watched yesterday, there were a lot of malfunctions. Not really surprising though. I saw fail to lock back on empty mag, fail to fully closed slides, needing that thumb push, lots of limp wristing and missed targets. Out of all of it, no one swept anyone with the muzzle that I saw and there were no DQs.

I learned, take your time and be accurate, misses really hurt your score. There were many deducts in the 20s and 30s.

If your thinking of trying IDPA, do it. You'll most likely have a great time, meet lots of new people, learn great guns skills and get more out of the sport. Sure, it's competitive, but if you keep your scores, it's a pretty good way to measure your progress.

 

[1KPerDay]

Cool! I just joined and shot my first classifier a few weeks ago. I got Sharpshooter in the three auto divisions (I shot a Glock 41 and asked that my classifier be applied to all applicable divisions). No malfunctions, nor did I witness any among the 10 or so other guys in my squad. Most shot Glocks and XDs.

I might try a revolver next time out.

 

[DC Plumber]

Nice shooting wow, sharp shooter right out of the gate, nice.

Another thing us noticed this weekend is how people insert their magazines. Almost everyone sticks it in and them slams it the rest of the way with a smack from their palm. One guy actually had the slide slam forward and chamber a round. His thumb must have pushed on the slide release at the same time. Does everyone slam the magazine in the rest of the way? I don't. Just curious. Could damage occur from doing so?

 

[Owen]

Like, they were removing their hand from the mag and then hitting it again? At Gunsite they call that "spanking the monkey." Spanking the monkey in public is unseemly.

I use one smooth motion, I start with my index finger along the length of the magazine, with the bottom of the magazine up against the meaty part of my thumb. Once the magazine is started I aggressively slide it in while rotating my hand so only the meaty part of my thumb hand is in contact and smack it in hard when I do that, but its one fluid motion. A number of pistols require a good hard whack when inserting a full magazine on a closed slide.

The biggest danger of doing this is with extended magazines that don't stop on the bottom of the magazine well. Its possible to drive some magazines past the magazine catch which can be an ugly thing to get back out of the gun.


Some long 1911 magazines have a little L-shaped stop on the magazine to prevent this, but I have also seen those be broken off with aggressive magazine seating.

 

[MrBorland]

Congrats, DC, from an unabashed SSR junkie!

 

[1KPerDay]

One guy actually had the slide slam forward and chamber a round. His thumb must have pushed on the slide release at the same time.

Some Glocks and most M&Ps will close the slide automatically if you seat a full mag smartly. My M&P does it almost every time.

 

[9mmepiphany]

Almost everyone sticks it in and them slams it the rest of the way with a smack from their palm.

If you mean they start the mag into the mag well and than slam it is the rest of the way...yes, that is how you are supposed to insert the mag during a mag change. You're not supposed to baby them in

One guy actually had the slide slam forward and chamber a round. His thumb must have pushed on the slide release at the same time.

No thumb needed on the slide stop. My M&P9 will do this very reliably with a full mag

Does everyone slam the magazine in the rest of the way? I don't. Just curious.

Pretty much anyone who has had professional training

Could damage occur from doing so?

Nope, no damage.

 

[DC Plumber]

Thank you MrBorland. I was shooting 158g JHP over 14g of 2400, which is a fairly stout load. Don't know if could better that score unless I drop down to some LSWC loads. I'll have to some calculating to see what it will take to make power levels required.

Interesting views on mag insertions. Hmmm

 

[Sam1911]

Important tip for SSR guys: Don't go to SWCs or wadcutters. Too slow on the reload. Find some round nose or truncated cone bullets to load as they'll make you very noticeably faster getting all six funneled into the cylinder at once.

 

[MrBorland]

Yowzer, that is a stout load for SSR. Probably makes ESR PF. There's no need to run at the lower limit of SSR PF, but making, say, 130ish pf would likely be more enjoyable over a long match. Might make you faster and more accurate, too. And I agree with Sam1911 - Forget SWCs; RN is the way to go.

Regarding mag insertion, I place my thumb over the release, slam the mag home, and the release is pushed up against my thumb, dropping the slide. If I get too excited, though, I can actively depress the release a microsecond before the mag is seated, in which case, a round doesn't chamber.

 

[Jim Watson]

That is an awfully heavy load, full power .357 by most modern data, and about twice what you need.
Old standard .38 Special, a 158 gr roundnose at 800 fps is power factor 126000 which is plenty considering that they have lowered the SSR Power Floor to 105000 because it is hard to buy .38 econoball that will make 125000.
I actually shot a while with the first cylinder full of wadcutters, a 148 at 725 = 107000.
Reloads with roundnose of course.

 

[Hometeached1]

Wow good for you. I went to my first match Sat, it was really fun. Plan on taking the classifier soon.
I want to start shooting SSR, even though my only wheel gun is a 642. I know I will never win with one, but I'm doing this to build skills with both my EDC handguns (hey I'll get plenty of practice reloading).
I bet you had the best looking handgun there.

 

[LiveLife]

Almost everyone sticks it in and them slams it the rest of the way with a smack from their palm ... Could damage occur from doing so?

Nope, no damage.

Most semi-auto pistol magazines have wider mag base plates than mag body/tube that hit the bottom of the frame and prevent over-insertion/damage to mag catch no matter how hard you "slam" on the magazine base.

 

[DC Plumber]

Thanks for the ideas and comments. I should clarify that I didn't load these rounds for this classifier, I had 200 loaded for shooting long range at the cabin. I did have a beast of a time getting those semi jacketed noses to speed load, really killed my time. I think I could have loaded two rounds at a time, faster than the speed loader. I never thought that LSWC will be very difficult to load too. Great stuff, thanks guys. I should pick up some RN bullets.

 

[Jim Watson]

Use your SWCs to LAMR, get some RN for the speedloaders.

 

[waktasz]

Pretty much anyone who has had professional training

I disagree. There's no need to slam it in or spank the bottom of the mag. A firm seating all in one motion is best.

 

[9mmepiphany]

I don't slow down my mag insertion to save the frame, it is a false savings.

The way I learned to do it, from someone who had BTDT, was
1. the hands move quickly 1)to the carrier, 2) to the gun
2. then slow down to ensure correct index with the mag well
3. then speed up again while inserting the magazine
4. quickly moving back up to either rack the slide or obtain a firing grip.

I usually slam...or you could say insert smartly...my mags into my M&P9, because I need to cause the slide to lift to dislodge the slide catch and chamber a round.

I've dealt with enough "tight(ly sprung)" magazines to not trust "firm(ly) seating" them...of course, we could just be saying the same thing in different ways