CZ Circle Complete

CZ Circle Complete


Linda got her CZ SP-01 back from Automatic Accuracy today, and she is pretty happy with the work that they did. I won't say we saved a ton of money buying the stock SP-01 and getting work done on it, it was a few hundred cheaper than the Shadow, but a few hundred here, and a few hundred there, and we're talking real money, no? Yes, savings are good!

So what are the big differences? The Shadow trigger is hands down better, it's crisp, the short trigger reset makes a huge difference, it's a longer reset with the SP-01, and a little mushy, but the double action pull might even be lighter than my already broken in Shadow pull is, and that's a feat in and of itself. I assumed it was simply salesmanship when they told me that they loved how the trigger came out. They were not kidding.

For both Linda and I, no excuses, GM caliber guns and equipment, we'll go as far as we are willing to put work in to succeed. I was happy to dry fire again today, and it was nice that Linda had her own gun to do some work with as well. Friday is some live fire, more classifier work for me, but Linda is going to work her own ball and dummy drills, and see where she is with her flinch, and hopefully she'll have it under control.

Short blog for today, I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves again. Linda's SP-01 with the red aluminum grips, my SP-01 Shadow, and the green P-01. Remarkable how we are fully in the CZ camp now. I suspect that since I had an early blog about my choice to shoot Walther, I'll have to update, and do a blog in the future about why we are choosing to shoot CZ, and why we'll be there for an awful long time.

Good times!

Linda Goes CZ

Linda Goes CZ

Linda made her decision today, she went CZ SP-01. She decided that she did not want to spend what I spent on the Shadow, but she likes the platform, the frame, and it's easier to shoot. She'll be able to customize the gun, and her trigger will turn out to be very good, it just cant have the Short Reset Trigger System, so it'll be very good, not quite excellent.

She's going to switch out grips and sights, and then shoot it for awhile, but eventually she'll get a race trigger job, extended firing pin, extended mag release and a smaller safety. I think the upcoming vote is what color grips she'll actually decide on.

I think she made a great choice, and it means no new handguns for us in 2014, unless she decides she wants something for CCW. Otherwise, we're going to go with what we have, these guns can be Grand Master guns (Then again, so was her Glock 34, and her XDM 5.25"), so now it's 100% all about how we practice.

Who's the little kid in the upper right?

Okay, she did not want me to use this picture, but what the heck, that's an actual smile, not a fake one. I'm just happy to see her really happy for the first time with something. I love her, glad she made her decision, and I'd have supported whatever decision she made. I'm really glad she is finally done switching. There is not a better gun out there for Production Division.

No excuses left, time to go get 'em!

P-01 Has Arrived

P-01 Has Arrived

With "Big Brother"

Pine Tree Match Review

Pine Tree Match Review


Honey Jack says.....

A lot of jack shit on the part of my shooting.

Time to re-think my attitude, and grind out what I need to do. I learned a lesson today, one that should have been obvious to me. Today I made a lot of mental mistakes, I went from in a hurry, to forgetting an array, to reloading too early, to just some general suck. The lesson was learned on the classifier, and actually applied on the last stage I shot.

Match Scores

Stage 1:

I'm not sure if I was keyed up or not, I went out to dry fire before shooting, and I went in and just did not see my sights, you can see I struggled with a slow forward falling steel, I was late to a clam shell, and had some mikes as a result. In my walk thru, I planned on going right first and then coming back left. Notice I did it backwards, again, that's poor execution. I know better. All I can say is that I just made some mistakes. 14th of 23 Production Shooters.

Stage 2:

A mental mistake went a long way towards me zeroing the stage. I started off okay on the long steel and targets, but I inexplicably forgot a shooting position, and did not shoot at the steel and paper, resulting in 2 FTE's, and 3 mikes. With that kind of error, no way to do well. I saw it when I started to run to the 3rd position, and I don't know why I did not come back to clean it, I just didn't. 23rd of 23 Production Shooters.

Stage 3:

This is Classifier CM 13-02 Down The Middle, I had run this back on 12/8, so I know it. High hit factor for production is around a 9.75, so I needed about a 5.95 Hit Factor to get my 60%. After struggling with my first two stages, I'm happy I was able to "drop" those out of my mind and get down to business. I was the first shooter, I ran out to the safe table, did a couple of draws, got my sight picture isolated, and came in ready to go. My draw was slow, wish I knew time to first shot, my time was 6.01. The first shot on the 3rd target was the only place I felt like I did not have a perfect sight picture, and that I may have broken the shot just a hair early. As we walked it, I had seven alphas, and one mike, likely that first shot on the 3rd target. If I had run it clean, I'd have had a Hit Factor of 6.65, and about a 68% or solid "B" run. Instead, I ended up with a 4.5 Hit Factor, and about a 48% run. Disappointing. The real positive, which took me a bit to understand, is that instead of racing trying to go faster, I had a good cadence, if I shoot at that cadence, which helps me focus on the center of a paper target, I can get better hits than I have been. I don't need to go faster, I need to hit more. 6th of 23 Production Shooters.

