mjoy64

I knew you'd rebound if you settled down a bit on the platform changes. Congrats! Looks like I'm going to need to improve my game quite a bit if this last match is an indicator of things to come! Mike

Doing fine. I did get a few small scratches on the beaver tail of my M&P and rubbed a little finish off my Burwell rear sight, but other than that all was well. I shoot it every weekend so it's no safe queen. Just makes her look a little loved! Mike

I was standing about 10 feet away from you when it dropped. The clattering noise didn't get my attention as much as someone (you?) commanding everyone to back off. After the RO cleared your gun and you re-holstered, I heard several confused comments from a few new shooters. I spent maybe 30 seconds explaining the rules, the safety aspect behind it, and the proper way of dealing with it. I hate to see anyone drop a gun, but on the positive side it was a learning experience for several newcomers. Bill Yeah, the commanding voice was my buddy Paul saving me from myself. He taught me a good lesson and it looks like a couple of others picked it up as well. At least the incident had some positive affect on myself and a few others in terms of understanding the rules. Can't say I want to learn like that too often though! I will say that no one made a big deal about it to me. The MD asked me what happened, I told him, and he shrugged his shoulders and said "it happens", holstered my gun and life went on no big fuss. I appreciate him not making it any bigger deal than it was. Mike

So I'm shooting an all classifier match this weekend. My squad finishes in the first bay and moves to the second bay. The other squad isn't finished yet so just about every dang shooter at the match is in the second bay. I unsling my gun bag off my shoulder and as I pull the shoulder strap of the bag up off my shoulder the carry handle hooks the grip of my gun and yanks it out of the holster. The dang gun clatters noisily off the concrete. I'm embarrassed and my first instinct is to grab it and reholster as quickly as possible before any other people notice. I start to reach for it and my buddy yells "don't pick it up"... just in time. I felt like a turd in a punch bowl as they got the MD who picked up my gun, gave it a check, and holstered it for me. I was milleseconds from my first DQ, which would have sucked because this was only my second USPSA match and we were shooting it to get our classification in a single match. Muchas gracias to my buddy for saving me more embarrassment!

Too funny. Dave and I have have actually discussed just that, and I'm trying to schedule now. Great observations and suggestions everyone. The one thing that seems to have decreased the most is my ability to align the sights quiclky. It now seems like it takes forever to align the sights after a shot. It use to seem like they just went right back into alignment. Maybe its percption and not reality as I've not actually timed my splits. Hey Paul... "It used to seem like they just went right back into alignment". Now that is an interesting comment. This leads me to one of two thoughts: 1) Switching guns (a lot) has gotten your brain a little sideways vis-a-vis your natural point of aim and sight alignment. 2) Perhaps your grip is not optimal. It seems that a good grip is a must for the sight to return right back into alignment. Sunday was tough, but I think you could be overthinking it some. I had this happen several times playing golf. I would get to a point where my desire to improve would get me messing with too many things in my swing leaving me with crowded thoughts. It got to be a joke between me and my golfing buddies where we'd do crap like ask each other questions (right as they're about to hit their drive) like... "so do you inhale, exhale, or hold your breath on the backswing". Too many swing thoughts leads to tension and bad golf. Your mind gets focused on individual mechanics and not on letting your body do what it already knows how to do. If I do have a swing thought typically I'll confine it to a single thought. If I take this idea and apply it to shooting a COF, I settle on just one important idea before I shoot. E.g. "Relax my shoulders", "Slow down on T4", "Get a good solid grip on the draw", etc. So... get a mental plan for the COF, if you have a specific thing you want to implement during the COF... confine it to a single idea, and after that just shoot the front sight as fast as you see it and let the body do what it already knows how to do. You'll have your new production rig in a few days. Relax, quit trying to make the improvement happen, and let it come to you brotha! Mike P.S. Like I know what the heck I'm talking about... lol!

For IDPA... +1!!

+1 FO front sights rule the roost!.

For me personally, I found that attending my first match was the most difficult. After I discovered how cool shooters tend to be, I love travelling around and shooting at new venues. Keep shooting and you'll find that the more you shoot the better you'll get. Wow... that was like so... insightful! I find that I love hanging out with people that shoot. I feel it is the creme de la creme of friendly society!

