Fourtrax's Range Report

[Chris iliff]

Indiana match practice

At this point I have shot 2 matches this year. I am signed and paid for the Indiana Section match. I have scrapped up enough money to get one case of bullets from MG. I plan to gun up and prepare as best I can. I am rusty, out of practice, and want to make as good a showing as possible. I have one month. I plan on detailing all practice and seeing what one month of dedication can yield a guy who hasn't shot much in a year or more. I plan on shooting close to 3,000 rounds, ....1,000 per week the last 3 weeks leading up to the match. I haven't got it exactly figured out, but whatever I do, I will write it. It will be posted after the match, good or bad.

Aug 6th

DRYFIRE entry/exits, shooting on move. Shooting multiple close targets snapping eyes. Move Eyes, find target spot, find dot, repeat. Wide transitions.

Aug 7th

DRYFIRE reloads, 2 reload 2, moving reloads, reload xfer to WH.

Draws, draw xfer to WH, draw to SH.

Gun up, eye snapping to targets. From a ready position I pick various objects, keeping the gun up I practice moving my eyes first....... eyes, find the exact target spot, find the dot, repeat. I worked this........eyes, spot, dot, repeat, until my shoulders burned.

Reloaded 200 rounds

Aug 8th

Reloaded 300 rounds

Aug 9th

Reloaded 200 rounds. Dry fired surrender draw, Relaxed draw, 3 yards, 7 yards, 10 yards. Dry fired table pick ups. Practice moving the eyes first in my DRYFIRE.

Match tomorrow at Warsaw. 3rd match of year. Excited to shoot.

Aug 10th

Shot my 3rd match of the year at Warsaw. Warsaw puts on a very good match, like I expected. I knocked some of the rust off, still some rust left, actually quite a bit. I had some decent stages. I tried a different stage plan (gamed) on one that did not work out. It probably added time, lol. I had a reshoot on my first stage, targets were all pasted and still some spots left on the kindle. This cut into my available ammo, had to borrow some rounds from Rob just to finish. It was a disaster. I will forever bring 250 or more rounds to locals from this day forward. Splitting rounds between two mags, shooting make ups, thinking instead of shooting, it was ugly on my last stage. Very ugly.

1. Keep stage plans simple.

Still, somehow managed the HOA. I find this embarrassing actually.

All in all, it was a great day. I got to shoot.

Aug 12th

Gunned up and dry fired. 3, 7, 10 yard draws, sometimes I feel like this is a waste of time. I'm easily below 1sec on these. I do them because I know they are perishable skills and it's a good warm up. Did surrender draws, draw to SH and draw to WH too. Next up it was all position entry and exits. Using the timer for a start beep I varied my distances and angles. Also worked wide transitions. Sometimes I get a bad grip so I used tonight to concentrate on getting a good grip FIRST, then hauling ass and finally decelerating with gun up and ready to shoot ASAP.

I am gonna kill position entry and exits for the next month. If I can build up some new found skill on these I will be happy. Haven't exactly nailed down my live fire routine, but it will include a lot of this.

Jumped rope

Reloaded 200 rounds

Aug 13th

Dry fired grip. Lots of reps just gripping the gun from hands relaxed. I got to have a more consistent grip moving forward. 2 reload 2. 2 reload xfer WH 2. Draw to WH.

Mostly just concentrated on getting a great grip and then lots of reloads.

Did not use a timer.

Aug 14th

Dry fired grip. Not many reps about 20-25 min of DRYFIRE. Again, got to have a better more consistent grip moving forward. Draw, draw to WH, draw to SH, turn and draw. Position entry and exit. Head shots. Always striving for a good grip first on everything I did.

Reloaded just about 100 rounds, lol, I ran out of brass. But, no fear, I'm picking up 1000 more tomorrow.

Looking at Ben's latest book and trying to formulate a plan from his book for all my upcoming live fire. Whatever I decide it'll be written here.

My goal is to show what can be done in one month of concentrated DRYFIRE and a strict live fire routine. I want to crack the top 8 at Indiana. Would love to get on the podium for Master class. I think I have identified my weaknesses and I'm gonna pick 5 and work them.

