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RAP's Journey to Success


RAP

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First I want to thank everyone with journals showing their paths to success. I have read many of them and they inspired me to start my own. Reading other shooters up's and downs and most importantly improvement, cemented what I already knew; logging and tracking results is a key tool for improvement. 

 

A little about me. I have been a shooter most of my life. My Dad started my brother and I shooting when we were 7. All these years (45 since I fired my first shot for those wondering) I've never lost my passion for shooting. I spent most of my life a rifle shooter shooting NRA cross course, long range rifle stuff, and benchrest. I was shooting benchrest when a friend of mine talked me into shooting USPSA and that was about 2 1/2 years now. I haven't competed with a rifle since and have no desire. I fell in love with this sport and just can't seem to get enough of it. 

 

Currently I am shooting Carry Optics, with the help of some friends with live fire practice I was able to make B Class. My goal is to make Master. I now have Ben Stoeger dry fire book and cleaned and reorganized my basement to allow me to do some serious dry fire practice. I can get a legitimate 10 yards distance now. With some structure to my dry fire practice I should make steady progress helping to achieve my ultimate goal. I also video stages and this in itself has been tremendous help. In my first video I thought I was physically moving fast. The video quickly dispelled that. That first video taught me how valuable a tool it will be. I am also planning to take a class in 2018. Still working through the logistics for this.

 

I have some some challenges to my training. First, my home range is very strict in what you are allowed to do. On our pistol range I can only do static drills. No movement drills and I cannot set up targets, I have to use the target stands at the set ranges they are placed at. In the area I can draw and shoot, the targets are at 7 and 12 yards. The plate rack and other steel is set at 12 yards. If you are an RSO (Range Safety Officer) you have access to the training bays were you can set up targets and even set up stages if you desire. I am on the wait list for the next RSO class. Hopefully they will have one this November. My second challenge is my work. I travel a lot. I am gone on average 4-5 days a week. Some trips I can take my rig and dry fire in the hotel room, but not to often though.  

 

I am excited to start my performance analysis. I think this will be accurate as each entry will be about my performance, good and bad. I have no illusions of grandeur and realize hard work, time  and consistency in practice is going to be the key to success.  So lets start my journey!   

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Very cool of you to start the journal.   Keep it up and even when you don't feel like it write something down after each match and maybe practice session.  The self reflection is a big part of keeping the interest up as it constantly reminds you of why you do this.

 

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Thank you for the kind words and sage advice. Self reflection is something I do every year with my job. I look back and see what I've done that was good and what needs to improve etc. Your advice of writing something even if you don't feel like it is very key to a successful journal. A successful journal is not only attaining your goal but the reflection of the journey itself. 

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My results from the match at Sparta, IL Saturday, Oct. 21st. Came in 2nd in my division and 12th overall. I had too many C's and D's. 4 D's came on stage 4. I shot 1 target from a hard lean out and 1 from a risky positions. From those positions the targets became partials. I had 1 no shoot on the classifier along with a less than stellar reload that cost me time and I ended up rushing my shots. On the good. I was moving fast between positions and transitions were good. Many of my C's & D's were called. Some I elected to not make up. Still learning when is a good time to make up a shot and when is it better to leave it. 

 

Stage # % Stg Points Points HF Time Div Class   PF Member # A B C D M NPM NS
1 - Zig Zag 1 100 160 146 6.0356 24.19 Carry Optics B   MINOR TY92354 25 0 7 0 0 0 0
2 - The Roscoe R 2 83.38 75.0383 72 6.5957 9.4 Carry Optics B   MINOR TY92354 11 0 5 2 0 0 1
3 - Watch Those 1 100 160 134 4.7018 28.5 Carry Optics B   MINOR TY92354 21 0 9 2 0 0 0
4 - Both Hand Eq 2 76.2 121.9266 136 5.2734 25.79 Carry Optics B   MINOR TY92354 24 0 4 4 0 0 0
5 - Carry The We 1 100 155 129 5.3571 24.08 Carry Optics B   MINOR TY92354 19 0 11 1 0 0 0
6 - Sorry, No Ca 2 93.3 149.288 136 4.9168 27.66 Carry Optics B   MINOR TY92354 21 0 10 1 0 0

