Chris Conley Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 (edited) Well I guess I'll give in and start one of my own. I have come to understand that there are some great people on this forum and this would be the place to get more info out of all you guru's out there. A little background. I started shooting this game a little less than 2 years ago. Currently C class but really working hard to get to M class. Still a long way to go. I am confident that I will succeed. No time line set on making Master but if I train hard it will come when I am ready. Breakdown of the 3 guns tactical division: Pistol: Pretty much all that I dryfire practice. I took a one on one class with Matt Cheely a couple of weeks ago to learn about movement. One word.... WOW!!!!!!!! I learned more in the 2 days of training than I have learned in 2 years. I learned so many drills that my brain was cooked come Sunday. In 2 days we fired 2500 rounds on steel and paper. Matt is a great teacher and does a really good job of breaking everything down so someone like me can understand. There is so much info that it takes a while for it to soak in. Took the whole next week after I got back and went to the range for 3 days in a row for another 1500 rounds. Big difference in how I see things now. I know how to practice and know what I need to work on. Before I didn't know anything. Thanks again Matt, I'd do it again in an instant. Rifle: This is my strongest of the 3. I feel confident and at home with the rifle. I guess it's from my time in the military and the CQB training. I still have not learned how to shoot on the move very well. I learned alot from our local master at the range this spring but put the rifle up and only trained with the pistol for about a month and a half before Indiana State. That will change with my .22 cal conversion from Ciener. Shotgun: I guess I shoot fast enough to hang with the rest of the guys but my reloading sucks. This is where I lose the most time. I try and grab 3 at a time and if you get too fast trying to load them, well lets just say disaster. I tell myself to slow down when I reload but 1/2 the time it doesn't work. Plan to work on different types of reloads in my dry fire routine with dummy rounds to fix it. Practice now: Up at 3:00 am workout. 4:00 am dry fire. 6:00 am at work. 6:00 pm back from work and ride bike for 1/2 hour if I'm not to smoked from work. I alternate from nights and days and it's hard to explain so I won't. Same routine when I'm on nights. I work 14 shifts in 3 weeks then most of the time I have vacation and I'm off for 2 weeks. This I mostly when I go to the range for livefire. See you at Multigun Nationals. Let the journey begin! Chris Edited July 10, 2007 by Chris Conley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Conley Posted July 12, 2007 Author Share Posted July 12, 2007 (edited) Today was long day. No lunch last night at work so didn't get to workout in the gym. Had to get up an hour early and do it at the house. After workout rode bike for 9 miles and the wind today was brutal. Have not been able to ride this week yet and it felt good. Dryfire went well today. Worked on explosive draws freestyle, stong and weak hand. Reloads are coming along well. Learned a different way, and it's been difficult to get out doing it the old way. Everyday it gets a little better. Tomorrow I will work on some box movement drills in the backyard and spend about 30 minutes reloading the shotgun. Will not use the timer and just focus on being smooth. Going to be fun, I mashed my thumb last night and man it hurts. Chris Edited July 12, 2007 by Chris Conley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Conley Posted July 13, 2007 Author Share Posted July 13, 2007 No dry fire practice today. I tried but my thumb was hurting too bad. I know call me a puss. Had a heavy upper body workout today. Trying to build the up upper body so I can reload the shotgun from the shoulder. Rode bike for twenty minutes in high gear and didn't let it get below 18 mph. Good cardio workout. Also to add to the workout the dog got out of the back gate and had to run him down. Classic shoe string tackle on the back foot. Those labs are fast. I'm sure my the people down the street had a good laugh. Plan on doing some reloading this weekend. No matches. Going to load all the 40's and 9's that I have. I should have enough 9mm to get me thru next years once a month IDPA matches. Going to switch over the 9mm set up to .223 and start loading the hell out of them. Hopefully I can get 2000 loaded by the end of the month. Multigun match coming up at Redbrush in Indiana at the end of the month and really looking forward to it. