Lee King

[Lee King]

DRY FIRE 1/22/2009

I adjusted my holster a little farther forward. I kept hitting the beaver tail. A few people suggested I move it up about 1/2" or so. Dry fired to practice with it in the "new" position.

Draw

Surrender Draw

222

Transitions

[Lee King]

LIVE FIRE 1/25/2009

GOAL: Trip to the range. General work with multiple guns. rilfe, shotgun, rimfire rifle (sighting for use at Steel Challenge), and pistol. Focus on basic pistol drills.

Focusing on pistol work

DRILLS:

Draw

Barricade Drills

Reload

Transition

Plate Rack

Bill Drill

SUMMARY:

Draw: More consistent time-wise. I was hitting the 1/2 ipsc plate around 1.10-1.15. About 50% at < 1s.

Barricade Drills: I used barrels stacked with 2 targets on the L and 2 targets on the R. I moved about 20 ft. at an angle so that I couldn't see the 1st target. The drill was to run to the barrels gun up and shoot the 1st shot as quickly as I could see it. Then switch sides. Struggled getting 1st shot on this one. Last couple of reps felt strong though.

Reload: Started off weak. I only went through 2 magazines worth (about 20 reps). Reloads were in the 1.5-1.6 range. Got them consistently down to 1.18.

Transition: Just wanted to work on eye movement. 4 plates different distances and angles. Struggled with finishing the shot before transitioning off. Need to work on this.

Plate Rack: Forcing myself to focus on the sights and trigger control. Only 3 passes. First 2 were strong and fast. I tried to go faster on the last pass but I was yanking the trigger.

Bill Drill: Just 3 reps. Wanted to focus on seeing the sights lift and settle "at speed". Going to do 1-2 reps of this every practice just to make myself see the sights.

[Lee King]

DRY FIRE 1/29/2009

GOAL: Make more holster adjustments. Adjust magazine pouches.

Drills:

Draw

Surrender Draw

222

Transistion

Burkett Reload

6 reload 6

222 reload 222

222 reload 222 - repeat for each magazine

SUMMARY:

The fore and aft angle felt awkward so I tilted the gun back just a little and practiced. I keep hitting the beavertail. Need more work. I also canted the magazines more. I felt like I was not getting a strong grip on the first magazine loaded with bullets during live fire. The cant feels much better.

PHYSICAL:

Haven't really talked about physical training since I broke my elbow. I started crossfit (see subforum in physical training section). Finally did a couple of WODs as RXd. Wont be able to do the "ring" dips in todays WOD as I do not have rings. I'm also not sure I can do that many full dips. We'll see.

[Lee King]

LIVE FIRE 2/1/2009

GOALS: Originally I was going to repeat and record dry fire drill times with live fire. But I decided to continue working movement drills. Focus on "explosion" of movement. I took video of my draw and reload. Perhaps I'll post for critique.

DRILLS: All performed on 1/2 size IPSC steel

Draw:

Movement into position:

Move from position to position:

Shoot on the move:

Reload:

Bill Drill:

SUMMARY:

Draw: feeling more solid. The adjustments seemed to help. When I'm trying to go fast I still have a tendency to hit the beavertail. But otherwise I'm more consistent.

Movement into position: Focused on getting my feet moving to start. I like the Max Michele method from the Front Sight. The little hop and kick your feet out to get started. I don't know if this is the correct way to approach this or not. But I wanted to take the last 3-4 steps to transition from a full tilt run to "shoot on the move mode". I.e. groucho walk, gun up, butt down, heel toe, focus on front sight so that as soon as I hit the positon I was breaking the shot. I feel like I had good explosion. I am really sore from working out so putting on the brakes was killing my thighs.

Move from position to position: I struggled knowing where I was on this. I got my eyes down range as I approached position 2, gun up. But I struggled knowing where my feet were. I.e. if entering a box I had a hard time knowing when I was "there". Need more work on this.

Shoot on the move: Worked on oblique movement forward and backward. First to the left steel. Then the right.

Reload: I adjusted my mag pouch to be a little more horizontal. Good focus on the magwell. Seemed ok. I didn't time it.

Bill Drill: Trigger locks big time. Only did 2 reps to not waste ammo on this. Must learn to relax my right hand.

PHYSICAL:

Still doing scaled down crossfits. Sat. I had the most awesome run I have ever had. Full 5k without stopping or walking. Then I did about 5 reps of pullups to failure. Was using bands for assist. Max reps was only 6. Big improvement over 1.

Edited February 2, 2009 by Lee King

[Lee King]

As previously mentioned. Videos:

Reload - 02/01/2009

Draw - 02/01/2009

I missed the grab at about 54s on the draw vid.

And for giggles the JC Shotgun Drill:

JC Shotgun Drill - 02/01/2009

edit - cause it took 3 tries to get the reload vid to upload and the comment about the missed grab. Added the shotgun drill.

Edited February 2, 2009 by Lee King

[Lee King]

DRY FIRE 2/4/2009 and 2/6/2009

GOAL: Focus on fundamentals. See faster.

Drills: Basics with and without the timer

Draw:

Surrender Draw:

222 lr and rl:

Transistions: outside in... inside out.. small then med then large.. various orders of targets

SUMMARY:

Sloppy... I've been struggling to get a consistent sight picture. The front sights snap a smidge high, low, l, r. When I was using the timer I was accepting a sloppy sight picture to get under my par time. I put the timer down and focused on perfect sight picture. I don't think I ever got there at an acceptable speed.

SIDE NOTE: Shotgun reloads

Learned how important the "grab" is for weak had reloading. I use the "V" between the pinky and ring finger as a stop to keep the shells from slipping down to the palm where I can't get my thumb under to shove into the tube. When they stay on my pinky it's easy to get my thumb behind the shell to push it in.

Edited February 6, 2009 by Lee King

[Lee King]

LOCAL MATCH: Palmetto Gun Club 2/7/2009 and Dry Fire 2/9/2009

GOALS: Relax, run on the bleeding edge of too fast (not out of control... faster than my sight throttle was telling me)

SUMMARY:

Started on Stage 3 so...

Stage 3: Be a self starter

Table on the left. Stage broken into 3 sections. 1st section wide open targets (2), wide open swinger. 2nd section 3 targets obscured by barrels, 3rd section wide 3 wide open targets. Far right target was zebra with A zone ( you could see it the entire stage). Walls separated the sections. Start was "self start". Hands flat on table. Rope to activate swinger was on table. TIMER was on table. RO gave standby and it was up to you to hit the start button, activate the swinger by pulling the rope and go. Stage flowed from L to R on a slight angle.

I told myself to move to the side as I was shooting the 1st 2 targets. Then stop for the swinger. I couldn't make my feet move. The 2nd section I breezed through. Hit the far right target as soon as I could see it, then the close far L. Kept moving and hit the middle target as soon as I cleared the barrel obscuring it. Hit the zebra the last couple of steps coming into the final position to see the rest of the targets. Took those.

I think I was in the 15s range. Don't know how it stacked up. Felt strong but maybe I could've run better. Moving at the beginning. Faster into the last position.

