TheChewycookie

12/5/2020 Official offseason just for fun matches starts now. Scores: https://practiscore.com/results/new/8f48303f-d602-476a-bed0-b368b4ef9ecb?q_division=0 2nd Limited (99.03%) and 8th overall 54A 27C 4D (85 rounds) Classifier percentages: 18-07 (76.4162%) 20-01 (83.3421%) Goals: Primary focus on efficient movement. Secondary focus on shot confirmation and no targets untouched or missing shots. FUN Good: Shot calling was mostly good, I was pretty happy with most of my paper hits even with 4D in an 85 round count match; most of those were made up with movement speed. Grip was consistent and solid. Solid stage plans. Aggressive, yet controlled stage movement with lifted feet enough off the ground to not drag against the ground. Okay: Need to index a bit more center of available A zone. Had a few make ups that I called bad that were due to breaking shots a bit early causing me to go back to a target. Foot placement and body height - had a few moments that I could have more easily moved out of position or had an easier shot if I had lowered my center of gravity a bit more. Confidence on steel and partials - stuttered a bit, I may still be relying on sound instead of visual confirmation, need to be a bit more patience on partial paper Needs work: Equipment maintenance - mag internals were getting gummy a lot quicker than I imagined. Probably either need to cull a few mags and replace, or treat the inside of the mags with a bit of silicone. (I haven't had issues like this with my 9mm mags before and the ammo I was previously using may have been a bit dirtier, learning some new things). Check zero of irons - not used to Vogel sights yet, need to confirm zero of the small variety of factory ammos I have. GOALS WERE MET: Sure I lost the limited division match, but I was overall satisfied with my performance and had fun. GOALS FOR NEXT MATCH: Rehearsal of footsteps and foot placement. More aggressive target transitions.

That should be the slide pickup adjustment screw #13961. Screenshots below are from the 550c manual: https://dilloncdn.com/manuals/dillon-rl550c-manual-english.pdf

Since you are asking for movement let's just specifically focus on body movement around the stage and positioning. Focus on staying low by keeping knees bent: keeping that body position lowered helps prevent any leaning cranes from tipping over. Had moments of bouncing up and down when slowing down between target arrays and entering a position high. Using the knees as shock absorbers will also help prevent translating that energy to your arms. Move around your house with a bottle or cup of water in both hands like you have a gun. The movement of water shows how much you are bouncing while moving. Positioning: You had a moment on stage 5 where you paused because you didn't see a target. Plan to move to a location that either will let you see everything in that array, or move in a way to see everything. That ending position maybe could have been dealt with a heavy lean to end the stage if you hadn't moved to the corner to see everything. Turn your body using your knees: You're doing the infamous tank turn at the waist. Slightly drop the opposite knee of the direction you want to turn. Have the gun up and ready for the fastest appearing target: Shoot as you enter a position or have the enough sight picture for the appropriate target. Be ready to shoot before you have a clear light of sight to the target. Shooting on the move was very possible in this match, but let's not focus on that yet until you get this down solid.

I have noticed that any fast times I produce is when I'm not thinking about going fast, sometimes it feels like underwater slowness with an additional autopilot if I programmed the stage into my mind correctly. A big focus for '21 season is to only think about stage execution and how to move around the stage. The speed will be there, just need the plan and make the hits. I want to find the mid point focus between the irons (when I'm not working dots) and target. I found I had better times with good to acceptable hits on the stages where both target and sights had mid focus. I sometimes target focus really hard, and ignore the alignment of sights or index to target. Target focus has been fine on a 5 yard target, but I find it's a bit of a reach at 12 yards for me.

