2013 In Review

Year in Review

I suppose everyone who writes a blog like this is almost required to do a year in review type of post, although I'm not sure that I have enough material, heck, I'm more interested in getting to the MISS match on January 1st, and anyone who knows me, knows that I just don't give a damn about the holiday at all. It's been a good year though, made a lot of friends, had some seriously fun adventures with said friends, I really got hooked on my new hobby, and began to really work thru the up's and the downs. I've spent prior blogs thanking all those people, so I'm not going to do it all over again, you folks know who you are.

To start the year, I was shooting a P30L, and I hated it, and I had no real idea why, I liked the way it felt, but I did not like anything else about it.

My H&K P30L (First Gun)

By February, I was looking for something else, and I found the PPQ, which I broke out in March and started to shoot, and other than a 2 match dalliance with the XDM, I stuck with it, thru good and bad, and this is the gun that I actually learned with. No coincidence at all that I started to get serious about the sport at about the same time that I found the PPQ. Before that I was a casual, once a month shooter, with the PPQ, my desire elevated, and by April I was shooting as often as I could.

Walther PPQ

By the end of the year, I'd made the change wholeheartedly over to CZ, and assuming this guy does not blow me off (not responding after agreeing to a deal, is getting me angry) the PPQ will be gone from my inventory forever. Someday there could be an M2 PPQ in the safe, but no time soon, as even though I like it, I don't have a reason to have one. (Yes, I'm still in the "I need a reason" to own something)

CZ SP-01 Shadow

It's been a great year, filled with good people, and good times. I suspect 2014 will hold more of the same. I've got some early season shooting goals, like winning Production C at the WIIT. Okay, I know that's not a huge thing, but it'd be progress for me, and I could live with Dave beating me, but otherwise, it's time to put some of these tools that Les has given us on display, and shoot well. I'd like to get my B card as soon as possible, and put up a strong showing at each Level 2 and Level 3 match I go to this year. I'm going to be happy to take my R.O. class in a few weeks. I'll be thrilled to see Linda and Lauren both shoot more, and enjoy.

To everyone who has been around in 2013, and been a friend, or listened to me ramble, or shared an adventure, I thank you for helping to make it a great year!

Just Because Brass Photo's Are Cool

Mental Block

Mentally Blocked

I'm a "B" class shooter, I know I am, right now today. What my mind says is not agreeing with what kind of results I'm getting, and that's an issue. I spent two weeks with the CZ, and when I'm practicing, I get some outstanding results. I'm doing things very well, I'm getting good hits, and I feel very positive about what I'm doing. Classes and matches though are still uneven. Today's class begin with a simple draw, shoot one target 7 yards away five times, reload, and shoot another target seven yards away. My draw was about 1.24 to 1.27, and my reloads were a consistent 1.61 and 1.62, my splits were in the .19 to .22 range, and my hits were awesome. I was feeling pretty good about myself, and where I was going. Here's the key, and I'll come back to this later, I was not thinking about anything other than my front sight.

It looks like this

Moving forward we jumped to El Presidente again, and I had a crappy draw, got poor hits, and Les told me that one of my issues was that I was tense, it was obvious to him, and I admit, I felt it too. He wanted me to be less robotic in my reloads, to "take the training wheels off". I'd found a way to cheat a bit, by twisting my elbow into my body to force the gun to a comfortable position in front of my face so I can watch the mag go in, and drive it straight back out to the target. He wanted me to stop that twist, and know where I need the gun, and do it without my "crutch", watching me reload, it was robotic, my shoulders are hunched, and I was tense. That said, my reloads were pretty damn solid, and now with the change I had something else I was thinking about. I started to pull off early on my last shot before a reload to "do it right", and that impacted how I was hitting, instead of just focusing on my sights, I was thinking about the way to reload.

We set up a couple of barriers at about 12 yards, and ran 9 Lives. Essentially you start in the middle, run to the left, shoot 3 steel plates, go back to the middle, hit the 3 plates again, and then move to the right position, and do it again. 9 shots from 3 positions, it's a challenging drill where you need good accuracy, and you need sound movement skills. Les made one pretty small adjustment for Dave and I, he made us dry fire and practice keeping our gun's up, so that once we cleared a barrier we were just about on target, instead of having to move it up, or get a hand back on it, and even if we felt slower, it turned out that we were anywhere from .2 to .5 seconds faster, and over a stage with only 3 positions, that's 1.5 seconds you pick up. It adds up.

To close out, we took a draw, shoot two at a plate, reload and shoot 2 more. My best run with all hits had a 1.6 draw and a 1.7 reload. This is something I can work on, but when it comes to simply "stand and shoot", I feel confident. I can accept that reload from more than 10 yards, especially with a hit, sure, I'd like it faster, but that will get me to B with no problem.

So anyhow, Les gave it to me, I'm mentally fucked up. Seeing as how this is a gun blog, and this is Illinois, I'd better clarify. I'm just blocking myself from doing what I can do well in practice. I'm self-critical, I'm judgmental, and my head is my own worst enemy. I'm not seeing spotted unicorns, purple horseshoes, or hearing voices. I'm simply pressing too hard, I'm trying to prove that I can do this, instead of just sitting back and doing it. I know that I'm better than I showed today, I've done it, but I get to a class, or a match, and I just start thinking too much. Part of me felt absolutely self-defeated when I left the range today, not that I was going to run off and cry defeated, rather that I was absolutely helpless, and could not figure out what I needed to do to right the ship.

