2015 Oilfield Classic
If there was ever a match that kicked my ass, and had me leaving the range nearly despondent wanting to quit shooting, this was it. After Area 4, I wanted to come out aggressive, I wanted to attack the stages, and I wanted to run the gun a hell of a lot better than I did at Area 4. I wanted to reduce the time I gave up there, and I thought sure that I could do it.
Then I ran into "Mike"
I had an ongoing issue thru the match, which evidently was attributed to my grip. Manny Bragg and Roy Steadman noticed on Stage 12 that my strong hand thumb was not on the safety, and as a result my support hand was too low, and my hand was almost going up. I was riding the slide, stopping the gun from going into battery, so all the tap/rack? Those were all my fault, every single one of them. It wasn't the ammo, it sure as hell was not the gun, it was all operator error.
I've never had that issue, ever before, and the reason I had it today was practice, I practiced a bad habit, and I did not catch it. Even after I knew what was up it still happened later on. This was the start of my disgust.
Side note? Day 1 I arrived to the match with less than 1 hour of sleep. I'd gotten home much later than anticipated from a customer event, I had to get my gear ready, and Linda woke me up asking me if I had my second iPad plugged in. I don't even have a first iPad.....thanks! Then I had to drive the 2 hours to the match while she and Lauren got to nap. I'm actually impressed I kept my focus, but it was a greater struggle than it should have been.
Full Match:
I can't attribute all my "mikes" to the tap/rack, but significantly the tap rack routine ended most often with a mike on that target, and on a couple of stages it happened and I lost my composure, and blew follow ups. When it happened at first, I kept my cool, and stayed in the game, but when it kept happening, I lost my composure, and I tried to make up time by going faster, and we all know what happens then.
The best part was that I did run the gun harder, I felt better about it, and I know I can do it. There are so many glimpses of the fact I can perform better than I am, it's just a matter of work, but that's the subject of the next blog...
Stage 8:
27 Alpha
1 Bravo
3 Charlie
1 Delta
1 Mike
1 No-Shoot
The Mike/No-Shoot were on the ramp, I transitioned to the no-shoot and hit it, and I'd run the gun dry on the last shot, so I was not going to reload to just clean up the "Mike". The failure to let the gun get into battery issue started here, and I lost significant time with it. I did run the gun far better than at Area 4, and other than my second to last shot, thought I ran the stage solidly, getting good hits at speed. Could I have been faster in a few parts? Sure, but on the whole, I did not have complaints, and thought that I'd get going the right way from here.
Stage 9:
20 Alpha
9 Charlie
2 Delta
3 Mike
1 FTE
I had a squib, I heard it, did not see the hole, and I stopped myself because the RO was not inclined to do so. That meant I had to take a mike for the squib, 2 mikes and the FTE for the last target I could not engage. I walked away pretty unhappy about that, and I was starting to feel that the match was not going my way.
Let's face it though, I got confused on the left side on which target I wanted to engage from where and I cost myself some time. I knew my plan on the other side, and I wish I had run it the same way from the other side.
Stage 10:
22 Alpha
4 Bravo
5 Charlie
1 Mike
I so wanted to get my shit back together on this stage, and I watched shooter after shooter get FTE trying to go past targets and forgetting one, or trying to shoot on the move, hunting and pecking, and ultimately going slow that I just decided to shot it from 2 positions, one on each side of the benches. A bobble on the start cost me, I'm impressed I caught the mag and got it in, but on the first tap/rack, I threw a mike. Center of the target was all torn up, and Roy thought it was 2 Alpha, the RO pulled out the overlay, and said he thought it was an Alpha/Mike and called it. I asked to have it pulled when it got pasted, and I gave up at that point and ate it. I honestly thought it was 2 Alpha, but again did not want to slow things down. After Area 4, and this match, the next time this comes up, I'm going to be that guy and get the RM to rule.
Look, I don't want to be a pain in the ass, and I'm not about to win a match, so I hate to slow people down, but at A4, I knew the rule, and I knew they got it wrong, I should have done it, this one, it was debatable, it could have gone either way, and since I was not 100% sure, then I felt better letting it go.
I did feel like this stage could be a catalyst for getting going and turning my day around.
Stage 11:
24 Alpha
2 Bravo
2 Charlie
Normally I'm only putting my head into the toilet when I'm drinking, I wasn't drinking here at all, but after the match I sure as hell needed to be. I was worried about strong hand shooting, but the targets were close enough, and I could hold my seat up with my head and use two hands when there were no shoots and I wanted to run faster, and be accurate. I shot slowly, my accuracy on the stage indicates that, I'm not unhappy with that, but I know I can go faster thru here, this was just index to the target and you've got it.
Stage 12:
14 Alpha
1 Bravo
10 Charlie
1 Delta
2 Mike
1 No-Shoot
First stage back from an hour long break, and this is where Manny and Roy caught my thumb coming off the safety. I'm not blaming the mikes on that, although having to tap rack, I forgot my plan, shot poorly, tried to run faster, then went slower, and never had my head in this stage. If you can lose a match in single stage, this is the one that killed my first day, at least mentally.
Stage 1:
7 Alpha
1 Bravo
3 Charlie
1 Mike (3rd target, the transition off when I'm about to run.....)
Yep, Mike came back. It was a slow draw to first shot, remember I did this classifier a few months ago in practice at Kozy's urging, he wanted me to work on breaking my grip, running to the next position, and getting ready quickly. I just did not finish my last shot in the first area. How many times is this going to come back and bite me?
Stage 2:
6 Alpha
6 Charlie
1 Delta
1 Mike (mid range on the right, into the hard cover)
I hate ropes, okay? I hate them. I was seriously intimidated, thinking I'd lean too far and fall on my face, and like I said a few weeks ago, I suck strong hand. I'm worse weak hand, so I shot both sides strong hand. I took way too many shots at the steel on the left side. I know it was slow, I'm actually surprised I got hits, this is obviously a skill I need to work on. I don't see it much in club matches, but it's a favorite of major's, so it's time I work on it.
With this stage, we were done for the day.
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