j1b Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 In general, I agree to the concept of simplicity - train to one thing, etc. However, I load my mags to 15 for stand and shoots, and even during field courses, mags that I load to aren't stuffed to the gills. The reasons are fairly simple - at least with my mags, full mags take a firm bang to seat them. Downloading by one gives a lot of extra margin for error on seating the mag. For whatever reason, I find that I pilot the mags more accurately and quickly with a mid-weight load in them. Too heavy or too light, and the loads just get slower. That doesn't stop me from practicing and dry firing with full mags (including full big-sticks) - and my times aren't that dissimilar with full mags - as Jack says, it doesn't make a huge difference.In the end, its probably more of a comfort level thing - I've done it that way for an awful long time, so... I do download one round (particularly in double stack mags) when a stage will allow me to. Definitly takes a little risk out of not seating the mag well enough. J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calamity Jane Posted January 10, 2008 Author Share Posted January 10, 2008 I've shot some video. Very eye opening. I'm going to work on some problem areas identified....and then I'll make a video for you all to see Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Moore Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 c'mon jane, we're still waiting to see pics of the new lighting in the basement dojo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calamity Jane Posted January 10, 2008 Author Share Posted January 10, 2008 c'mon jane, we're still waiting to see pics of the new lighting in the basement dojo. Visual patience my friend....visual patience. Do you honestly think I'm going to let all the world see my messy basement? There's some clean up work still to do. When I think it is presentable...I'll post. Don't hold your breath for the weekend... I'm too busy to work on it. Perhaps next week. If I can get Jackson to find the "before" picture...I might post that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Moore Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Visual patience my friend....visual patience. too funny...make sure all the tighty whities are out of the pic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calamity Jane Posted January 15, 2008 Author Share Posted January 15, 2008 This was a tremendous project for me. A special thank you goes to my two sons who did most of the physical labor. It was a 12 week labor intensive effort that I could not have done without their help. BEFORE AFTER What I'm able to do now: Dry fire without distractions Work lateral movement Work movement down a hallway See better because of the added light Feel better because of the improved atmosphere Get to work because I've got a place to work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoMiE Posted January 15, 2008 Share Posted January 15, 2008 (edited) That's awesome, wish I had a practice room facility like that. No excuses now. Edited January 15, 2008 by HoMiE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whisky Posted January 15, 2008 Share Posted January 15, 2008 That's awesome, wish I had a practice room facility like that. No excuses now. Exellent 5s...Been reading your progress...looking forward to shooting with your family again!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calamity Jane Posted January 15, 2008 Author Share Posted January 15, 2008 That's awesome, wish I had a practice room facility like that. No excuses now. "Whatever it takes." "No excuses, no explanations." Quote from Tony Dungy I think that pretty much sums up my situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Moore Posted January 15, 2008 Share Posted January 15, 2008 WOW! what a transformation, i'm very impressed. is jackson for hire? i need someone to help me with my junk pile. what in the world did you do with all that stuff? i want to know when can i come over and play? nice work jane, outstanding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calamity Jane Posted January 16, 2008 Author Share Posted January 16, 2008 WOW! what a transformation, i'm very impressed. is jackson for hire? i need someone to help me with my junk pile. what in the world did you do with all that stuff? i want to know when can i come over and play? nice work jane, outstanding. Thomas you were the catalyst that helped me complete this project. Thank you! What did I do with the junk? Insert heavy sigh....Have you ever watched the TV show Clean Sweep? That's what I did. I made 3 piles. 