rvb

Little bit of practice today.. with the rifle, the tweaks to my55gr loads seemed to make the 100yd accuracy worse not better. Oh well, they are mainly for hosing anyway. Did some 25yd transition practice. The changes I've worked on in my stance as well as adding the adjustable gas have brought big improvements... working the trigger as fast as I could at 25 most of the time the two rounds in each pair were only 2-3 inches apart. Put about 100 rounds through the g34. Between some tweaks to my grip and the taran connector kit (I went back to the Wolff reduced power striker spring), I shot some of my best groups ever. My first group at 10 yds had 4 rounds all touching in a little cloverleaf, but I threw 1 round about an inch low. Changes I've been working on in my S/WHO seem to be on track. I'm finding Im getting better trigger control by not tilting the gun. I've been doing only minimal dry fire... Planning to pick it up pretty intense after the holidays. -rvb

btw, how's that goal of getting ahead in loading your ammo for next season going? I have 6k 9mm ready to go! -rvb

December is tough... We have a Christmas thing... If they have a match in Jan I should be able to make it (and after being home 2 weeks over Christmas the wife will probably be ready to kick me out of the house!). -rvb

oooohhh you got the razor. I'm seldom jealous of equipment, but, ummm.... let me know when you get it together. sounds fun! My .308 is up and running now, too.... -rvb

Cleaned the production gun tonight.... At least that chore's done till next winter... Figuring it was time for new springs anyway, I tried the Taran connector kit since they were running a Black Friday sale. Ive run a stock trigger group minus light striker spring since switching to glock. I'd say this kit is a bit smoother (which may have been the 5k of crud) and doesn't have as much double action "stacking" as I had with the "-" connector (but there's still some). I don't think its that much lighter, maybe just a bit. I measured it at about 4lb, but it's tough to get a good measurement on these Glock triggers. It didn't wow me, but I'll probably keep it in... -rvb

I didn't know you switched to the vortex. how do you like it compared to your old scope? If I were to make one change to my rifle I would have had WOA turn the SPR barrel down a little thinner to save some up-front heft, but it's not bad enough to do anything about now...... -rvb

for just a minute there I thought he got all caught up in the Lim-minor action at Ft Wayne this weekend........ -rvb

Always good to shoot w/ you, too, bro. It was a hoot, esp on those monster stages. I was planning to go back to prod next spring, but I was looking at my stash and started realizing I have enough components on hand to shoot open next yr. I also have this new limited gun on the way... decisions decisions..... -rvb

Congrats Corey!! Way to go. 88%, solidly done! -rvb

Round count is usually somewhere between 140 to 175. I always recommend bringing 250. 3 long field courses, 2 medium courses, and a classifier. Thanks for the recommendation on having the address on the FWRR web page... I thought it was there; I'll suggest it to the webmaster. I also have the address and gps on the uspsa.org club finder. See you Sunday! -rvb

This Sunday, 19 October, is our final match of the season. Hope to see you there! -rvb

Shot OPEN at the "outlaw" match at Warsaw (outlaw only because of some 1/2-size paper and 3" plates on a star). Won HOA by 20%. Still made a lot of errors. Partially because I haven't built the necessary index yet and partly because I have to re-adjust my mindset and how I attack a stage (differences in stage planning and going to major). First stage (5) I shot was all steel w/ the star w/ the 3" plates. I was happy w/ my shooting (I think only one extra shot and it was on the star), but I wrecked my stage time.... I forgot to reload! Turns out these open guns aren't like movie guns w/ unlimited ammo... So I got the dreaded click on the star then forgot to rack a round in so I came back up to a dead trigger. Probably a 2.5s mistake Next stage (1) was all 1/2-size paper. Got slightly off my plan which forced me to shoot some stuff static vs on the move and cost me a good second or two. I had the agressiveness dial a little on the retard side as I shot 18Cs (of 44 rounds). Stage 2 I don't recall any real blunders Gave up a few too many points but some of that was from Ds on each of the swingers. That was a tough array. This was probably my best stage. Stage 3: Shot this one well, but again almost forgot my reload. Came back up w/ a poor index, had to hunt for the dot, and when I found it I didn't have the patience needed to get it on target and put a round into a NS on a partial. Called and made-up, but it hurt. Was very happy w/ the shooting on the move as I came into positions, even on the partials. Stage 4: Super happy w/ my actual shooting. Only 1 C even pushing on the move. I'm pretty sure I was 1-for-1 on steel. Again got bit by poor index after a reload and had to hunt for the dot, probably cost me a second. Almost ran past a port and had to back up... probably another second. Forgot how FUN this open stuff is. -rvb

