Stock Glock Shooter since 2010

[SeaTact]

It was at Norpoint-- ever been there?

I definitely rushed all the stages. I zeroed out stage 1 last time I did the classifier.

[SeaTact]

Range practice after IDPA classifier

Wanted to keep it in my diary. After my disappointing performance, I'd gone to the range to work with another box of factory ammo, plus another 200 rounds with my conversion kit. Partly to keep breaking in the conversion, and partly to keep practicing draw strokes and trigger awareness. Unfortunately this was a couple of weeks ago. I fired some of my 9mm ammo at the beginning of the session, and some at the end.

Lessons learned

- I still flinch. No doubt this'll be a recurring issue.

- My conversion kit still has occasional failure to feeds. On the bright side, that's partly how I figured I was still flinching.

- I need to post my experiences on the range *right after* I do it. I've forgotten some of the subtle things.

running count 2850 + 550 conversion kit

[SeaTact]

Dry Fire Practice - 45 minutes

Just finished. Worked on reloads with retention, slide lock reloads, draw strokes and a lot more trigger time. My front sight is now consistently sitting in the notch during BE's awareness drills. If I'm more rushed and I'm not lined up after drawing from the holster, I've learned it takes longer to acquire the front sight if it's below the notch. Probably because it's dipped out of my vision and I don't have that visual feedback to quickly get my sights realigned.

Lessons learned

- Another "aha!" moment. Trying to rush a reload seems to ensure that the magazine would catch on the magwell. Just like sights, I need to see when I'm reloading and I hadn't been doing that. I now look at my mag reloads the way I do a sight picture for a type 3 focus. Seating a fresh mag is a form of shooting! By seeing the top of the magazine, and seeing that it's lined up (front-to-back) with the magwell, I'm able to send it in without catching. This tends to bring a very brief pause during the reload but overall it seems faster.

- If my sight picture isn't perfect, I'm going to try and trend towards having the front sight above the notch rather than below -- at least it's in my vision and I can settle it back very quickly. I'll have to see if the sight drops below the notch during live fire...I'm starting to think it does.

[SeaTact]

Pesky Flinch

I really wanted to see how much I flinched-- went to the range yesterday for 1/2 hour and 1 box of ammo. Most productive session in a while.

Took 5 magazines and put 3-5 rounds in each. I randomly put in some snap caps in the magazines. With this many mags I soon forgot what rounds were in which magazine. Mixed the mags up in the range bag, "loaded and made ready" and fired at a 8" bullseye target at 5 and 7 yards. Focus was on the front sight, and I was trying to be aware of recoil movement.

-- One "AD/ND" while trying to shoot pairs. The second shot discharged sooner than I wanted (2nd time this has ever happened while firing downrange), and ended up at the 11 o' clock position just outside the 8" circle. Trying to get close to trigger reset.

-- Fortunately I didn't lose any of my snap caps downrange. Tap-rack--- and back they went.

Lessons learned

-- Front sight is starting to return more reliably into the notch after firing.

-- My support hand slipped forward on some shots. I couldn't completely fix it but tried a tighter grip, & "weaver" push-pull. I'll have to look at this more but I'm going to guess it's a weak support hand.

-- I flinched more if I tried to emphasize speed. Overall, when I hit a snap cap, my sight dipped no farther than outside the 8" circle at 7 yards, but it was still a flinch. Fortunately it did get better as the 1/2 hour progressed. There were several dry fires where my sight barely moved... felt good to see that and I'm going to have to do this drill more.

[SeaTact]

Even more awareness exercises (BE's book, pg 169-171)

-- I put a little twist to what BE said in his book. May not be as practical on a range -- actually I won't be practicing this motion on a range. I'm realizing I don't keep my sight alignment if I'm transitioning up and down. Say, a low target on the ground to a high target. Which would be above the berm of course. Just another way of developing the "feel".

Trigger reset kit

-- I installed a dry fire trigger group that allows me to practice trigger reset without having to rack the slide. Not sure if I really want to keep it because it still doesn't feel the same as a real trigger. At least I can practice transitions and some type of trigger pull.

Pesky Flinch revisited

-- OK, I'm not reading enough old posts on the forums. I'll call it the B&D drill from now on. Ball and dummy (me). I need to get rid of this flinch, or push.

GSSF Match

-- Got the green light from the wife to sign up for a GSSF match. Going in September. Woo HOO!

[Chris iliff]

Did you know that even the best shooters push a little down with the gun when it doesn't go off? This is a subconscious reaction the body learns to deal with recoil and it's a good thing. Not to be confused with a flinch. I forget the threads but it has been discussed here on the forums. Do you see the sights lift every shot? That would be my concern, calling the shots.

