Jump to content
Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

Fourtrax's Range Report


Chris iliff

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 909
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

First, I am slowly learning(duh) that being calm and seeing is tantamount to good shooting.

Continued my quest for the 4.5s El Pres tonight. Deviated slightly from my plan and actually ran the El Pres for about 240 rounds. My dry no warm up El Pres was not a huge change to 7.01s, t/d 2.01s, reload 1.57. Overall time time slower by .2, but the reload and t/d better.

I learned that for me being calm is a lot. The more calm and relaxed the better for my times. I have found that for me, driving the dot makes more sense. Now don't take that to mean that I follow the dot with my eyes, a noob mistake. NO, I snap my eyes to the next target and drive the dot to it. When I think about driving the gun, then I tend to gun/dot follow with my eyes. Weird, huh, but that's me. Knowing me is the whole secret, so know yourself and what makes you tick.

My best El Pres was 5.53s, t/d 1.62s, reload 1.34s. I had several in the medium to high 5's and am really pleased.

Also did some turning and moving to a wall and shooting 3 targets. Did this from the left and right and worked the times down to about 3.8s. Wasn't moving that far in the drill and thought it really mimicked a lot of stage starts a person sees.

Positives: Reinforcing things I know with actual experience. The best kind of knowing.

NOTE: t/d=turn and draw.

Edited by fourtrax
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thought about the El Pres all day. I got home and geared up. Cool weather and clear skies. I had two things that I wanted to check. 1st, was I keeping the gun close to my body during the draw(tip Flex gave out), 2nd how much wasted movement in my reload. During the drill, sometimes I do remember seeing the magwell scribe an arc towards T1 while reloading. While this may be normal, I was thinking that straight back to the face box, then straight out to T1 might be a little more efficient.

Dry, no run throughs, didn't even mentally run it.

6.91s

t/d 1.87s

reload 1.53s

After several, maybe 3 or 4, my times quickly started to drop. I ran probably ten or so right in the 5.50's. Personal best is 5.53. I could not for the life of me get there and no amount of trying helps, so I didn't go there. Anyways, about the 8th or 9th run I decided that I would run them until I broke into the 5.40's. Kinda pissed me off that I couldn't get there, then all of the sudden 5.50 flat. I ran another, and got a 5.31s, t/d 1.53, reload 1.29. I let out a whoop! Pretty happy being on ground I never walked before. Then came a 5.25s, 5.26s and finally a 5.44s. I stopped here.

I've always heard to practice to a peak and then when it starts to drop off walk away so as not to ingrain the poorer performances. So, that's what I did, very happy I might add!!!!

POSITIVES: Set a new PB on the El Pres of 5.25s, t/d 1.62, reload 1.26s. Can't wait to peel .75 of a second off that!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shot the Warsaw big match blow out today, not sure how I ended. Not as many shooters as last year and that was a little dissappointing. Big Pete Briggs puts on one hell of a match and shooters missed a good one. The stages Pete comes up with are awesome and rival any stage I've seen at State or Area matches. For a local big match it's the best I've ever shot 2 years in row.

A couple of examples, one stage had spring loaded sliding doors. You had to pull a rope with your WH and shoot through the port with SH, 3 different ports like this. Another stage actually had you popping out of a cake for crying out loud, it was a blast. The top of the cake(doors) activated two swingers. It was a total blast!!!! 8 stages, 250+ rounds, free lunch, just too many positives to list. A definite shooters match with something for everyone and fun all around.

I'll edit this when the scores are uploaded.

Edited to say: Looks like I was 3rd in Open, and.....5th overall. Got beat by 2 masters in limited, Brent Roberts(B :surprise: ) in open, and Repete Briggs (A) in Open. Congrats Repete, good match and HOA!!! One master in Limited just barely got me. I did not groove in for 3 straight stages and several brain farts, but that's shooting. Great match!!!!!

Edited by fourtrax
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I reviewed the stages and my best was 3 Little Pigs, and Brent's All Star Review.

