Today's match is Renton Fish and Game Club's first USPSA match of the 2012 season, and weather was bizarre. It started out nice and nippy, then rain, then a huge snow storm dumped about an inch of snow on us. After that the sun came out and melted everything. It's like having three seasons in a day. The folks in Melbourne, Australia would be used to this. anyway, shot mediocre-ly. Nothing to shout about, came in 4th overall. Here's a quick review of my performance. Stage 1: Had a few stupid mistakes for instance not loading to capacity. I thought I had 29 in my magazine which I usually do, but somehow the magazine had only 28 (i must have stripped one off from the previous stage to load to capacity). So I started the stage with my gun loaded to 28+1 when the stage required 30 rounds. The last "CLICK" was so loud it hurt :) Stage 2: Another brain fart stage, it started out pretty good until I reached the 2nd position and my foot fell out of the shooting area when I took the two shots (you can't see it in the video but you see me cursing and taking another shot at the target) which netted me two procedurals. after that, it's down hill, forgot the array of targets down range, and took me a good 3 seconds to shift my momentum back to the left and acquire my dot. Stage 3: This was pretty straight forward, not much I can say except I need to draw the gun quicker and move smoother. I should have shot the entire stage moving. I was four seconds slower than the stage winner. Stage 4: Could have been awesome if I didn't take one extra shot in the middle array causing me to have to reload before the final array. That's at least 1.5-2secs added onto my time. My raw time on that stage was almost the fastest in the match (11.71 vs 11.37), would have won the stage if I didn't have to reload. Stage 5: Again, I should be moving all the time. At the last array, because of the weird angle, I took a while to find my dot. that took at good second out of my time. The stage winner's time was 8.07 and mine was 9.36. Stage 6: I thought I shot this stage pretty well, until I saw the time. I was most accurate only dropping 3 points yet I lost because the stage winner's time was 13.61 and mine was 17.73. I took a lot more time shooting accurately than I should. Here's a great example where speed trumps accuracy (if you don't have a Delta or a Miss). Stage 7: Classic classifier. the El Presidente. I had fastest raw time 5.67 but very inaccurate. Also, if I didn't have a trigger freeze in the 2nd last target, I would have shaved at least half a sec. I think this was a problem with grip. I remember the gun jumping around a lot during the 2nd run. Also, transition pulse is not effective. it should be Pop Pop Pop Pop Pop Pop.. instead of Poppop... Poppop ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsNUL25yorM

My previous shooting backpack was disintegrating and I had to get a replacement. Problem is, there were so many options to choose from. Watched some videos online about the Safariland Shooter's Range Backpack and decided i'll try it as it looked like it would satisfy all my needs. Finally got to take it to the range last Sunday and had a positive experience so here's a quick video that captures my early thoughts after using it for a day. Link to the product page: http://www.safariland.com/products/holsters-and-gear/gear/shooters-range-backpack-model_4559.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwho7rBRDxARIsAJ5nhFrZBChYh1vAaxmFEFIHZcGBDseQAd0_HRvB7TKnZP4E4oa35rP7Oc8aAmmMEALw_wcB Music: All That by bensound.com ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXy72nsG_wc