foo.c tag:mitch.net,2009-07-06:/blog//1 2012-05-06T02:05:33Z int main(void){ printf("\nHello World\n"); } Movable Type 4.3-en Match 5/5/12 (Cinco De Mayo Edition) tag:mitch.net,2012:/blog//1.297 2012-05-06T01:42:32Z 2012-05-06T02:05:33Z It was a short day for me. I had to leave after my third stage to go to a birthday party.I felt like I shot pretty well. I had one miss from utter confusion on a stage, and one miss... foo.c
I felt like I shot pretty well. I had one miss from utter confusion on a stage, and one miss from not using my front sight, but other than that I did ok. Oh, and I also hit some square tubing that was part of a barricade that got in my way. It was kind of funny, bang GONG bang. I didn't shuffle over enough to get an unobstructed view of the target.

I recall seeing the front sight more than I have at some previous matches anyway.

I really wanted to put my new draw into practice on this match, but as fate would have it two of the stages I shot were barrel starts, and the other was a draw into portal so I didn't get a chance to use it.

No glaring issues today, I'm happy. Not fast at all, but I was just there for the trigger time more than anything.
]]> Aim Fast Hit Fast (Not an AAR) tag:mitch.net,2012:/blog//1.296 2012-04-16T21:16:13Z 2012-04-16T22:15:39Z This is not an AAR because, firstly there was no action and in my opinion the term is misused when discussing a civilian firearms class, and secondly I am way too lazy to write one. You can read one here... foo.c here if you want to.

Todd is a great instructor. Knowledgeable, funny, and seriously dedicated to his craft. Apparently he's going to be coming twice a year to that particular facility, and I would definitely take the class again, or any other class he offers for that matter.

I did not learn a whole lot of new things. That's not surprising, I have a stack of certificates from classes offered by KR Training and Rangemaster and there's a lot in common between the three instructors.

What I did learn was a better way to do my press out.

What I originally learned was to bring the gun up to a ready position pointed at the target and roughly over your heart. Then you push the gun forward, pick up the front sight, apply pressure to the trigger, and if all goes right the shot breaks at full extension with the front sight on what you are trying to hit. I'm not going to lie, that was always a bitch for me. It literally took years for me to be able to pick up the front sight on every press out, especially under stress. I did finally get the hang of it though and haven't really thought about it in a while.

Todd's way is to bring the gun to a ready position where your eye, the front sight, and the target are all in line. The gun is angled up, but your finger is not on the trigger. As you press out, you rotate the gun so your rear sight is now lined up with the front sight and you can place your finger on the trigger. From there, it's the same. You continue adding pressure to the trigger so that the shot breaks at full extension with the sights on the target.

I don't want to start a war or anything between the two schools of thought here. I can see how the original ready position has some benefits. It's better at retention, and you can shoot from that position if you need to. I didn't really like the idea of a ready position that has the gun pointed up at first as up is not always a safe direction, and likely frowned upon at some ranges, but it's not really any different than doing a reload, so I guess I was able to rationalize my cognitive dissonance away. Todd's way really makes my wrists hurt after a while too which he says is because I don't crouch enough. (Then I crouch more and my back hurts. Sucks getting old.)

So long story short, I have to put some reps in on my press out.

About the FAST drill. I have shot it once before with Hsoi. I don't really do drills. I don't know why, I just don't get a big kick out of them and if there's other people there it makes it a big hassle to do them. Anyway, I don't remember my times from that range trip, but I don't think I ever shot it either fast or clean, and we weren't even doing it from concealment.

I was able to get 8.00 seconds on my final FAST drill @ AFHF. No penalties. I literally jumped for joy. It's not really a great score, to be honest, but I earned it. Messing with my draw was really giving me fits all weekend, and I was putting huge amounts of stress on myself to get a good score. Had we just showed up and shot the FAST drill 300 times that weekend I'm sure I could knock enough off to get an advanced score, but I wouldn't have learned anything. To learn a new technique and use it to get a personal best is a pretty big deal in my book.
]]> Cramming tag:mitch.net,2012:/blog//1.295 2012-04-03T01:49:21Z 2012-04-03T02:17:59Z I am the quintessential crammer. In college I would never go to class, never do homework, occasionally show up for labs, and then teach myself everything that would be on the test a couple nights (often only one) before taking... foo.c
When it comes to work I only cram in certain contexts if I can do anything about it. As a rule, you can't produce stuff that sucks if you want to stay in business, employed, etc.

