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alpha-charlie

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I found the rule about it and it's pretty clear that you have 1 hour after times are posted. However, it turns out that a re-shoot was granted and the original run was put into scoring and not the re-shoot. If I was a shooter and my re-shoot didn't get counted I'd want it changed too. Since the re-shoot put him over my points then that's good enough for me. I don't want a "technical" victory. Besides, 12th or 13th place doesn't really matter at this point. Numbers on a scoresheet are nice but the main goal is to improve my shooting and take it to the next level. Indiana performance wasn't great but it's time to learn from, move on and focus on the upcoming Michigan Sectional.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Michigan Sectional in the morning. Walked the stages today and they seemed pretty straight up. Not alot of hard cover or no shoots and only a couple of swingers. There are some stages with a lot of shooting on the move and then a long distance to the next set of targets. It has a little bit of everything but could easily be seen as a hoser match. I'm not gonna look at it like that and fall into a hoser mentality and get nailed with a bunch of mikes on easy targets. It's all about points tomorrow and I'm gonna try to pick up as many A's as possible. My way of thinking is that the competition will see it as a hoser match and blaze through it with a bunch of C's and D's. If I'm a little slower but have more points per stage I think that should work out just fine. Last major of the year, let's do this!!!!!

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Michigan Sectional......???

What a rough day. I have a bunch of excuses but the only thing that happened is that my mental game took me completely out of this match. Other than a GM I was the highest classed shooter (A) and got stomped on all day by B's and C's. There was nothing complicated about this match and I can only think of one stage (the last of the day) where I actually was calm and remember seeing my front sight the whole time. I wasn't on my sight at all even though I wanted to shoot for points. A 2 hour rain delay got the ball rolling. When we got shooting again I couldn't remember my stage breakdowns, I wasn't on my sights, and I even ran past a foot pad activator which I had to put go back and activate and then go back to the port (about +5 seconds on that one.) I even triple tapped a mini-popper when it wouldn't go down. Yea, it was a forward falling popper. In summary, I SUCKED the big one today. The way I look at it is that it's the off-season now as all of my majors are over. And it's time to train.

No video, out of disgust I stopped recording myself after about 5 stages. I know what I screwed up on.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Advanced USPSA class with Ben Stoeger

Spent the weekend taking Ben's 2nd class to help smooth out some problem areas. Learned alot again and realized the "secret" to becoming great at this game......................pause for effect..........PRACTICE. Plain and simple. If you want to be o.k., practice every once and awhile. If you want to be good, practice alot. If you want to be great, practice your ass off. Make your practice sessions harder than any match you've ever been to. Try and shoot 19 pieces of steel on the move, weak hand only, with your mags loaded to production division requirements in 20 seconds. Sound impossible? NO, IT'S NOT.

Other than fine tuning your fundamentals and a few other key elements of the game, there's not too much else to it. It's perceived as being very complicated but I think shooters make it harder than it actually has to be due to struggling through stages. I know I do. "You're your own worst enemy." (Not my quote). Find a good way to shoot a stage and execute it to perfection. And the only way to execute it to perfection is by having all of your fundamentals flawless. For the rest of the secrets to this game, you'll just have to take the class and find out first hand. :P

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Return of Dryfire........

Dryfired tonight for about an hour. Admittedly I've fallen off on my practice sessions which has really shown as the season has progressed. The best match I shot all year was my first major. The best classifiers I shot were also at the beginning of the year. This was after a winter of dryfiring and preparing for the season. A little bit of being burnt-out by running every other week to scorching hot majors and not practicing has really set me back. It was fun to dryfire again. Never thought I'd say that but it was. Concentrated on reloads. Had to start at the basics and then speed up after awhile. I'm still nowhere near where I should be, but it was a good start. Sometimes I nail em and sometimes I can't get my right hand to work. They have to be automatic, which will only come from doing thousands and thousands of them.

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Local match.....

Designed a stage, helped set-up, and then shot in the rain. Shot pretty decent today. I was pleased to see that I designed the hardest stage for the match which I think incorporated alot of different disciplines of shooting. I designed it around alot of my weaknesses: tight shots, movement, a swinger, texas star, and distance shots with hard-cover and then a distant target with a no-shoot. The no-shoot target is next to the popper that activates the swinger. Trying to get people to slow down in order to hit it before shooting the swinger or maybe not risk it and have to wait on the swinger. Devious. Also for production shooters, I designed the star, swinger, activator and static target close to one another to make them rethink shooting it in one position. (10 shots). Feeling confident in my accuracy after last weekend so I went at it with one make-up shot on the star and finished in slide-lock.....close one.

