Post Thanksgiving Observations

Post Thanksgiving Observations

Great Holiday! Kozy and I started the day by trying to play some football, he lasted 3 plays before he hurt his back, and I was 5 plays before I rolled an ankle. I’d make the old guys should know better joke, but he ended up in the hospital, and can barely walk. I’m on crutches now, and neither of us is going to shoot on Sunday. Day after Thanksgiving, we took the train down into the city with the Brown’s, hit ice skating at Millennium Park, walked the Macy’s windows, and the Christkindlmarket  in Daley Plaza. Kids had a blast ice skating, were cold near the windows, and I thought the schnitzel was awesome! I also discovered Rum Almonds. Get you some!

So, a brief time travel trip back a couple of days to the IDPA match, via The Inner Game of Tennis. One of the concepts in the book, is that there are 2 self’s. Ever talk to yourself, tell yourself what to do? Who are you talking to? The concept is that those are the two parts of yourself, a part that feels it needs to tell your subconscious what to do, and how to do it. The truth is, your subconscious often is inhibited by that, it already knows what and how to do things. It does not need governance, and direction, it needs to just the ability to do things on its own.

IDPA, I realize that my mind was cluttered, I was giving my subconscious orders almost non-stop, and I was not allowing myself to just execute what I know, even thought that’s what I was trying to do. I was so worried about rules, where I could reload, how I could reload, and so on, and so on, that I had so much going on in my mind inhibiting me from performing at my peak ability. I was as far from “in the zone” as one could be. I’m going to keep shooting USPSA exclusively thru March,  just so I don’t add something to what I do, USPSA rules are already in my subconscious, so I can keep my mind focused.

Fast forward, today was live fire class with Dave and Les, and it was supposed to be “turn and draw” and reloads. In my case, turning while drawing was just not going to happen. For the first time, I felt like I made some observations from Self 2, rather than negative judgments from Self 1. I was shooting low, and Les observed that I may still have some flinch going on. I felt that my sight picture was not right, instead of looking across my sights, I was looking down on them, much like I was back in August and September of this year, and we corrected that and I had much improved accuracy. I made a small adjustment, and had a decent string, and things felt like I practiced them. Shots were still a little low, indicating the trigger control issue, but that’s fixable.

On reloads, I've always had some issues, today though, I watched Les explain it, and I got a picture in my head of how his body was working, and what was going on, then when it was my turn, I had some very solid reloads. Instead of dropping the gun low, my elbows came back to my body, I got the gun canted, and was able to reload up high, watching the magazine right into the magwell, and then drive the gun right back out. Reloads from 7 yards were consistently in the 1.70-1.85 second range.

I had a rough finish, got some trigger freeze, had a .16 split, which means I had no sight picture at all, and basically got all tense. What I really need to do, is just relax, don’t heap the pressure on, and shoot. I had no issue all practice long, but once we were running El Pres for time, I did it. The good news, is that today I felt in touch with learning visually, and how I was doing it. I saw instant progress on the reload, and my draw was solid. When I did not get the hits I wanted, I could observe what I might be doing wrong.

Because I’m on crutches for the next few days at least, I’ll have to limit my turn and draw, but I’m going to get a little extra dry fire practice, and I’m going to practice one thing at a time, for 15-20 minutes each time. I can feel how close I am to breaking thru this. It’s right there in front of me. Strangely, the biggest obstacle now is keeping mentally relaxed and focused as opposed to a fundamental or gun-handling issue.

I’m pretty excited right now.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

It’s good to take a day off, just relax, and not to shoot, get my head clear. Linda, Lauren, and I are enjoying Thanksgiving with the Brown’s this year, and I wanted to just take a couple of minutes to say “thanks” to a few people who have really made 2013 a great year. I’ll keep it mostly shooting related!

1)      Linda and Lauren. Without the support that you guys have shown, there is no way on earth that I’d be doing what I’m doing. Finding shooting and an outlet for my competitive nature has been a godsend, it’s been a part of me that’s been missing for many, many years. I’d like to think that in some ways, despite the time it’s taken, it’s made me a better husband, father, and person. It’s put a smile on my face, and it’s something I've enjoyed sharing with both of you. I like that it’s something we've done as a family. I hope you guys know how much I appreciate you, and how much I love you two.

2)      I’m just wrapping up Kozy, Terry, Les, and Emil in one entry. Terry joked that he and I got along when we met when I was directed to talk to him before I got interested in IDPA a year or so ago, and he asked Les if they could “keep me.” Over the past year you guys delineated the line between “shooting friends”, and I like to think we became friends, who happen to shoot together. Getting to know you guys, the way you have accepted me, helped me, and welcomed my family is amazing as well. I’d attach a separate degree of thanks to Tracy, Cherie, and Liv as well. Girlfriends and wives have made it even better. We had some good parties this year, went to some fun concerts, and shared some family events like pumpkin picking. Thank you guys, simple thanks don’t do it justice, but it’s all I've got.

