Crash Log

[CrashDodson]

1/16/16 - Local 3 gun. Was a mess of a weekend. Could had trouble with all 3 guns not cycling correctly, it was a cold morning. Shot the 3 best time on one of the big pistol stages. I ended up having to DQ myself for dropping a loaded pistol. I did not set the lock on my racemaster holster and knocked my pistol out with the butt of my shotgun. I would have shot top 6 on the day. I had one miss on a pistol stage so I am still not calling my shots correctly. The tape over my left eye helped me get focus on my front sight but I still need to continue working on my shot calling.

1/17/16

Ran through section "A" of the 15 min dry fire setup with my son for about 45 minutes. Focus extra time on reloads and weak hand shooting as I was feeling a little slow in those two areas.

[CrashDodson]

1/18/16

Ran through section "C" of the 15 min dry fire program. I dont have the room in my garage to run section B. Since my limited gun has been sent off to the gun doctor I am working with my XDM on my safarliland rig I use for 3 gun. Its not as fast as my double alpha and race master holster but I am still getting quick draws. I have noticed that despite what I have read by others I think I like the red fiber over the green fiber. I seem to be able to pickup the red fiber quicker. Now if I can just stop trying to use the fiber as a red dot I will be in good shape. The tape over my eye is really helping me focus on the front sight. I am calling my shots in dry fire. I can see a C or a D hit, now if I can just transfer that to when the gun is going bang I will be getting somewhere. Headed to carlsbad NM this weekend for uspsa match. Its a 2.5 hour drive but going with a group so it should be a good time. I will have to shoot my xdm in limited minor while my limited gun gets repaired.

[CrashDodson]

1/19/16 Ran through section D of the 15 min dry fire program

1/20/16

Went to the range and after forgetting my target stands I was left with the static stands at the range. This limited my options so I chose to do some accuracy work. This is the first time I have shot in training using the tape over my non dominate eye. My groups at 25 yards were much closer together. I ran the dot torture drill twice and my groups were much improved over last time. This is using my XDM since my limited gun is at the smith getting repaired. I finished up with some El prez drill at about 7 yards. I did not have my timer but I was running a pretty good speed and hitting all "A"s. I also ran it a few times with headshots only and kept it in the head zone of a IDPA target. I ran double plugs as some have recommended and I felt this helped. I actually could see my sights lift and I could see smoke after the shot. This is the first time I have seen it like this. I can really get a sharp front sight focus using the tape. When shot calling I can see that I will make a good shot but if I ran 2 shots each on 3 targets at speed I would not be able to call each hit without looking at the paper. My brain just does not remember things like that. I am not good at remembering names or phone numbers, I could never be a waiter that doesn't write anything down (they impress me).

I am unsure if being able to recall an entire string of fire is necessary. If I can call my shots as I see them and know when to shoot makeups I think that's the most important thing. I have read about people scoring the targets in their head after a stage without looking at the targets, that will never be me but I dont think I need to be able to do that. I am excited that I am starting to see the sights and getting closer to calling my shots.

1/20/16

Section E of the 15 min dry fire program. I did some extra on weak hand which is not strong enough. Practicing picking up my gun from the chair and engaging targets both supported and strong hand only. I feel almost as fast strong hand only as with supported. The drill where you draw and then load a magazine from the chair slowed me down but I got quicker after a few rounds. I set the par time between "expert" and "laid back" when doing all of these drills.

[CrashDodson]

1/18/16-1/22/16

Havent posted much but I have been dry firing every day this week. Worked on the 15 min dry fire program, always more than 15 min and the stoeger uspsa drills.

1/23/16

First USPSA match of the year for me. Shot at cavern city action shooters. Day started off in the 30's with no wind but warmed up quickly. I got my limited gun back and was able to shoot it today. It ran flawless after its tune up. I had a mike on one stage and did not pick it up in my sights. But I was shooting better then I ever have in a pistol match. I messed up on the 4 bill drill classifer. two targets at 105 feet and 2 and 30ish feet. Shoot the first back target freestyle, reload and shoot a close target strong hand only. Second string is the same but with weak hand. I forgot to reload between freestyle and weak hand and ended up with a procedural. On another stage I left a popper standing, I did hit it but it did not fall and I did not pick it up in my vision. I was cruising on auto pilot for sure. There was one stage where we had to place gun and mags on a table, my double alpha magnet came in handy on this stage and I ended up with a stage win in Limited.

