Lee King

[Lee King]

I feel that its not right when people preach “FRONT SIGHT, FRONT SIGHT, FRONT SIGHT!!!” and then that’s ALL they end up looking at. You have two sights, a front and a rear. If they are not aligned to one another then who knows where your shots are going? If you are ultra focused on the front sight or the fiber optic in the front sight you lose track of the correlating notch in the rear sight and that is a bad thing.

I think that Fiber Optic front sights are a crutch. They help pull your attention to the front sight but that does not mean that it does not drown out the other things you need to see as the gun fires or recovers from the recoil. I had a hell of a time shooting consistently in the accuracy department when using a fiber optic front sight because my brain would regress into thinking that if the Fiber Optic was on the target then I could fire the gun because the sights were “Aligned” when they really weren’t. Only the front sight was on target and the rear sight was wondering around somewhere unknown because I wasn’t paying attention to it.

I have switched over to using a solid black on black sights, and my accuracy and shot calling has become exceptionally better. I think its mainly that now my brain “Sees” both front and rear sights on the same plane of alignment when the shot is called. I don’t really see an individual front or rear sight, I simply see them together in varying alignment when I shoot. Then my brain processes the alignment of the sights and determines if the “Called Shot” is good or not. Unlike when I had the fiber optic front sight and it always pulled my attention to just the front sight and I would neglect the alignment of the front sight in the rear sight notch. Thus inconsistent hits on the targets.

On the steel side of the street, I think that comparing Steel Challenge shooting to shooting poppers and plates in a USPSA environment are quite different. In steel challenge the plates do not fall and that lulls you into confirming your hits with hearing the “Ding” of the hit. On a USPSA stage all of the poppers/plates fall, some fast, some slow and at all kinds of different distances angles and conditions. You are forced to call your shot good and move on verses wait around to receive the confirmation “Ding” when you did hit the steel or worse yet wait to see the steel move after being hit. Then there is the whole movement factor. Most of the time when you are engaging steel on a USPSA stage you have just entered or are about to exit a shooting position. The movement into and out of the shooting position while engaging steel targets is vastly more complex that simply standing in one place and blasting at plates like what is done in a steel challenge scenario.

The number one thing that kills people on steel in a USPSA stage is missing the steel as you enter or exit a shooting position and it forces you to reengage the target. Or you waste time confirming your hits by listening for the “Ding” or watch for it to fall. It comes down to respect of the shot. Just like when shooting paper. If you are aiming for “Brown” then who knows where your hits are going to land if anywhere. If you are aiming for the whole popper or plate then who knows where your hits are going to land? Pick a specific place on the Plate or Popper where you want to hit. Such as the exact center of the plate. Then even if you miss the exact center, you will still hit the plate/popper. Make sense? You will find that after practicing shooting specific places on the targets it does not take any more time to shoot at the specific location verses your old method of aiming for “Brown” or the whole plate/popper.

It is definitely worth experimenting with covering the fiber. I started off with a bone stock Kimber with black sights and struggled to find it at all. Eventually I went with painting the front sight white and my scores improved dramatically. BUT.. the whole blade is painted. I also noticed there is a lot less light between the front sight and the rear notch than in my limited gun. I know you're supposed to have that light as a reference but honestly I'm not sure that works for me. Lately I've been shooting the Kimber for single stack classification (Limited for the match but with an additional SS classifier) and I really notice how fat the front sight is on target. It seems much less precise now that I'm used to the other.

Oddly enough the last stage of the match had 2 big poppers you could see in a window. I decided the match was a wash so I may as well get aggressive and tried to hit it on the move coming up to the window. Drilled it dead center. Which I guess may be symptomatic of the issue. I know I have to be hyperfocused on the sights when shooting on the move or it's a miss. Maybe I'm getting so anxious when standing still to get moving again I'm subconsciously trying to shoot faster and accepting less of a sight picture.

[Lee King]

10/29/2009 DRY FIRE

GOALS: Accuracy. Sight picture

Drills: The usual set

Summary:

I noticed how different "skill" impacted the sight picture. Draw. Not to big of a deal. Nice even light on each side of the front sight in the notch. I could get there fast too. Add a transition and wow things went to s#$% quickly. I think we've found the root cause of my points drop off at least. Steel I'll get to. The more I focused on the sights and trying to get that perfect alignment, the less I moved my eyes from target to target and started following the sights instead. Now that I have some down time I'm seeing an opportunity to break the whole process back down slowly and work back up to accurate speed.

Next session I want to do only transitions SLOW focusing on eye snap from targets to sights and only accept good sight pictures.

[Lee King]

11/3/2009 Dry Fire and Airsoft

I've been slow to dry fire because the grip tape started to peel off. I had the gun apart to replace it for a couple of days. Now that it's back together I'm back at it.

Drills:

Draw

222

Then.. the doorbell rang and it was UPS with my CQB Master from Evike.com... W00t!

Spent some time sighting it in and doing a little bit of accuracy work. I didn't want to get too many BB's in the garage and the light was gone so I just zeroed it and did a few 2 shot drills on a popper printout just to see how it felt. VERY accurate gun. Looking forward to some drills after work today.

As an aside, I ordered a optic mount and cmore knockoff that clamps to the tac rail on the bottom of the dustcover. My 8 yr old LOVES that. I'm seeing a 2nd gun in my future for "open"

[Lee King]

11/4/2009 Airsoft and Dry Fire

Tried a tiered approach to practice. Without a whole lot of daylight I opted to do some airsoft practice first. Then work on areas I felt like I struggled with dry fire.

DRILLS:

Airsoft:

Draw

3 poppers

SOTM

Draw Strong 2,2,2,2

Draw Weak 2222

Stage of 1 turtle, 1 turtle with bottom 1/2 HC, 3 poppers, 1 T with HC, 1T

All drills were using a combination of the targets from the "stage"

SUMMARY:

Accuracy sucks. Some of it's not me. I could see the shot break, sights on target, bb flying off to the left. Some things were loose on the gun. I tightened them after. We'll have to see if it helped. I may need to make some kind of soft "bushing" for the barrel. The slide fit is a little loose. I don't want to tighten it too much. These things, while metal, aren't made of steel. Too much pressure causes stress and eventually breaks. I still think it was good practice because it forced me to slow down and make sure I had perfect alignment, trigger control, follow through. On SOTM I caught myself breaking shots without a good sight picture or where I knew the front sight was off to the left.

