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Optical Sight Revo: R8 or 627


Makicjf

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I put a dot om my R8 on a whim and started shooting Optics in Steel Challenge.  Much to my surprise I really enjoy it.  I do have, however, some concerns about wear on the R8.  I'm shooting two six  stage matches a month, and in the summer a 4 stage match every week is possible.   A generous guess is 5k rounds  of 130 pf 158 grain 38 Shorts or same PF 38 specials a year.  The plus side is I don't actually dry fire with the optic at all, nor shoot any practice with it.  My level of suck is much greater with the irons, so all of my practice (dry or live) is with the 627 PC.  Irons practice seems to payoff with the dot at a much faster rate, oddly enough.

     I'm toying with finding another 627 PC to dot, so I don't kill the R8.  Firstly, do I need to be concerned about the R8 wearing out?  If/when I get another 627 for a dot, would a 4 inch bbl be any handicap?    I'd actually seriously consider packing a 4 inch 627 with a dot, too.

Thanks!

Jason

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I don't thing you will give any harm to your R8 shooting the light loads you are using.  If you go with a 627 go with the 4 inch.  Since you have a red dot on it the extra barrel length is not going to help you if you went with a 6 incher.  You will also find that the 4 inch tracks faster from target to target and that's a big advantage.

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The R8 has a SS cylinder and a scandium frame.  So I do doubt if it will hurt much.

But as AzShooter says, the one thing to look at is you don't gain anything with a longer barrel and a Dot.  I went with the 627 Pro as it was several hundred dollars cheaper.  A shade lighter, 4" barrel swings a bit faster (all relative though and for most of us an inch of barrel probably doesn't make a difference) and it "may" have a little lower velocity with the same load for your PC.  And it slicked up just as well as the PC.

Just some food for thought.

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1 hour ago, pskys2 said:

The R8 has a SS cylinder and a scandium frame.  So I do doubt if it will hurt much.

But as AzShooter says, the one thing to look at is you don't gain anything with a longer barrel and a Dot.  I went with the 627 Pro as it was several hundred dollars cheaper.  A shade lighter, 4" barrel swings a bit faster (all relative though and for most of us an inch of barrel probably doesn't make a difference) and it "may" have a little lower velocity with the same load for your PC.  And it slicked up just as well as the PC.

Just some food for thought.

 

4 hours ago, AzShooter said:

I don't thing you will give any harm to your R8 shooting the light loads you are using.  If you go with a 627 go with the 4 inch.  Since you have a red dot on it the extra barrel length is not going to help you if you went with a 6 incher.  You will also find that the 4 inch tracks faster from target to target and that's a big advantage.

Gentleman,

                 I really like the R8, so I'm glad the thinking is its plenty durable. As was suggested, mine smoothed up very well, though I had to change strain screws to break non-federal primers ( actually that is the case with all my smiths now)  I'll keeping pinging away with it.  Now I just need to find a 4 inch Pro I can dot up and pack!  

Thanks!

Jason

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I’d probably still be shooting a 327JM for steel if I could get the gun to be consistent. I seemed to have issues with the scandium working during temperature changes- when it was cold I’d get light strikes.

I’ve had several others over the years that all worked fine, so I’ve somewhat just chalked it up to that specific gun.

 

Now that I’ve got 929s down to R8 weight, I’m going to stick with stainless guns. 

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9 hours ago, MWP said:

I’d probably still be shooting a 327JM for steel if I could get the gun to be consistent. I seemed to have issues with the scandium working during temperature changes- when it was cold I’d get light strikes.

I’ve had several others over the years that all worked fine, so I’ve somewhat just chalked it up to that specific gun.

 

Now that I’ve got 929s down to R8 weight, I’m going to stick with stainless guns. 

This Revo has been utterly reliable, but I've upped the pull to break fed small rifle primers.  I'm down to 1200... I have a line on a good amount of Winchester SPP which should arrive in May.  Hopefully before I run out of ammo and primers .

After I put the mount and Dot on, I cut the rail and re-mounted it for a bit more weight. I'll have to put the package in the scale to see what it weighs.

Do you find that keeping the weight down expedites transitions?  I added the touch of weight to mitigate recoil, but know that you state it, I realize in SC recoil recovery occurs during a transition, so fast appears to be more important than flat .

Is that your thinking?

Thanks!

