Richard C.

[CHA-LEE]

For me there was a slight shooting performance degradation for about a month, but I was also in the middle of fine tuning the blaster to what I wanted it to feel like resolving issues and stuff like that. After that initially "Teething Pain" portion it simply took a crap ton of gun handling, shooting, and time to make shooting it feel "Normal". After 9 months it started to feel like an extension of my hand where I didn't have to think about it any more or be distracted by it "Feeling" different.

[Richc2048]

Hmmm. I guess I'm on a different level. I've shot glocks for years and I never mastered it so I guess in a few months I should be good to go. I already like the trigger, even the DA.

I was just thinking that my next gun will be purchased in the winter. I had no idea or didn't think it would be a hassle to do mid season.

[Tommy3guns]

LOL. Talk about swapping guns. Man you went from a CZ to a glock. I have learned the hard way NEVER do that. I've also learned never change your grips while driving to the match LOL. Practice with one and stick with one. I'm making the transition from CZ to S&W M&P core 9mm and 40 and now I'm going back to CZ/tanfoglio once I find a either a CZ or tanfoglio in 40 SW for USPSA limited. I have a 9 mm witness for 3 gun it runs as long as I keep my ammo consistent

[Richc2048]

I had a very good chat with Cha-Lee texting and realized my goals were actually results of what I wanted to accomplish and it would be a hard road ahead for me if I continued this path. I got caught up in the whole classification system mindset and was worried about making a certain level as a goal rather than setting goals in skills which would result in me making the classifications I desire. I am no longer going to worry about my classification as far as the mathematics go and just concentrate on skills. I am going to look back at my post about a year ago where I listed skills I thought were needed to perform well on a stage and re-rank them as to where I stand now. I think this will be a waaaaaay better measure of everything.

On a side note, I did just buy the new CZ Custom CTS LS-P. The long Slide version of their production gun. It was recently approved on the production list. It is a very nice shooter and I was able to get familiar with the gun immediately. The recoil is different when I shot it side by side with my CZ SP-01 Shadow Custom. Once I get a holster made by Long's Shadow Holsters this will definitely be my primary gun and the other new CZ I bought will be the back up. I can now not worry about having a gock 34 as a back up which is a totally different gun with a totally different shooting experience.

[d_striker]

Dude, you really need to read Lanny Basham's book.

[Glock26Toter]

Dude, you really need to read Lanny Basham's book.

[Richc2048]

From what I'm hearing, I think I need to read Lanny Basham's book.

[Richc2048]

I went to the Utah State match last weekend and had a blast shooting with some really cool people. We were squaded with some people from Las Vegas that were awesome to shoot with. The weather was as good as you could hope for. The weather report was calling for it to be in the mid 90's but we were blessed with overcast and a slight breeze that really helped out.

From a shooting perspective I did as well as my skills allowed me. I ran the match very conservatively and gained one mike on a steel that I chose to leave behind. I saw the scores from the previous day that many people stood there for way too long to get it. I gave it two good tries and moved on. I made that decision based on the round count for that array. I also racked up two mikes on the last stage and I believe it wasn't an accuracy issue on my part but where I aim at targets that have a diagonal hardcover over the A. This one was a little tricky and it covered more of the A zone than the half I am used to. Other than those I ran it pretty well for my skill level.

One thing that keeps coming up is my movement. I am giving up waaaaay too much time because of my lack of aggression in movement. After reviewing the videos and reviewing others match videos I realize that I can definitely improve on my movement simply by incorporating these into my stage planning. My planning doesn't go much past go here, go there, and little foot markers to make sure I can see the whole array. I really need to get into making sure I am in a position to get in and out of positions a lot faster. I am going to solely concentrate on this at the local match this weekend and hope to get it on video to review the heck out of it. I need to get lower in positions to snap out of positions and I need to keep my posture when I run. I think this will be a great first step in eliminating the few seconds I get behind on time at every stage. 3 seconds on every stage really hurts at a 14 stage major match.

