Our First USPSA Match

A month ago Christy and I participated in our first USPSA match in Temple, Texas. The match was held by our friends at Temple Gun Club. We generally shoot either Steel Challenge or IDPA with them and they always have challenging yet fun matches. Since we are so comfortable shooting there we decided it would be a good place to shoot our first USPSA match. We also had quite a few of our friends attending so we knew this was going to be a great day.

Running to the next shooting position

USPSA stands for United States Practical Shooting Association. For those of you that are not familiar with this shooting sport it is all about speed, speed and more SPEED! Well, to truly be successful you do have to be accurate but just be fast doing it! You move as quick as you can from shooting position to shooting position and you are encouraged to reload while on the move as this is faster than doing a slide lock reload. So, in theory, you should never run empty and you always have a full mag at each shooting position.

You are presented with a stage and you are permitted to shoot the stage freestyle which means you can engage the targets in the order that you choose. It is interesting to see the many different ways the same stage can be shot by different competitors.

Shooting in the open

This is somewhat of a departure from what we are used to since we mainly shoot IDPA [International Defensive Pistol Association] matches. There are some big differences between how you shoot IDPA and USPSA. In IDPA the course of fire is laid out for you and it has to be shot in that particular order, you also have to shoot from cover and you cannot reload on the move unless you are behind cover.

Typically you do run the gun to slide lock. If the course of fire does call for a tac [tactical] reload, you cannot drop the loaded mag that you removed from the gun. If you do, it's a procedural. IDPA is more about accuracy with speed blended in. In both sports, the faster that you can shoot accurately, the better.

In preparing for the match we were asking our friends who shoot both sports for tips. They said the biggest challenge was to pretty much forget everything you know about IDPA when shooting USPSA. Boy, were they right! Now, we had to get our gear in order. Christy's choice was easy when it came to her firearm since she shoots the Springfield XDm 5.25 normally. This is an ideal gun when it comes to crossing over between the two sports.

Running and gunning with my 1911

For me, the choice wasn't as easy. I normally compete with a 9mm single stack 1911 from STI called the Trojan. I have a magwell on the gun and 10 round magazines. This is a great gun for IDPA but I think I would have been better off shooting my Sig P226 Tac-Ops which would have been better for quicker reloads. From my experience, reloads with a high capacity magazine are faster than with a single stack 1911 mag. I know this is blasphemy for all of you 1911 lovers out there but I had to admit this out loud! hahaha

Setting up our mag holders and holsters was a breeze since we are using our competition belts from Tuff Products and our current holsters and mag holders. Luckily we both have enough mags for our guns since there is no limit on how many you can have on you. We may have to get more mag holders in the future that would be dedicated for usage in USPSA competitions but for now what we had on hand worked fine.

Shooting between the rainstorms

We both shot the match the best we could, and aside from of us both having a couple of brain malfunctions, we did as well as expected for our first time. We weren't really concerned with trying to beat others as much as we were just out there to have a great time with our friends and fellow competitors. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, it rained on us nearly the entire match! At times it turned into more than just a light rain. It wasn't anything that a couple of waterproof jackets couldn't cure.

If you haven't tried USPSA yet we cannot recommend it enough. Even if you have another form of competitive shooting that you participate in or you are just getting into competitive shooting you will have a blast shooting a USPSA match!



Reloading while running to the next shooting position

Speaking of having a blast, we had such a great time a month ago that we decided to give USPSA a go again this past weekend. The decision to shoot this match was made at the last minute. We were attending a fundraiser on Saturday night for a friend of ours running for Constable when I brought up shooting the match to Christy. Ironically enough, just a few minutes later, we received a text from our friend John asking us if we were interested in shooting the match since he was going to.

As always we were now faced with the task of preparing our gear and cleaning our guns [well, I cleaned our guns] before the match the next day. As the name of our blog implies, a couple that shoots together means there is twice as much to get done and prepare.

