Jeff's USPSA 2009 Nationals Blog

Photoshop

jeff686 — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 05:11:01 +0000

Here’s a few photoshopped images:

Photos Available

jeff686 — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 05:48:04 +0000

I’ve most of the photos from the Nationals here: http://www.zooomr.com/photos/jeff686. The order seems a little backward. There are also several pages of the super squad, plus a few other random pictures. Squad 15 starts around page 6.

I’m working on the videos tomorrow. You can find a few here: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=53EF209B65A98A3D

Here’s Angus:

Day Four Recap

jeff686 — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:15:53 +0000

Today was the final day of the match. We had only three stages today so they could have time to tally the scores before tonight’s award presentation. I shot my best today, probably because I wasn’t worried about trying too hard. The three stages today were very short, simple and straighforward.

This morning I woke up with a slight hangover, but I wasn’t drinking last night. I guess that the hot and dry desert has dehydrated me more than I realized. I drank a lot of water this morning, but am still feeling a little dry. After brunch I headed out ot the range, only to get a voice message that I was late! To my embarrasment, the afternoon session was starting at 12:00, not 12:30 as I had thought. Luckily, I made it in time to join my squad and didn’t miss any stages.

I uploaded some videos to youtube. You can find them by following the youtube to the right at the bottom of ‘Favorite Links’.

I didn’t take any pictures today, but here are a couple from day two:

Day Three Recap

jeff686 — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:14:44 +0000

I didn’t manage to make any live posts today from the range. The shooting bays we used today were in the lower areas of the range, and I didn’t have any cell phone signal to get the messages out.

I shot pretty well today, better than on previous days. We only shot four stages today, but also had to visit the chronograph to measure our ammo to confirm it meets the minimum power requirements. My division (open, major) requires a power factor (velocity x weight) of 165. Unlike the Area 1 match last year, I made sure I had enough extra headroom in case there was some variability in my loads, and scored a 169.

Our first stage today had a ‘texas star’. It is a star of five falling plates that can rotate on a central hub. The star on our first stage had a couple of hard cover that limited the range where you can shoot the plates. See a video of the texas star below. I didn’t have any trouble with the star, but at least one other competitor managed to stop the star with two remaining plates hidden behind the hard cover. It was quite a delema, and cost some people points. You can also see a video of me shooting the stage below.

I stayed late at the range today and took some pictures of the super squad (the group of professional shooters) shoot one of the stages. The pictures are not really noteworthy, but I did get a good one of Rob Leatham. I’ve attached it below with a couple shots of guys from my squad doing speed reloads. Notice that they are ejecting the used magazines while reaching for a replacement. Sometimes they are so fast the flying brass from the last shot doesn’t even hit the ground.

Tomorrow, we have three more stages in the afternoon. I don’t know if I made up any ground in the points standings, since it is too early to get the results for day 3.

Day Two Recap

jeff686 — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 05:46:00 +0000

Day two was great fun. Again today my performance was not up to par. I know I can shoot better, but just can’t seem to get my head in the game. As of the end of today, I am at about 150 out of 300. I have two more days to try to climb up into the top third. More importantly, I’m having great fun. The stages are difficult to shoot and are doing a good job at testing skills that I don’t regularly practice.

As I said below, it was very dusty and windy today. The free-standing awnings they use for shade on each shooting bay did not tolerate the wind too well. Several times the wind picked them up and blew them around. We took to hanging our gear bags from the awning frames to hold them in place.

Here are some fresh pictures from today:

Dusty Day Two

jeff686 — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:25:45 +0000

Day two is almost over, and boy is it dusty! The winds have picked up and my eyes ard burning from the dust. It seems to get everywhere, in my gun, camera, phone, eyes, and a thick layer has coated my glasses.

Guess I’ll have to clean my gun tonight!

Start of Day Two

jeff686 — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:06:52 +0000

Today I’m shooting in the afternoon. It will likely be hotter than yesterday, since we were done before noon.

The first stage today went much better than yesterday. There was one swinger that was mostly hidden and one pendulum that was moving pretty fast. I got them both without any extra shots.

The second stage looks very straight forward with lots of wide transitions and some chances of getting disqualified by breaking the 180 degree safety rule. I’ve attached some pictures.

I’d really like to go watch the super squad shoot and take some pictures and video of people some of you might recognize. However, they seem to be shooting at the same time we are. Maybe we’ll finish early.

Day 1 Recap

jeff686 — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 22:49:16 +0000

Well, I didn’t do as well today as I could have. I wasn’t shooting as fast as I can, but even then I was still hitting a occassional penalty target. I have to remember to go faster when it is right, but then change my cadence and slow down for the tight shots. Three of the four stages today were very short (worth fewer overall points), so that still provide some chance to improve my overall score over the next three days.

I woke up early this morning, after going to bed very early last night (I was tired from traveling). After the usual morning routine and breakfast at Fudruckers (in the hotel), I headed out to the range. The local shooting club that runs the range is having trouble with the anti-gun zealots. Apparently, the local zealots have tried every tactic they can to shut down the range. The latest efforts involve the air quality ordinances that the county has passed. We all have to crawl around at 10 mph on the range to keep the dust down. Although I don’t like reasons for the speed limit, it does really help to keep the mess to a minimum. I can’t believe how dirty everything had gotten in just one day. I think my camera needs a bath, and my iPhone was coughing and wheezing all day.

The first picture is the view of the mountains from the shooting range. As you can see, things are nearly as green as Oregon. The big jagged rocks are pretty, but there isn’t much life out here. I also included a few pictures of people on my squad. We have a couple of female and one junior competitor. I even met a couple from Western Pennsylvania!!

Second stage

jeff686 — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 16:25:20 +0000

This was my second stage (officially stage 15). Here is a picture of me shooting stage two. It was a short stage, but you had to shoot it really fast.

The second photo is “the long walk” to the next stage. It is 104 deg now, but feels cooler since there is a nice breeze. Gotta drink lots of water.

First stage

jeff686 — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 15:41:42 +0000

Well, my first stage went ok, but I hit a penalty target. Now that I’ve got rid of the first stage jitters, I should do better.

Another guy on the stage almost zero’d the stage because of popper calibration. Luckily he got a reshoot. I’ve attached a picture of the popper that didn’t fall. You can see the bullet marks.