Tracking my progess-let 'er rip 'tater chip!

[tgibson]

1.28.08

Iwas actually going to do this at the beginning of last summer, but things were busy so I decided not to. At this point in time, after some of the reading I have done, it has become clear to me that writing down your goals as well as progression is important even if you don't go back and read the comments you made.

Part of what prompted me to do this is that I finally realized if I put some serious effort into this I just might turn out to be a fairly decent shooter. It took me two years but it became clear....finally. I will start out by putting down a couple of goals I came up with a couple of weeks ago and I will also track my finishes in both weekly club matches and larger matches. By the way, this is going to be for both 3 gun and pistol. Here goes!

Match Goals:

SMM 3 gun - finish in the top 25% HUGE equipment issues. Made top 33%. Other than that, I shot alright.

Glock match- top 5 finish Not even close. Ended up 12th overall. Might of had something to do with working all day the day before setting up. YEA THAT IS AN EXCUSE!! WHAT OF IT??

Ephreta, WA 3 gun put on by Carl Carbon and Pat Kelly - Top 10 finish I think I finished 8th here.

Idaho SpudGun match-Top 3 A shooters This match was canceled. Finished 7th at PK's SC match.

Elko, NV Ruby Mtn. 3 gun-top 5 I think I finished 3rd in Scoped Tactical here, but I was WAAAYY off the pace.

Area 1-top 3 A shooters

A1 multi-gun - top 5

MGM Ironman - Have a good attitude and finish in the top 20

Idaho State handgun Championships - 1st or 2nd A

Idaho State IDPA match - Top ESP Expert

One I didn't know about when I started this thread was the Nationals. I didn't know I was going so I didn't put it in here. Because I have never been to one before, I have no idea what to expect. I am not going to put a finish goal on this match. What I will do is try to meet some of the goals listed below. Such as:

If things go haywire on a stage, don't let it affect the rest of the match, and

Shoot my own match. Every time I start to mess up a match, my old man tells me this. When I take his advice, things ALWAYS get better. Thanks Pops!

General Goals:

Make master by the end of the summer

Dry fire at least one hour per week

Shoot 1 match per week

1 live fire practice session per week

If things go haywire on a stage, don't let it affect the rest of the match

Shoot my own match every single time

Set a goal to achieve at every club match

Almost achieved first match goal of shooting down zero at an IDPA match. I was down two. I won three out of the four stages and my theory that accuracy is better than speed was confirmed. The one stage I didn't win, I was behind first place by less than a second. If I would have shot down zero on that stage I would have won that stage too. Oh well! I am happy with my performance.

The next week is going to be very busy. Going to the SHOT show and have plans every night. I am going to take my gear, but don't expect to get any practice in. I think I am going to get together with a couple of guys on the 9th and put a quick steel match together.

Adios,

TG

Edited May 18, 2008 by tgibson

[tgibson]

2.9.08

Didn't get to put a steel match together today, but I was able to get a little practice in. I went out with a fairly new shooter and showed him a couple of things that I think are important to me, which made me think about them some more. This was good.

The other thing that I worked on was my shooting on the move. I feel like this was one of my weak points and today really helped with that. I was able to move pretty quick and get some great hits at a fairly fast rate. Today was a huge confidence builder. Now I am not quite so worried about shooting on the move because I know I can get good hits and move quickly at the same time.

There is a USPSA match next weekend, and the things I am going to work on are shooting while moving and not dropping any points. We'll see how things go. The things I am going to practice this week for my 3gun are shotgun reloads.

Adios,

TG

[tgibson]

2.16.08

After leaving for the SHOT show on the 30th of January, the following goals have not been met:

Dry fire at least one hour per week

Shoot 1 match per week

1 live fire practice session per week

If you are not keeping track, this is basically all of the goals that are supposed to happen on a weekly basis. I started getting sick earlier this week and was up half the night caughing and gagging so I got about six hours of sleep last night and tried to shoot a match today. Needless to say, things didn't go as well as I would like. What did I expect though...I haven't picked up my gun in a week!

My goal for this match was to shoot it relaxed and to determine PF on stages and shoot them accordingly. I feel like I did that for the most part. I had one stage where I had an issue with my mag not dropping out and then I got frustrated. Other than that, it was alright.

I shot about an 80% on the clasiffier which brings me up to about 83.6%. I might be able to get the rest of the way with a match tomorrow. We'll see. I have not seen the scores yet, but when I do, I'll post them here.

