range report 12/11

Went out yesterday for some practice at the range. Shot sixteen .22 targets and 8 .45 targets. Also put 20 rounds through the STI with no jams. I'm slowly getting better with the .45 but it is still a real challenge to keep all my shots on target at 50'. I'm getting more in the black, but I'm still throwing flyers. The .45 really requires a completely different technique than the .22 to shoot well. I find that my grip and my trigger control are completely different. Anyway, pretty good session with the .22, shot over 800 match score so I was happy with that.

range report 12/4

Shot some more with the Ruger this last weekend using Eley Sport. No jams. The last few sessions had seen Eley Sport jam on me a few times with failures to feed. No problems this time. Seems like running some Wolf MT through all the mags really helps to lube them up with 'Wolf Snot'. Shot very well in slow-fire but dropped some points in the rapid fire. I also shot the 45 but the scores aren't even worth mentioning here; I still am shooting like a shotgun at 20 yards with the 45 against the B2 and B3 targets.

The izzy is still at EAA awaiting the doubling fix. Hopefully I get it back before the year's end, but we'll see. At least I have the Ruger in the meantime.

November match

My lovely wife joined me on the firing line. I shot a borrowed Buckmark with a dot for this match with some Aguilla ammo that probably wasn't the best. Ended up losing the 22 match by only 2 points! Still struggling with the 45...

The new grips are here!

New grips from Dick Horton. These things are incredible!

October match

October's match was interesting to say the least. Unfortunately I had to shoot using the Ruger as the izzy still needs to go off to EAA for repairs. That's ok, the Ruger is a great gun. But I had problems using my favorite ammo, Eley Black. The gun wouldn't cycle at all, wouldn't eject the spent case. That made slow-fire a bit nerve-racking and timed-and-rapid-fire all but impossible. Another competitor was nice enough to give me some CCI MiniMags and those cycled in the gun flawlessly. Really weird because I have never had any cycling problems with Eley Black before, but I don't shoot it in practice because its expensive. Going to try cleaning the chamber good with a brush and see if maybe that's the issue.

Shot the centerfire match with the Les Baer using Brian Zins 10x ammo on the long line and ASYM Precision practical match ammo on the short line. No major malfunctions with the 45, had one round in slow-fire not chamber correctly and shave the brass, but otherwise no issues. I've really enjoyed the ASYM practical match ammo. Its downloaded to 750 fps velocity and that makes it a lot easier to handle.

Anyway, even with the malfunctions, I still managed to win two of the portions of the 22 match in my class. Still need to learn to shoot the 45 better, but I'm working on it.

October shooting sessions

Its been a while since I last posted, but I had a big stack of targets collected from my sessions in October. The izzy is still out of commission since it is doubling and needs to be fixed by EAA, so all the shooting was done with the Ruger.

range report 9/5/11

range report 9/4/11

range report 8/29/2011

range report 8/27/11

chamber pictures

Been having some of the dreaded doubling issues on the izzy in the last three sessions, but interestingly the doubling always happened when using SK Pistol Match ammo. Eley Sport and Wolf didn't cause any problems. Anyway, I took the pistol down and gave it a good cleaning; it was super dirty! I suspect the dirt on the extractor and on the chamber face could have been responsible for the doubling. But I took some pictures of the chamber to highlight the thin area on the right side of the chamber where the extractor slides past the rim to grip the round. I'm not really sure what the spec of this area is supposed to be, but its definitely a little thinner than the others. I didn't notice any burrs or deformation or peening on the chamber face, but I might not have looked close enough. Anyway, here's hoping that the doubling doesn't come back as long as I keep it properly cleaned.

range report 8/6/11

range report 8/5/11

range report 7/31/11

Got out on Sunday for some shooting. Shot SK ammo with the izzy. Actually had three instances of doubling. After each I cleaned the chamber face with a dental pick. I guess the gun was just dirty or perhaps SK ammo is a little more sensitive. Anyway, those 3 doubling incidents threw off some of my targets. Going through the basics: Stance - I've got this one down, I feel pretty comfortable with my stance. Breathing - Another one that I pretty much have down. I am taking a big inhale on raising the pistol and then slowly exhaling during my shots. In slow-fire I am trying to only take 2-3 shots at a time so I don't run out of breath. I have been shooting the slow-fire relatively quickly, not resetting the gun after each shot. Grip - Feels pretty good, occasionally I will get it a little off and the gun will twist slightly in my hand, but otherwise the gun feels good. I ordered some grips from Dick Horton that are going to be custom made to fit my hand, so that will be really exciting to get those on the izzy. Sights - I've been doing better letting the dot find the center of the bull and it doesn't feel so 'heavy' where I was having a hard time getting the dot onto the center. I am trying not to be entirely reactionary to the dot moving into the center, but more reactionary in terms of starting the press while the dot is in the black. Trigger - This is the hard one for me. My first shot tends to be a jerk of the trigger even though I don't intend that. Its almost like the first shot feels heavier on the trigger than the subsequent shots. I know that's not true, but I think part of it is that I follow-through on the trigger and then let it out only enough to feel it reset before the next shot. I need to work a lot more on my first-shot trigger control.

