Mid-Week IDPA at Black Creek

It's been a month since I was able to enjoy a mid-week diversion of IDPA at Black Creek, so I was excited that my schedule allowed me to shoot this week's match. I didn't get away from work as quickly as I had hoped, but still arrived at the range in time to join the last squad of the day.

The first stage started out with the shooter facing up range, in front of a wall of barrels. At the signal we turned and engaged two targets on each side of the barrier. Each target required two hits to the body and one to the head. A missed head shot contributed to a total of 9 points down. 

On the second stage we started seated in chair, with a barrel stack as cover to shoot around. There were four targets requiring 3 hits each, and all shooting was done from a kneeling position. Dropping to a knee behind the barrel I engaged the two right targets, then shifted to the left to finish off. Some folks managed to shoot all the targets from the same side. Again, some sloppy shooting added to my time.

For the last string of fire we started standing, facing the targets. Six paper targets set in a wide array were first engaged in tactical sequence, followed by six falling steel targets. After the performance on first two stages I made extra effort to concentrate on the front sight to try to finish strong. As I made my reload, my gun jammed with a double feed and failed to go into battery. I ended up having to pull the magazine out and inserting another. I lost a good 6 or 7 seconds easily. After finishing the final paper target, I quickly ran the steel. If not for the malfunction, it would have been an excellent run. 

Despite the poor shooting, it was still fun. Some days it just doesn't come together. At least the good hits and fast steel on the last stage had me leaving the range on a high note. In the end, it was time on the range, and that beats not being on the range any day.

Wednesday Fun Match

Instead of the normal weekly IDPA match at Black Creek, this week's event was designated a "fun match." This was done to make a short, quick event, in deference to the heat and humidity, and possibility of storms. Even though we shot in IDPA divisions the similarity ended there. Three plates racks were set in front of three "Q" style targets to create a stage shot in three strings.

For all strings the shooter started facing up range, hands above shoulders, gun holstered and loaded to division capacity. The first string required two hits on each paper in any order, and all the red plates knocked down. On string two, the three paper targets were engaged in tactical sequence, followed by the white plates. The final string required the paper to be shot in tactical priority and tactical sequence before knocking down the blue plates.

The narrow "down 0" area on the paper targets made for a nice challenge. It's also been a few years since I got to shoot at a plate rack. I needed a few make up shots on the first two attempts, but cleaned it the third time. Of course, that third run was when I had my only miss on paper! Overall though, I was pleased with my shooting.

Even though the match was short, total time shooting was just 48.3 seconds before penalties, it was still worth the trip. I had debated about going at first, but I had a good time shooting, and enjoyed getting in even that bit of range time. Since I can't get in much good practice due to restrictions at my local range, I'll take the opportunities I get. To top it off, on the way home I had time to stop by Center of the Universe Brewing to cool down with some good beer. And that's a story for another post.

These Old Eyes at the IDPA Match

I've written about my experiences with vision correction and shooting previously. It's been just over a year since I last updated the lenses in my shooting glasses and a regular eye exam about 3 months ago showed no significant change in my vision. However, recently I've begun see a less than sharp view of the sights when using the prescription inserts. Earlier this week during some dry fire it became abundantly clear (heh) that I wasn't seeing the front sight in focus. I wrote it off as being due to low room light, and I found the practice session went a lot better not wearing the Rx glasses.

At this Wednesday’s Black Creek IDPA match as I did a few practice draws in the safe area, even in the filtered sunlight, it was still difficult to see a outline of the front and rear sights. Removing the prescription insert from my glasses allowed a very sharp sight picture. I finally decided to shoot the match without the Rx inserts. Sure the targets were blurry, but they’re supposed to be with a proper sight picture, right?