3)      Herb and Alpha Range. A local home to shoot, what could be better? Well, adding Herb to the list of people who crossed from being someone I had shot with and a range owner, to being a friend, and someone who introduced his family to ours as well. Guy makes a mean Mai-Tai, and Jeanine, and his kids are pretty awesome as well.

4)      Can’t forget Officer Chris Hall, the Deputy Sheriff and friend who was the original sounding board, on guns, shooting, and everything. I asked him a thousand questions, and he sat and listened to it all, while I know he’s not a shooting sports guy, he paid attention. Thanks man!

5)      “IDPA” guys, like Tony Amici, and Tony Alterio, Alex, Milan, Luis and others. We shared some concerts, fests, pig roasts, and shooting this summer, and it was a great time getting to know all of you outside the range as well as in. It was in large part that you guys broke down any and all preconceptions that I had about shooting, and the sport itself. I look forward to hanging out more often and more events where our families come together.

I know there are people I forgot, I don’t have time to list everyone, and I've got a lot of non-shooting and work related friends that I’m thankful for as well. An awful lot of you guys have had to listen to me talk about something that got to be pretty important to me, and in some ways changed who I am. I’m sure a lot of you wanted to pull your hair out, or tuned me out, but you kept on smiling and said “good for you.” I appreciate that!

She Always Looks Great in Pictures, Me? Not so much!

I’m lucky to have been blessed to know so many wonderful people, new friends and old alike.

Think About it Les.....

Pre-Thanksgiving Match

Pre-Thanksgiving Match


Yeah, yeah, I went and did it....I went to another IDPA match.

I went because a friend wanted to see a shooting sport, and it was going on, and I got him to shoot it. Kozy wanted to go shoot his carry gun, and I just wanted a little trigger time. Thankfully there is no video evidence that I shot, so it's plausibly deniable. That said, Kozy and I gamed the heck out of the first stage we shot, and after he did it they changed the stage. Love it!

Larry took his first shots, and I like to think he had a good time. I'm sorry we had enough after only two stages and left, dragging him with up to Buffalo Wild Wings. We'll make it up to him and take him to a USPSA match next week!

Glad he enjoyed his stages, even if the plethora of rules put a dint in his enjoyment.

Other than gaming the first stage, I got hit with a couple of procedural penalties for not re-loading per IDPA rules. Not making any self judgements, I did not get the hits that I wanted, had some issues with cadence, and with seeing my front sight. I have an idea of what went happened, but not 100% sure. Glad I went, I did manage to pick up a few pieces of brass, and enjoyed the cold beer, and hanging out with friends afterwards.

The Inner Game of Luke

The Inner Game of Luke

Screw you Les.

The other day I got a homework assignment, and had to go pick up The Inner Game of Tennis, by Tim Gallwey. I picked it up, and started, and within a page, I was nodding my head saying “yeah, that’s exactly what I do, he is talking to me.” Sure, the book use tennis as the sport in question, but the mental aspect, was just amazing. I admit, I’m the guy who will talk to myself at the line, remind myself what to do, as if I need to be reminded, and be critical once I’m done with a stage.

To break off briefly from the book, last night Dave and I jumped on live fire night, and had a pretty solid run. We started off so, so, but after about the 3^rd run, I got to the line, took a deep breath, and got everything out with that breath. I was relaxed, there was nothing else going on in my head, I heard nothing else, and I did not tell myself what I needed to do. I had a slow draw, 2.03 because I tried to go too fast, but my first split was .23, to a .30 transition onto the 2^nd target followed by a .22 split, followed by a .31 transition, and a .23 split, for an overall time of 3.32 looking for a par time of 3.80. That was also my worst draw to first shot for the night, most were running 1.59 to 1.81.  The hits? I hit the steel with 5 of the 6 shots, I hit the bar that the plate hangs on with my first shot. I’m not saying this was a perfect run, but with nothing going on in my head, I just did what I can do. I shifted weight as I went left to right, I found my sights, and I had great trigger control. Truthfully, I blazed thru things. The rest of the night I was around my 3.80 par time, maybe a little higher. I kept trying to get a faster draw, which slowed me down, I shot low, I tried to go too fast, and the one thing I had in common with all of those runs, was simply that I was reminding myself what I could do, and what I needed to do. I never cleared my head, and let myself do naturally what I can do.  My very last run of the night, I again went up, deep breath and exhale, and again shot a very credible round.

