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

rvb


rvb

Recommended Posts

Finally finished building my reloading bench in the basement and finished the wiring for outlets/lighting so I now have time for trigger time. ... and now I have a stereo so I can dryfire to Metalica! :devil:

12/9: 1 hr with the open rig.

I decided I'm going to basics until the new year. Just draws, reloads, and trigger control. After that I'll get back into more "practical" practice. My goal is to get a rock solid index w/ this open gun by the end of the year. Going 9 months w/o shooting the dot is like starting over again... especially since I hadn't shot it a lot before. I hope to get 2-3 live-fire sessions in by the end of the year if I can for some timing drills.

Last night I saw a big improvement in that 45 minutes. Weak hand transfers still need some work, I felt myself fishing for the dot. regular draws and surrender draws I was hitting 0.9 by the end but w-h transfer draws I couldn't get under 1.5 and I used to hit them ~1.2.

Draw-2-R-2 drill was solid but not great. I couldn't get all As under 2.3. I was doing 1.9 w. the production rig a couple months ago. Just an index issue... getting that dot on A on the draw and after the RL slowing me up that couple of tenths. El prez went pretty well. Could get all As in 4.5 and half As half Cs at about 3.9. Felt good and relaxed while doing it.

Struggled a little with too much tension in my shoulders, especially working on draws, so shooting relaxed is still something I'm going to have to work on.

-rvb

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • Replies 541
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

The last couple of weeks it's just been about 3 nights per week working basic index drills with the open gun plus trigger control, nothing fun or flashy.

Got to the range today and turned powder and bullets into smoke and holes. Good times: first time live-fire in over 2 months... first time on the open gun in 9 months.

Worked on timing the open gun. I read a bunch of timing and grip threads regarding open guns. I went to the range "worried" I don't have a damn clue how to grip it. The vast majority consensus here is to grip the hell out of the gun and be aggressive. From my notes from last spring I found the opposite to work best...

So I experimented today.

I found there is a point where I can grip too light and the gun moves in my hand and the dot doesn't return down out of recoil.

I also found if I grip it like my production gun, the gun nose-dives when the slide closes. The result is this blur of a dot as it goes up, then dives to the bottom of the glass, then back to the middle. The good thing is it stops dead-on target as it comes back up. But it's harder than hell to time.

Again, I found a fairly light/relaxed grip gets the dot moving the best. It goes up, comes back down, and stops in the middle. So I guess I'm just going to have to live with doing it "wrong" since that seems to be what's working for me for now.

Accuracy was good today. Last year I had trouble being accurate w/ the dot. I think it's because my natural wobble is SO apparent with that dot vs irons. I've been dryfiring a lot for precision and I think I better figured out a grip and finger placement that lets me drop the hammer without disturbing the dot. I told myself I wasn't going to worry about a little dot wobble and next thing I know bullets were going through the same hole at about 15 yds. Groups were MUCH better today, especially considering it's my first live-fire on that gun in months.

Can't wait to get back out and get some more rounds through this gun...

-rvb

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Dryfire last night, 12/30 with the open rig.

Finally got back into dryfiring a bit now that my toe is hurting less (thought I broke it but must have been a sprain. a little tape and all is well).

Nothing spectacular, just running the same old drills. I feel that my index is getting spot on. Seems the dot is always just "there" now.

Went to the indoor range today, 12/31. Man did I suck with the open gun. Even my accuracy fell off. Need more live-fire time for timing drills, that's for sure. I still feel I need a light grip on the gun. I keep going back to DaVita's comments and others about how you can't over power it but when I do the nose just drops like a brick. So I after lots of trial and error I'm going to grip it like a girl and let the comp work. The dot seems to just track best for me like that. Even shooting with my eyes closed the second shot ends up on top of the first no matter how fast I run the trigger. With a crusher grip there was massive vertical stringing.

