The Fish

[Catfish]

OK. I'm allowing myself a brief moment of panic here.

Take a quick look at my squad mates at the SS nationals.....

165 Derrick Birdsall A52911 Single Stack U MAJOR

135 Taran Butler L2354 Single Stack M MAJOR

166 Angus Hobdell L2546 Single Stack M MAJOR

196 Michael Seeklander TY30288 Single Stack U MAJOR

181 Dave Sevigny TY42164 Single Stack GM MAJOR

197 Phil Strader FY31992 Single Stack GM MAJOR

Holy Sh!t, they have no idea what's getting ready to hit them.

[carinab]

Holy Sh!t, they have no idea what's getting ready to hit them.

A laugh attack?

So are you going to bring a video camera? Or will you forget to walk thru cause you're so busy taking notes!!! What a learning opportunity!

Edited January 14, 2008 by carinab

[Catfish]

What a learning opportunity!

For them, or for me??

[Catfish]

Follow the bouncing ball....

Shot DPC steel today with my .22 open gun. What a hoot. Dropped a scope on top of my new Ruger MkIII that I picked up at Christmas. I'm going to shoot steel as much as I can so that I can take things I hate(d) and make them things I like. Most I'll do with the .22, if for nothing else the cost factor. Before big matches I'll start transitioning to my 1911, but for now, it's all .22...

Now, as to my first match shooting open. WOW. A lot different things to look at. I found myself tracking the dot from target to target, rather than snapping my eyes to the next target and bringing the dot to my eyes. Fairly normal, I think. I need to get my eyes moving faster, which is all part of the reason I'm shooting the dot on steel. Shot a complete match today hit all 5 stages well and worked on breaking down steel stages. More importantly, I had a LOT of fun.

[bierman]

OK. I'm allowing myself a brief moment of panic here.

Take a quick look at my squad mates at the SS nationals.....

165 Derrick Birdsall A52911 Single Stack U MAJOR

135 Taran Butler L2354 Single Stack M MAJOR

166 Angus Hobdell L2546 Single Stack M MAJOR

196 Michael Seeklander TY30288 Single Stack U MAJOR

181 Dave Sevigny TY42164 Single Stack GM MAJOR

197 Phil Strader FY31992 Single Stack GM MAJOR

Holy Sh!t, they have no idea what's getting ready to hit them.

That is going to be a COOL squad to shoot with! You better bring a video camera man.

[Catfish]

Are we there yet?

After today's match, I can clearly say NO!! A VERY cold morning turned out just fine, and not bad for a January day at the range up at Double Tap.

Some competition showed up from OK today and I was clearly not up to speed today. Actually felt good, but just, well, flat. In retrospect this is not a surprise as Monday was the first day I really started to hit the wall at the gym since November and I'm clearly still showing the signs of just wear and tear from the gym. The good news is that even just plodding along today, I was fairly close to Kelly and Elderton on the bulk of the stages.

Clearly my match focus is not there, as on the little bitty teeter totter stage which I pretty much blew off any programming on, I just flat out sucked. Foot position was everything on the gizmo and I didn't hit anything other than the first array worth a damn.

I'm not happy to have come in 3rd by any means, but I know it's just part of the process and in the big picture, long run, today's ass whipping will do me well.

Steel tomorrow, and it's a whole new day!!

[Catfish]

ding ding ding ding ding

Steel today was fun!!!

Except, once again, the dumb ass weatherman hosed the forecast and bigtime.

70 degrees today my ass!! I showed up in a tshirt and vest and was faced with some massively impressive fog. And that fog didn't burn off till the last stage.... Thankfully I had a heavy coat in the truck to throw on or I would have frozen my arse off over the course of the match.

Had some really good stages today. Shot smoothly and was very consistent on each string. When I picked up the 1000 bullets I'd ordered after the match, I was VERY FREAKING HAPPY that I shot .22 all day.

Most important thing was I had fun, and I'm finally starting to enjoy shooting steel.

Now if I can just do something about those ridiculous pull ups.

[Catfish]

Here's today's best runs (near as I can tell on video...)

