TrackCage Posted August 15, 2017 Share Posted August 15, 2017 I've been at the USPSA thing since October of 2016. I had previously never shot any competition save for an indoor GSSF match. You know, the one where you stand there statically and shoot at a few different distances over several strings. Hardly competition in comparison, but I digress... I've shared many of my experiences in other threads and requests for video feedback, but thought it time to get a range diary going and catalog my journey in this sport. I pretty quickly jumped from my initial C classification to B in production division earlier this year. At the time of writing this, I now sit at 70% average - right smack-dab in the middle of the B class. My goal is to make A by end of 2017. Anyways, here goes... This past weekend, I shot a local for the first time in four weeks. I had a vacation and wedding a couple weeks prior, so shooting was not the priority. My dry fire routine also suffered since I was out of the area and without my gear for several weeks. I knew this match would be a little bit of catch-up as I shook off some of the rust. I was able to dry fire twice in the week leading up to the match, which helped tremendously. I worked mostly on moving into and out of positions a bit more explosively. Depending on the skill levels of those reading this, I may or may not look as though that movement improved, but in my eyes, I'm working in the right direction. Still lots of room to grow, obviously. The video is actually taken in reverse chronological order with my last stage shot showing first. To reduce confusion, I'll comment on each stage in the order they are shown below, not the order they were shot (so when you wonder why my last stage on video was such a crap-shoot, remember it was the first of the day after a four week break ). Stage 6: Short course with three steel on each side of a max trap. Either of the inside steel on each side would activate the trap, which took a couple seconds to fall. I shot this second to last in my squad and knew based on the timing that I had the ability to clean the steel before the trap fell. I was a little slow out of the holster, but ran the steel well and did my part. Hits on the paper were alpha charlie, so left a couple points on the table, but finished first in production on this stage. A couple of the Ms and GMs tried to go too fast and missed a piece of steel before the trap, having to go back and pick it up. To me, this seemed unnecessary as even I was waiting on the trap to fall. My main takeaway here is to be quicker on the draw for such an easy shot. The steel was close and the plates were large. Stage 5: A longer version of stage 6 with targets on either side, and only two pieces of steel on each side of the trap. The start was also a table start with a loaded gun. First two targets off the screen were tuxedos, then a wide transition to open paper. Moving up, I engaged two other open targets as I walked toward them. Should have shot a little sooner, as I stopped to get the last target rather than being able to continue advancing. Swing back to the right for two more open paper, then to the far right side of the wall. I should have been more explosive in this movement, as the speed of my jog up there was slow. Targets in this corner were a hard cover with only the head showing, and a target partially obscured by a no-shoot. Felt ok on my engagement here and moved into the port for the max trap. Again was able to get all steel down before the trap fell, and finished on three targets in the far right corner. Was only beaten by one Master-level shooter here. Main takeaway is that I can engage open paper while still moving into a position and need to continue to work on explosiveness between positions. Stage 4 (not on film) was the classifier. I can't believe I forgot to film this one but oh well. Stage was CM 06-03: Can You Count. Draw to far left target, 5 rounds, mandatory reload, 5 rounds on further left target. String two, 5 rounds on right further target, reload, 5 rounds on closer right target. I shot this in 8.76 sec which was exactly one full second slower than the production winner (M class). I also had 4 charlies and a bravo which drug my hit factor down to 10.3 for a percentage of about 69%. So I did exactly as well as my classification says I should have. In my mind I know I could have gone faster and should have had slightly better recoil control to keep the gun in the A zone. I do not do enough bill drill style drills which I will work on from here on out. This was a miss in my mind, as a C class production shooter and friend shot a 80% after he and I talked about what I felt I messed up on and how he could do better. I should have been able to increase my percentage on this classifier. Stage 3: Longer course with lots of movement and some options for where/when to engage targets. Moved into the shooting area and found a spot where I could engage the first three targets quickly from one position. Could have gone for target #4, but opted for a reload instead which gave me some time as I moved forward. I was pleased with my reload on the move and not slowing down to get the mag in the gun (this has been a problem for me before. Either I move fast and muck up a reload, or slow movement). Engaged T4 and opted to hit the other two targets and two poppers without continuing to advance. I have a tendency to get too far into positions which increases non-shooting time unnecessarily. By running this stage the way I did, I moved no further than I had to and could then cut the distance to the following position. I was pleased I executed this well. The following position had another max trap which I found myself waiting on after finishing the series of targets. In theory, I would have liked to engage these in a different order so I was not waiting on the trap, but with the no-shoots around, this was the safest way to engage the targets and be sure of my hits (at my current skill level). Last position was four more paper targets with a hard lean past the wall at the end. Overall, felt like I shot this well, but the wheels completely fell off and I had three misses. Truth be told, someone forgot to tape a target and I was forced to reshoot. This was the classic case of the 'curse of the reshoot' where I felt great about my first run, but the second run was a little rough. I'll get to this later, but a general theme is that I need better quality of hits. This stage showed that. Stage 2: Short course where you could start on either far side of the wall with strong hand on X. There were two paper and one steel on either side, with a plate rack in the middle. I had two plans here. The first, and what I executed, was that if I was able to get the steel on the first shot in position one, I would sprint to the other far side of the wall and take out those two paper and one popper without a reload. This plan gave me two rounds to hit that steel popper, which I was comfortable with. I felt this would be fastest for me, as again, I sometimes don't move as quickly as I should when a reload is involved. The second plan, was that if I did not hit the steel on first try, I would abort plan one and move instead into a reload and to the middle port for the plate rack. This was how almost all the other shooters shot the stage. I knew with my first plan that I was covering the same ground twice, but felt I could do so fairly quickly. It was an unnecessary risk and a slower plan. It did not help that it took me two make-up shots on the plate rack, something I am usually fairly consistent at, but not on this day. I finished 1.5 sec slower than the production winner on this stage, and probably a second off the pace I could have run without the plate rack misses or by shooting the port instead of covering the same ground twice. I also had one miss on paper here. Stage 1 (remember, I actually shot these stages 1-6, so this was the first of the day): Longer course with a shooting box start, couple paper and steel on each side, then sprint to the larger shooting area. I had one make-up on steel here, but got through it fairly quickly. As I moved into the larger shooting area, I had two targets, wide transition between them, then opted to sprint to the back right corner without a reload. If all went well, I would have shot 9 rounds total, and felt that my comfort margin with 11 in the gun was ok. I missed on the steel popper a bunch and forced a standing reload. In hindsight, I should have reloaded coming into that position (I was already moving, right?), but I also should not have missed that many times on one popper. My fault either way. Moved on to the plate rack where I again had two make-up shots, and onto the last position. Here I again had a couple make-ups on the steel popper for an overall pretty crummy stage. At the time, I chocked it up to shaking my rust off after four weeks off and first stage of the day, but I can do better. Takeaway here in hindsight it to reload when moving, especially when I have the ground to cover and time to do the reload. I felt my movement between positions was better than previous matches, but I was not pleased with the misses on steel and standing reload. General feedback: Need to spend the immediate future focused on accuracy, not speed. Eventually, I'll need to also get faster, but right now I'm leaving too many points on the table. I finished 5th in production with 94 A, 8 B, 25 C, 1 D, 4M, while the production winner had 114 A, 5 B, 11 C, 2 D. The other few who finished in front of me also had about the same distribution of hits as the winner. I finished 18 sec behind the winner, but about 20 sec ahead of most of the production pack. I should mention, I don't usually have this many misses at a match, so my point on accuracy is primarily directed at the number of Cs I had compared to the top production shooters (but the misses obviously need to stop, as well...). Anyways, long first post so thank you to anyone who made it this far. Please feel free to dissect me if you'd like - I could use the help! Here is the video and practiscore results: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackCage Posted September 5, 2017 Author Share Posted September 5, 2017 (edited) Been a while since my last update here. I got married in early August, shot the match I posted about previously, then quickly left for my honeymoon. Due to the hurricane conditions in Houston (we had a connecting flight there), we were stuck for three additional days, causing me to miss the match I had planned for the weekend of Aug 28. Luckily we were not in the heat of the hurricane or otherwise impacted by the weather, but it did cause me to be away from matches and practice a little longer than planned. Being out of practice showed quite a bit... Stage 1: Immediately noticed how slow I was moving into position and the delay when angling for those more difficult shots around the barrier. I've noticed before that my first stage of the day is often my worst, but even still... Watching