How to do everything perfectly all the time

[thermobollocks]

This week is the final push toward Rocky Mountain 3-gun. I will be cleaning everything, getting in a bit of last minute practice, and burning a little of the 900 rounds of .223 I've loaded, you know, just in case.

The rifle match Sunday went very well, and I was glad to unwind and unload with some cool dudes in a slightly less complicated (but still challenging) format. I took Gopro videos, but I have not yet uploaded them. A lot of really sharp cookies showed up, and while I've been doing well getting between positions, I had a couple of not that great positions and a lot of shots I took that were far too aggressive.

[Tom Freeman]

You shot really solid Sunday. Not too many make up shots and you were pretty agressive when moving. The biggest time saver is figuring out how to work with a prop and get set up in a hurry. By far the biggest thing I learned from Eddie Rhodes.

[thermobollocks]

You shot really solid Sunday. Not too many make up shots and you were pretty agressive when moving. The biggest time saver is figuring out how to work with a prop and get set up in a hurry. By far the biggest thing I learned from Eddie Rhodes.

Thanks! The biggest thing the Pueblo rifle matches have taught me is to not be a wuss and get on the ground. However it is I can get support, get it, and don't worry if it looks kind of odd or if I wind up with grasshopper parts in my face.

[thermobollocks]

As I said in the RM3G thread, WHEW

15 stages of all-natural terrain, 4 days of shooting, 5 days of working, then 1 day of rest and a little accidental working.

In general, I did what I wanted to do and finished about how I expected. I shot a lot better than at He-Man, despite the weather, mostly owing to better physical preparedness and clothing choices. Canvas pants and combat boots keep my legs from getting cut up, but shorts and trail runners help get me where I need to be. However, my ankles are covered in mosquito bites.

It's always wonderful to spend some time at the NRA Whittington Center, even when it rains in the afternoon. I got to shoot and RO in my rain gear, too.

The shotgun part of the match was interesting -- I borrowed DocMedic's M2, and on the slung shotgun stage, lost the bolt handle. He was borrowing the barrel on my Supernova since his Nova's front sight fell off, and then the M2's sight fell off... oops.

I have Gopro footage of I think nine or so stages. All of them were exciting and challenging. I was glad to not eat as many makeups on long distance rifle, and I was also able to shoot cleaner than I usually do at Raton. Changing my approach to stage planning for this match helps considerably.

ROing it was also a trip. I had the best supporting crew a CRO could ask for (Two out of four Sandersons) and eventually the area captain got me someone better at running for some relief. I had some weird calls, a couple of mistakes (out of 200+ people, I'm only human), and some frustrating ones, but it was still far better to work than the club matches where we're all trying to figure it out on the fly.

[a matt]

Sound like all went good and fun. It makes all the work worth it. Nice to hear.

[thermobollocks]

I still owe this thread more videos and writeups on RM3G. I've got them uploaded, but there was so much to digest that I only made it a quarter of the way through. In short, when I don't screw up, I can expect around 65% finishes, which is an enormous improvement over He-Man and the club matches last year. I still mess up more than I'd like, and there's not much I can do about that except get shotgun and unsupported rifle shooting to be more second nature to me. That, and keep on going to the gym so I'm less physically useless.

This weekend, I had a practice day as well as a rifle match. It's the monthly Pueblo tactical/IPSC rifle match, which is probably my favorite club match ever. I finished 2nd/20 overall, which makes me pretty happy, mostly 'cause I did what I wanted to do and didn't screw up much. The long range stage and the VTAC standards, I took my sweet time getting into position and taking my shots, instead of just putting the reticle where I need and letting it rip. But, I was using my new RM3G 50% rifle with some slight modifications (Luth-AR adjustable stock, Geissele SSA 2-stage trigger, beater stippled MIAD grip from a guy), and it ran admirably after getting the ghosts exorcised from it on Saturday. The short range stage I burned down completely, even though I kicked a barrel for some reason and my foot still has a bruise on it.