However, I still cram. I always set all these goals about how much practice I am going to do before the next match, or training class, but I never achieve them.

Realizing that practicing every weekend just isn't an achievable goal right now, I have endeavored to practice in smaller chunks.

Dry fire is a big part of that. I'm doing little 10 minute sessions whenever I have time or need a break from work.

Another thing I'm doing is getting my eyes used to darting around and changing focus. It sounds weird, but it helps with eye stress from staring at a monitor all day and has some practical application to shooting.

And finally, a big "cram" practice session at the range the evening before the match or whatever.

I'm taking a class in two weeks for the first time ever from someplace other than KR Training, so I will be testing this method of practice. I know it's not ideal, but it's what I have time for and is hopefully better than nothing.
]]> Dead Fridge tag:mitch.net,2012:/blog//1.294 2012-03-22T05:59:45Z 2012-03-22T06:17:17Z Let me preface this by saying I'm not a prepper, at least not compared to the folks on TV. I think we could go 2-3 weeks if something did happen, and that should be long enough for us to either... foo.c
I think we could go 2-3 weeks if something did happen, and that should be long enough for us to either figure out a plan or for whatever it was to blow over. There are a lot of unlikely things that could happen that I am not prepared for, but so be it.

Ok, that out of the way ...

Our fridge died last week, and our new fridge wasn't delivered until yesterday. We had to throw all our perishables into ice chests, and to make matters worse the wife had just gone to the store.

Anyway, it occurred to me that if I was a prepper, it might not be a bad idea to get another freezer and just keep it full of ice. With the right ice chest, and enough ice to dump in it, you might be able to get 4-5 days before it reached an unsafe temperature. Plus, if the world is ending, it would be nice to have a few ice cold beers just before it happens.


]]> Popping Up tag:mitch.net,2012:/blog//1.293 2012-03-06T02:51:27Z 2012-03-06T03:26:29Z So the first trip with our new pop up camper/trailer is over.Fun was had.It tows really well with my wife's pickup. You would hardly know it was back there, until it was time to stop. With the tow-haul mode engaged... foo.c
Fun was had.

It tows really well with my wife's pickup. You would hardly know it was back there, until it was time to stop. With the tow-haul mode engaged on the transmission it does some pretty aggressive downshifts when braking.

Trailer brakes will be added next time. Legally I don't need them for this size trailer in my state (Texas), but more safety is a good thing. I have all the parts, just need the time now.

I discovered the water tank fill line is broken and there is no storage tank for grey water. Also, the outside grill is missing the parts to mount it to the camper, but I think I am just going to chunk it.

The furnace works well though. It got fairly cold one night and we appreciated it. I wasn't sure we really needed it as I have camped many times in the Texas "cold" with just a sleeping bag, and not your super duper arctic expedition bag either. I have to admit coming into a warm camper after shivering around my pitiful excuse for a camp fire was nice.

The beds were surprisingly comfortable. They don't look that comfortable, but I laid down and went to right to sleep both nights.

It's nice to be able stand up inside. Unless it's a big 8 man tent, I am always hunching over inside a tent and that get's old.

Set up was pretty easy. Luckily I didn't have to do anything to level it side-to-side, so it wasn't anymore involved the pitching a tent (heh).

Next time I would like to tow it with my Jeep someplace more off the beaten path.
]]> Match 2/28/12 tag:mitch.net,2012:/blog//1.292 2012-02-29T19:11:14Z 2012-02-29T19:44:43Z First night match in at least 6 months. The weather was perfect, a little humid but a nice breeze with temps in 60's.We had to shut down early because of complaints from neighbors, but I managed to shoot all the... foo.c
We had to shut down early because of complaints from neighbors, but I managed to shoot all the stages plus the bonus. I'm thinking there won't be another night match there anytime soon.

This was the first time I had shot a night match with "normal" sights. Usually I use my M&P Pro with a fiber optic front sight. The difference was huge. Whereas before there was just little bit of dull red plastic, there is now a bright white beacon. I just don't think you can beat a single white dot when using a flash light at night.

