Houngan

[Matt Griffin]

Area 6 followup:

Placed second, WAAY behind Dave S., which is to be expected. Looking at our stages, he's just flat faster than me, although he threw one more Mike and a couple more Deltas. So, what did I do wrong?

Planning: I'm not programming in the stage well enough, I had a few missed/late/early reloads that cost a second here and there. Overall I planned this match better than I've ever planned a match, but there is still quite a bit of room for improvement.

Relaxation: Stage 11, my worst, was a planning breakdown, which lead to a panicked mind, which in turn made me start jamming the trigger instead of lightly working it. Recovereable in some situations, but not on 30yd paper, and I threw a bunch of junk. The annoying thing is that halfway through, I noticed I was doing it, and still couldn't fix it. Not sure how to practice that, so just more high-speed dryfire and .22 until the hard trigger press is forgotten.

Draws: Time to start working on them, they're holding me back a bit.

Reloads: Still getting used to the Versa holder, skipped it several times.

What did I do right?

Saw the sights, for the most part. Called some bad shots and made them up. General condition is much better, didn't get tired through the match despite no sleep.

Went "pure" on stage 9, first time I've seen that happen so clearly. The bobber and swinger were moving like molasses, I had all day to shoot them. I bet that's how TGO shoots most stages.

Planned the stages thoroughly, eased my burden a ton. It's so much easier to find the sights when you aren't wondering what to do next.

I'm still not sure if I did the right thing on Stage 1. I was shooting at the ragged, ragged edge of my accuracy, and was 1 round away from slidelock three times. If anything, it lets me know that I can make some stage-breaking shots when it's called for, but I'm still not sure I wasn't just lucky to make so many without blowing the stage.

H.

[boo radley]

Area 6 followup:

Placed second....

Very, very nice. I only watched you shoot for two stages (grin), but no joke -- I thought you were shooting LIMITED, until today. Very smooth and fluid shooting, man.

[Matt Griffin]

Thanks! My theory is that I'll start the season Limited 10 until I'm back in shape, then go back to Limited. Unless that damned 625 keeps beckoning . . .

H.

[steel1212]

You needs to get on up to master so I don't have to worry about you when you get to A...hell just skip A class and go straight to Master. I have enough sharks to worry about with out you there lol

[Matt Griffin]

SingleStack postmortem.

I seem to have an issue. I'm apparently a hell of a steel shooter, but not much of a paper shooter. It has always felt this way to me, but at Area6 I beat Dave S. and most of the other players (shooting L10 I would have been fifth in Lim, and 2nd in Prod) and at the SS Nat. I put up a 7th on the steel stage vs. mid-everyone on the other stages. On steel stages I'm beating some personal heroes, so something is going on. I just don't know what the difference is yet, I suspect it has something to do with how I'm visualizing paper targets.

As for the 1911, I'm still not a fan. Too much crap on the side of the gun that gets in the way, although I understand this isn't a popular opinion. In fairness, I need to install a FO sight and different safety on mine, it's set up more for bullseye than USPSA at the moment. Also, with very little practice it was interesting to see that my reloads took care of themselves, I only blew one and performed several on pure auto.

I shot the steel match today as well, the big differentiator there is to add weak hand pressure and LIGHTLY press the trigger, that's what gives me the best performance so that I can shoot the sights, not the spot or the ding. Had a few good runs, but I tend to lose my sights after the third or fourth shot too often.

Might shoot KAPS tomorrow, honestly my right hand is aching and my wrist hurts from 16 hours of driving and 400 rounds of ammo. We'll see.

H.

[Matt Griffin]

Area 8 postmortem.

Bad shooting, plain and simple. I was jamming the trigger for the first six stages, which earned two M on Stage 1 despite clearly seeing the sights. I also was throwing trash on the pre-movement targets, so I have to work on my break triggers, I'm obviously anticipating.

That, and two jams. I haven't had a jam in the last 2,000 rounds, and I get two at an Area match, one of which doubled my stage time, cost me fifty match points, and put me in 4th instead of 2nd. Bleh. Not sure what would cause them, other than a dirty gun. I haven't cleaned it yet, I intend to run 200 or so through it and see if I can get it to replicate when I have a chance to look at it.