range report - 7/28/11

Had a pretty good outing yesterday, two matches above 800 which was nice, that is kind of my goal right now, a consistent set of matches above 800. Still need to improve my slow-fire scores, finding that to be a challenge. The izzy doubled on me once during my warm-up. It still put those two shots really close together, but obviously don't want it doubling. I took a dental pick and cleaned the chamber face good and the problem didn't reoccur during the session. I did have two jams during slow-fire, one where the round fed high and one where it fed low, both times failing to seat into the chamber and let the slide close. Other than that, no other problems in about 400 rounds of Wolf MT. The Les Baer broke a screw on the optic mount during my last range session, so I'm waiting on some replacement screws before I resume shooting the gun.

range report 7/24/11

Had some problems with the .45 today. The next found would fail to feed several times, and at one point the slide stop fell out of the gun. Weird. I lubed the rails of the slide but that didn't entirely cure the problem. Then a screw fell out of the scope mount and threw off my zero, so I didn't end up getting any .45 practice in while I struggled to figure out the problem. The .45 has been a real love/hate relationship. Anyway, shot pretty well with the Izzy including my FIRST cleaned target.

range report 7/23/11

range report 7/14-15

range report 7/10/2011

Had my first incident with the izzy doubling on me once. Kind of strange, guess I need to clean the chamber face. The cyclic rate was REALLY fast, I almost didn't notice it double. Seemed like the shot still was on target too.

range report 7/9/2011

range report 7/8/11

range report 7/7/11

Last night when I took the .45 out, I decided to concentrate on
shorter ranges and getting the gun zeroed. I used a two-handed stance
and started at 5 yards and was able to put most of my shots in the 5"
targets I was using. Then I moved back to 9 yards and I was doing
pretty well there also. I put it back at 20 yards and it got
difficult. Hard to shoot consistent groups, but I was getting better.
Did the last 50 rounds or so with one hand; this was a little worse
as I struggled to get an appropriate grip that didn't push my finger
too far through the guard. I'm getting more used to the trigger, and
perhaps it is a sweet thing to have. I ordered a cheaper trigger pull
gauge just to get an idea of if its just a weird break that just feels
super-light but is actually legal, or if its actually about 1lb like
it feels like to me. I did have two jams during the session, both
with the metalform magazines I bought. The Tripp magazines, which I
plan to use for bullseye, have not jammed. I don't know exactly what
the jam was, which is a little unnerving. The trigger wouldn't pull.
I put the gun on safe, checked that the hammer was back, then took the
gun off safe and slowly pulled the slide back. There was a round
chambered. I ejected the round and it did not have a primer mark on
it. I later fired both jammed rounds without issue. I wonder if the
sear somehow didn't reset? But the trigger felt blocked like it does
when you have the safety on, there wasn't a pull to it that was
'empty'. Not sure. Hopefully won't happen again or at least not with
the Tripp magazines.

Range Report - My first 1911 - Les Baer Premier II 1.5G

Range Report - My first 1911 - Les Baer Premium II 1.5G

Yesterday my Les Baer finally came in to my FFL dealer. I immediately took it out for a 100-round dance before bringing it back home for a proper field strip and look-over.

Background: I have been shooting for a period of *months*, but in that time I have fired *a lot* of rounds, mainly .22LR pistol. A few months ago I got my first pistol, and IZH-35m and shortly thereafter got into bullseye. I have competed twice in our local competitions and scored 711 and 749 in my respective two outings, which I am told is a decent score for someone with as little shooting experience as myself. In practice (and I practice around 1000-1500 rounds a week) on my best days I am an 800 shooter. If you are not familiar with bullseye, all shooting is done one-handed at a distant target (50' indoors, 50/25 yards outdoors). I also have a Ruger MKIII that I have put a lot of rounds through, and a 17HMR rifle for benchrest work. In large caliber, I have shot a Springfield XDm, a rented Springfield 1911 at the range (not sure exactly which variant), and a bullseye 1911 that I borrowed in my last competition. In the .45 portion of the last competition, the competitor scoring for me told me I was doing really well with a borrowed gun for my first time shooting a .45 in competition. So I'd like to think that I'm a decent shot and progressing fairly rapidly.

