rvb Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 Timing drills. dot drills. Bill drills (more than 6rounds). Accelerator. Come to FWRR tomorrow, we may just do some of these -rvb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sporky Posted June 2, 2016 Author Share Posted June 2, 2016 Ok thanks! I am working after hours at work for the next few days on a project that is critical so no shooting until this weekend. What "timing drills" are you referring to? I am doing dot drills already at the beginning and end of my live fire practices, and I just started doing bill drills. Should I a par time and work up to going faster? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rvb Posted June 4, 2016 Share Posted June 4, 2016 Timing drills: http://ingunowners.com/forums/tactics-training/81378-matt-burketts-timing-drills.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sporky Posted August 10, 2016 Author Share Posted August 10, 2016 well haven't updated this in a bit.... Took a class with Steve Anderson two weeks ago, and things are going to be changing for the better. I have a whole new way to practice that is going to really move me forward. I have been doing some dry fire and getting in live fire practice once or sometimes twice a week. Steve really identified my issues, and showed me how to correct them. It will take a while to get them all sorted out, but I am super confident that I will be a strong A by the start of next season and I will keep pushing to make M by the end of next season. Getting there on paper shouldn't be too bad, but getting to the point that I can shoot a whole match at that skill level will be another thing entirely. I am also shooting a total of 3 majors this year as apposed to just one level 2 last season. I am going the area match in a few weeks, the Indiana 400, and I shot the Ryan Rocks match as well. I shot a club match this last sunday after having went to the Steve Anderson class, and I can already see the difference in my mental game. I was more consistent over all and made fewer mistakes. I am still learning how to shoot a match with this new mindset and that will take some time to settle in. I am interested to see how that holds up over the course of a full higher level match. I am more excited about the practices now. With a whole new perspective on how and what to practice, it is motivating to get to the range and practice now that I know there will be some results that I can measure. It is also nice to know that what I am practicing will actually move me forward and not just throwing pills down range. This sport is going to be much more fun now that I have the ability to improve...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 Can't wait to hear about the Anderson stuff soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sporky Posted August 15, 2016 Author Share Posted August 15, 2016 Well the match didn't go perfectly yesterday..... I started off really well which is something that doesn't usually happen. So that is a bonus right away. I had issues with a mag on the next two stages so that was a total bust there. Mag dropped out of the gun after the 2nd shot fired and it totally threw me off. I did recover each time, but as you can guess the time suffered, and I had some Mikes in there because I was out of rounds with the mag issue. Oh well. I still was 11th over all after tanking because of the mags. So I am going to take away some positives for sure. I really only made one stupid mistake on a short hose stage....I double Miked one target because I didn't get a good enough sight picture. I did well on the classifier as well. Still could have done better, but it is a real improvement. Mentally, I really focused on burning the stage plans in, and getting a sight picture while I was running it through my head. That seemed to help. Shot calling...I did call a D on one target, and that was a good call. I didn't make it up, because I was already transitioned onto the next target. I still need to work on the shot calling. One other thing is that since most of the stages were hosers, I know that I didn't have a good sight picture on a couple of targets. When I looked at the scores, I notices that there were a TON more a zone hits than usual. So what I am taking away from this is that I just need to keep working on calling the shots, and get to a comfortable place on calling the close ones where I am target focused. Did some shooting on the move as well. I didn't rush but I kept my feet moving, and it really improved my time! The hits were good too! The more I train, the better my "Vision" will get over time. I am excited about that. That was the one thing that I was the most worried about. I really wasn't seeing the sights lift at all before, and if I took a make up shot, it was because I was looking at the target and not the sights. I am going the the area match this weekend, so this week is going to be rough. I need to get extra training in, and I am going to be hammered at work as well. Wish me luck! If anyone has any suggestions about some vision related training, let me know. Anything extra will help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rvb Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 So are you not going to be at FW this weekend? Do I need to find someone for registration? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sporky Posted August 16, 2016 Author Share Posted August 16, 2016 We are going to try to be back Sunday Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rvb Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Awesome, thanks. Good,luck at A5! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sporky Posted August 17, 2016 Author Share Posted August 17, 2016 Looked again at my last match results, and I shot the classifier at A level.... I could have picked up a second with a better reload and a better transition after. If I picked up the second, I would have been at M level.... Looks like the practice is paying off. I only wish I would have taken that class a year earlier and then who knows where I would be now? I still have a long way to go and a lot to improve on, but I am now enjoying the sport much more now and that is worth the cost of the class alone. If I keep up the practice over the winter, and make it to a couple of classes that I have my eyes on, next year might be the year I turn some heads. ( Maybe a new blaster could be in the works as well.....) Off to Area 5 tomorrow and shooting on Friday. This will be the first area match I have ever been to. And from looking at the stages online, it looks like the kind of match that I would do well at if I call my shots on the long targets and don't get too anxious on the short ones. Wish me luck!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 New blaster huh? Might need to talk about that this weekend. Good luck at A5. I've never shot it, but always wanted to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sporky Posted August 23, 2016 Author Share Posted August 23, 2016 Well the Area match could have been better, but it could have been worse too. I had my ejector break the night before we left for the match and that was really freaking me out as you might expect. But once the match started, I put it aside and just went on shooting. We walked all the stages the night before and I was excited to see that all the stages seemed to be right in my wheelhouse. There were some pretty difficult shots on most of the stages as well, so it presented a challenge for sure. l had some Mikes where I shouldn't have, but then I slayed some super hard shots as well. I was upset pretty much the whole day because I knew that I was better than I was showing. It was the first Level III match that I have ever shot so that was new as well. I wasn't intimidated at all, and nerves were not an issue so that was a positive. Two technical issues that I did manage to pin down were, Trigger snatch, and I still have some work to do on calling shots. I think I am going to get a bit longer trigger and see if that helps out while I still work on the trigger snatch, and the shot calling is just going to take some time. I have to keep telling my self that this is only the 2nd year that I have been seriously shooting and not to get too hard on myself. I tend to be my worst critic most of the time. I shot our local match and did much better than I usually To. I relaxed and just got into my game. I had another Mag issue so I still need to sort that out, and I borked up one stage pretty good as well. But that is much better than borking up the majority of the match. I am learning that I need to burn the stage in early, visualize it as much as time permits, and then just mentally put myself in a relaxed state when I step up to the line. I did that on a few stages, and it really helped my performance. Calling shots at match speed is one thing that I believe will really bring me up a notch or two. I am seeing the sights more and more, but I now need to call the shots more times than I am not. At this point i am not able to call each and every shot on a stage. Seems like in practice I am making progress, but in a match I am not. Not sure why that is, but I will keep grinding on it. I am going to order a new gun this off season. Not being confident in my equipment is really starting to make me angry. I will go with a full custom ( Atlas Gunworks is the place that I am really leaning towards now ) and then replace all the guts in the Edge with EGW parts and keep it as a practice and back up gun. The Edge hasn't been too bad really, but I should have had someone replace the guts right when I got it. Extractor broke, ejector broke, and I am just not confident with it. I just wanna work on my skills and not worry about the equipment... Next big match is the Indiana 400 and I am going to put some more training time in and see how well I can do there. As always, any training tips are appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sporky Posted August 24, 2016 Author Share Posted August 24, 2016 Trying to plan next live fire practice so I don't waste time. Dot Drills (focus on the trigger squeeze and grip tension to see if I can burn in a better trigger pull) 100-150 rounds, no time but with a beep. Movement drill ( maybe the 6' box drill with more than one target to work on transitions at the same time) 100 rounds Easy exit modified ( I want to work on moving into a position, seeing 3 or more targets, and being able to call good shots at match speed)150 rounds, improve on time for this drill. Start at 50% speed and work on picking up the pace until I can't see the sights lift any longer. Vision and trigger control seem to be the most urgent issues with my shooting at this moment. I really need to be able to see the sights lifting at match speed to move forward. Being honest, when I think back to the last two matches, I only saw the sights lifting a few times. I did see sights on the hard targets really well, but I think between snatching the trigger and NOT seeing the sights lift, really cost me in points. I am wondering how many reps it will take for me to have a Consistent and Correct trigger pull.