ArrDave

Seriously even if it doesn't fix your magazine issue, taking the gun apart with the stainless mag brake is much more enjoyable.

Is it when partially loaded or empty? I put the stainless brake in my FPB guns because the sheet metal one is the devil.

My last name starts with BL - I shoot first on pretty much every match I shoot and I shoot top of the order at every club match at least once, sometimes I get a break, but rarely. I'm going to load up my practice magazines the night before and have them ready to swap out when I'm the last shooter, then just throw them on my belt as I grab my kit and run to the next stage, catch up on mag maintenance when I actually have time to.

TLDR: I zeroed two stages, one for failing to reload mags and one for failing to shoot a strong hand string with my strong hand. Issues due to being too cerebral when the buzzer goes off, not gripping hard enough late in the stages and too much tension causing inaccuracy Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I haven't compiled my Area 6 video because i'm so disgusted with my performance. My mental game hasn't caught back up since my Stoeger class so I've had a couple lousy matches in a row. A quick analysis now that the pain has subsided from underperforming. I noticed that I had two HUGE things screwing me up. The first is being overly cerebral. If you’ve read any of this crap you probably know that about me purely reading this jazz and my penchant for descriptive words. That’s affecting me because when you see this video, you’ll see my mentally directing my movements and kind of processing rather than just running the routine I’ve programmed in and trusting my skills. This is causing me to be slow on a couple accounts – wide transitions it’s obvious, as well as processing sight pictures – aka throttle control. It also causes me to miss positions. The further on in the stage it is the more likely the performance is deteriorating. The second thing is grip tension and overall tension. My grip relaxes after that first reload or second – if I have a mike in the stage it’s usually not in the first magazine. As I move through the stage the tension builds in my shoulders/arms causing me to start to throw shots I should make easy. More on that later. Preface - work has been rough. I had a fire spring up last week and I couldn't make it down to the range to walk the stages the days before. I was in the office until 8:40PM Thursday evening – good news is it helped me sleep like a baby because the match wasn’t on my mind at all – first time that’s happened. Tried to make lemonade and get to the range at 6:30A which was my guess at first light. The first couple stages I walked via cell phone flash light and got decent plans. Started on Stage 11 – Will It Run I was first shooter of the first day – I had a couple mental hickups and was a little slower and deliberate, a couple too many charlies (26A 6C) – not horrible but not my best – acceptable. Felt good going in the next one. Stage 12 - Standards stage – 6 open targets at 20 yards, 6 tuxedos (3 on each side) ranging 12-15 yards. String 1 - 1 on 6 targets freestyle – reload – 1 on the remaing 6 strong hand only. String 2 – same deal but weak hand only after the reload. My strategy was just go left to right on string 1 and right to left on string 2. I think that the freestyle zebras one hand the open targets was probably a little faster plan. As it is, this was my best stage. I had a HF of like 3.29xx and #16 of 1XX in Prd – but I was about 8 seconds too slow bullseying everything. I probably could have just broken 30 seconds. Not bad in fairness. Stage 1 – Running down a dream – shoot house stage. This went OK on time and not great on points. I had 1 mike and 2 D’s. The mike was when I “double tapped” a target, so it was an A/M in the second position – was really dumb – target was probably 11-12 yards. The D’s were on 20ish yard targets – grip breaking down + lean not great but not the best. Wide transitions REALLY slow me down and I missed the last position. I’m a tall dude and I don’t need to be squatting unless I absolutely had to. Decided to do that to mitigate a noshoot I had to shoot past through a window. Should have just trusted my skill. The supers did it in 24-25 