AlphaCharis

7/29/18 Idaho Sectional Championship - 5th Production, 77.44% First place in Production was a GM and second was an M at 93.54% It was 102 degrees, almost no wind all day long and no clouds, super hot towards the end of the day. The last 3 stages were getting a little tough in the heat, especially with our small squad of 9. Even though I would make a mistake, or several, on a stage, I put it behind me and focused on the next stage. Overall, I was happy -- my sights were zeroed; my ammo worked; my gun worked; I shot at all the targets; I carried out my stage plans; I was much more confident with my double action; I tried to keep moving throughout the stage; the gun felt much more like an extension of me, becoming more natural to shoot it; and... I HAD FUN! Need to tighten it up a bit, my three mikes bumped me down two places, so.... going to work on that this week! 1. Visual patience! Make sure I have an acceptable sight picture first and don't worry about the time it takes to see what I need to see. 2. Call my shots! "Call it and Leave it" drill in livefire this week. Be confident in knowing what I saw, don't hesitate to pick up needed shots. No need to look at the targets. 3. Grip hard in dryfire/livefire. 4. Visualize in detail before my drills in dryfire and livefire this week. I only had my phone footage for this match as my GoPro battery didn't hold a charge. Here's the stages in the order I shot them: Stage 6 - Panda Rampage: 7th | 71.07% | 25A, 2C, 1M, 34.19 sec Thought my sights were high right on my first shot on the far paper.... and they were... hardcover hit Stage 7 - Go for Broke: 6th | 73.44% | 26A, 27.17 sec Accidentally tried to rack it from back serrations and grabbed the frame. I do better from the front with the CZ. I don't know how I managed to knock ALL my mags out of my pouches. It was also an unloaded start and I took my normal loading mag out of my back pocket, which I NEVER do - I normally take out the 11th round and carry all my mags no matter what stage it is. So, I didn't have that one as a backup mag and last position started missing on the steel, I knew I had none on my belt and realized I was gonna have to dive in the dirt for a mag if I didn't go one-for-one... aimed real hard. Slidelock on last shot. Almost ruined my stage even more LOL Stage 8 - Triple Tap Nap: 6th | 71.49% | 27A, 4C, 1D, 22.33 Three per. My delta was almost a charlie on the left paper going prone, steered a little too clear of the noshoot. Need to learn to drop down quicker and more straight down/forward instead of rocking back first. Stage 5 - Take a Seat: 4th | 78.58% | 19A 5C, 19.96 sec No video Stage 2 - A British Hawk: 3rd | 78.31% | 23A, 6C, 1D, 1M, 22.27 sec Griiiiip.... needed a better grip on my gun. I was also pretty sure I shot over the swinger on my second shot, and wanted to pick it up... and then didn't. Stage 3 - The Weaver Express: 6th | 62.77% | 23A, 4C, 1D, 1M, 27.14 sec Positions weren't right on in first two position in the back. Fourth shot in the first position, I started looking away before I was done shooting, too anxious on the transition. 180 transition was a little choppy to second position. Cooper tunnel was okay. Almost overran my last position, and acquiring last target was a little sluggish. Stage 4 - Foreboding Ruins: 3rd | 81.54% | 24A, 5C, 21.88 sec Called shots on popper activator and swinger, didn't waste time for feedback or second guessing. Going around the corner, I was going to take those targets on the move, but wasn't low enough and just posted up. Hit one popper twice, not sure if I just nicked it the first time. Stage 1 - Run Amok: 4th | 91.48% | 23A, 8C, 1D, 26.38 I was first up on this stage. I took the drop turner first only because I didn't want to miss it cause I could always shoot the head box if I missed the clamshell. Ended up being A LOT more time and had to wait for it, still ended up shooting too early and hit the delta, then alpha on full presentation on the dropturner, two charlie on the clamshell. There would have been plenty of time for the activator, popper, clamshell, drop turner. Was hesitant on the clamshell, because I didn't call my second shot and my brain wanted to shoot a pickup on it, but only headbox was available, but my body said to go - so that's what that yelp and hesitation was right there. At the end, I called two good hits, but when I was done and looked at the target I thought I saw a hit in the hardcover and then was like... shoot it again... and reached for mag, but fumbled, then it took too long and I was telling myself, "I'm pretty sure I got those hits, though..." and left it. SO GLAD I didn't shoot it again, that would have been HORRIBLE. I'm not looking at targets anymore!!

