Rob's Shooting Log

[Racer377]

9.18.12

Steel match went relatively well. The super buckmark really is a hoot to shoot, and I managed a 22PO win by just over a second against a very good shooter. 3rd fastest overall, behind 2 carbine guys. I really <3 the dot.

Also managed the SS/Limited win, despite shooting only OK. Fastest of all the holstered divisions, but that is in part because of a 7rd stage that took the guy I beat in 22PO out of the running in his revo score. Reloading those wheelguns is apparently a time waster. He beat me every other stage by a few ticks.

I need to work on surrender draw because my grip is consistently too high on the gun. By the 2nd stage, the web of my right hand was "leaking" quite a bit from getting knicked by the slide. I think the grip issues cost me a bit of time.

That is my dry fire mission this week - to unf*#k my surrender draw.

I worked on it today, now that the hand is healed a bit. Started at 1.3 par and worked down to 1, to a turtle target printed on a 8.5x11 paper at about 7 feet. It seems almost like I need to bring my hand behind the gun and establish the grip as my hand is moving forward to consistently keep the web from getting caught.

Edited September 19, 2012 by Racer377

[Racer377]

Little bit of dry fire today, surrender draws.

I think I may have figured out the issue with the web catching. I was holding my thumb up and out to clear the safety, which spread the web making it more likely to catch on the beavertail. I don't need to do that. If I keep the thumb lower and in more, my grip is more consistent and seemingly faster.

Live fire practice tomorrow, so I'll see how it works. I found out my 12 year old Frankford arsenal calipers weren't holding zero, and that my crimp for the last few hundred rounds has actually been .467. That may be the culprit as to why the N320 hasn't been performing as well as I'd expected. I have 500 of those I need to burn up, but I'll be testing the fresh batch of .4695 crimped stuff. I'm hoping for better accuracy, and less smoke and dirt.

Also trying a 16.5 variable power recoil spring that just came in the mail. The one that came in the gun has over 2k on it. I tried an 18.5 variable at the steel match, and kinda liked it. It was bit on the stiff side, and my ejection was almost straight back. The 16.5 will hopefully work better. I'm kicking around the idea of an EGW square bottom firing pin stop and a 15.5 or 14.5, coupled with a 21lb main. It's tough trying to balance performance vs. not wanting to beat the crap out of the frame.

Match on Sunday should be a good one. It looks like some of the the local hotshots are switching over to their SS guns in prep for the IN SS/Production match, so there'll be some solid competition. I'll get another run at Bang and Clang. 2.96 clean is the time to beat.

[Racer377]

9.22.12

Helped setup for tomorrow and got some good practice in. 300 rounds. I had 3 light strikes/high primers, which is weird.

Worked surrender draws and Bang n clang, since it was setup. The dry fire has helped with the speed. Had plenty of sub 1 draws to a popper at 12 yds. Best was a .90. However, I'm still getting the web caught on the beavertail and getting bitten by the slide.

The mystery of today's practice was that in the draw only drill, I could hit the popper under 1.10, no problem. But when I did the whole stage, the draw shot was 1.2-1.3. Not sure why that is.

Best run on Bang n Clang was a 2.45 w/ 29 pts. (97% or so) At that speed, they're all hopers though. I now know I can physically run the gun as fast as GM pace, and see some of what I need to see. Now, to keep doing it until I can see everything I need to see.

Had a 2.61 30pt run that was more or less in control, but the very edge of it. I can do sub 3 and see everything. Last run of the day felt the best; even though I was tired and bleeding all over, I had a clean 2.75 that I saw every sight bounce and called every shot. It felt very relaxed, not the slightest sense of rushing. I looked at the timer and it surprised me a bit actually. That's the way I'd like to feel on every stage.

[Chris iliff]

GM time in Open starts at about 2.15 and 30 pts. I can run it total vision down to about a 2.75 which gets me a whopping 75.2% nationally. Open sucks hind teat sometimes.

