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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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