Lugnut's journey

[lugnut]

I was guessing you learned about accuracy on the road to becoming a 5 gun master. Was this not the case?

I did have it... I still do... but it needs some more work. I was too focused on close target par times.... not enough balance.

[lugnut]

Interesting practice last night. Spent the whole practice on distance change up. Some ball buster of a drill. I set up 2 paper at 5 yards... ~6 yards apart. 8" steel plate in the middle at 15 yard. Simple right? Uggh. A buddy and I were getting our asses kicked on the middle steel. We kept telling ourselves to slow down and get hits on the steel... it just wasn't going as well as I expected. Worse part was I was getting trigger freeze on the paper, it was stressful. All I can say as I need to work on this more. It really shows how when you are engaging hoser targets it's REAL difficult to be patient to switch to a smaller target in between. All kinds of sh%t became apparent.

Here's the funny thing. Out of pure chance... I said- I'm going to run some without the timer. My friend did the same. We went almost one for one every time! I think our times were just as fast as before with misses! When we were using the timer- we were not pushing to beat each other either.... we just wanted to hit the plate every time. WTF. Timer induced stupidity is a real thing! Another thing to work on now... good grief.

On the lighter side... we did some strong hand/weak hand shooting on the plate out to 35 yards and were doing good. No timer though. I went 8/8 at 35 yards freestyle so I'm pretty sure my gun is sighted in and I have good trigger control... when time isn't an issue. LMAO!

Edited June 20, 2013 by lugnut

[earthshine402]

Match vid from today:

edit: fixed the link:

Edited June 23, 2013 by earthshine402

[lugnut]

Thanks Nick. Some good, some bad. It's unfortunate that I can't tell what "caused" some of the bad shots I made. Seeing this makes me realize just how much the mind is seeing and we are doing in a large stage. I can recall almost every hiccup in this video....

[lugnut]

Had a couple matches this weekend so I think I'm getting ready for shooting in the summer heat now. Got to remember to bring more fluids! After Saturday's match I was wiped out pretty good.

As far as the shooting goes, I think I'm off a bit still and can't figure it out. I think I'm officially turning into a head case. I can't put my finger on it but I'm struggling with the CZ's trigger (no pun intended) and can't figure it out. I just can't explain it.

I did "ok" at the matches- as always- I need more consistency. Meaning sometimes I go too fast when I should focus on better hits and sometimes I go too slow when I should be able to go faster. Smooth is fast and I need to get smooth.

Anyway- against even my own advice... I'm going to shoot my G34 this week. It's been calling for me.... and I just put all new grip tape on it. I know everyone says the grip angle is different but it points straight for might right off the bat! I miss that mushy trigger!

Oh and to make things even better my left elbow is flaring up again... more tennis elbow... great.

Edited June 24, 2013 by lugnut

[lugnut]

I need to work on the reloads and draws a bit to get things good with the Glock again but even with horrendous reloads and bad draws I ran 2 of my best Accelerator runs. Mid 7s with only 1 and 2 Cs on the back target. This was literally the first time shooting the gun in over a year. Felt good. We'll see if in 3 months I'm pissing and moaning about it. LOL The gun is SOOOO light compared to the CZ too... wow. The reloads really are interesting because the mags just don't seem to have a distinctive click when inserting... I'll work things out over the next couple weeks.

[earthshine402]

Does this mean you are shooting the Glock at the MA Classic this weekend? After shooting the CZ the weekend before?

[lugnut]

Does this mean you are shooting the Glock at the MA Classic this weekend? After shooting the CZ the weekend before?

Why not? I like it. I may give up some on the draw and reload till I get that stuff right again... but it just felt so right. I just need to figure out if I should use my regular kydex pouches or convert my CRs to Glock again.

[Steve_P]

Go with the ghost pouches....bullets out of course

[Ben Stoeger]

Go with the ghost pouches....bullets out of course

Oh here we go.

[partyboy424]

Spend as much time everyday this week stretching out your extensor a with a rubber band and your tendinitis should go away. (1:25 into this video)

I do it sitting at work. Had to do it for a couple hours a day for a week or two. Now just do it out of habit

Edited June 26, 2013 by partyboy424

[BostonBullit]

Does this mean you are shooting the Glock at the MA Classic this weekend? After shooting the CZ the weekend before?

Why not? I like it. I may give up some on the draw and reload till I get that stuff right again... but it just felt so right. I just need to figure out if I should use my regular kydex pouches or convert my CRs to Glock again.

You need to get rid of that CZ crap, that's soooo 2012! production is all glocks and berettas now. It's a damn good thing for you that I have a charitable orgization that purchases such tired firearms at near full market rate...

