Fallen Brethren 3-Gun
So, not a lot of video, and frankly a pretty poorly shot match again this year. My goal was to improve on my 2015 finish and I did that, but I still finished 180th of 208 shooters, even though I never had an individual stage finish of lower than 145th, and I had a couple of 102nd place finishes. Meaning that I did not have the good stages other people did, I was mid pack or lower 3rd for the bulk of the match. The highlight of the match was that I was meeting Chris Hall, and he was going to come down, take a whack at shooting 3-Gun. Go figure, first ever match is a major match!
Things did not go quite according to plan, since Chris had a little accident a few days before the match and serious hurt his wrist, he managed to shoot one stage, and frankly I'm amazed that he was able to finish it. Being the absolute kick ass guy that he is, he stuck around and reset non-stop for three whole days, more character there than most people have. In fact, there was a certain squad mate who liked to shout to get people to help, he would reset one piece of steel and then he took the rest of the stage off from re-setting....some people....
My highlights are a dinner at Sweetie Pie's Ribeye's, and then two nights at Go Go Gumbo! That should really tell you all you need to know about the match!
Fallen Brethren Match Scores
Stage 7:
Stage 8:
For grins, I added in the 2015 version of the same stage, where I went all pistol. I was so convinced I would do better in 2016, but if you look what happened, I was darn near better off in 2015, and someday, I think I should put big boy pants on, and shoot it all shotgun. If I had the reload down, I suspect that would make it legitimately better.
312 Shoots:
Sunday, October 2, 2016
Sunday, June 19, 2016
Happy Father's Day From an Awful Dad
Happy Father's Day From an Awful Dad
Friends,
Confession time. I am an awful parent. It's true, what it took for me to come to that realization is a recent article in the NY Daily News by Gersh Kuntzman. I read thru his piece, and his follow-up and it got me thinking. You see, I've taken my own daughter shooting, and I never really considered the "bruising" or "short term PTSD" she was suffering from when I did that. I never thought about
"the smell of sulfur or destruction" (Speaking of, is that what destruction smells like? I wasn't quite sure, I thought his description smelled like bullshit, but I've been wrong before.) Heck, I did not realize that I was making her "anxious or irritable", his erroneous definition of PTSD. Finally, I did not realize the the explosions were "loud, like a bomb." Evidently Gersh has more experience in New York, in his "safe space" about what bombs sound like than I do, I'll have to take his word for it.
My ten year old daughter shoots, and I'm not ashamed of that, but other than friends, I don't generally advertise that fact either. Until I read Mr. Kuntzman's article, I can tell you exactly what I thought it had done for my daughter. You see, Lauren has shot some shotgun, some AR, and some pistol, and more than that, she's spent some time with me at matches, and I can run down some of things that I thought she had learned.
Be Strong, Overcome Your Fears:
I picked up a gun for the first time at 39, so I admit, I was nervous, even a little afraid the first time that I went to shoot. I mention that because it helps me relate to her. At 7, she was nervous picking up a .22 and shooting it, under supervision, at the range. That was 3 years ago, in the last year she's fired slugs from a shotgun, (which if you've run one, you know that's where the recoil is), she's run a full-size AR-15 (she has her own in .22), and recently she graduated to her own 9mm pistol from a .22.
She became stronger, she found out that she had inner courage, and the strength to conquer her fears. Moving from IL to Texas was a big change, and growing up presents all sorts of challenges, I'd always thought it was important to instill that self confidence in her, but perhaps I went about it the wrong way?
You Want It? Earn It!:
I've put in varying levels of practice shooting USPSA, and I've seen my performance peak, and then drop. My daughter has also seen how good people become when they put in the hard work. Math was a subject that she never really cared for, but this year I watched her ace it, and do it with confidence. At the beginning of the year she told me she wanted to be in the "top" spelling group, so I watched her work, practice, and achieve her goal.
The thing is, she learned her lesson both watching me, and watching friends, and then she applied her lesson, with very little encouragement needed from my wife or I. It's funny, she sees Bernie Sanders talk, and she get's upset that there are so many people out there who feel entitled to things, and want thing without having to work for them.
Yeah, evidently that doesn't fit in with the mainstream millennials these days.
Help Strangers:
At a recent match, we were having problems with a gun running smoothly, and while a friend came up to help, a random person at the match came forward, ran to his car, and gave me a $10 part. I don't know who he was, had never met him, and he refused to take the money for it. I expected her to ask me why the guy did that, but when I did not get that question, I asked her, "Why do you think that he helped us?" Her answer was elegant for a ten year old "Gee Dad, that's what shooters do, we help each other at a match, we all want to have fun, now you have to help someone too."
Conclusions:
Those are just a few of the little things. I won't speak at length how a shy, young girl, found more confidence being with adults. It may not apply how she has spent time working to help set-up matches (even when I did not) because she wanted to help a club succeed. All things that I was proud of, at least until I had to reconsider what kind of damage I was doing to her psyche, much less her shoulder.
Mr. Kuntzman posted several responses in his follow-up article, and being honest, I see some angry people, and of course cherry picking them is easy, and it makes a point, even if it's a little disingenuous. Of course that's something that Mr. Kuntzman should be familiar with, notice he apologized for saying his experience was "short term PTSD", because I think we all know that it's not true, he was just saying it to make a point, elicit a reaction, and guess what? It worked.
Is an AR-15 inherently dangerous? Is a knife inherently dangerous? FBI Statistics on US Murders will show you that in 2014 that 248 deaths were reported by rifle, 1567 were reported by knife. In 2014, just under 10,000 deaths were reported as having occurred as the result of drunk driving, and that's just about 1/3rd the total deaths that occurred by automobile. Are cars that inherently dangerous? When you read about the death of an entire family because of a drunk driver, do you immediately blame the car? I'll be honest, I've seen people blame the driver for their choices.
I'm not trying to sell you that guns are safe, and I'm not even trying to change your point of view, but there is an alarming amount of propaganda being thrown around these days, that people have stopped paying attention to facts. A Philadelphia columnist recently wrote an article about how she was able to buy an AR, and the paperwork and background check took only 7 minutes. Shocking right? That a background check would have any pertinent court records, or arrest records of a U.S. Citizen be accessible to a gun shop that quick. Can you imagine though, if there were no court records, no records of any kind, how long would that be? How thorough is that background check? Oh, wait, all the Syrian refugees are getting a background check, but without access to actual background information. Think about that a little more, if you can't do it in 7 minutes for someone with a background you can check, how can you do it for someone without a background you can check?
I digress a bit, from my point though. My daughter read some of the salient points from Mr. Kuntzman's article, and asked me why someone would publish something like that, something that is not true. I had to explain her that an editorial is an opinion piece, not a factual piece, and in this day and age is often simply used to push a political agenda, facts be damned. As a journalism major myself, it stung to admit that, and the lesson that journalists report news, they don't make the news was perhaps no longer valid in today's society.
Did we all appreciate the irony in Mr. Kuntzman article? His comment that "You can't even have an opinion on assault rifles-unless it's their's, Here's the proof:" I'd point out that Mr. Kuntzman singles out certain responses, but what is he actually doing, other than mocking people who don't agree with him? Isn't he pretty much saying that unless you agree with him, you are worthy of be mocked? Strange, he had to write a follow-up people to express the fact that he did not appreciate being mocked himself.
He closes his piece by saying "...if that makes me a girl, well, maybe we should have a girl running the country." That's an interesting point Mr. Kuntzman, I'd suggest that instead of that being the punchline of your argument, you instead illustrate that ignorance, and unethical behavior are not gender specific. You make a great point that like Mrs. Clinton, when you can't talk intelligently about something, or lack the character to admit you are pushing a political agenda, you resort to the same tactics that she does. Bravo!
I took a philosophy class in college, I went for a couple of hours twice a week, for a semester, but I don't present myself as knowledgeable. I'd wager I spent more time in that class than Mr. Kuntzman did researching, or shooting for his article.Sure, Mr. Kuntzman did not present himself as knowledgeable, and considering his hyperbole, it's evident he isn't. You know what else comes across? The appearance that he went to shoot an AR to reinforce an opinion that he already had. Does anyone believe he went with an open mind, wanting to really find out? Or do you believe that he went with an already formed opinion, and simply wanted fodder to take advantage of the recent incident and write his article? So let me ask, how much should his opinion even matter? I have strong opinions about several types of food, but I don't think my opinions are universal, nor do I think that everyone else must appreciate things the same way that I do.
Is it strange that I believe my ten year old daughter has more character in her little finger than someone pushing a political agenda without a clue like Mr. Kuntzman? Perhaps, but what should really be alarming to anyone reading this, is that it's probably true. Mr Kuntzman, a suggestion? Stay in your "safe place", don't dare to think beyond yourself, or to use your pulpit to make this a better world. There are 10 year olds out there who are better prepared to do that than either of us.
Until that day.....
Friends,
Confession time. I am an awful parent. It's true, what it took for me to come to that realization is a recent article in the NY Daily News by Gersh Kuntzman. I read thru his piece, and his follow-up and it got me thinking. You see, I've taken my own daughter shooting, and I never really considered the "bruising" or "short term PTSD" she was suffering from when I did that. I never thought about
"the smell of sulfur or destruction" (Speaking of, is that what destruction smells like? I wasn't quite sure, I thought his description smelled like bullshit, but I've been wrong before.) Heck, I did not realize that I was making her "anxious or irritable", his erroneous definition of PTSD. Finally, I did not realize the the explosions were "loud, like a bomb." Evidently Gersh has more experience in New York, in his "safe space" about what bombs sound like than I do, I'll have to take his word for it.
My ten year old daughter shoots, and I'm not ashamed of that, but other than friends, I don't generally advertise that fact either. Until I read Mr. Kuntzman's article, I can tell you exactly what I thought it had done for my daughter. You see, Lauren has shot some shotgun, some AR, and some pistol, and more than that, she's spent some time with me at matches, and I can run down some of things that I thought she had learned.
Be Strong, Overcome Your Fears:
I picked up a gun for the first time at 39, so I admit, I was nervous, even a little afraid the first time that I went to shoot. I mention that because it helps me relate to her. At 7, she was nervous picking up a .22 and shooting it, under supervision, at the range. That was 3 years ago, in the last year she's fired slugs from a shotgun, (which if you've run one, you know that's where the recoil is), she's run a full-size AR-15 (she has her own in .22), and recently she graduated to her own 9mm pistol from a .22.
She became stronger, she found out that she had inner courage, and the strength to conquer her fears. Moving from IL to Texas was a big change, and growing up presents all sorts of challenges, I'd always thought it was important to instill that self confidence in her, but perhaps I went about it the wrong way?
You Want It? Earn It!:
I've put in varying levels of practice shooting USPSA, and I've seen my performance peak, and then drop. My daughter has also seen how good people become when they put in the hard work. Math was a subject that she never really cared for, but this year I watched her ace it, and do it with confidence. At the beginning of the year she told me she wanted to be in the "top" spelling group, so I watched her work, practice, and achieve her goal.
The thing is, she learned her lesson both watching me, and watching friends, and then she applied her lesson, with very little encouragement needed from my wife or I. It's funny, she sees Bernie Sanders talk, and she get's upset that there are so many people out there who feel entitled to things, and want thing without having to work for them.
Yeah, evidently that doesn't fit in with the mainstream millennials these days.
Help Strangers:
At a recent match, we were having problems with a gun running smoothly, and while a friend came up to help, a random person at the match came forward, ran to his car, and gave me a $10 part. I don't know who he was, had never met him, and he refused to take the money for it. I expected her to ask me why the guy did that, but when I did not get that question, I asked her, "Why do you think that he helped us?" Her answer was elegant for a ten year old "Gee Dad, that's what shooters do, we help each other at a match, we all want to have fun, now you have to help someone too."
Conclusions:
Those are just a few of the little things. I won't speak at length how a shy, young girl, found more confidence being with adults. It may not apply how she has spent time working to help set-up matches (even when I did not) because she wanted to help a club succeed. All things that I was proud of, at least until I had to reconsider what kind of damage I was doing to her psyche, much less her shoulder.
Mr. Kuntzman posted several responses in his follow-up article, and being honest, I see some angry people, and of course cherry picking them is easy, and it makes a point, even if it's a little disingenuous. Of course that's something that Mr. Kuntzman should be familiar with, notice he apologized for saying his experience was "short term PTSD", because I think we all know that it's not true, he was just saying it to make a point, elicit a reaction, and guess what? It worked.
Is an AR-15 inherently dangerous? Is a knife inherently dangerous? FBI Statistics on US Murders will show you that in 2014 that 248 deaths were reported by rifle, 1567 were reported by knife. In 2014, just under 10,000 deaths were reported as having occurred as the result of drunk driving, and that's just about 1/3rd the total deaths that occurred by automobile. Are cars that inherently dangerous? When you read about the death of an entire family because of a drunk driver, do you immediately blame the car? I'll be honest, I've seen people blame the driver for their choices.
I'm not trying to sell you that guns are safe, and I'm not even trying to change your point of view, but there is an alarming amount of propaganda being thrown around these days, that people have stopped paying attention to facts. A Philadelphia columnist recently wrote an article about how she was able to buy an AR, and the paperwork and background check took only 7 minutes. Shocking right? That a background check would have any pertinent court records, or arrest records of a U.S. Citizen be accessible to a gun shop that quick. Can you imagine though, if there were no court records, no records of any kind, how long would that be? How thorough is that background check? Oh, wait, all the Syrian refugees are getting a background check, but without access to actual background information. Think about that a little more, if you can't do it in 7 minutes for someone with a background you can check, how can you do it for someone without a background you can check?