I made a quick call and ran over to Kozy's, and we talked it out. He told me pretty much what Les told me, that fundamentally I'm there, I've got this, but I need to put it all together. He said another thing that Les did, just in a slightly different way that got thru to me. I'm going to focus on just one thing at the match on Wednesday. I'm going to forget my draw, my reload, everything else, I'm just going to look at my front sight, I'm going to think only about that. That does not mean I'm going to get all Alphas, just that I'm going to call my shot, and I'm not going to have any surprises at the end of a stage. If there is a miss, I'm going to know it, and I'm going to know why when I take the shot. That's the same thing Les told me, just the front sight. The rest of my game is either at the B level, or close enough that I can perform. When I had bad runs today, I was not thinking about, or focused on my front sight, I was worried about my turn and draw, taking the "training wheels" off my reload, and so on. Every single time I was thinking about either something else, or something more than my front sight.

Do you think he over thinks?

When I look back at my past few blogs, I've said it, I trust the CZ. If I focus on the sights, the gun takes care of the rest. The truth is, I focus on the sights, the gun takes care of the shooting, and I, Luke, am good enough to take care of the draw, reload and so on. I know how to do those things already. So the million dollar question now, is if I can do those things in practice, and I know it, why am I not doing those things at class and at a match? I suspect class because I'm learning, and match because I'm pressing. So for Wednesday, I'm going to re-read the Mental Game of Tennis, and I'm going to try to clear my mind, and just think and see my front sight, nothing else. I'll let my improved skills as well as my confidence in my gun take care of the rest.

On the practice agenda, my turn and draw is abysmal. I was running 2.20 to 2.34 to Dave's 1.68. I'm going to work that pretty hard the next few days, and I'm going to set my par time to start to 1.90, and go from there. That's a pretty big slice of time I'm giving up for no real good reason. In part it's because I'm turning then drawing, instead of consolidating the draw and reload into one, and in part because I'm just not snapping my head around and letting my body follow.

There are little things I'm looking at, all fixable in dry fire. I can work my draw a little, get more comfortable with the reload, now that I know where I want the gun, and how I wanted it canted to get the perfect reload, and to finish a shot before I start to reload. Do those things, and I'm talking a few weeks of dry fire, not months. I know I've come a long way in a short time, and now we are talking some polish on the fundamentals instead of complete overhaul, but the mental block is something I just hope to get past. Give me some match success, for all four stages, and let me know how it "feels" mentally to do that, then I'll have a blueprint. I think I'm on the right path, with focusing on just one thing, I'm just excited to get out there and give it a go.

At The Range

At The Range


Spent a little time today up at Alpha Range, still need to work the kinks out, we had the range from 10:30 until 12:30, but could not get in until 11am, since there was another group in there shooting, and then going to clean up. All good with working in with everyone, and this will settle out, glad it did not happen during the week, and was on a day where we were all off.

Today was as much about Lauren, one of her Christmas presents was a Smith & Wesson MP 15-22 that she was so incredibly excited to go and shoot. Kozy was nice enough to put the sight on, and get it sighted in, and away Lauren went. Having three 25 round magazines is nice, but when she starts rapid firing, what a pain in the ass to reload those things non-stop! Kid did exceptionally well, I'm so proud of her!

She got on a roll and had a couple of pretty solid "numbers" on the target, one of which was slow fire, and the other she went to town pulling the trigger as fast as she could.

Of course it was the "Tactical Timmy" who showed us how to do things, she had the best group, had a rifle in her hands, and pistol on her belt. Amazing that sixteen months ago she was as anti-gun as anyone I know. She also had a great time, and may want to shoot Lauren's rifle more than Lauren.

I have to admit, I had a ball shooting it too, the AR style 22 is a lot of fun in a small package, and considering it cost about $15 more than my 22 pistol, I'm impressed. I sense a Ruger 10/22 or something like that in the future, but down the road, after we get a bigger safe, because room is getting tight right now.

After the 22 fun, Linda and I both jumped out and did some drills with our respective guns. She is still having a few issues with her first shot, and she really needs work on her cadence, but again she had a ball, and is starting to show some serious accuracy in slow fire. If she goes slow on transitions she gets hits, but that's a process, and dry fire and work with the .22 will get her headed in the right direction.

I seemingly have stopped having accuracy issues. I hope the supply of Alpha hits that the CZ has is infinite, because I don't want to exhaust them. As a whole, my transitions are a hair slower than with the PPQ, and my splits are a hair faster, but my accuracy is night and day better, and most importantly consistent. I really need more and more work on my draw, once I get that where I want it to be, rolling out B class runs is going to be second nature. 

Class with Les and Dave on Saturday! I hope my performance of late in practice carries over to class, and then to the MISS match next Wednesday.

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays


I got my last live fire, kind of, in yesterday in a range trip to go chronograph some ammo. What that means, is I went to test some loads, and see how they perform out of my gun. The idea is to find just the right powder charge, length, and so on, in order to have an accurate and soft shooting load. From a bench rest, you shoot a bullet thru the Kozy "bunny hutch", and the electronics give you a reading on exactly how fast the bullet went thru there. Follow it up with an accuracy test, and you are good to go.

The "bunny hutch"

Kozy ran some loads of Tite Group powder, and Solo 1000 powder with SNS Cast bullets, and I ran loads with Bullseye powder and Bayou Bullets powder. End result was we had a pretty good set of tests, and found out that 2 of the 3 loads were good for what we wanted to accomplish, the Solo 1000 load though came in a little light, and will need some extra powder to make power factor.

Kozy takes Kwanzaa seriously 

There are a couple of holes in the bunny hutch, put there by Kozy himself, but as you can see from the above sign, he takes it pretty seriously, that only Les is going to to be using it, and not someone random walking into the range! It makes sense though!

