Sfinney

[sfinney]

I've been thinking of getting serious about my shooting <again>, and all of these range diaries have shamed me into action. Especially Catfish, man that guy is a monster!

I started IPSC around 94 or so, went straight to B class, and spent the next 4 years there. I've always been something of an equipment freak, buying/selling, never settling on one platform...... that’s one thing that held me back, I'm sure. The other is not having a clue as to what calling a shot was all about, or match management, types of focus, etc.

A new job entered the picture, and I dropped out of shooting from 99 til roughly 2002.

2002 I came back refreshed, and motivated. Practiced, trained, and really worked at dry fire drills. Read Brian's book. I finally invested in a reliable gun, (and stuck with it a couple years!), and started placing in class at major matches, and moved quickly to A. About that time I re-read Brian's book...... flash, a big light bulb went off! Between reading Brian's book more than a few times, decent videos like Matt Burkett's, and taking a great class from Steve Broom, I finally got some discipline, focus, and made M in Limited, and shortly later Lim-10 as well.

Then the wheels fell off the bus about mid 2005. I had achieved my goal of making M..... was shooting great classifiers and occasionally great stages... but not consistently. I have been struggling with inconsistency and not being competitive in my class for the last couple years, and to make it more frustrating, the guys I used to whip up on, have actually started practicing, heaven forbid, and are regularly beating me like a drum over an entire match. I am indeed a "paper master".

Time to get back to basics.

Time to get back in shape.

Time to dry fire til it hurts.

Time to focus on calling shots and aiming at A zones, not blasting at brown.

Time to forget the competition, and shoot to my best ability; every shot, every match.

Thanks BE for giving us this forum, and a space to record our journeys. And thanks for reminding me about what this forum is about - learning, improving, and sharing.

Shaun

Edited March 2, 2007 by sfinney

[Catfish]

OUTSTANDING!

See you at the range soon, Shaun.

[sfinney]

Ok, here goes.

6:00 PM - Over dinner I decided I'd do some dry firing tonight, nothing fancy - draws, mag changes, concentrating on getting a smooth extension of the gun and sight alignment.

6:45 PM - Got my gun out of the safe this evening. Hadn't touched it since December. Where's my holster? Hmm.... I think I saw it in the garage when I was sawing some wood last week.

7:00 PM - Found my holster gear in the garage under a 1/2 inch of sawdust . Spent time cleaning that up. Then I had to get the saw dust out of my range bag, and clean my mags. Don't even want to look at the Dillon.

8:30 PM - Finally ready to start dry firing. Oops, time to put the kid down for the night, and he's in rare form.

9:00 PM - Now I'm ready.... or so I think. "Honey, do this do that, PLEASE?"

10:00 PM - get on BE.com to check out all the cool Range Diaries, and I have a sudden desire to put all this in writing, spending valuable dry fire time on the computer <again>.

10:32 PM - I'm going to go dry fire now. No, really. Well, if not tonight maybe tomorrow in the morning. Or when I go to the range..... well maybe I'll go Saturday. Well, no I have to set up stages for the DTC then. Well, I'll just go early, and practice. Hmmmm. Naw, not gettting up that early. I'll go back to the range Sunday and practice then. If my wife lets me. Yeah, thats it.

10:40 PM - And so it continues. But I'm getting serious tomorrow, I mean it.

This is going to be tougher than I thought.

Edited March 2, 2007 by sfinney

[sfinney]

Dry fired in front of a mirror, just see what's going on. 30 minutes, about 25 hands at sides draws, 25 surrender, and many mag changes.

Noticed I was getting tired and sloppy, way to early. Will work on improving condition.

Draws - not getting a good grip the first few draws. Concentrated on going 3/4 speed to build in habit pattern allow myself to act correctly. Mechanics improved. also need to work on getting a smooth extension to get on the front sight sooner, to much bobbing around.

Mag changes.... much work needed to get back to smooth. Tried to rush through some speed reloads, either hero or zero. Went back to 3/4 speed and then stepped up to full speed as things got steadier. Have I always lowered the gun so much, to so near my chest? Don't remember that..... will work on keeping gun more extended and closer to the mounted position as I bring the mag up to the well.