The first stage you see (stage 4) the weather (rain @ 50°F or less) was getting to me and I decided for the right side M/NS to move on since I had already shot all 10+1 on the first mag. Failed to call some mikes, also with some water on my glasses. Needed a bit to mentally reconstitute for the remaining stages and refocus to calling hits instead of trying for speed. Stage 5 the weather was starting to clear up. I wasn't 100% sure and decided to move on from a right side tux; call made was 2 hits on the border of the hardcover but one of them was just outside the scoring A zone. After this point I decided to remove thoughts about aiming for speed and decided just to focus on good hits. I have noticed that I don't trust myself sometimes on irons, and I don't have the correct sight alignment for what I need to respect each target. I sometimes tunnel vision into just target focus.

11/22/20 Shot last planned local USPSA match, last minute switch Prod due to both RDS gun's optics breaking a week before. Goal - Have fun, win Production. Points I wanted to focus on - maximize points as much as possible, any pairs of shots on the move in between steps. Good: I am shooting way more relaxed now that I am thinking simply about having fun. A few small frustrations are fine as long as I move on from those. Okay: Execution during the COF - mentally slow during some parts and sometimes moving early on a scoring zone. A decently large number of left side Cs and Ms. Need to keep a more consistent weak hand grip. Needs Work: Confidence in gun manipulation - it was raining and had a moment that I wasn't sure I had the right grip on the draw, and another when I had fully racked the gun on a non-lock back reload and racked a round out of the chamber(the base of my thumb covers the slide lock); SOLUTION - dryfire without a timer and having consistent locations of grip and motion. Need to widen stance a bit more and improve stutter steps for stop positions to prevent going beyond intended that spot. I've also been noticing I have a tendency to drag my feet during short position movements. GOAL MET. While not my primary division, I still had fun. Was able to roll around with any issues I had. Only 1 mag toss for hitting a NS. Production win by .19%. 2nd locap (Master in prod shooting SS won by ~15%) 111A 18C 1D 4M (3 of which were hardcover) 2NS (134 round match) Scores: https://practiscore.com/results/new/123485?q_division=5

I would've gone immediately to a Dillon 650/750 since I primarily shoot pistol and have a basic understanding of mechanics. I can treat it like a turret press that I don't have to touch as much. I currently have a 550 (that I won from a random draw) which suits me fine that I upgraded to a C model and a single stage from a garage sale, but looking back I would've saved a lot of heartbreak if I had just gone to a semi-auto progressive. At my current financial situation and understanding of progressive presses, I would be frustrated with automation which I may plan on getting sometime in the distant future. I would also prefer wet tumbling so there's no dust to aggravate my allergies.

I prefer a 2 MOA dot due to astigmatism. Mine happens to draw a diagonal line from center to bottom left that I can observe on a 3.25 MOA RMR and I want as round of a dot as I can get. In January I should have an eye exam and I am planning on picking up some Hunter's HD. Hopefully it will correct the astigmatism as much as possible. I don't like wearing contacts due to dry eyes and causes me to blink significantly more, even though most people say it corrects astigmatism better than glasses; I haven't observed a difference.

The fatigue I'm guessing is caused by genetics. My brother has recently switched to a similar grip due to the same muscle fatigue. The lack of optic is because this is a new match gun. SRO 2.5 MOA comes in very soon.

Other side

It's very similar to the grip demonstrated by Yong Lee. The important reason I use this grip style is physiology. I just can't get past 75 rounds (even 9mm) without severe muscular strain in my forearm using a traditional or Vogel style grip, like something just wants to torque itself apart in my forearm. The important pieces that I have to make sure of are exact hand placement, setting my wrists and elbows just to the point of tension in each, and having max grip without shaking in my weak hand. My thumbs are popped up to increase mechanical wrist lock using the tendons, similar to a thumb rest on an open gun.

The important thing that I have to remember is to keep it a light toss. I have remind myself that anytime I do that is for keeping it funny mistakes with my range buddies. Anything harder and I realize I have to sit and cool down for about 5 minutes to clear my mind.

That's what I have noticed from my last few matches. So the goal for my last local of the year will be pure fun.

