Rocket's Journal

Updates and review

2009-10-28T07:37:00.000-07:00

This year has been quite a year! Although the year is not over, much of my shooting is for the season. I will continue to train and maybe make a match or two.

I have had a banner year in the match attendance department. I was able to attend 5 Championship level and 21 club level matches so far this year. I have also began shooting Steel Challenge and am having fun with that.

New Mexico Section Championship:

I was able to come out on top and win high overall in Limited 10 at the Sectional. I had my share of trouble during the match and was in the process of moving. So I am pleased that I was able to stay on track and focus sufficiently enough to win. I had my gun bumped out of my holster during the match, resulting in it crashing to the ground and knocking the rear sight loose. But after cleaning and some maintenance, the gun was up and running again. I overcame some things in this match where I have struggled in the past so the win was satisfying.

Evike.com:

http://airsoftpost.com/

Evike has continued to be very supportive to me and my Airsoft Training interests. This training has alot to do with my accomplishments this year and their support makes that possible. I have been afforded the opportunity to receive and review two pistols for them as well as several other training videos. Videos can be viewed on my YouTube page in the Training as well as the Reviews and Tips play lists. They have also increased the "rocket" discount code to a 15% savings. Thanks to all of the Evike staff for all their continued support!

BAM Airsoft:

http://www.bamairsoft.com/

More awesome support has come from Burt and Martin. They make the very best Airsoft targets on the market and have innovated the field. They have been very generous in sponsoring my need for many targets to include static, TX Star and Pendulum target systems. They have been great and provide and invaluable service to the Airsoft community.

Airsoft Training:

I have been focusing my training to Steel Challenge practice as of late in preparation to next year's events. I want to get some solid training in, and be familiar with the stages prior to shooting a Championship level event. My training so far has been wonderful and I feel is just the ticket to practice and not go broke in the process! I have also gain an immeasurable amount of confidence and skill improvement practicing on the BAM Airsoft Texas Star target system! This is huge. The TX Star has been a nemesis for quite sometime. But now I feel I have mastered it through training on it while airsoft. I am patiently awaiting a swinger type target to practice with as well. This is another target I could use more practice on at longer ranges.

So, other than local club matches that should take care of getting caught up. I have been quite busy moving and other issues in my personal life as well as a banner year for matches, sponsorship and training activities. It has been exciting to say the least! :-]

Getting back to posting.....

2009-10-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

Yup been quite a flurry of activity this summer and fall. But I will be getting my blog caught up again with updates and current postings. Mostly it will be on training notes. But there may be some new developments and match notes as well. So stay tuned and I will be caught back up in no time. ;-)

Group Shooting Training

2009-08-10T11:52:00.000-07:00

After talking with a shooter online that was interested in what I would suggest for training for accuracy. I told him about the group shooting drills I have done in the past. These are my "go to" drills for accuracy. While I don't have a barricade to use currently. I stuck to just shooting freestyle, strong hand only and weak hand only.

Freestyle groups were fired from 25 yards on an "open" target (no hard cover or no-shoot) and the strong and weak hand only groups were fired from 20 yards. I haven't done groups shooting in far to long. So I kept the distances reasonable for ego sake! LOL

I shot 100rds Freestyle and 50rds from each of the strong hand and weak hand positions. Results were up and down.

I felt good at my strong hand and weak hand only groups. I shot all A-zone hits save for 3 C-zone hits from each position. Some of the groups were actually quite tight!

Freestyle was a little more humbling in my opinion. I felt I should be able to keep all the shots in the A-zone. Considering when shooting groups, you have ALL the time in the world right? Well, that being the case, there are inconsistencies with muscle twitches and trigger control issues. But that is why we need to get out and practice group shooting. I shot 7 C-zone hits out of 100. The rest were A-zone hits. While not bad, I was disappointed. So, I want to get out there and do more work shooting groups.

I am gonna use some hard cover and or no-shoot targets as well to add a little challenge. This also teaches me what I need to see to shoot a quality shot in those scenarios.

Well I am off to do some strength training now. ;-) Need to start running sometime too. %-)

New Sponsor & Airsoft Training

2009-08-09T12:54:00.000-07:00

Recently I approached Evike.com about sponsoring my training with Airsoft products and they agreed to help me out. A big thank you goes out to Julie and Evike.com for your support. I appreciate everything and I feel I can help support their company through directing the many people interested in an affordable alternative to live fire training for USPSA competition.

Today I set up the camera and did some basic drills. I worked on unloaded gun starts from a table and a standard drills reloading from the belt.

Training went well. Even with monkeying around with the camera. :-) I shot about 360 rounds today. I shot the steel really well. Hits on target were pretty good as well. All considering my mind was more on videoing and making a video for uploading to YouTube.

I think I really got the point across to go to Evike.com! LOL Check it out below:

Freedom Gunworks paint job

2009-07-27T14:44:00.000-07:00

Today I received my new grip from Bobby at Freedom Gunworks. I had to reinstall a pin in the new grip to deactivate the grip safety. But other than that it was pretty straight forward. Now all my gear will match a bit better and not clash so bad. LOL

Airsoft Training

2009-07-15T08:48:00.000-07:00

Today was focused on longer range shooting. I set distance to targets at 11 yards. With the miniture targets, that roughly mimic'd a distance of 25 yards visually. At this distance the airsoft gun looses it's accuracy. Especially when low on gas. So the results are more humbling. But this definitely puts a premium on accuracy! I could see some of the bb's fly wildly when fired resulting in hits that where not where I had aimed.

I set up two hard cover paper targets and two mini pepper popper targets. Here is what the target array looked like:

I fired 360 rounds today. I practiced target transitions left to right and right to left. I also varied start position from hands at sides draw and surrender draw. I shot 120 rounds for groups. Firing twelve-10 shot groups. All shots today were fired freestyle. I am faster shooting left to right. Most likely due to being right handed and right eye dominant. I can pick up the targets faster in that direction.

I had great sight focus and awareness and called every legitimate miss along with the wild flyers do to gear limitations. I logged 7 misses on paper and 7 missed shots on steel. In all honesty, five paper misses and 4 steel misses where gear induced. So that leaves the 5 other misses that I am resposible for. Which is still acceptable shooting at hard cover and mini steel targets at about 25 yards. I still will work to improve that figure. I will have to get out with live match ammo and work at this distance and beyond to futher train on accuracy.

Airsoft Training

2009-07-14T09:12:00.000-07:00

Today's work involved no-shoots and head shot only drills. I placed 3 targets with 3 no-shoot penalty targets in front to obscure the targets.

I worked on drills freestyle, strong hand only, weak hand only. I also practiced some speed draws and mozambique drills.

All done, I fired 250 rounds. I only had one miss/no-shot hit. The rest were all A-B-C zone hits. I really focused on seeing the sight and lead with my eyes well today. From the results, I can see how well I have improved in this area.

I would have liked to use more distance on the targets to enhance the premium on accuracy, but my training area didn't allow that option. I will work on doing more long range training as soon as time and availability permit.

Airsoft Training

2009-07-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

Spent time with the kids all last week so I didn't get out and train. But today, I managed to log in a 240 round session on two slanted hard cover targets and three pepper poppers

Today's training consisted of freestyle, stronghand only and weakhand only drills. I also varied the starting hand position.

No real issues with the airsoft gun and equipment. Basically fill the mags with bb's and gas, shoot, let them warm in the NM sun while I shot the next mag. By time I was through 4 mags and filled them up again they ran fine.

Results were average. I had 1 missed shot on steel stronghand only and 2 missed shots on steel weakhand only. I pushed the envelope on the speed in training as usual. But I have noticed an improvement on the steel shooting skills. Paper targets yielded good hits.

There is a prop offered by Cabela's that I found interesting and would help improve my Texas Star shooting skills. It seems pretty interesting and may be something I aquire in the future.

Product Description:

Explosive shooting fun results when you test your skill against this rotating target holder. The wheel holds nine VisiChalk targets on a sturdy metal frame, and rotates when a target is hit to increase the challenge. With adjustable legs, you can set the unit up on uneven ground. Hits produce a cloud of colorful nontoxic, biodegradable chalk dust visible at long range. Includes 18 colored target discs.

Freedom Gunworks, Inc.

2009-07-06T22:29:00.000-07:00

Bobby Keigans of Freedom Gunworks has joined the Rudy Project family in sponsoring the team. This comes as a great honor and benefit to both companies. I am excited in the agreement since I talked with Bobby about customizing a grip for me in a Rudy Project color scheme.

Thanks Bobby for your support and I look forward to supporting your business!

Rain...uuurrgh!

2009-07-03T06:36:00.000-07:00

It's raining today dammit. So I will have to suspend my training outside today. I will just have to dryfire and practice reloads. Load some ammo and take care of various erronds today. I planned on doing some livefire today to varify my zero and get used to shooting match loads. Oh well.

It has been a "wet" season this year, so I will have to make the best of what mother nature gives us. There is a match tomorrow and the forcast looks good. Sunny and in the 90's. So I will look forward to that.

Airsoft Training

2009-07-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

Got out again today and primary focus was on accuracy at speed. By that I mean I didn't slow down to get "hits", I turned up my vision. This is key I believe. In competition, you can't give any time to your competition. You need to see faster.

Results were favorable. I was able to pick up the sight faster with confirmed hits and followthrough. I shot 252 rounds today on two mini hard cover targets and two mini pepper poppers at about 6 yards. The mini targets simulate the distance of about 12 yards.

Today's training yielded 246 A zone hits, 4 C zone hits and 2 missed shots. Every shot taken on steel was a hit and no "make up" shots were taken throughout the training. As I mentioned I didn't slow down, I just focused on seeing faster.

I don't recall calling those missed shots, so I need to sharpen my attention on calling my shots 100% of the time. Two of them got away from me.

I also focused on proper followthrough. I think I have gotten sloppy on that skill in the past. So I will be training to see faster, call my shots, and followthrough 100% of the time. Simple right?! lol

Oh I forgot to mention that I shot 48 rounds strong hand only and 48 rounds weak hand only also. So that makes these results more satisfying. ;-)

Airsoft training

2009-07-01T09:09:00.000-07:00

Well I finally got the airsoft out again and all seemed to work well, except for one magazine that has a bad fill valve. But I have 4 other magazines that got me through my 194 round training.

I set up 4 hard cover targets, 1 open target and 2 small pepper poppers that I made. I set up two hard cover targets straddling two poppers in one array and then two more hard cover targets straddling an open target in another array about 7 yards apart. Distance to targets was 4-5 yards using miniture targets.

I worked on moving through the first array, then exploding to the next array. I slowed the movement to engage the next array. All target engagement was made on the move. I pushed the speed on 4 different drills with varying starting positions to include hands on wall, back to targets.

I had a total of 5 missed shots over the course of the 194 round training. 4 hard cover misses and 1 missed shot on the steel.

I didn't use a timer, but feel like my runs were pretty solid in the "time" department. I can see doing this type of training often and wasn't bothered so far with neighbors at the apartment setting. Hopefully this will continue, because it is so convenient to walk five paces out my door to train!

High Desert Classic

2009-06-10T09:30:00.001-07:00

Well I had a good time overall. Felt kinda rushed to shoot the match in one day so I could RO the rest of the match. I enjoyed meeting more Brian Enos members and getting back in touch with other friends. All in all a great match despite the incredible winds on Saturday.

Conditions were quite windy and blowing sand kept most competitor's and gear wrapped up. Saw alot of malfunctions, gear and mental, throughout the match do to those conditions I think.

My match was one of embarrassment I think. I had several missed shots that plagued me through out the match. I just wasn't seeing what I needed to see to make the proper shots. I do remember several times when I was making up shots on steel that the sights were aligned on target. So I must have been pulling the shot. I need to work on that more in practice. Which brings up the point that I need to practice more. I have laid off practicing because of a wavering supply of primers. But need to invest the time somewhere somehow.

Stage 1:
I was hurrying to shoot through on this stage and it cost me. I see a couple better ways to have shot this stage after reviewing the video. I also went to the wrong port to engage some steel and had a few extra shots. I had a big jam caused from bad ammo that I later found out wouldn't fit the gauge. And ran dry at the end of the stage. This is where the "mike" came from. I should have taken the time to thoroughly walk the stage and get prepared. That would have helped alot. But that jam would have been there. I am gauging all ammo from now on!

Stage 2:
Again I rushed to finish the match and shot this stage without a proper walkthrough. This is not an excuse and my fault. But I had another big jam do to bad ammo and it came at a really bad spot. Right when I stepped on the activator! So the clamshell closed, making for tougher head shots and the drop turning target was gone by time I cleared the jam. I had trouble hitting the first plate, taking 5 extra shots on it! So that put me in auto pilot and had to do a reload unnexpectedly.

Stage 3:
I shot this stage as I planned, but a shot that grazed a barrel caused a miss. I would have liked to see how the "big boys" shot this stage to see how I could have maybe had a better plan. Reload and movement was pretty solid on this stage.

Stage 4:
I shot this stage clean. But lost time on it somewhere. It felt pretty smooth so I am not sure where I could have picked up more time on this one. Draw was good, but after the reload I tapped the magazine like three time. Why? I don't know. LOL

Stage 5:
Drawing and loading the gun was pretty smooth. I could have saved some time by shooting paper between the steel on this stage. I also had some slower splits than I think was necessary. I dropped a shot into hard cover. I finished the stage messy, firing extra shots and not having the target sequenced burned into my head. I need to start doing better walk throughs!

Stage 6:
Shot this stage as planned and thought it was a pretty good plan. Draw was a little slow while shooting moving backwards. But launched well and moved through the stage pretty well. I picked up the miss by shooting a longer range target with too fast of a shot split. I didn't let the gun settle enough on the second shot. I had to fire some extra confidence shots on the swinger as it was long range and obscured heavily by noshoot targets. I shot the steel one for one.

Stage 7:
I shot the second texas star probably the best I have ever shot one. Movement was quick and precise on this stage. Reload was good. But at the end of the stage when I was unloading the gun I noticed a miss so I reloaded and fired a shot to make it up. Cost me a bunch of time and still had another miss in the hard cover on another target. Otherwise this would have been a pretty solid run.

Stage 8:
I got to the gun and load pretty well. But when I pulled the cord to open a port the cord slipped out of my hand and the port dropped....right on the gun! Once I reopened the port and got to shooting stronghand only, I shot well. Pretty fast spits and all A zone hits saved for 1 C zone. I fired a slow extra shot at the end of the stage questioning a close hard cover hit. I had a miss on an open target in the middle of the stage that I was unaware of. Reload on the stage was good and movement was pretty smooth.

Stage 9:
I tucked the "bomb" on this stage in between my magazines and body and shot freestyle from left to right. I think there was a better way of shooting this...but this is where I had to start shooting through to finish shooting the match before the range closure. I had a bit of trouble and extra shots on hard cover targets. And a slow extra shot at the end of the stage again. I will be working on shooting hard cover targets more in the future!

Stage 10:
I didn't even walkthrough this stage in order to get through the match. Draw was a little slow on the steel. Reload was solid and hit steel one for one. I did over run a position a bit and took an extra shot on a target that I didn't reeeally need to. Those two things cost a bit of time otherwise this would have been a really good run.

On a positive note, I am shooting steel much better overall and continue to move quickly and precisely through stages. I just need to clean up the shot placement and shot calling a bit more and I should start finishing better. I also am gonna work alot more on walking through the stage better and burning it in!

Rio Grande Club Match

2009-05-05T09:05:00.000-07:00

Well I guess I partied a little late Friday night into Saturday morning which resulted in me running late to the match. Oooopsie Struggle with a slight hangover and being rushed was not the way to shoot a match. But I had a good time.

The weather was a bit less than cooperative which seems to the be theme for this year's season. It was overcast, windy, cool with scattered showers. Bags were on and off the targets with is a pain in the ass. But we survived and managed to tolerate it.

Stage 1:
This was a pretty cool field course with a double running target with hard cover. You had to start facing up range outside of shooting area with the gun loaded and placed on a barrel behind the starting position. I got to the gun and the first array pretty good and shot all steel one-for-one. Although the run felt pretty solid, I did have a few errors. I had one missed shot and performed an unnecessary reload. I seem caught between a Limited and Limited-10 mindset. And that will get better now that I have decided to stick with just shooting Limited.

Stage 2:
I had to re-shoot this stage due to confusion of stage discription. This was a gift since my first run was pretty botched! My second run was much better. Draw and movement to the first array went well and I transitioned really well to the second array shooting on the move into the port. Reload was ok, but challenge as I performed it as I passed through a set of western style bar room doors. I shot all steel one-for-one except for the last plate which had to be engaged strong hand only through a port with a pull open type engagement. I cleaned the swinger in this port stronghand only as well. Not a bad run for have many obstacles through out the stage. Two specialty ports and two doors.

Stage 3:
This stage was really straight forward, but I had real problems shooting the steel. This was my first stage of the day. I had 5 extra shots and some real problems having to re-engage by stepping in and out of a shooting box. That killed me on this stage. Otherwise the draw and my shot splits were fast and confident. I did drop more points than I cared to, but was pushing the envelope to learn my abilities.

Stage 4:
The Classifier... The turn and draw was really good and effiscient. One step in the turn and the draw was right on target with a quick first shot. But I messed up the reload big time and that cost me a good run on this one. I shot it clean, but points were less than what I was looking for. Especially after the poor reload.

I shot the match with 1 missed shot total. This probably really helped save me from finishing deeper in the pack. I mangage to squeeze into 3 place in Limited Division. There was a strong showing of good shooters. 18 total competitors with 6 Master class shooters.

Video of me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AaaWLtjIc8

Video of my buddy Damon Stanforth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_PsmZZNBXs

SONS OF NEMO Paracord Bracelets

2009-05-01T11:41:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine's son is making some of these cool Paracord bracelets as a way of putting some money together for his son's shooting expences. Francisco "Scrat" Colón (son of friend Nelson "Nemo"), a B-class USPSA junior shooter. Each bracelet is $7.95 shipped to you via 1st class mail. I was happy to help out and sent them $10 towards doing just that. The bracelets are very well made and I am proud to support these young men in their hobby. For more info you can get ahold of them by several means. But here is a link to a forum thread about the bracelets.

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=83242&st=0

Thanks for supporting this young entrepreneur!

Space City Championship

2009-04-29T09:00:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful time meeting new people and visiting the Houston area. Although the weather was crazy with incredible rainfall and flooding, I don't think that affected my results as much as I would have thought. Sure the range surface was incredibly muddy, most of the issues were self induced and the conditions had little, if anything, to do with them. More on that later. The match was profesionally run and the stages were both fun and exciting. Better than they looked on paper. Kudos to the staff for enduring the weather and keeping a positive attitude! :-)

I had issues shooting Limited 10 Divsion many times throughout the match. And that was primarily do to running the gun dry from extra shots on steel and poor stage planning. I am still getting down on myself about it. Fortunately a friend and I have setup some plans on what to do and train together to improve.

I also let my disappointment get in the way and carried that frustration from stage to stage. This is something I havn't done in quite some time. I am not sure why that was such a struggle, but will be working on that more in the future. That is one of the #1 destroyers of match mindset and an area I am continueally trying to improve personally in my shooting.