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Dry fire practice today for 45 minutes. Worked on draws and reloads. Draws were at a 7 yard target with hands relaxed at sides. I averaged 1.23 seconds. Reloads averaged 1.65 seconds. Draws is something I need to work on for grip consistency along with speed. Reloads; I just feel like I am throwing time away. Efficiency in my reloads is non-existent. Plus more than once I've dropped a magazine during a reload again costing me precious time. 

 

For fun I set up a simulated standard CM 99-42. Average time 7.30. This classifier worked out well for more reloading practice and shooting around barriers/walls. Overall it felt really good to establish some hard numbers for a baseline. 

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Hit the dry fire cave again tonight after my work out at the gym. Worked on my draw and reloads hard again. Ran the bill drill, 4 Aces and plate rack. 

Bill Drill average - 2.67. Focused on gripping the crap out of my pistol. I observed my grip was not consistent. It made me realize I need to ingrain gripping the crap out of the gun. On the positive; I noticed my "relaxed" grip and could correct it. 

 

4 Aces average - 3.38. Focused on grip and my reload. For reloads I specifically worked on the angle of my magwell. I've learned if I bring my gun down lower to my belt and angle the gun at about 45 degrees I can get the mag inserted quicker and easier. This revolution was a real break through for me. Now I need to work on being consistent with this. 

 

Plate Rack average - 3.82. This is a simulated 15 yards. This average time is in line with live fire times at the range. This was good bit of news as it gives me come confidence that my dry fire will/should be similar to live fire. 

 

Since its already set up I ran some drills on the CM 99-42 classifier. My time averaged 7.28. I had couple runs where my reloads were really bad. Average would have been much better if not for a few crappy reloads. I think I'll leave it set up for awhile. I'm having fun with this one. 

 

It feels good to be home a few nights this week. It allows me to get some back to back dry fire practice sessions in. I will need it as I will be headed out of the country on business later this week. 

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Managed to get a quick dry fire session in tonight after packing and picking up last minute "I forgot I needed this stuff" at the store. This will be my last journal entry for the next 7-8 days. I am leaving for business out of country. Worked on strong and weak hand shooting and did the triple reload drill. 

 

For strong hand weak hand I set up 3 targets at 10 yards. 1 open target, 1 mini popper and one partial for head shot. Strong hand I set a par time of 4 seconds and averaged 4.08. Next time I run this drill I will drop the Par time down to 3 seconds. Weak hand I set a Par time of 6 seconds. I averaged 5.78 seconds. I learned the importance of transferring the gun from strong to weak hand is critical to success. When I would get a good transfer and my grip was sound I could easily beat the par time with what I believe would be good "hits".

 

For the triple reload drill I set up an open target at 7 seven yards. This drill requires draw and fire 6 shots reload fire 6  shots reload fire 6 shots. Par time was set at 8 seconds. Stoeger had a time of 4.8 seconds. Frankly this was a tough drill for me. By the end my trigger finger was tired. I managed an average of 9.33 seconds. It really forced me to focus on draw, reload and pulling the trigger. My draw was solid but my reloads were not consistent. I felt I would have shot mostly A's. As I discovered Tuesday night on October 24th, when I would lower the gun and angle it about 45 degrees my reloads were smooth.  

 

Overall the session felt really good. I'm learning a lot about my own shooting and mistakes I am making and working to correct them. Looking forward to my overseas trip however, I will miss my new training program. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well I'm back form Korea! 14 hours of air travel Thursday wore me down, but it's good to be home. I have not touched a gun in a week, but I managed to get some dry fire/live fire in. I kept it simple sticking to Triple reloads and some 90 degree transitions and bill drills. I did a short session of dry fire on Friday evening and a short live fire today. For live fire I followed my dry fire training. 

