feederic

I'll be picking up a strong mount and roller handle reeeaaaaallll soon

Water, snacks, and sunscreen will definitely be making their way into my range bag. This event had just about tripled in participant size since I first started. It had easily doubled since the last time I was there. Normally we are out by 10am, but this one ran well past noon.

Fourth Stage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9DcOAcABBg&feature=youtu.be Fifth Stage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73oQO6VIx5k&feature=youtu.be Notes: At this point, the heat had taken its toll on me and I was quite drained. The weather was warmer than I expected and I got sunburned all over. I couldn't find a drinking fountain either until halfway through the match. I did shoot quite crappily. Overall: Not a bad starting point for me. Draws felt comfortable, most of my reloads were decent, accuracy went up and down. I will be on a regular fitness routine now to drop weight and build up more endurance.

Third Stage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGT9r1Cl3Sw&feature=youtu.be Notes: Nothing fancy going on here. I was really just trying to focus on slow and steady hits. Fourth Stage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9DcOAcABBg&feature=youtu.be

Fun Steel Shoot 4/7/2012 I always like going to this match. The atmosphere is really relaxed and friendly, and is a great learning atmosphere. The match fee is much cheaper than local USPSA type matches too, and it falls on a non-match weekend. Since I can't practice movement a whole lot at local ranges, this is the place where I usually try new things out. First Stage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAS8Dvbnd68&feature=youtu.be Notes: I was taking my sweet time just trying to calm my nerves after Thursday's match. I also needed to slow down a bit to not lose my front sight in the black plates while taking my sight picture. This was my first match where I had to move in over a year. Second Stage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtgUhTyaDNc&feature=youtu.be Notes: I had several FTF while shooting weak hand, due to weak grip strength.

I shot another fun steel match on Saturday, and decided to pay extra to shoot it twice. The extra fee was for another gun, but they let me shoot my primary gun a second go around. Three good things happened. 1) I finally calmed my nerves down, and had almost zero anxiety shooting. 2) My draws have sped up considerably from last Thursday. 3) The stages were all medium range, and I had a tremendous amount of misses on the first stage. I slowed down and was able to get very consistent hits on the second stage, and was able to speed up in later stages. For the not so good: The saying goes to shoot no faster than you practice (perfect practice at that!), but I seem to shoot much better in practice than in matches. In football, we called a person that does this a "Practice Superstar". Basically in practice they look great, but when adrenaline and real competition are added they are somewhat worthless. I feel like a practice superstar right now. Also, I felt tremendously beat up today. I shot 10 stages overall, and only 4 moving. The last two stages I was exhausted and shot like crap. At my age I should feel great and be able to run that whole circuit again. I need to accept that along with a desk job I need to make time towards physical fitness just to maintain healthiness. I had one stage were a mag didn't quite come out of the gun on a reload, and I didn't notice until I almost rammed the new mag into the mag in place. For some reason I decided my best move was to throw my fresh mag into the field, and burst into laughter while getting the old mag out for a new reload.

I had these two do a number on me last night! This one is everyday life for me I sure hope this never happens to me at a match!

I shot a fun steel match last night. It was probably my first match in well over a year, and third match in a couple years. I had some tremendous anxiety though my first stage, my pulse was well over 160BPM. I managed a decent time but had two misses overall in the three strings I shot. The second stage was somewhat worse, with an additional two misses. I finally pulled things together on the last two strings of my third stage, no misses and a decent time also. This usually happens when I shoot a match after a long layoff, and I can typically take advantage of the adrenaline by sprinting around like a madman. This match was stationary though and I had no real means of dumping my adrenaline other than breathing techniques which worked for my last two strings. Update: Scores went up. My second stage dropped me quite a bit in the standings, but I was about middle of the pack overall. My last stage I was 4th overall out of 27. It was the only stage I was calm enough to shoot. Dang nerves! Anxiety is part of the game though...and I have another match Saturday to help get over it. I'm not sure why I'm so nervous about doing something so fun to me.

Are these out in troves yet or just to a select few? I can't seem to find any body online carrying them.

Maybe that was the case for me. A few months ago I had trouble not blinking when the gun went off, now I can stare through the firing cycle and see the slide move back and forth as well as the front sight. Funny how that works.

I don't think you will ever get over that initial shock of trail running, unless you incorporate additional training to prime you for it. Trail running is so high impact compared to cycling and very different from regular asphalt running. I would focus on recovery techniques, not just diet. Proper warm-up, cooldown, dynamic stretching prior and static stretching post workout. If you are not familiar with ART and a foam roller, I would suggest researching some. Contrast showers, although brutal, speed up the recovery from soreness quite a bit for me too. Remember, just because you still feel sore does not mean you have not recovered. I found while in a champion wrestling program that junk food impacts performance and recovery DRASTICALLY. Plyometric training year 'round will help prime the muscles and joints too.

Last night I was working extensively on sight tracking and tightening my follow up shots (as I do every Tuesday night). I backed the target out to 25 yards for some end of training accuracy work when I noticed the funniest thing. I started noticing I could visually see the slide return to battery for its last 2" of travel or so. At first I was noticing a shadow under the back of my slide that would appear and disappear, with a little more focus I could use peripheral vision to track the sights and notice the gun traveling back into battery. Anybody else have this happen to them?