seconds. I did it in 32 seconds – There was probably 4-5 seconds in wasted time on longer transitions and not darting my eyes on those two wide transition positions. I was 2nd to last and my magazines got real sandy – had to clean em quick. Ran down the hill to catch a walk through on the next stage, we’ll load them later. Stage 2 – Brutal truth – one of the trickier stages that paralyzed you with options. Had a good plan – had my walk through. Grip being lazy caused misses on mini poppers. Not filling magazines caused me to completely ignore the last position – BLAZING FAST TIME (lol) – all the mikes/FTEs ended up causing me a zero. I had moved my unshot magazines forward and topped off my mag with my ULSC round so I thought I was ready to rock and wasn’t. Stage 3 – Find it – I had bad points – likely due to not enough grip pressure – 1 mike due to a barrel strike and 2 D’s. I moved around the stage OK for me but in the last position did not manage throttle control at ALL. Total bullseye mode in the last position. The theme so far is my grip is inconsistent and I remember realizing that here. Stage 4 – Wasted Youth - Bunch of ports – I’m tall enough to just barely make them be a pain in the ass. The second position in the port I had abysmal accuracy – 2 mikes 2 D’s – I totally missed a position on a wide transition and had to adjust – so probably 3 seconds there. Fast dudes under 20, I was 27. Realistically I should have probably expected 23-24 seconds with better points had I connected. Stage 5 – Monkey Barrels – terrible memory stage all magazines started on barrels. I shot all the targets – slowly. Ended up with 2 mikes due to barrel strikes and bad grip. Really starting to realize what’s going on with my accuracy. Stage 6 – Blind Pew – a 2 position medium course with a big steel array – 2 lonely papers and some more poppers with a clam shell. So straightforward I had no problem ended up 73% I think I had one makeup on steel. Shooting steel is an issue for me because the only time I get to is in matches. Stage 7 – Black Spot – Similar to the other stage but with a plate rack. 2 makeups on plates due to how the gun was sitting in my hand. 68%. These two stages are probably most representative of “where I’m at” 70-75% of the top dudes. Stage 8 – Hold my beer – carnival stage. Shoot one array with activator, reload strong hand only. I was starting to mentally check out at this point – shot the second string freestyle. 10 penalties. ZERO! Stage 9 – thrown out. Stage 11 – Six Sixty Six - I decided I would run the most aggressive plan and attempt to just burn it down because the match was basically done anyway. I had 3 mikes and a pretty good time (both on the clock and from a fun perspective) I saw 2 of the mikes happen and remember them but I was commited to swinging for the fences on this one. It ultimately netted a 57% run – which is silly. Realistically had I shot it would have been a second to two seconds slower and I’d probably been in that 70-75% band again. With 2 zeros I was 54% in production. Playing the “what if game” had I not zero’d 2 stages and shot the final stage seriously then I probably would have been in the 65-70% band. I had a goal of shooting better than 80% on the match. Yeah – that was WAY too aggressive. Dudes I shoot with who are GM’s were high 70’s. 70% would have been an achievement given my level of participation and time I’ve got into the game so far. But now I know! Big take aways – Grip discipline – I’m seeing what I need to see when I decide to pull the trigger but my grip isn’t there. My post shooting routine is updated. I’m going to go ahead and fill 6 extra magazines and keep them in my range bag. If I’m faced with that situation again I’ll just throw on the new magazines after I’m immediately done – shoot the next stage – then deal with my magazines. I’ve got the magazines in the bag anyway, might as well use them. I need to figure out how to shoot matches in “match mode” and stop being so damn cerebral. This is the biggest thing costing me time (decisiveness moving, decisiveness on wide transitions and throttle control) I’m going to take a little time off and work on my head a bit. I think I had too much invested in my identity as a shooter and less in my approach to shooting

