Alan Adamson
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Posts posted by Alan Adamson
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you can always use a usb battery, they are cheap on amazon, ebay, etc... Some even come with the appropriate connector that will just dock onto what you are powering as a simple extension to the device.... (obviously depends on the connector, its location, etc).
Alan
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The April USPSA Match at River Bend Gun Club will be held on the 4th Saturday - April 28th. This match will be a 6 stage pistol match and will be scored under USPSA rules. This will be a 6 stage match, with 1 USPSA classifier and potentially one *prize* stage. Round count will be 130 - 140 rounds to plan 200 to be safe.
NOTE: we will NOT be using the summer times for this match... instead REGISTRATION will be as normal - 9am, FIRST SHOT at 10am.
All, we are going to try something new this time around... Online registration for the match... You'll need to register and fill in the blanks... I've got 6 squads that will match the 6 stages. Squad 6 is restricted for now, but will open as needed. They are 14 shooters deep. The link to sign up is as follows - http://shootnscoreit.com/match/22/537/register_me/
Let me know if you have any issues with the process.
Also, we will be using Practiscore to score this match... @Peter Oliver has kindly allowed us to use CGC's scoring handhelds and so we'll be using those for this match.
Also note: this will be a *bring a friend* match.... If you bring a friend who has never shot USPSA before, they can enter and shoot the match for *free*. Each new shooter must be accompanied and squadded with the person bringing them and we may balance out the squads the morning of the match as to not have too many new people on one squad. Please make sure you spend some time with you *friend*, prior to the match, to adequately cover the safety and match flow. Each new person will also need to go through a safety briefing.
Location: River Bend Gun Club - Dawsonville, Georgia
Cowboy Ranges
Date: Saturday, April 28, 2012
Registration at 9:00am
New Shooters Briefing at 9:45am
Match starts at 10:00am
(Setup on Thursday/Friday afternoon (1p on), Saturday morning - please come help if you can.)
Match Fees (per shooter):
$20 non-member Match Fee
*new* to USPSA shooters - FREE for this match only.
$15 member Match fee
($5 setup discount) - for setup help either Thursday/Friday or Sat morning prior to match
- redeemable day of match
Divisions:
USPSA divisions as noted in USPSA rules
Mark your calendars, come and join us.
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Looks like I have some catching up to do... I'll do that in the next day or so..
The basics of my rooting is as follows...
use this reference. - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1346748
I take a 2G microSD card, and I first WinImage the CWM file onto it, then I mount it on my PC and I copy the beta5 files, including the unroot file. Then I put the latest practiscore on the SD as well.
Then I just follow the bouncing ball for the 3 or 4 steps required.
I'm tracking down one issue that may exist on a 1.1.2 (latest NOOK firmware) upgrade... I've done 2 of them with only one glitch that I'll explain later, but I need to check a couple of things to see if I can resolve that issue with a simple tweak after the fact.... NOTE, it's a non-impacting glitch, but would be nice to not have it.
More later.
Alan
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Question for you those of you with an RTS... I assembled mine on a makeshift mount (waiting for one from Matt
). Just by eyeball I dialed in the left/right up and down the locking screw was completely loose.I then took the supplied wrench and tightened the lock screw, but both the L/R and the U/D and pretty easily be moved with the allen wrench after the Lock is tight. At first I didn't think I tightened it, but when I went to loosen it, It snapped 2 or 3 times to tell me that indeed it was tight.
Am I doing something wrong? Or do the screws still turn on the L/R, U/D, but the dot is locked? There was maybe a little more tension to them when the lock was tight, but nothing really notable.
Just curious, I'll call Cmore tomorrow, perhaps I got a bad one, but that seems a little odd because no-one else seems to complain about this issue?
So tell me when you Lock is tight, can you still turn the L/R, U/D allen screws with pretty much just your fingers on the allen wrench?
Thanks,
Alan
Well, go figure, designed as implemented... Seems the Lock screw, locks the module, but the U/D, L/R screws will turn (although you shouldn't), the detent keeps them from moving, but even if they do, the zero won't change.... Ok, nice to know, file that one away...
