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[jar]

I've recently decided to get more serious about action shooting, and i think starting a thread here will help. I first fired a gun in October 2007. I've been shooting IDPA since Jan 08, and I just shot my first USPSA match last month. I shot a Browning Hi-Power for a while, but recently I've been shooting a borrowed M&P. For some reason, I shoot the M&P much better. Luckily for me, I won an certificate from S&W at the New England Regional IDPA match, and my M&P should be here next month.

I shot the CT state IDPA 2 weeks ago and ended up 4th place SSP MM. I had some really good (for me) stages, beating some shooters I usually finish way behind at local matches. I also had a few bad stages, including one total stinker.

This past weekend, I shot the Maine state IDPA. Somehow things just came together. I had a few mistakes I wanted back, but they were much smaller than in the CT match. I've read plenty about the 'see what you need to see' concept, but I feel like it's finally starting to click. I remember one particular shot in this match. It was a longer shot, and I remember seeing the sights much faster than I expected, and thinking 'well, the sights are there, what are you waiting for, press the trigger'. I felt pretty good about my chances in the marksman class, hoping for a class bump. (My last SSP classifier, with my M&P compact, missed SS by only a few sec.) When scores were posted, I was happy to see my name at the top of SSP/MM. There were only 8 shooters though, so I needed to beat two in SSP/SS. So, I started reading up the list and was ecstatic to get to the top of SSP/SS without finding a faster time.

Hopefully I can carry this momentum in to the winter season and stay motivated for regular practice. I spent an hour on the phone yesterday with one of the better local shooters talking about goal setting and practice. My short term foci are to improve my accuracy and shot calling, start streamlining my movement, and get a better handle on stage planning. Medium term goal is to get to SSP/Expert.

I ordered Brian's book, Steve Anderson's dryfire book, and 'Talking practical shooting' today. I've started working the dry fire drills in the sample pdf. Since the Maine match, I've set a goal to dry and/or live fire every day. So far so good. I think this is going to be a long journey, but I've taken the first step.

[jar]

Haven't posted here in a while, but I'm hoping to make it more regular now. My new Production/SSP gun (M&P 9pro) finally came in this Thursday. I put 50 rounds through it Thursday night shooting groups on the indoor range. The gun is very accurate and feels great in the hand. I did about 45 minutes of dry fire last night, working through the first couple drills in Steve Anderson's book, establishing some baseline times.

I shot a local IDPA match today. I didn't shoot great, but the gun feels good. Two nasty magazine failures with borrowed mags cost me some significant time. Two rounds jammed together about halfway down the mag, jamming the follower. This caused a failure to feed, and then a tap-rack induced a double feed. I'm hoping my mags come in soon and don't have this problem. (10 rounders have been backordered everywhere with decent prices for a while.)

My plan for the next few weeks is more dry fire and getting my reloading setup sorted out. I'll probably make one or two trips to the range for live fire if I get some decent weather. Today's weather for the match was pretty good. It was cold, but plenty of sunshine and no wind.