Dryfire:

Draw

222

Step - slow

Reverse Step - slow

Reload

SUMMARY:

I noted I was either getting a good sight picture and lousy transitional eye movement or great eye movement lousy sight picture in the previous practice. I slowed down some of the drills to work on both sight picture AND eye snap. Slow mo'd all the transition drills. Missed a lot of the reloads. I need to work on focusing on the mag well. I would see it, but pull my eyes away as the magazine was about to seat. You have to look it all the way.

Opportunities. Set up a strong hand weak hand classifier for airsoft. Reload drills. Alternate slo mo for transition and speed.

Edited November 5, 2009 by Lee King

[Lee King]

11/5/2009 Airsoft and Dry Fire

GOALS: Continue accuracy work. I like Ben Stoeger's "Project 100" idea. I set up a simple classifier and worked on it with airsoft.

DRILLS:

Airsoft: - drills were on turtles because that's what I had printed out.

CM 03-18 High Standards - 15yrd free reload strong. 10 yr free reload weak.

Draw

Dryfire:

Draw

222

Inside out - 4 target

Outside in - 4 target

Inside out - all targets mixed size

Outside in - all targets mixed size

Step

Reverse Step

222 reload 222 strong

222 reload 222 weak

SUMMARY:

Airsoft: I actually measured out this one. I realized 15 feet is about 1/2 the distance I was shooting yesterday. At scale it would've been 30 yard drills. Which is fine. But I feel a little better about the flyers and the accuracy of the pistol. First couple of passes I had some wild D shots. I settled down and did runs alternating between edge of control fast and backing down a notch. I was short on daylight so I didn't set up a box to catch the magazines and I didn't want to drop them on the ground. I "mimed" a reload. No timer so I wasn't really focused on the reload itself as much as the mental aspect of break the shot, sights off target eyes to magwell, sights back on target squeeze the shot. I have a bad habit of rushing the 1st shot after a reload.

Dry Fire: I started each drill except the draw slow. Focusing on eye movement and perfect sight picture. Then sped up. About the time I hit inside out I was running the drills straight up and caught myself letting the front sight drift a little left and right in the notch. Backed down and refocused on eye movement and sight picture. I tried to go fast, but only as fast as I got a good sight picture. Use the sights as my *thumb rest [generic]* practice.

My draw felt really weak. I've been adjusting my holster but I still hit the beavertail. I think I'm going to change focus from driving down to set the web on the backstrap to feeling the ball of my palm at the index finger hit the grip. I do much better when I grab from the side than the out of control snatch and the drive down to set the grip methods.

Opportunities. Match tomorrow. Dry fire only tonight with focus on the "*thumb rest [generic]*".

ETA - Airsoft "yards" are scale. Really 15ft and 10ft.

Edited November 6, 2009 by Lee King

[Lee King]

11/6/2009 DRY FIRE

11/7/2009 Palmetto Gun Club Level I

DRY FIRE: Goal - slow. Work on sight picture. Drills: Usual. Start slow. Work up to medium speed. Finish fast.

Palmetto Gun Club Level I

Again.. points points points.. I'm a little bit confused as to how to move ahead. I'm trying drills during practice to get back to that front sight focus. But when the timer goes off it all goes out the window. Good - I shot clean. For the most part I felt like each stage went the way I planned it. Bad - Points.

We started on 3 so...

Stage 3: Runnin on Empty

Empty belt start. Loaded gun on barrels. Mags placed on barrels anywhere on stage. 3 walls in a "U" shape openings at the corners of the "U". 2 walls on either side at the beginning off of the top of the "U". Barrels in different locations for magazines etc. I opted to start on the R. Loaded gun and first magazine on the R barrel. Use the magnet to "holster" the magazine and reload from it.

I hit the R side. Picked up the gun and mag. The magazine didn't feel like it snapped to the magnet right. I kept messing with it. Finally I started shooting strong hand for the 1st 2 targets. Ran hard to the L "wing" and took 3. Moved back to the middle around the corner reloading. By taking 3 around the outside L I could index on the middle target in the L port and only take 1 there. You could see it clearly on the move for a good 3-5 steps without actually going into the port. I hit it on the way by and went straight to the opening to the middle. I sort of bounced into the port and shot the far middle target and called a miss because of the "bounce" but I moved on and was going to wait until the end to look to see if I needed another shot, Far right, close right behind barrel. Moved R and indexed to the R port middle target (one I opted NOT to shoot from the 1st position because you could hit it moving into the port), then the 2nd target. Looked back to the middle as I was breaking the 2nd shot and called it a M too. Swung back to the middle port and took the Far L and close L behind the barrels to finish. I looked back to the middle and R target to see if those were misses and the hits were there. I got lucky. 109 pts (out of 130) 21.63s 6th.

Stage 4: Got Bullet's

Simple stage. Empty gun on table. Load from a magazine on your belt. Plate papper, us popper, us popper, paper, plate.

I opted to run it straight up L to R. I took 1 extra shot on the R plate. Other than that a smooth run. Dropped 2 pts so I must've had A,C on both paper. 38 pts (out of 40) 6.53s 2nd.

Stage 5: Paper-N-Plates

Another simple stage. Box and barricade to the L and R. Plate racks in front of them. 2 paper were hidden behind the barricade so that you had to shoot them either leaving a box or entering a box. Start was hands flat on sides of barricade.

