Jetfire70

[Jetfire]

Greetings all,

I'm starting this Range Diary to track and improve my shooting skills in this new sport I have taken up.

A little about myself. First my writing skills suck, so fair warning ahead of time. I have been around guns my whole life, thanks to my dad. Unfortunately, I haven't shot much in that time. When I was young I would go with my dad when he would trap shoot, and help reload shotgun shells after. By the time I was old enough to shoot though, he had stop shooting for various reasons. The guns were still there and it was something we would do later; well, later really never came. When I turned 21 I got my first pistol, a Beretta 92FS INOX. I shot it for a little while and could shoot half descent with it. Unfortunately I stopped shooting with it for this or that reason. Again, it was something I could do later. Later turn into more than a decade. I got back into shooting again after my sister go me to go to a CCW class. This was around February of 2009. I had ammo in my mags for so long that when I did the shooting for the class. The springs in the mags were to weak to lock the slide back after the last round. I fixed that but the 92FS was to big to carry. So I went out and got my first Glock (G26 for glove box) followed shortly by a G19 to carry. For some reason I could not shoot the Glocks as well as my 92FS. This lead to research and practice.

Practice only gets you so far when you're doing it by yourself. Luck would have it that Target World where I shoot at was having a Spring Glock Shooting Sports Foundation (GSSF) League. I signed up, shot and didn't do so well. I was determined to better next time. So after more research, a trigger job and a lot more practice, I finish 1st Place in the next month match with a 498 out of 500. I shot the next month and did well but not good enough and finished second over-all with the average of the 2 best matches out of 3. Since I shot multiple guns I did get first place in C class in their Lewis Prize Allocation system. I still wanted that First Place spot though. I didn't get in the Fall shot either but did get first place in B Class. At this time I joined Miami Rifle & Pistol Club because I wanted to shot my AR-15 some where. I missed out on their Practical Pistol (USPSA)Beginner's class for 2009 since it was before I joined.

When Dan Carter offered a class this year I decided to take it. Thanks Dan. I went to the class and a week later I shot my first match on my 40th birthday. What a ball I had. I meet Pharaoh Bender and he was our squads RO. Dan and PB told me about this site and I here I am.

I'm shooting my Sig Sauer P226R Navy in Production at the moment. I finished 13th out 31 (in Production) at my first match, so I was happy with that. MRPC is having their classifier match on April 25th so I should have enough classifiers to be classified by the end of the month. Her's hoping for a High C class or low B.

Thanks,

Joe

Edited April 12, 2010 by Jetfire

[Jetfire]

First thing don't post at 3 am when you can't get to sleep I get a little wordy.

My first match on the 28th was just for learning the sport. I did come away with things I need to work on though. The basics of course being my draw and mag changes. So I have been dry fire drilling those. I also got more mag pouched so I don't dig in my pockets for them. The biggest problem I had was the Texas Star. That thing just ate time and ammo for me.

I shot my second match Sunday April 11th at Miamisburg. Nice place, I will try and make it to a Monday practice match sometime but it's 40 minutes from work. I came in 3rd place overall (in Production), which I'm trying to figure out how?

I have improved my draw and mag changes some but still need more work.

For me my best stage was the classifier one. I got 19 Alphas out of 20 shots with one Delta. Even though I was 5th out of 9 (in Production) I had 96 out of 100 points. Now if I can shoot faster. This stage also pointed out something I need to work one, one hand shooting. Most importantly weak hand in Double Action. The last string was to draw and switch to weak hand and fire weak hand only. I didn't get a could grip on the gun with my weak hand. As I was pulling the trigger for the first shot with the extra weight of being DA. I realized how bad my grip was. So I had to stop pulling the trigger and take the gun in both hands. I got a better grip with my weak hand and dropped my strong. I finished the course of fire. The DA pull on the trigger is what got me the Delta on that target.

Newbie question are you allowed to thumb the hammer after you draw?