Mission: My purpose in selecting and buying this gun was to get a very competitive setup for bullseye shooting. My criteria was not for a self-defense gun, but for a gun that could achieve maximum accuracy at 50 yards and preferably came with frame-mounted optics (red dot). I chose the Les Baer because it was one of the few semi-custom guns that could be had with a 1.5" group guarantee at 50 yards. Therefore I limited my selection to the bullseye guns I could find that had such a guarantee, be they Les Baer or other. After a few WTB ads on the bullseye list, a good selection of used bullseye guns emerged. I selected this particular Premium II because 1) the Les Baer name, 2) the guarantee, and 3) it already had frame-mounted optics (Ultradot). While I found guns for between $1000-$1200, most of these did not have the optic mount I wanted and adding the optic plus mount plus installation of said mount was a fairly expensive proposition (~$400). Therefore I selected a gun already setup. The gentleman I purchased the gun from said he got his Distinguished ranking with this pistol. I paid $1450 shipped. Based on my assessment of the market over the last month I've been looking, this was a fair price IMHO.

First Impressions: I had seen pictures of the gun I was getting, but there's always a little trepidation when opening that box for the first time and hoping it looks like what one expected. Indeed the gun matched the pictures and description well. The slide to frame fit was tight when the gun was in battery with a little bit of play when the slide was locked back. The barrel bushing looked to be a nickel steel or stainless while the rest of the gun is blued. The Ultradot was working and visible on a low power setting, so the battery was good. The gun had no major scratches on it, just a few on the slide mount. It came with one magazine and in a cheapish plastic case. Since the gun is intended to be used for bullseye, the rear sight was removed and replaced with a slide racker. The front of the slide is serrated and this proved useful to help rack the slide as the optics mount interferes with access to the rear serrations. The slide-racker was also quite useful. The front and back straps were finely checkered and this was a welcome feature to assist holding the gun.

First Shots: I loaded my first mag up with Fiocchi FMJ 230gr and took aim at the target 5 yards away. As I established my aim, dot on the target, I touched the trigger and began my press….BANG! Scared the crap out of me. I dropped the magazine, racked the slide, verified the chamber was empty and proceeded to dry fire the gun a couple times down-range. Confirmed: this gun has the lightest trigger I have ever felt. I mean scary light.

The Trigger: As mentioned, and perhaps I cannot emphasize enough, this gun has a *light* trigger. My IZH-35m has a 2lbs trigger with about 1mm of take-up and 2mm of travel after a very crisp, clean, and consistent break. It’s a world class trigger (seriously, the IZH-35m has taken many world championship medals). The PII made the Izzy feel like a slug. The PII trigger has *zero* take-up, and about 1mm of travel after what feels like a 1lb or *less* break. All one has to do is think 'trigger' and once the nervous impulse to begin trigger pressure hits the finger, the gun goes off. I have an airsoft 1911 I use for indoor at-home practice/fun and this trigger is lighter than that. It freaked me out, and its not legal for bullseye. Now all that said, the break is incredibly clean and consistent. The trigger feels absolutely great, its just way too light. I wouldn't be surprised if the trigger is somehow only 8 or 12oz which I didn't think was possible to achieve on a 1911. The rented Springfield I shot felt like it had a 3.5-4lb trigger pull with some creep and definite over-travel. The borrowed 1911 I shot in competition was setup with what the bullseye folk call a 'roll trigger' and while I'm not exactly sure what that means, it feels a lot like 'smooth creep' to me. But it was a very consistent trigger, probably around 3lbs which I believe is the legal minimum for .45 bullseye.

