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Scott's Road to USPSA Success


SCTaylor

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Screw you classifiers. I will dry fire my ass off and conquer you the next time we meet. 

 

Okay that's out of my system. Shot a 4 stage classifier on Sunday, did okay, I guess. Not happy in the least but finally after 9 months I'll get a classification.

 

06-03 - Can You Count - 8.5502 - Missed the mag release between T1 & T2, cost me .8-1s. Pulled a Charlie & Delta on T3 but hit the reload solid. Railing on close targets is not my strong suit.

03-09 - On the move - 5.6 - Felt pretty good on this one, just too slow. Draw to first shot was was brutally slow for these close targets.

09-14 - Eye of the Tiger - 5.4422 - Really felt solid on this one, good turn & draw, called my shots, good focus change between partials & head box.

03-14 - Baseball Standards - 43pts - Screw you. I will kick the shit out of this one when I see it again.

 

Based on the online calculators, I should be a hair from B or just eek in. We shall see tomorrow.

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19 hours ago, SCTaylor said:

Screw you classifiers......

03-14 - Baseball Standards - 43pts - Screw you. I will kick the shit out of this one when I see it again.

Hahaha!  Baseball Standards can be brutal!  That was one of my first classifiers and I scored an 18%   It kicked my butt for a second time around at 35%.  But like you - the next time we cross paths, I will totally crush that classifier.  

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Really stupid part about that classifier, nothing is technically hard. I had to restart after the second string since we messed up the start position, kick in the nards as T1 had 3 alpha - 2 Charlie and T2 had 2 Alpha - 3 Charlie before the reshoot. Actual classifier... T1 1 Charlie and T2 1 Alpha 2 Charlie.... Had nearly as many points on T1 & T2 before the reshoot than I did after finishing the classifier. 

 

I have shot weak hand bill drills, 25 yard bills, and strong hand bills.  That's what happens when you loose focus, don't come close to calling our shots & just point - squeeze - pray.  Won't ever see that happen again!

 

Dry fired for another hour yesterday. Starting to get 30-40 minutes sessions in before work and later evening.  Feeling really good about moving into/out of position, transitions  on targets at the same distance, making the par times in Stoeger's book on 2-2-2 drills.  I'm having a helluva time with Bill drills (1.8) and 6 reload 6 reload 6 drills (6.0).  It is either my draw or split times, reloads feel good at ~.9 seconds.  I need to isolate those two items, also want to test in live fire for baselines @ different distances.

 

 

 

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Scott: Still wasn't as bad as stepping up to the line focusing on the cold wind and blowing targets, loading a mag and putting my hands up... only to find out after the fact that I didn't bother to rack the slide. :)

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Dry fire, dry fire, dry fire!  I slacked a little last week between the wifes birthday and her coming down with bronchitis, I didn't make the time to dryfire Thursday or Friday. Still got 3+ hours in though, very happy about that.  Did manage to clean the garage which now allows full movement for drills! Just a little more finagling to build a target storage rack, acquire a few more/sizes of dryfire targets & I'll have a regular shooting gallery to setup.

 

I've been working through Stoeger's book and will stay with his information for a while longer. BS's routines feel better, challenge me a bit, more and generally push the areas where I need pushing.  I've come to realize that my style is slow but accurate. There is a tendency for my to overaim, transition slowly, etc.  With this program there seems to be more pushing me to pull the trigger fast and transition quickly as well.

 

Interestingly enough, I am hitting the pars for many of the drills.  I'm hitting the par for 25 yard draws, 25 yard partials, easy exit & entry, quick step, etc. Really happy about that! I can't wait to test these in live fire.

 

Pushed down another 30 minutes of solid work this morning.  I had issues staying mentally in the training, missing reloads or sloppy draws, just going through the motions.  I will stay mentally alert, concentrate on what I am there for and the goal.  Wherever I am, I'll be all there.

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Finally got a back-up gun locked down, thanks SuperLuckyCat, sorry to see you leave Tanfo but I'll put it to good use!

