February Match

Shot the monthly match on Sunday. Had three alibi's, all light strikes, so I think the izzy will be headed back to EAA for head-space adjustment. Was using Eley Sport. Still shot well, posted my first match score over 800 and won outright two of the sections of the 22 match. Of course some of our better shooters were gone; none of the experts or masters were shooting.

But overall a positive result and continued progress. Shot the 45 portion of the match with my STI Spartan and really struggled in rapid fire with jerking the trigger. Tried using some of Brian Zins ammo but it wouldn't cycle the Spartan which has a 18 pound spring now. Switched to Stan Chen's ASYM Practical Match which I use on the short line and it cycled fine except for one failure to eject where the empty round hung up on the scope mount between the slide. Otherwise the Spartan seems to be pretty reliable using FMJ rounds.

something clicked... range report 2/24/12

I'm looking at these scores and I still can't get over them...

I took the day off on Friday because I wasn't feeling the best mentally and needed a break to clear my head. Got out to the indoor range and planned to focus the majority of my practice on rapid fire, which had been suffering in my last few sessions.

The first slow-fire targets went pretty good, but it was during the rapid fire that I realized that I was doing really well. There were three times when I thought I might have cleaned the target, only to find a pesky nine! Still, I've never shot this good before. I guess everything was just aligned and I was in the zone.

It felt good. Very good. I was in the zone, even if I didn't realize it exactly at the time. My arm seemed to just have no shakes in it at all, and I could hold steadier than normal, and the dot just sort of magically centered itself in the bull. Funny thing was, I was trying to call my shots, something I STILL can't do well, and I was calling some low shots and they turned out to be 10's. I can usually call a 6 or a miss or something like that, but calling the more subtle errors is still something I am struggling with.

I was using Eley Sport and did have a few failures to fire via light-strikes.

air pistol progress

I've been shooting the NRA 5-meter BB gun target as practice with the IZH-46m. The air izzy is pretty nose-heavy, especially with an ultradot mounted on it. It really gives a good workout of the wrist. The NRA target is pretty challenging even at 5 meters. The 10-ring is about the size of a .177 pellet. I think the airgun is really helping my slow-fire scores with the .22 and the .45.

first benchrest competition

So its not bullseye, but over the winter I picked up a Remington 40x benchrest rifle. I finally got out to my first actual competition last Sunday. I didn't do too bad! My high score was 211-2x. It was really windy, so that made conditions tough, plus I have to shim my rear bag with the current front rest I have, so I will be looking to change front rest and rear bags to better equipment.


SPORTER

McDonald 225-1x
Steiger 223-2x
Engle 213-0x
Wickizer 209-1x
Elliott 206-1x
Desardi 203-1x (new shooter)

CUSTOM

Berry 238-3x
Steiger 227-2x
McDonald 225-3x
Wickizer 225-2x
Elliott 218-1x
----ME 211-2x (new shooter)
Freeman 210-1x


UNLIMITED

Freeman 234-2x
Wickizer 229-3x
Egly 229-1x (new shooter)
Berry 226-1x
McDonald 215-1x
----ME 206-1x (new shooter)
Shada 206-1x
Elliott 204-0x
Desardi 188-0x (new shooter)

range report 2/20

After the last session in which the Les Baer's scope mount broke, I took it back to Briley's for repair, which is going to be done under warranty. Hopefully its done by this weekend for the bullseye match. So I shot the Spartan as my .45 using factory loads. The Spartan is definitely a harder gun to shoot accurately for me because of the heavier trigger.

Used Eley Sport in the izzy and encountered no high-feed jams but did have one light strike and one very unusual occurance. I fired and the round like 'fizzled' and smoke poured out of every orifice of the izzy. The round was difficult to extract; the case must have bulged. At first I thought it was a squib, so I took my rod and verified the barrel was clear. Shot impacted well-low on the target, so I guess it was just a fizzle.

Also had a problem with the izzy trigger not resetting a couple times, so I backed the pre-travel screw out a little bit. I've noticed that the izzy trigger has been feeling like it has a fair amount of creep and I'm not sure if this started after I adjusted the weight down or I used the 3M silicone lubricant on the internals. I will have to play with the trigger some to see if I can't get a better adjustment with less creep. The trigger on the IZH-46m airgun I've been practicing at home with is so good that I'm getting spoiled.

My slow-fire scores were respectable, with a couple stand-outs with the izzy, shooting a 93. My sustained fire seems to be falling off a little bit. Having trouble getting back on the trigger fast enough and keeping a rhythm. With the Spartan, the trouble is more trying not to snatch the trigger and let it break cleanly, which is hard given that gun's trigger.

I've been practicing with the airgun just about every morning, just shooting a few targets. It seems like its really helping. I feel like my hold in slow-fire is a lot more steady.

range report 2/10

I had a range session on Friday using Wolf MT, and I had two alibi's; one was a high-feed and the other was a light strike. Also during the session I had my own major catastrophe befall me. On my fifth shot of the night with the Les Baer, the scope mount just started flopping around like a dead fish taped to the gun. I tried tightening the screws that hold the mount on, but I think the plate that Briley's welded to the dust cover to provide purchase for the screws broke off. Then when I got the darn thing home I tried to take the screws out and get the mount off and I sheared a Torx bit off inside one of the screws. How one manages to shear a Torx bit is beyond me, but I guess the red Locktite I put on those screws works! So the Les Baer is headed back to Briley's this week. I finished the session (or rather shot the vast majority of it) with the Spartan. The Spartan has about a 4.5lb trigger and is substantially less-smooth and more creepy than the Les Baer, so it was a challenge, but it actually shot pretty well and my scores turned out ok. I managed a 692, so I was happy with that. With the izzy I shot an 814 and was also pretty happy with that, given all the commotion during the session. My standard deviation with the 22 has really been coming down, which is good to see.

range report 2/2

Well I got out to shoot last night. Did some warm up with the izzy
and then went into the official targets. I changed my routine a
little bit and shot all the slow-fire targets first, still alternating
every two targets between the 22 and the 45. I feel like alternating
between guns more frequently helps me establish the mental routine I
need to prepare for the differences between the two grips, the two
triggers, even the two dots.