So, more practice on firm weak hand, gentle trigger finger. Work on entering and exiting positions. Work on raw accuracy.

H.

[Whisky]

I suppose you are ready for IN match and A5.. you are expected to win L10 no less.. got to be extra carefull things might happened like in Ohio me too

[Matt Griffin]

I suppose you are ready for IN match and A5.. you are expected to win L10 no less.. got to be extra carefull things might happened like in Ohio me too

I don't want to hear about expectations. I went to Area 6 with no expectations and shot beautifully; my brain is my biggest problem.

Also, I haven't yet decided if I want to switch to wheelgun for A5. Is Jerry coming? 'Cause I want to see how I stack up against the Cajun. I'll try not to slow you Open boys down (Teddy? Is that you? Or Tony?) too much.

H.

Edited May 29, 2008 by Houngan

[Matt Griffin]

Practice today.

Mostly testing out new Federal primed loads in the 625. Honestly I can't say that they are much more sensitive than the CCIs, at least by my strain screw testing. Something about the revolver just brings out the accuracy in me. I put four rocks up at 30 yards, all about 2-3 inches wide, 1 inch thick, and shot them all DA with one miss. Now, some of that was likely bullet impact shaking the spool or tires they were sitting on, but they all jumped, which is just creepy. I can't force myself to be that accurate with the Glock, there's something about that loosey-goosey last bit of trigger pull that ruins my accuracy. The 625 breaks cleanly, on the other hand. I dunno.

Anyway, draws are working well, around 1.1 from a locked holster. Glock is running again, I did a major spring cleaning on it tonight, I'm chalking up the A8 jams to filthy rails. It's like new now, with a bit of slide glide on it, so should be good to go for the next 5k rounds. Did some decent reload drills with two CR pouches, I think I've been wearing the first one too far forward; the second was much quicker for me. Time to start getting rounds downrange to train the brain for Indiana.

H.

Edited May 29, 2008 by Houngan

[Matt Griffin]

You needs to get on up to master so I don't have to worry about you when you get to A...hell just skip A class and go straight to Master. I have enough sharks to worry about with out you there lol

I'm working on it, but honestly for the last month or so, I can't make the local matches for the major matches. I'll be a regular range bum in the summer, so I should get a lot of classifiers under my belt. That, and hopefully get over my classifier yips; I'm honestly not a sandbagger, I just suck at standing still.

H.

[Matt Griffin]

Practice again. Only thing of note is reconfirming that I lose no time bringing true focus back to the front sight, rather than type 2.

H.

[Matt Griffin]

Dryfiring with some consistency now, I think I've trained in the new CR pouches. My reloads are much, much faster, based almost entirely on how quickly the weak hand leaves the gun.

I'm also trying to program in weak hand pressure and light trigger pulls, I'll hit the range tomorrow and see if this has helped.

H.

[Matt Griffin]

I didn't get to live fire yesterday, so we'll see if consistent dryfire practice pays off. My reloads are smokin', and the Indiana state match is going to be reload intensive. Otherwise I'm just trying to program in a delicate trigger pull and a good sight picture.

H.

Edited June 6, 2008 by Houngan

[Matt Griffin]

Indiana Sectional followup:

Awright! I won Lim10! Here's what I learned:

Consistency is where it is at, bar none. Forget about squeezing out every last tenth of a second, forget about draw tricks, reload tricks, etc. Plan the stage out in a shootable and intelligent manner, program in the high points, then just shoot the darned thing as solidly as possible. I won five stages, but more importantly I didn't tank a stage, that's what makes the difference.

Gun ran beautifully, I checked my mags after Area 8 and two were out of spec. They got a squeeze on the vise, wish I would have done that BEFORE Area 8, dummy. My accuracy wasn't terribly good, I had two Mikes, but focusing on shooting quality shots made up for moments of poor physical performance.

I need to work on the mental game, particularly being able to think during the run. On Stage 10, coming out of the right position and entering the hallway, I needed to make a fast reload so that I would be ready to shoot around the corner as I entered, and I managed to think of that after the last shot; it worked and I hit a faster-than-normal reload, allowing me to keep moving during those eight shots. Unfortunately I bobbled the standing reload at the end, but that's a different matter.