The handguard on the new rifle is a straight-up tube, as opposed to the Larue quad rail I'm used to. For as much crap as I give the quad rail for speed-oriented and offhand shooting, it's actually very nice for obstacle use. I have most of the business end covered in Magpul XTM rail covers, so it's got a super aggressive surface for loading into obstacles, just like the VTAC wall, and almost every other RM3G-style obstacle out there. I have a Nordic tube chilling out in my safe that's just a tick longer, and that can also accept handstops and the like. If my go-to plan of "slather this SOB in grip tape" doesn't work, I may wind up installing the Nordic.

My practice day, I wound up taking out two very big items from my range chore list: Test 147 grain bullets in my 8-shot round gun (they work great, but POI is a bit high), and figure out WTF is up with the rifle I won. Having sorted out both, I think maybe, just maybe, the 50% rifle may be my new go-to 3-gun rifle.

[thermobollocks]

Today I had a practice day, first to make sure some of the ammo I've been playing around with in .38 Short Colt is safe and accurate (no chrono, so PF has to come later), to see if I can get my head around my Remington 1100 and see if I shoot it better than my Supernova (I don't), and finally to unscrew myself shooting my Shield strong-hand only.

The good news is I was able to work past whatever was bugging me on the Shield, and do some basic strong-hand only drills on 3 USPSA paper at 6 yards, with 140PF ammo. Since I don't yet have a holster for it, I started all strings at Jack Webb ready:

I was able to keep my splits and transitions in the low .40s and still get 75% A-zone hits. Once I warmed up to the gun a little more, I worked that into the mid-.30s (with 5A and 1D)

I also did some strong-hand Bills to confirm, yes, .33-.37 is about as reliably as I can punch A's with that gun. For giggles, I took it from 3 yards, and with 4A and 2C (yes, I can drop a C at 3 yards) I got it down to 0.17-0.20 splits. So, roughly mashing the factory trigger as quickly as I can. Oddly enough, when I took it to arm's length and fired from retention, my splits worked down to about 0.25, probably because when I do that, I have 0 visual indication that I am still on target. The only down side is that I warfaced so hard it gave me a headache.

With some practice, my last string of the day, I went 1 for 1 on some 6" knockdown plates from 10 to 18 yards. So, I think I got my accuracy problems figured out.

Shotgun practice was pretty revealing: I do not like reloading that 1100. I also evidently don't like shooting it all that much either, even though the gas system ostensibly replaces my pesky left arm. I think I actually like the recoil from the Supernova more than that of the 1100.

As for the round gun, my ammo all functioned admirably, but I need more practice reliably punching the A-zone at speed at 10 yards. Shooting major probably spoiled me a little.

[thermobollocks]

This lovely September I have been able to dive back into my round gun shenanigans. The bad news is that at least one classifier I've shot is still waiting on a new 8-minor HHF. Boooo. I suppose I can't volunteer to be the first 100%, can I?

I had a smith in town put just a bit more than stock bevel on my 8-shot's chambers, and switched to 147 grain round nose ammo, which makes reloads a lot nicer. The bad news is my 3.1 grains of Titegroup with that same bullet makes major in my M&P..but not the revolver. 3.3 should take care of it, and as long as I don't get a face full of hot gas I'm happy. I am going to try to get that squared away before the sectional match, otherwise I'll have to do it with Power Pistol, wrists be damned.

I've been really glad to get back to the round gun. I don't know why, but I find it more rewarding to shoot, even though it recoils quite a bit more and I can't shoot it nearly as fast as my M&Ps. The sights are also just a little bit more precise for me, so I find it easier to get A hits than with the Production gun, putting about the same mental effort into all facets of running a course. The bad news is if I'm not on top of things, if I'm distracted, or if I just need a hug, I have a lot more of an opportunity to flinch and pull my shots.

I've also been able to bring it to the local Steel Challenge matches, and get some major practice on my draws and transitions. I rarely feel like I'm doing well, though. With the Racemaster, my draws always have to be very deliberate and precise, whereas with my Blade-Tech DOH I can beat the gun like it owes my little sister child support.