Stage 4: Upside potential. This was a screwed up stage. 4 targets in the beginning of the stage. A set of walls you passed through. Combination of paper and steel L and R to be shot from a Teeter board... then up a set of stairs to shoot a plate rack.

The board made it jerky. My walk throughs were all smooth. Hit the 1st 3, take the 4th on the move to the board. Take what I could see at the beginning of the board. Move to make it teeter to the end. Take the last 3 targets. Reload up the stairs clean the rack.

When it was time I took the first 4 smooth enough, then the board got very jerky. Balance was all out of whack. My reload was slower than I wanted and I ended up getting it finished at the top of the platform. Wasted a good second seating the magazine in position instead of shooting. Cleaned the rack.

I want to say I ran it in 24-25ish seconds. Ok run. Way too jerky. I shot the last 2/3 of that stage a little too much in control.

Stage 5: Another Cold night.

I can't even begin to describe this one. You basically moved down the left, then on an angle back to the middle, then around a wall and back L again. 2 texas stars.

I was the first shooter. Things were falling down so I had to run fix them. I got to do a fast walk through. But we screwed up the start position. Was supposed to be hands over the barrel like you were warming them. I started relaxed facing my first target.

First run I planned to shoot the 2 paper and 1 popper on the right. Hit the 3 targets obscured by a wall on the left as I moved up to the first star. Reload. I should be in position to hit the right hand overlapping targets and popper right as I need to face the left to shoot the 2nd star. Finish out by running around the wall gun up hitting the middle target of the last array the second I could. I should be in position to see the R obscured target and last L target. I really struggled with both stars. Everything else was relatively smooth. But the stars ate my lunch. I finished at 35.5ish seconds.

Since I started wrong, I had the opportunity to reshoot. I took it. This time, after the 1st star, instead of taking the targets on the move, I ran up to the position of the 2nd star while reloading. THEN turned to take the R targets on the move. Around the wall gun up in my shoot on the move "walk" ready to hit the middle target as soon as I saw it. This plan worked better up until I hit the R targets after the 2nd star. I hadn't really gotten a good look at the RH targets from that angle. I was very jerky and took extra shots because I knew I was bouncing the sights. Got to the last target, BANG click... Let it go. 33.1ish I think. BUT with a miss at the end. I'd be curious to see how the two runs would differ on a 160 pt stage.

Stage 1: Windows of Opportunity

Virginia Count. 3 strings. Wall with 2 vertical colums of 3 windows. 4 targets with NS in the middle. 1st string shoot outside targets with 2 shots through each window. Mandatory reload between targets. 2nd array 2 shots through each window for inside target on strong hand side. 3rd string same thing weak hand.

If I saw the score correctly, I won this stage. But I could be wrong. I may have been looking at just my class. Very technical. Dropping from window to window was tough because the sight bounced a lot.

Stage 2: Classifier 99-62 Bang and Clang

Decided to run this with reckless abandon. This reminds me a lot of smoke and hope. 5 targets. 1 paper and 4 steel. Paper in the middle. The steel is in a V from the paper.

Drew to the L target and ping, ping, pow pow, ping ping. Barely saw the sights on the steel. Heard good ring. Slowed just a hair on the paper so not to overswing the 2nd shot on the paper. As I was about to holster I saw the inside L steel still standing. I hit it fast but I had already wasted a good 1.5 seconds. I KNOW I hit the 2nd steel. I wasn't the only person to struggle with that same target. I saw Jack hit it and I could swear I saw center hit (or close to it). As I hit it again, I couldn't call for calibration.

If I calculated it right on the classifier calc, this will be in the 40ish percentage... UGH... I wish I knew what my split was before I hit that last steel.

CONCLUSION:

I think I was 5th overall and 2nd Limited. I'm curious as to what Stage 2 cost me. I know it was only around 15 points. BUt I think I had about 94ish maybe higher points of 1st place. I felt like I ran a decent match. On the edge sometimes. Only 1 M on the day. Maybe too much in control at other times.

Dry Fire 2/9/2009:

Did basic drills. Walked to one end of a hall and practiced sight pictures on doorknobs at the other end. I hear there will be LONG steel at the Fl. Open.

Snapped to sights a little better. But really struggled getting my L hand on the gun at my chest during the draw. Slowed the draw down to SLO MO to try to fix that. Not sure if it was better or not.

[Lee King]

DRY FIRE 2/10/2009

GOAL: Focus on seeing the sights faster. All drills were with the timer and par times.

DRILLS:

Draw:

222:

2 reload 2:

Bill Drill with reload:

6 reload 6:

SUMMARY:

Struggled with Draw at first. Couldn't get a consistent grip with my left hand. Slowed down and worked on meeting the gun at my chest. Also focused on meeting the gun high so I wasn't rising to the target but pushing straight out.

Ok transitions. Really started pushing the speed. Would have to look at my par times in my book but I know I was very close to what Steve Anderson said was "getting somewhere" on the times.

Last drill I started getting sloppy and accepting less than perfect sight picture. I was calling C's instead of A's. Put the timer up and did 3 or 4 reps of 222 slowly focusing on eye movement and sight picture.

[Lee King]

DRY FIRE 2/12/2009

GOALS: Quick session to rehash fundamentals. NO TIMER this time. Focus on sight picture.

Drills: The usual

Draw:

222:

Transition:

SUMMARY:

Just 10 minutes. I started each drill slow and made sure I zoomed on the front sight. Did reps until I was positive I called 3 A's in a row. I didn't use the timer because I didn't want to get sloppy with sight picture etc. just for the sake of time. I think I'm going to alternate every day until the FL Open. One day with timer, one day without.

[Lee King]

I think I was 5th overall and 2nd Limited. I'm curious as to what Stage 2 cost me. I know it was only around 15 points. BUt I think I had about 94ish maybe higher points of 1st place. I felt like I ran a decent match. On the edge sometimes. Only 1 M on the day. Maybe too much in control at other times.

UPDATE: Scores were posted today

1st place Limited was ahead of me by 20.xx points. I was 12 points behind the leader in Limited on this stage so it wasn't enough to make up the difference.

[Lee King]

DRY FIRE 2/15/2009

GOAL: Prepare for long distance targets. When I could, I used the 1/4" target for drills

DRILLS:

Draw:

Surrender Draw:

Turn and Draw:

Strong Hand Draw:

Weak Hand Draw:

222:

6 reload 6:

Turn and 6 reload 6:

Movement:

Barricade:

LR Sight Picuture (used doorknobs at the end of the hall):

SUMMARY:

I really struggled to draw on the smaller target. Eventually I settled down but I don't feel good about it. I used the timer for all of these drills. Will try it again today without the timer.

[Lee King]

DRY FIRE 2/16/2009

GOALS: Long range sight picture. All drills on 1/4 or 1/8 size targets. EDIT PREVIOUS POST... I meant 1/8 size. I have 1/2 size as the largest, then 1/2 again of those for a couple, then half again for the smallest. I was drawing to the smallest yesterday.

DRILLS:

Draw:

Surrender Draw:

Transitions: 1/8 to 1/8 LRLR (I only have 2)

Transitions: 1/4 to 1/4 then 1/8 to 1/8. Varying orders.

