Arkansas Sectional
Double Tap did not go well, heavy rain and lightening on Saturday morning cancelled the match for the day, and the MD said he would get the word out via social media for Sunday about his plan, with the idea that perhaps we would have a mini-match. We got back to the hotel, got cleaned up, and waited until about 2:30 and did not hear anything, so we decided to pack up and head home. At 5:50 we got an e-mail that they were able to get 8 stages ready for the next day, and were going to hold the match. It would have been a 2.5 hour turn around, and we debated it and headed home. Upon checking social media, it turns about the MD, on his PERSONAL Facebook page announced what he was going to try to do, and as a comment on someone else's post on the match page around 1:30. Had we known that at 1:30, we'd have either gone back to the range to help, gone to see a movie, or stuck around and completed the match. I'm glad they got the range going, but that was a $600 plus expense to shoot one stage. Very disappointed, but I'll be back next year, it was too good a match to miss.
Having missed Double Tap, I saw a chance to shoot Arkansas, and debated shooting the match this week, it came together, when Ryan Banks agreed to go with me and shoot, and share the 8 plus hour drive up to CASA range. We were off and running on Wednesday morning. Drive was nice, and being honest, the drive from the hotel into the range was gorgeous, and the range itself was fabulous. The design was to start at 9am, although we did not get to the first stage and start shooting until about 10:30. With only 3 squads, two of which were RO's, we were to shoot 5 stages, call it a day, and shoot the same schedule on Friday. The day was oppressively hot, temp about 98, with nearly 70% humidity, we were soaked, drinking multiple bottles of water per stage in an effort to stay hydrated. Post lunch 5 of the 8 of us who started together decided we wanted to finish the match in one day, and we did just that. 10 stages, with a 45 minute break completed in just about 6 hours, done and off the range at 4:30.
Let's get to the video, and then we'll get some post match feeling and analysis. (Shot in the order I did stages, blog written before "main match" was even shot on Saturday/Sunday)
Stage 4:
I'm not even sure why the mag dropped out of the gun on my first shot. I pulled on it to check during make ready and nothing moved, I pulled pretty hard after that. I took a mike on the first shot after that, rushing thru it, and those dumb mistakes really hurt. After that I feel like I moved well out of position one and into position 2, and shot it well. I was not aggressive enough getting into the 3rd position, but on the whole, the shooting part was executed pretty well. Clean up on the last 2 steel, should have been 1 for 1, but I'm not disappointed in how I shot on this stage, it's the other stuff that bothered me. Better focus, and consistent execution are things I can focus on. It's baby steps, but I can do it.
Stage 5:
There were some long transitions I did not execute very well, I need to be more snappy making the twist, and I was not coming into positions ready to shoot, gun was ready, but not up, and I lost time waiting on a sight picture, gun should have been up, finding sight picture as I came in. In the 3rd position I almost over ran the position, and had to plant hard and bounce back. There was a perfect spot where I did not need to move for the left port, and center steel, and only needed minimal movement for the port on the right, which in the end I had to hunt and peck on. I had an ugly issue with having to tap and rack, and again, took mikes on the follow up shots simply because I was rushing. This problem came up a few weeks ago, and I took the gun in to my gunsmith, and they felt that the over travel screw on my trigger was backing out. They loctited it, tested it and thought we were good to go again. I shot a match Tuesday night and the gun ran fine, but it evidently got loose and backed out. With a phone call to them, they explained what I needed to do, and unfortunately I had to make the adjustment between every stage. On Monday they'll have a look, and see if the hole was drilled out too big on the trigger itself, and that's the reason for the excessive movement. This should not be an issue, but I've had both light primer strikes, and this time no primer strikes. Need this fixed, and it's a prime reason I need a back-up gun.
On a final note, as I saw on the video for the first stage, and again here, on the round that does not fire, I'm flinching and pushing the gun down, and doing it fairly consistently. Definitely time to bring back some ball and dummy drills during live fire, and make those a part of my normal routine. I feel like with a major power factor load, I'm fighting with the gun, unlike the 9mm minor Production load, where I have no issue controlling the gun.
Stage 7:
The gun definitely ran on this stage! I on the other hand took two mikes on the first swinger. I tried to move well, I was not quite aggressive enough into the 3rd position, I started out of the 2nd position well, but did not close in hard enough with the gun up. Not where I want to be, but it's still worlds better than where I was even a few months ago. I'm seeing some progress on that aggressiveness, I believe that consistency should not be all that far off.