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Question for you those of you with an RTS... I assembled mine on a makeshift mount (waiting for one from Matt
). Just by eyeball I dialed in the left/right up and down the locking screw was completely loose.I then took the supplied wrench and tightened the lock screw, but both the L/R and the U/D and pretty easily be moved with the allen wrench after the Lock is tight. At first I didn't think I tightened it, but when I went to loosen it, It snapped 2 or 3 times to tell me that indeed it was tight.
Am I doing something wrong? Or do the screws still turn on the L/R, U/D, but the dot is locked? There was maybe a little more tension to them when the lock was tight, but nothing really notable.
Just curious, I'll call Cmore tomorrow, perhaps I got a bad one, but that seems a little odd because no-one else seems to complain about this issue?
So tell me when you Lock is tight, can you still turn the L/R, U/D allen screws with pretty much just your fingers on the allen wrench?
Thanks,
Alan
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At the bottom of the Results page, there is a button to post to Practiscore.com. It's super easy.
Hmmm... I have the latest Android version, I see no such button to post.
Sorry.. it isn't in the Android version yet. It will be soon.
Easiest way to do that is to find an iOS device, sync, and post from it.
Ken N.
Yeah, what he said... Sorry, forgot to put that in my original response... We all use an IOS device as the final device and post from there to the PS.com site... it's just super easy from an IPad and you can check the results on a large screen prior to posting.
Alan
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Is there anywhere to export the match results so that a link can be posted to a club website for viewing? How do results appear on the Practiscore site?
On rare occasion we may have a shooter leave the match w/o finishing all stages. Is there a way to enter a DNS, similiar to EZWS?
go look in match results on the Practiscore.com site for how they appear, there are many matches there... look for gpsl, naas, or cgc for example.
Also, PS has the ability to output the HTML version of the results and email those to whomever directly if you like.
Alan
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Any other word on final results yet? The entire match could have been re-entered by now. Does anyone know what has happened?
Alan, read back up through the thread, Linda spent some time trying to debug what appears to be a corrupt EZWS DB, then it appears she had to re-enter the entire match and or verify what had been entered.
Not sure of the exact issue, but last update was for something tonight with a 24 hour comment period before final/final.
Alan
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There is an option to import a Master file, but when I choose that, it's asking for file named "registration.txt" and I have no idea what that is, how to get it, or how it will be used.
Read this for importing masternames.db.
So, the message is wrong, it shouldn't be looking for a file named "registration". I assume that it is going to be looking for a Tab delimited file as opposed to any other type.
Yes, it's a tab delimited file named "registration.txt". When you export the master names database from ezWinScore, it will default to this filename.
And make sure you follow the directions and select the right type (not CSV), and the right data elements during the export. it's all in the PS manual at the back in an appendix.
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My only question about the RTS is what will happen when the diode/emitter gets crudded up. The regular C-More diodes can't successfully be cleaned, so you swap out the diode and you're back to "brand new". If the RTS diode/emitter/whatever can't be cleaned successfully, you end up needing to buy a new scope???
Really good question Dave... Don't know the answer too.
Alan
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I think this debate is about learning and unlearning. That is, once you've learned to present your pistol in a certain way, after time it will become very difficult to unlearn to accommodate the latest fad in mounts. I'm pretty sure that if you started shooting Open with a mount that placed the c-more 2 inches to the left of the bore, trained yourself to pickup the dot, and shot like that for a year or two...then switched to a conventional mount...when you came back to the 2 inch off bore mount you'd swear it was the only way to go. As we train and adapt, it's difficult to change, and for some impossible.
I come from a police/tactical background. We were taught weak thumb over strong thumb. When I started shooting USPSA, that was the first thing I had to unlearn, and it wasn't easy. I'd often catch myself going back to my old grip. Then, one day while I was instructing a new shooter about grip, and noticed the difference in grip contact between thumb over thumb and thumbs forward, a huge light went off, and I never had the wrong grip again. Not saying I ever have a good grip, but it took the physical and mental stimuli, as well as some time, to make me unlearn something that felt very comfortable.