Shot the open gun SHO/WHO, also. holy crap do I need to practice that. Was hitting much better after a few dozen rounds on each hand, but lack of practice shows.

I shot the 1911 I built for about 100 rounds, too. damn that thing is accurate! at 15 yards standing off-hand the holes that weren't touching I KNOW I pulled. The trigger followed twice which is new. Hasn't done that before and I have a couple thousand rounds through it now. Have to check sear spring tension and inspect the sear/hammer. Also, those wilson mags just don't push up the slide lock well enough. I'll try to smooth out the detent a little more and see if that helps. maybe get one of those new wilson mags to try....

also fun, shot my carry gun a little today, the little snubby 38spl. even w/ the +p shooting pretty quick I could keep them all in the A at 10 yds. fun fun. Gotta love Indiana.... arrive at the range, put on the eyes/ears, pull the gun out of your pocket and start shooting...

Biggest lessons from today...

I have again proven to myself a light grip on my open gun gets the best dot tracking.

I really need lots more live-fire practice time.

-rvb

Edited by rvb
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Having an infant in the house seriously reduces my available time to dryfire!

Signed up for IN Prod/SS match (so much for only shooting open on '09).

Signed up for Area 5.

Practice? Who needs it!

-rvb

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Been a while since I updaated here.

Been dryfiring about 4-5 nights/week lately. My index is feeling right on. I never have to search for the dot with the exception of a little polishing needed on weak-hand transfers. I have my WH-transfer draws down to 1.1-1.2 w/ a click and the dot is there 90% of the time; just need that last little bit of WH consistancy. Speaking of WH-transfers, I've found if I LOOK at the transfer and see the gun go in the web of my WH, the transfer is .2-.4 faster every time, like looking a mag in on a reload. Feels slower but it's always faster and more consistent.

Been working on accuracy dry-fire. Found the dot is much more stable if I rotated the grip around a little clockwise. This seems to have gotten my grip more behind the gun and I'm more consistantly pulling the trigger straight back.

Been working on lateral box-to-box movements. Stairs in the middle of the basement make a nice visual and distance barrier. So w/ that visual barrier and about 6 ft of movement I have my time down to 2.8 to draw-2-RL/move-2.

Got to the indoor range on Friday. Accuracy practice and grip adjustments paid off. All I did was timing drills and SHO/WHO but my groups were the best they've ever been during timing drills.... 50-cent piece sized groups on the 2s and 1s split portions.

Still need to run a LOT more timing drills. I can't nail the propper grip off the bat yet w/o the dot dipping low or hanging up. After a couple shots I can get it there, but I'm always adjusting.

Also shot my .45. Used handloads for the firsttime. 230gr zeros over 3.9 clays. WOW. Felt like a factory 9mm load. I seem to have resolved all the problems with the slide locking back (cut a couple coils off the plunger spring and polished and slightly flattened the catch in the slide stop). Also the safety goes on/off w/ a more "normal" amount of force. Gun has started hammer-following though. Guess I get to practice sear work some more. Going to get the jigs this time. Gun is crazy accurate.

I'm hoping I can get to a small indoor match up in MI this weekend... haven't shot a match since Oct!!

-rvb

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Had an ... interesting... match today at Bend of the River Club, MI08. Shot Open.

Indoor match, only 3 stages.

I did something I'm kinda embarrassed with myself about.... ashamed a little even? I purposely tanked a classifier. It was 99-22, Nuevo El Pres. Turn, draw, first 5 shots go well, then on shot 6 I rushed getting to the reload and pulled the shot just a smidge onto the edge of the no-shoot. Reloaded and then as I was coming back across I remember thinking "shit, I'm pretty close to making M in open, what if this NS gets me a stupid valid 71% and wrecks my %?" So after the 12th shot I fired a 13th. Right smack in the middle of the A of the NS. Take that. Extra shot, 2 NS, 1 M. Can't get a crappy valid % w/ 40 points in penalties!

