Lugnut's journey

[lugnut]

note to self: have a crap ton of steel plates in the stage design for the match this Saturday....

I'm pretty certain there will be at least one stage with all steel!

[Nimitz]

What were you shooting before you went back to the Glock?

[lugnut]

I tried a CZ75 Shadow for a little over a year. The Glock is just a better gun for me. I do know a few that have done the same- tried the CZ and went back to the Glock.

[BostonBullit]

note to self: have a crap ton of steel plates in the stage design for the match this Saturday....

I'm pretty certain there will be at least one stage with all steel!

that's not fair....that stage had a few paper on it last month! I'd like to do a ProAm style fixed time stage in that pit but I'm not sure A) it's USPSA legit and the gang would be on board with that.

got some fun lined up for this months match, you and your Glock should swing by to check it out

[lugnut]

note to self: have a crap ton of steel plates in the stage design for the match this Saturday....

I'm pretty certain there will be at least one stage with all steel!

that's not fair....that stage had a few paper on it last month! I'd like to do a ProAm style fixed time stage in that pit but I'm not sure A) it's USPSA legit and the gang would be on board with that.

got some fun lined up for this months match, you and your Glock should swing by to check it out

As long as the weather is ok.

[earthshine402]

note to self: have a crap ton of steel plates in the stage design for the match this Saturday....

I'm pretty certain there will be at least one stage with all steel!

that's not fair....that stage had a few paper on it last month! I'd like to do a ProAm style fixed time stage in that pit but I'm not sure A) it's USPSA legit and the gang would be on board with that.

got some fun lined up for this months match, you and your Glock should swing by to check it out

That would be a no-go to part A.

9.2.4.2 Fixed Time must use paper targets exclusively and they should, where possible, be disappearing targets.

9.2.4.3 Fixed Time must only be used for Standard Exercises, Classifiers or Short Courses.

[lugnut]

So yeah. I'm pretty rusty. Practiced at the plate rack. I'm not sure if I'm tensing up as I break the shot or I'm really yukking up the trigger as I'm pulling it. I'm thinking my trigger finger is now the problem. I was able to work it out a bit. Instead of mashing the trigger I'm trying to control the pull better.

Was getting 1.4s draws reasonably consistently. Pushing it faster just got me misses.

I did some empty gun table start drills. Hands at sides, mag, gun on table. One steel- 15 yards. I started in the 2.5s range. I made one simple adjustment that gave me much better times! Right after the load ( I might have seen the slide peripherally) I snapped my eyes to the plate. I was quickly in the the 2.2s range. I did this for about 20 times- best was 1.98s. My goal was 2s so that was a success… probably the only one of the day.

Set up Accelerator- wow talk about humble pie. It was a struggle. Feel like I'm starting over again honestly. Draw was about 1.1s. Reloads were about 1.6-1.8s (weak sauce). I was surprisingly good at 15 yard hits but it all fell apart at 25 yards. I hate to admit it but in all honesty I had many misses and Ds…. an my times weren't smoking at all. Most of my bad shots were all pushed left. Ugg.

Lastly I did the same targets as 3 bill drills. 7 yards run was good… 2.06 I think. 15 yards was not so good… and 15 yards was bad. I guess it's not a surprise that the harder skills diminish the quickest and most severely.

[lugnut]

Shot the VA/MD sectional match this morning. Couldn't have asked for better weather and the half day format was perfect IMO.

