zsavage81

Blueridge, I wasn't asked to shoot over the crono, but there was one set up on the car trunk stage when I got there. The guy that won SSP SS said they asked him and 3-4 other people to crono on that stage when he shot it, so I guess it was more of like a spot check. Not sure if they were picking people they thought were below PF or just picking people at random, but they definitely checked at least a few people.

Thanks Tom, On stage #4 they loaded everyone who was in that bay (so everyone shooting stage #3, #4, and #5) at one time. It was like 50 people they loaded up at once and I'd never seen that before. From the time I loaded my gun until it was my time to shoot was 30-40 minutes. I 100% agree that in those 30-40 minutes I hit the mag release and dropped the mag somewhere, but I never found it. What I'm saying is that I didn't double check my gun once it was my time to shoot and I won't ever do that again. Yea you're right, second place in my classification (I still don't have all my terminology down). I would have been 10th overall in my division (SSP) and even beat one master! On the negativity, I'm not really down on myself at all, it was a good experience and I had a lot of fun, but I definitely think there is value in evaluating what you did RIGHT and WRONG after a match. How else do you figure out what it is you do well and what things you need to practice? I'm still very new to this and I'm definitely on my way UP, what I am not is content and this match has only made me hungrier. I can't wait to go shoot the next one and I'm going to be working even harder between now and then because I know I haven't reached my full potential yet. Until then I'm going to be a sponge soaking up as much knowledge as I can!

