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FTDMFR

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TUESDAY 2/23/16

Dry Fire

  • 45 mins
  • Worked on visual patience and shot calling SHO / WHO
  • Did Steve Anderson's shot calling drill. 6 partial targets at 10 yards, 2 rounds each, back and forth for the entire par time. Started at 10s and worked up to 24s. Targets were placed to alternate shot difficulty to add a distance changeup element to the drill.
  • Focus for this drill was shot calling, patience, and using my mental program before each rep. Focus was not on speed.
  • Also mixed in some conditioning between reps.
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WEDNESDAY 2/24/16

Dry Fire

  • 60 mins
  • Warmed up with trigger control drill and draws on partial targets at 7, 10, 15, 20, and 25 yards
  • Practiced moving reloads, currently the bane of my existence:
    • Setup: Two targets at simulated 7 rounds. Two rounds on each, move six feet while reloading, two rounds on each. Alternating movement between left to right and right to left.
    • First, I baselined what the split was between movements without the reload. It was ~1.25s. So that's the goal for the split with the reload.
    • My average was around 1.80s, with a few runs as low as 1.35s. Obviously lots of room for improvement.
    • Most of my wasted time is from crashing into the mag well. I see a lot of Burkett reloads in my near future.
Edited by FTDMFR
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THURSDAY 2/25/26

Dry Fire

  • 45 minutes
  • Practiced trigger control, draws, and Bill Drills on Metric tuxedo targets at 7, 10, 15, 20, and 25 yards.
    • I got my Bill Drill at 25 yards down to 2.8s.
    • I know dry firing a Bill Drill doesn't help with timing or recoil control, but I think it is helping me with keeping a firm grip (especially when using the SIRT trigger which is a little heavier than my real gun) and shot calling multiple shots at speed.
  • Laser pistols may have their disadvantages, but I'm REALLY enjoying being able to see the splits on all my multiple shot / multiple skill drills instead of just chasing a par time. It's really great for figuring out which aspect of the drill I'm losing the most time on. I'm not sure how else I would do that in dry fire, other than taking a video and figuring the splits out manually.
Edited by FTDMFR
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TUESDAY 3/1/16

AAR, USPSA MATCHES, 2/27 & 2/28

Shot a couple of USPSA matches this weekend.

The first one was pretty bad. No need to go into details.

The second one went well. Since my raw time is what usually kills me, I wanted to concentrate on speed at this match - moving between positions more aggressively, shooting in and out of positions more, etc.

The wheels did fall off on a couple of stages. My times were decent, but I had a lot of penalties.

The rest of the stages went a lot better. I managed two Production stage wins. On one of those stage wins, I was also the highest non-Open shooter. It was a fairly long field course too, so that was really encouraging to me. If I can shoot like that consistently, I'll be in great shape.

I'm still getting used to moving faster and more efficiently, and it still takes up a huge chunk of my attention while shooting, so I'm going to embrace it and focus on movement and speed at all my matches this month, even if it's at the expense of accuracy. I'll keep working on match mode type shooting in dry fire.

Takeaways:

  • Movement has gotten much better, but there's a lot of room for improvement. I'll review my match videos, see where my feet are getting tied up, and work on some drills in dry fire.
  • One of the things I need to improve on is entering a position with my feet positioned best to exit towards the next position. Like if I set up in a position shooting downrange and I know I'm going to have to move directly left to the next position, I shouldn't set up so that my left foot is way in front of the right one.
  • I worked on reloads a ton last week, and it really showed in these two matches. I'm reloading while moving out of position instead of reloading then moving. I'm also missing the mag well a lot less. Being able to reload faster and more reliably really opens up some options in my stage planning.
  • I still need to work a lot on steel. Way too many make up shots. Will work on this in dry fire with the SIRT.
  • I got bumped bumped to A! I'm currently sitting at 78%.
Edited by FTDMFR
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TUESDAY 3/1/16

Dry Fire

  • At this weekend's two matches, I had trouble with Classic targets with no-shoots, so that will be the focus of my marksmanship practice in dry fire this week.
  • 45 minutes
  • I practiced trigger control, draws, doubles, and Bill Drills on the upper row of targets (simulated 10, 15, 20, 25 yards).
  • These are the targets I had the most trouble with this weekend. I aimed a little too conservatively and shot over the targets.
  • Getting six good hits on the 25 yard target (top center) is no joke. I practiced until I could do it regularly in dry fire, but I need to validate it in live fire as well.
image.jpg?format=1500w

(If you like my targets, they're available for sale here.)

