December 2008 Pistol Match...

It was cold. Okay? I hate being cold, so I wore layers, and a coverall, and yes, I looked twice as wide as normal plus I moved slowly (kinda like the kid in Christmas Story).

But I wasn't frozen. So I don't care. And I don't want to hear it!

The moral of December's match is simple: dry fire practice builds accuracy. You know why? Because I haven't been doing it, and my accuracy was very bad. Earlier in the year, my ability to drop plates and take the star was pretty good. However, lately I haven't been working on my trigger control (using dry fire practice) and my skills have dropped.

[sigh] But I've known that---I just haven't fixed it. I just need to get back on my schedule of dry fire practice every night for 10 minutes. It made a huge difference the first time. As a matter of fact, since we don't have a match for a couple of weeks, I need to pull the trigger group from my 34, and put in the practice trigger---won't drive the firing pin, but it has a reset and you can keep pulling the trigger even without the slide moving.

Hm. I think I'll do that tonight. That way I can hopefully get in some decent dry fire practice before the January match.

Here's the December match:



Oh---we have shot all of the 2008 matches, now. Next time we shoot will be the start of 2009. Year went fast, hmm? According to the statistics, I think I'll end up with 1st B and 1st Overall in Production, 1st Limited in 3-Gun, 2nd in Production Steel Challenge, and 3rd in Ironman.

We'll see if that is how it actually happens.

Oh---I'll be adding another post on shooting-related actions at a match. We had to DQ someone at this December match, and it didn't go over well. I'll talk about that when I have time.

December 2008 3-Gun Match...

Well, at least this 3-Gun match went better than last time! Matter of fact, the rifle stage went extremely well---so much so that I got second out of all the people there. Yes, there were only 14 of us shooting that day, but the fast shooters were pretty much all there.

I'm getting more comfortable with the rifle. In particular with my movement and "seating" of the rifle into position to shoot. I need to practice more, of course, but it is getting smoother.

Pistol went fine, though when I watch the video, it just seems choppy to me. The movements don't seem smooth, and the shooting seems jerky. And I had to take two shots at the plate---again, more precision aiming, and much better trigger control is needed. The pistol stage still went well, but it could have been better.

And then, of course, was the shotgun stage. Actually, this time it was a shotgun/pistol stage (I don't really like multi-gun stages, I've decided. Originally, I though they were fun, but having to stage each gun takes a lot of time, and having to clear each weapon before grabbing the next just takes away from the meaning of the stage, for me at least.) Oddly enough, the shotgun part wasn't the problem. My reloading is still set on "arthritic sloth" speed, but my shooting went well. Fairly smooth, and no misses at all.

Then I had to clear the shotgun, put it down, pick up the pistol, and put two shots each on four paper targets. Should be easy, hmm? Apparently not for me! For some reason, I could NOT see the front sight when I turned to shoot the two targets on the left! You'll see it in the video, particularly the two very late shots I have to add in to make certain I don't have misses (and I would have, without those last two shots.)

I was thinking about it later, and I believe it was a combination of things--I really could NOT see the sights, or my alignment with the targets.

I'm cross-dominant, so while I'm left-handed, I shoot pistol aiming with my right eye. But I shoot long gun using my left. So with shotgun, I'd been using my left eye the entire time. When I picked up the pistol, I first turned to the right to shoot, which took my left eye out of the line of sight, so it wasn't a problem. But when I turned to the left, suddenly my left eye actually had a better picture of the targets, and it was used to being the aiming eye. That, coupled with the fact that it was cold and there was obscuring fog after each of my shots, made it really hard for me to see at all!

Am I going to have to train myself to shoot left-eye/left-hand for pistol shooting? I suppose I could (my right eye may be dominant, but it isn't strongly dominant, and both eyes work fine---when shooting strong-hand only, I use my left eye) but I don't really want to re-train all that. Do I need to, though?

And yes, for those saying "you should left-eye when shooting one-handed? you switch eyes?!" the answer is yes. It isn't brilliant, but after a considerable amount of practice, I figured out that my strong-handed shooting is much more accurate, and quicker to handle recoil, when I don't have to cant the gun over single-handedly to align it with my right eye.

So---do I need to train myself to shoot left-eye all of the time? [sigh] I don't know...

Anyway---here's the match. You'll see what I mean about the shotgun stage.

November Monthly Pistol Match...

What is it about classifiers? I never shoot them up to my level!

Okay, now that I've let that out---today went okay, for the most part, but I certainly did blow the classifier. And the plate rack. And hit a no-shoot. And had a miss. And yet, overall, I did pretty well. (Other than that classifier.)

Guess what? I still need to work on the same things--trigger control, smooth reloads, and seeing the front sight. Big surprise!

The classifier and the plate rack both came from the same problem set---not looking at the front sight and not squeezing the trigger smoothly. More dry fire practice needed. Reloading---well, watch the video. I drop the mags quickly, I pull the mags quickly, and then 3 seconds later at the end of the movement I'm done with the reload.

Yeesh.

So--I know what to do. I just need to do it.



Five good stages, lots to do. Was a good time. Stage 3 was my design, and I like it---I think I'll tweak it a little, and submit it as an Area 3 stage this year.

In bad news---unless both Julie and I get our deer on Saturday in two weeks, we are going to miss the Steel Challenge match this month. [sigh] If I don't go, I have no chance to win first place this year. If we can make it, I need to win it AND beat Dennis by at least 7 percent to take first place for Steel Challenge for the year. :) Not that I am a stats geek or anything.

(I also know how I'm going to do for Production, 3-Gun, and Ironman this year, but I'm not going to say---because if my math isn't right, it'll be embarrassing.)

October 2008 3-Gun Match...

Okay, before you watch the video, take a look at this picture, and fix its meaning firmly in your mind:



Ok, got that? A magazine blithely falling out of my weapon whilst I attempt to keep shooting, happily oblivious to what is going on.

This will of course come as no surprise after that picture, but I did not win 3-gun today. [sigh]



On the good side, I know why my magazines weren't sticking, and it won't happen again. Also on the good side, it was still a lot of fun.

On the bad side---it was REALLY annoying at the time. And like the video says, my run took 50.29 seconds---24 of which was taken up attempting to make the magazine work. With the accuracy level that I managed on that stage, I probably would have gotten first in my division in 3-gun today had I not had that problem. [sigh]

Ah well. Two weeks until the next pistol match, I and need to really work on some dry fire practice. Same as always---dry fire accuracy, trigger control, reloading, and reloading on the move.

October 2008 Monthly Pistol Match...

Comments forthcoming. But for now, here's some video:

September Steel Challenge Match...

[sigh] I lost this match right on the first stage.

And you know why? I forgot to smile.

Seriously. One of the things I've started to do before the start signal---is smile. I remind myself how much I enjoy shooting, and how much fun this is going to be---and naturally, I smile. I relax, I stay in balance, my shoulders drop, and when the signal happens I move and shoot. And when I start relaxed and happy, I shoot better.

Big surprise, hmm?

My pre-shooting ritual for the first stage was messed up today due to various things, so I just didn't relax--and so my shooting was too fast, too tense, and I didn't spend a whole lot of time aiming. As such, I shot the stage in ~36 seconds, instead of the 25-28 seconds that I really could have. And that extra 10 seconds took care of any possibility of me winning for the day.

The rest of the stages actually went pretty well---I had the best times of the Production Division for three of the other four stages, and was less than half a second behind on the other stage. However, all of those good times couldn't make up for the 10 seconds I was behind from my first stage.

On every other stage, I smiled, relaxed, and shot just fine---not always up to my level, but consistently well.



See how that first stage was messed up? My magazine stuck on the first reload, I didn't reload during movement but instead when I was just standing there burning time, and that last star...!

Other things for me to work on: my draw is smooth--but it really could be faster. I have quick hands, and really could flash it out of there faster, but when I do I tend to rush my shots badly. So, just like my last post said, I need to dry fire practice---fast draw, slow shot.

Matter of fact, the drills from my last post really haven't changed. I just need to do them more often.

