Trying to shoot better

[dagger10k]

I've been shooting USPSA since September 2009.

I started out with a CZ75b in .40 s&w.

Being in California, I shoot in Limited 10.

After shooting it for a while, I became tired of the tiny grip (I have large hands),

and moved onto a Glock 20 with a KKM conversion barrel in .40s&w and Sevigny competition sights.

I like the Glock, and have shot it with some success in competition.

Today I went to the range after work to work on my project of being able to call shots effectively, and to be able to shoot good groups.

I am still struggling with this. I put maybe 150-200 rounds downrange at the public line, some standing, some off of sandbags,

trying to see more than I am.

I always read about "seeing the sight lift," but I am not entirely sure that I know what that means.

In my shooting, I usually see the front sight right up until the shot, when it disappears and pops into place above where it was.

I see the brass come flying out of the gun (very easy to do with this gun and ammo), and then the sight either comes back into place in the rear notch or stays up there if I am not trying to time it.

I am not sure if there is more to see than what I am. I don't think I'm blinking, but I'm also pretty sure I'm not really calling my shots.

In competition I don't know if I missed steel before hearing it, and I know it slows me down.

The shots are often a bit low, often low left, sometimes dead on, and even occasionally right or high (by up to around 4 inches at 25 yards),

but I couldn't tell you where the shots will be before looking through the binoculars.

I am pretty sure that the gun is sighted in correctly, I can balance a dime on top of my front sight in dry fire, but I can't make the bullets go where I want in live fire,

and I can't call my shots. Once or twice I have shot a 2"ish 5 shot group at 25 yards standing and off the sandbags, but I can't replicate it, and it doesn't really FEEL or LOOK any different when I shoot badly.

Maybe I'm expecting too much. Maybe the glock really isn't any more accurate than this, and I should give up the idea of getting alphas on 50 yard targets, but I don't think so.

This weekend I am going to shoot a match, I will try to open up and see all I can, though it is hard when the timer has beeped, and I'm trying to move through the course at a million mph.

Edited May 27, 2010 by dagger10k

[juan]

Dagger I shoot at yolo with my son on occasion, dont know you personaly.

me and my son are practicing every wednesday at the eldorado rod and gun club from 3-5 pm.

we set some standards and some movement drills. if that dont work for you, pm me

I will make range time for you

[dagger10k]

Thanks for the offer Juan. I work 9-5 every day, so during the week doesn't really work for me.

I'll take you up on your offer at some point for sure.

James

[dagger10k]

Shot a match today that went somewhat well.

I noticed a few things while I was shooting. I saw the front sight in more detail than I remember seeing it before. I saw it on almost every target, and even saw the serrations, which is new I think, and most welcome.

I also noticed something else new. Along with seeing my front sight clearly, I also had a new sense that I hadn't before.

On some targets, it seemed like I didn't "trust" my sights, that I didn't feel very good about the hits. I am not sure if this is just a lack of confidence in my shooting ability with the Glock, or it might a be a start of something like calling my shots.

I don't remember on exactly which targets I didn't trust my sights, but I feel that maybe I really didn't trust my hits on the 2 targets of the match that I got mikes on. Whatever it is, I like that I saw and felt some new things today.

Even if I didn't feel that I shot better today than I usually do, I think I was more aware of what was happening.

The classifier was CM06-03 Can You Count. I felt I had a smoothish draw and reload, though my splits felt awfully slow. By my calculations, they were probably about .20.

I ended up with an 11.87 hit factor, which looks like it will bump my initial classification just barely into B. I guess that's good, because I feel like a B level shooter.

[dagger10k]

The only place I can practice in live fire currently is the local public range.

I tried some drills that work with the limitations there.

One thing I tried was loading a snap cap next in the magazine after a live round, and then "firing" two shots in quick succession at an aiming point, and trying to tell where both shots went. This drill was quite helpful because it really makes me aware of how the sights track when I shoot. I noticed quickly that the lighter practice ammo I was using resulted in the front sight plunging low, although that was fixed quickly enough.