Stg 1

Stg 2

Stg 3

Stg 4

Stg 5

[Catfish]

Deload today at the gym. Last week's issues were a sign that it's time to take a break, and unlike last year - I'm listening!! Cut weight by about 30-40%, and went from 5x5 to 3x3. Will carry on this week and then start program #2, a 7 week cycle like I did last year. Will continue to intersperse the CF work on T days. As I get closer to DTC, I will nix the weights altogether and focus on CF, with a final deload before the first big match of the year.

Then it will be wash, rinse, repeat through the rest of the season, mainly focusing on CF workouts to carry me through the first part of the year; evaluating all the way.

[Catfish]

After 2 days deloading at the gym for both my A and B workouts, and 2 moderately difficult CF workouts, I went into today's match feeling a LOT better than last week's flatness.

Felt a lot quicker, wasn't tired or grumpy or out of sorts like last week's match and flew through the match penalty free, only the second time in recent memory I've shot a completely clean match!

Still have much to work on, but it was nice to see a week's worth of rest (more or less as Diane surely kicked my ass Thursday....) would get me ready to go this weekend.

Nice shooting with some really talented shooters today - Popplewell crawled back to the range and sumarily kicked the shee-it out of everyone there; and then two other SS shooters as well.

Once Carina gets the whole 8R8R8 think down, she'll do just fine!!

But anyway, nice, pleasant day at the range; weather was good, gun felt good in my hands and the biggest positive today is that I really felt more like I was driving the gun and not the other way around. Called the bad shots, made 'em up and went on.

Good stuff.

[Catfish]

smoke 'em if you got 'em

Got a good practice session at the range yesterday with some chums. Probably put 300 rounds (at least) downrange.

Pulled out Leatham's drills and did all you can get, the draw drill, and 4 in 4 at 10. At the request of my drill mates we divised a drill based on 4 targets - 2 Reload 2 Reload 2 Reload 2 on an 8 second Par time. I shot some more of all you can get as the other folks were picking up brass...

The biggest lesson learned was it's all about timing.

I had a friend leave me a LOT of his own handloads - I figured I'd just shoot 'em up and use them in practice. Well, his 'loads were WAY hotter than mine. At the end of the session I shot my own loads and the timing was significantly different. Almost to the point that the first portion of the training session was negated.

So, I'm going to shelve my buddy's handloads and just focus on using my own stuff. I suspect I'm going to have to pick up a collet die and get to work pulling bullets. I've only got a thousand or so , but with bullet prices going through the roof, it's a worthwhile investment in my time.

The lesson to carry forward is going to be to make sure I have plenty of match ammo to practice with leading up to the big matches; ensuring the timing issue is where it needs to be.

[Catfish]

Fun day at the steel match today. Didn't really feel "in the groove" but still had a pretty good day. It just hit me that is part of the reason I'm doing this. Used to be that an off day mentally/feeling sluggish would lead to some crashes and burnage. Today though was a pretty "workman" like match. So I guess there's some growth there.

The last stage was a turn and burn stage. 4 of the big gongs, overlapping each other, and an 8" stop plate about 5-7 yards away. For the life of me, I couldn't stop myself from shooting 6 rounds, throwing a double on the last gong before transitioning to the stop plate. All I could think of was that I was REALLY having fun pulling the trigger that fast and subconsciously just didn't want to stop.

Was let down yesterday - 3rd month in a row that I haven't been to the Waco match due to crappy weather but at least got to play today.

Shot the .22 again and I'm really starting to have fun with steel; it's a long way from a year ago when I'd be hating every minute of it.

Chrono'd after the match with the .45, getting ammo ready for DTC - the lead 230g was spot on, at about 168-169pf. Same load, the Precisions were running 155 and also with the same load the jacketed 230g was pushing a lethargic 135.

Interesting to me to see what the various types of bullets would do; will likely load up a bunch of lead rounds as it is; and then up the powder for the precisions and jacketed ammo to get to pf; which will keep me from having to jack with my powder measure every time I load something up...

Need to get some video loaded and posted ASAP.

[Catfish]

Shot two matches today - a USPSA classifier match this morning - and then an IDPA tonight.

First stage of the morning was like I was on valium or something. Figured it would be about a 3.25-3.5 second stage and I plodded along in 5 and change. Just simply couldn't bring any speed or agression to the stage.

Second stage went pretty good.

Getting ready to shoot the 3rd, that pesky little thought of "gee, I'm shooting a clean match and since these are just easy little classifiers, I'll shoot yet another clean match!". And promptly threw a mike.

