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SA Friday


SA Friday

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  • 4 weeks later...

Still Alive

Just jumped on when I had the chance to find a computer to let everyone know I'm still breathing. I'm in NJ at training, and barely have time to do anything but train. It's been pretty brutal. Lots of time in 60+ lbs of battle rattle and getting fire hosed with info. It's good stuff though. There is no way I will make it to a match while here. Besides, with the soreness I feel right now, I doubt my shooting would be very good anyway.

I'll be here till 13 Jun, then off to CO for a couple of weeks of family time. I am still hoping to work and shoot Summer Blast (after my CO leave). I hope to have an answer on that before the end of the month. We will see.

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Tactical vs USPSA

Just went through 2 days of tactical shooting training. Shot about 1200-1500 rounds in those two days with M-4 and P228. Movement drills, transition drills, squad oriented drills, etc etc. The interesting thing is just about everything I have learned in USPSA shooting directly crosses over to the tactical shooting. Contact from the rear drills = spin draws, contact left and right = bread and butter USPSA shooting transitions, etc etc. Anyone of the opinion that USPSA shooting doesn't work in combat, well, that's not what I got out of the last 48 hours. Yesterday, we did live fire break-contact and peel-off drills. Yep, live fire with real ammo. You could cut the instructors tension with a butter knife. It was awesome training! I could have done without the battle rattle weight, but in the heat of the drills you can't even feel the weight. You get really focused when your teammates are down range from you and you are shooting live ammo. The ability to let go of the stress while shooting I have learned from shooting USPSA stopped me from getting tunnel vision and really helped in these drills. It made a huge difference. So did shooting both eyes open with a red-dot. Seeing everything makes it all work. Gotta go crash some cars for the next couple of days. More good times...

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You almost sound like a recruiter :P

Not even close. A recruiter won't tell you about the pain and torment of the 65 lbs of battle rattle torture. Spending 16 hours in rock hard level IV body armor, K-pot, 210 rounds of 5.56, 39 rounds of 9mm, a huge radio, med kit, etc etc and now run for your life in it. I'm missing skin in patches in various parts of my body from abrasion. I have bruises from all kinds of stuff to include getting shot with paint balls and simunitions. Stuff like that is never mentioned by a recruiter.

I simply found it shocking that after 20 years of service, I was instructed by a firearms instructor that really knew what he was doing and talking about. The guy was an occasional competition shooter and embraced much of the USPSA/IDPA theology about shooting. When the instructor is getting everyone to say, "slow is smooth, smooth is fast" that's a good sign. ;)

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You almost sound like a recruiter :P

Not even close. A recruiter won't tell you about the pain and torment of the 65 lbs of battle rattle torture. Spending 16 hours in rock hard level IV body armor, K-pot, 210 rounds of 5.56, 39 rounds of 9mm, a huge radio, med kit, etc etc and now run for your life in it. I'm missing skin in patches in various parts of my body from abrasion. I have bruises from all kinds of stuff to include getting shot with paint balls and simunitions. Stuff like that is never mentioned by a recruiter.

I simply found it shocking that after 20 years of service, I was instructed by a firearms instructor that really knew what he was doing and talking about. The guy was an occasional competition shooter and embraced much of the USPSA/IDPA theology about shooting. When the instructor is getting everyone to say, "slow is smooth, smooth is fast" that's a good sign. ;)

Just wait til you get old :-)

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  • 4 weeks later...

Shooting While on Leave

Lots to cover here. Multiple practice sessions and a couple of matches within the last week. I spent last wed and thurs at the range practicing very basic skills with my STI. I am really not comfortable with it yet. I'm shooting it better now than I ever have before, but the familiarity of it in my hand is not there yet. It's not a Glock and I can instantly tell at the draw. It was really bad the first day of practice. The sights are slightly different than the glocks, and where I need to aim SH, WH, and long shots are obviously different. The thumb safety throws me off a bit too. Its getting better though. 500 or so rounds in a couple of hours with a gun you are not familiar with CAN peel skin off. The Glock callouses are in different places.

Second day of practice was much better. The timing of the gun was starting to set in, and I was letting go of thinking through the draw and sighting etc. I pulled at least one 1.09 sec draw, but it's still far from automatic. Didn't get a bunch of time in practicing. Dry lightning started a brush fire south of the range, and investigation was in order before shooting. It was about a mile and a half away and the local residents got it out pretty quick (thank god, cow patties will burn forever and yucca plants are serious flame fodder).

Aurora match last Saturday, shot Limited with the STI and the new HSMITH mags. I shot it clean, and only 2 D's. I felt my times were slow. I came in 5th overall in the division. The first stage, I had an FTE and it cost me 9 seconds to clear. Then the extractor snapped while putting some more tension in it. (Can you say get a frickin Aftec!) EZ Bagger saved my bacon with a spare he had and I finished the match. The 9 seconds cost me 4th at least and probably 3rd too. Still, not too bad considering I was very deliberate in my shooting since the STI still didn't feel 'natural'.

Boulder Super Classifier match today. LOTS of SW and WH shooting classifiers and multiple strings in all but one of the classifiers. Ugh, I really need to practice SH, WH, long shots and transitions from strong to weak hands with the STI. The glock sight picture for a good hit did not carry over to the STI. Had more misses on the first stage than a combined match total for the last year. Blanked a 6 shot target completely... Uh, zeroed that stage. By the end of the match, the STI was starting to sink in. I had at least one classifier that will count, maybe two others.

I just went out and really had fun. I'm not really a limited shooter and definitely not an STI shooter yet. It was interesting though, I can see I need to have the slide lightened on the STI. There is just too much bounce in the gun. I shot a friends Brazos and there was a significant difference between the two because of the slide weight difference. I might need to try out an 11lb recoil spring too. Just too bouncy on recovery. Might have the trigger worked on a bit too. I'm told it's heavy. Coming from a Glock it feels mighty light to me, but I can feel some take up in it that probably needs to go. I'll deal with that stuff next year.

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Summer Blast

LIFE IS GOOD! I'm going to make Summer Blast. Don't fly out to the sandbox til 15 Jul. Larry and Linda are getting some e-mail from me. So is Driver8//M3, need my pistola and some ammo!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Small World, Big Heat

Well, I made it to Iraq. Been here for two days, 3 1/2 days of travel to get here. All I can say is HOT! 120 degrees, 35 knot winds, sand the consistancy of talcum powder. It's all good.

So, swung by the BX here on base to grab a Monster drink and kill about 15 minutes. As I'm walking through the door, I turned around and there was Roger Sherman. He's on his way back home from his deployed location and the universal timing was right. Weird how that works. Half way around the world and still running into shooters.

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Small World, Big Heat

Well, I made it to Iraq. Been here for two days, 3 1/2 days of travel to get here. All I can say is HOT! 120 degrees, 35 knot winds, sand the consistancy of talcum powder. It's all good.

So, swung by the BX here on base to grab a Monster drink and kill about 15 minutes. As I'm walking through the door, I turned around and there was Roger Sherman. He's on his way back home from his deployed location and the universal timing was right. Weird how that works. Half way around the world and still running into shooters.

wow..that's crazy..good to hear Roger is on his way home..

Sean..be safe, see you home soon.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 5 months later...

I'M BACK!

Just made it out of country :D , but still not to the states yet. The shrinks have to check me out to ensure I'm not crazy or anything... Waste of time, really. I left the states a tad left of center anyway. Now, I just gotta get back to the family for a couple of weeks of leave and all should be GTG to retirement, enshallah.

After 6 months of absolutely no matches or practice, C class, here I come! :huh:

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