For the record, I started Open with a 90 degree mount, and feel that I have the same dot confidence and pickup as those that shoot with a conventional mount. Sometimes change is good, but often not easy, and if you have a mount (or any piece of equipment that works well for you) learning to use it more efficiently is probably a more efficient way of enhancing your ability rather than switching to something new. Again, just my opinion.
Remember all, my issue with a 90 has nothing to do with dot pickup... Heck the dot on a 90 was way easier to pick up than an over the top when I first started.
My issues with a 90 are 3 fold.
- the flex in the Cmore hinge due to it being 90 degrees out of phase with recoil and it's hinge properties. This causes a bow or wiggle in the dot that isn't there in the over the top version, this is more pronounced with a 6061 aluminum based mount than a 7075 aluminum based mount.
- The *mass* on the left of the gun that does 2 things - creates and tendency to have transitions from left to right feel more natural than right to left, puts a un-balanced mass on the left of the gun which causes you to counteract that both in recoil and in presentation
- *if* you don't run some form of dot hood, you are asking for premature dot module wear/melting/damage, and potential Zero creap - this is due to the fact that the gases from the breachface come up vertically directly into the dot module in some of the 90 degree mount locations.
As a result of the above, I went on a mission to find the holy grail and tried various solutions that put the scope back on over the top, in the end, I came back around full circle because of the advantages of the larger glass in the Cmore solutions, this may also include the RTS, which I'm about to test on a couple of different mounts.
Alan
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the mag does not have to be flat against the back.(it just has to less than 171) my 170 glock mags wont lay flat with the taylor freelance extensions and the are legal, and have been checked a few times
In the uspsa gauge, the *ONLY* way that a mag can pass is if it's flat against those 2 pads... The reason - that is the shortest taper as a part of the measurement taper, if it's not flat, it's longer than 171.xxmm which is the max length allowed. We just went through this at the AL match and quite a number of people who were running 4mm+ basepads on 170's found their way into a pay for but no score match.
I borrowed this from the Dawson site, if you look at the mag on the left, it would not pass as you can see daylight at the top where the pad is... and you can see the taper that the mag has to fit against and then against those pads. Just to fit inside the taper and not be flush against the back won't pass. The right mag will pass and you can see the small flat pads as well.
See appendix E1 for the specifics, and you'll see that the dimension is from the back edge of the feed lips to the back edge of the basepad as the basepad sets in the groove for it.
And while on the this topic, you know that grip tape that people are putting on their mags, that will count in the measurement unless you remove it.
so what your saying is those of us that shoot open glocks can't use Taylor freelance mag ext, because they don't fit flat in the gauge. even though the are under the 171 length. even after being checked by the N.O.R.I. and were deemed legal
I suppose this should be moved over to the rules forum if we are going to go there...
The NROI *doesn't* approve mags. Think about it there are way too many combinations of things that can influence the OAL. All the NROI can do it tell you *what* the OAL can be, or should I say can not exceed. Now with that said, this gets a little wonky around a mag where the basepad won't fit in the notch of the gauge ala the Taylor Freelance mags.
As a result, this thread has the specific information for them and no, it doesn't appear that NROI approved them, it simply approved the gauge and how to use it when the basepad won't fit... However, there are some good illustrations that show what is acceptable when the basepad won't fit in the notch of the gauge which looks like it allows for the TF basepad/mag...
http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=119392&view=findpost&p=1350860
Alan
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the mag does not have to be flat against the back.(it just has to less than 171) my 170 glock mags wont lay flat with the taylor freelance extensions and the are legal, and have been checked a few times
In the uspsa gauge, the *ONLY* way that a mag can pass is if it's flat against those 2 pads... The reason - that is the shortest taper as a part of the measurement taper, if it's not flat, it's longer than 171.xxmm which is the max length allowed. We just went through this at the AL match and quite a number of people who were running 4mm+ basepads on 170's found their way into a pay for but no score match.
I borrowed this from the Dawson site, if you look at the mag on the left, it would not pass as you can see daylight at the top where the pad is... and you can see the taper that the mag has to fit against and then against those pads. Just to fit inside the taper and not be flush against the back won't pass. The right mag will pass and you can see the small flat pads as well.