The match went pretty well for me. As always, the match director made good use of the single shooting bay by using the same targets in multiple stages, and shooting them from different positions and with different requirements. Stage 1 started with the gun on a barrel, shooting six shots through a tunnel created by a sideways barrel and barricade combo, to a target with only the center portion available. One miss and one low shot left me 6 down. The narrow and blurred target zone gave me a good feeling of the vision challenge to expect on the rest of the match.

The next two stages involved shooting four targets from cover behind stacks of barrels and wooden wire spools. Each of the targets required 3 hits each. The shooting order and gun start location changed between the stages. There were options on how you engaged the targets, and most of the views were fairly limited.

The fourth and final stage made use of the entirety of targets and props that made up the first three courses of fire. There was an added twist of requiring a varied number of hits on the targets. We started at the first stage, and put a minimum of two hits on the narrow target through the barrel. Next, we advanced toward the positions used for stages 2 and 3. The right two targets required 3 hits each, and the last two on the left required 4 hits each. Positioning was interesting as there were numerous ways to shoot the stage, all the while keeping in mind cover and engagement order. I lost track of my shot count at the last position, between a reload and a quick malfunction clearance, so ended up putting extra shots on the targets. It all worked out in the end as I finished the stage down 0. 

It was a fun, but hot, match. I didn’t have time to shoot a second gun this time, but after the clean finish on the last stage it was good to stop while I was ahead! The lack of focus in the distance didn’t appear to have much of an effect, and by the end of the match, I didn’t really notice. I couldn’t see my hits on the targets but they say you should “call your shots” anyway and not look for the holes in cardboard. I’ve talked to some other shooters with distance correction who just accept the blur of targets in the distance when shooting. I’ll wait a bit before deciding if I need to update my prescription. I do especially like the idea of not looking through a double layer of lenses, and I found I didn't need squint my left eye to pick out the front sight. I recently switched to a fiber optic on the front sight which also helps in finding that front post.

Sometimes the limitation in shooting is the equipment, not the store-bought stuff, but the parts we are born with.

Wednesday IDPA - Double the Fun

It's been a while since I was able to get out to enjoy the Wednesday afternoon IDPA match at the Black Creek range, but the stars aligned this week for a good mid-week diversion. When I arrived at the range, I was surprised to hear no gun fire. It was a slow day and I had arrived between shooters. So I woke up the match director and shot without waiting. It was sort of an odd feeling to walk up, load mags, and shoot — like having a private match.

Three stages awaited, for a total of 38 rounds minimum. The first stage saw us me standing behind a barricade, and upon the start engage four targets while on the move across the stage. The targets were hidden behind barrels and became visible as you moved. I had my best finish on this stage, with a second place overall, which helped make up for the next two stages.

Stage two used the same four targets as the first stage, but they were shot from behind another barricade. Two targets were engaged from each side of the barricade, with a mandatory reload with retention in between, and three hits were required on each target. Since I've been shooting IDPA exclusively this year, remembering to retain the partially loaded magazine is becoming second nature at least.

The final stage consisted of two strings of fire, and brought into play one of the match director's favorite tricks — strong hand and weak hand only shooting combined with non-threat targets menacing the shooter. I didn't shoot this stage as well as I wanted, or expected, but it was still fun. It points out where I need to focus some practice time. Both strings of fire on this stage started with the shooter facing up range. The first string, from around 7 yards, required two shots on each target in tactical sequence (1-1-2-1-1) fired strong hand only, followed by three heads shots, weak hand only. For the second string, we moved back to the 10 yard line and repeated the same pattern, freestyle then strong hand only.

The Black Creek matches are quick, and it's not unusual for folks to shoot a second gun, but I had never done this myself. It's about an hour drive for me to the range, so it makes sense to shoot it again for a "better bullet to gasoline" ratio. I shot the second time in the new Compact Carry Pistol division (CCP) and I actually finished better overall with the smaller weapon. The reduced ammo capacity of the smaller gun came into play on the third stage; nine shots required and nine rounds in the gun to start. As I went to slide lock on both strings I knew I had shots to make up but opted to not do a reload, and accept the penalties. In retrospect, it might have been better to take the time to reload and fire another round or two.

