Lugnut's journey

[lugnut]

Snuck out with a friend for an hour or so today to get a little practice in. The range was like mud soup and I thought my car was surely going to get stuck! At least the warmer weather won't be too long now. Just got enough time in to get some basic drills in. I felt my grip wasn't right somehow- not sure what was going on. We both started off kind of shooting poorly but then picked it up. It felt nice to finally get out for practice although it was messy!

Probably last live fire before the Indoor Nats.

I also got to give my Benelli Super Nova a test run today and it worked great. I lost my magazine spring retainer though... my dumb move when trying to figure out why the tube would only allow two shells... Duh!

[lugnut]

Indoor Nats didn't go well for me yesterday but had a good time anyway. Came in 8th out of 21 in ESP EX. On the plus side I learned a lot and have new things to train on going forward. I felt like I was "off" a bit and on a few stages I had some major problems. I found my mags dropping on one of the stages.... I'm pretty sure I was bumping that extended mag button with the flashlight -that shouldn't be an issue any more- replaced it. I also removed my magwell... just in case that was causing some issues as well. I must have had an old recoil spring as on the first two stages as the slide got stuck while stripping a round from the mag. A quick recoil spring change fixed that after minimal damage... lol. On one stage there was only about a 6" opening on the right side of the range next to a wall. On the walk thru I realized there was no way I could see the target with my dominant left eye... so I closed my left eye and used my right eye for that target... that didn't work at all. I ended up missing all three shots on that target- unfreakin believable. I need to try this again at practice as I can't see how that could have happened. Just not my day. However I'm totally fired up to get live fire training going full steam ahead this year in a month or so.

Edited March 1, 2010 by lugnut

[lugnut]

Had a couple of practices outside which were really fun. I haven't been attending my club's regular training on Monday afternoon and/or nights (indoors) so I'm trying to get some later afternoon practices in when I can. Last week we had a couple great days to get some in. Did some practice with a friend that is pretty good so that was great- we're going to try to do it on a more regular basis.

I'm really bummed though... I'm supposed to be running the first outdoor IDPA practice this year tomorrow afternoon since we are now in daylight savings... but it's been absolutely pouring the last couple days and will be tomorrow as well... ughhh! It's going to be messy as hell out there. Was going to work with targets with hard cover painted around the down zero zone and focus on accuracy but may set up a bunch of steel now... we'll see.

I still need to spend more time dry firing... haven't been doing enough.

EDIT: Practice was wet and REALLY cold out... but somehow a few of us managed to have some fun! We set up a bunch of steel and used a few paper targets with the down zero cut out... fun stuff. We had a split popper that we were trying to engage in tactical priority from behind the barricade... kinda funny.

Edited March 16, 2010 by lugnut

[lugnut]

I've been trying to take advantage of the superb weather we've been having. Since I haven't been shooting indoors much at all... I'll take as much outdoor shooting as I can!

Shot a classifier today and did a 98.67 with my G34 in ESP... basically the gun now is back to the SSP configuration... no magwell anymore. Plus I went to a 14lb recoil for reliability. The classifier felt ok... I didn't feel like I was smooth and didn't like my tac reloads. No surprises on the tac reloads as I don't practice them. With limited practices this winter I am still pleased with where I am but there is much room for improvement. Getting that extra 10 secs for ESP Master is going to take some work. I feel that if I can get more regular dry fire practice along with some good exercise I should do well starting off this season.

Oh... and being the kid I am I brought out the Remington 1100 Tac 4 just for some fun. It cycled like a champ with my Federal ammo (2 3/4 DRAM 7 1/2 shot) which is great- I'll use up my Win crap with my Super Nova.

Man... I love this stuff.

Oh... on another note... tennis elbow stuff is getting annoying. Need to address that issue too.

Edited March 21, 2010 by lugnut

[Steve_P]

I've been trying to take advantage of the superb weather we've been having. Since I haven't been shooting indoors much at all... I'll take as much outdoor shooting as I can!

