The improvements to movement, transition speed, and trigger control that I’ve been seeing in practice carried over into this match. I still need to shave off another second or two per stage, and it’s easy to see how that time can come from shooting a little sooner coming into positions and when transitioning onto new targets along with snapping more quickly between targets.
Disciplined mental rehearsals resulted in running all nine stages according to plan. I walked away from the match thinking that I shot it nearly as well as I could that day, which is the best you can do at a match. Then doing better is simply a matter of improving your skills in practice.
I’ve now been shooting a Glock 34 Gen 5 MOS for nearly three months and liking it a lot. It draws, reloads, and transitions faster than heavier steel-frame guns but does require a firmer grip and more careful trigger press to shoot accurately at speed. The practically zero-maintenance aspect is also very appealing. I’ve picked up my CZ Shadow 2 a few times for dry fire, and it feel comically heavy. I need to take it to the range and see what happens.
Stage 1: This was our first stage of the day. I ran through many detailed mental rehearsals prior to shooting, and while I felt the usual amount of anxiety stepping up to the line to shoot, I also felt confident that I’d stick to my plan and turn in an acceptable performance. I did one more rehearsal while making ready, paying particular attention to several details such as running hard to the first shooting position, shooting those two targets aggressively but still seeing the green fiber in the A-zone and pressing the trigger straight back, pushing off hard towards the second shooting position while reloading, and the like. When the buzzer sounded, it all went down as planned and ended up being one of my strongest stages for the day. While shooting, things felt like they were happening quickly but in control. I left some time on the table shooting the third target later than possible, some of which was due to arriving at that target sooner than expected. I’ve been pushing harder on movement in practice, and it’s requiring that I recalibrate my sensation of when I’ll be arriving at the destination!
Stage 2: Targets here were in the 15 to 20 yard range and my rehearsal focused on waiting for a crisp sight picture and pressing the trigger straight back for every shot. That went fine except for the sixth shot from the second position where I fired a little too soon and threw a miss. I didn’t call it at the time, but in the video it happens a little off pace. Some quick math shows this costing me about three positions in the results from that stage. Ouch! This is an issue I’ve had in practice, and I’m getting on top of it, but there’s still work to do.
Stage 3: Time here wasn’t bad, but with only six shots, every Charlie is a killer. I fired one round slightly high on the first target and landed one just outsize the A-zone on a back target. The reload also lacked snap.
Stage 4: I picked a lower-risk stage plan that added an extra reload to shoot a target from six feet away instead of across the stage. Accuracy was good with two of the four Charlies came on the last target, where I could barely see the A-zone while falling forward out of the shooting area. I’m getting noticeably better overlapping shooting and moving, but there’s still room for improvement.
Stage 5: No video for this stage. I think that most of my time lost to the people who came in ahead of me was in the initial shooting on the tuxedos and poppers. You need to have the courage of your convictions when going full speed on targets like that, particularly when shooting Production and knowing you only have one make-up shot.
Stage 6: This stage went exactly as I visualized it other than the third shot on the third target, a hard-cover partial. One of the shots didn’t feel right, so I fired another one that did. The target had an Alpha and two Charlies, so the make-up didn’t end up being necessary.
Stage 7: I got slightly tense thinking about shooting pace before the beep, and the resulting trigger freeze on the third target cost me a fair amount of time. Transitions also need to be faster.
Stage 8: Shooting this stage happened significantly faster than I expected, but I simply rolled forward in the present tense, trying to press the trigger straight back when the sights looked good. The Delta happened on one of the two back targets at the end.
Stage 9: Isolating my trigger finger and dropping the hammer without disturbing the sights takes me way too long, particularly when shooting one handed, and this stage delivered maximum punishment in that area. Getting crushed on time when shooting lots of tight targets is getting old.
