Steel1212

[steel1212]

Well like other out there I think its time to start getting serious of my goal of making Master. I made B in 3 divisions in a years time making M in another year shouldn't be that hard right

Anyway, went to the range today with my para and 9mm eagle to shoot up some old loads I didn't feel like pulling and worked on the plates; fire, reload, fire; and half can you count.

Usual warm up for me is draw fire at A box from about 7 yards got some .8s in there but mostly mid .9s.

Next draw, fire, reload, fire. Got some around the 2.1s but mostly 2.3s which is the norm for me right now.

Next, is my favorite drill is doing a string of can you count. Started off bad at around 4.3s. Got it down to 3.8s then had an Idea. I went and grabbed one of my STI mags, got mags before the gun is finished right :-), reloaded to that, BAMO 3.4s with a 1.1 reload. Can't wait until my Hopkins special is finished lol.

On the plates I warmed up just by knocking them down at 15y. Next, I shot 2 ran to the right while reloading and shot 2, about 8 yards in between boxes. After that, shot 2, ran right shot 2, ran left shot 2, reloading each time I left the box.

Shot my new 9mm Eagle, well new to me, and found out it doesn't like short HP loads real well. Doesn't like berrys as far as great accuracy goes but will touchem all with precisions! This is gonna be my new IDPA gamer division gun lol.

Anyway all in all had a decent day of practice which I haven't been able to do with low bullet counts right now. Spent about 4 hours at the range and shot about 500 rounds total.

Goal for tomorrow get a 75% on at least one of the classifiers and start my trip to A!

Edited August 11, 2007 by steel1212

[steel1212]

Didn't reach my goal of at least one 75% today on one of 4 classifiers. Got a 69% on Times 2 though which is a start. I shot el prez in around 5.7 with 4 MIKES Shot Payne's Pain in 11.52 with a MIKE. Shot Melody line in 7.54 with a MIKE! See a pattern here. I was just trying to damn hard to get to A in one jump. Other than El prez if I would have just put a D instead of a MIKE I would have at least had high 60s instead of 3 that won't count.

Oh well it was definatly an eye opener today. Had 3 more stages and didn't shoot them worth a shit. Had trouble with a texas star that I've never had before. Ran the gun dry on it and everything!

Today was an eye opener though, I will take something from it. JUST CHILL! Shoot every stage like you know you can and just CHILL. I know I can do it I just have to. 2 more matches until the OH sectional so I had better get my shiznit together as I'll be shooting in B class now with the next update.

[steel1212]

Did some dry fire tonight, trying to get ready for the final 2 majors I'll have this year with OH and KY sectionals. Nothing special just some draw and reloads to stay sharp. With bullet prices its about all I can do right now in the way of practice.

I'm really likeing the Para/STI combo I have going right now. I start with a nice 21+1 with the Para mag if I need to then load to a slick STI mag I wish that my STI eagle in .40 would be ready for OH but regardless I wouldn't have enough time with it before then anyway. KY state I should have it then lol.

[steel1212]

Stole my 9mm eagle back from my gunsmith to shoot a IDPA match today. Master Clyde San Wa say "just because sights on target no mean barrel no behind plastic 55 gallon drum des" Needless to say I was rollin pretty good until we had a prone COF with 3 targets left of "Down tree" I.E. sidways barrel and 3 targets right. Gotta keep feet in from targets not engaged yet so roll over onto left shoulder engaging left targets, roll over to right shoulder engage right targets. Get up, saying that felt pretty good. Look down range and there is a target with NO hits. I've got a blank look on my face. Then Master Clyde point to 2 nice tight holes in barrel DOH!

Oh well it was a nice 80 degree day with low humidity and just a nice over all day to do some shootin! Dropped the eagle back off with the smith and went home. Tomorrow I'll grab the para and head to a USPSA match just CHILL and have fun.

Edited August 19, 2007 by steel1212

[steel1212]

Day started out well. First stage had 3 targets with all but the A zone's painted black and 3 open targets. Draw shoot 3 targets, either hard cover ones or open ones, freestyle then reload to strong hand only and engage other 3. So basically 3 hardcover targets freestyle then open targets strong hand. I was one of 2 that shot the stage clean with out a mike in my squad. Said to myself this is gonna be a good day.

Stage, 2, simple 4 targets on right side of port, 4 through port, 4 left of port. Again felt good no Mikes.

Stage 3, classifier free style 2,2,2, reload to strong hand 2,2,2. move up to 10 yards same thing but to weak hand. Picked up 2 MIKES!

