markwilliston

Nice job on the site update, that's about 1000% better!

Okay, the dishes are finally out of the sink, there isn't dirty laundry isn't all over the floor anymore. It must be finally over. 13 days at the range from start to finish. Murray had a little surprise for me after we finished up yesterday afternoon. One of the first ranges we opened up had some of our tactical police doing some practice. I got to play with an MP-5 for about 15 minutes, that was VERY cool. The police officer asked if I was familiar with it, and I said "pretend I've never seen one before" so he ran me through how it works. After he saw me getting comfy with it, he showed me a few more things. Very enjoyable finish. 07 Canadian Nationals Stats page Nationals Day 1 shooting video I haven't seen the day 2 video yet, hopefully tomorow. We started on stage 5, and I was at the bottom of the shooting order. Had the plan reasonably solid in my little brain, might have been a little agressive, seeing as I ran dry with extra shots in the middle. Shot it clean, and a little slow. Stage 6, still not moving very fast, good hits. Stage 7, got a little excited with the movers and left 2 mikes... can't be doing that. 1 or 2 seconds slower and 30 more points is much better Stage 8, happy only dropped 7 points, could get my ass moving a little faster. Chrono stage, I was pretty lucky here. I had checked my load on 3 different chronos in the month before the match. Each one was between 175-177pf. I just squeaked by with 170.4 on this warm day. I think I'll be bumping it up another .1 Stage 9, standards easy money. If anything, I could have slowed down a bit on the 50 yards string. Stage 1, had a solid plan, but watched Brad hemorage on this one right before I went. The first reload, I should have done before going into the bay. The extra shots meant running dry. Tried to throw away a mag on the last reload, so that one took a while. Otherwise, happy with the stage. Stage 2, Ugly stage, the dissappearing target is visible for maybe .4 seconds after pulling the wire. Looking at the video I didn't do what I had planned in my head. I wanted to have the gun indexed on the dissappearing target stronghand before pulling the wire. Anyhow, got good points on everything else. I got a little mad at myself, and there was no need for that. it worked out okay. Stage 3, Wasn't a bad stage, but I got excited. Another super fast dissapprearing target, and I got an A zone hit on it, then left a mike and delta on one of the visible ones. Once again, you can't shoot fast enough to make up for mikes Stage 4, I was first up at bat for this one. Bigger stage, with a ton of ports. I'm not a rocket scientist, and don't pretend to be one. I needed a good plan, solid in my brain fast. It didn't have to be the best plan, I just needed one. Randy helped me out, and it worked fine. I threw out one mike on the second target which was kinda silly. Overall very happy with the stage. Summary of day one, very lucky to have the level of experience that was on our squad. I had a very level day of shooting, didn't really ace any stages, and didn't hemorage on any either. Time for dry fire, 3 weeks till provincials.

Ok, nationals is over. With some great help we got the teardown done yesterday. After it's all said Manny got 1st (he wasn't on our squad), and the rest of our squad: Place MatchPercent Match Points Name Cat Class 1 100.00 1876.3449 Emmanuel B 4 82.61 1550.0407 Don L 7 72.72 1364.4534 Randy F 9 70.99 1331.9544 Fraser B 12 69.16 1297.7157 Murray G 18 62.55 1173.6737 Charlene V 28 54.02 1013.6516 Mark W 40 50.53 948.0719 Brad T 47 45.73 858.1000 Tracey M Off to the gym, will write more tonight.

Day one of nationals is over. One word "AWESOME" Weather is perfect, great squad, just plain fun. Shot well, lots of A's, no penalities, and 3 mikes. 20 minutes interuption just now to watch the fireworks fest from my balcony.... Time for bed, working the match in the morning, and shooting again friday.

Just a quicky before bed, short live fire this morning (got stuck in trafic). Pretty much finished the range setup, and registration got started after lunch. Lucked out on our squad. It's the allstart squad, and ME we have Murray G, Randy F, Don L, Fraser B, Tracey M, Charlene V, Brad T, and myself. It is going to be AWESOME. We are all shooting standard, so that's fun, our first shooting day is weds afternoon. My match ammo is "almost" ready... more live fire in the morning, only spending a few hours at the range tomorow, then the games begin. Sleepy time.

