Glock26Toter

Dude, you really need to read Lanny Basham's book.

Nice shooting. I like the movement on stage 4. That's good stuff. So many people waste so much time standing upright, moving to the next port, then getting down again. A fast shuffle staying low is the way to handle those port transitions. You are going to make M soon bro. To elaborate a bit on the holster adjustment I just found that when I landed on a draw that I really liked I took the time to change all my angles just slightly to bring a tad more comfort to the draw and eliminate those "oops" moments that might happen when you start really speeding the draw up. For me, it was to raise the cant, move the holster forward and angle it out. Basically so that the top of the gun is facing directly at the target and not pointing inward. The cant and movement forward on my hip was to put the gun directly in my hands path when just lifting it up without a gun there. So, with no gun. Stand relaxed. Lift your arm up while leaving your hand completely limp and relaxed. (fingers still pointing down) without moving another part of your body. To me, that's where the gun should be waiting. Personally, if I lower my hand it will go right into my front pocket in that position. That's where my gun sits... directly in front of my front pocket. I also use the "scoop" draw and have eliminated the need to take an extra down stroke to land my hand on the gun. It's comfortable for me to just wrap my hand around the gun when it gets next to it and complete the draw. That might not be for everyone. All this is really tough to explain and I would say wait until you can have someone help figure these things out in person. I didn't do it alone. Cha-Lee and Paul Clark Jr have helped me figure this out along the way. I might change down the road or the next class I take may have better advice, but for now I like my draw and it works well for me.

yeah, look me up next match and we'll compare safeties.

I very rarely work on speed for practice sessions. To me, practice is about showing yourself what an alpha (and more importantly a second alpha) looks like. When you are all worked up at a match you'll go as fast as you can. Practice is for relaxed reinforcement of HOW to do something. you know.... for the most part. There are some things that need practice on speed, but I would say the percentage is overwhelmingly on accuracy. Good luck and keep up the improvements.

I took the old dremel to my safties a while back. I can barely get them on with my thumb pushing up and it gets sore after a few times. I've never had a problem since and can't figure out a real reason why it needs to be easy to turn on. When my wife Heather shoots my guns she has to use her left hand to turn the safety on. This is only a good thing (for both of us) as it creates a deliberate motion that we don't forget. And in case you are wondering, they turn off like butter!

I was able to shoot a local match on Saturday at the Ben Lomond gun club. The weather was hot, but not crazy and I had a hell of a good time. Seems like the matches were I just plain have a bunch of fun are my best ones and this one was no exception. I was able to sneak past the Big Panda to score HOA for the match. In reviewing a few videos I'm able to identify some movement items that I'm very happy with regarding my progress. On this first stage, we had to start ourselves by pushing two buttons. The movement strikes me as smooth and deliberate, translating into fast. There was no fumbling or trying to overthink the micro-movements. I just plopped my mags down on one barrel, plopped my gun on the other and moved with all the urgency I could. The key was that I didn't try to do anything any faster than my limits. It worked well and that was a stage win. The very next stage brings out something that I'll make a point to show anyone reading this. Notice how my palm keeps the same angle and position when I rotate it up from my gun? I think this greatly helps my consistency in surrender draws. The arc of my hand/arm is exactly the same in either direction. I believe it's a fairly unique movement item. There may be a lot of people that think this is a waste of time to concentrate on, but I believe it's helped my surrender draws a LOT. The stage went pretty well for me, but I allowed some doubt to creep in during discussion with other shooters and wound up changing my plan slightly just before I shot. This is obvious in the front shooting position as I was in hurry mode and missed the steel quite a bit. I also had to engage the double-swinger on the left twice with several extra shots due to rushing that engagement. I should have stuck to my original plan that was only going to engage one of the double swinger targets per pass. The next stage was very unique and threw a lot of shooters off their game. Looking at the results there were big time penalties for well over half of the shooters. This stage was all about visual patience and it was very difficult to tell the rest of your body that it had to wait for the shot before it ran you away to the next array. I was able to survive it, but did lose track of the proper visual patience for several targets but got lucky. There was one target that I had to go back and makeup and that cost me quite a few points. I also got confused and shot some things up front in the wrong order. Overall, there were more things to be learned on this stage about what visual patience really means than positive things to say about how I shot it. I want to design some stages like this to keep that training level up. It was a growing experience. Overall, I had a great time and performed well. Things are getting CRAZY in my life as we are about to move in two weeks and that's why I have only been able to make one match per weekend these days. This schedule will continue and I'm even going to have to miss a few weekends altogether due to this life change. Eventually I'll get back on track. for now, same goals: Analyze every step for efficiency. (but not overthink them) Push as hard as you can for every movement The A-Zone is the Only Zone. (Seriously... stop getting deltas!) Arms extended, strong grip. (keep training)