Movement: Shoot on the move down the hall 1/2 size ipsc. Forward and back.

Barricade: Used 2 rooms. Sight on 2 pictures in 1 room, move to the next sight on 2 pics.

Various movement: Leaving doorway 8, shoot 1/2 at the end of the hall while moving to door B

Draw around obstacle L and then R:

LR Sight using door knobs at end of hall

Draw to 1/2 size at end of hall then door knobs.

Mini COF: Leave room A hitting 2 targets leaving, move to end of hall sighting on pic at the end, to door B 2 pics in that room, turn and engage 1/2 size and 3 door knobs.

SUMMARY: Struggled a little with the draw. I still keep catching the beaver tail if I try to go fast. If I relax it's smooth from relaxed and surrender. Sights bouncing some during shoot on the move. Actually felt good about barricade work. Felt like I got the sights on target fast and natural.

[Lee King]

2009 FLORIDA OPEN

GOALS: Have fun. Period. Mental aspect has really hurt me. Getting too wound up in mistakes. This is supposed to be a fun game.

SUMMARY: Day 1 was a blast. I shot really well. 3 of the 5 stages were in the 70+%. Day 2.. the old Lee showed up and tanked it. BUT.. I tried not to let it get to me and I think all in all I didn't. I really need to think about the difference between Day 1 and Day 2 and try to figure out what changed. But I feel like I met my goal. I had fun. No dispair. No "pissed off" shooting.

We started on Stage 4 so I'll go with that.

STAGE 4: Over the Rainbow:

Simple stage. L-R or R-L. Couple of walls on each side with a port and 1 target behind it. Walls spread out in front so there were 4 arrays. Shot it L-R. Stepped up hit the R target behind the immediate wall to the front. Worked R-L backing away to take the one in the port. Hit next 3 in next array. Reload. Take next four. Drive to corner taking the closest on the move. Far R target and last one through the port. Smooth. Really good start to the day for me. 73%

STAGE 5: Deja Vu

There were many ways to shoot this. It was laid out in a "horse shoe" shape with walls making up the sides. port in the middle on both L and R sides. At the back were ports in the corner. The back arrays had a set of walls partially obscuring targets so you had to move from the L port to the R to see everything in back. A lot of people opted to start L and work around including backing up to hit the first port on the R. I thought about moving to the middle, shooting the R targets long distance, turn and shoot on the move to the L targets. Reload moving up to L back port. Then move R to finish out. Couple of guys suggested maybe I start on the R side, step R and shoot the first array from almost at the start position around the wall. Then drive to the first L port shooting on the move. L back port and R. Which is what I did. I don't know if it was faster or not but it was smooth and I think my best finish of the match at 75%.

STAGE 6: Evil Twister

"Hallway" down the middle. At start position there were arrays on the L and R of the hall with 2 paper, 2 poppers activiating a drop turner and a clamshell. I shot the poppers out of order on the L array and wathched the turner turn away as I only got 1 off at it. Moved right hit the first paper on the move and this time waited. Popper, DT, popper, clamshell. Reload while moving up the hall. Took the 1st 2 close targets on the move. Then the far targets when I hit the end. Extreme R target behind tires followed by extreme L. Not a great run. Took the NP Miss on the DT. Slow. 57%

STAGE 7: Going Green

Fun fun stage. Started at a wall with a port. Target on the R. You could see the FAR middle plate through the port. The start was on the R. The rest of the stage was a wall to the L with a port. From extreme L, curved around to the R with a wall and a port at the back. Another plate and paper around the back wall to extreme R. Took the R paper while backing. Angled towards the extreme L corner of the first set of walls. Moved close enough to the wall to see the paper at an angle through the port on the L side. Drove to the far L taking that paper on the move. Hit the L plate with one shot. Turned and hit the paper to the R through the port on the move. Drove hard around the curve taking 2 R paper. Reload, hit L paper while driving to the port. Took extreme R paper, far R paper, popper, far L paper, moved to R corner and back a couple of feet (to position for the extreme L paper in that port). Hit paper, popper, then swung back to the port to hit the extreme L paper from that position. I don't think this socred the best. But it was my best feeling run of the day. I executed well. Little on the slow side. But I felt like I had a good plan, worked it, exercised a lot of skills I had been trying to work on and had a damn good run. 73%

STAGE 8: LEMON/LIME

The Lee I know and love started poking his head out here. There was one target to the L you had to shoot early. Then 2 on the R that were sort of long. you could see a lot of other long targets, but you could also see them at the end. 2 walls with ports on the L and R. Big open area in the middle with 3 paper and a popper (maybe 4 paper) you could see from anywhere. I took 2 big steps while drawing to get a little closer. Hit the L target, then swung to hit the 2 R. Drove to the R port taking the paper and the popper in the middle on the move. Reload. In the port hit paper, 3 popper, and paper. Went to next port. Hit paper, 3 popper (took 2 extra on poppers), paper. As I was moving I thought "I pulled off on the 2nd shot to hit that paper"... jumped BACK into the port and hit the paper again. Moved L to the corner to see the L paper and popper ( the tempting targets from the start position). Hit paper, went to popper and click. Can't take the FTE, reload, rack , hit it. ULASC. As I'm turning I hear from my squad "Lee". They were pointing at the popper. It didn't fall. I had about a 3/4 diameter hit right where the circle part meets the body of the popper. I know it rocked. I heard it hit. Everyone else said I smacked it. The partial must've moved it sideways instead of rocking it back. I did the only thing I could do and called for calibration (forward faller so the odds were slim but I had nothing to lose). Of course it fell. Between the extra shots on poppers, jumping BACK, running dry, then letting the popper stand it was a pretty crappy run. 48%

DAY 2

STAGE 9: Rehash

Let the meltdown begin! First stage of the day. Last shooter on the squad. Wall from L to R with 4 ports. The L and R section bent back just a little. 4 paper in L port. 2 popper and 2 paper in L middle. Poppers activated swingers. 1 popper you could see from the L middle and R middle ports. It activated a swinger in the R middle. In the R port again, popper, 2 paper, and swinger. You could see the popper from the next port too (you could've seen the popper from the L port but you should've hit it by this point). Last port, 4 paper and the swinger. I moved smoothly. I waited for brown on the swingers and hit them. Driving to the last port on the R I hit the first close target coming into the port. Then rest I hit static including the swinger. I couldn't call the shot coming into the port and I had been making up shots I didn't need all the previous day. So I decided to trust myself on this one. BAD move. Miss on that one PLUS a miss on 2 swingers for 3 total. Ugh.. 43%

