RAP's Journey to Success

[RAP]

3.3.2018

 

Morning 30 minutes: I worked on turn and draw and reloads. I worked on the Burkett Drill with a par time of 1 second. Worked on strong hand and weak hand drills. 

 

Evening 45 minutes: Worked on 90 & 180 degree transitions. Wall start with barricade at 90 degrees. This mini stage designed to start with hands on wall with 1st target obscured by the barricade forcing a quick step to engage the target. Foot work is essential for speed and stability to engage the effectively. Also set up mini stage with a wall start and 90 degree transition and a move to another barricade target. I performed a reload on the move to last target. This was good practice for reloading on the move. Something I need to improve upon. 

[RAP]

3.4.2018

 

Live fire practice today with a start on Dot drill than worked on wall starts, with hard lean, shooting through port and distance targets for transition. 

 

The first 8 foot wall I set up had 2 targets on the right side. 1 target at 8 yards and 2nd target at 12 yards. This gave me a chance to practice transitions from near to far. I started with both hands on the wall at different locations. Each end and the middle. I worked on coming off the wall and getting into position on the 2 targets on right side. Next I had a wall with a port set up 25 feet to the left of the 1st wall. I practiced coming off the 1st wall and running to the port with a focus on getting my gun ready to shoot as I got to the port. I struggled with this drill. Getting into position was only half the battle; getting good hits was the other half. I had a target to the left of the port at 18 yards that I would transition too. The transition was between 60/70 degrees. A bright spot, I did not have a problem shooting alphas at the 18 yard distance.

 

I have many things I need to continue working on. The Dot drill is something I should have been doing a while back. I am improving but still need a lot of work. Today I was beating my 5 second par time, but couldn't get 6 shots inside the circle. I could easily get 5, just not 6. I also really struggled with the port. Getting into position smoothly and being ready to shoot as soon as possible was a defiant no go. Although I did improve as I practiced this drill, which means I need more practice. My foot work was not good at all. I also struggled with the wall start and getting into position on the 2 targets on the right side. I was inconsistent at best. One thing I noticed moving into position on the right side I was crowding the wall. This was causing me to slow down and hindering my gun movement as I was moving into that position. When I realized I was crowding the wall while moving to the position I had one of those DUH moments. I know better. I also took the time to run the plate rack a few times. My time followed my dry fire times. My best clean run was 3.85 seconds from draw at 12 yards. I also took some time to chronograph my rounds. I wanted to see what my power factor would be at 3.2 grains of Alliant Sport Pistol. I average 130 PF with my old load of 3.3 grains I average 133/134 PF. Although today was a tough day I am still very happy with my progress. I am looking forward to the upcoming match Saturday, March 10. This will be our first match for my home club. 

[RAP]

3.8.2018

 

Back in town from traveling for work. A very busy few days and dealing with the chaos in my work world; being able to dry fire was a needed break from it.

 

Tonight I worked on turn and draw and reloads. I ran El Prez with a cold start for a marker tonight. I ran it in 5.77 seconds. My fastest cold time in dry fire to date. I also worked on the Burkett Drill with a par time of 1 second. I was hitting the par time pretty consistent and will need to drop the time to .90 seconds. For 90 degree transitions I averaged .65 seconds. Need to work on my hop movement. I wasn't smooth and felt like it was an after thought. Moving into and out of positions I performed this drill just exploding out of and getting into position shooting as quickly as possible and preforming a reload between positions. The positions were 5 yards apart my time averaged 3.3 seconds without reloads and 3.6 seconds while performing a reload. My reload was not smooth as I missed the magwell more often than not. Sprinting at speed and reloading is not easy and will take a lot of practice. 

 

I wanted to keep it somewhat simple tonight. The practice session was a good one, pushing my speeds until I was making mistakes and then pushed a little harder. I noticed something tonight that I hadn't noticed. My speeds are defiantly faster (timer is telling me so) but it didn't feel like I was going at break neck speed for me. As I pushed harder I started feeling like "I'm getting out of control" and I was starting to make too many mistakes. But as I look back on tonight, this is were I needed to be.    

[RAP]

3.9.2018

 

Short 35 minute practice tonight.