I'm glad you started the journal. I credit a lot of my improvement to writing it all down. Keep writing, and make it for yourself not for anyone else. Make sure to always put something positive in there and THEN identify the areas that need improvement. You've identified some things you think you do well and that's great. Keep it up. I usually have something today, but a bit light tonight. I'll jump in when I can since I really like helping people. You get LOW and that's why you can move and shoot well right now. I think that's a good thing and when you start picking up the speed that will come in handy. Currently you are transitioning and moving with the same cadence as you are shooting. You need to light a fire under your ass and move faster than you shoot. Also, your draw looks good to me. More work and maybe some holster adjustments will speed that up. Good luck and keep up the good work.

Impossible to over practice that. Those times I only have a few minutes or don't want to create some plan... it's draws and mag changes.

I was only able to shoot one match this weekend. I made it to the PPPS match in Pueblo. The weather was great and never got very windy or hot for the entire match. They had some especially good stages this time that required a bit of discussion among the shooters to determine the best plan. Stage 3 seemed pretty cut and dry for my ability, but another couple of shooters proved that it was closer than I thought. The choice was one of the "aim or run" scenarios in which you could shoot slower from a single shooting area or move to TWO additional areas and hose like crazy. The distance seemed way to far to rely on the hosing method and I shot it based on accuracy. The other shooters who chose the run method both had mishaps to answer the question definitively, but then again. I didn't have any mishaps with my plan. hmmmm? Stage 2 has two vids. One from a drone and one from the ground. The drone cam is just for fun. I was very happy with this run with the exception of my missed reload. It was a good lesson in pace. With the wide open targets and 3-per engagement when I landed on the partial hard cover targets I really had to apply some serious visual patience. The sense of "dot's in the A - dot's in the black - dot's in the A - dot's in the black" was almost overwhelming as I had to wait until I was actually aiming at what was left of the A-Zone in comparison to the previous targets. Had I not waited I would have watched in horror as I shot black with the same pace I just shot alphas. I also had a "arms extended" moment as at one point during the run I realized they were bent and pushed the gun out toward the targets in front of me. A triumph toward making that automatic for sure. So what do I see in the way of goal progress? Analyze every step; I feel I found the best plan for all stages. Even if they weren't I felt good about them all and will stand behind them all. For example on Stage 3, first array. The engagement order played a key role. I had to do a far-right > far-left > left (start moving out) > right (move out) routine. This ensured I didn't make an extra lean anywhere or trap myself in that spot for the entire engagement. Push as hard as you can; I think I moved as fast as possible. Looking at the vids I can see hard pushing with both feet in leaving my positions. The A Zone is the only zone; Stage 2, was a good one for this. With the wide open targets and 3-per engagement when I landed on the partial hard cover targets I really had to apply some serious visual patience. The sense of "dot's in the A - dot's in the black - dot's in the A - dot's in the black" was almost overwhelming as I had to wait until I was actually aiming at what was left of the A-Zone in comparison to the previous targets. Had I not waited I would have watched in horror as I shot black with the same pace I just shot alphas. Arms extended; I also had some "arms extended" moments. During a couple of runs I realized they were bent and pushed the gun out toward the targets in front of me. A triumph toward making that automatic for sure. Maybe not a perfect match, but screw the mistakes. Progress in my goals was had and that's a good match.

Keep at it bro! Just put that fitness stuff on the same "few things at a time" list that you use for your shooting. "less sugar" is just a step in a long list of rotating goals to get you where you want to go. Just start somewhere. Not necessarily sugar, but that's one that I've been working on.