6th place overall and 2nd in limited.

POV

3rd person (only 3 stages)

[CrashDodson]

I've decided to bring my log back from the dead and give it another go.  This October will be my 1 year anniversary shooting USPSA.  I've received a lot of help from people on this forum.  I've been bit hard and gone from shooting factory ammo out of an XDM to loading on a 1050 and shooting an SV.  I've gone to two of Ben's classes.  The last two months I have stuck with a committed dry fire plan vs my sporadic dry firing in the past.  I'm shooting live fire practice at least once a week with a friend.  I have shot 10 classifiers to date and as soon as the payment is received for the area 4 championship classifiers I will finally get out of C class.

 Many advise to not worry about classification but its a part of the game I can not ignore.  Its a way for me to compare myself to everyone else and while that may be good or bad its always something I am looking at.  In my mind if I am not competing then whats the point?  If there were no matches and no one to shoot against I wouldn't be shooting.  I recently won C class limited at the area 4 championship and at the new mexico sectional.  It was not as fulfilling as I thought it would be.  Im looking for the Top 5 overall limited finishes at majors.  Winning C class at matches is hopefully just a stepping stone to that goal.  From my first match last October, shooting IDPA style slow and throwing mikes to now placing well at majors feels good in that at least I can see improvement.  The hard part is to accept the fact that I am going to have to keep putting in a lot of work to only gain 10ths.  I think the big leap of improvement is over and to move into A class and beyond is going to take refinement and improved execution.  Im now in the hunt for that 2 second improvement per stage.      

The areas of my match game that I know need improvement are movement, transitions, giving steel more respect and hustling while executing the stage plans like im on autopilot.  For classifiers my weak hand game has got to improve.  7/10 classifiers I have shot have included weak hand.  In those I shoot C class scores.  In classifiers with no weak hand I shoot A class scores.  It doesn't seem fair that I am classified based on a part of the game that is rarely seen at matches, but it is what it is.  I am dry firing weak hand every day but I am still pulling shots low right weak hand in live fire.  

 

Here is some video from Area 4.  Any comments are appreciated.  

 

[CrashDodson]

A few good things this week...Finally got my butt out of C class!

When I started getting serious about getting serious I was still shooting an XDM and shooting IDPA.  In Ben's dry fire book there was a drill called 6 reload 6 reload 6.  Working that drill I at first thought the 5 second par time must be a typo.  As I got a little faster I just always felt like that drill par time was unobtainable for me.  Fast forward several months, shooting USPSA exclusively and dry firing almost every day.  I took some time off from Bens books and ran through Andersons drills for about a month.  Recently went back to Bens books and hit the 666 drill twice in a row last week in the 5 second par time.  At first I thought I did something wrong or my phone timer messed up.  Running it again proved that it was actually real and likely one of the most gratifying experiences I have had shooting so far.  Granted the third attempt ended with a magazine flying across the room I now can see how the different fundamentals come together to produce results.

 

"A" class here I come.

 

[CrashDodson]

Here we go again...

 

Maybe I can stick with it this time.  Its interesting seeing my progress reading back through this log.  I made A class in December 2016 and made M class in July in limited.  I've made it to M class almost purely through dry fire and some unorganized live fire training.  For about 3 months straight I did Andersons 12 drills, two sessions a day about 30 minutes per session.  Sometimes longer sometimes shorter.  This got me to M class on paper.  

 

Recently shot Area 4 and ended up 23/100ish in limited at near the bottom of M class.  I shot 73% of Cooley and, though not apples to apples, only 5% better than last year as a C class shooter.  I had a few magazine related malfunctions that caused a few seconds of loss.  I also changed to a .400 bullet right before the match and did not shoot any of them.  I had about 50% of my rounds tumble at the match and I believe it cost me at least two mikes and a no shoot on one long distance array.  Regardless it was not a great performance and I came away with an understanding of some shortcomings.

 

It seems mentally that I have difficultly shooting partial targets with any sort of speed.  I have a lot of hesitation and I am losing time when there are a lot of partials on the stage.  I am really focusing on that now in training leading up to nationals.  

