rvb

[rvb]

So, I'm looking at my grip like I'm a total noob. I guess that's good once in a while.

I started looking at my grip because my grip has crept higher and higher to where the slide almost never locks back on my 92. [since I haven't been shooting IDPA where a slide-lock reload is critical.] I've run dry after a needing a make-up shot a few times and not realized it. a click is amazingly louder than bang.

Then I started dabbling in the 1911s after not shooting them for a while. my left grip is now so high it tends to push up on the safety. silence is even louder than a click.

So looking closely at my grip... my LH fingers do not sit on top of the RH fingers (with the LH index and RH middle up against the guard). Instead, my LH is shifted up w/ the LH fingers in the pockets between the RH fingers. I started doing this a long time ago as I felt I got more consistent. (Think of stacking cord wood, you don't stack them directly on top of each other, it's too unstable). The LH index finger is forward, and provides little additional grip strength; if anything, it's also pushing on the RH middle finger. This shifts my whole WH up 1/2 a finger width. Reviewing recent match footage, it -almost- looks like I'm using the front of the trigger guard.

After doing some searching/reading yesterday, I see this thread which I somehow missed earlier, with great pictures of benos:

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=101325&st=0&p=1154965

So last night I spent a couple hours working to grip the gun more "normal," with the fingers directly on top of each other. But then I'm watching some past match vids and I see some vid I took of Vogel, and hmmm, that looks familiar. So I go searching youtube and find him talking about how he slides his LH up farther than normal, and moves his LH index forward to do that. So I'm not the only one...

So, can I get away w/ it w/ a glock? I shot Micah's 34 this spring and I still rode the SL. Would Vogel have the same problem with a 1911? Is it a hardware issue? (I'm thinking of trimming the safety on the 1911, I don't "ride" it anyway, it just sits in the pocket between hands.)

I'm now looking at my elbows. I've been trying to get them higher lately, and as part of that I think my LH has rotated even more. I may be "over cammed." I think I've found a void between my RH and LH fingers at the front-strap.

I hate going through struggles with the basics. I feel like I don't know how to shoot at all. As I experiment, I expect to have some bad performances. Usually the end result worth it... let's hope so...

As part of experimenting, I dryfired a few el-prez's last night with different grips [w/ the 1911]. Interestingly, with my focus on my grip and not on beating the par, I was not only beating the par, but SMASHING it.

-rvb

Edited August 3, 2010 by rvb

[Corey]

was re-reading this thread and about your grip and saw the convo about stage 10 that I musta missed. I shot stepped forward put the ammo can in, then stepped back and shot the 4 back targets, reloaded as i moved up to the window then shot the 4 thru the window....and won the stage in SS

as for your grip diagnosis, man you think much deeper than me. I really want to be able to think about and breakdown things like you do... As soon as i get home, im gettin the SS rig out and doing some diagnosis of my grip too!

[rvb]

won the stage in SS

Awesome!

Now you just gotta get that gun to run 100%.

Have you tried different bullet seat depths, as well as different bullet profiles?

as for your grip diagnosis, man you think much deeper than me. I really want to be able to think about and breakdown things like you do... As soon as i get home, im gettin the SS rig out and doing some diagnosis of my grip too!

It's a curse as much as a blessing...

At the end of the day I have to be able to shake all the 'hows' and 'whys' out of my head, watch the sights, and trust the rest.

I haven't been doing that lately. My match results have reflected that....

-rvb

[Corey]

im thinking its an ammo thing more than anything. gotta recheck my crimping. i think i have been at around .471ish, maybe a tad bigger. i may try to tighen'er up and see what happens. the only real gun problems i have are when i fail to seat the mag fully, haha (which are becoming fewer every time i pick up the gun.

[Chris iliff]

Brian wrote something that him and Leatham use to do called "trick of the day". In which they would concentrate on one thing and it seemed to always make everything else better. Even if it was as simple as tying a string around one finger. Sounds like you found the "trick of the day" and used it to smash those par times down.

Man the whole grip thing is far deeper than I go. I just did a whole practice just trying to tighten up my WH a little. If I broke it down like you do, I'd probably start crying. So...............I'll let that go for awhile.

I wish you'd get that open gun out at Warsaw, give me someone else besides Repete to compare myself against.

See ya soon!

[rvb]

yea, it was definitely a trick of the day moment.

I see Jake DiVita will be at the MI Section... now that's someone you should be comparing yourself against, not me! Set that bar a little higher!

