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stuart1336

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Everything posted by stuart1336

  1. I understand that 0.20 transitions won't happen in competitions but at a certain level of skill I am sure the trigger weight will have an influence on performance. Granted most people won't ever hit that level but having to pull harder on the trigger will affect performance. If it didn't then why would anyone change them. Would you run a 6 lb trigger on a pistol? What happens when you out run a trigger? I have never seen it here in the UK. We have seen 1301's with dodgy triggers that fire semi auto. I think they fired about 0.12 apart.
  2. Hi Mark, I didn't explain it very well. In a drill like the load 12 or a string of targets up to 10 yards I will get splits ranging from .20 to .22 at the moment. Just firing the gun in the dirt I can't cycle it faster than 0.20. A rifle with a lighter trigger I can get splits on the same target in 0.14 and close transitions not far off that. A heavy trigger pull has to have an impact on speed. I was wondering what other people have in theirs. I have seen the latest Keith Garcia video with 0.15 splits between shots. That can't be with a standard trigger can it?
  3. My Versa Max has a trigger pull of 6 lbs 8 ozs. The fastest I can pull the trigger, firing in to the berm is 0.20. My 10/22 has a trigger pull of 2 lbs 3 ozs. In steel challenge matches I regularly have splits of 0.14. 6 1/2 lbs seems an awful heavy trigger. What do other people have in their shotguns?
  4. I wrote this for a British forum and had the presence of mind to keep a copy! Whilst I note that pcg doesn't want to get sucked into one discipline or sport you may miss out on some things. On my own personal journey I have found that out of the repetition and training come some great discoveries. These discoveries about how I learn and improve my performance have turned into skills that can be applied anywhere. These are the books that have helped with my shooting in Practical Shotgun/Rifle and Rifle Steel Challenge. They are all relevant to pistol shooting in one way or another. I would recommend getting the kindle versions as they are much cheaper and available instantly. You don't need a kindle to view them. There are free apps to use them on any smart phone, tablet or PC. The Mental Game With Winning in Mind - Lanny Bassham (also available in audiobook) Compulsory reading recommended by Steve Anderson, Bob Vogel and countless others. The Talent Code - Daniel Coyle. This explains how we learn and how exceptional performance comes about with the body's production of myelin. Bounce - Matthew Syed. A further explanation of Myelin from a champions own perspective and a look at other influences on high level performance. He is also English and a lot of his examples are British. Practice Perfect by Doug Lemov. My current favourite for learning how to implement training in the most effective way. It uses all the latest discoveries and is the next step on from books like the Talent code and Bounce. Attainment -Troy Bassham - (audiobook). Another good Bassham title. I have the aduiobook. Troys narration is not the best but the information is very good The Dip Seth Godin - Not a shooting related title but helped me realise why you have to keep pushing in training to get through the dip and get to excellence. Freedom Flught - Lanny Bassham. An inspirational story from Lanny. No real training benefit but if you liked his first book then look this one up later. The Chimp Paradox - Dr Steve Peters. This is the guy that advises the Sky cycling team. Lots of people rave about it but I found it very hard to get into. It has helped lots of people, just not my cup of tea. Practical Shooting - Brian Enos. Pistol Specific Training Your competition Handgun Training Program - Mike Seeklander - Fantastic guide to setting out a training regime for top performance. I have used this for my shotgun training with good effect. Champion Shooting - Ben Stoeger - A good guide to practical pistol. Other Gun related Draw, The Greatest gun fights of the American West - James Reasoner - An interesting read on what probably happened in the Wild West rather than what is portrayed in the movies. The Art of the Rifle - Jeff Cooper - A bit dated and not really relevant to practical disciplines but interesting in a kind of historical way. Steve Anderson's Books In my opinion Steve has had the greatest impact on my shooting, mainly from his podcasts. His first two books were good for training dry fire and classics. His latest title Get to Work is fantastic and a must read. Unfortunately they are only available in hard copy direct from America so it makes them slow to get and expensive. I would suggest you get "Get to Work" rather than the other two if you are on a budget. http://www.andersonshooting.com Steve also does free podcasts where you will get 80% of what he teaches for free. There are about 120 and I started at the beginning and have listened to them all. Be warned he is a bit mad and breaks them up with Van Halen, barking dogs and lots of laughing. If you have never used podcasts find a teenager to set up your phone for you. If you have a newish car, you can play them when you drive. My commute takes two hours a day and I find it better than the radio. Ben Stoeger also does podcasts.
