Revolver? Die on the vine?

[-JCN-]

Follow up from Laugo is that all the springs I have are standard. But there was apparently a lighter one included in the signature as a spare. I’ll have to go fish for it. 
 

But good to know that all ship with standard ones. 

[-JCN-]

Well, whaddya know. 
 

 

Found the lighter spring hidden in the box. 
 

Went to the range to test and tune a little more. 
 

I was going to reduce the spring further but thought I would run some Can You Count half strings. 
 

 

First string, I couldn’t hear the par beep very well with all the indoor noise so was slow on the jump. 
 

Second string was more representative. 
 

Struggled a little bit with post reload timing. I still feel like the spring is just on the border of what I’m able to keep up with. 
 

My happy vision tracking is about 0.15s. The way the gun is set up it feels like the resonant split is 0.13-14. 
 

I might leave it the way it is and try and work up to it. 
 

 

After I ran those two strings… I realized my dot wasn’t turned on. 
 

I “saw what I needed to see” and my “go” vision isn’t slaved to the red dot. 
 

For the people who think red dots are slower than irons… they just might be overcomfirming at speed. 
 

This string is on track for where I’m trying to go. Outdoors, I can cut time off the draw by being able to hear the beep better. 
 

.

Edited March 6 by -JCN-

[-JCN-]

Those were the only shots I fired tonight. 
 

If I added the strings together without excuses it winds up being:
 

 

I have run this as a drill enough times to know that outdoors it’d be faster. 
 

My CO times are consistently faster if people were wondering if the gun was responsible for the performance. 
 

At this point, the gun and I aren’t quite harmonious. Will keep working to see if we can come to terms. 
 

 

[-JCN-]

I'm old and creaky. But I'm going to try to stay in the sport as long as I can. Going to a higher tier IDPA major match, I saw people way older than me still executing well and smoothly... experience in the sport still counts for something.

 

I figure I have a few more good years in USPSA before injury or joints turn it into more of a social sport for me. Helping V improve and get up to speed in the sport makes me feel like there's more meaning in making the most of my remaining USPSA time.

 

I have my "retirement" plans already set up... IDPA, Steel Challenge, 22LR stuff.

 

 

I was thinking of that this morning getting out of bed. I have to stretch and do my arm weights to prevent injury and stay flexible enough. When I was younger, I worked out to look good. 

 

Now I do it for self preservation, haha. If I don't do my PT, I think the end of my shooting hobby would come around a lot quicker.

 

[-JCN-]

I need to stop being a chicken s#!t, haha.

 

I really should test a lighter recoil spring setup... in the name of learning and education!

 

The gun is running well now and I wanted to test how long I could go just brushing chamber without failure, so I didn't want to change parameters... but man, I feel like there's more on the table in the tuning with my mechanics.

 

I'm having to work a little too hard in the current setup.

 

I ordered some of the lighter recoil springs, so that really should mean I should be free to experiment with what I have... but I'm hesitant. Sometimes if something's good enough, more is NOT better....

 

Maybe I'll get up the nerve to get off my ass and do it today.

 

I also ordered some more "Creator" 17 round mags. That's what I used on the Can You Count runs and disassembly for cleaning is really easy. I might just standardize on those for reloads and classifiers.

 

Right now I'm using converted original mags with P10 base pads for classifier work because I only had 3 of the Creator mags (and I like keeping dry and live classifier mags). 

 

I can convert the classifier mags back to original basepads so I can use them for IDPA (the Creators don't fit in the box). I thought about getting 10 round mags to not have to count rounds on reloading IDPA mags. But their 10 round solution is pretty cheesy (drilled mags with bolts through the base).

 

I'm at 400 rounds on the LO Alien without anything but chamber brushing and oiling. I'll see if I can preserve the ecosystem with some minor additional recoil tuning.

 

I routinely cut springs for things that need softening. But one thing to be mindful of is the shortened length. For springs that are way longer than the RSA or the space, it's usually not an issue. But there can be a point where too short doesn't allow enough force at the end of the stroke and can get FTRB and the like. It's a reason why dual recoil springs work so well. You can get a "helper" spring to finish the stroke and also add more spring tension without running out of physical space.

 

I had a project where I ground down a P10s to fit a BUG box. I had to cut off the recoil assembly spring retaining cuff and dual spring recoil was absolutely necessary with the shortened space.

 

[-JCN-]

This was the P10 project. 
 

 

I drilled and pinned to make a RSA retention shelf. 
 

 

The boogers are E6000 that I used to add some friction to the pins. 

