RAP

I use Alliant Sport Pistol for both 9mm & 40 S&W. I have used VV320, Prima V, WST and others. For me Alliant Sport Pistol has been the best all around powder to date. For Bullets, I've had great success with Black Bullets International, ACME and Missouri Bullets, all coated. No leasing and accurate. Easy on the wallet as well. I am currently shooting ACME 147 grain flat point. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I use the Leupold DPP with 7.5 MOA on my CZ I use for carry optics. In April will be the 1 year anniversary for the DPP use. Over 11,000 rounds shot, no issues at all. It is one of the more expensive dots, but I think one of the best. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I use a DPP 7.5 MOA dot on my CZ P09 I use for carry optics. I’ve shot out to 50 yards without any issues. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

3.15.2018 Tonight I started with the dots at 7 yards. I also worked on movement and shooting while moving. I set up a stage to allow simulation to practice these skills. I used the same 2 target arrays I uses on the 14th. 2 target arrays simulating 14 yards distance 2 yards between each target and 5 yards between each target array. I added a barricade wall 3 yards to the left of left 2nd target array. I added a Zebra target 7 yards from the barricade wall and a 1/2 size target simulating a target 5 yards to the left of the barricade wall that will present a 90 degree transition. Target 1 is the Zebra target. Target 2 is the 1/2 size target simulating a target 5 yards 90 degrees to the left of the barricade wall. Targets 3&4 was to the right of the barricade wall and targets 5&6 the furthest targets to the right of the barricade wall. I started off with hands on barricade wall drawing to engage the Zebra target first than transition to the target 2 while moving backwards than targets 3&4 while moving and finally engaging 5&6. I also ran this in reverse. I first ran the stage a few times to get an average time of running the stage in a "comfortable" way. In other words I would stop and shoot the targets at the different positions. The average time was 7.8 seconds. With that time established I started off slow working on my foot work and timing and added speed as I went along with moving while shooting. My goal was to not stop moving until I came into the final position on the last target. My average time at a speed with good hits was 6.4 seconds. I was amazed at how much time was saved by continually moving. I knew this was an area I needed to work on. Now I feel like I have something to work with in my dry fire practice to improve these skills.

3.14.2018 I started with the dots at 7 yards and with a goal of 4 seconds and a focus on trigger control. I am really liking and seeing benefits of starting each dry & live fire practice with this drill. Next I worked on transitions. I started off with 4 half sized targets at 7 yards. I set them up as 2 target arrays simulating 14 yards distance 2 yards between each target and 5 yards between each target array. I focused on the body movement. I wanted to gain efficiencies at driving the gun from target to target. I found myself at first over shooting the target and would have been misses. I realized I wasn't using my lower body and using only my upper body and arms. I corrected that and I stopped over shooting the targets. Next I went to 4 Aces with a 2nd target. This added a twist to this drill. It made me focus on not just my grip, reload, etc. I also needed to snap the gun and my eyes too a different target. I finished the night with entry and exit practice. I added a 5th target that gave me the opportunity to practice shooting as I was moving as I exited and start shooting as I entered the position.

3.13.2018 Tonight was a short 30 minute dry fire session. I started with the dots. I backed up to 7 yards and with a goal of 4 seconds with a focused on trigger control. Next I worked on transitions. I started off with 90 degree transitions and moved to a variety of target arrays to challenge my transitions. I focused on the dot and calling good shots in the A zone rather than speed and body movement. The timer surprised me with transitions. My speed was still good even though I wasn't focused on it. I finished tonight with 4 Aces. I set a time of 2.7 seconds. I averaged 2.85 seconds. It was a good focused night of practice.

3.9.2018 Short 35 minute practice tonight. Started off with dot drill for 5 minutes. Than moved to 4 Aces. I struggled at first. I was not getting my gun in the correct position. The magwell was not visible and this caused many missed mag insertions. I slowed down got the gun in the correct position and things smoothed right up. I was able to consistently get in the 2.8 - 2.9 seconds. Next I moved to the entry and exit drill that I did last night. I started with a focus of getting out of position and getting the reload done quickly with in the first few steps. As I progressed I shifted the focus to getting into position ready to shoot quickly. Tonight I started off a little "clunky" with each drill performed. Mental tiredness causing a focus issue was the culprit. The good, I was able to get it together and focus. When this happened things improved. A lesson and reminder of how important the mental game is.

