j1b

Wow what a terrible match. Not one good stage. The gun modifications turned out to be fatal. The extended mag release bit me in the ass causing several premature mag drops during several stages. Adding insult to injury was one pre-tension malfunction. But just overall all the crap I posted yesterday was just that, crap. Points were terrible. In stage execution was terrible. I shot 6 stages and not really one redeeming thought with regards to any of them. Starting from ground zero. So far to go. J

First match of the year tomorrow. The dry fire slowed down big time, at first because I simply wore my hands down and for a second reason a bigger match I was intending to attend had to get scrapped. So the intensity waned. I did get the gun tuned up though with new parts and I think those upgrades are good. Little of that will matter simply because I don't shoot that match but over the summer I'm hopeful to see some degree of incremental improvement. Also have trimmed about 20 pounds which is good, though I'm still obese. The focus tomorrow will be pretty simple on one front. Points. It almost always takes a few matches before I start dialing into getting the right points on stages but I am aware of that so hopefully it'll be a little better tomorrow. Second focus will be on a "rock solid" gun. I don't know how to describe this outside of it's a mentality that I've noticed in my (limited) dry fire that I can tell a difference with. That should help with target engagement and execution. And likely points. The last piece will be directly as a result of @benos video series that I watched. I'll have a diligent focus on "getting to the shooting." My movement and stage execution has been a core issue for a couple years now and I think it's just a lack of focus on "getting to the shooting" so I'm going to dial that up a little tomorrow. It may lead to some mistakes, but if I do that well then I can tweak a few things before some bigger matches come up mid-summer. Excited to break the ice tomorrow and see where things are starting for 2021. Ended 2020 with two decent matches, there'll be some rust but hopefully a good foundation to start with. I'll update tomorrow. Jack

All true. At this stage in my shooting life though I'm able to understand that. I know when I'm working on one thing versus another such that if a new tool exacerbates one aspect that I want to work on then I have the knowledge to transfer. As mentioned, this is fairly exception based training. The reality though is that focused on efficiently making the gun do what I want is the key to doing well in competition. Well, let me rephrase that, efficiency in all aspects of the game helps improve match performance. If a tool can help me with that, that can then be transitioned to the primary, that then can be applied in the match ... well ... so much the better. I do appreciate and agree with your comments. I'm fortunate that I can differentiate what I'm trying to learn so that it can be applied to a more practical setting (the competition set up).

Haha ... noted. Won't be going to the dark side just yet. Too many years as an open guy ... enjoying production anyhow. I would say it was, and is, an interesting learning. Really helps keep the gun aligned and dialed during dry fire. Throw the longer set up on and the gun just looks rock solid.

So I bought a new compact handgun for CCW over the weekend and was tinkering with it quite a bit Sunday. Obviously smaller/more compact guns are inherently a little harder to shoot for a lot of reasons. One observation I had though was the "new" focus on sight alignment. As I toyed with the gun more I could see the sights took just a milli second more to settle. I would see any mistake with not holding the gun still or a less than ideal trigger press. So I took the slide and put it on my competition frame and just did a little dry fire with it. I won't shoot the gun that way in a match, and I don't see really doing a ton of dry fire that way, but I would say that on the days I want to work pure fundamentals - sight alignment, trigger press, follow through, SH/WH ... this is a viable tool that helps show mistakes even a little more than my full length slide. Interesting.

Ugh - my bad. I neglected to see this was in the revolver forum. Apologies.

To me the trick with swingers is that I often forget just how fast the bullet is moving. Essentially WAY faster than any swinging target. My plan doesn't always work out this way but I simply try and call two good shots. Attempt not to move the gun too terribly much with the swinger ... that for me has been a failing maneuver. As mentioned above - timing it with when the target is slowest is always good but just don't forget that if the A zone is in the sights with a good trigger press - whether the target is moving or not - should 99% of the time yield an A hit.

12 lumens, but heavy as a mule!! I don't love this change for that reason, but it is what it is. I'm certain a light is in my production gun future. New holster too. Ugh.

I don't remember it taking too terribly long. I would say the lifesaver (for me) was the trick Benos highlights in his book. Placing a piece of scotch tape, even a fairly small piece, over the non-dominant eye lens (or, if you are trying to switch dominant eyes then over the eye you don't want to be dominant) was instrumental. I don't shoot anything with one eye closed now. Ever. Not my hunting rifles, not my bow, not my pistols. Honestly can't imagine shooting any other way now. J

