Lugnut's journey

[lugnut]

I think I have figured it out!!! I shot my back up gun with the same loads- no tumbling. I put another new barrel in the original gun- no tumbling! Before I did this I validated that my original gun was indeed tumbling... even at 7 yds!! In addition to the tumbling- the groups were real crappy!! There would be a decent group and the tumbler(s) was always outside that group... I can't believe how bad it was tumbling... It's either a bad barrel or an extreme coincidence since I shot over 100 rounds during the testing. Strange this is not all rounds were tumbling with the old barrel... but it seems to be happening much more often than even a few weeks ago. Barrel has no apparent/visible defects either.

So... I guess you can wear out a barrel!

[weedwhacker]

So... I guess you can wear out a barrel!

Awesome you found the fix... Do you have ANY clue on how many rounds??? 100K 200k ??

[Dan Sierpina]

Dave, are you using plated bullets? I've never had decent results with plated stuff, too inconsistent.

[lugnut]

So... I guess you can wear out a barrel!

Awesome you found the fix... Do you have ANY clue on how many rounds??? 100K 200k ??

I'm guessing over 50K... maybe much more but I don't track it at all.

Dave, are you using plated bullets? I've never had decent results with plated stuff, too inconsistent.

I am using Berrys... but Dan- I've shot a shit load of these same loads thru this same gun for years without issue.

See this thread for more details:

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=133509

Edited August 1, 2011 by lugnut

[Dan Sierpina]

As was suggested, try normal jacketed bullets. 50K rounds isn't that much for a gun shooting Minor. Now, a Major 9, with light bullets, is something else. I'd rather shoot cast bullets than plated. Look into the Bayou Bullets. Gary Sinclair and Mike W are both using them.

[lugnut]

As was suggested, try normal jacketed bullets. 50K rounds isn't that much for a gun shooting Minor. Now, a Major 9, with light bullets, is something else. I'd rather shoot cast bullets than plated. Look into the Bayou Bullets. Gary Sinclair and Mike W are both using them.

I could do that Dan... however I currently have over 12K Berrys in hand... I think a new barrel may be a better option for now. I could still test some other loads in the "old" barrel to see what happens.

Edited August 1, 2011 by lugnut

[lugnut]

A few things to report on-

1) Primary G34 is all good now. New barrel fixed the tumbling. Although I couldn't see anything wrong with the rifling, etc... it's probably just a little worn and can't stabilize the 147gr bullets.

2) CT IDPA State- was a tough match. Me and some friends SOd the match as well. I just wasn't on.... my mind wasn't into it for some reason. I did have fun the following days running the squads through and hanging with the guys over the weekend. Ended up doing 3rd ESP Master.. basically middle of the pack.

3) Shot a local USPSA this weekend and managed to come in 1st in Production. A couple of the guys that a regularly compete with shot in other divisions but a win is a win. I felt like I was pretty strong on a couple stages, ok on a couple and no as good as I'd have liked on two. I still am somehow managing to move off targets before the 2nd shot has broke and it cost me a couple Mikes. The targets were pretty open as well and only about 12 yds. It's something that I've been struggling with for a while. It's not fun when you get Mike on some of the easier targets in a match... I feel metally challenged lately.

On a plus note I managed to do a 70% classifier with a botched draw... I heard something from another stage and went to draw and realized it wasn't on my pit. When my buzzer went off it surprised me. I also managed to pull off the 1st target before breaking the 2nd shot... which caused my to transition back for the 2nd shot. Mind is faster than the sights sometimes I guess. If I have done things right I'm sure it would be over 75%... but that's always the case right?

I did have some great runs on some of the longer field courses... found myself shooting on the move when I hadn't planned it... it just happened. We had 2 large poppers that were about 40 yds+ and I nailed them pretty quick one for one... then on another stage I missed the same size popper at about 10 yards...twice! I need to focus my mind on this stuff!!

I feel like I'm the verge of really putting some good stuff together.. it's the mind that is causing the problems. The skills are there for the most part... at least to get to a solid A level.

Things to work on more at practice- coming into positions while getting a quick, good sight picture.... and not moving off targets (ANY targets) until I call the 2nd shot! And of course partials and shooting in awkward stances.

Running a regional IDPA match this week... talk about stress!

Edited August 15, 2011 by lugnut

[lugnut]

It's finished!!! NER is over and I think it wen really well for the shooters. I can't recall working so hard in a long time honestly.... but the end result was very rewarding as the staff and I worked like machines. Feedback was quite positive.

