Reshoot's New Journey

[Reshoot]

If you have a hand primer try reseating 20 or 30 rounds with it and see if they will function. Your press might not be seating the primers deep enough.

It must be true, that great minds think alike!

After rethinking my plan, yesterday morning, I did exactly what you suggest. Put a shell holder and primer seating attachment in my single stage press. Reseated the primer in 20 rounds and fired them off . . . all 20. Oh yeah!

Then, I inspected my 40 caliber progressive press, the one I dissembled and cleaned recently. The priming plunger is slightly off center after the shell plate indexes. So . . . although all primers appear to be fully seated, I do not believe that to be the case. I will address the issue today.

Oh crap, I have over 600 rounds to run thru a single stage press.

[Reshoot]

Huston . . . we have a problem. During my last match (March 17th)I had what appeared to be a light strike. Happened just once. However, during live fire practice over the weekend, I had several rounds fail to go off, in my open gun. So, I came in and replaced the striker spring. No change. Came back in and grabbed my factory-stock XDm, loaded those rounds (that failed to go off in my open gun) and commenced firing. Only two thirds of them fired. What the . . . .

I went through my CCI primers and found a box of 100, with a different lot number. I plan to load those up and see how they run. It is a little concerning, as all my remaining primers (7,000 ~ 8,000) are the same lot number as those not going off.

Good suggestion to check the seating depth of your primers. I had some problems with primers seated too deep resulting in light strikes. Also have seen this in one box of factory ammo.

As far as your back problem, I have found Tiger Balm Red or Ultra able to do amazing things in reducing back pain, as well as pain in muscles and joints.

tar

Thanks for that info . . . primers seated too deep would be a real PITA!

I do not have back pain, per se. Rather, pain that runs down the back of my left leg. Doing exercises and spine decompression has me feeling pretty good again.

[Reshoot]

It is spring now! Live firing 3 ~4 times a week . . . finally!

[Sleepswithdogs]

If you have a hand primer try reseating 20 or 30 rounds with it and see if they will function. Your press might not be seating the primers deep enough.

It must be true, that great minds think alike!

After rethinking my plan, yesterday morning, I did exactly what you suggest. Put a shell holder and primer seating attachment in my single stage press. Reseated the primer in 20 rounds and fired them off . . . all 20. Oh yeah!

Then, I inspected my 40 caliber progressive press, the one I dissembled and cleaned recently. The priming plunger is slightly off center after the shell plate indexes. So . . . although all primers appear to be fully seated, I do not believe that to be the case. I will address the issue today.

Oh crap, I have over 600 rounds to run thru a single stage press.

Spinal decompression is a really good treatment. Especially when used in conjunction with rehab exercises. Yoga seem particularly effective, also walking or resistance workouts help a lot.

My experience with reloading is almost completely with shotgun shells. Not sure if metal cased primers are able to be seated too deeply. Checking is easy enough, just lay a straight edge against the base of the shell over the primer. Too proud or recessed is easy enough to spot.

Tar

[Reshoot]

Today's dry fire, and live fire, most excellent

Spent most of the live fire session on shooting groups, for accuracy's sake. On to steel, where I am getting better every week. Finished with 10 yard draw on metric target and 8" plate.

My best for the metric target, 1.34, 1.24 and 1.24. That's .24 ~ .14 above dry fire. Never did do any better than 1.74 on the plate. Not bad for an old man!

[Reshoot]

ALL steel. Yesterday's live fire was all steel, plates and poppers. I must spend more time on steel, both in quick acquisition and transitions. I MUST get my steel shooting to the same level as my metric target shooting.

[Reshoot]

After Sunday's match, it was clean I am not spending enough time on plates and poppers. Still rushing the shots, and missing. Get to work, Bone!

[Reshoot]

Finally, got my 2/3 scale pepper poppers made! Tomorrow I will add shooting on the move (these poppers) to my dry fire. I WILL finish EVERY dry fire session in this manner. I WILL turn shooting steel, from a weakness a strength.

Edited May 1, 2013 by Reshoot

[Reshoot]

Those little round plates, on the wall, have proven to be quite a challenge. I am surprised how much longer it takes to call a hit on them, compared to the lower A zone of a metric target. Sure, the target is smaller, requiring more precise aiming, but after two weeks I am surprised it still takes .2 ~ .3 seconds longer. Good thing I like a challenge!

[Reshoot]

All that practice is paying off! Very pleased with my shooting-steel-on-the-move yesterday. Why, I even received compliments from fellow shooters, on my improvement!

[Reshoot]

I really enjoyable, and productive, dry fire session.

I started off with 10 yard (surrender) turn and draw, on a metric target. Then El Presidente, and finally El Platezente. Been struggling with those little 4.5" plates at 10 yards, but this time I shaved .3 seconds off. I'll see if I can back that up in a few days.

[Reshoot]

2 great days in a row! I don't know how to act. An in depth live fire session this morning, finally able to "fire at will", so to speak.

After visiting the Montana Gold web site for MANY morings is a row, I placed a successful order! Seems I am always a few minutes, perhaps even seconds, too late. But, not yesterday. No more 100-round-per-week limits . . . I am firing at will!

