Keep Working

Keep Working


There are just some practices where nothing is quite perfect. We started out tonight working on long shots, both from ports, and open to a port, with everything at a partially covered targets. I'll be honest, I did pretty damn well at a distance, I got good hits, and was reasonably fast, I clipped a no-shoot on about my 5th run, and if you add in my runs in class on Saturday I've been very good, and very accurate, when I focus on my front sight. Eighteen yard shots just don't intimidate me. We ran a couple of "Bill Drill's" from that distance, and my draw to first shot was 1.8 seconds, and it was an Alpha. We made it hard, the only clear part of the target was the Alpha, and I went at the narrowest part, and put my shots right where I wanted them to be, rapidly.

We moved and did a little draw to first shot from 10 yards to an obstructed target, and then to an open target, and the focus was on working the trigger on the way out. This was a good exercise since I work the trigger religiously in dry fire, but fail to do it in live fire. At home, I've had my par time down to 1.2 seconds, and am able to make it about 60% of the time, tonight in live fire I was 1.6 to 1.8 on the obstructed target, which is nuts since I was standing eight yards further back, and about doing it in the same time. On the unobstructed I was running 1.32 to 1.5 seconds, again, I know I can be faster, and the key is working the trigger. Dave has this down pretty well, and was around 1.29 on draw to first shot.

To close our our work, we ran a couple of El Presidente, just to see where we are, and I've gotta say, I was very disappointed with my results. As I've done before, I'll list out what Linda, Dave, and I ran it in, but I need to get back on my horse and get this done, by now I should have no trouble with this classifier.

For a reference, here is Ben Stoeger shooting an El Presidente. Granted, I'm not Ben, this should give you an idea of how fast it can be done.

Dave

Run 1
7.97 Seconds
1.72 Turn and Draw
2.00 Reload
6 Alpha
4 Charlie
2 Delta
44 Points
5.52 Hit Factor
53.79% (C Run)


Run 2
8.28 Seconds
1.93 Turn and Draw
2.26 Reload
7 Alpha
4 Charlie
1 Delta
48 Points
5.80 Hit Factor
56.52% (C Run)

Linda

Run 1
8.91 Seconds
1.91 Turn and Draw
2.23 Reload
3 Alpha
6 Charlie
2 Delta
1 Mike
30 Points
3.37 Hit Factor
32.84% (D Run)

Run 2
11.29 Seconds
2.54 Turn and Draw
2.29 Reload
8 Alpha
3 Charlie
1 Delta
50 Points
4.43 Hit Factor
43.17%  (C Run)

Luke

Run 1
8.99 Seconds
2.04 Turn and Draw
2.46 Reload
7 Alpha
4 Charlie
1 Delta
48 Points
5.34 Hit Factor
52.0% (C Run)

Run 2
7.77 Seconds
2.05 Turn and Draw
1.96 Reload
4 Alpha
7 Charlie
1 Delta
42 Points
5.41 Hit Factor
52.72% (C Run)

(Bobbled the mag release, and had to wait, this should have been a faster reload)

Analysis

The short version is that there is a lot to work on. My turn and draw is down, but my dry fire is around 1.7 seconds, so I've got .3 tenths of a second I can shave off, my reload par time in practice is 1.3 seconds, so that's .6 tenths of a second I can shave. That's almost a full second from my second run, and had I shot it a full second faster, I'd have had my 60% run. However, it's not speed that is killing me, it's the accuracy and the points down. I cant afford to have less than 52 points on this stage. If I had 52 points on my second stage, I'd have had a 6.69 Hit Factor, and a 65% run. So, what I really need to do, is keep moving down the times on things that I can control, the draw and the reload. Then I can afford to keep my same shooting pace, or even slow down a hair to insure good hits.

Another thing I realized is that at a distance I focused on where the sights are lined up on the target, when I'm close I don't pay as much attention, so I really need to make sure that my bright front sight is the middle of the target, just not over cardboard. It's a little thing, but it's a lack of attention and focus. I need to be consistent with these details.

El Presidente is not an easy drill, it seems easy, but it's unforgiving if you don't shoot Alpha's, and being honest with myself, I was not focusing on the center of the target. We've been doing accuracy shooting, but we have given away speed to get hits, hell, take enough time anyone can shoot Alpha's all day long from just about any distance. I need to get back to doing it at speed. More time on reloads, and draw in dry fire, and honestly some live fire reload practice would not hurt either.

I'm also going to work on my transitions, and cadence again. I almost feel like we are doing too many things, and we're leaving some key skills behind a bit. If I'm going to earn my card, I'm going to have to execute this classifier for sure, and the skills I use on this classifier, will apply to anything else I likely run. Part of me felt like I should have walked in and aced this classifier, and here I am not doing that. It was a Five Finger Death Punch in the gut, and made me want to get back working harder. I should be owning this classifier by now, and when I live fire next, I'm going to do just that.

Once we finished up, Lauren did a little shooting herself, she cranked out her M&P 15-22, her M&P 22, and I let her take and shoot my CZ for the first time, hey, a little 9mm never hurts, right? Or, in this case, the 9mm was just a little too much. She had a blast, as usual! Here she goes:

Primer Problem Solved!

Primer Problem Solved!


