Yep, it really happened. I can't believe it either. My Shadow broke on me. It's always been well cared for and there's no doubt that the worst abuse it has seen as been from the recoil of somewhere around 4000 rounds so far since I got it. But it still broke on me.....
What broke you ask? Well, it was the rear support upright of the fiber front sight. Yep, she snapped clean off at the base and left the rear of the fiber to support the support.
It happened early today when I was shooting at my first ever competitive shooting event. While in mid string I noticed that the "square" front sight was now angled to a diamond position and that it was rotating a bit more with every shot fired. Not the most comforting thing to notice while trying to show off your marksmanship.... er...... are we allowed to say "marksMANship" in this PC age? Should I be saying markspersonship? Anyhow, I digress........
Talk about a surprise. Of all the things that I thought might break this was not even on my list. In looking at the break I noticed that it's all black so it is obviously plastic. I guess I'll be making up a steel replacement frame and transplanting the fiber.
On a more positive note I shot decently by my own expectations and even compared to the others. I wasn't the best but I was far from the worst. Not bad for someone shooting for only around 6 months so far. It was a speed steel event with most of the targets being 8 inch steel discs. There were also a few 12 inch discs as well as a couple of 18x24 "double tap" rectangles. Ranges to the discs varied from as little as 10 yards to up around 25 yards. Scoring was strictly on time. Every stage had 4 shots to white targets with one to a black "finisher" target. Shooting continues until all white targets in any order are tagged and the string is finished with a tag of the black target or a max time of 30 seconds is reached. Stages were sort of IPSC/IDPA influenced but without any movement. Shooting started from a 45 degree ready position.
OK, for some of you this is pretty small potatoes. But for me it marked the first time I've shot at anything other than paper. The soul satisfying sound of that steel "ting" was music to my ears....