Took 1 extra shoot on the first plate rack. Came out of the box, turned and hit the 1st target backing. Had to wait for a step to take the 2nd target. Turned, reload, hit the outside L paper on the move then the inside R. The R was a better index but the L disappeared behind a barrel pretty quick if you over ran it so I went L,R coming into the box. Hit the 1st 2 plates no problem. Missed the 3rd. Hit the 4th. Jam on the 5th. Then it started. Threw about 4 shots before I calmed myself to hit the 5th plate, 6th plate, back to the 3rd. Once I settled myself I went 1 for 1 but the jam threw me off. I could tell I was holding the stress in my hands and milking the gun. Once I made myself relax I went 1 for 1 on the last 3. Dropped 3 points. 97 pts (out of 100). 25.21s.

Stage 1: In Your Face

Wall of barrels in the middle. Start with hands on middle barrel. 3 targets to the R. Move to the left, 2 open targets to the L, 1 target behind a barrel so you had to go extreme left or take it later. Wall back to the R with 1 paper just to the R of the corner. 2 targets straight ahead. Move right behind the wall you just passed. 2 targets in the open straight ahead and one behind a barrel you had to move far R for.

I took a big step back during the draw and took the 1st 3 targets, turned L started walking and shot the far target, then the closer target. Turned back R and hit the target next to the wall picking up speed. Swung back to the L and took the target behind the barrel (I opted to take it here instead of running extreme L and leaning at the beginning). The closer L target of the 2 wide open in front. Reload moving right, drove to the corner gun up at the barrels waiting for the target to appear. Hit the corner and shot the R, 2 in front, and the 1 I left to the L around the separating wall. Fastest time on the stage. BUT the worst points. There were only 2 people with the same points at they both had misses (I didn't). 107 pts (out of 120) 12.50.

Stage 2: CM 03-18 High Standards

3 targets. 222 reload 222 strong. Move up to 10 yard. 222 reload 222 weak.

222 reload 222 strong no problems. I went reasonably fast for the first 6 and probably went too fast for the strong 6. But I saw the sights strong hand. Focused on trigger control. Next string... ugh.. I got all of the hits. BUT.. I ripped the first 6 and felt good about them (probably too fast for A hits). Good reload and transfer to weak. I started breaking shots I was calling M. The front sight would be sticking up out of the notch and I'd break the shot anyway. It was like I had the cadence programmed and I couldn't stop it. Fortunately, they weren't M. But I did pull some into D. 108 pts (out of 120) 18.33s. Should be about 66%.

SUMMARY:

Stage 1 and Stage 3 I ran on the ragged edge of control. Stage 3 I broke shots "bouncing" and looking away. I got lucky that they were there but I know those accounted for 8 pts of the 21 I gave up on that stage. I know I dropped others fumbling with my magazine shooting strong hand.. A shooter who didn't even engage a target had 1 more point than me. Stage 1 I barely saw the sights on all of the L targets. John ran it 1) production with 2 reloads and 2) minor and was only .06 seconds off but 5 points better. I had the fastest time but gave up 13 pts. If this were only about points I would've been 4th from last on that stage. I have got to back off and start focusing on the sights more.

Opportunities: Not sure I'm going to have time before the next match but I need to slow down. Shoot just for points. Live fire slow one shot at a time. Run movement drills and find the "A" speed.

ETA - Run some drills with airsoft in "slow motion". I need to find a way to drill smooth and not fast.

Edited November 9, 2009 by Lee King

[Lee King]

11/10/2009 Airsoft

GOAL: Find the *thumb rest [generic]*

DRILLS:

222 - I was running out of daylight so I only set up 1 drill.

SUMMARY:

I wanted to try to find the "edge" of control and accuracy. The drill was simple. 3 targets. 15 "yards" (scale). Draw and shoot 2 rounds each. Since my timer won't pick up the airsoft I went with par times. I used previous live fire observations and came up with 1.2 draw 0.2 split. 0.4 transitions for a time of 2.6 for this drill as my "fast" par time. I added .4 to make it 3s to begin with.

The first couple of passes I ripped through the targets with plenty of time to spare. I also threw a couple of D's. Then I started slowing down to try to hit 3s. Once I was comfortable with the speed I really started focusing on the sights, squeeze, grip. I had a tiny "a ha" moment. I started calling the shots. You are supposed to try to call them and I do. But without feedback you don't really have a good idea if you are really calling them or if you are wishing to call them. I could feel myself milk the grip.

I tightened the groups up to A's with 1 or 2 C's. So I dropped the par time down to 2.7s. The results were mixed. About 50/50 I would drop 1 D. Again, I could tell I milked the grip and pushed the shot when it happened.

I really slowed the par time to 4s and tried to do everything in slo motion. Smooth. 4 was a little too fast for that idea and I wasn't completing the drills. So I dropped par altogether.

I noticed I was tracking the sights instead of moving my eyes ahead of the gun from target to target. Mixed up the order 1,3,2. 3,1,2. 2,1,3. 2,3,1 to try to work on getting that eye movement back.

Some things I noticed. 1) I know when I push the sight. The question is how do I drill that "push" out. 2) I noticed my shots got sloppier when I moved my eyes ahead of the sights. When I tracked the sights I rarely dropped a C much less a D.

OPPORTUNITIES: SLO MO. I got a lot from slowing down. It's pouring here the next couple of days. Drill with NO speed. Focus on fundamentals. Grip in particular since this seems to be my biggest problem. I'm milking it at the last second and pushing the shot. Transition eye work. Snap from target to sight.

[Lee King]

11/10/2009 DRY FIRE

GOALS: Rain so no airsoft. Break down fundamentals and focus on details of the shot cycle. All drills as slow as possible.

DRILLS:

Draw

222

Inside out

Outside in

Step

Reverse Step

SUMMARY:

I found something I could improve with each drill. Draw - I was leaving my weak hand closed until it met the other. Made for inconsistent grip. Focused on opening the hand, thumb out, index the V of the hand to the gun. 222 - paid very close attention to sight picture, breaking the shot, finishing the shot, THEN moving the eyes, snapping back to sights after transition. Caught myself speeding up and getting impatient.