Oh---the ENPS year-to-date standings are available here. I'm currently 1st in Production (with Dennis a close second), 1st in 3-Gun Limited (with Rich about 40 points down), 2nd in Steel Production (second to Dennis, by 4 points), and 3rd in Iron Man Aggregate.

Big difference from where I was when I first started!

I can be better, though.

Just remembered--this next month's match contains a classifier. Need to remember to smile for that one!

USPSA September Pistol Match...

Comments forthcoming. In the meantime...





Won. Shot fairly well. Specifics later.

[edited to add comments...]

And now that it's later...

Looking at it stage by stage:

Stage 3: Not too bad overall---accuracy pretty good, speed pretty good. Specifics that can be improved: Faster reaction to start signal, step on draw, not step after draw, faster reloads, better trigger control for aim. Most aiming was fine, mind you--but there were several situations of misses that just shouldn't have happened (even on small plates) at this range.

Stage 4: What was I thinking?! That last shot cost me two seconds (at least!) and even the makeup of 3 points (one D hit turning into an A hit) wasn't even close to making up for what the lost time cost me. Arg! Other accuracy and speed was pretty good--I'm glad to see that after my draw, I took the time to make sure I was on target before the first hit--and it showed in the way the plate rack fell.

Stage 5: Brief design comment first--that clamshell was WAAAY too far away--I may have been the only person to bother trying to hit it before the no-shoot went in front of it. Most people just activated it, then ignored it until they went by down the aisle. Less chance for A hits, for them, but most thought it was too far and didn't bother trying it.

I did, obviously, and the stage went well, so it could be done---but most people wouldn't try it. Next time on a stage, I'll somehow make it so that everyone HAS to try it. Some evil thoughts come to mind...

Back to things I could do better on stage 5...what was with the slow shooting in the first sections? Ports don't normally bother me, but I took a long time between the shots on the poppers, especially on the second side. I think I wasn't sure if I hit the first popper on the right side, so I waited to find out--and I know better! No matter what, I should have moved on to the other popper, and by the time I had shot it, I would know how the first one went. As it was, I wasted close to a second just waiting for something to happen.

I also should have fired while moving in the middle of the stage--instead, I stopped, shot all three targets, then ran to the end. Probably would have been faster to shoot while moving. The question is, am I accurate enough to get good hits that way? Need to practice so that I know for future reference...

Looking at the video, I also see that I need to work on starting my movement faster. At the end, when I am reloading while moving from one side of the wall to the other, I just stand there while I get the magazine out---then I move to the other side as I replace it. Could have saved time doing it all simultaneously. So, drills for reloading while moving. (It occurs to me that up until now, I've only been reloading while standing. My reloads certainly aren't perfect, but I supposed they are decent enough so that I should also start adding moving reload practice.)

Stage 1: I didn't follow my plan for this stage at ALL. After I screwed up the start (with the step back and the trigger freeze), I just kept shooting and reloading whenever I felt I needed to do so, as opposed to when I had planned to. It worked out---but next time it might not. Need to keep my plan in mind, even when I screw up. The shooting itself, and the reloading, was fine. (Other than the beginning.)

Stage 2: Do ya think I shoulda aimed somewhere in there? Sheesh! I run full plate racks 2 seconds faster than that! Let myself shoot faster than I was aiming---then when I had to go back, I took the time to aim. Which meant my second time was slow, AFTER I had already wasted time. [sigh] More small steel target practice for accuracy.

So, drills for the next couple of weeks:
Dry fire practice, of course -- single shots, and transition shots
Reloading practice, both static and moving

Those two, scarily enough, will handle most of the physical problems I saw in the last match. And I can do both at home, which is good since free time is something I don't have much of. Now that school has started, definitely not getting to the range as much.

Steel match in a little over a week. Julie and Ardi both are going to shoot with me, and we'll be (hopefully) wearing our new NHA Firearms shirts. :)

Makeup Steel Challenge Match...

Today was the makeup date for the rescheduled July Steel Challenge match at ENGC. We had 25 shooters (Well, 26 initially, but one quit two stages in---I must admit, I don't understand that. If you aren't shooting well, stopping isn't going to make you better. Since you've already paid the fee, why not stay, not worry about placing, and work on better accuracy/timing/speed?) covering pretty much every division.

In Production, Dennis, Zeeb, Shawn, and I were all shooting, and we were squadded together---so (not trying to be immodest) it was fun to watch everyone check each other's score to see who was going to win Production.

Today went GREAT. Let me say that again---it was FANTASTIC. Pretty much all day, I shot to my level. Watching the videos, I don't think I shot better than I normally do, nor faster---I just consistently shot like I am able to. On all stages.

I wish I could have shot like that at Area 3!

Here's a video of my shooting today:



I won! High Overall! Beating three high-level Open division shooters! Two A-level and one Master class! (Enough exclamation points there, do you think?) Even better, they all said that it wasn't that they had a bad day---they had thought their day went pretty well.

Excellent!

Of course, we have a regular pistol match in one week, and another steel match in 3 weeks---so we'll see if I can do it again. :)

Looking at the video a couple more times, I see some things I can work on. (Not surprising---there are actually a LOT of things I need to work on.) First off, more dryfire practice--basic trigger control, don't-move-the-gun, stand there and click again and again, dryfire practice. I haven't been doing that, and it shows.

I was out shooting the other day (for once), and after shooting a string, dry fired once, and the pistol dipped about 3 inches. Ug! My trigger control is slipping badly. So, dryfire practice.

The other thing I'm probably going to practice (because I will probably only be able to get to the range once before the next steel match) is my draw/first shot speed. I seem to have two gears---either I do both slowly, or both quickly. What I'd like to get solid on is drawing quickly, then carefully taking that first shot. In the video, I'd draw fast and take a fast first shot--often missing, or draw slowly and take a slow first show, often hitting--but having the whole process be S L O W.

I need to smooth my draw and make it faster, then make sure I take the time to aim before the first shot. So, more dryfire practice of a different style. Mostly, once that first shot is done, I do all right. But if that first shot is bad, I tend to keep making bad shots until I settle down. Rather not do that...

So, dryfire practice it is...

Julie was out shooting today, and she had fun. She might even come and shoot the pistol match next Sunday. Both she and Ardi are currently planning on coming to the next steel match in three weeks---I'm going to make everyone buy NHA Firearms shirts/hats and wear them to the match. Team NHA! :)

What do you think?

Rock Your Glock and the RO Class...

Been rather behind on my blogging---have been running around getting all the details ready for my students at the beginning of the school year. As such, I've also NOT had time to do much in the way of pistol practice, even though my Area 3 showing demonstrated strongly that I need LOTS more.

That being said, I shot the Rock Your Glock match last month, and as always, it was fun. Ardi came with me, and we worked the match all day, and she shot in a competition for the first time. I shot about normal, perhaps a little slower (not much---but I didn't get first, either). Ardi did a very good job, particularly for her first time. No misses. I put up video of her shooting on the NHA blog page, so go there to take a look.

Today, at a makeup steel match at ENGC, one of the ROs from the RYG match came up to me to specifically congratulate me on how well she did---but most particularly, to let me know that he was impressed at her handgun handling ability, with regard to safety and procedures. She did everything right, all the time.

So I was happy to hear that, both for her, and because it means I'm teaching her correctly. :)

In other news, I went to a Level I Range Officer class in Jefferson City, MO a few weeks ago. I'd been wanting to get my RO certification for quite some time, but there just haven't been any classes nearby. This one (6 hours away) was the closest I'da seen.

One full day of class time, and about half a day on the range. The class itself wasn't difficult, and it was interesting with all the examples. To be certified, a shooter has to take the class, then complete the open book exam by answering all of the questions and citing the specific rule for each question. I finished my exam, checked it two or three times, and emailed it to the instructor yesterday--so we'll see how it went...

With any luck, he'll be able to grade it in time to send it to USPSA headquarters before the 10th of September. If he does (and I passed), it should be in the computer and I'll officially be an RO on the 10th. (I'll get my offical RO stuff later, but I'll count as an RO from that point in time.)