[-JCN-]

The reason why I mentioned limitations of cut springs is that the lightened Alien spring has more coils than the standard spring, but the overall uncompressed length is shorter… but both are way longer than the stroke on the assembly (so probably doesn’t matter). 
 

I don’t know if compressed length matters (in terms of frame battering, etc). 
 

It’s like how shock buffers in Shadow 2s affect stroke and terminal impact of slide to frame. 

[perttime]

What PF are you getting with the Alien? I'm told that the gas retarded action loses some power, compared with the currently conventional designs. I also seem to recall that it is factory setup for a round with 8 gram (124 or 125gr) bullets.

[-JCN-]

1 hour ago, perttime said:

What PF are you getting with the Alien? I'm told that the gas retarded action loses some power, compared with the currently conventional designs. I also seem to recall that it is factory setup for a round with 8 gram (124 or 125gr) bullets.

I don’t know yet, but I’m sure it’ll still be way over PF. 
 

Syntech typically has lots of margin over minimum. I think it usually runs 140+ PF in a Shadow 2. 
 

It makes sense that the velocity might suffer a little because you basically have an early popple hole in the chamber that bleeds off pressure and less gas to drive the bullet. 

I’ll chrono sometime when I settle on a cartridge. 
 

I have my skepticism on any claims centered around a bullet weight without a qualification of powder speed and type which I’d think might matter as much or more than the weight of projectile. 
 

But I could see it being a thing if it was related to a shorter bullet and passing the port timing. 
 

I’m also somewhat skeptical of general recommendations as they’re usually geared towards the less experienced end user. 
 

If you run very hot 124 and clean every shooting session, I’m sure you’d reduce malfunctions… but as a gamer, I’m personally going to first center around the cartridge and see if I can make it work. 
 

They don’t recommend poly coated bullets either… but I’m at 400 rounds with just a chamber brushing and some slide oiling. 
 

This might be one of those situations where I have to correct my working hypothesis later… but for now it’s promising. 

 

[-JCN-]

Hmm. I’m not sure. I ran a few hundred rounds and the lighter spring may work. 
 

But I’m still not jiving with it. It’s not matching up the way I would like. 
 

Will keep at it and see what I can notice. 
 

 

[-JCN-]

Just chewing and stewing and trying to process variables. 
 

Sometimes lack of predictable muzzle rise is bad and some rise is easier to track. 
 

This comes into play with compensator tuning, too efficient of a comp makes it hard to get in tune with the gun movement. 
 

I wonder if the low bore axis sets the gun up for that issue. 
 

I also think that the weaker the spring, the more apt to malfunction. 
 

I’m concerned I’m getting to minimal reserve in the system before malfunctioning. 
 

That was the issue I had with MPXs

trying to use super weak ammo. Just not enough margin in the system. 
 

I might try to cut more from the standard spring. I liked the dot tracking better with it over the lightened factory spring, but it was hard to do sustained strings of shots. 
 

 

[-JCN-]

Also follow up from Laugo was that all top rails have the same hammer spring (3.5# trigger pull) but there’s a “match” spring that gives a 2.5# pull. 
 

I might look into modifying those springs, but I feel like the 3.5# is light enough because the pull and reset is so short. 

[-JCN-]

Okay, found a combination that I think I can work with. It'll be a cut standard spring shooting 130gr Syntech.

 

I tried different combinations of cut springs and ammo... this is what I feel tracks the best.

 

I still think that the Shadow 2 that I have optimized is more intuitive but I have a lot of rounds downrange on that system.

 

I'm going to stick with this for now and do some baseline testing.

[-JCN-]

On coaching and students:

 

I like the part from the Charlie Perez book that says something like “if you want to be a GM, you have to be a GM student of yourself.”

 

The better someone is as a student (I think), the less external instructional effort they need (I think).

 

I learned how to shoot mainly from online videos and programs. I haven’t taken in person classes. I never touched a gun before December 2015 and mainly did self study for the first couple years and started USPSA in 2019.

 

But I love learning and spent as much time learning as much as possible about as many systems as I could. I want to be well rounded and well educated.

 

Instead of being frustrated when things didn’t work, I took it as an opportunity to learn how to trouble shoot.

 

That’s how I am as a person. I love learning and love learning how things work.

 

My student V is the same way. She started shooting pistols in mid-2022 and self-studied through YouTube. She started dry firing in 2023 and decided she wanted to try out competition shooting.

 

We met October 2023 at a match and I offered to help her out a little.

