drmweaver2

I have a dry eye issue also...both on windy days and due to allergies. One thing both my allergist and optometrist pointed out to me is that not all "eye drops" are for dry eyes. Some are for redness (ex., Visine Original). Some are merely diluted saline solution (ex., Liquid Tears). Contact solutions are useless for combatting dry eyes in my experience and their opinion - except in very general terms. Basically, they said it's no more useful than Liquid Tears/saline solution - mainly because it doesn't last very long. For dry eyes, I/You want some with a lubricant in it. For ex., Walmart's generic brand Equate Dry Eye Relief has 0.3% Glycerine and 1% Propylene Glycol. I won't recommend that, per se, but it does work for me. In addition, I always use "wrap around", over-glasses when shooting (over-glasses because I always wear prescription glasses). I have occasionally (really windy days) used actual goggles (think old motorcycle style with leather around the frame). I also find that wearing the wrong hat/cap can direct/funnel wind into the area between my eyeglasses and my eyes which certainly dries the eyes out quickly.

I've decided to move my diary over to the PF forums as this forum is sooooo competition-oriented (no insult intended there) and I am NOT competition-focused at all. The chance of me doing any serious competition work is slim and it just doesn't seem to fit my goals. I appreciate all the views and comments here. For those of you who've merely viewed this thread, I've noticed and appreciated that also. Thanks. FWIW, that link is https://pistol-forum.com/showthread.php?22233-A-different-kind-of-journey Edited to fix the link

Went back to the range today and shot both the 9mm and the 22LR. Fairly pleased overall with the results. Shot the SD9VE/9mm first. 3 mags. All 3 targets are on 8.5x11 inch paper. Other than the 1 flyer on the silhouette, this accurately represents my current skill level, I think - some trigger jerk/pushing but much more consistent than I have been. Switched to the M&P 22LR for the rest of the session. Trying to get rid of more Golden Bullets....when they worked, they were semi-accurate. When they didn't, I noticed my "flinch". Shot the left paper target first. Both sheets are on 8.5x11 inch paper. Pretty happy with the left target's results... not so much with the right. I was actually trying to "make 1 big hole" on 4 different circles... just didn't get anywhere near there. Had some muzzle wobble and visual focus issues. No excuses.. just didn't execute. Still, I left the range pretty happy with my shooting today, especially with the 9mm's results.

Decided to commemorate the 15th anniversary of 9-11 with a range day. Shot the .22LR again. Reasonable results, nothing spectacular nor horrible...even when pushed out to 40'...(the big center circle target). As usual, pulled/pushed shots left a bit & some low. Had some eye focus issues.. might be a dry-eye thing. I need to remember to bring my eye drops next time. Will have to try this with the 9mm soon. But at $0.21/round, I would shoot only half or a third of this - between 125 and 150 .22LR rounds ($0.072/round). I'd intended to shoot the bottom two rows of 1-inch dots in groups of 5 per dot from 10', but I ran out of time (had to get home to see the Saints football game). I'll do that next time I shoot this target for sure. The goal will be 5for5 in each dot. For comparison, the top two rows of 1_inch dots were shot from 15' and I rarely got hits in the dots period. I thought for sure I would, but it was not to be.

Went back to the range today... shot the 22 again from 20 feet. 100 rounds of Remington Golden Bullets because I am a masochist. I averaged 1 misfire or other malfunction every 3rd round. 2 rounds literally blew the casing bottom out and startled the hell out of me. Others were crimped and wouldn't chamber properly and still others wouldn't chamber more than 50% of the way due to some undetectable (by me at least) reason. I shot the last 50 rounds with Aguila Pistol Match rounds and had zero issues. I need to learn to just throw away the Golden Bullets... but I am cheap, they're paid for, and throwing stuff away after it's been paid for is against my "principles". Anyway, here's the target for the day... all were single shots from "low ready to press out" from 20' I'd have shot more, but, after shooting the top 2 with Golden Bullets and having all those issues, I was both tired and frustrated. In any case, Overall, I'm fairly pleased with the accuracy. Nothing spectacular, but definitely mostly in the red/gray. I think there are only a couple rounds in the black ring. As you can see from the markings on the target, I was planning to shoot another 100 rounds, 50 more from 20' and then finish up with 50 more from 30'.... FWIW, those "ovals" are 7.5" x 5.25" and the red areas are 3" x 2"... One "good thing" about the bad, horrible, terrible Golden Bullet malfunctions was that it showed me CLEARLY just how badly I'm flinching. I didn't think I was flinching with the .22 but I certainly am. This confuses me a bit as the SIRT pistol's laser doesn't move 1/64th of an inch on the wall when I press the trigger and it has a much more difficult trigger. The .22 has practically no recoil or noise, of course. So what am I flinching from when shooting it? Dunno.... Anyway, it's all good.