Congrats, Chad! Great job! -rvb

I'm going to start squading with you guys! Great job!! -rvb

Cool! For future reference, the other powder I used to load that I remember being slightly flatter than the imr4756 load you shot was with VVN105. -rvb

I've found 3 primary bad habits that can develop from too much dryfire. 1) relaxing the grip too much since there is no recoil to control. This translates over to live fire and results in poor recoil control. 2) setting an expectation for speed that cannot be matched in live fire, yet you try to go at the same pace regardless. 3) accepting bad sight pictures in dryfire in order to reach some speed goal. you have to dryfire like you shoot (full strong grip, etc) and you have to let the sights set your pace in live fire, not the speed expectations you develop in dryfire. You also have to let the sights be your throttle in dryfire just like live fire. That's not to say there's not benefit to pushing your comfort zone and sometimes going "too fast" in dryfire, but if you're never seeing your "hits" in dryfire, that's bad, too... 2c -rvb

"Monkey %$&@'ing a football" would best describe my first match with the open gun in 5 yrs.... Still, I don't think shooting 92+% of the points and finishing 87% of Truk was bad for being so rusty on it. The good: -- The gun worked 100% after sitting for 5 yrs. May need a new dot diode. We'll see if a good cleaning helps first.... -- By the end of the match, I was getting some timing back and was a little more in control of the dot, and was able to better call shots. -- Stages 4, 5, 6 I had 2nd place finishes. -- I shot a 79.75% on the classifier (99-10, Times Two. 9A, 3C in 6.68s, 8.5329HF). Good enough to make me feel ok about myself, not so good it will count and drag my % down. The Bad: -- Never once did I grab my front mag during a reload. I even moved the pouches back some, but I still went to my usual production mag pouch position. -- After reloads or big movement where I broke grip to run, I had a very hard time finding the dot. Index is just not burned in yet. Stage 3, after my reload, I took 2 or 3 shots on steel hoping by just pulling the trigger it would help me find the dot. On Stage 2 after running from far left to middle of the stage I had a horrible re-grip and put a round off into a barrel, but was able to make it up. -- I had a couple mikes. The first was most likely poor timing on the gun. It was my first stage and the dot was going everywhere, with TONS of dip. I suspect I threw it under the target, but I was having such trouble calling them with the dot going everywhere. Second was a miss into hardcover on a partial. Even w/ a couple extra make-up shots I only got one round in there.... -- I still shot like a production shooter in regards to where I was agressive and not.... ie I had it backwards. Especially my first couple stages I was too aggressive on the shooting speed, but not on the moving between arrays. Being MD/RM/statsguy is hard on the shooting. I didn't really get to walkthrough on stage 1, just a couple quick looks between shooters. My plan/execution was a wreck. But as we get to the end of the season, I'm at least finding it less stressful and enjoying it more. Next season I'm going to have to work on keeping my mental focus on the shooting while dealing w/ the other distractions vs just being distracted all the time..... -rvb

Bump for September! Hope to see you there! -rvb

sure thing, it's actually been awhile since we were on the same squad... -rvb

ditto edit: I'll add that it doesn't matter what trigger, IMO. Glock, 1911, AR, whatever.... -rvb

Did some dryfire with the open gun last night.... You really need a perfect index to find that dot every time, and, well ..... it's been 5 yrs... enough said. I found it after the draws ok, but was pretty hit or miss after reloads or movement. reloads were a little off. I have to flip the 2011 more than the glock, so a couple times I missed the button. I also went ahead and moved my mag pouches back a little closer to my production position. I never ran them too far forward to begin with, but I kept going right past the first mag and reloading from the second. Even with a new battery, the dot doesn't seem as bright in full sun as I remember. Maybe I'm just spoiled by aimpoints now. Speaking of which, I'm surprised folks haven't started running those micros on open pistols yet....... missed a few draws from low ready. There's a lot more stuff on the back of the gun to get the thumb around vs a glock.... cleaned the bore for the 3rd or 4th time in the gun's life. I can't believe how good it still looks. I'm planning when I get to the range to build stages on either Friday or Sat to check the zero and run some timing drills or bill drills to re-learn how to control this thing. Sunday's match could prove comical...... -rvb

thanks, Bill!

you need to come up with a good plan during the walkthrough. You shouldn't be worrying about what you've already shot, you should have a plan that tells you what to shoot from various positions. Visualize it and rehearse it in your mind over an over until it feels well rehearsed. Use the time pasting to walk past your shooting positions and look at the targets you'll be engaging from there.