Potentially related, I dove into hand-molding some Kydex myself with the materials off knifekits.com. It's pretty fun, and even though my final products look like they came from a high school shop class, they work.

One thing I'm trying to beat myself into picking up again is dryfire. I don't remember the last time I did anything dry but to function check something. I've been putting a decent amount of effort into physical conditioning (in part spurred by RM3G), and as that becomes second nature, I'd like to keep that up while still having 10-20 minutes of dedicated dryfire every stinking day. I have to keep on my trigger control, especially on a DA revolver, and I still have a nasty habit of overaiming my first shot badly on basically all my guns. I'm not worried as much about the mechanics of how I do what I do, but beating past some mental barriers and just pressing the trigger when the sights are where I want them to be.

This weekend, my home club is hosting a 10 round (5 stages, each with a tiny amount of tweaking to become a completely different stage) match in one day, and in almost exactly a month is the Eastern Colorado sectional. With any luck, enough USPSA courses shoveled at me in 30 days will get me on top of things.

[thermobollocks]

I've been improving on my 200-ish yard rifle work thanks, again, to the monthly (2.5 season) rifle matches down at Pueblo. I won Tactical division at the annual AR vs. AK match, and my second entry (my Imbel FAL), I came in second out of three in the Commie Gun division. The match director clearly has a sick sense of humor (and beat me in that division with a busted Garand). I was shooting factory irons since it turns out my red dot wouldn't fit, and also I hadn't shot it for a few months. Oh well, it was fun. Lobbing 150 or so rounds of .30 caliber FREEDOM is a special kind of joy that few competitive shooters remember to experience.

Of course, I also got to shoot a rifle I really like pretty well.

I sold off one of my unused scopes and picked up a Burris XTRII 1-5 with the MRAD reticle. So, sometime when the weather's nice and I get some free time, I should get that little guy mounted. I'll save my MTAC 1-4 as a backup.

As for my round gun game, I've finally gotten around to replacing the Racemaster for my N-frame. It's been a thorn in my side at USPSA thanks to its binding when I don't have it adjusted or don't have my draw stroke mentally adjusted. I'm sure someone can derive a benefit from it, but that's not going to be me. I formed my own Kydex dropped/offset holster, and it's ugly as sin but quite comfortable. Red on the outside with a light grey hanger. Now I just need to add a little bit of flare to complete that "'85 Firebird with moldy T-tops" look.

Oh, and dry fire practice. Lots of dry fire.

[PatJones]

My Racemaster has done the same thing. The solution has been to disassemble it and clean the plastic parts with Armor All as soon as it gets sticky. It seems to need more armor all on about an 8 month cycle. I do the same with my kydex holsters too. Armor all is silicone in a water based solution.

[thermobollocks]

My Racemaster has done the same thing. The solution has been to disassemble it and clean the plastic parts with Armor All as soon as it gets sticky. It seems to need more armor all on about an 8 month cycle. I do the same with my kydex holsters too. Armor all is silicone in a water based solution.

Yeah, I clean it about as much as my Production gun, but even clean it binds when I torque the gun. That part's independent of when it gets gunky.

So, with about 7 bucks of plastic/screws and a Dremel I have the Cheap Bastard Mk I 327 race holster, coming soon to a range near you.

[thermobollocks]

Now, with pictures.

The amount of Dremeling required here is more than I'd like to admit. I learned a lot about how to mold around weird little corners through a couple weeknights of experimenting. The draw stroke's pretty nice, in the end, better than my Production Blade-Tech holster, and the retention is even slightly adjustable most of the time.

[thermobollocks]

Today I was able to get the Cheap Bastard MkI tested, and I am extremely pleased. I had 0 trouble drawing at today's club match, but unfortunately my hands were stiff enough from the morning cold/wind that I also forgot how to pull the trigger. Luckily, I only barfed hard on one stage, but so did everyone else in my squad. 2.5 hit factor isn't as bad as 0. I also did well on the classifier. I got everything on Gopro, even the parts I didn't like.