Went to the range today... Shot both the 9mm and the 22LR. Figured that I'd shoot at 30' since that was where things were "deteriorating". I was relatively pleased with the results. Started off shooting 9mm rounds at 2 different targets. Low ready to press out, shot within 2 secs. Target 1... The shots in the red were all sequential right at the start, then the results somewhat deteriorated from there. Target 2.... . Overall, semi-pleased. Flinching but also dealing with a serious scratch that hasn't completely healed on my strong hand between the thumb and the index finger. Affected the grip more mentally than physically... my grip was fairly tight through the recoil. No excuses, but something I was definitely aware of during recoil and causing more anticipation issue than normal. As noted above, my initial shots were good, in the red, but as the hand began to bother me, things went somewhat downhill. Target 3... .22LR Target 4... more .22LR As with the 9mm, I was bothered by the scratch more mentally than physically, but even with the .22LR's minimal recoil, it was a noticeable distraction. So, short day but actually walked away feeling better than the last time when I left with serious doubts... As noted on one 9mm target, I "lost" 6 rounds.. dunno why or where they hit (probably fliched/jerked and they went low left... totally unsure). But since so many rounds hit somewhere on the paper at 30', I'm gonna start shooting that distance more often. It can't hurt...if my confidence starts to drop, I can always bring the target back in.

I use blue painters tape also.

Labor Day fun - indoor range work. Hit a milestone today... shot my 3,000th .22 round. You might not be able to tell it from the results, but 3,000 seems a significant amount of shooting to me. I only wish I had better results to show for it. Shot 200 rounds with the .22LR. Overall, mixed results. Still not accurate at all past 20 feet. Not sure why things "fall apart", but past 20' they just do. Otoh, I'm fairly satisfied with 20' and in. Warmups From 20', start @ low ready, chest shot then head shot. Definitely not good results on 2nd shot/head shot. Might be rushing the drill overall. Finished up with this... Ended with the 30' target on the left. Totally dissatisfied with those results. Not sure what happened and that's not a good thing.. On the other hand, the fact that the range was open on the holiday was great. Made my day. At this point, I don't see any reason to go to another USPSA match yet where I'd expect to get worse results with the 9mm than I am currently getting with the .22. If I can't get more consistent results shooting the .22 at targets @ or past 30', it would almost definitely be a case of throwing money away. At $50-60 a pop/match, I think my money's better off being spent under more controlled circumstances; heck, I can shoot a minimum of 600_ .22 rounds for that money, possibly 1,200 if I can find a deal! Disappointing. Very disappointing.

Dry fire and football... they do and don't mix! Started out watching the 7:30am football game played in Ireland of all places. Halftime break allowed for 10 mins of Wall drills. Had some wobble that wasn't there last time I did this drill (a couple days ago). Post-game allowed for a couple hours break and thus dry-firing before the next game. Did 25 reps each of micro-draw sections - garb the pistol, holster to low ready, low ready to press out, reholster. Got into another game...at halftime went back and did 25 reps of low-ready to single shots on 2 inch target circles from 4 yards. No par time used... didn't want to "harsh my buzz"/get frustrated and not enjoy the football... yeah, I know, priorities, priorities. Finally am sitting watching the LSU-Wisconsin game...just past halftime during which I got in 25 more low-ready to single shots on a 1/6th scale silhouette with a 2 inch circle in the chest A zone followed by another single shot on a similar target 6 inches to the right from 4 yards. Again, no par time used. Concentrated on accuracy while giving myself a mental par time to beat" of 2 secs after getting the front sight on the silhouette. LSU is playing like a bunch of 3rd graders, so I'm frustrated...and it is affecting my dry-fire!!! Geaux Tigers....c'mon guys...eww ken due et!!! Edited...added below stuff Okay, so LSU lost. Bummer.. big time bummer. Dry-fired 25 reps of "double taps" on a 2 inch target circle at 15 feet (all but with my back against a wall!) with a vengeance. No par time used... but went as fast as I could and used LASR software to judge accuracy. 65% hits first shot, 45% second shot. Slowed down slightly for 25 more double tap reps... maybe 90% of the previous speed. Same target and distance. LASR software reported little real increase in accuracy - 72% first shot, 54% second shot. Time for more beer... wait, I haven't had even one yet... yeah, more beer definitely needed. End of dry-fire for the day.