The good news is that it was not me short stroking the press, the bad news is that the shell plate, where the brass rests was loose, very loose. So when pushing the handle up, the primer would push the brass upwards, resulting in the high seat. Kozy came and had a quick look, took nine seconds to tighten it up, and that was that, the plate now holds the brass down properly, and I'm able to re-seat the bad primers.

The bad news is that I should have seen and known that, and that I have to push in about 1,000 primers just to make sure. I did 400 tonight, and it took an hour, so enough of that, time to dry fire, get some practice in, and I'll work the rest out tomorrow before Dave and I hit practice.

Class 2/22/14

Class 2/22/14


The end is near, just a couple of classes with Les are forthcoming, who had obviously ran a couple of 100 classifiers in a row, because he is tied atop the USPSA leaderboards, as the #1 GM shooter. Good for him, but even he knows shooting classifiers are one thing, and competing at that level are two different things, and he mentioned that he thinks he is a good year away from being able to compete with some of the top level USPSA Production shooters. I know how hard he works, so it's quite a realization for me that even at that level, he's got that much work and improvement in him, and how long it will take to accomplish it to reach his goal. You really do never stop training, never stop improving.

Our class yesterday was driven by some issues Les and Kozy had at the Florida Open last weekend. The match is known for having challenging shots, and challenging long range shots. Those generally have small target area with large parts of the target covered by no-shoots, making it very important to get your hits, and not get no shoots. The only limitation with Alpha, is that about 18 yards is all you are going to get, you can push it to 20, but that leaves very little room at the back of the range. This issue has Kozy and Les looking at an outdoor range membership that they can utilize during the summer from time to time to work on this issue.

Imagine it being covered from middle of the "C" over on either side

For Dave and I yesterday, joined by Kerry Dean, 18 yards was a good enough place to start. The first drill was simple, 3 classic targets down range, the one on the left had a no shoot covering up the right half of the target, the middle was open, and then one on the right side had half of it's left side covered by a no-shoot. Those have been my bane, since I tend to break a shot when I see cardboard, had I done that, I'd have taken no-shoot, this forces you to wait for your shot. Our shooting positions were on each side of the range, with a "port", the "A" zone cut out of a metric target. In other words, not much room. We started on the right, and had to move to the left, in part because as right handed shooters this is also a harder re-load.

My first run was simply not good. I had issues getting hits, only 2 on the left target, 3 in the middle, and 2 on the right. It may have been the worst first run of anyone, and I was brutally embarrassed. Les was talking about how Dave is almost there, to his card, and what he needed to do, and he did not say anything about me, I felt like it was a situation that he could not find anything positive to say about my performance. From that moment on, it was a different story. We each ran this drill a couple more times, I put every shot on paper, the center target was usually 4 Alpha or 3 Alpha and 1 Charlie. The left was 2 Alpha 2 Charlie, or 3 Alpha and 1 Charlie, and the right target had a few 3 Alpha 1 Charlie, with one 4 Alpha. On one run, on my last 2 shots on the right target, I "called my shot", and thought I either missed low and right, or got a Delta, and brought my sights over and nailed an Alpha. So what was the difference? I was so focused on the sights, I never saw the "vision barrier". The targets were blurry, but my front sight stayed crystal clear. This is something that the last couple of matches, I had thought I saw my front sights, but in all honesty, I did not. I can say that in hindsight.

Metric Target, the center zone was cut out, and all we could see thru

While my accuracy improved, the one criticism was that I was shooting my alpha's, and hits into the lower half of the target. Typically when I shoot at a metric target I look for the shoulder, and take my point of aim from there. Due to the slope of the classic target, doing that, you shoot low. Les pointed it out a few times, and even though I would tell myself to aim higher, once the buzzer sounded I went back to my normal point of aim. Les also made an adjustment for us on our reload, having us reload after the first side, before we started running to the other port, and it was infinitely faster.

Second drill kept the targets in the same place, but moved the shooting positions to the middle, the left one placed slightly in front of the right, with the vision barrier removed, and now we would start there, and reload normally moving back and to our right, the natural reload for a right handed shooter. I started going faster, comfortably, and my reloads were solid, keeping with excellent hits. Even Kerry mentioned that my reloads looked exceptionally good. In fact, of all my practice, that's something I really enjoy working, meaning I need to keep pushing that par lower, and not get comfortable.

Final drill, one target, but both sides were covered with a no shoot, leaving a very small part of the target that we could actually hit, and the best place to hit was the higher part of the "A". This drill forced me to look at the top of the target, and not at the shoulder, in other words, it forced me to find the "proper" point of aim for these targets. My first run of 6 shots I had 2 high, and one no shoot. I'll to that in a second. Even the high shots were "okay" though. Second run, I went quick, and put all into the high "A" zone. I'll say it's not me, it's the gun, again. I'm supremely confident that the gun will deliver an "A" zone hit on demand, if I have less than an "A" hit, it's because I did something wrong. Talk about a level of confidence. All I have to do is focus on the front sight, and not on all the other things going on, and I'm good to go. I need to bottle that, and keep that for a match, and not get off my front sight.

So, all day long I was having a high primer issue. I had probably 15-20 light strikes, where I had to pull the trigger a second time, a full double action pull, to get it to fire. I was doing it without my easy single action pull, and I kept my focus and intensity despite pulling the trigger and nothing happening. I did start to flinch eventually because I was pulling and nothing went "bang", but I kept my shit together, and got hits. That's a baller recovery for a bad situation. Les looked at a box of 100 rounds, and just on a visual inspection thought that 70% of the rounds had high primers. 70 of 100.

