The Knight Of Light

[little_kahuna]

I shot an indoor IDPA style match today nad I noticed something.

I still like IDPA. I like shooting and I like it when people make the most of what they have. We have a shooter that made his own swinger. It was crude but it worked well.

I don't like it when someone else is supposed to activate props during a COF though. That should be the shooter's responsibility to make it fair for everyone. I know that my reaction time is very fast and I was able to engage the first target easily before the swinger. other shooters were not as lucky. They were not able to do that. Also if I was the one activating the prop(swinger) My reaction time was faster than the shooter so it didn't seem fair as they didn't have the same target presentation and timing that I had.

Oh well. I guess it pays to practice.

I don't think that it's fair in any match for anyone but the shooter to responsible or even able to potentially influence the shooter's score. It's no big deal since it's at a hybrid/local match lol. W/e it was, shooting is shooting, and no matter what rules they apply to you, pulling the trigger is making you better.

Since we do the same stage twice because of the limited space in the range, I decided to do the first run using ReloadwRetention. I did the second run with a slide lock reload.

Same time. Some of the shooters were actually impressed by this and I felt a little strange. Most of these guys are using this competition as a training exercise and not just shooting the paper. makes me a little crazy because they usually have comments like, "That won't work in the real world." or something to that effect. kind of makes me mad but then I realize that most of these guys wouldn't know what to do if a GM shooter showed up to a match. I think they would just shit themselves and leave.

Whatever.

/rant on

I got this same crap at the first (and so far the only) IDPA match i went to. It was non-stop, everyone there was talkin' mad shit. At first i thought, "okay it's kinda comical, whatever, i'm a gamer...okay..." then it just didn't stop. Before the first stage, i just stopped talking. I pretty much shot the whole day silently, smiling and taping, while people continued to jest. It really kinda changed after i shot the first stage though. After these jokers saw me shoot, some people shut up, and others must have thought that talking more crap would increase their chance of winning. I couldn't believe the crap i went through, i've never been so disappointed with the immaturity and disrespect at any shooting event than i had on that day. Before the match, they claimed that it was a local "run what ya brung, we dont care" kind of match, but after i showed up, it suddenly became a "oh, wait, we forgot, i just happen to have this idpa rulebook and we should all be wearing the same gear, and everyone who doesnt comply doesnt get to shoot." They excluded me from the "official" scores because i "wasnt rulebook-compliant" even though they agreed to let me use w/e i wanted, because i dont have other gear, nor do i plan on switching from idpa to uspsa. They posted the scores, with me on top, but verbally told people that i was using "retard gamer gear" (yes they literally used that phrase). I was pretty bummed, I'm going back with IDPA CDP legal gear so they have no excuse, and this time they can't say i didn't officially win.

Imagine if i'd had actually shot well...

These "competition will get you killed on the street" guys crack me up. If Robby or Travis shot a local joker match, someone might just have a heart-attack...and we "gamers" dont wanna scare the little guys.

/rant off

On a serious note, way to stick it out and go, even though it's not your main game, nor does this type of match facilitate good USPSA admin/rulebook compliance. lol. If our local club had more than 1 match a month (uspsa) i'd probably go too, even if it was hybrid or idpa.

How did the actual shooting go?

Did you recognize anything different, or did you find anything visually memorable while you were shooting?

[Shawn Knight]

I don't think that it's fair in any match for anyone but the shooter to responsible or even able to potentially influence the shooter's score. It's no big deal since it's at a hybrid/local match lol. W/e it was, shooting is shooting, and no matter what rules they apply to you, pulling the trigger is making you better.

It is just shooting. Brown targets are still brown no matter what version of the rules you are using. I have seen some other versions of this type of thing being done but it was always under controlled conditions. We had a stage in AK that we had a random No-Shoot. Basically we had the last shooter choose the No-Shoot possition for the first shooter and then the person that just shot chose the possition of the No-Shoot for the next shooter. It worked well and was a lot of fun.

Still 0s are the same to me as hearing 2 alpha. I don't care as long as I am shooting!