I would suggest not the Ghost Thunder/stinger. I had one, and I would suggest the value scaled appropriately from the ghost up to the next one.

I've got this in one of my shadows - there is still some slack in SA, but greatly reduced from the standard disco. The SRTS almost eliminates it entirely.

You probably have made a call already but I can comment on the Ghost vs the racers. I cracked my ghost pouch body in the first position after 5 month with daily dryfire practice. I would beat my chest and brag, but I know of another guy here locally with the same issue. The 360s break the bond between inner and outer belt and the base is pretty wide. DAA racers are new to me, when going bullets out be sure to locktite the nut/bolt on the side of the body. The racers do not break the bond with the inner belt, are slightly more adjustable, adjustable for retention without tools, and most importantly provide great retention but a very smooth release when it's time to let go. Easily justifying the 6$ price tag difference per each. Eventually I will abandon the 360s, but right now my first two pouches are racers and the rest ghosts Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

*can't* rather Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I go bullets out... but didn't locktite the nut down... managed to lose the nut\bolt for the side spacer in practice. Anyone know the best way to source replacements or had to replace them at a hardware store? Easter Sunday so I can head out and try to find replacements so figured I would ask here Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Where do you get one of those that's not $250, or get access to one?

How do you measure grip strength and how much is "good" other than "more" Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

With fatter magazines I would feel more comfortable, but these things cant the mag away from the body and make it look, to me, nearly illegal. Measured from the point of attachment and not the top of the holster the magazine is right at about 2" from the inner belt. Anyone shot majors with these in prod bullets out? I broke a ghost pouch recently so i upgraded the first two to DAA in hopes of not breaking a pouch again. See pics below Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My shadow wore a groove in the sight channel that started being a crack. GHOST made it right and sent me a new one but I am in no rush to try again Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So I swiped a P-01 Omega and am thinking about gaming it for fun after area 6 just for a match. Debating trying production vs. limited minor - was leaning toward production - so I checked the list and none of the omega models are on the list. How does that work? Can you legally shoot an Omega variant of the approved list in Production? The P-01 shows up on the list as the P01... any clarity on this?

Nope. Sits right on top of the slide pin where it enters the frame. I could honestly see this working on a glock frame, because I did it when I shot glocks.

This article says you shouldn't cam your wrist forward like that - you lose too much grip strength. I can't keep my thumb welded to the frame.

The article was interesting. For those who haven't got it yet - the "Gist" is that your support hand should have a "handshake" natural cant, not a strong forward cant, and most of your power should be on a 45 down and into the bore. It seems better suited for LIM/OPEN. I shoot a CZ and just tried this at the range. I couldn't comment that it helped because after 2 or so shots my thumb would shake loose from my Shadow. My thumb was basically resting where the slide stop enters the frame. In a longer string of fire I would lose the thumb on frame connection. On a Glock, I could see this being viable because of the little shelf it has. Do any production shooters use this "opposable grip" indicated in the current front sight?

I've heard several things stating Cajun parts being PRD legal, but can't find anything on the USPSA site stating such, where are you finding these to be legal? The bushing - I could see them accepting since you cannot buy a replacement bushing from CZ-USA and it's basically an internal part. Hammers... i cannot see how they would make that production legal. The intent is for production parts, until production shops started releasing race hammers themselves, but the CGW race hammer is in no way associated with USPSA. I'd love some clarity on this - is this something you just email DNROI and he emails you back and you keep that email in your range bag?

