Bob's Range Diary

[GunBugBit]

Reminiscing about this night I did this: https://practiscore.com/results/new/35921 (5th place overall shooter, coming in behind only the Open guys).  I was doing my best shooting at that time.

[GunBugBit]

Haven't missed a day of dry fire for quite a while.  That's always been the foundation for improvement.  Getting to the gym regularly, too.

[GunBugBit]

Haven’t posted here for a while.  Going on four straight months working from home.  Shooting two practice matches per week having started to shoot matches at both Cowtown and Ben Avery, but not dry firing much.  Lifting weights at home every day and have lost twenty pound so I’m moving around pretty well.  Did dry fire some this weekend.  No lofty goals, just want to be considered good by my shooting buddies.  Life isn’t too bad - much better than I deserve really - and I will continue shooting.

 

Be safe my friends, shoot straight.

Edited July 5, 2020 by GunBugBit

[GunBugBit]

Had a good Thursday night match.  Short but frequent dry fire sessions really helped.

[GunBugBit]

Shot a USPSA All Classifer last night.  It was 115 degrees.  It is difficult to do well in such conditions.  However my rugged fellow Arizona shooters showed up in strong numbers and we had a good time.  It's just good to be getting some matches in.  Soon the weather will be much more pleasant here.

[AzShooter]

Glad you had fun.  115 is not an easy thing to handle but if you bring lots of water and a good hat it's manageable.  I skipped this months Steel Challenge Match because of the heat, but I'll be there is September.  Come on out and have some more fun with the great people at Cactus.

 

[GunBugBit]

Hope to see you at the range soon Steven!

[GunBugBit]

Current match schedule is:

• Monday night:  Cowtown USPSA
• Wednesday night: Cowtown Steel
• Thursday night: Cactus Match League Practice

Not going to Sunday matches lately but that will change.

[GunBugBit]

Joined nearby Cowtown range which helps tremendously with live fire practice.  No more trying to find spots in the desert.  Instead, I can reserve beautiful shooting bays at a great facility and practice properly, as much as I have ammunition and energy for.

 

Only shooting Monday night USPSA matches for now.

 

No big goals this year, just want to be out there in the match environment, enjoying the people and the overall experience.

Edited January 25, 2022 by GunBugBit

[GunBugBit]

Single Stack shooting is going pretty well.  I didn't shoot matches for over a year and got back into it shortly after the start of 2022.  My latest USPSA hit factors haven't been spectacular but I could tell my fundamentals were getting more solid after a month of dry/live practice and a few matches.  A couple of light bulbs came on technique-wise that I was hoping would show up soon in a match, and they did.

 

I'd not shot any Steel Challenge for two years so I signed up for a Sunday match and had my all-time best total time in one match, with several all-time best stage times (Accelerator, Pendulum, Speed Option, Roundabout (79.31% - all-time best percentage in any shooting game)), and now stand 6.5 seconds away from A class.

[GunBugBit]

I've shot two Thursday night practice USPSA matches with the new Atlas Nemesis using Precision Delta "Long" 180gr 171 PF ammo.

 

Results: I am happy to have won three stages (one all-steel, one all-paper, another a mix of steel and paper) in the first two matches with the Nemesis.  It's very easy to shoot this gun accurately.  Shooting steel goes great.  I'm destroying Texas stars and other steel - without makeup shots - with hardly any effort.  I'm trying to go fast on paper so I've racked up a few mikes and no-shoots, but as with my Single Stack shooting, I tend to get a lot of A's whether shooting major or minor.  The Limited division is well represented in these matches so it's nice to have a bit of competition, whereas in Single Stack there are often only a couple of other shooters.

 

As of yesterday I got everything needed to reload .40, so after last night's match I loaded my first few dozen .40 rounds.  Some are 180gr coated Black Bullets and others are 180gr Precision Delta FMJ.  Will chrono these over the weekend.  I have three range sessions scheduled so I should be able to arrive at a load the gun and I like.

Edited April 22, 2022 by GunBugBit

[GunBugBit]

One change I like about the Thursday night match is they switched over to USPSA scoring rather than the Time Plus scoring they used for years.  I like to be able to see the hit factors and just be in more of a USPSA groove, which makes this match more of a true practice match for USPSA, which has always been the intent I believe.