1. Wide transitions/aggressive transitions

2. Position entry and exit

3. Hits on steel

4. Shooting on move

5. Difficult shots/change ups

The whole GRIP thing is one common denominator that helps with all things I listed. I have cussed myself doing each of the above because my grip was off,...more than once. Time to get the grip squared. No more grab and blast. Get the grip, grip, grip first!!!!!!!!

Aug 15th

Position entry and exits. DRYFIRED grip, draws, surrender draws. Think I had a break through in thinking. If I am thinking "haul ass" I haul ass. If I'm thinking "shoot as soon as possible" I am still hauling ass, but my time to get on target is decreased. Gonna try to change my thinking to "shoot as soon as possible". This takes care of the haul ass. I'm gonna experiment with this.

Aug 16th

Reloaded 500 rounds

Aug 17th

Shot Ft. Wayne. What a great match and squad. Kudos to Ryan, Corey, Ralph and whoever else set up this good match. Tons of fun.

First stage felt better than anything I shot at Warsaw the week before. Slowly getting in the match groove. Didn't have this matched planned, but glad I threw it in the schedule. I got to shoot with 3 Masters and Kurt. Basically Kurt is a master shooter, so 4 Masters. He is sandbagging "A" class like a pro. If Kurt gets a tad more accurate and develops a little better mental game we are all in trouble.

I think I ended 3rd overall and 3rd in open. Kurt the "A" class, schooled three Master Open shooters. Chad was second, and that's with completely Zeroing the classifier. Followed by me in 3rd.

I just shot slow. I was off the pace on almost all stages and giving up a couple, to 3-4 seconds a stage is difficult to overcome. My weakness today was makeups on steel. Which is number 3 in my live fire routine listed above. Couple that with some transition work and I'll be well on my way. I can feel myself getting back in the shooting groove and I'm glad I went to Ft. Wayne.

I will use this to hone my live fire training for the State Match. I will be ready!!!!

1. Work on hits on steel

2. Work on stand and shoots, transitions (multiple targets across a wide area)

3. Work on SH, WH, shooting.

Aug 18th

Reloaded 400 rounds

Aug 19th

DRYFIRED. Mostly worked aggressive transitions and eye snapping. Worked shooting on the move and 2 reload 2. Varied my starts and draws from relaxed to surrender to hands on the wall. Felt good. I need to be aggressive in all my shooting related endeavors. I have a tendency to "let up" through a stage, or even a match. I must remain aggressive throughout!!!

Reloaded 200 rounds

Aug 20th

FINALLY LIVE FIRE SCHEDULE BEGINS!!!!

Set up El Weak and Strong Presidente. After running this at Ft. Wayne and totally jacking it up, I decided it was a good classifier to use as practice for SH and WH. Also, it will be my next 100 project classifier. Don't believe I'll be at this one long. Ran it 3 times, 75, 85, and 92%. First two runs had mikes. Last run I purposely slowed it down and got my hits, duh, 92%. Wasn't even pushing. Good to know with no practice and only 4 matches things are coming back.

Worked on wide transitions, hits on steel, and position entry and set up. Felt good.

Fired 200 rounds and felt practice was very productive.

I need a new timer!! Mine is old and wore out. I can't hear the beep, the sensitivity is crap, it records echoes on almost all shots. Thinking the new small ced7000.

Aug 21st

Reloaded 200 rounds. Arms hurt, elbows hurt, ......getting older sucks. I was hitting it fairly hard and I don't want shooters elbow or any other soft tissue trauma from over use. I am going to take tonight off and not touch the gun.

Phil is gonna let me borrow his timer, hopefully it's better than mine.

Aug 24th

Shot Atlanta today. It was not that good of a performance. I am watching Chad, Kurt and Stump real close. I am consistently 2-4 seconds slower than them. On almost every stage. Short speed shoot stages I am fine on. Hoser type stages they get me every time. Watching Chad I can say that his transitions are very aggressive. German Blitzkrieg over Europe aggressive. In addition, he is moving and shooting targets that I am stopping to shoot. Partials with no shoots 10 yards and closer don't phase him, he is blitzing right through them.

Today was a disheartening shooting experience.

I have a lot to do before the state match.