[SeaTact]

Did you know that even the best shooters push a little down with the gun when it doesn't go off? This is a subconscious reaction the body learns to deal with recoil and it's a good thing. Not to be confused with a flinch.

Yah, saw a good number of threads on the subject. I'll have to re-read them. Thing is, I can't tell if it's the push that you're referring to, or if it's something I'm doing before ignition. Recoil anticipation-- that's not the good thing, right?

Do you see the sights lift every shot? That would be my concern, calling the shots.

I can call it occasionally, but definitely not consistently. Need to do more live fire drills at the range. Part of it is I still have to ensure I'm not blinking-- I'm not quite sure if it's a blink or recoil anticipation. Or if it's just that I need more time and mileage. Maybe all of the above.

[Chris iliff]

The best drill I've found is a variation of the classic "Bill Drill".

BILL DRILL

7 yards, metric target(Uspsa target with the head), surrender draw, six shots in the "A" zone AS FAST AS YOU CAN PULL THE TRIGGER. It's not a Bill Drill if any shot is outside the "A" zone.

Variation

Aim at the berm, look at sights and align them properly, pull the trigger six times As fast as you can. Now here is the important part. You are FOCUSED entirely on the sight and your FACE. You want to pay attention to all your facial muscles especially around your EYES. This drill is about you observing your own muscle tension and eliminating it. Remember, you are not concerned with hitting a target. You want to be right up on the berm, a couple yards away. Just point the gun at the berm and watch the sights while taking notice of any tension in your face. I do this periodically. Hey, our brains just aren't use to explosions 2 feet in front of our face, it's almost natural to flinch. This drill will get you well on your way to a lot of things. It will help with flinching, your grip, and shot calling. It will train your brain/ eyes to see what at first seems to fast to SEE. Once you are Seeing the sights and can calm the tension, especially around your eyes, move on to the classic Bill Drill and your grip will improve keeping them all in the A zone.

As an "A" shooter, I'm right around 2 seconds for a Bill Drill. My best is 1.87 seconds. Remember, it doesn't count if one round is out of the A zone. Good luck!!

Edited May 14, 2011 by fourtrax

[Chris iliff]

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=108104

I think that link will be insightful. G-man and Xre nail some good stuff that might help you.

[SeaTact]

Thanks for all the helpful info, fourtrax. You have awesome posts here and in other parts of the BE forum. I'll work on those drills and post more.

I guess I'll need an experienced shooter to watch me and see if I'm truly flinching or doing that post-ignition recoil management. I'm going to assume it's a flinch for now since I'm still working on consistent shot calling.

Edited May 15, 2011 by SeaTact

[SeaTact]

Going prone-- and more dry fire. And more draw strokes from concealment. And more reloads...

I'll have a trip to the range this week. Knowing that some live fire is in the near future makes me want to practice at home more. I've done a couple of previous sessions going from standing to prone, but this is the first time with almost all my gear. The only exception is I didn't have my shooting glasses...and I was in socks. Yeah, I know...

I'm just wrting this down so that I can remember what seems to feel like a good sequence. No doubt it will change over time but at least it's a start. What seems to be working for me:

-- Stand, squarely facing target.

-- Draw pistol (I'm right handed) and point muzzle downrange.

-- Center of gravity is over my strong leg, which starts lowering my whole body, as if I were going to kneel on my left knee. But at the same time:

- +- I'm leaning at the waist to plant my left palm about 1 foot in front and slightly to the left of my right foot (at about 11 o'clock).

- +- My left leg is kicking/reaching back so that my left toe is ready to plant.

-- Once my left hand starts to bear as much weight as my right leg, my left foot -- now kicked back -- plants and starts to bear weight also. My center of gravity is mostly over my left hand. My left arm and left leg have now taken over lowering me to the ground. At the same time:

- My right leg kicks or slides out and I land slightly on my side.

-- My shooting hand doesn't bear any weight until the rest of me is fully in position. Once that happens, the support hand welds to the grip, then the butt of the pistol makes contact on the ground. Muzzle stayed downrange.

-- I end up lying slightly on my side, left leg slightly bent, right side of my face rests against my shoulder. Shot breaks. It actually feels comfortable.

Now I have to see whether or not I really can put this into practice. Looking forward to it. Sometime in the future I'll have to try a sequence that puts me fully prone and not on my side. I just don't like how my neck feels when I'm completely on my belly...

Lessons Learned:

-- My Comp-Tac paddle holster doesn't get in the way of my side/prone position

-- I'm going to have to wear ear plugs if a stage calls for going prone. My headset ear protection is too bulky for this position.