Shot a classifier today and did a 98.67 with my G34 in ESP... basically the gun now is back to the SSP configuration... no magwell anymore. Plus I went to a 14lb recoil for reliability. The classifier felt ok... I didn't feel like I was smooth and didn't like my tac reloads. No surprises on the tac reloads as I don't practice them. With limited practices this winter I am still pleased with where I am but there is much room for improvement. Getting that extra 10 secs for ESP Master is going to take some work. I feel that if I can get more regular dry fire practice along with some good exercise I should do well starting off this season.

Oh... and being the kid I am I brought out the Remington 1100 Tac 4 just for some fun. It cycled like a champ with my Federal ammo (2 3/4 DRAM 7 1/2 shot) which is great- I'll use up my Win crap with my Super Nova.

Man... I love this stuff.

Oh... on another note... tennis elbow stuff is getting annoying. Need to address that issue too.

How many points down on the classifier? Shave off 12-15 points and practice those tac loads and you should be golden....

Steve

[lugnut]

Local club IDPA match yesterday- man was the weather perfect. High 70s and dry.. can get much better than that!!

Anyways- as usual I got there early to set up my stage with some help from a newer shooter. Once we were finished the match started on time- with 65 shooters! That is our biggest IDPA club match to date.

It's really strange to me what I've noticed lately. I still don't feel "on" on most of my runs. Whether I notice my grip isn't what I want, my position felt weird or something. Which is strange because I won my division and likely came in 1st/2nd overall (may have a scoring issue that hasn't been resolved yet). There were several master level shooters but most were Experts and less. Maybe as I get better I am more critical and I notice more... still feels weird.

A couple interesting observations:

One stage had some tough shots and multiple optional shooting positions (skills drill). I shot from one position and hauled ass to another final shooting position to finish up... maybe 15yds. I beat everyone on that stage by almost 4 secs. I was very pleased with this run, not only because there are many younger/more fit shooters that did the same and didn't get similar results. I've been working out recently so maybe it helped. I was aggressive getting into the shooting position coming in with the gun ready high. I didn't even notice being winded and my shots were all clean. Down one for the entire stage- 9 targets.

One stage included two targets at ~15 yds that you had to engage from low cover. Each had part of the head and very little of the down zero showing. Optionally you could hit two steel (legs) which would drop the threat targets for full view. I figured I'd try out the partials since if I went for the legs I'd need a reload and a few points down wouldn't hurt me... oh well that plan didn't work. I hit the no shoot and got a bunch of points down. It really looked easier than it was... lol. It's ok- I'm here to learn and develop as a shooter and I'd probably try it again... just be more patient. In general a little more visual patience would help me. I'm really trying to let my sights be my speedometer!

The other stages felt "average" for me... nothing to crazy- finishing in the top 3 or 4 in each.

EDIT: looks like even with the corrected scores I came in first overall... I'm happy.

Edited April 4, 2010 by lugnut

[jar]

One stage had some tough shots and multiple optional shooting positions (skills drill). I shot from one position and hauled ass to another final shooting position to finish up... maybe 15yds. I beat everyone on that stage by almost 4 secs. I was very pleased with this run, not only because there are many younger/more fit shooters that did the same and didn't get similar results. I've been working out recently so maybe it helped. I was aggressive getting into the shooting position coming in with the gun ready high. I didn't even notice being winded and my shots were all clean. Down one for the entire stage- 9 targets.

That's what I get for talking strategy. You use my stage plan and beat me by 7 seconds.

That was a great stage, I love when there are lots of choices like that.

I think it's a good thing that you still always notice things you want to improve. When that stops, either you're the best, or you're stagnating. That's one of the big things I noticed when I started taking this game more seriously. Now I see lots of places to save time in every run. I feel like I'm really in the meat of the improvement curve, and I'm really enjoying it.

[lugnut]

That's what I get for talking strategy. You use my stage plan and beat me by 7 seconds.

That was a great stage, I love when there are lots of choices like that.

I think it's a good thing that you still always notice things you want to improve. When that stops, either you're the best, or you're stagnating. That's one of the big things I noticed when I started taking this game more seriously. Now I see lots of places to save time in every run. I feel like I'm really in the meat of the improvement curve, and I'm really enjoying it.