That other video is way more valuable when it comes to movement. The biggest thing that you need to work on is stability. You must have a stable platform when shooting. You were on pretty close targets, but you destabilized your position prior to the first target and were so unstable that you rolled out of frame after engaging that last one. Draw - Engage, then move out. If you can remain stable during the start of the move out that's great. Then Ease into the next position and finish up in the same position you eased into. Low, high, doesn't matter. How you land and start shooting is how you finish. (for the most part) Here, check this out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGDLVWb-cBI I don't move before I start engaging, and with a tiny, far steel you can't see at the end there's no easing out of that position. The moving doesn't start until the shooting is done. Position two I start shooting even though I haven't quite got that position nailed, but can't move until I transition to another target... then it's all stable throughout the engagement. Final position I'm really not in very good at all, but how I landed on that first target is how I have to stay. No time to fix it if it's stable enough to finish up. All the positions in-between I'm just easing in... shooting, then hauling ass out. I'm in no way perfect and I'm sure there are plenty of mistakes and times when I'm not moving fast enough, but this vid kind of shows you what I mean when I say.. "stable shooting platform" and "haul ass" and the two are separate. Compare that movement with how you come into your 2nd position and then never really stabilize during the engagement. Keep working at it. As is evidenced by the previous video you saw your mistake and improved greatly with just a few runs. I look forward to seeing more improvement and I'll see you at a match sometime. (uh, I'm the guy with the cowboy hat.)

GRIP. That's the most I can see from the video. Nimitz is correct in that you need to get a full view to really see what's going on, but the first video is a grip that will not allow you full control of the gun. It improved quite a bit over the course of the runs.... you get faster too. A consistent grip is key. The major issue with accuracy is that if you made a good shot, in order to make it again guess what has to be the same? EVERYTHING. So if your grip is changing between runs or draws, it's changing between shots. And while we are on the 2nd shot remember, there's no such thing as a doubletap. TWO AIMED SHOTS. That's all there is. Many of your follow up shots are way to fast for that grip and ability right now. Work on visual patience and especially in practice. There's no need for you to work on split times or worry about them at all. Don't even use a timer. Just go as slow you have to go to get all Alphas during your training. You are only showing yourself what an alpha looks like in training and EVERY shot must reinforce that. Later, when you are all amped up in a match they'll be as fast you can make them. But for practice there's no reason to show yourself what an "almost alpha" looks like. When I was a kid I shot archery competitions. A LOT. It really helped with that consistency thing. I would shoot an arrow, and then spend the next several minutes (like 2-3 minutes) looking at my feet to make sure they were the same as the previous shot... then move up to knees, hips and so on, until I was aiming. TWANG! and more often than not, I would get the same hit. I was quite the force to be reckoned with due to that ultra level of consistency. And one quick note on movement. There are extra movements for sure. Like moving during the draw. And the view of the final two targets in the first videos. Why is there so much room on the left side? Your bullets should be missing the no-shoot by INCHES as you get to that position and when you stop you should have done the same on the left target and it should be partially covered by the no-shoots. That way, you didn't move anymore than needed. No auxiliary movements is another key. Those are areas for improvement. Now what went well from what I could see? You are running fast between positions and look like you are landing in them pretty darn smoothly. You are aiming as you are coming into the 2nd position so the amount of wasted time I refer to above is actually very small. Also, starting to leave the position immediately when your final shot breaks... good. You are doing well overall, keep it up! And the best part. You are out there training and writing a journal! p.s. Read the books I tell everyone to read and keep shooting. (Brian Enos, Lanny Bassham, Steve Anderson)

Welcome back! I hope to run into you somewhere. I have spoken to several shooters that have gone through the same thing recently. I don't know how it feels since I haven't burned out, but I do things in an attempt to avoid it. I have no idea if it will work, but here's a few things to think about. Everyone grows at their own pace so I try to only set personal achievement goals and not relate them to any measurement. For instance. "make GM" is, of course something I want to do someday. Instead of putting that on my goal list I actively keeping it off the list and work on things like "analyze every step for efficiency." If I'm not wasting any time in a stage plan, then I'm doing what GM's do. Eventually it might lead to the result, and maybe not, but working on those small goals will help me not worry about how long I'm spending in M class, or whatever. Also, training is still part of the having fun process. If you don't like training then don't train. You'll still get better, just at a much slower pace than without. If you're fine with that then great. While it's true that we don't get to enjoy every second of everything we do. You do have to weigh your desire to improve against your desire to train. There is a balance without getting into some "grinding through" mode with regard to training. Personally, I've gotten into a dry fire about once a week routine and all but dropped my training off due to life changes. But I'm still having fun and know that my increase in ability will be slowed because of that so I'm not getting frustrated about it. For a while I was able to train once a week and dry fired several nights a week. I have to be careful not to let myself get bummed because things have changed. So anyways, it looks like all I'm saying is "don't be so hard on yourself" and "look inside for improvement" rather than worry about how you place. Enjoy the people (sounds like you already do) and good luck.