My run was awesome except that hit which caught the line on the NS. First 12 shots were in 5.45 (5.75 for 13). Aside from the shot I pulled into the NS I had one C and one D and the rest As. Lesson: follow through on the last shot in an array!!!

I won both of the field courses, even w/ a mike on stage 1. Open feels very weird to me. I kept wanting to reload after every 6-8 shot array. Stopped myself each time before actually pressing the mag release... but twice my thumb was on it and my weak hand was off the gun on the way to the mag. Part of that is years shooting production and idpa and part is my dryfire training. I've been practicing my reloading between positions lately. I guess I need to just practice moving between positions and leave out the reloads.

Shot calling was good. All A's on stage 3 (and just .36 off the fastest pace). Still need to work on the timing on this gun. Took a lot of patience I felt on the dot getting back on target. I think I lost that patience on the mike on stage 1.

I should have won the match. 1st on both field courses. Stupidity on the classifier dropped me to 4th. Didn't realize I had let making M in open become that important to me... I don't even think of myself as an open shooter! Guess you really do learn things about yourself in competition.

-rvb

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

wow, been a while since I logged anything here.

Took a couple weeks off dryfire. My shoulder had been bothering me. Got back into it with a light practice last night, for about 45 minutes. Also spent 30 on the stationary bike. Gotta get back into shape (but "round" is a shape, right?).

Was happy that my index was still really solid after two weeks away from the gun. Makes me think my practice has really paid off and engrained my relationship to the gun to get the dot to just be there.

Even though I haven't been dryfiring, I've been doing a lot of "gun stuff."

Started reloading .223. I have a 100 rounds together ready to test in my gun and another 1k+ pieces of brass prepped and ready to load. Also did a bunch of work on my 1911... fitting a new STI trigger, better fitting the guide rod, etc. Also did a little bit of dryfire on the AR.

Now to get back in the grooooooove.

-rvb

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good 75 minute dryfire session last night. open rig.

In addition to usual basics, practiced table draws. 0.90 was the best I could do consistently. 0.80 I could hit half the time but the rest of the time I was late to the par beep. Table was a couple inches under elbow height.

Ran a new drill last night. Set it up so I couldn't see the target until I ran left/right to a fault line and had to lean hard to see the target, then go back the otherway to see a second target.

something like this (hopefully it stays formatted right [it didn't. Ignore '.', just used for spacing]

T1.......T2

..|.......|

..|.......|

.....xx

Some things I noticed...

I need to break it down into sections. entering and leaving.

I need two targets, not one, on each side. With one it's too easy to just peak around and while shooting be changing directions.

Staying low helps. No suprise there. More upright = harder to change speeds direction.

I had the targets set so I really had to lean hard.

Started the drill running in 3.6s. Ended at 3.2. Hopefully with some practice I can get under 3.

-rvb

Edited by rvb
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Had a real good practice session at the indoor range on friday 2/13.

put about 50 rounds through the 1911 and getting that svi trigger out and replacing with the sti did solve my hammer-following issue. and do like the trigger better.

Put 400 rounds through the open gun.

ran the first 150 rounds in timing drills. Discovered something weird... dispite the 5k or so rounds I've done in timing drills in the past where I could only get the dot to return solidly to the target by using a light grip, Friday I had the best results I've ever had with a pretty firm grip... just slightly lighter than I was using with the 1911. Had a lot less rise in the dot, too. Perhaps it truely is just a matter of me finally learning the timing of the gun? Man, this open stuff is tough. It truely was the best the gun has ever tracked for me, though. One other difference is I did make a bit of a grip change by actually lowering my WH grip on the gun....

The next 150 rounds I split between SHO and WHO. Learned some good things about grip tension. The stance changes I've made for standing sho/who seems to have helped the sight tracking.

