Before I get into anything at all of my match, huge thanks the the MD's (Kurt Gruber, Aaron Hayes, and Brian White) for organizing and running this match. It was amazingly smooth, fun stages, and a great atmosphere. The RO teams were awesome, and were augmented by the Corps of Cadets from Texas A&M who handled resetting duties, leaving competitors free to just shoot. The time it took for them to drum up $140k+ of items for the prize table, to create stages that flowed well, to build stages, and do absolutely everything to make the match of success. Massive investment of time, and it is appreciated.
I'd hoped that my match would go out on a high note, but instead I think I went out with a whimper. I won't get into all the things, but I know what I feel I should be better on right now, and I have a list of things that I'm going to have to practice if I want to be successful next month at the 3-Gun Nation Regional match back out in Marble Falls.
May as well get down to the nitty gritty......
Stage 8:
Pistol started out fine, slug's started out fine, but I again dumped a birdshot and got off my count and plan as a result. I had some uncharacteristic misses here, and I'm not quite sure why, that's the kind of knockdown plate stage that I feel like I own normally. Then the rifle...ahhh, the rifle. I could not see thru the scope very well, and had to adjust on the A-Frame. I ended up passing on one steel target and taking the miss just just so I would not time out. What concerns me, is that I'm not sure where I was hitting when I was shooting at it. Targets were 139 and 207, so not overly far either.
Stage 9:
I made a bad decision here. I'd planned on using a skeet choke for a wide spread, but I let a couple of people in the squad talk me into using the IC choke which would have allowed me to take the clay's down range near the barrel from the start box. That however was never my plan, and considering that I planned on going down range anyhow, I should have stuck with the skeet choke. In fact I do believe that the gentlemen who won the stage (he was on my squad) used the same plan I had, and the skeet choke. Not saying I'd have done that, but I had a plan that was not suited to my set-up, and to top it off, first time I've shot at flying clays like that. Time for me to add that to my practice sessions.
Summary:
I'm not going to sugar coat it, it was not a very good match for me, I fought gear issues, mental issues, and some sight issues, and honestly I'm responsible for the first two. I should have taken the time and effort to know how to zero my rifle without help before the match, and do the same with the pistol, which would have prevented me from shooting so low the first day. Mentally, sure I made some mistakes, and some of them I'll improve on just with experience, and that's okay.
Sights, well, my rifle is a struggle, and I really want to like shooting it, but I think I have my biggest and quickest gains to make in the sport by actually gaining some semblance of rifle skills, and improving my accuracy. If I do that, my scores will go up quite a bit. Still a ton of practice to get competitive, and pistol and shotgun need work too, but not even close to the same level as my rifle.
While I'm disappointed, I also had a great time with an awesome squad, and I'm looking forward to the next match, and coming back here in 2017, and showing some serious improvement.
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