Aug 25th

Went down to the range, 88 degrees, phone says it feels like 103 degrees, humidity 100%. Got a short stage with partials set up, going to work on shooting on the move on partials. Going to work on close targets from the draw, hands on a wall. Also gonna do some transition work. Going to try and do all this incorporated in my little mini stage. One component at a time. Things I diagnosed from the Atlanta match. Well,..........the heavens burst like God was gonna float another ark, I didn't get one shot fired.

Ran up to the garage and worked on the close stuff and transitions. Also, surrender draw. I DRYFIRED for about 25 minutes.

Not what I wanted, but it is what it is. Fell asleep last night upset about my match performance. Woke up this morning still upset about the same thing.

I am now pissed at this rain. Sprinkles, deal with it, but this is monsoonish.

Aug 26th

FINALLY,!! Got some live fire done, 148 rounds. Very happy with what I accomplished. I needed the reinforcement. I have been conservative at my few matches and tonight I cut loose. Partials on the move no problem. Set up an 11 shot mini stage and worked it left to right and right to left. I started

With my match mode mentality and was close to 9 seconds. Quickly pushed the envelope and was right down in low low 6's. Hell yeah. It was rocking. I loved it.

Was gonna do 200 rounds but it started raining AGAIN.

WILL CONTINUE WORKING THE GOOD STUFF. GOOD STUFF.

Aug 28th

More live fire, 200 rounds. Started with 5 Bill Drills, went from a first completely cold run of 2.15, right into the 1.80's with the last two at 1.84 and 1.83.

Moved on to working on very wide transitions and was surprised at how difficult this was to get below .75. Most runs right at .80's. Worked it left to right and right to left. Next up was some group shooting, nothing special, worked at about 11 yards.

I then loaded up some magazines and worked on arrays across a wide area. Two partials, a 7" plate and then two open targets. I liked this because I feel it is an area of weakness for me. I tend to kinda be lazy in situations like this, just shooting. Tonight I DROVE the gun from target to target and stayed aggressive through the whole array.

I saved ten rounds and worked on 50yards. Happy to say I am 4 for 10 in the A zone. All my hits were on the paper (metric, head target). Well, not happy, but I'll do this more, striving for 10 A's.

Aug 30th

200 rounds.. Partials and transitions. I sweat my ass off, don't know how productive it was, but I got better times on my drill as it went.

5 days=748 rounds. Good stuff. Going to keep working. Indiana State right around the corner.

Sep 2nd

Ground Hornet training. Part of my new cardio workout.

I went down to range tonight, get this.......stood on a ground hornet nest. This was not good! Took two stings to get my full attention, then as I looked down, pure panic set in. I must have had 30 or more of the angry things on my legs. Thank God I wore pants and had a hat. I started running and sweeping them off with my hat. I made it to the house without my shirt and hornet free. I got whacked by the little bastards only 4 times and count myself lucky. Worse was ring finger of my strong had. It swelled and hurt like a dickens. Hence, I ended up just going some DRYFIRE in the house. After dark, I waged war on those little demons and introduced them to what I like to call, a ground Molotov cocktail!! I know certain bees are getting scarce, but these little bastards were evil mean. Didn't want to take a chance of one of my kids accidentally getting into them, or anyone else for that matter.

Sep 3rd

This ain't going good. I should have over 1500 rounds down range. As of tonight's 200, I have 948 total. Not bad, but I wanted more. I'm trying, but things sometimes just don't work out, lol.......

Dug up hornet nest, man it was huge.....all dead. Too bad suckers!

Ok, so tonight was a good 200 rounds of SH and WH practice. I push a little left when shooting WH, easily corrected. Practice was good. I used paper partials and 8" plates all at 8 to 12 yards. Did draws and arrays.

Sep 6th

A little over 200 rounds. Worked on shooting on the move at partials and a plate at about 13 yards. Worked on partials at 20 yards and got in some reload practice on several runs. I really loved tonight's practice. Things were clicking and the dot was always were I wanted it. Wish I had some comparisons, like Chad or Kurt, so I could get a real good idea on my times. I also worked on the A zone at 7 yards, one shot draws are right at 1 sec. I'm slipping in the stand and shoot stuff, lol. They are fun.

Sep 8th.

