ArrDave
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Posts posted by ArrDave
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Handle all the way down with a case in place or without?
Sent from an iDevice. Please forgive any grammatical or spelling errors. If the post doesn't make sense or is not amusing then it is technology's fault and most certainly not operator error. -
29 minutes ago, Aggieddad02 said:
You can always call Dawson with any questions you may have, they have always been more than helpful with questions I have had prior to ordering. If you decide to order then order online as you can save the shipping costs. Since the gun is "pretty well perfectly zeroed" you may want to leave well enough alone. If it ain't broke - at any rate best of luck with your quest
I want a narrower front sight that doesn't shear fibers quite so regularly. The Dawsons, in my experience, are gentler on the rods than this CZ front sight is.
I shot at some tuxedo targets this past weekend at 15 yards and it was a challenge to pick up on the air gap.
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I measured my OEM Shadow FO front sight height (measured the slide depth, measured to the top of the front sight, deducted the first measurement from teh second) and the height is coming back at .1645 (.165). The rear sight I'm running is the OEM shadow rear sight. Currently, my gun is pretty well perfectly zeroed for 124s and I'd like to keep it that way, does that mean the replacement dawson sight I shoudl order is the .165 in a width of my choosing?
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It's been mentioned before, but it's worth repeating - Check out Ben Stoeger's material. Buy his video Foundations or Training to Win and watch him shoot. The stuff of him shooting online isn't all that great but those videos have high production value and capture him doing what GM's do. That's the standard to which you need to judge yourself. His Dryfire book or Steve Anderson's (Refinement and Repetition) are both invaluable. Ben's serves as a good framework to get started, Anderson's provides a tracking log on the same drills that you can chronicle your improvement over time.
Again: I would buy Stoeger's dry fire book and his "Foundations" video for a good start in understanding what you should be doing and more importantly how you should be doing it.
Does your range allow you to work from the holster? If so you might try this drill
http://www.benstoeger.com/index.php/gallery/23-second-category/90-the-dots
Modify it by setting the target at 15 feet and get a shot timer/shot timer app and go from the holster to 2 shots on a dot in 5 seconds. Learn to feel what a good grip feels like when you break a successful shot, learn to observe what a good sight picture looks like when you hit the dot. Learn to only shoot when you see that sight picture, and not before. It's a lot easier said than done. Once you can clear a sheet at 2 per 5 seconds, advance to 3 shots per dot. keep progressing until you can clean 6 at 15 then move the target out to 21' and do the same.
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8/14/16
Well I was pretty pleased with how match day went. I put up a solid performance, if a little slow. I moved around a lot better than before. This match was incredibly accuracy intensive.
I started on Stage 6, which had some 25 or so yard poppers and some 12 yard or so mini poppers. I miked once I believe on the big poppers and 2 or 3 times on the mini poppers, enough to where I forced a standing reload, costing me time and the 2 seconds or so to actually reload the gun. The last array I don't think I could have entered any sensible way with more rounds in the gun as my order of engagement made me take 4 shots at 2 paper targets and left me with 7 shots for 6 mini poppers.
Stage 1 was a ridiculous standards stage, 3 strings, start in 1 of 3 back boxes and finish in the front box. Freestyle/Freestyle, Freestyle / Strong Hand, Freestyle / Weak hand. I had 7 mikes, which was actually average. A raw time of 57 was about 9 seconds off the leader, same points. My performance here buoyed me through tanking stage 5. It's amazing to think a hitfactor of 2.11xx was enough to secure 3rd for production on this stage, but whatever. I had a hard time staying loose/relaxed and shooting my sights for whatever reason, especially after the reload. I'm pretty confident most of my mikes were from shooting left handed.
Stage 2 - I was a little skittish taking headshots on the upper bit of the Classic target so I took my time, especially after the mikes on stage 3. My movement through this wasn't as smooth as it should have been. I didn't spend a lot of time walking through it and our squads were big (15 or so) so it was tough to get a "full speed" walk through, as a result I was about 2 seconds behind the guy who I believe won the stage for production. I'm starting to realize recognizing acceptable sight pictures for each target is costing me time. I'm over aiming at a lot of my targets, especially hoser stuff.