Although I am trying to adhere to the Seeklander program, the truth of the matter is lack of training facilities here Kommiefornia. Drawing from a holster, faster than 1 shot per second, multiple targets, and moving are all shunned at my local ranges. Most BLM land is off-limits for shooting also. I have taken a select few drills that I believe I can maximize my time with at the range, and plan on dry firing / using an airsoft gun for the other movement drills. This may not be optimal, but I need to make do with what I have. There is a tiny BLM spot I can make it out to a couple times a month also, as long as I get there early before the crowd does. Here I can have some more intense training, but if I am lucky I can make it out there once a month. I've also been experimenting with recoil springs quite a bit, more out of curiosity than anything. When my new pistol arrived I stuck what I thought was a 10lb spring in on accident, which is actually a 12 lb spring. The pistol felt violent and uncontrollable. I eventually put a 14lb and then a 16lb spring in there and things settled down quite a bit. After a few thousand rounds with a 16lb spring and a shot timer my split times during practice sessions started hitting a floor. I wasn't sure what I could do to drop them, aside from lightening the slide and building up my already herculean strength (former powerlifter, college football...). I've read many threads where both a heavy and heavily sprung gun is preferred for newer shooters, and lighter guns that are lighter sprung for more advanced. I began thinking that putting a heavier spring in my lightened pistol was probably equivalent to shooting a heavy pistol, so I began dropping the poundage again. I started the session with a 14lb spring, running the same drills that I have been running for months. The gun definitely had a different feel to it. The interesting thing was my split times dropped about .04 seconds across the board from the previous week. Nothing huge, but notable considering my times seemed stalled. Every drill noticed this effect too. I grabbed and installed my 12 lb recoil spring and ran the drills again after taking a mandatory break instituted by the range I go to. Up front the gun seemed more lively, in a good way. I ran the drills again and saw a drop of about .08 seconds across the board. My split times dropped a consistent .08-.12 seconds, and the gun felt much faster than I was (as I perceived it). I know the gun finishes its recoil cycle faster than I can perceive, but altering springs seems to notably change how I perceive the time in between shots I need to take before firing the next round off. It might all be in my head, and if it is I'll take it. With a 16 lb recoil spring I felt like I was waiting for the gun to finish, with a 14 lb I could comfortably track the sights, with a 12 lb I could still track the sights but it felt like the gun was pushing me into a stress zone making me better. In a way it reminds me of downhill sprint training or "overspeed" training. Sprint down a slope that will force your top speed to be greater than normal because of gravity assist, and train the muscles to fire faster. Only in the case of recoil springs, I am training my perception and acuity to fire faster. Not too much, just enough to promote positive gains. As a final note, there are two matches I will be shooting in this week. I finally feel comfortable enough to go back out and shoot after my long layoff.

Freedom Gunworks, a vendor here, put up an excellent tutorial on tuning limited mags. Mine are all flawless after implementing the methods mentioned there.

Ouch! Your AR15 will need to be buttoned up, or "featureless". Calguns has the knowledge.

It was my graduation / promotion gift to myself 1500 rounds through it, smooth as can be. Powder does still stick to it but it comes off easily. The finish itself is showing burnishing my hard chrome STI has also.

Your drive is very motivational. I need to get myself out and shoot some actual matches instead of training all the time. How often do those classifier matches come around for you?

I always wanted to use No Shelter by Rage Against the Machine.

GAHH I was just thinking of a bunch of songs last night that would be great for this. Of course they all escape me right now...

Wow! Not bad kid... I actually think you made a great choice going with the brass.

I have about 500 rounds through it in a couple of range sessions. So far so good! I used some CLP on the bearing surfaces. No surprises, other than I can wipe all the smoke from the muzzle blast on the end of the dust cover off with a paper towel.

The radius on your FPS and mainspring dictate dwell time more than your recoil spring.

Dup

Glad you got it figured out. I was pretty stumped! I had a hunch it was your ammo, which is why I asked about ball ammo working perfectly fine.

I went out last night armed with some ISPC targets, my newly coated gun, my new range timer, and the Seeklander book. I put down about 260 rounds after sighting my gun in. I must say it is nice to have the right training tools to guide you along and show you were you stand for any given string. My timer is a CED 7000, I was able to soften the beep and also adjust the mic sensitivity to not pick up other shooters. I was under the impression that my timer stored a complete log of all strings fired, and maybe it does I just haven't figured it out. I did not record the strings, and might train with a friend so we can alternate timing/recording and actual shooting. The drills in the Seeklander book are great for skill building, and also are quite the confidence booster. Its nice watching groups tighten up and time come down and these drills. The only numbers I remember off the top of my head are a .8-1.0 second first shot from low ready with about .3-.4 second splits. My transitions from targets were in the .3-.8 range also. I need to get a notebook to record this! I am pretty excited, I feel like I am on the right track with reliable equipment. I shot right around 90% alphas overall for the day with no misses or deltas. I was also using 2/3rd scale targets.