Micah's Range Diary

[Catfish]

great job Micah!!

[Micah]

5/15/07

-One our of cardio

-Full dryfire session

Today seems to be all about smiles and cries. I received two phone calls this morning. The first was from the mental health agency that I had given two interviews to. They were calling to inform me that I had not obtained the job. Alas the search continues...several good friends of mine had suggested dumming down my resume in an effort to get a filler job for the time being. This is the next logical step, as I am to the point of dipping into my retirement to pay the bills.

THe other call was from the GSSF range-My G34 was in! I promptly picked it up and took a few pics.

This past Sunday I shot a match at the Miamisburg club, and was delighted to see that Shootergurl, Flexmoney, Steve Anderson and Flyin40 come out to play, as well as my wingman Keen, Bobert, Sunuva, Madkaw....the list goes on and on. I did not have a good match, and I relearned the principle of shooting your own game. I was playing Micah VS. The M/GM squad, when I really should have been playing Micah VS. The COF.

I am grateful to learn lessons in shooting through matches that I win, and matches that I don't win. Here's an amusing clip from the match.

In my life I have nothing more to gain than improvement in all facets; from employment to shooting.

[IronEqualizer]

Damn fastest turner I ever did see.

[Steve Anderson]

Hey Micah,

You should know that you're inspiring me to be a better shooter.

SA

[Micah]

5/16/07

-One hour of cardio

-Full dryfire session

Before dryfiring now, I am starting to hear Flex and Steve in my head saying in their best Christopher Walken voice: "Guess what? I gotta fever! And the only prescription is more weak hand!" The new drills are working out nicely for me, and I am exited to be adding more skill sets to my daily routine

Hey Micah,

You should know that you're inspiring me to be a better shooter.

SA

This completely impacted my day in the most positive way possible Steve. Thank you for all of the guidance and support that you continue to provide to myself and countless others

Oh, and I gotta add a pic of my new license plate

[Micah]

5/23/07

-one hour of cardio

-full dryfire session

Since returning from Area 6, only one day has passed that I did not dryfire and work out. I am still absorbing what I learned from Area 6.

Sometimes I forget visual patience...it simply is something that I need to continue to burn into my subconscious like my draw or a reload. The timer never lies to me: it takes less time for me to focus on snapping my attention from A to A, popper to popper, than to try and burn through a drill.

It's never me V. the other Prod shooters, rather me V. the COF. I will grasp this concept soon.

On another note, I had a $10 gift card to Dicks Sporting Goods, and tonight found what my shooting attire was missing!

Cause it's the Hat!

Of Destiny child,

you know we will be rockin' cause it's f*#king insane!

[Micah]

5/26/07

-one hour of cardio

-full dryfire session

Tonight Keen let me borrow his Ice magwell for my backup G34 (my main 34 is being refinished by my sponsor ) I have a club match tomorrow and I will be shooting Limited minor. There is much for me to learn about visual patience. In the past, at the non-sanctioned club match level, whenever I load up my Arrendondo mags and shoot, I take for granted the fact that I still need to be accurate, as opposed to hosing away with my 24 round mags.

Tomorrow will be a special learning experience. Breaking away from the 10 round limit and non-magwell'd gun, I hope to appreciate the fact that just because I have more rounds and an easier reload, that I should still be going for all A's and looking into my gun on the reloads.

Visual patience is king, as well as making the COF my only foe, and not other shooters or cadences that I hear on my squad.

The Indiana Sectional is two weeks and change away, and I still have many lessons to learn...I find that no matter who I talk to about my shooting, I cannot seem to reiterate enough the fact that there is ALWAYS something to be gleaned by picking up your gun either through practice or in a match.

The day that there isn't a lesson to be learned is the day that it's time for me to hang up my gear.

[dcarter]

"Team Hendrick" is born!

Edited May 27, 2007 by dcarter

[Micah]

5/27/07

-MATCH!

Todays match started off with an additional challenge: I was without my shooting rig! Apparently in a half-asleep stupor, I neglected to bring my rig with me. I realized this fact 90 minutes later once at the match. Ray, a great guy and MD, allowed me to borrow his Fobus holster and mag pouch. No problem, I like additional challenges.

