August score posting

I did get out and shoot in August, I just didn't manage to post about each range trip. Here are a bunch of my scores.

Match Results and 100th Post!

Shot in the match last weekend, shot an 819-16x, won the Marksman class. Didn't shoot the 45. Hopefully this should get me my expert card. Need to keep working with the 45, my scores there are climbing, but they are still hovering around 700.

In praise of Dick Horton grips

I got some new Dick Horton grips for my Les Baer. It took a little sanding to get them to fit, but they place my hand in the exact right position, including my trigger finger. I shot my highest 45 score yet using the grips.

range reports - June and July

Well I started a new job in June and that cut into my range and blogging time. But I still managed to get out and shoot, just not as well as I usually shoot.

5/29:















6/6:

















6/10:





















6/28:












7/7:












7/27:

Winner!

I shot in the Texas State Pistol Championships this weekend. I had some other commitments, plus I didn't feel like shooting the 45 since I have not been doing very well with it, so I just shot the izzy. Izzy ran flawlessly on CCI Pistol Match. Ended up with a new personal high score: 826-15x! This should be enough to get my sharpshooter and/or expert card I think and bump me up in the classifications. I shot my first match exactly a year ago, on a cane, limping around the line. I'm very happy to have come this far in a year; a lot of shooters never make it over the 800 barrier.

benching my pistols

The collection ready to take a turn on the bench.

The izzy on the rest.




CCI Pistol Match #1


CCI Pistol Match #2


Eley Sport


Wolf MT


STI Spartan


ASYM Precision Practical Match


S&W 5906TSW


CCI Blazer Aluminum

range report 5/15/12

I headed out after work to get some bullseye practice in before the big state match at the end of this month. I just shot the izzy, since I will be only shooting one gun in the state match. After my struggles with the 45 in the last match (and blowing the number plate off my target holder...) I figured I should stick with what I'm good at until I get a little better with the 45.

I shot ok, actually I guess pretty good considering I haven't shot bullseye for at least two weeks as I had been getting ready for the benchrest competition. My personal goal is to shoot over 810 in the next match, so it looks like I will have some more practice to do to bring my scores up a few points.

Function-wise, the izzy did ok, only two hiccups using CCI Pistol Match. I had one high-feed and one failure to feed. Both occurred on the second round of a magazine. I figure two failures out of 200 rounds isn't bad, although I would much prefer to have 100% reliability. But since you can take alibi's in competition, I'm not too worried. The izzy seems to be running pretty good. I'm going to fiddle a little bit with the trigger and see if I can't get the reset a little smoother.

benchrest competition 5/13/12

Well the second day of the Benchrest Shootout went pretty good. I didn't win anything this time, but I did shoot pretty well. The format was a best of two target shoot for the custom and unlimited classes so we shot a total of four targets. In the custom class, since my rifle weighed too much, another competitor graciously let me shoot his rifle! I ended up shooting my highest of the day using his rifle, shooting a 239-2X and he shot a 239-3X as his high score, so he managed to win 3rd in the custom class by one 'X'. Close one! My other scores were in the 230's which I considered great because my previous personal best was only a 231. All in all, it was a good competition, with some great door prizes and consideration by the sponsors.

benchrest competition 5/12/12

My wife and I went up to Lufkin TX for the Texas State Benchrest Shootout. I managed to score a 242 in the custom class, but my gun weighed too much in post-inspection; I would have won the class. But...I came in second in the Unlimited class with a 245-2X while the winner had a 245-5X. Conditions were near perfect with very little wind. I've never shot this good; my previous personal best was a 231.

Tomorrow we do the 'money shoot' so we'll see what happens there.

Air pistol shooting - 5/1/12

We've been running an air pistol match on Rimfire Central. Here a link to the May match.

I managed to shoot a 210 off-hand.

April match results

Well its been a little while since I posted, things have been busy with travel for work, etc. But the April match results were pretty good for me, I won the marksman class in every match and in aggregate with an 814-15x, which is above the 810 threshold I am trying to maintain. Next comes the state match at the end of May! I also helped paint all the target stands in prep for the state match.