I'm with you on the draw. I've noticed the same thing. One shot is right at a second, but add more targets and it'll jump a tenth or two on first shot. It is a mystery!!

Edited September 22, 2012 by Chris iliff

[Racer377]

GM time in Open starts at about 2.15 and 30 pts. I can run it total vision down to about a 2.75 which doesn't even get an Open guy out of B class I think.

Crikey. Keep telling me stuff like that, and you'll save me a few grand by killing my open gun fixation! 2.15 is just ridiculous.

[Chris iliff]

GM time in Open starts at about 2.15 and 30 pts. I can run it total vision down to about a 2.75 which doesn't even get an Open guy out of B class I think.

Crikey. Keep telling me stuff like that, and you'll save me a few grand by killing my open gun fixation! 2.15 is just ridiculous.

No crap huh! I ran it in 2.22 and I think I remember my first shot, lol. Just a high Master run at that time, except I had 3-4 misses, lol

[Racer377]

I started wondering about the light strikes. 2 of the 3 fired on the 2nd try. I figured they were just high primers, but to be on the safe side, I put the 21lb mainspring in, and swapped the OEM firing pin spring for the ones that come with the wolff recoil springs. Based on my wizbang spring calculator, that should reduce the FP power by about 5% in terms of spring rate. The coils are more tightly spaced on the wolf, but wire diameter and coil diameter are the same.

The wolff is about .25 shorter as well, so it'll take less energy out of the pin. I've read that SA uses the Ti firing pin and an extra extra power FP spring to pass drop safety tests, and the super heavy mainsprings they use (30lb main, originally) are in part because of that.

The 21lb main only added a .25lb to the pull, and I'm at 3.5 on the dot. I can live with that.

[Racer377]

9.23.12

Match went relatively well. 2 mikes and 2 deltas, went relatively fast. Probably not good enough for the SS OA win, but I'm happy how it went for the most part. I think I'll be with 4-5% of the winner.

Stage 1

+ felt like I moved relatively well

- kinda called the miss on the furthest target on the last array, didn't make it up. I was hoping it was a D.

- Lousy reload on that last array

- extra shot on steel

Stage 2

+ movement felt good

+ was able to switch gears from close in hosers to far shot well

- gave up a lot of points

- need to seat that mag better

- too many extra shots that weren't needed.

Stage 3

+ moved well

+ gave up very few points

+ reloads looked and felt pretty good

- probably could have kept moving on the far right array

- one extra step at the end would have given me a better angle around the barrels to be more aggressive on the last target

Stage 4- classifier

- missed my grip, every shot was taking a chunk out of my hand

- probably shouldn't have gotten pissed off at the last one and taken it down to avoid the Mike.

Stage 5

+ called shots well. I knew where every one landed

+ only extra shots were needed ones from solid shot call

+ handled the slide lock without getting flustered

- dropped one into hardcover in the first place

- last reload was slow, should have reloaded into the near target and worked out, I think

Stage 6

+ moved well

+ gave up few points

+ handled the mag not seating OK

- seat the damn mag!!!

[Racer377]

Results up. Ugh. 3rd place in SS, 14/59 in the combined. Within 5% of the winner. I figured that winning with Max shooting SS wasn't likely, but thought I could at least manage a close 2nd, so the 3rd place stings a little.

Trying to swing for the fences on the classifier, then getting pissy and leaving steel standing cost me big. So did the 3 bigger reload flubs.

I'm within striking distance of beating some M class shooters, so that's good. My times were decent in comparison to the M in SS and the 2 Ms in production. Drop out the reload flubs and I'm right there with them.

2 stage wins, and 2 2nds in a tough field.

It's time to redouble my efforts on dryfire, focusing on reloads. If I can speed those up just a tick, and seat them consistently, I can put together a respectable showing at the SS/Prod match.