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Conley Posted July 15, 2007 Author Share Posted July 15, 2007 Today went pretty well...... Got to do some neat stuff today. Went to a SCAA race today with my wife, son and friend. The guy that built my limited gun was racing today and it was the first time that I have ever been to a race. I can see why he is hooked on racing. Made me want to take my wife's car and well you know...... Went to the movies after the race and saw TRANSFORMERS. WOW what a movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Way cool. If I get time next week I'll take my son and go see it again. Really good stuff! Back to work. Worked on the weak hand reload with the shotgun this morning for 40 minutes. Gets really hard to do after about 10 revolutions. More upper body work. At 165lbs. I wonder if it's doable all the time. If I can it will pay off at the end of the year at Multigun Nats. This weeks plan: Range time on Sunday: Get rifle zeroed at 100 yrds. New scope. Upmost confidence with this scope. If this one works out it's going to be flat out evil. 2000 rounds thru the Ciener should give you a pretty good feel. Friend of mine is coming with me and we will run some field courses to give us a match feel. Maybe a little side action with the pistol One thing.... We get to go and shoot everyday if we want to. Let's thank all the guys in uniform that have to do it everyday if they want to do it or not. Thank's guys for all the hard work. Wish I was there with you. "pays to be a winner........" Chris C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Conley Posted July 23, 2007 Author Share Posted July 23, 2007 (edited) Found this little gem while I was in Lexington, KY dealing with a weeks worth of craziness. Have not done any training all week. Mother had knee replacemant surgery on Monday then the hospital OD'ed her on morphine on Tuesday and almost died. Then later on in the day my Dad's brother died. All happened on Tuesday so me and my sister had to back up and punt. Took dad to Ohio yesterday for the funeral and that's the most time that I have spent with him in years. Wished that things could have been different but live too far away. Training will start back tomarrow. I'm ready..... Burned out on everything else. Chris Edited July 23, 2007 by Chris Conley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Conley Posted July 26, 2007 Author Share Posted July 26, 2007 (edited) Been real busy here since I have been back for Lexington. Long days at work sitting in front of the computer planning for the next shutdown at the plant. STRESS!!!!! But I have learned something........ I wake in the morning thinking about what I need to do for that day. Get dressed and go down stairs and dryfire before I go in. Usually starting out in my routine I am still thinking about everything else for about five minutes. Yesterday something different happened. From the start I totally tuned it out and didn't think about anything but the drills. Dryfire felt good. This morning I did the same routine as yesterday but I started it with the 1 reload 1 drill cold. Very smooth, could see the empty mag falling as my front sight was going back in the A zone. My weak hand is starting to beat the strong on the mag change (good thing). Will work on getting faster on the mag button. The rest of the routine was pretty smooth. I intend on keep the same attitude for this weekends match. Multigun match on Sunday at Redbrush in Newburgh, IN. Going to the range at Owensboro on Friday to confirm zero on the AR and do some pistol drills. The rest of the day will be spent on getting the stages ready for the KY State Multigun. Shotgun dryfire for the rest of the week and with 15-20 min. of pistol. Chris Edited July 26, 2007 by Chris Conley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Conley Posted August 1, 2007 Author Share Posted August 1, 2007 (edited) Couple of things to write about.... Had the chance to shoot a great multigun match this weekend at Redbrush. Special thanks to Kevin Elpers and Scott Hurt for the stage designs. Quite the challenge. Loved the slugs and rifle at 60 or so yards. Breakdown in performance: Rifle : Just so so. Getting used to a new scope. Eye relief was set wrong and I think that it really slowed me down for having to adjust. I really like to get into the rifle when I'm shooting and found myself having to back off the scope a couple of times. Adjusted today and now that's better. We'll see later this week in practice. Shotgun : Reloads were much better. Felt good to not fumble any of them. Slugs were dead on. Had a couple of misses on the first stage with birdshot but that was due to going too fast with no focus. Still more improvement is needed. Pistol : Need to work on the attitude of all alpha's. The need for speed is killing me and I have to get out of that. Ended up with two mikes on that stage. After that stage I remembered something that Matt C. told me. All alpha's period and that's it. Have new practice target that I will use for all guns. Next week will be more dryfire shotgun reloads and movement drills with the pistol. Get to take my stepdaughters boyfriend for the range tomarrow. He's an aspiring MMA fighter. Get to show him something without using your hands. Chris C. Edited August 1, 2007 