So It Begins

[Boomstick303]

Should this be titled "So It Begins", or "Where to begin"?  I have shot a little amount throughout my life, but nothing ever structured or in a competition setting.  Guns were always fun, but the novelty of shooting static targets gets pretty boring pretty quick.  At least it did for me.  Shooting bullseye type shooting does not seem much fun.  When I was younger while in the Navy I had a couple of rifles.  A 22 Rim Fire, and a Shotgun.  I was stationed in Idaho for almost 2 years attending a school at the INEL (Idaho National Engineering Laboratories)  which is a government sight for various test facilities as well as a waste site for used up Nuclear cores from the Navy's Nuclear Fleet.   I was training to be a Nuclear Mechanic/Chemist where I would serve on board a Naval Nuclear Fast Attack Submarine.  While in Idaho the school load was extensive, but on some weekends we would go out and shoot.  I shot a lot of clay targets with the shotgun.  Lots of static targets.  I was totally unaware of any other shooting sports than what was in the Olympics, Shooting Clays and Bullseye shooting.  I would later go on to serve 8 years in the Military where I had zero contact with guns.  At the time I hated life on the Sub.  It was hard, it was stressful, and frankly it sucked.  Please don't get me wrong.  Grunts and Marines have it worse.  I would not trade places with them.  Now looking back at my time in the military, those are some of the best people I have ever worked with.  Some of the most professional and respected people I have worked with.  I would not trade that experience for anything.  As I left Idaho, I sold off my 2 rifles and did not see the need to own any as I was being stationed in foreign countries, and various states throughout my Naval career.  Moving guns all over did not make much sense in my eyes.  Once out of the Military I worked a couple of the jobs where I traveled constantly.  I did not realize until a year into my current job for a Water District here in Colorado that this was the first job since I was 18 that I did not travel for work.  I will say it is nice, but I do miss some aspect of traveling for work.  Since the wife and I get along famously she is all in favor for my current work situation of not traveling for work.  Point being I have not had a lot of time and/or the situation has not presented itself to shoot much or competitively at all. 

 

For a bit I raced 1/10 Scale RC cars very competitively.  I traveled a bit racing these cars and had a blast.  This sport made me understand what it take to truly compete at the top levels of anything.  At first racing RC cars was just that a hobby, as I did not have the time to be serious about competing at higher levels.  This did not mean I accepted losing.  I hate losing at anything.  Something else I have noted about myself is that I am competitive by nature.  If I have no outlet for this competitiveness, I become a bit intolerable.  A bit of an a_-hole if you will.  As I started to get better and my work schedule was not as hectic I thought I was putting in the work, to compete at higher levels.  I was hugely mistaken.  Like many things in life people do not understand the work required to compete at high levels or master anything.  They see something and think, "Hey that looks fun", they buy all the gear, the go out and participate and frankly just suck.  Some have fun, that keeps them interested for awhile, others quit shortly after buying that materials to participate and sell off that equipment shortly after if they sell it at all.  As I started to get deeper into the sport, I had some good luck, picking various individuals brains who had been in the sports for years and putting in the work, I started making "A mains" at larger events.  I was pretty decent for about 1-2 years but I asked myself where am I going with this?  The answer was I didn't know.  It started to become a second job.  Many people have experienced this in various hobbies.  To make a very long story short, Burnout. The point I bring up this part of my past is, I find it an amazingly useful experience to understand where I want to go as far as competing in shooting sports.  Is this going to be a hobby, or is this something I truly want to master.  To me this is a very important question to ask, to understand the level or participation required to get to the stated goal. 