The '07 season is officially underway. Feels good.

Smooth is fast.

Edited March 2, 2007 by sfinney

[Chris Keen]

Remember that dry-firing is alot like excercising. Dont put it off until tommorow. Do it now. You dont need to do 30 - 60 minutes to be effective. 5 - 10 minutes 3 X's a week will be enough to get started, but you need to set a schedule and STICK to it. No matter what. And yes your arms will get tired at first, cause your not "in shape" yet. You need to build up your arm strength.

Stick with it Shaun.

[Micah]

Remember that dry-firing is alot like excercising. Dont put it off until tommorow. Do it now. You dont need to do 30 - 60 minutes to be effective. 5 - 10 minutes 3 X's a week will be enough to get started, but you need to set a schedule and STICK to it. No matter what. And yes your arms will get tired at first, cause your not "in shape" yet. You need to build up your arm strength.

Stick with it Shaun.

+1. Every day I KNOW that there are two things that I must do in addition to showing up for work...

1)Dryfire

2)Exercise

Welcome to the diary making process. I have learned much about my habits and goals through the use of mine, and no doubt you will be motivated to succeed though yours. Have a great 07 season Shaun!

[sfinney]

Thanks guys.

Started reading Brian's book again last night......

"Locate the target. Get the gun on the target. Keep the gun on the target while you fire the shot."

I forgot how easy this game is.

I'm going to the range this afternoon to do some accuracy drills. Practice "seeing what I need to see" to shoot all A's. Baby steps.

[Catfish]

Great!

Just remember Lanny's quote "the Russians are practicing, what are you doing?"

Keep it up!

[sfinney]

Great!

Just remember Lanny's quote "the Russians are practicing, what are you doing?"

Keep it up!

Funny, I never thought of you as a Russian...... haha.

[Catfish]

Great!

Just remember Lanny's quote "the Russians are practicing, what are you doing?"

Keep it up!

Funny, I never thought of you as a Russian...... haha.

I'm just a little ole A class shooter!

[sfinney]

I'm just a little ole A class shooter!

I think your days of being able to say that are very numbered indeed.

[sfinney]

Range time today! First shots fired, of any kind, since December.

Shot "Triple Six" 4 times to get my shot calling skills going, and reinforce shooting at the A zone. Started slow, all A's for feel, and stepped it up a little. Dropped a couple points on the far target last string trying to rush, but overall felt decent. VISUAL PATIENCE. Gotta work on that.

Shot some steel for a few minutes to work on eye movement, transitions. Slow, but didn't miss (much).

Finished the day by shooting a few TX Stars, just because it looked fun, and I do need the practice on those. Chased a piece of steel on the first run. 2nd run clean, but slow. 3rd run much faster, w/ one make up shot. Its cool when you shoot it right, and the star doesn't even ever spin

Smooth is fast.

[sfinney]

Been busy.

Practice time all dry fire, about 3 times per week for 15-20 minutes.

1 range visit in the last 2 weeks.

Shot the r.o. match for DTC..... stil have 4 stages to shoot before the real match.

No spoilers here.

First stage, felt ok, was having a decent run, but had trouble with visual patience on the steel at end of field course, left one standing instead of a flat footed reload. Add that to the 2 or 3 seconds I used up chasing said steel, and very mediocre run. Add in 1 mike on a target that I did not call, now its a bad run. Good start to the day.

2nd stage, better, no mikes, to many points down though. lots of Cs, couple D's.

3rd stage, good time down 7.

4th stage, great time, down 8.

5th stage - double rotating Texas Stars, 4 paper targets. Did decent on steel, got in a hurry on the close paper and dropped 2 points. Need those easy A's!!

6th, and 7th stages, on a roll. Getting more in a good zone.

8th stage - good run spoiled by a trigger freeze that left me throwing a hoper on target as I left the port, rather than stopping to re-engage. Bad call, 1 mike. Almost dark, called it a day.

In general, I need to work on calling my shots, seeing better, and being more patient on steel with my transitions. Considering how cold and out of practice I was/am, not a terribly bad match so far (minus stage 1).

Smooth is fast.

Steel trembles in my presence.

My sights seek the center of A zones.