Cal's First Archery Tourney

We went down to the Presley's Midwest Open in Peoria over the weekend.  Cal shot 60 arrows at the 5 spot target face Saturday and 30 arrows at the 3 spot Vegas face on Sunday.  He shot good on Saturday but even better on Sunday and was right in there with some more experienced kids.  He missed a trophy for third place by 1 point.  Anyway, we had a great time, he learned a lot about competition.  Here is a video I found on YouTube, Cal makes his appearance at about 5 minutes in.

A Christmas Story, Updated

Slinging arrows over Thanksgiving

Finished it

This was the knife I made from a piece of steel back in May.  I figured I would get it done.  I used a piece of exhibition Ironwood, attached it with brass Corby bolts and epoxy.  Its a super hard wood and it took awhile to get it worked down.  Buffed it out with white rouge and am really happy how it turned out.  I etched the blade with a couple of different kinds of mustard (vinegar is an acetic acid) and then used gun blue to darken it up.    Made the sheath too.

Don't Do This...

A really nice, warm weekend here.  I shot some trap for the first time in almost two months yesterday.  Shot ok, was pleasantly surprised, no flinching, no frustration, just went and shot.  Came home, cleaned up guns figured I wouldn't be back for awhile.  Backed out my choke tubes about half way so they wouldn't seize and put the gun back in the safe. 

Another nice day today, figured I would go shoot a little more.  Packed up, headed out to the club.  Got six shells into the first round and heard a weird pinging sound.  Looked down the barrel and it was almost completely obstructed.  One more shell and it probably would have shot the tube out or worse. 

Got some pliers, got the tube out and then shot some more with Light Full.  So lesson learned.  Gun is back in safe now, with choke tubes in the case.

Archery

I joined Kishwaukee Archers club.  Cal and I got up there Saturday and Sunday.  He shot this 5X (first time) on Sunday at 10 yards. 

Beautiful Day Here

Cal and I headed over to Blackwell Forest Preserve, they opened an awesome outdoor archery range over the summer.  Three seperate fields, one up to 90 meters.  Its free!  A ton of kids out there shooting.   Cal's been skinning me out of money pretty regularly but his peep sight popped loose today and he was dead in the water. 

In a shoot-off? Make a fist.

Atlantic Magazine:  Athletes Perform Better Under Pressure When They Make a Fist With

Their Left Hand

PROBLEM:

Thirty percent of penalty kicks in professional soccer are missed, as are 20- 30 percent of NBA free throws, despite practice scenarios in which those numbers are notably lower. Studies have suggested that the reason is primarily psychological -- they fail not from lack of focus, but "because attention is directed toward the execution of the action" -- since most perform better at these rote but accuracy-dependent aspects of the game (which they've nearly perfected from a mechanical aspect with thousands of hours of practice) in low-pressure situations. So, like so many of us, they're always looking for ways to get out of their heads.

According to the researchers, freaking out is primarily associated with the left hemisphere of the brain, while the right hemisphere deals more with mechanical actions. Meanwhile the cortex of the right hemisphere controls movements of the left side of the body, and the left hemisphere controls the right side of the body. So they figured that if you can purposely activate the right hemisphere -- in this case, by making a fist or squeezing a ball with your left hand -- it will improve physical performance and draw focus away from the ruminating left hemisphere.

METHODOLOGY:

In three experiments, German researchers had athletes perform their respective sports -- soccer (penalty kicks), tae kwon do, and badminton -- in casual environments. They then put them in front of large audiences or cameras to create "highpressure environments" and measured the change in performance. Some of the athletes made fists with their left hand (or held a small ball in their left hand), and some made fists with their right.

Of note, only right-handed athletes were involved.

RESULTS:

Athletes who made a fist with their left hand did better under pressure than when they made a fist with their right hand -- and often as well as in the low-pressure practice scenarios.

CONCLUSION:

"Hemisphere-specific priming" appears to discourage over-thinking in high-pressure situations. Activating the right hemisphere of the brain by doing a simple action with the left side of the body (making a fist, in this case) appears to negate contextrelated declines in complex motor performance.