Jason

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12 hours ago, Makicjf said:

This Revo has been utterly reliable, but I've upped the pull to break fed small rifle primers.  I'm down to 1200... I have a line on a good amount of Winchester SPP which should arrive in May.  Hopefully before I run out of ammo and primers .

After I put the mount and Dot on, I cut the rail and re-mounted it for a bit more weight. I'll have to put the package in the scale to see what it weighs.

Do you find that keeping the weight down expedites transitions?  I added the touch of weight to mitigate recoil, but know that you state it, I realize in SC recoil recovery occurs during a transition, so fast appears to be more important than flat .

Is that your thinking?

Thanks!

Jason

Actually I think you can be just as fast on a string with either a heavy or light gun. I don’t think the weight differences are enough to actually matter, but if a person thinks it does then that needs to be addressed. 
 

I do think that a lighter gun makes long practice sessions, live or dry fire, much more bearable. Easier on the shoulder and elbow over time. Steel ammo in my uspsa/icore guns is hilarious though. 
 

I think it’s important to have a dot/gun combo that works for each individual person. I also think you should build that gun and load to keep the dot in the window. I’m not a fan of slow loads, there’s so much feedback that happens in a steel match that speed of the round itself is important. 
 

I think recoil needs to happen and be done with ASAP. In some situations I feel like I need to force a flinch to hit a plate with a particular split. I know that’s not what’s happening, but I make a conscious effort to keep the gun flatter in some situations. 1-2 on accelerator, 2-stop on roundabout and the rear to front moves on showdown. 

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2 hours ago, MWP said:

Actually I think you can be just as fast on a string with either a heavy or light gun. I don’t think the weight differences are enough to actually matter, but if a person thinks it does then that needs to be addressed. 
 

I do think that a lighter gun makes long practice sessions, live or dry fire, much more bearable. Easier on the shoulder and elbow over time. Steel ammo in my uspsa/icore guns is hilarious though. 
 

I think it’s important to have a dot/gun combo that works for each individual person. I also think you should build that gun and load to keep the dot in the window. I’m not a fan of slow loads, there’s so much feedback that happens in a steel match that speed of the round itself is important. 
 

I think recoil needs to happen and be done with ASAP. In some situations I feel like I need to force a flinch to hit a plate with a particular split. I know that’s not what’s happening, but I make a conscious effort to keep the gun flatter in some situations. 1-2 on accelerator, 2-stop on roundabout and the rear to front moves on showdown. 

That's a wealth of information!  Thanks for sharing!

Jason

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3 hours ago, MWP said:

Actually I think you can be just as fast on a string with either a heavy or light gun. I don’t think the weight differences are enough to actually matter, but if a person thinks it does then that needs to be addressed. 
 

I do think that a lighter gun makes long practice sessions, live or dry fire, much more bearable. Easier on the shoulder and elbow over time. Steel ammo in my uspsa/icore guns is hilarious though. 
 

I think it’s important to have a dot/gun combo that works for each individual person. I also think you should build that gun and load to keep the dot in the window. I’m not a fan of slow loads, there’s so much feedback that happens in a steel match that speed of the round itself is important. 
 

I think recoil needs to happen and be done with ASAP. In some situations I feel like I need to force a flinch to hit a plate with a particular split. I know that’s not what’s happening, but I make a conscious effort to keep the gun flatter in some situations. 1-2 on accelerator, 2-stop on roundabout and the rear to front moves on showdown. 

I've played with different velocities on Steel.  To me anything below 700 f/s was too slow to hear any rings, above 1100 f/s it seemed to me that the ringing of steel was drowned out by the shot? 

Shot one year OSR with a 45 acp 175 coated swc's at around 650 f/s, it was fun but since nobody else shot OSR I switched to Open ended up 4th out of 8 or 9 I think, but had to trust the dot as I was out of the box on Outer Limits before the last steel rang!  Shot ISR with a 38 short colt using 124 jhp in .355 at about 750 f/s and really liked it, the recoil was non-existent!  Kind of expensive though so I'm using a heavier .358 coated at around 770 f/s but it's just not as accurate as a heavier 850 f/s load.

So I try to get the lightest bullet I have at 750-900 f/s.  

But then I don't get too serious about SC matches either.  

What velocities do you feel are optimum?  

 

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24 minutes ago, pskys2 said:

I've played with different velocities on Steel.  To me anything below 700 f/s was too slow to hear any rings, above 1100 f/s it seemed to me that the ringing of steel was drowned out by the shot? 

