The Mission
After my time this past year, and being exposed to ideas in
books, podcasts, and forums, it’s time to get serious. A friend, instructor,
and Master class shooter came to me with a proposition. He would spend from
November until March doing a class twice a month with myself and another
person, and at the end of it we’d come out as “B” Class USPSA Shooters. We’d
have to commit to dryfire practice, live fire, and matches. If we make “B”
class, we do not owe him anything other than a LOT
of word of mouth advertising. I negotiated that to owing him 1,000 bullets plus
word of mouth advertising, because it’s worth it to me, and because it’s a heck
of a time commitment for someone who could be charging for classes during that
time. If however both students do not come out “B” class shooters, we owe him
4,000 rounds. That’s some serious ammo, and it ties the other student and me
together, so we are motivated to work together, to push one another, and to
achieve our goal.
At this point, we’ve got a schedule: Bi-Weekly Saturday
instruction, live fire practice one time a week, twice in weeks we do not have
instruction, three 30 minute dry fire sessions a week, and 3 matches a month.
Instruction and practice are probably going to be fairly light, so about 600
rounds a month of 9mm will cover those. We will be doing significant work with
a .22, and have each put together about 2,500 rounds each. This is roughly
5,500 rounds of ammo, both .22. and 9mm of practice ammo over the course of 6
months, with match’s, this should come in just over 1,000 rounds a month.
I won’t go into a ton of detail about the program, since I
expect he’ll want to teach it, as opposed to seeing it “given away”, but in
part of our pre-work, he’s helped me come to some understandings of the sport.
When I started, at my first skills and drills class, I had a
Safariland retention holster, and my first draw was 3.3 seconds, with practice
I got that down to about 2 second draw. These days, on a short, 5-7 yard
target, I practice at about 1 second from draw to first shot, and in a match
expect to see myself at around 1.3 to 1.5 seconds. When I started “B” class seemed unattainable,
I thought I’d need a 1 second draw reload, and great movement skills. What has been demonstrated to me, is that
it’s about shooting accurately at my level. You could in theory have a 2 second
draw, 2 second re-load, and still be a “B” class shooter as long as you are
accurate.
My last match, less penalties, I shot only about 80% of the
points, and I need to push that to about 90% of the points, but that seems
fairly reasonable. I had been practicing El Presidente, and shot it in 7.25
seconds, with 10 Alpha’s and 2 Charlies, or 56 points, my hit factor on that
run would have been around 72%. Meaning, a very high “B” run, almost an
“A”. Two weeks ago, I blew my El Pres
run for a couple of reasons, but the bottom line is that I know that I can do
it. I’m not expecting to get a 10.26 Hit Factor and score a 100%, but I think
between 6.16 and 7.7 is attainable.
For those that don’t know, or understand, let’s talk Hit
Factor for a second. A hit factor calculation is simply points divided by time.
When looking for a percentage, on Classifier Calc, you want to find what 1% is,
what 100% is, and with that info you can figure out what a 60-75% is (B Class
Rating). When you have that, you can do the calculations on points and figure
out what time you need to hit. It’s unrealistic for me to think I’m going to
shoot 100% of the points, but I have done calculations of where I need to be if
I shoot 80% of the points, and 90% of the points. What I found amazing is that
the difference can be a second or more on some stages, and if I shoot between
.20 and .25 (currently between .25 and .28) that means 4 extra shots. Not that
I want to shoot more, but it means I have that much more time to insure a good
sight picture, and get good hits. I know
all this sounds complex, but it really is not, especially once I did the math
on a few, and saw what a 10% increase in points shot would really mean for me.
I've done my reading of Brian Enos, Steve Anderson, and BenStoeger, but I’m going to be putting some of that behind me. I know my draw,
reload, and transitions need work, and they will improve with practice. I’m
getting better at stage planning, but I still have a ways to go. My movement
leaves a lot to be desired, but like the other things, it will improve as well.
I suspect that the plan will have a focus on keeping on that front sight, and
shooting all the points possible. My gut feeling today, is that a “B” class
shooter has those fundamental skills, but the transition from “B” to “A”, to
“Master” to “Grand Master” is where the ability to do that at speed is going to
matter more. A feeling that the game changes, where seconds, and tenths of a
second can matter.
I have a match tonight at my “home range”, with my “home
club”. It’s been a good summer, doing outside matches, but it’ll be nice to be
back someplace I’m comfortable. The classifier tonight is CM 06-10, Steely
Speed VII, I’ll need a hit factor in the mid 6’s, which means I have to hit all
the steel, in just about 5 seconds. This should be a gimmie. Even if I have a 2
second draw, that means I have 3 seconds for 6 targets, or a .5
transition. Normally I love steel (I
hate forward falling steel, that’s caused some nightmares this summer, and I
don’t even want to talk about it….) but I focus on my front sight, and am
accurate, I can do this.
Finally, I don't want anyone to think that "B" is my destination. It's almost a starting point. I need to get there, I want to see how good I can do, how far I can push myself, and how good I can get. Can I get my "A" card by the end of 2014? Can I push for a Master or Grand Master card? I don't know, but I have to take this first step to start.
Finally, I don't want anyone to think that "B" is my destination. It's almost a starting point. I need to get there, I want to see how good I can do, how far I can push myself, and how good I can get. Can I get my "A" card by the end of 2014? Can I push for a Master or Grand Master card? I don't know, but I have to take this first step to start.
Gear for this journey, which won’t be changing until I hit
“B”, is as follows:
Shooting 147 grain re-loaded Bayou Bullets with 4.4 grains
of Power Pistol
(This will change to 124 grain Bayou Bullets with Tite Group
fairly soon)
One Black Under Armor Hat (Okay…that may change….)
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