2015 Plans (Pt. 2)

2015 Plans (Pt. 2)


In November I wrote a blog detailing what went right, and what went wrong for me in 2014. I've been putting off the follow-up to it, because I was not really sure where I should be going. The reality is that over the past few weeks, I've had to do some real honest self-evaluation and that's never a pretty thing to do. I suppose I avoided doing that, because I had an idea of what I needed to do, but the cold hard reality of why I needed to it, and what had been holding me up from doing it was immobilizing me. Today though, I acknowledging what those issues are, and I'm going to take steps to go forward, and deal with those things.


The move to Austin in 2014 was great, I love my job, I love being here, I'm as happy as can be with that. I love spending time with the family, sharing adventures, I'm happy with those things. Where I'm dissatisfied, is when I look in the mirror. I don't like the guy I'm seeing there. A few years ago, I worked at diet, I worked at fitness, and I dropped over 50 lbs in pretty short order. Since then though, I've made stabs at different diets, and even when I made progress, I lost my will to succeed and gave up. I used the travel excuse, and it is a challenge to eat healthy when you are on the road, and have to eat out 6-9 meals a week. All those things contributed (along with Migas, Tex-Mex, BBQ, and Chicken Fried Steak), to see me put all that weight back on. I look in the mirror, and I'm genuinely upset.


November 2013 thru mid-June 2014, I was a practicing son of a gun. I religiously did my dry fire, I weekly got in my live fire, and I saw good progress in my shooting skills. When I accepted the new job, and got caught up with packing, and moving, I started to drift away from shooting, not out of choice, but I just did not have the time with the huge life changes we were experiencing. When I got to Austin, I wanted to explore, get Linda and Lauren excited about living here, and there was some shooting involved, but not a lot of practice, and I think we all know what happens when you don't put in the practice time.

Both the fitness and the practice tie in to my focus for 2015 though. In that last blog, I think I correctly identified things that I'm doing strongly, and some serious shooting shortcomings. I looked up my last El Presidente that was an official classifier, (March of '14) and I ran 7.62 seconds, 56 points and a 7.35 HF which was about a 71%, and that was a solid "B" run. Several weeks ago, I ran it in practice, my best time was 5.35 seconds, 50 points, and a 9.28 HF, which is about a 90% run. My draw, reload, splits and transitions are solid enough to get me into "A" class. Runs were between 5.35 and 5.92. My biggest issue has always been consistent points, but I'm finally able to feel that I'm starting to see my sights well going fast. The video below shows some good to it, but it also shows where I was inconsistent. That's going to be a big focus for 2015, getting consistent.

Fixing my draw, and getting a little elbow bend has really been all I have accomplished the past three months in practice, which sucks, but for me that's been the first step in being more consistent, and shooting more points. I'm not where I want to be, but I'm actually improving. That's the one thing I'm going to build on.


Shooting:

In IL, Les partnered me up with Dave to begin "Plan B", and it was interesting, undertaking the process, going to classes, working classifiers, setting up dry fire routines with, and committing to weekly live fire with someone I had never met prior to that. Once "Plan B" was complete, I got to "tag along" with Les and Kozy, and both are intense (in very different ways) but our live fire had them on a whole 'nother playing field than me. I did however, not miss sessions, I went, I learned, and I made progress. I knew that if I did not show up, I'd hear about it, I'd be given a ration of shit. I fed off of that intensity, and it helped me be honest with my own practice habits. The past few weeks, I realized how much that meant, and how easy it is to say "I'm busy, I have something else I need to do, it's just this one time...." I can't allow myself to do that, and practicing with someone else is just something I need right now to help me keep my commitment. Is it a sign of weakness to say I'm not able to do it solo? Maybe, but no matter how much I want something, it's always easier for me to have someone to share the experience with. I'd talk to Dave, Les, and Kozy during the week, we'd talk shooting, talk drills, I was bouncing ideas, I had technique help, or par time assisted, I'd be given suggestions on drills to work to help what I wanted to fix, and I had people who were invested in me. People that I fought equally as hard to accomplish my goals because I wanted them to be proud, feel their investment in me was worth their time.

In the above video, look at the "thumbs up" reaction when Linda did well on a classifier from Les and Kozy, and look at the heads down, disappointment from both of 'em when I blew the run, and lost my cool. Those guys bled for me. I can't thank them enough, for that, and while I know they still do, I need someone daily in my face for 2015 to work with.

That leads me to resolution one. I need a practice partner to push me. Timmy is a "Pro GM", and he runs a lot of solo drills, and does his stage work with another GM, so I'm not seeing that. Linda and I talked about it, but it means a different level of commitment from her, and there are some pluses and some definite minuses to working with her in 2015. I don't want it to be easy to say "another day" when it comes to practice. That said, there are a couple of other people that are good enough, or strong enough shooters that I think I could learn from, and still bring something to the table with.

Resolution two is that I'm going work on things I'm not good at. Draw, transitions, those things may be low hanging fruit, but those will improve without a high focus on them right now. I'm seriously lacking in field course skills, I need work on position entry and exit. I need work on strong hand and week hand, and I really need work on shooting on the move. Watching video's over the course of the year, I realize that if I was bad at something, I shot to avoid it. I would go position to position, and would cost myself all sorts of time, which means I also need to stage plan to incorporate those skills I'm working on.

Resolution three, is that I'm going to keep my cool all the time. Little mistakes are not going to bother me. I see video's where I know I made a mistake and either all out melt down, or swear, and let it impact my next few shots. Mistakes happen, that's not a problem, but it becomes a problem if when a mistake causes me to keep making more. I need to cut that off. The QB who throws an interception, the DB who gives up a long TD. Short memory, stay focused.

Improving on field courses is not really a resolution, but it's going to be the result of how I want to practice this year. I want to shoot some major's, and finish within my "class" to the winners. If I earn my "A" here shortly, then I want to shoot 75% at least of what the winner shoots. Right now, I know I can't do that.

Fitness:

This is a big part of what I'm missing. When I've had to shoot 10-12 stages in a day, I've been exhausted, burned out, and done for before I was done shooting. Being physically out of the game, took me mentally out of the game, and I'm just not going to keep putting myself in that position. In addition, I need an awful lot more quickness, and explosion in my game, and getting in shape will play a huge part in that. I break down fitness into a couple of categories.

Weight loss, I've done the goofy diets, I've tried the stupid replacing a meal with a shake, eating certain size containers of food, and for different reasons they've been tough. You know what's worked for me? Counting my calories. When I went thru my weight loss before, I used My Fitness Pal, and in 6 months of using it, I never once went over my allotted calories. That taught me not just about portion control, but it taught me how to eat to keep sugars, salts and other key parts where I needed them to be. The other part of that successful run, was that I did it at the same time as some other work folks, and it was a daily competition sort of things, that kept me on my game, kept me motivated. I'm going to be a little more willing to have a "cheat" day here or there, but I'm going to use this to build the right habits, and keep them. Trying to be "perfect" made things harder than they needed to be, and I'm not saying I'm going to the other extreme, that I'll cheat every single day. When someone comes to visit this year, I can go out for BBQ, or I can enjoy some higher calorie Tex-Mex. I can't do it every day, and I may end up working out harder, but keeping sensible, and in moderation work. Project eat right begins on Monday the 5th. I'm not gorging myself, but there are a couple of Guinness in the fridge, and when they are gone, they'll be gone for awhile.

