Thirty one shots in an hour.

Well it may not sound like much, but yesterday evening I resolved to shoot my heavy bow for one hour with the goal of taking thirty shots with it. By the end I was sweating fairly regularly and was well exercised.

These were the second and last groups of six arrows. The lighted arrow was just a celebratory thing. A decent night of shooting with my 100 pound longbow. More updates a little later on.

A new bow brings new challenges to shooting

So a few weeks back I ordered a bow from a guy named Nate Steele of Bama Bows out of Tulsa, Oklahoma. I went big with the thought of someday going to Africa to hunt big game. I selected the most basic model because I like minimalist bows and the price was right. I asked him to make a 100 pound draw longbow and it arrived some six weeks later. I recieved the new bow two days ago and have been actively shooting it as much as I am physically able.  Yesterday I took four shots with the bow and today I took about a dozen. The physical toll this takes on the muscles is amazing. The process is like a workout with shooting, two of my favorite things. Today I have taken about 30 shots in a series of two sessions. The accuracy is nothing to brag about but I can hit a four inch circle 4 out of 6 shots at ten yards. The penetration that this setup is achieving is incredible. From 15 to 20 inches into target backers is common with the two types of arrows I am using.

Something for the Revolver guys..

On the 16th of October Virginia and I were invited to attend the founders of Zombie Shooters Association's wedding match. I was working on a ship at the time so I had to request time off to go. We made it down to the ceremony and shared time with our good friends John and Melinda Zaczek. These two people rock! I've never seen two folks so excited to see us. I tried to take a video of the ceremony, but I messed it up with a double tap to the record button. So I offer my fast recovery video instead. I only missed the first few seconds.

The match that occurred afterward was something special also but pales in comparison. We took no video because we were both so rusty at the revolver game. The highlight of the match was that my HearthCo moonclips were proven bomb-proof or stomp-proof whichever you prefer. I was on a squad that was not revolver saavy and thus not revolver reloading device friendly. I had to straighten one of my Ranch Products clips after the match and that took some doing. Good news John! I hope you saved the bent .41 Mag clips.

Been a while...Part 2

Practice for me started out at 10yds and lasted two and a half hours. I shot to closing time at the local BPS and hardly realized it. The reason I had for shooting indoors were that it was temperature controlled and I would not have to deal with heat fatigue and that it was easier to recover my arrows, a big key to expediting progress. Having to search the ground for lost arrows flat out sucks. It takes time away from practicing and the grass/ground/leaves are hard on your fletchings. Over time I was able to keep more and more of my shots on the five spot target. Imagine a piece of paper with five 6 inch bullseyes on it say 12"x14". Now imagine a foam block 4'x4'. Now imagine missing both of those from ten yards at times. Indoors is the way to go if it's available. If it is cost prohibitive I recommend a large field where the grass is kept cut for a close second. So I guess a whole month or so rolled by before I even tried the twenty yard targets. As I came to shoot at the BPS more often a second advantage came to be realized: someone was always watching. Sometimes it was just employees, other times it was customers looking through the windows, and the best of all was other people coming to shoot their bows.  This was the first great thing to happen to my shooting ability, the ability to compete against other shooters. At first it was a given that everybody under the sun was better than I was, but then I started to get better and better. There is nothing like the feeling of shooting with another person and testing yourself against them and sharing the excitement and letdowns of the results downrange.

So it's been a while....Part 1

I appologize for taking so much time off from the blog. I have decided to lay down the semi-autos and revolvers for a while and get back to the basics . I have been devoting my time to the bow and practicing for the up coming archery deer season. After watching the two seasons of Top Shot and realizing that I was really lacking in this particular area of marksmanship it really bothered me. I have decided to forego the modern technological race with supercams and mechanical broadheads. I am using semi-traditional archery equipment this year opting for a modern minimalist longbow and carbon arrows. The arrows are at least feather fletched although I am pursuing a high Forward Of Center (FOC) setup where much of the weight is in the front of the arrow for increased penetration. The broadhead I have chosen weighs in at 250 grains. This is due to a mis-step on my part where I had my arrows cut to fit my draw length before considering how stiff that would make them. I ended lucking out in that this particular setup shoots very nicely off several of my bows and has tremendous hunting potential both on and off this continent.

Starting out, the road was not an easy one as I made many mistakes and had no guidance. I had owned the bow for 2 or 3 years but had not done anything serious with it and it rode the corner of the closet most times. I had taken it hunting once and missed by the slimmest of twigs a nice buck causing me to lean away from this platform altogether. I recently checked on the equipment and saw that almost all of my arrows needed to be refletched and that the shelf of the bow needed attention. I made a note of what I needed ventured into the local Bass Pro Shop(BPS) and ran into a guy named Dean. After a few questions, he told me what my options were and that refletching arrows was not difficult at all. I told him that I wasn't set up for it and that I spent most of my time reloading ammuntion. As luck would have it, he was in need of ammuntion for his handgun and I had just run into my new best friend. Having acquired a source to get my arrows refletched, I had conquered the biggest hurdle I had in archery so far. The next step was going to be the longest of the whole process...practicing.