the video of this stage felt like paint drying. Also noticed here that my reloads were pretty terrible. I think I was looking at the target again before I completed the reload, making for a reload that was neither smooth nor fast. To make matters worse, the very last target I engaged - a completely open, close range target on the far left side, I missed. Stage 2: CM 99-12 Take Your Choice. I felt ok about my time on this stage overall (I'm learning that if I try to push it too hard for fast times on classifiers, I wind up making unforced errors), but plugged a no-shoot. I've been hot and cold on classifiers lately, I think because I am on the brink between 'B' and 'A' class, and trying to move up. I need to focus on the classifier the same as I do on any other field course, instead of trying to do something different. Stage 3: This is where the wheels really fell off. I opted to start on steel, going one for one on all plates except for the last plate. I had tunnel vision and did not notice that a plate I know I had a good hit on did not fall. [EXCUSE] I shot this stage first on our squad and someone mentioned that the steel was set precariously, but I did not cause a fuss or mention anything [/EXCUSE]. Once I cleaned the steel, I shot four times at the swinger missing all four shots (did not call my misses). I then shot the three remaining open paper targets pretty efficiently. Once I was finished, I saw the steel still standing but it was too late to make it up. I called for calibration, which I of course lost. Really bummed with my performance on this stage as three misses total here was a real killer. I have experience shooting at swingers in the past, so that should not have been a problem. I also noticed that the particular steel plate that did not fall was completely warped and shot out. I did voice that I feel that piece of steel should be retired from future matches, but I probably just sounded disgruntled. Either way, I took my lumps and tried to remain positive for the rest of the match. Stage 4: This is where the day started to turn around for me. Pretty simple stage here with four paper on each side of the dividing wall. Looking at the video, my draw and reload are still a touch slow, but my hits were good. I was happy with my ability to put the prior stage performance behind me, as I was on the brink of getting upset and needed a good performance to get my head back in the game. Stage 5: This is probably my best stage of the day. After the beep, had to take a step into the shooting box for a quick two on the left paper, then move into the two paper on the front right. I felt good about shooting on the move into this position. Then back to the left for the last four rounds and a reload. Back to the right, then back to the left. I was looking for a spot to do a reload here that wouldn't be a standing reload, but the cramped positions with little movement between targets left me forced into a pretty much standing reload. Would love feedback here on if there was a better place to reload. Stage 6: This stage is actually very similar to stage 5, except that there are no-shoots instead of partial hard cover targets. I ran the stage very similarly to how I ran stage 5, except here I found a better place to reload at the end. Where I was forced to lean around the barrel for the far left target, I used that opportunity to shoot the stacked two open targets in the next port. Then moved all the way to the far right ending position since I needed a reload anyway, shot those two targets to the right of the wall, then aimed back at the last target I had left from the previous port. This stage went well, except that I had 13 'C's here. Although my time was fairly quick relative to others in my division, my hits cost me here. Overall feedback: I'm learning that my best stages tend to be later in matches. This seems counter-intuitive as I usually do better at most other things when I am 'fresh,' but maybe not the case here. Either way, that is not an excuse to bomb the first couple stages of a match, and something I need to work on. I also felt out of practice and slow on my reloads, something I certainly can practice at home. I will be able to devote more time to dry fire and practice now that I am through the summer which had a vacation, wedding, and honeymoon all within about two months. One other outstanding item I commented on earlier was hit quality. I had a total of 37 'C's to the Production winner's 19 'C's. I need desperately to work on my second shot hits as I'm pretty certain my first shot is an 'A' and the follow-up shot is where I am getting those 'C's. I mentioned after last match that I need to slow down a notch and get my hits, something I did not do in this match. I finished 2nd of 7 in Production. I shot this match away from home where there is not much 'Production heat,' so this performance that achieved 2nd place would likely not have cracked top 10 at my home clubs. https://practiscore.com/results/new/42787?q_division=6 Edited September 5, 2017 by TrackCage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackCage Posted September 11, 2017 Author Share Posted September 11, 2017 This weekend was my favorite local match, Solano Targetmasters. I was fresh off another match last weekend, and a solid practice session on Friday. I took some of what I learned about my match performance early on in the match, and made it a point to ensure a solid performance in the early stages. Stage 1: As a lefty, I typically try to run stages from right to left. This particular stage, however, was setup in a way that this strategy wasn't really a possibility and I would need to run this the same way as the righties. I felt good about my speed into and out of positions, and if anything, could have been a touch faster in the last position. My transitions in that position were a bit slow, as I was being overly cautious of the no-shoots (and to try and get a good stage under my belt, since I've been blowing the first stage the last couple matches). Shying away from the no-shoots between targets gave me 9 Charlie's for this stage overall. I'm learning that I'm a bit fearful of no-shoots, and need to rely on the fact that I know I can still hit 'A's and not favor the 'C' shot away from the no-shoot. Stage 2: This match runs two courses in each bay - a longer course and a shorter one. This was the shorter course, somewhat similar to stage 1, but with the addition of a couple poppers. Two 'D's on this stage and a make up shot on the last piece of steel. Accuracy still needs work. Stage 3: If there was a stage at this match I wish I could have shot again, it would be this one. As I moved into the far right position, I activated the trap by hitting the steel, and opted to shoot the paper target and then transition back to the trap before it fell. I stand by my feeling that this is really the only way to shoot this stage. Others who did not do this, were waiting a looooong time for the trap to fall, and that's just dead time. I fired three shots at the trap but never really had a good sight picture. I know better.. as that strategy cost me big. Did not get shot 2 and 3 off before the trap closed, so I wound up with a Delta, Mike, 2 No-shoot on that target. Ouch. Then a couple make up shots on the plate rack, and a semi-botched reload into the last shooting position. I went too fast for my current ability on this stage. Even the targets where I got both shots on paper were not the level of accuracy I need to be competitive. Stage 4 (not on video): CM 99-08 Melody Line. I dropped a mag on my mandatory reload for a poor score. Since I did not feel this was an accurate representation of my abilities, I paid the $5 to reshoot the classifier (not for match score, but for classification purposes) and just squeaked into the 'A' range. I am now at about a 71% overall classification, knocking on the door of 'A' class. I should have mentioned this earlier, by my goal by the end of 2017 is to make 'A' class in Production. This was a step in the right direction, but still need a couple more good scores to make this happen. Stage 5: Unloaded start, gun on barrel. I shot this one a little differently than most, as I found a way to capitalize on being left handed while also squeezing a reload without standing flat-footed. As I moved deeper into the stage, I shot the two poppers on the right then went after the plate rack. Here is where my stage plan differed. I shot the paper and right-most four plates, then stepped to the far left while reloading, shot those two paper and the remaining two plates. I semi-fumbled this reload too, getting the mag in the gun but not fully seated. It took an extra tap. I had a few reloads this match that were trash, this being one of them. Time for more dry-fire reps. Bright spot of this stage is that my accuracy was where it needed to be, dropping only two 'B's, the rest 'A's on this stage. Stage 6: Again, shorter version of the previous stage. Shot two paper off to the left through the port, then the paper in the middle, and finally the two steel poppers off to the right. Big step to the left and a reload, time for the plate rack. The no-shoot behind the plates made for an added challenge, but I was able to go one-for-one on those plates. I did take a couple of make-up shots on the rack overall, but did so efficiently. Only dropped two 'C's on this stage. Overall feedback: I left this match feeling much better about my performance than the previous weeks' match. I still have some work to do in the accuracy department, but was able to get most of my hits in the latter stages. Still need more work on getting the follow-up shot into the 'A' zone and tighten up those botched reloads. Aside from the train wreck stage, I had a good performance finishing in the top 4 in production on the other stages. I finished 17th overall and 4th in Production. https://practiscore.com/results/new/43201?q_division=5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackCage Posted October 9, 2017 Author Share Posted October 9, 2017 Another month off between competitions. This has been a tough couple months for shooting with lots of other stuff going on in my personal life to take up weekend time. I almost did not go to this months' match, figuring I wouldn't do well due to my limited amount of practice. Glad I did, as it's just a local match and sure beats sitting on the couch at home. With a packed registration, the match director limited the round count for the stages, so you'll see the the second stage in each bay (stages 2, 4, 6) were very short. I did not shoot nationals, but because this match was the week after that, a few of the really fasts guys were not here, helping to boost my ranking in the overall and Production division. Yesterday felt really good - probably because I did not put as much pressure on myself as I sometimes do. Now if only I could string together a good classifier! Also, one of the rare matches where I did not have a single miss. Something that has plagued me in past