Lugnut's journey

[lugnut]

Working on 2014 plans... not just shooting plans. It's going to be tricky because I have a lot of personal things I need to prioritize.

I think they can all be managed well... it just means I need to be more efficient and focused- and I will do just that.

For shooting. I don't plan to do much live fire or dry fire until March or so, maybe hit some end of Feb light. Not that I won't do anything but it will be casual and informal and just for fun. Only a handful of matches in the next several months and I'm not doing anything in the brutally cold... that's just not fun anymore.

I have signed up for the USPSA Texas State Open match and will probably pick another level 2 "travel" match to shoot. I plan on attending Area 7 (of course) and Area 8 again.

This year my training approach will be different than years past. In retrospect I realize that I was in B class for about 4 years! A for a year, and now Master. My training approach this year definitely helped but was still deficient in many ways. I feel that I wasted a lot of time not improving while in B... but now I'm more focused and know what to do.

2014 will be a more balanced blend of dry fire, live fire micro drills, live fire "stage" drills and matches. My goals will be different as well- more emphasis on shooting more points in matches. I've always had difficulty pushing for speed in practice while keeping things "in control" in matches and making "visual focus" take a priority. This year that has to happen.

Lastly- I really think the Glock platform is best for me and it does make a difference. Not because other guns will hold me back or the Glock will make me better, it's just something that works for me. It's hard to explain. 2014 will certainly be with a G34 for me even though 2013 was a mix.

Edited November 11, 2013 by lugnut

[lugnut]

Shot another indoor USPSA match today. Last time I shot the gun was a month ago, maybe 10 mins of dry fire since last match. I shot pretty well. I was seeing the sights real well and recoil just didn't seem existent... maybe it's the weight lifting that's helping! LOL. The match was mostly partials at 7-12 yards or so- lots of hard cover and no shoots. I won 3 of the five stages (and division) and didn't get any procedurals! No misses, nothing. I think 1 D.

Two things I'm really trying to work on- staying calm and having more visual focus. Sounds easy but it's not for me. I get jacked up before most stages but remaining calm while still being explosive and fast isn't easy. Visual focus. What does that mean to me? It means seeing everything while breaking shots. No focus on speed while actually shooting- just let the subconscious see the sights while breaking every shot.... no tension or stress. It went well today but it's not easy. I think it worked because I didn't have pressure from expectations. Hmmm.

I've been told that I can't take more time off from training though... so I suspect I'll be back to dry fire training in Jan.

[Ben Stoeger]

Two things I'm really trying to work on- staying calm and having more visual focus. Sounds easy but it's not for me. I get jacked up before most stages but remaining calm while still being explosive and fast isn't easy. Visual focus. What does that mean to me? It means seeing everything while breaking shots. No focus on speed while actually shooting- just let the subconscious see the sights while breaking every shot.... no tension or stress. It went well today but it's not easy. I think it worked because I didn't have pressure from expectations.

The next match is your real test. You will have the expectation to win.

[lugnut]

True dat.

[Ben Stoeger]

True dat.

Did you get your Skills and Drills yet? I dropped that ho in the mail.

[lugnut]

Hard to imagine I haven't been posting much at all since last year. Been spending a lot of time trying to learn the guitar... and I haven't been practicing at all this winter. This weather SUCKS bad.... I have lost interest to shoot in the bitter cold in messy conditions but I have shot at a few matches since last post.

Jan USPSA match was ok, I don't recall my stages and I was off a tad coming in 3rd. Shot an IDPA match and won 4/6 stages and was doing well until one stage I "focused" on going fast and crashed bad. Settled in and didn't make that mistake again- won HOA.

Today was a short indoor USPSA match and squeaked out a win in production. Thing is I'm feeling calm and getting great hits and calling shots pretty well. But I'm not pushing at all for speed. I was just over 95% of my points today with no Ds, NSs or Mikes... only a handful of Cs. I was much slower in raw time compared to other shooters at my classification... which has me a little worried but if I can start practicing again I'm sure I can close that gap.... just need to keep getting my hits.... and actually practice! Got to get some dry fire practice going soon.... no excuse for not doing it. Live fire... who knows when this damn weather will clear up. Grrrr.

[lugnut]

Tired of not doing anything significant this winter but today is when the training program kicks in for real. I don't know how much live fire I will have for a while but dry fire will start today. Already signed up for a lot of great matches this year-

Tx State Open

VA/MD Sectional

MA Classic

Area 7

There will be lots of local USPSA and IDPA matches as well.