My First Zombie All Gun Match at SVDFI

This past weekend I was priviledged to attend another exciting ZSA Zombie All Gun Match. This time the match was held at the Southern Virginia Defensive Firearms Institute in Nelson, Virginia. The match consisted of nine stages of pistol, rifle, and shotgun both combined and separate. The facilities were amazing and well constructed to endure high round count rifle stages. Mike Oberman, the owner and lead intstructor, did most of the course design and it was an amazing match. With a round count of around 200 pistol, 100 rifle and 75 shotgun, the ammo bag started out extremely heavy and finished light and all for the price of a local three gun match. I was highly impressed with the caliber of and effort that went into this match. I will be very excited to attend the next match at SVDFI and highly recommend it to any three gunner or pistol shooter. Yes, there is enough pistol in most of the stages for you to enjoy yourselves too.

Stage one was a nightmare for me with a horrible double feed occuring right in the middle of the stage and some trouble remembering where the targets all were. All in all it was a good stage I just came up to the line unprepared to take on this challenge. I really need to focus on small target shooting with my glock. This stage didn't do too much for my match standings for the get go.

Stage Two was your basic long standard for ZSA consisting of 3 infected targets at 25 yards and a possible 3 bonus zombies. The second string of this stage was at 10 yards strong hand only and consisted of three infected targets and four zombies. The third and final string was weakhand only from seven yards with the same array as the ten yard string. This was a limited round count stage of 38 rounds.

Stage Three was all set to be a breeze if I had just decided not to use the unproven 33rd magazine. I was going for no reload on the stage, but as you can see it did not happen that way. I ended up just blazing away to get out of the hole the big stick left me in.

Stage Four was a good recovery stage for me. I was off to a decent start finally. This was rifle and pistol and although not as fast as I had hoped, it was a solid stage for me. I also identified a mechanical issue with my pistol on this stage that would stay with me for the whole match: a rounded edge on the sear was causing a dead trigger on the first shot on an unloaded start. This has since been resolved.

Stage 5 was a 25 meter appleseed target shot standing, sitting and prone. It was a limited exercise of 33 rounds. Guess who shot 35?

Stage Six was a rifle only hose fest that I thoroughly enjoyed and had a strong performance on running it clean in fifty some odd seconds. 45 Rounds minimum.

Stage seven was where I gained my new nickname "Sexy Time," from the great Yousef Sansour and finally got to use my beast of a Benelli that holds 12 total rounds. No Yousef, I don't care if it's legal anywhere else.  It was a lot of fun with flying clays and a Cooper tunnel. Twenty rounds of shotgun and 9 rounds of pistol. Now if I could just learn to count the rounds in the shotgun.....

Stage Eight was by all rights the attack of the guarded Texas star. I changed to a tighter choke just so I wouldn't hit those darned clays. I liked this stage until I had to go to the pistol and try and hit all the little targets, which by this point in the match I was too tired to hit efficiently. Solution: Shell the whole thing.

Stage Nine was a welcome sight for us all because we were finishing the match up and all we had to use was the shotgun. I have always been comfortable with a shotgun and the ammo is easy to hold on to. A borrowed shell holder came off in my hand during a reload here and being tired I did not realize that I had more than enough to finish the stage. Lesson learned: Tekloks are a beautiful thing. So I fiddled with that thing for a minute...or so it seemed. I walked by one clay in this stage, but still came out pretty fast.

I would like to thank SVDFI, Mike Oberman, and ZSA for putting on such an incredible match this weekend. It will be hard to top this one next weekend at The Range!

Special Thanks to the Combine Camera Task Force of Virginia, Russ at Wooddude.net , and Ken Kiesler for helping video this match!

Zombie All Gun This Weekend....

So this weekend was the great baptism of fire for my new AR.  I had so much fun that I all but forgot to video tape the match. My good buddy Ken Kiesler and I remembered to video tape our last stage which only included shotgun and pistol. Oh well. This match went exceedingly well for me until my pistol started to light strike. I was using a heavily modified glock 19 that I had like an idiot cut a few coils off of the striker spring. Note to the rest of the world: Don't do this. Ever. There are great aftermarket springs that will do the job and keep the gun going bang. So a few quick shots here and there and then a quick malfunction drill. I was actually surprised at how well I could do the malfunction drills since it was been at least 6 months since I touched the pistol.

Pre match gear selection was an easy process as I don't have a lot of options when it comes to 3 gun. The thought ran through my mind exactly like this: Gee, with this nice new AR and those big magazines it seems a shame to run a revolver on such a pistol heavy three gun match. I decided that since there are no specified power factors, I should run a 9mm and enjoy the high round count and low recoil. I chose my Glock 19 with HiViz sights, a stainless guiderod, reduced travel trigger, Arredondo +6 magazine extensions, and Dawson Precision super heavy magwell.

For my shotgun I elected to run my Mossberg 835 Ultimag with a 20" barrel(5+1) and a modified choke over the Benelli SBE1 due it already having a side saddle for extra shells. The Benelli would have held more rounds (7+1), but without a belt mounted shell caddy I would have been lost at the reload.