When I left the range I was trying to understand and make sense of what I was doing. Why I had struggled, was thinking that I should start practicing an hour a day instead of 30 minutes, that if I just worked it harder, I’d consistently do what I did right on a couple of runs last night. Today however, I picked up the book, and realized that it was not harder practice that I needed, that mentally I was getting in the way of my own success. Physically, I can draw, shoot accurately, and fast, but my own mental process was inhibiting me from doing that. If ever there was a right book, for the right time that was it.

If Wiilshoot can have random Eric G. pictures, I can too.

I'm going to continue to practice with the par times that I started earlier this week, and I believe that with more repetitions I’ll have the draw at a consistent 1.70, and be able to slowly bring that par time down. I’m not going to rush that, I’m going to hit 1.70 consistently, and teach my body how to do that, speed will come once I’m at 1.70 smoothly. Right now, when I try to go faster, I don’t decelerate enough, and my sights are bobbing which costs me extra time. Going from 1.70 to 1.50 I suspect will come in the speed from hand to gun, to clearing the holster, and my extension will stay roughly the same in order to maintain control.

I can see that this is a process as well, and I won’t be able to turn it on and off just yet like a light switch. I’m going to take a few steps back, start to tune everything and everyone out as soon as I’m “in the hole”, and by the time I’m at the line, my focus will be entirely on execution of my plan, I won’t “hear” background noise. When I holster my gun after “Make Ready”, I’m going to take that deep breath, and exhale absolutely everything that is in my head, so when the buzzer sounds, it’s just me and the gun. I don’t want to make relaxing sound like a chore, but right now, unless I make an effort to relax, and tune things out, my mind will talk to myself, and I don’t need my own head inhibiting what I’m doing. Just shoot. 

So yes, Les picked the perfect book to shake my mindset, and open myself up to what I have been doing. I think last night a skirted a bit on the edges of self awareness, but I honestly don't think I would have found it, unless I read thru the book. There are definitely other instructors in the area, and a couple who focus on competitive shooting, but I honestly believe that there is no other instructor around who is as good as Les. He took the time to recommend the book, he's consistently found keys to unlock what I'm doing and get me to understand, and that isn't easy. I'm consistently impressed with the way I'm taught, it's not just the material, it's presentation.

Practice This Week

Practice This Week

Now that the draw has been added to my practice, I'm kind of excited again to get back to practicing. Doing the same 2/2/2 drill for over 3 weeks has been mind numbing, but I admit it has really helped me find a shooting cadence, and has helped me focus on my front sight. I need more live fire, and I'll have that on Tuesday night, but new stuff? Fun Stuff!

So, Les gave me a par time of 1.70 to work the draw, and I'm doing that 5 minutes per 15 minute dry fire session. I'm working low ready 2/2/2 for 5 minutes with a 1.90 par time (original assignment of 2.80), and the last 5 minutes I'm drawing and going 2/2/2 at a Les assigned 3.80 par time. I had to e-mail Les and ask if that was correct. He responded letting me know that it is correct, and that what we are looking for is 2 strings of 3.80, one with the draw, and one with the reload. If I do that, then I'm actually below where I need to be on the El Pres, which was mid 8 seconds. That's all good and well, and frankly I'm excited, but with a 3.80 second par time, I can draw, get my 6 shots off, and about have the gun in the holster before the par time sounds, that is not pushing me, and I'm getting good looks, and clean presses. I'm going to start pushing my par time down to see what I'm actually running it in.

Anyhow, that's a 15 minute practice session, and I'm running that twice a day, four times a week. I'm also doing 5 minutes of white wall practice a couple of times a day, every single day. Partly because of the flinch that I developed, but mostly because it's helping me continue to develop a steady, straight trigger pull that does not move my sights, and I think it's making my 2/2/2 drill work that much better since I'm finding that my pulls are more consistent, and the sights are not moving.

Even with just a couple of days of practice on the draw, mine feels so much better, and tomorrow I will start to drop that par time down to 1.60, and go from there. Yeah, I know it's slow still, but I'm coming up and getting a good sight picture with no sights bobbing. In addition, practicing the draw again has me just knowing where my hand is going, and I'm consistently grabbing the gun cleanly, instead of fumbling with my hand on the grip.

Going to work on loading 1,200 rounds or so over the next day or two since I'm home on vacation, do a little extra dry fire work, and I suspect make an extra trip up to the range to do some live fire work as well. Tuesday night is for working with Dave, but with nothing to do, I may run up on Wednesday and drill. Looking forward to Thanksgiving with the Brown's as well!

Not that it has a thing to do with Thanksgiving, but this is some pretty damn good beer. Thanks to Kozy for introducing me to it, and for selling me a case.