Short version for the day is that I felt like I picked up a lot good info, and that I was again reminded of how easy it is for me to lose my front sight in a match, and how I may think I have it, but in reality I don't. Next match is Sunday at Pine Tree, followed by a Wednesday MISS match. I'm going to remind myself, and try harder to focus on the sight, and get my good fundamental's back.

Had a nice breakfast with Les after practice, and then ran past Kozy's, who showed me how to fix the primers. The consensus is that I was "short stroking" the press, and not going all the way up, which would result in the primers not seating at the right depth. I tried to fix 10 rounds, and not one of the primers seated deeper, and I looked at ammo I loaded last month, all the primers are at the right depth. So this is really just the last batch. I'm willing to admit I can make a mistake, but if you told me I short stroked 30 of 100, I'd say that's more likely than me short stroking 70 of 100, and having the issue consistently over 500 rounds. Old rounds are perfect.

I looked a couple of things, could not find the problem, so time to disassemble and see what could be wrong, Kozy will come take a look, and I hate asking him to do that. I hate to believe it's me, but I'm finally open to the idea that it could have been me, I can't argue with the result. We'll see what he says though.

MISS Match 2/19/14

MISS Match 2/19/14


I had an exercise in frustration with the match. I had numerous misfires, where the primer was hit, but I had to pull the trigger a second time to get it to fire. I'm 99.9% sure that the reason for the issue was high primers, and not super high, just the nub over the case, where you can barely feel it if you were to rub a finger over it. The Walther would eat this ammo all day long, but the CZ is definitely more finicky and tonight it really cost me. Overall there were a lot of things I did right, and other things that I can do better, so I'm not going to beat myself up, some of this was the result of my week long burnout, the rest some less than perfect execution.

MATCH SCORES


Stage 1: Shoot 'Em Up (East 1)

The short version is that I did not have good hits. I had one miss on a low target, and I had a lot of delta's. My movement felt stilted, and I never felt like I cut loose on this stage. I did have my first misfire on this stage (I had at least one on every stage).


Stage 2: Dan Steely (West 1)

Continuing the theme, I just did not see my front sight and break the shot when I should. I had another mike (on the misfire) but just in general poor hits. My time was actually not horrible when compared to most other shooters, but Les and Jay Carillo were about 9 seconds faster each, so I'd love to see how they shot it (accurately I would guess).


Stage 3: Melody Line CM99-08 (CLASSIFIER)

This did not go the way that I had hoped. Despite practicing my reloads I still bobbled the re-load, and if you notice I had two misfires on the string. Tony was busy trying to give me procedurals, but pulling the trigger twice to make it go bang is not a procedural. My time of 10.80 was slow, and my Hit Factor appears to be about a 58%. I was extremely disappointed by this run. We had some time after we finished the stage, and I re-ran it in 8.63 seconds with 52 points, which would have been a 74% run. This is one I should have crushed, instead I'll just replace a 33% with a 58%. Good I guess, but not what I wanted.


Stage 4: Double Leaner (East 2)

We had run late with the doors staying open early, and the ventilation system shutting down and having to wait to reset and restart. I was the next to last shooter on the last stage, and I had it in my mind to just cut loose, and go out and shoot fast. I did that, and my hits while not great were not horrible either. What got me, was the same thing that had me all night, two mikes, one the result of a misfire again at the very end. I liked the way I ran this, and believe it or not I did feel like I had an acceptable sight picture for the better part of this run. Too often I feel I have to have a perfect sight picture which slows me down. I won't go this speed all the time, but I can pull it out when I need to.


Full Match Video:

Summary

The misfire issue is going to be a non-issue, I'm going to take all my CBC brass and pull it, and the loaded ones make into practice ammo. My "match grade" ammo will not have any of it, it will be brands I know, I trust, and am 100% confident that the primer is seated properly. Sure I was bummed I cant take the easy path with two high B's to earning my B card, but it's okay, this still helps, and I'm going to get my card anyhow. If I can't run off 3 more good classifiers now, then frankly I don't deserve it.

I was big time down about the classifier, but I did get it out of my head and was focused on what I wanted to do on the last stage. I'm looking at this as an opportunity to learn, not a setback. I'm back on the good dry fire regime, and I am going to burn out some of the little mistakes I made here. Being realistic, I need to maintain my focus on my front sight, in hindsight I had very little discipline with that last night, and that is part of the reason I tend to see past my sights to the target, my focus is on the wrong thing.

Melody Line Practice

Melody Line Practice

Ten days since my last live fire, and just a few days of practice since my burn out, so I dropped in at Alpha Range this morning to get a little work done on CM99-08 Melody Line in advance of tonight's match. Knowing that I could earn my "B" card with two classifiers above a 68% means I really need to get this one right tonight, and coming off burn out, without a full week of dry fire is not a good start. So, let's get right into the meat of the morning.


