ALSPPC 8-30-15 Adnil
Blog incoming......
Stage 4:
Stage 5:
Stage 1:
Sunday, August 30, 2015
ALSPPC Match 8-30-15
ALSPPC Match 8-30-15
A little bit of a bummer, but another match at ALSPPC that was a disappointment. I've been lucky enough to shoot matches now in multiple states, with multiple clubs, and I've gotta be honest, ALSPPC has to be the one that stands out as just not having it's shit together. This isn't sour grapes, and I'm afraid it would be taken that way, but the truth is the club doesn't put on a very inspired or good match. Today there was one stage that was a "long reset" and my squad was backed up, we had to watch 6 of 10 shooters shoot it from the squad that started before us. By the time we were up to the 2nd shooter, another squad was already there waiting, having shot 2 stages already. To me, it's simply poor match design. There is a reason that an awful lot of good shooters choose not to shoot at ARC, the matches just don't challenge shooters, and aren't very much fun. The best matches I've shot around here are in Waco, with River City and Temple pretty close as the next 2 places, and then Chicken Ranch down in San Antonio before Austin slots in. I sure hope the club can change its stripes, but I don't see it. Honestly, I shoot because it's close, not because it's good. With more 3-Gun in the future, when I have to make choices on what I'm shooting, I can't see ALSPPC making the cut.
I shot 3 stages today before deciding I had better uses of my time, which was a hard choice, and a major disappointment. Knowing I needed to practice for Area 4 this coming Friday, this would have been a great match to get back in the game. As a result, I'm going to have to do some serious practice this week to get myself ready to go, and it won't be enough, but I'm going to have to deliver the best performance that I can.
Stage 4:
Well, I managed to take the steel one for one, and that's because I had a focus on it. That's something that I had to suffer with earlier, and I had a make-up on the paper in the first position. I'd actually thought I'd thrown a mike and wanted to get it back, and picked up an alpha, but the reality was that I had a charlie at the top corner, so I did not need to make it up. Movement could have been better, but I knew where I needed to be, and I went there, final target I hesitated and took a make-up again, and this time I did need it, my first shot had hit the wall. I could have shaved off a couple of seconds, and that would have made a big difference.
Stage 5:
Well, let's say that I like shooting Limited, the fact I had to make only one reload is a good thing. My cadence was better, but my grip was not, in the video I can see the gun bouncing, and my hits were erratic. I know damn well that if I have the good grip I don't see the gun bounce, and I can get better hits. I took a single mike (and I did not get the safety off....wow...) simple dry fire would solve that, and my lack of practice shows. Personally I can see 2-3 seconds that I could have shaved off, and the erratic hits really cost me. Fixable, but I need practice and focus.
Stage 1:
CM 13-01 Disaster Factor was a disaster for me. I had trouble finding my sight, and I let the front sight dip, and I put two shots on the second target right in the no-shoot's head. On my reload I could not hit the mag release button and I blew the reload. Good hits on the lower target.
Summary:
Mental mistakes and things that can be corrected via dry fire. The biggest issue if I'm honest is that my live fire and dry fire have sucked this summer. I'm nowhere near where I wanted and expected to be, and the simple reason is that I have not put in the work. I don't have anyone to blame but myself, and honestly it's partly the interest in 3-Gun, but also that it's been a busy summer, and work as well as family time has been a bigger priority. I'm at a crossroad where I need to decide if I'm going to be a casual shooter, or I'm going to be a competitive shooter. I know I'm competitive, because these errors burn me, and 3-Gun requires an awful lot more work. If I want to do well, I need to earn it.
Area 4 is in a few days, so I'm going to run some good practice, and get 40 minutes of dry fire per day in, I know it won't solve everything, but if it helps me brush off the rust and fix a few of the little things, then that's all that I can ask. One way or the other, it should be fun.
A little bit of a bummer, but another match at ALSPPC that was a disappointment. I've been lucky enough to shoot matches now in multiple states, with multiple clubs, and I've gotta be honest, ALSPPC has to be the one that stands out as just not having it's shit together. This isn't sour grapes, and I'm afraid it would be taken that way, but the truth is the club doesn't put on a very inspired or good match. Today there was one stage that was a "long reset" and my squad was backed up, we had to watch 6 of 10 shooters shoot it from the squad that started before us. By the time we were up to the 2nd shooter, another squad was already there waiting, having shot 2 stages already. To me, it's simply poor match design. There is a reason that an awful lot of good shooters choose not to shoot at ARC, the matches just don't challenge shooters, and aren't very much fun. The best matches I've shot around here are in Waco, with River City and Temple pretty close as the next 2 places, and then Chicken Ranch down in San Antonio before Austin slots in. I sure hope the club can change its stripes, but I don't see it. Honestly, I shoot because it's close, not because it's good. With more 3-Gun in the future, when I have to make choices on what I'm shooting, I can't see ALSPPC making the cut.