I did shoot the Indoor Nats last weekend. I think I did fairly well considering. In classic style there are always stages in IDPA that really mess me up, but all in all I think I did ok. I came in 19th overall and there were plenty of great competitors there for sure. I always tell people you can't really do this- but on one stage with disappearing targets I really messed up- dropping 25 points alone on two fast disappearing targets. regardless- the rest of the match was reasonably solid. No No Shoots or PEs... but some misses.

Looking forward to turning it up again.

Edited March 1, 2014 by lugnut

[earthshine402]

Tired of not doing anything significant this winter but today is when the training program kicks in for real. I don't know how much live fire I will have for a while but dry fire will start today. Already signed up for a lot of great matches this year-

Tx State Open

VA/MD Sectional

MA Classic

Area 7

There will be lots of local USPSA and IDPA matches as well.

I did shoot the Indoor Nats last weekend. I think I did fairly well considering. In classic style there are always stages in IDPA that really mess me up, but all in all I think I did ok. I came in 19th overall and there were plenty of great competitors there for sure. I always tell people you can't really do this- but on one stage with disappearing targets I really messed up- dropping 25 points alone on two fast disappearing targets. regardless- the rest of the match was reasonably solid. No No Shoots or PEs... but some misses.

Looking forward to turning it up again.

Where is the MA Classic registration? I didn't know it was open yet..

Stop complaining about the stage.. everyone had to shoot it. Most of us f'ed it up, some didn't..

[Steve_P]

matchsignup.org

[earthshine402]

matchsignup.org

wtf.. how did i not find out about this until the match is almost full?

[Steve_P]

I feel the same. I just registered for saturday, squad 5.

[lugnut]

It's my diary- I can say what I want.

Tired of not doing anything significant this winter but today is when the training program kicks in for real. I don't know how much live fire I will have for a while but dry fire will start today. Already signed up for a lot of great matches this year-

Tx State Open

VA/MD Sectional

MA Classic

Area 7

There will be lots of local USPSA and IDPA matches as well.

I did shoot the Indoor Nats last weekend. I think I did fairly well considering. In classic style there are always stages in IDPA that really mess me up, but all in all I think I did ok. I came in 19th overall and there were plenty of great competitors there for sure. I always tell people you can't really do this- but on one stage with disappearing targets I really messed up- dropping 25 points alone on two fast disappearing targets. regardless- the rest of the match was reasonably solid. No No Shoots or PEs... but some misses.

Looking forward to turning it up again.

Where is the MA Classic registration? I didn't know it was open yet..

Stop complaining about the stage.. everyone had to shoot it. Most of us f'ed it up, some didn't..

[AWLAZS]

I feel the same. I just registered for saturday, squad 5.

Hey I am in squad 5 see ya there

[BostonBullit]

Squad 6 for the MC......you shooting Malden this Sunday?

[lugnut]

Squad 6 for the MC......you shooting Malden this Sunday?

Yes sir. Need to get my monthly dose of indoor lead!! Actually it seems to be decent indoor range.... much better than Dorchester!

[lugnut]

Also- started up dry fire again. Nothing hard core yet... but checking to see how my indexing is, etc. I don't feel horribly off but I didn't pull out the timer just yet.

EDIT: Over the winter I think I noticed something. I seem to do reasonably well when I put no emphasis on shooting fast, but instead, just do my best to call my sights. Shooting like a raped ape seems funner but not as effective sadly. This year I'll see if my training can help me step up my "natural" speed while allowing me to still focus on the shots.

Edited March 5, 2014 by lugnut

[lugnut]

Local indoor match today. Thanks for the occasional indoor shooting matches or else I wouldn't be doing any live fire. Went to my club yesterday and there was several inches of mud and/or slush EVERYWHERE. Went home and didn't bother.

I feel my shooting today was reasonably good. I was very accurate except when I clipped a NS and missed a tight head shot. I went for tighter head shots on a stage to eliminate a shooting position but apparently my sights weren't aligned well enough. That stage hurt. Ran El Pres and was shooting/transitioning great but I failed to get a good grip on my reload mag and it dribbled to the ground. I was kinda shocked and surprised so in addition to the botched reload.. there was a hesitation to grab another mag as well. I'm sure it would have been a nice 5s run or so... instead it was low 6s range. Ughh. The run ended up being a 81% run... damn shame.. it would have been a 90%+ run with a "normal" reload.