It was a fun match. It's good to have successes, including pinpointing areas for improvement. This gives me things to focus on in future practice sessions; it's time to add some non-threat targets to my SHO and WHO practice. The weather cooperated in being partially overcast and, relatively speaking, not oppressively hot. I even made it back in time to get to the first Summer swim meet of the season to see our son swim. That meant no refreshing beer after shooting, but that's certainly a worthy tradeoff.

Wednesday IDPA

Once again, a quick IDPA match down at Black Creek provided a fun mid-week diversion. As I walked down to the range I spotted an array of targets profusely obscured by non-threat targets. "Oh great," I thought. Then I heard something said about strong hand and weak hand only shooting. "Oh great," I thought again. And that's exactly what it was — Great!

Match Director Anton does a remarkable job of putting on a fun and challenging match in limited space. This week the array of six targets and 4 non-threats were used to offer three stages of shooting goodness. For the first stage we were seated with the loaded gun on the table for three strings of fire. Each target got one hit freestyle, then strong hand only, and finally weak hand only. After looking at the target array, I decided I was going to go for head shots only for the entire match.

For stage two we moved back a couple yards and started facing up range hands on a barricade. The gun was downloaded to six rounds. At the start we turned and engaged each target with one round each, reloaded from slide lock and put one more shot on each target. To add to the challenge, the course description required at least one shot on each target to be a head shot. 

The final stage started behind the barricade and required at least 6 shots from either side, and a minimum of two shots on each target. After the debacle last weekend on the barricade stage, I was pleased with my shooting this time. Granted the targets were half the distance away, but the available target area was cut down by about half too.

At the end, I had two hits on non-threats, and (I think) 13 points down, including a couple misses. It was a very fun match and a great practice session on accurate shooting. As I remarked to a friend afterwards, when you're shooting through a crowd, accuracy is important. 

How I Celebrated Earth Day

I recycled. I put copper and lead back in the ground.

After work Wednesday, I headed south for the Black Creek IDPA match. I hadn't been to the weekday event for a couple of seasons, so I was looking forward to shooting it again. Black Creek IDPA sets up a quick fun match, perfect for a weekday afternoon.

All the shooting this month took place on a single stage of six targets, and consisted of five strings, for a total of 36 rounds. Three center targets were set across a table from the shooter and were always engaged in tactical priority and tactical sequence. The remaining three targets were set further back and obscured by barrels to either side.

String 1: Draw and shoot the three center targets with one body shot each, followed by one head shot each, freestyle.
String 2: Same as above, strong hand only.
String 3: Pick up gun from chair, shoot as above, weak hand only.
String 4: "Neutralize" all 6 targets, with a minimum of a -0 or -1 hit on each.
String 5: Engage all targets with two hits each.

That was it. Despite the quickness of the stage — even my slow shooting times came to just 48.90 seconds total — the shoot was fun and challenging. The tactical sequence shooting still requires thought on my part after so many USPSA matches.

This quick match allows for folks to optionally reshoot with multiple guns, which I may try to do in the future. The Black Creek IDPA match is a fun mid-week diversion and I look forward to being a regular this Summer. It's a bit of a drive from Fredericksburg, as most things are. But it's not a bad drive, with 80's rock streaming from my phone...

Wednesday IDPA

It's been four weeks since I shot the IDPA classifier, and I finally got back down to Black Creek this week to shoot another IDPA match. It was a small course of fire, just 38 rounds minimum, but still a lot of fun. I didn't shoot as well as I would have liked, but trigger time is trigger time, and due to my busy schedule I'll take a match when I can get one!

The first three strings made use of the same target array, shown below. On the first string the shooter started seated, facing up range. On the signal you turned and engaged two targets on one side, with 2 body and 1 head shot each, from behind the barricade, then moved to the opposite side to repeat. The next string required engaging the two strong hand side targets, with one head and one body shot, strong hand only. Then the string was repeated for the weak hand side, using only the weak hand. Good stuff there.