 

Started off with dot drill for 5 minutes. Than moved to 4 Aces. I struggled at first. I was not getting my gun in the correct position. The magwell was not visible and this caused many missed mag insertions. I slowed down got the gun in the correct position and things smoothed right up. I was able to consistently get in the 2.8 - 2.9 seconds. Next I moved to the entry and exit drill that I did last night. I started with a focus of getting out of position and getting the reload done quickly with in the first few steps. As I progressed I shifted the focus to getting into position ready to shoot quickly. 

 

Tonight I started off a little "clunky" with each drill performed. Mental tiredness causing a focus issue was the culprit. The good, I was able to get it together and focus. When this happened things improved. A lesson and reminder of how important the mental game is. 

[RAP]

3.13.2018

Tonight was a short 30 minute dry fire session. I started with the dots. I backed up to 7 yards and with a goal of 4 seconds with a focused on trigger control. Next I worked on transitions. I started off with 90 degree transitions and moved to a variety of target arrays to challenge my transitions. I focused on the dot and calling good shots in the A zone rather than speed and body movement. The timer surprised me with transitions. My speed was still good even though I wasn't focused on it. I finished tonight with 4 Aces. I set a time of 2.7 seconds. I averaged 2.85 seconds. It was a good focused night of practice. 

[RAP]

3.14.2018

 

I started with the dots at 7 yards and with a goal of 4 seconds and a focus on trigger control. I am really liking and seeing benefits of starting each dry & live fire practice with this drill. Next I worked on transitions. I started off with 4 half sized targets at 7 yards. I set them up as 2 target arrays simulating 14 yards distance 2 yards between each target and 5 yards between each target array. I focused on the body movement. I wanted to gain efficiencies at driving the gun from target to target. I found myself at first over shooting the target and would have been misses. I realized I wasn't using my lower body and using only my upper body and arms. I corrected that and I stopped over shooting the targets. Next I went to 4 Aces with a 2nd target. This added a twist to this drill. It made me focus on not just my grip, reload, etc. I also needed to snap the gun and my eyes too a different target. I finished the night with entry and exit practice. I added a 5th target that gave me the opportunity to practice shooting as I was moving as I exited and start shooting as I entered the position.   

[RAP]

3.15.2018

 

Tonight I started with the dots at 7 yards. I also worked on movement and shooting while moving. I set up a stage to allow simulation to practice these skills. I used the same 2 target arrays I uses on the 14th. 2 target arrays simulating 14 yards distance 2 yards between each target and 5 yards between each target array. I added a barricade wall 3 yards to the left of left 2nd target array. I added a Zebra target 7 yards from the barricade wall and a 1/2 size target simulating a target 5 yards to the left of the barricade wall that will present a 90 degree transition. Target 1 is the Zebra target. Target 2 is the 1/2 size target simulating a target 5 yards 90 degrees to the left of the barricade wall. Targets 3&4 was to the right of the barricade wall and targets 5&6 the furthest targets to the right of the barricade wall. 

 

I started off with hands on barricade wall drawing to engage the Zebra target first than transition to the target 2 while moving backwards than targets 3&4 while moving and finally engaging 5&6. I also ran this in reverse. I first ran the stage a few times to get an average time of running the stage in a "comfortable" way. In other words I would stop and shoot the targets at the different positions. The average time was 7.8 seconds. With that time established I started off slow working on my foot work and timing and added speed as I went along with moving while shooting. My goal was to not stop moving until I came into the final position on the last target. My average time at a speed with good hits was 6.4 seconds. I was amazed at how much time was saved by continually moving. I knew this was an area I needed to work on. Now I feel like I have something to work with in my dry fire practice to improve these skills. 

 

[RAP]

3.17.2018

 

WSRC Sparta, IL Match

 

Came in 15th overall out of 87 shooters. Overall I am happy with my performance. I had a goal to work on my entry and exits, shooting quicker as I enter positions and "shoot" my way out of positions were appropriate. I also wanted to shoot while moving when opportunities presented themselves. 