 

I had picked up some equipment to participate in some local 3-guns competitions, because, "Hey that looks fun", about a year before I started getting good at RC racing.  I was like seriously, they let you run around shooting guns.  Sign me up.  Shooting ended up taking a back seat, because the budget cant afford numerous expensive habits (errrrrrr hobbies), and I was having a bit of success at racing toy cars.  I did shoot 1-2 IDPA matches where I did get DQ'd for a 180 violation on a reload at my very first match.  I won't lie, that did not leave a good taste in my mouth about competing with guns.  The call was questionable, and the SO even mentioned that.  He made the call, I repsected the call and I understand why those rules are there.  That match was also an indoor match.  IDPA indoors, well frankly is not a fair representation of dynamic shooting sports.  I never did shoot a 3-Gun Match.  As my passion waned for RC, I looked at the guns collecting dust in the gun safe.  I was like lets give this a shot.  Three years had passed since my DQ in that IDPA match.  Carry Optics seem to be growing so I set up a Sig X5 for Carry Optics a month before the X5 Legion was dropped.   I have purchased a X5 Legion since, and set up both to shoot Carry Optics.  Poor Man's Open, some would say, but I refuse to call it that until they allow us to use external Mag Wells.  I also bought a JP PCC, because "Hey that looks fun".  I have shot both the PCC, and my Carry Optic guns over the last 8-9 months, in about a dozen or so local USPSA level 1 matches.   After competing in a hand full of Level 1 USPSA matches the first couple of months a squad mate talked me into shooting the Level 2 State Match.  I was super apprehensive to shoot that match, because frankly I was slow as molasses and soooooo green.  They say USPSA shooters usually fall into one of 2 classes.  Turtle or Hoser.  I, am most definitely a Turtle with a capital T!  I was an Un-ranked Carry Optics shooter when I attended that match.  My goal was not to DQ and to place in the top 3 as an un-ranked shooter.  I accomplished that goal finishing 3rd.  I learned a couple of different things in this match.  Bring good ammo, and it made me understand that I wanted to make a serious run at competing at top levels of this sport.  Great shooters make it look so easy.  What you don't see is all of the work that happens when no on is looking that makes them so successful.  I use this term and have other who are great at something us the same term.  You have to "EMBRACE THE SUCK!"  I started looking into resources to learn what I needed to learn to start working in that direction.  Needless to say my brain is swimming in a sea of information.  It is truly amazing the tools you can obtain to train to get better in all aspects of shooting.  So many good instructors to learn from.  I look forward to taking some classes in the near future.  With that said these materials also help you understand quite easily where you are deficient.  What I have learned so far is, I have a lot of work to do in just about every area.  I also believe True Masters know they have mastered nothing.  There is always a rock to turn over.  There is always improvements to be made.  There have already been times, and there will be many more times where I am super uncomfortable.  Its taken me about 4 decades or so to understand this.   I think I new it subconsciously, but only recently have I put words to it.  You only grow when you are uncomfortable.  If there is comfort in some endeavor you are taking on, you are NOT truly growing.  

 

The reason for starting this Range Diary, is to create a plan.  If you don't have a plan you are planning to fail.  I am dry fire training about and hour to an hour and a half three days a week.  For me its time to step the dry fire training up and have a plan, for all training moving forward.  This will include more than just shooting.  This will include diet, physical fitness and shooting.  With recent events in regards to COVID19, my father passing from a heart attach this last fall (due to weight issues), and other personal health issues, in my eyes I need to work on my health  more than anything.  Diet goes into that as well.  I have been playing with Keto over the last year or two and it is time.  I have lost 30 pounds moving from 266 lbs (damn is that number real?) to 235 pounds over the last two months.  It is a start in a long journey.  I will say this about Keto, your joint pain will disappear.  Your insides feel skinnier.  My legs wanted me to run.  Strange in that I hate running anywhere unless I am  competing in some sort of athletic endeavor.   Some of the weirdest feelings I have ever felt in my life.  Luckily getting fitter won't make me a better shooter, but it won't hold me back either.  When exercising, I can incorporate things to improve my footwork and speed to get through stages quicker, as long as I work on the shooting aspects of shooting quicker as well.  Surprisingly working on movement for shooting in dry fire, is a bit of a workout.  This can only help in reaching a couple of my goals.  I will also incorporate a lot of mental exercises in this quest as well. 

