Brazos SC Shooter

[Brazos SC Shooter]

Who are you and what did you do with TEXAS HK SHOOTER ???

Was he abducted by aliens ?

Yes he was abducted and replaced with a new and improved version of the old model.

[Brazos SC Shooter]

5/28/07

1.5 hr dry fire - today was an outdoor session. I worked on a lot of moving from box to box and shooting on the move. There were many sprints between boxes. If my schedule allows, I will head to the range for some live fire on my lunch break.

While it has reduced in frequency, I am having problems getting 100% of my reloads, regardless of me moving or standing still. I have yet to pinpoint what the cause is. Obviously I am not seating the mag hard enough, but they do not feel different than those which are done correctly. I will continue to focus on making sure these are 100%.

Here are a few pictures of my outdoor dry fire set up. The boxes are 10 yrds from the targets, and 7 yrds apart. I dug out all the grass and filled the left one with mulch since that one is stationary. I move the other one for the forward drills.

19 days until Indiana Sectional

102 days until Nationals.

Edited May 29, 2007 by Brazos SC Shooter

[Brazos SC Shooter]

5/29/07

50 min dry fire - I completed my goals using Lanny book. I created one for the Indiana Sectional and one for Nationals. Tonight's session was good in that I have found another area that I need to improve. This was pointed out to me by Flyin40 at the April match. I hadn't noticed in my dry fire practice until this evening. I am not following through on the last shot before a reload. I am not always certain were that last shot was. I slowed some of the drills down to really focus on seeing the shot, holding it for just a fraction of a second longer, and then move to the reload. I will now pay closer attention to this in my sessions.

I received my shipment of Black Bullets (185gr) so I can now begin working up my loads for Nationals. Special thanks to .40AET for the sweet deal.

18 days until Indiana Sectional

101 days until Nationals.

[Brazos SC Shooter]

5/31/07

1 hr dry fire session - outdoor session. Lots of shooting on the move. My reloads were much improved and I had only a couple of fumbled reloads during this session.

I am bummed. Something has come up and I will not be able to attend the Circleville match this weekend. This was to be my warm up for the Indiana Sectional. I will not let this deter me from accomplishing my goals. I will just need to find another way to keep my match preparation on track.

16 days until Indiana Sectional

99 days until Nationals.

[Brazos SC Shooter]

6/2/07

1 hr 20 min Dry fire session - today's session was an indoor/outdoor combination. All of the single target drills were done inside and all other were outside. Spent a ton of time on shooting on the move. I am getting better at timing shots with steps and keeping a smooth steady sight picture. I really wish I could have made it to the Circleville match this weekend. I will have to add some additional range time to get prepared for the Indiana Sectional. I am excited to see how things have progressed since the last match.

14 days until Indiana Sectional

97 days until Nationals.

[Brazos SC Shooter]

6/4/07

30 min cardio

30 min dry fire

This morning's session was failry low key. Worked mostly on the basic drills (good sight picture, strong/weak hand, reloads etc). I have been studying the Indiana stages for the last couple of weeks to get myself familiar with them. Now over the next 12 days I will commit them to memory so that I am able to visualize every stage. I realize they may change once they are set up in 3D but I at least want to know target sequences and have have my basic plan in place.

I am going to replace my camera this week so that I can have video from the match. I learn best from seeing my performances for that perspective. Also I think a more audio/visual range diary increases readership and feedback.

On a sort of unrelated note, I played golf on Sunday which is something I really hadn't done since I got involved in shooting a year ago Feb. I did not anticipate shooting my personal best or anything because it has been so long. What I did focus on was maintaining my state of mind and not allowing poor play to determine my enjoyment or further impeed my play. I utilized some of the work I have done with Manny's book to help and was excited to see that I have made progress. I had two holes that were complete "blow-ups". In the past I would start dropping F Bombs, throwing clubs and then get so mad that the rest of my round would be affected. This did not happen. Everytime I stood over the ball I repeated to myself, "I am smooth" and standing over every putt I repeated, "It is like me to make all my putts." Choosing to focus on these two things over and over really kept me calm and there was no room for getting mad or frustrated. My last match was much different than those before it and I expect my next match to be even more so.