Fitness. Again, last time I lost weight, I was on the treadmill for at 30 minutes to an hour every single day, with no breaks, no days off for five months. Insane right? Everyone knows that your body needs a break here and there, but I was deathly afraid that if I skipped one day, it would let me skip another day, and it would spiral out of control. That's garbage, and I know it. I've got more will power than that. I'm breaking my workouts into both cardio and strength. Treadmill for the time being because every hotel fitness room has one, and I have one at home, and I'm shopping elliptical now because I think it provides a better benefit for my time invested than just a treadmill. Going to keep doing the miserable 7 day aerobic with weight routine I did in October, I hated it, but even I saw improved flexibility, and cardio plus weight work is good. The last part is a decision on either free weights, or looking at bow flex. I'm not 100% sold, but I want a workout that I can run both at home, and when I'm on the road.

The reality is that when I'm on the road, I'm not a drinker, I don't go out to bars, and after my last call, and unless I'm taking a customer to dinner, I'm back in my room by 7pm. I have ample opportunity to both workout, and to get in 30-40 minutes of dry fire. The short version is that I've got no reason not to accomplish my goals.

Summary:

I have been, and am the biggest reason that I have not hit my 2014 goals. Setting aside the other stuff, I did not accomplish what I wanted to accomplish because I did not put in the work, or make the effort I needed to make. How's that for a bit of honesty? When I lost my 50 lbs a few years ago, when I went from D to B in 5 months, I did it because I was committed, invested, and motivated. I was none of those things for the 2nd half of 2014, and I regret that. A night shoot, my last match, reminded me how passionate I am about shooting, and also how much I miss Les and Kozy. Those fuckers are working, why aren't I?

I'm committing to 4 workouts a week for now.
I'm committing to hitting my calorie goal 28 days a month, and NEVER being more than 10% over on a cheat day.
I'm committing to finding a practice partner.
I'm committing to 10% of my dry fire to strong hand/week hand drills, all year long.
I'm committing to 5 dry fire sessions of at least 30 minutes a week.
I'm committing to at least one live fire session of 200-250 rounds per week.

I'm going to lose 10 lbs a month for the next 5 months, we'll see where I'm at then, and plan the rest of the year.
I'm going to shoot 75% of a winners points in at least one major match in the 2nd half of 2015.
I'm going to earn my "A" card.
I'm going to reach 90% of points shot in a major match.
I'm going to keep my cool, and not melt down.


I need to sit down with Les, and pick his brain, and put together measurable goals and run 30 day rotations on my drills to keep things fresh, and challenging. I'm need to determine what dry fire practice will help me most with ports, positions, and so on. I need to set-up tier goals that work for me.

Realizing that I'm getting into 3-Gun this year, those goals are separate. I'm not focused, nor am I committed to it, I'm doing it for fun. Will I practice shotgun reloads? Sure, but I'm not going to focus on them, 3-Gun could be a 6th dry fire day during the week. I'm going to enjoy it, but I'm going to achieve my USPSA goals this  year. I want to know I took myself as far as I could commensurate with what I'm able to commit.

The biggest thing I'm going to do, is I'm going to be honest with myself, and I'm going to stop and frequently evaluate what I'm doing. If something is not working, I'm not going to beat my head into a wall doing it over and over, I'm going to find another way to get the solution. I'm going to keep doing things that make me better, and I'm going to be honest when I'm not putting in the effort I need.

I've got a ways to go, but the last few weeks helped me realize that if I take responsibility for my goals, and my actions, only then will I accomplish what I set out to do. That sounds small, but sometimes it's the little things that get away from you. I'm done making excuses. In December 2015, I want to be a thinner, healthier, more fit, person, who is taking a winter shooting break, and able to say "yep, I rocked out 2015 to the best of my ability and left it all out there."

Club Officer? My Postmortem

Club Officer? My Postmortem


Back on October 4th, Tim Meyers gave me a real turd of a Birthday present. (Tim objects to the use of the word turd. In truth he took me to breakfast at Jack Allen's the next day, which was amazing. So take my usage with a grain of salt) Post match at Austin Rifle Club, he nominated me to be Secretary of Austin Lone Star Practical Pistol Club, in part because there were not a whole lot of people jumping at the job, and I'd like to think, in part, because he believed that I'd work hard to get the club going in the direction that it should be. I'm sure that was because he knew that Les was a stand up guy, but I hope it's also because in the short time he knew me, that he felt that way about me too. There were some raised eyebrows, because many in the club who were present for the vote did not know me, they saw me as someone who had just finished shooting his second match with the club, and beyond that, not a whole lot. It was an uncomfortable situation for me, and I probably should have declined, but I channeled my inner "Les Kismartoni", and decided that Les would have jumped in, and worked to make the club better, so if I wanted to pay Les back for all he's done to help me shoot, I figured I would give it my level best effort.


I'd heard a little bit about the state of the club from Tim prior to the election, and he was the outgoing Vice President,  so I knew there was work to be done, but once I sat down with the other newly elected officers, I was terrified of what I saw, or more what I did not see. The club's "books" was a word document showing gross receipts, some expenses, and total cash. The heart of the issue was that for the last 5-6 years the club President and Treasurer were husband and wife, and there was no accounting ever done. There was a line item expense of "steel, $1900", although the club had purchased no new steel in the last few years, there were gun giveaways that the club believes the former president sold items he himself won at 3-Gun prize tables. In short, things were a mess, and they were made more so when the officers, using the last couple of matches as a benchmark came up with a revenue projection that was between $3000 and $6000 a year greater than the "books" showed.

Getting in cold, my instant concern was protecting myself, I wanted no liability for what was in the books, and filing a 2014 tax return, and signing it, when I myself did not believe or could not support the numbers given was pretty low on my priority list. Mind you, zero receipts were given, just a sheet of paper. Anyone reading feel comfortable taking that to the IRS? After consulting with the other officers, a few of us proceeded to explore what our options for the club actually were. The number one idea was to protect the club, and it's assets, as well as the officers. To that end, I spoke with a C.P.A., and an attorney. In both cases, the advice was that we needed to "nuke the club from orbit, just to be sure", and form a new entity the right way, with the assets of the old club donated.

Unfortunately, that was not a universal opinion among officers, one of whom wanted to find ways to fix the existing entity, he set the agenda, he sent out e-mails to members painting a rosy picture, and moved at a snail's pace, in essence this officer, who was not the president, was running the club at his pace, and with his inaction. About this time we realized we were going to have a problem with the range, that the Austin Rifle Club wanted to renegotiate the existing contract to be more favorable to them, that they wanted to take away a second Sunday a month we had and ran a steel match, and they wanted to run their own Steel Challenge match, using our equipment, at no charge.

I had two instant thoughts, I wanted us to present a united front, and meet with the ARC board, and find out exactly what changes they wanted, find out what price hike they were looking for, and if we had to form a new entity, would they be willing to work with the new entity on a contract, or were they really looking to absorb the club, the assets, and run the matches themselves. Unfortunately we never got around to do that in the first 30 days. My other thought was that we should explore other venues, we should find out who was capable of hosting the club, what they would charge, and so on. If a deal at ARC was that bad, we'd give ourselves options. We could go to the club with the best information for setting ourselves up for success in the future.