Video taping was also an issue and decided to just take off the hatcam and focus on the match. I don't think I will be using the hatcam in Championship level matches in the future. Maybe just club level matches and training to utilize the benefits offered by using the camera. Other than that I will stick to having someone tape me from behind the action to study movement and document the actual match and shooting.

Stage 1:

I ran this stage quite conservatively considering my first three stages in attempts to get on track. Although it worked, I had a slower runtime than I should have. I didn't have near as much trouble with steel on this stage with 2 plate racks and two mini poppers. Movement was pretty good other than over running a tight shot on one target. I could have been much better if I had the proper mindset.

Stage 2:

Again with the change of plans on a stage...this cost me by running out of ammo and performing flat foot reloads. I did shoot this stage clean and it had a nasty swinger that only could be engaged mid-arch and it was faast! I shot at it the two rounds required and score two C zone hits. The plan I ran would have be great if I would have been able to burn it in better and would have reloaded where I was supposed to.

Stage 3:

This was probably my best stage of the match. I shot well moving backward after a turning draw and acquired targets well. I felt as though my movement was choppy, but several people commented how smooth and quick I moved. I had a pretty bad reload in the middle array that cost me some time. I setup to each target array really well on this stage.

Stage 4:

I had a pretty good run on this stage as well. Draw was smooth as I had to step into and squat low into position. I had extra shots on steel and one paper that ended up unnecessary which gobbled up seconds on the timer. But my reloads and movement were quick and decisive. I kind of over ran a target moving into the last array, but wasn't too bad.

Stage 5: El Presidente'

I snapped my head and performed a solid turning draw very well here. I had a bit of a problem with a magazine sticking in the gun. And have narrowed that down to hitting the button and turning the gun too quickly to see that magwell opening for the insertion of the fresh magazine. This is creating a condition where the magazine has to try and fall out with the gun canted sideways. Definitely not a gear issue, but an operator issue and I have been dryfiring to correct that. I picked up a missed shot on the first target, more than likely from the first shot after the "sticky" reload.

Stage 6:

OK what a mess this stage was! I was mentally beat down and ready for the match to be over. Never a good mindset to shoot a stage. I also had something occur that hasn't been a problem in many years....changing my plan. I did this twice in this match. I had three plans running through my mind during the stage and actually changed my plan as I was raising my hands to the start position. Huge no-no! The unloaded gun start was ok but could have been better. I gripped the magazine from my belt and picked up the gun swiftly. But engagement of targets on the stage was poor to say the least. I re-engaged targets already shot, transitioned to targets already shot, did unnecessary reloads, over ran positions and had some flat foot reloads. This ate up sooo much time that I was amazed that I shot the stage in the time that I did. I shot the stage clean but that was no consolation considering the poor run.

Stage 7:

I had a solid draw and reloads were pretty smooth adn were done within the first step of moving to the next array. Slower splits and extra shots ate up my time on this stage. I had a couple of missed shots on two targets. One was while I was moving out of position and the other was on a headshot only target. This was my first stage of the match and disappointment instantly set in.

Stage 8:

The draw and engagement of the first array went well. The reload to the second array was a bit slow, partially due to moving to the left. Missing the steel to activate a moving target caused me to wait painfully for it to activate. The next reload was really solid and quick. The final reload before a long run to the last array was ok but took 2-3 steps to complete. I think that was due to focusing on getting moving. The last array is rather confusing. After inserting a fresh magazine, I ran short of rounds in the gun. Not sure if this was due to not topping off the magazine or if there was an issue with the magazine. I didn't have any other magazine issues through out the match. So I am inclined to believe that I didn't top off that magazine. So this created not only a flat foot reload, but the dreaded "click"! So that cost me a lot of time on the stage. I had 2 missed shots on this stage....increasing my frustration.

Stage 9:

My draw and engagement of the first hard cover target was solid on this stage. I had 2 extra shots on the Texas Star. The reload to the second array was solid and engagement there was good as well. The second reload was on of the "sticky" operator error kind and I had some extra shots in that array. Again on activating steel! So I ate up some time re-engaging the steel and waiting for the activating targets. Poor reload to the last array and missed steel here caused another reload and hiccups.

Several people commented how fast and accurately my movements and setup to positions were throughout the match which is good and nice to hear. So I'm doing something right! LOL But I just don't think I was prepared mentally and mechanically for shooting this match, let alone Limited 10 Division.

Load Testing with Magnum Primers

2009-04-06T10:13:00.000-07:00

Here were my results using a Competition Electronics Prochrono:

Weather: Sunny, calm winds and 42 degrees

Gun Information
STI Custom
Schuemann 6" Barrel

Load Information

Powder Alliant E3
Primer Magtec Magnum
OAL 1.180"
Crimp .410"

Bullet Information

Weight 220 grains
Mfr. S&S Casting
Shape Tunicated- lead

P.Chg 3.0gr
Shot 1 753
Shot 2 767
Shot 3 755
Shot 4 782
Shot 5 749
Shot 6 745
Shot 7 760
Shot 8 810
Shot 9 755
Shot 10 786
High 810
Low 745
Average 766.00
Std. Dev 20
P. Factor 168.52

I need to work on better Std Deviation with more consistancy at the press. But looks to be about the same power factor with 3.0gr of powder with both Standard and Magnum primers. All rounds fired reliably and no pressure signs. I tested 40 rounds in 10 round lots at 3.0gr, 2.9gr, 2.8gr and 2.7gr loadings.

Match Day- Rio Grande

2009-04-04T17:35:00.000-07:00

Another cold and very windy day at the range. I am about worn out from shooting in these conditions. There were many that shot the Double Tap Championship last weekend that opted to go home and or not even come today. We had quite a low attendance I think.

We only had three stages setup today due to the weather and lack of help today. So we ended up shooting stage two twice, once from two different starting positions. I don't know WTF happened on these two stages. But I really sucked on both of them. The classifier was CM03-10 Area 5 Standards= 50yd freestyle-25yd strong hand only-15yd weak hand only. What an odd pick for such a windy day?! LOL

I sure was off my game today and felt I had one of those days. Fortunately for me, other people were as affected by the weather or whatever as I was. I finished first, but don't feel that I gave a match winning performance.

The stages were very tough in any weather, let alone with the cold and windy range conditions to distract me. I do, however, feel that I have grown as a shooter and gained some valuable experience today.

I am too tired and not really in the mood to do a stage by stage run down today. So I will leave it at that and get some rest.

Gun Tuning...thumb safety and grip

2009-04-03T13:08:00.000-07:00

Well after last weekend's debauchery, I immediately started brainstorming on what to do as far as a solution. I came up with having my buddy Pat deepen the detent of the safety itself. Then he had mentioned stretching the spring a bit to add more tension. So I did that.

I also added some JB Weld to the grip just under the right leg of the thumb safety. This seems to help direct my finger up and around the safety enough to eliminate accidentally engaging the safety.

It turned out pretty well. Not the prettiest job in the world, but it doesn't look too bad and I would rather sacrifice looks for positive reliability! It should be all dry and setup by tomorrow's match. As of right now I cannot flip up the safety using only my index finger of my strong or weak hand. But I am still able to manipulate the safety on and off easily with my thumb as designed. Here are a few pictures of the results....

Double Tap Championship- Double Tap of Boom

2009-03-31T09:35:00.000-07:00

Lets just say that the weather was sooo miserable, it makes one wonder why they put themselves through that to shoot. But it was a fun match with great stages and if it hadn't been for the weather and excessive amounts of waiting, I would have had an awesome time. Nothing can be done about the weather and I am not holding that against the range staff. Nor do I hold the waiting against the range staff too much either. But something needs to be done in that regard. Our squad was behind the "super squad" which produce some rather large amounts of waiting and frustration. Waiting in 20-30 degree weather with 30-40 mph winds is no treat!

I had a few issues with my thumb safety popping up on 3 stages. This cost me in the ball park of 60 match points! I have since had the detent deepened to help eliminate that, but will have to keep an eye on my grip and that safety in the future most definitely. Otherwise I was placing quite well in the standings from stage to stage. I had a total of 3 misses and 1 procedural in this match and was not happy with those results. Especially the non-shooting penalty of knocking off a tennis ball with the tether on stage 13. I don't believe a competitor should be penalized for a non-shooting action.

I believe the waiting had a factor in getting out of the rhythm of shooting as well. We waited approximately 2 hours for stage 12 before we were moved to stage 1. Then after stage 2 we returned to shoot stage 12 and had to wait an addition 1.5-2 hours before shooting the stage. That with the additional 20-30 minutes of waiting between stages 8-9-10 and a lengthy lunch break messed with me a bit. I arrived on the range at 7:15am and left the range shortly after 8:15pm on Saturday. 13 hours on the range in those conditions was not pleasant to say the least.

I placed 39th out of 142 competitors in Limited Division. 11 shooters DNF'd and 3 shooters were DQ'd. So technically I placed 39th out of 129 active shooters. I shot 91% of the total match points available, which is one of my main goals in every match I shoot. Even with the 4 penalties acquired throughout the match. So I am pleased with that result.

Stage 1: Staff of Rhea

This was after the long wait. I had a bobbled reload and was one of the stages that I had those thumb safety issues. It really got under my skin and created a hell of a distraction to the shooting and I feel it made me rush the stage. There was a 180 trap entering through one of the set of walls also that was tight and took extra caution not to get DQ'd. Several people went home on this stage.

Results: 67th place= 91% of the available stage points.

Stage 2: Teetering

I put the botched run on stage 1 behind me and focused on the task at hand here. This was a "circus" type stage where you needed to stand on a board to open each of 4 ports through out this field course. I had a pretty solid run and good reload on this stage. I did hesitate a bit on a tight array in the third port. But cleaned this stage quickly with good points.

Results: 15th place= 91% of the available stage points.

Stage 3: Thuggies Cult

This stage also had a bit of a 180 trap but again I negotiated it well and without going home. I ran this stage pretty solid, but had more trouble hitting the damn steel one for one! I lost about 2 sec or so with extra shots on the steel. I instinctively did a reload earlier than planned in my walk through. Although it was solid and I didn't think about it, it got me thinking when shooting the steel at the end of the stage. I remember thinking with every shot on the steel..."is this my last shot?", "am I gonna run out of ammo?", "should I do a reload?" And I noticed that my engagement was slow and still was not paying attention! That needs to change and I mean now! I have got to work on my confidence with steel and get these conscious thoughts out of my head!

Results: 20th place= 94% of the available stage points.

Stage 4: Lord Mola Ram

I was the first shooter on this stage and probably should have taken more time on the walk through. I engaged targets quickly and confidently for the most part. But.... I ran into a wall at the beginning part of the stage that cost me some time. I also believe the better way of running this stage was not to take the long shots from the left of the stage to targets on the right side of the stage. That slowed my splits, target transition and movement too much in that portion of the stage. I should have just reloaded there while moving across that area to be able to shoot those two target faster. But I did a positive affirmation about the steel prior to shooting this stage due to the "mental block" on the last stage and shot the steel one for one on this stage.

Results: 17th place= 94% of the available stage points.

Stage 5: Boulder Dash

They took out the boulder on this stage due to problems with it being consistent in the windy conditions. This was one of the speedier stages in the match. The ports were low enough for me to make it difficult to transition from one to the other. I need to work on that in the future. I shot the whole stage from a considerable crouched position. I shot the targets quickly and confidently, but I feel I could have done better on this stage, and shot better points. I left this stage feeling that and in my mind.

Results: 18th place= 90% of the available stage points.

Stage 6: Indy Hates Snakes

This was my last stage of the match. I put the feelings of poor points on the stage prior behind me, but probably should have given it more attention. I did not feel I shot sufficient points on this stage either. The styrofoam snakes made the reload difficult and slower than normal. I had more extra shots on the steel on this stage. I feel these things combined placed me lower in the pack. But "circus" stages like this can do that to less experienced competitors such as myself.

Results: 47th place= 86% of the available stage points.

Stage 7: Shanghai Shuffle

This was my first stage of the match. I feel I ran this stage fast and efficient other than extra shots on the steel. I shot the steel as I moved into the last position. But a miss on this stage set me back. I had a pretty good run time (up with the big boys), but again that miss kept me from placing well on this stage.

Results: 32nd place= 87% of the available stage points.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YThM134TJC0

Stage 8: The Map Room

This was another stage where the thumb safety kept popping up on me. So it really messed up my run. I am not sure how I or it was doing it to this day. But after the match I sent the gun home with my buddy Pat to deepen that detent. That cost me big time on this stage! Otherwise I was running a good stage. Good reload, draw, splits, transitions and movement. At this point the thumb safety was becoming a big distraction in my mind and caused me to rush many shots. I know you can't make up for time lost on malfunctions, but it is so hard not to try....

Results: 66th place= 87% of the available points.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1MLc-Rupnc

Stage 9: Scared "Sacred?" Sankara Stones

Again had thumb safety issues!! By this time I am getting pissed and almost loosing my composure! Well kinda did, I had a terribly bobbled reload and actually paused in mid stage in frustration. But then continued on engaging targets quickly. Now that thumb safety is really on my mind and I ended up rushing shots to the point of picking up a miss.

Results: 101st place= 91% of the available points discounting the miss penalty.

Stage 10: Well of Souls

Well I started to get it back together on this stage. I remember telling myself to put those last too stages behind me and to shoot conservatively on this stage and get back on track. It worked!! I was surprised at how well I did on this stage considering I shot it so conservatively. I thought I "dogged" it too much. But came out fairly solid. I didn't push my "luck" on the center port and that helped save the stage I believe. This stage had three ports that by hitting the steel it closed the port. Besides the steel there were two targets in each port to be engaged. I shot paper-steel-paper on the outside two ports, but paper-paper-steel on the center port. Many people picked up misses and failure to engages on that center port when trying to shoot paper-steel-paper. The port door closed the fastest on this port and the targets were spread enough to have to take either a huge step or two steps to engage. All said and down this was my best stage of the match! So I was proud of myself for getting my stuff together and focusing back on the task at hand.

Results: 13th= 92% of the available stage points.

Stage 11: Chilled Monkey Brains

This was a pretty fun stage actually. Start position was unloaded gun on table with all magazines to be used on the stage in a monkey skull. Hands were gloved in latex gloves and fingers interlocked and on head while seated in a chair. I had a pretty solid run. I felt my load was not all that good, but with the run time on the stage, it must have been ok. I engaged steel then two targets before the drop turner on both sides of the wall in front of the shooting position. I stood up to shoot the stage. I remember how slow the run felt and also wasn't real happy with my points total. But otherwise had a solid run on this stage.

Results: 18th place= 89% of available stage points.

Stage 12: Temple of Boom

This was the stage we waited soooo long to shoot. It was a dark stage in a man made cave. It was pretty fun and innovative. But I ended up shooting it too conservatively due to not being able to see for crap! LOL You could see the neon painted targets clear as day, but the gun, mags, walls etc were another story! It was a tabletop loaded gun start, with the starting position outside of the cave (gun inside). I remember my sight picture consisting of a big black shadow of the gun below the A zone of the classic targets. I shot pretty good points, but my run time was too slow. Bobbled the reload cause I couldn't see the gun at all. Many thanks go out to teammate Jerry Snyder for lending me a pair of his Rudy Project Rydon glasses with clear lenses. I can't imaging trying to shoot with colored lenses on this stage! LOL

Results: 34th place= 90% of available stage points.

Stage 13: Short Rounds Revenge

I tanked this stage big time! Start position was tethered to a pole with three other poles holding tennis balls on them. Deal was, if you knocked off a tennis ball, you received 10 penalty points per ball dropped. I don't agree with this as it is a non-shooting challenge. I decided to shoot three visible targets from the start position before moving and then reloading and starting the run to engage all other targets behind barrels. This would have been a better plan if the sun was not coming over the berm. Because of those conditions and shooting hard lead bullets, after the first shot fired, I could not see all three targets. But I stuck with my plan and shot those three targets from an "estimated guess" standpoint. I picked up a miss doing this though. Run time was average. Looking back on this stage I should have shot it with my 22 round Rescomp mag and one in the pipe for a total of 23 rounds and took the "mike" on this 24 round stage. This would have given me a much faster run time and better finish on the stage. That is what Manny Bragg did I believe. And he won the stage!

Looking back on the results I am pretty satisfied with the results of the match considering the malfunctions I had. I feel had I not had the thumb safety problems, I would have placed top three or higher in the match.

I'm not sure how I will feel about shooting another Double Tap Championship. Not just because of the weather. But because of how mistreated we were in regards to waiting and the lack of confirmation by the Match Director. He basically called me a liar by saying in a public forum that there was no way that people waited so long and that there was no way that we could have been there so late. But I have the carbon copies of the score sheets to prove the time of day that the RO's wrote down and they support the facts!

Match Day- Caja del Rio

2009-03-21T20:08:00.000-07:00

What an absolute gorgeous day!! Temp of about 80 degrees and a calm breeze just enough to stay cool with copious amounts of sunshine. This has to elevate one's performance! ;-)

I had a pretty good match and enjoyed the company of fellow squadmates as usual today. I met a few new folks and a new shooter that is bound to be back!

Although I had a few mistakes and bobbles I managed to pull out ahead of the rest of the 14 competitor field and score a win (3rd overall). I hit all steel one for one, which helped build confidence on that area of my shooting. I had a pretty solid classifier score to add icing to the cake today.

Stage 1:

I had a pretty solid run on this stage. Which is especially confidence building as this was the last stage shot today. Start position was in a box behind a empty gun table top start. I got the gun and shooting quickly and efficiently. I should have taken the third steel from the left first on the first steel array though. This would have eliminated waiting for one of the steel to fall. Since I shot these on the move, it was obscured by one of the steel as I moved quickly down the stage. I unnecessarily made up the shot at the back of the stage. But I called that shot as "questionable" and would do it again if I called that in the future. I ended up making up an outside D zone hit with an A zone hit on that target.

Results: 1st place on the stage (1st overall)= 93% of the available points on the stage.

Stage 2:

This run started well, but I kinda botched it up towards the end. Start position was loaded gun on the table. Again I got to the gun and the shooting very effisciently. I had a bit of trigger freeze on the second target array. Then over ran one of the fault line positions on the back of the stage which cost me about 2 seconds on the stage. I picked up a miss on the last array after running into the wall and then falling out of position. I felt out of control on this stage obviously. But learned alot.

Results: 2nd place on the stage (7th overall)= 87% of the available points on the stage.

Stage 3:

OK...this stage is where most of the "bobbles" came into the match. I had a couple areas where I lost a total of about 3.5-4 seconds on the stage! The timer doesn't lie.... Start position was empty gun in holster with all ammo on the belt. I lost about a half a second from an insuffiscient load from the draw. But shot the left of the portion well to include two well timed activated targets. The reload got sticky when the empty mag would not eject. I think it was do to being totally empty....which brings up the point that I didn't not have a fully topped off mag!!! Then, since the gun was totally dry and "shouldn't" have been, I didn't know I needed to rack the slide and load a round. So I mounted the gun on target after completing the reload and experienced the dreaded "click" of the hammer falling on an empty chamber! Uurrgh!! All said and done this little debauchery cost me about 3 seconds on the stage. The actual shooting on the stage was pretty well timed, but I should have shot more points (picked up another miss on this stage).

Results: 2nd place on stage (9th overall)= 85% of available points on the stage.

