Saibot's Performance Journal

[saibot]

Match ( 3.29.14)

Well I try not to focus on the failures and what went wrong, but yesterday's IDPA match was a train wreck. It was the wettest match I've ever shot in, and that's saying something for Oregon! The wind was tearing targets off their stands and making some of the targets into moving targets! I got a -5 on a head that had moved out of the way! But then again, it was hard for everyone and the good shooters were still as consistent as ever, so I think I was just having a bad day. I just couldn't seem to connect with anything and my accuracy was waaaay off. For example, I'd line my sights up on a mini popper, break the shot, and miss. Rinse and repeat! I was even shooting slower than my match pace to really be sure I got all -0's and was still shooting poorly. So much so that I thought something was wrong with my gear, like I had knocked a sight out of alignment or neglecting to clean my gear was catching up with me. After the match I shot a few groups to see what was screwed up and figured out it was just me having a bad day. I put a magazine into the "0" on the head at 10 yards and another into the line on the neck at 15 yards without issue. So I don't know what's up. We all have bad days occasionally and I guess yesterday was mine. Plus the lack of practice hasn't helped. As much as I enjoy and get out of dry fire, there are some things you really HAVE to do in live fire, and my ratio is waaaay off. With the days getting longer and the weather getting better, I'm hoping to get in weekly practice session again.

So that's about enough time looking in the rearview mirror, moving on. After all, a bad day shooting is always better than not shooting at all!

[saibot]

Dry fire ( 3.31.14)

I thought I'd change gears a little bit and refocus on the basics a little bit tonight, so I spent about 1.25 hours dry firing starting with my "benchmark" stages just to see where I was performing cold. Man was I shocked to be struggling to get even close to my usual par times. I was coming in about 4 seconds over on once stage and my hits were marginal at best. I moved on to the next one with similar results. I notice my grip was a little loose so I started squeezing the grip with much more pressure as well as keeping the gun up (a problem that always seems to plague me) and my times fell back down to about where they should be. Dang strange! I went back to the first stage and did about normal times there, too.

After I warmed up a little I cracked open the Stoeger 15 minutes dry fire book and did the first 3 drills that really focus on marksmanship. I noticed that I've picked up some bad habits with my trigger pull and I hope these drills help tune me back up. I am really looking forward to some live fire practice soon so I can validate some of this stuff. I also really need to work on my splits and transitions, but I'm beat.

[saibot]

Dry fire (4.4.14)

I had to get on the road so I only had about 30 minutes to practice. But I still managed to have a pretty good session despite the quick timeline. It really does help just to hold the gun and keep your index sharp everyday. Wish it could have been longer since I won't be able to dry fire this weekend.

[saibot]

Dry fire (4.6.14)

I spent an hour practicing tonight starting with my standards stages which, as expected were a little slower than usual. Practice time has been at a premium lately so I take what I can get, but my performance has certainly suffered. Not to worry though, I'm already improving and getting back to where I belong...and beyond! I spent some time just drawing and rediscovering the proper feel and being smooth. I moved to the Stoeger A drills and some Seeklander thrown in for good measure. I worked on the El Prez and target transitions for a while and called it good for the evening.

I'm starting to feel fast again and having some outrageously fast reloads.

[saibot]

Dry fire (4.7.14)

Tonight I started out with some draws and my standards stages which were much faster than they have been lately. Instead of hitting the dry fire books I thought I'd have some fun and just setup various stages that had me doing things like entering a shooting box at full speed and having to shoot some 10 yard USPSA targets or a plate rack. I integrated an El Prez into one stage then had to run forward 5 yards and engage 3 targets, perform a reload, then run 3 more yards and engage 3 more targets at a couple of yards. Various starting positions like having my palms on a wall and I had to move back and turn to get the first target. Shooting on the move and lots of reloads while running. I made it about 35 or 40 minutes and was too smoked to do any more! What a ton of fun dry fire can be. It was a nice break from the typical stuff I usually do.

[emjei]

I saw a video of Eric Grauffel saying that he doesnt practice with specific drills.....he just put targets randomly (like you did) and solves them in different ways

[saibot]

I saw a video of Eric Grauffel saying that he doesnt practice with specific drills.....he just put targets randomly (like you did) and solves them in different ways

Well that's cool to know! Looks like I'm on the right track.