We put our competition belts together and Christy's choice of gun was simple while I debated on whether to use the 1911 or the P226. I chose the 1911 again which turned out to be the wrong choice since I have new mags that I had not broken in yet. New single stack 9mm 1911 mags are not the best choice when it comes to doing speed reloads if the slide is not locked back. Every mag change was a challenge because of this.

Christy did very well [as always] and, despite struggling with a few select steel targets, she was High Lady for the match! I am proud of her, as always but I still take credit since I cleaned her gun and our mags! hahaha I did not get much sleep after packing our gear the night before plus it takes us a little over an hour to get to Temple Gun Club's range so we had to get up a lot earlier compared to when we do local matches. Four hours of sleep was definitely NOT enough since I was struggling throughout the match with fatigue and gun problems.

We were hoping the weather would be a little drier for our next USPSA match and it definitely was. Drier and hotter! This is the kind of weather we expect in Texas in the summer time. All in all we are both glad that we decided to do the match because we had an awesome time, learned a lot and enjoyed the camaraderie of our friends. Before we go shoot another match I am going to make sure l get enough sleep so I am functioning at 100%! As proud as I am of Christy I cannot have her beating me every match and I will eventually run out of excuses as to why she does beat me. Did I mention I cleaned her gun?

Shotgun Laser Engraving Video

Shotguns-Laser Engraving

Christy and I are getting into the sport of 3 Gun which has required us to rethink most of our gear and led us to purchase new shotguns. Now, as the Couple That Shoots Together that means everything is twice as expensive as we are gearing up for two but we are having fun getting everything ready to go. As you might have noticed from our posts about dyeing our mags and my competition belt set up that we like to customize our gear. Since Christy has our logo on her competition pistol we thought it would be fitting if we did something similar to our shotguns.

We happened to stumble on a small store near our house one day called Hip Flask Plus.They offer a large amount of products that can be custom engraved for very reasonable prices. You can also bring in your own items to be engraved which quickly peaked our interests as soon as we heard this. Next, we had to find out whether or not they would be willing to engrave firearms and firearm related gear to which we heard a resounding, "Yes"! That's all we needed to hear. The staff of the store is an enteresting cast of characters that are very friendly and very helpful and they were all about helping us come up with some ideas.

A couple of weeks later we packed up the shotguns and headed up there. As soon as we walked in we noticed they were swamped with customers so it looked bleak that we would be able to get the engravings done that day. One of their staff members, John,  who has helped us before approached us and we told him our idea for the shotguns. Without hesitation he quickly went to work on the design and had a proof for us to look at in no time. After a couple of tweaks to the design and the font he was ready to go.

We decided to get the extended magazine tubes engraved with our logo. We took the tubes off of the shotguns and handed them to John. We had to decide on the size of the font  which was hard to judge since it was going on a round tube. As John was getting the first tube lined up inside of the laser engraver, Christy and I both were starting to get a little nervous since this was not a cheap part and there was no going back once the laser started. We had faith in John so we gave him the green light to proceed.

We watched and filmed the first tube being done and the laser engraving process is fun to watch. Then, right before our eyes, our logo begins to appear. The more that appeared, the more excited we got. After one extra pass with the laser it was done and it looked great! We all three breathed a sigh of relief as the tube emerged from the machine. Now it was just a matter of repeating the process on the second tube which also turned out great!

We wanted to give a huge "Thank You" to the staff at Hip Flask Plus for getting us in at such short notice and for doing such a great job [and for keeping us entertained]. Now I just have to convince Christy to buy me the 3D wooden T-Rex head that they have for sale. I mean, my birthday IS in just a few days!

Watch the video of the engraving process here!