Well I definitely DID NOT execute my game plan of running a clean match. I ended up getting sick last week and didn't do ANY dry fire until Thursday night and a little on Friday night. I was still taking dayquill and musinex on match day with a constant stream of cough drops to keep from hacking a lung out. I'm not going to use that as an excuse though, I cowboyed up and didn't let it effect my day. That said, for whatever reason I didn't shoot well for me. I started on stage 3 (6 Targets, strong hand only) and ran what I thought was a slow time (mid 10's, 10.60 something I think) until I watched a couple really good shooters to it in mid 10 times also. This gave me a lot of confidence to start the day. Moved over to stage 4 and was exposed to the group load for the first time ever. It was about 30 minutes from the time I loaded until I shot. I sat on that bench, sat in a chair, went to the portapotie, etc. It's my turn to shoot, buzzer goes off, bang, click, I rack the slide, click, go to reload to find I started the stage with no mag in my gun. I looked for it everywhere and that mag is just gone. Never found it on the ground, never heard anyone found it, wasn't in any of my stuff when I got home and had time to look hard. My mags are numbered (I lost #7) in gold paint pen, and the G on the bottom of the mag is outlined in gold paint pen also. It was a train wreck of a stage, took me 23 and change. LESSON LEARNED- I will never in my life start a stage again without checking my gun to make sure i'm loaded up. This was a stupid, unforgivable mental mistake and I can promise you I will never let it happen again. Stage 5, I don't know if I was still thinking about stage 4 during the brief or what, but with the timing of the swinger my game plan was to shoot right to left and shoot the left target 3 to the head. Which I did quickly and perfectly executed only to have 2 of the head shots count as mikes since it HAD to be 2 to the body, one to the head. When he asked if I understood the course of fire I should have said NO, but I didn't figure that out until after. Stage 6 was a really fast raw time with a ton of points down. Here's where I sat myself down and was like you gotta put those stages behind you and just start fresh and run your game. Next we shot stage 9, Decent raw time, not many points down, but I get hit with a procedural for the split second pause when I changed direction while trying to shoot on the move. I walked out to the left while engaging the the 3 targets right to left so I could clear the no shoots and get the target on the far left. I watched 10 people shoot this stage and about half did exactly what I did with no penalty, most of the folks watching me shoot the stage voiced that they thought it was a BS call too, but what can you do. Stage 10, shot this one pretty fast even with gun problems. Broke the spring on my slide release so the slide locked back with rounds still in the gun twice and wouldn't lock back on an empty mag once. It could have been a little faster but even with the gun problems I was happy with my time. Luckily I had some help and we went to the truck and got my gun fixed, turns out I put pins back in the gun in the wrong order when I was cleaning it Thursday night. LESSON LEARNED #2, never completely break your gun down before a major match. Next time I'll clean only what I can without removing any pins. I don't know why it worked as long as it did, but I'm glad it didn't cost me very much time to learn this lesson. Got done at the truck to go to stage 7 and shoot the truck stage. Didn't watch anyone shoot this one, realized I had a shitty game plan after the fact. Got a very deserving procedural here for stopping my retreat once my mind got blown by how fast the drop turner was gone, Only got one hit on it. In hind sight I should have shot one to the left, one to the right, 3 to the drop turner the second time it presented itself, then 2 to the right and 2 to the left. LESSON LEARNED #3- NEVER step up to a stage and hand them your score sheet if you don't have a good game plan in place that you're comfortable with and have watched at least a few people shoot it. I was confused about what I was going to do before the buzzer went off and that's a receipt for disaster! I gave a lot of time away here for no reason. Next was stage 12, I felt good about the stage and ran a pretty decent time but I dropped too many points (down 6). Stage 11 was weak hand only and going great until my last shot where I guess I caught the front sight on the pallets or something because my gun didn't go all the way into battery. I had to sit the PVC "cast" on my strong hand down, fix the problem, pick it back up, and finish the stage. I just view this as unlucky, it happened, I fixed it as fast as it could be fixed, but my time was almost double what it would have been had the gun not malfunctioned and I gotten that last shot off with a normal split time. I knew going in that I needed more weak hand work am planning to practice weak hand through barriers like that to make sure I keep my gun plenty far away from them. Went from #12 to Stage #8, where they had you lay in the trunk of a car, gun loaded to 5 rds, pop the release, shoot 3 targets at about 6 yards, one at 15 yards and one at 17 yards with a no shoot in front of it. I BURNED THIS STAGE DOWN! By far my best stage of the match, I had the second fastest time of anyone there (only Morgan Allen beat me) and probably the highlight of my day. I can't remember if the gas station stage was #1 or #2 so, The gas station stage was pretty good for me, good raw time, only dropped 2. The ATM stage was also really good for me, 14.22 down 2. I thought this one was a pretty hard stage and watched a ton of people screw it up. I ran my game plan perfectly, got 2 head shots on the up/down and 2 zero's on the drop turner, so I left this stage pretty happy. So what did all this amount to.... I finished second place in my division. Had I shot well and finished second I would have been thrilled, but I had an awful day and I feel like I left a bunch of time out there. I was 14.09 seconds behind the winner, 12.48 of those seconds I gave away on stage #4 with an unloaded gun. I was a total of 59 points down and 2 procedurals for the entire match. That's WAY too many points down. I was talking to Morgan Allen after and he was telling me he thought 30 down for that match was reasonable, obviously doubling that number isn't. I've gotta slow down and get my hits (I know, I know, that's what almost EVERY single person on this board told me to do going in). That said, I had a wonderful time and learned a ton, I'll be that much more ready for my next major! I was told after the awards were over by Morgan that me and the guy that won my division should have gotten match bumped? The guy passing out the trophies was asking for cards the whole time, but never asked either one of us for ours. Is this something I should address with a director at my local club? Am I a sand-bagger if I don't? My time was good enough to have finished 4th in EX and honestly I'm headed there sooner or later anyways. What says the board? I probably won't shoot another classifier before my next major, so shoot it as SS or find someone to sign me up to EX?

Chuck, are you the Chuck Smith that shoots the Greenville Gun Club matches? I thought I remembered seeing a Chuck Smith on a score sheet from January?

Gman- I didn't say my mental game is perfect, just that it's way better than my shooting mechanics and stage break down abilities. It needs work like everything else, but I'm better at not beating myself mentally than a lot of shooters I see at local matches. Strick- way better said than me, you summed up exactly what I was TRYING to say and I agree completely. Chuck- Staying at the microtel (or whatever it was) recommended on the Caswell site. I've been told it's crappy but has a half way decent little steak house across the street and for $42 a night I couldn't say no. The master I shoot with sent me his check list, is there anything else I should add? I don't have a legal backup other than a g26 or g27, my 23 is a g23c so it's a no go and my XD's would change the division. Push comes to shove and Nick says I can use his back-up. I'm really hoping my first one doesn't turn into a dumpster fire that requires a back-up gun though. -Classification Card -Gun -ammo -mags -holster/gear -eyes/ears/hat -belt -Vest -Backup Gun and holster -Spare parts -charged timer -Dummy ammo -Trail running shoes -Band-aids/coach's tape -Chair -Food and water/cooler -Rain Gear -Towel -Sun screen -Hand warmers -Gloves -Spare contacts/glasses -Pen/highlighter -Electrical tape -Knife My wife gave me my birthday present early (bday's on the 10th) which is a 1776 Tactical range bag. I'm going to clean my 34 tonight and get everything loaded up in the bag. So far it seems to be TITS, if you haven't seen them i'd check em out! http://www.apextactical.com/blog/index.php/random-apex/range-time-with-the-1776-tactical-second-amendment-rangepack/