I think this drill will be a useful "poor man's timing drill".

Something else that worked quite well was to load a round in the magazine, present to target and fire a shot as quickly as possible, then close my eyes and ask myself where the shot went. I found that I could do this to within a very small error every time!

The way the sight picture looked when I did this really let me be aware of what was happening, and what a "called" sight picture looks and feels like.

As I continued to shoot freestyle, WHO, and SHO, I noticed some new things. I could "call my shots" sometimes, and not others. I found that I sometimes tend to focus on the target right as the shot goes off, and perhaps I am blinking some times. In any case, I can tell the difference between a called shot, and a non-called shot.

SHO, I was actually able to call my shots more easily than I was freestyle. When I jerked the trigger, I could see the sight move, and I could estimate pretty accurately where my trigger mash sent the bullet. When I did not jerk the trigger I could call my shots almost all the time.

WHO, I was not putting my shots where I wanted to, but I could usually see the front sight popping over to the low right before the shot fired, where the bullet hit.

Freestyle, I had a harder time calling my shots. In normal fire, I probably called my shots less than half the time.

It's also harder to tell, because in slow fire, my shots generally go the same place every time, whether or not I call them.

I don't know if I'll be able be able to call my shots in a match, and strangely, it's still hardest to call my shots freestyle, and it's hard to say for sure whether I can really see the sight lift freestyle, or one handed for that matter, but I at least know what it looks and feels like to call my shots.

I think the super sparky Remington small pistol primers helped. When I clearly remember seeing the front sight in focus with a spark behind it, I know I kept my focus on the front sight. When I don't see the spark, I know I am focusing away, or blinking.

I will continue to work on these drills and see where it takes me.

Edited June 3, 2010 by dagger10k

[G-ManBart]

If we were working together I'd have you shoot a .22 so you could see what's happening. I have a buddy who was having issues with exactly what you describe. I handed him the same gun, with a .22 conversion on it and after he took one shot he looked at me and said "oh, now I get it". Generally, when people don't know where the bullet went it's because their eyes are closed at the instant of firing. My old boss vehemently denied he was blinking (and he was a firearms instructor) until he saw video of his face while shooting. If you see where the front sight is when the shot breaks, that's where the bullet has to have gone. R,

[lugnut]

A couple things:

First- it's not your Glock!

I'm pretty sure when you are having occasional shots going low you are some how tensing up right before the shot breaks. Calling your shots would be wonderful... but at long distances you might not even notice the small movement before the bullet comes out. It's almost impossible for an observer to see you do this unless it's REAL bad. I took a class with Manny Bragg and he put a lot of emphasis on making sure to grip with your weak hand very well and leave your strong hand less tight. If you tense up your trigger hand/yank the the trigger- you will automatically milk the grip and your shots with go low. It takes work- shooting fast at distances is one of the most difficult skill in action shooting IMO. At close distances this "milking" isn't as obvious but it does still happen.

On shot calling. Yes, it is huge but there usually isn't this "magical" moment when all of a sudden you figure it out. With more and more good practice, you will "learn" more and more and see more and more. At least this is my experience. Sometimes I can absolutely call a shot clear as day... then sometimes I wonder how the hell did I get a damn miss! This happens when you get visually "lazy" IMO. You see the sight where you want it, then move the eyes WHILE you pull the trigger... or some variation of this. Why this simple task is so difficult I don't know- I'm convinced it's discipline required when having the urge to shoot as fast as one can.

I'm sure there are people that absolutely can call all their shots no doubt.... but I can tell you there are many high level shooters I know that have no idea how they got a Mike here and there.... visual discipline takes a lot of work.

This is just my experience so take it for what it's worth.

Edited June 3, 2010 by lugnut

[CrankyCrash]

+1 on the previous post.

Another thing that I learned from watching the 3GM and 3GM II DVD's, do not transition your eyes off of the target until you have completed your follow-thru.

I used to have a problem with keeping my eyes on the target for my last shot. Since I've started forcing myself to complete my follow-thru on my last shot before moving my eyes to the next target I find I am getting more A and less C area shots.