matches as I need to slow down a notch and focus on accuracy. Stage 1: Unloaded start, strong hand on 'X.' Decided to pull from the back of my mag pouches to make for an easier reload later on. I feel this was a good call, but need to practice this more as I felt clumsy. At the end of this stage, after the Colt steel fell exposing the mini poppers, it took me an extra second to find my front sight. Time to spend some more time indexing the pistol as this was just lost time and felt like an eternity during the stage run. Believe it or not, I finished first in Production this stage which I think has more to do with a bad run by the fast guys than a great run by me. Stage 2: Very short, abbreviated version of stage 1 but starting with a loaded gun. Felt good about the run and was pleased with how quickly I reloaded without slowing down between position one and two. However, after review on Practiscore, I was a couple seconds off the leader's pace, and a second off of some of the other decently fast guys. I did have 2 Charlies and a Delta here which made for only a so-so run. Stage 3: If there was a stage I messed up on yesterday, this was it. Moving through the open targets, I felt I had a good cadence, but took the open paper targets for granted. I scored 6 Charlies and 4 Deltas on this run. Then, in the last position, I knew there were 10 shots, meaning I only had one possible make-up. I missed twice total on the steel, forcing a standing reload. To make matters worse, and because I was trying to hurry, I dropped the mag and probably cost myself at least 4 seconds if not more on this stage. Stage 4: CM 03-05 Paper Poppers. A slight bobble on the reload and one make-up shot on steel. 64.6% in Production. I am hovering right at 70% overall average, so I need solid classifiers to make 'A' class (my goal by end of year). I will need to stop treating the classifier as something different and get comfortable or I am not going to make this goal. I also plan to try and shoot a couple more matches per month through the end of the year so I can try and make this goal. Stage 5: This was a pretty cool design layout in terms of where they put the ports and the walls. Starting off, I shot three targets off to the left, but one was through a port. I needed to shift around my upper body to see all three targets at once, but was still quicker than moving my feet. Then over to the right where I shot behind a half wall at a couple poppers and three paper (hard lean for the last paper). Coming down towards the end of the stage, there were two shooting positions very close together, not leaving much room for a reload. This stage was not designed by a Production shooter lol. Looking back at the scores, I was half a second faster than the top guy, but had 4 more Charlies than he did. Again, accuracy is king when shooting minor. I know this... time to stop making the same mistake. Stage 6: Very short, abbreviated version of stage 5. Not much to say here, thought I had a good run. The lightning fast guy beat me by 3/10ths of a second. Overall feedback: I finished 2nd in Production and 16th Overall. If the couple M's and GM's were there, I would have likely finished 4th or 5th in Prod. Good day overall, but definitely some things to work on. Accuracy is still plaguing me, and when I get rushed I botch my reloads pretty bad. This has been happening the last couple months, so I need to figure out how to address it. My reloads in dry fire are decent, but I'll keep at it. I think my accuracy issue is trying to move on to the next target before I get the shot off, causing my second shot on a lot of targets to be the Charlie. Going to try and slow down a click and see if that helps. https://practiscore.com/results/new/44828?q_division=6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackCage Posted November 13, 2017 Author Share Posted November 13, 2017 So I missed a reply for a match I shot a couple weeks back. Oh well. I didn't shoot all that well and it was a more casual, shoot the sh!t with the guys kind of match, so I won't go back and recap that one. Yesterday I shot another match at the same club where they limited the round count. This club sees a ton of registrations, and in order to finish the day on time, they sometimes have to limit the round count for stages. Bummer, since you drive all the way out there to shoot, but I like the group of folks who attend this match and went anyways. You can see from the video that there are definitely things I can improve on in each stage. Rather than pick each stage apart, I'll focus on really the two key items I wish I had back. Stage 3 (0:28 sec on video) had a starting position where there were really six paper targets you could engage all at once. As a production shooter, I was looking for a way to get creative. Everyone in front of me would shoot the three targets on one side, reload, and shoot the three on the other side. I decided I would try and shoot all 11 rounds I had in the gun, take one step forward as I reloaded, and shoot the one last necessary shot while moving to the next position. Since most guys were reloading again as they moved from the beginning starting area, this allowed me to remove a reload as I would only need seven rounds in the next position. Of course, I had an edge hit on steel that did not fall, and a couple other misses on steel which ultimately cost me a standing reload. This strategy did not pay off for me here, but I stand by that it was a better strategy to shoot the first six paper targets. I cannot blame my misses on steel as a fault of my original strategy. I knew it was a risk, and I took it thinking I could execute. This is where I cost myself the 4 overall seconds to the top Production guy. I'm trying to work on my stage vision and look for ways to capitalize on stage design, rather than shoot it the more 'basic' way that everyone seems to do without looking for better opportunities. Stage 4 was the classifier 09-14. The guy who was supposed to shoot right before me wasn't ready, so I was moved up rather quickly. Not trying to use this as an excuse, but we can be a superstitious bunch who have our routines and dry runs before it's our turn to shoot. At any rate, my very last shot sailed over the head box for a miss. My only miss of the match and yet another classifier that will be thrown out. Still trying to make 'A' class by end of year, not looking too good unless I can really kill a couple towards the end of this year. Overall I did pretty well with a 2nd place in Production and 14th Overall. Two top Production guys were not there this month, so that was part of the reason I was pushed up, but I also had a relatively mistake-free day and solid overall day of shooting. I've complained about my accuracy in the past - so this match I had an interesting side bet with another shooter. We bet who would get more Alphas on the day overall. Having some skin in the game (and a ton of steel today) helped me focus more on accuracy and I squeaked out a win by two alphas overall. https://practiscore.com/results/new/46787?q_division=6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackCage Posted November 21, 2017 Author Share Posted November 21, 2017 Had a little time this weekend to catch a short, four stage match on Saturday. This has been a pretty good month for me, with this being my third match in the month of November. I am definitely seeing a more consistent performance shooting matches regularly. In the second stage on video, I was able to record my highest classifier to date: 79.99% in Production. This brings my average up to about 72%, so another good classifier or two and I still have a shot at making 'A' class by end of year. I noticed here that in addition to moving pretty quickly between shooting boxes, I also recorded almost all 'A' hits. Big difference in percentage when I start throwing away points with 'C's and 'D's. In the third stage on video, there were some tricky angles to be able to see the steel poppers in the corner. It did not translate well in video, but I had to really slow down to get those (well, the slowness did, but not the angles). I also noticed between my last couple shooting positions, when I moved, I reloaded instinctively. I would have had enough rounds to shoot both positions, so that may have been a bit of wasted time. I also would have like to have had an extra magazine going into the plate rack as the written stage briefing specified that was to be shot strong hand only. I wound up going one-for-one on the plate rack, which was a pretty nice way to end the stage. Overall I felt I was having a pretty good match. I'm knocking on the door of 'A' class, and definitely separating myself time wise from the bulk of the production shooters. I was third in Production behind a GM and one other 'B' class shooter who also should be in 'A.' I did have quite a few Charlie's overall which I need to tighten up. Especially on stages like the first one where you are just hosing targets at close range. If I could have had less Charlie's there, it would have made all the difference. https://practiscore.com/results/new/47057?q_division=6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackCage Posted December 11, 2017 Author Share Posted December 11, 2017 With thanksgiving and a couple rainy weekends, I was not able to shoot any matches between this one and the last. I did have a chance for one session of live fire practice, but since I was out in forest land with a friend, the practice was not dedicated USPSA - more just having fun with a couple drills thrown in. I had a goal for this match which I sadly did not achieve. I took a look at the squadding before the match and noticed a couple of the high level Production guys were not going to be there. My goal was to beat at least one of the two Production Masters who normally place ahead of me. More on that later. Stages 1-3 I started off really strong, finishing 1st in production on stage one and 2nd on stage 2 & 3. At this point I was well on my way to beating at least one of the Prod 'M's. Stage 4 was our classifier where I again was cursed. I had two make up shots on steel and a miss (over the top) on the middle paper. Not the day to make 'A' class and a costly miss that plagued me against the other guys. At this point in my game, I am always beating the 'B' class guys, and more than half my classifiers I don't bomb are in the 'A' class range. I won't have achieved my goal of 'A' class by end of year, but I am still knocking on the door of 'A' class and should have that by early next year. Stage 5 I felt good about my stage plan, and reasonably good about my execution. It had been some time since I shot stage 4, so it was a lot like shooting a stage ice cold again. I finished 3rd in this stage behind the two best competitors. I had a fumble on a reload going into the left corner, but didn't cost me a ton of time. I also pulled off the plate rack early thinking I got my hits, which meant going back and taking a couple extra shots. I don't normally have this