Lady Blue's Training Log

[LadyBlue]

And so it begins.

I just completed my first IDPA Classifier with the STI Spartan; now it is time to start the road toward mastering the beast. This will become my new competition gun, the Colt Commander is going to serve strictly as my duty weapon. I like the longer sight radius of the full sized gun, but it is going to take a little getting used to as well. That is what practice is for.

Today's load out was 200 rounds of .45 ACP (4.8 grains of Titegroup behind 230 grain FMJ bullets.)

Leather used was BAMBAM Holsters Avenger and two competition mag pouches.

Focus of this practice session was on being smooth on my presentation. My secondary goal was to work on regaining confidence in taking head shots.

For the first 50 round session there was no focus on speed, I was shooting controlled pairs off the draw in what seemed to be slow motion. My intent was to bring the pistol into action smoothly and get off two well placed shots without worrying about my times. My training partner recorded my times but did not call them out to me as I was shooting. Once I was done shooting this part of my practice session I reviewed the times that he had documented and found out that even though I was shooting in "slow motion" I was much faster than I thought I was. Slow is smooth; smooth is fast proven once again.

Feeling that I had the smoothness factor where I wanted it, I expanded on my routine for the second box of ammo. I added a transition to the mix, firing a controlled pair into one target off the draw and then engaging the second with another controlled pair. At this point I found myself starting to rush things a bit. The first target was fine, but on the second I was a little wild. Nothing too serious but I was not hitting like I wanted to. Lesson learned. Stay smooth. A little mental regrouping and things improved.

Box three saw a modification to my plans. I had intended to expand by going from double taps to the Mozambique, but I decided to stay with the controlled pairs due to the issue I was having at first. I was getting a little tired of this by the time I hit the 150 round mark but I had noticed the improvements. The whole sequence was feeling smooth and I felt like I was flowing through the process. It was time to close out the session with something different.

Head shots have been giving me fits lately. Today I felt like I was seeing things clearly. This was a chance to build some confidence. Taking what I had learned about slowing down and being smooth I closed out the afternoon with nothing but head shots at ten yards. I opened up with single head shots and then pairs. It was nice watching an expanding hole of daylight in the middle of the cardboard. By the time I finished up I was draining the mag on the head and getting solid hits.

Any day you walk off the range happy with your outing is a good day. There was plenty of good, some bad, but not really any ugly to mention. Lessons were learned today. Now to put them into consistent practice.

Follow up this week:

I am committing myself to one 15 minute dry fire session each evening focused on the "Slo Mo" presentation. I worked on this a couple days this week and it seemed to help. I am going to continue to focus on this as a dry fire drill for the foreseeable future. I want to groove that smooth draw stroke into my muscle memory.

I also commit to shooting at least two mags worth of the controlled pair drill as a warm up to future practice sessions.

OK, if anyone wants to chip in with any comments, critiques, or suggestions; the floor is open.

Edited October 16, 2015 by LadyBlue

[LadyBlue]

Follow up report.

I have been focusing on being smooth on the draw during dry fire practice. Had my husband take some video of my drawstrokefrom different angles. It looks pretty pretty good when I am going at it slow, but I can see it getting less smooth as I try to increase the tempo. Nobody ever said that it was an overnight fix.

[GrumpyOne]

Nice start to a training log! Keep it up, I'm sure you'll get there!

[LadyBlue]

Not the best of practice sessions today but we powered through and made the best of it

All equipment, load, etc. was the same as before.

Today my focus was on transitioning between targets and on reloads.

To keep things fresh in my mind, I started out by revisiting my smoothness practice session from last week. Once I felt like I was still in a rhythm I picked up with the training I had planned for the day. I set up four targets at distances ranging from five to fifteen yards out and had significant spacing between them. (2-5 yards). They were also set at varying heights.

Each string of fire today was 24 rounds (3 x 8 round mags) I was starting at the furthest left and firing two shots each as I engaged the four targets left to right. At the end of the array I reloaded at slide lock and reversed the sequence. Again I reloaded at slidelock and completed the "stage" with a final run left to right. After topping up my magazines I re-shot the entire process starting from right to left.

The lessons learned from this drill were that I am slower from right to left ( which I knew) and that I have difficulty transitioning from shorter targets to higher ones. Both issues will be addressed in dry-fire this week.

Box # 2 of shells was used for a second set of drills, again focused on transitions and reloading. In this drill I was shooting around a corner, slicing the pie. Starting with four rounds in the gun I would engage a pair of targets with two rounds each. Then I would perform a reload behind cover and then move to a second shooting position to engage two more targets with two rounds each. This was done multiple times moving both left to right and vice versa. Again moving from left to right proved significantly easier for me.

One unusual event happened that really stands out in my mind. I had a grip screw come out during a string of fire. I was able to catch it in my weak hand while maintaining fire and I slipped it into my pocket while going for a reload. Never had that happen before, but I was able to deal with it and not miss a beat. One thing that really stands out is how well I was able to focus on my shooting, yet I could also fully process the problem while doing so.

One issue that I am going to have to address right away is the trigger. The pull is great, but I have short fingers. A short trigger is going to be my next purchase for this gun. Also a set of thinner grips will help it to fit me a little better. Those are in house already and will be changed out tomorrow evening.

