saibot
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Posts posted by saibot
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2 hours ago, mantus said:
A question to the reloaders:
Can someone give me a suggestion for COL 9mm for Q5 123gr. RN HP like this one:
It really depends on the ogive of the particular bullet, but I've found that just about anything will chamber on the Q5 at 1.10. You can seat a dummy long and drop it into the chamber to see at which point it no longer touches the chamber. Or just seat at 1.10.
;) -
A bit of catch up here, as time has been super tight as of late.
Been a little bit of dry fire, but not nearly enough and it's showing. Index is off, times are down, yada, yada, yada. Paying the price of lack of practice. I did have a quick live fire practice session to see if I could still see/feel what I experienced durning my last practice, but unfortunately, I didn't. I must admit, it was somewhat disappointing. But I do think I'm on the tail of getting it back since I know it's there now and likely, how to get it back. We'll see.
I shot Thunder and Lightening to see what I might expect to get on this weekend's match. Once with my Production gun, once with my CO gun, and shot 89% both times. My single handed shooting is weak and I pulled a delta with my week hand on both runs. I guess I know what I still need to work on...
I hope I will get to attend this weekend's match since it'll be the only shooting/practice I'll get to do for a week or so. The schedule is mad. I need a clone.
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On 2/5/2018 at 12:38 PM, AlphaCharis said:
That's awesome lol Now if only the planets will align on match day...
I know, right?
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2.3.2018
Live fire.
What a wonderful practice session! Best of the year by far. I really needed to get out and have a high round count live fire session since I've been having some strange issues with my vision/trigger/timing. To help in my efforts, I slapped my Delta Point on my backup PPQ and ran it for most of the day. I ran a Leatham drill, freestyle, then strong hand, then weekhand. It all came together and the heavens opened up for me and I finally got my stuff together. After the drills we setup a good sized stage with lots of challenging elements and ran it a few different ways. I then switched back to my Production PPQ and was raging pretty hard with it. It was really devine to have the symbiotic sensation between my vision, my grip, and the trigger. It's hard to explain, but all three were working together to effortlessly work the gun, getting perfect hits while at speed. The sights were tracking perfectly and I wasn't having to TRY to manage recoil. It was just happening. Like a tension/timing triangle. (Ya, I know that won't make any sense to anyone.) I tried a Bill Drill at 15ish yards and had no issue keeping all the rounds in the A zone. Emptied a couple of magazines on a steel plate like I was shooting the Bill Drill without missing a single shot. I hope I can keep this "sensation" and call it up at will!
Simply a great practice session.
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2.1.2018
Live fire.
Made it out for a quick live fire session and worked on getting better hits on tough targets/steel/tough positions. Not terribly productive, and still experiencing some trigger yanking/timing issues. Shooting around barricades/hard leans can really take its toll if I'm not doing my part.
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GunBugBit hit the nail on the head, you're doing the right things to progress quickly!
Being new is hard because there is a lot to improve. But it's easy as well, because improvement comes fast and easy at this level. My only advice for you is to not try to boil the ocean. You know the major things to work on, so get focused and work on very specific skills in isolation. Pick the biggest weak area and work it until it's better, rinse and repeat.If I were to build a training program for you, I'd have you dry fire every night starting with the first 12 drill from Steve Anderson's Refinement and Repetition book. Those skills are tablesteaks that you'll need to master, and following his process is effective. After a bit of work on the "basic 12", work on the ONE thing you need to improve. For example, entering a shooting box quickly. Don't try to mix in ANYTHING else while you're doing that one specific drill. Figure out how to have your gun on the target, ready to break the shot the instant you're in the box.
Once you have that skill at an acceptable level, work on leaving a box as soon as you can. Then work on hitting a plate/target as you're moving forward, then back, then lateral, etc.
Anyway, just an example, but the PROCESS is what I'd have you follow. Work on each skill in isolation, and if it's not a marksmanship drill, don't worry about accuracy while working on those things, in practice of course.
This is kind of the "macro" overview of a effective training program, but I think you get the drift.
