RAP

Today was a focus on reloads and SHO and WHO shooting. However, I started todays practice with Bill Drill. It was a good warm up and fun. I averaged 2.13 seconds for my time today. Not bad, I'm making progress and very happy about it. I can't wait to give it go in live fire. According to the local weather man it's gonna be awhile before we get any warmer temperatures. Next was 4 Aces. I ran 4 Aces 3 ways. 1st was the standard and my average time was 2.85 seconds. My next run was freestyle, reload and SHO. I averaged 3.09 seconds for that run. Next was Free style, reload and WHO. I averaged 3.99 seconds. Almost a full second slower than SHO run. Not sure what an acceptable time difference is between SHO and WHO. My goal is to be no more than a 1/2 second difference between them. My last run for the day was 4 Aces with hands in the surrender position. I averaged 2.96 seconds. This surprised me. I thought my average time would be same if not a little faster. I'll run this again in the near future. My sample size is really not big enough to say with confidence that I'm not faster. Oh well something for me to work on and drill into too determine what the real difference is for me.

Able to get some solid dry fire practice in. I am on vacation but insanely busy with work and a list of projects that need to be completed before 2017 ends. Also, the weather has been very cold. Most days we don't even break out of the teens. So no live fire practice for me until it warms up a bit. I worked on unloaded and loaded table starts. I realized I have never practiced this and it's something I needed to include in my practice rotation. I quickly learned I how much I really suck at this. Table starts (often on top of a barrel start) is something I have to deal with at almost every match. I averaged 2.7 seconds for unloaded start weather my hands are in surrender or at my sides with an open target set at 10 yards. A loaded table start I averaged 1.35 seconds. I realized getting a proper grip was difficult. I really need to work on this. I set up a mini stage as well. This mini stage required me to draw and fire at 2 simulated 6 yard targets. I would then move backwards and to my left to engage the next position, T3 & T4 than to my final position with a T5 & T6 with no shoots. My 3 runs I started my drawing and firing 2 shots in T1 & T2 than I would move as quickly as possible keeping safety in mind. I averaged 8.68 seconds. I than ran this stage 3 more times only this time on the buzzer I would draw and start moving backwards instead of staying static and I averaged 7.60 seconds. My 3rd and final run was start position facing the wall with hands on wall (targets are to my left). On the start signal I would turn and draw engage T1 & T2 while moving backwards. My average for 3 runs is 7.71 seconds. I really enjoyed this little stage and felt like I learned a lot. Something I am dealing with is a lower back/hip injury that causes a lot of pain at times. It doesn't bother me when standing and or moving. It hurts like hell when I am sitting and attempt to stand. I have intense pain and numbness in my left leg. Weather at my desk working or driving and getting out of my car; the pain is intense. I went to my doctor and she determined something is pinching my nerve. I am going to physical therapy now. The good is I am see the same physical therapist that helped me when I tore a tricep muscle in my left arm last year. So I feel like I am in good hands. I am looking forward to 2018 season. I feel like I will be better prepared and much more competitive.

Thursday, December 21 I shot an outlaw USPSA/IDPA indoor match. It was a fun match with 4 stages with the best part, I got to hangout with my good friend Keith. The scoring and targets were IDPA. Never shot IDPA so I was unfamiliar with the whole scoring penalty system. However, it didn't matter. It was fun and gave me an opportunity to live fire "practice" what I was dry fire practicing and that's what was important to me. The MD had good stages that required some entry/exit movement and opportunity to reload and shoot while moving. Shooting an indoor match had its own challenges. For me the biggest challenge was footwork. I found myself slipping and sliding on the concrete creating an unstable stance. Also, I found my dot was very bright. The lighting wan't the best and shooting my dot with the intensity as bright as it will go created a halo. In hindsight I wish I videoed my performance. I am sure I would have learned something. Going forward, If I shoot another indoor match I will turn down the dot and wear shoes that have better gripping on smooth concrete floors and video if possible.