Stage 3 - Unloaded table start, mags on table. The stowing magazines went OK. charging the gun went OK, and the reload from the table went well. Movement was pretty good getting to the front shooting area. The 3 windows we had to shoot from caused awkward leans. THere are 2 more paper targets I could have taken from the initial shooter box at about 12 yards, but it would have caused a standing reload in the box, it took a while to find the targets and I over aimed at all of them (approx 8-12 yards)
Stage 4 - This went OK for me. The left array was particularly crowded, I could have engaged one of the targets from the initial shooters box at about 12 yards and saved one of the leans. Kind of had to get into the boxes to access the targets. The targets from the center window were at approx 25-30 yards, did well on those one 2A, two A close C, and one A D (lucky mike, heh).
Stage 5 - Tried to shoot my sights on this one and over aimed a good bit. Rob Romero of 3GN fame was there and he recommended starting on the short side with the harder lean then transitioning to the strong side lean as it's easier to reload the gun moving to your strong side, and he recommended drawing on the second target and starting moving "shooting out of" the position. At this point I had my stage plan and just went with it. On the 5th target from the first side I dropped a shot for a 2A NS (didn't call it), then first target on the support side I called a mike onto the NS and took 3 to save the mike. I definitely over aim at partials, next week I'm going to shelf my dots drill and rail on some partials at different distances.
Big take aways-
- Work on shooting while moving - dropped too many charlies doing this on 3-5 yard targets.
- Work on shooting partials
- Insist on more time walking the stages to get a few full speed runs in, it really helps me visualize the stage having run it at full speed. Tough to do in the congo line environment, but I need to figure it out. Not that I didn't have adequate time, just that I didn't hold up the line long enough to get a full speed run in.
- A little more respect for steel than I've been giving it.
- Continue to emphasize movement between shooting positions.
- Cleats are awesome.
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It can get expensive both in time and money. Sometimes feels hard to put the brakes on but shooting will always be there.
Yeah..., I'll just save my pennies next month and build back up some savings/goodwill and knock out a few of her projects.
It's amazing how quick the goodwill for completed projects burns off!
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8/12/16
Match day is tomorrow, GA state section is 2 weeks from tomorrow. Work has absolutely kicked my ass since my last match, throwing off my dryfire/livefire practice schedule somewhat. That said, I did get some good reps in focusing on my movement and exiting positions as well as coming into position with the gun up. Hopefully that pays off on the field courses.
Dry fire - picked up just 5.5 hours since the last match. my "Ideal" practice schedule should have netted 7.5 hours. so over the past 3 weeks I missed 4 days of practice, I've had 3 deadlines at work since then and that usually nets a couple 5AM days apiece, so that's unsurprising. Usually when that happens I let myself sleep in to 7A on the weekends (which means 6:20-6:30 A really since my 5 year old routinely asks "It's morning time but it's still dark out, why?")
Live fire - I did get my 3 live fire sessions in thanks to going to the range with a neighbor last weekend at my wife's urging, although that might not be as productive, I'm going to attempt to catch some more time at lunch today.
Starting to catch heat from my wife as a XL650 (planned purchase) and a deposit on a Stoeger class (unplanned purchase) happened within the past 4 weeks. Attempting to balance home renovations projects, family time, and my own hobby. I'm afraid I just ran up a deficit. The timing on the Stoeger class was very unfortunate, but I wanted to lock down a spot, I suspect I'll be "paying" for that for the better part of a year easy. So it goes. After the GA Section I'll probably take some time off.
I also managed to get a bad cramp/pull a muscle in my neck yesterday, so I'm a bit stiff today, much better, hopefully tomorrow I won't need to use any OTC pain relievers for the match... still pretty tight, but in dryfire this morning it wasn't too bad.
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Which is more accurate, easier to handle from an ergonomics standpoint and/or customizable in regards to triggers etc.? I am in CA, so SP-01 Shadow variants etc. are not available to me.
Get a CZ 85 combat if you can't get a sp01 or shadow.