 

Along the way I intend to include the good, the bad, and the ugly in this Diary.  Hopefully this will help other new shooters learn from my mistakes, and not be so intimidated by the process.  Feel free to comment, ask questions, clarify something if you see that I am not understanding something properly, or making mistakes in the direction I take my training.  I am very open to listening and hope I have gotten over my own EGO enough to take constructive criticism.  I am over my own EGO enough to tell you I don't know if I truly don't know something.  If anyone has any questions about the gear I am running feel free to ask.  Mind you, I don't know a lot but learning as I go along.  I am currently running X5 Legions for Carry Optics and a JP GMR 15 PCC.  I will be running an SRO on my practice X5 and and Sig ROMEO 3 MAX on the competition gun.  I have read a bit and seen some video as well as I have seen first hand there seems to be lots of questions about optics durability, sun reflection issues, so I intend to try and sort some of that out this summer.  I will also be running Carbine matches over the next couple of months (if we ever get back to the range in a competition setting) in preparation to start dabbling in some 3-Gun at some time and point.  I am also reloading with a Dillon 1050.  While being relatively new at reloading I believe I have worked all of the kinks out of my Press and that thing is running pretty smooth.  Only loading 9 mm for now, but hopefully will work towards some .223 next summer.  This Diary will hopefully include some gear reviews.  

 

Let's begin. 

[Boomstick303]

Worked with most of the guys from our shooting club to day for Field Day.  No, its not the same field day you participated in when you were in Elementary school.  Hell who knows if they even have that in Elementary School anymore.  It is where our club gets gets together to prepare the equipment for the upcoming USPSA season, or what will be left of it once the COVID19 hell ends.  It was nice to get to know the guys in the club a little more, sense I just joined the club at the beginning of 2020.  We accomplished a lot and it looks like we are in pretty good shape for the upcoming season.

 

I was able to get out before the field day to run some testing on some ammo I loaded and test a different spring in the X5s today.  I am currently running 11 # Wolff 1911 style springs in the the X5s.  This seems like the right spring for the 124 gr - 135 gr coated bullets I was using.  I was using a Sport Pistol powder charge of 3.8 gr for the 125 gr coated Blue Bullets, and 3.6 gr of Sport Pistol for the Gallant Group 135 gr coated bullets.  These loads were getting around 130-132 for Power Factor.  I wanted to test a 10 # Wolff Spring with the 135 Gr Gallant Group bullet load.  I did not see much difference in recoil, but the group seemed a little more spread out than using the 11 # Wolff spring I am accustom to.  I didn't take any slo-mo video of the slide due to the limited time I had.  I will also be taking video from the ejection port side of the gun as well.  Being new to analyzing all of these things and very new to using video to analyze anything I do.  Its a learning process and moving forward I will not make that mistake again.  I think I am going to land on 145-147 gr bullets for the rest of this year.  I can get the Sport Pistol Powder load down to 3.1-3.2 gr to yield a PF of 131.  You can definitely see the dot does not move as much using the 145-147 grand bullets vs 124-135 gr bullets.   Some say the larger bullets and smaller charge load does not allow the gun to return as quick as say using 124 gr bullets.  I am not sure I am good enough to for the gun to have to wait to return for me to take follow up shots when running 145-147 gr bullets,  Maybe as I porgress I will start to notice.  Maybe its just me but the heavier bullets seem more consistent and have smaller Power Factor changes based on minor changes in powder load.  I have also noted that PF load results are not linear when working with various powder charges as well.  My testing with the Chrono is very limited, and mostly I have been trying to figure out what bullet weight and Powder Charge to land on for the summer USPSA season.  I think I have sorted this out, but I do intend to revisit load testing for 124-135 gr bullets next winter after the season winds down. 