Adios,

TG

[tgibson]

2.17.08

Shot a match today with the 17L and the CCF race frame and some really light (129PF) loads. It was a lot of fun and my accuracy was great! I think I only dropped 7 C's for the match. My classifier was a 79% so that was pretty good. I was shooting through and was doing pretty good keeping my mental game together until the last stage. It was a Virginia count stage with some pretty long (25y) targets. I was picked up one of my C's and it cost me 20 points. I guess I should have slowed down and asked some questions before I started. Oh well.

I won limited and took second overall in the match. Lost first by 3.3 match points. If I hadn't fired that extra shot, I would have been in good shape. Again...oh well. Here are the overall results.

Place Name USPSA Class Division PF Lady For Age Points Stg %

1 M, Justin TY46207 A Limited 10 Major N N 477.6705 100.00%

2 Gibson, Travis A55100 A Limited Minor N N 474.3269 99.30%

3 W, Dennis A30712 B Open Major N N 456.8296 95.64%

4 H, Nick TY24597 B Open Major N N Super Senior 447.0181 93.58%

5 M, Richard A54049 M Production Minor N N 443.0341 92.75%

6 F, Jim A16541 B Open Major N N 430.7530 90.18%

7 J, Mike A2666 A Open Major N N Senior 406.6565 85.13%

8 Z, Kepa A55486 M Production Minor N N 387.7971 81.19%

9 W, Mike A54749 A Production Minor N N 383.4072 80.27%

10 W, Nick TY41041 B Limited Minor N N 361.9485 75.77%

11 W, Tom A59909 U Limited Major N N 317.6009 66.49%

12 H, Dell L1661 C Single Stack Major N N Senior 298.0114 62.39%

13 K, GREG U Limited Major N N 282.3576 59.11%

14 C, Gary TY57674 C Limited Major N N 273.5709 57.27%

15 M, Lyle A50380 B Production Minor N N Super Senior 265.8436 55.65%

16 E, George TY51120 C Limited 10 Major N N 249.4621 52.22%

17 T, Tommy TY36775 C Open Major N N Super Senior 235.5898 49.32%

18 C, Travis U Single Stack Major N N 226.4907 47.42%

19 A, Brenda U Production Minor Y N 147.1065 30.80%

20 E, Lori A59586 B Production Minor Y N 107.7715 22.56%

That is it for now. As soon as I get the results from yesterday, I'll edit my last post.

Adios,

TG

Edited February 18, 2008 by tgibson

[Z-man]

Nice match T- I know it was a wake up call for me to get some more live fire in! Looks like you rocked that 17L!

[tgibson]

Nice match T- I know it was a wake up call for me to get some more live fire in! Looks like you rocked that 17L!

Thanks. I found a pretty good load for it and it seems to be running good for the most part. As soon as you want to go get some practice in, let me know and we'll git' er done! Take care.

Adios,

TG

[Z-man]

After this match... I'm definitely ready to hit the range. Just let me know when you're heading out and I'll try to make it work.

[tgibson]

I am stuck with dry fire all this week due to previous engagements (working on my new shotgun reloading technique). I am going to try and make the IDPA match in Parma on Saturday though. Do you think you will make it out? If so, we should carpool out. Let me know.

Adios,

TG

Edited February 19, 2008 by tgibson

[tgibson]

2.18.08 entry for match on 2.16.08

Here are the match results for last Saturdays match.

1 R, Carrie A Open Major 457.6855 100.000%

2 Gibson, Travis TY55100 A Limited Major 383.6570 83.825%

3 R, Rich GM Limited Major 323.5570 70.694%

4 F, Jim B Open Major 321.1464 70.167%

5 H, Nick B Open Major Super Senior 316.2107 69.089%

6 G, Aaron B Limited Major 288.6024 63.057%

7 W, Dennis A Limited Minor 284.1925 62.093%

8 B, Beau C Limited Major 279.1721 60.996%

9 K, Greg U Limited Major 231.6931 50.623%

10 G, Mike U Production Minor 230.2869 50.316%

11 J, Jim C Limited 10 Major 198.5911 43.390%

12 C, Gary C Limited 10 Major 197.3718 43.124%

13 M, Lyle B Production Minor 189.3385 41.369%

14 C, Travis U Single Stack Major 125.2654 27.369%

15 T, Tommy C Limited 10 Major 99.3801 21.714%

16 R, Greg U Production Minor 74.7346 16.329%

17 W, MIcah U Limited Minor 43.9027 9.592%

18 M, Ray U Production Minor 42.8931 9.372%

Adios,

TG

Edited February 19, 2008 by tgibson

[tgibson]

2.28.08

Well I have been a little lax in for the last couple of days in my posting due to being a little sick and a little tired. Last Saturday, the IDPA match I was planning on hitting was canceled due to the range being too muddy to drive on.

