Saibot's Performance Journal

[saibot]

Dry fire (1.7.14)

Blew the entire hour doing draws and reloads. Rinse and repeat. Still adjusting to all of the change lately and need to settle in a bit more. Pretty dull to read about for you guys. Sorry.

[saibot]

Live fire (1.8.14)

I made it over to the local indoor range this afternoon and got to squeeze off 100 rounds, just shooting groups. They were pretty poor to be honest so I need to work on getting more live fire under my belt. I really like to get a bulk pack of .22 and shoot all 525 rds into little groups at the 25 ft line at the indoor rimfire range. It's always tightened up my groups in the past since my pistol skills seem to decay so quickly. I think I need to win the lotto so I don't have that whole work thing getting in the way of my shooting.

[saibot]

Dry fire (1.10.14)

Hated to miss practice yesterday, but too much work going on. I did get to spend about 1.5 hours practicing tonight and started off missing all of my par times, but after a little bit I was getting them back down where they should be. Man, I hate the decay! After my "benchmark" stages I hit the Stoeger A and B drills, the lots of shooting on the move which had my sights bouncing around everywhere. I'll need to spend more time with that. Looking forward to my USPSA match tomorrow! It's been 2 months since I got to shoot USPSA and I'm hoping it goes well. My G34 had been giving me lot of light strikes, even with a heavier striker spring, so I don't know what's going on with it. It was dang filthy so I did a full teardown and cleaning. The trigger feel different for some reason and not so light. I hope it runs well for me tomorrow. Looking to see how all of the practice pays off. I hope I can make the connection between dry fire and live fire.

[saibot]

USPSA Match (1.11.14)

Match day! We drove down to Albany for their excellent USPSA match yesterday and it was a ton of fun. Thinking back, the last USPSA match I got to shoot was in Albany two months ago which is just too darn long between matches. Nevertheless, it was well worth the drive, rain, and wind. I snapped right back into moving well and shooting on the move where it made sense. I did have a very tough time accurately calling my shots and tracking my sights. I've unfortunately got into the (bad?) habbit of looking through my sights instead of at them and it was reflected in my accuracy throughout the match. I did shoot very consistently which is a great milestone for me since I typically pooch up the first couple of stages and do well after that. No big mistakes but some little ones that would have made things a little better. The one glaring error was not reloading in between a couple of positions on one stage and had to do a standing reload for the very last shot since I missed a steel plate and had to take a make up shot. It would have cost me nothing to reload while I was moving. The other thing I did was miss a lot of steel. There really isn't any reason not to go 1 for 1 on the darn steel. I wasn't aiming hard enough on the poppers and missed quite a few of them over the course of the match.

Overall, a very good match for me but I certainly need more live fire. My accuracy is down and some of the skills I excel at in dry fire are still being performed using the old mental program.

I did take first for Production B class which was very satisfying even though there were only two of us shooting B class. But the person I beat almost always beat me in the past so we are always duking it out.

So it looks like all of the work is paying off to some extent. I do need to carve out my live fire practice and adjust my dry fire to work more on accuracy and front sight focus.

[saibot]

Sniper Match (1.12.14)

Knocked the spider webs off of the ole bolt gun today and hit a local sniper match. I haven't shot a bolt gun in quite a while but wanted to support some friends who were putting this match together. The weather was pretty nasty and the mud, well, there was a lot of it. I thought I'd be DFL considering how little bolt practice I've had in recent months and the people shooting here are some of the best shooters around. As luck would have it I wound up taking 6th (miracle) so I was shocked and pretty happy with that. I even got most of my brass back!

[saibot]

Dry fire (1.15.14)

Although I finished alright at last weekend's USPSA match, my accuracy wasn't up to where is should be. It think it's partly because of lack of live fire and due in some part to operating in speed mode lately. So I took a couple nights off to reset and hit it tonight without a timer. I really just focused on moving as fast as I could, then taking my time, getting a good strong focus on my front sight, then giving really good shots. Not using a timer really took the pressure off me so I could just focus on being accurate. I spent about 1.25 hours like this doing all sorts of drills, and working on my movement. I brought the speed up a tic, now for the accuracy.

