3G Manatee, 12-29-18

Open Division

• G34 CO – Fastfire 3, 12.5# recoil spring, tungsten guiderod, 27rnd TF extended mag, using 115gr Winchester Forged (steel cased) ammo
• JP15 20″ on the Aero lower with mil-spec trigger with yellow JP springs and carbine buffer, Strike Eagle 1-6, Sightmark micro dot, Nordic extended PMAG, Federal 55gr ammo
• shooting Lee’s suppressed Bergara 6.5 Creedmoor with Vortex 4-27x HD, using his loads for the sniper stage

Stage 3

• Bit shaky on the rifle, 2 FTNs.
• Too many extras on steel, need to be 1 for 1.
• 12th out of 53

Stage 4

• Still shaky with the rifle, and take a few extra makeup shots.
• Relatively better with the pistol on steel, but still not 1 for 1.
• Clean, 8th.

Stage 5

• For the no-shoot obscured, relatively far (for paper) array, I set magnification to 2-3x and use the side dot for the closer paper.
• Good shooting on the move for those up-close, but quicker splits needed here.
• Better on the pistol steel, but still…
• 2 FTNs on rifle paper – still shaky; 14th.

Stage 1

• Side dot for up close paper, magnification to 6x for the far steel.
• Those first 2 paper should’ve been quick double taps.
• I attempted to shoot the steel off-hand using the side dot, but after 2 misses, switched to the Strike Eagle.
• Definitely too many extras on steel with the pistol.
• 15th

Stage 2 (Sniper Stage)

• 2 positions, targets at 350, 500 and 600, with a smaller (much smaller) bonus target next to the 600 (only 1 shot allowed per position).
• As before, it was Virginia count, 2 shots per target per position. First round hits were -20sec, 0 on the second, and +20 for the miss. Max would be 7 shots per position.
• Got all first round hits, but missed the bonus both times. Shot in 111 or so seconds, but with -120 seconds for the 6 first round hits, resulted in a -9sec aggregate.
• 6th

The Good

• No equipment issues.
• 6 first round hits.

Needs Improvement

• Rifle work
• Use my own pistol ammo (hopefully I’ll do better).
• Bring the AR10 system up to snuff so I can use it. Get a suppressor for it too. Or build a 224 Valkyrie upper.

Finished 12th out of 53 overall and 3rd out of 18 in Open.

3G Frostproof, 12-22-18

Open Division

Today is ‘goofy’ day and you have the choice of shooting any gun in the Goofy Division. Shannon shot his Garand and another shooter, his M249SAW (!!!). I just went with my AK only because I didn’t have enough 223 on hand. Technically I wasn’t goofy enough so I basically was still in Open – handicapped Open, in this case. The Saiga’s piston was fixed by Rick (helluva welding job, thanks!) and today was it’s first outing after breaking in Benning.

• G34 CO – Fastfire 3, 12.5# recoil spring, tungsten guiderod, ETS mags, 125gr BlB RN ammo
• Saiga 12 – Venom dot, Remington Target (1200fps), Heavy Dove (1250fps)
• Century Arms AK47 – TAPCO red dot, Tula and Red Armory 7.62×39 122gr ammo

Regarding the AK, I’d only used it a handful of times at the WAC and Hernando for short range use. Today I committed for all use – short and long – to find out what it’s capable of.

Stage 2

• Start with the SG inside the house. No complaints, maybe 1 or 2 extra and more importantly, zero malfunctions.
• Glock jams outside the house and takes 12-13sec to fix. Turns out the steel cased ammo got stuck inside the ETS mag.
• 18th out of 38

Stage 3

• Started weak hand with the AK because of the wall then switched after the first target.
• On the low port, most knelt, I bent over (rollover prone).
• Splits with the AK are slower than with an AR. I need a riser as my cheek weld is floating and not as firm as it should be.
• SG goes fairly well aided by some last minute coaching on that last steel. Probably better to save the swinging clays for last so it slowed some and allowed easier shots. It also might have saved from the coaching bit since I’d be looking in the general direction.
• 7th, my best for the match.

Stage 4

• Started off with the SG but had the option of starting with the pistol from the beginning for the first 3, then re-holstering for the shotgun. I decided against it due to 180 concerns. This was the ‘safer’ option. I probably should’ve tried pushing it as it was less travel.
• Ran past the last pistol target, requiring me to shoot the 2 on the right on the move to get back into position. While I specifically programmed that target during walk-throughs, I still forgot about it. At least I recovered fairly well.
• Rifle run goes as planned.
• Clean, 9th.

Stage 5

• Furthest I’ve shot the AK, about 50yds. First shot is a hit! Then some misses, and more misses. 9 shots for 6 targets on the first port, 12 for the second port (angled, therefore harder).
• Dithered too much with the spinner by switching back and forth with the plate rack. Probably should’ve started with the star and plate rack and ended with the spinner.
• 14th

Stage 1

• I checked Strelok for my hold for the lone 300yd steel: top of the target. Miss, miss, miss… but once I found the hold – ironically dead-on, the second hit came easier. 11 shots for the first position, 5 for the second, then 3. Pretty nice learning curve, I’d say. So up to 300yds, the AK is dead-on.
• Pistol steel needs to be 1 for 1
• 31st – too much time spent finding the hold.