OPPORTUNITIES: If the weather clears out run these again with airsoft at the same speed. Reinforce each step with feedback. I don't think I'll have a chance to get to teh range but this seems like a perfect opportunity to walk this from dry fire, to airsoft, to live fire.

[Lee King]

11/11/2009 DRY FIRE

GOALS: Same as yesterday. Slow. Focus on each component.

DRILLS:

Draw

222

Inside out

Outside in

step

Reverse step

L-R - across the pratice target array

R-L

SOTM

"Barrier"

SUMMARY :

PRetty much same as yesterday. Added SOTM and "Barricade" work using doors and hall walls for vision barriers. I think some of the slop from last weekend came from SOTM targets. SOTM and Barricade drills were at 1/2 - 3/4 speed.

[Lee King]

11/12/2009 DRY FIRE

GOALS: same as yesterday

DRILLS: same as yesterday

SUMMARY: 'bout the same. Every thing slo motion. Focused on grip pressure, trigger squeeze. Front sight. Eye movement. Did some SOTM in slo mo to work on breaking the shot at the right moment. It was still raining so I couldn't try any of this with airsoft. Hopefully today.

[Lee King]

11/14/2009 MID-CAROLINA RIFLE CLUB LEVEL I

GOALS: Points.. points.. points..

Started on Stage 4 so..

Stage 4: Three

Shoot through barrels 1 to the L and 1 to the R. Wall with port at the end. Each "port" had 3 targets clustered with a 90 degree to the L 1 vertical and a 90 to the R.

Points were all I cared about on this. 1st stage. If you took one big step to the R coming off the 1st barrel you could squat and see all 3 through the next. Then stand and take the last 3 from far without moving. I watched another shooter run it without moving. He took a lot of misses. But he also ran it really fast. I opted to take the 1st 3. Take a HUGE step to the right to shoot through the next barrel to the R (barrel was about 5 yrds away, targets about 15). I decided to take a big step forward while standing up to try to cut just a little more distance off of the last array. The window was about 10 yrds and the targets about 20ish. It took me a hair longer to settle on each array after the huge step than I would like. But I was ok on points. 15.07s 85pts (out of 90).

Stage 5: Classifier CM99-08 Melody Line

6 targets with various hard cover. 1 shot each reload 1 shot each.

I yanked one on the number 5 target (L-R) pulling it into hard cover. I felt myself yank right as it broke. Nothing I could do at that point since Va. Cnt. The points on this were really good though. WITH the miss I had 54 pts (out of 60). 8.18s.

Stage 1: Left

All turtles. 3 in front. 2 barrels WAY at the back R of the bay 2 targets visible from the R of the stage. Move back to the L/Straight ahead. Barrels with port 3 close targets. Swing back to the R and 2 targets on the back side of the long barrels.

I didn't like taking partially obscured targets to the R from the beginning. REALLY long shots. I opted to take the first 3. Run about 5-8 yards to the far R opening up those targets. Then taking slow aimed shots. Haul ass back to the L. The last position was awkward. You were either going to take a lot of LR swinging then back to the R for the last 2 far targets. Or you stopped, took the far R first. Then hammered the close targets. I opted to run up to the port. Stop. Turn and hit the far targets. Then work R-L hammering the close targets. I think that was slower. Decent points though. I droped a D on the first far target. I was scared of the barrels and shot to the R a bit. Having said that only 1 person had higher points. 90pts (out of 100) 15.24s.

Stage 2: Strait.

Uprange start. Straight up the middle stage. 2 targets in the open, L target was closer. Wall to the L with 2 RIGHT behind it NS in between. About 5 yards further wall on the R with 2 targets immediately behind it with NS in between. At the end 2 targets on the extreme L and R. Barrel walls with ports on L and R with 2 close targets in each. The index was better swinging from the 1st L target to the L targets behind the wall so you didn't over run it. Which meant turn and draw on the farther R target first. I drew on it, swung back to the L hit that target moving forward. Indexed perfectly to the R target behind the wall. Carefully moved so not to over run the L target in that array. Swung back to the R and was stuck. Had to move to see the next 2 targets. Reload haul ass to the L port. I had planned to stop about 3 yards back where you could see everything on the L side. My reload was faster than I thought and I had a lot of movement doing nothing. So I swung to the far L target adn took it OTM. Hit the 1st target in the port and hammered the 1 to the right of it. Drove to the R port. I had to wait a step or two to see the far R target. Hit it, hammered the close R target. Swung to the L off balance and hammered it as I was falling out of the box. This was the worst stage for points. I knew I was running it too fast. I didn't settle after the draw on the first target to the R and pulled a D. I think I had another D on the far R target in the back. SOTM I think was the culprit. 109pts (out of 120) 13.00s.

Stage 3: Here and there

Start position facing the R berm hands clasped behind back. Gun on shelf of a high table. 2 targets with partial bottom HC under the table. Wall with window/little door on the R side. 3 targets through window, 2 with Z HC. One wide open to the L. Move into "hall" in the middle with 2 targets wide open on L. Move to the end of the lane 1 far target to the R. 1 middle and 1 to the L behind barrels so you had to be at the end to see it.

1st 2 targets under the table no problems. I opted to move to the window without taking the L target. You could get it driving to the hall as long as you didn't try to take it in the door. I slowed down to take the 1st Z target. Hammered the middle, slow on the next Z. Turned to the L hitting the open target on the move. It was a sweet index to the far target to the L as you came around the corner to the hall. Hit it. Slicing the pie so to speak I took 1 shot on the closer L target and jam. Had to stop and back up a step to keep from over running 180. Quick rack cleared it and 1 shot. Moved to the end. Took 3 at the far R target because I called a miss (good makeup it was). Felt awkward taking the next target. Finally finished on the far L. The last 3 felt really awkward. I couldn't get the gun to settle on a sight picture. My points weren't too terribly bad. I don't think I dropped any D's. 105 (out of 110). 18.56s. The jam really cost me.

SUMARY:

I met my goal of better points. I did have 1 M I called but couldn't make up. I let myself get out on the edge on 1 stage and dropped more points than I would like. I need to work on SOTM. I think that is where my points have really fallen off.