 

Had some issues with my draw but attribute that to pushing speed with poor technique. When I mental rehearsed the drill, thinking through every step from draw to last shot, the issue went away.

 

Key note for the day, visualize everything, every time.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Still working diligently on dryfire but not meeting my goals for weekly reps.  Need to make the time!

 

Had an "ah hah" moment the other day while reviewing my times versus the goal times. Two big particular points became obvious:

 

1) Meeting or exceeding goal times for movement and transition drills without reloads is solid.

2) Hoser and quick drills w/ reloads are lagging behind.

 

Training plan will including going back to the basics, learning drills from Stoegers book for a bit.  I will work 2 sessions per week (of 8) on the basics; reloads with micro drills and trigger control at speed with micro drills.

 

Livefire practice will take place as practicable, but will be tough to get to my private range soon.  Next big match is the Space City in March; currently 32 Production shooters registered. My goal is to shoot clean, program solid stage plans, and shoot at my current level of skill.

 

Gear Queer announcement!  My new-to-me Stock 2 (S2.2) came in yesterday. It has a "trigger job" already with some aftermarket parts installed but the pulls weights are about equal to my original Stock 2 (S2.1). However, S2.2 is much, much smoother in the trigger pull. So much so, I've broken down and will polish up S2.1 to try for equal action smoothness.  Polishing of S2.1 will be finished tonight or tomorrow morning, hopefully it will be close to S2.2. I really want to have a back-up nearly identical to the match gun.

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Worked on a few more drills this morning.  I'm going back to work on the basics.  Did approximately 5 minutes of each drill, focusing on particular index points or specific technique cues.

 

Trigger Control at Speed - 1.2s

  Support hand to belt, near holster every time.

  Finger on trigger as sights come into view

  Do not over-extend hands/arms

  Grip the piss outta the gun with my hands alone

  Shoulders, biceps, chest, etc. stay relaxed

 

Reloads - 1.1s

  Rotate gun - mash mag button - rotate gun back to normal | all before new mag comes up

  Watch old mag fall out

  Keep eyes fixed on index point of magwell

  See bullet & brass on top of new mag disappear into magwell, immediately shift eyes down range to next target

  Begin rolling hand up to new grip/snap mag home with palm of hand

  Re-build grip & acquire sight / sight picture

 

Reloads Micro - Burkett - .6s

  Rotate gun - mash mag button - rotate gun back to normal | all before new mag comes up

  Watch old mag fall out

  Keep eyes fixed on index point of magwell

  See bullet & brass on top of new mag disappear into magwell,

 

Reloads Micro - Finish It - .6s

  See bullet & brass on top of new mag disappear into magwell, immediately shift eyes down range to next target

  Begin rolling hand up to new grip/snap mag home with palm of hand

  Re-build grip & acquire sight / sight picture

 

Target Transitions - 1.8s

  Support hand to belt, near holster every time.

  Finger on trigger as sights come into view

  Do not over-extend hands/arms

  Grip the piss outta the gun with my hands alone

  Shoulders, biceps, chest, etc. stay relaxed

  Snap eyes to next target, see appropriate sight picture & fire. - repeat

 

Target Transitions - Micro - Low Ready to Site Picture - .5s

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Holy hell, I'm  whipped.  Class this weekend was pretty damn good, made some big strides in my game and have confidence to do some things that I previously did not.  We shot a little over 1,200 rounds, new Stock 2 did just fine with only 3 light strikes on S&B primers.

 

Couple of big ticket items to work on; trigger control - mine sucks and transitions - don't ride the damn sights or over swing.  I've got a big log written up, but that'll stay with me.

 

 

Going into the Space City March 11/12 with a lot more confidence. I know what to work on in dry fire and it's gonna be a damn fine match.

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On 2/27/2017 at 9:14 AM, mreed911 said:

Awesome progress, sir!

 

Thanks Mike. I picked up so many small tweaks, along with some seriously awesome new confidence & skill this weekend. I can't stress how much coaching from a skilled shooter can improve your game.

