Jay870 log

[Jay870]

I need to start tracking my progress and figure here is as good a place as any...

Production C class shooting a Glock 17 & looking to improve. Last year was my first full "season", and I honestly did not put much effort in to practicing. Made up my mind in December that I wanted to see what I could accomplish. I've been dry-firing quite a bit since mid-December. "Quite a bit" for me means 30 - 60 minutes a day, 4-5 times a week. I'm sure that is "quite a bit" for some and a drop in the bucket for others.

First live fire practice in forever tonight. I'm a little disappointed that my dry-fire improvement hasn't carried over to live fire as much as I'd hoped.

Best draw to "A" zone shot was 1.46 at 10 yards, and the average was about 1.7. At the end of last "season" 1.76 was my best draw to "A" zone shot, and my average was a 2.1. Definitely an improvement and I'm happy about that but know I need to bring that down.

Splits were mostly in the .5 to .6 range. These are awful and I was not at all happy about it. Dryfire doesn't present much opportunity to really "practice" splits, so I'm just going to need to turn up my live fire now that spring is here.

Reloads were pitiful, not a single one under 2 seconds. They were not at all smooth either. My true par-time on reloads is tough for me to gauge in dryfire but I can slap them in pretty consistently and it "feels" fast but I apparently have a lot more work to do.

I was definitely blinking for the entire session and could not shake it. I did not feel that I was "flinching" per say but I was not seeing the sights lift & return consistently. Also, when I really took my time and set my grip to what I thought it shoudl be I noticed my left hand was shifting forward a lot under recoil. However, when I was drawing to my grip, I noticed significantly less shift... still haven't figured that one out.

All in all an improvement. I have a long way to go before I'm knocking on the B class door though.

Edited April 4, 2008 by Jay870

[Jay870]

Tried to do a little grip analysis tonight during dry fire to try and figure out what the difference is between my grip when I approach it very slowly & deliberately vs. when I'm forming the grip quickly off the draw. The good thing is my grip was actually more stable on my draws vs. the slow & deliberate grip, but I'd like to understand why.

What I noticed is when I am forming the grip very deliberately, I am placing the heel of my support hand further back on the grip... nearly to the point where the rear most portion of my palm is just starting to curve around the rear of the grip. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but... I think it is putting my knuckles in a bad position when squeezing with the support hand. I think what is happening is that my fingers are not wrapped far enough around the strong hand, and as I'm squeezing with the support hand to apply side-to-side pressure, I am also pulling the palm of my support hand forward... thus explaining why the support hand was shifting forward in recoil.

On the other hand when I'm forming my grip from the draw I tend to make good contact on the "flat" of the grip, and wrap my fingers further around the strong hand, which in my case provides for a more consistent side-to-side pressure and less slippage in recoil.

Hope to be able to test this out in live fire shortly.

[Jay870]

Live fire today... 200 rounds.

I was able to confirm some of what I observed regarding my grip. I was getting much more consistent sight tracking with the support hand slightly more forward and with a stronger "squeeze".

Still had absolutely dismal draws & reloads. Also had a lot of trouble with my strong hand coming up too high on the grip on the draw. I'm used to getting "bit" a few times, but we're talking blood and bits of skin on the slide... definitely need to work on that in dry fire.

Much better job of calling on my shots and keeping my eyes open. My splits were slightly better as a result of it. Probably in large part due the fact that I was at the range alone, and was able to step out from under the metal roofed "firing line" and into the open air so the blast was significantly less. I still struggle with the blink though, and had to put a lot of focus on not blinking.

[Jay870]

I've been reworking my strong hand grip a little bit to more consistently keep the "web" under the beavertail (if you can even call that on a Glock). I finally found a couple of reliable index points I can use as guides to keep my hand in a better position. Now its on to putting in the dry fire reps to make it just happen... and trying to find a way to make it consistently happen on the odd-ball table starts & what-not. Another benefit I've found to reworking my grip in this way is that it results in less contact between the grip/frame & my trigger finger.

I also got a new Double Alpha Competition belt, and find that gives me a little extra room to work with on the draw in terms of distance between my body and the grip and I think that will be beneficial. I have kind of a high-waist, and I also have a very narrow waist in relation to my hips so that makes for some awkward geometry on the draw. I feel like I have to come way up high on the draw to clear the muzzle from the holster, and since my hips are wider than my waist it has a tenedancy to cant the grip inward, although I think the DA belt is going to help with that. Maybe I should petition to qualify for the 5.2.3.1 exception

[Jay870]

Did about 200 "hands at sides" draws and about 300 reloads last night in dryfire. All done slow with no par time or start time... just trying to get the feel.

