My Range Diary

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Went to the range with my G34 and a Smith 64. I shot the revolver for fun (gotta have some right) and the trigger control aspect of firing a long heavy DA pull. Did pretty good shooting groups and I was able to put a palm sized group in at about 15 yards so I must be doing okay with trigger control. Also I'm finding that shooting DAO pistols at a moderate clip is kinda interesting. I've shot DAO revolvers before, but it was always slow fire. Now that my trigger control is getting better, using a smooth straight back pull with the pad of my finger is kinda fun. I was almost able to unconsciously tweak my alignment in the middle of the trigger stroke if I was focusing on the front sight enough. That was kinda cool and it makes me think of getting a DAO pistol. I ran about 150 rounds through the .38 altogether.

When I shot my G34 I decided to run a couple of the "36662" drills on Todd Green's excellent website. I had one malfunction (damn WWB ammo) but overall I was doing well, and well on my way to cleaning the drill by the end of my 200 round practice session when all of the sudden it just fell apart. I'm talking suddenly I couldn't even hit sort of near the low probability target and even the high probability target fell apart. Darndest thing. Took my Glock home to see if anything was wrong (I baby that gun too much, I swear) and found that the trigger pull was fundamentally different. While it was about 4ish pounds with the scherer connector that I put in it, suddenly the trigger pull had to be about 8 or 9 pounds and hella gritty. Still can't figure out why, but I replaced the connector with a Lone Wolf connector that I had lying around. The minus connector died a horrible death some time ago when i tried an ill advised polishing job and screwed up the tab that the trigger bar nose slides across. I also ruined the trigger bar, trying to polish the nose. I already got a new trigger bar, but hey, such is life. Maybe I should just bite the bullet and get another minus connector because I dislike the Lone Wolf connector and only purchased it because I wanted to "experiment" and find which one felt best for me. I didn't like the way it felt, but hey, now it "feels" better than any of my options right now.

This also makes me feel more warm to the idea of a DAO or an SAO gun. I've never had a gun be as picky as this long slide Glock. My G21 is possibly my favorite pistol of all time, but this freaking 9mm! What a drama queen. Going to try out the LWD connector next range trip. It's the one that hasn't farted out on me yet. Hell even a Ghost rocket (that I spent an hour trying to file) does the same trick as the scherer. Light easy trigger, then about 150ish pull through it gets really gritty and heavy. Talk about a bait and switch. Maybe all those "keep it stock" guys are on to something hehe.

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Just got some new Warren Tactical sights in for the G34. It's the plain black rear with the tritium front. The fiber optic probably would have been a better choice for matches, but I'm more a fan of glow in the dark, as it is my nightstand gun. Installation was a little more involved (meaning it took a while to hammer them into the slide with a brass punch) and I think I probably should have tried using a file or sandpaper or something. I'm fairly certain they'll never come out. I'm very excited to try them out (or at least make sure they're zeroed correctly) and after some dry fire practice, I really like how fast they are. Also, perhaps the Lone Wolf connector will not be such a problem. It does have a very short reset, and I am a reset shooter so that ought to help. Still, I am coming back to using the revolver to practice my trigger control. I'm using the "Wall drill" as a way to practice keeping the sights aligned while the hammer falls. Also, as bad as I have been doing with this Glock, one would think it would discourage me from building a 1911 from the parts I have in a box in the basement, but once payday hits, the first thing I'm doing is sending a Caspian frame to an FFL dealer and buying the rest of the tools to put it all together. Probably won't be doing 200 round practice sessions while building it, but the dryfire will continue and I will be able to practice my reloads, because they suck. Easily 3 seconds. Yuck!

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Just got back from a huge fun day of shooting on the 4th! Talk about a blast. I sighted in the Warren Tactical sights on the Glock and like I had assumed, I'm in love with them. They are possibly the best addition to a pistol. I know what sights I'll be getting for the 1911 build. Knowing my incredible luck, I was trying to drift the sights and the set screw came out and fell into the grass underneath the shooting bench. Good thing I have spares. The front sight got a little wobbly because I had no loctite and was getting really anxious to try out the sights. But all things considered, the sights are fantastic, and after a little bit of TLC, the Glock will be flawless. The Lonewolf connector worked very well and I'll be using that from here on out. Dryfire practice yielded a slightly better reload, if you'd call 2.8 seconds a better reload. Going to check out a local USPSA match next weekend! I'm pretty excited to see how it all works and maybe shoot a stage or two.

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Changed my avatar! More dryfire, but I see a man about a Caspian frame tomorrow. I gotta make this match on Sunday though, regardless of the fact that I can probably count on fingers and toes the amount of 9mm ammo I have in my safe. I'll at least try to help set up this Saturday at Oak Park. But the excitement of possibly shooting my first match ever is starting to make me want to go shell out some dollars for ammo. I'm certain if I do shoot, it will be stunningly horrible performance, just as I'm certain that I will get better. More dryfire! More reloads! More work on my NPA/Index! But it's all fun and I can't wait to see how I do taking off out of the gate. Slow, check. Deliberate, check. Listening more than I talk...probably never gonna happen but I'll try anything once.