Every change will affect everyone differently. I can certainly see how the relationship between the sights can take some getting used to so just shoot it some more and keep analyzing it to see what you want to change. Even though you got thrown off don't move too quickly to make changes. Maybe the narrower sight will be better after you give yourself a chance to get used to it. I would especially not make any conclusions based on a match and conditions that aren't the primary goal. Outside, at a match you may love the sights. Indoor, just standing there in low light you might hate 'em.

This weekend I went to the Area 3 match in Grand Island Nebraska. Wow, it was a hell of a good time. I was on an afternoon squad full of friends from Colorado so it was a relaxed and fun environment. We got really lucky with the weather. I mean REALLY lucky. It rained like hell in the AM on Day 1 and by the time we started shooting in the afternoon it was just breezy and partly cloudy. In the late afternoon when we were having to look directly into the sun, facing west, a huge cloud bank showed up and blocked the sun. Nice work Mother Nature! Day 2 was quite a bit hotter, but nothing like that Great Plains Sectional a few weeks back. I really enjoyed each stage and loved the unique challenges that the designers had for us. Nothing too crazy and many stages had a lot of options making for some intense strategy discussions among the competitors. The only thing that I would say that was lacking was no-shoots. There were only a couple scattered around and they were so sparse that I don't think more than two got hit the entire match. My first stage was a design that I’ve really grown to like a lot. Untimeable swingers. (is that a word?) I like untimeable swingers because they do what I think swingers are meant to do and challenge your shooting as opposed to challenge your timing. The stage was clunky as you might expect with 5 swingers and best 3-Per scoring, but looking at the overall results I was happy to have survived it without a disaster. On one target my left hand left the gun and I was going for the mag release when I realized I had a mike and put the final shot strong hand only just before dropping the mag. Between those clunky swingers and even clunkier shooting on the static targets I didn't exactly start off strong. One of my strongest stages I didn't get on video. I wish I had put a hat-cam on for it, because it involved smashing through a steel door (no knob) and I was planning on making up some accuracy shots with pure speed and HULK SMASH technique. I actually put a knee pad on my elbow so I could give that door a proper smashing. I had some good shots to start things off, threw a reload and headed for the door. BOOM! The door gave way with such little resistance that the remainder of the run was really just me trying to slow down for the position. I headed into the final target with about 15-16 second run and then proceeded to miss it 2 times… then hit it with a delayed makeup shot causing me to post an 18 second run. I was bummed, and still am that I failed to execute that final position properly but an 18 second run on that stage puts me way in the top so it’s definitely still on the positive list. So, I posted a bunch of videos on my Youtube channel, and I'm going to avoid reviewing them by each video and try to summarize where I think I'm at based on the collection. First the positive point is that I did wind up wining the top Master spot for the match. I finished at 88% and for the first time since hitting all the major matches I can handle I can say that my performance was as strong as I'm capable of right now. In the review of all the videos I can see a marked improvement in my arm position and it's helped me greatly in my hits. The only times I managed to get deltas or mikes were the times I allowed my arms to get bent into their old position. I'm not too worried about that as I know it can take a while to sink in, but the times I was able to keep them straightened out I was having a great time getting alphas. I moved absolutely as fast as I was able to move and I can't think of a single instance that I wasn't pushing as hard as possible. My whole body aches now so I know I pushed harder than normal for every movement. As far as improvement there are some times where I was guilty of overthinking for sure and there were at least two times that I allowed myself to either get totally distracted or not think like a GM and just went along with the same plan that lower level shooters had chosen costing me time. I only had two stages that I would consider a total screw up and that's not bad at all for my level right now. Moving forward I think I'll leave my goal list the same for now. Analyze every step for efficiency. (but not overthink them) Push as hard as you can for every movement The A-Zone is the Only Zone. (Seriously... stop getting deltas!) Arms extended, strong grip. (keep training)