The match is more set up for carbines than for one handed pistol shooting, so it was pretty challenging. Hitting an IPSC target 43 yards away shooting one handed with a pistol against the clock, is not easy and not something you get to do very often. I wouldn't say it's the ultimate test of marksmanship, but I have done other matches where it's just kind of a hose fest with a flash light, and I prefer it with the long shots. You really have to have a good trigger pull or you will end up with a lot of misses. (I had too many of those myself.)

One thing I found was that the neck index method doesn't work for me when shooting through small portals. I eventually had to resort to shooting where I thought the targets should be. I only missed one out of four, believe or not.

The bonus stage was shooting a suppressed AR from LaRue Tactical. That was sweet. The targets were 240 yards away and lit up with a strong spotlight. It was blowing pretty strong from right to left, so I aimed for the right edge of the target. I hit 3 out of 5, which is ok I guess. That was one sweet rifle. I've never shot an AR all tricked out like that. The trigger was around 2-3 lbs and had a short and crisp reset. Basically, completely unlike my AR's trigger. Me want.
]]> Wired by Monkeys tag:mitch.net,2012:/blog//1.291 2012-02-28T02:21:44Z 2012-02-28T03:06:44Z I bought a used pop up trailer. I know RV camping is rather frowned upon by some, but I'm at that point in life where sleeping on the ground isn't fun anymore.It took me a while to find something in... foo.c
It took me a while to find something in my price range that wasn't all worn out, had holes in the canvas, etc., and also had the features I wanted. I went to look at it during the day, and it was nicer than I expected. I wasn't expecting perfection at the price I could afford, but it was nice and clean and didn't have any foul odors.

The night I took it home, the running lights wouldn't come on. The brake lights worked, so I drove it with the hazards on. This probably should have been a clue, but I found a blown fuse on the truck and just shrugged it off.

We are taking it out this weekend so I spent last weekend getting it prepped, and it sure turned into a chore.

I replaced some missing bulbs and lenses for the running lights but I still can't get the lights to come on. The previous owner said that they never came on until he started driving and the trailer got a good ground through the ball. This should have been clue #2, as there's a ground wire in the trailer's wiring connector that connects to the vehicle.

I verified the truck was putting out the proper voltage at the proper places so I began to concentrate on the trailer. I decided I needed to charge the battery and I would just start jumpering connections and see what happened.

Well, the battery was dead, and my charger couldn't bring it back to life. No big deal really, but here goes a trip to Autozone. I knew I needed some stuff so I could hook up the charging wire on the truck, so I could at least accomplish two things on this trip.

I get back and plunk the battery onto the trailer and hook it up, and wire up the truck. I decided to plug the trailer into the truck to see if it works. *POOF* smoke and sparks come out of the connector and I trip the circuit breaker on the battery.

Ok, something really isn't right, and I'm frustrated.

After I chill for a while, I get my multimeter out and sure enough the + and - are reversed in the trailer's connector. I switch them, and since I have the connector apart and a fresh battery I decide to start seeing what wires go to what.

Nothing.

I assumed the trailer was grounded to the battery, but it's starting to look like it isn't or it was but the ground has gone bad. Unfortunately I don't have any 10 gauge wire handy, so off I go back to Autozone.

So now the trailer has a proper ground, and I start figuring out what each wire does. Except for the tail lights, everything was wired wrong in the connector. That's now fixed.

I have working lights. Yay.

On to the brake controller. I hook it up. It says I have no brakes. Damnit, how much stuff is wrong with this thing?

I had to pop open the pop up to trace the wires, and determined that only 3 volts are making it down to the axles. I ran out of time at that point and had to button everything back up.

I am going to roll with it as is, it's light enough that you don't really need trailer brakes. When I get to the camp sight and have everything open and have room to work on it, I will run new wires and hopefully that will be the end of it.
]]> M&P Upgrades tag:mitch.net,2012:/blog//1.290 2012-02-07T02:20:56Z 2012-02-07T02:54:29Z foo.c
It's now sporting a KKM barrel and Warren Tactical sights.

I had a lot fewer shots go low and left, that's good. Some of that is definitely because I've actually been working on dry firing more, maybe all of it.