  5. Six weeks ago today I went from 30 cigarettes a day to using e-cigarrettes. I shoot practical shotgun in the UK and normally finish in the top 5. I am 45 and have been smoking for 30 years. Last week and the week before were the last two competitions of the season and I finished second in both. I can't say that stopping the smoking made me shoot any faster but it had a noticeable effect on how I performed towards the end of the day. I just didn't get as tired as I normally do. I don't do any formal exercise and I pay the price the night after a competition with soreness and cramps. Since stopping the smoking I don't get these problems. I'm under no illusions that I still need to stop altogether but the e cigarettes I feel are a good start and a "Harm reduction" strategy. Stopping cigarettes can be really hard and if you are finding it hard give the fake ones a try. I would advise anyone thinking of doing it to go to a proper shop that sells them. Don't both with the ones that look like cigarettes and are sold at gas stations. Get a proper one and some good liquid (juice) with a high nicotine content. Then start lowering this down after a few weeks.
  6. Thank you to 7.62mm who was only about 20 feet away from me in the hotel and has given me a new handle.
  7. HELP!! We arrived from the UK yesterday and today the cocking handle on my Remington Versa Max has snapped in half. Does anyone have a spare I could buy or know where I can get one near Raton? Any help would be really appreciated. Stuart
  8. I am left eye right handed. I used to shoot shotgun with the left eye closed until I found out about anti dominance sights. The front bead is in a tube and can only be seen by the right eye. You may see two guns but only one dot. With a little practice you only see the dot and the target. Two years on and when I broke my gun in a comp I used a friends with the standard front bead. I never even noticed it. The brain screens out information it does not regard as important. Below is a link to the sight I use on UK eBay. I'm sure you can find the same thing Stateside. It took me a while to get used to it and at comps I was still closing my left eye for the first two months. Now I shoot two eyes open on everything. Its very quick and far more effective. You do have to practice at it to start until it becomes subconscious. Several of my friends use them but I also know a few others who gave up after 5 minutes! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tru-Glo-Wing-Stopper-Universal-Anti-Dominant-Eye-Shotgun-Sight-Red-/251537205101?pt=UK_SportingGoods_Hunting_ShootingSports_ET&hash=item3a90c9276d
  9. Hi Bitchin, The first thing you need to do is stop watching those videos. You have no idea what has been done to her gun or what cartridges she is shooting. If I was shooting clays that close and that was all that was required of a competition everything would be very light. When a shogun goes off energy is going to come backwards at you. This needs to be dealt with in a consistent manner. Most people will say it has to do with leaning forward and body weight but that is not the whole truth. I have studied the top shooters in the UK and found that the common factor they have is the angle of the back. The upper body is leaning forward to take the recoil and the legs are bent not to throw weight forward but so they can move quickly. The hold of the gun and transitions is the next place most people have problems. All transitions come from the hips. The arms do not move the gun. This means the angle of the gun to the upper body is always the same. This means that recoil always acts on the body in the same way. Once the shooter starts to move his arms to "muscle the gun" on to a target it changes the angle and the resulting recoil is different from the previous shot. Most people can get away with a couple of shots but after that the compounding of errors and changing recoil makes it very hard to hit the next target. Time to put my money where my mouth is. Below is a video of me two weeks ago. The gun is a Versa Max synthetic with a 13 round capacity. The ammo is 1 oz 7.5 bird rated at 1450 fps which is quite punchy. We have different start positions to the US but notice the angle