alma

Also, any chance the 30 round rifle magazine restrictions will be lifted from the FNH rules for this match?

Why not mention PNTC on the design?

I am working on a N320 load now with 147gr X-treme bullets. Shot a couple of hundred a few nights ago that were 1.145 without any issues. I started with 3.4gr and I think I can reduce the charge a bit. I will be doing some chrono work this weekend and would like to see if 3.1 - 3.2gr will still make minor PF. I will report back.

Shouldn't be a difference in time, just consistency.

Ridiculous, petty, and a great example about how the open endedness of IDPA rules opens the door for these type of events. If the stage couldn't be rebuilt then throw the stage out of the match.

Great example for this discussion http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=199500#entry2212896

Just drops in. Need to adjust the overtravel screw of course

It doesn't seem as clear in the 3GN rules. Here is as close as I can find. 3.4 Additional 5 Seconds: Will be assessed for Firing shots through a vision barrier to engage a target. This will result in the target being scored with an additional penalty "Target Not Engaged' (rule 9.1.5 b, 9.1.8, 9.1.12) 9.1.13 All props, walls, barriers, vision screens and other obstacles are deemed to be impenetrable "hard cover". (rule 3.4)

I am still running the Nike Land Sharks. I have thought about Salomons but my cleats work well enough that I couldn't justify the extra expense and don't want to feel like I am chasing each and every trend. If any stage has a lot of movement on wood or something like that then I just put my running shoes back on for that stage but that rarely happens.

I am really liking the Seekins ATC. I also prefer how it's looks to the JP, Thunder, and etc.

Patrick, they sell eye and ear protection at the club house. Just come.

New option which works great especially if you use Steam for gaming on the PC http://shield.nvidia.com/gaming-tablet/

Dry-fire draw improvements About two months ago I picked up one of the more popular dryfire books, purchased a ShotMaxx timer, and started to follow some of the recommended drills and par times in the book. One of the first drills that I worked was a basic draw from the holster and getting a sight picture with a par time listed as "intermediate" at 0.90. It took me a little while to feel comfortable with this time and when I did get there I was just hitting the par time with no real time to spare. I continued for a few weeks to practice with this par time feeling like I was just hitting it without time to spare and then as I began reading more that said that for where I want to be it should be lower, I set my par time for .70. Amazingly after only a short amount of time I found myself able to hit this par time. After that going back to .90 seemed to leave me with a lot of extra time in my draw that I previously never felt that I had. One nice thing about the ShotMaxx is that if I set it to a sensitivity of "airsoft" and put it facing inside on my left arm it will pick up my dry-fire hammer falls. Last week I was cranking off some low .8s and the occasional mid .7. A few days past without practicing when last night I went down stairs to dry-fire and was constantly cranking out mid .6s with my lowest being a .62. I have never approached this speed on a draw, especially when getting the gun fully up to my line of sight. Other than practice and trying to stay relaxed I was trying to visualize really getting my gun up to the target quickly from the holster in a way that I had not previously done. While I was ecstatic about this progress it isn't something that gave me automatic parody during live fire so much more work is required. In live fire at 7 yards I was still between .9 and 1.10 for a first shot with my follow up shots usually leaving my with times between 1.15 and 1.25. I think the slow down during live fire is a combination of additional tension, additional pressure from expectations and being watched by others, the fact that I was swinging around a gun with live ammo, and a poorly lit indoor range where I have much more difficulty finding my sights. I learned long ago that no matter what the excuse the result is still the same so I will continue to work at getting my live fire times more consistent and lower even in less than ideal situations. If there is a moral to this story is that even if you feel you are at your best pushing your par time lower and raising your expectations can make a significant difference in helping you progress towards where you need to be.