problem, but as seen in both stages 5 & 6, I need to stay focused on the last plate so I don't kill time and have to go back. Stage 6 was a train wreck for me and what ultimately cost me 2nd place in the division. I was moving through the plate rack efficiently when I again pulled off before the last plate. Then, on the only paper target of the stage, I had a questionable hit that I should have made up. I opted not to shoot again as too much time had gone by. Alpha mike. Overall, the match felt like two different shooting performances between stages 1-3 & 4-6. That's no excuse, but as the day gets long and everyone starts to get tired, I need to work on ways to keep my head in the game. I felt like my shots on steel were better than previous matches. Less make up shots and more efficiency in the plate racks, save for my comment earlier. I'm getting confident since my hits on plates 1-5 are good and assuming plate 6 will fall. A millisecond more focus here will cure that. Looking at the results page, I was right at the heels of 2nd place. A couple less make up shots or saving one of those misses is probably all it would have taken to catch him. I also felt good about the gap between myself and 1st/2nd place versus the rest of the field. I am at the back, but still in the 'lead' pack. Same goal for next month, to beat one of these two guys. https://practiscore.com/results/new/48230?q_division=6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackCage Posted January 16, 2018 Author Share Posted January 16, 2018 First match in five weeks. Have only dry fired twice since the last match in early December. I did live fire a few times since then, but not USPSA drills. I was at the static range shooting a variety of firearms. I did shoot my G34, but not a ton. A few friends and I decided to try Limited division just to mix things up. I shot my Production set up aside from the difference in mag capacity. No magwell, Production belt placement and all. Aside from changing divisions to shoot with my buddies, I also used this opportunity to see how my movement was without a necessary reload between each position. I am hoping to find some low hanging fruit that I can learn from and take with me when I go back to Production. I may shoot another couple matches in Limited to reach an initial classification, but my division of choice remains Production. Stage 1: Starting unloaded with the magazine on the barrel, hidden under the hat. I made an effort to shoot the target on the right at the beginning as I moved towards it. I have been trying to engage more targets while moving, however this one specifically I likely did not need to do so as I was then moving to the back left of the stage due to the location and activator of the clam shell target. I was pleased with my sequence on the poppers and shots on the clam shell before the no shoot returned to block the target. My hits on the clam were 2 Charlies, but I felt OK with this. Overall felt good about how this went and was only one second off the pace of the Limited Master who finished ahead of me in the Overall Limited results. I only had 10 A's while he had 14 A's, so accuracy is still my #1 priority of focus. Stage 2: This short course felt really good for me. Looking at the video, the draw was awfully slow, but otherwise a good sequence on steel and the clam, finishing ahead of the Limited Master who had a hang-up on the sequence. 6A's here to match his 6 A's. Stage 3: I opted to shoot this a little different than everyone else. I went from box 1 to the far right to engage the other paper. Most others went from box 1 to the plate rack, finishing on paper. I paced out the steps and felt that I was not giving up anything and could then move to the left - something that is more comfortable for me as a lefty. Two things plagued me on this stage. The most obvious is the 4 misses on the plate rack. You'll see that my plate rack shots throughout the match were absolute garbage. I'll need to slow down and get good hits here. The second was that by moving the the paper instead of the plate rack, I needed to stop an extra time in order to engage all paper targets. It's hard to see in the video, but the walls blocked the angles in order to get all 4 targets. If I would have finished on the paper, although I would have stopped in the same number of places, I would not have needed to accelerate out of one more position as I did here. Learning experience - sometimes, your plan is not the best one, when you're the only one who does it. I finished a couple seconds off the pace and had 3 less A's than the Limited Master. Stage 4: I tried to go pretty fast here and make up some time. I was OK with how the first string went. The second string I shot the last two shots falling out of the box. It cost me a Mike and did not save any time. Don't know why I did it, but it was no good. Unnecessary and cost me the stage. I honestly did not care about the classification since I am unclassified in Limited, but it's not a good habit and certainly did not add anything to my stage. Stage 5: I waited for visual feedback of the steel falling instead of trusting my shots and moving on to the next position. I also felt my reload and run up to the plate rack was slow. This was part of the reason I wanted to try Limited and move without a reload. I know I should be able to move and reload almost, if not as fast, as when simply moving between positions, but I am not there yet. I also had another 4 or 5 make up shots on the plate rack which cost me 2 seconds behind the Limited Master's pace. I had good hits here, but the stage was mostly steel. Stage 6: Much better and efficient movement from the paper to the plate rack, albeit without a reload this time. I missed 4 times on the plate rack in a row! What gives. Another almost 2 seconds off the pace due to these misses. Overall feedback: 12th Overall and 2nd in Limited. Prior to this match, I've shot with only one eye open. I have been practicing at the range and in dry fire to shoot with both eyes open. This was the first match where I was comfortable enough with this to bring it to the match. Once I started to miss on the plates, I went back to one eye for those plate racks only. I am still happy and committed to shooting with both eyes, but on the smaller targets I still need some work. My movement in general was better than I originally thought, and my slowness in stages had nothing to do with the time between shooting positions. Instead, I cost myself on very makable shots that took me extras to accomplish. I am not usually this bad on plate racks, but perhaps I was trying to go too fast here today. I have recommitted myself to dry fire and will be completing at least 15 minutes each day this month. I'm also shooting 3 matches this month (significantly more than I have in the past few months) which should also help. My accuracy distribution is still less than stellar, which in Limited MINOR is killer. Slow down, get your hits. I don't know why I struggle so much with this as it's self-evaluated feedback I've given myself for many months now. I am very accurate when I slow down, but on the clock I seem to gravitate towards speed (and make mistakes). Results: https://practiscore.com/results/new/49551?q_division=2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackCage Posted January 22, 2018 Author Share Posted January 22, 2018 (edited) I shot a quick 4 stage match this past Saturday. I was able to sneak in 2 dry fire sessions this week, which believe it or not, is an improvement. I have rejuvenated my dry fire routine and am back at it. I decided to play in Limited one more time to see how things went. Secretly, I had a buddy who I wanted to beat in Limited, so I decided to go for it. I am still shooting my G34 in Limited minor, although this month I had added a magwell to the gun. Stage 1: In position 1, I opted to shoot the steel popper rather than engaging when I was in the middle port at the end of the stage. The shot seemed easy enough, and I did not think I would lose time here. I took 2 make-up shots on the popper which slowed down my run. The good news is that these were the only two make-up shots on steel all day. Towards the end of this stage, there were a couple shots very close to no-shoots in the middle port. I took my time, and got my hits. I finished this stage 1st in my division and 3 seconds slower than the HOA. I'd like to see my movement a little quicker between positions here, especially my footwork. As said before, need to work on getting into position and out of position quickly. Stage 2: This was an identically mirrored stage on both sides. There were 3 close paper targets, and a longer distance paper you could only see from the rearward shooting box. I opted to take an extra shot on each far target simply because I could afford to then shoot those shots more quickly. I'm not sure if this strategy actually cost me time, however I did wind up with 2A on each of those targets so I think the insurance plan paid off. As I moved toward the last shooting position, I took 3 shots at one of the targets (unnecessary, but not hugely costly). I finished the stage 3rd in Limited, 3 seconds slower than HOA. Watching his run, I lost time by slow transitions between targets as well as explosive movement into/out of position. Stage 3: Following last weeks' performance on steel, I made it a point to do better and get my hits. I went 1-for-1 on the plates and moved out of this position quickly. As I moved between position 2 and 3, I fumbled the reload a little bit. Due to the long travel distance between positions, this did not cost me greatly. I've noticed that in the 2 matches I have shot in Limited, I take more make-up/extra shots. I'm thinking I do this because I do not value each round the same way I did in Production - where round count can be a factor more often. I need to nip this in the bud as unless the shot is necessary, I'm only adding to my stage time. I took 2 unnecessary shots in this stage. I finished 1st in Limited and 2.5 seconds slower than HOA. Stage 4: This classifier was a strong hand/weak hand classifier which I admittedly do not practice nearly enough. I did have one miss here (WHO shooting), which was unfortunate. I also had 13 C's which I attribute mostly to lack of SHO/WHO practice. This I can work on. Overall: I finished 1st of 13 Limited shooters and 14th of 83 Overall. I was pretty excited about this, but this 4 stage match is admittedly a bit smaller audience than our usual monthly matches. I do not think I truly had a 1st place performance. That said, I'll take this one and run with it. Coming off of last match, I said I needed to work on my accuracy. I cleaned up my performance on steel quite a bit, and greatly reduced my C zone hits. The classifier bit me as I had 13 C's there, but aside from that stage, I had only 8C, 1D throughout the rest of the match. Not perfect, but working in the right direction. I still need to work on movement into/out of position which will be my next goal. I am