The new competition belt is working out great. The little bit of extra lateral space is helpful on draws and reloads. I've also found that since the belt is so stiff in construction, I don't have to "cinch" it on nearly as tightly as I did with my Wilderness CSM to get a stable platform. Not only is this a little more comfortable, it also allows the belt to ride a little lower on my waist which helps with the draw stroke.

Hoping to get out for a couple hundred rounds of live-fire after work tonight. First match since October is coming up this weekend and I'm looking forward to it.

[Jay870]

200 rounds of live fire last night. Shot all two hundred rounds on one simple drill: draw, fire 2 shots, reload, fire 2 shots. My consistency definitely improved over my last outing. I was still slow, but I'll take slow & consistent over slow & sloppy any time.

Draws were largely in the 1.75 - 2.0 range, with a few faster and a few slower. I felt like I was getting a better grip, and didn't feel like I was hunting for the sights much after presentation to the target. I occasionally had problems with pulling the trigger too much from the side and having the trigger safety momentarily hang up. Something I can put a little extra focus on in dry fire.

Reloads were all still over 2 seconds but there was siginifcantly less fumbling of the mag insertion. I nail these in dry fire practice so all I can figure is I am not doing a good enough job of shifting my focus from shooting to the reload and back again. I think the weight of a loaded mag throws my rythm off a hair too. Another thing I noticed on these is I was for some reason bringing the gun down to chest level on quite a few reloads. I have no idea where this comes from as I am adamant about "keep the gun high" during all of my dry-fire practice.

Splits are still really disappointing... mostly in the .5 range, although towards the middle of the session I was getting down in the .4's and still getting good "A" hits. When I started pushing it and getting down into .3' my hits were consistently bad... C's mostly low and/or left. Also as the practice session went on I noticed my hits were drifting down in general... even my A's were bunching at the bottom. I'm guess I picked up a flinch or my grip was getting a little fatigued.

I think for the remainder of my dry-fire this week I'm going to keep it real simple and continue to focus on hands at sides draws & reloads.

[Jay6]

200 rounds of live fire last night. Shot all two hundred rounds on one simple drill: draw, fire 2 shots, reload, fire 2 shots. My consistency definitely improved over my last outing. I was still slow, but I'll take slow & consistent over slow & sloppy any time.

Draws were largely in the 1.75 - 2.0 range, with a few faster and a few slower. I felt like I was getting a better grip, and didn't feel like I was hunting for the sights much after presentation to the target. I occasionally had problems with pulling the trigger too much from the side and having the trigger safety momentarily hang up. Something I can put a little extra focus on in dry fire.

Reloads were all still over 2 seconds but there was siginifcantly less fumbling of the mag insertion. I nail these in dry fire practice so all I can figure is I am not doing a good enough job of shifting my focus from shooting to the reload and back again. I think the weight of a loaded mag throws my rythm off a hair too. Another thing I noticed on these is I was for some reason bringing the gun down to chest level on quite a few reloads. I have no idea where this comes from as I am adamant about "keep the gun high" during all of my dry-fire practice.

Splits are still really disappointing... mostly in the .5 range, although towards the middle of the session I was getting down in the .4's and still getting good "A" hits. When I started pushing it and getting down into .3' my hits were consistently bad... C's mostly low and/or left. Also as the practice session went on I noticed my hits were drifting down in general... even my A's were bunching at the bottom. I'm guess I picked up a flinch or my grip was getting a little fatigued.

I think for the remainder of my dry-fire this week I'm going to keep it real simple and continue to focus on hands at sides draws & reloads.

I am not sure if you reload but you might want to mix up some dummy rounds to put in the mag for practice so the weight is the same as live fire. If you do not reload see if a friend will make some up for you. I actually put some lead split shot in the bullets to make them even heavier which helps with speed going back to a lighter "full gun". Just make sure you mark the dummy rounds VERY clearly in order to make sure there is never any confusion with live ammo!

[Jay870]

Yeah, that is a good idea. I guess I could ask someone at the club to make up a dozen "empties" for me.

