mvslay

I think you said you have 2 girls. My 5 year old son is my main motivation. I want to : A) be around and healthy for a long time for him and B )I want to set a good example for him. I agree that diet is 90% of the battle. I’ve lost a little over 70lbs in the last 6 months. Here’s what I’ve done. I’ve bought into and commited to diet and excercise. Even on weeks when my weight fluctuates I tell my self it is going to work. And it has. I’ve built a network of friends and family I can talk to and get encouragement from. I’ve made a lifestyle change the goal and not the weight loss. Specifics: I use a calorie counting app Work set me up with a program called Narurally Slim and Biometric screening I do cardio of some sort 6-7 times a week. I like running so I’ve been training for a 5k in July. I run 3-4 times a week and alternate speed and distance weeks. I fill in the rest with walking, elliptical, and rowing machine. I bring my son on the walks and am starting him running a little. I’ve began weight training. I do body weight stuff like 6 days a week. I added free weights and leg presses to overcome shin splints about 4 months ago. Heavy weights for the legs add agility. I mean heavy in a relative sense. I’m no where near the level of some of the guys I see. Like 180-225 is a lot for me on the leg presses and I see guys regular 360+ As a side benefit and motivation enhancer it has improved my match performance.

There’s a ton of good advice. I have been pursuing the running and it helps. I’m that guy who wears the treadmill out and hates lifting. But, I’m 39 and was really out of shape. Over the last few months I’ve had to add strength training to get my legs caught up to my cardio. I’ve found a mixture of squats, calf raises, and farmers carries have done wonders for explosiveness and sprints. I particularly like doing a slow farmer carry over speed ladder patterns. If you go heavy enough you work grip, core, and legs with one exercise.

Even as good as he is, you can tell reloads are a little harder on the PCC guys (There is just no natural flow for the support hand like with the pistol). I watched Todd Jarrett too. His PCC reloads were slower than his pistol reloads. That Max guy has definitely got some athletic ability beyond excellent his shooting skills. It looks like one of his worst stages was the head shot stage.

I'm a limited shooter. But, I've noticed some things about the PCC division. And honestly, I was looking at this post because I was thinking of shooting PCC. First off, some areas do not have opportunities for rifle style competition. It's great for those who want to use a long gun in competition in areas that don't have 3 gun. To me open and pistols in general have a lot of advantages in a USPSA style stage. Reloads are quicker for pistols, transitions are quicker, shooting around barricades is easier (especially on the week side with a tight fault line), moving through obstacles are easier with a pistol, running is easier with a pistol too. Pistols also have the option for Major PF scoring in Open, Limited, Single Stack, and Revolver. PCC is just another option and set of skills for the game. At the club I shoot at we basically treat the chamber flag as the holster. The PCC is considered safe with the flag in it like pistols are considered safe while holstered. Most of the PCC guys just leave them on the adjacent safe table with muzzle pointed at the berm and only handle when moving to the firing line or from bay to bay. Safety wise, the things I see a lot of is breaking the 180 when moving facing the shooters weak side of the berm. It takes a while to realize the PCC is more diaganol across your body. And the other thing is sweeping your own feet in tight areas. If you want to trip up a PCC shooter set up a stage with short distance head shots and watch the B's rack up. I've seen that a lot too since the sights are much higher to the bore compared to a pistol.

I like my phone app with the Apple Ear buds. The mic on the ear bud is sensitive enough to pick up about 75-90% of hammer strikes. I like seeing a time in addition to the par time function.

I had some problems with the MBX's in my DVC Limited. It ended up a to be a combination of things. I had to tune the feed lips on about half of the mags after about 6 months of use. I needed new Springs as mine were visibly twisted at rest. I also had problems with the STI extractor tuning. I also found I needed to excercise the rounds up and down with the UpLula after every 5 to 10 rounds while loading. MBX recommends this for full capacity loading. I've found this is necessary for reliability too.

I have one of the companies .40 S&W laser cartridges. It prematurely failed. It now stays on when activated. I called the customer service department and was pleasantly surprised that they handled it quickly and at no cost to me. I then asked to buy a .45 ACP cartridge and they told me they would, but directed me to a retail outlet since it would be a better price than direct from them. Great customer service experience and honesty.