Stage 4: CM 99-13 Quicky II

I shot a pretty awesome run time on both strings, but dropped 16 points on the stage. Draws where pretty solid and reloads were ok. The first shot and shot split was quite good. A good start for a good finish result. I shot a 90.3619% nationally in Limited Division. I also shot a re-entry classifier run in Single Stack Division but picked up a miss on that run. I was still able to score a 71.8185% nationally.

Results: 1st place on the stage (2nd overall)= 87% of the available points on the stage.

While I didn't shoot my goal of 90% or more of the match points, I did accomplish some confidence building and had a pretty good match otherwise. Particularly shooting flawless on the steel and effiscient movement through out the match. I finished the match shooting 88% of the total available match points.

Video can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLDjKN2Hl_s

Dryfire Training

2009-03-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

I set-up a little standards dryfire drill today. It consisted of two diagonal hard cover targets and two mini popper targets. I used my mini Airsoft targets. For the poppers I cut out a popper shape from two of the Airsoft targets. I ran four drills ten times each today. The four drills were as follows:

Vice Presidente:

Hands at sides- engage paper with two rounds and poppers with one shot freestyle, perform a reload and re-engage all targets freestyle.

El Presidente:

Hands Surrender- repeat above target order.

Strong Hand Presidente:

Hands at sides- engage paper with two rounds and poppers with one shot freestyle, perform a reload and re-engage all targets strong hand only.

Weak Hand Presidente:

Hands at sides- engage paper with two rounds and poppers with one shot freestyle, perform a reload and re-engage all targets weak hand only.

I focused on calling each "shot" at par times of 5.0- 5.0- 6.0- 6.5 seconds respectively. I was able to beat the par times with about 85% consistency. My reloads were a bit rusty in the beginning, but got better as the training continued.

*Target Idea*

I came up with an idea today to help training on "steel" popper type targets in live fire without buying expensive steel poppers. What I came up with was cutting out a popper shape out of a standard IPSC cardboard target. Then I laid it on another IPSC target with the no-shoot side facing up. Then I used the cutout as a mask and painted the other target with black spray paint. The resulting target is one that is white, closely resembles a popper and can be stapled to standard target bases using furring strips as you would with a standard IPSC cardboard target.

Dryfire Training

2009-03-09T09:11:00.000-07:00

Well since it is raining today- I thought I would just dry fire. It hasn't rained here for months! I am sure we need the rain, but it gets in the way of my schedule! I know I shouldn't let this deter my training, but it hardly ever rains here so I see no benefit to risking my gear getting all wet and rusty. Not to mention I washed the car yesterday! LOL

Today's training was pretty light. I just worked on hands at sides draws, surrender draws and reloads on the move. I set a par time of .80 seconds for the draws and 1.00 second for the reloads.

I practiced the draws in 3 different ways. I started off with 15 at about 60% speed to focus on perfect draws. Then I did 10 blind draws. This is were you close your eyes, draw the gun and fire a shot. Then open your eyes to see if you have proper sight alignment and sight picture. Then I did 25 draws at speed for the par time. This totalled 50 draws for hands at sides and 50 draws from surrender (100 draws total).

I mainly focused on getting the gun on target and picking up the sight before the par time buzzer, then a smooth trigger press. I didn't wanna fall into the trap of ripping the gun up and jerk the trigger to beat the par time. I found that beating the par time buzzer was just as doable with this method as just gripping and ripping it. I beat the draw par times with about 90% efficiency.

Reloads were practiced without a mag in the gun to start with. This eliminates picking up mags and the bobbling problem associated with the empty mag not falling out fast enough. I wanted to concentrate on the reload and not the ejection of the empty mag. I did focus on hitting the mag release button the instant the buzzer beeps though. I practiced reloading moving right and left 25 times in each direction (50 reloads total). I was able to beat the par time set with about 95% efficiency.

Match Day- Rio Grande

2009-03-07T14:13:00.000-08:00

Today was nice and sunny but very, very windy! Welcome to spring in New Mexico. But still way better than snow and cold! I had a pretty good match. I shot solid and clean the whole match. I did have a couple of places that I could have saved time on. But I am happy with today's results.

I feel the movement training I have been doing is really paying off. I still need some work hitting steel one for one. But did better in that department today. I just seem to rush steel or have improper follow through.

I finished 2nd in Limited Division to Jared Milinazzo and 4th overall out of 29 competitors. I shot 89% of the available match points.

Stage 1:

I shot this stage as I had planned. But had a few extra shots on some steel. That cost me 2-3 seconds on the stage. I need to get some work in on steel. It is still a bit cool for the airsoft gun to run without issues, so I have been staving off. I have worked on it a bit in livefire but I only have two 6" plates. I must make it a point to incorporate those plates in every practice session.

Results: 3rd on stage= 93% of available points

Stage 2:

Shot my stage plan well and had a pretty solid run here. I feel I could have shot a bit faster splits as I saw sights on target well before breaking the shot on a few of the targets. Reload could have been better and movement seemed like I was dogging it a bit. Felt smooth though.

Results: 2nd on stage= 91% of available points

Stage 3:

Again ran stage as planned. I did forgot to get the reload done efficiently after shooting the star. But I did shoot the star one for one this time. I had two extra shots on two plates in that last array. Lost more precious seconds there. Other than that, the run was solid.

Results: 2nd on stage= 86% of available points

Stage 4: CM 99-16 Both Sides Now #2

I had a pretty good run here. Start position was hands on X's, but you had to squat to reach them. I did waste a small bit of time rising up a bit after the draw, but not too bad. (Another shooter pointed that out to me) I hit the steel confidently and finished the stage with 87% of the points in 6.60 seconds for a hit factor of 7.8788. That came out to be an 83% nationally per the online Classifier Calculator.

Results: 1st on stage= 87% of available points

Video can be viewed here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaMe1j5IkD8

Port/Barricade/Movement Drills

2009-03-06T12:02:00.000-08:00

Today was overcast and windy. But not too cold. I tore down the gun completely yesterday for a thorough cleaning and inspection since I passed the first 3,000 rounds on the gun. So I wanted to get to the range to make sure all was running well and that my zero was accurate before tomorrow's match. I found that everything is running 100% and my zero was dead on. Group shooting at the end of training surely proved that!

I plan on working more drills that focus on movement and small ports the next two weeks in preparation for the Double Tap Championship. I will also be working draw drills from the table and empty gun starts in dry fire.

The drill I set-up was very similar to the drill I did last month. But I did add two 6" steel plates to the 15 yard array. So this raised the round count to 18 rounds per run. Start position was loaded and holstered with hands on the barricade with port. There were two ports/barricades in the drill. I practiced shooting while moving backing out and entering both ports. These targets were set at 10 yards from each port.

I did four runs in each direction with and without reloads for a total of 288 rounds. Groups on targets were pretty good and had no misses. There were only a few D-zone hits. On all but two runs I hit the steel one for one. Those 6" plates at 15 yards were pretty challenging! Reloads were smooth and quick from the front pouch.

Run times were interesting. I had my faster runs moving from right to left. I also was able to run virtually duplicate run times with reloads as runs without reloads. This built some confidence, and allows me to know that my reloads are proficient. Run times varied between 10.5-12.0 seconds.

I shot 3 five rounds groups at 25 yards from a freestyle standing position. I was pretty tickled with my last group....which measured 1.25" center to center! This is probably THE best group I have ever shot. At least the best group I can remember shooting. This gun can shoot! Now that builds confidence.

Shooting on the Move

2009-03-03T09:53:00.000-08:00

I decided to work on shooting on the move forward and backward today. I thought I could use some work on this area.

So I set up four targets, two arrays with open targets space about 10 yards apart and side by side. I worked on engaging targets from left to right and right to left.

Run times averaged 3.9 seconds moving forward and about 3.0 seconds moving backward. I started about 10 yards when moving forward and 7 yards moving backward.

I shot 80 rounds moving forward and 80 rounds moving backward. Hits were fair. I was really pushing the speed envelope here in practice. I dumped a few misses when I really pushed it. But otherwise mostly A-C zone hits.

Then I decided to work on wide angle transitions. So I moved up to about 7 yards and shot the two arrays with the wide transition between targets 2 and 3. Run times averaged about 2.7 seconds. Splits were as fast as I could see the gun return in recoil, averages of .19 seconds. I really focused on driving the gun through the wide transition. I see alot of wide transitions in stage designs at matches. So this is a good drill to help eliminate unnecessary time in those big target transitions. I shot 40 rounds engaging targets in both directions for a total of 80 rounds.

I also wanted to see where my draw times were. So I shot 10 rounds in each of the "standard" start positions (hands at sides, surrender, strong hand only and weak hand only) from 7 yards. Times were average. I was averaging about 1.0 second on called A-zone hits starting with hands at sides. Surrender was quicker at .90 average for a called A-zone hits. Strong hand only surprised me with .90 average called A-zone hits. And weak hand was ok at 1.30 average called A-zone hits. Times were all quicker when I gripped it and ripped off a shot, but without calling the shot, A-zone hits were not consistent.

I also shot 15 rounds of 3-5shot groups from 25 yards at the end of the training session. Best group today was right at 3". I did notice the groups a tad to the right so I adjusted my sights one click to the left. The pin in the Champion sight is also drifting out. I noticed that last weekend and pushed it in. And noticed today that it is drifting out again.

Dryfire Practice

2009-03-02T11:15:00.000-08:00

Well I couldn't make it to the range today due to a Dr. Appointment, so I did some dryfire instead. I have been noticing that other than Standard type courses, you rarely draw and reload from a straight up facing the targets kind of position. And taking a look at the Douple Tap Championship, there is an overwhelming amount of table and unloaded gun starts. I mean, this comes as no surprize, but I have noticed that most of my training is practiced in that fashion.

So I decided to shake things up a bit and practice some of the more realistic starting positions and reloading on the move. I practiced drawing and reloading to small dryfire poppers I made at a distance of about 7 yards. Here are the drills:

10- Hands at side draws w/twisted to the right
10- Hands at side draws w/twisted to the left
10- Surrender draws w/twisted to the right
10- Surrender draws w/ twisted to the left
5- Static empty gun table draws from belt
5- Moving empty gun table draws from belt
5- Static empty gun table draws from table
5- Moving empty gun table draws from table
10- Static reloads
10- Moving reloads to the right
10- Moving reloads to the left

During the reloads I worked on hitting the magazine release quicker and more instanteously as my other hand grasps the fresh magazine. This will help eliminate hitting the ejecting magazine while bringing up the fresh magazine. I also worked toward getting that reload completed on the first or second step.

Drills worked well, and I was pretty consistant. I feel practicing these drills more in the future will continue to prepare me for the DTC this month.

Match Day- Wild West

2009-02-28T15:33:00.001-08:00

Another beautiful day in New Mexico. It was a little chilly in the morning but warmed up nice about stage 2-3. Gun, gear and ammo ran 100%. That make more of a difference than anything I think. Stages were all fun and exciting. I won the Division, but I was the only one shooting Limited today- lol. But I was happy to come in third overall, behind some very talented Open division shooters. I feel this was one of the most solid matches I have shot in a long time. Looks like I am getting my "groove" back! :-)

Stage 1:
Actually four things jumped out to me from this stage. One was that I had a hardcover miss on the second shot while moving backwards. Second was the bobbled reload. Third was that I bumped the safety up while shooting. And the last, but certainly not least, was that I didn't stick to my stage plan! This was the first stage of the day and I happened to be the first shooter. A combination of not taking the time I needed to walk the stage and first stage "jitters" cost many, if not all, of these issues. But I am gonna have to look into that issue with the safety though! This is the second time that issue has cropped up. I thought I took care of it by removing material on the right ambi and deepening the notch in the left ambi. But I will have to investigate that more. I could use more work with shooting while moving backwards. The reload was a product of overcoming the magazine position being more forward than I am used to. I am making headway on improving it, but I can see I still need more work! The bobbled reload and thumb safety issue cost me about 2 seconds on this stage.
Results: 5th place overall on stage- shot 88% of total available points

Stage 2: CM 03-04 (3V)
I shot this pretty solid. I feel I could have pushed it a bit faster, but didn't wanna burn it down. Every target has a no-shoot in front, cover about half of the lower A zone. So one could really bugger this one up if not paying attention. I ran it clean (all A's) in a time of 8.08 seconds, yielding an 88.4209% nationally. These last two classifiers I shot will bump me into Master Class in Limited Division. Which is bitter sweet because I have the Double Tap Championship in a couple weeks and then the Space City Championship two weeks after that! It is kind of a bummer when that happens. But hey, how good is a win when you sandbag right! ;-)
Results: 1st place overall on stage- shot 100% of total available points

Stage 3:
This stage felt pretty solid. From watching the video it looks like I could have been quicker on a couple of the target transitions. I should have started shooting a bit earlier on the first target behind the wall as I came into position. My total points weren't quite where they should have been either, considering the target distances. This was a pretty "hosie" stage. Pretty happy with the run though.
Results: 3rd place overall on stage- shot 91% of total available points

Stage 4:
This was probably my most solid run of the day. I ran it exactly as planned. I was the last shooter on the stage, so I am happy that I stuck with my original plan and shot it well. It was pretty smooth. I remember the draw not feeling the best though. I called my first shot "bad" on the last array- but it was a C zone hit. So I really didn't need to make it up.
Results: 3rd place overall on stage- shot 90% of total available points

All in all, I had a good day and was pleased with my performance. There are a few things to work on, but overall I am getting to where I need to be! ;-) It was interesting to note that even though I was really pushing the speed on each of the field courses I came out with my "goal" points percentages. Even with a miss on stage 1 I was right there. This is a big realizatioin as I have been working on shooting 90% or more of the available stage points as fast as I can. Now I know that it is in my capability to do so. ;-) I shot 91% of total available match points.

Video of the action can be viewed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ4b5hgGwGI

Moving Draws and Reloads

2009-02-23T10:19:00.000-08:00

Well it dawned on me yesturday about practicing on steel that I have a whole steel Airsoft set-up in the backyard! Duh!

So I got out the Airsoft gun and decided it needed to be tuned up a bit. First I had to tweak the sear spring a bit. The spring leg angles weren't quite right. And I also clipped two springs off the hammer spring. Not she has a pretty sweet trigger! I was pretty heavy and "sticky" before.

I also put a "silver" dot on the front sight by using a special bit on the dremel. I didn't do as good of a job as I had hoped, but it works nicely. Then I turned my attention to the magwell. This is an OEM STI aluminum one that is all black. So in the interest of making it more visable for improved reloads, I used the dremel to take off the black coating on the inside of the magwell. Now I can see the opening much better, just like the white insert in my Dawson Precision magwell on my competition gun.

So now that the gun is ready, I tore apart my Single Stack holster rig and set it up for Limited division using my old CR-Speed holster fitted with a cup and converting the CR-Speed magazine pouches back to a double stack mag configuration. That way the Airsoft gun can fit it nicely.

Now that the gear is all ready, I will have to see how she works again. I know that it works best in 70+ degree weather. Fortunately they are calling for that kind of weather all week. Hopefully I can get out before work each day.

Today I just did some dryfire training though. I don't have time to get all the stuff setup for Airsoft practice today. Not to mention I need to do some preventive maintenance on the mags probably. They have been sitting for a couple months.

So in dryfire I worked draws and reloads while moving. I haven't done any of this for awhile and have noticed that when moving I tend to grab the 2nd magazine back on my belt. I started practice with the draws. Here is what I did:

10- Hands relaxed to the right

10- Hands relaxed to the left

10- Surrender to the right

10- Surrender to the left

10- Hands on the wall to the right

10- Hands on the wall to the left

10- Reloads to the right

10- Reloads to the left

Pretty short and sweet, but I was profiscient in all the drills. I grabbed the front magazine on the belt everytime and they were all good clean and quick loads. So I thought I would call it a day.

Match Day- Caja del Rio

2009-02-21T14:34:00.000-08:00

Beautiful weather today. Moving out here was a good decision- I sure can get used to wearing short sleeve shirts in February!

Today I decided to push the envelope a bit and found I pushed a bit too hard! But I learned where my current limitations are. I still need to work on partial targets and shooting on the move. Mainly my setups. I need to work on them more in training. So I will get to painting targets and using more no-shoots in training. I wish I could do more practice on steel too though! I am loosing too much time firing extra shots by having to re-engage steel. In the stage reviews I will go over where I lost time. Without those issues my stage times would have been right with the match winner, who routinely puts up the fastest stage times. This is huge, because I have always been wondering where I was loosing time on these guys. The hatcam and the editing software has made finding that "lost" time possible. But my gun and magazines all ran 100%. :-)

Stage 1:

I really buggered this one up. It was a standards type stage with plenty of no-shoots covering most of the targets. I felt pretty solid but dropped two misses and no-shoots. And to top that off I failed to shoot weak hand only on the second string! So add on 6 procedurals and that zero'd the stage. What a bummer! I can't believe I had such a brainfart. I was a bit miffed at myself, but got over it by the next stage.

Stage 2:

I lost ALOT of time on this stage over something so simple as not knowing how many rounds are in my gun due to taking extra shots on steel. I ran the gun dry and didn't know it until I went to engage a target after the reload and had to rack the slide. I had a little trouble re-acquiring my grip and then my had a little vapor lock in the brain housing group! I fired one shot and started to transition to the next target and realized I had to go back and fire another shot on the last target....what a mess! Then there was a no-shoot behind a mini popper in the back of the stage, when I missed that steel on the first shot, I picked up a penalty hit there. After reviewing the footage of the stage I figured out that I lost 5.5 seconds on the stage by extra shots on steel and the brainfart. I could accurately tell that by using the time scale on the video editting software. Yet another good reason to video tape and the behind the gun view makes this easy and accurate to depict.

Stage 3:

This stage was pretty solid in the "time" department. But I dropped too many points and over ran a hard set-up at the end of the stage which could have saved me time. I also had extra time with an extra shot one of the steel plates. I had a good draw and got to the shooting well though. I lost 1 second on the extra shot on paper and the extra shot on the steel. But I lost 1.4 seconds on the bobbled set-up on the last part of the stage where I over ran the positioin. So that was just about 2.5 seconds that I unnecessarily gave up to my competitors on this stage.

Stage 4: CM 99-10

I had a pretty solid run on this one. I dropped a few too many points though. I shot two D-zone hits leaning out of the shooting position to facilitate a faster time between the two shooting boxes. I dropped 8pts on this stage with a time of 6.75 for a hit factor of 7.7037=

81.0915% Nationally. Here I only lost .16 of a second on the stage winner. But he dropped 4pts on the stage. He didn't lean out of position on the last target before moving to the next box, and I did. I think the leaning on my part cost me more time than it gained do to taking much longer on the splits on the last target. Not to mention dropping 6 pts on that target alone. In the future I will work on shooting a better split/points, and exploding out of the position rather than leaning out.

Video can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZMt6XArES4

Ports, barricades and movement drills

2009-02-20T11:52:00.000-08:00

Today I set-up a 16 round drill I thought up a couple days ago. It turned out to be a pretty cool drill. It was kind of a mini-stage setup.

Targets distances were 5 yards on the close range and 15 yards at the longer range targets. There was about a 7 yard gap between the barricade/ports.

I ran each drill 5 times from left to right and then right to left with out reloads. Then I ran the same drills 3 times each direction with reloads between each port.

I had alot of fun and learned how much time was necessary for me to hit two nice A-Zone hits on the far targets through the port and then how fast I could hammer four shots at two target up close.

