Paul-the new guy Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Thank you, I am going to give it a try. I want to use the same rig for USPSA and 3-Gun. I learned the hard way the the 014 is not a great 3 gun holster at the Freedom Munitions match where I finished the match at Dairy Queen... So i have changed to a Blade-Tech for that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted July 11, 2014 Author Share Posted July 11, 2014 What gun are you using for 3-gun? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted July 11, 2014 Author Share Posted July 11, 2014 I ran El Pres a 2nd time to work on my reloads and although I only managed a 2.01 sec reload my time was 6.71 secs but hits were 58 pts. This resulted in a nice 84% run. That's pretty much as good as I can do with my current skills until I can get my reloads down & draws (draw was 1.7 secs for this run). Big improvement! Thanks man! Easily my single best classifier run. And with our range reopening today the classifier match is back on for tomorrow ... Gonna be a blast .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted July 13, 2014 Author Share Posted July 13, 2014 (edited) Well once again I came away from a match thinking I shot just ok and once again I was pretty far off .... Our annul classifier match was today and I ended up 3rd overall in Production out of 14 shooters & 1st in my class for the third straight month. I also managed to meet another goal for this year by winning one of the 6 stages. Since there were 2 master class shooters in the division I was pretty happy ... (2 of the 6 stages were 70+% runs for me) Not really sure why my perception has been so far off lately at matches ... I need to think about this one ... Also, if I have the classification system figured out correctly I just shot my last match as a C class shooter. If I did my math correctly I should now be at 66.94%, up from the 58.7% I've been at for all of 2014. I'll be shooting the Pro-Am in Frostproof next weekend which will conclude my shooting "year" as I don't have another big match planned until the Jan timeframe. So it will be time to take a week or so off, reflect on this past year & review how I did against my goals for the year and then develop my plan for next year ... Edited July 13, 2014 by Nimitz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted July 19, 2014 Author Share Posted July 19, 2014 (edited) Well, I mamaged to end what has otherwise been a pretty good shooting year on a sour note ... I managed to get DQed today on the first stage of the Pro-Am. so I put away all my nice shiny bullets that I was no longer going to need (except for the one that put me on the path to DQ) and then spent the rest of the match standing up steel that my squadmates managed to knock down .... As Bob Vogel said as i walked away ... It happens .... At least I managed not to damage my already injured wrist any more and with taking the next 2 weeks off to rest, reflect and prepare for the upcoming year it should be ready to go when I start up again. Next post will be a review of how I did against my goals for the year ... Edited July 19, 2014 by Nimitz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
levellinebrad Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Just another milestone on your journey. I am trying hard not to do the same thing but when you are trying to push it as hard as you can, it it's bound to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZackJones Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 What did you do to get DQ'd? Not that it really matters but I would like to try and learn from your unfortunate event. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted July 20, 2014 Author Share Posted July 20, 2014 (edited) hmmmm .... I don't like to dwell on negative events as they damage the self image but as a learning event ... I simply lost focus and was not paying attention when I should of ... 4th shot on stage 1 my slide locks up hard & I could not pull it open. Finally resorted to holding the slide and slamming my palm against the backstrap which freed it. Unfortunately, the next round didn't feed correctly either so I resorted to removing the mag. After I thought it was clear I slam the mag back in and before I could reform my grip my finger goes into the trigger guard & bang, a round goes off before the gun is pointed at a target. The RO even tried to save me by yelling "finger" but it was too late. In SA, my trigger is way too light if I'm not paying attention ... Edited July 20, 2014 by Nimitz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZackJones Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Sorry to hear it, but thanks for the education. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul-the new guy Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Ouch! Sorry to hear that Ken! Hopefully that is your first and only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted July 21, 2014 Author Share Posted July 21, 2014 it was and it will be ... what did you get from the prize table? