Dirtypool40

[dirtypool40]

Thanks Cliff!! That took the edge off. I was worried about that one long target I shot coming around the corner moving, but something told me shooting the whole thing moving might be the way to go. It wasn't easy, and it always feels like you're going too slow when you use the sights moving, but I was happy with it. Just that one delta.

That run was a solid 8 or 9 / 10. Stage 4 was about a 7, stage 2 and 5 were disasters, maybe 3's at best, and finishing on stage 1, I got the points but was WAY too slow, I'll call that a soft 7. Stage 3 through, that's the one decent putt that gets you back out.

Say.... I saw a video camera rolling. Any chance you got that?

[CAB33]

That was the stage that it started sprinkling, so no video.

[dirtypool40]

No practice, borrowed ammo and a poor match at Malabar. Never really got going, the one stage I started to shoot well I had a pull off mike moving the next position and a called C/D on a swinger.

Back to practice. Time to find my game for the season.

[AA-Wolf]

No practice, borrowed ammo and a poor match at Malabar. Never really got going, the one stage I started to shoot well I had a pull off mike moving the next position and a called C/D on a swinger.

Back to practice. Time to find my game for the season.

It was just the day. Perfect weather in January is playing havoc with our system, Yeah, that's it!

Easy looking match but seemed harder once the buzzer went off... You weren't the only one who felt a little off.

See ya...

[dirtypool40]

Decent, short, solo practice today.

Started with "Crazy plates" cold. I went too fast on the first 25y run, with a 1.59 draw (hit) and a 5.7 total. Too fast to be sure. I Missed the #2 plate @ 25 and two @ 20y. Then ANOTHER one @ 20y coming back out and one at 25y for a weak "5".

Then I shot some step backs and a little light draw work.

I finished with another run on "Crazy plates", clean at 25y, dropped one @ 20y going in, a sloppy one @ 10y and then another one @ 20y for a sloppy "3". Still I was at least clean @ 25y to finish up, so that was a bright spot.

Gun runs perfect, it's just up to me to get back up to speed.

[PaulW]

Don't blame the ammo!!

[dirtypool40]

you know, now that you mention it....

[dirtypool40]

A nice relaxed "first practice back" today with Jim Thomas (new IDPA Master!! ) and ZHunter. Jay's draw was pretty quick, better than I remember, he's comin along FAST!!! I predict M card by June.

We started off with Bianchi plates cold. Far, Near, Far, straight across. L to R going in, R to L coming back out. No crazy plates today. I missed my first shot at 15y coming out, just pulled the trigger when the sights weren't there.

Still I shot a "1" which ain't too shabby, I'll take it. I ended with a mid 5 second run @ 25y starting with a 1.56 draw which is quick for me trying to cinch things "Virginia Count".

After some other practice we shot "tennis plates" and ended shooting some 25y draws on the plate rack.

I was down in the 1.2x range right away and ended the day with a 1.07 and a 1.04, which I think is my fast ever for a draw to a 25y plate.

[dirtypool40]

Short, rough horsing around while I waited for the customs broker to call today.

[dirtypool40]

Yoogly local today. 90 shooters at CFRPC and the same crappy stages we always shoot. I ended up with a group of about 15 new shooters and had a blast, just didn't shoot very well.

[ormondopen]

what was up with the weather, cold in the morning, then rain, then hot, then rain again. I am blaming the weather for my crappy shooting.

[JSanabria]

Thanks for the Hat & T-shirt, Eric. They look good.

Need to find some time to get together and practice some drills.

[dirtypool40]

No real practice to report, but I did have a blast with a "Grinding the Stone" class this weekend. Nemo and his boys came down and y'all need to keep an eye on them young fellars. Woof

[dirtypool40]

Interesting local today at Malabar. I pulled a muscle really badly in the middle of the first stage so I hobbled and limped the rest of the day.

Highlite was the last stage. An array of 4 targets at 30y+, one open, three partials, and I was down a single charlie for eight shots.

[Jake Di Vita]

That's the heat right there.

[dirtypool40]

Thanks bud, I just stayed in the sights and kuuuuuuuuuhressed that sweet ass trigger and let the gun lift.

Now if I can bottle that for next time (and the time after that).....

[JSanabria]

Thanks bud, I just stayed in the sights and kuuuuuuuuuhressed that sweet ass trigger and let the gun lift.

Now if I can bottle that for next time (and the time after that).....

Those were some great shots you took. It's amazing what happens when you slow down a tick or two for the sights.

Then again, why am I even telling you this, I'm following your advice.

Good work coach

Edited February 11, 2008 by JSanabria

[ChrisStock]

Interesting local today at Malabar. I pulled a muscle really badly in the middle of the first stage so I hobbled and limped the rest of the day.

You were hobbled up pretty good last week in class also...might need to practice static drills - no movement - for a bit. Oh and yes, David and I were both gimped up ourselves until Saturday. I was only able to practice 20 yard plate racks consciously using the draw you taught me last week. It's not natural yet, nor nearly as fast as my scooping technique was, but I'm working on it. Movement from box to box being resumed this week....slowly.

Hopefully I can catch up with you at a match over in your direction as I get myself ready for the State Championship.

[dirtypool40]

Whew, fast few days, and lazy on my part for no training journal entries.

Thursday Feb 14:

Short solo practice. Crazy plates cold netted me a "2" which ain't too shabby. I missed two my first run at 25y then was clean all the way in and back out.

