alma

Glad you find it useful. Let me know if you have any topic requests.

Support hand info see here, second to the last post. http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=199368#entry2219710

My load for my Glock 34 used to be 147 gr Berrys 3.1 of Titegroup (3.2 if I am going to shoot a major match and want more cushion for the chrono. Around 1.14 OAL If you are having accuracy issues on tumbling try backing off your crimp.

The most recognizable difference I have seen is in the lightening of the bolt and other reciprocating parts as well as having an adjustable gas system. Since "working/battle" ARs would but a priority on reliability over soft shooting they tend to be overgassed to assure that the gun functions above all else. Most who tune gas systems have them set just far enough to lock the bolt back but nothing more.

Texas Star, Balance on hard leans, and finding your shooting positions I shot a match today at the Quantico Shooting Club. I have really enjoyed shooting at this club lately. It’s close to home, features some good stage design, and generally wraps up around noon instead of taking all day to shoot. The competitors included 4 Production Masters and one very solid A shooting among others. I was not overly pleased with my performance and felt I had several mental shortcomings on stages that I will describe below. I finished third in Production with a 93% which is better than I should have done given some of the errors today. Texas Star My squad started on Stage 2 which prominently featured a Texas star and a hard lean over a fault line among other things. This Texas Star has been set up for the last few months and even though it was close today I shot it worse than I have at this club to date. Mentally I feel like I just wanted to blaze through on it since I had done so well on it in earlier matches and I wasn't giving each shot the attention that it required. Luckily I didn't drop enough shots to force me into a static reload but it cost me a lot of time. There are two main ways to shoot a Texas Star. Regardless of which method you choose you should never ever start shooting from the bottom as doing so will really start the thing moving fast. Always start on the topmost plate. After taking the top plate you can chase the next highest plate and after shooting that down transition to the other side of the star to get the next highest plate which should be swinging up and about at its apex by the time you get there. Shoot that one and move to the other side for the next highest one, etc. The advantage of this method is that by taking the highest plate before gravity pulls is down the remaining plates will not be swinging as fast and should be easier to shoot. The second method, the one I usually use, is after shooting the top plate take out the next plate that is moving up and continue down on that side shooting the next plates as they swing into your line of sight. I find it much easier than chasing the other plates around the star since they come to you but the negative is that it can get the plates spinning much faster and it doesn't work as well if you don’t knock them off one after the other. I missed my first shot and a few others but likely since I had most of the plates above the axes knocked down already it didn't get moving too fast. A partial win on this part of the stage is having enough rounds left over to take the longer range static target without having to do a static reload. That left me at slide lock but slide lock reloads are no slower for me than a standard reload so it wasn't a problem. Balance on Hard Leans Immediately after the Texas Star and the first target there were two targets around a wall that could not be engaged without getting right on the fault line and leaning way over the fault line to shoot the near target. It’s possible that everybody does this and it’s just a natural thing but I like to make sure I have my leg on the opposite side of the lean working to balance me by “flagging” or sticking it out opposite of my lean to try to offset the lean and keep my balance centered as much as possible. I am pretty sure I picked this up from a short-lived rock climbing hobby phase in college but it absolutely works well on a lot of courses where it isn't only important to be able to shoot in a hard lean but you need to then quickly get back out of those positions to get back to shooting another part of the course. In this case I did put one round in the wood and leaned a bit too far so you notice me off side leg up in the air trying to get my balance centered and out of that position. It looks silly but it seems to work pretty well to get my momentum moving in the right direction. The next two targets were a bit tricky as well. If you waited too long to engage the inside target then it would have required another hard lean over the fault line so I tried to shoot it on the move, before getting to far down range. I did put one more round squarely in the wood giving me my only “Mike” for the day. I missed a mag grab on the magazine on my way to the last position. It kind of looks like I was going for the first pouch. I need to make sure that dry fire practice includes more reaching to the pouches other than just my first. Notice on my very last shot the leg coming up again to balance me as I leaned around the barrel. Again, I understand it looks stupid and awkward as heck but it works well for me and it’s not something that a consciously think about. The best time on this was 18.64. I ended up at 22.07 with one Mike. Disappointing way to start the match. Phil Strader shot Limited at the match today and his time on this stage was 14.80. Finding Your Shooting Positions Stage 3 challenging because it had two layers of staggered walls and it made you work to find just the right place to stop and shoot each of targets. Since the targets were moderate distance and the shots through the walls were tight none of the positions lent themselves to shooting on the move which would have been preferred. Having multiple set ups for one target here or two targets there quickly add up and stage times suffer dramatically. What is even worse is when you have to “hunt” for your shot if you aren't lined up exactly right when you stop to set up. With tight setups I generally try to find some type of visual mark on the ground that can move to where I know I will be set up to shoot the required targets. On this stage I was able to use the spikes on the forward fault line as my visual indicators. For the first move I needed to put my left foot just behind the first set of spikes and on the next two positions I needed to put my right foot just behind the next sets of spikes. I am happy with how it turned out. I was able to get set up in the positions and shoot without having to move around much to find and shoot at the targets. The only thing I would fault myself on is getting back out of those positions and starting moving towards the next. I think that during my walk through I was so focused on getting into the correct positions that I wasn't paying attention to starting my momentum for a smooth exit from those positions. It is especially evident on that last mag change going into the last position where it almost looks like I am doing an IDPA Flat Footed Reload before I move into position. Still, I was finishing my reload and came into the next position ready to shoot so it wasn't too bad. The plate rack on this stage was giving most shooters on my stage a hard time. It was set at some good distance so I was trying to focus on trigger control to ensure that I could get them down and avoid a static reload in this position. My time on this was 23.68 and I had good hits for a 96% to the winning time of 21.02. Better exits and going one for one with the plate rack is what I would have needed to take this stage. Phil's time was 16.84. Classifier The classifier was CM 99-13, “Quicky II.” I got my hits but really need to speed up with both the freestyle shots and the strong/weak hand shooting. My times were around 7+ and 10. I am not proud of that but it looks better than the last time when I shot this in 2005 when I had 19.09 and 102 points. Not much progress but progress nonetheless. http://www.classifiercalc.com/ is a great resource if you want to figure out how fast you need to shoot to have a good run for your target classification. On this one it looks like 13-14 seconds dropping a few Charlies is in the GM range. Phil's time was 11.42. When shooting strong hand and weak hand I prefer to shoot strong hand arrays right to left and weak hand arrays left to right because it's easier to pull the in towards your body than it is to push it away. For stage 1 I had the fastest time despite missing a shot on the steel. I racked up 3 Deltas which hurt my score enough to drop me into 3rd on the stage at 93%. Those three Deltas cost me a loss of 12 points so it's just a bit worse than hitting a no-shoot. I should not be shooting Deltas at that range. I was just focused too much at getting in and out and not enough on making sure my hits were where they needed to be too. Phil shot it 4 seconds faster (15.11 vs 19.10).