I would rather have the enhanced frame on the SP01 (Beaver tail, relieved trigger guard, beveled magwell) than the baller non FPB trigger. the swing foward on the FPB's isn't that big of a deal, with comp hammers the break is the same.
Granted, I prefer working on the non-FPB guns more than the the FPB (1 less roll pin, 2 less springs, no lifter, easier to get at the firing pin), but if you had to pick, I would pick the enhanced frame over the baller trigger.
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I'm shooting through a few pounds of the stuff I picked up. I quite like it so far in 9mm.
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Had a chance to try Call it and Leave it last night and realized my set ups are not the greatest, I want to hit this in dryfire over the next two weeks, aside from the Quick Step/Position Entry drills from the Ben book, what are some of your favorite DF drills to work on position entry?
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Don't get sucked into the "shoot the stage the way the M's are shooting it" trap. They know what they can hit, and how long it will take them. They know if they can take a target near a noshoot at 10 yards on the move and they have the patience not to break that shot until they'll get a clean hit. That might even mean aborting their movement and hitting the brakes long enough to get that hit. Younger guns usually don't - they'll settle for a hopeful sight picture and, well, hope.
Plan like a less skilled shooter. Get as close as you can to each target. Especially when there's a noshoot nearby.
Sprint faster than you currently jog, set up efficiently, shoot, downshift, and haul it out of there. Avoid shooting on the move unless you know you can hit A's and close C's almost as quickly as you can do it stationary. Shooting on the move usually shaves only 0.5-1.0 seconds, so it doesn't pay off in many cases if your hits suffer. Shooting clean is mandatory. Shooting fast is preferable. Notice which one of those has a higher priority.
You don't seem pissed enough at your inaccuracy. Anything that isn't an A/B/C should be regarded as a total pooch-screwing in Production. Both because of minor, and because the make up shots you SHOULD be taking to fix this can jack with your stage plan.
You had two flat-footed reloads that may have been avoidable - hard to tell from video. A standing reload is roughly equivalent to a mike. Avoid at all costs.
Just remember, in Production you go as fast as you can, but you have to have the points. Otherwise you can make it to the endzone ahead of your buddies and look great on youtube... but you left the football back at the 20 yard line. It doesn't count.
I appreciate the insight.
RE: The M stage plans - Both WTTurn and the other folks I'm alluding to in the recent match all ran simpler stage plans with easier engagements. They shot the targets the easiest way they could to shoot alphas the fastest way they could, none of the stuff they were attempting was outside my current level of skill. I would attempt stage plans that made more sense academically forcing longer shots with a greater likelihood of charlies, while they would try to set up in the best position to ensure alphas on everything. I take your point in not planning above my level of skill. Big 10-4 on the "less skilled shooter" bit
RE: Accuracy - my accuracy was actually "OK" all things considered. WTTurn won production that day and shot 128 alphas, I shot 113 w/ 4 D's and 5M's. 4 of my 5 mikes were running by targets, 1 M was missing a call on a on a NS partial where I dropped a shot into the NS. a couple charlies were likely due to my stage plan on Stage 2 being "over my head" and taking 10-15 yard shots on targets I could have just as quickly, if not more quickly, engaged at 5-7 yards. Another C/D pair was a hard lean on Stage 1 that I should have nixed in my stage plan, and setting up in that lean probably cost me more time then engaging it from further back. All of that to say mitigating the bad stage plan stuff I do think my accuracy was OK. #2 in production was A107 B0 C35 D3 M2. My big match killer was the targets I ran by. The no shoot didn't help but was survivable.
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Don't sweat stage planning errors too much at this point.
I developed a reputation as having the goofiest stage plans imaginable in my first year of Uspsa.
It just comes with time and lots of stages under one's belt.
Just straight up ask people what their plan is at local matches and they'll tell you. Along with the reasoning behind it. It all comes down to execution in the end anyway, so most of us will share plans.
Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk
Will do. Got Cherokee 2nd saturday, looking forward to that rolling into GA Section.
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they all went second strike. Still getting used to it.Have you tried firing the CCI that had the light strike? Didi they fire? Then you are not seating at the full depth.