I shot 3 stages today before deciding I had better uses of my time, which was a hard choice, and a major disappointment. Knowing I needed to practice for Area 4 this coming Friday, this would have been a great match to get back in the game. As a result, I'm going to have to do some serious practice this week to get myself ready to go, and it won't be enough, but I'm going to have to deliver the best performance that I can.
Stage 4:
Well, I managed to take the steel one for one, and that's because I had a focus on it. That's something that I had to suffer with earlier, and I had a make-up on the paper in the first position. I'd actually thought I'd thrown a mike and wanted to get it back, and picked up an alpha, but the reality was that I had a charlie at the top corner, so I did not need to make it up. Movement could have been better, but I knew where I needed to be, and I went there, final target I hesitated and took a make-up again, and this time I did need it, my first shot had hit the wall. I could have shaved off a couple of seconds, and that would have made a big difference.
Stage 5:
Well, let's say that I like shooting Limited, the fact I had to make only one reload is a good thing. My cadence was better, but my grip was not, in the video I can see the gun bouncing, and my hits were erratic. I know damn well that if I have the good grip I don't see the gun bounce, and I can get better hits. I took a single mike (and I did not get the safety off....wow...) simple dry fire would solve that, and my lack of practice shows. Personally I can see 2-3 seconds that I could have shaved off, and the erratic hits really cost me. Fixable, but I need practice and focus.
Stage 1:
CM 13-01 Disaster Factor was a disaster for me. I had trouble finding my sight, and I let the front sight dip, and I put two shots on the second target right in the no-shoot's head. On my reload I could not hit the mag release button and I blew the reload. Good hits on the lower target.
Summary:
Mental mistakes and things that can be corrected via dry fire. The biggest issue if I'm honest is that my live fire and dry fire have sucked this summer. I'm nowhere near where I wanted and expected to be, and the simple reason is that I have not put in the work. I don't have anyone to blame but myself, and honestly it's partly the interest in 3-Gun, but also that it's been a busy summer, and work as well as family time has been a bigger priority. I'm at a crossroad where I need to decide if I'm going to be a casual shooter, or I'm going to be a competitive shooter. I know I'm competitive, because these errors burn me, and 3-Gun requires an awful lot more work. If I want to do well, I need to earn it.
Area 4 is in a few days, so I'm going to run some good practice, and get 40 minutes of dry fire per day in, I know it won't solve everything, but if it helps me brush off the rust and fix a few of the little things, then that's all that I can ask. One way or the other, it should be fun.
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Benelli M2 For Linda
Benelli M2 for Linda
I won't go into a ton of details, but for a slightly early Birthday present for Linda, I got her a 24" Benelli M2 worked on by Hayes Custom Guns. Her gun has a 12 round tube, and is awesome beyond words. For the past month or so we've borrowed guns from them to shoot matches, so it was only natural that we buy from them. In borrowing different guns, Linda and I were able to see what we liked, and what we did not like. Hands down, no doubt about it, the Benelli M2 had exactly what we wanted to find. I know some folks like the Versamax for it's low recoil, but extreme weight. I know others like the JM 930, or the Beretta 1301 for price and features, and yet others like the Stoeger M3000 for price, but not one of 'em had the reliability and ease of operation that we felt we had to have more than the Benelli.
We ran the loaner guns flawlessly, no malfunctions, so we were convinced. The only question now for Linda, is will she add a rear sight? We'll have to make some time to do some pattern tests, and work on slugs, if the stock has to be shortened at all, or if Linda needs a rear sight, the guys over at Hayes Custom will be there. Linda's off to work on her quad loading!
