After day one dinner at Go Go Gumbo (which is no kidding some of the best Gumbo I've ever had in my life) we headed off to clean our guns. Everything was covered with a layer of grit, and dirt, making it imperative that all guns get cleaned every single day. It was a good experience because Aaron taught me how and what I need to clean on the shotgun, and Steve did the same on the AR. Now I know what I need to take apart, how to take it apart, and what tools I should have on hand.
Day two meant we started shooting at 9:15, instead of 8am. Someone (not me!) was busy playing app games, and we did not leave until 8:30, which meant we arrived at about 9am (after stopping for someone's breakfast, and my drinks). The first squad was done, and we were at walk thru, and I had unloaded mags, I was the 2nd shooter and I felt my tension go thru the roof. Not the way to start the day!
All placement based on my division, Tac Ops.
Fallen Brethren Scores
Stage 4
Missing walk thru (and it was a change from this stage description.) was not good. The paper targets were gone, but we were instructed that we had to shoot all the steel once, then reload, and re-engage the steel with the pistol a 2nd time before grounding the pistol, and moving up to the rifle line. The pistol targets varied, from 10-12 yards, to 50 yards across a dry wash. I absolutely train wrecked the first go around, and could not hit the long steel, had mags only partially loaded. When I was done the first time (done shooting, I was mentally done before I got to the line) I ran to the forward charge line to shoot rifle, and the RO asked if I knew I was supposed to re-engage the pistol steel. He stopped me, looked at his watch, and gave me a gift. He told me that we started a couple minutes early, and I missed walk thru so they let me re-shoot. That was a gift from heaven, that I will never get again.
I loaded mags, calmed down, got centered, and as the last shooter went back out and received my gift. For perhaps the first time in my history a re-shoot went my way. I ran the pistol steel twice, jumped up to the rifle, and nailed it. Unfortunately, no video as far as I know.
I did however manage my best stage finish of the match. 123.76 clean, and 110th place overall. Give me that 6" Hayes Custom pistol, and I honestly think 85-100 seconds is something I could have done, and that would have put me 70-100 area. No complaints though, I got a gift and made the most of it.
Stage 5:
This more or less begins and ends with "I forgot my gun", which is going to be a laugh for everyone for quite awhile. It got funny for me come that night, after several drinks, and it really is comedy gold now. At the time, it had me in an epic meltdown. So what went right? I'm not unhappy with rifle across the creek, I had a couple make-up shots, once when I thought I forgot a target, but I knew where I wanted to be, and was okay. The short targets still freak me out a bit because I have to aim at the top edge of them because the scope sits that much higher than the barrel. Across the creek there was a 3rd target with a no-shoot, and I put 2 on the paper, 1 in the no-shoot, it's the hold at the top of the target that I need to get used to.
I forgot to take the safety off the shotgun, and I need to practice my loading. This was the first stage with the heavier birdshot, and the shotgun ran like a champ. Slightly more recoil than the 1145's I had, but not bad at all. I felt like I was shooting slow to get all my hits, and the video confirms that, I can definitely run it harder and faster.
Then I tripped, fell, and realized I did not have my pistol. Not much more I can say.
I was at 61.44 when disaster fell, and took 125 seconds in penalty which put me at 162nd place. My honest feeling is that I would have run the stage between 80-90 seconds, which would have put me between 70th and 100th place. Wishing doesn't do me a bit of good, but that's where I believe I should have been. Overall winning time was 48 seconds, which really goes to show how good some of these guys are.
Stage 6:
My first ever stage across two bays, and it was a lesson in an uncomfortable rifle shooting position. The steel poppers could not have been more than 80-100 yards, but I had a hard time getting my reticle on the steel. I was pushing the mag into the dashboard, and it made it tough for me to lower the gun, which in turn made it harder for me to get down and so on. I struggled to get thru it, and I came away appreciating advice Aaron gave me to practice looking thru the reticle thru odd positions. on the couch, a chair, anything at all.
My goal with shotgun was to just run it hard. With a 12 round tube, the tip I got was to shoot the 3 poppers, load 6, then clean everything, it left me 2 rounds extra, which it turns out I needed. I wanted to really push and get splits, and honestly I'm happy, the gun rose on the small plate miss, and I was off over the top on the plate miss. I was worried about hitting the no shoot plate, so I aimed to the left of the one plate, and got the hit, but went up and over, instead of just over on the other. Again, I absolutely believe I can run the shotgun.
There were 15 shots for the pistol side (all the targets before I got to the dump barrel had to be engaged with shotgun, all after the barrel had to be engaged with pistol.) Dillen Easley, one of the Pro Shooters on my squad saw me preparing, and asked how man rounds I had in the CZ mag, and I replied "18", and he asked me where I was planning on reloading. I responded with "I'm not, I've got plenty to run this." I know it probably sounded like over confidence considering everything I'd been thru, but I knew I had it. Turns out I was almost right, which means I was absolutely wrong. I needed one make up on all the other shots, and I bet on the fact I could hit "A" zones or head shots as needed to save some rounds to use on the clay.
The clay ate me up, I knew it was a 10 second penalty, so I reloaded took a few and stopped, I never should have done that. Shooting a clay was hard, I admit it, it should not have been, but I let it eat me up. I had 3 shots to get it done, and I didn't. That said, give me the Hayes Custom Pistol, let me run it regularly and I'll eat that up.
124.88 plus 20 seconds in penalty put me 163rd place. I got 10 seconds for the clay, and 10 for hitting the no-shoot on the rifle side. Amazing stage because I struggled on rifle, but walked away feeling okay about both shotgun and pistol. Sometimes when I struggle, I still need to see some positives, and there were some here, even if rifle was rough.
Stage 7:
It sure looked cool to start, but I had a time out here.
It started out okay, I needed a make-up or two on the 6 or 7 steel that I shot from the barricade at 110 yards. I did not want to sprint down to the overturned car because I learned on Friday how important it is to keep your breathing consistent, and heart rate as low as possible when shooting longer range rifle. I figured that any extra time running there would be saved if I got there and was able to focus. On the short paper, I was mindful of where I had to aim, in reality since I ran over to them, I could have about indexed the barrel to them and shot, instead I slowed and stopped. That cost me, and I knew it when I did it.
Before I shot, Aaron gave me a piece of advice, he told me to go prone. The overturned car was great for a left handed shooter because he could lean on it and better brace the gun. I tried to get my elbow on it, and rest it on the mag, and that was a mistake. I started out okay on the 200 yard to 160 yard steel, but at one point the mag caught when I tried to make a small turn, and I lost about 4 targets. My first question to the RO was how many I missed. It's not that I thought I knew better, I just felt uncomfortable going prone.
Once I stopped on the rifle, I jumped to pistol, cleaned the first plate rack, and left one standing with struggles on the second. I knew I was racing the par time at that point, and kept shooting faster. Dumb, dumb, and even more dumb. I've shot enough pistol matches to know I was not focused on my front sight.
The 180 time out, and 50 seconds of penalty hurt. It put me in 156th place for the stage.
It was a long day for me, and it was hard to deal with some of the struggle. I can handle a struggle with long range, or something like that, but the mental mistakes are tough, because I'm not a new shooter, and I made some real rookie mistakes.
Topping it all off, there was an issue where Linda's shotgun came out of the 4-Wheeler it was clamped into, and it was returned to me in several pieces. It can be fixed, it's all good, but that just made for a real long day.
Merlot shots....not a good idea. FYI.
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