Slumdog Grandmaster

[DonovanM]

I'm a brokeass college student who loves shooting. The two do not go well together. So in order to succeed, I have to become as good as possible shooting as little ammo as possible. Right now, I don't shoot any ammo outside of matches, but dry fire more often than a Muslim prays.

Here's where I am. I've been shooting pistols for a year and a half and competitively for 7 months. I need two or three more 75%+ scores to make it to A class. I shot my best classifier a couple weeks ago, at 81%, and when I put it all together and don't make any mental errors, I do alright on field courses.

At my last match I finished outside of the top 10 due to nuking 3 field courses, but I won a stage (!) and got 2nd on another. The stage I won we were seated engaging 5 targets 25-30 yards away. I beat out a GM, 2 M's and a couple A's, and some unclassified guy who was on some reality show a while back, and that makes me happy. The stage I got 2nd on (to said GM) was a full blown field course, and I only did so well on it due to having a good plan, seeing targets available where I don't think anyone else looked. I nuked the rest of the stages, due to various errors, other than the classifier at 5th place. I also won a smaller local match a month or so ago, but only because we shot Merle's Standards

Strengths:

Long range accuracy at speed (although, I have never seen the sights lift...)

Trigger control/follow-through

Draw

Reload

Malfunction clearing (ask me how I know...)

Hit and miss:

Calling shots

Stage planning

Scaling (ie, shooting speed related to size of scoring area and distance away)

Visual patience (letting my vision dictate the speed I shoot)

Weaknesses:

Index refinement

Medium and close range fast accuracy (too many C's and D's... and M's...)

Movement

Shooting on the move

Strong/weak hand only

The goal is obviously to make GM, and not while sucking at field courses or shooting classifiers over and over.

My gun was a SIG P226ST with a ton of work done by myself on it, but I just changed all my parts over to my alloy frame that I used to carry, so I'm now shooting a P226R. I removed the hammer rebound spring and cut a few coils off the 17lb mainspring to get the DA pull down to around 6-7lbs (so glad I don't have to deal with it at 10lbs). Also cut coils off the recoil spring, polished everything that matters, added a pre-travel stop, and reduced the reset significantly. Works fine with Federal ammo so far, I've been having a ton of malfunctions due to underpowered ammo which I think cutting the springs fixed.

Stay tuned, I plan on going far before I join an as of yet undetermined branch of the military, degree or no

Edited April 27, 2011 by DonovanM

[DonovanM]

I've heard other people say this since figuring it out, and think it was mentioned in a book I haven't read, but something I've gotten real clear on from transitioning between dry and live fire is that the same mistakes and sloppy sight pictures I have habitually accepted in dry fire translate directly to live fire. I know it seems obvious, but I really need to be honest with myself about doing things correctly in practice, even if it means going slower. Despite all the draws and reloads I flub in dry fire, however, I don't seem to make the same mistakes under pressure.

Anyway, no dry fire for today yet, I've gotta finish an essay.

[Chris iliff]

Good luck on the essay. You are correct, any flubs/gloss-overs you allow in dryfire will plague you in live fire. I'd go as far as saying that it will make you even worse! Good luck on your shooting and even though you are a broke dog college student, maxamize your live fire trigger time.

[gohuskers]

Don't worry about not being able to live fire as much as you like, just focus on the fundamentals - which you seem to have down really well. Besides some of the best shooters in the country were in the very same position as you and have climbed their way to the top - Phil Strader come to mind. I hear he's pretty good.

[DonovanM]

Good luck on the essay. You are correct, any flubs/gloss-overs you allow in dryfire will plague you in live fire. I'd go as far as saying that it will make you even worse! Good luck on your shooting and even though you are a broke dog college student, maxamize your live fire trigger time.

Thanks! I'm just about finished.

I also accept donations

Don't worry about not being able to live fire as much as you like, just focus on the fundamentals - which you seem to have down really well. Besides some of the best shooters in the country were in the very same position as you and have climbed their way to the top - Phil Strader come to mind. I hear he's pretty good.

Thanks I blame any success I have with the fundamentals on Bruce Gray. I had the opportunity to host one of his classes and it definitely got me started in the right direction.

Does Phil go more into detail on that than what's in his bio on his site?