The rifle was my AR that I discussed in a previous post. I decided to run the Pmags exclusively for this match and selected the 30 rounder with the Ranger baseplates just in case. I did reload to a twenty round mag at one point also.

The minimum round count was 36 shotgun birdshot, 55 rifle and 91 pistol. The Range is not really all that well suited to a lot of rifle shooting as the berms are not that high or thick. There were seven stages and two of which were all long gun. I think it's very important to have a long gun only stage at a 3 gun match. It allows competitors to be tested on that skillset alone, or in some cases that weapon type alone. I thought stages 6 and 7 did this very well.  Stage 6 was a shotgun only stage where you started on the left hand side and engaged seven pieces of falling steel and then moved to your right while reloading for an additional six pieces of steel. My entire squad aced this stage with only a few footwork/angle issues for the beginners. Stage 7 was a very different story altogether. The appleseed rifle target was the focus of this stage with each of the ten targets to recieve three hits apiece. The big target was easy and just about everyone hit that one, however as the targets got progressively smaller they often eluded the bullets. The reason for this is that many people are unable to correct properly for their zero at closer ranges. My zero was off, as I discovered yesterday, causing many of my shots to hit lower than expected during the competition. I got throught the stage hitting five targets properly, the high man for my squad.

 Stage 1 consisted of a plate rack at 10 yards or so shot with the shotgun, and then 6 infected targets as you either backed up or ran back and engaged. I made two mistakes in this stage, a miss at the plate rack and a CAW, both of which I made up. Scan close targets if you are shooting an auto or you still have bullets in your Revo. It can make a difference, but only if you don't have to reload first. Remember to keep a count of roughly how many seconds it's been since your last shot...if it's more than 5 seconds you are wasting your time trying to make up shots except if the stage has multiple infected targets.

Stage three was the only stage that I got any video of and but for the one missed zombie, I think it ran pretty well. Need a little work on the shotgun reloads. We won't talk about the light strikes...man they were annoying! The duelist shot at the end sure didn't help things either. I guess I saw a bad target but it took a while to take that shot. Two hands doofus! TWO HANDS!

 And here's a video of Ken's run: 

Ken did well at the shotgun, but a little over confidence after the reload cost him on the steel. While he did not miss any Zombies, the infected targets in the back gave him some penalties. He's a relatively new shooter and this was his first three gun match. I believe that he will do well as his skill with the various weapons advances. 

Again a special thanks to Ken Keisler for videotaping and Worth Taylor for running the timer so we could videotape. Thanks Guys!

New Rifle: Zero and Field Test



Little Bear, the Second Amendment Cat, posing next to the AR.
(I placed it on the floor for this picture and she couldn't resist the
 opportunity to be near a firearm and later fell asleep on top of it.)



    So a little over ten days ago I came across a deal and joined Team Black Rifle. In other words I purchased an AR-15 more specifically a hybrid conglomeration of parts that I thought was cool enough to buy. The upper is a Ruger 556C which is the 16.12 inch model with a heavy fluted barrel and integral flash suppressor/compensator. The lower is a CMMG with a Rock River Arms National Match trigger group. The previous owner also added a Magpul M.I.A.D grip,  an Ace Socom M4 Buttstock(Long version) with an A2 buffer and buffer spring , Eotech 512 Holosight, Surefire 6PX Tactical flashlight with KZ offset mount,Troy modular vert grip. The gun came with 7 P Mags and 12 C Products magazines with Magpul floor plates. The price was right and I am glad I bought it. I really have to say that this thing is addictive to shoot. My friend Paul has a Rock River LAR-15 Entry Tactical and we have been doing a comparitive study by shooting both.  I have found that I enjoy the Pmags for their free fall ejection and their ability to be left loaded at capacity without taking a set. I went ahead and fitted an Arredondo Magwell to the gun not because it was difficult to change magazines, but because it made it fool proof and gave a decent grip surface to the front of the lower.  I also opted for a Magpul AFG first generation because it allows me a positive close range/fast transition grip while the Troy grip is perfectly positioned for steadying longer shots and operating the flashlight if/when needed.

   We decided that after we developed practical zeros on the rifles(we went with a 25 meter zero) we would put them to a real world test by hunting groundhogs in the adjacent bean fields next to our target range/gravel pit. Before anybody jumps on us for killing defenseless animals, this is a service we provide the farmer in exchange for the use of his gravel pit. It is also a practical test of the shooter's ability to make tight shots at various distances with time constraints. I believe that this is a great way to practice shooting and help out the farmer in production of food for our country.