The rest I spent shooting groups. Shot some decent groups but they were about 1" left at 10 yds. Made a note of my grip and trigger finger and when dryfiring it when I got home I realized I had reverted to where I used to place my trigger finger before adjusting my grip. I think I needed to move my finger about 1/8" further into the trigger.

After running the timing drills I put a few rounds into just working the trigger as fast as I could to see if I could a) keep the tension out and b ) while really working the trigger the dot would continue to track so well. I was happy with the results but .... I got yelled at by range staff. "sounds like a machine gun out here." [Of course the guyy on the next lane was shooting a round every 2 seconds or so and didn't even hit the paper half the time, but obviously I was the unsafe one with my baseball-sized group :rolleyes: ]

-rvb

Edited by rvb
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Small 3-stage match today at MI08, Bend of the River club. Shot Open.

With all the snow it took an extra 25 minutes or so to get up there (about 2hrs, 15 min).

Pretty happy with my shooting today, but the devil is in the details.

First stage was 99-46. Wish I had gotten the string times. Shot a 8.2942 HF. 14 As, 8 Cs, 2 Ds in 12.78 seconds.

I don't think currently I could have done the first string better. Very smooth shooting, the reload just slid in, and I didn't rush the last shot before getting to the reload. The second string (SHO) was strong, but that's where I shot my 2 Ds. One of those Ds barely caught the left side of the target. Just waiting an extra nano-second for the dot to settle would have made all the difference... a blunder in patience. I rocked string 3. weak-hand transfer was smooth and the dot was spot on and made very good hits.

Stage 2 I was very happy w/ how fluid I was from port-to-port (9 targets requiring 4 different ports) and even hit one target on the move through a port. Could have set myself up better in the positions. Felt like I was hunting the right spot to be in but it was minor. over-all very happy w/ this stage.

Stage 3 felt like "disaster averted." Walls set up so you had narrow angles to engage targets through. I decided a couple shooters before my turn to hang back and eliminate movement vs get closer for a wider angle... mistake. I didn't get my footwork just right and really had to play "hunt for angle on the targets." Surely cost myself 2-3 seconds, but fortunately I was patient and made all A hits and no hits on hardcover so it didn't totally kill my HF.

Total points was 92.4% of those available.

Good to be shooting matches again!

-rvb

edit: realized my post was much was negative than positive...

good thing: Didn't try to reload my open gun every 6-10 rounds like it was my PD gun. Much much more smooth!

-rvb

Edited by rvb
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Friday 3/27, got on the outdoor practice range. Production Beretta gear.

Did basic drills like various draws, el-prez, etc to compare live-fire times to dryfire times. My el-prez wasn't bad, best at 4.90ish and worst at 5.20ish. My draws sucked, have to work on those -better- in dryfire. can do 10yd draw in dryfire in 0.8 but no better than 1.0 live fire?? Also worked on accuracy shooting at my 8" plate at 60 yds. Started off 9 for 10 hits, but kept getting worse.

Put 100 rounds through my new .22 conversion. that's FUN. Will make a good practice tool, but I need to use it FIRST in the practice and follow up w/ match-pf 9mm. Had to up mainsprings to a stock-length 15lb 1911 mainspring to get reliable ignition. I think I'm actually going to like the slightly heavier trigger weight, too.

Shot the IN SS/PD State match in Riley. Came in 2nd. :)

Final results for Production

Place Name No. USPSA Class Division PF Lady Mil Law For Age Match Pts Match %

1 Robert Vogel 79 A49056 GM Production Minor No No No No 736.3091 100.00%

2 Ryan Brammer 25 TY56060 M Production Minor No No No No 641.8799 87.18%

Since this was my first match shooting PD since getting my M card, I was quite happy to shoot a master percentage of Bob.

Lots of room for improvement in how I shot this match... The first stage I shot I hit a NS. He was blocking a drop-out target and the activator pad was positioned such that if you were moving out of the position at all after activating you would break the 180. I got scared of bringing the gun around too far and hit the NS but called it, backed up a hair, and made it up.