Here's my classifier:

On this one, for my turn-and-draw I wound up pivoting on the holster side foot instead of the other one, and I think that helped a bit. I also went a bit more deliberately on the poppers than I might at an equivalent Steel Challenge target, just because a classifier course isn't an average and if I waste a third of a second missing, I don't get to make that up later. I was also glad I was able to visualize two poppers (it was a mini in front of a normal one) instead of an amorphous blob of white). However, my ammo is 100% wusscake 158 grain going at like 800 fps, so I had that little moment of prayer at the end before I truly saw the poppers go down. But, I aimed for (and hit) the calibration zone both times, so good enough! I hit all As in 4.08 seconds.

This was a fun field course with an unloaded start. Usually "fun" and "unloaded start" don't go together, especially in capacity-restricted divisions, but I had fun nonetheless. I try to practice grabbing two or three moons and dropping them on my belt, so usually that course of action works better for me than trying to use the barrel/table/whatever as an ammo carrier. That particular part of the course generally works out as a "pick something and just do it" sort of thing. I wasn't too pleased with my transitions -- in dim light, it is very difficult to pick up a brown target off of brown dirt. But, I got the hits I needed (only 3 Cs if I remember correctly) and didn't forget anything.

This field course...well, I didn't get the hits I needed and I had no idea what I was doing. I was the second shooter, and did not walk the course nearly enough. It was the toughest one for me to come up with a revolver-happy plan. Even the 8 shot SS guys get quicker reloads than I do as well as the benefit of major PF, so their movement can be ever so slightly different. My plan was to take four targets in the open, reload, 3 in the middle (2 swingers), reload, then two hard left followed by a run and then two hard right. It was complicated as hell, and had I planned things better I would've noticed that the open targets on the left were safe from every part of the shooting area. A better and easier to remember plan would be 3 targets hard right, 3 targets (incl. swingers) in the middle, then 4 along the left. It would also have helped considerably to not miss easy targets and also not shoot the white ones.

I shot three more, and in general did about what I expected to do given variables such as new holster, cold weather, and poor sleep.

Edited October 12, 2014 by thermobollocks

[thermobollocks]

This weekend was long and productive, including Monday night's match. My times were about where I wanted to be, but I had a few penalties where I would have preferred none (obviously). Sunday's practice stage with CHA-LEE was pretty brutal. Particularly with small steel knockdown plates, most of the breakdowns I could come up with were very unforgiving. While Limited guys obviously do not want to spend a quarter of a second they don't have to on pick-up shots, restricted capacity people do not want to spend 0.8-2.8 seconds on a standing reload.

I've been able to work on recoil control pretty well, and the cheap bastard custom continues to exceed my expectations (low as they may be). I would like to combine my recoil control and work on punching the A-zone a little better -- Sunday I was having trigger control issues, and Monday I had a mix of aiming too hard and not enough. I had makeup shots I didn't need, but I also had some makeup shots that I really did need, and I was pleased to notice them promptly.

[thermobollocks]

Oh boy, what have I been doing recently? Sorry to ignore you a little bit, Internets. I have been playing around with a few things, including having the hammer spur knocked off my 327 and trying to nail down minor SC loads for it plus major loads for my .40. I've had the M&P .40 for a while, and it's good to play with it a little. I had a lot of fun the few times I shot limited minor, and figured, hey, major's just a few grains of bullet/powder away. It's different, but fun. It rewards good movement and precise planning a lot more, and that skill in turn rewards many disciplines.

I had some static practice sessions with the plastic guns, and oddly enough I noticed an improvement to my draw times from the last time I practiced those particular guns, and no detriment to splits/transitions. I was surprised to find little difference between shooting major and minor, which probably means I'm shooting minor too fast or major too slow. I also noticed, strangely enough, that I prefer the cycling of the 4" gun rather than the 5". That may be worth investigating, either in terms of getting someone to chop some speed holes in my slide, or just picking up a 4" with a narrow rear.

I was able to get in a USPSA club match in Pueblo, and I definitely noticed that coming off of reloading every 8 shots, I take my sweet time. I also noticed that sometimes front sights can walk and you have to poke them back in.

