Nationals went OK, not great but good. I finished 2nd SSP Expert and got my bump to Master.
As far as the actual match went, well I could of and should have done better than what I did. I started on stage 1 and the first 3 stages didn't go as well as I wanted. I had a plan on stage 2 and I almost nailed it except after a reload and before I moved to another position I needed 1 more shot on a target............I forgot that shot and in the end that could be what cost me the match since I only got beat by 1.6 seconds. If I would have hit that target, even with a decent shot then I would have been 2 seconds faster. Stage 3 was the standards, lots of shots, lots of 30 yard shots, and all Limited. I was doing OK until the last string and got way to fast and threw a couple of misses, I knew it when I pulled the trigger but being limited scoring I couldn't make them up.
I left the first 3 stages over 50 down and thinking I may have given the match away before I really got started. Then I realized everybody has to agonize over the Standards so I could still do OK as long as I got myself back into shooting my type of match. I got back to just focusing on the stage I was shooting and not worrying about the ones behind me. I put together a few good stages and felt that I had good monentum. After about 4 stages or so I had another bad stage, not terrible just not good, but got back into the right mindset and followed it up with another good stage. I did that cycle a few times but I was never able to really keep the ball rolling and find that groove I ususally get into. In the end I out of 17 stages I had 3-4 bad, 3-4 that were just OK, and the rest were good and solid stages.
It was either the non-shot on stage 2 or the really bad stage with the "dogs" that cost me the match. The "dog" stage was a minimum 1 scored round stage at targets that only had the -1 and -0 areas and 4 of them were out to 20-25 yards. I had a plan to hit the long ones with 2 shots to make sure I got the hits but I got to quick on the first target trying to beat the no-shoot swinger and missed that target and earned a "failure to Neutralize". Then I had the only gun issue of the match (actually the only one I remember since shooting the CZ), I had a stove pipe. That cost me about 4 seconds and on top of the 5 seconds for the FTN it really killed me. Knowing how my match went I spent the next 2 days watching the updated scores hoping I would stay on top but knew my time could be beat.
Overall I am happy with the match, I didn't shoot as well as I thought I should but I was able to stay focused and not panic when I had a bad stage. In the past I would have tried to make up for a bad stage by pushing to hard and then blowing the next stage. After a bad one I would go back to the fundamentals and just focus on the front sight and make my hits.
That makes the third division I have made Master in since May so I am really pleased about that. I worked hard this year to make Master and didn't know if I could do it in 3 divisions, that was my goal though. I was struggling a little in the early spring and that is when Garry Newton started to work with me. With his help I was able to figure out what I needed to focus on and it really helped me during the Nationals to regroup after a bad stage. I really want to thank Garry for all his help.
The year is pretty much done for me as far as major matches go. I will be shooting all the local stuff though working on the things I need to improve on so that next year I will not only be a Master but I will be a very competitive one.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Getting ready for IDPA Nationals
It has been a while since I updated this so I thought I would post about the upcoming IDPA Nationals.
Since I shot the Texas State match I have been deciding on what gun to use for the Nationals and then spending time getting up to speed with something other than my 1911. I am shooting SSP Expert at Nationals because I hope to get my bump to Master. I had plans to go back to my M&P Pro but after a few matches and practices I decided that may not be the best choice. I really like the gun but for some reason I just don't get the hits I want. I tried a few different things but the accuracy always seem to suffer and to be honest my hits were never as good with it. On top of the accuracy issues it is just not 100% reliable, every so often I would get a FTE and sometimes at a match I just have the impending dread that it will show up at a very inopportune time. Tough to be competitive with that in your mind.
I decided to make the switch to a CZ 75b. That came with it's own hurdles, double action first shot, it was a stock gun, and just learning a new platform. I shot it a few times in stock form and slowly started to add some parts and do some work on it and after springs, sights, grips, and some modest trigger work I have a pretty nice gun. It has a good feel and I really like the blance and weight of the all steel gun. For the last month I have been shooting matches and practicing so that I can learn the best way to shoot and makes sure no unexpected problems show up.