To still get some shooting in, I went and did some live fire with a fairly new shooter. This was a real good thing to slow myself down and really look at how I was shooting. The other thing we did was check to see if it was better to shoot all of the targets (out to 25 yards) from one spot or run down shooting and moving. What I came up with was that even when I am moving fairly fast (even for a fat kid) I was still getting A hits and my time was faster by as much as 3 seconds. Standing and shooting at 3 targets on the left and 3 on the right out to 25 yards with two C's the time was about 13 seconds. When I ran down and shot as fast as I could, I had a couple of C's and the time was something like 10.25 seconds. The hit factor went up by more than 1.1 points.

This was a real eye opener because for a long time I had the train of thought that you can't outrun a bullet...well that is true, but when you knock a couple of tenths of of each of your transitions because you are considerably CLOSER TO THE TARGETS....YOUR HITS STAY THE SAME AND YOUR TIME GETS BETTER!!!! DUHHHH!!!!

Oh well. That is why I did it, so I would know. Anyway, I have not been doing my dry firing this week but I have been religously working on my SG reloading. I am getting pretty good with the Progressive Machine and Tool holders and putting in four at a time. I should have the rest of the ones I ordered here next week so I can start getting in some good concentrated practice time in.

I am going to go shoot a steel match this weekend. Probably going to use my 17L to get ready for SMM3 Gun. Still going to work on accuracy, but I am going to push myself a little bit this week end. We'll see what happens.

Adios,

TG

[tgibson]

3.5.08

Well I haven't been doing too much dry firing with my pistol lately, but what can I say? Three gun season is coming and it is time to spread my work around a little bit. For the last week or so, I have been working on a new reloading technique for my SG. I got some quick strippers form Steve over at Progressive Machine and Tool and those things are GREAT!!! I am starting to get the hang of it now. From slide lock, I am able to load one into the chamber and eight off of my quick strippers in just under 10 seconds with pretty good consistancy (translated to read..I'm not dropping too many). I am pretty darn happy with this! SMM3 gun is in about three weeks and I want to be ready!!

I am going to break out the SV this weekend for the first shoot of the year in Emmett. I love shooting there. They have great stages and even better people! On Sunday, I am going to try and make a trip over to La Grande, OR for their first match of the year. If I go over there, I am going to shoot Limited minor with the 17L. I put the stock frame back on so I am hoping that will solve the extraction problem. We'll hide and watch. I'll try to make another post with my goals for the weekend. If not, I'll be back after the match.

Adios,

TG

[tgibson]

3.7.08

I should be getting some sleep right now instead of typing on this stupid computer, but I can't sleep. I am ready to shoot tomorrow! As I wrote in my previous post, I am going to shoot the SV tomorrow so it will be major. My goal for tomorrow is to figure out what 95% of the points are for each stage and shoot them. I have no problem shooting that accurately. My problem is going to be figuring out which targets to speed up on and possibly take the C on. I don't know if this makes any sence or not. I am at the point now where I feel like I might be spending too much time on accuracy. I'll let it hang out a little tomorrow and see what happens. R and C are great about getting the scores out fast so I should be able to post them tomorrow PM.

Adios,

TG

[tgibson]

3.9.08 Part I

I got home late last night and got the scores just before I went to bed and didn't feel like putting anything together for a post I really wasn't too happy with my performance at the match, but I guess everything turned out OK. I thuroghly TANKED the classifier (third from dead last in the match), had another stage with a mike, and yet another stage that was virginia count where I picked up a shot, but it turned out to be an A so I got 20 penalty points for an extra shot and an extra hit. Pretty crappy overall I thought. OH WELL!!

One of the things I need to do is make sure I write in my range journal before EVERY match. I thought if I was doing it here, it would be enough, but if I write it in the journal, I can take it with me and read it just before I shoot the match. I am going to make a concerted effort to do this from now on. Here are the scores from the match on Saturday.