#livefire 7/25/18 | 15:45-19:00 | ~400 rounds Tapped my rear sight to the left a bit and now my sights are all squared away. Shot some groups. Did the drills I did on Friday, plus a few more. Didn't feel like I could draw AT ALL tonight. Gonna dryfire a lot more this week than I did this past week. Really need to focus on calling my shots, looking away or something when I pull the trigger, the last thing I saw as alpha and then it lands four inches lower. I was successful in calling some shots though. I got a lot of charlies but most of them were close charlies. I just wrote down everything from practice for now... all times / only alpha times [time difference from Friday] Doubles (10 yards, Draw and shoot 2 - 2A, unless otherwise noted) Goal: 1.3 seconds 1.60, 2.25, 1.88 AC, 1.86, 1.47 AC, 1.71, 1.54 AC, 1.63, 1.68, 1.59 AC, 1.63 AC, 1.91 AC, 1.52 CC Best: 1.47 AC / 1.60 [-.22, -.31] Worst: 2.25 [-.13] Median: 1.63 AA / 1.695 [-.37, -.505] Average: 1.713 [-.347] Draw to One Alpha (10 yards, in Double Action) Goal: 1.0 second? consistently 1.29 C, 1.20 C, 1.32, 1.13 C,1.19 C, 1.25 C, 1.20, 1.34, 1.27, 1.51, 1.24, 1.08 M?, 1.50, 1.22, 1.54 C, 1.10, 1.14, 1.16 C, 1.10, 1.15 C, 1.21 C, 1.12 C Best: 1.08 / 1.1 A [-.06, -.06] Worst: 1.54 C / 1.51 A [-.23, -.26] Median: 1.21 A / 1.24 A [-.10, .07] Average: 1.24 [-.087] El Prez (10 yards, wrists above, turn and draw, 2A each on 3 targets) Goal: 5.0 seconds 6.47 ACCC AAAC AACD Points: 46 HF: 7.1097 6.64 AACC AACC AAAA Points: 52 HF: 7.8313 6.69 AAAC AAAA AACC Points: 54 HF: 8.0717 6.26 AACC AACD ACCD Points: 41 HF: 6.5495 [8.21 Points: 40 HF: 4.8721] 5.92 AAAD AACC AAAA Points: 52 HF: 8.7837 [7.39 Points: 50 HF: 6.7659] Plate Rack (Goal 2.5 seconds): 4.94 sec Singles (Goal 1.6 seconds): 2.13 CAA, 2.51 AAA, 2.28 DCC, 2.21 CAA, 2.30 CAA, 1.99 AAC, 1.84 CAC 4 Aces (Goal: 2.7 seconds): 4.08 ACCC, 3.93 AAAC, 3.35 AAAC, 3.70 AACC, 3.62 AAAC Blake Drill (Goal 2.2 seconds): 3.14 CC AC AC, 3.67 AC AA AC, 3.20 CC CD AC, 3.90 AC AA AA, 3.97 AA AA CC Blake Drill SHO (Goal 3.5 seconds): 5.47 CC CC AC, 4.62 AA CC AA, 4.75 AC AA AC, 4.16 AA AC AD, 4.33 AC AA AM Criss Cross Singles: 6.07, 5.61 BA/AC/(C)A Criss Cross (Goal 7.0 seconds): 9.21 B(C) AC / B(A) AA / (C) (C) AA (Was tired, wasn't aiming all the hard, didn't get some of the hits on the headbox, but below)

I know 3 people that made GM without taking a class, and only reshooting their last classifier one time (the one they needed to tip them into GM) at the urging of their squad.