 

I was happy with the video I did take in that I did not see much muzzle flip with the 135 gr bullets with the 10 or 11 # Wolff Spring.  I was also not getting finger separation from the trigger guard while the gun was recoiling.  I have been working on my strong hand grip tension to minimize muzzle oscillation during recoil and that seems to be better from the last testing I did in regards to muzzle control.  For now I am going to stay on the 11 # spring as well.  I will also revisit this after the current USPSA season has concluded to see if there are any gains to be made in running a 10# spring, after I have figured out where I am at for ammo next year. I will use this Range Diary to keep track of this testing and use as a reference when needed to keep track of testing already performed.  

 

After the field day we were able to get some practice on a stage.  I was shooting mostly PCC for training for PCC nationals comping up in less than two months.  Man am I rusty.  I have so much to work on.  Movement, shot calling was definitely lacking today.  I missed way to much steel (trying to leave positions too soon).  I am not going to go into too much detail, here in that I will need to up the dry fire and live fire practice to improve using my PCC.  However, I did learn that I enjoy shooting my carry optics gun much more that shooting my PCC.  When I signed up for PCC nationals, I did so to try to figure out what to expect for large National matches.  PCC nationals was to have supposed to have happened already.  I was going to use that experience to help dictate training for Carry Optics nationals if I was able to sign up for it to attend that in the fall.  I have never been to a Level 3 match before so needless to say PCC Nationals will most definitely be a learning experience.  Hopefully I can take something from that to become a better overall shooter in Competitions.

 

We have the luxury of having a pretty accomplished Limited GM shooter in our club.  Something I realized today, is I need to concentrate more on watching specifics during his course of fire, to learn how and what to train on where I am weak.  Watching guys at the top level of every sport, I noted that it is easy to be mesmerized by their skill to a point you are not paying attention to the specifics.  The efficiency at which they accomplish that given task.  It is becomes too easy just to "watch the show".  I think in general people show up to matches, put little to no effort into planning on how they are going to shoot the stage.  Use next to zero visualization on how to shoot the stage according to their stage plan.  Sit around and joke with the buddies, when you could be doing real work in just observing to help become a better shooter.  It is easy to watch and say, wow that was fast after its all said and done when accomplished shooters are shooting. Rather than being engaged and taking away more from the match than just how they shot the match. Don't get me wrong I understand that a great percentage of people that shoot USPSA and other shooting disciplines are in it just as a hobby.  That is fine for them, but I want to get better at all aspects of shooting for a multitude of reasons.    Moving forward I am going to be more engaged in what these guys are doing.

 

I have also been apprehensive about videoing myself shooting stages.  I really have been worried about just shooting the stage without getting DQ'd and completing the stage with as few errors as possible, while trying to push the speed a bit.  I am not at a stage where self analysis by video is a necessity.  

 

Overall today was very useful in moving forward.  Lots of work to do.

 

 

Edited April 27, 2020 by Boomstick303

[Boomstick303]