As to my personal performance- I was quite pleased considering the conditions. I shot on Friday with the staff before the weekend competitors. There was a lot going on and to say I was distracted, tired and hot would be an understatement. However, since I was MD, my expectations of my performance was reduced. I felt I shot ok but wasn't fast and crisp. I had some points down that I shouldn't have but had no horrible stages. A couple misses but no FTNs and HNTs. To my surprise when the final results were posted I ended up as 1st Master in ESP. Only 2 people bettered my score- ESP Div Champ and SSP Div Champ- both of which are great friends and AWESOME shooters. The more I shot the more I think I can improve.... common theme for me sometimes.

Overall running the match was a great experience. Got to see lots of good friends and shooters. My week was a complete success in my eyes.

Now in a couple weeks I will be shooting the USPSA A7 match... will get back to practice in a couple days. Rest for now.

Edited August 23, 2011 by lugnut

[jar]

Dave, you did a fabulous job running the match. Every shooter I talked to loved it. It was a pleasure to work because it was well organized and you got plenty of staff.

[lugnut]

Thanks for the compliments Jeff. You and the guys helped make it a great match- thanks for the help.

So I still haven't had much time for live fire practice. KInda disappointing. I did shoot a local USPSA-like match last weekend. I felt like I was fast and accurate. Movements, reloads and transitions between hoser targets and tight partials was good. Had one stage with all steel where I had some make up shots. I'll try to shoot steel matches as much as possible- need improvement here.

Last night our local club ran a mini USPA classifier match. For the most part my shooting was pretty good... I think I got a good run on 03-05 Paper Poppers- Even with a terrible draw on the paper- I managed to get a good reload and cleared the steel quickly. Run was 6.97s I think.

Diamond Cutter was a classifier I'd run before and have a 75% run I think- so I went fast on this one. First shot was a Mike- I knew it was bad as my trigger prep was too aggressive on my fist shot. My other shots were pretty quick but the Mike hurt. With my luck it will be a 56% or something like that!

Madness- another classifier I have a 74% one. I had great clean shooting on this one... but when I went to drop my mag I didn't hit the button well and my reload was slow. Strange as this doesn't have to me often at all. Good hits too.... I bet this will be another low run because of that.

Bookout's Boogie- never saw this one before. Decided to go for the steel at the far box. One make up shot on the steel cost me a little but not much. I decided to do the steel array first because the partial papers required well placed hits... the risk of going for the steel first is if you have a low hit and the steel doesn't fall... you can't make it up unless you go back to that box. Got the the paper array and shot them pretty good. I got too aggressive though - going for the center of the A zone that was available and managed to put my last shot 1/8" into the hard cover. I didn't call the miss so I didn't make it up. Could be another high 50% run too... we'll see.

So overall I believe I have the skills and confidence to make tough shots and shoot at 'A' level- still though- I need more consistency and as much as I tell myself to let the sights dictate the speed I shoot at- damn once the buzzer goes off... I love to shoot fast!

After talking with some other shooters... I was surprised how many admitted to purposely tanking a classifier that they thought would pull their classifications down. Oh well- I'm really TRYING to shoot these classifiers as if they were part of a large match... I just can't seem to string a bunch of good ones together lately. Still being quite positive though!!

A7 is just over a week. I'll certainly get some live fire practice in soon... plus some dry fire!

Edited September 1, 2011 by lugnut

[Supermoto]

So overall I believe I have the skills and confidence to make tough shots and shoot at 'A' level- still though- I need more consistency and as much as I tell myself to let the sights dictate the speed I shoot at- damn once the buzzer goes off... I love to shoot fast!

After talking with some other shooters... I was surprised how many admitted to purposely tanking a classifier that they thought would pull their classifications down. Oh well- I'm really TRYING to shoot these classifiers as if they were part of a large match... I just can't seem to string a bunch of good ones together lately. Still being quite positive though!!

The little things add up during a fast classifier, missed reload can cost you big. I thought you shot well, you just need everything to come together and have a clean stage

I don't agree with purposely tanking classifiers, you shoot it, you own it. But people will always game the system no matter what.

[jericho76]

Hi Lugnut. I see you are in MA, but shoot in CT sometimes. Are all the IDPA matches you come across in the North(of CT) or have you heard of and smaller clubs further south? I look on IDPA website and it seems like its all up north.