3 Little Pigs started facing a wall with a port. 4 targets through the port, 4 off the right side of wall, 4 off the left side of the wall. I ended up 2nd overall, Repete won the stage. I shot real good points and used vision to dictate my speed. I was really pleased. After the match, Repete and I ran it again a little different. We did the port freestyle, right side right hand, left side left hand. We had been joshing each other about this for the match, but settled on not doing it. I wish we had because I got him after the match this way. I just barely got him though.

Brent's All Star Review was set up in a very large arc that went from one side of the bay to the other. You could start anywhere on the rear fault line. It had four Texas stars. I started on the right and shot 3 targets through a port, then ran to a door and shot 2 poppers and a Texas star, then to a gap in the wall and shot two Texas stars lined up one behind the other, each with a no shoot plate, then ran to another door and shot the last Texas star which had 6 very small plates.

I then had to back pedal to the last port and shot 3 targets through it. First time in a while I got all the points. A master shooter(Metts) pointed out to me later that if I had ran it from the left that I would not have had to back pedal as much at the end. He was right and it is the little things I need to hear and pay attention to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Machine Gun Roberts" to "A". I'm calling your sandbagging butt out Roberts

That hurts , I am not sure if I can sleep tonight now !!!! :roflol: I tried , I won the classifier and it still is only a "B".There was a lot A shooters and 1 M there too. That will knock a high % out and lower percent I bet. :wacko: I should try to practice but what fun would that be.

Brent the sand bagger :devil: (new aka, had the machine gun thing long enough, Thanks John)

Ok, I guess it's time to lay the "Machinegun Roberts" name to rest. I'll be sure not to tell anyone you actually earned that nickname at an IDPA match!:D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have not shot or practiced in a week. Whole family has some draining bug/cold and that sucks. I did manage to make some walls for my range(4) and I got them painted today. My next big one is the Michigan State and it looks like I'll get to shoot with Chris Keen and Metts and Jake DaVita. I'm looking forward to it. More later.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Back on the quest tonight. What a great evening to shoot, very breezy and warm, no bugs!!!!!

Completely dry El Pres, 6.51s, t/d 1.83, reload 1.64, without looking I think that's my best completely dry run to date. If so that's trending in the right direction.

My next went 6.04s, 5.59s, then a PB of 5.20s, t/d 1.54, reload 1.29. I almost quit right there, but I didn't. I ran a 5.12s,5.10s, and then a 5.80s with a fumbled reload. I took a little longer reloading and when I got set again I put up a 5.06s, 5.13s and then pushing I got a 5.40s run. I should have known better to push, but after the 5.06 I really wanted in the 4's. My final run was a nice controlled 5.24s. I stopped there.

Next, I drew from the El Pres box to my ol' 50 yard target. I'm about 5-7 yards closer, so 43-45 yard shot, then the El Pres plates, then my plate machine(12-13 yards). I worked on smapping my eyes and learning to control the shots at the varying distances. I ran that left to right and vice versa, until I was out of ammo.

POSITIVES: New PB on the El Pres of 5.06, I know I can shave a half second off that! :cheers:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did one completely dry El Pres 5.6s, t/d 1.71 and reload 1.42. That is definitely my best to date. The work is paying off!!!!

I went to the range with no plan :surprise: That's probably a mistake but I made up for it. I quickly decided to work on my t/d (turn and draw). I know that I can shave time by really getting this movement down. I did 50 of them. My best was 1.43s. This is at my plate that is set up to simulate the lower "A" zone of T1 in the El Pres. Distance is the same. My plate is about 7 1/2", so this is a little tougher to get on target.

I broke up the 50 reps by stepping back and shooting the ol' 50 yard plate, then the El Pres setup, then my plate machine.

I described this in a post above. This is really fun and I have to be careful to call the shots. The 1st run was a complete disaster.

I only shot 160 rounds.

POSITIVES: Trimmed some fat on the t/d. Set a PB of 1.43s on t/d.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Video camera is going to have to wait, but it is on the list..... you have no idea how bad I want one!!!!!!