I too like cliff bars and just texted my wife to add them to the shopping list this week! Thanks for the reminder!

Long ago I was a pretty decent golfer (all conference, all region, all state, and played one year at the collegiate level). The biggest lesson I ever learned in golf was to think about anything other than my game WHILE I was playing a match or in a tourny. Sure I thought about what my distances were, which club I was going to hit, or what part of the green I wanted to attack for the easiest putt, but I tried hard not to think about my swing or anything complex regarding my mechanics during the round. Giving into those temptations and TRYING too hard were guaranteeing failure. Like yall are saying, that stuff you figure out on the driving range before hand. My course management, if you will, is done during the walk through and while I rehearse the stage in my mind before I get to the shooting line. I still do risk management the same, in golf if there is a huge bunker or a water hazard past the green I'd pick a club that no matter how good I hit it I couldn't hit it over (basically I always tried to hit the highest percentage shots). That translates to things like no shoots, where I set myself up so that even if I make a mistake Im not going to hit it, so I aim high. Sure that means a lot of time I'm hitting two 1's, but that's better than hitting the no shoot. I think my experience also helps me deal with any increased pressures from a BIG match. It's got to be the same as playing for a state ship or any other major tournament. I'd say my mental game is the strongest part of my shooting game and it's due to the golf experience, but like golf I'll be working hard to clear my mind and think about nothing while shooting!

Heading to my first major this weekend (NC IRONMAN) and wondering if the old pro's here had any suggestions for me? A little back ground info: I've been shooting IDPA for a little less than a year now. I'm going to be shooting SSP and classified for the first time 2 weeks ago as a SS (Time was 122 flat and I blew the first string of the 3rd stage, 24 pts down, it was ugly). That said, I've gotten a few good practice sessions in since then and have been training with a really great master shooter (as judged by multiple state championships and a few other major wins). He's been pushing me pretty hard and I'm definitely getting better because of it. I also have been fortunate that guys like Morgan Allen have been coming to the local matches around here and are nice enough to give pointers and even hang around after matches to show you what you're doing wrong and how you should be doing it to get faster (I love that about this sport). My game plan: The plan for this week is to dry fire every night, work on draws with a par timer, do reloads, transitions etc. Gonna take a half day on Friday to travel up to the match so I'm well rested come Saturday morning. Then match day the plan is to just "run what I brung", run my game, stay calm and focused for each and every shot, and try not to get any penalties (procedurals, cover calls, etc). If I can do that I think I'll finish pretty well, but my goal is just to establish a good personal baseline to work off of and get better. Suggestions: I'm looking for everything from what I need to make sure I take to the match, to modifications to my game day game plan, to mental preparation, whatever. Anything you think will help me perform better I want to hear about!

Although I've never shot one or have direct experience with it, I have seen people take gator clamps and use them. Seems like it would work and if they do get shot up you're talking about a buck or 2 to replace them

Funny! One of the buddies I shoot with regularly is a former Army Ranger (3/75) currently working on a diplomat passport in far away places doing things he can't talk about. When we run long guns and I start asking questions about foot work or whatever his most common response before giving me the real answer to the question is, "the first rule of gun fighting is to look cool. The second rule of gun fighting is when in doubt refer back to rule #1". Seems yall are on the same page here!

I wear Vasque trail running shoes that have very aggressive tread (almost cleat like). They have a lug dead center of the toe and aggressive side tread so they are good to dig and make cuts in. Most of the ranges I shoot at are pretty slick (dirt bays that are commonly wet, or gravel bays that needed more gravel about 10 years ago) so you've about got to have something like this to stay on your feet if you're a fast mover.