by Chris Conley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Conley Posted August 4, 2007 Author Share Posted August 4, 2007 Scores are out from last weekends multigun match and ended up fouth. Not too happy with that because I blew the first stage I shot and shot the rest fairly good. Got my first stage win so I happy with that. Rifle then shotgun slugs @ 70yrs. then transistion to clays and the texas star. Training has went well this week. Pistol for half hour and shotgun reloading for a half hour each day but Thursday. Had to work a 16 hour shift during a shutdown at the mill. Went to a friends house this week to live time on steel. Worked on movement with the pistol. Set up a El Prez classifier to shoot our last rounds. First go was 6.44 down four and the second was 6.25 down eight. I liked the 6.44 better. More my speed and was smooth. Physical training has been on track even with the heat. 10 miles on the bike and 45 mins. with free weights. Upper body needs some help so I can try and reload the shotgun left handed. Things I need to work on. Getting the shotgun shells (3) in the same postion in the hand everytime. If they get out of postion just a little bit it tends to increase the fumble factor. Work on focus and relaxation during all drills. I tend to try too hard sometimes. Pistol drills are getting a little boring. I think that I will revert back to S.A. first book to find something a little different. Next pistol match is a couple of weeks away and Kentucky State Multigun is the first of next month. Really looking forward to both. Chris C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Conley Posted August 4, 2007 Author Share Posted August 4, 2007 No bike riding today. Just too damn hot. I should have rode it when I got home from work this morning at 0600. That's what I'll do Sunday. Worked on reloading shotgun today. Towards the end of the session switched my shell holders over to the left side. A heavy chest and tricep workout last night didn't make it any easier. At this point right now I don't think I attempt it in a match. Reloading strong side was good at times. I could beat my 7.3 second par time that I set on the timer. If I can get it consistanly down to 6 and I'll be happy. My dummy shotgun shells are getting worn out and in need of some new ones. A friend reloaded a bunch and the plastic is getting burred up and peeled back. I get my reload down it's going to save alot of time. Suppose to be around 100 deg. for the next 7 days. I will have to adjust my range time to start at 0530 to beat the heat. I'm ready for fall... Chris C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Conley Posted August 6, 2007 Author Share Posted August 6, 2007 (edited) Man it's been hot. Switched to riding my in the morning after work and its much easier on me. I lose enough water out of my body at work. Worked out with the free weights all week and will tonight also. I take a couple of days off of the weights but still ride the bike everyday. Shotgun reloading is starting to become fun. After about 30 reps of loading six my thumb starts to get really tired and I fumble some shells. I'll work on it 4 days a week this month. Dryfired pistol drills yesterday but not today. Just focused on the shotgun. Here's a 1 reload 1 drill that I got on the camera. Let me know what you think. Dryfire_reload.wmv Chris C Edited August 6, 2007 by Chris Conley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Conley Posted August 15, 2007 Author Share Posted August 15, 2007 Been going thru a period of burnout I guess. Working alot of hours in the heat, not feeling well due to nerve disorder and above all just bored with dryfiring. Have only had the chance to shoot one match in the past month and a half doesn't help either. Everytime but once something has come up and I couldn't go. I need something to get me out of it but I don't know what. Still working out and riding my bike everyday. Skipped the dryfire routine for last 4 days but I'll try to get back at it when I wake up tomarrow. Have a match this weekend and my sister has told me that she plans to come down and visit all weekend. So now I only get to shoot one gun instead of two. Oh well at least I get to shoot one. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Conley Posted September 5, 2007 Author Share Posted September 5, 2007 (edited) It's been a long time and haven't been able to do much of anything practice wise. Times will change. First off spent way to much time setting a big multigun match. Shot the worst match I've shot all year on Friday. Rifle went single shot on me and that really messed with my brain. Never did recover from it. Fixed rifle and ran good the rest of the match but I was so bummed I couldn't seem to make anything happen right. Just felt dead inside and didn't feel like being there. Just hard to work a match and shoot well. Glad that one is over. Met some great people. Deb Cheek, Lisa Corbitt, Tony Holmes, Mike Moore (see you at nat's). Congrats on your win's. Multigun nat's coming up next month. I wish I was leaving today. I'm ready to shoot. Goal is to slow down and shoot all A's. That really sank in last weekend. Daily training plan: 15 miles on the bike everyday. 