I horsed around a little, checked zero, a little step back drill and then finished with crazy plates. For only the second time I CLEANED the freakin' crazy plates!!!! It was like the first time I cleaned the reg'lar Bianchi plates, only worse!!!

I went clean from 25y in, and then clean as I backed out, but then on my last, pressure packed 25y run...... extra plates kept falling. Every time they would I would stop, reset and start that run over. I ended up shooting 9 extra plates before I got a run where ONLY the ones I shot at fell.

I didn't really have a crisp draw or feel completely confident, but I think I was just being really patient and reasonably disciplined with my shooting. I just stayed focused until there were no more plates to shoot, it seemed to go very quickly and I just didn't remember missing. Not a "peak experience" but definitely a slightly altered state.

Friday Feb 15:

Light horsing around with Tami, Cliff and Rick. We shot the plates and I think I dropped four. It was just a light session, still trying to recover my movement, but we had fun.

Saturday Feb 16:

Drove all the hell the way up to St. Aug for the IPSC local. 73 shooters, looooooooong day. I still can't move well, and had an up and down day, but it looks like everyone else did too. I ended up HOA for the match, beating some open Masters by about 21 points.

Highlite of the day was an unloaded gun start where you backed up through the stage. My run was very controlled and felt slow, but when the smoke cleared I was 1.5 seconds faster than the next run (an Open M with two mikes) and about five seconds ahead of the next best runs in any division. Add to that, out of 34 rounds I dropped a total of three points.

here's a link to the video =>

Looks pretty boring doesn't it? My hf was a 9.2 and 2nd place for the match was a 6.9. Watching it there are a couple of places I could've moved a little more aggressively if my leg was 100% and that extra shot at the end cost me about .5 sec, but what the hell, I'll take it.

Sunday Feb 17:

IDPA match at Titusville. Without a doubt the BEST IDPA STAGES I'VE EVER SEEN!!! This match was..... FUN??? What blastphomy!! IF, IF!!! IDPA was like this everywhere I might never have crossed over to USPSA / IPSC.

Our Buddy Pat Elmore put a lot of thought into the stages and made things fun. No "one round elevator fantasy BS here" these were shooting tests, and good ones. Holy Crap!! What a concept!!!

I haven't seen scores but by rough figuring I was about 5-7 seconds behind Jeff Degracia, a new Prod GM / IDPA guru who was all prepped up for the IDPA Winter Nats coming up. He shot great and clearly knows that game. <<scores posted and they have me 7 back of JEff, although there's a proc on stage one I shouldn't have, and didn't have during the match. I dropped mags, and had to juggle three, but I picked them all up. The penalty was the time, probably 4+ seconds. Either way, I knew Jeff beat me, but it would've been closer.>>

Stage by stage, let's see....

Stage #1: I dumped a mag on the ground, as in knocked it out of the pouch reaching for the reload, so now I have THREE mags to contend with. Yuk, 3-5 second delay sorting that out.

Stage #2: Pretty solid, I dropped only one point, in a transition drill and lead the field by about 4-5 seconds.

Stage #3: Flubbed the game reload shuffling down the boardwalk and ate a 3 sec proc for standing up at the start when I was supposed to sit down. Righteous penalty, dumb shooter.

Stage #4: I saw something no one else did and found a way to save maybe 1.5 sec and reload to slide lock. Then I threw THAT in the garbage dropping a -3 so I had to make it up any way.

Stage #5: not bad, crisp, only I hacked a non-threat coming into position .

Stage #6: decent, solid finish, about 3 seconds ahead of the field even with a 1.1 sec make up on a -3.

Overall, a lot of fun, but a rocky match to say the least. For my part, IDPA techniques are so game specific and not part of my normal training, I doubt I'll ever dedicate a lot of time to slicking them up. But I will be back to Titusville's IDPA match whenever I can.

Edited February 20, 2008 by dirtypool40

[dirtypool40]

Light solo horse around today. Nothing special to report, but I did get out and shoot the partials, 15, 20, 25, and 30y. It was near dusk and that plays hell with iron sights.

[blkbrd]

Light solo horse around today. Nothing special to report, but I did get out and shoot the partials, 15, 20, 25, and 30y. It was near dusk and that plays hell with iron sights.

Thats Eric talk for upper A zone shots at 30 yards in the dark with iron sights, just horsing around.

Edited February 20, 2008 by blkbrd

[dirtypool40]

LOL, guilty as charged.

Oh, yeah, almost forgot. Happy Birthday to me. Loading tonight, hoping to practice tomorrow.

[dirtypool40]

I CLEANED THE CRAZY PLATES COLD!!!!

yup, got outta the car, three dry draws and went for it....

Same plate rack as always, this time I went CLEAN, which is a first and a goal I set back in July.

But like always extra plates were falling, and I kept starting over. All in all I ended up shoot 11 extra plates.

[Catfish]

[dirtypool40]

Thanks Derrick.

I forgot to add that I then spent about 10 min doing 1 shot draws to the plates @ 35y. They got quicker than I expected, and I have a new personal best there too. TWICE out of about 20 tries I hit a 1.18. No I can't do it on demand every day, but I did it yesterday.

Today I practice a light little transition / movement drill with Tami, Rick and Cliff, then I went and shot an indoor match at EOSS.