First DOT drill I think tonight could count as my first actual live fire practice. Back when I shot USPSA match almost every weekend and a 22 caliber match a couple of times during the week I didn't really have a lot of time or feel as strong need to practice. I did the occasional dry fire focused in on single draw and click or mag change. Those were always without using a timer and were never very involved or regular. I am paying for that neglect now. It feels like my skills had gotten good enough to get me by well enough on full sized targets on average field courses. I think that is particularly of the reason for my stress on tight shots or upper A/Bs. I can hit them but not with the type of confidence that I need to progress to the next level. Tonight I stepped in for a quick 30 minute live fire session at my local in door range. After sighting in for a new load I did a few draws and some general plugging away at a fully sized target from 7 yards (what I pretty much used to always do during range time. I finally settled down to do an actual drill, Frank Garcia's dot drill. Ben Stoeger has some explanations about this drill on his website along with a page that you can print out with 8 2 inch dots http://www.benstoeger.com/index.php/drills/30-frank-garcia-s-dots The drill his you firing 6 shots into each circle with a par time of 5 seconds. It's amazing how short of a time that 5 seconds can actually be. I set the target at 5 yards and had perhaps 1/3 of my hit inside their circles. Generally I was pulling my shots low in an attempt to keep a cadence requires to hey all of my shots in under the par time. It really kicked my butt. A I way leaving the range the light bulb came on that I wasn't paying almost no attention to my trigger pull aside from overall finger placement. When I go home I looked again at Ben's page and of course he talks about the importance of trigger control with that being the central focus of the drill. It was a learning experience but will have to want untie next time for me to really see if I learned anything from it. As Ben suggest next to me I will try first next time without a part time to ensure I can put all the hits where they need to be

Looked like a really fun match BTW

I haven't noticed any additional maintenance retirements. The bushing comes out easily. Adds like 15 seconds to a full takedown. I don't really like the looks of the HAJO. Seems taller than I would prefer. No obvious deficiencies.

The draw: to scoop or not to scoop? One of the local shooters who is working hard to master the game attended a practice session with another great shooter. From her conversation it a great deal of the session was devoted to assessing and improving her draw. Her draw did have a noticeable pause at the holster as well as a few inefficient motions when coming from the holster to getting the gun on target. Her draw did dramatically improve from that session but she sent me a message asking my take on scooping. Essentially, there are two basic ways to grab the gun out of your holster. First, you can come down into your grip, pushing the palm of your hand into the grip tang before wrapping your fingers around the grip and then pulling your gun out of the holster and pushing it out to the target. The second method is the scoop. With hands relaxed at sides you would use a single upwards motion using your fingers to first hook the front of grip of the gun and you establish your grip on the way up and out of the holster. The scoop is just a bit faster (sorry that I don’t have exact numbers about how much faster it is) but comes with more risk. You are much more likely to “miss your grip” using the scooping method because you don’t have that positive pressure into the backstrap and tang of the gun that pushes your hand up and into where it needs to be. When you miss your grip then hits and speed could suffer on your stage as a result until you reload or otherwise readjust your grip. It’s also not unheard to end up throwing your gun down range in an attempt to quickly scoop it out of the holster. I don’t scoop. The minor gains in speed just didn’t justify the added risk or grip inconsistencies that I experienced. To properly use the grip first technique without spending too much time at the holster I recommended using more of a deliberate snapping motion to get my grip and get the gun out versus going down, grabbing, and coming back up. I quickly did the video below to give her an idea of what I was talking about. One helpful tool that I have found is that YouTube videos viewed at a desktop or laptop incorporate slow motion setting in case you want to see a bit better exactly what is going on. I find demonstration to be more more effective than written explanation alone so here is the video that I quickly put together on the topic.

