Airic

[Catfish]

when's the SJC getting here?! Sounds like you're ready!

[Airic]

I'm not sure, the original ETA was around the 2nd week of March. I called them last week because I wanted to get a final invoice so I could pay them off....but after talking to steave, I never got anything in my email.

[Airic]

Dryfire #2

Woke up today and decided to do my whole routine at 1/4 speed. I really think I'm probably gonna stick with this training technique, im only going to dryfire full speed when testing par times. Its really allowing me to do things correctly, and really burn in the correct way into muscle memory. Had a nice, smooth and relaxed practice.

I was reading another post here this morning that was talking about index. I really haven't checked my index in a long time....so I decided to test myself. I indexed on a target, looked straight into the upper A zone, closed my eyes and drew to the buzzer. To my amazement, my sights were in the A box every time. I switched targets, moved to a smaller one....still on. I thought that was kinda cool.

Looks like I'm gonna get to shoot Sunday....cant wait.

[Catfish]

I guess that means I need to start designing stages for this weekend then!!

See you Sunday; weather looks to actually be pleasant for a change....

[Airic]

I guess that means I need to start designing stages for this weekend then!!

See you Sunday; weather looks to actually be pleasant for a change....

PM sent.

[Airic]

Dryfire #3, Plate drills

Practice was a little later than usual today. Today is one of my days off so I had a lot to do this morning.

I was very relaxed and smooth today. I actually went about 3/4 speed because I was in the mood for some quicker action. My reloads are really coming around, I'm impressed with them everyday.

I'm really, really ready to shoot sunday....

[Airic]

Dryfire #4, Movement Drills

Short practice today, didnt get to work through all my drills. Worked on being ready to shoot as soon as possible when I enter an area and worked on my footwork. My reloads as I leave a shoot area are a little weakness of mine. I need to work on that a lot more to get consistent.

Its looking like I might not get to shoot sunday.... , I really hate all my scheduling conflicts.

[Airic]

I kinda mixed it up today. I mainly worked on movement and moving reloads. I also worked on some target arrays and some mini stages. Trying to put it all together for tommorow (yes I still have hope that I might get to go shooting tommorow). Felt pretty good about today's dryfire....I feel like I have improved since the match last month.

***Note to self:

The cat must be out of the office when doing movement drills. Dam thing attacked my feet from across the room while I was doing a moving reload. Bout rolled me up in a ball.

[Airic]

USPSA Match

Well, I'm not going to say I had a good match, but I did have a great time. First let me roll out my excuses for the day: I had 2 hours of sleep, I had mag problems on all but 1 stage b/c I threw together some mags last night, I had a jam that I think can be attributed to the mag problems. Phew...there.

Stage 1

I felt really good about this stage. My visual patience was good, even on a really tight last target. I had a smoking smooth reload also. I ended up placing 3rd overall limited on it.

and then the proverbial dookie hit the fan

Stage 2

Lets just say I threw everything I have been working on out the window on this one. I totally misread the difficulty of the hard cover targets in the arrays. They were not difficult targets, but I shot them like they were wide open paper. I was not paying attention, and a couple of shots were in the upper C and head b/c I was not allowing my front sight to return all the way. I had a jam where the brass stuck in the slide horizontally, and it diverted my attention from the position I was trying to get to that would allow me to shoot two arrays without moving. I learned a lot from this stage. One thing I need to start remembering is that I don't have to shoot the stage how the builder intended. I need to shoot it in my own style.

Stage 3

This was a burner. 8 wide open targets in different ports. This was a high hit factor stage. I shot this one very well, very fast, I was very fluid in my movement and I never felt like I stopped moving through the whole stage. On the very last target, my mag dumped on me, costing me about 6 seconds to fix. I was on a pace to shoot this in 6.5 to 7.5 seconds, ended up shooting it in 12.09

Stage 4

On this stage, I was to the point where I was ready for the mag problem. I couldnt fix it there at the range, so I prepared for it. Luckily, the mag problem on this stage happened at a point where I needed to change mags anyway, just a little earlier than I wanted. I did a nice smooth reload and i think it only cost me about 1 to 1.5 secs of stage time. I shot well, smooth and fast, giving me a 5th limited finish on the stage.

Stage 5

El Presidente classifier. I just wanted a solid score. I havent shot this in live fire in a couple years, but it is a big part of my dryfire practice. The turn and draw I have been working on came out perfect and I really snapped my head to that first target. I ended up with 7.4 sec and 52 points. Works out to a 7.02HF that I think is around 65% nationally. Not gonna help me any, my lowest classifier score is 69%. It was a solid stage for the match though, giving me 4th overall limited.