MISS Match 11/20/13 Recap

Match Recap


I'm not going to go into detail on the way I shot. We pretty much covered the highlights, and low lights from Wednesday. The DQ was the worst part of the night, that I had a flinch early sucked, and that I shot slow as can be. When I was doing it, I felt like I was going faster, but watching the video, I was slow. The last blog covered that, flinch is now gone, I'm comfortable with my 9mm again, and I turned in some blazing practice. I'm excited to get practicing again, and I want to take my practice attitude, to the match. A club match should not be about pressure, it's about validating what I'm doing in practice, so I need to shoot with the same relaxed feeling I had in practice, and not like I'm terrified that I might miss something. Believe, trust, get to where I can call my shot.

Amici gave me a piece of advice, he told me to think about the DQ until I'm ready to throw up, and keep that with me, so it won't happen again. He's got a good point, we know what I attribute this DQ to, and exactly what I'm going to do to make sure that does not happen ever again. Sure, I'm embarrassed I did it, and I'm glad nobody got hurt, and I'm pissed I put people in a spot the could have gotten hurt. I'll chew on, and do the right thing going forward.


On to some video:

My two plus a hair stages:

Here is Emil running thru the match and doing pretty darn well:

Here is Kozy going out and tearing things up as usual:

Last but not least, here is Les. I'm glad I got the video for his match, and especially his classifier run, which should give him his bump up to GM which he richly deserves. Nobody I know works harder, cares more, and gives back to the sport as a whole than Les. I'm lucky to call him a friend, and proud to call him my teacher. A guy who shoots this well? I gotta make him proud come March!

Thanks guys!

Newsflash: Who Can Transition Fast?

Newsflash: Who Can Transition Fast?

I can asshats! (Fast being a relative term, which in no way implies it's actually fast, it's just fast for me!)

On Thursday I took a trip down to Washington, IL, which had a tornado run thru the town on Sunday afternoon, and it was a pretty sobering experience. I had about six hours of drive time to do some thinking, and I had a Kozy phone call which helped pick-up my spirits. He made one comment that made me get a little scared, after reading my last blog, he told me that I understood about “half” of what he’s saying finally. Half is better than none, but obviously I have a ways to go.

So let’s close out the pity party saga. On the trip I decided what it really takes for me to have my head screwed on straight before a stage, and what I need to do to properly prepare. I’m done keeping score. Pinch hitting for a couple of people is fine, or helping after I shoot a stage is fine, but not before. I need to focus. More walk thru is needed. During the summer I would paste fast, and try to walk a bit of a stage. I put in a lot of work then, and towards the end of the summer I was showing some progress. I’m not sure what made me slack this fall once we went indoor, but I have, and it shows, my DQ was a direct result of that. I do have the RO class in January, but I’m going to treat that the same way I do score keeping. I’m a pinch hitter to help, I’m not going to do “heavy lifting”. I’m just not ready to do that. The remainder of MISS season I’ll get a little experience, but I’m going to focus on my shooting, that’s what is important. I like helping the club, but I won’t let that get in the way of my shooting. When it comes to a match, I know what I need to do to be ready, I’m not going to shortchange that again. So, HTFU is in full effect, pity party is over.

Tonight was live fire practice with Dave. As an aside, he really picked up the pace on Wednesday night, and I have to give him a lot of credit, he’s picked up and ran with what Les has taught us. He’s shown a lot more and quicker improvement than I have, and I’m really proud to see him do it, and just “get it.” Dave is getting his B card with ease. Tonight I actually forgot my .22, and it may have been intentional. I wanted to kill the flinch, and I need to get the feel of my 9mm again. I did not purposely leave the .22, but subconsciously, I suspect I may have just left it behind.

Dave and I started out on the steel plates, and we were going pretty slow. I had my flinch early, was missing, and it was just a rough way to begin. After a couple of runs we swapped out for paper targets, I wanted to run a few Bill Drill’s from 7 yards, and just start pulling the trigger, getting my pull smooth, and managing the recoil. This helped me immensely, and pretty soon, I stopped thinking about my flinch, and it disappeared for the night entirely.

Draw and Shoot Six Shots As Fast As Possible

Les came up for a few minutes to talk to us about the draw, so we could start to incorporate that into our dry fire routine. I had a few issues drawing cleanly, so that’s something to work on, but Les made the comment that we should go fast to the gun, and starting to get it up, but decelerate and control it as we get the sights where we want them. This seemingly small and simple piece of advice was something else. The skies shown lights on me, angels sang hallelujah, I felt like John Belushi in The Blues Brothers where he has seen the light. When I looked at my draw, I was rushing and stiff arming the gun into place, and the sights were bouncing, and I have been struggling to get my sights since probably the first time I picked up my gun. I exaggeratedly slowly did it, and felt the difference, my sights hit where I wanted steady, no fumbling around. I’m not going to lie, it was still slow, but it made a difference. My practice par time for this week is 1.7 seconds, and I expect that by next week I should have that in the 1.3 range. It’s a lot like the past few weeks. Now I know what I’m trying to do, and what I want to feel, I just need repetitions to consistently do that.