[thermobollocks]

Well, the bad news is I think I left my mooner/demooner either at a range or in the haunted depths of my closet. The good news is I hit A-class in revo division. I've had this itch after getting 3 scores where I did really well flagged because the HHFs were not calibrated for 8 shot.

[PatJones]

I would be more pleased with this development if you would stop beating me in matches.

Seriously, it's nice having someone at the same level to complete against locally. Congrats on making A.

[thermobollocks]

With any luck this weekend I'll have at least one match with the 8-shot, maybe 2 if I feel like going out to Byers. I have gun-related Secret Santa shenanigans to accomplish during that time. I found to my surprise that I was able to close my shiny new Captains of Crush #2 gripper easily the first couple of tries, too, so that's 195 pounds that my paws can exert.

[thermobollocks]

Let's see, what have I been doing?

I've been playing a little with tracking the sights and slapping the trigger on my M&Ps, rather than riding the reset. I've also got a couple bags of Bayou bullets to play with in 9/40 for cost and pressure reasons. My revo loads pretty much flatten the primers perpetually, so maybe (as soon as I burn up the Xtremes I have) I can come up with something easier on the brass. My .40 and 9 loads have run well, but I'd like to see if I can get better velocity at the same powder charge to have a bit more wiggle room on power factor. I've also got a crapload of Titegroup, and I just kind of have to see if the Bayou ones produce acceptable levels of smoke.

I'd venture a guess that as soon as I pick up He-Man again in the spring I'll be able to put my trusty 230 + Clays load to good use without much hassle switching from lead to plated to coated. The gun seems to do all right as long as I mind the length and use round noses.

With any luck, if it's not terrible outside tomorrow, I can break in my new 930 as well, and do the basics like figure out where slugs go.

This weekend I think the only match that's going to be available will be at Centennial, so I'll at least get a ton of ammo loaded

Edited December 24, 2014 by thermobollocks

[thermobollocks]

Thanks to the weather the only shooting I was able to do this weekend was indoors at Centennial Gun Club. They run a great match for indoors, but it starts to drag a little with 18 person squads and a slight imbalance of ROs. I also learned that it's a bad idea to set a personal best in deadlifts and burn the crap out of my shoulders before a match. The entire time I felt kind of like an arthritic hippo, and since it was in the evening I couldn't just load up on coffee and power through it. I was also trying out some of the coated Bayou bullets in .40 with Titegroup, and indoors at least, they are smoky. Not as smoky as lead, but still pretty bad. I will have chrono some of them to see if I can maybe back off the powder charge and realize a benefit there, or just stick with the Xtremes. I also remembered why I left the magwell off my Limited frame, namely, I still need to do some more fitting before it will jive properly with the Taran basepads.

I also have to remember when I'm shooting major to squeeze down on the gun like it knocked up my little sister.

So, it was a humbling weekend, but enjoyable.

Luckily, over the Christmas holiday, I was able to crank out 1000 rounds on the 550 in a day (of various calibers). I also had a couple of fun gun-related Secret Santa boxes, the one that I sent and the one that I received. I'll continue fiddling with some Kydex stuff especially for 3-gun to get exactly what I want on my belt how I want it. Next on my list is a mag carrier that can handle those giant 48 round Nordics.

Edited December 29, 2014 by thermobollocks

[thermobollocks]

Well, the good news is I've got some 3-gun coming up Saturday. The bad news is I tested 50 rounds each of Hornady and Xtreme 55s with a ladder of Ramshot TAC (24-25.5 grains) and I got better groups from this:

I'm going to try it again with the Larue the next time I feel like sitting and shooting.

The good news is the new 930JM runs, now I just have to learn how to clean it, then wrap my loading thumb in a Disney Princess band-aid and HTFU. I will probably swap the follower with one of the Nordics because someone at Mossberg thought it was a good idea to make it black and overspring it.