Side note? The fans were blowing snow into both bay's 2 and 3 (stages 3-6)!

Stage 4:

So, good plan, bad execution. I could have gone a hair slower for better hits early on, but for some reason after the 3rd target, I dropped my mag and had to reload take a target before moving onto the steel. I knew I was not supposed to reload until I was going to the steel, I guess I just forgot about the target. The plate rack? I made it my bitch, and it felt pretty good, it sucked having to reload, and if I had reloaded in the right place, I never would have had to eat the standing reload. I finished okay, but my hits on the paper that come up after the steel fall could have been better. 6th of 23 Production Shooters

Stage 5:

No video here, I just ran it uncomfortably. I did not get good hits on the hoser targets, they were passable, but from that distance, I should be shooting alphas. 19th of 23 Production Shooters.

Stage 6:

This was probably my best stage of the morning. One extra shot on each side, on the left I needed it, on the right I actually did not, I thought I was off on the paper, but I had 3 Alpha hits. It turns out that the far paper targets were both Alpha's. Take off the 2 extra shots, and improve my transitions in the middle, and I think I could have cut off at least a second or so. I was 4 seconds slower than Les, and he thought he could have cut a second off his time. I'm not a GM shooter, so I expect to be slower, and on the whole, this was pretty solid. (Thank you Jay Carillo for the commentary on that stage!) 4th of 23 Production Shooters

Summary:

So, match definitely had more negative than positive, I have to eat a classifier that does not help me, and I made a ton of mental mistakes. Those are inexcusable. These should not be ongoing issues. I had the 0 on a higher point stage, I got nailed on a couple of no shoots. The positive is that I found that if I slow down just a bit to "my" cadence, and focus on hits, I'm better off. For some reason, I'm very comfortable with steel, which I know throws a lot of people. It's a situation where it's a smaller target, so I aim small, and miss small, however paper is big, and I know that I'm getting onto the trigger before I'm getting sight set right in the middle of the A zone. When I shoot at the cadence I did on the last stage, and in the classifier, I have very little issue with that, so instead of pushing speed, I'm going to back off to the cadence I know I need, and get some hits next match.

Three solid stages, three incredibly poor stages for me. I finished 11th of 23 Production shooters and 35th of 50 Shooters overall. It's maddening to do shoot such extremes, and getting a complete, and solid match is something I'm just dying to do. Just an observation though, a lot of Production shooters must really stink. I thought I shot poorly on a few stages, and still managed to better among Production shooters than I felt I deserved. Stage 4 is a good example, I had a poorly executed plan, cost myself a few seconds with a a standing reload and I was still 6th. Maybe that's good for some folks, but I know I have a lot better in me than that.

Reality Check:

The reality is time is getting short to get my "B" card earned. I don't have a match for 10 days, and then I've got matches on the 15th and the 18th. I'm not saying that it's time to go out and start buying Les bullets, but it really is getting close. I need to get at least one mid level "B" in the next 2, and have one that is at least close to a B, if not another mid-level B. In talking with Les, I'm going to stay away from the steel plates in practice, and move to paper, that's my problem. I'm going to focus on getting A zone hits, I'm going to get the sight in the middle of the damn piece of cardboard before I break a shot, and I'm going to do it at what I know is a "B" cadence.

There is no time to screw around, it's do or die time, and I need to do this. I'm tired of saying that I feel like it's close, I need to grind off these rough edges, I have at least 2 live fire, 1 class, and dry fire to go. I need to really focus, re-commit, and if needed, up things a bit. I realize that I'm slow to build some muscle memory, so if I have to work a little harder, then I need to do it.

HTFU,
-Honey Jack

Full Match Video:

Saturday Practice & Linda's Progress

Saturday Practice & Linda's Progress

Friday night we had dinner at Jameson's Charhouse to celebrate Emil's 70th Birthday, and I think a good time was had by all. Kozy was going up to Alpha the next morning to get some practice in, and he suggested that Emil, Linda and I all go up there with him, and he would do some coaching and practicing. First of all, I'll say how much I appreciate that he did that. Kozy is working hard to earn his GM card, and when he takes three entry level shooters up to practice, he loses a session of practice of his own, and ends up teaching his dad, Linda, and I. It's a sacrifice, and I eat up the coaching, anything helps.

