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E K's Range Diary


E K

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Well I've been considering this diary for awhile now and with 2012 fast approaching and some big goals for this year I figured now was as good a time as any. 2011 was my first year in the sport. In fact it was my first real introduction to any type of shooting. I started in April with a local match and quickly realized I had a problem on my hands. This stuff was addicting!! I earned my initial classification of 'C' in Production in May; just in time for my first Major (Ohio Championships). After Ohio the addiction was a full blown illness! I promptly called Bob Vogel and spent an entire day and 750 rounds learning from one of the best. I've tried to incorporate a lot of what I learned into my practice sessions. Shot Area 5 in June, Indiana Sectional in July and TN State in August. In between all of that I mixed in a lot of local matches. Jumping in the 'deep end of the pond' was probably one of the best decisions I made all year. I learned a ton!

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12/29/11:

I spent the evening with Steve Anderson working on dry fire drills & technique. Let me tell you, this was some of the best money I spent all year! We spent about the first hour talking about background, goals, time commitment and the mental side of the game. After that it was 3 hours of dry fire in the basement. Damn my hands are sore today!

I picked up some great tips. A small tweak to my draw and I'm hitting 0.8 sec sight acquisitions. He also tweaked my surrender draw for some great improvements. I'm working on a complete rebuild of my turn since I had no technique there according to Steve! :roflol: This will take some time as I'm struggling with balance.

He also offered a great tip for my Burkett reloads. My reloads have been a strength but they are much more aggressive now. I really like it!

We also focused a lot of time on movement. This is an area I really need to focus on as I know I can make up plenty of time here. It isn't something I've practiced a lot of and it shows as I don't have any entry/exit plans.

I can't say enough good things about the class. For the first time ever I'm fired up about dry firing.

2012 goal: make 'A' class in Production!

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12/30:

I've discarded the 1/3 scale targets hanging on my bedroom walls much to the delight of my wife and built three stands for full size targets. Dry fire will now take place in my basement where I have much more room to maneuver.

I also purchased the wood and hardware necessary for building my dry fire swinger. I plan to build that on Sunday.

I spent 50 minutes dry firing tonight. I worked drills 1-12. The last 2-3 were difficult as my hands are really sore after 3+ hours of dry fire yesterday. Office hands + stipled grip + 3 hours of dry fire = Ouch! I felt good about my sight acquisitions, draws, reloads and transitions. I was really seeing my shots tonight.

I'm going to try and get some morning work in tomorrow. I want to work on my weak hand transition, my turn and some movement.

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I did 1 hour, 15 minutes of dry fire this morning. I focused on drills 1-12. My index is feeling really good right now. My new turn technique is starting to feel better but will still require more work to nail it down. Burkett reloads are going really well @ 0.8 seconds. I video'd them this morning and found that I'm still bringing my strong hand back too far. I will continue to work on that so that I can minimize my time to target afterwards. I was really seeing my sights well during 6 reload 6 even if the reloads were sloppy when putting it all together. El Prez felt much better today with the refined turn technique. I hope to spend some time tonight working on movement drills.

This afternoon will be for building my dry fire swinger and plate rack.

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Oh Boy. EK is doing some work. I better get my big rear in gear or 2012 is going to be bad.

Keep it up Eric!

Santa brought me a pistol rest. Do you want to go to MRPC and bench fire our M&p's?

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Here is a picture of my new Dry Fire Swinger. I can't wait to incorporate it into my regular training schedule.

Thanks to Steve Anderson for the idea!

post-26640-0-80847100-1325445712_thumb.j

Edited by E K
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I spent 1.5 hours dry firing this morning. I've started to incorporate head shots into my drills. I'm practicing, free style, SHO & WHO. I really like the early returns. My new turn technique felt more comfortable today as well.

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EK...just getting caught up on the forum...great to see your range diary. Keep it up!

Yo brother! The more I thought about I figured this was just an added incentive (push) to keep it up. You said it best, though, that dry fire finally has a meaning since seeing Steve Anderson.

