Cheshire_Cat Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 I've decided to start a range diary in order to chronicle my sessions at the range and motivate me to get better. I plan on going to the range Wednesday the 16th and will get a membership at my local indoor range. I will be trading in my Glock 19 as collateral that day so that I can rent a Ruger Mark III .22. I am doing this because from what I read I think it will help me get over flinching/anticipating the shot/pre-ignition pushing/whatever you want to call it. My trigger control during dry fire is good for my current level, but I really need to get over this psychological block if I want to get better. So, my plan is to shoot around 400-500 rds. of .22, work on not pre-ignition pushing, good trigger control, and marksmanship. I'll report back on Wednesday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire_Cat Posted March 16, 2011 Author Share Posted March 16, 2011 Got a membership today and rented the Ruger Mark III .22. Those Mark III's are sharp! Yes they are sharp shooters, but they are also literally sharp on the edges. I noticed after about 50 rounds I was bleeding. The culprit was the button on the magazine of all things. It's pretty sharp and cut my thumb as I was loading ammo. In any case, I put a bandage on it and continued to shoot, but only shot a total of 100 rounds. I didn't have as much problem anticipating the shot with the .22 as I do with my Glock 19, but it was still there. I was shooting a bit low left at 10 yards, though still in the A zone. When I took it out to 20 yards or so, they were going low left all the way to the B and C zone. With that being said, I don't think practicing with a .22 is going to help me get over my anticipation. I think for that I just need to practice more often with my Glock 19, hence the membership. Summary: -Got a membership at the local indoor range -Shot 100 rounds of .22 ammo out of a Ruger Mark III .22 -Magazine button on Mark III is sharp and caused my thumb to bleed -Next range practice I am going to shoot my Glock 19. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire_Cat Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 Going to the range on Wednesday with my brother, who is back in town after graduating from Air Marshal Academy. He received the Top Gun award for his class, so I'm proud of him. I'll probably shoot 100-200 rounds 9mm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire_Cat Posted March 23, 2011 Author Share Posted March 23, 2011 Shot 100 rounds 9mm today. Focused on not anticipating the shot/pre-ignition pushing. Still have a ways to go, but I'm working on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire_Cat Posted March 30, 2011 Author Share Posted March 30, 2011 (edited) Shot 100 rounds of 9mm today. Today I Focused on accuracy, slow fire, and not anticipating/pre-ignition push. I can see improvement over the last couple weeks. My extended magazine release is rubbing against my hand when the gun recoils, which caused a blister to develop. Hopefully that will turn into a callus, because at the moment it is annoying. I wore my Howard Leight Shooter L3 hearing muffs for the first time today, in addition to double plugging with some ear plugs due to the fact that I'm in an indoor range. I think this helped with not flinching as much. Edited March 30, 2011 by Cheshire_Cat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire_Cat Posted April 6, 2011 Author Share Posted April 6, 2011 Shot 100 rounds 9mm today. I practiced the Oregon Security Course of fire, which consists of 25 or so rounds starting from ten yards and moving up to arms length away. It is an easy course of fire, or should be, but today I scored around 130-132 out of a total of 150, which is pretty bad for where I want to be. Yet, it gives me an objective starting point and a benchmark to improve on. I can't use a holster at my range, but other than that I can replicate most of the course of fire. On a side note, my extended magazine release is rubbing against my hand during recoil, which is annoying and has caused a blister. This cannot be helping me get over my low left flinch. I'm still blinking when I shoot as well. I may change from an extended magazine release to stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire_Cat Posted April 13, 2011 Author Share Posted April 13, 2011 Today I shot ~150 rounds of .22 through a Ruger Mark III. I have improved since I shot it last month. I'm not sure if this is normal or not, but at 25 yards the top of my front site was at the 6 o'clock position of the ten ring. When I aimed there, 95% of my shots ended up in the ten ring. On another note, I ordered a factory stock magazine catch for my Glock 19. I ordered it from Lone Wolf Distributors. It cost a little less than $4, which was less than shipping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire_Cat Posted April 20, 2011 Author Share Posted April 20, 2011 Shot 100 rounds of 9mm today. Accuracy seemed better at close range, but still shooting low left. This is especially the case at 25 yards. Did the same course