10 great reloads with the shotgun. 10 great reloads with the AR. Movement drills with AR and pistol. Alternate days. Work out in the gym 4 days a week and put the weight back on that I last last week in the heat. After Nationals the guns are getting locked up for the winter. I need a break. Plan to do some fishing at Dale Hollow all winter. I need to get hungry again. Chris C. Edited September 5, 2007 by Chris Conley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Conley Posted September 9, 2007 Author Share Posted September 9, 2007 No matches to speak of this weekend do to work. Not really much time for any dryfire either. Got up this afternoon to work on some movement drills in the back yard and it was pouring rain. Bummer. Went out to the garage instead and broke down my shotgun and got it super clean. I'll put it back together when I get home from work in the morning. On another note I spent all night last Thursday reconfiguring my garage into a reloading/dryfire/workout room. Anything not used at least once a week went into the attic above or in the garbage outside. I had to do this becuase there is another 650 coming next week. I'll use that one to load .223 only. Just flat out tired of shooting the Wolf stuff. Lately I have been looking for balance in my life from work and shooting/practice. Some days man I am flat wore out but do it anyway. Some days I don't. Wonder if I need to do it everyday no matter what or just stay on the same path. My wife give my grief for time to time about not spending the time I am home with her and my boy. Balance would be nice.... I think that it would make my practice time better. Hopefully it won't rain tomarrow. Chris C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Conley Posted September 11, 2007 Author Share Posted September 11, 2007 (edited) Rode bike today for 10 miles in high gear. Tried to keep it above 15 mph the whole way. There is one hill along the way that I haven't beaten yet but I'm not far off. Working out with the weights 4 days a week for 45 mins is doing well. I kinda got off with working out for 2 weeks and it feels good to be back in a routine. My step daughter is dating a guy that's a MMA fighter. I think I might ask him what he does during his cardio training. Got to be good for this sport too but I'm not getting i the cage with him. Shotgun reload is really coming around. Dryfire reloads for about an hour today. Not using a timer right now but I can feel that they are much smoother. Also worked and draws from a kydex holster with my limited gun. Feels way different than the race holster. I think having a kydex holster in Tulsa will work out well. Makes me feel more secure that the gun is not going to fall in the "mud". Reload drills were good. Really worked on seeing the magwell and keeping the gun up higher. Makes for a much smoother reload. Same deal for the rest of the week. Don't have to be back at work until Friday morning so I am going to try and work in some range time during my time off. I think that I am past my "burned out" phase. I'm ready to start training hard. Chris C. Edited September 11, 2007 by Chris Conley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Conley Posted September 15, 2007 Author Share Posted September 15, 2007 (edited) Finally got the new 650 up and running. Loaded a bunch of .223 over the past couple of nights. Feel really good about getting to shoot some match grade ammo in future matches. Workout schedule is going well. Increased my bench press by 20 pounds today and man I feel it tonight. Only had about 15 minutes to work on the shotgun reload this morning before work. Came home tonight cleaned my producton glock and all my AR mags. AR mags were really dirty. I'll never let them get in that shape again. Guess I can consider myself lucky that they even worked at all. Took a dremel and beveled a 45 deg angle on the front edge and buffed the followers with a scotch bright pad. They seem to feed alot better. This is the start of getting all my gear ready for Multigun Nat's. About 3 weeks and counting. Switch to dryfiring the pistol in the morning before work. I'll do some transition drills and box movement in the garage. Chris C. Edited September 15, 2007 by Chris Conley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Conley Posted September 18, 2007 Author Share Posted September 18, 2007 Training is going as planned. Started something new today. Instead of riding the bike I started running. Man talking about smoking my A#@. Good stuff. Got to spend all day at the range today. Worked on pistol and rifle. Spent 500 rounds on front sight focus with the pistol using a 8 inch plate at 17 yards. Also worked on some transition drills with paper at 20 yards. Rifle drill started at fifty yards, zigzag