Pull the handle forward, raising the shell plat and cases into the dies. Push the handle forward to owers the shell plate.
I continue to the point where the shell plate rotates, slightly pause to allow the shell pate to complete rotation, the give a firm push on the handle to seat the primer.
The more you use this process, the more "feel" you will have for the primer being seated. Primers that don't feel right will be very evident.
Sent from an iDevice. Please forgive any grammatical or spelling errors. If the post doesn't make sense or is not amusing then it is technology's fault and most certainly not operator error.
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At this point I've test fired about 200 cartridges I've made on my fancy new press... I've had some light strikes on CCI's - my Shadow will cook off S&B's no problem, so i suspect my issue is seating depth. In speaking with another 650 owner at the range, he suggested that my shell plate might be too loose, and it very well might be.
What are some "best practices" to ensure proper seating on primers on the 650?
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I put mine in a drill and chamfered the end with a file. Problem solved.
I put a 45 on mine, but yours also sticks out of the die further than mine, I'll try lowering it too.
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How do you keep the decapping pin from holding onto primers? I put about 1000 rounds through it assuming that it would eventually "wear in" and the issues would go away, but they haven't. Now that I've upped my game to a fancy blue 650, I'm more concerned with primers not letting go. Any tips/tricks to make this die punch out primers and not embrace them?
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I missed the last update ArrDave (A96933) - Production
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7/24/16 - Post match summary
Well I had 1 stage go what I felt was appropriate yesterday.
Getting excuses out of the way - I picked this week to come back to the gym, so my whole body was sore and I was on Tylenol, but that kind of puts me in a fog and I couldn't get my head in the game. On the classifier my magazine didn't drop free - that's on me for not appropriately wiping down my mag bodies.
What went well - Accuracy went well and I would suggest that getting hits wasn't slowing me down so much as bad stage planning. The stages were pretty complex in nature and had a lot of hidden targets. I ended up running by 2 targets for 2 Mike FTE - that really puts a damper on your style lol. I couldn't get my speed turned on. Now I understand why folks get baseball cleats, and I'll have some before GA State.
The good news is I saw my sights on each shot, the only call I didn't make was an Alpha Mike No Shoot.
The good news - My squad was excellent, mostly production shooters. There was one Canadian guy running an SVI Infinity sight tracker limited gun, so that was awesome, and he was super fast - really fun to watch. I learned a lot on how to break down stages from them. The bad news is I never got convicted of my stage plans and that lead to running by 2 targets on the day. That was a really positive take away.
Breaking down a stage for production - you have to reload a lot. Alphas are REALLY important in minor scoring, so set yourself up for success and use shooting positions that optimize the chance for getting alphas quickly. Rarely is it to engage targets from the back of the bay. Stage 2 for instance - I ran my plan which involved a lot of longer range shooting than the guys who won the stage - who shot only what they had to to pick up all the targets and advance up the bay. By advancing they were giving themselves a lot easier target presentations and were able to run it 10 seconds faster than I could.
All day I was having issues on steel - my chest/arms were real sore from the gym and I caught myself pressing out too far and over transitioning and over pulling the trigger on steel. No more upper body on thursdays before a match. Figured that one out.
On the classifier the magazine didn't drop free on string 1 - I learned I need to do a better job of cleaning my mags after a stage, and maybe get a mag brush. Lesson Learned. According to Classifier Calc I'm at 62% due to my little magazine issue.
It was a really fun day, I wasn't happy with my performance but I learned a lot. I look forward to the next one.
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7/21/16
Rather than just doing updates after matches, I'm going to do "progress reports" leading into matches, then recaps afterward.
Stages were posted for my monthly USPSA match. As I was entering my morning dry fire into my Lanny Bassham approved performance log, I figured I would pull down some stats leading up into the weekend match.
First, practice time in dry fire/live fire... since my last club match (my 2nd proper USPSA match, not counting the two indoor matches), I've put in just over 7 hours in dry fire. I've sent 922 rounds down range (yeah, I have a log to track part wear/replacement, deal with it), and of those 187 were in weekly IDPA matches I still run. At this pace, I've fallen short of my optimum dryfire schedule (about 10 hours a month), but exceeded my live fire practice regimen by about 25%. In fairness, work's been killing me and I managed to get 2 stitches in my dominant hand palm. I need to target one hour plus session on saturday mornings prior to the family getting up, that's a really great time to get some quality reps in.