 

It turned out to be a great partnership and mutually beneficial.

 

My opinion on coaching is that it can’t get someone to a point they wouldn’t have gotten to otherwise, but it can get them there faster.

 

It’s great because I usually only have to tell her something once and she internalizes and implements it. That is extremely rare in a student.

 

As with a lot of difficult concepts, some things require explanation more than once at different levels of development. That’s expected. But the level of autonomy she can execute with context and direction provided by me is impressive.

 

I don’t think she has a terminal limit. Some people I can see and tell they’ll top out at C or B. Sometimes A or M.

 

For her, I think performance A on demand will be there within 12 months and if continues to work, performance M the subsequent year.

 

B class was too low of a target, IMO.

 

It’s great because I can see exactly what she needs and where she’s losing efficiency and correct it. She goes to dry and then works out the kinks.

 

Remember the Can You Count string she did at 4.67s twelve days ago?

 

With our reload practice and some tweaks, here’s where she is… less than two weeks later.

 

 

3.89s half string is an A class time.

 

 

It’s not bomb proof and we need to work on reproducibility, but it starts with the component parts. 

 

We’ve been working on weak parts of her game to make them strengths.

 

There are different philosophies to “make a classification.”

 

Some people try and leverage their strengths and are able to log enough classifiers that play to their strengths and throw out ones that don’t.

 

But I personally take classifiers as a target to deconstruct “what is a GM performance…” on close draws, close splits, transitions, reloads, weak hand, table start, distance, etc.

 

That way I can tell what my weaknesses are and I can work to make them… not weaknesses.

 

It’s perfectly valid to have the classifiers match your skills, but for me I want to be a well rounded shooter and tuner / gunsmith.

 

It’s just what makes me happy.

 

So working with a student like V… it also makes me happy knowing that I’m helping, but also that she doesn’t really need the help.

 

She’s having the kind of rapid progress that we see from self-motivated self-assessing students and I don’t think there’s a limit to her potential.

 

This journal is as much about her progress as it is mine. 

 

.

Edited March 8 by -JCN-

[-JCN-]

SQUIRREL!!!!

 

So there is going to be an IDPA 5x5 classifier next month. I might try and go full circle and classify in revolver and possibly BUG.

 

 

Classification in IDPA (and Steel Challenge) only tests a very limited subset of skills, but it's still something.

 

I like the USPSA classification database because it is so robust. You can find a classifier to test almost any combination of skill and then cross index the fundamentals to deconstruct how you should be performing on any particular sub skill. It takes time to round out the game, so that you can step up to any classifier and do about what you "should" do.

 

Question is what should I pick for the revolver classifier.

 

929 is not legal. 986 is a good option (7 shot doesn't work for IDPA matches, but would for a classifier).

 

Reloads are going to be much easier on the 625, but it's 45 ACP and I'm not sure I'll be able to handle the recoil... but it's at least semi-slow fire.

 

I might do some feasibility testing....

 

 

 

 

 

[-JCN-]

I’m still kicking around the idea of secondary projects… but trying to get a sense of how much motivation, time and effort I have available. 
 

For me, it’s a hard balance of what is motivating versus what is distracting. 
 

In a hobby / recreational endeavor personal fun and entertainment really still matters. 
 

I’m finding myself slacking on gun handling stuff with the Alien. The question is whether I should force focus or allow side projects. 

I still would rather be “pretty good” in a lot of things over “excellent” in just one thing. 
 

I think. Maybe there’s some ego creeping in? Taking the easy way out? I’ll have to think about it a little. 

 

[-JCN-]

I have a secondary belt rig coming today to clone my LO belt setup. That might help my dry practice. If I can find my other AMG commander that might help too. 

[-JCN-]

Confirmed these are identical to what comes in the ghost mag pouches. 
 

 

Used the M6x8mm. 
 

Set up a second belt for home dry practice. 
 

 

Weighing the lighter bullets so I can match my dry dummy mags to my match mags. 
 

 

Did some reloading practice too, but timer doesn’t pick up the hammer drop over seating the mag so will have to be a little creative in logging practice. 
 

 

Edited March 10 by -JCN-

[-JCN-]

I set up some of my bread and butter dry fire drills and man, I’m rusty and a little bit sloppy with the new platform. 
 

That’s kind of motivating….

 

Having the lower barrier to do full out dry fire with draws and reloads with the second belt… it’s going to pay off. 
 

It always has in the past. 
 

These days because busy, I’ve just been grabbing the gun and doing movement. 
 

