Corey's road to success

[GrumpyOne]

Corey, I looked at the results for the match in Kentucky, and it does look like you are improving. Congrats! This probably won't sound real good, but only three matches in, and at least you aren't finishing dead last!

[Corey]

Thats true! Id like to starting being able to go top-down instead of bottom-up to find my name soon tho!

[jwfuhrman]

Since we ALWAYS shoot together, everywhere. Ive seen what your main biggest problem is right now. YOU NEED TO SLOW THE F' DOWN!!!!!! Your in way to much of a hurry. Remember, Fast, Accurate hits.

[BillD]

I shot a match last weekend with a guy shooting a Glock. He was a pretty good shooter but he was wanting to be

a GREAT shooter. I've never seen anyone shoot so fast AND miss so much at a match. I bet he had 10 mikes for a

5 stage match.

Edited March 23, 2010 by BillD

[rvb]

SLOW THE F' DOWN!!!!!! ... Remember, Fast, Accurate hits.

Corey, I haven't seen you shoot, but taking a quick glance at the scores, it looks like you shot just under 90% of the points, which isn't horrible at all, but I like to be ~93-95% for major scoring.

What really killed you is the penalties! 11 of them? That brings your points % down to 74%. Were those procedural things (that you can chalk off to lessons learned) or misses and no-shoots? Make it your goal to be penalty free. You can't go "faster enough" to make up for 11 penaltiess.

Introduce yourself to the guy in the Sig hat (who's not shooting a Sig) at Angola this weekend.

My Dad will be with me, so I'm not sure if I'll be working or not (depends how short handed they are).

-rvb

Edited March 23, 2010 by rvb

[Corey]

Good to meet you last weekend Ryan!

Classifier match went ok. shot a couple pretty good ones, shot a couple pretty bad ones. Thought I did pretty well avoiding No-Shoots. one stage was basically a throw-away for me. shot it terrible, weather was getting bad when I shot and frankyl didnt care at the time (not a good attitude to have, but i was tired, wet, and hungry-haha). We'll see where I end up after the scores are put in, but I should be a C when the scores hit. We'll see.

I did learn a little something from watching a video of myself and thinking back about the COF invloved. Ive been having problems with steel lately and at first I thoguht I was just rushing my shots and getting a good sight picture. On Bang and Clang, I nailed the first 2 steel, the paper and the first of the last 2 steel. The last one became the issue. I do remember hustling the last shot thinking I had a good run and wanted to keep it up...Anyway, missed it twice in pretty fast fashion. I did catch myself doing this and quickly said "slow down, get the picture and drop that SOB". you can hear a noticable pause then another miss. had to reload, and finally plunked it down.

Looking back, I think its not necessarily a sight picture issue or shooting too fast but rather a trigger control. The first couple misses on that popper were hurried but I DO remember a decent sight picture on them and was kind of surprised it didnt go down. the more I think about it, i think im PULLING the trigger rather than pressing it and thus my problems.

Range Goals: timing drills and trigger control; WHO/SHO with full power loads (have been training on this with my airsoft and not having the same issues-need to practice with true recoil to fully figure out my problems).

[BillD]

one stage was basically a throw-away for me. shot it terrible, weather was getting bad when I shot and frankyl didnt care at the time (not a good attitude to have, but i was tired, wet, and hungry-haha).

One thing I have noticed is that the better shooters concentrate at each COF. No matter if it's the last stage at a major (and you've been there for 11 hours) or you're wet, hungry, tired, hot, cold, etc. They suck it up and concentrate like each one is the most important stage of the match.

That is one of the things new shooters have to learn (and I'm still learning). You have to bring your A game every stage.

[Corey]

one stage was basically a throw-away for me. shot it terrible, weather was getting bad when I shot and frankyl didnt care at the time (not a good attitude to have, but i was tired, wet, and hungry-haha).

One thing I have noticed is that the better shooters concentrate at each COF. No matter if it's the last stage at a major (and you've been there for 11 hours) or you're wet, hungry, tired, hot, cold, etc. They suck it up and concentrate like each one is the most important stage of the match.

That is one of the things new shooters have to learn (and I'm still learning). You have to bring your A game every stage.

I completely agree. The mental side of the game is something I'm also trying to work on...