STAGE 10: Been there done that

This stage curved around from the extrem L to R. you started in the middle of the curve so you were running uprange at some point. 2 paper at extreme L. Port in the middle of the uprange wall/part of the curve. 3 paper including a clamshell in a cluster activated by a pad. Then from the same port, 2 targets on the L each behind a section of wall. Back at the start position there were 3 targets in a cluster and if you leaned right you could see most of a 4th. Next port you could see all of the target from previous plus 1 maybe two targets at the back (didn't need to stop here because you could see them all from somwhere else). Last port on R you could see 4 targets. Another crappy run. I changed my plan at the last minute from hitting the targets you could see at the start position immediately to hauling ass to the far L, then doing a reload from the clamshell port on the way back to the start port. hit those and move to the last. I forgot the reload and ran dry in the start port. Reload, rack finish out. I took a M on the clamshell and as I was moving to the last port I tried to hit the first 2 on the move while coming into the port. I caught the edge of the wall evidently (I didn't see it) and took a M on the 1st target. 48%

STAGE 1: Bed and Breakfast

You had to move backwards on this. Walls made a big U. Start position reclining on a wooden recliner, head back, arms and legs crossed, gun on nightstand on either side of the recliner. The recliner was in a big port at the back of the bay. There were 2 constant moving swingers (battery operated) and 5 static. Then moving towards the front, there were matching ports (little) in the back L and R, middle L and R, front L and R. You could clean most of the targerts from the back port leaving 3 on the L and 3 on the R. You could see all 3 from the front L port on the L side. On the R you could only see 2 in the front R so you had to hit 1 in the middle R. I started with the back targets, WAITED on the movers since I was having a hard time with moving targets, sidestepped backwards while reloading to make sure I stayed down range. Hit the 3 in the front L port. Moved to the middle, paused hit the target in the middle R. two big steps to see the last 2 in the front R. In the last port, I hit the R target, then went bang, nothing (trigger locked myself). I thought "sh#$ I'm out". reloaded, in the middle of the reload realized I just trigger locked. DIDN'T seat the mag and it fell out. Remembered I still had 1 in the chamber and brought up the gun without a mag and hit the last target... STUUUUPID... Other than that I ran it clean. No M. Wasted a good 3 seconds at the end though. Not too bad of a finish though much to my surprise. 57% and was actually 3rd B.

STAGE 2: Proceed with Caution

There's no easy way to describe this one. Total of 7 ports. Hall kind of to the R ish. There were ports behind ports so that you had to be in the right position to see targets. Not technically a memory stage because you couldn't shoot the same target twice.. but it looked like it a lot. The trick to this one was planning your positions and shoot with authority. I had 3.5 positions planned out (the .5 was really a body shift and not so much a step). From L to R, 4 targets from the L position. 3 targets to the left from the middle position on the L corner of the hall. Reload (static.. hated that but there was no good way).. from same position, 3 targets to the R. Big step R. 3 targets through first port, 1 BACK through the corner opposite side. Big lean R and hit the last target through the far R port. I executed well. Shot slow but I was going for steady with authority. Got to the last target and was feeling euphoric for getting through it and double tapped the last target. I actually called the mike, but debated it.. and realized I wasted too much time debating it. Got cocky at the end and it cost me a M. BIG mistake on that one. 50%

STAGE 3: Fla Oranges

UGH... This had the longest shots of the match. Also bent from L to R. Ports in the front to the L with long shot to the R. You could see the middle target of the array at the end. Then Long shot slight R, another long shot far L, then close shot L. Couple of targets on the R as you moved around the curve. Port in back r side. 2 ports in back to the L. Big opening with a cutout of a tree in the back middle. I took my time on the FAR R shot. Hit the slight R. Far L right in front of the start, then the close L as I was backing away. RUN shoot the 1st target on the move. A lot of people went ahead and moved to the port here. I didn't liked the reload doing that. So I hugged the R and hit two more targets while moving to the port. Reloaded while stepping into the port. Hit close L paper, skipped paper (you could move closer), hit popper, static (mistake) clamshell. Moved L a couple of steps and back. You could see 3 targets from one spot without moving to the ports at the end. Shot those 3, slight step L one between the "tree" and the wall. Another step L and take R target between the tree and the wall. On the clamshell, I should've gone popper, clamshell, static. I doped it out that way. But when I ran it old habits came out and I hit popper, static paper, ONE shot on the clamshell and it closed. I slowed down and took the next shot at the tiny bit peeking but I caught the perf on the NS and took the NS penalty. I had 2 M in addition. The far target on the L at the beginning and the last target between the tree and the wall. In hindsight I should've just moved to the far L port at the end then stepped up to the next port to get a better look at those last targets. 3 penalties. Not a good way to end. 43%

CONCLUSION:

I added up my points and figured the best I could do was 60%. In the past, this was in the bottom 3rd of B shooters with top B in the 75ish% range. Turns out everyone had some horrible stages and 60% was 4th B out of 16. 26th out of 97 in Limited. I actually feel pretty good about it. I could've placed, but in terms of past finishes as a B shooter, moving into the top 50% instead of the bottom feels pretty good.

OPPORTUNITIES:

Work on moving targets and clamshells. Aside from mental mistakes, movers killed me in this one. The DT on stage 6. Swingers on Stage 9. Clamshells on 10 and 3. Take out even 1/2 of those penalties and I placed.

[Lee King]

DRY FIRE 3/5/2009

Haven't dry fired since the Fl. Open. I did shoot a little "outlaw" match held at one of the gun shops nearby. Only 1 stage, 30 rounds.

GOALS: Going to run L10 for a bit. Focus on reloads across the belt.

DRILLS:

Draw:

Surrender Draw:

222 l - r and r - l

Reload drills

Burkett Reload Drill

SUMMARY:

I'm gripping the gun weird at the grab a lot. My GM buddy has me almost slamming my hand down on the gun so that the web of my thumb is always hitting the beavertail presumably to index my grip the same way. I'm finding the fingers on my R hand aren't completely wrapped around the grip. Going to need to slow down and figure this one out.

I started off missing a lot of reloads. The magazine was diving low and going to the outside of hte mag well every time. I don't think I'm laying my finger down the magazine and pointing it into the magwell. Did a few Burkett Reloads to stop this. Seemed to help. Going all the way around the belt feels weird but it's something I should be able to do anyway.

[Lee King]

LOCAL MATCH - Palmetto Gun Club 3/7/2009

Switched to L10 for giggles. I think I'm going to run L10 for SC State.

GOALS: Knock the rust off of L10. Get back into the 10 round mindset.

SUMMARY: - started on stage 4

Stage 4: Like an inverted L. Wall in front of start position. Shooting area extended L-R along wall. Then immediately down the L side. 3 targets on R side of wall. Barrels and 4 targets on L. Walls on the R with a single port and 2 targets in the port. 3 at the end.

1st target was A only with HC on both sides. Hit it on the move going to the right side of the wall. Took the next 2 leaning. Most people ran to the corner, hit the 2 around and the HC target backing away. With L10 I didn't like where I would engage the next target to the L and subsequent reload. After the R side, turned and engaged the first L target on the move. Smooth reload, hit the next 2 around the barrels as I moved through on the move. After the 2nd I was in the right spot to turn and take the 1st target on the R, lean and take the 2nd around the barrel. Smooth reload putting me at the end of the shooting area. Finished with the 4 I could see L to R.

AWESOME run. Perfect execution. I'll have to wait for scores for my time and points. 2nd overall.