Stage 1. Came in 15th time 21.27, 20 A's, 11 C's, 1D. This stage was not a smooth run for me. My stage plan changed just before I shot because I forgot to count a target hidden on the backside of a barrel. Also, I had way to many C's. My grip was not very good so I didn't have good control. 

Stage 2. Came in 15th with a time of 19.14, 12 A's, 1 B, 5 C's. This stage I had a slip exiting out of the first position. I managed to keep control of my gun and keep it pointed in a safe direction. It did cost me some time, probably 3-5 seconds. I had a solid and aggressive stage plan I just slipped in the mud and ate some wall. 

Stage 3. Came in 26th. Time was 11.66 had 10 A's, 4 C's. I didn't relieve I had injured my left knee on stage 2. It was swelling up by the time I shot this stage. This stage required you sit in a chair and your gun was loaded and placed on a table about 2 steps from the table. I was hurting and just couldn't move as quickly as I wanted and I wasn't very stable. I would love to reshoot this stage when I'm healed up. Overall my stage plan was solid execution was hampered. This was my last stage of the match. 

Stage 4. My first stage of the match. I came in 23rd. Time 20.50 19 A's, 12 C's, 1 D. I was not very smooth on this stage. It was a large field course not all that complicated. I had a good stage plan I just didn't execute very well. I didn't have a very good grip. It was a light grip and I realized this early on and adjusted when I made my less than stellar reload. But, I had better hits after the reload. 

Stage 5. My worst stage. I came in 32nd overall. And I had my only miss. Time 26.22, 19 A's, 4 C's, 1 M. This stage had only 4 metric targets rest was steel. I had a miss on 1 steel plate. I tried a risky plan where I should shoot 3 poppers from a less than ideal position that if I pulled it off would save me from going into the 4th position. Well I hit all steel 1 for 1 except the last popper and I hit to hit it 3 times I thought it was falling and I moved to clean up the last 5 plates leaving up that last popper. I asked for a calibration and I lost that. Oh well it was worth a try. 

Stage 6 was the classifier Bookouts Boogie 99-57. I came in 9th overall. HF 5.1081.Time 10.18, 52 points 9 A's, 2 C's and 1 D. The D I didn't call and my reaction from box A to box B was horrible. I found myself standing for a brief second before I realized I needed to move up to box B. I'm sure it cost me 1-2 seconds but I am happy I didn't try rushing my shots to try to make up time. 

 

I need to continue working on my movement skills. I am happy with my dry fire practice and the improvements that are coming from it. I need to live fire more. The weather hasn't been the most cooperative and work is pretty crazy right now. However, with dry firing helping I'm not "freaking out" because I can't live fire as much as I want right now.      

[RAP]

3.19.2018

Worked on transitions, moving from position to position. I worked on speed from position to position. I haven't been working on actual speed. Reviewing some old videos from matches I noticed I was not really moving that quickly. I wanted to work on speed. Admittedly it was train wreck at first. My footwork coming into a position was not very good. I found myself overshooting the position and or slowing down to early. It took some practice, hard practice with more failures than wins to start getting comfortable running into the position and getting my timing and footwork in concert with each other for success. The good from this practice session is knowing what its like to actually "run" to a position and starting to understand the footwork that is required. 

 

3.22.2018

Tonight I started the practice session with the dot drill. Than I worked on same speed drill I did Monday, March 19. I again focused on speed. I was amazed how much more comfortable I felt moving hard and fast tonight considering I was out of town and couldn't practice for a couple days. I worked on this for my first 15 minutes of practice. Next I worked on reloading while moving, at speed. I used my timer to track my time to position. First I timed the drill with no reload and used that as my bench mark. Than I added a reload to this drill. My goal was to keep the same time I had without a reload. I learned in order for me to have a smooth and fast reload while moving I needed to bring the gun in closer and lower. By doing this I also had to be careful to keep the magwell tilted at the correct angle and where I could see into the magwell opening. I was able to get very close to keeping the same time of 4.8 seconds. I average 5.1 with reloading. Very happy with progress tonight. 