So... That went poorly LOL. First 3 stages were OK. none were real stand out performances, but nothing too much to cry about other than leaving a little time on the table. Stage 5 (started on) - I would have run a different plan playing more to my current abilities than what I presume to be the intellectual best, I'd have drawn to the hard cover target immediately in front of the position, done the 3 in the window, then the target next to the barrel, reload (could have kept moving) and rolled through the target to the right of the barrel stack and the two targets on the right. - Reload again so I can roll through the last positions to the end of the stage. Stage 6 - Leaving the first position - didn't visualize how the reload should be and left some speed on the table between positions, should have been husting faster than that. 2nd position was OK. 3rd position I ended up having issues with throttle control moving from a 3 yard target to a 12-15 yard target - should have hit the gas a little more. Last position entered leisurely probably should have put priority more on the movement then made it a shooting in as I settle and not taken it on the move. Throttle control again switching from popper back to paper. Stage 6 - Issue with the running reload caused a bit of a bobble giving up some speed. Bit of throttle control (slow) on the last paper before the popper then paper. Stage 1 - My focus was total trash. Ended up miking on the out and back in the first position. My sight discipline was garbage - I had like 13 charlies and 10 alphas and a delta on this stage. My movement was good, but my set ups were a little sloppy in position 2 and 4. Probably should have shot at least 16-17 alphas in the same time if I had but asked myself to get the alphas. Pretty happy with foot speeds, this was nearly as fast as Sevigny's run. Stage 2 - I changed plans waiting to shoot to a crappy one purely because I was worried about dropping points on the swinger. SHould have just stuck to my initial plan and let the chips fall. Instead I missed my 3rd position, then brought the gun up on a target with holes in it - then I got lost and pretty much checked out for the match. Stage 3 - CM 99-46 - Close Quarter Standards - when prepping the trigger on the last target I ended up launching a shot a bit early before the gun was settled down and threw a mike. yet and still it was like a 68% classifier - won't count but amazing you can shoot middle/high B times with mikes if you're quick. My time on this stage was about the same as Sevigny's - he just had WAY more points lol. Stage 4 - First time on a texas star. Don't do wide transitions onto mini poppers if you get an option. A squad mate had a better plan to take the 3 paper from the left, then the 3 mini poppers you could see wth much easier transitions than the front of the box, go right w/ a reload and take the 3 paper last popper, advance for paper, reload shifting to the left - star then final paper. The shooting was easier due to body position and not swinging the gun as far. Big areas to improve - - Sight discipline - maintaining alphas at speed - Transitions - especially past previously engaged targets or any transition where you have to turn your head to the next target. - Set ups - more controlled /gun up sooner - Running reloads - get more speed where I can. Do walk throughs that account for this. - Throttle Control Live fire - going to work on throttle control, from the holster pairs and some throttle control targets I've made that I can print off. Things I'm happy with - my foot speed was significantly better than it's been. I'm probably on the cusp of a breakthrough once I get my set ups and reloads sorted at this new speed. Very optomistic to woodshed on these leading into area 6.