12 days until Indiana Sectional

95 days until Nationals.

[Brazos SC Shooter]

6/6/07

1 hr dry fire - Today's session was an outside session. I came up with some impromptu shooting on the move drills that were variations on "walking the square" and "walking the triangle".

This weekend I am shooting an IDPA match at Circleville. I am looking forward to shooting a match. It has been over a month and I am ready to go. I am really looking forward to next weekend and getting to shoot the Indiana Section match.

My goals this weekend

1. shoot a penalty free match.

2. have fun

3. win CDP

4. win HOA

My family has been here this week from Texas. My brother will be attending the match with me. I am working hard to get him hooked so that he will get involved in some sort of competition when he returns to Austin.

Depending on our schedule we might try to shoot the match in Miamisburg as well.

10 days until Indiana Sectional

93 days until Nationals.

[Brazos SC Shooter]

6/8/07

20 min dry fire - I spent a few minutes working on draws and reloads from concealment to prepare for Saturday's IDPA match.

8 days until Indiana Sectional

91 days until Nationals.

6/9/07

Today's IDPA match didn't go nearly as well as I had hoped. I felt very good about my shooting but I had many gun problems with my Trojan. I don't think I had a single stage that didn't have a failure to feed problem. In one case I had three jams in a row. The first was always after a reload and the round would nose dive into the feed ramp. I would clear the jam and take the next shot. The next bullet would jam and so on and so on. It was difficult to keep from getting distacted by this. I did not let it affect me from stage to stage but there were times where I was distracted by this during the stage I was currently shooting. I will post my issues over in the reloading area and see if there is something that group can help me pinpoint.

I had more success with see my shots and calling them than I have had in sometime. I still have a lot to improve upon but I am improving.

Here is a summary of the stages.

Stage 1 - Take'em Down

This stage went very smoothly. I had one jam at the front barricade after my reload. I did not have to take any extra shots to take down the steel. They added two barrels so you could not take all the steel from one slot. By this time in the match I was getting very good a clearing the jams so it wasn't stopping me to bad. On my reshoot it went smoothly with no jams.

Stage 2 - Hidden But Not Forgotten

All of the 18 round stages were a drag for us 1911 shooters since it meant an automatic extra reload. This stage went well except for the jam after my reload at the door. I had one make up shot on T-8 because a hit on hardcover.

Stage 3 - El Strong and Weak Prez

This was a brain cramp stage. I got my first penalties here. One for not following the stage (missed the strong hand on the first string) and the other for hitting the no shoot. I was able to see improvement on these types of stages which are similar to the dry fire drills. My weak hand string was very good. There were no misses and only a couple of points down.

Stage 3.2 - Look out for the good guy standard

This should have been an easy stage but this is the stage with the 3 jams back to back. As a result it was not pretty time wise. I shoot it well outside of that.

Stage 4 - X Marks the spot

This was my best stage. I expect this to be an overall stage win. My plan was efficient and went exactly as I had invisioned it. There were no make up shots and no jams.

I have fun shooting with my IDPA friends but I think between now and Nationals, if I have to pick shooting only two matches a month, I would rather shoot two USPSA matches. It is the only thing that is going to get me where I need to be for September.

I did chrono some new loads with my Brazos so that I could get a perfect load for the Indiana Sectional and for Nationals. I have switched to 185 gr Precisions. I am going to review the data but I am a little puzzled since 4.7 gr of TG chronoed exactly as 5.0 grains. In both cases I am still very hot, roughly 185PF.

7 days until Indiana Sectional

90 days until Nationals.

Edited June 10, 2007 by Brazos SC Shooter

[Brazos SC Shooter]

5/10/07

The match results from yesterday are in. It is kind of what I expected.

The extra sec or more to clear all of my jams helped put the match in the tank for me. I was second in CDP and 6th overall. Not an impressive outing by any means. The pieces I can work on are eliminating the 8 seconds in penalties (5 were from hits on non threats and 3 from brain cramp) and the 27 points down.