[RAP]

3.23.2018

 

Tonight I spent time working Burkett drill and reloading while moving into a position. It was a short dry fire session only about 20 minutes. I have a match tomorrow and spent the remainder of my time preparing for that. I focused on getting my gun into the right position for a reload while on the move. Closer and lower to my body as I discovered last night. I also came to the realization I have to look at the magwell when performing a reloading while moving, not just were I'm going. Easy to do in my basement: something I will need to take into account at the match if the opportunity presents itself. 

[RAP]

3.24.2018

Shot a USPSA match at Green Valley in Hallsville, MO. This is my first match at this club. I placed 8th overall and 3rd in Carry Optics. In may opinion not a very good showing for me. Stage 1 was a disaster. I was 6.45 seconds slower than the first place shooter. My problem was my reload. I When I performed my reload somehow a round came loose and would not let me insert the magazines fully into the gun. By the time I corrected this I lost considerable time. This has happened once before and the most likely cause is the lanyard loop. My reload was terrible. I missed the magwell hitting the edge and lanyard loop causing a round to come loose and jam up the reload. The good is I had 18 A's. Stage 2 was Down the Middle. I threw a mike on this stage and my time was less then stellar, 5.1 seconds for a solid C class performance. Stage 3 was an ok performance. I was 10 seconds slower than 1st place. Stage planning was terrible, I had to back up to engage a target I missed and I caused myself an unnecessary standing reload. Stage 4 was another less than stellar performance. I had to make a pit stop and got to the stage late and I had all of 1 minute to walk the stage and formulate a plan. I was the third shooter and should have asked to be bumped down. I just wasn't ready and threw a mike and cost my self time by winging my plan and not getting into the proper positions. I tried to make up bad planning with speed and is cost me. Stage 5 I had a solid stage plan, but less than stellar execution. I had my 3rd mike and 2 deltas on this stage. This stage had 3 targets at 90 degrees that allowed you to engage them while on the move. I have been practicing this in my dry fire so I felt comfortable doing this. However, my cadence with my footwork wasn't in step with my trigger finger or brain and thus my 2 deltas were on the right side which would makes since because I was moving left to right. Most likely my mike was the same. Stage 6 was another classifier 3 V, 03-04. I was actually top shooter in CO on this stage. Shot a nice 59% C classifier. Which pretty much sums up my performance for the day. It was cold and even rained on us. But I'm not using that as an excuse. My poor performance was all me and my poor mental game I had today. I view the weather conditions as training and condition. I did go into this match with the mission of putting my dry fire drills to use whenever the opportunity presented itself. I was happy with some of my skills are improving and it's a direct effect of the dry firing practice. I haven't been able to live fire practice because of crappy rainy weather and a very busy and stressful work schedule. 

 

Edited March 28, 2018 by RAP

[RAP]

3.27.2018

Dry fire tonight was a focus on refining my reloading and weak hand shooting. I feel like I am at 80% consistency with reloading and my weak hand is not consistent at all. I can do better and I am determined to do better. I started the session with Dot Drill. I believe this drill is helping me with my trigger press and grip. I moved to Burkett Reload, worked on this drill for 5 minutes. I had a Par time of 1 second and was very consistent hitting that time. I next moved to a modified Burkett drill (not sure if there is another name for this drill) with a magazine in the gun and at the beep I would perform a reload and fire 1 shot on target. I was able to hit 1.2-1.3 seconds about 90% of the time. Next I moved to CM 03-11 EL Strong & Weak Pres. I performed the strong hand part only a few times. I wanted to focus on the weak hand, specifically figure out why when going to weak hand after a reload I struggle so much finding the dot. Well, tonight I figured out what I was doing wrong. When I would transfer the gun from strong hand to weak hand my grip was too low. When I realized what I was doing I made an adjustment to my weak hand grip by gripping higher and I was finding the dot faster and consistently. This alone shaves a second off my time. Now I will need to practice this transfer and weak hand grip until it's second nature.   

