The Fish

[Al Capizzo]

What ? Now my feelings are hurt!

[Catfish]

What ? Now my feelings are hurt!

Yeah, but I get to shoot against you with some frequency, Al!

[Al Capizzo]

And always with the same results!

[Catfish]

DOH!

Some general gun fondling tonight - my major contribution to my '08 shooting goals was working on building up my dryfire dojo, to steal a phrase from Micah.

I now have some stands to set up in my garage, and I'll finish them up tomorrow night. Most important part was that I still have all my fingers and the 2x4's, despite their best attempts, did not fall on my feet.

[Catfish]

The groove.

Finished up the dry fire dojo tonight... And spent some time working on draws - freestyle, surrender, SHO, WHO - and reloads. All while stationary. Really my first dedicated dry fire session in about a month - felt good to get back into the groove; my life needs that discipline of just getting out there and practicing. Elsewise, everything feels out of whack.

Gym work is progressing nicely as well. While this is really the third week going since I've been back at the gym, the first two weeks were basically warming my body up to the stress and getting my hands used to getting torn up by the bar. So, this is the first week where I'm keepin' score, such as it is.

Going to hit a 10 week cycle of 5x5s. All my favorite lifts - squats, deads, OHP, row, and bench. Added to the mix is the Overhead squat, which is a killer. I can barely lift the 45 lb bar + another 20 pounds without falling down. It's mostly a balance thing, and it's getting better - but the Overhead squat surely is some good core work on top of shoulders and legs.... In addition, hitting pull ups, chins, and dips. All of which I pretty much hate... for now. I will be loving them soon enough, and the suffering does a body good as far as I can tell. Dips are actually quite painful - more so from where I hurt my upper right pec earlier this year - but today's session of dips hurt a helluva lot less than last week's and I suspect next week's will hurt less than today's.

All in all, schedule going according to plan!!

[Catfish]

back in the saddle

First USPSA match today since October. Felt good to get back into the groove!

7 stages, and other than the classifier, not really single stack friendly. And that's a good thing. I really had to apply all of my stage breakdown skills to get it through each stage without forgetting a target and limit any flat footed reloads. It's this kind of brain twister that is going to serve me well into the new season!

It's entertaining to me that the cycle of work is not any different at the gym or at the range. 3 weeks ago or so, I started working out very light to get my hands and body back into the groove. I really could have used some more 'break-in' time before today's match as my ankles and feet are sore as hell from standing up all day on hard packed gumbo for about 6 hours and my hands were pretty sore after 200-ish rounds over the course of the day. Will be better next time of course, but tomorrow I'm thinking I'm going to be fairly sore.

Great to be back at the range.

[Catfish]

Gads, it's hard to believe that it's almost been a whole month since I have pulled the trigger.

Shot the carbine match today at Johnson county and will shoot steel tomorrow with my new .22 I got for Christmas.

Overall pleased with the shooting today - it was nice gettin the AK out and running and gunnin'.

I'm thinking of making my new .22 (Ruger Mk III) into an open-type .22 with a red dot on it. Thoughts are that the dot will help me speed up my iron game - any thoughts on that?? I know that Max and Trav told us that shooting the dot WILL help speed up your vision - but does this transfer from steel to paper as well??

It is nice knowing that the holidays have passed and the shooting will now begin in earnest.

[Catfish]

Shot the local steel match today - getting pumped about USPSA and steel challenge stuff. Fun match with the .22!!!

First few stages I was just feeling the gun out and nothing really stellar. 4th stage had two big gongs up close at 9-10 yards, two 8" plates at about 25-30 yards and the stop plate square in the middle at about 15, - another 8" plate. Trap stage because the two gongs were so big and so close that you just throw the gun at them, and then you had to get on the front sight quick on the back two plates and then a medium sight focus on the stop plate. I thought it was a good vision/sight test and really felt quite good on this stage. Got a bit cocky on the last stage which had 4 of the big gongs between 10 and 12 yards away and an 8" stop plate in the middle at 8-10 yards. How one can miss those huge plates is beyond me, but I can assure you - it happens!!

