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j1b


j1b

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Haha, I agree.

 

Truth is I go into every match and just shoot my game. I know better today than ever that I can only control what I can control. And when you’re knocking a ton of rust off like I am there is bound to be stumbles and gaps.

 

The results after give clear indications of what needs to be improved on. It’s really that simple for me. 

 

I shot WAY better Sunday to Sunday and can only expect that to improve as I see and learn about the performance gaps and begin to address. 

 

We we all love to win. It is what it is. Otherwise it wouldn’t be a competition. That said, I honestly only think about the desire to win after the shooting is done. It’s an indication on whether I have fixed what I need to or if I have identified other areas of opportunity (yesterday being a prime example of progress with additional homework)

 

Thanks!

 

Jack

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So Bill I did one more little exercise just to net out how scores likely really went. I did it for me, because that’s just what I do, but thought you might find it interesting.

 

i looked at the top four shooter: you, Frank, Jay, and myself. 

 

In terms of raw time you took the cake. 74.14 seconds in raw time. I was second to you at 74.28 seconds.

 

Throw points into it and your first stage really hurt you. Had you been down 8 points similar to me (still not acceptable btw) you would have won the match. I saw you got a 5 second penalty for something but not knowing what that was for you or Jay (who got ten seconds) I simply removed those as factors. Out of all of it, those become exceptionally easy to remedy.

 

Based on raw time and points, in actuality, Jay won. He would have been at 86.94 without the penalities. 

 

But it really does boil down to points (for me). I dropped 20 points in total. And I dropped points consistently across all stages. 8 points on 1, 1 point on 2, 3 points on 3, 4 points on 4 and 4 points on 5. That just has to be fixed. Doesn’t mean shooting slower per se, it just means executing the shots better.

 

Here’s something I find fascinating. There were only two stages where the fastest raw time won the stage. Stage 1 I had the fastest time, dropped too many points, but eked out a win. Stage 2 Frank had the fastest time and no points down so that’s easy. Stage 3 you had the fastest time but Frank got the stage win. Wait, I lied. Stage 4 I also had the best time and managed to win. Stage 5 though Jay was fastest but you got the win.

 

Clearly one has to be speedy but the points, as you and I have both mentioned now, are just critical. 

 

I have to admit, I can not at all remember stage 4. Stage 1 was the standards, stage 2 was the popper stage. Stage 3 was the house and stage 5 was around back. I just can not remember at all what stage 4 was which stinks because I actually did ok on it (with the exception of dropping too many points of course ??)

 

I love doing this stuff but acknowledge others may perceive it as a pain in the ass so i’ll Refrain further unless you want to dig deeper.

 

Jack

 

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Stage 1 was the classifier. Stage 2 was the house. Stage 3 was the stage with only vision barriers that you cloud shoot on the move. 4 was the seated popper stage and 5 was around the corner with the odd angles. Jay and I shoot together all the time and have a friendly competition. :) Jay and I both got no shoot hits.

 

The classifier should be shot clean. I'll probably set it up in the back yard and practice. ;)

 

Thanks for doing the math.

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Thanks for clarifying. Yeah, I just can’t remember stage 3 then. I don’t remember the start, or the sequence. I clearly shot it slower than you all did but it is completely escaping me to the point of a mental block. I literally told my wife last night that I remember starts, draws, reloads, targets etc. etc. from every other stage. But stage 3 is just blank. Weird.

 

Jack

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Stage 3 had vision barrier walls built of orange snow fence. There were 4 sets of 2 targets with a no shoot between them. You shot left , right, then either left or right depending on where you were as you moved through the stage. There was no cover in the stage and you could shoot on the move.

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Yeah, my wife has been to the shoots off and on over the years. I get into my zone and am not exactly mr. social so she tends to stay away and just let me do my thing :)

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Another weekend, another match under my belt.

 

I would gauge today as somewhere in between my first of the year and my second. Not nearly as ... crisp ... this time around as last weekend. For whatever reason I just couldn't ... get going. IDK what it was or why it existed but that's how it started.