Did not have the right feeling tonight on the range. I finished Atlas Shrugged last night and maybe that is why I felt kind of distracted. What a good book, prophetic, scared me!

Completely Dry El Pres, 6.16s, t/d 1.78, reload 1.44. That's a little slower than they were trending, but I'll live with it.

I ran 23 straight. My second run was high 5's, then 5.57. So within 3 I felt like I was within my wheelhouse. And that's where it stayed. By number 12, I was getting frustrated, number 13 was a breakthrough at 5.06, t/d 1.49, reload 1.28. Then a 5.12, 5.16 and finally a breakthrough and new PB of 4.96s, I was really happy. I had been about to give up and call it quits for the night. I followed that with another PB of 4.89, t/d 1.45, reload 1.20. I ran 4 more at 4.93(felt sloppy), another 4.89, then a 4.96 and finally a 4.97 which felt sloppy.

All in all a pretty good practice session.

Shot Warsaw on Sunday. 2nd overall, Metts (Master Production) beat me by a percent and a half. I had 2 hardcover hits just off the A zone of a target and that was that. I did win 2 stages and feel the movement is coming along better.

POSITIVES: Set a new personal best of 4.89!!!!! Finally broke into the 4's. :cheers:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shot Coach's match at Riley, In, on Sunday. 3 hrs drive down and 3 hrs drive back, 7 stages. It was a good match. I need to go there more often, as there have been several GM/M shooters there the few times I've been.

Overall my performance was scattered. I had a good first stage, a wide open stage that had some really far shots, got my hits and ended about 4 seconds behind an M class open guy. The match had 4 classifiers and two might be good for me. I really let it hang out and it showed.

My favorite stage had a wall down the middle and targets on each side. I shot it in a great time and knew I had moved efficient, the gun almost never paused. When it was over, I was crushed to learn that I FTE'd a target. I thought about it and still can't figure out how I did it, as it was not hidden in any way. Oh well, I chalked it up to not spending enough time on my visualization. I had some close targets on my right that I shot while moving, then a reload and a few fast steps and I guess I focused on the target that was in my vision after the reload. Unfortunately the target I FTE'd was directly to the right of the target I focused on after the reload.

A few blunders on two more stages probably dropped me enough that I'm definitely not in the running. Not looking forward to the results.

I got to talk to Sara Irish. I told Coach I figured his game out :ph34r: , coax me to drive the 3 hrs to watch me get my butt handed to me by a college girl. That girl can shoot!!!!!!!!! :cheers:

Edited to say: 2 mikes, a no shoot, and 1 FTE over 3 stages. knocked me to fourth, a C class just squeeked me by less than a percent or so. I did beat Sara, which suprises me. At least I got to foil Coach's evil plan. :sight:

Edited by fourtrax
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wanted to go to that match until i found out about Warsaw's classifier match next month. Decided to shoot at the home range this past weekend. Ill probably plan on seeing you then! Going to run the classifiers a few times in different divisions to build up some different classifications :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shot Coach's match at Riley, In, on Sunday. 3 hrs drive down and 3 hrs drive back, 7 stages. It was a good match. I need to go there more often, as there have been several GM/M shooters there the few times I've been.

Overall my performance was scattered. I had a good first stage, a wide open stage that had some really far shots, got my hits and ended about 4 seconds behind an M class open guy. The match had 4 classifiers and two might be good for me. I really let it hang out and it showed.

My favorite stage had a wall down the middle and targets on each side. I shot it in a great time and knew I had moved efficient, the gun almost never paused. When it was over, I was crushed to learn that I FTE'd a target. I thought about it and still can't figure out how I did it, as it was not hidden in any way. Oh well, I chalked it up to not spending enough time on my visualization. I had some close targets on my right that I shot while moving, then a reload and a few fast steps and I guess I focused on the target that was in my vision after the reload. Unfortunately the target I FTE'd was directly to the right of the target I focused on after the reload.