I shot the close targets moving out of and entering the port area. So I was shooting as I exited and entered the ports. This was pretty fun and I learned that it can me done quite fast and effisciently.

This drill helped me learn that I can really shoot some fast pairs at the closer targets. Faster than I have been shooting in matches lately. I have been kind of hesitating and taking too much time on closer targets. I have noticed that I am giving them too much of a focus considering they are so close.

I feel time spent on this drill was very worth while and directly works on my present match shooting weaknesses. I have not been shooting targets with the proper focus and tend to shoot all target distances with the same split times. Which is not as effiscient as it should be. But this drill, when pushed in the right areas, works that weakness well.

I shot some pretty good points today. No misses and only a couple of D Zone hits. I discovered that my batteries were dead in the timer once I got to the range, so I didn't get any times on this drill. But I will next time I run it.

I also shot 5- 5 shot groups. My best group today was 2.75" at 25 yards. All the groups I fire are from a standing freestyle position. Then I did some chronograph. I confirmed that 3.0gr of E3 powder is the load to use with the 220gr S&S Casting lead bullet.

I shot 325 rounds in training today.

Transition Drills

2009-02-19T10:06:00.000-08:00

Well, I was all ready to go to the range yesturday, but I had to take my little girl to the docter for an ear infection. So I had to put off the training. Today I was able to make it out there though and gained some confidence in long range and pushed my shot splits.

It was cold and windy this morning at 8:30-9am. Probably in the upper 30's. But I struggled on and got some good work done.

I set up three open targets at three different distances- 7, 15, and 25 yards. The target array worked out as the left target (T1) was at 7 yards, the center target (T2) was at 25 yards, and the third target (T3) was at 15 yards.

I ran some modified Vice Presidente and El Presidente style drills. I ran each drill 4 times in both directions, starting with left target shooting to the right, and then starting on the right target shooting to the left.

Then I ran two more Vice Presidente style drills 4 times each shooting near to far, and then far to near.

I like these drills as they help learn how to adjust the speed from target to target and learn what type of focus I need for each target. All three targets should have their own shot split speed.

I really focused on a proper sight focus for the 15 and 25 yard targets and not nearly as much on the 7 yard target. I worked on calling all of my shots, though it is a bit tougher on the 7 yard target when you are really hammering a fast pair.

I finished my training today with 4- 5 shot group shooting at the 25 yard target. Groups were decent to quite nice. I shot 19 A-zone and a close C-zone (which I called). My best group was about 3" with a couple keyholed shots.

I shot 308 rounds in today's training.

Movement Drills

2009-02-17T09:25:00.000-08:00

Well I got a little behind this week. So I did my movement drills today. Tomorrow should be transition drills if I can load up some ammo by then- otherwise I will load ammo, dryfire and workout tomorrow.

It was sunny and about 40 degrees, but very windy! This weekend's weather looks to be in the 60's for the match.

I set up a 26 round course to work movement. I shot 6 runs moving right to left and left to right for a total of 12 runs. Start position was with hands on barricade, gun loaded and holstered. In the first array there were two open targets at 7 yards and two 6" steel plates at 9 yards. Then I engaged a 16 yard array of targets which included two open targets and two targets covered with no-shoots, covering half of the lower A zone. Then I perform a reload and move around another barricade and shoot two open targets on the move, and finish re-engaging that 16 yard array of targets. The only position shot static was the first array.

While it was interesting to shoot this drill, I think it burned more ammo than necessary. I can break down these skills and get better mileage out of my ammo.

I did find that shooting at 16 yard partial targets was not benefitial. It would be faster to shoot those static with better hits and making up ground running to the next position.

I shot the steel one for one on all except two runs. I was hitting low on those two runs.

I shot 3- 5 shot groups at 20 yards freestyle at headshots only. Groups were pretty good. I shot 8 A zone and 7 B zone hits. Sight picture was held center mass and I called my shots pretty well. There were a couple shots that I knew were on paper but a bit off center. I shot these groups right after the movement drills and one group right after another.

Total practice was 300 rounds today.

Field Course Practice

2009-02-14T13:27:00.000-08:00

I drove up to my "home" range and practiced with the boys today. It is a good opportunity to practice on swingers, steel and other stuff that costs too much to buy yourself! We even encorporated a Texas Star.

It was some valuable training and practice. Even though I only had the opportunity to run the stage 4 times. I feel I learned alot and got some much needed time on swingers and the Texas Star. I found the results interesting and I will explain that more in detail below.

It was a large field course. There were 12 paper targets and 11 steel targets, for a total round count of 35 rounds to complete the course. The stage stretched about 30 yards from start position to the end of the shooting area. Target distances ranges from about 5 yards to 20 yards. There were two swingers, a Texas Star, step on activater, and 4 small poppers. There was even a tight shot on a head only target obscured by a no-shoot at 20 yards from the end of the shooting area. So there was a really good mixure of challenges and target focuses.

Start position was hands relaxed, gun loaded and holstered facing downrange. You had to engage Texas Star from the starting box and the poppers from that last box at the end of the stage. Paper was to be engaged outside of the starting box. You had 9 targets to the left and right of the "path" obscured by barrels and no-shoots. So you had to make wide sweeps to one side then the other to acquire targets. I shot the first 9 paper targets all on the move, but the rest of the targets all pretty much require static shooting. I ran every stage clean, with no misses.

Run #1:
Draw was ok. Shot 2-3 extra shots on the Star. Had a pretty decent run, but was mostly deliberate and I wasn't pushing too hard. Shot a couple extra shots on two steel in the back of the stage.
Time= 31.76 Points= 89% Hit Factor= 4.8804

Run #2:
Draw was better, and still shot a couple extra shots on the steel. Shot the gun dry on the first nine targets which cost me time reloading the gun prematurely and having to step back to reacquire a target. Shot the back steel one for one though.
Time= 36.38 Points= 91% Hit Factor= 4.3705

Run #3:
Did better on the Star with only 1 extra shot, and had a smoother run. Points were good, but still was looking for the speed on the stage. Had a couple extra shots on the steel in the back trying to pick up the pace and get a sub-30 second run time.
Time= 34.32 Points= 93% Hit Factor= 4.7494

Run #4:
I smoked the Star on this run, shooting steel one for one. I had 1 extra shot on the steel in the end of the stage but became more confident shooting the steel. I hit both swingers with 2 A zone hits, but the points suffered from hitting the edge of the no-shoot on the long range head shot only target. I got a pretty good runtime and was surprized that even though I shot the worst percentage of points, the speed pushed this to my highest hit factor stage! Just goes to show that you can't lay back and shoot all A's all the time. Remember D.V.C. accuracy=speed=power!
Time= 28.34 Points= 85% Hit Factor= 5.2576

I also had the opportunity to chrono some loads using the same brand chrono that the major matches use. My loads came in at 174+ power factor. So I will be reducing my powder charge .1 of a grain. My results were showing 172 on my chrono. This is with E3 powder and S&S Casting 180gr lead bullets and Wolf SP primers.

Entry and Exit Training

2009-02-13T13:17:00.000-08:00

Today I got out to do some livefire training to work on my setups on entry and exits while shooting through a port. I figured there is a lot to be gained by smoothing this out. I paid particular attention on keeping moving while shooting 3 targets through a port.

I set up the three targets 5 yards from the port and about 1 yard apart. The port was made from a standard target with a hole cut out. Starting position was hands at sides, loaded and holstered 5 yards from port and offset to the left and then to the right.

I plan on working this drill with longer range targets. Although I probably won't be able to keep moving while shooting at 15-20 yard targets through a port, I still should be able to shoot moving in and exiting the port position.

I shot 288 rounds moving from left to right and right to left. I finished off today's training shooting 35 rounds in 5 shot 25 yard groups for accuracy. I shot pretty good groups. Especially once I warmed up. I had no misses and around 10 "D" zone hits on the "port drill" and all A's in the groups. Smallest group was right at 3".

I noticed that shooting right to left was smoother, more consistant and revealed better groups. I didn't use a timer today because I wanted to focus on good hits and smooth movement and not end up trying to beat a partime or specific runtime. That tends to make me rush and distracts me from using the proper focus during the training. I will use a timer next time to see which way is faster, just for FYI.

Rudy Project USA Shooting Team

2009-02-10T09:59:00.001-08:00

Wow! I have been invited to join the team by Kevin Gentry (Team Captain). This comes as quite an honor. This is my first and only "sponsor" at this point.

The team consist of some very talented shooters and I am excited about joining the team. I look forward to supporting the team and Rudy Project. I have been using their glasses for about 6 years now and have found that they are the best thing since sliced bread!

Looks like I will need to step up my training and put my game face on! :)

Match Day- Rio Grande

2009-02-07T16:15:00.000-08:00

Well other than being distracted by switching from Single Stack to Limited Division I had a pretty smooth day. Nice warm weather and slightly overcast, which I feel is about the best conditions a shooter can hope for. That way the smoke from shooting lead is a minimal disturbance.

Gun and equipment ran 100%, which goes a long way to having confidence in my equipment. Shooting is another issue it seems. I need to gain the confidence at mid an long range targets, especially shooting on the move. I only had 1 miss today which helps, but my splits need to be faster. I am loosing chunks of time here. Movement and transitions were pretty good today. I didn't find my self swinging back in forth looking and changing my mind on what order to shoot targets.

Stage 1:
Boy did the two Texas Star apparatuses give me a hard time! That really kicked me in that ass! But using my 22 round Rescomp magazine really came in handy on this stage. It allowed me to shoot this stage with one reload vs. two, because I missed so many shots on the the first star. It dropped free just fine, but when I inserted the new magazine, I didn't think it seated it fully so I tapped it. It was seated all the way. This is one of those "confidence in your equipment" issues. I thought because they are loaded to 21 rounds that I didn't seat it all the way. I shot 95% of the available points on this stage.

Stage 2:
Shot all steel one for one and didn't seem to take all day to do it! Start position was hands surrender facing up range. The first position was a very low area that I was unable to squat to due to my holster hitting my leg. So I had to take a knee with my strong side knee which took extra time to get out of. I made up a D hit with an A on the 4th target because I called it a miss. Shooting on the move could use some improvement. Reload was pretty smooth. And transitioned nicely through out the stage. I shot 91% of the available points.

Stage 3:
Shot steel one for one on this stage as well. I am pleased with how much better I seem to hit steel with this gun. Movement was quick and decisive, but gave up time on my splits. Here is where confidence in my shooting needs to improve. Especially on long range targets. I am getting into positions and shooting on the way in, but need to also shoot on the way out of position as well. This could have shaved some time off this stage. I was the first one to shoot the stage and was kinda winded for running the walk through a couple of times. Then after shooting I was pretty much out of breath! I can tell I really need to quit smoking and start jogging to get in better shape!!! I shot 82% of the available points on this stage.

Stage 4: CM 99-21 Mini Mart
The draw was a tad slow on this stage because I grabbed the gun and the mag for the mandatory reload from the cubby hole at the same time. I figure the extra time on the draw would save me plenty more on the improved reload position of reloading from the top of the table. Splits were good on this stage and transitions and reload were right on the money. But I didn't follow through enough on the last shot before the reload and it cost me a miss. I didn't make it up because this was a Virginia Count stage and I figured taking the time for the extra shot penalty would have been worse than the miss. I guess I should do the math and find out for sure so I know in the future!

I finished the match in 3rd place.

Video of the action can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8v8ClF3G1Q

Dryfire

2009-02-05T09:20:00.001-08:00

Well, I am getting less patient in the way of dryfire these days. I used to log about an hour of dryfire a day. Over the years I have been less "driven" to spend that kind of time. I figure I will work on basic stuff like draws and reloads in dryfire and the rest of the skills in livefire on the range. I may resume the movement and transition drills in dryfire again. But for now I am just gonna stick to draws and reloads on a daily basis. I also do some "reset" drills for trigger manipulation practice.

I figure I will keep the drills light and easy so I stick to it and not burn out. Here is what I have been doing everyday:

10- Reset drill freestyle

10- Reset drill strong hand only

10- Reset drill weak hand only

10- Draws hands relaxed

10- Draws surrender

10- Draws strong hand only

10- Draws weak hand only

10- Speed reloads from front pouch

I am in need of getting used to a Limited rig position as far as the holster and magazine position since I have shot Single Stack Divison for the last year. But in the two days I have been dryfiring, I seem to have gotton back in the groove. Even with the minimal drills listed above.

There is a theory that a little work everyday is better than hours of work a couple days a week. And definitely better than burning out! ;)

Western States Single Stack Championship

2009-02-02T09:44:00.000-08:00

WOW! What beautiful weather we had to shoot. The Rio Salado range is no short than heaven on earth! I had an awesome time meeting and shooting with some of the best people on the planet.

I got to meet many top shooters in the sport to include Taran Bulter (match winner), Robbie Leatham, Kippi Leatham, Lisa Munson, Mike Voight (USPSA President), Angus Hobdell, Brian Enos and many others. I also had the opportunity to meet several great members of the Brian Enos forum, which is always cool!

I also got to meet and hang out with the famed Yamil Sued, photographer and, dare I say, comedian! Terrific person and an absolute surgeon with a camera!

Stage 1:

The table top load was good. I had a bit of trigger freeze on one target because of inproper grip tension. Didn't follow through enough on a hardcover target before a large transition and picked up a miss as a result. Splits could have been quicker on a couple of open targets, shot too conservatively. I could have been more aggressive. Transitioned nicely through the last part of the stage during the stronghand and weakhand shooting around the barricade.

28 rounds- Shot 85% of the available points.

Stage 2:

The turning draw was pretty smooth. I should have shot targets from far to near at the beginning so I could have shot the close open target with a fast pair before the reload. I had a hardcover miss on the left side of the stage. Didn't have a solid load. I shot this stage too conservatively and should have been more aggressived and "attacked" the stage.

16 rounds- Shot 70% of the available points.

Stage 3:

Draw was solid, but again shot this stage too conservatively. I need to get more aggressive again. I shot this stage clean.

16 rounds- Shot 93% of the available points.

Stage 4:

My draw and the beginning of the stage was solid, shooting the steel one for one. But misses on the plate rack put me behind resulting in costly reloads for the rest of the stage. While in the prone position I had to do a reload and when I went for a mag on my belt, there wasn't anymore and had to put the gun in my weakhand and reach back on the ground to retrieve the last mag I ejected on the ground to finish the stage! This put me waaay down in the results. I did shoot this stage clean however.

32 rounds- Shot 96% of the available points.

Stage 5:

Started from a seated position facing uprange. Getting to the gun was choppy and the table top draw was sloppy. I hesitated too much on the first shot to the activating popper. I should have taken a target between both activated targets. I failed to time these target properly. I shot all A's except for 1 miss which grazed a barrel on a tight target.

17 rounds- Shot 82% of the available points.

Stage 6:

I got to the shooting pretty well through out this stage. I should have, however, reloaded after the first three targets on the stage and after the next three targets. The stage would have flowed better shooting 6-6-8-8. I shot this stage clean and was one of my favorite stages. This was the first stage I shot in the match.

28 rounds- Shot 89% of the available points.

Stage 7:

I shot this stage pretty well through out. Extra shots on a popper in the back of the stage caused an extra reload, but it wasn't a standing reload so it wasn't too bad. I shot this stage clean and was another of my favorite stages of the match.

27 rounds- Shot 92% of the available points.

Stage 8:

Movement and target index was pretty good throughout this stage. I performed a premature reload after only shooting 4 rounds at the beginning of the stage. For some reason I had an instinct to do this even on the walkthrough. I tried to rid while doing the walkthrough warm up, but it still happened. Although it was a good relaod, I am sure it cost me time on the stage. I did another reload after the next two targets just to get back in sequence on the stage (where I planned to do it). I shot the two mini poppers in the middle of the stage just as I planned to. I remember doing some positive reinforcement self talk prior to shooting the stage by saying "I am gonna hit them one for one- ding-ding." I should have done that on the steel in the back of the stage, because I shot two extra shots and had extra tranistions to this steel. Shot the stage clean.

27 rounds- Shot 91% of the available points.

Stage 9:

I felt as though I didn't get to the port well enough. Start position was back against wall with hands flat on the wall. I had two extra shots on the first shot to the steel. I planned to shoot the steel first then a close target before reloading and moving to the next array. I had a badly bobbled reload there but shot the next array pretty well which included a 25+yard target with no-shoot surrounding it. I timed the two activated targets pretty well and had a decent reload to the rest of the stage. I had a miss on a hard cover target as I moved through the stage.

23 rounds- Shot 82% of the available points.

Stage 10:

This stage was substituted for the one published in the stage diagrams, but was a nice stage. I moved through this stage well and reloads were smooth and quick. I had three extra shots on steel. Shot this stage exactly as I planned. I had a clean run on this stage as well.

25 rounds- Shot 95% of the available points.

Stage 11:

This was a little speed shoot stage with 8 targets requiring one reload. I didn't shoot this as fast as I know I could. I had a slow reload and surrender draw. Points were good though, only dropping two points.

16 rounds- Shot 98% of the available points.

Stage 12:

This stage "eat my lunch"! It consisted of 4 swinging targets that only appeared during the arch of the motion. This required you to shoot them in the least preferred time. There were two targets with hard cover and two open targets. They were also classic targets with are smaller than the metric ones. And they were fast! I didn't know the best method for shooting these targets and was the second shooter so I didn't have much time to learn and prepare. As a result I had 5 misses and zeroed the stage. Although it was only 40 points and many people zeroed the stage, this hurt my overall finished dramatically. I could have stay ahead of the field and hung in with the ones that didn't zero it if I was more prepared. I need to work on swingers of all types in the future! 53 people zeroed this stage!

8 rounds- Shot a ZERO on this stage. :-(

Stage 13:

This was a surprizingly difficult little standards stage that had classic targets again and was set about 25 yards from the shooting position. Several of the targets were obscured by no-shoot targets and required two strings. First string was 6 rounds freestyle, mandatory reload and 6 rounds stronghand only. Second string was 6 rounds freestyle, mandatory reload and 6 rounds weakhand only. I shot the stage clean with good reloads on my reshoot. I challenged for a reshoot because my first run had untaped targets. They were gonna give me extra hit penalties but I argued with others' that I didn't shoot any extra shots. Then they were trying to say that they could tell which ones were my shots. If that was the case why would they originally gonna give me extra shot penalties if they holes were noticable different sizes. Anyway they called the range master and he granted me a reshoot.

24 rounds- Shot 78% of the available points.

I had a great time at this match and will definitely attend next year. There were 244 shooters and I finished 60th. Not as well as I had hoped, but the lack of practice and preparation is my own fault. Next year I plan to do better!

My .40cal STI Trojan ran flawless except for one hiccup that was minor. Other competitors shooting other brands of 1911s had some death jams and other issues! I was very pleased that my gun and gear was running top notch. I was also happy that my loads made major right where my chrono results were here at home. The gun fit the box with a bit of wiggle room and weighed in at 40+oz. I was rather surprized that it weighed that much, but was well under the max of 43oz.

Most of my boo-boo's can be cured by dryfire and my conservative shooting can be improved by livefire practice and working on it at club matches.

I finished 60th out of 244 competitors.

