Ben Stoeger

[Ben Stoeger]

I have spent lots of time doing dryfire and retooling my grip and stance. I am playing around with progrip, I think that is a big help.

I am also working on the idea of pinching my strong hand and gun with my weak hand. I like this visualization for getting a better grip. Hopefully a better grip will lead to better accuracy.

Can you elaborate on this? Are you referring to the Matt Burkett-style "rolling your weak hand" down technique?

I am talking about visualizing pushing the palm of your weak hand and your fingers together. Of course, the gun and the strong hand are in between them and get held very solidly.

[Rob D]

Hey Ben,

I just got a chance to look at your website and it's awesome. I love the drills section. A lot of them seem to focus on pinpoint accuracy which is something I haven't seen from a lot of the drills I've looked at. I'm definitely going to use several of your headshot drills in my practice sessions. The videos are also really impressive. Anyway, thanks for the drills and all the info posted on your site. It's much appreciated by us noobs.

Thanks Again

[Ben Stoeger]

Rob,

Thanks for the kind words. I hope your training works the way you want it to.

[Ben Stoeger]

I just saw me on TV... Shooting USA to be more exact.

They interviewed me because my gun is so weird…. I think it went ok. I look a little bit sluggish compared to the other guys. This is good motivation to practice. =)

[Caspian_45]

The weird gun adds Kewl Factor. When you feel your equipment is holding you back, change equipment....until then.........

You did great. It was pleasure taping your targets. Lets do it again In Vegas.

They had me on there too. You just got a lot more air time.

[Ben Stoeger]

The weird gun adds Kewl Factor. When you feel your equipment is holding you back, change equipment....until then.........

You did great. It was pleasure taping your targets. Lets do it again In Vegas.

They had me on there too. You just got a lot more air time.

Yeah you had a raging stage win on there. You looked awesome!

See you in Vegas.

[Ben Stoeger]

I forgot to post this in this thread.. I know some of you are waiting for word on the dates of my next class at holmen:

I am pleased to announce that I am holding a Competition Pistol class on May 2nd and 3rd. This curriculum for the class will be as follows:

Accuracy

Grip/Stance

Shot Calling

USPSA Techniques (this will consist mostly of specialized movement techniques)

Stage Breakdown/Analysis

Practice Tips and Techniques

The format of the class will consist of one day of intensive work on technique. The next day will consist of a multi stage mock match. The stages will be such that the students will go through each just like a match, but then we will revisit each stage and analyze the performance of each student.

This class will be held at Holmen Rod and Gun Club in Holmen Wisconsin. It will start at 9am and go until about 5 pm on both days.

Ronnie Casper will be assisting with the class and range setup.

The cost is $250, with a limit of 12 students.

Estimated Round Count will be 750 for the first day and about 500 for the second day.

PM or Email me (elbeno007@hotmail.com) for more info, to register, or to setup your own class)

[Ben Stoeger]

Alright guys. Time for another update.

HERE

The cliff notes version is that I have a lot of stuff going on. I feel really motivated the last couple weeks. The shiny new video games I got for Christmas haven’t been touched in awhile (already). I am full speed ahead shooting.

Any word from anyone on the Iowa Section match? Is that being resurrected this year or is it dead for good?

Edited January 21, 2009 by Ben Stoeger

[DougCarden]

Ben, we have a lot of burnt out shooters in the Iowa Section right now, so we are going to have the Iowa Section match in conjunction with the Great Plains match in SD again in July, like we did last year.

Sherwyn Greenfield came up with the idea to do both at his match in SD, and it was better than no match and letting it die on the vine.

I am planning on making it up there again this year!

DougC

(IA section coordinator)......

[Ben Stoeger]

Ben, we have a lot of burnt out shooters in the Iowa Section right now, so we are going to have the Iowa Section match in conjunction with the Great Plains match in SD again in July, like we did last year.

Sherwyn Greenfield came up with the idea to do both at his match in SD, and it was better than no match and letting it die on the vine.

I am planning on making it up there again this year!

DougC

(IA section coordinator)......

Thanks Doug... That is a bummer. I really enjoyed the end of May match down in Iowa. I will have to check out the Great Plains match this year. I am sure Sherwyn does a great job.

[Ben Stoeger]

I had my first run in with Dillon customer service.

45 seconds on the phone and parts were on the way. No charge to me. That rocks!

[Ben Stoeger]

Things are finally starting to warm up in Wisconsin. I am getting sick of freezing my ass off trying to shoot groups in ankle deep snow. (picking up my brass is a real joy) To put things in a bit of perspective though, I have done far more shooting this winter than any other. I have probably shot 5000 rounds since the first snowfall… so that is pretty solid in the grand scheme of things.

Production should be really interesting next year… with Max working for Sig… who knows what kind of heat there will be at the Major Matches this year. It is starting to look like production will be the most popular division in 10 years, maybe less.

I can’t wait for spring.

[Sandro]

Things are finally starting to warm up in Wisconsin. I am getting sick of freezing my ass off trying to shoot groups in ankle deep snow. (picking up my brass is a real joy) To put things in a bit of perspective though, I have done far more shooting this winter than any other. I have probably shot 5000 rounds since the first snowfall… so that is pretty solid in the grand scheme of things.

Production should be really interesting next year… with Max working for Sig… who knows what kind of heat there will be at the Major Matches this year. It is starting to look like production will be the most popular division in 10 years, maybe less.

I can’t wait for spring.

Should be a cool season...