[Corey]

I've been doing a little dryfire this week (not as much as I'd like, but work has been getting in the way, haha). Trying to get tuned up for the SS/Prod match this weekend. Did some holster draws as well as table starts (looks like there are 2 this weekend). Going to work on sight alignment/trigger control/grip with the airsoft gun for the SH stage as well. I need to make sure I get my sight alignment where I want, especially on steel. Seems to be where I have my problems lately.

[Corey]

Well, major number 2 is in the books. SS/Prod/Revo match at Warsaw was today. Great day for shooting, fun stages, great people.

Overall, Im fairly happy with the way I shot today. I had one main goal in mind and completed it to perfection! Penalties had been killing my scores and I wanted a penalty free match...SUCCESS! No misses, no procedurals. I was hoping for 90+% of the possible stage points. I ended up with 94.8% of available points-a few more Ds than I would have liked tho. Similar to my classifier scores recently. I had a few good ones a few so-so stages today. I ended up 23rd out of 59 Single Stack shooters - top half! Thats about all i have to go on as I shot this match still a "U". Will be classified from here on out now so new goals will be established there down the road.

Things to work on:

-RELOADS: I felt like my reloads were ok today, but watching the video we shot, I can tell i need to put some serious work into them. (Ill try to post the vids here in a day or two when my buddy puts them up on internet).

-Continue Penalty free COFs- plain and simple- i tried to slow myself down today and see the sight picture I needed to get the hits instead of pointing and shooting like ive caught myself doing in the past.

Also, I'm not sure if the problem in the sights or the user (although I have a pretty darn good guess ) but I was having horrible problems with steel-especially the stupid little round ones, haha. I actually caught it on stage 4 today. I was on mag 3 or so and told myself to calm down and find the front sight, which i did. had a perfect sight picture ( or so I thought).....and then missed a few times. it was a low target and I could see bullet impact high and left. The rest of the day started holding low-right on steels and cleaned most of them fairly well. Obviously something is wrong, I just don't know what yet. I'm thinking its a trigger control issue of some kind. i need to shoot of a rest for verification but its me, just need to diagnose the exact issue then fix it. While holding low-right worked pretty well today, I'd MUCH rather hold dead on.

Busy week this week so next range day wont be until the weekend, IF im lucky. hopefully here in a few weeks my schedule would be back to normal and i can get some serious work in. I also need to pick up the dryfire, especially reloads. Ill try to video myself there as well and post for critique.

Edited April 12, 2010 by Corey

[CocoBolo]

Borrow a bench rest or sand bags make sure your sights are on. Check your sights every practice and every time you change you load, it moves. Give this article a read, I got my head straight. http://grayguns.com/zen-and-the-art-of-hitting-stuff/

Sounds like you tore it up pretty good. Saturday I shot a match with 5 other open gunner a gaggle of limited and production guns, a Single Stack won it, go figure.

Today we trashed an IDPA match with our open guns shooting outlaw. Take practice where you can, getting ready for SpaceCity Challenge Friday.

Good Luck.

Edited April 12, 2010 by CocoBolo

[Corey]

Borrow a bench rest or sand bags make sure your sights are on. Check your sights every practice and every time you change you load, it moves. Give this article a read, I got my head straight. http://grayguns.com/zen-and-the-art-of-hitting-stuff/

Sounds like you tore it up pretty good. Saturday I shot a match with 5 other open gunner a gaggle of limited and production guns, a Single Stack won it, go figure.

Today we trashed an IDPA match with our open guns shooting outlaw. Take practice where you can, getting ready for SpaceCity Challenge Friday.

Good Luck.

thanks for the article. I printed it off to read when my head isnt swimming like it has been at work lately, haha.

I should be getting close to being able to get the vids from this past weekend up on here for review. Going to start hitting the reload practice harder this week as well.

[GrumpyOne]

Keep praticing, and.......BUY THE PRESS!

[Corey]

saw a 550 for sale on here earlier today....locked and sold, lol

[GrumpyOne]

Check ebay, that's where I bought minie, before I knoew of this website. Paid $450 for it with all the trimmings), the flip tray, hand primer, 30-06, 41 mag, 45ACP dies, scale, 3 tool heads, pickup tubes (large and small), etc. Seriously, check ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/DILLON-RL-550-B-Reloading-Press-45ACP-308-Win-w-Extras_W0QQitemZ200460810257QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2eac653811