See appendix E1 for the specifics, and you'll see that the dimension is from the back edge of the feed lips to the back edge of the basepad as the basepad sets in the groove for it.
And while on the this topic, you know that grip tape that people are putting on their mags, that will count in the measurement unless you remove it.
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while talking about NOOKS, I wanted to relay some information to save you all some aggravation.
There are many NOOK's out there, and all of them require you to ROOT the device to put PS on them. HOWEVER, one to stay away from completely, the original NOOK Classic. I have 2 of them, and they won't work for PS. Here's why the upper larger eink display is *NOT* a touch display, only the small color display IS touch sensitive. This means that driving PS on the NOOK Classic is next to impossible. It would take an entire UI rewrite and even then probably a custom UI to function on the NOOK Classic. Stay with the newer NOOK simple touch, they are pretty easy to ROOT and the software works just fine on them.
Wanted to save you all some grief...
ps. would it make sense to offer a rooting service.... I could probably do it... they can pretty much be done in assembly line mode if there was a need. I've got it down to a single 2G MicroSD that I perform 4 steps with and when finished, they are rooted with PS on them. I'm sure I could do some for people if they wanted too.
I just did 6 back to back for a local club here a couple of weeks ago.
Just putting this out there... haven't really thought through it... it probably takes about 20-30 mins per device as you have to wait for 2 maybe 3 reboots to occur.
Alan
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You have a paper summary scoresheet (showing total number of A's, C's, etc, etc) that is filled out as part of the scoring process. Samples are available on the support tab at practiscore.com. For real lvl2 or lvl3 matches, I strongly suggest the 1-shooter-per-page summary sheet, printed on 2-part ncr paper, just like a regular scoresheet would be. The shooter gets his copy and the match gets theirs, hoping to never actually have to refer back to them.
If I follow you...
Scores are recorded in PS as they are scored. Then the time plus the total number of A's, B's, NS, etc is written down on paper. Correct?
Since it seems that PS will run on an unmodified KindleFire, I think I'll just take this as a chance to upgrade my old Kindle so I can use the Fire as a test platform. I can then use this for show and tell and some practical exercises to see how many problems I can create - I'm good at doing that.
As someone already pointed out, I'm probably over thinking this, but that's my job - think things through and ask all the questions and find the answers first.
Just remember you are *going to hate* driving a fire outside, as a first test if you have an iphone or an android phone, download the app to either and then go try it outside... They are a RPITA to deal with...
Why most of us are going to NOOK's with the eink display for outside.
Alan
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Interesting write up, Alan. I hadn't yet tried an Aimpoint Micro on my open gun (I own one, but it's doing time on my rifle
). You're right about the hinge on the C-More potentially causing part of the issue with tracking, but keep in mind, too, that a sideways mounted C-More also has some extra weight over the left side of the gun. When the recoil cycle begins, that lopsidedness is going to contribute to the dot tracking off-center. In theory, learning the timing of the gun should help correct that, but I've not shot one yet where I could really do it. Normally, I can "get" a gun within a few rounds, but that hasn't been the case with a sideways mount.
I keep telling people that switching between irons and a C-More shouldn't be an issue if they have solid fundamentals, and that the offset "thing" isn't a big deal in practice, but...
I, too, lament the C-More's shortcomings (heck, just look at my blog articles on the scope), but, for me, it's the best option out there right now...
Thanks Dave, as you know I hang on your every word
... Always a pleasure to read your posts, blog, FB, etc... I just think for me, for now, I'm shooting much more comfortable, with lots more confidence since I switched from all the gimicks (my way of referencing difference from the top shooter norm). I've really only been doing it for about a month, so with the season in full gear, I'm having to prove myself in the heat of battle. However, when (and I full expect it will) it all comes together. I'm hoping for one of those aha experiences that just kicks you in the butt and puts you to that next level. Not saying I don't expect to work for it, just saying I think it's going to be easier to get there with my current setup than my old setup(s).if ya wanna try an Aimpoint on an open gun, I have 2 mounts that will bolt right up... but I'll bet you'll love the crispness of the dot (4 moa is pretty awesome when you look at the Aimpoint), but you won't like the little tube....