Edited by FTDMFR
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WEDNESDAY 3/2/2016

Dry Fire

  • 30 mins
  • Match mode / shot calling drill on bottom row of this array (Classic targets with no-shoots at 7 yards)
  • 10-24 seconds in 2 second increments
  • Freestyle, SHO, WHO, L-R and R-L at each par time
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AAR, USPSA MATCH, 3/5/2016

Stats

  • 4th Production (83.86%)
  • 31st Overall (55.33%)
  • 89A, 0B, 19C, 6D, 2M (84.31% of available points)

Takeaways

  • I need to work on steel. Every day.
  • My stage plans are way, way to cute. For now, I'm going to use the simplest, lowest risk plan possible and focus on executing well.
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MONDAY 3/7/2016

I've picked apart video of my last four matches to see what areas I need to work on. Now I'm working on making drills for those areas.

Here are the main things I'm going to focus on in practice for a few weeks:

  • Accuracy and shot calling on steel
  • Wide transitions (90 and 180 deg)
  • Setting up in positions (wide to engage as many targets as possible, feet positioned to facilitate exit)
  • Reloads during wide transitions (180 deg)
  • Dropping the mag sooner during reloads
  • Splits and transitions on close partials
  • Accuracy and shot calling on far partials
  • Moving faster between far positions

Here's what I'm going to focus on in all my matches this month:

  • Raw time
  • Simpler stage plans
Edited by FTDMFR
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TUESDAY 3/8/16

Dry Fire

  • I set up an array that I'm going to use all this week to practice transitions. It's an 180 degree arc, with targets at every 45 degrees (5 total), with simulated 7 yard open targets. With this array, I can practice several different transition angles
  • 30 minutes
  • Tonight's drill was shooting all 5 targets (4 x 45deg transitions) from the holster. I alternated L-R and R-L
  • Practiced in speed mode first and then got down to 3.8s (one way)
  • Ended the session practicing in match mode, 10-24s
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WEDNESDAY 3/9/16

Dry fire

  • 60 mins
  • Same array as yesterday (5 targets in 180° arc spaced every 45° at 7-10 yards)
  • I shot this array using the metronome, starting aimed at the first target. I started at 75 bpm (0.8s splits) and worked up to 240 bpm (.25s splits) in speed mode (mostly As and Cs with a few Ds).
  • Finished up by shooting the same array in match mode (As and close Cs) from 10-24s
  • Observations
    • I'm getting the hang of using my lower body to transition.
    • I took high video of myself transitioning and watched it in slo-mo, and it's creepy as hell. It looks like my eyeball rotates instantly in its socket as far as it can go, and then my head slooooowly swivels around my stationary eyeball until it's lined up again.
Edited by FTDMFR
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THURSDAY 3/10/2016

Dry Fire

  • 30 mins
  • Not the most focused session, but at least I got a little trigger time in
  • Practiced 45° transitions on three targets at simulated 10 yards. Outer targets were open, middle had a no-shoot covering lower half of lower A zone
  • Mostly practiced match mode shooting. 10-24s. Freestyle, SHO, WHO.
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AAR, USPSA MATCH, 3/12/16

Stats

  • 4th of 28 production (81.34% of winner)
  • 28th of 98 Combined (63.99% of winner)
  • 84A 22C 4D 1NS (86.55% of available points)

Results

Video

Good

  • Shot calling was mostly pretty good. I called one very close NS and made it up immediately. I also called one D, but it was my last round before slide lock and wasn't worth making up. The other 3 Ds were mystery Ds, though.
  • Steel was a little better. Not as many makeups as I normally need.
  • Some wide transitions were much faster. Still had a few sluggish ones.
  • Stage planning and execution were much better. I caught myself coming up with some fancy stage plans, but I kept it simple and safe and focused on execution.
  • I was a little more consistent about running my mental program during make ready, and I think it showed, especially on the classifier.
  • I shot a 92% classifier (CM99-08 Melody Line). It was my first M classifier. I was one close D away from a GM score. This score bumps me up to 81.11%.