[thermobollocks]

This Saturday was my first 3gun in a long time, and on top of still feeling really dodgy at close-medium rifle, and having crappy ammo and a dubious zero, I used a brand new shotgun. Not technically brand new since I put about 50 rounds through it last Friday, but still very unfamiliar to me. A few things were really nice -- it turns out a 2-stage trigger seems to be no impediment to shooting fast once I changed my trigger control method to just powering through it, and the lightweight rifle is really, really pleasant in that role. My XTRII managed to handle the A-zone at 40 yards, so at least I know it and the mount are not total rattletraps. I was really pleased to feel the difference on a relatively modern gas gun vs. my pump, not in recoil, but in how tired I was afterward. Running the Supernova wears a person out a lot more. I did do a couple of mega stupid things, like pass over a target (+15 on a 29 second stage...ouch!), hit a no-shoot, and not know how to load this shotgun at all. Oh well Sucks being rusty, but it's entirely within my power to work on that.

The good: I was maxing out on aggression on the close-range targets, and the extremely bright XTRII reticle at 1x makes transitions pretty danged easy. Offhand work at ~40y targets, though they were wide open, is usually something I'm uncomfortable with, but in this instance I did better than usual. Tight chokes on my shotgun made the small plates fall down, which was a good decision.

The bad: It would've been easier to advance down from the shotgun bucket and engage the small plates squarely, especially since "you have to go down there anyway." My shotgun loads are rusty, and I could have engaged the swinging clays and the static clay before that more closely. Pistol I felt very comfortable, but I derped out a little because I forgot the laydowns were the only pistol paper. As an aside to stage designers, this is why I like on smaller bays stuff like using turtles for rifle/metric for pistol. Or, again, I could suck less.

The ugly: Hoooooly crap that clay swinger. IC or even a diffuser might've helped with that train wreck. Or just tracking the targets better. Also, never hit bolt lock! Bolt lock bad.

The good: Emboldened from the previous stage, I ramped up the aggression even further on the close-range rifle targets. Pistol I was a little humbled from the longer shots, but I was taking them at a comfortable pace.

The bad: I am not comfortable on...roughly "indoor" carbine usage, for lack of a better description -- mounting/dismounting, entering shooting positions, and the like. That particular lower has a stock with LOP a bit longer than I'd like, so I'll likely replace it, or just use the ACS+S3G for closer range matches. I'm fond of my prize lower though.

The ugly: I forgot a pistol target. Whooooooops. RIP my score.

The good: I was pleased at getting into position on the shotgun work, and I think my movement was suitably aggressive.

The bad: My carbine position entry still needs work. Strange considering the carbine and shotgun are shaped about the same, I shouldn't really have trouble with one and not the other. Maybe I'm just super jazzed about shotgunning and less jazzed about rifling. Also I think I hit a no-shoot. The middle port of the pistol bit, I think I got a little too frisky and took more makeup shots. I remember thinking at the time "settle down, Beavis."

The ugly: I really don't think I had any giant screwups on this one. That's a surprise.

The stage I couldn't get on video, I don't remember much, it was the first of the day. I remember being not jazzed about my shotgun reloads and my movement, which is probably why I hit the gas on the 2 final stages of the day.

It was also super cool to see some of my 3-gunnin' buddies who maybe don't hit the pistol-only matches so hard over the winter

[thermobollocks]

Dang, I've had a few pistol matches and one 3-gun match since my last post.

I've been working out some dust bunnies involving my Apex FSS kit and one of my M&Ps, so I've been shooting ghetto limited 'cause I've got all these fat bullets to burn. 20 round magazines on an otherwise Production setup isn't so bad.

The last 3gun event at Byers I wound up eating a hot bag of farts because it turns out all those little screws on your optics mount need to be tight. Oops.

I've been able to remember more aspects of stage planning as I shoot limited -- not only does it matter that I shoot some targets from some position, but how I shoot them matters.

I would be more detailed but I've got a raging case of bronchitis, and there's only so much I can write before the really fun pills kick in.

[PatJones]

Bronchitis? That sucks. Will you be at the whistling pines match Monday?

Edited March 1, 2015 by PatJones

[thermobollocks]

Unfortunately no. Nobody wants what I've got and I'm in no condition to be at the business end of a shot timer