Jesse Holder

[g17drumr]

Went to a ben Stoeger class weekend before last. I thought it was good. I learned a few very important things i need to work on and how to practice them. Biggest takeaway for me was motivation to practice and get better. My friend that got me into this sport and I are only shooting one match per month for now and live firing every weekend(instead of matches) with very specific drills decided beforehand. Ben gave everyone at the class the skills and drills book so that will be where almost all the drills will come from.

Shot the Sir Walter match this past saturday. I shot very well i think. I need to work on my cadence for splits and transitions and will be doing the rhythm drill for one of our drills at practice this weekend coming up. I started focusing on my weak hand grip as advised and i feel like it made a big difference in accuracy and tracking the sights. Did have one HUGE mistake at this match. I was moving up and reloading and brought my gun down too low looking at the ground and moved past a target before i had looked up and completely skipped it... 2 mikes and an FTE. That cost me big time, without that which iv'e never done before i would have beaten/been right on top of a few people that i didn't even think i could really compete with, but they could of have a bad day so who knows. Still a good match for me even though it could have been better i feel like i learned and noticed a lot more after the class.

[g17drumr]

Live fire practice this past sunday. Did the dot drill twice.(once in the middle and once at the end). I need to keep working on keeping my weak hand grip super tight so it becomes second nature sometimes i forget and it shows with the hits. Did a rhythm drill as well. 2 targets at 7yds and two just to the right of those at 15yds. This was one of the same drills we did at the stoeger class. once again when i keep my left hand tight the hits tighten up. biggest issue on this drill was running it far to near. i get the gun out fast and then hesitate before breaking the shot. I do the same thing when starting or transitioning to a new array if they are past 7-10 yards but the follow up shots and transitions after the first shot(in a new array) aren't delayed. I did OK at keeping the cadence but still need work. Last drill was exiting and entering position. Draw to one target at 7yds run right about 5 big steps is how we measured it to a barricade and as you come past the barricade engage targets at 20, 12, and 7yds roughly. we ran out of staples so coming in on the 20 yd target was our "hard" entry. focused on keeping the gun up and not breaking my grip. still hesitating too long on the first 20 yd shot. Also need to engrain staying much lower. learned how much of a difference it makes when you come into a postion low, knees bent and shoot flat footed compared to running in and shooting standing straight up with most of your weight on one foot while tippy toeing the other foot. Did pretty well at this kept pretty good hits as long as i kept my grip tight. best run was 5.15 sec. with good hits...i ran it once in 4.87 with no mikes but like 3 deltas so that one doesnt count.

[g17drumr]

Did the Standard practice setup this past weekend and docemented my times/hit factors did each drill 3 times. Some of them i screwed up on but i still think i was able to get a relatively accurate baseline to measure improvements. probably going to use this setup at least once a month and compare new times/hit factors on those drills. I still need to work on keeping my weak hand grip tight. i ordered a grip strength trainer online. i dont think that that is the answer however i do think that the stronger your hands are the more force your going to natuarlly put on the gun without thinking about so it cant hurt. Going to practice this weekend on transitions trying to lead with the hips instead of the arms, trying to get rid of this hesitation between getting on target and acctually firing the gun. I did dry fire this week twice. that doesn't sound like a lot for most people but ive probably only ever did real dry fire maybe 10 times total in the past year so its a good step and i feel like im getting good feedback from it so far. i did switch my mag pouches to bullets out last night(by the way the DAA racer pouches dont mount bullets out unless you file down the screw to clear the adjustment wheel) ive put off doing this for a while but i was having too much trouble getting a good grip on the mags before and missing lots of reloads. when i practiced with it last night after the second try i could get a good grip on the mag every time. still bobbled a few but at least had the grip. before the only way i could guarantee a good grip evry time was to lean to the side which isnt right. Im fat is why this is the best option for me, most people wouldn't have this problem and it would just be a matter of preference.