Shot roughly 120-150 rounds. Nice 6 round transition drill. Worked on speeding up the transitions with some success. Also worked 8" steel plates at 18 yards. Worked draw to partial at 7-8 yards,.....got the A @ 1.15 average. For fun I did one shot draws to my plate machine at 25 yards. Consistently in the 1.90s, got down in the 1.70's on a few. Went 3 for 3 starting, then got cocky and missed 3 in a row, then smoothed it up and went into the 1.70's to finish that up. Finished with head box at 30+ yards.

Sep 9th

I have practiced 24 times in the last month. I feel that I'm a better shooter. I am anxious about the Indiana Match. I really want to see where I stand. I chrono'd my rounds tonight. I chose 6 at random and individually they were all above 170PF.

My average was a PF of 173.4.

I only shot about 1250-1350 rounds, which isn't quite half of what I intended, but the quality was high. I think it will be fine!

Tomorrow after work I drive south! It will be what it will be.

I'm excited.

Edited September 9, 2014 by Chris iliff

[rvb]

Longest post on enos ever?

See you there!

-rvb

[Chris iliff]

What a great match!

Indiana 2014 was awesome and kudos to all that put it on.

Jake Marten made it happen and I can only say that I hope he continues putting on these matches.

First my crew was great on stage 18...... Chad Boncquet, Justin Shirar, and a new to USPSA shooter named Blake. Good crew and hard workers.

If you read the record post above then you probably want to know how I did, or maybe you could give a fat baby crap......either way, I finished 7th Master at 77.098% of Max Michel. I honestly feel that my month of dedicated practice earned me 5 extra percent. There is no way of knowing, but I feel like I just had the best match of my year and closed the gap by several % on Chad and Kurt.

Speaking of those two, WOW!!!

Chad Boncquet = 1st Master Open

Kurt Evans = FIRST "A" Open, AND HE BEAT ALL MASTERS!!!!!!! Simply unbelievable.

Highlights? I roomed with a guy that is an amazing Master Open shooter from Ohio and has forgotten more about this stuff than most of us will ever learn.....Bill Seevers. Bill is a great competitor and I am glad to say now that he is my friend. I got to see some great runs and I watched him closely.

I had some good runs on several stages, nothing spectacular. I shot 91.75% of all points, which should have been a little higher, but I only had one penalty for the match. I was consistent. People even told me I was consistent, which is a good thing. I was behind the gun and loved what I was seeing and felt several times that my practices paid off!

When I learned there might be 15 Master Open shooters I wanted to finish mid pack or higher. Well, I squeaked in at 7th Master and met that goal.

OOOPS, ALMOST FORGOT............

I WON A SPRINGFIELD ARMORY XDm-9. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AWESOME

Edited September 15, 2014 by Chris iliff

[rvb]

I finished 7th Master at 77.098% of Max Michel. I honestly feel that my month of dedicated practice earned me 5 extra percent. There is no way of knowing, but I feel like I just had the best match of my year

...

When I learned there might be 15 Master Open shooters I wanted to finish mid pack or higher. Well, I squeaked in at 7th Master and met that goal.

.....

OOOPS, ALMOST FORGOT............

I WON A SPRINGFIELD ARMORY XDm-9. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AWESOME

Great job! Good seeing you again. Congrats on the XD!

-rvb

[Chris iliff]

Picked up the XDm 4.5" 9mm I won at the Indiana match. It took a bit, but they finally shipped it to my dealer. I was looking around while in the store and found the exact gun in the display case, NIB $529. Hard to beat the deal I got.

I'm still tickled with winning the gun. I have never won anything!!

I recently bought a new inner and outer belt, so I could set my old one up as a production rig.......I guess, lol.........

Like I'll ever shoot that shit, lol.

[rvb]

.... I could set my old one up as a production rig.......I guess, lol.........

Like I'll ever shoot that shit, lol.

[Chris iliff]

More than 3 months since the Indiana match. I am in Florida and shot a match with Dad. Thursday night fun match at Hanson range. 4 good stages. Under the lights, it was cool to shoot at night.

I won a stage, knocked some rust off and had fun. Some bad data entry and a popper not being reset didn't help my overall. Ended up 4th. I feel I should have won.

A chance at redemption on Sunday morning at the same range. 6 stage match with a classifier.