The club I am the match director for hosted a regional IDPA match over Labor Day so it was a great oppurtunity to really shake things out. Knowing there are some really good shoters that were going to be there it was a great way to judge my performance with the new platform agains great competition. The gun ran great,unfortunatley I didn't run the gun the way I should have. I pushed the speed and my accuracy suffered, I was taking for granted how I was shooting going into the match and pushed the speed past the point of seeing the sights the way I needed to . I also was not working the trigger properly and ended up slapping at it a few times and that ended up producing too many points down as well as unacceptable misses.
Since that match I have refocused on the basics of just seeing the sights as fast I as can and working the trigger in a smooth controlled manner. Doing so has got me back on track on where I think I need to be.
Next week is the test though, Nationals. I shoot all day Thursday and as long as I do my part I am very confident the gun will not let me down. I feel that if I shoot my match and keep focused I can win my class. I know there will be some good shooters there (39 SSP EX's) and it will not be easy but that is the goal I am going with and will be happy as long as I shoot a good match. If I shoot my best and get beat then I can live with that.
Hopefully nest week I can post up some good news.
Since I shot the Texas State match I have been deciding on what gun to use for the Nationals and then spending time getting up to speed with something other than my 1911. I am shooting SSP Expert at Nationals because I hope to get my bump to Master. I had plans to go back to my M&P Pro but after a few matches and practices I decided that may not be the best choice. I really like the gun but for some reason I just don't get the hits I want. I tried a few different things but the accuracy always seem to suffer and to be honest my hits were never as good with it. On top of the accuracy issues it is just not 100% reliable, every so often I would get a FTE and sometimes at a match I just have the impending dread that it will show up at a very inopportune time. Tough to be competitive with that in your mind.
I decided to make the switch to a CZ 75b. That came with it's own hurdles, double action first shot, it was a stock gun, and just learning a new platform. I shot it a few times in stock form and slowly started to add some parts and do some work on it and after springs, sights, grips, and some modest trigger work I have a pretty nice gun. It has a good feel and I really like the blance and weight of the all steel gun. For the last month I have been shooting matches and practicing so that I can learn the best way to shoot and makes sure no unexpected problems show up.
The club I am the match director for hosted a regional IDPA match over Labor Day so it was a great oppurtunity to really shake things out. Knowing there are some really good shoters that were going to be there it was a great way to judge my performance with the new platform agains great competition. The gun ran great,unfortunatley I didn't run the gun the way I should have. I pushed the speed and my accuracy suffered, I was taking for granted how I was shooting going into the match and pushed the speed past the point of seeing the sights the way I needed to . I also was not working the trigger properly and ended up slapping at it a few times and that ended up producing too many points down as well as unacceptable misses.
Since that match I have refocused on the basics of just seeing the sights as fast I as can and working the trigger in a smooth controlled manner. Doing so has got me back on track on where I think I need to be.
Next week is the test though, Nationals. I shoot all day Thursday and as long as I do my part I am very confident the gun will not let me down. I feel that if I shoot my match and keep focused I can win my class. I know there will be some good shooters there (39 SSP EX's) and it will not be easy but that is the goal I am going with and will be happy as long as I shoot a good match. If I shoot my best and get beat then I can live with that.
Hopefully nest week I can post up some good news.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
2010 TX State IDPA Championship
Well I won ESP-EX and finished 3rd overall at the TX State match on saturday and got my bump to Master. I have been working on getting my ESP bump in a match for a while now so it felt pretty good to earn it. I had a few matches where I was close, some that I won that when there was a shooter or 2 short of the number needed to get bumped but this weekend there was 14 experts so I knew if I had a good match I would get it. I had a real solid shoot, no procedurals, no no-shoots, no failures, no misses, and only one 3 out of the 12 stages and 200+ rounds. I was about 15 seconds better than 2nd place and missed ESP division champion by 5 seconds. I made a few mental bobbles that cost me a few seconds but I would have had to been really on my game to get that last 5 seconds.