Was able to get a solid 30 minute dry fire session in tonight. Worked on reloads,goal is to get down to a consistent 1.2 second reload. Right now I seem to be stuck in the 1.5 - 1.4 second range. Also worked on shooting while moving. To many times this year I cost myself precious time by not shooting while moving. Or when I did shoot while moving I didn’t perform very well. The good is, I can see progression, and that in itself a very good motivator for me. Dry fire practice absolutely works and that keeps me motivated to do something even if it’s like tonight and I only grab 30 minutes of practice. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

The DPP is suppose to go into sleep mode after a few minutes of being inactive. Do not remember the specific length of time. Mine usually comes on when I draw to make ready. Ever so often it stays in sleep mode and all I do is tap the slide with my hand and the dot turns back on. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Back from the land up north and finally able to get some dry fire in tonight. It felt really good. Worked on basic draw and reloads, set up CM 03-11 classifier and did some entry/exit drills. Having not touched a firearm for 8 days I was not sure how I would do. The 40 minutes of practice felt really good. I started my practice with basic static draw and reloads. I did 10 draw only and 10 draw with reload. I only fumbled my reload once and draw speeds and reloads were solid on the timer. Draw time on a 7 yard target averaged 1.10 seconds and reloads averaged 1.5 seconds. Second I set up the classifier CM 03-11 EL Strong & Weak Hand. For this practice I used my points from the last time I shot this classifier in a match; 95 points. My cold time was 15.83 seconds for a HF of 6.0012. I practiced the classifier 8 more times for an average of 14.38 seconds equaling a HF of 6.6063. What surprised me my average for the first string of free style/strong hand was 6.58 seconds; only .06 seconds faster than my first string cold. My second string of free style/weak hand improved significantly. First cold string was 9.19 seconds. I averaged 7.79 seconds for the 8 practice strings. Now I need to work at getting that speed for my first string and improve my free style/strong hand string. Weak hand shooting is something I need to work on. Last I worked on entry exit. I focused on exploding out of position A, getting into position B with gun ready to shoot as soon as I am in position. I quickly realized I need to make sure I focused on my last shot before leaving Position A so I don't pull my shots. I felt I managed this really well tonight. Getting into position B again I focused on having my gun up and ready to start shooting as soon as both feet were in position focusing on my dot and the A zone. I had far more successes tonight than failures and it felt really good. Something I learned yesterday from my Dr. over the last couple months I have been battling severe back and hip pain. The pain happens when sitting or driving for any extended length of time. By extended I mean 30 minutes or longer. When I would sit, try to stand up or get out of my car I would have severe pain. My Doctor said our first step is physical therapy. My insurance insist on this before an MRI. The x rays revealed some very concerning conditions in my lower back and hip. But first things first, physical therapy can do great things. We will find out.

I’m a little tardy with my journal entry ad I have been very busy last couple weeks. I dry fired practice Saturday. It felt good to focus on on entry/exit drills. I followed my plan from the last match and set up a mini stage in my basement with 2 shooting positions. Position A & position B. Distance between them is 7 yards. I set up 2 targets at 7 yards from position A. I had 2 targets at 3 yards from position B. I used my furnace duct work as a barrier in position B. Imagine a 2 foot wide 8 foot tall galvanized sheet metal door. I started my practice session running this mini stage “normally”. Starting position in box A draw 2 shots on T1 & T2 move to box B fire 2 shots on T3 & T4. I ran this 10 times with an average of 5.59 seconds. I started to break the stage down. Took my average time for draw and fire 2 shots on T1 & T2 and my average time to engage T3 & T4 subtracted that from overall time came up with a par time of 2.60 seconds to move from position A to position B. This turned out to be about the right time for me. What I discovered it was taking me between .59 seconds to .70 seconds to engage T3 & T4 once I got to position B. Now I feel like I have “hard” numbers to work with. Next week training will be put on hold. I’ll be out of town Monday through Saturday for company meetings. I’ll enjoy my time at the meetings, I work with some amazing people. I’ll take advantage of the little free time to work on training plans. Admittedly I’m feeling a bit of anxiety. Time seems vanish and I feel my time to practice and improve is slipping by. I need to focus on my plans, not how quickly time is passing by. I go through this every year. The feeling a new year is starting and I didn’t complete my goals from the previous year. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Shot a match at ARPC - Arnold Gun Club. This match will most likely be the last match for 2017. Overall I was happy with my performance, I came in 7th overall. I had one very close no-shoot and no Mikes!!! I managed to get video for 3 stages. These stages had some movement in and out of positions and right now I am focused on entry and exit. I feel this is an area I can gain a lot of time and watching the video supports that I need to work on this. After the match I put a plan together to start practicing this in dry and live fire. A big bummer; I seemed to have lost my Ben Stoeger book for live fire practice and it's driving me nuts. I guess I'll have to "wing it" until I buy another one. Something I felt I improved upon is my reloads. I didn't screw any of these up. I felt like my dry fire practice is starting to bear fruit in this area. One area of needed improvement that reared it's ugly head to Long range accuracy. Something I have not done much practice in. Stage 5 had 3 metric targets that you fired 8 shots into each target. The targets were at 25 yards. Not bad but not a distance I practice at. I aimed center mass and well, my shots were all low. I forgot (because I don't practice at 25 yards) my CZ shoots a little low at 25 yards. If I aimed center of the A zone instead of center mass of target, I would have had more A's than C's. Well, lessoned learned. My one no-shoot was a called shot and I just broke the perf. It was a tight shot and I didn't handle it well. I'm kinda bummed as this will most likely be my last 2017 match. But, I need to work on improving my skills and prepare for 2018. https://youtu.be/vGUahYAkNH0

I'm a little late responding. I had the same issue with my magneto speed. I used the rubber heat shield and it seemed to fix the problem.