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Oh boy! Shot my first match on sunday! Definitely addicted. Even with 93 degree weather, I just slathered on the spf 50 and had a hell of a time! I was not nearly as good as I want to be, and I noticed that I was shooting very accurately, but at the expense of taking about twice as much time as some of the other shooters. But hey, it was my first time and I can see room for improvement, and now I just need to start working on improving. That whole "seeing what you need to see" thing I guess. I took the time to line up my sights and was really focusing on safety and accuracy above all else. I would say that I did not commit any safety violations, but I never did get all double alphas, which I shall endeavor to do. The people were friendly, and very helpful and there were 97 shooters...pretty big club match, but there were enough really good shooters that I just kinda sat there and got mesmerized watching them run a stage. All things considered, I even received a compliment or two about being pretty good for a newbie! What a great sport!

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Working on dryfire transitions...Just really need to get over the whole idea of coming back to high ready after I fire a double tap. That seemed to really kill my speed by adding a second or two with each target I shoot. It is difficult to practice that live fire though, as my local range is an indoor range and generally frowns upon rapid fire or shooting other people's targets.

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Reloads are speeding up. I have been reading Ben's book and I am finding it helpful. I'll probably get Brian's book and Steve Anderson's dryfire book (especially because I dryfire a LOT). Funny, after just working on my shooting just one piece at a time I see better improvements. I'm confident that my draws, which are around 1.5 seconds, won't make or break a match for me. I'm not at GM so it's okay for now. Instead I've been working on stuff I'll do more during a match. Like reload. I've been seeing hella improvements with those. I'm still not where I can have a mag in before the other one hits the ground, but I'll get there. Meanwhile, I also need to think more about stage planning.

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Working on my draw in front of a mirror has made things very interesting. I've also been working backwards from extension to holster. Definitely helping me to be more efficient. Of course, no match was ever won from the holster...or so they say. Reloads might also benefit from being in front of the mirror...hmmm...

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Did some more shooting with the revolver for kicks. It was, as usual, an exercise in trigger control more than anything. Saw a kimber for dirt cheap at the range and almost gave in, then realized my own 1911 is gonna be better (when I get it built). 25 yard targets are still a challenge for me and I think I need to work on my accuracy as much as possible. Have another USPSA match coming up this Sunday, so I'm pretty psyched about that. Especially because my older brother might be coming down from Minnesota to shoot it with me. Making converts

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It is safe to say my older brother will be joining the ranks of USPSA shooters. He had a good time at the match. I did as well, although I found it to be much more difficult to shoot some of the stages. My first match was certainly more beginner friendly, but this one had a lot of really challenging targets and I had my first experience with the Texas Star.

My feelings on the star are mixed. I enjoy that it is a challenge to shoot, but I also dislike that I used 10 rounds to knock down all 5 plates. It was a big timing thing and I did not feel like I had a good enough grasp. Funny though, I was able to get a double alpha on a swinger and a drop turner.

Otherwise, I missed a few steel targets and had to shoot a second shot at them, which is annoying. My biggest goof in the whole match had to be a procedural where I didn't even engage a partial because I didn't see it. I did get a compliment about the last stage I ran however. I personally think a 30 second time on a 28 round count stage is abysmally slow, but for my second time shooting, competition, I can't complain. I did have a malfunction at the beginning of my best stage, so I was even further annoyed by the knowing that I could have done a lot better this match.

Besides all that, I did feel like my split times were better and that my overall speed on stages was faster. I didn't get as much accuracy, but it was still acceptable to me, and I managed to shoot the whole round without any deltas. There were a lot of really good shooters at the match, so obviously, I'm not the best, and I'm still pretty far from being even sorta good, but I guess I'll just have to shoot more ammo...oh well Meanwhile, my project gun goes nicely, as I just got the beavertail grip safety fitted and now all that remains is the little stuff. Moving a lot faster with that than I thought...

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Had a good time thursday. A bunch of shooters from my squad were setting up a fun shoot at a local range so they rented out the indoor range and set up a bunch of targets and we spent about 4 hours just going through scenarios, shooting swingers, turners and doing SHO/WHO shooting. I wasn't the worst shooter there, but there were definitely a bunch that were better than I was. No big deal really, this being my first year, I shouldn't expect to be any better than people who have been shooting for 4 or 5 years. But I felt like I kept up with them pretty well. Except in one part. I found that my biggest weakness is WHO shooting. I really had problems jerking the shot, so I practiced on the range the next day and did slow fire and did a little better. I think I might need to bump down to a .22 to practice trigger control on that. I just need practice and ammo. Unfortunately, none of that will really be happening. I'm starting school monday so the fund for ammo will be dropping. I really need to get a set of dies for my 9mm.

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School has really been cramping my style as far as shooting competitions is going. I am just about finished on my 1911 build though, and it is turning out....different. I have everything but the mags and the sights, and once I get those and the ejector installed, I'll have my baby ready to test fire. But it is so different from my Glock. The gunhandling on it is way different. First, I can't use my middle finger to hit the mag catch, which is something I've always done for my plastic fantastic gun. Secondly, I can't hit the slide release without using my other hand. Also something that I will need to account for. Not sure if it will be a competition gun. Probably just something for giggles. But it sure is coming out nice and I can tell just by holding it that there is a reason people love ol slabsides. I'll try to put up some pics when it's all done.