 

I will confess that I am just tired of the cold. Nothing to be done about it, we all shot in the exact some conditions, but I am just worn out on 28 degree starts. So I'm sure that played into it.

 

Stages today were amongst the most complex I've shot the last three weeks and I think that was a good thing. I didn't shoot them well, but I think it was good to continue to evolve and bring new challenges to the front.

 

I dry fired last night getting ready and will confess I felt really, really good with it. Reloads were crisp and draws were good. I just felt really crisp about things. 

 

That however did not convert to performance today. Reloads were rough today. Really challenging. Draws were just ok. Everything was ... just ok. 

 

So the really bad news is I had two misses today. So disappointing. Stage one was a little three target, six shot weak hand only stage. There was nothing to it. I shot it clean except one far target where I had a zero and a miss. I'm not certain what happened outside of when I engaged the first target I could see it hadn't been taped and I think to some extent that just impacted my focal points. That second target I just wasn't dialed into I suppose and it certainly got the best of me. There's a 5 second give a away ...

 

Stage two was a bit of a thinker stage. Nothing terribly wrong here but just not smooth at all. I ended up doing a reload where I had to go retrieve the mag because it was full and I didn't intend to reload where I did. I think in aggregate I dropped 4 points and two of those was on a dissappearing target. My frustration with the stage was, here it comes folks, a raising of an ugly head that has plagued me in the past. I simply didn't give full thought to my plan and thus executed poorly. Someday I'll get tired of talking about that and will actually do what I need to about it because frankly it is 100% completely solvable. It's all in the mind.

 

Which brought me to stage 3, the classifier. I, once again, had a miss. Here's the good thing. I dropped two other points on the stage. So my aggregate points got better, there is no question. It's easy to see that for a brief millisecond here or there I lost focus but the overall was significantly better. I take a lot away from that, while I had two misses today I still see aggregate improvement. Of note I spent some time thinking about the stage and just working my way through it and then realize I wasn't giving it the credit due. I literally said "get your game plan together and execute this. Know what you want to do" which I did and thus executed much better. Other shooters were throwing lead like I hadn't seen at an IDPA match so it was interesting that even with my miss I was down a lot less points than the others I was shooting with.

 

Stage four was a simpler quick movement stage. I dropped one point while moving. I noted to myself that it was probably the best stage thus far. I conciously decided after stage 3 that I needed to get my shit together and finish with a couple of decent stages. Stage 3 started that.


Stage four I shot clean which was great. I just wish the reloads would have been better. Otherwise it was ok.

 

So all in all a pretty challenging match for me but once again I have identified a few things to focus on and have that now in my back pocket. Not shooting a match next weekend will be good. A nice break.

 

I have other notes and comments that I will get to later tonight. I would say this match, for certain, favored 10 round mags and that was really the first I've seen of that. I will also note the couple of times I knew I needed some solid trigger control that I did in fact execute and had some better results.

 

IDK where the overall will land but I think I still see continued improvement despite a pretty challenging day in terms of execution, misses, and being crisp.

 

I truly think I'm evolving much closer to some final tweaking things before I start putting some gas on the accelerator and I think that's a good thing.


Jack

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Could of quick updates.

 

Total points dropped today were 18. 10 points of that obviously came in misses. I can’t take the misses away and wouldn’t pretend to. That said, being down 8 points the rest of the match is a solid improvement. Trigger control was better for sure. Stages were definitely more complex and several shots were harder than weeks prior. All in all good progress.

 

The gentleman that nudged me out last week shot this week as well which I liked for comparison purposes. He actually shot the same division which was cool. 

 

After a couple of stages I did start to get a little banter that if i’m being honest is the stuff that annoys me at times. “Next month maybe i’ll Shoot good” “man my Injury is healed but clearly impacting my shooting” type stuff. I get it, I was the unknown guy and right, wrong or indifferent I at least had some high points to the day. I’m sure there was a little “who is this dude?” That said I left the match feeling i’d also left a lot to improve upon. So much to work on, so many issues from today that need improvement.