 

Triple Reloads - Dry Fire averaged 5.52 seconds. My worst time was 8.08 and my best was 4.97.

Triple Reloads - Live Fire averaged 5.45 seconds. My worst time was 7.49 and my best was 4.78.

 

90 degree Transitions - Dry Fire averaged .69 seconds. I did not do this drill in live fire because of range restrictions. 

 

Bill Drill - Dry Fire averaged 2.56 seconds. My worst time was 2.89 seconds and my best was 2.36. Had a couple trigger freezes that hurt me. 

Bill Drill - Live Fire average 2.54 seconds. My worst time was 2.75 seconds and my best was 2.26. For score my worst target was 3 A's and 3 C's. Most targets had 6 A's. Albeit the hits were all over the A zone. 

 

Things I struggled with. My grip to start with. I found my grip was off on my draw. This was a cause of my many C's. I had a couple reloads that were, well awful. I fumbled my mags and couldn't get the mag inserted smoothly adding significant time. Also, my accuracy was not the best. My A zone hits were all over the A zone. 

 

What I did good. My reaction speed was surprisingly good. Also, as my practice session progressed my draw, grip and reloads began to smooth out. I managed some impressive times with good hits. In fact I had some of my fastest times to date today and that felt really good. Also, my average reload went from 1.65 seconds to 1.4 seconds. I am very happy with this. It's improvement! 

 

It felt really good to get some gun handling drills in. I have a match tomorrow at Lefthanders in Laomi, IL. A bit of a drive for me but those guys put on a quality match and it's worth it too me. Also, I splurged and bought a Shotmaxx 2 timer for my dry fire practice before I left. So I had a present when I got home Thursday. I am very happy with my purchase. I was using a phone app for and didn't like it at all. I've heard many times phone app timers are not that accurate. Well I discovered they aren't. I was surprised how much difference my times are between phone app and Shotmaxx 2. Another plus for the Shotmaxx 2 is less clutter. Using my phone app I have to use my ear bud mic. to pick up my dry fire shots. The problem with this the cord gets in the way. I believe I was unconsciously avoiding the cord; thus slowing me down. 

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Shot a local match: Lefthanders in Laomi, IL Sunday. I shot surprisingly well considering I was yawning throughout the match. Still feeling the jet lag from overseas trip. However, I came in 11th overall and took my division. Below is my results. Unfortunately I have no match video. 

Stage      #          % Stg Points Points HF Time Div Class PF Member # A B C D M NPM NS
Stage 1 Don Hate 1        100 120 89 4.3889 18 Carry Optics B MINOR TY92354 14 0 5 4 1 0 0
Stage 2 Goldie A 1        100 90 82 6.3028 13.01 Carry Optics B MINOR TY92354 15 0 2 1 0 0 0
Stage 3 Stay Clo 1        100 140 120 5.6049 21.41 Carry Optics B MINOR TY92354 19 0 8 1 0 0 0
Stage 4 CM 06-10 3        70.14 21.0425 30 3.5129 8.54 Carry Optics B MINOR TY92354 6 0 0 0 0 0 0
Stage 5 Worried 2        83.94 67.1557 61 4.8295 10.56 Carry Optics B MINOR TY92354 9 0 5 1 1 0 0
Stage 6 Under Es 2        96.81 116.1707 111 4.4201 22.85 Carry Optics B MINOR TY92354 21 0 2 0 1 0

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Stage 1

This stage had a lot of movement. My 1 mike and 4 D's came on the longer targets (18-20 yards). I was rushing my shots on this stage. My reload was less than stellar. This was actually my fourth stage I shot and tiredness was setting in and my patience was waning. What I did good was having a solid stage plan and my movements were quick. This stage had one very quick drop turner that didn't allow you to shoot another target after hitting the activator popper. One of my D's came from this target. 