Stage 5: L - R set of barrels with 5 ports 1 array in each port. 1st on L was 3 poppers and 1 paper. 2nd was 3 paper in a line with 2 plates in between set back. 3rd was texas star. 4th was 4 targets all touching 2 on top of 2 with NS right smack in the middle. Some hardcover on 2 targets. Last was 2 paper and 1 plate. Start position was middle of shooting area (in front of star port) facing uprange toes touching fault line hands on the shoulder of NS.

A lot of people turned and drew on the star, then moved L and went from port to port. I opted to run to the L side while drawing and move across. Not sure if it was fast or not. Took a couple of extra shots on poppers and the star. But nothing outrageous. I want to say I was 6th overall. Smooth run. 5 reloads. All of them smooth.

Stage 1: 2 strings. 2 arrays. 1st string and array, 3 targets on the L with HC on each side of A zone. Matching 3 on the right. Engage each 3 with 2 rounds, reload and the 2nd array. 2nd string was 3 wide open targets in the back of the bay with 2 each.

Smooth but I pulled 2 into HC on the 1st string. Don't remember where that put me.

Stage 2: Classifier 03-03 Take Em Down. 2 barricades lined up one after the other. 2 sets of targets on the L and R, 2 with NS in the middle matching for 1st array. 3 poppers for 2nd array.

UGH... I'm sure a clemson fan in carolina clothing (except on match days) will have a great video of me screwing this run completely up (either in humor or match screwups.. maybe both) as payback for the "bet" video elsewhere on this site... ahem... I drew to the L inside target... fast 2 and another 2, leaned right, reloaded and ran to the 2nd box lining up on the inside popper and NAILED THEM... bing bing bing... AWESOME RUN... except... at ULASC.. the RO... ahem.. clemson fan... ahem.. says "Dude... I think ya forgot something"... and it dawned on me I BLEW RIGHT BY THE TARGETS ON THE RIGHT WITHOUT ENGAGING THEM!!! F#@$#@$%!!!!!!! Oh yeah 60 points in penalties on a 55 pt. stage. Zero'ed that bad boy. But I looked good doing it...

Stage 3: This one is tough to describe. 2 arrays on either side of a set of barrels. L side had popper 2 paper and popper. R side had paper 2 popper paper. The procedure was engage EITHER steel or paper on one side, then the opposite on the other. Mandatory reload and shoot what was left.

I chose to draw to the 2 side by side paper on the L, then the 2 side by side steel on the right. Reload, 2 outside paper on R then 2 outside poppers on L. After stage 2 I really was just shooting for fun. I didn't hear my time. I do know I got all my hits. Have no idea where I finished on this one.

CONCLUSION: After it was all said and done I took 2nd in L10 by 1 point... ONE point... rrrr... It was a good day. I shot great except my dumbass moment on 2. And I finished way better than I thought.

SIDE NOTE: We had an AWESOME turnout. The record for farthest distance travelled for our local match has to go to Mo Hepworth who was visiting from Canada I think we may have had a couple of other people visiting from at least one other state as well. Nice meeting you and thanks for shooting with us!

Edited March 9, 2009 by Lee King

[Lee King]

CLASSIFIER MATCH MID-CAROLINA RIFLE CLUB 3/14/2009

GOAL: Get my card in production. Change of pace.

Started on stage 3 so...

STAGE 3 - Fluffy's Revenge CM 06-04

I'm going to get a reputation as "Mr. Calibration" if I'm not careful. First run I pulled one into a no-shoot and the steel didn't fall. I was the 2nd shooter and the only marks on the steel were calibration, shooter's prior, and mine. I drilled it. Should've fallen. Called for calibration. He shot it. It hung... and hung... and hung... then finally fell. I was disgusted and walking away when they yelled "RESHOOT". I guess even though it fell it was WAY too heavy. 2nd run was WAY better. I borrowed my wife's M&P for the match. The trigger is way different than mine and I struggled with that all day. According to classifier calc I shot this in the 65% range.

STAGE 4 - Golden Bullet Standards CM 06-06

This was one of the weirdest runs I have ever had. I still don't know exactly what happened. But here's what my view was. This has 6 targets. 2 strings. 1st string 1 on each FS, reload, then 1 each strong hand. 2nd string same thing except weak hand. 1st string I drew, shot a good solid 6. Dropped the magazine, did a surprisingly fast reload for that setup (I was struggling in dry fire without the HUGE magwell). Pushed the gun out strong hand. Heard the magazine drop. When my wife shoots, she has had some problems where she didn't seat the mag. I thought to myself "oh this is embarassing I didn't seat it". Grabbed another magazine. When I went to seat it, the magazine I reloaded was still in the gun. WTF?!! So I just held the 3rd magazine in my hand and shot the string strong hand. The RO and I stood there for a good 5 minutes trying to figure out what the hell happened. He was as dumbfounded as me. In fact, he thought I never did my reload. But as I was production, there was no way I could shoot the 12 shots without reloading. Even a guy behind me said "That was the slowest magazine I have ever seen". From my perspective it took from the time I hit the button, did a reload, and pushed out onto the first target before it hit the ground. OR.. I heard something else that sounded like a magazine fall somewhere else. 2nd string I pulled off on a shot weak hand. Knew I missed it but virginia was around so... 45% on classifiercalc

STAGE 5 - Six CM 08-03

The trigger pull really got me on this one. There are two poppers back to back on this. Small popper with a big one behind it. Turned, pushed the speed on paper. Shot at the little (missed), big (hit), 2 paper, then went back to the little and took 3 shots to hit it. Pulled or rather pushed everything left. 50%

STAGE 6 - On the Move CM 03-09

I've shot this before. I'm not sure the best way to take this one. Most everyone drew on the 1st, shot the next two static, then ran to the side taking the last while falling out of the box. I opted to take a side step while drawing on the 1st. Moving to the corner gun up taking the far RIGHT target the second I could see it, THEN the two in the middle figuring I'd be a step or two closer. I think the top guys just run sideways shooting as they go. Decent runs for me. Only dropped 2 points. 62%.

STAGE 1 - Hillbillton Drill CM 99-28

In my defense I only called for calibration because the 1st shooter on our stage hit one popper 4 times before it fell and another 3 times. In my head I was screaming "CALL FOR CALIBRATION AND QUIT SHOOTING!!" but he didn't. They adjusted the poppers after and gave him a reshoot anyway. When it was my turn, I took 2 extra shots on poppers including one I left standing. I hit it. I saw my hit. It was about 6" low below the circle but it wasn't so low it shouldn't have fallen. So I called for calibration again... and it fell again. This time they didn't give it to me. Almost 15% points difference between the score with and without the popper Trigger was still getting me. Pushing low and left. 41%

STAGE 2 - Both Sides Now #2 CM 99-16

Smooth run. Almost pushed one off the paper on the L side. I saw the sights pushing to the L and knew it was close. Split the perf and got lucky with it. Struggled just a hair with the reload. Overall it was an ok run. 58%

CONCLUSION: Not a bad day all things considered. If I did my calc right I will be right at 59% assuming the classifiercalc is right. 4th in production out of 14 by less than 1 point. The popper killed me on Stage 1.