Most people label a box with some tape, or a marker so they know exactly what load they are breaking out to test. Kozy and I hung around a little bit since Les was on his way in, and we saw how he organizes his boxes so he keeps things straight. I don't think it'll surprise anyone, and I really think it explains a few things.

Words Fail Me

It's Christmas Eve, and all thru my head, dry fire drills are happening (okay, they are happening for real too) Santa is on his way, and I'm looking forward to spending the day tomorrow with some good friends. It'll be a relaxed, fun, and happy Christmas with Emil, Tracy, Kozy, Les and Liv, and I see a nice celebration in store among friends. Until then, kids to bed early, presents to wrap, and cookies to put out for a jolly fat man. I hope your Christmas is one filled with joy.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Time To Jack

Time To Jack


Let's cut the shit already and admit that it's time to get serious and get down to business. Dave and I got together today for our live fire work, and we both confessed that we've had a thought or two that it was almost time to start buying the 4,000 bullets that we are going to owe Les if we don't hit our mark. I know I've had some bravado, and confidence, but with each up and down performance I was feeling like Charlie Brown. Lucy puts that football down, and each time he believes he's going to kick it, and that little witch pulls it out every single time. Screw you Lucy.

Today was my first day in the plan with the CZ, and here I am five hours later with an ear to ear stupid grin on my face. I had more fun shooting today, in practice than any day I've ever had shooting, ever. Big statement there. Today the target and I tangled, and I kicked it's butt. Everyone says that it's the person shooting the gun, not the gun, and I buy that. I won't however discount that the CZ is infinitely easier to shoot, and for me to focus on just one thing, my front sights. This was hands down one of my best practice performances ever.

The CZ partnered with my loads shoots softly, no muzzle flip, very little recoil, the gun just cycles backward and forward, and I can keep my eyes on the front sight the whole time. With the PPQ, I was fighting to control the gun, with the CZ, I hold it, no fight. This is worlds easier than what I am used to. I know it hides some flaws that I have, like not getting a better handle on the gun and getting my left elbow up higher, but I don't need to have that perfect hold to get my hits. So is it a good thing that it masks flaws? Some might argue its not, and I see that point, because I don't just want to earn my B card, I want to compete in the B Class, and I want to go beyond that. However, for right now, it let's me focus on my sights.

Les felt Dave and I had a tendency to shoot past a  target on a transition, and not drive the gun towards it, (me more than Dave) and he wanted us to focus on driving the gun. The beauty of the CZ  for me, is that it's so heavy, I can't just drag it across targets, I need to drive it to get it there, so the weight forces me in the right direction.

Today our mission was to start with a couple of El Presidente's as slow as we needed to get all alpha hits. New gun, new pull, I was a little slow, but I got good hits at 8.60 seconds. I had two exceptional runs as I started to get dialed in, I ran one at 7.59 (I need 8.45 for a 60% run with 90% of points possible) with 12 Alpha's, that's a perfect run! My draw to first shot was 2.34 on that run, about .6 seconds slower than with the PPQ. I ran another at 7.37 with 10 Alpha and 2 Charlie, and a 2.29 second draw. According to Classifiercalc, that first run had a Hit Factor of 7.91 which is 77.1%, that's not a B run, that's a low A run! My second run would have been a 7.598 Hit Factor for a 74.0% run, that's the tip top of B (75.01 is A).

That's good shooting, with accurate hits. With the PPQ I had inconsistent runs between 6.30 and 7.05 most of the time, the hits were touch and go, and I dropped points, so, not only did I slow down, I massively increased my accuracy, but I did not go too slow. Now, the even better news, the biggest difference in speed was not my actual shooting (I got my splits and transitions down to near PPQ territory, .20-.22 splits, and .38 transitions, faster with the PPQ, but there I shot thru the target, never driving the gun to it to get hits. ), but the difference was an incredibly slow draw. That 1.8 second draw we started with? I'm slower, and I got the PPQ down with practice, the CZ is a little different because of the long first pull, but with practice, I'm going to get that down. I'm not putting a time frame on it, but I'd bet in a week of dryfire, I'll be used to the gun enough that I'll be at 1.80, and again starting a push to get the draw down to the 1.3 or 1.4 mark. That's almost a full second that I can trim from my time and still keep good hits!

Want some more good news? My reloads during the El Presidente runs were between 2.00, and 2.2, again, between .5 to .7 slower than I was reloading with the PPQ. By the end of the day, and we drilled reloads, I had my reload into the 1.80 area, and as soon as I stop going for the release on the trigger guard like the PPQ, and remember it's a button, I'm going to get even better.

So, all this good news? I'm excited as hell! The things I'm talking about are things that I can improve in dry fire, and I already proved to myself that I can do exactly that. I'm not talking a three month ramp up, I'm not talking wildly inconsistent, I'm talking a few weeks to get myself to a better position. The most basic fundamental of all, seeing that front sight, and hitting the target is finally, not something I'm over thinking, I'm able to just focus on the sight and shoot.

Want another small piece of good news? I experienced something Terry did at the match. my trigger finger does not realize how short the single action pull is, I was leaving the trigger and moving my finger forward and then coming back to hit the trigger. Some work there, and my splits will improve, something I laughed about it felt so good, was it took me longer to pull the trigger something that it took me to see the sights.

I can't express how amazing an experience today's practice was. I was not fighting my gun, everything came easy, the light went on. I believe in my SP-01, I don't have to be perfect, it makes my job easy. It is an amazing feeling. I want to guard against getting over confident, but for the first time, I've got a deep confidence in my gun, and a realization, that my fate, this B card, and my improvement is all about what I'm doing. Sure, it's always been that way, but right now? I believe it. I have faith, something I lacked before. This CZ eliminates all the little things I was thinking about, elbow up? Sights perfect? Grip Tight? I don't think about those now, I just see the front sight and shoot.