We started working the same classifier that we ran on Wednesday night, and I started off with a nice run, 4.98 down 4 points (had steel issues), with a 2.17 turn and draw. We cycled thru a few times, and my biggest issue is still the turn and draw, I'd been working at 1.9 in practice, but the long shot to the small steel is not easy. I felt better about my ability to get hits when I just slowed down a hair and focused on the center of the target, not just when I saw cardboard. 

Linda started off around 5.62, and then got down to a 5.32, with a 1.84 turn and draw. Kozy hit the nail on the head, and told her that it won't be long before she is beating me, she's quick. We focused on her hands on her grip, and came to the conclusion that there is nothing wrong with her gun, the double feeds are just a result of her riding the slide of the gun. It's good to know the gun is fine, and her riding the slide is something she can fix, it's a dry fire and practice issue. The other part where it showed was her inconsistent hits, she was dragging across a target, and making some of the same mistakes I was making a few months ago. She's really showing major progress though, she shoots less, practices less, and is where I was just a few months ago? Good for her.

Go Linda!

After practice, Linda and I took Lauren to a Birthday party, and then ran up to On Target so Linda could try a couple of things. So here's the deal with her. When we started, (and how naive does this sound?) we thought we would get just one gun, and we could share it to shoot matches! I don't know if that was innocence, or me just trying to get the foot in the door to the sport. It was obvious quite early she needed to get something of her own, and she ended up with a Walther P99. She picked it because it was there, and last February guns were hard to find, and we could keep some cost down simply by being able to share magazines. She actually controlled that gun really well, but it was not the most “friendly” trigger for her to learn on. Terry and Les shot her straight, and told her to “get rid of it”. She borrowed a Glock 17 this summer, and liked it, and I had a “free” gun coming from winning a raffle at the IL State IDPA Match. She got a lot of well intentioned advice that she should skip that, and get a Glock 34 instead. So, without shooting one, she agreed, and I went thru a process to get that “free”. She shot it for a match, and, well there were a few issues there. With the money from selling the P99, I had bought, and got some work done on a Springfield XDM 5.25” Competition model, and I shot it in one match, and gave her the option of taking it. I had intended on eventually replacing the Walther with it at some time in the future, but since the work was already done, why not?

When we started shooting, Linda had rented an XDM, but a 4.5”, and really liked the gun, so she more or less “assumed” the XDM from me.  So come to today, and the truth is, she’s never had something that she really picked, something that was what she wanted. When she did try to pick the Glock 17, she got “overruled” by all of us who wanted to help get her something really built for competition. Being completely honest, she could have earned her A card, hell, gone beyond that with any of the guns I mentioned, what’s stopping her is her own self-confidence, and faith to put the pedal to the floor and really go. That’s something that Terry said, that I happen to agree with. It’s not offensive in the least, I was in that spot myself this summer, I was afraid to get up and go, I was so conscious of being “safe” that I was afraid to run, to shoot fast, all that stuff. Her gun is not holding her back, she is holding herself back.

The best wisdom is for her to HTFU and keep her gun, and get better with it, I know it, she knows it, but I also understand her wanting to try a few things, and for once pick and own something that she really wants. Way back when, I wanted to try a steel gun, but since we were “sharing” (that’s laughable isn’t it now?) and she hated it, I had to give up on the idea. So, she’s been hearing me sing the praises of the CZ, so the idea of going to On Target was for her to try a few stock CZ’s, and compare them with her gun. She started with a stock 75B, and was not very impressed. It’s heavier than the XDM, and lighter than my gun, and she rode the slide, and did not feel that much better than her gun. At this point she was a little disappointed.

CZ 75B

She took out her XDM, and put 15 rounds thru it, and had some okay groups, and some that went high and left. She was trying to focus on not riding the slide, and on keeping her front sight in place.

While she did that, I exchanged the 75B for a stock SP-01 (my gun, but with a firing pin block, and no custom work.) She put 30 rounds thru it, and she really liked it. She had no problem keeping the hits in the “A” zone, and she was able to do it fairly rapidly. She was not a fan of the long double action pull, but she was amazed how the gun handled recoil, and how easy it was for her to keep her eye on the sight and shoot rapidly.

CZ SP-01

Then I had her take her XDM out again, and try to repeat what she accomplished with the SP-01. Same issue, it was harder to shoot quickly, and her hits were inconsistent.

