Okay, it's not like I'm coming back from a season ending knee injury or something like that, but this was my first chance to get some rounds down range post concussion. It killed me to not go on Wednesday, but not going was the right call. I went up to the range with Lauren and Linda last night so they could shoot, and I could make sure I was good enough to go today. I had no issues with the sound, just ear plugs underneath ear muffs, and I was in for today. Thursday I got in about 1.5 hours of dry fire, but it really was more about scraping the rust off than it was getting into top form. I won't say that I started the day with low expectations, but I had no thought that I was going to go out and have my best match. My starting goal was to just shoot all four stages, have no health issues, and re-build a little confidence from a week off.
I guess if you start with low expectations, it's hard to be disappointed, and it's a good thing, because I never really got it going, I made mental mistakes, had a couple of points where I did not have good hits, and if I shot it 100%, I'd have been very frustrated. Right now though, I feel like the rust is off, last stage I made a mental mistake that cost me, and I'm ready to go dry fire, practice, and get my head into the game again.
Match Scores
Stage 1:
The bottom line is that I just did not get the hits that I needed to get, I was on both sides of the tuxedo target, and the RO gave me a generous Alpha, Mike, and I thought it should have been two Mikes. In general, I was just slow and did not get good hits. I also had a low primer that slowed me down to tap, rack, and clear it.
Stage 2:
Again, I had some Mike's downrange, I dropped a mag, and I ran past the table, and grabbed a mag I had already used, and was almost empty so I had to double back and get another mag. Just sloppy.
Stage 3:
The Classifier could have been a good one, I needed a Hit Factor of 4.069 for a 60% run, and an overall time of 19.46 with 80% of the points. My time was 22.67, and I just did not have good hits overall. I did have a Mike, the first shot of the 3rd string, double action pull, weak hand, I was not ready for it, and it hurt. First string I shot the first part well, I was admiring my handiwork when I realize I had to reload and shoot again. Overall I really cost myself some time, and while I got hits, I need to get better hits.
Stage 4:
I had a rough go with the last steel, I had to refocus because I was going well, and was pulling off the target to run to the next array before I completed the pull. It's little, dumb things like that which pull down a score. The video does not show it, but I actually took one more shot, I thought I had a miss, and pushed the mag back in, and took another shot. That cost me about 3.5 seconds. Turns out I had 3 hits on the target, I just did not see one of 'em from where I was at, it was in a torn up area of pasters. Lesson to be learned? Call your shot, and trust yourself
Full Match Video:
Summary:
The little dumb mental stuff, that's correctable, and I'd like to think it's the result of my not being 100%. The truth is, I need to accept that my mental game is off, and I need to get my focus back. Focus is as big a part of the game as shooting, and mine is off. From a shooting point of view, I'm still rushing in some spots and not getting a good sight picture, and I'm going too slow in others. I'm not shooting with my practice cadence in mind, and that's hurting me. Right now, it's as much of a dry fire issue as anything. I need to focus on my dry fire, and really commit to doing it right. Honestly I thought I had been, but maybe I'm cheating myself, so I'll look at that.
I'm happy to have been able to shoot, and I'll take the few good things I did, and work my practice plan to address what I was not happy with, one thing at a time. Next MISS match is the 29th, so I'll have plenty of practice time before that, and it's all build-up for the WIIT.
No comments:
Post a Comment