Started off on the standards stage (6A & B ). Ran it fairly conservative and got great hits but threw a Mike on a partial at 20 yards. Had a couple make ups on the small poppers. On the very next stage (7) with two texas stars I had a clean run that was a little slow. Some make ups on the star as well but nothing too bad. However they didn't record my hits so I had to reshoot it. Damn it- I was a couple secs faster but managed to get a Mike. My shooting while moving laterally was weak. Sights were bouncing too much but I didn't call the miss. On my next stage I think my time was good as well as my hits. It wasn't too technically challenging but there were a lot of shooting positions to get all the targets. Went one for one on the 4 poppers as well. Ok stage. Stage 9 was hoser stage for the most part with transitions left and right all the way down range. On the last few targets I somehow managed to screw up my foot work and lost my balance and got a Mike. Didn't call it but knew it wasn't good. Stage 1 was shooting through a bunch of low ports. Very awkward but I my hits were decent and my time was ok.. Stage 2 was a very odd stage that had a free fire zone that was only about a foot wide all the way to the back position. The beginning and end were pretty straight forward but the middle messed me up and somehow on one of my transitions I managed to trip up on the fault line and pulled a Mike- again- I knew it wasn't good but didn't call the Mike. The good thing at this point was the last few stages were pretty good. I really felt it coming together after the few stages where I just couldn't get my foot work working. Stage 3 again included a lot transitions all the way to the back of the range where there were targets thru a port and then a few over the wall. All good there and pretty fast too I recall. Stage 4 again similar in style as stage 3 but the ending was 5 mini poppers- all went well- one for one. Stage 5 was our last stage- which had the most running for sure. I started on for 20+ yard poppers- I think I had two make up shots which sucked as I needed to do a reload now while running 20 yards to the next position. Finished the stage clean but the missed steel certainly cost me some time.

For the most part the match wasn't technically too challenging but ironically it was my messy footwork that cost me some easy points. I felt that my draws were ok, my movement was fine, some of my reloads were crappy but managed not to fumble any of them too much. Shooting on the move laterally is something that I've never felt solid with and the cost me a bit of time and a Mike on one stage. I think my misses really dropped me in the match but it was a fun match and I had a great time. If I was training more I'd probably be more disappointed but I have to keep my expectations inline with my preparation.

Edited May 17, 2014 by lugnut

[BostonBullit]

and that there is why I don't train!

When you finish a match and you know exactly what went wrong you're in good shape regardless of how things went.....it's the times that you think it was peachy and you're throwing mikes and deltas all over the place that you have to worry....

there's a guy that makes a book, some kind of ammo-less training regimen; you should look into it!

Edited May 18, 2014 by BostonBullit

[AWLAZS]

Not that my match was awesome but you need to get lower when you are shooting on the move you stand too upright to be aggressive and still see the sights the way you want. If you want to share observations hit me with a pm or FB me.

[lugnut]

Thanks Randy. I will contact you when I can. Appreciate it !

[lugnut]

After quickly reviewing the final results- I can see what hurt me in this match. What I percieved was reality- and I know exactly what I struggled with and why I didn't fare well- aside from the Mikes. I was able to see a couple videos of me and I was slow in some areas for sure…. plus I was able to identify where I was having lots of issues. I seem to be ok shooting on the move forward and backward or static… but shooting laterally or sideways was troublesome and slow. Always more to do and if I'm not willing to acknowledge what I'm weak at I won't improve.

[lugnut]

Just thought I'd share some of the post match "analysis" I do.

First- you got to be able to visually recall how you shot the stages pretty good. After doing lots of metal planning and walk thru, by the time I shoot the stages, I usually have this down pretty good. Now if you have videos that's much better as you can't often recall everything- especially your speed through the stages.

After the match I review the PEs, total points and total time for the match. I review the big picture stuff first. Then I'll compare all those stats to the shooters that beat me. Sometimes unfortunately there are many shooters that beat me so I just take a sampling. This gives me an idea of whether or not for a given match my point percentages hurt me… or maybe my points were good but my times were too slow. Maybe I'd win if I didn't manage to get the one Mike/NS because otherwise my times/hits were good… things like that.

