CB45

Well I managed to get decent runs on 3 out of 6 stages on Sunday. The Aftec from my other gun worked on one staged, then it didn't work for the next two. I decided to put in a regular 9mm 1911 extractor just to experiment, and it seemed to work for three stages in a row... For now the Trubor seems to be working. Ended up 38th in Open, at 65%ish of Eric G. Not too shabby for clearing something like 15-18 malfunctions (Its hard to keep count past 10). Summary of my Florida Open, thoroughly test your gear before you go!

Well my Trubor let me down today. Dozen or so malfunctions, the failure to go into battery kind... I did some tuning to the Aftec which seemed to help, but not nearly enough. Aftecs aren't "plug and play" extractors! I just put in the Aftec from my broken gun, I am hoping that resolves the issue for tomorrow. I managed to get through stages 7-12 today with only one Mike, despite all the issues. The times are pretty bad, but I at least completed all the courses. I hope to have a smooth day tomorrow and do well on stages 1-6.

Thanks Bob! We made it here safe and sound. Right at 17 hrs with pit stops. Kurt supermanned it and drove the whole way, Thanks Kurt! We spent all 6hrs at the range looking at stages and watching others stage plans. There's going to be some tough stages and shots today and tomorrow. Today should be pretty straight forward shooting. One semi-technical stage, but I've gotta good stage plan We start out tomorrow with the stage with the hardest targets with the sun in our eyes, that will be a challenge.

Something to think about, for a 300 rd match: 1. 9-10 reloads 2. 10-11 draws, 3. 35 shooting positions 4. 130 splits 5. 160 transitions 6. 1500 points Where do you have more opportunities to be better than the next guy.

Looking pretty good.

Thanks gentleman for the support.

I guess the slide had finally had enough. The gun has had a lot of rounds through it. The last stage at WIIT I did have a malfunction. I thought it was a bad bullet, but maybe that's when the slide cracked? I need to figure out if I'm going to rebuild the gun, build a new gun, or switch divisions. I'm beginning to not enjoy the maintenance required for Open. A production rig may be in my future... I've got components to shoot Open through the end of this season, so I'll stick to Open until then. I just hope my backup holds together for the three majors I'm shooting this spring. I want to have a good showing at Florida Open, Area 6, and Alabama. Hard to do that with an unreliable setup. Decisions...

One step forward, two steps back... Looks like I'll be shooting my backup gun at the Florida Open. I hope it runs.

Thanks Kurt! A friend of mine ordered some Captians of Crush grip strengtheners for me. I'm slowly working with those things to get my grip strength up. Can't hurt. Dry fire is going well. I'm happy to see I've been able to maintain the skills I worked last year to learn.

Shot the WIIT Saturday at Pinetree Pistol Club in Rockford, IL. I had a decent match. I was a little too aggressive with one stage, but I learned from it. There was about 4 ways to shoot the stage, and I took the most aggressive and risky. Note to self, don't do that. Even with a slight hickup on one stage, it looks like I won Open! Two weeks until Florida!

Yesterday Rob and I left for Bend of the River in Niles, MI at 5:45am. 3hr white knuckle drive later on snow packed roads, we arrived and shot the match. Then someone mentioned a match at Top Gun near Detroit, MI at 6pm. We determinef it would be a 4hr drive home from Detroit. A 4hr white knuckle drive on ice covered interstate (Michigan must not believe in salt), we arrive at Top Gun about 2.5hrs early. We left Detroit at 8:30pm and hit a snow squall in northern Indiana around 11:00pm. That was CRAZY!!!! I thought we were done for, but we made it back around 1:00am. Rob still had to drive home, I hope he made it. Rob and I both had a tough time at Top Gun. I learned a lesson in mental fatigue, the mental game is even more important. I'm just glad we made it back safely and I got all my suckitude out of my system for 2014. I'm ready to shoot the WIIT match Saturday.

Shot an indoor match today with the Trubor. No extraction issues , but experienced two failures to feed. The slide just didn't go all the way into battery. I'm thinking weak recoil spring or the gun is still breaking in after the ceracote job. I think it will be OK after I get a couple hundred more round through it. I let the inner hoser come out a little bit today. Evidently this MD doesn't like targets hung the traditional head-up configuration, so I had a bit of a learning curve at first. I tried a new turn and draw for the classifier Front Sight, won't do that again. It felt good to get back on the range and feel some match pressure. Chris K. got me today... I'll bring my GM game next month... haha!

OK so I've been hitting the dry fire pretty tough. I've been working reloads and movement drills. Learning a lot and actually enjoying it. My studio looks like mini stage. I'm not sure how the girlfriend will like it... haha. I think I've done injured myself. My weak hand wrist throbs in pain when I hold a gun. I'm not quite sure how I injured it, but I think I'm going to have to give it a rest for a few days. I've got a rehabing to do. Good news is that I think my shoulder has been holding up. Now I need to get my wrist healed up.