This is becoming a trend that I'm not really that happy with!

4th stage was one of the fun ones, can you count and it wasn't too terribly shabby; probably one of my better runs - and surely better than the last time I shot this puppy at A4 last year.

Shooting IDPA tonight, wound up shooting some A zones than the zero zones, which cost me some points down, but still all in all shot with a lot more speed to the gun than I did the first stage of the day.

All in all a good day of shooting and now I'm off to imbibe a bit before bedtime.

[Catfish]

This just hit me as a random thought.

I actually enjoyed shooting 4 classifier stages this weekend. Time's past I would have hated every bit of it with the lack of rounds downrange and movement but you know, I actually enjoyed it.

Another goal met!

[Catfish]

A good weekend of shooting.

Some rifle work at an AK class on Saturday with a few rounds of handgun thrown in for good measure. Was interesting to see getting in the zone works on a rifle as well as a pistol. I was really *seeing* on the bill drill portion of the day - crisp front sight picture, and was able to watch the bolt cycle back and forth and the brass, or should I say, steel, ejecting out and forward. Pretty cool, really.

Very good practice session yesterday with the SS. Shot several of Leatham's drills and sure enough, that crisp front sight focus was still there, and clearly on a couple of the drills.

Started with the draw drill, moved on to all you can get - awesome front sight focus and was able to snap in reloads on each of the runs; moved to enter left/exit right - a fantastic movement (or not to move) drill; hit the speed classic - fun!; which way to go; and finished up on box option.

Shot each drill several times, easily put between 300-400 rounds downrange.

Gear, gun, and ammo all functioned flawlessly, and my brain was even paying attention over most of the day.

All in all, got in around 700 rounds of ammo downrange; no malfunctions to speak of and a ton of fun.

Oh, speaking of malfunctions....

It never ceases to amaze me what some people will do to the uber reliable weapons of our time to try and make them something they are not.

You see if with folks who do all sorts of stuff to their Glocks and hey, all of a sudden, the ultra reliable, 100% Glock pistols turn into something that requires more care and feeding than a 1911.... The same thing happened to every single person in the AK class who wasn't shooting a stock AK like myself and my buddy. Every single AK that had been tweaked, worked on, tricked out, and tuned puked all freaking day, drill after drill.

I think there's a lesson in there somewhere.

[Catfish]

I've made one of those mental breakthroughs at the gym. I've been reading a bit and talking to some folks about proper DL form and how the lift is done when your hips are forward; that what you really should be focusing on is squeezing your hamstrings and glutes and not focus so much on your back.

Well, I finally figured that out last week. It just all of a sudden hit me during DLs.

Applied the same principle today and hit 1x3 at 300 lbs with practically no effort whatsoever. It was almost like there was no weight on the bar at all.

I'm pretty stoked over this!!!

[Catfish]

Good practice session at the range today; shot several of Leatham's drills and for the most part felt pretty solid all day.

Went to the indoor range after, shot about 100 rounds, group shooting before the IDPA match tonight, then shot the match pretty well, probably one of my better, more consistent match efforts in a while.

Really starting to feel the gun. In fact, it's time to change the recoil spring as the gun's not cycling with the same amount of snap and feels like it's hanging up. Cleaned the gun before the match today so it wasn't grungy or anything.

I hope to keep the practice up as much as possible between now and the DTC, it's just around the corner!!!

[Catfish]

Steel match today. Took me the first 3 stages to start trusting the front sight. I was hitting the steel just fine; but I wasn't calling the shot or trusting that I was hitting at all till about the 4th stage. I imagine since this was the first match since Christmas I've shot steel with the 'real' gun that would explain a bunch. I also think that my speed on steel has really stepped up and my mind wasn't keeping up with what was going on.

Kind of like talking in Spanish (or any other foreign language) where you just talk, vs. trying to translate what's being said at the same time. Using these terms, it took me 3 stages to just talk but the last two were decent.

Another workman like effort, nothing really stellar, but nothing really ugly, either.

Gun, gear, and ammo all worked just fine. Double Tap is just around the corner!!!

[Catfish]

Hey look!!! The Double Tap Championship is upon us....

I've put a few thousand rounds downrange in preparation for this match over the last month or so. Gun feels good, sights are tracking well, gear is at 100%.