OMG is it EVER a lot of work getting a match setup for 250 shooters... HOLY. Last night, the shooting gang (and their better halfs) came over to watch the fireworks. It was a perfect night for it, and they really were specatular. Got up early to be at the range for 9am practice again. It was pissing rain and cloudy/foggy. So we shot from under cover on range one. We have a steel target at 50 yards, that we took turns tinging. Steel is great at that distance, the size of the target is less than A zone at 20 yards. At one point doing strong hand, the fog got bad enough that it was almost tough to see the damn steel, but it kept going tink Then it was work time....We got a ton of stuff done, one funny thing. We have had more volunteers from either out of town or other clubs than from our own club... That is very sad. That being said, the guys and gals that have come out have been fantastic. 2 more days till shooting starts, I'd like to get another 300 rounds loaded before bed, and get to sleep early tonight, so I"m out of here.

Still givin 'er. Friday was very productive, can't remember what we did at the range, but it was a lot Did live fire with Brad and Tracey in the evening, we shot for about an hour and a half, it felt pretty good. I'm not sure which is hotter right now, my press or my gun. They are both pretty much going all the time. Oh ya, and I bought a gun We got some S&W MP's to put on the prize table, and there was a couple extras. The other Mark, bought one, I looked at it, and decided to get one too. What the hell. My gun acted up a couple times during the day with the extractor, hadn't done a serious clean on the gun so I reset the tension and decided to give it a good clean once home. Got home around 10pm, made 200 rounds. Then took the gun apart, put some lead remover in the barrel to sit, and started cleaning everything else.... HOLY COW was it ever dirty. Got to bed at 1:30am, but my gun is clean now.... At the range at 9am for one hour live fire before working on setup again. Long day, but all the ranges are setup, and it's just niggly stuff left. We are ahead of the curve now. Gonna make some ammo tonight, and watch the fireworks festival off my balcony.

Yesterday morning, made 100 rounds of what's gonna be my match load. Did a quick chrono in the morning before working on the range. Power factor is around 175 (170 for major). Happy with that. Spent a lot of time in the sun yesterday, pounding spikes, and moving walls, etc.. was a little overheated by the time I got home. After a cold shower, and nap, did a good dry fire before bed. This morning, good chest workout and cardio. Worked about 3 hours at the range, built a fence to hide some of the police props that they use. Live fire with Murray and Tracey. Things are coming together nice. Tracey has been having problems with her Para (it has a LOT of rounds through it). Joe Dlask put a new barrel and made a stainless slide to fit, so everything is tight now. It seems to be running good too We a quick chrono of her match load, so I ran a mag of mine across as well. Still right where it's supposed to be. It was an awesome and fun practice. We had some A zone only targets, and a couple full targets. So lucky shooting with Murray, he can watch me shoot. Make a small change or adjustement and whatever habit I had picked up goes away. We did some 2 reload 2, it's gonna be a pretty technical match, so we put up some 4" black dots, and practiced doing transitions on them. That was fun. Just for shits and giggles I did one (well actually 2, but the second one didn't count..) Bill Drill. Nice and relaxed, I did it in 1.9 with a 1.05 draw. I was down a gazzillion pts, but it sounded AWESOME Tonight I loaded 400 rounds, and did a half our of dry fire. Sleepy time, and repeat everything again tomorow.