also going to try and slow down my shooting just a small bit to continue to get more A's. Next week is our classifier match which I will shoot in both Production and Limited. My goal is to make 'A' in Production, as I am one stellar classifier away, or two solid classifier scores. In Limited, I only have 3 classifiers on the books so far, and none are good. I will likely land originally in 'C' but think I can quickly turn this into 'B.' I realize I will be 'B' in Limited anyway if I make 'A' in Prod. After the classifier match, I plan to go back to Production and see if I can notice any difference in my performances. I don't think these 2 matches in Limited did a ton for me, but it was fun playing in a different division. https://practiscore.com/results/new/49803?q_division=2 Edited January 22, 2018 by TrackCage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackCage Posted January 29, 2018 Author Share Posted January 29, 2018 Had a good month where I was able to shoot three matches total. This last and final one for the month was an all-classifier match. Not that it matters a ton, but the stages were all picked by a PCC shooter - so the mandatory reloads, SHO/WHO were not present here. Also, due to one of the stages being out of spec (not pictured), there were only a total of 4 classifiers that were reported to HQ. This was a bit of a bummer, as the back of my napkin math said that if that classifier were to count, and given my score on it, I would have just squeaked into A class. If it wasn't meant to be on this day then so be it. As it stands now I had a few pretty good classifiers and am now in a solid position to make A class with my next solid classifier. Stage 1 was CM 99-24: Front Sight 2. I felt really good about my turn and draw speed in string 1. In string 2 I had a bit of a double-clutch on T2 which cost me a slight bit of time. I finished with 7A, 1B, 2C, 2D on the stage which was not good enough. This net me a 63.57% which is one of my lowest 2 of recent 8 scores. I've found that in the classification system, doing just well enough for the stage to count but not well enough for the stage to help your score is killer. You're working backwards. Stage 2 was CM 09-04: Pucker Factor was actually the last stage of the day that I shot. I tried to go a bit too fast for the hero score and had 4A, 2C, 1D, 1M. I totally could have slowed down a click and given myself a better score, but for some reason I felt I had to rush on this one to be competitive. Oh well, on to the next one. Only had a 40-something percent here due to the miss. Stage 3 was 13-07: Double Deal 2. This was one of the first stages of the day and felt really slow in review. I opted here to stay seated rather than to stand and spend the time. I had really solid hits, but the time was a bit off the pace. I ended with 8A and a 69.02%. Stage 4 was 06-04: Fluffy's Revenge. This was by far my best stage of the match. I have never been this close to a Master-level score, but at the same time, it hurts to know that one Charlie cost me from a true M stage run. I finished with 7A, 1C and a 84.29%. Overall I had a fun day and was glad to squeeze 3 matches in the Month of January. I did not accomplish my goal of this classifier match to make A class, but I hope that this is one of the things that will be sweeter and more fulfilling knowing that I have to work at it. I've jumped back on the dry fire bandwagon and am doing a much better job practicing on my own. I spent some time talking to one of the older gentlemen in Production M, and he and I tend to be pretty close in the results. He might be slower on some stages, but has better hits. He and I chatted about that and the short version is I need to turn my hits into A's and I'd be good-to-go. This is of course painfully obvious, but still valid. If I can go at my current pace and hit more A's, or even slow down a hair, I'd be better for it. I have been working on this in dry fire by stopping myself in drills where I am calling bad shots. I do not want to reinforce the habit. In the match or in live fire practice, I need to let the sights settle and get a good shot off. I sometimes find that I am too accepting of a "just OK" sight picture. https://practiscore.com/results/new/50284?q_division=6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackCage Posted February 12, 2018 Author Share Posted February 12, 2018 This past week was a little out of routine. I was not able to dry fire, however I did live fire practice once at the indoor range and then on Saturday after match set-up. My indoor range practice was more with my carry gun than my competition gun, but I still worked on strong hand / weak hand drills as well as distance change up which I think are all transferable to what we do in USPSA. On Saturday, it was my turn to build a stage for the match on Sunday. After building the stage, I brought my gun to practice shooting the plate rack as well as a couple paper target drills like 4 Aces. I worked on strong hand / weak hand, mandatory reloads, pushing my speed, and also slowing down to ensure 100% hits. Overall it was a fairly short, but helpful practice session. On Sunday it was time for another match. The weather was a bit windy so the hands were cold and some dust blowing at you. By afternoon the temps warmed and the sun came out making for a pretty pleasant way to finish the day. I did not place where I wanted to which was a combination of a couple short stages where I took a few seconds too long, and a completely botched classifier. Stage 1: This was a fun stage with a lot of freestyle options. I opted to shoot this similarly to how the fast guys were running it, rather than stopping at every port. I felt my sights bouncing a bit on a couple shots, so I took make ups where I saw marginal hits. It turns out that most of those targets were fine, and one where I had a charlie delta I did not make up. I still need to quit taking extra make ups where I am confident in my hits. I finished with four charlies and a delta which were a couple worse than the top Prod shooters. Stage 2: I think this is where my plate rack practice appeared to pay off. I took no make up shots and cleaned the rack and poppers about as well as I could. I've struggled with extra shots on steel lately so this was a confidence boost. I was top Prod shooter on this stage. Stage 3: I was shy to shoot the A zone on the no-shoot covered targets, so my hits were bravo charlie on each. I know I can make that shot, so I need to get those points. My hands were cold so coming into the next position my reload was a bit fumbly. The stage was only 9 rounds so I did not NEED to reload, but to give myself some insurance I chose to. As the stage ended, I took 11 shots so I would have been ok not to have reloaded, but oh well. I'd rather reload when moving than a standing reload at the end. Stage 4: Not pictured but it was the classifier. Poor performance and likely cost me at least a position in the Production match standings. Stage 5: I was pretty upset with myself here too. I took extra shots at HUGE poppers in the first section, took two make-up shots on paper targets that already had two alpha, and two extra shots at the plate rack. I actually did ok relative to the other Prod guys, but I knew I could do a lot better. The extra shots at paper are killing me. I can live with the extra on the tuxedo target, as the window for hits is fairly small, considering. But the going back to the target on the left when I had already moved on is not a good habit. Call you shots and move on... Stage 6: I felt good about the unloaded start and two paper targets. I chose to shoot the two large poppers standing as opposed to moving in towards the plate rack. I would like to see myself become more confident shooting fairly easy shots on the move. I ended the plate rack with a make-up shot or two, but cleaned it fairly quickly for an overall decent stage run. I finished 4th in Production and 21st Overall. I was shooting for 2nd Prod, but could have lived with 3rd. I know that one guy who beat me, although a good shooter, almost never finishes higher than I do. I cannot accept that. The day was long and a lot of standing around. The courses were also all short which, for me, makes it difficult to get into a groove. I have a practice bay scheduled for next weekend and then another match the last weekend of the month. If I can make those both productive as well as some good dry fire, I think I will be much happier with how I perform. https://practiscore.com/results/new/51026?q_division=6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackCage Posted February 13, 2018 Author Share Posted February 13, 2018 Back on the dryfire train. Spent 20-ish minutes last night. Started with draws from both surrender and hands at sides. Consistently 1.0 seconds or under to an alpha. Moved to reloads where I could consistently hit 1.2 sec unless I completely fumbled the reload. I've noticed that my reloads at that speed have become much more consistent. I'm driving my weak hand down to the mag and watching the mag into the gun better than before. I then worked on 90 degree transitions with partial targets. Struggled at first to meet the 1.8 sec par time and get good hits. Once I settled into a rhythm I was able to achieve this, but in live fire I would be a bit slower to ensure perfect hits. I was calling alpha hits in this drill but I was pushing it quite a bit. Worked on moving into a position while engaging three open targets. Felt like I had a good rhythm and did not see my sights bouncing. This gave me some confidence that on open targets especially, I need to begin engaging them while moving into the position at a match. Will try this next match and see if the practice pays off. Finished up with el prez using open targets. Could not get down to the 4.0 sec par time and all good hits. Opened it up to about 4.5 sec and I was where I needed to be. After el prez I did a few more reloads to close out the session. Overall positive and felt good to get back into dry fire. Going to continue working a few nights per week at minimum before the next match in 2 weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackCage Posted February 16, 2018 Author Share Posted February 16, 2018 Spent another 20-30 min on dryfire last night. Opened with some el prez, but without the turn. Figured this was a good continuation from last dry fire session to see if I could perform at a similar level when ice cold. Struggled a bit in the first few runs then quickly got back to where I was last session. Added the turn back in and ran 15 reps on el prez. Noticed I was hurrying my reloads and forcing myself to try to catch back up by aiming faster on the second set of 3 targets. Losing formula for me so decided to run some reload drills until I was spanking the 1.2 sec par time consistently. Then moved to plate racks which I usually struggle with when trying to shoot or practice with both eyes open. The double vision and seeing that many plates is way different than