rvb

I'm currently feeling motivated to practice... I'm going to be shooting Production Nationals in August ! Except for the last two weeks where I was traveling for work, I have been dryfiring 5-6 nights/week, about an hr per night. I'm ready for the season to get going! -rvb

First club match of 2015 and my first match ever shooting Limited is in the books... My first couple stages were pretty shakey. I just felt out of sync w/ everthing... the gun, the movement and settting up in positions, the trigger... I partly blame that on having spent the previous two weeks on the road w/ work so it had been 2 weeks since touching the gun. The rest I guess was just winter cob webs. I was slow, but ballanced it out w/ poor hits. Finally on my 3rd stage (stage 2) I dialed in a little better, really shot agressive and had solid hits. I botched the reload on this stage, however... I basically missed the gun and sent the new mag flying and had to grab the spare off the belt. Not being used to shooting fully-loaded mags I didn't seat that one hard enough and got the bang/click on the next target. So I cost myself a good 3 seconds. Classifier was 08-02 Steeler Standards. I shot this w/ 15A, 5C in 15.92s for 5.9673HF. Should be good for about 83%. I cost myself a little time, maybe 1 second as I forot the second half of string 1.... I finished the first 4 shots and stood there looking at the targets, then realized I had to reload and shoot some more!! I REALLY need new sights on the gun. The factory adjustable glock sights are horrible. The FS is huge, there's almost no daylight around it, and the rear isn't smooth along the top... I felt like I was shooting the white FS dot like a red dot... like I was just covering most of the target w/ the wall of black sights and trying to get the dot on the A... my calling was off a bit and I broke a few I wasn't exactly sure I was lined up where I wanted to be. Felt great to be shooting in a match again! -rvb

Maybe that's my problem, I've forgotten too much...

caffeine. -rvb

congrats on kid #2!! I still got to shoot a fair amount when it was one kid. when #2 came along it went from zone D to man-on-man, and shooting/practicing mostly stopped! dryfire time gets eaten up by kid's activities, helping with baths, homework, etc etc. but it's worth it. I'm hoping to get my oldest on the range for the first time this spring, so that will be a whole different kind of range fun! -rvb

And so it would seem, even being a school bus driver! I thought I found the perfect post retirement job. NOT! Sure I'm off all summer but generally the Nationals as well as a lot of other great matches are in the fall. I would have to be docked all the pay for those trips and run the risk of losing my route! Probably the only instance where it would be cheaper to NOT work a match. lol Is it a dream job? in most cases yes. But not a perfect fit for shooting major uspsa events. certainly there are a lot of folks in similar positions, and I hope I didn't sound like I was downplaying it... there are a LOT of professions/jobs where taking time off to shoot = lost income and/or risk to their job. And I didn't work a lot of matches the first couple yrs at my job when I was new and didn't have much vacation. -rvb

Why does going to a major match have to cost $1k? Volunteer to RO, which usually = free match + hotel. Now you are to the cost of gas and ammo and dinners, maybe a couple hundred bucks. Spend the rest (the majority) on practice ammo. the time involved in being match staff only costs you money if your job is the type where not being there = not getting pd (usually self employed). Otherwise, that's what vacation is for... For $1k you could probably work one match, shoot another w/o working it, and still buy a couple cases of ammo. Keep the matches regional so you don't have to pay for airfair/rental cars or drive thousands of miles. -rvb

Maybe, I jacked up the execution of that stage hard. I was first shooter, on first stage of the match. I was just happy to hit everything. I watched some people do the WHO transfer, looked slow. I just messed up the execution. I should have grapped the rope and shot the two targets SHO, but I forgot to grap the rope as I went to the left. Ah well. big lesson learned. Stages were really nice. Big stages with a lot of shooting positions. I liked it! messed up the execution of a great plan? I've NEVER done that!! Esp first stage of the match. haha. seriously, great job. I was looking forward to your video. -rvb

freakin outstanding job! looks like a tough, fun match. that upside-down rope pull deal looked like it took a while to get set up... would switching to WH maybe have been beneficial there? -rvb

yea, it seemed like a long ways away, then all of a sudden it's almost here! pro-am sounds fun. I'm considering that carbine match at acc in march... maybe not take my 3-gun rifle but my shorty.... -rvb

If you think it'll help, go for it. just dont plan on taking it back... most triggers need some fitting to even get them in the gun. and do some reading on how to install them and what to watch out for. I'd like to see your grip first... it sounded like you were concerned more about where the beavertail landed than the trigger finger... -rvb

