gunsablazin: progress report

[gunsablazin]

Hi, I am Robin and I have been shooting competion on and off for over 20 years. I have been in the top 10 local shooters group basically the entire time. I started back shooting IDPA about a year and a half ago, again staying in the top 5-10 group. About 5 months ago I decided to do whatever was needed to improve my game. I happened across this forum and started trying some of the ideas I found here and things started happening fast! In the last 3 local matches I have shot I have 2 overall wins and a 5th overall 1st CDP. I shoot SS in CDP and I feel like I am just touching on the potential within myself.I got my copy of Brians book today and will start applying everthing I have learned (not learned?) to my practice's and matches. Many,many thanks to those of you who post the excellent bits of info for those of us who are on a never ending journey to expand our potential. I intend to update my progress here to let you know how it's going. I shoot in the Summer Sizzler in Manchester, TN August 4. Wish me luck.

Robin

[Chris Keen]

Glad to hear you are progressing so quickly. Brian's book can be a little overwhelming at first ... but well worth reading it twice. Some of us just aren't ready to absorb all that information at one time. the more matches you shoot .... the more stuff that sinks in, or becomes clearer in your mind.

Hope you continue to do well, and most importantly HAVE FUN!

[gunsablazin]

Hello,

7/29/07

Went to range to shoot.Read BE's book friday night, and reread parts of it on sat. The awareness and focus on the actual shooting makes good sense to me, but I seem to be able to focus better at the match than I can in practice. Fired around 250 45's doing bill drill el prez retreating in tac seq. Shot some longer range stuff out to 30 yds. Was shooting really well for the first 150 or so rounds, then fatique set in and my shooting started getting relatively sloppy. It can be frustrating to know what you are doing wrong and that demon say's "shoot fast". Lesson learned quit when you have had enough for one day. The Summer Sizzler is coming up sat. I have one more live fire practice planned before that plus dryfiring everyday until then. The key for me to do well at any match is to remember that I do this for FUN! Weird,I am always more nervous thinking about a match than I am shooting it. All I have to do to win is shoot 0's faster than anyone else, right? Sounds easy enough.

Robin

[gunsablazin]

Get to pat myself on tha back today. IDPA postal match results are in, I finished 2nd CDP/ SS and 37th overall out of 942 shooters, not too bad if I do say so myself. I needed a little ego boost with the sizzler coming up on Sat. Did a little dry fire at home the last two nights and worked on the drills in BE's book, more planned for tonight with a trip to the range planned for tomorrow.

Robin

[gunsablazin]

Last live fire before the sizzler tommorrow. Did some basic drill el prez bills drill at ranges out to 20 yds.tried a knew drill of my own, 3 mags with 3 rds each 3 targets shoot 1 rd each target reload and repeat for 3 mags, worked at 5-7-10 -15-20 yds. Seems good for transitions & reloading practice. Fired approx 150rds. good practice. The sizzler tommorrow, My shooting is fine, that just leaves doing it! I am ready.

Robin

[et45]

Good luck and go kick some ass

[gunsablazin]

Shot the sizzler Sat. I did OK with a 2nd place CDP/SS finish. The best thing was what I learned about sticking with your game plan, I shot the match without trying to push beyond my ability. I did make 3 mistakes 1 procedural, 1 HONT, 1 hit on hard cover on a limited vickers count stage. Not so hot! The match was well done and alot of fun 18 stages and about 220 rds min.My pre-match prep which included a good night of sleep was blown by a domestic dispute in my neighborhood that resulted in the police waking up everyone at 2:00 am! It was more difficult to shoot in the oppresive heat on 4hours of sleep than I had anticipated. Oh well they say anything that does not kill you makes you stronger.

The journey to master class continues.

Robin

[gunsablazin]

Work is a pain this week!!! Still put in some dry-fire and draw, reload practice at home. About 30 min. a session is about all I have patience for, I know it helps alot but I am a recoil junky. Work permitting I am going to the range tomorrow night.Scores were posted for the summer sizzler, I found a 19 sec. error on stage 14!! shaving that off put me ahead of the EX class, which made me feel better about the match. Still I did not shoot to the best of my ability. I let the pressure of a "big" match effect me some and I rushed into some stages I should have given more thought to. It was only the 2nd sanctioned IDPA match I have shot, so I don't feel too bad. The important thing is I can see where I can improve my shooting next time. I shoot very well on the local match level and I am confident I can take that skill with me to the TN State match in Oct. Got back on my workout sessions yesterday, I eased up a little before the match to keep from being sore.