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rvb Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 2 hours ago, Sporky said: Trying to plan next live fire practice so I don't waste time. .... Vision and trigger control seem to be the most urgent issues with my shooting at this moment. I really need to be able to see the sights lifting at match speed to move forward. timing drills. bill drills. practice shot calling slow fire. mag dumps into the berm. learn to really track that FS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sporky Posted September 6, 2016 Author Share Posted September 6, 2016 Well, the 400 is coming up this Friday... Live fire was on Saturday and Monday, and I will hit one more before we leave on Friday. Saturday was just trigger control and transitions, Monday was noting but Bill drills. About 350 rounds or so of them.... There was a great deal of learning going on there. Grip, sight tracking, vision training.....but it was a long practice session for sure. I noticed that squinting was causing me to throw the 2nd shot consistently. I came up with the analogy that it is like driving your can on the highway. If you stare at the road 2 feet in front of you, then you over correct and try to make too many changes. But if you look out towards the horizon, then corrections are much smaller. When I was squinting, I was over correcting slight changes in the sight picture that was causing me to throw the 2nd shot. I would then correct again and get back on track. Not a good thing when the majority of the targets require 2 shots. If I concentrated on keeping both eyes open equally and changing my focus from there, then the groups tightened up significantly. Next issue was my grip.....more grip pressure on the support hand really helped the sights track so much better. The problem is, that I have to keep telling myself to grip the gun harder each time. For some reason I can't get it burned in that I need to apply more grip pressure subconsciously. I will try to get some dry reps in tonight and focus on grip pressure and see if that helps out at the next live practice. I am planning on taking two classes next year. I want to take another Steve Anderson class to have him assess the changes since that last class, and I would also like to find a trainer that can help me with the more specific technical issues that I have. Maybe just a different perspective on them would help me speed that improvement up. Ideally I would like to take a class from Ron Avery. I really like his style of teaching from the videos that I have seen, but maybe I can find someone a little closer to this area first. Maybe Vogel or someone else.... Wish me luck this weekend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sporky Posted September 21, 2016 Author Share Posted September 21, 2016 Well........ This year didn't really pan out the way I expected at all. I didn't reach my goal of A class at all, my big match performances were not great, and I still haven't shot an entire match "clean" yet. Right now I am wondering what the best course of action should be? I am feeling like I should maybe take a break, but then I am afraid that I will loos what progression that I have made so far. I just don't know. On the bright side, I really did make some mental improvements this year. Just wish I would have taken that Anderson class sooner so I could have spent the whole year working on those things. Too lake for what if's. Looking at some of my match videos, I realized that I am not moving between positions quickly at all. I think that was the result of getting into "match mode" but letting that deliberateness carry over into my general movement as well. So i need to do the shooting and shot calling in a deliberate manor and do everything else quickly. Easily said, not easily done by yours truly. I also realized that there are fundamental issues that are going to take a lot more work to allow me to move to the next level of my shooting. My trigger squeeze at match speeds is GARBAGE. If I am just shooting groups, I can make nice pretty groups. But that second that I shoot at any kind of speed, poop-fest! I am going to try a longer trigger to see if that helps, but that is all I can figure out with that one. I am feeling that this season was failure. I know I learned some important things, but my progress is a real disappointment. Still going with a new gun for next year, just because I have shot the doors off of my Edge, and I would need to replace all the internals and also have the frame repaired. I will keep it as a back up for the new one just in case, and I will have all the work done to it as well. I don't really care so much about how it looks, but I am shooting so much, that I just don't have the time to baby my equipment at all. I just want to not think about the gun at all when I am at a match. I just want it to run so that the focus can be on the shooting instead. It will be nice to be able to look at a purdy gun, but now that I am really shooting a good number of rounds, it really isn't a concern at all. I am going to take the Dillion apart this winter and re-allign it and get it cleaned up. I suppose it has over 10,000 rounds this year alone on it and I haven't taken it all the way down for maintenance since I have owned it. Hopefully I will get out of this funk and get to work on improving again, but right now, I am just disappointed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rvb Posted September 21, 2016 Share Posted September 21, 2016 (edited) on making A class, you'll get there. How much are you dryfiring? Classifiers are all