Melody Line is a 12 shot, 60 point, Virginia Count Stage


Run 1:

8 Alpha
3 Charlie
1 Mike
44 Points
9.03 Time
2.12 First Shot
2.24 Reload
4.873 Hit Factor
60.471% (B Class Run)

Run 2:

8 Alpha
3 Charlie
1 Delta
50 Points
9.62 Time
2.13 First Shot
2.38 Reload
5.1975 Hit Factor
64.497% (B Class Run)


Run 3:

5 Alpha
6 Charlie
1 Mike
38 Points
8.53 time
1.89 Draw
1.95 Reload
4.454 Hit Factor
55.2710% (C Class Run)

Run 4:

9 Alpha
3 Charlie
54 Points
9.06 Total Time
2.01 First Shot
2.36 Reload
5.960 Hit Factor
73.959% (Target B Class Run)

Run 5:

10 Alpha
2 Charlie
56 Points
8.46 Total Time
2.19 First Shot
2.08 Reload
6.619 Hit Factor
82.137% (A Class Run)


So, to summarize, get my hits, get my 60%.  My turn and draw and reload were generally crappy, so I'm going to spend 40 minutes or so before I go to the match tonight just drying firing my draw, and getting my reload back to par. The sad thing, is that my reload practice par time is 1.40 seconds, and I was hitting it 90%+, and was going to set it down to 1.30 right when I was getting burnt out. This means, that I could easily shave off half a second on both my draw and reload.

Tonight, I'm just going to relax, I know what to do, how to do it, and I'm just going to enjoy it. My only "C" run this morning had a mike, and more charlies than alphas, so it proves getting hits matters. Hopefully I'll have some good video tomorrow.

Lone Survivor

Lone Survivor


I've always been a reader. Sure, I like movies, but a two hour movie can only tell so much of a story, and it leaves so many details or interesting aspects behind. I'd heard of the book before, but never picked it up, and in December I saw the previews for the movie, and decided that before I went, I'd pick up the book, and give it a read, see if after reading the whole story, I'd want to go see the film.

I ended up reading the book over the course of two days, I had a hard time putting it down to handle daily responsibilities, as the story that was being told was gripping. The way Marcus Luttrell detailed the way he joined the Navy, to his SEAL training, I found that I had a whole new level of respect for the SEAL's, and for him personally. There are parts of the book where I felt he came across as over confident, arrogant, but when a person has gone thru what he has gone thru, I can't think of anyone who has earned the right to feel that way. Like or dislike, his service, his training, and his character are of the highest quality.

The heart of the book is about a 2005 SEAL insertion into Pakistan to capture or kill an al Qaeda leader. In short order, everything that can go wrong, goes wrong, in part because the SEAL's make a choice that may have been militarily incorrect, but again demonstrates the integrity you would want displayed in any human being. In less than 24 hours, three of the four team members are dead, and the story of how one man carried on, and managed to survive against incredible odds. In reading, it is obvious that the memory of every man who died, including those who went to rescue the team and died in a helicopter, will be carried eternally by Marcus Luttrell.

From his training, to his return to the United States after being rescued, this book feels like a tribute so that the American public never forgets the sacrifice that was made by so many soldiers in a far away country.

These were real heroes, everyday heroes, who do a dangerous job that they are directed to do, with no acknowledgement, no reward, no multi-million dollar paycheck. They do it because they believe in the country they live in. The training and trials that they endure to become SEAL's, they may have a SEAL Team, but they are truly a brotherhood. I'd recommend the book to anyone, especially to people who have been against our being in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Politicians posture, but these are the people who are out risking their lives daily, they deserve to be remembered.

Eight Days

Eight Days

This has been the longest gap I've had while writing the blog, and some of it was burnout, the 4 matches, 2 practices, and a class in 11 days combined with dry fire had me burnt out. I needed to decompress, get some family time, and just as importantly work time, because there are potentially some stressful changes coming with Hertz Equipment being for sale. Nothing I can do, so no reason to worry about things I have no control over, but this past week, had a lot going on.

Last Monday I dry fired for about 30 minutes and my heart and head was not into it, I missed a class on Wednesday night, because of work, but I'm almost glad I did, I would not have learned much from it where I was at mentally. Friday I dry fired for about an hour, repeating that on Saturday, and settling in to 30 minutes on Sunday. Today of course begins prep work for the Classifier this week, CM 99-08 Melody Line. I did do a little math yesterday, and found that potentially with two classifiers above 68% I could earn my "B" card. However if I don't get that, I'll have to shoot four 60%, because I will have one drop off my classification. Honestly, two in a row at 68% or greater won't be easy to do, but with prep work on the last two, I shot an 82% (did not count as the classifier was removed the day before I shot it by USPSA), and a 71%. Possible, not likely. I'm going to prepare like I need a 68%, but in the back of my head I'm going to work on getting four 60%'s in a row, and just making this happen.

I picked up this parts washer a few weeks ago, based on seeing Kozy's, and I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have done that. In the past, cleaning a gun could take me 30 minutes to an hour and a half per gun depending on how dirty they were. With the parts washer, I cleaned my gun and Linda's, oiled, and greased them both in under 30 minutes, and they were clean. The mineral spirits are too harsh for polymer, and they "whiten" my grips a bit, although a shot of Armor All restores the finish, but for a steel frame gun, this is absolutely the way to go.

When I started shooting, I religiously cleaned my gun after every single trip to the range, but that just to take so much time that I started putting it off longer and longer. I never had an issue, but when I did go to clean a gun, it just was that much dirtier, and took that much longer, making me dislike the job that much more. Now with how much quicker it is, I don't mind doing it, and I'll do it that much more frequently.