-rvb

[Chris iliff]

Are you going to shoot the Michiana/Michigan State? I am planning to be there myself, I am 0-2 at majors this year. I need a good match to feel better about the 2 zeroes.

That is a bummer that you are not going to be at Warsaw's big one. Bring that Brother with you and shoot the match with him. He'll get a kick out of that, you know he will.

hope to see ya there!!!!!

[rvb]

Wasn't able to do a lot of dryfire over the weekend, but I did some experimenting w/ my 1911 grip. If I rotate the gun counter clockwise in my grip a bit, and get the bottom knuckle of the thumb more beside the grip safety [compared to slightly behind it like it was], then the heal of my thumb moves forward a bit which seems to keep the WH away from the thumb safety. It was really a small change, but seems to help. Need to see how that carries over to the 92. This requires me to move the trigger out just a little on the trigger finger. now almost dead center of the pad seems to work.

My father in law got a Henry rifle, in 44 mag. Shot that at some bowling pins this weekend. That was fun, but didn't put too many rounds through it. At ~30 yds, I was able to hit the pins better w/ my .45 than with that rifle, but I think we need to sight in the gun a bit, and get it on paper to better learn the sights.

Put about 75 rounds through the .45, just working with the grip changes and a chance to work on my shot calling. Nearly all the rounds were on pins at 30 yds.

-rvb

[rvb]

Are you going to shoot the Michiana/Michigan State?

Yes, a group of us from Angola will be shooting on Sunday.

-rvb

[rvb]

No practice for me for almost the past week... been under the weather. Started feeling better over the weekend. It was the kid's 2nd b-day on Sunday, so with family in town and all the b-day fun, no practice happened.

W/ the August classifier updates, I made A in SS. ... with a 58%!

Let's see, 4 classifiers in the book, totalling 6 malfunctions. Guess that's why the system only lets you sandbag one class down. I think the gun is running 100% now. But it'll be a couple months before I start running it again. I put the PD gear back on the belt since I signed up for the MI match.

-rvb

[Corey]

No practice for me for almost the past week... been under the weather. Started feeling better over the weekend. It was the kid's 2nd b-day on Sunday, so with family in town and all the b-day fun, no practice happened.

W/ the August classifier updates, I made A in SS. ... with a 58%!

Let's see, 4 classifiers in the book, totalling 6 malfunctions. Guess that's why the system only lets you sandbag one class down. I think the gun is running 100% now. But it'll be a couple months before I start running it again. I put the PD gear back on the belt since I signed up for the MI match.

-rvb

maybe one day, il be up to an A and we can have a ss battle, haha. I think im gonna try to shoot the MI match too, maybe even try to jump on yoru squad

[rvb]

No practice for me for almost the past week... been under the weather. Started feeling better over the weekend. It was the kid's 2nd b-day on Sunday, so with family in town and all the b-day fun, no practice happened.

W/ the August classifier updates, I made A in SS. ... with a 58%!

Let's see, 4 classifiers in the book, totalling 6 malfunctions. Guess that's why the system only lets you sandbag one class down. I think the gun is running 100% now. But it'll be a couple months before I start running it again. I put the PD gear back on the belt since I signed up for the MI match.

-rvb

maybe one day, il be up to an A and we can have a ss battle, haha. I think im gonna try to shoot the MI match too, maybe even try to jump on yoru squad

Your A isn't too far off. And we can still battle it out regardless, last I saw the scores were only sorted by division, not class. Don't forget Angola has their SS match in October (regular 1st Sunday match, all divisions recognized, but they try to get as many SS'ers as they can).

Feel free to squad up w/ us at MI. Should be a fun match.

-rvb

[Corey]

No practice for me for almost the past week... been under the weather. Started feeling better over the weekend. It was the kid's 2nd b-day on Sunday, so with family in town and all the b-day fun, no practice happened.

W/ the August classifier updates, I made A in SS. ... with a 58%!

Let's see, 4 classifiers in the book, totalling 6 malfunctions. Guess that's why the system only lets you sandbag one class down. I think the gun is running 100% now. But it'll be a couple months before I start running it again. I put the PD gear back on the belt since I signed up for the MI match.

-rvb

maybe one day, il be up to an A and we can have a ss battle, haha. I think im gonna try to shoot the MI match too, maybe even try to jump on yoru squad

Your A isn't too far off. And we can still battle it out regardless, last I saw the scores were only sorted by division, not class. Don't forget Angola has their SS match in October (regular 1st Sunday match, all divisions recognized, but they try to get as many SS'ers as they can).

Feel free to squad up w/ us at MI. Should be a fun match.