Stage 2

My last stage of the day. I needed to focus and that's what I did, well mostly. I ended up with 1 D and 2 C's. My D came from rushing my shot; again on the farthest target. However I was able to keep it together most of the stage especially on my movement shots and transitions. I was quick on both and I didn't even feel like I was moving fast. I felt like I was in a zone. 

Stage 3

I actually won this stage in the overall standings! 

This was my first stage and I was first shooter. My movements were anything but smooth. Transitions were, well just off. I found myself "over swinging" and coming back to the A zone. I believe this is were my C's and 1D came from. What I did well was moving quickly and coming into position ready to shoot and getting my shots off quickly. 

Stage 4

Well this was the classifier. Ugh... I screwed up this stage. I shot it well as far as initial speed. But, I left one popper standing. I called my shot and heard the "ping" but when I thought I was finished and lowered my gun to unloaded and show clear; I saw it. The middle popper, standing there taunting me. Out of reflex I jerked the gun up and knocked it down. (I showed it!) Then it dawned on me. I should have left it standing. The RO said my last shot easily added 3 1/2 seconds to my time. That didn't help. I should have quickly scanned the targets before I dropped the gun down to unload. When I looked at the target (it was freshly painted) I could see my first shot grazed the 11 o'clock on the circle. Oh well...

Stage 5

This stage I simply rushed my shots and lost focus and my stage plan execution was clunky at best. My plan was solid but poor execution doesn't make up for poor shooting and movement. Only positive I could think of is coming into shooting positions with gun up and ready. 

Stage 6

A challenging field course with lots of movements. Overall I ran this stage well except my reload. I "juggled" my reload costing me time and I ended up rushing my shot costing me my only mike on this stage. I had only 2 C's and 21 A's. I need to work on reloading while moving and I have a plan to work on this in my dry fire. 

 

Overall I am happy with my performance. I know I can do better. I am glad I shot the match even though I was tired. It showed me my dry fire practice is starting to yield fruit. Which is really cool and motivating. My draw was smoothest it's ever been and my first targets from draw was always 2 A's. My movement into positions were solid. Although not listed in this journal I have been working on this with dry fire. 

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I decided to take a break from set drills to more mini stage set up to work on couple issues. Exit and entry and reloading while moving. With an emphasis on reloading on the move. Set up a stage in my basement with 3 positions. Starting from position A I set up a 1/2 size target to simulate a 14 yard shot. Position B was 7 yards to my left and had a target at 5 yards to my right as I am entering the position. Position C was 3 yards with a 1/2 size target simulating 14 yards to the right as well. 

 

Critical points to successfully running these drills. When exiting make sure I am not leaving to early, calling my shots. When entering the next position make sure the gun is up and ready to shoot. Reloading on the move I focused on keeping my speed up, not slow down to complete the reload and than speed up. 

 

First round of dry fire training I started from position A. I would draw fire 2 shots at simulated 14 yard target than move 7 yards to position B and fire 2 shots at a 5 yard target while performing a reload on the move. I averaged 6.58 seconds for this drill. Although not anything I focused on I was averaging a 1.5 second draw with .25 splits (double action). I was able to complete my reload about halfway without struggling and be ready to shoot as I entered position B. 

 

Round 2: I switched it up. I started in Position A with gun on target. I would fire 1 round move to position B fire 1 round. I averaged 3.75 seconds on this drill. The purpose of firing 1 shot again to make sure I'm not leaving early. The 2nd shot was ensuring I am in a stable firing position with dot in the A zone before I broke the shot. I found myself wanting to pull the trigger before I was fully set up in position B and needed to focus on putting the dot in A zone before pulling the trigger. 