-- Going to the gym doing exercises like this has really helped get my arms and wrists get ready for this. No, that's not me and yes, I wish I were that fit.

Edited May 15, 2011 by SeaTact

[SeaTact]

First USPSA match!

Got my membership number and completed my first match yesterday-- I decided to do limited minor since I really wanted to take advantage of my 17 round magazines. I'll either stay in this division or try production. I'll post some videos since I'd love to hear some feedback.

Lessons Learned

-- I have to return back to what BE was saying in his book. I still rushed many of the sight pictures and I have a hard time calling shots. My best stage was my last and I shot all A's. On average, though, I'm sure I'm well below getting the 90% of points. I'm slow overall but that's a given.

-- My magazine pouches seem a little tight. Will loosen the tension a little since none of my magazines fell out while I was running. Not that I'm aiming for that...

-- Enjoyed shooting the Texas star for the first time. I was doing well until the last plate and then made a bad mistake-- I chased the plate with my sight while it was rocking back and forth at the 6 o' clock position. When my sight matched up my mind was saying, "Now!". Which meant miss. 'bout 10 times. Pretty painful, but lesson learned. That conscious thought snuck in. I need to just experience the shooting.

-- Couple of no-shoots, when I should have aimed higher to hit the target. Still has to do with that flinch, or jerking the trigger, or blinking. I'll keep working on that.

Edited May 23, 2011 by SeaTact

[SeaTact]

Vertical Transitions -- new awareness drill

I'm going to have to post this question in the BEginner forum. During awareness drills I just noticed that the one action that will tend to pull my sights out of alignment the most is when I need to transition my sights vertically more than 10 degrees (at the shoulder). Going from low to high my front sight disappears below the rear sight. From high to low my front sight wanders above the rear sight.

Have to think about this more...

IDPA match today. Can't do videos though

[SeaTact]

IDPA Match

Final results are pending, but I finished smack in the middle of my division (SSP MM) which is usually where I place.

Points down were still a little over 20% of my total score, which is not as accurate as I wanted. It was a day that I did the stage either really well, or really badly. One of the "bad" stages was essentially all head shots (hard cover for the rest of the target) and I had 2 Mikes. The other "bad" stage was no -0 on a 3 target array. Standard pie-ing at about 10 yards. Sheesh. I'm either still flinching, or jerking the trigger. Maybe jerking-- a good number of my shots outside of the -0 were low-left.

Lessons learned

- Here we go again, "see what you need to see no matter how long it takes"

- Need to squad up with some high-level shooters who are willing to give feedback when I shoot. Maybe they can see if I'm flinching.

- Need to dry fire pie-ing around barricades. I haven't incorporated that yet.

- Time to hit the range and just do some group shooting

Edited June 20, 2011 by SeaTact

[SeaTact]

Range Shooting (100 rounds 9mm, followed by100 rounds 22 LR)

WA state IDPA match in August will have an el Prez style stage at 35 yards (!). Went to practice trigger control at 25 yards, which is the longest distance for the indoor range. Also wanted to see where my stock Glock would sight in. Did some bench shooting, and some freestyle. Groups are OK (still about 6"), interestingly not much better when benched. My forearms were on my range bag so I guess I wasn't completely on a rest.

Lessons learned:

-- Many shots tended towards the high side. Need to sight in more at a 6 o'clock hold rather than point of aim

-- I need to build trigger finger strength (!). Got fatigued at round 75-100. Mainly because I was squeezing the trigger very slooooooowly. So a lot of pressure on the trigger, for a long time, in a short range session = trigger finger fatigue. I remember feeling that at my first USPSA match when I fired some 40 rounds during one stage.

-- Calling shots seems to involve both sight and feel. Sometimes I felt my arms and hands dip, and I was able to call it as a low hit on the target.

-- Am able to see the sight lift but it's still hard to tell where exactly the front sight is during ignition. On the brief times I think I called the shot, I saw the entire sight silhouetted in a muzzle flash. I'll have to shoot a lot more with my conversion so I can practice seeing the front sight.

-- about 5 light strikes and 6 failure to feeds with my conversion kit. Going to have to give Tactical Solutions a call.

[SeaTact]

Been a long time since my last post. Quick updates:

-- Bought a pair of 5.11 tactical pants for the summer. More comfortable than my jeans and easier to pocket my mags during reloads with retention.

-- Went to the WA state IDPA championships. Placed in the middle of the pack in SSP / MM categories. A little disappointed since I had one FTN (forgot the target was there in a stage), a couple of PE's. I could've done better. Will post lessons learned after I mull it over a bit more.

-- Still trying to decide between no vs. medium backstrap. I don't see much of a performance difference so I'll stick with small for now.

-- Bought a used OD G19-- looking forward to competing practicing gun handling at an IDPA match using my every day concealed carry clothes. Now to get that IWB concealment holster...

[SeaTact]

Work and a kid takes time. Such is life

A couple of items:

-- Invested in a SIRT pistol. Very happy with it and it's definitely helping with my trigger work. I really love how it's customizable so that the trigger can get very close to a real Glock.

-- Went to a local GSSF match. The armorer there upgraded my Gen4 G17 to the newest recoil spring and put in the new "." connector. The pull and the weight is just as nice as my OD G19. Love it.

-- Took a novice friend shooting. I think they're addicted.

Lesson Leaned:

-- After multiple ball and dummy drills-- fixing my flinch is now my #1 priority. Will work with this: http://www.brianenos...showtopic=82124

Edited November 5, 2011 by SeaTact

[SeaTact]

Another IDPA match-- but I think I called my first shot

Did another club match recently, using my stock G17. Just 2 stages (bout 40 rounds total) but I think it's the best I've done so far. I wasn't really shooting with either a all down 0 or go-fast goal. I was just shooting using BE's mantra, "see what you need to see no matter how long it takes". Placed 8th out of the 28 shooters there, top 1/3 for my division. I was the most accurate with only -1 for the whole match. No PE's, no no-shoots.

About calling the shot, I really think I did it this time. On the low-light stage I fired three shots at a 2-shot head target. I remember seeing that my sight alignment was off with my first shot (light bars on either side were uneven) and that I automatically fired off a third round. At the end of the stage I thought, "huh, I actually remembered what my sights looked like when the shot broke". Felt great.

Lessons learned

-- Given my score today, I hope I can remember my timing between shots so I can push my speed a little more at 7 and 10 yards.

-- SIRT pistol training really works. My trigger press has improved immensely. I was a little surprised at how accurate I was at the match, especially since I wasn't "trying" to be more accurate.

-- I need to get to some more matches.

Edited December 28, 2011 by SeaTact

[Joe L]

Very interesting range diary. Lots of good experience in here to help a newbie like me. Thanks.

Joe

[SeaTact]

Thanks for the post, Joe. Good luck with the shooting.

[SeaTact]

New Year - New Resolutions

2012 will be a year of fundamentals. Things I'll want to focus on:

-- Flinches: The ball and dummy drills have worked at both diagnosing and reducing flinches.

-- Trigger press / grip consistency: More SIRT mileage at longer distances.

-- Calling the shot: If I can do this consistently by the end of the year, I'll be ecstatic. I realized that part of seeing what you need to see includes knowing when your sight picture is "good enough" for the task at hand. I'll take my SIRT to the range and see just how far off my sights can be at 7-25 yards and still keep -0/A shots.

[SeaTact]

Quick lesson learned-- Draw Strokes

When drawing form the holster, I'm usually aware when my support hand isn't gipping the gun correctly after I press out. Which I now realize is way too late in the draw stroke to be aware of any issues with my grip.

I'm going to work on being more aware of where my support hand index finger meets the gun. The bottom of the trigger guard needs to wedge on my index finger, right between the two knuckles. Using this index for my support hand, I think I'll be more consistent, and have more time to adjust. We'll see how this works in the future.

Edited January 11, 2012 by SeaTact

[SeaTact]

2012 has been a slow year for shooting, but at least it's slow and steady. I get to shoot about once-twice a month. Had a great GSSF match but haven't gotten below 100 yet, but I did win a random pistol!

Did lots of dry fire so far. Also did a classifier and moved up-- I'm now SSP sharp shooter with my stock Glock, even if I am in the low-end of the scale. I had an "AD" during the final string of Stage 3-- got overzealous during a trigger reset while transitioning targets and the gun went off unexpectedly. Fortunately all my hits including the "AD" were still on target. Unfortunately I didn't call it right-- I thought I missed.

Lessons Learned

-- I still tend to jerk the trigger; the vast majority of my off-center shots are mostly leftward, sometimes low-left. This was really magnified at 15 and 20 yards. At these distances a lighter trigger might've helped. Still going to stay stock with my dot connector, though.

-- Stage 3 precision is OK. Getting my sights lined up seemed to eat up as much time as trying to control my trigger press. I'll have to work on building my core and upper body strength.

-- I remember doing a little shuffle transitioning between targets when behind the barricade. Inefficient.

Edited April 10, 2012 by SeaTact

[Chris iliff]

Keep plugging away! I've been at it 8 years and I'm amazed at what I keep learning.

[SeaTact]

Thanks for the kind words, Chris. Hope this old dog can keep coming up with some new tricks over the years.