Stage 4, Kind of a complicated stage with a 180 trap. Got 3 freaking mikes here as well.

Stage 5, Forget previous mikes and get to do some moving...well I'll just let you see the VIDEO

I have to get rid of those damn MIKES! I'm not calling my shots good enough or I could take the easy way out and just say my factory Para barrel isn't accurate enough. I'll find out soon enough when the STI is build lol.

Edited August 19, 2007 by steel1212

[steel1212]

Did a little practice with the plates at about 15-20 yards today. At OH there is a stage with 3 plates on the left, 2 turtles in the middle, then 3 plates on the right, all plates in front of no shoots. So I set up to paper tagets between my range's 2 plate racks and left 3 plates on each rack. Just told myself...be smooth and don't miss. A miss is going to be a NS. Nothing special but could do it in 6.5-7 seconds playing it safe. That first shot draw was something like 1.6-1.7. The stage won't win the match for ya but could put you well behind if you get a couple of penalties! There is only 50 points available...gotta be smooooooooooth. Got my sights all dialed in and I'm good to go.

[steel1212]

Shot the KAPS match sunday where we can run the stages 2 times in seperate divisions so I did limited and L10. My limited times and points where good but I had a mag issue that cost me a lot of time and stage points then I had a Mike on 4 of the 5 stages Dropped me probably from 4th to 13, yeah it was that tight. Second run I did better in L10 but still got spanked. I finished second by about 70 points to another B class shooter that day was his. My times through out the day where consistent during both runs so I'm happy with that. I just need to remove the Mikes and I'll be real happy. The classifier was color blind and I ran it in 15 seconds with good points in Limited but with a Mike. My high 70% run went to a 65% run. In L10 no Mike but took me an extra 1.5 second to do it due to make up shots, only one I needed.... still got a 67% out of it though. The guy I'm trying to catch ran it in 12 seconds!!! I've still got work to do and I'm going to get one last practice in today before OH then I'm going to relax by the camp fire until sunday! See you guys/gals there!

[steel1212]

Went camping this past weekend and on Sunday shot the OH sectional. I had 7 good stages, 1 ok stage, and 2 turds. Finished 13th overall in Limited and first C. Is it bad when your not happy with winning your class? I would have finished third B if I was B class though so I guess that isn't to bad. Finished the match with 177 Alphas, 30 something Charlies and 2 Mikes. I was very happy with that but I think that tells me I need to push myself a little more as there where a couple stages I only had 2 charlies on!

Stage 1, I really enjoyed this stage, as I'm a run and gunner and that was what this was.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6502823108929647623

Stage 2, was one of my turds. Either hit the A zone or get a Mike and in my quest for all As it took me 40 seconds to do it!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3573062735016242733

Stage 3, Was my ok stage. I got out gamed on this stage and even if everybody ran it the same way I didn I still would have gotten spanked pretty good on it. Pretty fun though.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7423286745181395060

Stage 4, another run and gun. Steve Anderson said he got in my way but I think he really just put his foot there so I had something to push off of lol.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8421494195092730849

Stage 5, Bermuda. I think I could have done this a lot faster but its one of those damn if you do damn if you don't stages.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7628051193671848493

Stage 6, Quicky II. This was my major turd of the match. Dropped my mag going to weak hand

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3119573616555185615

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-173884844822903303

Stage 7, Can you count. Got a nice almost A class classifier out of this while bobbling both my reloads

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5140653900985708835

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3185729457931539216

Stage 8,9,10. Had me pretty nervous going into it and came out on top in the end. 8 is 25 yards, 9 is 20 yards, and 10 is 15 yards.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2759763108592432250

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2711787235463512397

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3091746719194668223

Edited September 5, 2007 by steel1212

[Paul Santiago]

Went camping this past weekend and on Sunday shot the OH sectional. I had 7 good stages, 1 ok stage, and 2 turds. Finished 13th overall in Limited and first C. Is it bad when your not happy with winning your class? I would have finished third B if I was B class though so I guess that isn't to bad. Finished the match with 177 Alphas, 30 something Charlies and 2 Mikes. I was very happy with that but I think that tells me I need to push myself a little more as there where a couple stages I only had 2 charlies on!

Stage 6, Quicky II. This was my major turd of the match. Dropped my mag going to weak hand

did almost the same thing on this stage. I did get a shot off weekhand before my mag fell out.

It was good shooting with you guys.