[saibot]

Dry fire (1.16.14)

Spent an hour doing my dry fire stages, then the Stoeger A and C drills. Some shooting on the move and more dry fire stages. Whew! Fast and furious practice session.

[saibot]

Dry fire (1.21.14)

I don't know what all of this "15 minutes of dry fire a day" stuff is all about. Every time I try to do a quick 15 minute session I always wind up spending an hour out there. Well, anyway, I'm back in town and back at it. I was ecstatic that I did really darn well tonight despite taking a few days off from practice. I guess some of this stuff is starting to sink in at some sub-conscience level and building in some consistency. My "benchmark" stages cold times were really wicked fast. I was just snapping to every position and moving well (thanks Alieve!). Worked on draws and reloads, Stoeger A and D drills, and shooting on the move. Always a good time.

[saibot]

Match (and a little dry fire - 1.25.14)

I got up a little early so I could get a few minutes of dry fire in before today's match and worked on my draw, reloads, and some transitions. Maybe 10 minutes? I haven't fired a round since the 11th, last match, and the recoil was a bit foreign, so I just took it nice and easy, didn't push too hard, and just focuses on calling my shots. It took a couple of stages before my sights started tracking for me and I think it was a prudent strategy for today. I did better on the steel than I have been doing but still not going 1 for 1 on it yet. I got did manage to get 70% on the classifier which was nice and took second in B class Production. Pretty happy about that! I have to say, I'm shooting much more consistently than I ever have and only made one mistake, got a mike on a 25 yard head shot. I called it right on the left edge, but no dice. Only one hole.

[saibot]

Dry fire (1.28.14)

I had a really good 1.5 hour dry fire session tonight where I started out with my "benchmark" stages, then did the Stoeger A drills to get warmed up. I did a bunch of drills where I had to run to a shooting box and engage the upper A zone with two shots on an USPSA target at 10 yards. I really wanted to see what footwork method got me stable and on the upper A zone the fastest and work on getting into the box and shooting as fast as possible. I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing, but I couldn't really tell any advantage one way or the other. Then I practiced shooting on the move...a lot of shooting on the move. It's probably 35 - 40 degrees in the garage and I'm sweating in a tee-shirt. It was a really good session!

[saibot]

Match (2.2.14)

I really wanted to get some shooting in and my friend just so happened to be going to a speed steel match so I tagged along. I don't normally shoot speed steel but since I've been having some issues with hitting steel lately I figured I would go and get some practice. I didn't notice anyone else's shooting or cadence, I just shot my own match. I just worked on calling my shots and seeing my sights and things went well. "Nightmare" was tough but everything else went well and I just kept shooting better at the day went on. What a good day it was! The targets just seemed to lay down for me. Looking forward to seeing the results! It seems that all of the dry fire practice is paying off.

[saibot]

Dry fire (2.3.14)

I spent 1.5 hours dry firing with my standard benchmark drills which have crept down to about where they are now (cold). Then did the Stoeger A and B drills with lots of extras thrown in for good measure. Then lots of shooting on the move then finally back to the benchmark drills which I really set ablaze. I knocked about 3 seconds off of one and a couple off of the other which is just screaming fast for me. I think it comes down to breaking my cadence and getting my body moving sooner and shooting sooner. Always satisfying to hit those kinds of times!

[saibot]

Sniper Match (2.8.14)

My buddy and I battled our way out to the range for the winter PR Sniper match which, true to it's name, had plenty of bad weather to throw at us. The match directors put on a heck of a good match which was fun but very challenging. The scores aren't out yet but looking forward to see the high hit percentage. I shot very solidly (for me) and lots of first round hits which help your score. The last stage for me was the "Dog House" which could have gone better but my hands were so numb and useless I couldn't turn my turrets anymore. I got my rifle back in it's bag but had to get help getting it zipped back up since I just couldn't get my fingers to listen to my brain and squeeze together. Pretty strange sensation! It was great to see how I and my gear held up in less than ideal conditions. In fact, the gear did better than I did except my Rite In The Rain pens froze.

