big_kahuna Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 Since the box distance during these drills were fairly close together, i worked on stepping in and beginning to shoot while one foot was still in the air. -Nick Just to clarify, you are not breaking the shot on one leg, are you? I think (hope) you are probably prepping the shot (taking out the pretravel in the trigger pull) and refining the sight picture as your second foot is in motion and coming in to the box... then breaking the shot after that second foot gently touches down. Is this the case? Thanks son, keep up the good work... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little_kahuna Posted April 25, 2008 Author Share Posted April 25, 2008 Yea practicing the "right way" lol, not practicing cheating lol Doing exactly what you described there -Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronjbush12 Posted April 26, 2008 Share Posted April 26, 2008 Since the box distance during these drills were fairly close together, i worked on stepping in and beginning to shoot while one foot was still in the air. -Nick Just to clarify, you are not breaking the shot on one leg, are you? I think (hope) you are probably prepping the shot (taking out the pretravel in the trigger pull) and refining the sight picture as your second foot is in motion and coming in to the box... then breaking the shot after that second foot gently touches down. Is this the case? Thanks son, keep up the good work... Wouldn't both ways be helpfull? Many shots start with one foot on the ground (one target in a window, the first plate in the second box on outer limits ect....) and getting a stable position for more percise shots or longer strings with both feet on the ground. Then again i've been dead for the last 15 years so what do I know..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little_kahuna Posted April 26, 2008 Author Share Posted April 26, 2008 (edited) lol "dead" for fifteen years...hehe sounds good though, ill work on both. =D well i hope to get in some good practice today before the match tomorrow, i will update my practice session when i get back. Nick Edited April 26, 2008 by little_kahuna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little_kahuna Posted April 28, 2008 Author Share Posted April 28, 2008 We were awake early today to go down to the Southwest pistol league match. We stopped in to pick up AAron and we were off. The match was 8 stages, all were pretty good stages if ive ever seen some. The first stage for me wasnt all that bad, which is pretty unusual, because it usually takes me the first stage or two to warm up, but today i did well on the first. The second was not so good. I think the problem was in my plan, i was trying to squeeze more out of the situation than i should have, pushed the limits too far, which damaged my performance. There were 3 plates which had to be engaged from behind a thin barricade, and i tried to get 'em all from one side, which forced me to totally contort my body sideways to hit the furthest one, and i dont think that the sights were adjusted sideways Other than that wreck of a plan, the rest of the day was pretty good, still pushing a little too hard for a match day, i ran everything a little bit too quick to see everything that needed seeing. In the overall pulled a couple mikes and broke perf on a no-shoot If i had been more relaxed i think i would have done a ton better, but some of my stages were exceptional for my expecations, and now ive got to work on making that more consistent. A big thing that i learned this match was to make a reasonable plan that can be remembered easily and executed efficiently. I believe the rush was still a bit of quirkiness or nervousness which i need to work on. I believe that being in a state of unrelaxation really hurts my performance as i have seen all too well in the past, and now revisited a bit on today. Lunch was served, which was good, and we headed home. Ultimately, i was fairly content with my performance in general, but some of the little things really need work, and i'm anxious to get out to practice this week. Most of the things that i find a big problem with, really show up during matches, and much less during practice. This match made me feel the need to reinforce the mental steadiness that ive been working on. My performance is much much more consistent when i have a calm mind, even though its almost portrayed to be "slower" or "worse". But the results excede my expectations every time i shoot calmly. Seems to me like a really influential aspect to the sport overall: psychological/mental calm state of being. More practice vids being worked on, sadly no vids from the match today, but probably the next one, in the next few weeks. Ill post 'em ASAP. -Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronjbush12 Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Thanks for dragging my sick butt out yesterday! Lets not forget 3 cheers for Range Dad, your the best Cesar!!! You are on to something really big here Nick, trying to get ahead with little tricks is probably the biggest mistake that people make. It seems to me that folks get to a certain point with their shooting when they are