Putte Memorial - Nordic Open and Production Championships.

This match was my long awaited debut in Open division. I've had my new open gun since x-mas but the long winter delayed the practice season and once it started it turned out that my grip prevented proper brass ejection so I had to go with a 90 degree mount to make ejection work. The mount is a Skoog Custom. There are many opinions on the 90 degree mounts but with my so far limited experience with shooting open its the only way for me with the way I grip my gun.

I holstered the gun for the first time in early may for a day of practice and I managed to squeeze in another training day just a few days before heading to the match.

Dalmas4 - Infinity Signature Open - 9x19 - with the new Infinity magazines.

Since the match weekend clashed with the annual Bäckström clan get-together and golf tournament I was allowed to shoot the pre-match. Wille and I left Svedala at 06:00 for the 300km drive to Göteborg. The weather report did not look too promising. Since I had 510km to drive after the match i hoped for a early start so Wille and I could get on the road asap, it would not be the case this time. Pre-matches are often delayed and slow, due to the declining weather this would turn out to be one of the more demanding pre-matches.

I was a little nervous when we finally headed to the first stage, we started on stage 5 and 31 round long course. I was lucky to run into Brandon of Infinity firearms at the Infinity Euro Open in Germany a few weeks earlier, he was kind enough to supply me with a couple of the new Infinity magazines. In the long (170mm) I run 30 rounds, in the medium (140mm) I can get 24 and in the short (124mm) I run 21 rounds, all reloadable. I have the best equipment possible and it was time to try it to the limit from the start. 31 rounds, 15 paper and 1 popper, no reload... was that a sound plan for the very first stage in open... oh well no guts no glory.

Stage 5, 25A 6C - 15,90 - 6th 88,67% my second to best stage of the match.

The adrenaline rush after having shot that first stage was simply awesome, I was pretty pleased with both myself and my equipment, and being met by Wille saying "Go pappa" was simply fantastic. There were a few surprised faces that expected me to run dry...but not ;-)

We went onto stage 6 but it had to be rebuilt and it took a loooong time. When we finally got to the shooting it called for both strong and weak hand shooting... Strong hand went fine but holy crap I could have whipped a whole bucket of whipping cream trying to find the dot with the weak hand... By now it had started to rain and the camera was packed away.

Wille in his super-cart watching Wall-E on his iPhone and munching on some candy.

We hoped that the rain that arrived after only our second stage would go away after a short lunch break but no it would persist and get worse as the day grew older.

My plan was to shoot conservative and get my points and see how competitive my times would be, luckily I was shooting together with some of the really good open guys from the host club so it was very educational to compare their way of blasting a stage with my own way. I have ways to go yet and since I don't have a single explosive muscle fibre in my body I will have to rely upon smart movement rather than speed to become competitive. I was especially happy with how I moved on stage 12 using my height to my advantage even if it called for an ultra low port, but I shot a M on one of the half targets so it wouldn't be my best stage.

The rain really made it a mental test, and as the match ran later and later it became a test of tempers as well. I was getting a little stressed because I had the 5 hour drive after the match, but am pleased with myself for keeping a reasonably good focus on my shooting and never losing my good mood. Wille spent 11 hours on the range and most of it in heavy rain but I'm amazingly lucky with that kid, he did say all day that he wanted to get going to grandma' & grandpa's but he probably keep his good mood better than most others on the range. We finished the match with stage 3 & 4 two long coursed and the clock has passed 20:00, we ran through them without proper walkthroughs. This was the first time I understood why open shooters complain about water on the scope... on stage 4 it was more like looking at a kaleidoscope than just one dot.. Wille and I left the range at 20.24 for the drive to Sigtuna.. the 5 hour drive really really sucked... and I did finish last in our family golf tournament...

Dalmas4 - Infinity IMM Open - 9x19 - Skoog Custom mount. (click to enlarge) The new mags are identified by the Strayer Signature logo and caliber engraved on the side. The are slightly larger than the old ones.

The match was good but I did lack some target tempo shifting, and targets that require more precision. Stage 2 and 8 called for some precision shots but the long courses were mainly running and gunning at targets no more than 4 meters away, and that can be done just as fast with a production or standard gun.

I had hopped to do a little better but under the circumstances I'm pretty pleased with my first appearance on the open scene, I keep my cool the whole day and my equipment ran absolutely perfect, a special thanks to the rest of my squad that kept an eye on Wille while I shot.

As always I couldn't do this without the support of a great team and the fantastic support from Capsicum Danmark and Infinity Firearms with the absolutely best possible equipment.