I have Rock Chucker press but no 9mm dies. I'm saving up for a SDB or 550 but that is months away unless I stumble across a good deal on a used one.

Thanks.

[Jay6]

Yeah, that is a good idea. I guess I could ask someone at the club to make up a dozen "empties" for me.

I have Rock Chucker press but no 9mm dies. I'm saving up for a SDB or 550 but that is months away unless I stumble across a good deal on a used one.

Thanks.

Hey no prob! Let me know if you can not find anyone to help you and I will do some up for you and mail them!

[Jay870]

First match of 08' is tomorrow. Looking forward to it even though it looks to be rainy.

Goals for the match:

1 - Have fun.

2 - Be smooth on the draws & reloads. I've spent a lot of time in practice just slowing these down to get the mechanics & "groove" right.

3 - Shoot accurately. We have a lot of 8" plates and mini-poppers, and some arrays where a mike will cost Production shooters an extra reload. I want first shot drops on the steel.

[Jay870]

First match of 08' is tomorrow. Looking forward to it even though it looks to be rainy.

Goals for the match:

1 - Have fun. Accomplished

2 - Be smooth on the draws & reloads. I've spent a lot of time in practice just slowing these down to get the mechanics & "groove" right. Mediocre

3 - Shoot accurately. We have a lot of 8" plates and mini-poppers, and some arrays where a mike will cost Production shooters an extra reload. I want first shot drops on the steel. Mediocre... had to take 2nd shots on 3 steel... but there was a lot of steel.

Todays match was pretty bad really. Lots of mental mistakes that cost me a lot of time. Reloading at bad spots, not following the target sequences I had planned. And to top it all off I threw an extra shot on a Virginia Count classifier.

Trigger technique was sloppy most of the day, although I think I finally got it straightened out on the last stage. I was yanking the trigger and pulling shots low on my slow shots, and otherwise just not grouping well on my faster shots... although I didn't have many mikes for the day.

Next match is two weeks away. I'm going to continue to work mostly on simple draws & reloads in dryfire, and pay special attention to trigger technique if/when I can make it for live fire. Re-read some sections of Brian's book last night actually and although it obvisouly didn't help in today's match, I think there are some pearls of wisdom I can try to incorporate into my next live fire. Onward & upward.

On a more positive note... we had 25 or so shooters today which is much better than our early season turnouts last year. We had at least 8 "regulars" that missed this match that we are expecting for our May match. We also had 3 first timers, and a spectator scoping things out who said they'd be shooting at the next match.

[Jay870]

Work has been crazy so dry-fire has been a little sporadic, and probably will be for the next week or so. Next match is coming up on Saturday and I doubt I'll make it out for any live fire before then. I've got a big industry conference to get out of the way next week, then I should be able to get back into more of a predictable schedule and actually have some so-called "free time".

Now that warmer weather is sticking around I'm migrating my dry-fire setup from the basement to the garage, where I have more space and much better lighting. Auto detailing is one of my other hobbies so I have enough lumens in the garage to put a tanning booth to shame. The light helps a ton is getting a good front sight focus.

Reloads are coming along but I am still missing probably 3 out of 10 when I really start pushing it. I find that I tend to either bring the mag up on the far side of the magwell, or the other comming misfire is bring it up too far to the rear of the magwell, adn the rim of the lead catridge catches in the recess cut in the rear of the magwell (Glock). I do seem to be doing a better job of being fast to the belt, and getting a good grip on the mag, but something is getting out of whack on the orientation & insertion. I'm still doing lots of slow reps for form, and I'm really only trying to blaze on the last 20 reps or so.

My goals for Saturdays match are:

1) Have fun.

2) Smooth reloads.

3) Better trigger control, primarily focus on getting a good smooth squeeze instead of a quick jerk.

[Jay870]

Much better match this past Saturday.

First two stages were pretty rough, but I feel like I shot the remainder of them pretty well. Not flawless by any means, but I felt like my shooting had shown progress.

Really for the first time I felt like I recognized/experienced the different types of focus that BE talks about. We had a stage that had a good mix of "up close and personal" and distant paper + steel. I shot the close targets entirely with "target focus", and I was basically shooting off my index. On the distant shots and steel I was able to automatically shift my focus to to the front sight and slow down as necessary.