Home, 8 days till nationals. 240 some shooters, 20 stages 391 rounds, can't wait. Worked monday afternoon at stapling and taping targets, live fire monday night with Murray and Tracey. We worked on standards, I need to get lots of gun in hand time between now and the match. At the end of practice we played the 2 in one hole game. All three of us loaded side by side, Murray shoots two as close together as he can. Target at about 15 yards, I was next, and trying to find the stupid little .40 holes is tough. Murray says to Tracey "Don't worry after mark shoots it'll look like someone threw an ashtray at the target..." Once I stoped laughing I put two nice big .45 holes rights next to the tiny one I could see... Anyhow we kept switching it around, kinda fun. Today we got the last of the targets mounted, and organized by stage/range. The other gang was out early and got all the props to the correct stages, so tomorows project is to get them setup. I did a little live fire, from 25 yards. The only plans I have between now and august 1st are: Eat, sleep, shoot, dryfire, reload.

Almost done burning the candle from both ends, at least from a non shooting point of view. Had two days off in Toronto so I jumped on a flight home so I could at least get one live fire in. It pissed rain big time, but I worked standards from under cover at 25 yards. Worked on the grip bad habbit Murray identifed and it seemed to lock things up better. Going to Ottawa tonight, then home monday morning. Once I am home, I have 10 days for nothing but shooting and reloading before nationals. Can't wait...

Well, I went to Seattle last night for chocolate chip cookies The Doubletree hotel has nice chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven when you check in. Was home for live fire on thursday, worked movement drill with Murray and Tracey. I have been finding my shots hitting left, and I was pretty sure it's not the gun or my sights moving. At the end of practice, spent some time with Murray looking at my grip. My strong had side was just fine and dandy, but the weak hand wasn't locking in the right spot. Gonna pay attention to get that back into proper shape. The next 14 days is gonna be pretty hectic, I may get to shoot a match next weekend, but it's gonna include me operating a red eye flight to toronto on the saturday night, so will see if that comes together.... Dallas tonight.

Home for a quick two days, made half a bucket of bullets this afternoon. Didn't get into the gym today, just a lot of running around. Basic dry fire tonight, good half hour of beeps. Tomorow, gym in the morning, and live fire in the afternoon. Sleepy time now...

Once again I am all over the place, all the time Yesterday I woke up at home, went to the gym, and then down to San Fransico, and back to Calgary. This morning, went to Gold's here in Calgary, and just finished eating way too much sushi. Heading to montreal tonight, and maybe home late tomorow night after going to Toronto, and Deer Lake. Managed to be home for live fire thursday. Started off in the afternoon doing movement drills, until it started to rain. It didn't start raining just a little bit either, it was coming down like crazy. That's easy, time to shoot some groups from under cover at 30 yards. Did that for a little while, then went to starbucks with Murray to at least talk about shooting After starbucks, and a bite to eat the rain had stopped, so I figured I might as well take advantage and go shoot some more. Was mostly working on left to right, and forward and back movement. Big steps help, I was doing draw, shoot 2, transition, shoot 2, etc.. until empty. Who needs cardio.... Once again, it started pissing rain, oh well. This time under cover I worked more on my cadence for good hits at 30 yards. By the end of the evening I don't know how much I shot, but It was a LOT The next two weeks is gonna be tough for practice, so I'll get it in every chance between now and then.

After seeing what I look like on video from the weekend, weight gaining is all over It's time to through cardio back into the workouts. I really don't like cardio, but it needs to be done... Did live fire on my own this afternoon. Worked mostly from 15 yards, freestyle, strong/weak hand. Did a bunch of transition moves about 5 yards left and right. Moved up closer and did some reloads. Shoot 2, reload shoot 2. My reloads are sitting around 2.0 so I gotta work on that, that's easy points. Dryfire tonight, all went well it's only 39 days left until Canadians, so gotta make the most of it.

I don't know if this is in the same ballpark for what you are looking for. We have a couple "games" we do every once in a while at practice, it does help having more than one shooter. 5 yards, on the buzzer, how fast can you get the gun out and pull the tigger. No sight picture, just beep, draw, blam! "A" doesn't matter (on the target is good, but doesn't matter) just how fast can you do it. My best is around .78 what can you do? We also do a modified Bill drill, in that once again, A's don't count it's how fast you can draw and get all six shots off. Murray can do it in the 1.7's, I can do it in the high 1.9's if I am relaxed. Tracey calls that one thel Happy finger drill.... How fast can you do it? It's easier to push the speed up if there are a couple people to practice with. Heck, if you can do it in 2.08, I can beat that!