Shot one year OSR with a 45 acp 175 coated swc's at around 650 f/s, it was fun but since nobody else shot OSR I switched to Open ended up 4th out of 8 or 9 I think, but had to trust the dot as I was out of the box on Outer Limits before the last steel rang!  Shot ISR with a 38 short colt using 124 jhp in .355 at about 750 f/s and really liked it, the recoil was non-existent!  Kind of expensive though so I'm using a heavier .358 coated at around 770 f/s but it's just not as accurate as a heavier 850 f/s load.

So I try to get the lightest bullet I have at 750-900 f/s.  

But then I don't get too serious about SC matches either.  

What velocities do you feel are optimum?  

 

In the past I’ve always been 930-950 but this year after some testing I bumped that up about 100fps. I found a few hundredths because of it in some really odd places, with no downsides that I can find. I have both 96gr and 115gr .358, but the small bullets and my bullet feeder don’t get along, so I’m sticking with 115s for now. 
 

I think I’m on the higher end of velocities compared to other revolver guys that have posted low scores. I’ve seen some bullets that look like they could be handled with a good catchers mitt. 

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My best times were with a 625 where I loaded 3 grains of Bullseye and a 230 RNL bullet.  It was so slow I think I hit target 5 on 5-to-go before the bullet hit target 4.  I was fast because I never missed. It doesn't matter what speed your bullets are going, knowing you are going to hit every shot I think is more important.

 

These days I'm slow, I miss but I enjoy myself.  I'm shooting RFPI with my 617 and enjoying it.  Still shooting revolver even though there is no division for it in rimfire.

 

 

I see too many revolver shooters shooting all 8 of their bullets on a string.  You've got to be fast but you have to hit the target.  At the end of a match look at your moon clips and see how many times you went one-for-one.  Maybe miss once  but if you are emptying your moon you have more to worry about then the speed of your bullet,

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7 hours ago, AzShooter said:

My best times were with a 625 where I loaded 3 grains of Bullseye and a 230 RNL bullet.  It was so slow I think I hit target 5 on 5-to-go before the bullet hit target 4.  I was fast because I never missed. It doesn't matter what speed your bullets are going, knowing you are going to hit every shot I think is more important.

 

These days I'm slow, I miss but I enjoy myself.  I'm shooting RFPI with my 617 and enjoying it.  Still shooting revolver even though there is no division for it in rimfire.

 

 

I see too many revolver shooters shooting all 8 of their bullets on a string.  You've got to be fast but you have to hit the target.  At the end of a match look at your moon clips and see how many times you went one-for-one.  Maybe miss once  but if you are emptying your moon you have more to worry about then the speed of your bullet,

It’s an interesting math problem. It’s always fastest to shoot clean, but if you aren’t shooting at a pace where you can miss, you aren’t winning. 
 

I don’t think anyone should shoot at a pace where they get all their hits every time. Emptying the gun on every string isn’t going to set any records, but shooting without misses won’t either. 

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7 hours ago, AzShooter said:

My best times were with a 625 where I loaded 3 grains of Bullseye and a 230 RNL bullet.  It was so slow I think I hit target 5 on 5-to-go before the bullet hit target 4.  I was fast because I never missed. It doesn't matter what speed your bullets are going, knowing you are going to hit every shot I think is more important.

 

These days I'm slow, I miss but I enjoy myself.  I'm shooting RFPI with my 617 and enjoying it.  Still shooting revolver even though there is no division for it in rimfire.

 

 

I see too many revolver shooters shooting all 8 of their bullets on a string.  You've got to be fast but you have to hit the target.  At the end of a match look at your moon clips and see how many times you went one-for-one.  Maybe miss once  but if you are emptying your moon you have more to worry about then the speed of your bullet,

Yes I check my moon's for that also, even on ICORE or USPSA matches, especially in SC where you know what the string counts are.  

The 617 is the hole in my armament, need to find one or two so I can do RFPI & RFPO!  Or maybe a Ruger?  

I did that with a 625 with 175 coated swc's at 650 f/s, all the others were ribbing me about watching the bullets arc into the steel!  Didn't miss many though.

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11 hours ago, MWP said:

In the past I’ve always been 930-950 but this year after some testing I bumped that up about 100fps. I found a few hundredths because of it in some really odd places, with no downsides that I can find. I have both 96gr and 115gr .358, but the small bullets and my bullet feeder don’t get along, so I’m sticking with 115s for now. 
 