On the mental game...

I saw this post on the bullseye-l list and thought it was pretty interesting:

Several years ago, our mutual friend Brian once told me, "If you can't shoot a 10 on your first shot, how in the heck are you going to clean the target?" ... At the time I thought it was an arrogant statement. I didn't fully realized what he was trying to tell me until after some time had passed. Basically he was instructing me to mentally get my head out of my backside. And expect of myself to pull off the first round as though I was at my peak performance level; something that I never expected from myself, you know--going to the first target COLD.

His intimated advice was for me to go figure my own way, to perform at a peak level, right out of the gate.

So I devised a training method for when I first arrive at the practice range. I would start the first target by getting ready to perform the best possible shot I was capable of. I took all the time in the world, worked my shot plan with slavish devotion--and hopefully after about three or four minutes, would eventually release my most favorable round. Then I'd immediately break the cycle and force myself to put the gun down, make it safe, and sit down to read the front page of the daily newspaper. After ten minutes or so elapsed, I'd start all over again without time limits, to perform the best shot that I was cable able of releasing. Then I'd put the gun down and start the process all over again by returning to the newspaper. In the beginning, it might have taken me about an hour to shoot one slow fire target, sometimes longer.

I'll be the first to admit, it's a difficult drill to mentally master. I've seen others attempt this drill and they're generally under the impression they're not actually accomplishing anything. It takes lots and lots of time, not to mention commitment. But you do learn a few of things about yourself. I came face-to-face with my own shortcomings and took inventory of my level of anxiety, confidence (or lack there of), devotion to one's shot plan, the quality of knowing when to abort, and most of all, my typical and ultimate level of patience.

And when things go real well, it's easier to mentally ingrain a good release and its related process.

The same drill can be applied and somewhat modified to your dilemma of switching guns during the center-fire match.

-Tony Brong

range report 4/17/12

Got out on Monday after work to shoot. Didn't do too bad and zero malfunctions with the izzy and the Spartan. Still having some trouble shooting misses in sustained-fire with the 45. Those misses really killed my rapid fire scores as the rest of my shots were pretty good. One of my rapid fires with the 45 totally fell apart and I had shots all across my piece of paper. Next match is this Sunday, so we'll see how I manage to shoot.

range report 4/12/12

Went out after work to the range today. I got the Spartan back from Greg Derr who I must say did a GREAT job turning around the Spartan's slide with a rail. I mounted the Ultradot to it and it was good to go. The zero was only off by about 5 clicks at 50 feet. The gun shot good, no failures to feed, eject, or slide-lock-back issues.

I shot remarkably well with the izzy, and had good moments with the Spartan. I learned that I need to think about *curling* my trigger finger when I clinch the gun and start my press. That seems to help me avoid jerking shots with the big gun.

Overall I was pretty happy with the session. The dot on the izzy just seemed to be magnetic to the black during rapid fire. I wasn't quite in 'the zone' as my mentor George would say, but it was close. I was using CCI Pistol Match ammo in the izzy and only had one high-feed during slow-fire, no light strikes or stove-pipes.

My mentor George reminded me that shooting an 828 with the izzy is a new WORLD RECORD for me! Gotta celebrate the moments.

range report 4/9/12

Got out after work to shoot. Still waiting on the Spartan, so it was just the izzy that I shot. Out of 200 rounds of Eley Sport, I had no light strikes and 1 stove-pipe. I've got some CCI pistol match on the way so we'll see how that stacks up. So far, CCI standard velocity has been the most reliable after the new firing pin was put in.

My shooting was not bad, both matches I would have scored over the magic 800 mark, although just barely. My average was just under 800, so I'm shooting about right where I would expect to be. Now I just need to improve those slow-fire scores and keep my sustained-fire consistent and maybe I can be a consistent 810 or so.

range report 4/7/12

Got out to the range in the morning for some practice with just the izzy; the Spartan's slide is off being drilled and tapped for a scope mount and the Les Baer is still in the shop with a broken scope mount.

