Pat Harrison

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Double Tap Open Blaster

I decided that this might be a good time to build a new  gun, my current Open blaster is 12 years old, built for me by Millenium custom by the late John DeAngelo. To start the 2010 season with something new seemed like a good idea. I had a number of parts in stock from past prize tables and trades, but needed a couple of components and someone to put it all together. I got to talking with Josko at Double Tap Sports, and he was willing to take on the job.  I spec’d the new gun based on the one Rob E. Had just acquired, the design looked promising and Rob was very pleased with it.

We started with the SVI IMM base gun that I already had and removed the top end. It was replaced with a Caspian slide, Schuemann  hybrid ribbed barrel, Millenium Custom 3 chamber comp, Aftec extractor and all the rest of the parts from EGW. I’ve always had good experiences with these manufacturers and had no doubt of their quality.

Since I wanted to keep the existing top end functional as a Steel Challenge or Bianchi Cup there would be an additional challenge to fitting the gun together. The old top end was just too hard to make Major with, and the longer barrel with less porting should work better for IPSC. For Steel, the short light IMM top end shooting minor should work fine.

We went with Tri-top cuts on the top of the slide with a lightening “swoop” at the rear, leaving enough material for a cocking handle. The slide was also cut for the hybrid rib on the Schuemann barrel. All the other parts were fitted, the barrel was chambered and two hybrid holes drilled into the barrel. The comp also got some additional ports cut to aid in tracking during recoil. The top end was fitted to the frame, but because of my requirement to keep the old top end, it had to be done the hard way with no modification to the frame, only the slide could be filed to fit...a bit of a challenge. The slide was dovetailed for the slide racker, then all edges were broken. I hate having sharp corners or edges on my guns, they get used a lot and I don’t need the additional wear on my flesh.

On the bottom end the grip was reshaped and skateboard tape permanently applied to it. The trigger guard was slightly undercut and again no sharp edges were left.  A Double Tap C-More scope mount was installed. This is one of the lowest and lightest scope mounts I have ever used!

Finally the gun was assembled and I took delivery. I must say I was very impressed with the fit of the gun. Everything was smooth and tight. In short it looked like a winner.

For my first trip to the range I took both guns, the old and the new. I really wanted to compare them side by side. The first thing I noticed was the additional weight of the new DT Open gun. It is a fair bit heavier than my previous one. The first rounds down range were a surprise as the new gun was considerably softer shooting than the old one. My Millenium was quite a bit more violent. I will note here that my loads were 8.5 grains of IMR 4756 which I shot at the USPSA Area 2 match. There they factored at 172PF which is around 1390fps. Due to the cold temps and the reverse temperature sensitivity of 4756, they were now going down the tube at 1500fps +/- . I now have dialled the load back and have  winter and summer major loads. Despite the fact that they were now factoring over 180PF the gun was very soft to shoot and the dot was tracking extremely straight, not only was the dot moving in a straight line, but this is the first Open gun I have ever had where the dot actually tracks straight up and down. The only issue I had was there was as much movement below the point of aim as there was above. This was my fault, I had told Josko to go ahead and put the gun together with a 10# Wolff recoil spring despite his warning that it would likely need to go as light as an 8# .If I really relaxed it would lift and settle to to point of aim, but even a little grip pressure would cause it to dip. Despite the fact that it was over sprung and I was using Slide Glide on a very cold day, the gun functioned perfectly. I put over 200 rounds through it that first day with no malfunctions. There is nothing more satisfying than a gun that goes bang every time! I was so pleased with it I replaced the spring with a ISMI 10# spring which was lighter than the Wolff 10# (don’t ask me why) and took it down to the WNYPPL match at the Tonawanda Sportsmans Club. I’d like to say I won it that first day but the timing of the gun still wasn’t quite right and I clearly had not gotten it quite sighted in properly. I did however win the classifier stage and the gun showed great promise, again, no malfunctions. Normally I would warn shooters against shooting a new gun in a match but this gun gave me a lot of confidence. When I returned I sheepishly got a new 8# Wolff spring from Josko and headed back to the range. Now the gun was tracking perfect.

Returning to Tonawanda this month the gun scored its first win including a very challenging stage that required quite a bit of precision shooting. Rob and I also scored  First and Second respectively with our Double Tap guns at the recent Brant match separated by less than a percentage point.

The more I shoot it the more pleased I am with how it turned out. When I get dialled into it, it will be a real winner.

If you are looking for a new blaster, give Josko a shout, you won’t regret it.

Pat Harrison