MISS Match 2/9

MISS Match 2/9


This was a long, morning. I was prepared, but made plenty of mistakes, it was not until the last stage that I shot a stage that felt good, and even that came with 2 mikes. In a way, I'm glad to take a few days off now, just dry fire, do a full Skills and Drills Class on Wednesday, and shoot the next match on the 19th. A ten day break to get back to hard practice is going to be just what the doctor ordered for me. I do have to give a shout out to Linda, who shot a really great match, her first match with her decked out gun from Automatic Accuracy.

MATCH SCORES

Stage 1: Blame Brownie (East 1)

My stage plan was okay, I was just very slow, never found a shooting cadence, and had a mike on my last target, for some reason I took 3 shots at the next to last target, and only one shot at the last target. This could have been worse, but it really should have been a lot better.


Stage 2: Long Range Mind Games (West 1)

Mental mistake started it off, I was supposed to re-engage the far left paper target a 2nd time from inside the box, and I never did that. Not sure what I was thinking, but the truth is that I was just not thinking, and I knew it as soon as I was going to reload, plus I stuck a bad reload in there.



Stage 3: CM 03-11 El Strong & Weak Pres (Classifier)

I was keyed up for this one, I had dry fired, worked my transfer and so on. First string I had a bad reload, I missed the mag release button, and took an extra second to get reloaded, although the 11.38 time was still plenty good. I had all my hits at this point, and felt that with a sub 14 second run on the 2nd string, I would be just fine, and have my 60%. Second string went just fine freestyle, all good hits, but things went downhill fast weak hand, and I had a couple of mikes, and realized I put one thru the no-shoot. In order to zero the stage, I went back freestyle, and put 4-5 thru the no-shoot to the dismay of everyone who thought I had it. It was a bummer to do this. This one will haunt me as one I should have had, but as a result, I will start adding a little weak hand shooting to most live fire sessions, even if it's just a mag.


Stage 4: Still His Fault (East 2)

No real complaints. I did not sprint to the first position, but I got my hits, second position I blazed thru with a very good cadence. Third position I again had good hits, and stayed fast, and in the last position, my cadence slowed down a bit, and did not need to. I was fast enough, but 2 mikes (one into hard cover) cost me. I would not run this one any slower though, my first mike I called as being close.


Summary:

Full Match Video:  

I had a great cadence on the last stage, so I know I can shoot fast, and I can do it accurately, I need the confidence to do that all the time though. The rest of the match was a mishmash of errors, not following the front sight, and general mistakes. I'm not going to beat myself up too much though, what's done is done, time to put in some work again, get on the dry fire and kick some butt on the 19th. It's definitely time for a well deserved day off.


As I said before, Linda shot better, I know the overall result is still not what she wanted, but coming out of the match she has a lot more confidence. She knows she can reload, draw, move quickly, and transition well, she had a few instances of not following her front sights, but for her 2nd match with this gun, and first with it back and worked on, she's happy. I'm pretty proud of her as well. Here is her match video:

MISS Match 2/5

MISS Match 2/5


This is a pretty busy span of shooting for me. Four matches and a class in 12 days, with another class on day 14, toss in some live fire practice as well, and I have a lot of ammo going down range. Add dry fire, and there has not been a day where I am not doing something to improve.

This is the home stretch, including last night, I make it 9 possible classifier's until the completion of "Plan B".  There have been times where I was getting discouraged, and felt like there was no way I could make it, or that we should just start buying Les ammo, but with 9 runs to go, this really has become do or die time, where each classifier matters. I need 6 runs of 60% or better. This is not an unreasonable expectation, although I hear the classifier for this weekend is El Strong And Weak Pres which is not going to be something I'm comfortable doing, and is going to be something I'll struggle with. That does not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Match Scores


Stage 1 Holdup:

I started off pretty cold, 3 misses, low points, and kind of slow. In watching the video, I'm seeing some occasional flinch, and I think that is starting to become a problem for me, so I'll have to address that again in practice. It's strange how it comes and goes, but the only thing to do is deal with it. The stage build did not go quite as planned, as I ran past the 2nd position into the 3rd position and was able to clean the 2nd position targets. In general, I think I just had issues seeing my front sights.



Stage 2 Do The Math:

Another poor run, 4 mikes, and you can see some flinch, and very slow plan. At this point I was really struggling to see my front sight. No excuses, but I picked up my front sight much better at Pine Tree, the range there seems brighter than at Alpha. Since I've picked up my front sight at Alpha before, I know I can do it, but I probably need more prep time before the match. This was the first time I had to run people as an R.O. before I shot. I had a lot going on in my head when I ran.


