Ironequalizer

[IronEqualizer]

10-18-11

Results of Sunday's match. 10th overall out of 77 shooters, 3rd Limited behind 2 strong A shooters. I am looking forward to closing that gap soon. I need to clean up my shooting a little more and avoid a few errors. No excuse for 1 mike into hard cover and another stage with a mike no shoot hurt. Looks like I posted a 79% on the classifier for my first Limited classifier.

Edited October 19, 2011 by IronEqualizer

[IronEqualizer]

10-19-11

Dry Fired 15 mins.

Worked on stepping in draws.

Live Fired. 250rnds .22LR

Worked on stage breakdown and movement during live fire. One of the big things I noticed today is that I don't think I charge to the next position. I had about a 10yd movement before I would come into a target to shoot on the approach. I had to make a conscious effort to really charge to the point where I could shoot it coming in. First few runs I just kinda trotted over there at the same speed I would be shooting the target on the move. I will to continue to make an effort to improve on this.

[IronEqualizer]

10-20-11

Dry fired 30 mins.

Worked on stepping in draws. Did some SH/WH. Practice was smooth but lacked structure. I need to plan my practice sessions in dry fire as well as live fire.

Live fired. 200 rnds. .22LR

Shot the plate racks just working on transitions and did quite a bit of SH/WH. Very impromptu practice. Same as dry fire. The past couple of live fire practices I really did not have a plan. They have both been with .22LR so when I go back to the .45 I will work on tight shots and distance shots.

[IronEqualizer]

10-21-11

Dry fired 30 mins.

Ran a mini stage shooting while coming into position, popper on the last shot of an array before a reload moving toward the final target. Dry fire continues to go fairly smoothly but after 15 mins I have to force myself to remain focused. I may need to switch things up and do some of Anderson's drill with the par times again. What I am doing, I feel is good practice but there is no goal without a par.

Finished with some SH/WH drills and I feel like I am seeing improvement in this area.

[IronEqualizer]

10-22-11

Dry fired 15 mins.

Did nothing but 6-reload-6 this morning. I started with no par and when I went to using the par time I would miss reloads, screw up the draw, etc. The time thing gets in my head. I am smoking past par times so I don't know why the clock gets in my head. I will work on this mental aspect and try to start having a smooth focus.

SNL basepad called it quits this morning. Dropping on concrete in the garage took it toll and it split down one side. This one was screwed up already and had tape holding the sliding take down bar closed. I am debating on what to do next. I can put some original base pads on the one I let drop and see how long that lasts, do most loads on a rug or mat, or see how long another SNL lasts.

[DrawandDuck]

Get you a cardboard box, cut down the sides and put some blankets or sheets in it.....that should make for a soft landing....

[IronEqualizer]

Get you a cardboard box, cut down the sides and put some blankets or sheets in it.....that should make for a soft landing....

I have done that before and found myself aiming for the box on reloads. I got pretty good at it (hitting the box that is) but not what I want to focus on. Most of the drills I have been doing have me reloading while leaving an array to another target so most are moving reloads.

I changed the one I drop to an original STI basepad and the plastic seems to absorb the hit better. I am dropping a mag with 2 rounds in it so it isn't that heavy. When I put the STI basepad on I saw that the mag lip that holds the basepad in place had sheared off. I have the STI basepad taped on good and it functions well enough for my purpose, and I have a bunch of them.

[IronEqualizer]

10-23-11

Dry fired 15 mins.

Worked on El Prez quite a bit and some 6 reload 6. I am still fighting the pulling off on the last shot thing. I noticed in several times on El Prez.

10-24-11

Dry fired 15 mins.

Worked on coming into position shooting on a partial with a no shoot, then to an array of 3 paper and 2 poppers, reloading leaving position to 1 more paper. I wanted to practice really seeing the sights on the partial coming in even though it is a fairly easy shot and close. I put one in hard cover coming in at the last match and did not call it or make it up. It was a 5 yd target so I gave those points away. I was less than an 1/8 of an inch from cutting the scoring zone but it just didn't make it. I want to see the sights on all my targets no matter how easy. I should be seeing something.