[Lee King]

STEEL CHALLENGE - MID-CAROLINA RIFLE CLUB 3/21/2009

GOAL: Relax, have fun.

SUMMARY: I shot Iron Rimfire Pistol only in this match for 2 reasons. 1. I had my Daughter with me and didn't want to leave her alone while shot 2 guns. 2. while working out Thurs I royally screwed up my right wrist. I couldn't turn it over at all Fri. By Sat though I had about 70% mobility back. While holding the gun didn't bother me, racking the slide really did. I wasn't sure what recoil would do. I spent the day gritting my teeth every time at LAMR and ULASC.

We started on stage 5 so:

Stage 5: 5 go Go

My runs were only ok. The #4 plate seems surprisingly far on this one. I didn't relax until the last run. Threw a lot of extra shots at 4. 13.60

Stage 1: Accelerator

Again, only OK on this one. I couldn't really get settled. Finally got it together for the last 2 runs. I was watching the sights off target and yet pulled the trigger anyway. If 1,2,3,4,S from the L. I started off "drawing" to 2 first because it was closest to the RF start position. I switched for the last 2 runs and ran it straight up 1,2,3,4,S. The last 2 seemed smoother, more accurate, and faster. 15.09

Stage 2: Showdown

Finally remembered to relax and try to flow through the stage. Watch the sights. It sort of started to come together. On this one the aim point for RF was in the center of the stage. Last time I ran this there was one in front of each box. Changed the 1st plate. L-R 1,2,S,3,4 usually I would draw to the far L and go 1,2,4,3,S. But Jack showed me something cool with the start that if you hugged the outside corner, the far R and S plate were almost lined up. FAST transition. With rimfire I was almost aiming at the # 3 plate. So I went 3,2,1,4,S. From the right side did the exact opposite. I.e. hug the R side. Shot 2,3,4,1,S. Felt really smooth and fast. For centerfire I think next time I will run it (on L) 1,2,4,3,S. NOT drawing on the close inside plate. Will get to that later. 10.89

Stage 3: Outer Limits

First time running this one. Nothing complicated. 1,2 move, 4,3,S. Just need to work on the movement on this one. Ok runs. Took a couple of penalties though on the far #2 plate. I was already leaving the box once and wasn't about to stop to make it up then. I think I had another M on the same plate. 14.79

Stage 4: Roundabout

My best stage I think. .18 off the leader who was shooting Open RF. I could've taken this one if I had remembered the lesson from the previous 4 stages. It is tempting to draw on the closest plate for rimfire. I.e. the "inner" plate. For me at least, it's not smooth to go from inner, outer, BACK across. Too many transitions. I can't get a "flow" going with my upper body. I throw a lot of misses and have way too much tension. The 1st 3 runs were decent. I didn't take too many extra shots. But the last 2 runs I switched up and instead of 2,1,4,3,S. I ran it 1,2,4,3,S. The outside plate is farther and farther away from the start position. But I didn't have to "reverse" my swing and could get a flow going if I started outside in. My last 2 runs were smoking. 10.98

CONCLUSION: FORGET DRAWING ON THE INSIDE PLATES EVEN IF YOU ARE ALMOST INDEXED THERE FOR RF. ***EXCEPTION, SHOWDOWN and only because you make a circle by going 3,2,1,4,S. It all depends on where the "start" point is for RF.

2nd overall. The PORF guy got me by a good 10s overall. 1st PIRF.

edit - to record times

Edited March 23, 2009 by Lee King

[Lee King]

DRY FIRE 3/24/2009

GOAL: I've slacked off on dry firing. Picking back up with Ala. Sectional coming up.

DRILLS: Kept it simple. Basics. No timer.

Draw:

Surrender Draw:

222:

Draw to small target:

Transistions: r-l and l-r

6 reload 6:

222 reload 222:

Mixed in a lot of surrender draws with all drills

SUMMARY:

Solid. For having laid off of dry fire for while this felt good. The sights snapped on target. Fast. Still a little slow transitioning r-l than l-r. Caught myself smacking the bottom of the trigger guard during the draw when my hands meet hard enough to throw the gun up high. On one hand I know my hands are meeting early. On the other maybe just a little too aggressive. I was missing the draw on the 1st couple of reps until I relaxed. I was trying to slam the gun down into the holster and snatch it out (Per what JC showed me). I found I was more consistently getting my grip when I didn't try to slam it. I'm still coming down on the backstrap to index the V of my hand on the beavertail, just not doing a slam and snatch. I need to time to see if it's any faster. But it's more consistent. Started off with a couple of misfires on the reload. But immediately got over it in just a couple of reps. Did reload after reload and it felt solid.

Was planning a live fire session Wed. after work but it doesn't look like the weather will cooperate.

[Mo Hepworth]

LOCAL MATCH - Palmetto Gun Club 3/7/2009

Switched to L10 for giggles. I think I'm going to run L10 for SC State.

GOALS: Knock the rust off of L10. Get back into the 10 round mindset.

Stage 5: L - R set of barrels with 5 ports 1 array in each port. 1st on L was 3 poppers and 1 paper. 2nd was 3 paper in a line with 2 plates in between set back. 3rd was texas star. 4th was 4 targets all touching 2 on top of 2 with NS right smack in the middle. Some hardcover on 2 targets. Last was 2 paper and 1 plate. Start position was middle of shooting area (in front of star port) facing uprange toes touching fault line hands on the shoulder of NS.

A lot of people turned and drew on the star, then moved L and went from port to port. I opted to run to the L side while drawing and move across. Not sure if it was fast or not. Took a couple of extra shots on poppers and the star. But nothing outrageous. I want to say I was 6th overall. Smooth run. 5 reloads. All of them smooth.

Stage 1: 2 strings. 2 arrays. 1st string and array, 3 targets on the L with HC on each side of A zone. Matching 3 on the right. Engage each 3 with 2 rounds, reload and the 2nd array. 2nd string was 3 wide open targets in the back of the bay with 2 each.

Smooth but I pulled 2 into HC on the 1st string. Don't remember where that put me.

Stage 2: Classifier 03-03 Take Em Down. 2 barricades lined up one after the other. 2 sets of targets on the L and R, 2 with NS in the middle matching for 1st array. 3 poppers for 2nd array.

UGH... I'm sure a clemson fan in carolina clothing (except on match days) will have a great video of me screwing this run completely up (either in humor or match screwups.. maybe both) as payback for the "bet" video elsewhere on this site... ahem... I drew to the L inside target... fast 2 and another 2, leaned right, reloaded and ran to the 2nd box lining up on the inside popper and NAILED THEM... bing bing bing... AWESOME RUN... except... at ULASC.. the RO... ahem.. clemson fan... ahem.. says "Dude... I think ya forgot something"... and it dawned on me I BLEW RIGHT BY THE TARGETS ON THE RIGHT WITHOUT ENGAGING THEM!!! F#@$#@$%!!!!!!! Oh yeah 60 points in penalties on a 55 pt. stage. Zero'ed that bad boy. But I looked good doing it...