While all this was going on, our one officer who was dragging his feet, was busy wanting to set-up "Mail Chimp" so we could mass e-mail the club, and filling out "Trello" cards for everyone's jobs. The short version, in my mind, was that he was doing the mundane tasks that did little to address the serious issues that the club was facing. Again, it was my belief that he did not want to make any changes, that he thought things were fine, and did not see a need for change.

I had reached out to Les, and connected him with the new club President, Ben Gilman, so they could talk, and Les was able to explain to Ben how M.I.S.S. reorganized a few years ago, how it worked for them, and how we could do the same sorts of things here. Les invested some time, and even gave us the links for forms we'd have to file to become a 501c7 should we choose. Again, Les was coming to the rescue from 1,000 miles away. I'd hoped he and Ben would get along, they both wanted what was best for their respective clubs, and they work towards it.

After about four weeks though, I'd seen little action towards protecting ourselves as officers. No meeting was scheduled with ARC, we had not tracked down the missing paperwork from the old officers, and we had not started a re-organization. On my own, I consulted another attorney, this one who was also a C.P.A., who counseled me that it was critically important that we document our attempts to collect missing papers. The longer we did not try to collect, the greater the liability we as individuals were likely to have. With that in mind, I sat down, wrote a letter, mildly unpleasant, but I asked for the missing documents, tax returns, and receipts, both expense and gate receipts, and after having the club President read it, I sent the registered letter.

I sent the letter out to the rest of the officers, and shortly after that, got this partial response from one of the other officers:

"There is a great chance you just created more liability for all of us.This is a bull shit way to go about business especially given that you don't even come to our matches to help or at least get to know the members of the club that has been successfully holding matches since the 80's."



-Nameless Officer

He had a point, I did miss the October steel match, and the November USPSA match. In both cases, I made the choice to be a parent, and go to Lauren's soccer game. In both cases, I actually asked the Match Director if I was needed to help set-up, or run the event, and had I been needed, I'd have went. I was not aware I was required to ask this guy for permission.

To the other points, ALSPPC has not actually been holding matches since the 80's, ALSPPC was the result of another couple of clubs that were folding, merger. I've got a lot of respect for the club, but the club is not a collection of letters, it's the people behind it. The people who have done the work, come to the matches, they are the reason the club exists, and they honestly deserve the best. They don't deserve a club that has never filed a tax return, or is left open to accounting questions because of lax practices. They don't deserve a club that could face penalties because they never did those things, and the honest truth, is they deserve better than officers who don't acknowledge that. I don't know the members of the club? I respect the club, and the members, I can't say that someone who was not fighting for the club is in the same boat.

I spent the September match R.O.'ing a squad of 10 other people I did not know, I went to lunch with another 7-8 people in the past 30 days to learn more about the club, the people who make it up, and what people want to it. In September and October both, I took time the Friday before the match to go and set-up stages with a couple of other people. That's about 50% of the club that I was able to reach out to in the first 30 days of office. Never once did I question the commitment of other officers, especially captain nameless who was not there to set-up either. In short, I think I did everything that I could have done to work for the interests of the club, and I can sleep knowing that I did that.

The response from the nameless officer was honestly what I was afraid of when I took the job. I never should have thought that I could contribute unless I had been around longer, I could have just set-up, tore down, and shot matches. Those are all things that I can always do. I can't blame Mr. Nameless too much for his reaction, because I am the new guy, it's hard to build trust and respect in a short time with people you don't know at all. I believe that I did the right things, but oviously not for everyone. Now I feel like I let Les down, like I let Tim down, and like I let myself down. The bylaws of ALSPPC prohibit the election of officers who have not been members for at least 6 months, using that as the reason, I submitted my resignation. The truth is, I'm not looking for a fight, but with the serious issues the club does face, I'm honestly not comfortable being a part of an officer team that was not on the same page, and was not committed to the ideal of building the best foundation for club, no matter what.

The last thing I want to do is sound like a bitter bastard, in truth I'm glad to shoot. I spent my time at M.I.S.S. setting up and tearing down, and I was happy, I trusted where the officers had the club going. I do believe that you get out what you put in, but at this point, I'm going to shoot, I can't not help, but I'm definitely a lot more leery to get involved now beyond basic help. I apprenticed more with Terry as part of the "Goon Squad" than I did with Les on the political side, and the club doesn't need the friction. I'm not a politician, I speak plainly, I don't sugar coat things, and I don't have the sense to sometimes just keep my damn mouth shut. I had a couple of officers call me, angry that Mr. Nameless said what he said, and I appreciate it, they aren't responsible what comes out of his mouth.

So that's it, 30 odd days, I won't do this sort of thing again, and I'll find a different way to pay back what I saw the real classy people do for the sport. Those are the people I admire, and want to emulate, and make proud.

WIILSHOOT Shutters The Doors

WIILSHOOT Shutters The Doors


Les made the announcement yesterday in a post that WIILSHOOT was closing its doors after an amazing 4 year run. Four years is a heck of a long time to run a blog, and build a community, and that's exactly what Les did. People who wanted to shoot in Northern Illinois or Southern Wisconsin had a place to go, and find out what clubs were active, when they shot, and read some entertaining articles, and be kept abreast of news that impacted both 2nd amendment, and shooting sports.

When I go to a local match, it's almost bizarre if I don't see someone there wearing a WILLSHOOT t-shirt, or was not in some manner impacted by the site. We are talking about hundreds of people being touched, accessing the site, knowing people, or being a part of the community that WILLSHOOT helped grow. With many people using Facebook, and other mediums, and with the burden of keeping the site going for so long, I suspect Les made the decision to finally shutter his baby. I can't offer enough compliments for someone who built a real community, and gave organization  and direction. There was not a paycheck in it, it was really a labor of love. Near the end, we had talked about my doing some work to help carry on what WIILSHOOT had become, and doing some writing for the website. I was never sure if my efforts were not what Les was looking for, or if he was having a hard time handing over some responsibility and giving me the keys to help. I never pressured, and the fact he was even considering it, well, he's a better man than me, because if I had built something I don't think I could have done the same. The bottom line is that the time was right, the community is built and moving, and Les deserves some time to pursue other things. Nobody has given more to a shooting community with less return than he has, pretty amazing guy. Not many people would invest that kind of time and effort to build a community, I'm really proud to call him a friend.

WIILSHOOT has always been important to me. It was my first website I found when searching to find info on shooting sports, it's where I found the IDPA club I started with, and the USPSA club I still enjoy shooting with. A couple of week ago, I touched on what putting the jersey on for the first time meant to me in a blog. Yesterday, when I saw that WIILSHOOT was shuttering it felt like a kick in the nuts. I can't say it totally surprised me, or took me by surprise, however seeing it, I was definitely in denial. As good as it felt for the first time to put on the jersey, it felt like "almost, but not quite", last night. I wanted to be able to give back in the same way as people had done for me. I'm not angry, I understand the reasons for it. Everything, I felt, that is good about shooting, the community, even about myself, my own growth, felt less. I know that's a thought that's unworthy of me, it smacks of selfishness, and I know that was wrong. It was perhaps the sharpest prod though, of how much it meant to me. While I knew it was important, it was only then I realized how much good it seemed to encompass in my mind. Ultimately, WIILSHOOT brought out the best in people. Whether the web site is there or not, that's a lesson I'll take with me, and it'll be a better lasting tribute to something that mattered to me than anything I can think of.