I won't go into a ton of details, but for a slightly early Birthday present for Linda, I got her a 24" Benelli M2 worked on by Hayes Custom Guns. Her gun has a 12 round tube, and is awesome beyond words. For the past month or so we've borrowed guns from them to shoot matches, so it was only natural that we buy from them. In borrowing different guns, Linda and I were able to see what we liked, and what we did not like. Hands down, no doubt about it, the Benelli M2 had exactly what we wanted to find. I know some folks like the Versamax for it's low recoil, but extreme weight. I know others like the JM 930, or the Beretta 1301 for price and features, and yet others like the Stoeger M3000 for price, but not one of 'em had the reliability and ease of operation that we felt we had to have more than the Benelli.
We ran the loaner guns flawlessly, no malfunctions, so we were convinced. The only question now for Linda, is will she add a rear sight? We'll have to make some time to do some pattern tests, and work on slugs, if the stock has to be shortened at all, or if Linda needs a rear sight, the guys over at Hayes Custom will be there. Linda's off to work on her quad loading!
Grip
Grip
I have a confession to make. I don't like making it, because it's an admission that I've failed in dry fire for a longer period than I would care to admit. I've cheated on my grip for over a year in dry fire, maybe approaching a year and a half, and I'm only now realizing that I was doing it, and that I was shorting myself all this time. Grip is such a fundamental aspect of shooting, it's hard to do anything well, or right if you are not gripping the gun.
To share a little bit about how I came to this conclusion, I've had some on and off struggles with Limited this year. Transitioning from Production to Limited, and from a minor power factor to a major power factor, I'd see matches or strings of targets with reduced accuracy, especially seen on some struggles with steel, both poppers and plates. For instance on a plate rack, I was rarely one for one, same with an array of steel poppers. When I shot Production, I loved shooting steel, I felt very confident, and the gun cycled, I never felt much in the way of muzzle rise. The truth is though, that even then, I had a barely passable grip, because too often I'd lose it, and in turn I could go from ace to chump in the blink of an eye.
In Limited I feel like I'm fighting the gun, and when I switched I instantly had accuracy issues. I could go Alpha/Mike pretty easily, and I did not understand where, and how that was happening, I just knew that the gun was bouncing all over the place. I was not smart enough to connect the dots though to my dry fire, and I kept on with dry fire the same as I always had. At a match, when I came to the line, I'd have to consciously say "Grip, ogre grip" to myself at the make ready command to will myself to do that. If I did that, my stages were definitively better than stages where I did not consciously tell myself to do that. Now, as I go back and review video, I can clearly see from watching the gun if I told myself to grip, if I did, the gun is cycling and I'm getting hits, if I did not, I see the gun bounce all over, and I don't need to look at a score sheet to tell myself that I clearly failed the grip.
The last USPSA match I shot, I came to the line on the last stage focused on grip, and I ripped off 24 Alpha's, went 1 for 1 on 5 steel, and did not come close to a charlie. In watching the video, sure as hell, I was gripping the gun, and that's what it took for me to see a relationship in grip to accuracy, and it was cue one that I was failing in practice.
About this time, we started shooting some 3-Gun, and because my rig was built with my CZ in mind, I'd switch back to a CZ for 3-Gun. Because my practice of late had all been in Limited, and I was starting to get accustomed to shooting major power factor, the CZ felt like a powder puff load, with no recoil at all. Now though, I had a consistently good grip, and I was running the gun better than I think I ever did in Production. I was not consciously having to tell myself to grip, I just did it. From 40 yard steel, to plate racks to paper, I've been a machine in terms of accuracy with the CZ. The laugh at the last match was that you need either 1 Alpha or 2 on paper to neutralize the target, and I had 2 Alpha hits on everything, running the gun fast, and hard. There were a couple of steel misses, and those I attribute to my getting lazy (last steel on a rack after running 2 plate racks, and I did not get a sight picture, I just figured I had it...dumb). The point was that my grip was the biggest difference, and suddenly I was running the gun well.
I borrowed a buddies 6" 9mm 2011 just for a test, ran some wide transitions, and there is so much steel there, the gun doesn't move, but I was taking head shots at 25 yards, and getting an "A" zone hit with solid speed, and confidence....grip, not sights was a limiting factor. I moved back to my Limited gun, and ran the same exercise, and I was slower, and I fought the gun, but with an ogre grip I was getting a head shot (maybe only 30% A's, the rest B's) but the difference was confidence in calling my shot.