Gym this morning, live fire this evening, and dry fire before bed. Live fire, I worked on cadence at 15 yards, freestyle, stronghand, and weakhand. Then I did a bunch of movement drills, both forward and back, and side to side. Some with reloads on the transitions, but mostly just getting my ass in gear and getting from A to B. Actually got my heartrate up doing it The last drill was at 15 yards, on the buzzer draw and transition 5 yards right, shoot 2, transition 5 yards left, shoot 2, etc.. I was getting a pretty consistent 3.1-3.2 transitions, and was able to get the reload on the move in the same timeframe. Overall good practice, finished with 3 mags of Bill drills. Dryfire, putting emphasis on turn and draw, and reloads for the match next month. It's gonna be GOOD. Sleepy time....

Live fire pratice with Tracey monday night, she wanted to make sure her gun was happy before heading off to US nationals with Murray (wish I was going). Dry fire tonight for half an hour. Printed out the match copies for the Nanaimo match next month, and nationals. The Nanaimo match is gonna be another 90% speed match, shoot it clean. My schedule will be out saturday, then i'll know if I can make it.. Here is the video from sundays match: TMSA-Q10-mark My best match yet, even with the overboost on stage 7. Came right back to "normal" on the next stage.

++ on the 22lr When she does work her way back to the .45 try 4.7gr titegroup with a 200gr lswc, it's super soft like 130pf. Good luck

Some video from saturday... First stage saturday... The rest of saturday match

I'm shooting an STI trojan .45 with a tungstein guide rod and a 12 lbs recoil spring. The spring is new, put a new buff in before the weekend match. Shot 400 rounds of 175 pf over the weekend, and it is chewed to rat shit. I think the buff are the wilson blue ones. How long should they last? I am doing something wrong?

1 year later... Last year, I shot my first two matches this weekend at TMSA with a 44% first match and 35% second match. One year later on the saturday, I shot my first match C classified, finshed 15th out of 33 with 62% and 2nd in C. Sunday, got bumped up the hill to B. Finished 10th out of 30 at 66% I enjoy learning things, sunday I learned about frame of mind. Saturday was very very long. We shot the morning on sunday, it was cold crappy and rainy. I was sore, and tired from the previous day. Honestly I didn't care about a whole lot, other than thinking how much nicer it would be to have stayed in bed instead of paying money to shoot guns and get wet... First stage, on the same range as the belly flop one on saturday but didn't have to get dirty this time. It was a fun one with windows and ports, and 4 shooting spots. 6th at 71% Second stage, shooting from a box, one dissappearing target, 9 rounds. Nice and fast. Having seen the previous shooter, I figured I could shoot the steel activator, and one paper then the dissappearing target and the rest. It worked good, 4th at 84%!! Aced it. Third stage, walk a hallway with targets alternating left and right side, shoot on the move 9 rounds. 12th at 73% Fourth stage, starting to feel pretty damn good. Everything has been floating along nice and sweet. This stage is much friendlier than yesterday, really only 1 penalty target compared to about 8 or 10 yesterday...26 rounds. I started with one small steel and 4 paper at about 15-20 yards. I missed the steel with my first shot, and instead of slowing down and making my hits, I hit the afterburner... I threw out 5 misses as I blazed through this fairly easy stage. You can't shoot fast enough to pay for misses exhibit A: 27th and 23% sewer pipe, time to move on. Fifth stage, bigger stage 5 shooting positions and 31 rounds. Went pretty well, got back into the flow 12th at 59%. Sixth stage was one of my kind of stages. Don't have to run to far, lots to shoot at quickly 28 rounds, 5 shooting positions. Time and time again, I am soo lucky to get to shoot with guys like Murray Gardner. I like to look at a stage, come up with a plan, and then see what he thinks. Sometimes mine is good, sometimes he has some tweaks. It's always constructive. This one I got 8th at 78% 7th stage was the big ugly. 32 rounds of targets hidden behind stuff, get a plan solid in the brain, and shoot it. Had a good plan, and I just rushed some longer 2nd shots. I ended up with 3 misses, after shooting it, I thought I would be at the bottom of the pile, but managed 14th and 46% 8th stage was standards I like standards. This one 24 rounds viginia count. 2 strings, first 6 freestyle, reload, 6 strong hand. Second string 6 freestyle, reload, 6 weakhand. Targets at 12 yards, with penalty tarets touching the outboard A border on the left and right targets. I got 3rd at 81% Murray won it, we both got 111 points, but he did it 4 seconds faster. Overall awesome weekend, and really happy with how the shooting is coming along. I can see a few points to work on, one being cadence. Where can I lite it up, and wear to throttle back. Also when things start snowballing halfway through a stage, slow the hell down. Don't dig the hole deeper My gun performed really well for me, watching the video is funny. My .45 shooting lead is like a choochoo train. Puff Puff Puffing along. Tracey was having problems with her gun, which is a pain in the ass, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I hope we can get it sorted out right quick. B class looks like it's going to be a big stepping stone. Time to buckle down and do more live/dry fire!.