Try it and see for yourself.

The DVD's are worth their weight in gold, if you don't have them you should get them.

[dagger10k]

I have a buck mark that I sometimes shoot (if I can find any 22lr), and while I haven't explicitly tried to call my shots with it, I know that it is very easy to see the front sight lift, since it doesn't go very far anyway.

I'll give it another try.

As far as jerking the trigger, I may well be doing this sometimes, but sometimes I pull the trigger very slowly, increasing the pressure ounce by ounce until the shot fires. Unfortunately, while I shoot slightly better groups like this usually, I still don't see better this way, and I don't call my shots better.

I also discovered yesterday that my front sight was loose, and could rotate a bit from right to left. I'm sure that didn't help. I've got that tightened down now.

I know about follow-through. I know I'm not looking the shot off the target. These things are things I notice while only shooting at a single spot on a single target, one shot at a time in slow fire. I do think I may be losing focus on the front sight, and trying to look at the target though.

Thanks guys!

Edited June 3, 2010 by dagger10k

[dagger10k]

Shot my best match yet this last weekend. Some stages were unremarkable, and one just plain sucked, but in general I did a lot better than before.

Stage 3:

This is very similar to the design posted here: http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=107192&st=0&p=1223173&fromsearch=1entry1223173

There were some modifications to my original design, but it turned out to be not the most exciting stage ever. Oh well.

Anyway, the stage procedure was to engage the hard cover targets and the square plates out the front of the structure, move out through the front door, and engage the rest of the targets.

I had some misses on steel further down in the course that hurt my time, but aside from that it was not horrible. About how I am used to shooting.

One thing I noticed in this video is that my head moves back by a few inches during my draw, but seems to stay put otherwise. I don't think this is a problem.

Stage 4 - Paper Poppers:

Trying to go fast kinda got me here. I messed up my hand position on the draw, threw a C on the right paper target, and missed the magwell on the reload. Still, not too bad considering all that.

Stage 5:

This was a relatively normal medium length course. Some paper with no-shoots behind barrels, big speed steels, etc. It was actually very easy to break down for a shooter with 10 round magazines.

Anyway, this was the smoothest I have ever shot any stage. I had no make up shots, and was only 2 points down in the entire course. The whole time shooting it, I didn't feel fast, just smooth.

The only big mistake I made was to reload in the wrong place, which left me running dry before my last target array, instead of running dry on the last steel.

Little nitpicky things that I see are that I could have walked a hair faster while shooting on the move, and my transition from the last paper to the steel at the end wasn't great.

However, I am very happy with my performance on this stage.

Stage 6:

I decided to goof off with my starting position, being perhaps the only person that day who was tall enough to start with my hands on the wall and not move my feet to get into shooting position.

It backfired a bit when I presented the gun and saw only the rear sight. Also, my not calling my shots is blatantly obvious on that last steel. I still need to work on that...

Stage 1:

This stage featured an activated texas star and a mix of steel and paper targets. The two first arrays had to be engaged from the boxes.

If there has ever been a stage that emphasizes the importance of shot calling and follow through, this is it.

My lack of follow through on the steel killed me on this stage, and my inability to call my shots on the little steel in the right corner wasted several seconds.

Stage 2:

This was just the steel from the previous stage. I decided to just be calm on this one, and not let my performance on the last stage bother me. All in all it worked out pretty well.

I hit the activation popper on the left, and then the big gray weight, which was supposed to fall off right then and there, taking the steel below with it, and slowing the rotation of the star.

It didn't work out that way, but I think I did ok anyway, aside from that darn little plate in the corner.

All in all, I feel like I have improved, and it's clear that my practice in moving has helped on some of these stages.

I think I am working well towards my eventual goal of making A by the end of the summer, or at the very least, shooting at an A level by then.