I'm still dealing with the work stress, and a possible move, and last night at the match, I admit that the thought I might be shooting my last MISS match crossed my mind a few times. I shot awful, but I took each stage for what it was, did not carry any bad stage with me, I obviously had a lot on my mind. A few friends commented that I seemed very quiet and distant, and I think that was a fair assessment.

I don't think I'll  pull the WIILSHOOT jersey out of the closet, and put it on again, at least not for awhile. I'll keep the memory of the one night I did wear it, and how good it felt to be a part of something as my memory. For that one night, I got to be a part of something that made me proud.  Part of the team for one night, but a part of a community forever.There are a lot of great pictures that Les has up on his last blog, amazing people, amazing friends. none of it would have been possible without WIILSHOOT. Even if the site coming down, the community, the family will live on. Personally I wish I could have done and contributed more, because the friends I made are ones that will last a lifetime. I feel guilty that I got more out than I could ever put back in.

Bravo Les, not that Bob Marley is exactly my idea of a great philosopher, but something he said comes to mind when I think of how much WILLSHOOT meant, to so many people.

"The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity, and the ability to affect those around him positively"

-Bob Marley

Consider my life impacted in so many ways for the positive ever since I found WIILSHOOT, and was introduced to the community. A website means that much? I don't know, but I know the community behind it sure does, the architect who was responsible did a pretty fantastic job.

My One and Only Night as Part of the Team

I may not have been able to enjoy it for as long as others, but the year and half plus I got to know, and become a part of the community impacted me more than any simple words can describe. Thank you Les for building it, and thank you everyone for your own contributions. You've all been a part of something truly special.

Cheers

Plan B The Review

Plan B The Review


My progress has not stopped, and I did not reach my final goal, I took some steps, and I completed one phase of my progress, but today, having earned my B card, I've been able to sit back, and think about what it has meant to me. There has been a lot of progress, a lot of growth, and I'm not sure if it is always obvious to people.

That video was me shooting a stage a year ago. It almost hurts my eyes to watch how I shot back then, but it shows how far I really had to come. Never having been a gun person, not knowing the first thing about marksmanship, that's where I started. I had a lot of learning to do, and I had to get comfortable with something that was distinctly uncomfortable for me.

When Les started Plan B, I was not even mediocre, I was just starting to get comfortable with the sport, but I lacked any kind of consistency or basic fundamentals, and when things went wrong, I had no idea how to fix them, and worse, I was stubborn and resistant. I'm eternally grateful that Les chose to spend his valuable time teaching me. With what you see in the video, I'm not sure I was an ideal candidate, but I'd like to believe that he saw that I had enthusiasm, and I had a lot of desire, even if I had very little knowledge. We had a rough start in November, with my twisted ankle playing football with Kozy, getting sick in December, and the concussion in January. I switched platforms from Walther to CZ, but despite it all he stuck with me.

In late January, feeling I was behind, I put in more time, instead of the assigned time, I did what I had to do in order to absorb a lesson, and sometime around then the lessons started to click, and the light switched on for me. I was by no means perfect, but I could see progress, and I understood the lessons, and was trying to make progress. At the WIIT, I shot the best match I had to date, and when I watched the video's I saw tons of things I did better in other matches, or in practice, but I saw progress. It was at that match when I realized how much I had learned, and that my goal was possible. I'd been exhibiting progress in different phases, now it was time to start putting things together.

Confidence was something I'd been missing all along. All along people like Kozy have been telling me that I had it in me, I just had to execute, and I was able to believe. Of course I'd heard, and still hear from other folks who utterly dismiss me, that I'm just a "classifier" shooter, or that I can't put together a full match despite evidence to the contrary. Before then I know I heard it. Now? It doesn't matter. I know how far I've come.

Prior to February, I admit, I had a habit of zeroing a classifier that I did not think was a 60%, so there were plenty of classifiers that I did zero. From February until now, I believe I pulled that stunt one time, 7 of my last 8 classifiers make up my current 66% classification, so it's not "grandbagged", it's earned. Again, I hear from a couple of folks that it is not earned, that I gamed it. Bullshit, the facts say otherwise.

From February on, I worked harder, I believed, and I attacked class, practice and matches with intensity. I was a convert, a believer. When I came back from Kentucky, I could have been all upset and pouted about how I performed, but Monday night found me back at the range with Les and Kozy, working to get better. That whole concept of "I train so one day my mentors become my rivals" speaks to me, and speaks to how I want to work. Today I have a toolbox that is not empty. I have an idea how I need to practice, things I need to improve on, and sometimes, I can even see myself doing something wrong.

Monday Night

So today, I'm excited about earning my B card. I'm a much more fundamentally strong shooter than I was 5 months ago. I see tons of things I can improve on, and grind off rough edges and get better at. I don't think a B card makes me special, while I'm excited, I'm actually pretty humble. I know it does not make a better shooter, or anything like that, but the B Classification gives me motivation to work harder, to both earn, and prove that I should shoot at that level consistently. I think there is an added pressure now, because folks know that Les taught me, and I know my success or lack thereof is sometimes a reflection on him, so when I shoot, that's in the back of my mind as well.

That's shooting, but in this blog I said I was growing as a person, and I have not touched on that at all. I've always thought of myself as mentally tough, but there is a difference between rigid and tough. Something that's rigid may have a breaking point, and once snapped is broken, tough? Tough rolls with punches, takes the occasional bad, and is always standing. My biggest disappointment during this period was my match in Kentucky this past weekend where I reverted to my old ways, and was rigid. I let myself down, and I won't do that again.

Over the past few months, I've noticed I've tried to apply that patience and attitude to my life at home, and at work. It has not always been a roaring success, but slowly, day by day I find myself with more patience, more strength, and I'm tougher for it. Kind of like a B card, I may have the basics down, but I'm a work in progress too, just like I aspire to earn a higher USPSA classification, I want to better apply those lessons to me as a person as well.

At the range, I can be a gruff personality, I get on people to help, to paste, but my time with Les has changed me. In the past I was a little over aggressive about it, or I would say something true, but incredible rude to a person because I was angry. That has not happened, I'm not sure if it is because I spent the time with Les and seen how positive and polite he is, but when I go back to someone judging my shooting, and it reflecting back on Les as my instructor, it's the same thing. I don't want people saying "Les trained Luke, and he's an asshat." I want to reflect positively on my mentor, and friend.

Les and I, the day I iced it.

Les is going to come out of this bargain with a few thousand extra bullets, but I'm coming out of it a better shooter, and a better person. I think I got the better end of this bargain, There are not too many people who would or could inspire me to be better at both, but he's a unique combination.

So, now that this plan is complete, where am I going to go? I'm going to shoot, I'm going to dry fire, and I'm going to work even harder. I want to get competitive in B class this summer, and I'd like to earn my A classification by the end of the year. There is a fine balance between how much time and resources I can invest in going beyond that, I'd like to see how far I can go, but we'll address that commitment when I have to. I want to see Linda earn her C card, she's at 38.3%, so she's close, and I'm looking forward to shooting a Major with her this year. This has never been an ending, it's just a step on the path.

