Hardball

Looking forward to seeing you at the Area 6 match Paul. As you stated, I haven't touched a gun (other than carry) in about three weeks. To answer your question about selling the .40, well, by doing so it will force me to take some time to myself and give me the oportunity to build what I really want should I want to do so. The time to myself is the important thing right now. Like you I am a competitive person. I want to get better because I can. I noticed yesterday (the first time I touched a gun in those three weeks) at a practice session with a friend that my draw has naturally gained .3 to .4 in time because I am relaxed. Three weeks ago my draw was at 1.7 to 1.8 seconds first shot anywhere from 7 to 15 yards with a good shot. Yesterday my FIRST draw was 1.49 at 10 yards with an A. Not hyperspeed by any means, but it shows that time off and relaxation helps. I got it down to around 1.25 by the end of my 200 round practice session. I feel good about selling the gun as it will free up some money to get a gun better suited for me. No I am not going open. ;-) I like Limited and hope to be up there with the 70 some GM's in Limited. Who knows, I might just make it. I would like to take you up on your offer of meeting at the range one day. We can talk about it. I would like to publicly thank you for giving as much back as you do. It is appreciated. See you in Jax.

Paul, I know exactly where you were, mentally, when you wrote this post. I have been there for about three months now. Just when everything starts to gel and come together, frustration sets in at the fact that, though we know what we are doing, we don't quite understand why. Perspective is a mean creature. When you are right there doing something, your perspective and focus are extremely narrow. Once one takes a step back and looks at everything, the narrow focus is spread throughout all aspects, as is your perspective. Taking a look at all things, it seems to get a bit more simple to focus on the little things. Attention can be paid to the things that matter, and things that don't are easily ignored. I have been far enough into this narrow focus that I have actually decided to sell my .40 and move on. Area 6 will come and go, and no matter how I do, I will have done only as good as I have prepared. That isn't a glass is half empty statement if you take a good look at it. What that means to me is that by taking the last month basically and clearing all of the little negatives that have haunted me, I am able to focus on the things that matter. By taking a step backward from the rock that I am pushing, called improvement, I can see where it is that I need to apply pressure so that it goes where I want it to. Take a step back from yours and see where it leads you. I have decided that pushing that rock is not so bad. Competitiveness inside me makes me want to get better just for the sake of it. Maybe one day I will have my Limited GM card just to prove my point; but for now, I am committed to doing the best that I can in life and shooting to the best of my ability when I am at the range. No matter what.

I am going to be there as well. It will be the last match I shoot for a while. By the way, the gun I am using is the one that I am going to sell to the best bid. See you all there.

And don't mention the eight seconds...lol I do agree one hundred-ten percent Sgt. There are those that, no matter what, think that the world revolves around them. No thought goes into how others feel, nor the reasons that they do the things that they do. Rules are rules and each of us share the responsibility to adhere to them, but they are open for interpretation. The rules, unlike instructions, are guidelines to make things fair. I don't see the point of tagging the unclassified shooter with 90 penalty points for stupid things that we all have done. There comes a point when one has to ask whether it is worth making that person feel worse about thier performance. They see the guys that really haul ass and think, "Man, do I suck." Then the range nazi gets ahold of them and says, " Yep. You sure do." Well, to the range nazis out there.... bite me. Lighten up and have what is described as FUN. If you don't know the definition Websters Modern Dictionary can help you out. Give em hell Sgt.!

Come on now. I wasn't offering a reshoot...lol I only told you that if you didn't like the score to shoot it again with your head clear...lol

Bill I think that both the match director of the Florida Single Stack Classic and myself will be there. Look us up. We would like to see you down here for ours as well.

I have an old one of John Shaw. Back in the days when the thing to do while loading a 1911 was to pull the trigger with the hammer down and then rack the slide. He has a good 1, 2, 3 step as well. I have watched the burner series as well. Pistol Masters kicked ass, as did How to Shoot Fast Accurately. I have asked my wife to get IPSC Secrets for my B-Day next month.

I just wanted to let you know that your words transcend into life as much as they do for shooting. I noticed for the first time tonight, while playing softball with some pretty serious guys, that I was able to focus on every aspect as though it were my gun. My father coached baseball for 30 years, and even played some big league ball before that. In the years that I spent growing up with him, he never could teach me how to focus and let things flow. After reading your words, and a few years to contemplate what focus really is, I found that things flowed rather well tonight. I went 2 for 3 and had some pretty hard balls hit at me. None got through. I now love to play my old position. 3rd base is the hot box where we play, and I used to have a hard time keeping things flowing through fielding to the throw over. Before the game I had the epiphane that it wasn't any different from shooting. I just need to let it happen. It feels good to be in control and delegate your body to do the work while you just monitor. I get it. Thanks a million. We won, by the way. Came back from a 12-4 deficit in the 4th inning to win 13-12 and I put out the last 4 runners. Two with a double play that I initiated. I can attribute everything to focus. I was even told that I am a different person on the field than off. I think that they got it too. All I said was that we needed to focus and make it happen. It did.

All I can say to that one big dawg is........ SANDBAGGER!!! Just kidding you. It does blow.

