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Johnbu's range diary


johnbu

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Hi,

 

Introductions...I've been shooting guns for 45+ years, but only plinking, varments and some deer hunting.  Couple years ago started informal steel challenge (with my son) and last year were our first 2 official steel matches. Last year my son also started on a scholastic shooting sports pistol team.  This year we joined uspsa and started shooting that too.  Son is "casual" ... meaning he doesn't dry fire, where I try to dry fire 3+ days a week.   Oddly, I chose tanfo platform before even getting into the casual steel shooting, didn't know it was the "cool gun" to have. In fact, I hadn't even heard of uspsa, anything about it or anyone involved in it until last year.  so, I really am an old geezer newbee. Wierd, eh?

First uspsa match was this April in the cold. 20 mph steady wind and it might have reached 40F. That was 6 stages of classifiers. Both of us came in low 40's for an initial C. 

For some reason classifiers freak me out. I've only had one "decent" run since and have zeroed or been lower than current average on the rest. 

 

 

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Ok, intros out of the way....

 

Have been working on moving and shooting while dry firing for the past 6 weeks.  gun is bouncing around, etc... not feeling overly good about it. Today I decided to "test" shooting on the move VS running to position and shooting.  set a spot as the start, and a box about 7-8 yards diagonally to the front and left of that. Three metric targets about 8-10 yards from that.   so, in other words, from the start position, I ran about 7 yards diagonally front and left then engaged 3 targets. First target was a partial w a 45 degree no shoot across it, then 10' to the left a full open target and to the left of that 10' another target. 

I'll tried that RUNNING hard from the beep to the shooting spot and engaged them 2 shots each.  was honestly mentally pretty rushed and had 2A, 1C, 3 D in 4.97 sec.  Repeated it but engaging the 3 targets while moving. The first target was the 50% no shoot and was about 15yards from the start position. Did it in 3.78s with 4A, 2C. 

Huh? Faster with better hits and more points, WHILE MOVING?? Unexpected.

Reran it at 3.54 but a mike and 2D snuck in. Ran it 3 more times and got to 3.35 (also 3.78 and 3.9? But all w better points)

Seems I am concentrating better on the sights shooting on the move where running to a spot I mentally rush and F up resulting in both lower points snd longer time. 

 

This led me to the next "discovery"....

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Figured out that I have the attention span of an ADD butterfly.   while shooting, I seem to mentally transit to the next target while still making shots on the current target.  So my mind seems to jump to the next task BEFORE finishing up, leading to mikes and D's. (I look away from reloads too soon also and get clashing long reload times). And  I also tend to rush mentally, trying to make up time and shoot before getting a decent sight picture. (Yeah, it's ugly!)

 

But... while moving, for some reason, I seem to hold concentration longer and get better hits. Maybe it's harder, so I concentrate better/ longer? Don't know, but was surprised it was over a second faster and had more points.

 

I don't believe there are any magic words that will "fix" this other than ...practice. Still, it's a mental SKILL i need to form and not a physical one, which is a change. 

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did some draw to first shot drills today too.  at 17-18 yds did draw and one shot on an 8" plate.  1.45 - 1 65  was pretty common.   I can do a dry fire par time of 0.7s beep to gun up pointed at the target. But that's not getting finger on trigger, a decent sighting and breaking a shot. The gun seems to "circle in" on the target then finally settle and I'd fire.  worked on popping the gun up with less wobble and got down to 1.35-ish while hitting the plate. Fairly happy with that.

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Shot a "local" match....85 miles each way.

 

Small group of 18 shooters. Hard frost warning, but it warmed up nicely.

 

The highs.... shots pretty well. Was #9 overall but made 1st in production, beating the blind guy, the one in a wheelchair and .... ok, just kidding. But there were only 4 in production, so not a big deal.  interestingly, the one stage where I was highest on (5 overall), I was 3rd in production.  Overall had 70% if match points, which is a PB. Guessing it's OK for the 7th match ever.

 

The low.... I still can't run a clean classifier! They did El Prez and I hurried the second shot on the first target...mike!  groan....

 

The stages were pretty straightforward and I didn't get "lost" on any but had a couple goofs. Reloading with plenty of rounds in the mag. Added a bit of time. On a speed stage bill drill, I put 3 rounds into a dime sized group...in the C zone! Doh! 3A 3C.    Dang nabbit. 