I had a church thing.... besides, is shooting indoors really "braving the cold?" Sure, I'd be happy to try to help. I will throw out a couple quick thoughts after reading your thread... if you are putting the round in the middle of a paster @ 10 yds slowfire, but having trouble with your hits when speeding up, don't go changing hardware just yet. You're doing something different. - be sure you are seeing a good sight picture on each shot when shooting multiple rounds. it may be an alignment / visual patience / timing problem vs a trigger control problem. - watch the tension, esp in your strong hand. get too tense / grip too hard and you can start 'milking' the gun. as you speed up it's natural to want to grip harder, and can cause problems. trying to 'ride the reset' can also cause extra tension in the trigger finger. - make sure you are working your trigger the same as you speed up. you can practice starting slow and gradually speeding up in dryfire. if we can't find time to get on the range soon, the FtW practice nights will be starting up in ~6 wks and I can help you out there. -rvb

It "looks like" playing around w/ the latest Practiscore version you can get activity/classifier reports out of it now, which is what we used to need to use EZwin for... but no one I've talked to can verify it works. Considering our first match is a classifier match, I want to make sure I have a path to get scores to HQ.... belts and suspenders maybe, but I haven't found anyone who can verify both end of the suspenders (practiscore) are actually attached... -rvb

Do you know if we have an EZWin CD floating around anywhere? Hard Drive in my PC tanked, and I need to re-install it. If not, I'll call HQ and have them send a new one... -rvb

ok, i didn't remember seeing a rifle one available yet, but I guess since I had just read your post about your rifle I was thinking the two were related. Thought maybe something new and wonderful had come out! I would like one for .223, more so than a pistol even, but the reamer thing seemed like a big challenge... if they couldn't show consistent headspace in all the holes I'm not sure what the point would be... I figure when they come out I'm going to wait a bit and see what other folks have to say about them.... I'll let you be the guinea pig! -rvb

I so [don't?] wanna see that scope..... is the gauge for pistol or rifle rounds? are YOU really getting ammo loaded before you need it ? ha! -rvb

I ordered a bunch from Roze in Oct of '13. good thing I've seen them occasionally at PV. -rvb

Itl's on! gimmie a shout on saturday and we will set a time up! RVB if you are in let me know!!!! I have ammo to burn!!! hmm. Sun would be my better day but they're calling for a high of 6... not sure how much validity we could put on chrono data at that point. I might be able to carve out some time Sat.... I do want to give my Limited glock a test run since I've put a couple new parts in it.... I'll discuss w/ the Boss and see what's up. -rvb

primers sitting flush doesn't necessarily mean they are bottomed out. a couple thou under is usually bottomed out. if there is wiggle on a flat surface I would consider those unsafe. But they can be flush and still be "high" and not ignite. you'll get a dimple in the primer, but it'll shove the whole primer in farther and/or not really compress the compound against the anvil... some primers need more "pre compression" (eg crushed into the pocket pressing the anvil into the compound/cup) than others. I don't think I've ever seen real manufacturer published info, but I know I've seen where Federal for instance used to recommend a "light pre-compression" for reliable ignition... so just seating them such that they touch the bottom of the pocket may still not be "fully" seated. and the "feel" is different for different primers in different brass... If I seat a Fed primer w/ the exact amount of pressure I put on a Win primer, it won't be fully seated. It just takes experience. When in doubt, smash that $#&%'er. I've heard you can over-crush them, but it's not something I've experienced or seen or know anyone who has.... -rvb

I run 1.150" w/ 147gr zero jhps in my glocks, no problem. best advice is to start down a couple tenths and work up over a chrono.... -rvb

I don't really know if they do or not, but (especially w/ minor loads) they "seemed" to be slightly more likely to knock down poppers that were set heavy than ball loads. I tested it one day many years ago w/ just a couple rounds of each on a heavy set popper. I figure maybe since they deform more they transfer their momentum better, less elastic.... who knows, if I tried it again today maybe I'd see different results. I may be nuts, but I shared my theory w/ Matt... so if it sounds looney, blame me (heck, if it sounds brilliant, blame me, too!) I don't think for major PF it much matters.... -rvb

ditto.

Ditto! Already looking forward to it. -rvb

Make sure you seat those primers fully. Btw, match tomorrow was cancelled. -rvb

aftecs are the devil. other than that, sounds like a fun time. See you on the range! -rvb