Stage 8:
Best and worst stage of the match for me. From a shooting point of view it was very solid. I knew my plan, I executed it, I had some decent transitions, I had good hits, I ran the steel easily. I slightly over ran the 3rd position but recovered well. My only issue was that I got hung up on the swinger because I did not get a good sight picture, and I lost time waiting on it. I wanted to run the activator popper first, hit the paper and come back to the swinger. I ended with 4 hits on the swinger, 2 charlie and 2 delta. I think the little things cost me at least 2 seconds. Notice even though I took the one hand off the gun moving into the final position, (I find I do that when I'm moving right to left, and backward so I don't cross my body and break the 180.) I still had the gun up getting a sight picture when I planted and was ready to shoot. Minimal time lost. Best execution of that on any stage, and that's what I'm looking for on all my stages. I'm really happy with that run.
The bad news was that on the turn out of position 1 into position 2 I tweaked my back. On Monday when working out, and doing crunches, I felt a twinge in my lower back, and I stopped. Here the twist of my back trying to get my body faced up and moving hurt. It was instantly a sharp pain in my lower back, every time I tried to twist or move my torso, I had serious pain. I headed to the car to get an Icy Hot patch (the fact I had them with indicates that yes, I was a little worried, because it did hurt post Monday workout.....and I got back on the bus and worked out again Tuesday, trying to fight thru it.) The match broke for lunch at this point, and with no room in the clubhouse, I headed to the air conditioned truck for 45 minutes. It was both good and bad to sit, the good was that I could rest, the bad was the rest started to tighten up my back.
Stage 9:
If I had a struggle in the morning, this is where descent into nightmare began. There were 3 of us late getting back from lunch, and 2 people decided that they were done shooting for the day in the extreme heat, and were going to continue on Friday as per schedule. The 3 shooters there finished 9, and were on to stage 10, and were unhappy that 3 of us had to go back to 9 to shoot.
Ryan shot first, I went second, and then I read the stage brief as I prepared to run the final shooter, our RO, and I noticed the start position was wrists above shoulders, and I started the last shooter that way. On the way to stage 10, I saw that the RO had written my time down as 18:59. I watched the video, and saw myself shoot the stage in sub 13 seconds, the video was only 13 seconds long, and included a beep and my last shot, so I had to be somewhere below 13 seconds. Both factors alone were enough for a re-shoot in my mind, and after a discussion the RO's who were unhappy arranged to summon the RM.
I told the RM the straight story, that we started wrong, that my time was not written down properly, and that I had a mike on the closest target, and I thought I should have a reshoot, as should Ryan. Start position alone should have dictated that. At that point I got called to the line to make ready for the next stage, and figured I would talk to the RM afterwards, he drove off, and subsequently, I forgot about getting an answer to that dispute. The other catch was that I did not have time to "fix" my gun before the next stage, and all those events cascaded into what happened next.
On this stage however, first position went well, I knew where my targets were, I had solid enough splits and transitions. Slower in the second position, and I'm not sure why I was hunting and pecking, I need complete focus thru a stage to maintain consistency. It's getting better, just not all the way there yet.
Stage 10:
Whew, where to begin....
Started well, did what I needed to do, and was hustling out of the hallway. I don't like that I flipped the mag out to the right on the reload, just let the damn thing drop, I know better and I saw it a few times. Need to get back and practice that. I did not want to insert mag until I hit the corner and was moving up range to avoid breaking a 180. Here is where not having worked on the over-travel screw bit me again. I had to again tap rack, and I had completely stopped moving. The video perspective made it look like I was close to the 180, and I was maybe 175, the targets were actually still in front of me facing them, and it was clear to the people who were behind because they were watching from the left of me, and had a closer perspective to what I saw. My forward foot was centered at the back stick. The camera and the RO had a perspective that was more in common. Had I taken one step forward it would have been a 180, but I'd already stopped to clear the gun when I heard the RO shout muzzle twice, and I stopped, I was unsure why he was calling it, because I could clearly see I was not in violation of the 180, I wasn't moving. I had to think about what to do, I did not just react. I cleared, took my shots, had it been a 180, I should have been DQ'd right there, no DQ, I wasn't close....I limped the last few targets home.
