Blog

After watching Wizard at his first IDPA match, I decided to give it a go this month.  I pretty much went with his initial goals in mind (don’t shoot yourself, don’t shoot anyone else, don’t get DQ’d, don’t come in last).   Well, the “don’t come in last” part was more of a “it would be really nice if, but I’m not going to kid myself” kind of thing.  Oh, and avoid procedural deductions.  The better shot placement and moving/getting set up in a hurry are hard things to work on, but I’m an adult and should be able to follow directions.

I took the Px4 along so that I could shoot in the same class as Wizard with his Glock.  My XDm is a true SA pistol, and therefor in a different category, and I still haven’t obtain the extra mags required for my Bersa.  Conveniently, I was at the range Saturday morning with Naienko’s father and got some last minute trigger time with the Px4, which was a good thing.

I have to admit, I was slow at just about everything.  This was partially intentional since I had little clue what I was doing.  I wish I could say that this meant that I was dead on target with all my shots, and that I didn’t hit any non-targets, but I’d be a liar.  I’m definitely going to need more practice, but what else is new.

I did have two malfunctions while running the stages.  The first one (on the first shot of the first stage, no less) was purely operator error.  I failed to disengage the safety when I reholstered the gun after “make ready.”  You guessed it.  Timer went off, I unholstered, aimed, and nothing… not even a click.  After a second or so I realized what had happened, cursed myself, flipped the switch and went on.

The second one actually saved me from what would have been my only procedural of the day.  I was supposed to shoot two targets twice in sequence (hit one once, then the other at least once).  I shot the first one, then tried to shoot it again when I had a failure to feed.  I think I didn’t slap the magazine in all the way, since the round wasn’t even stripped out of the mag.  In the time it takes me to do a tap and rack, I hear someone yelling “right!” (I had shot the left target).  I quickly engaged the correct target and went on.

Oddly enough, the two stages where I had mechanical or operator problems were the two that I did best compared to everyone else.  Not sure what that means.

Obviously, I failed to put any extra holes in anyone (including myself), and I also failed to get DQ’d (although, one of the regulars did for turning the wrong way).  Oh, and the not coming in last?  I actually beat somebody!  Go me!  I was second to last!  Third to last if you include the guy that got DQ’d!

Recovering from a sinus infection, wife’s car in the shop, and the magically-tripling-hospital-bill have taken precedence over the blog. Here’s a picture of my newly suppressed P22 as a consolation:

It took 299 days since the day I ordered it, and 190 days since I went pending, but I just got the call from my dealer that my paperwork has come back.

I (well, my trust) now own a .22 suppressor. Picking it up tomorrow today. (ETA: Couldn’t wait. My Precious!)

Sending off a new Form 4 for a 7.62 can shortly. Based on the trend, I suspect it’ll be about 9 months to get it approved.

It’s not just you.

It’s definitely taking longer now than it did a year ago. The author thinks that about a year ago a new process was put in place, and that process is creating a backlog. It’s not just that more people are buying NFA items.

This may, or may not, be intentional. At this early point in his analysis, it appears that for every 2.5 days you wait, that adds 1 day to the processing time.

So if you submit your paperwork on June 30th as opposed to June 1st, you won’t get it 30 days later than someone who submitted on the 1st: it’s more like 42.

And the trend is getting worse. In February, the increase was one day every three days. Even if the trend is steady now, that still means that paperwork submitted a year from now will take 146 days longer than something submitted today.

I do agree that at some people, perhaps a significant portion, will not put up with 18-month or two-year wait times. Supply, demand, some assembly required.

I’m still waiting on my stamp, but I expect it in the next week or so. I went pending in mid-November.