 

I came away from A4 a little discouraged and have not been dry firing regularly since then.  I did get three live fire sessions in this week, which is more then I have done in one week in a long time.  The trouble with my live fire practice up until this point is it has been disorganized and unproductive.  I go to the range without a plan, shoot some drills and walk away without learning anything.  Recently I have been reading a lot about sports performance and great performers in general.  Most recently "the art of learning" and "peak".  Peak gets into a lot of research done on performance and basically proves that innate talent in great performers is not really a thing (barring physical limitations).  That to become great at something it takes thousands of hours of what he calls purposeful and deliberate practice.  You have to practice with extreme focus and determination.  You can spend thousands of hours practicing with no purpose and really get nowhere.  For a while now I think thats where I have been.  In this robotic phase of repetition, but repetition alone will not get me where I want to be.  This year I trained again with Ben, and with JJ and with Anderson.  I hosted Ben and JJ at my club and Anderson came up as an opportunity and I figured why not.  While they all have different approaches, what is apparent about great shooters is that they have learned how to practice.  While you can read all the books and take all the classes you want, in our sport it is ultimately up to us to carve out our own training path.  The great ones have found what works for them and that is what I am seeking to do.  Shooting is different from other sports in where there are many experts and coaches available to guide you along the way.  It seems the experts and coaches in practical shooting hand you the tools but then expect you to find your own path.  Or it seems many of the great ones in our sport cant really regurgitate what it took for them to become great.  In the book "Peak", he talks about the only real way to get in deliberate practice is with guidance and feedback from experts and coaches in your area of training.  The way he describes to become great at something is to work with a coach who can provide constant feedback and adjust your training accordingly.  In practical shooting we are pretty much on our own to come up with our own training plans and evaluate their effectiveness.  Hopefully we can all figure that out for ourselves before we are too old for it to matter.   

 

In my second live fire session this week, on the recommendation from @CHA-LEE I ran some drills to help with my shotcalling shortcomings.  The first was a sight deviation drill where you have targets at multiple distances and displace your sights to learn what sight picture is required at a given distance.  While I have done similar drills in the past I have never really taken them seriously.  I found that out until about 15 yards its hard to not get A's.  at 20 and 25 yards the sight displacement becomes more apparent.  At 25 yards the fiber in the bottom of the notch or above the notch will produce D/M hits.  While no light bar on the left or right will still produce C hits at 20 and 25 yards.  I am using a manny dot front with a .090 rear, with a wider rear notch this left and right displacement would be much greater.

 

On Saturday I had a lot of time to focus on a good practice session which lasted about 3 hours.  I started with a 25 yard bill drill.  I started the drill with the goal of focusing on my sights and attempting to call my shots.  From one of my classes with Ben he recommended a par time of 4 seconds for this drill for me.   My first attempt at the drill was over 5 seconds but I quickly found out I can shoot this drill as quickly as mid 3's with acceptable hits.  The faster I shot the drill the more I was seeing in the sights.  I would walk up to the target knowing that I had a shot low or high and while not sure the exact placement 75% of the time I would have a hit where I called.  This is really a first for me and was a big confidence boost.  I found that I would break shots 3-6 with the fiber lower in the notch than I should, and once I really focused on my support hand grip I was shooting impressive groups for 6 rounds at 25 yards under 4 seconds.  I got the best groups when I had my strong hand deep in the web of my thumb/index in the beaver tail and could feel the edge of my palm riding the magwell.  In the past I have had the tendency to shoot with my whole hand by tightening my grip as I pulled the trigger.

 

The second drill I ran was the "tight squeeze II" classifer as this has 3 partial targets that I really wanted to focus on after A4 and upcoming nationals.  GM HF for this in limited is 9.82ish based on the AZS calculator app.  I started out shooting a 7.4 HF with my average being in mid 8's and 9.02 being my best out of 15 or so runs.  I focused on different breathing techniques to calm myself and clear my head.  The two closer no shoot partials are really no concern.  The center zebra target takes a little more patience to shoot.  I was seeing 1.2 draws and 1.1-1.4 reloads.  My live fire draw and reload times are surprising to me verses my dry fire par times which are much faster.  Finished the session with a two position mini stage full of partials and mini poppers.  Focusing on hard entries and easy/hard exits.  Some with reloads.  Hoping to get three more live fire sessions in this week and at least 30 min a day on dry fire.  Trying hard to regain my dry fire motivation.  