I did have some flinching. I hate indoor ranges because they are so loud and percussive, which are perfect conditions for developing a flinch, but the rifle club was washed out due to rain. Anyway, anytime I hit off, I couldn't recall seeing the front sight lift which means I'm blinking/flinching.

Groups were cut way down in size, maybe half after culling out fliers. But it's not really a good test because I could hardly see the bullseye on the targets. It's not bright enough downrange and my glasses were fogging badly so I ended up doing all my shooting at 7 yards due to that. Next time I get a chance I will go to the rifle club and do some experimenting with the stock barrel and the KKM barrel from a rest.

My reloads were hitting point of aim. Yay! My carry ammo was 2" low. Boo! Theoretically, at 25 yards my reloads will be high and my carry ammo will still be low, but probably not enough to matter for either. I can live with that.


]]> Glock Bulge tag:mitch.net,2012:/blog//1.288 2012-01-08T15:34:23Z 2012-01-08T15:49:57Z BeforeAfterThe first pic kind of sucks. You can actually see the bulge more clearly on the nickel plated case in the background.You can see in the first after pic that the bulge is gone but it left a little crease.... foo.c
IMG_0054.jpg


After

IMG_0061.jpg

IMG_0060.jpg
The first pic kind of sucks. You can actually see the bulge more clearly on the nickel plated case in the background.

You can see in the first after pic that the bulge is gone but it left a little crease. In the second after pic of the nickel plated case you can see the bulge is not totally gone.

I ended up tossing both of these cases. They fit in the chamber fine, and the chamber on my M&P would support that area, but I decided to err on the side caution. Not worth a blowout to save those cases.

]]> My Lock N Load broke tag:mitch.net,2012:/blog//1.287 2012-01-07T18:52:03Z 2012-01-09T15:12:21Z I don't reload much in the Summer if I can help it because my bench is in the garage and humans will expire after 5 seconds in my garage in the Summer. Ok, not really, but it's damned hot. I... foo.c
Today is a beautiful day, sunny and mild. Thought I would start loading up some of my 40S&W gaming load since I ran out last month.

Spent last night and the early part of this morning cleaning it up, and adjusting all my dies and what not.

I went to seat the first primer, and nothing. Ok, try it again. No primer. What the heck?

The plastic piece that holds the rod that the primer "slider" uses to move back and forth is broken, so the rod is just flopping around and not letting the slider make it's full length of travel.

Damnit.

I'll be calling Hornady on Monday.

I guess it wouldn't be a bad idea to pick up a hand primer. I could have gotten a couple hundred rounds done today, and that would get me through the next match. I'm going to pick one up.

UPDATE:

Hornady came through. Part is in the mail with no charge to me.
]]> Match 12/31/11 tag:mitch.net,2011:/blog//1.286 2011-12-31T19:05:38Z 2011-12-31T19:17:44Z foo.c
Slowing down was actually fairly easy, but I had a hard time calling shots. Some of the difficulty calling shots is due to the fact that my gun is shooting this particular ammo low and some is due to not seeing the sights lift every time.

Anyway without a lot of boring filler, I got a little better each stage and shot the last stage down 0, which is IDPA speak for putting all rounds in the proper place.  It wasnt fast, but I can work on that later. 

I really need to spend some time with this gun figuring out what ammo will shoot point of aim, and then I really need to commit to at least a couple of hours per month practicing properly.
]]> Range Day tag:mitch.net,2011:/blog//1.285 2011-12-29T19:00:20Z 2011-12-29T19:30:20Z foo.c
Hsoi has a new M&P to try out, and I just needed some trigger time in general.

I started out shooting my M&P Pro, and switched to my M&P after a while. I got to shoot the M&P at 25 yards off a rest, and it turned out to be not as accurate as I thought, roughly 6" group at 25 yards. They said I was going too fast to gauge accuracy, but the sight picture was good, and that's how I always shoot from a rest, so I think that's a pretty good representation.

Hsoi's new gun was also grouping on the order of 6", until he tried 124 grain bullets (his is a 9mm) and then it tightened up a lot. I was shooting 165 grain bullets (mine is a 40 S&W), and I'm wondering if 185 grain wouldn't do better in mine.

I got to try the FAST drill. I sucked. It didn't help any that my gun is shooting low, but I can't blame it all on that. Lot of trigger slapping, lots of rushing things. Also had a problem getting a good grip on the gun, it was wobbly at first.