Edited September 25, 2012 by Racer377

[Chris iliff]

Of course you can do it!! Try a pause right before mag insertion. Gun up right in facebox area. This critical point in a mag change is where it's make or break!!

And of course, there is always shooting and practicing at your buddy Chris' range,......anytime.

[Racer377]

Of course you can do it!! Try a pause right before mag insertion. Gun up right in facebox area. This critical point in a mag change is where it's make or break!!

And of course, there is always shooting and practicing at your buddy Chris' range,......anytime.

I've seen that before, the pause....maybe a Burkett video? Anyway, I'll work it in to dry fire. I had 2 GMs point out that I'm taking my eyes off the magwell too early to look at the next target. I've got to figure out a good way to break that habit.

I need to get up there again, that last trip out was a very good practice session.

[Racer377]

9.27.12

About 45 minutes of dry fire - surrender draws and reloads. No timer, wanted to focus on technique, as these 2 skills have been pretty lousy with the SS gun.

Discovery #1: On the reload, when I'm bringing the mag up at speed, it tends to slip a little changing the angle I thought I had at the last moment. The stainless skinny 1911 mags are more slippery compared to the CZ mags, I think. This leads to the mag catching on the back of the magwell. The cure, it seems, is to make sure my weak hand thumb is on the back of the mag to keep it from rotating away from my index finger from the whipping motion. When I do this, my consistency goes up significantly.

Discovery #2: keeping the gun flatter seems to make it easier to seat the mag fully and get the gun back on target.

Discovery #3: I really am not looking the mag in. I need to be. When I do, consistency goes up.

Good stuff. I'll spend the next few sessions burning these new habits in. I'm planning on at least 30 minutes of dry fire a day until the SS/Prod match. Staff (me) shoots 4 weeks from tomorrow, so there's my motivation to ramp it up.

[Racer377]

9.28.12

snuck out for a live fir practice session, 300 rds of El Prez.

I suck at this drill. Averaged high 6 range with 2-3 pts down. Mid to high 70% range, which isn't horrible, but it's not where I want to be. I couldn't get a clean run to save my damn life. There was always one C just barely out, usually on the first target. Last target was usually a nice tight group. Dunno why. Draws were in the 1.7 ballpark, reloads in the 1.9. I could see everything at the pace I was running, I knew the instant I threw a charlie.

I ran one just balls out, 4.75. kept everything on paper, but just barely.

My grins, I threw the production holster on the belt along with an extra mag pouch and shot 3 runs with the CZ. The holster was loose, and I haven't touched the CZ in awhile, but all 3 runs were consistent 6.5 +/- .1, and all consistently 56pts. I was shocked at how much easier it was to watch the sights and call the shots with the powder puff federal 9mm as compared to the stout 45, and the reloads seemed like I had a monstrous magwell compared to the skinny SS mags.

I'm very seriously considering switching back to production.

[Racer377]

9.30.12

30 minutes of dryfire with the SS rig this evening.

Drill was surrender draw to perfect sight picture (no trigger pull), reload to perfect sight picture x2

Started with about 5 minutes of untimed, 6-7 of a 4 sec par. The remainder was at 3.6 par (1.2 draw/reload/reload) I didn't get all of them starting out, but after a few reps I relaxed some and as the tension and the trying went away, the reloads and draw got more consistent.

Good session.

I've got a bunch of small primers and PD 124 JHPs on the way. I'm shooting the CZ for the state steel match on the 20th, and still on the fence whether to switch to prod for the SS/prod uspsa match. I'm leaning toward the CZ.

PS: after this post, I decided to switch over the rig to production and run the same drill. I couldn't miss the magwell. It was magical. It appears that my plan of using SS to make me a better production shooter might have some merit. No more extra shots, mags seem so easy after the skinny ones, and watching the sight is a breeze with the 135-140PF 9mm now.

Edited October 1, 2012 by Racer377

[Racer377]

10.1.12

Wow, October already.