I digress a bit, from my point though. My daughter read some of the salient points from Mr. Kuntzman's article, and asked me why someone would publish something like that, something that is not true. I had to explain her that an editorial is an opinion piece, not a factual piece, and in this day and age is often simply used to push a political agenda, facts be damned. As a journalism major myself, it stung to admit that, and the lesson that journalists report news, they don't make the news was perhaps no longer valid in today's society.
Did we all appreciate the irony in Mr. Kuntzman article? His comment that "You can't even have an opinion on assault rifles-unless it's their's, Here's the proof:" I'd point out that Mr. Kuntzman singles out certain responses, but what is he actually doing, other than mocking people who don't agree with him? Isn't he pretty much saying that unless you agree with him, you are worthy of be mocked? Strange, he had to write a follow-up people to express the fact that he did not appreciate being mocked himself.
He closes his piece by saying "...if that makes me a girl, well, maybe we should have a girl running the country." That's an interesting point Mr. Kuntzman, I'd suggest that instead of that being the punchline of your argument, you instead illustrate that ignorance, and unethical behavior are not gender specific. You make a great point that like Mrs. Clinton, when you can't talk intelligently about something, or lack the character to admit you are pushing a political agenda, you resort to the same tactics that she does. Bravo!
I took a philosophy class in college, I went for a couple of hours twice a week, for a semester, but I don't present myself as knowledgeable. I'd wager I spent more time in that class than Mr. Kuntzman did researching, or shooting for his article.Sure, Mr. Kuntzman did not present himself as knowledgeable, and considering his hyperbole, it's evident he isn't. You know what else comes across? The appearance that he went to shoot an AR to reinforce an opinion that he already had. Does anyone believe he went with an open mind, wanting to really find out? Or do you believe that he went with an already formed opinion, and simply wanted fodder to take advantage of the recent incident and write his article? So let me ask, how much should his opinion even matter? I have strong opinions about several types of food, but I don't think my opinions are universal, nor do I think that everyone else must appreciate things the same way that I do.
And that's why I realize I'm a bad parent. I've got a ten year old who has developed something that I don't see in politicians, and almost never see in the media. It's perhaps less socially acceptable than ever, and it may give her a harder time growing up. It's called character. I might be a bad parent, but I guess I'm still proud that she has more than many of the knee-jerk, reactionary bull-shit artists that dominate the headlines have. I remember a time, not long ago where that mattered.
This year I'll skip Father's Day celebrations, and ponder the damage I've done to my daughters shoulder, and her psyche, and how much I'll have hurt her future by thinking that character mattered. I hope it goes without saying that there are thousands of ways for parents to instill that, and shooting is not the only way, it's just the way it worked out for our family. That said, look at what's going on, and you'll see it's a trait that obviously many did not value.
 |
| Short Term PTSD or Genuine Happiness? You Decide |
There is definitely a discussion to be had about guns, but as a country we seemingly aren't ready to sit down, talk facts, and work towards a solution, no, we're going to continue to let the politicians divide and conquer us, thinking our special interests matter, and not realizing it's simply a matter of power. Someday we'll talk about violating due process, and your belief that the government should have the ability to remove someone's rights without any proof, with no notification, leaving a person to find out for themselves why it happened. That scares me, that's more dangerous than any gun has ever been, but then again, that's just my opinion, isn't it? We could talk about how passing laws that duplicate laws we have already have will work. We can talk about what makes you believe that criminals will suddenly obey laws, and turn in guns if that sort of law is passed.
Is it strange that I believe my ten year old daughter has more character in her little finger than someone pushing a political agenda without a clue like Mr. Kuntzman? Perhaps, but what should really be alarming to anyone reading this, is that it's probably true. Mr Kuntzman, a suggestion? Stay in your "safe place", don't dare to think beyond yourself, or to use your pulpit to make this a better world. There are 10 year olds out there who are better prepared to do that than either of us.
Until that day.....
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Sundevil's Texas Open
Sundevil's Texas Open
Okay, match video will be all out of order, and since I'm inserting this blog into the correct time from six months later, I'm not even sure I have all of the stages properly labeled. Rough match, don't remember a ton, other than I was not happy with the way I shot, and that midway thru the day I was suffering from some heat stroke. I turned about 7 shades of purple, was not sweating, and this despite the fact that I was drinking at least a bottle of water per stage. One of our squad mates saw it, and he sent me off to the truck to sit in the AC for 20 minutes, and put away even more water so I could finish the afternoon. Only thing I know for sure, is the stages with the goofy hat and grey shirt were post that incident, the black shirt and hat was morning.
Texas Open Match Scores
I did get a plaque, but damn, I'm about embarrassed to have gotten 3rd C in Single Stack, I think there were only 4 of us shooting. Not exactly the way I want to remember the match.
And that's the end!
Okay, match video will be all out of order, and since I'm inserting this blog into the correct time from six months later, I'm not even sure I have all of the stages properly labeled. Rough match, don't remember a ton, other than I was not happy with the way I shot, and that midway thru the day I was suffering from some heat stroke. I turned about 7 shades of purple, was not sweating, and this despite the fact that I was drinking at least a bottle of water per stage. One of our squad mates saw it, and he sent me off to the truck to sit in the AC for 20 minutes, and put away even more water so I could finish the afternoon. Only thing I know for sure, is the stages with the goofy hat and grey shirt were post that incident, the black shirt and hat was morning.
Texas Open Match Scores
 |
| A "Participation Award" almost humiliating |
I did get a plaque, but damn, I'm about embarrassed to have gotten 3rd C in Single Stack, I think there were only 4 of us shooting. Not exactly the way I want to remember the match.
And that's the end!
Adnil's Texas Open
Adnil's Texas Open
A little screwy, but I'm inserting this blog back when it should have happened, even though I'm writing it in January of 2017. With that in mind, not all the stages are in here, we had to shoot out of order, and self RO. Heck, I may even have some of the stage numbers wrong, but at least it's here.
Texas Open Scores
And that's all she wrote......
A little screwy, but I'm inserting this blog back when it should have happened, even though I'm writing it in January of 2017. With that in mind, not all the stages are in here, we had to shoot out of order, and self RO. Heck, I may even have some of the stage numbers wrong, but at least it's here.
Texas Open Scores
And that's all she wrote......
Sunday, June 12, 2016
Double Tap 2016 Star Wars!
Double Tap 2016 Star Wars!
With the rain from last year ruining the match for us, I was really looking forward to getting up to Double Tap this year. I'll start out by saying that I had a great time, fun squad, we got all 12 stages complete by about 3:30, so we were able to move, and that's not always the case at a match like this. No big expectations, but one thing I wanted to do was get that first major with single digit misses, because that's a big step, especially being close at Cowtown and then blowing it wide open the last 2 stages. With as many as I've shot, that should have happened a long time ago, and it's a step in the improvement direction.
Let's start from where the match began for me:
Stage 9:
18 Alpha
2 Bravo
4 Charlie
25.83 Seconds
Not a great stage, but had the Alpha hits that I was looking for. Slow transitions on the 2nd stage, and I blew a reload going into the port in the 3rd position, first time it's happened with Single Stack at a match, could I have shaved time? Of course, biggest thing I'm feeling was that my transitions were not great, and my splits at close targets were not happening as quick as they should. Things I can solve with some live fire, but not a horrible way to start the match.
Stage 10:
14 Alpha
5 Charlie
1 Delta
5 Steel
19.77 Seconds
Again, fairly slow on the draw to find, and feel comfortable on my sights, but I started to pick up a little bit of speed from there. Very slow to find my sights after opening the door, and that's a spot I could pick up some time as well. Kind of like my first stage, it was not horrible, but there are definitely things that I can clean up and improve on. Unhappy to throw a delta, and need more Alpha's especially since I'm shooting minor.
Stage 11:
6 Alpha
1 Bravo
4 Charlie
1 Delta
8 Steel
22.10 Seconds
Fun stage! Based on the plan that Tim Meyers gave me the day before, I was able to reload on the move, and never have to eat a standing reload. The Production and Single Stack shooters in my squad thought I was stupid because it meant extra movement, but I'll stand by it being the right plan, I'm able to move quicker in that area, and the standing reload sucks. I lost some time because I had to slide lock reload, it was the dreaded 11th shot because of the steel miss, and that cost me a few seconds easy. So the stage could have been a little better, but I had no trouble with the activators, and moving to get the targets on the clam shells.
Stage 12:
8 Alpha
5 Charlie
3 Mike
4 Steel
19.47 Seconds
Oops? This is one that really got away from me. Awkward lean and shooting position had me starting off slow, and when I headed into the 2nd position I wanted to really blaze thru it and make up some time. It was a great idea, but I never really saw my sights, had bad hits, and 3 mikes. This was a stage I'd really like to have back because I knew I blew it.
Stage 1:
20 Alpha
8 Charlie
4 Steel
30.42 Seconds
Not much to say other than I was just slow. Guess who got bit again by not letting the trigger reset after his first shot, for about the 10th time lately? Yep, and that's going to be trigger time going forward, it was just disappointing. Into the 2nd position I was horribly slow on my second shot, and I never really got going. Video doesn't show it, but I suspect that I had a crappy grip, and that's part of what caused it.
I laugh because I took and extra shot at the paper in the last position, and I did not need it, I had 3 Alpha's on the paper, sometimes you need to trust you called your shot. That's a mistake I made a few times in the match.
Stage 2:
19 Alpha
5 Charlie
3 Delta
1 Mike
2 Steel
35.85 Seconds
Another one that I wish that I had back. I struggled again with a slide lock reload, and you can see it ate up significant time. Why? Because I took an extra shot at a target because I thought I missed it, and I ended up getting 2 Alpha's, but either the make-up or the first shot was a Charlie. Either or, had my hits there, the miss was on a target on the other side. RO told me he almost DQ'd me for a past 180 reload headed into the last position. Video doesn't show it clearly, and I don't think I was, but it's possible, so some reload practice going to my left is going to be the agenda. Not a ton, just enough so I'm comfortable I'm doing it the right way.
Stage 3:
10 Alpha
9 Charlie
4 Delta
1 Mike
42.16 Seconds
Dot Drills, on the agenda as well. My accuracy on this stage was off pretty much every where, I had hits on the swingers, the one on the left had 2 delta hits, which to me means I was either not seeing my sights (best bet, because I was trying to remember where I needed to be to see everything.) or I was also struggling with grip issues. The bottom line is I need trigger time, a lot of trigger time to really get going, and get in shape.
Stage 4:
19 Alpha
7 Charlie
2 Delta
1 Mike
1 Steel
32.16
First stage after lunch, and I felt a little sluggish. The mike was on the steel, and I'm a little unhappy about it. There were some overall issues that multiple people had with the steel. I hit the 2nd steel in the center scoring zone (it was painted after every shooter so you could clearly see the mark) where the "head" meets the "neck". I saw it move, and decided to take a risk on calibration and went with it. It did however have me thinking about that, and I forgot to grab my mag for the reload. Did you notice that I took extra shots again? Guess who did not need them...again....
In any case, I called for calibration, the RM came over, with his 121 PF (alleged) ammo, and shot the very top of the popper, and it went over, so I had to take the mike. He did tell the RO on the stage that it was loose, and they tightened it up. Here's the thing, if you know it's loose, you can see the hit in the scoring zone, gimmie a break.....I understand it, and I did not spend all day arguing it, but it felt like things were kind of stacking up, and now I just needed to forget about everything, and just pull my game back and focus.
Stage 5:
15 Alpha
6 Charlie
3 Delta
4 Steel
45.65
Lot of issues happening here. I struggled on the steel plate from the first Tie Fighter port, that was not a lot of fun, and you see I hesitate before going to the last paper in that position. I knew I was almost out of ammo, and I did not want a slide lock reload, and of course after one round, I was back in that position again. Really frustrating myself that I lost count, could have saved time by reloading when I thought about it.
Stage 6:
16 Alpha
2 Charlie
2 Delta
4 Steel
18.34 Seconds
Hands down best stage of the match for me. It was top in SS for Day 1, and I think it ended up 4th in SS, and top 70 of 240 shooters. I'm not going to say I'm unhappy, but if I'm nitpicking (and I am) slow off the draw, and to the "longer" target. My transitions on the close stuff could have been a hair quicker, and by the time I was to the end I was almost easing up just a hair. I think I could have shaved about 3 seconds off my time, where I was, put me in the B-A range of Production shooters, but 3 seconds would have put me in the M group of Production shooters.
Sure, I'd like to clean up the 2 Delta's, I had a ton in the match, but stages like this give me a glimpse of where I know I can get to, and consistently shoot with practice. This is where I was spring of '14, so it's been a long time, if I want to deliver a big match at Oilfield, it'll start by turning in stages like this. That's my goal.
Stage 7:
21 Alpha
1 Bravo
3 Charlie
1 Delta
1 Steel
29.20 Seconds
I'm going to say I liked my first reload. I was a little slow going into ports, and I think that's more about my positioning than anything. I need to bend my knees, rather than get the gun up, and then drop to see the sights. Improve that, and I'll be a little faster on my own. Good hits, but again, 1 Delta...really?
Stage 8:
9 Alpha
5 Charlie
2 Delta
2 Steel
19.08 Seconds
Fun stage, the crossing activators made it a challenge. Notice on this stage I bent the knees a little, and was maybe just a bit quicker on the ports? I'll have to run it thru shot coach, but it tells me that again, with some focus and practice, I can do it. Hits kind of stunk, but on the whole, the last 2-3 stages were some of the better ones on the day for me, and while I may have been disappointed earlier, it felt like some mental toughness that for once I closed strong, rather than fading at the end.
Summary:
Double Tap Scores
I finished 8th of 18 shooters in Single Stack, and I was 3rd place in C Class. I was only 4% behind the winner, and being honest, there are a ton of ways I could have made up those 55 points. 6 Mikes is my lowest ever, so that's a goal that I hit, but 19 Delta's is just plain awful, and being honest at this kind of match, I think I should have 2-3 mike's top. Too many bad hits. 175 Alpha's and 63 Charlie is also not a great split, If I would have had 200 Alpha, and 30 odd Charlie, then I'd be closer to the mark where I need to be shooting minor in this division.
