Keith Rogers Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 A long, boring story, but one I need to write for myself if for no one else. Use the delete key at your discretion. --------------------------------------- I shot my first pistol at age 13. It was a Beretta Jaguar in 22lr. I knew two things from that first day: 1) pistols are really fun, 2) I was really bad shooting them. Over the years growing up in West Texas I had a fair amount of shooting with several other handguns up through 357mag. But I never got better with practice. No one else was much better, so I had no teacher. Then, striking out on my own in life left me little time and money for it so I shelved shooting altogether for many years. But I knew some day I would learn to shoot a pistol well and it would be a 1911 in 45 acp. Forward to age 45. The time had come to make good on that self-promise. I got my 1911 last winter and found I was just as bad as ever at accuracy. How bad? It was far from given that I could place 8 shots on an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper at 7 yards. Now I am not kinesthetically challenged. I know I can do well at physical things, I just needed some cogent information. I searched the Web and found this site. The general ambiance is very much to my temperament. I mined the archives using the search button for weeks. A few weeks ago I got Brian's and Matt's books (and Matt's DVDs.) I purposely didn't go blasting until I'd gone over the material and let it soak in a while. Read, visualize, dry practice, contemplate. Tonight I was ready to start my journey in earnest. I deemed two things to be especially important for me to work with and experience in this session. One: begin to learn to 'see'. Two: use even grip pressure, or slightly more with the left (weak) hand in a quasi-isosceles stance. I'm 'seeing' the front sight post, even firm but no death grip grasp, squeeze squeeze BOOM. Say what!? Just as gun goes off I saw the post drop. A lot. wtf? I'm anticipating recoil and pushing down? I would have sworn blind I did no such thing. But there it was, just like Brian wrote - the bullet goes where the gun was pointing when it fired, not where you thought it was pointing. Hole is about 5" below where I thought I was aiming. Humbling. Even humiliating. but..., I *SAW* it. I knew where the hole would be before even shifting my perception from front post to target paper. Excitement begins - calm a little, next shot I 'see' me pull way left at the shot. Wow wow wow - I'm doing really bad things, no wonder I can't hit the broad side of a barn if it's held down by concrete. Geez, Keith, maybe if you knock these things off you'll do okay. I open myself up again - I'm not concentrating, I'm just seeing that the post stays on target until boom. There were six rounds left in the mag. There's an irregular ragged hole just to the left of where I'm aiming. <blink> a warm glow is starting to suffuse me. Okay, let's see if that was just a fluke. Eight rounds in the mag - see. One ragged hole just to the left. Call it 1 1/2" group at 7 yards. Not expert shooting to be sure, but several orders of magnitude than I shot just two magazines ago. Also, my equipment consists of a somewhat rattly S&W 1911 and cheap Sellier & Bellot 230gr fmj ammo. Be that as it may, another mag, same result. I'm grinning like a maniacal fiend. Next mag I see me pull one of them. Pull this time means not off the paper but 1" away. Next mag I pull two. I 'see' it. Aye, it's new and somewhat tiring. Good enough for now. I have much yet to experience and learn. There's time in other sessions. It's a start, and a damn fine one. I'm celebrating with some single malt scotch as I reflect on this major breakthrough of a day as I write. It means a lot to me, though it's just poking holes in paper. I've started fulfilling a promise made over 30 years ago. A toast of thanks: Thank you Brian Enos. Thank you Matt Burkett. Thank you Patrick Sweeny (to help me tweak me blastah.) Thanks to others here who have posted enlightening things about shooting and life. Keith Rogers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 Awesome. Sounds just like me a few years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasag93 Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 Congrats, hope you continue to learn from this forum. Isn't shooting great. TXAG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asiaeagle Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 Nice! Have a good start! Besides, dry firing may help alot. I do it everyday, even 5 min. is OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 congrats. Doen't it feel good to figure out whats going on. Its nice to have an idea, nicer to execute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TriggerT Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 Good to hear. I tell the guys I shoot with on a regular basis how the info and ideas here on the forum have helped to improove my shooting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve223 Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 Keith congrats and welcome. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiG Lady Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 Don'cha just LOVE these testimonies??!! Nice work. I know the feeling. I also know the feeling when I DON'T execute. But that's not Brian Enos' fault or anyone else's, for the most part. So I keep after it. But when you do it right, you can see it, you can feel it, etc., and there's nothing quite like it! Good job! Carry on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
short_round Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 Humbling. Even humiliating.but..., I *SAW* it. The first time I saw that I didn't know whether to jump and up down with joy because of my new found visual super powers or start kicking myself in the a$$ because I sucked so bad and I just found out how much. Way Cool Congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted August 16, 2004 Share Posted August 16, 2004 Awesome. Sounds just like me a few years ago. And now look at ya - Mr GM! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 Awesome. Sounds just like me a few years ago. And now look at ya - Mr GM! Amazing that...the more you see...the more you see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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