I think I’m on the higher end of velocities compared to other revolver guys that have posted low scores. I’ve seen some bullets that look like they could be handled with a good catchers mitt. 

Sounds like I'm on the right track.  I'll also pick a heavier bullet if it is more accurate, I've always wanted the most accurate load I can create, then the lightest recoil, with a good feedback from the steel all so when the buzzer goes off and I start pushing it I know the misses are me!

 

So do you start with the burn right off, or save it for the last run or so?  I lean towards starting at a good pace  with confident hits and keep pushing more on each run.  If I'm clean on 3, I'll really push 4 and if I blow it back off, if not then #5 is balls to the walls.  And the most fun.

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12 minutes ago, pskys2 said:

Sounds like I'm on the right track.  I'll also pick a heavier bullet if it is more accurate, I've always wanted the most accurate load I can create, then the lightest recoil, with a good feedback from the steel all so when the buzzer goes off and I start pushing it I know the misses are me!

 

So do you start with the burn right off, or save it for the last run or so?  I lean towards starting at a good pace  with confident hits and keep pushing more on each run.  If I'm clean on 3, I'll really push 4 and if I blow it back off, if not then #5 is balls to the walls.  And the most fun.

Warning: long, boring technical post coming.

 

That’s how I’ve always shot it- turn in some clean ones and then turn it up. 
 

The numbers say turn it up from the beginning and the outcome will be the same or better. Now, you can turn it up past useable, that’s not what I’m talking about though. 

 

Lets talk numbers. I’m a very numbers heavy person. And let’s talk roundabout. 
 

I’ll use my own numbers (mainly because I don’t know anyone else’s numbers) as an example. 
 

I can shoot 2.40 clean 3 out of 5 times, and at that pace a pickup costs about .60. This typically results in a 10.15-10.25. All 4 clean at 2.40 would land a 9.60, which would be the best time I’m capable of turning in if I shoot clean. So there’s the bottom end of my “window” of time. I don’t think anyone should be taking that time and just saying “ yep, that’s the time I’ll shoot” if you aren’t out there pushing it- so there has to be a top end as well. Let’s say all 5 strings come out to 6 shots. At that pace that would be 3ish. So now we have a 12 second run. That’s a very long way from 9.anything. 
 

So, at a 2.40 pace we’ve established a 9.6-12second reasonable window. I think if I went back and looked at the matches I’ve shot with 2.40 as my clean 5 shot time that is the exact window for my best and worst days.
 

At that pace, let’s say I shoot 3 clean, and 1x6 rounds. That’s roughly a 10.20. 2 clean and 2x6 is a 10.80.
 

Now let’s talk about moving that clean pace to 2.05-2.10. Makeups get quicker because I’m shooting faster, moving faster, seeing faster. A 6 shot string becomes 2.40-2.45 and a 7 shot string becomes 3 seconds. That drops the bottom of my window to 8.30 and my 6 shot window to 9.60, with a 7 shot window up at 12.
 

Let’s say I only land 1 clean string, 1x6 shot string and 2x7 shot strings- 10.50. 2 clean, 1x6 and 1x7- 9.60.

 

3 clean, 1x7- 9.30.

3 clean 1x6- 8.70. A record .10

4 clean- 8.40. A record by .40

 

Now, you can go too far. I can shoot roundabout in the 1.7s. Much too risky for a match- right now. I’m not comfortable at that pace yet. But the longer I spend in the 1.8-1.9 range in practice, the more comfortable I get in that low 2 second range. At that speed the math doesn’t pencil out just yet. 


What this all comes down to is if I just shoot my clean and fast pace- 2.40, and end up with 9.6-10.2s forever, what’s the point? That’s close to a full second off the record. And I really need this stage time to start with 8s right now...

 

Go back over the last 5-6 times you’ve shot a stage and create a window. For roundabout I got 9.59- 10.79. I shot a match last month at that faster 2.05-2.10 pace and only shot 1 clean string, 1x6 shots and 2x7 shots- 10.56. Not good, but, I was still within my window- I felt like I tanked and couldn’t hit anything. I was shaking, nervous and not confident at all. I shot the entire match that way. Not only was my roundabout in that window, my entire match was inside its normal 2-3 second window. I think I did 5 reloads and ate 2 misses, for a 91 second match. 
 

I’m giving myself a chance to go low now. Shooting safe I wasn’t giving myself a chance to go anywhere. Take your fastest string from each stage and add up the times like you shot the entire stage at that speed. If that number isn’t significantly lower than your match time or even personal best time, you’re doing it all wrong. 