The match itself was a lot of fun. The CCIDPA guys put together 12 fun stages that challenged the shooter to make good shots with out building in a lot of traps or gimmicks to try and trick shooters. It was a match where you had to get in the right spot, use cover correctly and make your hits. If you did so you scored well.
As far as how I shot I was really happy. I was making my hits and getting from target to target pretty quick. I did have some mental bobbles like I said, in 2 stages I got lost on the rounds and started to bring the gun back for a reload to early so that cost time and in one of the stages I almost shot an array out of order around a barricade. I caught myself but transitioning back and forth cost me a big chunk. I knew it was going to be an OK day since on the first stage I shot, stage 7, I put down a pretty good time and was clean and there was 3 small steels that I was able to hit quick without throwing a miss. Hitting those smaller steels quickly on the first stage got me in the right frame of mind for the rest of the match.
So I have pretty much achieved what I wanted to this year. I have made Master (in 2 classes now) and have really improved my shooting. I wanted to get to the point that I could show up to a local match and be competitive for the win and I have mangaged to win about 4 or 5 in the last few months. The next goal will be a little harder I think, that will be getting to the level that I can be beating some of the top Masters. I have come real close so far and beat one or 2 of them when they have had gun problems but I need to get to the place where I can run with them consistently. That just means more practice and even more practice on top of that.
Then there is the goal of getting to the Master level in USPSA...............
The match itself was a lot of fun. The CCIDPA guys put together 12 fun stages that challenged the shooter to make good shots with out building in a lot of traps or gimmicks to try and trick shooters. It was a match where you had to get in the right spot, use cover correctly and make your hits. If you did so you scored well.
As far as how I shot I was really happy. I was making my hits and getting from target to target pretty quick. I did have some mental bobbles like I said, in 2 stages I got lost on the rounds and started to bring the gun back for a reload to early so that cost time and in one of the stages I almost shot an array out of order around a barricade. I caught myself but transitioning back and forth cost me a big chunk. I knew it was going to be an OK day since on the first stage I shot, stage 7, I put down a pretty good time and was clean and there was 3 small steels that I was able to hit quick without throwing a miss. Hitting those smaller steels quickly on the first stage got me in the right frame of mind for the rest of the match.
So I have pretty much achieved what I wanted to this year. I have made Master (in 2 classes now) and have really improved my shooting. I wanted to get to the point that I could show up to a local match and be competitive for the win and I have mangaged to win about 4 or 5 in the last few months. The next goal will be a little harder I think, that will be getting to the level that I can be beating some of the top Masters. I have come real close so far and beat one or 2 of them when they have had gun problems but I need to get to the place where I can run with them consistently. That just means more practice and even more practice on top of that.
Then there is the goal of getting to the Master level in USPSA...............
Friday, May 7, 2010
Made Master in IDPA
Well I finally made Master in IDPA. I shot a classifier Sunday in CDP and made Master. I made it by a second or so and that was with 2 misses. I feel pretty good that I finally achieved the goal of making Master in CDP but I still need to do it in ESP and SSP. I am shooting the TX State match in a month so hopefully I can put what I have been working on to use and get my bump in ESP.
Monday, April 19, 2010
2010 Space City Challenge
This past weekend was the Space City Challenge. I don't shoot a bunch of USPSA matches and my performance this weekend showed. I was slow on some stages due to bad planning or very bad execution of my plan and on top of that my trigger control was not what I needed. I have been shooting my 1911 9mm in IDPA for a month or so and had neglected to get some decent practice in with my production gun and it showed. I had a bunch of misses, not off the paper but just off target where they caught the hard cover.
The Match itself was a lot of fun. The stages were all pretty good, there were a couple that made you really plan which targets you were engaging from each spot so you didn't skip one or waste time by shooting one twice. I made some real bone head moves that really cost me time, like hitting a steel activator and just waiting for the swinger....and waiting.....and waiting.....but then realizing that it didn't activate. It is always tough for me to get in a groove when shooting USPSA because of the scoring system and shooting with guys running open and limited guns. I have a pretty good feel for what a good stage in IDPA would be but get a little lost on that aspect when shooting USPSA. That will improve when I shoot more.