Edited April 14, 2010 by GrumpyOne

[Corey]

ive been working on my reloads a lot lately, mainly focusing on form and trying to keep my hands up high when reloading. A few vids ive seen of me show me bringing my hands down considerably to reload which is costing me time for no reason. Ive been doing 10-15 at a moderate speed to get form right, then blazing a few for speed, then back to form then back to speed. ive also been trying to work on getting reloads done within a step or two from leaving the box on the move. Im going to do some drills with a timer next week if i can make it to the range to see what is better for me in live fire application: reload then move or try to reload while moving.

im also expecting some new parts this week. got a couple of new mag release buttons in the mail yesterday and should have a new drilled and tapped release this week as well. hopefully this will allow me to stop from flipping the gun sideways in my hands like I have to now to reach the button. Also should be getting a new Dawson magwell and basepads we'll see if it improves my reloads on the ones where im not 100% lined up. cant wait to get these in and installed ( my 1911 is in about 15 pieces right now). got 2 weeks til the next local match.

[Corey]

Printed off some new 1/3 scale targets and set them up in my air-soft room today. Spent about an hour doing a few drills from my DR Performance Practice deck. Only did the drills set up for 10yd with no movement-just what I have to do with my setup. I really like the card deck as it changes things up. Usually i just set up my steel plates and knock them over, but this was a good change of pace and I feel like I got a lot out of it. Most of my draws were around the 1.2 to 1.3 range and reloads were anywhere from 1.8 to 2.3 - my air-soft gun doesn't have a magwell of ANY kind. seems like good practice . If i can start hitting the tiny opening with regularity then my new Dawson shouldn't be a problem.

New mag release will be here tomorrow and I can reassemble my SS gun and do some reload drills with the actual setup. Looking forward to seeing the difference in gun feel and reload-ability. Going to try to hit the range Thursday on my day off for live fire then local match on Sunday. Will post back with results of each.

[Corey]

Was able to get out and shoot twice this week by myself. just some basic draws, box to box movement etc. Draw time is down to about 1.1x with mostly A hits (actually shot these yesterday from about 18 yds-muddy area forced me back that far). Wasn't able to go the local match today so its more dry fire later today and hopefully a match next Sunday. Also need to look into one of my local clubs that has "practice matches" during the week.

As for my recent upgrades, i really like the extended mag release button from STI that i bought and the Dawson magwell is silly big. I'm having a bit of problem seating the mags super smooth, i think its just a fitting issue with the new release. I had to do a little work on it when i installed it. i think it just needs a touch more.

[Corey]

Got an itchy trigger finger last night while watching the hockey game and decided to do some more dry fire/reload work. got Steve Anderson's book out and went thru a few drills in there and recorded. The last time i had done the 2-RL-2 drill my par time was 4.0s and i remember it was pretty tasking to get there. bump'd it down to 3.5s last night and was finishing well under that. gonna move closer to 3.0s tonight. I've also ben trying to work on reloading on the move out of the box and being done and ready to shoot before i hit the 2nd box. seems to be going well but i need to practice this on a range to see for sure. Day off work tomorrow, gonna try to go to the range to work on SHO & WHO shooting as its still a crutch for me right now. Hopefully the weather holds off and I can shoot a match this weekend as well.

ETA: 1,000 posts, woohoo! haha

Edited May 5, 2010 by Corey

[Chris iliff]

Warsaw shoots this weekend, hope to see you there. If you show, don't let them B.S. you, I am only responsible for stage 1. All I can say for sure is stage one will be 24-26 rounds. Oh and of course.......fun!!!!!

[Corey]

Warsaw shoots this weekend, hope to see you there. If you show, don't let them B.S. you, I am only responsible for stage 1. All I can say for sure is stage one will be 24-26 rounds. Oh and of course.......fun!!!!!

looking forward to it! if you would be so kind as to set things up on a 8-count , id be forever grateful, haha.

[Corey]

Did some experimenting tonight with my gear. Since the day Ive had it, Ive always put the overlap in my inner part of CR speed belt on the right hip, under my holster. I tried it tonight on my left hip under the first 3 mag pouches. to give them a half inch away from my body. Really seemed to help me grab the mags without rubbing my thumb against my side (work out program should help that issue too . Going to start running again and maybe get back to the gym for weights. Got a friend working on a copy of p90x for me as well). I think I'm gonna continue keeping my inner belt to the left for a few days to see how it works, especially in the match this weekend. After doing a variety of different drills from SA's dry fire book, i took about 15-20 minutes of nothing but slow, deliberate 2-RL-2 drills, mainly working on the RL. I didn't draw with much speed, just form. really focused on dropping the empty and getting the new mag to the gun, lined up correctly with the proper vision of the mag well and new mag alignment. It would also seem that after numerous fittings, I have the new mag release how i want it and also found a 2nd cause of my mag seating issues. I'm still not used to the larger mag well opening on the bottom of the gun, especially in the front (came from using an S&A). This night-ending drill i really focused on opening up my weak hand more and using the heal of my hand to get the mag 100% into the gun. when really focusing on this, i hit 100% of my RLs with full seating with less force than expected. Just need to get myself trained to keep this up. Should hopefully have my gf taggin along this weekend so maybe Ill have some video footage of this weekend to post for critique.