Once I get a perspective of all that- I review videos (if I have them) and/or mentally play thru them in my head. I'll make note of where and why I had PEs. If you have a miss- why? Was it an awkward shooting position? Shooting on the move? Not respecting targets? Or just a damn tough shot- like a 25 yard partial. I'll work on the issues that yield the best return first. If I'm giving away points on close targets but missing some on 30 yards- which is the quickest to fix? Mental and technical challenges are different for all of us… but I'm pretty sure it takes more work to hit 30 yard partials- it will take much more to get that figured out.

Then I look at times. If I'm slow in the match overall why was that? Was there one stage where I just had a major gun problem that ate up 6 seconds??? Or was it a bunch of little things that just added up over the match? Was my shooting on the move slow? Did it take me too long to set up for shots? Do my reloads hurt me? Do I hesitate when leaving a shooting position? I look at the total times and then per stage. Was my overall time slow or close to the top shooters?

Then I look at total points- which is a combination of % of points w/o penalties and % of points with penalties. Were my points acceptable compared to top shooters? I personally don't look at a fixed percentage for a target as I believe it will be match dependent. But in Production I'd generally like to be near 90-92%. Where was I good, where was I not so good? Do I drop too many points on easy targets? Or do I lose most of my points on tougher shots? One is mental discipline and the other is likely marksmanship issues. Am I getting too many deltas? Where were they? Or too many Cs? Where were they? What caused them? In Production- Ds are like no penalty Mikes and very bad- indicative of just sloppy shooting IMO. Too many Cs? Did I get too many Cs because my times were fast and didn't have enough visual focus? Was it generally a very high HF stage? Points are probably the trickiest to analyze as ultimately it's a result from pushing speed and/or technical challenges or both. Most shots are very manageable off the clock. lol

Depending on my results- I'll adjust my training accordingly. But I try not to focus TOO much on specific things and still get a good balance…. but I try to work on things will will yield my the best bang for the buck. Efficiency is important in matches just as it is in your training plan!

Edited May 19, 2014 by lugnut

[lugnut]

It's been a disappointing month or so of shooting. I think some of the smaller indoor matches I shot this winter lulled me into thinking my skills hadn't fallen off much… but I think they really have. Plus the local competition is getting much better this year for sure- which is great. A few recent matches have not gone so well including a recent couple of club matches in the last couple weeks. Maybe my desire has shifted to other things? I honestly can't figure it out. I love shooting and working on stuff at practice but standing around for long days with big crowds is becoming more of a frustration- not that that has much to do with my performance- that's another issue.

I did get to the range yesterday for some practice and it was eye opening for several reasons. My accuracy at speed at even 12 yards is suffering and my movement out of positions is weak. To add more suffering- I somehow found out my sights were off by about 3 inches at 15 yards. I was shocked to see this. My head shots slow fire were barely on the left edge of the paper. I have no idea how this could happen. The rear sight is Dawson adjustable and the base is secure to the frame so I'm not sure how it went "out". I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't sighted it in for quite a while. I used to throw a few rounds a practice session to verify POI. It has been a long time. I suspect a "friend" might have misadjusted the sights while I wasn't looking! LOL. This might have had "some" impact on my shooting but not all of it. The last match had several mini poppers that required several make ups- I'm sure that having the gun sighted in would have helped a bit.

Last drill of the day yesterday was engaging a mini popper from about 35 yards from a doorway with hands on door jam (after sights were adjusted!). It was good and bad. Started getting the popper regularly at just under 2s. After more practice I was pushing it down to 1.5s with a best of 1.16s when I was pushing it. WAY too much variation though. I found that getting on the trigger earlier helped with this drill… Then to make things a little more interesting we added a 7 yard paper target to the right of the door way. What do you think happened? I started to miss the popper on the first shot 3 times in a row. I suspect I need to work on the task at hand (hitting the popper) by keeping my head clear of what is next. I think this is a classic challenge for me… my mind moving on to the next thing before completing the very important target I'm engaging currently. It's all about respecting each and every target, one shot at a time. Simple….