The run which I believed was going to be a stage win was aweful close. I missed the win by .04 seconds.

[Brazos SC Shooter]

6/11/07

30 min elliptical

30 min dry fire

I have been committing the Indiana Sectional stages to memory. I chrono'd some test loads in preparation for the Indiana Sectional. I ran 185gr Precision bullets with 4.7, 4.8, 4.9 and 5.0 grains of TG. All four of these loads ran the exact same PF (185) which was really odd to me. I won't have time to refine this load before the weekend so I am going with the back up which was 180 gr Ranier's over 4.7 grains of TiteGroup. This clocked right at 170-171. I have searched the site and found several loads with the Precision bullets but without being able to clock them myself I will not risk having to shoot minor.

I got my new plates today. I have been really torn since UT HRNS (University of Texas Longhorns) has been my tie to my Texas home. Shooting has become a big part of my life and I wanted to express that.

5 days until Indiana Sectional

88 days until Nationals.

new_plates.bmp

Edited June 12, 2007 by Brazos SC Shooter

[Catfish]

I wouldn't spend a lot of time memorizing the stages as they are drawn up on paper without actually seeing them in person. The stages rarely, if ever, look like they do on paper, and it's often times impossible to figure out distances and target sequences... For example, the stages at last weekend's A4 bore a slight resemblance to the stages in person - it was just too hard for the stage designer to communicate in a 2 dimensional method how the stages looked in a 3 dimensional world...

What I use the stage diagrams for is to figure out start positions and try (because sometimes it's impossible) to figure out the direction of travel and how that will effect my reloads. Then I'll go and practice those starting and reload positions to help burn them in.

Looks like you're on the right track, have fun!

[Brazos SC Shooter]

6/12/07

40 min dry fire session - focused on head shot sight picture drills with reloads. I am still experiencing inconsistency in my reload practice. Over the course of my session I am missing 10-15% +/-. Either the mag doesn't seat all the way or I miss bad enough to drop the magazine. Of course it is more pronounced as the par time decreases. It is not likely that I would go that fast in a match but it is disconcerting none the less. I suppose the solution is to slow it down and drill it at 100% and not increase speed until there are no misses. I suppose I need to keep reminding myself that "Ametures practice until they get it right and Professionals practice until they no longer get it wrong".

4 days until Indiana Sectional

87 days until Nationals.

I wouldn't spend a lot of time memorizing the stages as they are drawn up on paper without actually seeing them in person. The stages rarely, if ever, look like they do on paper, and it's often times impossible to figure out distances and target sequences... For example, the stages at last weekend's A4 bore a slight resemblance to the stages in person - it was just too hard for the stage designer to communicate in a 2 dimensional method how the stages looked in a 3 dimensional world...

What I use the stage diagrams for is to figure out start positions and try (because sometimes it's impossible) to figure out the direction of travel and how that will effect my reloads. Then I'll go and practice those starting and reload positions to help burn them in.

Looks like you're on the right track, have fun!

Thanks Catfish. I will keep that in mind. I am mainly focusing on a few details knowing that it might all be a little different in person. I am looking at where to reload and number of targets from the shooting postions knowing the exact order may change due to actual position and timing of activators etc.

I am really looking forward to shooting this match.

[Brazos SC Shooter]

6/13/07

30 min elliptical

30 min dry fire

Continue to drill the fundamentals. I am going to film my reloads this evening to see if I can find the hitch that is causing problems. I will also spend time slowing these down to get them back to 100%.

Tomorrow I will gauge and chamber check my match ammo in preparation for the weekend.

4 days until Indiana Sectional

86 days until Nationals.

Edited June 15, 2007 by Brazos SC Shooter

[Brazos SC Shooter]

6/14/07

50 min dry fire

Today I focused mostly on reloads. I slowed things way down and then filmed them to see if I could find something that could be causing the problem. I did notice that my hand holding the gun is a little low when it comes back. I will not try to learn something new two days before a match but it is good to be aware of.