I'm hoping to do some work on another website, although the owner and founder has not yet found any of my submissions to be worthy, I'll stay on him. I'll don a jersey soon, and be a member of a team, and that means a lot to me. I want to be worthy of it, and I want to earn my way, and be able to contribute. I have a healthy respect for the team members, and I want to be a credit to them.

Friends & Family Like No Other

This all started as a hobby, something to learn about, a way to maybe be an outlet for my competitive side. It did start that way, but I became a part of a community that I genuinely care about, and what to help grow. I made friends like few I have ever made before. I've traveled, I've involved my wife, my daughter, and seen them welcomed. This "hobby" is so much more today, it's a big part of my life, of who I am. It's been a long time since I've been so involved in something, and the word "special" does not do justice, but personally, I've found a place I fit, with people I enjoy. I'm at home.

Complete

Thank You Les

Thank You Les


Les,

Over the past 90 days I'm sure that there were times when you were ready to pull your hair out with me, or with Dave, but you never showed it. I had the ankle, the head, and the gun switch, the first two were unfortunate, but the last I'm sure had you gritting your teeth. I know we've still got a little time to finish up the "Plan B", and this "letter" is a little early, but I wanted to make the effort to let you know how much the teaching you have done has meant to me, how much it is helped, and how much I appreciate it. Some of the lessons you've taught have helped make me a better shooter, and some of 'em have probably helped make me a better person, at least some of the time. If that isn't the mark of a teacher, then I don't know what is. I think that you felt our struggles and took them personally, and I think that you are happy for our successes.

I'm a slow learner, I'm stubborn, and I can be a gigantic pain in the ass. Yesterday at The WIIT was really proof positive that I had learned, worked on, and applied the lessons you taught. It was imperfect, with things to improve, but I never let a mistake bother me until I was done shooting, I never carried frustration to another stage, and I stayed positive all day long. I focused on my front sight, I got my hits. I almost bobbled one reload, but I was smooth. Someone who had not seen me shoot since September mentioned that my reloads were night and day different. That's what you taught.

I don't know that I've ever walked away from a match feeling that the good outweighed the bad, but I did yesterday. I'm happy overall with the way I shot. I know a 2nd place in "C" finish to Terry is not the biggest deal in the world, but it's a massive uptick in progress. I'd spent plenty of time practicing last summer, with no direction, with no real meaningful understanding of how or what to practice. What it amounted to was I was doing something with no ability to measurably improve, I won't say I was entirely wasting my time, but I was certainly not getting much out of it. You gave me direction, and you gave me the tools to improve myself.

We had a talk that a taste of success can be dangerous to some people, that it can make them lax, make them dial things back, with a feeling that they are almost there. Less than 90 days ago I was a "D" class shooter, we had bumps in the road, but I earned my "C" card, and I finished at 55% of the top score, in essence, a higher end C score, about where I should be. When I watched the video of myself, I saw many things that I can do better, that I can clean up, but I never would have known where to look, or how. One of the best decisions I made in the last 30 days was to get back my "hungry" attitude, and be a grinder, not a diva. This last 5-10% we hope to accomplish will be every bit as hard as the first 20-30%. It'll require that same level of work, of commitment, and I'm not dialing it back, I'm dialing it up a little.

Every mistake I think I made yesterday, I think I can find an example where I have done it right in the past. I know I'm capable, it'll just take some time. I know you were opposed to the CZ switch, and I understood your reasoning, to this day, I still have some regret about that. I will say that your teaching, the practice, combined with gear I am supremely confident in, has let me silence "Self B" and just see the front sight. I don't think about reloads or draw's anymore, I just do them. I don't think about a transition, or a cadence, I do what I need to do to get my hits. I can do all of those things better, faster, and more accurately, but I've got the confidence to know that with the tools, the gear, and the mindset, it just requires my effort to learn it. Again, what you did allowed me to build some much needed confidence.

Yesterday, for the first time ever I felt like I saw you frazzled with the way you shot, and I don't know if it was in your head at all, but I was still impressed with the way you seemed to leave it all behind you when you went to the line. Maybe it was, and maybe it was not, but you presented total focus, total calm, and total confidence. Talk about a role model.

Shooting for anyone is an ongoing progression, and maybe even more for someone at my level, but for all my struggles, and your seemingly endless supply of patience, which I'm sure I sorely tested, you have my eternal thanks, and gratitude. Twice in the past week I walked away feeling proud of my progress, I hope you share some of that, and know that you were responsible for it. Thanks go out in lesser doses for both Kozy and Terry, who gave me different points of view, or swift kicks in the ass as needed. Still though, the gift of the fundamental tools. That's you bro.

Words are inadequate to express how grateful I am. No, we are not going to hug. I just hope you know that the time you invested in me, may never be something I can repay in kind (2,000 bullets might be the start) but it was not wasted. I've taken it to heart, and I'm doing my best to apply each and every lesson, Sunday was hopefully a glimpse of it, and the future should be even better.


Thank you,
Luke

WIIT Review

The WIIT In Review

Match is over, time to reflect. Early word on the street (okay, from Kozy who downloaded scores before he left Pine Tree) is that I finished 3rd place in Production "C", behind Terry. Since I'm not competing against everyone in every class, and every division, that's a pretty good baseline to test myself. Terry of course is sandbagging a bit in "C" class since he's a much better shooter than his classification. I said that I wanted to win "C", and have this match be a coming out party for myself in terms of performance. I'll take the 2nd place finish, and it definitely was a coming out party, just over 30 days with a new gun, and probably the best performance I've had in a match to date. I scored about 55% of what the match winner did, and that's a high "C" place to be. I'm probably about that good of a shooter right now, but I do have improvement in me, and if I clean up some mistakes, I'll be even closer.

The big reason for my improvement is the fact that I got all of my hits, I had one miss on a target all day. I'm finally getting comfortable with sticking to my front sight like glue. To do that, I know I slow down, and that I'm capable of going faster, but getting hits is more important, and with work, I'll get faster. Not everything was sunshine, I knew I made some mistakes, got sucked into a few ports, forgot an order of targets to engage, and on the last stage struggled with the mini poppers shooting from my knees. Sure, I've got stuff to work on, I can do better, and with this little bit of success, I'm hungry to keep it up. I'm already planning my dry fire for tomorrow morning, and yes, there will be dry fire before I go to work, and again when I get home. Getting to where I am now, realizing that less than 90 days ago I was a "D" shooter, and that' I'm closer to "B" was the easy part, the only way I'm going to get this next 5% is by working harder to earn it.

Tomorrow I'll do an individual stage break down blog, but for today, I'll just post the complete match video, and go to bed happy that I had my coming out party, and even hungrier to work harder.

Oh, my "classifier" run today? The good news is that I shot it in 9.19 seconds, with a hit factor of 7.84. This was my best run, so my attention to practice made a real difference. USPSA made a ruling this classifier was no longer going to be valid, so while the Match Director will submit, it's likely my run will not count, and an 85% classifier is not going to help me. It's a shame that USPSA made the decision and announced it on Friday night, effective immediately. There are a lot of people who are going to lose out on this one. Crappy leadership folks, it either should have been announced sooner, or announced with a cut-off date.

Big thanks to Screaming Amateur Productions who sponsored the entire squad in the match today. It was fun shooting with Rob, Terry, Les, Kozy, Mikhail, Tony A, Anthony A., Luis, Jay, and Brad, kick ass squad, it's tough being the worst shooter in the squad. Next year, I hope to be a lot more competitive.

