little_kahuna

Lol yea if only i were closer to a beach, i bet id spend some more time there, but sadly, all we have in town is sand and creosote bushes... Today i ran some movement drills. I shot 6 from one box, reloaded on the move, then shot 6 from the other box, either moving sideways or forward and back. I did a set from hands at sides, hand above shoulders, and from hand above facing uprange. I think that the most important thing for me to work on was not overconcentrating on any one aspect of the drill. Suchas, if i would over-concentrate on the box entry, i would ruin my reload, and if i worried about my reload, then i wouldn't get into the box smoothly. Since the box distance during these drills were fairly close together, i worked on stepping in and beginning to shoot while one foot was still in the air. For the forward and back drills, i learned more about box awarness, because going backwards, you cant see the box even in your peripheral vision, so i had to be extra aware of its location. I also tried to get the shots off while still being balance, then near the end of the array, i worked on "falling" out of the box and into the reload. Overall was a very good practice on body/stage awareness, as well as reloading on the move. -Nick

Took Monday and Tuesday off from training due to some cool new developments in my life. The short version is that I tested out of high school and graduated 2 years early. Went to the local community college to sign up, plan to have my AA by age 18 then transfer to University... BS by 20 or 21, maybe a master's after that. Education --> more money --> more shooting and better gear. I have a little free time from now till the next college session begins, so today i loaded about 700 rounds for the upcoming matches and practice sessions. Chamber checked, inspected and boxed em. After all that loading, i practiced some static drills. They went well, it just took a few runs to get acquainted with the timing. Worked mostly on smoothness, of course with perfect sight pictures on every shot. I ran 6reload6, 6reload6 hands above shoulders, el prez, and 6reload stong/weak -- all the normal static drills. Looking forward to shooting SouthWest Pistol League this weekend if mom lets me lol

Yesterday we set up the match and practiced for draws and transitions on some 15-20 yd steel plates. I was getting used to the new practice rounds we made up, which are a bit less snappy than the jacketed match ammo we have. It kinda changed my timing to the gun. Today we woke up early and headed out to the range for the local match. It was really windy, with gusts up to 40mph, which really brought the fun level down quite a bit. It was ripping tragets off stands and wrecking props. The sissies stayed home, while the die hards shoot no matter what the weather does. My gun didnt quite run right but otherwise i did ok. During my first stage, the gun started going to slide lock every 2 or 3 rounds. I had to manually rack the slide every time it locked, so my time pretty much sucked. Between stages I ran to the safe handling area to inspect my gun and mags, didn't see anything wrong so I suspected my mags were dirty so I cleaned them. Shot the second stage and the same thing happened, so I shot that stage with my weak hand off the gun to manually rack the slide. I actually didn't do as bad as I thought lol. Looking at the score sheet and time it wasn't as bad as I woulda thought. Switched guns with my Dad and it ran great with my same mags and ammo, so we ended up sharing his glock for the rest of the match. Later I figured out the my slide stop lever spring was broken. Anyone who said you cant break a glock needs to seriously come hang out with me, because this is not the only glock part ive broken, and its disappointing when your gun doesnt run. I took the slide stop lever out of my gun altogether and think it will work fine until I get a replacement part, it just won't lock the slide back on an empty mag. The good news is that nobody was in their comfort zone either, and everyone had to deal with their own problems (equipment, wind, whatever). Didnt do too bad, won high limited, fourth overall. The starts of some stages were really different, such as some of them you had to begin with your gun and all mags on a table and you could only reload from the table and stuff like that. One stage the targets were divided in half by tape and numbered. You had to roll a die, and if the number was even, you coud only shoot the even side of the target, and vice versa for odd. These weird starts were fun and challenging, and gave me some good experience for any squirrely stuff I may see at future out-of-town matches. Well i'm going to try to get in some good practice this week. Hope it is less windy. Looking forward to more match experience in the next few months especially. -Nick S.