doing well and think that gaming a stage or putting a extra port on the compensator is going to put them over the top. The biggest trick there is would be shooting to your ability consistently. I've been shooting with you for about 6 months now, and you have some of the best core skills I have ever seen. Some of your abilities are on the GM and above level. Here is my challenge to you.....Shoot a start to finish solid match, no misses, no shoots or silly slow stages. once you do this a couple of things are going to happen 1) Your gona be really supprised where you finish (just behind the Teran's and JoJo's) 2) You will have a really great baseline on what you need to work on (Its usually a lot different that you think...) This range diary this is kina fun, I think I will start one...(I was born a a poor black child....) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big_kahuna Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Nick: You continue to make me proud. Good on ya for more reasons I can list here. Keep up the great work! Aaron: Thanks for everything (again, too many things to list). It's great to be here to eyewitness you (a) coming back from the dead and (b ) encouraging & helping my kid. PS I was a poor Pacific Islander child in Biloxi MS, late 60's to early 70's... guess how many times I was the Indian in games of Cowboys and Indians? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little_kahuna Posted April 28, 2008 Author Share Posted April 28, 2008 (edited) No problem AAron =D Yeah, thanks a bunch dad, i wouldnt be able to do any of this without your help and support, my continuation in uspsa is directly affected by your involvment Thanks!! Thanks for the input and faith in my level of competancy aaron I really think that shooting to your ability consistently is what i need to do. Looking forward to the next chance for me to give this whole "consistency" thing a try I hope i do as well as you think i will. heh The range diary is probably one of the most useful tools at one's disposal, due to the ability to receive input from other users on Benos, most of which really have lots of experience and knowledge. Thanks again for the input from everyone. Thanks AAron coming to matches and teaching me so much, dad thanks for all the (financial/moral) support and mentoring Lookin forward to much more match time/instructing before one of us dies for 15 years (again) -Nick Edited April 28, 2008 by little_kahuna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little_kahuna Posted April 30, 2008 Author Share Posted April 30, 2008 Just finished up some Dryfire drills, nothin fancy, just static, 6 reload 6, hands above shoulders, and el prez mostly maintainence drills, worked on smoothness and consistency, didnt really mess up any reloads or draws, everything went pretty smooth, overall was a successful ½hour practice. My left index finger is gettin sore though, i think its because of the way i reload. At step 1 while dropping my spent mag I move my left hand to the mag as quickly as possible, slapping my index finger on the front of the mag while snatching it from the pouch. Thinking about making that first step of the reload a little less violent/rushed. -Nick p.s. i passed the written portion of my driving test today as well, just a few months from complete freedom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little_kahuna Posted May 1, 2008 Author Share Posted May 1, 2008 I kinda switched things up a bit today. I practiced engaging targets around a barricade, both from either side and from underneath it. I found that it is really challenging to maintain the same split and transition times when trying to move around the barricade. I tried to make those as consistent as i could throughout. I practiced kneeling as well as squatting when i went underneath, which was also fairly difficult, but im still a kid, and i used to wrestle so it didn't kill me lol. During each run i shot a couple targets from one side of the barricade, then shot another couple from the other side. I worked on getting around the barricade as smoothly as possible, allowing myself the room to enter and exit the positions on either side as much as i could. iIt was about a ½-¾ hour practice seesson. It went really well and I feel like it is something which is greatly underpracticed. It's definitely something which ill be adding to my daily practice schedule. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little_kahuna Posted May 2, 2008 Author Share Posted May 2, 2008 Dad just helped me run a pretty good practice session. Just some movement drills: 6 reload 6 moving side to side and forward and back. Then i worked on smoothing out the mag grab of my reload. I am still grabbing the mag a little to violently, slapping the front of the mag pretty hard. I tried to make it as smooth (and unpainful) as possible. lol The movement drills went well, got out of and into the boxes smoothly and quickly. Maintained a good sight picture on all my shots as well. The reload work was pretty successful as well. I ended up slowing down RIGHT before the actual grasping of the mag, and sped up afterwards. It works really well but will take a little more practice to make it unconcious. I think its a good solution to the mag-grab problem i had/have. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little_kahuna Posted May 3, 2008 Author Share Posted May 3, 2008 Last night my friend Russ and I practiced some static drills. We worked on transitions between plates, between paper, and between plates and paper. After that we did some reload drills, practicing using all of the mag pouches. The plate-paper transition drills were tough when under time pressure, trying to maintain similar split and transition times. After a bunch of runs on those, i began too feel more comfortable with them. The reload drills were really helpful. I dont often practice mag draws from the other pouches besides the first, and it really increased my awareness of their location on my belt. I found that step 2 of the reload became even more important when drawing from the second, third, and fourth pouches, simply because of unfamiliarity. After a lot of runs, they became much easier. I think that those types of things really only require a lot of repetitions to ingrain in the subconcious. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little_kahuna Posted May 3, 2008 Author Share Posted May 3, 2008 (edited) Just worked on some movement drills with Russ. We practiced on paper and plate arrays, moving between two boxes, going both directions. We did a set of drills with reloads, and a set of drills without reloads. After the drills we discussed what we observed, and tweeked our technique a little bit. During the drills with reloads, i learned that due to the limited space in our practice room, the reload is timed differently than the shots and transitions, in order to make it between the boxes. I was able to adjust to reloading in different amounts of space between shooting areas. During the non-reload drills, the location of the gun in relation to my body was a major factor in smoothness and efficiency. Instead of completely breaking my grip, or holding the gun at complete extension, i have always come to high ready when moving short distances. During long distances i break my grip to run/move quickly. Having a loose (but still connected) grip on the pistol with both hands really helped when moving short distances. It helped to be able to acquire a quick solid grip as soon as i step into the box. Nick Edited May 3, 2008 by little_kahuna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little_kahuna Posted May 5, 2008 Author Share Posted May 5, 2008 Well finally got out for some livefire practice (right before i went to see Iron Man AGAIN! ) Worked on transitions. Two boxes, two paper from one box, two steel from the other. 15 yrds I did a whole bunch of runs, in both directions. It seems like i do better if i start on the steel. I felt more calm during the beginning of my run, but i had good ones in both directions. I think in the runs i had i only had a couple "D's" which is a couple too many, but after i got settled and "in the zone" i did really well. not too many make-ups on the steel either Right before cleaning up, i did some really close transition drills. the two paper were like 2" apart, at like 5 yds, did two on each for a mag as fast as i could. It seems to help my splits with this (eww! ) glock trigger. lol Was a good practice, about 200 rds or so. Hope to get some more of these sessions in soon. -Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little_kahuna Posted May 8, 2008 Author Share Posted May 8, 2008 ONE DAY LATE last night i practiced simple static drills. 6 reload 6, 6r6 hands above shoulders, and el prez. During the drill i tried to reload differently (in reference to another thread about reloading) but it didnt quite work out. They way i reaload seems to work fine for me. All drills went smoothly. The magazine draw is getting softer and smoother every time i draw it. I am not really injuring myself drawing my mags anymore lol. planning on some more dryfire drills today, then livefire later this week. Looking forward to it -Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big_kahuna Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 Keep up the good work son! Glad you are making progress in refining the reload. Practice should not cause pain or injury (well, except for wearing off your skin on the grip tape as we discussed... skin grows back). Call me later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little_kahuna Posted May 18, 2008 Author Share Posted May 18, 2008 I shot a match today. I have been pretty busy growing up and working this week, so i haven't been able to practice much. It shows. I don't think there was a stage today that I didn't have a no-shoot, mike, or standing reload on. My stage plans, and fundamentals were pretty good, but i forgot how to shoot. Got lots of practice to do this week, next match will be better. I didn't see enough. -Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big_kahuna Posted May 18, 2008 Share Posted May 18, 2008 No worries Nick... everyone has an off day. Retain the "lessons learned" from today's shooting, and flush the rest. A wise man once said that showing up is half the battle. Haven't seen you in a couple weeks now, we miss you lots (even your