Onward and upward!

Robin

[gunsablazin]

In between the dry-firing etc. I shot our local 3-gun match on Sat. We only shot 3 stages because of the heat, 1 rifle 1 shotgun 1 handgun. The rifle stage was a charge through to various positions and the longest shots required were only around 30 yds. so just for fun I ran it with my 1911 .45. Finished 5th of 14 shooters. That was so much fun I was literaly LOL at the end!!! I love our 3-gun match because I shoot it the way I should shoot all matches, that is I don't care about winning I am there just to have FUN. I was 5th OA, 4th shotgun ( 1956 mod. Browning light 12) , tied for second on pistol. After play time was over I did some serious practice with my carry gun. Test fired my Mil-Spec .45 that I have done a simple gun smithing job on, it runs fine thank you. CHRPC/IDPA match Sat. I will be back to work tonight getting ready for that.Shooting is fun, winning is good too. It has gotten so our local talent has grown to the point that when you do get an OA win you have done something to be proud of! I am lucky to have these guy's for friends and competitors, they have a lot to teach. It is the strangest thing about our sport that we help each other the way we do. Good sport, GREAT people.

Robin

[gunsablazin]

Took the day off from work yesterday, what better time to go to the range. Had the whole place to myself. Started on 100 yd. rifle range with my AR-15 checked sights and shot some groups at 50 & 100 yds. While the barrel cooled between groups did some long range pistol shooting with MK-2 .22, I would like to be able to shoot a .45 at 100 yds. like I can that gun. Moved to pistol range did some CQB drill with the AR, that is fun and no waiting for the barrel to cool! Then on to the more "serious" practice, set 3 targets up at different heights one at 10, one at 15 and one at 12. Shot several drills such as tac-seq 1-1-2-1-1 reload 2-2-2, reload 2-2-2 to the head all with the primary focus on simply watching precisely what is happening. I am starting to see things I had not noticed before, the sight coming up in my periphreal vision during transitions, calling each shot as it fires including the bad ones, which may teach as much as the good ones. The point is I know how to correct the errors because I know why they happened.Did some of my basic strong hand, left hand work no problems there, I just have to have the patience to wait to see what I need to see more left hand than right. All in all it was a very good practice. I get to shoot again Fri. night, which is good our local IDPA match is Sat. morn. I have read B. Enos book twice and am studying the things I have highlighted, it is helping me to look at my shooting from a different perspective. I can watch what is happening and just observe without judgment during the actual shooting then looking back and see the things I did right and wrong an adjust from there.

Robin

[gunsablazin]

Fri. night practice went well. We set up a swinger and ran a variety of stages using it. It was the first time I have had acces to practice with one, before the only time I have shot them is at matches. I shot it until I could get good hits while tracking it the whole time, 3 hits at a pop. Also practiced transitions, reloads, shooting on the move. I am learning that when I fixate on one thing ( draw for example) I have a good draw and a lousy first shot, I am starting to get it in my head that I need only concern myself with the shooting. Shot our local IDPA match Sat. I shot pretty good at 6th overall, 4th CDP, 2nd CDP SS. We shot 6 good stages and I was down 6 sec. total for the match. There were 39 shooters.The worst thing I did was miss a steel popper sitting in front of a NT! There went 5 of my 6 seconds! I was coming off of a close fast target to the steel and pushed the shot and paid the price. Another learning expierience. The overall winner was at 68 sec. I was at 88 sec. this guy is really good and getting better. What I am learning from looking at his scores is for me to get to his level is going to be in speeding up the things I am doing when I am not shooting. Moving faster on transitions. positons etc. I am going to practice more on moving positions to see how fast I can move and still be ready to shoot when I get where I am going. Some how that seems more important, the getting to the shooting part. I also need to re-classify as my times are currently at the top of the area EX class, I don't really want to shoot the state match in Oct. as a SS if I am really an EX. If I was to win a SS trophy what that mean to an EX? Sandbaggers stink up the sport, I don't want to be one of them! I noticed while I was SOing Sat. that I was seeing the bullets of the other shooters coming off the poppers, this is something new to me. I took it as a good sign that I am seeing something I have not seen before.

Lots left to learn, lots more fun to be had.