I have faith that with this, my goals will be a reality

I say I don't want to be over confident, and I don't want to jinx myself, but I honestly believe that I could run off a series of B classifiers now, and I'll be able to do it that much easier with more dry fire work. So, mark it down, my contribution to all this, is a skill set that Les taught me. He taught me what I need to do, at the most basic and fundamental level, he gave me the skills that I need to apply, and today at least, it all came together. I know there are up's and downs ahead, I'm not getting too high, or too low, but I'll be damned if don't just believe that I'm on the way.

Thanks bro!

Match Talk 12/18/13

Match Talk

Okay, the 18th came and went, and I dragged my feet getting the video together, and thinking about what went on.  It's been a pretty busy time, I wrapped up my work year yesterday, and am on vacation until the 2nd. Christmas presents are about done, holiday plans are made, and a couple of big decisions were made. More on those a little later.

The only video I thought was worth a thing was that of my classifier.  CM99-28 Hillbilton Drill What went right with it? Well, my draw was pretty solid, I had good transitions, and I executed a solid reload. My hits on the steel were just fine, and I even took two extra shots that I did not need to. On the last two steel, I had hit them, and for some reason thought if I shot again they'd go over faster. That cost me an extra .4. I was looking for a run on this stage of 9.65 seconds or less for a 60% run. My total time was 9.01 seconds, and it should have been 8.61 or lower, meaning I had my time beat by a full second.

So, what went wrong? Everything else! I put exactly one shot out of six on paper.

I'm going to take a few positives, that I can do this, I can shoot at speed, my reloads are improving, my draw as well, and that I have the focus that I need to shoot steel, which for some reason is kryptonite for some people. My struggles with paper are more than mental, although that's a factor as well. I'm still not seeing enough front sight, and I'm shooting thru the target, not driving the gun to the target.

This would have been a good opportunity to get a high classifier score, but I'm not going to cry over spilt milk. There are a lot of good things happening, but the couple of fundamental things that are going wrong are basic, and will have a huge say in how I perform.

So, the decisions. For all I said about shooting the Walther PPQ not two months ago, I went to Les, and he have me his approval to make the move to the CZ. This is going to mean some serious hard work, because I need to learn a lot about this gun, but the truth is I have confidence in the gun, and I believe this will allow me to learn, and make things easier on myself in the short term.  I also made the decision to not make the PPQ a safe queen, and to sell it. While I like the paddle mag release, the truth staring me in the face is that I do a better job with a button. Someday I could buy another PPQ, but it'll be a button version.

It's Official

I'm also going to use the proceeds to pick up the green P-01, which will replace the PPQ quite well. It's about the same size, but heavier, it will be hammer fired like my competition gun, and also be DA/SA. If I'm going to winter carry something, I admit I want something similar to what I'm going to be putting significant rounds down range with. It will also have night sights, the VZ grips I like, and an Automatic Accuracy trigger job. Plus, CZ only makes 200 of those a year, and I kinda like having something that is a little rare, and a little more interesting. Telling you, I'm going to do significant business with those guys going forward. The last Walther standing will be the PPS, which will be a summertime carry option. There will be another Walther someday, maybe a nod to James Bond and a PPK

A Nod To Bond...Maybe Someday

CZ SP-01 Shadow Initial Impressions

CZ Initial Impressions


I'm not really sure where to start, other than my initial impression is that I'm not sure I want to shoot anything other than a CZ ever again. Sure, I know that's crazy talk, but I'm utterly blown away by just about everything with the CZ SP-01 Shadow. First of all, huge props to Matt Mink and his crew at Automatic Accuracy for custom building me not just a gun, but a work of art. At one point I had an order in with CZ Custom, but in order for them to install the STRS, they wanted to ship me the gun, have me ship it back, and then install. I understand that it has to do with an agreement they have with CZ-USA, but as a customer, if I'm willing to pay the money, I want what I want, and I don't want to have to pay three times for shipping.

The AA Sales Manager, Mark McArthur is one patient guy, and we spent a lot of time on the phone, me asking questions, him patiently answering them. If anyone was considering a CZ, I'd steer them hard to Automatic Accuracy, simply because they built a gun for me, just the way I wanted. I picked out which specific trigger style I wanted, the size of the safety, and grips. It should surprise nobody that this gun fits my hand perfectly. At the same time I was ordering, both Terry and Les had orders in (Les for 3 guns), and I know we tried the AA patience, but those guys were amazing. The adventures in getting it done are blog worthy, but they are one of those things that I'm going to keep private between the three of us (and Kozy) and we'll share a laugh or two.


Coming from a 4" light, striker fired, polymer gun, there are no words for me to describe my time with the CZ. My first hundred or so rounds shocked me. The PPQ has some muzzle flip, and I need to grip to really take charge of the recoil. The CZ's extra weight manages that to an extreme, and the gun has no muzzle flip, and seemingly no recoil, the slide simply cycles back and forth, enabling me to keep my eyes on the sight, and get off rapid shots, with accuracy. In slow fire, the PPQ can put some great groups together, but the further away from the target, the slower I have to go, to keep a sight picture, and get hits. I did runs of 10 round head shots from 15 and 20 yards with the CZ, and I had 1" to 2" groups, as fast as I could pull the trigger.

Single targets are one thing, but in this sport, it's transitions. I ran a couple of El Pres with Kozy, and my times were slower than with the PPQ, and I'm going to attribute that to a couple of things, mostly a slow draw to first shot, and reload. In a reload drill I'm faster, but doing El Pres, I tried to do what comes naturally, which is find the release on the paddle, CZ is button. My groups were tighter, than with the PPQ, and I did have one miss, and we'll get to that next. The CZ being heavier forced me to drive the gun to targets, which is a benefit.

