Robb Allen over at Sharp As a Marble has a plan for his USPSA match on Sunday. ExurbanKevin at Misfires and Light Strikes has a plan for his IDPA match on Sunday. Mz. VRWC and I are participating in an IDPA Regional Match this weekend, called the South Mountain Showdown, at Phoenix Rod & Gun Club. Surely, I have a plan for shooting this event, I think. The plan has to be somewhere around here, now where did I leave it?
The plan, meticulously based on the only three IDPA club matches I’ve shot so far…is:
Muzzle safety – Don’t point the gun at anything I don’t intend to destroy, including my own body parts, or my match is over early (instant disqualification).
Maintain the 180 degree rule at all times – Don’t point the gun in a direction greater than 90 degrees to the left or right of the downrange berm (instant disqualification).
Only shoot has fast as I can accurately shoot – Any faster than that will waste ammo, time, and incur penalties. (You can’t miss fast enough to win.)
Have fun and enjoy the experience.
Maintain a relaxed approach to fend off the Red Mist, facilitating quick and safe draws from concealment.
That’s it! That is my plan for this match.
I know how to pull the trigger smoothly, line up the sights correctly, and how to be safe while handling firearms. Any other “things” I could plan on doing would probably exceed the mental bandwidth available after the timer buzzes.
Watching other shooters fire at lightning speed can create tremendous performance anxiety. At some point, you realize that you can only perform at the best of your abilities. You need this realization to keep your competitors’ performance from inducing the Red Mist.
Many people focus on the hoped for outcome of the event, at the expense of those tasks that have to be performed to achieve that goal. When those tasks are performed correctly, the sum of those tasks will equal the desired outcome, which is a winning performance. My focus will be on managing the tasks I have control over. If I do everything correctly, the result will be safe competition, zero-down scores, and a good place in the results.
Now I just have to remember my plan…where did I put that plan?
It’s been about a year and a half since I dove head first into the world of competitive shooting, and while I’m making some progress with my speed and accuracy, there’s something holding me back, and I can’t seem to shake it. I’m no stranger to the stress, anxiety and pressure present when participating in sports (especially since my nature is to be ridiculously competitive), but there is an element of practical pistol shooting that I have never experienced before, and it’s making me look like more like Jerry Lewis than Jerry Miculek when I’m shooting a match.
Some call it the Red Mist. My better half has referred to it as bezerker. It is an indiscriminatory and unrelenting force that is laser-focused on sabotaging your performance. Ridiculously clever and devious, it will allow you to build up your confidence just until you step up to the line and into the shooting box. And then the timer goes *beep*, the red mist appears, and all careful planning and strategy disappears as if it never even existed.
If you’ve been watching Top Shot on the History Channel, you may have noticed that the Red Mist makes a cameo appearance in almost every episode. During episode two of season 3, it appeared during the elimination challenge and prematurely knocked my favorite contestant and WOMA home girl, Sara Ahrens, out of the competition.
During Sara’s commentary at the end of the show, she recognized the role the red mist played in her loss when she said, “I’ve had practice in friend and foe targets, it’s just a matter of I’ve never done that next to another person. I’m kind of being overcome by the intensity of the situation.”
Yep, that’s the unmistakable mark of the red mist. It doesn’t just effect your performance on the range, it also leaves a trail of amnesia and dumbfoundedness in its wake, making it that much more difficult to overcome.
So, is it possible to defeat the Red Mist, and if so, what’s the secret? Watching shooting greats like the Leatham’s and the Miculek’s make it pretty darn obvious that it can be overcome, but how does a mere mortal like me fend off this unwelcome creature that has the power to take over my brain at will?
I recently had the opportunity to ask World Championship competitive shooter, and all-around awesome woman, Eva Micklethwaite how she deals with the pressure and anxiety that builds up when she’s competing in a big match. Eva was kind enough to explain to me what she did to conquer the Red Mist when she found herself a bit “freaked out” by one of the stages at the recent USPSA Area 3 match:
It’s the preparation I do BEFORE I even step on the range that helps me with that. At this particular stage, though, I told myself to take your time and get through it. Don’t rush it, stay focused, and be patient with myself and the trigger. Basically a mental talk off the ledge. Once the buzzer goes off, instinct kicks in as well.
Experience helps a lot, you’ll get there. Mental strength is also a BIG part of this game. And if all else fails….breathe!
Looks like I’ve got some dues to pay to the Red Mist. If you’re looking for me, check the local ranges. I’ll be the one trying to reload my left thumb into the magazine well.
We got a chance to shoot the new Springfield XDm 5.25 Competition series 9mm on Saturday. Legendary Team Springfield Armory shooter Rob Leatham and his wife, Kippi Leatham, a fellow Team Springfield shooter, invited people out to shoot the new XDm Competition series pistol at Rio Salado Sportsman’s Club.
The short review
It is an excellent gun for competition!