[11.43mm]

Dude, or should I say Mr. Dude? I know this is for you and your progress, but I have learned a lot!!! Next year I'm gonna get an airsoft and probably (selfishly) gonna run your well thought out drills. Least I can do is buy you a beer or two- Saturday at Benning? Thanks alot!!

[Lee King]

Dan, I'm glad you get something out of this. I'm not sure how sound my methods are but I'm doing what I can to improve. Use as much as you want!

[Lee King]

11/16/2009 DRY FIRE

GOAL: I'm going to shoot a local IDPA this weekend (weather permitting). I decided to bust out my XD just for giggles. This session focused on 1) getting used to the feel of the XD (mostly the long trigger pull) 2) draw from concealed 3) slide lock reload 4) retention reload

DRILLS:

Draw

222

222 reload 222 (normal)

222 reload 222 (slide lock)

222 reload 222 (retain)

Inside out reload outside in

SUMMARY:

I had a habit of doing the short 1911 reset. Had to force myself to completely release the trigger. It's hard to do drills at slide lock for a slide lock reload. I only did a few of those. Retention reloads need work.

[Lee King]

Been very slack about keeping up with the diary. I've been practicing and shooting. Just trying to get stuff done before FB3G at home and work.

Quick Summaries:

11/21/2009 IDPA Palmetto Gun Club

For what it's worth I won ESP Unclassified Shot my XD .45 with production ammo. It was an eye opener after shooting .40 for so long. Long trigger pull and unfamiliar feel to the gun and I pulled a lot of +3's. I think I got dinged for a procedural on one stage. He called cover and I was behind a wall. Not as behind as he'd like I guess. I completely tanked stage 1. I was ripping shots at a target.. didn't notice the hands. Oops. All in all I'm happy. Shot it in 108. Not sure what my raw times were. But if you take away the procedural and move only 1/2 of the NS shots to the right target and I'm in contention. If I shoot it again I will need to slow down. Accuracy is king here.

11/28/2009 Steel Challenge Palmetto Gun Club

Solid day. Missed a #1 and #2 by 2 sec. Shot open rifle and irons rimfire pistol.

Stage 5: Accelerator

Not a whole lot to say about this. I went 1,2,4,3,S. Mised the number 3 plate and transitioned to the S plate before I caught myself on 1 run. Other than that very consistent. Rifle 1st 11.74. Pistol 3rd 13.33.

Stage 1: Round About

I tried going 1,2 and 2,1. 2,1 felt awkward as hell but it was my fastest time. I struggled a lot with the 1st plate and kept having to go back for it. Rifle 1st 11.20 Pistol 3rd 13.51

Stage 2: 5 to Go

Very consistent with Rifle. Pistol I took 1 M on the #4 plate on the first run. Had a couple of others I went back for. I made them up but the time swinging back cost me. Had a strong drive from the #4 plate to the stop plate. Good gear change. Rifle 1st 10.49 Pistol 5th 12.83.

Stage 3: Smoke and Hope

Strong runs with both. I actually beat rifle with pistol. Could be a personal best. The last run I decided to hang it all out (pistol). I took a snap shot at the stop plate. Usually I went fast 1,2,4,3 then pause for a careful aim at S. The last run I tried to break the shot as the fiber caught the R edge. Didn't work worth a crap. But oddly enough even taking 3 shots at the S plate I still beat the cautious 1st run. Rifle was very consistent. I caught myself throwing the gun at the last plate... I.e. I would relax then push the gun up to the plate to "snap" it. VERY inconsistent that way. I relaxed for the 3-5 runs and was extremely consistent. Pistol 1st 9.05 Rifle 2nd 10.18

Stage 4: Tunnel V - "outlaw" stage designed to fit the bay.

This one was fast and furious. 8" plates in a V shape. Stop plate was a big square in the middle at about 15 yards. The plates were close together. This was probably my worst stage. The close plates suckered me into running too fast. I have to remember.. "smooth is fast". I tried to run this straight up 1,2,3,4,S. Took 2 M with pistol. Both were snapping at the #4 plate pulling off to the S. Both times I hit the S before the M registered in my brain. Rifle the "snap" was back a lot. I was all over the place with rifle. BUT I didn't miss. Took extra shots but I was more patient with the rifle. Rifle 2nd 10.44. Pistol 10th 12.09. The M (that wasn't my throw away) cost me the 2s to push me to 3rd.

[Lee King]

12/8/2009 DRY FIRE

Back from FB3G. Dry fire to get ready for TfT.

Goal: Basics

Drills:

The usual set. Added some reload drills. Little bit of movement.

Summary:

Little sloppy with sight picture. Not the snap I like. Did a little bit of work focusing on the draw. Feel pretty weak with surrender draw. Reloads were surprisingly strong considering I haven't practiced in a while.

Tomorrow work on SOTM. Random targets around the house.

[Lee King]

12/9/2009 DRY FIRE

GOAL: SOTM. I believe I'm losing the most points during SOTM.

Drills:

Mock COF through the house.

Draw:

222:

SUMMARY:

Very sloppy with sight picture at first. Like as in never saw the fiber on the 1st 2 or 3 passes. I had to slow way down. The last few runs seemed better but it took a lot of reps. Broke down sections of the COF where I struggled.

[Lee King]

12/10/2009 DRY FIRE

GOAL: More SOTM.

DRILLS:

Another simulated COF in the house

Draw

222

Step

Reverse Step

SUMMARY:

The COF actually ended up being a good drill for economy of motion. There were 2 targets close with a NS in between. Then you went through the door to my kitchen with 5 targets around the counters. Then there were 2 waist high in the breakfast area and 2 in the fam room next to the breakfast area. After the 1st 2 targets in the living room, you moved on a R-L angle to the kitchen door. One of the targets in the kitchen on the L side was right in front of you. But as you went through the door targets opened up L and R. The target you could see was in the middle so if you engaged it OTM coming through the door you still had to swing either L or R to pick up the others. The rest were about picking a spot to hit the far targets in the fam room then a quick step left to hit the 2 in the breakfast area.