Amusing thing from the class---on the second day, we were on the range, with an "RO stage" set up for us to shoot. The stage itself was straightforward, but not easy---the layout gave shooters many many chances to mess up royally. The point wasn't to have a competition, but to give potential ROs a chance to run shooters, and learn to score targets in potentially confusing situations.

But none-the-less, the shooters were still competitive. We couldn't help it. :)

There were 19 shooters, with some in every division. The stage was only 12 rounds, with a mandatory reload in the middle. And like I said, it gave shooters many chances to screw up---which many did. Six people (out of 19) zeroed the stage, due to misses and no-shoot hits.

Here's the fun part: I took first place, with 100%. 2nd place---had 66.35% of my score! Third was another shooter from ENGC at 60.62%, so the two ENGC people got two out of the top three places. But boy, was there a gap between first and second.

Made me feel better about shooting. :) And evil, too---because the stage I'm designing for next week's regular pistol match is based on the RO stage. Should be nice and straightfoward...but not easy.

Area 3 Commentary...

So, Area 3 this year was indeed fun---a whole day of shooting are varied targets, presented in interesting and difficult-to-handle fashion.

That all being said, I apparently could NOT aim to save my life. Throughout the entire day, I was plagued by bad luck on every single stage, except for one. Except you can't really call it "bad luck" when it was just poor shooting.

In this one match, I had more misses/no-shoot hits/procedural penalties than in the last 12 months of matches combined. It went that badly.

I just couldn't aim correctly, for some reason---and yet, oddly enough, my aim was just fine (good enough for my normal shooting) about 80% of the time. The other 20% of the time, it was just bad. And that 20% didn't occur in only one type of shooting (for example, it didn't happen only in long-distance shooting) --on one stage my distance shooting might be fine, but I would clip a no-shoot on a near target. On another stage, I couldn't hit a plate at a distance with anything less than 4-5 shots.

Erratic and strange. And very poor shooting, for me. I'm supposed to at the very least, shoot mid B-class level. For this match, it was pretty much barely B class at all---and seriously, these days on a large match I tend to sometimes beat M and A class shooters. Sometimes.

This time, I placed 10th out of 32, and 7th in B class. Among other things, three of the people who beat me, have been beaten by me in the past fairly solidly.

[sigh]

Here is some video of the match:



Not good. I'll add more commentary about the Weeping Water 3-Gun Match I attended the day after, in a day or so. It went similarly. [double sigh]

Rock-Your-Glock last match of the year this coming Saturday. Hopefully, it'll go better.

Quick Comment on Area 3 and the latest WWGC 3-Gun match...

...I suck.

More to follow. But really--I shot like a mid C-class shooter. While there isn't anything wrong with that if I was a C-class shooter, the fact that I'm a B-class who has shot considerably better than B-class fairly frequently means that at least for the last two competitions I've been in---I suck.

For those people who were expecting more adult, reasoned, and appropriately selected language, I'm afraid that nothing else quite covers exactly how badly I shot.

[sigh]

Details in a later post.

(And it is all Ardi's fault.)

Great Plains and Iowa Sectional 2008, and Rock-Your-Glock July 2008...

Starting with the Great Plains and Iowa Sectional, some commentary:

Basic statistics:

• Shooting started at 9am.
  
• We finished up at about 7pm.
  
• The total time I spent shooting (during that 10 hours) was: 3 minutes, 27 seconds. In other words, I was actually shooting for 0.576% of the time during my shooting day. Another way of putting it is that I drove 7 hours (round trip), spent the night in a hotel, and was at the range boiling in the sun for 10 hours---to shoot for 207.29 seconds.
  
• In those 207.29 seconds, I shot at least 242 rounds. (Probably more, since I missed a few times. However, it is known that I shot at least 242 rounds.) This gives a minimum rate of 1.17 rounds per second. Included were 7 draws, numerous transitions, and lots and lots and lots of movement. (Including one time where we had to run to the gun in the first place.) Did I mention lots of movement? Thus, we can safely assume that my actual rate of fire was rather faster.
  
• In the end, I shot 73.14% A-zone hits, no B (no head shots at all!), 23.97% C, 2.48% D, and 0.41% M. (One miss out of the whole thing. And only 6 Ds. WAAAAAY too many C shots, though.)
  
• Out of the eight stages, I had the highest hit factor in Production division in 5 of them. For the other three, I had one 2nd and two 3rd place finishes.

Overall, I was happy with how I shot, other than one stage. Certain stages I could have done better on—shot faster or more accurately—but in general, I was satisfied with how I did. Too many C hits, and some things a little slow—but overall, I was happy with my performance in the match.

Except on stage 8—the one with the teeter-totter platform we had to stand on. Oddly enough, the balance part wasn't the problem. (Julie was watching and said my movement looked smooth and balanced. In the video, my movement looks slow to me, but I don't ever sm tentative.) The problem was, in the middle of the stage I added an extra reload for some reason. And then almost immediately after, I had to reload again, because the next view (before further movement) had quite a few targets. The extra reload cost me time, of course, but it also messed up my thinking (apparently) because my accuracy dropped sharply right after, and I managed my one miss of the match. And right after that, a D hit. (I had two D hits for that stage---fully one third of the total D hits for the entire match.)

So the stage was slow, and included poor accuracy. Definitely my worst stage of the match. In all other stages I was in the top 20 (or less) out of everyone (75 shooters) but on this stage---33 out of 75. Yeek.

However, overall the match went very well. I won Production division. :) Overall, I placed 23rd out of 75---this includes 1 grandmaster, 8 masters, 5 A-class, and 20 B-class people. (Most of whom are shooting in divisions that have equipment built more for speed than the equipment in my division.)

In Production division, second place had 96.17% of my score, and third place had 93.73%. Fourth had 76.83%, and it went down from there. :) I actually scored higher than a master-class shooter in this match!





Glock match:

I tried something different this time---in addition to shooting my Glock 34 in the regular division and my Glock 26 in Subcompact, I also shot in the revolver division.

I'll wait a moment until you stop laughing.

No, seriously. I thought I'd try revolver also. After all, I have a Taurus .357magnum that I can shoot .38spl out of, and it is ported—very easy revolver to shoot. So, I packed my revolver this time also, and tried it out. And yes, the results were funny.

The problem is that I (as of last match) have now won the amateur/stock division three times---which means I got kicked to the master/open division. So now I'm shooting against the master class people, and the people who are shooting open-class guns.

So don't expect me to win anytime soon, ok?

So, I shot my Glock 34 in the regular division, and the M and 5-to-25 went pretty well---not my best ever, but about normal. And then I went to the plates, and racked up my best times ever. My worst run was 4.33 seconds, and my best run was all the way down to 3.05 seconds! My total time for four runs were 14.29 s, so things went really well. I was thrilled!

Then Dennis went and ran a time of less than 12 seconds for his four run total. Sheesh.

I was still happy, though—my times are going down nicely. Ended up third behind Dennis---who took both first and second with almost equivalent times (about 5 seconds faster than my times) using both a Glock 17L and a Glock 26 (using 17-size magazines).

For the subcompact, I again left one plate. Drat! If I had taken less than half a second to AIM and drop that plate, I would have won subcompact. As it was, I lost to Dennis (again) and took second.

Revolver---well. Hmm. I haven't shot revolver in a LONG time, and I've never shot revolver in a competition before. That being said, the M and the 5-to-25 went pretty well for a first time. And then came the plates, and I just started laughing. One thing to note here is that my revolver has adjustable sights, but I don't believe I've ever actually sighted it in at any distance. I should probably do that before the next match, because I left 7 plates standing---70 seconds worth of penalty points. Needless to say, I was NOT in the running for 1st place for revolver.

Maybe next time.



Next up---AREA 3. Practicing reloading, slow aimed dry fire, and my draw. Won't probably have time to get to the range for live fire practice more than once or twice—so mostly at-home dry fire practice. Slow, careful movement, plus occasional speed work.

We'll see how it goes.

My Sights WERE off!

Unfortunately, not by more than about 4 inches when shot from a rest. Considering I was shooting a good 18 inches off, I'd say that it was my fault after all, not the firearm.