Video of the action can be viewed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gr_SKOMtH0

Match Day- Wild West Practical Shooters

2009-01-24T15:14:00.000-08:00

I thought I would take in some mountain air and head east to the Wild West Practical Shooters Club. It is a beautiful range with 17 shooting bays and striking mountain views. This would be a wonderful venue for a major steel or practical shooting match. SASS uses this range for their "End of Trail" match every year.

First let me mention that there were a couple of issues today. One is a total brain fart on my part and one is something I need to look into. The first issue that cropped up was that I kept popping the thumb safety up on the gun, causing an abrupt stoppage in the action. I believe that it is the knuckle of my trigger finger that is bumping it up. I will look into it and probably will have to remove some material on the right pad of the ambi thumb safety to provide more clearance. The second issue, the brain fart, was that I had not one- but two empty mags on my belt! I should know better than that and am pretty dissappointed with myself over that. Otherwise the match ran pretty well.

Stage 1:

I ran the stage just how I planned it in the walk through and felt pretty smooth. I started on a 20 yard target from the draw. This was necessary as it was one of two target that were visible on the stage. The other was a partial hard cover target. I shot these on the move to the hidden low targets behind a wall. I had a decent run other than the magazine on the 2nd reload seemed to hang up in the gun. When transitioning from one port to another, I had a miss on the first target I engaged.

Stage 2:

This was a pretty simple and straight forward stage. I started from the left side of the stage and shot my way around the horseshoe shaped shooting area. I took the inside targets first and the outside targets to facilitate a more upright position for the reload and seem to flow well. I shot the middle array partially on the move, hitting the two steel one for one. The end of the stage were another four targets with hard cover mixed in. I feel I could have shot a bit faster on this stage, but didn't wanna burn it down with misses in the hard cover.

Stage 3: Classifier El Presidente'

This was where the wheels started coming off my match. Turn, draw and first three targets went well, then the problems started. The magazine in the gun seemed to hang up or something, 'cause I hit it in the basepad twice with the fresh magazine. Then I bumped up the thumb safety and ended up racking the slide thinking it was a jam, the caused me to loose track of where I was and picked up an extra shot and hit on the center target. So that in a nutshell kicked my run squarely in the nuts!

Stage 4:

Ok, I had a good plan an ran it how I intended, but had the safety and empty magazine issues on this stage. Start position was gun on a barrel and all mags on your body. There was a door to open and pass through to the rest of the stage. There were a static reload because there were 6 targets in the open area in the beginning of the stage.

I had two misses and one penalty in this match. All of which were very much avoidable. But that is what keeps us coming back to improve on. ;) I feel I am still not shooting up to speed. I will be working more in practice to get back to where I once was. I am definitely shooting below my classification. I have my work cut out for me and know what "homework" I have to do.

S&S Casting Bullets

2009-01-23T14:34:00.000-08:00

Well, I decided to look elsewhere for a different bullet. The reason is basically that the price and cleanliness of the Black Bullets Int. bullets left something to be desired. And Schuemann barrels Wil Shuemann explicitly warns not to use moly coated bullets.

So I took a look again at S&S Casting. They are as fine of a lead bullet as you are gonna find in my opinion. Jim Stinar offers a full spectrum of bullet weights in .40 caliber. So I took advantage of testing out some in 180 and 220 grain weights.

I didn't find that the 220gr bullets offered a significant recoil reduction quality so far as I have heard about. And, at around a 171 power factor level, they give up 170fps in velocity. I find that as a dissadvantage when shooting moving targets at longer range. I have seen longer range moving targets out here than up north.

The price difference in 220 vs. 180 grain bullets is marginal ($2.82 per 1K), but I think I will save that and load up the 180gr bullets. Shipping was reasonable at 70 pounds shipped for $13.00. I got 2K bullets at that shipping price.

Smoke was moderate and tolerable as far as lead bullets and fast burning powders go. It will all depend on where the sun is as I have mentioned in a previous post in my blog. I will test for accuracy and sight in the gun asap, but I didn't get a chance today and there is a match tomorrow.

Here are the results and what I am using for a match load:

Bullet: 180gr S&S Casting

Powder: 4.0gr Alliant E3

Primer: Wolf Small Pistol

OAL: 1.180"

Power Factor: 172 (6") 168 (5")

Bullet: 220gr S&S Casting FP

Powder: 3.0gr Alliant E3

Primer: Wolf Small Pistol

OAL: 1.180"

Power Factor: 173 (5" & 6")

Match Day- Caja del Rio

2009-01-17T16:17:00.000-08:00

There was a nice blend of high speed and accuracy challenges today. I had 5 mikes, but I was pushing a bit hard on some stages. I do believe that the extra inch on the 6" gun helped today. The matches out here definitely have longer range targets than up north. 20 yard moving targets are common and today we had 25 yard head shot only targets and 30 yard mini poppers!

Stage 1:

I shot this stage pretty conservatively being the first stage of the day. And decided to shoot all targets from a more rearward position than everyone else to eliminate all the running back and forth. It did save me time on the stage, but made for tougher shots. I got all my hits, but two extra shots on a steel put my last reload in a bad position- when targets were activating. I tried shooting those two mini pepper poppers on the move up. I barely got two shots on the dissappearing target in time.

Stage 2:

This stage had a few non-shooting tasks that required you to push open a port door, pull a rope to open another port and open a door. Targets were close and fast. I ran this stage pretty good up to the end where, while lean to shoot around a barrel, I fell out of the shooting area and had to re-enter to resume shooting.

Stage 3:

This was a tough and challenging stage with 30 yard mini poppers and 25 yard head shot only targets. The remaining targets had hard cover and no-shoots around them. This was a very accuracy intensive stage that I felt I did pretty good on. I had a faster runtime than most with 2 misses. The previous squad logged 70-some misses on this stage! I saw alot of people that slowed their draws, movement and reloads as a result of the long range targets. Which didn't make sense to me. I had some of my fastest reloads of the match on this stage. Draw and movement was quick and decisive.

Stage 4: Classifier CM 99-46

I had it in my head to burn this one down. I wanted to see what top speed shooting with this gun would feel and look like. Also wanted to see if I could hold it together. While having a great stage time, my hits definitely suffered. I had two misses and too many other points down to score well. But I found that I need more work and familiarization with the recoil impulse and timing of the gun before I can run at full speed! It was a ton of fun though! ;)

No issues concerning the ammo being too smokey and obscuring targets today. I think it just at those rare times when the sun is at that particular moment in the sky and right behind the targets. If the range is set-up correctly (north/south vs. east/west) than there should be no future problems.

I had a good time and a decent match considering. I won the division by 25%. I was also able to get some video footage shooting the new gun as well. ;) Check it out here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-LJCAUhVQY

Match Day- Zia Practical Pistol

2009-01-10T12:36:00.000-08:00

Today was one of those days.... I had penalties on every stage. There were two 20 round memory stages and two standards type stages.

Two things that bothered me was a jam on one stage and that these loads were really smokey! The sun was just above the targets and created a real problem seeing the targets through the smoke. When the sun is high in the sky, I don't notice the amount of smoke as I did today. So I am not sure if it was just poor sun position or if these loads are just gonna be too smokey. I plan on shooting regular lead vs. the coated bullets. The cost savings will be $30 per thousand and the coated bullets are not any less smokey.

I can really see the need for livefire training however. Just not shooting to my past abilities and the lack of practice is the culprit I think. Days like today really motivate me to practice. So if there is a silver lining, I guess that would be it.

2009 Goals

2009-01-10T05:22:00.000-08:00

Balance Mental Management System.

CONSCIOUS (thoughts)

1. Set tangible goals

2. Positive Reinforcement
· Visualize myself as a Champion.
· If the stage is good- say “That was just like me” and replay it in my mind.
· If the stage was bad- start mental rehearsing the next stage immediately.
· Never talk about my or others’ mistakes.

3. Mental Rehearsal
· Rehearse shooting the match by shooting exceptionally well.
· Run a mental program before each stage several times.
· Focus on follow through and stop trying to make up for errors by shooting faster than my capabilities.

SUBCONSCIOUS (skills)

1. Train 4-5 times a week (Dryfire/Livefire).
· The day before- only do mental rehearsals.
· Study COF’s if available to become as familiar with each stage and it’s specifics as if I wrote them myself.

2. When you are training, be all there.
· Make it count as if shooting a match.

3. Track performance analysis.
· Find my weaknesses and make them strengths.
· Know my zero and capabilities.
· Eliminate trying, rushing and not trusting my speed.
· Keep a diary to track my progress.

SELF-IMAGE (habits and attitudes)

1. Identify my habits and attitudes that need to change.
· Avoid bad attitudes.
· Eliminate reinforcing mistakes by giving them improper attention.
· Again- Never talk about mistakes with others.

2. Set-up a new self-image this is in direct conflict of my old one.
· Reinforce my successes in my diary and tracking spreadsheets.
· Forget any errors and immediately move on to the new task at hand.
· Hold positive thoughts about myself and others.

4. Apply a Directive Affirmation
· I cause my Conscious, Subconscious and Self-Image to move toward being in balance, thereby increasing my performance without frustration. I am a Champion!

Rescomp Magazine Update

2009-01-09T12:11:00.000-08:00

Well I received that mag body and Bolen parts the other day. I found it was a pretty good mag in the metal thickness catagory. It holds 22 rounds with the 4mm basepad with a little room to spare. I have a 3mm basepad and magazine gauge on order to check all my magazines.

One problem I am experiencing though is that it won't drop free when empty. It has a bit of trouble when loaded partially as well.

When loaded to 22 rounds you need to "set" the magazine by pounding it in the palm of the hand and pressing down with the thumb of opposited hand. Then when inserted robustly, it seats consistantly.

I havn't tested the magazine in livefire, but am confident it will run reliably. The is no rattling issues and the rounds slip out of the feed lips easily when fully loaded.

*Update*

Just received the EGW magazine gauge and 3mm Bolen basepads this afternoon and the results were great. The Rescomp magazine with Bolen parts fit the gauge and still holds 22 rounds with the 3mm basepad. The 4mm basepads, however, would need some modification in the way of taking material off the rear feedlip area of the magazine to fit.

Also all 5 of my STI magazines with Dawson Precision "SNL" basepads and Bolen guts fit the EGW magazine gauge as well. These will hold 21 rounds. No tuning was required with any of the magazines to fit the requirements set by USPSA!

Dryfire Training

2009-01-08T12:11:00.000-08:00

I have actually be getting my butt in gear and doing a little bit of dryfire practice the last couple of days.

I have been working on draws and reloads, but should start with more complex drills. I have noticed that my draws have been fast and reliable, considering I haven't been practicing.

Reloads are acceptable, but am working on more reliability. When I am hitting the load, they are almost as fast as a double stack reload from the first pouch. I have adjusted the cant of the mag pouches to assist in retrieval from the rear pouches. This alone has seemed to smooth things out. I am working on the mag pouch tention now. Seems as though I had my pouch tention too loose as of late. So I have tightened the rear ones and loosened the front pouch. This, along with the canting of the pouches has made a marked improvement.

Need to get out and do some live fire training as well. I plan on working on Vise Presidente drill with head shot only on the center target and some stronghand and weakhand only drills. Not to mention some group shooting training.

Match Day- Rio Grande

2009-01-03T11:38:00.001-08:00

It was a beautiful day to shoot my new Limited gun for the first match. 50 plus degrees and calm breeze. Gun ran great- but my reloads sucked! I kept reaching way back for a magazine like you do with Single Stack, even though in Limited the mags are right up front. So that caused me some issues. I think I will stick with SSTK Division until after the Western States Single Stack Classic at the end of this month. Then return to Limited 10 and Limited. I will need to practice and get used to the new mag placement though!

I shot the match clean, but a bit slower than I would have liked. It was easier to shoot clean with this gun. And that long standing goal of shooting matches clean finally was realized again today. So I am happy about that.

Shot the classifier a bit too conservatively. I only dropped 3pts and got a 61% nationally. I placed first in the Division.

I had to shoot through so I can make it to work on time- and that usually messes me up. I just feel too rushed throughout the match. All in all I still had a good time though. Looking forward to the next match!

2008 Year In Review

2009-01-02T09:50:00.000-08:00

Well the year comes to a close and I must say I am really looking forward to the new year!

I shot the beginning of the year in Wisconsin before moving to New Mexico. I must say moving alone will enhance my enjoyment of the sport in it's self. I shot Single Stack all year, other than the first match, and it was an eye opening experience. I shot a .45 caliber STI Spartan for about the first half of the year and then upgraded to a .40 caliber STI Trojan for the last half.

I didn't make it to any Major matches this year, which I hope to make up for in 2009. I am already registered for the Western States Single Stack Classic in Phoenix, AZ this month. But there are plenty more I am working on as well.

Performance was a bit disappointing to me, but was caused in my opinion to a couple of factors. One was a cross country move. Starting a new career and attending the academy didn't help matters much. I couldn't practice or attend matches much during that time. I also had some growing pains in the equipment department. But all that is behind me now and I feel will not be factors in the new year.

Towards the end of the year the competition got "stiffer" as the Master class shooters began shooting Single Stack in preparation the the WSSSC match in Pheonix. So that tested my abilities even more.

But I did come away with the NM Single Stack Point Series Championship title this year. That was pretty much my main goal for the year.

I need to get back in the groove in the practice department this year though. I have been feeling pretty guilty about the lack of attention I have placed in that this year. I did however stretch the envelope of Airsoft training and my knowledge with those gun and their capabilities. I will be working more with them this year once the weather gets back to where they will run reliably.

In 2009 I anticipate attending some Steel Challenge matches along with USPSA competition. There are several matches close enough to attend, and should be alot of fun. I am also afforded the opportunity to make it to some matches I have dreampt about attending for many years.

I have had the fortune of buying two new guns in 2008 to include the STI Trojan and a custom built to my specifications 6" Limited gun. I am quite impressed so far with the advantages and capabilities of the 6" gun. I plan on shooting primarily Limited 10 Division this year, with some SSTK and Limited tossed in there.

I have met and enjoyed the company of many new people here in the Southwest and can't wait to start the new year- first match is tomorrow! :)

Alliant E3 powder results

2008-12-30T16:32:00.000-08:00

Well I finally got around to working up some loads for testing with this new powder. I had some in-laws visit from out of town, so I thought I would be hospitable and hold off loading till last night.

The results were about as I expected. Although I am not sure if the recoil reduction is quite what I was looking for. Without testing the loads side by side, I really have no real comparison. The odd thing was that the 5" Trojan was coming in at a surprizingly close comparison to the 6" barreled gun. Actually the power factor of the 5" was higher, instead of being lower as it technically should have been. But suffice to say that they are both able to shoot the same load with roughly a 2pt power factor spread.

Load similarities were that I was using 200gr Black Bullets Int. bullets at 1.180" overall length and using Winchester Small Pistol primers. Crimp is set at .410". Here were my power factor results:

6 inch "Raptor" Limited gun

2.8gr: 143.80 PF (good minor/Steel Challenge load)

2.9gr: 152.40 PF

3.0gr: 156.80 PF

3.1gr: 162.00 PF
3.2gr: 166.00 PF

3.3gr: 168.60 PF (match load)

5 inch STI Trojan

3.2gr: 166.40 PF

3.3gr: 170.80 PF (match load)

I only ran two test loads for the 5" Trojan because I thought for sure that it would need more powder to make major- I guess I was wrong! I am sure that the same load that will work good as a minor or Steel Challenge load in the 6" will work as well in the 5".

There were no pressure signs and seemed very much controllable and consistant. This powder was neither smokey or dirty from what I have witness so far. There was no wind and humidity was average. So I think I would have noticed if there was any significant smoke using this powder with the "Moly/Poly" coated lead bullets.

I am about "burned" out of load testing if you will excuse the pun! The only time I will test again as far as powder differences will be when I start using Wolf primers full-time. Right now I am using up my Winchester stock.

I will take it out and do some group shooting to verify my zero and to practice a bit. But won't chrono again till I get closer to the Western States Single Stack Challenge at the end of January.

It will come as a benefit to use the same load in both guns though. I was kind of dreading having to load two specifically different loads for the same caliber for the two guns.

Break in

2008-12-22T11:54:00.000-08:00

I went out to shoot a few more break-in rounds on the new Limited gun. She is still running 100% and still a bit tight. But that hasn't caused any reliability issues.

I plan on starting to shoot it in competition starting in January. I don't think Zia is gonna have a match this weekend, so January will be the next opportunity to shoot.

I was just farting around doing some draws and transition stuff. Thought I may as well do something constructive and have some fun rather than just lighting off a couple hundred rounds.
I shot 270 rounds today.

I also picked up a new powder for my .40 caliber loads. I am gonna try out some Alliant E3 powder. I have been hearing that it is comparable to Hodgdon Clays but a bit more forgiving when loading shorter than 1.200". And it is less of a "punchy" powder than Hodgdon Universal Clays. Which is what I am really after.

That is about it for today. ;)

Match Day- Caja del Rio

2008-12-20T16:07:00.000-08:00

Beautiful sunny day, but got cool and windy in the afternoon. I had a really good time today. The stages were fun and innovative.

I didn't have any malfunctions at all today. I am thinking that the magazine modifications helped a lot. I am also having the best luck with the .45 caliber magazines. I had 4 penalties which cost me big time. I will have to take a look at what is lacking in my shooting and practice to remedy. Mainly I think it is the long range targets. Although there was a no-shoot hit on a drop turner with two targets on it. I pushed to get four shots on target on the first pass. That resulted in a D zone hit that broke the outside scoring perforation and picking up the no-shoot. One miss came on a swinger- again... Need to practice that. And I believe the other two were long range static targets.

I shot Single Stack again today- and may be the last time for awhile since the 2008 Point Series has come to a close. All in all I placed third by about a point or so. The first stage is where I really had the worst finish. I finished 2nd on all the other stages.

Stage One was a slow run time and with two mikes. That put me way down the leader board. It was kind of a memory stage with 9 hidden poppers. I didn't get a sufficient walk through and that burned me. I used up a lot of time looking for poppers and not indexing confidently to the next target.

Stage Two went pretty smoothly and according to plan. Shot my plan to a "T" but could keep up to the young Master class shooter. ;)

Stage Three also went according to plan and was a tricky high round count stage. I was pretty pleased with the resulting run, but again was outpaced by the "kid".

Stage Four was the classifier. I burned this one down as fast as the "kid", but lacked the points. My groups were a bit low on target, from indexing too low from target to target. This was the only stage I ran clean on.

6" Limited Gun advantages

2008-12-18T18:30:00.000-08:00

So far the advantages are really noticeable. As of now, I don't see ever shooting a 5" Limited gun in competition again. Unless the division requirements explicitly forbids it.

Groups are tighter- felt recoil is less with the same load and lets face it- they look cooler! All in a package the weighs no more than a 5" gun.

The true test will be to see how I shoot it in competition. I must admit I was skeptical though. All that talk about "it is the Indian not the arrow" had me wondering. But now I am learning that there is truely tangible advantages to the longer gun. I mean it looked better on paper, but how many times is that not the case practically?

To say I am pleased about my decision to have a 6" Limited gun built would be an understatement. ;)

Test Fire (Function, Chrono and groups)

2008-12-15T09:08:00.000-08:00

Well I took the Raptor out to run it through her paces a bit to heat it up and break her in a bit. I also took this opportunity to chrono and shoot some groups.

