Kim's range diary

[RNshooter]

I have read many of the range diary's on here and thought i would start my own. Maybe it will help me track my practice and I will start to improve.

A little background info. I shot USPSA about 5 years ago for a year or less. Then after 5 years pursuing other hobbies I have returned to shooting. I really enjoy it. I may never be a professional but I sure have fun and want to be the best I can. I shoot a G35 in limited. Living in South Florida there is a local 3 stage match every thursday, weather permitting, a monthly local match and then if I want to travel I could probably hit a match every weekend.

Two weeks ago I went to my first thursday match in 5 years. I did some mag changes at home and some practice draws and some live fire at an inside range. I have never had any formal training and any practice i do is just imitation of what i see and hear is useful. That first thursday night match there were 28 limited shooters and i came in 26th, 62 combined and i came in 57th. I had too many mikes and my mag changes were a mess. I had forgotten how hard i have to seat the mag and so I would draw and pull the trigger and nothing because the mag wasn't seated and so no round had chambered. It happened on two stages out of three. It was a costly mistake but as I was driving home i remembered when i used to shoot how hard I had to seat the mags. I had just forgotten in my years of not shooting. I also got caught up in the adrenaline and went way to fast for my level of shooting. Thus all the Mikes A few of the shooters gave me some tips. For instance i was, apparently pulling the mags out during the mag changes when they didn't fall out fast enough...another old bad habit. I didn't even realize i was doing this.

So I shot twice during the next week before the thursday match. I read online about calling the shot and tried that during one of my practice sessions. I suck at that. I must be blinking and i posted a thread and got some good feedback about how to work on that skill.

The following thursday I headed out again to shot the weekly mini match. This time there were 36 limited shooters and I came in 17th, 67 combined and i came in 29th. A huge improvement. I didn't even think about speed. I wanted all my shoots and that is what i thought about. Made sure i had good placement on every shot. This particular night there were a lot of no shoots. I had no mikes and no no shoots. So despite my slow speed my accuracy helped me place much better. I saw many shooters trying to go too fast and getting mike's, no shoots. My mag changes were much better. I waited for the mag to drop and seated them hard. No misfires. A friend video'd my shoots which was great. It really helps to be able to go back and see what you did.

I have so many area to improve on that it's hard to figure out where to begin. I have ordered a couple of books to guide me, but they haven't arrived yet. I know for sure I need to work on m draw, my mag changes and acquiring site picture. From when my gun first appears in front of the target to when i have and acceptable site picture seems to take way to long. I am not sure how to improve that. Yesterday at the indoor range i was trying gun at low ready and imagine a beep bring the gun up to the target and fire twice as fast a i could but still getting a site picture. Still seems very slow. I guess it's just practice, practice, practice.

I am open to feed back and suggestions. Thanks for reading

Edited July 8, 2012 by RNshooter

[yoshidaex]

Get a timer with random start and par time features.

Take a class that emphasizes IPSC/USPSA. Universal Shooting Academy comes to mind.

If reloading mags takes that much effort, download your mag by one to allow you to seat the mag easier.

Just remember you'll be short one round in your second, third, fourth mags.

[RNshooter]

Get a timer with random start and par time features.

Take a class that emphasizes IPSC/USPSA. Universal Shooting Academy comes to mind.

If reloading mags takes that much effort, download your mag by one to allow you to seat the mag easier.

Just remember you'll be short one round in your second, third, fourth mags.

Thanks for the advice. i will look into a timer. I have seen some for the iPhone but need to research it and see if they are worthwhile or should i go with the traditional models. I'd love to take a class at Universal Shooting Academy, hoping to make it happen this fall when it starts to cool down little here in Florida. As far as the mags, sorry if this is a stupid question, but is it because the springs are so stiff and thus creating too much resistance? Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Kim

[mlmiller1]

