johnsons1480

I went to the range last Thursday and ran Table Start/Mag Stuff. I enjoyed this drill, probably the most fun I've had at the range in a while. I was pretty burnt out after 200 rounds, so I called it quits there. I went left from the table on the first 100 rounds, then right from the table for the next 100 rounds. I started out in the 11.5 second range, and ended in the 9.5 - 10 second range. I can't quantify what I learned, but I felt better about the way I was moving when I was done with this drill. I believe from now on I'm going to alternate stand and shoot drills and field course type drills. I should get my holster back tomorrow (finally!!) and I'll be able to resume regular, non-table start dry fire drills. I'm planning a trip to the range on Thursday, but I haven't picked a drill yet.

I shipped my broken holster back to Blade-Tech on 3/10. They received it on 3/13. They shipped out the replacement on 3/24. I won't get the replacement until 3/31 (according to UPS). That's 3 weeks without a holster. Knowing what I know now, I would have just ordered a new one. 21 days is far too long for a replacement. Enough bitching, on to plans. I will be going to the range on Friday. I have some rounds to chronograph first, the it's on to training. Since I still don't have a holster, I'll be doing the Table Start/Mag Stuff drill. Looking forward to it, I haven't been to the range since the monsoon started.

I'm in the same boat. I shot my first match in 2012, but I shot about 6 matches in the following 2 years. I didn't get serious about this at all until November 2014. I budget 300 rounds a training session. If it's a 6 round drill, then that's 50 reps with 300 rounds. It's what I can afford to shoot right now. If I feel like I'm wasting my time, I stop shooting. Generally, I don't feel like I'm wasting my time though. At my range, you can't move the target boards that are set up along the back wall of the bay. You can easily set up the "standard practice setup," but before I got the waiver I couldn't do drills like the accelerator or any drills that required targets not on the same plane. Now I can move targets around as I see fit, so it opened me up to being able to do a lot more drills. I don't train in a group. I was cautioned against it. If you have the time and money to shoot two sessions a week, one not in a group and one in a group, then that shouldn't be problem. Maybe you should do core USPSA and marksmanship drills by yourself, and short/field course drills with your training partners? That sounds like a good training mix to me. I would think how many reps you do at a time is going to depend on what you're doing. The whole idea I'm working toward is spotting your deficiencies. Writing stuff down is paramount, especially in the beginning.

Let me preface all of this by saying, anything I say is just me regurgitating what I've learned from this forum, Ben's books, and his podcast. I bought several books from several pro shooters. His was the easiest to understand for me. I'm analytical by nature, and Ben's books are written in a way that made sense to me. You may like another pro shooter's books, and that's great too. This collection of materials is working well for me, and is the best for me. I think the best approach here is to come up with the next 4 drills you want to do. Got some range time? Go do the first drill on the list. Don't have time? Delay it until the next trip. This way you'll never be scrambling to come up with a drill. I had come up with a one year training plan at one point in this thread. Nimitz pointed out that it was probably too forward thinking. I didn't think so, but I was wrong. I trashed it a week later. One month of drills is probably as far forward as you can plan. Not per se. I did for a while, but I didn't find it to be very beneficial. I am finding the best way to do dry fire is to train everything, but train harder where you're struggling. Everything we do is interrelated, so I don't think it's beneficial to do the exact same drill in live fire and dry fire. Someone may disagree, this is just my experience thus far. I don't. Ben mentioned in his podcast that he does. I'm not winning national championships though. If you read Skills and Drills, you will see that there can't be a plan. It's too personal. I'm not sure if Ben will come along with an answer for you, but here's my advice. Figure out where you want to be in the sport Figure out how much ammo you can buy or make this year Set some goals in relation to your involvement in the sport Go to the range with one drill, two at the max. I've made this mistake a lot. Make a spreadsheet with every drill from Skills and Drills Figure out what you can do at your range. I just got a target movement waiver at my range, which opens me up to being able to do a lot more drills. Prior to now, I was stuck with just doing the Core USPSA Skills and Marksmanship drills because of the target setups. I'm only going to be able to do a few of the short course drills, because I can't use steel. I can now do most or all of the Field Course drills. Go through the spreadsheet, and mark out what you can't do at your range Can you set up three targets one yard apart edge to edge? Great, you can do over half of the drills in the book. Here are the first 4 drills I would do. 300 ish rounds per sessionBlake Drill at 7 yards. Do 50 reps, write everything downGo home and analyze. Why didn't you hit the par time? Ben lists what the individual components for this drill need to be to accomplish the par time. Is it your draw? Work harder on your draw in dry fire. Try to figure out why it's slower than it needs to be. This advice will hold true through all of the drills I'm going to put down. Singles at 10 yards. Do 100 reps, write everything down Four Aces at 7 yards. Do 75 reps, write everything down Strong Hand Only and Weak Hand Only at 10 yards. 25 reps of each, write everything down. After this first 4 sessions, you will have a pretty good idea of where you are weak. That covers most of the core skills you will need to compete. That's all info that's already in the book if you read it and break it down. Once you get a skills baseline, you're on your way to making your own journey. Start working movement in as soon as you can. I have neglected that, and it shows when I shoot matches. I also think, as a beginner, that you need to shoot matches. I probably missed something, let me know if you have any follow ups. I think the most important thing you can do is just get out there and shoot. I really don't think any drill is going to hurt you, and they are all beneficial in their own way.