 

 

Ding ding ding! Break through this morning!  Working on trigger control, I could not figure out why shots pushed left nearly every time.  I honestly had not realized my trigger control was such shit before the class, just figured I sucked ass on stages.  It was glaringly obvious at the 15 yard line when 80% of the shots landed left a/c line, bunched into ~3" grouping.  Other eye opening issue was weak hand shooting f*#king spot on, both d/a and s/a.  Ben eloquently pointed out I had trained my right hand improperly but my left hand was too stupid to know anything different but pull straight back.

 

So this morning I spent time watching how my weak hand finger worked the trigger straight back into the frame... Yeah, it was that damn obvious. Seriously.  I had been basically pushing the trigger to the rear & left using my strong hand trigger finger. Spent some time doing white wall and control at speed with focus on pulling straight back into the frame.  It's a love/hate kind of situation where you fix a fundamental flaw, so basic that it should not be a problem.

Edited by SCTaylor
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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, The Space City Challenge was a fun match, shot with some great folks, weather held off enough for us to complete the match in a timely manner.  Now on to the meat... Overall my stage times were really good, transitions and split times dramatically improved, and overall when I did what I knew was right, things went well.

 

Where did I go wrong? Easy, closed my eyes. A lot.  Yeah that is right, I closed my eyes, did not see the sights or target but proceeded to pull the trigger.  It is incredibly evident on the first day, shooting seven stages (which where lesser points thankfully) I would up with 57 Alpha, 4 Bravo, 26 Charlie, 10 Delta (Lucky Misses) and 11 Mikes.  Knowing WTF I had done the previous day, focus was on shooting at my speed, seeing the sight pictures I needed, closing out day two with 87 Alphas, 30 Charlies, 3 Delta (Lucky Misses) and 2 Mikes.

 

Overall I'm severely PO'd with the match performance, I put speed ahead of accuracy. Obviously! However, the good is an instilled confidence to move more aggressively, transition quickly, shoot on easy entry and exit, as well as program stage plans much more quickly.  Now I really have to focus on movement between positions and keep my DAMN EYES OPEN. It's not a noise thing, it's a long ingrained issue. It has happened forever as I think about the past, football, baseball, shooting, golf, etc.  Always (nearly) made good contact but never recall seeing the hit/contact/shot at the moment of impact.  This is a live fire only training fix.

 

Finished 30th of 45, 12th of 15 in B class.

 

Stage 12 wound up being my best stage - 19th of 45.

 

 

 

 

 

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Due to the cold, there hasn't been a match within 3 hrs of me since November.  This past weekend was my first match since then.  I worked hard on the off-season and every aspect of my shooting has improved (but every aspect of my shooting still has a lot of room for improvement).  I was actually able to practice before this match at rifle range.  I could only shoot at targets 100 yards and beyond and I was actually hitting them once I got elevation correct.  Feeling pretty good about myself, I went to the match...Guess what, I got to the match and completely blew it.  I was trying to shoot way too fast for my abilities.  While I was shooting, I knew I wasn't having visual patience and the proof was right there....2 mikes on the first stage.  Still it took me 3 more stages to finally settle down and start making good shots (and even a couple those I called as a Charlie or Delta (and was right).  Long story short, lesson learned.  I will NOT make the same mistake again and I would bet you won't either.  If it makes you feel any better, my mistakes were at a 4 stage all classifier match!!!!

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March 17, 2017 – Indoor Range Session – Full Armor Firearms Range

200 Rounds total

 

5 Yards

60 rounds - Shot controlled pairs, goal to keep eyes open & focus on specific target spot.  Kept most all as A or close C shots.  Grip pressure was key to keeping shots on target. Focus on keeping right hand loose(er) for fast/close shots. Still pushing the gun left a bit.

 

7 Yards

40 round - Shot controlled pairs at high speed. Kept hits much tighter on target, good grip pressure with left hand and not as much jerk on trigger w/ right hand. Very happy with results.

20 Rounds – Match Pairs - Shoot aimed first shot & break 2nd as soon as ASP on target. Tight grouping but everything was a bit left, anticipating the shot & pushing trigger.