I was able to attend a match the Action Pistol Group's monthly match at CAMEO near Grand Junction, CO this last Saturday for their monthly USPSA match.  Chris Oliver and his crew put on a pretty fun match, and since like many of us I have not been able to attend a match since March I was uber excited to see if I have improved any since my last Carry Optics match.  I have been able to put in a good bit of dry fire and live fire practice in the last couple of months prior to this match, so I was interested to see how it was paying off.  I ended up finishing 10th out of about 50 shooters, which I was happy with, but I did note that there were many unclassified and lower class shooters below me.  It seemed like there were a lot of very new shooters at this match which was a bit surprising being that it was one of the first matches in our area I think anyone would be able to attend for quite some time.  I had three really good stages, and three meh stages.  Misses killed me and I had one bad NS that significantly effected one of my stages.  I don't mind the errors in that I was pushing a bit in this match and it showed in both that I felt me speed in comparison to those attending the match was relatively close with the exception of one or two of the stages.  I was super happy with my classifier in that I qualified with an A level score bordering on Master level for Carry Optics.  I finished second behind a PCC for that stage, and obviously was the top Carry Optics shooter for the classifier.  Happy?  Yes.  Overly excited?  No.  I understand that the competition on the Front Range (the area on the East side of the Rocky Mountain divide in Colorado) is a bit deeper than on the Western Slope (the area on the west side of the Rocky Mountain divide) just due to the shear number of shooters on the Front Range in Colorado.  I was happy because I have been working on shooting on the move and it paid dividends on this particular classifier.  The Classifier was 19-02, Hi-Way Robbery.  This classifier had to IPSC partials covered with No-Shoots at the starting position in the shooting area, then you had to move down range inside of the shooting area where there where 2 open IPSC targets and four large Poppers down range.  The large Poppers could be seen from the initial starting position, the open IPSC targets were obscured by walls until you reached the end of the shooting area.  Therefore, you could shoot the steel on the move until you reached the point where the last two open IPSC targets were visible.  I shot the steel Poppers on the move and only had one miss on still while moving.  This obviously saved a ton of time to where essentially I was engaging the open targets once they became visible.  The practice is paying off.  I hear all the time where the top shooters and instructors are taking about shooting targets on the move and blending positions.  This is definitely an area where I need to improve.  This is something that can shave huge amounts of time off of your stages with some effort when you are new at shooting.  When I first started you always see people saying and doing.  Where can I shoot all the targets from static positions almost all of the time.  When you see so many people doing that, you assume that is what you should be doing.  I think this thought process comes from people not being proficient and/or confident in shooting on the move.  Don't get me wrong, it can go sideways pretty quick shooting on the move, and consideration must definitely be given in the risk versus reward on certain targets, like partials and no shoots.  For me these targets need to be addressed during the walk through and given the proper respect for each given shooters abilities.  Something I need to keep in mind moving forward.

 

I practiced about 500 rounds on the Friday before the match where about 200 rounds or so were spent on shooting on the move.  I did some theory to practice analysis on static versus movement on certain arrays, and the time difference was eye opening.  Now to work on getting my hits while moving and understanding where I am at in my training and what I can hit competently while moving and what I cannot.  

 

I have been shooting USPSA seriously for about 8-9 months now.  I have grown leaps and bounds over that period, and I would have to say I have put about 50% effort into this.  Level of participation will be increasing drastically over the next year or so.  I am at a point where i am pretty comfortable at matches and I can start paying attention to small details, that would indicate areas that I need to work on.  One thing that stood out is targets at distance.  Cadence at which I approach those targets.  One of the shooters I shoot with mentions to me "Stop Double Tapping".  I thought I was always watching the dot and firing an acceptable shot when the dot was in the "A" zone.  Thats what we are working at right.  Well I instantly recognized on the first stage that I double tapped a target at an itermediate distance.  I did not change my cadence at all going from a closer target to the one target at distance.  Boom, a mike.  A well deserved on I must say.  So, I took that moving forward to the next couple of stages and made sure I had a steady dot with a proper trigger pull for shots at distance.  There seem to be three stages that had intermediate to long difficult shots.  Well at least more so than most USPSA matches I have attended.  That shot that is easy for a PCC but not so easy for a mid level pistol shooter.  I am still definitely a B level Carry Optics shooter, and some of these shots made that abundantly clear.  Something I did note when I did take the proper time and trigger pull is all of the shots were low left.  I may have to look into my ammo.  I did do some testing on the Friday before the match, but noted my group for 15 yards seemed a bit larger than I would have expected for shooting from a bench.  I did sight in both my match pistol and my practice pistol, and the pattens were very similar using the same ammo.  I am curious is 147 grain bullets my not have enough velocity, to maintain a decent group at distance.  I have had a friend mention he did not care for the 147 gr bullets in comparison to 135 gr bullets of the same manufacturer in regards to accuracy.  Being very new at reloading and competition shooting, I may have not done enough testing to understand to nuances of different loads and bullet weights.  I do have some 135 gr and 147 gr Gallant Group bullets loaded up, so Intend to do some testing along with some Ibejihead 145 gr bullets I am loading up tomorrow.  I do like the soft impulse (felt recoil) of the 147 gr bullets, but I would obviously take accuracy over felt recoil any day of the week.