Stage 3: CM 06-03 Can You Count:

With everything that had gone on earlier, I could have completely cracked, and shot this poorly. That's been my history. To me, it was obvious that I did not clear my head between the first two stages, and I was still judging myself, and not keeping clear to just shoot the second stage. I've been begging to run this classifier for a couple of months, so this was my big chance. Les made the comment that "If you want your B card, you don't want to run this." I'm not sure what convinced him to go with this stage, but I suspect Terry had something to do with it. At the short distance, it's all about a fast draw, fast reload, and fast shots, all while being 100% accurate. I got the accurate part down, 20 shots, 20 Alpha. My speed 9.36 seconds was just good enough, and my hit factor of 10.68 according to Classifer Calc is good enough for about a 64%, or "B" run! Challenge conquered! This stage was 4th in Production, and 7th Overall. What the video does not show, is that I almost DQ'd on the stage, between strings, I started to holster with the hammer down, and the RO stopped me, and I de-cocked. Had he not stopped me, instant DQ. Lesson here is safety is the most important thing, and even though I'm shooting, my head was not in the "right" place. That one won't happen ever again.


Stage 4: One Way Or The Other

This ended up being my best longer course of the night. Slower than I would have liked, some extra shots, but no mikes, and no flinches. This is how I should be running more often than not, and the idea is not to make those mistakes in early stages again. After I shot, I grabbed the timer, and ran the rest of the squad to get some more experience on the R.O. side of the game. This is actually the way I'd like to R.O., after I shoot.


Summary:

I think my continued early struggles simply means I need to prep better at home before the match. Get in my 30-40 minutes of dry fire before I leave for the match, get my head wrapped around my sights, know what I'm looking at, and go from there. This is not something new for me, and one of the things that has had me saying that I need to shoot a complete match, and start off well. After The WIIT, I know I am capable of doing just that, but I also know what I did before I left to shoot, and the dry fire practice I put in, so when I got there, I knew exactly what I wanted to see.

I can feel the rounding off of my game I need to do, clean up just a couple of little things and it'll help both my overall accuracy and speed. I need to keep working, no off days for right now, and matches are not practice. This means Sunday will be a match, and 30 minutes of dry fire later in the day. I've got two 60% classifier's on the books, and that does not include the lost 82% run from The WIIT. Problem is one will fall off, so I need to start stringing together more of these. This goal of hitting "B" by the April USPSA classification run is very possible, but now it's entirely up to me.

Challenge accepted.

Full Match Video:

My WIIT Re-Cap

My WIIT Re-Cap


The Screaming Amateur squad started out shooting stages five, six, seven and eight on Sunday morning at 11am, with stages one thru four Sunday afternoon. I was extremely bummed that Lauren had strep throat and as a result Linda was not going to be able to shoot. She had been looking forward to this match for a long time, and she'd been practicing 30-40 minutes a day at home for the last few weeks, just to get herself ready to go. It was a "bigger" match, and really her first of that kind. There is a MISS match next Sunday (Wednesday as well) that she'll shoot, and it won't be quite the same, but she'll be back out there.

Final Scores

Production Scores By Class

Video's will go up in match order, 1-8 instead of the order that I shot them, so this means, last four stages first.


Stage 1 Kriss Kross:

Jumping into this stage (yeah...obligatory reference...) This is one we spent prep-time on Saturday while working the match, and originally I planned on starting off going the other direction and saving a reload. However, once we got out there, I decided to do it the way I did, and reload coming across. That was actually going backward, but the reload going right kept the gun downrange never near the 180, and it's more comfortable reloading moving right. It was almost a bobble, as I did not seat the mag, thankfully it was a long crossing, and I could tap and get my grip again before I hit the 3rd position. I was pleased with the up-range paper, headed into my first position downrange, I actually forgot the order I wanted to engage the targets, and my hesitation showed. It took me time to re-orient myself, and get thru the position, after the reload, I had the final position in the order that I wanted, and other than a misfire due to a high primer, I ran it the way I wanted. There was obviously some lost time here, and confidence in my end stage plan was lacking. I did however get good hits.


Stage 2 Double Barrel:

This was a stage that I RO'd all day on Saturday, so I knew the times I wanted, I knew how to run it, and guess what? I made a mistake. My plan was to take a step back, and shoot the 4 steel thru the first 2 barrels, I wanted to make sure I did not get sucked into the barrels. I had to take an extra shot or two thru the first barrels, so I dropped and reloaded as I was moving into the 3rd position, with just paper left, I knew I'd have enough for all 4 paper targets. It was a good decision since I did it on the move, even though I moved more than I had to, this is where I started to get sucked into the ports, and then when I ran to the last two positions I got stuck in the ports, exactly as I did not want to do. Probably my worst hits on any stage.

Stage 3  CM 13-5 Tick-Tock (Former Classifier)

Probably my best overall stage of the day. I bested all my practice times, and ran it in 9.19 seconds, and you see me have a trigger freeze after the 7th shot on the first string. In other words, I probably could have done it a hair faster. I also had excellent hits on this stage, and my hit factor was 7.84, which would have been 83% run if this was still a classifier, and assuming the high hit factor was 9.5. In other words, a high "A" run. Ran this the way I practiced it.


Stage 4 Massage Room:

Okay, I'll start by saying that the stage itself was just plain stupid, starting laying down, hands by your sides on a massage table? Really? This turned into my worst stage of the day, and I hated ending on it. I started off rolling to my left, and I tore up the left side, I was accurate, and fast, I went to the right position, with a good reload, and was again quick, but I did have what I believe was my only miss of the match on a paper that came up, it was Alpha, and Mike. Coming back to anchor down behind the table was tough, and a very uncomfortable position. I had a hard time with the steel, and you've seen lately, that's something I've eaten up. What could have been a great closing stage, ended up with a struggle on steel. I'm just not used to shooting from a crouch. Evidently something I will need to work on, shooting more around barriers, getting low, and so on.