 

Round 3: For this round of training was similar to round 2. I went from position A to position C this time. Going from 7 yards to 3 yards proved to be a big challenge to perform this well. I averaged 2.99 seconds for this drill. The compressed distance proved to be a real challenge. In order for me to come into position C with gun up and ready my reload had to be spot on. If not, I found myself finishing the reload in position C and rushing my shots. Not good! When I performed this drill well my times were 2.8ish seconds. When I fought the reload my time was north of 3 seconds, like 3.2ish seconds. 

 

This was a really fun practice tonight. I enjoyed running a "mini stage" to focus on specific skills. I will run this again in the future. I now have times to compare with. Also, my home range is putting on an NRA range safety officer course. I made it into the class for November 19th. Once certified I can use the training bays and run this dry fire practice in live fire. 

  

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After bing gone a couple days I was able to get in some dry fire tonight. My plan was to continue working on my reloads and movement. I set up a classifier I shot in the recent past; CM 06-03. Since I shot this classifier in the past I have a baseline for guidance. When I shot this my time was 10.20 and 100 points. I pushed myself hard on this one focusing on reloads. I averaged 9.43 seconds tonight. My best time was 8.50 and worst was 11.29. I had a couple issue rear their ugly head. Not gripping hard enough and not getting my magwell in the proper position for reloads. Frankly I started out very lack luster. Not aggressive at all! I walked away got my head straight and went back at it. My performance improved significantly. It also cemented my mind in getting the book "With Winning in Mind". 

 

Next I set up a mini stage (I have a local match tomorrow) to get me moving in and out of positions. I also tossed in an unloaded table start. Something I haven't done well with and need to work on. I put up a Zebra target at 5 Yards with a simulated popper at 10 yards with the unloaded table start. I set up 2 positions behind and to my right. At the beep I would perform the table start and shoot the zebra target and popper move back a couple yards to position B and shoot 2 simulated 14 yard targets and 2 mini poppers at 14 yards. My final position C I would move another 3 yards to my right and shoot 2 simulated 14 yard targets and 2 mini poppers at 14 yards. I was focusing on getting into position B & C quickly with gun up and ready to shoot as soon as the dot was in the A zone. I also focused on moving out of position explosively but watching my dot making sure I'm not leaving or turning my head before my last shot. I felt like I made progress tonight. We'll see if this translates to success tomorrow. 

 

My average time for my table start is 2.32 seconds. I learned getting the gun into battery successfully required getting the magazine loaded quickly and smoothly; Like a reload. DUH!! 

For the mini stage I average 11.15 seconds. I could have ran it faster but I was really watching my dot to ensure I wasn't pulling off before I completed my second shot.   

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Saturday I shot my last match for 2017 at my home gun club Benchrest Rifle Club at Wright City. It was somewhat of a hoser match with very few no shoots. Although, it was a lot of fun especially for the last match. I was able to get video of the stages thanks to a fellow shooter that I am very grateful for. This was a 6 stage match with classifier CM 06-03. Overall I did ok. I placed 11th overall and with a procedural on stage 3 and a boat load of Charlies. Things I did well this match was no mikes and moving quickly. Things I need to improve on is my grip and poor execution of stage plans. My mental game was not as solid as it should have been. On the stages I needed to perform a reload it's blaring that I started my reloads late costing me time. It felt like I was out of sync the whole match. Need to practice shooting while moving, exiting and entries. A lot of my Charlies came from this. Although I have practiced this in dry fire I still need work. The good; I did better and I know I will continue to improve in this skill. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tonight I was able to dry fire practice. I decided to "redo" the classifier I shot last Saturday CM 06-03. That first string was bothering me. My grip sucked my reload sucked. Well I just sucked. So tonight I set it up and ran it once cold. Well I feel better. I ran the classifier in 8.67 seconds total time dry fire. I know it really didn't accomplish much other than proving to myself I can and I'm capable of better performance. 

 

Tonight I started practice with Triple Reloads. I set a par time of 5.0 seconds although I am no where near that fast yet. But I wanted the pressure. This drill I ran twice but with a twist between the runs. First run was 6 shots between reloads and the second run was 2 shots between reloads. The reason behind the second run is I ran this very drill live fire back in August and I have my records so I can compare and give me an idea of where I am now.