May try that way too, thanks Nimitz

If this is the case then move up a couple yards until you have a bit of success.. then start backing up. I will definitely try it next time I run the drill. Thanks for the advice, and all of the good material Ben.

That brought me to his whole store, here's the one I bought though http://www.amazon.com/Dry-Fire-Training-Practical-Pistol-Shooter/dp/1497319633/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427198354&sr=8-1&keywords=dry+fire+ben+stoeger

Goals update: Shoot 10,000 rounds in 2015I'm at 1,819 for 2015 so far Shoot 43 sessions of live fire7 so far this year. I'm going to try to do 2 this week. Apparently it's monsoon season here, so I haven't been able to make it the last two weeks. I guess I'll pick a table start drill on Tuesday because I STILL don't have my holster back. Hopefully it will be in before I make the second trip on Friday. Dry fire 5 days per week for at least 15 minutes. Time away from home excluded.I am falling far short of this goal. I was doing pretty well, then I broke my holster. I decided to do table starts and barricades and stuff in the interim, but I got so bored with those drills. I am committed to doing my drills tonight and the rest of this week, even if my holster isn't here. Shoot 8 or more club matches in 2015Shot 2 in Feb, won't make any in March, trying to make one in April Shoot one local Level II match; Oilfield Classic or Space City ChallengeSigning up for the Oilfield Classic next Wednesday. First major match, woo hoo! Shoot at an A class level on a classifier by the end of 2015I shot a 70% in February, getting close.

I hear you bud. I have waded through a lot of material, and asked a lot of questions to come up with what I'm doing now. Here's how I would do it if I started over again. You have Ben's newest dry fire book right? If not, get it. They have plans in the back that I think are very helpful. I'm not going to list out the drills and par times because I don't want to give away his material. I would start out the first two weeks with this plan for new shooters. Pick one drill from each section for two weeks. Try to dry fire for 30 minutes. If you only make it 15, that's ok. Week 1 Monday - Learning Drill Tuesday - Marksmanship Drill Wednesday - Core USPSA Skills Thursday - Marksmanship Drill Friday - Field Course Drill Saturday - Learning Drill Sunday - Off Week 2 Monday - Marksmanship Drill Tuesday - Learning Drill Wednesday - Core USPSA Skills Thursday - Learning Drill Friday - Field Course Saturday - Marksmanship Drill Sunday - Off At this point, your hands shouldn't hurt as bad as when you started. It takes some building up to be able to do 30+ minutes. At first, 15 minutes is tough. It gets easier. I would focus most of my attention on my grip and sights while trying to reach par times. It's easier to hit par times when you let your fundamentals fall apart. Make sure you're gripping the gun, make sure you're seeing the sights where they need to be. I would do these two weeks of dry fire before I went to the range. Get comfortable drawing, reloading, transitioning, etc all before you waste any bullets. After the two weeks, I would change plans and start live fire. How much live fire can you afford? If I could, I would shoot two 300 round practice sessions a week and one match a month. I can only do one live fire session a week and one match a month at this time though. The month before the major I'm shooting this fall, I will bump it to twice a week. For dry fire, I would go to the hardcore training plan. I can't do an hour of dry fire a day, so I try to do 40 minutes. That's 10 minutes on each drill. If I'm pressed for time, I do 5 minutes a drill. Some say it's easier if you wake up early and split the sessions. I'm not going to wake up at 4:40 AM to do dry fire. It just ain't happenin'. MK = Marksmanship Drills CR = Core USPSA Skills FC = Field Course Drills SC = Short Course Drills LD = Learning Drills I have a two week plan that I repeat with dry fire. I listed out every drill in the book. There are 6 LDs. Pick 3 and do them on the first Sunday, pick 3 and do them on the second Sunday. There are 4 MKs. You will repeat them 3 times in the 12 days. There are 12 CRs, so you don't have to repeat any of them. There are 9 FCs. Figure out which 3 drills you struggle on the most, and repeat them. There are 8 SCs. Figure out which 4 you struggle with the most, and repeat them. If you find some part of your game is really hurting you, you can drop the plan for a bit and focus on that. This is just a guideline for me. If I'm sucking at something, I focus harder on it. Live Fire I don't know that I can give you any real advice here. I'm quite sure I don't have this figured out yet. I think it's about time I start doing some stage type movement drills every other practice session. I felt differently about that when I started. It's going to be very personal. I would run some test drills and see where you're most deficient. Are you pretty good at single target drills but no good at drills that require transitions? Focus on drills that require transitions. Don't hammer away at stuff you're good at and ignore the things you aren't good at. That's going to hurt you in the long run.