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2 hours ago, MWP said:

Warning: long, boring technical post coming.

 

That’s how I’ve always shot it- turn in some clean ones and then turn it up. 
 

The numbers say turn it up from the beginning and the outcome will be the same or better. Now, you can turn it up past useable, that’s not what I’m talking about though. 

 

Lets talk numbers. I’m a very numbers heavy person. And let’s talk roundabout. 
 

I’ll use my own numbers (mainly because I don’t know anyone else’s numbers) as an example. 
 

I can shoot 2.40 clean 3 out of 5 times, and at that pace a pickup costs about .60. This typically results in a 10.15-10.25. All 4 clean at 2.40 would land a 9.60, which would be the best time I’m capable of turning in if I shoot clean. So there’s the bottom end of my “window” of time. I don’t think anyone should be taking that time and just saying “ yep, that’s the time I’ll shoot” if you aren’t out there pushing it- so there has to be a top end as well. Let’s say all 5 strings come out to 6 shots. At that pace that would be 3ish. So now we have a 12 second run. That’s a very long way from 9.anything. 
 

So, at a 2.40 pace we’ve established a 9.6-12second reasonable window. I think if I went back and looked at the matches I’ve shot with 2.40 as my clean 5 shot time that is the exact window for my best and worst days.
 

At that pace, let’s say I shoot 3 clean, and 1x6 rounds. That’s roughly a 10.20. 2 clean and 2x6 is a 10.80.
 

Now let’s talk about moving that clean pace to 2.05-2.10. Makeups get quicker because I’m shooting faster, moving faster, seeing faster. A 6 shot string becomes 2.40-2.45 and a 7 shot string becomes 3 seconds. That drops the bottom of my window to 8.30 and my 6 shot window to 9.60, with a 7 shot window up at 12.
 

Let’s say I only land 1 clean string, 1x6 shot string and 2x7 shot strings- 10.50. 2 clean, 1x6 and 1x7- 9.60.

 

3 clean, 1x7- 9.30.

3 clean 1x6- 8.70. A record .10

4 clean- 8.40. A record by .40

 

Now, you can go too far. I can shoot roundabout in the 1.7s. Much too risky for a match- right now. I’m not comfortable at that pace yet. But the longer I spend in the 1.8-1.9 range in practice, the more comfortable I get in that low 2 second range. At that speed the math doesn’t pencil out just yet. 


What this all comes down to is if I just shoot my clean and fast pace- 2.40, and end up with 9.6-10.2s forever, what’s the point? That’s close to a full second off the record. And I really need this stage time to start with 8s right now...

 

Go back over the last 5-6 times you’ve shot a stage and create a window. For roundabout I got 9.59- 10.79. I shot a match last month at that faster 2.05-2.10 pace and only shot 1 clean string, 1x6 shots and 2x7 shots- 10.56. Not good, but, I was still within my window- I felt like I tanked and couldn’t hit anything. I was shaking, nervous and not confident at all. I shot the entire match that way. Not only was my roundabout in that window, my entire match was inside its normal 2-3 second window. I think I did 5 reloads and ate 2 misses, for a 91 second match. 
 

I’m giving myself a chance to go low now. Shooting safe I wasn’t giving myself a chance to go anywhere. Take your fastest string from each stage and add up the times like you shot the entire stage at that speed. If that number isn’t significantly lower than your match time or even personal best time, you’re doing it all wrong. 

I LOVE it!  I'm kind of a numbers guy also.  Have a spreadsheet where I try to keep my times recorded.  I'd actually not given much thought to a "Window" but it makes a lot of sense.  And it fits with what I've intuitively felt.  Just as in USPSA most times losing a few points but doing it quicker is best, of course other times it works the opposite.

The key is my FOCUS, it's easy for me to push too much and not actually see what I need to.  At other times it just fits.  

Problem with SC is I get bored, and sloppy, with the repetitive practice.  Yet it's good training for transitions in USPSA.

 

The only stage in SC that I fret over is Pendelum and it's the one I set up to practice the most.  I've not yet been able to push on it?  Even Outer Limits or Speed Option with the longer, larger targets I attack and Smoke & Hope I tend to get downright wild eyed!

Pendelum I try to survive, and that's why I practice it more.  Trying to make my weakness my strength.