But I’m going to need a fundamentals tune up if I’m going to get the most out of the new platform. 

[-JCN-]

It's kind of interesting going through training with a new platform.

 

I've kind of been through this before with PCC after doing pistol first.

 

I trained PCC classification goals as objective efficiency benchmarks to learn efficient recoil control, shooting on the move and rapidly accurate transitions. It wasn't for the purpose of getting a classification in PCC, it was to have stringent comprehensive training standards. Getting the classification was a nice confirmation of skills (like finishing a marathon), but nobody external really cares. It was for my own satisfaction.

 

One of my proudest moments was digging deep at a classifier match and hundoing the last two stages... one was an all movement stage and the other was a traditional stand and reload stage. It felt really good to be able to perform on different types of skills and not just rely on my traditional strengths.

 

But it was interesting coming from a pistol background where I could already execute those things at a high level. It was a fun endeavor to adapt and learn how certain parts carried over, but others didn't.

 

What did carry over was my training and learning process. I knew what worked for pistol so it cut a lot of learning curve off when I went to PCC.

 

I think that's what I'll see here with LO.

 

The supporting evidence is how rapidly V is progressing with the same curriculum that I swear by.

 

Training for me is a little different too, this time. I'm going more for reproducibility rather than max speed or high risk / high reward. It seems doable, but it'll take a little modification of my process.

 

That's why partnering up with V is such a good match. It's testing what I'm recommending to her and we both are benefitting.

[-JCN-]

My hope is that if anyone reads this journal (and not sure that anyone does), they can benefit from seeing the process and how much active thought goes into the hours of physical work. 

 

I think different people learn differently, but sometimes people don't know what they don't know and chalk it up to hours logged or natural aptitude when they success in others.

 

I like to think of it as "smart" work rather than "hard" work.

 

I don't have much to prove at this stage in my life. I'm a middle aged dude with a family I adore. I like learning and I like improving. Objective hobbies have been great for my mental health and that's my main purpose. I don't need to beat anyone and I don't need to win.

 

That's historically been the draw for me to things with robust objective standards... I'm competing against myself and my preparation, not against others. So Steel Challenge, USPSA Classifiers, etc... those are enjoyable to me.

 

 

[-JCN-]

I went to the range today and tried out some IDPA revolver. Didn’t go well. 
 

Would be more effort than I’m willing to do at this point so I’m abandoning side projects. 
 

I have enough to work on with the LO Alien. 
 

Still trying to jive with it. Still debating between the 130 and 150 Syntech. 
 

I’m still having difficulty working out the grip pressure and stance for sustained maximum recoil control. 
 

Brushing the chamber without cleaning has been working well. Occasional oiling of the barrel as the RSA slides on it. 
 

I’m above 1k rounds now. Still haven’t cleaned the gas system. 
 

No recent malfunctions. 
 

As mentioned. I’m partially taking on the LO Alien to work on things that I’m teaching V. 
 

Things I can do and take for granted in the Shadow 2 system. 
 

Doing similar work with V. 
 

Recoil management (splits/transitions) are such a fundamental skill that accuracy at speed builds upon. 
 

Still working on it. 
 

For me too.

 

.

Edited March 9 by -JCN-

[-JCN-]

The Humble Marksman video popped up in my feed. 
 

When he compares the Alien to others, IMO it should really be compared NO-thumb rest to guns without thumb rests. 
 

To that end, I wonder if it might actually be easier to time without the thumb rest to allow more predictable muzzle climb and gun movement. 
 

I’ll put one of my other rails on it so I don’t have to unbolt the thumb rest to compare. 
 

.

Edited March 9 by -JCN-

[-JCN-]

The more I think of it, the more I feel that on-demand M is a better goal for me than a peak higher classification goal.

 

It allows for vagaries of difficult and easy classifiers.

 

It’s more representative of the kind of shooter I want to be and takes some of the luck out of it and reinforces reliability.

 

It’s one of the reasons I like Steel Challenge. Anyone can luck into a good string… but to do it 4 of 5 times on demand? Another level of performance.

 

In terms of equipment, I still may experiment with slimmer rear backstrap (I have one for the Creator) which might allow better ergos for trigger reset. There are also lighter trigger and hammer modifications….

 

I’m going to try sticking with what I have for now (because replacement parts are limited) but if I can’t work it out with practice, I’ll think about changing it.

 

I don’t think it’ll come into play for anything but classifiers though. 

[-JCN-]

Going to experiment with less aggressive thumb rest positioning today. To try and see if I can let the gun move more and if that helps timing and tracking.