Robin

[gunsablazin]

Started working on the tips in Brian's book last night. Raising the gun with eyes closed etc. Spent about 30 minutes on part 1, I had no problem aligning the sights blind almost from the beginning. I went to part 2 and shortly had no trouble with it. I stayed focused on feeling and being aware of my grip and body tension especially when I was a bit off. Went ahead and tryed some from the holster and was again suprised by how often the sights would come right into alignment. I will continue to work on these exercises along with my normal draw and dry fire routine. I have not been using my timer during my evening practice at home, I think this has been a mistake. I got it out last night and set a par time of 1.6 sec for draw to dryfire on target. The pressure it adds helps identify any flaws in your draw. If I would try to race the timer I would be more likely to butcher the whole draw. By starting my draw on the "B" in beep and moving smoothly I would beat it almost every time. I still think I need more range time! My shooting in practice and on match day is very accurate and smooth, but I think I need to explore more high speed shooting in practice. More bills drills etc. combined with more longer range shooting. My goal is to crank up the speed limit at my next match without giving up too many 0's. Sometimes I feel I hold back a little bit too much in my quest to shoot a 0 down match. I suppose I am going to have to crash eventually. I keep shooting pairs that almost touch on most close targets instead of just having the confidence too shoot sooner and just hit the 8" circle. I geuss there worse problems to have but this one is mine. At least I understand it, now to fix it.

Robin

The thing that keeps me going is no matter how good you get, you can always get better.

[gunsablazin]

Got in two trips to the range, Fri. night and Sat. afternoon.I set 4 personal bests this weekend, fastest recorded draw to first shot 1.17 sec., fastest El-Prez 8.34 down -1, plate rack 12 yds. 4.43, Bill Drill 2.34. These times are slow by IPSC standards I know but I am using IDPA gear and 175 pf loads.

Robin

[gunsablazin]

Friday at last! Live fire tonight after work, I have printed out the stages for ORSA's match on Sat. we will set some up to run for fun. I am shooting the IDPA classifier as well, hoping to move up to EX in CDP. I have been dry firing almost every night this week, so getting some loud practice in will be a BLAST! My draws are improving and my reloads are smooth, that just leaves the shooting. Spending all my non-shooting portion of the weekend at the lake to see my parents and play with my kids, life is good.

Robin

[gunsablazin]

How sweet it is, practice really does pay off! Friday night practice went really well, shot some record breaking runs ( my best) on el prez all 0 down at 9.3. 20 yds good groups shot around 150 rds and left the range feeling like I had shot my best. ORSA/IDPA match on sat. they set another record attendance of 70 shooters, pretty good for a local match around here. I was having so much fun as SO on a 14 shooter squad I forgot to get the butterflies before stages 1 & 2 !! The whole match I just shot and had a ball. There were so many of our local top guns there I never thought much about winning. I finished up 1st CDP and 2nd overall, not too bad at all. I did take a few chances and just let go, I am happy and suprised with the results as I did not shoot quite as accurately as I normally do. I was down 18 points (9 sec) for 6 stages which was tied for 3rd in accuracy. No procedurals or HONT etc. I did not reshoot the classifier, so I am planning to work that in this comeing weekend. I do not have a match for 2 weeks so that should not be a problem. The work part never stops, I will dryfire every night this week or until I make it back to the range. Shooting is FUN! but winning feeds the fire for more.

Robin

[et45]

Good shooting Rob.They used to have that many shooters at the USPSA match back when Dwight Warren ran it.I saw Bolden and O'Neal at the gunshow.Standard question"where have you been?". Tim said you are really coming on here of late,keep it up and good luck.

[gunsablazin]

Dry fire practice has been it so far all week. Draws are getting smoother and smoother. I have spent alot of time on support hand dry fire and doing Brian's excersises on NPA. No match for me this weekend, Fri. night practice has been superceded by a family gathering at Outback Steakhouse, I like to eat steak almost as much as I like to shoot. (almost) Sat. is a trip to Knoxville to see the Volunteers play, I like UT football about 1/4 as much as I like shooting, but the tickets were free. I hope its a good game because I'm missing a 3- gun match to go. Ahhhh, Sunday, the range at last, Lord willing and the creek don't rise I will be blasting to my hearts content on Sun.!! My shooting buddy has agreed to help me reclassify for the state match in Oct., EX class here I come!!

Robin

[gunsablazin]

Had a productive week of practice at home followed with a great trip to the range on Sun. I shot the classifier, missed EX class by 1.3 sec. still by far the best I have ever done on it. I lost it on the long range stage. The good thing is it showed me where I need to put in my best effort in practice, 15-20 yds. Like most shooters I like to do what is fun in practice which for me is close range high speed shooting. After shooting the classifier I did some long range shooting that went well and did some bills drills and el-prez I set my personal best on el-prez at 7.33 sec. only 4 down. I am confident I will do even better on the classifier next time, I realise now that there is no need to hurry on the 20 yd. part. If you have done well on stages 1 and 2 you have plenty of time on stage 3. I already knew that but knowing and seeing is two different things! Now there is only the doing.