@ #4 – Shot 10 rounds strong hand & 10 round weak hand.  Strong hand was very accurate & easy to go at a quick clip. Weak hand – grip STRONG. Did well will all shots, weak hand a tendency to push the trigger as well.

 

15 Yards

Worked on target focus – first 20 were shooting an aimed shot, watching sights lift, then return to target.  All but 1 were in the 6” circle.  Much easier to shoot targets at 15 yards with sight focus then I originally anticipated, however, my eyes keep pulling back to the front sight on reacquisition of sight picture. 

Last 20 rounds were more “match” pace – Shoot aimed first shot & break 2nd as soon as ASP on target. Resulted in 17 alphas, 3 close Charlie at match patch while target focused. That’s a breakthrough for me.

Group Shooting – 10 rounds at 15 yards yielded a 1.6” overall but two distinct groups of 5/8” and ¾” with a small gap between then. The deviation was vertical, directly related to how firmly my support (left) hand was rolled forward (down) controlling the muzzle.

 

Back at 7 Yards

 

Finished up with Effectively Bill Drills. Two sets of 5 from the low ready. No timer, no score, just run the trigger fast & straight back while watching the sights in full swing.  Pretty ugly groups, however, the only goal for these was to watch the sights lift, track, & return.

 

#1 goal for this session was seeing the sights on every shot as it broke; keeping my eyes open the entire time.  Secondary goal was shot calling, which went very well.  Interesting note, shots that I called bad were still acceptable hits! I did indeed see where the shot was off but “assumed” it was another 5-6 inches from the actual impact.  Going to have to pay much more attention to this aspect.

 

Moving forward – keep working on calling shots, maintain very firm grip pressure with left hand and keep experimenting for right/strong, keep eyes open for all shots – see the fun first EVERY time.

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On 3/20/2017 at 8:21 AM, SCTaylor said:

Interesting note, shots that I called bad were still acceptable hits! I did indeed see where the shot was off but “assumed” it was another 5-6 inches from the actual impact.  Going to have to pay much more attention to this aspect.

 

This is normal, just so you're aware.

 

First you learned to tell if the shot went true or if you shanked it into the rough. But you had no idea where a bad shot landed.

 

Then you learn to tell which direction your shot was thrown off-center, but not really how far. This is where you're currently at.

 

Over time the "I know it went somewhere in here!" circle that you could walk downrange and draw on the target? It will shrink to a smaller and smaller diameter. 

 

I can currently call most of my shots within the accuracy of a 4" circle, I would estimate. However that still leaves a lot of "was that a C or a D?" wiggle room and I'm working to improve it.

 

Try something: intentionally misalign the sights (front post touching left side of notch, etc) and shoot the gun with a meticulously perfect trigger press. Do this at various distances to see how far up/down/left/right the bullet actually goes.

 

 I routinely have new shooters do that at 7 yards. At that distance you cannot miss the A zone with a sight picture involving the fiber *anywhere* in the front notch.

It's part of learning that your trigger finger, grip, and flinching make you miss - not a failure to focus on the front sight.

 

Until you learn what kind of misalginment leads to a hit in the D or C at 12 yards, you don't have any kind of reference to use when calling your shots.

 

Edited by MemphisMechanic
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hands are sore, legs are sore, and I'm learning.

 

Put in a good session Saturday night going position entry & exit, both directions using 1/3 scale targets at a simulated 15 yards with shooting boxes 10' apart.  

 

  • Averaged 4.5 seconds, interestingly enough same time in both directions.  Ran Entry for 7 minutes each direction, then Exit 7 minutes each directions and for good measure ran Entry again 3 minutes each direction but with a reload in between.  Highly surprising, performing a reload did not slow me down at all.

 

Last night did a bit of work on port entry / exit both directions, barricade entry/exit.  Approximately 3 minutes each direction.

 

  • Port work leaning to the left (weak side) is much more difficult than the right (strong side) Going left to right, I was matching barricade times but right to left was a PITA to hit proper stance & lean around the barricade.

 

This morning was simulated 20 yard partials, distance change-up,  and Hi-Lo transitions.  