 

[RAP]

3.29.2018

Dry fire tonight was a continuation of the 27th with a focus on refining my reloading and weak hand shooting. I again started the session with Dot Drill. Next I moved to Burkett Reload, worked on this drill for 5 minutes. A short workout with the Burkett drill seems to be a sweet spot for me in my training. It's focused and I feel like it's paying dividends for the short time I perform the drill. Tonight I changed this drill a little bit. I eliminated the par time and focused on aggressively grabbing my magazine and getting my gun into position faster. I learned that sometimes I get the magazine to the gun before I have the gun in the correct position for the magazine. This surprised me when I finally saw what was happening and one of the reasons I am not hitting the magwell correctly and hit the edge to the opening or flat-out just missing it. This isn't the only cause of flubbing a reload but it's one of them and something I will work on. Learning this was priceless to me. 

 

I next performed 4 Aces. I had a full size target at 10 yards cold I was at 3.53 seconds. After a couple runs I was able to consistently get below 3 seconds into the 2.9 range. I was able to go faster on a couple runs but my hits were horrible. Being able to crack the 3 second barrier felt really good. Things just came together on this drill tonight. Next I moved to CM 03-11 EL Strong & Weak Pres. I started out running this through the whole drill 6 times, both strong and weak hand. However, I wanted a continuation of focusing on the weak hand. Working on transferring the gun from strong hand to weak hand. I struggled tonight getting the gun transferred from strong to weak hand. I worked on technique trying to refine it. I still have a lot of work getting this one smoothed out.

 

I am having problems with my first mag pouch moving on me again. I cannot tighten it anymore. When I aggressively grab my magazine during a reload it moves. I am out of ideas to solve this problem. I am considering taking one of my DAA racer master mag pouches off my limited belt and see how I do. I need to think about this; do I want to cannibalize my Limited belt? Maybe I should order a Double Alpha Racer pouch and see how it does. This way I am not cannibalizing my Limited belt and I will know if this is the right pouch without buying 4 of them and not liking them. Decisions to make.     

[RAP]

3.30.2018

 

Weather broke today and with a vacation day I was able to conduct a live fire practice session. It has been awhile because of bad weather and an insane busy period at work. The lack of live fire practice certainly showed up at the last couple matches. I wanted this live fire practice to focus on engaging targets while moving and shooting into and out of positions. I was smart enough to video some of the practice this go around. I started the session with dot drill. I was happy with my performance but, I still have a lot of work to do. 

 

This video is very short but shows me practicing engaging targets while moving part them and having to come to a stop and quickly transition to a target to my left. For the first 1/2 of the practice session I focused on this drill. Working on my foot work while watching my dot. I manage to call all my bad shots except 3 shots. I also added a fifth target black backer board you can see in the back ground. This gave me a long range target with another transition adding to the difficulty, which it did. Next I worked on entry and exits. I left the same stage set up only this time I would start in the same position engage T1 move to the second position to left engaging T1 & T3. I would move to T3 and engage T4 & T5. The challenge for me was the entry into these positions. They required to turn to engage the appropriate target array. This took some practice to get my foot work and turning my body quickly and driving the gun to the appropriate target. 

 

This practice session was very productive. I was able to work on some skills I have spent time conducting in dry fire practice but haven't been able to validate with live ammo. 

 

 

https://youtu.be/txCSNlS5xr0

[RAP]

4.2.2018

 

Match at lefthanders was canceled on Saturday due to rainy weather. Sunday was a cold and snowy day. We had 2"-3" of snow Sunday so no live fire practice or shooting this weekend. I did spend time casting bullets, coating and sizing them. I did about 2500 over the weekend.

 

Monday, April 2 was a dry fire evening that also turned into a mag  pouch change.I started the evening with the dot drill. This drill is now my go to start up practice drill. I then set up 2 shooting positions A & B and worked on entry and exit skills. Next I worked on my reloads and this is where I got frustrated. My #1 mag pouch was again moving when I would grab the mag for a reload. I checked the main screw for tightness and I physically could not tighten it any more. I decided I've had enough. I was talking to my wife about my frustration and she prompted me to take my 3 Race Master mag pouches and set them up for my CZ magazines and put them on my CO belt. After all if they are good enough for my limited their good enough for my CO set up. Once I completed this task I worked on Burkett reloads and 4 Aces drill. I had no problems with movement and I seemed to be more consistent with my grip on the magazine which translated into more consistent reloads. 1 short practice session does not mean all my wows with my inconsistent reloads is cured. But, it sure seemed to go along way in helping. Now I need to buy 1 more Race Master mag pouch so I will have 4 on my belt. I will traveling out of town the next few days so I won't be able to practice until Friday for sure. Maybe Thursday, but it's not looking good. I am eager to work on my reloads to see if the mag pouches really are making a difference.   

