MadcapMagician

[Madcap Magician]

Well, after lurking on here for a while, and then following gunsablazin's diary, I think doing a range diary can help me focus on my goals and continue on my journey.

I guess I'll start with a little bio of where I'm coming from and where I'd like to go. My name is Sean Murphy and I'm a shooter. I am currently enrolled in college, with about a year and a half to go. I'm double majoring in Accounting and Finance, but still figuring out what to do with it. My current working situation allows me to shoot on weekends and even take a day occasionally for traveling to big matches. I first fired a .22 at 15, and got a Ruger 22/45 for my 16th birthday. My parents are retired police officers from south Florida, and my dad was former SRT and had firearms instructor training among other classes. When I was in my senior year, I was exposed to the dark side and bought a Glock 19. At 18, my first 4473 was used on an AR carbine. Traveling to the range with my dad, I started playing with the draw, reloads, shooting at speed, and some precision stuff. Over the fall, I shot some club action pistol matches and placed about the middle of the pack. That next summer I shot my first action rifle match in Florida. It was the next fall that I picked up a Glock 34, and also happened to take my first formal class offered by a gentleman named Mike Benedict. The class was a tactical pistol class, and quite the eye opener technique wise. I learned about this thing called IDPA, and later found that Mike was the first 4 gun master, and also had instruction from Claude W. from the Rogers Shooting School at this little range in North GA. That one day class did more for my shooting than anything I've done so far.

I started shooting at the Deliverance IDPA matches that fall and following spring. Looking at the scores now, I was shooting behind the masters, but holding my own. I ended up classifying as an SSP Expert on my first try at the classifier. During this time, I took a few more of the classes held by Mike. That next summer I took off to Florida for a job at a summer camp, not really shooting that much. When I got back to GA, I decided I wanted to get serious about my shooting. It was September of 2006 that I took a carbine/pistol class by none other than Super Dave Harrington. Needless to say, I am STILL figuring stuff out from that class. For anyone who has the opportunity to do so, take a class from Super Dave. It's like drinking from a fire hose, but the instruction is as good as it gets.

At the time, I finally got bored with shooting Glocks. They just worked but I wanted something different. I did a lot of research and picked a lot of brains, but ended up buying a Kimber Classic Custom. It was also at this time that my brother and I split a Dillon XL 650. After I started shooting this gun, I decided to make a run at Master before I turned 21. Over the next 9 months or so, I went from a Sharp Shooter level with the 1911 to a high Expert. I spent hours practicing, dryfiring and getting tons of advice from Mike. This past summer I spent my first summer home in a few years, and got my current job. In June, I took a Ken Hackathorn pistol class hosted by Mike. I also found a great shooting buddy who lives not far from the house, and we practiced at least once, usually more times a week. We went through all kinds of drills, scenarios, and countless iterations of the IDPA classifier. I also shot as many matches as I could go to. It was now that I started to place well at these matches, even winning a few. Along this journey I met many amazing people that I am proud to call friends. Some of these friends talked me into going to my first big match, the Master's Regional in Birmingham, AL. After I worked out my first big match butterflies, I had a good time and won CDP/EX. It was at this match that I was really hooked. A few weeks later was the GA State IDPA match. I went wanting to shoot well, and ended up winning CDP/EX again, but this time there were enough people to bump me to the CDP/MA level. I had made Master with two weeks remaining before 21.

The next week I was fortunate enough to take Larry Vickers' 1911 Operators Class. This was a great class, and the heavy emphasis on accuracy by Larry had a profound impact on me. At this class, a lot clicked for me mentally. Towards the end of October, I shot at the Blackwater Shootout. It was great fun and I shot well enough to place right behind Scott Warren for 1st CDP/MA (2nd place in IDPA placing). On the way home, I decided I wanted to make a run at 5 gun master. Over the course of the past few years I had bought/traded/sold many guns, and found another Glock 34 (I had sold the others) for a killer deal. I picked the gun up on a Thursday, my first 4473 for a pistol myself. That Sunday was a match at Cherokee gun club and had the option to shoot the classifier. It had been about a year since I shot any SSP, so I decided to shoot it for fun. I ended up getting my 2nd Master rating, this time for SSP. This past year I also shot a few USPSA matches as well as a Steel Challenge or two. I am extremely fortunate to live in an area that still supports our freedoms, and has a match every day of every weekend throughout the year, with a few exceptions.

Since I have rambled for a while, I'll try to start wrapping this up...

My goal for this next year is to have a more planned approach to my shooting. I want to be a little more scientific in my methods so I can help reach a better level of shooting. My main goal is to reach a Master level in IDPA's ESP division with my 34, and then start messing with the wheel guns. I also want to compete in as many large matches as possible.

My current shooting schedule is as follows...

When school is in session, I don't practice nearly what I should. I don't have practice sessions during the week, and shoot a day, sometimes both days on the weekends. Usually the 1st weekend is two matches, 2nd weekend is a practice, 3rd weekend is two matches, and the 4th weekend is either a match or practice. I dryfire sporadically, mainly if I have a few minutes I'll just get my hands on a gun and work on some trigger control or a little drawing.

