First Club Shoot (WD)

With drawled in the CF.
Here is how the morning went.
First thing some goes around asking who has the Wrangler in the parking lot.  I say it's mine and he says no body will give you a hard time but normally we would announce it over the PA when we know you.

Second it is now the 3 minutes you get to fondle your gun so I look through the scope and no red dot.  Crank it to 11 and still no dot.  Well I dig through my bag and the batteries are not there and everyone is now shooting their 10 rounds.  I have a clean target.  Not Cleaned but clean as no holes.  The guy beside me gives me a battery and the range master ask me if I think I can shoot 20 rounds in the next 5 minute string.  So I would have to shoot the whole 5 minute string over while every one watched.  He knew I was new to BE.  Sure i say and get 20 shots off before most finish their 10.  Knew  I was shooting to fast.  

Third Now it is TF and at the load command the plastic mag won't lock in place.  Finely get it locked and rip off 5 shots.  My score at this point sucks.

Forth  SF CF with my 45 Les Bear.  Rounds don't want to chamber all the way and have to push back of slide some rounds.  Woops the round won't seat and the extractor don't want to extract it.  Quick push it out with my ECI and stuff it back in the mag and complete this string.  Next string same things happen but I shoot 8 10s, 1 7, and 1 completely off the paper.  

Fifth  Time for TF and I can see that this is not going to work after I can't pull the trigger when the target turns so I unload the gun and my two mags and with draw.

With all this I totally lost what ever shot plan I have and had no concertration.
  
The good things.
Everyone was nice and no one cared.  The guy beside me I was scoreing, and that was a easy job as he was shooting in the high 90s, even complemented me on the target with the 8 10s as 6 of the shots were in a x ring size group but at 2 o'clock outside edge so only part Xs.  Even with all the frustration I had a good time.  I will shoot it again next month and maybe the 1800 also if the club shoot goes well

Final results was a 740 for the RF.  Not good but I had a lot of shots in the black and even a few Xs  every string.  Don

Having function guns and ammo really help to make a match run smooth.  Hope you can get it going

Chris Miceli wrote:Having function guns and ammo really help to make a match run smooth.  Hope you can get it going

The guns was the least of my worries going into this so the malfunctions was a complete surprise.  I shoot the Nelson anf the Les Baer 4 or 5 times a week at least 30 rounds each.  I had just shot both Friday.  This is the first time I have had the mag not lock in with the Nelson.  The LB has had this problem once before and needed cleaning but it was cleaned 150 rounds ago and has been working great.  I am about to fleld strip if and see if these rounds plunk test fine in the barrel.  Totally screwed up on the battery as I checked the battery drawer before leaving home knowing i have spares.  They wasn't in the drawer so figures they were in the range bag.  Most of my practice is indoors and a week battery in a Matchdot II will give you a useable dot indoors.  t was a bright sunny Florida morning and there was no dot to be found,  Don

If things are going to go wrong, a match is where it will happen

Magload wrote:
The good things.
Everyone was nice and no one cared....I will shoot it again next month and maybe the 1800 also if the club shoot goes well

 
Great attitude! Enjoy the day (even when things aren't going the way you hoped they would), learn, and move on to the next match.

Problem fixed with the LB.  I had switch to Zero HPSWCs 185gr and had been using SNS 185gr SWcs.  Measured then and they appeared to be the same except that they would tske up a little more space it he case increasing the pressure just a little.  Well I didn't change my 550B settings and ran off 500 for matches.  They don't plunk test in the LB's barrel.  So very close but with a little carbon in the chamber and being at a match they were a no go.  

Why the Nelson on the R1 frame had the problem the one time not locking in I have no idea.  I can't get it to do it again with either mag.  Still think the release button was stuck on the side of the grip.  I got a month before the next shoot so will at least be shooting it 20 more times.  The Altamont 1911 target grips are very close to the side of the button.