IMPLICATIONS:

Lead researcher Juergen Beckmann, PhD, put it pretty profoundly: "Consciously trying to keep one's balance is likely to produce imbalance." Simple (brainhemisphere- dependent) tasks that activate motor portions of the brain while drawing activity away from the ruminating portions can help experienced athletes perform (in terms of accuracy and complex body movements done from muscle memory) without being messed up by nerves. "Just let it happen; be the ball."

Will all the professional soccer players be making fists with their left hands next time

they take a penalty kick? Yes. They should, at least.

Let's all try it, too. Even if you don't play soccer (or badminton or tae kwon do), it should apply beyond sports, to other rote activities that have to be done under pressure. Like when you end up bagging your own groceries, and everyone in line is staring at you, and produce is flying down the conveyor belt, but you need to keep the bread on top. And the bottles on the bottom. And the bread on the bottom. No, that's wrong! Breathe, clench your left foot, and just let it happen.

The study, "Preventing Motor Skill Failure Through Hemisphere-Specific Priming: Cases From Choking Under Pressure"

.

Respect your gear

Good article in today's NYT about a NY Yankee and how he treats his equipment.

Some more archery

Cal and I have been shooting A LOT of archery.  I got my first Robin Hood last night at 20-yards in the backyard.  It went straight in, you can see bits of the first arrow's plastic nock jammed in there.  I've chipped some nocks and shot away some fletching but this was a nice surprise.  If you shoot enough, odds are it will happen.  After that, we shot at some apples, golf tees and $1 bills,  I tell Cal he can have the buck if he hits George Washington's portrait.  Its cost me a few dollars but its a powerful motivator.

I saved the arrows.  You only get one first Robin Hood, hole in one, 25 (or 100) straight, etc...

Some archery

Cal, myself and a friend spent a few hours at the archery range yesterday, sorting out my bow and working on our form.  Here's Cal getting ready to shoot from the treestand. 

New Hobby

Bathroom remodeling.  Shooting on hold til I get it sorted out.

Book Report

I just finished reading Glock: The Rise of America's Gun.  It was a great read.  It starts with Gaston Glock deciding that he would go from making plastic equipment for the Austrian army to making plastic pistols.  Then the subsequent rise of polymer pistols and how they captured the law enforcement market away from US manufacturers of revolvers.  Not only was the pistol a very clever design and a better product but the company was a great marketer and outwitted politicians and rivals at every turn.  Especially how they beat S&W to the market with their own .40 pistol after Glock picked up S&W's then new bullet samples at a trade show.  The author was very objective, the book does not demonize Glocks or gun owners.

Dumb Bet with 10-Year Old = -$100

Great weekend here.  Cal and I spent almost all day Saturday and Sunday at the gun club.  We shot pistol, the club's .22 rifle match, archery and trap.  Lunch at Schmidts with some friends.

He was shooting at the deer below from 20 yards and he kept backing up.  He was hitting the deer but was all over it.  He asked what I would give him if he hit the orange dot at 30 yards, suggested a Benchmade knife, I said sure, "no way." 

Medicore Effort = Mediocre Scores

I haven't put a lot of effort into trapshooting this year.  Prior to the Grand, I'd shot at 200 ATA targets.  I've been switching guns.  Haven't actually practiced, just gone out and shot (and repeated mistakes).  Haven't worked on weak spots.  So I didn't expect to do particularly well at the Grand and I didn't.

I did shoot singles a little better each day and was able to identify where I was consistenly missing (left handers on post 1 and 2).  Throw in a couple of misses on first and last targets of the round.  Couple of flinches.  I went 88, 90, 89 in handicap, which is mediocre but at least consistent, a lot of 22s and 23s. No melt-down rounds.

If I practice, I can fix some problems and get back to shooting winning scores.

That said, the Grand was great.  The weather was nice, Dad shot his best ATA score to date, Cal had a good time. 

Now he has a Marlin .22.  Lots of fun.