30 minutes of dry fire with the production rig, Donovan's draw-2-reload-2 x5 drill.

Started at 9 par time. Started a little rough, but after a few reps it smoothed out. After I got a few in a row, I dropped it by .5. Made it to 7.5 by the end of the session. Take out the 6 2nd shot splits, and that averages out to about 1 sec for the draw and reloads. Not too shabby.

I ordered Steve Anderson's 2nd book today. I'm hoping it'll help get my head right to finish out the season strong.

[Racer377]

10.2.12

25 minutes of dry fire tonight - Drill was El pres, because I suck at it.

Started with a par of 7, knocked off a few tenths each time. Finished out the session at 5 sec par. At/under 5, I'm pulling the DA trigger as fast as I can with a good sight picture. Live fire will obviously be harder, unless I get my recoil control and sight tracking solid. I think a 10+HF on this one might be possible for me. Going AC on every pair in 4.75 seems doable or going clean in 5.8 might be a bit harder, but I think it's within reach.

interesting mental cue on the reload - "watch the old one drop" makes me get my eyes to the magwell BEFORE the new one gets there and seems to help smooth it out a bit.

[Racer377]

10.8.12

light dryfire today, table starts and shooting on the move.

I got 500rds of 9mm loaded up. 5.2gr of VV N340, 124 PD JHP, .377 crimp 1.095 oal. The precision deltas seem to have more variance in bullet dimension than the montana golds or zeros did, leading to more variation in OAL than I'd have liked.

The crimp is a little lighter than I've used before (.375), which I've read may help accuracy some. I've also read the PDs tend to be a bit more accurate than the MGs, I'm guessing because the softer copper jacket. I'm looking forward to getting out and testing them live fire to see of those notions bear out. I'm thinking I'll sneak out to the range Thursday or Friday.

The trigger return spring on Shadow #1 finally gave up the ghost, after at least 30,000 pulls. I swapped in a CGW TRS and it's good to go.

I toyed with the idea of putting the CGW 12# main in Shadow #2. DA pull was 5.9 w/ it, vs 7.1 with the 13# (just as you'd expect). I'm leaving the 13# in. My finger can't tell much of a difference. I did a little more smoothing on the hammer interface area as well. I don't think the DA pull can possibly get any smoother than this.

I really can't wait for Warsaw this weekend.

[Racer377]

10.11.12

400 rds of live fire practice today. I always wish I brought more ammo.

Started with 30 rounds of chrono testing, which I used an opportunity to just watch the sights. I might dial the load back a bit. 124 @ 1153fps = 143PF. The PDs are a little faster than the MGS, and a little less consistent. The SD was tad larger at 11.25 over the 27rd sample. (3 errors)

I followed up with some 25yd head box shooting to see how the ammo grouped. Not bad.

Seated head box shots at 10yds for a few reps. That upper A zone is a bitch. I kept telling myself "I only want alphas" I was pretty close, but it was slooooooow going.

Handful of surrender bill drills. First one was the first draw of the day so it was sort of a cold run. 2.07/30pts. Draw was sucky on that run, 1.28. Best was a 1.96/30. Fastest was a 1.86/28 (1c) Never broke 1 sec on the draw. Best was a 1.07.

Did a few runs of turn n draw to head box of t1-3 at 7yds. High 4s.

Draw-1-reload-1 at 7yds. averaged 2.5. Best was a 2.3.

Did an el prez with pure speed in mind just for giggles: 5.17 w/4 charlies. More luck on that than anything, I think.

I'm contemplating hitting Friday night steel tomorrow. Haven't shot that in a LONG time. Maybe just another practice session at ACC.

[Racer377]

10.12.12

Ended up just going to ACC for 300 rounds of live fire.

I didn't feel like pasting, so I brought the steel targets. For better or worse, there wasn't much structure to this session.