The next couple stages were just "ok." Nothing great or horrible. The par-time course I had two misses. One on the first shot SHO and one WH. Didn't call the SHO mike.

The biggest field course was my best. I had a good plan, executed it perfectly. 1-for-1 on steel (including several 25yd mini-poppers), timed the movers perfect and it just all clicked. Won this stage.

The following stage I -thought- I rocked. It was a high-HF 24-round course. Scoring reveled a mike that I didn't call (but on another target I called a D and made it up). More upset that I didn't call it than anything.

Most importantly, I had FUN at this match. The FUN factor had been missing for a while. When I got up that morning to drive to the match, that was my match goal... FUN.

-rvb

edit to add:

shot 84.8% of the match points... that's a little disappointing....

-rvb

Edited by rvb
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Not a lot to report on.

Shot a local match at Angola on 4/5. Shot production. Shot 90.3% of available points. 1-for-1 on all steel.

1st stage I had a mike, SHO, VA-count. It was a goofy setup where the first string was two shots on target, 2nd string was one shot on target. I think I started to take a 2nd shot on a target and realized it and started to transition just as the shot was breaking.

My SHO/WHO gun control and accuracy is improving.

Felt reloads were smooth but lazy (slow). Wish I had video'd so I could see if it they really were or just felt that way.

Classifier was 99-13, Quicky II. 7.7849 hf (should be 89%). 19 A, 1 B, 4 C in 14.13 s.

Making the switch back to open for a while, at least through Area 5 (or until I run out of WSR primers).

Limited dryfire this week. Just a few draws to make sure I could still index the rig half-ways decent. Trying to give my shoulder a rest which has been bothering me lately. Worked on trigger control.

-rvb

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Friday 4/24: got to the indoor range to test out my new mags for my open gun. just 100 rounds. after convincing myself the mags worked I practiced some sho/who.

Sunday 4/26: Shot open division at Bend of the River club, MI08. This was a 5-stage special classifier match. It was the first I had shot my open gun (except friday's mag testing) in two months.

Looking at the #s, I think I'll get the bump to master. But it was ugly. Not the way I'd like to do it.

- Started the match on stage 4, big barricade II. had to make up a steel and a M/NS on the left side.

- Stage 5, long range standards, 40 yds. I had all my hits on string 1 in like 4 seconds and rocked it. Blew it on the kneeling and prone strings. Need to work on position shooting.... Also all my hits were higher than what I called, so I think my mikes went over the target. I didn't allow for the ballistics of the high-mounted scope and a 10-yd zero. There's a lot to think about with this open non-sense.....

- Stage 1, melody line, follower hung up in mag (not one of my new brazos mags). Cost me at least two seconds to clear. First jam in a long time on that gun. Would have been a smokin run...

- Stage 2, steeler stds, had a M on string one. That old bad habit I seem to have (only with my open gun for some odd reason) where I anticipate the reload and don't follow-through on the shot before the reload bit me. Called it about 4 inches off target in upper right. Even with the M it was still good enough to count (~72%) [and drag my % down].

- Stage 3, 3-V, rocked this one, although I would have liked more As. should be ~ 93% which should pull me into M (despite the 72% on 08-02). This stage must have a low HHF accross all divisions. I got my M card on this classifier in PD on this classifier with ~96%.

Stage Name A B C D M NS Time Total Points Hit Factor Stg Pts Place

1P 99-08 7 3 2 8.01 51 6.3670 60.0000 1

2P 08-02 11 8 1 12.72 77 6.0535 100.0000 1

3P 03-04 6 4 4 6.45 62 9.6124 70.0000 1

4P 06-02 8 3 4 1 1 10.56 48 4.5455 80.0000 1

5P 99-09 8 1 7 5 3 20.81 52 2.4988 120.0000 1

Definately came away from this match with a lot to work on. Definately need to work on position shooting. Need to work on following through on that last shot before a reload, need to re-learn my 38-super ballistics tables.