[Corey]

Local match today, shot fairly well. Had another Penalty free match (trying to keep this goal every time now) altho I did end up with 4 Ds. I was trying to focus on being smooth and eliminating some wasted time-shooting as I leave a position come into a position, more shooting on the move, etc.

Stage 1: was fairly simple: 3 shooting positions, 4 paper from the left side, 4 more from the right, 2 paper 2 plates and 2 USPs up the middle between some barrels. Missed one of the poppers a couple times in a rush causing me an extra reload on this one.

Stage 2: 40 round hose fest! had to start with and empty gun (no biggie I have been practicing table starts), but 4 8-shot arrays forced me to slide lock 4 times. felt fairly smooth through the first 2 arrays getting good hits and had to manuever side to side a bit on the next two. Final array had 2 paper and 4 poppers. Cleaned them in 8 shots.

Stage 3: (actually started my day on this one) Couple of hard leaning shots (at least 1 of my Ds here) early on then some shots on the move as i moved downrange engaging targets. 6 poppers in an arc and a trolley finished out the stage. Much to my surprise, I hit the activator and then 4 more of the poppers before the trolley exposed itself. 2 on the paper as it moved across (I think another D here-i almost didnt shoot the trolley at all) and a final popper and i was done. Felt like a good beginning to my day.

Stage 4: popper activated swinger, popper activated drop turner and a Star to end out. each activator was a leaning shot, one aroudn the left of the COF and the other on the right. Minor feed issue slowed me down here but took care of the star in 7 shots ( better than the 10 or 11 it took me last time i shot one).

Stage 5: Classifier- CM 03-05 Paper Poppers (I think that's the name). Straight forward-2 paper 6 poppers. shoot one array, RL finish up the rest. Drew to paper first, 4 As, smooth reload and 6-for-6 on the steel. Finished the 6th and the 3rd 4th and 5th were still on their way down. By my guess it was around a 71%-by far the highest Ive ever shot.........yea, there's a but coming.....but the time got recorded as 70.08 instead of 7.08 or 7.80 whichever it was. I'm usually soooo good about following the RO to check every target as they score them and checking the sheet for screwups. Ive read too many stories and seen too many people not do this and get dinged for it. Whats the one sheet I don't look at today? Not blaming anybody but myself. I should have seen it and corrected it. Guess who is gonna double check EVERYTHING from now on.

On the bright side, I actually don't consider myself consistent enough to be a B class shooter yet and really don't want a bump before the state match next month anyway (but ill take what I get, I don't like sandbagging.) so i guess having this one thrown out isn't the end of the world.

Overall, i felt like it was a good day today. Shot much much better on steel than I had been. only a 4-5 misses on all the steel all day (that's pretty good for me). I felt pretty smooth throughout the match and felt like my reload practice this week paid a dividend or two-could always use more tho

Goals for next match:

-stay Penalty free (Mikes, NS, Procedurals)

-Go 1-for-1 on all steel targets. This one could be tough depending on whats presented but proper sight picture, visual patience and trigger control should get it done (guess what Im gonna be doing in dry fire this week).

-win 1 stage in my division-assuming there are more than 1 or 2 of us silly Single Stackers.

[Chris iliff]

Corey, I'm sure Brent can figure your classifier score out. I will call him and get this sorted out for you. Tell me and the whole shooting community..... if you could only go to one match a month it would be WARSAW, wouldn't it? Damn if that wasn't a fun match yesterday!!!!

[Corey]

Corey, I'm sure Brent can figure your classifier score out. I will call him and get this sorted out for you. Tell me and the whole shooting community..... if you could only go to one match a month it would be WARSAW, wouldn't it? Damn if that wasn't a fun match yesterday!!!!

I emailed him about last night.

I did have a good time. stages weren't hard but still had a fun challenge to them