[steel1212]

Went camping this past weekend and on Sunday shot the OH sectional. I had 7 good stages, 1 ok stage, and 2 turds. Finished 13th overall in Limited and first C. Is it bad when your not happy with winning your class? I would have finished third B if I was B class though so I guess that isn't to bad. Finished the match with 177 Alphas, 30 something Charlies and 2 Mikes. I was very happy with that but I think that tells me I need to push myself a little more as there where a couple stages I only had 2 charlies on!

Stage 6, Quicky II. This was my major turd of the match. Dropped my mag going to weak hand

did almost the same thing on this stage. I did get a shot off weekhand before my mag fell out.

It was good shooting with you guys.

It ALWAYS good shooting :-)

[steel1212]

Did some practicing today and focused on my grip more than anything. I'm having a problem off pulling my shots down and left or just left. So I set up about 5-6 paper targets and from 15 yards just started 2ing all them. After the first few runs I tried putting a little more pressure on my weak hand side....BINGO! Either I'm pushing to much with my strong hand or not enough with my weak.

I decided to bring my SS with me for some fun as I haven't shot it in forever. From a Ghost holster I was getting 4.20s on the plates...which is good for me from the draw since it takes me almost 2 seconds for the first shot lol. I decided if we don't get the monsoon they are saying we will tomorrow I'll shoot SS just to take a match off from limited.....that is unless they have a good limited classifier tomorrow

[steel1212]

Shot swingle stake today. Man is that fun! Instead of going back to production this winter I think I'll just shoot my good ol' .45 some more!! No Mikes that I can remember and kept up with the limited guys with in reason. All in all I just wanted to go out there and have fun and not care what happened just shoot to be shooting and that is what I was able to do! I'll have to remember this.

[steel1212]

*Silver Creek* September Monthly Match

Match Date: 9/9/2007

Place Name USPSA Class Division PF Lady For Age Match Pts Match %

1 Estill, Corey A57351 B Single Stack Major 610.0000 100.000%

2 Sample, Larry L2879 A Single Stack Major 416.5253 68.283%

3 Merryman, Dave TY50947 B Single Stack Major 397.5669 65.175%

Number of Competitors: 3

Printed: 09/09/07 9:21 PM Page 1 of 1

Didn't do to bad today for not trying! Just relaxed and went shooting. I would have won L10 and finished 7th out of 10 shooters in limited as well lol.

[Micah]

Great video Corey...Steel! Here are my thoughts on your OH videos:

S1-at the final position, I would suggest shooting the array from lt to rt. This will save time on transitions.

S3-MOVE BABY MOVE! I know that you can run fast, so when you are on the clock, get to your next position as fast as possible!

S8-S10-Nervousness is never needed on any stage...just shoot at your own natural speed seeing A's on everything.

You are doing an excellent job, and it is groovy seeing you progress as a shooter.

[Micah]

Didn't do to bad today for not trying! Just relaxed and went shooting. I would have won L10 and finished 7th out of 10 shooters in limited as well lol.

My best performances come from this mindset. You have already done all of the hard work (practice) so enjoy yourself and rely on your subconscious skills to carry you thought when it comes to game time.

[steel1212]

Great video Corey...Steel! Here are my thoughts on your OH videos:

S1-at the final position, I would suggest shooting the array from lt to rt. This will save time on transitions.

S3-MOVE BABY MOVE! I know that you can run fast, so when you are on the clock, get to your next position as fast as possible!

S8-S10-Nervousness is never needed on any stage...just shoot at your own natural speed seeing A's on everything.

You are doing an excellent job, and it is groovy seeing you progress as a shooter.

Yeah, I've said the same thing on all those watching them over again. Even on S5 I was saying to meself come into that low wall a little farther left or at least back up enough so that you can shoot the 2 low walls, transition to the partial and turn and be looking right at the 2 on top of each other.

THe nerves left when I stepped into the box on stage 8. Its like I just flipped a switch and shot each stage at a time.

[steel1212]

Didn't do to bad today for not trying! Just relaxed and went shooting. I would have won L10 and finished 7th out of 10 shooters in limited as well lol.

My best performances come from this mindset. You have already done all of the hard work (practice) so enjoy yourself and rely on your subconscious skills to carry you thought when it comes to game time.

I knew I did well, and figured I had won but was a little surprised at the final score! It really opened my eyes up to what just shooting and not trying will do for ya. I kind of got in that mind set at OH. I didn't even look at my times most of the time there and didn't really today. I was more excited when Ryan Bradley, Chuck's youngest son, C class open shooter, burned down stage 4 today in 13 seconds beating everybody on our squad even pops!

