Micah's Range Diary

[Catfish]

During dryfire I still struggle to make smooth reloads. This problem does not translate into matches, as my reloads there are smooth and precise...hmmmm

Maybe a stupid question:

Are you using snap caps or something in your mags when you dry fire?

If you're not, it's easier to catch the feed lips on the mag well....

[Bryan W]

4/23/07

I've been to the range several times in the past week to work on my splits. .15 is on the low end and .18 is the mean.

You won't ever lose a match with those splits - I'd say you're good to go.

[Chris Keen]

Now if he could do that on demand when necessary ........

It'll come, but don't stop there ............. you have to constantly work to maintain that edge.

[Micah]

Maybe a stupid question:

Are you using snap caps or something in your mags when you dry fire?

If you're not, it's easier to catch the feed lips on the mag well....

Good question. I do use dummy rounds to spare my new lower and to better simulate a loaded magazine.

Now if he could do that on demand when necessary ........

It'll come, but don't stop there ............. you have to constantly work to maintain that edge.

Exactly. A .7 draw and .8 reload is stellar, but is meaningless if not repeatable in a match, on demand. As with everything, the skill will come over repetition and refinement.

Wish me luck tomorrow...I have my interview at 10am

[Chris Keen]

LUCK!

[Catfish]

luck!

[steel1212]

You where at KAPS? Shoulda said something I was there for both runs....who did you squad up with? Yeah, I had 2 decent and one good one out of 10...Oh well shows me what I need to practice on right!

Ok I just noticed you, Keen, and Bill came down and didn't even let anybody know!!! LOL.

Edited April 24, 2007 by steel1212

[Jake Di Vita]

Your reloads in the match are good because you don't think about performing them.

[Chris Keen]

We didn't know you would be there. Shoulda' told us to look for you.

[Micah]

You where at KAPS? Shoulda said something I was there for both runs....who did you squad up with? Yeah, I had 2 decent and one good one out of 10...Oh well shows me what I need to practice on right!

Ok I just noticed you, Keen, and Bill came down and didn't even let anybody know!!! LOL.

Sorry I missed ya brother. It was quite nostalgic being back in Kentucky.

Your reloads in the match are good because you don't think about performing them.

That's what I've come up with too Jake. Trust me, I'm grateful that it's not the other way around! I'm getting ready to dryfire now, and I'll do my best to empty my mind while doing reload drills (not like there's much in there to begin with )

[steel1212]

BGSL 1st sundays

Silver creek 2nd sundays

Hidden hills 3rd sundays

Kaps 4th sundays

I hit them all....let me know when you guys come back down into the Bluegrass state!

BGSL is my home range and Barry West puts on a good match with a little rifle/shotgun action as well if your into that.

Your reloads in the match are good because you don't think about performing them.

Not that my reloads are smokin but the same thing happens to me as well. You concentrate so hard on making that perfect reload during practice come match time you don't have time to think about it but that skill is just there and you go on auto pilot and just do what needs to be done!

[Micah]

4/24/07

-one hour on the elliptical

-full dryfire session

Today's dryfire really was a breakthrough for me. While doing my reload drills (done after draw drills and before 6 reload 6 type drills) I simply focused on the smoothness of breaking the shot, hitting the mag release, reaching for the new mag, looking into the magwell, and SLOWLY placing the fresh mag in the gun. Looking at my reloads from a different perspective showed me that I am, in fact, reloading quickly and accurately. I was simply using an incorrect scale of comparison.

I continue to practice moving into and out of shooting positions with new movement drills, and am improving on my acceptable sight picture.

And my interview today in Cincinnati was excellent...easily my best interview to date. Those of you that know me know that I can be rather...dynamic I'll find out if I need to start growing a beard and drinking Steel Reserve OR buy several new suits by next Monday.

[Clyde]

steel1212

They were in the squad behind us - Pharaoh was the one with the perfect haircut in the trade mark Pharoah Bender Blue Shoes.

Rock on PB

[steel1212]

steel1212

They were in the squad behind us - Pharaoh was the one with the perfect haircut in the trade mark Pharoah Bender Blue Shoes.

Rock on PB

Perfect haircut don't you have to have hair to cut it?

[Jake Di Vita]

Nice choice with the Steel Reserve.

[Micah]

4/26/07

-Full workout

-Full dryfire

Today's word is PATIENCE. Evolution of technique takes time, even when you are taught the correct technique.

I have been patient with my reloads when I practice, simply watching them as they are preformed. Bringing the new mag up to the magwell, I notice the feed lips, the dummy round, and the exact point inside my Glock that I will be placing the mag. What I am left with now is a reload that gives me .2 seconds to do something else! The groovy part of it all is that my reloads are GUARANTEED. I'm not doing some funky-monkey speed load that carries a high risk factor.

Now, all I need to do is apply the patience principle to how I feel about finding a new job

steel1212

They were in the squad behind us - Pharaoh was the one with the perfect haircut in the trade mark Pharoah Bender Blue Shoes.

Rock on PB

Bald guy, blue gear...nothing weird about that....right?

.....RIGHT?

Nice choice with the Steel Reserve.

Jake, if I don't get a call back by Monday, we'll find out just how much beer is in that reserve.

[Micah]

5/3/07

-full dryfire session

-one hour on the elliptical

-livefire

It has been a little while since my last update...life's been rather discombobulated with trying to find a job(nothing yet ) class, and staying focused on the shooting.

Last weekend I went to Rayners for a cancer benefit match, and was exceptionally pleased! I shot it twice, and while my wingmen shot the shotgun side match, I practiced some more on distance steel.