According to CGW their trigger return spring will last longer. It certainly has for me. I did put a replacement spring kit together. You just never know. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

My trigger return spring broke as well. I had somewhere between 2000/3000 live fire rounds. Not sure how many dry fire trigger pulls I had, I don’t track those. I probably should though. I replaced it with a CGW reduced spring and haven’t had any issue since. I was told the factory trigger return spring is prone to breakage. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I switched from Prima V to Alliant Sport Pistol. It works very good for both 9mm and 40. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Saturday, November 25. I was able to get around of live fire practice in. My goal was to work on entry and exit from positions. I forgot my tripod so no video to break down. I was happy with my practice. I was able to use the big training bay. I set up 4 targets. 2 on the left side at 10 & 14 yards from shooting box A. Shooting box B was 15 yards to the right with 2 targets set at 10 & 15 yards. I would alternate which box I started in. Draw fire 2 shoots into each target then exit and sprint as fast as I could to the other position working on coming into that position ready to fire. I ran this drill 20 times put a reload in the last 10 runs. I watched my times closely, not just between positions, also my transition times between targets. When I finished my entry & exit drills I found a 2’ wide by 6’ tall barricade. Set this up in position B and worked on shooting around a barricade. 2 targets on the right 2 targets on the left side. I was shocked at how slow I was moving side to side. I averaged 1.78 seconds transitioning side to side. I also implemented a reload in this drill as well. The reload added 1.15 seconds to my transition time for an average of 2.93 seconds. This seems incredibly slow to me. Although I didn’t feel like I was going that slow. It felt good to get outside, weather was incredible. High in the mid sixties with little wind. The practice session went very well. I established some baseline times to improve on. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I'm using the Leupold Delta Point with the 7.5 MOA. It's been very durable and I would recommend it. FWIW, I have North of 9,000 rounds shot through this pistol this year. I am very happy with the entire platform. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Magictalent! I appreciate the kind words. Although I still have along ways to go. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

https://youtu.be/6JA4mFnJSPc A big thanks to Glock26toter. I could at least put a link to my short video from 11/21/2017 live fire practice. I thought these things was suppose to make our lives easier?

Thanks I'll give it a try. That makes sense, I have some work stuff that will only work on certain browsers. Can be very frustrating.

Yesterday I was able to get some live fire practice in. Sunday we had the NRA RSO class. Having this certification allows me use of our 2 training bays. The value of using the training bays at my club is the ability to set up targets and stages to practice specific drills. Unlike our pistol range where you are limited to the set target stands and distances. However, I learned a lesson today with using the training bays. You may not get to use the bay you want. Last night I made my training outline based on the larger bay. Well, today someone else was using it and I had to move down to the smaller bay. Plan B. I started my practice off with a 2 @ 25 drill. I average 2.45 seconds for draw and 2 alphas at 25 yards. This is a tough drill for me. Getting my time down to 2.00 seconds with 2 Alphas felt like it will be almost impossible to achieve. I set up a mini stage to work on movement. My goal was to have a stage once I start moving I don't stop until the last target(s). As the video shows I was struggling getting myself going. I'm fighting a sinus problem and I could really feel it today. The first iteration was 12 shots. I averaged 10.59 seconds with 10 A's and 2 C's. My 2 iteration was 15 shots with one steel. I also inserted a reload in this stage, my reloads need a lot of work. It seems most reloads are done while moving anyway. The additional challenge the 2nd stage has, is 2 distant targets. 1 steel and 1 metric target. I felt having to draw on 2 close targets and transition onto 2 - 25 yard targets is helpful skill as well. I averaged 13.09 seconds for the 2nd stage. I finished up performing triple reloads with 2 shots between reloads. I did this at 5 & 7 yards. As bad as I was feeling I managed a 4.59 second total time for the 5 yard and 4.96 seconds at 7 yards. I noticed my grip today was wimpy at best. I had to consciously think about my grip. This tells me I need to put more emphasis on grip training. Especially during dry fire training. I have video from my practice but, for some reason I cannot get the video to post. It won't take the URL. If someone knows why please let me know.