Obviously, I'm pro 2A, I'm also an advocate of CCW. I have no problem with someone having a holstered pistol around their kids or mine if they are responsible. I also live in a shall issue State where $25, backround check, and a pulse will get you a CCW. Oh, and if you drive anywhere you already have to have that CCW to enter your vehicle even if it is open carried. So that being said, I turn around in the electronics department at Wal-Mart and my 3 year old and are in arms length of a guy leaned over his basket, with an open top zero retention holster, and his hip poked out. He was involved with his kid in the cart and totally oblivious to his surroundings. If it weren't inherently dangerous and illegal I'd have liked to have taken his pistol to prove a point. I choose not to make a political point with my self defense. If you must open carry, please do it responsibly. In my opinion it requires at least a retention holster and a heightened level awareness. Training is really a must too (this guy obviously had none). I personally believe anybody who decides to open carry for any perceived advantage of ease of access hasn't studied the subject or trained enough. I really believe open carry puts a target on your back in the event of a crisis. It also is generally used by the left to cast a negative light on gun owners. And if you're like this one fool I saw it presents a danger. Sorry, I had to rant. Better here than elsewhere.

I shot the Alabama Sectional. I was a bit disappointed at my performance. I had an FTE that kind of shook me. I could have done better. Stage planning and execution was my weakest point. I began doing a little Cardio. I need to really get on that. My handgun skills are now better than my movement. To progress I'll need to work on my movement. I also shot the local match this weekend. I did better in my opinion. It is definitely time to get some range practice in. The days are longer so hopefully I can some time in at the club.

I shot my first match "on the road"(away from my local club). I shot Brothers N Arms in Hattiesberg, MS. I did pretty bad. I had one good stage (I shot it at 75% of a GM in the same class). Every other stage I was plagued by mental errors, malfunctions, or both. So here are some of the reasons/excuses I did so poorly. 1. I did not sleep much the night before. I can tell a real difference when I don't get a good nights sleep. 2. I didn't do my maintenance. I usually clean the gun before matches. I didn't do that. I also know my mag springs need to be replaced and I've known it. 3. I didn't do my dry fire as much this week. Work was heavy this week and I didn't stay on top of my practice. That made me slow on acquiring the sights. 4. I let the malfunctions and fatigue break my concentration.

I had a good match today. I had 2 Mikes on one stage. I had one mag change timing error. I came in 8th overall, 3rd in Limited and 1st in Combined C class. I shot just under 63% on El Presidente. That's 2 Low B Classifiers in a row! Sadly I'm going to be bumping my highest score out soon. I just wish I could get more range time. I need CCI to sponsor me with about 10K primers LOL.

I shot a match on Feb 4. I came in about the 1/3. I had a fairly bad performance but still had a decent placement. I shot a 42 % on my Classifier despite clearing a FTF (mental not replace mag Springs ASAP). I re-shot it after the match and made a 61% without having to push to hard to do it. If I can square up my mental mistakes I believe B class is only a few matches away. I made 2 trips prior to that and worked el strong and weak presidente. That classifier is a pretty thorough drill with 2 reloads 2 draws and strong and weak hand shooting. The best I've done it in practice is about a 51%. I also need to work on transitioning to my right when it is near 180 degree transition. I've had like 3 misses on that scenario in the last couple of matches.

I shot the local match today. It was a make-up for the last week that was canceled. I came in 7th overall out of 25. One open C-class beat me in class. I came in the 3rd in Limited. I was beat by a B-class and an unclassified limited (He's an A production though). I sucked badly at El Prez strong and weak. I need to practice that one. It's a good mix of reloads and strong/weak shooting. I built my first stage today too. I put a bunch of longer paper in. My longer paper shots are getting better. Also last week I hit the indoor range. I shot the NRA instructor pre-qualifier. I can pass it at up to 55' and the standard is 45'. I hope to get that and do some introductory pistol and get a little extra range time.

I shot a match on Dec 17th. I generally did poorly. I came in 16th out of 29. There were a lot of upper level shooters, but I definitely was not 100%. I made a range trip on the 29th. I made a new best plate rack time of 4.15s @ 10 yds. I got a draw and shoot of 1.24 at 8" steel at 12 yds. It was a generally productive trip. I brought my cousin on the 30th. I did a little long distance paper from behind a barricade. I had good hits at up to 40 yds. We ran the same scenario with an AR. I was far quicker and more accurate with the pistol (3 targets at 35-40 yds move forward and re-engage at 15yds mandatory reload for the pistol). I'd be better with the AR if I practiced with it. I've said in close quarters a pistol is better and to me that reinforces the point. I also did some draw on 7yd paper. I was consistent in the 1.24-1.34 second range in the A-zone. I did make 1 attempt at a maximum speed minimum sight picture shot. I did a 0.94 second Center of the A zone hit. If only I could do that consistent!

