An Open diary

[Neomet]

Okay, so I made the plunge over to the dark side and figured I would use this forum, as other have so well, as a range diary/motivator/keep it honest tool. As background I'm just really getting into the game at 52. Joined USPSA right at a year ago and have really loved it. So-so skills and worked my way up to mid level C in Limited. Worse eyes than most my age and the usual annoyances of life, work, bills, blah, blah blah.

So Henning built me a gorgeous Open gun that shoots flat, accurate, and has not had a single malfunction in the whole 500 rounds I have shot it so far. Been dryfiring and practicing reloads about 1/2 hour to 45 min every evening. Started going back through Steve Anderson's drills which seem to be more "real" to me with a dot. Not sure why, but just feels that way.

Shot my first match tonight and have the following self-observations. The first is you can't screw up your presentation with an Open gun. With my limited I could just look down the barrel and see where the relationship was off. With an Open, even with a Barry mount, if I hose the presentation the dot is as likely to be off the scope down and left as up and right. Observation two is that I shot the match way worse than I practiced this weekend doubtless due to the fact that at every stage I got woundup up like a crackhead in rehab. Didn't matter how Zenlike I was as I rehearsed the stage, or picked brass. As I came up to the box I could just feel it building. First stage it took me a solid 3 plus seconds to find the dot on the draw. Also my dot was bouncing all over the place which it wasn't last weekend.

I'm not so sure I like a thumbrest, at least right now. My dot was not tracking straight up and down and when I play the tape back in my head I think I am driving the gun with the thumb. So, I am taking it off for a bit just to simplify things. I like the way my support hand lines up without the thumbrest. I really like locking my wrist forward and pointing my thumb at the target.

So for now, I am going to work like a dog on my presentation skills and really work on relaxing while I shoot.

Lets see where this goes.....

Edited April 9, 2008 by Neomet

[Al Capizzo]

You're going to love Open once you get used to it. You are right of course, the presentation has to be right on or you're going to hunt for the dot. Nothing a few hundred thousand draws won't cure. Be sure and practice from odd presentations also, such as off a table, from the table with a load thrown in, etc.

I saw your gun in the gallery and it certainly looks good, so you've got the tools, the skill will come with experience.

So will the "zenlike" feeling at the start of a stage.

Do the work and be patient.

[Neomet]

YES, YES, YES!!!!!

I have been dryfiring my butt off, working on Steve Anderson's drills. Around 45 min a night. I haven't been able to shoot much and the wife has been giggling at me running aroiund the apartment engaging targets around the hallway door, etc...

Went and shot a match tonight. I had SO much fun and on top of that I shot an El Prez. Dinged the magwell with the mag on the reload a bit but felt pretty good so came home and checked the classifier tool.... 60.185!! I know this isn't a huge deal for a lot of the folks here but for my sorry ass C class Limited shooting, a B classifier my first time through with an Open gun feels really, really good. I liked shooting without the thumbrest. Dot tracked straight up and down. Also I can actually call my shots, something that was impossible with iron sights. Very nice.

Now all I need is 5 more classifiers like this one........ OPEN ROCKS!! (Say it like Vazquez in Aliens)

Edited April 17, 2008 by Neomet

[Neomet]

Well, lots of presentation drills this week and at least 30 min a night with Anderson drills followed by reloads. Tuesday Night Steel went really well. I have noticed though when shooting at the smaller plates I have a tendency to shift my focus from the target back to the dot. I might even be squinting my weak eye... can't remember for sure, but I definitely was looking at the dot. I also had a couple make-up shots on the small plates, probably secondary to not keeping my focus on the targets. Another area I need to work on is barricades where I can't get full extension. All my index practice has been unobstructed. When I can't get my arms out as I'm used to, the magic dot sometimes isn't there. Time for hunt and seek!

I also had some problems with the 6moa not appearing, or disappearing then the light wasn't quite right. Probably in some small part due to AZ sun washout, but more the result of the eye surgeries I've had combined with my partial colorblindness. I switched out to a 12moa and it seemed to work really, really well today when I went out to practice. I'm gonna run with this for a bit. The 6 at its best looks like a pinprick to me and with the 12 I can actually see a defined circle. We'll see.........(I know, bad pun)

More Anderson drills. 45 min a day this week and I am going to start incorporating some more speed work into my running. Probably running 15 min then do 10 yard sprints then finish off my run.

[Neomet]

Well, gearing up for the High Desert Classic. It is going to be tight getting enough classifiers in but if I don't get classified I'll just shoot U. I shot "Can you count" on Sunday and had only the second jam in the first 2,000 rounds. I was quite pleased that I didn't get upset at the HF (low C) and shot the rest of the match without that sticking in my mind. One thing I am noticing is that I get a lot more dot movement in matches than at practice. I know I am still rushing rather than just being smooth, but also I figured out last night that I can replicate the exact dot movement by tightening up my shoulders so that may be what the actual mechanism is. I'll have to work with that some at this weekend's match.

Met Matt Burkett at the match and am going to set up some training with him after I am back in town next week. I am completely jazzed about that!!

I am still taking really long to shoot as I move into shooting positions. Some of it has to do with inaccurate presentation which is improving but I also think I may be coming into the box too hot which keeps me from getting a quick stable platform to shoot from.

Been doing more speed work in my running. Three times a week now I put 10 - 15 yard sprints into my runs and started slowing down quickly at the end of each sprint like I am going into a box. The legs have been really feeling it which is a good thing!

I've been working on accuracy as well, shooting 15 and the 25 yard groups. Lets just say this is definitely an area I can improve in. Some groups are pretty nice, some are not at all and I need to get much more consistent with this.

[Neomet]

Ran the gun with the right powder charge for the ports and it feels really, really nice. Dot rise seems to be right about where others say it should be and the gun feels soft when I shoot. 8gr of N350 pushing a 124 CMJ is the ticket.

Practied draws at the range and realized a couple of things. The first is I am yanking the trigger when I try to "speed up" and the other is I kinda sorta squint my non-dom eye shut. I can tell I shoot better with both fully open so I practiced opening my eyes WAY open before I set the timer off to try to correct my old iron sight ways. After about an hour it felt better, and smoother. This is going to take some more work. I can regularly hit an A at 15 yards in 1.3 which seems about in line with where I am shooting right now (high C / low but definitely something to improve on.

Getting classified for the High Desert Classic is going to be tight. I just got word that I have to go out of town again next week for work which means I will miss the classifier on Wednesday at SGC. I've got two this weekend and one more next Saturday. Just not sure if all the scores will get in by the end of the month.

Feeling the classifier butterflies already. I can logically reason that however I shoot is the level shooter I am but there I definitely have the desire to nail my classifiers. Probably has something to do with my desire to get my skill level up to where I earn a B card. Right now it feels like if I don't screw up I can hit B percentages. The problem is me getting too amped up tends to lead to mistakes. My plan is to shoot at least a stage or two before I go over to shoot the classifiers tomorrow and Sunday to get calmed down a bit.

Gotta go practice reloads now.........