[dagger10k]

Shot a practice session at a range in the area on Saturday. There was a single plate rack and several full open targets at about 10 yards, and everyone stood in a line and shot. It seemed a bit of a waste of time and ammo, though practice shooting the plate rack SHO and WHO was pretty fun. I was getting pretty good at it by the end, and I was able to call my shots SHO most of the time. Not so much WHO. Need to work on that some more.

I shot a short practice stage a couple of times after that, but left without ever having gotten a good run, as I was tired of burning up my precious ammo.

I've been devoting a lot of time to dry fire. Usually I do my own dry fire drills for several hours after I get home from work. I've gotten to the point that I'm getting blisters where my hands meet. I must look funny running around with a Glock and tape on my fingers.

I think I'm improving. I guess I'll see next time I shoot a match.

Edited June 22, 2010 by dagger10k

[dagger10k]

I figured out something today. For some reason, I have been shooting the Glock with WAY too little finger on the trigger. When shooting freestyle I have had the center of the trigger about .1" from the nail of my finger.

SHO or WHO I shoot with the center of the pad of my finger, and it works much better. I finally tried dry firing like that freestyle, and surprise surprise, it's much better. It should help with accuracy AND speed.

Now I just have to drill in the new finger position in before the next match.

Edited June 25, 2010 by dagger10k

[dagger10k]

I shot my first match ever in Limited this sunday! I was going to stay in L10 for a while, but I have some old highcap Glock mags, so I thought why not give it a try.

I think I like it. I still placed second, despite zeroing a stage (totally forgot about a plate rack), so I guess that's not horrible. I also had some pretty solid runs thrown in there, and my first ever A level classifier!

Here are some random videos, not in any specific order, from the match:

Looks like my practicing entering boxes has paid off:

http://www.youtube.c...tI8&feature=sub

Sucked on the plate rack, but the rest felt solid enough:

http://www.youtube.c...Q-4&feature=sub

A fast plate rack stage:

http://www.youtube.c...u/5/Y2WK26PGjcc

My first run on a stage: I stopped because I saw untaped holes on the target, but kept going when I remembered that was what I'm supposed to do. Still, I felt like it messed up the rest of my run, so I asked for a reshoot:

http://www.youtube.c...u/3/wAdNkdY1n0M

Naturally, I did worse on the reshoot, moving rather slow and hitting a noshoot. Oh well:

http://www.youtube.c...u/2/yym4V36wMl0

All in all, this was both on of my worst matches ever, and one of my best. I have never zeroed a stage before, but I also feel like I am showing a lot of improvement in movement.

I also managed to BREAK my Lee Classic Turret press that I have been loading on. Maybe Dillon is in my future. Hmmmmm

Edited July 15, 2010 by dagger10k

[dagger10k]

I shot a club match today that featured some complicated stages, something that I don't usually have the opportunity to shoot. It was good practice, even though I wasn't very happy with my performance. A lot of misses, charlies, and deltas.

The first stage was a bad start to the day. I left one popper standing, and did not call for a calibration because my squad was so backed up on this bay from reshoots already. I also failed to engage 2 paper targets, and had a lot of misses on steel.

The second stage was a classifier, 3-V. I was a little slow on my transitions, and it cost me. My national percentage on this stage was 72 and change. Looks like A is not in my immediate future.

The third stage was a fun fixed time steel stage. All the arrays had to be engaged from certain spots. I threw a lot of misses on this one, especially on the close plate rack. My first time shooting a Polish plate rack. I like it!

The fourth stage was also pretty complicated. 37 rounds, the most I have shot. I didn't fail to engage any targets, but I did have a lot of misses on poppers, which left me at slidelock at the last round. Arrgh.

On the last stage, I had my first ever misfire in a match. It cost me a lot of time, in that I took several seconds to figure out what happened, and that I needed to reload. My mags hold 20, and the stage was 20 rounds. Aside from that, my transitions were sluggish, and I could see the sights being pushed around during my trigger press. At least I know where to improve.

This was a disappointing match, but I know what I need to work on. As always, shot calling, stage plans, transitions, footwork, and accuracy. I still had a good time though. Shooting is always fun.