my ability to shoot with both eyes on pretty much any other target, save for ultra precision stuff. Ran the plate rack a bunch then added a reload into the mix to further reinforce my reloads during strings of fire. After those basic drills I went into movement training, using Stoegers book drills to move one step as soon as the gun is out of the holster and three large steps while shooting 3 open targets. Both good drills that helped me get some confidence on shooting open targets on the move. Last drill was 90 degree transitions again. Focus here was on my index and getting the gun to point exactly where my eyes are looking. Easy for me to do on an open target, but not as easy when movement is involved. This helped. Going to live fire practice at a local club on presidents day since I am lucky enough to have it off. Have a friend or 2 coming with to set up some drills and lay down the hurt on these targets. My focus there will be getting the gun up and shooting quickly when entering a position and also shooting on the move engaging open targets. We'll see what kind of drills we set up and if this is possible, but having a game plan going into a practice session is something I don't always do, but will definitely help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackCage Posted February 21, 2018 Author Share Posted February 21, 2018 (edited) With an added day off work Monday, it was time for some live fire practice. I was sick and should have stayed home, but made the effort to get out there and try and make the most of the day. Since we had access to one of the bays and all the props, we ran some basic drills and also built a short stage. Starting with 4 Aces I was feeling good about my times and consistency of hits. I would rarely throw a Charlie, even as I moved out beyond ~12 yards. We also ran a couple runs on 6 reload 6, which although not as fast as I'd have liked, again hits were consistent. A new to me drill which was fun was to set up two open paper targets on either side of a barrel. The goal was to keep the gun up and sights on target as I transitioned from one side of the barrel to the next. I almost always drop the gun as I move from position to position, so this took some focus for me and also proved that in short movement distances, I may want to employ this tactic. From there we ran a couple micro stages with some open paper, partial targets, poppers, and plate rack. We also mixed up the movement to sometimes be in/out and sometimes left/right. Although fun to run stages, for me personally, I had more bang for my buck running micro drills. I felt I got more practice per round than running a whole stage. This was a good take away for me and something I can bring to the next practice session. I also feel I could have been better prepared with specific drills I wanted to run. A few minutes of planning before the session could have yielded much more productive practice. My plans for this week are at least two more dry fire sessions before the match on Sunday. I have a couple friends going out to live fire on Saturday, but I likely won't be able to attend. I also plan to write specific goals for each match. I am at a point where I feel I will do better to work on specifics rather than say I want to do well as a whole. That said, my goal for the match this weekend is no penalties and greater than 75% of my hits to be alphas. Although this figure may appear low, believe it or not 70% is my average for the last few months. I need to get those hits and this would be an incremental step in the right direction. Edited February 21, 2018 by TrackCage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brophy-J Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 Really enjoying your videos, keep it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackCage Posted February 22, 2018 Author Share Posted February 22, 2018 18 hours ago, Brophy-J said: Really enjoying your videos, keep it up. Thanks! Glad someone is seeing some benefit in analyzing my mistakes lol. Last night was more dry fire. I kept it simple as we are moving in a week and the garage space is a bit more limited than usual. 4 Aces Reloads Barricade - either side Blake drill Plate rack First thing I noticed is that my reloads at high speed (for me) are beginning to get much more consistent. When I used to try and push the speed, I would fumble/miss the reload an awful lot. Last night, I had only a rare fumble and was crushing the 1.2 sec par time with seemingly time to spare. Of course, when I tried to push to 1.0 sec par, the mistakes were back. From the standpoint of never being satisfied, I want to be faster here. But the honest truth IMO is that if I can consistently crush a 1.2 sec reload on command, I'm not overly worried about this being an aspect of my game where I am giving up much time. If there were any negatives to my reloads last night it would be that I sometimes was not quick enough to the mag release. I would already have a fresh mag ready to go into the gun and no where to put it! I've always focused on getting my support hand to a new mag very efficiently/quickly. Now it's time to focus on the other half meaning my release of the old mag and prepping the gun for a new one. I don't run the Blake drill very often, but I was looking for something I could set up quickly that would change up the practice routine. I struggled at first maintaining the same speed/cadence as a Bill drill while transitioning. I was able to get to a point where I felt comfortable and confident in my transitions and truly hitting Alphas in this drill at speed. Plate rack was kind of a crap shoot when trying for a 2.5 sec par. I was cheating the transition or breaking a shot on a marginal plate picture. I decided to back off as I didn't feel this was productive practice and if anything, was hurting my performance. We shoot a lot of plate racks at my local clubs, so I feel this is important, but needs to be done at a slower speed for now. I still struggle with both eyes open on plate racks due to double vision, but I made an effort to force myself to try and keep both open during this drill. Plan is one more dry fire session before Sunday's match and 75% of all hits to be Alphas as I said in my last post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackCage Posted February 23, 2018 Author Share Posted February 23, 2018 Last night I was looking for something different to mix up my dry fire drills. I went back to the basics with Ben's 15 minute dry fire program. If you haven't seen it, it's pretty easily searchable on YouTube. I may be missing a couple, but here is the jist. I created my own par times basically by combining the times I know I can achieve for draws, reloads, etc. by themselves. This was a good pallet cleanser for me. In addition to my stated goals for the match on Sunday, I'm still really hoping I can turn in an A class performance on the classifier. Anything above a 72.5% will be enough to bump me to an overall A class in Production. warm up with slow draws, sight picture, trigger control draws surrender draws turning draws draw and step slow reload reload draw, shot, reload, shot draw, shot, reload to strong hand, reload to weak hand draw, shot, step, reload, shot unloaded draw, shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackCage Posted March 23, 2018 Author Share Posted March 23, 2018 So... I've been MIA on this for the last month. I was pretty sick, so instead of making it worse, I chose to sit out the last match. I haven't shot any live fire during that time, and to make even more excuses, haven't dry fired until this week either. My wife and I moved into a new home, and with all the time and energy that takes, I put down the practice for a bit. Trying to get back into the groove, I've dry fired twice this week in preparation for a charity/invitational style USPSA match this weekend. I don't believe there is a classifier, so my quest for 'A' class will have to wait. In my practice, I've mostly looked for strong fundamentals and focus on consistency rather than raw speed. Things felt off and almost awkward the first session but I quickly warmed back up into what practice and quality drills felt like. My index seems good, draws and reloads fairly consistent... things like that. I expect it'll take a stage or two to warm up since I haven't been behind the gun in a while. I have a friend biting at my heels a bit who just took the Stoeger class. I've historically kept him at bay regularly, so I have that to motivate me here. Unfortunately we're not on the same squad and the match is full, so I won't be able to banter with him. That might prove to be in my favor as I can simply focus on my own performance, not his. I'm also switching platforms after this match. I've picked up a Stock 2 that I'm just waiting on some load development before I can employ in a match. After the match this weekend, I will switch to practice with the Tanfo and go all-in on the platform. Did I need to switch, probably not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackCage Posted March 26, 2018 Author Share Posted March 26, 2018 The first annual Team Pinoy Charity Invitational is in the books. I had a solid performance - given my lack of practice and time away - taking third place in Production behind only two GM shooters. I was able to beat the A and M class guys, as well as all other B shooters. I was also able to reach my goal of +75% of all hits to be Alphas (81% this match). I was slower here than I'd like to be, but that actually worked in my favor. When I'm feeling comfortable and picking up the pace, I often accept marginal sight pictures which leads to more Charlies than I'd like. Here, since it had been a while and I was slightly uncomfortable, I waited the extra fraction of a second for a clean sight picture, which helped to get my hits. Since the match was 8 stages and many went pretty well for me, I'll just comment on some instances where I did something out of the ordinary or felt I lost time that I want to capture as a takeaway for next time. Stage 6 (pictured 1st): I took a couple make-up shots at the poppers in the middle array. This forced me to not be able to shoot three at the tuxedo target and left me running dry with only one hit on the far right paper. Then as I moved to the left, I had to go deeper into that position so I could end the stage with my second hit on that paper target. I knew I could see it from both spots, so no huge issue there, but totally avoidable. I also had a miss on the tuxedo in the hard cover so especially painful not to have had that extra round to ensure good hits. I was trying to speed up after the make-ups on the poppers when I should have slowed down for that target. Stage 7 (pictured 2nd): No big takeaway here except that I was a couple seconds off the pace. There was really no ideal place to reload towards the end given how many targets you could see and the small space. Stage 8 (pictured 3rd): Most right-handed shooters would start from the shooting box then