 

Had to follow a guy that got DQ.  He hit a post 5' away shooting through a port, got lead splashed hard on the lip and while he reacted to the cut lip, he broke 180.  Real good RO action. He stopped him, safed the gun and inspected his wound, etc. Just a small cut, but I bet it hurt!  Needless to say, I was waaay more cautious and ran the stage a bit timidly. probably only a second longer, but I was extra cautious around those ports!

Edited by johnbu
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Shot another match today. First 2 match weekend. Normally only one per month.

Bigger match than yesterday's but still the theme of simple fast stages for the last shoot of the year.  had a few tricky stages, one was shooting 6 targets one shot, reload shoot them again. Simple, except... one had hard cover stripes outside the A zone. Two were together with less showing and the last 3 had no shoots between them and decreasing revealed area. The top one was head only.  oh.... virginia count too and distance was about 20 yds.  I was one of only 3 with no penalties. The one hand shooting drills paid off.  Was overall 1st on that stage. First time stage win.

Wound up 7th (of 33) overall and 2nd in production  79.98% of match points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Decided to continue working movement and accuracy.  Ran a drill I call "Move-zambique". Starting at 15yds with 3 metric targets spaced about 4-5yards apart, draw, shoot  2 lower A, 1 upper A zone in each WHILE MOVING.  The first target had a no shoot across  half of it. I hate hitting no shoots! That's why it was there.  I also get that queasy feeling shooting upper A zones, but with recent work they are getting easier to hit. 

 

Running that 3 times I hit the upper A /B zones but also hit the no shoot...twice.  still, getting more comfortable, with moving, aiming, triggering all while not face planting!

 

 

Next big challenge is going to be not fubar-ing classifiers. Next (season's last) match will be 6 classifiers.  I got 42.8% initially in April...still 42.8% .  for some reason, they make me mental!

Edited by johnbu
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There are only TWO ways to shoot a Classifier :

1.  Shoot it just like the other five stages, and you'll end up shooting 80% of the stage's points,

OR

2.  Rush thru too quickly, and be assured of a Mike or No Shoot, and end up shooting 42% of points.

Your choice.    :huh:

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26 minutes ago, Hi-Power Jack said:

There are only TWO ways to shoot a Classifier :

1.  Shoot it just like the other five stages, and you'll end up shooting 80% of the stage's points,

OR

2.  Rush thru too quickly, and be assured of a Mike or No Shoot, and end up shooting 42% of points.

Your choice.    :huh:

Ha!  Man I've been living that one the past couple of weeks.

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Well.... I have method #2 down pat.... on good days. Most of the time my scores were well below that 42%. :(

For whatever reason I get "test anxiety" or something and seem destined to goof up something.  it's pretty frustrating really. I catch some ribbing for "sandbagging" the classifiers, but that just makes me try harder the next time and screw up worse.

Somehow I need to break through the chaos and reach the calm eye of the storm. 

On 10/15/2016 at 5:25 AM, Hi-Power Jack said:

There are only TWO ways to shoot a Classifier :

1.  Shoot it just like the other five stages, and you'll end up shooting 80% of the stage's points,

OR

2.  Rush thru too quickly, and be assured of a Mike or No Shoot, and end up shooting 42% of points.

Your choice.    :huh:

 

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Training plan this coming week to concentrate on mag changes, draw speed, mag changes,  turning draw speed, mag chsnges, transitions, WHO and SHO. Will attempt to gain visual patience to increase accuracy.

 

Live fire just focus on alphas ESPECIALLY first shot and after mag changes.

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Getting ready for the (sadly) last match of my first season shooting uspsa.  The last match is supposed to have 6 classifiers and 2 speed shoot stages.  I'm not concerned about those 2 stages, but have been working on basic skills for the classifiers.  Sadly,  I started the season with 6 classifiers and reached 42% and just last match (#9) got up to 45% on classifiers. Bad case of test anxiety or something.

I've added a dryfire drill that was posted somewhere on this site (but I can't recall to give the originator credit - sorry).  The draw, aim and don't fire until the second beep.  I think it's beneficial as it forces a mental hold on target waiting for the par beep.  That has been a weak point for me.  

