August

Yes. Stop doing that! The two great seductions in this game are the clock and the targets. Neither of them has anything to do with your plan and performance of your plan. Your plan is about movement, transitions, and the front sight of the gun. To what ever degree you allow the clock and targets to enter your awareness, you're doing something other than what you planned to do during a stage. Stop doing that.

EAS makes a couple different ready to drink products: Myoplex, Complete Protein, and Advantedge Carb Control. Which one do you like? I use the Carb Control -- but, only out of thriftiness. Several men and women I shoot with use the bigger sizes that contain more protein. The Cafe Caramel is the best flavor in my opinion (no significant caffeine).

Protein, protein, and more protein. EAS Protein drinks are convenient and work well to maintain focus throughout the entire match. And, Zone Perfect Nutrition bars are also high protein, low glycemic. Any sugar causes an insulin over-shoot in my body and causes poor performance a stage, or two, down the line. Always! I've had the best success at keeping focus and endurance with the EAS Protein Drinks. More protein than you think you'll need seems to be the correct answer. Taking nutrition early is important to me -- once I'm behind the curve, all is lost. I force myself to drink a protein shake after stage 2 and again after stage 4, whether I'm hungry or not. These two products are available at Target stores in the Pharmacy department. That makes getting them easy and possible on the road. Hydration has been an even bigger problem to solve. There's really no good research on this topic, surprisingly. Personally, high sodium drinks don't help me much. So, G2 (low glycemic) doesn't help much. Poweraide (Zero!!!!), which is high in Potassium, does seem to work, however. But, the trace minerals are the really important ones -- magnesium in particular. I use a product from a company called Trace Minerals, which is the only thing I've found that works in the intense heat of the desert. Their products are available on line, and at good nutrition stores. Their best product, in my experience, is called "Power Pak" and works really well to replace important minerals that are lost during a match. This product has allowed me to continue shooting during Summer months when nothing else helped. I've also learned that hydrating for days before a big match and for days after a big match are essential habits to employ. On the day of a match, in Summertime, I'll drink at least a gallon of water, a liter of Poweraide, and several Vitamin Water drinks (20 oz., I think). I'll mix one of the trace mineral packets in a Vitamin Water on really hot days. I've discussed this regimen with my doctor and he approves. His only concern was around the mineral Iodine, so be sure you're not taking a supplement with too much of that.

I try to ignore my perception of time, because I often try to adjust my speed if time comes into my focus. Then, of course, bad things happen. But, I notice when I go faster that my feeling about timing (not time) is really affected. Things start coming up more quickly and the feeling I feel is that I'm not ready for them. These awkward feelings seem to pass quickly. I once had the experience of letting the cadence of the shots of the shooter in front of me get into my head. I wasn't watching him, nor was I intentionally paying attention to the reports from his guns. But, when I went to the line, I shot at his pace rather than mine. That, also, didn't have an harmonious outcome. Pretty much, my sense of timing -- and certainly any awareness of time itself -- haven't had any value to me while running a stage. They do, as you've said, pop up now and then to try to seduce me from the moment. I sometimes try to go "fast", but that has never worked out well.

I had a great plan where mags were loaded with different number of rounds to better execute a stage. Problem is, I pulled the mags in the wrong order. What a train wreck!!!! Never again.

One of the first things my teacher told me was to never read the stage descriptions before the match. Her point was that they always change when the R/Os get together before the match and agree about each stage. I have noticed that, once I get a preconception in my head about how things (might be) are, there is no way to erase that first notion of procedures. I can push it back, but it is still in my mind and will (has) pop up at the worst possible time during execution. That initial conception of stage procedure is very powerful for some reason. It has often come back to ruin a performance if it was not correct. That is one reason why an R/O who reads poorly, or a group of shooters who interrupts the R/O during the reading of a stage can cause me problems.