[GunBugBit]

Also wanted to note I've been active again in Steel Challenge for three months.  I'm 2.69 seconds away from A in Single Stack now.  Last match was one of the rare ones where I didn't get a new best in any stage, so I have a list of things to work on.

[GunBugBit]

I'm finding lively competition in the Limited division at one of the local matches (Cactus League Thursday Night at Ben Avery in Phoenix Arizona).

 

Last week I put in quite a bit of dry fire practice and had done the usual weekend live fire practice.  Thursday night came and I thought I shot quite well - no penalties, decent hit factors (including an all-time high HF for me of 12+ on a hoser stage).

 

Unlike the previous two Thursdays, I didn't win a single stage, but had more fun just being in the mix of spirited competition than I can remember in a long time.

[GunBugBit]

Been off for a while, got USPSA RO certified last July.  Have been out for live fire practice occasionally over the last half year.  Work is pretty demanding but I still have a little time and energy left over.  Reloaded and dry fired today, will shoot a match Thursday night.  Will be a super senior in no time.  Happy to be in good health.  If you’re 50 and think you’re old, you’re doing it wrong.

[GunBugBit]

Alert the media.  I shot a match.  I did good.

[GunBugBit]

I shot another match.  I did less good.  I had hardly dry fired in the week before the outing, and was a little curious about how I’d do.  I got my answer and it was no surprise.  My percentage of C’s went up and in general I just wasn’t crisp.  But it was great to get out there in 108 degree heat and sweat.  I felt great the following morning and got to work revisiting old training notes, reloading some .40, etc.

 

My club is alive and well and the people are still great.  Some new faces.  It’s fun to see people discovering the joy of competition shooting.  Almost everyone says they wish they had gotten started earlier.

[GunBugBit]

After a period of very few matches, I’m back into it this month.

 

Tomorrow I’ll be shooting a USPSA All-Classifier, then a Steel Challenge the following weekend and another Steel Challenge the weekend after that.  Plus I’m back to shooting Thursday night practice matches.  Plenty of dry fire, too.

 

Short-term goal summary:

- Get classified in USPSA Limited

- Make ‘A’ in Steel Challenge Single Stack (I’m very close)

- Make ‘B’ in USPSA Single Stack (already ‘B’ in Limited 10) 

[GunBugBit]

First goal met: classified in USPSA Limited. Now onward to some matches as a Single Stack shooter. Main focus this month is Steel Challenge.

I could choose to focus on one division within one shooting game, but I’ll be participating in Single Stack and Limited in USPSA and Steel Challenge.  I might decide to narrow my focus later.

[GunBugBit]

Shot the Thursday night practice match with a 1911.  Only two of five stages went the way I felt they should.  At least I got some trigger time with the same gun I'm going to use for Sunday's Steel Challenge.

[GunBugBit]

Rejoined Cowtown Range so I’ll have access to a nearby place where I can do as much live fire practice as I have energy and ammo for.

 

I wrote down four live fire drills I’ll be doing again and again.  I’ll track my hit factors on these in a spreadsheet.

[GunBugBit]

Wish it would rain here so they’ll lift fire restrictions at the nice BLM shooting area.  Then I’ll have two good places to practice.

[GunBugBit]

Live fire practice early this morning.  Simple drills — singles and doubles at 7 and 10 yards.  100 rounds and done.

[GunBugBit]

I’m adjusting to two matches per week.  That was my routine 5 years ago.  Looking forward to weather that’s under 100 degrees.  At least it’s beneficial to get out and sweat.

 

Last Thursday’s practice match was far from my best.  I was shooting SS Minor.  One bright spot was a stage where I placed 7th overall out of 94 shooters.   My time was 0.05s slower than an Open GM, and the HF 0.3 lower.  Wasn’t even thinking speed, just smoothness, efficiency and solid fundamentals.  Finally a few seconds where the practice in dry fire and live fire, and a few learning moments in recent matches, showed up in a stage.

[GunBugBit]

Today’s Steel Challenge was a little different because I was on a squad with just two other shooters, a father and his son. The son had shot a few of these matches but it was the dad’s first one. So I ran both the clock and scorepad for the son while teaching the dad. No new best times for me. I remember the 2015-2018 period where I got a new best on at least one stage every match. Nowadays I’ll have to put in a special effort to beat my old scores.