Lol i like the way this is progressing... Well today dad set me up with some leather coasters across the room to simulate some plate drills. I did drills out of SA's book #28-31, and #34-38. I think they really helped. I enjoyed working on the irregular transitions, and some different types of targets. The plates looked pretty small, but, i felt like i got a really good feel for the gun today, and i burned in a nice draw (from hands up and facing uprange) and reload. I havnt shot many steel challenge matches, but if i were to shoot one soon, i hope that i shoot it like i just practiced. It went really well, and i plan to try some of this in livefire too. I really feel like i solidified my fundamentals. -NS

Big-5, like $6 or something, cool wristbands there too, like $3 or something =D

HoMiE, JThompson, Catfish, and Barry: Thanks for the support/input =D you guys rule, thanks Ill work on that stuff Probably just more match-time will help with the anxiety and nervousness. The smoothness in a match is kind of a new concept that i just decided to apply, lol, but im trying to make that more consistent. Local match this weekend, ill see if i can do it again. -Nick

I had a pretty good practice today. Setting up practice was less fun. The training room was too small, so we decided to migrate to the kitchen/dining room.The drills i ran were pretty nice though. =) Intent: Work on table draws, and table reloads. I practiced some different table starts such as: loaded flat, unloaded flat, loaded flat while away from table, stuff like that. Outcome: found some small preferential problems but worked my way through them, the best that i could. I altered the way i aproach a table with the gun on it. I had limited space so sprinting was a no-go, and shuffling is weird, so i had to find a balanced, smooth way to aproach and retrieve the gun, without totally throwing myself into the counter/table. Reloading off of the table is also a fairly new skill for me to practice. I had to decide whether to go under or over the gun to grab the mag, when moving from left to right. Any tricks on this type of thing? What do you do when you have to reload off of a table? Dry-practice videos under construction, will be posted soon. -Nick

Back after a long annoying day of school, and lookin forward to practice tonight =D I ran drills #21-25 out of Steve's book. They were feelin really good, but i was gettin some really good vibes from drill 25: 6rounds on 3 targets while moving up, reload, then 1 headshot on each, while still moving. I felt like i solidified my moving 'n shooting fundamentals quite a bit today. hopefully some livefire practice sometime during the week but we'll just have to see. Nick

Today just got back from school and ran some static dry-fire drills in our bonus/reloading room. In Steve's book, its drills 8-12, 6 reload 6, el prez, vice prez, 6 reload strong/weak, etc. The dryfire really helps me get the fundamentals down to reflexes. I can really feel it when i miss some days of drypractice. Dad and I took turns practicing for about 1½ hours. I plan to get some movement practice in tomorrow, especially box entrys/exits, and reloads on the move. I'll post a vid of my drypractice in the next few days. -Nick

Hello, Just thought I'd make use of this awesome tool: The Range Diary. Sounds like a good way to reflect and improve on the different aspects of my performance. Well here we go... I started this diary a little bit late, but I have some video to kinda offer an example of what I started like. I began when I was about 14 ½ years old, and I'm now 16, shooting Lim. w/ a Glock35 right now, but upgrading someday to a Benny Hill 6" FatFree (I'm a big fan of Mr. Hill!). 2007 summary: Goal was to dry practice 4-5 times per week, 1-2 hours per night. Completed the weekly mission for 41 weeks, the other weeks I got distracted with holidays, new Xbox 360, friends, girls, finding part time work for cash. Worked on drills out of Steve Anderson's book. During school I had to limit livefire to weekend matches or practice sessions. During summer I got to shoot more. Video: February 2007 - Bakersfield USPSA match This was my first match out of town. I was nervous and it showed. Video: November 2007 - Lake Havasu USPSA match Had some malfunctions, mostly failure to feed. Figured out later that oversized bullets + tight chamber KKM barrel + .420 crimp were the problem. Changed bullets and crimp, new ammo checks good at next matches and practices. 2008 summary so far: Contined with goal of 4-5 dry practice sessions per week. I'm more serious this year, Jake Divita said to practice till my hands bled so I did. We put grip tape on the upper left panel of my G35 and it has worn a hole in my skin on my left thumb "drumstick". Had new distraction: Driver's ed class, took two days a week for 6 weeks and I just finished it. Made friends with a cool guy named AAron, who shoots matches and livefire practice with me and Dad. He has lots of great tips and has been really awesome to practice with. Video: February 2008 - steel challenge practice match Steel challenge is harder than it looks but lots of fun. I don't think my equipment or ammo is the best for this game, but it will do for now. Video: February 2008 - Bakersfield USPSA Worked on speed this match. Video: April 2008 - Norco USPSA match This is a more recent vid. of me, really tried to be consistent and deliberate this match. I came in 4th Lim, and 26th of 90 overall (Jo Jo Vidanes was there lol) but i dont think i even got 4th lim on any single stage, i just shot them consistently average, while other people's performance fluctuated. 13 April 2008 Yesterday my dad and I headed out to the local range with my friends AAron and Frank plus some new shooters (my Dad's friend and his 13 year old son). Been gettin a whole bunch of great trainging/mentoring/coaching from AAron, and yesterday wasnt any different. We set up some mid-distance steel, some up-close targets, and some 50-yd. paper, to work on accuracy. We worked the close paper to practice the Time Guessing Game, work on splits (you know Glocks lol ) draws, and consistency. Eventually, we moved to the steel, just 6 of 'em bout 15 yds, did that for a bit, then finished up w/ some 50yd paper. Worked on getting into/out of prone, and other such positions, mostly prone though, for those really really long shots. Shot somehwere in the neighborhood of 200 rounds, not as many as i'd have liked, but it was better than nothing =D Thanks for readin', leme know what you think -Nick