Drat. It would have been so much easier to simply move the rear sight, instead of actually having to practice shooting more accurately. [sigh]

So, that's what I did today. Practiced some accuracy at 25 and 40 yards, then practiced shooting one-handed, both strong and weak hand.

This is probably the last range time I'm going to get before the RYG match on Saturday and the Great Plains Sectional match on Sunday. I'll try to get some careful dryfire and reloading practice done, but I won't have time to get to the range for the rest of the week.

Matter of fact, I hope I have enough time to reload all the ammo I'm going to need for the weekend. Speaking of which, I'd better get to work on that.

July Pistol Match, and preparing for the Great Plains Sectional...

Well, today was the July pistol match, and I should say right off the bat that I didn't win today. [sigh] I was second, with a score of 97.32%, so I was close---but I made stupid mistakes on two of the four stages, and had I simply only made one set of mistakes I would have won.

But two was too much.

Here's the video:

...and you can see the obvious mistakes on stage one. My paper targets were fine. Could have used a couple more A-zone hits, but overall just fine. But I didn't let myself settle down and AIM for the plate rack. Incredibly annoying since I've been practicing the plate rack lately, and my average time is now down to a little less than four seconds. Had I even relaxed and shot it in 5, I still would have had more than enough points to win.

I do think I have a sights problem, though---again on the long shots, they went left. That was that one miss on the distance targets in stage 4. Not only a little. Quite a bit. The miss was on the right target--and the left target had all of the extra shots I put out there--so my extras on the right target went all the way over to the left target! And I really did slow down and aim this time. This week I'm going to the range and trying some distance shots to see what is going on. I'm thinking that my sights are indeed off to the left, but not very much---just enough so that at longer distances, it gives me problems. At near distances, it isn't mattering enough to make a difference.

Or maybe my distance shooting is just bad. Always a possibility! I'll let you know after some range time this week.

Speaking of---the Great Plains Sectional Match is this coming Sunday, so that should be interesting. Don't know how many Production class folks are going to be there, but it should be interesting. The stages look pretty interesting--a couple are downright devious.

Still working on my reloading, and that distance aiming. We'll see how it goes.

Oh--and I'm shooting/working the Rock-Your-Glock match this Saturday, too. So more videos and commentary will be forthcoming after the weekend. (And hopefully some good results from practice this week!)

Minnesota Sectional and ENPS 3-Gun match...

Last Friday (06/27/08) I left home around 6am to drive to Minnesota to attend the MN Sectional Match---7 stages, and lots of people I didn't know. I ended up getting to the range at about 2pm or so, whereupon I wandered around and looked at the stages, and got to know the range a little bit.

I hate going into a match blind. The MN match didn't have any stage diagrams online, so I had no idea what the stages were like. When I got there, I sketched out stage diagrams for each stage, and tried to make up some preliminary plans. I didn't go out on the stages themselves---so no walk-throughs or anything. I just wanted to have ideas in mind of how I would run the stage.

Mostly, this was a good thing. I was shooting the following day, so taking the diagrams back to the hotel with me later that night gave me some time to think of alternate plans for each stage, depending on what I saw during the real walk-through--because the view from the shooting area is always different.

Saturday I got up bright and early, got ready, and went to the match. I had gotten into a squad with 6 other Production shooters, a couple of Limited folks, and a few Single Stack people. In other words, no Open guys. It was interesting to watch other people's stage solutions. Many were similar, but some of the things I thought useful no one else did--which could mean that I'm brilliant and they didn't think of it, or it was so silly that no one else thought it would be useful.

Who knows?

I had squadded myself with the one Production grandmaster, so I could watch how he shot and what he did. It was interesting. I got his stages all videotaped, and he was the one who volunteered to film my shooting when I asked if anyone would. Here is the video of me shooting, and a couple of his stages:

In the end--out of 33 Production shooters, I got 4th. The only ones who beat me were a GM, one M, and one A-class shooter. (I beat the other A-class guy.) Won 1st place in B-class, so I got a new plaque.

Scarily enough, I actually beat the GM on two stages! Of course, more precisely put, he flubbed two stages and I squeaked by and barely beat him---and he smoked me on the rest. I ended up with 79% of his score. :)

Watching the video, I can see two things I really need to work on:

1) Faster Reloads! Most aren't bad, but they certainly aren't fast. And a couple of flubs definitely cost me time on a few stages.
2) Distance shooting. Need to get more accurate. I had only three misses in the entire match (and no No-Shoots or any other penalties) ---but they were all in the same stage! Arg! 2 distant targets, and they just didn't happen. And I had thought I was getting better about distance accuracy! Apparently not.

As a side note: Had I even gotten "D" hits for those three shots, I would have placed 3rd in the match instead of 4th, and gotten another plaque---by beating another A-class shooter. Double-arg.

Overall---the match was fun, I have apparently gotten better, and I have another plaque for my wall. And I now have two specific things to work on before the Area 3 match at the end of July.

(Or the Great Plains Sectional Match in two weeks.)

After the match, I got some food and made it back to my hotel at around 8:30pm. I got some packing and such done, and went to bed around 9:30pm---because I then got up at 1:15am, showered, checked out of the hotel, and drove back home to participate in the ENPS 3-Gun match today. :) It is now 6:15pm, and I haven't had my nap yet. Oddly enough, I'm betting that I have no trouble sleeping tonight.

Regarding the 3-gun match: I won my division. Not much to say about my shooting in it today---the stages were pretty straightforward. I shot them decently, enough for the win. My shotgun reloading needs work.

Nothing particularly new there in terms of what I need to work on to get better.

Of course, it is always nice to win. :)

Oh---back to the sectional match. Running statistics on how I did (yeah, I'm a geek, but it gives me information) ---75% A hits. Need to do better! Especially in Production, those C hits really take away from the score. On the good side---only 3.3% D hits. (6 out of the entire match.)

Amusingly enough, out of the entire day I spent at the range for the match, I only spent 2.654 minutes (159.23 seconds) actually shooting. 2 minutes, 39.24 seconds. I would drive (round-trip) almost 14 hours and pay money to shoot for only 2 minutes, 39.24 seconds?

Apparently, the answer is yes. :)

Additional note regarding the MN Sectional, added 07/05/08: I just ran the numbers (because I can't help but look at statistics) and if I had been shooting in the Limited-10 division, with my exact same setup shooting Minor---I would have won the entire division.

I think I can feel good about that. :)

More Competitions...

Apparently, this is my summer to stretch myself, competition-wise, and try a couple more higher-level competitions.

Tomorrow I'm driving to Minnesota for the MN Sectional Match (after which I'm getting up earlearlyearly to drive back for the re-scheduled 3-Gun match at ENGC), mid-July I'm going to Sioux Falls for the Great Plain Sectional (the day after I work the Rock-Your-Glock match again), and at the end of July we have the Area 3 match (in the middle of which I'm also shooting a WWGC 3-Gun match).

Busy times! (Because the rest of my life is not being put on hold while I also do all these competitions.)

As an aside, hopefully in August we can get Ardi to come shoot the Rock-Your-Glock match. It'll be good to see how she does.

The match this weekend will be interesting--I have no idea what the stages are going to be like. All of the other larger matches have posted stages online, so I have some idea--but not Minnesota. Granted, stage diagrams don't really give you exact knowledge of how to deal with them, but the general gist of the stage comes through and it gives you an idea of what strategic plans you want to keep in mind. (Tactical plans have to wait until you see the exact stage layout.) But for the MN match, I've got nothing.

So I'm driving out starting early tomorrow morning so that I can get there early afternoon, and wander around the range, watching other people shoot. That way I can draw myself some stage diagrams, and do some planning. Julie can't go with me, so I'll be on my own. Hopefully I'll be able to get someone to film me, but no guarantees there.

Somewhat nervous about this---every other major match I've been to (all two of them :) ) have either been at my home club, or I had someone with me. This time, I'm on my own.

I'll let you know how it went....