Top Finisher in C beat me by 30 seconds (over 12 stages you are looking at 2.5 seconds average per stage, and when I watch my video, I see most stages where I lost at least that much time, if not more. So speed and accuracy are things that need work, shocking right? That said, 2.5 seconds per stage, how much did I lose with the slide lock reloads? How much did I lose with poor positioning, and other errors?
On the last 3 stages I shot, I was 4th, 6th and 7th, and I beat the C class winner pretty handily on all 3. On Stage 12 I lost 33 points to him because of those 3 mikes. Stage 2, with the slide lock reload issue, I lost 28 points to him. Between those 2 stages, I dropped 61 points, and I lost by 55 points....
Not trying to sugar coat it, but while I spent a lot of time focusing on what went wrong, and I need to do that so I can address issues, and try to get better, in the overall picture, I was not as horrible as it felt. I could have put myself in a position to win my class. Until I get out of C class, I feel like I should be in a position to fight for a class win in every major match. Sure, it's a low bar, and I do better comparing myself to the Production guys, but may as well aim to win, and beat whatever competition that is there.
Because they did prizes just for Saturday shooters, Linda and I hung around, and she managed to win a new shooting bag that she was pretty happy with, and I won some steel. Nice for pistol, but it will come in handy (I need to get a stand) for 3-Gun, so Linda and I will have some steel we can shoot slugs at, and practice 100 yard rifle. These aren't 3-Gun level prizes, but still the nicest things we've managed to win at a USPSA match.
It's funny, I was embarrassed to wear the goofy hat, especially when Jay, Linda, and Lauren made fun of me when I thought about it at the 3 Gun Nation match, but damnit, when it's hot, and the sun is out, it was nice as hell to keep cool, and I got zero sunburn on my neck for a change. Plus, even if it was a slow afternoon start, it was a strong afternoon finish. New lucky hat? May have to break it out in two weeks at Texas Open!
Finally, big congrats to Linda who managed to win D class in Limited. I know some folks might look down on a "D Class" shooter, but she went out, and she beat the people in her class. That's a pretty big deal for her, and I'm awful proud. I think she felt it was her best ever major match, and while there is a ton she might like to do better, she did it the best she could here.
On Friday night, she got the above picture from Ben Hayes, and that completed her weekend of feeling good. She shot her best match, she has a new blaster that is what she wants. I hope that it all helps motivate her, and help her want to dry fire, and get out there this summer with me, so we both can push each other, and get better!
With the rain from last year ruining the match for us, I was really looking forward to getting up to Double Tap this year. I'll start out by saying that I had a great time, fun squad, we got all 12 stages complete by about 3:30, so we were able to move, and that's not always the case at a match like this. No big expectations, but one thing I wanted to do was get that first major with single digit misses, because that's a big step, especially being close at Cowtown and then blowing it wide open the last 2 stages. With as many as I've shot, that should have happened a long time ago, and it's a step in the improvement direction.
Let's start from where the match began for me:
Stage 9:
18 Alpha
2 Bravo
4 Charlie
25.83 Seconds
Not a great stage, but had the Alpha hits that I was looking for. Slow transitions on the 2nd stage, and I blew a reload going into the port in the 3rd position, first time it's happened with Single Stack at a match, could I have shaved time? Of course, biggest thing I'm feeling was that my transitions were not great, and my splits at close targets were not happening as quick as they should. Things I can solve with some live fire, but not a horrible way to start the match.
Stage 10:
14 Alpha
5 Charlie
1 Delta
5 Steel
19.77 Seconds
Again, fairly slow on the draw to find, and feel comfortable on my sights, but I started to pick up a little bit of speed from there. Very slow to find my sights after opening the door, and that's a spot I could pick up some time as well. Kind of like my first stage, it was not horrible, but there are definitely things that I can clean up and improve on. Unhappy to throw a delta, and need more Alpha's especially since I'm shooting minor.
Stage 11:
6 Alpha
1 Bravo
4 Charlie
1 Delta
8 Steel
22.10 Seconds
Fun stage! Based on the plan that Tim Meyers gave me the day before, I was able to reload on the move, and never have to eat a standing reload. The Production and Single Stack shooters in my squad thought I was stupid because it meant extra movement, but I'll stand by it being the right plan, I'm able to move quicker in that area, and the standing reload sucks. I lost some time because I had to slide lock reload, it was the dreaded 11th shot because of the steel miss, and that cost me a few seconds easy. So the stage could have been a little better, but I had no trouble with the activators, and moving to get the targets on the clam shells.
Stage 12:
8 Alpha
5 Charlie
3 Mike
4 Steel
19.47 Seconds
Oops? This is one that really got away from me. Awkward lean and shooting position had me starting off slow, and when I headed into the 2nd position I wanted to really blaze thru it and make up some time. It was a great idea, but I never really saw my sights, had bad hits, and 3 mikes. This was a stage I'd really like to have back because I knew I blew it.
Stage 1:
20 Alpha
8 Charlie
4 Steel
30.42 Seconds
Not much to say other than I was just slow. Guess who got bit again by not letting the trigger reset after his first shot, for about the 10th time lately? Yep, and that's going to be trigger time going forward, it was just disappointing. Into the 2nd position I was horribly slow on my second shot, and I never really got going. Video doesn't show it, but I suspect that I had a crappy grip, and that's part of what caused it.
I laugh because I took and extra shot at the paper in the last position, and I did not need it, I had 3 Alpha's on the paper, sometimes you need to trust you called your shot. That's a mistake I made a few times in the match.
Stage 2:
19 Alpha
5 Charlie
3 Delta
1 Mike
2 Steel
35.85 Seconds
Another one that I wish that I had back. I struggled again with a slide lock reload, and you can see it ate up significant time. Why? Because I took an extra shot at a target because I thought I missed it, and I ended up getting 2 Alpha's, but either the make-up or the first shot was a Charlie. Either or, had my hits there, the miss was on a target on the other side. RO told me he almost DQ'd me for a past 180 reload headed into the last position. Video doesn't show it clearly, and I don't think I was, but it's possible, so some reload practice going to my left is going to be the agenda. Not a ton, just enough so I'm comfortable I'm doing it the right way.
Stage 3:
10 Alpha
9 Charlie
4 Delta
1 Mike
42.16 Seconds
Dot Drills, on the agenda as well. My accuracy on this stage was off pretty much every where, I had hits on the swingers, the one on the left had 2 delta hits, which to me means I was either not seeing my sights (best bet, because I was trying to remember where I needed to be to see everything.) or I was also struggling with grip issues. The bottom line is I need trigger time, a lot of trigger time to really get going, and get in shape.
 |
| Sun was out, I went full Gilligan with the hat in the afternoon. |
Stage 4:
19 Alpha
7 Charlie
2 Delta
1 Mike
1 Steel
32.16
First stage after lunch, and I felt a little sluggish. The mike was on the steel, and I'm a little unhappy about it. There were some overall issues that multiple people had with the steel. I hit the 2nd steel in the center scoring zone (it was painted after every shooter so you could clearly see the mark) where the "head" meets the "neck". I saw it move, and decided to take a risk on calibration and went with it. It did however have me thinking about that, and I forgot to grab my mag for the reload. Did you notice that I took extra shots again? Guess who did not need them...again....
In any case, I called for calibration, the RM came over, with his 121 PF (alleged) ammo, and shot the very top of the popper, and it went over, so I had to take the mike. He did tell the RO on the stage that it was loose, and they tightened it up. Here's the thing, if you know it's loose, you can see the hit in the scoring zone, gimmie a break.....I understand it, and I did not spend all day arguing it, but it felt like things were kind of stacking up, and now I just needed to forget about everything, and just pull my game back and focus.
Stage 5:
15 Alpha
6 Charlie
3 Delta
4 Steel
45.65
Lot of issues happening here. I struggled on the steel plate from the first Tie Fighter port, that was not a lot of fun, and you see I hesitate before going to the last paper in that position. I knew I was almost out of ammo, and I did not want a slide lock reload, and of course after one round, I was back in that position again. Really frustrating myself that I lost count, could have saved time by reloading when I thought about it.
Stage 6:
16 Alpha
2 Charlie
2 Delta
4 Steel
18.34 Seconds
Hands down best stage of the match for me. It was top in SS for Day 1, and I think it ended up 4th in SS, and top 70 of 240 shooters. I'm not going to say I'm unhappy, but if I'm nitpicking (and I am) slow off the draw, and to the "longer" target. My transitions on the close stuff could have been a hair quicker, and by the time I was to the end I was almost easing up just a hair. I think I could have shaved about 3 seconds off my time, where I was, put me in the B-A range of Production shooters, but 3 seconds would have put me in the M group of Production shooters.
Sure, I'd like to clean up the 2 Delta's, I had a ton in the match, but stages like this give me a glimpse of where I know I can get to, and consistently shoot with practice. This is where I was spring of '14, so it's been a long time, if I want to deliver a big match at Oilfield, it'll start by turning in stages like this. That's my goal.
Stage 7:
21 Alpha
1 Bravo
3 Charlie
1 Delta
1 Steel
29.20 Seconds
I'm going to say I liked my first reload. I was a little slow going into ports, and I think that's more about my positioning than anything. I need to bend my knees, rather than get the gun up, and then drop to see the sights. Improve that, and I'll be a little faster on my own. Good hits, but again, 1 Delta...really?
Stage 8:
9 Alpha
5 Charlie
2 Delta
2 Steel
19.08 Seconds
Fun stage, the crossing activators made it a challenge. Notice on this stage I bent the knees a little, and was maybe just a bit quicker on the ports? I'll have to run it thru shot coach, but it tells me that again, with some focus and practice, I can do it. Hits kind of stunk, but on the whole, the last 2-3 stages were some of the better ones on the day for me, and while I may have been disappointed earlier, it felt like some mental toughness that for once I closed strong, rather than fading at the end.
Summary:
Double Tap Scores
I finished 8th of 18 shooters in Single Stack, and I was 3rd place in C Class. I was only 4% behind the winner, and being honest, there are a ton of ways I could have made up those 55 points. 6 Mikes is my lowest ever, so that's a goal that I hit, but 19 Delta's is just plain awful, and being honest at this kind of match, I think I should have 2-3 mike's top. Too many bad hits. 175 Alpha's and 63 Charlie is also not a great split, If I would have had 200 Alpha, and 30 odd Charlie, then I'd be closer to the mark where I need to be shooting minor in this division.
Top Finisher in C beat me by 30 seconds (over 12 stages you are looking at 2.5 seconds average per stage, and when I watch my video, I see most stages where I lost at least that much time, if not more. So speed and accuracy are things that need work, shocking right? That said, 2.5 seconds per stage, how much did I lose with the slide lock reloads? How much did I lose with poor positioning, and other errors?
On the last 3 stages I shot, I was 4th, 6th and 7th, and I beat the C class winner pretty handily on all 3. On Stage 12 I lost 33 points to him because of those 3 mikes. Stage 2, with the slide lock reload issue, I lost 28 points to him. Between those 2 stages, I dropped 61 points, and I lost by 55 points....
Not trying to sugar coat it, but while I spent a lot of time focusing on what went wrong, and I need to do that so I can address issues, and try to get better, in the overall picture, I was not as horrible as it felt. I could have put myself in a position to win my class. Until I get out of C class, I feel like I should be in a position to fight for a class win in every major match. Sure, it's a low bar, and I do better comparing myself to the Production guys, but may as well aim to win, and beat whatever competition that is there.
Because they did prizes just for Saturday shooters, Linda and I hung around, and she managed to win a new shooting bag that she was pretty happy with, and I won some steel. Nice for pistol, but it will come in handy (I need to get a stand) for 3-Gun, so Linda and I will have some steel we can shoot slugs at, and practice 100 yard rifle. These aren't 3-Gun level prizes, but still the nicest things we've managed to win at a USPSA match.
It's funny, I was embarrassed to wear the goofy hat, especially when Jay, Linda, and Lauren made fun of me when I thought about it at the 3 Gun Nation match, but damnit, when it's hot, and the sun is out, it was nice as hell to keep cool, and I got zero sunburn on my neck for a change. Plus, even if it was a slow afternoon start, it was a strong afternoon finish. New lucky hat? May have to break it out in two weeks at Texas Open!
Finally, big congrats to Linda who managed to win D class in Limited. I know some folks might look down on a "D Class" shooter, but she went out, and she beat the people in her class. That's a pretty big deal for her, and I'm awful proud. I think she felt it was her best ever major match, and while there is a ton she might like to do better, she did it the best she could here.
 |
| Linda has her own HCG Blaster Almost Ready |
2016 Double Tap-Adnil
Double Tap 2016- Adnil
Stage 9:
First stage- respected the no shoots and didn't hit any! I had no mikes, 19 alphas and 5 Charlies and all steel. time-32.73 The reload wasn't to bad.
Stage 10:
Second stage- Sucked into the port- gun is bouncing-bad grip- slow shooting picked it up on last paper array. Bad grip on the steel and not seeing the sight.
13 A
4C
3D
All steel
28.93
Stage 11:
Third Stage- Had to go first and was not confident in my plan.Went with Luke's recommended plan. You had to hit the steel to activate a clamshell that you had to shoot thru another port! Ahh... that means I had to move fast and shoot fast. Can see I am not gripping the gun again.
4A
3C
3D
2M
All steel
26.41
Stage 12:
Fourth Stage- Here is the first hard lean- can see I am not gripping the gun. The splits on the targets itself should be a lot faster, that means finding that baller reset and using it! Missing the steal I am seeing high left.