through five different boxes and finish at 25 yards. Same 8 inch plate as before 2 shots each box. Best time was 16.86. I have alot of work to do on the gravel. Video to follow. Chris C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Conley Posted September 20, 2007 Author Share Posted September 20, 2007 Got home from work this morning and was lights out by 0620. Back up at 1300. Ran 4 miles and did some heavy eating. I have been super hungry for about 2 weeks now. I mean I eat alot. Practice reloading the shotgun for 30 min. and ran some transition drills with the pistol for about 20 min. Tonights workout is arms and abs for 45 min. Tomarrow's routine is the same instead I'll work on reloading off the side saddle and ride my bike instead of running. Chris C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Conley Posted September 21, 2007 Author Share Posted September 21, 2007 (edited) Got a workout today that I didn't really want to get. Went for a 16 mile bike ride and to make a long story short got a flat tire at the midway point. With no bike to ride I had to stash it in the bushes then run home the other 8 miles back. Holy sh!-, that wore my ass out. I know now I need to bring my cell phone and have some tools and even a innertube patch might help. Finally made it back to the house, got my truck and retrieved my bike. Got home, quick shower and back into work. No dryfire today due to lack of time. I'm off for the next 3 days so I will make it up with 2 sessions tomarrow. Hopefully I'll be able to make the Bardstown match this weekend. Chris C. Edited September 21, 2007 by Chris Conley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Conley Posted September 23, 2007 Author Share Posted September 23, 2007 (edited) Ran six miles this morning. Then to the range. Worked on rifle shooting at 300 yards.... Lessons learned: 1. Not the same shot that I was in the Army 2. My AR is not a bolt action M-24 .308 3. I used to shoot 300 yard targets with irons all the time. What the hell??? 4. Need to go back to the basics of marksmanship. Great training today. Went back to the basics and started hitting almost everytime. Breathing is key to shooting 8 inch plates at 300 yards. Plan for Sunday: Run 4 miles with 60 pound pack. Back to the range to work on the rifle 8 inch plate is gravey Chris C. Edited September 24, 2007 by Chris Conley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Conley Posted September 25, 2007 Author Share Posted September 25, 2007 Up this morning at 0300. Ran 4 miles then off to work. Times are really coming down and able to run it in less than 30 minutes. 24 minutes is my goal. Workout session during lunch was great. Started doing supersets to help with the cardio and I love it. Came home and really felt good so I went for a 2 mile sprint. I feel that my strength and cardio is really getting where I want it. I will definately keep it there. After cleaning up I practiced on reloading my shotgun for 30 minutes. My thumb is really getting torn up so I might do pistol drills only for the next couple of days. Looking forward to a multigun match this weekend. I'm ready to shoot. I wish they would get the stages for multigun nationals posted before we have to go. I would like to train next week on some things that will be in the match. Chris C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Moore Posted September 26, 2007 Share Posted September 26, 2007 Up this morning at 0300 Chris, are you insane? What time do you go to bed? Does your job involve sleeping at work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Conley Posted September 26, 2007 Author Share Posted September 26, 2007 (edited) Up this morning at 0300 Chris, are you insane? What time do you go to bed? Does your job involve sleeping at work? No sleep at work. Up at 0300 isn't bad. I have to be there by 0530. I just wake up an extra hour early that's all. I usually am too tired to do it after work, so this routine works for me. That also means that I am in bed by 2100. I'm off 200 days a year to recoup the sleep. Working 12 hour shifts doesn't leave alot of time in the day to train. You have to ask yourself the question how back do you want to improve? Gotta do what you can when you can. Chris C. Edited September 26, 2007 by Chris Conley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Moore Posted September 26, 2007 Share Posted September 26, 2007 I'm off 200 days a year I want your job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjbine Posted September 26, 2007 Share Posted September 26, 2007 I'm off 200 days a year I want your job. +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Conley Posted September 26, 2007 Author Share Posted September 26, 2007 I'm off 200 days a year I want your job. The money ain't bad but you also have to contend with the 150+ degree heat in the summer. That's what gets you down. Chris C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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