The weather here is perfect, mid 60's.

[Chris iliff]

Forgot to post this after the Sunday match in Florida.

I am always stoked to shoot with my cousin Raymond Grant. Ray has been in this sport for damn near 30 years. He has shot with the best and has forgotten more than most people learn. Ray is a Master open shooter and to beat him you are going to have to do almost everything correct. I have never beat him in a match, YET.

I started out a little slow on Sunday and gave up some time on my first stage. Second stages was a catastrophic failure to extract. Lost a ton of time. Thinking a bad piece of brass, I shot the third stage only to experience the exact same failure again. My match and my chance at beating one of my shooting idols was GONE. I walked to the safety table and took the extractor out. My damn Aftec had a broken spring cap. I was sooooo pissed. Fortunately, my Dad had a spare and I put it in the gun. Walked to the 4th stage and made the rookie mistake of trying to burn it down in an effort to gain back something. I did burn it down, I also had 3 mikes. This was a complete disaster at this point. I went to the last stage of the day...............

Thinking it was a colossal waste of time and that it might be years before I could shoot with my cousin again, I was very discouraged. I guess this helped me to just shoot. I shot A's within my ability and was efficient. I won the stage.

Small consolation, small victory.

I love shooting in Florida in the winter. I wish Indiana had 6-7 months of that weather, it was awesome!

Forgot to mention, I met a man in Florida at my very first ever match many years ago while I was visiting my Dad. His name is Sandy Thalmer and it is always nice to shoot with him. I got to squad with him and my cousin and my Dad. As bad as my Day went, it's good to shoot with family and friend.

Also met some awesome people by the names of Joe and Karina Draghi. I've never seen a pair of Harley's like theirs and had some serious envy looking at them.

[herky]

Sandy is good people, I have shot with him down there and at least once at BORCC when he was up visiting family. Hanson's puts on some great matches.

[rvb]

aftecs are the devil.

other than that, sounds like a fun time. See you on the range!

-rvb

[BillD]

Hmm, I've got over 60K on an Aftec with no issues.

[JakeMartens]

Hmm, I've got over 60K on an Aftec with no issues.

That is until you jinxed yourself

[BillD]

When did I do that oh wise ass... er... one.

[JakeMartens]

When did I do that oh wise ass... er... one.

let me read back here

"I've got one with over 60k with no issues"

kind of poking Murphey right in the eye before major Match season starts aren't we?

[BillD]

Definitely.

If you're going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance.

[Chris iliff]

My fault totally on the spring cap. This is the second one I've had break. In 6+ years shooting an Aftec I have had 2spring caps and 1spring fail. Yes I had one of those little springs break in half.

My fault because I always change ALL SPRINGS every winter. In January of 2014 I replaced every spring and DECIDED not to replace the spring cap, knowing I had one break about 3 years ago. With as little as I had shot in 2013 it just didn't seem worth it.

Im with BillD, let's dance on that thin ice!!

[Chris iliff]

USPSA DUES PAID.........CHECK

CRO EXAM TAKEN.........CHECK

GOING TO NRA CONVENTION...........CHECK

WORKING INDIANA SS PROD REV MATCH..........CHECK

WORKING USPSA BOOTH AT NRA CONVENTION..............CHECK

ACTUALLY BEING ABLE TO SHOOT A BUNCH OF MATCHES...............NO IDEA

Edited March 12, 2015 by Chris iliff

[Chris iliff]

Shot Atlanta !!!

Wow, got to shoot Atlanta Indiana's first outdoor USPSA match of the year!

CRAPTASTIC sums up my performance.

I was the RO for our squad, somehow this happens to me frequently. Today, I even sucked at that!! That'll teach them for asking me, lol.

I can't begin to say everything that happened. Suffice to say it was mostly RUST RUST RUST.

I tried to shoot a clean controlled match, knowing that I haven't practiced or anything. I pretty much did that, with one bad called shot that I ate.

3rd in Open, 3rd overall. Sounds fine, but the reality is a lot different. I have a long way to go just to get back to normal, lol.

This was one awesome match by the way. Kinda reminded me of the Florida Open. Targets pushed out to the berms, good use of hard cover, neat stages with plenty of options. I think the set up crew really knows what's going on! Wait, they do, lol.