#livefire 7/20/18 | 17:30-19:30 | ~250 rounds Friday became a member at a club that is 70 minutes from my house and went for my second ever livefire practice. I'm definitely a lot slower with my Shadow 2 right now. I worked on the drills from 10 yards - I didn't want it close enough I could be sloppy, but didn't want it far enough that I'd be frustrated. I focused on getting used to my double action pull. After the *beep* on a timer, my brain all of a sudden can't pull the DA smoothly. Used the timer on all my runs, ready to break that mental block. I have been pretty good with it in a match, but an occasional stage I'll take forever for my first shot. Started with groups and zeroed. Still shoots a little right. Doubles (10 yards, Draw and shoot 2 - 2A, unless otherwise noted) Goal: 1.3 seconds First set of the day: 2.05 AC, 2.17, 2.38, 1.91, 2.32, 1.83 AC, 1.69 AC, 1.92 CD (totally yanked and called these shots), 1.97 AC, 1.80 AD, 1.97 AC Last set of the day: 2.16 CD (totally yanked this), 1.93 AC, 1.96, 2.20, 2.38, 2.06, 2.00 AD (called a left C, but it ended up being in the D zone), 2.30 AC (was thinking the C would be a low A, but was on other side of perf), 2.25 Best: 1.69 AC / 1.91 2A Worst: 2.38 2A Median: 2.00 AD / 2.20 2A Average: 2.06 Draw to One Alpha (10 yards, in Double Action) Goal: 1.0 second? consistently 1.77, 1.35 D, 1.59 C, 1.32, 1.25 C (called a delta, but it made C), 1.44, 1.14 C, 1.20, 1.16, 1.18 1.37, 1.46 C, 1.31, 1.26, 1.39, 1.47, 1.33, 1.23 C, 1.23 C, 1.31 C, 1.25 C, 1.20, 1.37 (C's were all close charlies, 2 to the right (called), 1 barely left (called), 3 low (called one of these Cs, missed calling 2 of the right-under-the-A-zone C's) Best: 1.14 C / 1.16 A Worst: 1.77 A Median: 1.31 C / 1.31 A Average: 1.327 Just a few reps for a baseline for future practice comparison: Bill Drill (10 yards, Draw and shoot 6A) Goal: 2.2 seconds I just did a few because I wanted a baseline to compare in the next few weeks. I only had one successful Bill Drill, which was my first run. Need to grip harder in dryfire! [Bill Drill at Open/L10 Nats in 2016 was 2.74 sec, 5A1C] 3.51 6A, 3.25 3A3C, 3.73 3A3C, 3.22 4A2C Blake Drill (10 yards, Draw and shoot 2A on 3 targets) Goal: 2.2 seconds 3.82 4A2C El Prez (10 yards, writsts above, turn and draw, 2A each on 3 targets) Goal: 5.0 seconds 8.21 ACCD, AAAC, CCCD, 7.39 ACCC, AAAC, AAAC - yeahhhh need to work on griiiiip. My second one was better, though - I think my third would have been all alphas #dryfire Dryfired three times since my range practice on Friday, just some basics, gripping hard, calling shots. Looking forward to some dryfire tonight and more livefire practice tomorrow!