So I took a class with Ben Stoeger (Skills & Drills) on 3/16 and 3/17… and it was illuminating. The format of the class is he would set up drills on one bay and a stage on the other where you could work on applying those drills. There are 6 students in the class, then Ben and we had the luck of having Kita there with us. We’d start each unit on a cold run of a stage. He’d let each of us run the stage in turn then he would run it. Then he would let us ask him questions on why he did what he did, and a couple times he would even run it again. First – Ben is an excellent teacher, and he’s a great read on people and will push you as much as you can take it. He’s exceptionally blunt and direct but it’s a good bet that he is giving you honest feedback. That said, he exposed huge holes in my game. For that I’m grateful. - Movement – this was a big challenge for me. I’m a tall dude and I want to lope around the stage with my wide-open gait, the problem is I must hurl my weight over my toes and then that makes slowing down into positions challenging as I fight to get my weight back centered over my hips. Kita was with Ben and she worked with me when I was up on the stages. With her commentary on how my stage runs looked I began moving around significantly faster. I need to pull with my legs, stay lower and wider, and chop around the stage while accelerating, only opening up my stride when really covering ground, and chop into position with the gun up so the muzzle is stable when entering position. Plus managing how and when you move. - Tension – my transitions are too hurky jerky due to the tension in my upper body. I need to woodshed my grip and arm positions some more to a stance that has a bit less bend. This is giving me fits transitioning onto steel. - Visual discipline – I’m a little too greedy and get on the trigger a little prematurely, again, this manifests most on steel. - Stage planning – it’s probably better to pick an easy to execute stage plan and execute it aggressively than it is to pick the most technically demanding and intellectually best time. o Try not to exit on steel o Avoid wide transitions when you can – though when inevitable it’s a natural point to reload if it’s a near 180 transition o Shooting while advancing is more desirable than shooting while retreating o I picked a plan on a particularly terrible stage that was exactly the Ben plan – he just executed it significantly better than I did. Other observations from class - Tanfo vs my CZ’s – Through drilling with Ben I began to understand why he continually harps on the Tanfo frame. First the trigger shape and grip geometry just works, it’s very easy to pull straight to the rear and the double action trigger reach is totally fine. Second, there is enough grip space on the inner face of the grip panel to really anchor your support hand and then put a really strong front to back squeeze on the strong hand. Plus the shape of the beavertail and manual safety forces a really consistent grip. I’m probably going to drop down some cash for some Italian steel later this year, as much as I hate to do it. - Grip aggressiveness – my practice gun grips are “just right”. They’re not going anywhere under normal gripping but are not so aggressive that they make my hands hurt after 500-600 rounds. It’s probably better to have a moderately aggressive texturing on your grip and then use pro grip vs. super aggressive grips that torch your hands. - Walk throughs – I need to visualize each stage as much as I can, in finer detail, like how my feet will enter a position, what kind of sight picture I need to see on each target, gauging the right time to reload – when to accentuate the load vs. the speed, etc. - Don’t use cheap primers – I had a number of light strikes and caught a substantial amount of crap from Ben as a result. I had a failure rate of about 1 or 2 per 100 or so using my S&B primers. One primer was legit so high it wouldn’t even go into battery (loaded a bunch of bulk ammo prior to the class – didn’t bother QCing). This got me lectures from Ben. Turns out that my firing pin spring had sheared a coil on my practice gun. Not necessarily the primers fault but the lesson is still applicable – I’m not going to use S&B anymore. - My practice gun has a front sight not drilled in the middle of the slide. I had issues with grips - I need to ask more of myself, I’d been setting intermediate goals and I need to be focusing on GM now – now that I’m putting up M and sometimes GM numbers. This is an interesting Segway to talk about Ben. Ben can ride you hard, and it seemed that the more you were capable of, the higher standard he would hold you to. Me and the other A in class absorbed a good bit of his ire when we performed less than our standard. The GM in class would get pressure piled on him making him earn it and perform with high expectations. With how he treated us (A’s & GM) it’s not hard to see that he probably applies the same level of criticism to his own game then works to break it down and build it up to the next level. But for Two of the three B’s he adopted more of an encouraging and coaching type stance. He would bust their chops when they did something silly but would constantly encourage them to do more, especially when they would begin running with the skill he was teaching. Outside of the group setting he is just a cool down to earth guy who was cool to BS with. Homeboy drinks a TON of caffeine on the rage. I’m pretty sure his blood type is Diet Mountain Dew. - Working capacity in your legs – a month out from a class like this – start really training your legs. The first day of the class amounted to a series of 5-7 yard sprints between shooting positions and everyone was feeling it come the second day. So it’s probably not a bad idea to pre-load on ibuprofen a couple days out. - Paster guns are awesome when it’s cold outside. Keep your gloves on like a boss. It’s not a must have but boy was it nice when I did have it. All in all the class was money, time and ammo very well spent. He even gives you a copy of Skills & Drills at the end of class and will kind of steer you toward what areas you need to work on. The biggest back handed compliment he gave me was when he got to the section in the book on how to be a GM that’s where he started directing his comments directly at me. Coupled with a couple passing comments over the two days talking about my classification, it felt great to be recognized by a titan of the sport – certainly put a fire under me to get back to my own training. I even re-wrote my Bassham affirmation. It used to be dealing with M class, but now it’s GM and “precise” was added to fast accurate and aggressive. If he’s coming to your area I would encourage you to take a class with him. He’s an interesting dude to be around

So tomorrow I go out to take the Skills & Drills class with Ben Stoeger. I'm pretty jazzed. Cannot wait. more to come later.

The 75 Omega Convertible would be ideal - honestly. The single action will be about 3-4# and the DA will be a little heavy, but again, change the hammer spring and off to the races.

I have a 75B and a 75C set up that way - single action is just north of 4# and double action is a hair under 8# - very manageable.

At a minimum she just needs the SRS-2 kit with a reduced power recoil spring + sights. You can go hog wild with the disco and the hammer if you want, but she won't miss them.