Finally committing

[APL-G35]

Alright, it's time I finally really commit to doing this. This range diary will either be motivation to keep improving or a grave marker to my lack of ambition. Currently I'm stuck in B class where my first set of classifiers put me. Fortunately my performance has steadily improve and when the #'s get ran this month on should be on the verge of A at 74.3% if I crunched them right. Now is finally time to start dry firing and seeing where I can take this. Locally I'm pretty competitive now. I usually beat the local A class shooters and can run with the M's from time to time but I want to be the man to beat even if its on the local level for now. So here it goes time to dryfire and try and post back weekly with progress.

[APL-G35]

Well I haven't dry fired very much this week. It's been busy with my work and family schedule. I did pick up Ben Stoeger's practical pistol book though. It had some really good insights in to things I need to work on. I realized I'm doing a lot right but that it needs refinement and some of what I'm doing really needs alot more attention. The programming of the stage needs work and I really need to develope a consistent routine during the make ready command, kind of like shooting free throws as a kid playing basketball. Now to start dry firing this weekend.

[APL-G35]

This week has been good. I've done some pretty decent dryfire work every night this week. Really working on gripping the gun hard with the support hand. Also doing white wall drills. My problem is not with speed I'm more of a hoser and the speed is very natural. I'm working on really focusing hard on the front sight and a clean trigger press. I have a match this Sunday, hope to post mon or tues with good results.

[APL-G35]

So the match didn't go particularly great today. Finished 3rd in limited behind a couple of really talented shooters. One just hot his G card and the other is an A that won't be there long. I shot the two stand and deliver stages well today. That's mainly what I've been dry firing towards and I finished 1st and 2nd on those stages. My classifier score should be around 88% on CM99-16 this month. Other than that the match was kind of rough. Speed was good but shot too many penalties. Far paper got me on two stages and I transitioned too hard on a partial target with a no shoot on another stage. As a plus my shot calling us improving and I shot steel well today, no make ups. Going to by Ben Stoeger's dryfire book the end of this week and start incorporating more movement into the routine.

[APL-G35]

Well it's been awhile, just got back from vacation. While I was gone I didn't dryfire at all. I had my grip and mags sent of to TTI for some work. Had the grip aluminum oxide coated nice and grippy and all my mags modified to hold 21rds. I really like the work done and am ready to get back after it this week.

[APL-G35]

No bueno. My schedule has sucked as far as being able to get to shoot any matches. August = zero matches and maybe only 1 in September. On a good note I finally made A class this week and have picked up a very minor sponsorship with a local gun store. They will be cerakoting all my guns to match and getting me hooked up with gear at their cost so I can hopefully start 3 gunning a little bit thus upcoming year. Unfortunately my pistol has been with them so I haven't been able to dryfire for almost 3 weeks. I'm going to have to hit it hard once all my gear gets back.

[APL-G35]

Finally got all my gear back. Longer process than I had anticipated. Really happy with the work though. Ran into some issues with frame fit and the trigger after reassembly last night though so I had to do some gun smithing. Everything is back to normal and got to dryfire tonight. It's amazing how fast the skills will diminish. This is now readily apparent in dryfire, so I think it's really been eye opening as to what I missed before. Unfortunately my shooting schedule has really sucked lately. I haven't live fired since July 21st and won't have any uspsa matches until sep 29th. I'm only one good classifier away from master right now. I've got plenty of time to ramp up dryfire but am on the fence about moving up to M so quickly. I don't yet feel that I'm ultra competitive at that level. Hopefully this dryfire and my next match results will change my mind.

[APL-G35]

Used this holiday weekend to get some good gun zeros established and do some gunsmithing. The 6" gun I recently traded for had been hitting pretty good but I finally established a good 25yd zero for it. Also got out my 3 gun AR and got a good zero for it, nice to finally put some rounds down range and was pleasantly surprised by the groups I shot with the rifle. I noticed my pistols ambi safety was wobbly on the right side of the frame, so I decided to replace it with a single sided safety. I also finally properly fit a new firing pin stop and the aftec extractor I had laying around. It's nice to finally have some spare parts fit and ready to go. I just need to show up early for steel challenge next Saturday and function test everything.

[APL-G35]

Today was terrible, yet I've realized some things.

Shot steel challenge today and I had done a bunch if pistol work and no real testing. The first stage was bombed because the gun kept puking. It had too light of a recoil spring in it. Luckily a guy I shoot with had a twelve lb spring and that took care of the problem. I learned a couple of things, 1st always test gear out. Though I really couldn't get to the range and it was just the local steel match I'm ultra competitive and not having working gear sucks. Second, I'm getting much better at looking at the positive in my shooting and recovering from problems. In the past after the first stage I would have trashed my whole day thinking about what went wrong. Now I'm able to brush it aside and get back to business. The third thing is that dry fire is paying off, today I checked the timer after some draws from surrender and was right at .93-1.02 drawing to some of the farther targets. Things are getting easier though I still let the wheels come off a little from time to time. I feel like I'm just so close to really breaking through and really putting together complete matches instead of just some good stages.