Alan
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Oh, now don't get me started on thumb rests.... Been there done that, removed it and never looked back... Again it was an "Oh wow, this really works"... Then immediately after I removed it, the gun just felt so much better. It's a personal thing I'm sure and every once in a while I think about going back to one...
But I keep hearing this little voice in my head that says..... "Just shoot the crap outa what ya brung".... I sometimes set back and think... . If I got from C to A class in open in just a little less than a year (non-contiguous as I shot SS and took about 6 mo off due to work issues). Then I wonder what I would have done had I *not* decided to experiment and just stayed with the tried and true.... After all, most all the GM's that I know don't shoot with a thumb rest and use an upright Cmore.... Could it be they more than me.... Nah!
Alan
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Alan, have you given any thought to shooting a frame mounted delta point? I'd really like to take this plunge myself. I'm currently shooting an upright cmore. The set up I'm talking about is the same setup Jessie Harrison runs on her open gun. Delta points are a bit bigger than similar size optics and seem to be up to the task durability wise.
I haven't... I do have a delta point as well and a mount that fits it just fine, but again, it's vertical size is pretty similar to the aimpoint in dimensions of glass and it just gets to be a hassle trying to perfect the index such that you can always find it. Also, this is going to allow the dot to travel outside the glass on recoil due to the vertical dimension being 20-30% smaller than the Cmore's. It does set in similar height to the Aimpoint dot however, which is why I wanted to look at it.
I've talked to 3 other open gun shooters who did try the delta (note, none of them tried the triangle version - all tried the regular round dot version)... While the glass is extremely clear, it's still a glass size issue that I just don't think will be of any advantage.... At least for me and my shooting...
Remember, speed is dictated by how quickly your eye can acquire the *target* - let's not forget that is job #1 when shooting open, and secondarily, NOT THE DOT per-se, but where the dot is on the target, such that when you break the shoot you break it, know where you broke it and it scores an Alpha hit....
The *MORE* surrounding information available during this acquisition, the better. This means the *more* glass, the better/faster
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Let's be more specific.
There are two small flat raised areas on the gauge at the inside dimensions where the flat of the magazine *must* lay and *touch*, these flats are up at the top where the feed lips are and at the bottom where the basepad is. You'll see them, they are little ridged in the machined gauge, the one at the feed lip end is approx .5" wide, and the other is right above the large cutout for the basepad, and extends up approx 1"... The mag *has* to lay flat against those and there should be *no* daylight that you can see between the mag body and those raised portions.
Alan
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Let me take a shot at debunking this upright vs 90 degree advantage on headshots.
So bear with me for a minute.
The *delta* that you are talking about is due to the fact that the *dot* (not the scope) is above the bore. It's above the bore in both installation, in the 90 degree, it's approx .75 inches above the bore, in the upright Cmore, it's approx 1.5" above the bore.
This means that if you were to place a target at the muzzle, and shoot both guns, from where you placed dot to where the bullet hits would be .75 inches low in the 90 degree and 1.5 inches low in the upright.
So, at a 20 yard zero, the 2 will hit the same place and anything between the zero and the muzzle, the delta between the dot and the hit will diverge.
Ok, so let me see, target placed at the muzzle.. a 1.5 inch delta with the upright, that means if you held center A on the head, the bullet would strike the target and just outside the A/B line, most likely still scoring an A... my dimensions might be off a little. I don't have a target setting right here with a ruler. Second, *any* distance away from the muzzle and that delta will narrow, at 10 yards it would be approx half, at 5 yards it would be approx 75%. A head only shot at 5-10 yards would mean a bore to dot offset of approx .75" on the upright and approx .375" on the 90 degree. The difference between upright and 90 degree being around the width of the bullet that most of us shoot.
In the grand scheme of things and for 90% of all of the shots, this offset discussion is simply that a nice discussion, but in practical terms it really means nothing... Now, if you are simply a *brown paper* target shooter, then yeah, it may mean something, but if you working to keep your accuracy and speed up, and you are indeed aiming before you mash the trigger, I doubt for most of us it really accounts for anything.