about gun handling. consistent draws, not missing reloads, and an index that gets you on target ready to shoot ASAP. 30 minutes / day over winter, you'll nail it in the spring. Another hard thing about classifiers is getting the expectations and results out of your mind as you shoot. If you go to the line thinking "I need a x.xx draw and I have to nail the reload and I need a xx%" you'll crash/burn. you can't shoot with your mind on the results. It's just another stage. maximize your HF based on what the sights are doing, and be relaxed. Easy to say/read, not easy to do. Tension kills classifier scores. on the major matches, you seem to be moving up. You were only a few % behind me at the 400. Don't put too much emphasis on where you place or your %. how many folks are ahead of you all depends on who shows up to shoot. just shoot your match. trigger control at speed... have you done the drills I've been suggesting? the timing drills? the bill drills? the Garcia dot drills and dot torture? have you been logging the results? Are you improving? Are you logging practice drills at all? I don't see much here anyway... have you seen improvements? record these things. try to beat your old times. when you go to the range do you have a plan of what you want to work on? As for the Dillon mine has ~150,000.... I've never torn it all the way down. I took the top of the ram apart once. Otherwise I just clean the primer system every so often, occasionally put a little oil on the ram and linkages, and crank out bullets! Finish the yr, take Nov/Dec off. Then get on a dryfire schedule sometime in Jan/Feb and get that A card in '17! -rvb Edited September 21, 2016 by rvb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sporky Posted September 21, 2016 Author Share Posted September 21, 2016 I have been doing bill drills and some dot torture, but I haven't been logging anything with that. The timing drill is the only one that I haven't been really doing. I will try to start that up for live fire sessions. I was doing 2 live fires a week. One would be Mini stages, and the other would be just fundamental drills and transitions. Or something that I screwed up on at a match. Dry fire has been hit or miss. I was on a good schedule for a bit and then the kids went crazy so that threw a wrench in the works. I am thinking that I will start dry firing in the garage later at night to help with that. Thanks for the input, i appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rvb Posted September 22, 2016 Share Posted September 22, 2016 (edited) Timing drills are one of my favorites. I wonder if it's truly a trigger control issue when you are shooting 'match speeds' or it isn't a timing / visual patience thing. If you are open to everything happening, timing drills can teach you a lot about controlling the recoil so the sight returns on target and calling the shot and seeing everything that's happening in recoil. At first, as you get to the faster portions and you try to maintain those metronome .5 and .25 splits, you'll find yourself breaking the shot with the sight not where you wanted it (or maybe not even seeing the sight at all!). I suspect that's what's happening on match day. Live fire 2x / week is not as helpful as dryfire 4-5x per week. Give up one of those live fire practices and spend the time in dryfire. Will result in more improvement with less total time / cost involved (assuming you have to drive some distance to a range, setup, etc, and the range isn't in your backyard). -rvb Edited September 22, 2016 by rvb . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sporky Posted September 22, 2016 Author Share Posted September 22, 2016 For the timing drills, what is the best set up for that? Do I get a metronome on my phone and just put earbuds in? what you are saying makes sense after I realized that my vision was a place where I could really make some gains. I don't "see" what I need to see at speed. So I need to train that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rvb Posted September 22, 2016 Share Posted September 22, 2016 I just have a watch w/ a second hand or stop watch and get the pace in my head, then use a timer to see that I was consistent (each split was w/in a couple hundredths, not rushing, etc). When learning to shoot the open gun, I went through thousands of rounds on this drill alone... it was a huge help! I suspect you'll feel totally out of control at first on the faster strings. That's ok. Shoot that metronome cadence any and learn to control that recoil. timing drills are a little different from match shooting in that you want to be a metronome, pull the trigger whether you're ready or not, but you're learning to get the gun back in alignment faster. In a match, you want to wait to pull that trigger until you are happy the sight picture is 'good enough.' I suspect you are shooting the match like a timing drill, pulling the trigger at a pace you think is appropriate, whether the sights are telling you to or not... A hint on learning to control the gun and get the FS back on target, it's more visual than muscular. call that shot and drive the FS back into the notch with your vision! Over analysis is a killer! -rvb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sporky Posted September 22, 2016 Author Share Posted September 22, 2016 OK I think I understand now. I am going to live fire practice tonight, so where should I start with the timing drills (what cadence)? Do I shoot at paper, and if so what distance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rvb Posted September 22, 2016 Share Posted September 