As a final closing thought for this, I'd like to say thanks to all of the great influences on my shooting career thus far... My parents for the beginning foundation and continued support, Mike Benedict for the hours and hours on the range and in the shop fielding questions and giving advice, and all of the other wonderful people I call friends. It really is the people that make this sport the best.

Please feel free to post any questions, comments, advice, tips, critiques, etc, etc.

[Catfish]

Welcome.

[et45]

Looks like you are doing well on your journey,There is a lot of info and brains to pick here as well.

[gunsablazin]

Sean,

I really enjoyed shooting in Oak Ridge with you, it is alot of fun for me to see a shooter of your skill in action. You may learn some things here that will help you, but it is my opinion that you will give more than you recieve. I will be reading your posts to see what I can learn thats for sure! I look forward to shooting with you again, if you can teach an old dog new tricks I'm all ears. (except for my grip I'll always hold my gun "wrong"!)

Robin

[Madcap Magician]

Well the results from Saturday's steel challenge match are out... Got 2nd in .22 Irons and 3rd in Production. I had a pretty good match, but I missed a whole lot more than one should... I hadn't shot my Ruger in a loooonnnggggg time, so I was pretty happy with that. And guys/gals, if you can make it to the Griffin Steel Match anytime you're around the Atlanta area on the first weekend of the month, you won't regret it.

Lessons learned:

- Shoot your .22 before you compete with it

- Open up the rear sight on the Ruger. I have been using Warren Sights on my G34 and really like the light around the front sight. Maybe I can custom fit one to the 22/45....

- Watch the front sight! I tend to shoot the big, close ones with a really loose index and a target focus, and my butt got burned when I dumped about 5 rounds before I realized what I was doing. Big + Close does not equal Point shoot.

- Steel brings out my bad habits.

- Don't start on smoke & hope.

[Madcap Magician]

Well today was the last day of finals... Now I have a few extra minutes to catch up on some stuff. Tomorrow is a pistol class, 300rds, basically a refresher, but I always seem to pick something up. I'll give details next time I'm on.

[Madcap Magician]

Saturday was the tactical pistol class put on by Mike Benedict. As always, Mike puts on a good class. I shot really well, so I guess the day after finals is a good time to shoot... The class was a good all around refresher, with drawing, reloading, shooting while moving, etc, etc. I think I'm tapping back into some of the stored "One with the Glockness" from my previous time with the plastic pistols. I feel much smoother and really confident with the pistol. I absolutely love the Warren Sights. Currently I'm trying to gather some money to get a Lone Wolf barrel so I can shoot the lead, but I'm also thinking of giving moly bullets a try... I have a friend using Precision 147grs and loves them. I guess it'll go to the winter projects list.

Yesterday I had to ride down to Atlanta for some errands, and couldn't resist going to the gunshow. Typical show, but I happened to come across a gem of a 3" S&W Model 10 that I've been hunting for about a year now. I was talking to a local dealer friend of mine at his table, and looked down at his neighbor and saw the gun. Needless to say, some money, Drivers License, Firearms License and 4473 later, I was the proud owner of this gun. How I love the USA. This will end up as my IDPA SSR gun. Now I've really got to get ESP Master so I can tinker with the wheel guns.

Now that school's out, I'm working some days, and have some days off. I'll probably go shooting Wednesday with my brother, get some practice in before the weekend. This weekend I'm going to take a ride over to see the nice people for the Cleveland, TN IDPA match, and Sunday is Pickens IDPA. Should be fun, and the weather will hopefully be pretty decent.

This weeks goals:

Dry-fire

Exercise

Tinker with some 9mm loads

[Madcap Magician]

Since the weather has been awesome, I decided to make a trip to the range..

I brought out my G34 with some new loads, my new 3" Model 10 and my Model 60. The new loads work very nice, and I'll give them another workout at the two matches this weekend. The 3" gun is very nice, and shooting snubbies sucks all around. I got about 250 rounds of good drills in with the Glock, and 75 with my model 60. Shot mainly from concealed, and worked a good bit on some 20-25 yard shooting. I did some target to target transitions, and found that with a 3 yard spread between targets, I'm running about .40 splits between targets from 3-20 yards. My last drill of the day was the famous El Presidente, and shot it in 6.73 seconds, with 3 yards between targets, slide lock reload, and surrender back to target start position. All in all, great day, now I've got to clean the dang guns. I've got two matches this weekend, and looking forward to it.

[Madcap Magician]

The weekend's over and it's back to work...

Saturday I took a ride up to Cleveland, TN with my brother for the IDPA match that they host. Good match with 6 stages. Due to scheduling, the IDPA guys let the cowboys shoot on some of the bays, so we were compressed to the two bays at the end. There was a pretty good turnout considering the weather people called for lots of rain. The weather turned out to be not too bad. I shot pretty decent. My draws felt slow, but I couldn't get an accurate measurement as I didn't have a personal timer. Still waiting on scores, so we'll see how I did when they come out..