I tried running it taking the target in the kitchen OTM. Or waiting and hitting the far L target then the one you could see after going through the door. I tried holding those until after taking the R targets after going through the door. I caught myself trying to "bend" the gun around the door frame to get to the far L target. I knew it was there and I REALLY wanted to engage it before I got through the door. If I wasn't careful I'd over run the targets on the R. Patience was key. I was very sloppy with the sight picture. I ran it as slow as possible trying to get back focused on the sights. Still not comfortable I did it well.

Then I moved to the office where my standard practice array is and tried to regroup to focus on fundamentals. Those drills felt better. A little sloppy with the A's. Drifted into C's a lot.

Need to keep working SOTM to try to get back to front sight focus. I'll try to take some time over the holidays to set up some similar drills in the yard for airsoft.

[Lee King]

12/12/2009 Tim Daugherty Memorial Toys for Tots Charity Match - Mid-Carolina Gun Club

Ok day. I had a lot of jams that cost me. Most importantly, I WON A FREAKIN GUN!!!! I entered the American Shooter's Edge Match Challenge after the Toys for Tots match last year. The drawing was during this match and I WAS THE WINNER!! HUGE Thanks to Sam Conway!

I ended up 2nd B, 4th overall in Limited.

We started on Stage 1 so:

Stage 1: Sleigh Ride

Started sitting at a table. Pull a rope to activate 2 dropouts. Move right. 3 ports. 4 targets in the 1st 2 in the 2nd, 3 in the 3rd with a NS in the middle to shoot around. The bay sort of rotated. There were two targets WAY back to the R. You could see one from the start position. The other opened up after the last port. Moved back to the L for 1 paper close, 3 steel, then 1 paper to the R behind a barrel.

Since it was seated I opted to lock the holster. I need to practice with it locked more. I fumbled trying to get it unlocked. Hit the 1st 2 on the move. Stayed out of the 1st port and flowed through it. The 2nd went ok too. You had to stop and cheat one side of the next port to keep from hitting the NS. Forgot to reload at this point. Moved up and shot the next 2 targets. Turned L and hit the hidden target. THEN reloaded. Came up and "click". Rack. Hit that target. Missed the poppers on the 1st pass (and they were CLOSE) too. Hit the last paper and settled down to run the poppers again. Wasted a good 2-3 seconds between the reload screwup and the poppers. 4th 19.13 seconds. 129 pts. out of 135.

Stage 2: Pick a Christmas Tree

Lot of back and forth on this one. Start was holding an ax suck in a piece of wood. 2 targets to the L with a "tree" for HC. 1 target to the right. As you moved forward another opened on the L and 2 on the R behind barrels. There was a wall in back in the middle you had to go either L or R around. I opted for the L because targets opened up better on that side. Barrels in the corner with 2 targets, one you could see from the outside and one from the opposite side. I.e. from the L, shoot the outside then swing back to the opposite corner to shoot the R and vice versa.

I turned and hit the 1st 2 to the L first. I felt like I caught the outside edge on the 1st target. Turned hit the R target. Took the next to the L. Swung back to the R hitting those 2 from across the bay on the move. Reload. Hit the L target, corner target, then the R corner target.. If you cheated back you only had to move about 5 steps to the R to open the last outside and opposite corner.

Took a M on the first target. I knew I was cheating it too much. I didn't feel comfortable about the sights and I should've settled and hit it again. Also another on the R side right before my reload. I was SOTM on that one. I should've slowed down a hair. I did work my plan though. Had a jam in the middle after the reload. The 2 M really hurt. 13th overall. 17.04s 116 out of 135 points 2M.

Stage 3: All I Want for Christmas is 2 A Hits

Turn and Draw. 2 targets on the immediate L. 1 to the R. Ports on the L and R side of the stage each with 4 targets. They were high and low mixed. At the end there were 2 targets to teh extreme L and R. 3 poppers intermixed with 4 HC poppers.

I turned and hit the 1st 2, then swung to the R and hit it. I tried to go slow because it was a longish shot for SOTM. Step up and hit the R array OTM. Reload (standing). Hit the 4 on the L port OTM. They were close enough you could get moving. Had to be careful not to overrun 180. Move up and hit the R target (it opened faster). Then the 3 popers and the L. I struggled with the poppers and took 2 extra shots. I also had another jam. The jam cost me on this one. Points were sloppy too. I hit the L array OTM and shooting really fast. Dropped some points there. 9th. 19.21s 134 out of 145 pts.

Stage 4: Yuletide Turtles

This was my best stage. Started holding a package. Target on the L and R. As you move up another target behind a barrel on the R and 1 to the L behind a NS. Set of walls on the L and R. Target behind a wall immediately to the L. 3 targets on the R the far behind a NS. One in the open on the L. Another set of walls L and R with a wall in the M. Targets behind the LR walls behind NS. Targets in the corner in the open. 4 targets in the back middle with 3 big steel challenge plates as HC.

I opted to take the close L and the next L first because it was more open around the NS from the start. Turn R and hit the first. Moved up and got the next R target OTM. Turn L and hit the next immediately behind the wall. Cheating R side you could see the far R behind the NS better. Took it and hit the next 2 OTM as I was passing (sort of pie slicing). Drove across to the next wall to the L taking the L target in the open. Reload. Hit the close L target, L corner, then 2 L targets in the back middle between the HC plates. Drove R hitting teh target on the 180 line (about 175) moving up. Then hit the R corner and swung back for the 2 remaining targets behind the HC. Plan felt good. I had good points. No jams. 3.5 s off the leader but considering the previous 2 stages I was happy with it. 2nd 18.32 with 132 out of 140 pts.

Stage 5: The Grinch with Pinch Your Bike part Deux

More L and R. Started touching the bike. Lot of choices on this one. 2 walls in a V right in front of you. Sets of walls on the L and R. Then another V at the back with the tip open. 3 targets in the middle with a NS close up to shoot around. The 2 corner targets you could see from the beginning. But they got tighter and tighter as you moved forward disappearing about 1/2 of the way up.