go down the hallway. I did the opposite then sprinted to the far right corner from outside the shooting area. This worked well for me as a lefty since my final reload into the shooting position was more natural with my preferred reloading direction. I had a decent time, but too many Charlies. Stage 1 (pictured 4th): I did something different here by shooting the colt-style popper from the starting position. I did this so that when I shot the rest of the array, the front popper would already be down. It worked ok for me, but I think it would have been faster to deal with that target when I was at the array so I could have quickly sprinted to the first position when the buzzer went off. I was a couple seconds off the pace here, and I think that had a lot to do with it. Hits were really good, though. Stage 2 (pictured 5th): Slow, issues in 3rd shooting position with poppers. I was on top of the fault line and did not get good footing, causing me to fumble into and out of the shooting area. Slow shots at the end where I could pretty much point shoot. I lost 6 seconds to the top Production GM here. Ouch. Stage 3 (pictured 6th): This was an interesting stage because it appeared to have a ton of options, but really just had a ton of angles. Most shooters went left first, then far right and finally into the center. I ran this like a horseshoe starting at the right, and ending by retreating. I spent some time running through my options and felt this made the most sense for me. I did not like that for most shooters, there was an awkward hard stop when your momentum wanted to carry you. It felt choppy. For me, my plan somewhat avoided that. This was my best stage of the day in terms of overall match ranking. So although it may look backwards or slow, the data shows that it was awkward, slow, and choppy for most of us. This is the kind of stage I'd love to run several different ways and see what my end times would be. I bet it'd be six in one hand, half dozen in the other. Stage 4 (pictured 7th): I love table starts. This was a fun stage for me and aside from a couple extra shots on steel, I felt this went well. I was slow relative to the Production heat, but again the hits were better for me than they have been in recent matches. Stage 5 (pictured 8th): Here I was getting tired. I could feel it in my shooting that I wasn't as in-tune as I would like to be. I took a lot of make-ups here and was just generally slow. I placed well on the stage so my only guess is that it was a train wreck for some other shooters. There was a lot of hard cover and opportunities to shoot a barrel. Three seconds off the pace here. Overall feedback: Better reloads than before, less fumbling. I noticed I was looking the new mag all the way into the gun. I sometimes pull my eyes off and start to look at targets, which results in a bad reload. This was an improvement. I already touched on the speed vs accuracy here. I would like to be accurate and fast, but I think for me, the combination here was better than usual. I was still faster than the "pack," so as long as I can maintain at least that level of speed, the accuracy is more important for me right now. That shows in the results. I was really pleased with 3rd place in Production here. I'm now switching to a Tanfo Stock II, so I will be adjusting my dry fire routine and spending some time in slow fire to get used to the gun. I'm not going to be able to shoot a match for the next couple weeks at least so I will have some time. I'm really excited to make the switch and can already tell in limited dry fire that this is a big, heavy, stable platform. I have everything I need to start practicing and the new gat is helping to re-infuse my desire to practice. https://practiscore.com/results/new/53413?q_division=6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackCage Posted April 16, 2018 Author Share Posted April 16, 2018 (edited) Not a lot of updates for me over the last several weeks. I have not found the time for regular dry fire, which simply won't do after switching to a new platform with the Stock 2. Given that, I decided to move forward shooting my Glock 34 in this match. One of our local clubs allows shooters to participate either on Saturday afternoon, or the regular Sunday time. I opted for Saturday as the squads are much smaller and the general pace of the match is abbreviated. I was off to a rocky start, since the first stage shot (actually stage 4) was built incorrectly. Since I was only the second shooter, the MD opted to have the two of us reshoot rather than adjust the stage for the entire match. I shot well and did better on the steel array in the middle of the bay, however I did have one absolutely terrible reload that cost me significant time. The second stage (stage 5) was another reshoot for me - this time due to targets that were not taped. I missed my mark in the first run where I wanted to take some of the steel and see into the next position, so I was ok with this. On the reshoot I did a better job hitting my placement and had all Alphas. No curse of the reshoot here. The third stage (stage 1) had a couple options that played pretty well with being left handed. After retrieving my gun from the barrel, I was able to take two additional targets where a righty probably would have moved on. This allowed me to spend less time in position two and quickly move on. From there I decided that I would take that array from the back, so I could cut the corner into the last array. I was happy with how this turned out for me as I got the hits, however my overall hits were less than stellar. I had 14 B's/C's and only 12 A's. The forth stage (stage 2) was the classifier: El Prez. I felt good about my draw, turn, and overall time, however I had several Deltas and a trigger freeze. All of that considered, I had an overall Production percentage of 71%. The irony here is that I needed a 72% in order for my average to pull up to a 75% to make 'A' class. So, once again I missed 'A' by the skin of my teeth. We'll see what happens this week when USPSA runs their update, but I think I'll be at something like 74.7% overall average. Oh well, another day. The fifth and final stage (stage 3) was shot as the sun was setting. I don't have any really critical feedback here as it was an ok stage for me, except for the time. I did not realize it at the time however now looking at the results, I do not think the time is accurate. I'm about 2 or 3 seconds faster than everyone I normally compete with. Even looking at the video, that is not a 12 second run. The timer appears to be close enough and was working properly all day. Oh well, what's done is done. Overall I was super happy when I saw the results. I am less so now that I feel the timer malfunctioned. I beat a couple guys that I normally do not and looking at their stage runs it seems that they shot strongly as well (no obvious trainwreck stages). You don't want to win based on what is really a range equipment failure, but as I said, it's what it is. I did shoot strongly and noticed that for me, shooting less matches is actually helping to increase my match performance. I cannot yet explain it, but it seems as though I am thinking differently or doing something differently to make the most out of the time I have to shoot. I do not really have any proof of this, but something seems to be going my way the last couple of outings. I'll have to keep a closer eye on this now that I'm aware of it and see what I see. ETA: 73% of my total hits this match were Alpha's. I need this to be at LEAST 80% average so more to do here. Stage 1 and the classifier here killed me as far as accuracy is concerned. https://practiscore.com/results/new/54756?q_division=6 Edited April 16, 2018 by TrackCage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackCage Posted May 7, 2018 Author Share Posted May 7, 2018 (edited) Another match in the books, and first one with the Tanfo Stock 2. I had some delays which prevented me from running this gun in the match a few weeks back, but I decided to go all-in with the new toy for this charity match. I was able to dry fire a few times and practice once in live fire at a static range, but I can tell in my overall performance that this amount of practice was not enough. I did well relative to my peers and general match placement, but I can see a number of areas where the less-than-comfortable nature of shooting a new gun was slowing me down. The good news is that it appears I'll make 'A' class based on my classifer this match. So far, this is just some scratch paper math. Ironic too, because I didn't feel I shot this classifier very well from a quality of hits perspective. More on that later. In order of video: Stage 6: Main feedback here is that my 'spots' where I needed to be for each array were off. My movement was painfully slow and showed in my stage time. I was 2 seconds slower than the production winner but had only two charlies for a better hit factor. Stage 7: CM 99-21 Mini Mart. I've shot this before and scored significantly better. I was slow, clunky, and had a delta. I squeaked out a 71% production average, which while low for me, threw out a 68% and should raise my average enough to make 'A' class. Will know more on this once USPSA runs their update. Long time coming I think, as I've been in 'B' class for one year and generally seem to score higher than any other 'B.' Stage 8: Big wide transitions were the name of the game with this stage. It felt slow, and it was. I was 7 seconds slower than the production winner, but with only 7 charlies to his 14. As a plus here, I felt I was getting better hits than I have in recent matches, but not enough to make up for the slow down in my stage times. Stage 1: Kind of a weird stage where there were three shooting positions separated by long runs in between. I was able to move quickly between positions but had a couple make up shots on steel in positions 1 and 2. At the end, you could either use the shooting box (further back) or run up to the wobble bridge. I chose the bridge and slowed down a bit to get my hits one-for-one on the plate rack and avoid a standing reload. I was 3 seconds slow of the production winner with exactly the same hits (4 charlies). Stage 2: There was no way to avoid retreating here, and I tried a couple plans to make that movement as efficient as possible. My biggest gripe here was coming into the tuxedo target about mid way through the stage, I was slow and took an unnecessary 3 shots at the target. I was a little over 3 seconds off the pace here but better hits than the production winner. Stage 3: They are a bit off camera, but I was VERY slow indexing to each of the falling steel plates to the far right through the small port. Not sure why as they weren't that hard to see, but I didn't have my foot placement right to be efficient. That, and I badly need more swinger practice. 