 

All that said I was fortunate to get a “W” today and by a decent margin. Despite the challenges it is nice to know that improvement is happening and as mentioned before I see that only happening more. I see better performances in my future and that is indeed encouraging.

 

Jack

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One clear observation ... I need to practice. Three range sessions would do wonders. Love the matches but some dedicated practice time would do wonders. No solve for that yet but i’ll Keep working on it.

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I agree Bill I think that sounds like the right cadence. Have a goal of no points down while accepting 1 or maybe 2 points down on a stage.

 

Sunday I counciously shot some head shots when the available body was just limited and the risk of hitting a no-shoot was higher. Slowed me down a little i’m Sure but the no points down helped.

 

The misses really stink and must be remedied but I am encouraged by the fact that I believe they represent small lapses in discipline versus an aggregated lack of discipline. There is a subtle difference there and I’ll be anxious to shoot Beaver Valley in a few weeks and see if that flows through.

 

As you mentioned before, the outcome is simply the outcome and there were a lot of issues that need to be fixed from Sunday’s performance. 

 

What I like most is learning where those gaps are and working to address them. At the core of my challenges right now is no place to practice. I have to believe even a couple of 200round practice sessions would improve progress meaningfully. I am working on finding a range that will allow me to practice the way I need to. Fingers crossed!

 

Jack

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Jack, Hancock County has re-shoots available. Your first run is for score at the match and re-shoots are listed separately. You could use it for a practice session. We often re-shoot to try a different stage plan, or just to practice moves. Sometimes I'll re-shoot with a different gun. You might check to see what other clubs offer re-shoots. 

 

There are several clubs around Pittsburgh that shoot USPSA or IDPA and some that have shot it in the past. I don't know which ones have membership available. I'm fortunate to live in the country and I can shoot on my own property.

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  • 4 weeks later...

A quick update - as it has been a while.

 

So I haven't shot a match in several weeks. There is a good reason ... this damn weather!!! So the last two matches locally have been cancelled and that has indeed been frustrating. Ironically last Sunday's match was cancelled due to incoming weather and I actually think it could have happened. The weather was incredible starting the day, and turned to crap around 3:00. That said, I smoked some awesome ribs so there was a silver lining.

 

Dry fire in general has been good but The last three days I have been, in a word, lazy. I did get some decent dry fire in tonight and fell better about things.

 

Shooting on Sunday and can't wait. 


I am officially an IDPA shooter, it's all I've been shooting and it feels right so I'm going with it.

 

I'll post after the match. Hopefully things will go well.


Jack

 

 

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Match game plan: I want to be clear with myself my key objectives

1) have a game plan for every stage and every component of every stage. I can be guilty of having “focal point’s” of a stage and Sunday I want to be more dialed into the entire stage on every stage. I can’t “air gun” but that should not inhibit having a strong plan for each stage

2) points, points, points. Much better performance last match but that was a month ago. Don’t “slap” the trigger. Press it and be diligent. Thus far it is my observation that my trigger control is primary in my accuracy challenges. Back in the day things were probably more inherent as I shot so much more. Today this requires focus.

3) Avoiding the milli-second attention gaps. Hard to really do this, but knowing it can (and has) happened might help mitigate.

4) Be intentional with the fundamentals. A good draw, not the fastest draw. A good reload, not the fastest reload.

 

As I think about it that’s about it. Weather should be better on Sunday and i’m Thankful for that.

 

This match will have those more complex stages and more ten round friendly stages but if I do the above I think i’ll Be ok in CDP.

 

A little nervous about the match but indeed looking forward to it.

 

Jack

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Match day Sunday! It’s been a while. Hopefully execute the things detailed out in a post a little over a week ago.

 

should be a fun day. Still a little cool but all good.

 

updates to come.

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Alright, a quick update on the match.

 

The goals were: Have a game plan for every stage: I'd say broadly, pretty successful. Having thoughts around every component of every stage was there. Shoot points - better, but still not where I need to be. Avoiding the millisecond gaps: There was less of this by my observation though I can't say with certainty that progress was made. Be good with the fundamentals: Eh, just ok. Draws were ok. Reloads were a challenge but for different reasons.

