"Some assembly required" may be the most frightening words in the English language, especially when I'm not familiar with the thing I'm trying to accomplish the "some assembly" on. This year, I've moved through some accomplishments that were, frankly, biggies for me in shooting. I shot in a real national handgun competition and neither embarrassed myself or shot anyone, shot my .50 BMG 1,000 yards and hit my target-twice, and actually changed some internal components in a handgun that continues to operate reliably. Unfortunately, not everything worked out as simply as these three big items. To shoot in real competition, I needed real competition shooting gear. I had eyes, ears and a reasonable facsimile of what a competition shooter would wear. But I was woefully unprepared when it came to the basic matter of how to carry my pistol and ammunition. Fortunately, my problem came to the attention of Matt Foster at Safariland. Graciously, Matt provided me the basics of competition handgun shooting....belt, holster, and mag pouches.

Safariland's competition gear is on par with any. But you need to really READ the instructions before you start opening packages.

Holy cow, competition rigs don't operate like the basic belt and holster rigs I'm accustomed to. These rigs are made to allow for an almost inconceivable amount of customization of the rig to the shooter. The rig uses Safariland's ELS (Equipment Locking System) and allows you to set the position of a piece of gear on your gunbelt, then remove it- or exchange pieces to put them in your chosen location, but vary the accessory for the competition (think interchanging rifle/pistol magazines or practical versus "open" holsters). And it's not just a belt anymore. The Competition Belt has no buckles and relies on the underbelt. It sounds complicated, but you're basically holding your trousers up with a belt that's essentially a velcro belt. The Competition Belt's inside is the opposite of the hook-and-loop of the underbelt. Adjust the underbelt the way you want it and simply wrap-on the competition belt. Both are securely in place -and you're not burdened with two thick belts. The other attachments are via the ELS, allowing you to mount holsters or mag pouches wherever you'd like. You can also hang at angles ranging from straight (my holster) to completely horizontal (my last pistol mag). When you don't need that piece of gear, simply remove it from the ELS and set it in your range bag. When you decided to add it back, it'll go in exactly the same place- at exactly the same angle.

A competition holster system looks pretty simple when worn by real shooters like (l to r) Todd Jarrett, Lisa Munson, Julie Goloski-Golob, Phil Strader, TD Roe, Rob Leatham, Matt Cheely, and Kippi Leatham. For them, the whole competition process is second-nature. For me, it's not.

The process, however, is considerably more complicated if you don't read the instructions or lack the ability to transfer a straightforward instruction onto a piece of equipment. My inability to visualize causes me to use the empirical learning method: try it, take it apart, look at it for a few minutes, try again - and then ask a family member to take a look. At that point, they glance at the drawing, assemble the device - correctly-on the first try, and I copy their method until it makes sense for me. Once the rig was assembled, I went to the range, set my timer to count down from my best time with my normal rig, and started playing beat the clock. It was one of those a-ha experiences. The first few dry fire runs, I narrowly beat my best time to draw, aim and break the first shot. After that, I never looked back. The gear was always in the same position, meaning I didn't fumble, I just put my hands on the pistol or magazine and moved on. Unfortunately, that new-found confidence evaporated under the pressure of performance before bleachers full of spectators. The gear performed as promised, but the shooter was two-tenths of a second too-slow to advance to a final round. There's no excuse offered on the performance. In fact, the combination of the new gear and the excitement of shooting in front of a crowd has caused me to commit to that event - and a couple of others - in 2011. Moral of the story? Get your equipment "right" - and then stick with it. Practice dry firing, drawing, loading and unloading until it becomes a natural action. Then, go to the range and repeat the same actions -including the first shot. Advance from one shot to two, then move yourself to the point you're moving -smoothly- through a course of fire. At that point, keep working until you're able to repeat the initial steps without even thinking about them. You'll be a better shooter in every instance. You'll probably also be hooked on competition shooting, too - and that's not a bad thing, either. --Jim Shepherd