This is what the SRTS is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbYQlTrhAc0

Striker fire guns like the PPQ are great, because each and every trigger pull is the same. The CZ is a Double/Single Action, so it has a long, and harder first pull. The CZ has about a 6.5 lb first pull right now, but it's the length that is a challenge. It's definitely harder for me to keep the sights from moving on this pull, so first shots are going to be an issue, that's where I had my miss on El Pres. By contrast the PPQ has about a 5.5 lb pull each and every time I pull it. The guys at AA tell me that once I get the gun broken in, that first pull should get down in the range of just under 6 lbs. The single action pull is about 2.5 lbs right now, and once it's broken in, should get just a touch under 2lbs.

There's no doubt in my mind the potential in with this gun, and it does not come with a "B" card in the case. I'm going to have some serious adjustments to make to learn the pull, build the muscle memory on the reload, and on the draw, but the actual act of shooting is infinitely easier. Les made the comment that good gear supports good habits, and will help, never has that been made so clear to me. My SP-01 Shadow is set-up for competitive shooting, there is no doubt about that. It's not set-up to be carried, or as a home defense gun, it's purely for sport, and in that role, it will excel.

I'd like to shoot like Matt Mink

I think everyone who knows me knows that I love my Walthers. One of my first blogs was about why I choose to shoot Walther. Right now I am feeling some disgust with how I shot my PPQ last night, and I know it's not the gun's fault, it's strictly mine, but if someone made me an offer for my PPQ, I'd sell it outright, and go buy a CZ-P01 from Mink and company to replace the PPQ. It's similar sized, but has the same manual of arms that my SP-01 Shadow has.

I really want this guy

No gun is going to make me a B, or better shooter, only hard work, and practice is going to do that. This gun however I think makes it easier on me. I spent a bundle on it, and right now I think it's worth every penny. Once I have my skills together, I'll be a more competitive shooter.

Sound Advice

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

If One Picture is Worth a Thousand Words....

No, I did not shoot it tonight at the MISS match, and I'll get video and feedback posted tomorrow, I'll also work on some initial impressions for the CZ.

Executing A Reload

Executing A Reload

I have no idea why but today, I've had this image of what my reloads should look like in my head. I found myself walking down the hall at home doing an "air reload". Linda and Lauren had to stop me when we went to see Santa today, because I was air reloading in the line. I think they could have tolerated that, until I said "hey, look, I got it!" Really, I had this perfect slow motion visions of what I want my reload to look like, and I could break it down in my mind, step by step, and just see myself doing it perfectly, that I got obsessed with not just imagining it, but doing it. In the midst of our outing, I had to stop at On Target, to pick up an SP-01, and reload, so I could see if what I was visualizing and practicing was perfect.

I hate to admit it, but my reloads were smooth as can be with the SP-01. There is a little beveled groove on the inside of the grip that acts like a mini-magwell, and if I just hit that, the mag would still slam home. On my PPQ it's flat, and tight, meaning I need to be absolutely perfect when I reload, and why I tend to watch it all the way home, and decelerate just as the mag is getting into the magwell.  In less than 10 reloads with the SP-01, I was re-loading faster and easier than I ever have with the PPQ. I'm happy I did that with zero practice on that gun, but it doesn't change the fact overall my reloads are improving.

SP-01 Felt That Easy To Reload

When I got home I got into a couple of practice sessions, late afternoon, and night, and really worked my reload on the PPQ. I set the par timer at 1.30 seconds, and mags were flying, I was hitting 1 in 3, the other 2 were going flying into the Christmas Tree. I eased off the par time to 1.40 seconds, and was hitting about 50% of the time, I really have to decelerate to get it into the magwell, but when I do, and get rolling, I can do it. My form as a whole is getting more consistent, elbow to chest, cant the gun to where the mag is coming from and watch it home. I still think the biggest obstacle besides the decelerating, is a tendency to see it almost seat, and start looking at the target. I end up missing, or moving the gun, gotta complete one step before the next. Tonight I set the par timer to 1.50 seconds, and did 75 mag changes, and I hit the time on most of them, there were a few slower, but things felt functional. I was reloading the way I saw myself doing it in my imagination earlier.

I did some draw work, and at short, 3, 5, and 7 yards feel like I can get my shot off and an A zone hit in 1.2 seconds or less consistently. I had the par at 1.5 seconds, and kept moving it lower until I felt like I was pushing myself. At 10 yards, I did better about rushing to the gun, and decelerating slower to  my sight. I'm probably in the 1.40 to 1.50 range there, and I know I can get that down to that 1.30 mark I wanted a few weeks ago. This has taken some time, but again, the practice is giving me so many reps that I can measure my improvement in a couple of weeks.

Finally, I kept up my 2/2/2 drills, and worked on two things, getting my elbows up, and driving the gun to each target, not just swinging thru the middle target to get to the outside target. My accuracy was much better back in September when I kept that elbow up, and my arms can better absorb recoil, it allows me to stay on my sights easier, and control the gun. I asked Les about it in practice, and he wants to beat me over the head, because I keep dipping my elbows. Ultimately he said that for now I can let it ride because my accuracy is enough. I'm going to work on the elbow thing though because if I can get it right, instead of passable, I think it'll have an impact on everything. More control, less muzzle flip means better sight picture on follow-up's, and transitions, which means faster and more accurate.

It was the only logo I could find....