I Have Seen The Light

Once Les took off, and I’d had the revelation, practice took an entirely new turn for me. I just relaxed (something I still have a problem with, I tense up before the buzzer, and I need to relax), I had fun, and I shot. I pushed myself. Dave and I ran a 2-2-2 drill from 10 yards, with an El Pres set up, and I said to myself that I was just going to blaze it. My draw was slow, 1.65 to 1.90, but my splits were in the .22 to .23 neighborhood, and my transitions were in the .30 to .34 area.  Putting this in perspective, we need .55 second transitions for our 60% El Pres, and I was transitioning in .37 to .40 with the no recoil .22 a week ago. A week ago with the 9mm, my transitions were in the .65 range with a .40 split. The change from .22 to 9mm was a big one for me, and obviously my times showed that. This was improvement on an immense level, and I think it was possible not just because of a physical change, but because mentally I was just shooting. I had nothing distracting me, no number I had to hit. I just shot.

My hits? Actually not too bad, the left target was consistently alpha charlie, the middle target was two alphas, and the right target was alpha mike or alpha delta, with a delta being a lucky mike, that’s where I was having an issue. So, I can actually back off the gas here, and focus, and get that shot. Today, totally relaxed, not caring, I pulled off some of my fastest transitions ever, and proved to myself that I can do it. I know what I need to see in terms of a sight picture, and I can control the gun enough to do it. I was taking the trigger up immediately, and on transitions, I was taking it up across, and breaking the shot just as the front sight was hitting the center of the target. I’m proud of the progress I showed in practice tonight. I'll bet if I dial those transitions down to a .40 for now, and give myself just that extra hair of a second, my hits will be solid. 

Yes, I know I failed on the third target, and did not get good hits. I’m not saying that I’m where I need to be, but after last class with Les, and the match, I absolutely needed something to go my way. This was the most relaxed I have been in awhile, and was the most fun I’ve had just shooting. The last few times I was there, I wanted to get our work in, and be done, and tonight I did not want to leave. I wanted to keep running things until I could get all my hits. This felt so damn good.

What showed up today?

I’m on vacation for the next 11 days, so time for some more dryfire, live fire, and I’m going to load up 1,000 rounds. I’m excited to add the draw to practice, and I really think that with refinement I can improve the draw. Slow down to speed up. It makes total sense to me today.

Match video from Wednesday will be coming this weekend, there is a 4 classifier match at Pine Tree on December 1^st, and I’m going to be rushing up there to shoot it, as it is Lauren’s Birthday on the 1^st, and I have to be home in time to help set-up for the party. I know some of the progress here was mental, but I’m in a better place today than I was on Wednesday night. I’m so much more relaxed, and my focus is back where it needs to be. I’m also having a hell of a lot more fun.

I don't know what I don't know, but I'm also done thinking I have answers. It's learning, I'm going to shut up, go into sponge mode, and pay attention when people talk. This is all a process, and there are no shortcuts. If today was a reboot, it’s where I should have been a few weeks ago. I’m just glad to be here.

Feels So Good I can Dance

Yes guys, I'm on a mission from God.

Discouragement

Discouragement

Yes, I’m throwing a pity party, and it’s going to last until I’m done writing, so deal with it. Tonight was a pretty rough night at the MISS Match. I got DQ’d, that’s disqualified, for those who are not shooters, but then again, if you are reading this you know what it means. I started a stage facing up-range, and had to run to the right, and I broke the 180 degree rule, where my gun was pointed up range. It’s dangerous, it’s wrong, and I absolutely did it. I know it. The R.O. was behind me, and was not in a place where he could clearly see it, but thankfully, and I mean that, Kozy caught it and called it and stopped me. I've got no problem that he did, it was the right thing to do, and you don’t mess around with safety, ever.

So, why did I do it, and did I know I did when I did it? Second part first, yes, I knew it when I did it. During walk thru I ran out to use the washroom, I came back in, did not walk the stage, and I went back to scoring. Point of fact, I only walked the stage twice, and quickly at that. I was more interested in where I was going to put my feet and shoot some targets on the move. I never once practiced during walk thru where and how I was going to draw my gun. Some people are good enough to see a stage, know it, and not make a mistake, but I’m not there yet. I know I need to focus, plan, and make sure that I execute the plan that is in my head. I did not do any of those things, and it cost me in a dangerous way.