Lots of shooting, but not at clay targets.  Found a great archery shop in West Dundee, got Cal properly fitted to his bow and a recurve bow is headed my way.
Did shoot some trap today with my dad.  Shooting my Guerini, broke a 22 and a 23 from 25 yds, I'll be shooting penalty in Sparta.  Headed down there Tuesday.

Here are the boys in Utah.

Update

My shooting buddy is in Utah at a dude ranch with my parents, it doesn't look like he's having any fun.

I shot Tuesday night for the first time in about 2-weeks.  I broke 48/50 in singles and shot some decent handicap scores (for me).  Felt pretty good, no flinching.  I haven't shot that well this year at all and I'm trying to just forget about scores, do the right thing and have some fun.  Headed off to the Grand in a couple of weeks.

I have been shooting more pistol, a friend of mine did a trigger job on my G34 and put new sights on it, what a difference.  I shot this at 7 yds, 10 rounds.  A flyer on the last one out of the barrel, concentration lapse.  Who knew punching holes in paper could be so much fun.

Got some range time in

Had a chance to shoot the G34 tonight, a couple of hundred rounds.  I started to get some decent groups at 21 feet.  I'm getting the flyers on the first round out of the gun.  After the first bullet, you let the trigger out a little and it will reset and then fire at <3 lbs pull.

Pistol shoot

The club held a centerfire/rimfire shoot on Saturday, it was well over 100 degrees. Cal shot it with me, they let him use the .22 in the centerfire event.  He was first up, and won his first match-up.   Broke his first three hanging  clay targets, missed his fourth, broke it and then broke his fifth target.  We both got eliminated eventually but he won another match up as well.  He tied me in a steel plate round and beat somebody but we both got eliminated.  I can shoot the .22 accurately (sort of) but not fast which is what you have to do.  Anyway, he had a great time, the guys at the club were great to him and happy to see him there and there was a nice picnic after the shoot.

Nice night here

Grace to barn, Cal and I to gun club. Shot some trap and pistol.  We went over to the archery range and got some good tips from an experienced archer.

All over the place

Shot this morning, broke a 24 and then a 20 from 16 yards.  Then ran my first 25 (in a long time) from the 24 yard line.  Then over for some pistol and bow shooting.

Nice Father's Day

Great weekend weather-wise.  Shot a lot but poorly.  A couple of ok rounds here and there but overall, poor.  Have some ideas what I am doing wrong.  Went over Sunday afternoon for a BBQ with two other couples and their kids.  Shot some trap, pistols and bow.  Everybody was safe and we had a great time.  Caught some fish and a bunch of big bull frogs. 

Gun club

Cal took my picture out at the gun club yesterday afternoon. A windy day, as has been the case all year, but I shot some ok singles. We stopped on the way home and bought a kid-sized compound bow. I'm going to have to take it back to get it fitted properly to him.

Nice resource

I came across this great blog. Lots of good information on pistol shooting plus a lot of articles on the mental aspects.

Lots of Practice This Week

I got some good advice last weekend about gun hold and where to look for the target. I've been fishing around with high hold, low holds with no confidence in either. A local shooter who has been breaking ATA targets for half his life suggested to me a parallel hold. Keep it simple. I also told him how I look way out into the distance for the target. He suggested looking closer to the house, not so far out. "Up, not out" was the way he put it. Anyway, I tried it Monday afternoon and broke my first 50 singles. Between Monday and Wednesday I broke 2 24s at handicap (24 yds) which I haven't done in a long time. Couple of worse scores, but everything was above a 21. And the breaks were a lot harder. I shot the league last night. I broke two 24s on the practice trap from 16 yards, and then broke a 22 in the league shoot. Maybe I should just skip the practice targets, my concentration skills are in short supply towards the end of the week. I broke a 22 in the handicap. Not great shooting, but better than I have been and Thursday nights have usually been my worst day of the week to shoot. A few other things he suggested to me, (1) black out the front bead, (2) use a key word to clear your mind before you mount the gun, and (3) make sure that your gun and eyes are still before you call for the target. All in all, happy with the initial results and happy with the way the MX15 has shot over about 1500 targets.

