bkeeler

[bkeeler]

Well the MO Fall Classic was a good match the stages were not that difficult but they could bite you if you let them. Most of the stages had props to distract the shooter. I did what I wanted to do and that was to shoot my game. Still do not know the results of the match they are not posted yet. I shot a penalty free match and only 3 D's for the whole match (which is still to many). I learned not to watch the shooter in front of me (especially an open shooter) second to last stage of the day (stage 1) I did just that watched the shooter before me and he just blazed it and I had a speed focus after watching him shoot the stage and yes it bit me I had good points but way to many extra shots on steel.(lesson learned) Still waiting to see where I placed this is the first Major match I have shot since getting bumped to A class in Limited. Will post how I placed in Limited when ever the results get posted. I also bumped my load up a little and the worked out well chronoed at a 173 PF.

Now time to get ready for the TN Sectionals this weekend the last Major for me for the season.

BK

[bkeeler]

Got the results from the Fall Classic. After going over the results and the stages I did not fair to well. I had way to many make up shots on steel and caused me on a couple of stages to run the gun dry. This really cost me. I have the TN Sectional coming up this weekend and I am going to just let this past match go. After reviewing all this I know what I need to do! I felt I was not trusting my shots this weekend and the steel I was rushing shots. I finished 8th out of 36 in Limited @ 81.61% . 4th A class out of 7.

I did the best I could do that day. The TN Sectionals are going to be much better! Time to get my A#$ in gear!

BK

Edited October 5, 2009 by bkeeler

[bkeeler]

See post below that fits better.

bk

Edited October 5, 2009 by bkeeler

[bkeeler]

Lets change the above to:

I DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR MAKE UP SHOTS SO MAKE EVERY SHOT COUNT YOU BIG GALOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel better now!

BK

[bkeeler]

Time to get some reading material for the winter months.

Any suggestions/reviews this is what I am looking to get. If anyone has these books did they help you in your shooting?

Perfect Practice By Saul Kirsch.

Thinking Practical Shooting By Saul Kirsch.

With Winning In Mind By Lanny Bassham

Also how about any DVD's I already have some of Burketts looking for any other helpful DVD's

Thanks,

BK

[bkeeler]

TN Sectional this weekend. I am going to this match with no expectations and just shoot my game,have fun and learn as much as I can.

BK

[bkeeler]

The TN Sectional is done as well as my major matches for the season. The TN Sectional was the best major match I have been to all season, not performance wise we will get to that in a minute. The stages were excellent lots of options and the staff was incredible! I would recommend everyone to shoot this match next year! Congrats to all the winners and thanks to the staff and all the sponsors for putting on a fantastic match. I had a blast and now to the shooting part.

Stage 1 Angle of Attack

One of my better stages my plan worked out well and felt really smooth. Placed 5th.

Stage 2 Still standing

This is the stage we started with on Saturday. I started off well on this stage 1 make up shot on the star then reloaded to the next position shot a popper then there was a falling plate that for the life of me could not hit. Ended up 10th on this stage.

Stage 3 Missing Link

I done pretty well on this stage after the plate on the previous stage giving me trouble had no problem with the plates on this stage. Finished 6th.

Stage 4 Hard cover hell

This was my first mike of the day. Drawing to the first close target hit the target with the first shot and then shifted my attention to getting to the next target on the right side and yep a through it after that I really did not feel to comfortable with the rest of the stage because I knew that did not feel right on the first target and just kind of hoped I got it on target well I did not. Finished 15th.

Stage 5 washday blues

I did this stage a little different than any of the other limited shooters on our squad but the same as the open shooters.

I took the first target to the right after loading the gun on the move and then turned left and took the 2 targets in the window on the move to the next window shot 1 target then went to the right and shot 2 targets on the move reloaded then shot the popper which activated a DT shot the DT and then 1 other target and ended on the star. The star on this stage ate my lunch had a great run going until the 3 plate on the star just could not get the star ended with 2 rounds left in the mag when I loaded to a twenty round mag with only 10 shots left not good. Finished 18th.