A few blunders on two more stages probably dropped me enough that I'm definitely not in the running. Not looking forward to the results.

I got to talk to Sara Irish. I told Coach I figured his game out :ph34r: , coax me to drive the 3 hrs to watch me get my butt handed to me by a college girl. That girl can shoot!!!!!!!!! :cheers:

Edited to say: 2 mikes, a no shoot, and 1 FTE over 3 stages. knocked me to fourth, a C class just squeeked me by less than a percent or so. I did beat Sara, which suprises me. At least I got to foil Coach's evil plan. :sight:

Evil plan? Little ole me? Perhaps you are giving me too much credit in the nefarious scheme department. Max has been here all year and we have wrote him a few checks as a result. The cash payback has brought out a few big dogs. Thanks for coming.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I finally got to meet Max in person. I have admired his ability by looking at scores in various matches and notice he is always at the top, and a Super Senior. We had a good introductory talk and I look forward to squadding with him in the future. Smooth, is the word that popped in my head when I watched him shoot at State.

Sarah Irish was shooting sick at State and I didn't talk to her there. I did get the chance at Riley. She is a Chemical Engineering major at Rose Holman. She is as nice as her parents and they should be commended for raising such a good kid. She told me after the match that she didn't think she had a good one. I told her that makes two of us.

Edited by fourtrax
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What started out as a sniffle 2 weeks ago has bloomed into an all out raging cold/flu. I had planned on some different movement drills this week in preperation for the MI State, but haven't did them. I am hoping this bug goes away before the weekend and I don't want to do anything to make it worse. After the Michigan match I'll be going right back to the El Pres quest.

I had some really good moments at Riley this past weekend and hope to build on them at Michigan, I can't wait for Sunday!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well I built on my good moments from Riley, but unfortunately some of the bad too. I had some good stages and some bad. I will remember the squad the most. I have never been surrounded by so many good shooters, Flexmoney, Keen, Metts, Micah, and a GM from Wisconsin named Jeff. I think Jeff will win HOA, he won Open. I don't remember the rest of the names, but they were all good.

I really liked the match and the weather was awesome. I can't say enough to the people who took the time to point out some things to me that actually helped me and taught me some things. Flexmoney, thanks for the reload info, that advice free'd me up and gave me one of my better stages :cheers: .

I ended up 10th in open and 4th A. They got me listed as a B shooter tho, hey maybe they will send me the B trophy :ph34r: .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shot up at Porter today and had a fairly clean match. Scores aren't posted yet, but I'm hoping for a top 3 overall. I did not practice this past week and I'm bummed about that. That damn pesky Flu has plagued me for almost a month now. I've been to the Dr. and I'm almost through a 10 day course of DRUGS. Not a dent in the damn thing at all. I still feel lathargic and tired, if I blow my nose anymore I think that my head is going to explode. Hopefully, this thing will work itself out soon. I did go buy some high dose vitamin C and have started to take that daily.

Will edit this when I get the Porter scores.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ended 2nd overall at Porter and Pops ended 3rd, we both shot a great match. I really thought about the stages and know where I could have shaved some time. Its good that I can see where my movement is costing me some ticks on the clock. I think this is where I could make the improvments that would benefit me the most.

I am feeling better after almost 4 weeks, so time to get back to the frange and continue my quest for the 4.5s El Pres.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shot Warsaw and finished 1st on all 4 stages in open. I'm not sure where I finished overall. Felt like a great match and STage 1 was undoubtedly my best. It was a corridor type stage with two doorways at the end. Targets on both sides up the corridor and then you had to go to both open doorways. I noticed that by pausing just a little at the start I could get a target about 12 yards away and eliminate going all the way in the left door at the end. Everyone looked quick on this stage but the closest to me was at 3s or so. I felt like my gun started shooting and never quit for 13 seconds, it was a blast.

Completely tanked stage 4. Ran my gun dry :surprise: fumbled the reload, missed some steel and had several makeup shots. Off the time by at least 6 seconds. And, this was my reshoot, first attempt had range equipment failure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finished 1st overall at Warsaw eventhough I tanked stage 4, by my standards anyways.