Production Scores By Class

Final Combined Standings

Tuesday Practice

Tuesday Practice

I'm pushing myself harder to accomplish my goals, I'm not doing simply the minimum of dry fire, I'm going above and beyond. I'm not saying it to insult myself, but in some cases I'm just a slow learner. I hear a concept, and I have an understanding of it, but I have to crank out the repetitions to really be comfortable with it.

In the morning I did turn and draw, I set the par timer back to 1.8 seconds, and focused on when I was getting to the gun, and snapping around. I did 15 turn and draws, all at or better than the 1.8 second par time, then doing the turn and draws in rapid order actually had me a bit dizzy. I don't think that's an effect of the concussion either, just me essentially trying to spin halfway around repeatedly. I feel good about this now, and I now how to practice it, what I specifically have to focus on to make it happen.

Reloads were improved, I set the par timer at 1.4 seconds, and did 50 reloads, 10 runs of 5 reloads each. I got 5 of my first 20 reloads at the par time, but I got 18 of my next 30 at the par time. I can do this too. Going back to the challenge Les presented to me, there were a few magazines that went flying across the room as I missed the magwell entirely, but I did not let it phase me. Shit happens, right? Just keep doing it, and I can get it, and guess what, I did.

I also worked on my 2/2/2 drill, starting a 2.20 seconds, and working it down. At 2.2 seconds I feel very comfortable moving the gun from target to target, and committing to a shot, it was easy. As I dropped the par, I felt myself getting sloppy, at 2 seconds I had perhaps 70% right, and at 1.80 seconds, about 10% right. The good part is even a 2.2 par time on that is good enough to get my B card, so as long as I stay at that speed, I'm fine. It's a little different when there is live ammo, so I'd like to get the time down a bit in dry fire, but now that I know what I'm looking for, I can insure that I'm not cheating on my drills.

Dave and I set out to do some live fire, and it was one of the better practice nights that I've had. I need to realize that I don't have to go all out to do well. I ran an El Pres with 9 alpha and 3 charlie in 7.19 seconds, well below the 8.45 par time we needed. In some cases the faster I was going, the more issues and poor hits that I had. I don't need to have .17 and .19 splits, hey it's nice, but if it costs me an alpha, and gives me a delta, then take the little extra to .22 and get the alpha hit.

We ran a variety of drills, El Pres, Accelerator, and some plate rack. It was a good variety and kept us working on accuracy, draw, reload, turn and draw. I loved finishing on the plate rack, that little steel is so much fun, I was able to clear the rack once with splits in the .42-.47 range, but when I tried it that fast again I could not do it, I was far better off shooting it in the .62 to .68 range. My accuracy is good, as long as I keep a nice cadence, when I start to push faster I get sloppy, my fundamentals go to hell, and I start dropping mikes. So, I know what I need to do, I know that I don't always have to put the pedal to the floor, and I know I still need to keep hammering my fundamentals down if I want to improve my game. It was a damn good practice, and I may try to sneak back out and get another live fire session at the end of the week. I have my Range Officer class this weekend, so I won't be able to shoot. I will check with Dave and see if we can't make it happen.

I also had the occasion to think about my attitude. Kozy's attitude is that he is a GM shooter, with a Master level card, and that's a good thing. I tried to adopt it for myself, and wanted to believe that I was a B shooter, with a C class card. When I think about it, that just does not work for me, not yet anyhow. I've always had to work to achieve my goals, if I say to myself that I'm a B class shooter, then deep down I think there is a sense of entitlement, and I know that's wrong, but it does change my demeanor. I'm hungry, I'm a fighter, a battler, a grinder. I'm a C class shooter today, but there is a B class shooter in me, and probably more. The only way I'm going to unlock that, is by getting on my horse, and working, and earning it. I've gotta put in the time I need.

This does not mean I'm going all self critical, I'm not. In a way I'm reverting to something that is comfortable, the underdog role. If I want this bad enough, I'm going to work as hard as I need, USPSA, Les, nobody is going to give me my B card. I'm going to earn it, and I'm going to take it. Les gave me tools, I'm going to reach up and grab the card because of that, but I'm getting it done.

Day After Thoughts

Day After Thoughts

I really want to improve, that's a given. Something I'm still not using to it's full potential is my video. Today though, I took some time to watch each stage, make some notes on things that I was seeing that I'm doing wrong, and I want to use that to focus my dry fire for the week. I've done my dry fire trying to focus in on one or two things a day, and drill those, but I've more or less done it on a rotation, and what I really need, besides just more repetitions, is to spend a little extra time on areas that I'm significantly deficient.

We did some grocery shopping and I spent the time thinking about what I saw, and when I came home, I had a match review e-mail from Les waiting for me. As usual he picked up on a few things that I missed, and he confirmed something that I thought, but was not sure I was doing. (Linda will be happy to hear this....go figure...she felt beat down by seeing her own flinch) I thought a couple of times yesterday I may have flinched, and in one video, Les found a specific example that I could clearly see of me flinching. I think if there was a different camera angle on the first stage I shot, I would have seen a couple of other flinches.

Two for Flinching

So, probably some ball and dummy for me, but acting on a suggestion from Les, I'm going to run some rounds with no time constraint, isolate it, and eliminate it. I hate saying that this is a "been there, done that", but I have, and I've eliminated it, and its creeped back a couple of times.

Les found an example of me pulling off a shot before it was completed, and it was the last shot of the stage, I was already on my way back to unload and show clear before I had finished breaking the shot.

I see you do this in dry fire from time to time. You see the sight,
then snap the shot while moving the gun away. Snap the shot AND stay
committed to the sights.

I think you can tell yourself to stop "trying to go fast" and relax a bit.

**I see that after the last shot you are defeated.**

You are the one judging yourself here.

-Les

That's a pretty meaningful commentary. I've been trying to break a tendency to swing the gun thru one target into the next, without making a commitment to driving the gun to the target, and staying committed to the sights. Les is dead on, and it's going to make me look at my practice, and ask myself if I am being honest. Am I doing it right in practice, or am I continuing to practice incorrectly? This has been going on for awhile, and since I have not improved enough on it, I tend to believe that I'm not being honest with myself in practice. I think I'm going to probably do a couple of minutes of video tape on my practice this week, just for personal review, so I can help use that to see if I am practicing right, or if I'm cheating myself. 

Watching stage 3, the classifier, I can see myself doing exactly this and not "owning" my shot. It goes a long way towards understanding why I may have hit the paper, I was not hitting the paper where I wanted to be hitting it, 8 charlies and 4 deltas, with only 7 alpha's is not how I was aiming.

As far as judging myself. I hate to admit it, but if I'm being truthful, I made so many mistakes in the stage, and I was judging myself as I was going, and that probably played a part in my making even more mistakes. Shit sometimes just happens, accept it and go on, don't dwell on it. I'd like to think that I'm leaving frustration with a stage at a stage, and not carrying it forward, but I'm definitely not leaving a mistake where it is and continuing on, I'm letting it impact my game.

I want to give you a specific mental challenge:

For a week, I don't want you to Judge... I don't want you to be upset
when something doesn't pan out - just accept it. I don't want you to
be passive aggressive" 

This may give you the freedom to accept that you will make mistakes. I
don't just mean learning  from the mistakes - I mean accepting a mike
without it even rustling your feathers.