LOL- in all fairness I was giving your idea some thought when Mark (designed stage) and I talked about it more and decided it was the best way. I was just concerned a tad about my "conditioning". His run was actually a tad faster than mine but he had many more points down. It was a great stage. My total for that stage was 17.87... so it was actually only 4.73s faster.

On your comment "I think it's a good thing that you still always notice things you want to improve. When that stops, either you're the best, or you're stagnating. " I agree... but when you stop to notice things- you won't be the best for long!!!

[jar]

LOL- in all fairness I was giving your idea some thought when Mark (designed stage) and I talked about it more and decided it was the best way. I was just concerned a tad about my "conditioning". His run was actually a tad faster than mine but he had many more points down. It was a great stage. My total for that stage was 17.87... so it was actually only 4.73s faster.

There's a mistake in the match results then, they show 12.87. 5s faster makes a lot more sense than 10.

[lugnut]

I really need to work on this- what Flexmoney posted on another thread.

"Your conscience mind can hold one thought at a time. You need to make that one thought be the one positive thing your are looking for. In this case, it would seem to be visual patience.

Can you put that in front of all other desires? Forget speed. Forget score. Forget looking cool. Forget shooting well.

Make proper vision you one and only desire. "

I really, really need to be smarter when I shoot. Why is separating all these other things from proper vision so damn hard.

[lugnut]

Oh well... there were a couple of USPSA matches today but I didn't get to them. My teenage son had some friends over and they wouldn't go to sleep and then I couldn't sleep! Damn I hate that. When the alarm went off I was dead to the world. Cold and rainy weather didn't help either.... I think the rain let up too so I'm sure the shooting was decent.

Other than that I've been getting in some good live fire practice in... I've realized I need to work on smoothing my movement in addition to having more visual patience. My mind now realizes that in Production- C's are ugly and D's are devastating- unless we are talking a REAL high HF stage. One thing I've found that helps me in long (20-25yds) shots is tightening my grip. I'm sure this is true at closer shots, but I think having a slightly looser grip and staying relaxed is more important.

I'm having a tough time still getting more dry fire in... if only I didn't need to reload! Today I have a bunch of free time... I'm going to make lots of ammo and work some good dry fire in.... now that the kids and their friends are gone!

[lugnut]

Trying to pick up more dry firing. I need all the practice I can to step things up. My club ran another IDPA classifier match and I ran another 94 sec run in ESP. Man it's a challenge getting to Master in ESP... that run was pretty decent except for a missed head shot too. I think I know what I need to do though.... do everything a little better!! I'm still dropping about 15 points/stage 3... that needs some cleaning up for sure. My adjusted stage 3's are about 40s so I need to get them lower. Stage 1 seems to be high 20s and stage 2 seems to be low 20s (with pts down). Raw times are fine... just need to run everything cleaner.

I'm contemplating taking a break and shoot something else for a month or so... maybe it will help me break out of the rut I'm in... not sure.

The MD ran a bug stage which was pretty fun... the G26 is a nice little gun for sure!

[Steve_P]

Trying to pick up more dry firing. I need all the practice I can to step things up. My club ran another IDPA classifier match and I ran another 94 sec run in ESP. Man it's a challenge getting to Master in ESP... that run was pretty decent except for a missed head shot too. I think I know what I need to do though.... do everything a little better!! I'm still dropping about 15 points/stage 3... that needs some cleaning up for sure. My adjusted stage 3's are about 40s so I need to get them lower. Stage 1 seems to be high 20s and stage 2 seems to be low 20s (with pts down). Raw times are fine... just need to run everything cleaner.

I'm contemplating taking a break and shoot something else for a month or so... maybe it will help me break out of the rut I'm in... not sure.

The MD ran a bug stage which was pretty fun... the G26 is a nice little gun for sure!

There's one cure for that problem... an open gun

Just kidding... why don't you pick up your single stack 9mm and shoot Singlestack minor / ESP for awhile? That would be a nice change for a few matches.

SP

[lugnut]

Patience and mental discipline are all I need, not a dot. However... I would like to take my 9mm STI Trojan out for some fun... maybe Monday!

Edited May 2, 2010 by lugnut

[Chuck Z]

I've seen a couple of USPSA GMs shoot the IDPA classifier in 60 seconds. Using that time for the HHF, (if my math is correct) an IDPA Master run in ESP translates to a 67% USPSA classifier score. You can do that.