[shootaglock89]

Donovan, I am in the same boat. I shot IDPA in highschool with my Dad, and then took a 4 year hiatus. I am 21 now and have 1 year left in college. Started competing again about 4 months ago. Best/ worst decision i have ever made.I suspect most of the money i make when i have a job will be put towards traveling and preparing for Sanctioned Matches, both IDPA and USPSA. All i do is eat, sleep, and breathe guns. But, i cannot afford to shoot very often, even though i shoot a G17. Its just not practical to shoot much outside of matches. I dry fire a ton and practice reloads everyday. I have good stages and bad stages. Sometimes I can beat an Expert or Master by several seconds on a stage, other times i cant.

The reason i perform well, when i do perform well, is that i do the fundamentals correctly. I lock into the gun, i lock into the front sight, i trust my shots, and just shoot.

When i preform badly? Well lets see, i dont get a good grip from the get go, i dont focus on the front sight, and i dont trust my shots and spend too much on makeups, and, eventually reloads.

Good luck to you in this endeavor, i know i need it.

[Chris iliff]

I could donate as all my kids went in the military, but I used that saved college money on USPSA!! I'm more broke now than a college student. Lol

Good luck to ya!!!!

[DonovanM]

Donovan, I am in the same boat. I shot IDPA in highschool with my Dad, and then took a 4 year hiatus. I am 21 now and have 1 year left in college. Started competing again about 4 months ago. Best/ worst decision i have ever made.I suspect most of the money i make when i have a job will be put towards traveling and preparing for Sanctioned Matches, both IDPA and USPSA. All i do is eat, sleep, and breathe guns. But, i cannot afford to shoot very often, even though i shoot a G17. Its just not practical to shoot much outside of matches. I dry fire a ton and practice reloads everyday. I have good stages and bad stages. Sometimes I can beat an Expert or Master by several seconds on a stage, other times i cant. The reason i perform well, when i do perform well, is that i do the fundamentals correctly. I lock into the gun, i lock into the front sight, i trust my shots, and just shoot. When i preform badly? Well lets see, i dont get a good grip from the get go, i dont focus on the front sight, and i dont trust my shots and spend too much on makeups, and, eventually reloads. Good luck to you in this endeavor, i know i need it.

Very nice. Now that I'm into it I think I'd go stir crazy if I didn't shoot for four years. Sounds like you have a ton of potential - gotta love beating Masters, right?

Out of all of the problems I do have, getting a good grip isn't one of them. I suppose it has something to do with the thousands of draws I've done at home. I've tweaked my grip a few times, usually takes 2-3 weeks of constant repetition to get it dialed in, but then it becomes habitual.

I REALLY wish I could dry fire at distance, but my parents hate guns - but are oddly supportive of me shooting - so I can't run around in their back yard, and I can't do it outside where I live.

Best of luck, I'd send you some ammo if I could

I could donate as all my kids went in the military, but I used that saved college money on USPSA!! I'm more broke now than a college student. LolGood luck to ya!!!!

Haha! Oh brother, I think that's exactly how I'm going to be when I grow up.

"Sorry I don't have any money for you to go to college, kids, you see there was this nice Open gun I wanted..."

Sounds like you raised some fine kids

[Pro-Pain]

Not sure if this will help, but I practice offhand with a .22.

It's set up different from my race guns, but gets the fundamentals down of how to hold, aim, and the dexterity/"muscle memory" of what to do.

And if you can afford Ramen, you can afford .22 ammo!

[LINC]

Wow 205 and 190 stage points on two of the courses. If a shooter didnt win or come close to the high hit factor thats a lot of points to be lost on those two.

[Hi-Power Jack]

I'm a brokeass college student who loves shooting. Works fine with Federal ammo so far,

Sounds like you're way above my ability to shoot, so good luck -

sounds like you'll be on the GM list one day.

In the meantime, besides shooting a .22 (great idea), you might

think about reloading - if you're using factory Federal ammo, you

can save a bunch of money by getting a real cheap reloading set

(a single stage reloader, beam balance scale, powder thrower and

you'r almost ready to go - you'll spend some time reloading, but

at your age, you can afford to sleep 2hours less/night:)) I can't:((

Or, get together with some local reloader and use his equip.

