CB45

Video from the last match of the year at WVRPC. A lot of shooting on the move, which was very good practice. Points reflect that I need more of it. I shot my first 32rd field course in under 10s, would have been cooler without a mike. Good day! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iixox2NhD9c&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Thanks! Video of last weekends match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hm98x1I9jY&feature=youtube_gdata_player As you can see, I had a couple rough stages. Thanks truksnave for the video!

This was a busy weekend. FNS Friday was fun, personal best time for that match. Saturday was the second event of the Practice League I helped to start. Went better I think. More people showed up, so there's hope. Sunday at Silvercreek went well. Took HOA on the first two field courses I shot. Ran into some execution problems on my 3rd stage. It was just like somebody turned off my "Go" switch. I didn't change anything, I burned in my plan and called my shots. For two stages in a row it was like the dot was running away from me. Struggled through it, but it was embarrassing. Classifier 13-05: Felt smooth, until I walked up to the right paper. Waiting for the squad ahead, I reshot the classifier. Solid run @ 7.04 down 3. That's where I wanted to be. Last field course would have been a decent run. I got a little risky and tried to shoot a 10 yd partial on the move. Called the shot right on the line. It was 1/8" in the black. Blast! Ah well. Overall great match. Came in 2nd, behind a veteran GM from Ohio. Very pleased.

I think I've pulled off one 0.12s split in the 10k rounds of practice I've done this year... a couple 0.13s and a few 0.15s. I spend 95% of my time practicing calling my shots and shooting difficult shots. Maybe I should spend some time shooting faster if I need to be shooting 0.15s splits... consistently. Wow, something to think about. RVB, Thanks for the awesome feedback. The above post reflects my experience on the journey to where I'm at. I know I've got a lot of work to do. I'm trying to figure out what exactly I need to do. I'm a work I'm progress.

-Faster at USPSA- What does it really take to learn to shoot faster? Ive got a theory why many people never get it. I hear it all the time, Slow down and get your hits. That phrase never set well with me. I think I have figured out what that phrase is supposed to mean. Shoot both shots with an appropriate sight picture and quit double tapping, which is what I did for a long time. In a match environment, I think it is absolutely necessary to aim every shot. Thats the only way to shoot Alphas consistently. It is not going to happen just by luck. Over past 6 months I have periodically practiced shooting as fast as I possibly can, and ignored points. Just to see what it felt like to push myself beyond what I was capable of doing at that time. I think this type of exercise can be beneficial every now and again. I think Steve A. would call this a speed gain. These exercises fascinate me. Sometimes there is no difference between a speed run and my match mode. When that happens I know subconscious shooting works, and it helps build my confidence. I believe the time for pushing for speed is in practice, where the scores wont be recorded. The alternative for those who dont practice is to do this in a match; which will most likely hurt ones ego. What I see at the local USPSA match level is that new people go a match, experience the embarrassment of penalties, and slow way down. These people figure out a pace that results in 2 holes in brown and stay at that pace indefinitely. The fear of incurring penalties holds back people from going faster. About 2 month ago I shot a couple club matches just beyond my skills, pushing myself to go faster. That strategy resulted in poor points and damaged my self-image. Looking back, I think that may be beneficial to do every now and again. If you think you are too slow, just speed up and see what happens. Just be prepared the results will probably look bad on paper, but hopefully you learned something in the process. In my research to figure out how fast is fast enough, I broke down Open classifiers and figured out what draws, splits, and transitions needed to be to get 100% runs. My basic summary: Draw - 1.0s to just about any target. Transitions should be around 0.28s, depending on target difficulty. Splits should average 0.2s, depending on target difficulty. Reloads should be around 1.2s. It should take about 2.3s shot-to-shot from position to position. (Unless position is greater that 7yds, which is very infrequent) So theoretically, if you have those specific skills, you should be doing pretty well on any field course. Right? It didnt translate like that for me. It took a lot more work before those skills translated into match results. The raw skill alone is not enough to perform well on a stage or win a match. I guess my point is that you have to learn how to perform certain skills at a defined pace. I thought that speed was unattainable for ordinary folks, but Ive learned that the speed is not that fast. I think most shooters implement self imposed speed limitations and never allow themselves to get faster. Before I learned out to shoot As faster, I learned how to miss faster. PS. I'm working on another post discussing consistency, and translating skills into match results.

RVB, IMO what you described is how to shoot A's consistently and lacks an element of time. What I'm talking about is speeding up everything until I causes me to not hit the target. Then learn how to shoot a's at that pace. Not really talking about body movement, rather minimizing the time it takes to shoot target arrays. I'll post my whole idea below.

A thought crossed my mind. "I didn't learn to shoot A's fast, until I learned how to miss fast." Is that true for everyone? Is there another way to do it? Is there a better way? More later...

Video for your viewing pleasure. Thanks Snave!

Well Chris let the bag out of the hat, but today's match was good. I'm super pleased with my match. Took HOA by 9% or so. I shot 94.7% points after penalties. (One no-shoot) Stage execution went great. Reloads went smooth. Shot some partials on the move efficiently. Fun match. Great time on the range with friends on a beautiful Indiana day. Match results: http://combinedresults.info/index.php/match/9873

Basically I wanted to break down my wide target to target transitions. Think 30 - 90 degree transitions. What I was noticing is that I would pull the second shot because I knew the next shot was a wide transition. (Rushing... bad I know, but I was experimenting) I drive with the knees hard to the next target, I just do it too soon. Basically I was just rushing the transition. My best runs on my wide transition drill happened when I didn't rush... lesson learned. I wanted to push it, so I did. The drill was kind of neat. It was a mix of a near-to-far, and a wide transition drill. Field of fire spanned nearly 140° with targets at 17,10, 7, & 7. Each transition was huge, so there was a emphasis on driving to the next target. Had to drive with your knees, otherwise you would fall over when you got half way through the drill.