Oh---just remembered: I managed to get my registration in on time, so I'm going to Missouri in August for a NROI Level I seminar. Finally, I get to take the basic RO class. I've been wanting to for quite some time, so it'll be nice to get my RO ticket.

3-Gun match today....

...was canceled due to excessive rain and mud.

Drat.

I was looking forward to it---it is such a completely different type of shooting/thinking than a normal pistol match.

It had just started raining when I got to the range at around 8am, and then it POURED. Hail, lightning, buckets of rain---just terrible. The canopies blew over (of course) and the range turned into a connection of rivers as the water pooled and then ran across the ground.

The rain actually stopped by about 9am---but the pools of water were so huge, and the mud was so deep everywhere that it would have been a huge, muddy, dangerous mess to try to shoot in. We are working on upgrading the range for the Area 3 match later this year, so the ground is torn up in spots, and the gravel isn't down covering the dirt---so we get mud.

Thus, we tore down the stages we had made, and went home.

And now, it is sunny, 79 degrees, and perfectly calm out---perfect for shooting. Of course.

Grrr. Well, I'm going to the range tomorrow to work on my distance shooting with my varmint rifle again--have to practice for the Weeping Water 3-Gun match in a month. On Tuesday, I'll go pistol shooting again, and work on that.

I was going to post pictures/video of the storm this morning, but decided it wasn't worth the bandwidth. Take my word for it---it was quite a storm.

June Rock-Your-Glock match, plus general practice...

So today was the first Rock-Your-Glock match this year, and Julie and I said we'd help Zeeb out with it. So we showed up at around 7am (ug---early!), helped set up, then ROed pretty much all day. Julie shot her XD-9, and I shot my Glock 34 and my Glock 26. (Stock division and subcompact division). As usual, it was a lot of fun. I managed to get an all-time low score (low is good, by the way) on the plates today with my G34. 15.21 seconds---that was the total time for four strings of shooting, each string knocking down 6 plates. In other words, from a bell-tone start, firing at least 24 shots in 15.21 seconds.

I'm pretty happy about that. :)

Julie had problems on her first plate run---and then for the other three runs, just mowed down the plates. Never took her more than 8 shots to drop them all, and mostly it just took 7. Her last run dropped them all in 10 seconds, which is EXCELLENT.

I didn't get my all-time lowest score overall today, but it was pretty close. I managed to win the Amateur/Stock division today (out of 34 people), so that made me happy. If I had been in the Master/Unlimited class, I'd have gotten second by only a couple of seconds. I got third in the SingleStack/Subcompact division, which I can live with since I got beat by Les and Dennis, both of whom were shooting single stack firearms. Here's a link to the results.

That is the third time I've won my division---won it twice last year, and now once this year. I think that means I have to be in the Master's division from now on. [sigh] Great. I liked winning my division. Maybe Zeeb will let me stay in Stock class since I haven't won three times this year... (Additional note: talked to him today---[sigh]. Master division from now on.)

Here is video from the match today. We forgot to film the 5-to-25 stage, but we got the rest of mine. I got Julie's Glock 'M stage, but she didn't want me to film her plates stage---which is too bad. Her last three runs were outstanding.



In other news, I took my AR out the other day and practiced a bit with it. We have a 3-Gun match tomorrow, and in our last match I won my division because my rifle stage went so well---and I'd like to keep that going. :) I really should have also practiced my shotgun reloading, but that hasn't happened yet. Rifle shooting went pretty well---I've figured out how to be stable while holding the rifle, and moving, and transitioning, so it is working fairly well. (We'll see if I still say that after tomorrow.) For me, for this type of match, I hold my AR-15 in an entry/assault-style manner, instead of a more typical rifle manner--and it works much better for me. The aperture sight is easier to see through, the rifle doesn't move much when I shoot it, and overall I transition better from one target to the next. My ability to hit center-mass consistently at all ranges just goes up when I hold the rifle in a more frontal fashion--near and far targets. I tried going back to standard rifle pose, and the recoil change made it difficult to stay on target.

Pistol will be okay. Shotgun? Well, we'll see. Haven't practiced, so I don't think it'll have gotten any better. On the upside, it shouldn't be any WORSE than normal.

We'll find out tomorrow...

Took my new varmint rifle out to the range today...

...and boy did I have fun!

Initial firearm: Fulton Armory custom shop .223 varmint with a 20" stainless threaded barrel, 1 in 9 twist, Rock River 2-stage trigger
Modifications: ERGO grip, Miculek compensator, Harris Bipod, 4-14x scope, stock weight insert (because, you know, the gun wasn't heavy enough already)
Now, I'd previously taken it to one of the pistol bays and sighted it in at 25 yards to get an initial zero, but that was it. And I was pretty worried, because this is the first time I've ever mounted a scope on a rifle---and I need this rifle to be accurate. Primarily because I'm not.

Well, that's not quite true---I do all right. But I don't have nearly the practice with long guns that I do with handguns. And while the equipment can't make up for a bad shooter, bad equipment will manage to make me even worse. So I headed to the 600 yard range today hoping that I could sight it in and be consistent with it at 200 yards, enough to hit bowling pins. (See the earlier post about the Weeping Water 3-Gun matches for why...)

Went out, took a couple shots at a target at 100 yards to make sure I was fairly close, and found that I was right on for windage, and about 6 inches high at 100 yards. So I then put targets out at 200 yards, and took some shots----and didn't hit the targets at all. Well, great.

Oh wait---I was just shooting high. [whew] When looking at the target holders, I could see that my shots were again still just fine for windage, but about 10 inches high. (Apparently, Zeeb's ammo has significant velocity in my rifle. Next time out I'm going to have to chrono it.)

So I dialed down the scope, shot some more, did some small adjustments here and there, and shot some more...and this rifle is fantastic. Using just a bipod, (no sandbag for the back or anything, just me shooting) I can keep 5 shots within a 2-inch diameter circle firing fairly rapidly. Not slow fire---rapid! Here is an example of one of my targets. Each square is 1 inch in size. (The holding high bit is my fault, because I have a target that looks similar with the group just below the center.)
And then, at the end of the day, I took some shots at a metal gong at 200 yards. There is a large metal gong out there, but next to it is a much, much smaller metal star. I wanted to see how I could do with that---and here is a picture of the star, with my hand showing the group size of 5 rapid shots.
That is about a 4-inch group. Now, benchrest shooters will think that is horrible. (2 MOA for a varmint rifle? Yuck!) However, this wasn't exactly shooting slow-fire from a bench with sandbags. As such, I'm HAPPY! When I shoot slower, I easily get 1 MOA from this rifle, and that is without sandbags. With them---well, I'll let you know when I go out next time. But it'll be even better than that.

I'll note that with the Miculek compensator, this rifle is LOUD. However, with how heavy it is (it weighs a ton) it hardly moves at all when shot---I can keep the sights on a 4-inch circle at 14x at 200 yards through the recoil. Pretty cool, hmm?

Here's a video of some of my last shots of the day:



I love this rifle! Can't wait to try it in the WWGC 3-Gun match in a couple of months...

June USPSA Pistol Match...

And a beautiful warm day it was for the match today! Four stages---three regular (one of which I designed) and one classifier.

And of course, the one bad stage I had was my own. Arg. This is the third time in a row when I have messed up my own stage! (Today I couldn't hit a large popper. Normally, I plug one of the no-shoot targets.) I have to stop doing this to myself. Here is the video from today:

The classifier went pretty well today---according to a USPSA calculator, I might end with with around 70% for my national percentage. (Currently, my average is 68.11%, and if this new one IS a 70%, it'll be replacing a 58%, which should raise my percentage nicely--running the numbers, I may end up with a 70% overall average. Halfway to A class!) Watching the video, I moved pretty smoothly, and the reloads aren't bad (could be faster, but for the moment, they are all right) but my draw is pretty slow, for some reason. Matter of fact, any time I go from anything else to shooting (for example, from a reload to firing, or from a draw to firing) my initial target acquisition is just not very fast. Guess those are the drills I'm going to be working on this month.

