From completely new to hopefully GM?

[SlvrDragon50]

An intro about myself, my name is Andrew. I'm a graduate student getting an MD and PhD in Kinesiology. There's nothing to do in this town so I started picking up shooting which I've always been interested in. I've only shot twice before purchasing my own firearm, and I am definitely a CZ guy now. I got my gun in March 2016, and I've shot approximately 1500 rounds since then.

My equipment:

CZ85 Combat

CGW Hammer (will convert to CZC later for competitions)

CGW Type 3 Fitted Disco

Green Fiber Optic Front Sight

13 lb Main Spring

14 lb Recoil Spring

CGW 10X Barrel Bushing

LOK Grips G-Wood Bogies Palm Swell

My rig:

Shooters Connection Belt

Ghost Stinger Holster

4 x DAA Racer Mag Pouches

Edited August 13, 2016 by SlvrDragon50

[SlvrDragon50]

So obviously, I'm not even close to GM status yet, but I want to reach it some day.

Did some of my best shooting ever today. I don't know if it was my changed dry fire practice or trying out Pro Grip, but I'm a lot more confident in my shooting now.

First target at 5 yards with Pro Grip freshly applied:
Pretty much everything was hitting the mark. I'm really trying to work on keeping track of the front sight once the shot breaks, but it's happening so fast.

I decided to try some 1-2-3 at 5 yards without the reloading since they don't like it when my gun is pointing towards the ceiling.
First run:

Second run:

After four runs:

I'm still struggling to hit that tiny square off the start, but I'm a lot better at shooting the circle now.

I did some shooting at 7 yards as well, and I'm definitely a lot better than the last time.

At this point, the Pro Grip was starting to wear off, and sweat was dripping down between my eyes and glasses causing tons of fogging.

I finished off with some 5 yards DA practice, and I did much better than I expected. I'm struggling with doing one smooth pull since I usually end up jerking the trigger as shown by the middle and bottom left targets. I did a lot better when I did a partial pull and reaimed my sights then completed the pull with the other three targets.

Edited August 13, 2016 by SlvrDragon50

[Hi-Power Jack]

That's pretty good - looks like you're definitely on your way to GM, now

[superluckycat]

I'm sure you've read here about the importance of dry fire.  I would recommend picking up Stoeger's or Anderson's dry fire book and dry fire religiously if you really want to see improvement.

I dry fire 5-6 days a week for 45-60 minutes and in four months I've gone from suckage to firing B class times on classifiers.  Still a U but I'm on my way to classifying B.

[SlvrDragon50]

Yea, I am trying to dry fire daily on non shooting days.

My dry fire routine is usually:

200 SA 

100 DA 

50 draw

100 reloads from different pouch positions

50 weak hand

 

I'll add in single handed dry firing later, but my two handed shooting is still a little too weak at the moment.

[MemphisMechanic]

Spend some time on your dryfire moving (even if it's just six feet laterally) and coming into a position and firing. That's where you're going to get creamed in matches for quite a while:

Clean reloads and entering & exiting positions efficiently are the fastest ways to improve your scores in matches.

By all means keep up the work on sight alignment and trigger control! But you'll gain tenths here and there by shooting faster with practice. You'll shave two to five seconds off of a stage by learning to move more rapidly and get shooting in each position sooner. Watch videos of novices then watch videos of A/M/GM shooters and pay attention to the speed they do the NON shooting stuff at. That's almost always the "low hanging fruit" you'll find is rope for the picking when you begin to hunt for C and then B class.

[SlvrDragon50]

1 hour ago, MemphisMechanic said:

Spend some time on your dryfire moving (even if it's just six feet laterally) and coming into a position and firing. That's where you're going to get creamed in matches for quite a while:

Clean reloads and entering & exiting positions efficiently are the fastest ways to improve your scores in matches.

By all means keep up the work on sight alignment and trigger control! But you'll gain tenths here and there by shooting faster with practice. You'll shave two to five seconds off of a stage by learning to move more rapidly and get shooting in each position sooner. Watch videos of novices then watch videos of A/M/GM shooters and pay attention to the speed they do the NON shooting stuff at. That's almost always the "low hanging fruit" you'll find is rope for the picking when you begin to hunt for C and then B class.

Thanks for the tip! I'd definitely love to start training movement, but I'm not entirely sure how to practice that yet since I don't have an enclosed backyard. 