Both. Some are easier than others. Sorry not sure which ones are easier; factory or Mecgar. I just load em up and shoot. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I tried the dovetail sight but couldn't get it to stay in place long term. I went ahead and had the slide milled and mounted a DPP. The sight hasn't moved in over 10,000 rounds. Also Cajunized the internals and now my double action trigger pull is under 8 pounds single action is just over 2 pounds pull. Couldn't be happier with the set up. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm shooting a CZ P09 in carry optics. I use both springer and CZC base pads. I bought grams follower and spring kit FKC - 11 CZ small frame from Springer Precision and I can get 23 rounds in my magazines with either Springer or CZC base pads.

3.8.2018 Back in town from traveling for work. A very busy few days and dealing with the chaos in my work world; being able to dry fire was a needed break from it. Tonight I worked on turn and draw and reloads. I ran El Prez with a cold start for a marker tonight. I ran it in 5.77 seconds. My fastest cold time in dry fire to date. I also worked on the Burkett Drill with a par time of 1 second. I was hitting the par time pretty consistent and will need to drop the time to .90 seconds. For 90 degree transitions I averaged .65 seconds. Need to work on my hop movement. I wasn't smooth and felt like it was an after thought. Moving into and out of positions I performed this drill just exploding out of and getting into position shooting as quickly as possible and preforming a reload between positions. The positions were 5 yards apart my time averaged 3.3 seconds without reloads and 3.6 seconds while performing a reload. My reload was not smooth as I missed the magwell more often than not. Sprinting at speed and reloading is not easy and will take a lot of practice. I wanted to keep it somewhat simple tonight. The practice session was a good one, pushing my speeds until I was making mistakes and then pushed a little harder. I noticed something tonight that I hadn't noticed. My speeds are defiantly faster (timer is telling me so) but it didn't feel like I was going at break neck speed for me. As I pushed harder I started feeling like "I'm getting out of control" and I was starting to make too many mistakes. But as I look back on tonight, this is were I needed to be.

3.4.2018 Live fire practice today with a start on Dot drill than worked on wall starts, with hard lean, shooting through port and distance targets for transition. The first 8 foot wall I set up had 2 targets on the right side. 1 target at 8 yards and 2nd target at 12 yards. This gave me a chance to practice transitions from near to far. I started with both hands on the wall at different locations. Each end and the middle. I worked on coming off the wall and getting into position on the 2 targets on right side. Next I had a wall with a port set up 25 feet to the left of the 1st wall. I practiced coming off the 1st wall and running to the port with a focus on getting my gun ready to shoot as I got to the port. I struggled with this drill. Getting into position was only half the battle; getting good hits was the other half. I had a target to the left of the port at 18 yards that I would transition too. The transition was between 60/70 degrees. A bright spot, I did not have a problem shooting alphas at the 18 yard distance. I have many things I need to continue working on. The Dot drill is something I should have been doing a while back. I am improving but still need a lot of work. Today I was beating my 5 second par time, but couldn't get 6 shots inside the circle. I could easily get 5, just not 6. I also really struggled with the port. Getting into position smoothly and being ready to shoot as soon as possible was a defiant no go. Although I did improve as I practiced this drill, which means I need more practice. My foot work was not good at all. I also struggled with the wall start and getting into position on the 2 targets on the right side. I was inconsistent at best. One thing I noticed moving into position on the right side I was crowding the wall. This was causing me to slow down and hindering my gun movement as I was moving into that position. When I realized I was crowding the wall while moving to the position I had one of those DUH moments. I know better. I also took the time to run the plate rack a few times. My time followed my dry fire times. My best clean run was 3.85 seconds from draw at 12 yards. I also took some time to chronograph my rounds. I wanted to see what my power factor would be at 3.2 grains of Alliant Sport Pistol. I average 130 PF with my old load of 3.3 grains I average 133/134 PF. Although today was a tough day I am still very happy with my progress. I am looking forward to the upcoming match Saturday, March 10. This will be our first match for my home club.