Those and long-range accuracy. Plus, the specific setups for the classifier in the Area 3 match. :)

I won today's match, but it was very close. I got 100%, Joel got a 98%, and Dennis got a 95%. I beat Joel on three out of the four stages, then did badly on the last (my own). However, Dennis beat ME on those first three stages, but then blew my stage badly enough to fall to third place.

So in other words, we three are very close. This is good, though---having close competition to push yourself is a good thing.

This past week I took a couple of my Hapkido students out shooting---hopefully they'll be interested enough to keep it up, and try the USPSA stuff. Ardi has been shooting twice, and Josh once---we'll probably go again next week. I have belt/holster/gear for each of them, so next week we'll have them trying some draws from a holster. I should be able to get some video/pictures of that, and I'll add them in when I have time.

Tomorrow, I'll be heading out to the range to see if I can sight in my varmint rifle at 200 yards so that I can use it for the Weeping Water 3-gun shoots. I'm hoping that my scope mounting was good enough, so that it works out. We'll see. Zeeb got one of those stock weights for me, and I put it in my rifle---it weighs 800 pounds now. (Okay, not really, but it certainly feels that way!)

I'll write more with a range report on the varmint rifle tomorrow. Hopefully, including pictures.

Man-on-Man Steel Challenge Match, May 18th 2008

Today was the Man-on-Man Steel Challenge, where each person directly competed against someone else. In the morning was the pistol section, and after lunch was the shotgun section. There were also shotgun and .22LR pistol side matches.

Pistol Division Rules: Competitors shot against each other on identical arrays of steel. First one completed wins. To advance to the next round, you have to beat your opponent 2 out of 3 times. The array had 2 plates (one large, one small), two small poppers, two large poppers, and one stop plate. The stop plates were arranged at angles so that at each competitor shot theirs, they feel at an angle such that whichever stop plate ended up on the bottom denoted the winner.

The pistol divisions were Production/Revolver, Limited, and Open. The pistol competitions were double-elimination.

Shotgun rules: Almost the same, except that we dropped the two plates, and merely shot the four poppers and the stop plates. The divisions were separated by action type---pump-action and semi-auto shotgun.

The day wasn't particularly conducive to video, but I managed to get a couple of short clips that were decent. Here is the video of a few runs. Remember, for someone to actually win against their opponent, they had to win two out of three runs.

I won the Production/Revolver Division! Of course, that would be a bit more impressive had there been more than two people in it. :) Terry and I ran against each other once to determine the "Production Winner", then I unilaterally stuck us ALSO into the Limited Division.

Whereupon, to my shock, I managed to place second! Lost to Dennis (of course) --- matter of fact, I lost to him twice. He was the one who knocked me out to the loser's bracket a couple of matches in, then I won back to the winner's bracket for the first/second place match---and he won again. [sigh] Amusingly enough, both of us were shooting weapons/equipment that qualified for Production division---neither of us had firearms and gear customized like the Limited folks.

In shotgun, I won the pump-action division again! (I won it last year.) After which I went up against the winner of the semi-auto division and got thoroughly spanked.

There were also two side matches---shotgun on a plate rack (fastest run wins) and a .22LR match where the targets had a whole deck of playing cards on it---reversed so that you could only see the backs of the cards. For the .22 match, you get twelve shots on the target, after which you turn it around and pick out the best poker hand you could. Best poker hand overall wins. I may end up winning that one, as I ended up with a full house, aces over fives. (I don't know yet--I left before everyone was done shooting the side matches.)

Overall---a fun day. My shooting was decently quick, my accuracy good enough, though I had moments of random trigger-pulling. The shotgun went rather well. Again, I can shoot the darn thing nice and fast (and accurately) I just can't reload it quickly.

Two weeks to the next pistol match. Time for some dry-fire practice.

WWGC 3-Gun and May Monthly Pistol Match...

So, yesterday I went to the Weeping Water Gun Club to participate in their 3-Gun match. It is very different from the ones here at ENGC---the WWGC matches are man-on-man, which means you have to beat an opponent each time, and each time it gets harder. (They run a bracket system with double-elimination rules.)

For each run, you start with all of your weapons on various tables, each slide-locked and unloaded, with all ammo on the table with them. You begin with the pistol, and on the command load and drop 6 plates, mandatory reload, then drop 6 more plates. You immediately clear your weapon, lock the slide back, and leave it there, running to your shotgun table. Once at the shotgun table, you load and drop 4 full-size steel poppers, slide your weapon and again leave it behind with the slide open.

You run at full speed to your rifle, and now that your adrenaline is going, your heart is racing, and you are short of breath--you have to knock down 5 bowling pins set 200 yards away.

And if you manage to do all that faster than your opponent, you will then have to do it again later.

I'd never done this before, and my precision rifle (it arrived! Yay!) hadn't been sighted in yet--so I had to borrow someone else's. Chris Zeeb was kind enough to let me use his, and it ended up working really well. The first time I was shooting, I lost, which immediately put me into the loser's bracket. This didn't surprise me---the only things I've ever shot at 200 yards are deer (twice) and human silhouette targets (once). Not really good training for hitting bowling pins with someone else's rifle.

That being said---I got better. As a matter of fact, out of the 19 people that were there competing, I actually ended up in 2nd place! After being sent to the loser's bracket, I won five more matches (I think 5--may have been six) then lost to the winner of the competition. The last three of my matches were all in a row with no breaks. That was tiring! (But a lot of fun.)

Here is a video of some other people running through parts of the match (I kept forgetting to ask someone to record my runs):

...and either Zeeb's gun is outstandingly accurate so that anyone could win with it, or my distance rifle shooting is pretty good, because I didn't have much trouble knocking down the pins at 200 yards. Fairly quickly, too.

___________________________________________

Today we had our monthly pistol match at ENGC---it went pretty well. There weren't a whole lot of shooters in Production, but Dennis was shooting, and Joel Park came back from a fairly long hiatus, so there was some good competition. Here is the video of the stages from today:

Again, I shot a no-shoot target ON MY OWN STAGE. Maybe next time I just won't put any no-shoots up? Perhaps instead I'll learn to aim. (Hmm. That's a lot to ask.)

Very annoying.

The first stage was pretty slow, but other than the no-shoot, not too bad. I think I was second in Production on that one. The second stage (the distance one) went pretty darn well, but it was the third one that really rocked. The standards stage (for once) went exceedingly well. I was fast, very accurate (except for the farthest target, and I still got all of my hits) and my reloads were smooth and quick. I was pleased---particularly when I saw that I placed third out of everyone on that stage. Not bad for Production compared to Open!

The last stage, though---[sigh]. Something about Texas Stars gets to everyone, and I was no exception. It was BAD---and scarily enough, some other people still did worse than I did. It took me over 20 shots to clear 10 plates. NOT good. I need to pull out the stars this summer and just practice knocking them down. Same with the plate rack. Unlike last year, this year I have a key to the equipment shed, so I can do just that.

In the meantime, more dryfire practice. The first Rock-Your-Glock match of the year is this Saturday in Lincoln, so Julie and I are going down to both shoot it, and help run it. (Zeeb needs the help.) So we'll be there all day. We'll see how my times are compared to last year...

Man-on-man Steel Challenge match on two weeks---should be fun!

(And I need to officially attach my scope to my new precision rifle. And then get to the range to practice 200 yard shots!)

3-Gun Match on Apr 20th...

So we had the three-gun match last Sunday--I showed up early to set up the pistol stage for it, then took a look at the other stages. The shotgun stage was pretty straightforward---walk sideways and hit the rows of plates and poppers. Unfortunately, my pistol stage wasn't a whole lot better. It required movement, some angles, and a few careful spots with no-shoot targets. However, when I set it up, I forgot one target (so that messed up scoring) and the layout was such that it was pretty obvious how it should be shot--so not a whole lot of creativity on the shooter's part was necessary.

I've done better in my stage designs. It was still fun to shoot--but it could have been better.

Zeeb came up with the rifle stage, and it was interesting--if you weren't paying attention, you forgot about targets, and unfortunately many people did exactly that. Several people (who normally shoot very well) had several missed targets. (And that is a -30 points for each---2 misses, and one failure-to-engage. Ouch!) Luckily, I wasn't one of them.