There are the Stoeger shotguns to consider as well.

Wish it could give you advice on the VMs but I am sure others will chime in soon. Just wanted to say thank you for your service.

Weak Hand Grip (IPSC 101) This is an old topic that I have commented on enough in the past that I wanted to document it here as I see this as a big problem for new shooters or shooters who have not learned the proper techniques. Getting a strong-hand grip on your pistol is pretty intuitive. Just make sure you are as high in the grip tang/beavertail as possible (so there is no gap) and you are likely doing it right. Getting a good weak-hand grip, however, seems far less natural and more elusive. Worst examples are people who use cup and saucer methods but even when your weak-hand is actually on the gun if it is riding too much no your strong hand and not enough in the grip it will be less effective and can even have a tendency to shift while the gun is recoiling. Getting your weak-hand grip high enough while not interfering with the slide stop can also be a challenge. Just getting a grip with your strong hand and letting your weak hand deal what what is left over doesn't work; you give your weak hand priority placement on your weakside grip and then bring your strong hand palm in afterwards to lock it in if you want your grip to be as effective as possible in managing recoil. I recorded the video below to try to explain and demonstrate this to another Enos user who was having difficulty with getting his front sight to "track" straight up and down and return to being one target.

One nice thing about shooting is that it will always be there waiting and doesn't mind of you occasionally put it aside to focus on other priorities. I had 8 years off to dedicate to my family. Other than knocking off the rust from my guns and skills I think making new shooting friends was the most difficult aspect of competition shooting for me to get back into. Although we only shot a few times I think you for being my friend and wish you well on your next adventure. I am someone who has always lived by simple faith as well. I think much of happiness is learning to appreciate and be happy and thankful for your circumstances as they are while always keeping one eye open and being receptive to taking new and perhaps unexpected directions when you presented with the right opportunities.