Best answer that I can give to turn it off is like this. Think baseball for a minute with me. I grew up with a baseball coach as a father. He was a good baseball coach and everything I have ever learned from him was through the coach side. One thing that he told me at some point in my life is relevant to what you are asking. His comment was fairly simple and it went like this. " Anyone can hit a slow pitch fairly well because they have time to think about it and watch the arc of the ball as it rises and falls. A 100 mile and hour fast ball is another story. It takes a good hitter to hit a fastball at 100 mph. The only thing that differentiates a good hitter from everyone else, is that he doesn't think about hitting the ball, he just does. Kind of like, just shoot, isn't it? Well, when you are shooting a stage and you allow your focus to become thought,(Bad shot, that was dumb, or whatever.) then you have just lost your focus. You have allowed a distraction to capture your focus, kind of like a hitter striking out because the other team shouted "SWING!" Distractions happen very subtly in this sport. It could be a tan paster in the middle of hardcover, or whatever the excuse is, but the bottom line is...FOCUS! If you know you made a bad shot and it isn't because you noticed that your sights were off when you pulled the trigger, then you are allowing other things to distract you. Whether that is the target that has two d's or whatever. Remaining calm when you are on a self imposed time limit, that is the key. Ride it out, and drive it to where you want it to be. I am only a B class shooter, but I am now a SERIOUS B class shooter. My goal is to have my M by the end of the year. We shall see how realistic that goal is. I know it is possible, therefore I will try. Good luck and I hope that this made sense...

Nice answer David. I like that. You know, Sunday, both of us could have used a little bit of confidence. Visualization wasn't enough. Both of us fell to poor mental preparation. You shoot better than you let yourself shoot. I can see it in you. I shoot better than I allow myself to at times. Conservative vs. flat out. I think the statement of the century has been, just shoot. Nothing more, nothing less. Just shoot. Lead the way!

Cool topic, serious question. At what point does one's mind turn obstinate ideas, like "I WILL do this", or, "I WILL do that" into the confidence that whatever it is, will happen when it should? We all know that through practice we become more smooth in motion, whether it be a draw, or a shot on that 50 yd. harcovered target; but at times, we all have had that one thing that we wanted to accomplish, and were obstinate enough to keep trying it till we got it. My obstinate object is competitive in nature and includes me going as far as I can as fast as I can. Speed of life, so to speak. I want to make more, shoot more, care more, and basically experience new and exciting feelings through constantly learning and improving. A friend of mine put it perfectly the other day. His comment to me was about how he had amazed himself with the things that he has learned, but almost feels embarrassed when he wins because of that feeling of disbelief and lack of self awareness. We all see how others do things and we all know how we should do things in the sport, again, whether it is the draw or the hard shot, but we can't quite see ourselves doing them perfectly everytime, if ever. At what point does the confidence take over for the feeling of "I shouldn't be here" or " I am JUST a B class shooter, I don't know how I did that..." etc.? Next question is similar in nature: How do you trigger confidence in yourself? I am not asking because I don't know what works for me, I am asking how you do it. Mental relaxation is a form of confidence. Confidence in the fact that there is nothing to worry about, nothing weighing your mind. How do you transfer that confidence into the confidence to succeed?

>>Why did you guys choose to incur the expense of obtaining a Limited gun and its allied equipment when you were already set up for L10? What exactly made you go from L10 to L? Well, to be perfectly honest, I started shooting USPSA/IPSC with a singlestack because it was the cheapest way that I could start. I have three kids, a wife, a house, a dog, two cats, two cars, and I get hungry once in a while. I started with a Colt 1911-A1 with true combat sights (fixed) and five McCormick mags that hold 10 rounds each. I went to the STI for two reasons. First, I used to be a Ranger in the army and competitiveness is what drives me to wake up every morning. (They told me that I would die before I hit 30. I got em by a couple of years so far.) Second, the STI was a Christmas gift from a true friend, it is complete with "HARDBALL" engraved on the slide. I can honestly say that I have all that I need to become more competitive and measure myself against the progress of others. (I know that I compete with myself, but it is hard to measure where one should be when you don't have a basis for measurement.) I have read and reread BE's book. I notice that lately, when shooting the STI, I don't have the weight of the frequent mag changes on my mind. One less thing to interfere with the ability to drive. I look at it like that. I am driving without the radio, or the cell phone to my ear, or the screaming kids, etc. See you at the Area 6 SS! Hope you seek me out. Till then, keep smiling...

Well, it is looking like the first week in October. It will be a trophy match with prizes given away by random drawing. Guns, parts, you name it. It will be on the prize table. Interested? Drop me a line. Hardball

I just wanted to post and let everyone know that the questions that were answered about my change from a singlestack to and STI were appreciated. I am shooting better than I have ever done before. BE the tips that I take from you are much appreciated. I would love to see you guys come down to the Florida Single Stack Classic so that I can show a former singlestacker run rabid... Thanks a bunch guys.

This year we will have the third Florida Single Stack Classic. We are a Heinie Sanctioned 1911 Society match. Rules are posted at http://www.floridasinglestack.com . Match date is to be determined but will occur in October. Come on out and have some fun with us. You can contact me at hardball@floridasinglestack.com ,or the match director, Eric Stanley, at eric@floridasinglestack.com

I have been shooting a singlestack exclusively for two years now, and I can hit a mag change (consistently) between 1.15 and 1.3 seconds. The best mag change that I have ever done with it was .89 at the Heritage Single Stack Classic last Nov. I was stoked. Just think about how it will be with an STI bigmouth magwell. BTW I am a Limited B and L10 B class shooter both obtained with the singlestack.

I have been shooting L10 for two years now, having started shooting IPSC/USPSA with a singlestack .45. I have obtained my B card in Limited as well as L10 with a single stack. (I shot Limited before L10 was thoroughly enforced in Fla.) To make this short, what are some good drills other than dry fire and mag changes that will aid in my transition to a high cap STI? I am moving from .45 to .40 cal as well. I know that bullet time will help, but I am in search of that A card and would like to cut the curve a bit. Thanks for any replies.