[RAP]

4.6.2018

 

Today managed to get in a live fire practice session with my friend Nick. This session was a focus on entry and exit and a big focus on transition drills. We first started with 2 targets at 10 yards from box A. Box B was about 10 yards to the right of box A with a steel target about 15 yards. We ran this drill establishing base lines. We then broke the drills down with a big focus on transitions. We pushed ourselves beyond our "comfort zones" with an emphasis on snapping our eyes and driving the gun to the next target and ended up spending a majority of the time on this. We finished the session with bill drill at 20 yards. I had my best time for this drill tonight with 6 Alphas in 4.48 seconds. It was a great practice session even though the cold front moved through dropping the temperature from upper 40's to mid 30's in little over an hour.  

[RAP]

4.8.2018

 

Dry  fire practice tonight was a focus on transitions and reloads. Before I started practice I decided to change my back strap to the large. Since I purchased this gun I've kept the medium size back strap on. After the match at Arnold Gun Club, I was speaking to my friend who just came back from Florida taking a Manny Bragg class. Keith explained what he learned from Manny about the size of the grip allowing proper length for the correct finger placement. (I hope I am explaining this right.) Anyway, I started with the Dot Drill. At first the larger grip felt strange. But after a few draws my grip settled in and I felt like I had better grip. After Dot Drill I moved to transitions. I kept the transition drill simple. I had 2 targets at 7 yards about 7 1/2' apart. I wanted to also incorporate drawing the gun into the transition drill to help work through the change in back strap. I performed both hands at side and surrender draws in this drill. For transitions I really wanted to focus on using my lower body in the transition and speed really driving the gun to the next target. I was getting my transitions into the .3 second range consistently. I am happy with this progress. After about 15 minutes of this drill I moved to practicing reloads. I performed 4 Aces and Burkett drills. I struggled with consistency tonight and that could be contributed to a change in mag pouches and grip back strap. I managed only 30% of my reloads faster than 1.4 seconds. I will need to work this out over the next several days. Also, I really liked the larger back strap. I really felt like I was getting a more consistent grip. Time will tell if this is fact or I was just paying more attention because of the change. I have no big travel plans this week and this will allow many opportunities to dry fire practice and get ready for the match on Saturday.   

[RAP]

4.9.2018

 

Tonight was a work on reloads and tweak my shooting rig night. I wanted to spend some time getting everything in the right positions. I waited to do this after a couple practice sessions so I could make adjustments once (I hope). I am really liking the larger back strap on my CZ; it feels really good. I will need to practice strong and weak hand shooting with this set up soon. Once I made tweaks to my rig I proceeded to work on Burkett drill. I did this drill for about 15 minutes. Really wanting to get a good handle on grabbing the magazine consistently and get used to the new set up. After i tweaked the locations and angles on the mag pouches I was able to grab the magazines more consistent. I was amazed how little changes made such a difference. I also focused on looking at the mag well on the gun and getting the gun into position faster. I still feel like I have a timing issue. I am getting the magazine to "position" ahead of the gun causing misses. I maybe off on my assessment, I will need to video and do some slow motion evaluations.  

[RAP]

4.10.2018

 

I continued to work on fundamentals of draw, reloads and transitions. I added 5 minutes of strong hand and weak hand practice. Tonight I set up a basic El Prez target array at 10 yards and I worked on draws with hands at side, surrender draw and turning while drawing the gun. I worked on these drills for the first 15 minutes. I was surprised how quickly I was able to draw and fire at the 3 targets. My best speed was 2.12 seconds with .25 splits. I thought my Shottmax timer malfunctioned and tried it again. This time I did it in 2.18 seconds. I was pushing myself but, I was surprised. I was getting these speeds weather I was surrender or hands relaxed at sides. For turn and draw my best time was 2.47 seconds. I just couldn't manage any faster while turning. I cannot wait to try this in live fire to see what I can really do. Getting these speeds on a smooth concrete floor in my basement is one thing. Doing this outside on gravel/dirt will really test me. 