[CHA-LEE]

This game is all about visual processing and its very important that ALL of your practice enables you to see the sights in the same manner and quality every time the gun is in between your face and the target. A common mistake I see in shooters do in dry fire is that they are using less than optimal lighting condition which does not allow them to see the sights as they should. This usually creates a scenario where you abandon truly looking at the sights and instead see a blur of sights and think that is good enough. That is usually what the primary cause of the Dry vs Live fire time differentials because in live fire the lighting is good enough to see the sights properly and that "new" sight picture is abnormal to your dry fire and takes more time to process.

 

When I Dry fire I make sure that I can see the sights "Normally" by setting up lights as needed. I also avoid shooting at indoor ranges in practice because its usually too dark to see my sights properly and I regress into point shooting. It sucks because I live only 10 minutes from an awesome indoor range but its too dark in there to do any quality live fire practice with iron sights. I can do effective live fire practice indoors with my Open gun because the Red dot is always easy to see. But I am still focusing on Limited right now so indoor practice is off the table for me.

[CrashDodson]

For two weeks until nationals I did not do much dry fire but I shot live fire 4 days a week.  I focused on tight shots with partials, hard cover and mini poppers.  I had to replace the rear sight on my gun so a little time was spent sighting it in, thats after I messed up the firing pin not knowing the mounting screw for the rear sight goes all the way through into the firing pin channel and has to be trimmed.  Luckily my gun smith, Peine Custom, had plenty of extras and sent me a new pin and spring that I received the day before I left.

 

As this was my first trip to nationals I was not sure what to expect.  I used points on my hotel stay and I found it cheaper to fly on Wednesday leaving Monday.  So I got to nationals two days early.  I went on Wednesday and walked stages after driving from .  I was able to walk all of the stages by myself without hardly anyone else on the range which was great.  On Thursday I went back to the range, registered and walked stages some more.  This actually helped as well because I came across some shooters walking stages that gave me different stage plan ideas to think about.  I ran a full mag of ammo through every mag in the function fire area.  I had tuned my mags before I left home but had not had the chance to test them other than cycling through rounds at the house.  At the hotel I dry fired a little and worked on practicing some of the low ports/prone positions that I am not that used to seeing at other matches.  Ended up with a nice carpet burn on my elbow!

 

On Friday I got the range about two hours before I was to start.  Just worked on getting my mind in a good place.  Shot a little in the function fire area.  Then headed to my first stage.  Overall on Friday I felt I shot decent.  I shot a little conservative but I walked away with no penalties and decent points.  From practiscore it looked like I was shooting about 2 seconds per stage off the pace of the top guys that had shot my stages so far.  

 

Saturday I went in feeling confident with the goal of trying to shoot a little more aggressively than the day before.  I knew I could make any shot the match demanded I just needed to do it a little faster.  First stage of the day I ended up getting disqualified.  The stage started you in the center with a run to the left or right.  I went right came into an open target, with transitions to partials and then to an open 45 degree target.  I actually started leaving this position too soon, it was an awkward exit requiring a step back to get moving and avoid hitting your gun on the wall.  I ended up taking a makeup shot on the 45 degree target one handed as I left this awkward position.  At this point I knew I needed to chill out a bit but was still full of adrenaline.  I came into the position on the left, setup on the open target, transitioned to the partials and finished on the 45 degree target.  Leaving this position was a short run to the next position where I dropped a mag to reload while running and had an accidental discharge before arriving at the next position and before inserting the new mag.  It all happens so fast I am not certain exactly what I did but I either did not clear my finger all the way after starting the reload/movement or I had a lose grip and my finger slipped back in and tapped the trigger.  The gun was pointed in a safe direction the round went through the wall and impacted the berm.  I showed the RO a cleared gun and made the walk of shame back to my cart.  I dont get very emotional but the weight of disappointment and embarrassment was pretty heavy.  I sucked it up, bagged my gun and got my tape gun ready to work.  I shot a lot of pasters and paint the rest of the day.  We finished around 2:30 and I drove to the grand canyon for a little soul cleansing.  I went back the next day and shot a lot more pasters and paint for my squad.  I went to the awards banquet, even though I did not know many people at the match, just to get the full experience of the event.  

 

Despite the DQ it was still a good experience.  I met a lot of great people in my squad and got to experience a level 4 match.  The match did not feel any different to me than a level 2/3 match except it just had more stages.  I found this a little surprising but I really didn't know what to expect going into it.  There were a lot of tight shots, a lot of headshot only targets, plenty of no shoots and mini poppers.  Everyone pretty much ran the same stage plans.  