-rvb

Already looking forward to the Angola SS match

[rvb]

Miserable day shooting today. And I don't make a statement like that often. Usually I enjoy it no matter what. Shot production at Atlanta. The match was good, the problem is ALL with me.

I swear I keep sucking worse and worse. My confidence is in the toilet. I actually caught myself checking the targets for holes on 3 stages, not trusting my calls. I was hurrying and shot WAY too many Cs and Ds. Mikes and Noshoots everywhere. I'm not spending enough time ingraining my plans.

I wasn't feeling too great most of the morning. All stuffed up and couldn't breath, and just felt... off. After stage 5 I thought we were done, and I was honestly disappointed to hear we had another stage to go. Almost took the dnf and went home. I've NEVER thought like that before. I went to the truck to get some more water and something to eat, and tried to clear the sinuses and completely missed the stage 6 walk through. The plan I made from behind the line was a very poor one. To make it worse, dead noshoots littered the bay.

Stage 7 I took too long making a decision on a plan, and never settled a single plan in. I was the first shooter. Hunt'n'peck. sucked. 1st stage was a standard, freestyle/reload/SHO. I had a miss on paper freestyle. Rocked the steel and SHO. WTF.

classifier was 09-14, Eye of the Tiger. Shot this so-so, 3.5x, 1A/5B. Probably only be a ~70%. A few of those Bs were just outside the A...

Stage 4 I shot pretty well, all As and 1 C, then a prop failed... reshoot. Following run was decent, but a couple Ds hurt.

Stage 5, plan was good. Several Ds. And I almost over-ran a target on the move after my first shot, had to backup a step for the 2nd shot.

I'm kinda glad the season is winding down. Next year I don't think I'm going to shoot much. I was going to buy a new production gun, but I now think I'll save my $. Starting to seem like a waste.

I was looking back through my journal here... 4 practices this year. Each a month apart. What's the point?

-rvb

[Chris iliff]

WTF? You rocked the production guys completely out of the park and won. Yeah, I know what you are saying because quite frankly I have kinda felt like that the whole year. Let me list it for you, Minor at A6 , zeroed a stage at State , confidence in the toilet , new guys I spanked a year ago are catching me and some passing me . Nothing seems right and I'm questioning things I normally wouldn't . Sometimes, I don't even get my stage plan down before the buzzer with all my second guessing .

Now let me tell you what this crybaby crap really is: It's us at the peak pushing! We are both going to get through this and be much better at the other end. We are on the cusp of a leap to newer heights! We are both competitive and want to do our best.

SOLUTION: JUST SHOOT, NOTHING ELSE MATTERS, SO WHY DO WE LET IT?

POSITIVES: YOU FRIGGIN' WON PRODUCTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[colt]

I am not at your level but I don't make shooting another job. Running a match is a job shooting should be fun. Find away to make it fun. If you have a bad day or month its still better than golf

I think it was Pete on TOP SHOT that said ( nobody is shooting back )its all fun.

You will be on your game soon! Today you were off your game and still kicked butt!!

See you at the match's Brent

[rvb]

well, I haven't touched a [competition] gun since my last post. mostly due to schedule. work was crazy nuts and all last week I was on VACATION to the beautiful Smokey Mountains. Next match is the MI section match. I don't think I'm going to get the chance to pull a trigger till then. So this week I want to get back into the dryfire routine.

I decided not to buy a new production gun. Seeming like a waste of $. I think I'm basically taking next year off. Kid # 2 is due in March! So that means if I go off to a bunch of matches, leaving the wife at home w/ a 2 year old and a new-born, she will go major on me! So unless some random luck happens (aka babysitting by grandparents), I'm limiting my schedule to Angola. I hate only shooting one club, I like to mix it up, but since I do the scores there, and design/build/RO a stage every month, I hate to be random to them. Hope to also shoot the IN Section match next year. I figure all the money I save in match fees and hotels I'll put aside for a new PD gun in '12.

So next year, my goal won't be to shoot a certain % at majors, or achieve some classification %, or shoot a certain time/HF on drills, but rather to enjoy my limited time on the range. It's a different mindset for me, but after no practice at all for the last 2 weeks, I'm settling in to it.