Springfield XDM

Finally I gave her my custom CZ SP-01 Shadow, and let her put 30 rounds downrange with it. Her 2 double action pulls led to bad shots, but her grouping was outstanding. She totally understood what I mean that the gun makes you look better than you are, it’s easy to shoot, forget the other stuff, and just focus in on that front sight.

CZ Shadow

There is a local shop that has an SP-01 at a very reasonable price, but to get it, she’d have to sell her XDM, and she’d want work done on that SP-01. It would be an excellent gun, not as good as the Shadow, but reasonably close for several hundred dollars less than what I paid.  (Hey, worst case, it ends up a back-up gun for me, and we all know that's coming soon anyhow.) She’s got some choices to make, changing guns can be an excuse or a cop out for lack of success, especially since her gun now is more than capable of being a GM caliber gun. The reason I see an exception, is simply that she’s never gotten anything that she really wanted, or picked on her own, and that’s wrong too. She should have gotten what she wanted, so she could own her progress. Get an SP-01 and work on it? Get on the list and order her own Shadow? Stick with the XDM, grind it out, and get better before making a change? I’m not sure what she’ll do, but those are three legitimate possibilities, and I’ll support whichever choice she makes. 100% up to her. Does she just say "this is it" with any of them? We'll see. 

In 2013, USPSA saw it's first ever female Grand Master shooter, Jessie Duff:

Jessie Duff

IPSC also had it's first ever woman match winner of a level 4 match, the Far East Asia Championships, Maria Gushchina

I know sometimes people think that shooting and USPSA are for the guys, but the truth is there are women out there who can shoot, it's good to see them achieve some notoriety in the sport. I'm not saying that Linda will shoot with 'em, but who knows, maybe she will. At the very least, and sooner than she thinks, she'll be beating me on a regular basis.

I'm pretty proud of her, and I hope she sticks with the work, and can accomplish her own goals.

2013 In Review

Year in Review

I suppose everyone who writes a blog like this is almost required to do a year in review type of post, although I'm not sure that I have enough material, heck, I'm more interested in getting to the MISS match on January 1st, and anyone who knows me, knows that I just don't give a damn about the holiday at all. It's been a good year though, made a lot of friends, had some seriously fun adventures with said friends, I really got hooked on my new hobby, and began to really work thru the up's and the downs. I've spent prior blogs thanking all those people, so I'm not going to do it all over again, you folks know who you are.

To start the year, I was shooting a P30L, and I hated it, and I had no real idea why, I liked the way it felt, but I did not like anything else about it.

My H&K P30L (First Gun)

By February, I was looking for something else, and I found the PPQ, which I broke out in March and started to shoot, and other than a 2 match dalliance with the XDM, I stuck with it, thru good and bad, and this is the gun that I actually learned with. No coincidence at all that I started to get serious about the sport at about the same time that I found the PPQ. Before that I was a casual, once a month shooter, with the PPQ, my desire elevated, and by April I was shooting as often as I could.

Walther PPQ

By the end of the year, I'd made the change wholeheartedly over to CZ, and assuming this guy does not blow me off (not responding after agreeing to a deal, is getting me angry) the PPQ will be gone from my inventory forever. Someday there could be an M2 PPQ in the safe, but no time soon, as even though I like it, I don't have a reason to have one. (Yes, I'm still in the "I need a reason" to own something)

CZ SP-01 Shadow

It's been a great year, filled with good people, and good times. I suspect 2014 will hold more of the same. I've got some early season shooting goals, like winning Production C at the WIIT. Okay, I know that's not a huge thing, but it'd be progress for me, and I could live with Dave beating me, but otherwise, it's time to put some of these tools that Les has given us on display, and shoot well. I'd like to get my B card as soon as possible, and put up a strong showing at each Level 2 and Level 3 match I go to this year. I'm going to be happy to take my R.O. class in a few weeks. I'll be thrilled to see Linda and Lauren both shoot more, and enjoy.

To everyone who has been around in 2013, and been a friend, or listened to me ramble, or shared an adventure, I thank you for helping to make it a great year!

Just Because Brass Photo's Are Cool

Mental Block

Mentally Blocked

I'm a "B" class shooter, I know I am, right now today. What my mind says is not agreeing with what kind of results I'm getting, and that's an issue. I spent two weeks with the CZ, and when I'm practicing, I get some outstanding results. I'm doing things very well, I'm getting good hits, and I feel very positive about what I'm doing. Classes and matches though are still uneven. Today's class begin with a simple draw, shoot one target 7 yards away five times, reload, and shoot another target seven yards away. My draw was about 1.24 to 1.27, and my reloads were a consistent 1.61 and 1.62, my splits were in the .19 to .22 range, and my hits were awesome. I was feeling pretty good about myself, and where I was going. Here's the key, and I'll come back to this later, I was not thinking about anything other than my front sight.

