Ben Stoeger

[Ben Stoeger]

Ben not trying to high jack, but thought I could share

I've been shooting a 22 conversion a for a couple of months, some times tha't all I will shoot, but for the most part I'll run a drill with the center fire a few time to get a par time I want to work off, then I hammer the drill with the 22, experimenting and pushing. Followed by a couple more runs with the center fire. If I run two drills in a practice sesion I'll shoot a box of 22 (550), and two hundred rounds of center fire. I always finish with the center fire.

The 22 is great cheaper than primers, a good learning tool, and no brass to pick up.

Hey.. that sounds awesome. I never really liked switching from centerfire to .22 to back again in the same session.. but that is awesome if you are able to do it without getting messed up.

Another thing is that I had steel targets made up for me that can only handle 22... Either way.. good input. I am glad to hear that so many people are doing .22 shooting. I think it will become much more popular in the next few years.

Edited June 12, 2008 by Ben Stoeger

[davecutts]

open baby, i also try to run my 22 drills one shot per target.

[Ben Stoeger]

I just got done with work.

I am taking a 4 day vacation... except I am not going anywhere. I am just using the time to train. I plan to go the the range the next 5 days in a row and see what I can learn.

[HuskySig]

I am glad to hear that so many people are doing .22 shooting. I think it will become much more popular in the next few years.

I'm just waiting for Sig Sauer to start shipping their .22LR conversion kits for the P226. I think you're right about people shooting more .22LR, at least until center fire ammo prices come down a bit.

mattk

[Ben Stoeger]

I am glad to hear that so many people are doing .22 shooting. I think it will become much more popular in the next few years.

I'm just waiting for Sig Sauer to start shipping their .22LR conversion kits for the P226. I think you're right about people shooting more .22LR, at least until center fire ammo prices come down a bit.

mattk

I don't see prices falling any time soon... bummer.

[Ben Stoeger]

I just got back in from practice.

The last few days have been good.. I have shot about 1500 rounds of various stuff.

Here is a video of 3 grasp plates... 2 plates free style, 2 strong hand, 2 weak hand. Shot at 10 yards.

I worked on trigger control and I tryed to fix my downright ugly transfer to my weak hand. You can see the gun flops around a lot during that.

[Kevin Kline]

Ben,

I checked out your site, good stuff!! I especially like the "I hang my self worth on shooting."

Dude, you are the luckiest man alive. I wish I had that kind of time. Between work and family, its tough to find time to practice, but I can find some, I just have to be REALLY detailed/planned/prepared for any practice session I get.

Kevin

[Ben Stoeger]

Ok here is the diagram and video of the other drill I shot today.

Overall I was happy, but I still am working my stance and such to get a bit lower. Accuracy was very good with maybe 10 C's all day. I am feeling good with my shooting these days. I still have lots of issues.. but right now progress is being made every day.

[Ben Stoeger]

Ben,

I checked out your site, good stuff!! I especially like the "I hang my self worth on shooting."

Dude, you are the luckiest man alive. I wish I had that kind of time. Between work and family, its tough to find time to practice, but I can find some, I just have to be REALLY detailed/planned/prepared for any practice session I get.

Kevin

Thanks!

It is pretty cool not being married or having kids to worry about. =)

[JThompson]

Ya. I like the sight too Ben... I have been through it top to bottom already and will refer to it to see what you add.

[Ben Stoeger]

I just got back in from a fun practice to cap off 5 straight days of shooting. (thousands and thousands of rounds fired)

here is some video

Today’s practice wasn't much of a practice.. more just a skills check. I set up a 14 round practice stage with mini poppers, a swinger, and classics (full and partial) from 1 to 18 yards. I ran LOTS of different paths through this stage.. just kinda getting a feel for what I can and can't do. I had a really good time shooting.

Overall.. I can see I have come SO far in the last few months. I had 3 D's and 3 extra shots all day.. on a medium difficulty stage. I didn't do anything spectacular (didn't even try).. but I just was able to run the stage over and over and over again (changing my path each time) making very few mistakes and shooting good points. I am ready for the MN sectional (my first major of the year). I am maybe even a little excited. =)

My body is sore, and work piled up in my absence... It doesn't matter though, I am energized and plan to continue training daily.