Thanks for the info!

I shoot a CZ P09 in carry optics. I have been shooting it since April and I have had zero issues. I had the slide milled for the Leupold DPP. My double action trigger pull is just below 7 lbs my single action trigger pull is right at 2.5 lbs. I put in the CGW springs, extended firing pin, stainless guide rod, 18# recoil spring, etc. It runs great and I am very happy with it.

MissionaryMike is right. A CZ P09 trigger can be improved greatly. It won't match a worked over SP01. As far as the reset, it's not as short SP01. But, for me it's not a hinderance at all. I have practiced enough that I don't even notice it.

If I was going to put a magwell on my CZ P09 I would go with Springer Precision. I've had very good luck with their stuff. I wish we could put a magwell on for carry optics. But no buena.

I started with CGW kit 97098 Pro-Grade Upgrade Kit P-07 P-09. I also put CGW's trigger return spring and their stainless guide rod and the 18 pound recoil spring. I also added CGW's extended mag release. These upgrades made a BIG difference. The pistol is easy to shoot and I really like having 23 rounds in my magazines.

I currently shoot a CZ P09 in carry optics. I went with the P09 when CO had a weight limit of 35 ounces. I had the slide milled for a Leupold DDP. I think I put every CGW part in it. My double action trigger pull is just below 7 lbs my single action act trigger pull is right at 2.5 lbs. With the stainless guide rod and 18 lb. recoil spring the gun shoots very flat. It weighs 28.5 ounces (without magazine). Are their better platforms? I'm sure there is. Is this one holding me back? Not at all; in fact I am the weak link right now. I have been shooting this platform since last April and have just north of 9,000 rounds through it. My only problem encountered was an OEM broken trigger return spring at the 6,000 round (live fire) count. I replaced it with a CGW spring and it's been good to go. I put the most aggressive skate tape I could find on the grip and it seems to be holding up very well. I guess you can say I am very happy with mine.

Tonight I was able to dry fire practice. I decided to "redo" the classifier I shot last Saturday CM 06-03. That first string was bothering me. My grip sucked my reload sucked. Well I just sucked. So tonight I set it up and ran it once cold. Well I feel better. I ran the classifier in 8.67 seconds total time dry fire. I know it really didn't accomplish much other than proving to myself I can and I'm capable of better performance. Tonight I started practice with Triple Reloads. I set a par time of 5.0 seconds although I am no where near that fast yet. But I wanted the pressure. This drill I ran twice but with a twist between the runs. First run was 6 shots between reloads and the second run was 2 shots between reloads. The reason behind the second run is I ran this very drill live fire back in August and I have my records so I can compare and give me an idea of where I am now. Triple Reloads 1st run: Averaged time 8.39 seconds. I found myself not bringing my gun down closer to my belt and getting the magwell canted toward the magazines and tilted up where I could just start to see into the magwell. When I would get this right my reloads were smooth and quick. When I didn't; well, things were just ugly. Also my grip was weak, I had to put some focus on gripping hard. I have found myself not gripping as hard as needed when compared to live fire. Need to keep focus on a hard grip all the time. Triple Reloads 2nd run: By the time I ran this drill 1 was warmed up. When I performed this drill live fire I was also warmed up so I figured it would be a wash. I ran this drill in 4.66 seconds dry fire. My last live fire run I averaged 5.45 seconds. needless to say it was motivating to see progress. I also worked on shooting while moving. I set up a mini stage. I set the stage with the start position of me facing the wall hands on X's. Upon start signal I would turn and draw to simulated 14 yard targets perform a 90 degree transition and engage targets at 5, 7 and 10 yards. I did this 2 ways. First I would engage the 14 yard targets transition and engage the 5 yard target then began moving while engaging the remaining 2 targets. I averaged 4.86 seconds. Second run I would engage the 14 yard targets transition and start moving same time toward and engaging the 5 yard while moving then engaging the remaining 2 targets while moving toward them. I averaged 4.43 seconds. This confirmed thoughts in this scenario; starting to move while conducting the transition was the smart play. Also, I focused on my dot. While I was moving I wanted to time my steps and shots where my foot wasn't hitting the floor while I was pulling the trigger. I felt like I made progress. This Sunday I have my RSO class at the home gun club. When I complete this class I will be able to use the training bays to prove up my dry fire practice with live fire. Something I am looking forward too.