[d_striker]

Programming how I'm going to leave and enter a position into my stage plan has really helped me.

Also, I think you really need to evaluate your grip. Watch your videos and watch mine. You have more grip strength than me, yet you have more muzzle rise at times.

I'm actually tweaking mine to be even higher after discovering something in practice yesterday. When I miss my draw or don't get my support hand back on the gun properly after a reload, my front sight lifts quite a bit. If I get it where it should be, my front sight doesn't leave the A zone when initially aiming at the middle of the A zone. I figured out something that I think will help me consistently get my support hand where it should be on the draw and after reloads.

Edited September 4, 2015 by d_striker

[Richc2048]

The Colorado State Match is in the books. This was my last major match for the year. Now the training starts for next year!

I came into the match with the idea of just trying to be faster. I noticed I sacrificed points in trying to do so but not as much as I thought. I still clipped no shoots but they were close. Not like wild shooting where the two holes were on opposite sides of the target or directly in the middle of the no shoot or anything. I'm hoping a better grip technique will help resolve some of this. I tried moving faster and I think I moved a little better than previously. I know my times were much faster than they would have been in the past. My issue with it is that my where I placed on each stage varied. I ended 2nd in production all the way to 28th. I did not finish where I wanted but I do believe the times I put on the stages helped me place much better than I would have if I played it safe and had a clean match slow.

I know that with the calculation of HF that there is a balance of speed and accuracy but I do believe that speed has a little more importance than accuracy. I obviously can't throw a ton of D hits and expect to do well but I noticed that going faster than I am used to only threw a few extra C's and the time absorbed more that what I lost in points. My goal from this time moving into the next major match is working on speed in both footwork and transitions/splits. I am ready to accept the fact that my scores may suffer for a while but I will never get comfortable with a fast speed if I never do it.

I used my new long slide CZ. I've been using it in bowling pin matches for about a month and just once at a USPSA match last week before the state match. I thought all the bugs were worked out but I had extractor issues. It seems to me that CZ's don't have a 1000 round break in period but they start having issues after 1000 rounds that need to be worked out. This was the instance in both my guns. Both were extractor issues.

It was embarrassing having to deal with my extractor issues in front of Cha-Lee because was always hammering me on my choices of running guns right out of the box at major matches. I really need to listen to that guy. I think he knows his shit

So in closing for this year's major matches I learned a few things. This was my first "full year" and first year ever doing a major match. First off, I need to ensure my equipment is truly ready to be used at a major match. It's funny how these things don't show up until you are at a major match. Statistically it seems that 80% of gun issues turn up at major matches even though it runs 95% of the time at local matches and maybe 5% of your time is at majors. CRAZY!!!!

I learned that movement needs to be a key issue in training this year. I feel my shooting can be 90% clean at my comfort zone and as long as I keep speeding it up in practice that my match speed will be increasing. I may be wrong but I'm too slow and in my instance speed is king and accuracy is secondary to become a better shooter in the long run. My accuracy will catch up with my speed if I continue to push it.

[DocMedic]

Shooting faster in practice is fine if your doing it for the goal of trying to push yourself out of your comfort zone in order to be able to call upon it on demand at a later time, but you are kidding yourself if you believe that you will do better if you go faster at the sacrifice of accuracy with Minor Power factor Scoring. I'll give you a example; Mark P placed 5th and finished the match at 300secs, you shot the match in 270secs, You basically shot 30 secs faster then Mark, but he shot almost 90% of Points shot, where you only had about 73% points shot. The old saying still holds true, "You can't shoot minor fast enough to win."

I haven't seen you shoot so I don't know how well you do your transitions, but if you been around Charlie I'm pretty sure he's made a comment or 2 if you asked him. I wouldn't focus so much on "splits" that the least thing you need to worry about in Production instead, I would focus on what's the best possible time it takes you to get 2 A shot hits on a targets in practice, that A zone is HUGE on the body all you need to do is put two .355 holes in there. When I did have time to do live fire practice one of my favorite drills was running a El pres style from different distances, my first couple runs would be as fast I can pull the trigger, then later runs would be as fast as I can hit all A zones, then I'll usually reflect on both then run a couple as fast as I can get with accuracy in mind.