Despite being sick, had a great weekend, tremendous shindig at the Brown's on Saturday, and I also had a chance to have a seasonal "warm" and fuzzy feeling when I saw what Les's wife did for him, but that's a story for another blog. Got signed up for the Winter Indoor IPSC Tournament at Pine Tree in February, that looks like a great match. I'm excited to do well there, and in a way, I'm hoping it will be a coming out party for me, where I'm going to surprise some folks that I have not shot with in awhile. Between now and then though, steady progress, and much improved classifiers are on the agenda.

Training Day Style (What's Wrong With You?)

What's Wrong With You?



A couple of months ago, Kozy looked at me while we were talking shooting, and told me that he was a master level shooter. He only had his "A" card, but I understood what he meant, and I agreed with him, he was shooting at a master level, and it was just a matter of time before the results caught up, and his card showed the level he truly was at. I walked away from practice today saying to myself that I'm almost a "B" class shooter, and it's close. My card may say that I'm a low "C", but I believe the results are right around the corner.

Bold statement, what's wrong with me?

When Dave and I started out, we had a hard time beating that 8.45 second shooting cadence we needed for a "B" classifier in El Presidente. Today I was in the 6.40 to 7.01 time, the latter felt painfully slow to me. What that means is that I'm now shooting substantially faster than I was, I understand the transition, a cadence and so on. That said, it was not clean, and I had some issues, but I was able to break down my game, find something that I was doing wrong, and causing a problem. Those are things I think a "B" shooter should be able to do, the last question that I have to answer for myself, is now that I know what I'm doing, can I fix it? I believe that I can.

One issue today was on my turn and draw, I'm getting to the gun and starting to draw a hair too soon, so the gun is coming up while I'm turning, which in turn makes the gun move, and causes me to struggle finding that front sight for the first shot.If I got to the gun a hair slower, and it comes up as I'm stopped, then it's not moving, and I suspect I'll be a little faster, but more importantly I'll be accurate. The middle target, I have a tendency to rush my transition shot, and I'm way left on the target, I'd been breaking the shot a soon as I saw the target, I need to hold it until I see the middle. Finally, my right target has been my best, because I was done moving, and going to re-load.

You Never Know When The Light Will Go On

I know that reading it, you think "that's a lot of stuff wrong," but the reality is those are tweaks. I'd been practicing drawing, not turn and draw. I'll continue to work on the three targets, driving my gun into each of them, instead of blowing thru the 2nd target on the way to the 3rd target. I also need reps on my draw, I had a couple of fast ones from 5 yards of 1 second and 1.07, but I was consistently slow from 10 yards. Being honest, I'm still letting Self 1 get in the way, and I'm telling myself to rush, and I'm not rushing the right parts of my draw. This is one of those things where I need more reps, as well as to start relaxed, so I can just do it, as opposed to thinking about it.

Nothing is going to get ignored in my practice, but I do see things I need to focus on. I need to be more precise on my transitions, and I'll do that. I need to get reps on my draw, and I need to consistently hone and improve my reload. All of those things are about building better muscle memory, and the repetition of them in practice should give me the results I want.

So, if I work at these things, and show improvement, I believe that my results will bear out the progress I've shown in practice, and I'll be a "B" shooter in classifiers. Results will equal my mindset, and my practice.

It's On Now

Today's practice made me feel more confident than I have in quite awhile. I can imagine how good it will feel when my confidence is buttressed by results.

Big Congrats

Congrats!


First for Kozy

Congrats on earning the USPSA Master shooter card. You've been a master level shooter for awhile my friend, and it's good to see that the card finally verifies what we can all see. I'm sure you'll have that GM here pretty damn soon!



Next for Les

I can appreciate how much time and effort you have invested into earning your Grand Master card, and I'm absolutely thrilled for you. It's nice to see that good things happen for good people. You've been a great teacher and friend, and as both a student and friend, I'm happy for you!

Congrats both of you!! Talk about adding pressure to my progression, I have to get going so I'm not out of place in the fast crowd I run with!

Pre-Game

Pre-Game

This has been a busy week, work is pushing us hard to do more the last few weeks of the year, and it's been more hours, and higher stress. On top of that, I came down with a cough, and am feeling subpar. Practice has not felt fruitful, in a way I feel like I've been walking thru it, without making any meaningful improvements. I'm off on Friday, so I'm really going to to focus and get some extra work done.

As I've been reviewing the video from Sunday, it occurs to me that by in large, I've been struggling with the first stage of most matches for the last five or six months. I would always attribute to coming in cold, and not being on the top of my game. This week though, I shot nice and quick, I just did not hit anything in my first run, and that bothers me. I realize that it isn't just me coming into a match cold, it's that I'm not taking the time I need to put myself into "the zone."

(Matt Mink) Anyone Seeing a Theme?

This was an interesting topic of conversation at breakfast after the match with Les, Kozy, and Tony Amici. Les shared that before a major match, he gets between one to two hours of dryfire before he starts. I'm getting the time it takes me to un-bag and holster my gun. What I'm really doing is cheating myself. I need to spend 15-20 minutes, at a minimum, before I leave home just going thru a dryfire routine. Get some time on my sights, my draw, and reloads, get myself comfortable with where I need to be, before I get to my first stage. Then, once I'm there, take a couple of minutes, tune everything and everyone out, and draw at the safe table, get my sights, and get my focus.

That really does look nice

I'm tired of wasting stages, getting myself "ready" to shoot, I'm surprised it took me this long to get my head together to realize what I was, or more to the point, was not doing. It's batting practice before a baseball game, it's shoot around for a basketball team, and it's warm-up's for a football team. What made me think I could come in cold, and skip a crucial part of my routine?

Short blog, back to bed, and hopefully the added rest will kill this cold off, and I'll be back and ready to go for dry fire practice tomorrow, and class again on Saturday morning.

Sexy Ain't It?

Paraphrasing a bit from one of my favorite movies, Training Day...