12A
4C
All Steel
29.32
Stage 1:
Fifth Stage- Slow to the draw, good grip to start...then totally goes away. Had my plan, but just went insanely slooow. The steel again is high left.
14A11C---can't have these shooting limited
2M
All Steel
37.49- so slow
Stage 2:
Sixth stage - A little bit better of a draw, still slow shooting. Good grip for this stage!
With the open targets and the close proximity I should not have had as many Charlies and Deltas that I did.
17A
1B
7C
3D
all steel
35.32
Stage 3:
Seventh Stage-- One of best stages the stats say- I kinda laugh at this, because I don't do well at swingers at all. I usually just throw to quick shots and hope something hits. I also giggle because I went even slower on purpose because I was going to respect the dang swingers and try to get my hits! Unloaded start and I can see off the bat, bad grip. I hit the first set of steel one for one! I took a very long time on the swingers and got my hits! The whole stage did not have a good grip either.
12A
6C
6D
all steel
48.61-- totally slow!
Stage 4:
Eighth Stage- First stage after lunch- And of all things-- three fun swingers! The draw and moving the the first array was slow- I did see the splits pick up as I shot. I did have mikes and it was on the swingers this time.
14 A
11C
1D
2M
all steel
40.86
Stage 5:
Ninth stage- Tie Fighters! The draw was so slow to happen til I got to the port. Gripped the gun well in the first array, too much bouncing in the second array. Horrible reload to the next array that it fell out. Should have grabbed one off my belt...didn't even think of that. Not a good grip for the whole stage. Scores show that easily..
6A
1B
15C
2D
all steel
48.12
Stage 6:
One of my best stages stats say- Tenth Stage- Draw was slow and so was the first shot with the target that close. The splits and transitions did pick up some. One for one the steel- ( I was so excited see that, I had to remind myself to finish shooting). Gun was bouncing at the end.
13A
6C
1D
all steel
23.39
Stage 7:
Eleventh Stage- almost done! - This had up and down swingers! Unloaded start, had a good grip from what I can see most of the stage. I should have reloaded going into the three targets on the left not going to the port. On the swingers I had 2 mikes, it was the one on the left.
11A
10C
3D
2M
All steel
29.76
Stage 8:
LAST STAGE :)
Last stage of the day- One of my best stages stats say- I had changed my plan during walk thru. It worked out. I like the no reloading! Unloaded start- good grip to start as well. The rest of the stage not so much. Nice I didn't get sucked into the ports. Thanks for recommending the plan Luke :)
11A
4C
1D
all steel
22.66
Summary:
First major I walked away feeling positive and I won a shooting bag (Going to use it for 3 gun)! I know that I could rip apart a ton of things I did wrong here, but it was the first time ever I had single digit mikes and I wasn't completely drained from the heat and beat. I did over kill it with the sunscreen...I applied about 7 times throughout the day. But hey, I wasn't sun burned and I didn't pass out of exhaustion after the match :)
This was a great first match to shoot after wrapping up a crazy end to my school year. Looking forward to Texas Open in two weeks. Goal there is to keep in the single digit mikes now!
It was nice to be able to shoot Double Tap this year. It was Star Wars themed perfect for our family. Heading there I really had no expectations for myself other than to have fun and be safe.
After walk thru on Thursday I realized it wasn't anything that was incredibly hard or something I could not handle. There were some hard leans and swingers (which I need to respect). I needed to worry about my usual things- gripping the gun and the most important thing truly seeing my sights. I finally understood seeing my sights on the CZ but now on the 6 inch custom gun I am struggling. This is Luke's gun and I have had minimal time with it. Finding out my very own 5 inch is just around the corner.....is just fantastic news.
The transition to limited has been very interesting. I enjoy not having a ton of reloads, but I constantly grab from my hip instead of grabbing front of the belt. I feel the belt is different feeling for me as in not as tight with my production rig (which is so odd....less mag pouches??). I do like the tightness I can get from my 3 gun belt....possible thinking of making a switch. I will wait to run my gun for awhile for making the switch.
Most thing I am proud of is this is the first match I shot that I was in single digit on mikes.
The theme I see when watching these videos as a whole is slow in every way. From transitions, splits and sometimes the draw (which need still practicing taking the safety off as part of the draw).
When I see a perfect grip I see it from Luke and Les. It's weird maybe how I see it, it's like they are one with the gun and it cycles perfectly for them. I feel I never quite have that. It feels I am always fighting with the gun. I know most of that is in my head because clearly watching the videos here I see that when I grip the gun correctly there is no bouncing and it looks like Luke and Les when they are shooting.....but of course they go way faster then me!!
Stage 9:
First stage- respected the no shoots and didn't hit any! I had no mikes, 19 alphas and 5 Charlies and all steel. time-32.73 The reload wasn't to bad.
Stage 10:
Second stage- Sucked into the port- gun is bouncing-bad grip- slow shooting picked it up on last paper array. Bad grip on the steel and not seeing the sight.
13 A
4C
3D
All steel
28.93
Stage 11:
Third Stage- Had to go first and was not confident in my plan.Went with Luke's recommended plan. You had to hit the steel to activate a clamshell that you had to shoot thru another port! Ahh... that means I had to move fast and shoot fast. Can see I am not gripping the gun again.
4A
3C
3D
2M
All steel
26.41
Stage 12:
Fourth Stage- Here is the first hard lean- can see I am not gripping the gun. The splits on the targets itself should be a lot faster, that means finding that baller reset and using it! Missing the steal I am seeing high left.
12A
4C
All Steel
29.32
Stage 1:
Fifth Stage- Slow to the draw, good grip to start...then totally goes away. Had my plan, but just went insanely slooow. The steel again is high left.
14A11C---can't have these shooting limited
2M
All Steel
37.49- so slow
Stage 2:
Sixth stage - A little bit better of a draw, still slow shooting. Good grip for this stage!
With the open targets and the close proximity I should not have had as many Charlies and Deltas that I did.
17A
1B
7C
3D
all steel
35.32
Stage 3:
Seventh Stage-- One of best stages the stats say- I kinda laugh at this, because I don't do well at swingers at all. I usually just throw to quick shots and hope something hits. I also giggle because I went even slower on purpose because I was going to respect the dang swingers and try to get my hits! Unloaded start and I can see off the bat, bad grip. I hit the first set of steel one for one! I took a very long time on the swingers and got my hits! The whole stage did not have a good grip either.
12A
6C
6D
all steel
48.61-- totally slow!
Stage 4:
Eighth Stage- First stage after lunch- And of all things-- three fun swingers! The draw and moving the the first array was slow- I did see the splits pick up as I shot. I did have mikes and it was on the swingers this time.
14 A
11C
1D
2M
all steel
40.86
Stage 5:
Ninth stage- Tie Fighters! The draw was so slow to happen til I got to the port. Gripped the gun well in the first array, too much bouncing in the second array. Horrible reload to the next array that it fell out. Should have grabbed one off my belt...didn't even think of that. Not a good grip for the whole stage. Scores show that easily..
6A
1B
15C
2D
all steel
48.12
Stage 6:
One of my best stages stats say- Tenth Stage- Draw was slow and so was the first shot with the target that close. The splits and transitions did pick up some. One for one the steel- ( I was so excited see that, I had to remind myself to finish shooting). Gun was bouncing at the end.
13A
6C
1D
all steel
23.39
Stage 7:
Eleventh Stage- almost done! - This had up and down swingers! Unloaded start, had a good grip from what I can see most of the stage. I should have reloaded going into the three targets on the left not going to the port. On the swingers I had 2 mikes, it was the one on the left.
11A
10C
3D
2M
All steel
29.76
Stage 8:
LAST STAGE :)
Last stage of the day- One of my best stages stats say- I had changed my plan during walk thru. It worked out. I like the no reloading! Unloaded start- good grip to start as well. The rest of the stage not so much. Nice I didn't get sucked into the ports. Thanks for recommending the plan Luke :)
11A
4C
1D
all steel
22.66
Summary:
First major I walked away feeling positive and I won a shooting bag (Going to use it for 3 gun)! I know that I could rip apart a ton of things I did wrong here, but it was the first time ever I had single digit mikes and I wasn't completely drained from the heat and beat. I did over kill it with the sunscreen...I applied about 7 times throughout the day. But hey, I wasn't sun burned and I didn't pass out of exhaustion after the match :)
This was a great first match to shoot after wrapping up a crazy end to my school year. Looking forward to Texas Open in two weeks. Goal there is to keep in the single digit mikes now!
Monday, May 16, 2016
Adnil827 Shoots The 3-Gun Nation Southwest Regional
Adnil827 Shoots The 3-Gun Nation Southwest Regional
Thumbnail of Video Highlights:
Stage 1:
Day Two:
Stage 4:
Stage 5:
Stage 7:
Stage 6:
Thumbnail of Video Highlights:
Stage 1:
Day Two:
Stage 4:
Stage 5:
Stage 7:
Stage 6:
3 Gun Nation: Why Not? My Thoughts
3 Gun Nation: Why Not? My Thoughts
The 2016 Southwest Regional was my first full experience with a 3-Gun Nation match. Last year I went and spent both days at the match with Jay Carillo, so I got to see a match, but there is a pretty big difference in seeing and shooting a match. I joined 3-Gun Nation in winter 2014, when I was thinking about getting into 3-Gun. I did not know a ton about the organization, but I thought it was kind of like a USPSA of the 3-Gun crowd. When it comes to pistol, I've seen IDPA matches, and USPSA matches, but I don't see many "outlaw" matches other than some Pro-AM events that pop up for cash prizes from time to time. My point being, most pistol seems to affiliate with an organization that provides rules, and some basic structure, so in theory a match you shoot in South Carolina has the same rules as Illinois, as Texas and so on. I did not realize that much of 3-Gun in fact operates under and "outlaw" structure, with there being all different set's of rules. As it turns out, I like some of the other set's rules a little better, especially in terms of scoring, but I had a very unpleasant experience this weekend, that has me really considering if I'll ever spend another dollar on 3-Gun Nation membership, or on one of their matches, or if I'll just go shoot outlaw matches.
While I complimented the way 3-Gun Nation was able to handle all the shooters who were there on Sunday, especially down three stages. In the past, I've talked to other people who have felt that 3-Gun Nation gave preference or special treatment to certain Pro Shooters, but I dismissed an awful lot of that. This weekend changed my mind, and not in a good way.
On Saturday, I chose not to shoot my first stage, and I fully expected to zero it, and I was willing to take that, because safety comes first. When we made our way to shoot our 2nd stage, and I was the last shooter wrapping up around 8:30ish in the dark, and taking a bad score in some part because I could not see painted black steel targets, and long, low targets in the dark. (Not the only reasons, but it did not help) I left the range disappointed, as the e-mail's from 3-Gun Nation started to come in, they let us know 3 Stages had to be pulled, they sent an adjusted schedule, and finally a new squad matrix. For some reason, we were assigned to the same stage we finished on, and I was convinced it was a mistake. Rather, I was convinced it was a mistake until I realized that 10 of the 13 shooters ran it on Saturday night, but 3 Pro Shooters never even came to the stage, they chose to leave the range after they shot the first stage. My impression was that it seemed like they were picking and choosing when they would shoot, and under what conditions, and that thought did not make me a happy camper.
Part of that was shooting order, our squad had elected to go alphabetical by first letter of first name. Conveniently, B.J., Jansen, and Andy all come before, Linda, Luke, and Ursula (who happened to be the last 3 shooters that night, and suffered the most from darkness. In fact had those 3 shown up, they would have shot, and Linda, Ursula, and I would not have been allowed to shoot, we would have been able to shoot the stage the next day, with a full night for the range to dry, and having the benefit of daylight.) When I realized what had happened, I changed my mind about Stage 7, and suddenly I was not willing to take a zero on it, if pro shooters can pick and choose when they are going to shoot, why not me? Or aren't the rules applied equally to everyone?
On Sunday morning, I approached Charles Sole, who is the 3-Gun Nation Club Series Director. I wanted to ask for a couple of things, I wanted a re-shoot of Stage 1 because of darkness, and I wanted to be able to shoot Stage 7. I realized I would not get both, so I decided to insure that I would be allowed to shoot Stage 7, so that's how I tailored my approach. I asked him why we were assigned to Stage 1 since our squad had shot it the night before, and was that perhaps a mistake. He told me that not everyone in our squad had scores, so it was correct, and I told him that everyone who showed up for the stage did in fact shoot it, and I asked why the other folks never showed up. He did not directly answer, just told me that we were on Stage 1. At that point I told him that I did not shoot stage 7, because I slipped on walk thru and did not feel safe the night before. After a bit of a debate, where I asked why pro shooters were able to choose to not shoot an assigned stage in sub optimal shooting conditions (they were obviously good enough for 10 of us to shoot) and why I was not able to shoot a stage I opted to not shoot for safety reasons were different, he relented, and agreed that after I completed my morning stages, they would work me into the afternoon rotation on Stage 7.
When I left, I felt like it was a minor victory of sorts, and I headed off to Stage 1, with the rest of my squad. When we arrived, there were 10 of on the stage who had shot the night before, and we arrived to see a full squad (13 shooters) plus our 3 Pro Shooters who were getting to shoot it. It was extremely obvious that we were not needed to help reset that stage. We looked down range to Stage 4, which was our next stage, and saw 5 shooters, and as a group we decided would could grab our gear, head there, and help them reset, so they could get going faster, and by the time our 3 Pro's were done, we'd all be ready and able to shoot the stage.
We walked down the hill, Charles Sole pulled up in his truck and accosted us. (If you don't know the word, look it up, and you would find it perfectly defined his attitude towards us.) He asked us where we were scheduled to be, and we explained the situation, 16 people up there, we were headed to help at the next stage, and he told us that we immediately needed to go back to where we were scheduled to be, and had he left it there, it would have been abrupt, but I'd have been okay with it. Instead, he closed his statement with "or else we can settle this another way." That bothered me, so I asked him if he could clearly spell out exactly what he meant to us, so we knew, and he said "if you don't go where you are supposed to be, you can go right out off the range, and leave the match." Mind you, this was not just to be, there were several squad mates who were all part of the conversation, and I think we were all shocked he would take that tone.