[Ben Stoeger]

One more thing.. practice diagram, observations, and breakdown will be up on my site later in the night time hours.

Party on

[Ben Stoeger]

Good dryfire and workout today.

Yesterdays practice video and observations is here

Today I am pretty sore.. but It doesn't really matter. Practice continues.

[Ben Stoeger]

light dryfire and heavy workout today. I am sore.

I looked over the stages for area 3 today. Most of them look very solid. I am excited for this match!

I see they are including a windmill.. I am glad I picked one up last year. I will need to do a couple days of scenario practice working my windmill into the stage. I will be ready!

On the downside... there isn't much heat in production division. Hopefully some top level guys will register for this match in the next month.

I will be back on the range tomorrow.. after a 3 day layoff from live fire. I have a closet full of ammo and no real responsibilities. =)

Edited June 20, 2008 by Ben Stoeger

[Ben Stoeger]

I just got back in from a rocky practice.

I built a 15 round stage containing a windmill and lots of shooting on the move. I could not seem to get the windmill to move as fast as I wanted… so that put a damper on the difficulty level. When I shot runs with the windmill set at 20 yards it seemed to amp things up about to where I wanted them.

Here is some video

And some more.

The fiber fell out of my front site during this practice.. So I switched guns. That was annoying. Even more annoying, I was pretty fatigued after an hour on the range. I spent more time than I liked dicking with the windmill and not enough time shooting stuff. I felt a noticeable effect on my accuracy towards the end.

Either way, I learned a good bit from shooting up my windmill, and I did notice significant improvement on it. I was taking much more daring shots and calling them consistently towards then end of the session. In a couple months I will have this down.

The practice ended with some bill drills. I ended up with a personal best of 1.52 at 7 yards. (all A’s of course)

Here is the break down on that:

.73

.18

.16

.15

.16

.14

I think I was able to put these numbers up because I was using my match gun (the fiber came out of my practice gun, remember?) The trigger in my Elite 2 is a little bit better than my other guns.

[Thomas Moore]

.73 draw with a production rig is very nice!

[Ben Stoeger]

Good news today!

I went swimming for quite awhile.. And dry fire is up next. That is not the good news though.

Dave S has registered for Area 3! This is great news! It will of course be an ass kicking, but I will learn from it. I can’t wait.

My first major of the year is on Saturday. (kinda crazy that it is the end of June and I haven’t shot a big match yet)

My goal is to keep myself penalty free. I think I am at 24 consecutive stages right now without a penalty.. I want to keep the streak alive.

Overall, it has been a very exciting day and good motivation to feed my practice.

[Catfish]

Make him earn it, Ben.

[Ben Stoeger]

Big weekend coming up. Section match saturday and a club match sunday. I should have lots of video and match results to look at.

After going over the stages for area 3 again, I am going to change up my practice for the next month. I will spend more time railing on close up in your face targets and working short moves between target arrays.

[Ben Stoeger]

Quick practice with Hooper today. I set up close range stuff with lots of movement. I had 3 wide open targets and 2 partials. I did push one of the open targets back to about 15 yards… otherwise I just would have gone crazy.

Overall, this is the easiest practice (in terms of shot difficulty) that I have ever done. I was just working on railing close targets in preparation for area 3. I am expecting some hoser stuff, and I need to be ready.

First run of the day

Run and Blast

Move up and Hose (my best run of the day.. 4.19 with 2 Cs)

Bill Drill

Overall, I was pleased. As I got grooved in I started shredding these targets very quickly. Points were a little on the wild side compared to what I usually do. That 15 yard target was a real pain. Switching gears to get two As on it after running full steam railing 5 yard targets is a challenge. I will work on it.

I finished up working “triple six” to check some numbers for Bryan.

Note to Bryan: Mid to low sevens is about where I top out on this. I need to shoot all As to make that score happen though.

Tomorrow I am working some 60 yard partial targets, then it is up at 4am to get to the Twin Cities in time.

[Ben Stoeger]

The last practice was fun. I did some tough shooting today, and I had many misses to show for it.

