Revolver? Die on the vine?

[-JCN-]

My land is about an hour from my house. It was hunting land that I bought when the ranges closed during early COVID 2020. 
 

I asked the neighbor’s wife for permission to have the mover targets shipped to their house and am paying the farmer’s daughter to deliver them down to my range. 
 

I’m giving her a chunk of money for her college fund as a good cause and it saves me from having to haul it myself. 
 

Win-win. 

[-JCN-]

I’m missing two of the 22 round alien mags…

 

I thought maybe they fell out of my bag. 
 

So I ordered 6 more. 
 

Then I realized I never picked them up from the ground after running the mock stage twice, lol. 
 

Even at a match I probably would forget to pick up mags because I immediately go check the hits with the RO and people are so good at matches at handing me the mags as I’m walking back that I haven’t had to hunt for them in a while. 

[-JCN-]

Worked on some high quality trigger presses at speed. 
 

Took some work to get some of the mechanics down. 
 

This was after figuring out some stuff. 
 

25 yard head A zones. 3-5 shots off a draw at 0.53 splits. 
 

 

 

 

Then I thought I would try the “Bill Drill challenge” like in the Shooting USA video. 
 

6 tries and best one with all alpha counts. 
 

Most recent runs are listed at top. 
 

3rd and 4th runs were the good stuff. Then I tried too hard, lol. 
 

 

 

 

Edited May 14 by -JCN-

[-JCN-]

I'm going to do it.

 

I got a bid / estimate from a local guy who can put fabric down and gravel on top to make a road down and level out another 25 yards behind the range. Build up the berms to 10 feet.

 

I would rather spend the money on that then an overseas vacation or a summer house that we just sit and don't do anything with.

 

So basically I'm looking to make a competition grade USPSA bay with enough range equipment to mock up any kind of stage I would like.

 

It will potentially accelerate my learning for things that typically are only available as a one off at a match.

 

I tend to not do things half assed and something's worth the money if it's going to add value to my skill set, education or experience.

[-JCN-]

Gun seems to be running well without malfunctions after employing the bore mop chamber flag. I’m going to keep going with that. 
 

Having a functioning gun is helping my confidence and learning.

 

Still working on cementing stage plans. Still losing my mind a little bit, but every time, less and less.

 

Still learning how much time it takes for each engagement and each step, I think skills lab practice will help me solidify that as well.

 

Seeing more stage hit factors into the 7+ range, which is where I want to be.

 

Times are also dropping while the hits are still good.

 

This is my list after reviewing:

 

Mental note for stages

Faster transitions 

Gun up sooner into corners 

Smash the reload and go 

Program in poppers with respect 

OK to understand where all the targets are but try to engage in the actual order, this will take more faithful stage planning to prevent from being too optimistic in the movement and stability 

 

 

.

Edited May 15 by -JCN-

[-JCN-]

Also mental note to not try and force something to happen when the pressure is on. By rushing footwork past the shooting, it creates errors. 
 

Skills lab will be good for that. 
 

I’m also going to test snugging up to the right side of the wall at the range and see if I can induce malfunctions while also filming slow motion to see just how much of an issue it is or isn’t. 
 

The top of the gun has the hammer system so it’s covered and not open like a traditional locked breech gun. So it means out the side is the only place for it to go. 

[-JCN-]

 

 

So this is a representative stage. I was happy with the drop step out of the first position, it’s something I’ve been working on for the last couple days. 
 

A couple of the narrow transitions could have been a little faster and I shorted the final foot position which resulted in me having to weight shift the final target rather than just straight transitioning. 

[-JCN-]

The more I think about it and the more I am learning about stage planning, the more I think it has to be done with full recoil to match the live timing with the mental image. I think skills live will be very important for my training. I lose my mind when the mental map does not match the reality so getting more reality experience will be the key I think. 
 

Matches are the only way most of us get a chance to explore this, but it takes a long time to build up repertoire because you don’t get to experiment in a few different ways.

 

In the Jedlinski podcast with Jay Beal, he talked about doing something similar and setting up stages on his land to practice parts of it. 

[-JCN-]

Philosophy of training. 
 

I’ve mentioned this a few times but I think it bears repeating as I get farther and farther along this process. 
 

Some people don’t like the video:

 

 

But I like it because I think the subtext is: “Aiming is useless (if your grip and trigger press sucks ass).”

 

I think that applies to gaming too. I see some C class people trying to get super gamey with the footwork and cheating start positions when they can’t hit a mini popper standing still at 10 yards. 
 

At some point (I feel) that gaming is useless (until you get to a certain level of trigger press and recoil control). 
 

I think the program for V is the most balanced one. She started with trigger press and grip in dry. 
 

I added draws, reloads and recoil management. 
 

She worked hard at it in dry and live. 
 

Now we are doing footwork and stage planning while continuing to refine fundamentals and mechanics. 
 

Because plans are limited by the skill of the shooter. 
 

For myself, I worked a lot of fundamentals because I liked objective metrics and didn’t have time to do a lot of quality matches (and felt it was lower yield at the time emotionally than working on fundamentals). 
 