Don't get me wrong, he could have said "we need you up there just because it keeps squads together", or anything at all like that, but instead he took the aggressive, confrontational attitude, and he followed it up by saying that we could leave. That's about as unprofessional a stance as I can possibly imagine, especially for the key guy in the organization. Sure, they had a ton going on, lost stages, finding ways to shuffle shooters thru all the stages, I get that, bigger issues, but telling us we could just leave? That's the choice to handle the situation?
We walked back to Stage 1, pissed off, and it was a hot topic with us, and from us to other squads for awhile, I had three other shooters (and not one I'm related to) say that they don't think they will spend another dime on a 3-Gun Nation match after that display. I had one shooter I highly respect tell me that he would certainly consider it, because he felt it was not the way you treat the people who pay the fee to shoot the match.
Once we got to Stage 6, where things were backed up, I saw the RM, and I asked him about going to Stage 7, or waiting, and bless his heart, he told me to follow him up there, and he would get me shuffled in, so I'd be back to shoot 6 with my squad. That was damn near enough for me to think that I had the organization wrong, at least until he finished making the arrangement and left Stage 7. The Range Officer up there told me, that he caught heat the night before from Charles about not letting me shoot, and he wanted to know what ruling the RO had made. Apparently I should have gotten a zero score, and not been allowed to come back. I suggest that had that happened, I would have risen a stink because the exact same rule should have applied to the Pro's, for choosing not to shoot Stage 1. The Range Officer said he did not make the call, and left it to Charles, and my impression was that had Charles known before we left the range on Saturday night, he would have had the discussion and told me that night I was zeroed. It's not fair anyone should take an ounce of heat for me, and I owe the RO an apology for putting him in the line of fire.
Look, match and organization sponsor's give hundreds of thousands of dollars to 3-Gun Nation, or are at least approached for that level of support, for the magazines, matches, television and so on. I get it, they are the ones who keep the lights on, it's not the shooters, and it's not the match fees, but I'd also suggest that if you piss off enough little guy shooters like me, then all of a sudden sponsors are less likely to sponsors something that people are not shooting, and they are more apt to sponsor the outlaw events.
There are all sorts of considerations I'd have no issues with those pro sponsored, and "star" shooters could get, but when you don't apply the rules equally across the board to every shooter, and you make special exceptions, you impugn the integrity of your brand. Suddenly I understand what the buzz is that I've started to hear over the past 12-14 months, on how 3-Gun Nation has a habit of taking care of some at the expense of others, and surprisingly I got to see it first hand. So it's my choice, I'll share the experience with other shooters, and I don't expect it to sway anyone, people are going to choose to shoot what they want to shoot. Evidently, I'm not alone with that realization, because the match here did not appear to be a sell-out. Maybe it was, but the premier matches, seems to sell out in days, this one either didn't, or did not until right near the end.
Part of me can attribute the bad attitude to the weather, and the added stress of having to deal with it, and the stages that were lost, and it makes me wonder if I should give them a break, and another chance. The other part of me says that with limited shooting dollars I have to make choices. With plenty of good outlaw options, it's just as easy for me to consider spending my dollars there instead.
The icing on the top, was that on Monday morning, I second hand got word from a Range Officer from the match, that he was one of the staff who did not get to finish shooting on Thursday/Friday, and there was a significant amount of staff who that happened to. That's a thankless job, the first 2 days they shot, and were doing a Range Officer class, and then they had to work for 2 days. In any case, with the match running late, and prizes not starting until about 10pm (instead of the scheduled 7pm) those RO's who did not get the benefit of finishing shooting, asked if they would walk the prize table AFTER all competitors. Mind you, because it was late, many people did not stick around, and apparently there were plenty of prizes left. Those RO's were told "no", and that the remaining prizes would be packed up and handed out at the next match. It's tough enough to find RO's, and typically they are allowed to shoot for free, since they work the match, and they get a separate RO only prize table. Considering the match is the big part, I was shocked (maybe I should not be) that since RO's could not finish shooting, that they could not get that little extra token of thanks. Those are the people who worked their butt's off, they make a match, and I honestly wonder if 3-Gun Nation will easily be able to staff their next match out here.
If you made it thru the rant, I apologize. I don't expect 3-Gun Nation to apologize, and I don't think I'll influence anyone else, but for me, what happened was enough to make me consider where I want to spend my dollars going forward. I know others have had some good experiences, more power to them. I know the organization is going to have some fans, hell, some folks still think IDPA is a good organization......either or, enjoy what you are shooting.
The 2016 Southwest Regional was my first full experience with a 3-Gun Nation match. Last year I went and spent both days at the match with Jay Carillo, so I got to see a match, but there is a pretty big difference in seeing and shooting a match. I joined 3-Gun Nation in winter 2014, when I was thinking about getting into 3-Gun. I did not know a ton about the organization, but I thought it was kind of like a USPSA of the 3-Gun crowd. When it comes to pistol, I've seen IDPA matches, and USPSA matches, but I don't see many "outlaw" matches other than some Pro-AM events that pop up for cash prizes from time to time. My point being, most pistol seems to affiliate with an organization that provides rules, and some basic structure, so in theory a match you shoot in South Carolina has the same rules as Illinois, as Texas and so on. I did not realize that much of 3-Gun in fact operates under and "outlaw" structure, with there being all different set's of rules. As it turns out, I like some of the other set's rules a little better, especially in terms of scoring, but I had a very unpleasant experience this weekend, that has me really considering if I'll ever spend another dollar on 3-Gun Nation membership, or on one of their matches, or if I'll just go shoot outlaw matches.
While I complimented the way 3-Gun Nation was able to handle all the shooters who were there on Sunday, especially down three stages. In the past, I've talked to other people who have felt that 3-Gun Nation gave preference or special treatment to certain Pro Shooters, but I dismissed an awful lot of that. This weekend changed my mind, and not in a good way.
On Saturday, I chose not to shoot my first stage, and I fully expected to zero it, and I was willing to take that, because safety comes first. When we made our way to shoot our 2nd stage, and I was the last shooter wrapping up around 8:30ish in the dark, and taking a bad score in some part because I could not see painted black steel targets, and long, low targets in the dark. (Not the only reasons, but it did not help) I left the range disappointed, as the e-mail's from 3-Gun Nation started to come in, they let us know 3 Stages had to be pulled, they sent an adjusted schedule, and finally a new squad matrix. For some reason, we were assigned to the same stage we finished on, and I was convinced it was a mistake. Rather, I was convinced it was a mistake until I realized that 10 of the 13 shooters ran it on Saturday night, but 3 Pro Shooters never even came to the stage, they chose to leave the range after they shot the first stage. My impression was that it seemed like they were picking and choosing when they would shoot, and under what conditions, and that thought did not make me a happy camper.
Part of that was shooting order, our squad had elected to go alphabetical by first letter of first name. Conveniently, B.J., Jansen, and Andy all come before, Linda, Luke, and Ursula (who happened to be the last 3 shooters that night, and suffered the most from darkness. In fact had those 3 shown up, they would have shot, and Linda, Ursula, and I would not have been allowed to shoot, we would have been able to shoot the stage the next day, with a full night for the range to dry, and having the benefit of daylight.) When I realized what had happened, I changed my mind about Stage 7, and suddenly I was not willing to take a zero on it, if pro shooters can pick and choose when they are going to shoot, why not me? Or aren't the rules applied equally to everyone?
On Sunday morning, I approached Charles Sole, who is the 3-Gun Nation Club Series Director. I wanted to ask for a couple of things, I wanted a re-shoot of Stage 1 because of darkness, and I wanted to be able to shoot Stage 7. I realized I would not get both, so I decided to insure that I would be allowed to shoot Stage 7, so that's how I tailored my approach. I asked him why we were assigned to Stage 1 since our squad had shot it the night before, and was that perhaps a mistake. He told me that not everyone in our squad had scores, so it was correct, and I told him that everyone who showed up for the stage did in fact shoot it, and I asked why the other folks never showed up. He did not directly answer, just told me that we were on Stage 1. At that point I told him that I did not shoot stage 7, because I slipped on walk thru and did not feel safe the night before. After a bit of a debate, where I asked why pro shooters were able to choose to not shoot an assigned stage in sub optimal shooting conditions (they were obviously good enough for 10 of us to shoot) and why I was not able to shoot a stage I opted to not shoot for safety reasons were different, he relented, and agreed that after I completed my morning stages, they would work me into the afternoon rotation on Stage 7.
When I left, I felt like it was a minor victory of sorts, and I headed off to Stage 1, with the rest of my squad. When we arrived, there were 10 of on the stage who had shot the night before, and we arrived to see a full squad (13 shooters) plus our 3 Pro Shooters who were getting to shoot it. It was extremely obvious that we were not needed to help reset that stage. We looked down range to Stage 4, which was our next stage, and saw 5 shooters, and as a group we decided would could grab our gear, head there, and help them reset, so they could get going faster, and by the time our 3 Pro's were done, we'd all be ready and able to shoot the stage.
We walked down the hill, Charles Sole pulled up in his truck and accosted us. (If you don't know the word, look it up, and you would find it perfectly defined his attitude towards us.) He asked us where we were scheduled to be, and we explained the situation, 16 people up there, we were headed to help at the next stage, and he told us that we immediately needed to go back to where we were scheduled to be, and had he left it there, it would have been abrupt, but I'd have been okay with it. Instead, he closed his statement with "or else we can settle this another way." That bothered me, so I asked him if he could clearly spell out exactly what he meant to us, so we knew, and he said "if you don't go where you are supposed to be, you can go right out off the range, and leave the match." Mind you, this was not just to be, there were several squad mates who were all part of the conversation, and I think we were all shocked he would take that tone.
Don't get me wrong, he could have said "we need you up there just because it keeps squads together", or anything at all like that, but instead he took the aggressive, confrontational attitude, and he followed it up by saying that we could leave. That's about as unprofessional a stance as I can possibly imagine, especially for the key guy in the organization. Sure, they had a ton going on, lost stages, finding ways to shuffle shooters thru all the stages, I get that, bigger issues, but telling us we could just leave? That's the choice to handle the situation?
We walked back to Stage 1, pissed off, and it was a hot topic with us, and from us to other squads for awhile, I had three other shooters (and not one I'm related to) say that they don't think they will spend another dime on a 3-Gun Nation match after that display. I had one shooter I highly respect tell me that he would certainly consider it, because he felt it was not the way you treat the people who pay the fee to shoot the match.
Once we got to Stage 6, where things were backed up, I saw the RM, and I asked him about going to Stage 7, or waiting, and bless his heart, he told me to follow him up there, and he would get me shuffled in, so I'd be back to shoot 6 with my squad. That was damn near enough for me to think that I had the organization wrong, at least until he finished making the arrangement and left Stage 7. The Range Officer up there told me, that he caught heat the night before from Charles about not letting me shoot, and he wanted to know what ruling the RO had made. Apparently I should have gotten a zero score, and not been allowed to come back. I suggest that had that happened, I would have risen a stink because the exact same rule should have applied to the Pro's, for choosing not to shoot Stage 1. The Range Officer said he did not make the call, and left it to Charles, and my impression was that had Charles known before we left the range on Saturday night, he would have had the discussion and told me that night I was zeroed. It's not fair anyone should take an ounce of heat for me, and I owe the RO an apology for putting him in the line of fire.
Look, match and organization sponsor's give hundreds of thousands of dollars to 3-Gun Nation, or are at least approached for that level of support, for the magazines, matches, television and so on. I get it, they are the ones who keep the lights on, it's not the shooters, and it's not the match fees, but I'd also suggest that if you piss off enough little guy shooters like me, then all of a sudden sponsors are less likely to sponsors something that people are not shooting, and they are more apt to sponsor the outlaw events.
There are all sorts of considerations I'd have no issues with those pro sponsored, and "star" shooters could get, but when you don't apply the rules equally across the board to every shooter, and you make special exceptions, you impugn the integrity of your brand. Suddenly I understand what the buzz is that I've started to hear over the past 12-14 months, on how 3-Gun Nation has a habit of taking care of some at the expense of others, and surprisingly I got to see it first hand. So it's my choice, I'll share the experience with other shooters, and I don't expect it to sway anyone, people are going to choose to shoot what they want to shoot. Evidently, I'm not alone with that realization, because the match here did not appear to be a sell-out. Maybe it was, but the premier matches, seems to sell out in days, this one either didn't, or did not until right near the end.
Part of me can attribute the bad attitude to the weather, and the added stress of having to deal with it, and the stages that were lost, and it makes me wonder if I should give them a break, and another chance. The other part of me says that with limited shooting dollars I have to make choices. With plenty of good outlaw options, it's just as easy for me to consider spending my dollars there instead.
The icing on the top, was that on Monday morning, I second hand got word from a Range Officer from the match, that he was one of the staff who did not get to finish shooting on Thursday/Friday, and there was a significant amount of staff who that happened to. That's a thankless job, the first 2 days they shot, and were doing a Range Officer class, and then they had to work for 2 days. In any case, with the match running late, and prizes not starting until about 10pm (instead of the scheduled 7pm) those RO's who did not get the benefit of finishing shooting, asked if they would walk the prize table AFTER all competitors. Mind you, because it was late, many people did not stick around, and apparently there were plenty of prizes left. Those RO's were told "no", and that the remaining prizes would be packed up and handed out at the next match. It's tough enough to find RO's, and typically they are allowed to shoot for free, since they work the match, and they get a separate RO only prize table. Considering the match is the big part, I was shocked (maybe I should not be) that since RO's could not finish shooting, that they could not get that little extra token of thanks. Those are the people who worked their butt's off, they make a match, and I honestly wonder if 3-Gun Nation will easily be able to staff their next match out here.