1. Keep pile 2. Garage sale pile 3. Trash pile Basically I kept repeating that process until it was all gone...except garage sale stuff got taken to Good Will. It required persistence...which was a good mental exercise. Basement/dry fire range project......I WIN! My next project for Jackson is to modify my dry fire target stands so that they can hold 2 different targets. There will be a front target and a back target in one target stand. The idea is to set up those stands so that I can basically turn them around and change my targets. That way I can easily switch what I'm looking at at each dry fire session. I'm going to shoot tomorrow and record some more stuff. Then I'm going to ship my gun to the gun smith to be chromed and tuned. Thanks to a very good friend who has loaned his open gun to my son...I've got a back up 40 cal open gun to play with while my gun is gone. I've bought some play dough, modeling clay and masking tape...I'm going to do some experimenting with grip development. I'm considering making an epoxy adaptation to the left side of my grip so that I can possibly get the glove off this year. If Saul and Henning can do it..why can't I?? I've come a long way since I went to ladies camp in 2004. In 2004 I was most anxious about taking my gun apart to clean...I could barely do it. Look at me now! Whatever it takes...no excuses..no explanations... It's time to get to work. I've learned a few things these past few weeks in my training plan. I'm going to re-tool a little bit. There is only so much of me to go around. I need to re-prioritize a few things. Sometimes this whole shooting endeavor feels like my messy basement. It is overwhelming....you need others to help you...it takes persistence and hard work...and you wonder if you will ever finish what you started out to do. I'm going to finish. I'm going to win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 Jane, I am impressed! PM inbound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 Sometimes this whole shooting endeavor feels like my messy basement. It is overwhelming....you need others to help you...it takes persistence and hard work...and you wonder if you will ever finish what you started out to do. All good stuff, Jane. One thought about this... one thing that I keep in mind for these "long haul efforts".... How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calamity Jane Posted January 16, 2008 Author Share Posted January 16, 2008 Whatever it takes, No excuses, No explanations...comes from Tony Dungy's book Quiet Strength. I'm amazed at how many times I've had to say that to myself in the last 48 hours. XRE...I want to eat the elephant. I'm trying to get to the elephant to take a bite but I'm having trouble. I woke up this morning thinking I had the whole day to "catch up" at home, plan my shooting, go to the range etc... This was my day to finally focus on the things I wanted to focus on. Plus..today it is going to be 38 degrees and sunny...perfect winter day to shoot. WRONG! Looked at the family calendar and see that I have a 1000 dentist appointment (Takes 1 hr to drive to doc / 2 hour round trip in the car) and my son has a 4:30 pm MD appointment. Pretty much breaks the day apart. I'm disappointed that I'm not going to get my perfect day but I'm going to make the most of it. Whatever it takes... I'm headed to the basement to load up my range gear so that I can squeeze a few hours on the range between the dentist and my son's doctor appointment. Needed to post to get over my disappointment. "The person who really wants to do something finds a way; the other person finds an excuse." ~Author Unknown Stole this quote from another thread that "Homie" posted on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 XRE...I want to eat the elephant. I'm trying to get to the elephant to take a bite but I'm having trouble. Funny... what's that on your plate that you just went back for fourth helpings of??? Everything is interconnected, and the elephant is not just the shooting journey - its everything in addition to the shooting bits that makes the whole thing seem to large and daunting. The basement project is totally part of it How does your elephant taste, anyway? Mines a little tough and overdone, but has a great after taste... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calamity Jane Posted January 16, 2008 Author Share Posted January 16, 2008 XRE...I want to eat the elephant. I'm trying to get to the elephant to take a bite but I'm having trouble. Funny... what's that on your plate that you just went back for fourth helpings of??? Everything is interconnected, and the elephant is not just the shooting journey - its everything in addition to the shooting bits that makes the whole thing seem to large and daunting. The basement project is totally part of it How does your elephant taste, anyway? Mines a little tough and overdone, but has a great after taste... HHMMM..so if everything is the elephant...I guess I've got a mouth full right now, and yes I would say it's a little tough But the dentist says I've got good teeth so I think I'll be able to continue on. I just got back fron the range. I love to shoot. I keep thinking the feeling will go away or get dull over time...but it hasn't. Anyway, did some more time trial stuff but was having trouble with my timer picking up echos So it was a little difficult to get accurate times. I was able to see what I needed to see. I've got some more holster adjustments to make. The main reason I'm doing the time trials is basically to record a baseline. It's just a way for me to see improvement. In real life competition, time doesn't exist. I only shoot what I can see. The value of this exercise for me is...I'm setting up another way for me to win. If I shave