Kept the quest alive tonight:

Completely dry El Presidente: 6.97s, t/d 1.83, r 1.59. I was dissappointed with this as it felt slow and very deliberate.

As a by product of the 4.5s El Pres quest I want my dry run to drop to the very low 5's, around 5.25s tops.

My next 3 went 5.95, 5.84, then 5.35. So, I am dropping right down to my goal for a dry run very quickly and that's good.

I hovered in the low 5's forever, probably 10 or 12 runs.

I finally broke 5s with a PB of 4.80s, t/d 1.47s, and a reload of 1.16s. Pretty happy with that but never duplicated it and didn't get below a 4.90s with my remaining runs.

Did a new drill that I made up on the fly, 2 on the 50 yard plate, then 2 on each plate I use for the El Pres at 21 yards, then back to the 50 yard plate for 2. So that's 10 rounds total. I did this on the timer and my best time was 6.08s. I liked this drill as the distances varied and the transitions are a good distance.

I shot 550 rounds.

POSITIVES: New PB on El Pres of 4.80s!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I took 1st in Open at FT. Wayne. Only 2 of us, so Blah, blah, blah. I did shoot 92% of the points, my goal was 90%. Overall, I never got grooved in the match. I had plenty of, as Corey says, software errors. I didn't get a stage burned in properly. I shot an array wrong on another stage. The list goes on and I don't want to dwell on it(imprint).

I have noticed this before, but never took the time to nail it down. I program wide open stages with lots of space poorly. Several of the Ft. Wayne stages were like this. I really like stages with lots of walls, and movement, even if they do not take up a lot of space. This make sense? Most of the stages at Ft. Wayne were wide open. I could see so much I think I get a kind of sensory overload. Navigating to a shooting position I could see so much, I think this messes with my head.

RVB(Twinkle Toes), talked to me after the match about my quest for the 4.5s El Pres. I'm gonna try the stuff he says and post when I do. The jist was to make sure I'm not just getting an increase in trigger speed. I need to get an increase in the subcomponents of the drill, turn and draw, reload, etc. So I'll spend some time on just those elements. GOOD ADVICE from a great shooter and I'll follow it.

I never thought it would be good to practice Classifiers, but I've been reading Stoeger's web page and he has an area called the 100 project. He lists all the classifiers he works on as drills and when he breaks 100%. It's got me thinking.

Edited to say: Looks like 2nd or 3rd overall at Ft. Wayne. I compared HF's between the shooters. I didn't get mathematical with it, just a quick glance.

Edited by fourtrax
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Im not sure if i like the idea of practicing classifiers or not. On one hand its good to practice them as they do give you some different shooting scenarios (N/S, weak hand, reloads, etc etc). but on the other hand, I dont know if practicing just the classifiers will help overall match performance. for me i think im losing more time on reloads while moving, moving itself (when i get back into shape this "off-season" that should help) and target transitions. i dont want to get a classification i cant back up in a regular match scenario. but on the 3rd hand, cant argue with the way Ben shoots..he has to know something i dont. :mellow:

Got a link for that 100 project thingy?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I didn't get a stage burned in properly. .... I could see so much I think I get a kind of sensory overload.

I think wide-open stages require even more burn-in, so that you transition to the right targets in the right order w/o relying on your eyes, and this is especially true if you skip over some targets, and then come back and get them later...

RVB(Twinkle Toes), talked to me after the match ...

Forget all that advise. Here is what I should have said...

1. Lock your holster.

2. untie your shoes.

3. use tape on your glasses like Enos... duct tape.

I never thought it would be good to practice Classifiers..

if a classifier addresses something I'm struggling with, then they are a great tool. For instance, instead of always doing El Prez, you could try Front Sight, or Front Sight 2. That's a good way to break out the turn/draw + 6 shots part of the El Prez, and the HHF is crazy high compared to El Prez.

-rvb

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



×
×
  • Create New...