I've seen this dynamic at times. It seems it can be almost dependent on the club or even the squad at times. One thing that always helps is showing up for multiple matches, at least in my experience. Having moved a few times I can say that the first time I have showed up at new clubs, assuming I knew nobody (most times the case), it can be a little chili in the reception department. But different areas have been different. When I moved to Arkansas I wasn't too far removed from a more active role in the sport. So when I shot matches generally I knew people and the reception was great. When I moved to Pittsburgh it was actually Vince (Vluc) here on the forums that helped me integrate with little issue. Specifically on the USPSA front. I would say a couple of the IDPA matches I shot I was received with much more trepidation. After a couple of matches though that went away. Here in New England again I think the first couple of matches were, not stand off ish, but I didn't really have anybody coming up saying "hey, welcome, haven't seen you before. Do you need any info or help?" But, in owning my own dynamic in all of this, I am not a terribly social person. I also didn't reach out and say "hey, I'm Jack, I'm new here but I've been shooting for a while - just wanted to introduce myself." So I own as much of that as anyone else. Generally I signed up, went to my squad, and just let my work show for itself. I would say that I try and tape or reset after nearly every shooter. Or I'll take the board. Generally people don't immediately hand off the clock if they don't know you but all other duties tend to be up for grabs. So I jump all over that. To that end it's hard to say "this guy is an a_-hole" when I've taped for every shooter unless I was on deck. Next month I'm shooting a new match at a new club though and I've heard already that reception can be chili. I think that's ok. Better knowing it going in. And again I'll just work my butt off, shoot as best I can, and generally speaking people loosen up after that. At least that's my experience. J

Sometimes I guess I can be a bit over zealous. Some solid dry fire the past few days. Much more intense, much more intentful. There's a deliberate focus. For some reason it all feels very different. Well, there's one new things that also feels different. The soars. Again, it's been intense sessions with a lot of reps. And my hands simply aren't used to it. So ... I have a raw spot on my weakhand index finger from under the trigger guard, my weakhand palm area where it contacts the grip, my strong hand index knuckle from where it contacts the grip, believe it or not I have a small cut on my stronghand thumb thanks to the mag release and finally my strong hand middle finger has a little raw spot from under the trigger guard. None of this is bad per se ... but probably taking two days off from dry fire. I think I'll do some gun maintenance and really make sure it's cleaned up and ready to go. I hope my box of parts shows up in the next day or two so I can maintain progress. It's a very interesting time. J

Signs ... I guess I'm not allowed to get religious here ... so I will avoid that outside of saying that I believe... and I believe in signs. And signals. And winks. And whatever else those who believe similarly would say. So the chain of events: I put in for a match I never thought I would get into several months ago. It was kind of a set and forget moment. And I forgot. Last night, had a great dry fire session. And I got poked a bit by a buddy which kind of stoked some competitive juices. Today I ordered a few parts for the P320 to solve some issues - some from past matches I just never resolved which some kind of reared their heads last night. So today I got off the horse and ordered them. This afternoon I get an email - don't know if it's because of shooting an Area match, or some other contributing factors - but the match I put in for some time ago emails me. I'm in. Tonight was a learning dry fire session. Not quite as solid as last night, but actually better because it started the learning phase. The move forward stage. So we'll see. I don't know what I'm gonna do for the match. Can't decide. But it is, without question, an interesting chain of events. Something that I can't really ignore. More to come. J

I have to figure out target focus. I'm so old school ... haven't even begun to figure that out.

And so dry fire I did. Felt great to get the rig back on. Very basic tonight. Draws and reloads. In the house, so a light switch was the target. I'm in an awkward place with this journal because it is mostly just me but it's a public forum ... so kind of weird. I write a lot thinking someone might read it BUT the truth is nobody really does and I want to use this diary (or dairy as I guess I'm prone to calling it) to document a little. So I can grow. And learn. Tonight, while relaxed, I had a little intensity. I felt that little burn. It felt great. Draws were really just about motion. I won't say I did a lot to dial in draws. Primary focus was hits, keeping the head still, and just executing good, clean,respectful draws. That was mostly successful. I want to alleviate all issues this year so one issue is that my grip tape is slipping. So I'll need to remedy that soon with either new grip tape applied correctly or stippling. A decision must be made soon there. Also this contributed to me missing the mag release button a few times. More than I'd care to admit. After a good 20 minutes there was some fatigue but I remember doing this several times at Area 7 as well. I will look at mag releases for the P320 and come up with a remedy - quickly. Reloads were a focus tonight. While many were rough, many were really rock solid. I did a number - maybe 30 or 40 of holding the gun at my chest, mount the gun, two shots, reload, two shots. This was awesome. At first pushing a bit and flubbing the loads. Then just moving at maybe 80% speed and starting to nail them. The core focus in reloads, for now, will be no excess movement of the gun. Drop the mag, pull the gun to its spot, and keep it still as possible. This lead to much more consistency and speed. Tomorrow I will do nearly exactly the same thing. Building the fundamentals. In fact tomorrow I'll just build a sheet for a 20 minute dry fire session. standard drills. And I think that'll be all I do for about two weeks or so.