Good Quote

"Simplicity is the key to brilliance." - Bruce Lee. In contrast, my shooting has been a collection of different guns, holds, look points, i.e. overly complicated. I struggled through the Bob Sommers ATA shoot this weekend, my first registered targets since last September. Shot a good first 50 handicap targets then fell apart. I started shooting my MX15 which is going to be a good fit. I got some good advice from a great local shooter about where and how to look for the target.

Washington Post article today

Trap shooter Josh Richmond considers himself a soldier first, and an Olympian second Josh Richmond didn’t have to ride silently in a convoy, creeping along the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, with unknown explosions occasionally detonating in the distance. He did not have to be separated from his pregnant wife and their 2-year-old son. He did not have to subject himself to war. Someone else would have trained the Afghan natives. Someone else would have done his duty. Richmond could have stayed home.

Except for this: “I’ve got to do it,” he said. “It’s your patriotic duty.” Richmond is a soldier, and Richmond is an Olympian. That is the order in his mind, and the order in which he wants others to consider him. This summer, he will represent the United States at the London Games, wielding his shotgun as a favorite for a gold medal in double trap shooting. But every day, Richmond represents the United States as a member of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit. It is in that capacity that last fall he flew to Kuwait and was bussed to Kabul for three months of training Afghan soldiers in the ins and outs of weaponry. His identity, then, is clear: Staff Sgt. Joshua Richmond, U.S. Army. “I’m a soldier who’s also an Olympian,” Richmond said. “I’m a soldier 24 hours a day. Being a good soldier is what’s also helped me become an Olympian. So everything’s kind of around the root of being a soldier, just by the way I’ve trained, the lessons I’ve learned, what it’s taught me.” ‘A professional soldier’ In Richmond’s mind, there is no end to what he has learned since he enlisted in the Army after finishing high school in his tiny home town of Hillsgrove, Pa. That was eight years ago. Now 26, he has spent anywhere from 180 to 200 nights a year on the road, touring with the marksmanship unit, conducting exhibitions in which he and others shoot from behind their heads, from their hips, from all sorts of angles. They serve, he said, as a connection between “America’s people and America’s Army.” The unit is also responsible for research and development and training. In that capacity, Richmond has been allowed to compete for USA Shooting, just as Glenn Eller, another member of the marksmanship unit and Richmond’s daily training partner, did en route to winning gold in Beijing four years ago. This is not, in any way, to suggest that Richmond is not a soldier. Because of his international success over the past two years — including winning the world championship in 2010 — he secured his spot on the Olympic team last summer. He then went to both his superiors in the army and his USA Shooting coaches with a plan: Deploy to Afghanistan that fall, abandoning stateside training for three months. “It absolutely scared me to death,” said Bret Erickson, USA Shooting’s national shotgun coach, a four-time Olympian and former member of the marksmanship unit himself. “Of course, it’s a very safe deployment, and it’s important. But here’s a kid that is No. 1 in the world. He already made the Olympic team. We’re really counting on him to go over there and win us a medal. And it’s like, ‘Oh, crap. What’s going on now?’ ” What was going on, it turns out, is a sort of cart-before-the-horse line of thinking. Rather than holding him back — while he was overseas, there was no formal way to train — Richmond believed his deployment would enhance his preparation. “The unit’s accomplishments in raising the proficiency of Afghan soldiers, coalition soldiers and U.S. soldiers are a source of pride for the unit,” said Lt. Col. David Hodne, who commands the group based at Fort Benning, Ga. “For Sgt. Richmond, I think he believed the broadening experience that he would gain would also be a personal source of pride that would also give him a competitive edge at the Olympics. . . . He is the epitome of a professional soldier.” Richmond’s mission was to join six other instructors and three interpreters near Kabul, training top-of-the-line Afghan soldiers so they could, in turn, train their own men. The initial encounters were awkward, somewhat standoffish. But over days and weeks, the two sides began communicating better, Richmond said. They would train all morning, then sit in the dirt at lunchtime, sharing meals, as important an indication that the Americans had broken through, culturally, as there is. Richmond worked with roughly 300 men during his stay. When the training began, the Afghans had a 22 percent pass/fail rate. When Richmond and his group left, it was up to 96 percent. “Marksmanship is a paramount soldier’s skill,” Hodne said. “And marksmanship is the key to an army’s combat readiness.” Always aware Richmond believed the work was important, even essential. The mission, though, wasn’t without its tense moments. Explosions would come from what seemed like the distance, but who or what was affected wouldn’t be known until the next day’s news. Rides to and from training grounds were often in silence. Soldiers, even those on the fringes of combat, are always aware. “You can’t really grasp it till you’re on the ground smelling it, breathing it, eating it,” Richmond said. So he smelled it, breathed it, ate it. When he returned to the U.S., by his own account, he had changed. There is no direct line to be drawn between serving his country during a war and representing it well in athletics. But he believes he is more suited to winning gold now than before he left. “Just the mental stability knowing — and the confidence going forward — that, ‘Hey, I deployed to a combat zone; I successfully made it home, and I achieved my mission over there,’” he said. “To have that confidence behind you, it turns you almost into a different person — in a very good way. If you’ve deployed to a combat zone, there’s not a whole lot more out there.” Since returning from his deployment, Richmond has competed in two World Cup events. He won both, including his most recent, in May in Lonato, Italy, against a field every bit as strong as that he’ll face in London. “That kind of put away any indecision or fears that he wouldn’t be ready,” Erickson said. He will be, he believes, even better prepared. When he thinks about those few moments of stepping onto the podium, of hearing the “Star-Spangled Banner” played, he pauses. The tears come quickly. He isn’t just an Olympian. “How much more patriotic can you get?” Richmond said. “An Olympian wearing the red, white and blue, and oh by the way, he’s an active duty soldier.”