Someone mentioned I should get a reshoot based on the fact that "muzzle" is not a range command, and that it was RO interference. At first I was ambivalent, and then when I decided I wanted to ask the RM, all hell broke loose. One of the RO's on our squad lost it on me, how dare I ask for a re-shoot in the heat, and that I had no valid cause to ask for it. I said that was fine, please cite me the rule that says it was a valid command. I told him I did not doubt it, I just could not remember which rule it was covered under, and that got him even more pissed at me. Apparently he felt that his word was unquestioned gospel, and I had to accept it, without asking for the reason why. He left, came back with someone not the RM, who asked if I was an RO, and when I said I was he told me that I should know better, and I said that was fine, I did not know better and was just asking for clarification under which rule, and since he knew better could he please cite the rule for me. He could not do that, and proceeded to tell me how I had no business being an RO, at which point I told him that since he was not the RM, was not the final authority, and could not cite the rule, he could kindly go fuck himself. He was contributing nothing to the conversation.
At this point, I decided it was not worth it, my back was progressively getting worse, I was in serious pain, and with my early struggles I decided it was just not worth it, and to move on. Even if I was granted a reshoot, no way could I run, twist or do anything. When we got down to Stage 1, the RO on our stage who was not there when it happened, and was pissed at me for asking for a re-shoot on "everything in this heat" demanded that I leave the stage to go to the clubhouse to wait for the RM to tell me why I did not get a re-shoot. I told him I really did not give a shit, and that I was not going to walk back anywhere, the RM has an ATV he can come to me. The RM came down, told me he did not think it was a re-shoot, and I said that's fine, I accept that, can you please cite the rule, because I know "muzzle" is not a range command. He could not do it either, but I was willing to accept it, and I told him, I was fine. I was not looking to argue, I was looking to learn, and if I made a mistake, help me correct it.
Stage 1: (No video)
Squad payback? (Really everyone but Ryan who was loading, and then trying to run the tablet for scoring) By then I could barely move, the next stage was a wall down the middle, a plate rack on each side with a single paper target. Well, I ended up having to re-set the rack on both sides, paint all targets, and paste. I reset the stage for every single shooter solo, zero help. Everyone else wanted to not help if they were running a shooter, loading a gun, or the on deck shooter. That's great, but when you have a 5 person squad, if you want to move, gotta work. Bending down to grab the stupid rope to reset the steel was about the straw that broke the camel's back, and I was dead. I tried to shoot it, but had no movement, and in reality I was done.
After I shot, the RM came back, with the rule book, and said that my question about which rule the earlier situation fell had him unsure, so he went back to consult his rulebook, and he found it. He said he also knew muzzle was not a command, but he also remembered about where the RO could warn g a competitor, and dude was very pleasant about it. He and I sat and talked for 10 minutes or so, and I had no problem with him, in fact I like the guy. At no point was I trying to be confrontational with anyone, I'd simply asked for a clarification and gotten jumped on, my ability and intelligence attacked, which did get under my skin, and make me push back. No problem with the RM, did not raise my voice, he and I got along very well.
I understand it's hot, I understand it's a long day, but after two stages in a row, one that I absolutely should have had to re-shoot, still doesn't mean an RO should shit on a competitor. The one guy who called me an embarrassment to RO's, and unfit for an RO card, can kindly go fuck himself, especially since he was unable to cite the rule. I do a damn good job when I RO people, there is a reason I keep a rulebook in my bag, if I'm not 100% sure, I don't open my mouth, and when I have a question, and think I know something, I at least know where to look in a rulebook. No, I don't know where every rule is, but I don't belittle a competitor, so I'll say it, I'm a far better RO, and better dude that than fucking asshole every will be. You want someone who should be embarrassed to be an RO? It was dickhead who drove over to offer an opinion with no reason to back it up. I didn't ask for the opinion of a random fuckhead who is too stupid to know, I asked for the RM since the RO's could not cite the rule. MD oughta be embarrassed to have that fuckhead on staff for the match. That's not how an RO treats a competitor, especially once who has a legit question, and is treating everyone with respect, even when they are shitting on him for not wanting to stay because of the heat. Yes, I was wrong about the warning command, have no issue saying that, R.O. made the call based on his perspective, and from my perspective I knew I was not close, I should not have slowed down, I should have kept right on going. So no doubt, I made mistakes of my own too.