Our first expedition was unsucessful and after waiting too long in order to show Paul what a groundhog looked like two rushed shots were taken and nothing accomplished.  Today's hunt was very different once I learned to stay within certain limitations. My first shot was presented at 120 meters at two groundhogs together. I chose the larger of the two for obvious reasons and took up a hasty prone position in the middle of a farm road and steadied as best I could for the shot. A clean squeeze and a clean miss. The little dot in the middle of the EOTech looked gigantic and seemed to cover the whole head of the groundhog at this distance. I waited some 20 minutes and was rewarded with another shot which I took from a carefully sandbagged position and missed again. I was now certain that this shooter did not have the ability to make consistent hits on this size of target at that distance. I abandoned this spot and went to another beanfield, where due to recent rain, I abandoned my truck and went on foot for some 800 meters through a cow pasture to reach the next beanfield. On approaching the beanfield I was greeted by an erect and alert groundhog at a distance of 181 meters. I figured given my recent performance the likelyhood of a successful shot at this distance would be slim and opted to take a less direct and longer route in the name of stealth. This gamble paid off and presented me with a shot on the same groundhog at a distance of about 60 meters. I say about because I located it through a brush divide between the fields, set up a decent offhand position and squeezed off a shot in short order. The stupid part is that I used the 6x optic of my laser range finder to verify the target without ranging it and did this several times during the hunt. The shot felt good and after a short period of let down and suspected miss anxiety I found the hole and its deceased occupant. Good technique resulted in a humane and instant kill. Being in the middle of the field I too a moment to scan my surroundings to learn if any other holes were nearby and attempt to gain some intelligence about the possible number of groundhogs in the area. I was shocked to find a hole some forty meters to my left (as I faced the position I had shot from) with what appeared to be part of a head sticking out of it. I took but a moment to study the object before executing a clean trigger press and a stable shot. I did not know it at the time, but I had just made a headshot on an exposed area of about 4 square inches.   

The first animal taken from about 60 meters offhand.

The second animal taken at approximately forty meters offhand partial head exposure.

The hunt was dually successful in that it provided great practice and great service and I am grateful for both opportunites.

Ridiculous Fun and the Lessons Learned.

So about two weeks ago I got the bright idea to shoot a snubnosed revolver in a falling steel shoot. This was an idea born out of necessity, because I let my components run down and had several revolvers out of action due to cylinders being fitted for custom moonclips.  So in a stroke of utter brilliance I decided to shoot my K-frame 2" Model 10. I was not going to give up the revolver division without a fight...or atleast amusement of my fellow competitors. The first problem I encountered was not having any speedloader holders....in IDPA I always ran them out of a pocket....so I called up a friend and asked to borrow his. This turned out to be a gold mine of gear. I recieved seven speedloader holders, 5 comp 3's and two holsters to choose from. The holster issue turned up because my holster was in use by my girlfriend who was shooting my...err her 646...long story. I chose a Fobus GP-100 holster which although sized for the Ruger GP-100 worked really well for the little snubby. With all my gear now set the last problem to attend to was ammo, which I fortunately had some 250 rounds loaded up of 158gr minor loads. So after some speedloader practice and dryfire I set off for the match. 

Stage two was about the point where I really figured out just where the gun was shooting. In a stroke of genius I had forgotten that this particular gun liked the 125gr bullets and shot monstrously high with 158's. Oh well a nice shotgun point hold cured this and got me back in the game. I went on to become a little over confident and ended up missing the plates when I should have connected.

Stage Four was a decent stage for me, but I went slowly and deliberately trying to avoid extra reloads as it was such a speed shoot. I accomplished what I came to do and got through it clean. Not pretty, but clean.

Stage Five was my best stage except for the misses I had to make up. I was happy to clean the poppers and be on to the next stage. If you listen carefully you can hear the spectator saying "Run Forrest!" I got a decent chuckle out of that after the course was complete. The extra shots cost me here but not enough to cost the division win. I ended up first in revolver division by sheer luck and determination...skill obviously wasn't present this time.

The lessons I learned here were: Bullet weight matters a lot in fixed sight guns....always shoot the gun load combination ahead of time...steel is unforgiving.  Speedloaders are a pain in high round count matches because they must be reloaded often, picking up the brass is time consuming, and dropping live rounds is even less fun. Smaller sight radius guns are just as accurate as larger sight radius guns, however they do not give as much indication of movement so be on your best behavior....no lazy technique! I'd do it all again, but not with speedloaders, I'd opt for moonclips next time.

A Weekend of USPSA

This weekend I was priviledged to attend two USPSA matches in two different states this weekend. The best part of the weekend was getting to see my friends from both groups in the same time period. I find it funny to see several other shooters getting their shooting fix at both matches just like me.  The first match was at Sir Walter Gun Club and was a hot mess. I'll be honest with you and say that I only ran three stages close to well.

I won the stage entitled Credit Card Slide where the shooter had to open the first port by swiping a steel card through a slot. The port opened and you drew and engaged three paper targets and then moved to an array of two mini poppers, a paper target, and two mini poppers. The catch was that one of the poppers both opened the second port and activated a down and back target in the third array. Good luck trying to catch it with a revolver with the reload in between the popper and the dynamic paper. Two quick A headshots solved that problem and the stage was over.

Stage Two was the classifier Fluffy's Revenge 1. I shot a 72% on this stage even with my super cool miss an makeup on the steel. I don't like Fluffy, but I do well on them.

Stage 3 started with six pieces of steel and then moved all over the place. I could have done better wth my positions and footwork. All in all it worked out ok here.