[IronEqualizer]

10-25-11

Dry fired 30 mins.

Ran 2 different mini stages in dry fire. The first had shots on a hard lean around a barricade then 2 more paper while moving to the last paper.

The second mini stage had me coming in on a close partial then popper, 3 paper, popper, then reload to the last paper on the move.

I was very pleased with all of my dry fire tonight. Everything felt precise and smooth. I wonder if this is the difference between later in the day and 5am dry fire?

Live fired 200 rnds.

Shot 1 group each FS/SH/WH from 18 yds.

Ran a 13 rnd all falling steel stage of 10 US poppers and 3 8" plates. Started with 6 poppers in a row at 17 yds then the others were from 10 to 15 yds around walls and through ports. Re-visited a valuable lesson that I already knew. The more shots you take (especially on steel) the longer your time will be. When I ran this right I would be 4 to 5 seconds faster than with lots of make up shots. Several times I would be taking off and not hit the last plate of a position and have to settle back in for the shot. Big time waster. I need to remember some advice I saw by BE about making certain targets key targets. The ones to really focus on and make sure to be smooth on the trigger pull.

I finished with 4 runs on El Presidente.

1. 5.46 -8 = 88.17%

2. 5.21 -2 = 100%

3. 5.07 -2 = 100%

4. 4.92 -4 = 100%

Funny thing is, is on the last 3 runs I really didn't feel like I was pushing it very much. I was shooting a steady run, seeing the sights, smooth reload, and then watching the sights bounce up and down in the A zone again. I am thinking the hit factor on this is just way screwed. GM's should be running this in under 4.

Edited October 26, 2011 by IronEqualizer

[IronEqualizer]

10-26-11

Live fired 200 rnds. .22 LR

I ran the same all falling steel mini stage as yesterday but today without the 8" plates. Just 10 US poppers because the .22 magazines only hold 10 rnds. I wanted to check the times on one position by running it two different ways and see which was better. The first way was to shoot a popper while moving into the 2nd position and then shoot another popper from there. I could see both poppers from the 2nd position but wanted to see which was faster, shooting it on the move coming into position, or charging to the 2nd position and shooting them both static. Static won every time consistently by .5 secs. Shooting on the move I was taking the popper from about 12 or 13 yds out going straight into it. Static was at about 11 yds but I was getting the shot off as I was settling into position versus slowing a yard or so further out to get the hit. I just had to slow down for that .5 secs to get the hit on the move. I really need to bank this information and know where to use it. I need to know the difference of where to shoot targets on the move versus where to charge to a position and shoot static.

[IronEqualizer]

10-27-11

Live fired 150 rnds. .22LR

I worked on a mini stage of 6 - 8" plates in a 4 position stage. I felt really good today and accuracy was good. I was going 6 for 6 on most runs. I did learn that a make up on static steel when you start to pull away and must re-aquire the target, that it costs me about .8 secs. I also learned that knowing the exact position of key targets, angle, height, etc. can save real time on a stage. Key targets would be the first one in a new position or one that I can not see periphally while engaging another. This became very apparent this practice, I guess because the targets I was using were small and it multiplied this factor.

I had a kaboom round today. A total case head separation. I am not sure if it was a bad round or if just not cleaning the gun in like 1500 rnds caused a lot of copper fouling in the barrel and caused pressures to build too high. I think the gun is ok but is was unpleasant and I am glad it was only a .22LR.

[IronEqualizer]

10-28-11

Live fired 200 rnds.

Cast about 2500 .40s this morning. I have almost a 5 gallon bucket full now, which is 10 or 11,000. Maybe one more good morning of casting will fill the bucket.

I practiced on CM 99-21 Mini Mart and a mini stage on the 10 US poppers.

CM 99-21

5.16 -4 92.44%

5.03 -3 96.34%

5.77 -1 86.92%

5.42 -3 89.40%

5.45 -3 88.91%

I had about 4 more runs that I tanked. Most was because of the reload. When my gear is laying around on the table I will practice picking the gun up and inserting a mag but never do I practice a reload from the table. This bit my several times.

