Matt's Range Diary

[alpha-charlie]

Classifier match..........

Shot an indoor classifier match yesterday. No video. 4 classifiers, I trashed Life's Little Problems with 2 mikes. My time was good, not great, but the first 2 shots I didn't see my front sight at all. I do remember seeing black instead of the red fiber optic thru my rear sight and thinking, "That's not good." At least I know what I saw the whole time. I had just about ZERO practice during December so I wasn't surprised by my mediocre shooting. I also found that I get really amped up about shooting classifiers. Why? They're short little stages with no movement (mostly). After the first one (On the Move) I hesitated to holster right away and stared at my gun hand. I was shaking like a leaf. I really need to stop caring about them and just shoot them. I've said that before but old habits are tough to break. It's also lack of experience shooting them. Another good piece of advice I was given by El Beno was to set-up some classifiers and learn how to shoot them. Showing up to a match and blasting away as fast as possible hoping for good hits is not a good strategy. Of course, I have yet to act on this advice and it shows.

I'm on vacation until Feb. 1, so I'll be stockpiling ammo and dryfiring in the cold basement. Steve Anderson was right when he recently said "Basements are for dryfire and rock n' roll."

[alpha-charlie]

Live fire...........

After a rough classifier match I've been taking advantage of the 45 degree sunny weather while on vacation. Instead of dryfiring in the basement I've been hitting the range lately. Accuracy is the name of the game and shooting up close is no longer an option. The closest I'm shooting at is 15 yards on partials and the farthest is about 35 yards on partials and plate racks. By partial I don't mean covering up the left or right side C & D area but covering up about 85% of the A-zone with a no-shoot. I was faced with some of these targets at the last match and automatically went for a head shot instead. In a match environment I was too concerned with popping the no-shoot and pussed out. So, for the last two days and about 700 rounds I've been practicing these tight shots. I know I can make those shots normally but that's with no match pressure or consequences if I miss. To push it more, I was shooting 3 steel plates first and then transitioning to the tight shots to train myself to go from hosing easy targets to slowing down to make precision hits. It was good to see some progress there.

After spending the morning/afternoon at the range I decided to jump back in the truck and drive out to Rockford for Thursday night USPSA. I shot good but not amazing. Flubbed some reloads and took too much time getting shooting on the steel but some positives did come out of it. On the 2nd stage there were the exact same partial targets I had been practicing on. I had no worries or concerns about shooting the A-zone next to the no-shoot. I think that's an incredible step in progressing. You have to be confident in every type of target that comes your way. I now know, I can make that shot with no problem in match conditions. The 3rd stage was my best, only 1/2 a second behind Alex. I shot it completly different than everyone else by starting on the right instead of the left. The last set of targets was pretty tight behind the barrels and I nailed some Deltas which made me lose the stage. Have to work on those next.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4f0YT4WGcs&list=UUFWsAZ6iy7Tbur34sXtkFQw&index=1&feature=plcp

[alpha-charlie]

I've decided to shoot the ProAm this year down in Frostproof. I've never shot it before and it looks like a lot of fun, and supposedly has one hell of a prize table. I read that there is no required pf so you can use your production gun. This is good since I don't own any type of Limited or Open gun. I'll have to get classified in Limited though so that I don't have to shoot as Unclassified. (Unclassified doesn't visit the prize table) The plan is to shoot my production gun in Limited minor in order to get a classification. I just have to shoot all A's right??? I think this will officially make me a sandbagger in limited if I automatically get classified as an A since I'm M in production.

Edited January 25, 2012 by alpha-charlie

[alpha-charlie]

Shot a winter indoor tournament on super bowl sunday. I placed 2nd in production out of 43. My shooting was rusty, to say the least. I never really got into a groove and every stage was confusing as I was shooting it. Every time I'd go to a new shooting position it felt like a complete surprise. The stages weren't complicated at all so stage planning wasn't a problem. I also couldn't seem to really focus on my front sight very well. It seemed like I had vaseline on my lenses the whole time.

On a side note, I learned a little bit more about our sport this week. I'm sure many people already know it, see it, and have been through it, but it's shocking when you start to see it. This is an amazing sport with amazing people in it. Calling it a sport almost doesn't seem to do it justice. I would call it more of an art form. Unfortunately there is a terrible dark side to our sport. There is a dark side that caters to certain people and ignores others for not towing the company line. As much as I love our sport and use it as a release to escape the corrupt, jealous, back stabbing world that we live in, it saddens me to see that some of those things exist in it. For the majority of people involved it is a utopia of good people who are honest, loyal and helpful. I think that's what really draws me to it. It's hard to find that these days and this sport is filled with them. But, there is also a darker side filled with corruption, success due to marketability regardless of skill, jealousy, envy and constant politics. It's disheartening.