 

Thanks for the long, well thought out piece and it's anything but boring!

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Perhaps I was miss understood.  I didn't mean to go slow, just to shoot at my confidence level.  I was running in the 120s for the Steel Challenge Matches so I wasn't taking my time.  I felt like a turret on a tank and just never missed.  

 

Vic Pickett and I would often shoot to seen how fast both of us could shoot a stage with all Xs.  In ICORE you have to make your shots as fast as you can, same as SC because the A-Zone is so big but if you miss you lose seconds and if you go too slow you lose seconds.

 

It's a balancing act for sure.

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I'm *not* a numbers guy ( I'll invert them when I right them down in series), but I tend to rationalize with general numbers and intuit (divine, spelunk) their meaning.   Let me see if I follow:

My last Speed Option for OSR was:

1st-3.30 clean

2nd-3.38 clean

3rd-3.20 clean

4th-4.01 (makeup)

5th-3.35

  I was shooting to hit, but not really being careful

that would make my "bottom"  window 12.8.  My make up is .75 off, so that would make my make-up around 16.   12.8-16.   

Honestly, at this stage in my development, I just want to shoot 3.30 or less consistently for Speed Option, and I'm pretty close.  Should I work towards hitting  the "bottom" of the window at will, then pour on the gas. ie reach plateau in match performance, then push?   

In dry fire I run smooth, then run till my finger gets ahead of the sight, then back down until the break and sight agree, but if I try that in a match the wheels fall off!

  I went back and used my best time for all four  runs and most stages were only .5 seconds faster for 4 stages.  Pendulum was 1 second.   I've only shot outer limits twice with a best of 4.75, but I had some bobbles so that was a 2 second improvement....

does that mean its time to push a bit more?

I appreciate all your input and ideas sharing!

Jason

 

Edited by Makicjf
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9 hours ago, Makicjf said:

I'm *not* a numbers guy ( I'll invert them when I right them down in series), but I tend to rationalize with general numbers and intuit (divine, spelunk) their meaning.   Let me see if I follow:

My last Speed Option for OSR was:

1st-3.30 clean

2nd-3.38 clean

3rd-3.20 clean

4th-4.01 (makeup)

5th-3.35

  I was shooting to hit, but not really being careful

that would make my "bottom"  window 12.8.  My make up is .75 off, so that would make my make-up around 16.   12.8-16.   

Honestly, at this stage in my development, I just want to shoot 3.30 or less consistently for Speed Option, and I'm pretty close.  Should I work towards hitting  the "bottom" of the window at will, then pour on the gas. ie reach plateau in match performance, then push?   

In dry fire I run smooth, then run till my finger gets ahead of the sight, then back down until the break and sight agree, but if I try that in a match the wheels fall off!

  I went back and used my best time for all four  runs and most stages were only .5 seconds faster for 4 stages.  Pendulum was 1 second.   I've only shot outer limits twice with a best of 4.75, but I had some bobbles so that was a 2 second improvement....

does that mean its time to push a bit more?

I appreciate all your input and ideas sharing!

Jason

 

I think you should try shooting option at a 2.75 pace and see what happens. All 5 strings. Don’t adjust depending on how any of the other strings went. 
 

If you adjust your “ bottom” it moves your normal. 
 

I shot option tonight. Personal best at worlds was an 11.65 when I was shooting comfortably. Looking back through my notes it looks like 260-265 was a pretty common practice number, which gives a mid 10s bottom. I adjusted to shooting a high 230 to low 240 pace, and it makes that mid 10 number seem much more realistic.  
 

I think if you adjust your pace to 2.75ish, it will make your 12.8 seem easy. And the more time you spend getting comfortable at 2.75, the easier a match 3.00 will feel. 
 

I know it seems like shooting 4 3.20s would be nice, and feel really good to go clean consistently, but the only thing that really matters is the stage time. Better to give yourself the chance to go really low than resign yourself to “only” a certain number. 

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Today’s match numbers in speed option:

 

Speed Option

ISR 11.68

3.28

3.12

2.70

4.14

2.58

 

OSR 10.91

3.40

30

2.55

2.53

2.43

 

Both guns started very poorly, but because I kept going hard at that pace I came out with good final numbers. If I would have looked at the first two strings with either gun and decided to throttle back to get hits, the times wouldn’t have looked anything like that. ISR only had 1 clean string, but that’s still a better overall time than if I would have fired 4 clean strings to begin with at a “safe” pace. 

