Podcast: Play in new window
This article contains affiliate links.
At the end of 2024, I gave you an update on how I thought I did throughout the year across a few different areas. I also laid out a few goals for myself in 2025. You can can go back and read that update for yourself, but here were the main things I was looking to work on:
2025 Targets
- Compete in 4 to 6 competitions with pistol components
- 12% to 15% body fat percentage
- Earn radio general ticket and do three POTA activations
- Learn more gunsmithing skills
- Finish writing the book
So Let’s Talk
First off, let’s talk pistol shooting. My range sessions so far this year have all been pistol-focused. Be it testing different optics, as with the Shield AMS I reviewed a couple of months ago and the Shield RMSx I’m testing now (and quite enjoying). I’ve also participated in two of the Everyday Marksman postal matches. You can go back and look at the course of fire for the first one a few posts back, and the second one’s write up will hit after the match concludes at the end of April.
In all, while my practice and shooting sessions aren’t as frequent as I’d like, they are happening and I’m getting a good workout on my pistol shooting.
I’ve also been spending a good bit of time with my Beretta 92A1, recently back from Allegheny Arms after an extended stay in the hands of their gunsmiths. The end result is just beautiful, and easily makes it my favorite pistol in the safe. As for my latest purchase, the Springfield Armory 1911 Operator AOS, I’ve been experimenting with different grips to find a preference, and installing parts as they come in (like a Stan Chen SI mag well).
I’m not counting the postal matches towards my target matches this year, so it’s about time to get on that goal and go sign up.
Body Composition & Fitness
The goal at the start of the year was to drive down body fat percentage from ~18% to ~13%. I thought I would start the year off strong with a cut and make relatively short work of that. Unfortunately, I’ve had an unusually busy travel schedule for work and many social events that kept derailing me. After taking measurements and photos at the start of the month, I think I’ve only brought down the body fat by ~1%.
On one hand, I’d say that I could just double down and stick to some robotic discipline on this one (as I’ve done in the past), but there’s a complication. Aside from more upcoming travel, I also got cajoled into signing up for a Spartan Race Super 10k at the end of October, and I’ll be leading a team through training and the event itself.
I wrote up a plan that spans 26 weeks and gave it to the team to digest. My own training plan is different, making heavy use of my garage gym’s air bike and kettlebells. This program begins the first week of May and ends on the day of the event. Looking it over, I simply don’t think it would be desirable to do it while eating in a significant calorie deficit, so my goal is to worry less about losing weight and instead try to hold my current weight and train for success. We’ll see what happens.
Training for it should be a good time, though. I’ve worked out a system that blends barbell training, kettlebells, and general conditioning over 25 weeks.
Radio Skills
On radio front, I have not made progress towards actually getting my general ticket. However, the weather has been nice enough for me to practice setting up my HF antenna and going hunting for signals. The Yaesu FT-710 seems to work great for receiving so far. To make this goal work, I’m going to have to set aside dedicated time for studying and practice.
Writing the Book
I’ve made painfully little progress here. Given constraints on my time, leaving about 30 minutes a day to myself, I’m having a hard enough time just keeping up with the regular web site posts, much less getting deep in the weeds on writing the book. That said, I spent a fair amount of time learning the ins and outs of the publishing program I was going to use for actually designing the book layout. That will pay off later on.
If I was putting a finger on it, I think the main issue is indecisiveness over how deep into the rabbit hole to go on certain topics. As the book is meant to be an “all-in-one” work on everything I write about, there are some areas (like fitness) that broach into territory better occupied by actual coaches and trainers My challenge is to pick the right amount of detail that doesn’t come across like I’m trying to usurp their authority but is still helpful. The same could be said of the areas dealing with marksmanship and gear, though less so.
Speaking of Gear
You might be wondering how the ongoing turmoil in global trade and tariffs affect me and any upcoming reviews? Luckily, I’d say that it hasn’t been an issue so far, mainly because I’m so far behind on the reviews that I already need to write. That aside, I’ve been on such a “not made in China” kick that most gear and equipment isn’t changing much in cost for me.
The biggest issue is actually ammunition. Luckily, I’ve built up a solid stockpile of ammunition via Ammo Squared for now, but given how many commercial reloading components like primers and powder come from China, I expect prices to rise across the board for everyone.
Between the site and my writing for American Rifleman, I’ve got products from Vedder Holsters, Shield Sights, Swampfox, Palmetto State Armory, CZ USA, Henry Repeating Arms, Springfield Armory, and FN USA all on deck.
On the personal gear front, I put together a new chest rig configuration last year to try something a little more “maximalist” than what I typically suggest. That should be coming due for publishing soon.
Onward
So, going forward from here, I’ve got a busy Q2 in front of me. I have a guest post submitted that I need to get published (Sorry Pieter!) as well. All of my range time this year has been pistol-focused, but I do need get out to a longer rifle range soon for testing and evaluation of two rifles.
I’ve also been paying attention to trends in gear conversations. It seems like things are circling back around again in general, but I do think there’s room for me to experiment with something that I haven’t spent a whole lot of time with in the past: the inner/outer belt configuration. My current main belt is similar, but not quite nailing the concept. So that’s also something to look for.
Anyway, as always thank you for reading and I’ll see you out there1