of my upper body. I call this the a*se out chin up technique. This is the best way to absorb the recoil. Also look at my transitions between targets on the stages. My arms only set elevation. They do not move the gun sideways. That is the job of my legs and hips. Right at the end of the video you will see me scan through the smoke in case I left anything. The relationship of the gun/arms and chest does not change, the movement is in the hips and legs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eihqhRtHnHM I have also changed my hold of the gun. I found with distance rifle that extending my weak hand further out has made the hold and sight picture more stable. I tried it out on shotgun and the results were very good. What it also does as a side effect is it makes it harder to muscle the gun from side to side so you have to use your hips. I also use the weak hand index finger to point and I have found this extended grip and point make the first shot coming into a position faster. Transitions between targets are best practiced with a .22 or airsoft. Jerry M as a very good video that explains how taking recoil out of the equation can actually show up problems in technique. Once the technique of transitioning using your hips is sold you can then get back on the shotgun. I mention the airsoft as you can get 1000 round transition practice down in about 20 minutes for a few dollars. Also dry fire the shotgun on wide and close targets. Video everything you can and review it. Soemtimes you think you move on your hips but the video won't lie to you. Its also a good self image builder as you progress. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAG8XGrOOS4 Coming back to your post you talk about shooting under a barrier and difficult positions. You will be at a disadvantage to a heavier shooter when you can't get your torso behind the gun. What you can do is practice those positions and try and work out how to get the best position for you. Steve Andersons podcast are also a fantastic resource and I have learnt so much about shooting shotgun from the dry fire pistol guy. In particular listen to him about calling shots and shooting at the speed of sight. I have just reread your last paragraph and I can see that it is a stance/hold problem. You are out firing your stance. If your body has not reset do not pull the trigger. If you do, what are you teaching yourself? how to shoot from a random, unrepeatable out of control position. Its a waste of time. Only pull the trigger when you have an acceptable sight picture. As you work on transitions, body position and grip the speed will improve. A few months back my friend bright his 15 year old daughter to the range with her best friend. They had a few shots with a pump gun firing 24g cartridges (1 oz = 28g). They were not impressed and it hurt. I took over and got them into the right position and it totally changed how the recoil reacted with them and they ended up shooting for over an hour. It does work. If I haven't explained anything properly let me know.
  10. The cure for all your problems is Steve Andersons podcasts. I have listened to 40 in the last week. He is totally mad but his mix of shooting, Van Halen and Dobermans is awesome!
  11. The stock SBE is the same as the stock VM Synthetic. I had a friend weld in the v shape and extend it about 3mm. I then polished it myself. If you cut down the body on the VM you can pretty much get away without welding if you use weak hand load 4.
  12. I wouldn't bother with Remington. Order a Benelli Super Black Eagle lifter. Its exactly the same and you will get one easier than a Remmy.
  13. The first lifter I had welded we could just not make work. We think in the end it might have got twisted slightly but not that we can see much. I went back to a standard lifter which I could load with pretty well but not quite as fast. Last week we tried again and the result is below. We didn't bend it. Tested yesterday and 250 rounds worked fine. Due to Remington being the worst company to deal with in Europe and having no spares, we actually had to use a Benelli Super Eagle lifter but they appear identical. Sometimes they work straight away, sometimes after bending and occasionally not at all.