[Ben Stoeger]

there is also a darker side filled with corruption, success due to marketability regardless of skill, jealousy, envy and constant politics. It's disheartening.

Come to the dark side Matt! You can at least have fun with not being marketable or politically correct. =)

The WIIT is a tough match to do well at. It is indoors and you are gonna be rusty this time of year. You didn't come out TOO bad looking at the results. I would think the match is a big step forward for you.

[alpha-charlie]

Back from the R/O class over the weekend. I would recommend it to everyone to take the class whether you're looking to just help out at local matches or regularly work Level II and higher. I learned a lot and that can only help my game. There's been too many I've looked at a target and not exactly known how to score it properly and just accepted the R/O's call. Since I didn't know I would never question their call. Knowledge is power and a R/O isn't always correct just because they're a R/O. I will experience this too when I start running shooters and that's just fine. Screwing up is a great way to learn sometimes.

Reflections on the WIIT.

I ended up 2nd in Production. Again I shot 90% of the main man. He also had a "less than perfect" day and we ended the same way that we do when we both shoot well. I actually shot the match clean with no penalties but I was like the tin man before they oiled him. It is interesting to look back at my placement last year. I believe I finished 6th overall and 3rd B.

Edited February 12, 2012 by alpha-charlie

[alpha-charlie]

Unrelated to range diary but makes ya wanna shake your head.

While at work today one of my team mates was showing me his S&W .45 that he polished the slide on. (I don't remember what model, but it looked like crap.) I was sitting at .45 degree angle from his as he's sweeping the entire room, me and his own hand and head with the gun. I notice the magazine is in and tell him to stop pointing the gun at me. He says the famous words, "It's not loaded." I tell him to take the ******* magazine out. He does. I tell him to rack the ******* slide. Out pops a round.

You ******* ****head!!! Coppers kill me. (No pun intended)

Edited February 17, 2012 by alpha-charlie

[alpha-charlie]

Changes..........

Have had some changes recently and I feel re-energized about shooting. I've been keeping a better dryfire routine lately and the progress is fantastic. I've made a slight adjustment to my holster and my draws are coming along nicely. I've noticed that my best draws and reloads come when I kind of zone out. I'm still fully focused and aware of what I'm doing, but before the buzzer goes off my arms feel as if they are floating at my sides. It's an amazing sense of relaxation. If I could keep that calm and relaxed at matches I'd make GM with no problem.

I'm concentrating a lot on my presentation from the draw. I seem to extend the gun too far out which makes my sight picture shaky. I think this is why I have a slow first shot. I've also been grinding away at my reloads. They're are really improving. When I'm really on it, I amaze myself at how fast and smooth they can be. I've had some instances where I'm able to reload and then knee the ejected mag in the air before it hits the ground. If I could catch it, well, then that'd just be badass.

[alpha-charlie]

Dryfire........

Have you ever had the chance to re-shoot a stage several times under no pressure just to see how much better you could do it?? This was my dryfire practice today. I remember taking a class 2 years ago as a B class shooter and re-shooting one of the instructional stages until I was only 1/3 of a second slower than the GM instructor. I remember feeling great about it even though it took me about 10 times to do it. The moral of that story was that even at B class I had it in me to shoot at a GM speed. Definitely not as accurate but just about as fast. The main lesson learned about this sport is that I don't have 10 runs at a stage to get it right. I have to be able to nail it that first time.

I realized that again in my dryfire today. I set-up a 36 round course using the same targets but shot at different positions. For each position change I had to reload in a very short distance and also incorporated both sides of a barricade for even faster reloads. I set the initial par time at 16 seconds and had a tough time beating it. I worked at it for a while and worked down a second until I was finally at 10.25. My best run was just before the buzzer and I estimated it at about 10.15 seconds. In order to get down that low my reloads had to be perfect and besides for the starting position, I never stopped moving. By moving I mean even the slightest lean or shifting towards the next target array. There was no settling into a position. I know it's dryfire and is easier to get your hits but the mentality must be the same of always being ready to get moving. When I was done I imagined if it was a match. A 5 second difference is HUGE and I must be able to nail the best run on the first time.