11/14/20 Local match shooting Limited. Starting to notice that I'm only shooting somewhat to my capability. Not necessarily pushing or just simply being there, but sorta out-of-mind. Probably end of season burnout and the need for an off season. Next weekend's local match will be the last push for a high note to end the year. Goal: Push for fast times. 85% of points is acceptable as speed is the focus. Good - No panicking. Stable shooting on the move and transitions. Need work - Support hand grip, and staying low throughout the course of fire. Had a mystery M at 3 feet; was told that I plugged a round into the ground on a Virginia count classifier. (EDIT: upon video review I actually had 4A 1C on left target of classifier) Bad - Full visualization of stages. Missed a target in the back corner of a stage. Was starting to get mentally fatigued, especially since it was a really windy day and every stage shot had to be reset or rebuilt due to range equipment falling over. Goals weren't met. 3rd in limited. only 77% of possible points.

Would it be fair to say that your "spelling dilemma" is because you have stepped out of your comfort zone this year? If you made gains this year then you clearly had a roadblock removed, but now you have reached another point of uncertainty that you haven't figured out how to overcome because you recently changed something from the way you always did it, and the differing ideas are clashing in your mind.

BRRIIIIIAAAAAAAANNNNN. Looking forward to the written commentary supplementing your videos. See you at Dragon's Cup.

The reason I use a finger over trigger guard is because of stress within my forearm. I have tried in the past to use the typical grip most people are taught and I just can't get past 75 rounds comfortably and local matches are typically double that or slightly more. I have also tried the Vogel style grip and couldn't nail the grip consistently, much less comfortably. I have been able to get a consistent grip and comfortably shoot for an entire day using finger over trigger guard.

10/31/2020 Local hosefest - Shot limited major. Goal was to observe bad habits when going with hair on fire runs for all stages. Observations I have a tendency to transition early when I want to go faster than my eyes are transmitting info; could be because I'm no longer used to shooting iron sights and having a mental rejection. Could be remedied by locking onto each A zone during transitions and only moving the eye when the shot breaks. Footwork breaks down and I take larger steps to the next position, stutter steps become non-existent. Over-gripping with strong hand and degrading weak-hand grip. 11/7/2020 Local Match shooting Carry Optics. No video this time. Had an "okay" day for a match. Goal: Try to shoot at the 90-95% match pace with As and close Cs. Good - Stuck to stage plans, clean positioning with a low stance. Needs work - need a little bit more stutter step for position entry, a bit more weak-hand grip focus on the gun, long distance shot confirmation (35 yard poppers), center in on A-zone, need to shoot as soon as A zone of target becomes available, "gun up", a bit more aggression on exiting step, and clean-up rounding corners. All of these items were observed during the Tim Herron class I took a month ago, so it definitely needs refinement. Bad - Emotional shooting: 1 noisy and annoying squad mate that got on my nerves for a little bit, resulted in a negative atmosphere. Need to block out external distractions and just focus on my plan and shooting. Goal was NOT met. Probably only shot about 75-80% of current capability. Will revisit issue of blocking out external distractions, going to try using music during dryfire and just ignoring it. Grip and accuracy should be simple to remedy in dryfire. Results: 97% of CO winner. 57A 26C 2D 1M

10/24/2020 Simple match prep. Garcia Dot drill. Practiced CM 99-19 (hands on wall, barricade, shot calling, cadence, reloads, transitions). 10/25/2020 Collin County USPSA 6th Carry Optics 9th Overall https://practiscore.com/results/new/121489?q_division=1 Match mostly felt pretty good, very close to or at match pace given the new confidence after the Tim Herron class. Accuracy, transitions, and grip felt excellent. Need a little bit of work on small pieces of stage plan efficiency, and long range confidence. Goal for the match was to attack hard while going for good points. Goal met. Back to the drawing board for the 2021 season.

It's still impressive making it within the top 25 for your first Nats with a smaller gun that has a higher chance of hanging most people up on reloads, so Congrats on that. Can't wait to shoot with you again in the future.