  14. Unless you are diabetic I would doubt the diet would be the problem. The body is very good at adjusting to changes in conditions and the brain is the first thing that it services. Could I suggest another possible cause and one that hit me this year. Over expectation and the conscious mind messing up the subconscious skills. Lanny Bassham explains the relationship very well. One line in your post stood out for me. Lanny would explain this as trying to use your conscious mind to correct the situation and there is only one possible outcome and that is a big drop in performance as you can't use subconscious skills when you are trying hard to. Matthew Syed in his book Bounce gives a very good example from his career. He was a double Olympic medalist in Table Tennis. He goes into detail about what he labels choking in competition. Playing in the most important game of his career, that he was expected to win he got hammered and played like an amateur. He explains that he was trying so hard to think every shot, he lost all his ability. The harder he tried, the worse it got. Table tennis is not a game you can think. Its so fast it must all be subconscious from years of training. The good news is he fixed his head and went on to win more titles. Is it possible that with the work you are putting in your subconscious skills are very good. You had three good matches in a row and perhaps you start to think hey i'm good at this and you start to focus on a result rather than the process? Something throws your performance and you compensate by over thinking it all? This year probably the biggest match we had over here was a two gun match for Help for Heroes. I really thought I had a good chance of winning it. I messed up the first two stages so badly. Failed to engage several targets and ran the rifle dry etc. I gave up and decided to salvage the day having a laugh and trying to help some of the shooters in my squad. At the end of the day I was shocked to place 4th. By giving up consciously I actually stopped the conscious mind spoiling the shoot. I would keep training and keep competing but perhaps give yourself a break and just turn up to shoot. Don't think it just let it happen.
  15. If you have access to a tread mill use it either with the water (if a public place) or if you have private use dry fire or airsoft from it. The airsoft is particularly useful as you get instant feedback as to how stable you are holding the gun on target. Here is another post with some video of me using a tread mill. The good thing about it is you can get a huge amount of reps in a short period of time. http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=157154&hl=
  16. Yes I should have had eye protection on. I find it strange that the main comments I get are about eye protection. Time to stop sharing training techniques. I'm obviously too dangerous.
  17. Hi, can you tell me what program you used to make the 4 way video?
  18. No need to import the lifter from a Benelli Super black eagle is exactly the same as a versa max.
  19. Quick update Remington are still taking their time deciding if I can have parts from America. But my Benelli parts arrived next day delivery. The link assembly (rats tail) from a Super Black Eagle is almost exactly the same as the VM. The carrier (lifter) is exactly the same and drops straight in.
  20. We tried an M2 rat tail but its too short. My gun shop is also the range I shoot at and they have lent me parts from another gun they have in stock. Someone at Remington needs the sack. Why get rid of an importer and replace it with one of your own companies and not supply them.
  21. This is the link assembly that has broken in my Versa Max. Its an 11 month old gun that has fired about 10,000 rounds. If I was American this wouldn't be the end of the world. I would have a two year warranty. But I live in England and Remington doesn't seem to like the English. I bought the gun through my local dealer who in turn bought it from the importer a company called Edgar Brothers. Now last year Remington decided they didn't want to use this importer anymore as they have a company of their own over here, Remington Outdoor (UK) Limited. So the got rid of Edgar Brothers. They didn't seem to happy with this and they sold off all their stock at silly cheap prices. So now the gun I paid £1350 for is selling new at £800. Quite a shock when your gun devalues that much overnight. Now Remington Outdoor (UK) Ltd can't get parts for a Versamax from America. How stupid is that? I couldn't believe this so I set up an account on Remington's support center and asked why we can't buy parts. They replied you can, just call us and ask for international. So I called the States. They told me to call Remington Outdoor (UK) Ltd!!! When I told them they couldn't order parts they told me to ring Edgar Brothers !!!! Then they said they would look into it. Now they don't return my emails. Don't Buy a Versamax if you live outside the USA. There is no warranty, there are no parts and there is definitely no customer service. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk8QicCty8A
  22. Get on a treadmill and dry fire or airsoft for ten minutes. You will do more in ten minutes than a whole day at the range. The practice is all about keeping the head and sight still while movement tries to disrupt everything. You don't need to actually be shooting live, in fact doing it live fire disrupts the training with resetting and reloading. Use live fire to test the results not produce them. For reference look at Bamairsofts videos on using treadmills or my video in the airsoft rifle post.
  23. I dont know why but I couldn't get the video to embed properly, sorry.
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