Edited May 27, 2014 by lugnut

[Supermoto]

I hear you about standing around all day, waiting to shoot. I know it affects my performance, last match I was going to go home instead of waiting to shoot the last stage, and based on my performance, I should have. At this point, I think I rather practice and get better then stand around to shoot a match.

Every practice should start and end with shooting groups. Great thing to practice and it lets you know if you are sighted in

[lugnut]

I hear you about standing around all day, waiting to shoot. I know it affects my performance, last match I was going to go home instead of waiting to shoot the last stage, and based on my performance, I should have. At this point, I think I rather practice and get better then stand around to shoot a match.

It's good to know I'm not the only one thinking this way. Not a lot we can do about it...

[Supermoto]

Next time I'm thinking I rather go home then wait, I'm going to go home. Why be aggravated?

[BostonBullit]

I think one of the main things that makes people drop out of the sport is just that; the waiting around. I tell the new people that show up to our club practices or intro class that they need to be prepared to spend 6hrs on the range to shoot for 1.5-2mins and I think most don't believe me. I've found that the day goes by very quickly when I'm running either the timer or the nook but that comes at the price of not being able to concentrate on my own match performance. I know I keep joking around that all you good shooters need to find a different division but this time I'm serious when I say maybe you need to change it up a bit, get a different perspective on the game. I know you listed plenty of things you need to work on with the glock but shooting in a different division lets you attack the course in different ways....gives you other stuff to think about. limit yourself to 8 with a SS or Revo or go the other way and borrow an Open gun to see what it's like being able to focus on efficient movement over reload spots. Take the red pill, expand your mind....

[seanc]

Next time I'm thinking I rather go home then wait, I'm going to go home. Why be aggravated?

We left monson early this week because of child care, but yeah, the waiting is brutal. Squads of 20+.

It's one of the "match management skills" i guess, a skill like any other, being able to stand around then "turn it on" and perform.

I fail at this.

[lugnut]

I enjoy shooting production. I like iron sights and the challenges it presents. I've shot Revolver and Limited a bit- maybe I'll dabble with Limited in the future. I guess it's hard enough competing at the level I want… but to have a tough match and spend most of it waiting around is a struggle. I'm sure I'll get over it as people like BostonBullit make it enjoyable. Although I'll admit to ASKING to run the timer on occasion just to keep me from getting bored….

[AWLAZS]

Lugnut what match were you at? We went to Monson. They had huge squads. By the time we got to the last stage I was wiped out. I worked the night shift prior to going to the match.

We were working on 25 yard plates prior to VAMD I kept forgetting to let the gun settle.

[lugnut]

Lugnut what match were you at? We went to Monson. They had huge squads. By the time we got to the last stage I was wiped out. I worked the night shift prior to going to the match.

We were working on 25 yard plates prior to VAMD I kept forgetting to let the gun settle.

It's everywhere Randy. The sport is growing- IDPA, USPSA both. The good and bad I guess.

[seanc]

I enjoy shooting production. I like iron sights and the challenges it presents. I've shot Revolver and Limited a bit- maybe I'll dabble with Limited in the future. I guess it's hard enough competing at the level I want… but to have a tough match and spend most of it waiting around is a struggle. I'm sure I'll get over it as people like BostonBullit make it enjoyable. Although I'll admit to ASKING to run the timer on occasion just to keep me from getting bored….

Its not even that I get bored, I am constantly resettng/taping to try and help keep things moving. Before I realize its happening I get really fatigued and then the spiral starts where I am waiting for the match to be over which is a terrible place to be mentally.

[lugnut]

Update. I think I've shot 2 matches in June with one practice session before the MA IPDA state. I didn't take a lot of notes from the IDPA MA State- I think I came in 5th overall… which wasn't too bad considering. I managed to do pretty well on some really fast clam shells on a couple stages- all and all it was a pretty straight forward match. I shot it reasonably clean but I managed to pop to non threats which I'm usually pretty good about. One was shooting a target on the move- managed to pop a NT on the top of the shoulder- no idea how I didn't see that thru my sights. The other was a 35yard standard stage. They had NTs below the down zero. I recall that my sights just wouldn't settle… so I basically just shot them as they were. That stage hurt which sucks as my long range accuracy is usually better… but when the sights are not staying still… nothing you call do. Other than those penalties- I can't complain.