Stage 6 Split second

I had a good plan and the plan went well but I had 1 mike on this stage that hurt me. I saw the shot go right but I did not do anything about it. Finished 13th

Stage 7 Better than fishing

This was my best stage of the match if I could have shot like this the whole match I would have been pleased. Finished 4th

Stage 8 Puzzled

Lets just say I was puzzled and never been very good at puzzles. Finished 32nd

Stage 9 Dominate side

I had a few little glitches in my run but it turned out pretty good. Finished 11th

Stage 10 Woods walk i got to run (which was called afterwords jungle run )

By the time I got to the end of it I could not get the gun to settle on target and ended up with 3 mikes. Finished 29th.

Finished 13th in Limited Division.

I had a lot of fun and defiantly some things to work on over the winter.

Again thanks to the sponsors and staff and congrats to all the winners!

I will see Y'all there next year!

BK

Edited October 12, 2009 by bkeeler

[bkeeler]

Well it is time to take a break from shooting and start thinking about what major matches to attend next year. I ordered a book today Perfect Practice By Saul Kirsch. Thanks BE. I will be getting his other book in the near future. I am going to practice a lot more and hoping these books will help me out for next season.

BK

[Ben Stoeger]

Well it is time to take a break from shooting and start thinking about what major matches to attend next year. I ordered a book today Perfect Practice By Saul Kirsch. Thanks BE. I will be getting his other book in the near future. I am going to practice a lot more and hoping these books will help me out for next season.

BK

You will find lots of good practice ideas in Saul's book.

[CHA-LEE]

Thinking Practical Shooting & With Winning In Mind are both very good books to read as well. Don't hesitate on ordering those!!!

Edited October 13, 2009 by CHA-LEE

[bkeeler]

Looking back on the TN sectional last weekend I was going over the stages in my mind and I recall my best stages I believe I had a target focus,not saying I did not see the sights but they were not clear I had a clear focus on all the targets and was actually watching the holes appear in the targets then on the popper activator I saw the bullet splatter. I was aware of where the sights were on the target I just did not have my focus pinned to the front sight. Yes there were some harder shots on this particular stage along with the others. On the stages I did not fare to well on I recall a strict sight focus. I remember a while back reading about sight focus vs target focus HERE I did do a test with this before on a plate rack and at the time I did better with a sight focus. I am definitely going to go over this in practice again and open up and see what I discover. Time for more experiments. Now I don't know if I was just aware of everything on these particular stages and the others I decided what I needed to see before I shot instead of just seeing what I needed to see.

BK

[bkeeler]

USPSA Match today.

I have really been struggling with poppers lately.Making up to many shots on the steel the paper has been no problem I believe I am rushing the shots on steel not seeing what I need to see. I will be working on this in live fire practice. I also did some experimenting today in the match with the target focus vs sight focus issue. I shot the first stage with a target focus (complete target focus on every target) and after this stage I went back to sight focus (or a varying focus depending on the shot). What I discovered was that when using the target focus I was able to hit the targets but I was not really sure were the shots went on the target and this caused doubt in my shooting. When I went to a varying focus depending on the shot(target focus/sight focus) I could call the shots with precision and had no doubt in my shooting. With targets that were close and fast I was able to call the shots with a target focus and still call my shots with no doubt. I think I am finally understanding (the different focus types mentioned in BE's book) what I need to see for different shots, for me it is a varying focus depending on the shot and there is no one set focus to use in a stage it is constantly changing this also changes from day to day.

This was my last match for a while if the weather holds out I will try to get out and do some live fire practice.

BK

[bkeeler]

I was thinking last night about why I have been missing the steel shots so much lately. I have been using a red F/O sight all season long and it really has not been a problem until maybe recently. I usually switch back and forth from a red F/O to a blacked out or dimmed F/O (just to keep me honest and change things from time to time). Maybe I am getting a little lazy with the red F/O and plan on switching to a blacked out F/O for a while and then maybe to a very dimmed F/O or just leave it blacked out. I will see in practice but when I usually change the F/O ( either from a blacked out to a red or red to blacked out)things tend to start to come together.

Just a thought!

BK

[bkeeler]

I blacked out my F/O last night and did a little dry fire. I found during dry fire that it took a little bit longer(not much) to get on the front sight with out the red fiber(this maybe the little bit I need for shot patience) the image of the front sight was much clearer on the top edge of the sight which is also good. The true test will be live fire practice. I will continue to dry fire a bit to get acquainted with the blacked out front sight.