of fire as 2 weeks ago and scored 238 out of 250. It is actually out of 250, not 150, as I put 2 weeks ago. It is kind of disappointing it is taking me this long to get over my low left flinch, but at least I am improving, albeit slowly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire_Cat Posted April 27, 2011 Author Share Posted April 27, 2011 (edited) Shot 100 rounds of 9mm today. I took my bro's advice and clamped down with my support hand on my Glock 19. This improved my accuracy. Even though I was still anticipating, gripping hard with my support hand made it have less of an effect. Interestingly instead of shooting just low left, today some were also high left, or just left. Some were also right on the money :-). Shot the same course of fire as last week and scored 244 out of 250, so I am glad about the improvement there. I want to continuously improve on this. At 15 yards my shots were all in the 9/10 ring at a slow/medium tempo. For these reasons, I am going to continue gripping hard with my support hand. Edited April 27, 2011 by Cheshire_Cat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire_Cat Posted May 4, 2011 Author Share Posted May 4, 2011 Shot 100 rounds of 9mm today from mostly 5 to 10 yards. I am getting better at not anticipating the shot (low left/left), but I would say I currently do it approximately 30% of the time, so I still need a lot of improvement in this area. Gripping hard with my support hand helps a lot. If I don't go left, I'm usually dead on. I've found I psyche myself out from ten yards and beyond, so I am going to start shooting at those distances more. It is all in the mind! Overall I had a good practice session and I can see that my marksmanship is visibly improving. It is beautiful weather right now where I'm at in Oregon, so before I went shooting, I had to get in some time on my other hobby, RC Flying :-D I wish I didn't work Saturdays. Soon enough I'm going to just have to request one of the days off so I can shoot my first match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire_Cat Posted September 4, 2011 Author Share Posted September 4, 2011 I had a great day at the range today. I had 4 hours of private training and made significant improvement. Ironically it was gripping hard with my support hand that was making my shots be inconsistent. After relaxing my support hand and focusing intently on the front site, my shooting greatly improved. I have to work on relaxing my entire body, as I tend to get stiff and tense while focusing. The good from the get go: -I have a good 4 step/stroke draw. The one thing we worked on was getting step 2 to be at a consistent place on my body. -My gun handling, reloads, and safety (finger and muzzle habits, etc.) are all good. Things we worked on: -Getting my finger on the trigger close to around step/stroke 2.5 and press until the shot breaks when the sights aline with the target. Before I was just doing the whole draw and then putting my finger on the trigger. This is much more efficient. -Follow through: releasing back to the pressure wall as the gun comes back from recoil, then when the sites align press. -Relaxing my support hand and focusing on the front site. Before I was focusing too much on my trigger finger, and not enough on the front site, if that makes sense...My instructor figured out I was gripping too hard with my support hand because my one handed shooting was dead on, but when I went to two hands I started becoming inconsistent. -Shooting from step 2 or "the hip". This is unsighted fire, and it took my about 5-10 minutes to get my brain coordinated with where the bullet would end up compared to where I had to position my elbow on my body. Once I got that figured out I could use my body as a turret and get multiple accurate shots at different spots at close range. This was pretty fun. -Distance. Before my shots at 25 yards were all over the place. Now they are all center of mass :-D. Of course I am taking my time out at this distance. I am not going fast. We ended with a qualifier that I did well on. Things to do: -Dry fire -Re-up my membership to the range -Remember to be relaxed and keep my support hand relaxed (albeit firm-relaxed...just not death grip). Focus on the front site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire_Cat Posted September 25, 2011 Author Share Posted September 25, 2011 (edited) Shot at the range yesterday for around 6 hours. Practiced team tactics, shooting on the move, steel targets obscured my cover and behind "hostage" targets, flash light techniques and low light shooting, and more. Good stuff. Edited September 25, 2011 by Cheshire_Cat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire_Cat Posted September 30, 2011 Author Share Posted September 30, 2011 I did a Glock Armorers course yesterday. I should should get my certificate in about 6 weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire_Cat Posted October 9, 2011 Author Share Posted October 9, 2011 I ordered a minus or 4.5 lb. connector. I am curious to see how it feels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire_Cat Posted