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.