Freedom, The Movie

This past weekend Christy and I were on CMT [Country Music Television] in a show called "Freedom! The Movie". We were in a segment along with a few of our friends from the A Girl and a Gun women's shooting league. The host of the show was Billy Wayne Davis who is a professional comedian. Christy and the girls filmed a segment on a Saturday night and then we were at the range the next day filming Billy Wayne participating in his first shooting match. We had a great time with Billy Wayne and the film crew were great as well. Here is the link that will take you to CMT.com to watch the full movie:  

Watch: Freedom! The Movie 

Getting Fit

Gene and I are on a journey of getting fit. Not only do we want to be healthier, but we know it will improve our shooting skills and endurance. It has been a bit of a struggle for Gene because of the problems with his knee. We hope that the new doctor he is seeing can help him become more mobile and in less pain.

As of today I have lost 25 pounds. I am feeling so much better and have a lot more energy but I am not done yet. We are both a work in progress, but just like shooting we are there to encourage each other along the way.

Urban Moxy Concealed Carry Purse Review

Concealed Carry for women is all about options. There is not a one size fits all way to carry. One of my typical carry methods involves using an inside the waistband holster, but I do purse carry as well. Unfortunately, my job does not allow me to carry. When I am on my lunch break or leave the office to run errands I have to gun up and down in the car. There is something about putting my gun and holster on in the car that just doesn't float my boat if you know what I mean. This is one of the times that I choose to purse carry.

When I first started purse shopping a few years ago the only conceal carry purses I could find were, for lack of a better word, hideous. They were so bad that I chose to not buy one rather than carrying something so ugly. Over the next few years I saw a change in the market and some decent purses were finally being made.

Gene had bought me a conceal carry purse for my birthday that was made by a different company. I liked it at first, but just two months later the material on the straps began peeling off. Now, this purse wasn't cheap and was supposed to be leather. Needless to say I was not a happy camper. We were able to talk to the manufacturer at SHOT show last year. They told me that it was a known issue, but had been resolved. They were kind enough to ship me a replacement, but surprisingly the replacement did the same thing. This was a decent looking purse and I thought it had everything that I wanted.

Enter Urban Moxy. I saw their purses for the first time at the NRA Convention in Houston and I was totally in love. They are very stylish and have all of the features that I need for carrying my firearm and then some. The owner of the company is a woman. She had created the company from her own need to have quality concealed carry purses that she would actually like to carry. We had the pleasure of meeting her in person at SHOT Show this year. She is a really fun and down to earth person.

Let me tell you this woman thinks of everything. In addition to their purses being stylish, they each come with a holster pocket on the back of the bag that they call the "lock it pocket". Each purse comes with two keys to lock and unlock the zipper. The pocket is the only way to gain access to the firearm so the lock can be used to restrict someone from opening it.

The zipper has a fashionable bag chain which can be used to quickly open the pocket in case of an emergency. The inside of the pocket is made of thick water resistant neoprene which is angled to secure the gun in place. The pocket is a good size so the purses are not limited to tiny guns, but they do suggest that you measure your gun and check the sizing chart on their website prior to making a purchase.

I have two of their purses, Nicole and Sharon. The Nicole has an oyster shell color faux ostrich print. The Sharon that I have is solid black, but it is also available in royal blue. I was really tempted to get the blue one, but I played it safe and got black since it goes with well, you know, everything.

Both purses are very roomy and have lots of pockets to keep contents organized. They have a couple pockets in the front, to hold small items like lipstick and a cell phone. There is one zippered pocket in the back and a large zippered pocket/divider in the middle.

The Sharon comes with three straps. Two permanent ones and one longer strap that can be removed. I prefer to just use the two permanent straps myself. The Nicole only has two straps. They are significantly shorter that the Sharon, but more than long enough to be comfortable.

Both purses have chains on them. The Sharon has them on the permanent straps and Nicole has them around the top of the bag. The Nicole also has a cute lock as an embellishment hanging from the chain.  The lock is actually functional so the purse comes with a key made specifically for that lock. The lock can be opened to adjust the chain if desired. I can hear the chains jingle a little, but they aren't too noisy. I have had purses in the past with chains that were very loud to the point of annoying, but these purses are not like that.

I am very pleased with both purses in both functionality and style. If you are in the market for a concealed carry purse or know someone who is I suggest you check out Urban Moxy.