/rant on

I got this same crap at the first (and so far the only) IDPA match i went to. It was non-stop, everyone there was talkin' mad shit. At first i thought, "okay it's kinda comical, whatever, i'm a gamer...okay..." then it just didn't stop. Before the first stage, i just stopped talking. I pretty much shot the whole day silently, smiling and taping, while people continued to jest. It really kinda changed after i shot the first stage though. After these jokers saw me shoot, some people shut up, and others must have thought that talking more crap would increase their chance of winning. I couldn't believe the crap i went through, i've never been so disappointed with the immaturity and disrespect at any shooting event than i had on that day. Before the match, they claimed that it was a local "run what ya brung, we dont care" kind of match, but after i showed up, it suddenly became a "oh, wait, we forgot, i just happen to have this idpa rulebook and we should all be wearing the same gear, and everyone who doesnt comply doesnt get to shoot." They excluded me from the "official" scores because i "wasnt rulebook-compliant" even though they agreed to let me use w/e i wanted, because i dont have other gear, nor do i plan on switching from idpa to uspsa. They posted the scores, with me on top, but verbally told people that i was using "retard gamer gear" (yes they literally used that phrase). I was pretty bummed, I'm going back with IDPA CDP legal gear so they have no excuse, and this time they can't say i didn't officially win.

Imagine if i'd had actually shot well...

These "competition will get you killed on the street" guys crack me up. If Robby or Travis shot a local joker match, someone might just have a heart-attack...and we "gamers" dont wanna scare the little guys.

/rant off

Good rant. I swear one guy was straight out of movie. he walks up to me and says, "So, I hear your pretty good!"

I responded, "No I am average." He didn't seem to like that answer but I really didn't care. He asked me a few questions about shooting sports and we ended up getting along. he was a good shooter he just had some gun issues. Mainly bringing an untested gun to match. I mean like never fired or broken in.

Some people...

The gamer talk was limited after I showed that I didn't have any special gear or anything like that. It will still happen though. i really like shooting my revolver and waxing the floor with them. They wonder about powder-puff loads and simple things like that. I told them if they wanted they could buy me +P+ defensive ammo and I would still beat them because I actually practice and that I take the "game" seriously.

On a serious note, way to stick it out and go, even though it's not your main game, nor does this type of match facilitate good USPSA admin/rulebook compliance. lol. If our local club had more than 1 match a month (uspsa) i'd probably go too, even if it was hybrid or idpa.

How did the actual shooting go?

Did you recognize anything different, or did you find anything visually memorable while you were shooting?

The shooting went very well. I did notice that I was just as fast with a RWR as well as slide-lock reload. Something to think about for me.

Visually memorable...

Well i did notice that the No_shoot swinger held no interest for me. it was neither a distraction nor a hinderance. Although I never remember seing a clear sight picture because of the poor lighting I still got 0s on all but one of the targets and that was a -1.

Not bad at all.

[little_kahuna]

Yeah, they accused me of using minor, "rat fart" (their term again) loads. In video (from the GBC), and if you were watching me, it looks totally minor, but i chrono'd 172 at GBC. Lol, i guess it's just the sweet gun Benny built me.

That is cool that the reloads were the same time. Do you practice all the types of reloads? like slide-lock, rwr, tactical reload?

I really enjoy that feeling, when something like a swinger or other weird target doesn't affect your game at all, it's simply another shot to take.

[Shawn Knight]

I had not practiced the RWR in quite a while but it came right back to me when I tried it.

[Carmoney]

I love this new Carmonized Revovler (Thanks Mike!!!)

You got it, Bro!!

[Shawn Knight]

Lessons learned from the Nebraska 5.11 Challenge...

I need to practice loading my shotgun.

Test your ammo before you take it to a match. I had some Armscor 5.56(all I could get) and it blew a primer on me. The primer and anvil got lodged above the charging handle and stopped the gun cold! This had happened once before during siht in but I thought maybe it was a fluke.

It was not.

Never again will I trust this ammo and in fact Midwayusa is paying me back for this crap. Oh well I guess it is time I got some California Competition Works shotshell strippers and started practicing. I keep getting beat by guys with Pump shottys!!!!