I shot a match at Aurora Gun Club yesterday. It was a great day weather wise. Slightly breezy and didn't really start getting hot until we were wrapping things up. My Gopro still didn't work for the match and would shut off after about 10 seconds of recording. I've fixed it since, but didn't get any video except one that my buddy Josh took from a drone. So the first stage went really well, and I wish I had video of it. I was sure that I was extending my arms and had a good grip and it showed in my score and time. I was able to track the dot very well, and my split times and target acquisition seemed to just flow from one to another. It was really one of those moments where you do something for the first time and are like "OH, That's what that feels like!." I was 2 seconds faster than Ron Avery on that stage, and had very few charlies. The next couple stages didn't go as well, but they were difficult runs for everyone. The classifier I'm OK with. Even with a mike/noshoot I was happy with my time and I literally missed a GM score on that one by 1/4 inch. At this level there's no room for conservative shooting on a classifier. The only way I'm getting to GM is to go balls out and either hero or zero. The most important thing to look at is whether I really gave it a true effort to attempt a hero run. I feel like I did on the last couple and next time it will work out better. Here's the one stage that I have video of. I like the progress I've made on the extended arms goal so far. Even though I was going into low ports where it's most difficult to keep arms extended, I can see that I'm way farther out than I've been before. That's all I'm after right now so I'm happy with that. My other goals are still in my mind's forefront and I feel like I had solid stage plans all day yesterday. There were a couple of spots where you had to get low and I managed to come up with a plan that kept me low after spending the time to get there. This falls under my "analyze for efficiency" goal. I've also started using a bit of a new term for me. I've started looking at some targets as "bridge targets." and I applied this thought process to a few engagements that I feel helped move me along a bit faster or more smoothly than without it. To me, a bridge target is one that's a low-risk engagement that's an obvious "on the move" scenario. This can be used to move you into another position while engaging said bridge target. I feel this can help with those 1 or 2 step movements that might line you up with something or get you past a wall. While this is not a new concept by any means, the use of the term and extra effort to point these spots out seems to have helped a bit and especially makes me ask the question of whether to do that bridge as defined or lump it in with a different array. Overall, I had a great match and was rewarded with an HOA and when the likes of Ron Avery and Big Panda are in the same match, that's an accomplishment. Granted, they were not at the top of their game yesterday, but the mistakes they need to make to let me by are getting smaller and smaller. So on to more goal work and I'm going to dry fire at least 2 times this week to get ready for the Area 3 match this weekend. Goal List: Analyze every step for efficiency. Push as hard as you can for every movement The A-Zone is the Only Zone. Arms extended, strong grip.

Just shoot for a while and identify some things you think you "suck at" and then work on those. If you don't feel like your draw is holding you back, why practice that? Not to say it doesn't need work, but we have to start somewhere and especially in the beginning the list can be overwhelming. Keep the list small and work on a thing or two during each session. Also, keep in mind that dry fire is coupled with visualization. Print out, or buy some small IPSC targets so that your acceptable tight picture is an Alpha Hit, and not a light switch. It really will help.

Nimitz nailed it from Cha-lee's post. Goals are not result oriented, they are steps and processes. Keep your goal list short and measurable and on track with the steps it takes to reach a result you want. For instance, "keep the gun running 100%" What does that mean? Maybe a goal like, "find a bullet that feeds well and don't change it" will be a better way to keep the gun running... along with all the other things we have to do like clean it. Also, never add a never to a goal. They can ONLY be positive. someone said "never run the gun dry." To me that's "make sure to have a solid reload plan in for every stage breakdown." or something similar that's a step to net the result of not running out of ammo. Read Lanny Bassham's, With Winning in Mind and you'll see what I mean. Also read these: Brian Enos, Beyond Fundamentals. Steve Anderson, get to work.