 

The match was four stages. 

 

Stage one was the 5X5 quick classifier or whatever they call it. So it was April 29th, and it was snowing. Not hard, but snow was in the air. So it was cold. And for some reason, it just felt damn cold. Lord knows I've gripped enough about the cold and yesterday was no different. The first string was ok. No points down. Strong hand was ok, I think 1 second down. The thrid string - believe it or not I simply could not get to the mag release button. My hands were just damn cold. I don't know the time - I think it was like 6.4 seconds, but easily could have been quicker. It was a rough run with another second dropped. The final string was fine. Two points down in total with a raw time of 15.43 and a real time of 17.43. According to the sheet they had this made me master, though I didn't feel very master. My guess is this drill is down in the low 12 seconds pretty ordinarily.

 

Stage three (my second stage) was a fun little short course. I thought I shot it ok, but dropped four points and I really didn't need to. It was a bit of lack of trigger control and just a lack of discipline on points. In all not a killer, but I was 4th overall on the stage and that was largely due to not being overly smooth, missing a load (same issue) and dropping four seconds due to points.

 

Stage 2 (my third) was the longest course with longer shots and a lot more stage to negotiate. I thought planning was good here, execution on points was better and in general things were ok. I was second overall on the stage to a gentleman shooting a carry optic gun and that made a little sense to me. Some of the targets had a bit of distance to them and were tight to barrels or no shoots. I couldn't gripe too much here. One point down was pretty good IMO.

 

Stage 4 was a quick movement course with a fast swinger. I just wasn't there with this one for whatever reason. Was relatively slow on time and dropped three points. I was fourth overall in the match. The time wasn't great, but its the points that bothered me. No reason to be three down here. Maybe one point due to the swinger.

 

So overall match raw time was 71.55 with 10 points down netting me to 81.55. Second place was a raw time of 82.97 but he dropped 7 points which netted 89.97. 

 

All in all, an ok match. Particularly for how cold it was. I gave up on the vest after the first stage and decided my jacket would stay on. 

 

I think the goals were right and will remain. Looking forward to the next match where the weather has to be better. It just has to be. End of May my bride and I will be heading down to Mexico on vacation - no shooting but a damn guarantee of warmer weather. 

The shooting season is off to a reasonable start and I believe I'll have some time to practice over the coming months which will help immensly.

 

Thanks

Jack

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  • 8 months later...

Life is soooo.... life.

 

My how life has changed for us. 

 

My last post here was April 30th 2018. I'd just shot a match in the Pittsburgh area. I had actually shot several matches to start the season and I was confident that my shooting year was going to be a good one. Consistent participation, consistent shooting, growing, getting back into the game, and competing. 

 

And then life happened. I left my job. It was the right thing to do for us, it was time. I wouldn't have said though that it was expected.

 

My wife and I spent the summer in Colorado where I actually intended to shoot quite a lot. No job, why not shoot right? Thing is ... time off wasn't good for me. Anxiety became an issue and I just was ... unsettled. Right, wrong, or indifferent the reality is that I just could not be comfortable not having that purpose. I didn't shoot. At all. I didn't touch a gun. The summer in Colorado was epic. We will cherish it until we are there for good. Three months in that special place was unbelievable but always under the surface was knowing I had to get going on a new career.

 

Now? My how life has changed ...

 

We no longer live in Pittsburgh. It was a great run, but obviously it came to an end. After Colorado I got a job in the New England area and so now we live in New Hampshire near the coast. 

 

Back in the grind, back in the hustle. Working hard.

 

I am once again hopeful that 2019 will start with some shooting and that maybe I'll play again this year. I was so close to getting things going in 2018 ... really, really close. 

 

And then life happened. It's a funny thing that life thing. Is it my crutch for not shooting? My excuse? I don't know. But I do know it happens (life that is) and I could have never anticipated in April of 2018 that we'd be in such a different place, such a different situation.

 

Fun stuff. Let the new adventures begin. Hopefully with some matches in my near future. Once again figuring out the shooting situation in a new area....

 

J

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  • 2 weeks later...

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