Edited February 2, 2009 by Sandro

[Ben Stoeger]

New article

GM vs GM

Thanks to Bryan for the suggestion.

[Sandro]

New article

GM vs GM

Thanks to Bryan for the suggestion.

That was a great summary, I appreciated your writing it.

[Ben Stoeger]

I went out and shot all afternoon. This was my first live fire USPSA style practice in quite some time. I have been doing accuracy type stuff for months now. I don’t even bring a timer or a holster to the range when I do that stuff. I just work on being more accurate. With that being said, spring came early this year. It was 38 and sunny today, and that is short sleeve weather for me. So I set up a 21 round field course, with lots of movement, and situations that force you to setup on the hardest target first. I ran this stage 10 times in a row, pushing for the best score possible. Here are the hit factors:

6.0398

6.1787

6.2732

5.8179

5.9161

5.9598

6.2771

6.4126

6.2889

5.6329

This was about a 16 second stage for me, with all my times within 1.6 seconds of each other. The big variable was whether or not I had to make a costly makeup shot on some of the distant plates I had set up. If I took a shot at one and went to the close range paper without hitting the steel, swinging back out really cost me. That is where most of the variability in the time came from.

I dropped between 1 and 5 Cs… with about 2 Cs being normal. I didn’t have any Ds, misses, or no shoot hits.

Overall, I was happy that I was so consistent in my shooting today.

Since this was my first practice of the year, I took the time to make some observations about what I have changed over the winter.

Firstly, my new grip is really fantastic. I have a very firm hold on the gun, and that is helping me shoot faster and more accurately. My gun doesn’t bounce around nearly as much as before. Some of the skin on my strong hand middle finger is coming off where my left hand meets my right. This is painful and annoying, but it is good that I have a firm enough grip to do that.

Beveling out my mag well was a really good call. I am able to do standing reloads under .9 now without a whole lot of effort. That used to take a lot of pushing. Even better, I am much more consistent. It is amazing how much that little bit of metal in my mag well slows things down. Hopefully, USPSA doesn’t change their mind on this and make it illegal again. I will have hosed myself over my destroying my frame.

The stage I spend much of the day on included some “hard setups”. The loyal readers will remember I lost my ass on setting up on tough shots at nationals. I believe that my practice over the winter has made up much of this ground. I am coming in shooting faster now, no question about it.

I have been considering getting an intermediate darkness set of sunglasses, and after today I think I will. My polarized dark lenses were just plain too dark today, but clear lenses would have hurt my eyes from all the glare off the snow. I will get some grey lenses ASAP.

Overall, I was very pleased today. It has been 5 months now since nationals. I spent that time putting those lessons learned to work for me on the range. I just need to get my practice in gear for the rest of the summer.

[Ben Stoeger]

Practice video from today is right HERE

Some good points and bad points. I think my draw onto tight shots needs some work.

[Ben Stoeger]

3 new things on the site

Interesting question from a reader. Accuracy vs speed, time vs speed

I practiced today

partial targets

Let me know what you doods think.

[Sandro]

cool stuff. hate to be in that snow...Thanks for the update!

[PINMAN44]

Thanks Ben! Good info!!!

[Ben Stoeger]

Alrighty guys.. I had a ROUGH practice today. I tried “Match 4” (if you forget what that is clicky HERE). The kicker was that instead of 25 yards, I went at it at 50 yards. OUCH. At 25 yards, a 10 is a bad score, and an 11 is normal. A 12 is good.

My first run at 50 yards… I scored a 4. Yeah that sucked ass pretty hard. I managed to score a 7 a bit later on. This drill shot at 50 yards will humble just about anyone in a big hurry. I recommend you try it. =)

HERE is some footage of my practice from yesterday. I notices something very strange. (which is why it is a good idea to occasionally get video of yourself) I slomoed it so you can see it better. Look at the pacing of my steps as I back up and shoot. You can see that I take a quick step then a slow step, in timing with how I am shooting the targets. The quick step is taken as I transition then I step slower while I shoot. That is weird! I have never consciously trained myself to do this. I just noticed it now. I don’t notice it as I do it.

Something new every day I guess…

[ong45]

The quick step is taken as I transition then I step slower while I shoot. That is weird! I have never consciously trained myself to do this. I just noticed it now. I don’t notice it as I do it.

Something to consider, makes a lot of sense that you let the sight picture dictate the pace of your steps, how obout letting your steps dictate the sight picture ( or shooting tempo) ?

Backing up faster and settling for slower timing on the shots ?

6 of 1 or half a dozen of the other?

[Jake Di Vita]

For me, efficiency of movement is not only economy of motion, but also having as few velocity changes as possible. I don't necessarily think one is faster than the other, I just tend to be more consistent that way.

[Ben Stoeger]

The quick step is taken as I transition then I step slower while I shoot. That is weird! I have never consciously trained myself to do this. I just noticed it now. I don’t notice it as I do it.

Something to consider, makes a lot of sense that you let the sight picture dictate the pace of your steps, how obout letting your steps dictate the sight picture ( or shooting tempo) ?

Backing up faster and settling for slower timing on the shots ?

6 of 1 or half a dozen of the other?

In that particular situation, moving faster would have been better. As I moved quite a few steps without really doing anything after I got done shooting. It would be ok to make the shooting take longer.

[Ben Stoeger]

This week keeps getting weirder for me.

I set up a stage today and was unable to produce a real significant time advantage by shooting on the move.

clicky

I think I need more practice.