What's the ticket these days?

[j1b]

Good morning all -

Lately I've been spending a ton of time thinking about this sport. It seems as though it is beckoning me. I think about coming back - then something comes up - then I think about coming back - then something comes up.

I just had a discussion with my wife and I think we've come to a conclusion. If I start planning now I can make the Factory gun nationals work next year. It's just a function of making it happen - and if I commit now then I most certainly have time to get ready. That's my way of saying I'm going to be seeing a few of you in the next six months at some matches and then at the nationals.

Today I put on the holster, broke out the heater and started working some basic dry firing drills. My question to you all is simple. I haven't done this in a few years. How have things changed? What is different? What do I need to emphasis these days that is different then what I would have a few years ago?

Are shots longer or shorter? Stages quicker - more movement or less (in general) Is there still a lot of crouching and ducking or has that been phased away? What drills would you all recommend?

Also - I'll be shooting a .40 in Lim-10. What are the tickets there? Bullet weight, powder etc. etc. (BTW I have a ton of N-350 and N-105 as well as 135Gr and 115 gr. Nosler bullets I would be willing to make some trades with)

I've already started the draws and re-loads. I've got all the old nationals tapes ready. I'm excited about making this happen. Any advice you all in this forum could give would be most welcome.

Thanks in advance!

JB

[Ron Ankeny]

j1b:

Welcome back. The sport will be better for it. Good luck and best wishes.

[bonedaddy]

   j1b, I'm glad you're coming back!  I totally respect and admire you for talking about it with your wife first.  If MOMMA ain't happy, ain't NOBODY happy.  

   

    I must have been hanging around in "C" class last time I watched you shoot with the Super Squad.  I don't think too much has changed since then.   There are fewer boxes to shoot from nowdays and more "shooting areas".   165 PF is nice.  There are several highly ranked youth, which I find quite enjoyable.  But not so many that we've had to incorporate that dreaded purple dinosaur on any stages I've seen.  Speed is widely found.  But, accuracy is still the thing that seperates the men from the boys.  In addition to alot of dry-fire,  I'd recommend working alot of triangle drills and other shooting on the move stuff.

[BSeevers]

The majority of big-guns and regular-guns use 180 gr with VV 320 , titegroup or similar powder. You see a few 200gr but I think 180 is in the majority. I really think equipment has stablized and there is no big advantage in anything. You may end up with a fiber optic front sight. A lot of GM's went to one because last year the last stage at Natls was rainy and Dark. L10 is 10 rounds so that's about all you need assuming you are outfitted like when you left, except some people like tungsten guide rods, barrel sleeves, and mag wells. I have seen your speed and if you are like me you might like to give up some "comfort" to move the gun fast. I still use the guiderod but am hogging out my slide this winter to speed it up.

This year I saw an emphasis on partial and no shoot targets and movers. Last year was open fast targets. I am sure you will see talent is still there and I feel the bar is A LOT higher than 5 years ago because there are more good shooters. Freestyle is the name of the game(big shooting boxes or none at all) now but all matches/ranges have their own flavor. Barry is usually a majority of 16-24 rounds per stage not a lot of movers and almost no long distance. Contrast that with Bend smallest stage 18 rds? most stages a lot bigger, almost all were movement courses and one had 4 poppers at 40 yards through a low port. I have been in this for almost 13 years and really don't see very much difference in total match package. You do need accuracy to win with the speed of course. Welcome back.

[shred]

Pretty much the biggest stage changes I've seen in the past 6 or 8 years are many less shooting boxes, less speed-shoots and more walls-with-holes (doors, hatches, windows, etc).  "Single-stack friendly" has replaced "revolver neutral" in course design.

[sincityshooter]

I see a lot of different starting positions... I would say that 80% of the draws are not the old hands at sides or surrender.  Hands on walls, gun on table, gun in briefcase, hands holding rake, etc. is what you will see.  Boxes are definitely gone at the bigger matches.  This years Nationals featured mostly hard cover targets at 7-10 yards.  Just enough to get some shooters in trouble.

Welcome back!!!

[mcoliver]

Sorry to butt in with my Q's guys but last sunday I was fortunate enough to have seen our guys for the WorldShoot do their practice runs.  Actually it was a level2 match but the  weather really sucked and it rained very hard (one shooter suggested a buddy system, while one guy shoots the other holds the unbrella ).  I was wondering what you mean by hard cover targets.  Are these regular targets but with parts of it painted to simulate hardcover?

Thanks.

[Flexmoney]

Yes, hard cover can be painted onto the targets (I've only seen black).  This will reduce the "available brown".  There should be a strip of black tape where the black meets the brown.  This makes for a clean edge and easy scoring.

[Duane Thomas]

The motto of this year's first-ever Factory Nationals was "Back to the Future." Stage design reflected that. Jerry Barnhart, when I interviewed him, called course design at the match "deceptively easy." Shots were mostly close, but they tightened it up some with no-shoots. There was nothing out there that was really that hard to do, but opportunities in abundance to get yourself in trouble if you started getting cocky. There was finally some more strong and weak hand stuff. Definitely practice standards. There was a fairly hard standards stage at the FGN, and it was one of the pivot points of the match.

[mcoliver]

Thanks Flex.  Looking at these guys it amazes me how much focus they have when shooting even with their optics probably messed up by the rain or the sight of their mags being dropped in the muddy water (cringe!).

[j1b]

Thanks for the input guys! I've been in AK hunting Caribou and didn't have a chance to reply.

So based on what I am reading - its fairly close targets (10 to 20 yards) with hard cover. Basically a lot of transition work.

I got the hint on standards. Seems like that is always something worth practicing.

Also the lack of shooting boxes. Thank God!

If you guys come up with something else I'll have access to a computer next weekend. I really appreciate the advice. I'll be seeing many of you soon!

JB

[38supPat]

Crap...I read that too fast and thought you said you were hunting Caribou with an AK

[Jake Di Vita]

I thought the same thing.

[Chriss Grube]

Sure would save time on the field dressing and grinding!

[j1b]

Luckily I have access to a computer tonight.

Nope - I just used an old '06 that I've hunted with for years. Its just a great rifle. I shot two Caribou.

Interestingly many of the eskimo's use mini-14s for Caribou. The round is all wrong - but the round count seems to work well for them. Somehow they manage to kill animals although this trip a buddy of mine punched a caribou at 400 yards because it was wounded with a .223 but not down. One shot hit his hind leg and the other was just under his backbone towards the hind quarters. My buddy had a new M-77 .308 police model. He ranged the animal - set up a rest - and put him down with one shot.

OK thread drift - but a guy has to tell some hunting stories.

Dry-firing is going ok. Not quite up to par - but getting there.

JB