Good time though. Can't wait get more training going. Spring- where are you???

Edited March 11, 2014 by lugnut

[lugnut]

Got my annual lead test results and I'm happy they are currently at 10. This is the lowest it's been in quite a while and in my mind it's very comforting considering how high they were for likely a long time. I have virtually been doing no outdoor shooting this winter (maybe one or two matches). And have only shot a match or so per month indoors... including the Indoor Nationals 2 weeks before the test (all day match-although we weren't required to go downrange much at all).

The down side... I haven't been shooting enough. LOL. Diary- are you tired of hearing that?

Edited March 14, 2014 by lugnut

[eisenhow]

Glad to hear the lead levels are coming down Dave.

[lugnut]

First outdoor USPSA match of the new year yesterday. I can't believe spring just won't get here already!!!! Ughh. 30s all day with some mud.

My shooting was pretty good. There wasn't a ton of movement in that match or much steel- because of the muddy conditions I'm sure. I dropped a few too many points IMO but I think the cold and really awkward shooting positions contributed to that for sure. On one stage my sights were just jumping around like crazy... I was fortunate to get all my hits but I guess I need to spend some time shooting from awkward positions... duh.

There were some tight shots at this match and did well on them... however on one stage I made a tactical mistake- I proceeded to shoot 4 targets on the move (2 on the left, 2 on the right).... they weren't that close and I had my only miss of the day on one of them which pissed me off because there was NO benefit of shooting them on the move- as I basically ended up doing a standing reload after engaging them. Either way- my shooting on move needs work... and dry fire practice at home on a level carpet doesn't do a fair job of simulating match conditions! Got to figure that out.

Came in 2nd behind another Master. That guy Dolio has my number but I'm going to work on that!

Edited March 24, 2014 by lugnut

[Ben Stoeger]

Either way- my shooting on move needs work... and dry fire practice at home on a level carpet doesn't do a fair job of simulating match conditions! Got to figure that out.

Put some mud and rocks on the floor in your basement. You should get a much more realistic surface.

[lugnut]

Beautiful day today so I had no excuse not to hit the range for practice! It's been a while for sure. My timer was dead so I wasn't able to gauge how off I was.

Started on a plate rack at about 15 yards- wasn't pretty honestly. Did't need a timer to figure that out. I think I'm still tensing on my shots pushing down a bit. Worked on that a bit. Mostly stand and shoot stuff today. I was working on simple drills. My draw got better as the day progressed and I was doing ok on paper at 12-15 yards. Just trying to shake off some cob webs and it was a good day. Not super focused yet… but was just what I wanted.

I was trying to shoot with both eyes open (again) and it seemed to work good today. Didn't slow me down or have any negative effect on my hits. Maybe I'll work on this more. One thing that was odd- I wasn't call shots so great, decent but not great. However on one drill I was drawing on a 7 yard head box and I swear I called them perfectly. Odd.

[lugnut]

Shot an IDPA match today in the cold rain- damn where is the spring weather when we need it! Felt slow but consistent. Didn't have much opportunity to blaze any of the stages (I guess I could have but it wasn't a hoser match and the cold rain… lol)- didn't have any stage wins but won high overall. Had a couple Mikes which was surprising… I didn't call them. I think one round hit a barrel and ricocheted, another was a flat out miss on a head shot. No other penalties. Not sure if I got any down 3s for the match.

Maintaining consistency is one of my goals this years… hopefully while picking up a little speed and accuracy along the way. Simple.

Edited April 27, 2014 by lugnut

[lugnut]

Had a practice with some friends Sunday. It was fun setting up a short field course and see where we could improve. Even without much practice I felt I wasn't off that much. Some gun handling issues need to be cleaned up… the biggest issue is steel plates. Not sure what is going on there I'll just have to work it out.

On the plus side we did some accelerator runs. I had some fast runs, with hits. Looking back at the times from last summer I was a second or so faster now…. I will say I started off with some bad hits, even on the 7 yard target! I can see it coming back. With Ben's revised DF book I'll be cooking soon…. It's great that I logged so much from last year's practice… I encourage people to log and track their drills!

So glad I'm shooting the Glock again- it's a gem.

Edited May 6, 2014 by lugnut

[BostonBullit]

note to self: have a crap ton of steel plates in the stage design for the match this Saturday....