Monica's Range Diary

[monicataliani]

I am starting a range diary as the result of a match yesterday. I began USPSA a few months ago. While I have gone to the range off and on for the past 5-6 years, I never really had any focus or any goal in mind. Heck, up until now, I was excited to hit somewhere on the paper for the target even if it wasn't in the same zipcode as the bull's eye! The match yesterday made me realize something. I was standing out in the rain with the handful of guys that made up my squad. It was freezing cold and I was holding on to a set of handwarmers for dear life(graciously donated by a friend who was much more prepared than I was.) I was shooting horribly. It seems as if all of my good sense, practice, and everything I have worked so hard for over the past few months had gone straight out the window. I actually tried to load a mag into the gun and realized that the empty one was still in there!!! I knew that I was to be sure last on the list when the scores came out. I had mikes and no shoots galore, as well as zero-ing out on the classifier. It was at this point as I was standing there looking around that I realized that I was as happy as ever, crummy performance and all. I have had my suspicions that I was hooked since day one, but now I know it. I figured the best way to get results was to take my post-it list that I have been keeping of things to work on and post it here on the forum, and get to work. Please add any thoughts that you have, as I need all the help I can get. I would love the feedback. I will even try to post videos of the stages after the matches. Let me know what you think! Here is my list of things I am going to work on for now and some general thoughts of how I plan to do it.

1. Good Grip- from draw and from a table - work on at home

2. Good Grip- post mag change - work on at home (If I can't get through this I may get a different mag release but I am going to give it some time.)

3. Mag Changes - work on at home

4. Stage Breakdown- hoping to get a copy of Steve Anderson's book

5. Moving Faster When NOT Shooting (transitions between stops/shooting areas in the stages) - This one I am not so sure about because I am pretty athletic (in the past few months I have done a duathlon and a 10K) and I have the ability to do well with this, but I just don't have ANY confidence to run with a loaded gun!!!

[StaciLyn]

I wish I could give you some really helpful advice but as I'm realatively new to the sport, I'm still working on a list of my own. I can tell you that I've learned the most while actually at the matches shooting with far better shooters than myself. I shot the Georgia State Match a couple weeks ago and although I shot my worst match ever, I not only had a fantastic time, I learned more than I could have hoped for. Although this is a "competitive" sport, I've never found anyone unwilling to give advice or help of any kind. I'll be keeping up with your diary on here in hopes of learning anything I can.

Good luck with your diary and with shooting. It's great to see other women in a previously thought of "man's sport".

[Flexmoney]

[Sarge]

Welcome to the addiction. I hope you do well with your range diary. I started one but never went any further with it.

For starters, please try to remember that you just started this sport how long ago??? You are doing outstanding for the stage of the game you are currently at. I got the results for the match as well and like always can find something positive for you. So here you go.

You may have been last overall but you were only last on one stage. Think positive!

You did NOT DQ.

Other than Jonathan who is unclassified(U) and sandbagging you are right where you should be. i.e you are being beat by GM's B and C shooters. But you are holding your own among the other U's. I know that may sound lame but those are the guys you want to out shoot. That is your competition.

So what if you tried to put a mag in with a mag still in the gun. A GM on our squad dropped a mag and reloaded for no earthly reason. He had no idea why he did it but he did. My point being, if a GM can have a brain cramp or two then us lowly mortals don't stand a chance of shooting a match without making mental mistakes.

That match yesterday was an excellent match. We were all talking about how the other matches we shoot around here rarely have targets at those distances. Some of those targets were 30 yards. I had a hard time hitting them with a dot and felt pretty bad for awhile. Then guess what, the other Open shooter on our squad missed a few as well. Not nearly as many as me for sure. But it showed what a challenge the COF's were.

As for your post it note:

1. Us newbs rarely practice oddball starts. I will practice draws but rarely practice unloaded starts or table starts. I'll bet you rarely if ever practice weak hand shooting right? If you do you are the exception at our level. Table starts are pretty common and you should make it a point to practice.