1973 French Target Pistol

Came across another nice target gun at the range last night. Its a French made Unique Olympic target pistol, .22. It would have been shot at 25 or 50 meters with iron sights. It has the lightest trigger I've ever shot.

That's Venus near the Moon

Nice night out at the gun club but hard to see the targets at dusk. Down another $2. Monday, I shot the Crazy Quail machine. A lot of fun.

Shooting

Shot last night at the club, 80 degrees but the wind continues to blow pretty hard out there, as it has for the past few weeks. Struggling through singles for some reason, can't figure out why. Having some more success with 24 yards, settling into some ok scores. Confident enough to start shooting for money, net results so far, -3 Diet Pepsis and -$2. Taking my time, working on my pre-shot routine.

Knife Class

Went to a class Saturday and got this knife started.

It begins as a piece of 1095 steel, we drew a pattern on it, cut it out and then ground it to shape.

The teacher showed me how to flat grind it on a 72 inch belt sander. It was harder than I thought.

Then we got all the scratches out of it and heated it cherry red in his forge. Its hot enough when the steel becomes demagnetized. You test it with a magnet attached to the end of a rod. Then the knife comes out and the edge is quenched in an oil bath. That makes the edge hard but the rest of the knife retains flexibiity. He showed me how a file just skips off the blade after the quench. When I got it home, it went for two 2 hour cycles in the oven to temper it. Then I soaked it in muriatic acid to get the scale off. Now a lot of handwork to get the grinding marks out and work the edge down to something that can be sharpened. Then handle and sheath. Got some shooting in yesterday. Very windy but it went ok.

Date Night at the Gun Club

We went over Saturday night, shot some .22, then low house #7 skeet and some straight aways from the 16 yard line in trap.

Colt Woodsman

Took Cal and his friend out to shoot the .22 Friday night. There were a couple of other shooters at the pistol range. One of them had a AR style .22 that he let Cal and Jack shoot, they thought it was pretty cool. Another guy had the above pistol. He had just bought it and tracked the serial number back to 1923, that pistol is almost 90 years old. It was solid, and accurate.

Breaks his first target

Not so nice weather but Cal wanted to give it a try. I locked the trap on straight aways, he missed his first one, broke the second (kept the hull, Rem. Light STS), missed a couple more and that was enough. He shot again a little later and broke another one. Success.