I barrel tested all match ammo to ensure there were no issue. I also spent time sorting out matching head stamps to have all of them be the same for this weekend.

3 days until Indiana Sectional

85 days until Nationals.

Edited June 15, 2007 by Brazos SC Shooter

[Brazos SC Shooter]

6/15/07

15 min dry fire session

I used this session to really concentrate on some of my fundamentals in preparation for tomorrow. I have done all of the right things to prepare for tomorrow's match. Now it is just a matter of executing my plan and drawing on the skills I have worked so hard to solidify these last few months.

We are headed out in about an hour or so. I will drop the wife and kids off at the hotel and then I will take off for the range to catch a glimpse of the courses of fire.

Apparently I am not so good out math or I lost count with regard to the number of days until the match. I plugged the dates into excel to get the accurate count on the days remaining until Nationals.

1 day until Indiana Sectional

86 days until Nationals.

Edited June 15, 2007 by Brazos SC Shooter

[Brazos SC Shooter]

6/18/07

I very special thanks to David and the entire group of folks who hosted a great match this weekend. The CROs and ROs were awesome. Everyone was professional, efficient and most of all fun to hang with. The match ran like a well oiled machine as there were no back ups and no waiting when we arrived at our stages. This was my first IN Sectional and it will not be my last. I also want to say that I enjoyed meeting and shooting with the folks from Squad 24. This group was positive and encouraging and all helped to keep things moving along. A special thanks to Sue who shot all of my match video. I appreciate it very much. It has provided me with a ton of information to use for improvement.

I am really disappointed in my performance. I thought I was better prepared for this match given my practice routine. I had some equipment issues but the morjority of the problem was my shooting and, in particular, one very bad decision with respect to a stage plan (7 misses and 30+ spots on that stage alone). It did not feel like I had much front sight discipline, and how well can you expect to shoot without that.

Once again Bob @ Brazos shows why his customer service is second to none. I emailed him some clips of what my gun was doing, last night, and he called me this morning to make arrangements to get it corrected. It looks like me dropping the gun one the beaver tail during dry fire might have done something to cause these problems.

Things I am proud of

1. State of mind - I was able to remain positive during the match even with my bad stages and equipment issues. I also did not allow the gun problems to frustrate or distract me mid-stage.

2. With the exception of the Texas Star I had few make up shots on the steel. This is a big improvement especially for the ones that were longer shots and on the move.

3. Visualizing my plan before shooting. Based on my results I might need to put this in the following section. There was only one instance where I got confused and didn't shoot the targets in the sequence I had intended.

4. At the encouragement of Sunuva and an RO on Stage 9, I made an appeal to the Range Master about a call. Normally I wouldn't have done this but I am glad I excercised this option. It resulted in the call being changed and proved beneficial.

Things to improve

1. PENALTIES, PENALTIES, PENALTIES - the bad stage plan killed me here. Outside of that it was pretty clean.

2. Nail reloads before moving rather than while moving

3. More shooting on the move. I scored pretty well in the places where I moved but I saw lots of places where I could have kept moving but didn't.

4. Shoot within my level. Trying to make shoots that I don't "have in my bag", as golfer would say, will only hurt. The key work here is trying. If I have to try then I haven't practiced it enough to succeed consistently.

Here are some of the videos.

Overall I was pretty happy with my plan and my score. The places I could have cut time were 1) shoot the first 4 targets while moving to my first position, 2) nail the reload then take off 3) move more quickly through the 3rd array by switching from walking fowards to walking backwards

4) the two times the gun doubled resulted in the extra reload.

Could hammer the close targets much quicker and again nail the reload before moving. I did not jump back as far as I had intended in order to get the two in the second port. I hit my spot for the far left targets but could come in shooting sooner. It is hard to tell from the camera angle but I felt good about coming into the box B. I could have done without the two make up shots though.