Movement is also important but what movement? Its not so much important to get from one box to another as fast as possible but how fast your gun is ready and on target the moment you step in the box.

Instead of focusing on trying to shoot a 90% clean match in your comfort zone. Try focusing on shooting 90% of points shot OUT of your comfort zone.

Edited September 14, 2015 by DocMedic

[d_striker]

Just to play devils advocate here...

I shot the match in 247 secs with a ton of penalties and 85% of the points and finished better than Mark.

To say that time doesn't matter in this game isn't accurate at all.. Hit factor is calculated using time as the denominator. Of course you have to have points to divide by though.

I disagree with your statement that it's not important to get from box to box fast. Of course, what we're measuring is the last shot to your next shot. Assuming your shooting as soon as entering a position, wouldn't it be better to cover x-distance in 3 seconds rather than 5 seconds?

Edited September 14, 2015 by d_striker

[DocMedic]

He also finished at 97% of your score, shooting almost 1 min slower then you. btw with Penalties you were at 76% point shot.

Edited September 14, 2015 by DocMedic

[d_striker]

He also finished at 97% of your score, shooting almost 1 min slower then you.

Exactly. So you're agreeing with Richard's original point in that there is a line where time and points meet.

If you look at Kimber's time and points, it appears we get closer to that line of time vs. points.

Edited September 14, 2015 by d_striker

[DocMedic]

I'm not saying that speed isn't important, I'm saying there's a better Return in investment working on your accuracy over your speed, specially in Minor Scoring.

Quinn and you would be a better example, since you both finished less 1% of each other. Almost the same amount of penalties with ( Quinn had one more NS ) and about same amount time fired ( You were faster by 2.5 secs ) Quinn basicly shot 9 more A's to win over your ratio vs his ratio, Without getting into all the crazy math. If you were able to shoot the same score faster, you would have to shoot 6.5 secs faster in order to beat Quinn. Now the question comes to play, is it easier to speed up by a whole 6.5 secs for hopefully the same shots scored, or go 2.5 secs slower, take an extra .35 per shot longer to call 9 more Alpha hits.

Edited September 14, 2015 by DocMedic

[d_striker]

I'm not saying that speed isn't important, I'm saying there's a better Return in investment working on your accuracy over your speed, specially in Minor Scoring.

Quinn and you would be a better example, since you both finished less 1% of each other. Almost the same amount of penalties with ( Quinn had one more NS ) and about same amount time fired ( You were faster by 2.5 secs ) Quinn basicly shot 9 more A's to win over your ratio vs his ratio, Without getting into all the crazy math. If you were able to shoot the same score faster, you would have to shoot 6.5 secs faster in order to beat Quinn. Now the question comes to play, is it easier to speed up by a whole 6.5 secs for hopefully the same shots scored, or go 2.5 secs slower, take an extra .35 per shot longer to call 9 more Alpha hits.

I agree with your logic but not your math. You can't make broad generalizations like that when shooters are competing for points on a per stage basis. If I wanted to take the time to go look at each stage, I'm betting that even .5 seconds on any given stage would give me the 2 points I needed to get 2nd. But I don't like to think like that. What's done is done.

[Richc2048]

Yea. It seems both are important but for my level I guess what I came up with is that I found a speed I can do things at 90% and I won't ever get better if I don't push out the comfort zone.

I shot Utah state and Area 3 with roughly 90% points. Now that I'm there, I need to push it a little more and stay that pace until I reach 90% again. Then repeat the process over and over.

[Glock26Toter]

Our game is a constant balancing act. We are balancing at the same time we are moving forward. Much like a tightrope walker. Too much right or too much left and we are in deep shit. Also, if we concentrate on the balance too long and forget to take a step we are in equally deep shit.