 

Then there is my nemesis...reloading.   I admit it... I suck at reloads.  Every possible mode of failure is what I do and probably have done some impossible modes of failure too.  So... I'm taking the timer away on reloads and am just practicing perfect motion, but slow,  reloads.  Trying to groove the motion and stopping to analyze every fail.  Mostly there are 2 primary goof up things.  1) inconsistently grabbing the mag on the hip.  My hand wants to have the mags a couple inches lower apparently.  I seem to grab too low and they come out at an odd angle.  Yeah... do it right a bajillion times.  On it.  lol.  2) I seem to be pulling my eyes off the magwell BEFORE the mag reaches the magwell.  Naturally...it goes clang! Clash! Bash! but not into the gun. Trying to keep the eyes on it while going slower.  Simple to say, but still difficult to do.   

 

Live fire this week worked on transitions and accuracy plus accuracy with some stress.  To get the "stress"  i added no shoots behind the targets and shot upper A zone (back yard range).  Did pretty well by taking my time.  1477076453971_zpsjztmtnlr.jpg

 

Came close, but didn't hit the NS on the right target or the middle target.

1477077194813_zpsasid4qsd.jpg

 

Sadly, I did hit the NS on the far left target. It was 12 yds and the others were 10.   Oh well, just shows that when concentrating it can be done, but on the "easy" target I need to give more attention to the sights.

 

Also shot some WHO and felt pretty good at the 10-12 yds distance getting mostly A's with a few C's. 

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Continuing to work on reloads.  found a seasonal issue.... it's fall, it's getting cold. No longer wearing shorts and t-shirt... blue jeans, t shirt and flannel shirts.

 

Guess what?  that makes my waist larger and placing the holster in the same place, moves the mags around further to the back. Duh. Had to move them around.

 

Using the par timer differently.  I set a longish wait, then dry fire at targets. On the random beep, reload.  hitting 1.1 ...almost. 1.2 pretty often. 

 

Also doing the same, but reloading while moving to a second position 8' away. More fumbles, but 1.2 is close.

 

Working draws. Setting 0.9 par, making it and getting a good sight picture and pause then firing after the par beep. The pause has been a problem. Over eagerness to shoot has resulted in more C, D and M than is good.

Edited by johnbu
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http://s28.photobucket.com/user/john_bud/library/1 match videos

Tried to post individual videos, but.... I'm apparently not smart enough.

 

There were 6 classifiers and two 40 round field courses, Didn't get video of all.   I did "ok".  reviewing one 40 rnd course... I move with all the lightning speed of a foot sore sloth wading thru molasses.  I also forgot to hit one target...FTE, 2 MIKE.  pisser!  The other involved duck walking thru low tunnels. Im old and don't bend, the time wasted sort of killed my spirit and then the rest of the stage was pretty pathetic.

Had a few technical issues with the gun.  too much built up sludge mixed with cold oil/grease kept the reset from happening letting the trigger down easy on LAMR. Cleaned that and no more problems.  Starting classifiers with essentially Israeli carry.... not good.  I also managed to pinch my hand between the mag and gun ...twice. 

But there were some classifiers without any technical difficulties...those I tossed in a Mike. . Sigh. 

Pretty sure my mental game is in dire need. 

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Part of the game with dryfiring (for a novice) is understanding that your dryfire will always be 20% better and faster than your match day performance.

When beginning, I'd encourage you to truly commit to heart that a 1.2 realod happening consistently with artificial stress means that you can consistently pull off a 1.8 with match stress factored in.

You haven't learned to shift between practice mode (live and dry fire) and match mode yet.

When you do (when you learn your match mode) your results will improve quickly simply because you remove errors and shoot consistently. Not because you get faster, but because you learn that match stress increases the likelihood of mistakes, so you learn to compensate.

If you can't shoot faster than 4.5 seconds on a specific task ten times out of ten with everything on the line, then don't shoot beyond that pace for any reason unless it is practice.

Learn to perform consistently without penalties... then figure out how to do it faster.

Edited by MemphisMechanic
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Did some live fire and messed around with the grip.
Pretty sure, I'm doing it wrong. Fingers and such in the right places, but nowhere near gripping hard enough. Looks like COC in my future.

