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3,659 rounds |
0 stoppages | 0 malfunctions | 0 parts breakages |
It was a banner week for the HK45, thanks in huge part to the incredible work of Tom Givens and the Rangemaster staff who put on the Rangemaster Polite Society Tactical Conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma this weekend.
One major accomplishment was taking home the champion trophy from the Conference’s pistol match. The match consisted of a series of tough standard exercises at ranges from 3-15 yards as well as three “scenarios” in which competitors had to engage the devious “Hard Head Ted” reactive targets sold by DVC Targets. Pictured at right is John Hearne, inventor and builder of the Hard Head Ted, shooting the first scenario with some of his targets — fully clothed and lethally armed with cardboard AKs and styrofoam Glocks — in the background.
Monday was spent getting in some practice with USSA‘s Close Quarters Tactics instructor Mike Brown. While best known for teaching good guys how to beat the snot out of bad guys, Mike is also an absolutely incredible shooter. He kicked my butt on Dave Sevigny’s Catch-22 and came within a hair’s breadth of earning a F.A.S.T. coin. Even though he’d never seen the drill before, he pulled off a 5.37, 5.28, then 5.12, all clean. No question, the next time I shoot with Mike, he’ll definitely be walking away with a challenge coin.
Speaking of the F.A.S.T., my three of the day were 4.64, 5.34, then 4.97 (all clean). That was my first “coin winning” run with the HK45 so obviously I was happy about that. We didn’t take the time to record the breakdown, though.
The astute among the pistol-training.com/HK45 fans will notice that the photo beginning this entry shows a holster that is obviously not the kydex Shaggy from Custom Carry Concepts. For a year and a half, a small group of AIWB (appendix inside the waistband) advocates has been working with Mark Garrity of Garrity’s Gunleather to produce a leather AIWB holster that met a number of requirements in terms of concealability, comfort, speed, and security. Last Friday I received the latest prototype from our project. It’s incredibly comfortable — even more than the Shaggy, believe it or not — and almost as fast. I wore it all weekend, including while shooting the Tactical Conference match. There is still one more little tweak I’d like to see, but I really believe this long-promised holster will finally be coming to market soon.
Plenty of opportunity to evaluate the Garrity AIWB this coming week as the HK45 & I drive from Tulsa to Kansas City and then down to Oklahoma City for next weekend’s Aim Fast, Hit Fast class.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
Previous HK45 Endurance Test posts at pistol-training.com:
- Week Two
- Week One
- Announcement
That holster looks awesome, I WANT!!! I’d take two, one for the P30 and one for the HK45.
Whew – I was trying to get in touch with Wayne, and hadn’t gotten any reply. I wondered if everything was ok with him… Great looking holster. I would definitely like to compare it with the Shaggy I use!
Strong work, Todd, congratulations! This is especially impressive since you’ve been shooting HK45 only for 3 weeks and given a very strong competition. I’ve shot with Wayne before and I am not a bit surprised he broke 6.0. I won’t be surprised if he gets a coin one day.
Anyway, taking championships of such kind is a best testament to validity of techniques and methods that you teach.
Re AIWB: it did get to the point that I became interested; will be getting a Shaggy for my P7M8 in 4 weeks or so. I don’t think it is a great platform for AIWB, but I’ll try…
Hey Todd,
What do you think of the single stack mags? Do you think HK made the right choice to make the mag capacity smaller? Would you rather take a larger grip size for more bullets in the mag?
new holster is nice
eXtreme0327 – The magazines are not single stack, it’s a staggered design similar to the M&P45. A single stack .45 magazine would have been as long as a 1911 10rd mag.
Todd,
How did you come about using aiwb holsters?
Do you use kydex holsters for idpa?
Thanks,
joe
joe — I started using aiwb holsters back during the M&P9 test. While it is admittedly a little dicey with a striker fired pistol, I’m very comfortable carrying this way with a hammer fired gun because I can control the hammer as I holster.
I haven’t shot IDPA since I began carrying aiwb because that type of holster is not allowed in the game.