I had a great time with my shooting friends, and feel that it better prepared me for the following weekend.

Dryfire was smooth today, and after this weekend I will be integrating new drills from Steve Andersons new book. I have read what I could in the past several days, but this weekends trip will provide me with more than enough time to make additions to my dryfire routine.

Later on this evening I spent several hours at the range working on several things:

-Baseball standards

-Bill drills at 10, 20, 30, and 40 feet

-4 inch plates at 70 feet

Now I'm at home packing my bags and giving my gun a final cleaning before Area 6. I have been looking forward to this match since last year, and look forward to shooting well and having a blast with my Enosverse friends.

[Micah]

5/4/07

I'm getting ready for bed here in Atlanta. Having the opportunity to spend some time on the range today checking out the A6 stages, I gotta tell ya that I am very happy with my stage breakdowns. I will be shooting Saturday morning and Sunday morning.

Off to bed, but since this hotel has internet access, I'll post more tomorrow

[dcarter]

Good Luck! Get all "A"'s!

[IronEqualizer]

I would say good luck Micah, but you do not need luck....this is where preparation meets opportunity.....give em hell buddy. 2 Alpha a couple for me.

[Micah]

5/5/07

-Jogged for one hour

-Day one of Area 6!

What a great day for shooting. The weather being overcast and cool, my delicate Spanish scalp was saved from burning once again. Squad 12 shot 6 challenging stages today, and I am shooting better than I ever have in my life.

Perceptually it's a bizzarre thing, as there were two stages that I didn't feel groovy about, but had the CRO come up to me and tell me that my run was top notch for Production.

On the topic of feeling groovy, I am still amazed by the amount of people that are negative about their shooting. If you beat yourself up stage after stage, or tell the RO on the "Are you ready" command "Well, I guess." you simply are not going to do well.

It bares repeating again, today was an amazing day of shooting. Tomorrow morning is round two, and I will preform even better! It's been a blast seeing my Enos friends (Nemo, Glockspeed, Bassman, Racerba, IMA45D8 *sp*), and many, many more. It has been a pleasure chatting with you.

I begin my voyage over the hill starting at midnight...although I do not plan on drinking to celebrate my birthday, please feel free to clang a shot of the brown stuff for me

[IronEqualizer]

Let me be the first to wish you Happy BD Micah. Glad to hear things are going so well. Keep the positive thoughts and attitude. It's gonna be something special when you win on your birthday.

Edited May 5, 2007 by IronEqualizer

[Micah]

I've spent today reflecting and healing up from Area 6. I had an excellent time with my friends, and came away with several things that I can improve upon for my next major match next month. I did well on almost all of the stages, and at the IN Sectional, I will do well on all stages.

Here's a stage that I did well on:

I take away a better understanding of what I need to improve upon to better fortify my game. Tomorrow morning I return to my exercise and harder-core dryfiring program

[Micah]

5/9/07

-one hour of cardio

-full dryfire session

I would have had two training sessions today, but instead found myself at a job fair. Lucky for me there were more fast food restaurants represented at the fair than any other organization. I became pen pals with Grimace, had my cellphone temporarily stolen by the Hamburgler, and had the opportunity to arm wrestle Mayor McCheese.

I really hate being unemployed

Tonight was the last night that I used my old set of dryfire drills. Since October, I have completely filled each drills log sheets.

Tomorrow, I will begin my new dryfire practice schedule which will include 9 new drills from Steve's newest book.

[Micah]

5/12/07

-one hour of cardio

-full dryfire session

Being able to run a stage in your mind exactly how you plan on running it is exceptionally powerful. You are making the entire stage subconscious, so there is no thought involved-just shooting. Let me give two examples of how I learned lessons with mental rehersal at Area 6 last week

Example 1: Hotel California

The plan was to tag the paper on the right, then the paper and popper on the left, preform a reload, and put two on the two paper on the right side of the hallway. When programming a stage, I count the alphas. "A-a,a-a,a(ding) reload...a-a,a...) For whatever weird reason, I was programming the rightmost target inside the hallway as needing one shot. Shaking my head, I ran it again in my head...and again, I called one A on it.

Chalking it up to jitters, I let it go. When I shot the stage, Chris and Bill came up to me and said "You know you only took three shots at those two targets..." Sure enough, my subconsius had overridden the law of "Two on paper" and I ended up with exactly what I had coded. One alpha.

Example 2: Life in the Fast Lane

The plan was to hit the left popper, shoot the star, hit the right popper, then left paper and right paper. An eleven round stage, I had the notion that if I clean the star without missing a shot, I won't need to reload. If I do miss a plate, I would reload after finishing the star and finish the stage.

*Beep* Ping (left popper) pingx5(star) ping (right popper) at this point I am feeling pretty fired up cleaning the star in 5 shots!! pop-pop(left paper) pop-click(right paper)

It didn't hit me until after the time was called out. A rather silly mistake that anyone should have caught-It was an unloaded gun start, so I never had 11 rounds. If you think about it, I am quite fortunate that my gun went *click* and not *bang*. Glock 34's don't make great open guns

Dryfire tonight was excellent. Using drills from SA's two books, my routine looks like this:

On these targets, drills 2,7,8,9,10,11,12,15,16,17,19,20 from the first book.

From the new book, drills 2,3,4 (targets were too far apart for a pic)

11

12

15 and 16

9 and 10

I always appreciate the fact that no matter what the match is or the course of fire, I always walk away learning something valuable. I definitely walked away from Area 6 a much better shooter than when I first showed up.