Bad

  • Movement was a little slow this match. Right now, my movement speed is tied to my level of visual patience; I shot this match in match mode, so my accuracy and shot calling were good, but my movement speed was not great. I need to come up with a way to disconnect the two. I'm thinking a two position drill with entries and exits on tight shots.
  • Reloads seemed to have regressed this match. They are also tied to my movement speed - move slow, reload slow.

Takeaways

  • This was my best match so far. No disasters. Stages executed according to plan. Decent accuracy.
  • It was my first match as an A-class shooter, and I finished in the middle of the Ms.
  • I definitely need to focus more on movement. I'm shooting the same points as the Ms, but I'm losing out by 2-3 seconds per stage. I know what to work on and how to work on it. Now I just have to put in the time.

Edited by FTDMFR
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TUESDAY 3/15/16

Dry Fire

  • 45 mins
  • No movement work today - just marksmanship
  • Practiced CM03-07 (Riverdale Standards)
  • First (cold) run: 5.80 HF (79%)
  • For each string, I took the time from my cold run, subtracted about a second, and chased the par time in speed mode (anything on brown is OK) for 5 minutes.
  • Worked down to 3.8s for String 1 and 4.20s for String 2, and maybe 2.8s for String 3.
  • Then I shot it again in match mode (going for As, calling shots) and got 7.01 HF (95%).
Edited by FTDMFR
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WEDNESDAY 3/16/16

Dry Fire

  • 30 minutes
  • Focused on reloads
  • 10 mins of Burkett reloads:
    • The SIRT is great for Burkett reloads. When I pause to insert the mag, I can use the prep trigger and see where it lands on the wall to make sure I'm angling the gun consistently.
  • 20 mins of moving reloads:
    • Practiced reloading while quick stepping a few feet L-R and R-L.
    • Focusing on starting the reload while also moving explosively. I was a little sluggish at my last match and it cost me a ton of time.
    • My current goal is a shot-to-shot reload of 1.3s on an open target at 7 yards while moving 6 feet side-to-side. I'd love to get that down to a second, but I don't think I can make that par time even without the reload.
  • Observations:
    • My biggest hurdle right now is finding the magwell. I tend to hold the gun much lower during moving reloads than during static reloads. My torso and arms shifting around during movement doesn't help either.
    • I also noticed that after the mag is seated, when I'm getting back on target, I'm not establishing my support hand grip soon enough. This pushes the gun to the left and makes it harder to find and align the sights. It helps if I start torquing in my support hand inward as soon as I start to push out.
  • I'll keep working on these tomorrow. I'll also add reloads while moving forward.
Edited by FTDMFR
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AAR, USPSA MATCH, 3/19/16

Stats

  • 6th of 27 Production (84.6%)
  • 54th of 152 Combined (65.1%)
  • 92A, 12C, 2D, no penalties (95% of points)

Observations

  • Definitely the cleanest USPSA match I've ever shot.
  • Lost a ton of time due to malfunctions and mags not dropping free because my guns and mags were dirty. Not smart.
  • I'm shooting the same points as the Ms, just not fast enough. I need to focus on how to shave 3-4 seconds off per stage.
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TUESDAY 3/22/16

Dry Fire

  • 60 mins
  • I've been hitting shooting while moving heavily the past couple of days.
  • I'm shooting three simulated 7 yard targets while moving 6 feet. I'm mixing in hard cover and no shoots as well.
  • I'm now comfortable with taking 7 yard partials on the move. I'll keep upping the distance.
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THURSDAY 3/25/16

Dry Fire

  • 30 minutes
  • More shooting on the move. Simulating shooting targets on left and on right while moving uprange.
  • More work on 7 yard targets with hard cover and no shoots. I now feel very comfortable doing this.
  • All this shooting on the move practice is also helping with my entries and exits.
Edited by FTDMFR
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SUNDAY 3/27/16