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8 hours ago, MWP said:

Today’s match numbers in speed option:

 

Speed Option

ISR 11.68

3.28

3.12

2.70

4.14

2.58

 

OSR 10.91

3.40

30

2.55

2.53

2.43

 

Both guns started very poorly, but because I kept going hard at that pace I came out with good final numbers. If I would have looked at the first two strings with either gun and decided to throttle back to get hits, the times wouldn’t have looked anything like that. ISR only had 1 clean string, but that’s still a better overall time than if I would have fired 4 clean strings to begin with at a “safe” pace. 

Those are smokin'!  

Essentially the only way to train your eyes and hands to go faster is to go faster: that's what I'm hearing.  

Now to implement!

Jason

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3 hours ago, Makicjf said:

Those are smokin'!  

Essentially the only way to train your eyes and hands to go faster is to go faster: that's what I'm hearing.  

Now to implement!

Jason

You’re well on your way. A 320 on option is a strong number. Keep pushing those numbers down there, it will come. 

Edited by MWP
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/9/2021 at 12:18 PM, MWP said:

Warning: long, boring technical post coming.

 

That’s how I’ve always shot it- turn in some clean ones and then turn it up. 
 

The numbers say turn it up from the beginning and the outcome will be the same or better. Now, you can turn it up past useable, that’s not what I’m talking about though. 

 

Lets talk numbers. I’m a very numbers heavy person. And let’s talk roundabout. 
 

I’ll use my own numbers (mainly because I don’t know anyone else’s numbers) as an example. 
 

I can shoot 2.40 clean 3 out of 5 times, and at that pace a pickup costs about .60. This typically results in a 10.15-10.25. All 4 clean at 2.40 would land a 9.60, which would be the best time I’m capable of turning in if I shoot clean. So there’s the bottom end of my “window” of time. I don’t think anyone should be taking that time and just saying “ yep, that’s the time I’ll shoot” if you aren’t out there pushing it- so there has to be a top end as well. Let’s say all 5 strings come out to 6 shots. At that pace that would be 3ish. So now we have a 12 second run. That’s a very long way from 9.anything. 
 

So, at a 2.40 pace we’ve established a 9.6-12second reasonable window. I think if I went back and looked at the matches I’ve shot with 2.40 as my clean 5 shot time that is the exact window for my best and worst days.
 

At that pace, let’s say I shoot 3 clean, and 1x6 rounds. That’s roughly a 10.20. 2 clean and 2x6 is a 10.80.
 

Now let’s talk about moving that clean pace to 2.05-2.10. Makeups get quicker because I’m shooting faster, moving faster, seeing faster. A 6 shot string becomes 2.40-2.45 and a 7 shot string becomes 3 seconds. That drops the bottom of my window to 8.30 and my 6 shot window to 9.60, with a 7 shot window up at 12.
 

Let’s say I only land 1 clean string, 1x6 shot string and 2x7 shot strings- 10.50. 2 clean, 1x6 and 1x7- 9.60.

 

3 clean, 1x7- 9.30.

3 clean 1x6- 8.70. A record .10

4 clean- 8.40. A record by .40

 

Now, you can go too far. I can shoot roundabout in the 1.7s. Much too risky for a match- right now. I’m not comfortable at that pace yet. But the longer I spend in the 1.8-1.9 range in practice, the more comfortable I get in that low 2 second range. At that speed the math doesn’t pencil out just yet. 


What this all comes down to is if I just shoot my clean and fast pace- 2.40, and end up with 9.6-10.2s forever, what’s the point? That’s close to a full second off the record. And I really need this stage time to start with 8s right now...

 

Go back over the last 5-6 times you’ve shot a stage and create a window. For roundabout I got 9.59- 10.79. I shot a match last month at that faster 2.05-2.10 pace and only shot 1 clean string, 1x6 shots and 2x7 shots- 10.56. Not good, but, I was still within my window- I felt like I tanked and couldn’t hit anything. I was shaking, nervous and not confident at all. I shot the entire match that way. Not only was my roundabout in that window, my entire match was inside its normal 2-3 second window. I think I did 5 reloads and ate 2 misses, for a 91 second match. 
 

I’m giving myself a chance to go low now. Shooting safe I wasn’t giving myself a chance to go anywhere. Take your fastest string from each stage and add up the times like you shot the entire stage at that speed. If that number isn’t significantly lower than your match time or even personal best time, you’re doing it all wrong. 