Place Name

1 R, Carrie A Open Major Yes No 521.4693 100.000%

2 Gibson, Travis A55100 A Limited Major No No 494.6893 94.865%

3 F, Jim B Open Major No No 459.0775 88.035%

4 M, Richard M Production Minor No No 431.1862 82.687%

5 W, Dennis B Open Major No No 428.0271 82.081%

6 M, Justin A Limited 10 Major No No 410.0583 78.635%

7 B, Beau C Limited Major No No 401.8079 77.053%

8 B, Dean B Open Major No No Senior 367.1781 70.412%

9 H, Lance A Limited Major No No 364.0523 69.813%

10 R, Richard GM Limited Minor No No Senior 327.4447 62.793%

11 K, Greg U Limited Major No No 304.2527 58.345%

12 C, Gary C Limited Major No No Super Senior 300.8295 57.689%

13 E, George C Limited Major No No Senior 299.3255 57.400%

14 M, Lyle B Production Minor No No Super Senior 296.3183 56.824%

15 H, Janice C Open Major Yes No Senior 290.6284 55.733%

16 T, Tommy C Open Major No No Super Senior 273.3849 52.426%

17 H, Nick B Limited Major No No Super Senior 260.6950 49.992%

18 S, Eric U Limited 10 Major No No 259.6164 49.786%

19 M, Mike U Single Stack Major No No Senior 256.4262 49.174%

20 R, Greg U Limited 10 Major No No 161.9011 31.047%

21 E, Lori D Limited Major Yes No 161.5077 30.972%

22 M, Ray U Production Minor No No 115.2248 22.096%

Part II is coming right up!

Adios,

TG

[tgibson]

3.9.08 PartII

A buddy of mine and I went over and shot in LaGrande, OR for their first match of the season. As usual, Dennis F. and the gang put on a great match!

When I finished shooting I thought I had put in a very sub par performance. There were two stages that I missed VERY easy steel, one of which was the classifier, and there was one stage that I had a mike. My stage tactics worked out pretty good. I memorized the stages well, and when I came up with a plan, I followed it through to the end. I was happy about this. I did have a really good time too. Here are the results:

Place Name USPSA Class Division PF Lady For Age Points Mtch%

1 F, DENNIS A Open Major N N 465.2988 100.00%

2 T, BURTON A Limited Major N N 455.9020 97.98%

3 Gibson, Travis A Limited Major N N 432.3882 92.93%

4 W, RICK B Open Major N N Senior 415.9303 89.39%

5 M, Richard M Production Minor N N 379.9688 81.66%

6 O, Gerald U Production Minor N N 376.1641 80.84%

7 F, SANDY C Open Major Y N 374.4040 80.47%

8 H, BILL A Open Major N N 368.3740 79.17%

9 H, DWIGHT A Limited Major N N Senior 364.3381 78.30%

10 R, JEFF A Limited 10 Major N N 343.3608 73.79%

11 B, ED C Open Major N N Super Senior 335.8461 72.18%

12 R, Ryan U Production Minor N N 307.9580 66.18%

13 T, Bill U Limited Major N N 306.3458 65.84%

14 M, Perry B Production Minor N N 303.1277 65.15%

15 R, Kyle B Limited 10 Major N N 296.0963 63.64%

16 T, ROBERT C Limited Major N N Senior 284.6607 61.18%

17 B, ROBERT B Open Major N N 279.6517 60.10%

18 B, Barney Production Minor N N Senior 273.3025 58.74%

19 T, GREG B Limited Major N N 270.0651 58.04%

20 R, FRED C Limited 10 Major N N Senior 267.5592 57.50%

21 M, MIKE B Limited Major N N Senior 267.0223 57.39%

22 C, Gary C Limited Major N N Senior 264.9833 56.95%

23 T, LAWERENC C Open Major N N Super Senior 255.2224 54.85%

24 C, Bill C Limited Major N N 245.0172 52.66%

25 P, Ty C Production Minor N N 240.5982 51.71%

26 L, SID C Open Major N N Senior 235.2690 50.56%

27 H, JIM U Production Minor N N Senior 234.3969 50.38%

28 P, ANDY C Limited Major N N 206.3681 44.35%

29 L, Ryan U Limited Major N N 156.4049 33.61%

30 R, Nick U Production Minor N N 147.0314 31.60%

31 M, Jordon D Limited Major N N 144.9782 31.16%

32 R, Greg U Production Minor N N 143.1337 30.76%

33 L, Andrew U Limited Minor N N 109.1846 23.47%

34 T, Dan U Limited Major N N 105.0825 22.58%

35 M, Ray U Production Minor N N 56.7904 12.21%

36 R, Kaye D Single Stack Major Y N 49.2916 10.59%

37 D, Greg U Limited Major N N 46.9355 10.09%

38 W, Becky U Open Major Y N 26.0792 5.60%

I can deal with this finish I guess....No I should be happy with this! One thing I love about my lovely bride is that she gets me mellowed out sometimes. She made it perfectly clear to me that this wasn't a bad finish!!! Other than the few messups I mentioned above, another thing I was happy with both today and yesterday was that I figured out what 95% of the total points would be and then picked whichever targets I thought would be easy A's and shot fast on them. This helped a lot. I didn't worry so much about getting two real good sight pictures on these targets and just shot fast. Muscle memory must have taken over, becasue there was still a couple of stages that I shot all of the points available. I can deal with that! I think writing down my goals for each match in my journal will be a big help. We'll see next weekend. Going back to the 17L to get ready for SMM so I will need to focus on accuracy more because of the minor scoring. Talk with you later!