Ready to go

Shot the trap league last night, first competition targets in 8 months did not go well. On a brighter note, I got the kid size youth stock attached to my old 391.

Great night to shoot

60 degrees, no wind, nice sunset. Highlights, a 22, 23 and a 24 (in that order) from the 24 yard line. This Mr. Norm's Charger R/T was out front when I left. Mr Norm was a famous Dodge dealer in the city in the 60s and 70s, he was the largest high performance Dodge dealer in the country. The Grand Spaulding Dodge fleet department became so large that it supplied all of the Chicago Police Department cars, as well as the Illinois Secretary of State, Illinois Department of Transportation and many other municipalities. Also, special orders of police pursuit vehicles equipped with 440 Magnum V8 engines were dyno tuned for maximum power. Many of these vehicles were seen in the film the "Blues Brothers" starring Dan Akroyd and the late John Belushi.

Lots of Shooting

Got the Guerini back last week, put 425 shells thru it over the weekend with one hiccup in the second box, seems like it is fixed. Shot some ok singles Saturday, handicap needs a lot of work. There was a 50 straight in singles but also a bunch of 22s and 23s. Also bought a youth stock for my AL390, time to get Cal started even if its only a few shells at a time.

Grace in the tack room after Sunday's show.

Olympics Getting Close

The Royal Artillery Barracks in London are the site of the shooting events. They built this net to capture the lead and broken targets, test matches started this week. If you are on Facebook, follow Hakan Dahlby, he has some nice videos showing him breaking flash targets.

Pistol Shooting Last Night

Should have some trap guns back by the end of the week, finally get started.

34 Years Ago

The guy I bought the belt buckle from threw in this cool pin from the 1978 Chicago Grand Handicap. Hoping to have the Guerini back by the end of next week.

Fun Weekend

I went to a blacksmithing class that a local knife maker held on Saturday. Really interesting, we made some hooks out of 1/4 bar stock and then made letter openers. My letter opener looks like a giant, crude butter knife. The class is prerequisite for knife making classes which is what I am more interested in.

Cal and I went fishing yesterday, I caught a decent trout in the gun club pound and we filleted it, Theresa fried it. Tasted pretty good.

Lincoln Park Traps

This buckle from the Lincoln Park Traps just came up for sale on TS.com, I bought it. I remember seeing the club house when I lived summers out here in the late 1980s, it was gone in 1991. Here is a nice link with some info.

This is what used to be there:

What's there now:

Guerini sent back to Maryland today. I shot Tuesday night with it and had a nice run at singles, felt like I did in 2010 when I was shooting a lot. Starting smoking targets pretty hard.

Dad's fillet knife

Gave this one to my Dad in Florida, have some pics of it in use that I will put up. I like the tooling on the sheath.

Lighting strikes

Obviously, I've gotten interested in knife making. I signed up for a lot of newsletters, etc..., one of them had an article about a March of Dimes charity auction of this knife from J. Neilsen. Anyway, long story short, I won it. Here is how the gentleman made it. A TON of work and talent went into it.

Fishing Report

Caught this nice little trout last night, next one is going to get eaten. I HATE that flat brimmed hat.

Good news

Guerini USA said my gun should be back in the US by the end of the week. Looking forward to shooting it again. I remember in 2010 when I shot it, I went to ATA shoots confident that I was going to place in singles or handicap that day and I usually did. By the end of 2011, that confidence was gone. So ready to start rebuilding my game.

Cal and Pop at the Grand last year.

Slaying Bluegills

Another nice weekend here. Went to the gunclub on Saturday and shot at some trap targets with two different Perazzi TM1s. Couldn't hit anything. Had a little more success with a borrowed high-ribbed Mossberg 500 trap gun.

Went back Sunday and we did some fishing, some nice bluegills in the pond.

Software update

I just spoke to the people at Guerini, my gun is hung up in customs in Milan, Italy, notorious for bureaucracy, until a software update in completed. They can't do anything about it. Starting to get the itch to shoot again, having some great weather here.

Here's a picture of Cal with his first BB gun a few years ago. His grandparents gave me money for his first shotgun, going to hold off a little longer.