One other thing to remember is you'll never know who will want to explore the unknown. I've made it no secret that I love to shoot and most people who know me at work are aware of this. I've had several that have come to me to ask me to take them to the range. I love it! In fact I never make them pay for the ammo on the first trip. You never know who is inclined AND you'll never know who is curious unless you put yourself out there!

I can't wait to read it... ahem! Mike Oh, what a subtle hint. I'll bring it to the match on Saturday Looking forward to it... stilll... lol!

If things go as planned, Texas South will have one this fall. Contact our SC, Landis and he may be able to fill you in with the details. I spoke to him last Saturday and he was trying to find a member of a local club (BAPS) to serve as the sponsor. Bill http://www.texassouthsection.com/ edited to add: BAPS is located just south of downtown Houston off of NASA 1/ Hwy 528 (Friendswood). I hope this class works out for my schedule. The last match we had at my club we had to run a single squad w/ about 20 shooters due to lack of ROs.

I can't wait to read it... ahem! Mike

I shoot Production with the M&P and had Dan Burwell perform a competition trigger job. I'm very satisfied w/ the trigger. If you want to reach Dan, I had my best results contacting him using the PM feature on MP-Pistol.com message board. If you're going to replace the sights and get a trigger job, you should probably look at the "L" model instead of the "Pro". My best understanding of the "Pro" model is that it was intended to be a race ready production gun (FO sights and lightened/smoothed out trigger).

Ha! I remember that target... shoothouse, first opening on the left going down the hall. 3 beauts right in the A zone! Mike

Paul, I'm with you bud. I'm starting with quitting dipping. I'm day three of going cold turkey and it suuuuuuuuucks! I really need to improve the eating habits as well!! Mike

Welcome! In my experience Golf and shooting sports are mui compatico!

I started shooting competition pistol matches a year ago and was immediately drawn to the sport. When I to got in that mode of wanting to get better I did many things to try to facilitate this desire. One of the things I did was I drew a parallel to a similar learning process I went through... that being when I took up golf for the first time. Now it probably is just me associating two things I love to do but... I wonder if any others had similar experiences. I work in the technical world so I tend to use that type of thinking when I learn. For me, I knew that the first two basic things I needed to have down cold for a good golf swing were my stance and grip. Without a solid foundation in these areas it is difficult to build a good golf swing. Here are the grip/stance basics I learned from playing golf: Stance - You need a good athletic stance, feet slightly wider than shoulder width, with your weight slightly favored toward the balls of your feet (maybe 60/40). Your stance should feel as if someone could give you a firm shove from the front and that it would not upset your balance. It is also key to assume your posture in the most relaxed manner possible, particularly avoiding tension in your hands as it leads to tension in other parts of your body. Tension does not enhance your ability to make a good fluid golf swing. Grip - A good grip starts with your hands working in unison to deliver the club back to the ball with the clubface correctly aligned. The grip should be firm, but not so firm as to introduce tension in your arms. With a proper and consistent grip and stance, you have the basis for the beginnings of a solid golf swing. A good golf swing is built on this solid foundation. Here are the golf analogs that I applied to my shooting: Stance - For me it felt almost identical to the golf swing, the biggest difference being where your hands are positioned and the direction you are focused while shooting. The stance was natural for me. What I had to fight off was my natural desire to hunch my head forward closer to the sights. Based on my best understanding of good shooting mechanics, my correction was to focus on lifting the gun up a little higher to my eye level instead of hunching my head down to the gun. I also struggle with tension in my shoulders and arms as I anticipate the buzzer to going off. Grip - The basic thumbs forward grip with the strong hand as high as possible on the grip and the support hand canted foward made sense. With this grip I have the sensation that the hands are there working in unison toward the goal of bringing the gun back in line as the gun operates in recoil. I find my biggest struggle with the grip is when I rush the gun out of the holster (where my grip might only be 80% optimal) trying to get on that first target as quickly as possible. I have noticed several times that if I focus on a good grip as my one "swing thought" I may feel slower out of the holster but am much more in control during the entire COF. Anyway, I have used some of my golf experience as an analog for trying to get better in this sport. I'm curious if anyone has mentally been down this path (or a simlar one). Mike

Yep, I've got a copy and Mike you are more than welcome to it. Like Glockopop say's, it is incredibly illuminating. I learn something new it seems every time I read it. Let him use your copy of Steve Anderson's Refinement and Repetition too . It's the bible of dryfire practice. A must. He might get a better price if he buys both from Brians store site. Jim M Alright, this is kinda scary. How do you guys know I have this stuff???? Mike, you are welcome to my Steve Anderson books and my Saul Kirsch book too. Muchas gracias!