Over the past couple of weeks I started to review what I was doing in dry fire, and give an honest assessment of my past practice. The reality was that when I would practice draws or reloads, or damn near anything, I would focus on the "core" part of the drill, so on a 2 reload 2 drill, I would be focused on getting my reload done to beat the 1.5 second par time, what I was not doing was paying much attention to how I got there. My grip was passable at best, but far too often I'd have my support hand just "on" the gun, with minimal grip, preparing for the next action, not treating it as a separate action. The power factor change forced me to pay more attention to my grip, but because I assumed and did not think about it in dry fire, the only place I actually focused on it was once I came to the line in live fire. Combine that with a poor habit in dry fire, one that was doing the exact opposite as what I needed to do, I don't think I was building any kind of good habit, and that in turn has played a huge part in my maddening and frustrating inconsistency.
As dumb as I felt about the fact I was cheating in dry fire, I opened the conversation with a few other shooters, and found that they also had the same question. How can you be honest and catch yourself if you are cheating and building a bad habit in dry fire? As usual, a conversation with Les helped open my mind, and I'm going to start to adding some checks to my practice. Every third draw or so, pay more attention to grip, is it perfect? Once I add some checks, it makes it easier to insure I build good habits. Once upon a time, when I started with dry fire, I really think I had a better grip, and I practiced it. I'm not sure when it drifted off, or I stopped paying attention, but it definitely happened. Just goes to show that practicing bad habits is pretty easy. I'm also going to add some dot drills to my regular practice routine, more as a "prover" for me. At this point I feel like I know my sights well enough that I'm not thinking about them, but if I cheat with a Limited gun on grip, I'll fail miserably with the Dot Drill, so adding some more checks and balances will help.
That was a rough admission, but I also saw I was not alone with the issue, building a smarter practice, and remaining focused on everything that I'm doing will go a long way. The goal now is to build grip to a subconscious place, so I do it correctly all the time, and I don't have to think about it. Split focus in a match means I'm not going full speed, and to get where I want to be, I need every little bit of speed that I can find. Bonus here, is my accuracy should go up as well!
I have a confession to make. I don't like making it, because it's an admission that I've failed in dry fire for a longer period than I would care to admit. I've cheated on my grip for over a year in dry fire, maybe approaching a year and a half, and I'm only now realizing that I was doing it, and that I was shorting myself all this time. Grip is such a fundamental aspect of shooting, it's hard to do anything well, or right if you are not gripping the gun.
To share a little bit about how I came to this conclusion, I've had some on and off struggles with Limited this year. Transitioning from Production to Limited, and from a minor power factor to a major power factor, I'd see matches or strings of targets with reduced accuracy, especially seen on some struggles with steel, both poppers and plates. For instance on a plate rack, I was rarely one for one, same with an array of steel poppers. When I shot Production, I loved shooting steel, I felt very confident, and the gun cycled, I never felt much in the way of muzzle rise. The truth is though, that even then, I had a barely passable grip, because too often I'd lose it, and in turn I could go from ace to chump in the blink of an eye.
In Limited I feel like I'm fighting the gun, and when I switched I instantly had accuracy issues. I could go Alpha/Mike pretty easily, and I did not understand where, and how that was happening, I just knew that the gun was bouncing all over the place. I was not smart enough to connect the dots though to my dry fire, and I kept on with dry fire the same as I always had. At a match, when I came to the line, I'd have to consciously say "Grip, ogre grip" to myself at the make ready command to will myself to do that. If I did that, my stages were definitively better than stages where I did not consciously tell myself to do that. Now, as I go back and review video, I can clearly see from watching the gun if I told myself to grip, if I did, the gun is cycling and I'm getting hits, if I did not, I see the gun bounce all over, and I don't need to look at a score sheet to tell myself that I clearly failed the grip.
The last USPSA match I shot, I came to the line on the last stage focused on grip, and I ripped off 24 Alpha's, went 1 for 1 on 5 steel, and did not come close to a charlie. In watching the video, sure as hell, I was gripping the gun, and that's what it took for me to see a relationship in grip to accuracy, and it was cue one that I was failing in practice.
About this time, we started shooting some 3-Gun, and because my rig was built with my CZ in mind, I'd switch back to a CZ for 3-Gun. Because my practice of late had all been in Limited, and I was starting to get accustomed to shooting major power factor, the CZ felt like a powder puff load, with no recoil at all. Now though, I had a consistently good grip, and I was running the gun better than I think I ever did in Production. I was not consciously having to tell myself to grip, I just did it. From 40 yard steel, to plate racks to paper, I've been a machine in terms of accuracy with the CZ. The laugh at the last match was that you need either 1 Alpha or 2 on paper to neutralize the target, and I had 2 Alpha hits on everything, running the gun fast, and hard. There were a couple of steel misses, and those I attribute to my getting lazy (last steel on a rack after running 2 plate racks, and I did not get a sight picture, I just figured I had it...dumb). The point was that my grip was the biggest difference, and suddenly I was running the gun well.