To avoid running back and forth for the corner targets. I stepped L and hit the close target, M with the NS, then the far L corner target. Then came back right hitting the 1st close OTM. Leaned R and slowed to get the next around the NS. I meant to reload but forgot and hit the far R corner target moving slowly up. Standing reload. Took the next 2 R "slicing". Swung L and hit the R 2 moving up to the back V. Got to the V and trigger froze. A LOT. Partially cold. Partially me. At one point I thought the gun jammed and actually looked at it. I don't think I hit the last 3 without freezing on each target. Cost me at least 2 seconds if not more. 7th 18.29 121 pts.

Stage 6: Ralphie Git Yer Red Ryder

This was a repeat of one from PGC. Uprange surrender start. Had to move around some NS to get to the shoot box. Wall. You could see all of the targets on the L and R side from the first box including the corner targets. But they were far. Another "V" in the middle with the tip opened. 3 targets with a NS you had to shoot around. Move around the V to the back where the corner targets were open on the outside, then cross bay for the inside corner targets around barrels.

It was a little different than the first set up because you could see everything but to targets behind barrels in the middle. Which was interesting because you had to make the choice as to when to shoot targets. I opted to start to the L and take 2. Then move R and take 2. Step around the wall back into the shoot box and hit the L 2 targets. Then the R 2 moving up to the V. Reload on the way. Hit the middle targets fast (no trigger freeze). Moved R around the V and hit the corner R target OTM. If you ran to the back fault line about 1/3 over from the R corner, you could see the L corner target AND the outside corner target. It was supposed to be behind a barrel but from the right spot you could see them both. This saved 1) a long shot from the 1st box and 2) running all the way back to the L to see it from the end. So I hit that position and shot the 2 L corner, then swung back R to hit the last. I worked the plan as best I could. I could've taken the L 2 from the start box backing away but I wanted to make sure I got good hits on those. Otherwise I don't think there was much else that stands out as "problem" per se. I was only 1.5s off 1st. 22.11s 142 out of 150 pts.

Stage 7: Loose the Bumpus Hounds

Similar to a stage from SC State. 2 walls. Start position was hands on X on either the L wall or R. 2 targets around outside of each wall. Move back up the middle. 2 walls with barrels set so you had to move L and R to see the low target behind them in the middle. 3 targets behind barrels on the L and R. Move up for 2 corner targets behind barrels with 1 target behind a middle barrel at the end.

I chose to go R first in keeping with my theory of a long run without a reload is faster R-L for me. Hit the corner a hair too deep and took the outside L targets. Moved back to the middle across to the R. I didn't like having to make the corner to stay on the L side. Ended up static to take the 3 R targets between the walls and barrels. Hit the R middle low target. Had a jam on the 2nd shot. Moved back to the L reloading. Stepped up to the barrels with the low middle L target so I didn't have to go too far. I didn't seat the mag good enough and got 1 shot off and click. Reseat, rack, then took the next 2 targets (plus the 2nd on the one with the click). Got the low target moving forward. Stepped to the L in back and could see the remaining targets. The jam and mag problem really cost me on this one. 7 seconds out of 1st. Could've cut that in half easily. 5th 27.92s 138pts out of 150.

SUMMARY:

All in all an ok match. I never felt like I got a good smooth flow going on most of the stages because of jams. Once I took the 2 M on the 2nd stage of hte day I slowed down and felt a little too cautious. For the most part my points were good though. I know I pushed too hard for the 2 M. Shooting wise I need to keep working on SOTM. I'm a little too comfortable hitting targets OTM and and complacent with patience to get the sight picture right before breaking the shot. Costs me points and in 1 case, a M.

[Lee King]

12/14/2009 Airsoft

Set up a small COF in the garage. 3 low targets behind a barrier with lower HC. 1 open target to R. Vision barrier to the L about 8 feet back. 2 targets to the L 1 with lower 1/2 HC. Start position about 3 feet back from the barrier (so you couldn't see the low targets). Shoot the 3 low, the far R while backing to the barrier. Then the last 2 around the L side of the barrier. Ran it in reverse too.

I realized for the low targets I wasn't looking at the gun the same way. I've been hitting low targets just looking for the front sight on brown. But because I'm left eyed dominant but right handed, I tape my glasses. I realized looking low the tape wasn't working. I saw double front sights. Explains why I've dropped a lot of points on those really close targets like that.

Did a few passes on just the low targets working on seeing a better view of the sights. Also did some bill drills to try to relax. I had some trigger freezes on the low targets.

[Lee King]

1/4/2010 DRY FIRE

Picked up the gun for the first time in several weeks. Used the airsoft as my limited gun is with the gunsmith. Looking to iron out the jam problems.

DRILLS:

Draw

222

turn and 222

inside out

outside in

step

SUMMARY:

Kept it simple. I didn't have high expectations since it has been several weeks since I even held a pistol. But I was surprised. The sights snapped to the target quicker than I expected. There was some slop in finding the A zone but I didn't have to hunt the front sight down like I have in the past.

Going to do some airsoft work today to validate what I did last night.

[Lee King]

1/5/2010 Airsoft

I was juggling homework with my daughter, dinner, and practice so I kept it simple. Worked on El Pres with airsoft in the garage. My timer is a CED 7000 which doesn't pick up consistently. So I "reverse engineered" a par time I wanted to shoot for. 6.5 seconds clean would give me a HF of 9.2307, which according to the classifier calc would be 85%. I'm hovering around 70% right now so this is a good achievable goal for me.

A couple of things happened on the first run. 1) the grip on my airsoft gun is really soft. It's easy to pin the magazine with grip pressure so it took a long time to do the mag change. 2) I ripped shots like I was Tilley shooting an open gun. Even with the mag snafu I was well under the par time. I probably ran it around 4.5 seconds. I dropped 2 M and many points.

