Well, it's been a while so there's LOTS to catch up on ...

First order of business -- new additions to the family.  In my last post, I discussed my desire to take Tanner's up on an offer that seemed too good to pass up.  I think the day after I made that post, I came home with this:

Yep, that's a SIG 556 Classic battle rifle with a rotary diopter rear site.  The price on these things fell about 40% in the past 8 months.  The biggest reasons for the price drop seem to be (1) the rifle is about 1.5 lbs heavier than a standard AR-15 (8 lbs total), it lacks the standard AR-15 quad rails, upon which accessories (such as vertical shooting handle, tactical lights, etc.) can be easily added, and (3) it was way overpriced to begin with (the former pre-drop price was nearly double that of a decent, entry level AR-15).  I personally find the styling and enhanced AK-47 shooting action too cool to resist, though will eventually be looking to add a standard AR-15 to my collection as well.

In other news, I also finally broke down and purchased a full-sized gun safe.  I opted for the Browning Theftguard.  A stock photo with someone else's collection is shown here:

Now I can stop storing my rifles under the bed and my ammo and other gear in the closet.  Cyn is happy.

Since my last post, I shot an official IDPA classifier.  It wasn't as fun as an IDPA fun match (where you can shoot moving targets, from cars, etc...) but it's a good test of skill and is plenty entertaining.  The classifier is designed to test a standard IDPA skill set (reloading, shooting from different distances, from both hands, moving frontward and back, etc...) while using a pre-determined set of stages to help differentiate your skill level and give you a standard measure upon which to improve.

I was pleased to classify as "Marksman," but a little disappointed that I could have classified at the next level ("Sharpshooter") if I had made up about 13 more points by slowing down a little early in the match and focusing a little more on accuracy.  My scores can be seen here.

Finally, I added a Storm Lake match barrel and an Apex Tactical forward set sear and trigger kit to the S&W M&P 9mm I use for IDPA shoots.  Here's what she looks like now:

That's enough for now.  I'll be back later to post range reports from both the SIG 556 and the M&P with the new barrel and trigger.  As a preview, I'll say for now that I am really happy with both.