How to do everything perfectly all the time

[thermobollocks]

Bruce mentioned it. Maybe he'll see the light.

[DocMedic]

Bruce mentioned it. Maybe he'll see the light.

From the cylinder gap...

[PatJones]

Bruce done good. His first Revo stage ever consisted of 2 paper at 10 yards and 3 6" steel plates at 75 feet, strong hand only. He was 25th out of 56 on that stage.

[Husker95]

I had a fun and productive weekend: Saturday was my home range's monthly match, and today I was able to get some ammo and gun testing done with the new Edge.

I had two stages not go super well at the match, and a few that came together pretty decently. d_striker and docmedic provided plenty of entertainment on my squad, and I definitely felt like I learned things hanging with Production shooters. They're also the closest I'll get to company when I switch back to revo, so I better get used to it.

I still don't feel like my movement in and out of positions is particularly good, so that will be something I lean on in practice. I was able to push my transitions really hard, and live on the ragged edge of what I need to do to punch the A-zone in terms of grip and trigger control. I doubt that's a good thing in Production, however I find that if I don't feel like I'm pushing, I take way too long freaking out and make terrible shots, anyway. I saw the same sort of thing with Bills on static targets (11x17s at 15-20y) today. I'd like to be able to internalize the idea that I need to actually exert myself to move the gun and myself (if applicable) from place to place, and that my trigger control should be so second nature that it is 100% my sights that are telling me what I need to know. I do notice when I pull things, however I pull things when I'm worried. So, I just have to not do that thing, counterintuitive as it is when 2" worth of A-zone on top of a no-shoot is staring at me.

As for the new Edge, I'm reasonably certain I've nailed down parameters on ammo for major and minor (3.3 gr Clays @ 1.13" OAL + 165 grain coated bullet) making 137PF with good cycling on the 12# recoil spring. Accuracy at 20y was acceptable:

Stdevs and cycling at 1.18" OAL were terrible, so I went short so I know it will also work in my plastic gun easily.

I'm also on my way to a decent major loading: 4.6 grains of Bullseye with an Xtreme 180 gr FP loaded to 1.16" OAL, which might feed in my M&P, but definitely feeds in the Edge. I suck at shooting Major for groups, so I got this:

Last, I switched from my usual coated 147s to a no-lube-groove coated 147 grain RN for both Production and Revolver. 4.4 grains of Silhouette at 1.13" OAL made 141PF (get some!) and I expect similar but far less recoiling success with Titegroup. This is with the factory barreled M&P 9:

I picked the shotshell for a size comparison and also because I shot up all my 9 at the time.

I'm pretty sold on all of these combinations so I will likely stick with them for a while until I get bored again. It's nice too knowing that I've nailed down one variable with the Edge and I can practice some things in earnest (once I make a holster). I'm also super jazzed to get back to round gun.

The biggest take-away i have from this is that you still have Clays. What deal with Satan did you make? I ran out of my stash a couple months ago; Clays is unobtanium now.

[thermobollocks]

I sacrificed a Glock on an altar of blood.

To be fair, it's Clay Dot, which I've found is indeed identical. Powder Valley gets some from time to time.

[Husker95]

yeah, i am backordered for about 16 pounds of Clay Dot on Graff's. Hope to see it soon.

[thermobollocks]

This weekend was fun and...mostly productive. Shooting revo up in Aurora, I was able to reign in my trigger control issues enough to not get any penalties and get 91% of available points. I derped out pretty hard on a tricky stage involving an out-of-place stomp pad, but I was somewhat pleased with my recovery strategy. Once I got downrange and noticed the target had not been activated, I shot what I could, plopped some ammo into the gun, then ran uprange about as quickly as humanly possible.

I'm hoping to be able to suck less at Steel Challenge this Wednesday, and come up with a more better minor load using coated 147s for when my plated ones run out.

Sunday was vexing. My 16" rifle, which I'd cleaned thoroughly then sent 150 rounds downrange about two months ago with no primer loss issues once again got some super excellent dead trigger in the middle of a stage. I got massively salty, but since I remembered to bring the Larue I shot the match with it instead. I am fairly sure my next step is to disassemble it, inspect the FCG, then go find a sewage plant where I can put it in a literal ocean of piss.

Edited September 28, 2015 by thermobollocks

[PatJones]

Trigger control sounds familiar.... It turns out 1911's make my finger retarded.

[thermobollocks]

Trigger control sounds familiar.... It turns out 1911's make my finger retarded.

Same

[thermobollocks]

I had another club match in Aurora on Sunday, then our monthly indoor match here in town, both with the round gun. The new coated bullets seem to be performing admirably, though I can't say the same about my ability to jam them into the cylinder under time constraints. I'm going to have to remember to maintain and bring ammo for my 625 -- Monday night reminded me that there are classifiers that favor major scoring heavily. Sunday's wasn't quite like that (Comstock, 6 required rounds before a mandatory reload, then 6 more), but Monday's had some tight shots where 4 points instead of 3 would have been helpful.