"This car it's not from the motor pool, is it?"

"It's not, sexy though, isn't it?"

Weekend Review

Weekend Review

There was a reasonable amount of lead put down range this weekend! Saturday morning I hit Alpha with Dave to get our weekly practice in, and we had a decent couple of hours. I had my draw in the 1.50 to 1.6 seconds range at 10 yards, and about 1.20 seconds from 7 yards. More than anything, my draw is starting to feel consistent, so the dry fire routine is showing some results for me. I know it can and will get faster, but being consistent was the first step towards that.

We ran a few transitions, steel plates, and some El Pres, and I had times between 6.36 and 6.88 with hits. My struggle was the first target for some reason, and I’m going to have to work on my draw to a target on my left. With more practice that will improve as well.

HK 416 22 Rimfire

The family ended up back at Alpha Range late Saturday afternoon to help set-up for the match this morning, and we had a good time, and Linda got to see what stage set-up is all about. She also felt that the experience helped her prepare for stages. A friend showed up as we were getting done to shoot, and he let Lauren and Linda to shoot his HK-416 .22 rifle, and both them were hooked. Lauren liked it better than any .22 rifle she has shot to date, and mentioned that Christmas is just around the corner. Linda had such a good time with it, she said that she could shoot that .22 rifle all the time, while she’d never give up pistol, she thought that was a ton of fun. I get the feeling that there may be some Steel Challenge matches in our future, and for Lauren, some other rim-fire matches.

Today we shot the MISS match, and it was a mixed bag. First video here is of Linda. She came into the match with a few goals, she wanted to stop re-adjusting her grip during a stage, and she wanted to get all of her hits. I’m proud to say that she accomplished both goals in stellar fashion. She knows she wants to get faster, but she got amazing hits. Her hard work in dry fire is starting to pay some dividends. Right before the match, she added one other goal, she wanted to beat the other lady shooter there, and she absolutely got that goal as well. After Pine Tree she has done a great job, and rumor on the street is that she is the next “shooting project” for Les, he believes that he’ll turn her into a “B” Class shooter next year as well. If he can do that for me, it’ll be an easier path for a more naturally talented shooter like Linda.

My stage breakdown is a little different. I got there, started on the stage I set-up, and I had the shooting cadence I was looking for, and at the end of the run I realized I never really saw my front sights, had a ton of misses, and while I looked fast, I did not hit shit. If I was in a boat, in the middle of the ocean, I'd have missed water falling out, it was that bad. (Okay, there was good stuff, and I'm exaggerating, but I still need to focus more and get my shit together from the start.) That stage was so bad in terms of points, there was no way I could really recover the match. Second stage I dialed my cadence down, and I’m unhappy that I did, but I put in a 10^th place overall run. I had forgotten about my first stage, and this one just felt a lot better, and re-instilled any confidence I had lost. Third stage was the classifier, and I deliberately tanked it once I realized I had a hit in “hard cover”. My goal was to shoot a 0% so it would not count against me when classification is run. Other than annoying the Range Officer with my antics, I did accomplish that goal. That said, I want this classifier again, I know I can nail it. Last stage I put together an 8^th overall run, and again, it felt better to me.

One of my issues in the past was that I did better on accuracy stages, and I was struggling in some of the “field courses” that require more running. In two of the three longer courses, I did fairly well, and I believe that improvement is because of the practice and instruction with Les. I’m seeing sights, I’m drawing, running, and reloading better. None of those things is perfect, but it’s light years away from where I was eight months ago, and it’s even better from where I was as little as three or four months ago.

As always, gotta have video from "Random Dude". This time we grabbed video from Terry, who always amazes me with how fast he goes, and how solid his plan on stages are. This was not one of his better matches though.

This “B” class card is just around the corner, and in way I've got that in the back of mind, the front of my mind is the little steps, small improvements I’m making and starting to show. I think a quantum jump in results is inevitable fairly soon, simply because I’m seeing more and more good points, and I’m starting to string them together. Breaking the sport down to individual parts like seeing sights, transitions, draw, reload, like Les has so far, make things simple, but allow me to really focus on the fundamentals that the whole damn thing is built on.

Last note? It was strange to shoot a morning match, and go out for breakfast or an early lunch as opposed to the typical shoot late, and go out for a 10:30pm “snack” and beer. Not only do I love the sport, I really like and respect the people.

A Training Addition

A Training Addition

In mid-summer 2012, I got changed my diet, got on a treadmill, and kicked ass for 5 months. In those 5 months, I dropped 51 pounds. It was not a slick and trendy diet, it was me being honest about calories that I was eating, and portion control. I got on a scale today, and realized I have put 23 pounds back on this year, and I'm not happy about it. Frankly, I'm lucky it has not been more than that.

So, January 1st, I'm going to get back on MyFitnessPal, track my calories, probably starting about 1,500 per day, and slowly getting lower, and I'm going to eat right again. No more bad eating habits after a match where I go to Buffalo Wild Wings, The Fox Hole, or Culver's (that one is all on Les), and eat fried foods that just kill a diet. The app itself is just a tool, but it has a ton of meals loaded in already, and as long as I am honest with myself (I was last time I did it.) I'm going to get it going the right way. I was beyond stupid about doing it right, in those 5 months, there was exactly one day where I was over my allotted calories.

The other thing that I hit hard was the treadmill, 30-60 minutes a day, every single day, no exceptions. It did not matter if I was tired, busy, whatever, I never made an excuse, and for 4 months straight I never missed a day. It was only that last month that I slowed down, and realized that rest was an important part of exercise, so I dialed it down to every other day. When I started at Hertz I was in the office, and it was a 12+ hour day with driving, and it got tough, plus it was the holiday's. I let myself get away, and I never got back on track.