[Ben Stoeger]

I remember taking a class 2 years ago as a B class shooter and re-shooting one of the instructional stages until I was only 1/3 of a second slower than the GM instructor. I remember feeling great about it even though it took me about 10 times to do it. The moral of that story was that even at B class I had it in me to shoot at a GM speed.

I can preach all I want but it doesn't seem to matter. If you are an B class you shoot just about as quick (splits wise) as a GM.

I am guessing you will get a GM card this year.

[alpha-charlie]

Friday night dry-fire in a cold basement..........MAN DO I KNOW HOW TO PARTY ON A FRIDAY NIGHT!!

Went back to the drill that I worked down to a 10.15 and ran it cold to see if I could repeat it. I was a little slower but I soon got back in the swing of things. I noticed that my reloads were slowing me down again. Not so much the reload but my movement while reloading. Realizing that I was focusing more on moving and not the actual reload, I was moving slower. Even though my body was moving faster. I had re-remember to finish the reload before dedicating myself to movement. I don't mean standing reloads, but just starting to come out of position and nailing the reload and then going into full throttle to move. I know the top guys can do this in fast-forward to where it seems like they're instantly reloading and running at the same time but I know they're not. They're doing the same thing but just faster, not too much I think. But they're definitely more consistent and smooth. Everything went better when moving only a little bit towards the next position and nailing a perfect reload. I'm not wasting a ton of time, in actuality I'm saving time, and my reloads from last shot to reload to back up on target are consistently in the 1 second range. That seems to be pretty consistent in both stand and shoot exercises and movement drills. I'm pretty happy with that.

I also worked some "barrel drills" and table starts with the gun unloaded. Again, a smooth and quick load in these situations saves a bunch of time and really gets you into a relaxed "zone" to start the stage. I find that if I can nail the draw or an initial reload my mind and body is at ease and I shoot much more relaxed without that panic feeling coming over me. The trick is to stay that relaxed even if the doodie hits the fan during a stage. I'm not quite at that point yet.

[alpha-charlie]

Dryfire....

Continued on the draw, reloads, and some movement drills. My draw is becoming more controlled and relaxed. I'm finding the front sight faster and am naturally pointing to the same area on each run. A slight adjustment of presenting the gun to a certain point and stopping. I've always extended as far as I can and that makes the gun shake which is why I always had trouble finding the front sight. I have more of an aggressive controlled motion now. Reloads are still a work in progress that I don't think can ever be practiced enough. Reloading around a barricade was a little tough today. My mind was more concerned with the barricade instead of the reloads which thru me off for a while. Stoopid brain. Local indoor match tomorrow. I'm not going to say that I'm going to focus on anything in particular or work on something in particular. I'm just gonna shoot. Tomorrow will be my first match in a while that I'm just shooting for me. No logos, no sponsors, no people looking at me funny because of the shirt I'm wearing. Just me.

2nd dryfire session...(mini one)

Was down in the safe and grabbed the Gen3 to see how it felt for old times sake. I didn't realize how much more pronounced the mag release is compared to the Gen4. Although I wish I never had the grip stippled, my new adjusted grip and a spray of freshly ordered pro-grip made for a strong hold. I swappped out some parts from my Gen4 and melted a big fat piece of f.o. into the front sight. The f.o. looks like the size of a basketball up there now. My amazing trigger is back and it feels great. I did some quick draws and reloads with it and it went very well. I'm hitting the extended mag release on the Gen3 better than I did before. Probably just from the extra practice, but it seems to be paying off even more now. I'm going to shoot it tomorrow to see how I handle it under match stress.

Edited March 4, 2012 by alpha-charlie

[alpha-charlie]

Local match......

Largest local match I've ever been to. 88 shooters at an indoor range that has 6 stages on 3 ranges. It was a long day to say the least.

Stage 1: Slow double tap shooting with no cadence at all.

Stage 2: Slow 1st shot with the cadence being a little better. Extra shots at the end almost caused a standing reload.

Stage 3: Moving pretty good, shooting pretty good until I popped a no-shoot on the last shot. What made it worse is that I didn't realize it at all and picked up an extra 3 seconds. Depending on the HF, it may have been better to leave it be at that point. Hurts to watch this stage.

Stage 4: Classifier - Bad shot cadence and a bad reload.