I started off with slowfire on the plates at 25yds. Did a few eye snapping drills. Did a some 5rd 25yd drills, where I try to keep all 5 on a 3x3 post it note (you can see it in the background) I was 4/5 most of the time. Always had one just outside the post it.

Did some surrender draws to the plate at 10yds. 1.2-1.3 average.

Finished off with a 2 shots on 3 plates at 7yds drill.

Had a few decent runs, this was the best, I think. Transitions could use some more work, and I could stand to lose a tenth or 2 on the draw.

[Chris iliff]

Rob, I think you can get the tenth or 2 on the draw right at the end. Your up and out is blazing fast. I've told you before that you have amazing hand speed. I could be wrong, but I watched the vid like twenty times and that tenth or two is right there at the end.

Maybe pick up the sights just a tad earlier as you are prepping the trigger and then ease in to the last inch of movement so there is no slight pause?

But then, I could be full of crap!! Lol.

Really watching Shannon Smith vid on a draw, for that matter, any top flight GM, and you'll see what I've been trying to do myself. I ain't got it down, but I'm getting better. From buzzer to shot is one smooooooth motion. Almost appears like gun is still pushing out the last inch or half an inch and BANG. Like de accelerating before a position. Except of course this is fractions of inches and barely perceptible.

What you think?

[Racer377]

Rob, I think you can get the tenth or 2 on the draw right at the end. Your up and out is blazing fast. I've told you before that you have amazing hand speed. I could be wrong, but I watched the vid like twenty times and that tenth or two is right there at the end.

Maybe pick up the sights just a tad earlier as you are prepping the trigger and then ease in to the last inch of movement so there is no slight pause?

But then, I could be full of crap!! Lol.

Really watching Shannon Smith vid on a draw, for that matter, any top flight GM, and you'll see what I've been trying to do myself. I ain't got it down, but I'm getting better. From buzzer to shot is one smooooooth motion. Almost appears like gun is still pushing out the last inch or half an inch and BANG. Like de accelerating before a position. Except of course this is fractions of inches and barely perceptible.

What you think?

I think you're right, there is a tick or 2 there. I watched it at half speed a few times and that delay you noticed is really pronounced.

I'm not sure if I'm not prepping the DA pull well enough (I'm usually just a hair quicker with the 1911) or if shooting steel makes me take that extra fraction to be sure of the sight picture since it's an A hit or nothing.

You can kinda see that on transitions, that little delay as I confirm the sights. It's less pronounced than the delay in the 1st shot, but still there. Then again, I don't have any delay on the 2nd shot. Splits were .14s and a .13 if I remember right.

Maybe I'll try the drill on paper and see if it's the latter, and maybe a few runs from cocked and locked to see if it's the former. There might be something to the decel at the end to help me confirm the sights as they go out instead of after I hit full extension.

Thanks for the feedback!

[Racer377]

10.13.12

Light dry fire, no timer. surrender draws and reloads.

Bad day at the reloading bench. My little LED light that shines into the case so I can see the powder went out. I decided to carry on anyway. My powder drop has never missed, so I'm good right? Nope.the screw that hold the arm in place cam loose, and then the pin that connects to the powder drop drum disconnected as a result. I didn't notice it, and have no idea how many didn't get powder, but I keep my ammo batches separate. In theory, I can just pull that most recent batch and find out where it happened. If not, go to the 2nd most recent batch, and so on. But after 2 rounds, my 12 year old bullet puller broke. Damnit. So, 300 rounds are suspect and have to be set aside until I can figure out where the disconnect happened.

I improvised a light with a desk lamp until my new inline fabrication light kit arrives, and managed to get 500rds made with the revised recipe. 5.0gr, 1.090 and an ever so slightly tighter crimp.

These Precision Deltas seem to shoot OK, but the variances bug me. .010 spread in bullet lengths, which kinda sucks. This malformed bullet below is the 2nd I found in this batch (the first didn't even have any lead in it). They work well enough, but the quality control seems like it could be better. Never had a Zero or Montana gold like this in 10 of thousands of bullets. 2 bad ones in a 2k batch has me thinking about switching back to Montana Gold or Zero.