Nice writeup on your Limited rig. What you say makes perfect sense about not shooting Limited minor. As far as cranking out the ammo... I'm with you there. I've got a bunch of things on my list of things I want to aquire. A Dillon 650 is up there! Mike

All of the information here is amazing. I'll share my favorite one so far (might not be the exact wording)... "the feeling of speed comes from chaos in your mind". After I let that one marinate for a while I considered that one of the more enlightening comments I've ever read. I was giving Paul (baerburtchell) a hard time at last weeks match. He completed a COF and I walked up and told him it looked good, how were your hits? He didn't like the run and said he was slow. I asked him... "What?? Not enough chaos in your mind!?". We laughed. As a matter of fact he shot that stage VERY well. It just goes to show that our perception of speed and the reality of the situation often do not go hand in hand. fyi... I did join USPSA. I should get my member number in about a week or so. Good advice! After reading several comments, it does appear the smart thing to do is stick with Production near term. I'll save the way cool extendo mags for my Action Pistol match where there isn't a major/minor difference. Mike

Bart, That really clears up the confusion I had as far a classification and minor vs. major scoring is concerned. I'm also glad you guys let me know about how ported barrels affect your division. Yep, that does not sound like a great plan at all. It will still be tempting to shoot *some* Limited with the mags sporting the Arredondo +6 base plates. I'd have 23 + 1 and that just sounds like a lot of fun! Thanks for the info.

Lead Crack ha! Ain't that the truth. I sometimes wonder if it's one of those "you are" or "you aren't" things. I picked up my first handgun a year ago, shot an IDPA match a week later and was hooked!

Hello all! Well... I shot my first USPSA match last Saturday in LaGrange TX. I had a great time and much thanks to the folks that host the match for making me feel welcome! I have been shooting IDPA and Action Pistol (kind of a USPSA style match w/ IDPA targets and scoring) for about a year and wanted to branch out a little. My First Impressions 1) I was comfortable w/ the course designs though I had a bit of nerves on the first stage (I always seem to get them when I shoot a new venue). I really, really liked one of the high round count hoser stages they set up at the match. Good fun! 2) I thought I'd need to mentally adjust to the different shaped A zone, but I found myself pretty unconcerned about it. Aim for center mass, pull trigger. 3) It was fun to see all of the tricked out gear and guns. It was especially cool seeing a few female shooters w/ their Open guns. I have a major bug for some new gun/equipment aquisitions as I get a sense for the advantages and disadvantages. I shot the Production class w/ my IDPA setup (stock M&P9 w/ Blackhawk CQC Serpa holster). While I was competitive in my class I only shot around 40% for the match (hello D class?). 4) It seems odd to me that shooting classification includes all divisions of shooters, i.e. I would eventually get classified relative to the shooters with the hottest open guns/rigs. I still can't say I *totally* understand how the stages are scored, but I get the general idea of scoring the hits vs. IDPA of scoring hits down. Add all the major/minor stuff and it gets a little hazy. I'll get there! 5) Due to fund limitations, I'm going to shoot Limited minor (instead of production) for a while. I've ordered a couple of +6 mag extensions (w/ new springs) and am sending off the M&P for a trigger job and new sites (FS speed shooter specialties fiber object and RS by Burwell Gunsmithing). I'm considering a ported Storm Lake replacement barrel though I really have no idea how much difference it would make on a 9mm where the recoil isn't really much anyway. Even though I'll probably not do as well w/in division, I think I'll be able to shoot a higher classification percentage w/o all the mag changes. Anyway, I've been lurking, reading, and learning for a little while here. I thought I'd finally say "hello". Any thoughts for a newb would be welcome! Mike

Paul - Those grips match your Chuck Taylor's perfectly... lol! Seriously tho... looks great. I'm good to go for LaGrange Saturday. Mike

You buy/change/trade guns like people change their drawers. Still wish I had the extra $ lying around for the Para you got rid of.