[lugnut]

Does this mean you are shooting the Glock at the MA Classic this weekend? After shooting the CZ the weekend before?

Why not? I like it. I may give up some on the draw and reload till I get that stuff right again... but it just felt so right. I just need to figure out if I should use my regular kydex pouches or convert my CRs to Glock again.

You need to get rid of that CZ crap, that's soooo 2012! production is all glocks and berettas now. It's a damn good thing for you that I have a charitable orgization that purchases such tired firearms at near full market rate...

Opportunist!!

[lugnut]

Go with the ghost pouches....bullets out of course

No trolling on my diary!

Edited June 26, 2013 by lugnut

[BostonBullit]

Opportunist!!

hey now, I'm just trying to help out!

not to derail the diary but why did you make the switch in the first place? I want to switch because my mechanics aren't good enough to consistently perform with the Glocks long ass trigger pull; I do better with a good SA trigger. what about the CZ is making you want to go back to plastic?

[lugnut]

Pete... I'll try to explain but it might not make sense to normal people.

I shot my Glock for a few years before the CZ. I've been shooting the CZ for over a year now.

I never had any issues with the Glock grip angle like many people complain about endlessly... almost as much as people banter on and on about IDPA.

The gun is light as heck but amazingly manages recoil about as good as any steel Production guns out there. I have the std Shadow not the SP01 which is lightly flatter then my CZ... but it's not an issue to me. The Glock shoots just as accurate as my CZ... lots of people will say this is not the case... but I can shoot groups about as good as most people around here so I call BS on that... but then again- I don't spend days working on perfect loads. I just don't think that is needed for typical USPSA distances.

Then there's the magwell on the CZ. Admittedly this might be just me... but I can't reload for crap with this gun... and I've tried. I don't recall any issues with the Glock. The CZ magwell opening is certainly smaller. I've had friends tell me they have no issues with the CZ.. some have told me they've struggled a bit as well. I think the great Ben Stoeger even said the CZ reloads are tougher.

Reliability- equal as far as I am concerned. The only thing about the CZ is any dirt/sand in the mags really jocks things up a lot. Glocks... drop them in the mud and they keep working.

Alas... the trigger. This is where I'm a freak. I like the Glock trigger. Mine is around 3lbs and mushy like many other Glocks. My CZ has about the best trigger in DA/SA that I've tried. The DA does take some getting used to but that isn't the issue. I just don't really know what it is but the trigger doesn't do anything for me. But I'm a guy that doesn't care for 1911s either. In USPSA you're pretty much pulling thru the trigger all the time anyway (no staging)... the Glock just seems fine for me. I've ripped some amazing splits with the CZ (.13s isn't uncommon for me) but sometimes the gun can get ahead of me... a .13s split that is a Charlie isn't any better than a .18s split with an A in most cases.

The G34 draws are slower a tad... at least for now... they are an inch longer so I need to pull the gun out more to clear the holster.

So for now anyway... it's back to the Glock. Wouldn't I be embarrassed if I went back to the CZ in a couple weeks??? No, not really. As much as I love being competitive... you need to find what works for you. As this is part of Lugnut's journey for the better or the worse.... Heck I'm even thinking about using a fiber optic sight after years with black... one never knows.

Edited June 26, 2013 by lugnut

[Strick]

Very well put. You know that I was shooting the CZ but switched to a Glock the same time you went to a CZ. I picked up the CZ this weekend to play with it but didn't see where it was a huge benefit.

I will most likely stay with the Glock.

[BostonBullit]

Makes sense to me, but I have not often been accused of being normal....

Dry-fire it up with the glock and you'll be good to go out on Monson. Good luck!

[lugnut]

Quick time at the range today... had to meet a friend so why not throw some lead down range while there?

Draws are good... I'll be fine there. Amazingly the gun just points great for me.... I find that very interesting after shooting the CZ for a year and a half. Reloads at 7 yards were getting into the 1.3/1.4 sec range for me.... not always but I was hitting them. I'll need to clean that up. 7 and 15 yard bill drills are good. Group shooting was great. Overall I'm looking forward to shooting the G34 again.

If I blow up in matches though I'm going to need to find another gun. LOL

[Ben Stoeger]

I got a tanfo you can have.

[lugnut]

I got a tanfo you can have.

Liar. That's just mean.

[Ben Stoeger]

It was half true

[lugnut]

Well Ben never did send me the tangfo he said he was going to... so I used my G34 in a 10 stage level 1 match this weekend.