Bottom line, I wouldn't get wrapped up around the bore to scope offset issue. And as I already mentioned, I agree 100%, shoot what you like, I simply offered a perspective from someone who has tried *the holy grail* and it didn't offer much improvement, and in my case, it was a *beginners* crutch that I wish I had avoided.
Ok, before I leave this topic.... In the process of converting all my open guns back to over the top setups, I found a 3rd issue with the 90 degree mounts. But before I go there, for those of you that *have to have* 90 degrees for ejection issues.... My recommendation, get a competent gunsmith to tune your ejector/extractor correctly, so you don't need a 90 degree mount, your reliability will greatly improve as the gun should be ejecting as it was designed.
Ok, back to #3.... If you aren't running some kinda of dot module hood with a 90 degree mount, I would *highly* recommend one.... Not for the claimed advantage, but to protect your dot module. I pulled a scope off a gun with a 90 degree mount, that had about 3000 rounds thought it, and in the process I pulled the hood off my module to get to the screw. I looked at my fingers and I couldn't believe how much residue was on the module from the breech face blast coming up. Had that just been a module exposed there, I'm sure it would be starting to show wear/melt, and I'm 100% sure that the module peep hole would be partial blocked. One other friend of mine continues to eat modules and I'm starting to think it's because of his 90 degree mount. He's not running any form of hood.
So file that one away as needed, but I'd sure get one if it were me.... In my case, both of my 90's had hoods
Alan
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I'm not saying the Cmore is perfect, sure I wish it would hold Zero like the
Aimpoint,
Alan, this has been discussed here before - the C-More does
hold it's zero very well.
Mine used to wander all the time, until I tightened some screws
(my problem was the grip screws). Little loctite...
For two years, the zero hasn't changed
)I really didn't mean to be that harsh.... I have 2 setups that have had no problems with holding zero (within reason)... I do find some *creep* from really cold to really warm and yes, the one time that I had a gross change it was because I left one of the screws loose from a prior zero session. I actually think that maybe an Aluminum body Cmore or an RTS will solve any *creep* issues that I might have... We'll see, for now, I'm just so enjoying shooting open again, and there was a time of lots of frustration until I finally just bit the bullet and did what I should have done from the beginning.... an over the top mount with a Cmore on it.
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Alan, thanks for excellent write-up and sharing your experience.
I have a few questions:
1) Have you went out and shot a match with irons yet? If so, did you have problems with picking up the front sight?
2) Do you think the improvement was due to the "excitement" factor? What I mean here is as humans, we usually get excited about something new to us or change of pace, could this explain the paths you've been to? Have you thought about going back to a 90 degree mount later to see if you still have the same conclusion?
As a CWP holder, my first priority is to pick up my irons first and the 90 degree mount does that for me. I just bought the wife an Open Glock with an upright Cmore and when I tried to bring it up on target, I had a hard time. Again after playing around for an hour or so, I was getting the hang of it but when I picked up my irons, had a hard time again.
I know if you want to excel at this, you have to put in a ton of time, dedication, and picking the right equipment for your style. For me, I don't think I will go back to the upright mounts but you lay out a convincing argument. I may have to try it out for a month or two
Again, thanks for your time!
BTW, how did you do in the AL Sectional?
To 1) I have and had no problems with a quick transitions, what I find is that going to irons, there is more visual information, that is quicker to pick up than trying to find a dot there isn't where you want it.
To 2) yes to some extent the MicroDot was some *wow* factor, but it was quickly challenged with why are my transitions taking longer, why do I feel like I'm having to *hurry* that first shot when I really don't have a good sight picture, etc. Those were observations that I made *after* I'd got to the Aimpoint, and had the Wow factor experience.
I'll never got back to the 90 degree mount... Because of my 2 primary issues. The dot *can't* track correctly due to the hinge on the Cmore being at 90 degrees to the recoil, there is always going to be some waver/figure 8/bow to the track, you might not see, you might not care, but mechanically it *has* to be there. And I don't want to got back to the liability of only being able to comfortably shoot transitions from one way (left to right) due to the mass of the scope on the left side of the gun (and me being right handed).