Before Stage 4could start John Zaczek made kissy faces at me and I retaliated with an french kissy face to the amusement of the squad. There were two paper targets in the left and right ports of barrel world. The center port contained two more paper targets and a series of four plates one behind the other. Easy stuff, had I not had a stiff ejection in one of the reloads. It never ceases to amaze me how long I think things take and how quickly they happen on video.

Stage 7 I did ok on except for the delta on the first paper. The footwork and positioning must get better if I am to get better. Not everything is bull in a china shop drag racing.

Thanks to Ken Kiesler for graciously recording my performance. See Ken's shooting here: My YouTube Vids

I did not record any video of the Fredericksburg match the next day because it was only myself and one other revolver shooter: The Great Mike Wilczek. We had great fun and Mike actually clobbered me on one stage with his minor .38 Short Colts. It was an excellent performance on his part and I regret not capturing it on video. The classifier was Bang and Clang and I shot it in 4.97 clean. That is a 54.97% but it's good enough to get me into B Class. I won the match, but Mike is a worthy opponent that does not let you get away with many mistakes. It was great shooting with you again Mike!

New Targets...New Approach to Training

So I recently got the urge to change my training techniques to better optimize my time on the range. I was spending entirely too much time on pasting up targets. Seriously, think about it....you shoot until you can't make head or tails of what is your last shot and then go paste the whole target. The distance fired walked up and back every so many odd rounds usually 24 or less in my case as the center gets blasted out...just kidding!  So my buddy Paul Cho came up with a ridiculously simple way to repair the targets really quickly. Duct Tape. Three or four strips cover the alpha zone or zero zone and then right back to shooting. This was a great revelation; because we no longer taped the main body of the target hits off the tape did not count. Brilliant! Focused shooting efforts for a better score. I liked this until I realized that the high value zones were highlighted. Perfect for a beginner like Paul, but holding me back like a crutch. I ran this plan until my roll of duct tape ran out and then got another idea....what if somebody made an A zone target out of steel...no more pasters!

I got in touch with the good folks at NEVCO Targets when I found out they made exactly what I was looking for. It wasn't like it was a grand search, I know the Mortons and shoot with them a lot. So after a short chat Nevitt got me set up with two awesome steel A zones for my shooting pleasure.  After about a week from first call I had my targets in hand and went to the Lowe's to pick up some 2x4's to stand them up on. I also selected some fluorescent yellow paint and some cardboard brown paint...yellow for a zombie match application and brown for USPSA practice. Nothing good comes from shooting white A zones...nothing.

Freshly Painted Tan A-Zones

After a weekend's wait, I was finally able to get out and use my targets yesterday. I really enjoyed the instant feedback the steel gave me each and every hit. I could say every shot but four holes in my 2x4 attest to that being untrue. I really enjoyed the feedback from the holes in the board because I wasn't able to paint over them and they did not go away between strings. The ability to stand ten yards off the targets with .40 major PF jacket ammo being safely directed down and away from the shooter was a great plus. I engaged the targets successfully from 10 to 50 plus meters, although less sucessfully at the longer ranges. The targets gave good and clear indication of bullet strike whether glancing or full diameter at all ranges. The fun on this day was limited only by the 250 round ammo supply which went extremely quickly even though I had to reload moonclips every 78 rounds.  I cannot wait to unleash my 625 on these targets...I have 166 moonclips for it, that's 996 rounds of clang potential! I think something will definitely have to give under those strenuous circumstances and I'm sure it's not going to be the targets.

The Test Platform



The Results...if you look closely you can see the misses.

 So if you are looking to improve your game or make practice a little more productive give Nevitt at NEVCO a call at 804-994-9195 or visit them online at http://www.nevcotargets.com/ . Be sure to tell them you heard about it here. I am not currently sponsored by nor am I soliciting sponsorship by writing this article. This is just a positive evaluation of a product I personally purchased and use.

Zombie All Gun Match Today....

Yesterday, I participated in the Zombie Shooters Association monthly Zombie All Gun match. It's kinda of like three gun except there is no particular rule that says I can only use three guns...awesome! For lack of the baby stroller and troop of gunbearers I took only three guns. For my rifle I chose my 10/22 with 3-9xreally big objective scope as the engagement ranges were well suited to rimfire rifle. For my shotgun I took along my trusty Mossberg 835 with 20" barrel and fiber optic sights, as well as Tacstar 6 round side saddle. My sidearm, of course, had to be a revolver(or else I'd lose cool points). So I opted for my trusty Smith and Wesson 610 Classic. There isn't much classic left in it with the super light trigger job, shaved hammer, extended firing pin, fiber optic sights and ghastly effective chamfer job. Needless to say it's a target blasting beast that runs like a fox on fire.