Can't wait to see you at the Nationals in a few years - you can

give me some shooting tips:)

Jack

[DonovanM]

Not sure if this will help, but I practice offhand with a .22.

It's set up different from my race guns, but gets the fundamentals down of how to hold, aim, and the dexterity/"muscle memory" of what to do.

And if you can afford Ramen, you can afford .22 ammo!

I would love to, it's just that, the money for a .22 conversion on my gun is around the same as a cheap reloading press, and I think I'd rather have the press, so that would come first.

Wow 205 and 190 stage points on two of the courses. If a shooter didnt win or come close to the high hit factor thats a lot of points to be lost on those two.

The local clubs tend to set up more huge, speed-focused stages than I'd like. I'm more a fan of medium length technical stages with tight shots and tight positions needing to be taken. Our bays around here aren't setup very well for the latter - although sometimes they do throw in 20 yard steel from a port, or 35 yard paper, so it's alright

I'm a brokeass college student who loves shooting. Works fine with Federal ammo so far,

Sounds like you're way above my ability to shoot, so good luck -

sounds like you'll be on the GM list one day.

In the meantime, besides shooting a .22 (great idea), you might

think about reloading - if you're using factory Federal ammo, you

can save a bunch of money by getting a real cheap reloading set

(a single stage reloader, beam balance scale, powder thrower and

you'r almost ready to go - you'll spend some time reloading, but

at your age, you can afford to sleep 2hours less/night:)) I can't:((

Or, get together with some local reloader and use his equip.

Can't wait to see you at the Nationals in a few years - you can

give me some shooting tips:)

Jack

Thanks. It'll be a while before I can afford the trip to Nationals. My parents offered to send me to Area 1, but that deal might be off the table.

Yeah, I really wish I had a press. The time factor might get me into a little trouble grades wise, but I think I could make it work. Even better than the cost benefits would be having ammo that actually groups well, I think.

I did end up doing some dry firing last night, mostly around transitions and reloading on the move from various body positions. Lots of draws too, getting the gun mounted on different targets from the same body position. Trying to be as strict with my sight pictures and action consistency as possible, which is something I've been having troubled with.

[shootaglock89]

Very nice. Now that I'm into it I think I'd go stir crazy if I didn't shoot for four years. Sounds like you have a ton of potential - gotta love beating Masters, right?

Out of all of the problems I do have, getting a good grip isn't one of them. I suppose it has something to do with the thousands of draws I've done at home. I've tweaked my grip a few times, usually takes 2-3 weeks of constant repetition to get it dialed in, but then it becomes habitual.

There was plenty of shooting in the years i took off, just no competing. Mostly long guns though. But, i came back to my true love of Handguns.

For some reason, i hardly ever practice my draw. Thats something i know i should do. Don't know why i dont practice it more... looks like that is going to be added to the daily excercise list.

[DonovanM]

Very nice. Now that I'm into it I think I'd go stir crazy if I didn't shoot for four years. Sounds like you have a ton of potential - gotta love beating Masters, right?

Out of all of the problems I do have, getting a good grip isn't one of them. I suppose it has something to do with the thousands of draws I've done at home. I've tweaked my grip a few times, usually takes 2-3 weeks of constant repetition to get it dialed in, but then it becomes habitual.

There was plenty of shooting in the years i took off, just no competing. Mostly long guns though. But, i came back to my true love of Handguns.

For some reason, i hardly ever practice my draw. Thats something i know i should do. Don't know why i dont practice it more... looks like that is going to be added to the daily excercise list.

Nice. Only long gun I've put rounds downrange with was an old Savage 22.

I would highly recommend working on your draw. Not only do we do it on the clock on 95% of the stages we run, but the grip we take during the draw should be the grip we have for the whole stage - so it needs to be solid, plus, every time I mount the gun, it helps refine my index.

I like to work on drawing while leaning, drawing while seated and standing up, drawing and just getting a sight picture on thin air, drawing and mounting the gun on a target, and drawing the gun, prepping my DA trigger on a target - although you don't have to worry about that as much with your Glock.

Edited April 28, 2011 by DonovanM

[Pro-Pain]

Not sure if this will help, but I practice offhand with a .22.

It's set up different from my race guns, but gets the fundamentals down of how to hold, aim, and the dexterity/"muscle memory" of what to do.