Sure, you can say that everyone makes mistakes, and that’s true. Everyone does make mistakes, but there is a difference between a mistake and an error you repeat. You see on the 2^nd stage, I was having a very solid run, and I blew past and did not engage a target. The 2 mikes are bad enough, but you tack on a FTE and the stage is darn near blown. I should have taken heed from that mistake, a mistake I made two weeks ago as well. I know I've got to walk things thru, I know I have to have my plan in mind, something I worked hard on to improve this summer, and the last two matches I made mistakes. This time, bad enough to get myself disqualified. Bottom line is I disqualified myself, someone else just called it.

So, how am I feeling right now? I feel like shit. I let myself down, and what’s worse I feel like I let “my side” down. I've got friends who are there pulling for me, and doing something that dumb was a let down to them. They've invested time, and effort in me, and that’s just not a good way to say “thanks.” I honestly had a hard time looking 'em in the eye after that. I know they are not judging me as harshly as I am judging myself, but I just feel crappy about it. Part of me says I'm beating myself up too much, but another part says you can't stress safety enough. Am I beating myself up too much? Probably, but toss in the fact that my shooting tonight was not great, that I know I had at least one flinch (but I think just one) and I’m in the dumps. I feel like shit. I don’t feel like I’m showing progress, I feel like I've regressed. Now, let’s be honest, that’s bullshit. I have gotten better fundamentally, and the rest will come, it’s just hard to see it right now. 

Les said a few things to me last week about the mental aspect, and Kozy did as well, and tonight they kind of ring true. I heard what they were saying, I thought I understood it, but the message did not sink in. I've said so many times that I “need” to get better. I’m driven to improve. I say to myself that it is fun, and it is, but six months ago, I was just shooting and having pure fun. I never argued a line call, I never asked what my hit factor was, and I never asked or cared where I finished on a stage. The game itself was fun. Last week I said that getting better was fun, and I stopped having fun “just because”, when I was a little kid. I was wrong. I’m not saying the game is not fun, I was just unburdened by no expectations. These days, getting to “B”, I put all sorts of expectations on myself. I need to get this much better by next week, or I need to shoot this much more accurately by next week. Every stage is about the hit factor, and it’s not about shooting. It's good to care, but I've got to focus again, it's about having fun, the scoring will come.

Kozy told me that the mental aspect was holding me back, and I did not want to believe that. I’m not saying I brushed it off, but I did not hear it. I said to myself that I've performed in higher stress situations, in front of more people, in situations where I was every bit as passionate as I am about this, so I knew how to handle the mental aspect. When you start thinking you are okay, or know it all, that oughta be a sign that says to stop, and think it over.

So, where is this going? Well, now that I’m about done, pity party is over. It’s time to HTFU, and think a little bit. I've got a long drive tomorrow, and some serious windshield time. I’m going to find that place again where I’m shooting with no expectations, no pressure. I’m going to have fun, just for the sake of doing it. I’m going to practice hard, and to the best of my ability, and I’m going to stick with my process before shooting. I’m going to do what I need to do in order to succeed. That means less bullshitting with the guys, and more time walking thru things, and committing the stage plan to memory. The kind of DQ I had tonight was 100% my fault, and inexcusable, simply because I could have avoided it if I had been smart.

Tonight I made some mistakes, but I learned a little bit about myself. I see how stubborn I was being, and that I need to get past that. I learned that I put more pressure on myself than I needed, and I’m not proud of how I handled that. It's never easy to admit you are wrong, or there is a fault in you, but yes, I was wrong about a few things, and there is something about myself I don't like. Now that I see it though, I can fix it, and I'll come out the other end a better shooter, and even more importantly a better person. I will say I'm glad I wrote all this down, and got the bullshit out. Now that I've got it out, it's done and over with, and I can focus and have some fun. In case I'm not clear, pity party over.

Congrats to Les for getting a 100% on his classifier and earning his GM card tonight! That's some inspiration to pick myself right back up, and go! Way to go!

Pirate Reloads

Pirates and Reload Practice

I have no idea what the hell pirates have to do with shooting, but sometimes you have a picture that you want to use in a blog, so you have to stretch. We’ll get to that in just a minute.

Screw the flinch. I’m not worried about this. I’m practicing the right way, I’m doing the right thing, and come Wednesday night, it’s not going to be an issue. When I let it get into my head, I made things worse, I thought about it more. That’s a mark of not being confident, I’m practicing right, I’m just going to go and shoot on Wednesday. I’m not going to focus on it, or over think it, I’m going to shoot.

Just Stay On That Front Sight, Okay, not these sights..yet...I mean my sights!

So, I got a piece of good news, we are prepping for classifier CM 13-04. The assumption is that the high hit factor is 10.5. For me to run a 60% classifier, I have 12.70 seconds for both strings, when you subtract time for two draws and a reload, I will have 6.70 seconds. This means I’m looking for a .40 split, which is something I can accomplish. Again, the work that we put in over the past couple of weeks on cadence, has drilled into my head that I can shoot follow-up shots between .25 and .33 right now, which means I will have the time to make a 60% run, I just need to demonstrate accuracy to make it happen. Conveniently, that’s the other part of what we’ve been doing. I’m going into this classifier confident that I have the ability to do this, if I simply execute what I already execute while in practice. Good feeling.