Minimizing stage distractions where possible I am an honest person and will do my best to give others my honest opinion when requested. I also know it is very important to be able to admit myself when I am making mistakes. I have found videotaping my match performance to be invaluable to improving performance. When the timer goes off I feel like I loose all perception of time. I am just focusing on executing my plan, getting in that reload, moving to the next target, settling the sights and shooting my shots. It is amazing see yourself shooting. Things that you perceive as being very fast can be anything but; however, sometimes it takes an outside perspective to realize that. I like the various POV options that are out there now and I think you can learn some things from watching yourself on POV but you learn much more from an outside view of your shooting. This was stage one at the July Peacemaker National USPSA match. It was one of the stages where you had to shoot everything between a very narrow fault line. My basic strategy was first, to ignore the faultlines as much as possible for movement. Stage gimmicks like narrow fault lines are designed to draw your attention away from shooting and focus it one some other aspect of the stage. As much as possible you need to minimize those distractions or additional complications and just get to the shooting. With this stage in particular started with some of fairly close targets covered in tight simulated hardcover or no-shoots, followed by four medium distance targets with two having no-shoots, and a final position with two open and very close targets followed by 3 longer distance targets with tight simulated hardcover. My stageplan overall was to do my best to pretend the fault lines were not there. I switched out my cleats for my runnign shoes since I was planning on doing quite a bit of shooting from the wood, and I picked three spots in the course where I could separate and see all of the stage as three distinct target arrays. My plan was to take a few steps during the draw to set up for the first array, run to my second position while not worrying about staying within the lines, shoot, and run to the final position without worrying about the lines. There is no question that if the fault lines were wider that shooting the first 5 targets and a few others on the move would have been the thing to do but with the tight shots and narrow fault lines I instead chose to find those good spot to plant to reduce the overall risks associated with negotiating that tight fault line on targets which were also tight shots. My biggest regret shooting this stage will be obviously to see. I took my shots on the very first target which was a partial showing only about 3 inches of an A zone between two no-shoots and some hard cover, moved to the next target, and then decided to take a quick peak at the target I just shot and was moving from. Dumb move. My hits were right where I put them. I am going through some of Ben Stoeger books now and it is very obvious to me now that I need to gain a lot more confidence on taking tight shots (like upper A/B) quickly or while on the move. I don't frequently look for my hits and it is something I will certainly try my best to not repeat but gaining more confidence that I can hit on demand will help that greatly. My second regret with this stage is just that I didn't go as fast as I shot have on the medium distance targets. Again, I think this is a confidence issue. Looking at results from previous matches I tend to do much better on field courses then standards. I have identified needing to improve speed getting to the 7 to 10 yard targets and getting my shots off faster on them as being another key area where I need to focus if I am going to advance in this sport. I finished this stage 5th or 44 Production shooters with 24.22 seconds and 85.79% of the GM stage winner who finished it in 20.15 with 4 fewer points. Most of the other GMs or Ms were in the 22 or 23 range. Altogether, I am not unhappy with the performance but that still doesn't make it easy to watch the video. More to come later. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_ktfmYGPlw&list=UUh6vnp0V06CfO1Jgyx5gZqw

