Friday, July 25, 2014

At the sound of the beep...

Last Thursday I showed up at the range a little after they'd finished mowing, but the joint was already jumping (at least for midday weekday.)

The south bay was taken, and I arrived at the north bay at the same time as a guy who was setting up to function-fire a few boxes of ammo through his new 20-gauge autoloader. He was setting up at... 15 yards? Anyway, farther back than I usually did, but no matter; drawing to a small target was the point anyway.

My first draw-and-fire a single shot showed that I had a problem: The timer thought I'd fired a three-shot string. There was no way the mic on the timer could ignore the gauge blazing away ten feet to my left. Shotmaxx to the rescue! Time to try out the inertia sensor mode; that way the timer senses the shots by the motion of the recoil rather than the sound of the shot. It worked brilliantly.

Before too long, the folks in the south bay left and I moved over there. It was possible to shoot in the shade if I didn't mind shooting from... twenty... something? yards. Or was it fifteen? I had no idea.

Since I was shooting in the shade, I took off the gun burkha. I had a couple good times, despite the longer range to the plates.
When I returned on Monday, the south bay was unoccupied and I went straight there. This time I'd stopped at Home Despot on the way and had a new toy...
How far were the plates? About that far.(If this laser proves useful, I'm going to hand it over to Bobbi for home carpentry use and get a proper rangefinder.)
It was getting a little warm and sticky in the sun, so I only did twenty runs, but was rewarded with improved times from under the burkha.
Before I left, I pulled out the Walther PPX to put another fifty rounds through it. I dinged the plates for a bit with a box of TulAmmo and had no malfunctions. According to my notebook, this makes 600 rounds through the PPX.

Anyhow, gotta get back to the range today. Gotta keep showing up on the regular.
.
@

9 comments:

  1. TBeck8:49 AM, July 25, 2014

    You're blowing the curve for the rest of the class.!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alien9:07 AM, July 25, 2014

    If you can, play with a rangefinder before plunking down the green.

    I've got the Leica 1200 yard version, which both works as far and is as accurate as I'll ever need, but rounds up/down to (what it thinks is) the nearest yard. At 300 yards, actually being 298.X or 301.X is irrelevant, but I default to my Bosch DLR165 for both carpentry and close-in target setting. Bosch now has one that does 2 inches to 800 ft (266 yards), which is probably farther than most people need. Only time I need more than 165 feet of high accuracy is when laying out fences, and shooting 180 from a mid point (or several mid points) usually solves that. For my use, a 300-500 foot precision laser would be perfect. Bosch makes 'em, but my 165 is paid for.

    And, pay attention to the controls - is it easy to use, or will you be pressing multiple buttons to get the functions you want?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Paul9:07 AM, July 25, 2014

    Lets see this Burkha. I can see the utility of wearing a tent but I am unsure as to the cause.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tam9:34 AM, July 25, 2014

    Paul,

    "Lets see this Burkha."

    There's a picture at the link.

    I like it because it's:
    1) Lightweight, yet keeps my arms and neck from getting sunburned. As long as it's not too humid out, I find a light-colored, baggy, breathable overshirt to be comfier than just a dark-colored tee shirt.
    2) Has those big, hidden "document pockets" that are great for a small camera, garage door opener, and other things I don't want to carry in my hands, but aren't bulky enough to mkae me bring a purse on a bicycle ride.
    3) Covers my gun so I don't have to hear "Are you a cop? What kinda gun is that? Is that a Forty? Do you like Black Talons or HydraShok?" all damn day long.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Scott J9:38 AM, July 25, 2014

    1.84 on an 8 inch plate from 15-ish is pretty sporty.

    I'm going to have to start coming up with some shoot-run-shoot drills.

    You asked on book of Face where I'm losing the most time.

    It's not reloads like I thought. It seems I'm playing tactical Timmy and not really breaking my shooting stance as I move.

    I need to get the gun into my strong hand only and RUN to my next shooting position (keeping the muzzle safely pointed of course).

    Guess I watched too much Miami Vice as a youth and I move more like Sonny Crockett (without pointing at my toes or the sky of course)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Scott J10:31 AM, July 25, 2014

    Mike_C, I lived that showing up part at my club's IDPA-ish match last night.

    I was 3rd of 15 shooters but 7 of the 10 I beat were unclassified newbies. Still I was there when many of our speedier regulars weren't so I was able to finish near the top.

    I have a plaque in my trophy collection for SCCA Solo II H Stock (autocross for those who don't know) because I was the only person to show up consistently in that class for a whole season and earn enough points. Even though I technically won by default I still claim it because I showed up.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Old NFO12:08 PM, July 25, 2014

    Envy... Stuck at work (as usual)...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Paul12:35 PM, July 25, 2014

    Good looking burkha. I take it in your case you up sized it some? Seems pretty trim on the display.

    I've been looking for some good shirts to wear this winter. Noticed some of the ones last year are getting a little tattered on the edges.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Tam1:59 PM, July 25, 2014

    Paul,

    I buy the men's XL and just wear it unbuttoned over a tee-shirt.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.