Trouble at Training Camp - Some folks I talked to planned on taking the four plates through the second port with their strong hand. I contemplated this for a little while but went for getting them through the door. However I touched the ground outside the door with my toes (doorway was a fault line) and got a procedural here. Oops. I didn't let missing the handle distract me and kept plugging away. No extra shots on the steel was nice, even though I wasn't burning it up. Decided to reach around the last corner rather than try the strong hand again. Scored 4 alphas on those two so it worked out.

Took a make up shot on T1 but scored well on this stage. There is no reason I couldn't have shot this faster. Sometimes the pace in my head is slower than I am capable of shooting. I think this is more of a confidence issue than my inability to shoot well faster.

Gun doubled on the second array and went to 1/2 cock which caused me to pause. All other times that happened I was able to keep going. You can see I heard to shots and was ready to move but when the gun didn't fire the next time I hesitated. Once I got rolling again things went pretty well. Again I could have hammered on the close targets more than I did and my shooting on the move could have been faster.

Small tweaks in my plan could have helped. Should have shot the three poppers in the beginning in a better order. I liked that the further steel required no make ups. Didn't account for an extra shoot and ran the gun dry. Came to a stand still at that moment and then was slow to begin shooting as I moved into the last position.

There is so much to learn and improve upon.

83 days until Nationals.

Edited June 18, 2007 by Brazos SC Shooter

[Brazos SC Shooter]

6/24/07

2 hrs of live fire practice (500 rds)

It was good to have my gun back in my hands. I took the last week off and I have not practiced since the IN Section match. I took some time to think about my performance and what I should do to adjust my training regime so that I am better prepared for Nationals. I was sure that I was better prepared than I was. I can see now that I was not as disciplined with respect to seeing all A's in my dry fire. I am going to slow everything back down where applicable to make sure I am doing this on every repetition of every drill.

Today's session was 20% draw to a single A zone hit, 50% slow/moderate fire working on calling my shots and seeing a good sight picture, 20% strong/weak hand slow fire and 10% draw 2 reload 2.

I was able to solve the doubling problem on the Brazos. It took many tries this morning to get the gun back together and have it work properly. It kept having problems with the hammer following the slide to the forward position. I am going to send it back to Bob this week so that he can take a look and get it running like it should. The trigger still felt good after my adjustments but I want him to make sure everything is tip top.

I also spent some time getting my Trojan running consistently. I bought a lighter recoil spring and that solved the problem. My reloads are running about 167PF where the factory ammo was running about 185-187. With the 12# spring it ran flawlessly again. I am noticing heavy powder marks on the side of the case which leads me to believe my load is too light. I don't think the case is sealing off as tightly due to the lower PF. I had this same thing happen when loading to 40 minor in my HK.

77 days until Nationals.

[Brazos SC Shooter]

6/25/07

1 hr dry fire

Today's session was outdoors with a ton of shooting on the move. 6am came really early but it was really nice outside. I have worked on slowing things down a bit to focus on a better more consistent sight picture. It was a very productive session.

I had to fly to Toronto for work this evening. Made sure not to bring any guns for practicing. They are polite but I think their firearm policy makes New York's look tame. Not sure but didn't want to risk it.

Luckily it is a short trip, will return tomorrow evening and will only miss one session.

76 days until Nationals.

[Brazos SC Shooter]

7/1/07

I sent my blaster back to Bob on Wednesday to take a look at the trigger. I made an adjustment before my last range session and it stopped doubling but I wanted him to give it the once over to maker sure the trigger pull was back to where it should be. I should have it back on Tues. and will resume my sessions then.

I have gone back to look at my goals and unfortunately I am not nearly as far along as I had hoped I would be. Am I a better shooter than I was when I started this diary, absolutely. By this time I was supposed to have achieved the following;

1. A Class shooter - still a B. My match performances have improved a great deal but my classifier scores are C Class. My year end goals are still in tact but I am going to have to pick it up. To achieve this I am going to pick up one or two more USPSA matches per month.

2. Lose 15-20 lbs. I have not been committed to this goal. My sparse workout routine has been just enough to maintain my current weight.

3. I intended to shoot 2 major matches in IDPA and 2 in USPSA. I am now shooting for 4 in USPSA. I have shot one and have three on the calendar. I am looking to pick up a 4th but haven't decided which one to shoot.