I (of course) forgot to have one of the stages filmed for me this time, but it was the shotgun stage, which wasn't very interesting to watch anyway---since I still reload shotgun at a rate of one round every 20 minutes, it just takes awhile.

Actually, my reloading, while not good, has at least gotten better, so I'm around the middle of the pack now instead of clear at the bottom. It helps that I shoot really fast and am pretty accurate. The reloading needs work (lots!) but at least it isn't as horrible as when I started.

Here is a video with two of the other stages:

My squad started with the shotgun stage, then rifle, then pistol. Shotgun was fine, but when I tried the rifle stage for the first time, I couldn't get my rifle's safety off! How stupid of a malfunction is that?! I'm up there, the rifle cycles, a round is loaded, a magazine is in---but I can't get the safety off so I can't shoot!

Luckily for me, since I hadn't shot any rounds, they let me attempt to fix the problem and come back for another chance. (And yes, the problem was fixable.) Scarily enough, I rocked on the rifle stage this time. I don't know what happened (though I do note that I have installed new trigger springs and fixed the sights on my rifle since last time) but I scored third out of 24 on the rifle stage---and the only two people who beat me had optical sights (red dots, I think) on their rifles. I'm using just ordinary iron sights. Hmm. Maybe that practicing I did made a difference. Ya think?

The pistol stage went okay---right up until I went back to the beginning and realized that I clipped a no-shoot target. [sigh] Overall, though, it went well. Matter of fact, I even won the Limited Division, beating Chris Zeeb and Rob Thorne. THAT doesn't happen much, if at all. As usual, a fun day--but that rifle stage went really well.

John had his FN2000 out again--there is a gun that looks strange.


Alex was there shooting again, and did really well (as usual). I had to include a picture of him shooting an AR.


Speaking of ARs----I got mine yesterday! I got a call from my FFL dealer last Thursday, and I finally got a chance to pick it up yesterday. It is beautiful! (Well, at least I think so.) I put the scope and bipod on it yesterday, and today I'll add the extended cocking lever handle. I may not get a chance to shoot it until this coming weekend, though. [sigh]

I put the scope on in a temporary fashion--having never done it before, I didn't want to lock it down (with Loc-Tite) completely until I was sure this was how I wanted it. I might want a higher set of bases, and I may want it moved forward or backwards. I think I have it set where I want it--but I want to shoot it a few times first to make certain. Anyway, here it what it looks like right now:



Isn't it just beautiful? :)

Of course, here is what I look like when I want to shoot it...

In other news, I'm going to try the Weeping Water 3-Gun shoot this coming Saturday. Pistol on plate racks, shotgun on poppers, and ARs on 200-yard distant bowling pins. I wonder if I can hit anything at 200 yards? I don't believe I've ever tried on anything smaller than a human silhouette target. And I'm not even shooting my own rifle! I didn't know if my rifle would be here yet, so Chris said I could use his--and mine won't be sighted in time, even though I have it. So I'll try it with his. I'm sure that the rifle will be accurate enough. I wonder how I'll be?

The Weeping Water match is a man-on-man style--so I'll get at least two tries before I'm out. It should be interesting, though--you go directly from pistol to shotgun to rifle with no pauses, and can only move when the current targets have fallen. Those bowling pins, though, apparently are the main things to worry about. We'll see how I do...

April Pistol Match...

It's a little later than I normally post--but hey, my computer is disassembled and strewn about, so that isn't surprising. That is why it is taking awhile for the video to show up, too.

Anyway---this month's pistol match went pretty well! No, I didn't get first. However, I did get 99.907% of the top score. :) Overall, it went well. Smooth shooting (for the most part), decent accuracy, not top speed but decently quick.

One of the things I think I need to work on has to do with how much I trust myself at various distances. I know people always say "shoot only A hits, and the speed will come" but there comes a point when the "A" is going to happen, but you still slow down, check, make sure it is perfect, then squeeze the trigger---and you didn't need to take that long.

My shooting was nice and smooth--but the downside of that is that sometimes when the targets were closer, I could have sped up my shooting and still easily gotten "A" hits. However, I had a "smooth cadence" in my head from the prior sequence of shots, so that speed and cadence is what happened the entire stage. That isn't a bad thing necessarily--but I'll do better if I match my shooting speed to my accuracy level for that target--and maybe it'll be different for the next. "Smooth cadence" sounds good---but the cadence isn't the point. Human minds like repetitive timing, though, so I need to shoot, not time myself.

It was a good match, and I thoroughly enjoyed it---two longer complicated stages, and two short-but-technical stages. I am capable of doing better---but I am not unhappy with how it went.

Three-Gun match in a couple of weeks (well, one week now) and I'm designing the pistol stage. It is probably going to look something like this:

...but not necessarily. I'm probably going to try to alter it so that people have more choices with regard to how they decide to shoot it. (This version---it is pretty straightforward as to what happens. Good stages, though, I think, give some other openings occasionally. So, we'll see what happens.

Still waiting to hear about my new AR-15 from Fulton Armory. [sigh] I hate waiting.

Makeup Steel Match...

Ok, today's steel match was MUCH better. [whew] Fixing my sights made a huge difference.

Dennis, Zeeb, and I were on the same squad today, and we shot the three non-field stages first. (In other words, the ones where you attempt it five times, and then throw out the slowest time.) After three stages, Chris and Dennis were tied (and we measure to one-hundredth of a second) and I was only .04 seconds behind them. This is after the best 12 of 15 strings of fire. That's close! Made for a fun match.

On the field stage, Dennis got first, I got second, and Zeeb got third---so in production class today, I got second place. I can live with that---particularly compared to the steel match earlier this month! In the last couple of months, I've been REALLY disappointed in my shooting, so this makes me feel much better.

Video of some of the stage runs plus the field stage:



Still have things I need to work on, of course. In the field stage, I could have gotten a better time but I rushed one sequence of shots for a number of misses that just wasted time. And as always, I need to work on my draw-to-shoot times and reload times.

However, my accuracy was back up to almost my normal. I'm hoping that having my sights off didn't cause me to develop more bad habits---I have enough of those! We'll see if this accuracy thing continues with the regular pistol match next week.

I'll be shooting it with different ammunition---I'm out of Rainier bullets, so I'll be trying Montana Gold this time around. I hope I get a chance to try them out before the match---if they aren't going to work, I need to know soon!

With my computers non-functional since the basement flooded, I'm going to have to practice regular dryfire without a signal/tone. Ah well--I needed smooth precision work anyway.

Tomorrow is the next steel match...

...but I had to write a quick update regarding my handgun sights.

In good news, the distance misses don't seem to be my fault. Not exactly. Close misses are still my problem, though. (But I haven't had many of those---which explains why "stand-and-shoot" stages haven't gone well, but "freestyle-movement" stages have been good---I can move to where I need to, and with good movement I get closer shots in good time.)

Checking my sights today at 20 feet, 40 feet, and 60 feet, I find that my Glock 34 shoots to the right. Only slightly at 20 feet. (Hence the lack of problems at close ranges.) However, at 40 feet and up, it shoots several inches to the right---which is enough to take my shots off steel targets if I'm not aiming exactly perfectly at the center of the target. (Which, at speed, I'm certainly NOT.)

So, I adjusted my sights. We'll see how much of an effect that has on the match tomorrow. (Steel match again---makeup for the canceled January match.)

That being said---I'm fairly certain that some of it is my fault in terms of how I'm shooting. I'm not inconsistent--I'm shooting nice small groups. They are just consistently to the right with the old sight settings. The problem is that when I adjust the sights and I'm consistently shooting center, the rear sights themselves seem FAR to the left. As in noticeably to the left when looking at the gun.

The annoying thing is that I was doing this sometimes from a braced position (no arm movement, just a slow, careful trigger squeeze) and sometimes from standing unbraced--and I was shooting to the same place. So left/right -wise, my trigger pull doesn't seem to be the problem. It just seems odd that the sight needs to be so far to the left...

The sight itself is centered in the middle of the slide like it is supposed to be. (The Glock 34 has an adjustable rear sight.) The adjustable part is just far to the left.