Edited August 1, 2010 by dagger10k

[dagger10k]

Today I got my first ever DQ. I over-ran a target, and rather than run back to get it, I just swung my gun back, and broke the 180. I don't like DQing, and I don't like that I was unsafe. I'm going to look hard at how I've been approaching things, and if things need to change, I will change them.

Here was the DQ:

Here's another stage from earlier in the day. I wonder if I am pushing too hard...

Edited August 9, 2010 by dagger10k

[dagger10k]

Shot another USPSA match today. I was pretty conservative, shooting rather slow and getting almost all A's. I could afford to pick up the pace a bit.

Stages (in no particular order)

http://www.youtube.c...u/9/N9KLvvmh72I

This was a weird stage, where you had to shoot through the "ports". I think I'll need cleats or something to be able to move effectively in this kind of terrain. Several misfires. Wolff 4lb striker spring + wolf primers = FAIL.

http://www.youtube.c...u/6/azVUxg1mkI4

Put a stock strength striker spring back in, with 1.5ish coils cut off. Shot this stage pretty slow. Too much focus on shooting perfect As here. I should have gone further into that port to engage all of the star at once, rather than waiting for plates to circle into view.

http://www.youtube.c...u/4/0n5GNJT_Oog

Stage was going decently well until the bobbled reload, and then some severe gun issues, the worst I've ever had. My gun locked up really tight, and I had to beat it open twice. Add to that the magazine falling out, and 2 more misfires (I think). I don't think I'll be using more wolf primers if I can help it, and I think I might tighten my crimp a wee bit too.

http://www.youtube.c...u/3/YAJnsXCuhgc

Riverdale standards: I thought this was solid enough. I won this stage overall by a fair margin, but apparently it's only 72% nationally. I need to tighten up my transitions.

http://www.youtube.c...u/1/tMin1SDmFE4

This stage also had some issues. I rehearsed many times, and was able to stick to my plan, but I didn't get in the right positions, which cost me time, and I had another misfire, which didn't do anything great for my time either. Then my gun locked up, and I had to beat it open again. I followed this up by running up to the plate rack, not hitting the breaks in time, and firing off several hopers while getting my feet.

Edited August 23, 2010 by dagger10k

[dagger10k]

Shot a local match this weekend. We shot one of the new classifiers, and I managed to shoot an 82%, which should just bump me into A class for Limited. That means I just barely made my goal of making A by the end of summer.

I was using my old match ammo, after the problems I had with the new stuff last match.

I finally got my JP lightened striker, and I'm looking forward to trying it out along with a Wolff 4lb striker spring. I'm really not liking the way my gun cycles with a 13lb recoil spring and a 5.5lb striker spring. Hopefully, I should be able to use my new ammo with the lightened striker, once I start drop them.

First Stage: [media]

I thought I did not too bad on this one. I just need to get the gun up higher when I'm loading initially, plan out better where I'm going to run to, not miss so much on the texas star. Overall, it was a decent performance, although I can see a lot of areas that need improvement.

Second Stage: CM09-09: Lightning and Thunder:

This stage had a par time of 5 seconds per string.

1st string, 2 shots each target freestyle at 25 yards.

2nd string 1 shot each, mandatory reload, and 1 shot each freestyle from 15 yards.

3rd string 2 shots each SHO from 10 yards.

The time limit was pretty generous on this one. I could have gone slower on every string and still made it.

The tricks to this one were to shoot fast enough on the second string to have time to get another 3 shots off after the reload, and to shoot As on the last string. I had to rush a bit due to a fumbled draw on the second one, but still made it in plenty of time, and got good hits.

I shot 3 deltas on this stage, and they were probably all on that last string. My SHO shooting needs some work. At least I got all my hits with no penalties. That's something.

Third Stage:

Started this one in high style with a fumbled load. Woot. It was my first time going prone, and I tried Saul Kirsch's technique. I think it's the way to go on this stage. I had a lot of misses when prone due to setting up a bit weird, and missed one of the plates in front of the no-shoot, and that cost me, but such is life.