The longer review
The Springfield XDm 5.25 Competition is based on a wishlist Rob Leatham gave to Springfield Armory a few years ago. The 9mm XDm Competition series starts with the current XDm lower, complete with a match trigger and interchangable backstraps which allow you to adjust the grip size to fit your hand.
The upper part of the new XDm is where the real changes have been made. This pistol features a 5.25″ match grade barrel, extending the sight radius to 7 1/4″ for a more precise sight alignment, while reducing the recoil. The extended barrel and slide gives the pistol an 8.3″ overall length.
The extended slide features a lightening slot to keep the weight the same as the shorter, non-competition XDm at 29 ounces. The Springfield XDm 5.25 Competition also has a low profile adjustable rear site and a fiber optic front sight.
The gun is built to be legal for competition in USPSA and IDPA shooting. Production Division approval is expected after at least 2,000 guns are built (hopefully in the next month), in time for the USPSA Nationals.
The Trigger
Mr. Leatham brought out two stock XDm 5.25 Competition pistols, and one with a Springfield factory trigger job. While the trigger job resulted in a much lighter trigger pull, the stock triggers were fine and had a medium pull, a clean break, and a consistent reset. The pull and reset are excellent compared to other polymer guns (I’m spoiled by a nice 1911), and was a noticable improvement over the standard XD trigger.
Shooting the XDm 5.25 Competition
TGO (The Great One, Rob Leatham’s nickname) brought the ammo and let us shoot as many 19 round mags as we wanted to, with only one restriction. He doesn’t load magazines for anyone else. That seemed reasonable, so we stuck around to shoot the steel plates that made up the Springfield Challenge stage.
The stage had steel plate targets, so while group measurements weren’t possible, the accuracy of the pistol was apparent. Shooting quickly at a 6″ swinging Hostage Target Head plate at about 10 yards demonstrated the improved recoil control and sight radius that make this a formidable pistol for competition.
Just in case there was any question on the new pistol’s accuracy, Rob Leatham’s Mother placed a dead center hit on each of the plates.
Conclusion
It is safe to say that I liked the Springfield XDm 5.25 Competition. The gun sights easily, the trigger is good, and the accuracy is great. In fact, I’ll be contacting Arizona Firearms and Pawn this week to order a two-tone XDm 5.25 Competition and see if they’ll accept a partial trade for an XD-9.
Out with the old, in with the new
UPDATE: A distributor has relayed that the XDm 5.25 Competition in black has an MSRP of $799 and the bi-tone model has an MSRP of $869, with gun store prices around $100 lower.
UPDATE 9/17/2012: XDm Reliability report for my XDm 5.25 – I now have over 5,862 rounds through the gun without any mechanical failures. One failure to eject (FTE) occurred at around 3,410 rounds when using beatup reloads. A failure to feed happened after about 4,490 rounds due to a bulged case, and at 5,282 due to a short cartridge.
Or more appropriately titled “D” classy, as I’m certain that’s where I will end up after shooting today’s all classifier USPSA match this morning at Phoenix Rod and Gun club. I was starting to think that I had a chance at C, but the red mist descended quite heavily over me this morning, and ended all hopes of ranking at or above 40 percent of all USPSA shooters.
While the Gods of weather were extremely kind this morning (sub 90 and heavy cloud cover), the Gods of shooting were not so kind to me, or my shooty buddies C. Pig and ExKev. We all had some malfunctions of the operator error variety and shot the first run through, well, let’s just say, not up to expectations. Kevin stood tough and gave it another go, while I went home, tail tucked and a little frustrated about my performance (or lack thereof).
In order to get a classification with USPSA, you have to shoot four stages that are specifically designed for qualifying. You score times plus hits on the paper, subtract your misses, add penalties, then do a couple of hocus pocus calculations, and eventually you get your “percentage”.
The match today consisted of the following stages:
It’s Not Brain Surgery – I might have fared better trying my hand at surgery this morning
Oh, No – Oh, S***, was that another no shoot I just hit?
Table Stakes – I rocked this one. 4 A’s, 2 each on the paper targets and no misses on the poppers. If I did the calculations correctly, I shot this at a (very) low B percentage. Would have shot it faster too, if it wasn’t for that darn popper that wasn’t falling the first time for anyone shooting smaller than .45 caliber.
Observations and Notes to Self:
Practice is for thinking, shooting is for doing. When I wasn’t thinking, just trying to stay slow and steady, I rocked it. Unfortunately, I only did that on one out of the four stages today. I’m getting to the point where I shoot better when I’m not thinking of the bajillion things I’m supposed to be doing. At least I think I am. Hmmm, I’ll have to think about that.
Perhaps I should have gotten my feet wet by shooting at least one regular USPSA match (or at least a practice) before getting classified. Shooting steel and shooting paper are two different things, especially when most of the paper targets are covered up and your misses and no shoots cost you a fortune in points.
Sleep is good. A good night’s sleep is better. I felt alright after about 5 hours of sleep (NOT a morning person), but the brain was definitely not firing on all cylinders.