 

Next I moved to transition drills. I started with 90 degree transitions. I wanted to focus on using my lower body. I decided to try a little experiment. I timed my transitions using only my upper body, I averaged .79 seconds. When I would incorporate my lower body I cut .20 seconds off my time. I knew using my lower body in the transitions was the proper technique. Seeing how much difference it made was pretty cool. Last I worked on strong and weak hand shooting. With the larger back strap it was critical to practice these. I did notice with the larger back strap when I would grab the gun on drawing it felt like my hand was forced to grip higher. I think the more pronounced hump forces my hand to grip higher and more consistent. So for I am really liking the changes I have made.  

[RAP]

4.20.2018

I was back in town and able to dry fire practice Friday night. I started off with the simulated dot drill. I then moved to 90 degree transitions working on not pulling off target on the second shot when pushing speed. I then moved to reloads working on keeping the gun higher. Keeping the gun higher seems to help a lot with consistency. I also incorporated a drill where I draw fire 2 shots, reload and fire on different target. Lastly I worked on exit and entry drills.

 

4.21.2018

I managed to get in a quick live fire practice in. I started off shooting a dot drill. Then moved to wide transition drill. I started off with 2 targets 15 feet apart. I started at 10 yards and worked my way back to 20 yards.  Next I worked on long range Bill Drills. I started at 15 yards worked back to 20 yards. Although this was a short practice it was my first live fire in sometime; and it really showed. My accuracy was terrible. I found myself pulling off targets on my 2 shot and not gripping the gun like I should. By the end of practice things started coming around and I was getting more A's consistently. 

[RAP]

5.2.2018

 

Well, it looks like I won't be posting any training reports or matches in the Range Diary for a while. Yesterday evening was an evening of joy in the emergency room for a severe knee injury. While running and doing agility exercises with my son I heard and felt a familiar "pop" in my knee. It was very familiar to the same pop and recoiling movement under the skin I had when I tore my tricep. The emergency room Doctor said I most likely disconnected my tendon from my knee cap. He also went on to say, "Looks like you have a surgery in the near future". He wasn't 100% positive about the disconnected tendon because all the emergency room could do is take an X-ray. But when your knee cap isn't in the normal place, well you know something not right. So tomorrow morning I will see the Orthopedic Surgeon and he will send me out for an MRI so we can see what is really going on. Right now I can't drive because I'm on crutches and besides bending my knee hits a 20 on a pain scale of 1-10 which means I'm home bound and no traveling for work. Ugh.

 

 

[RAP]

5.5.2018

I saw an Orthopedic Surgeon Thursday. It's not good. I have indeed disconnected my tendon from my knee cap. Surgery scheduled for Monday at noon. I am grateful to get into surgery this quickly. Unfortunately this is a long recovery. I will be in a leg brace for 6 weeks and cannot bend my leg during that time to give the tendon time to reattach itself. Then I will start Physical Therapy and who knows how long that will last. So no driving, flying, etc for who knows how long. I have withdrawn from all matches I was signed up for through July. I am hopeful that I will be able to make the Illinois Sectional in August.  

[RAP]

Well, I am sort of back. June 20th the knee immobilizer/leg brace came off. Doc said my tendon is about 50% attached. It takes 12 weeks for the tendon to reattach and sufficient scar tissue to form. I started Physical Therapy on June 26th and have therapy scheduled for the next 14 weeks. I have started bending my knee, it hurts like hell when I do. But, it's all part of it. I have 7 exercises I have to perform daily to regain range of motion, strengthen my quadricep muscle and loosen up the scar tissue. Progress.

 

Now for the good stuff. I ventured into my basement to do a little dry firing. I kept it very simple. Worked on my draws, free style, SHO and WHO. I also did the Burkett drill to practice reloads. I kept it short 15-20 minutes. But it felt really good to get back into it. 