Fourth Stage:

Things got weird on this stage. I missed a bunch of close steel to start, clipped a no-shoot, and then found that my trigger finger really did not want to move. I ended up missing close targets due to pulling off the target before my finger finished the pull, the resulting make up shots, and weird hesitant fire on more close targets. I don't really know what happened here. Nothing seems to be wrong with my gun. Obviously, it was just me.

Fifth Stage:

You had to start this one by tossing a paint brush into a bucket with your strong hand, and with the chamber empty. I was a little hesitant on this one due to my performance on the last stage, and it showed in my times. I also had a mike on the very first target, and seemed to shoot slower on the closer targets.

I think I'm getting better, overall. I can see where I need to improve, and I think I could be a solid shooter if I can solidify my fundamentals, and stop my weird screwups. That means more matches. I like matches.

[dagger10k]

Tried out my lightened Jager Striker today, and while it set off primers fine, I find that the trigger pull seems grittier, the spring doesn't have enough oomph to fully activate the trigger safety, and I'm not really in love with the feel.

On the other hand, I tried my stock striker spring, and stock recoil spring, and it felt nice. The recoil pulse felt a little different, but not any worse. The trigger resets with authority, has a smooth break, and the slide goes into and stays into battery with authority. With any loads below major, it tends to throw the brass forwards, but does not malfunction, even with a weak one handed grip. I am going to shoot it with the stock springs tomorrow in my local match and see how it works out! I feel more comfortable with stock parts anyway. I think I might just load up my ammo to 175 pf or so, and it should cycle the slide very nicely.

[dagger10k]

Well, I think my experiment with the stock recoil spring worked out well. The front sight didn't track quite the way I'm used to, but that's to be expected. Despite that, it doesn't seem to have hurt my game too much. I was able to put on one of my better match performances. I think I will stick with this, for a while at least.

[dagger10k]

Shot another local match last weekend with mixed results.

Stage 1:

This was a rather weak start. I had lots of embarrassing misses on close steel, and one damn popper that refused to go down. I'm also slipping all over the place. Finally going to get some cleat type shoes soon. Hopefully that should help.

Stage 2: This was the classifier "Pucker Factor" (no video)

I screwed up my draw, but shot ok from there on. Think this score will be 71ish.

Stage 3:

This stage went pretty smoothly, except for a mike on the third target. I knew it too! I called it a mike and for some reason, didn't make it up! As soon as the stage was over, I ran over to look at this target, and sure enough, one of the hits was so far off the left that it didn't break the perf on the B zone. Arrrrgggghhh. At least I know now to trust my shot calling. I've only recently been able to do this at all, and I need to build confidence in this skill.

Stage 4:

This was an amusing, and highly illegal stage. The RO shook a cup containing a coin, and depending on whether it was heads or tails, you shot only the metric or classic targets only, respectively. These two types were stacked vertically on every target. Procedurals were assessed for shooting the wrong type of target. I shot rather slow due to having to find the right kind of target before engaging. That stopped me from being very aggressive. My performance was ok, but not great.

Stage 5:

I had a really weird malfunction here. Throughout the stage, my trigger kept getting heavier and heavier, which made my hits worse and worse due to excessive pressure, and made me shoot slower and slower as the stage went on. The trigger must have been 20 pounds or so by the end of the stage. I had to try really hard to pull it. Watching the video, it's pretty easy to tell where it happens. I also had a double feed, which never happens with my gun. I went to the safe area after shooting the stage, and a sliver of brass fell OUT OF the slide. I have no idea how that happened, but it seemed to be the problem. Needless to say, I trashed this stage. I took over 40 seconds for what should have been a 20 second stage tops, got a no shoot and 2 mikes I think? In any case, this stage alone was probably worth a position in the limited results.

Stage 6:

This was not a great performance. My aggression is notably reduced, both in shooting and movement. Mostly because of the last stage, and not being 100% confident that my gun would actually work correctly, although I had no problems here.