Good luck and train hard. You're going to move up very quickly!
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1.30.2018
Live fire.
Made it out for a little bit before it got dark to check out the zero on my Q5. Looks like it is still spot on, and it's me messing things up.
Worked a bit on steel and it was hit and miss. We put a no shoot behind the steel and I discovered that when I miss, it's at 7 o'clock, almost in the same hole. Sigh, still yanking the trigger at speed.
We also put up a few paper targets and worked on transitions, not worrying about hits at first, just working on driving the gun as fast as possible. Then dialed it back a little and was getting mostly A's at blazing speeds. Just about Bill Drill times. Then started moving the targets further apart and trying to keep the same times.
Need. More. Practice.
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1.29.2018
Dry fire.
Transitions, transitions, transitions, transitions, transitions, transitions, reloads, reloads, transitions, reloads, transitions, reloads, transitions, transitions, reloads, transitions.
That's what I worked on tonight.
Any guesses what I noticed needed work?
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9 hours ago, Brophy-J said:
Do you case gauge? I'm just getting into loading so I'm very inexperienced. A piece of 380 brass made it into my first batch of loads but I was able to catch it when I dident feel any resistance on the down stroke. It was such a small change that I cant expect to catch all of them in the future. I was thinking of investing in one of the Hundo case gauges and was wondering if it would catch 380's.
I don't typically use a case gauge, but I have a QC process that catches this sort of thing. But I don't follow that process with practice ammo, and I still had practice ammo in some of my mags when I hit the match, then just topped them off with match ammo. Whoops.
To be honest, between the way I have my press configured, my selection of dies, and my QC process, I never have issues. Not to sound smug, but I learned a lot the hard way, and now have ammo every bit as reliable as factory.
And did I mention that I learned many, many great lessons the hard way? Thousands of 5.56 that doesn't work is heartbreaking.
Anyway, I guess I learned one more lesson about my ammo this time. Need to dump my practice ammo out before loading for a match.
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22 hours ago, Mcfoto said:
Maybe Mike set the targets too low? ;0)Hahahah! I think you're right!
Well at least you figured out that you were hitting high during the match and held low. I didn't realize it until after the match when I saw the video.
So, did you learn that your sights were off, or that you were "heeling" the gun? I haven't been able to get out to check yet.
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1.27.2018
Match.
I'm happy that I was able to get a local match in yesterday! I shot the Q5 and starting to feel a bit more in line with it again. It was a HEAVY steel day and I had a ton of misses on small steel. Looking at the footage of my match, when I miss, it's consistently right over the top, dead center. I'll have to get out to the range and figure out what I'm doing to cause that. It would be great if it was just my sights being off, but I really doubt that's the case.
My wide transitions were rocking. The focus on them looks like it's paid off. Getting into/out of positions looked really good, too.
I was slower than usual getting the gun out of the holster, reloading, etc, which I chalk up to lack of practice. It's like my aggression drains out when I'm not actively pressing on it.I also discovered that if a 380 auto case sneaks into the press, it'll load, but won't fire. Also, I need to find a place for an extra magazine. Again, I knocked a mag out and didn't have enough to finish a stage. #StupidStuff
I do need to spend some time practicing driving the gun hard, in target focus. I used to do that really well, but backed off for some accuracy deficits, and that decays fast for me.
But, most importantly of all, I had a blast.
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1.25.2018
Live fire.
I ran over the range for a quick practice session over lunch, so it was really short, but it was great to be out shooting nonetheless. I have been switching up guns a lot lately as well as getting far less dry/live practice in and it's really showing. My times are way down. Hits not where they typically are either. Being hamstrung the last couple of months has REALLY taken its toll. I'm glad it's early season, so plenty to time to get it right. <--- Making excuses.
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1.22.2018
Dry fire
Back to the Q5. In a way, it was a good thing since it feels a little "foreign" after the time spent on the Shadow 2, and I was feeling little nuances that perhaps I didn't notice before. For example, the support hand sits a little better when the second knuckles of my support hand rest directly into the second knuckles of my strong hand, like a triangle inside of a triangle, if that makes sense.