I was fairly dissapointed with my performances on the mini stage. I had some decent runs but most were plagued with misses and make up shots. The worst was pulling off on the last one from the first position. I have to find a way to cure this. I also felt that I blasted a lot more today than when I was running the .22. I remember taking my time to get my hits with the .22 but today I felt like I actually aimed less. I wonder if it is because yesterday I felt like I had limited capacity in the gun.

[IronEqualizer]

10-29-11

Live fired. 400 rnds. .22LR

Practiced on the same 10 US popper array as yesterday. Engaged them a little different than yesterday but pretty much was the same. The first few runs I had several misses but I dialed it in and things went really well. I engaged one set of targets from a distance static, and then after 2 quick steps toward them and then slowing to shoot them on the move headed straight into them . Shooting on the move saved me about .4 on this set up. The targets were not that difficult headed straight for them.

I am wondering if dealing with recoil is what is causing me to have worse runs with the limited gun. I know it will obviously slow me down but why I am less accurate?

I finished practice shooting 6 US poppers in a row at 10 yds just screwing around. I had to start from the high ready with the .22. I ran the first few runs a little over 2 secs. 2.3ish. I challenged myself to get to under 2 secs before I would leave. I had a blast doing this. Just having fun. I had several runs that were in the 1.9s with the lowest being 1.94.

[IronEqualizer]

10-30-11

Dry fired 15 mins.

Live fired 200 rnds. .45ACP

Live fired 150 rnds. .22LR

Dry fire I ran a mini stage with 2 barricades, coming into position behind a barricade shooting a target on the way in.

Live fire I ran the mini stage on the 10 US poppers. Accuracy was much better than the previous practice on these with the limited gun. I was only loading 10 in each mag so maybe I had a different mindset than before. I checked the times on the initial 6 poppers in row, still from 10 yds, and I was getting them down in just under 3 secs with a draw. I was happy with that.

I switched to the 22/45 and continued the same stage. I was running about 1.5 secs faster with the 22/45. That is close to my draw with the limited gun on a 10yd popper. I think my draws were running around 1.3ish. I hope I can assume correctly that the practice with the .22 is still good solid learning practice.

[IronEqualizer]

10-31-11

Dry fired 30 mins.

Live fired 200 rnds. .22LR

Dry fire this morning I worked on a couple of Anderson's plate drills. Big thing I noticed was how lazy I was on the transitions in the beginning. I felt like I was really dragging the gun during the plate transition drill. I need to remember to run a variety of drills week to week to avoid this, no matter how boring they can be.

Second dry fire session this afternoon I worked solely on 6 reload 6. My par from about 1 1/2 months ago was 4.5 secs. Today I was hitting under 4 secs but not consistently. I was blowing the 4.5 out of the water so I bumped it down to 4 but then I found myself pushing to beat the time instead of just performing the drill. I knew what I was doing so I moved it back and finshed out the excercise.

Live fire I just shot the plate rack from about 22 yds. I was really surprised at how little trouble I had on this. I moved to the 10yd line for a few mags and it was like shooting at 5 gal buckets. The last couple of runs I blew as I started focusing solely on speed again. I moved back to 22 yds again finished from there.

I had a thought today on the way in to work. I need to go back and review my practice session notes at the end of the month and use that to set what to work on the following month.

[IronEqualizer]

From Octobers practices I pulled these things to focus on, practice, keep doing, whatever, during November.

1. Limit static draws in dryfire. Start with toes on marks doing a stepping in the shooting area draw.

2. Work on more precise foot placement in live fire. Avoid shuffling around to engage targets.

3. Work on follow through on the last shot of an array. Use the phrase key target during walk through to help with this.

4. Continue to work on tight shots in dryfire. Head shots, small plates, no shoots in close.

5. Continue to practice classifers weekly with a goal of 90% on them.

6. Practice stages with no shoots forcing head shots and 1/2 A zones.

7. Practice hard lean shots and getting back out of these positions.

8. Distance accuracy. Practice at 20 yds and beyond.

9. Work on going one for one on steel. Have visual patience while engaging steel.

10. Practice visualizing target positions in walkthroughs. Know the angle, height, presentation of targets.

11. Practice reloads with mags on the table.

12. Group shooting. 15 and 25yds. FS/SH/WH.

13. Work on continuing to charge to the next position.

14. Start using video to critique technique.

[IronEqualizer]

11-1-11

Dry fired 45 mins.