[chuckbradley]

Didn't do to bad today for not trying! Just relaxed and went shooting. I would have won L10 and finished 7th out of 10 shooters in limited as well lol.

My best performances come from this mindset. You have already done all of the hard work (practice) so enjoy yourself and rely on your subconscious skills to carry you thought when it comes to game time.

I knew I did well, and figured I had won but was a little surprised at the final score! It really opened my eyes up to what just shooting and not trying will do for ya. I kind of got in that mind set at OH. I didn't even look at my times most of the time there and didn't really today. I was more excited when Ryan Bradley, Chuck's youngest son, C class open shooter, burned down stage 4 today in 13 seconds beating everybody on our squad even pops!

Not as excited as he was when he found out he won that stage and beat everybody. I think he beat me even if they had my correct time ;-). He has got some real speed and talent. Just needs to find the consistency but that will come with experience. Its fun to watch him develop. He was pretty excited about winning a stage at Ohio as well. Corey you havent been doing to bad yourself. You are progressing fast.

Place Name No. Class Division Points Penalties Time Hit Factor Stage Pts Stage %

1 Ryan B. 75 C Open 39 0 5.55 7.0270 40.0000 100.00%

2 Chad G. 79 B Open 38 0 5.53 6.8716 39.1154 97.79%

3 Steve J. 109 A Open 38 0 5.58 6.8100 38.7648 96.91%

4 Joe R. 48 A Open 32 0 5.15 6.2136 35.3699 88.42%

5 Mark A. 86 B Open 39 0 6.99 5.5794 31.7598 79.40%

6 Dale T. 81 B Open 40 0 7.27 5.5021 31.3198 78.30%

7 Rick S. 9 B Open 39 0 7.63 5.1114 29.0958 72.74%

8 Mike M. 103 B Open 36 0 7.15 5.0350 28.6609 71.65%

9 Raymond K. 97 C Open 37 0 7.55 4.9007 27.8964 69.74%

10 Jamie P. 56 B Open 37 0 7.90 4.6835 26.6600 66.65%

11 Teddy L. 55 B Open 34 0 7.33 4.6385 26.4039 66.01%

12 Jeff W. 85 A Open 38 10 7.09 3.9492 22.4801 56.20%

13 Chet W. 110 M Open 35 10 6.38 3.9185 22.3054 55.76%

14 Nick R. 1 B Open 39 10 8.86 3.2731 18.6316 46.58%

15 Sarah I. 61 B Open 35 10 7.66 3.2637 18.5781 46.45%

16 John F. 92 M Open 37 20 5.88 2.8912 16.4577 41.14%

17 Brad B. 49 GM Open 36 20 5.98 2.6756 15.2304 38.08%

18 Adam K. 117 U Open 40 20 7.69 2.6008 14.8046 37.01%

19 Thomas M. 4 M Open 36 20 6.81 2.3495 13.3741 33.44%

[steel1212]

Yeah, that was that popper no shoot stage, 10 I believe. With their age and your teaching they will both be GM before you know it!

Yeah, on duck blind he just whipped us no matter what Lee's timer said lol.

[steel1212]

Well, I was going to have a relaxing day at IDPA today and showed up early to help setup. A SO didn't show so I had to. I just don't enjoy shooting the match as much when I SO and can't really get a good plan and this match had stages that could be done several diffrent ways. Pretty much screwed up the match as far as that goes.

On a good note, I moved up to Exp in CDP in the classifier so that was a plus for the day. Spent from 9am to 5pm at the range and was just pretty much POOPED when I got home.

[steel1212]

Got back from KAPS feeling good about my match. Have a chance at winning L10, limited....not so much. I did notice something about my shooting today. I've come to the point where I know when I need what sight picture to get my hits. I did have some mikes on a stage but, and this but isn't an excuse, they where on a stage with WHO and SHO...guess I know what I need to work on before Area 3 huh!

I do know for a fact that I got my first A class classifier in Limited on 06-04 "fluffy's revenge 1". I shot it in 3.66 with 2 down in Limited. In L10 I shot it in 3.88 down 3. This from my kydex holster that I'm using as my ghost was getting more and more wobbly the more it broke in with the para.

Had one equipment problem and it was more of a setup problem I think than anything. Loaded gun on plank table. Well I put the para down on the table and put the mag button on a hill instead of a valley on the table. Picked up gun mag dropped right out grabbed mag off belt kept on rolling. Got lots of completements on a good recovery. I'm to the point where if "Stuff happens" nothing you can do about it just keep on shooting your stage, DON"T try to shoot out of the stage by going faster and making things worse! I ended up with a touch better time than my L10 run in the morning with the same amount of reloads only with 20 rounds instead of 10 lol.