I probably won't do the drill much, but it did point out that I need to be better at coming from the holster and making a precise shot. That's not something I am used to doing. At a match, I just want to come out fast. If I get a C on that shot, it's probably not a big deal and in many cases the difference between a fast C and a slow A is not that much.

There's always something to work on I guess.
]]> 'Splain it to me tag:mitch.net,2011:/blog//1.284 2011-12-12T05:18:43Z 2011-12-12T05:28:25Z I was flicking through the channels today and our President was discussing "sacrifice" on 60 Minutes. To be honest, I didn't really listen very long because I have almost no interest in what the man has to say, but the... foo.c
Ok ...

Explain to me how getting paid for not working is a sacrifice.

How is getting free food, free healthcare, and free lodging a sacrifice?

To quote the great Inigo Montoya: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." ]]> Death Defying Day tag:mitch.net,2011:/blog//1.283 2011-12-10T21:19:07Z 2011-12-10T21:37:19Z Be careful folks, there are some first class idiots out there.We took the kids out to get pictures with Santa. I haven't even made it out of the neighborhood before the first incident happens. A Hummer H3 pulls out in... foo.c
We took the kids out to get pictures with Santa. I haven't even made it out of the neighborhood before the first incident happens. A Hummer H3 pulls out in front of me without even looking. Anti-Lock brakes worked well, thankfully. At least this person wasn't intentionally trying kill me ...

The next incident happened as we left the mall. We were about to cross the street when my son pulled on my arm to prevent us from going into the street. There was plenty of distance between us and the oncoming truck, but this probably saved our lives. The person driving the truck, being polite, stopped and waved us across the road. We just get past the truck when the idiot gangbanger in a silver and purple POS Buick behind the truck, floors it go around. He nearly hit us. I can't help but think that if we had crossed in front of the truck like I had planned, this idiot would have done the same thing except we would have been directly in his path then. This guy is apparently unable to stand any minor inconvenience without acting like a complete asshole. His antics continued and he floors it again after we are just barely clear of him. I was seething mad, but I had to let it go. There were some things I wanted to yell, that I couldn't. Hopefully, he only ends up killing himself, and not someone else. I was too distracted to get his plate number, I wish I had.

So, a simple trip to the mall to get pictures with Santa and we end up in two near serious accidents.
]]> KR Training's Glock vs XD vs XDm vs M&P comparison tag:mitch.net,2011:/blog//1.282 2011-12-03T18:40:29Z 2011-12-03T19:11:32Z foo.c You can see Karl's comparison here

I've owned all of them except the XDm, so it's interesting to me.

Personally, I think the M&P wins, but it doesn't win "out of the box" as they say. To me it definitely needs some love from Apex Tactical to cure the trigger reset.

Sure, you can get trigger jobs on all of them, and if we're just talking about which gun has the best aftermarket trigger it would probably be the Glock, but as a whole I like the M&P better.

These are all my opinions, of course, but the XD feels very blocky and the Glock is not exactly slim either. The XDm appears to add more blockiness and things to snag your shirt on. I imagine that if you got your calipers out there wouldn't be a whole of difference between all four of them, but the M&P is better where it counts

Having said all that, the gun I would recommend to someone wanting their first handgun would be a Glock 17. You can't really go wrong with any of them, but the Glock 17 is the standard by which all these pistols are judged. It's simple to operate and has a great reputation for reliability. Most people will just need to practice and clean it occasionally to have a good carry gun.

If someone is really unnerved by carrying a loaded gun with just a trigger safety, I would recommend the XD, as it adds the grip safety which is mostly unobtrusive. (Though Karl does point out some disadvantages to having one.) I did find that in 1 out of 1000 times (+/-) of practice drawing from concealment and dry firing that I would manage to not engage the grip safety properly. In all those times the fault could be remedied by squeezing harder.

So, I may have drank the M&P coolaid, but I still can see advantages to the other models. (I also want to say that both of my M&P's are well under 6" at 25 yards, but I do know that it's not uncommon to get one that suffers from inconsistent lockup and will show vertical stringing in shot groups. I imagine that Smith and Wesson would fix these for free, but that's just a guess based on how their customer service has treated me when they warrantied my Pro's barrel.)




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