[g17drumr]

had a solo practice session today after work. did about 25 reps of draw 2 shots then 90 degree transition and 2 more shots all at 10 yards. trying to focus on bringing the gun in when transitioning and then pushing back out to the second target. it was hard for me to do this because its not what im used to but when I did it was about a tenth faster average on the transition. I was averaging .65 to .7 but when I did it "correctly" I was getting .52 to .55. draw was consistently 1 second to 1.15 with a few screw ups. Also did the blake drill I was losing focus through part of it but I was getting good hits in about 2.1 seconds. pushed pretty hard on my last run and did 2 seconds flat even with a bad draw but the hits were not so great. Tried a couple runs of four aces at the end but after about 4 tries I went home it didn't go so well couldn't hit the reload at all even after doing really well in dry fire with it... Should have known when to quit. bad way to end a practice but I felt pretty good about it overall

[g17drumr]

Today is my last chance to practice before SC match other than probably a little dry fire friday night in the hotel. Supposed to be working on two at 25, gonna REALLY try four aces this time to work draw and reloads, and then 90 degree transitions again because wide transitions are probably my biggest weakness.

[Glock26Toter]

Good luck!

[g17drumr]

Did well at 2 at 25 1.72 was my best...not a bad time but i need to work on draw at that distance because my splits were good and if i can get my draw comfortable and a little faster i think i'll be happy with the results. 4 aces was not as good shot almost all my runs before realizing that for some reason i wasn't even looking at my gun while reloading so thats why i was missing those. after realizing that it was better but 2.9something was my best all As which isnt great i did shoot it in 2.5something with one close charlie. not sure why im having trouble with the reloads after doing so well in dry fire hopefully 50 reloads or so in the hotel tonight will ease that going into the match tomorrow. feeling like i have improved overall though and excited about the match to see how i stack up now.

Good luck!

Thanks

[g17drumr]

Shot the Blue Bullets SC State match yesterday. Nice to see that all this practice over the past two months has payed off. I ended up winning 1st B out of 20 in Production, 7th Overall in Production out of 75 and shot 83% of two top GMs. Best match performance I've had to date. Watching the match videos I still see so much to improve on. I'm still hesitating too much on farther targets and I need to bend my knees more and keep a wider stance and transition from the hips. I also had a few instances of trigger freeze. My stance has improved but my goal is to try and never be up on the tip of my toe and remain flat footed in shooting positions unless moving. I'm doing better at getting the gun up early before the target is available when entering positions. Missed stage 2 on video. Order of stages is 8,1,3,4,5,6,7 as listed in match results on uspsa site. Shot the whole match with no penalties which isn't exactly common for me.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7yf5r8OHEg

[Glock26Toter]

Congratulations. Not just on the win, but for making it through a match and being able to say you performed at the top of your ability. That's really what its all about ain't it? You are moving way more smoothly than your early videos and the fact that you've identified specific goals means you are going to continue improving. Nice work.

[g17drumr]

So i have been practicing every sunday usually around 300 rounds on two drills i just haven't been posting it on here. Its been going well until yesterday i dont know if its because i didn't eat breakfast or drank coffee when i normally dont before i shoot or maybe just a bad day but i did pretty terrible. We did el prez and i couldn't get a decent run to save my life and i just felt like i couldn't go fast at all like i was in slow motion and could do nothing about it. not to mention that this "slow motion" was not getting my hits either. other drill was three targets two wide at 7 yards and one in the center at 15 yards with a no shoot covering half the A. Slightly better but still just felt like i was weighted down and not transitioning well at all. best run was like 3.2 sec with 1C. got it under 3sec once which shouldn't be hard but it was and terrible hits on that run. Hopefully next sunday will be a lot better

[g17drumr]

Match coming up this Saturday. Trying not to go into it with any expectations after a good match so we'll see how that goes. I've been thinking I really need to focus on stage visualization. I do ok with remembering arrays and engagement order and what not. What I really need to focus on is visualizing a more exact run when I'm burning the stage in my mind. When I normally do it I'm just burning in where the targets are, where I'm shooting them from, and where I'm reloading, and I've been thinking about keeping the gun up between positions. Those things are all important but I need to visualize more specific elements like splits and transitions. I feel like I've been just rushing through the stage in my mind and focusing on the basics of the stage layout/plan instead of really running it through in real time in my mind as well as my walkthroughs.

[Glock26Toter]

I just wrote an article for a newsletter that a local shooter does here in Colorado. If you have time to do a bit of reading, here it is. Cut and pasted.

_____________________________

Take the walkthrough seriously:

When it comes to the walkthrough I have learned that for me, visualization is an extremely important aspect of my game and when I started taking the walkthrough seriously my game started to improve drastically. First of all, when I say walkthrough I’m not talking about my stage plan. Figuring out the stage plan is it’s own strategy and you may have a completely different plan depending on shooting skill, physical ability, or maybe you just don’t like the plan everyone else is doing. Even if you have a horrible stage plan taking the walkthrough seriously will lead to better execution. We all know execution is key and that even the best plan can fall apart if executed poorly.

