range report 4/28/2011

Went out again on Thursday with my buddy, again with the Ruger but to a different range. We shot the 'good stuff', being CCI standard velocity. Fired about 200 rounds between us. Again we shot at 20 yards or there-about.

My scores:

slow fire: 64, 35, 63, 54, 43, 52. avg: 51.83
rapid: 59, 67, 60, 62, 37, 72, 81. avg: 62.57

est. match score: 177.

Very happy with those scores, my match score improved about 25 points while my slow fire went up 15 points and my rapid fire went up about 5 points. Lots of room for improvement, but I felt like this was good progress from the last session.

SBGST:

Stance: Finding that I'm still adjusting my stance, but that its somewhat 'easy' in the sense that I close my eyes, bring the gun on target, and if its not pointing to the target, I rotate until my natural arm motion lands on the target with my eyes closed. I like to hook my left hand into my pocket, just feels nice and keeps that arm out of the way and feels like its doing something as opposed to just hanging there.

Breathing: Getting better at consistency here. I like to take two really big breaths in between shots in slow-fire, and then load up on a regular breath when I raise the gun. In rapid fire my breathing is still about the same; I do all 5 of my shots while slowly exhaling. I know some people take half breaths during the course of fire, but I like to keep everything in a rhythm and try to make each shot the same.

Grip: Getting better here too. I know grip consistency is really important and its always a bit hard using someone else's gun to get that consistency. But the Hogue grips with their finger grooves help, along with the thumb-rest. I have been gripping about as tight as I can, then backing off from that point just a little bit. I had slightly better control of the gun during recoil, but it still moves up and left during rapid fire and I have to wait for the sights to settle back on target.

Sights: Finally getting used to the tall front sight on the Ruger and remembering to get it all the way down in the notch of the rear sight. My buddy's gun is not setup to 'dot the i' which is to say aim below the black of the target. That technique helps because the black front sight stands out better on the white background below the bullseye. Instead I needed to aim at the center of the bull and that makes for a little bit of trouble in terms of contrast against the target. My buddy wants to put some new sights on the Ruger but with the tapered barrel model, you can't change the front sight. I did have a few issues where I was transitioning my focus from the front sight to the target to assure alignment which is bad; I need to keep focused on the front sight exclusively and getting proper alignment with the rear notch.

Trigger: I've already described before the trigger pull of the Ruger, which has been modified by a gunsmith and is quite good. My own habits are more important: I continue to place the first crook of my finger onto the right edge of the trigger. This just feels like the most stable point for me, and I'm not sure that I'm going to change it; I need to consult with my mentor. I do feel like I am pulling more straight-back that I have been. I did not notice myself pushing my shots to the left, which may have been recoil anticipation. That's interesting, because the MKII does have more recoil than the IZH and moves more in the hand. If anything, I was pulling slightly to the right. That does potentially indication too much trigger finger, but then again, my scores improved. Not sure exactly what to make. I have a video of one of my shots in slow-fire that I'll post soon.

range report 4/26/2011

With my gun in the shop, we went out and shot my buddy's Ruger MKII, which looks pretty much identical to the one on the left. We even put the same Hogue grips on it. His gun has a bit of trigger work, so the pull is relatively light and has a decent break.

We shot the official bullseye targets (you can get your targets here: http://www.pistoleer.com/targets/handgun/) at a distance of 20 yards, which is a little farther than the official distance of 50', but the range we were at didn't have the best distance markings.

My scores:

slow fire: 26, 54, 22, 42
avg: 36

rapid fire: 60, 42, 51, 61, 66, 69
avg: 58.16

est. match score: 152

My mentor George tells me that's a pretty decent score for the first time shooting the official targets and with iron sights and a gun that I don't know all that well. So I was happy, but there is a lot of room for improvement!

The range we went to didn't allow lead bullets! First I've heard of that, so I had to buy some mini-mags to shoot with as opposed to using my CCI SV. Probably doesn't make any difference at this point, but standard velocity ammo is more accurate and the only ammo I will shoot in my gun.

SBGST:

Stance: Feel ok on this, I feel like each time out it gets better and better and more natural.

Breathing: Tried a technique recommended by George which is 'supercharging' or breathing really deeply to saturate the blood with oxygen. This helps stave off muscle fatigue while holding, especially during the slow-fire portions. I don't have this technique down in a regular manner; I still have to think about it and don't always do things consistently at this point.

Grip: The Hogue grips we put on the Ruger are a world of improvement over the stock grips. That said, they still aren't as a good as the IZH grips with their palm shelf that really locks the hand onto the gun. I'm still working on finding a hold that's comfortable, tight, and not a death-grip on the gun.