[lugnut]

Hi Lugnut. I see you are in MA, but shoot in CT sometimes. Are all the IDPA matches you come across in the North(of CT) or have you heard of and smaller clubs further south? I look on IDPA website and it seems like its all up north.

There are a bunch up here- Worcester, MA, Harvard, MA and a couple other smaller clubs. In CT there is the Hartford Gun Club, Bridgeport, CT and a new one in Western MA. I'm sure there are more but these are the ones I'm familiar with.

[jericho76]

Bridgeport? I have to check that one out. That's close. Thanks very much.

Edited September 2, 2011 by jericho76

[lugnut]

78.3% Papper Poppers

76.9% Madness- even with bad reload!

58.9% Diamond Cutter- with a Mike! 3.39s may have been pushing it. A Delta instead of a Mike would have got me to A!

41% Bookout's Boogie- bad run with Mike into Hardcover

I was surprised Madness was as high as it was- I must have lost a second on my reload! Shooting in B stinks in a way because everything over 55% counts... but you need over 75% to break into A. On the other hand consistency and solid shooting will get you there.

Edited September 2, 2011 by lugnut

[lugnut]

Another lead test came back- 16. Not too worried about it other than the fact I haven't been shooting as much as I would like and it's with almost zero indoor shooting!

Not much live fire practice in the last couple weeks- too much rain! Got out for a bit last saturday- worked on some hoser targets followed by 3 10 yard partials and mixed it up a bit. Going for the partials first seem to work best.... when I went for the close hoser targets first I didn't slow down enough to get good hits on the partials... too many no shoots!

Hopefully I can get some dry fire in tonight and little live fire tomorrow before Area 7 Sunday- it should be a fun time!

[lugnut]

Shot Area 7 today. Nice match and the weather was perfect. I wish my shooting was as good... but I learned a hell of a lot today.

Had some good runs on a couple of stages- not too many mistakes. I wouldn't say my shot calling was spectacular although I did clearly call a couple bad shots (which turned out to be Deltas) and made them up.... unfortunately I didn't call a couple Mikes but while I was shooting on the move my sights were bouncing like crazy.....shouldn't have pulled the trigger on a couple!

I did learn a lot and I think I need to reevaluate a bunch of stuff wrt how I practice! I shot with several better shooters and saw something that I wasn't doing today. They were always moving/shooting or when they weren't shooting while moving they were very quick in/out of positions... and they hit their positions all the time.

I felt like I just couldn't get smooth on anything.... my hands were even shaky for a while... that was unusual. I seemed to hesitate a fair amount... not sure why as I had solid plans. I shot targets static where I could have done it differently while moving. I can shoot tight shots but I need to work MUCH more on practicing getting in/out of positions and shooting on the move in all directions. Need to really work on knowing where and when I'm going to certain spots during the COF.... this KILLS tons of time and it did for me. This is the difference between where I am now and some of the better A/Master shooters.

Frustrating and enlightening at the same time I guess...

[lugnut]

Great practice today. Many of the walls from an Area match were left up in one pit so all we had to do was add targets, a couple poppers and a swinger and we had a great field course with lot of movement and tough shots. Just what the Dr ordered!! Lots of starts, stops, shooting on the move, etc. My legs are in pain now... but it was good!

Edited September 15, 2011 by lugnut

[lugnut]

Shot ok at the local IDPA match this weekend... a few misses/down 3s hurt me. Silly misses too... aren't they all? SOing a match and shooting it still messes me up sometimes... not as much as before but it still does. Other than consistency which continues to allude me.... I really want to get better at calling my shots but it isn't just happening well enough. Not sure how to get there.

Started going to the gym as part of my preparation for next season. There aren't many matches coming up- many of the local USPSA clubs are doing rifle/shotgun matches as the season winds down.

I think I will start shooting the ESR gun, a 625 a bit coming up just for a little "fun" if you want to call it that!

[PistolPete]

Shot ok at the local IDPA match this weekend... a few misses/down 3s hurt me. Silly misses too... aren't they all? SOing a match and shooting it still messes me up sometimes... not as much as before but it still does. Other than consistency which continues to allude me.... I really want to get better at calling my shots but it isn't just happening well enough. Not sure how to get there.

Started going to the gym as part of my preparation for next season. There aren't many matches coming up- many of the local USPSA clubs are doing rifle/shotgun matches as the season winds down.

I think I will start shooting the ESR gun, a 625 a bit coming up just for a little "fun" if you want to call it that!