I did finish second in C Production which is OK but a little bit of a let down since I should be a B class shooter and be running with some of the A class guys. I just never got in the groove and couldn't get things rolling to build on some momentum. There is always next match though so I will practice some and get back on track
Lessons Learned:
Don't take the shooting for granted. If you haven't used a platform for a few months don't assume that when you go back to it you will pick up where you were. If you plan on shooting a particular gun at a big match get some practice in with it and don't assume anything.
Sights are great and getting them on target as quick as possible is what you want but don't forget about the trigger control. Leaving that piece out makes all the sight work a moot point.
Even when you think your match is going real bad go into every stage as a fresh stage. Let the one you can't change go and work on nailing the one you are about to shoot.
Here is the video.............if anything it keep some amused.
The Match itself was a lot of fun. The stages were all pretty good, there were a couple that made you really plan which targets you were engaging from each spot so you didn't skip one or waste time by shooting one twice. I made some real bone head moves that really cost me time, like hitting a steel activator and just waiting for the swinger....and waiting.....and waiting.....but then realizing that it didn't activate. It is always tough for me to get in a groove when shooting USPSA because of the scoring system and shooting with guys running open and limited guns. I have a pretty good feel for what a good stage in IDPA would be but get a little lost on that aspect when shooting USPSA. That will improve when I shoot more.
I did finish second in C Production which is OK but a little bit of a let down since I should be a B class shooter and be running with some of the A class guys. I just never got in the groove and couldn't get things rolling to build on some momentum. There is always next match though so I will practice some and get back on track
Lessons Learned:
Don't take the shooting for granted. If you haven't used a platform for a few months don't assume that when you go back to it you will pick up where you were. If you plan on shooting a particular gun at a big match get some practice in with it and don't assume anything.
Sights are great and getting them on target as quick as possible is what you want but don't forget about the trigger control. Leaving that piece out makes all the sight work a moot point.
Even when you think your match is going real bad go into every stage as a fresh stage. Let the one you can't change go and work on nailing the one you are about to shoot.
Here is the video.............if anything it keep some amused.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
2010 Coastal Bend Challenge - ESP Division Champion
The IDPA 2010 Coastal Bend Challenge was this past weekend. IT was a pretty good match, the stages were pretty good and the weather threatened rain but it stayed away long enough for us to shoot. I had a pretty good match and was real happy about how I shot. I could have gone a little faster and I knew that while I was shooting but I was working hard on just taking the time I needed to see the front sight, no more time, no less. Where I lost a little time was on transitions and some movement. I still need to work on those things. I shot well enough to win ESP Division Champion and I was 3rd overall out of 100 shooters.
The things I didn't like about the match were some of the interpretations of the rules. They allowed some things that are really not legal and that were against the rulebook, most of the calls may have made the match easier but when you are used to following what the rulebook says you kinda get a little lost when it isn't followed. I will say that they were consistent on how they applied the rules they were using so that did help a little. As I mentioned the stages were pretty good but it would have been better if the rules were 100% followed.
I have been shooting a 1911 9mm for the last month and it is really a great shooter. I was able to make up for some slower movement and other things by getting faster and more accurate splits. I am real happy in the way the gun is handling and it is very accurate so as long as I do my part I know I will get good hits.
The only stage that caused me a little trouble was stage 3. I shot this right after lunch and I didn't get my head completely back into shooting mode. You had to fire 6 rounds while backing out of a hallway and I got more wrapped up in counting my shots instead of focusing where those shots were going. It didn't hurt me too bad though, I was only 8 down but at most I think about 3 down should have been max on that stage. I shot the whole match only 20 down, no misses, not 3's, no penalties, just a clean match. That is what you need to do if you want to run up front.