Monday night was a bunch of fun not only because my bullets don't smoke that badly indoors (yay), but also because I get to design stages with some of the constraints of the indoor range. I left the Tarzan buckets in storage and instead built a stage with plenty of no-shoots and a bit of uprange movement. It was fairly straightforward for the 10-round folks, but the 8-round folks had some choices to make since it was an 18 round stage. MD karma was fully in play, so on my stage and on the classifier I selected, I racked up 4 no-shoots in total. The classifier was particularly silly, since on the second string, I took a buddy's advice to make up the mike-noshoot and earned myself a second no-shoot in addition to the extra shot procedural. I did have a couple of stages go well: raw shooting mechanics are improving, and I've got my holster adjusted for a correct grip with my shaved hammer. I'll try to keep more of the same rolling for Steel Challenge tonight and the challenging field courses I generally see at Pueblo this Sunday.

[thermobollocks]

What in the world have I been doing? Hopefully getting more gooder at revolver and putting parts together on the Edge.

I was able to shoot a club match in Aurora, an indoor one in Centennial Gun Club, and another good one in Pueblo (two, now, I think) since my last update. A pattern I've noticed is that I can do what I want to do pretty decisively, but every so often I kind of derp out or get lost. I'm not entirely sure what mental factor causes this, but it's something to work on. I don't mean the occasional mistake such as doing an unintentional powerslide into a shooting position, but a general feeling of sluggishness in completing the course of fire. I find that course breakdowns, even for tough courses, seems to be coming easier to me in some respects, but sometimes a particularly difficult course will eat too many "effort points."

It seems like there's a balancing act between giving proper respect to the parts of the course that must be respected and letting those parts drag down my overall performance. As an example, at a practice session involving a mix of wide open hoser targets and exceptionally technical/small targets, across several runs, successfully hitting the long targets would sometimes surprise me, and then I'd forget that now is the time for me to go somewhere else and chainsaw the hell out of some close targets. Successfully entering shooting positions and engaging close targets at speed would make me spaz out on the long ones.

In so many words, while I'm getting better at remembering everything I need to do, certain patterns of contrast and stages with technical breakdowns seem to psych me out. Comparing me a year ago with where I am now, me "derping out" is still better than I used to be at my best, but I should still be able to do my best at all times. I suppose that brings me back to the title of this journal.

Yesterday in Pueblo, I was able to work on my stage planning (thanks to the sadistic match director) and in that regard, I saw improvement -- two of the particularly strange courses broke down fairly well for me, and I didn't get lost like I sometimes do. There were gains to be had in one of them getting in and out of position -- on one, I selected a difficult-to-index spot to get into after moving uprange, and it bit me a little. On another course with numerous ports and potential FTE/double engagement hell, I was able to use landmarks to successfully navigate the target landscape. Granted, I did it five seconds slower than our resident revolver grandmaster, but I didn't spaz out like a dumbass. However, I evidently felt like hemorrhaging points on one of the nonstandard exercises that club occasionally throws at us: Lots of hard cover plus shooting minor gave me way too many B zone hits than I should have had. One thing I need to remember from time to time is that on headshots, I should at least be trying to hit the A portion. Actually, trying to hit the A portion is a really good idea all around.

As for the STI, I'm giving it different combinations of bullets to see what cycles well. The Xtreme 180s perform admirably, and I'd like to get the Eggleston 165s squared away for major as well. They do well in minor, but I'd like to see if I notice a difference between them and the heavier bullets. With the gun sprung as lightly as it is, the entire thing is like a wuxia movie -- violent and foreign. That said, as long as I keep them clean, the magazines seem to be doing their thing appropriately, so I don't have too many complaints. Moreover, the hot purple Racemaster remains in full effect, which should add a +1 to my charisma.

[thermobollocks]

Since my favorite green hat isn't breathable and it's also getting a little bit shabby, I think I need a replacement.

[thermobollocks]

With a few match cancellations and classes to teach, oddly enough, I've had more screwing around time at the range. In addition to basic familiarization with the STI, I'm getting a bit of time in on my Single Stack gun, not only because I shoot it occasionally for 3-gun, but also I had like 600 rounds occupying ammo boxes that I now need for .40.

The last indoor match at Centennial went a little strange for me, in no small part because I destroyed both of my elbows doing rows the Friday before. Since I have been less diligent about hitting the gym since May, I need to get back into a decent routine, not just so I'm not too sore to shoot, but also because it's good for me. The awkward sight setup on my SS gun is serviceable, but every time I pick up something with Dawsons, it reminds me that's on my list of things to change. The trigger is a tick heavier than most of my other guns, so I can't just smack the crap out of it. But, it runs, and for that I'm happy.