-rvb

Edited by rvb
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I shot Open at Angola, IN17, this weekend.

LOTS of SHO in this match.

3 of the 5 stages were 10-11 HF, very fast stages.

1st stage was 3 targets through a gap in a wall, then 4 on the left through a port that you had to pull a rope to open, and 4 on the right w/ a similar port. Didn't rehearse setting up on the right array well enough and had to "hunt" for the far right target (actually came back to it after shooting the middle two). That had to cost me time...

Classifier was 03-18, High standards. 15 As, 6Cs, 3Ds, in 15.00, hf = 7.000.

Had a poor transition to WH. My thumb rode the slide and gun didn't go into battery on the 3rd shot. I'd guess it cost me 2s minimum doing the WH malfunction clearing.

-rvb

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Lat night I did just 20 minutes of basic dryfire w/ the open rig. first in 3-4 weeks.

Surprisingly I hit a lot of my old pars.

USPSA put new classifications out today, looks like I'm now a 2-division Master.

OPEN Class: M Pct: 86.06 High Pct: 86.06

-rvb

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Sunday 5/17 (yea I'm behind in my updates).... skipped match to practice and chrono.

400 rounds through the open gun and another 50 through the chrono (38 super and .45).

Funny how things are cyclical. Used to be I was strong on classifies and weak on field courses. Now I feel I'm more strong on field courses and need to work on my stand-n-shoot skills. So that's what I did. My draws suck. My reloads sucks. I had a target at 10 yds with a no-shoot bordering the Azone on each side. I couldn't hit it out of the holster under 1.1 to save my life. And reloads were in the 1.4-1.7 range. Damn, that's crap for a master.

My gun timing is finally where I want it. Even with a crappy draw I was still doing bill drills in ~1.9 and bill-R-bill drills in ~4.1. But that's relying totally on splits. I'd say I should be able to cut 0.3 off the draw and 0.5 off the reloads... and I shouldn't be focusing my practices on splits/transitions or gun timing any more.

I did do a personal best El Prez, 4.14s, down 4 points.... and I caught it on video....

I think this video shows the problem I feel I'm having on the draw and reload. There is hesitation when the gun is on target before the first [and 7th] shots. I think it's showing a weakness in my index.... that I can get the gun close out of the holster (and from the reload), but I'm needing to refine that alignment before I can start shooting.

-rvb

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5/24, shot open at Bend of the River.

Shot this match as if it was the upcoming Area 5 match... at about 95% of my limit with a goal to give nothing away to mistakes or penalties. I was penalty free and shot 95% of the points (and no D's!).

Classifier was 99-28 HillBillton Drill. 9A, 3C, 6.82s, hf = 8.3578. (should be around a 77%). More proof my stand-n-shoot skills are suffering. I botched the reload pretty bad then had to take two shots on one of the steel.

Had one stage with several steps of movement backwards after the buzzer and I decided to lock my holster, but didn't get it un-locked completely on the draw. One atomic wedgie and one second later I was back in the fight.....

A couple of match videos:

On this I had two extra shots. Shots 3 and 4 (the second target far left) went in the black. Poor transition. The bullets went where my eyes went, but my eyes were stuck looking at the hardcover and not the center of the A, so I had to make them up. Video shows poor job getting moving out of the first firing position...

No real comment on this one except I could have been smoother on the first array and again maybe a better job getting moving.

-rvb

Edited by rvb
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Area 5 was yesterday. Shot Open.

Over all, I was pretty happy with my shooting. came in 14th of 74 in open, 81.17%.

Best stage finish was 2nd place, worst was a 45th. One of my goals was improved consistency... I think that shows I have a ways to go. The 2nd place stage was a short little popper/activator, a couple of papers, and a mover... nothing significant in separating the talent and no real points help.

The good:

Shot 94.7% of the available points.