Live Fire

  • 2 hours, 200 rounds
  • First half was 25 yard shooting.
    • Started with slow fire group shooting, then trigger control at speed, then draws, then doubles, then Bill Drills
    • Bill Drills with all As averaged 4.00s, lowest was 3.80s.
  • Second half was position entry:
    • I'm focusing on entering a shooting box with the correct foot (right foot when moving right, left foot when moving left), and then breaking the shot before the other foot is planted in the box.
    • Practiced on open targets at 7 yards.
    • I'm happy with how the entries are coming along. I'm breaking the shot a lot sooner than before.
    • Speed when moving between the boxes needs some work. I think I'm stepping with the wrong foot. I'll practice both ways in dry fire and see which is faster.

TUESDAY 3/29/16

Dry Fire

  • 60 mins
  • All reloads
  • Started off with static reloads:
    • Worked my shot-to-shot reload (on simulated 7 yard open target) down to .95-1.00s. Average is around 1.15s.
  • Finished with moving reloads between two positions 6 feet apart.
    • Shot-to-shot (7 yard open target) was as low as 1.05s. Average is around 1.25s.
  • Observations:
    • I noticed a couple of new things that cause me to miss the mag well:
      • Limp wristing the mag as I present it to the mag well. I think there needs to be some sort of give in the wrist to allow the mag to pilot itself into the well, but sometimes I hold it way too loose, and it makes the location of the bullet tip somewhat unpredictable.
      • Not bringing the gun in soon enough, causing my left and right hands to be out of sync.
    • Not that long ago, I thought I would never, ever be able to pull off a sub-1.0s shot-to-shot reload. It really is true that if you repeat something enough times, you can't help but get faster at it.
Edited by FTDMFR
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  • 3 weeks later...

THURSDAY 4/14/16

Dry Fire

  • Trigger control at speed
    • 5 mins each: freestyle, SHO, and WHO
  • 20 mins easy exits
    • Recently, I noticed I lead with the inner leg, which feels incredibly awkward and slow. So, I practiced leading with the outer leg and lifting the leg earlier as I'm shooting the last target.
    • Setup: Two shooting positions 5 feet apart. At each position: partial paper, popper, open paper.
    • Average shot-to-shot (exit-to-entry) time when starting to move AFTER I shoot the last target: 1.50s.
    • Average time when exiting WHILE shooting the last target: 0.60s. With some runs as low as 0.45s.
    • Let's say four positions per stage, so three exits, times .90s savings, that's 2.70s per stage. Not too bad. I need to practice this more often.
  • 20 mins shooting on the move
    • Same array as above.
    • Very comfortable with 6 yd partials on the move now. Time to up the distance to 8 yards.
Edited by FTDMFR
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TUESDAY 4/19/16

Dry Fire

  • 60 mins
  • Shooting on the move, partials, 6 and 10 yards, on this array:post-39241-146117367439_thumb.jpg
  • I started off by seeing how much time it would save to shoot this array on the move vs. while static. Static: 5.75-6.00s. On the move: 4.50-4.75s. Pretty significant savings, IF I can maintain the points.
  • Then I practiced shooting it in accuracy mode. I blocked off the time display on my screen and only looked at the hits. Definition of success was all As with occasional close Cs, with Ds and misses being okay if they were called and immediately made up. I practiced like this for 10 mins.
  • Then I practiced for 10 minutes in speed mode. Definition of a successful run: hits anywhere on brown, or called misses. No mystery mikes allowed. I didn't bother taking make ups in this mode. The initial goal was to get below 3.50s, and I got down to 3.00-3.25s, with occasional runs in the 2.90s. During this drill, my focus was on pushing my transition speed while moving.
  • Then I finished up with a few more runs at my natural match pace. Runs in the 4.00-4.50s range.
  • Observations
    • Shooting while moving from R to L used to be difficult for me, but I'm getting the hang of it. Taking smaller steps than I do when moving L to R helps keep the sights stable.
    • I no longer need to consciously time my shots to my steps. Now I just watch my sights and let the sight picture dictate when to fire.
    • I think practicing these tight shots on the move is going to help with my entries and exits as well. If I am able to call my shots on a 10 yard partial on the move, I should also be able to enter and exit extremely aggressively on open targets 7 yards and in.
    • My new mission is to be able to take 15 yard partials on the move while moving very aggressively.
Edited by FTDMFR
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WEDNESDAY 4/20/16