The match provided a good mix of close and far handgun shots with the right amount of "hose fest" and tight shots. I was really impressed with the level of effort put into the match design on such very short notice as the Match Director had been away all week on family business. The rifle was a bit on the close side with the shots ranging out to a cool 50 yards which was well within the grasp of my 10/22. Had the rifle and magazine combo functioned a bit better, I would have been a lot better off. Had I cleaned the rifle after the previous practice session and before the match it may have helped. As many may have guessed the revolver and pump shotgun combination was nearly flawless with only one hiccup each, both of which can be traced back to the operator. I chose three videos which were free of malfunctions and also included the revolver, since long gun only stages are flat out boring to watch. So I humbly sumbit stages one, three and four to showcase an amazing new discipline of shooting.

I appologize for the lack of detail in stage four, but seeing as a fellow shooter had just been DQ'd  for a gross safety violation nobody but the shooter and RO were allowed into the hot stage. The stage was set up with 1 infected target visible while holding the door handle and a zombie at the end of the hall which had to be shot before entering the hallway for a 12 to 15 yard shot. The first room on the left contained two infected targets, while the first room on the right contained only one infected target.  The second room on the left contained another infected target and across the hall the room on the right contained one zombie at the downrange end and right at the 180 an infected lay in wait. The end of the hallway revealed a large open area with 5 infected targets and 5 steel plates. Your shotgun was waiting loaded and chambered on the couch after you engaged the paper targets. The array of infected targets was one to the extreme right and left, one at a forty-five degree angle from strait down range right and left, and a final target directly out in front of the shooter behind the hallway zombie. Hopefully this makes sense out of the video for you.

Stage 4

On stage three the shooter started in the vehicle on their knees with their rifle at low ready loaded with only eight rounds. On the signal the shooter engaged eight zombies with one head shot each, safed the rifle and dismounted the vehicle. Upon exiting the vehicle there were six infected targets to neutralize and the opportunity to make up any missed head shots with the handgun. I did not need this opportunity, however I did skip over one target with the rifle and had to go back to it. It went like this, "1,2,3,4,5,6,7 oh crap you're at the end of the targets! Quick, find the one you passed over doofus! Shoot it! Don't just look at it dummy!" Thankfully it did not take as long to complete as it seemed. The revolver ran really well on the outside of the van and I was pleased to have recorded the fastest time in my squad for a clean run on the stage.

Stage 3

Stage one was a seemingly fairly simple exercise. If you listen closely, other shooters are talking about the plate rack and how they approached it. They were apparently quite impressed with the plate rack bonus target challenge. Many shooters failed to properly manage their time on the stage; expending more time and ammo at the bonuses than seconds they could save. Lesson: If you can't hit the bonus targets with any efficiency and they are optional, don't exceed your ability and waste time. I was not quite as amused when I failed to clean the plate rack in the first cylinder. The one missed plate was not worth an extra reload so I moved on to step two of the plan. I reloaded and shot all the near zombies so that I could better navigate the infected targets at a higher speed. If I can keep the gun in one gear and get the results I need, I see no reason not to do a little bit of prep work to make that happen. I really enjoyed this stage as it was an easy one to shine on if you could shoot at distance and having a little speed in your pocket was an added bonus. Second Lesson: Anytime you can efficiently move closer to an array of targets to increase your accuracy do so. To potshoot from a distance is silly when a twenty yard hustle will save you split time and double your hit potential. Note to self: SOMEDAY I will actually start to shoot on the move a little more.

The pause near the end was an almost double coverage on an already shot target.

Stage 1

Thanks for your interest and don't hesitate to drop me a comment or become a follower. From one will hopefully grow many.

New Project: .38 Super Special

First I'd like to say that I'm very excited to have international viewers in Germany, UK, Brazil, Denmark, Singapore, Dominican Republic, Indonesia, and South Africa. I'd also like to thank my first two followers, when/if I get to be famous I will remember who supported me from the beginning. Thank you all.

So the new project is a .38 Super Special. A what? A .357 magnum chambered revolver being cut to accept full moonclips in .38 Super Comp. Why .38 Super Comp? For several reasons. The first being powder burn efficiency in the smaller case than the .38 special. the second is a shorter ejection stroke on the reload without having to trim cases. Work a few bigger lost brass matches and you'll have plenty of free brass. The third reason is that I am building this on an L-frame Smith and Wesson 581 and the Super Comp will give me a broader moonclip from the center opening to the cartridge slots. See photo below...this is a 646 .40 caliber clip for illustration purposes.

I chose to go with .38 Super Comp instead of moonclipping .38 Special or .357 Magnum brass because when those cartridge were designed the moonclip had not been invented yet. The result is that the groove under the case rim was not spec'd and so the different manufacturers have different size grooves. The resulting thickness of the moonclips lies between .020 and .025 inches. I can have a .38 Super Comp clip cut to be .035 to .040 inches which is the standard thickness of the sturdy .45 ACP moonclips. If you wonder why I am worried about any of this at all it's because of the people that step on moonclips while bumbling around a stage trying to paste. Whether they do it for ignorance or apathy the result is the same.

Now at this point you may be wondering or concerned about the pressures or chambering issues. This is very simply going to be a Minor power factor project. The revolver I am using readily accepts and ejects .38 Super cases loaded to Minor power factor. This is actually a project for my girlfriend who also shoots revolver with me and was having trouble with the heavier N-frame 625's in long falling steel competitions. So here we go! Stay tuned for further progress updates to follow on the machining, the clips and load development.