6/19/18 Mt. Rainier Shadow - 4th Production So..... this is the match right before Oregon State where my sights were off and didn't know it. So things like, "I thought I aimed!" and "How did I do this!" popped up during this match as I was super confused by why I was sucking so much. Of course blamed my gun. The closer range stuff wasn't as affected by my sights, so I had s few decent targets shot in the match. The stage with the double swingers was a stage win in Production. Almost picked up a shot on the swinger, but decided against it. Thought it was going to be a Charlie/Mike, but it was a Charlie/Delta (and another delta). Still not confident on them, but getting there. Super frustrated this year. Kinda banned from locals. Kinda long and rambling, but I want to put all this negative stuff behind me and move forward. I seem to always need to repeat myself a few times before I let it go. TL;DR... Bombed IPSC Nats. Not shooting locals for a bit so I can make time to livefire practice between majors and get to the point that I feel confident in shooting and can have fun again. Working on being more positive. So, the whole beginning of the year, I had tumbling rounds and didn't know it... thought I was just sucking. Then stopped dryfiring because I wasn't getting out to livefire to keep the dryfire honest and I thought the dryfire was making me worse because I had all these mikes and noshoots out of nowhere. Then I knocked my rear sight without knowing and got unexplained noshoots and mikes - once again, thought it was just me sucking. Then fixed that the day before Oregon and had a pretty good match for Oregon State Championship. Then switched to factory ammo and have been getting charlies and nicking no-shoots. When it happened at a match the MD let me shoot some groups in another bay and it seemed low, but the had CRO friend shoot, too, and it looked zeroed, then i shot again and it seemed fine - so left my sights where they were and just assumed it was me. (I may have had my handloads in one of my mags when we were checking the zero the second time). I had a horrible match and was super bummed. This was the weekend before IPSC Nats. I practiced the day before on the range in Florida and, I'm still shooting low, and am super frustrated by how much I was sucking (again, I thought) and can't understand how I'm "yanking the trigger," but left the sights because "I" was doing the same thing just a few days ago. Shot IPSC Nats. My first day wasn't too bad. Times were a little slow, a few too many charlies, but overall I was happy with it. My second day of shooting was horrible. Started off with a no-shoot, then on the second stage got confused by the light shining through a target and let it throw me off and didn't end up shooting it because I thought it was shot already, but couldn't figure out how in the moment and got 2M, FTSA.... and I felt done. Like, I was so hot and miserable and depressed, I didn't even want to finish the match. I finished, but not without more noshoots and another huge mistake. It was THE WORST I have ever shot at a major. I was so disappointed and frustrated. Totally bombed the entire second day. Sooooo frustrated. All the mistakes and horrible matches this year, and just life stress in general, got to me bad and vented to my friends. When one joked with me, like we normally do, I took it horribly and swore at him. Now that I look back, it was kinda funny. I was like, "I never want to shoot in Florida again!!" and he's like, "So does that mean there's a Nationals slot opening up?" So.... next day after I had slept and was rehydrated and calm... one of my friends talked with me and basically banned me from shooting local matches - because I'm taking mistakes way too hard right now and said I "wasn't having any fun." And that I needed to practice instead. Other friends backed him up. I pushed back a little, but in three years he's never said anything like that, so in the end realized he was probably right. Here's a few stages from IPSC Nats. I did have some fun! So moving forward.... Working on catching myself when I'm negative and reframing my thoughts. Going to be scheduling time in between majors for live-fire practice instead of local matches. Went and did my first live-fire practice in over a year.... I had one other one in February 2017. I know, sad. And - my sights were off for my factory ammo. Low and a little to the right (but I have to whack it with a hammer to change that - not gonna move that until I run my loads through it again to see if it's in the right spot. I had it zeroed at 25 yards with my handloads.) Going to go livefire again on Wednesday and then off to the Idaho Sectional this weekend. This explains my THREE 2A/NS that I got at Nats lol...

You're welcome @Nickblasta thought it might have been because I hit my front sight on the port on recoil and short stroked it. Not sure if that was the reason, or the only reason - might have been that and the aluminum casings. Maybe doesn't like them? I was shooting factory Federal, but two of the rounds I ejected had strikes on the primers. There was bay one that something felt off as well. I wasn't sure at the time what happened, I could have sworn I pulled the trigger in double action in the middle of a mag and was super confused.... I was thinking maybe what happened was that I had a light primer strike and it dropped the hammer, but I pulled the trigger again without racking, which would be in DA, and it went off. At that end of bay 1 at after show clear I was like.... "What did I do?!" Yeah my XDm doesn't like a long OAL or JHP and I read both those things may also be finicky in the S2. So the OAL of my loads have worked well in the Shadow, I shot Oregon State without any malfs. I'm still using 124 Rainier at 4.0 gr Titegroup. 130 PF

Haha thanks! That was my only "good" stage, but I had good things here and there that were an improvement, so there were positives. Just gotta bring it all together lol I like having video because I never know how I did until I see it. I usually feel it was SUPER slow and then sometimes it looks way better when I watch it. I'm the green scores compared against you and Todd. Custer DQ scores https://imgur.com/a/MjuPtYH