I've centered my focus around dry fire in getting my eyes to the target where I want to hit and bringing the gun to that point. It's seemed to pay dividends so far. Also in practice I'm staying very aware of how tensed up my shoulders are and how much I'm punching the gun out. If I over extend the gun my transitions stop being smooth and start being jerky. This is more prone to happen in complex series of movements, like turn and draw or position entry drills. I'm also paying attention to the sensations in my hands, wrists and elbows as I grip the gun. When those are "just right" the trigger finger doesn't try to do any recoil management and I can let it fly accurately. Other issues I'm concentrating on is setting the angle of the mag well properly on reloads and the grasp of the magazine on my belt to index properly. If I index on the magazine properly there's an extremely high likelyhood the reload will be very fast and smooth, only missing when the mag well isn't presented to the magazine properly. If I miss the grip on my magazine on my belt, it's about a 50/50 shot of slowing the reload down by about 2 or 3 tenths. I'm on the cusp of having a breakthrough in reloads.
In live fire, I'm paying really keen attention to my sights lifting and attempting to call shots. I've dropped back on the Dot drill and doing 3 shots per dot at 15' until MASTERY where I can hammer out a sheet of dots clean on demand before progressing to 4 shots per. Previously I'd advance to another shot on a dot as soon as I cleared a sheet. Historically, I would delude myself with my level of ability so I'm trying to be honest with myself to the greatest extent possible. to that end....
My initial classification came back. 57.56%, high C class - that's two 51's, a 60, and a 66%. I have the chance to break into B class this weekend with a total hoser of a classifier CM06-03 Can You Count.
https://www.uspsa.org/classifiers/06-03.pdf
According to good old classifier calc I need to shoot 96 points in 8 seconds for a 72% (which is definitely within my ability). If I get that next database roll will get me into B class, which I guess is good thing for my progression as a shooter, but I'd be giving up a strong chance at a good finish in C.
So for the last month, I need to ratchet up the dryfire and hit that 10 hour mark, if not beat it and see if I can't put another few hundred rounds down range in prep. I've got one more USPSA after this weekend match prior to the GA State Section 8/28...
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7/11
Shot our little weekly IDPA match, was 2/27 - lost by 6 seconds to a distinguished master on 4 stages. I was 1-2 seconds slower than him per stage but usually a point or two more accurate so typically about 1 second slower. There was a stage with 2 bill drills on 17 yard targets and I held low on both targets and as a result had huge points down, so it was 6 seconds and not 3-4 seconds. Went well just focused on seeing my sights on each target and whatever the speed was was what my speed is.
Just came back from live fire testing a new load. 4.1 grains of WSF makes about 975 avg out of a shadow at the muzzle loaded out to 1.065, using the power of math I need to goose the load to about 4.4 to get it to 1060 at the muzzle (via magnetospeed chrono). In other news, 4.5 grains of WSF makes 1066ish behind a Bayou 124 RN profile. I like the Acme profile better, it's easier to load with and not shave the coating accidentally. The price on the Acme's is a little better due to discount codes. I didn't do any serious group shooting, but just measuring the acmes they're very consistent diameter, the top to bottom varies about as much as the bayous (+/- .007). The acmes appear to smoke a little less, likely due to not shaving coating any.
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ArrDave,
You can only get answers from people for what they know. and you're getting answers from people who load to a minimum power factor floor for USPSA/IPSC/IDPA. That is why you're getting recommendations for heavy bullets. People in reloading forums are often taught that heavier bullets recoil less. The complete truth is that heavier bullets recoil less at the same power factor. Once you start comparing bullets of different weights at different power factors, that is only a trend. And you once 115gr bullets' power factor is not that far below their 147/165 grain counterparts, the lighter bullet will start having the softer recoil.