4. I have been able to maintain the average dry practices per week but I have not been able to keep the live fire commitment. Not sure if this will change due to some near term changes in my work situation.

70 days until Nationals.

[dsb45acp]

If you're looking for a 4th match, try the La. Gator Classic! We can meet up and see who drives their Brazos SC better! Besides, they have great food and always a good time down there!

[Brazos SC Shooter]

7/5/07

45 min of dry fire - I was surprised to see the rust build up as quickly as it did. I have been in a funk since the IA Section match and have not practiced much since then. I did have my gun in the shop for several days during that time. Got the blaster back from Bob on Tues. but have not gone to the range yet. I trust everything is tip top. I am looking forward to the Circleville match on Sat.

66 days until Nationals

7/6/07

Tonight after work I will spend time reloading for tomorrow as well as get the gun all cleaned up. If things go well I should also be able to squeeze in an outdoor dry fire session.

If Steve Anderson should happen to read this, please send me an email regarding one-on-one training. I have not been able to send PMs to you since your box is full. Maybe we can chat about it tomorrow if you will be in Circleville. I am very interested in getting together before Nationals.

65 days until Nationals

Edited July 6, 2007 by Brazos SC Shooter

[Brazos SC Shooter]

7/7/07

Today's match was a nice surprise and it turned out to be a special classifier match. All in all I had a good match. Based on my calculations I think I had my first 100% classifier. I am a little suspect so I will wait to see the final scores tomorrow. I will publish some videos tomorrow. As usual it was good to shoot with my friends and meet some new folks. Matt T. was especially helpful and very impressive to watch as he ran the field courses. That is a model of shooting on the move that I can learn from. I was able to video a couple of his runs so I can use them for reference.

63 days until Nationals.

Edited to add videos

It appears there was no 100% classifier. I had added two extra shots into the score and that made the difference.

In the final results I was 4th overall in Limited and 1st in B Class.

- This was the one I thought 100%. Based on the calculator this was an 84.36% run. It lets me know that I have it in me to be an A class shooter and I am ever improving toward M class. I just need to keep working.

I felt really good about the others classifiers as well. I hadn't been shooting classifiers up to my B class ranking since I made B class. 3 out of 4 were at least that high, with one boarderline A and one boarderline M.

The field courses were a ton of fun, nice and long and lots of rounds. My shooting on the move is getting better.

Here are some additional videos

Edited July 8, 2007 by Brazos SC Shooter

[Brazos SC Shooter]

7/8/07

1 hr 45 min dry fire - spent this afternoon outside working on the basics. Lots of reloads, wide transitions and SOTM.

Even though I have had bobbles of my reloads in practice, I have not had that happen in a match until yesterday. I bobbled the reload and dropped the last mag I had. I had also run dry so I had to pick up the mag, rack the slide and then take the last shot on a target I had already engaged with 1 round. I did the same thing in the the Indiana match but my reload was clean so I probably pulled it off faster than the 2.5 seconds I would have taken for the miss. However, yesterday dropping the mag, picking it up, racking the slide and then taking the shot probably took longer than 2.5 seconds.

62 days until Nationals.

[MTrout40]

Hey, I ROed one of those!!

It was a pleasure shooting with you Drew. Here is a vid of the field courses and one classifier if you want some material to compare to. I'll send you a PM with some other info.

MT

Video

[Brazos SC Shooter]

7/9/07

45 minutes of dry fire - I must be thinking about my reloads too much. It seem like they are getting worse and more inconsistent. Continued to work on basics. I slowed the reloads down and just worked to do them successfully over and over.

Here is a vid of the field courses and one classifier if you want some material to compare to.

Thanks Matt. I appreciate it. I enjoyed watching you shoot both of the field courses. The thing that jumped out to me first and foremost was your quick feet and quick movement. I tend to keep moving but it isn't quite as "snappy". I also shot you back a response to the PM.

61 days until Nationals.

Edited July 10, 2007 by Brazos SC Shooter