I borrowed a buddies 6" 9mm 2011 just for a test, ran some wide transitions, and there is so much steel there, the gun doesn't move, but I was taking head shots at 25 yards, and getting an "A" zone hit with solid speed, and confidence....grip, not sights was a limiting factor. I moved back to my Limited gun, and ran the same exercise, and I was slower, and I fought the gun, but with an ogre grip I was getting a head shot (maybe only 30% A's, the rest B's) but the difference was confidence in calling my shot.
Over the past couple of weeks I started to review what I was doing in dry fire, and give an honest assessment of my past practice. The reality was that when I would practice draws or reloads, or damn near anything, I would focus on the "core" part of the drill, so on a 2 reload 2 drill, I would be focused on getting my reload done to beat the 1.5 second par time, what I was not doing was paying much attention to how I got there. My grip was passable at best, but far too often I'd have my support hand just "on" the gun, with minimal grip, preparing for the next action, not treating it as a separate action. The power factor change forced me to pay more attention to my grip, but because I assumed and did not think about it in dry fire, the only place I actually focused on it was once I came to the line in live fire. Combine that with a poor habit in dry fire, one that was doing the exact opposite as what I needed to do, I don't think I was building any kind of good habit, and that in turn has played a huge part in my maddening and frustrating inconsistency.
As dumb as I felt about the fact I was cheating in dry fire, I opened the conversation with a few other shooters, and found that they also had the same question. How can you be honest and catch yourself if you are cheating and building a bad habit in dry fire? As usual, a conversation with Les helped open my mind, and I'm going to start to adding some checks to my practice. Every third draw or so, pay more attention to grip, is it perfect? Once I add some checks, it makes it easier to insure I build good habits. Once upon a time, when I started with dry fire, I really think I had a better grip, and I practiced it. I'm not sure when it drifted off, or I stopped paying attention, but it definitely happened. Just goes to show that practicing bad habits is pretty easy. I'm also going to add some dot drills to my regular practice routine, more as a "prover" for me. At this point I feel like I know my sights well enough that I'm not thinking about them, but if I cheat with a Limited gun on grip, I'll fail miserably with the Dot Drill, so adding some more checks and balances will help.
That was a rough admission, but I also saw I was not alone with the issue, building a smarter practice, and remaining focused on everything that I'm doing will go a long way. The goal now is to build grip to a subconscious place, so I do it correctly all the time, and I don't have to think about it. Split focus in a match means I'm not going full speed, and to get where I want to be, I need every little bit of speed that I can find. Bonus here, is my accuracy should go up as well!
Sunday, August 2, 2015
Adnil 3-Gun (Lead Farmers Match)
Adnil 3-Gun (Lead Farmers Match)
To be written still.......
Stage 1:
Stage 2:
Stage 3:
Stage 4:
Full Match:
To be written still.......
Stage 1:
Stage 2:
Stage 3:
Stage 4:
Full Match:
3-Gun North Texas Lead Farmers
3-Gun North Texas Lead Farmers
Got up early to drive a couple of hours to shoot some 3-Gun, again borrowing gear from Hayes Custom. Both Linda and I were looking forward to the match, and getting our first chance to shoot a "real" 3-Gun match. We had some struggles, but we're new to 3-Gun, so that's okay. Post match I have one serious gripe though, and I doubt that I'll come back for the match. Match fee was $50 per shooter, and for that, they set-up ahead of time so shooters don't have to build stages, and they pay people to come tear down, which is awesome. That said, the admin for the match was less than impressive, and the scoring was down right atrocious. Linda shot a stage with a single Mike, (5 second penalty) but was charged 75 seconds in penalties, no idea where that came from or how it happened. I miss 2 slug shots (10 seconds each in penalties) I was charged 40 seconds in penalties. Aaron had a mike on a stage (5 second penalty) and was charged 10 seconds, which cost him 1st overall in the match. Either it was a really shoddy job of writing scores down, or someone screwed up entering them online, neither is acceptable for that admission fee. In addition, a stage had to be thrown out because the other squad shot it differently....no idea how that was even possible, but short version is that it was written poorly enough that they could not figure it out.