The next few runs I focused on smooth and relaxed. I think the grip pressure for a mag change is actually a good thing. When I relax I'm much smoother and faster. This should translate to "real steel". I dropped 3 C's and 2 D's consistently. But I was still well under par.

I bumped par down to 6. Again I was cranking rounds instead of relaxing. I noticed I push the first shot after reload to the L taking a M. The last 3 or 4 runs I really focused on getting my sights settled for the 1st shot after draw and 1st shot after reload. When I did this, all of my shots tightened up. I had 3 runs where I only dropped 1 C. I bumped par down to 5.75

I moved the timer to the box catching my mags. It actually caught 1 run. 6.12 1 point down. HF 9.6405 for 89.25%. The final run of the night with a par time of 5.75 I ran clean. Last shot was during the beep. The timer didn't pick it up so I can't really say an exact HF. But assuming I was within the .3 grace and call it 6s with 60 points that's a HF of 10 putting me in 92%.

I really want to get out and run this with real steel to see how airsoft translates.

[Lee King]

1/9/2010 MidCarolina Rifle Club

GOAL:

Knock the rust off. Push the gun to try to make it jam. Let it hang out a bit just for giggles.

we started on Stage 2:

Stage 2: Right

First stage I've shot since TfT. Goal was to relax. See the sights. Start in a box. 4 targets along left berm all the way to the back. Wall to the R side with port (more of a room). Target in the open on the R. 2 targets in the port. To the L of the wall was a shoot lane that ran down the middle. Wall on the R making up part of hte "room". At the end there was a hidden target to the R. Several along the back berm. Some behind low barrels. Best place ot end was at the far R. All targets were exposed from that position. Drew on the first target along the L berm. Turned and engaged the R target on the way to the wall. Opened the port. Hit the 2 in the window. Turned and had a good index on the 2nd target along the L berm. Hit it and the next OTM. Reload stepping to back corner. Worked from R - L across the back. Didn't feel good about the 2 middle targets. The sights were high in the notch. Took a M on the 2nd of those targets.

I ran this one way too fast (which was a theme for the day). 13.19 which was a full 2s faster than the GM. 94 pts (out of 110). 3rd in Limited.

Stage 3: Drums

This was a repeat of a stage from Nov. Only changes were the 1st barrel was low instead of high and there was a NS right in the middle blocking the view of the targets through the port in the back. You had to move at least around the NS to see through the port in the back wall. Start in box. Low barrel to the L with 3 targets 1 was Z. High barrel to the R with 3 targets, 1 was Z. Wall in the back with port. 3 targets 1 with Z.

Moved to the first port, took 3 at the Z then 2 to the next 2 "slicing the pie". Stood and moved up a couple of steps being sure to stay back. Hit the first 2. Had a jam. Cleared it (I meant to look to see what kind of jam). Hit the Z. I didn't feel good but I kept moving. Around the NS and tried to take my time since these were now long targets.

1M on the Z I should've hit again. I wasn't the fastest on this. But consider I had a jam that could me a good second or more. Again, too fast. 14.45s 80 pts out of 90. 4th in Limited.

Stage 4: El Pres CM 99-11

Good thing I practiced this one. I felt a little out of control. But I remembered from practice to relax and see the shot. Don't try to rip them. The front sight was lifting out of the notch on a couple of targets. But I didn't drop too many points. 6.74 and 54 pts. Was hoping for 80% but ended up with 74. First in Limited. Stage win combined.

Stage 1: L or R

Simple stage. 3 arrays. Walls to L and R. 3 targets to outside of each wall. Middle array between the walls had 4 targets. NS right in between 2 of them up close. Hands touching either wall on L or R. I started on L side. Draw stepping back. Started on close to far so I could turn and index immediately on the 1st target in the middle which would be far R target. SOTM moving from L - R. I made sure to stay back so the first target on the R to the outside was avail immediately. It kinda threw me. I throught I had stepped out of the box so I stopped and looked down. I was ok. Kept shooting. I shot this WAY too fast. .5s off of GM. Shooting OTM sideways is something I haven't practiced. The L target on the middle array was a M. I was shooting back across my body. I should've known to slow down for that one. I also took a M on the last array. I knew I moved my eyes to the last target before I broke that shot. Last problem was when I came off of the first array I meant to turn immediately and index to the far R target in the middle. I forgot for a second and started moving without turning. Brought the gun down, then got it back up. This put me farther R than I wanted for the last shot in this array, which put it much farther across my body than I meant. 8.74 73 pts and 2M. 8th in Limited. I gave up a LOT of points on this one. I had 295 final, 2nd place had 305. First had 351. I could've easily made up 20 pts by just slowing down a hair.

SUMMARY:

Overall an ok match. I went in with the attitude of hanging it out a bit. I wanted to force the gun to jam so I could keep working on that problem and I had 1. After the match, I reran stage 1 and got it to jam again. This time I called my smith over and he got a good look at the problem. So now he's seen it for himself. Next few matches I need to bring it in just a hair and focus solely on the sights. Clearly I have the speed.

[Lee King]

01/11/2009 Dry Fire

GOAL:

Slow. I was too fast at MCRC. Slow down.

Drills:

Draw

222

Step

Reverse Step

Vice pres at speed

SUMMARY:

I should've been doing this before the last match. Pushing left and right. Not much but enough to drop a lot of points. I think I'm going to continue this for a few more sessions. If the weather holds I'm planning a live fire session this weekend.

Also I'm going to switch out my targets for turtles since the Open is the next big match.

[Lee King]

01/13/2009 Dry Fire

Going to give my gun back to the smith. Still chasing down the nosedive problem. Wanted to get in dry fire before giving it back.

Drills:

Usual set. Alternated slow and "at speed".

Summary:

Everything was ok for the first 1/2 of the practice. Then I started doing draws to a tiny IPSC. For some reason, I was pushing the front sight low. I would see the notch and lost the fiber. This is a new problem. I slowed down and got it back. But every once in a while it would still dip low.

Don't know when I'll get my gun back. I'm hoping I can pick it back up this weekend to do a little live fire on Sun.