WTF??? I did do some pretty good stuff with the Remmy and it didn't puke parts on the ground like one other person's Remmy. I thought it was just a joke on Remmy's but damn!!! They really do puke parts on the ground!!

Precicion rifle is only as good as your ammo. After I got my AR cleaned out and back together a very good friend loaned me some ammo and while it functioned it was not sighted in for my gun and i had no clue where it was hitting. Oh well. At least I got a reshoot.

I also learned I am damned good pistol shooter. I beat some damned good Open shooters with a minor 17rd Limited gun!!!!!

WOOHOO!!!

Now back to your regularly scheduled programing!!!!

[Shawn Knight]

Guess who got bumped to A-class in Production???

[steel1212]

Guess who got bumped to A-class in Production???

[norbs007]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

[Neomet]

About time you sandbagger.

Seriously, congrats bro!

[big_kahuna]

Gratz Shawn!

[Shawn Knight]

About time you sandbagger.

Seriously, congrats bro!

I am glad! I have kind of been foundering for a while. I know I have the ability but I was lacking the motivation. I think this will force it into me. I really needed to be pushed over in order to make myself realize I really can shoot pretty good!

[little_kahuna]

Way to go!

You're going to tear it up.

Contratz

[Shawn Knight]

Some pictures from the Nebraska 5.11 Challenge.

[Shawn Knight]

Edited May 15, 2009 by Shawn Knight

[Gameplayer]

Who says the Air Force can't shoot? Congrats to you, Shawn.

[Shawn Knight]

Who says the Air Force can't shoot? Congrats to you, Shawn.

I sure try to make it look good!!! Sometimes I look so hard I forget to look at the sights!

[Shawn Knight]

So anyway...

ENGC Fun Match May 2009

Match Date: 5/31/2009

Place Name USPSA Class Division PF Lady Mil Law For Age Points Stg %

1 Andersen, Ken TY47278 A Open Major N N N N 489.1280 100.00%

2 Knight, Shawn A56661 U Open Major N N N N 481.1149 98.36%

3 Simandl, Rich TY44974 C Open Major N N N N 455.0888 93.04%

Shooting Open division with a 22lr is pretty darned fun!!!

There were 14 shooters total at this match. It was essentially a 2 gun(rifle-pistol) match with 22lr or shorts. I used my 10/22 and my Marvel to take 2nd place out of 14 shooters. I was very concerned about my pistol when I lost the ability to adjust the optic. I was using an older Firepoint and those had a tendency to strip the adjustment threads which happened to me. Oh well I guess it really does pay to buy the quality stuff. The gun shot a little low so I had poor hits(no misses though) so I didn't get enough points to make my time count for anything.

Thanks to George for loaning me a battery!!! I would not have been able to shoot without it!!

Edited June 1, 2009 by Shawn Knight

[Shawn Knight]

Well I feel that the Limited Transformation needs to be on hold for a while. I went to a classifier match with the Capitol City Practical Shooters (Thanks Larry Castro!) and I shot my Revolver to finally get a classification. I figured maybe i could feel good if I had a classification in every gun and I realize that it isn't about the classification but it is about being able to transition to another platform smoothly. Revolver is a very different mindset. Being limited to 6 rounds makes it all the more necassary to ensure good hits as well as paying attention to procedure. I had an extra shot on Can You Count(obviously I can't) and it made me understand the importance of making sure your equipment works. The extra shot was caused by a light strike which broke my concentration. I thought only 4 had gone off not realizing that I had fired the 6th in the cylinder for a total of 5. I should have just stopped but I just had to fire that shot off!

More later I gotta go work!

[Shawn Knight]

Well I got my Classification scores from the match. I had one 89% and abune that were all under 73%. Something about counting in one of them made my brain hurt. I had a light strike that made me brain fart and I shot 6 instead of 5.

Whateryagonnado??

So my final class will be B-Class with about a 69%. Oh well. I would have had a really good set of classifiers but I guess it is a good thing that I didn't. I will be able to learn this silly round thing a bit more.