Someone did mention that I was moving/shooting slower than usual but I think it was minimal. I was really seeing my sights today and wanted to focus on points and technique. My technique was good and my accuracy was great. My times will probably be slower than some shooters tomorrow but I don't anyone will be able to beat my points. The no-shoots and hard cover might as well not even have been there. I didn't worry about them and just put the sight in the A-zone and made the shots. There was a stage with two simultaneous swingers that I surprisingly didn't have a problem with. Remembered my instruction last week and stopped looking at the target as it was swinging and just looked at the A-zone as they were moving. No problemo with those today. Found it much easier to shoot them that way. I finished today with 2 B's, 10 C's and the rest A's on (4) 32 round stages.

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Results from local....Porter County Poppers

2nd place. There were 2 stages that were more complicated than the others. These had tight shots and multiple different ways to shoot them. I placed 1st (my stage) and 2nd on these stages. I could have very easily took 1st on both of these stages but somehow I didn't load one of my mags up and went into slide lock with one shot left on the stage. The static reload cost me a bunch of time. The 2 hoser stages are where I took a beating. I was shooting very accurate but my times were slow. Looking back at it now I was shooting at the same speed that I was on the more difficult shots. I never really "turned it up" when I could have. I think shooting like this at a major match could have worked out good if it was an accuracy themed match. I seem to have throttle problems at matches and on particular stages. I've got some good drills lined up to work on this problem. (Up close wide open target and then transition to 25 yd plate...repeat) Another good thing about this match was that I wasn't nervous or worked up at all during it. Even when I went into slide lock accidentally, which happened as 2 swingers were going back and forth, I never really panicked like I usually do. Reloads still need work as they cost me tons of time on the hoser stages. New Ghost mag pouches should arrive Tuesday and I'm pumped about breaking them in.

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Reload practice.....

My new mag pouches arrived today. What a HUGE difference!!!! My other pouches are a very popular brand but I just couldn't get them how I wanted them. So the lesson learned is: when a nationally competitive GM recommends a better product for you, it would be wise to take that advice. My new pouches are the Ghost mag pouches that can be found at the online IPSC store. They're cheaper than my old ones by a few bucks and come with 2 pouches!! The traditional style and the style that has them turned outward. I'm sticking with the traditional style as I'm not having any trouble with that set-up. They're also much easier to adjust to the size of your belt and rotate if you choose to. Now my main problem is hitting the mag release and getting the mag out of the gun. I seem to be all thumbs with this most times. Other times I can do a sub one second reload. Just gonna have to keep practicing.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Local Match.......no video

Shot a local match today at my home club (Porter County Poppers)that had 2 classifiers. Going in I knew that if I could shoot a total of 166% between the 2 of them I'd make Master. There were 5 stages altogether and my squad ended up shooting the classifiers last. The first was Six CM 08-03 and the 2nd was Take 'Em Down Cm 03-03. Out of the 2 I was more confident in Six, easy hits at close distance. My time was 3.29 with one C. I knew that wasn't good enough: 83.44%. Surprisingly I shot Take 'Em Down extremely well: 8.04 with one C, 94.53%. :surprise: If my math is correct I should be making Master when the updates come through; 85.7327% I've always dreamed of making Master and knew I could but it's really a crazy feeling right now. I don't feel like I'm a Master class shooter but there's no turning back now. Very exciting but scary too. One more BIG step to climb. Wish I had it on video but I decided just to focus on shooting today and not worry about any of that. Good times. B)

Results: Took 1st in Production with 3 out of 5 stage wins. Clipped a couple of no-shoots but I made them up right away, something I usually have trouble with.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Live Fire......

Made it to the range today to work on some things, mainly accuracy. I feel that I'm pretty accurate but I get too amped up and concerned about speed which makes me forget alot of my fundamentals when running through a stage. I started today with the Dot Drill/Dot Torture. I didn't do any dry fire or warm up shooting before this. I've shot this drill once before and it was alot harder than I thought. It really makes you focus on the front sight and trigger control. I shot o.k. but not 50/50. I put that aside and worked on a few different things; mainly shooting in tight areas and having to reload for another shooting position that's only a few steps away. I cut the A-zone out of a target and used that as a port to work on keeping the gun up before getting to a new position. I did some barricade work also. Moved some targets around to create some really hard leaning shots on both sides. Turned it up a little bit and started shooting these same tight shots weak hand only and strong hand only. That was interesting, but a great challenge. Finished up by shooting the dot drill again, 46/50. Dropped a couple on weak hand only, one on strong hand only and one on the last transition drill. Just have to keep at it. Also, it's official..I made Master in production. Never thought I'd see the day.