If I were starting over, I wouldn't change much. I would buy Training to Win and Dry-Fire Training: For the Practical Pistol Shooter in the combo pack with the dry fire targets. I would start with the basic dry fire drills for a week or two until I felt like I knew how to work the trigger, draw, and reload. I would go to the range and run some test drills to find out where I was most deficient. If there was a glaring deficiency, I would focus on that harder than anything else; I would keep working on everything else too though. I would go with the hardcore dry fire program in the back of the book. I would pick one drill when I go to the range, not multiple. If I could afford it, I would shoot two practice sessions a week with 300 rounds, give or take a few. I would dry fire every day. Focus mainly on what you suck at, not on what you can well. With all that being said, keep in mind you're asking a C class shooter. There are people far more qualified to answer these questions, and they're right here on the forum.

I think you already have me added, but if not, A82568 in production

Some of us are also interested in self defense? Maybe it fits the IDPA BUG rules. Also, some of us just like guns.

http://www.benstoegerproshop.com/mobile/Product.aspx?ProductCode=BSPS-Holster That one Seth M. Johnson

I'm a fair weather shooter for sure. I don't like cold, and I don't like wet. Heat doesn't bug me.

The B class classifier I shot on February 14 bumped me into C class!

Started my dryfire session today, and midway through I noticed my Blade-Tech holster was cracked. Great way to start the week! I got in touch with them, and they're going to replace it. I really appreciate them doing that, but I have to send back my holster first. It's going to be a few days or longer before I get it back. So, I suppose I'll be dry firing table pickups and ammo pickups for the next few days.

Been dry firing. Made it out to the range yesterday for a very rushed (impending downpour) 300 round practice. Didn't really write anything down, but kept a mental not of the time. I ran 3 drills yesterday. Dot Drill0% success rate. Blah Singles10 yards, 1.6 second par time. I didn't ever hit my par time and get all A's. I focused mostly on seeing yesterday. My best runs were all A's in 1.77. I felt good about my shooting for the first time in a while. I had a few runs where I pushed it, but I focused on my grip and seeing. I was able to lay down way more A hits than I used to at speed. I feel like my grip is right, and I am finally seeing the sights like I'm supposed to. That 0.17 over goal time needs to come from the draw, my transitions were where I want them. Blake Drill10 yards, 2.2 second par time I was pretty consistently under 3 seconds Again, far more A's than I'm used to getting. I think I was in such a rush to hit the par time that I wasn't taking the time to focus. Need to tighten up splits and transitions slightly, but a good bit of time needs to come from the draw I like my grip now. I need to keep burning it in in dry fire. Plans Continue dry fire I doubt the weather is going to be good (currently calling for 100% chance of rain), but I'm going to watch it to see if I can make it out on Sunday. I'm on call next week, so I may or may not be able to make it during the week. Match on the 28, weather permitting.

I didn't enjoy it at all. I wanted to, but I didn't. Seth M. Johnson

Seth M. Johnson

Didn't make it out to practice on Thursday because it was too cold (for me). I did make it to a match today, even though it was colder weather than I'm generally willing to shoot in. Positives I didn't feel as rusty as last match I felt like I moved well Didn't tag any no shoots Takeaways I need to really focus on accuracy. I keep saying that, and I feel like I have been, but things aren't coming together for me I was SLOW on the trigger I got quite a few Mikes I think I need a heavier mainspring. I keep light striking on Federal primers. Interesting side note, it doesn't happen with Winchester or CCI. 25/61 overall, 4/17 production I had some really good stages. Overall, Mikes killed me. I don't think there's much to be done besides practice, practice, practice. I'll be getting after those drills I listed in the last post on Wednesday or Friday as long as it doesn't rain.

If you weren't such a dick, someone would have invited you to shoot with them where you could "function check" your shotgun by now. Good day sir.

Thanks for calling him out on that. I knew he was full of it, but I really didn't want to offer any more advice to or have any further dealings with someone who had such a bad attitude.

MOST of the ranges in Houston are country club esque. It's where the money is. Static rifle and pistol, sporting clays, trap, and skeet. They perceive too much risk in drawing your gun, and most of them have 1 round/second speed limits. Some of the indoor ranges are better about the speed limit, but most of them state you can't draw from a holster or pick up your brass. As you mentioned, ImpactZone is good if you can get in, but I would choose PSC any day. http://psc-range.com/

Have you tried American Shooting Centers? http://www.amshootcenters.com/As scary as that place can be (public range, lots of first time shooters) you can shoot your shotgun there at the 25 yard patterning board. You could also see if Baileys House of Guns would let you shoot there. That's your short term solution. Long term solution, join PSC or ImpactZone. You can shoot shotguns at a plate rack at PSC, run around with it like you would in a match, etc. That's where I'm a member.

Give these a try. I really liked them for my Glock in Production. I'm running some CR Speed pouches for my CZ, but that's because I had them lying around. If not, I would have given serious thought to the Ready Tactical pouches. http://cpwsa.com/collections/magazine-pouches/products/ready-tactical-pistol-mag-pouch