*********************

I ended up shooting 525/580 available match points. So my usual goal of shooting 90% of the match points was met. Thats a high point for me considering I was trying to shoot a lot faster yesterday than the last couple matches. If I wouldn't have had the equipment problems I think it would have been a solid match, I just dont think I'm shooting at an A limited skill level right now though.

[Airic]

Dryfire #1

Worked through the drills at about half speed today. My shoulders were still a little tight from the long weekend. Couple things I noticed today:

1. My drills are getting effortless

I dont know if this is a product of my improvement or if I'm memorizing the drills. I just feel really smooth on these drills after all the work I've done on them. Just to be sure though, I'm gonna change the targets up a little....height and spacing.

2. My front sight is returning to the target after a reload a lot quicker

I'm more consistently getting the same grip after a reload and that front sight is just driving into the target after the reload.

*********

Good practice today on practical shooting fundamentals. Now time for breakfast.

[Airic]

Dryfire #2

Well I got busy and had to wait a little bit to talk about my dryfire today. I went about half speed today, just trying to get that muscle memory burned in. Worked on some strong hand/weak hand drills, I'm getting a lot more comfertable with my strong/weak hand sight picture.

Now to the good part...my reloads were smoking today. I was just feeling it on the reloads. I started pushing myself to see how far I could take it, and I never missed one. I started doing some drills to see what the time difference was....I was cutting a lot of time of my current par times for drills.

Efficiency in movement. The real key to becoming faster...

[Airic]

Dryfire #3

I always look forward to #3, the plate drills really challenge me on the smaller targets. Started out working half speed today.....but I turned on the EDGE and the music had me going good, so I started doing some full speed drills. Mentally I felt really in tune today, I had my 5 month old baby Tegan sitting in a chair to the side, watching me do my drills. She was so interested in what I was doing, It really motivated me. I hope some day she wants to shoot.

I cant say enough about my improvement. I am really feeling it everyday. My eyes are snapping very fast and the front sight is following them really well. My reloads impress me everyday. I failed to mention before, but I have a couple new training tools I have been using. I took a small red dot and stuck it to the bottom of the mag well of my gun. Its really helping me focus on the mag well, and "look" those reloads in. Also...I broke out the video camera today to tape some of my training drills. I watched them afterwards and it was really cool to be able to critique my form. I think this is going to be an everyday thing now.

**********

Now for some bad news....I'm pretty sure I'm going to miss the Double Tap this year. I'm probably not going to be ready with the new SJC anyway. But I also have scheduling issues with it also. I think my big match debut with the open gun is probably going to be the OK open/production state match on April 7th.

[Catfish]

Well crap! Hope you can work it out and join us for some fun!

[Airic]

I know! It really burns me down to my soul. It was so fun last year.

[Catfish]

Use the pent up pissy-ness to carry you through to the OK match.

[Airic]

#4, Movement Drills

Movement day seems to always show me something I need to work on. My sight pictures while on the move today were rock solid. I really tried to work on keeping my upper body stable while moving. I am a tank, and my upper body is the turrent.

My moving reloads still need a little work. I am missing a reload here and there because of the changing positions of all my equipment while I'm moving. I started hitting when I really focused my vision on that mag change. Something I need to remember: Every movement, no matter how fast, needs to be completed before moving onto another movement. At the very point in time that I need to do my mag change, that is the most important thing "Right Now".

My vision was snapping well again today, I was really looking into the target as I moved into a position.

Something else I noticed, my left to right movement is a little more choppy than my right to left. I take a couple more steps during the same distance of movement, like I have to set myself up more. Also, that is where most of my blown reloads were coming from. Gonna have to work on it.

***************************************

My boss....err I mean my wife gave me the "go" for the OK Open. I'm gonna put in the time request today at work. All that is left is preparation.

[Airic]

Live Fire

Got a call last night from a buddy of mine, he bought a Springfield XD and wanted to go to the range to try it out. We headed down to winchester gun range this morning for a quick live fire session.

**I know, I said I was under no shoot orders for today b/c of my anniversary......but I got approved for about an hour of range time.

I took this opportunity to work on some accuracy and grip fundamentals. My dryfire is a great training tool, but it just doesn't replace live fire. You get immidiate feedback on what you just saw during the shot, and I always learn something when I live fire.

I took a couple warm up shots at 5 yards to confirm my zero, then moved it out to 25 for some group shooting. I learned about group shooting from Benos book. It has been a great tool for me. I have learned more about making an accurate shot by sitting down and putting the gun on a rest than anything else I have tried.

For my group shooting, I stick a 3 in ShootNSee dot on the target as my refrence point. I was amazed to see how much my accuracy has improved since I tested it last. I was shooting 2 in groups, and all three shots were in the dot. As I worked more, I could consistantly keep at least 2 of the shots in the dot for every string, with the third not far off.

