Nimitz Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 while getting in shape is a great plan for the winter months don't miss the opportunity to dry fire as well ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZackJones Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 while getting in shape is a great plan for the winter months don't miss the opportunity to dry fire as well ... If only there was something to help us with dry firing for steel challenge....oh wait, there is http://www.steelshootbanners.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddKS Posted January 21, 2015 Author Share Posted January 21, 2015 I saw those as well. Heard you might have picked a set up. Have you set them up yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddKS Posted January 21, 2015 Author Share Posted January 21, 2015 (edited) Physical training has been going very well. I have my diet pretty well squared away and am losing weight at a steady clip. I hope to be to a place by the end of February where I can start to move from a calorie deficit diet to more of a maintenance diet. I know from experience that it is hard to get your best physical performance while you are in calorie deficit and cutting weight. We had a record high here yesterday and I was off work so I took my son out for what I will loosely refer to as practice. I made no attempt to seriously engage the session mentally as our primary focus was my son shooting his new shotgun. Had a good time with that and the reduced 20 gauge loads I put together for him are working out nicely. He is getting good with that shotgun pretty quick. In between shooting clays I set up Round About (I am going to keep shooting this stage until it improves) but I had forgotten my holster (the irony was that I was wearing my inner belt) so I just had my son running a timer app on my phone and started with the gun indexed on target 1 and worked on moving through the targets. Knocked some of the rust off and had a handful of decent passes. Best I could do under the circumstances. The other thing I did was test some reduced loads with 100 and 90 grain bullets. The first "reduced" load I tested was actually pretty hot. Put divots in my cheap targets where the 115 loads I have been using do not. I was shooting Tight Group but I think I am going to try some WST next time as well. My goal is to find the lowest load that will run the gun, then I might even change the spring. The gun definitely ran flatter. with the lightest load I had and I did not have any malfunctions. I did not have the chrono with me but next time I hope to chrono some of these loads. I have learned that putting loads across the chrono is a solo mission. Not my favorite activity anyway and dealing with interruptions from others while I am trying to get the work done just irritates me. I will stick with the 115's for practice (because I have lots of them) but if I feel that I can get a definitive advantage running 100's or even 90's (XTP's are pricey, this load would really have to be awesome) I will shoot the lighter loads in competition. Edited January 21, 2015 by ToddKS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pasley Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 I've wondered about lighter bullets myself. Widener's has an Armscor 88 grain bullet listed but out of stock. Also, Hornady has a 100 grain fmj that is a lot cheaper than XTPs. Probably not as accurate though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddKS Posted January 21, 2015 Author Share Posted January 21, 2015 There are actually more bullet options under 100 grains then I would have thought. Magtech actually has an 85 grain offering. The problem is most are either out of stock or right around the same price of the 90 grain XTP or more. I can get 100 grain Xtremes cheap. The difference between the 100gr RN's and the 85-95gr JHP's is around $.10 a round. That is an extra $15-20 a match. For that to be worth it to me there is going to have to be a significant advantage either in recoil, accuracy, or both. I do however believe that there is a potential advantage with sub 115 grain bullets in general given that there is no power factor in play. There really has to be unless the load just won't run the gun. If nothing else the experiment gives me something interesting to do for the next month while I wait for spring to come around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddKS Posted January 21, 2015 Author Share Posted January 21, 2015 while getting in shape is a great plan for the winter months don't miss the opportunity to dry fire as well ... I am doing some limited dry fire but with the intensity of my current workouts I have to be careful or my elbows start getting sore again. As I taper off the workout intensity I plan to bring the dry fire intensity back up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddKS Posted January 30, 2015 Author Share Posted January 30, 2015 Still on my fitness plan and diet. That is going well. I am seeing strength gains while continuing to lose weight. My overall weight loss has slowed as I am now gaining some muscle back that I had lost. I am OK with that as long as the inches keep coming of. I have lost nearly an inch of my waist since I measured it last. I have started adding some specific grip strength training in addition to the forearm work I was already doing as preventative maintenance on my elbows. I am limiting this to two sessions a week with lots of stretching in between. I am going to continue with my current diet plan for the next four weeks and see where I end up. I will likely return to some dry fire in the next few weeks as well. The weather is supposed to be bad here this weekend so I might try to get some reloading done as well. Shot some medium long range (out to 550) rifle last weekend with some friends. Had not done that in months. Shot fairly well and had a good time. Weather permitting I plan to try to return to some serious practice in early March. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZackJones Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 Are you following a specific diet or just eating less and exercising more? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 be careful with that grip strength training ... we taked about that with Ben Stoeger this weekend and his opinion is that its not really necessary to do it ... just work with your current grip strength and focus grippng the gun really hard and you'll be good. it's easy to get injured using the popular trainers out there and then you're really in trouble ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddKS Posted February 6, 2015 Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 Are you following a specific diet or just eating less and exercising more? Zack, The answer is really all of the above. I am following a diet plan. That plan involves balancing the ratio of the macronutrients (protein, fat, and carbs) based on the grams of each consumed. My goal is to maintain 50% protein, 30% carbs, 20% fat. For example if I eat 150 grams of protein in a day then I would try to eat 90 grams of carbs and 60 grams of fat. It rarely comes out exactly right but I keep it pretty close. I use a phone app to help me calculate the grams consumed. As a result of this I am also eating less, but that needed to happen no matter what. I was overeating (and drinking) in general prior to changing my habits. I was initially just trying to maintain a daily calorie count. That worked but once I started counting my macronutrients I had more success. I was eating too many carbs initially. If you want to learn about this type of diet google IIFYM. I don't follow the plan exactly but that is where I got the general concept. I am also exercising more. That decision was independent of the diet. While the exercise definitely helps speed up the weight loss it was more about trying to address other joint type issues I was having. My hope is that the increased strength translates to improved shooting as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddKS Posted February 6, 2015 Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 (edited) be careful with that grip strength training ... we taked about that with Ben Stoeger this weekend and his opinion is that its not really necessary to do it ... just work with your current grip strength and focus grippng the gun really hard and you'll be good. it's easy to get injured using the popular trainers out there and then you're really in trouble ... I recall a podcast that Ben did where the topic of exercise came up. My impression from his response lead me to believe he is not a big exercise guy (as compared to JJ for example) in general so I am not surprised that he is not a big advocate of grip training. He is one of the best shooters in the world so clearly what he does works for him and many others. There are other shooters such as Bob Vogel who have a positive view on the topic of grip training. I believe that grip training will help in my case so I have decided to work on it. Before I started working my grip though I invested some time in researching grip training. I am going to agree with you 100% that lots of guys have bad experiences as a result of grip training. I believe that is due to people not understanding physical training in general and not taking the time to learn what grip training is really about. Guys order a couple CoC grippers and go to town. That is a quick path to problems. To put it in perspective, I got my CoC's on Monday. Of course I did a work out because new toys. I have not used them since nor do I intend to again until next week. My next grip workout will be a pinch workout tomorrow or Saturday. I do general forearm work as active recovery. I also stretch and ice as well. CoC grippers are just one small part of grip training. I am doing pinch work as well as non CoC based crush work. For anyone who wants to start working grip I highly recommend that you go to www.ironmind.com and invest some time really learning what it means to train grip. There is a lot of great information there that has helped me put together my program. Before I started researching the topic I had no idea what grip was really all about. Now I am pretty pumped about training it. Edited February 6, 2015 by ToddKS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddKS Posted February 6, 2015 Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 I have done some dry fire practice this week. No draw, just transitions. The weather is supposed to be very nice this weekend. I hope I can get some live fire practice in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddKS Posted February 19, 2015 Author Share Posted February 19, 2015 (edited) Due to a combination of a death in the family followed by the flu I have not done much since the 5th. I am just now really getting up and around after dealing with the flu. I have not been to the gym in over a week. I did a light grip workout last night and am going to consider getting some loading done tonight. I am planning to return to the gym starting next Monday. I want to make sure I am all the way well first though. On the plus side the flu is great for weight loss. I had hit a plateau at 215 but thanks to the flu I am nearly down to 210. If you think you have the flu, go to the doctor quickly and get some Tamiflu. That stuff works. It is expensive but worth it. Edited February 19, 2015 by ToddKS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddKS Posted March 3, 2015 Author Share Posted March 3, 2015 My 60 day diet odessy is now complete. I am nearly 20 pounds lighter than I was at Christmas and definitely stronger all around. My grip strength has improved as well from some of the targeted grip training I have included in my routine. I am also pleased to report that my elbows are in better shape than they had been previously. I have spent a lot of time stretching and doing specific exercises on this front as well. I intend to carry forward with the physical training but I am relaxing the diet restrictions at this point. I am back to dry firing. I was a little rusty the first day but I am definitely starting to feel my groove again. The weather here has not been great recently but this weekend my provide an opportunity to do some live fire practice. I also need to resume my sub 115gr load testing as well. Worked Accelerator, Round About, and Pendulum in my dry fire last night. I am not working speed as much as trying to ensure that I am accurate and consistent in my movements. I want the dot to stop in the center of the target every time. I am going to make that my focus for the next couple weeks. Unless the weather really improves I am expecting my first match to be in April. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddKS Posted March 5, 2015 Author Share Posted March 5, 2015 More dry fire last night on Pendulum and Accelerator. Still a little sloppy but getting better with each session. Weather forecast for this weekend looks like it might support some live fire which would be awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZackJones Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 20 pounds in 60 days is outstanding. Great job man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddKS Posted March 9, 2015 Author Share Posted March 9, 2015 Thanks Zack. It took some effort but it was well worth it. Now I need to get my shooting back in shape to go with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddKS Posted March 9, 2015 Author Share Posted March 9, 2015 Shot yesterday but I really can't call it "practice". I was shooting with my 11 year old. We started the day shooting skeet which did not go well for him. I think the number of people around made him self concious. After everyone was done shooting skeet we went over to shoot some rimfire rifle. We were shooting bowling pins as there is no steel at this range. My son starts shooting and is struggling. I notice that he is consistently missing in the same place. I take the rifle and I too miss in the same place. I went to adjust the dot and discovered that something has failed in the internal adjustment. Now I really feel bad becasue shooting that rifle is about his favorite thing in the world. I had my rimfire pistol with me so at least he got to shoot something but needless to say my head was no longer in the game. The sight that failed is the same sight that I had replaced under warranty last fall. I will return it for a replacement but I am done with that sight. I just ordered a CMore Railway to put on my rimfire rifle. I need something reliable. I did get two things out of yesterday's shooting however: 1. I found the lightest 100gr load using Tightgroup (3.8 grains) that will still operate the gun 100% with the factory recoil spring . I had one FTE at 3.6 in 10 rounds. Not sure if I like this load better than my 115 load using slower powder. Not ready to make the change yet but I am going to keep testing the concept. 2. My grip strength has improved to a place that I no longer lose the dot out of the window as the slide cycles. I did not even realize this at first. Once I realized it I started focusing on my grip a little more and found that I can keep the dot to very little bounce if I really pay attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZackJones Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 You will love the c-more. Great sight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddKS Posted March 11, 2015 Author Share Posted March 11, 2015 According to the tracking my C-More should be here tomorrow. I am looking forward to getting it mounted up. For some reason I had not thought about using a C-More on my rifle before. I was looking at other mini dots and realized that I was ignoring a proven option that has a bigger window and cost less than most of the options I was considering. I also like the idea of the interchangeable diodes for the dot size. If I decide I want to go bigger I don't have to buy a whole new sight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddKS Posted March 11, 2015 Author Share Posted March 11, 2015 I took the sight that was having the issue off my rifle last night and inspected it. It appears that the issue was related to FOD that I likely got in there while changing the battery. Having now blown out the internals the adjustments are moving freely. The good news is that I don't need to send that sight in but I am still going to put the C-More on. Once you start to doubt a piece of equipment (right or wrong) it is difficult to get that out of your head. I will keep this sight as a back up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZackJones Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 Amazon sent m shipping notice today. I will put this c-more on my 22/45. I am getting another Striplin mount for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddKS Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 I shot my first match of the season on Saturday. I felt pretty good about my overall performance given the time off. I made it out Friday to sight in the new CMore and put about 200 rounds through my pistol which helped shake off some rust. Dry fire without the timer seems to have had 2 effects: 1. My accuracy seems better. I had few make up shots than normal Saturday. 2. My draw, which was never great, is slower than ever. Like 2 seconds slow. This is not acceptable. I am going back to the timer for my draw work. I simply have to move faster. I don't see any way to do that other than practice moving faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddKS Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 I have realized that I neglected to lay out my 2015 goals. My first goal is to keep a better journal with regard to my practice. I need to be more structured and detailed in this regard. This may be written as opposed to on line. I am still sorting out shooting order on a couple stages and I believe I am losing track of how I am shooting certain stages. 2015 Pistol goal times: Accelerator: 15 (Current best 17.21) Pendulum: 15.2 (Current best 19.30) Smoke and Hope: 11.2 (Current best 11.89) Round About: 14 (Current best 15.98) 5 To Go: 14.6 (Current best 15.78) Showdown: 14 (Current best 15.70) Aggregate for Class 84.8 (Current best 100.87) Rimfire Rifle goal times: Accelerator: 10 (Current best 10.67) Pendulum: 10 (Current best 11.74) Smoke and Hope: 7.2 (Current best 8.34) Round About: 8 (Current best 8.86) 5 to Go: 10 (Current best 10.95) Showdown: 8 (Current best 8.55) Aggregate for Class: 53.20 (Current best 61.99) These goals are aggressive but that is where I would like to be by the end of the year. On the rifle I am concerned about my ability to source and fund enough 22LR to support my rifle goal. My progress over the last year has primarily been due to dry fire practice. I only rarely did any live fire practice with it as I was working to conserve scarce ammo. It will be tough to reduce my time this much without some live fire practice. On the pistol I need to focus on improving my draw. I believe I am currently averaging around 2 seconds per draw. That has to come down to under 1.5 for me to have any chance at meeting my goal. I believe the rest of it is there if I can address this deficiency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now