I hit my max effort last week at the gym, two easy days yesterday and today.

Will get in one more practice session tomorrow afternoon and the clean my pistol, pack my bags and go collect as many Alphas as I can over the course of the match, which for me is Thursday - and will then RO the match the rest of the weekend.

I'm really looking forward to it!!

[mike cyrwus]

Hey look!!! The Double Tap Championship is upon us....

I've put a few thousand rounds downrange in preparation for this match over the last month or so. Gun feels good, sights are tracking well, gear is at 100%.

I hit my max effort last week at the gym, two easy days yesterday and today.

Will get in one more practice session tomorrow afternoon and the clean my pistol, pack my bags and go collect as many Alphas as I can over the course of the match, which for me is Thursday - and will then RO the match the rest of the weekend.

I'm really looking forward to it!!

Good Luck , Derrick; what stage are you RO-ing?

Im on sq. 19; sat/sun.

[Catfish]

Good Luck , Derrick; what stage are you RO-ing?

Im on sq. 19; sat/sun.

Thanks Mike!! Same to you! I'll be on stage #1 with Mick.

[Catfish]

Shot what felt like a pretty decent match today. One stage bit me in the booty, but the other 11 felt pretty good. Stages were fun, my gear all worked just fine, gun ran like a top, brain was actually turned on pretty well, and I can really tell my gym work is paying off, felt strong all day without feeling puny at all.

Went through a bunch of water, two Cliff bars, sunflower seeds, and two little packets of the jelly bean energy snacks, which are actually pretty good and do give a little energy lift when you're feeling a it hungry.

Now it's off to work the match for the next three days and we'll see how the scores hold up.

[Catfish]

OK, I've had some time to reflect on the DTC....

I finished 4th A, 9th overall. Got beat by some quality shooters, all M and A class guys and finished 83% of Strader, the division champion.

Shot 8 stages very well - finishing in the top 5-7 and ~90% of the stage winner.

One stage had a lack of execution and threw 2 mikes. Without the mikes, it would have been another 90%er.

The three stages I did poorly on taught me a lot about myself and my shooting. I shot those 3 with fear. And it really pains me to admit that. My overwhelming thought on those 3 stages was "man don't F these up!!!"

And shooting like that I shot VERY very conservatively and while I didn't throw any mikes or get any penalties on those stages, you could have timed me using a sun dial.

Lesson learned. I would much rather be an audacious shooter than a timid one, and I will work on shooting aggressively as the year continues - even on stages where I am not comfortable with the arrays or shooting positions.

Enough about that!

Shot local match today at Johnson County. Clean match, 3-4 D's but clean for the day. 4th overall shooting SS. Not much movement the first 3 stages shot, but the last stage I shot clean, no D's and fast. Worked on being aggressive in and out of shooting positions, shooting as I was coming into the arrays and as I was moving out and was exceptionally pleased with how it worked out. It was a goal of mine before the match to get on target faster and on the last stage I accomplished that with aggression.

3 weeks to go before the big show!!!

[Catfish]

Good practice today, mostly on steel, working on draws, and sight focus. Threw in some movement drills on steel and it was a good day at the range. Worked on getting the gun up and ready to shoot and everything flowed really well once I started implementing what I was trying to work on.

[Catfish]

Shot a crappy yucky match yesterday at Greenville - just couldn't get myself going at all. Got about 25 minutes from my house and realized I'd left my blankety blank gun belt at home... Should have just stayed there!!

Had gun pukage issues and mental pukage issues, just not focused much on shooting. I did, however, burn down a classifier, if the classifier gizmo people are right it'll be my first 100%er, so that's nice and should help get me closer to my M card in SS.

Trained about a dozen folks today on an introduction to practical pistol shooting as a fund raiser for our club and got to shoot/demo just a little bit during the day and then after the class was over, started hitting some bill drills to get on the front sight and my freaking 1911 just flat out dies. Trigger won't make the hammer fall, WTF is up with that?? So I guess tomorrow will be spent trying to figure out what the hell is going on there.

Shot and MD'd an IDPA match tonight and my shooting was fine, but the damn 9mm 1911 mags I have suck ass and ended up working on clearing malfunctions alot.

Something must be in the air because my guns never freaking break. But hey, it's only 2 weeks to nationals, I've got plenty of time!