[APL-G35]

Overall have been too lazy with the dryfire routine. Got back into it this week though and things still felt pretty solid. I've actually tried working without the timer this week. It seems the speed is still there but that the execution is cleaner because I don't feel so tense and rushed as when using a par timer. We shall see how this translates to match performance this weekend. Looking at my classifier scores if I put together a solid run I could make Master this weekend. Not real sure how I feel about that yet. Also excited because we have a rifle side match and I'll get to bust out the AR this weekend. Hopefully I'll have good news to post next week.

[APL-G35]

Nothing really good to update. I did win limited at the local match so that was good. Old habits die hard and I hosed the crap out of the classifier so that one will go on the garbage. Gun ran great, the night before I had mag catch issues but finally got it all sorted out. They had a rifle side match that was fun and I won that too so double bonus.

[APL-G35]

Alright, back after a long hiatus. I had been shooting just not updating here. A little bit of catch up. I hadn't been dry firing and very little actual live fire practice. Just made M a last update. Also shot my first major which was a complete effing disaster. Put way too much pressure on myself and did very little preparation to live up to those aspirations. Going to change that now. After that match I've never been so motivated and realized the only one stopping me from reaching my goals is myself. Recently I've been getting in a few practice sessions. Just read through several shooting books and am starting a dryfire routine tomorrow. I'll try and keep posting here with updates. Have the big local steel challenge match this weekend. The goal is to shoot it under 125 seconds for the whole match.

[APL-G35]

Been dryfiring regularly, not sure how much it's helped or hurt at this point. I've been using the ben stoeger 15 min book. I think I've gotten a little sloppy trying to rush to hit the advanced par times. Going to back it down this week and just pay attention to what I need to be getting out of the drill. Good news is I met my goal. Shot the match in 122.77 my best 8 stage time yet. Started the match a little sloppy ( due to dryfire? ). Got things cleaned up and really noticed a few things. During 5 to go I really noticed that in order to go fast on those little plates, I really bare down on the gun and use a hard front sight focus. This works well and I was running some pretty quick times 3.0-3.3 runs. On some of the other stages that are more speed focused I tend not to drive the gun as hard and get a little less precise with my sight picture. Still learning and looking forward to improving this year.

[ZackJones]

Those are some great times for 5 to go. I checked the last time we ran it at our club and the guy that won the stage shoot in the 3's with a single 2.99 run. He was shooting rimfire open.

[APL-G35]

Thanks. That's about the best I have run this stage in. Surprising because these runs came right after shooting smoke and hope where it seems you barely use the front sight.

[APL-G35]

Been slacking lately on pistol dryfire. Switching modes to 3 gun. Practicing shotgun loading this week. Got to where I can load 8 in 5-6 seconds using load two. Shot my 5th ever 3 gun match today. Was kind of crappy, had some stupid issues. Couple of shotgun malfs due to ammo. Dropped rifle mag an a short stage and shot poorly on the long range stage. Just too amped up or whatever, I have a hard time slowing down on long rifle to just make the shots count. Everything else went pretty good. Shot penalty free other than when the shotgun puked with a clay in the air forcing a miss. Shotgun loading went well. Unfortunately I didn't get video of the all shotgun stage. I think it was a pretty quick time, we shall see if it was when results post. Off to northwest multi gun next Wednesday so hopefully these small mistakes and the ability to learn on the long range stage bare fruit for me next week.

[APL-G35]

No dice, northwest multi gun was a train wreck for me. Inconsistent, slow on some stages pretty fast on others. Some stages went one for one on long range others I went to war with a piece of steel. Learned a lot though and was a great match to shoot. Next year I will be much better prepared. All of the local stuff I've shot is not nearly the same test of skills. Very intense on gun handling and transitioning between weapons since all three were used on every stage. I did put together a couple of decent runs but even those weren't as good as I know I'm capable of. Very frustrating to be so close sometimes yet not able to really put it together and get going. These things will really help me to be able to focus practice sessions now and hopefully make some good improvements. Thanks to all the staff and especially Doug Hartley and Scott Hawkins for putting on this great match. Our squad ran on schedule all match and didn't have to have any reshoots. The prize table was fantastic. Even though I walked in 58th in tac optics I still came away with nearly $300 worth of goodies. Great first major 3 gun experience.