I've decided on a mantra for 2014, "Compete Fiercely." That's what I'm going to do. Practiced twice this weekend. I had to take advantage of the mild weekend. Saturday I did some near to far and 20yd bill drill exercises. Best surrender Bill Drill at 20yds was 3.24s. Near to far went OK. Sunday was more near to far work, movement, and some "Blake Drills". I'm so fascinated with that type of shooting. I'm way better at hard shots than I am at the close hosing. I may work on that next year. Rob diagnosed a problem I have. My mind is working faster then my body is working. I begin the next task before I finish the one I was performing. This only is apparent when I'm engaging in "Speed Mode," but I think it reveals some flaws in my technique. So this is something I want to work on in dry fire this winter.

In terms of being competitive in each division, I don't see any difference. Within each division everybody has the same disadvantages. Open really pushes the speed envelope. Limited has speed, recoil, and iron sights. Production has reloads and minor scoring. SS has skinny mags, reloads, and recoil. Rev has a ton of reloads and stratigic stage planning. Good luck and enjoy! All divisions can be fun.

Well I've been thinking about plans and goals for 2014. I'm going to train more and go to more major matches. I want to go to at least 2 Area matches and go to at least 6 level II's. I will most likely mean I will have less time to go to local club matches, which will be OK. 2014 Goals. 1. Attend as many major USPSA matches as possible. 2. Practice regularly. 3. Have fun. I believe that if I put in the work to practice and train, my match performance will reflect those efforts. That's what I did this year, and it seemed to work. I know that I'll be in contention to win every match I go to if I put in the required work. I'm excited to get back to work in the spring. Until then I'm going to train and dry fire like a mad man. Personal accomplishments for 2013. 1. Classified M in Open. 2. Attended over 50 pistol matches this year 3. Shot two 100% classifiers 4. Finished 92% @ Illinois Sectional 5. 2013 Indiana SCSA Open Champion.

I've resisted posting in this thread. I'm not an expert on the human body, but I know that humans are capable of some pretty amazing things. 9 months ago I thought I'd never be able to shoot and see splits faster than 0.25s. Now that pace is kinda slow. Point shoot, instinctively shoot, subconsciously shooting, index shooting.... whatever it is, I want to be better at it. Train for speed and you'll learn what your body is capable of.

People often ask often I practice. My normal answer is, "A lot". The club where I practied this year informed me that I entered the gate 187 times. So take away 40 for match days, setup days, days I only picked up brass and days I only helped other people. That leaves me with 140 times. Which sounds right, about every other day, 14,000rds of practice ammo.

Video from yesterday. Thanks Chris!

Went to the Miamisburg, OH Indoor match today. Holy Head Shot and partial craziness. They are not messing around with accuracy. A very different match than I was expecting. Scores show I took HOA. Not a perfect match for me, but it was enough to get the job done. Good news is that I learned some things today! Fun day, but it was darn cold in there. Hand and toe warmers are great! Indoor shooting brothered me at first, there's a strange echo. I was fine for slower shots, but when I really hammered down I got disoriented. After a couple stages I got use to it.

I've resisted posting in this thread as I have reshot a few classifiers this year. My experience has been that only the first reshoot is ever worth a darn. After that, my brain gets in the way by "trying". There's been several times where I've reshot, and it turned out worse. That's embarrassing. Some weeks I've got it, some weeks I don't. The classification system does a good job of leveling it all out. Look up your favorite GM's classification history. They aren't shooting every classifier 95% or better. They screw up too.

Sounds like a mean question, but its honest. I'm sure the award for high Lady will continue to promote involvement. Another question, will she be eligible for the High Lady Award as a GM? For that matter, are Junior GM's eligible for the Junior acknowledgements? This is a great accomplishment. I am truly happy for her, and hope this insipers other female competitors. Sorry for the thread jack with the noob questions.

I've been really working the dryfire this week. I'm destroying my old par times from last winter. Reloads in 0.9s, Burnett reloads in 0.6s. Small A-zone draw in 0.7@10yds. Blah blah blah.... Basic gun manipulation drills are getting effortless and smooth. Time to do drills that will make stages go better. Last night I finally started using the barricade/port I made. This will be awesome! Going Ohio Sunday for a small indoor match. Should be a good time. A little neverous about shooting an indoor match. I've never shot a compensated gun inside. I expect alot of side to side movement and ports. It looks like we are going to have a long winter. Lots of time to dry fire. Edit: Almost forgot, I made the Top 20 (Grandbagger) list. #7 Open M this month @ 93.99%. GM will happen soon, but I've got other goals in mind.

Take a look at how your weak hand is gripping the gun.

Comparing the two, there was no physical differences. One just wasn't strong.