[Shawn Knight]

Learning the silly round thing is a strange course in my life. I am also mistified as to why I have this urge to shoot the Bianchi Cup, thanks alot Shooting USA for putting that one into my head.

I am doing a lot of dry fire with the revo and I am noticing that evn with the 6.5# double action pull weight that I tend to get fast accurate hits. I guess it has to do with the slightly slower follow-up shots. I ran a 7.97 El Pres with it at the Il sectional but I dropped a shot and had low hits. I think I just need to work on getting my grip correctly. I have tried both types of reloading techniques and I am settling on the Miculek switch hand reload. I can do the weak hand reload well but it just feels more natural to switch hands for some reason. I know that 45acp major loads in a revo are a little on the stiff side but I just need to do this. I may even shoot the gun in Steel Challenge shooting. It would be nice to have a 5in 617 for some cheap practice with the revo but I am not going to buy another gun until I sell a few things I have no use or anymore.

Revolver is fun but it is also very helpful to my shooting. After shooting the revo at the range during practice I notice that when I switch back to an auto that my follow up shots are faster and my hits are much more accurate. This has got to be focus related. My focus when I shoot revolver is much much higher and when I break down a stage I take much much more time to do so. I think much more about how I am going to attack a stage vs staring off into space because I am bored waiting to shoot. Most of the time I notice that I am running the stage over and over in my head and I block out pretty much everything else. Even shooting small poppers takes on a new meaning to me when i shoot the revo because if I miss it then I have to shift gears into over drive to get what I need or make up for the time loss that comes from a reload that you didn't plan on.

At our club match last Sunday I placed very high shooting a revolver against nothing but Auto shooters. Some of them were shooting lower capacity divisions but some were also shooting Open and Limited. I was very impressed with my perfomance amongst those shooters, some of which are very good. I took 13th out of 39 shooters with my revo. Most of my time were 10 seconds slower than the top shooters in my normal division of Production. There has been a change in the way my shooting works now and I can see a way out of my rut.

The way out is the Revolver. I want to get better and I want to make at least A class in all divisions without needing a Master class bumping them all. At the classifier match I noticed that the other revo shooters had issues with reloading the gun and that is what cost them time. I practice reloads more than anything else right now because that is what I think makes the difference between an A class and a Bclass shooter. I need to load some more ammo and hit the range with the intention of reloading drills. Shoot 1 reload shoot 1 repeat will be my drill of choice. If I ever get my 22lr plate rack built then I will hae something else to practice but for now I think the reload is where it's at.

For now I guess I will be investing a lot of cash in Large Pistol Federals, Clays, and plenty of round nosed bullets.

Oh yeah...

Doodle needs to make her own Range diary and add herself to the Women of USPSA List!!!

[Sean Gaines]

Learning the silly round thing is a strange course in my life. I am also mistified as to why I have this urge to shoot the Bianchi Cup, thanks alot Shooting USA for putting that one into my head.

I am doing a lot of dry fire with the revo and I am noticing that evn with the 6.5# double action pull weight that I tend to get fast accurate hits. I guess it has to do with the slightly slower follow-up shots. I ran a 7.97 El Pres with it at the Il sectional but I dropped a shot and had low hits. I think I just need to work on getting my grip correctly. I have tried both types of reloading techniques and I am settling on the Miculek switch hand reload. I can do the weak hand reload well but it just feels more natural to switch hands for some reason. I know that 45acp major loads in a revo are a little on the stiff side but I just need to do this. I may even shoot the gun in Steel Challenge shooting. It would be nice to have a 5in 617 for some cheap practice with the revo but I am not going to buy another gun until I sell a few things I have no use or anymore.

Revolver is fun but it is also very helpful to my shooting. After shooting the revo at the range during practice I notice that when I switch back to an auto that my follow up shots are faster and my hits are much more accurate. This has got to be focus related. My focus when I shoot revolver is much much higher and when I break down a stage I take much much more time to do so. I think much more about how I am going to attack a stage vs staring off into space because I am bored waiting to shoot. Most of the time I notice that I am running the stage over and over in my head and I block out pretty much everything else. Even shooting small poppers takes on a new meaning to me when i shoot the revo because if I miss it then I have to shift gears into over drive to get what I need or make up for the time loss that comes from a reload that you didn't plan on.