So now I’m playing catch up and have to dedicate some training design to upping my field course game. 
 

But it seems to be coming together at a good rate of improvement as I get more comfortable and confident with a gun that’s running. 

[perttime]

5 hours ago, -JCN- said:

...

So this is a representative stage. I was happy with the drop step out of the first position, it’s something I’ve been working on for the last couple days.

...

 

Those videos highlight a couple of things where IPSC is different from USPSA.

• IPSC does not allow taking shortcuts: "2.2.1.5 If a COF has a passageway visibly delineated by Fault Lines and/or a clearly demarcated shooting area, any competitor who takes a shortcut by stepping on the ground outside the passageway and/or shooting area will incur one procedural penalty for each shot fired after beginning the shortcut."
• IPSC limits how many shots can be required at a single view: "Course design and construction must not require more than 9 scoring hits from any single location or view."   (unless I missed some possible "views")
• IPSC does not allow placing paper targets upside down.

 

Edited May 15 by perttime

[-JCN-]

V and I continued our fundamentals work at the indoor range before going to my range for field course work. 
 

Good thing too because one of my optics screws needed replacing and V’s front roll pin finally gave up. 
 

 

 

 

 

Replaced it with a solid steel one. Used Rocksett on the Cajun bushing and E6000 to set the pin. 
 

Also tested the Alien against a wall to see if I could induce malfunctions and it worked fine. So was probably FTE before rather than bounce back previously. 
 

At the range, I found my two dropped Alien mags. Also was able to run V through the stage I had set up before and broke down parts of it to try out. 
 

Compared to how I ran it the other day:

 

 

It was nice that we could run it like a postal match on different days and still get comparative data. 
 

It also demonstrates some of the iterative differences between our performance levels. 
 

I’m still a little inexperienced and need more repertoire building, but I feel like the gun is finally in a configuration that I can grow with. 
 

 

.

Edited May 16 by -JCN-

[-JCN-]

 

I think it’s a bargain personally. 
 

I would rather have a range than a remodeled bathroom or landscaping. 

 

I’d rather daily drive a Subaru and have a range than buy a fancy new car every few years and eat more than that in depreciation. 
 

I very much like function over form. 

[-JCN-]

Zeroed at 25 yards over lunch today. 
 

 

Shadow 2 after replacing the barrel

bushing. 
 

 

Alien. 
 

I was on call last night and it was busy. I’m fairly wrecked today. Could use a nap. 

[MHicks]

That's great setting up your own range especially if you can leave things set up. Luckily I belong to two clubs where I have access to full pistol bays to set up whatever  i want. I have my own target stands and various steel but can also use our clubs equipment if I need to. 

 

I don't set up full stages but I'll set up a couple different arrays  to practice. I have a USPSA  sized minipopper that's on a base and spring loaded so you can shoot it multiple times. I mostly shoot matches though and am not practicing that much. Having fun. 

[-JCN-]

IDPA Alien

 

Frankenalien for IDPA

 

Limited Optic Alien. 
With Creator 500 slim backstrap. 
Creator magwell. 
Retro hammer and rail. 

Retro mags. 
 

G21 holster heat modified 

 

 

 

 

Fits in the box. Makes weight. 

[-JCN-]

Ordered more dental picks. 
 

I feel like having an auto forwarding slide is important for IDPA. 
 

Alien slide stops are a known weak / wear item. 
 

I also wonder if it’s the very heavy stock recoil spring most people use that contributes. 
 

So far, even trying to slide release my primary gun as often as I can, it’s still too positive of an engagement. 
 

I usually Dremel engagement surfaces rather than wait for them to break in. 
 

For CZs I will often recut the engagement to make it more positive when it starts slipping. 
 

I don’t know that there’s room on the Alien lever. 
 

When we were racing, I would order multiple tools and make separate task specific kits. Like I had a bag for sway bars and a bag for brakes. 
 

Rather than put them back in a larger tool box every time when I didn’t use 90% of the other sockets and tools. 
 

So I have probably 20 of the 10, 12, 14 and 17mm wrenches and sockets. 
 

To that end, I do that with gun tools too. 
 

I ordered three more sets of dental picks today to help with this project. 

[-JCN-]

I used a small straight pick to push out the retaining pin. 
 

 

This is the slide lock surface. 
 

 

It’s about as thin as a Glock engagement.

[-JCN-]

This plastic cart works great. 
 

 

It’s not heavy duty enough for durable use but pulls well and is super light weight. 
 

Wheels are easily removable. 
 

 

Can pack it in a checked bag or use it as a carry on cart (removing wheels if they get cranky about dimensions). 

 

[-JCN-]

Anecdotal data:

 

Simple versus detailed. 
 

“I heard that Alien slide stops wear out quickly.”

 

Conclusion: they wear out quickly 

 

When I hear something like that, my mind immediately begins to flesh out details because most situations are conditional.
 

I tried to think of the model more in depth about the competing forces that lead to the issue and then see if I can mitigate one part or the other.