[RAP]

Since my last post, I have gingerly started dry firing. I've only dry fired a few time and they were very short and all I did was stand and worked on draws and Burkett reloads. I learned real quick I could not really get in a proper stance the first 3 weeks after the brace came off. Getting soft in the knees was just not happening. I simply did not have enough range of motion and lacked strength. My live fire practices were the same principal, very simple. But each practice was good for me from a mental stand point. Just being able to do something other than sitting on my butt was huge. As I go through therapy my range of motion and strength is getting better making it easier to stand and get into a proper stance. This weekend really proved to myself I can now do more without hurting and running the risk of doing severe damage. I still cannot do any movement drills such as  entry and exit drills. But I can start dry firing on a consistent basis now. Just do the drills my body will allow me to do. So this weekend my journey is back on again.   

 

7.21.2018

 

I was able to do about 30 minutes of dry fire. I kept it simple with DOT drill, practice draws, transitions and reloads. I set up 3 targets at 10 yards middle target was a zebra. I did not do the ole El Prez. I cannot perform a turn and draw movement yet. I started with simple dot drill with a focus on trigger pull and grip. Next I went to draw and shoot 2 per target. I did this drill with hands at side and surrender position focusing on getting my speed up. I somehow I added about .5-.6 seconds to my draw. I went from 1.10 - 1.20 draw speed to 1.7 - 1.8. I also worked on transitions. Again I was amazed how much speed I lost. My transitions were in the .6-.7 range. As I pushed myself my speed started to come back. It started to feel normal again. Next I set up a little stage similar, not exact, to the classifier 99-42. This was particularly helpful with building confidence in using my lower body (hips and knees) to make a transition from side to side. Practice felt really good. I look forward to live fire practice with my friend Dave on Sunday. 

 

7.22.2018

 

Today was a great day. It felt really good shooting live ammo and being outside doing something I really like doing with a good friend. We started the practice with doing some accuracy shooting. This was especially important for Dave. He has not had the time to properly sight in his Sig he uses for CO. We also shot bill drill at 10 yards. This was very important as both of us needed to work on our grip and this really helped. We set up a classifier to shoot, 09-04 Pucker Factor. Since I am not able to move and shoot yet this allowed us to work on our draws and transitions. For the classifier we practice shooting it near to far and vice versa.

 

Shooting the bill drill I was averaging 2. 3-2.6 with all alphas. I had several draws where my grip was horrible and it showed. I either had terrible hits or my time was very slow in order to correct my poor grip from my poor draw. When we shot the classifier my draw was getting more consistent, but still I had my moments. I could manage a good draw of 1.3 average on the close target for a head shot. I could get 1 A and 1 C pretty consistent. When I would draw on the far open target (17 yards) my draw was slower and hits were not as consistent. This was perplexing to me. I really thought my times would be faster starting on the open far target. I averaged about a 1/2 second slower and poorer hits when I ran far to near. My best HF for far to near was 7.7982. Time 4.36 with 5 A's and 3 C's. My best HF for near to far was 8.808. Time 3.86 and 5 A's and 3 C's. I checked my HF's and they are all B class. And that's what I am; B class. Dave and I are planning to have another live fire practice in August when he comes back to town. We are planning to shoot this classifier again as a gauge to see how we are progressing. 

[RAP]

7.30.2018

 

I dry fired for 30 minutes this evening after I did my rehab exercises. I kept it simple and started with DOT drill. I ran dot drill a total of 12 times. Next I went to my target array I had set up from my last session; 3 targets at 10 yards middle target was a zebra. I wanted to work on my draw, transitions, grip and reloads. I did this drill with hands at side and surrender position. I was able to get my draw speed to a consistent 1.1 - 1.2 range easily. My transitions were in the .35-.40 range. Much improvement for last practice. My reloads were horribly inconsistent. So I need to continue working on this. Also, I struggled getting my weak hand back in proper position after I get the magazine inserted effecting my grip. Next I went to my little stage I set up that is similar but not exact, to the classifier 99-42. This was much easier this time. I was using my lower body (hips and knees) to make a transition from side to side much easier than the last go. I was able to get softer in my knees and in a proper stance easier as well tonight. Going forward I will need to keep it simple and will work the target and "stage" set up I have set up now for a while until I can start introducing some movement back into my practices.