When gripping harder, the mikes went away.  (duh it's  easier to  maintain aim).

Also did a bunch of one shot drills. My live fire first shot is plenty slow. I seem to have a vision "glitch" changing focus from 25yds to front sight. That doesn't show up in "simulated" distance. Sucks having old man eyes. :(   looks like more training at real distance is needed. Going to suck when it hits 30 below over the winter.

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Ran a quick 50 rounds today being conscious of gripping harder with the weak hand.  poof! Like magic.  shot a near to far 3 target array. 10, 17, 24 yds.  all A on the close, nearly all on the mid and about 50-50 on the far. Also did the last 10 on the upper A zone on the mid target and had 5A, 4B...oops one M.

 

Also shot more deliberately. 

Edited by johnbu
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Trying to build more consistent accuracy. Shot near to far again, but added no-shoot pressure by adding old targets..  I fall apart under pressure!

20161106_102617_zps0zyqmi87.jpg

 

The near is 10yds and only A zone, mid was 17yds and A & C showing, the the far at 25 yds. 

I hit more no-shoots in the close target (the one drawn to) and there were more on the left edge.   I added a par time of 1.2s to force patience, seemed there help, but more trigger control/grip pressure training is needed.

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Continued to use the pictured 3 target set. I must say, I'm frustrated!  drawing to the close target with no-shoots guarding the A zone  I yank the shot to the liw left.  then 2 A on the middle and A/C on the far.  I have been catching a flinch at random times where I'll WATCH the barrel dip and will stop, reaquire the sight picture and fire an A.  So, I think it's a "pre-ignition push" as much as snatching and slapping the trigger.  Shot calling is gradually getting more calls correct. Probably over 50%, but still there are holes that appear magically in unexpected places.

 

Draw time to the near guarded target is about 1.6 - 1.7s. About the same drawing to the upper A zone. Speeding up leads to hitting the left side no shoot (mostly). Oddly, doing 10 draw / 1 shot on the upper A zone at 10yds gave w tighter group without misses than the same thing to the larger lower A zone.

Edited by johnbu
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Pay attention to something next time on your draw: when you are being deliberate with your trigger on a tight target... do your hands move slower through the entire drawstroke than if you have a 2 yard wide open "hose 'em down" first shot?

Most people do. Their entire draw to a 25yd target occurs with slower hands than when it's time to rip it and hose.

Think about that. And try to whip the gun out as fast on a 25yd partial as you would right up front - get the gun in front of your eyes in .7 and then spend the extra .25 or whatever you personally need in your sights and trigger press.

Regarding pushing shots low, spend your next live fire session with Ben Stoeger's version of the dot drill.

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I can whip the gun out pretty quick and try to maintain that "dry fire speed", but do throttle back when live firing.

 

 

I had the timer set immediate and had to change to random.  BUT! The old eyes don't focus very quickly so that currently adds a half second on live fire.  the tight targets add a couple more tenths.  Considering in January draw times were 1.6 dry and 2.3 live, a lot of progress has been made.  But lots more to do to be able to SEE the gun.  I don't mean "see enough to shoot an A", I literally mean SEE the sights. I'm trying to back focus to where the gun will be, but.... no luck so far. Even shooting with reading glasses on.  Being old sux.

 

 

I'll run a few of Ben's dots next range trip.  Part of me thinks I've got a habit of flinching and just need more time driving the gun consciously avoiding the flinch.  The Trials and tribulations of being a noob.

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

Been slacking off lately.  deer hunting season and all. Got a 8pt buck and nicked a finger knuckle, which got a little infected. Better now, but tender to the touch. Worked on gripping hard with the left hand and keeping the gun still while dry firing. As reloads are a weakness, combined into one drill - draw, fire 6, reload and repeat until the belt is empty. That's one rep and I did 20 or so reps. Finding my weak hand grasping angle is off and it goes "Clash". So slowed down and focused on that grasp angle.  Then sped up. 

Had a funny moment where the new mag slid in an while getting the sights aligned there was a crash sound.  Figured out it was the dropped mag hitting the ground AFTER the new one was already inserted. Yeah... big whoop for most, but a small milestone for this old geezer! 

 

 

 

 

 

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