Stage 5: Monopolized

This was the first stage of the day for me, and again required some pre-planning so I would not draw until I was safe from a 180 call, and then going backwards again. If you watch, you'll see I was hesitant and slow coming out of the first position to hit an angle target in the middle. After I was downrange at the 3rd position, I turned to run across the range, and realized that I'd missed 2 targets, and hesitated, had my support hand off the gun, and had to double clutch to hit the target. Never should have had my support hand off. I cruised into the last position and did what I had to do. Overall it came out okay, I was halfway decent even on my squad, and it had me thinking positive and confident going into the rest of the match. It's also a huge improvement from a shooter who has always struggled to get warm, and usually has had issues on my first stage.


Stage 6 Don't Open, Zombies!:

Again, a stage I had RO'd on Saturday, so I should have had my stuff together. I started on the door, popped it quick, and started shooting, but I missed the 2nd target twice, realized I could not even see my front sight, and had to re-acquire my sight picture, and start again. I did it, got my 2 Alpha's, and took off to the last position where I did what I had to do. This was not a very good stage for me, but if I had let the mistake get to me, I never would have re-focused, and I did have all Alpha's after that. One of those that in the past I'd have let spiral into the toilet, instead it was just not great.


Stage 7 Margaritaville:

It's obvious to see a quick mistake that I had, at the sound of the buzzer, I looked up, and did not watch the gun into my hand, and I missed my grip. That's a focus issue, I know better. My hits were alphas on the paper, but I shot low on the elevated steel plates. Thanks to Jay Carillo for pointing that out, higher elevations have been an issue, and honestly I'm not sure what I need to do to hit them more effectively. It was only one make-up, but this is something that I can improve. Not a bad job at all on this stage, not quite as fast as I'd have liked, but I can live with my work here.


Stage 8 Surrounded:

I got lucky here. For the first time since I've been shooting, a re-shoot saved me, usually a re-shoot is the devil, and is even worse than the first time. My first run was slow, I hit a no-shoot and called it, but I lucked out that an activator was not set-up, and I could not shoot it, so I was granted a re-shoot, right at the bitter end. My second run thru things was actually very solid. I had a good cadence at my first position, with Alpha hits, the second position, the sound of falling steel is great, but I did slow down with an elevated cardboard target. The reload coming back to the door was not all that quick, I did not show urgency getting to the mag, or getting it back in the gun. I think I was preparing to open the door towards me. My third position went the way I wanted, paper, the activator, the small steel plate, and coming back to finish on the mover. You can see how the mover not working on my first run saved me...and on my last 2 shots.

Full Match:

Summary:

Third place in "C" class (10 Production C shooters were registered), 71st overall and 55% of the match winner. This is major league progress, and I can confidently say that this is the best match that I've ever shot, start to finish. I got hits, good hits for the most part, only 1 miss, I did not touch a no-shoot all day long (at least not that counted!). I had good reloads, good stage plans, I drew well, and I shot safe. I'm not underselling, I'm very happy with that sort of progress.

The video shows things that can be improved, focus, ports, cadence, and the best part is that those things are identifiable, and can be improved with practice. I'm proud of the improvement, but not content with where I'm at, there is still drive, hunger, and lot of desire to improve. This was the coming out party that I was hoping to have. Thank you to absolutely everyone who has helped and supported me in trying to reach my goal, thanks also to the phenomenal squad of shooters I spent the day with, Les, Terry, Kozy, Jay, Rob, both Tony's, Brad, Luis and Mikhail, Linda and Emil were definitely missed.

As a special treat, here is the match video from "C" class winner, and sandbagger extraordinaire Terry:

He gave a whole new meaning to "Make Ready" on the massage stage, costing Les and I a case of beer.

Thank You Les

Thank You Les


Les,

Over the past 90 days I'm sure that there were times when you were ready to pull your hair out with me, or with Dave, but you never showed it. I had the ankle, the head, and the gun switch, the first two were unfortunate, but the last I'm sure had you gritting your teeth. I know we've still got a little time to finish up the "Plan B", and this "letter" is a little early, but I wanted to make the effort to let you know how much the teaching you have done has meant to me, how much it is helped, and how much I appreciate it. Some of the lessons you've taught have helped make me a better shooter, and some of 'em have probably helped make me a better person, at least some of the time. If that isn't the mark of a teacher, then I don't know what is. I think that you felt our struggles and took them personally, and I think that you are happy for our successes.

I'm a slow learner, I'm stubborn, and I can be a gigantic pain in the ass. Yesterday at The WIIT was really proof positive that I had learned, worked on, and applied the lessons you taught. It was imperfect, with things to improve, but I never let a mistake bother me until I was done shooting, I never carried frustration to another stage, and I stayed positive all day long. I focused on my front sight, I got my hits. I almost bobbled one reload, but I was smooth. Someone who had not seen me shoot since September mentioned that my reloads were night and day different. That's what you taught.

I don't know that I've ever walked away from a match feeling that the good outweighed the bad, but I did yesterday. I'm happy overall with the way I shot. I know a 2nd place in "C" finish to Terry is not the biggest deal in the world, but it's a massive uptick in progress. I'd spent plenty of time practicing last summer, with no direction, with no real meaningful understanding of how or what to practice. What it amounted to was I was doing something with no ability to measurably improve, I won't say I was entirely wasting my time, but I was certainly not getting much out of it. You gave me direction, and you gave me the tools to improve myself.