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Moved some targets around to create some really hard leaning shots on both sides. Turned it up a little bit and started shooting these same tight shots weak hand only and strong hand only. That was interesting, but a great challenge. Finished up by shooting the dot drill again, 46/50. Dropped a couple on weak hand only, one on strong hand only and one on the last transition drill.

Uh oh.. you keep going like this and you will be a GM

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Confession.

I'm going to stray and shoot an IDPA match tomorrow. I have the day off, a bunch of ammo loaded and there's no local USPSA matches going on. I know I have to wear some type of cover garment but there's no way I'm wearing a fishing vest. B)

Edit** Cold and rainy this morning when I woke up. For USPSA I would have definitely toughed it out but not for a match that I was gonna go to just so that I could shoot something. Dry fire and loaded up another 600 rounds instead. Planning on hitting the range 3 or 4 days during the week before the Bragging Rights match on Sunday. (Wisconsin vs. Illinois) Watch out Cheeseheads, here come the FIP's!!!

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Back to the range.....Live Fire (Loooooonnnnnggggg post, I learned alot today)

Got back out on the range today for about 2.5 hrs and burned through about 400 rounds. Ran a few simple drills. Started out and ended with the Dot drill, shot it.......poorly, would be a nice way to say it. I was initially told to do the next drill at 25 yards but did it at 40 yards instead. Why? Why not. Full target off to my left at about 5 yards and the plate rack 40 yds down range. From the draw, 2 shots to the paper and then transition to the plate rack for one shot. Purpose was to learn how to go from 0 to 100 to 50. I did this drill 3 ways: Freestyle, strong hand only, and weak hand only. Shooting plates at 40 yds, w.h.o. is pretty cool. Major focus on the sights and trigger press is key to this one.

Next was a short 12 round minimum c.o.f. I stood about 20 yards from the plate rack. On the start signal I would draw, run 10 yards to the fault line and then engage the plate rack (6) while moving directly to the right. Ten feet from the rack was the next target. A planned reload after the plate rack and then used a target with the A zone cut out as a port to engage a partial target at 10 yards. Ten feet to the right of this was a Bianchi barricade with 2 targets at 7 yards. These 2 targets were next to each other and only available for head shots. I also positioned them so that an extremely tough lean was needed to engage them from around the barricade. Set a fault line up so that I could work on getting into the proper position the first time and to ensure that a hard lean position had to happen.

Par time on this started at 15 seconds and the first few runs were well over. I set this drill up to work on getting into position quickly, having the gun up and ready, going one for one on shots, quick reloads, and staying calm and relaxed (hence, the running up before shooting). After actually thinking about all of those things, I stopped thinking about the speed of my movement and focused on technique. I was barreling into the first shooting position and slamming on the brakes, shooting 3-4 extra shots, flubbing the reload, and then over-running the fault line at the barricade. This is how I normally shoot stages and why I waste so much time like a doucher. So, I stopped worrying about the speed as I was moving and focused on the shooting. I mean, that's what really puts points on the board right? While moving I stopped thinking, "hurry up and get to the next spot." I actually was completely focused on the next target and what I had to do as I approached the next shooting position. This of course all is happening in a matter of seconds.

When I started the stage again, instead of thinking hurry up and get to the first fault line I looked at the first plate the whole time and about 3/4 of the way there i brought the gun up with both hands and simultaneously slowed down. By the time I got to the fault line I was shooting. I slowly moved to the right and went one for one on the plate rack. Stuffed a mag and as I was getting my grip back and the gun up I was coming into view of the next target through the port. (I also told myself to get moving as soon as the 2nd shot broke, since I found myself sitting on my heels in a previous run staring the target) Set-up on the hard lean and tightened up the grip and took an extra couple 100th's of a second to really make the head shots count. I was 2 seconds under my par time (about 4 seconds faster than my initial runs)with all Alphas. Smooth is fast for sure.