At our club match last Sunday I placed very high shooting a revolver against nothing but Auto shooters. Some of them were shooting lower capacity divisions but some were also shooting Open and Limited. I was very impressed with my perfomance amongst those shooters, some of which are very good. I took 13th out of 39 shooters with my revo. Most of my time were 10 seconds slower than the top shooters in my normal division of Production. There has been a change in the way my shooting works now and I can see a way out of my rut.

The way out is the Revolver. I want to get better and I want to make at least A class in all divisions without needing a Master class bumping them all. At the classifier match I noticed that the other revo shooters had issues with reloading the gun and that is what cost them time. I practice reloads more than anything else right now because that is what I think makes the difference between an A class and a Bclass shooter. I need to load some more ammo and hit the range with the intention of reloading drills. Shoot 1 reload shoot 1 repeat will be my drill of choice. If I ever get my 22lr plate rack built then I will hae something else to practice but for now I think the reload is where it's at.

For now I guess I will be investing a lot of cash in Large Pistol Federals, Clays, and plenty of round nosed bullets.

Oh yeah...

Doodle needs to make her own Range diary and add herself to the Women of USPSA List!!!

You are moving up fast. keep up the good work. Alot of people will go thier whole lifetime and not shoot a revolver in a match. They will never know if they could be the next jerry or not. If you are doing that good against autoloaders, maybe revolver will be your game that you can be real competitive in. Keep up the good work

Sean

[Shawn Knight]

You are moving up fast. keep up the good work. Alot of people will go thier whole lifetime and not shoot a revolver in a match. They will never know if they could be the next jerry or not. If you are doing that good against autoloaders, maybe revolver will be your game that you can be real competitive in. Keep up the good work

Sean

[Shawn Knight]

I have not made an entry in a long time. It has been hard to keep up on practice when you are out of the sport for 3-6 months out of every 12 months. I get some good matches and some bad matches. I had myself dropped from the Rudy Squad because I just can’t keep a commitment like that up. It isn’t fair to me and it is not fair to them. Let someone else have a go. This all started as a hobby and something fun to do. I think I forgot that a little when I tried to win. Someone else here started a thread on “Shooting Like You Don’t Care” and I realized that it isn’t about caring it is about why you shoot. If you don’t care how you do, then why are you there? I care how well I do. Not anyone else. Did I have any misses? Did I have any no-shoots? Or did I have a “perfect match”? I think I will go back to what I should have been doing all along. Shoot A’s. I tell all the noobs I ever meet that. Shoot all A’s. I sometimes wonder when they see me just smoke a stage if I really meant to get all of those C’s and D’s. Maybe it is just about having fun and getting to shoot guns but what if I can do more for myself? What if I can be a true Grand Master in Production? I really need to go back to the A-zone? Don’t I owe it to myself to do all I can to be the best shooter I can? I am sure that I will suffer some more “losses” but I am not sure it isn’t for the best. I have tried some other divisions, Single Stack, Revo, and some sudo-Limited with a 15 round M&P40 and I keep toying with the idea of shooting a G35 for Limited but I think I am just “Limiting” myself. Production is where it’s at for me. I have a good base gun and I am pretty sure that I can keep lots of 9mm ammo around, well unless Doodle decides to use it all in her new 9mm carbine. I will also be getting a lot of use out of my 22lr pistol and rifle conversions. I guess I will finally finish the 22lr plate rack I have been building for about 2 years now. I might have to build some bases for my steel targets too. Well Looks like I got some work to do and in about a week I will be home and after all of my homework is done I will “git’er’done!!!

[flyingchange]

I know what you mean, I am out of the sport for sixish months of the year, too (but for different reasons). People keep telling me how great dry fire is, but, OMG, it is so boring.

I find that I actually *place* better when I just think about shooting alphas. But focusing on just shooting alphas is easier said than done.