Sin-ster's Range Diary, Plus Musings

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  • Sin-ster

    GM of 4 Letter Outbursts
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    I always pegged you for a Caracal guy!

    You know, they have amazing stock triggers and feel really good in the hand...

    The sights are crappy, and AFAIK, irreplaceable. God only knows how one can find magazines, or what they cost... And as far as I'm concerned, there's not nearly enough test data yet to determine if they actually hold up to the kind of use one would see in my hands!

    I swear, though-- they are not as bad as I thought they'd be, at least at a glance!

    Plus I need something to shoot IPSC with-- and all the cool kids roll CZ!
     

    Sin-ster

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    Though my birthday was on the 3rd, the celebration was yesterday/last night. I shot my last match before Nats and feel that despite a humdrum performance, I got a lot out of it. Rushed home, showered, and headed out to meet up with the crew...

    It was at that point that I noticed a Private Message in my box at the Benos forums. "Gun Problems?", sent by Dan Burwell...

    I don't know how, as I haven't been able to get in contact with him in months, but somehow he heard about the snapped trigger bar. "If you can get it to me by Wednesday, I can fix you up and bring it with me to Nationals." Awesome; it FedEx's (overnight) in a couple of hours.

    Even without the pretravel reduction, the gun shoots essentially the same. The new loop was so close to the one that he had worked on that it barely altered the break point, and I really had no trouble being accurate with it. What I did notice was a tendency to whack the trigger a bit more when really hosing-- I believe at hyper speed, the extra travel with the stock trigger bar has me letting out a bit more past the reset and subsequently yanking further and harder.

    More than anything, having the "fix" will be a confidence thing-- although I wasn't too worried about it anyway. Plus I'll have the opportunity to speak with Dan face-to-face, and hopefully get him to take the back up with him after the match to give the identical treatment.

    I thought my birthday gift was a broken trigger bar, but... I think having it fixed is the real surprise!
     

    Sin-ster

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    Am I cursed, or just really hard on things?

    Let's review what I've managed to destroy this season (most of it at the worst possible time, mind you):

    An M&P mag tube, and subsequently the follower.
    An M&P slide stop-- but not enough to render it useless, just to negate autoforward.
    An M&P trigger bar-- which freaked Dan out because he has 3x as many rounds through his pistol without that part failing.
    An M&P striker spring.
    7x ISMI 13# recoil springs, M&P.
    2x ISMI 13# recoil springs, Glock.
    1x ISMI 15# recoil spring, Glock.
    1x M&P OEM 45 recoil spring.
    2x Glock TRS (after market).
    1x Glock TRS (OEM).
    14 e-clips for the Dillon resizing die.
    1 decapping pin. (That's gotta be some kind of record; it never broke or bent, but it wore down so low that the primers kept getting sucked back into the pocket.)
    1 Dillon *carbide* sizing die. (That's right-- cracked the carbide, for perma-scratches in brass. Just in time for Gator-- let's hope they don't ALL split.)
    1 cam arm spring for the XL650. (Note-- it may have run for up to 30k rounds with this broken spring...)
    1 Powder Check system. (Don't ask...)
    1 pair Revision Sawfly. (Nose piece literally rotted...)
    1 set G16 Oakley lenses. (They have caught enough brass to be what I'd call worn out by now.)
    1 M&P magwell/frame. (It's... gouged something nasty.)
    6x M&P magazines. (They could probably do with some retirement; I've taken the rust off of them and Flitzed those spots smooth enough times that they're probably thinned out notably.)

    That's just off the top of my head-- and Lord knows what else is on its last leg. Everything seems to be falling apart right at the end of the season-- but why it couldn't wait just 2-3 more weeks is beyond me. (Not really-- I've known that answer for years.)

    I'm definitely switching platforms. The slide-to-frame fit of my primary is pretty laughable, and after a discussion I had with Brad at Nationals... along with every other damn thing... I'm ready to go European steel. Looks like it's 90% gonna be some Mink-tuned Shadows, although the Tanfo line keeps nagging at me. They sure are sexy to look at...

    Perhaps the most troubling is that I've somehow broken my shooting. Or it's broken itself. Or broken stuff has made it broken... I dunno, something broke!

    Here's what I know:

    I'm quitting on "leavers", as Manny called them, of all kinds. Sometimes it's an activation popper-- other days, I go 1-for-1 on 98% of the steel, even in a Major. Sometimes, it's an activated target itself-- if I'm transitioning to another. Most of the time, it's the literal leaver-- the last static before exiting a position, or at least breaking the gun down to stuff it through another port. Swear, I see that last shot... and in the videos, it's really not an obvious early swing. But the misses tell the tale (along with some Deltas, when I'm lucky) and they're always on leaver targets. THIS is easy to fix, fortunately.