Shooting: Once I got 'used' to the trigger, if that's even possible with such a light and short pull, I started to put shots on target. It was somewhat apparent that the gun needed some zeroing, but this was complicated by a couple of factors. First, I am used to a more substantial grip. The izzy has a target-style one-hand grip with palm-shelf that I really like. My Ruger has a VQ oversized rubber grip with finger grooves and a heel flare. The borrowed 1911 I shot in competition had a palm shelf as well. So I struggled to find the right grip position, which tended to effect my trigger finger placement. I use the pad of my finger on the trigger and sometimes my grip was putting too much finger into the guard and causing my shots to pull left. Second, I am not used to the recoil. The recoil doesn't scare me, and I'm slowly learning to control any 'flinching' however small, but its still there. I know this latter issue rests with the shooter and will be alleviated by more rounds down-range. My wife (who is 5'2") shot the gun as well (two-handed) and while she had a lot of issues with the recoil of the rented Springfield we shot, I believe the stiffer spring in the Les Baer helped to mitigate that for her as she felt the recoil was not nearly as bad.

Accuracy: It was hard for me to say what the accuracy of the gun was, as it was clear that my shooting wasn't up to snuff and I didn't have the chance to test the gun off a rest. I did put out a slow-fire B2 target at 20 yards and pumped it full of rounds. Very difficult as I couldn't get a good grip on the gun and that kept the dot moving around. My first slow-fire target looked about like when I very first started shooting bullseye: Swiss cheese. That said, I managed to keep all my shots on the paper at least.

Ergonomics: I know that many many folks find the ergonomics of the 1911 to be perfect. But I cannot say I am amongst them. My hands are smallish, yet the grip of the 1911 feels too thin for my hand to get the right positioning. After I got the gun home, I put on a set of rubber finger-grooves that go on under the stock grip panels. This helped somewhat, but the grip still is not confidence-inspiring for me. I like a grip that feels much more like the gun is part of the hand, meaning a palm shelf.

Field Strip: First time field-stripping a 1911. Of course I watched a number of video's online and made sure that I had my plastic bushing wrench at hand. This was a good thing as the bushing was very tight to the barrel that I could not rotate it with my fingers. The wrench was very welcome. Taking out the recoil spring was a little strange as the spring really held on tight to the guide rod, requiring a good stretch of the spring to get it out. The slide-racker has to come off to get the slide past the optic mount, so this adds another step to the take-down. The slide-stop pushed out the side of the gun very smoothly and easily, and the slide glided off the gun. Everything appeared to be well-lubed and clean, so there was no cleaning or lubrication to perform at this time. Reassembly was a little tricky, mainly regarding the reinsertion of the slide-stop. I had trouble getting the stop past the detent by pushing or rotating the stop, so I used a very small screwdriver to depress the detent and the stop dropped right in. As mentioned, I have a Ruger MKIII, so I have learned the art of patience with guns…

Reliability: My range session was time-constrained and thus I was only able to put 100 rounds through the gun, but using the Les Baer, Tripp Research, and Metalform 7 and 10-round magazines, the gun was completely reliable.

Final Thoughts: This is a great gun. The trigger, while way too light for comfort, is superb and shows the work of a good smith somewhere along the way. I'm certain the gun did not come from Les Baer like this. The fit and finish is quite good, even for a used gun. The bluing is intact and doesn't show any major signs of wear. The fit of the parts feels tight. The slide-racker makes the gun easy to rack, as opposed to having sweaty fingers struggle with gripping fine serrations as I did in my last competition. The optic is an older Ultradot and performed as expected, which is to say well; it’s the best red dot for competition that I've found and I have a Mueller dot on my Ruger and a Ultradot Matchdot (the newest version) on my Izzy.

range report 7/2/2011

The slump is broken!

Competition results - 06/26/11

Got the results of the competition today. I actually came in second in the marksman class! If I can shoot my potential, I should be able to win the class.

The Slump

So I've been in a big slump shooting lately. Practice before the last competition didn't go so well, and practice after taking a week off hasn't been any better; its been worse. I don't know what's wrong or what to do from here.

progress report 6/20/11

Here's a look at my progress so far, lines for slow-fire, rapid-fire, and the NMC average. Also the second graph is of the standard deviations for the slow-fire and rapid-fire. Its been good to see that the trends in scores have been going up, and the trend in standard deviations has been going down. This is a good thing, shows that I'm not streaky and it also shows that my practice is working out. I have heard that one should not shoot more than 100 rounds of practice, but I am shooting nearly 400 in a session. But my scores seem to indicate that my concentration doesn't fall off much during the session; I do almost as well at the end as at the beginning.

range report 6/19/2011

Some more shooting this weekend, didn't do as good as Saturday, but still shot fairly well and at least fairly consistently.

range report 6/18/2011

Good shooting today! Not only good, but my best shooting to date with some excellent match scores.