Yeah, it's nice to see how you stack up against the same people. Oh... I actually would have been third. I accidentally swapped times for two stages and forgot I took out time for my malfs on stage 3 when I was looking to see what my stage score would have been if I hadn't stupidly stuck my gun half way through the port - I lost about 50 stage points on that stage So, you got me this time! Stage 1 - 22A, 3C, 1M, 1NS, 29.03 seconds, 3.4103 HF | 4th I rushed the first paper and got an alpha/mike/ns, then I don't think my gun liked the aluminum casing and had a weird thing in the second window on the left with that double stack target, so wasted some time there. I knew there was one paper where I didn't call my shot, but I rushed off of it and didn't pick up any shots, so after show clear I was whining because I was afraid of what I had shot on that target. So... rushing, again. I need to stop that. Stage 2 - 21A, 2C, 22.07 seconds, 5.0295 HF | 1st I had good hits, but I didn't have my positions memorized well enough, I was kinda leaning a little extra to hit targets and wasting movement. It was decent though. Stage 3 - 29A, 5C, 1M, 53.72 seconds, 2.7923 HF | 6th was HORRIBLE... stage plan was awesome, I eliminated going down two hallways and didn't have to go to the end of the stage... BUT... I put my gun halfway through the port and had several malfunctions, not realizing what I was doing. I had 18 seconds of clearing multiple bad jams Stage 4 - 9A, 3D, 7.37 seconds, 6.5129 HF | 3rd The classifier - I had a good time, but 3 deltas lol... The two paper on left I had a nice group straight across the middle of the alpha right in the delta zone. The last target I knew was bad because I had loosened my grip and saw the gun jumping like crazy... I needed to calm down and just call my shots on that! Stage 5 - DQ [24A, 2C, 35.00 seconds, 3.6 HF] And the last stage I DQ'd on.. well... I only got to shoot 8 aimed shots. Stage 6 - 20A 19.81 seconds 5.0480 HF | 1st The steel stage we started on went almost perfect. The only thing was when I left the first position I forgot how it was to run in sand lol and was thrown off by my slow departure lol. Then at the end I had a few pickups. But I was really happy with it. So... I am only using brass cases from now on, I'm never putting my gun halfway through a port again, making sure I add my position at a port in my visualization, visualize every stage better and in more detail for every stage, stop rushing, call my shots.... and not DQ.

7/1/2018 DQ!! So.... after four years of shooting it finally happened.... for realsies. I DQd (The DQ from November was an illegal stage design and I was following USPSA stage design rules when I was shooting the course, unaware of the "steel fault line" WITHIN the shooting area... so doesn't count "as much." - It actually felt WAY worse, though. lol) DQing on the LAST STAGE of the day was, by far, much better than my first DQ - which was my 12th shot or so of the entire match. Taping and scoring all day without getting to shoot any of the stages was a bummer! At least I got to shoot this time and got some scores to compare against the other shooters. I took a picture of all my stage scores and then changed the last place Production in the Competitor App to my scores to see about where I would have placed. I made an estimate for the last stage, and it looks like I would have won with an 8% lead - so little fluctuation on the last stage probably wouldn't make a difference on placement. I made mistakes, but it wasn't too terrible. Definitely needed to memorize a few of the stages better though because I wasn't hitting my positions and "hunting" a bit for the targets. No.... this isn't the DQ, this is my first stage of the day. I was happy it went well, because at Oregon State I had a hard time on my first stages BOTH days. I just aimed and shot and didn't worry about anything. Now if I can just keep doing that lol 20A, 19.81 seconds, 6th overall out of the 61 shooters. First 5 on the stage were a PCC GM and M; Open GM, and CO M and A. And Production stage win (except... DQ).

6/23 - 6/24 2018 Oregon State Championship - 2nd A Class Production Just finished the Oregon State Championship this weekend. Both days my first TWO stages were the roughest. First day I had no penalties and only 1 delta... second day I tagged a NS (2A/NS) on the first stage of the day, a mike on the second stage, and 9 deltas throughout the day. The tougher shots were on day 2 though. I stayed relatively consistent despite not feeling the greatest on the second day. I threw up after my first stage (a first, lol) and had a hard time staying hydrated. Despite that - I always have a great time at this match! Looking forward to Area 1 being here next year! We had some Ms and GMs shooting in Production this year - they weren't all over in PCC and CO: 3GM, 9M, 5A I ended up 14th Production, 2nd A class, 75.56% Stage 1: 8th, 83.29% I don't know how this was one of my better stages percentage-wise; it was really slow. Wasted like whole second lowering my arms for a sec after shooting that target entering the middle section. Stage 2: 10th, 74.51% Stage 3: 13th, 78.33% This would have been a really good stage if I had gotten a few more alphas! I dropped two deltas on my two right papers rushing off of the open target and onto the clamshell... I ended up having way more time on the clamshell than I thought I was going to gave. Just a little more time to get those few always and it would have put me very close to a stage win. Stage 4: 11th, 62.35% Stage 5: 15th, 66.63% Stage 6: 16th, 69.83% So this was my reshoot. A popper at the end fell in the wind before I got to it. The reshoot was going better than my first run, 5 seconds ahead of my time up to the field of poppers at the end.... then - rushed, pick up shots all over.... my, "Oh no" because I knew I was going to slide lock ugh! was 16th, 69.83% Ended up being almost TWO seconds slower than my first run. *sigh* Stage 7: 10th, 78.76% Stage 8: 9th, 84.32% Stage 9: 13th, 78.68% Stage 10: 18th, 65.34% Stage 11: 18th, 54.57%