Sugar absolutely scrambles my brain. It happens on long distance motorcycle trips, and it happens in shooting competitions. For that reason, I eat protein rich meals the day before and (absolutely) the day of the match. Before the match and during the match. Protein drinks are essential for continued acuity during a match. Your present diet (in the sense of the food you are eating) is letting you down. Protein, protein, protein. Absolutely minimize carbohydrates on match days -- especially at breakfast. While your brain uses suger, any carbohydrate intake causes an overshoot of insulin, which removes available carbohydrates from your blood. So, rely on protein to supply the food your brain needs in a form that doesn't crash your body. The impact of insulin is particularly dramatic in pre-diabetic people (folks who choose to go on diets to loose weight). Getting serious about shooting has demanded that I finally learn how to eat properly. And, also, keep in mind that it's that time of year when water intake is much more important than it has been for the last six months.

Two plans is impossible. Contingencies are impossible. It takes conscious mind to do either of these things. Making a primary plan that puts you in the best possible position if a failure occurs is possible. A couple of years ago, I overheard a couple of master shooters talking about ways they are conservative in gun operation during a match to be best prepared for mechanical failures during a stage. That was a revelation to me. I had never before formed plans with "where do I want to be if..." in mind. Good defense is also good offense when Murphy comes to visit.

Well, yesterday was another excellent performance blown to bits by the last stage of the match. I'm sorry to report this has been a somewhat consistent pattern for me over the past two years. Shot clean and fast for all the stages leading up to the last one. Left a few seconds on the table, but overall was having a great time and felt "in the zone" for the entire match. Then, on the last stage had a miss which amplified into a mishandled gun which lead to an ejected round which required an unplanned reload which messed up the next transition which resulted in sloppy acquisition of the next gun which lead to yet another miss. Two misses, bumbled reload. Gave back nearly all the advantage gained earlier in the match. This has happened about four or five times in the past two years. Everything great, then, last stage the wheels come off. What do I need to do to put this saga in my rear view mirror???? My theories include: being tired and operating the guns less consistently, being mentally tired, putting the match in the "win" column before it's finished, losing focus or being unable to maintain discipline in the very end. Thanks for any and all suggestions.

I've often heard people blame the "consistency" of their press when using Clays. When I've asked, have you weighed a series of charges, the answer's always been, "well, um, I get very inconsistent results when loading Clays on my Dillon." (in other words, "No") My thought is that the press is throwing very consistent charges (mine always does, anyway) but that clays is particularly position and temperature sensitive. This irregular combustion is particularly seen when charge weights are very low -- like your's. In other words, people seem quick to blame their powder measure when Clays performs inconsistently. It is, however, the nature of Clays to go bang, poof, BANG, and KerBlam!!!! when downloaded. I don't use it anymore for competition for this reason.

The 650 is a great machine! In my world, it takes a LOT of shooting to justify the price and complexity of the 650. If you are part of a shooting sport community that uses pistol calibers, you can't live without a 650. If you are a plinker, casual shooter, or fire less than 500 rounds per month, you probably will be happier with a different approach -- particularly if you intend to frequently change calibers. I was very happy with an LnL for many years -- until the bug REALLY hit me.

Send them an email and you'll have it quickly. Use an easy out, if necessary, to get the piece out of the press. No problemo. The only part that ever broke on my SDB (in thousands and thousands of cycles) was the shell plate bolt. When I call Dillon, was told they had a "batch" of improperly hardened bolts. Known issue, which I suspect they will quickly remedy.

I have found that the "Akro" brand means a lot. I've never found a knock-off that had the same quality or features that the true Akro has. (there's an issue of intellectual property theft underneath this too)

Ever since putting a bullet tray on my Dillon ten years ago, I would not be without one. I've put them on each, new machine. Your hand stays at just the right location and allows both speed and better attention to the press -- if you don't have to look down for bullets, you can keep your eyes on the shell plate and ahead of problems. The tray will hold more than 300, I know because that's how many I put in it. But.......the tray works better when there are fewer bullets in it, in my experience. It's easier to get hold of bullets when the amount of bullets gets down to one layer.

Slow speed, right?