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Hey brother...good work. I may just continue being nuts....but you got me thinking about this dry fire stuff. Just may be something to it. :)

Dave,

Good to hear from you. I hope you are doing well. I look forward to seeing you this Spring. I always struggled with my dry fire. Mundane and routine just don't fit my personality well and that is how I always viewed dry fire. Go spend a few hours with Steve Anderson and he'll completely change your outlook. I actually find myself looking forward to it! :roflol:

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I did 55 minutes of dry fire this morning. I continue to hammer drills 1-12. As I mentioned before I'm also mixing in freestyle, WHO & SHO head shots into those drills. Just a couple of days into it and i already feel much more confident. The 'head' is looking bigger each day.

I felt really good about my turn today. It feels as though the new technique is finally coming together.

I've also adopted a new draw technique for when i need to transition to the weak hand. I've always struggled with this, partially, (I think) due to my big hands. I just never seem to get my SH thumb out of the way easily. I decided to turn this into an advantage and now when I need to draw to a weak-hand transition my SH thumb drops over the top of the rear sight as i draw the gun. This is a very strong & secure 'grab' for me and the transition to the WH is very smooth. I'm able to comfortably complete Drill #6 (Weak Hand Transition) in 1.0 seconds so far. My only question is whether there is anything illegal to this draw? I would assume NO but figured I better check before devoting too much time to this change.

I spent some time this morning also working on movement. At my current weight it is more of a 'lumber' as SA would say! :roflol:

I'm working on that further as well (more to come later). I finished my first read of Lanny Bassham's 'With Winning in Mind'. If you haven't read this book it is a MUST read. I think you will also find plenty in this book that you can utilize in your every-day lives as well.

Edited by E K
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Nothing illegal about your WH draw idea... I've played with it on and off and there's no doubt it's faster.

I gave up on it after (almost) throwing a gun across the room once. (or twice) :)

I decided to give up a tenth or so in speed for the safety and reliability of a "normal" grip on the draw.

The choice, as always, is yours!

SA

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I took a class recently and one of the ideas for a WH draw was to grab the bottom of the grip with your strong hands first 2 fingers, which gives you room to get your WH onto the grip. I have been trying it in dry fire and it seem to work fairly well for me.

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Nothing illegal about your WH draw idea... I've played with it on and off and there's no doubt it's faster.

I gave up on it after (almost) throwing a gun across the room once. (or twice) :)

I decided to give up a tenth or so in speed for the safety and reliability of a "normal" grip on the draw.

The choice, as always, is yours!

SA

I think I would give up on it as well. No better way to alienate the RO and your shooting buddies than to throw your loaded gun! :sick:

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I took a class recently and one of the ideas for a WH draw was to grab the bottom of the grip with your strong hands first 2 fingers, which gives you room to get your WH onto the grip. I have been trying it in dry fire and it seem to work fairly well for me.

Russell,

thanks for the tip. I will keep that in mind if my approach doesn't work out. Hopefully I never throw my gun finding out!

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I was only able to work in 30 minutes of dry fire this morning due to early morning meetings. I started to beat myself up about it but then figured 30 minutes is better than nothing. I was only able to work through a reduced set of drills 1-12. Dry firing at 6am is tough! The body simply doesn't want to react very well at that hour. I worked through it though and figured it will get better the more I practice at that hour.

Due to work and family schedules I'm finding that I can only do evening dry fire every other week. So I'm thinking that I will change things up a little so that on the week I can only dry fire in the mornings that I will rotate between 'Core' drills and 'Match Skills' every other day. On the opposite weeks I'm going to shoot for 'Core' skills in the morning and 'Match Skills' in the evening. This will allow me to get the most effective amount of work accomplished with the time I have available and ensure I get plenty of 'field' work.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I recently finished Lanny Bassham's 'With Winning in Mind'. I'm not only applying his principals to shooting but I've also started to apply them personally. With my job in sales I've found that I'm either sitting in my car, at my desk, at a customer's or at lunch! My body surely shows it as I've struggled with maintaining a consistent weight.

I've started a personal Directive Affirmation (you'll have to read Lanny's book if you don't understand)to go along with my shooting one that SA helped me create.