I'm starting to get used to it now! I think I'm almost to the point I wouldn't want to go back to plastic lol - I don't know, I haven't shot my XDm since i got this one, I quit it cold turkey to force myself to adapt to this one quicker. But, yes, dryfire is helping and feeling much more comfortable now.

6/9/18 2nd Match with the CZ Shadow 2 - 3rd Production, 93.59% Watched my videos of the stages from the match I shot on Saturday. My reloads weren't too bad, but I.... don't really want to judge anything else until I shoot a few more matches. I did enough "that was horrible" at the match to last the rest of my transition from the XDm. I'm just going to focus on memorizing my stages and forget about it "being a new gun" or "moving like a C class" and definitely need to stop worrying about the double action and just shoot and have fun. And practice! A:140 B:9 C:25 D:6 M:1 OTS:1 Pts: 89% Stage 1: 4th, 97.32% - 25A, 6C, 1D Stage 2: 4th, 89.63% - 25A, 6C Stage 3: 5th, 77.97% - 15A, 2C, 1D [8.95, 10.19] Stage 4: 5th, 82.00% - 19A, 6B, 1C Stage 5: 4th, 82.36% - 25A, 2B, 4C, 1M Stage 6: 4th, 86.65% - 22A, 1B, 1C Stage 7: 7th, 75.64% - 9A, 5C, 4D, 1OTS [Classifier 09-09, 65.56%]

6/5/18 First Match with the CZ Shadow 2 - 6th Production I already posted a bit about my first match, but here's the match video. All my stages look, and felt at the time, C class, the last one looked a little more B class. I was feeling really lazy that night, so that probably didn't help, but this match was mostly about testing my gun out and getting a feel for it, so I didn't really care that I ended up being 6th Production. I was 84% of another Production A competitor that I am pretty equal with (we take turns beating each other). My percentages for the first two stages were 55% and 56%, then 97%, 81%, 71, and 96%. So I did warm up a bit with the gun. By the last stage, I felt comfortable enough to NOT think about the gun/trigger/newness and just shot the stage. (I posted that stage a few posts back already.) I did knock a mag out of a pouch at the last position and ended up dancing around it to avoid stepping on it, but overall that stage went okay because I was much more used to it.

6/9 - 6/10/18 USPSA Paul Bunyan - 3rd Production (out of 21), 93.59% - 7th Limited (out of 31), 82.70% Dryfired 6/7 and 6/8, getting more comfortable with the gun. Rotated all my mag pouches back a notch and reloading is way better now. Shot Production on Saturday ....felt like I did a lot better than Tuesday. So, progress continues!! Double action is still hard for me, taking too much time for my first shot. I shot Limited minor with 15 rounds on Sunday to practice for IPSC. I actually shot worse on Sunday. I was in a bad mood after the second stage after getting popper f'd for the second day in a row - same popper. Shot it 3 times Saturday and twice today. I don't know why I let it get to me so bad. I let it trigger a flood of negativity and after I was done being mad I was almost in tears. I think I was stressed since Oregon State is only two weeks away and I was thinking I was doing so horrible with the new gun and I was "never going to shoot well with it." Stupid, I know. Sorry, Squad, for being a pill for a few stages! The two stages after my popper stage were better than the day before's by 0.2 and 0.6 HF, and then the next two were 0.2 HF lower - so I was still relatively consistent. At the end of the day, I was kinda surprised by the scores since I thought I did much worse. I need to stop thinking about it and just shoot! This stage had a half a head target surrounded by no-shoots that was shot after hosing 6 poppers. I pulled my second shot a tiny bit and nicked the no-shoot but the overlay didn't reach the perf! Two alpha without the no-shoot! I shot two alpha today, too, an inch apart in the center of the eyebox. I love how much more accurate this gun is!