You should bring the revolver out. With the season coming to an end you should train hard and with purpose. Getting to the gym will def. Help. ,ore dry fire is in order. If you spend one hour per day dry firing you will improve dramatically. When I was doing that I had my biggest progression. Then during the winter play with the revolver but continue dry firing every day.

[lugnut]

Shot a local IDPA match in ESR today... it was pretty fun except for the parts where I had to reload in the dark with a flashlight or hold props while shooting. I felt like I was a little deliberate with the gun still but for the most part I'm getting into the swing of things with the gun quickly I think. Not many shooters in ESR unfortunately but I think it did decent overall.... but it's tough getting beat by SSP/ESP guys... Grrr.

I learned one thing today that was quite interesting. Last year when I was shooting SSR I did strong hand reloads. Well I've be practicing doing weak hand reloads with the moon clip gun....only for a week or so of dry fire but enough that I felt ok with them. At the first stage the buzzer goes off, I shoot 6 rounds and proceeded to do a strong hand reload!!! Damn... I guess it really takes some time to get things into you subconscious huh???? Well it was ok because I decided to continue with my strong hand reloads... I figure if it works for Jerry.... it's gotta be good!

Damn the gun is real nice and the trigger is so smooth... but pulling a 6.5lb +/- trigger faster is going to take a little time!

I tried to have more of a visual focus for the match but I still had some crappy shots- but they were mostly shots where I didn't have good footing and didn't have extra rounds.... shooting revo is like constant limit vickers! Really want to get better at calling shots.

I feel pretty confident that once I get smooth with my reloads and get a little more trigger time I can make ESR Master without to much time.

Edited October 8, 2011 by lugnut

[lugnut]

Been trying some different reloads but in the end I've decided to do them exactly the way I did with SSR. I will do strong hand reloads. If I was planning on sticking with ESR for a long time I might be inclined to modify them but I'm not. Everything is coming together but I am still slow with the 625. Ran a practice classifier today and I shot stage 3 in 39s (only 7 points down which is great for me) but my stage 1 and 2 times are terrible. My El Pres times could be measured with a damn sun dial! It's a fun gun to shoot but shooting a revo in major is the most challenging of all IDPA divisions IMO. Master time is 100.82 for ESR whereas SSP Master is only 2 secs less! That's crazy. I'm couple sec off right now.... but it shouldn't take long if I keep dry firing more.

[lugnut]

Small classifier match at our local club today... had a great ESR classifier run- 96.71secs and made Master! That gets me to 5 Gun IDPA Master today. Feels good for sure but now I have to work at getting to top Master shooting. I've got close before but seem to drop a few too many points. Today I had a clean stage one and didn't drop much on stage 3- 38.93s total for that.

So now anyway- the plan is to finish up the "off season" with the ESR gun and go heavy ESP/Production in the spring. We'll see.

[pmd]

Congrats Dave - nice shooting!

[lugnut]

Shot my first IDPA match in a couple months! Wow- didn't realize it had been so long. I think some things went well- I feel I'm shooting the 625 pretty well for the most part and my reloads feel much better and more fluid. We did a low light stage that went pretty well... not too many points down but a little slow because my light wasn't indexed well. I can fix that easy enough. Reloads in the dark were fine. This match tested some things I haven't practiced much at all in quite a while... shooting on the move strong hand only while holding something with my weak hand and what really killed me today was shooting prone.

We had one stage that required a 3 steel plates to be shot while prone. The first 4 targets on the stage were down zero with nice tight groups... but I couldn't hit the 3 steel square plates for the life of me!! A reload while prone wasn't much fun either. I lost a lot of time/penalties on that stage- I'm ok with blowing up a stage once in a while...shit happens.... but I'm not ok that I had no idea WTF I couldn't hit the steel plates. They were painted orange and on a board a few inches about the ground. I swear I could see a perfect sight picture with the front sight on the middle of the plates... I had a couple misses and was thinking- wow this is freaky. I have NO IDEA why I aint hitting the F'ers! Thing is the gun is a tac driver and I've shot a 1" group slow fire at 50 with this gun.... but these steel plates at about 10-12 yards and I was lost. Clearly it was me.

The club I shot at is great and the SO let me shoot the steel again later as he knew I was distraught (only for fun of course). Started kneeling- went prone and went PING-PING-PING. Shit happens I guess.

Most importantly- I had a great time.

EDIT: In case my friend Dan is reading this- we had a stage with a pick up gun that was an AR. Was kinda fun actually. Iron sights at fairly close distances but hey- I hit shit with it.

Edited December 18, 2011 by lugnut