sister misses you but don't tell her I said so). Gramps is coming up later this week and maybe you can ride up with him and visit us. Recommend you continue your break from drypractice for now... rest and rehabilitate that shoulder. Some of your equipment upgrades are ready and waiting for you... you can resume training in earnest when you take possession of your new gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little_kahuna Posted May 18, 2008 Author Share Posted May 18, 2008 Miss you guys too! I'm excited to come up and take responsibility for this equiptment upgrade. Thanks Looking forward seeing ya'll this week. Resting is going well, protein+glucosamine/chondroitin+xbox=physical rehab X 100 haha -Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParaJoe Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little_kahuna Posted May 28, 2008 Author Share Posted May 28, 2008 (edited) Finally ready to post! lol I got my new gun; a 6inch by Benny Hill (grip by Larry White ) Shot ~1600 rds thru it in the last week; absolutely no malfunctions I was having so much fun shooting that I didn't remember to update my range diary until now Still making the change from glock to S_I, and its hard. First match with it was the CA Silver Buckle. I did all right with it, although I can see I have many things to work on before I start feeling okay about the switch. Within the first few practice sessions, there was a noticable improvement, especially with the splits. The sights return extremely well, and the recoil is very smooth. The 6inch gun makes it easier to call my shots. Even though the gun is really cool, I am still struggling with inconsistent performance. My mindset fluctuates even between matches, and it's probably the most important area to improve on. When I am actually calm, relaxed, and faithful in my unconcious fundamentals, all goes well...when I push to go fast (like I'm trying to win stages), then TSHTF. My concious mind interrupts my unconcious abilities. When I try to alter my practiced fundamentals, my performance suffers. Recently, I have over-emphasized speed, at the cost of smoothness and accuracy. When I get nervous on match-day, I want to go faster. I now realize that: Speed is an illusion. What I will be focusing on is consistent and precise execution of fundamentals. The time for improvement is during practice. "You can't miss fast enough to win." -Nick p.s. Joe: here is a link to the thread for pix 6" 2011 Limited guns, whip out your big 6" Edited May 28, 2008 by little_kahuna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little_kahuna Posted June 3, 2008 Author Share Posted June 3, 2008 So... I have approx. 2042 rds. thru my gun so far. The last few hundred have all been absolutely Type 5 Focus; a massive emphasis on accuracy, and even de-emphasis of speed. Only a couple charlies/bravos and few/if any deltas in the last few hundred on paper. lol The gun runs smoothly and still no malfunctions. *insert knock-on-wood icon here* Thanks again Benny! I used to have a hard time with seeing, but now it's getting hard to NOT see anymore. I can feel the improvement in my performance already! Thanks to great coaches: AAron, Pops, Joe, and others. Wouldn't even be this far without you! Looking forward to possibly attending some big matches in the next few weeks: Golden Bullet and Pro-Am. If anyone's going, hope to see you there! -Nick Gotta go practice more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little_kahuna Posted June 6, 2008 Author Share Posted June 6, 2008 (edited) Ok. ~2499 rds thru the gun, pretty broken in. I've been working solely on type5 focus, and I think that I can pretty much actually slow down and hit what I'm aiming at on demand. Most of the issue is with the familiarization to the new platform. I practiced on some small plates today, about 10-15 yds. Goal: hit everything in the middle. The trigger control is what seem's like the hardest for me to get used to. So accustomed to that darned Glock trigger! lol I felt a lot of progress today, especially with familiarization. Working the type 5 focus shots has been one of the biggest aid's to my shooting. I realize it's importance now. Without this dedicated practice towards hyper-emphasized accuracy, I would be stuck at my current level of skill. It has really brought my attitudes and performance into a state of greater balance, thus allowing me to achieve a higher level of competition. Yet more rounds downrange will only help the handling of this new gun become second-nature. That definitely means more dryfire and precision-based shooting. -Nick Edited June 6, 2008 by little_kahuna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronjbush12 Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 How sweet, you put a picture of you dad as your avatar!! Sounds like your thinking about the right things...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big_kahuna Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 How sweet, you put a picture of you dad as your avatar!! Hey man, cut me some slack... I had just woken up when that pic was taken... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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