I thought I'd shake things up a bit and did part of the Elements section of Ben's book. I did spend a significant amount of time just pulling the trigger on a 25 yard (simulated) target and noticing what was happening, and what I had to do to prevent the sights from moving. I realized that sensation is what I experience when I've been shooting a lot and focusing on my accuracy. Nice to see I can get that back at will without a trip to the range to get "tuned up." I worked on that strong/weak hand as well, then did it all again with the timer. At the sound of the timer, pull the trigger as fast as you can without disturbing the sights. Wonderful little drill. I also noticed that my perception of pulling the trigger straight back is somewhat off. It seems that I need to pull back and up, as well as a little to the 5 o'clock to keep the sights from moving.
All and all, it spent about an hour working on various drills and just being sure I like what I'm doing, foundationally, with the Walther.
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1.21.2018
Updates
Dry fire - Yes, I'm still dry firing, just have been so tight on time I haven't logged my practice sessions. The thought was that I would go all in with the CZ and not touch the Walther for a while and see if I could make it work. In dry fire things seemed to be going well with it and my times for things like 180 degree transitions were inching up where my plastic guns are. I also thought I'd try some new mag pouches and got a set of the AA Race Masters since they offer a lot of flexibility in placement. It took some time to get them setup in just the right places and angles, but they are quite different than my trusty CR Speed pouches, which have been just fine, but again, it's the pre/early season and this is when I explore this sort of stuff.
Match - I hit a local pistol match and while I do enjoy shooting in general, the match was a horror show. It really doesn't looking like I'm going to be able to meld with the CZ. Even stopping, getting a perfect sight picture and a good trigger squeeze wasn't getting hits on small targets. It was super frustrating to say the least. I just stopped in the middle of a stage and quit. I also was having trouble with the mag pouch positions and was knocking magazines out and had to stop shooting before all the targets were engaged. So, overall, a pretty poor match in most ways. So I'm done with the CZ experiment and going back to the Q5. I'll have to knuckle down and make up for lost training time with the Q5, but it's not like I didn't really like the Q5 in the first place. From the instant I picked one up we worked well together. I was toying with the idea of putting a dot on the backup one and seeing what does for my presentations, transitions, etc, and how, if any, that helps with my Production game.
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If anyone is interested, I put up a post on my CZ Shadow 2 build.
https://www.recoilsports.com/2018/01/the-ultimate-cz-shadow-2-uspsa-production-project/ -
5 hours ago, cheby said:
I noticed that too. The real challenge is (For me) to do that during the match especially while shooting standards (Classifiers). Looks like it takes some extra focus and discipline.
Thanks for the sanity check, Cheby! I'll keep playing with it and see how it goes.
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1.16.2018
Dry fire
I really am going to have to pick a gun soon and run with it exclusively. Going back and forth between the Q5 and the Shadow 2 is not helping me with either pistol. I know it's realistically too soon to say this, but for me, the Walther Q5 seems a much better fit for me. I'll have to get more live fire with the Shadow 2 and really experiment what I can do with it, but I need to decide soon how I want to proceed for the season.
One observation I noticed last night while dry firing an array of targets is that if I take just a little longer and get a perfect sight picture, more than is probably needed for the target (this array was only at 10 yards), the accuracy seems to carry through the rest of the string, without causing any delay on subsequent targets. It was very interesting! And I was able to reproduce it every time I tried it. I'll have to play a bit more it and see how it holds up, but it's definitely worth exploring at the range.
Note to self: Spend a little extra time getting the initial sight picture, it carries over to the rest of the targets in the string.
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On 1/16/2018 at 7:54 AM, Brophy-J said:
Looks like you are shooting the CZ very well for little practice. LPA makes the same set of sights for the CZ SPO1 shadow, if the rear cuts are the same it might be worth getting a set.
Great idea, Brophy-J! I'll have to check that out.
Thanks for the tip!
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1.13.2018
Match.
