It's been a busy few weeks, so in dry fire I wanted to focus on a couple of things, getting the safety off as part of the draw, and getting a solid grip on the gun. Those were huge issues in Waco, and I had to address them as part of the foundation of my moving into Limited. Wanting to get classified in Limited, and without a match in Temple, I decided to head down to San Antonio, and check out the Alpha Mike match. Gotta say, beautiful range, shooting into the side of a "mountain" (or really big hill) was cool. I saw a lot of progress from Waco, but as always, a real long way to go.
Biggest step, was an awesome amount of Alpha's, I mean when it came to paper, I thought I did a great job, and it was rare when it was not 2 Alpha, that's the kind of accuracy that I've wanted to have on paper, but never got there. The downside was that I struggled with steel, I focused on the steel, not my sights, and that I have slowed down a fair amount to get hits, I really need to (and am able to) push harder, go faster, and still get these hits.
Stage 4 Boogalo Jones:
I started out just the way I wanted, I cleared the first few array's quickly, had a great cadence, and felt very good about the way things started. Per the stage brief, all ammo had to start on a barrel, so I left an extra mag and put it on a pouch off my reload barrel, that cost me a couple of seconds too much. My biggest error was not taking the two steel plates that were only visible from the left position. I knew it when I left, you heard the "oh shit" but I kept on going, and tried to salvage my plan. Too many shots on the steel that only the top third was visible behind the barrel on the right hand side. Finally, I had to go back left, reload, and take those two steel. That mistake cost me an awful lot, and basically killed the stage. (8th of 13 in Limited)
Stage 5: Clear The Building
Good hits, I started out fairly strong, but the gun should not have come down while moving, I wasted time having to get it back into a shooting position between targets. Decent reload, and then while I cleared the targets from the port, my cadence was not good, and I was hunting and pecking for targets, this is where I need to be running the gun harder, and seeing better transitions. Doing that would have saved time, and been a better stage. (6th of 13 in Limited)
Stage 1: Boxcars
Struggled on the star, and then struggled on the poppers. That kind of hurts, good cadence on the paper. I caught one on my leg and cut myself pretty good on the popper, that made me lose focus for at least a couple of shots. I'm really unhappy that I'm struggling on steel, but I definitely was looking at the steel and not looking at my sights. I distinctly realized that on this stage. I can fix that, but it's a real step backwards.
Stage 2: Classifier 03-02 Six Chickens
Listing what went right would probably be shorter than what went wrong. I hit the targets on the freestyle run? Here is where my only mikes were in the match, strong hand, and that really hurt, throw in a poor reload, and I just about zeroed this stage. Strong hand/weak hand practice incoming? Yes sir. (11th of 13 in Limited, and I lost a ton of points and about 3 places in Limited here.)
Stage 3: Onyx Club
Not a bad stage, but I left points and time. I could have backed out of the first position on the move and taken the final target. I did not get aggressively into the 2nd position, and I actually had to search for my first target. I was slow and not 1 for 1 on the plate rack, and I took several shots at the steel plate in the final position. All of those things cost me some time. I'll estimate I left close to 4 seconds on the table with those errors, and that's s another few positions. (5th of 13 in Limited)
Summary
I finished 10th of 13 in Limited, which is not a good showing, The classifier I left points on the table, and with a mere 10 more points, I would have moved up 3 spots, with 20 more points I would have moved up 4 spots. The thing is, I know I left points on the table, and where I left them. Second match in Limited I can't be all that upset. I got good hits all day long (expect the strong hand string). I need to focus and do some work on steel, and really start pushing myself to go faster again. I'm not out running or out shooting this gun anytime soon. I'm going to be disappointed if I can't pick up the points and start showing progress in those areas by middle of May. Dry fire practice really did improve the few things I wanted it to, and I'm going to keep expanding that going forward. No shame in the finish, huge improvement over next month, and next week I'm headed back to Waco, hopefully we'll see some more progress, and clean up a few items that need to be addressed.
Running with Roy and Bryan (Both multi-division GM's) both makes the match an awful lot of fun, I enjoy shooting with those guys, it definitely pushes and teaches me. It's not Les and Kozy, but the more good shooters I squad with, the harder I push myself to improve. I like that.
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