The Good

• Saiga is back in action, no malfunctions
• Finding the issue for the pistol jam – steel cased ammo bad in ETS mags and adapting/fixing (stop using the ETS mags; used the TF extended mag instead with no issues).
• Working through and learning more about the AK’s long range capabilities.

Needs Improvement

• AK cheek riser
• My own pistol loads

Finished 15th out of 38 overall and 6th out of 11 in Open.

USPSA, WAC, 12-7-18

Open Division

Shooting the Open Edge in .40SW using 155gr BB RN loads. Trying to stack some matches before going on a week’s break…

Stages 2, 3 and 4 are tweaked from last Tuesday’s match

Stage 3

Last Tuesday…

Today…

• Funny how I thought that last array was ‘far’ as I remembered from Tuesday’s video. It wasn’t, and closer than I thought. So I resolved to shoot things faster since I knew I could make those shots.
• 5th out of 43

Stage 4

Before

After

• The round count said 23, so I trusted the WSB. It wasn’t. It was actually 27 so I didn’t plan a reload anywhere. Trust but verify; COUNT.
• I’m so flustered and wondering why my mag was empty that it takes me a while to just reload and continue. I was actually thinking and berating myself for not fully loading my mag even though I did.
• On the other hand, splits are better so at least I’m learning to trust myself with faster splits.
• 24th.

Stage 1

• On Make Ready, I setup so I see an extra target that others didn’t. Only thing was my start position was wrong so I had to move and now that extra target wasn’t visible.
• Stage goes well, up until…
• Missed the planned reload completely. So when I run out at the end of the stage thinking I only needed 1 more on the last target I shot once, I decide – I’ll take the mike. Then I realize there was another target (the one I squeezed in at my original start) I hadn’t engaged; FTSA.
• 34th

Stage 2

Before

After

• Targets are now classics and spread is different.
• I didn’t do the ramp last time, so I do it this time. Also we had to, as they blocked off the route I did before with a wall now. There was an option to just go half way up the ramp but required further shots. I’m planning closer shots nowadays in exchange for more travel, so up close I went.
• Splits are faster this time, but bit of a trigger freeze after going down the ramp.
• 4th

The Good

• Stage 3 and 2 – when things go right
• Working on my split consistency through different ranges
• Even with 2 bad middle stages, keeping my head in the game to shoot the last stage on its own.

Needs Improvement

• Getting better, so keep working on split consistency between different target distances.
• Good start, then too much confidence gets in my head that fouls up the next 2 stages

FInished 13th overall and 3rd out of 5 in Open.

USPSA, WAC, 12-4-18

Open Division

Shooting the Open Edge in .40SW using 155gr BB RN loads. No match last weekend as I didn’t shoot the WAC’s Factory Gun Challenge last weekend (which also preempted the Ruskin match).

Stage 2

• In the middle is a ramp, and in the middle of it is the lever that activates the clamshell with the sliver of its head visible at rest.
• Tried to game the stage by taking shots up close and as quick as possible. Going up and down the ramp probably would’ve slowed me as I’d try to prevent hurting myself going down it. So I decided to bypass the ramp and go left. I felt confident I’d make the slim headshot. Nope, shot the no-shoot. Then to add insult to injury shot the no-shoot next door too.
• Good splits to start, as well as shooting on the move left to right.
• I pause for the head shot, then you can hear my reaction to the no-shoot.
• Round count was tight, so the extra to make up for the no-shoot required a reload in between to prevent a standing reload.
• The extra walking after the last shot is the activation of the lever – still required, but officially off the clock since the clock stops on the last shot fired.
• 25th out of 48

Stage 3

• Plan was copied from David and tweaked by Irwin (start on the port vs the extreme right as it was easier to index to the right than to the port).
• Splits ok to start, but the splits at the end array has my own jaw dropped. Clean, so I should shoot all open targets at that range that fast from now on, right?
• 9th

Stage 4

• Back to not as fast as I can splits. Gets faster as I go, and get a little trigger freeze on the left array.
• 5th.

Stage 1

• The plan at the beginning was to draw, index on the popper, then fire and step on the activator with my left foot as I shot. I guess the step made me miss.
• There’s that fast split again on the maxtrap.
• Run to the other activator then shoot the rest up close.
• Another hosed last array with my ‘should be’ splits.
• 4th

The Good

• Stage 1 and 4
  • planning
  • shot tempo
  • lots of As
• Last array splits on stages 3 and 1
• Even starting on a disastrous first stage, keeping my head in the game to shoot each stage on its own.

Needs Improvement

• Keep working on split consistency between different target distance.
• Develop confidence that fast splits will connect as they did in those fast final arrays (1 and 4).

FInished 6th overall and 2nd out of 5 in Open.