 

Triple Reloads 1st run:

Averaged time 8.39 seconds. I found myself not bringing my gun down closer to my belt and getting the magwell canted toward the magazines and tilted up where I could just start to see into the magwell. When I would get this right my reloads were smooth and quick. When I didn't; well, things were just ugly. Also my grip was weak, I had to put some focus on gripping hard. I have found myself not gripping as hard as needed when compared to live fire. Need to keep focus on a hard grip all the time. 

 

Triple Reloads 2nd run: By the time I ran this drill 1 was warmed up. When I performed this drill live fire I was also warmed up so I figured it would be a wash. I ran this drill in 4.66 seconds dry fire. My last live fire run I averaged 5.45 seconds. needless to say it was motivating to see progress.  

 

I also worked on shooting while moving. I set up a mini stage. I set the stage with the start position of me facing the wall hands on X's. Upon start signal I would turn and draw to simulated 14 yard targets perform a 90 degree transition and engage targets at 5, 7 and 10 yards. I did this 2 ways. First I would engage the 14 yard targets transition and engage the 5 yard target then began moving while engaging the remaining 2 targets. I averaged 4.86 seconds. Second run I would engage the 14 yard targets transition and start moving same time toward and engaging the 5 yard while moving then engaging the remaining 2 targets while moving toward them. I averaged 4.43 seconds. This confirmed thoughts in this scenario; starting to move while conducting the transition was the smart play. Also, I focused on my dot. While I was moving I wanted to time my steps and shots where my foot wasn't hitting the floor while I was pulling the trigger. I felt like I made progress.

 

This Sunday I have my RSO class at the home gun club. When I complete this class I will be able to use the training bays to prove up my dry fire practice with live fire. Something I am looking forward too.

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Yesterday I was able to get some live fire practice in. Sunday we had the NRA RSO class. Having this certification allows me use of our 2 training bays. The value of using the training bays at my club is the ability to set up targets and stages to practice specific drills. Unlike our pistol range where you are limited to the set target stands and distances. However, I learned a lesson today with using the training bays. You may not get to use the bay you want. Last night I made my training outline based on the larger bay. Well, today someone else was using it and I had to move down to the smaller bay. Plan B. 

 

I started my practice off with a 2 @ 25 drill. I average 2.45 seconds for draw and 2 alphas at 25 yards. This is a tough drill for me. Getting my time down to 2.00 seconds with 2 Alphas felt like it will be almost impossible to achieve. 

 

I set up a mini stage to work on movement. My goal was to have a stage once I start moving I don't stop until the last target(s). As the video shows I was struggling getting myself going. I'm fighting a sinus problem and I could really feel it today. The first iteration was 12 shots. I averaged 10.59 seconds with 10 A's and 2 C's. My 2 iteration was 15 shots with one steel. I also inserted a reload in this stage, my reloads need a lot of work. It seems most reloads are done while moving anyway. The additional challenge the 2nd stage has, is 2 distant targets. 1 steel and 1 metric target. I felt having to draw on 2 close targets and transition onto 2 - 25 yard targets is helpful skill as well. I averaged 13.09 seconds for the 2nd stage. I finished up performing triple reloads with 2 shots between reloads. I did this at 5 & 7 yards. As bad as I was feeling I managed a 4.59 second total time for the 5 yard and 4.96 seconds at 7 yards. I noticed my grip today was wimpy at best. I had to consciously think about my grip. This tells me I need to put more emphasis on grip training. Especially during dry fire training. 

 

I have video from my practice but, for some reason I cannot get the video to post. It won't take the URL. If someone knows why please let me know. 

Edited by RAP
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I remember having some linking issues.  It was a long time ago, but try a different browser.  I use Chrome and it works but recently I've had to do a lot of things with Microsoft Edge or open in IE.  For instance Southwest.com.  I can't make reservations in Chrome anymore.  Maybe next week it will work fine.  