6/2/18 YRPA Steel Classic Championship | 4th Limited My (last??) match with my XDm. I had a really fun steel match last weekend in Yakima! Besides Berry's Steel Open, I hadn't shot a steel match in a long time. It was a loooong day - three hours of sleep and up at 2AM, match starting around 8 AM, back home around 11 PM. I was pretty tired at the end of the day, but it was worth the trip. I got 4th in Limited. I also shot my 10/22 (that I won at this match 2 years ago), but I had malfs on every stage because of my old mags! ...and was last place in the rimfire rifle irons division lol In Limited, I lost second place because of 2 bad strings on stage 1 (our last stage of the day) (I'm just pointing out the errors from that stage because I was the most inconsistent on it - I lost focus and wasn't aiming appropriately on the middle three strings, any other tiny mistakes here and there would've made up the time as well, as it always goes.) If those two strings would have been closer in time to my first and last string of that stage.... 2nd. Consistency is SO important!! Can't make stupid mistakes anymore. BUT... I was super happy with this match anyway because it was the most consistent steel match I have ever shot. I was there to have fun and call my shots, and I did a pretty good job, so I had a really good day. 1 Kelley, Patrick LTD 130.45 20.75 12.11 14.98 13.93 13.81 20.07 9.85 13.51 11.44 2 Taylor, Robin LTD 144.88 19.38 16.97 16.22 15.82 17.20 19.29 12.06 15.05 12.89 3 Laws, Aaron LTD 147.17 18.49 14.19 23.70 14.45 15.01 20.32 15.01 12.75 13.25 4 Denton, Charis LTD 148.84 27.24 16.95 15.14 14.18 16.03 21.42 11.21 14.94 11.73 Here's the longer version of the match video with some of the rifle malfs and outtakes (me yelling at my 10/22). YRPA Steel Classic Championship - 4th Limited

6/6/18 #dryfire Okay, I did a lot of double action trigger pulls tonight, getting a feel for it. Then about 20 minutes of dryfire familiarizing myself with the gun some more. At @MemphisMechanic suggestion, I taped down the hammer to the beavertail for my dryfire. I had forgotten it'd be a double action pull otherwise. Draws, reloads, El Prez, 90 degree transitions. The gun is heavier, but I don't know how much that effects transitions really. It feels like I'm acclimating well to the added weight. I kinda like drawing it, feels like when you pull it out of the holster, the weight, like - "helps" it up the rest of the way to eye level. I don't know how to describe it - feels different LOL. The stock grips are actually not bad. I thought I wanted something really aggressive, but I'm going to try these out a few more matches to see it it's enough. I took @NickBlasta's advice and added a little oval of grip tape where my support hand thumb sits. I had a bad habit of holding it higher, sometimes riding the slide - so this is a good marker to get used to where it needs to be and keep from slipping out of place. I'll take it off before IPSC. Indexing is exactly the same as my XDm, so I don't need any adjustments, which is awesome; one less thing that needs relearning. The mags are so slippery and my new mag pouches' retention so much looser that I keep whacking/fumbling mags out of my pouches. Little bit of a learning curve. It'll be SO much easier to stuff mags on 'mags on table' starts - I think I'll be happy. Reloads are so smooth going in and coming out... I think I'm going to love this gun. I'm really excited about getting in a longer dryfiring session tomorrow. I'm happy