 

Another issue I noted was losing my dot on close targets after moving into a position.  This happened in the past with the weak hand during a classifier, but had never happened up until now where I lost the dot shooting freestyle on a close target.  This will need improvement.  Indexing drills at various angles and closer distances.  

 

Things I did well at this match:

1.) Stage Plans were well designed.

2.) Stuck to the plan without hesitation, therefore visualization was performed properly.

3.) Shooting Steel on the move was a success and went as planned.

4.) Stage times are improving with efficiency of movement.

5.) Reduced shuffling of feet at shooting positions, I have started incorporating foot position for a given array of targets that need to be engaged for a given position.  

6.) Took a risk I was comfortable with of shooting a partial on the move which was successful, NO MIKES on that target.  Weighed risk versus reward properly for my current ability.

7.) Even with the mistakes, by far the most comfortable I have felt at a USPSA Match.

 

Take aways of things I need to work isolate for the next couple of weeks.

 

Sort out ammunition:

1.) Test 135 gr vs 145 gr vs 147 gr bullets for accuracy using both match and practice pistols.

2.) Load and Chrono Ibejihead 145 gr bullets

3.) Perform Accelerator Drill in live fire to work on Short, intermediate and long shots.  Adjusting cadence and sight picture appropriately for each given distance.  Mix in target confirmation drill as well.  Work on proper grip with weak hand while shooting.  GRIP THE CRAP OUT OF THE GUN!!!!!!

4.) Entry and exit positions, as well as body position in regards to Effective Cone of Fire position for each given array of targets.  Stay low and push off with correct foot work to exit.  Mostly Dry fire with a little live fire to confirm.

5.) Shooting while moving, mostly dry fire, with a little live fire to confirm.

6.) Indexing the Red Dot for strange angles, and quick target acquisition after movement, and weak hand (off hand) shooting.  Mostly dry fire.

7.) I have been slacking on one handed shooting.  Shoot 100 rounds of each this week.

 

I rather like this.  Moving forward, I will always include 7 on 7 in my range diary after each match.  7 things I did well, and 7 areas of improvement.

 

This should keep me very busy over the next two weeks.  Hopefully more matches will be in the near future, but until then, its time to put in some work.

 

 

[Boomstick303]

Ammo testing for the week of 5/17/20-5/23/20.  The search for the correct ammo and load!!

 

I had performed testing earlier in the week to try and find the best bullets in regards to accuracy to use in Carry Optics out of both of my X5 Legions.  All testing was performed from the bench with the pistol rested.  Each group consisted of 10 rounds.  Comparing 147 gr vs 135 gr vs 124 gr bullets was very telling when measuring groups sizes at 15 yds in both pistols.  Results were consistent out of both my practice gun and my match gun.  The 147 gr bullets were the least accurate.  They gave me groups the size of a grapefruit 4-6 inches with 1-2 fliers up to 2 inches out side of the main group, depending on the velocity of the round at 15 yds at an indoor range.  I would attribute the fliers to poor marksmanship, but the fliers were consistent with every group. With the 147 gr bullets, 3.2, 3.4, and 3.6 gr of Alliant Sport Pistol with an OAL of 1.100 and 1.150 were tested. The groups tightened up as the load in powder went up.  The only conclusion here is the greater the velocity the more accurate the round which would be expected regardless of the bullet weight.  The difference in OAL made zero difference in accuracy. 135 gr bullets loaded with 3.6 gr of Sport Pistol, loaded to an OAL of 1.125 yielded groups about the size of a tennis ball at 15 yds at an indoor range, no fliers.  I loaded IBEJIHead 124 gr bullets at 3.7 gr, 3.9 gr, and 4.1 gr of Sport Pistol with an OAL of 1.100.  These by far had the best groups.  Not even close.  As with the 147, as the powder load increased the groups got tighter with the 124 gr bullets.  At 4.1 gr, the group was the size of a golf ball.  Upon this testing I had come to realize OAL does not matter in regards to accuracy out of these guns, as an OAL or 1.100 was had the same accuracy of a bullet with an OAL of 1.150. My X5s are the most accurate using 124 gr bullets.  Obviously a faster bullet is more accurate.  In the search for powder puff loads to make the impulse as soft as possible I think I lost sight that you loose accuracy as you slow the bullet down.  Just because the gun feels soft does not mean it is the best option for competition in regards to accuracy.  