Onward to the video:
Stage 1:
From the get-go, I took a mike/no-shoot on one of the first targets, and that's a rough way to start a stage, and a match. I was running Aaron's rifle, and I turned up the magnification for the plate rack, and ran into an eye relief issue. I flat out missed on some of the plates, and once I figured out what I was doing, had lost some time. I did come out of that position pretty well, and was ready to start shooting as I moved into the 2nd position, in the future I'd like to take targets on the move though.
Once I dumped the rifle I ran the plate rack pretty well, and the paper, the last plate rack was something new to me, and each plate was getting smaller and smaller, I just did not get a good enough sight picture on the final piece of steel and paid the price. The overall gripe here was that the steel was set so heavily (not calibrated properly) that it was almost too hard to knock over. This was the stage where Linda got screwed in the scoring.
Stage 2:
Yes that really is a Texas Star about 70 yards down range that I'm about to shoot with a rifle. I started off with the barrel, not the key way on the barricade and that caused a problem, once they told me to fix that I got better, but that was not easy for me. I ran the shotgun passably, but my reloads were pretty slow, and I only hit one of the two 70 yard steels with slugs meaning a 10 second penalty.
Stage 3:
This is the stage that got tossed, no, really, stop giggling. How the hell would someone shoot this differently? Well, apparently the other squad used pistol for everything, no idea why they did not use the dump bin and staging bin downrange for the pistol and shotgun. I won't say complete idiots, but wow, just wow......I ran the pistol here again pretty damn well, I'm transitioning and splitting a lot better. After the first reload it seemed like I slowed down, but there was a no-shoot on a diagonal that would have counted, had I taken it with a shoot thru, and that was inevitable unless you were at the right angle.
My shotgun and reloads were not great, I was shooting over the targets, and that's a killer. I ran out of ammo and had to take a penalty for leaving the last piece of steel plate rack standing.
Stage 4:
My first ever long range stage. I took the shotgun phase walking, and I could have ran, or shot on the move, but 2nd time ever running a shotgun, I think I need some practice before doing that. I got all my hits on the shotgun, my reloads left me time to walk before I reached my positions, so that's a good thing. My pace could have gone quicker though. Upon climbing the trailer, I missed the slug shots, and I took 40 seconds in penalties, it should have been 20 seconds, so I got screwed here. The pistol targets were all Alpha's (all you need is 2 on paper, and yet I hit the A zone with all shots, and yes I know, because Linda and Niki taped them.) so the extra penalty could not have come from here. Rifle went from 100 yards, to 200 yards, to 300 yards, then over to 250 and 225 respectively. I was on a roll with the long shots, but I skipped over the 4th target, shot the 5th target 4 times before the spotters realized what I did (notice I had to tell them) and then came back. That part was my fault, but it cost me time, and I was actually getting hits. Bummer.
Full Match:
Okay, I had fun shooting, there was a degree of challenge here that I don't get in USPSA, Every stage is an adrenaline rush. I'll be honest, I thought my pistol work was as good as, or better than just about everyone in the squad. Shooting a minor power factor 9mm load thru a sweet CZ is easy as can be. That gun just melts into my hand (I shot Linda's old gun, not my old gun) and I can only imagine shooting thru a 2011. I was better off with Steve's rifle, his optic set-up (higher) suited me better, and I hit the long targets pretty well, and never suffered from eye relief. The truth is, I need to learn to shoot rifle, and practice if I want to get better. With the shotgun, same deal, I need more practice, and I need to learn to shot on the move if I really want to excel.
There are a few gear questions, because I'm trying all sorts of shot shell caddies to find what works best for me. (Tac-com did not work well for me today) but like anything else, if I want to improve, I need to get out and work on them. I really love shotgun, and today the long range felt great, I love the sport, and I've about decided that any shooting is good shooting.