3.3.2018 Morning 30 minutes: I worked on turn and draw and reloads. I worked on the Burkett Drill with a par time of 1 second. Worked on strong hand and weak hand drills. Evening 45 minutes: Worked on 90 & 180 degree transitions. Wall start with barricade at 90 degrees. This mini stage designed to start with hands on wall with 1st target obscured by the barricade forcing a quick step to engage the target. Foot work is essential for speed and stability to engage the effectively. Also set up mini stage with a wall start and 90 degree transition and a move to another barricade target. I performed a reload on the move to last target. This was good practice for reloading on the move. Something I need to improve upon.

2.25.2018 Today the weather was very nice and an almost perfect day to head outside and practice. That's what I did. My friend Chuck was back in the country from an overseas business trip and was wanting to practice as well. That made the day even better. Chuck is a great shooter and teacher as well. We set up a mini stage to work on many skills. We started with hands on wall with a turn and step to engage two targets. This stage also had wall to navigate and perform a reload while running back to engage to engage a plate rack at 10 yards through a port. We broke this stage down into it's elements working on each one. Next we changed the stage up a bit. Adding a smaller port to engage three targets from. We had the same hands on wall with a turn/step to engage as our start position. From there you would move up and engaged the three targets through the port. This was something I really struggled with. I need to work on moving into a position with a port engaging an open target while moving. My foot work really needs help with this and is something I can dry fire practice in my basement. Next we rearranged the stage to work on entering and exiting positions with long shots and partial targets and transitions both close and wide. I can say with total confidence dry fire practicing the DOT drill paid dividends! I was shooting more A's than C's and the long distance bill drill was paying off on longer targets as well. We also set up the classic El Prez. My first run was in line with my dry fire practice times; 6.3 seconds average time. I had a total of 80 points. We broke down our shooting including videoing our turn and draw to refine it. We left El Prez set up and worked on our strong and weak hand shooting to finish out the day. This was an incredibly fun day. It was a very productive practice session giving me a boost of confidence in my dry fire practice as I saw it paying dividends in all the areas I have been practicing. However, I also went away with several things to work on. The hands on wall with a turn, step to engage targets, port shooting, foot work entering and exiting positions and my reloads; both standing and moving.

2.24.2018 Practice today consisted of Dot drill working on trigger control, grip and focusing on the dot. Par time was set at 5 seconds and I could easily beat that time. Next practice I will drop the par time down to 4 seconds. Also, my next live fire I will plan to shoot the dot drill and see how I do. I worked on El Prez with a par time of 5.5 seconds. I am struggling to beat this time and can only do it occasionally. I worked on my strong and weak hand shooting. I am happy with my progress on reloads and my strong and weak hand practice. My reloads have become more consistent and quicker. Strong hand is averaging only .5-.6 seconds slower than freestyle in practice. Weak hand shooting is progressing nicely as well. When I switch the gun to my weak hand I am picking up the dot much easier. My trigger control for weak hand is improving as well. Of course all this will need to be verified in live fire and I am hoping tomorrow's weather will cooperate and I can get to live fire practice.

2.22.2018 Made it back from Kentucky tonight in time to get in a short 30 minute dry fire session. I was very stiff from my trip but after 5-10 minutes I began to loosen up. Tonight I kept it very simple. I started on the Dot drill with a focus on my grip and keeping the Dot in the circle. Next I moved to 4 Aces. I set a Par time of 2.4 seconds. I struggled to meet that time. My reloads were less than stellar tonight. I was struggling with a consistent grip on the magazine. I was putting the gun in the correct position for me, but couldn't consistently grip the magazine properly. I also worked on turn and draw and loaded and unloaded table starts. Although I was tired and muscles were very stiff from traveling this week it felt really good to get a practice in. Each practice no matter how good or bad the session may feel I go away from them feeling I accomplished something and I am moving towards my goal.