 

I shoot the High Desert match this weekend in Albuquerque, hoping for a little redemption.  I finish out the major match year with the Gator at the end of the month.  

[SCTaylor]

Sorry to hear about nationals ! Good luck this weekend!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CHA-LEE]

DQing at the nationals SUCKS. I know first hand as I have done it myself. All you can do is learn from those lessons so it doesn’t happen again. Some times we need a stern lesson like that to put things into perspective.

 

Keep your head up and have fun next weekend.

[CrashDodson]

Here are 4 stages that I had videoed.  I didn't get video of the stage @CHA-LEE worked because of the stage design and bay size it was hard to get someone with a camera in there.  

 

You can see on one stage I had a malfunction.  The only thing I can imagine I did was bumped the mag release after reacquiring my grip.  I racked the slide and the mag fell out.  I currently have the smallest mag button available, and yet I am still getting my bear claws on the release from time to time.  I tried dry firing with no button at all but it was really hard to get a good press on the release.  Honestly not sure what else to try.  I may have my new gun cut for the SV tear drop mag release.

 

 

 

[Mountbkr]

Those low ports are hard on us old, broke down, half crippled guys aren't they 

[CHA-LEE]

Try a wolf extra power mag release spring. That should add some extra tension to minimize the accidental mag drop due to the support hand touching the mag release button. I actually have a 10 pack of them and will bring one down to the HDC match for you to try out if you want.

 

One interesting thing that I noticed in your video is a significant time delay between the gun being on the target and when you start shooting. Your gun is on the target well before you start shooting. This is usually an issue with what you are focusing on as you transition to the target. Its usually caused by having a hard target focus then move your focus back to the sights. That focal plane switch takes time, especially as we get older. Try to establish a sight focus BEFORE you gun gets on the target.

[CrashDodson]

@CHA-LEE I have the extra power mag spring, I thought about putting two in there!

 

I have noticed the same thing in reviewing my match videos in the past.  Sometimes I feel like its so slow I even consciously think at the time, "why am I not shooting".  Definitely something to work on a big place for me to find time.   

 

[CHA-LEE]

You can preload the extra power spring by putting something in the pocket (like a small ball bearing) before putting the spring in there. Preloading it will add more tension to the spring. You have to be careful about preloading it too much as you can create a scenario where the spring coil binds before the mag catch moves enough to drop the mag. 

[SCTaylor]

Crash something clicked for me at live fire practice Monday in regards to speed and I'll share it, might not be worth much but here goes.

 

I was running a movement/flowing through position drill with 3 targets @ 5 yards (obscured by barrels) and a movement to a final target 10' away.  I wanted to work on speed, mad-man cockles out speed.  My mindset going into those drills was just keep going, do every non-shooting aspect fast (foot movement, eye transitions, and movement to final target) while making sure I see everything. Seeing the gun fire had been a problem of mine so that was a big focal point.

 

By running the drill at hair-on-fire speed with a focus on driving down the par time, everything seemed to become clear. Watching the gun lift, pressing the trigger straight back as soon as I thought the gun/sights were in the A zone and moving laterally faster than felt reasonable were all uncomfortable as hell. After 2 runs, it felt a bit more normal, after 5 I was pushing harder.

 

At the end my drill time dropped by about 20% at max speed (4a, 4c average) and 13% in "match mode" (7a, 1c average). Pushing till the wheels blew off really opened a new door for me. I'm not sure how you push speed at practice but this sure helped me..

 

Basically I started the drill at 4.8 seconds, pushed down to 4.2 seconds in speed mode then back to 4.35 in match mode. 

 

Another non-speed related ah-ha moment was understanding how quickly I could shoot A's when transitioning at that distance.

 

[CrashDodson]

I think running a drill like this would be good.  Working up to nationals I ran a lot of mini stages with a lot of partials and hard targets.  But as evident from video I am not shooting wide open targets or easier targets like 50% partials near as fast as I can.  When I run drills like accelerator for example, I shoot those well.  But in a match scenario it seems like I have an overabundance of caution.  I think this mindset stemmed from some issues I had a while back with unexplained mikes due to lack of shot calling ability.  Now that my skill set has improved I am still shooting in that mindset.  I have not had a mike in a match in a long time but I am also getting beat by several seconds per stage.  