Virginia-Maryland Sectionals...Lessons Learned

This past weekend I attended the 2011 Virginia-Maryland Sectional. The match featured nine stages and a 251 minimum round count. I was fortunate to fire the match on Friday with most of the other revolver shooters in the same squad. After my giant meltdown I was fortunate to shoot well enough to pull off High C Class coming back from 5 mistakes.

 Our squad started on Stage 2 and I came out with 1 C and 1 M. The C,M came to me on a very long target where I put a round through a barrel or a wall. The lessons learned from this stage are to practice longer shots until they are consistent and also to practice entry and exit from ports. I tried some different foot work at the last minute and it was totally unsuitable for my style of shooting and skill level.

  

Stage 3 was where I had a decision to make: foot speed or reload efficiency. I chose reload efficiency and it put me up for a long shot and I ended up with two deltas on this stage.  In discussing it later I believe I could have run up on those targets and made better hits for a higher hit factor than taking the sniper shots.

Stage 4 was a stage that screamed FOOTWORK and POSITION from the out set. With a little more hustle I could have really done well on this stage.  I needed to run to that third position instead of loping. With time I will gain more confidence in my reloads and be more reckless with my speed on the stage.

Stage 5 was rolling until I reloaded early and blew my plan up. I ended running by a target for a fun and exciting 2 misses and a failure to engage penalty. Do over?

Stage 6 was a disaster after I hit the static no shoot and racked up a penalty and a miss. To top it off I left a position early and had to come back for a target. The texas star then took forever and I just did not feel good about that stage at all.

Stage 7 was a turning point for the better and went well, of course I didn't get it on video.

Stage 8 went really well and for C class revolver shooter I burned it down. By this point I was certainly shooting just for fun and the whole revolver division had beaten me so I decided to go for it from left to right as fast as I could move and pull the trigger. Well that worked out really well for me.

Stage 9 was the land of the sloooow swingers. It was weird how some people had to wait and others did not. They were not all that consistent. My right side swinger went on vacation. When it came back I found out that I needed to practice one legged shooting stances a bit more.

Stage 1 was the ultimate memory array and thankfully Ii made a good plan. Others were not so fortunate and suffered misses and FTE's or the long scan.

Many thanks to my fellow competitors Mike Wilczek and Robe Burkindine for their gracious efforts in videoing my runs. Thanks guys!

Stage 3

Stage 4

Stage 8

Stage 9

Stage 1

If you enjoyed this or feel it needs work feel free to leave comments; they are appreciated either way.

Steel Shooting Revo Style

This past weekend  I went to the Black Creek Steel Shoot in Mechanicsville, VA. Jim and Anton(MD's) put on a great match everytime and it's great practice. This particular time it was 7 stages of steel busting glory. There was also a great turn out of five revolver shooters in the 53 shooter field. We had some light showers during the match, but the good folks at Black Creek had tents up to keep us all dry.

I recently found an 11 pound trigger rebound spring that had shot out in the stratosphere when I had attempted a switch in my kitchen. After the garbage disposal starting making odd noises I wrote it off, until a 1911's recoil spring plug or whatever the proper name is pulled the same trick and led to its discovery. I installed that in my 625 directly prior to this match and am happy with the results.

I made a few mistakes here and there but it was a far better showing than my last videos...so what if I miked in the middle of the SteEL Presidente and almost ran through the table in Stage 6. I had fun and took my sights as seriously as I could...beating out all but one of the single stacks and a few others. http://blackcreeksteel.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/blackcreek-051411-overall1.pdf   Overall
http://blackcreeksteel.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/blackcreek-051411-divisions1.pdf By Division

Stage 1

Stage 3

Stage 4

Well I sure hope you enjoyed the videos. My next appearance is the USPSA Virginia-Maryland Sectionals where I'll be competing in the Revolver Division on Friday the 20th of May. Hope to see you all there.

South Carolina Sectionals: Lessons Learned Part 2

Stages four and five were outhouse related with one shooting out of the outhouse and the second shooting into the outhouse. I missed causing a reload on stage four which was a six shot stage. Enough said there. Stage five was fairly simple. Shoot six...reload...shoot six...Virginia count. Oh yeah and you have to hold this dog leash the whole time. The videos are pretty boring as they are pretty static stages.

Stage six was a great planning stage that let the shooter break it into easy sixes. With a little better footwork and less forgetfulness I'd have rocked this stage. Nothing like turning around to come back to some targets left unshot.

Stage seven was interesting as it was raining fairly decently and they had just decided to bag the targets. I really need to get over hating bagged targets. I am actively working on it. A misstep here of activating the light with the wrong hand had to be corrected and there was a winger target here...cool idea.

Stage eight was designed by a revolver shooter. I liked it until the third shot when I alpha, no shoot miked and did not manage to correct it like an idiot. All other shots were alphas.

The chrono didn't get any video shot, but I did get some interesting comments such as: "You know you only have to make 165 right?" or "Wow, that makes major!" Great 193PF load that I came up with....won't do that again.

