Mats "Dalmas" Bäckström

"Thumb Rest"

I’ve been lucky to have the best possible equipment from the start of my relatively short shooting career. I shot my first SVI in 2000, a club member had an extra SVI that he didn’t like much so I was allowed to borrow it indefinitely. At that time I had no clue what an SVI was, I wanted a Colt but this would do until I could afford a Colt. I’ve grown wiser since ;-)

I eventually bought that gun (Bettan) and have used it exclusively since I started with IPSC in 2003. In early 2004 I sent it to Maurice Drummen in Holland to have a trigger job done and a custom thumbrest made. That gun has now fired some 80 000 live rounds and probably more than 750 000 dry clicks. The trigger job is still one of the best I’ve ever tried and the gun is running perfect. I did have some problems and experienced some costly malfunctions during 2006 but after changing a few worn parts it’s now its old self again.

In May of this year I received my new gun (Bubba) thanks to Capsicum Danmark. Norwegian Champion Even Skaarer says you need two of everything so it is a fantastic relief to finally have a primary and backup gun. Having two guns I did do some test to find out if there was a difference between shooting a gun with my custom grip and thumb rest compared to one with out. Eventhough my tests where not fully carried out I could feel that I really liked my custom grip and thumbrest so it was not a hard decision to have that made for Bubba.

The custom grip was no problem because I make it myself. I did do it slightly smaller than the original and that turned out to be by far the best grip I’ve ever made, I will redo the grip on Bettan to match the one on Bubba, it is that good. The thumbrest was a different story, no shops stock my style of thumb rest so I had to find someone that could produce it for me. About the same time Kristian Pedersen quit his job as gunsmith for Hunters House to open his own gunsmithing business, www.vaabensmeden.dk I contacted him about my idea and he whole heartedly took it on to make me a custom thumbrest.

Kristian started with a solid block of aluminium.

Hmm a little better than my Dremel... but just.

My original thumbrest is made of steel and quite heavy, I wanted the new one lighter so aluminium was the only economically viable choice of material. Kristian set out with a solid block of aluminium and started working on our design. Less than a week after starting the project I was contacted by Kristian who told me that the thumbrest was ready. I couldn’t wait to try it out. The shelf was at a steeper angle for the thumb to easier apply force without pushing the barrel into trouble. The shelf was also larger than the original thumbrest. It looked and felt fantastic. It did look to be slightly too large but we had no box to test it in, but I was on my way to Finland for the Nordic Championships and they had two boxes waiting for me, along with a Dremel…. After 30 minutes of cutting the magwell, safety and thumbrest I managed to force Bubba into the box and was ready to test the setup up live in a match. Changing something major just minutes before a major match might not be the smartest thing but I had bigger matches in the near future so although the timing was bad it was less bad. I shot the match poorly but none of that can be blamed on the gun, it was a dream to shoot.

Custom ThumbRest
Damn good, its also a god pic of the Mitchel Custom Mag Release

I’ve had a few malfunctions with the new gun during the summer, all of them during matches, two really expensive ones during the European Championships. I tried different springs, buffers and extractors but none cured the problems until I was told to check the brass I was using. It has irregularities in lengths. With that solved the gun has performed perfectly.

Right now, at this moment in time I have not fired a better gun in my life. Thanks to www.capsicumdanmark.dk , www.vaabensmeden.dk and Dalmas custom (:-)) I have the best of the best. Now all focus is to get the driver up to par with the equipment….

A few more pictures.

Bubba - The best gun I've ever fired, and its mine...

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		"Thumb Rest" I’ve been lucky to have the best possible equipment from the start of my relatively short shooting career. I shot my first SVI in 2000, a club member had an extra SVI that he didn’t like much so I was allowed to borrow it indefinitely. At that time I had no clue what an SVI was, I wanted a Colt but this would do until I could afford a Colt. I’ve grown wiser since ;-) I eventually bought that gun (Bettan) and have used it exclusively since I started with IPSC in 2003. In early 2004 I sent it to Maurice Drummen in Holland to have a trigger job done and a custom thumbrest made. That gun has now fired some 80 000 live rounds and probably more than 750 000 dry clicks. The trigger job is still one of the best I’ve ever tried and the gun is running perfect. I did have some problems and experienced some costly malfunctions during 2006 but after changing a few worn parts it’s now its old self again. In May of this year I received my new gun (Bubba) thanks to Capsicum Danmark. Norwegian Champion Even Skaarer says you need two of everything so it is a fantastic relief to finally have a primary and backup gun. Having two guns I did do some test to find out if there was a difference between shooting a gun with my custom grip and thumb rest compared to one with out. Eventhough my tests where not fully carried out I could feel that I really liked my custom grip and thumbrest so it was not a hard decision to have that made for Bubba. The custom grip was no problem because I make it myself. I did do it slightly smaller than the original and that turned out to be by far the best grip I’ve ever made, I will redo the grip on Bettan to match the one on Bubba, it is that good. The thumbrest was a different story, no shops stock my style of thumb rest so I had to find someone that could produce it for me. About the same time Kristian Pedersen quit his job as gunsmith for Hunters House to open his own gunsmithing business, www.vaabensmeden.dk I contacted him about my idea and he whole heartedly took it on to make me a custom thumbrest. Kristian started with a solid block of aluminium. Hmm a little better than my Dremel... but just. My original thumbrest is made of steel and quite heavy, I wanted the new one lighter so aluminium was the only economically viable choice of material. Kristian set out with a solid block of aluminium and started working on our design. Less than a week after starting the project I was contacted by Kristian who told me that the thumbrest was ready. I couldn’t wait to try it out. The shelf was at a steeper angle for the thumb to easier apply force without pushing the barrel into trouble. The shelf was also larger than the original thumbrest. It looked and felt fantastic. It did look to be slightly too large but we had no box to test it in, but I was on my way to Finland for the Nordic Championships and they had two boxes waiting for me, along with a Dremel…. After 30 minutes of cutting the magwell, safety and thumbrest I managed to force Bubba into the box and was ready to test the setup up live in a match. Changing something major just minutes before a major match might not be the smartest thing but I had bigger matches in the near future so although the timing was bad it was less bad. I shot the match poorly but none of that can be blamed on the gun, it was a dream to shoot. Damn good, its also a god pic of the Mitchel Custom Mag Release I’ve had a few malfunctions with the new gun during the summer, all of them during matches, two really expensive ones during the European Championships. I tried different springs, buffers and extractors but none cured the problems until I was told to check the brass I was using. It has irregularities in lengths. With that solved the gun has performed perfectly. Right now, at this moment in time I have not fired a better gun in my life. Thanks to www.capsicumdanmark.dk , www.vaabensmeden.dk and Dalmas custom (:-)) I have the best of the best. Now all focus is to get the driver up to par with the equipment…. A few more pictures. Bubba - The best gun I've ever fired, and its mine...