    Something is wrong with my grip, unless the gun has been shot so loose that it physically can't track consistently. I doubt the latter is true, as it DOES seem to track well from time to time. I'm guessing it's me-- between the grip training, tweaking the grip itself towards the end of the season, and... whatever the Hell makes me feel like I'm not gripping the gun very hard sometimes. I noticed in practice on Friday that I could FEEL myself locking down more on the 30 yard targets I had set up at the end of my practice stage. My guess is that the static/indoor accuracy stuff has somehow screwed up my grip in "real" shooting? Who knows-- we've got 1200 rounds in the next two days to fix it.

    I guess my trigger control has fallen apart? Or maybe it was just masked by the old trigger? F&%k if I know. Dan's timely fix of the trigger bar definitely changed the feel of it a little bit, and probably added a few ounces of weight. Should that make a difference? When I focus, I can still shoot the thing as accurately as ever-- but WTF, at speed. It's not sight alignment/visual patience-- the ONE thing I am doing really well is seeing the sights and calling (almost) every shot.

    Which leads me to... am I shooting brown? Swear, I called 6 straight Alpha on 3 Classics yesterday... and they were all below the A-zone. Centered... spread like I had called them... but all low. I mean, at this stage, how is that even possible??? I even know that I *have* to hold a touch high at some distances thanks to the zero of this gun, but it's like I need/want more background above the sights to verify the index. I dunno-- this shouldn't be an issue, and it pisses me off. Maybe I never had the right index and it's just now becoming clear as I'm calling most of the shots?

    At a glance, I'm moving well/better. I ain't sticking around in positions, I'm shooting quickly upon entering them, and most mag changes are taking place in the first 2-2.5 steps. (That last thing still needs work.) But I miss spots... God, do I miss spots. I started working on actually picking a marker out recently and it seemed to help, but... just one match thus far, so who knows. Screwed mag changes have a lot to do with this as well it would seem; the last 2-3 pouches on the belt really bring it out. What's worse... I keep standing up when I can't actually roll through an array. It's masked by the fact that I somehow acquired fast feet, but it's still costly-- mostly as I wait for the sights to settle as my whole base lifts 6-8 inches.

    The positive thing is... I feel like it's all SOOO close, and the fact that so many things are just slightly off leads me to believe that it will all come together in one fell swoop. Shitty that it went downhill at the end of the season, but whatever-- keep plugging along. I'd like to say that I'll shoot the Gator/A4 with no expectation, negative or positive, but I'm not sure if that's possible. Maybe I'll have a crappy two practice days and just say screw it. I feel so off about that match anyway, it might be good to just go out and not give a crap. Working the match should be fun, despite the fact that it makes me feel odd about actually competing in it-- no Friday walk through, still don't have a room booked (or know if I will just drive every day), shooting Thursday/Friday instead of the weekend, no clue who I'm squadded with or if I can change it... Honestly, TN Sectional through Nationals has felt like a whirlwind-- guns breaking, press breaking, technique breaking, soul breaking... Cripes, I haven't been hammered since September. Maybe that's the problem!??!?

    Part of me looks forward to the off season, and part of me wonders how long that'll last. Some days I feel burned out, and other days I'm roaring to go. I think the general sense of a "clean slate" will be good for me overall, and I'm stoked to get the next year mapped out and see about putting some structure to this madness. The one good thing I can pull from the last month or so is that I feel like I've learned a lot, about a lot of things. I wasted a lot of free time this season-- time I'll never be able to get back, and probably won't have again in the future. I'd say the main goal for next year will be to waste NO time-- especially as it will likely be less abundant, and subsequently more valuable.

    The year in review. Well, I'm going to do it through video I believe-- I'll post it here for easy reference. To sum it up, this time last year, my entire life was changing-- for the better, I know now. I was a middling C-class shooter on paper, performing more like a B in matches. As of this morning, I'm a bare-bones Master on paper... and somehow shooting like I'm in B-class again. HA! But I'm banging on the door-- I can taste it, right around the corner. I believe in the deepest corners of my being that when I look back on these words next year, they'll bring a beaming smile to my face. And, for once, I HOPE that'll be enough for me!
     

    sigfan556

    Well-Known Member
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    Nov 5, 2009
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    slidell,LA
    You know, they have amazing stock triggers and feel really good in the hand...

    The sights are crappy, and AFAIK, irreplaceable. God only knows how one can find magazines, or what they cost... And as far as I'm concerned, there's not nearly enough test data yet to determine if they actually hold up to the kind of use one would see in my hands!

    I swear, though-- they are not as bad as I thought they'd be, at least at a glance!