Stage nine was fast and I planned it the same way the great Cliff Walsh did. He's just faster at the shooting and reloading part. Haha!

 Building this post was very informative and it illustrated just how many mistakes I made. I will definitely learn from them and ensure they are not repeated.

I put a lot of time into these two posts please make comments Good or Bad. Thanks.

Just Having Fun...While Shooting Revo

Yesterday I attended the USPSA Classifier Match at Fredericksburg Rod and Gun Club. I decided to take a break from the 625 and give a good solid match test to my 610. I ran the same North Mountain Moonclip rack I always do and the same cut up Safariland self made speed holster. My first impressions were that the gun itself was very accurate, but awfully slow to load. I estimated my reloads to be in the neighborhood of 4 to 6 seconds. This is pretty slow seeing that I can speedload .38's in about 3 seconds and reload the 625 somewhere around 2 seconds. I did wonderfully horrible on the classifier stages striking NO SHOOTS left and right it seemed. So much for zeroing the gun in ahead of time right? It all came down to a no shoot and a miss costing me first place at the match.

Preparation is everything. I ventured to see my parents and just happened to carry my 610 with 4 moonclips of match ammo with me. The plan was to stop off at my shooting place on the way and quick zero the gun on a six inch plate at 15yds. It works really well when the gun is firing....the first cylinder fired 2 out of six...the second 3...the third 2 and the fourth 1. The Apex competition firing pin just doesn't like my superlight hammers. Gun unzeroed with no tools to adjust the strain tension, I visited my folks and returned home. The gun was cleaned and the firing pin changed back to a conventional design that I knew would function.

The match day came and I stepped to the line with a calm and relaxed attitude. I knew the reloads would have to be carefully made.  The buzzer went off on the first stage and the fun began. It was an unloaded table start. "Crap...quick weakhand reload and off to the races. 1.2.3.4.5 Reload and double up the last paper. Done. Gee that was slow....I miss my 625....I'd settle for my .38 snubby at this point. Unload, show clear, put it away and go check the damage. Not too bad." This was how my day started. I quickly adapted to the weakness of my reload with the best planning and rehearsal I could devise and that made up a lot of the difference on the particular field I was facing. The one time the slow reload really bit my butt was in the El Presidente stage where the shells bounced off the cylinder and almost landed on the ground. 8 second reload. Measure the powder, pour it in, and then ram the bullet home....ok so it felt that way. Only when I deviated from my plan did I pay dearly with deltas, white targets, and where'd my bullet go's. At the end of the day I performed very strongly on the two field courses of 32 rounds each winning one and losing the other by a miss. Not bad for a skinny kid with slow reloads.....

Latest shooting exploits....

      Lately I have been a bit hung up on the newest of the shooting disciplines: Zombie Shooting. I've been to three events so far and it's really starting to get under my skin. I make friends at all the shooting events I go to as I can't help but talk.  Shooting sports, guns, and how to make them fit together is a combination that will make me hoarse if I'm not careful.

     The first event I attended was a pistol match and it was a wild time. Folks of all skill levels were going after the head shots quite calmly after the first stage and the scoring was easy to understand....a good thing from the RO and shooter's perspective. The odd pace of three shots to the infected target and lone headshots to the zombies was upsetting to the comfort zone of double tap everything. I got over it and really enjoyed the confidence building of the made bonus headshots at twenty yards and the rock 'n' roll triple taps of point blank infecteds.

The second event was a three gun zombie match. Very interesting as the divisions were broken down by total loaded capacity of all three weapons. Pretty cool really, as shooters were adjusting their round counts to make a particular division. The shots were quite demanding for the average shooter from the long bonus plate racks to maximum cylinder bore ranged shotgun plate to 100+ yard offhand flash targets. Zombie shooters were quickly put on notice that while the sport was geared to both the beginner and the seasoned shooter all were expected to bring their best game and learn something while they were at it.

By the third event I had a good feel for the game and decided to shoot pistol only as I was running a squad and it just made sense. I ended up winning high over all with a revolver against numerous auto shooters some using as many as 15 rounds in a magazine. The secret was making my hits. I had two clean stages, one with a plate rack and one with a six 20 yard bonus head shots. This match felt better as it was still a notice of excellence required, only this time my squad had brought a better game. I was fortunate to squad again with some familiar faces and this made it a good time as well as an easy gauge of the match.

Tonight I directed an IDPA match and competed with a 2" Model 10 running in the SSR division. The difficult shots included 5 head shots and three bowling pins. Before I started playing with Zombie Shooting those shots would have been a challenge and uncertainty, but they all passed rather uneventfully as all the tough shots were made with seeming ease.

The match was made even more difficult by the downright evil placement of Non-Threats which preyed upon the score sheets of all but a few.  I was among the fortunate to get through unscathed, which was a good thing after my " Tonight I've got no sympathy for any of you, I'm shooting a snubnose revolver," speech. I feel it has helped my with my accuracy and comfort with my guns in tough shot situations. It will be interesting to see how this translates to USPSA, but I'll definitely be back for more at the next match.