There were some excellent parties this year, an August Steak and Lobster fest, pizza on my birthday, and countless beers and shots with friends. The memories are great, but the pounds are not, I'm going to get back on the wagon in a few weeks.

Here's the deal, I'm not going to abuse the holiday, but I'm also not going to flip the switch and go cold turkey either. There are a few Uncommon Stout's in the fridge that I need to drink, and a few other items that don't fit a healthy diet, but dammit, I am not going to waste 'em! I'm going to determine what my calories need to be at, and I'm going to stay within a reasonable amount, shooting to stay at or below at least three days a week. I'm going to pick out a couple of foods that I just can't do without, and I'm going to say "good-bye" to them this month. Pizza? I'll miss you. A real, not diet soda? Maybe another time. I have avoided Egg Nog this year and  think I can resist the pull entirely. A hot dog, pork tenderloin, and god help me, bacon. You are all going to be put aside (at least the high calorie ones). Perhaps once a week, I'll indulge in saying farewell.

Come January 1st though, it's going to be hardcore again, watching every calorie, and on the treadmill for 40 minutes at least 4 times a week. No falling off the bandwagon, and I'd appreciate friends not throwing the temptation at me, water, salad, and I'm good to go! So, now I've got two goals set for next year, B class in March, and lose another 50 pounds by the end of May. Both achievable, personal, and lifestyle changes in this case are good, and I'm going to get both of 'em. In the end, it'll make for a healthier, happier me.

Practice Progress

Practice Progress

I skipped my MISS match on Wednesday night, my ankle is not hurting anymore, but it is definitely tender, and while I can shoot, I felt uncomfortable trying to shift my weight, and I definitely was not up to running and cutting. That's two missed matches, and a total of 5 classifiers that I could have shot the past few days, and I missed. I could say that missing them hurts me, but if I had shot poorly, and I likely would have with the ankle tweak, that would have been worse. Thankfully, there is a MISS match for the first time ever on a weekend, this coming Sunday, and both Linda and I will get a chance to get out there and shoot it. If it was not going on, I probably would have tried to push myself and go Wednesday.

Go Shoot Here!

On Tuesday, Linda and I hit the range (nice being on vacation together, with Lauren in school!) and we got some drills done and shot for a couple of hours. I got my turn and and draw El Presidente going, and she did some low ready to a target, and some groups. She had some pretty nice groups with her XDM, her struggle was with her first shot, it was typically very low, but once she got past that, and was working the reset, it looked very good. She also got in a hundred rounds or so with the .22 just groups on steel plates, and it was good experience for her.

El Pres

I ended up with one pretty baller El Pres run, and I have no trouble beating the 8.45 second time that I need to get my 60% classifier. When everything went right, I was in the mid 6 second's, solid hits, 1.65ish draw, and a 1.70 second reload. All hits were on the paper, and I had a run with plenty of alpha's, that said, there was plenty of inconsistency on both the draw and the reload with times as high as 7.40 total, with a 2.11 draw, and a 2.63 reload. I was a little frustrated, but I walked out feeling that I simply need more repetitions right now to improve both draw and reload.





By Thursday night, I've got my draw to first shot on a target in front, to the right and left in the 1.50 to 1.60 range, and I'm getting the sight picture I want about 90% of the time. I had been struggling with how often I got the picture, and the time, when I again realized that I was so tense that I had a tendency to go straight out, and then my arms would drop a little bit bouncing low. When I'm relaxed, I did not have that issue at all, and I am smooth. It's funny, I always thought I was more relaxed, and odd that I have to remind myself, but truthfully being relaxed is a key to bringing out my best performance.

The XDM 5.25"

My hand sit's below the grip

The other part of my practice, the reload has been an ongoing struggle this week. I have been having an issue hitting a 1.70 second par time, and Les wants me at 1.50 seconds. This was extremely frustrating because I could not seem to break past 1.70, much less 1.50. Tonight though, I did two things, and got self 1, and self 2 together a little bit, and started to see a few 1.5 and 1.6 reloads. What I did, was a rehash of what Les did at our last class, I looked at my reload for the different components. I'm content with how quick I drop my mag, but I realized that my support hand had no urgency going for a mag, and I pushed myself to get that indexed into my hand as quick as I could. That alone made me feel that I was going faster. The biggest struggle still remains getting the mag into the gun. In the picture, you can see that my  hand is bigger than the grip, and unless I get the mag in, I have a tendency to either get my other hand, or pinch it between the mag I am inserting and the magwell. I picked up Linda's XDM, and with the bigger grip, that is not an issue. Mind you, this is not a gun issue, it's a practice thing, where I need to make sure that I'm getting the mag in, and if that means looking it in, I need to do it. I'm also getting my elbow slightly lower, and it's a more comfortable place to get the gun and reload. Objectively, the other thing I know I was doing, was admonishing myself as I was reloading, and trying to tel self 2 what all the steps were, and that was causing me to lose focus. With the few little changes, I was able to not tell myself what to do, I just started doing. My times went down, and now that I've felt where I need to be, I think I'll be able to repeat that tomorrow.



Practice, practice, and more practice! I figured I'd have my draw down to 1.3 seconds in short order, but it's taking me a little more time than I thought, same thing with the reload. Don't get me wrong, I'm not upset with my progress, part of me just thought I could pick things up and instantly I'd be there. I know that is not actually the case, and these are skills that are earned. There really is no substitute for multiple repetitions, and to get some solid coaching. Now that I'm finding what feels right, and works for me, I think some of the road blocks are out the way, and the path is clear for me to improve in practice.

You Do See Some Different Stuff

God I love this sport!