  I took your advice on Saturday to heart on Saturday and went all out.  The stage I had the biggest improvement was Smoke and Hope.   I'm finding I struggle with the dot, but with irons, if I simply keep the front sight in my vision (move the gun with my eyes/ ride the sight) Smoke and Hope  comes out pretty good.

The first run is optics, the second is irons.   

What can I do to improve Smoke and Hope with optics?   Irons came out at 10.6, if memory serves, while optics was 11.8-.9 ish.

https://www.facebook.com/100000450700624/videos/5644328395592128/

 

Brazosland Pistoleros Steel Challenge - Saturday April 24th | PractiScore

Edit-S&H was 9.8 with irons and 11.56 with optics.

 

Do you give clinics?  I'd gladly attend!

Thanks!

Jason

Edited by Makicjf
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2 hours ago, Makicjf said:

  I took your advice on Saturday to heart on Saturday and went all out.  The stage I had the biggest improvement was Smoke and Hope.   I'm finding I struggle with the dot, but with irons, if I simply keep the front sight in my vision (move the gun with my eyes/ ride the sight) Smoke and Hope  comes out pretty good.

The first run is optics, the second is irons.   

What can I do to improve Smoke and Hope with optics?   Irons came out at 10.6, if memory serves, while optics was 11.8-.9 ish.

https://www.facebook.com/100000450700624/videos/5644328395592128/

 

Brazosland Pistoleros Steel Challenge - Saturday April 24th | PractiScore

Edit-S&H was 9.8 with irons and 11.56 with optics.

 

Do you give clinics?  I'd gladly attend!

Thanks!

Jason

Well I don’t know any nice way to say this, but the timer is off on most of those strings. It’s not picking up most of your shots. And I really hate to break this one to you, and you might already know this, but that’s not a 1.8anything...
 

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, I’ve shot all the stages enough to know times without hearing a timer. You’re a 2.50-2.70 in a match clean on that stage. Draws are right at 1 second when you nail them, 1-2 is sub .40, 2-4 is .45-.5, 4-3 is sub .40 again and you have about a .40 to the stop. Makeups are around a .50 if you transition and stop plate make ups are high .30s to low .40s.
 

The first string in that video is accurate- 4.20. That’s 2 extra swings (.5ish each) and an extra on the stop (.4ish.) 

 

The second string is accurate- 3.38. 2 extras on the stop comes to about .75. 
 

After that the timer took a coffee break. Most likely a timer to gun relationship, revos are quiet and in that bay you have zero sound reflection. 
 

Smoke is an interesting stage with the irons to optics relationship. It’s not like any other stage I think. The optic only really “helps” on the stop plate, and on everything else it’s a hindrance. It’s really easy to start to paint the big plates with a bright front sight and get hits, but then the stop plate is a problem. Vice versa with a dot. I shot smoke much better with irons than I did optics for a long time because I could see the plate and front sight all the time, vs the dot when I could only see it when it was in front of me pointing at the plate. It took some

work, but I learned to “point shoot” the dot gun at the big plates and make sure I could see it clearly before the stop plate. Now, don’t take that to mean that I don’t see the dot on the big plates, I still do, but I’m not waiting for it. It takes some trusting yourself, but swinging at low to sub .80 draws you have to already have some faith with either gun. 
 

Now, back to your question- How to improve time with optics. You’re waiting for a clean sight picture on the plates. At 2.50, that’s approaching as close as you can go at your skill level and “seeing” every shot. Push that down in practice. Go do .95 draws, .90 draws. Take a tenth out of every gun movement. Look at splits each individually rather than all at once. You’ll start to see that to really knock time off you’re going to have to start pulling the trigger earlier. A .9something draw isn’t going to happen with a revolver if you wait for the sights to be lined up before you start putting weight on the trigger. Same with moving the gun- you’re waiting to get the gun on the plate to start moving the action. This is normal, but you aren’t asking for normal once you’re in the 2.30-2.50 range. You have to find the dot sooner. This comes down to proper mechanics. Dry firing is going to be your friend here. And never fire less than 3 shots in live or dry fire-2 or less you can cheat and get lucky with a bad grip and sight picture. 
 

I’m more than happy to keep talking about this. It just starts to get much more focused after this to each person rather than public. I do classes- individual and group settings. People have come to me for a weekend, I’ve gone to them, or some variation. And my match schedule isn’t very private, we could probably schedule shooting together if you wanted to. 

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