[APL-G35]

Haven't been dry firing like I should. Should the local uspsa last weekend. I took 1st in limited beating a GM so that wasn't too bad. Didn't shoot as clean as I would've liked but for the most part things were pretty good. Just need to get after dryfire and clean some things up. Also shot steel challenge today. Shot an open rimfire and my limited gun. Had an up and down day with limited. Hopefully dryfire can make me consistent. Smoke and hope went awesome, ran a personal best 2.37avg. The first stage I shot was a train wreck. Shot the open gun first then I started shooting my limited blaster like an idiot not even linking at the sights. Had a couple of the single fastest strings I've shot on a couple of stages but just not as consistent as I'd like. Hopefully some day I will shoot a match to my full potential and actually be satisfied with my performance. Rimfire open is stupid easy, that dot really makes the long shots a piece of cake. No wonder open guns look fun. Totally got trashed in rimfire though by the old guys. I just can't run the dot gun cleanly. Dryfire starts again tomorrow. No timer just working on what feels right.

[APL-G35]

Shot uspsa this weekend. I shot a pretty good match. Movement was better, much more aggressive on the run and gun stages. Still need to get faster as I finished 3rd in limited, lost to a GM and another M shooter. After looking I shot the same or little better points than they did bit I was down about 9 seconds over the 6 stage match. Also shot my first GM classification score this weekend. Shot CM13-02 in 4.06 clean. Should be a 98.5%. Still making improvements but at this level it just gets tougher and tougher. You can't give up anything to the other M's and GM's in a match and still win. Next match I'm just going to try and be super aggressive with my movement and transitions. See where it falls apart.

[APL-G35]

Haven't shot any matches yet. There is a beautiful new indoor range here that I've been going to and working on the dot torture drill and doing some group shooting a couple of times now. The dot torture drill I really like, mistakes and why they happen really show up immediately. I've also changed limited guns again. I sold my current 6" SVI framed gun to a buddy and picked up a caspian from another forum member. Being all steel it's s fair amount heavier than my previous gun. It's also a 6" gun. So far i really like the added weight during dryfire. The gun seems to settle down better for me and I don't seem to overswing it as much as my previous one. We shall find out for sure this weekend though. I'm going to shoot it in the local steel challenge match this tomorrow.

[APL-G35]

Okay shot the match. Not a typical steel challenge match, they ran it outlaw so it had different stage layouts but the same format. Gun shot well. I first tried an 11lb recoil spring but it was just a touch light for the gun to run consistent. After I swapped that, things went pretty well. Gun ran consistent but I need to trim the safety a little bit. Also going to tweak the trigger just a tiny bit to my liking. Gun is exceptionally accurate. I ran some great times especially since I was drawing from a kydex rig today. The gun settles in nice and my draws were much better this week thanks to the dryfire time. I'm excited to get back after it and see how well I can end up driving this gun.

[APL-G35]

Time for an update. Since the last post I had 1 training session. Gun ran great, shot some 50yd practice to help the accuracy. I shot a uspsa match. Luckily all the hot shots were at nationals, I managed to win my class but had a bunch of FTF's with the gun. Shot poorly and made mental errors because I was focused more on the gun than the task at hand. Took it apart cleaned it oiled good. Installed new 14lb recoil spring. Shot it today in the steel match. Entered in both open and limited. Gun ran great no malf's in about 275 rounds of shooting. Managed to take first and ran my best single string on smoke and hope at a 2.06. Ran using kydex today, I'm done with race holsters. Really need to get some more time with the new gun to get dialed in but am starting to dig it. Trigger is amazing 2lb, super crisp. Gun is smooth yet super tight. If it keeps running good I'm just going to try and wear this gun out.

[APL-G35]

Shot limited uspsa this weekend. Shot pretty well. Nothing blazing on the run and shoot stages. Had 1 epic run on some steel and a good classifier. It was enough to squeak out the win in limited. Gun ran great, having the right spring and actually lubing it make all the difference. Do that and it just runs and runs.

Edited October 21, 2014 by APL-G35

[APL-G35]

Well it's been way too long since I've updated here. Shooting season has been off to a slow start for me as far as matches go. I've shot some indoor league and shot my first uspsa match of the year a couple weeks ago. It was a classifier match though so not a real great assessment on where I am this year. I have been dryfiring fairly regularly, much better than last year. I picked up a new 6" limited gun from a member here. The thing is epic with a steel grip. It's from the guys at atlas gunworks. If their other guns run half as good as this you have nothing to worry about. I've been shooting locally with nickb45. It's been nice having somebody come up that can push me and gives me a little extra motivation to stay up on the dryfire. Looking forward to what this year has in store.

[APL-G35]

Had a good week of dryfire. Worked on reloads, gripping the gun hard, and making sure to really watch the front sight hard. Shot a steel match today and everything is working great. Paid attention to my grip while on the clock finally. What a huge difference in my accuracy and sight tracking at speed. I think I should have won today's match pretty handily. It's nice to finally leave a match being satisfied with my shooting. Hopefully I can keep this up coming into the sectional match in a couple weeks.