David's Journey

[WestPat]

Hello,

I have loved to shoot my entire adult life.  I have always been blessed with land and have had some manner of a "range" at home or at the parents or in-laws.  It's been an escape for me and a way for the family to gather and have fun.  I have always worked to improve my accuracy, but I have never trained in an organized manner, or with a goal in mind.  Now I am 47 and the kids are grown, and the funds are more plentiful, and I can still run and zig-zag with minimal consequences.  I have decided to get off the sideline and go test my skills, meet new people, and train so that one day I will be ready to dominate the Senior Division!  My first match was shot on 2/25/2023, it was Steel Challenge, and I met my personal goal of shooting at least one run of each stage under 5 seconds, and not getting DQ'd on a Procedural.  I am an ICU nurse, and I am proud to say that nerves did not play a factor at all.  Not I am looking forward to my first USPSA match soon, and I am a little nervous about that.  I chose to start in Limited, because my eyes are still good and I have a Millennium Custom that I bought from a friend who had much luck in that Class.  

I welcome any and all advice, encouragement, and constructive criticism.  I understand that my physical abilities do have an expiration date, so I want to make sure that I am effective and purposeful going forward.  I think my areas of greatest need are efficiency of movement, mindset, and stage planning.  I am comfortable in my technical skills and what I can and cannot do.  I hope that this will be a journey of personal fulfillment and full of new friends and experiences.  Please share it with me.

David West

IG @mrddubbs

[WestPat]

I shot an SOF match this past weekend.  I completed the match and was able to perform all physical tasks that were required of me.  I had some hiccups in the first few stages, and I just stopped and cried in between stage three and four.  I do not believe it was about the shooting, it was about the inadequacy that I felt in life, and in caring for my family.  Also the stress of Covid and losing members of the family that I had never grieved for.  I just got it all out and moved on to the next stage.  I finished the match with a new peace and I was thankful that I was getting a chance to get out and participate in such a fun and challenging sport.  My most proud moment was engaging steel at 250yds on the first shot while basically standing on my head.

It was the RPGI SOF match

I shot:

MPA DS9 Hybrid 9mm

Millenium Custom Limited 9mm

Daniel Defense/Razor LPVO

 

Ammo:

Winchester White Box 124gr

Hornady Frontier 5.56 55gr

 

 

[WestPat]

Find myself in the same place that I have been in so many times.  I find something that I love to do, I get a good start, then family and work take up every single waking hour that I have.  I have to be okay with going off and doing something for myself, even if they are not.  I need to recover and rejuvenate myself so that I can help them to be their best also.  

From a shooting standpoint, I have not been dry firing per se, but I am working on my grip.  It is one thing to go out and shoot one or two magazines on in the back of the property at the end of the work day, but it is another to create a sustainable performance over a long course of fire.  I was focusing on my draw, and I realized even with that, I was holding the pistol in an uncontrollable manner the faster that I went.  I need to find a grip that is stable and repeatable, and will diminish recoil.