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul-the new guy Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 I got an FNH FNS-9 long slide pistol in limited... I left before my name came up in open but I did terrible in open and probably would have been in hat and sticker territory lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted July 21, 2014 Author Share Posted July 21, 2014 Nice, what place was that? I didn't realize you could walk the prize table twice if you shot both divisions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted July 21, 2014 Author Share Posted July 21, 2014 (edited) Ok, time to review how I did against my goals for this shooting year ... First off, I decided to alter my 'year' to match my shooting schedule a few months ago vice just go from Jan-Dec. the upshot is that I've only had 7 months to reach my goals so I may cut myself a little slack .... I had 3 major goals for the year and a couple of secondary ones: 1. Meet or exceed all my dry & live fire training modules: Grade: C/A- I only recently have begun a 4-5 day/week dry fire program that I'm sticking to so I get a grade somewhere in the middle. WRT live fire I only missed a couple of sessions of my 3X/week training so A- seems appropriate 2. Move up to B class by the end of our annual club classifier in Jul: Grade: A Unless I've totally screwed up the calculation I should be sitting at about 66.9% when the next run is made so this one has been accomplsied right on schedule 3. Move up to A class by the end of the year: Grade: N/A Since I cut my year short I really can't meet this one as planned so I won't beat myself up. Howevefr, I am half way to the goal as things now stand ... Secondary goals: 1. Have at least one stage win at our local club match. Grade: A I didn't specify this as USPSA but that was the intent ... I had my first stage win last month 2. Have zero mikes for a USPSA match. Grade B- In June I had a match with only 1 Mike so I was close. For the 6 matches so far this year I had 7/6/8/3/1/4 mikes with CoFs around 150-160 rds. While getting better, I still need to focus on this ... 3. Have no penalties in matches (N/S & procedurals). Grade B With the exception of Area 6 where I hit 2 N/S on the final stage I did not incur any penalties as a result of hitting a N/S or other procedural error in the other 5 matches (mikes notwithstanding) 3. Win my class in a match. Grade: A Won my class in 3 of the 6 matches for the year, including the last 3 in a row. 4. Win at least one local Steel Challenge match. Grade: B+ For the 5 matches I was able to shoot I finished 4th/2nd/3rd/2nd plus 24th at the US Steel Nationals. Although I had 2 wins at the end of 2013 I didn't quite make it so far this year. Last month I was close, finishing 2nd by .1 sec to a rimfire rifle shooter. I have big plans for Steel Challenge this next year given where my current times sit as compared to the Nationals ... Overall my grades were: C/A- A A B- B A B+ Bottom line: I had a very good shooting season with big plans for this upcoming season as well. Next update I'll be outlining my goals for this next year, match schedule & equipment upgrades. Edited July 21, 2014 by Nimitz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul-the new guy Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Nice set of accomplishments! If you shoot both matches you get to walk both prize tables, It is almost a no brainer to shoot both matches. Many do it using the same gun. If you are stronger in one division than the other then shoot your weak division first as practice for your strong division. Staff shoots both matches in the same day, like the pro's. I have to tell you, that was tough! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted July 21, 2014 Author Share Posted July 21, 2014 I'll probably do that next year, thx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted July 26, 2014 Author Share Posted July 26, 2014 Ok, I've set my major match schedule for this next shooting season: Fl State Championship Jan 15 US Steel National Championship Mar 15 Area 6 Championship April 15 Steel Challenge National Championship Jun 15 (Location dependent) Annual PMRPC Classifier match Jul 15 Pro-Am Jul 15 Supposedly both the USPSA Nationals & Steel Challenge National Championships will be on the east coast in 2015. Depending on their exact location I may attend those .... My last bit of homework before I start shooting again is to complete my goals for the upcoming season as well as a small amount of equipment tinkering on my CZ & Buckmark grips and my STI ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted July 28, 2014 Author Share Posted July 28, 2014 (edited) Ok, I've finished developing my goals for this upcoming season .... Overall 1. Win the US Steel National Championship in the Senior category for both the rimfire & centerfire divisions 2. Move up to A class by Dec 31 & a stretch goal of making master by the end of the year 3. Meet or exceed all my training goals for the year Performance 1. I will call every shot 2. I will have zero penalties at matches 3. I will shoot 90% or better of available points at matches My first overall goal is not exactly as far fetched as it might seem at first glance ... As compared to the 2014 US Steel rimfire senior champion I am already 15 seconds ahead of his winning time from the Championship. I am only 2 seconds behind the 2014 Steel Challenge senior champion as well. We'll have to see where I stand WRT the open centerfire division has this will be my first year shooting that division. For performance goals my only real goal will to be to learn & execute calling every shot. This one skill has eluded me and while I worked on it every now & then last year it was not a training focus & it showed. After reading Steve Anderson's new book I am convinced I must master this skill now if I expect to continue to improve. Every training session will include a shot calling drill and I've included this focus in my mental management system (both in my mental management program that I run before shooting & in my daily direct affirmation/self image booster program). I will turn this weakness into a major strength this year .. I also completed working on my CZ grips so the only equipment tinkering I have left this week before I start shooting again is my Buckmark grip. I also need to crank out a few thousand rds as I only have about 1,500 in the can. Looking forward to this upcoming season ... Edited July 28, 2014 by Nimitz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZackJones Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 I'm planning to come down and shoot the Nationals next year. My only question about the match is if it's a sanctioned Steel Challenge match why aren't the results on steel challenge.com? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motosapiens Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 (edited) For performance goals my only real goal will to be to learn & execute calling every shot. This one skill has eluded me and while I worked on it every now & then last year it was not a training focus & it showed. I know you don't want to hear this, but I found my shooting while moving exercises (a small percentage of my overall training) significantly improved my sight awareness and shot-calling. Also, as Ben Stoeger advised me, just paying attention to shot-calling on all my drills greatly improved it. I like to try to have a pretty good idea of where the shots went before I go up to tape them. Sometimes I'm wrong, but more often than not I'm right after thinking about it during practice for a 6 months or so. Congrats on your progress. I suspect that now that you have been using Stoeger's advice for a bit, your uspsa shooting will catch up to your steel skills. p.s. I would stop worrying about 'class' finishes and focus on improving your percentage of the overall winners. Edited July 28, 2014 by motosapiens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted July 28, 2014 Author Share Posted July 28, 2014 Zack: not really sure of the relationship between the US Steel Shoot, which holds the US Steel National Championships & Steel Challenge which is owned by USPSA ... I heard a rumor that Mike Calloway sold the rights of US Steel to someone but I don't know any details ... we shoot the same 8 stages at the US Steel nationals as Steel Challenge but since it's not strickly SC I assume that's why the match is not sanctioned ... Moto: although I didn't specifically mention it I will be doing exactly as you say, which is to ensure I focus on shot calling during every drill. I suspect after some period of time I won't need to include the specific shot calling drill in every training session if I make it the #1 focus of my training ... I assume you noticed I did not include any 'class finish' goals for that very reason. While the Production crowd seems to ebb & flow at my local match, on the open side there are a couple of very consistent Master class shooters who I can compare my percentages against. You must be really close to A to have a single classifier put you over the edge ...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motosapiens Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 While the Production crowd seems to ebb & flow at my local match, on the open side there are a couple of very consistent Master class shooters who I can compare my percentages against. You must be really close to A to have a single classifier put you over the edge ...? Exactly. I have 'won' production class when no one good shows up, but there are several good limited and open shooters that are always there. The classification thing was a combination of a 60 dropping off and shooting an 83. That makes a pretty big swing. Of course that club doesn't always get their scores in before the update, and I'll shoot 2 more classifiers this weekend that *will* get in before the update, so unless I puss out and shoot L10-minor or something, I'll still have to shoot good scores this weekend to keep it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted July 29, 2014 Author Share Posted July 29, 2014 Good test that you deserve to be an "A" ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted August 3, 2014 Author Share Posted August 3, 2014 (edited) well my first day back to kick off the new shooting season was certainly entertaining .... I had planned to go out and train on Friday since my monthly SC match was yesterday .... things didn't work out and I went into the match cold after no live fire and no dry fire training since 12 Jul. I purposely selected to start the match on Pendulum so that I would force myself to only shoot as fast as I could see. Well, after the 1st four stages of our 6 stage match I had 3 stage wins and was 8.9 secs ahead of the next competitior - cruising to an easy win. Unfortunately for the last 2 stages I had major ammo issues which resulted in a total of 56 secs for the 2 stages. My score for last month's MATCH was 66.3 secs ... Needless to say, I didn't exactly end up winning ... I had 4 personal best string times including my first match recorded sub 2 sec run (8.64 sec stage run) as well as the 3 stage wins before the wheels came off. luckily as I was putting everything away I discovered the issue. for some reason in addition to bringing 4 boxes of CCI match ammo I also brought several boxes of Federal 22s which I ended up using for some reason .... the first 100 were ok but then the 'jam every 3rd shot' thing started on stages 5 & 6. Nice painful lesson learned there ... I did add another stage that I'm now shooting below the time of last year's senior national champion. That makes 3 of the 6 stages I regularly shoot where I'm ahead of his time ... given that I'm still not training for Steel Challenge, that's a good sign. The day did end on a high note as I scored a 333 rd bucket of Federal premium (jacketed) 22lr & more importantly, 5 lbs of Titegroup ... I also got some match video which I'll try to edit & post in the next day or so Tomorrow morning I pick up with the first day of training for this new year ... Edited August 4, 2014 by Nimitz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted August 4, 2014 Author Share Posted August 4, 2014 For all you Steel Challenge fans I posted some video of yesterday's match ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now