Just observe. Just do.

-Les

This is a pretty good challenge. I actually achieved a bit of this just one time yesterday on the last stage I shot. On the array after I shot the steel, I miked a shot coming into the position, and I knew it was close, I saw it as I pulled away from the array, that it was a mike, and I did not care, and I kept going. It did however effect me, because if you notice, I had a slow reload there, no urgency getting the mag out of the pouch, and into the gun, and I was standing waiting to shoot, if you look at the reload after that, I was quick, and as I came into position, the gun was already up, and in position. 

I'm not a religious person by any stretch of the imagination, nor have I ever been a part of Alcoholics Anonymous, but a little bit of the Zen of Les makes me think of the Reinhold Niebuhr Serenity Prayer: God give me the grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. (Hey, I'm not all that shallow....there is more to me than just shooting!)

Time To Rise Above This Plateau

I need to accept a mike, and it should not bother me, sometimes there is nothing you can do about it but just accept it, let it go, and don't let it bother you. I have a huge issue doing that, but mentally I'll improve when I stop focusing on one mistake, and having it pave the way into more mistakes. In this case, one often begets many.

It's a little life lesson there as well, because I'd be better off applying this in other aspects of my life as well. Short version is that I've got some work to do, and I've got a good place to start. Making this kind of mental change is not going to be easy, but I think if I apply the lesson in other places, not just shooting, it will make it that much easier, effective, and quicker to see some positive results.


This is the home stretch, but as I'm finding you can go 80% of the way easily, but the last 20% to this goal is where progress slows down, and I'm really having to work and earn success. I'm happy to see that Dave is pushing thru, and getting close to the goal, I'd like to think that with some work, and some conscious effort to relax, I can do this too.

See why I've got the utmost respect for Les? Not just a great teacher, or a great friend, pretty damn good person too.

Pine Tree Friends Video's

Pine Tree Friends Video's


As always some video from the guys I ran with. Some good, some not so good, I don't think anyone was happy with their entire match from today.

Match Scores

Kozy Video:

Kozy took the overall match win.


Les Video:

Les was 7th overall, and 2nd in Production.



Emil Video:

Emil was 39th overall, and 13th in Production

Cold weather, snow actually coming thru the ventilation system into two of bays could not spoil the morning. I know none of us was totally happy, still a good time with good friends.

Hangover-Friends & Family

Hangover-Friends & Family

Just because....

Scores

Linda is having some gun issues of late, we're not sure what seems to be causing double feeds in her XDM, it's happening with multiple magazines, and we've tracked it back to happening at least once per most matches dating back to early September. That really added time to her runs tonight, and it's a real shame because she did roll out and do pretty well otherwise.

Les broke out his CZ for the first time in a match, and I get half sick watching how well he shoots. Guy rocks. He had good plans, he's accurate, and fast. It's nice watching a GM work, and knowing that's the guy who is busy teaching me. Too bad he had issues on his classifier.

Kozy rocked out a damn good match himself. Again, classifier issues, and he re-shot it for fun afterwards, and kicked the classifier's ass.

As usual, Emil ran a nice and steady match, guy puts me to shame a lot of times out there.

Mental Block

Mentally Blocked

I'm a "B" class shooter, I know I am, right now today. What my mind says is not agreeing with what kind of results I'm getting, and that's an issue. I spent two weeks with the CZ, and when I'm practicing, I get some outstanding results. I'm doing things very well, I'm getting good hits, and I feel very positive about what I'm doing. Classes and matches though are still uneven. Today's class begin with a simple draw, shoot one target 7 yards away five times, reload, and shoot another target seven yards away. My draw was about 1.24 to 1.27, and my reloads were a consistent 1.61 and 1.62, my splits were in the .19 to .22 range, and my hits were awesome. I was feeling pretty good about myself, and where I was going. Here's the key, and I'll come back to this later, I was not thinking about anything other than my front sight.

It looks like this

Moving forward we jumped to El Presidente again, and I had a crappy draw, got poor hits, and Les told me that one of my issues was that I was tense, it was obvious to him, and I admit, I felt it too. He wanted me to be less robotic in my reloads, to "take the training wheels off". I'd found a way to cheat a bit, by twisting my elbow into my body to force the gun to a comfortable position in front of my face so I can watch the mag go in, and drive it straight back out to the target. He wanted me to stop that twist, and know where I need the gun, and do it without my "crutch", watching me reload, it was robotic, my shoulders are hunched, and I was tense. That said, my reloads were pretty damn solid, and now with the change I had something else I was thinking about. I started to pull off early on my last shot before a reload to "do it right", and that impacted how I was hitting, instead of just focusing on my sights, I was thinking about the way to reload.

We set up a couple of barriers at about 12 yards, and ran 9 Lives. Essentially you start in the middle, run to the left, shoot 3 steel plates, go back to the middle, hit the 3 plates again, and then move to the right position, and do it again. 9 shots from 3 positions, it's a challenging drill where you need good accuracy, and you need sound movement skills. Les made one pretty small adjustment for Dave and I, he made us dry fire and practice keeping our gun's up, so that once we cleared a barrier we were just about on target, instead of having to move it up, or get a hand back on it, and even if we felt slower, it turned out that we were anywhere from .2 to .5 seconds faster, and over a stage with only 3 positions, that's 1.5 seconds you pick up. It adds up.

To close out, we took a draw, shoot two at a plate, reload and shoot 2 more. My best run with all hits had a 1.6 draw and a 1.7 reload. This is something I can work on, but when it comes to simply "stand and shoot", I feel confident. I can accept that reload from more than 10 yards, especially with a hit, sure, I'd like it faster, but that will get me to B with no problem.

So anyhow, Les gave it to me, I'm mentally fucked up. Seeing as how this is a gun blog, and this is Illinois, I'd better clarify. I'm just blocking myself from doing what I can do well in practice. I'm self-critical, I'm judgmental, and my head is my own worst enemy. I'm not seeing spotted unicorns, purple horseshoes, or hearing voices. I'm simply pressing too hard, I'm trying to prove that I can do this, instead of just sitting back and doing it. I know that I'm better than I showed today, I've done it, but I get to a class, or a match, and I just start thinking too much. Part of me felt absolutely self-defeated when I left the range today, not that I was going to run off and cry defeated, rather that I was absolutely helpless, and could not figure out what I needed to do to right the ship.

I made a quick call and ran over to Kozy's, and we talked it out. He told me pretty much what Les told me, that fundamentally I'm there, I've got this, but I need to put it all together. He said another thing that Les did, just in a slightly different way that got thru to me. I'm going to focus on just one thing at the match on Wednesday. I'm going to forget my draw, my reload, everything else, I'm just going to look at my front sight, I'm going to think only about that. That does not mean I'm going to get all Alphas, just that I'm going to call my shot, and I'm not going to have any surprises at the end of a stage. If there is a miss, I'm going to know it, and I'm going to know why when I take the shot. That's the same thing Les told me, just the front sight. The rest of my game is either at the B level, or close enough that I can perform. When I had bad runs today, I was not thinking about, or focused on my front sight, I was worried about my turn and draw, taking the "training wheels" off my reload, and so on. Every single time I was thinking about either something else, or something more than my front sight.