If you are seeing the gun but having to wait for a good sight picture I have an idea for you to try. First, let's talk about your draw. Put on your gear, be sure all mags, gun, etc are empty. Stand sideways in front of a mirror or better yet a video camera. Beep, draw, see if you can watch yourself draw in the mirror. I am betting your gun is coming up out near the end of your arms & bouncing around as you hit the end of your draw. Does that make any sense? Another thing that wastes time is extra movement. Are you dropping your shoulder when you start your draw? Are you ducking your head or bending your knees? Crouching? Any movement that is not involved in the actual draw wastes valuable time. If you have to duck your head to shoot, do it before the beep. If you must crouch, do it before beep. Any extra movement is a waste. Oh yeah, just remembered another one I've seen. Goes like this-- beep, shooter leans left, reaches down with right hand for gun, glances at holster to see if it is still there, starts the draw, leans back upright, arms straight out, gun swinging up like a pendulum, shooter brings in weak hand & tries to stop gun & it bounces up & down a few times because face it, loaded guns are heavy, then finally he has gun up in firing position, now where did that target go?????? Oh there it is, aim, squeeze, fire. Ok, that is supposed to be funny sort of.

Anyway, I've got an idea for you, let's see if I can paint a mental picture for you of what I think is a very controlled draw. Assume position, Beep, both left & right hands go down to waist as if you are drawing two guns, one on each side. Strong hand grasps with good grip your pistol, weak hand imitates movements(moving both the same way will keep your body balanced). Pull gun from holster straight up. Keep gun near your body bending elbows as gun comes up. Weak hand doing the same thing. As gun starts coming up, begin tilting your wrist bringing gun up & into the center of your body so it is starting to level out & moves so you can get your other hand on it. Start this about lower chest level. Keep bringing gun up, continuing to bring it up to a level or neutral position. As the gun reaches shoulder height, of course it has moved away from your body some but not much, keep it tucked as close as you can depending on your body shape. As the gun is nearing shoulder height, bring in your weak hand begin to get your grip. As it moves on up, grip is solid, gun is level & now gun moves into your line of sight. Finger on trigger, gun is level pointed at target, begin pushing gun out toward target. When you reach an acceptable sight picture, break the shot.

Try it in slow motion a few times. Do it in reverse. Gun is out at target, pull back towards your body, start gun down, release weakhand grip, gun goes down & away from center of your body toward holster, gun drops in holster, you are done. Going forward, reverse, & in slow motion will solidify your draw.

Questions? I once worked with an elderly guy that refused to believe it was faster until we used a timer & showed him. In one practice, we knocked off nearly half a second on his draw which he had been doing for YEARS. He had the end of the arm bounce issue. No one is strong enough to swing a loaded pistol out at the end of their arm in a big arc from holster to line of sight & make it stop exactly in the line of sight with no bounce & do it very fast.

Good luck!

MLM

Edited July 10, 2012 by mlmiller1

[RNshooter]

If you are seeing the gun but having to wait for a good sight picture I have an idea for you to try. First, let's talk about your draw. Put on your gear, be sure all mags, gun, etc are empty. Stand sideways in front of a mirror or better yet a video camera. Beep, draw, see if you can watch yourself draw in the mirror. I am betting your gun is coming up out near the end of your arms & bouncing around as you hit the end of your draw. Does that make any sense? Another thing that wastes time is extra movement. Are you dropping your shoulder when you start your draw? Are you ducking your head or bending your knees? Crouching? Any movement that is not involved in the actual draw wastes valuable time. If you have to duck your head to shoot, do it before the beep. If you must crouch, do it before beep. Any extra movement is a waste. Oh yeah, just remembered another one I've seen. Goes like this-- beep, shooter leans left, reaches down with right hand for gun, glances at holster to see if it is still there, starts the draw, leans back upright, arms straight out, gun swinging up like a pendulum, shooter brings in weak hand & tries to stop gun & it bounces up & down a few times because face it, loaded guns are heavy, then finally he has gun up in firing position, now where did that target go?????? Oh there it is, aim, squeeze, fire. Ok, that is supposed to be funny sort of.

Anyway, I've got an idea for you, let's see if I can paint a mental picture for you of what I think is a very controlled draw. Assume position, Beep, both left & right hands go down to waist as if you are drawing two guns, one on each side. Strong hand grasps with good grip your pistol, weak hand imitates movements(moving both the same way will keep your body balanced). Pull gun from holster straight up. Keep gun near your body bending elbows as gun comes up. Weak hand doing the same thing. As gun starts coming up, begin tilting your wrist bringing gun up & into the center of your body so it is starting to level out & moves so you can get your other hand on it. Start this about lower chest level. Keep bringing gun up, continuing to bring it up to a level or neutral position. As the gun reaches shoulder height, of course it has moved away from your body some but not much, keep it tucked as close as you can depending on your body shape. As the gun is nearing shoulder height, bring in your weak hand begin to get your grip. As it moves on up, grip is solid, gun is level & now gun moves into your line of sight. Finger on trigger, gun is level pointed at target, begin pushing gun out toward target. When you reach an acceptable sight picture, break the shot.