I wish I could convey how much better I feel and shoot having now gone to an over the top mount and back to a Cmore.
Now, on the RTS topic, it's a smidge smaller than the standard Cmore, but even with it's need for a picatinny rail, it still sets about 1/4-3/8" lower than a standard Cmore, the body is aluminum, and it's *wicked bright and precise*.... I've not shot behind it, but but it sure feels good in some Q/D trials ..
As for AL Sectional... I had some really good stages, one really dumb mental mistake on one and a couple of *OK* stages. I know I could do better, but I certainly could have done lots worse. As I get more experience behind the glass of the Cmore and the over the top mount, I'm very confident that my scores will improve dramatically.
For me this experience has been NIGHT and DAY, and the proof of that is in comments from my friends who saw me shoot through the transition before, during and after.
Hope that helps,
Alan
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I'm going to step way out on a limb for a minute, but I'm going to do so in
hopes of helping anyone who might be thinking of heading down this path.
For the first year that I shot open (yes, I've only really shot it for a little
over a year - contiguously) I managed to go from C class to A class. In doing
so, I was convinced that I still wanted to maintain an index while shooting open
that was transferable to my iron sights guns - SS and Limited.
As a result, I went with a 90 degree Cheely mount on my primary open gun along
with a Cmore. As I've progressed along, I found 2 things that I didn't like
with that setup as my skills improved. A) the dot would *never* track straight
up and down, it would always have a *bow* in the middle of the track. I finally
figured out why. The hinge on a Cmore is designed to flex with the recoil, when
you tip one on it's side you put that hinge at 90 degrees to the recoil and as a
result the scope lens *twists* as the entire mount and scope flex in recoil.
(watch some of the high speed videos if you wanna see just how much the *MOUNT*
moves).
I found that I was shooting everything from left to right, thereason, I was using my strong eye to pick up the next target, this was due to
the mass from the 90 degree cmore setting and blocking some of the vision on the
left of the gun.... *Most* people when they transition, will use their weak eye
(I know this sounds backwards, but it's been proven) to pick up *the next
thing*, with me and my sight being right eye dominant, I had a bunch of scope in
the way and so I wasn't doing that.
Those 2 things I found were holding me back... Sooooo.... late last fall I
started to play with scopes and mount setups. I wanted to see if I could find a compromise that
would allow "the perfect world". As a result, and after talking with BJ Norris,
I wandered down the blasphemes path of putting an Aimpoint H1 Microdot on my
open gun. In the beginning I was hooked, it was amazingly clear, small, had no
mass on the left of the gun and the dot to bore delta was very similar to what I
had with a 90 degree Cmore.
I shot this setup until about a month ago... So call it about 4 months worth,
this was in 2 weekly matches a week, and 3 monthly matches a month, so I shot it quite a bit.
HOWEVER, and here is the rub. After shooting that setup for all that time,
really wanting and trying to make it be perfect, I found that I was loosing
confidence in my index. I was struggling with picking up the dot due to such a
small tube on the Aimpoint. I was dry firing 3 times a week, working on
transitions and it still never really got perfect. All due to the small tube on
the H1. I even talked to a few others who went down this path, each
experiencing the *exact* same end result, and all ultimately coming back to an
over the top setup and 80% of that group coming back to an Cmore.
So even with the season about to start, a month ago I took my 3rd open gun and I
put a regular over the top mount on it and a Cmore. I then shot it in a local
weekly match the following day. It was NIGHT AND DAY, I never lost the dot
once, and I noticed my confidence in the scope and my abilities were starting to
make a change. My times started to decrease, and I was having fun again... It
literally was that quick to change.
I know that this is a very individual sport, and everyone should try what they
want, but in the end for me.... I'm going back to an over the top Cmore.... I
may look at an RTS just for kicks and giggles, but I have to go by my recent
performances.... I have always struggled to try to catch a certain local shooter
... And while I can't do it consistently, I'm probably
50-60% better today after switching than I was trying to shoot either the
sideways Cmore or the Aimpoint. Now remember, I just went to this new (to me)
approach for the last 30 days.
