Sunday, June 30, 2013

Quals...

Candid shot of Mas downrange scoping out his qual target.

I was in no danger of getting an autographed fiver. It was only blind luck recovering from that FTF kneeling at 10 yards that kept me from a 299. I've got to learn to slow down and use the time allotted shooting a qual like this. Bonus points are not awarded for finshing strings early to the detriment of the score...

14 comments:

Old NFO said...

May not be as 'pretty' as Mas, but he'd have been stopped pretty damn well!

Aesop said...

Depends.
Hits count, and yours are all hits.
And paper targets don't shoot back, whereas bad guys don't award points for the highest scoring hits.
Whereas getting 15 average-scoring hits in short order might be worth something, come the day.

I also know a couple of world champion shooters whose methodology was to work on becoming consistently fast, and only then working on tightening up their groups, because anybody can be accurate slow, but it's hard to for an accurate shooter to get faster under pressure.

fast richard said...

His target is pretty impressive. I doubt that the speed vs accuracy thing has any definitive answer other than in a real lethal encounter. If shooting was truly necessary, I'd be glad to have either one of you around.

Tam said...

Aesop,

Thank you for the confidence-inspiring lecture.

After shooting 300/300 on the qual tables, I was doubting my fitness to operate a pistol.

[/sarc]

Losers are happy with their performance. Winners try and figure out how they could have scored better. ;)

Anonymous said...

So was the issue bad technique or loss of focus?

I've had You Suck talk with myself when I knew I should have done better. Focus tends to be my problem.

Gerry

Tam said...

Gerry,

I was shooting like there was a lot more time pressure than there was.

Like most qual courses, the allotted times date to the era of revolvers and dump pouches and with a magazine-fed auto, there's no excuse to be working on your splits. ;)

Other lame excuses include the dude upwind of me on the line thaw was shooting a GP100 with lead bullets and my glasses were fogging up, so the 15-yard strings consisted of "Place the orange circle in the middle of the hazy black blur and hope for the best." :D

mikee said...

I have taken the TX CHL course twice, once to get my license and then at 5 years for renewal.

I shot high score both times in my classes with a Glock 19.

I am not that good a shooter. Really.

Be aware that any practice, any training, makes you better than a great many of the firearm owners out there, and good training, good practice likely makes you a rootin' tootin' expert in comparison to those of us who have only killed white boxes of Winchester ammo in our pursuits of excellence.

Anonymous said...

After all the 1911 bashing I've seen on teh interwebs lately, this makes me smile so hard my cheeks hurt. A crisp single action trigger had to have helped Mas put that big hole in the X-Ring.

Steve Skubinna said...

The most difficult part of timed fire (for me anyway) is using all the time available.

My first reaction after finishing is slight smugness and relief at getting all rounds downrange, followed by irritation at the amount of time left for me to stand there like an idiot while more methodical shooters carefully place every shot.

Will said...

I notice he has his 1911 in an ARG (Ayoob Rear Guard) Mitchel Leatherworks holster. Somewhere along the line, it got re-named to American Rear Guard, IIRC. Excellent concealment holster. I ordered mine through Mas' mail-order business when they first came out, around twenty years ago, and it's still in use, along with the matching belt.

Tam said...

sepulvedasrevenge,

"After all the 1911 bashing I've seen on teh interwebs lately, this makes me smile so hard my cheeks hurt. A crisp single action trigger had to have helped Mas put that big hole in the X-Ring."

The high shooter in the class, who beat Mas's score and won an autographed fiver, was using a S&W 586...

...shot double-action for the whole course.

Scott J said...

"The high shooter in the class, who beat Mas's score and won an autographed fiver, was using a S&W 586..."

Someone after my own heart :)

I shot my 66 snub when qualifying over in SC. I think I was the highest or second highest score in the class but wouldn't have gotten an autographed fiver either. On top of that there was no kneeling.

http://i410.photobucket.com/albums/pp182/ScottJ175/StephnScottJohnson.jpg

Anonymous said...

Strikes me you want the shots to go at about 1 o'clock where 8 becomes 9.

Tam said...

"Strikes me you want the shots to go at about 1 o'clock where 8 becomes 9."

No, you want the shots to go into the x. This is a test of marksmanship, not anatomy knowledge. ;)