7 seconds slow here. Stage 4: Felt like this one went ok, maybe a little slow. My hits were also a lot of A/C so I lost some points here I didn't need to give away. Turns out I was 5 seconds off the pace here. Stage 5: Felt ok here. In position 2, I opted to go all the way to slide lock knowing I was going to move from that position anyway. But, this made me focus really hard on the partial hard cover target in the far corner, slowing me down. In hindsight, I could see that partial in position 3 as well, as it may have been a better plan to take that target from there instead. Finished 2 seconds slow, same hits. Overall thoughts: The theme here is that I was slow. I'll try to take the cop-out that the new gun slowed me down, but I know it's more on me than that. I had 3 goals for this match, only one of which I achieved. 1. I wanted to shoot 80% alphas. I think I finished around 76%. Not totally terrible, but I need to bring that average up without sacrificing speed to do so. 2. I wanted 75% or higher on the classifier. This should have been a slam dunk, but my C's and D's killed it for me. 3. Place second in production. I knew who was coming to the match and where I should place. I achieved this however I had another shooter biting at my heels that I normally beat by a higher margin. He even finished the match with a lower overall time than I did. Too close for comfort. I need more practice with the Stock 2. Surprisingly for me, I did not feel the DA first pull was that big of a deal. The gun was more stable with the higher weight than my Glock 34, but I think I had my wrist cocked a little bit causing me to shoot a touch low. I'll work on this and continue some dry fire to train past it. Good news is the gun was reliable and accurate, despite not tailoring a load and testing it thoroughly with this gun - something I plan to do before the next match. https://practiscore.com/results/new/56165?q_division=6 Edited May 7, 2018 by TrackCage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackCage Posted July 10, 2018 Author Share Posted July 10, 2018 Been a while! Since my last post here my wife and I welcomed a beautiful baby girl into the family. As such, my hobbies have taken a back seat. I have not been to any matches in the last couple months, nor really any dry fire either. I have fired at the static range a couple times, but not really USPSA style or applicable drills; just some trigger time with a few different guns. Last night I made the effort to carve out some dry fire time. I didn't bring the timer, as I did not want the time pressure. For me, this session was more about getting comfortable again and working on the fundamentals. Mostly draws, reloads, el prez, 4 aces, stuff like that. Going to try and dry fire every day this week as I have high hopes of a match this Sunday. I know I'll be slow and that my dry fire this week won't get me back to where I was overnight, but it'll still be fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackCage Posted July 16, 2018 Author Share Posted July 16, 2018 Leading up to this match, I was able to dry fire three times. I’m still learning the new (to me) Tanfo platform, so this was some much-needed time behind the gun. As I had made A class after the last match I shot and feeling as though I was at the A class level even before I classed-up, I went into this match with the goal to beat all other A class shooters. This was a lofty goal, but I felt it was doable. For the record, this is also the best local match with the most Production heat. Although further away, it is likely my favorite match to attend for this reason. Stage 1, A little slow out of the start box after clearing the steel. I know I am at a level where I should be shooting at the open target coming into the shooting area before the port. I still lack a little confidence here, so I opted to take that target while retreating towards the next port/position. If this was not my first stage back after a long break, I feel I would have taken the shots moving in. At the last position, I took too long to engage a wide open, point-blank target, then finished with a leaning shot rather than get low for the port. That worked OK being left-handed. Most others opted to shoot through the port. Overall, not a bad first stage back. I felt good, got my hits. I was 3 seconds slower than the Prod winner, with one more Charlie than he had. Stage 2, A little long to get the gun up in position two. I need to work on being ready to shoot as soon as the target presents itself, or in this case, as soon as I am in the box. Felt good about the speed of my reload moving right to left into the last position. I was less than a second off the pace here and one additional Charlie. Stage 3, Total meltdown here. The stage was an unloaded start with three shots per target. I fumbled the initial load, dropping my mag. I was looking up to get shooting instead of looking my reload all the way into the frame. I then lost my plan a bit and engaged the wrong target, leaving me forced to make a standing reload before getting too far past a target. I lost over 5 seconds here and had one additional Charlie than the Prod winner. One shining piece here is that the setup of this stage got me shooting while moving, something I also struggle to do. Bad stage, but no penalties, move on. Stage 4, This one went OK, but I have some things to work on. Because I was only moving a couple steps at a time, my movement looks (is) slow. Need more explosion here. I also missed my spot slightly causing some dead time, most notably at the end of the stage where I needed to move an extra step to see the last mini popper. I did have a no-shoot here, but also got the hit. I was not too far off the pace here – about a second and a half, and one more Charlie than the winner (in addition to a no-shoot). Stage 5, Baseball Standards. On the one-handed strings, I noticed my shots are going a little low. I don’t think it’s a sighting issue, I’m sure it’s something I am doing. Need more one-hand practice, especially DA first shot with weak hand. Many of my shots were deliberate, but that was ok as it’s a fixed time course. On the 3-reload-3 string, I was slow out of the holster, causing me to only get 5 of the 6 shots off in time. Weak handed I was on target, but basically just slinging lead at the target to make my shots in time. Not ideal. I received a ~64% which is too low to count. Overall, I was pleased with the match. I finished 5th in Production and 38th Overall. I did lose to one A class Prod shooter, who I know I am capable of besting, but beat several M class guys in the process. Given my lack of matches, practice, and dry fire since May, I felt good about this performance. I only had 69% of my hits as Alphas (terrible), although I think Baseball Standards throws that off a little bit. Removing that stage, 79% of my hits were A’s which is something I can live with. I will not use the ‘just came back’ excuse again so it’s time to get back at it and on a practice regimen. I also just bought Ben’s skills and drills reloaded book and have begun to read. https://practiscore.com/results/new/93b09656-bc21-4847-b5e6-33754fdb0f51?q_division=6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackCage Posted July 23, 2018 Author Share Posted July 23, 2018 This past week I made a commitment to dry fire and increasing my gun handling skills with the new platform. Except for one day, I dry fired every day during the work week. I went into Saturday's short, four stage match with four goals: 1. 80% Alphas, 2. 'A' class classifier score, 3. Beat all other 'A' class production shooters and at least one 'M', 4. Within 10 seconds of production winner. As it turned out, competition was a bit light for this match meaning that goals 3 & 4 weren't very difficult to attain. There were two masters there - one who won the division and another that I can beat semi-regularly. There was also only one other 'A' class guy who is good at shooting classifiers, but not 'A' class level when it comes to field courses. I'll touch more on it later, but I was not happy with my overall performance. Stage 2: Very slow to begin shooting in the first position, I missed my spot and had to keep leaning a bit instead of shooting quickly. Way to lax on movement across the shooting area to position 2. Through the door I shot the three targets out of order for some reason. Up on the steps I should be shooting faster and target focus at that distance. Normally I compare my times and hits to the division winner just for context, but he had a pretty bad day so I'll skip that this time. Stage 3: Terrible plate rack. If there was a positive for me here it's that on the last array I switched from sight focus for the two longer targets to target focus for the close two. This is something I need to do more of when the targets are at that distance. Stage 4: If there was a saving grace for the day it's that I had a decent classifier run. Had it not been for the recent HHF update, this would have been my first ever master score. As it stands now it was only a 75%, but it will drag my average up a bit so I'm happy with that. String one I hit my spot perfect and had a good run with good hits. String two the buzzer goes off and I don't move my feet. Still an OK run but I had to move and lean for the last target which cost me a little bit. Stage 1: Start position was not part of the shooting area so you needed to run in immediately without engaging any targets. I felt in array two and three that I should have been hosing those targets quicker. I had a mike on one that was shot on the move (my movement sucks!). A little slow at the end but finished the day with a nice performance on the plate rack. Overall: I finished 2nd in Production, 11th Overall. The master class production shooter was having an off day and if there was an opening for me to beat him, it was today. I was bummed that I seemed to make small mistakes each stage which kept me out of reach. Also, my hits were terrible overall. I finished with only 65% of my hits being Alphas. Definitely not helping my cause. I finally had an epiphany, that perhaps I should have had long ago. I need more practice. As much as I like to shoot matches, I'm at a point now where I'm frustrated with my performances and the only way to do that is to practice more. Given where I'm at in my life, this may mean shooting less matches to be able to practice more. For a while this is what is going to have to happen. I'm back on the dry fire bandwagon but I know I'll need to confirm what I'm seeing with some live practice. Movement and shooting on the move seem to be the lowest hanging fruit which of course cannot be practiced at a static range. While I have access to action ranges, the driving distance is also a factor with how often I can get out there. https://practiscore.com/results/new/61914?q_division=5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CTJer Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Good log here bud. Keep up the great work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
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 accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now