Shooters Log: Picking My Gun & Prepping for April Match

I love my sport of choice, but like many sports, it ain't cheap. I hope to one day soon start reloading my own ammunition so it can become more affordable for practice sessions and matches alike. Let's face it, the only way you get better at anything is to practice, practice, practice. Until that reloading day comes I'm stuck buying off-the-shelf ammo like most people. The cost of said ammo, along with the cost of the firearm itself, is what lead me to my first 9mm purchase, the Taurus PT 24/7 DS Pro. Which, by the way, can be had now for about $40 less than I paid for it at the end of last year.

Some will scoff at my choice and say you should have bought a Glock or a Smith & Wesson M&P, or a Springfield XDm, blah, blah, blah. Hey, all of those are great guns no doubt, but they're also almost twice the price of my little much-maligned Taurus. I have to tell you, that PT 24/7 so far is eating everything I feed it, including the cheapest of all ammo, the steel-cased Russian made TulAmmo! Don't worry shooters, I only use that for practice sessions. The Taurus spits the cheap stuff and to the good stuff out about as accurately as anyone could ask. My definition of accurate: Hits whatever I point it at. (If I mess up the pointing part, that's not the gun's fault.)

The Taurus (pictured right) has a 17 round magazine of which I carry 4 fully loaded during the matches. Learned very quickly last season that it's far better to have more than you need on any given stage than to run out of ammo while in the middle of the stage. Penalty points deducted from your score can make what started off to be a pretty descent run into a nightmare real quick.  I'm still looking for the perfect holster and magazine pouch combination, I'll find it eventually, but what I'm using now works. This Taurus has the 4" barrel, I thought about getting the model with a 5.5" barrel which would have been easier to aim, but the 4" still makes it a decent size carry piece.

This Saturday is the first Saturday of April and that means it's time for our second club match of the season, cross your fingers for some good weather. That also means the Taurus gets a good scrubbing and lube this week. Who doesn't enjoy that?

If you would like to join us, or if you're looking for a good instructor or you just need a place to shoot, go to TexarkanaGunClub.org for more information.

Below are a few highlights from the March match.