It looks like this

Moving forward we jumped to El Presidente again, and I had a crappy draw, got poor hits, and Les told me that one of my issues was that I was tense, it was obvious to him, and I admit, I felt it too. He wanted me to be less robotic in my reloads, to "take the training wheels off". I'd found a way to cheat a bit, by twisting my elbow into my body to force the gun to a comfortable position in front of my face so I can watch the mag go in, and drive it straight back out to the target. He wanted me to stop that twist, and know where I need the gun, and do it without my "crutch", watching me reload, it was robotic, my shoulders are hunched, and I was tense. That said, my reloads were pretty damn solid, and now with the change I had something else I was thinking about. I started to pull off early on my last shot before a reload to "do it right", and that impacted how I was hitting, instead of just focusing on my sights, I was thinking about the way to reload.

We set up a couple of barriers at about 12 yards, and ran 9 Lives. Essentially you start in the middle, run to the left, shoot 3 steel plates, go back to the middle, hit the 3 plates again, and then move to the right position, and do it again. 9 shots from 3 positions, it's a challenging drill where you need good accuracy, and you need sound movement skills. Les made one pretty small adjustment for Dave and I, he made us dry fire and practice keeping our gun's up, so that once we cleared a barrier we were just about on target, instead of having to move it up, or get a hand back on it, and even if we felt slower, it turned out that we were anywhere from .2 to .5 seconds faster, and over a stage with only 3 positions, that's 1.5 seconds you pick up. It adds up.

To close out, we took a draw, shoot two at a plate, reload and shoot 2 more. My best run with all hits had a 1.6 draw and a 1.7 reload. This is something I can work on, but when it comes to simply "stand and shoot", I feel confident. I can accept that reload from more than 10 yards, especially with a hit, sure, I'd like it faster, but that will get me to B with no problem.

So anyhow, Les gave it to me, I'm mentally fucked up. Seeing as how this is a gun blog, and this is Illinois, I'd better clarify. I'm just blocking myself from doing what I can do well in practice. I'm self-critical, I'm judgmental, and my head is my own worst enemy. I'm not seeing spotted unicorns, purple horseshoes, or hearing voices. I'm simply pressing too hard, I'm trying to prove that I can do this, instead of just sitting back and doing it. I know that I'm better than I showed today, I've done it, but I get to a class, or a match, and I just start thinking too much. Part of me felt absolutely self-defeated when I left the range today, not that I was going to run off and cry defeated, rather that I was absolutely helpless, and could not figure out what I needed to do to right the ship.

I made a quick call and ran over to Kozy's, and we talked it out. He told me pretty much what Les told me, that fundamentally I'm there, I've got this, but I need to put it all together. He said another thing that Les did, just in a slightly different way that got thru to me. I'm going to focus on just one thing at the match on Wednesday. I'm going to forget my draw, my reload, everything else, I'm just going to look at my front sight, I'm going to think only about that. That does not mean I'm going to get all Alphas, just that I'm going to call my shot, and I'm not going to have any surprises at the end of a stage. If there is a miss, I'm going to know it, and I'm going to know why when I take the shot. That's the same thing Les told me, just the front sight. The rest of my game is either at the B level, or close enough that I can perform. When I had bad runs today, I was not thinking about, or focused on my front sight, I was worried about my turn and draw, taking the "training wheels" off my reload, and so on. Every single time I was thinking about either something else, or something more than my front sight.

Do you think he over thinks?

When I look back at my past few blogs, I've said it, I trust the CZ. If I focus on the sights, the gun takes care of the rest. The truth is, I focus on the sights, the gun takes care of the shooting, and I, Luke, am good enough to take care of the draw, reload and so on. I know how to do those things already. So the million dollar question now, is if I can do those things in practice, and I know it, why am I not doing those things at class and at a match? I suspect class because I'm learning, and match because I'm pressing. So for Wednesday, I'm going to re-read the Mental Game of Tennis, and I'm going to try to clear my mind, and just think and see my front sight, nothing else. I'll let my improved skills as well as my confidence in my gun take care of the rest.

On the practice agenda, my turn and draw is abysmal. I was running 2.20 to 2.34 to Dave's 1.68. I'm going to work that pretty hard the next few days, and I'm going to set my par time to start to 1.90, and go from there. That's a pretty big slice of time I'm giving up for no real good reason. In part it's because I'm turning then drawing, instead of consolidating the draw and reload into one, and in part because I'm just not snapping my head around and letting my body follow.