2&3. Mag changes just take practice. Plain and simple fact. Question. Have you tried mag changes etc with Jonathans G34? The grip may be smaller or better for some other reason. The extended mag release on the Glock might help also. Just thinking out loud.

4. Books are always a good idea for learning anything but you ultimately have to work through things yourself as well. I must confess we did a terrible job on our walk throughs yesterday. We pretty much just glanced over the WSB and shot. We should have slowed down and taken the time to look the stage over better. The lesson here is, speak up and make it known you want to get your thoughts together. There were several ways to shoot most of the stages.

5. Monica, not having confidence to run with a loaded gun is a show stopper in this game. If you think about it, as long as your finger is out of the trigger guard and you keep it pointed in a safe direction it is no more dangerous to run than it is to walk. A trip and fall is a trip and fall whether walking or jogging or running flat out so why hold back? As the Nike ads say, "just do it". You are as safe as anyone else I regularly shoot with so run with confidence.

Keep up the good work and someday you will look back to this first diary post and chuckle a little.

[Paul Santiago]

Great post Kevin!

[Jonathan Taliani]

Great post Kevin!

Except this

Other than Jonathan who is unclassified(U) and sandbagging

LOL.

All good stuff Kevin!

[Chris Keen]

Ooooohhhhhhh ....... the "truth" hurts, doesn't it Johnathan? J/K

Monica you're doing fine. Like Kevin said, how long have you been doing this? There is no substitute for years of practice. You can't fast forward, but you can certainly get started today, on the road to success. And it sounds like you are.

I know many people will say (SA included) that dry-fire is wonderful, but there is no substitute for bullets shot down-range. The more you shoot today, the better you will shoot tomorrow. (grain of salt included)

You may shoot a match one weekend, and spend all week dry-firing at home, then go to the next weekends match, and be a little surprised that the gun recoils so much, or just not have what I call the "timing of the gun" in your head, until firing your first 10 rounds of the match. You get the rhythm of the gun in your head after a while, and that helps. But take just a little time off, and it can diminish. This is a perishable skill. Even after 9 years of shooting, I still like to go to the practice range the very day before a major match, so I can get the rhythm in my head. I feel like I do so much better the next day, if I shoot alot the day before. But of course work, family, and finances can limit the amount of shooting you can actually do. If I had unlimited time and money, I would shoot till I had a blister on my trigger finger!

One last thing regarding moving faster during the COF. I'm glad to hear that you run 10Ks and more, but when we shoot IPSC we aren't running the mile. We are trying to find "bursts of speed" for brief periods, here and there. You may have the gift of running endurance, but I think you need to work on sprints. I ran track in HS, and I was best at the 100m, 100m hurdles, and high-jump. I would almost die if you asked me to run a 400m or a mile. I just can't do it.

A couple years ago I found a personal trainer, who had me working on plyo-metrics. Try a Google search for Plyo-metrics and think about it very seriously. It's not easy, not in the least, but it will help with bursts of speed, and fast-twitch muscles.

[conrad]

Sarge and Chris are both right. You doing fine. That was a very technical match with lots of hard cover, no_shoots, and long distance shots.

[monicataliani]

Hi guys! Wow! You all gave me a ton to think about!

StaciLyn- I am so excited to meet another girl shooter! I have learned we are fairly rare, especially at local matches!

Kevin- You are totally right about all of it! I hope my 1st entry came across as pointing out that I was still LOVING being out there despite all that should have been bringing me down! I know I have a ton of hard work but watching the videos I see how far I have already come! I just can't wait to be able to be more competitive with the pack!

Kyle-

Paul- I agree!

Jonathan- Just you wait until I catch up with you...