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Saturday, November 25. I was able to get around of live fire practice in. My goal was to work on entry and exit from positions. I forgot my tripod so no video to break down. I was happy with my practice. I was able to use the big training bay. I set up 4 targets. 2 on the left side at 10 & 14 yards from shooting box A. Shooting box B was 15 yards to the right with 2 targets set at 10 & 15 yards. I would alternate which box I started in. Draw fire 2 shoots into each target then exit and sprint as fast as I could to the other position working on coming into that position ready to fire. I ran this drill 20 times put a reload in the last 10 runs. I watched my times closely, not just between positions, also my transition times between targets.

When I finished my entry & exit drills I found a 2’ wide by 6’ tall barricade. Set this up in position B and worked on shooting around a barricade. 2 targets on the right 2 targets on the left side. I was shocked at how slow I was moving side to side. I averaged 1.78 seconds transitioning side to side. I also implemented a reload in this drill as well. The reload added 1.15 seconds to my transition time for an average of 2.93 seconds. This seems incredibly slow to me. Although I didn’t feel like I was going that slow.

It felt good to get outside, weather was incredible. High in the mid sixties with little wind. The practice session went very well. I established some baseline times to improve on.


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Shot a match at ARPC - Arnold Gun Club. This match will most likely be the last match for 2017. Overall I was happy with my performance, I came in 7th overall. I had one very close no-shoot and no Mikes!!! I managed to get video for 3 stages. These stages had some movement in and out of positions and right now I am focused on entry and exit. I feel this is an area I can gain a lot of time and watching the video supports that I need to work on this. After the match I put a plan together to start practicing this in dry and live fire. A big bummer; I seemed to have lost my Ben Stoeger book for live fire practice and it's driving me nuts. I guess I'll have to "wing it" until I buy another one. Something I felt I improved upon is my reloads. I didn't screw any of these up. I felt like my dry fire practice is starting to bear fruit in this area. One area of needed improvement that reared it's ugly head to Long range accuracy. Something I have not done much practice in. Stage 5 had 3 metric targets that you fired 8 shots into each target. The targets were at 25 yards. Not bad but not a distance I practice at. I aimed center mass and well, my shots were all low. I forgot (because I don't practice at 25 yards) my CZ shoots a little low at 25 yards. If I aimed center of the A zone instead of center mass of target, I would have had more A's than C's. Well, lessoned learned. My one no-shoot was a called shot and I just broke the perf. It was a tight shot and I didn't handle it well. I'm kinda bummed as this will most likely be my last 2017 match. But, I need to work on improving my skills and prepare for 2018. 

 

 https://youtu.be/vGUahYAkNH0

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  • 2 weeks later...

I’m a little tardy with my journal entry ad I have been very busy last couple weeks. I dry fired practice Saturday. It felt good to focus on on entry/exit drills. I followed my plan from the last match and set up a mini stage in my basement with 2 shooting positions. Position A & position B. Distance between them is 7 yards. I set up 2 targets at 7 yards from position A. I had 2 targets at 3 yards from position B. I used my furnace duct work as a barrier in position B. Imagine a 2 foot wide 8 foot tall galvanized sheet metal door. I started my practice session running this mini stage “normally”. Starting position in box A draw 2 shots on T1 & T2 move to box B fire 2 shots on T3 & T4. I ran this 10 times with an average of 5.59 seconds. I started to break the stage down. Took my average time for draw and fire 2 shots on T1 & T2 and my average time to engage T3 & T4 subtracted that from overall time came up with a par time of 2.60 seconds to move from position A to position B. This turned out to be about the right time for me. What I discovered it was taking me between .59 seconds to .70 seconds to engage T3 & T4 once I got to position B. Now I feel like I have “hard” numbers to work with.