Function testing went 100% and seem to loosen up a smidge. The barrel lockup was so tight that it was a bit sticky. Now it is a bit smoother.

Chronograph results were quite an eye opener! With the same load that chrono'd at 170 power factor in my 5" Trojan, this thing ran in at 195 power factor and had a lighter feeling recoil! I am excited to see how it "feels" when I get it down closer to minimum power factor range of 165 and using Clays instead of Universal.

Group accuracy was quite impressive as well. From a standing freestyle position, I shot 9 A's and 1 C on the first group shooting at a 1/2 sized airsoft IPSC target at 25 yards. So technically that was like shooting a target at 50 yards. The 30 degree temps made my fingers a bit stiff and numb so I am sure that with warmer weather I could produce better groups. Pretty good I think- no sight adjustments necessary obviously!

So now it is back to the reloading bench to work up a good match load. I will be working up loads in both Clays and Universal with a 200gr bullet and Wolf primers at an OAL of 1.180". I am sure the Clays will be the clear winner, but I have a lot of Universal to use up.

Match Day- Zia Practical Pistol

2008-12-13T21:20:00.001-08:00

Well I finally got around to making it to this match. They run a "USPSA" style match. They use the regulation targets and score it pretty much the same. Just loosely follow the rules. Not a bad match though. For free you really can't complain too much! Had fun, met new people and got some trigger time in and all with no match fee! Can't beat that with a stick.

I shot ok- didn't have any jams like the last few matches so I think I am on to something with the magazine modifications. These mags just need a little more tuning and I think they will be just fine.

I didn't wear my cleats and should have. I could have used the extra gripping power on a few stages. Mostly "box to box" movement style stages. They don't have much in the way of walls and complex stage design. But that puts more emphasis on shooters' ability to shoot more I think!

They only recognize three division types= HiCap, L-10 and Revolver. So I shot L-10 with 8rd single stack mags..... I placed first in my Division and third overall.

Weather was cool and windy and I didn't dress appropriately causing me to shiver a bit. But still pretty damn nice weather for December! The range is pretty nice also. Big and littered with well manicured bays. They could hold many more stages, but without a match fee, I can see why they don't put more up.

All in all it was a positive experience all the way around. Now that I have Saturday's off, I think I will be adding the two matches they hold there on my normal match schedule. I can even practice after the match if I have the urge to. I can see that being the case more often than not.

Oh and by the way it is located right next to the movie set of Terminator 4... ;)

The "Raptor" is here!

2008-12-12T11:27:00.000-08:00

Today I took possession of my new Limited gun, aka the "Raptor". Matt did an outstanding job! It is really tight and is in need of breaking in. But I could not be more pleased with the results. The trigger averages 2lbs 11oz with 5 "pulls".

I also got 5 mags with the gun which are untuned at the moment. They consist of STI mag bodies, Dawson Precision "SNL" basepads and Bolen springs and followers. Right now they hold 20 rounds reloadable, although they are tight. I have loaded them all to 20 rounds and will let them set for about a week. That is if I can keep from shooting the gun!

Magazine Tuning

2008-12-09T04:46:00.000-08:00

Well I think I narrowed down my malfunctions to the magazines. I was talking with a friend that was having the same problems as I was having with nose down feedramp jams and he mentioned that he tuned the feed lips of the magazines and hasn't had any more issues.

Basically he suggested spreading the feed lips out with a cresent wrench. The dimesions he suggested were: Front-0.443" and Rear- o.368". I am not sure if I need that much as I don't want the mags to hang up in the gun.

I spread the front of the feed lips out to about 0.400" in the front and left the rear alone. I will try and get out to test the adjustments before making any other changes so I don't get ahead of myself.

My initial feelings are positive as the mags now seem to keep the top round pointing higher in the mag. Even when loading to 9 rounds. All mags drop free from the gun empty, so a partially loaded mag should have no trouble clearing the gun.

Match Day

2008-12-07T11:00:00.000-08:00

Well yesturday was another match. Not real happy with the results and am still having gun troubles. The .40 caliber single stack is a tricky beast. I may go back to using a .45. Once my Limited gun gets here I may start shooting Limited again sooner than I had originally anticipated and sending this gun out to get worked on to see if there is something to be done about the first round feedramp jams.

I was running a clean match until stage 3. Long range hard cover proved to be a challenge that I need to practice.

The long range standards were better. I had one miss out of 24 shots there. If I did't have a brain fart and get an extra shot and hit penalties this would have been a good stage. I wasn't counting my shots and should have only put 6 rounds in the gun.

I place 2nd on each stage and 2nd overall in the match. But I felt without the jams and my brain fart I would have won the match. Just had a worse day than the leader... ;-)

Group Shooting

2008-11-25T17:50:00.000-08:00

Got out to do a little practice today. It was a nice cool and overcast day. Just about perfect for shooting groups. I shot 6 groups of 8 shots in each freestyle, stronghand only and weakhand only positions for a total of 144 rounds. Distance to target was 25 yards. Groups were pretty good. I only shot a couple of D zone hits total. Those came during rapid group firing. I can work on these- but the ammo seemed to be grouping quite nicely. I could tell my blood sugars were low, and may have degraded my abilities a bit. But there is always next time. ;)

Chronograph testing.

2008-11-18T18:55:00.000-08:00

I got alot done today. I tested twelve different loads and fitted some parts to the gun. Both brought revelations I am happy with. I think I have found a load to start with. Next will be accuracy testing.

I also found a new range out on the Mesa that is virtually perfect for training. So, on to the results. I am not going into all the details but I got a good starting load with both Universal Clays and Clays. I am also thinking that I need to use Clays for matches and Universal for practice do to today's findings.

Clays definitely has less felt recoil and is FAR more consistent than Universal. Of the 5 loads tested, the standard deviations were: 13-8-7-7 and 6! Four of them are the best deviations I have ever achieved! With both loads smoke was virtually non-existent.

Both Clays and Universal had a drop-off right around minimum power factor. Results:

Clays:

3.3gr= 172.40 power factor (chosen)

3.2gr= 166.40 power factor (too close)

Universal:

3.8gr= 173.80 power factor (chosen)

3.7gr= 164.00 power factor (too low)

I also dialed in more crimp. I noticed that there was some set back as the rounds chambered into the gun by quite a bit. I increased the crimp to .416" which stopped the setback and actually improved the feeding characteristics.

Now- I got a Wilson Combat ambidextrous safety that I needed to install the Doug Keonig hammer due to the smaller specification in the design. That changes the geometry allowing for a lighter trigger pull. Anyways I fitted the safety and installed both parts to the gun. This change alone reduced the trigger weight a little over a pound. It is now breaking at an average of 2 lbs and 10 ounces. Not bad and has a crisp break and nice reset. I don't see any need for any more work.

Load testing...

2008-11-17T20:11:00.000-08:00

Well I am at the reloading bench working up a load for the Trojan. It has come painfully clear that I am in need of a new load. The current load has proved to be too short to feed reliably in the magazines I am using. I am using the Wilson Combat #47 and #47NX magazines with .40 S&W ammunition. This is proving that with 8-9 rounds loaded into the magazine, I get a nosed down jam on the feed ramp.

So to combat that I have decided to move out to a longer overall length. My orginal load was as follows:

Bullet: 180gr
Primer: WSP
Powder: Universal Clays
Brass: Mixed
OAL: 1.180"
Crimp: .420"

I have been testing some new components as well.

Primers:
I decided to try out a cheaper brand of primers that I have heard some good things about- Wolf. Yeah, they are the same company that makes that cheap steel cased ammo. I am quite impressed with their primers so far though. They are proving to be similar to Winchester in many ways and better in others. They seem to seat "firmer" than Winchester and are cleaner. They seem to be producing better standard deviation numbers as well- making a more consistant load. They also are packaged better- anvil side up to facilitate being loading into the primer tubes. You can just flip them out of the packaging onto the flip tray and they are all in line and spaced so that you can load the pickup tube in a fraction of the time as Winchester.

Powder:
I have also been testing out loads with regular Hodgdon Clays that is commonly used with shotgun loads. Nice powder and cheaper than Hodgdon Universal Clays. I have noticed that there is less felt recoil with the Clays than Universal. And there is no more smoke associated with the Clays. Seems to burn as clean as Universal and at about 25% less powder needed to make major.

Bullets:
I have been testing out Black Bullets International. This company bought out Masterblasters, which was the manufacturer of the bullets I was using and most pleased with. Their prices, while competitive, are cheaper than their closest rival. I am pretty pleased with them so far. I also decided to try out a heavier bullet and am liking the less felt recoil associated. I am going with a 200 grain trunacated style bullet. I will be accuracy testing the loads once I get settled into the appropriate power factor range.

So, now that the new components are covered, lets get on with today's testing results. I tried an overall length of 1.230" as recommend by some that I trust. This has proved to be too long in the stock STI barrel. I could see marks from the rifling when chambering a round. I also had some stoppages where the slide failed to completely close on a loaded cartridge. So I backed off the length to 1.200" and will test some loads tomorrow.

Since I don't have enough Clays to run right now and I have a bunch of Universal, I will probably have to shoot that up first. But am still testing loads with Clays since I have enough to do so. That way I have the ground work completed and can pick up with Clays when I use up the Universal. I will have more information after tomorrow's testing and hopefully I will be able to come up with a winning load.

Match Day

2008-11-15T16:38:00.000-08:00

What a tough day! I had several issues, and I will try to explain without whining too much~! I do have an idea of a solution though. So that is progress. First let me say that this match should have been run clean....but, as usual, I lost my head in the face of adversity as far as "bumps" in the road. Fortunately I was able to video the match and can review to see more of what went wrong today.

Stage 1:

Last stage of the day and probably the worst as far as troubles are concerned. I had a bad jam which cost me time and much frustration, which had no small part in the rest of the stage to go down hill from there. There where 9 shots on the left array. I decided to start there as I would be sure to have 9 rounds in the gun from the top off at load and make ready. Good theory- but if you didn't hit your shots one for one, you would have a painful standing reload. Well I grazed the steel, causing me to have to make another shot. So I have a standing reload. Well with eight rounds in the mag, I have been experiencing nose down jams on the feel ramp. Probably due to my overal lengtho of ammo being too short. This was the big jam. Then with that still in my head I hesitated on the next array with cost me a mike on the bonus target, as there were two drop turners. I shot steel-static target- then the two activated drop tuners. I would have had time to get the hits, but hesitated a bit from the steel to static target. Bobbled the reload and the rest of the stage spiralled down from there.

Stage 2:

Not a horrible one but somewhat disappointing at the same time. I had a mediocre runtime and a mike/no-shoot. Hit the reloads great and A zone hits pretty much everywhere else. But those two penalties and mediocre runtime is bound to knock me down.

Stage 3:

This was a stage I designed. This stage would have flowed really nice and was confident I could run this stage with the time to beat. But a brainfart on my part cost me dearly. I started the stage off without remembering to top of the mag loaded into the gun. That caused me to come to slide lock and changed the whole timing of the stage. So basically I had to shoot by the seat of my pants at that point, add libbing as I went. Never a good situation to be in! Reloads were all qiuck and positive. But the extra reloads and scattering around to a new stage tactic that was not planned cost me seconds on this stage.

Stage 4:

This is always the classifier stage. Today it was Fluffy's Revenge 2. I had a good run time, but indexed too low on the classic targets. This resulted in low groups. Too many points down to do well on this stage. Classic targets have a smaller A zone which is higher on the target than the Metric style targets we routinely shoot in competition here in the US.

I have been pretty hard on myself about today's results. But most of the issues have been from jams and not getting the opportunity to get a suffiscient walk through and of course the brainfart on my part as far as not topping off my magazine. Lessons learned and I know what to work on- so that is a good thing. Better luck next match!

New Limited blaster

2008-11-09T21:41:00.000-08:00

Well Matt got her all dressed up in a blued dress! I think it looks better blued. I think I will call it "Raptor".... :)

Match Day

2008-11-01T15:08:00.000-07:00

Well we had another beautiful day at the range. Sunny warm and not much wind at all. I wore Racing Red lenses despite the bright sunny day and didn't feel that it created any undue eye strain, but made for a clearer sight picture than darker lenses. I used to be bothered by extended exposure to brightness. But the Rudy's haven't brought any of that. So I will stick with the Racing Red lenses for shooting.

I had a pretty good match. I did have a few equipment issues I will explain more later. Had a great time shooting with some really great folks and that is as much a part of this sport as getting to run and gun.

I brought the hatcam today and am anticipating learning from the results. I have been having trouble with swingers. So hopefully I will be able to tell from the video whether I am shooting too early or late.

Stage 1:

This is the only stage with a penalty. It came on a swinger again?! This was the first stage of the day and felt I shot it conservatively. I shot 3 seconds faster than the nearest competitor, but that miss placed me 2nd on the stage.

Score: 25 A's, 23 C's, 1 D and 1 Mike- Time: 34.70
Percentage of points shot: 85%

Stage 2:

This stage went fairly smooth other than I almost forgot to reload after the first array! On the last array I did a bit of creative engagement to eliminate waiting on the swinger. I shot activator-steel-1 shot on swinger-paper-paper and then the last shot on the swinger again. Timing on that was perfect. I am sure the video will explain it better. I felt confident on this stage. I was the 2nd shooter to engage this stage. I finished first on this stage.

Score: 18 A's, 14 C's- Time: 22.24
Percentage of points shot: 91%

Stage 3:

I felt I shot this stage too conservative as well. I felt as though I started shooting too late on each array. I will see more when I watch the video but felt as though I was really sluggesh on this one. I also had a bit of an equipment (ammo?) failure on this stage and the next. See, I had to borrow enough rounds to finish the match. I brainfarted and only brought about 100 rounds!
So the load I borrowed was for a Glock and quite a bit shorter than I normally run. I think that is what caused the two malfunctions. This one though, the slide fell on an empty chamber. I will have to investigate on the video to see if I can tell what was the cause.

Score: 26 A's, 1 B, 5 C's- Time: 19.32
Percentage of points shot: 96%

Stage 4:

This is the classifier- CM 99-46. I started out pretty strong then had a big jam that shook my patience. I think that carried over into the rest of my shooting and I succumbed to the urge to make up that lost time. I know better than that, but..... Hits suffered as a result.

Score: 11 A's, 9 C's, 4 D's- Time 17.17
Percentage of points shot: 83%

Round count for the match was 128 rounds in four stages! I shot a total of 89% of the available match points. Closer to my goal of 90+ percent. But feel I let myself down when I shot without the proper focus on the classifier. I only shot 1 extra shot in the whole match, which is another goal- to eliminate extra shots. I placed high overall in Single Stack Division and put myself in the position to win the Point Series. Three matches to go!

Group Shooting

2008-10-27T11:49:00.000-07:00

Well a buddy at work showed me another place to shoot where I won't get flat tires! So we shot some groups.

Groups were decent, but I think with training and a refined trigger those groups will shrink. I shot a couple groups around 4" or so at 25 yards. They were also a bit to the right from center. But I will shoot some more in practice before I adjust the sights. I may be going out tomorrow afternoon as well.

Then I decided to do some one shot draws on the timer at 7-8 yards. Just for grins. I was pretty happy with the results. I shot about 10 and my best time was a .78 second draw with an A zone hit using a Safariland concealment holster. Not too shabby.

I shot about 100 rounds today. Just warming up to practicing again. The range was pretty sandy, so not the best for finding spent cartridges. But it will do. The guys say there is another place to shoot locally, so we may head over there tomorrow. If it is any better than this place I will be going there more often.

Test fire, chrono and sighting in....

2008-10-26T10:35:00.000-07:00

Well I couldn't wait til Monday to go out and shoot the new Trojan. I am quite pleased with the gun so far.

It didn't take long to sight in- two adjustments. It was grouping a little low left. Bold adjustments put me right in the "black". I sighted in at 25 yards. So when I get out to practice group shooting, I will shoot some at 15 yards as well as 25 to confirm my zero.

Test fire was 100% reliable- even with .45 caliber magazines. No failures to feed, extract or eject. And it tossed all ejected cases in a nice little pile just behind and to the right of my shooting position. Trigger is a little heavy at just about 4 lbs, but I will get that reduced by about half soon.

Chronographing my loads from my old Limited gun was pretty interesting. This STI barrel must be faster than the Schuemann I had in my old Cheely built blaster. Not much smoke to speak of, but I could feel the increase in power. The old load was 4.8gr of Universal Clays over a 180 Masterblasters bullet at an overal length of 1.180". Interesting to note how the Standard Deviation got better with each string. Going from 39 to 22?! Results:

String One:
High Velocity: 1084 fps
Low Velocity: 942 fps
Average Velocity: 990 fps
Standard Deviation: 39
Power Factor: 178

String Two:
High Velocity: 1092 fps
Low Velocity: 968 fps
Average Velocity: 1010 fps
Standard Deviation: 34
Power Factor: 182

String Three:
High Velocity: 1000 fps
Low Velocity: 924 fps
Average Velocity: 965 fps
Standard Deviation: 27
Power Factor: 174

String Four:
High Velocity: 1024 fps
Low Velocity: 948 fps
Average Velocity: 979 fps
Standard Deviation: 24
Power Factor: 176

String Five:
High Velocity: 1026 fps
Low Velocity: 948 fps
Average Velocity: 980 fps
Standard Deviation: 22
Power Factor: 177

Limited Gun Progress...

2008-10-26T06:39:00.000-07:00

Well Matt sent me another picture last night and I must say that the new blaster is looking good!

I can hardly wait to start shooting Limited Division again, not to mention see what this pistol is capable of.

*UPDATE*

He just sent me this photo of the gun completed! He will be blueing it once he has his other current projects completed and blue all of them together. I told him I wanted a "heavier" 6", rather than a "Fat Free" you see so much of recently. He said this one weighs in at 37 ounces. I am impressed and very happy with the results!

Trojan is here

2008-10-25T11:18:00.001-07:00

Well I picked it up yesturday and thought I would post me initial thoughts. The fit and finish far surpass the Spartan. I started installing and fitting parts to it right away. I will need to get out and sight it in, chrono some loads and test fire it soon.

I was gonna install the Doug Keonig hammer, but found I will need to get a new ambi thumb safety fitted in conjunction. The hammers are smaller in the notch area and the OEM safeties are fitted to the OEM hammer, thus making the safety inaffective.

I installed a Dawson Precision "toolless" guiderod with 12.5# recoil spring and 17# mainspring which lightened the action quite a bit. The "toolless" guide rod is a huge improvement to the OEM one. Disassembly is far easier and the OEM guiderod seemed a bit long, causing problems.

Then installed a TechWell that was modified by a friend. I also fitted an Ed Brown "tactical" magazine release. Just a bit longer than the OEM one. I fitted and installed an SVI modular trigger with a top curved insert. And finally I deactivated the grip safety.

That about sums up the first day! I can't wait to get out and shoot it. I will be getting out there on Monday. I will post more after the test fire and chrono results are in.

Metal in the eye!

2008-10-14T08:48:00.000-07:00

Well I finally went to the eye Dr. to have a piece of metal taken out of my eye. I must have gotton it in there two weeks ago when I was fitting a magazine release for the new Trojan.

It was embedded in the pupil area of my right eye. I flushed it out right away and thought I got it out. But I guess I was wrong. It got to the point to where, recently, I couldn't keep my eye open. So I figured that I did indeed still had something in there.