 

My best understanding at this point is that the very stiff factory recoil spring and the ammo that is recommended by the manufacturer causes battering and wear of a number of parts and makes it less shootable for me.

 

With the softer setup overall that I prefer, it’s actually too easy on the slide stop and despite >5k rounds on the gun and as many slide lock drops as I could do… it still looks pretty new. 
 

The engagement angle is still very sharp and the engagement is still very positive.

 

 

So I swapped one off a different gun, but before I did, I ground down the engagement angle similar to what I know from experience on CZ slide locks  

 

 

It is pretty perfect right now, it might be too far gone when it wears in. Slide still will lock back on empty.
 

I am confident that I can sharpen the angle and recondition it when it slips past, similar to what I learned on CZs from experimentation. 
 

As an aside in learning about the alien platform, I think one of the keys that I was missing was really decarbonizing and scrubbing the crap out of the piston chamber. 
 

Also with my C4 bore mop chamber flag, it has the side benefit of keeping the gas chamber and piston cleaner.

 

This is noticeably less chunky than it would’ve been at the same round count. 
 

 

It makes sense that I am mopping crud that would have ended up on the piston.

 

.

Edited May 18 by -JCN-

[-JCN-]

V is now beating legacy B class shooters at matches. We need to work on fundamentals to get to a higher level, but she doesn’t have any particular weaknesses. Her (our) stage planning and execution is also improving with less errors. 
 

I’m still improving in comfort with the gun and in my planning. With more skills lab time, things should keep coming along. 
 

The screws I’m using in the 507 comp are soft and the left one backed out again. 

[-JCN-]

 

 

We are working on consistency and not on luck. 
 

I feel like this is helping my game as well, not getting sucked into chasing “hero or zero” anything. 
 

Just what I (we) can do on demand, reproducibly. 
 

I was having beers with a racing buddy and explaining that working with V helps me walk the walk. 
 

I don’t do anything that I wouldn’t recommend for someone training up. 
 

I would never recommend that she try and make A or M by reshooting every classifier and zeroing out errored runs. 
 

It’s also more satisfying to climb up the match results in her class than not be able to back up her classification. 

Edited May 19 by -JCN-

[-JCN-]

V shot her first steel challenge match. 
 

 

She made A class RFPO with one stage at M level. 
 

For me it was good to tune up my Alien trigger presses at speed. 
 

I like Steel Challenge as a complementary skills lab to USPSA. 

[-JCN-]

I like Steel Challenge for wobble feedback at speed. It gives you immediate feedback on your trigger presses if you’re going at the speeds you need to go. 
 

It’s something that we don’t get a lot of training on in USPSA because we tend to park more on doubles. 
 

I could train myself on just random steel on a range, but Steel Challenge has the extra consistency component. You’re really allowed only a single miss in 25 shots. That’s much different training focus than USPSA typically.
 

It also has a consistent metric and performance standard so you / I can’t pat myself on the back for a mediocre run. 

[-JCN-]

On our Steel Challenge squad there was a guy. He was a little bit of a negative Nancy. I don’t know if he was feeling insecure and that’s how he was manifesting it. But he was one of those guys… every comment and word out of his mouth was kind of accusatory and just made your face wrinkle a little bit. 
 

He also authoritatively gave V advice and opinions even though he was a C class shooter. 
 

One of his opinions stated as fact: “Steel makes you sloppy.”

 

I had to interject at that point and comment that it’s true… if you’re going slowly and don’t shot call. 
 

Later on in the match, a guy I’m friendly with turned to me in frustration (he’s stuck in B class) and said “what am I doing wrong?”

 

So I gave him some specific advice about keeping the gun in motion but transitioning slower to prevent having to start / stop on each target. Basically slow ambush if the trigger press is good. 
 

He had a significant improvement in his performance. I didn’t think much of it but he kept joking “why didn’t you tell me sooner!!” after every stage. 
 

I told him “you never asked (before).”

 

Negative Nancy guy piped up and said “he won’t give you advice when you start beating him.”

 

My friend said “I don’t think that’ll happen…”

 

But again I felt compelled to say something. 
 

I turned around and told neg Nancy, “The sport is like golf for me. I’m going to beat myself and I want everyone else to do the best they can. Even if he was beating me, I’d still do everything I could to help him.”

 

That to me is sportsmanship. I understand that it could be different for people doing this as a career and profession. But for me, the people and community matter. 
 

I’m getting older and will eventually fall off in performance. Just like family, eventually all you have left are the relationships. Nobody cares about your peak performance down the road. The relationships are the legacy, not the plastic trophies or bragging rights. 
 

IMO. 

 

Took a couple hours off work to go to my daughter’s school thing. 
 

[Farmer]

I always figured in any sport there will always be someone better than you. I have run across many “negative Nancy’s” and most of the time they are trying to cover up their own insecurities. You know, arm chair quarterbacks.  I must say that looking back on V’s earlier runs she has improved quite a bit in her movements. She still seems cautious but seems to be getting through the course smoother. Take my observation for what you pay for it as I am definitely not a pro, just a casual observer, and things can look different from video to real life. Keep up the good work.