I still struggle with strong hand/weak hand dot pickup, but that will come with
some more dry fire with this setup. Having 20% more scope with the Cmore can
only help vs. the Aimpoint, which I was much worse with on strong/weak hand
performance.
I'm not saying the Cmore is perfect, sure I wish it would hold Zero like the
Aimpoint, and I wish the dot were as crisp, but there simply is nothing better
than more glass to help with dot pickup. (note, the RTS looks promising to remedy both concerns)
My only regret at this point is that I wish I'd have arrived at this point,
about 3 months earlier. I knew I wasn't going to shoot my best match at the AL
Sectional. But you know what... There are three
things that are important to keep in balance. Learning, Practice, and
Enjoyment... Focus on any one more than the others and you'll suffer... I kept
ignoring what my eyes and times were telling me when shooting with the Aimpoint.
And right now I'll take my finish at the AL match and be happy with it.
I know what I did right, and I know what I did wrong, and how to correct
those, but I'd have done a whole bunch worse had I not made this change....
So I hope this may help someone who is thinking of wandering down this path...
It gets discussed all the time.
Happy to take any feedback, or comments...
Alan
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Tell them to slow down and specifically call out "two alpha" and the pad operator repeats back "two alpha", instead of the now-familiar shortcut of "two" "two" "two", etc. They should be doing that anyway to make sure everything gets written down. We just scored 105 shooters times 6 stages at cherokee gun club a week ago entirely on PS on nooks and there was no problem keeping up because we followed that cadence. Now the rain issue is interesting, and I haven't tried one in a zip lock bag yet. I also don't know if there is an all-encompassing weather-resistant case for a nook. I would guess not; we're probably the only people on earth who would actually want to stand out in a driving rainstorm operating a nook e-reader!
Yup, the operator was calling back the scores as per standard operating procedure.
It may have been my critical eye, but I could notice that RO / Assistant RO pair were going at a slower pace when I handed them the Nook as compared to earlier when they were using a Droid. (The battery on my Droid was dying.) I was expecting to go at the same pace or faster because of the larger screen and bigger hit targets. Perhaps the rain and cold wasn't helping matters.
I didn't get to observe a RO / Assistant RO pair going around with an iPhone, but the reports I got from that squad was that when the battery started going down with their Droid and they swapped to an iPhone, the scoring was a little faster because the UI was better.
Here's a tip with the NOOK's, they will function at a much faster rate than their screen refresh, so don't wait for it. As you get the RO call, touch the screen/target score areas, then on your callback, refer to what it registered. We shot an 8 hit per target stage a few weeks ago, and you can nail, as fast as you want, the screen area for the hits and it would count them just as fast as you pressed.... You couldn't see it until you moved to another area (e.g. 7A, 1C), but they all registered and once you got the hang of it, I could be *as* fast as the RO with no issues....
There is ONE FUNDAMENTAL LEARNING HOWEVER, and this has nothing to do with the refresh rate. The scoring RO *HAS* to *ONLY* call back what he reads from the device, NOT what he heard... There is a subtle difference and it will bite you in the butt if you just call back what you hear, without verifying what you touched.
Once you have it down however, it's pure magic, how much time/effort this system can save you. And compared to the PALM.... Well, there simply is no comparison...
Alan
). Just by eyeball I dialed in the left/right up and down the locking screw was completely loose.
). 
I found that I was shooting everything from left to right, the
Introducing PractiScore
in Match Scoring
Posted
So if anyone is curious...
I've (and will do formally this weekend at our outdoor match), successfully used SSI to register shooters, export the information to EZWS (yes, even competitors), created a small script to build a squad file from the SSI information, and import that into EZWS. What does all of this mean?
I can use SSI as an online registration process and then easily pull the information to EZWS, create the files for PS and basically have online registration for PS....
Plan is to use this process this weekend... I'll let you know how it goes. The biggest issue was the competitors, I do have to edit one file, and run that manual script, but it makes this process oh so much faster than dealing with one each personal registration at the match...
Alan