Funny thing is I shot a match last week. Despite the metal in my eye, I pulled off a win. But with 5 misses. I am sure that the metal in the eye attrubuted to them.

Hopefully everything will heal up fine and I won't have any lasting problems!

Limited Gun Projection

2008-10-13T20:09:00.000-07:00

Here is pretty much what I project the new gun to look like...

6" Limited Gun Progress

2008-10-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

I got two more pictures from Matt today. He will be flat-topping the slide later. Here are some progress pictures...

Comparison from a stock unique slide:

Match Day

2008-10-04T16:21:00.000-07:00

Today was partly cloudy and overcast so I opted to wear my racing red lenses in the Rudy Project glasses. These really help make things clear on overcast days. I am gonna wear them on sunny days also. I think they will help with contrast and sharpen focus due to constricting the pupil.

I had too many many misses (5) today to make my percentage goal, but there were areas I did notice my improvement on. I did good with stage tactics today. And timed all the moving targets perfect. I was able to add a target between some fast activating targets with some creative target engagement. I was happy with how I was stuck to the plan and didn't have trouble with the complex order of shooting in SSTK Division. This Division makes for some creative planning!

My shot slits and transitions were faster and on the spot today. I can definitely tell the .40 caliber is easier to shoot quicker. Some say there is really no difference in the two calibers regarding recoil and such. But I sure can tell, and seems obvious when you think about it.

I did take the longer shots for granted. I need to take the time necessary for the hits desired in this area. Improper follow through was the problem I think, as these targets were Alpha-Mike. I seemed to be transitioning to the next target as I firing the shot.

It came as a surprise to come away with a match win today though. I thought I gave up too many points for sure. I guess my speed carried me through. I guess you can miss fast enough to win. Actually the other guys had some penalties too. There were some tough shots today.

I was shooting a borrowed STI Trojan just like the one I have ordered. It was quite accurate. Had I not shot those Mikes I would have met my 90+% goals on each stage.

Single Stack Basepad Modification

2008-10-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

Due to the larger magwell and limitations of the Division perameters of the overall size limits of the gun and equipment, I needed to make some modifications to the basepad's size and shape to accomodate. Division requirements state that the handgun with empty magazine inserted must fit wholly within a box with internal dimensions of 8 15/16” x 6” x 1 5/8”.

First I compared the two sizes of basepads available from Wilson Combat to see what I could get away with. The 47BN measures .350". A bit too short for the Techwell magwell. The 47BEN measures .625" and is a bit too long. The one in the middle is a 47BEN I modified to fit. Basically I hand ground the basepad on course grit sand paper until I got the dimensions I needed. Then used a finer grit to smooth it out.

This was the results of the modification to the size and shape. I only took minimal material off the rear of the basepads, since that area was not the issue. It was the front portion.

Then I decided to stipple the bottom surface for better grip. This actual makes quite a bit of difference in positively seating the magazine. I used a regular wood burning iron with the tip sharpened to a point. It doesn't take long, and you just need to apply a little pressure for just a half second or so for each stipple.

I also believed it necessary to take a bit off the length of the magwell. This ensures enough magazine sticks out to seat positively. Gives it a nice two-toned effect too! ;)

Stippled Airsoft Grip

2008-09-30T19:35:00.000-07:00

I also got the grip back that I gave to a shooting buddy to stipple for me. It turned out pretty good. I decided to have it done because the grip gets slippery at times after about 200 rounds from the silicone in the gas spraying. This will help even though there is no real recoil. But it will help gripping the gun as I draw and such. The gun still weights about what a standard competition 2011 does. It weights 36oz. with the magazine inserted. Now about the only thing that separates this from a real gun is the ammo and recoil! Pretty realistic, which helps with consistant training. ;)

Gun updates

2008-09-29T11:56:00.000-07:00

Well Matt sent me a picture of all the parts, so he should be starting to build my new blaster soon!

And as far as the Trojan, I decided on some equipment changes. I went with the Wilson Combat #47NX magazines instead of the Cobra mags. I haven't been able try them out that much but I did polish the feed lips with flitz and a dremel then tossed them in the tumbler for 4 hours. They shined up pretty nice after that! I am also going with the same trigger in both guns. I am using the SVI trigger with the top curved insert. So right now I just need a few more parts and then I will try and send it out to Matt McLearn at M2I Custom for the final tuning.

Shift in interests

2008-09-23T12:49:00.000-07:00

Well lately I have had a shift in interests. My interests have shifted from training to the new guns I am having built. I have two new guns in the developement stages right now as I have mentioned in earlier posts. And I have recently sold my Spartan 1911 to fund these projects. So that leaves me with only one Airsoft gun to practice with. The other is getting the grip stippled by a local shooting buddy. So while I am waiting on these projects, I will have to take a short breather from training and match attendance. Although this comes as a sacrifice, I am sure I will enjoy both more with the new guns. I can't wait.

Break from training...

2008-09-18T08:28:00.000-07:00

I have taken a break from training, as I am feeling kinda burned out. I still have the desire, but don't want to loose my interest. I have been there before and don't want to be there again.

In other news, I think my 6" Limited is nearing completion. I don't have much to pay it off and sounds like Matt is ready to start "cutting". I have also ordered a .40 cal Trojan from Dawson Precision to replace my Spartan. I will be adding some stuff, as usual, to enhance it. I plan on using a TechWell magwell instead of the SVI one.

I will have an .090" Dawson fiber optic front sight installed on both guns. For the Trojan I will be using Tripp Research Cobra Mags and Howard Smith tuned mags for the 6". I am also going back to using a short flat trigger instead of the long curved trigger. STI is now offering the gunsmith blank triggers for 1911s. So I will be using one of them with the trigger shoe trimmed to .400" in the Trojan. On the 6" gun, I will be having and SVI modular trigger with the Enos top curve insert. I may use the same modular SVI trigger in the Trojan.

I will be sending the Trojan off to Matt McLearn of M2I Customs for final prep and tuning. Once broken in I may hard chrome it.

Match Day

2008-09-13T06:56:00.000-07:00

Well....I had to "shoot-through" to get back in time to get ready for work. That means rushing from stage to stage and did not give me proper time to prepare for each stage. I am pretty unhappy with today's results! Although I had less penalties, I had gun issues (jams) resulting in extra reloads. I also had to do a re-shoot that went way worse than the original run.... I think I am just going to skip matches instead of doing this again! I just get so disappointed in these conditions. I had two miss penalties resulting in shooting 88% of the total match points. Both misses were on swingers. But run times were inflated do to malfunctions, improper preparation and mental breakdown.

Anyway I wish I just stayed home instead of having such a frustrating day. This always happens when I rush and or don't get the proper amount of rest before matches. When will I learn.... Yeah, it is just a club match, but I treat every match with a high level of importance.

Barricade Drills

2008-09-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

Well I just couldn't get in the groove today. I didn't want to be "there" in practice today, so I rapped it up instead of practicing without focus. I feel that when in this mood, it is detrimental instead of helpful to continue to practice.

I did however practice some. I practiced about 20 minutes shooting around a barricade from the right and left side with and without reloads. Training was going smooth, but my head wasn't in it and thought I would train another day.

I hate it when I get in these training slumps and feel like I am letting myself down. But don't want to get burned out either.

Draw and Reload Drills- Dryfire

2008-09-11T09:37:00.000-07:00

Decided to just dryfire today. I will work on the Airsoft gun and mags later. My mind is on the upcoming NRA sponsored New Mexico Challenge match on Sept. 20th. It is basically a PPC type match. The cool thing is I hear there are prizes to be awarded. It is a free match and is local, so I won't be missing this one. I havn't shot PPC since last January, so I will have to get my game face on.

I practiced a host of different drills today. I did 10 repititions of each drill, totalling 150 draws and 70 reloads/loads. Here is a breakdown of the work:

Draws:

Hands at side, static

Surrender, static

Stronghand only, static

Weakhand only, static

Table, without load

Table, with a load

Chair to standing

Standing to squatting, through a port

Right side of barricade

Left side of barricade

Moving forward

Moving backward

Moving to left

Moving to right

Reloads:

Static

Moving to the right

Moving to the left

Moving backward

Standing to squatting, through a port

Squatting to standing, through a port

Drills went well and profisciently. I used a timer as a start signal only. I am thinking I should practice more reloading drills. Just to get some quality repititons in. I didn't bobble too many. But one can never get too much practice on reloading the gun. I feel my training is pretty balanced and complete. I spent about an hour training today. I did feel that this is about my limit of attention span. Much longer and I feel I will loose the sharpness of my focus and start to just go through the motions.

El Presidente' Drills

2008-09-10T09:16:00.000-07:00

Well I am getting a bit frustrated with the Airsoft gun and mags. They are really having problems lately. I think I am wearing them out. I have a little over 10,000 rounds on them so I suppose it possible. Still not bad if you consider my investment- $250 for gun, gas and bb's. That is .025 cents a shot vs $860 and change shooting .45 ACP.

So I put away the Airsoft and practiced these drills in dryfire. 10 repititions of each drill. Once I got to doing that, I was pleased with today's training. I used three mini hard cover targets at 6 (12)yards. I called a few hardcover misses, but most were called good. It is nice to have the bb's to back up what I call though. I will get the Airsoft situation sorted out though. Even if I have to buy a new gun and a couple of mags, I am still ahead of the cost curve.

Man, was it a blast to watch the LPR Nationals live on ustream! They even had the awards banquet streaming live. So that motivated me, watching the best in the sport battle it out. All Divisions other than Revolver were first time National Champions. Here were the results:

Travis Tomasie- Limited Division

Jessica Abbate- Limited Division (High Lady)

Robert Vogel- Production Division

Randi Rogers- Production Division (High Lady)

I also received a message from Larry Houck about some local Law Enforcement matches being held the weekend of Sept. 18-20th. There are two pistol matches and a 3-gun match. I am planning on attending both pistol matches and helping RO where I can. The New Mexico Challenge is an NRA based competition using the NRA Law Enforcement Stock Semi-Automatic Pistol Course. Pretty much PPC. The other pistol match sounds like a USPSA/IDPA type of match.

Transition Drills and Group Shooting

2008-09-09T08:09:00.001-07:00

Had some equipment issues. Seems to be a little with the mags getting worn out and the the loading nozzle getting stuck. But most of the issues were only with two mags.

Today's practice went well otherwise. The mini poppers work great! I can see them being used with many of the drills. Mixed in with paper.

It is another beautiful day with a slight breeze. Cooler temps than normal. I shot 400 rounds today. Spent about an hour practicing.

Groups were pretty awesome. I shot 90 rounds, 30 freestyle, 30 stronghand only and 30 weakhand only. I shot 75 A's and 15 C's. I could really see the fliers through my sight picture as I was shooting the groups. I noticed that the front sight wasn't really moving so I think the fliers attributed to most, if not all, of the C's. I bought some .23 gram bb's to replace the .20 gram ones that I have been using. Once I use up the 20's I will use the 23's. Manny Bragg told me that he finds that the .23 gram ones fly straighter and seem more accurate.

Movement Drills

2008-09-08T09:22:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been having some problems with steel and hardcover targets. I will be working on hardcover targets on every training drill set until I can make them a strength instead my nemisis. I am working on an idea of making some mini poppers out of sheet metal also. Just need to get the dimensions right.

It has been fun watching the Nationals on ustream.tv. Man this is an awesome Olympic sport if I ever saw one. USPSA/IPSC has tried to get it as one, but without any luck. I think the world would really take to watching it.

Anyhow, I did ok today. Liked how smooth things felt. The hits weren't as good as I was looking for. But that is why I am out there working. I set 4 hardcover targets at 7 yards and shot all of the movement drills as prescribed in my training routine. I shot 21 misses. 19 hard cover hits and two whole target misses. Here is a look a today's set-up:

Out of 480 rounds I shot, 370 A's, 84 B/C's, 3D's and 21 mikes. For a total percentage of 83% of the available points. I know I can do better! But these were all shots taken on the move with hard cover targets mimicing 15 yards. Not easy shots to make.

Well I got the poppers made. They are slightly smaller than a regulation US popper (the small one). Not to scale with the mini targets, but they will due. I made 6 of them with material left over to make some small plate for building a plate rack. Cost was $8 a piece, again with material left over. Here they are.

Match Day

2008-09-06T13:17:00.000-07:00

Definitely a beautiful sunny day to shoot. I had a rough start, but was able to dismiss that as "not like me" and move on without carrying that baggage with me. I was needed to RO throughout the match with several new shooters, so I was unable to video. I miss this as an evaluation tool, but am able to look back in my mind and evaluate things pretty close.

Stage 1- 32 rounds:

This course started off with an unloaded gun on a barrel about 6 yards from starting position and you were required to load off the belt. The load was slow and "herky jerky". Definitely gave up some time there. I shot without a good sight picture on one of the hard cover targets, yielding two misses. On another target, I failed to have proper followthrough, yielding a no-shoot. I called it right away and made up that shot with an Alpha. Run time was not real good, but felt pretty smooth other than the details mentioned above. I shot 20 A's, 8 C's, 1 D, 2 Mikes and 1 NS in a time of 30.92 seconds. I shot 2 A's on the drop-turner. 65% of the total points available.

Stage 2- 20 rounds:

This was a technical stage that required you to move backwards half way through the stage. Not a bad run on this stage. I feel I shot it pretty smoothly other than a bobbled reload. I shot while moving backwards on a 12-15 yard target yielding two Alphas. I shot 3 A's and 1 C on the two drop-turners on the stage. I shot 17 A's and 3 C's in a time of 22.70 on this stage. 97% of the total points available.

Stage 3- 30 rounds:

This stage had 4 boxes, 1 starting box and three shooting boxes. In front of two boxes were 4 targets with one open and three hardcover targets at about 12 yards. And the third shooting box had 6 mini pepper poppers in two rows cover and aligned. The catch was you had to shoot 3 rounds per target. This created two standing reloads and 2 moving reloads. I absolutely smoked the reloads on this stage. I was quite happy with them. Extra time came on the mini poppers. I shot several extra shots on the last two. The were about 15 yards from the shooting position. I shot 22 A's, 5 B's, 2 C's and 1 D for a time of 33.13. 93% of the total points available.

Stage 4- Bang and Clang Classifier- 6 rounds:

I had a good run on this stage. I prepped by airgunning the Surrender start in the safe area several times. I felt that the key to this stage was a quick and smooth draw. My draw time to the first popper was 1.3 seconds. Not the greatest, but it was smooth and deliberate which allowed me to shoot the stage without a bobble or glitch. I remember focusing on relaxing as I assumed the start position. I shot the 4 pepper poppers and 2 C's in a time of 2.91 seconds on this stage. 93% of the total points available. The Ohio Classifier Calculator figures my run at about 78% nationally.

I always have a goal of shooting 90%+ of the total match points. But fell short again today. I shot 84%. Looks like the one bad stage is costing me my goal. Same thing with the last match. I won each stage as well as of course the match. Seems like my run times are still a bit slow. I still feel good with the results and feel I am making positive progress on my improvement. I don't feel I necessarily pushed or tried extra hard today. Just shot the stages with a front sight focus. Well I will get after it again next week at the Caja del Rio club match.

Here are a sample of the relationship between the Regulation target and my training targets:

Barricade & Group Shooting Drills

2008-09-05T09:38:00.000-07:00

Well today's training was kinda frustrating but interesting. I had some trouble with the gun. I think I have it figured out now though. I had a little plastic part break that holds the inner and outer barrels together. Fortunately I have another top end to cannibalize parts from. I tried swapping top ends, but found the one with the slide cuts to be less accurate. So I changed the loading nozzle, spring and breach from that slide. These parts have less mileage on them. They don't sell some of these small parts separately so I may have to buy a whole inner barrel assembly or I may have to upgrade to a new gun soon, but think this is running better now. I will find out for sure in my next training session.

Other than the equipment problems, I had a pretty successful training session. I used partial targets today. The groups were good and centered on the available scoring area of the targets. I did have a few hard cover "misses". Eight to be exact. But I only had 4 D zone hits, so the rest were A and C zone. Not horrible, but I can do better!

With the targets set at 8 yards, it mimics about 15-16 yards actual distance. So it does make for challenge shooting around a barricade at partial targets. Total round count for today's training was 450 rounds. This is what today's setup looked like:

There is a Rio Grande club match tomorrow and I took a vacation day to attend. I plan to pick up the pace a bit. Practice a little "controlled chaos" as they say. The last match I played it a bit safe being the first match I had shot in 3 months. But tomorrow I will push to find my limits and go from there. I am planning on making the Caja del Rio club match next Saturday as well as the Wild West Practical club match in Edgewood on the 4th Sunday of this month.

There is a "point series" for all club members. My goal is winning that title. I am a bit behind the power curve as far as matches attended though. I have only shot 4 of the matches and the leader has shot 8. There are 8 matches left. So if I can attend every one, I think I have a chance. You earn points based on your finish. 1st=5pts, 2nd=4pts, 3rd=3pts, 4th=2pts and 5th=1pt. Right now I have 18pts and the leader has 32.

Garage Set-up

2008-09-04T09:28:00.000-07:00

Well I have come up with an idea that I think will work. I constructed some stands with some thin particle board to keep the bb's from hitting the wall when the penetrate the targets. I also screwed a cross member on the back so that I can also use the steel targets. I also came with an idea of stapling a trash bag on the bottom to catch the bb's. It actually works!

The distance to the targets from shooting position is 8 yards. With the mini targets that mimics about 15-16 yards. I am even thinking I could hang some old wool military blankets or tarps from the ceiling for walls. Now I just gotta retro fit my other 5 stands and build some stages!

I think this will work pretty well. I will continue on with my training tomorrow when I have more time. My youngest daughter is sick and puking today. So I am taking care of her today.

Here are a few pictures:

El Presidente' Drills

2008-09-03T09:03:00.000-07:00

Today's livefire training was a bust! The weather today is cool and overcast. The 68 degree temperature is not conducive to the airsoft mags staying warm enough to work properly. I wish they made an electric pistol like they do for rifles. So it looks like I need to try out some ideas for cooler temperatures sooner than I previously thought. I have an idea of using a heating pad to warm up the mags as I practice. This will only be feasible while practicing in the garage. So I need to work out some other ideas of setting up some sort of backstop for the garage.

So today's training backup was dryfire. I practiced reloading on the move. Boy they were really smooth and quick. I must admit that I was impressed at how smooth and quick they were. I came up with the idea to do these at the last minute. I also am planning on doing reloads going to the kneeling and standing from a kneeling position also. You can never get too much reloading practice!

Hopefully tomorrow will bring warmer weather. In the meantime I will be brainstorming on some garage set-ups.

Transition Drills and Group Shooting

2008-09-02T10:13:00.000-07:00

Man does my throat feel better today! I practiced in the morning again for about 1.5 hours today. The sun seemed high enough not to bother me. I was motivated to practice today with a sense of urgency for some reason.

Practice went well. I wasn't using partimes and shot 90+% hits while watching the sight settle and lift, yes even with an airsoft gun, after each shot. As the gas runs out in the mag, you see less lift in the sights of course, but with a fresh mag you can really see it jump. I shot 30 extra rounds on the Wide Transition drills going left to right. I am still surprized that transitioning right to left is yielding better results than going left to right. I used to be better shooting left to right. Interesting what you learn when you practice! My transitions going right to left were really quick today. They were as quick as my shot splits. Oh and I moved the box back so that the closest targets are now at 8 yards instead of 7. So now the distances are 8-9-10 yards to the targets. The set-up looks like this.