Next week training will be put on hold. I’ll be out of town Monday through Saturday for company meetings. I’ll enjoy my time at the meetings, I work with some amazing people. I’ll take advantage of the little free time to work on training plans.

Admittedly I’m feeling a bit of anxiety. Time seems vanish and I feel my time to practice and improve is slipping by. I need to focus on my plans, not how quickly time is passing by. I go through this every year. The feeling a new year is starting and I didn’t complete my goals from the previous year.


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Back from the land up north and finally able to get some dry fire in tonight. It felt really good. Worked on basic draw and reloads, set up CM 03-11 classifier and did some entry/exit drills. Having not touched a firearm for 8 days I was not sure how I would do. The 40 minutes of practice felt really good. 

 

I started my practice with basic static draw and reloads. I did 10 draw only and 10 draw with reload. I only fumbled my  reload once and draw speeds and reloads were solid on the timer. Draw time on a 7 yard target averaged 1.10 seconds and reloads averaged 1.5 seconds. Second I set up the classifier CM 03-11 EL Strong & Weak Hand. For this practice I used my points from the last time I shot this classifier in a match; 95 points. My cold time was 15.83 seconds for a HF of 6.0012. I practiced the classifier 8 more times for an average of 14.38 seconds equaling a HF of 6.6063. What surprised me my average for the first string of free style/strong hand was 6.58 seconds; only .06 seconds faster than my first string cold. My second string of free style/weak hand improved significantly. First cold string was 9.19 seconds. I averaged 7.79 seconds for the 8 practice strings. Now I need to work at getting that speed for my first string and improve my free style/strong hand string. Weak hand shooting is something I need to work on. Last I worked on entry exit. I focused on exploding out of position A, getting into position B with gun ready to shoot as soon as I am in position. I quickly realized I need to make sure I focused on my last shot before leaving Position A so I don't pull my shots. I felt I managed this really well tonight. Getting into position B again I focused on having my gun up and ready to start shooting as soon as both feet were in position focusing on my dot and the A zone. I had far more successes tonight than failures and it felt really good. 

 

Something I learned yesterday from my Dr. over the last couple months I have been battling severe back and hip pain. The pain happens when sitting or driving for any extended length of time. By extended I mean 30 minutes or longer. When I would sit, try to stand up or get out of my car I would have severe pain. My Doctor said our first step is physical therapy. My insurance insist on this before an MRI. The x rays revealed some very concerning conditions in my lower back and hip. But first things first, physical therapy can do great things. We will find out. 

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Was able to get a solid 30 minute dry fire session in tonight. Worked on reloads,goal is to get down to a consistent 1.2 second reload. Right now I seem to be stuck in the 1.5 - 1.4 second range. Also worked on shooting while moving. To many times this year I cost myself precious time by not shooting while moving. Or when I did shoot while moving I didn’t perform very well.

The good is, I can see progression, and that in itself a very good motivator for me. Dry fire practice absolutely works and that keeps me motivated to do something even if it’s like tonight and I only grab 30 minutes of practice.


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Thursday, December 21 I shot an outlaw USPSA/IDPA indoor match. It was a fun match with 4 stages with the best part, I got to hangout with my good friend Keith. The scoring and targets were IDPA. Never shot IDPA so I was unfamiliar with the whole scoring penalty system. However, it didn't matter. It was fun and gave me an opportunity to live fire "practice" what I was dry fire practicing and that's what was important to me. The MD had good stages that required some entry/exit movement and opportunity to reload and shoot while moving. Shooting an indoor match had its own challenges. For me the biggest challenge was footwork. I found myself slipping and sliding on the concrete creating an unstable stance. Also, I found my dot was very bright. The lighting wan't the best and shooting my dot with the intensity as bright as it will go created a halo.

 

In hindsight I wish I videoed my performance. I am sure I would have learned something. Going forward, If I shoot another indoor match I will turn down the dot and wear shoes that have better gripping on smooth concrete floors and video if possible. 
 

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