And YOU are NOT talking about your wife shooting with a power factor floor where you are trying to get softest recoil at minimum power factor. You're talking about getting the recoil as light as you can get with the pistol still functioning properly, regardless of bullet weight. With a semi-automatic pistol, whether or the not the pistol is going to cycle properly is dependent on whether or not the cartridge will produce the necessary slide velocity. And given the same powder, the softest recoiling loads that will produce the necessary slide velocity to run the gun at 100% are accomplished with the lightest bullets.
In Steel Challenge, where there is no power factor floor, you will sometimes find people really trying to game it with 90/95/100 grain bullets and light recoil springs. And if you REALLY want to go as soft as possible for your wife, you could go that route, as well. I'm pretty sure there's a 90 grain XTP if you want to spend the money. And I know Ibejiheads.com has 95 and 100gr coated lead.
I thought about going the 90 grain 380 projectile route... my thought process was that the 45 bullseye guys all took the same charge for their 230 ball ammo and use a 200 grain or 185 grain LSWC and talk about how light they are. I think I'm on to something with lead 115's and a fast powder, now it's just a matter of figuring out how low I can go on charge weight and have the gun cycle. I need to order some lighter recoil springs from CGW.
I was using the recoil calculator on handloads.com to at least understand the mathematical recoil of each load being offered. So far, the 115 load with minimum 700x charge is the lowest by a good bit, according to that site. I compared my 147 gamer load to my 124 gamer load and out of the shadow, they're nearly identical numerically, which echoes my experience with them as well.
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I'm trying to get my wife into a larger caliber than 22. I'm trying to make a load that will just barely cycle my action and be "accurate enough" for her to plink with at 5 yards.
I've got a CZ SP01 shadow with an 11# RS
Powders on hand - 700x, 231, Titegroup, WSF
Thought - I have a Lee Auto Drum so I can meter small charges of 700x, so I'm thinking like 3.2 (tenth below published) grains of 700x behind a 115 grain projectile pushing MAYBE 875 FPS.
Am I off base here? Is there anything you can think of being softer?
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Thank you for the feedback. With respect to IDPA, etc, yes I've been shooting an idoor IDPA match for about the past 3 years, I've "taken it seriously" for the past 18 months or so, but didn't realize quite how to "take it seriously" with out the context of actually having shot USPSA. To this point I've shot 4 IDPA outdoor matches (all sanctioned), a bazillion indoor IDPA matches, 2 indoor USPSA matches and 2 outdoor USPSA matches. not looking for pats on the back moreso making sure my analysis of where I need to be directing my efforts line up with more seasoned folks.
RE: the belt - when I say the belt I mean the whole shooting match (DOH hanger, mag pouches, I/O Belt) - I'm going to order the $270 boss belt from the BSP by EOY. I might get the I/O belt you mentioned to have on hand to build my single stack belt too if I decide to play around with it again.
On Stage 4 (first one in the video), the M who won production that day shot the same array first like I did, he reloaded, took the two targets on the left on the move, then finished up as you describe. Another squad mate did this (he shot after me) and I immediately realized the error of my ways because my accuracy was not what it needed to be (like 3 targets were 2 charlie)
Noted on transitions, that was my very first stage shooting at classics, ever, wasn't super confident with where my hold needed to be so there was a lot more visual confirmation on each transition than was probably necessary. That was one of my big takeaways from the video as well.
Splits - again I'm about 4 live fire practice sessions into using USPSA tragets so i'm still figuring out what I can get away with, in IDPA you get so heavily penalized for missing zeros it behooves you to do more aiming.
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it.
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Russell, the SA is a much better frame than the 75b DA/SA:
Note the ambidextrous safeties/mag release and the longer, much more comfortable beavertail
And enlarged mag drop, relieved trigger guard. I'd still recommend a shadow over any of the block models if you're going to get into competition if that's at all an option.
Just Call Me Charlie Mike
in Range Diary
Posted
Heavy is the head that wears the crown, #13 in the nation (in C class) as of today's database roll
Sent from an iDevice. Please forgive any grammatical or spelling errors. If the post doesn't make sense or is not amusing then it is technology's fault and most certainly not operator error.