Multiple Target Drills for Indoor Ranges I was able to get out to the local indoor shooting range tonight to do a bit of practicing. Earlier this year I sold my old CED 6000 and picked up a ShotMaxx timer. The ShotMaxx is nice because it has an accelerometer in addition to the microphone. For indoor ranges that means that when you have it on your arm it works to only detect your shots without interference from any other shooters. Luckily the indoor range is USPSA friendly and has a lot of employees who shoot matches. It allows drawing from a holster and rapid shooting as long as you are capable of hitting what you are shooting at. As I said before I feel like I need to focus on being more accurate at speed. My default range session prior to this new effort was usually setting up a single target. and unloading into the A zone at various speeds. I have no problem knocking a hole out of the center of the target but consistency with speed was never were I would like it to be. I have brought a timer in the past but rarely used it. Being honest I just really didn't like what I saw on the timer so it was easier to be casual. I am doing my best to turn that around by being realistic with where I am and how I need to improve, even though I don't like it. After a couple of draws at 7 yards with some uninspiring times (around 1.10 to 1.26 first shot and 17-20 splits). Then I got into more 5 yard Dot Drills. Shooting each dot seemed easier this time even with the 5 second par time. I found myself shooting the dots in around 4 seconds whereas last time I was struggling to get my shots in with 5. I have changed my loads since last time and I am now running 147gr instead of 124gr bullets so that could have been a variable in favor of quicker follow up shots. The first shot out of the holster, the double action one, remains the most difficult. My times for first shot were around 1.5 for those 3 inch circles but I could easily shoot as late as 1.8 and still make the par time with the rest of the shots in Single Action. Garcia's dot drill is pass or fail and even at 5 yards I failed. I would say about 65% were inside the circles but the good news is that the others were not off by much. I started a second sheet of dot drills feeling much more confident which is why I pulled 5 of 6 of the shots on my second dot low, just under the dot. Change of pace; I stopped using the timer for the remainder of the drill just to make sure I understood what it felt like to break my shots well enough to get them into the circles. Counterintuitively the break of the trigger had much more to do with hitting the dot than the alignment of the sights ever seemed to. I like this drill a lot now and look forward to working this more next time. From here I transitioned to working on headshots in preparation for Area 8. As I mentioned above, one stage has only upper A/B targets which will require one hit each. One array in particular has four heads facing up, down, left, and right. Since the shooting range was out of USPSA targets and I wouldn't have been able to hang four anyway I resorted to using 3/5 post-it notes that I picked up from the dollar store to simulate upper A/B zones. The stickies make it really easy to patch holes as well wince you can just put new one on there. I shot this one quite a bit with one shot in each. I usually started on the bottom sticky and went around counter clockwise. My worst hits were consistently on the top target. It was your basic sweeping problem, the tendency to not get two good hits on a middle target of a three target array. In this case I just wasn't bringing the gun all the way up while going left to right. Realizing that helped. Times on this for 4 shots started in the fours but I was into the low 3s by the end of the practice. A good first shot and hit from the holster was about 1.25. Finally I set up two nine inch paper plates on the target and put it back to 9 yards to practice basic classifier skills: draw and put two hits on each. I use basic masking tape to patch the holes so I can see what I am hitting and to hang the plates. For not being able to set up multiple targets this seems to work very well. Of course now that I take a picture of the target set up this way it kind of looks like I am just shooting it in the boobs. Nothing special to report on shooting 4. Draws around 1.10 +-.15. splits around .20. Not 100% hitting those plates but of course actually looking at the sites seemed to help without really adding more time.

Just range diary or is it useful to cover techniques and other USPSA 101 topics? Hope all is going well, Esther.

This is what I see as well. When I have my x1 set to where it mimics a C-More my reticle is out of focus.

Eric, what have you seen as being the major barrier to good performance with a 1911? Is it accuracy (i.e. trigger control)? Reloads? Something else? It can take some time and a lot of dry fire to get use to the trigger on a new platform. Limited with a properly equipped 2011 would no doubt be more competitive once you get used to the platform. If you are looking to improve overall you might also consider some training classes. I think moving efficiently through courses of fire would help you much more than a new platform. Ken B. will be offering a class in November at Echo Valley Training Center in WV that you should consider.

If you want the lining you can look at the DAA PDR holster. https://www.dawsonprecision.com/CategoryProductList.jsp?cat=BELTS%2C+HOLSTERS+AND+POUCHES%3AHolsters:CZ+Holsters

Sometimes I just shoot until it runs out on purpose. Not during a normal field course. It usually happens on big steel arrays on stages that shouldn't be legal in USPSA. I am comfortable enough with slide lock reloads that I don't think it slows me down significantly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uOcofyXGPE&list=UUh6vnp0V06CfO1Jgyx5gZqw I do the same thing with my shotgun at 3 Gun matches. Where everyone else is counting rounds I just blast away with my A5 until it runs out, turn it over, quad load a couple of times into the tube and repeat. It works well since I never have to port load with that shotgun because of the auto load feature.