Adios,

TG

[tgibson]

8.15.08

HOLY CRAP!!! WHAT A MATCH!!! Today was not a good day at all! I shot the 17L today trying to get ready for the 3 gun in a couple of weeks, and it was brutal. I left a steel standing on the frist stage, it took me 5.5 seconds to shoot a whirly gig on the second stage, and I had two no shoots and two mikes on the third stage. Like I said...what a crappy day!!

On the other hand, the fouth stage went pretty good (I guess watching your front sight is a good thing?!). I didn't drop too many points, and shot my plan well. The classifier was one of the new 08's. Four Bill Drill. I didn't have any mikes, my reloads were smooth as glass (even looked good on the vid), and I didn't have any misses. I think my times were in the late eights or early nines.

I was planning on writing down my goals before I started, but I got busy helping and didn't have time when the match started. Tonight or first thing in the moring I will write down my goals for tomorrow! They are as follows:

Decide how many points I can drop per stage to still be at 95% and decide which targets I am going to shoot fast

Watch the sights for the entire match!!

Move fast!

If the scores come out tonight, I will post them here. PlaceNameUSPSAClassDivisionPFLadyMilLawForAgeMatch PtsMatch %1F, JimA16541BOpenMajor 455.8489100.000%2R, CarrieFY440392AOpenMajor 439.830296.486%3Gibson, TravisTY55100ALimitedMinor 421.126892.383%4B, BeauA58360CLimitedMajor 323.196170.900%5G, Mike L2510UOpenMinor 322.935270.843%6G, Aaron A54848BLimitedMajor 319.353370.057%7E, TimL2719BOpenMajor 318.920069.962%8H, JaniceFY24598COpenMajor 318.282369.822%9T, Tommy TY36775COpenMajor 275.357860.405%10G, RaulA41217BLimitedMajor 273.402959.977%11M, MikeA42490CLimitedMajor 269.548659.131%12H, NickTY24597BLimitedMajor Super Senior264.033157.921%13S, EricULimited 10Major 234.021751.338%14J, JimA45263CLimited 10Major 230.354750.533%15B, Dave A50993CLimitedMajor 225.627749.496%16C, GaryTY57674CLimitedMajor 214.610347.079%17T, PeteA57987CProductionMinor 176.985238.825%18D, CarlosULimitedMajor 164.102735.999%19C, TravisUSingle StackMajor 163.570635.883%20R, RichFY10937GMLimitedMajor 98.715721.655%Number ofCompetitors:20Printed:03/16/08 5:26 PMPage 1 of 1

Don't know what happened with this, but you get the drift.

Adios,

TG

Edited March 20, 2008 by tgibson

[tgibson]

3.19.08

Sundays match was alright. Nothing to write home about but I shot a good solid classifier which made me happy. I think I only had one mike and that was at a 25y target I was shooting from prone. My gun might be shooting a little bit low, but it did group pretty good. As usual, we don't have the scores for that match yet. I don't expect them for another couple of days. Man that pi$$es me off!! If I ever get them, I'll post them.

Adios,

TG

1 Gibson, Travis TY55100 A Limited Minor N N 486.9686 100.00% 2 R, Rich FY10937 GM Limited Major N N Senior 411.3167 84.46%

3 B Beau A58360 C Limited Major N N 392.2301 80.55%

4 W, Joe TY47436 A Limited Major N N 344.2723 70.70%

5 W, Tom A59909 U Limited Major N N 338.5377 69.52%

6 C, Gary TY57674 C Limited Major N N 322.0836 66.14%

7 M, Mike A42490 C Limited Major N N Senior 293.1000 60.19%

8 K, GREG A61227 U Limited Major N N 246.8946 50.70%

9 H, Nick A24597 B Limited Major N N Super Senior 245.7535 50.47%

10 E, George TY51120 C Limited Major N N 239.2752 49.14%

11 H, Janice A24598 D Limited Major Y N Senior 198.5867 40.78%

12 E, Lori A59586 D Limited Major Y N 97.6241 20.05%

Finally got the scores Took forever though!!