Good weekend of shooting, first USPSA match in a while next weekend in Tyler.

[Catfish]

Shot the local steel match today - getting pumped about USPSA and steel challenge stuff. Fun match with the .22!!!

First few stages I was just feeling the gun out and nothing really stellar. 4th stage had two big gongs up close at 9-10 yards, two 8" plates at about 25-30 yards and the stop plate square in the middle at about 15, - another 8" plate. Trap stage because the two gongs were so big and so close that you just throw the gun at them, and then you had to get on the front sight quick on the back two plates and then a medium sight focus on the stop plate. I thought it was a good vision/sight test and really felt quite good on this stage. Got a bit cocky on the last stage which had 4 of the big gongs between 10 and 12 yards away and an 8" stop plate in the middle at 8-10 yards. How one can miss those huge plates is beyond me, but I can assure you - it happens!!

Good weekend of shooting, first USPSA match in a while next weekend in Tyler.

[Catfish]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

WOW, if I was ever lacking in motivation to pick up the gun and work, all I have to do is look at my fellow range diary folks - from Calamity Jane's soul searching to the Barnstormer's quiet confidence to Micah's OBC dry fire disorder is now added Venri's lofty (and worthy) goal and the Rocket's attention to detail.

As for me, lots of reloads, the 650 is getting warmed up and ready for a new campaign and the gym work is kicking my ass.

Life is good.

[Catfish]

Draws, surrenders, turns and reloads... all tai chi slow, no speed just refining technique.

Crushed the hell out of my strong hand pinky finger closing a gate today. Hopefully it'll quit hurting by match time Sunday.

[Catfish]

A good start

First match of '08 under my belt and it was a good way to start the new year. Classifier match - 4 classifiers, one hoser stage and one devious field course. Shot the classifiers well, could tell there was a little bit of rust, but all in all a decent effort.

The biggest step was on the poor man's standards which I have absolutely despised in the past. With a passion. Not so much hate today and a big step towards liking and even enjoying standards. I just looked at the stage as an opportunity to pluck more points from the match. I'm not where I want to be yet, but today was a big step; especially attitude-wise.

Gun and all equipment ran 100% - the trigger felt 'slow' on the close hoser type stuff, like I was waiting for it to get to work so I think I might do a little bit of tweaking on that before next weekend's festivities.

All in all I'm pleased with today's efforts - there's still a LOT of work to do to get to where I want, but it was a good start.

[dfwmiket]

Congrats on the SS win today........ you were even complimented by how well you shot by your chief competitor.

Nice job! All the work is paying off............

-Mike

[Catfish]

Thanks Mike - have a bit of rust to knock off but it was really good to shoot against Ken all day today. Now I just have to wash, rinse, repeat.

And yes Al, it was good to shoot against you today too!!!

[Al Capizzo]

I'll PM you my list of excuses for my performance. Congatulations on your taking single stack, with some real competition. You shot good!

By the way, how did you shoot the "devious" field course? You and Ken were 4-5 seconds quicker than I was. I'm wondering if it was just better/ faster shooting or tactics too.

And it was good to see you all again.

[Catfish]

Thanks Al!

Drew to the left array, shot the 3, then the 1 between the bbls. Reload, shot the paper to the right, little steel (meant to shoot the first big popper) then the paper then the first two poppers. Reload, 3rd popper, paper, little steel, paper on left and last popper. Reload and the last array to the left. Ken and I both shot it the same way except he shot the first big popper at the right time, unlike me who couldn't pass that paper target between the little steel and the big poppers.

We figured it was better to be doing something else than waiting on the big poppers to fall. Tried figuring a way to get around a flat footed reload in the middle but couldn't come up with a better way.

[Al Capizzo]

I stepped forward at the beep and shot about half the set up, went left for that array, finished the center array (6 rds) then stepped right for that bunch. Since you, and Ken shot it one way, and Harmon told me to shoot it the same way as you two, I'm thinking I may have outsmarted myself, tripped over my brain, etc.