We had a couple stages like nationals today. One of them had a new toy I had never seen. 2 steel popers activated a bank of 3 targts that came from flat on their back and swung right up and kept on going until they where face down. 2 did that and dissappeared and the 3rd stayed visable. I shot both L10 and Limited, Steel, Steel then the 3 paper. I think I had one NP mike!

Now I have to wait for scores.........but I'm happy with my performance today other than the WHO SHO stuff.....more practice.

[steel1212]

Got the scores from KAPS. I need to work on SHO/WHO BAD!!! I won every stage but that stage in L10 and came in second in L10. I was in the top 4, a couple times 2nd in Limited and finished 4th overall.

1 WEST, BARRY FY37438 M Limited Major 514.6040 100.000%

2 FOLEY, MICHAEL TY47474 M Limited Major 479.3524 93.150%

3 HOPKINS, SHAUN A56938 A Limited Major 466.6593 90.683%

4 ESTILL, COREY A57351 B Limited Major 466.1156 90.578%

5 CARROLL, KEVIN TY33759 A Limited Major 461.3290 89.647%

6 FERGUSON, ANDY TY45805 B Limited Major 420.0339 81.623%

7 HIMLER, JOHN REENTRY A Limited Major Senior 416.5931 80.954%

8 WHITT, JOHN REENTRY C Limited Major 403.9966 78.506%

9 BROWN, GREG TY57893 B Limited Major 368.7626 71.659%

10 PREWITT, GREG TY38001 A Limited Major 364.7769 70.885%

11 ARMBRUST, MIKE REENTRY U Limited Minor 324.2975 63.019%

12 SCOTT, CHRIS A53275 B Limited Major 317.2409 61.648%

13 CRAGER, DAVID REENTRY M Limited Major 314.5990 61.134%

14 JONES, EDDIE U Limited Minor 272.1430 52.884%

15 CURRY, JASON TY57262 C Limited Major 269.5941 52.389%

16 COTTRELL, J.T. L2588 B Limited Major 262.4282 50.996%

17 CAMBRON, JOHN A47581 B Limited Major 227.0772 44.127%

18 CASHMAN, AL U Limited Major 199.9469 38.855%

19 HITCHCOCK, KEITH A57002 U Limited Major 181.9781 35.363%

20 JESSEL, MATT U Limited Major 178.8825 34.761%

21 BRYANT, CAROLE TY54536 D Limited Major 113.6707 22.089%

22 HITCHCOCK, STEPHANIE U Limited Minor 48.0118 9.330%

[steel1212]

Brought out my new limited gun on the STI platform for my home range's match. first 3 stages felt awesome even for the 2 mikes I had on them. One of them was through the top of the barrel onto paper, a A miss, the other was on a head shot only and didn't break the perf. Everything was feeling good then I crashed and burned with 2 no shoots and a Mike on the last stage. Dropped one into the no shoot went to make it up and put one right below it in the no shoot. Couldn't finish 3 small forward falling poppers from 15 yards but destroyed the star at the same distance....go figure. I had fun and my times where great other than the last stage. Just need to relax for area 3.

On a good note I did a lot of dry fire today and with the Ice on my sti it really allows me a great grip and my reloads have dropped from 1.5 to an easy 1.3 buzzer to buzzer. Now I'm just trying to decide if I want to put a mag release button on it or not. I can easily hit the release and I don't want to take the chance of a mag drop in WH transition at Area 3 this weekend.

I also won standard rifle, as far as I'm concerned for the 3 month in a row that I shot this match including the match that I shot all alphas through...literally through the barracade :-), and finished 5th out of 18 shotgun shooters in limited with a pump!

Edited October 8, 2007 by steel1212

[steel1212]

Well I shot the Area 3 match this weekend and had a blast. I only dropped one NS all 12 stages, finished 22 overall in limited and brought home the 2nd place B wood and was 8 points from 1st, a frame, and contengency money. I felt I shot up to my skill level minus a couple of small poppers that I couldn't put down and a slow times on a couple of stages.

All in all I don't feel bad for my first major as a B shooter and my first area match. I need to practice some longer shots on small steel and some movement drills but I'm getting there. With the next update I should be over the 70% mark in limited as well.....getting there.....

[Clyde]

Congrads on the strong Finish