I ran this drill about 10 times and stepped it up a little bit. I added an extra reload between the port and the barricade just because it was a short distance which meant a fast reload was necessary and it gave me one more thing to think about. This run was the fastest of my runs on this drill. This is exactly the type of practice I need to keep doing so that I am confident that just because it doesn't feel like I'm moving fast, I really am. **Focus on the fundamentals, technique, and accurate shooting; and not on the foot race between positions.**

Final note: These drills may or may not have been "borrowed" from a shooter from Wisconsin who shoots a Beretta. I think his name is Ken Stoger or something. ;)

Edited by alpha-charlie
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2011 Schultz/NISA Bragging Rights Match

Only final results were posted by the time I left so I know that I finished 2nd behind Alex. He smoked my times on most of the stages but I shot pretty accurate. On one of the 30 round field courses I shot 29 A's and 1 B in a pretty respectable time. 2 mikes for day on close up easy targets. Reloads were better with only a couple noticeable flubs. For the most part my reloads were finished before I was coming into the next position. Besides for moving a little better I seem to still waste a ton of time getting the first shot off once I get into position. Didn't get the first stage on video, it had a pretty cool Texas Star on it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DuoJTnd2go&feature=youtu.be

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Reloads look much better.

Must be the mag pouches.

Results are up. Won one of the stages and shot pretty accurate. As accurate as I was I could have easily won a few more stages if I could shave about 2 or 3 seconds off the long courses. Same old story.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Live Fire.......

Back from a wedding in NYC and decided to hit the range today. I was re-reading Enos' book on the plane and decided to work on accuracy today. I shot difficult shots all day. Started out shooting groups at 25 yards. I made a 4" X 4" box in the middle of the A-zone to shoot my groups at. I was not incredibly accurate doing this. I was shooting to the left alot but later realized my weak hand grip was really terrible today. I moved it back to 40 yards and started shooting the plate racks. I mostly shot these w/h/o or s/h/o. The point of this was to really work on sight focus, staying relaxed and trigger control. It started raining so I moved back a little farther under the canopy and did some table starts. At about 45 yards, unloaded-slide forward etc., magazine on table. At the start signal, load and take one shot at a plate. It was a good learning experience in wasting no movement and getting the gun up as quickly as possible. I started off missing quite a bit. I would load quickly and get the gun up on target and rush the shot. By allowing for .20 extra to focus the front sight a little better I was hitting. My fastest time with a hit was 2.34 seconds. I was averaging about 2.75. This is where I really realized how terrible my weak hand grip was today. When I slowed down a tiny bit and tightened up my grip, I started to hit. Simple things that I know I overlook and forget to focus on during a match.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sitting by the window waiting for the FedEx guy to deliver my new 34. I've yet to shoot it and it's coming back from the smith with a trigger job and internal magwell and sights. It should be above freezing tomorrow so I'm gonna try and make it to the range and chrono some rounds thru it. I'm going against the grain and am gonna try shooting lead through a Glock. Not poly or moly coated, just straight up lead. I've heard and read all the myths but I think if I consistently keep the barrel clean, it shouldn't be a problem. Besides, the cost savings is unbelieveable. And, I really like the father/son business that I buy from.

Update: It has arrived!!! The trigger feels nice but not as nice as my gen 3. It needs to be broken in so I'm sure it'll smooth out a little bit more. I immediately put on a full wrap Tru-Grip and realized something about my weak hand grip. I have tru-grip on a couple of my guns and always noticed that the base of my weak hand pushes the tape forward. I always attributed this to gripping too tight. WRONG. I have been shooting a pistol for over 7 years being professionally trained and attaining the class of Master in Production. Turns out, I have been gripping the gun wrong this entire freaking time. I'm not actually squeezing with my weak hand. My fingers are gripping the gun but not applying much pressure. I've been applying pressure with my palm and base of my hand against the gun. This was to compensate for my strong hand grip which I know is always too tight. After dry-firing for about 30 seconds with a proper weak hand grip, my sights don't move at all. Man, I feel dumb. Just another example of telling yourself you're doing everything right, when in reality you're not. I feel dumb, but excited about solving another issue. Live fire will tell the tale completely.

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Live fire...........

