shred

I had a chat about the original topic (courses for C & D shooters, if you remember) at RGNs. We were discussing Stage 1 with the 40-yard poppers through a low port and how we'd probably not do that at home. The question was, are non-challenging courses good or bad for the shooters? Sure lots of penalties & misses suck, especially if your gun isn't sighted correctly (I shot my first year with iron sights and had no clue where it hit past 20 yards), but it's also nice to stretch shooters a bit and let them know they really _can_ do some things. (I still frequently believe I can't hit a static target between an activating popper and the activatee during the walk-through, but when shooting I always have plenty of time). Consensus at that point was that a _few_ longer/harder shots might not be a bad idea, especially if you give shooters a chance to approach closer should they so desire. Preferably on steel, so the new shooters get a bit of feedback.

I heard something that they redesigned the Super 1050 a bit from the first models that reportedly flung powder out of the cases with wild abandon..

I posted this someplace else a long while back... "Too little trigger finger" and "Too much trigger finger" are some of the many areas on those "Target Analysis" targets that claim to tell you, based on where your shots land, what you're doing wrong. They're OK for bullseye-type shooting, but not very useful for diagnosing high-speed shooting problems.

GSSF Armorers, as a rule, will not install 3.5lb connectors at a GSSF match, with the possible exception of replacing a broken one from a Glock that originally came from the factory with one, you have both pieces in your hand and maybe not even then.

Something I noticed at the RGNs (which was almost all tight shots), was that I needed to program in 'move fast' when it was needed to get someplace else, or I'd be way off the pace. Sometimes it was only a couple steps, but it made a big difference in some of the stages. Could be a trick-of-the-day, but I foresee some video review in my future. Moving box-to-box and setting up on targets seems a bit different-- getting there ready to shoot is key and it's complicated, but if you know you've got 6 steps before you even need to get ready ("index on the rutabega"), make 'em fast ones.

I already made my 'during-match' comments, and am finally back home (Oregon is a nice place to visit-- My GF came up after the match and we toured around until yesterday). Not a lot to add to the previous comments.. the squad got more than our share of bad breaks-- from scoring (if you've gotta pull an overlay out, it isn't a no-shoot) to the weather to the guns breaking (Karl's broken scope mount and Tom's Glock troubles), which didn't help our attitude. Blowing past that target and the the 50-yard CF probably cost me 20 places and maybe a chunk of wood, but otherwise the match went well for me. Fix the squad schedule and I'd probably even do it again. It was fun meeting the BE folks-- I think all of them were different than I'd expected them to be Prizes-wise, the tables weren't big-- I know there was a much better table at Area 4 'cause I helped with it. Detlef finished 50th Limited and got a $100 certificate for bullets (if I give it to him )-- after that, it dropped off rapidly. In Open, there were a lot of Schueman barrels (mostly hybrids) left at 50th, as well as bullet & holster certificates and some JP AR-15 parts as well.

I made up a haiku to commemorate Sunday (no 5-7-5 complaints, please): Rain and Cold Fifty Yard Standards Baggies Suck --- We got hosed because we had to shoot the standards at the end of the day, in the lightning and rain, with baggies on the targets, and thus couldn't eyeball our hits off the clock (and then make up misses as needed) at the 5-yard line like every other squad. We complained and darn near arbitrated but Voigt said it was a 50-50 shot at best. The officials said "We shoot no matter what the conditions, now quit whining". So then we come in Saturday morning and there's fog on the range. Guess what? The squad on the standards got to wait 45 minutes for the fog to clear.. even though the targets were plenty visible. The officials claimed it was a "safety issue" since they couldn't clearly see the back berm-- somehow that didn't stop the 17 other bays from shooting on time. Monday the word of the day for the squad was "No". As in: "No, that doesn't touch the A-zone", "No, even though the grease mark doesn't touch the perf, that's still a No-shoot". "No, you have to wait for the super squad.. they were playing for an hour and are now reshooting". "No, you can't play with the door (even though the SS did)". "No, that we didn't DQ Barnhart for his AD on stage 5" (despite plenty of other witnesses, the RO's didn't see it) Pretty soon we'll all be on a first-name basis with the entire match staff. I'm annoyed because the stages are good and the range isn't bad (when it's not raining on, freezing or sandblasting you), but the squadding schedule and bad breaks we've been getting are combining to make this a lot less fun than it could have been.. A few benefits of the doubt to the shooter and a decent schedule and this would be a great match.