I like WST for my 40S&W loads. For my 9mm I load 147 FP coated Bullets with 3.3 grains of Allianz Sport Pistol. This load gets me about 920 FPS from my CZ P09. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

2.18.2018 The weather was nice today. It hit the mid fifties and felt warmer than that after shooting in the snow the day before. After my less than satisfactory performance yesterday with my shooting I wanted to focus on my accuracy and figure out what was going on. I started with an open target at 10 yards and fired a Bill Drill. My group resembled a shotgun pattern with buck shot. I began breaking down my shooting looking for issues. I quickly realized my grip was a problem. I have been so focused on developing an instinctive crushing grip with my weak hand I neglected my strong hand and didn't see that my strong hand grip was, well, wimpy at best. I worked on fixing that glaring issue and an amazing thing happened. My groups shrank; a lot. Not where I would like them but hey any improvement is good. I backed to 15 yards and repeated the Bill Drill and I ended up at 25 yards running Bill Drill. I realized I have slacked working on a proper grip and with a lack of live fire practices because of the crappy cold weather we've been having my accuracy has suffered. I also worked on strong hand and weak hand shooting and hit the plate rack for a change of pace. A very good friend and one of the most accurate pistol shooters I know suggested I practice the Dot Drill in both dry and live fire practice. I will incorporate this into my next dry fire practice.

2.17.2018 Shot my first USPSA match at Sparta, IL. Felt really good to shoot a match even with the crappy weather. It was cold and snowing, ground was muddy as an old cow pastor. But it was a great match and I'm glad I shot it. I won my division, YA! However, it was an ugly win. As you can see I had way too many C's. I had 6 D's only one was not on the classifier. My accuracy just sucked. I have not live fired much in the last couple months because of weather and it really showed. Stage 1 required a mandatory reload when transitioning from side to side and I messed it up. I did not get the gun tilted enough to see the magwell and just missed it. That mistake probably cost me 1 second. On Stage 2, the Alpha Charley hose fest. I pulled a real bonehead mistake. I forgot to load my magazines after stage 1. That bonehead move cost me a good 2-3 seconds, maybe more. I also threw my first D rushing my last shot on that stage. Stage 3, classifier was a disaster. I couldn't shoot a group worth a darn. Most of my A's (4) were from my strong hand string. The WHO string I managed to get off 5 shots in the required 6.3 second par time. That lined up with the times from my dry fire. I average 6.5 seconds from a draw for my weak hand in Dry Fire. Stage 4 was my first stage of the match and I was the first shooter. Overall not a bad stage outside the C feast. The muddy conditions made it tricky not to slide around. Stage 5 was a solid stage. I ended up going a little slower on this stage than I wanted too. The ground conditions demanded you watch you're footing as you navigated the corners. Still more C's than I'd care for but I will work hoard to correct that. Stage 6 was an interesting stage with the use of hard barricade targets. The good is the targets were fairly close. The furthest was maybe 12-14 yards. This stage also had a fairly challenging swinger. This stage I had a stage malfunction. The steel popper was leaning to far forward because of the mud and did not activate the swinger. Throughout the match my lack of accuracy plagued me. I couldn't figure out what was going on. My dot would be on the A zone but I would shoot a C. Not all was bad though. My dry fire work on transitions, movement drills, entry exit and SHO & WHO paid dividends. I could tell I made improvements in these areas from last year. It feels really good knowing the many hours of Dry Fire practice is working. I will need to put a plan together to work on helping my accuracy issues. Stage # % Stg. Points Points HF Time Div A B C D M NPM NS 1 - Stage 1 2 98.09 49.0453 46 5.3426 8.61 Carry Optics 8 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 - Stage 2 3 91.10 109.3191 94 7.1266 13.19 Carry Optics 12 0 11 1 0 0 0 3 - Six In Six C 1 100.00 57.0000 62 57.0000 0.00 Carry Optics 6 0 9 5 0 4 0 4 - Stage 4 1 100.00 140.0000 120 5.6049 21.41 Carry Optics 18 0 10 0 0 0 0 5 - Stage 5 1 100.00 160.0000 150 5.4308 27.62 Carry Optics 27 1 4 0 0 0 0 6 - Stage 6 1 100.00 105.0000 97 6.7082 14.46 Carry Optics 17 0 4 0 0 0 0

Tonight was a short dry fire session. I needed to load up ammo for my match tomorrow. I thought I had enough, but I was wrong. Oh well knocked out 400 rounds in about an hour so not to big of a deal, but did cut into my practice time. Because it was a short 30 minute session I decided to work on the mini stage and return air duct barricade with reloads and strong & weak hand shooting. I am looking forward to the match tomorrow. I felt like my dry fire practice went really well this week and I am looking forward to seeing how this translate into match performance.