Sights: Still having trouble with the 'tall' front sight of the Ruger, but getting better at bringing it down and finding the top easier. The front sight is just so tall that it feels like you can be aligning the sight in the vertical for a long time; its just a little weird. I would like the sights lower to the bore line, but I understand why the front sight is so tall; its because of the tapered barrel. That said, my eyes are glued to the front sight while I'm shooting.

Trigger: The trigger on the MKII is a two-stage affair, with the first stage being medium in length and very very light, while the second stage is a pretty crisp break around 2-2.5lbs. The trigger itself feels wider than the IZH, and has more of a curved shape.

I am having a really hard time adjusting my trigger finger to put the pad centered on the trigger as opposed to putting the right edge of the trigger into the crook of my first joint. I feel like my
finger hangs out too much and makes a weird 'arch' from my hand back into the trigger guard that makes my grip feel unstable.

Its even more confusing because I read an article by Brian Zins (10-time NRA pistol champion and finalist on that Top Shot show on History channel) where he actually recommends using the first crook of the finger centered on the trigger. His reasons are mainly that the pad of the finger is compressible, so that 'slop' can cause issues when one is applying steady pressure and waiting for the break.

All in all, it was a good time at the range, very humbling to shoot the official targets. At 20 yards, they are f**king small!

range report 4/22/2011

Big disappointment today. I stripped the gun and re-assembled using gun-tite (lock-tite for guns, removable thread-locker) to try and prevent the issues of the shroud and grip screws coming lose after around 100-150 rounds.

Everything seemed fine, but apparently I must have made a mistake tightening the grips too much. I got to the range and found out that the magazine release was extremely stiff, so the point where the return spring would not push the release back to the engaged position, and therefore it would not hold a magazine. I used the take-down tool to pry it loose from the open position so I could insert a magazine and also managed to bust a chip off the back of the wood grip.

So there was no shooting of the izzy today. Instead we used my buddy's Ruger MKII and his Springfield XDM .45. Shooting his Ruger is always fun; we put a new Hogue grip with finger grooves on it today and it feels a world better. Its already a great gun; there's been some kind of trigger work done. The gun has a longish first stage take up that is very light and then about a 2lbs crisp break on a very short second stage. Very easy to do rapid fire and really crank out the rounds.



We did a bit of tactical work shooting numbered targets. The non-shooter would tap the shoulder of the shooter who was in ready position with the muzzle at rest on the bench and call out 'even' or 'odd' on the 6-number target. The shooter would then engage a double-tap on each appropriate target and move to the next, continuing in a cycle until ammo was exhausted. We both used a Weaver-style stance (actually my buddy does a 'reverse weaver with his off-foot forward') and two-handed grip shooting at 3-5 yards. Its a lot of fun to shoot the MKII. However I don't like how 'tall' the sights are; they feel like they are a mile above the bore, making it hard to vertically place shots.

We then shot the Springfield. Its always a shock both a) the cost of .45 ammo and b) the recoil. I always tend to think the recoil will be worse than it actually is, and that probably helps me control what recoil there is and bring the gun back on target relatively quickly. Don't get me wrong, I don't have buff arms that can totally prevent muzzle rise like some guys you see on Youtube. But for a guy who hasn't shot a .45 but a few times, I thought I did pretty good. The trigger on the Springfield is, um, terrible from a target perspective, but its a carry-gun, and I understand why its setup the way it is from the factory. The initial stage feels very long and has a fairly light take-up, but its so long that it had me feeling that the trigger was not set a couple times because I thought I should have encountered the second stage! The second stage pull has some creep and feels pretty heavy, maybe 7lbs or so. I think the gun could benefit from a little bit of trigger work, a shorter first stage and a crisper and little lighter second stage, maybe 5lbs or so.

The Springfield grip is surprisingly good. Its nice and fat and the polymer texture really prevents any moving the gun in the hand under recoil. The sights are excellent, very clear 3-dot style and nice and low. We also shot the Springfield one-handed, to see how it would feel in a bullseye match. I did fairly well, although we were only shooting at 5-yards. The fundamentals of shooting the .22 certainly help with the .45 and that was reassuring; that my skills will translate to other calibers.



What plagued both myself and my buddy to a greater degree was a tendency to put too much finger on the trigger. I found myself at times having the second joint of my trigger finger on the trigger, which is a no-no. I think this was probably due to the heavy pull and I identified the problem in both of our techniques as the shots were pulling left.

This is a 'trigger rose', which is kind of like a wind-rose [I have to credit my mentor, George, for telling me about this graphic]. Its a map of the target and tries to identify what trigger behavior one might be doing that is causing shots to miss. According to this graphic, we were both probably anticipating recoil and that was over-whelming our tendency to use too much trigger-finger. We were probably slapping to some extent too. Trigger control certainly takes a lot of practice; its especially difficult on a heavy and slightly creepy trigger.

range report - 4/20/11

Fired about 250 rounds last night, finished off what I had left of the crappy Remington "Target" Standard Velocity, which included 2 more duds (good primer strikes on recovered cartridges). My first batch of CCI Standard Velocity finally arrived, so I capped off the session with about 100 around of that, which of course fed reliably and had zero duds.

