monicataliani

kicking it old school today during dry fire. back to the basics of draws and mag changes...

Today's focus for dry fire... Movement and wide transitions.

Thanks Glock26! Well said!

valid advice! much more productive and focused!

It has been 756 days since my last (range diary) confession... At one time my life absolutely revolved around shooting. As time passed, I got super frustrated because I wasn't progressing the way I thought I should. I was putting 110% into it and I was no where close to the guys who would beat me every weekend at our local matches. Again, this was NOT due to lack of effort. Unfortunately, I am not one of those people who are just good at shooting. I wish I were, but it isn't natural for me like it is for some. I had to work hard to make the gains that I made. I started to get better but when I wasn't seeing the results I thought I should be getting, I got burned out. Around late fall last year, after taking my mountain bike out for only its third adventure for the year, I decided that what I was getting out of my hard work and practice just wasn't worth what I was giving up. So I stopped practicing. I stopped dry firing. I stopped taking the meticulous care of my equipment that I was once known for. I still shot sometimes, but I decided that I was not going to take shooting so seriously and I was going to just have fun. Life does what life does and the time started passing quickly. After missing several majors at the beginning of the year due to various things I finally made it to a match. I was so sick I could barely get through. I am pretty sure I talked to several of you that day and I promise, I am not that aloof. I literally fell asleep at a table at one of the bays at one point. I to this day still have no idea where I placed because I didn't look. Fast forward to beginning of summer. I had decided not to shoot the Ohio match but at the last minute decided I wanted to go because of the amazing staff and shooters who turn out there every year. So I went to that match as an RO. I struggled through the match and had a very lack luster performance thanks to my gross lack of preparation. Since that time I have shot 2 other major matches. Same thing. After each match I would remember what I loved about this sport and simultaneously be incredibly ashamed over match performances that were not up to par with what I was capable of last year at this time. At first not putting in all that effort was working out to be freeing. I haven't looked at my match scores pretty much all year. I couldn't feel frustrated about my performance if I didn't put anything in, right? WRONG! It was eye opening seeing how much difference all that work made. It made it all seem worth it. So now... I am back. I started dry firing again already (did a lot of transition work tonight) and I am back at writing a range diary to make sure I am accountable those days that I would rather go out and mountain bike instead of practice.

Welcome! Sarge is right, not much 3 gun that is local but we have a pretty full calendar of USPSA within a couple hours. 1st Saturday Pickaway County Sportsman's Club 1st Sunday Oxford Practical Shooters OR Bluegrass Sportsman's League (KY) 2nd Sunday Silvercreek Conservation Club (IN) 3rd Sunday Miamisburg Sportsman's Club OR Rayners Range 4th Saturday Rockcastle Shooting Center (KY) 4th Sunday Miami Rifle and Pistol Club OR Wayne County Raccoon Hunters Club (MI)

I just want to say thank you to the people responsible for putting everything together. The stages were a lot of fun.

Thanks! I haven't been on here forever and didn't even see this! :-)

I am so sorry to hear about your gun problems. I hope you get them worked out.

I shoot a 9major open gun. I used to use 124hps with 7.1 grains of autocomp. I did not prefer that as grip strength is an issue for me as a small girl and the muzzle wanted to flip up and my dot would not settle down. I tried 115hps with 8.6 grains of HS6 and it was better but my dot still didn't track super well and it still was flipping a bit and it was barely making major. I got load data for 115hps with 9.2-9.3 grains of HS6. Wow did that make a huge difference! No more muzzle flip! It is a pretty hot round coming in at 175-179 pf. (All loads using Federal small rifle primers.) Someone told me that I could get breech face erosion using loads that were so hot. So I started really looking at my breech face. I had never inspected it before (newer shooter here) and I have noticed that there is a discolored circle where the primer would be and a couple little chips. Now I don't know if the circle was there before this load change or not. Can someone tell me... 1. if this is normal wear/how much wear is normal 2. what to look for when it comes to breech face erosion 3. what to watch for with pressures and loads for 9major open guns 4. any pics would be very helpful (I will take a pic and post it so you can see what I mean.)