Robin

[DaG]

Good shooting Rob.They used to have that many shooters at the USPSA match back when Dwight Warren it

I sure do miss those days........even Guncraft would pack 40 people in that small place at night.......

DaG

[et45]

Good shooting Rob.They used to have that many shooters at the USPSA match back when Dwight Warren it

I sure do miss those days........even Guncraft would pack 40 people in that small place at night.......

DaG

I miss Guncraft as well,Two 30 rd stages and a classifier that rarely ever got turned in to USPSA.But it was fun and Bill and Robert were good people.

[gunsablazin]

Another week of work has passed at last! Faithfully stuck to my dryfire routines all week and now I am going to the range for some fun! Friday night practice and an IDPA match Saturday morning, all is well. Talked to our match director last night and he has promised a series of good stages lifted from the masters in AL and we have a couple of new props to play with, sounds like fun. I may not have to SO tomorrow because I am taking photos for an information booklet I am doing to promote our club matches. When I am not shooting I work in the printing industry, not as much fun but damn near as loud. I keep picking up BE's book and reading random sections, seems like something new catches my attention almost everytime. I was talking to a buddy about the book and he laughed and said he wanted to shoot faster not be enlightened, so not everyone gets it. Don't get me wrong it is not my new "religion" but it has shown me a different way to look at my shooting, which is making a difference in my performance. The timer does not lie, I am improving little by little day by day. It helps me to just shoot with my buddies and compete with myself. Enough typing! I am off to the range.

Robin

[gunsablazin]

Crap!! they are killing me!! Shot Sat. morning had a good day, great weather, shot in a squad with some of my favorite people, etc. It is Mon. night and they have still not posted the scores. At the match I do not worry about results, but after I put my gear in the car and help break down and stow props I start to wonder about the numbers. Now I just gottsta know, did I beat G.H. or not! He is my favorite person to beat, one it don't happen every match, two it tears him up when I beat him. I know its mean but hearing his whining excuses for losing is priceless!! Hell, I like the guy but he cracks me up. Friday practice was very good, shot some 20 yd. bill drills and several other drills including close and intermediate distance shots. 20 yd. bill drill is an eye opener, when we moved to the normal 7 yds. it was like shooting at a barn. More longer range practice is the order of the day. Dry fire tonight and sneak in a quick trip to the range tomorrow, if all goes well at work. I will not quit until I make Master in CDP. (Then I'm going for ESR MA !!) I know one gun at a time.

Robin

[gunsablazin]

Finally got the results from Sat. Not too bad, But my boy G.H. got me by 1 second! We had only 28 shooters despite perfect weather, go figure. I finished at 2nd CDP 5th overall. I have been slacking up on my dryfire practice this week, no matches for the next two weekends. My assistant is on vacation this week and the 12 hour days reduce my will to practice. Seeing the scores from Sat. is enough to get me going again! Although I was 5th from the top I was the most accurate, just add speed and we have a winner. Going to get back after it tonight, reshooting the classifier Sun.

Robin

[gunsablazin]

Range time yesterday! Set up the classifier for me and some of the other guys I shoot with. I did not quite make EX in CDP again, off by 4 sec. Oh well, I just did not get it all together, I have days like that. The good part is I showed good improvement on stage 3. On the other hand I was slower on stages 1 and 2. My dry fire practice is going good, I am putting in 30-45 minutes almost everyday. I ease up on days I live fire and when I am sore from lifting weights. Even with the occasional set back I am confident I will make EX soon and MA in 6 months or so. I am slowly but steadily gaining ground, and I am having alot of fun in the process. Tell TGO he probably won't have to worry about me for another year or two!

Robin

[gunsablazin]

OK now it's time to get busy! Asking around on the forum got me some answers to some of the problems I have been having in practice. Forum member Doublehaul was kind enough to break the classifier down for me and give me some reasonable goals to shoot for. I am going to shoot the classifier every week, and practice the parts I need the most work on. I will focus on each shot and string and DECIDE EXCACTLY what I am going to do BEFORE I draw my gun! I caught myself shooting too many "hopers" last time I shot it. I will aim the gun no more hopers!

Robin "I have a dream" McKinney