As part of this though, we’re going to add a little re-load to our drills for the next couple of days, and I’m thrilled to add a little something different to my practice. That said, the direction is coming from a pirate….

Les, this is just how he dresses to class.

Is that inspirational or what? 

The Flinch

The Flinch

Hi, I’m Luke and I have a shooting flinch. It’s true, it’s there, and I see it. I’m not sure where I started picking up the habit, but I definitely have it, and today it was pretty evident. Now, I keep hearing that acknowledging you have a problem is step one to correcting it, so it’s time to get with the program and clean this up!

We started practice today working the .22’s, and I’m doing pretty well there. From 10 yards, I was between 1.86 and 2.30 seconds, and that was going slow, but getting most all of my hits, there were a couple with only 5 hits, but most were clean runs. About a .51 to .54 from low ready to breaking my first shot, trying to get a .50, but I can live with where I am at. Transitions were smooth; follow-up’s were great. I was feeling exceptionally positive about where I was. The new Dawson front sights are baller, I pick them up very quickly and easily, and the .125 diameter puts me in a good place. It’s a little wider than my PPQ, but for what I need, it works.

After getting rolling we cruised into breaking down another classifier, where we learned that really we are looking for a similar par time to what we are practicing, and a similar type of set-up. I think the point that Les was making is that the skill we are working on for El Presidente is applicable to many other classifiers that we are going to shoot, so the cadence we are learning is going to last.

We jumped over to the plates again to work on the 9mm, and my wheels fell off the bus, my times jumped up to 3.35 to 3.80 seconds, and I was missing. Most of my shots were going low, and it was very easy to see that I was flinching. Dave did a nice job, got his hits, and worked his time down into the 2.70 range. I on the other hand had to do some drills up to the first target, break the shot on a 2^nd beep and so on. On my last run, Les had me just run it, and I did have a miss, but I did not flinch, I did not have time to think about my flinching, I just ran it.

Right now, the flinch is in my head, I’m talking to myself, thinking about not doing it to the point it’s slowing me down, and I am so amped up to not do it, that I’m doing it. I could blame the fact that I’ve shot about 700 rounds of .22 thru a gun that does not recoil at all since the last time I shot my 9mm is playing a part, but if I’m honest with myself my flinch played a problem at Pine Tree on the 3^rd, and it should be evident if I re-watch the video, and it probably was part of my struggle at MISS on the 6^th.

Sure, I’m frustrated a bit, but some whitewall practice to insure that my trigger pull is straight (I flinch more often when I’m on a long pull, not when I find the re-set, so it’s definitely me) and some more work on the 9mm. This is something I can beat out of me, more live fire, some snap caps mixed in with ammo, and I’ll roll thru this and get back on course. Disappointed? Sure, but I’ve dealt with this before, I know I can beat it. I’m a believer in proper dryfire now, and how much the repetition can improve you, and if I have to go put more live rounds down range? Oh no…how horrible would that be? Shoot more?

Suffice it to say that I’m feeling like I can accomplish this task, and knock it out fairly easily. For the week, more dry fire just like this past couple of weeks, Dave and I are planning to live fire practice on Friday night, and Les is going to swing up and add draw to the mix. He wanted to cover it this week, but my issues kind of derailed things a bit, and one more good week of practice before adding the draw to the mix is fine. I like how the breakdown of the game is working and how Les is presenting it. Once I have my cadence, I get my hits, my transitions, then I can focus on draw.

A fun week ahead!

Next Year?

Automatic Accuracy CZ75 SP-01 Shadow

'Nuff Said

Class Bump!

Class Bump!

Got an e-mail late last night (or around 2am, one or other other) from Terry with a screenshot letting me know that USPSA had run their classification, and I had finally earned my “C” card. It is not particularly high at 41.68%, but that’s still a 12% bump from last month, meaning that I’ve been shooting better of late, and that’s a sign of progress. I don’t feel that the card means I’m suddenly a better shooter, it just means I’m moving in the right direction.

Les has been telling me to relax, and not worry about class, enjoy the shooting, focus on my fundamentals, and the class will come. That’s been a hard pill to swallow, especially when I was so close. The fact that now I can shoot a bad (sub 35%) classifier and it does not matter, it’s automatically tossed out does help me relax. I realize that the last few weeks I’ve been shooting cautiously, to not “lose” a “C” card, as opposed to just being relaxed and shooting my best. It’s easier now for that attitude to change. Now I can go out there, and just shoot. Forget all that other stuff, and just focus on getting hits, my transitions, and everything that I’ve practiced. I’d like to think that going forward my classifier scores are going to see some serious improvement because my practice habits will lead to better fundamental skills come match time.