Brushed off an early NS and didn't let it bother me.

Only one extra shot on steel all day.

The bad:

Felt very choppy all day. Many stages forced you into multiple shooting positions. And lots of far left/right movement across stages. These types of entering and exiting positions is something I know I need to work on and it showed in this match. I've been working on movement and shooting on the move and flowing more, but this wasn't that type of match. This was a P1 to P2 to P3 etc kind of match.

The ugly:

A NS on my first stage. called it near the perf and made it up.

WH mike. called it but it was Virginia count. Might have made it up anyway if it was FS or SH..

no-penalty mike on those screaming fast triple-flopper things. would love to try those again.

Should have paid better attention to how some of the ports worked. Pushed a couple open too hard and they bounced back into my gun. Cost me a couple seconds on that stage.

This was a good match with 15 good stages. Nothing gimmiky. Good variety.

I think I came away with several things I want to work on.

-rvb

Edited by rvb
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I hear crickets chirping in my range diary... not much practicing happening.

I need to re-organize my evenings to find another 30-60 minutes. My previous dry-fire time has gone to tredmill or stationary bike time to loose my spare tire(s). I finally got motivated to get in better shape as I think that's going to be important in making further significant improvement in my shooting.

Shot a match on 7/5 at Angola, in17. Shot Open.

Designed/built my first uspsa stage. 28 round field course. Had to carry an American Flag (4th of July and all) to a fwd flag holder prior to last shot. Bay was smaller width wise than I planned so I had to make due and that caused some holes to appear in the layout that were taken advantage of, but I expected that after it got layed out.

Shot really well, except fubared my stage. Execution went well, except I had two makeups on steel with only 1 extra round in the gun. gun is slide fwd on empty chamber and I forgot to rack it leading to a dryfire. 3.44s reload. Should have taken the mike.

99-11 El Prez was a disaster. 5.4x down 4. blew the reload. Was distracted the whole time by a fly biting my leg. lame excuse, but, well, it was distracting.

My goal for the match was to be AGGRESSIVE. Not necessarily to change my shooting, but everything else. To charge harder, enter/exit positions more agressively, and most importantly, really MOVE when shooting on the move. My stage times reflected good results. I had all my hits, and my only makeups were those two on steel referenced above. Still waiting on scores to see points-shot percentage, but Im' guessing still over 92. I think had I shot Area 5 with the same mentality I shot yesterday's match I could have gained that 50 points I needed to get in the top 10.

Cool demo of expanding Zero JHP:

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=87978

-rvb

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tested out my new STI Spartan .45 Sunday after the match.

This is my new full-size carry piece. For the price, $625, this is a great deal. Keeping it stock except I put in a GI guide rod and plug to lighten it up. Took some fitting to get the GI guide rod in.

Gun is very tight, but ran 75 Rem Golden Sabers JHPs ($!!) through it w/ no malfunctions, and I did everything I could to make it malfunction, including the light two-fingered WH grip, odd angles, etc. Used wilson 8 rounders and cmc 10 rounders.

Also put about 25 of my reloads through it w/ no problems (3.9 clays under 230gr zero balls).

Shot a 2" group at about 20 yds. Just standing, somewhat rapid, and using whitespace on a target some previous shooter left on the range, so no good aiming point. Curious now what this gun would do on sandbags. Looks like it might have been hitting about 1" low at that distance but otherwise sighted in well from the factory.

Looks like a keeper, and for <$700 after shipping and transfer costs.

-rvb

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Dryfired for the first time last night in a couple of weeks. Just worked on basics.

Spent a bit of extra time dryfiring for accuracy.

Last friday I went to the range to get some chores done. Chrono'd new .45 load. 4.1 clays under 230 gr Zeros, shortened to 1.240-1.245". came in at 170 pf but most importantly SD was reduced to 14-16 fps. (previous load of 4.0 clays at 1.250 barely made pf and had SD of ~75, which was not acceptable).