Do you think he over thinks?

When I look back at my past few blogs, I've said it, I trust the CZ. If I focus on the sights, the gun takes care of the rest. The truth is, I focus on the sights, the gun takes care of the shooting, and I, Luke, am good enough to take care of the draw, reload and so on. I know how to do those things already. So the million dollar question now, is if I can do those things in practice, and I know it, why am I not doing those things at class and at a match? I suspect class because I'm learning, and match because I'm pressing. So for Wednesday, I'm going to re-read the Mental Game of Tennis, and I'm going to try to clear my mind, and just think and see my front sight, nothing else. I'll let my improved skills as well as my confidence in my gun take care of the rest.

On the practice agenda, my turn and draw is abysmal. I was running 2.20 to 2.34 to Dave's 1.68. I'm going to work that pretty hard the next few days, and I'm going to set my par time to start to 1.90, and go from there. That's a pretty big slice of time I'm giving up for no real good reason. In part it's because I'm turning then drawing, instead of consolidating the draw and reload into one, and in part because I'm just not snapping my head around and letting my body follow.

There are little things I'm looking at, all fixable in dry fire. I can work my draw a little, get more comfortable with the reload, now that I know where I want the gun, and how I wanted it canted to get the perfect reload, and to finish a shot before I start to reload. Do those things, and I'm talking a few weeks of dry fire, not months. I know I've come a long way in a short time, and now we are talking some polish on the fundamentals instead of complete overhaul, but the mental block is something I just hope to get past. Give me some match success, for all four stages, and let me know how it "feels" mentally to do that, then I'll have a blueprint. I think I'm on the right path, with focusing on just one thing, I'm just excited to get out there and give it a go.

Time To Jack

Time To Jack


Let's cut the shit already and admit that it's time to get serious and get down to business. Dave and I got together today for our live fire work, and we both confessed that we've had a thought or two that it was almost time to start buying the 4,000 bullets that we are going to owe Les if we don't hit our mark. I know I've had some bravado, and confidence, but with each up and down performance I was feeling like Charlie Brown. Lucy puts that football down, and each time he believes he's going to kick it, and that little witch pulls it out every single time. Screw you Lucy.

Today was my first day in the plan with the CZ, and here I am five hours later with an ear to ear stupid grin on my face. I had more fun shooting today, in practice than any day I've ever had shooting, ever. Big statement there. Today the target and I tangled, and I kicked it's butt. Everyone says that it's the person shooting the gun, not the gun, and I buy that. I won't however discount that the CZ is infinitely easier to shoot, and for me to focus on just one thing, my front sights. This was hands down one of my best practice performances ever.

The CZ partnered with my loads shoots softly, no muzzle flip, very little recoil, the gun just cycles backward and forward, and I can keep my eyes on the front sight the whole time. With the PPQ, I was fighting to control the gun, with the CZ, I hold it, no fight. This is worlds easier than what I am used to. I know it hides some flaws that I have, like not getting a better handle on the gun and getting my left elbow up higher, but I don't need to have that perfect hold to get my hits. So is it a good thing that it masks flaws? Some might argue its not, and I see that point, because I don't just want to earn my B card, I want to compete in the B Class, and I want to go beyond that. However, for right now, it let's me focus on my sights.

Les felt Dave and I had a tendency to shoot past a  target on a transition, and not drive the gun towards it, (me more than Dave) and he wanted us to focus on driving the gun. The beauty of the CZ  for me, is that it's so heavy, I can't just drag it across targets, I need to drive it to get it there, so the weight forces me in the right direction.

Today our mission was to start with a couple of El Presidente's as slow as we needed to get all alpha hits. New gun, new pull, I was a little slow, but I got good hits at 8.60 seconds. I had two exceptional runs as I started to get dialed in, I ran one at 7.59 (I need 8.45 for a 60% run with 90% of points possible) with 12 Alpha's, that's a perfect run! My draw to first shot was 2.34 on that run, about .6 seconds slower than with the PPQ. I ran another at 7.37 with 10 Alpha and 2 Charlie, and a 2.29 second draw. According to Classifiercalc, that first run had a Hit Factor of 7.91 which is 77.1%, that's not a B run, that's a low A run! My second run would have been a 7.598 Hit Factor for a 74.0% run, that's the tip top of B (75.01 is A).

That's good shooting, with accurate hits. With the PPQ I had inconsistent runs between 6.30 and 7.05 most of the time, the hits were touch and go, and I dropped points, so, not only did I slow down, I massively increased my accuracy, but I did not go too slow. Now, the even better news, the biggest difference in speed was not my actual shooting (I got my splits and transitions down to near PPQ territory, .20-.22 splits, and .38 transitions, faster with the PPQ, but there I shot thru the target, never driving the gun to it to get hits. ), but the difference was an incredibly slow draw. That 1.8 second draw we started with? I'm slower, and I got the PPQ down with practice, the CZ is a little different because of the long first pull, but with practice, I'm going to get that down. I'm not putting a time frame on it, but I'd bet in a week of dryfire, I'll be used to the gun enough that I'll be at 1.80, and again starting a push to get the draw down to the 1.3 or 1.4 mark. That's almost a full second that I can trim from my time and still keep good hits!

Want some more good news? My reloads during the El Presidente runs were between 2.00, and 2.2, again, between .5 to .7 slower than I was reloading with the PPQ. By the end of the day, and we drilled reloads, I had my reload into the 1.80 area, and as soon as I stop going for the release on the trigger guard like the PPQ, and remember it's a button, I'm going to get even better.

So, all this good news? I'm excited as hell! The things I'm talking about are things that I can improve in dry fire, and I already proved to myself that I can do exactly that. I'm not talking a three month ramp up, I'm not talking wildly inconsistent, I'm talking a few weeks to get myself to a better position. The most basic fundamental of all, seeing that front sight, and hitting the target is finally, not something I'm over thinking, I'm able to just focus on the sight and shoot.

Want another small piece of good news? I experienced something Terry did at the match. my trigger finger does not realize how short the single action pull is, I was leaving the trigger and moving my finger forward and then coming back to hit the trigger. Some work there, and my splits will improve, something I laughed about it felt so good, was it took me longer to pull the trigger something that it took me to see the sights.

I can't express how amazing an experience today's practice was. I was not fighting my gun, everything came easy, the light went on. I believe in my SP-01, I don't have to be perfect, it makes my job easy. It is an amazing feeling. I want to guard against getting over confident, but for the first time, I've got a deep confidence in my gun, and a realization, that my fate, this B card, and my improvement is all about what I'm doing. Sure, it's always been that way, but right now? I believe it. I have faith, something I lacked before. This CZ eliminates all the little things I was thinking about, elbow up? Sights perfect? Grip Tight? I don't think about those now, I just see the front sight and shoot.

I have faith that with this, my goals will be a reality

I say I don't want to be over confident, and I don't want to jinx myself, but I honestly believe that I could run off a series of B classifiers now, and I'll be able to do it that much easier with more dry fire work. So, mark it down, my contribution to all this, is a skill set that Les taught me. He taught me what I need to do, at the most basic and fundamental level, he gave me the skills that I need to apply, and today at least, it all came together. I know there are up's and downs ahead, I'm not getting too high, or too low, but I'll be damned if don't just believe that I'm on the way.

Thanks bro!