By “take the walkthrough seriously” I mean, do everything exactly the way you intend. You should be holding your hands in an exact air grip, and the only thing that should move with each visualized shot is your trigger finger. Keep the same stance and keep the same grip and air shoot each shot.

I recently got a new hatcam, so I was making more point of view videos than usual. In an attempt to not forget to turn it on at “make ready” I turned it on while I was on deck. This resulted in my recording my walkthrough as well as the actual run.

I was struck by how closely the two matched and is really what inspired me to share this with you. The view, was exactly the same, telling me that I was in the exact stance and there was a distinctive pause for almost the same as the time it took to shoot. Also, at almost every shooting position you can see that I look down, then around to make sure I note any “anchors” that will put me in the same position next time. A mark on a wall, a fault line gap, or anything that tells me “I’m here.” You don’t know exactly what you’ll notice when your mind is running 1000 miles an hour so any observed anchor might come in handy, whether you meant that to be the anchor or not.

Also, when you are the on deck shooter you need to get a clean run. You’ll find that others aren’t really paying attention while doing their work and get in the way. Just wait or ask them give you some room. It’s not nearly as important to make the running or movement paths as real as possible, but make it a point to get into each shooting position and air shoot them at the speed you intend to shoot them. If you have to wait for 10 people to get out of the way, then wait.

If you do this you’ll also start to notice the need for others to do it and maybe help out a bit by brassing from outside shooting areas or walking around walls so the shooter can get through. Also keep in mind, some shooters are very intense and in a zone so when they are rehearsing. They can unintentionally come off as rude, or impatient when asking someone to scootch. If you get “yelled at,” or ignored by a shooter they are just involved in trying to complete their walkthrough so don’t take it personally. They’ll be back to chipper in no time… after the shooting.

In summary, always perform the walkthrough with as much realism as possible and don’t do something differently no matter how small it may seem. You are practicing and programming things that will take over for the conscious mind and all the things you did, whether right or wrong, will be repeated.

[g17drumr]

Well I took off this past weekend. The previous match did not go so well. I didn't really even shoot that terrible it just felt worse than it was because i was trying to replicate the match i shot so well in SC. I tried not to let it get to me and just shoot how i normally do but for most of the match that wasn't the result. I was overthinking it big time and I didn't even focus on burning in stages and walkthroughs like i said i was going to. I messed up on the first stage and then just never got back into my groove after that. Really wanted to make A class this month but i couldn't do it this time only needed a 78% to move up. I even reshot the classifier a couple times which i try not to do and it just was not happening that day. Hopefully have a good practice this sunday forget about all this and get back to normal and try to keep improving.

[g17drumr]

Well practiced weekend before last on shooting on the move, entering postions, and ran a dot drill or two...went ok need to really focus on just staying low at all times until it becomes the norm. This past weekend we worked on dots again also did same par time with one in each dot with about the same results. mainly we worked on transitions. I need to dryfire this to get it to really sink in. If i really focus on snapping my eyes to the next target before the gun gets there it makes a huge difference, I've known this is what you are supposed to do but just never put enough emphasis on it and ended up just not really doing it and not noticing that i wasn't until recently. So i have some backtracking and relearning to do on that. Finished up with some strong hand and weak hand. Both need work. Match this weekend should be good they recently bumped the fee to 25 from 20 and added an extra stage making it 8 stages...pretty awesome for a local. I'm going to try and focus ONLY on seeing the target(A ZONE) before the gun gets there on transitions and staying low the WHOLE match and see what happens.

[g17drumr]

Well practiced weekend before last on shooting on the move, entering postions, and ran a dot drill or two...went ok need to really focus on just staying low at all times until it becomes the norm. This past weekend we worked on dots again also did same par time with one in each dot with about the same results. mainly we worked on transitions. I need to dryfire this to get it to really sink in. If i really focus on snapping my eyes to the next target before the gun gets there it makes a huge difference, I've known this is what you are supposed to do but just never put enough emphasis on it and ended up just not really doing it and not noticing that i wasn't until recently. So i have some backtracking and relearning to do on that. Finished up with some strong hand and weak hand. Both need work. Match this weekend should be good they recently bumped the fee to 25 from 20 and added an extra stage making it 8 stages...pretty awesome for a local. I'm going to try and focus ONLY on seeing the target(A ZONE) before the gun gets there on transitions and staying low the WHOLE match and see what happens.

