thermobollocks Posted June 20, 2015 Author Share Posted June 20, 2015 There's "accurate enough" and there's "sweet holy jesus what is wrong with this thing." #1 was where I was at on the first stage of the match and #2 was where it wound up. Now I just have an AR to rebarrel and a trigger bar to bend. (and a sunburn to nurse from 12 stages in a day) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatJones Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 How were the stages? I shoot tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thermobollocks Posted June 20, 2015 Author Share Posted June 20, 2015 The stages were extremely technical and challenging. Production was an added difficulty factor moreso than usual, and quite honestly if I had to restrict myself to 8 shot I'd probably cry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatJones Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 Cool. Sounds like fun. See you tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thermobollocks Posted July 2, 2015 Author Share Posted July 2, 2015 Mile-High was fun, but exceptionally tough. Cha-Lee's careful planning and the TONS of super cool ROs staffing the main match definitely helped it go off without a hitch (near as I can tell, being well out of range of the stats shack, registrations, etc..) The way my stage breakdowns were, I shot fairly consistently in the top 5 in Production on 9 out of 12 stages, but I had some apparent train wrecks in 3 of them. Oddly enough, they were NOT the stages where I got penalties. I suppose that makes sense, since I remember executing fairly crisply on those stages. Having good points across 15 targets means that having to eat 10 points at the end of it is actually better than dropping more than 5 more Charlies. The stages where I did poorly, one was where I evidently got lost and did it in 32 seconds, when my main man d_striker was at 22 seconds. As much as I've gotten better at mechanics, I still have to remember not to freak out, and to remember the bare bones of planning. Standing around like a dumbass for 3 seconds is a good way to kill your hit factor on any stage. Such was the theme on the other two. There's a difference between rushing and refraining from getting bored. Last weekend, I got to change gears pretty hard and do some heavy duty rifle shooting. Saturday was a fruitful and educational rifle practice and troubleshooting day, where I mounted the Strikefire II I won at the Shooter's Source Shotgun Challenge to my 20" Larue boat anchor. I'm impressed at the Strikefire II's clarity. A 10 inch gong at 300 yards was no problem, and I learned a few very important things about shooting Limited. 1, target presentation! 2, 300 yard zeroes are pretty cool. Finally, 75 grainers indicate super awesomely. Sunday was my favorite rifle match in Pueblo, where I managed to win Limited division, and was right up there with the Open/Tactical gurus who usually hand me my butt anyway. The 200 to 300 yard targets, even the tough-as-hell A-zone turned out to not be so bad right after the buzzer goes off. I plan to stick with this setup through Rocky Mountain 3 Gun, and maybe even sell off my magnified glass to build a proper backup rifle This weekend, I have 2 "bay"-style 3-gun matches, where I will continue to work on my stage planning, and also my close range rifle offsets. That, and the basics of "how to shoot things far away with my 23 round Production gun," and "Oh hell, my shotgun is empty AGAIN?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thermobollocks Posted July 14, 2015 Author Share Posted July 14, 2015 I wound up missing a couple of 3-gun matches I would really have preferred to shoot, especially with Rocky Mountain so close. With any luck I will not be super rusty at Rocky Mountain-style stages. There's two parts of my game I'm really hoping to polish (aside from my 930's loading gate). I need to get better at feeding that particular gun, and probably take a round file to the important bits. I have one of the OR3Gun competition forend retainers and a welded lifter coming in, so that should help out. I'm also going to do that thing where I practice. If I can get my quads near to the time with my Supernova, I'll be happy. Aside from that, I need to make sure the Strikefire II is going to be rock solid when I actually get on the range. The 20 inch Larue works great as long as I can get behind the glass. Sunday I had a USPSA club match down in Pueblo. I shot my M&P with some .40 Minor with some prize table bullets, and they actually turned out to be pretty awesome. My Production game is still slacking since 23 round magazines make me dumb, but I still had a few moments where everything came together. One was a hopefully M-level classifier, and another was a particularly tricky stage involving tight corners and one-handed shooting. The bad news is I flew past a target 'cause I learned about a minute before I started it was an unloaded start. I was so pleased with myself for remembering to download my starting mag that I forgot it was supposed to be 4 targets from the second position. But, aside from that everything was fantastic. I still have to remember to trust my sights. If I do that, I know the bullets will go where I want. If I'm worried about it, they don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thermobollocks Posted July 17, 2015 Author Share Posted July 17, 2015 I had a productive Tuesday night with some cheesy '80s music and potentially inappropriate files: I have some go-fast parts coming in the mail (forearm retainer from OR3Gun/forum user logiztix and welded lifter from SkyTac), and with any luck that should make this shotgun pretty much as ideal as it can be before RM3G. I was able to test fire yesterday and refrained from bricking it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_striker Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 What's the before pic look like? You gonna shoot Weld since HPPS is not goin down? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thermobollocks Posted July 17, 2015 Author Share Posted July 17, 2015 (edited) They look like this from the factory: I think I will make Weld as long as I don't have too much work crap to do. Saturday will probably be shotgun/rifle practice with RM3G coming up so soon. I did 300 yards with the red dot last time, this time I'm going to step it up to 400. Edited July 17, 2015 by thermobollocks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_striker Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Nice file work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatJones Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 What gun you bringing to weld? The skinny one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thermobollocks Posted July 18, 2015 Author Share Posted July 18, 2015 Yeah 9mm bullets are pretty skinny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatJones Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 There must be a 12 step program for plastic guns somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thermobollocks Posted July 19, 2015 Author Share Posted July 19, 2015 In IPSC it's a 15 step program Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thermobollocks Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 In addition to not severely injuring myself while filing aluminum, I had a club match up at Weld today that somehow went rather well. I was able to squad with two other regular production shooters, and it was nice to be able to (1) see others' ten-shot plans, and (2) not feel like butt when the Limited guys are running into the 8s and I'm down in the 5s. We got to test a little bit more of the theory of the standing reload vs. the plan that's a little odd but keeps you moving. One stage had a forest of steel + 3 papers downrange, then two fairly straightforward 8-shot positions, and the way the ports on the stage were arranged, it was easy and straightforward to take two additional steel from the start position, then have your pick of a couple more from the second position. I took the two large poppers directly from the start position without any difficulty in transitioning...however because I was somehow unable to press the trigger straight back while not disturbing the sights, I ate a big ol' fart salad at the first position, ate an emergency reload, then felt really bad for the rest of the course, which cost me time. My buddy Joey did a much simpler plan with a standing reload at the end, so he was able to (1) unload on the paper targets with impunity 'cause he's got makeups, and (2) actually hit the steel plates). One conclusion to draw is that the more complicated your plan is, the more there is to screw up. There's a lot to be said for just shooting them as you see them. That is, until the next match comes around and I think I'm feeling clever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_striker Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 I don't recall the bears. Good shooting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thermobollocks Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 Thanks! It also went a lot better carpooling. There were definitely bears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_striker Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thermobollocks Posted July 24, 2015 Author Share Posted July 24, 2015 Steel Challenge last night was a bit of a train wreck. I continued to confirm that the 175 gr .40 wadcutters I need to get rid of don't feed super well, and I also learned that the big box of bare lead wadcutters I thought were .40s were actually .38 Special. Oops. I'm also reasonably sure my left shoulder has bursitis, so no above-the-waist weights for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thermobollocks Posted August 9, 2015 Author Share Posted August 9, 2015 Good news: RM3G! Yay! Bad news: I found a round without a primer while gauging ammo. Here's hoping for no squibs. Good news: I have 450 rounds of rifle ammo. Bad news: My red dot's mount isn't loctited. Good news: My XTRII's is. Bad news: I'm shooting 1x division (probably) Good news: I've got a sandwich So, I think the good outweighs the bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thermobollocks Posted August 29, 2015 Author Share Posted August 29, 2015 What in the world have I been doing? Rocky Mountain 3-gun was a ton of fun, and even though rifle problems helped me tank two out of nine stages, I still finished better than last year. It was exhausting, though, and on top of that I applied for/interviewed/accepted a different job. The bad news is it's a bit of a commute out of town, but the work's much better. Unfortunately that also means I may not be able to shoot as much as I'd like this fall -- I'm not sure. I may simply stick to the couple of matches that are within 60 miles of here and call it good. It's also a good excuse to step up my dry fire. I saw some awesome improvement on my handgun and shotgun, which I think helped nudge me up a little despite the rifle flaws. The JM has been running fantastically, and my loads don't suck all that much for it. Shooting unmagnified is HARD and quite frankly now that I have my XTR back I'm much happier. I also got a new bolt carrier and .223 gauge off the prize table (thanks Tooth and Nail Armory!) and that should help me keep the 50% rifle running. The malfs I had were strange -- I've gotten religious about marking and segregating my ammo if I feel that a primer doesn't have sufficient seating resistance. Nonetheless I got a chunk of metal in my chamber and another chunk of metal underneath my disconnector which made for some horrendous on the clock malf clearance. Since I changed jobs and also since I paid off a student loan, I decided also to be a big stupid and pick up a used Edge in .40. A generous shooter at RM3G let me shoot his custom job with the hybrid barrel goodness, and while I don't think I'm cool enough for that to make a huge difference (though I could definitely see a difference), I do have to admit a sub 2# SA trigger and big-ass metal frame make it pretty much easy mode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frunkenstein Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 Watch out hes going to the dark side red dot gun next Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thermobollocks Posted August 30, 2015 Author Share Posted August 30, 2015 Pffffft, my guns have had red dots on the front for quite some time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatJones Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 You shooting centennial tonight? I'm bringing the 625. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thermobollocks Posted August 30, 2015 Author Share Posted August 30, 2015 Nah, I'm being a bum because I feel like crap. This fall's gonna suck. My autumn goal's probably going to be (1) don't suck at prod for the state match, and (2) htfu and dry fire my way 1% upward with the 327. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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