Derek Wallace

I am picking up a 24 to try my hand at limited later this year and I am pretty thrilled. The idea of a gun that long seems pretty awesome to me.

There are two things I would also consider important. If you are planning on shooting USPSA single stack or IDPA ESP you need to make sure the gun weights less than 43oz. A good magwell is also a nice thing to have. You will be reloading a lot and straight mags into a skinny opening can be tricky.

Thanks! I should add that the stands are only about $2 each worth of wood and screws. They are also extremely light.

Shot the Western PA Sectional Championship on Saturday. I made some pretty big mental mistakes and ended up in 3rd, less than 2 points from second. Mistakes aside I think I shot some stages pretty well. This match deffinetly highlighted how important it is to perform consitently stage to stage and match to match. Watching the video I am catching myself hunching down to the gun, hopefully I can get this fixed with some practice this week. If anyone can tell me why I can't imbed youtube videos I will be very gratefull. Sunday I got up and went to the hardware store to get some 2x1s to make dry fire target stands and a box for practice. It was time well spend and they turned out perfectly. My focus on the sights and targets is much cirsper with them moved off the wall. It also keeps tape mark off my walls which I (and more importantly my wife) enjoy. They are also really easy to move around the house so I can use some of my walls as props when dry fire gets a bit boring. Last but not least it looks like I may be dabbling in limited a bit this year which has me really excited. Hopefully I can develope some different aspects of my game with the opportunity to shoot on multiple platforms.

Awesome match and a big thank you to everyone who made it possible. This was my first match out of the state and it was a lot of fun to travel and shoot with some new people at a new club. Great stages as well!

I can't lie after seeing the picture I can understand why you want one just to have it.

Got a little bit of practice in last night but nothing too intense, mostly some draws and reloads to make sure everything feels like its coming off my belt and into my hands right. There was a little bit of transition work but nothing serious. I was reading about how people are using Google SketchUp to design stages and had a pretty neat idea. Using a cheap projector I have from college and creating simple stages then positioning the "camera" in a way I can dry fire on the arrays by projecting them on my wall! It all depends on the projector still working but I will post pics or videos if this comes to fruition. I also bought Mike Seeklander's book I am giving it the recommended read through before starting the program. The program seems well developed and I am really excited, the only problem I can see are limitations on my ability to live fire practice. The rest of the night was spent packing and preparing for the Western PA Section Championship I am going to be hitting the road right after work today.

Stage 10 got me too, I tagged a no-shoot by the narrowest margin I can imagine. The bad part it it wasn't even on the clam traps! It was on the upper A/B between them! Where I surprised myself was finishing second in my division on stage 7, although Cory still smoked me by almost 22%.

Last night I tried an idea borrowed from old506 in this thread. Combining p90x's plyo workout with dry fire. Wow! It was about 10 times more difficult that I expected. The workout is obviously physically demanding but driving a gun onto a target while also trying to move your feet and legs that fast is a whole new exercise in coordination. Thanks for the great idea! I cant wait to try some regular practice tonight, I am pretty sure everything is going to feel much more simple.

Crushed or missing I could see being a problem with the brass, but I don't know about flipped.

I would like to hear some of the drills you are doing as well. I have the p90x plyo workout and I think I might give that a try. Nothing like working out and dry firing at the same time!

I don't know who it was that made the comment on my pants, but since you can hear it on the video I thought it was too funny to ignore. Definitely going to continue to wear them! As a side note the morning dry firing felt pretty good. I was a bit groggy to get started but its kind of a nice way to wake up in the morning. Currently I am practicing in a room that is only about 15' wide and using 1/3 size targets. It has been really hard to practice movement and I am brainstorming new ideas/location for practice in my condo.

Squeezed in 15-20 minutes of dry fire after dinner tonight. Lately I have been considering making it a morning routine before work. I feel like it would be alot easier to be consistent at the beginning of the day before other things can get in the way. Tomorrow morning I will give it a shot. I shot the Ohio Championship on Saturday and I was pretty happy with my performance. It was a relatively error free day although I did see a few deltas. What really made me happy was how calm I was at my first bigger match. When I stepped to the line I felt like all I had to do was shoot, no pressure, no expectations. There was a bit of a mental lapse in the afternoon, I may have been a bit too calm. Stages 1-3 I was a bit slow and I really feel like I was just slacking. My dad mentioned it to me before I shot stage 5 and I turned the speed back up a notch. Lesson learned, I need pay some attention towards maintaining an aggressive mindset through the match. I tried embedding the video but it still ends up as a link. Anyway: http://www.youtube.com/embed/2mZPt2TdIWk Next weekend I am going to the Western PA Section Championship. Its a new club for me and I will be traveling a bit further than I usually do so it should be exciting.

Next week will mark the completion of my first year shooting USPSA and after shooting my first big match at the Ohio Championship last week I can safely say that I am a lifer. With that in mind I think it is time to start a range diary. The plan is to make myself a bit more accountable for my training regime and to solicit some feedback and critiques on my match videos. I have learned enough about practical shooting to start to realize how much I don’t know and this community seems like an excellent place to solicit advice. Please feel free to post honest opinions, I am always open to constructive criticism. Currently I am a B class single stack shooter. I spent last season shooting production but did not get enough matches in to classify (I will probably take care of this later this year). My training really started up at the beginning of the calendar year I bought Brian and Steve’s books and they have both been awesome. Mike Seeklander’s book will probably be next on the list. My main focus has been on the “how to train” mindset. There are only so many hours in the day and when I get the chance to put a gun in my hand I really need to make sure I maximize. Any other suggestions on books/DVDs is welcome. Moving forward my goal is to get into and as far through A class this year as possible. I have a ton of weddings to attend this summer and it is definitely going to affect my schedule, so I am going to need solid performances whenever I am at a match. I will put my video up from the Ohio Championship when I get a few more minutes tonight.

I just sent you a PM Dan. The wife just let me know she would be out of town for a bridal shower, which to me sounded alot like "feel free to take a weekend trip and go shoot a match".

Thanks to everyone who helped put this match on. This was my first big match and you guys made it a ton of fun.

I probably do something in the realm of 600-700 with a bullet feeder on mine.

I had some ergo grips but did not think they were aggressive enough. I ended up with smooth grips covered by 3M safety walk tape.

In my opinion move up and compete at the highest level you can.

I would like to join the race. A72977, Just got my initial classification in Single Stack. B Class 60.03, on the wire I know! I should be able to bump a 52% soon and according to CMCalc I have a 84.43% El Prez that should count next month.

Man I really want to get a SC match in! I was going to try to make it this month until I realized I was going to be out of the country on the weekend of the monthly match.

+1 when you get lazy or start to accept less perfect technique in dry fire it shows up in live fire. It is always important to remember "practice makes permanent".

Welcome to the club David. You should try to make it to Pickaway County Sportsman Inc. as well, Jason runs a fun match! First Saturday of the month in Circleville.

You might be a shooter if.... You include bullets in photographs as a reference scale. I love it! Sorry, off topic I know but I couldn't resist.

You can bend the fingers on the collets. I have done it to tweak my feeder die.