Well, the BE squad is getting a reputation at the match... and it's not a very good one (though not really any fault of our own ) As far as the super-squad goes, they were a primary cause of our waiting today, which furthered our less-than-stellar mood. Anyway, early word is JJ is tearing it up in Open, though he shot a bunch of makeups on the Standards (another sore point with the BE-squad). I know less about Limited, but I think Rob hasn't crashed yet, and most of the others have. ($900 for the whole squad to arbitrate? What a deal!) (Edited by shred at 11:17 pm on Aug. 26, 2002)

What I try to do to avoid the self-pity bugs after tanking a stage is to get my copy of the scoresheet and write down on it everything I messed up and therefore need to practice. That I fold up and stick in my bag. Somehow that gets my mind into an "I'll work on/worry about that later" mode and I can keep going better.

Yeah, but it's easy for bill drills to end up as hosing exercises with little benefit. If you do them, you've gotta watch everything that's going on and understand that what the timer says is the last thing you should look at.

You and me Bill.. tickets on Delta, ammo on a UPS truck somewhere north (I hope) of Mesquite, TX On the first stage of a big match, the ghost of Jerry Miculek (can you have a ghost if you're still alive? anyway) pops into my head with one of his quotes "You can't win the match on the first stage, but you sure can lose it..", so I drop it back a notch.. and usually end up shooting one of my best scores.

Hmm.. I don't know how to reply to that but my 2 cents is that switching every so often and "Cross-training" has benefits and penalties. I don't think you can switch back and forth for match use daily, weekly or even monthly and expect to maintain your edge with either, but you can also learn (and notice) a lot by picking up something else and shooting it for a while.

there's still hope... "These stage diagrams are preliminary and subject to change"

I went through this a month ago.. eventually found a local store with some in stock. Nobody had a good explanation though other than they weren't getting many in from Glock.

I'm just waiting for the Nationals to have the course be 5 to 50 feet, just to jack with everybody that's been fussing with 50 yards for the past month.. that would be humorous, I think.

on Surefires.. one of the big name tactical teachers has a quote that goes something like "Roaches scatter from light". It's amazing how fast groups of no-gooder's break up and drift away when lit up, even from far away. on CCW-- I'm a big fan of pocket carry for anywhere a) it gets really hot (Texas) and when you have to un-gun frequently for whatever reason. I have a nifty pocket-pouch that completely covers a J-frame revolver, but allows quick access if needed. J-frames rule as pocket guns.

What are the super-heavy things that get expensive to ship? I'm guessing some of the presses, but what else? Bullets? lead? Don't bother offering those?. Maybe a special "Extra shipping charges apply" notation next to the heavy stuff.

FYI, Remington's web site will send you one free (a $6.50 value!) if you give them some personal information. They suggest removing it to shoot heavy loads. http://www.remington.com/support/parts/partsinfo.htm select 11-87 supermag barrel seal activator BTW, CDNN has 21" 11-87 barrels for $100-- These are police barrels and not threaded for chokes. (Edited by shred at 12:44 pm on Aug. 9, 2002)

Well, actually.. the average HHF for last years Open Nats was 9.75, so call it 10 points-per-second. And I'm going to claim I might be as much as 0.3 slower on a draw vs speedsters in my class, so I'd be looking at giving away 6 seconds or 60 pts for a 20-draw match. While it's not something I'm keen to give up, it's the same as 4 misses or 20 D's (or, in my case, 8 flubbed draws) In a related story, last year's Open was won with 1515 of the 1653 match points, so as long as it's not the same person quicker every time... (Edited by shred at 9:44 am on Aug. 8, 2002)

Given the original question, I'd prefer to see the 7.5% (or whatever works out) discount, and known shipping charges. I do hate massive S&H fees for items I know are cheap to ship, but on heavy/costly stuff, it's nice to know in advance what you're looking at. 7.5% for $500-$1000 also provides a nice 'upsell' opportunity for somebody looking at 8 or 9 hundred $ worth of stuff to get a few extra things and kick in the 10% savings.

Supposedly STI is replacing broken tungsten guide rods with Recoil Masters as a warranty thing.

Todd has a story that I might have posted before about how one stage at some major match, the super-squad was jacking with each other about how fast they could shoot the first targets.. Max won the fast-draw with a .7 or .8, but Todd was ahead after two targets on transitions, even with a .9-something draw. Look at the RG nationals.. how many draws are there in the entire match? 15? Now go look at the Steel Challenge.

Yeah, Todd (and others) say they don't really care how high the dot goes, so long as it comes right back to where it left from.

I saw something similar a few days ago.. I was working on draws at about 7 yards and could occasionally get them under 1.0, but most were in the 1.2 range. Then I decided to try a totally relaxed (almost careless) draw, which felt super-slow.. and was a 1.3. Hmm.. There's a lot I'm doing and not seeing.

I forget how a 550 is laid out, but a friend had an idea to drill a hole in the toolhead and install one of those tiny LED-lights to get a better look at the powder charge. somehow I managed to make a squib on a 650 the other day.. (Edited by shred at 9:29 am on Aug. 6, 2002)