In other news, Zero shipped my bullets. Should be 6k in this batch, giving my about 15k on hand. At my current rate, I should be good for ~3 years. So if I backorder more now, I should be ok for when these run out! Only took a year. Post man was too lazy to deliver them, or even ring the doorbell and ask for help (was home all day Sat but got one of those "we missed you" cards), so now I have to get to the post office to pick them up.

finished reading Inner Game of Tennis while on vacation. Of particular significance, given my last post, is Chapter 8, the section on aims and motives. "Main Game 1: Good-o; Subgame A: Perfect-o" reflects me perfectly. I won't quote the whole thing here, but the obstacles he describes nail me to a tee: External: The never-closing gap between one's idea of perfection and one's apparent abilities. Internal: Self-criticism for not being as close to perfection as one would like, leading to discouragement, compulsively trying too hard, and the self-doubt that made you think you had anything to prove in the first place.

-rvb

Edited September 13, 2010 by rvb

[BillD]

I could have never gone to 3-5 matches a month and a couple practice sessions a week when I had little ones.

For starters, I couldn't have afforded it. For another reason, my wife would have been looking for a new husband.

I don't see how any of you younger guys with families get the range time needed.

Enjoy the limited shooting you can do.

See you on the range

[Corey]

Life is all about priorities man. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do. On a good note, i got signed up for the Mi Sectional and squadded with you guys...speaking of which, PM coming your way

[Coach]

Here are a couple of thougts. You need to shoot one club match before Michigan. Come down to Riley this coming Sunday. Squad with jake and I we will make you feel good about yourself. It is an 11 am start. We suck but are great fun. You are taking next year off so you might as well make such a drive. $30 seven stages this month.

[rvb]

Here are a couple of thougts. You need to shoot one club match before Michigan. Come down to Riley this coming Sunday. Squad with jake and I we will make you feel good about yourself. It is an 11 am start. We suck but are great fun. You are taking next year off so you might as well make such a drive. $30 seven stages this month.

Hmmm... thanks for the invite. 7 stages would be fun. 7+ hrs round trip is a long haul for this weekend. I think if I get out at all it'll be to the Ft Wayne club (I can be back home about the time you guys are shooting stage 3).

-rvb

[Chris iliff]

Glad to see you posted, you scared me there for awhile. I get you. I didn't pick up the sport until the kids were junior high age. I don't know that I could have done it when they were littler. I don't know if I would have wanted too. Your priorities are spot on and I applaud you for them, wish more Dad's got it like you get it. I will see you at MI. Take care. Oh, I did take your advice, ......I'm squadded with Jake DaVita and Metts. Speaking of Metts, that sucker beat me at Warsaw on Sunday by a percent and a half. Damn you Production guys, damn you!!!!!!

[rvb]

Glad to see you posted, you scared me there for awhile. I get you. I didn't pick up the sport until the kids were junior high age. I don't know that I could have done it when they were littler. I don't know if I would have wanted too. Your priorities are spot on and I applaud you for them, wish more Dad's got it like you get it.[ I will see you at MI. Take care. Oh, I did take your advice, ......I'm squadded with Jake DaVita and Metts. Speaking of Metts, that sucker beat me at Warsaw on Sunday by a percent and a half. Damn you Production guys, damn you!!!!!!

well, I'm doin my best!

Transitioning from bachellorhood to married life wasn't too tough, although that ended the "practice on tuesday and thursday, matches on saturday and sunday" thing. As all parents say... kids change everything. I'm just looking at it as ramping down for a couple years until they get old enough to come along, then I can play coach!

[Corey, as a bachelor, you getting all this?]

haha

Metts is a damn fine shooter. Just checked he's shooting PD in MI so you're safe, but I'm not...

-rvb

[rvb]

Not much hardcore practice over the weekend, my folks were in town and Dad and I built walls in the basement...

Did get about 25 minutes in last night. All I worked on was the toolbox stage for MI. Did I mention I dislike unloaded gun starts? Did I mention I REALLY dislike empty belt starts?

I've been experimenting with getting my elbows up more. I'm finding everything is becoming more stable, incl transitions, trigger press and dropping the hammer, etc. Hope to get to the range either with the group at FWAPS on thurs or by myself friday afternoon, whatever work will allow to just gain some confidence in live fire (all dryfire is not good).

End of last wk I DFd 5 El Prez in a row sub 4 sec (and those were cold, except a few draws for warm up). Would like to have a chance to see how that translates to live fire, see if I can get <4.5 consistently. I think all the savings has come off my turn. I'm making it my goal to press straight out to the target, with no swinging of the gun. That, combined with getting my elbows up more has really made the turn/draw more consistent, which translates to lower ave times.

-rvb

[Corey]

[Corey, as a bachelor, you getting all this?]

haha

-rvb

you been talking to my gf?!?!? haha