6/6/18 Got my Shadow 2 yesterday!! Shot a match with it!! Picked up my gun yesterday (finally!) and went straight to the range. @NickBlasta put the new springs in for me - 11 lb recoil, 11 lb mainspring and we test fired it before the match. It was zeroed and I was really happy with its accuracy. My first two stages were really rough. My first shot I pulled it into the hardcover on the double action pull, and had a pickup shot. All my splits the entire first stage felt incredibly SLOW. It felt horrible. When scoring, my alphas were like an inch apart and I had 1 charlie, 25 alpha, but was slow. Also.... I was so preoccupied with shooting the gun for the first time, I totally missed an entire target! ugh Oh well. I was missing my XDm HARD after the first stage LOL Dryfired the double action a bunch at the safety table and was starting to get the hang of it. The single action pull felt "sloppier" than mine and about a pound heavier. It will take some getting used to. Below is the last stage of the match, I was starting to get the hang of the timing, but the double action trigger added like a second to my first shot LOL ALSO... using totally different mag pouches than I'm used to. I'm using Ghost pouches on this belt instead of the usual Double Alpha. I measured the trigger weights today. XDm: 2.25 lbs. It was kinda hard to get the S2 because of the shape of the trigger, especially in DA, but seemed to be S2: 3.5 lb SA / 5.5-6 DA. Also, the trigger on my XDm didn't really have any play in it, so that's another thing I need to get used to with the S2.

Yeah..... that's hard for me, I've been tryyyyying... *insert Yoda quote here* hehe I think CHA-LEE accurately assessed the reason I also talk too much while shooting - because I'm judging myself and my mistake instantly - I really need to do that after the match is done. I know I can and *will* (eventually) do something, I just constantly get sidetracked on the way there. Maybe I will reread Lanny Basham's book so I can remind myself to be more positive. Thanks for the comment a positive outlook really does help

A light trigger feels so nice though

The closest range is 1hr 15min away so I pretty much never livefire practice. The only livefire I get is matches. I am nearly not disciplined enough..... I go through spells of dryfiring 5 days a week, then I erroneously think it's not helping because "I still suck", or I think that dryfire is making me worse for some reason and "take a break." All of a sudden I haven't dryfired for 2-3 weeks, and then start dryfiring again.... it's a horrible cycle that I need to break. BUT.... this last year has been way better than the past because I used to never dryfire at all. I have a lot of my dryfire in my journal, but I didn't put all my sessions in the last few months. I'm starting my schedule back up today - minimum of 15 minutes, 5 days/week. My problem is that I like to see results "right away," so I just need to learn to be patient and keep practicing whether it looks like there are results or not.

Yeah, I will definitely put updates on it. I'll be staying in Production with it, just shooting in Limited minor at the locals this next month to get ready for IPSC Nats. Yeah, the decocking thing is weird to me! LOL I shot Gooldylocks' Accushadow a few months ago and had to decock it... I was like, "What if it fires?!"

Yeah, I have the 5.25. I got the CZ Shadow 2, the blue grips. I might buy some more aggressive grips, though.

Yeah, 5" is the max barrel length in Prod. Thanks! It was a good excuse to get the Shadow 2, I guess. I did shoot it at Iron Sights last year on the side stage and liked it.... hopefully I'll get used to it quickly!

You can't use the XDm at all in IPSC Production, or the Glock 34 - which are the two guns I have. So I needed to get a new gun, so just went for one I would use in USPSA Production, too. Plus... I don't think I would enjoy a 5 lb trigger coming from 2 lbs.

6/4/18 IPSC Nationals & NEW GUN!! #NoMoreMcRib??? So..... I signed up for IPSC Nats in July. But... I can't shoot my XDm in the Production division And... I had to buy a new gun which I haven't even shot in a match, yet, because it is coming TODAY!! I know... This is super bad timing! I have Oregon State Championship in TWO WEEKS and IPSC Nationals in FIVE WEEKS, and I haven't shot the double/single action trigger before (in a match). I have to dryfire the crap out of this gun and get as much livefire as possible, and get used to the double action and the heavier trigger. My XDm is like... 2lbs. I'm not sure what this will be, but I ordered an 11 lb recoil and 13 lb mainspring, so we'll see how well the almost-completely-stock-everything-no-polishing-at-all trigger will be. NERVOUS! and excited OH... I already got: my new holster and hanger from BSPS; some Mecgar mags (so, I'll have like 7 of them since I'll probably be abandoning my trusty McRib for USPSA Production); my springs; I already had a spare belt for the few times I shot Open; a magnet I can actually use now!, and I think I'll try out my Ghost pouches for my belt, but also might just use my current setup, not sure yet... I'll see how it feels when I set up my belt tonight. And... I might shoot Limited minor with 15 rounds to get used to the IPSC Production capacity.