 

A little hair on fire practice could be a good thing.  Up until the last two weeks my live fire practice has been sporadic at best, and when I did get to the range it was not focused deliberate practice.  I have been unprepared and it shows.  From dry fire I have gotten good at stand and shoot stuff which has gotten me a paper M card.  The seasons almost over but I am going to try to dedicate at least 1 day a week from now on to live fire practice, with a plan and a goal for each session.  

 

I need to run Charlies site deviation drills some more, and really burn in those sight pictures.  

[Jake Di Vita]

Hair on fire in practice is a good thing.

 

Also, if you are shooting matches and feel like you are shooting with an overabundance of caution, that's just about a perfect place to be.

 

If you're doing your job in training and pushing on the ragged edge of speed/control, the speed in matches will take care of itself. I don't think you should ever feel like you are trying to go fast in a match. When it's match day, just go hit the center of the targets as quickly as you know your sights are there. I know that feels wrong while you're doing it and watching other shooters outpace you. You just gotta have faith in the process.

 

Quote

The stage started you in the center with a run to the left or right.  I went right came into an open target, with transitions to partials and then to an open 45 degree target.  I actually started leaving this position too soon, it was an awkward exit requiring a step back to get moving and avoid hitting your gun on the wall.  I ended up taking a makeup shot on the 45 degree target one handed as I left this awkward position.  At this point I knew I needed to chill out a bit but was still full of adrenaline.  I came into the position on the left, setup on the open target, transitioned to the partials and finished on the 45 degree target.  Leaving this position was a short run to the next position where I dropped a mag to reload while running and had an accidental discharge before arriving at the next position and before inserting the new mag.  It all happens so fast I am not certain exactly what I did but I either did not clear my finger all the way after starting the reload/movement or I had a lose grip and my finger slipped back in and tapped the trigger.

 

Also, when I read back your own thoughts on the DQ. I can't help but think trying to go fast had something to do with it.

Edited October 5, 2017 by Jake Di Vita

[motosapiens]

Wow Crash, what a positive attitude to have after a real downer! I think Jake makes a very valid point that trying to go fast is one of the prime suspects in DQ's for AD's. I had one at a local match a few years ago and it was very educational. Now I rush like crazy in practice (reloading while moving in every imaginable direction), and sometimes fling mags around when I make a mistake, but in a match my reload visualization consists only of the correct positioning (of weak hand on mag, and of gun). It happens fast-ish because I practice it fast so I don't know any other way to do it, but I don't think about *making* it fast.

 

I am in a similar boat to you, as I have done a lot of stand and shoot, both in dryfire and livefire, and ended up making M in singlestack, but I am definitely losing time on field stages due to not practicing that stuff enough. I'm now making my after work dry-fire session more focused on movement, and seeing/shooting sooner.

[CrashDodson]

15 hours ago, Jake Di Vita said:

 

Also, when I read back your own thoughts on the DQ. I can't help but think trying to go fast had something to do with it.

 

Hopefully thats all it is.  Ive had an AD before in practice while trying to smoke a draw.  But ive never had it happen during movement.  Ive never been called on a finger or anything before.

[CrashDodson]

1 hour ago, motosapiens said:

Wow Crash, what a positive attitude to have after a real downer! I think Jake makes a very valid point that trying to go fast is one of the prime suspects in DQ's for AD's. I had one at a local match a few years ago and it was very educational. Now I rush like crazy in practice (reloading while moving in every imaginable direction), and sometimes fling mags around when I make a mistake, but in a match my reload visualization consists only of the correct positioning (of weak hand on mag, and of gun). It happens fast-ish because I practice it fast so I don't know any other way to do it, but I don't think about *making* it fast.

 

I am in a similar boat to you, as I have done a lot of stand and shoot, both in dryfire and livefire, and ended up making M in singlestack, but I am definitely losing time on field stages due to not practicing that stuff enough. I'm now making my after work dry-fire session more focused on movement, and seeing/shooting sooner.

 

It was nice to meet you in person Moto.  Jake makes nothing but valid points, we have a love hate relationship.  He tells me what I dont want to hear but what I need to listen to.  Hes been an invaluable influence on my shooting thus far.  