I learned today that I have not been dryfiring with a nuetral grip. The grip I have now is allowing way too much pressure from the weak hand and it is making me drop shots off to the bottom right. I shifted my grip back to a more neutral position with both heels of my hand butted up against each other and no real pressure forward of that. I saw an immediate improvement in my groupings. So, I guess I have something new to work on in dryfire. I also worked a little strong/weak hand. I was happy to see my strong/weak hand sight pictures were very steady and my accuracy was very good.

I only shot 100 rounds today. Not anywhere near the 700+ Pharoh Bender is popping off when he goes to the range, but I learned a lot from those 100 rounds. I paid attention to every shot, and when you do that...you see something on every shot.

[Airic]

Dryfire #1

I was a little choppy this morning. Wasnt really hitting on all cylinders. I just slowed things down and worked my way through it, tried to emphasize relaxation.

[Airic]

Dryfire #2

Felt a lot better this morning. I wasnt choppy like yesterday. Tried to work on my vision snapping from target to target and cutting out wasted movement in my draw and reload.

Overall good practice

[Airic]

Dryfire #1

Its been a busy week and a half, I have practiced a little....but havent always been able to write about it here. (Thanks National Guard! )

Got a couple small dryfire sessions in last week, mostly worked on vision and reloads on small close targets.

Its getting close to the ETA for my open gun to be done. I had that in mind this morning when I started my dryfire practice. I really worked on my presentation this morning. Smooth, stable draws to keep that dot in the middle of the target. I really felt like I was floating the gun today.

My target acquisition is improving a lot. I can truly say that I have gotten faster from target to target. The gun is feeling a lot more stable and I have wiped out all overswing. Reloads are still coming along nicely, they feel a lot more smooth now when I'm pushing it than before.

Overall, happy with my performance in dryfire today.

[Catfish]

Good, was getting worried about ya!

Hope to see you at the range soon.

[Airic]

Movement Drills

I decided to work movement today, with all the interruptions to my dryfire schedule the last two weeks....I had skipped my movement work all together. I finally got a full dryfire practice in today (of course not w/o more interruptions....). Felt good to move around with the gun in my hand.

Couple things I noticed about movement today:

1. That split second of slow mo

There is a split second, when moving out of a box and shooting the last target where it feels like the sights just stop on the A zone. Everything is moving in unison, but it looks like nothing is moving at all. I like that feeling.

2. Crossover to the front or back?

When moving side to side, as if you are moving from one box to another, how do you step out of the box. I have found that stepping with my outside foot (foot that is away from the direction i'm moving) is working best for me. I also noticed that I am more smooth in my movement is I step that outside foot behind me, instead of crossing over in front of my body. I feels like I am backing away from the target array, but I am really only moving back a couple inches.

3. Patience is a must for smooth movement with accurate shooting

You have to be patient and see the sights in the A zone when your body is in motion. Its not hard to throw shots when everything is moving at once.

Lets hope this next week is uneventful, so I cant get a regular schedule going again.

[Airic]

Smooth, relaxed, long practice today. I finally got a peaceful hour to focus on dryfire. I was able to squeeze some dryfire in last night before I went to bed, not a full session, but I got to work some arrays.

In todays session I worked on fundamentals.....draw, reloads and transitions. I am happy to say that even with the lack of normal practice in the last couple weeks, I still have a very smooth quick feeling to my draws and reloads. Actually, I think my reloads have benefited most from my lack of time to practice, because whenever I got a minute to pick up the gun and do a quick set....I did reloads. I have worked my standing reloads down to the minimum amount of necessary movement, it almost feels like all I am doing is moving my eyes.

On another note....waiting on my open gun to get finished has me tied in more knots than when I was waiting for my baby to be born. Sick isn't it?

[Catfish]

Dang, I thought the open blaster would be done by now??

I know I know, waiting for a new gun seems like it lasts an eternity!!!

Keep working, though - it'll all pay off, amigo!

[Airic]

Dang, I thought the open blaster would be done by now??

I know I know, waiting for a new gun seems like it lasts an eternity!!!

Keep working, though - it'll all pay off, amigo!

I really do think my work is going to pay off when it gets here. My reloads are really coming along well, and when that sjc gets here with that huge magwell....I cant wait to see what happens.

Todays practice was very smooth and deliberate. I felt I had a very good solid feel of the gun today. Reloads started out sloppy but at the end of my drills they were smoking. (maybe I need to consider warmups for a match?)

Strong/Weak hand work today was solid. I feel I can shoot above average with both hands unsupported. My transitions with my weak hand are coming along, Im starting to snap right to the A zone w/ my weak hand strings.

I'm starting to notice some lack of motivation. With no feedback coming lately b/c I havent been shooting any matches....I feel myself losing my drive. I think i'm just getting anxious about the new gun coming in, almost like I just want to wait till it gets here.

Must not lose motivation!