I cant the gun just a bit as well. I've also fairly recently subscribed to the "off foot back" technique. I've read several places that it helps control recoil and I've confirmed that for me it's true. Not saying it's for everyone, but I believe it has helped me so I do it now. Try it both ways and decide for yourself. The only thing that's absolutely crucial is that you don't add time in doing so. The step back MUST be coincidental (in time) with the draw or other movement needed to get you shooting. Otherwise it can only be categorized as auxiliary movement... no good.

I did some dry fire last night. I've really got to get back to doing this a couple nights per week. It's really important since I'm trying to change something. I noticed a couple of things. First, it's way more work to get on that dot in the final few inches of the draw. At first I felt like I added a bunch of time to the first shot because of the "hard landing" at the end of the draw, rather than a soft one. By the end of a 20 minute session I think I was hitting an acceptable sight picture at the same time as my old way about 80% of the time. I've certainly got some work to do in order to get consistency up with the new full extension technique. Secondly, I did some static reloads and noticed that my reload from said "full extension" was actually better, and stayed up high. Makes sense right? If the gun is farther out to start with it doesn't make it as far back before the magazine shows up in the left hand. This means, less auxiliary movement and smoother. More practice.

Wait until you hit 40.... life is short! (I hit 40 like, last week and now I'm 45!) Enjoy the ride, and don't die until you hit GM. Here's my marriage advice. Seriously. ALWAYS respect your wife. ALWAYS. (that means no name calling no matter how pissed you are. You know, like at work with a coworker... because you kind of are.) Never hang up the phone without an "I love you." One of these days, it might be your last. My wife and I are at 20 years with those two rules.

I too found that the 4moa dot was lost too often. And I've been concerned that I have been pushing my 6moa too far with respect to brightness.... So. Lately I've started measuring my voltage after matches to track when the dot needs to be replaced rather than trying to decide if I'm seeing a brighter or dimmer dot. I use 2 - 357's and keep a clean diode and have compared new to old diodes to exhaustion and cannot see a difference. Not to say there isn't one, I just can't see it. Diodes aside, The best thing I can do is track the voltage to see if there's a voltage that matched up to a perceivable brightness difference so that I can KNOW when to replace it rather than guess. What I've found is that new batteries start out at 3V resting and 2.8v under full load. (dot on high) After a 1 day match the full load voltage will drop to about 2.0v and take a couple more matches to get down to 1.8V. They seem to hang at that 1.8V for maybe 3-4 more matches before getting down to 1.5 volts. At that point I think I can see the difference between new and 1.5v. It's very slight and I'm not sure, but since I'm at 50% voltage I figure I've gotten my worth out of them. They get replaced. I'm not done tracking this stuff yet, but I would guess that around 1.2-1.0 volts is when they get noticeably dim and at some point they'll drop to below 1 volt and drop dead all together. I'm not a battery engineer, but I would guess that the 1.5 to below 1 volt drop could easily happen within 1 or 2 days shooting so why push it at the cost of new batteries? P.S. I get my batteries from cheapbatteries.com in the Energizer bulk, blister packs for... you guessed it... CHEAP.

This weekends match was at Weld County so Heather and I headed up for great day shooting. The weather was hot, but stayed partly cloudy all day so it wasn't too brutal when it came to sunshine. I forgot the SD Card in my Gopro so no videos. In case you are wondering why I never use my phone. I'm always scared it will ring or I'll read an email that will distract me, so no phones during matches and I like it that way. Everything can wait a few hours until I'm done shooting. I was very happy with my stage plans, except for one. I did well on the stage, but was so focused on timing a swinger that I failed to really break down each spot. (there were only TWO) This caused me to stick myself in a corner rather than engage the targets in a manner that would allow some movement. This movement would have gotten me down range during engagement and shaved off critical time. It showed when the next M Open shooter took me by about .5 seconds. The stage winner got me by almost exactly 1 second. The only positive from this stage breakdown breakdown is that I saw it immediately after I ran the stage and it did not have it pointed out to me. Hopefully I'll see it sooner in the future. I'll stand behind all my other plans, but made too many mistakes to get ahead of everyone else and wound up 2nd Open for the match. I'm pretty close in ability to the top shooter that day so I don't feel bad at all. The classifier was a bit frustrating (Ironsides 03-12) It's a symmetrical port setup with 2 paper/2 popper in each port. I was moving and shooting well enough to get into M/GM territory (I think) but I screwed myself up by hitting the first steel two times. I called the shot, but just fired a second round at it because I was unsure. This led to rushing just a tad on the following target and I wound up with a Mike/No-shoot. Looking at my time, had that round met it's target I would have been in good shape. That's the positive from this one. I did most things well, so next time when I remove that one mistake I'll be in good shape. Clearly I still have a lot of work to do on my goals. I made up a lot of shots that weren't necessary, but in most cases it was making up a Charlie or Delta with an Alpha. I think this means I'm concentrating pretty hard on the "Alpha is the only zone" goal and if I can just tighten that up a bit my makeup's will go down while my score goes up. I also tried really hard to extend my arms and grip hard, but without video I really can't tell if I'm very effective at that one. I know for SURE on my final stage that I accomplished that. The stage was a bit of a hose-fest as long as you had a solid plan that you didn't have to think about. My plan was solid, so the only thing I had to concentrate on was arm extension. I believe this helped me get through the two, obscured plate racks with only a single makeup shot and I was rewarded with a time that was 3 seconds faster than 2nd place. So it's back to getting some dry-fire in to reinforce the arm extension and grip until next week. Next week the full goal list is: Analyze every step for efficiency. Push as hard as you can for every movement The A-Zone is the Only Zone. Arms extended, strong grip.