In the past, if I wasn't happy with my weight I would set a goal to 'lose weight'. That worked fine until I lost it. Then I would set out to regain it! :roflol: I never understood why until reading Lanny's book and i said 'HEY, that's me!'.

My new personal Directive Affirmation isn't focused on 'losing' weight per se but focuses on what weight I'm comfortable with. It is all about changing your self image. Really cool stuff!

My new personal Directive Affirmation:

I weigh 200 lbs.(Don't laugh, I'm 6'2") I feel and look great @ 200 lbs. I eat a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner each day and any snacks are of the healthy variety. Food is fuel for more and nothing more (< very important for me). I exercise 3 times a week for 45-60 minutes. I read my Directive Affirmation daily. I weigh 200 lbs.

I've printed this and posted in my bathroom, office, car, etc. You are supposed to read it each day. I read it multiple times each day. It especially helps when you're struggling.

The idea behind it is if you read it every day you will become what it says. It may seem quirky but I'm finding it really works and it constant motivation to get where I want to be. Once there, however, it will remain motivation to stay there.

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I had a great morning of dry fire today. 1-hour & 15-minutes. I focused on a lot of movement today. It felt great.

I started with some sight acquistion warm-ups. I then moved on to the following:

Drill #21 - Box to Box on the Side. I wasn't happy with my ability to get started when leaving the box. I remembered back to my Bob Vogel training and started to implement the drop-step into my exits and saw my times improve. I think I'm going to continue working on that more. I really like the aggressiveness of it.

Drill #22 - Box to Box Forward. I really worked leaning forward to get my movement started before I completed the 2nd shot. It didn't affect my accuracy. I also worked on keeping the gun high as I moved into the 2nd box.

Drill #23 - Enter the Box - I worked on this drill from a couple of different angles. I'm really liking the movement drills.

Drill #24 - Upper 6 on the Move - I really concentrated on keeping low. I struggle with this being I'm 6'2". I definitely notice a difference though when I stay low.

Drill #25 - Forward 6 on 3, 3 on 3 - another good movement drill, with some focus on making head shots on the move.

Drill #26 & #27 - Walking the Triangle & walking the square - I didn't do these as I don't have the space to set up. I need to think about these some more and see if I can find a creative way to run them.

Principles of Performance Book

Drill #7 - Wall Start

Drill #8 - Hidden Target Setup

I'm really liking these drills. These will pay HUGE dividends when matches start back up in the Spring. I'm running these drills for both lower & upper 'A' and with left & right starting positions. I found that I'm faster at acquiring the target when moving to my left. I never noticed that before. It is interesting the things you start to notice when you're consistently dry firing and really spending the time analyzing what you're doing. I'm also noticing a huge confidence surge with head shots. I can't wait to shoot another match.

I got some video as well. I need to figure out how to get it off my phone though. It wasn't as easy as I anticipated.

Drill #9 - Barricade Sight Pictures - Another great drill. I have some video of this as well. I also ran this drill for both lower & upper 'A' and left & right starting positions.

Drill #10 - Open the Door. I also ran this drill for both lower & upper 'A' and left & right starting positions.

What a great work-out today. I can't wait to continue tomorrow. I'm hoping to get both a 'Core' workout in as well as a 'Movement' workout.

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Self affirmation works brother.....trust me. Follow it thru. I believe it worked when I was ill. Yer doing great and will probably make me look like crap at the range. Keep going. :)

If you haven't read 'Freedom Flight - the Origin of Mental Power' I highly recommend it. It is a very short but powerful message. Glad to hear you are doing better.

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I took a class recently and one of the ideas for a WH draw was to grab the bottom of the grip with your strong hands first 2 fingers, which gives you room to get your WH onto the grip. I have been trying it in dry fire and it seem to work fairly well for me.

Russell,

thanks for the tip. I will keep that in mind if my approach doesn't work out. Hopefully I never throw my gun finding out!

I was taught this last year when i was still shooting my Glock. It is not that easy to do with a production gun. Now that I am running a mag well it is very easy to grab the well with a couple of fingers and still have positive control of the gun.

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