 

  • 20 yard partials feels good and looks good. My eyes keep jumping back to the front sight though, I want to keep a target focus with a blurry yet aligned sight picture.  This is something I need to work on in live fire to prove the concept.
  • Distance change up is getting quick & more consistent. using simulated 10 yard metric targets & a 2" plate @ simulated 10 yards. Again something I need to prove in live fire.
  • Hi-Lo transition was quick & consistent starting on the low middle target. Starting hi and moving low was more difficult with a tendency to over swing target; need visual patience to clear hands & gun enough off target center to find visual focal point. Continuing to emphasize snapping eyes to center of target area, caught myself riding the sights a few times.

 

Long term focus in training: Snapping eyes to center of best target area.  Grip pressure, as eloquently stated on the PPS, I'm striving for a cock strangle hold with my weak hand.  It's getting better every session.

 

Near term focus is practice in match mode - calling every shot. My speed is increasing greatly, I will translate that into seeing more quickly and calling every shot.

 

 

Next local match is this Saturday. I am going to this match to call every shot, move aggressively during non-shooting times, and shoot sooner.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Been dry firing quite a bit and some indoor live fire sessions as well.  Will have access to a local club with real bays here soon.

 

Shot a local match, came in 2nd in Production and 9th overall. Should have won the match but when you bone-up a stage really badly, you don't.  Anyhow, here is a vid of the first stage of the day and a stage win.

 

 

Edited by SCTaylor
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  • 2 weeks later...

Spent a few hours on the range Friday afternoon.

 

Dots - Freaking hard. On one sheet- Shot 1 clean, 2 close to clean and the rest were pretty damn bad. I forgot how much these identified the flaws in your game.  The basics: trigger control, grip, and sight alignment are very easy to isolate in this drill.

 

Bill drills -

 

1. 2.15 w/ 1 charlie

2. 2.46 w/ 2 charlie (bad grip)

3. 2.17 alphas

4. 2.12 w/ 2 charlies

5. 2.69 w/ 1 charlie (bad grip)

 

Blake drills - worked on speed with an understanding the hits might suck.

 

1. 2.13 - 1.10 draw, avg .186 split, avg .235 transition

2. 2.17 - 1.09 draw, avg .183 split, avg .265 transition

3. 2.19 - 1.10 draw, avg .175 split, avg .275 transition

 

Bit of an ego boost. First time I've shot these in 6 months and the first time around was abysmal! So yeah, I feel good about that.

 

Shot a few other drills - shooting while moving and easy entry/exit.  Found out I go to a a sight focus on everything, including 5-7 yard open hoser targets. Something I want to improve is utilizing target focus more. I've got a really strong index and feel comfortable put two alphas 15 yard open targets with target focus at speed.

 

Going back this week to start working on a bit more basic techniques; distance change-up, accelerator, and position entry.  I feel those are three major places which I can pick up a tremendous quantity of points along with time. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Been live firing once a week with a training partner. Which was not going so great, he wants to get better but was haphazardly putting drills together and I was being too nice to say something.

 

Well, I started showing up 2 hours later so I could practice properly and last Friday he didn't show up so win-win, and I broke out Skills and Drills.

 

Doubles - got to a consistent sub-second draw (.96avg) and .18 split. Fastest I've ever gone, especially with consistent Alphas at 7 yards.

 

Easy entry, hard exit, and hard entry all went well. Did have some challenges to reduce the movement time but did get my transitions tight. 7 yard zebra to a 7" steel at 12yd was at .6 seconds.

 

Last week shot Front Sight with hit factors averaging 8.8 with my best at 12.4. I plan to work on this for the rest of the summer with my goal to be (1) 2 seconds on each string, (2) clean at 2.5 seconds per string and (3) hit a 13hf.

 

The draw and transitions have been my week spots historically. Looking at results from the last match, I'm behind by approximately 10% in time of the local GM and 5% of the M (limited GM).

 

Points still need to get better, shot 87% at the last match, but it was clean.

 

Edit to add. Points were much better than I initially thought. 87% total points and 76% alphas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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