Adios,

TG

Edited April 14, 2008 by tgibson

[tgibson]

4.13.08

I'll bet you thought I had quit shooting didn't you!?!? We no I didn't, but there was a couple of times that I had considered it. I'll get this thing up to date and fill you in on all of my latest matches starting a couple of weeks ago with some steel matches in AZ and the SMM3gun and ending with Carls great match in Ephrata, WA yesterday (great match Carl!!!)

Two weeks ago in AZ before the SMM3gun I shot the Tuesday night steel and the Thursday night steel at South Mountain (another great match!! Thanks Scott!!) At the Tuesday night match, I was trying a little too hard on my first stage and took some extra shots (what did you expect!?!? I was shooting with some of the best shooters in the nation...your damn right I was going to try hard!!) The second stage was going really well until the last position and I had a huge jam. I didn't let it bother me though and I made up my mind to shoot my own game on the last stage. I waited until the sights were on target before I pulled the trigger and then held the targets alighned until the gun went off. Guess what happened? I ended up 7th over all. I can deal with that!! We didnt' get to shoot the last stage but I was happy to end on that note.

The Thursday night match at South Mountain went pretty good too. I messed up one stage, but the rest of them went alright. I ended up fourth overall. I shot the match again for fun and won all of the stages but one for the overall win. The one stage I didn't win in my fun run, was won by me during my "for score" run. Again, another great note to end on before a big 3 gun...and then came the big 3 gun

At the SMM3 gun, I shot the first couple of stages pretty good. I wasn't perfect, but for the most part, I was alright with it. Then it started...the malfunctions. I went to the long range stage and had pretty good hits (for me anyway ) and then I traded mags for the close range stuff. I had another huge jam. I got it cleared out and finished the stage but hit a no shoot.

The next long range stage I shot also had 9 slugs. I was doing great with the slugs, then I had a jam on about number 5, I cleared it out fast and went back to shooting. I had two more direct FAST hits....then another jam, so I cleared that out and lost track of which targets I had hit, so I shot two more, and one of them I shot twice. FTE. The long range was so so and so was the pistol, but after an FTE, it really didn't matter.

I was really looking forward to the SG stages because of all of the practice time I had been putting in on my reloads. On the first stage, I was having more huge jams and then I looked into a port and it was like my birthday!!! One of the steel plates had fallen down!!! I couldn't believe it!!! I get my freshly cleaned SG out and then had one of the worst double feeds I have ever seen. I finally got it cleared out and finished the stage. Crappy to say the least.

The last SG stage, went well finally. It was sort of a memory stage, and I didn't have a chance to really get a game plan but at that point, I really didn't care. I figured I'd just shoot throught the ports until I didn't see anything and then move and load. Everything worked good, and I ended up 14th in scoped tactical class on that stage.

The last stage was nothing to write home about either, but my SG worked. I guess that is good right!?!? I think I was 45th overall, so I ended up in the top third, but I was hopeing for a top 25%. Oh well. I think if my gear would have ran, I could have been in the top 20 shooters. Lessons learned. Did I mention that I was on squad 13!?!?! Bad mojo!!!

I shot a club match locally and won it. That and the fact that my SG was running made me feel pretty good going to Carls match.

That ended as soon as I got my rifle out for the first stage and started shooting. After about five rounds, the POS went single shot on me. I actually had to get my pocket knife out to clear a jam with it and a 50 second stage turned into a 115 second stage. Light primer hits on all of the rounds. I figured it was a light hammer spring, and I didn't have to shoot rifle until after luch so I figured I would fix it then.

The next stage was a SG/pistol stage. The reloads were smooth and I only had to take two extra shots with my pistol. I ended up pretty good there. The third stage was a buckshot stage. I had a couple of light hits on some far steel and had to take some extra shots, but I remembered where I was at so things went pretty good there too.

I changed my hammer spring out at lunch time with the help of Mr. Kelly. I had a nice conversation with him wherein he gave me some words of encouragement and when we were finished, two things were running better...my rifle and my attitude. Thanks buddy!! I needed that!!

The stage right after lunch was a pistol SG stage and I think I ended up in the top five or six on that stage. I was happy. The long range stage really sucked and (Read this next couple fo words in your best Forrest Gump voice)...that's all I have to say about that.

The last stage had a couple of flying clays I opted not to shoot at...I should have (Forrest Gump on..) and that's all I have to say about that.