Edited February 10, 2014 by saibot

[saibot]

Dry fire (2.9.14)

It warmed up a little today and I cleared a path of stuff we're collecting for an auction (that is blocking my dry fire area in the garage). I've been a weenie and have been avoiding the freezing temperatures in there and haven't been practicing. But I couldn't NOT do it tonight so I hit it for 30 minutes before I ran out of time. There certainly was a noticeable decay in my performance and my times, but it started returning as I got warmed up. I'm hoping that I'll be back where I left off in a couple of days. I did my benchmarks stages quite a few times and lots of draws (to A zone, upper A zone, while moving around the clock) and lots of reloads. A little shooting on the move, too.

[saibot]

Dry fire (2.11.14)

I missed yesterday since I was just too sick to stay awake. But feeling a bit better today, I was back at it. I spent about an hour dry firing and really focusing on reloads. I still did my "benchmark" stages which are still a little slow going right now, but I did manage to get some of the fastest (and consistent) reloads to date. Did the Stoeger A and B drills as well.

[saibot]

Match (2.15.14)

I made it to a local 3Gun match today and boy was it wet. It occurred to me that there really isn't such a thing as bad weather, just bad gear. My rain gear performed perfectly and the match went great. I had one minor glitch loading the shotgun on the last stage where I was trying to load with the bolt back and couldn't figure out why the lifter wouldn't go up. As you can tell, I'm new to the shotgun and never practice anything with it. It only comes out to shoot a once in a blue moon 3Gun match so I don't expect a lot from my performance with it. But being just shooting, I align the sights, don't disturb them as I break the shot and, at least on static targets, I never miss. Stars just lay down for the SLP as well. My two big challenges with the shotgun are clays and loading the bugger quickly. I need to actually practice that!

I'm also somewhat timid when it comes to 3Gun for some reason. I'm pretty hard charging with an AR or a pistol, but throw in a shotgun and I slow way down. But luckily my accuracy has been a strong point for me so even though I'm moving a little slower, I don't need to make up any shots and that seems to win out, at least in 3Gun.

The pistol was really working for me today and really punished the steel. All of the dry fire is really paying off and I just seem to hit everything I point my G34 at, including all of those little knockdowns. I tell you, it's truly satisfying to see all of the hard work paying off. Looking forward to seeing the results!

[saibot]

Dry fire (2.16.14)

I was able to get in a solid hour or so of dry fire today where I started, as usual, with my benchmark stages. I was a little slow cold which is probably to be expected since I haven't been in town lately and couldn't practice. I worked on draws and reloads and tried to get my snap going with them. Draws back to near where they should be and was really getting some fast reloads. I warmed up with the Stoeger A drills and some of my old favorite Seeklander drills. Then some shooting on the move, 6 reload 6, El Prez, and another round of my benchmark stages which were about 3 seconds quicker once I was warmed up.

[saibot]

Dry fire (2.17.14)

Burned an hour dry firing, starting with the "benchies." For some reason I was a couple seconds off my cold par times which was strange. It felt nice and fast but the timer doesn't lie. In fact I keep checking the time to see if I had set it wrong! Nope, just slow. Worked on my draw/index for while, getting my "snap" back. Worked on a couple Stoeger drills with some Seeklander thrown in for good measure. I created a new drill where I had to draw to small upper A zones, reload, move and shoot three targets, reload, hit three more on the move, reload, and work my way back to the beginning doing the same thing. One little thing I noticed that was VERY interesting is when you enter a position with your gun up you're going to have some bobble as you slow/stop. I started indexing in the opposite direction of my bobble and let it take my sights on to the target and break the shot. I'll have to see what I can do with it...

There was a little 6 reload 6, and some El Prez in there as well.

[saibot]

Dry fire (2.20.14)

Just a quick session that went about 45 minutes. Benchies, Stoeger's, Seeklanders, and out. I can barely move in my garage from all of the stuff we're storing until the weekend.