Yesterday was just downright cold. It was windy with some snow mixed in, but for some stupid reason I decided to go shoot the IDPA match in Jasper. There were only about a 1/3 of the normal attendees. We had 4 good stages, and luckily ran through them pretty quickly to get out of the cold. The cold must have really gotten to my brain as I ended up shooting an extra shot on a standards stage, and earned a penalty. Lesson learned, don't shoot extra shots on standards. Other than that, I felt slow but shot pretty decent again. I had the lowest overall score, so I guess the cold affects everyone else too. Afterwards, we had excellent barbecue that hit the spot. I also stopped by the Mike's to get my model 10 fixed. Apparently there wasn't any cylinder gap and when I shot the gun and heated it up, the metal expanded and cause the gun to bind. Now I need to get some .38 ammo and test it out... I also need to look at some speedloaders and new grips. I just don't like the Uncle Mike's that are on it.

Looking at the week ahead, Christmas is next week, so I'll probably take it easy. Although, the USPSA match at River Bend is calling me. I'll have to give production a try with the Glock...

Things for the week:

- Test the wheel gun

- Work on the draw

- Load some 9mm

[Madcap Magician]

Since it had been more than a few days since I had been shooting and I also happened to have the day off, I went out to the range yesterday.

Shot the AR for the first time in several months. It was good to shoot the long gun again. I got a Dillon trimmer for 223 loading, and it definitely speeds things up. Ran 150 rounds of my new loads without a hitch. Also burned up the last couple hundred of my old stuff. Shooting dots with a red dot on a carbine is almost like an arcade game. Lots of fun with that.

Ran about 250 or so through the Glock. Shot many a drill, and got to work a lot with my weak handed shooting. I shot a variety of ammo. Finished up some old lead rounds, 50 Fiocchi 147gr rds, 50 Prvi Partisan 158gr FMJs and some 115gr WWB. The 158gr ammo was pretty sick to shoot. Very little recoil, almost a bunny fart load.

Finished off the day with 89 rounds out of the snubby. Shot out to about 15yards and was able to keep about 85% in the -0 of an IDPA target and the rest in the -1. Rubber grips are much better than wood ones, but I'm still saving for the Crimson Trace LG405s.

Not too much going on this weekend, so it'll probably be a reloading weekend. Have to rebuild the .223 stash. May bring out all of the other guns that I don't shoot for a fun day.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and has an awesome new year!

[Madcap Magician]

Looking back, it has been quite some time since I wrote on this. The joys of being an accounting student and then working in an office during tax season have really taken my focus off of my practice regiment. Thankfully school is out and work has slowed down, so I actually have some time to engage in other activities.

Here are a few updates:

• The Glock 34 is sporting a new Lone Wolf barrel. It is a really nice barrel for the price. I am more than happy with the accuracy and reliability so far. Plus I can shoot all the nasty lead bullets I want!
  
• I've broken out the Safariland belt that a friend gave me and been dry-firing for some production division. I'm going to make my Production debut at the Cherokee USPSA match a week from tomorrow.
  
• I finally made it off the waiting list for the Pickens Sportsmans Club. Now I have access to an excellent range only 40 minutes from the house.
  
• I broke into the 80s on the IDPA classifier in practice last month. The funny thing is I did it with my Glock 19 in a carry rig. So far my best time is 84.55 shooting a Glock 19. I'm still around 91ish with the Glock 34 shooting it cold.
  
• Sadly I couldn't go the Alabama or South Carolina IDPA state matches because of work and school, but I'm making up for it by going to the Carolina Cup in June. It should hopefully be the first of many big matches for 2008.
  
• Now that schools out, I've been able to dry-fire for at least an hour every day. My draw times have definitely gotten better and reloads are getting smooth once again. Last month the ORSA and Cherokee IDPA matches were pretty rough for me, so we'll see how Cherokee IDPA goes Sunday.
  
• I've been working on an article or two for a local IDPA club's website this last week and have been enjoying it. It has really given me a chance to look at the shooting from a more scholarly angle by explaining how/what/why we do certain things. I have found I really just do a lot of things as a second nature and can use more brain power on other things instead of some of the basics while shooting.
  

As a side note, gas is freakin expensive nowadays. It took my $50 to fill my MUSTANG with unleaded yesterday. I've never had to pay that for my car! This shooting thing is getting it's own gas budget.

Good luck to everyone competing this weekend.

Edited May 2, 2008 by Madcap Magician

[Madcap Magician]

Made it to a match Sunday and didn't have a really good showing. I miscalculated the weather and dressed for a slightly cooler day... but the Georgia heat made an appearance. It wouldn't have been too bad except for me not hydrating properly. Lesson learned: Hydrate properly. As a result, I messed up some draws and dropped some shots that I normally would have made.

Now that I'm over it, back to dry-firing and the Cherokee USPSA match this Saturday.

Keep up the work everyone!

[Madcap Magician]

Yesterday was an excellent day for shooting and I had an awesome time at the Cherokee USPSA match. I really forgot how fun USPSA was. My performance was pretty good, I took 2nd in Production overall. I shot about 90% of the GM that was there and am very pleased. I even won two stages!

For the week, I'll be doing some dry-firing and it's looking like a weekend of IDPA at Cleveland and Pickens.