Stage 5: Bad shot calling on the steel. Bad sight positioning on the 2nd swinger that ended up as a Mike.

Stage 6: Felt pretty good. Stage plan went exactly as planned and my timing on the doors and reloads were good. A couple trigger freezes cost some valuable time but I'll take it to end on a good note.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEhlbrQfS1U&feature=youtube_gdata

[Less]

Local match......

Largest local match I've ever been to. 88 shooters at an indoor range that has 6 stages on 3 ranges. It was a long day to say the least.

Stage 1: Slow double tap shooting with no cadence at all.

Stage 2: Slow 1st shot with the cadence being a little better. Extra shots at the end almost caused a standing reload.

Stage 3: Moving pretty good, shooting pretty good until I popped a no-shoot on the last shot. What made it worse is that I didn't realize it at all and picked up an extra 3 seconds. Depending on the HF, it may have been better to leave it be at that point. Hurts to watch this stage.

Stage 4: Classifier - Bad shot cadence and a bad reload.

Stage 5: Bad shot calling on the steel. Bad sight positioning on the 2nd swinger that ended up as a Mike.

Stage 6: Felt pretty good. Stage plan went exactly as planned and my timing on the doors and reloads were good. A couple trigger freezes cost some valuable time but I'll take it to end on a good note.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEhlbrQfS1U&feature=youtube_gdata

Man was yesterday a GRINDER! We had to ask two people to head home...

Couple that with pressure to complete the stages and I felt like I underperformed... I did manage to pull it together for the classifier, tho... Overall, it won't help - I just replaced an 90 with an 89...

[alpha-charlie]

Live fire........OUTSIDE!!!!!

60 degrees, full sun and clear blue skies. I couldn't have asked for a better shooting day. I got to the range to find a small group shooting a small stage and I joined them. They were just about done so I had a stage already set-up for myself. I finally had access to a swinger and took full advantage. I ran their stage with them and shot the array with the swinger absolutely horrible. When I had the range to myself I shot the array over and over and over. I've always had problems with swingers due to a lack of practice on them. I've feared them and they've caused me to get distracted from the rest of the stage and I usually end up trashing those stages. I was on a mission today.

I started from scratch by shooting only the acvtivator and then the swinger. Even by doing this I was hitting a Delta. I added in more targets and my hits were progressively getting worse. The more I shot it, the more comfortable I became with it. I soon realized that the distraction of the rope being pulled and the target starting to move was making me come off my sights and my thought process became rushed. I decided to just shoot the targets with a 100% clear sight picture on each target and see how fast/slow I was. Turns out I was a little bit faster by staying on my sights. It got to the point that I was waiting for the swinger to come its stopping point on the downswing. I felt good about this but wanted to push it a little more. Below is a picture of the array I started out shooting:

My target order was: activator, T1,T2 and swinger. This was at about 10 yards. When I would speed up, my shots would start to get worse. (of course) But at such a close distance I know that should be able to blaze those targets accurately. I realized that my sights weren't settling as good due to a poor weak hand grip. I made it a point to aggresively bear down on the grip and drive the gun hard seeing the sight the whole time. My draw was a little slower in order to really nail the grip but this was a major breakthrough. I was gripping the gun tight but not nearly enough to be able to keep it flat while shooting that fast. I now know what needs to be done in order to blaze targets and be able to see the front sight the entire time. I could on for hours about what I was seeing in those brief few seconds.

I was feeling confident so I pushed it and added another target that I would never engage before shooting the swinger. But, I wanted to see if I could do it. And I did. This really pushed me to manage the recoil and keep a vise like grip on the gun. On my first attempt I had a delta on the first target and a delta on the swinger. The rest were alphas. I was amazed. And pumped. I pushed it more and more until it was routine. Below is how the new array looked:

The shooting order was: activator, far left target, static 1, partial target, and then the swinger. I must add that I was engaging the swinger on the first pass when it was on my right. I did not let it swing back towards it's starting position. This is where shooting fast and flat really came into play. Double taping the targets was not an option. The splits had to be perfect with a good cadence. It was amazing at how quickly I could accurately shoot it this way. The key to it was a strong grip, complete front sight focus and most of all, staying calm and having the knowledge that I had plenty of time to hit the swinger. Being rushed to a swinger only distracts from the current shot and that's where the sloppiness starts.

