1 Year to Distinguished

I'm writing this thread in hopes to encourage those who haven't yet earned the Distinguished Pistol badge to continue trying.  I picked up a very nice Rock River hardball gun this last winter for a decent price.  The trigger required some attention so it went off to my gunsmith, Joe Chambers.  I asked Joe to give it a smooth short roll and if he would inspect the gun for other issues.  Joe found other issues with the pistol and corrected them before the season started.  It needed; frame ramp recut, link slot recut, VIS recut, trigger job, extractor tuned, finish ream and rethroat barrel, Marvel disconnector cut, and I'm sure other things Joe didn't bother telling me.  Joe did wonderful work on this gun.  Even considering my poor loading abilities, the gun never malfunctioned once this year in a match or practice.



Load development started in May with my very first EIC match in June at the Bristol Regional in Indiana.  I didn't perform very well, in my eyes, but managed high non-distinguished, 2nd place overall.  Earned 8 points at that match.  Actually sixftunda, from this forum, won the match that day.
Next up was Camp Perry.  Nerves got ahold of me during the President's match and didn't make the top 100, learning experience.  But, was able to settle down a little for the individual and finished 33rd overall, 4th non-distinguished that Sunday.  Earned 10 points that day.
The Wisconsin State championships arrived in August, 3rd EIC match for me.  Had a very good day, ended up high non-distinguished and winning the match.  Shot a 100 TF target, hung that on the wall!  Earned 8 points that day.
Last match of the year was in September for the Indiana State championships.  Kinda like the first match, sure didn't feel good when it was over but ended up high non-distinguished and 2nd place overall.  Looks like a minimum of 6 points but could be 8.

Finished the year with either 32 or 34 points and a badge on the way, hopefully soon.  I shot my hardball gun every week this summer, at least once usually twice.  Dry fired 2-3/week.  Total ammo count was less than 1500 rounds to date through this gun.  I do have to admit that Joe informed me that I had to shoot a 285 at the last match of the year.  Well, I missed it by more points than I care to share, so I offically admit that I SUCK.  Hopefully Joe isn't too ashamed and will still fix and build guns for me...?

Contrary to how words may appear I'm a very humble person and normally shy away from attention.  But, I thought this might encourage and help someone.

Congrats on going distinguished!  It really is an accomplishment!

Congratulations! Steve!!

And, don't worry - now that you're Distinguished the 285s will become common place.

Hey, this a great article, and motivational to us on the path to distinguished!  Great post!

Congratulations!!  I got my badge in four matches and your practice regimen looks very similar to mine.  You need to talk to your state director about being the Tyro shooter for your team next year at Perry.
I would also highly recommend that you go to the award ceremony next year and be awarded your badge on stage.  It takes some shooters many years to achieve.  You should be very proud of your hard work.

Congratulations Steve, You did very well in earning your badge.  I do believe your attitude of shooting it every week and lots of dry fire is what makes it comes to pass.  Good on ya.  It isn't easy, It isn't supposed to be.  I highly recommend every marksman set distinguished as a personal goal. 
Steve, You missed out on a few of the fun things though.  First leather.  I managed 3 or 4 of those.  Still enjoyed the process.  And like you the matches that got me points I was surprised by it.

Congrats, Steve!  Good work.

I need to dry fire more... I can tell a difference at a match whether I've done it or not.

Motorcycle Dan,
Help me out... what is "first leather"?

Doug

dstates wrote:Motorcycle Dan,
Help me out... what is "first leather"?

Doug

Doug,
Since Dan isn't online:
First leather is the highest score that didn't get any points.

- Dave


Oh and I almost forgot - Nice Job Steve!

Congrats! You had a good plan and stuck with it.

First Leather is as Dave mentioned.  Close but no Cigar.  Missed it by that much.  There is Gold, Silver, Bronze and then Leather. 
Really should give out something for Leather badges.  Still After several Leathers I kept going back.  There is a trick that helps.  BRING all your friends to a match.  Bring enough new shooters to create your own leg.

Motorcycle Dan wrote:There is a trick that helps.  BRING all your friends to a match.  Bring enough new shooters to create your own leg.

I love this "trick".  I keep a spare ball gun in my box just for this "trick".  Problem is, these "new" shooters are getting better and better.  I told them about this forum, and they are buying fancy equipment, and they are right there now....trying to steal my hardware...

That's MY hardware fellas...

Thank you everyone for the kind words.  Looks like it's badge #1579!

I really enjoyed shooting hardball this year and plan to continue shooting all EIC matches in the future.  Our team finished 4th overall at Perry (in and out of competition).  Next year we'd like to make a run at that Ohio team...!  They've got a tough group of civilian shooters there.

Steve B wrote: Next year we'd like to make a run at that Ohio team...! 

Ah, Bring a lunch.  I plan to ensure Ohio retains that Oglethorp trophy for a few years yet.  We have several talented burn shooters just waiting in the wings.  We can burn Glenn Zimmerman as a Junior, then Burn him again as a Senior.  I believe we still have Joe Totts we can burn once he completes school.  If our home talent pool stays with it, Alan Barcone, Jim Lenardson, Brian Zins, James Morman should be the anchors.  Which ever of us shoots best in the P100 and NTI gets the slot on the team.  They are going to start calling it the Ohio Cup....

That's a stacked deck!  Well, we'll see how a couple Experts and Masters fare against you High Masters, gotta have a goal!

Congratulations, Steve B - well done!

My experience was also 4, ... Yrs! You, Six & Steve used prac which compared to mine. After league I shot the ball gun in all prac's. Our practice was a NM ball after the .22 & CF. I used HB reloads for that weekly and WC the rest. Our range, Oak Harbor, was a 25 yd indoor range. Before existinguished I shot very few prac NM's @ 50 yds. I have always thought really knowing the gun, especially the 4# trigger, a main goal in HB practice.

Points earned were '78 @Bristol-8, '79 @Canton-McK-8, & @Perry 10, '81 @Perry 10.  2 lessons for those working on badges; 1(( along the way I whiffed badly on a coupla RF's and got to kick myself for a yr and @ Perry in '81 I was down around 20 after TF and was kickin' myself early whenI realized the cutoff was usually 271 or 2 and I was OK and ended w/275 or 276. 2(( Prez 100 was awarded to the top 100 in the NM but was changed to a fired match of 40 shots immediately preceding it. Good practice for the real goal right? After being extinguished I rarely shot ball concentrating on WC scores. Missed out on the Prez 100 prestige! 
Shoot within yourself, you won't need, high 90's on all targets, just enough for more than the cutoff which won't change much yr to yr for Perry. Most matches are smaller though and vary. 10 or 11 yrs ago I worked on stats @ a state match that high non, was 247!!


Ron Habegger