This weekend is Space City, a USPSA match, then the Texas State IDPA match in about 6 weeks.
The things I didn't like about the match were some of the interpretations of the rules. They allowed some things that are really not legal and that were against the rulebook, most of the calls may have made the match easier but when you are used to following what the rulebook says you kinda get a little lost when it isn't followed. I will say that they were consistent on how they applied the rules they were using so that did help a little. As I mentioned the stages were pretty good but it would have been better if the rules were 100% followed.
I have been shooting a 1911 9mm for the last month and it is really a great shooter. I was able to make up for some slower movement and other things by getting faster and more accurate splits. I am real happy in the way the gun is handling and it is very accurate so as long as I do my part I know I will get good hits.
The only stage that caused me a little trouble was stage 3. I shot this right after lunch and I didn't get my head completely back into shooting mode. You had to fire 6 rounds while backing out of a hallway and I got more wrapped up in counting my shots instead of focusing where those shots were going. It didn't hurt me too bad though, I was only 8 down but at most I think about 3 down should have been max on that stage. I shot the whole match only 20 down, no misses, not 3's, no penalties, just a clean match. That is what you need to do if you want to run up front.
This weekend is Space City, a USPSA match, then the Texas State IDPA match in about 6 weeks.
Monday, April 5, 2010
WHIPDA Monthly Match
We had the monthly match this weekend. It was a pretty good match, we tried a couple of ideas that we were thinking about using in the Labor Day match we are doing this year. It was also the first monthly match I shot with my new gun, a Springfield 1911 9mm. I have only had it for about a week or so and needed to get a match with it so I can feel comfortable with it at Corpus this weekend.
Forst of all the gun runs great and is a blast to shoot. The 1911 platform always points well and in 9mm it is a super flat, quick shooting gun. There are a couple of things I am getting used to that differ slightly from my M&P but overall it is working pretty well for me. I have shot and won 2 weekly matches and this monthly match I did OK, 4th overall and it wasn't the gun that let me down.
This match had some movement, some movers, and some other things that made your choices important. Most of the choices I made were pretty good, I just slipped a little bit in the execution in some areas. I have been working on my trigger control but I still had a few shots that were off do to bad trigger work. I was also not focusing on just the front sight, I was thinking about other things while I was shooting so I went a little slower than I though I could. I got good hits but was just a tick slow, especially on transitions. Overall a good match tough, was happy with how I shot and feel that I am ready for this weekend at Corpus and next weekend at Space City.
Lessons Learned:
Not a whole bunch more than what I mentioned, just focus on the front sight and the rest will take care of itself. Don't get lost in the minutia of the stage becuse it will just slow you down. Also make your choice on ho to shoot the stage and then stick to it. Even if you watched someone else do it another way stick to your plan. It is your plan and most likely will be better for your shooting, stick to it, trust it and then execute it.
Forst of all the gun runs great and is a blast to shoot. The 1911 platform always points well and in 9mm it is a super flat, quick shooting gun. There are a couple of things I am getting used to that differ slightly from my M&P but overall it is working pretty well for me. I have shot and won 2 weekly matches and this monthly match I did OK, 4th overall and it wasn't the gun that let me down.
This match had some movement, some movers, and some other things that made your choices important. Most of the choices I made were pretty good, I just slipped a little bit in the execution in some areas. I have been working on my trigger control but I still had a few shots that were off do to bad trigger work. I was also not focusing on just the front sight, I was thinking about other things while I was shooting so I went a little slower than I though I could. I got good hits but was just a tick slow, especially on transitions. Overall a good match tough, was happy with how I shot and feel that I am ready for this weekend at Corpus and next weekend at Space City.
Lessons Learned:
Not a whole bunch more than what I mentioned, just focus on the front sight and the rest will take care of itself. Don't get lost in the minutia of the stage becuse it will just slow you down. Also make your choice on ho to shoot the stage and then stick to it. Even if you watched someone else do it another way stick to your plan. It is your plan and most likely will be better for your shooting, stick to it, trust it and then execute it.
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