Took the new 34 to the range today. With the grip tape and gripping the gun properly I was shooting much better. I started out shooting groups off hand at 25 yards. For having never fired the gun I was quite pleased. I was 90% A zone with shooting the last 5 rounds faster than I would at a match. I was shooting lead bullets today and chron'd them. They're loaded a little longer but with the same amount of powder that I always use. They were 100 fps faster than what I normally chrono at. I really couldn't tell the difference and the gun ran good with good accuracy so I didn't give a crap as long as I'm over 125 pf. I don't know if it was the snappier ammo or better grip on the gun but my sights seemed to snap back into place faster and without as much wobble. I'm guessing it could be a combination of both. It really is amazing how much better I shoot with the proper grip. I shot the Dot Drill after shooting groups. I went 49/50, dropping one shot on strong hand only. Surprisingly my weak hand only string had all five shots touching one another. Did some plate racks and reload drills. Moved it back to 40 yards and worked the plate rack again. I cleared both plate racks like I was shooting from 10 yards away. Finished by shooting a 10 inch plate strong hand and weak hand only at 40 yards. Again, this was no problem. I'm very excited about this break-through and training for the 2012 season. I'm still putting together my goals for 2012 but my main goal is to make GM.

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Indoor live fire.......

Put some new sights on today. Amazingly enough they seem to be dead on after the first try. They're definetely set-up more to the right but even benching the gun at 15 yards it was grouping nicely. Put about 12 rounds to the head and they were all touching in the center, so I'd say they're where I need 'em to be. Worked on reloads with follow-up shots. Reloads were good with a few fumbles but that was due to trying to push it a little too much. I did notice that my first shot on the draw needs alot of work. I draw the gun smoothly but have a hard time finding my front sight. At close distances I'm really not seeing my front sight and relying too much on point shooting. My luck doing this will eventually run out. However, once I get shooting I clearly see the front sight the entire time and am very accurate. I shot a 10 round string at 15 yards faster than my match speed would be, and had no problem seeing the front sight track and settle in the A-zone every time. If I could start seeing the front sight off the draw sooner, I think it would take my shooting to a whole new level. Also, another major reason why I don't want to rely on point shooting at close range is because when I can't see the front sight for the first shot, I also can't see it for each follow-up shot. At match speed I'll never be able to find it once I start shooting.

I've also opened this problem up to the masses: Front Sight Problem

Edited by alpha-charlie
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  • 2 weeks later...

Local inddor match............

Shot pretty terrible today. I was pretty pumped about my grip breakthrough and the improvement it makes on my accuracy. However, after 2 months of no matches, the range rust really showed. I was so wrapped up in going fast that I completely forgot to focus on my grip and sights. I really can't remember gripping the gun the way I was supposed to and simply blasted away at targets. This was a straight up hoser match and my accuracy sucked. My inattention to accuracy really shows on the classifier. I was so preoccupied with burning it down that I tanked just about every shot. Missed 3 pepper poppers and went into slide-lock. It hurts to watch. I really just need to calm down. One good thing that came out of this match was that I figured out the front sight problem that I was having. I've been taught numerous ways on where to grip the gun on the draw with the weak hand. I've been bringing my weak hand over as far to the holster as possible and presenting from there. By doing this I would push the gun too much to the left when bringing it up on target and would have to bounce it around to find it. I tried bringing my weak hand to about mid chest so the gun would be in the center of my body and could simply push straight out which is now putting the sights right where I need them. My movement felt a little better and I really focused on keeping both hands on the gun while moving short distances. It definetely makes for a smoother transition to the next target array. Enjoy the garbage show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkkubo4J58k

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Local inddor match............

Shot pretty terrible today. I was pretty pumped about my grip breakthrough and the improvement it makes on my accuracy. However, after 2 months of no matches, the range rust really showed. I was so wrapped up in going fast that I completely forgot to focus on my grip and sights. I really can't remember gripping the gun the way I was supposed to and simply blasted away at targets. This was a straight up hoser match and my accuracy sucked. My inattention to accuracy really shows on the classifier. I was so preoccupied with burning it down that I tanked just about every shot. Missed 3 pepper poppers and went into slide-lock. It hurts to watch. I really just need to calm down. One good thing that came out of this match was that I figured out the front sight problem that I was having. I've been taught numerous ways on where to grip the gun on the draw with the weak hand. I've been bringing my weak hand over as far to the holster as possible and presenting from there. By doing this I would push the gun too much to the left when bringing it up on target and would have to bounce it around to find it. I tried bringing my weak hand to about mid chest so the gun would be in the center of my body and could simply push straight out which is now putting the sights right where I need them. My movement felt a little better and I really focused on keeping both hands on the gun while moving short distances. It definetely makes for a smoother transition to the next target array. Enjoy the garbage show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkkubo4J58k

Dude, you smoked my times on the "hoser stages" - I've got the most trouble with those... We've only been doing "stand and shoot" crap since the PPC league started... I really need to work on movement/stage planning... Happy Holidays, see you around!

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