I went to the Great Plain Sectional this past weekend. Oh man was it a scorcher. It was soooo hot, that I had to keep my ammo in the cooler to keep it from detonating. There are some vids on my Youtube channel. I was unable to do any practice during the week and this week will likely be the same unfortunately, but I'm going to change that. I was eager to see what I could do in the way of working on changing my arm extension and grip. Well, I think it will take lots practice to try to sink that one in. I really did try, and during my walkthroughs I made sure to practice this. However, in reviewing the videos there is no sign that I've changed at all. Maybe... just maybe in a few instances I look a bit more extended but maybe I'm just saying that to make myself feel better. I felt really good about a few runs, but overall I made some significant mistakes that cost me the kind of finish that I know I'm capable of when I'm firing on all cylinders. Panda dubbed Stage 2, "the where's Waldo stage." What really messed me up on that stage was that I entered the wrong port on the start signal. After that my plan just went to hell. It was a tough stage anyways and I watched shooter after shooter have a similar experience. However, for me there was one point in which I actually just stood there, for what seemed like 2-3 seconds thinking back to the port I had just shot through. And not still looking through it mind you. I just stood there thinking "Did you do everything just then... are you sure... are you sure you're sure?" Finally my legs just took off and the rest of my body tried to enter auto-pilot as I entered the next port, but it didn't go much better for the rest of the stage. I was completely in the dark during scoring and just waited for the FTE's to roll in. Shockingly, I finished 4th on the stage and can't help but wonder what would have happened if I had caught a glimpse of Waldo at some point during the run. Also, the GoPro overheated on that stage and I didn't get it on video. The Gopro stayed overheated for several stages after that but some of the runs are on my Youtube channel. So despite a so-so finish and some obvious mistakes, I do need to look at some good things about this match. There were some stages that I liked my plan on and executed them well. Also, there were a few successful shots that were very difficult. One was a headshot that I was very happy to hit on the Where's Waldo stage, and another headshot-makeup that I did without even thinking about it. Just took it, and made it. So really, thinking about a few other long ones I would say that I was very happy with my accuracy. I only got a few Deltas and they were all on targets that I was blowing by, and not long shots. There were some wicked swingers and a down right evil windmill target that I got 2-A/A-C on. So, accuracy has been improving and I believe that if I buckle down and do some practice I should be able to get my curve headed back in the right direction. Goals: Analyze every step for efficiency. Push as hard as you can for every movement. The A-Zone is the ONLY zone. Arms extended, strong grip.

They just do. There's not much metal there and even at 165pf we are talking about a lot of flex during shooting. A slight flaw in the port can start a weak spot getting weaker with every round. I've been shooting for over 10 years and if I have seen many broken slides. There has been much debate about tri-topping vs not, but I've seen many of both kind. Then others are like "what the hell are you talking about?" and claim to have a billion rounds in guns with the original slide. I have a lamp made from broken slides. Shoot 'em, break 'em, shoot 'em again. That's my open gun motto.