Edited April 12, 2010 by Jetfire

[Sarge]

Newbie question are you allowed to thumb the hammer after you draw?

No.

[Jetfire]

No.

Didn't think so but had to ask.

[Jetfire]

Shot my first all Classifier match today at MRPC ran by Dan Carter. Pharaoh Bender was our squad's R.O. Unfortunately, my Helmet Cam did arrive in time for this match, so I could see all my mistakes but it will be here Wednesday.

I messed up the first 2 stages by trying to shoot to fast. On my 1st stage (Stage 2) I had a Mike on a popper I swear I double tap. Our second stage (Stage 3) I double Miked a half hard cover target. I slowed down after that. The 4th stage (Stage 5) we had a guy DQed for breaking 180. This got came back to haunt me by getting into my head. This stage had 3 shooting areas that you had to shoot from. I seem to do area A fine but messed up my position on B. The was shooting around a wall. I never had problem before but this time I could barely get around the wall to shoot. I than ran to area C changing mag on the the run. When I got to Area 3 I still had my new mag in my hand. I think I was being so extra careful to keep my gun pointed down range since this is we our guy got DQed at. I never finished my reload while running. When I saw the mag still in my hand I inserted into the gun and finished the stage. The only other stage I remember having a problem was our 5th stage (Stage 6) I took extra shots on targets I thought I missed. Which helped on one, but still got a Mike on the last target. On our 6th and final stage (Stage 1) I did better with my weak hand shooting. Practicing weak hand shooting helped there. I still need a lot of work weak hand shooting but at least my switching to weak hand went a lot better than at Miamisburg.

Hope to shoot a PCSI in Circleville this Saturday since I hear it's can be real fun. I also hope to have my helmet CAM up and running for it. So I can record and learn from my mistakes. For now I'll just wait to find out where I classified at. Hoping for C class.

Off to do some dry fire runs and practice Mag reloads.

[Sarge]

Jetfire, you made it to our first practice session this week at MRPC and from what I saw your basic fundamentals are in place. With some continued practice and plenty of matches this year I am sure you will see significant improvements. Our next practice session will incorporate some weak hand shooting so be sure you make it.

I would like you to know ahead of time that classification should really be the last thing on your mind. Don't get me wrong, deep down we all want to move up. But hoping for a certain classification can be disappointing and help contribute to making mistakes. Some try so hard or do whatever it takes to move up in classification. They indeed do move up but still can't perform on the stages they face at matches. I personally like to perform well on more complex stages as it shows I had my thinking cap on and stuck to my plan.

I meant what I said when I told you Circleville puts on some great matches with lot's of movement so you will be sure to have a good time next Saturday. I plan to be there as well and look forward to seeing you.

[Jetfire]

Our results from Sundays Classifier Match at MRPC just got posted on USPSA site. Yep, the first 2 stages I tried to race though (Stages 2 & 3). I total tanked those, tie for last place. When I slowed down after that I was in the middle of the pack. With my best results on Stage 5 (Easy Street) which I placed 8th in Production. That's the one I messed up shooting around the wall from Box B and not finishing my reload on the run to Box C. So I should have done even better. I finished 17th in Final results for Production, which is not bad but would have been better if I didn't tank those first 2 stages.

Sarge,

I just got Steve Anderson's "Refinement and Repetition, Dry Fire Drills for Dramatic Improvement" book along with his other one. I also got Brian Enos "Practical Shooting, Beyond Fundamentals" Book. I have only read Steve's Dry fire so far. I'm going to post this part on MRPC forum too. For our Practice session, why don't we take one of his drills or make our own. We can do dry fire drills at home and then some Live fire reps of the same drills at the practice session.

[Jetfire]

At Area 5 match , shooting Sat. & Sun. A.M., just finished Sat. A.M. I'm at least having fun. Unfortunately I have miked every stage. Here's hope for better shooting tomorrow. I have some video I'll post later.