Stage 3: This one is tough to describe. 2 arrays on either side of a set of barrels. L side had popper 2 paper and popper. R side had paper 2 popper paper. The procedure was engage EITHER steel or paper on one side, then the opposite on the other. Mandatory reload and shoot what was left.

I chose to draw to the 2 side by side paper on the L, then the 2 side by side steel on the right. Reload, 2 outside paper on R then 2 outside poppers on L. After stage 2 I really was just shooting for fun. I didn't hear my time. I do know I got all my hits. Have no idea where I finished on this one.

CONCLUSION: After it was all said and done I took 2nd in L10 by 1 point... ONE point... rrrr... It was a good day. I shot great except my dumbass moment on 2. And I finished way better than I thought.

SIDE NOTE: We had an AWESOME turnout. The record for farthest distance travelled for our local match has to go to Mo Hepworth who was visiting from Canada I think we may have had a couple of other people visiting from at least one other state as well. Nice meeting you and thanks for shooting with us!

It was a pleasure to shoot with you good folks,..everyone was extremely helpfull and I had a great time. I really liked my results on stage 5. I planned on 4 mag changes,...as that was the safe way too shoot it. I too went all the way left and just went across. I shot the star clean,..so could have saved a reload by jumping to the end (5rds on star,..5 rounds at the end),.then swung back in to engage the 4 targets after a quick mag change. I could tell you had some dryfiring practice,..it really shows as your hand eye and dexterity was spot on. Stage 3 I tried to shoot as clean as possible,..and did a standing reload on the right side. I won that stage. I had identical results on stage 1,....I had two mikes into the hard cover (arghh),..that is fustrating,..as I saw others with mikes and told myself,..."shoot clean,.shoot clean". I was pleased with my overall results in production. I was very impressed whoever shot SS shooting minor and doing as well as he did!!

That popper stage was a little deceiving as well,..we think about the end result and forget about aiming,...I must have fired 5 extra rounds at that steel!!! We all felt your pain when you did not engage the targets on one side!!

[Lee King]

LIVE FIRE 3/29/2009

GOALS: All went out the window because, like an idiot, I forgot my holster Got a lot of "table draw" practice.

Drills:

Stole a drill from Ben Stoeger. 3 positions across the bay. L and R pos. had 1/2 size ipsc plate. Middle pos. had 3 targets. 2 outside at about 5-7 yards. Middle target at 15 yards. Start position in the middle box. Start, shoot 3, move to either L or R and shoot the 1/2 plate and the far middle target from 1st array. Move to last pos and do the same.

My goal with this one was to work on splits, soft and hard exits. Field skills. Never could crack 12s on this. I only had one "clean" run (clean being no extra shots or misses). I do have video I will post later.

2-2-2: I had a lot of trigger locks so I wanted to run this to try to get myself to relax. From the table my best run was 2.3ish with 2C's and a D.

Bill Drill: I was really getting frustrated with the trigger locks so I ran this several times from the table/barrel draw. The best split I could average was .20 and only drop 1 C. Any faster and I either trigger locked or threw M. I'm really frustrated with the trigger locks. I know I'm going to get a hoser stage and freeze.

SUMMARY: Not really sure how to judge the day because I had planned to do some El Prez and other fundamental drills to benchmark. I don't know what I need to work on to get to the next level. Maybe posting the vids will help.

edit - to explain the Ben drill

Edited March 30, 2009 by Lee King

[Lee King]

Uploaded Videos from Practice Above:

The setup for the drill is 3 targets in the middle. 2 at 5-7 yards, one in between at 15-18 yards. Left array is 1 1/2 size IPSC plate and shoot the far target of the middle array again. Right array is also 1/2 IPSC plate and the far middle target (6 shots on the middle target total).

- Extra shot on middle target. Middle target had 3A, 2C, and 1D

- Extra shot on L plate. Similar score.

These were the 2 I recorded. There were 2 or 3 runs before the 1st video and several before the 2nd.

Comments are welcome.

[Lee King]

On spring break with the kiddo and WAY behind on updates. I'll be brief as there are 2 locals and a live fire to cover:

LOCAL MATCH PALMETTO GUN CLUB 4/4/2009

Ugh.. my worst finish in a couple of years at a level I. I am pushing way too hard and making stupid mistakes. Shot L10

SUMMARY: Started on stage 3...

Stage 3: Big "T" - T shaped stage. Barrels down the L and R side. Targets behind them. plates interspersed. 3 at the end hidden low behind barrels.

You could see almost the entire opposite side of targets from the L and R side. You had to go each way for 1 target. I opted to start R take the one paper on the extreme R, then 1 plate. Turn to the L and run back across, after 1/2 way take 1 paper on the move. hit the corner and 1 paper and 1 plate. Reload while coming back to the middle. The R side was wide open from that angle so I started with R on the move. hit paper, paper, plate, turn to L paper, plate (I already hit 1 paper coming across). reload corner paper on the right, paper in L corner and 3 at the end.

Smooth. Executed almost perfectly. Had a primer fall out of a round at the end and had to rack it out. Cost me a good second. Not much more though. I should've held the L corner paper until the very last target because it would've been a smoother shot. 5th overall only because of points. Very fast time.

Stage 4: Paper, Pins, and Plates Moving on oblique L to R. 3 paper through barrel. 6 bowling pins with barrels in the way. 2 paper around a barrel at the end then the plate rack.

I had an awesome run on the pins going. Went 1 for 1 until I hit number 5. Then I couldn't hit it for anything. There was a sweet spot where you could stand and see most all of the pins and with a little shift to the L get the last 2. I only took 3 extra shots on the pins though. 1 extra on the plate rack. Shots on the pins cost me. 12 overall.

Stage 5: They're back again. This is where it started to fall apart. Started shooting around a barricade. Then you moved down the middle. Paper and plates intermingled on L. couple of targets on the right. ONE target WAY left. At the end was a port with 2 poppers a swinger with targets pointing each way and 1 paper.

I got hung up on the L array. Could not hit the last plate. It threw me off and I blew right by the far L target. Took a miss on a zebra target too. 31 out of 41.

Stage 1: Melody Line classifier 99-22 (I think)

Again.. UGH... pushed too hard. Took 2 M. I haven't shot a clean classifier in months. 1st place shot it in 7.08. I shot it in 8.01. 2nd place in 8.05. TOO fast.

Stage 2: Bill and the President's Men - Two close targets with HC leaving ONLY the A box. Your choice as to which to shoot. Then 3 targets, the middle was a clamshell with head showing. Shoot 6 on your choice of close target, mandatory reload, step on box activating clamshell and 2 on each at the end virginia count.

Final straw of the meltdown. Hit the R hand target (1 M), reload, stepped on the box as the clamshell was closing. I thought WTF?!?! Shot the 2 outside and thought "Range Malfunction" and stopped. Oh noooo... my mag hit the activator and activated it. 2M and FTE on the clamshell PLUS the M on the 1st target. Zeroed it.

CONCLUSION: MENTAL MENTAL MENTAL.. Pushed too hard. Made serious mental errors.

LIVE FIRE 4/9/2009

GOAL: Practice 50 yard poppers for Alabama. Figure out holdover if any. Grip, trigger control, relaxation.