There are little things I'm looking at, all fixable in dry fire. I can work my draw a little, get more comfortable with the reload, now that I know where I want the gun, and how I wanted it canted to get the perfect reload, and to finish a shot before I start to reload. Do those things, and I'm talking a few weeks of dry fire, not months. I know I've come a long way in a short time, and now we are talking some polish on the fundamentals instead of complete overhaul, but the mental block is something I just hope to get past. Give me some match success, for all four stages, and let me know how it "feels" mentally to do that, then I'll have a blueprint. I think I'm on the right path, with focusing on just one thing, I'm just excited to get out there and give it a go.

Time To Jack

Time To Jack


Let's cut the shit already and admit that it's time to get serious and get down to business. Dave and I got together today for our live fire work, and we both confessed that we've had a thought or two that it was almost time to start buying the 4,000 bullets that we are going to owe Les if we don't hit our mark. I know I've had some bravado, and confidence, but with each up and down performance I was feeling like Charlie Brown. Lucy puts that football down, and each time he believes he's going to kick it, and that little witch pulls it out every single time. Screw you Lucy.

Today was my first day in the plan with the CZ, and here I am five hours later with an ear to ear stupid grin on my face. I had more fun shooting today, in practice than any day I've ever had shooting, ever. Big statement there. Today the target and I tangled, and I kicked it's butt. Everyone says that it's the person shooting the gun, not the gun, and I buy that. I won't however discount that the CZ is infinitely easier to shoot, and for me to focus on just one thing, my front sights. This was hands down one of my best practice performances ever.

The CZ partnered with my loads shoots softly, no muzzle flip, very little recoil, the gun just cycles backward and forward, and I can keep my eyes on the front sight the whole time. With the PPQ, I was fighting to control the gun, with the CZ, I hold it, no fight. This is worlds easier than what I am used to. I know it hides some flaws that I have, like not getting a better handle on the gun and getting my left elbow up higher, but I don't need to have that perfect hold to get my hits. So is it a good thing that it masks flaws? Some might argue its not, and I see that point, because I don't just want to earn my B card, I want to compete in the B Class, and I want to go beyond that. However, for right now, it let's me focus on my sights.

Les felt Dave and I had a tendency to shoot past a  target on a transition, and not drive the gun towards it, (me more than Dave) and he wanted us to focus on driving the gun. The beauty of the CZ  for me, is that it's so heavy, I can't just drag it across targets, I need to drive it to get it there, so the weight forces me in the right direction.

Today our mission was to start with a couple of El Presidente's as slow as we needed to get all alpha hits. New gun, new pull, I was a little slow, but I got good hits at 8.60 seconds. I had two exceptional runs as I started to get dialed in, I ran one at 7.59 (I need 8.45 for a 60% run with 90% of points possible) with 12 Alpha's, that's a perfect run! My draw to first shot was 2.34 on that run, about .6 seconds slower than with the PPQ. I ran another at 7.37 with 10 Alpha and 2 Charlie, and a 2.29 second draw. According to Classifiercalc, that first run had a Hit Factor of 7.91 which is 77.1%, that's not a B run, that's a low A run! My second run would have been a 7.598 Hit Factor for a 74.0% run, that's the tip top of B (75.01 is A).

That's good shooting, with accurate hits. With the PPQ I had inconsistent runs between 6.30 and 7.05 most of the time, the hits were touch and go, and I dropped points, so, not only did I slow down, I massively increased my accuracy, but I did not go too slow. Now, the even better news, the biggest difference in speed was not my actual shooting (I got my splits and transitions down to near PPQ territory, .20-.22 splits, and .38 transitions, faster with the PPQ, but there I shot thru the target, never driving the gun to it to get hits. ), but the difference was an incredibly slow draw. That 1.8 second draw we started with? I'm slower, and I got the PPQ down with practice, the CZ is a little different because of the long first pull, but with practice, I'm going to get that down. I'm not putting a time frame on it, but I'd bet in a week of dryfire, I'll be used to the gun enough that I'll be at 1.80, and again starting a push to get the draw down to the 1.3 or 1.4 mark. That's almost a full second that I can trim from my time and still keep good hits!

Want some more good news? My reloads during the El Presidente runs were between 2.00, and 2.2, again, between .5 to .7 slower than I was reloading with the PPQ. By the end of the day, and we drilled reloads, I had my reload into the 1.80 area, and as soon as I stop going for the release on the trigger guard like the PPQ, and remember it's a button, I'm going to get even better.