BK

[bkeeler]

Dry fire 10min

I am liking the black front sight. It seems I am getting more feed back and there for making calling the shots much easier. This is only dry fire I think it will continue to be the same in live fire but I will have to get to the range for some live fire to confirm.

I am starting to think about next seasons shooting schedule and goals.

BK

[bkeeler]

Live fire practice 10/31/09 200rds

Worked on speed transitions with steel and paper targets.I have been struggling with steel of late. I am finding that I have been rushing the steel shots and really discovered this yesterday. The session went well and learned what I have been doing on steel and ended the session with great results. Also blacking out the F/O is working out well.

BK

Edited November 1, 2009 by bkeeler

[bkeeler]

There is a steel match this weekend but I do not know if I should attend the match or just go do Live fire practice. I have been struggling with steel in USPSA matches but it is usually coming off of a paper target to steel or steel on to paper. This is what I worked on this weekend close paper 5yds and steel 18yds. Worked on the speed transitions from paper to steel and steel to paper. I just don't know if I will get the same practice just shooting the steel match.

BK

[bkeeler]

Shot the steel match this weekend. Not my best performance. I was struggling with getting the correct grip on the gun all day the misses that I did have were all high over the top of the plates. I am sure this is due to not getting a good grip on the gun. Time to start my dry fire routine again 15 min a night.

[bkeeler]

Started my 15min dry fire routine last night worked on smooth reps draws,transitions and ended drawing with eyes closed. Continue with this same routine tonight. I am not using a timer I just want perfect execution to the target. I will use the timer in live fire only to gauge progress with target transitions,splits and movement from position to position. I am also going to start exercising after the dry fire routine I need to drop a few pounds.

BK

[bkeeler]

Well shot my last two matches for the year this past weekend.Steel match and USPSA match I felt pretty good about both matches to end the season. I will be taking the month of Dec off from any shooting activities including dry fire. This past season I think I made some improvement (still have a lot to work on). Time to start thinking about next years plan of attack. January will be time to start back up my 15 min dry fire routine. I plan to get a few more books to read. I had a pretty good year sure I had some ups and downs but the ups out weighed the downs. I am no longer concerned with my classification I plan on shooting to the best of my ability(and not obsess over a classification "letter") and continue to improve on my ability and it will take me to where I need to be.

Until next time

BK

[bkeeler]

I started back on my dry fire routine. I could not stand not to touch my gun until Jan.

It is going well working on table starts transitions............

Also started eating lighter and exercising on the bike it is paying off I have lost a little weight but I need to drop more weight.

Continue my 4 nights per week dry fire tonight!

BK

[bkeeler]

Dry Fire 12/11/09

Worked on smooth target transitions. I really had an insight while doing this tonight. During my transitions the sights were going exactly where I was looking(95% of the time) but I really noticed if the sights were not where I wanted them my body just corrected them without any thought what so ever(very quickly) and before I squeezed the trigger. It was a truly awesome feeling! Finished up doing eyes closed draws and the sights were right there 100%

Continue tomorrow!

BK

[bkeeler]

12/14/09 Dry Fire

Again worked on transitions also worked on table starts. Transitions are still going smooth along with the table starts. I wish it would warm up a bit so I could go do some needed Live Fire. Continuing to eat a little less and exercise a little so far I have lost 10lbs. Continue dry fire tomorrow.

BK

Edited December 14, 2009 by bkeeler

[jkatz44]

12/14/09 Dry Fire

Again worked on transitions also worked on table starts. Transitions are still going smooth along with the table starts. I wish it would warm up a bit so I could go do some needed Live Fire. Continuing to eat a little less and exercise a little so far I have lost 10lbs. Continue dry fire tomorrow.

BK

What exactly do you mean when you say that you worked on transitions. I want to start gathering ideas to start dry fire practice.

[bkeeler]

12/14/09 Dry Fire

Again worked on transitions also worked on table starts. Transitions are still going smooth along with the table starts. I wish it would warm up a bit so I could go do some needed Live Fire. Continuing to eat a little less and exercise a little so far I have lost 10lbs. Continue dry fire tomorrow.

BK

What exactly do you mean when you say that you worked on transitions. I want to start gathering ideas to start dry fire practice.

target transitions. (target to target)

BK