Shepard

IMHO top 3 in each division split the prize table proportionally by the number of shooters in that division. So, theoretically if there is a $100 bucks on the prize table and production represents 50% of the shooters at the match then $50 bucks goes to top 3 production winners. Class winners get a medal, I'm not insensitive to people's desire for some recognition of their hard work. I would never have a random prize table. Personally I want to see what percentage of the match winner I shoot and hope to keep chipping away at him.

Best practice for me when I started the journey to shot calling was 6 shot, 10 yrd "Bill Drills." You may be blinking hard and missing the sights the first couple shots in the string but your eyes will start staying open. Once you're able to keep your eyes open through the shots and focusing on the front sight you'll be on your way to calling the shots. If you can't get to the range grab an airsoft with no BBs in it, it cycles a little slower but that's ok too, you'll start picking up the sights when the shot breaks and staying on the sights through the recoil cycle.

Whew! Tired today. Up till 3:30AM. I took some sinus medicine that kept me up and then got hooked watching Red Dragon (not as good as Manhunter despite the awesome cast.) I managed to get my dryfire in before getting the kids to school. I spent a lot of time waiting for the front sight on my draws. Eventually I realized how much tension I was carrying from my hands through my shoulders. I started focusing on being relaxed and less rushed through the motion and predictably I got a little smoother. Still got a loooong way to go. Reloads also started out pretty ugly. Once I got the gun up a little higher they started to smooth out a bit also. Having short, wide hands I always hated reloads. I remember long ago doing drills with a buddy and he was hitting ridiculous splits on his reloads. I asked him to show me how he was manipulating the gun. That was when I realized the World was not fair. He was able to hit the mag release without dismounting and turning the gun. The Matrix hates me. I used to force pistol manipulation without giving much thought to the mechanics. I’d just do it my own way and didn’t want to go through the pain of changing even if it made me faster. Now that I’m starting over with a clean slate I’m going to enjoy the process and focus on the mechanics and relaxing. This evening I did airsoft drills outside rather than live fire. I really feel like airsoft lets me pay attention to all the movement and trigger skills without being distracted by the explosion going off in my hand. Airsoft keeps me honest. I've found that sometimes what I think I see in dryfire isn't always whats happening. While practicing movement drills I discovered the longest measurable period of time known to man. It’s the time from when I enter the box until my sights decide to cooperate and settle on the target. Nonetheless, I got a solid session in before mental fatigue told me it was time to call it a day. Best part, my 13 year old son is really enjoying all the shooting and practiced with me all afternoon. 9 days and a wake up till my first match in 10 years! Woohoo!

I’ve been out of shooting sports for 10 years now. First match back in 2 weeks. Only match I’ve ever been nervous about. I’ve never blogged, vlogged, or chronicled anything about myself on the internet but I decided to give a try as I start shooting again. I’ll try to get some video up and would appreciate any input. When I left I was a reasonably competitive limited master. Mine is the same old story, life and eyesight teased away my energy and focus until I stopped shooting. Recently I found a Doc who spent the time to get my eyesight back on track. Its not as good as it used to be but I can clearly focus on the front sight with my dominant eye now. Its kinda funny, I didn’t really believe I’d lost that much off my shooting skills until I started practicing a couple weeks ago. I started out just shooting groups and it looked like a drunk monkey had thrown a handful of crap at the target. Groups tightened up but still have a long way to go. I thought I’d throw a few classifiers together and see how I measured up. When the buzzer went off I lost complete control of all motor function and the sights looked like a grainy 8MM movie shot from atop a jackhammer. Soooo, back to the basics. In addition to the standard dryfire I’ve started back today with some of the drills that I think helped me the most when I first started. 10 yrd “bill drills” helped me start tracking the sights. El Pres did the same plus mag changes and close transitions. Also, plate rack from 15 to 25 yards. I thought the results were kinda interesting. My timer display decided to crap out after only 10 years of disuse but the buzzer still worked. So, instead of chasing what I know to be good times on those drills I focused all my attention on the sights and feeling the gun run. My shooting wasn’t very impressive but I eventually started getting glimpses of what I remember seeing 10 years ago. The positive that I took away from the session was that I know what I need to see and had flashes of it today. Years ago when I started I didn’t have a clue what I needed to see. I think this will be a metric buttload of work/fun. Now, I just gotta keep my ego out it and enjoy the grind.

From D through A I like the class rankings. It gives people something to strive for but I think Master and Grandmaster should be only be awarded by shooting into that class at area matches or nationals. Maybe I watched too much Kung Fu Theater as a kid but I think if you're going to wear the title Master you should be able to bring it against other Masters at the match.