So, all this good news? I'm excited as hell! The things I'm talking about are things that I can improve in dry fire, and I already proved to myself that I can do exactly that. I'm not talking a three month ramp up, I'm not talking wildly inconsistent, I'm talking a few weeks to get myself to a better position. The most basic fundamental of all, seeing that front sight, and hitting the target is finally, not something I'm over thinking, I'm able to just focus on the sight and shoot.

Want another small piece of good news? I experienced something Terry did at the match. my trigger finger does not realize how short the single action pull is, I was leaving the trigger and moving my finger forward and then coming back to hit the trigger. Some work there, and my splits will improve, something I laughed about it felt so good, was it took me longer to pull the trigger something that it took me to see the sights.

I can't express how amazing an experience today's practice was. I was not fighting my gun, everything came easy, the light went on. I believe in my SP-01, I don't have to be perfect, it makes my job easy. It is an amazing feeling. I want to guard against getting over confident, but for the first time, I've got a deep confidence in my gun, and a realization, that my fate, this B card, and my improvement is all about what I'm doing. Sure, it's always been that way, but right now? I believe it. I have faith, something I lacked before. This CZ eliminates all the little things I was thinking about, elbow up? Sights perfect? Grip Tight? I don't think about those now, I just see the front sight and shoot.

I have faith that with this, my goals will be a reality

I say I don't want to be over confident, and I don't want to jinx myself, but I honestly believe that I could run off a series of B classifiers now, and I'll be able to do it that much easier with more dry fire work. So, mark it down, my contribution to all this, is a skill set that Les taught me. He taught me what I need to do, at the most basic and fundamental level, he gave me the skills that I need to apply, and today at least, it all came together. I know there are up's and downs ahead, I'm not getting too high, or too low, but I'll be damned if don't just believe that I'm on the way.

Thanks bro!

Match Talk 12/18/13

Match Talk

Okay, the 18th came and went, and I dragged my feet getting the video together, and thinking about what went on.  It's been a pretty busy time, I wrapped up my work year yesterday, and am on vacation until the 2nd. Christmas presents are about done, holiday plans are made, and a couple of big decisions were made. More on those a little later.

The only video I thought was worth a thing was that of my classifier.  CM99-28 Hillbilton Drill What went right with it? Well, my draw was pretty solid, I had good transitions, and I executed a solid reload. My hits on the steel were just fine, and I even took two extra shots that I did not need to. On the last two steel, I had hit them, and for some reason thought if I shot again they'd go over faster. That cost me an extra .4. I was looking for a run on this stage of 9.65 seconds or less for a 60% run. My total time was 9.01 seconds, and it should have been 8.61 or lower, meaning I had my time beat by a full second.

So, what went wrong? Everything else! I put exactly one shot out of six on paper.

I'm going to take a few positives, that I can do this, I can shoot at speed, my reloads are improving, my draw as well, and that I have the focus that I need to shoot steel, which for some reason is kryptonite for some people. My struggles with paper are more than mental, although that's a factor as well. I'm still not seeing enough front sight, and I'm shooting thru the target, not driving the gun to the target.

This would have been a good opportunity to get a high classifier score, but I'm not going to cry over spilt milk. There are a lot of good things happening, but the couple of fundamental things that are going wrong are basic, and will have a huge say in how I perform.

So, the decisions. For all I said about shooting the Walther PPQ not two months ago, I went to Les, and he have me his approval to make the move to the CZ. This is going to mean some serious hard work, because I need to learn a lot about this gun, but the truth is I have confidence in the gun, and I believe this will allow me to learn, and make things easier on myself in the short term.  I also made the decision to not make the PPQ a safe queen, and to sell it. While I like the paddle mag release, the truth staring me in the face is that I do a better job with a button. Someday I could buy another PPQ, but it'll be a button version.

It's Official

I'm also going to use the proceeds to pick up the green P-01, which will replace the PPQ quite well. It's about the same size, but heavier, it will be hammer fired like my competition gun, and also be DA/SA. If I'm going to winter carry something, I admit I want something similar to what I'm going to be putting significant rounds down range with. It will also have night sights, the VZ grips I like, and an Automatic Accuracy trigger job. Plus, CZ only makes 200 of those a year, and I kinda like having something that is a little rare, and a little more interesting. Telling you, I'm going to do significant business with those guys going forward. The last Walther standing will be the PPS, which will be a summertime carry option. There will be another Walther someday, maybe a nod to James Bond and a PPK

A Nod To Bond...Maybe Someday

CZ SP-01 Shadow Initial Impressions

CZ Initial Impressions


I'm not really sure where to start, other than my initial impression is that I'm not sure I want to shoot anything other than a CZ ever again. Sure, I know that's crazy talk, but I'm utterly blown away by just about everything with the CZ SP-01 Shadow. First of all, huge props to Matt Mink and his crew at Automatic Accuracy for custom building me not just a gun, but a work of art. At one point I had an order in with CZ Custom, but in order for them to install the STRS, they wanted to ship me the gun, have me ship it back, and then install. I understand that it has to do with an agreement they have with CZ-USA, but as a customer, if I'm willing to pay the money, I want what I want, and I don't want to have to pay three times for shipping.