Very informative. Tim is still in his beginning stages of teaching, so any feedback he gets from students helps him develop his curriculum. He's had repeats who have said each time they attend his class it evolves. Anyone can learn anything and he'll follow up with email. There's also an alumni group on FB which acts as an idea share for sharing vids for peer review, or information regarding anything in practical shooting. On the bonus side, he said he really wants to do a Dallas class again in the future and possibly make it a regular schedule.

This past weekend I took a Tim Herron 2-day Practical Pistol class. Very informational and practical for students who need that little something to boost their performance. Background of students A variety including everyday civilians, a first time class taker, and about 5 USPSA shooters. Day 1 Familiarization with students Cold run on stage for diagnosis of strong and weak points. Student follows up with 2 strong points and 1 weak point. Tim follows up with 2 more strong and weak point each. Establishing and fixing fundamentals for each shooter. Drills performed: Establishing grip - relaxing and tensioning weak hand and strong hand. Modified Garcia Dot drill - 3 yards using a scaled A box to simulate 25 yards, first 3 strings of fire were untimed, last 3 are timed, if par and score is met then round count was increased, I went from 6-9-13 shots for last 3 strings. Practical Accuracy including SHO and WHO. Shot calling - placing a shot-up target in front of a clean target and predicting where the shot landed based on what was seen right before firing the shot. Blake Drill to work transitions. Each student was individually worked with to push limits and increase confidence for speed at distance Day 2 Another cold run of the stage Class broken into 2 groups. One bay was setup for man-to-man competition, the other on the stage to help improve the starting section of the stage. Man-to-man competition Basically a drag race to see who could exit a position and enter on a target. 1 shot, and best time w/ hit wins. Stage setup as a mirror. 1 target placed about 7 yards with barrels obscuring the target from the start position. Shooters have 1 foot on their respective start position, given start signal, and must hit the target to score. If a consistent winner is noticed, must apply 2 shots on target. Individual session with Tim Groups swapped bays during working lunch. Tim worked individually with each student to improve their start position, aggression and hard target entry. My group had prior competition experience and was working on individual deficiencies. Video below. Tim Herron's Barrel drill This is to work rhythm. Students have to work movement, timing, and transitions. Students have freedom to choose distance from barrels, shot cadence, but must fulfill the requirements of all A zone hits, and split times within .10 seconds of each other. The draw is free. Forgot to take video of my runs. Came CLOSE, but all runs were just 1 C away from greatness and walking away with his Barrel Drill challenge patch. I had split times averaging 0.55 seconds Activator sequencing and transitions. Most students did not have much confidence with activated targets. The one in class we had was a clamshell Max Trap with an exposed head. Tim asked each student to come up with a plan, run it, then had the student run a more difficult array using the same target. As long as the student saw what they needed and had better confidence, Tim gave the student a pass. FORGOT TO TAKE VIDEO AGAIN LIKE AN IDIOT, but still came away with better confidence on transitions with an activated target with an effective par-time. Graduation stage run. I included a video of the 3 stage runs I had throughout the class after my individual session. Most people were exhausted and had slightly better scores on their 2nd run of the weekend, but were pushing a higher risk stage run for a better score. I came away this a slightly worse score but could've had a better time; IFSC math was informational to see what would've happened if I didn't have a make-up shot on the clamshell target headbox. All students walked away from class having learned something they were better at with a recommendation for improvement. At the end, students were asked for positives and negatives of Tim's class, each had something to offer. Everyone enjoyed the individualized feedback. I would recommend this class to anyone, and I would take his Match Clinic in the future.

Welcome to USPSA. The heat is only as hot as you want to make it.

I was competitive as a kid, but never really did sports, and not really competitive in swimming for the 2 years I did it. Attempted filling the gap with piano and playing trombone in high school bands. I got hooked once I started shooting as a Boy Scout, and I knew that was going to be my lifelong hobby. Hit college and I started watching Hot Shots on YT and realized I wanted to do practical pistol competition.

Tell myself "too many mind". Helps to remove the whirlwind of emotions I may have.