I was able to make a match this weekend and took my Walther Q5, which I shot in Production, and my Shadow 2, which I shot in Limited Minor. My aim was to compare the two platforms to see how they perform under match conditions. Although I shot the Shadow 2 in Limited, I shot it exactly like I did my Q5 Production run so as to not skew the data. I also shot the Q5 first in every stage. The results were very interesting!
I took first place in Production with my Q5, and third place in Limited with the Shadow 2. In Overall standingings, I was 18th and 20th, so very consistent overall execution.
As expected, I do drive the Q5 much better than the Shadow 2, but again, I'm used to that gun, but the Q5 was a natural fit from the instant I picked it up. I had very few misses on steel with the Q5, but was shooting a bit off my typically accuracy. Going back and forth between two radically different guns at a match is a really bad idea, and it was very impactful on my timing, but again, I knew that could be an issue here, but this was all about the science!
With the Shadow 2, it very quickly became obvious that I can split the shots about as fast as I can physically pull the trigger. I just comes back on to the targets and ready to deliver another round. I noticed that in practice, but under match pressure, it was a freaking jackhammer.
I did miss more often with the Shadow 2, but then again, the makeup shots were right behind it.
The classifier was CM 06-05, Fluffly's Revenge 2. With the Q5 I shot a 9.65 HF with 2 C's. With the Shadow 2 I shot a 10.07 HF with 1 C and a makeup on the last mini popper. Like I mentioned, the splits on that gun are radically faster for me than the Q5. It is worth mentioning that I shot this in "Match Mode" with both guns, not trying to "Hero or Zero" it, just good honest shooting. I wanted good data.
As far as my match performance went, I would rate it around 75% of what I should be shooting. I wasn't prepared properly for one stage that I was the first shoot on and got a little lost and ran poorly. Movement was pretty good, and was really pleased with getting into/out of positions. Overall accuracy was under par for me in general, perhaps switching between the two guns is to blame, but likely my lack of live fire training/practice in the last couple months.
I put all of the stats from the match into a spreadsheet to try to make some comparisons.
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1.12.2018
Live fire
I wanted to sight in the new Shadow 2 and see how it ran with my Q5 and P320 loads, and really just see what I thought about it in comparison with my Q5's.
The Shadow 2 came almost perfectly sighted in, just needed a little adjustment to the elevation for my ammo. I found that my P320 ammo was too long and occasionally failed to go all the way into battery, whereas my Q5 load which is 1.10 in length feed flawlessly. Other than the P320 loads that were too long, the gun ran absolutely perfect. With that out of the way, it was on to shooting some groups to get the feel of it. To be honest, they were pretty awful. I'm going to grab a few makes of factory ammo to see if the issue is ammo, me, or the gun, but not good at all. Will have to identify and address.
I shot a Leatham drill and scored below what I typically shoot by about 9ish A's. I did have one miss at 25 yards that I didn't call, so not sure what happened there. Flyer?
I can shoot a 7 yard Bill Drill with my Q5 will under 2 seconds with all A's, but struggled to get below 2 seconds with the Shadow 2 and even at that, I was getting lots of C's.
Setting up various other drills to test splits/transitions/etc. were hit and miss.
I really do not like the DA first pull. At all. It's going to take some getting used to if I decide to keep the CZ.
One thing I really do like about the Shadow 2 is just how fast is settles back on target. I really have to focus hard and crush the grip on the Walther to track like the CZ does easily.
I've really some to love the sight size/ratio of the Q5. For me, it is perfect. If I see the fiber, it's aligned well and I can break the shot. I'm very good at hitting what I need to hit with my Q5. Not so much with the sights on the Shadow 2. I don't mind the width of the front sight on the CZ, but don't like the ratio, there is too much light on sides, so I think I'd have to get a smaller notch rear or wider front sight. Will have to see.
So the initial thoughts from the first outing with CZ and 451 rounds:Meh.
The CZ is a work of art, but I'm not sure I can achieve what I can with the Walther. We'll see.