Stage 2:
Because I was sitting with the RM at stage 1 politely talking with him, and because I was pissed about the reset on Stage 1 situation, I never walked to the second stage. I did not walk the stage, I had about 15 seconds from the time I was called to shoot to figure a plan and execute it. It was excruciating pain even trying to stand up from the chair, and I flat out could not do it quickly. Still though, I shot and executed the first position and second position pretty darn well for having limited mobility. Plate rack needed clean up, and that's on me. I'm going to give myself full points for sticking the stage out and shooting.
Stage 3: (No Video)
Inconsistent falling activator falling steel sucks, major power factor load dead center of the popper, and it took close to three seconds to fall, and again bit because I did not repair gun between stages. Of course the offending tap rack drill had to happen on a max trap, so I just ate it. Just nothing going right, and I had issues walking between the the positions.
Stage 6: (Classifier)
So, knowing I've been hitting A runs, I did not want a low B run, I had a moment where I was asked if I wanted to skip the stage, and I did not hesitate to say I was finishing the match. The last gasp to turn was killed with the extra shot on the 3rd target, and I was just done at that point.
Summary:
Post match I sat and talked with the RO on our squad who had gotten mad at me (not the jackass who called me an embarrassment to RO's.) and demanded I see the RM. I explained what happened on the earlier stage, and he was unaware of that, he just thought I was whiny asking for re shoots all the time and he agreed I should have had one for Stage 9. He also said he thought it took some guts to finish up when I was in pain, and we spent about 20 minutes talking. Good dude, I like him, I respect anyone who admits they jumped before having the facts, and I also respect someone who came in early several days ahead of time to work to set-up the match, and was staying until dark because there was a second group of RO shooters who were not arriving to shoot until 5:30. I get why he did not want to re-shoot in the heat, but I'd like to think he left with an ounce more respect for me because I kept my cool (except for the one fuckhead) I was respectful, and I worked my ass off on every damn stage, did not ask for favors, and kept doing it even when it was obvious I was in serious pain. He invited me back for their big fall shoot match.
Ryan was a great traveling companion. He was great conversation during two long 8 hour plus drives. We learned all about Toad Suck Daze in Conway Arkansas. (Google it!) We had some good food, some bad food, and a lot of fun. Not only did he offer great support during the match, he was constantly checking on me as my back was getting worse. He's a first class guy. At the match, I also met a couple of other awesome folks, Eli and Tracie, who were due to shoot on Saturday and Sunday, but who came out to help run shooters, reset stages, and herd us around. Talk about a great commitment to the sport, and people who gave far more than they needed to, especially in that heat. I'm impressed, good folks.
As far as the pain, I about felt like I was going to pass out during the drive home, the pain was getting worse and worse as we drove on Friday. As I sit, I'm going to find a doctor to see on Monday, my back hurts, there is no comfortable way to sit, it hurts to get up, and I can't bend down and pick something up to save my life. For the weekend at least, it's going to be motrin and ice. My gut tells me I did something not good, and I'm going to be on a hiatus for a little bit. Fingers crossed because I need to get back on the weight machine, and on the range as soon as I can.
From a shooting point of view, the easiest thing is getting my gear right. I can't go to another major match and not have gear that works, nothing will sink a score faster than gear that does not work. Hayes Custom ran thru a list of things it could be, and he'll check on those Monday morning, he's already re-ordered another gunsmith trigger, and I may just have him install a long flat SVI trigger, it won't be as long, and I'll have to fix my trigger finger positioning, but since I plan on staying in Limited, maybe that's the right thing to do. Re-learn it the right way, and just do it that way rather than have gear be a crutch for a bad habit. Or at least for what worked in Production.
I'm seeing definite progress in areas I wanted to. It's not consistent, which is what we all strive for, but I'm seeing it. As I work at it, I'll keep getting better at it, and I'll build consistency. I see some bad habits still, like entering positions, and flipping the mag out, that I never did in Production, and I need those ball and dummy drills. Limited and major power factor is not as easy, and I need to better control the gun, and not feel like I'm fighting it. Captain's of Crush grip strength trainers incoming, and once I have my grip doing the work, then I think I'm less apt to develop the frequent flinch. (I know it'll never go away, but I want it to not be as frequent. It's happening far more often in Limited than in did in Production.)