Worked on nothing but 6 reload 6 doing all head shots. After a few runs on this I really got in the zone on this. So much so that I did a full 30 mins on it.

Did this for another 15 mins this afternoon and it went ok but nothing like it felt this morning. This morning everything just seemed precise like the sights were always where they needed to be and the reloads were ultra smooth. I was being very visual as I clearly could see the inside of the magwell and the dot there on every reload. Even at full speed on the reloads I felt like I was looking in the magwell for several seconds. I guess I was processing everything more quickly. It felt good.

[IronEqualizer]

11-2-11

Live fired 200 rnds. .22LR

Started out running a stage set with 10 - 8" plates. I was not doing real well on this so I switched to running on the 10 US poppers. I did better on these but felt like I was shooting on feel alone. I would shoot a run and do ok but not remember even seeing the sights. I will attribute this to fatigue from working last night and not sleeping at all today. I will try to run the same array of 8" plates tomorrow to see if rest makes a difference.

[IronEqualizer]

11-3-11

Live fired 550 rnds. .22LR

Worked on 2 mini stages today focusing on movement and target acquisition coming into a new position. 1 stage with 8” plates and 1 with US poppers. Worked quite a bit shooting a couple of poppers on the move coming into position. The stage with the 8” plates was hard. I had 1 or 2 misses on most runs, more on others, and few clean runs. Most targets were 15 to 17 yds out.

I am really starting to realize how much time I waste shuffling my feet engaging targets instead of getting into the correct position the first time and shooting more from 1 spot. I am also realizing how much time I waste not knowing the exact position of targets coming into position. This is all improving. It is slow going finding .10 here and .10 there. I hope this starts to transfer to match day soon.

[IronEqualizer]

11-4-11

Live fired 200 rnds. .45acp

Live fired 50 rnds .22LR

Worked on a 17 round stage today. All paper had hard cover and 3 US poppers. Overall movement felt pretty good but there was one target in the set up that I can not figure out why I had so many mikes on. The hard cover went from the upper left shoulder angled down across the A zone with half the A zone still exposed. Engagement was from about 14yds through a 12x12 port. I had an occasional mike into hard cover on some of the other targets but this one on almost every run I had 1 if not 2 mikes on it into hard cover. Most shots were about 1 inch low into the hard cover. I even called 1 shot low, made it up and still had 2 mikes on it. I will check zero next time I practice and see how that is. The only other thing about this particular target was the angle of the sun while engaging it. I was getting a bad glare at first and thought that may be causing some of it, but then I put a hat on and still was throwing mikes. The glare was still there but not as bad. Maybe I was just jerking the hell out of the trigger? I am going to set this 1 target back up and practice just coming into this 1 position on it until I get it right.

I started running a steel stage with the .22 but after 50 rnds the rear sight came loose and I called it quits. I will have to loctite the set screw and re-zero.

I also want to find the time and motivation for more dry fire. I would like to double what I have been doing. I think it is time to make a true training plan for both live and dry fire. Something along the lines of stage running on certain days and standards drills on others. I will start working on this as soon as possible.