Not all is rosey however. I am still having a tough time following my "stage plan" once the shooting starts. I am especially forgetting to reload where I have planned reloads... which of course bollocks-up a lot of the rest of the stage.

Overally I am happy that I feel that I have improved... that is huge incentive to keep me on track with dry-fire and making additional time for live-fire exercises.

Next week is 3-day "tactical pistol" class with Randy Cain. I am really looking forward to that regardless of whether it improves my "game" shooting or not.

[Jay870]

Took Randy Cain's (aka Cumberland Tactics) Tactical Pistol 101 class this week... wow, what a great class. This course obviously focused on defensive use of a handgun, but I have no doubt it will improve my game shooting as well. Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals.

[Jay870]

200 rounds of live fire last night.

Did approximately 100 rounds of simple slow-fire group shooting at 15 yards, and another 30 or so of simple groups at 7 yards. Even though I was grouping pretty well I mas making the stupid mistake of not following through on my sights, and I didn't even realize it until about halfway through. Dumb stuff like that really burns my ass, but I guess that is why I practice.

The remaining 70 or so rounds I did on a simple draw, shoot two, reload, shoot two drill. Draws were terribly slow, I don't know that I had a single one below 2 seconds. The fact that I spent 3 days last week doing a couple of hundred "tactical draws" out of a leather IWB holster my have something to do with that. Reloads are showing improvement... for the first time I can say they were reliably under 2 seconds, even if just barely. Accuracy remained acceptable with splits down to low-to-mid .4's. When I started pushing down into the .3's the groups really started opening up.

Another continuing problem I have is building up a ton of tension in my shoulders as I shoot, especially on the strong-hand side. Blinking continues to be an issue as well. I was able to get it corrected temporarily, but another shooter arrived at the range so I had to move back under the covered firing line where I'm pretty much guaranteed to blink due to the added noise.

Next match is June 7th so I hope to get back out for 2 or 3 more live fire practices before then.

[Jay870]

Bah, have barely practiced at all in the past week. A few 30 minute dry-fire sessions with half-assed focus and that is it. I just haven't made the time for it given the OT at work and all the extra house/yard work that comes with spring. Since I don't make the time at night I guess I need to start rolling out of bed at 5 a.m. again to make sure it gets done before I go to work, even though I feel like that is a less effective time to do it... at least that way I'm doing something.

Hoping to get for a couple of hundred rounds of live fire tomorrow night. With any luck I'll be solo at the range so I can start working on some arrays, transitions and movement.

[Jay870]

Pulled a 1.14 draw to "A" on Saturday. I don't know if I'd say it was entirely luck... but I definitely didn't have front sight focus when I fired the shot. Average was probably in the 1.45 neighborhood... so that is showing some improvement overall.

We have a match this Saturday, then two week after that I'm working & shooting the Area 5 Championship match. This will be my first "major" match so I'm looking forward to that.

[Jay870]

Local match tomorrow and my number one goal is to focus on following my stage plan. My mechanics have been improving with dryfire practice but I've consistently hosed myself on stages by missing my reload cues, performing standing reloads, taking targets out of sequence, etc...

It would also be nice to shoot the classifier well. The two classifiers I've shot thus far have been pitiful.

Should be a fun match. The club is starting to get a better selection of props and we're putting them to good use. The Texas Star will be back for the first time this season... it is going to be hidden, and popper activated so that the star goes into motion at the same time it is revealed. Yeah, I'm going to go ahead stuff some extra mags in my pockets for that stage.

[Jay870]

So... why doesn't this board have a :barf: smiley? That is about how I feel about yesterdays performance.

So many mental mistakes. Here is FU #1: Shooting to drop an 8" plate that I had already knocked sideways, even though I KNEW the rule was that any hit on a plate counts since plates can't be calibrated. Why did I keep shooting at it? I HAVE NO IDEA. I'm sure it added at least 10 seconds to my time. Dumb.

Did not follow my stage plans well. I would say half of my reloads came from slide-lock because I just missed my cue.

On bright note the gun handling actually felt really good. I had a couple of draws that felt so quick that I did a mental "whoa" when the sights came up. I don't know that the were actually quick or not, but they felt quick. Reloads felt really good most of the day as well... I just wish so many of them weren't prompted by an empty gun.