 

So far this year I DQ'ed at two major matches.  I dropped my brand new gun at cowtown and now lit off a round while moving at nationals.  I just need a 180 to round out the season ROFL.  

 

I need to work on how to practice in live fire.  I have really been trying to practice better.  Some people call it wanting to be spoon fed or whatever but we dont really have coaches in this sport.  I recently read a book that explains scientific research for the past 30 years on top performers of all different types of fields.  Besides debunking the myth of natural talent, the book proves that what builds an expert in any field is a metric shit ton of deliberate focused practice.  And the best way to get this type of practice is with constant feedback.  You practice something, receive feedback, practice...repeat.  In shooting we are really left up to our own wandering around the range to try and figure this stuff out.  

 

I think thats one reason I was attracted to dry fire.  Here is a book...Here is a drill...you should be able to do said drill in x time.  Go.  I have a very small space in my garage to dry fire, turn and draws and small movements is the extent of my options.  I have been trying to work out a way to dry fire in the back yard but its usually dark when I can dry fire.  I guess I need to invest in some flood lighting and light my backyard up like a stadium.   In live fire I am at a point where I can do the most common standard drills in GM times, but this does not correlate to GM or even solid M match performance at major matches.  So now I am trying to figure out what to actually practice at the range.  Lets say you setup some sort of mini stage type drill.  Without some sort of goal,  just running that thing a bunch of times doesn't really lend itself to any results.  Even having a goal, without any feedback, doesn't really lend itself to good results either.  So I dont know if filming practice sessions to self review later is a good way to get more out of practice or what else to do.  Perhaps run a drill, walk over to the camera and announce the time.  Repeat this so you can maybe review why run 5 was better than run 2. 

 

Lets say your a wide receiver running routes in practice, you have a coach right there to evaluate and correct your practice on the spot.  Not many of us have that luxury in shooting, so thats what I am currently having trouble with.  How do I go to the range, with a goal to practice "X" (after deciding what X is and then figure out how to actually practice X), and walk away from the range feeling like I have learned something?  I have trained with Ben a few times and talk to him occasionally.  One time he asked me, "so what did you learn", in regards to a practice session.  I had no answer, and rarely think I ever really have from solo live fire practice.  A few weeks ago I ran the 25 yard bill drill and its the first time where I felt I was getting something out of live fire practice.  It was the first time I could say I was decently calling my shots.  It was a great feeling, and in that moment practice was fun, but not a feeling I have been able to replicate with other drills.  

 

The ballers in this game have learned how to practice, they have learned what method of practice works for them.  Outside of gun handling skills practice I have yet to really learn how to practice field course skills.  Right now I need to hone shot calling and work on doing everything sooner.  Seeing sooner, shooting sooner, moving sooner.  

[SCTaylor]

Not a GM, yet, but this is working for me.

 

Start with three basic questions.

 

1. What do I want to work on?

2. How do I isolate that skillset?

3. What known drills can I setup or use as a basis of design?

 

For instance in my post above:

 

1. Speed while shooting on the move

  a. Foot speed through target array

  b. Transition target to target 

2. Setup close easy targets and one with a bit more move (~10')

3. Used roughly the same layout as a past club match.

 

I spent 3 months or so just setting up drills and evaluating everything which never felt like I was getting much better. Over the last month the focus has been on 1 or 2 skills every practice with 2 or 3 different setups. With the well defined goal, I'm having success and feel satisfied with my practice sessions.

 

We're squaded together at Gator, I'd like to trade some notes with you then.

 

ETA - I've found that video of practice is pretty damn valuable too. Reviewing that evening or next day to see how it looked (subjective) versus how it felt (objective) really helps. For example how low & smooth the movements are flowing through a position; actual versus perceived, its uber clear.

Edited October 5, 2017 by SCTaylor

[CrashDodson]

In a setup like your describing, how do you gauge success?  On the timer?  

 

My issue is say you run the drill 10 times.

1.cold baseline

2.faster

3. About the same as 2

4. slower than 1 (wtf?)

5. faster than 2

6. About the same as 1

...

 

How do you determine what you did better in run 2 and in run 5?  or determine what you did in run 4 that made you slow?  Are you videoing your practice?  

[motosapiens]

learning what and how to practice is the hard part. Things that are helping me:

1. stop double-tapping. aim every shot.

2. call your shots.

3. Do whatever it takes for you to accomplish 1 and 2 faster and more accurately.