Bear1142

David, Excellent choices. I expect to see you at 3GN in Las Vegas this year, or at least come down for the Area 6 3-Gun in November. Learn you're zero with the rifle and practice your reloads with the shotgun, repeat as necessary, then kick ass. Erik

Pac1911, Thanks for the nice picture. It is truely a once in a lifetime shot as I have no idea why my tongue is out. I don't ever recall that happening in any sport I've ever participated in. Cy, Thanks for the tip, but if this is the stage I think it is, that's a moving reload, so while it's not textbook form, it looks like I got away with it. Erik

But I work for the Government. You can trust me Erik

Sorry, no possum here. Like I said before, shotgun is the weakest part of my game. I have to compensate by shooting faster to keep up. It's nice when it works, but it also increases your disaster factor. Erik

I recently changed my visualization technique to "real time", but I still use the "slow" version also. When I'm programming the stage during the 5 min. walkthrough, I use the slow technique, but after the LMR command, I go to "real time" for my final run through. Visualization is a mental programming of what you want to occur. Just like Flex said, The concept of time is an essential part of the process. The more "real" your visualization, the better you'll prepare for the task at hand. A word of caution. Do not attempt to speed up your visualization as a way of "making or encouraging" yourself to perform at a higher level. You should not artificially speed up or slow down your visualization. Visualize time in a real sense. If your draw is 1.0 seconds, then visualize the draw for 1.0 seconds. I'm discovering that the more detailed my "real time" visualization is, the better I perform. The more variables I can program into my visualization, the less my consciousness has to "think" about during a run. Erik

Greywolf, Send me a prototype when you get one and I'll give it a full workout and give you a detailed report. Erik

Benny, Nice work. Sounds good. I'm looking forward to a nice Texas steak and some good dark beer. Erik

dv8, Some shooters like the shorter setup because it tracks a little faster and makes the gun a little snappier. It's that exact same reason some shooters like the 5", 1911 setups as opposed to the 6" longslides. Jason, Sent you a PM. Erik

They're not necessary. Most of your high round counts stages are in the high 30's/low 40's. With that many targets, you'll have plenty of time to make one 30 round magazine reload and that will cover you for the rest of the stage plus any extra shots you may need to take. The Beta's are nice to play with, but they do reduce your handling and transition speeds. If you want a high capacity magazine, find a good (read-Sterling) 40 rd. magazine or an extended capacity Thermold (45 rounds.) Install an ISMI 40 rd. magazine spring/Green follower and you'll never have any problems and it should solve all of your high round count stage problems. Erik

The other day at the range I brought out my Glock 17. I hadn't shot it in about a year. I had forgotten how nice it felt. It shot soft, tracked fast, was accurate enough for 25 yard head shots, and felt good in my hands. Some guns make you work to shoot them well and others just seem to run by themselves. It was nice to get reacquainted with my 17. Erik

Yeah, I'm gonna shoot Tactical all this year, but don't rule out a surprise appearance in He-Man at some point. Erik

Pierruiggi, you sir, are a stud. Erik

Sniper, (Father figure voice on) What are you doing fooling around in the 3 gun section Missy? You go and finish your dryfire BEFORE you go out and play. (Father figure voice off) EricW, Thanks. When I do my part, it's not that tough to get a .55 first shot. A good friend of mine was an alternate on the US Olympic International Skeet Team. In International competition, the birds fly an some insane speed like 90 mph (yeah, show me a bird that fast) and they all have to start with the buttstock on the belt. He was doing .30-.35 shots on a popper at 12 yards. It was sick to watch. There were times where I couldn't hear a sound gap from when the buzzer stopped and his shot. It just sounded like a buzz into a gunshot. Very impressive. One of the reasons this all came about was I realized that I need to improve other aspects of my shotgun game other than reloading. I don't think my technique will allow me beat Taran or KurtM straight up, so I've got to find other parts of my shotgun game to take back some points. One of those aspects is the speed shoot/short stages that don't require a reload or only 1 or 2 rounds. This drill really was about working on my high speed recoil control and tracking, I just happened to put a timer on it. Shotgun is the weakest part of my 3-Gun game. I've got to get more competitive with it, I can't keep giving up 1/3 of my match right out of the starting blocks. Erik

18 yards, port arms, buttstock on belt.

If ever there was a candidate for the mozambique drill, there he is. I'm not playin' Erik

So I'm finishing up my shotgun practice and I have 6 rounds left, when the urge to do a shotgun bill drill hits me. I set a steel IPSC target at 18 yards and decided to see what I could do 1, on demand, Bill Drill in. And just for the record, no soft recoiling sissy loads here. Winchester Sporting Clays handicap loads, 1,300 FPS, 1 1/8 oz. #8's. .67 .22 .21 .20 .19 .18 1.67 My goal will be a 1.45, which is a .55 first shot with .15 splits. I'll try it again next weekend. Erik

With the Texas State match approaching fast, I decided to shake off the cobwebs and get in a real good practice session with the Benelli. I did a few of the 1, reload 8, 1 drills. My best reload split time for 8 rounds was 9.04, which is a 1.13 average per round. Looks like I gotta pick it up a little if I want to catch Kurt, Kelly, and Benny. On a happier note, the Benelli ran 100% Erik

CHP5, Why doesn't this surprise me? Erik

Green. The human eye can discern between more shades of green than any other color. This is why night vision is green. I like the green because my brain is already overloaded with other junk, so I want to use the easiest color for it to see on my front sight.

Eric, Stick with it. You're never going to reach a level where you are happy with your skills. Even GM's want to keep pushing to find that next level. Yes, 3-Gun demands more time, but the trick is to not sacrifice one systems practice time for another. My pistol practice sessions run about an hour. My 3-Gun practice sessions run about 3 hours (1 hour each.) If you can't dedicate that much time, then work on two gun sessions (pistol/shotgun & pistol/rifle.) You'll still get plenty of pistol practice time without giving up 3-Gun. Remember, if it was easy, everyone would be a champion. Erik

I'll shoot some in the off-season to work on my strong/weak hand trigger control. Removing recoil from the shooting process helps me to identify if I'm having trigger control issues. Erik

It did, to the core. Nothing like regressing to the point where your scoring the target after each shot to make sure the hits are there, all the time thinking how bad you suck. Like Kevin C said, My feelings exactly. Erik

After having one of my worst performances in a couple of years and really doubting my abilities, I went to wipe down my gun and noticed the front sight was way right. I put a little pressure on it with my thumb and it popped back into the center. I feel a lot better about those 4 no-shoots on my last stage. I can actually blame it on the gun, but I still hate the fact that it moved. Erik

I have no interest in using one for competition. I want it for a house gun. I like the idea of 45 ACP ballistics in a standard 9/40 grip frame. The 20/21 series are just a hair too big for my hands. The extra barrel length would guarantee the 45 GAP ballistics would match the 45 ACP. What's not to like? Erik

I'm a pistol grip guy. I like as much consistency in my training between the different shooting systems. My rifle has a pistol grip, so does my shotgun. Erik