My averages were a little better at 20 yards; I shot five 5-shot strings and averaged 4.879", which was significantly better than my last set of 20-yard targets. My first set of 5-yard targets weren't so hot, a pretty big average of 3.411" but my second was more on-par with how I've been shooting, averaging 1.958". That put my total 5-yard average for the session at 2.684", definitely the worst I have shot so far, but I'm not going to dwell on that, especially because I did ok on the 20-yard side of things.

Home practice:

This week I have been working on dry-firing while using a laser bore-sighter. I watch the laser when I pull the trigger to try and correct a deficiency where I am pulling the shots to the left. I also have been working on holding a 5-lbs weight straight out like the gun and only holding it with my lower three fingers while extending my trigger finger and moving it independently of the grip. The weight definitely helped my endurance at the range yesterday; I also started to get tired in my hold at the very end.

Technical issues:

I replaced the three slot-head screws in the upper shroud with hex screws I found off GunBroker. Its nice to have stronger screws, but they are still finding their way loose after about 100 rounds. Same for the grip screws and for the palm shelf screw (which is also a hex screw on my gun...not sure if this is stock or not). I always carry a set of hex keys and the take-down tool for the gun, so snugging the screws back up wasn't a big deal, but I think I need to Locktite them for the next trip.

SBGST:

Stance: Still working it out, but I feel pretty comfortable. I'm able to put a little more weight forward, and that felt comfortable.

Breathing: I did really well on this part, consistent breathing on each string.

Grip: Having some problems here. The palm shelf shifting isn't helping, but I'm still trying to find my consistent grip that is both comfortable and controls the gun well. I'm keeping my thumb straight now in the thumb groove and trying to keep it relaxed. But I also have issues with the gun twisting up and left under recoil. I'm experimenting with grip pressure on my lower three fingers: I have read that the appropriate grip strength is that which is as strong as possible without causing the arm to shake from tension/exertion.

Sights: Also having a bit of a problem here seeing the sights against the black targets. I really wish I had a high-contrast front sight. Perhaps I need to switch to the bullseye method of "dotting the i" with my sights, but that means adjusting the sights for a specific target and distance, which I'm not sure I'm ready to do yet. During shooting my focus on the front sight and sight picture is good, and I'm not looking down-range until all my rounds are fired.

Trigger: Was told I need to work more on not anticipating the shot. That's something I've worked hard at on rifle, but pistol, especially rapid fire, makes that somewhat difficult. I shot a video of my trigger control on a 5-shot string for critique. I think I'm still flinching a little bit, but for the most part my pull is steady increasing pressure with a pretty good rhythm. I know it can get a lot better, but watching the video I was actually pleasantly surprised with how 'smooth' I felt my trigger finger was moving.

First set of targets at 5-yards:


Second set of targets at 5-yards:


Target at 20 yards:


Video of my trigger pull:

range report 4/17/2011

Today we fired about 300 rounds through the IZH of Remington Standard Velocity Target. We encountered 3 dud rounds, a primer strike was evident on the recovered rounds.

Average 5-shot group at 5 yards was 1.83". I got a 5.7" group average on my 20-yard targets.

SBGST: Stance: no real problems there I feel like other than my right leg is still injured so I can't put weight more forward. Breathing: doing better, especially calming down before a string, but I still feel some nerves at the pistol range where I don't at the rifle range. Grip: Having a lot of trouble with this one right now, trying to find the exact grip that is the most comfortable for me and can control the recoil. I know that sounds funny, because there's virtually no recoil with a .22, but the gun tends to twist to the left in my hand. Experimenting with my thumb position and grip tension, but need to seek some advice. Sights: still focusing on the front sight, but sometimes having a bit of trouble seeing it against the black bullseye; thinking maybe I should put a dot on the sight or something. Trigger: still trying to not anticipate the shot, but still have a steady rhythm in rapid fire and keep the motion of steady pressure in place, but that is causing me to anticipate recoil a bit I think. Something to work on.