Well, that is the muddiest and most soaked I have been in a very very long time. Worked the standards stage in the AM, and watched shooter after shooter rush it, and sewer pipe. It rained and poured off and on all morning. Down to the golf club for lunch where it's warm and the bathrooms have toilets that flush... Squaded with Murray, Tracey, Norm, and two new shooters, Joe and Derrick. First stage started off with the gun sitting on a wet carpet on a table, with half the stage being shot under the table belly down in the mud and hog fuel... We all got filthy I must have upset the weather gods, cause the weather sorta got better until whoever was shooting before me. Then it would start to rain a little, and by my turn each and every stage it was just pissing down rain Once your kinda wet it doesn't matter anymore. Haven't seen the scores, but I did was I set out too. Dialed the speed back, no procedural or penality targets (there was 28 of them). No brain farts, and a couple of the stages where pretty heavy duty with back and forths. I think I ate up a lot of people on the standards stage, in our group everyone had a spectacular stage, nobody bombed the day. It was fun all the way around. Joe and Derrick did very well on their first match, considering it wasn't an easy one. Now I just need to dry out all my stuff to do it again tomorow. Time for a very hot bath.

Live fire yesterday with the whole gang. Did some groups at 25 yards, then we did a bunch of work on multiple targets with no shoots covering (seeing as that is most of the match...). This is gonna be dial it back, and shoot clean weekend, and let the others snowball themselves in penalties. Early start tomorow, shooting starts at 7:30am. Looking forward to it!

Shrieking Geek, this is one of the best posts in a long time. Thanks markwilliston: Midnight Dwarf Mark: Mad Samurai Mark Williston: Quiet Seagull

The "Holiday" must be nice and relaxing, cause I sure am sleeping well.... Today it was gym in the morning, load ammo in the afternoon, and shoot in the evening. Murray was teaching a black badge course, so I just worked on my own next door. I didn't focus on any one thing just worked my way through some excercises. Worked on foot movement off the beep, reloads in transition, strong/weak hand, finished it off with some speedier stuff, just to "relax" from 5-7 yards was getting good hits with a 1.0 draw, .9 was a little wild Turn and draw I was really happy with, getting good hits at 1.3 finished it off with 3 mags of bill drills. Best was 2.3 all A's. After I was done, I wandered over to see how the black badge course was going on range 1. It's a big range about 50 yards deep, and probably 30-40 yards across. The berm is probably 20-25 feet high with forest around the edges. Some wildlife decided to visit, a good sized black bear was just coming over the edge of the berm as the buzzer sounded and a bunch of guns went off. The bear wasn't totally stupid, in that he got the hell out of dodge right quick Okay time for an intensive inspection of my pillow .....