 

This testing lead up to yesterday, where I was able to test some loads for 124-125 grain bullets to obtain the best performance in regards to accuracy.  Blow is information for all three loads tested.  Group sizes for testing were similar for all three loads. If I had to pick a winner it would have been the group loaded with 4.0 gr of Sport pistol.

 

Stats - Average	1088.53	fps	IBEJIHEADS 124 gr
Stats - Highest	1128.39	fps	Sport Pistol 3.9 gr
Stats - Lowest	1072.78	fps	1.100 OAL
Stats - Ext. Spread	55.61	fps	Avg. PF 134.18
Stats - Std. Dev	15.59	fps

 

Stats - Average	1116.8	fps	IBEJIHeads 124 gr
Stats - Highest	1128.81	fps	Sport Pistol 4.0 gr
Stats - Lowest	1099.37	fps	OAL 1.100
Stats - Ext. Spread	29.44	fps	Avg PF:  137.566
Stats - Std. Dev	10.85	fps

Stats - Average	1131.52	fps	IBEJIHeads 124 gr
Stats - Highest	1145.53	fps	Sport Pistol 4.1 gr
Stats - Lowest	1112.37	fps	1.100 OAL
Stats - Ext. Spread	33.16	fps	Avg PF:  139.27
Stats - Std. Dev	10.3	fps

 

Moving forward I will be using Coated bullets for practice and local matches with a bullet weight of 124-125 grain depending on manufacturer, most likely Ibejihead and/or  Gallant bullets, with a powder load of 4.0 gr, and an OAL of 1.100.  These loads are more than accurate enough for USPSA competitions.  I did find that 137 gr bullets were most likely acceptable for most application in USPSA but since I want to move to Montana Gold 124 gr JHP bullets for all level 2 matches and above, maintain a similar coated bullet weight of 124-125 gr makes the most sense to me.  Below is the load data for Montana Gold 124 gr JHP bullets, I found after reviewing my records that I performed about 6 months ago.  I forgot how damn consistent and accurate those bullets are.

 

Stats - Average	1050.97	fps	MG 124 gr JHP
Stats - Highest	1061.49	fps	4.1 gr Sport Pistol
Stats - Lowest	1041.12	fps	OAL 1.125
Stats - Ext. Spread	20.37	fps	Avg PF:  129.704
Stats - Std. Dev	7.33	fps

 

I will load the Montana Gold 124 gr JHP bullets with 4.1 gr of Sport Pistol, with an OAL of 1.100.  I will try this load in the PCC as well, as my load is currently Montana Gold 124 gr JHP bullets with 3.9 gr of Sport Pistol with an OAL of 1.125.  These work very well in the PCC so I do not think there will be much difference in felt recoil when moving up to 4.1 gr of Sport Pistol in the PCC.  Testing will need to be done with the PCC to ensure this is the case.  