Chris- I am hoping to dry fire or run drills every day that I can't get to the range to help get those skills in place. As far as the Plyo-metrics- I LOVE them!!! I am terribly out of shape due to taking 9 months off of working out because of some health problems I was working through. My workouts that entire 9 months only consisted of hiking/walking with my dogs 4 days a week and tae kwon do 2 days a week (1 hour 15 min class with drills and sparring.) All those fast twitch muscles are in there somewhere, they just haven't been used in awhile! Just over summer was when I was allowed to start easing back into working out. (I know, I know, duathlons and 10Ks are not taking it super easy- I couldn't help myself!) I actually just got back from a run and am ready to do a workout now!

Jason- Great match! I hope to see a difficult course like that again soon! It was really fun! Bring it on!

Practice for 10/3/11- Mag change drills for 15 min, Plyo-metric workout for 30 min to help fast twitch muscles

[monicataliani]

Practice 10/3/11 Follow Up- When doing mag changes, should you look at the gun or keep your eyes on the targets? I noticed I don't lose my grip as much if I do not tilt the gun sideways while putting the new mag in. What is best practice? Keeping the gun straight up and down or tilting it sideways?

[StaciLyn]

What I've always been told about mag changes is you should hold the gun up high enough (eye level) so you can be watching the magazine go into the gun and still see the targets....looking "thru" your gun at the target so when transitioning back to the target the gun is already at eye level.

As for straight up and down or tilting, I find it comes naturally for me to tilt, making it very easy to see the "spot" I'm aiming for, in my case, the center of the magwell.

I'm curious to hear what everyone else has to say about this.

BTW, I'm also a fellow Buckeye....I was born and raised just east of Columbus.

[ihatepickles]

Practice 10/3/11 Follow Up- When doing mag changes, should you look at the gun or keep your eyes on the targets? I noticed I don't lose my grip as much if I do not tilt the gun sideways while putting the new mag in. What is best practice? Keeping the gun straight up and down or tilting it sideways?

Keep the gun as close to normal shooting height as you can. Drop the old mag while the pistol is vertical. Tilt the gun so you can see the magwell as you pull the new mag out of the pouch. Focus hard on the magwell, like you would on a front sight while shooting. Bring the magazine to the magwell, pause slightly as the two meet. Fully insert. The better you get, the quicker the pause.

Hope that helps. I'm currently trying to improve and I'm really fed up with the whole thing right now.

[Flexmoney]

Practice 10/3/11 Follow Up- When doing mag changes, should you look at the gun or keep your eyes on the targets? I noticed I don't lose my grip as much if I do not tilt the gun sideways while putting the new mag in. What is best practice? Keeping the gun straight up and down or tilting it sideways?

Kinda of a blurry old video, but pause it at the talking points: http://www.youtube.com/user/Flexmoney#p/u/7/dM67gXDwT_k

[tjs375]

Monica,

I glad to see that you are having fun shooting, I squaded with you and Jonathan at Miamisburg a few months ago...possible at your first match, and yes...he is sandbagging.

Something that might help to find a consistent spot to hit on the mag change is to take a silver sharpie and put a small line or dot inside the magwell or grip to aim for when you are putting the fresh mag in. The good thing is you know when you are hitting the same spot because the dot or line will wear off.

I try to drop the mag when the gun is still vertical and then rotate it to see the magwell, and have the gun up high to keep the target in line, so when the fresh mag is in, rotate the gun vertical and push it out to the target.

[Paul Santiago]

Monica,

I glad to see that you are having fun shooting, I squaded with you and Jonathan at Miamisburg a few months ago...possible at your first match, and yes...he is sandbagging.

Something that might help to find a consistent spot to hit on the mag change is to take a silver sharpie and put a small line or dot inside the magwell or grip to aim for when you are putting the fresh mag in. The good thing is you know when you are hitting the same spot because the dot or line will wear off.

I try to drop the mag when the gun is still vertical and then rotate it to see the magwell, and have the gun up high to keep the target in line, so when the fresh mag is in, rotate the gun vertical and push it out to the target.

The silver mark in the mag-well is a no-no in production.

[monicataliani]

Thanks for all the help with mag changes! I tried to remember all of that when I did my practice for the night.