Overall I can say I was pleased with most of the results. I thought my hits were good overall. The "new" gun thing got me in a few ways that shouldn't have surprised me.

- Missed the reset a few times and didn't know what had happened.
- The trigger safety on the Glock usually isn't an issue, but with a draw here and there it caused me a problem here and there.
- Overall gun handling was a little weak... first and foremost- my draws. Story of my life.
-Trigger speed is going to be slower and that really caught me by surprise a bit on some hoser targets. I moved completely off a close target once and came back to make it up well... only to forget to shoot the previous target with the required amount of rounds (3 per). Subconscious shooting isn't easy when things are that different that's for sure. I can recall thinking "why is my trigger so slow!" lol

I found myself figuring out the steel by the middle of the match going one for one on some tough shots. I think my stage plans were ok... in retrospect would have done a few different things but in the end- it didn't have a significant effect on the outcome really. I need to pick up speed and keep the points. This isn't easy as it's tiny pieces here and there- reloads, transitions, getting in/out of positions without hesitation, etc.

Overall it was a good match.. came in 2nd A behind 5 out of 6 Masters. As always.. more room for improvement but I'm glad to have the Glock back.

Vids from match,

Edited July 2, 2013 by lugnut

[lugnut]

Went to the range today... it was so freaking hot. It's was an exercise to stay at the range and not go right back home.

We worked on the some Dot Drills for a bit. They are really tough but I will do more of them for sure. Myself and the two guys I was with were struggling on this drill. We were all pushing shots low.

We did some distance change ups and I was able to get off the tight 15 yard head shot onto the close hoser target much better today. Still have trouble getting onto the 15 yard head shot quick though. Another great drill for sure. We put some NoShoots on the 5 yard open targets to make it more challenging as well.

At the end we did some 15 yard bill drills and attempted some 7 and 5 yard bills too. It was just not a good day today... I was too tense and the shit wasn't happening. I can get some good splits with the Glock now in general... but everything was tight/tense by the end. Plus we were beat from the heat.

[lugnut]

Someone that has been reading my diary asked me to sum up some things that have helped over the years, things I've done wrong and what I would do different, etc. Certainly there is a lot more than this but I think it sums thing up nicely for newer shooters.

Here it is. I hope it helps others as well:

I'm glad you enjoy reading about my trials and tribulations! It certainly hasn't come easy and sometimes this game makes you feel crazed.

I could probably write pages and pages of stuff for you but I'll try to emphasize the more important things.

I think having solid fundamentals is THE single most important thing. What do I mean by fundamentals? Getting a good consistent grip on the draw, having solid reloads, knowing how to shoot good groups at 25+ yards, getting your index as good as possible. Trigger control- I mean, keeping the gun from moving when you are breaking the shot! Being able to do all the above while in all shooting positions. Seems simple? Trust me- that's a boat load of work just in the this one paragraph. I find myself always working on these- over and over again. It never ends. Until just 6 months ago I didn't pay attention to my draw and reload times. That was a big mistake I'd be making for years. FWIW- I'm a big fan of Ben Stoeger. He's a nutty guy but he knows his stuff and I like his approach. If you haven't already done so get his books, listen to his podcasts and learn as much as you can.

At your level I'd say work on the above and stick with one gun and one load. Don't be messing around with and changing your gear all the time. I see more people fall into these traps and it kills them. I think top shooters can switch gear/guns, but C, B and A shooters aren't as adept in this. But don't hesitate to try something different if something isn't working out after putting in your time. Hell, I spent over a year shooting a CZ75 before deciding going back to my Glock was the best for me.

Practice... pay careful attention to your practice. This is where you spend time to get better at matches so make it count. Every practice should have a purpose. Focus on 2-3 drills at most and record your progress- both in live fire and dry fire. I love live fire, dry fire not so much, but don't be fooled- dry fire is VERY powerful when done correctly. This is a biggy. I push hard in practice- that's how you will see most of your gains- but don't get too sloppy and ALWAYS be safe.

Be careful who you take advice from. Some of the best people can give the absolute worst advice. Watch carefully the best shooters in your area or watch videos of top shooters. It never ceases to amaze me how people that show up to match after match and they never pay attention to WHAT the better shooters are doing. DON'T reinvent the wheel! Copy the best. If you can, take a class from a GM like Ben, Manny Bragg, etc.

Lastly. Don't give up and ALWAYS keep a positive attitude. This game will beat the shit out of you if you let it. But if you keep working hard, keep your focus and work smart- you will do well. Have fun.

I hope this helps! Good luck on your journey.

Edited July 7, 2013 by lugnut