I stepped it up again. I decided to make the swinger head shots only. I tried it the first way without the far left target and then with the far left target. It was definitely tougher but not impossible. After 2 trys I went from perf B hits to 2 alpha that were stacked. The hits looked like an 8. By adding in the far left target is where the hits started to open up. They were still there but not as good. This has to be the mantra of training: push it so ridiculously far that the match stuff will seem like kid stuff. And it works. I went back to shooting the normal array of activator, T1, T2, swinger and it was like I could do it with my eyes closed.

If they didn't need the bay to set-up for a shotgun match I was going to try it while moving. Then SHO and then WHO. Then SHO while moving and then WHO while moving. Ridiculous? Not really when you think about it. MFCEO of swingers today.

Edited March 11, 2012 by alpha-charlie

[alpha-charlie]

Wow.....it's been awhile. It's already May and I haven't shot an outdoor match yet. With the wedding getting closer and buying/moving into a new house, life certainly caught up with me. I did manage to dryfire today for the firs time in months. Area 5 is a little over a month away and I'm rusty as hell. Dryfire actually went well today. After a couple minutes my reloads seemed to be flowing as normal as they ever were. It felt good to do some drills again. I have about 10K bullets that need to be loaded up pronto. By the time A5 comes around I'd like for half of them to be gone. Hopefully I can make it to a match soon. There is much to be done in a very short time frame. And life is only going to get busier by June 30th.

[alpha-charlie]

Training Camp........3 days at the range averaging about 1,000 rounds per day. This is a completely unconventional approach to training but I believe it is incredibly effective. We are not shooting regular drills or any stages that you would see at a match. Everything being done is 3 times harder than any shot you'll see in a match. After two days I've taken and hit shots I didn't think were possible. 30 yard swingers, partial classic targets at 50 yards, plate racks on the move at 25 yards, etc. also, every stage or drill is done freestyle, sho and who. We're not shooting it as a novelty, but as a way to push training farther than anyone has. the intended purpose is to practice shots so difficult that match shots will be that much easier. Example: today I put 6 hits on 3 partial classic targets at 50 yards in 5.24 seconds from the draw. I don't see a partial at 15 yards being a problem anymore. We finish up tomorrow. I've come up with the idea of shooting an all steel stage including a Texas star on the move from 25 yards. Should be awesome.

Edited May 30, 2012 by alpha-charlie

[alpha-charlie]

Training camp concluded........so much accomplished in such a short period of time. It's kind of hard to put into words what you really get out of training like we did. Shooting 6 shots on 30 yard partials in 5 Seconds and getting your hits seemed impossible to me 3 days ago. Today it was easy. The whole point was to shoot insane crazy target arrays at ridiculous distances so that "normal" match type stuff is easier. It definitely works. We shot a stage that had a target with a no-shoot at about 15 yards. There were two other wide open targets in the array as well. I took all three on the move without thinking twice. Turns out I didn't even notice the no-shoot until we tore the stage down. I had to ask if the ns was on there the whole time. All I saw was the wide open a zone, the no shoot didn't even register in my mind. I just looked back at my previous post about my swinger practice back in March. I did that at about 12 yards and thought it was impossible. Today we pretty much did the same setup, if not harder, at about 40 yards. As I was, you'd really be surprised what you're capable of when you push it past the edge.

[alpha-charlie]

Been awhile. A lot has changed since my last update. 2012 was a whirlwind of a year. At the time of my last update I was really starting out on a good note. I was primed for a promising year. Then of course, life caught up to me and shooting took a back seat. Bought a house in march, and got married in June. Every major match I went to I had zero practice prior. I pretty much stopped practicing and it really showed. My last match was September 8th and I haven't touched a gun since. Things have slowed down and I recently got back into training. I dry fired for about 3 days and decided to shoot a local match today. With a decent crop of production shooters I shot fairly well. 1 GM, a few masters and a handful of A's rounded out the top ten. I ended up 2nd. It was a pretty good match with partials that weren't very tight shots, but were open enough to suck you into thinking you could hose through them. Since I really had no expectations I just shot the best I could. Compared to now I normally shoot, I was very relaxed and had an easier time seeing my sights. I had a few mikes for the day but shot pretty accurate. My slower times cost me a few stage wins but the presence of accuracy was nice to see. Diamond Cutter was the 2nd stage and I managed a 96%, the highest classifier % I've shot. I got hung up on the draw which cost me about .25 but the hits made up for it. It was fun to be out shooting again. I'm looking forward to a winter of training and stockpiling ammo for the upcoming season.