I feel ready for the races tomorrow.

My gear is set, sitting by the door.

I updated my site in the "video review" section with review of yesterdays practice footage.

[JThompson]

That Bill Drill looks pretty fast Ben... what was the time on that puppy.

Quick practice with Hooper today. I set up close range stuff with lots of movement. I had 3 wide open targets and 2 partials. I did push one of the open targets back to about 15 yards… otherwise I just would have gone crazy.

Overall, this is the easiest practice (in terms of shot difficulty) that I have ever done. I was just working on railing close targets in preparation for area 3. I am expecting some hoser stuff, and I need to be ready.

First run of the day

Run and Blast

Move up and Hose (my best run of the day.. 4.19 with 2 Cs)

Bill Drill

Overall, I was pleased. As I got grooved in I started shredding these targets very quickly. Points were a little on the wild side compared to what I usually do. That 15 yard target was a real pain. Switching gears to get two As on it after running full steam railing 5 yard targets is a challenge. I will work on it.

I finished up working “triple six” to check some numbers for Bryan.

Note to Bryan: Mid to low sevens is about where I top out on this. I need to shoot all As to make that score happen though.

Tomorrow I am working some 60 yard partial targets, then it is up at 4am to get to the Twin Cities in time.

[Ben Stoeger]

That Bill Drill looks pretty fast Ben... what was the time on that puppy.

Quick practice with Hooper today. I set up close range stuff with lots of movement. I had 3 wide open targets and 2 partials. I did push one of the open targets back to about 15 yards… otherwise I just would have gone crazy.

Overall, this is the easiest practice (in terms of shot difficulty) that I have ever done. I was just working on railing close targets in preparation for area 3. I am expecting some hoser stuff, and I need to be ready.

First run of the day

Run and Blast

Move up and Hose (my best run of the day.. 4.19 with 2 Cs)

Bill Drill

Overall, I was pleased. As I got grooved in I started shredding these targets very quickly. Points were a little on the wild side compared to what I usually do. That 15 yard target was a real pain. Switching gears to get two As on it after running full steam railing 5 yard targets is a challenge. I will work on it.

I finished up working “triple six” to check some numbers for Bryan.

Note to Bryan: Mid to low sevens is about where I top out on this. I need to shoot all As to make that score happen though.

Tomorrow I am working some 60 yard partial targets, then it is up at 4am to get to the Twin Cities in time.

1.55 or something like that. My goal is to hit a 1.4X by the end of the year.

[JThompson]

That Bill Drill looks pretty fast Ben... what was the time on that puppy.

Quick practice with Hooper today. I set up close range stuff with lots of movement. I had 3 wide open targets and 2 partials. I did push one of the open targets back to about 15 yards… otherwise I just would have gone crazy.

Overall, this is the easiest practice (in terms of shot difficulty) that I have ever done. I was just working on railing close targets in preparation for area 3. I am expecting some hoser stuff, and I need to be ready.

First run of the day

Run and Blast

Move up and Hose (my best run of the day.. 4.19 with 2 Cs)

Bill Drill

Overall, I was pleased. As I got grooved in I started shredding these targets very quickly. Points were a little on the wild side compared to what I usually do. That 15 yard target was a real pain. Switching gears to get two As on it after running full steam railing 5 yard targets is a challenge. I will work on it.

I finished up working “triple six” to check some numbers for Bryan.

Note to Bryan: Mid to low sevens is about where I top out on this. I need to shoot all As to make that score happen though.

Tomorrow I am working some 60 yard partial targets, then it is up at 4am to get to the Twin Cities in time.

1.55 or something like that. My goal is to hit a 1.4X by the end of the year.

I assume you are talking about all As too. Go kick some arse this weekend bud......

[Ben Stoeger]

I had a good weekend. I shot ok most of the time. I made some stupid mistakes though.

I learned quite a bit.. and I will be sharing all that in the next few days. As it is I am late for a dinner date.

Here is but one of many stages I have video of. I have no less than 6 stages ready for detailed photo breakdown in the stage breakdown section, and I will be writing all that up.

Overall, I have lots of work to do, but I feel I have made real progress in the last month.

More to come.