off time from skills...it's a win. If I never record...I can't claim the victory. Started out the morning a little grumpy but feeling pretty blessed right now and mighty grateful that I had the day off to shoot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calamity Jane Posted January 22, 2008 Author Share Posted January 22, 2008 (edited) Hind Sight is 20/20 There is a wise saying, "Hind sight is 20/20". I'm feeling that today. I'm looking behind me and evaluating where I've been these past few months. I'm very pleased. My basement is clean I've done my time trials My gun is currently in Arizona at M2i getting some work done I've set some enabling goals based on my time trials for the next few weeks I've figured out a better holster set up I have done some good work. However, this next month I really want to "get at it". I think having specific goals written down is going to help me get there. The vision is clear in the rear view mirror....time to move forward. ***shooting a 40 cal open gun while my 38 super comp is gone. Anyone have a good load please PM me Would like to use VV powder. AND yes ... ofcourse I'll do a search I know that info is somewhere on the forum. Edited January 22, 2008 by Calamity Jane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Di Vita Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Ask Flyin40. He uses a .40 in Open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Moore Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Flyin40 shoots a 40s&w open gun. aka john fadorsen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calamity Jane Posted January 23, 2008 Author Share Posted January 23, 2008 Thanks guys! I'll shoot John a PM and see if he'll share his loading secrets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocket35 Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Awesome transfirmation on the basement Jane- way to stick with it! I look forward to meeting and working with you guys at the IN Section this summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calamity Jane Posted January 24, 2008 Author Share Posted January 24, 2008 "The most important battles to win are the ones that take place inside of us." Jane Ball Taking the Shot I had an amazing experience this past November. My brother took me deer hunting for the first time. We stalked our way to the tree stands by the cover of night. With the wind gently blowing the tree side to side, I watched the sun rise sitting 20 feet off the ground with a loaded shot gun across my lap. It was an amazing feeling. After sun rise the deer started parading in front of me. I saw 2 buck and 8 doe that morning. All the deer were outside my kill zone which was disappointing. However, I did get my gun up several times looking for the shot. The sight of that buck in my scope still haunts me today. I learned a lot about hunting and a little about myself that morning. I came away with a feeling of awe about the concept of "the shot". When you hunt you have to wait for the shot. Sometimes you have to wait quite awhile before the deer stumbles into your kill zone. Once the deer arrives, there is this very small period of time (seconds actually) where the deer gives you the shot. It's at that moment when you have to squeeze the trigger. To hesitate is to lose the shot forever. When the deer gives, you have to be prepared to take. To be competitive I believe one must have the ability to take. Let me give you a recent sports example. Dave and I watched the Green Bay vs Giants game. Wow! What a game! At the end of the game I saw the concept of give and take being played out. Bret Favre (super hot in Wanglers BTW) didn't really have much going the last 3 possessions of the game. He gave opportunity to Eli Manning which Eli took! Eli put his kicker in position to win the game three times! With the exception of the last kick that won the game the kicker gave the opportunity to win back to Bret Favre. Green Bay just didn't have it in them to capitalize on the opportunity for whatever reason. In the end it was the Giants ability to take that won them the game. OK…what does this have to do with me? I'm soul searching wondering if I can take more than I give competitively? I want to believe I seize opportunity when it arises. But can I? Am I? Or am I hesitating and losing my shot forever? I don't have the answers but I do know I have to win this battle inside of myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 OK, but.... did you go to the bathroom in the woods, or not?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carinab Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Thanks for that informative comment Derrick.... Further proof of the difference between the sexes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calamity Jane Posted January 24, 2008 Author Share Posted January 24, 2008 OK, but.... did you go to the bathroom in the woods, or not?? Very funny Here I am having a soul searching moment...and you want to know if I pee'd in the woods. Men! Humor much appreciated. No I didn't pee in the woods....but I'm going to next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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