My lessons from this match are: trust my shot calling, call every shot (especially on steel), shoot only in the moment (don't let past problems influence me), that I need cleats, and that shooting stuff is fun.

Edited September 28, 2010 by dagger10k

[dagger10k]

I've been shooting a decent number of local matches, as always, but I feel like my progress is slowing down. The weather is getting too dark after work to do my usual 2 hour dry fire sessions outdoors. Consequently, I haven't been doing much in the way of movement drills. I'm experimenting with some new technique and equipment, but I'm not sure if it's taking me anywhere.

I really need to get out and do some live fire practice somewhere. I'm tired of only practicing shooting at the public range, and dry firing at home. I'm sure I haven't reached the limits of where it can take me, but it would be nice to change things up a bit.

I'm also planning on getting my CZ up and running for production, just for a change of pace. I really need to shake some things up, as I plan on shooting some big matches next year, and I definitely need to improve.

Edited November 2, 2010 by dagger10k

[dagger10k]

Today I shot a quick 3 stage match. It's been more than a month since I've shot a match and I'm rusty. I shot fast and sloppy. Nevertheless, I won my first USPSA match overall, beating an open GM, 2 open masters, and an Open A. That's pretty cool.

I've got another match tomorrow, and hopefully I'll be able to pull myself together a bit by then. I need to call ALL my shots, even on close targets. And no more deltas!

Edited January 16, 2011 by dagger10k

[dagger10k]

Well... the match today didn't go quite as well as I'd like. I had decent times and hits for the most part, but I also got 4 penalties, which is rare for me.

Stage 5:

I started out the day ok. Had a miss on steel, and some unneccesary pauses, as well as having a few too many non-A hits, but it wasn't too bad.

Stage 1:

I was a little slow on my feet in this stage, largely due to my bad knee, which was acting up again. I had a weird misfire at the end, someting I'm obviously not used to clearing. I looked at the round later, and there was no mark whatsoever on the primer, but I know the striker went forward. It's possible that the firing pin safety wasn't disengaged, but I can't imagine why. Everything trigger related is un-modded, stock glock parts. Some people suggested that the primer may have been over seated, which is possible (the primer was quite far in), but I don't know how it would get that way unless it was defective brass. A bit of a mystery.

Stage 2 - Riverdale Standards:

My first string was pretty sporty, if I do say so myself. The second one, not so much. I called a marginal hit on the first target (turned out to be a D), and made it up. Oops... I also messed up my grip on the weak-hand only section, but by then it didn't really matter much anymore.

Stage 3:

This was probably my best stage. I had a few misses on steel, but was able to pull of the best time in my squad, and with good hits. My knee did not like squatting like that though...

Stage 4:

This was not a great stage, with 2 mikes.

I had a bunch of misses on the popper at the beginning, and then had a mike (or a perfect double) on the first target out of the first array. In watching the video, I fully stopped, and shot it from about 10 feet away. I'd really like to think that I would not call a hit on a wide open target while standing still from 10 feet away, and still miss completely. I'm going to declare that one a perfect double. Still didn't get the points for it though. The second mike was on the farther target with the noshoot. That was an honest miss. I think my shooting on the move suffers when my knee is not behaving.

All in all, not quite what I was hoping for, but it could be worse. I still had fun, my gun didn't blow up, and my firing pin didn't break again.

[dagger10k]

Well, I've had a string of bad matches. I've had 16 or some ridiculous number of mikes in the last 3 matches, which is more than I've had in the rest of my shooting career so far. Hoping to get all the kinks out before the Golden Bullet, or I'm gonna get slaughtered. I think I just need to make sure that I'm well rested before a match, and not to be afraid of noshoots (and hardcover!?) and I'll be ok. I also need to shoot more groups, which I haven't been doing enough of. Need to make sure my shot calling is behaving correctly, because it's been a bit off recently.

[dagger10k]

Well, it looks like I just won 3 guns at the local GSSF match. I was first in amateur civilian, and second overall in competition and unlimited (shooting my limited gun).

Instant bump to gssf master for me.

I'm pretty stoked!