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1.11.2018
Dry fire
As much as I don't really care about the gear, assuming it's reliable, I sure have been turning over equipment lately. I really liked my P320's and only switched the Walther Q5 to have something safe to use while the whole recall thing got sorted out. Turned out that I really freaking like the Walther. It seems like the majority of the Production guys locally shoot CZ's and they love 'em. So I thought what the heck, I'll pick one up and try it out and sell off whichever one I don't go with. Anyway, tonight's dry fire was all done with the new Shadow 2 I picked up. I haven't gotten a chance to actually shoot it yet, but I spent about 1.5 hours seeing how it points for me. The DA/SA is dang strange. And the weight of the gun is almost twice that of the Walter. I think part of the magic of the Q5 are the sights it comes with it. Not at all what I've used in the past, but the fatter front sight with less light on the side, along with the shallow notch, is really working for me. I ordered a thinner Dawson front sight for it and never used it. So I might have to see if I can drive the Shadow 2 like I can the Q5. In the end, I guess that I never met a gun I didn't like. I really want to shoot them all. Like I mentioned in my last post, I dry fired with my Open gun, and I've been meaning to put a dot on the Walther and try it out.
Now if I could just figure out how to become instantly wealthy and have time/money to shoot every day.Anyway, back to the training log. I practiced just getting the grip built and driving the gun to where my eyes are looking. Surprisingly, it wasn't too far off from the Walther. And I do seem to be able to reload it faster already. I setup Fluffy's Revenge 2 with some dry fire targets and ran it a few time to see how drawing to a mini popper with a DA trigger would feel. Dang strange. Not sure what my live fire time would be on it, but I was hitting my par time of 3 seconds with regularity. I setup a single target at 10 yards and practiced 2 reload 2 on it, landing about 2.5 seconds most runs. I can't wait to see how the thing actually shoots! If by some chance I can get out to the range before it gets dark tomorrow after work, I'll get it sighted in and what the heck, I might shoot Saturday's match with it. Should be entertaining...for the people on my squad.
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I know I suggested working on your movement into (and out of) position(s). This video is pretty good at explaining some of the techniques. Hope it's useful for ya.
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Chick, where are you??? I miss your posts and videos. They are very insightful and inspirational.
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7 hours ago, Brophy-J said:
Ive began to dabble into reloading. Under the guidance of my kind neighbor I produced my first 250 rounds. Straight wall pistol cases are not to bad on a dillon square, so I think this is definitely something I will pursue further. Hopefully it will supplement shooting costs a bit. Ive got a good deal of range brass saved up, maybe 6000 pieces. From the research ive done, this is what Ive decided to try next.
125gr Blue Bullets RN
TiteGroup
CCI 500's
Range brass
Please feel free add suggestions.
For your Walther Q5, I'd seat the bullet pretty short, probably 1.10 to be sure you don't have any feeding issues. They have a short chamber. They also have a fast barrel, so you'll probably make power factor with some margin with 3.6 grains of TG.
I use pretty much the same load but with SNS's.
If you have access to a chrono test them out to be sure, but that should be fine.
Strange 9 Major Results
in 9mm/38 Caliber
Posted
Experts, I have a strange issue with my 9 Major loads that perhaps you can help with. I picked my Open gun backup after 2 years, a stock STI Trubor, and was using the pile of loaded ammo I still had. I was getting low so I refered to my log book and set the press back up to create the same load; 124 MG FMJ, 9.5 grains of AA#7, CCI500. The new load prints about an inch higher, but chrono's slower (1438 vs. 1385). I have the same crimp, same chrono, same box of bullets, same OAL, same gun, etc. Any idea what could be causing the different results? And for what it's worth, I pulled 4 old rounds and measured the powder and 4 rounds of the new load, and the charge is almost identical. In fact, the old load was a wee bit lighter than the new load.
I'm stumped.
Low: 1410
AVG: 1438
ES: 60
SD: 17
PF: 178.3
Low: 1340
AVG: 1385
ES: 69
SD: 22
PF: 171.7