Practice for 10/4/11-

*10 minutes of dry fire focusing on mostly on transitioning from target to target/sight picture with a minor focus on stance, grip, and smooth trigger pull (I know the trigger part probably isn't too much help without doing live fire, but every bit helps.)

*10 minutes of mag changes going in slow motion trying to make sure I included all the good things mentioned from yesterday

Follow Up From Practice 10/4/11- Is there a proper hand placement when grabbing mags in your mag pouches? Add trigger control to my list of things to work on.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

List of Things to Work On (Updated 10/4/11)

1. Good Grip- from draw and from a table

2. Good Grip- post mag change

3. Mag Changes

4. Stage Breakdown

5. Moving Faster When NOT Shooting

6. Trigger Control

Edited October 5, 2011 by monicataliani

[OpenDot]

Welcome

[monicataliani]

Welcome

Thanks!

[Sarge]

Is there a proper hand placement when grabbing mags in your mag pouches?

Index finger right up the front of the mag. I have read of some shooters fixating so much on this that they jammed their finger into the magwell. Can you say OUCH?

[Paul Santiago]

watch the video of travis tomasie that I sent you.

[monicataliani]

Is there a proper hand placement when grabbing mags in your mag pouches?

Index finger right up the front of the mag. I have read of some shooters fixating so much on this that they jammed their finger into the magwell. Can you say OUCH?

[monicataliani]

watch the video of travis tomasie that I sent you.

Okay!

[38supPat]

Thanks for all the help with mag changes! I tried to remember all of that when I did my practice for the night.

Practice for 10/4/11-

*10 minutes of dry fire focusing on mostly on transitioning from target to target/sight picture with a minor focus on stance, grip, and smooth trigger pull (I know the trigger part probably isn't too much help without doing live fire, but every bit helps.)

*10 minutes of mag changes going in slow motion trying to make sure I included all the good things mentioned from yesterday

Follow Up From Practice 10/4/11- Is there a proper hand placement when grabbing mags in your mag pouches? Add trigger control to my list of things to work on.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

List of Things to Work On (Updated 10/4/11)

1. Good Grip- from draw and from a table

2. Good Grip- post mag change

3. Mag Changes

4. Stage Breakdown

5. Moving Faster When NOT Shooting

6. Trigger Control

Never underestimate the need for learning good trigger control in dryfire. I think a lot of us have been guilty over the years of spending our whole dryfire sessions doing mag changes, draws etc. and ignoring the need to learn how to shoot precise shots, or good sight/trigger relationships and control. I probably spend half my dryfire time now on accuracy drills.

[monicataliani]

Thanks for all the help with mag changes! I tried to remember all of that when I did my practice for the night.

Practice for 10/4/11-

*10 minutes of dry fire focusing on mostly on transitioning from target to target/sight picture with a minor focus on stance, grip, and smooth trigger pull (I know the trigger part probably isn't too much help without doing live fire, but every bit helps.)

*10 minutes of mag changes going in slow motion trying to make sure I included all the good things mentioned from yesterday

Follow Up From Practice 10/4/11- Is there a proper hand placement when grabbing mags in your mag pouches? Add trigger control to my list of things to work on.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

List of Things to Work On (Updated 10/4/11)

1. Good Grip- from draw and from a table

2. Good Grip- post mag change

3. Mag Changes

4. Stage Breakdown

5. Moving Faster When NOT Shooting

6. Trigger Control

Never underestimate the need for learning good trigger control in dryfire. I think a lot of us have been guilty over the years of spending our whole dryfire sessions doing mag changes, draws etc. and ignoring the need to learn how to shoot precise shots, or good sight/trigger relationships and control. I probably spend half my dryfire time now on accuracy drills.

Are you following any specific schedule/plan for your drills?

[monicataliani]

10/5/11 No practice for me tonight. After working a whole weeks worth of hours by the end of Wednesday, I am going straight to bed!