Its been 10 years ago since I competed but was a fairly competitive M class. As I'm making my way back to USPSA I've been thinking alot about this topic. After burning the stage in and all the necessary preliminary memorization I would try to inoculate myself to those most stressful moments of the stage that can interrupt your flow by dry running them hard. For instance, if I had to come into a shooting position hard I would actually do that in dry fire and then commit that feeling to memory. I'd run that stage, including the expected emotions, in my mind until I had no uncertainty. The simple, single thought I would invoke was "front sight" and I would repeat it over and over prior to the beep. I visualized the front sight prior to the beep and I knew that If I actually tracked the front sight I wouldn't outrun myself and blow up the stage. That confidence made me very calm. Only twice did the "zone" find me. I remember distinctly seeing everything in my vision tunnel crystal clear and thinking in a strangely detached way that my gun was running sooo slow and calling my shots was so effortless. I truly believe that if the zone could be invoked at will you'd be unbeatable.

I've been out of the sport for about ten years and one of the reasons was because my eye sight was failing and I couldn't get it straightened out. After several tries across the years just last month I found a Doc who let me bring in my gun. My dominant eye had become my weaker eye but he worked with me for over an hour changing out different contacts to get front sight focus with my dominant eye and distance with my non-dominant. Its not like I'm 30 again but for the first time in years I feel confident about being able to track the sight. To make a long story longer, find a Doc that will let you bring in your gun and is patient. I'd pretty much given up till I found this Doc.

I had numerous problems with my rf100 till I threw a rheostat on it. It is now 100%. If I change primers it takes a quick minute to dial it back in. It seems the rf100 vibrates too violently for some sizes and types of primers.

I shoot the Tallahassee match regularly and the Jacksonville match every once in a while. The Both have good pistol matches. 3 gun is just taking off in the area and I'm just getting involved. Tallahassee will have 2-3 rifle or shotgun stages after each monthly pistol match and Jacksonville is getting their 3 gun match up and running. I expect 3gun will continue to grow in Tallahassee and the MD has been talking about creating a standalone 3gun match. Right now the established 3 gun stuff is 4+ hours away.

I use a plug in lamp dimmer from walmart. It works like a charm.

My 1050 behaves exactly the same, passes all the "tests." I've changed everything but the bar. In the last six months my 1050 has made a bucketfull of primerless/smeared primer duds. If you figure out the cure PLEASE let me know. Shepard

I "think" it's fixed. I cycled 500 primers without cases removing each one as it came up and they all cycled perfectly. So, I assumed it was the cases. Once I put in a lot of swage the problem went away. I loaded a 1000 rounds with no problem. But, it takes a LOT of swage. It will push the toolhead up considerably. Anything less and the problem returns.

My 1050 has the dreaded skip 1-2 primers per 100 disease. After reading earlier posts I have tried: shimming, changing and removing boots, changing and radiasing the blue tip and of course cleaning. Someone had posted that they had found incomplete machining along the primer bar track but either I don't understand what to look for or mine doesn't have it. Also, Dillon was not able to offer any new suggestions. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. "sigh" my 650 was more reliable. Thanx, Shepard

I had the same experience with my para at 60-70k rounds. Eventually, the barrel competely separated.

Since it looks like rain does anyone know how they are set up for cover? I want to know if I should bring the big umbrella to keep my bag dry. Shepard

In Tallahassee we have 6 pistol and then 2-3 rifle or shotgun each month. We are fortunate to have Superman as our MD.

Yea, the extreme spread is really throwing me. I expected a FPS drop but not the large ES, and with both types of bullets. Guess I gotta try them through my back-up gun and see if I get the same results.

Mine was 10 rounds each bullet over a ced loaded on a 1050.

How about the extreme spread? Is 90 to 100 fps what I should expect from jacketed?

I generally load lead 180 over clays. It is accurate with an extreme spread of 15 - 16 fps. But, on hot humid days the smoke can completely obscure the targets. So I decided to give jacket bullets a try. I loaded 180 grn Zeros and MG over my usual powder charge. I expected some drop but I lost a full 100 fps and the extreme spread went to between 90 and 100 on both bullets. Is this normal? If not, what is wrong? Thanx, Shepard

Airsoft Atlanta this should get you to the black BBs

I recently picked up a 1050 and it's been running great except for one slot in the shellplate. Once every eight - ten times this slot indexes to the casefeeder it will refuse to accept the case. The case will partially go into the slot and stop. I can't see any obvious nicks or burrs and it is clean. Anybody had to deal with this before? Thanx, Shepard

I haven't seen a web site for them but the number is 256-748-3333, Rayburn Al. I picked up 30K 180 grn .40 at $23 a thousand. The price was a little discounted because I picked them up and they bulk packed them 2500 a box. You can still find wax on the occassional bullet but for $23 a thousand for an accurate bullet I'm very happy.

After living in sandy Florida and Cal/Ariz I strongly dislike sand. It guarantees that anything dropped will require intense cleaning especially if it has any type of oil on it. Also, depending on how fine the sand is it will gunk up and reduce reliability. my 2 cents, Shepard

Sorry to be so dense but could you clarify the U.S. rules for me? As I understand the above threads I can, in the U.S., take sight pictures on multiple targets without leaving the start location. Thanks for the help. Shepard