A couple things come to mind based off the information given. A) Those 4 bullets were not cast properly (defective) such as undersized or incomplete cast. I cast my own bullets and have experienced both. B ) Your bullet weight is not ideal for the rifling twist rate and velocity you are shooting them at for your handgun. I shoot a CZ P09 with 147 grain flat point NLG coated bullet with 3.3 grains of Sport Pistol powder at a muzzle velocity of 925 FPS. I have not experienced any issues with rifling twist rate but have had problems when I inadvertently under sized the bullets once and if I miss a bad cast and they usually don't shoot very well either.

2.15.2018 Tonight I started my practice with slow controlled draws. I wanted to focus on grip and bringing the gun up to my eye or where I am looking. I didn't want to search for my dot I wanted the dot to show up where I am looking. I than used my return air duct for barricade training with a focus on transitions from side to side and reloads. I next worked on table starts; both loaded and unloaded. I haven't practiced table starts much and it showed. I spent time on technique over speed. I feel speed will come and I get my technique "perfected". The good from tonight was my reloads. They seem to be getting smoother, consistent and quicker each practice. The bad; I was not focusing on the dot. I found myself breaking the trigger when the dot was not in the A zone. I had to step back and refocus and get better shots.

Yep, plus the targets are partials adding additional difficulty. I think this is a good one to practice because of the various skills required. It's certainly helped me.

2.12.2018 & 2.13.2018 My dry fire drills for both days were the same. I set up a mini stage (see diagram) that would require a hard lean on the left with open targets on the right set at 7 yards. I also had a simulated 10 yard on the left side as well. The wall is 10 feet in length from right to left. I set up shooting boundaries that required me not to go beyond the wall on the right and left side. I was not able to set up a hard lean on the right side because of the furnace, duct work and hot water tank are in the way. Not a big deal to me. I ran this drill by alternating my start position on each end. My primary focus was entering and exiting quickly out of these positions. When starting on the left side the hard lean proved to be challenging. Exiting and entering that position ready to shoot was not something I easily performed. Getting out of that position quickly from that hard lean was tough. I need to work on this drill. Hard leans are something I run into a lot at the local ranges I shoot at. From the right side the single target proved the challenge. It provided a benefit I was not thinking about when I set the stage up. A wide transition shot. For this position I practiced engaging the 2 target array first than the single target and vice a versa. I was trying to determine the most efficient way to engage these targets. Right now it seems to be a wash no matter what order I shoot them in. My times were not consistent enough to determine the best way. I also practiced El Strong & Weak Pres. I like practicing this classifier. It accomplishes a couple drills into one. Reloads and strong and weak hand shooting. Both my reloads and SHO & WHO are becoming more natural. I am very happy with my progress concerning reloads and SHO & WHO. I also very happy with my first mag pouch. Tilting the mag pouch slightly to the front seems to have made a difference. It hasn't moved and I'm gripping the mag consistently and I believe this is contributing to my improvements of my reloads. I am getting very excited. My first match of 2018 is Saturday at Sparta.

I set up classifier CM 03-11 El Strong Hand & Weak Pres as part of my dry fire routine. It allows me to work on my reloads and strong hand only and weak hand only shooting. You have 2 strings of fire. 1st string draw and engage 3 targets freestyle perform mandatory reload and engage 3 targets with strong hand only. String 2 you draw and engage 3 targets freestyle perform mandatory reload and engage 3 targets weak hand only. Practicing this classifier as part of my routine dry fire drills has helped me in my reloads and SHO & WHO shooting.