Got up early to drive a couple of hours to shoot some 3-Gun, again borrowing gear from Hayes Custom. Both Linda and I were looking forward to the match, and getting our first chance to shoot a "real" 3-Gun match. We had some struggles, but we're new to 3-Gun, so that's okay. Post match I have one serious gripe though, and I doubt that I'll come back for the match. Match fee was $50 per shooter, and for that, they set-up ahead of time so shooters don't have to build stages, and they pay people to come tear down, which is awesome. That said, the admin for the match was less than impressive, and the scoring was down right atrocious. Linda shot a stage with a single Mike, (5 second penalty) but was charged 75 seconds in penalties, no idea where that came from or how it happened. I miss 2 slug shots (10 seconds each in penalties) I was charged 40 seconds in penalties. Aaron had a mike on a stage (5 second penalty) and was charged 10 seconds, which cost him 1st overall in the match. Either it was a really shoddy job of writing scores down, or someone screwed up entering them online, neither is acceptable for that admission fee. In addition, a stage had to be thrown out because the other squad shot it differently....no idea how that was even possible, but short version is that it was written poorly enough that they could not figure it out.
Onward to the video:
Stage 1:
From the get-go, I took a mike/no-shoot on one of the first targets, and that's a rough way to start a stage, and a match. I was running Aaron's rifle, and I turned up the magnification for the plate rack, and ran into an eye relief issue. I flat out missed on some of the plates, and once I figured out what I was doing, had lost some time. I did come out of that position pretty well, and was ready to start shooting as I moved into the 2nd position, in the future I'd like to take targets on the move though.
Once I dumped the rifle I ran the plate rack pretty well, and the paper, the last plate rack was something new to me, and each plate was getting smaller and smaller, I just did not get a good enough sight picture on the final piece of steel and paid the price. The overall gripe here was that the steel was set so heavily (not calibrated properly) that it was almost too hard to knock over. This was the stage where Linda got screwed in the scoring.
Stage 2:
Yes that really is a Texas Star about 70 yards down range that I'm about to shoot with a rifle. I started off with the barrel, not the key way on the barricade and that caused a problem, once they told me to fix that I got better, but that was not easy for me. I ran the shotgun passably, but my reloads were pretty slow, and I only hit one of the two 70 yard steels with slugs meaning a 10 second penalty.
Stage 3:
This is the stage that got tossed, no, really, stop giggling. How the hell would someone shoot this differently? Well, apparently the other squad used pistol for everything, no idea why they did not use the dump bin and staging bin downrange for the pistol and shotgun. I won't say complete idiots, but wow, just wow......I ran the pistol here again pretty damn well, I'm transitioning and splitting a lot better. After the first reload it seemed like I slowed down, but there was a no-shoot on a diagonal that would have counted, had I taken it with a shoot thru, and that was inevitable unless you were at the right angle.
My shotgun and reloads were not great, I was shooting over the targets, and that's a killer. I ran out of ammo and had to take a penalty for leaving the last piece of steel plate rack standing.
Stage 4:
My first ever long range stage. I took the shotgun phase walking, and I could have ran, or shot on the move, but 2nd time ever running a shotgun, I think I need some practice before doing that. I got all my hits on the shotgun, my reloads left me time to walk before I reached my positions, so that's a good thing. My pace could have gone quicker though. Upon climbing the trailer, I missed the slug shots, and I took 40 seconds in penalties, it should have been 20 seconds, so I got screwed here. The pistol targets were all Alpha's (all you need is 2 on paper, and yet I hit the A zone with all shots, and yes I know, because Linda and Niki taped them.) so the extra penalty could not have come from here. Rifle went from 100 yards, to 200 yards, to 300 yards, then over to 250 and 225 respectively. I was on a roll with the long shots, but I skipped over the 4th target, shot the 5th target 4 times before the spotters realized what I did (notice I had to tell them) and then came back. That part was my fault, but it cost me time, and I was actually getting hits. Bummer.
Full Match:
Okay, I had fun shooting, there was a degree of challenge here that I don't get in USPSA, Every stage is an adrenaline rush. I'll be honest, I thought my pistol work was as good as, or better than just about everyone in the squad. Shooting a minor power factor 9mm load thru a sweet CZ is easy as can be. That gun just melts into my hand (I shot Linda's old gun, not my old gun) and I can only imagine shooting thru a 2011. I was better off with Steve's rifle, his optic set-up (higher) suited me better, and I hit the long targets pretty well, and never suffered from eye relief. The truth is, I need to learn to shoot rifle, and practice if I want to get better. With the shotgun, same deal, I need more practice, and I need to learn to shot on the move if I really want to excel.
There are a few gear questions, because I'm trying all sorts of shot shell caddies to find what works best for me. (Tac-com did not work well for me today) but like anything else, if I want to improve, I need to get out and work on them. I really love shotgun, and today the long range felt great, I love the sport, and I've about decided that any shooting is good shooting.
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