[saibot]

Dry fire (4.8.14)

Like yesterday, I just setup some stages and ran them. Not too exciting to post about, but it sure is a lot of fun. I was (am) super tired tonight so I was running a bit sluggish but sped up after a little bit. I stared screwing up and missing reloads and just called it a night. One noteworthy item is that I notice that I drop the gun way too low when moving which probably accounts for the messed up reloads, but when I focus on it, I keep it high and all is right with the world. Something to fix.

[saibot]

Dry fire (4.9.14)

Still having fun and just setting up and "shooting" stages like I've been doing lately, but tonight I decided not to use the timer and it was pretty nice. I didn't start getting sloppy because I was expecting the par time to chirp at me. I think I'll leave the timer in the rangebag for the time being.

One thing I noticed was that my index was off even though I was gripping the pistol like normal. So I closed my eyes, drew, and noticed that every time I was off to the right. So I adjusted my grip a little and boom! Right back on target. Strange the evolution of my grip has changed my alignment at some point.

[saibot]

Dry fire (4.10.14)

Whoo! Man I am smoked! I setup some pretty tough stages tonight that required me to draw from my hands on wall a couple of feet to the side (which is one of those things I never practice and I bobble on quite often) and had lots of running transitions. For example, I have to haul butt to a box from the left side and hit 3 targets at 10 yards with two shots each. That first target is just murder for me since I'm still moving when I'm attempting to hit it and it seems like an eternity before my sights settle enough for me to break the shot. Then I have to reload as I'm hauling but forward to the next position where I enter the box at full steam and have to hit 3 targets with two shots each, again, waiting for the sights to settle down. Then jump forward to the next position while executing a reload to hit 3 targets at about 6 ft. Wonderful stage and it's super challenging to execute with all A zone hits while staying fast and not missing a reload. That was one of 4 or 5 stages I setup tonight, all with similar challenges. I only made it about 45 minutes before I was too smoked to stay focused. Lots of fun though!

[saibot]

Live fire (4.11.14)

I slipped off to the range to sight in a new rifle for Saturday's Practical Rifle match then hit the pistol range for a little practice. Time was pressed so I worked on a few 25 yard slow fire targets and some 25 yard steel. I shot a sheet of the Frank Garcia Dot Drill and called it a day. It was great to get in a little live fire practice, but it was just way too short. I really could use an afternoon of pistol practice.

[saibot]

Match (4.12.14)

I normally hit the Albany USPSA match this weekend but my schedule just wouldn't allow for it this weekend since it's a long drive down there and back, and I wanted to try out my SBR AR in this weekend's Practical Rifle match. They had 5 really fun stages that I really enjoyed, everything from 10 yards to around 200 yards. I have to say, the most unique stage I've ever shot was stage 5 which had featured the children's game Perfection. You started the timer and for each piece you place on the board you earned one shot at a single 100 yard plate. Sounds pretty easy, but the time went by very quickly. I figured that a miss would cost you the stage since you can't take a make up shot so I took my time and went 10 for 10. The only significant error I made the entire day was taking an extra shot on the VTAC drill which was Virginia count. That removed a point from me and will cost me significantly since PR scoring is all about points. Ties are broken by time. Results haven't posted yet, but I'm hoping to be on the podium. My new SBR performed flawlessly so it's hard to complain about that! Not that I don't love my Colt Competition, but a short barrel and an 1MOA EOTech are just so dang fast. And man is it accurate. What a kick.

[saibot]

Dry fire (4.13.14)

I practiced for about 30 minutes, just setting up stages and shooting them. Pretty neutral in speed/accuracy.

Dry fire (4.14.14)

I spent about 30 - 45 minutes practicing, again, just setting up stages and dry firing them. I was pretty slow and sloppy overall which is probably a side effect of missing so much dry fire a while back and the almost total lack of live fire practice.

Dry fire (4.15.14)

I spent about 1.25 hours dry firing tonight and man, I was dialed in and really cooking. Seconds off some of my standard times for these stages. I then worked on the Stoeger A drills and some Seeklander to boot. Lots of fun tonight and some really great practice.