We constantly go back and forth. Sometimes when we feel like we are moving fast enough we need a boost in accuracy... other times we feel we are shooting fine but must concentrate on movement.

The only reason someone says one is more important is because they are currently struggling with that one. It takes both and one NEVER stops being as important as the other.

[Richc2048]

Thanks glock26. That reassures me that I'm progressing. I'm switching sides on the rite rope now so that's a first for me. I never felt comfortable enough with my accuracy enough to do other things.

Maybe in s few months I'll try taking a step instead on left/right balance.

You are rocking it these last few months by the way. Looks like you learned how to just sprint down the tight rope. Haha!

[Richc2048]

On the gear side of things I finally got my part to put on the thin safeties. Man what a difference that makes! I can finally get a higher grip and thumbs forward technique better now. I never thought the other safeties were an issue but as soon as I put them on I could feel my grip is back to like where I was with my glock. I never knew how bad those big safeties were forcing my support hand down.

Things are coming up Richard this year!!!!

[d_striker]

I think John pretty much nailed it.

To say that one is more important than the other sort of ignores what Hit Factor really is. It's simply points divided by time.

Increase the numerator (points) or decrease the denominator (time) and the quotient (hit factor) increases.

Edited September 15, 2015 by d_striker

[Richc2048]

so..... I had my first DQ this weekend. Negligent Discharge while reloading. Scary feeling. There was no point in time where I was thinking "oh no, my finger is in the trigger". It felt normal as always but when I was looking at my gun to reload it went off. I'll definitely need to make sure that booger hook is off that dang bang switch.

I recently installed the new thin safeties on my primary and my goal this weekend was to get an awesome grip and see if I can make the gun barely move in recoil. I'm not sure if forcing a tighter grip made my finger not get out of the trigger area but either way I need to not be careless. I dry fired all weekend just concentrating on reloads. I started my reloads with the hammer cocked and I could not replicate it all weekend so I'm hoping I scared myself enough to make sure that never happens again.

I stayed and decided to be the squad RO since It happened on our second stage. It was nice to just observe see what I am doing wrong in movement. There were some great shooters on the squad so it was kind of refreshing to just study people's styles. Accurate vs speed. It seems that to be more accurate it doesn't take too much extra time. an extra .10 of a second really does help a lot on some shots. I'd rather be shooting but this was the next best thing to help me shoot better.

[DocMedic]

It was great to finally meet you Rich, sucks to DQ but at least you can reflect on it and understand what you need to do so the next time you do not have it happen again. As for the "Accuracy vs Speed" It was actually not my intent to shoot a 100% point match, actually the bet between Dom and I was who could would win based on him shooting his normal fast pace and me shooting at least 93% of points available. It just turned out after the first stage we shot that I was all A's I said "why not" and kept going with it. I'm not saying speed isn't important to work on, but you can work on speed AND accuracy at the same time without sacrificing the cost of either or.

[Richc2048]

Great meeting you too Curtis. It was a bummer to DQ but totally deserved it. It was definitely exciting to see the two sides of the coin play out between you two. Thanks man!

[d_striker]

It was great to finally meet you Rich, sucks to DQ but at least you can reflect on it and understand what you need to do so the next time you do not have it happen again. As for the "Accuracy vs Speed" It was actually not my intent to shoot a 100% point match, actually the bet between Dom and I was who could would win based on him shooting his normal fast pace and me shooting at least 93% of points available. It just turned out after the first stage we shot that I was all A's I said "why not" and kept going with it. I'm not saying speed isn't important to work on, but you can work on speed AND accuracy at the same time without sacrificing the cost of either or.

Dude, you were an A shooting machine.

The bet was more about time vs points. I was not shooting my normal match speed. I was hosing at brown for most of the match. This is obviously not an effective match strategy but it was interesting to see how the hit factors ended up on Stage 4 and 5.