Group shooting was pretty good. I noticed that low gas tends to make the bb's swerve a bit. But I still managed to shoot 4" groups at the mini targets set at 12 yards. I practiced 30 rounds in each of Freestyle, Stronghand only and Weakhand only positions for a total of 90 rounds. I shot three 10 round groups in each position. I was impressed that even the Stronghand and Weakhand groups were right around 4" groups. I shot 97% of the total 450 points. Pretty good for an airsoft gun with some low gas fliers I think.

Today's training totalled 420 rounds. They say when practice is going well shoot more and when it is going in the toilet, pack up and call it a day. So I sent 60 more rounds downrange than my training schedule prescribed.

Movement Drills

2008-09-01T16:08:00.000-07:00

I am battling strep throat, but still managed to get out and practice today. I took the family to the zoo this morning when it was nice and cool. So I tried to wait until it was cooler this afternoon to practice.

I could really feel an improvement in my ability to launch out of position and get to the shooting today. I started in the shooting boxes loaded and holstered. Then at the tone, I performed the "drop-step" technique to launch out of position as I drawed the gun. I was pleased at how I was able to do that and draw at the same time and keep the gun high until I entered the box. I really focused on shooting as soon as the trailing foot left the ground as I stepped into the box. I am getting better at this, but can see room for improvement.

Shooting on the move was good but not the greatest today. The only direction I was not happy with was the shooting on the move from left to right. For some reason my shots were not the greatest today. And usually I have some of my best result shooting on the move in that direction. On the flip side the shooting on the move from right to left was great. I came away happy with those results as I generally struggle shooting on the move in that direction.

I shot 330 rounds in the 1 hour of training today. I didn't do any dryfiring. It was a warm afternoon with the sun to my back. Better than the usual sun in my eyes in the morning.

Rest Day (Evaluation day)

2008-08-30T06:28:00.000-07:00

Well I have been going over my Goals. I have gathered information from so many places and have made up a sheet about my goals and training routine. Here is my current goals and training plan.

Barricade & Group Shooting Drills

2008-08-29T09:04:00.000-07:00

Now that I have those nifty miniature targets, I have encorporated Group Shooting into my training again. I shot 3 strings of 10 shots in each of Freestyle, Stronghand only and Weakhand only for a total of 90 rounds. I set the target out to 12 yards. This really makes the target appear to be set at 25 yards I think. The bb's made it there pretty well. I did notice a few fliers, but I think for the most part it still shoots accurately enough to be effective practice.

I was more accurate shooting Weakhand only than Stronghand only today. I found that interesting. I only dropped 3 of 30 shots into the C zone. Where as I dropped 7 shots into the C zone shooting stronghand only.

I shot the Freestyle groups into the upper A/B panel of the target. I dropped more shots into the B zone there.

Barricade drills went well. I feel that I am basically holding my skill level with a slight increase in profisciency. I am focusing more on my hits and leading the gun with my eyes rather than overall run time. So I don't think I am pushing as hard. But I am getting better hits and learning to index better.

This is how the 450 rounds of training boiled down today:

30 rds Rt side of barricade

30 rds Lt side of barricade

60 rds Rt side of barricade with reload to Lt side

60 rds Lt side of barricads with reload to Rt side

30 rds 3 port drill- high (Lt-Rt)

30 rds 3 port drill- high (Rt-Lt)

30 rds 3 port drill- middle (Rt-Lt)

30 rds 3 port drill- middle (Lt-Rt)

30 rds 3 port drill- high to low (Rt-Lt)

30 rds 3 port drill- high to low (Lt-Rt)

30 rds Freestyle group shooting

30 rds S.hand only group shooting

30 rds W.hand only group shooting

Draw Drills

2008-08-28T08:49:00.000-07:00

"Keep your eye on the ball, the front sight is the ball"

I started training today wondering if draw drills are worth practicing every week. But after training today I came across a few thoughts. One is that I can remember how I trashed a whole stage from bobbled draws, because it made me feel rushed. It makes me feel like I have to hurry to make up that bad draw time. The other is that to have a balance shooting platform you need to do all task profisciently. So I will keep draw drills in my practice. Also it is a big confidence builder knowing you can hit the A zone consistantly in less than a second. Oh and it is something you will do on every stage in a match. ;)

Hands at sides and Surrender draws were all done moving into a position from all directions. I used a shooting box. I used a partime of 1.00 seconds and beat it with 95+% consistancy with A zone hits on my 6x9" steel targets.

Table, barricade (both sides) and Strong hand only draws were at 1.00 partime at various angle plates. Again consistant hits.

Table top draw with a load was at a partime of 1.6 seconds consistantly. And Weak hand only draws were at 1.3 seconds consistantly.

I also did some 2 reload 2 drills. Consistancy was good but not the greatest. Bobbled a few reloads. I practiced from hands at sides shooting at one target. And then Surrender I practiced shooting two on one target with a wide transition and reload to another target. I practiced these transitioning to the right and left.

All in all I had a good time and feel I made some progress and gained some confidence with my first shot draw times. I focused on ripping the gun from the holster and getting to the two handed position as fast as possible. And looked for the front sight on target as soon as I heard the beep. Once I see that sight settle on target, I am pressing the trigger. From the two handed position I found it best to ease the front sight on target rather than jab it out there. This yielded the fastest times and most consistant hits.

I shot 360 rounds today. I training for about 45 minutes. No dryfire today since these drill are pretty much what I dryfire. It was a beautiful cool sunny morning. :)

Presidente' Drills

2008-08-27T06:57:00.000-07:00

I got the mini Airsoft targets yesturday evening. The measure 11.75 x 19.75" overall with an A zone of 4.00 x 7.25". They have a white backing, which makes them usable as no-shoots.

I will be using these for training today. I am not quite sure at what distance I will shoot them at- but guessing at about 6-8 yards.

These worked really well today, as did I! I set three targets up at 4-5-6 yards and about 1 yard apart. I modified the drills just a tad to make the training more balanced. I ran each drill 5 times in each direction, left to right then right to left. Even the El Presidente' drill, I shot 5 drills turning in both directions. I also shot a 10 round group between each drill to the head of the targets. I would have to say that these Airsoft guns are capable of more than suffiscient accuracy.

I Dryfired before heading out to the backyard for Livefire today. It went as well as expected- no bobbled draws and all within the partimes. I will have to shorten the partimes a bit.

Range conditions were overcast and I was using dark lenses. Probably should have switched them out for the Racing Reds.

I shot 520 rounds today. I shot 488 A's and 32 C's for a total percentage of 99% of the available points! I am really happy with this result.

I didn't use partimes as they tend to make me rush. So instead of nurturing that notion, I just shot A's as fast as the sights allowed. I think I will be farther ahead cultivating follow through and allowing the sights to dictate my speed rather than a timer or a "feeling" of how fast to shoot. I didn't make up any shots, as I called them "good" as I shot.

I am getting quite a bit better at leading the gun with my eyes. I noticed that I am snapping my eyes to the next target and bringing the gun to the target and allowing the sights to settle just before I break the shot. I am pretty happy with the results of today's training!

The Targets:

-------4 yard---------------------- 5 yard---------------------- 6 yard------

The Set-up:

(picture taken from withing the shooting box)

Movement and Transition Drills

2008-08-26T09:41:00.001-07:00

Well I got gas delivered yesturday evening so I am back in the saddle so to speak. I did a bit of make up today and then some Transition drills. Total rounds fired today were 480 rounds. I had a bit of an equipment failure today. Seems that the sear spring weakens or something and the gun went full auto right off the bat. So I took a couple of minutes to bend it forward to increase the pressure on the sear and bingo- fixed. I spent 1 1/2 to 2 hours training today. I did my Dryfire routine after the Livefire.

Movement Drills (330rds):

I am really improving on that Multi-Directional drill. Since I like my training to be balanced, I did four reps. Two in each direction. I had much better hits and felt really smooth. I shot 120 rounds working this drill. I really seemed to bear down on the front sight shooting this drill.

I also switched up the box to box drills. I began in the left box loaded and holstered. At the tone I drew and ran to the right box and engaged the three 6x9" plates. Then I started in the right box, running to the left box. Then I began in a box to the rear of the front boxes and did it running forward. I ran 10 reps in each direction for a total of 90 rounds.

I shot on the moved in each direction for a total of 120 also. This is feeling 2nd nature to me. I am really happy at how comfortable I am beginning to feel shooting on the move.

Transition Drills (150rds):

While not doing the whole routine, I got alot of confidence shooting Transition Drills today. I noticed alot of improvement. I was getting my hits with confidence. I only had two missed shots. Transitions were quick and smooth. And I indexed my lower body to each 8" plate everytime.

I shot each plate in order from left to right- then right to left for 30 rounds each direction. I shot a Steel Challenge style run in each direction where I shot two plates on one side then the remaining three for 30 rounds each direction. Then I shot a wide transition type drill where I shot the center target with one shot, the far left with two shots, then the far right target with two shots. I did three runs in each direction for a total of 30 rounds.

Dryfire:

Dryfire was also very positive with only two bobbled draws. One was a Weakhand transition draw and one was a Surrender draw. I am getting better at getting a quick sight picture with proper sight alignment and achieving a good varification right as sights are on target before I press the trigger.

The reset drill is working nicely as well. I am really doing well at only moving the trigger finger with a firm grip. I did well at keeping the sights stable through the whole firing process.

I really felt in the zone and a desire to practice today. I think that had a large impact on the positive results! I wish I could feel this way everyday, but there are just those days when you don't feel like practicing. It is good to do it anyway, as I always come away learning something from every training session. And I always feel good about putting the time in!

Limited gun project:

This is coming along nicely. I sent $1500 and my painted grip and magwell to Matt last week. He should be getting the parts together and starting on it very soon. I am so excited about having him build me another gun that I fear I am bugging him too much with details! I can't wait to see "progress" photos.

Custom Training Program II

2008-08-21T10:03:00.000-07:00

Well I read through the Program and found that there are many similarities to the Training Plan I devised for myself. Most of the drills are drills that I have already encorporated. And many of the observations Mike made are ones that I have already been aware of. So that tells me two things. One is that I am doing well at evaluating my shooting. And two, that I am very capable of devising my training to suit my needs.

So, I will press on with my routine, tweaked to add eliments that Mike pointed out that I had not already been doing. One is keeping a log (been kinda lazy with that) and the other is more mental training. I will be livefire, dryfire and mental training Monday-Friday. And will make every effort to make two matches a month (Saturdays) with Sundays being my days off.

I am also excited about learning more about my diabetes and have found a Dr. that really knows her stuff. She has devised a book that has taught me more, in one reading, than I have learned in the 7 years since being diagnosed! There are more convienient ways to administer insulin now and I may be afforded the opportunity to take advantage of "pump" therapy. Right now the new "pens" are a ton better than the vial and syringe that I have been dealing with for years.

I have learned alot the past few days about many different things and, although I haven't done much practicing, I feel that I am still farther ahead than 4 days ago. Knowledge is power and all. I should have the supplies needed to get back on track with my training Monday of next week.

Custom Training Program

2008-08-20T07:27:00.000-07:00

Mike Seeklander of Shooting-Performance was gracious enough to take the time to develope a Training Program customized to me. It is a 23 page document that covers Training Analysis and his thoughts of my shooting, a Training Plan, the Training Matrix and Training Drills.

I am excited with the opportunity to have someone such as him to give me this kind of feedback! This will have an amazing impact on the direction of my future training and mindset I am sure.

I will be reading and taking all this information in while I wait for my training supplies to be delivered. I ordered some miniature targets from CED and airsoft gas. I hope I can get this stuff by this weekend. But we will have to see.

I went over my performance of last weekend's match noticed one glaring area needed for immediate improvement. And that was long range accuracy. I noticed my shot splits were a bit slower throughout the match and the short courses I shot @ 94% average of the stage points. So that is telling me that I am using the sights properly and using visual patience. So I feel that my trigger control and shot calling are in need of work. I will be working on long range target transitions once I get those targets in.

Lazy Day

2008-08-18T19:51:00.001-07:00

Well today I had a Doctor appointment in which I learned and accomplished alot, but didn't get much in the way of training done. I did get some money towards the Limited gun project and sold the .22 conversion to help matters along. It would seem that the new 6" is becoming more of a reality instead of a dream. Hopefully I can get back to training tomorrow.

Rest/ Family Day

2008-08-17T08:08:00.000-07:00

Rob Leatham: "Either you are, or you are not."

I came across a great video on mindset in an interview with Rob Leatham today that is amazing. I am an aggressive person and have struggled with trying to relax while shooting. I have been told by other people just how aggressive I am. Well it would seem that I am putting too much emphasis on relaxation and should work more on dealing with or encorporating it into my platform. I am learning to control it better than I ever have. And I will continue to work with it. Take a look, you may be surprized!

Leatham on Mindset

Match Day

2008-08-16T14:42:00.001-07:00

Well I was able to make my first match in 3 months today! What a great time. Met some new people and shot a pretty good match to boot. I would like to congradulate a new shooter that made his debute today. Chris Lambert came out to shoot his first match with his mom. He is serving in the Air Force and was on leave. What a better way to spend it! He did a great job, better than most people would do on their first match in my opinion. Way to go!

Now as far as my match went...I had four misses that I could have done with out, but am pleased that I had no gear or mental breakdowns. My goal was to shoot 90+% of the match points. But I fell short of that a bit with 82%. Basically the 4 misses cost me big time. Especially since there are only 4 stages in the whole match.

Stage 1:

This was my first stage of the day. I thought I would "warm-up" on this stage to ensure starting the match off on a good foot. I had a clean run. I could have pushed it a little more, but overall I focused on moving out while shooting the last target on each array. I felt I did this pretty smoothly. Missed shots on the steel, kinda shook my run a bit. But I made do. What I shot:

22 A's, 8 C's= 95% of total points in a time of 32.55 seconds for the stage.

Stage 2:

This is the stage my wheels fell off as I pushed harder. I had a smokin' time, but with 3 misses, burned this one down. There were two targets that overlapped. Bottom one was a partial target. They were set about 25 yards from the port to shoot them from and I just simply didn't take the time needed to get the proper hits. I don't think I got a good sight alignment either. I remember seeing the front sight on target, but could tell you if it was in the notch or not. I moved through the stage well though and took that positive thought to the next stage. What I shot:

12 A's, 1 B, 7 C's, 1 D and 3 mikes= 53% of total points in a time of 20.85 seconds for the stage.

Stage 3:

This was a stage I designed but never got to shoot. I played the angles well and had good reloads, but had some trouble with the mini poppers. The miss came on the left swinger. Probably do to me rushing to the next array. All in all I figure out a spot to shoot the whole stage from and stuck with that plan, but had to change plans with reloads due to missing steel. Costly but not as bad as it could have been! What I shot:

18 A's, 3 C's and 1 mike= 84% of total points in a time of 26.94 for the stage.

Stage 4: The Classifier CM 06-06 Golden Bullet Standards

I am happy with this, considering the last two stages I had some disappointing misses. I am tickled at how well I am learning to put the previous stages behind me and focusing on the new task at hand. I wish I was able to get video of the stage, but decided to quit monkeying around with it 'cause I was having some problems with it. Draws and reloads were smooth enough that I don't remember them and I can still see my sight alignment and sight picture clearly.
Generally when I mess something up it sticks out in my mind. I pushed onward with this stage and came out with a decent run. The stronghand and weakhand only shooting has become no problem due to my training. Here is what I shot:

17 A's, 6 C's and 1 D= 93% of total points in a combined time of 16.62 on this two string stage.

USPSA Classifier Calculator says 80.9538% Nationally.

Won the Division by about 56%.

Video Link

Movement Drills

2008-08-14T08:07:00.000-07:00

The wife picked me up some bb's from Big 5 Sporting Goods, but hey don't carry green gas there so I am going to see if they will order some in. I had enough gas to do some practice today and thought I would focus on some movement drill as that is where to save time in a stage.

There is a match this weekend that I am planning on attending so the extra practice should come in handy.

I shot 240 rounds in practice today. I did the Multi-Directional drill four times for a total of 120 rounds and two other drills I thought up today.

Multi-Directional Drill:

Hands relaxed at sides, gun loaded and holstered standing behind box A. Draw and engage T1-T3 while moving in a figure eight pattern around boxes A and B for 30 rounds. 2 reps for 60 rounds.

Hands relaxed at sides, gun loaded and holstered standed behind box B. Draw and engage T1-T3 while moving in a figure eight pattern around boxes A and B for 30 rounds. 2 reps for 60 rounds.

Drill 1:

Hands relaxed at sides, gun loaded and holstered. Draw and engage T1 with two rounds from box A, and engage T3 with two rounds from box B. 15 reps for 30 rounds.

Hands relaxed at sides, gun loaded and holstered. Draw and engage T3 with two rounds from box B, and engage T1 with two rounds from box A. 15 reps for 30 rounds.

Drill 2:

Hands relaxed at sides, gun loaded and holstered. Draw and engage T2 with two rounds from box C, then engage T1 with two rounds from box A, and then engage T3 with two rounds from box B. 5 reps for 30 rounds.

Hands relaxed at sides, gun loaded and holstered. Draw and engage T2 with two rounds from box C, then engage T3 with two rounds from box B, and then engage T1 with two rounds from box A. 5 reps for 30 rounds.

Dryfire:

I practiced 10 draws entering a box from all directions (to the right, to the left, forward and backward) as well as the difficult starting position of "heels on fault line..". I think the key to the last one is to utilize the drop step method as it launches you quicker from the starting position than trying to take a conventional step forward. Jake Di Vita has a video showing this technique in detail here: The Drop Step

I think many times people practice static draws and fail to encorporate moving draws in their routine. So I want to be sure and cover these skills periodically.

Training went well today. I really focused on visual patience and it paid off with good hits. The Multi-Directional drill is still quite a challenge, but I did better than the first time I did the drill.

Testing Day

2008-08-13T08:58:00.000-07:00

Well the last two days were a wash. Have you ever heard the saying, "life happens when you make other plans"? Well that is exactly what happened to me. On a positive note, I was able to find a place close to home to shoot. Not the best, but it will do. So I took the opportunity to go chronograph some match loads and test out the Marvel .22 conversion kit I bought last winter. Yes this is the first time I shot the unit! I have gotton quite behind on things this year.

I must say this little unit is pretty nice compared to others' I have used. It is by far the most accurate! I was shooting at a 5" target at 25 yards and was able to put all ten shots group centered on target. Pretty impressive for a conversion. I was even able to hit a small pill bottle at 15 yards consistantly! I had a few extraction failures and 1 or two failure to feeds out of 120 rounds. I was using a mixed bag of old ammo though. I am sure once I find suitable ammo, things will run smoother. I got it with a magazine loader and a narrower (.100) front sight. I had to trim the basepads so that they would insert all the way in. And numbered them to identify any "problem" mags.

This may be on the "chopping block" though to pay for the new Limited gun. But it will be a tough decision to make now for sure. Otherwise I will keep it around for group shooting practice and it would be quite handy as a Steel Challenge gun in the .22 Division.