I'm happy with the progress, I saw myself doing everything I needed to do right, I saw running the gun well, good transitions, good entry, good exit, good hustle, some good reloads. The bad part was the flashed happened across stages, and I need to put it all together. I can feel it tantalizingly close, and I feel like with 30-60 days of good hard work I can build that consistency, and put together a really solid set of final four major matches on the docket. If I work hard, it'll be there, if I don't it'll be the same as this match, and I'll walk away from the season disappointed in myself. Game is in my hands now.
I'll leave two more short stages from a match Tuesday night. (yes, the night before I headed out to the major match.) Yes, hopefully if you made it this far, they demonstrate that at least some nights, I can still shoot.
Shoot House Stage at A-Zone:
A little struggle on the first steel there, I only had 1 Bravo and 2 Charlies on this stage, all the rest were Alpha hits, I had good transitions, I knew my plan, I executed it. I did not seat the mag on the reload, and that cost me time, it's also where I learned about downloading. There was probably too much tension in the magazine so when I inserted it I would have needed to slam it to make it seat. By taking out a couple of rounds, spring tension reduced, and much easier to get the mag to seat, not something I ever encountered in Production, but with a mag with 20 rounds in it, and only needing 12, why not take 2-3 rounds out and not have the issue? I learned something very useful, and that will help me going forward.
My only mistake in the plan was that I could have taken one more far long target out of the 2nd position where I went across the stage. Had I done that (the target I ended up finishing on) I would not have needed to move to the final position, as I could have taken the 2 targets I came in on in that final position from the previous position. No movement needed, and would have saved a couple of seconds at least.
Classifier: (Roscoe Rattle)
Believe it or not, looks like about a 77% run. That's my 3rd A class run in Limited after starting the division just a hair over 3 months ago. I never had an A run in Production despite sitting at just about 72% in the division. I'm very happy with that, even though I know I can pull the trigger faster than I did here. It's a gun control issue, at .19-.20 splits I see my sights with no issue, if I want to split faster, I lose my sights in Limited, to me that means I need work on both my grip, and grip strength so I have to wait less time for my sights to settle. Baby steps.....
In addition, see the slow reload? In dry fire I've done a lot less reloading work, and it shows in both matches. Since I reload less, I took a few sets out of my dry fire to add speed and transition drills, and guess what? I'm doing those things better. That said, gotta add back the reload drills until I'm improved there. These days I grab the correct mag at least, but just a little thing here will help.
Super Bonus Video:
Lauren got to shoot the match, and it was her very first USPSA match, and she shot in the super secret .22 division. (Okay, she did not shoot for score) She had an absolute blast and she learned an awful lot. You can see great trigger safety, finger off the trigger between every shot, although on her first stage she slapped thru the trigger super fast. Her second stage was a timed string on steel, much like a steel challenge stage, and there we talked to her about breaking the trigger slowly. Slapping the trigger she was moving her sights and struggled, but when she went slowly thru it, she was hitting what she was aiming at on the steel, and that seemed to help set the lesson. It's a work in progress for all of us, but once she understood why that mattered, the easier and better she got, so now she has a project to work on at the range with us now! Exciting stuff!
A couple of days earlier she got to shoot some 3-Gun, and she was dinging steel plates at 100 yards with an AR with relative ease, and she cleaned a plate rack (5 plates 12 yards) with 6 shots of a shotgun. Pretty proud of her for that too.
3-Gun:
Holy shit I shot 3-Gun on Saturday the 21st, so I've done some serious shooting over the past week. I got DQ'd on the 3rd stage when my pistol came out of my holster while running with an AR. I learned why some kind of retention is important. I never really run with gun in holster in USPSA, and it's a lesson learned. I did find I love AR, shooting steel at 100 yards is fun, cleaning a plate rack at that distance was a blast, and I'd love to try longer range than that. Shotgun is okay, but I don't think I'll ever be a massive fan.
Big thanks to Hayes Custom Gun's "Handcrafted Precision" and team, who loaned us rifles shotguns, and assorted other gear, provided us with ammo at no cost, and a ton of coaching. Those guys are really awesome, great ambassador's to the sport, and they made the match a ton of fun. Once again, gun people who are great people. Glad I'm doing business with them on my new Limited gun, and I'm sure if we get serious about 3-Gun we'll be back to have them do work on those as well. FYI...Aaron's rifle was absolutely amazing!
No comments:
Post a Comment