 

Interesting how I got to this point in that a Red Dot Optic that I thought was operating fine was actually the cause of me questioning the accuracy of the ammo.  I thought I was using ammo accurate enough to get by.  I do understand it is almost always the Indian and not the arrow, if the Indian has a more accurate arrow, it gives him more room for his error to be counted as a score rather than a mike.  This process has taught me a lot about reloading, in a short period of time.  It has also taught me to test everything yourself, and be diligent in my testing protocol, to have a full understanding of what is going on.  

Edited May 26, 2020 by Boomstick303

[Boomstick303]

Live fire practice with the PCC for Nationals today.  Mostly worked on meovement drills and table starts. It felt good to start shooting the PCC again.  

 

Expectation is a hard thing to remove from your thought process. I need to work on having zero expectations and only shoot to the level of my ability. I see where pushing makes your stage runs very inconsistent. This is a proficiency issue and establishing routines more than anything. I need to devise a routine to learn to relax and just shoot to my ability.  Visualization needs work. Just because it’s practice does not mean I should skip my routines. I found myself doing that a couple of times today. 

 

I did have that epiphany today where when you do relax and trust the process and let the subconscious do it's thing after you have visualized the stage run properly, good things happen. 

 

Also figured out the 30 round Glock mag with the TTI +10 mag extension issue I should not load the mag to it's fullest possiblE capacity.  When I fill them to 42 rounds into the JP PCC, the gun tends to get failure to feed after the first round is fired. Once I started to fill to only 40 rounds, did the not have any failures. At least this seems to be the issue with the failures to feed I have had in the last couple of matches. 

 

Need to work on shooting on the move with PCC. It seems harder to shoot on the move with PCC than it does with a pistol due to shouldering the PCC. 

 

After this weekends 2 day USPSA pistol class, it will be all things PCC.

[Boomstick303]

Pretty Awesome weekend.

 

Huge shout out to Charlie Perez and his Company Big Panda Performance.  I was able to join a last minute class he provides to improve my USPSA Skill set.  After reading his book Path of Focused Effort, it was amazing to get live training to physically perform all of the concepts from his book, and learn how to create a system to tackle USPSA Stages in the most logical and efficient manner possible.  I am a B class shooter in Carry Optics.  My scores in matches dictate that this classification is well deserved.  To progress in the time line I desire I think it was imperative to take Charlie's class to speed up the process by giving me the tools to fix my issues.  In a two day class I was able to essentially, increase my match score for the class stage by  around 20%.  Don't get me wrong I still have tons of work to do, but the class has given me the direction, and ideas, to fix my issues to improve my match standings moving forward.  I cannot stress enough how valuable Charlie's class will be responsible for my growth as a competitive USPSA shooter.  I look forward to putting in the work to becoming a more accomplished shooter.  Thanks Charlie, already looking forward to my next practice using my improved tool set.  

 

 

 

 

Edited June 1, 2020 by Boomstick303

[Boomstick303]

World of Suck has officially began tonight.  I have to relearn my reload after programming it incorrectly into my brain for the last six months.  I was no where near aggressive enough in grabbing the fresh mag off the belt, I am not holding the gun high enough for proper consistent mag insertion, and I need to learn to lean as to not break my wrist when drawing the mag.  All three things I was not doing in my reload in the past.  All of these items were noted in the training class, and I have decided to relearn the whole reload process, and include holding the gun high to insert the magazines when I am "Making Ready" to pound the point home.  After performing about a half an hour of dry fire trying to implement the new reloading sequence I have noted I have some work to do in regards to this skill once again.  This work will also include reloads while moving, seeing how we are almost always moving when reloading.  Fast reloads, fast feet!!!!!

 

I have also refined my "Make Ready" Routine.  It needed some work, and I am creating one that should eliminate all distractions, or create a schedule, when I am making ready.  

 

I will expand on my make ready routine, once I have it exactly where I want it and enter it into the diary for future reference.