Nick here... I just wanted to thank all of you, this thread has really hepled me in just a few minutes reading it. I've been stuck at this point in my shooting career for far too long, and the only thing that has been restraining me is myself. I can perform the fundamentals, but i can't do it consistently...when I try to. I tanked a stage at the last match, i was way too nervous about results and was not actively engaged in the "observation without thought or judgement" part of my performance. The results, as you may have expected, were definitely displeasing to me at the time, then just now I realized that they were appropriate for how i was psychologically prepared to shoot. The valuable information posted here, I believe, has significantly improved my mental game. I feel as if i will be overcoming this psychological obstacle very soon now. Thank you all very much. Nick S.

Hey whats up My name is Nick and I'm 15 years old, been shooting USPSA for about one year just got serious in bout the last 9 months though I started shooting rifle as well, but found USPSA-style matches to be more interesting. still looking forward to multi-gun lol I attended Jerry and Kay's Junior Camp in Louisiana with John Suber and it was tons of fun welcome to the forums feel free to inquire about anything thats on your mind and ill do my best to give you my opinion from the perspective of another Junior. What division are you shooting atm?

Barry is the coolest

Stefano, i as well passed from "D" to "B", but im still working for "A" lim. lol Thanks everyone This advice is some things i hadn't even thought of, its great lol. I'm still picking the threads you all gave me links to, and gettin some great info, thanks alot everyone, i am going to really change up my routine now. I really believe that i have too much practice on stand n shoots, not enough movement (in and out of positions), definitely going to start practicing that. I have bled from practice but mayb not enough, calloused as well heh, i will definitely keep practicing now AT LEAST 4-5 days a week, bout and 1.5 hours, now if drypractice should be 80-90%, and probably MORE for sure. I am really working for the skill level and i dont care so much about the card. I hope to get a M or GM card when i am honestly an M or GM. I think that my routine has been too regimented, and may have influenced my shooting to be not as flexible for different situations, i definitely do not want to program a reload after i leave every box if i dont need it lol I believe that i am practicing too much what i am already familiar with and i need more variation. Thanks again for all the great advice everyone, ill keep going thru all those threads, yet to extract all available info! Nick

dad you have the responsibilities of supporting a family, making a living, while i, still a juvenile, am virtually care-free! .....it will work..... well practice was pretty good, switched some stuff up, got pretty challenging, shot stuff out of order etc. just cant wait till i have enough time to set something up that will really be out of the norm for me =D

Wow some stuff I'm gunna go try right now lol ill look into some new targets/setups as well thanks alot Mr. Chris and Mr. Z-man thanks AlamoShooter i didnt mean for it to sound like that rofl i work and i pay for as much as i can, i was just trying to guilt-trip my dad again heh

Hello, I am dry practicing 4-5 times a week, with my dad running the timer. I usually practice out of Steve Anderson's book, some things like 6-reload-6 hands at sides, 6-reload-6 hands above shoulders, el presidente, 6-reload strong, and 6-reload weak, etc. but I'm looking for some new types of things to practice. I don't feel as if I'm making as much progress with the same drills every week. I'm just looking for something new to work on. I need a lot more experience, especially with field courses. Does anyone have any suggestions about what i can practice rather efficiently in my house? I only live fire on the weekends, what ratio of live fire to dry fire practice would be optimal for the most progress? Although dry practice is free, and my dad won't cough up the dough for more ammo, I feel much better after a live fire session. I'm 15 years old, currently shooting Lim. Maj. with a Glock 35, but my dad's been talking to Mr. Benny H. about upgrading my gear. Any and all input is appreciated! Thanks Nick A-57820

Hey everybody, Just got back from the match, was good fun everyone! Thanks, lookin forward to see ya'll at Area2 Nick Santiago