[saibot]

Dry fire (2.24.14)

Woohoo! The garage is mine again...mostly. The bulk of it is gone and I can pretty much do my drills again. I spent about 1.25 hours trying to get back on my game. My schedule has been pretty packed so I haven't gotten a chance to do much practice. I didn't event get to shoot any matches this weekend which was a big disappointment. Anyway, started off with my "benchmark" stages as usual to gauge where I'm at cold and I was not surprisingly running a little slow. Then on to the Stoeger A and F drills with some of the Seeklander drills added to the mix where relevant. Did some shooting on the move and just worked out some kinks with my draws and reloads trying to fend off the decay of skills. Finished up with the benchmark stages to see where I was and was just around the par times. Good session. I also was pretty excited to see the results that were finally posted for the 3 Gun match I shot recently where I took 2nd overall and first in Tacops! Such a good feeling to see your hard work paying off.

[saibot]

Dry fire (2.25.14)

I started out tonight just drawing from hands at side at about 5 yards, to the center of the A in the upper A zone. Started off at 70% and refined my alignment and turned up the speed until I was pulling the gun as fast as I could. It was very cool that I was able to draw at 110% and still get a perfect sight alignment in the center of the A zone. I'm not sure if it was because I started this way before I even did my benchmark stages, but the sights tracked amazingly well tonight, perfect A's in my drills without loss of speed (or at lease very marginally considering the speed I was going). I loosely did the Stoeger A drills and added a bunch of variations in along the way. Tons of draws and reloads, about half while moving. Worked on my 6 reload 6 and the El Prez. Did a little shooting on the move and ran out of steam. Great session tonight and I think I found a little nuance to my draw where I move sharp but light from hands at side to getting my fingers in contact and wrapping the grip, then explode up and out. It's hard to explain, but that's the best I can do when I'm really describing a feeling more than a technique.

[saibot]

Dry fire (3.1.14)

I spent close to two hours dry firing tonight showing a friend my routine. Starting with my "benchmark" stages, then warm up with the Stoeger A drills with all of my modifications and extras. Then the Stoeger B drills, shooting on the move, and finally ending on the "benchmark" stages to see how much our times improved after getting dialed in with the other drills. Lots of fun and a great evening reloading and dry firing with a good friend.

[saibot]

Dry fire (1.2.14)

Kind of the same ole same ole thing. Benchies, warm up with the Stoeger A drills, hit the Stoeger C drills, shooting on the move, a little dash of Seeklander and lots of extras thrown in for good measure. It took about 1.25 hours to complete all of it but I was pretty smoked at the end and my reloads started to get pretty inconsistent. The sights and my eyes weren't really speaking tonight, so...

[saibot]

Man it's been a while since I've gotten to update this. My schedule has been murder on my shooting and being seriously ill for a couple of weeks hasn't helped. Not that I haven't had any dry fire practice since my last update, there have been a few sessions as well as some matches, but I've been less disciplined than usual about logging my activity. Anyway, no more excuses, back at it as my energy levels permit.

Match (3.8.14)

Shot pretty well considering I pretty much slept between stages.

I just focused on calling every shot and kept it simple. I think I wound up taking 1st in B class Production.

Match (3.22.14)

Felt like I wasn't going to be able to finish the match but pounded enough caffeine to stay awake. I made a ton of mistakes and the lack of practice/dry fire really caught up with me and I did pretty poorly and lost to a lot of good shooters I generally edge out.

Dry fire (3.26.14)

First dry fire session in a while. Pretty sluggish and missed a ton of reloads. Holy cow these skills perish quickly! I was able to get about an hour of practice in although I really need much more to get caught up. My dominant eye's vision is still pretty bad/blurry so I'm praying it gets back to where it should be since I don't think I could switch eyes.

Meh...

Still, at the end of the day, this stuff is still so much fun and I can't wait until the next match! I think I'll hit up an IDPA match this weekend if everything works out.

[saibot]

Dry fire (3.27.14)

Back at it. I spent about an hour dry firing tonight, starting with my "benchmark" stages that have known par times. Those let me know how I'm doing when I start out cold like I would be doing at the first stage of a match. Sights were tracking pretty well for me tonight which was great. I've been at this long enough to know that when I'm having a bad night of dry fire not to get discouraged. Usually the next day's session is outstanding and that's what happened again tonight. I did the Stoeger A drills to get warmed up, threw in some Seeklander, then the Stoeger D drills and the Close, Far, Close drill. A little El Prez and some weak hand shooting with some shooting/reloading on the move to round things out for the night. Not a bad night's practice.