We had a talk that a taste of success can be dangerous to some people, that it can make them lax, make them dial things back, with a feeling that they are almost there. Less than 90 days ago I was a "D" class shooter, we had bumps in the road, but I earned my "C" card, and I finished at 55% of the top score, in essence, a higher end C score, about where I should be. When I watched the video of myself, I saw many things that I can do better, that I can clean up, but I never would have known where to look, or how. One of the best decisions I made in the last 30 days was to get back my "hungry" attitude, and be a grinder, not a diva. This last 5-10% we hope to accomplish will be every bit as hard as the first 20-30%. It'll require that same level of work, of commitment, and I'm not dialing it back, I'm dialing it up a little.

Every mistake I think I made yesterday, I think I can find an example where I have done it right in the past. I know I'm capable, it'll just take some time. I know you were opposed to the CZ switch, and I understood your reasoning, to this day, I still have some regret about that. I will say that your teaching, the practice, combined with gear I am supremely confident in, has let me silence "Self B" and just see the front sight. I don't think about reloads or draw's anymore, I just do them. I don't think about a transition, or a cadence, I do what I need to do to get my hits. I can do all of those things better, faster, and more accurately, but I've got the confidence to know that with the tools, the gear, and the mindset, it just requires my effort to learn it. Again, what you did allowed me to build some much needed confidence.

Yesterday, for the first time ever I felt like I saw you frazzled with the way you shot, and I don't know if it was in your head at all, but I was still impressed with the way you seemed to leave it all behind you when you went to the line. Maybe it was, and maybe it was not, but you presented total focus, total calm, and total confidence. Talk about a role model.

Shooting for anyone is an ongoing progression, and maybe even more for someone at my level, but for all my struggles, and your seemingly endless supply of patience, which I'm sure I sorely tested, you have my eternal thanks, and gratitude. Twice in the past week I walked away feeling proud of my progress, I hope you share some of that, and know that you were responsible for it. Thanks go out in lesser doses for both Kozy and Terry, who gave me different points of view, or swift kicks in the ass as needed. Still though, the gift of the fundamental tools. That's you bro.

Words are inadequate to express how grateful I am. No, we are not going to hug. I just hope you know that the time you invested in me, may never be something I can repay in kind (2,000 bullets might be the start) but it was not wasted. I've taken it to heart, and I'm doing my best to apply each and every lesson, Sunday was hopefully a glimpse of it, and the future should be even better.


Thank you,
Luke

WIIT Review

The WIIT In Review

Match is over, time to reflect. Early word on the street (okay, from Kozy who downloaded scores before he left Pine Tree) is that I finished 3rd place in Production "C", behind Terry. Since I'm not competing against everyone in every class, and every division, that's a pretty good baseline to test myself. Terry of course is sandbagging a bit in "C" class since he's a much better shooter than his classification. I said that I wanted to win "C", and have this match be a coming out party for myself in terms of performance. I'll take the 2nd place finish, and it definitely was a coming out party, just over 30 days with a new gun, and probably the best performance I've had in a match to date. I scored about 55% of what the match winner did, and that's a high "C" place to be. I'm probably about that good of a shooter right now, but I do have improvement in me, and if I clean up some mistakes, I'll be even closer.

The big reason for my improvement is the fact that I got all of my hits, I had one miss on a target all day. I'm finally getting comfortable with sticking to my front sight like glue. To do that, I know I slow down, and that I'm capable of going faster, but getting hits is more important, and with work, I'll get faster. Not everything was sunshine, I knew I made some mistakes, got sucked into a few ports, forgot an order of targets to engage, and on the last stage struggled with the mini poppers shooting from my knees. Sure, I've got stuff to work on, I can do better, and with this little bit of success, I'm hungry to keep it up. I'm already planning my dry fire for tomorrow morning, and yes, there will be dry fire before I go to work, and again when I get home. Getting to where I am now, realizing that less than 90 days ago I was a "D" shooter, and that' I'm closer to "B" was the easy part, the only way I'm going to get this next 5% is by working harder to earn it.

Tomorrow I'll do an individual stage break down blog, but for today, I'll just post the complete match video, and go to bed happy that I had my coming out party, and even hungrier to work harder.

Oh, my "classifier" run today? The good news is that I shot it in 9.19 seconds, with a hit factor of 7.84. This was my best run, so my attention to practice made a real difference. USPSA made a ruling this classifier was no longer going to be valid, so while the Match Director will submit, it's likely my run will not count, and an 85% classifier is not going to help me. It's a shame that USPSA made the decision and announced it on Friday night, effective immediately. There are a lot of people who are going to lose out on this one. Crappy leadership folks, it either should have been announced sooner, or announced with a cut-off date.

Big thanks to Screaming Amateur Productions who sponsored the entire squad in the match today. It was fun shooting with Rob, Terry, Les, Kozy, Mikhail, Tony A, Anthony A., Luis, Jay, and Brad, kick ass squad, it's tough being the worst shooter in the squad. Next year, I hope to be a lot more competitive.

Production Scores By Class

Final Combined Standings