So, dryfire practice evidently paid off. I felt in control and didn't have to think about much during my runs, my grip/trigger/reloads were working as they should for the most part. I think I'm at the point where recoil control isn't that big of a deal, at least as far as practicing it constantly. On Stage 3 (the infamous "run backwards" stage) I went cyclic on the last four targets and had good hits, so the bouncing front sight is tracking correctly. Far more important to get there and get set up properly.

My thoughts for this match: Hard weak hand grip, easy on the trigger. It worked.

H.

Edited June 10, 2008 by Houngan

[Matt Griffin]

Hidden Hills with the revolver yesterday. My reloads seemed solid, but my trigger control is off. I think my lazy reloading has necessitated the mainspring to be cranked too high, and I still had a misfire. I'm going to do some diligent reloading and see if I can nail down a proper technique.

H.

[Matt Griffin]

Area 5 Postmortem:

Just a really uncomfortable match, shooting-wise. I was moving well, but I couldn't stop jamming the trigger, overgripping, and hosing. I had some good stages, a couple of great ones, and three or four I tanked completely (luckily the smallest stages.)

Lessons:

1. Don't eat lunch. I need a big breakfast early on, time to digest and wake back up, then some sort of snack throughout the day.

2. Bring more coffee. I know a lot of folks think this is crazy, but coffee doesn't make me jittery until I've had a ton; I need the wakeup occasionally.

3. Stop thinking about time. Use time to plan the stage, but when shooting, just shoot the stage. My best one was when I just moved to a position, made the shots, and moved on. Time will take care of itself.

4. More practice; specifically I have to work on consistent grip pressure, light trigger action, and calling shots. I MUST work on increasing my accuracy, I'm getting too sloppy.

Here's my main problem with classifiers and small stages. The smaller the stage, the more I think about doing it quickly, rather than doing it well. ***REVELATION*** Pay attention, dummy. This is important.

H.

[Matt Griffin]

I bought a nice piece of walnut to make some grips for the 625s, now to find the time to work on it.

Revolver trigger finger is getting faster and smoother, I still have a lot of dependency on finger position vs. horizontal movement during the pull. Not sure if I have to be dead solid perfect on the trigger position, or just work on grip and pull to ameliorate the wobble.

H.

[Pin Shooter]

Try shooting groups with your finger in different positions on the trigger. I have noticed that if I run my finger on the high side of the trigger, I tend to shoot more accurately. Middle of the trigger is definitely quicker for me. I am finally at a mental place, where holster position, finger position, and even grip to a certain extent don't waver my focus too much. If I get a bad draw, and I still get plenty of them, I shift my focus from grip position to trigger control, and the speed and accuracy don't seem to be that different, than if the draw was clean. I used to get all bent out of mental shape, if I had to shoot a badly drawn gun, but now I give it no thought, just shift my focus to trigger control. ( having said that, I have read " The Book " over a dozen times, and am still getting new sparks of information that is helping me understand how I shoot.)

[Matt Griffin]

Try shooting groups with your finger in different positions on the trigger. I have noticed that if I run my finger on the high side of the trigger, I tend to shoot more accurately. Middle of the trigger is definitely quicker for me. I am finally at a mental place, where holster position, finger position, and even grip to a certain extent don't waver my focus too much. If I get a bad draw, and I still get plenty of them, I shift my focus from grip position to trigger control, and the speed and accuracy don't seem to be that different, than if the draw was clean. I used to get all bent out of mental shape, if I had to shoot a badly drawn gun, but now I give it no thought, just shift my focus to trigger control. ( having said that, I have read " The Book " over a dozen times, and am still getting new sparks of information that is helping me understand how I shoot.)

That makes sense, and is something I do with the Glock as well. I rarely hit anything like a "perfect" grip on the revolver yet, so it's just a matter of constant dryfire from this point forward.

H.

[Matt Griffin]

Range report.

My first real practice since I started PT for my right wrist. Fun fact about me: I've had about 40% strength in my right arm for the last five years or so. Don't let anyone tell you computers can't hurt.