I continue to make progress with the new STI -- I am now confident that the Xtreme plated bullets that I have will run acceptably. It seems an RNFP profile feeds better than the TCs. I don't know enough about feeding to say why, but it does. I stocked up on Black Friday, and picked up 250-packs of the 180 gr hollowpoints and 220 grain RNFPs for giggles. I like having options if I need to stock up again and what I like isn't available, particularly as the market spikes and wanes. I don't know if the hollowpoints will offer accuracy advantages worth the extra cent per bullet, but they're pretty. They proved to feed acceptably without a massive difference at the chrono, but I suck enough at shooting groups that the plain old 180s will do great for the foreseeable future. More interestingly, I made some major loads with 3.7 grains of Titegroup and the 220 grain bullet, and it did recoil more softly. That said, I don't know if I am able to translate that into better shooting, and I also don't have the ladder-style rear sight for those 25+ yard shots. In so many words, I had some fun at the reloading bench, but I'm going to stick with the 180s until I burn 'em all up again.

Next up on the list, I will probably wind up reworking my lightweight AR upper, and building a fresh one with the Nordic crap I've got laying around. Winter is a great time to hit the high power range with a decent gong setup, since laying around is about all I can do in Carhartt everything and long johns.

[thermobollocks]

Unfortunately it's looking like Saturday will not be pleasant for range shenanigans. So, I've been running the Dillon almost constantly to build up a decent ammo supply. I've also gotten started on some hot red Kydex carriers for Single Stack and Limited, and I'll think about assembling some kangaroo-style pouches for 3-gun. It's labor intensive, so it's a perfect task for snowy days. I may even build a higher retention holster for the Edge for 3-gun in the spring.

In the mail I've got some little niceties for the Single Stack gun -- an extended mag release and reduced power mag release spring, for one. I also hit some of the contact surfaces on the grip panels with grip tape. I'm a little surprised with myself that I didn't do this earlier. While the bare Magpul grips provide acceptable texture for daily wear and dicking around, I feel the need for speed. Hopefully I'll be able to test this on Sunday.

[PatJones]

It looks like they're calling for snow in Pueblo Saturday. I'll be shooting indoors at Boulder if your interested. I'll shoot both the sessions with two different guns if there's room on the squads.

[thermobollocks]

Boulder's a hell of a drive for me.

I get the feeling I'm going to have a shitload of mag carriers.

[Tom Freeman]

Enough with the negative waves Moriarty...

[thermobollocks]

I'll be the prettiest single stack shooter on the range.

[CZinZA]

But dragging those hangers and shirts around the range will be hell....

Sent by Jedi mind control

[PatJones]

I didn't get to catch you after the match, how did the new mag holders work?

[thermobollocks]

Pretty damned well. I need to square up the wiggling and they may not be RM3G solid but so far so good.

[thermobollocks]

Rifle's fixed. Turns out there was even more primer in the FCG.

I can finally put that bullshit to bed and maybe work on shooting a rifle more better, now.

[DocMedic]

Stop using junk brass for large matches and you would probably have less primer blowouts

[thermobollocks]

It wouldn't be an issue if 3400 fps V-maxes didn't wind up in my brass bag

[thermobollocks]

It's been a while since I've actually written about what I've shot, so maybe I should do that.

I feel somewhat confident that all I need are a set of Dawsons and some trigger pretravel adjustment to get the Single Stack setup where I'd like it to be. The STI is a slightly different story. Though I've settled on the 180 grain plated bullets for major PF, my ability to actually use them is much different than I'm used to. I'm debating whether this is a matter of grip geometry (my M&Ps and 1911 are skinnier) or some weak-ass somatic crap on my part. I have been trying to get a practice day whenever I can to simply put out a 12" plate at 20 yards and punch it as quickly and reliably as I can. Strangely, I find myself unable to call shots as well as with my round guns, M&Ps, or my 1911. I've toyed with the idea of throwing in an 18# recoil spring like my SS gun, but I think every STI owner in the world would punch me through the Internet.

The monthly match at Ramah, I shot an abysmal 77% of available points, but the troublesome part there is that I did not notice how badly I'd done until scoring. While Aurora and Pueblo were better, the scales of time vs accuracy were in full effect. Additionally, I have since noticed the 165 grain FPs aren't as reliable as I need them to be, so I will have to go back to the M&P for 3-gun. Fortunately I have a giant case of those sweet multicolored 147s on the way. At this point I can probably shoot alphas faster with the plastic than I can pull deltas with the STI. I seem to be repeating the learning process for my 1911: "1911s are supposed to be pretty nice, right?" -> "Jesus, it doesn't even run. That's great." -> "Okay, I guess it's 230gr round nose or gtfo" -> "Recoil sucks less with grip tape" -> "Hey I'm finally starting to suck less with this thing"

Particularly in my static practice, I've been trying to emphasize increasing the proportion of grip strength I can use while still getting my hits. Perhaps if I am able to do this successfully, along with maintaining discipline in doing grip strength exercises in the first place, I'll have a few more of those awesome "aha" moments. Until then, it's a weird journey. Unfortunately, I think the widebody experimentation will have to end soon as 3-gun season starts and I have to go to shit that I know I can use. The biggest downside to that is all my buddies now know I have an STI and I'm not shooting it on purpose.