I may just get weights and do running drills with them, but I'm very open to any ideas you have here! I've watched Travis Haley's YT video on practicing moving in and out of positions which can be done at home though which I will be trying soon.

[ArrDave]

It's been mentioned before, but it's worth repeating - Check out Ben Stoeger's material.  Buy his video Foundations or Training to Win and watch him shoot.  The stuff of him shooting online isn't all that great but those videos have high production value and capture him doing what GM's do.  That's the standard to which you need to judge yourself.  His Dryfire book or Steve Anderson's (Refinement and Repetition) are both invaluable.  Ben's serves as a good framework to get started, Anderson's provides a tracking log on the same drills that you can chronicle your improvement over time.  

 

Again: I would buy Stoeger's dry fire book and his "Foundations" video for a good start in understanding what you should be doing and more importantly how you should be doing it.  

Does your range allow you to work from the holster?  If so you might try this drill 

http://www.benstoeger.com/index.php/gallery/23-second-category/90-the-dots

Modify it by setting the target at 15 feet and get a shot timer/shot timer app and go from the holster to 2 shots on a dot in 5 seconds.  Learn to feel what a good grip feels like when you break a successful shot, learn to observe what a good sight picture looks like when you hit the dot.  Learn to only shoot when you see that sight picture, and not before.  It's a lot easier said than done.  Once you can clear a sheet at 2 per 5 seconds, advance to 3 shots per dot.  keep progressing until you can clean 6 at 15 then move the target out to 21' and do the same.  

[SlvrDragon50]

No holster work unfortunately. I think I need to get a shot timer eventually since all the apps I've used are triggered by other shooters at the range. I will pick up a copy of Stoeger's book.

I went back to the range today with a new shooter, I think he had a fun time shooting even though he wasn't consistently hitting the target. I was working on 7 and 10 yard shooting, and I was able to pretty consistently hit the targets. I am jerking the trigger a lot less. It also wasn't as hot today so I didn't need to use the Pro Grip.

[fastluck13]

You should be able to find an app with a random delay start. At first, you will want to work on reacting to the beep. If the app doesn't pick up hammer falls, try the par time setting to get an idea of time improvements.

[MemphisMechanic]

On 8/13/2016 at 9:51 PM, SlvrDragon50 said:

Thanks for the tip! I'd definitely love to start training movement, but I'm not entirely sure how to practice that yet since I don't have an enclosed backyard. 

I may just get weights and do running drills with them, but I'm very open to any ideas you have here! I've watched Travis Haley's YT video on practicing moving in and out of positions which can be done at home though which I will be trying soon.

Dryfire indoors. Draw and click twice on one target, move down the hallway to the next room over, and place another target or two in there.

Or "shoot" a magnet on your fridge and take three steps sideways and "kill" the hallway light switch. The beauty of dryfire is being able to do it ANYWHERE.

Edited August 16, 2016 by MemphisMechanic

[Stangs55]

A little off topic....but a MD in Kinesiology?

[SlvrDragon50]

1 hour ago, Stangs55 said:

A little off topic....but a MD in Kinesiology?

Nope. It is an MD PhD program. The PhD is in Kinesiology.

[Glock26Toter]

The DAA Shotmaxx timer is a great personal timer.  The beep is annoyingly quiet, but I like it for two reasons.  First, I don't have to worry about where to put it.  Second, I like to be able to capture "match time" data.  You can add a third one, in that you can use it at a range with others shooting and only get your shots.  

It's a tad spendy, but if you want those features....

[SlvrDragon50]

Yup. I might look into a shot timer because my phone isn't picking up dry fire.

I saw DAA is in the process of revamping the timer though so hopefully the new one improves on the beep!

[Glock26Toter]

Oh good.   Currently the features I like outweigh the annoyances, but if they fix all those little things it will be a super cool product.

[SlvrDragon50]

Went back to the range today, and the dry fire practice is definitely showing its effect.

Shot the bottom three targets at 5 yards, and the top two targets at 5 yards but alternating between the two. No time, but I essentially shot as soon as I had a clear front sight.

I struggled a bit at 10 yards and did relatively okay at 7 yards.

The top two targets are at 7 yards. The one flyer I knew was coming because I pulled down the gun as I was shooting. The bottom two targets are at 10 yards. I was really mostly having trouble just keeping my sight on the bullseye. I worked out this morning, and I still feel a little sore.

The center target was one handed strong hand shooting at 5 yards. I did far better than last time. I need to work on keeping my elbow locked to control the recoil.

Edited August 24, 2016 by SlvrDragon50

[SlvrDragon50]

Today was a great day. First time hitting all 5 shots in a very tight grouping. Most surprising of all, it was in DA, not SA. I spent today mostly just trying to learn this new CZC hammer, and the break isn't as crisp as the CGW hammer. The trigger pull is also lighter now.

Noticing that I shot better in DA than SA, I think I am still anticipating the break in SA even if I am not thinking about it.

Top 3 targets at 5 yards, bottom two at 7 yards.

All shots 5 yards DA

I found the difference between my SA and DA shooting was that I really struggled to tell when my trigger was going to break in DA. It really surprised me. I tried pulling the trigger faster, but that resulted in very low fliers.

[ArrDave]

I think you are ready for a private lesson! On the cusp of "getting it"


Sent from an iDevice. Please forgive any grammatical or spelling errors. If the post doesn't make sense or is not amusing then it is technology's fault and most certainly not operator error.

[SlvrDragon50]

Went back out to the range today to take some friends shooting so I didn't get much "work" done today. I also had to shoot with sunglasses on since I loaned my shooting glasses to a friend so it was really hard to see the sights.

5 yards, top three targets. Top left target was bad because I was telling my friend who was new to shooting to watch me, and I think the pressure messed me up. I improved on the other two targets when I was just shooting myself.

Bottom two targets I started working on one handed shooting. I think I'm jerking the trigger because I have poor finger placement on the trigger. I started experimenting with different finger placement, and it seemed to improve.

[SlvrDragon50]

Alright, went back out to the range today. Been super busy all week.

Started off with some basic shooting and started off pretty poorly. I changed to a red fiber optic which seems to be quite nice, but I am not 100% sure yet.

I began shooting at the center target at 5 yards, but I kept shooting high. I think I just had to get used to the sound again. I then followed up with a pretty nice string of 5 in the bottom right at 5 yards. I upped the distance to 7 yards where I struggled a bit, and I think the red fiber optic sight was a poor choice because I had difficulty seeing red on red. I'm not going to get colored targets next time.

I then ended with a string of left-right alternating shots on the top two targets at 5 yards, and I think I am rushing the second shot. Perhaps I should try to do the drill with no break during the alternating and try to maintain a rhythm. 

I then began doing some IPSC target shooting of DA first followed by a SA shot. I shot 10 rounds in a magazine so a total of 5 strings per mag. I had two low flyers during my DA which I think is me anticipating the recoil combined with a jerk whenever I pulled the DA quickly. When I take my time with the DA, I usually have much better accuracy. These targets are 12"x18" so Ishooting these at 5 yards I imagine is like a simulated 7-8 yards?

This was after a second set of 10 rounds with only one low flyer, but I also hit one into the C zone to the right. I believe it was also a DA shot, but I am not 100% sure.

I then practiced hitting the upper A zone, and I found that it is really quite hard. On the bright side though, I didn't have any major misses like on the larger A group. I think this is because of the smaller zone, I slowed down quite a bit. The reason why I have a lot of B hits and misses I believe was I struggled to see the lines separating the A and B zones. I think I was aiming for the B zone when I thought it was the A zone.

 

Finally, I ended on some left handed shooting. This is where I need a lot of help. I have no clue how to fix my problem.

I was aiming around the X, and the circles are where my shots went. I'm really struggling to maintain a firm grip when I shoot left handed, and the gun really jumps up every time I shoot. My hands also began to sweat a lot which weakened my grip even more.

Edited September 2, 2016 by SlvrDragon50

[Hi-Power Jack]

I'd suggest that you are ready for some 10 yard shooting.   

[SlvrDragon50]

4 hours ago, Hi-Power Jack said:

I'd suggest that you are ready for some 10 yard shooting.   

Yea! Are the USPSA targets usually this hard to see the delineation between zones?

Any tips on the left handed shooting?

[Hi-Power Jack]

You really don't have to see the lines between the zones - just pick a spot that

you know is the A-Zone, and always aim there - it's higher than COM.  

[ArrDave]

Part of what dryfire crystallizes is where you hold on the target. You index on it naturally then visually confirm how much refinement you need to get a "good enough" hit. I would recommend shooting groups at 10 or 15 yards before going hog wild on speed


Sent from an iDevice. Please forgive any grammatical or spelling errors. If the post doesn't make sense or is not amusing then it is technology's fault and most certainly not operator error.