And if you can afford Ramen, you can afford .22 ammo!

I would love to, it's just that, the money for a .22 conversion on my gun is around the same as a cheap reloading press, and I think I'd rather have the press, so that would come first.

I have a Ruger Mk. III 22/45 I use, which runs in the 2-3 range. Maybe look for a used one, or even possibly one of the other choices out there (buckmark, Neos, SW-22, etc). To work on off hand, and have a nice plinking, baby-steel gun too.

Like you said though, the price of one of these would equal a press.

Maybe talk to others at a club if you're a member, like was said borrow a press, or offer to clean a gun if they allow you to shoot a bit with off-hand practice.

I know personally I would love to let someone use my 22/45 if they offered to clean it after, that is a bugger to break down and get apart

[DonovanM]

Not sure if this will help, but I practice offhand with a .22.

It's set up different from my race guns, but gets the fundamentals down of how to hold, aim, and the dexterity/"muscle memory" of what to do.

And if you can afford Ramen, you can afford .22 ammo!

I would love to, it's just that, the money for a .22 conversion on my gun is around the same as a cheap reloading press, and I think I'd rather have the press, so that would come first.

I have a Ruger Mk. III 22/45 I use, which runs in the 2-3 range. Maybe look for a used one, or even possibly one of the other choices out there (buckmark, Neos, SW-22, etc). To work on off hand, and have a nice plinking, baby-steel gun too.

Like you said though, the price of one of these would equal a press.

Maybe talk to others at a club if you're a member, like was said borrow a press, or offer to clean a gun if they allow you to shoot a bit with off-hand practice.

I know personally I would love to let someone use my 22/45 if they offered to clean it after, that is a bugger to break down and get apart

You know the real annoying thing is, my stepdad has a Ruger 22 pistol, it's pretty old though so not sure it's a Mark 3. Apparently it was having problems when he put it away last (20+ years ago) so he wouldn't let me borrow it the last time I asked. I bet I could fix it, too. Oh well.

I did a bunch of dry firing today and worked up somewhat of a sweat doing it too, it's amazing the kind of field course you can set up in a small space. 26 rounds, targets to engage AND a reload on the move, including a leaning start

I got some close open targets set up that should help me out, I can shoot really quick on close targets but seem to loosely transition between them in matches so I end up with points down.

[Pro-Pain]

You can make cheap and easy swingers too.

Maybe a mock texas star, etc. too.

Another thing to try is set up your "Course," then find 5 different ways to approach the COF. This will help in tearing a course down to maybe see things that you didn't see on the initial glance!

[cyburg]

You could also get an airsoft gun and set it up like the one you shoot. I just finished setting up a hi cap open airsoft with 90% mount and c more scope. I also.picked up some steel from bam airsoft. I have the star, popped, round plates and paper targets. Now a can train inside if I have to and bb's are $12.00 per 5000.

The post fits my rig and I have a second mag to practice reload and so on.

[DonovanM]

Shot another match today. I did pretty well. Shot a 78% classifier and came in 2nd overall to the local GM - 81%. Won another simple stage with far targets - go figure.

I had decent speed and movement throughout the match but I shot an inordinate amount of points down. Only had one miss all day.

It was a stage where there were a bunch of groups of 4 targets together, two stacked on top of the other two, in varying configurations, upside down, covering varying amounts of the lower A-box, etc. I don't think I paid enough attention to how they were setup and threw the mike into the head box of one of the lower targets. Oops. The other hit was just to the left of it, a Charlie, so that's not much better.

On the same stage, I also tried to plan to shoot them in a specific order - inside first, so I could start backing out of the shooting position while engaging the outside targets. It didn't work, and I had some inkling that it wouldn't when I was planning. I ended up just shooting them as soon as I saw em. The amount my brain has been able to process while stage planning has come a long way though, especially when counting my shots and knowing if I have to reload sooner if I made up too many shots at the prior position. Only a matter of time before I can stage plan with that degree of refinement.

Need to turn my vision up and scrape together the funds to buy some actual USPSA targets to dry fire to, so I can focus on what I'll actually be shooting at.

Unfortunately that's my only match this month. I'm gonna see if my stepbrother wants to borrow my gun to shoot his first match as an excuse to run paper or something at the other two local matches, just to get some stage planning time in.