The AA Sales Manager, Mark McArthur is one patient guy, and we spent a lot of time on the phone, me asking questions, him patiently answering them. If anyone was considering a CZ, I'd steer them hard to Automatic Accuracy, simply because they built a gun for me, just the way I wanted. I picked out which specific trigger style I wanted, the size of the safety, and grips. It should surprise nobody that this gun fits my hand perfectly. At the same time I was ordering, both Terry and Les had orders in (Les for 3 guns), and I know we tried the AA patience, but those guys were amazing. The adventures in getting it done are blog worthy, but they are one of those things that I'm going to keep private between the three of us (and Kozy) and we'll share a laugh or two.


Coming from a 4" light, striker fired, polymer gun, there are no words for me to describe my time with the CZ. My first hundred or so rounds shocked me. The PPQ has some muzzle flip, and I need to grip to really take charge of the recoil. The CZ's extra weight manages that to an extreme, and the gun has no muzzle flip, and seemingly no recoil, the slide simply cycles back and forth, enabling me to keep my eyes on the sight, and get off rapid shots, with accuracy. In slow fire, the PPQ can put some great groups together, but the further away from the target, the slower I have to go, to keep a sight picture, and get hits. I did runs of 10 round head shots from 15 and 20 yards with the CZ, and I had 1" to 2" groups, as fast as I could pull the trigger.

Single targets are one thing, but in this sport, it's transitions. I ran a couple of El Pres with Kozy, and my times were slower than with the PPQ, and I'm going to attribute that to a couple of things, mostly a slow draw to first shot, and reload. In a reload drill I'm faster, but doing El Pres, I tried to do what comes naturally, which is find the release on the paddle, CZ is button. My groups were tighter, than with the PPQ, and I did have one miss, and we'll get to that next. The CZ being heavier forced me to drive the gun to targets, which is a benefit.

This is what the SRTS is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbYQlTrhAc0

Striker fire guns like the PPQ are great, because each and every trigger pull is the same. The CZ is a Double/Single Action, so it has a long, and harder first pull. The CZ has about a 6.5 lb first pull right now, but it's the length that is a challenge. It's definitely harder for me to keep the sights from moving on this pull, so first shots are going to be an issue, that's where I had my miss on El Pres. By contrast the PPQ has about a 5.5 lb pull each and every time I pull it. The guys at AA tell me that once I get the gun broken in, that first pull should get down in the range of just under 6 lbs. The single action pull is about 2.5 lbs right now, and once it's broken in, should get just a touch under 2lbs.

There's no doubt in my mind the potential in with this gun, and it does not come with a "B" card in the case. I'm going to have some serious adjustments to make to learn the pull, build the muscle memory on the reload, and on the draw, but the actual act of shooting is infinitely easier. Les made the comment that good gear supports good habits, and will help, never has that been made so clear to me. My SP-01 Shadow is set-up for competitive shooting, there is no doubt about that. It's not set-up to be carried, or as a home defense gun, it's purely for sport, and in that role, it will excel.

I'd like to shoot like Matt Mink

I think everyone who knows me knows that I love my Walthers. One of my first blogs was about why I choose to shoot Walther. Right now I am feeling some disgust with how I shot my PPQ last night, and I know it's not the gun's fault, it's strictly mine, but if someone made me an offer for my PPQ, I'd sell it outright, and go buy a CZ-P01 from Mink and company to replace the PPQ. It's similar sized, but has the same manual of arms that my SP-01 Shadow has.

I really want this guy

No gun is going to make me a B, or better shooter, only hard work, and practice is going to do that. This gun however I think makes it easier on me. I spent a bundle on it, and right now I think it's worth every penny. Once I have my skills together, I'll be a more competitive shooter.

Sound Advice

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

If One Picture is Worth a Thousand Words....

No, I did not shoot it tonight at the MISS match, and I'll get video and feedback posted tomorrow, I'll also work on some initial impressions for the CZ.

Sexy Ain't It?

Paraphrasing a bit from one of my favorite movies, Training Day...

"This car it's not from the motor pool, is it?"

"It's not, sexy though, isn't it?"

Next Year?

Automatic Accuracy CZ75 SP-01 Shadow

'Nuff Said