I just wrote an article for a newsletter that a local shooter does here in Colorado. If you have time to do a bit of reading, here it is. Cut and pasted.

_____________________________

Take the walkthrough seriously:

When it comes to the walkthrough I have learned that for me, visualization is an extremely important aspect of my game and when I started taking the walkthrough seriously my game started to improve drastically. First of all, when I say walkthrough I’m not talking about my stage plan. Figuring out the stage plan is it’s own strategy and you may have a completely different plan depending on shooting skill, physical ability, or maybe you just don’t like the plan everyone else is doing. Even if you have a horrible stage plan taking the walkthrough seriously will lead to better execution. We all know execution is key and that even the best plan can fall apart if executed poorly.

By “take the walkthrough seriously” I mean, do everything exactly the way you intend. You should be holding your hands in an exact air grip, and the only thing that should move with each visualized shot is your trigger finger. Keep the same stance and keep the same grip and air shoot each shot.

I recently got a new hatcam, so I was making more point of view videos than usual. In an attempt to not forget to turn it on at “make ready” I turned it on while I was on deck. This resulted in my recording my walkthrough as well as the actual run.

I was struck by how closely the two matched and is really what inspired me to share this with you. The view, was exactly the same, telling me that I was in the exact stance and there was a distinctive pause for almost the same as the time it took to shoot. Also, at almost every shooting position you can see that I look down, then around to make sure I note any “anchors” that will put me in the same position next time. A mark on a wall, a fault line gap, or anything that tells me “I’m here.” You don’t know exactly what you’ll notice when your mind is running 1000 miles an hour so any observed anchor might come in handy, whether you meant that to be the anchor or not.

Also, when you are the on deck shooter you need to get a clean run. You’ll find that others aren’t really paying attention while doing their work and get in the way. Just wait or ask them give you some room. It’s not nearly as important to make the running or movement paths as real as possible, but make it a point to get into each shooting position and air shoot them at the speed you intend to shoot them. If you have to wait for 10 people to get out of the way, then wait.

If you do this you’ll also start to notice the need for others to do it and maybe help out a bit by brassing from outside shooting areas or walking around walls so the shooter can get through. Also keep in mind, some shooters are very intense and in a zone so when they are rehearsing. They can unintentionally come off as rude, or impatient when asking someone to scootch. If you get “yelled at,” or ignored by a shooter they are just involved in trying to complete their walkthrough so don’t take it personally. They’ll be back to chipper in no time… after the shooting.

In summary, always perform the walkthrough with as much realism as possible and don’t do something differently no matter how small it may seem. You are practicing and programming things that will take over for the conscious mind and all the things you did, whether right or wrong, will be repeated.

and this too

[g17drumr]

Well I shot the sir walter match saturday. I did well on some things and not so much on others. First stage had a death jam, the video stops but it took about 35 seconds to shoot an 18 or so second stage. first jam i've ever had with this gun. second stage miss on the classifier(only penalty for the day) so B class still for now. third stage pretty good except i had to go back and make up a shot on the steel i also made up a charlie with another charlie on the target next to it. fourth stage not terrible until at the end I shot like 6 rounds at the same popper and a slidelock reload before I hit the stupid thing. 5th stage I stopped in the middle and didn't really transition smoothly on the first part and kinda flubbed my reload at the end. 6th stage pretty decent hit some steel at least haha. 7th stage came a little too far into the middle gap but last array was pretty smooth. 8th stage transitions could have been a little better on the paper and almost had another slidelock reload on the steel. I did notice when I watched the video that my transitions are getting a little better but still need a good bit of work. I need to be a lot more patient with the steel and make sure i have a good grip going into it. Also it seemed like my movement was more explosive(for me anyways) than it has been in the past which makes me happy. Decided to shoot two matches this month so we'll see how rowan goes next saturday.

Edited July 7, 2015 by g17drumr

[g17drumr]

Well I pretty much quit around July/ August 2015.  Just shot my first three matches over the past month and a half with the fourth this Saturday.   Plan is to shoot two per month.   After so much time away and hardly ever shooting and definitely no actual practice I haven't lost as much as I thought.  Have practiced twice but no dry fire yet.   The idea was to just have fun and not really take it that seriously but it didn't take long to realize I can't do that.  I want to get better, just have to put in the time...