Didn't shoot my highest and didn't break 800 like is my goal, but I shot ok and feel like I'm slowly pulling out of the slump I've been in recently. Other problem was that I was shooting Wolf MT and had three light-strikes and 1 stove-pipe. Going to try Eley Sport next and see how it performs with the new firing pin.

Benchrest is HARD

Got out to shoot some benchrest this weekend. Shot two targets and scored 206-1x and 203-2x. Definitely not my best. Got my wind flags out for the first time and started trying to read the wind. Still learning, changing conditions had me chasing zero most of the session.

Anyway, hopefully the picture gives you some idea of how hard the target we are shooting at 50 yards is to score well on.

range report 3/26/12

So I'm thinking that I'm kind of in a slump right now. My last several sessions I've failed to break 800 or 810, and my 45 shooting is slipping as well. It seems like I can't get into 'the zone'. The dot is moving around more than I would like, and the izzy trigger feels sloppy, while the Spartan trigger feels kind of unpredictable. Sometimes the Spartan has a nice smooth release and other times it seems to just bind and not want to shoot. I *feel* like I'm getting better with the 45, my confidence is going up with it and the recoil doesn't bother me like it used to. But I'm still getting a fair number of misses because of jerking the trigger, which is no good. As for the izzy, well the reset of the trigger was feeling weird yesterday, like it didn't want to reset as fast as usual, so I was having trouble 'riding' the reset like I normally do in sustained-fire.

The Spartan slide goes off today to Massechuttes where a guy has graciously agreed to drill and tap the slide and mount a rail to it so I can get rid of the Aimtech mount that is giving me FTE's on occasion.

I need to find that way to get back into 'the zone' on a consistent basis. Even my airgun shooting has been going down lately, so there's a clear slump. But that's ok, I know I need to shoot through it and just keep focused.

range report 3/22/12

Got out to my usual range yesterday, had to pick up my new iron, a S&W 5906 which will be used for defensive purposes. While the range did the FFL transfer, they let me get a lane and shoot while they finished the paperwork.

My shooting with the izzy felt pretty good, but the scores were a little lower than my last session. Didn't bother shooting the Spartan yesterday, didn't feel like beating myself up mentally and physically. Good thing was that across four slowfire and eight rapid fire targets, I had zero malfunctions with the izzy.

Took the 5906 out and gave it a hundred rounds of winchester white box after I finished my bullseye practice. The first few rounds had a tiny bit of trouble going into battery, but a light push on the rear of the slide fixed that. After a mag or two, this seemed to subside. Probably just needs a good lube, but I also have a spare recoil spring I am going to change out since I have no idea how old the one in there is.

This gun is very accurate at least at the short distances (5 and 9 yards) that I tested it at. Ten-shot groups fired quickly with two-hands were well under 6" and a ten-shot group fired a moderate pace at 5 yards was well under 2". I was shooting small groups and the trigger is pretty darn good. The double action is very smooth with no binding or 'stacking'. The single action break is crisp and repeatable after taking up the trigger. It will be interesting to see how it performs at longer distances in my next range session.

I've mounted a streamlight TLR-1 on the rail and added a Hogue sleeve to the grip with some finger grooves.

range report 3/21

So I got out to the range after work yesterday. Same one I went to last week, its called TOP GUN. They even rent full-auto guns there, which I am going to have to try for sure some time. I know that will be ammo-expensive, but it looks like a ton of fun. Anyway, it is kind of distracting when the guy two lanes down from you is slinging full-auto lead down-range. Still its a nice range, 15 lanes and 51 feet of distance, which is exactly enough.

My wobble was bigger than normal, and it seems that my wobble troubles are coming in the vertical direction as opposed to horizontal or just all over. I did some adjustments to the izzy trigger last time I had it apart and well, it feels like crap. I am going to need to re-adjust it and see if I can get some magic back into that trigger. Right now it has a fairly heavy but short take-up and a fuzzy-feeling break point. Its hard to stage the trigger. Still I managed to shoot a decent match even though at the time I felt like I was really struggling what with the wobble and all.