[Catfish]

I thought about doing that, Al, but figured that would about double the time you have to spend in that port and just wanted to get out of there as soon as I could. Plus, you had the advantage of moving and drawing to the left (or right if you chose to go that way) rather than basically standing flat footed and drawing and losing that time.

[Al Capizzo]

Thanks for the insight. I was figuring that you'd be in that spot for the same number of rounds either way, this way I wasn't doing a standing reload. Apparently setting up in the same spot twice makes up for that reload. Plus I want my dot back

[Catfish]

Yes, look at it this way, Al - you set up twice and left that position twice. Dot, what dot??

[Al Capizzo]

I've just been shooting Single Stack as a diversion while my open gun was getting repaired. But you know, I was really beginning to enjoy it. But thank goodness I'm over THAT, got the open gun back Sunday. WHew, that was close!!

[Catfish]

Gym work continues. I have made the decision that I will augment my MWF routine of lifting with doing Crossfit activities on TT. I will eventually (in about 2 weeks) work up to the Crossfit exercises on both Tuesday and Thursday. For this week and the next, I will only do them on Tuesdays to help my body get used to the extra stress. If there's one thing about the gym I learned last year is that I need to add additional work slowly or I will get sick, tired, and worn out.

So.... I decided I'd do the benchmark girls (doesn't that sound entertaining???) just starting at the top of the list and working my way through them all.

Angie was yesterday, and she was a bitch. Yowza. Took me about 35 minutes to finish the workout (I only did 10 pullups for the sake of time....) and thought I was going to puke several times during the event. All in all, it was pretty good, and I'm not nearly as sore/flat today as I thought I might be. Hit my 5x5s today without any extra drama and all in all I'm looking forward to improving my times the 2nd go around on the benchmark girls.

Maintenance on Tigger this week - trigger work, new recoil springs, and inspection per Bob Londigren's advice in the latest issue of Front Sight.

Hope I get into the SS nationals, I overnighted my information on Monday, and so far I am no where to be seen on the list.....

[Catfish]

Match time tomorrow at Greenville - they usually do a great job of making the skinny gun folks really think about how the hell to shoot the stages so I'm looking forward to it.

Ammo's loaded, bag's packed, ready to go.

Very pleased with my gym work this morning. Woke up and had absolutely no desire to get my arse out of bed. Lay there for a few minutes, made myself get up and went to the gym and took care of business. Leaving I felt 100% better than when I got there and I was very happy I dragged myself out of bed.

But to be perfectly honest, I am looking forward to two days of rest this weekend.

[BNorth]

Kick butt at Greenville.

[Catfish]

Thanks Bob! Hope the new place is treating you well!

Shot decent yesterday. I'm still feeling a little bit sloppy in places - I think the cure is just going to be getting to the range and shooting at some practice sessions. Shot 5 solid stages, walked up to the short one with two strings, some steel in one and paper on the other and all of a sudden got all hopped up. My arousal level went from spot on to over the top and whammo, I couldn't hit the proverbial broad side of a barn.

This is not the first time that this has happened to me, it's been a while, but not the first time. I need to come up with a mental plan of attack to get my arousal level lowered and back where it needs to be and not jacked up on crack.

I had some reloads during the day that I just flat out smoked, so in that respect, I'm pleased. Stage planning went pretty well; unlike the usual Greenville matches, the Cobber set up some pretty straightforward stages that were very SS friendly.

Tonight shot IDPA with my M&P. Probably haven't shot that gun in quite some time so I figured it would be time to give it a run again. First stage was just about what you'd expect, my timing was off and I was pushing everything low. Adjusted and shot the last 3 stages pretty well. Gun worked, it shot where I pointed it so I'll take the last 3 stages and move on with that one.

Any weekend I get to shoot twice is a good weekend!! Next weekend is looking good, too - with Waco on Saturday and steel on Sunday, where I'll get to shoot my Steel Open gun and see if the dot really will help my eyes see faster.