Black Creek likes to mix it up with some steel in the IDPA matches on occasion. Some purists get upset by this but I welcome the opportunity. This week the plate rack was set up with the six plates painted in three colors, and the plates had to be knocked over in the prescribed order. This was done three times; free style, strong hand only, weak hand only.

In the end I finished low, just 10th out of 12. However since all the shooters except one were ranked Sharpshooter or above, and I'm ranked at the low end of Sharpshooter, I placed about where I expected. And there are plenty of upcoming matches at which to work on my IDPA skills.

After I finished shooting there were no other shooters waiting at the time, so the range master asked if I wanted to shoot the stages again or shoot the plate rack for a while. I don't get the opportunity to practice on a plate rack outside of matches so I took him up on that. I loaded up a few mags and took 6 or 7 runs on the rack. It's pretty amazing how much easier it is when there's no clock running!

I spent more time driving to the range than I spent on the range, but it was still fun. On the way down I was passed by the Google Maps Street View car. I don't know if it was recording or not but I figure it didn't hurt to fix my hair and smile as it went by.

Shot The IDPA Classifier

And made Sharpshooter!

When I shot my first IDPA Classifier two years ago I qualified as Marksman, the entry level classification. After that I participated in a couple of IDPA matches, and then didn't get to anymore IDPA events. I picked it up again last month when I made it down to two matches at Black Creek.

In this recent Classifier I finished with a score of 152.56. Granted, I made it to Sharpshooter by the skin of my teeth, but that's an improvement of over 30 points from my previous score. It was a lot of fun to shoot and I'm pretty pleased. I dropped too many points shooting around the barricade, but I've admitted that issue before. During both of the required reloads with retention I almost dropped the mags to the ground, as I'm used to doing in USPSA matches. The different rules keep you on your toes, and I find I am enjoying the added challenge and variety that comes from shooting both sports.

The IDPA Classifier is a 90-round test of many of the skills used in shooting — drawing, body and head shot combos, multi-target transitions, strong and weak-hand only shooting, movement, reloading, and shooting around walls and barrels. I think I'll be setting it up for some of our practice sessions in the near future.

Wednesday IDPA Match

I made it down to Black Creek this afternoon for another Wednesday IDPA match. This small match consisted of 48 rounds fired over two multi-string stages. The match announcement noted that, as opposed to last week, there were no strong or weak hand-only strings. I was initially a bit disappointed to hear that, believe it or not, since I've been practicing those skills. But no matter, the match offered up other important skill challenges. The focus this week was on transitions between targets and shooting on the move.

The first stage consisted of three targets downrange, engaged over a series of eight strings. First, from the box engage the target in tactical order with six shots total. The next string is simply 1 head shot in each. Then a string of one body and one head on each. Then repeat all three strings from the box on the other side. I managed to throw a few of the head shots which hurt my score. The final two strings were shot from kneeling behind the barrel, one string from each side.

The next stage was something entirely new to me. The target is on a wheeled platform, attached by a rope to the shooter's belt. At the signal, you must draw and put three shots on target while moving backwards and pulling the target along with you. After everyone in the group had shot, the set up is reversed, with the rope going around a barrel. This time as you step backwards, the target retreats from you, and again three shots on target are required. 

These weekday IDPA matches are a lot of fun, and serve as a great hump day diversion. Even though it's about an hour drive each way, my excuse this week was it's a birthday present to myself. The matches offer a fun way to test your skills, and get in some trigger time. This week I placed 4th out of 11 shooters in my division.

And I even made it home before dark to celebrate my birthday with my family. Colleen prepared a delicious a slow-cooked pork, served with corn bread and a salad. And Boston Cream Pie for dessert! Sadly, I ran out of energy, and room in my belly, before I could get to the beer I had selected. It is a "school night" after all.