Okay... on a mission. I used to be obsessed with dry fire. Now... not so much. In fact despite having some really great new books (got the Seeklander and Stoeger/Hirshberg books- they are both well written and very helpful) I have not dry fired more than a handful of times. Well maybe more than that but not much... I can not make myself. I used to love it and I would have a lot of fun trying to beat my old par times. Now, I seriously think about dry fire and then think I would rather go to the dentist. What are some things you guys use for motivation? Edited to add... I should probably elaborate on this because it sounds kinda like straight up laziness and that is totally not what it is (those of you who have met me know that I am totally not the lazy type.) Dryfire is incredibly frustrating to me now. I think it is a totally critical thing to get used to your gun, or when I switch from iron sights to a dot and back it is really good. I love to live fire practice. And I am really competitive. What has been the major turn-off is that while I know that I can make gains (draws, reloads, sight acquisition...) I feel like it is cheating. I feel like even though I say that it was "an alpha shot" I feel like there is zero accountability even when you are "calling shots" you don't know for sure that if you were actually shooting that it would have went right where you were aiming. All kinds of things happen between putting the sights on a target and a bullet going into the target that affect whether or not it is a hit. We all know that. So what if I can fling around the gun and pull the trigger in a hurry between two beeps. That doesn't mean that if there was a round in the chamber that it would hit anything. I feel like I am kidding myself when I dry fire now. I know that I can dry fire a bill drill all day long but once you put that loaded mag in there, there is no way that I can lay on the trigger like that and hit anything consistently because of recoil. I just feel like dry fire isn't good enough any more. I want to shoot real rounds! Not mind bullets!!! But we all know that we can't just go out and shoot 200 rounds a day. I guess what my original post should have said is how do you guys keep from getting annoyed that your practice isn't good enough because it will never be the real thing?

I am certainly no pro but mine follows Bills almost exactly. The only thing I do differently is after loading the gun I take a loaded sight picture so I can feel the weight of the gun with the mag. I like to have that in my memory. I like to keep mine close to that because I can not tell you how many people I have seen forget to turn on their dot.

Congrats!!!!!!! Hope to see you there!!!!

Hmmmmm...... This is something I hadnt thought of. I will pay attention to this next time I shoot. Could be!

I am experiencing an interesting phenomenon. Sometimes (usually when I am shooting fast close up targets) it feels like my trigger will not move. It is usually on the follow up shot. I have experienced "trigger freeze" before (when you WANT to pull the trigger but can't make your body to do it) but this is different. It has only been happening in the last month or so. I thought I was cured of my trigger freeze. Now I don't know if I am having some new form of it (where I think I am doing what I want, but my hands are not actually doing it,) if I am not letting the trigger reset, or if my gun is broken. Has anyone experienced this or have any insight?

Don't be fooled!!!! I am a health food junkie too!!!! I love love love homemade iced tea and popcorn. Once in a while I will have a soda (diet- although I don't know which is worse, boatloads of sugar or chemicals.)

I didn't walk out, but couldn't believe the amount of money they charge to see a 3D imax movie and it ended up giving me a headache. I just wanted to take the glasses off soooooooo bad but then it looked weird without them.

Yep and because I had read that it was the RO's responsibility to set it, I just put it out of my mind. Lesson learned. I am sooooooo sorry that happened to you. I have learned the hard way... never trust the pre-match stage descriptions, they are NEVER the same, I think they are just for you to get an idea of what to look for, and the RO has sooooooo many responsibilities, I always double check everything because they might miss something. Like I always look at no shoots around ports and look at props before I shoot just to make sure the RO didn't miss something. There is a lot to remember and people make mistakes.

I have to agree with all of you.... I am glad that this season is performance based.

I am sooooooooo excited to watch the season primiere of Top Shot All Stars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Paul..... LOL!!!! Yeah, iron sights would have help tremendously when my dot was washed out.... On a side note, I already have snacks and sodas ready in the fridge and am getting the stuff out to make some popcorn. Can't wait to watch the season primiere of Top Shot All Stars tonight!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for RO'ing on the helicopter stage. It was entertaining! BC Thanks Bill! I had sooooooo much fun being there the whole time and getting to meet so many shooters! Thanks! I feel like if I would have been grooved in then I wouldn't have panicked on the classifier when my dot was reflecting the sun. I would have interacted with what was happening in a logical way, not freaked out and missed twice. If I would have thought, I could have taken a step over so the sun wasn't at that angle any more, or re-indexed on the target to make sure it was properly aimed and then taken two "blind" but slower shots to ensure I got my hits.

I was so scared someone was going to step on it while resetting the stage and move it I stood on it until the RO called me over to make ready! LOL!

Well.... a couple reflections after my first major of the year.... 1. I feel rusty. I also feel like I just started the season, which is really true. I haven't done a whole lot of shooting this year thanks to cold weather and the ammo shortage. I felt like I was hit or miss (pun completely and totally intended!!!! ) I made a LOT of little mistakes that I feel would have been ironed out if I had more matches under my belt this season. 2. I need to dry fire. I know I used to be "Miss Dry Fire Every Day" but once I put my gun down at the end of fall last season, it sat collecting dust. I feel like I lost a lot of ground having not touched it until recently. 3. Dots are not infallible. I trashed the classifier at the match because I transitioned right into setting sunlight and couldn't see a darn thing. Hmmmm..... something to think about. 4. I love shooters!!! I met so many of you guys and girls out there that I have been talking to on BE and FB for the longest time. I <3 you all! You rock! Hope you all had a great time at the match!!!

Thanks buddy!!!!!! I was really impressed at #1 you shooting the match although you had some reservations and #2 your performance. Nicely done! You should be proud!