Introduction After a long time off I feel like I am officially back and competing again. My hope is that my range diary can not only help me to document progress and shortcomings along this next segment of my shooting career but that it can also be of some use for others who are also playing the game and looking to improve. Since this is out on a public forum I would welcome any feedback, or questions and will do my best to help others where possible. My introduction into USPSA happened early in 2002, back when Production was still a novelty of sorts. I bought my first gun, a Glock 19, enrolled in a concealed carry class and learned through the instructor that the local range hosted an action pistol competition each month. I figured that since I then had a gun and a CCW license I might as well learn how to use it well. In April 2002, I arrived at my first USPSA match armed with my trusty Glock 19 in a thumb break leather Bianchi pancake holster and two Fobus double mag pouches. I honestly can't remember a lot about my first year's worth of shooting except that I was fortunate enough to meet several other dedicated new shooters that helped me out immensely as we all tried our best to master the game. The local clubs also had a few very knowledgeable and helpful shooters who had been there and tried that at all levels of competition and who were more than happy to help out new shooters along the way. Within a few months I picked up a Glock 34 and retired the 19 to EDC duty. I made "C" class by the end of 2002 and was close to "B" class when I got an opportunity to shoot Production Nationals. I had no problem winning "C" class in Production which is not big achievement. What made the trip really worthwhile is that I traveled and shot with a shooting mentor of mine who was an "A" class at the time and I got to learn about how he approached a major match and how to really stage plan. By 2004 I was a high "A" I attended and won Area 1, beating out a well known "M" class shooter by the slimmest of margins (i.e. dumb luck). I was shooting well enough at club matches that even though the matches were small and dominated by Open and Limited shooters I would generally finish in the top 5 of all shooters combined, generally averaging between 80% and 95% of our local Limited GM's scores. I made "M" in early 2005 and made a conscious decision at the time to not push for "GM" because I didn't feel I had the extra time or capacity to devote to the additional practice and focus that I would need to go those last few percentage points. I got married in 2004 and in 2005 I moved to another city to start grad school. This was the beginning of the end of the first phase of my shooting life. That was somewhat solidified as well when I finished school and took a job in Northern Virginia in 2007. Around 2007 I tried shooting a match or two and I can say I walked away fairly embarrassed. Previously I shot almost every weekend and sometimes a couple of times during the week but after two years of doing very little I was making a lot of errors that I considered embarrassing and on top of that my once trusty Glock 34 started giving me problems. I really didn't have time or energy to even troubleshoot what was going on so I set it aside knowing that shooting would always be there waiting for me when I decided to pick it up again. Since that time my wife and I were fortunate enough to have two sons who have further cut into shooting time and I have tried to always manage my priorities such that my family comes first. I will relay some more details later about gear selection, making the change from Glocks to CZs, and my first few matches back in 2012 and how I feel more humble but more confident as a shooter now than I ever have before but for now I will say that I shot a few matches to get my toes in the water again in 2012 and 2013 but thankfully this year I have been able to attend at least one match a month which doesn't sounds like much but is a huge improvement on where I have been over the last 7 years. Part of the reason for this is that my boys are not quite as difficult as they once were so I don't have as much guilt when I sneak out to shoot a match. The second is that I saw one of my old shooting buddies running and gunning on the 3GN Pro series and decided that this year would be the year that I get serious again starting with 3 Gun competition. I will try to fill in more holes and background as I go with these posts but for now let's get into figuring out what the heck I am doing wrong...

A flat top upper That is what I ended up doing in the long run.

I have been down this road. You can get an extended cheek pad that get your head closer to the correct position for the scope (I thought I had one somewhere but can't find it right now). The biggest issue I had with that setup is the scope it so high that your point of impact on closer targets was way low and I never feet like I found a good compromise with sight in distance. Of you see obey shooting to 200 I recommend looking at the C-More scout sight adapter. It essential cowhitnesses the dot with the your irons.

I hope it's true but haven't heard anything.

I think Production will make you a better shooter. More emphasis on accuracy, reloading, and stage planning.

I think it's usually a drop in part. I am guessing you got the Type 1 Disconnector that shouldn't require fitting? I had the drop in one from CZC which did require a very small amount of work. There are several threads on here showing where to remove material to get resolve the most common issue. It might help if you describe what your gun is not doing with the new Disconnector in place. I am considering getting one of the CGW non drop in ones to further reduce my overtravel just because.

It sounds a bit like you have two questions in there. One about how many shoot multiple divisions and another asking if you shoot multiple divisions whether you shoot the same basic platform across all. My home had always been Production division with Glocks. Occasionally I would throw on a magwell and load up the 140mm mags but that was mostly for 3 Gun. I did build an Open Glock and ran that for several months and even though I don't think Glock is the best platform for Open, I do feel that I learned a lot and when I went back to Production I was better at calling my shots and moving between positions. More recently I switched to CZs in Production. I purchased a CZ TS in 9mm for 3 Gun to keep the basic controls the same even though there are a few major differences. I had been considering using my Production gun for 3 Gun and I purchased all of the magazines and other accessories needed to run it competitively but the trigger on the TS is so nice that I think I will keep using it for that game. I have Area 8 at the end of next month so this month I will be sticking exclusively to my Production gun until that match is over. Then I will pick up and run my CZ TS hard until the FNH 3 Gun match at the end of September.