Yesterday I shot the MASS Classic in Monson- it's a 10 stage Level 1 match that is basically a level 2 quality match IMO. It was a great match with great weather. My last time shooting was 2 weeks prior at the MA IPDA State and my first stage was a classifier (More Disaster Factor).

It was a typical situation when I haven't shot much prior. When the gun when bang, it was jumping all over the place. Almost funny in retrospect. I know my sights weren't lined up on the array of body shots but I can recall gripping the gun better and things sorted out a bit. In the end I clipped a NS but at least got the A. Very next stage required a lot of reloads that were almost static but the targets were in positions such that you had lots of leaning, with 2 steel plates thru a couple of tubes/pipes. I thought my run was ok, albeit a tad slow… but somehow I managed to pull off an open target at probably 12 yards…. match wasn't going so well at that point but I tried to make the best of it.

The next two stages went much better. First was just a few array of targets with a cooper tunnel. Not very much going on there and I ended up with my best stage of the day. The next stage was 11 targets all head shots. The stage started well… until my 4th and 5th target array- which were only about 5 yards or less away. I was there just watching holes appear in the heads. It was as if it was in slow motion. I kept seeing the holes appear realizing that I wasn't watching my sights…. so I was puzzled. I think when the shooting was done I stared at them for some reason maybe figuring out what I just did. I usually always use front sight focus so it was an odd thing. Finished the stage with sight focus. Got all the heads and came in 4th on that stage.

Next stage included a bunch of ports that you had to open with a rope. I decided to shoot the target with SHO instead of holding the rope while shooting free style. I thing shooting the close targets SHO was my best choice. I ended up with a couple deltas by just being sloppy.

My 6th stage was sitting on a "horse" while shooting. Fast time but a fast swinger with 2 Deltas hurt.

7th stage require all shooting from a large plank that was set up as a seesaw. There were some good leans but nothing terrible. I was doing ok but I managed to pull off a target while the plank moved (or I did). I thought about making up it but continued to the end at which time I decided to go back to "fix" that target. Ended up with 3 As. Damn I hate that. Why can't I make up the ones I REALLY need????

8th stage was my worse unfortunately. It was a great stage which I like a lot. A few "simple" arrays with one in the middle which incorporated a activator (popper), another popper and a double swinger and a static. On the 2nd of the simple arrays, which had two plates- I had some issues with one of the plates. I shot it, I saw it wiggled, came off it, realized it didn't drop, came back and shot it again, saw it wiggled and came off it again only to realize that again it didn't drop. Third time was a charm. I know my first shot nicked the side of the plate… not sure about the 2nd. That killed my time. On the middle array I thought my timing went perfect. I shot popper, activator popper, right swing, left swinger and static. 2 As on the first swinger, Alpha Mike on the left swinger. There was time for sure… I just didn't execute.

My 2nd to the last stage started with a sitting position and some arrays, and one port with 2 clam shells at the end. Went fine… and again the timing should have been great. First clamshell- 2A, 2nd clamshell AM. Damn it! I rushed it and I know there was time.

Last stage- nothing really tricky except a low port and a door which activated a clam shell, followed by couple static paper and 2 steel plates. I opened the door and popper the clam shell with AC and proceeded to get the 2 steel plates one for one! Ahh… I needed that. Time was a little slow but a good ending for sure!

Great match overall… fun time. My performance is what it is without any decent practice but that's what it is. Finished 5th.

[lugnut]

Holy crap. It's been a long time. Haven't been doing much this year at all. Little practice and few matches. See what the new year brings!