I went to the range today. Had a real good practice. Pushed transition drills heavily at the end. My problem has been that I drive the gun to the next target before the second shot breaks. It feels like I'm out driving the gun. So I decided to just figure it out. I it was challenging and fun. Totally hosed up a few runs, but it allowed me to learn a lot so it was worth it. Productive day and I had a blast! Literally!

ACC today went well. Squeaked away with another HOA finish. Less than 1.5% seperated Max and I. Good day.

Practice Wednesday with Kurt was good. I didn't shoot much. Just a few runs at a string of partial targets. I've been thinking about goals for next year. I achieved all of my goals this year. So that's rewarding. I don't have a desire to "make GM". If it happens, it happens. I just don't care about it. I'm setting my goals higher. I am more interested in shooting like a GM consistently. I'm still figuring out what that means. I want to be in contention to win every match I go to. Which pretty much means I need to experience the same level of growth as I experienced this year. B to M ~ 25% better. M to GM ~10% better. GM to top level competitor~ 15% better. That's a HUGE goal, but I think it would be cool. I

Did you contact the Manufacture? False advertising! Boo... everybody boycott PMC!!!! They cost you the match Win! We could have had a new Production Champion!

Much nicer day today at WVPPC. Took HOA by about 4% over Max B. First time I've beat him. Feels good to see some results. Match notes: Shoot more A's on targets inside 10yds. Know what order activator targets appear before you shoot the stage. Don't pull off targets, even if they are inside 5yds. (Accounts for 2 mikes for this match). I shot great points on targets beyond 10yds, which is what I have spent 2 months practicing. So that's good. Stage execution, movement, and reloads were the highlight of my day. Good weekend for CB45. Going to get back to work.

Shot the Indiana Steel Challenge match this morning in the rain. I shot a pretty good match. Rain was a little heavy at times, but I managed to struggle through it. Total time for the 8 stage match was 113.56s. Good enough to win Open. Back to USPSA tomorrow. Going to WVPPC in Riley, IN. Should be a good match.

Went to the Silvercreek match today. Shot the field courses clean. I had one hickup with Frankenblue. It was either ammo or a weak recoil spring. Either way the gun didn't go into battery all the way. Ah well. I hosed up the classifier pretty good. Stage description specified one shot per paper, and for some reason in the middle of the string I shot one target twice. I don't know why, I just thought it was a good idea. Cost me a mike and extra hit penalty. That's what I get for not visualizing the stage. I took for granted the simplicity of the stage, and what do you know it nipped me right in the butt. Fun day and beautiful weather! Great match Dave and crew!

FNS last night went well with Frankenblue. Minor rounds ran through without a problem. Woke up early this morning to set up a stage at Wildcat Valley. I shot a clean match today at Wildcat Creek! Frankenblue ran like a sewing machine! It is so nice to shoot without worrying about gun issues.

Dear Frankenblue, So nice to have you home. It felt so wrong to have my hands on Trudy, and she doesn't treat me as well as you do. We have about 6 matches together until the season is over, let's end the year together strong. Then we will have all winter to dryfire together. Glad to have you back!

Same OAL should be fine. My minor bullets are 1.135. 124gr JHP. 4.9gr IMR 7625 Makes minor in a G34 and shoots in my open gun like mousefarts

You mean like this? Bill S. and Chris K. use this type of lightening. It works. http://www.brianenos.com/forums/uploads/monthly_10_2013/post-307-0-42242200-1380835060.jpg

Well good news!!! I am going to pick up Frankenblue tomorrow!!! My gunsmith is awesome! This is the second time this year he has really helped me out. With any luck, I'll have it broke in for the Indians State SCSA match on Oct. 19th. Speaking of SCSA ... I went to the range last night to do more testing on the Trubor. I worked on my surrender draw a little bit. I tweaked a couple things and was able to get my surrender draw to a 7yd A zone under 1s. That's faster than I was 2 months ago. Surrender draw to partial targets at 17yds was consistently around 1.3s. That felt good I also worked on shooting hard shots as fast as I could. I think I need to do more of that. The Trubor ran great last night, 100rds. I'm dumfounded with that thing.

2k and its yours!

ARG!!! I've officially given up on that Trubor! I had 2 stovepipes today at a local match. I've exhausted all possible combinations of ejector length, extractor type and tension, springs, blah, blah, blah... I am at my wits end. I'm going to see if the manufacturer will help me out. I'm hoping they will stand behind their product. It hasn't worked since day one. On a better note, I should have my primary gun back by the end of the week. I'm super excited about that. Shot in the rain today at a local match. Classifier was going well until water from an awning started falling right in front of the gun. The gas from the comp raised the cloth e-z-up, dumping said water in front of the gun. It was just distracting enough to loose focus on the last shot, Mike!!! Ah well, am not looking to make GM anytime soon. The rest of the match was pretty much junk. The dot totally washed out on two stages. Today was a lesson on shooting a dot in the rain. Good experience, but it was a tough lesson. Tough day.

Some say size doesn't matter, but for the Trubor ejector, size matters. I installed a new XL ejector from EGW two days ago hoping to get better reliability. I finally got to the range today to test it out. I ran a 200rd practice session this morning with the Trubor. That thing ran like a sewing machine!!! I'm pleased for now with that thing.