Dry Fire

  • 30 mins
  • More work on shooting 6 and 10 yard partials on the move, with different hard cover patterns

THURSDAY 4/21/2016

Dry Fire

  • 15 mins trigger control at speed. 5 minutes each, freestyle, SHO, and WHO. WHO is looking a lot better lately.
  • 30 mins position entry, easy and hard:
    • I've noticed in my match videos that when I'm running up to a port or position, I come in low, then straighten out my body, and then shoot. Tonight I practiced entering low, staying low, and shooting sooner.
  • Observations
    • On easy targets, I roll in smoothly and shoot as I'm decelerating. However, on hard targets, where I know I need to be fully planted to get the hits, doing a smooth, gradual entry seems to just add unnecessary time, and I'm better off entering aggressively and getting planted as soon as possible.
Edited by FTDMFR
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AAR, USPSA MATCH, 4/23/15

The bad

  • Drilled a no-shoot right in its stupid no-shoot face on a max trap.
  • Had trouble dropping mags with my new extended mag release, which cost me 2 seconds on one stage and a GM score on the classifier. Not sure yet if it's operator error or the mag release itself.
  • Lots of extra shots on steel.

The good

  • Speed and efficiency are better in some areas. I'm shooting earlier on entries and taking way more targets on the move than I used to before.
  • I shot an 90.5% on CM03-04, so now I'm a Production M! It feels pretty good to have gone from unclassified to M in less than a year. I'm feeling more confident about making GM this year.
Edited by FTDMFR
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WEDNESDAY

Dry Fire

  • 45 mins
  • Turn and draws
    • Did a few reps to get a baseline. Average was around 1.35s
    • 5 minutes, accuracy mode, not looking at the timer. Pass = A, Fail = anything else. Goal =100%. Got 74%.
    • 5 minutes, speed mode, anything on paper okay. Average = 1.15s, Low = .91s.
  • El Presidente
    • Did a few reps to get a baseline.
    • If figure I need to be able to shoot 125% HHF on this (and all other classifiers) in dry fire in order to hit 100% HHF in live fire.
    • Was hitting 120-128% consistently. 4.50-4.85s, 10-12As.
  • More Disaster Factor
    • Hit 115-120%.
  • Observations
    • In matches, I've noticed that I have a tough time acquiring the sights on turn and draws, and I think I figured out why. I'm so focused on turning my head and moving my feet that I neglect to get a good grip on the gun, and I'm not fully mounted by the time I push out.
    • I will continue to work on turn and draws, paying attention to getting a good grip as soon as possible.
    • My reloads are slipping a bit. At 10 yds, I used to be able to hit 1.20s consistently, but I had quite a few at 1.60-1.80s, mostly due to missing the magwell. I will do more reload metronome drills this week, static and moving.
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FRIDAY 4/29/16

No dry fire last night.

I've been working on movement skills for the last 2-3 weeks, and although I'm happy with how that has progressed, my accuracy has been suffering in matches because I'm consciously thinking about movement instead of shooting.

So, I need to practice movement skills more. A lot more.

Here's a list of drills I can do. My goal is to work on these things for a few minutes every day. The drills aree simple enough where I don't even need to put my rig on or use a timer.

  • Entering: come in low and shoot low, don't stand up before shooting
  • Exiting to left or right: moving outside leg instead of inside leg
  • Keeping the gun up: aiming through vision barriers, finding target and getting sight picture sooner
Edited by FTDMFR
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MONDAY 5/2/16

Dry Fire

  • 15 mins
  • Moving reloads
    • After viewing this weekend's match videos, I realized that my moving reload technique is completely different (and shittier) than my static reload technique. My arm and gun trails behind my body as I move forward, and I hold the gun WAY too low. So I'll be working on these for a while.
    • Key points to remember as I practice this:
      • Pull arm/gun in front of body
      • Hold gun high
      • Don't angle the gun too much
      • Look the bullet tip into my strong hand pinky nail
      • GET MOVING SOONER
Edited by FTDMFR
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