Chad and Kurt continue to be impressive. Really impressive. I am so stoked by their constant climb up the ABILITY ladder. Chad schooled everyone today. NO ONE WAS EVEN CLOSE. HE DOES EVERYTHING BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE. it really is cool to watch him shoot. No wasted nothing. Efficient.

Ok, I'm done babbling, I am already way ahead of my shooting pace from the last two years, let's hope I can continue down this road.

See ya on the range. If you get a chance, make the drive to Atlanta Indiana. Arguably the best local in the state!

Edited to add: I had a great squad of shooters! Shooting with Lincoln Carr is always nice. Plus, I got to shoot and squad with a great guy named Justin Shirar. Justin and I worked the Indiana match together last year.

It's good to get to the range and be around like minded people after being couped up all winter.

Edited March 22, 2015 by Chris iliff

[Chris iliff]

Have not shot since My last post. Not sure what I'm going to do. Just. Not. Sure

Still love it. Still think about it. Just haven't done it.

Finally, after almost 3 years of struggling due to the wife going to school, that is over and she's been an RN working for almost a year.

I don't have an excuse, .........

We did buy a nice camper and I sold the Subaru and bought a new to me truck........to pull the camper, so we have camped a bit. I like the camping.

I feel like the almost 3 year break kinda dampened my spirit. I just can't get in the groove and when I think about it I don't know if I'm willing to spend the kind of money that I used to spend. I don't know if the pay off is still worth it to me.

Time will tell.

[Racer377]

The cake is a lie.

[Chris iliff]

The cake is calling..........

I'm going to Florida again and should shoot 2 matches with my Pops. I am kinda excited about it. I need to reload. I need to DRYFIRE. I need to practice.

Or maybe I just need to show up and shoot? Maybe have fun with my Dad and cousin Ray? This seems more sensible. I think I'll go have fun again.

It started as fun so many years ago,........I'll try that route again.

Edited January 5, 2016 by Chris iliff

[Chris iliff]

Loaded 500 rounds.

Put my blaster in my hands and turned on the dot.

Pointed it at a few things.

Made the "pew pew pew" sound while pointing it.

I just might be ready.

[Chris iliff]

In North Ft. Myers, Florida. Went to Hansen range and shot a bit. 100 rounds. Did draws at 7 yards. Did a near to far drill. Did some bill drills. Did some 30 yard head box shots.

Draws started at 1.20 dropped to 1 sec.

Bill drills started at 2.25. Dropped to right at 2 sec.

Had fun with Pop.

Edited January 10, 2016 by Chris iliff

[Chris iliff]

Fun match at Hansen range.

Shit show performance.

Weather was almost perfect. Shot craptastic, but saw some glimmers of my old self (which really needed work anyway, lol). Will post results when they have them.

8th out of 30 something overall.

1-5 Open shooters

6-7 Limited shooters

8th was me, slow and rusty.

Highlights, they had some small poppers at good distance and I went 1 for 1 on them.

Lowlights,...Just wasn't seeing dot on some hoser 7-10 yard targets, some with "no shoots" and I picked up way to many penalties.

But I had fun.

Edited January 11, 2016 by Chris iliff

[Chris iliff]

The Thursday night fun match at Hansen Range in North Ft. Myers is a special event IMHO. I have shot it once before and thoroughly enjoy the "night time under the lights" experience. The owners and operators of the match do a great job delivering up great stages and for the money, $10,........ This might be the biggest bang for a shooters buck in Florida.

What you get for your $10 bucks are 4, well thought out stages, with plenty of options and that aforementioned night time experience.

I am a little ticked at my performance, but frankly, I did not expect much because I just haven't shot in the last 2-3 years. There are plenty of GOOD shooters at Hansen, so if you have plans on winning, you better be on your game.

Same guy won both matches I shot and I did mange to improve my overall percentage against him (Lutsi). I also shot a clean penalty free match. I ended the night at 5th overall out of 30 or so shooters. I had some good stages, but generally just shot and moved too slow. Had some grip issues which resulted in trigger freeze and added seconds to a stage.

So now the question becomes.............

DID I ENJOY THE CAKE ENOUGH...??????