I shot a Level 1 match today. It was 7 stages. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to make it to the range for any live fire and it showed. I need to work on long distance paper and trigger control. I had 1 minor fail to feed. I did ok, I should have done better. 11th overall out of 27, 1st in Class/Division, 5th in Division @ 74.95% of a Master. I won my first stage overall today. I won the Stage 1 which was mixture of walls and barrels and a lot of foot work. I have a lot more work and need to find some time to do live fire on the range. I should have made a 43.9% on the classifier.

I shot a match last Saturday (Nov 19th). I did horribly. I had 2 malfunctions and did poorly on the other stages. I believe a dirty gun and some poorly sized brass were the culprits. I have been getting the air soft out more. I'll hopefully get some live fire time in next week.

I made a cheap airsoft plate rack. I got some 2" electrical box knock outs and hinges. The total cost was around $20. I mounted it to some scrap 2x4. The best sequence for me seems to be focus on the front sight, fire, shift my eyes to the next target, then drive the front sight to target and refocus on the front sight. I can tell my eyes are shifting and getting quicker at reaquiringthe front sight.

My airsoft gun came in. I've been doing some draw and shoot drills on a Tactrainers metric target. The tactrainers is a high quality product. Next pay check I'll be getting more. I am now a C class shooter! My goal is to make it to B class by March. We'll see how that goes. I'll be doing more dry fire tonight. I've slacked off the last 2 nights.

I set up two targets about 16' apart and 2 shooting boxes 5yds in front of each. I got a cheap BB gun on a whim at Acadamy because it looked like it would fit my racemaster holster (and it did). I practiced running between each box and engaging targets. The sights on the little BB gun were pretty darn good. I will do some more dry fire tonight.

I shot a Level 1 match today. I did fairly well, but there is room for improvement. I came in 8th overall, 3rd in limited, 1st in class D, and beat all of the C class. I was beat by 2 unclassifieds (1 truly unclassed, 1 not classed in division) and the rest were B and above. I shot at 72.109 of a M Prod and 81.339 of a Limited M (he lost a front sight on a stage). My Classifier should be a 55% and bump me to C class. My long distance shooting was better. My weakest point was developing a plan an executing. I had 2 extra reloads because of poor planing or execution. I also had a fumbled reload that cost some time too. I did better at the long paper and steel today. I'm satisfied with the long range improvement, but I still need to emphasize that in practice. The classifier was my best stage today. I came in 3rd on it. I had a total of 6 misses and no other penalties.

May I recommend a couple of safety protocols for dummy round mag training? I store all live ammo separate. In fact, my competition gun pretty much never has a live round in a mag anywhere but the range. This obviously wouldn't be the case shooting a carry gun in production or similar situation. I store my dummies in 50 round plastic containers that are marked. I have 100 ea in .40 and .45. All of them are marked red and have no primers in them. My live stuff stays in 100 round boxes. It is easy for me to know I have all of my dummies accounted for because I have 4 full 50 round boxes when I'm done. When I dry fire I do one of 2 things as a redundant safety measure: A: I remove the firing pin. This is very easy for me since I have a series 70 1911 style gun. Lock the slide back and pull the pin. Even if I did load a live round I would have a redundant safety measure. or B: I insert my laserlyte dummy round. It has no extraction groove so it acts as a chamber plug that would block any potential live round from chambering. If you don't want the laser feedback you can insert it without batteries.

I'm working through some dry fire tonight. I'm doing slow fire weak hand, I'll follow that with strong hand, then free style. I just had to take a break. I did some free weights today for the first time in a long, long time and the gun is very heavy now!

I made it to the indoor range. I shot the Dot torture drill. I did poorly on the weak hand stuff. I made another go at weak hand later in the session. I did better the 2nd time, but it needs a ton more work. I also did about 30 rounds at a USPSA Metric target 60' out. About 75% were A Zone, all of them were within the C Zone line. I still have a tendency to pull left. I also did some controlled pairs on 2" circles @ 5 yds. Those were pretty good.

My best ever 6 plates 4.96 @ 10 yds. D Limited Major shooter. Working on getting better.

The mini silhouettes are a great tool. I shot in an ICORE match today. I shot the STI in the semi-auto division. Overall I shot fairly well. I made several X ring hits. However, I did poorly on the weak hand portion. I did really well on that last match. The difference is I didn't work weak hand in my dry fire. I need to discipline myself to do weak hand more. It is apparently a very perishable skill. The STI was baptized in sand today. I had it fall out of the holster during a dry run. After the sand was dusted out it suffered 4 malfunctions on the last 2 stages. I did a detailed tear down and clean this afternoon. Sand made it into the sear and disconnector area and caused some binding. I'll try to run it with live fire this week some.