[TheGodfather]

You might need slim bushings for the grips you want to put on tomorrow. Great range report!

[LadyBlue]

I had those on hand as well. Most of my 1911s wear thin grips.

Rain rain go away.Come back again when its not a rain day. Was supposed to spend the afternoon working on right to left movement and getting ready for a match tomorrow. That's off too.some of the shooting bays at my club (if not all) would require a kayak to get around in. Turned today into a dry fire session Still working on staying smooth.

My training partner also suggested I turn pizza boxes into 2/3 sized targets. Not fun, but anything to get better, huh?

[Glock26Toter]

A rainy day might be a good time to go buy a video camera. Video your dry fire sessions and that will help a lot. Self analysis with video is very effective.

And the pizza box idea... very good one.

[LadyBlue]

Shortly we will see how the pizza box project works out. We are not going to be able to use our normal training ground due to the recent rains. Where we are going will not have enough room to work on anything dynamic but we will be able to work on shot placement and probably stage 1 of the classifier. Going to shoot it a few time wit the pizza box targets then break open the new box of full sized targets that my husband ordered without my knowledge.

[LadyBlue]

Disregard the above. Plans changed.

Today's rain impaired live fire session ended up getting moved to an indoor range. Draws were not allowed and the range does not allow rapid fire. Not an ideal training facility for us, but sometimes you make due with what you have available.

Today was dedicated to two things:

1. Trying out different loads for my new gun, and

2. Weakhand shooting.

My "pet" load for .45 ACP has always been a 230 grain LRN bullet backed up with 4.8 grains of Titegroup. This load is at the max end of the scale based on Hodgdon's date. My mentor suggested that I load up 10 rounds of the same load starting at 4.0 and increase by 0.1 and load 10 more as I worked up to the max load. I was reluctant to change loads, but took his advice.

The 4.8 has been a good load for me, functioning in everything I have put it through. My little experiment proved that it was not the best load for me to use for competition. A load of 4.2 grains of powder grouped better and also helped out with the gun's recoil. It looks like LB has herself a new load for her competition gun. One project for this weekend is to load up enough rounds for some serious practice with this charge and start getting familiar with it. The downside is that my supply of Titegroup is getting low and my LGS does not have any in stock.

Having decided on a new load we got down to brass tacks. Weakhanded shooting has always been something of a challenge for me. It is something that I doubt many of us can do well without a lot of work, and I have never put that work in with a full power gun. I shoot my back up .380 frequently left handed, but it is not the same. Improvement here is a golden opportunity for me to make up some ground on the field.

Things were rough going at first. There were misses and a lot of down 3's. I decided to try closing my left eye and shooting dominant eye only and was soon hitting the down 0 consistently. There were a few down 1's but I can live with that for now. Perfection takes time, and I have learned to work in some weakhand practice every so often.

150 rounds fired from the weak side on top of nearly 100 in sorting out loads makes for a tough session. I'm not used to being sore from time at the range, but I can feel it in my left arm this evening.

Lessons learned:

1. Try new things from time to time. Don't be afraid to mix it up because you might learn something.

2. Just because something works well does not mean it works best.

3. Practice outside your comfort zone. You are only as good as your weakest skill. For me that is left handed shooting. I don't have to do it much, but I do have to do it and I can make a big gain by doing it better.

Commitments:

Dryfire left handed once a week

Be open to new ideas.

[Glock26Toter]

One suggestion. Get that eye open again. Seems like you showed yourself that weak hand shooting is due to sight issues and not control issues, but now work on shooting one handed the same as freestyle. Both eyes open.

[LadyBlue]

Missed a couple weeks of work with the pistol. I had to spend time getting my hunting rifle sighted in and doing some other things, but dry fire has gone on as normal. So far things are progressing as I had hoped. I am still smooth on my draw. The latest addition to my nightly work has been a focus on being smooth and quick with reloads. My line of thought is that smot on the draw is fine but I draw once per stage, I reload more often so any improvement there is magnified.

I look forward to this week's opportunity to get back on the range. I miss live fire with the 45 and I need to get back at it so that I don't get rusty.

[LadyBlue]

Ok I am back from my self imposed hiatus for the hunting season. The freezer is full of venison and it is time for me to get back to work That started with a Thursday range session and trying a new toy out.

I bought myself a Go Pro to record my hunting trips and also for training use. What an eye opener. It was tough to watch while I was moving, but when actually shooting it was great. Seeing what I was seeing while I shoot was a new experience. I was surprised with the things I missed live. (or that I don't recall seeing). It is making me think that I am getting too focused on individual targets and not the entire string. For example in my practice session I had one target that I knew was going to be a tough one and I was overly focused in on it to the point that I was looking for it long before time to put steel on target. I suspect that this both slowed me down and also caused me to think ahead and lose focus on the targets prior to the one that had gotten in my head.

My training partner has been noticing things that I would have sworn that I was not doing had I not been able to go back and notice them for myself. Video is proving to be a great tool that allows me to coach myself

As for the shooting....

Not to shabby but it could have been a lot better. I expected to be rusty and I was. It took a bit to get a rhythm going and to feel smooth. Once the first box of rounds was down range I began to feel it and things got much better. All in all it was good to get back to work. My club is doing a fun shoot this weekend to raise some money for a worthy cause, so it is back to competition of sorts. Looking forward to it.