As for the rest of the stupid things I did myself today those probably are not fixable as I been this way for 70 years.  Don

For future reference, if your mag won't go in, gun won't go into battery or some similar thing, you say "NOT READY" when the range officer says "is the line ready?"   They will wait for you, and if for some reason they don't hear you or keep going anyway, you make your gun safe, lay it on the bench, and step back from the line. In that case, you get a refire and it doesn't count as one of your regular refires. If your dot goes out during a string of timed or rapid, that is an acceptable alibi. They will wait for you to change batteries.  If you're worried about holding up the match, it happens, and the experienced shooters won't hold it against you.

Glad you're going to try it again.

I knew it was going to be a learning experience and it was very much so.  The good part is it can only get better.  I shot ok, not as good as I wanted to but having to rush my shots I was still happy with the good shots and the groups I had not counting some bad pulled shots.  Good part was I knew I pulled them and also knew when I was grouping in the 10 ring.  I shoot the 45 better then the 22 and wish it wasn't the one that caused me to WD.  I thought of using my carry gun which is a Shield 45 that I can shoot well.  Even a low score beats a no score.  Made some friends as everyone was nice and understanding.  Don

Don, my first match I was so nervous I missed targets and was doing bad, then a guy said relax more. It was an 1800 and I started to improve a little by the end. I just shot my 2nd match a week ago, I was relaxed doing good then in RF I jerked one high, thought it was last shot got flustered and lowered pistol, looked a it and slide wasn't back raised it up and got the last 2 off before the target turns. That cost me points, I was disgusted with myself after the the match, but you know a HM talked to me and gave me some advice. Bullseye shooters are the best, they are always willing to help a guy.
  I just got my Nelson a couple a weeks ago and put it on a AMT frame and the slide wouldn't go all the way forward most of the time. It was usually out about 1/32nd inch and Larry Nelson said to check a couple of things like the ejector to see if it was rubbing on the right side any where. I had a minute burr there and I filed it off plus a little extra, now it works great. Larry and Kevin are great and will help you out, give them a call they will bend over backwards to help you.
 Stan

Just got back from the range.  Shorting the COL on the 45 rounds worked and they fed fine.  No luck with the Nelson I had feed problems and I really think the mags are not locking up tight.  There is just a little play if you push up on them.  I will start keeping track of what is happening with a few pictures even before calling Nelson.  Also need to keep track of the ammo at the time of failure.  It was CCI SV Sunday and Federal Match today.  The conversion is new with only 385 rounds shot so far so it is not a big worry.  The gun shoots so nice and other then the recoil I couldn't tell if I had my 45 or my dedicated Nelson 22 in my hand.  I did order 4 more mags.  Don

Magload wrote:Just got back from the range.  Shorting the COL on the 45 rounds worked and they fed fine.  No luck with the Nelson I had feed problems and I really think the mags are not locking up tight.  There is just a little play if you push up on them.  I will start keeping track of what is happening with a few pictures even before calling Nelson.  Also need to keep track of the ammo at the time of failure.  It was CCI SV Sunday and Federal Match today.  The conversion is new with only 385 rounds shot so far so it is not a big worry.  The gun shoots so nice and other then the recoil I couldn't tell if I had my 45 or my dedicated Nelson 22 in my hand.  I did order 4 more mags.  Don

If you have more then one mag, also mark down what one causes issues. That will help ID a bad, or maladjusted mag.

I hate malfunctions, mostly because I should have had them all worked out before the match, but also because there is nothing I can do about them (frustrating). As much as you can, just try to keep your shot plan in the forefront of your bean! Looks like you are doing fine. Don't worry so much about the score, just the fundamentals. Pay the most attention to the good shots and how they felt, so you can repeat them. Stay positive! Ya done good, sailor!

The 45 ran smooth today as I reseated the rounds from 1.248" to 1.228".  Also shoot CCI SV in the Nelson, the same stuff I used Sunday and no problems.  Those are the worst problems to fix the ones you can duplicate.

As bad as I shot I still scored 82% in the RF match  I think I can do better next month at least I feel I am making progress.  I know where the pulled shots are coming from I just am having a hard time correcting them.  I know dry fire and then dry fire some more. Don