The second stage I forgot the entire reason why I was playing around in Limited Minor (to experience the shooting from a new perspective!!) and hosed instead of aimed. This was my least best stage of the day, but served as a turning point for me. I understood what I was missing, and applied that to the remainder of the match (and every other match to come)

Now that I was aiming, this stage rocked for me! The left and right poppers activate the left and right drop turners. This timed out perfectly:

Even though this was a hammer-time stage, I was aiming the entire time and only had 2 C's:

Here's the last stage...there's no need to adjust your computer screens: Keen is just being funny~

It was a great match, and I enjoyed shooting in a different division with a $10 rig Only two more club matches until the IN Sectionals!

[JThompson]

Thanks for the vids Micah. Tell that guy on the camera there are no drugs allowed on the range.

[Sunuva]

Hahaha I love the under water stage

[Chris Keen]

Stage 2: START POSITION - Standing on head, strong hand on door ...... :)

[Micah]

5/29/07

-one hour of cardio

-full dryfire session

Something cool happened last night at the Monday M-burg match. The COF was three 24 round strings:

Shooting my Glock with a magwell and 23 round mags, I am experiencing the shooting in a different and groovy way. In the middle of the first string, I noticed my front sight moving in a way that was inconsistent with recoil. When I finished, I realized that it was actually unscrewing itself from my slide! Instead of fixing it, I shot on. During the second string, my front sight was spinning around like Reagan from The Exorcist, but I still knew where I needed to aim, and found that I had all of my hits...and great ones too!

Shooting on, my front sight popped off towards the end of the third string, and I found myself aiming with the rear sight and my NPA. I ended up with alot of A's and only a handful of mikes from the long shots.

Just like this past weekend using the death grip Fobus holster, with the proper mechanics and technique, it really does boil down to the shooting. The results from that Monday match are not out yet, but I believe that I will find that I ranked quite well given the circumstances.

I love learning something new every time I pick up my gun

[Catfish]

Enjoyed the vids, Micah. You are really showing some improvement.

Keep it up!!

[Micah]

6/2/07

-full dryfire session

-CRO class!

I had a great day hanging out with Perry Wilson and the rowdy bunch today at the CRO class. Soon there will be a Pharaoh Bender classifier in the books

Dryfire was excellent tonight. The new drills, especially Wide Transitions, are converting into my subconscious. I noticed this on Monday night, where my snap of attention is becoming more crisp and refined.

Club match in Oxford tomorrow, and one more next Sunday...then I'm off to the Indiana Sectionals.

[Micah]

6/4/07

-one hour of cardio

-full dryfire session

Yesterdays match at Oxford was excellent, and I learned much from shooting just those four stages. Let's break down the tape:

Stage 1

On both the left and right side of the wall were four targets, the closest of which had a no-shoot. In the middle of the wall were 6 plates at various heights. I should have hammered down on the targets, but shot conservatively. This pointed out to me that I need to do more work at the range with targets 10y and in so that I will feel more comfortable with a less than perfect sight picture.

Stage 2

An interesting 3 string Virginia count stage...there are 6 targets, two of which had metal hard cover. All targets required 4 hits on them

String 1 (the first video) Shoot 6 rounds, move to hoop B and shoot 6 rounds

String 2 (2nd video) Shoot 6 rounds strong hand

String 3 (not shown) shoot 6 rounds weak hand

All freestyle hits were A's. The strong hand shots were 3A and 3C, and the weak hand were 2A, 2C, and 2M.

My two mikes came from the farthest target. After talking to Chris and Bill about it, it appeared that I shot too quickly after the long transition. I know now that when making one handed transitions, particularly with my weak hand, I should be certain to see what I need to see on the target before firing.

Can You Count

I have identified my need for improving on warp speed shooting. My reloads looked good after looking at the film in slow motion, and my first shot on both strings were fast out of the holster. I will practice more Bill drills at the range to assist me with this.

After thinking about this stage all night, I can identify that my mindset for this stage was all wrong. I psyched myself up to HAMMER HAMMER HAMMER, and the end result was Morse Code. Being more relaxed and trusting in my own abilities would have been the better thought process.

Stage 4

Timed fire, 20 seconds. 10 paper and 20 steel.

I loved this stage! Finding the sweet spot in the shooting box, I engaged all 10 paper targets first. After the reload, I thumped away at the poppers from right to left. Although I did not get a chance to shoot more after my 3rd reload, but I had planned on shooting the mini-poppers next from left to right.

I felt very good about how I shot this stage.

So that was my weekend. I am on campus now writing a paper and studying for two counseling finals. Wednesday I will go to the range for some livefire, and next Sunday will be the Miamisburg match.