50 yard Popper: Set up in the long cowboy bay. Shot at least 45 yards. Not much holdover at all. Relaxing is everything. Trigger control is everything. Do it all right and it's a hit every time.

Box drill: 4 positions in a box shape. 2 1/2 size ipsc plates. Start in back L position. Draw and shoot 2, move up, shoot 2, move right shoot 2, move back shoot 2, move L shoot 2. My goal was to relax under a little bit of "pressure".. i.e. movement. Focus was on clean shots. Not the movement or the time.

Transition: 3 plates. Shoot 1 each. Focus on grip. Relax trigger hand. Added a reload about 1/2 way through. 1 each, reload 1 each.

Bill drill: had 6 left over and shot them in the berm. Again focusing on grip and trigger control. Did this one 3 times whenever I had about 6 left in the mag.

1/2 size IPSC plates: draw, 2 on each, reload 2 on each. Focus on draw, trigger control.

CONCLUSION: GREAT practice! I wanted to feel the relaxation in my right hand. Experiment with pressure etc. I found that I was more accurate and able to get faster 2nd shots when I gripped strongly with L hand and totally relaxed the R. Maybe not totally but that was how it felt. I need to continue to work on this to program myself.

LOCAL MATCH - Cherokee Gun Club 4/11/2009

GOAL: Redeem myself from previous weekend. Relax and have some fun. Practice what I learned from live fire practice.

SUMMARY: Started on stage 1...

Stage 1: 3 boxes. each array 3 targets. Some upside down. No shoots obscuring middle target on each array in some fashion. 1st array middle had A only showing. Last array the no shoots were at angles.

Ran it fast. Pulled 1 into the perf on the NS on first array. Got the shot under, but also the NS. Came into the 2nd array without settling and threw the first shot off paper. 1 NS and 1 M. Not a good start.

Stage 2: Hoser stage. 3 close targets on L. Move to the R taking 3 targets close. Couple through a port. Move L. 1 target RIGHT THERE. 6 plates and 1 target about 3 yards back to R.

Smooth. Fast. Did trigger lock twice. Reminded myself to relax. 3rd in L behind 2 masters.

Stage 3: Similar movement as stage 2. Targets not quite as close. Long paper and plate only visible through break in walls near the beginning. Another paper right behind the wall you had to hit before you got too far as well. Paper and plates at the end so that you had to move to see them all.

Another decent run. Not quite as smooth. I over ran the middle port and had to take a step back to see the long paper. Other than that it was clean. 3rd place again.

Stage 4: Steel hell. 6 paper and 22.. yes TWENTY TWO steel. 3 largeish shooting boxes. 4 paper on L. 1 through a port. Then 3 poppers with a plate hidden behind them. Middle position had 3 arrays. 1 was paper back behind the wall from the first box. 3 poppers. 7 us poppers. 4 lined up. Then 3 lined up. Last position was 8 plates.

My only goal for this stage was to relax. Forget time. Focus on trigger. Be accurate. Started on paper, smooth. Moved R to see the poppers. Went 1 for 1. As I hit them I felt stronger and shot faster and faster. Moved R to 2nd box while reloading. Took 1 extra shot on the us poppers. Moved R and reloaded again. Took 2 extra shots on the plates. All in all I felt good about it until... I forgot that hidden F#@$ing plate behind the first set of poppers. Arghh!!! Actually didn't hurt me that bad because of the points on that one.

Stage 5: Cowboy stage. Moved along a porch shooting through the windows to the L. Targets obscured by windows and barrels as you moved. At the end of the porch there were 2 paper with steel hardcover. 1 plate and 2 paper to the extreme L with NS covering.

Decent run. I executed quickly. Good points. 3rd.

Stage 6: Classifier: El Presidente Nuevo

Yet again... too fast. Pulled 1 into NS. 1st place ran it in 8.06. I ran it in 6.96. FOCUS!!

CONCLUSION:

Not a bad match. Took 4th in Limited. 2nd B. 22 out of 79 overall. Pushed too hard a couple of times and had one REALLY big mental mistake. I need to learn to relax more and just shoot. But I'm happy with the outcome.

Edit - to clarify 50 YARD poppers for Alabama

Edited April 13, 2009 by Lee King

[Lee King]

DRY FIRE 4/14/2009

GOAL: Front sight focus. My only goal was to zero in on the front sight and watch it during trigger pull. Grip pressure.

Drills:

Draw:

Transitions (single shot and 2 each):

SUMMARY:

I have been pushing to hard too fast at matches so I wanted to just focus on sight picture period. I found it was actually hard to slow down while doing the draw and transitions. I forced myself to take 1 shot on each target SLOWLY. I caught myself hunching down and getting tense. I'm going to try to work on relaxing my upper body. I think the tension is starting there and flowing into my arms/hands causing me to yank the trigger and squeeze my whole hand instead of a smooth trigger pull.

[Lee King]

DRY FIRE 4/17/2009

GOAL: Sight picture focus. Try to take the slop out. Slow down just a tic.

DRILLS:

Draw:

222:

Small Target/Large Target Transisiton (outside in little to big, inside out etc.)

SUMMARY:

Sloppy. Pushing the sight all over the place. Never really could get settled into snapping the front sight.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LIVE FIRE 4/19/2009

GOAL: Fundamentals. Reaffirm some of the drills in live fire.

DRILLS:

50 yard 1/2 size IPSC plate: Prepare for Alabama

222:

El Prez:

Box Drill:

SUMMARY:

Felt like a crappy practice. I was mostly happy with the 50 yard 1/2 drill. I pushed the 222 and El Prez drills WAY too hard. Started off running El Prez in 5.3 with 2 misses. I changed gears to targeting a "pace" so to speak. My problem has been that I've been shooting too fast. I targeted a goal of 7ish seconds clean. I ran it in 7.3ish clean. I targeted that speed. Or rather that "feeling" and run the drill a few times. My very next run was 5 points down and 6.73 seconds. I think my hit factor was 8.1723 which puts me at about 75%. The lesson: relax

I felt pretty bad about the Box Drill (4 positions in a box, start in one position, shoot 2, move to next shoot 2, etc. Rotate start positions). I ran it with 1 extra shot (on the 1/2 size ipsc) one time. The rest I was struggling. Finally, I stopped and tried to shoot on the plate quickly and consistently. Focused on trigger squeeze and sight picture. Ran out of ammo doing this.

Overall I felt pretty frustrated. Like I took a small step forward, but then broke down.

[Lee King]

DRY FIRE 4/20/2009

GOAL: Stick to basics.

DRILLS:

Draw:

222:

Transition:

Shoot on move:

Reload:

SUMMARY:

I felt a little better about this practice. I forced myself to zoom in on the A zone and only accept a perfect sight picture. I caught myself going too fast to call a good solid A. I think this practice was best described as "*thumb rest [generic]* awareness". I.e. too much pedal, I accept sloppy sight pictures. Back off and I zoom to the A zone.

Shoot on the move just to not ignore it. Reloads felt strong.

Edited April 21, 2009 by Lee King