    Plus I need something to shoot IPSC with-- and all the cool kids roll CZ!
    Tell you what bo buy me one and ill test the crap out of it!!
     

    latech15

    Master class Hero
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    7   0   0
    Sep 24, 2009
    871
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    Pineville
    Simply reading one of these posts makes me wonder what those brilliant youngsters (some people call them Internet bullies) say and do to the other kids to make them commit suicide. If I knew what they say, I would say it to you now.

    Stop obsessing over every little detail. Get a better gun. Shoot faster and more accurately. That's all you have to do. Quit trying to be me. It will only lead to disappointment. Either because you will fail and never get there or because you do get there and realize it isn't all it's cracked up to be.
     

    chad

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    Jul 27, 2010
    4,598
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    Baton Rouge
    Simply reading one of these posts makes me wonder what those brilliant youngsters (some people call them Internet bullies) say and do to the other kids to make them commit suicide. If I knew what they say, I would say it to you now.

    Stop obsessing over every little detail. Get a better gun. Shoot faster and more accurately. That's all you have to do. Quit trying to be me. It will only lead to disappointment. Either because you will fail and never get there or because you do get there and realize it isn't all it's cracked up to be.

    :mamoru:
     

    sigfan556

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    Nov 5, 2009
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    A lot of typing and record keeping ....... not impressed at all.
    Save it for yourself!
    hes putting the ammo down range at the speed that it requires to figure this out. He is stressing the platform and for that he is finding it's weaknesses. Putting 200-300 rounds (or more) through your gun casually like most of us do is not the same as what guys like him do or the high paced "tactical" courses you can take. This is the kind of shooting that really lets you find out what a platform is capable of. This is a learning process for everyone and he doesn't have to share what he finds.

    As always, have nice day.
     
    Last edited:

    JR1572

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    Nov 30, 2008
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    Sin-ster, I need you to do a favor for me at the next match you compete in.

    Please have someone record you going through a course of fire smoking a cigarette. I want to watch you run around like a crazed Jar-Jar Binks shooting as fast as you can trying not to knock the ashes off the end of your burning cigarette.

    That would impress me if you can do that.

    JR1572
     

    Jack

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    Dec 9, 2010
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    Sin-ster, I need you to do a favor for me at the next match you compete in.

    Please have someone record you going through a course of fire smoking a cigarette. I want to watch you run around like a crazed Jar-Jar Binks shooting as fast as you can trying not to knock the ashes off the end of your burning cigarette.

    That would impress me if you can do that.

    JR1572
    That made my day.
     

    Sin-ster

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    Sin-ster, I need you to do a favor for me at the next match you compete in.

    Please have someone record you going through a course of fire smoking a cigarette. I want to watch you run around like a crazed Jar-Jar Binks shooting as fast as you can trying not to knock the ashes off the end of your burning cigarette.

    That would impress me if you can do that.

    JR1572

    Done.

    FishinFool has done it before, shooting 3 gun no less. I can give it a shot.

    The hard part is getting the thing burned to the right length so it doesn't melt your arm when you mount the pistol. I've ruined at least a dozen shirts screwing around that way... :mamoru:
     

    Sin-ster

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    Didn't read the whole thing so dunno if you found it yet, but this thing is awesome for forearm/hand/wrist building. Lots of rock climbers use it, and I can say from experience, you get the "burn" pretty quick the first few times you use it! It's fun too.

    http://www.amazon.com/Dynaflex-Pro-Gyro-Exerciser/dp/B004RYVCCA

    As good as ordered; I'm pissed that my bouldering fanatic buddy didn't put me on to it, as I can almost guarantee he has one... Thanks!
     

    JR1572

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    58   0   0
    Nov 30, 2008
    6,691
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    Madisonville, LA
    Done.

    FishinFool has done it before, shooting 3 gun no less. I can give it a shot.

    The hard part is getting the thing burned to the right length so it doesn't melt your arm when you mount the pistol. I've ruined at least a dozen shirts screwing around that way... :mamoru:

    Get sleeveless shirts.

    JR1572
     

    Sin-ster

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    A lot of typing and record keeping ....... not impressed at all.
    Save it for yourself!

    :bowrofl:

    Point of fact, this is entirely for myself-- as per this post that started this subforum: http://www.bayoushooter.com/forums/showthread.php?31941-New-Section

    When I title a thread, "Tools Read Here: ...", then you can assume it's for the general BS.com consumption. See, when I started this whole thing, this was still a shooting forum; only in the last few months has turned to anything but.

    Off course JR, Jeff, Nate and Brandon (among others) are free to rib as they see fit. Below the surface, it's all actually quite constructive.
     

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