From watching some of the best local shooters and starting to shoot with them a little I've learned to develop my own pre-shot routine that helps get my mind right and relaxes me for the stage. The first part of this is when it's my turn I don't help reset the stage from the shooter before me. I spend that time closing my eyes and visualizing how I'm going to run the stage, where my reloads are going to be, the order I'm going to shoot all the targets etc. The second major addition to my routine is what I would liken to the waggle in golf, everyone does it a little different, but it's purpose is the same, to relax you before the shot (don't get carried away, i.e. Sergio Garcia). I've started to take a couple deep breaths and kind of shake the nervousness out of my arms, I don't wiggle my toes, but I do kinda half-assed jump (really I just roll my weight up on my toes and pick my heels up). When I'm told to load and make ready I copied one of the best local shooters and basically do a speed reload as a last second run down of my mechanics (Just a quick refresher on my draw, grip, reload, reholster etc). Then shake my arms out one last time and give a nod that i'm ready. Whole thing doesn't take 10-15 seconds

I did get my adjustable dawson's on too, and was pleasantly surprised it came with 3 mags, I was only expecting 2!

I did my own too. It's pretty easy, I started on pmags. Figured If I screwed up a $12 pmag it wasn't the end of the world. I'm about to machine one of these for my further endeavors though:

I was told by comptac that the "dust cover" was larger on the gen 4's and that is why it did not fit the gen 3 holsters. I went ahead and ordered the gen 4 holster from bladetech. Should only have 2 more weeks to wait before I can shoot some matches with this thing.

So was the bladetech specific for a gen 4 or do their holsters fit both gen 3 and gen 4's? I emailed bladetech and they said they could make a holster for me, but I was hoping I could grab something off the shelf so I could shoot a match with the 34 this weekend. Comp-Tac's website says they will take down the note that their holsters don't fit the gen 4 once they have one that does. I'm sure they are working on one, I just don't want to wait.

I'm trying to order a holster for the gen 4 34 I just picked up and have a question. I have a couple bladetech's that I like just fine for other guns, but I see everyone talking about the comptac's and a few buddies that run them and like them a lot so I figured I'd try one out. BUT On their site it says that their 34 holster won't fit a gen 4 34 because the dust cover is slightly larger on the gen 4's. No big deal I say, I'll just grab a bladetech, but now it's got me thinking, will the bladetech fit the new larger dust cover? I've tried to search and can't find anything about it, bladetech's website doesn't say anything about it. So I thought I'd check here to see if anyone knew for sure if the gen 4 34 would fit in the current model bladetech holster? If not who makes a holster that will fit?

A couple of the wholesalers I buy from are showing Gen 4 34's as "in stock" with the inventory levels being at "99+". I have one ordered that should be here by sat so I can verify 100% when it hits my door.

I shot my first competitive pistol match yesterday, CPSL (which is a watered down IDPA type Carolina's based shooting league, similar rules just much more relaxed). Being that it's a "practical" shooting league I showed up with my factory 4in XD thinking it would be pretty standard of what I'd see. Nope. Out of a field of about 50 there must have been 20-25 guys running what would damn near amount to open guns (magwells, comps, cr speed holsters, etc). I finished up 6th and was extremely pleased for my first time out. But like you, I realized quick yesterday that 13 rds just isn't going to cut it in the competitive pistol world. I was having to reload on stages that no one else needed to. The first stage was a 14 rounder, the second a 16rd (a few other people did have to do a reload on that one). Fortunately, I do a lot of dry fire and a ton of reloads so it didn't slow me down a ton. Between me and first place was about 30 seconds, I had one 10 second penalty for a "d" ring hit. So I need to eliminate the mistake and still have to pick up 20 seconds, I'm thinking I can pick some of them up by not having to do so many reloads (eliminate the mistake and I would have ended up 4th for sure, or maybe even 3rd depending how long that one extra shot would have taken). Long story short, from my first time out I can tell you 100% get the one that holds the highest number of rounds if you really want to compete. If anyone comes back with some advice for IPSC or IDPA legal extensions let me know. I probably can't run out and buy a new pistol but adding some higher cap mags is probably doable so I'm extremely interested in this thread.