I had peened and re-installed the factory sights on my MkII which were always loose from the factory. Re-zero'd the pistol. Hit 9/10 on A-zone-sized steel at 75 yds standing.

Put 200 rounds through the open gun working on accuracy. I really need to get the gun on bags and make sure it's zero'd better. Also I've decided I want to re-zero for 10 yds instead of my current 7. Spent some time shooting at different ranges from 7 to 75 yds learning where to aim at various differences due to scope height. Learned that with my current 7 yd zero I really need to aim at the bottom perf of the a-zone for good hits at 50 yds. I still have trouble with trigger control with this gun due to the grip shape and mag well. Only hit a-zone about 3-4 of 10 on average at 50 yds and only maybe 2 of 10 at 75.

In addition to getting better trigger control with the 2011, I still struggle with shooting the dot accurately. In dryfire I'm realizing I was relaxing my grip entirely too much drying to get rid of the wobble which the dot seems to accentuate. Gripping the pistol with more normal pressure seemed to really help. Am I weird that I STILL find irons easier/faster than a dot? Would be interesting to shoot open w/ irons....

-rvb

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shot Open today at Atlanta, IN19

Ugh. horrid match today. alarm didn't go off so I was running late from the start... should have stayed in bed.

Have a very minor head cold that I think screwed with my game more than I realized at the time. I got home and felt like pure hell all afternoon.

My open gun which is usually boringly reliable had extraction failures on 3 of the 5 stages. At first I thought it was because of the old/free brass I was using so I switched to my usual ammo and still had a failure. A trip to the safe area and a little tweak on the extractor and all seems well now. Had 2 mikes on a fast standard... I felt all shaky and not focused. I think I felt worse than I was admitting. The final stage I shot ok, in that I had mostly As and the gun ran, but I was not smooth and didn't go to the start position with a solid plan... just sort of winged it.

no classifier today? not sure why when they ran 2 standards as is?

-rvb

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Been dryfiring the 1911 all week in prep of shooting a few matches and getting classified in SS. Did two dryfire sessions on Sat while the little one was napping.

Finally felt pretty solid with the gun. Pars were considerably slower than with the open gun, but I guess that's to be expected. 10y draws were still <0.9 but the B-R-B drills were in the 4.1 range vs 3.7 with the open gun. Started hitting the reloads much more consistently. The 'spot' I have to look at on the magwell is farther back that with the 2011, or at least that was the trick I found to hitting it consistently... it may be that the open gun has a full-circumference funnel where the 1911 S&A funnel does not funnel up front. I'll br trying this w/ the open gun to see if it makes things smoother.

So, on 9 Aug I shot at Warsaw w/ the SS. What a horrible display. I have no idea how well my shooting went as I was too busy clearing malfunctions all day. As many as 5 or 6 on one stage. This gun has run and run for 2-3 thousand rounds and not jammed once since I built it, but wouldn't run at all yesterday. After curing what appeared to be a too-strong extractor tension (Don't know if it took a "set" or what, but I'm sure I don't remember setting it w/ that much tension), I was battling hammer follow. I added some tension on the disconnect leaf of the mainspring before the last stage and that helped, only 1 malfunction on that stage.

Need to get some decent SS gear... Tried using my idpa pouches for my Beretta, with some electrical tape to add enough tension to hold the skinny mags. That worked till the tape stretched and I dumped mags out while running... lucky I had a couple spares in my back pocket... velcro prevents the "speed" in "speed reload."

The bright side, I did manage to shoot 94% of the points even with all the distraction. Had 4-5 make-up shots on steel, however, incl 2 on a TX star.

What a disapointing way to get started w/ a new division...

-rvb

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another thought from this weekend's match while it's in my head.... a couple of times my WH rode up too high and engaged the thumb safety. Never done that in a 2011. Something to pay attention to in dryfire.

-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...