Targets:

range report 4/16/2011

Took a friend out for his first time shooting. Put about 250 rounds through the IZH-35m, still using the relatively poor Remington Target Standard Velocity which had a failure-to-feed jam during a course of fire, and also a couple failures to feed on chambering the first round. Also one mistake by me of not fully seating the magazine. My buddy did great for his first time shooting. Tomorrow I go out for more serious shooting.

range report - 4/14/11

My first real range trip, previous two trips were to check out the functionality of the gun and verify that it would eat the ammo I fed it. I tested SK, Eley Orange, Eley Pistol Match, Wolf Target Pistol, Lapua Center-X, CCI Standard Velocity, Remington Standard Velocity Target, and CCI Match Pistol. The gun fired fine with all of them, no misfires, no jams. The only issue was a failure to chamber the first round, which was easily fixed by re-racking the slide. This issue only occurred when a) I accidentally loaded 6 rounds into the mag or b) with ammo that didn't have wax on the bullets or c) when I failed to fully seat the magazine in the gun. So far I have had zero jams during a course of fire.

I did encounter one new issue in my trip, which was a user-issue of failing to let the trigger out enough for it to reset. The trigger on my gun is setup as essentially a single-stage trigger with around a 2lbs pull and very short travel. So during a course of fire, I failed to let the trigger return to its full-forward position. Just a thing I need to get used to; I'm not used to 'rapid' fire.

My objective for the session was to warm up and then shoot 16 targets at 5 yards with 5-shot strings each, aiming for small group sizes and not worrying about point-of-impact relative to the center of the target (although that was my point-of-aim). My average group size was 1.90", which I felt like was a pretty good result for essentially the 4th time I have ever shot a pistol.

The 5 basics of shooting are: stance, breathing, grip, sight alignment, and trigger pull. I will reflect on each.

Stance: I think I'm doing pretty good here, body 45 degrees to the target, knees straight but not tense. I distribute my weight a little bit more on my back foot than my front since I have an injury in my front leg right now, but it doesn't seem to affect anything. I keep my arm straight and not quite locked, inside of my elbow not quite facing up, slightly in.

Breathing: I am doing good on my calming breaths before shooting and on my inhale before shooting the string. I am having some problems breathing during the string. I exhale a little bit at the top of my lift of my arm as I bring the gun down onto the target. I'm having trouble doing something consistent during the string of shots; sometimes I blow slowly out through my lips which seems to work pretty good, but other times I'm focused on other factors and end up breathing out through my nose, and it seems like my air goes too fast. I have read that one has about 8 seconds of not breathing before the nervous system starts to tense the muscles and make the body shake, so I am trying to avoid that point. Next time out I need to focus on a slow steady exhale through my lips.

Grip: I've been told to take the pistol in my off hand and force it into my shooting hand hard, to lock it in place. I'm still working on exactly how to grip the gun. My thumb tends to want to cock down and kind of lock in place. I also need to adjust the palm shelf a little bit higher to make the gun fit tighter. I am getting a tiny bit of muzzle rise / twisting when I fire, so I need to work on keeping a tighter grip without being tense, that should help keep the gun straight, and should make re-acquisition of the front sight easier.

Sight Alignment: I've been focusing exclusively on the front sight after initial alignment of the front sight to the rear notch. After each shot I re-acquire the front sight and focus on its position. I let the target stay in the background and I don't focus my eyes on it, nor do I try to see my shots during a string, I stay fixated on the front sight.

Trigger Pull: I've read that this is something like 80% of shooting a pistol well. I put the edge of my first knuckle on the right edge of the trigger, so the first segment of my finger rests flat against the trigger. I focused this last session on establishing a good trigger rhythm. Basically I started letting my trigger rhythm dictate my shots (I know that sounds weird). But my procedure was basically: steady increasing pressure straight back towards my eye, focus on front sight, wait for the trigger to break, follow-through just slightly, and then extend the finger slightly to allow the trigger to reset and immediately begin pressure for the next shot. I noticed that my best groups were shot when I took a steady rhythm and almost didn't care where the front sight was relative to the target, just that it was centered inside the notch prior to the shot.

The trigger on the IZH is simply outstanding. The prior owner of the gun had it worked over by a gunsmith who did a great job; it breaks nice and clean with very little take-up, virtually no creep, and very little over-travel.

Here are some video's of me shooting:






My targets:

The beginning

This blog will chronicle my journey with the IZH-35m target pistol as I attempt to progress from a novice pistol shooter to a more advanced marksman. I will be including IZH-35m details and tips I have picked up from other knowledgeable shooters as well as listing my results from my range trips.

The IZH-35m is a Russian-made target pistol in .22lr. It was made by Baikal and my understanding is that the pistol was made somewhat 'rough' and was intended to be finished and customized by the Russian shooting teams. They would carve the wood grips to their personal preference and round off some of the rough edges of the metal. The IZH-35m won a number of Olympic medals and World Championships. Its currently not in top competition, probably because it is no longer being made, but remains a very accurate gun and capable of winning .

I was very lucky to find an IZH that had only 200 rounds through it and had been owned by a collector. It came with 2 magazines, the original case, scope base, original cleaning rod still wrapped in its original paper, and a set of spare parts including a firing pin and extractor. Here's what it looked like when it came: