DJ's range and training diary

[Djp55]

Hey all,

I want this really to help myself see how I (hopefully) grow and get better as time goes on. I've been shooting for a lot of my life, growing up plinking an old 22, and when I got my "big boy job" out of college I essentially started collecting guns with the intent to some day compete. Never been much of an athletic type, but figured this could be my sport. I eventually settled on the M&P platform, so I use my Pro 9mm in production. 

I am currently unclassified in everything. I've shot Steel Challenge, 3 gun and NSSF Rimfire. I should be classified in Steel Challenge, but somehow my scores didn't get sent in right when other shooters from the same match got classified. If anyone knows how to get that fixed, that'd be an awesome side effect of this post. Point is, I'm likely a C shooter. However, due to an injury that will keep me from 2 handed shooting for 3+ months, I bought a Ruger Mark II to use for anything that I can find that has a rimfire division so I can keep shooting. 

As of now, I try to dry fire at least once a week and live fire once a week, and shot at least 2 matches a month, with classes thrown in as available. I've learned from Steve Anderson (books and podcast, not yet lucky enough to take a class and meet him) the importance of dry fire and a training schedule. I need to up my training schedule to get better results, and in about 2 months I'll have time to do that. I really am subscribed to the mental game aspect and try to work on that all the time, as I see benefits from that in everything. Also prior to this injury I was working on physical fitness, because I can't think of a situation where it would hurt to be in better shape. 

 

My training right now is learning how the hell to use a dot on that 22.  I've never used one before the NSSF match I just shot on Sunday. The rifle I borrowed from a friend didn't like any ammo I used and I was clearing jams one handed the whole day. My pistol had few enough issues that it was a non factor in my poor performance, I'm typically a decent pistol shooter. I was 3rd to last, granted I was the only one shooting with one hand. I was having no issue picking up the dot on the rifle, since I had a dot on my 3g AR until recently, so it was mostly second nature. The pistol, I just couldn't do it. It seemed like I was bringing the gun up as if it were my M&P (17° grip angle) when it was a Mark II (55°). I think the angle was throwing my presentation way off. Not making excuses, just an analysis. My practice (exceeding my training schedule this week) has just been consistently finding that dot and then speeding it up. I'll be doing a SC match Saturday (again, one handed) and see how it goes.  The last few matches I've been 3rd of 12+ production shooters, but I'm not going there to hit that pace, just shoot the best match I can. 

 

You need to set goals so you can attain them. My initial goals (deadline: October 2018):

-A Class in at least one division (preferably production, but contingency of rimfire pistol if necessary due to injury not healing up) by end of October 2018. I'll be happy in USPSA or Steel Challenge, but ideally both.  This should be doable with my anticipated level of participation. 

-I want to be top two consistently in my division in local matches. 

-I need to learn better AR shooting for 3g. Harder for me to qualify, but this is by miles my weakest aspect of the game. I'd say 65% first shot hits on steel out to 400 is reasonable, with over 80% hit in two shots or less. 

-Keep level of participation high. 2 matches (can substitute classes) per month, 8 months of the year. Allows for off season and contingency for work and the likes. Also keep regular training schedule. 

-Continue enjoying myself while doing it. That's why I shoot, it's fun. It is a big difference from my two jobs.  Both jobs are stressful. I keep doing it to relax, get my competitive nature running and enjoy myself. I want to be the best shooter I can, but not at the cost of why I shoot. 

 

I hope to continue updating this with my notes from matches, and likely a bit lesser extent my dry fire and live fire. I will achieve the goals set forth, and once I do that, I will set the next ones. I think feedback is critical to success, so if you made it this far and stay with me, I'll take all I can get. 

 

-DJ

[tattooo]

Sounds like you have a good plan and goals....keep up the work and the skills will accumulate and pay off.

[Djp55]

The last few days I've been a bit busy, but took 10 or so minutes each day to work on finding the dot coming from low ready on the steel challenge gun before this weekend's match. I know once I find it I'm pretty fast with it, can transition it well and all, but still having one hell of a time with that first acquisition. I'll keep at it a bit tomorrow, and I'll try to get some video from the match and see if there is something obvious I'm doing wrong. 

[Djp55]

Shot a match on Saturday, ran Steel Challenge RFPO. Learned a few things. First off, I still don't know how to present a gun with a dot from low ready. With the exception of smoke & hope, I was slower than my production gun. I reached out to an instructor I worked with at Origin Shooting here in Virginia and we'll work on my dot shooting. I know I need to rezero, since I didn't do that since I bought it and I'm shooting consistently high, every shot. I was told by someone on my squad to blade my body since I'm shooting one handed for now, still due to injury, and that definitely helped. It was good learning, and I'm hoping to translate that with a bit of work into better scores for NSSF Rimfire Challenge and Steel Challenge next month. While I'm stuck shooting rimfire only, I'm under no illusions that I'll be winning, just looking to improve each match over the last and get more trigger time. 

[Djp55]

Been a bit behind on my training and practice, but as we all know life gets in the way. No excuses, it's on me. I've started to figure out the dot issues I've been having, still not fully there but I'm getting there. 

Shot my first USPSA match today (the rules, not an official one) but I'm still mostly one handed, but landed 5th overall, 4th in limited (limiting reloads with my support hand out of commission). Shot well, would have done better if I trusted my shot calls more. Got 4 alphas nearly touching each other on one stage because I wasn't trusting my eyes. 

Shooting NSSF Rimfire Challenge tomorrow, hoping for a better showing than last month. 

[Djp55]

Been a while since I got to post in here, but not for a lack of work being done. I've been shooting a lot of Steel Challenge, unsanctioned USPSA, some NSSF, really about anything I can to get time at an outdoor range, including a training day with my friends at Origin Shooting in Virginia. All of this shooting has really helped me out, and the drive is still going strong. 

 

I was able to get my hands on a built Tanfo Stock 2 and I'm making the cut over to it. With that comes a ton of live and dry fire. I've had it a week now and I have a bit over 1k rounds down the pipe to help learn the new platform and the DA/SA. Today I did something that I actually felt was a pretty good idea at my local indoor. Did about 120 rounds just practicing pulling through the DA and then dropping hammer and doing it again. This really helped me learn how the trigger works for that DA shot. I then did the same just for SA. Not quite group shooting because it was much faster, but still feeling out the trigger. I also have been working dry fire with it almost every night. With the gun being a ton heavier, it's much more effort to do the dry fire, but it is fun. At first my draw was a 1.3 for some reason. I started critically evaluating it and realized that I was pushing down on the gun in the holster before pulling up because I couldn't get a good grip. Once I realized this, I broke it all down and got my dry draw down to a .7, which feels much better. I'm still feeling out the reloads because I keep jamming the corner lip of the mag into the edge of the magwell, which doesn't work. 

 

Even though I have never shot a sanctioned USPSA match, I'm shooting a sectional match this weekend with a bunch of good shooters I'm friends with. I'm hoping to learn a bit about how they're approaching more complex stages and just to get some more match experience with the new gun. I have no delusions that as an unclass shooter I can do crazy things there, but the experiences are key for me to grown and learn. We'll see how it goes. 

[Djp55]

Shot my first sanctioned match yesterday and it was the DelMarVa Sectional. Overall, I was really happy with my performance even though I didn't place too well (37 of 50 in production, 139 of 200 overall). 

 

The good: 

-I shot the second most A hits in the match, with 200 (highest had 203). 

-Not a single Mike

-I was able to beat some people I normally don't. 

-I had only one bad reload, even though while dry firing I can't hit a reload on my new gun to save my life.

-My match mode was on point, got in it stage 1, stayed in it all day. 

The bad:

-I must have traded speed for accuracy because I was overall slow in comparison. 

-I had one stage I shot without a good plan (more on this later)

 

I felt really comfortable with my stage plans. Some friends helped me out figuring better ways than I had initially thought of. Once I had a plan, I stuck to it with only one stage where I added an extra reload for no reason, but it was while moving so no harm no foul. The stage that I was the first shooter I didn't get a solid walk through and never figured out a decent way to run it. It felt terrible running it, I hit all the targets with almost all alphas but it was a terrible hit factor. 

 

As a learning experience it was really helpful. I was comfortable with all the shots and all. My basic mechanics were there when I needed them. I just need to learn to do everything faster. I'll be posting match video and notes in the coming days. 

Edited November 14, 2017 by Djp55