With the Spartan, I definitely didn't shoot as good as I have before with the 45. Still having issues throwing shots low-left, which I KNOW is jerking the trigger. I experimented with some different finger positions on the trigger and am finding that a pad position might actually be best for me. I'm also still experimenting with how I grip the gun; how much of my hand goes around the grip to the right. Kind of variations on the 'Zins' grip.

What's kind of exciting, and kind of nerve-racking and pressuring at the same time, is that assuming our match isn't flooded out this month, if I can manage the same kind of performance that I did in the last match (815) or in this last practice session (810), I *think* that in two matches, I could make Expert. Now that would be HUGE for me. I shot my first match in May of last year, scoring a 711 with a Ruger MKII and iron sights. I would really be proud if I can do it. Really I would be happy if I could make expert by the end of this year.

Oh and get this: after my modifications to the firing pin, the izzy ran FLAWLESSLY. No light strikes, no stove-pipes, no high-feeds. I'm hoping to get out to the range again after work today to pick up my S&W wonder-nine and shoot that a little bit, but also try to shoot a 900 with the izzy.

range report 3/17

So I received a package from EAA on Friday containing my firing
pin and the pin that holds the firing pin in (just in case I bent it),
plus some spare grip screws. I managed to get the firing pin out FROM
THE BOTTOM of the slide (using a very small punch and more force and I
was comfortable with...ended up bending one of my punches in the
process). The assembly diagram shows that pin going IN from the
bottom, but it does not. It goes in and out from the top side of the
slide. Anyway, got the pin out, got the old firing pin out.
Compared with the new one. The nub on my firing pin that protrudes is
basically completely gone. Replaced the new firing pin into the
slide, put the retraining pin in and figured I was good to go to the
range.

Well I get to the range and the izzy won't chamber the first round.
On close inspection, the nub of the firing pin is preventing the case
rim from riding up high enough against the slide to get the proper
angle to be inserted into the chamber. I did some pushing on the
firing pin and realized it was seized up in the slide. Oh
well....ended up switching to the Ruger and shooting a session with
that and the Spartan. Not my best session but at least it was some
practice.

Got home and took the firing pin out and dremeled the notch on the
side of the firing pin a little bigger. Very quick work, put the pin
back in and now its sliding back and forth in the slide with very
little effort so I think I have it fixed. This week I plan to get out
at least twice in advance of the match this Sunday and verify the Izzy
is working well. I think I still have enough of the non-waxy CCI std.
vel to do some practice

benchrest practice 3/17/12

Went out yesterday for benchrest practice with the 40X while my wife shot silhouettes with the Savage 93R17 17HMR. Got to try out the new front rest from Sinclair along with my new rear bag. The front and rear bags both have Cordura nylon ears on them so the stock slides very smoothly on the bags. Also good: my wife had a great time shooting the 17 knocking down sheep and rams at 50 yards.

Shot a 225-3x and a 219-3x with winds from the south at about 11mph.

range report 3/13

I went to a new range yesterday called Top Gun. Indoor range with 15 lanes, electronic target carriers, pretty nice. They even rent full-auto guns! Had a pretty big rental selection, not that I really rent guns very often. The range was 17 yards max, which turns out to be 51 feet so that was just right for my targets.

So I got NERVOUS! The guy went over the range rules with me and I was looking at all his monitors that had views of each lane. Once I got to my lane, all I could think of was that the guy was watching me on camera and that he would probably come running out when I started shooting one-handed.

I get lined up for my first slow-fire and I'm shaking all over the place. I'm like 'wtf?' The first target doesn't go so well, plus my first round is a light-strike. Was using CCI standard velocity. The CCI seems to be a little better than Wolf or Eley in terms of the light-strikes issue. I only had that one light strike in the whole session, so that was positive.

Anyway, I definitely didn't shoot my best. The lighting was kind of messing with my eyes and I didn't feel entirely comfortable on the unfamiliar range. Excuses, excuses, I know. I actually shot ok with the Spartan, which interestingly only jammed like twice; failure to eject caused by interference of the empty between the slide and the scope mount. But I ended up shooting ok with the 45, so that was good. Still had a few misses with the 45, but I'm getting better. And I had a freakin' miss in RF with the izzy! Damn!