[saibot]

Dry fire (4.16.14)

I only got about 45 minutes in tonight since I'm pretty darn beat. It's nice that I have carved out the time in the evening to practice, but I'm pretty worn out by the end of the day so some nights I just drag a bit. Anyway, I setup a few stages and ran them a bunch of times then did some practice draws and reloads. Did just a bit of shooting on the move (outside of what was in the stages) and called it a night.

I did notice that I was getting pretty sloppy a slowed it down a bit really focusing on GREAT hits. I didn't realize that my hits were getting so sloppy so it's time to rein it in and tighten up.

[emjei]

Is there a Dry Fire book you dont use anymore and want to sell ??

[saibot]

Emjei-

To be honest, I keep going back to all of them and getting ideas so I don't think I'd get rid of any of them.

Did you see my link to the Stoeger dry fire program here on the forums? I use those more than any of the other ones and there are videos of Ben doing them on YouTube.

[saibot]

Dry fire (4.18.14)

I got to it pretty late and just wanted to go to sleep, but I really needed to at least do a quick 15 minutes. I wound up getting my second wind and went for 30 minutes of draws, reloads, and some dry fire stages. I then spent 10 minutes practicing reloading my shot gun with a new shell holder I've been meaning to try. I figured I better get to it since I have a 3 Gun match in the morning.

[saibot]

Match (4.19.14)

Not a great day. The first stage went great, the second went great with the exception of my shotgun jamming a bunch, but I did go 3 for 3 on the 50 yard mini poppers which was cool. Then on the next stage I had an equipment failure that took me out of the rest of the match.

[saibot]

Dry fire (4.24.14)

Wow it was great to practice tonight! All of our guests have gone home and I'm free to get back to my nightly practice sessions. I worked on my draw for a while to get tuned up and ran a few dry fire stages. Did some El Prez practice, worked on drawing and shooting strong hand, weak hand, and freestyle. Did a bit of shooting on the move and called it a night. A nice solid 30 minutes or so.

[saibot]

Ya, I've been pretty lousy about updating my range log here, but I have been doing some practice, mostly dry fire. But I did have an opportunity to spend last weekend training with Ben Stoeger for a class here in Oregon. I threw together a quick post on my blog about it if anyone is interested. Just go here:

http://www.recoilsports.com/2014/05/training-with-ben-stoeger/

[emjei]

Nice review and lucky you to add such a nice training into your shooting life

I have Ben' s Dry Fire Book coming my way....cant wait to add that knowledge to my trainning

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

[ZackJones]

Thanks for writing the review. I'm taking his class in November and hope I don't suck too bad .

[saibot]

Dry fire (5.8.14)

Time is darn tight right now and I only got about 12 pages into his dry fire book and decided to just dry fire instead of reading. I practiced draws...lots of them. I tried putting the medium backstrap on my G34 and tried it out for a little bit and really kind of like it. It just might allow me to get my hand a little closer to the bore axis than I get now, but I didn't want to do too much with it until I tried it out in live fire so I took it off. I did however put on one of the Dawson grip tape thingys and was having a tough time hitting the mag release consistently so I cut away the area around the mag release and boom! Works much better. I haven't run anything, tape or otherwise since right around the time I got the G34 so I thought I'd try it out again. I really worked on fundamentals like drawing and reloading. And drawing and reloading on the move. I did it for about an hour as well as some dry fire stages that I did pretty darn well on. A bit sloppy, but very fast.

I was planning on shooting a match in Albany this weekend but think I might just setup some drills and get a bunch of practice in instead.

[emjei]

How you like Ben's Book compared to other Dry Fire ??

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

[saibot]

How you like Ben's Book compared to other Dry Fire ??

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

So far, I'm digging it. I think it's very well thought out and has been refined based on feedback from his previous books. I've also been thumbing though his new Skills and Drills book which looks very focused and very well laid out. With both books, the drills are very easy to setup and run which is great considering how little time I have to practice. So just FYI, my favorite books have been Steve Anderson's Repetition and Refinement which is just centered around dry fire, Mike Seeklander's book Your Competition Handgun Training Program which has both live and dry fire drills plus vision and mental drills as well. And so far I am really digging Ben's new books. I have others and I've gotten a nuggets from each, but these have been pivotal for me. Brian's book is a must read as well but it's really geared for the shooters who have been at it a while. With Winning In Mind was awesome as well, but I already had what I needed from Seeklander's book.

Anyway, sorry for the long winded answer!