Thanks.

What email address is that?

Actually, I have a half-fingered bicycling glove that I have tried during dry-fire in my house. It provides additional "grip width" because of the pad on the heel of the palm area and additional "grip length" due to the pad on the thumb joint "pad" area. Consequently, it gives quite a positive and comfortable grip for my hand with my SD9VE. I also tried it at an indoor range for a bit - until I noticed the strange looks I was getting...so about 32 rounds(2 mags) worth., Seemed to work fine there also. But, for competition, well.. I wonder how an RO or MD would view things...

My pistol doesn't have swappable backstraps standard and the rules say I can't use anything to build up and/or change the actual shape of the grip, right? But if it DID have swappable backstraps, I could change the grip... So, does that mean I can or can't use a padded glove to accomplish the same thing - essentially a longer and wider grip?

Had to get in some range time today as the weekend is for football! and Monday being Labor Day, not sure if the range will be open or not. So, took out the .22LR again. Shot 150 rounds. Used new (for me) targets just for variety. All but the last pic/target were single shots at 15', from the low ready to press out. Again, front sight pic was my concentration... wanted to try to get 'em all in the circles/dots. Not particularly great results, but not horrible. Sorry about the focus... but it's "viewable". If you want to "Track my progress through the session", I shot top left then top right on the left target first, then bottom left followed by bottom right. Then I shot some smaller black dots before moving to the right sheet where I shot top left then top right, bottom left then bottom right. The circles are 2.5" circles. These were each shot within 3 secs from starting at low ready. Switched to this target just for a change.. still shooting at 15', single shots starting from low ready within 2 secs. Edited to note annotation error.... these are 2" circles... not 2.5".. Some evidence of muzzle/sight wobble and I recognized it a lot as it was happening. Should have backed out of the shot a couple times. Some out-of-focus (both front sight and target) shots taken... not a good thing to do. Finished up with this... from 10'... Edited to note annotation error.... these are 2" circles... not 2.5".. Single shots from low read firing almost immediately after front sight arrived at center of circle. I had a premature shot, the top left one. I had my finger on the trigger too soon and did not intend to shoot that shot. Don't quite know what happened on the low left flyer just below it. The other low left shot was almost called; that is, I knew it was going to be outside the circle but not how far outside. Otherwise, a pretty decent grouping.... Overall, felt pretty fair about the results. Has some lower back pain issues (chronic, on-going issue for 35 years) as well as a right deltoid issue. My hands aren't tensing up as much as before, which is good. I'm definitely feeling that the dry-fire low-ready press outs and draw from holster work is showing results... nothing M/GM level for sure, but I can look back at my earliest targets and see progress.

Dry-fire day. Definitely not as much fun as live firing. Concentrated on draw micro-drills..initial grab, initial grip, press out movement, gaining front sight picture, reholstering for about 10 minutes. 10 reps of the Wall drill - holding front sight picture still and then single trigger pull with no muzzle/sight picture movement. If it moved, I repeated the rep. LASR/SIRT dry-fire work: 10 reps of slow, deliberate draw and single shot @ 2 inch bullseye from 5 yards. No par time used. 25 reps of draw and "double-tap" at 3x5 card target from 5 yards. Focused on gaining a proper grip and decent(not perfect) sight picture for 1st shot. LASR software showed I missed the 1st shot once and the 2nd 3 times while beating a 4.5 sec par time. 10 reps "at half speed" on that 180 degree turn in the El Presidente drill. Still not comfortable with my turn. Two methods seem popular according to an Internet search and depend on the direction one turns. Since I'm right-handed and wear my holster on the right side, I'm most comfortable with stepping back with my right foot & turning right. I guess the issue is how much of a backward step I should take and how far across the centerline of my body that step should be. Need to work on this more, much more.