If you made it thru the rant, I apologize. I don't expect 3-Gun Nation to apologize, and I don't think I'll influence anyone else, but for me, what happened was enough to make me consider where I want to spend my dollars going forward. I know others have had some good experiences, more power to them. I know the organization is going to have some fans, hell, some folks still think IDPA is a good organization......either or, enjoy what you are shooting.
3 Gun Nation SW Regional Day 2
3 Gun Nation SW Regional Day 2
I'm going to set aside the "background noise" from Day 2, because that deserves it's own blog, and I don't want it to be a part of actually shooting the match. I've got to start by giving some credit to 3-Gun Nation for finding a way to salvage the match after the bad weather on Saturday. Three stages did not make Day 2, which meant about 8 squads for 5 stages in both the morning and afternoon sessions, which means a lot of people, and a lot of waiting. Handled very well.
Had some good moments, and some bad moments on the range. I finished a fairly poor 134th of 166th Practical shooters, and I think that pretty much describes my overall performance. Of the 5 stages that I shot, and that counted, I had a high time on pistol stage that I shot in the dark, and I timed out on Stage 7, and those cost me, but the reality is, I need to work accuracy, as well as other things if I really want to get better out there. That said...onward!
Stage 4:
This was my best stage for the match, I was in the top 50% of Practical shooters, but I think I lost about 10 seconds for a variety of reasons. I had to get bumped back a couple of shooters, because there was an issue with my shotgun that manifested itself when Linda shot, and cost her an awful time. I'm grateful Aaron Hayes saw it happen, showed me the problem (water in the mag tub had gummed things up, and I had not cleaned it.) and he took the time to fix things for me. Big shout out to the shooter from the other squad who went running for a new spring, and saved me. I offered to pay for the spring, but he told me to pay it forward and help someone else, have I ever mentioned how awesome shooters can be?
In any case, without that "last" walk thru I would normally take, I did cement my plan in my head, and you'll see me hunting and pecking in a few spots for targets, because I was not 100% sure where I was supposed to engage them. Rookie mistake, but when my routine was changed, I did not recover, and it's pretty evident.
Not sure what I did on the shotgun reload, and why I racked the round out of the chamber, and once again I practiced accuracy by volume on the plate rack. If I was a fortune teller, I'd see Dot Drills in my future, because I really need to focus in on my accuracy.
It sounds like big gripes, but it's little things that I can fix, and those 10 seconds would have been the difference between 85th of the 166 Practical Shooters and 47th. I guess my point is that little details can really help me make a big jump on a stage like this.
Stage 5:
This one really hurt, because I made some mistakes, and again, I let myself down with my stage plan. I was in such a rush, I did not respect the steel plates that needed 2 hits, and while I was shooting at them, I was already thinking about moving, and of course I started missing. My splits and transitions thru the ports were pretty poor, not even close to what I did on "The Alamo" stage at the X-Treme match. Poor set-up, lack of confidence, these should have been easy hits for me. Moving down the range I ended up need to rack a round in after the reload, meaning I went dry and did not realize it. (Maybe I need to set the gun and mag's up so that the slide locks back on empty.) Instead of rolling from heel to toe, I was going slow, posting, and just generally shooting pistol slowly.
Now....I knew all of that, no question about it, but I let it get into my head, and dropped the mag and dumped the pistol, forgetting to engage the 2 pistol targets on the other side of the wall. No walk-thru excuse, I damn well knew it, and I just let the other stuff get in my head, and made a mistake. Going from bad to worse, I'd decided to shoot the steel knockdown plates with shotgun, because I love shotgun, and I felt more comfortable shooting shotgun on the move than my pistol. Well, while I was shooting, and missing the plates, I realized I was looking back at the missed paper, so I had no idea what the hell I was shooting at. I had to stop, reload, and shoot, and the time just kept on running.
I nailed the slugs, and while I hate shooting prone, handled the easy, close targets just fine, and had a hard time getting on my sights at the long plate rack. Once I had it, I was okay.
So really, this was a string of mental mistakes, and while I held it together, I don't even want to think about how much time I cost myself. In USPSA these days I feel like I can recover from a mental mistake, but in 3-Gun, there is so much going on that I'm back in a place where one mistake still causes me to spiral down the tubes. I know it'll take time, practice, and experience, but that's not a fun lesson to learn.
Stage 7:
I did come back to the stage that I did opted to not shoot the day before, and this does play a large part in my feelings about 3 Gun Nation, but as I said earlier, that's a separate story. After Stage 5, we had a bottleneck for Stage 6, so I reached out to the RM, and he went over to Stage 7, and got both Linda and I inserted into the shooting order.
This was just a shit show for me. I won't say I was unprepared, I was very much prepared, I just made mistake after mistake, and felt completely incompetent with my rifle, especially after I watched Linda shoot her stage, where she ran the rifle like a boss. Let's just start with the fact that I need to work with the rifle and get better. Bay style stages, rifle inside 75-100 yards, no issue there, but start moving the steel out into the 200 yard range, and all of a sudden, I struggle. I realize it's not PRC (Precision Rifle Competition), but instead of hosing, you need to exercise trigger control, breathing, and know your holds. Things that I guess are either new to me, or I need more time learning.
Next up, when I'm finally done at the first shooting position, watch my pistol on the run to the second position (that is if you can actually stomach watching the crappy shooting I exhibited on rifle). You'll notice several times that my pistol was bouncing in and out of my holster, and by some divine blessing it managed to stay in, and not fall out and DQ me. Aaron Hayes joking thought it was because I got a 6" pistol, if it was a 5" it would have come out, the RO's told me that I must have walked old ladies across the street because someone was looking out for me. I noticed it almost at the end. That issue won't ever crop up again, tightened the thumb screws, and that will forever be something I check on.
I struggled on the pistol steel, and again when I got to the plates, I totally lost all confidence between position 2 and 3. While I know what a good sight picture is, during that run, I thought I completely forgot, and had no business on it. I let it get away from me. That run over was an absolute low point for me.
Shotgun let me down a bit, again, or rather maybe I let myself down with it. I was only too happy to be done with the stage.
Stage 6:
Not too long ago in my shooting past, I would have been mentally wrecked by having a couple of rough stages on things I thought I would do pretty well at. Headed into the "long range" rifle stage, my confidence would have been horrible, and as expected, I would have guaranteed that I'd fail at this stage as well.
While I've struggled quite a bit the past 18 months shooting, I've grown in one spot that I'm actually pretty proud of, and I did it without really thinking about it, or trying. I left the negativity and frustration on the last stage, and I approached Stage 6 with confidence, and I decided that I was going to put myself in a position to succeed.
I did not exactly "kill it", but for me, I did okay. I was 123rd, I hit all the long range steel, and I actually found a groove, and I left the stage feeling like I can do that, and that all I need is a little time with the new Vortex Razor to get comfortable, and start to improve.
Rifle may have been faster prone, but for me I'm not good prone, and from the barricade, I was comfortable. I could have taken pistol faster, but I had seen a couple of people fall (not just stumble) on loose stones that were washed loose on the path, so I was trying to equally pay attention to my feet, and not just the targets, not a recipe for speed. The poppers were done decently, and I handled the shotgun.
Look, I'm not saying it was great, 123rd is not great by any stretch of the imagination, but if I can have a range of 45 as a best to 123rd as a worst, then I'm looking at a finish in the 80's, or around 50%, and while not being "amazing" would be some serious progress. If you look at the last couple of matches, the pieces are there, I've been okay on some in pistol, shotgun, and rifle, and I've struggled in some. Progress for me will mean finding some consistency, and starting to deliver a solid performance start to finish. I'm hoping that Fallen Brethren, just over 4 months from now I'll show it, and I'll keep building a little bit at a time to that point.
Side note? Love the commentary from Jay Carillo and Linda. I felt bad for Jason, he had an ammo issue that cost him his first stage, which would have ruined the match anyhow, and he DQ'd on the last stage we shot. Rough trip to Texas from Illinois for him, but I hope he knows how much I appreciate the opportunity to shoot with him. Even if I debated a stage brief with him, I learn so much about the sport from him, his friendship means a ton. He's a great guy!
Summary:
Match Scores
Some decent, some bad, some ugly, and a moment of personal growth that I'm really happy about. Now just to take that to the next level, and drop stuff the instant it happens, so it doesn't get me for a whole stage, but from match to stage, we'll take the progress where it happens!
I won't rant and rave, or go over all the things that I need to improve, if you watched a single minute, you see what I see, and I know what I need to do. I am seeing progress, not a ton, but progress all the same. Pretty good squad, some different challenges on stages, and the next 3-Gun Major is a couple of months away, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to try to spend a little more time with rifle during the next 60 days, and see if I can't show some bigger improvement with it. In addition, a couple of USPSA Major's in that time, so maybe I can kill 2 birds with one stone, and the pistol work will help me show some progress there as well.
Last fall, when Les came with me to the Dissident Arms match, we got this clip of him while shooting the all shotgun stage:
On Saturday night, Linda had an issue with the shotgun, rounds were only going half way onto the lifter, and getting stuck in the tube, after she shot, we found a pebble was in the tube, and I was able to shoot cleanly since I was after her. First stage on Sunday, she had the same issue, and when Aaron came by, he found all sorts of gunk in the mag tube. Apparently there was water in the dump bin on Saturday night, and it gunked up the existing crap in there, and caused Linda an issue. Of course after he cleaned it, I shot it on the stage just fine, and it ran the rest of the match. Short version, and why I bring the Les video up, is we got this snippet from Linda...although it was my fault for not cleaning the mag tube, she was mad at the shotgun in general.......
Me? I still love the Benelli, and I want another. Shotgun rocks!
I'm going to set aside the "background noise" from Day 2, because that deserves it's own blog, and I don't want it to be a part of actually shooting the match. I've got to start by giving some credit to 3-Gun Nation for finding a way to salvage the match after the bad weather on Saturday. Three stages did not make Day 2, which meant about 8 squads for 5 stages in both the morning and afternoon sessions, which means a lot of people, and a lot of waiting. Handled very well.
Had some good moments, and some bad moments on the range. I finished a fairly poor 134th of 166th Practical shooters, and I think that pretty much describes my overall performance. Of the 5 stages that I shot, and that counted, I had a high time on pistol stage that I shot in the dark, and I timed out on Stage 7, and those cost me, but the reality is, I need to work accuracy, as well as other things if I really want to get better out there. That said...onward!
Stage 4:
This was my best stage for the match, I was in the top 50% of Practical shooters, but I think I lost about 10 seconds for a variety of reasons. I had to get bumped back a couple of shooters, because there was an issue with my shotgun that manifested itself when Linda shot, and cost her an awful time. I'm grateful Aaron Hayes saw it happen, showed me the problem (water in the mag tub had gummed things up, and I had not cleaned it.) and he took the time to fix things for me. Big shout out to the shooter from the other squad who went running for a new spring, and saved me. I offered to pay for the spring, but he told me to pay it forward and help someone else, have I ever mentioned how awesome shooters can be?
In any case, without that "last" walk thru I would normally take, I did cement my plan in my head, and you'll see me hunting and pecking in a few spots for targets, because I was not 100% sure where I was supposed to engage them. Rookie mistake, but when my routine was changed, I did not recover, and it's pretty evident.
Not sure what I did on the shotgun reload, and why I racked the round out of the chamber, and once again I practiced accuracy by volume on the plate rack. If I was a fortune teller, I'd see Dot Drills in my future, because I really need to focus in on my accuracy.
It sounds like big gripes, but it's little things that I can fix, and those 10 seconds would have been the difference between 85th of the 166 Practical Shooters and 47th. I guess my point is that little details can really help me make a big jump on a stage like this.
Stage 5:
This one really hurt, because I made some mistakes, and again, I let myself down with my stage plan. I was in such a rush, I did not respect the steel plates that needed 2 hits, and while I was shooting at them, I was already thinking about moving, and of course I started missing. My splits and transitions thru the ports were pretty poor, not even close to what I did on "The Alamo" stage at the X-Treme match. Poor set-up, lack of confidence, these should have been easy hits for me. Moving down the range I ended up need to rack a round in after the reload, meaning I went dry and did not realize it. (Maybe I need to set the gun and mag's up so that the slide locks back on empty.) Instead of rolling from heel to toe, I was going slow, posting, and just generally shooting pistol slowly.
Now....I knew all of that, no question about it, but I let it get into my head, and dropped the mag and dumped the pistol, forgetting to engage the 2 pistol targets on the other side of the wall. No walk-thru excuse, I damn well knew it, and I just let the other stuff get in my head, and made a mistake. Going from bad to worse, I'd decided to shoot the steel knockdown plates with shotgun, because I love shotgun, and I felt more comfortable shooting shotgun on the move than my pistol. Well, while I was shooting, and missing the plates, I realized I was looking back at the missed paper, so I had no idea what the hell I was shooting at. I had to stop, reload, and shoot, and the time just kept on running.
I nailed the slugs, and while I hate shooting prone, handled the easy, close targets just fine, and had a hard time getting on my sights at the long plate rack. Once I had it, I was okay.
So really, this was a string of mental mistakes, and while I held it together, I don't even want to think about how much time I cost myself. In USPSA these days I feel like I can recover from a mental mistake, but in 3-Gun, there is so much going on that I'm back in a place where one mistake still causes me to spiral down the tubes. I know it'll take time, practice, and experience, but that's not a fun lesson to learn.
Stage 7:
I did come back to the stage that I did opted to not shoot the day before, and this does play a large part in my feelings about 3 Gun Nation, but as I said earlier, that's a separate story. After Stage 5, we had a bottleneck for Stage 6, so I reached out to the RM, and he went over to Stage 7, and got both Linda and I inserted into the shooting order.
