Shooting OPEN in Holland

My beat up old Charles Daly 1911 in .45ACP, fitted with a brand new OKO red dot sight and OKO mount.

As I've mentioned before, Dutch firearms Trading in Holland is making it possible for me to own a custom tuned Tanfoglio Gold Team 9mm. race gun. Getting it from there to here, however, has been far more time consuming than I ever imagined. The original plan was to have in here a couple of months before the European Steel Challenge Championships so I could get in a lot of practice. Then, take it back to Holland and shoot it in the Championships. However, we have completely run out of time. In fact, it's entirely possible the gun and I will pass each other on our way to or from Holland!

So, on to plan "B". Hans at Dutch firearms Trading will let me shoot his own personal Tanfoglio Gold Team in the match. That means I won't have any time to practice with it at all. My friend Lou has a Gold Team, and if possible we are going to try to get together on Monday morning so I can get in at least a little bit of practice.

Since I am a bit "rusty" when it comes to drawing from a holster in a hurry, I put together a practice gun, starting with an old Charles Daly 1911 that I used years ago to shoot bowling pins. I drilled and tapped the dust cover and tapped the holes to 8-32 thread, and drilled and countersunk  the brand new OKO mount to match. On top I mounted a new 6 MOA OKO red dot sight. Now I have something similar to the Tanfoglio that I can practice drawing, finding the dot, getting it on the target, and firing.

I went over to the Holmes Harbor range this morning and sighted in the OKO sight. I sure do like how quickly the OKO sights are to dial in. Much quicker than the C-Mores I used to use. After getting it adjusted, I practiced drawing and firing using the timer buzzer as a start signal. My times were nothing to brag about, but at least I was able to get it out of the holster and get a fairly accurate shot off with some consistency. In the time I was taking to draw and fire, the fast guys could probably draw, fire, re-holster, and pour a cup of coffee, but at least I think I'm on the right track. My biggest concerns are getting the first shot off smoothly and accurately with decent trigger control. Speed, as they say, will come. Not, however, in less than a week! I'll settle for smooth, slow, and accurate!

Time will tell...........