Auto Comp vs HS-6.. The "feel test"

[XRe]

Dave, what drills would you recommend? Thanks!

Just about anything you can repeat reliably works. I wouldn't pick out anything too long, as you'd like to run each drill several times with each configuration you're testing, so you can average them out and compare a little better. And, you'd like to run them a couple of times on different days, if you have that option - that will rule out the "trick of the day" factor.

Some drills that I like for testing include Triple Six, El Pres (or Vice Pres - it's at 7y instead of 10, and you start facing the targets - for most folks, the "facing downrange" draw is a little more consistent in time - frequently, I'll only shoot the first half, too), Brian's index drill, and a few other similar things (I'll add in some no-shoots or something, and shoot the same drills that way, too). I'll also try to shoot some drills that include shooting on the move. Again, the actual drill itself isn't super critical - you should just be able to repeat it, and it should be short enough that you can shoot it a number of times. You're trying to isolate things like what your splits and indexes look like vs. your points, and that sort of thing, and isolate away from specific shooter related skills (reloads, turning draws, empty gun starts, etc - although some of those things are useful depending on what you're comparing between the configs). For shoot on the move stuff, I'm just trying to evaluate how much I get pushed around by the gun, and how stable it stays when I'm on the move (as witnessed by where the holes show up and how fast I'm able to complete the drill).

[baa]

Dave,

Great feedback as always. I agree that feel, by itself, is meaningless. I ran a series of drills, mostly transition focused, I have been running for years when shooting limited to test the two loads. The timer told the tale- Drill times, split times, transition times were basically the exact same between the two loads. Same with running a series of plate rack drills at 25 yards.

And they felt the same

Granted, I could try more loads with different powders and I might could find me a load which is better than the two I listed, but at this point, I figure the best bet is to pick a load that works and put a ton of rounds down range. I figure a load which I like, which is accurate, which performs well in drills, which is reliable, and which gives me confidence is good enough.

Edited April 5, 2012 by baa

[XRe]

I figure a load which I like, which is accurate, which performs well in drills, which is reliable, and which gives me confidence is good enough.

Indeed!

If you're looking for others to try, N350 makes a nice Major 9 load, as does 3N38. And, Silhouette has always seemed interesting, too, in Major 9. I haven't spent any significant time behind any of them, though, so I can't give you objective numbers, but...

[baa]

Thanks for the recommendations.. I am spinning up for Area 6 for my Open division major match debut so I am sticking with AutoComp until May. I am planning to play with some more loads over the summer while preparing for the Nationals. Going to try a couple more powders and see what works best. Right now, I want to crank 10k down range in the next month to get used to the new blaster.

Edited April 5, 2012 by baa

[brhalolll]

That is a lot of rounds in one month. How many times do you go to the range?