This was just a shit show for me. I won't say I was unprepared, I was very much prepared, I just made mistake after mistake, and felt completely incompetent with my rifle, especially after I watched Linda shoot her stage, where she ran the rifle like a boss. Let's just start with the fact that I need to work with the rifle and get better. Bay style stages, rifle inside 75-100 yards, no issue there, but start moving the steel out into the 200 yard range, and all of a sudden, I struggle. I realize it's not PRC (Precision Rifle Competition), but instead of hosing, you need to exercise trigger control, breathing, and know your holds. Things that I guess are either new to me, or I need more time learning.
Next up, when I'm finally done at the first shooting position, watch my pistol on the run to the second position (that is if you can actually stomach watching the crappy shooting I exhibited on rifle). You'll notice several times that my pistol was bouncing in and out of my holster, and by some divine blessing it managed to stay in, and not fall out and DQ me. Aaron Hayes joking thought it was because I got a 6" pistol, if it was a 5" it would have come out, the RO's told me that I must have walked old ladies across the street because someone was looking out for me. I noticed it almost at the end. That issue won't ever crop up again, tightened the thumb screws, and that will forever be something I check on.
I struggled on the pistol steel, and again when I got to the plates, I totally lost all confidence between position 2 and 3. While I know what a good sight picture is, during that run, I thought I completely forgot, and had no business on it. I let it get away from me. That run over was an absolute low point for me.
Shotgun let me down a bit, again, or rather maybe I let myself down with it. I was only too happy to be done with the stage.
Stage 6:
Not too long ago in my shooting past, I would have been mentally wrecked by having a couple of rough stages on things I thought I would do pretty well at. Headed into the "long range" rifle stage, my confidence would have been horrible, and as expected, I would have guaranteed that I'd fail at this stage as well.
While I've struggled quite a bit the past 18 months shooting, I've grown in one spot that I'm actually pretty proud of, and I did it without really thinking about it, or trying. I left the negativity and frustration on the last stage, and I approached Stage 6 with confidence, and I decided that I was going to put myself in a position to succeed.
I did not exactly "kill it", but for me, I did okay. I was 123rd, I hit all the long range steel, and I actually found a groove, and I left the stage feeling like I can do that, and that all I need is a little time with the new Vortex Razor to get comfortable, and start to improve.
Rifle may have been faster prone, but for me I'm not good prone, and from the barricade, I was comfortable. I could have taken pistol faster, but I had seen a couple of people fall (not just stumble) on loose stones that were washed loose on the path, so I was trying to equally pay attention to my feet, and not just the targets, not a recipe for speed. The poppers were done decently, and I handled the shotgun.
Look, I'm not saying it was great, 123rd is not great by any stretch of the imagination, but if I can have a range of 45 as a best to 123rd as a worst, then I'm looking at a finish in the 80's, or around 50%, and while not being "amazing" would be some serious progress. If you look at the last couple of matches, the pieces are there, I've been okay on some in pistol, shotgun, and rifle, and I've struggled in some. Progress for me will mean finding some consistency, and starting to deliver a solid performance start to finish. I'm hoping that Fallen Brethren, just over 4 months from now I'll show it, and I'll keep building a little bit at a time to that point.
Side note? Love the commentary from Jay Carillo and Linda. I felt bad for Jason, he had an ammo issue that cost him his first stage, which would have ruined the match anyhow, and he DQ'd on the last stage we shot. Rough trip to Texas from Illinois for him, but I hope he knows how much I appreciate the opportunity to shoot with him. Even if I debated a stage brief with him, I learn so much about the sport from him, his friendship means a ton. He's a great guy!
Summary:
Match Scores
Some decent, some bad, some ugly, and a moment of personal growth that I'm really happy about. Now just to take that to the next level, and drop stuff the instant it happens, so it doesn't get me for a whole stage, but from match to stage, we'll take the progress where it happens!
I won't rant and rave, or go over all the things that I need to improve, if you watched a single minute, you see what I see, and I know what I need to do. I am seeing progress, not a ton, but progress all the same. Pretty good squad, some different challenges on stages, and the next 3-Gun Major is a couple of months away, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to try to spend a little more time with rifle during the next 60 days, and see if I can't show some bigger improvement with it. In addition, a couple of USPSA Major's in that time, so maybe I can kill 2 birds with one stone, and the pistol work will help me show some progress there as well.
Last fall, when Les came with me to the Dissident Arms match, we got this clip of him while shooting the all shotgun stage:
On Saturday night, Linda had an issue with the shotgun, rounds were only going half way onto the lifter, and getting stuck in the tube, after she shot, we found a pebble was in the tube, and I was able to shoot cleanly since I was after her. First stage on Sunday, she had the same issue, and when Aaron came by, he found all sorts of gunk in the mag tube. Apparently there was water in the dump bin on Saturday night, and it gunked up the existing crap in there, and caused Linda an issue. Of course after he cleaned it, I shot it on the stage just fine, and it ran the rest of the match. Short version, and why I bring the Les video up, is we got this snippet from Linda...although it was my fault for not cleaning the mag tube, she was mad at the shotgun in general.......
Me? I still love the Benelli, and I want another. Shotgun rocks!
Sunday, May 15, 2016
3 Gun Nation SW Regional Day 1
3 Gun Nation SW Regional Day 1
Theme of the day was simple for the afternoon squad; Rain.
We were scheduled to shoot at 1pm, but did not get rolling until after 5pm. I made the choice to not shoot the first stage after slipping a couple of times in walk thru, as I did not feel that it was safe. The rest of the squad shot just fine, although I did see the RO's, and competitors slip more than a few times running from position to position. For me, I just did not feel comfortable with that.
After Stage 7, we were sent to Stage 5, but it was backed up and we were sent on to Stage 1, there were 3 Pro Shooters who did not show up to shoot it, and somehow, we are scheduled to start on that stage tomorrow. Since the rest of the shooters made it, it's kind of convenient we are set to start with that stage. Those of us who shot it today did it in miserable conditions, and as the last shooter I finished a little after 8:30 PM. I could not see a couple of low targets, and the steel pistol targets were painted black, which was a shit show for me.
After I shot, I was told that since I made the choice to shoot, and I was aware of the conditions, I would not be offered a re-shoot tomorrow. Wish I had known that it was even a choice, or that they would assign us to shoot the same stage twice. Since that's the case, I'm going to argue that I should get a re-shoot on Stage 1, and that I should have the chance to shoot Stage 7 as well. We'll see how it goes.
Stage 1:
No real feedback at this time, I had only 1 hit on one of the low paper, and I caught the no-shoot on the swinger, and I missed a couple of clay's, plus I had a ton of make-up on the steel. I know I can shoot this a hell of a lot better, and the weather and darkness may have played a part, but I saw the steel clearly and just did not get my hits, so I'm owning that.
Let's see how tomorrow goes, 3 stages we "can" shoot, and I'm going to argue for the one I did not shoot, and for a re-shoot, after all, I'd hate to see "special consideration" given to the Pro's, or rather it all works out in their favor that they left the range and get to shoot the stage in daylight. Nah, that could not have happened on purpose giving them that break, right?
No more gripes, I'll be back out there tomorrow, it'll be messy, and it will be fun!
Yep, she did not want her picture taken, all dressed for 3-Gun with nothing to shoot! She'll take out that anger tomorrow burning down some stages on her own!
Theme of the day was simple for the afternoon squad; Rain.
We were scheduled to shoot at 1pm, but did not get rolling until after 5pm. I made the choice to not shoot the first stage after slipping a couple of times in walk thru, as I did not feel that it was safe. The rest of the squad shot just fine, although I did see the RO's, and competitors slip more than a few times running from position to position. For me, I just did not feel comfortable with that.
After Stage 7, we were sent to Stage 5, but it was backed up and we were sent on to Stage 1, there were 3 Pro Shooters who did not show up to shoot it, and somehow, we are scheduled to start on that stage tomorrow. Since the rest of the shooters made it, it's kind of convenient we are set to start with that stage. Those of us who shot it today did it in miserable conditions, and as the last shooter I finished a little after 8:30 PM. I could not see a couple of low targets, and the steel pistol targets were painted black, which was a shit show for me.
After I shot, I was told that since I made the choice to shoot, and I was aware of the conditions, I would not be offered a re-shoot tomorrow. Wish I had known that it was even a choice, or that they would assign us to shoot the same stage twice. Since that's the case, I'm going to argue that I should get a re-shoot on Stage 1, and that I should have the chance to shoot Stage 7 as well. We'll see how it goes.
Stage 1:
No real feedback at this time, I had only 1 hit on one of the low paper, and I caught the no-shoot on the swinger, and I missed a couple of clay's, plus I had a ton of make-up on the steel. I know I can shoot this a hell of a lot better, and the weather and darkness may have played a part, but I saw the steel clearly and just did not get my hits, so I'm owning that.
Let's see how tomorrow goes, 3 stages we "can" shoot, and I'm going to argue for the one I did not shoot, and for a re-shoot, after all, I'd hate to see "special consideration" given to the Pro's, or rather it all works out in their favor that they left the range and get to shoot the stage in daylight. Nah, that could not have happened on purpose giving them that break, right?
No more gripes, I'll be back out there tomorrow, it'll be messy, and it will be fun!
 |
| Linda During the Rain Delay |
Yep, she did not want her picture taken, all dressed for 3-Gun with nothing to shoot! She'll take out that anger tomorrow burning down some stages on her own!
Sunday, May 8, 2016
Saturday, May 7, 2016
Cowtown Classic May 6th 2016
Cowtown Classic May 6th 2016
Mixed blessing, after 8 stages I was on the way to shooting perhaps my best ever major USPSA match. I had 2 mikes, both on the second stage that I shot. Sure there was a lot that I could be doing better, but I was stringing together some reasonable solid stages, and I was pretty proud of my overall performance considering where I'm at these days in terms of prep and practice level. Putting this in perspective, I've never had a major where I had less than double digit misses, so while I was not fast, I was at least getting something right.
The last two stages though ate me up to the tune of a combined 8 misses, four on weak hand shooting, and then 3 on swingers. I'm going to have to find a way to work on swingers, because I had one other miss on a swinger on that second stage. I'm not going to cry about the finish, but it would have been nice to finish as well as I started, and it also feels like I'm starting the crawl up again from bottoming out the end of last year. It's not a huge amount of progress, but it's some little things, and I'm satisfied with that for now, one thing at a time, definitely progressing!
A few little things so I don't have to comment on them in each individual stage. There were a few stages where after the first shot I had to tap/rack, but when I realized it was not the gun, it was me. I was not letting the trigger reset, so when I'd try to pull it a 2nd time nothing happened. It should have been evident on Stage 5, but I still made the mistake a few times.
Going back from Limited to a 10-shot gun in Single Stack was a little more challenging than I expected. Here I ran to slide lock a few times, and could not figure why the gun would not auto-forward like the CZ did quite often, and releasing the slide stop was quite a bit harder. Short version, some better planning fixes that, but I need to get more familiar with this gun. Putting it in perspective, this was the 2nd match I've shot with this gun, the first being the Classifier match a month ago. More trigger time will go a long way.
Stage 4:
Had all my hits, had a reasonable plan, and I was able to execute it. Could have run things quicker? Absolutely, but I needed a good stage early on with all my hits to build some confidence that has really been low. This stage was pretty much what I needed, and it was a great way to start the match.
Stage 5:
Here is where I should have caught my mistake in not letting go enough to reset the trigger. The truth is, that I AD'd that 2nd shot, I took my hand off to tap-rack, and the gun went off, fortunately I was facing the target, and had an Alpha hit....God takes take of idiots? I realized what I was doing at lunch time when I saw this video, but I should have picked it up sooner. The gun is good, I mean it's really good, but c'mon man, gotta get to reset.
On the two target array before moving into the port, I took my "non" weak hand or swinger miss. I put 3 hits into the bottom target, and one into the top target, it was close, but that was entirely on me. I took another mike on the swinger, trying to focus on hitting the target between the 2 steel hard cover plates. Again, poor choice to try to take it that way, should have done it on the side, at rest. Being honest, I could have gone one of two ways, in the past I would have carried that mistake and let my whole match go down hill, today I recovered immediately, put it behind me, and went back to work. Six straight stages without a miss after that, so mentally I think I'm starting to show a littler progress as well.
Stage 6:
Had the trigger issue to start, again, and then I had a problem after the first reload. Short version is the round did not chamber, and I could not release the mag, or tap and rack it. Not sure what caused it, but it was the only time that it happened. That issue cost me about 10 seconds or so.
Splits coming down the middle were good, they were what I would want to expect, but I did not see enough of that for the entire match. It's in me, but again, that's going to be all about building consistency as I start to get back to work.
Stage 7:
Whew, no sense of urgency, but the first 3 targets were at 30 yards, and I wanted to spend a little extra time insuring that I was getting good hits. I'll say this, in the past those targets would have intimidated me a little bit, but since spending some time in 3-Gun, I see things like that a lot more often, so no fear. I got all my hits, in fact I had good hits, and probably could have run that faster with more confidence.
Slow to the tuxedo's, but again, got hits, because I had a make-up, I went to slide lock, and had to reload, and release the slide stop, minor error, and I need to practice that going forward, because it's still a bit unnatural.
Stage 8:
Again, forgot to release the trigger...seeing a theme here? That said, I had what I thought was a reasonable plan, I had no doubts on what I was doing, although I was leaning hard, and almost overran a target. I took a risk without the last reload because that was my last round on the long steel, but I felt confident, never thought twice about it. A plus? How about the solid reload going backward? You know.....there's a positive.....my reloads were fairly acceptable all day long, now to bring the rest up to that speed.