I met my goal for this match when I started this thread...8th overall. I think I could have been top five if my gear would have run. I am putting these issues behind me and moving on. The next big match is the Glocks only match in Emmett. I think I can do top five here. Then it is on to Elko for the Ruby Mountain 3 gun. I'll have my gear in top shape and be ready to tear it up!!!

Adios,

TG

[DMS42]

It was nice to see you and your father again and I want to thank both of you for the offer to use your rifles when mine crapped out. But I had already zero'd at least one stage and I was kinda hoping that the rifle would start working. But on the last stage I not only had the failures to extract, but also the darned trigger decided to not reset again. All in all it was still fun! Thanks again.

Dennis

[tgibson]

No problem Dennis. It was good to see you too. My offer still stands though. If you don't get that POS running, I'll still give you $100 for it!

TG

[tgibson]

4.28.08

Well the 6th annual Glocks only match in Emmett, ID was yesterday. One of the goals I had when I started this thread was to finish in the top five at this match. So here is how it went.

I went out Saturday to help set up and spent the majority of the day out there. By the time I left, I had a pretty good idea of what was going on with the stages, and by the time I went to sleep Saturday night, I had them ALL memorized. I am not kidding either. I had every reload down, every step, every position, and what targets I was going to shoot from each position. I am very fortunate as getting stages memorized is something that comes pretty easy to me, and I had this entire match down pat.

I usually shoot with my old man when I go to big matches like this, but this time, our squad of friends and family only allowed for four other shooters. There was a lot of the MGM crew, friends and family there. I usually don't like to shoot with a bunch of people I know just because I don't have time to concentrate like I want to because of all of the jawjacking. Not that this is a bad thing, but I like to concentrate at matches that are important to me. I get to shoot and have a great time with friends almost every weekend. This time I decided to shoot with them all anyway. I had a pretty good handle on all of the stages so I figured what the heck.

The match started out pretty well. I was shooting under control, making good hits, and still going pretty fast. I was happy. Even after lunch, I still felt pretty good with the exception of my bunk knee. This translates to read, I had taken five advil, four ibuprofin, and a dose of fish paralizer so the pain was pretty dull.

I really bombed the last stage but I thought I could still pull a top 10 finish out. Not so much. 12th in Full size division. Here are a couple of things that really eat me up.

1. As we shot through the match, we saw several things that had changed since the walk through like no shoots being moved, no shoots being added, and targets being moved. One other thing that was sort of a pisser was that not all of the RO's were running the stages as they were instructed in the RO walk through. I would really like to elaborate on some things here, but it wouldn't do any good.

2. Another thing is that I really felt like I shot GOOD and still ended up waaay down in the scores! Usually I am disappointed with how I do overall before I see the results. I think of all the mistakes I made and how they are going to affect my overall performance. Not this time though. Other than the last stage, I shot everything just like I had planned the night before...and I shot them well. I was very pleased until I saw the scores. I looked at two stages and walked off.

3. When the final results came out, I saw that I had my a$$ handed to me by shooters that I beat on a weekly basis. I got beat by people that I honestly can not remember when the last time I didn't beat them was!

The scores are supposed to be mailed out tomorrow so I will be able to anylize things a little more, but I'll tell you what...this weekend was one of the most depressing and frustrating weekends of my shooting career. I'll get back with a score anylization later.

Adios,

TG

[titandriver]

TGibby --- let me know all of the changes that were made that you are aware of during this match please. Absolutely NO no-shoot targets were added unless somebody did it without my permission! The fact that some dumbasses move targets, both shoot or no-shoot, is blatant cheating by somebody(s)! I am aware of one stage where a no-shoot was shifted a bit, but that is it. Outright cheating like this is what kills matches! I will STRONGLY recommend that cash prizes be eliminated next year and only trophies handed out. Might curb some of the cheating, glad my tenure with this match is over!

[tgibson]

I'll send you an e mail.

Adios,

TG

[tgibson]

5.18.08

Nearly a month since my last post, and my attitude isn't much better now than it was then sorry to say. Just got done shooting PK's SC match yesterday. He and the rest of the crew did a great job! Thanks!

Now for the bad news. I really sucked! That about sums it up. I have been putting on SC matches at our local club every wednesday night, so I new what was coming and unfortunately it didn't do me any good. I shot way too fast, didn't aim at all, and when I had a bad stage, I let it go right on to the next one with me. I couldn't seem to shake the bad attitude.

