Alex Brown's Range Diary

[Alex Brown]

I have three IDPA matches under my belt, still unclassified, starting from scratch in this sport.

Just got an airsoft 1911 for christmas (WE Nighthawk Custom Knight Hawk replica), and programmed a laptop-based shot timer so I can keep track of my airsoft drill times (available for free download in the airsoft forum-- haven't tested it with a real firearm yet).

My 'match' pistol is my PT1911; I shoot about ten times as many rounds through my Ruger 22/45 as I do through the Taurus, and I'm hoping to shoot about 100 times as many through the airsoft, while maintaining a 'quality over quantity' attitude at all times. My athletic background is in swimming and muay thai, and already the parallels I see between those sports and this one are quite the eye-opening intellectual morsels.

I'd like to branch out into USPSA ASAP, but IDPA matches are so much easier to find in my area, and my only rig right now is an IWB holster, so it might be a better fit for now anyways..

1/7/10:

Equipment: Airsoft, leather IWB holster, nylon mag pouch

Practice Session Goal: improve slide-lock reloads, draws

drill-- 100x of:

on buzzer, draw and fire 1 shot on 2" circle at 10 feet, reload, fire 1 shot on adjacent 2" circle at 10 feet. Repetitions resulting in any hits outside the circles are discounted.

LOHF splits: 1.4214/1.8247 (total 3.4261)

'cold' splits around 1.75/2.03

Notes:

-after warming up with BE's 'draw with eyes closed, check sight alignment' awareness drill, I found success when I made sure to shift my focus to the feeling of the strong hand grip directly after the buzzer.

-When beginning reps on the 'live fire' drill, I found that skipping this point of focus and looking for the front sight right away slowed my first shot split considerably, since the strong hand grip, and thus the weak hand placement, were initially FUBAR.

-similarly, my LOHF-type splits on the reload came when I shifted my visual focus to the magwell, although some experimentation with keeping the reload entirely in my periphery produced splits almost as fast. I think this partially because I got lucky with the mag insertion a few times, and partially because shifting my focus back to the target, and then back to the front sight ended up taking more time since my vision is still really slow.

[Dan Burwell]

Best of luck to you Alex!

You have two clubs in your area shooting USPSA. I am MD for Hollidaysburg sportsmens and Lewistown pistol club also has USPSA matches once a month. None of us will be shooting matches until spring but then that will get you two USPSA matches a month. Both clubs also shoot IDPA.

If you need any help let me know.

[Alex Brown]

Can't wait! My first match was IDPA at lewistown in October, and then I've done two in Delaware county (near my parents' house, over thanksgiving and christmas) since. I've heard great things about Hollidaysburg, and I guess I'll see you when the weather breaks!

[Alex Brown]

1/10/10

equipment: airsoft

goal: see sights, see magwell, see sights, 'look the shot off'

drill: draw, two shots on 1/3 scale 'A' zone at 10 feet, slide lock reload, two shots on 1/3 scale 'A' zone at 10 feet

cold splits around

1.53/.33/2.3/.33

LOHF around

1.3/.24/2.03/.24

notes:

-those sights move pretty stinkin' quick, and it's too easy to get sloppy with the tiny recoil. If I had room, I'd move back, but I guess the best I can do is make my 'A' zone smaller.

-I think my reloads are pretty efficient, but they're very slow. I feel myself fumbling to get the mags out of my cloth mag pouch. Something with a little more consistency of resistance would help, but I think the biggest place I'm losing time is getting the sights back on target. Might be bringing the gun down too far, and I probably need work on resetting my index from the gun 'tilted' position.

-I hate writing times down. I am thinking about making a new version of my laptop shot timer program that saves times and drill name/description into an excel file or something...