[IronEqualizer]

11-5-11

Live fired 100 rnds. .22LR

Re-zeroed the 22/45 after tightening the rear sight back down. The set up the 8" plates in a mini stage to have them all engaged through ports. I set the fault lines back about 7 yds from the ports so it took quite of bit moving around to get the angles to see and engage all the plate. One was taken on the move from about 10yds, the others were at 15yds, then 4 at 18yds, and the final one at 23yds. This was difficult. I ran this 10 times with only 1 clean run. It took quite a bit of time to figure out how I wanted to shoot this and where I needed to be for each shot. I missed my marks a lot. I guess because I really did not have marks or spots on the ground to know where to place my feet. The movements were only a step or two each way. That is what my problem was. The small little movements. If my spot to hit is 5 yds away I see where I need to place my leading foot and I get there no problem. But with these small foot movements I was having to stay up top with the gun as I was looking for the next target on a wide swing with no time to glance to see where my feet needed to be. I will work on this some more and realize that with these small movements, it needs to be a big part of the walkthrough. Knowing your footwork in a situation like this. I lost critical time overstepping or not stepping enough on most runs. I forgot my timer so I had nothing to compare the different runs with, but I know I missed my spots.

Even though this was a hard set up, I really had fun on this today. It was training and I was training but it was fun. It was a real challenge and I enjoyed it.

I also made the decision last night to order a tactical solutions .22 upper for my 2011. I think this will really help me to continue to work on movement excercises without using big boy rounds.

[IronEqualizer]

11-6-11

Live fired 200 rnds. .22LR

Still working on the 8" plate mini stage. Things went ok. I am still not having any clean runs but I feel I am moving better. It is still difficult to hit shooting spots when you do not have time to look at the spot you want to be. You have to rely solely on the game plan and knowing how many steps to take for each position. It really added a lot to remember in breaking down the stage. I want to run this same set up a few more times tomorrow and then change it up to something different with more lengthy movement between positions.

I was analyzing my practice session and came up with 2 new motivational sayings to go in my dry fire area.

"Improvement is made in tenths of a second."

"They don't give away M cards."

[IronEqualizer]

11-7-11

Live fired 250 rnds. .45ACP

Live fired 200 rnds. .22LR

I worked on the partial set up I had a few days where I kept dropping them into hard cover through the port. I was having the same issue today in the beginning but started to get it worked out. I am almost certain it is on the second shot and my timing is such that the second shot will be in the A zone on an open target but on a partial it puts me in hard cover. I was just not settling the sights for the follow up shot. Once I started to dial this in at 15yds I moved back to 20yds and continued work on this. I really improved on this from when I first started. I need to run it at least one more time to be sure.

I finished the practice on an all steel stage with the .22. Plates were the 8X19 static plates set in a stage. From my initial times to the ones I finished on, I picked up 1.5secs. I have to do better at breaking it down and engaging targets the most efficient way the first time, not the 10th time. I suppose just knowing and figuring out a better way during this practice is helping me overall. I mean I did learn and see where I was wasting time and stopped wasting time. So I guess I can take something away from today.

[IronEqualizer]

11-9-11

Dry fired 15 mins.

Worked solely on 6 reload 6. Not as smooth as I would have liked. I have not dry fired in a week or so. While the mechanics are there I think I lose smoothness quickly without a constant routine of dry fire. I need to get back at it. My tactical solutions 2011 upper came in so I will start using that to supplement .45 and .40 live fire practice.

[IronEqualizer]

11-11-11

Live fired 350 rnds .45 ACP.

Live fired 100 rnds .22 LR.

I worked on several different all steel mini stages today. My first few runs I was having problem with recoil control. I noticed the sights bouncing all over the place. There was no nice up and down motion, it was all over the place. After I noticed this I tightened down on my grip and things straightened up. I really wonder if this is a product of all the .22 shooting and not enough full power ammo lately? Maybe I was just getting lazy behind the gun. I also had to switch from the 200gr swc back to some 230gr lead bullets I had stashed. I now have no 200gr lead bullets left to practice with. I really hope the .40 top end is done soon.

I also ran the drill with the partial I was having so much trouble with several days ago. Today I ran it 6 times from 15yds and never had a bullet outside of the A zone. Not only were they all in the A zone but stacked within 2" on every run. A couple of runs they were touching.

I ran 100 rnds through the new tactical solutions upper. I had lots of failure to feeds. If I loaded the magazines light with about 8 rnds only this was not bad at all. I will have to experiment with some different ammo types to try to cure this. I really just did not feel like investigating the cause and will have to re-visit this when I have more time.