BTW-The job search continues

[Micah]

6/8/07

-one hour of cardio

-full dryfire session

-300rds of livefire

Today was a great day of zoning in and seeing my sights on every shot in dryfire. I dryfire with my laptop in the bedroom dialed in to pandora.com, and today's mix was a bit of meditational music. Visual patience continues to amaze me, as it seems that once I am zoning and snapping to different targets, it is easy. If I allow myself to become distracted, fatigued, or lazy, it becomes difficult. This principle correlates with theatre: (and help me God for the jokes of the loincloth persuasion).

My first career was that of a professional actor. I have done many professional productions in my day, and the most challenging were those that ran 6 nights a week for several months. How the hell can someone possibly breath newness into something that has been repeated so many times? Such is the ultimate challenge of an actor, and I submit to you the challenge of a serious shooter.

How many big matches have you been to, and though "One more stage to go, and then I can get out of this damned sun and get some rest," or the like. Such as matches, the same principle correlated to practice. Practice is inherently boring because it is repetitive...but this is what makes practice work!

I strive to find that "something new" every day that I practice, as well as when I shoot matches at the club and major level. I yearn to learn a new lesson every time that I draw my pistol.

That is my challenge. Find something new everyday, everytime in my shooting.

[dcarter]

Well said Yoda!

[Micah]

6/11/07

-one hour of cardio

-full dryfire session

Yesterday's match was a well done and unique COF created by Robert Brandt (Sunuva). This guy is destined to be the next great CRO and course designer of our sport!

The first stage had a disappearing drop turner that came out after knocking down the popper (my last shot). In an experiment, I decided to not engage the two dp's of the match. I felt that I shot this stage particularly well:

The next stage was CM 06-11, Where's the Ammo. My grip on the gun was very poor off of the table, and instead of adjusting my grip, I shot with the bad grip. Certainly not the way to go, I ended up having to reload, and still ended up with a mike on the first paper. Clearly I need to spend more time working on table draws.

The third stage of the day began well, but I had a magazine that would not drop. This unfortunately tacked on a fair amount of time to my run. This kind of funk happens, and I need to find something to slicken up the inside of my magwell:

The third stage really shows off the stage design brilliance of Sunuva. Starting in the car, there were two poppers in front of you. One activated a clamshell, and the other a dp turner. Opting to skip the dp target, I instead got out of the car as soon as possible and went on to the rest of the targets. I feel good about this stage too, although I took a sharp angle to the short wall, and lost my balance: (This is a long clip, but you get to see the zany nature of my squad )

The last stage was an indoor flashlight COF. I had all of my hits, but also had a jam at the end of the stage. This was the first time that I had to clear a jam in the dark, and I am grateful for the challenge.

All in all, I walked away from this match with a better understanding of my strengths and opportunities for growth. I will get my gun back to functioning 100%, and look forward to the challenge of the Indiana Sectional next weekend.

[Sunuva]

Thanks Micah that means a lot,

I just hope everybody had a great time, And I can see now that I gave you way to many points on the stages not to shoot at my drop turners, next time I will make sure that its worth your time to shoot them.

-Robert

[Micah]

6/15/07

-one hour of cardio

-full dryfire session

-livefire!

The day before leaving for the Indiana Sectional! Dryfire went well, and I still hate working out, although I certainly appreciate what all of this cardio bullshit has done for my fitness.

I met with my sponsor today and obtained my team shirt and my newly blued Glock!

This thing is a freaking riot! I am looking forward to shooting this beast in matches, but it will not be coming with me to Indiana..[RULE #2 OF COMPETITION: NEVER CHANGE ANYTHING BEFORE A MATCH!!!!!!] (big thanks to Bill and Chris for snapping me out of my trance)

I capped off the day with a bit of livefire with bseevers. I saw what I needed to see, and feel confident that my preformance this weekend will be my best to date. I have had over 30 days to improve my technique since Area 6, and have literally practiced all 30+ of those days.

The main thing that I need to remind myself of is to not try. Last weeks club match, the classifier was Where's The Ammo, which is an unloaded table draw. I had myself so psyched up to smash the stage that I completely blew my table draw. The match this weekend has two table starts.

I know that I have the ability. I have been training for this match for a long time. As long as I allow myself to shoot the way I know how, there is no doubt that I will have done my best.

[Chris Keen]

Yeah .... what he said !

Way to go Micah ... you sound ready!

[Chris Keen]

OK, now get out your Dremel .......... OK and then get out the Krylon & your right back where you were before!

[Catfish]

Have fun!

[Catfish]

Shooting L-10, eh??