Try it in slow motion a few times. Do it in reverse. Gun is out at target, pull back towards your body, start gun down, release weakhand grip, gun goes down & away from center of your body toward holster, gun drops in holster, you are done. Going forward, reverse, & in slow motion will solidify your draw.

Questions? I once worked with an elderly guy that refused to believe it was faster until we used a timer & showed him. In one practice, we knocked off nearly half a second on his draw which he had been doing for YEARS. He had the end of the arm bounce issue. No one is strong enough to swing a loaded pistol out at the end of their arm in a big arc from holster to line of sight & make it stop exactly in the line of sight with no bounce & do it very fast.

Good luck!

MLM

Lots of good stuff in there to try. thank you.

[RNshooter]

Tonight was a practice night at the local club. Informal, they set up a few different things. One array had 20 pieces of steel, some large poppers, some small poppers, some plates. I am always intimidated by steel so I figured this was the place for me to face my fear. I shot it about 4 times and did see improvement. The poppers I do ok with, but they are more forgiving with regards to site picture. For the plates I have to really slow down and get my front and rear site lined up. I realized tonight that most of my shooting i just see the front site and don't align the rear site. For paper and large steel it seems to be enough but for the smaller stuff it causes my shots to be low. I don't know if i need to change my grip some how so the sites line up more naturally?

So much to learn and work on.

[yoshidaex]

Thanks for the advice. i will look into a timer. I have seen some for the iPhone but need to research it and see if they are worthwhile or should i go with the traditional models. I'd love to take a class at Universal Shooting Academy, hoping to make it happen this fall when it starts to cool down little here in Florida. As far as the mags, sorry if this is a stupid question, but is it because the springs are so stiff and thus creating too much resistance? Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Kim

A dedicated timer is preferred. A dropped timer is $100 to replace. A dropped phone is considerably more to replace.

Mags at full capacity are harder to seat. Theres enough space for half a round to help with seating a mag but at that point its pretty stiff to seat easily.

You could load your mags up and let them sit for a few days to allow the springs to take a set. Used springs/springs that took a set are easier to seat when fully loaded but finding that point where they work 100% and when they start puking requires detailed records of magazine/spring usage.

[RNshooter]

I tried downloading the mags by one and it definitely makes a difference. Thank you for the advice.

I shot the local thursday night match the last two weeks, but other than that, the i have done anything to practice. I have to admit life got the best of me the last week or so. Found out my job is cutting our benefits after 13 years. My renters moved out, then i found out the house has termites and needs to be tented. I'd rather sell the thing and just be done with it but unfortunately in this real estate market in florida that's not going to happen for a long while. Then I managed to crack my head open on a granite counter top, probably should have had stitches but toughed it out with direct pressure and rest. Oh and I broke two parts on the dillon SDB in two weeks so i couldn't reload.

So I'm trying to be positive here and keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Last night at the match I tried to go faster on the courses. I looked at my score for the weeks before and my scores are always the highest while my time is very slow I read somewhere that when you are scoring that high it's time to push you speed up a little. The first stage last night tried to go as fast as I could. Get a good alpha for the first shot and follow up with number two as fast as possible and not worry about A's. Result Almost all Alpha/Charlie combos I think one Delta. No mikes but my time was more inline with other shooters who are doing better than me weekly. The next stage I slowed it down just a little, I felt i had to many charlie's on stage 1. Did ok there, a little slow due to a misload at the start because i hadn't downloaded that mag. Stage III had a disappearing target and a swinger both intimidate me. I know my splits are not that fast. I did ok, but wasn't happy with my performance. I got the disappearing target once for and A, and the swinger i hit three times. I took extra shots because i wasn't confident i had hit it. Then i bobbled on the small steel plates and got frustrated. That stage was pretty much a mess for me. However, I only had the one no penalty mike on the disappearing target. Others had multiple mikes from trying to go to fast.