I worked on a number of things. First discovery: Primer seating isn't ultra-critical at the trigger pulls I'm using, .007-12 seemed to work equally well. However I had bent my spring too much to get down to 6 pounds, and it seemed to be the problem that caused 3 misfires last match. I compared mine to Carmoney's, his had much less center bend and hook bend. I straightened mine out a bit and backed the strain screw out until I made it back to my old weight, mas o menos, and reliability went way up. In fact, I was able to drop a subjective pound or two off before misfires started cropping back up. Steve's trigger ran flawlessly, of course, and I was able to take about 1/4 turn out of it before it started missing.

On both the Glock and the revs, I'm going to have to retrain myself to get my right arm back into the game. My accuracy doubles when I concentrate on maintaining the grip with my right hand. Unfortunately after 150 shots, my right arm started aching and I had to quit. Here's hoping for steady improvement up to the Nationals.

Also, my load for the 1911 is slow in my revolvers. I'll have to bump it up a couple of tenths to make major. Apologies to all those fine folks at the local matches where I declared Major, I hadn't chronoed yet.

H.

GRIP GRIP GRIP GRIP GRIP GRIP GRIP RIGHT HAND RIGHT HAND RIGHT HAND

[Matt Griffin]

retro double post

Edited August 29, 2008 by Houngan

[Matt Griffin]

Big practice today. Lessons:

1. Breathe out on the buzzer.

2. Stay low.

3. Line up on the target through the wall before you get there.

4. Pop the side foot to get moving

5. Remove half steps by shifting starting position

6. Get the gun up before pushing out

7. Think about weak hand on draw

8. Watch the reload hand on revolver through the whole process

9. Work on the weak hand control so that strong hand can regrip on rev. load.

10. Easy on the grip, hard on the weak hand.

11. Preload for the draw, be twitchy

Man, I learned a ton today. Here's hoping I can groove some of it before Tulsa.

H.

Edited August 29, 2008 by Houngan

[Matt Griffin]

Useless errata:

Auto reload: 1.4sec

15yd A zone draw: 1.15sec

Rev. reload: 2.3 sec

3yd draw: .86sec

20yd splits: .35

3yd splits: .16-18

Half-bay transition: .55

H.

[Matt Griffin]

Sunday session:

Worked on vision. I've finally seen what everyone calls "focusing on the front sight." Yougottabekidding me. There's no time difference on a target, but the transition is brutal. I've been cursed by exceptional target-focus vision, so I'm going to have to save this for the wacky-long shots. There isn't enough time to practice before Nationals to change soemthing so fundamental.

Also, my reloads are ass. But after watching some video, I'm fairly convinced that everyone's reloads are ass when the pressure is on. I don't know who manages the crazy .80 reloads on classifiers and in practice, but I ain't seen one on a live stage yet.

So, my big points of focus:

1. Stay low

2. Use appropriate sight picture

3. MAP OUT STAGES COMPLETELY FROM NOW ON. THAT INCLUDES EXACT TARGET LOCATION AT EVERY POINT, PLUS VISION REQUIREMENTS.

If I can pull off #3, then I should make up a lot of time compared to my earlier efforts, particularly in having the gun ready when entering a position.

H.

[Matt Griffin]

Revolver Nationals AAR:

Came in fifth at the Revolver Nationals, won two stages. I'm very pleased with the result, needless to say. With five whole matches and maybe four thousand rounds through a revolver, total, I exceeded my expectations by a wide margin.

The secret to revolver success:

1. Watch the reload hand, no matter what else you are doing. If I had understood this completely, I would have shaved seconds on a number of stages

2. Equipment matters. I just can't work an 8lb trigger like I can work a 6.5lb trigger.

3. Footwork needs to be automatic. If you don't know where you are going, then you can't be watching your reloads.

4. Gotta hit that steel. Gotta watch the sights leave the target on steel and long shots.

5. Jerry is still the King.

Now it's time for L10. I'm not feeling that strong in L10 at the moment, I would love to get out and put a few hundred rounds downrange, but I don't have the ammo or the facility or wrist durability to do that. I'm just going to do easy perfect draws and reloads in the hotel room, and see if that can groove enough to make it through the Nationals.

H.