October 14, 2011 Author Share Posted October 14, 2011 (edited) I ordered a minus or 4.5 lb. connector. I am curious to see how it feels. I put the minus connector in today and can feel a significant difference in trigger pull weight. The main difference is in the pressure wall, which has been reduced significantly. One way to describe how it feels is rolling over a hill, as opposed to dropping off a cliff. It is not as crisp a break, but that is fine, because that may or may not be a good thing. This is just my thoughts from dry firing. Hopefully I will have time this weekend to hit up the range and test it out. Edited October 14, 2011 by Cheshire_Cat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire_Cat Posted October 15, 2011 Author Share Posted October 15, 2011 Shot a 100 rounds at the range today. I can tell that I am more accurate with the minus connector. I still have to work on not anticipating the shot when I speed up. I ordered 3 books today: Refinement & Repetition by Anderson, The Practical Shooting Manual by Burkett, and With Winning Mind by Bassham. I look forward to reading the books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire_Cat Posted October 25, 2011 Author Share Posted October 25, 2011 I cold qualified at the range the other day. My score on one course of fire was 238/250. This is the highest I have scored on the qualification so far, so that is good news. I look forward to increasing my score in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris iliff Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 (edited) With Winning in Mind. Good stuff. Anything from Anderson ditto. Burkett has to be good, just haven't read that yet. Edited October 25, 2011 by Chris iliff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire_Cat Posted October 26, 2011 Author Share Posted October 26, 2011 With Winning in Mind. Good stuff. Anything from Anderson ditto. Burkett has to be good, just haven't read that yet. I am reading through With Winning in Mind right now and I am getting a lot out of it. Much of my difficulties with respect to shooting are in the mental arena. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire_Cat Posted October 29, 2011 Author Share Posted October 29, 2011 Shot 100 rounds today. My accuracy is improving, but I still have much to work on. I have to get over blinking. When I can see the sights rise I am dead on, but when I can't I have no idea where it will end up (within the general group area). Good practice session today though. On the 19th I have scheduled an "action range certification course", which is required to shoot USPSA matches at my local club. During the class you do get to go through a practice match, so I am excited for that! It will be my first experience doing IPSC type shooting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire_Cat Posted November 2, 2011 Author Share Posted November 2, 2011 I ordered a SIRT last night. Combining the SIRT with Anderson's dry fire book should make for some great practice. I've been wanting an advantage arms .22 conversion kit for awhile now, but they only sell through dealers, and there are no dealers anywhere close to where I live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire_Cat Posted November 12, 2011 Author Share Posted November 12, 2011 Shot 100 rounds today. I focused on grip. My left hand seems to inch forward if I shoot multiple shots in a row, so I am focusing on gripping harder with my support hand to see if that helps. I was shooting high and left at 25 yards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire_Cat Posted November 13, 2011 Author Share Posted November 13, 2011 Still waiting on the Sirt . I guess they are 2 weeks or so behind. I changed my connector back from minus connector to the stock connector. The stock connector definitely feels heavier, but it has a more crisp break. I want to see how my shooting is with the stock connector. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire_Cat Posted November 20, 2011 Author Share Posted November 20, 2011 (edited) Today I took an action range certification course at my local gun club. This course is required by the club in order to take part in different types of matches on the action range, including IPSC. We shot 3 practice stages, which focused on: one handed shooting with steel targets from 10 yards (with target transitions and hand transitions), shooting on the move and target transitions on either side, and moving to boxes and shooting behinds barricades (~15 yards). Overall I had a great time and look forward to shooting my first match. Still waiting on the Sirt Edited November 20, 2011 by Cheshire_Cat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire_Cat Posted November 26, 2011 Author Share Posted November 26, 2011 Went shooting today with Red5_Standing_By. Shot 100 rounds. We turned the targets around so that just the blank side is showing. This helped for front sight focus. The SIRT should be arriving in the next couple weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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