Lunch Break:
I'm about to drop so wisdom, so be prepared. At this point I admitted out loud to Linda that I really wanted to win Single Stack "C", and that I felt if I continued to not make mistakes, that was a legit possibility. Not that I was killing it, but no mikes goes a long way. The other part, and this is the wisdom, is that if you want to feel good about yourself, get in a squad of IDPA shooters, you'll feel like a rock star. Granted it's a placebo, you don't know how other squads are doing, you don't know any scores, but in that moment, it's easy to get some confidence.
Just an observation, not saying it was me at all, just a random observation, and that friends, is why lunch is important.
Stage 9:
Bridge stages! This actually was one of my better stages, There were a couple of make-up's, but I was not making up misses, I made up 2 Charlies, with 2 Alpha's, no idea why, but I felt good about this stage, felt like I was going to own it. I almost tripped over the fault like, the ground beneath it was washed out, so the fault line was up in the air, it's something that should have been fixed.
I hate the moving bridges in general, but damn, again, for where I'm at today, I was very happy with this stage.
Stage 10:
Trigger finger? Twice? C'mon man! Okay, not sure about my stage plan, nobody else ran it the way I did, most folks ran straight to the corner, and activated the swinger, before coming back to the opening in the wall and taking the swinger. I ate the standing reload, which is what made me think that my plan was not all that hot, but I did not want to change it up and go with something else.
For me, I did not want to go back into the opening, and take the paper, and swinger, it was steps wasted to go back in, and then come back out, I was able to come straight across and save those steps. Were those steps worth the standing reload? I don't know.
Coming straight across did however allow me to take all 3 paper targets from standing, rather than going to the port and taking the 2 paper to the right, which is what every other shooter in my group did. (Okay, so maybe some of 'em were IDPA shooters, and on other stages had some very "interesting" stage plans.)
Three hits on the obstructed target, so I did not need the last shot, and this swinger I actually had both my hits on, with some patience I can do it, I just need to work it.
Stage 1:
30 targets, one shot each, no worries. Being honest, I was suffering a little from the heat by this time. Unfortunately there were only 4 RO's on the squad, and Linda and I actually did most of the RO'ing and scoring during the morning, and to start the afternoon. I'd estimate we ran about 70% of all the shooters in our squad. Most of the time right after I shot, I'd be handed the timer and had to run the next shooter, which was Linda.
In any case, fairly simple stage, I broke it up into groups of 8, so I knew right where I wanted to go, and where I had to take each target, no hunting and pecking needed. Weirdly enough in Single Stack this was one of the better runs, which probably says more about the competition level in the division than it does about how I shot it.
Wide open targets, good hits, just need to inject more confidence and faster transitions and we'll be getting back to business.
Stage 2:
Here is where the wheels pretty much fell off the bus. I had 5 misses in 8 weak hand shots, if I'm honest with myself, I could have called 3 of them because I broke the shot when the sights were moving, or I did not have the sights properly aligned. This was the stage that match finish pretty much broke my back. Slow with little to no misses could have been okay, but all of a sudden slow with misses, that will end your day.
Stage 3:
Whew, last stage, and 3 more misses, one on each swinger. My plan was fine, I just did not execute. I thought I had hits on the swingers, the three I did have were all Alpha's, so it's evident to me that I understand what sight picture I need to have to get a hit, and that I should have taken a little extra time, and made sure of the 2nd hits.
I'm not making excuses, lack of practice on swingers and weak hand are what cost me, and that's a bummer. I was definitely over heated, I fought some nausea earlier, so there is some conditioning that is readily needed too. I had total control over the stuff that I battled, so no matter what, I know that I can get better, and can eliminate these things.
Just a few weeks until Texas Open, and we're going to knock a few of these things down by then.
Summary:
80% of a good match? Hey, considering it's still probably my best ever performance at a major in terms of "mikes", and the fact that I'm just getting back to this, and getting back at a much slower pace than I set at the end of 2013 and first half of 2014, I'm okay with it. Honestly, I was very happy with what I had done before the last two stages.
Stuff to fix? Hell yes, If you are reading, or watched, you saw what I saw, I'm not running the gun near as hard as I can, I need to pick up the pace, get on the trigger, and get my splits and transitions back down to a place I can be competitive. I think mentally, I've gone to a place where I'm so focused on just getting hits, that I'm taking too much in doing that. Long targets? Tuxedos? No-Shoots? Sure, there are times you have to respect a shot and give it an extra tenth of a second or so, but I'm not discriminating, I'm taking that attitude all the time, and it's hurting.
Like I said earlier this year, it's going to be baby steps. I want to get a little bit better every match that I shoot, and I want to have my best performances come September and October, that's the real target date to get everything back, and start moving forward. This was just a step, and with that in mind, sure I'm disappointed in the last couple of stages, but I'm fairly happy that I'm showing some mental improvement, some stage plan confidence, and hell, there was never a gripe with a reload in this match.
Onward!
Mixed blessing, after 8 stages I was on the way to shooting perhaps my best ever major USPSA match. I had 2 mikes, both on the second stage that I shot. Sure there was a lot that I could be doing better, but I was stringing together some reasonable solid stages, and I was pretty proud of my overall performance considering where I'm at these days in terms of prep and practice level. Putting this in perspective, I've never had a major where I had less than double digit misses, so while I was not fast, I was at least getting something right.
The last two stages though ate me up to the tune of a combined 8 misses, four on weak hand shooting, and then 3 on swingers. I'm going to have to find a way to work on swingers, because I had one other miss on a swinger on that second stage. I'm not going to cry about the finish, but it would have been nice to finish as well as I started, and it also feels like I'm starting the crawl up again from bottoming out the end of last year. It's not a huge amount of progress, but it's some little things, and I'm satisfied with that for now, one thing at a time, definitely progressing!
A few little things so I don't have to comment on them in each individual stage. There were a few stages where after the first shot I had to tap/rack, but when I realized it was not the gun, it was me. I was not letting the trigger reset, so when I'd try to pull it a 2nd time nothing happened. It should have been evident on Stage 5, but I still made the mistake a few times.
Going back from Limited to a 10-shot gun in Single Stack was a little more challenging than I expected. Here I ran to slide lock a few times, and could not figure why the gun would not auto-forward like the CZ did quite often, and releasing the slide stop was quite a bit harder. Short version, some better planning fixes that, but I need to get more familiar with this gun. Putting it in perspective, this was the 2nd match I've shot with this gun, the first being the Classifier match a month ago. More trigger time will go a long way.
Stage 4:
Had all my hits, had a reasonable plan, and I was able to execute it. Could have run things quicker? Absolutely, but I needed a good stage early on with all my hits to build some confidence that has really been low. This stage was pretty much what I needed, and it was a great way to start the match.
Stage 5:
Here is where I should have caught my mistake in not letting go enough to reset the trigger. The truth is, that I AD'd that 2nd shot, I took my hand off to tap-rack, and the gun went off, fortunately I was facing the target, and had an Alpha hit....God takes take of idiots? I realized what I was doing at lunch time when I saw this video, but I should have picked it up sooner. The gun is good, I mean it's really good, but c'mon man, gotta get to reset.
On the two target array before moving into the port, I took my "non" weak hand or swinger miss. I put 3 hits into the bottom target, and one into the top target, it was close, but that was entirely on me. I took another mike on the swinger, trying to focus on hitting the target between the 2 steel hard cover plates. Again, poor choice to try to take it that way, should have done it on the side, at rest. Being honest, I could have gone one of two ways, in the past I would have carried that mistake and let my whole match go down hill, today I recovered immediately, put it behind me, and went back to work. Six straight stages without a miss after that, so mentally I think I'm starting to show a littler progress as well.
Stage 6:
Had the trigger issue to start, again, and then I had a problem after the first reload. Short version is the round did not chamber, and I could not release the mag, or tap and rack it. Not sure what caused it, but it was the only time that it happened. That issue cost me about 10 seconds or so.
Splits coming down the middle were good, they were what I would want to expect, but I did not see enough of that for the entire match. It's in me, but again, that's going to be all about building consistency as I start to get back to work.
Stage 7:
Whew, no sense of urgency, but the first 3 targets were at 30 yards, and I wanted to spend a little extra time insuring that I was getting good hits. I'll say this, in the past those targets would have intimidated me a little bit, but since spending some time in 3-Gun, I see things like that a lot more often, so no fear. I got all my hits, in fact I had good hits, and probably could have run that faster with more confidence.
Slow to the tuxedo's, but again, got hits, because I had a make-up, I went to slide lock, and had to reload, and release the slide stop, minor error, and I need to practice that going forward, because it's still a bit unnatural.
Stage 8:
Again, forgot to release the trigger...seeing a theme here? That said, I had what I thought was a reasonable plan, I had no doubts on what I was doing, although I was leaning hard, and almost overran a target. I took a risk without the last reload because that was my last round on the long steel, but I felt confident, never thought twice about it. A plus? How about the solid reload going backward? You know.....there's a positive.....my reloads were fairly acceptable all day long, now to bring the rest up to that speed.
Lunch Break:
I'm about to drop so wisdom, so be prepared. At this point I admitted out loud to Linda that I really wanted to win Single Stack "C", and that I felt if I continued to not make mistakes, that was a legit possibility. Not that I was killing it, but no mikes goes a long way. The other part, and this is the wisdom, is that if you want to feel good about yourself, get in a squad of IDPA shooters, you'll feel like a rock star. Granted it's a placebo, you don't know how other squads are doing, you don't know any scores, but in that moment, it's easy to get some confidence.
Just an observation, not saying it was me at all, just a random observation, and that friends, is why lunch is important.
Stage 9:
Bridge stages! This actually was one of my better stages, There were a couple of make-up's, but I was not making up misses, I made up 2 Charlies, with 2 Alpha's, no idea why, but I felt good about this stage, felt like I was going to own it. I almost tripped over the fault like, the ground beneath it was washed out, so the fault line was up in the air, it's something that should have been fixed.
I hate the moving bridges in general, but damn, again, for where I'm at today, I was very happy with this stage.
Stage 10:
Trigger finger? Twice? C'mon man! Okay, not sure about my stage plan, nobody else ran it the way I did, most folks ran straight to the corner, and activated the swinger, before coming back to the opening in the wall and taking the swinger. I ate the standing reload, which is what made me think that my plan was not all that hot, but I did not want to change it up and go with something else.
For me, I did not want to go back into the opening, and take the paper, and swinger, it was steps wasted to go back in, and then come back out, I was able to come straight across and save those steps. Were those steps worth the standing reload? I don't know.
Coming straight across did however allow me to take all 3 paper targets from standing, rather than going to the port and taking the 2 paper to the right, which is what every other shooter in my group did. (Okay, so maybe some of 'em were IDPA shooters, and on other stages had some very "interesting" stage plans.)
Three hits on the obstructed target, so I did not need the last shot, and this swinger I actually had both my hits on, with some patience I can do it, I just need to work it.
Stage 1:
30 targets, one shot each, no worries. Being honest, I was suffering a little from the heat by this time. Unfortunately there were only 4 RO's on the squad, and Linda and I actually did most of the RO'ing and scoring during the morning, and to start the afternoon. I'd estimate we ran about 70% of all the shooters in our squad. Most of the time right after I shot, I'd be handed the timer and had to run the next shooter, which was Linda.
In any case, fairly simple stage, I broke it up into groups of 8, so I knew right where I wanted to go, and where I had to take each target, no hunting and pecking needed. Weirdly enough in Single Stack this was one of the better runs, which probably says more about the competition level in the division than it does about how I shot it.
Wide open targets, good hits, just need to inject more confidence and faster transitions and we'll be getting back to business.
Stage 2:
Here is where the wheels pretty much fell off the bus. I had 5 misses in 8 weak hand shots, if I'm honest with myself, I could have called 3 of them because I broke the shot when the sights were moving, or I did not have the sights properly aligned. This was the stage that match finish pretty much broke my back. Slow with little to no misses could have been okay, but all of a sudden slow with misses, that will end your day.
Stage 3:
Whew, last stage, and 3 more misses, one on each swinger. My plan was fine, I just did not execute. I thought I had hits on the swingers, the three I did have were all Alpha's, so it's evident to me that I understand what sight picture I need to have to get a hit, and that I should have taken a little extra time, and made sure of the 2nd hits.
I'm not making excuses, lack of practice on swingers and weak hand are what cost me, and that's a bummer. I was definitely over heated, I fought some nausea earlier, so there is some conditioning that is readily needed too. I had total control over the stuff that I battled, so no matter what, I know that I can get better, and can eliminate these things.
Just a few weeks until Texas Open, and we're going to knock a few of these things down by then.
Summary:
80% of a good match? Hey, considering it's still probably my best ever performance at a major in terms of "mikes", and the fact that I'm just getting back to this, and getting back at a much slower pace than I set at the end of 2013 and first half of 2014, I'm okay with it. Honestly, I was very happy with what I had done before the last two stages.
Stuff to fix? Hell yes, If you are reading, or watched, you saw what I saw, I'm not running the gun near as hard as I can, I need to pick up the pace, get on the trigger, and get my splits and transitions back down to a place I can be competitive. I think mentally, I've gone to a place where I'm so focused on just getting hits, that I'm taking too much in doing that. Long targets? Tuxedos? No-Shoots? Sure, there are times you have to respect a shot and give it an extra tenth of a second or so, but I'm not discriminating, I'm taking that attitude all the time, and it's hurting.
Like I said earlier this year, it's going to be baby steps. I want to get a little bit better every match that I shoot, and I want to have my best performances come September and October, that's the real target date to get everything back, and start moving forward. This was just a step, and with that in mind, sure I'm disappointed in the last couple of stages, but I'm fairly happy that I'm showing some mental improvement, some stage plan confidence, and hell, there was never a gripe with a reload in this match.
Onward!
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