[Racer377]

10.14.12

Fun match at Warsaw, glad I braved the lousy forecast.

I'm disappointed with my performance today. I shot with no freakin discipline. Over a dozen extra shots, most unnecessary, 2 mikes, 2 deltas and a procedural dragged my points shot to 85% or so. I probably missed the production win by a few points, which sucks.

[Racer377]

After a power nap, time to break down the highs and lows

Stage 1:

- draw shot is .2 wasted standing there

- first reload is a bit rough

- False start on 2nd reload cost me maybe .5

- On 3rd set of targets, should have moved right to spot at edge of wall instead of further right and shuffling back left

+ the strong hand shooting on the really hard right lean worked out well, 2 A

Stage 2 (Classifier)

- Just mega suck. Extra shot, WTF.

Stage 3

- extra shots and a questionably called mike. I kinda thought I pulled it left, but wasn't sure.

- reload was slow

+ cleaned the star well enough that it compensated, Prod stage win, 2nd overall. It should have been a bit faster, but I actually thought to myself "keep it clean" after the 1st 2-3 plates and probably was "seeing more than I needed" on the last 2.

Stage 4

+ Draw was decent (beat my camera guy, ha!)

+ hosed really well

+ 95% of the points

- extra shot on 2nd to last array sends me slide lock. Made up C with A.

- slide lock reload was slower than dogshit

- 3 A on each of the last 3 targets. Why? Because I'm a dumbass.

- Zig-zaggy movement cost me, I think.

- getting sucked into that port was worth a few tenths

- the shuffle on the last 3 might have cost me a bit too, it wasn't needed. Eliminate unnecessary movement.

After the first extra, I probably should have just hit the reload after the 3 on the left, and finished to 2 on the right and 3 in back.

Stage 5

+ reloads looked better.

- Extra shots, extra shots, extra shots. 5 completely unnecessary ones, and 1 make up on the small popper near the start that probably shouldn't have been needed if I hit the damn thing in the first place

+ made the big popper pair my bitch. The shots calls and transition felt really good there

- Despite all the extra shots, only shot 87.5% of the points.

I think I need to do some work in practice on acceptable sight picture slop to ingrain that just because the post is in the notch, it's not good enough for some shots. I know it, but at speed I'm not able to judge the light on either side as well as I could, and that really showed on all the longish shots today.

Edited October 15, 2012 by Racer377

[Racer377]

Chris, you're a freakin' genius.

I was thinking about what you posted, and that Saul Kirsch oscillation at extension thing we talked about yesterday. When looking at my match videos, I noticed I have a really pronounced shoulder roll. I never really thought about it, the Tac timmies seem to think its the way to go, right? NOPE!

The shoulder roll forward adds a few inches to the draw to full extension, which means more oscillation, and more importantly, it adds a rather sudden stop.

After thinking about this, I decided to try some dry fire surrender draws with a focus on NOT rolling the shoulders forward like I have been for the last 13 years.

started at 1.5 par as a warm up, and noticed it seemed easier to get the sights sooner. Went to 1.3 and as long as I managed to not roll, I was hitting it with ease. Turned it down to 1.0 and I'm hitting it 8-9 times out of 10! What more interesting is that I'm doing it with more eyeball time on the sights. I could occasionally do it before with the roll, but the sight was a just a flash. This way, it feels like I'm able to see more.

Going from full speed to full stop, with a hyper-extended wiggle at the end is not conducive to picking up the sights, as it turns out. '

I still roll a little, it's a habit that won't be broken in 20 minutes of dryfire, but there's a tenth or 3 of potential, with increased consistency there.

With the state steel match this Saturday, this is something that I'll be working pretty hard in the next few days. If my bullets come in time, I'm going to sneak out later this week and try it out live fire.