Had I known . . . woulda, shoulda coulda shot the Ohio match and Circleville matches. Oh well, things are looking up for the remainder of the year.

My live fire drills are .2 ~ .3 seconds longer than my dry fire but, I should be able to close that gap with more live fire.

As Steve would say; now I'm going to get to work!

[Reshoot]

Yesterdays match was disappointing. That is to say, my performance was disappointing!

I was high scoring Senior at Mays match but, I probably will not repeat that this month, thanks to my gun putting a hole in a no-shoot, and a miss on a non-disappearing swinger.

I have really kicked it up a notch over the past month, in both dry fire and live fire. Then, I go out and rush my shots. ugh!

Now, I will shake it off and get back to work.

[Reshoot]

Very interesting development . . .

I still struggle with steel, be it plates or poppers. On metric targets I occasionally throw a C, or delta, but 9 out of 10 times I score a double alpha.

Well, a used Carver mount came up for sale last week, here on BE. I made an offer, bought the mount, mounted it yesterday and just came in from zeroing. I was pleasantly surprised to find I can now shoot groups under three inches, at 30 yards. With the same Burris Fastfire II, mounted on the slide, I was shooting groups 4 ~ 5".

hmm . . .

[Reshoot]

This is how she looks now.

Edited July 3, 2013 by Reshoot

[Reshoot]

One thing this monsoon season has allowed me to do, is re-do my grip tape.

Live fire practice . . . not so much

[Reshoot]

I live to shoot. Not just live fire practice, with my open gun. I mean rim fire plinking, refining my long range rife skills or keeping in touch with my Whitetail gun, the Redhawk 44 mag.

However, these days, if I do not get out and back in by 11 AM . . . well, I do not get out at all. I have always had a problem dealing with hot, humid weather. This week, forgetaboutit

[Reshoot]

Live fire was on today's to-do list. Did not get out until 9:30, due to a difficult start to my workout. Just one of those mornings

After 35 rounds I was back inside. I am simply not cut out for this kind of weather! However, I have improved my steel hits. I noticeable improvement! It is difficult for me to tell if the Carver mount has been a factor, since I have increased my live fire sessions . . . be they short ones.

Sunday is the monthly match, at Rayners, and I anxious to see what happens.

[Reshoot]

The results are in, for last Sunday's match. I finished second senior.

Frankly, I am surprised that I finished as high as I did. My head was not in the game at all. Although I did not put any holes in the no-shoots, I did have 7 . . . that's SEVEN . . . mikes for the match

There is always next month, but then, that's what I said last month

[Reshoot]

Sunday's match started off great! Stage 1 . . . stage 2, and not a single mike or no-shoot. The qualifier was on stage 3, Can You count. I shot the first string in just over three seconds, and less than a second later is when I remembered the reload between T-1 and T-2 . . . 5 procedurals. After shooting string 2 (correctly) I laughed, and poked fun at myself, to the point the entire squad got a laugh out of it. This allowed me to shake it off instantly, and approach the last two stages with my head clear.

Stage 4 was as perfect as I could ever ask for . . . good hits, no mikes . . . oh yeah. Then, it started raining and I rushed the last shot, on the last target at stage 5. Just caught the corner of a no-shoot and had to do a make-up shot. Doh!

Think I'll blame it on the rain

Making B Open, this year, has not gone as planned. But, I'll keep digging!

[Nimitz]

I know this is from quite a while ago and maybe things have changed but after watching your El Pres video I can't help but wonder where you learned that reload technique from? I'm no GM but I've never seen anyone do a reload where they don't move the gun and never look at the magwell ...? You look pretty smooth but I gotta believe it is a lot slower to have to 'hunt' for the magwell since you are not looking at it vice classic reload techniques ... Just my worthless 2 cents ....

[Nimitz]

BTW, where are you on your goal of making B class?

[Reshoot]

I know this is from quite a while ago and maybe things have changed but after watching your El Pres video I can't help but wonder where you learned that reload technique from? I'm no GM but I've never seen anyone do a reload where they don't move the gun and never look at the magwell ...? You look pretty smooth but I gotta believe it is a lot slower to have to 'hunt' for the magwell since you are not looking at it vice classic reload techniques ... Just my worthless 2 cents ..

I have no one else to blame for this reload style . . . did it all on my own

I found myself struggling to get the dot back on target quickly, with my then-new open gun. I practiced reloads, in every fashion, until I was blue in the face. This turned out to give me the fastest time . . . be it good, bad or ugly.

In dry fire I can do 5 in a row flawlessly, at 1.4 seconds. My live five reload is at 1.5 ~ 1.7 seconds (that is with an alpha hit from the last shot (mag #1) to an alpha hit with the first shot (mag #2).

I never have to hunt for the mag well, actually. As long as I "look the mag to the gun", I always hit the mark. Took one hell of a lot of practice to get there though!

Are these good reload times? Well, not for Max Michael! But what about for me? To put them into perspective I have to compare them to something . . . some other timed action I preform. Take, for example, my draw: 10 yard dry fire draw = 1.0 seconds. I have been trying to reach that sub-second draw for six months now . . . ugh!