Edited May 9, 2011 by DonovanM

[ncboiler]

.....

Need to turn my vision up and scrape together the funds to buy some actual USPSA targets to dry fire to, so I can focus on what I'll actually be shooting at.

.....

You can print your own targets for dry fire. Here is just one link with a USPSA target and a popper. They are 1/3 scale but for small places work great.

http://www.glockfaq.com/content.aspx?ckey=Glock_FAQ_Targets

There are other targets on the internet if you just do a quick search.

[ncboiler]

You can also use these for dry fire, best of all they are free

http://www.predatortactical.com/cart.php?m=knowledgebase_detail&id=5

[DonovanM]

You can also use these for dry fire, best of all they are free

http://www.predatortactical.com/cart.php?m=knowledgebase_detail&id=5

Nice. I think those are the ticket. He should make one with multiple targets.

Thanks!

[DonovanM]

After a month of heavy dry fire practice with movement and reloads being the focus, I shot a classifier match today. I made A class and shot my first Master class score ever, a 92.7% on Table Stakes 09-13. I originally thought I had channeled my inner Phil Strader and busted out a 120%+ run based on what's on both the calculators, but the thread for the classifier shot me down, apparently the calculators are out of date

I've made some strides in breaking the habit of shooting faster than I can get the right sight picture, but I'm not there yet. I think after watching too many videos of the top shooters I've gotten it into my head that that's how fast I need to shoot. Time to stop doing that!

After my runs today I remember SEEING a whole lot more- woohoo! I shot another 80% classifier that was good, if a bit slow, and I remember seeing just about everything. I also remember seeing my red FO front over the steel on my Table Stakes run for a microsecond before transitioning. I wish I checked my timer to see the transitions, they were quick!

I also learned my gun shoots a foot and a half low at 35 yards running WWB. Yay!

Edited June 13, 2011 by DonovanM

[DonovanM]

Well that was interesting. I just shot a USPSA practice match locally here. I shot my carry gun, my 357 SIG P226ST, out of my appendix rig as it was all I had ammo for and I wanted trigger time with it anyway.

I'm still not seeing shit past when the buzzer goes off. Huge vision problems today, I'm still seeing a speed in my head and meeting it, no matter what my sights tell me. My times were good, but I had plenty of misses, D's, and a no-shoot. Pre-stage visualization is going to be strictly about what to see for the next few matches, no visualizing speed.

Next thing to work on is grip. It was sloppy while live firing today, because my ratio of dry fire to live is so skewed and I let it get sloppy. My splits never went below .20 due to it. At one point my weak hand was just resting on the gun and I was shooting basically SHO, but I corrected it after a mandatory reload and blazed the next half. Draws and reloads were at least half decent too, considering I was doing them from underneath an untucked polo shirt and I had only been practicing them that way for a week.

I've made some huge strides in shooting on the move (ha). Where previously there was nothing, now I'm able to get some decent hits on paper from 10 yards out at a decent clip. I threw a couple deltas and even caught half a bullet on a bordering-A-zone no shoot but it sure is better than it was before.

Another cool thing was that I flubbed a reload (from concealment), and dropped my mag. I caught the mag before it hit the ground (fortunately not sweeping myself in the process) and shoved it in the gun. Rock and roll

I also almost 180'ed on a reload that I did after 4 shots for some reason, I was right on the line. The RO was an IDPA guy, and he yelled MUZZLE!, and I thought I was DQed but he told me to keep going. Damn IDPA guys

[DonovanM]

Just made A class

Here's my classification breakdown

U class: 9/26/2010

C class: 11/15/2010 (1.5 months)

B class: 3/15/2011 (5.5 months)

A class: 7/15/2011 (9.5 months)

Following this trend, hopefully I'll have it by the end of the year, if not earlier. Booya! I already have 2 of the scores needed.

After 9 months in this sport I'm finally starting to have one shred of consistency and the ability to stay relaxed before and while shooting stages. Outstanding. All it took was some time in the saddle. I've been working alot on movement and it's really helped my stage times. I'm shooting my first big match next week, it's still a Level 1 but it'll have 8 stages and a chrono, so we'll see how it goes

Time to do some more dry fire!

Edited July 18, 2011 by DonovanM