22, 2016 On 6/3/2016 at 10:36 PM, rvb said: Timing drills: http://ingunowners.com/forums/tactics-training/81378-matt-burketts-timing-drills.html I no longer do the grip pressure portion, I've found "try to squeeze out oil" to be about the right amount of pressure on any gun, but it wouldn't hurt for you to do a few times to see what works for your and your gun. and often I'm lazy and only use 1 target and only paste anything out of the A, but I'm to the point I can tell what's going on by the sights and rely less on the paper feedback... -rvb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sporky Posted September 23, 2016 Author Share Posted September 23, 2016 I had some success with the timing drills last night. I found myself really pushing the gun around to get back on target and I had several good strings with a consistent split of 23 or so. I see the value of doing that over and over to put the gun and the sights back where I need them to be. It isn't a very exciting drill, but I do believe that if I can get a ton of reps on it, there will be benefits for sure. I did a few movement drills as will just to break up the time at the range so I didn't get too bored reloading mags and doing timing drills. Defiantly need to work on that as well, but I was pretty happy with that drill in total. I threw much fewer shots left on that drill, but there is room for improvement. I think the time saver for me will be small movements in a position so that I am getting my momentum going to the next spot that I need to be in. Moving backwards seemed to be more accurate for me than moving forward so "Easy Exit" might be the strategy on stages when the opportunity arises. But generally I think that moving and shooting isn't the best idea for me at this point. But if I can really get my butt moving between positions, I think that I can make up for some of that. I am going to try to get a ton of ammo loaded up so that I can really hammer those timing drills and not worry about having enough to finish up a practice session. I normally take about 400 rounds and burn through most of it. When I get working on something and start to see some improvement, I want to just keep pushing forward. The timing drill is going to make an appearance at every practice session now. It is very similar to the Bill drill, but putting the focus on the timing aspect really changes things up quite a bit. Thanks for the heads up on that one Ryan. Finalized the config for the new blaster this morning. I am looking forward to a lighter gun in total. I found that the added weight that the CK grip adds, makes the transitions a bit funny. Seems like I blast past the target and have to pull the gun back. I don't remember doing that with the plastic grip, but I could be wrong on that. Atlas does internal and external lightening so that should help with the reciprocation and the total weight at the same time. I am going with a narrower front sight, and longer trigger as well so I am excited to see what that does. Oh and the new EVO grip from PT is going on it too! The initial reports are very good and it is supposed to be better for smaller hands so that will be nice. The ACC match is this Sunday so I will get to get some more "Match Mode" practice in, as well as see if I can get some vision work in during a match. It isn't usually a difficult match, but they tend to have a stage or two that has some steel or decent leaning going on. I just need to get the correct mindset going and try to shoot the match Clean! I am really going to try to keep a regimented dry fire schedule this off season, and make up for my missed goals this season. After the first month or so of next season I am going to take another class so that I can make sure that my practicing is focused in the right direction and set myself up for success right from the start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sporky Posted September 28, 2016 Author Share Posted September 28, 2016 Last weekends match went pretty well. I have still not shot a clean match this season, but I am getting much closer. I only borked up one stage after missing my first two shots on a mini popper. After those misses I was frustrated and it showed on the rest of that stage. That was towards the end of the day, so I am starting out better than I was, but I need to finish strong at the end of matches. Pulling shots on steel seems to be a real weakness that I will need to turn into a strength in the future. I did start the match off well, and I was ROing and running the scoring trying to make myself focus when I was in the hole. Hopefully this will help my concentration in the future. One stage really came together well and I think I was 2nd or 3rd overall on that one. I really wasn't pushing, but I was just trying to be efficient and focused and it showed. That makes me feel better knowing that I can do it and all I need to do is make that consistent. New Atlas gun build sheet is done and I will put the down payment on it this week. It should show up around the first of the year, so I am hoping that will light a fire under me in the off season so that I don't loose too much of what I gained this year. Practice tomorrow and maybe on Saturday. Then a match in Michigan this weekend. It is a nice range and the stages are different than the normal club matches we shoot around here so that will be a challenge. I am guessing that there will be some longer shots like the last time, so I will need to focus on that before we go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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