[lugnut]

I've seen a couple of USPSA GMs shoot the IDPA classifier in 60 seconds. Using that time for the HHF, (if my math is correct) an IDPA Master run in ESP translates to a 67% USPSA classifier score. You can do that.

I see what you are saying- based on all down zero hits it correlates exactly to that. I'm not sure that it's a perfect comparison though as the down points hurt much more than my HF of ~5 would be in USPSA. HF of 5.0 means .2sec for each point... whereas in IDPA down 1 point is .5sec not .2sec.... I think.

[lugnut]

Posted this on the Lead thread for others to see as well. My BLL came down to 18 from a high of 56 earlier in the year. I'm certain that lots of indoor shooting was the cause of most of the lead. I also have been taking B complex and C along with Heavy Metal Detox from Nature's Sunshine. I tried some other detox pills but they made my stomach a mess so I stopped. Dr still wants to get the levels under 10 but I'm very happy now.

I think this news made my practice yesterday even more enjoyable.... plus I think I shot well too. I think my "focus" or attention on the front sight is getting better for the most part. However when we did strong and weak hand shooting I think I saw something interesting. I'm quite sure before most of my shots break I have a good sight picture. And I don't blink. I do think some how my mind is not staying focused on the sight as the shot breaks for some reason.. it's almost as if I'm saying to myself- "ok there it is, just the way I want it" and then say " ok don't worry about that anymore now pull the trigger!". It doesn't work that way.... so simple yet so hard to do while shooting fast....

Edited May 4, 2010 by lugnut

[lugnut]

Had a great practice today... weather couldn't have been better too which really helped. Lots of transitions, close/far, far/close movement, etc. I usually try to end every practice with some kind of drill- whether it be a bill, long shots, one hole drill, etc. Today I wanted to shoot some Mozambiques- a drill we do for the IDPA classifier. 7 yds- 2 body, 1 head shot. In an actual classifier I usually do it in the 2.20s range. You don't want a miss. Today I was doing runs in the 1.70s and 1.80s pretty consistently. They felt real good with room for improvement on the draw. I figure I should be able to get 2.00s regularly going forward.

I brought my Trojan 9mm.. but I just can't get away from my Glock!

Amazing what you can do with just 3 paper targets too...

[lugnut]

Had a decent match Sunday. Came in 2nd out of 20+ shooters. A couple of the top guys didn't make that match as it was on mother's day but I still beat some good shooters. I didn't make any bad mistakes at all... a couple of Deltas was the worse. I didn't feel like I let it all out at this match.. kinda was a little conservative I guess. The good part is I can "feel" it when things are hooking up on a stage. One down side- the classifier. Bang and Clang. This was my first stage of the match and was pretty slow... plus I had to reengage a steel. It was only 30 points so it didn't hurt my match too much but I got a 56%!!! This isn't going to help... oh well.

Snuck out of work early for a practice today with a friend... perfect weather so how could I not? Worked on some quick draws, strong/weak hand, transitions, then movement and long distance shooting. I think it was a solid day of shooting. My fastest draw at close distance and down zero was .85s which surprised me... I was on the edge but I'm really trying to break thru the barriers and push myself hard. Mozambiques consistently under 2.0s with my best at 1.8 or so (fun little drill). I feel that I'm shooting as good as I have since very little shooting over the winter. My distance shooting seems to be getting better too with is nice.

I think I have something that is good to do during live fire practice... dry fire. Before some live fire drills, I'm trying to spend more time "running" them in dryfire. Ensures my indexing/sight pics are decent before throwing lead down range.

Next time I need to push hard on difficult shots- barriers, cover, awkward positions and more aggressive movement.

Edited May 12, 2010 by lugnut

[lugnut]

Small 4 stage match today. I wanted to really go out today, have fun and try to rip it up a bit. Not really anything crazy but I wanted to give my first stage of the day a good run... be aggressive. Well I did... and I got a fast run but it didn't go to well. I completely forgot to engage a target (mental fart) and had a Mike and a Delta. Man those penalties for forgetting a target toast you good!! No biggy- I expected to lose points but not that many. lol.