When I finally settled down and "shot my game" as Pops would say, I think I actually ended up winning that stage (I think it was five to go). The funny thing about it is that NOTHING felt good or fast about it. On the first string, I just felt really slow. The second string I had a pretty bad jam which turned into a 6.5 second run. The last three strings were plagued with bad grips on the gun. One time the grip was so "off" I was actually worried that the gun might not cycle properly because my thumbs were pushing so hard on the slide to try and hold the gun verticle.

I think my final standing was seventh in limited class. I haven't seen the final times yet, so I don't know how far off the pace I was.

The other match I shot since my last post was the Ruby Mountain 3 gun. It was a good match, and I was pretty happy with my overall performance until the last stage which had some long range targets in it. When I shot the long range stage by itself, I did pretty good and was righ on time with the top finishers. I am going to contribute a lot of this to the CRAPPY prop. It was a "roof" with nothing to brace yourself on so every time you shot, the recoil would push you down little by little. Just two slick a$$ pieces of 1/2" OSB. Oh well.

Looking back on both of these matches, I know exactly what my problem is. Really, I think it is two things.

1. Part of the reason for the poor performance at PK's SC match was due to shooting a gun that hasn't been out of the box for two months. I am switching back and forth from a G17L for 3gun to my SV limited gun (my baby!) for USPSA and SC matches.

2. The second reason is exactly what you would guess NO PRACTICE!! IMAGINE THAT!!!

So knowing what my two problems are, what am I going to do to fix them? For starters, I am going to make it a point to get in at least one LF practice in every week. It won't have to be a ton, but just to get some rounds down range. I have an offer from a great local 3 gunner to go practice any time I want. I have been traveling solid for basically the last month, so when things settle down, I'll see what I can do to get a set schedule and start working on this.

The first reason is going to be fixed by a new pistol when I can. I am going to try to find an STI in 9mm. That way, I'll have a hi-cap low recoil gun I can use for IMG rule matches as well as IDPA. My theory behind this is that I will be shooting the same grip and trigger for both disciplines. Until then, the Glock is going to get put away until next years Glock match in Emmett. I will use the SV exclusively from now on. To tell you the truth, that doesn't hurt my feelings too much. My parents gave me the 17L so it has a lot of sedimental (spelling ?) value, but I LOVE THAT SV!!! I want to give it a hug and a kiss every time I get done shooting it and tell it what a good gun it is when I put it in it's nice padded box . I am not kidding either....I LOVE THAT GUN!!!

Well I feel much better now. I have identified my "issues" and I have a plan to fix them. It looks like the next big match I have is the Ironman and then the A1 pistol match. I plan on doing crappy at the Ironman just because trying to set up/work a match that size and then do any good is a pipe dream, but I'll try to have fun anyway. I am realy looking forward to the A1 match. Looks like lots of long range stuff which I feel real good about. I'll be ready!!!

Adios,

TG

[tgibson]

One other goal I forgot to add. READ THE FIRST POST OF THIS THREAD BEFORE EVERY MATCH! There is some good things for me to think about up there. I'll try to remember to do that from now on.

Adios,

TG

[tgibson]

3.30.08

This is a little delayed, but as always, better late than never. I shot a USPSA pistol match last weekend, and did pretty well. I think because it was a club match there was no preassure so I just relaxed and had fun. It seemed to work. I won the match overall and also won limited. I think second in limited was at about 80%. This is all good, but the thing that made me the most happy was that I shot a 96.13% classifier on El Pres. I couldn't believe it. I pushed it a little bit, but not a ton. I think this will get me up to about 84% overall. We'll see next month.

The other thing that I was pretty happy about was the SC match I shot Wednesday night. I took just barely enough rounds to get the match completed and told myself if I missed, it would be tough luck at the end of the match becuase I wouldn't have enough to finish. Sort of like PK and CC's match. Finished with 3 bullets!!! Anyway, I think I only had about five extra shots in all four stages. I was really happy with that. I also had a sub 3 second run on Showdown. I think it was 2.87. Couldn't believe it! I won that match by about 10 seconds, but the guy who usually finishes right behind me was shooting a .45. I don't think it would have made that much difference though because I really did shoot pretty well.

I am headed over to IF for a 3 gun tomorrow. This will be my last match before the Ironman. I just want to go over there and shoot a good solid match. I don't care if I totally tear any of the stages up. I just want to work on smooth reloads with my SG, getting hits with rifle on the long range stuff, and I want to try and push things with my pistola a little. I have read the beginning of this post and am going to try to remember this stuff. I also have it written down in my stage book so I'll try to remember to read it when I get to the match as well. By the way, all of my gear is freshly cleaned except my rifle, so I should be in good shape. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Adios,

TG