Funny occurence of the day (to me at least)... I had shot like crap all day and the second to last stage had an array of 9 steel and I told myself that I was going to clean sweep this damn steel. Draw to first shot was 5.5 seconds! The shot just would not break but I just wouldn't let myself yank the trigger... and eventualy the shot broke. And the steel went down.

[Jay870]

Well... first post here in a long time.

The end of June and most of July were a blur of 80 hour work weeks. Blah. Haven't been to the range aside from a match in nearly 2 months. Another summer blown behind a computer screen.

The local match in July (what I can remember of it) went ok. There were a lot of static stages with tight shots at this match and sometimes I have trouble switching gears from bullet hose to bullseye but overall I did decent. I had a couple of mental mistakes, and had a malfunction. Click instead of bang on a loaded chamber... it appeared to be in battery before I cleared it, and I could not find the offending catridge after the stage so I'm not sure what the hell happened.

The August match was this past weekend and I felt pretty good about it. What I felt best about was that I really followed my stage plans well for once. Very few "doh!" momements. My accuracy was only so-so, and I badly fumbled a couple of reloads, but given my lack of practice time in the past month and a half or so that is to be expected I guess.

Now that work has lightened up I do plan on getting back in to a consistent dry fire routine, and hope to make it out for some live fire practice at least 3 or 4 times before the September match.

Edited August 4, 2008 by Jay870

[Jay870]

---

Working on an overall "reset" in my shooting. Last summer after some very disappointing match performances and a general level of stagnation in my skills in spite of a lot of time and money invested in practice I simply decided I was "doing it wrong" and took a break from shooting for about 8 months and tried to forget everything I thought I knew.

After a slow ramp up through spring and early summer I have both the passion for the sport and the drive to improve back.

As it stands I am a B class in Limited Division, shooting a Glock 24.

My goal is to simply learn to be a better shooter.

---

Edited July 10, 2013 by Jay870

[Jay870]

7/9/2013 -Dry Fire 75 Minutes AM

White Wall Fundamentals

Single Target Gun Handling

Reload Challenge

El Presidente

Wide Transitions

Great practice. Worked in some extra draw work between the blocks. Gun handling was crisp. Grip was very consistent. Need to focus on staying relaxed through the shoulders and upper arms on the El Pres turn & draw. Mental focus was wandering a bit by the time I was to Wide Transitions... forearm and eye fatigue, and just generally too little sleep and too much coffee.

[Jay870]

7/10/2013 - DryFire 75 Minutes AM

White Wall Fundamentals

Close Target Gun Handling

Close Far Close (x2)

Advanced Gun Handling

Tough practice. No coordination this morning, surrender draws were smoking but hands at sides starts and reloads were all kinds of wrong and couldn't settle it down. Tried to accept it for what it was and focus on the sights and trigger. Did a better job of maintaining steady mental focus througout even though I wasn't executing particularly well.

[Jay870]

7/11/2013 - DryFire 40 Minutes AM

White Wall Fundamentals

Far Target Gun Handling (I do these on a 10 yard upper a-zone rather than on a scaled/simulated 25 yard full target)

Port to Port

Took it easy this morning since I am planning on live fire tonight. Draws were all over the place, started off iffy, then I found the groove, and then it went away. Frustrating because I have made huge improvements in the last 3 weeks and it feels like I'm regressing. Was picking up the sights well, reloads were snappy and my support hand grip after the load was dead on. Lots of work to do on Port to Port, maneuvering the gun felt sloppy and I found myself hunting for the sights a lot.

[Jay870]

7/11/2013 Live Fire PM

Didn't learn anything about shooting, but learned something about practicing and that is work with what you are given.

Wanted to start off the practice with shooting groups on paper plates at 25 yards. I was in the shade, the targets were in the sun and the sun was directly behind me. Looking at that paper plate was basically like looking into a lightbulb, and it was just impossible to get any kind of focus on the sights. So had I been smart, I'd have just switched to some less accuracy intensive drills until the sun dropped some more. But I'm not smart, so I kept shooting shotgun pattern groups until I was thoroughly frustrated and pissed. Finally moved on to some other drills but at that point it was too late and I was just wasting ammo. Finished up with that and had 3 rounds left in the box so figured I may as well shoot them for a group. Sun had dropped in the meantime, the sight came up in crystal clear focus and I put all 3 shots into the upper A-zone at 25 yards.