I'm wonder if I should spring for a better set of sights?

Well---anyway, the gun is now shooting where it is supposed to. So tomorrow we'll find out if I can shoot where I'm supposed to.

Steel Match Today...

So today was the first Steel Challenge match of the year. (The January one was postponed due to extreme cold and bad weather--matter of fact, the new date for it is in two weeks.)

And it was horrible! My accuracy was bad, which meant my times were very bad. In a steel match, you go until you hit the targets (all of them) which means that if you are inaccurate, you keep shooting and keep shooting and keep shooting until you do hit the target---which of course takes longer.

My speed isn't what it was by the end of last year (I really do think that the cold has something to do with it) but what has really been hurting me lately is my lack of accuracy. I placed third today---out of three. :(

My ending score was 77.47%, and it really shouldn't have been. I'm not saying I should have won today, but my accuracy just was not up to my normal standards. Of course, that has been true for the last several matches.

I need to go out to the range, and do some long-range accuracy practice. Then some near-and-far targets (not fast, just working on sighting transitions). Most of all, however, I need to figure out if my sights are on! I know, I know---99.9% of all people who say "my sights are off" don't have sight problems, they have sighting problems--but in my case, I haven't sighted in my Glock 34 since I put a new front sight on it, and adjusted the position of the rear sight a few months ago. (Something hit the rear sight, and knocked it to the side, so I had to quickly slide it back in the middle of a match.) So maybe not all of the accuracy problem is my fault.

But I've got to get to the range to find out.

Here is a recording of the field stage we had today--two plate racks, four poppers, one small circle, and two Texas Stars that were obscured by a wall. I started out okay, but the distance stuff didn't go well.



In other news---I'm buying a new AR. :) Some of the people at the action pistol matches have talked me into trying the 3-gun matches down at the Weeping Water gun range, but to do it, I need a rifle that is capable of hitting bowling pins at 200 yards. My bolt-action .308 could do it (matter of fact, my 30-06 probably could too) but to do well, you really need a semi-auto, like an AR-15.

I have one, but---well, it is a Bushmaster Shorty AK that has had no work done on it. Iron sights, though I do have a little 4-power scope I could put on it. While it may be capable of hitting several bowling pins in a row at 200 yards, I couldn't hit bowling pins at 200 yards with it. Not without an inordinate amount of luck.

I've been meaning to get a varmint-type AR for several years now---this seems like a good excuse to do it. I'm going to be buying it through Fulton Armory, and getting a variation on one of their Predator models. Should be fun to have! When I get it, I'll post pictures.

March Pistol Match...

Well, I didn't get nearly as much dry fire practice in February as I wanted---matter of fact, I probably managed practice less than twice a week, and sometimes only for a few minutes each time. While that is better than nothing, it isn't extremely useful.

So, this month I'll try to do better. With the RUReady software, I have a shot timer with par times, and I have taken recordings from my pistol matches so that the "RO commands" given by the program are actual recordings of the ROs from my matches--and so is the "beep" sound. Pretty cool!

Nonetheless, apparently the practice I got in did help---either that, or I've somewhat gotten over my "slump" of the last couple of months. Today's pistol match, while not stellar, was at least decent overall, with me shooting to my normal level for two solid stages, and me doing mostly decently for the other two. I meant to have all of the stages recorded, but I managed to get distracted and forgot one---so the video this month only includes 3 of the four stages.

Unfortunately, the one stage I didn't get recorded was the one where I finally shot a Texas Star perfectly--and I didn't get it on tape! Arg! Ah well.

Here is this month's match:



Faster than last month, better accuracy--but I need to start "snapping" my hands down for the draw and especially the reloads. I am moving smoothly (other than that last reload on the classifier stage) but just not very fast. I even know what I need to do differently ("snap" the hand down for the initial grab for the magazine--it will speed everything up) I just need to find the time to practice it until it is unconscious.

I can't wait until it is warmer and I have some free time---I have a non-timed accuracy drill that I want to work on, but it requires actual live fire. And while I love shooting, at the moment I don't love it enough to brave the cold weather!

Maybe next week?

In two weeks: Steel Challenge match. Should be fun...

Today's 3-Gun match...

No video today, folks. Forgot the camera. (I'm sure you are heartbroken.)

So, in a typical 3-gun match---3 stages, one each for pistol, rifle, and shotgun. I shoot the Limited division, which means iron sights on everything, and no speed-loaders for shotguns. It does mean I get to load my pistol magazines all the way, so that is nice---not limited to 10 rounds per magazine for this type of match.

Here's how it normally goes for me:
Rifle stage: decent, around lowest of top third of everyone
Pistol: pretty good, middle of top third of everyone
Shotgun: horrible, top of lowest third, if that high

I'm not too bad with a rifle, just haven't practiced a lot---so I am decently accurate and decently quick, just not incredibly special with either. Pistol--I do pretty well with pistol. Shotgun, however---I can shoot quickly, I can move quickly, I transition well---but I can't reload quickly to save my life. Like I said in my last post, I reload like an arthritic sloth. And no, I didn't get a chance to practice before today's match.

Today was cold and extremely windy in gusts, so we set up all three stages on the big bay, and shot the exact same targets for pistol and for rifle. This meant the rifle stage was fairly close-in, and the pistol stage was fairly far out, as targets go for those respective firearms. This was actually a bad thing, since I'm no faster on close targets for a rifle than I am on longer-range targets--without practice, I pretty much have to go through the extra same aiming process on each. People in practice will shoot closer targets faster. Not me, though.

And long-range pistol? Well, lately I have been having accuracy troubles (apparently, the concept of "trigger control" is escaping me, though I am working on it) so long-range targets, lots of them, doesn't really help.

And since shotgun is almost always really bad, you see where this is going, right?

Oddly enough, today really didn't go that badly. My rifle was consistently A/C on each target, with a fairly fast speed. (I think I ended up fourth out of the 12 people there today---us hardcore types who would brave today's weather.) It was strange---the sights just made sense today, and I had no trouble finding them, and keeping them aligned. I need to practice some more on rifle, because that felt really good today, and it wasn't as if I had been practicing! Probably going to take my rifle out and just do some dryfire transition-and-aim/squeeze drills to see if I can make that keep happening in the future.

Then we shot pistol. We were shooting in random order, and I think I shot 7th or so--and had three clean misses. Ow! Of course, at the time that was the lowest number of misses anyone had shot yet, so I didn't feel too incredibly bad about it--though I really should have. There was no reason for me to miss any of those targets. My time was good, but had I slowed down and taken five extra seconds but hit those targets, my scores would have been much higher.

Points ARE time. [sigh] I need to bear that in mind.

Overall, though, the pistol stage went ok. Not great, but not too bad.

Then the shotgun stage came up. As usual, from the beep I came right up to target, from start to finish never missed a target (knocked down every single steel on the first shot each), shot quickly and transitioned quickly---and reloaded like an OLD arthritic sloth.

I'm getting really tired of that. Actually, I suppose I shouldn't be too unhappy--my times are getting better, and I'm nowhere near as horribly slow as I used to be. I just need to reload reload reload reload reload reload reload so that my hands know what to do.

I know what I have to do to get better---I just need to do it. I even have the drills already worked out to practice. That time thing, though----not good.

This past week, what with teaching Hapkido Monday through Thursday, the Janich seminar on Friday, open practice at the dojang on Saturday, and the competition today, I just feel like I've been running all week. I know I've actually had time to practice every day, but running this much makes me feel tired, even though I'm not actually. So---up for this week: scheduling time better to both give me breaks, and to allow me to practice. I've been doing some of the dryfire practice I want to---but not what I had originally scheduled.

This week, then: try for at least 5 minutes of dry fire practice per day. With the new software I have (the RUReady software that simulates a start timer, including voice sounds for ready and standby) being able to do par times, I can really work on good dryfire practice now.

So that's the plan---good pistol dryfire, some comfortable dryfire with the rifle including transitions, and reload reload reload reload reload reload with the shotgun.

Because I don't have enough going on in my life.