Anyway, it was a good session. Warm-up I noticed that the izzy was
shooting a little bit left, so I adjusted the zero 5-clicks right and
that seemed to bring things back. I did notice at the end of the
session that the scope mount was a little loose on the izzy, so I'll
need to take it down again and try using some red locktite this time
instead of the blue guntite stuff I've been using. Note to self: do
not use too much locktite; it will migrate down the scope mount holes
and end up on the bolt!

I didn't quite shoot as well with the 45 as I did in my last session.
I kept the Herrett grips on it because I didn't have time to change
them as I was in a rush to get out the door. Still thinking I want to
get some Horton anatomical grips for the Les Baer, if only to try them
and for the 'cool' factor. I LOVE how the izzy looks now that it has
those Horton grips on it. I did shoot better at rapid fire with the
45 than last session, although my slow-fire was down with a few misses
early. I even managed to get my highest rapid fire target yet with
the .45, an 89-2x. I actually had more X's with the 45 than with the
22, although that kind of makes sense given the 45 is cutting twice as
big of hole in the target.

Anyway, I found the grip technique that seems to be working for me
with the 45 in rapid fire. Its called 'SQUEEZE THE CRAP OUT OF THE
GUN'. Now I know, usually you should tighten your grip as much as
possible until you start to see shakes and then relax a bit from
there. But I am finding that when I squeeze the crap out of the grip,
I am getting better rapid-fire results. My average was up 3 points
from the last session. I am having a lot easier time recovering from
the recoil after doing the drills on Tuesday, I just have to remember
that during the recoil cycle, I need to reset and pre-tension the
trigger before the gun has come back on target.

I shot pretty good with the izzy. Actually I should say really good;
I got my second-highest match score yet. But what's kind of
interesting to me is that I'm not shooting very many X's. I'm not
clustering my shots in any one particular location, so I believe I'm
shooting my area of wobble, I just find it interesting that I'm not
nailing the X more often.

Just about finished off the box of SK Pistol Match. Not going to use
it going forward. I thought the SK Pistol Match might be a little bit
better than Wolf MT, even though they are both made by SK, the Pistol
Match ammo was supposed to be a little higher quality I thought. In
any case, I opened one box and found that a bullet had come loose from
the brass! There was powder stuck in the lube on a bunch of the
rounds. I've never experienced this so far in my shooting; finding a
loose bullet in the box. The SK was also giving me alibi's; the
rounds were tending to hang up on the upper lip of the chamber. I
also had two light-strikes. Anyway, I will be switching back to Wolf
MT and maybe Eley Sport. Eley Sport didn't seem to have quite the
same reliability in feeding that Wolf MT has had for me, but I bet if
I lube the mags it will be ok.

.22 Slow Fire Progress


.22 Rapid Fire Progress


.45 Slow Fire Progress


.45 Rapid Fire Progress

airgun practice

Did some practice in the garage using the IZH-46m and some match R10 pellets with NRA 5-meter bb gun targets. The air izzy is very accurate, the thrown shots are all my fault and not the gun's. I've got an ultradot on it and I adjusted the trigger to have a 2lb break so it should be similar to my IZH-35m.

range report 1/31

Got out to shoot last night. Took a TON of ammo with me, especially
45. I brought 100 rounds of factory 45 loads and 200 of my reduced
power loads, along with a brick of SK Pistol Match, which is the new
ammo I have been trying in the izzy.

Started out the session with my complementary target with shapes on it
at 10 yards and practiced rapid fire drills using the STI Spartan and
the factory full-power loads. I figured if I could shoot accurately
with the Spartan, which has about a 4.5lb trigger and doesn't have a
palm shelf, then I should be able to do pretty good with the Les Baer
with its smoother and lighter trigger.

What I wanted to work on was my arm motion following the shot. So I
was concentrating on letting the gun naturally recoil after the first
shot, and then returning my arm to firing position, without
overshooting the target and without having any spastic or 'panic'
movements. I wanted to return to the firing position and if
everything is right, I should be able to see my dot and not have to
chase it.

Well believe it or not, it worked. I tend to kind of cant the gun
slightly left, so the gun tends to recoil up and left after the shot.
My arm came back down and to the right and generally settled right on
target and I had a dot in my picture. I did the trigger reset during
the recoil phase and tensioned the trigger as my arm came back down.
Then I went into my regular shot process.

The results were pretty good, I was keeping my shots within the shapes
and getting my successive shots off faster. I shot 100 rounds with
the Spartan, enough that my hand was starting to hurt a little.

Then I switched to my new routine, two targets with the izzy, two
targets wtih the Les Baer. My 45 scores were actually pretty good,
but my 22 scores were not as high as I would have liked; sucked in
both SF and RF. But its a bit of a milestone to break 700 with the
45.

I noticed that I was having more shakes with the Les Baer than with
the Spartan, which kind of surprised me. Might make me switch back to
regular grips instead of the Herrett National grips on the Les Baer
and see how that impacts my scores.

Surprisingly, the grips on the izzy weren't feeling right to my hand.
I felt like I was pulling or twisting the gun when I pulled the
trigger. Maybe I need a trigger job to take a little bit a creep out
of the trigger.

Anyway, its good to be improving with the 45, and my standard
deviations are continuing to go down, so there's improvement
happening, I just need some more practice.