IT's still fun and great way to let go and forget life's little struggles.

I hope this week to get some dry fire in. I know it's the best way for me to improve.

[RNshooter]

Ladies night at the indoor range tonight so i went and sent 200 rounds down range. After reading quite a bit on this website I have come to the realization that I don't know what I am doing. I simply stick the gun out there aim and shoot. I tried for a little while to think about my grip and how much pressure each hand was exerting. When i don't think about it or concentrate I under support with my left hand allowing shots to go high and left. I have to think about supporting/squeezing with the left hand. I also realized i blink a lot when i shoot. That's why i don't see my sights. I tried to focus on keeping my eyes open and following the sights. When I did that I would often end up with the gun with the barrel raised and not returning to a level position.

I bought and installed a new tungsten guide rod. To be honest I didn't see a big difference. Maybe I am just not good enough to notice the difference. All in all i was rather disapointed with tonights performance.

Edited July 24, 2012 by RNshooter

[mlmiller1]

muscle memory is your friend. Proper grip is critical. If you aren't getting it right, you need to practice your grip, not your shooting. If the gun isn't coming back down after a shot, your grip is not working.

Blinking can be caused by insufficient hearing protection. I suggest good plus & good muffs.

If you can get hold of the training videos(especially 1 & 2) by Matt Burkett, they will work you through most of these issues. Until you shoot well, moving & shooting are not likely to be very succesful.

There are lots of things you can do on the grip that can help but are very hard to write down. Feet placement, lower body position, upper body position, elbow position, wrist angle, palm placement, finger wrap, & thumbs.

Care for a trip to West Texas? hahaha. Give me a day, I'll give you some tools to work with or better yet, just buy the Matt Burkett vids. You can watch them over & over & it is much cheaper than a plane ticket.

MLM

[RNshooter]

muscle memory is your friend. Proper grip is critical. If you aren't getting it right, you need to practice your grip, not your shooting. If the gun isn't coming back down after a shot, your grip is not working.

Blinking can be caused by insufficient hearing protection. I suggest good plus & good muffs.

If you can get hold of the training videos(especially 1 & 2) by Matt Burkett, they will work you through most of these issues. Until you shoot well, moving & shooting are not likely to be very succesful.

There are lots of things you can do on the grip that can help but are very hard to write down. Feet placement, lower body position, upper body position, elbow position, wrist angle, palm placement, finger wrap, & thumbs.

Care for a trip to West Texas? hahaha. Give me a day, I'll give you some tools to work with or better yet, just buy the Matt Burkett vids. You can watch them over & over & it is much cheaper than a plane ticket.

MLM

Thank you for the feedback. Tonight was the first time i tried to work on my grip at all. To even stop and think about what i was doing.

I wish i had the time and money to work with someone on my shooting. I have suggested to my bf some training at the universal shooting academy for my birthday in November, until then i will see about getting the videos you spoke of.

I already wear plugs with ear muffs over them. On thursday nights when i shoot the mini matches i don't seem to blink as much. I don't know if its the excess noise at the indoor range causing the blinking or the adrenalin at the matches that allows me to block out the sound and focus more. But I should probably invest in some better earmuffs.

[mlmiller1]

Training at U Shooting academy is a great idea but if you can build some solid fundamentals to work with, you can use your money & time more efficiently for more advanced techniques if you take some classes. Many of the fundamentals can be done solidly & properly on your own.

If you want some quick videos of how to be safe & shoot pretty well, here is a friend of mine shooting at the colorado state match

Here's another video of a local match where she always schools us on steel shooting, one shot, one hit

[mlmiller1]

Here is one more. It is of her at the Dbl Tap Championship in Wichita Falls, Tx, one of the largest matches in the nation.

By the way, she is only 11yrs old now! You can see her progress from the first video to the last. Obviously she has some physical limitations because of her size but she has the grit of a grownup & is safer than most everyone! Little more size in her hands & we get the thumbs tucked in & her grip will be perfect.

MLM

[RNshooter]

She's a talented young lady.

[RNshooter]

Results from last Thursday are in. 18/30 in limited. I aim for the top 50%. Fell a little short this week but that's ok. I'm having fun and for only playing at this a month or so and not dedicating much practice to it I'm where I should be.