Practice for Area 8 - Transition Time Area 8 is coming up at the end of this month so, like most, as soon as I got the match book I went looking for unique things that should be a focus for practice between now and then. http://media.wix.com/ugd/ba4119_f0219809505648a6a5e34e53d35da09d.docx?dn=%222014_Area_8_Match_Book_2_AUG.docx%22 A few stages stand out. Although Stage 3 is not unusual persay it looks like it will be a high risk stage and may be very difficult depending on the distances involved. This prompted me to take some of the 1/3 scale USPSA targets from Ben Stoeger's Pro shop and mock up one of the arrays. I have been using this in dry fire practice by shooting it from the back of my laundry room, reloading, and advancing into a box near the middle of the room to engage a second time from the opposite direction. Some shooters will no doubt be going for only the upper A/B to avoid hitting a No-Shoot but for Production I think you would drop too many points on B hits but still risk misses using that strategy so I plan to man up and shoot between the No-shoots. Again, although the risk factor is high on the stage it isn't nearly as strange as Stage 6 and even Stage 8 which were both designed by Todd Jarrett. Stage 6 requires you to engage the upper A/B zone of 25 targets with one shot only. Stage 8 is a bit more tame as you get to shoot 8 steel and 8 classic targets requiring one shot only. I am really not comfortable with A/B zone shots. This is something that I desperately need to make some time to practice more in live fire to gain confidence to get one good shot on each. I don't doubt that many shooters will fire two shots on each A/B on purpose to make sure they are getting their hits but I don't think that is exactly a winning strategy. Again, this one is high risk because it's a smaller target which you could easily miss and you are going to have to take one shot, feel confident with that shot, and move on to the next one. Also, this stage is going to be a slow one and a low Hit Factor because of the number of targets. On low HF stage points are going to be relatively more important than speed. For a Production shooter that means that not only do you have to hit the head, it has to be an A. So if you are headed to A8, figure out what you need to see and do to confidently hit upper As. When practicing for this scenario using various scale targets around my basement I noticed that with the type of sight focus I was getting to hit the upper A zone I was tending to follow my sights all the way over to the next target. It was really, really slow and I usually couldn't find what I was looking for within a decent amount of time. As I am sure you know, as soon as you finish shooting one target, your eyes need to lead the way to the next target. Immediately move your eyes, and head to find the next target and let your gun catch up. If you follow your sight's to the next target then it will be slower and you have much more of a chance of overswinging the target. It seems like having only one shot on each accentuates errors with your target transitions. With a bit of dry fire practice focusing on finding the next target with my eyes first I was able to shave around 2 seconds off of a 6 target array of upper A/B shots. P.S. if you look carefully at Stage 6 you see that one of the targets towards the back of the stage actually has 4 headshots arranged like a four pointed Texas star. I doubt it moves but it still should be interesting to shoot.

Travis has a big fat magwell. It makes a big difference. Also, guess what? He doesn't always do that reload. Especially when he is running a field course he brings the gun into his workspace and under his line of sight to reload. Especially for a Production shooter I think trying to always reload with the gun all the way up and out is very counter productive. See any reload here:

I am just training for sport. But if I wasn't I would want to make sure that I actually got the magazine in the gun as fast as I could to get it operational again. for me, that entails bringing it down just a bit and a half a second if vision diversion to my magwell. I think its worth it. It would be even better to go find some cover but you won't catch me doing that each and every time I reload in USPSA just because it would be a better practice for the "real world."

yeah, that was a nice but subtle touch.

I disagree with the mentality that the gun should not leave your line of sight, shouldn't drop, etc. Some of the idea positioning for a reload are much easier to pull of if you have a big fat magwell instead if a Production Gun set up. To do a fast and reliable reload in Production you need to bring the gun in a bit closer into your "work space." But don't take my word for it; take a look at the first 4 seconds of this video:

Yeah, it looks super robotic. Smooth those motions out. None of this multi stage stuff. Move our support hand down as soon as possible and snatch your mag out of there. Don't waste time with your hand on the mag in the pouch. The long pole in the tent is usually getting that mag out, up, and in so that's not a bad place to focus.

Not related to the finger but you have three distinct segments to your reload that you should be trying to smooth out or eliminate. You are absolutely bringing the gun maybe just a bit too close.

Lefties definitely get a free pass. I guess it's nice that more guns have ambi controls as an option now.

I made this for another thread talking about finger placement while reloading but it works here too. You can see when I hot the release with my right hand thumb on my slide lock reload pretty easily.