The next stage was the classifier Melody Line, I figured I'd stay somewhat aggressive.. but not miss anything! The run just didn't feel smooth but it turned out pretty good except for twp Cs and one D... I called the D as a bad shot... on one of the middle targets my sights were way to the left shoulder. I just didn't move the gun enough before popping off a round. What appeared to be a bad run was actually almost 81% though.... That classifer's HF seemed too low but I'll take it.

The 3rd stage was rather simple.. but I had a tough time engaging a steel that activated a bonus target. I ran out of ammo and only got one shot on the bonus... oh well... at least it was an A!

On my last stage, I figured ok, let's see if I can command control on demand... and focus more on good shots. All went well until I had another complete brain fart and somehow forgot that the paper targets required 3 shots each!! It was kind of humorous actually. I think I must have hit every other target with two instead of three. I couldn't recall which got what so I guessed the make up shots and got them all with the exact amount. Hey, I was working on my transitions what can I say! Only a few Charlies... no Mikes or Deltas.

Lesson for the day: I shouldn't get so aggressive at a match but it was a good experience for sure. I think pushing myself that hard is best left for a practice run.

Looking forward to a one day class with Manny Bragg this week!!!

[lugnut]

Last week was a busy week. Thursday class with Manny Bragg. Saturday IDPA and Sunday USPSA matches.

Class was great. It was very small so we had lots of one on one time. Manny did a great job explaining some of the things I need to get doing.. importantly my trigger control. Turns out that I need to tweak my pull and get off the reset quicker. This may take some time. He gave me some great ideas for drills to run as well. It's amazing that some GMs have such different view of things such as movement in and out of shooting positions.

IDPA match went pretty well. I thought I shot fairly clean and smooth. I came in first overall and fastest in 4 of the 6 stages. On the two stages that I didn't come in first I know what I should have done so I'm ok with the outcome. Not too many points down and my raw times were good for the most part.

Today's USPSA match was tougher and they usually draw more strong shooters. I only managed to come in 5th out of 15 in production. I feel that I need more work on stage planning- I find that I'm losing too much time on bad transitions, movements, etc. I'm getting more confident in making all the shots I encounter- it's just a matter of letting everything come together and avoiding mental mistakes. I think the structure of IDPA eliminates these issues in those matches. Funny thing on the classifier- I never shot "Can you count" before but I figured I could get a good run at this.... except... I can't count. NS! I put 6 shots in the very first target earning 2 PEs. Even with the PEs I almost managed to get another 55+% run which would have hosed my classifications as anything over 55% counts for me... I think it will be a 54. I almost loaded 5 in the mags since my slide lock reloads aren't much slower.. maybe I should have... It was a great match though and I feel I am still learning a lot after about 2 years shooting USPSA!

[Dan Sierpina]

I feel I am still learning a lot after about 2 years shooting USPSA!

Dave,

You should stop learning only when they start throwing dirt on the top of your casket. Not only in USPSA but life in general.

Bring your Single Stack to the next Harvard match, and do some more learning...

[lugnut]

I feel I am still learning a lot after about 2 years shooting USPSA!

Dave,

You should stop learning only when they start throwing dirt on the top of your casket. Not only in USPSA but life in general.

Bring your Single Stack to the next Harvard match, and do some more learning...

Great point Dan- and I usually say the same to other people. I guess I should have said something more like- "even after 2 years I'm surprised that some things still aren't as obvious as they should be!" Shooting isn't rocket science... it's the stupid things that get you- like shooting a string on "Can you Count" and getting 2 PEs because.... I can't count!!!!

Single Stack?? What's that? LOL. I do have a nice Trojan in 9mm that I could use... as weird as it may be- I just really enjoy shooting my Glock. I keep saying I'll try SS, Limited, Revo... and keep putting it off.

[Dan Sierpina]

Single Stack will make you even more aware of your game. 8 in the mag if you shoot major, 10 if minor. The thing is, you shoot against people shooting Major...it does make a difference.

[Supermoto]

Single Stack will make you even more aware of your game. 8 in the mag if you shoot major, 10 if minor. The thing is, you shoot against people shooting Major...it does make a difference.

Nah... He should shoot Open.