Then there is my match performance. I am a middle-of-the-road C, at 49.5%. Gawd, that seems sooo far from my 60% goal

[Nimitz]

well, if it's working for you I wouldn't change it. I was just curious since I haven't seen that before ... not sure you need a faster draw, unless your match draw times are significantly slower ... remember, in a typical 5 stage match even lowering your draw to a lightning fast .8 only gains you 1 sec total for the match. Compare that to lowering transition times where you do 50 or more per match and you can see where the money is to be made. also, in open you don't do many reloads so getting a super fast reload time doesn't buy you much either. having said that, since your goal is classification related and not match related reloads are important since most classifiers have a reload. If you could get your reloads near to 1 sec vice 1.5-1.7 you'd see your classifier scores jump without any other improvement to your shooting. Take a classifier you've done with a reload and drop the time by .7 secs and rerun the classifier calculator to see for yourself.

Although my goals go beyond making B I was at 47% until last month where I jumped to 58.1%. I believe the reason for my improvement was the significant changes I made to my training. I'll spare you all the details which you can read in Ben Stoeger's subforum under the thread "number of drill sets to perform on a regular basis" but the bottom line was that I finally realized that I needed to work on my fundamental USPSA shooting skills if I wanted to get better. So what does that mean? It means before you can have any hope of being able to move and shoot accurately at speed you must first be able to stand & shoot accurately at speed.

So I threw out my old training and substituted it with Ben Stoeger's "10 Drill to Master' from his book. these are all stand & shoot drills and also just happen to be core classifier skills (hint, hint). My recommendation to you would be to take a look at those drills and consider using them as your new training program. I credit them in large part with my 11% jump in classification percentage ...

The drills are simple to setup requiring just 1, 2 or 3 paper targets and really focus on the fundamentals of being able to shoot accurately at speed. Before this I was first working on accuracy and then was incorporating movement with speed coming as a result of practice. What I learned is that you can't decouple these. You must start from the beginning with learning to shoot accurate & fast ... these 10 drills focus on the core skills required to do this ...

You can see a lot of this in my Range Diary if you're curious. Good luck, it will happen as long as you stay with it. As Mike Seeklander once told me, most people never make A or better because they end up getting frustrated & quit, not because they didn't have the skills to do it ...

[Reshoot]

well, if it's working for you I wouldn't change it. I was just curious since I haven't seen that before ... not sure you need a faster draw, unless your match draw times are significantly slower ... remember, in a typical 5 stage match even lowering your draw to a lightning fast .8 only gains you 1 sec total for the match. Compare that to lowering transition times where you do 50 or more per match and you can see where the money is to be made. also, in open you don't do many reloads so getting a super fast reload time doesn't buy you much either. having said that, since your goal is classification related and not match related reloads are important since most classifiers have a reload. If you could get your reloads near to 1 sec vice 1.5-1.7 you'd see your classifier scores jump without any other improvement to your shooting. Take a classifier you've done with a reload and drop the time by .7 secs and rerun the classifier calculator to see for yourself.

Although my goals go beyond making B I was at 47% until last month where I jumped to 58.1%. I believe the reason for my improvement was the significant changes I made to my training. I'll spare you all the details which you can read in Ben Stoeger's subforum under the thread "number of drill sets to perform on a regular basis" but the bottom line was that I finally realized that I needed to work on my fundamental USPSA shooting skills if I wanted to get better. So what does that mean? It means before you can have any hope of being able to move and shoot accurately at speed you must first be able to stand & shoot accurately at speed.

So I threw out my old training and substituted it with Ben Stoeger's "10 Drill to Master' from his book. these are all stand & shoot drills and also just happen to be core classifier skills (hint, hint). My recommendation to you would be to take a look at those drills and consider using them as your new training program. I credit them in large part with my 11% jump in classification percentage ...

The drills are simple to setup requiring just 1, 2 or 3 paper targets and really focus on the fundamentals of being able to shoot accurately at speed. Before this I was first working on accuracy and then was incorporating movement with speed coming as a result of practice. What I learned is that you can't decouple these. You must start from the beginning with learning to shoot accurate & fast ... these 10 drills focus on the core skills required to do this ...

You can see a lot of this in my Range Diary if you're curious. Good luck, it will happen as long as you stay with it. As Mike Seeklander once told me, most people never make A or better because they end up getting frustrated & quit, not because they didn't have the skills to do it ...

Know what, it is time for a change here too! I am going to change my practice routine as well. I have been using the same dry fire book for two years now. My eyes darn near popped out of my head, reading about your improvement!

I didn't mean to imply that my focus is on qualifiers. Quite the contrary! I want my match performance to mirror, if you will, my performance on qualifier stages. Results for three of this year's matches are 55.5%, 54.4% and 53.73%, while the qualifier stages for those matches were 45.8%, 49.8% and 55.3%. As stated earlier, USPSA currently has me at 49.5% on qualifiers.

Thank you, very much, for the input!

Oh, and Ben owes you commission on a book sale