Some good discussions this week with both Kozy and Les about staying focused, the mental aspects of the game and so on. It’s hard for me to accept the idea of just shooting to shoot. I don’t think I always display the outward intensity of Kozy, but I don’t know that I’m that much less intense about improving my game. It matters to me. I know there is no magic elixir, and I’m not trying to shoot a perfect match, I accept I make mistakes, and I need practice. I am however trying to practice hard, get the most from it so when I get to a match, I can focus on my sights, and leave the other stuff behind, make it muscle memory. I know sometimes being passionate can be a problem, and I really don’t let one bad stage carry over to the next, and I really do leave a bad match behind me after I shoot it. Shit happens. Best thing I can do though is learn from it, and move on. The mental aspect shares a lot of similarities to football but there are subtle differences, and that’s something that I guess I’ll have to look at down the road. Now is for seeing my sights, and knowing how to transition. Simple, but the foundation I need.

While I’m happy to have reached “C”, and need another almost 20% to reach “B”, Les is in a place that one day I hope to reach. He’s the #1 Production Class Master Shooter in USPSA, and I’m alternately thrilled and bummed for him. Had his score from Nationals not factored in, he’d have earned his GM card, and I know that’s a personal goal of his. I’m sure that it’s not far off, I just wish it would have been now. That’s some rarefied air, and I hope someday to hit my own goals, whatever they turn out to be.

Dry fire tonight, and then live fire practice on Friday, then class with Les again on Saturday and lesson number 2 beings!

Setting Up The Week

Setting Up The Week

It’s Monday, and that means it’s time to set-up the week as far as scheduling, and so some review on what I got done last week. I was able to validate the week of dry fire in both the match, which I was not happy with, and in the Friday practice session.

5" Walther PPQ Available 2014

After four days of dry fire, 30 minutes each day, I've watched my par times go down. On Sunday, I ran my “medium” 5 minute set at 2.20 seconds, and had no issue with the par times, move then time to 2.00 second and had no issues up close, and kept it the same when I went even further back, the longer sight, and transition was no real issue for me.  Earlier in the week, the further back I set-up, I was more concerned with a slow transition, but now I’m finding the target easily, and I’m breaking the shot as I get to targets. I’m not lying to myself, not every run is perfect, there are some where I know I’m breaking a shot off, or over reaching a target, but it’s getting more and more consistent. One of the keys for me, the further back I go is movement from my hips. I had always kept my hips stationary, but with just my arms moving, I had more bounce in the sights, and struggled to find targets, making me have slower transitions. With my hips moving between targets, my whole body is helping the movement, and I can stay on the sights the whole way. I do notice that after about ½ of a 15 minute session, my shoulders start getting sore, and I can feel the work I am putting in. I’m drilling this relentlessly, and as hard as I possibly can. A week ago, I would not have thought it all possible, but I’m starting to feel the beginnings of this being natural movement, not having to think about it. I know I’m way off from that being the case, but this is probably the best fundamental form I have demonstrated, and bits and pieces are starting to become muscle memory. Another 10,000 repetitions and maybe it will be.

With no match this week, and a legitimate concern about my front sight on the .22, I’m not sure what I’m going to be able to do for live fire, as the plan was to shoot on Tuesday night. That’s going to require Dawson to have, and overnight a sight out to me. I’ll go up with Dave to the range and run him if we need to stick with that, but I’ll also need to get up there later in the week. Depending on what Dawson says, I’ll have to ask about re-scheduling.

Accu Shadow (Not Production Legal)

Monday-Dry Fire

Tuesday- Live Fire Practice

Wednesday-Dry Fire

Thursday-Dry Fire

Friday- 15 minute strong hand, weak hand dry fire

Saturday- Off

I'll also be getting my registration for Battle In The Bluegrass V in April '14 in the mail. Still working out the details, but it looks like a trip to St. Augustine the week before that is likely for the Area 6 Championship, which will be my first major match of the '14 season. 

This week, I’ll be keeping a loose eye out on the USPSA website. Classification percentage will be run sometime between the 12^th and the 15^th; with the 11^th being the last date that scores can be entered. Still not sure about what will make it, will my two latest match scores make it or no since they were shot in November? I hope I get my C Card, but if I don’t no worries. I know everyone says it’s not about the paper, it’s about your ability, but in this case, that little piece of paper is a small validation of practice, and encouragement. I can do this

Why I Don't Shoot IDPA

Why I Don’t Shoot IDPA Anymore

My opinion of IDPA came up this week a couple of times in a few different places, so I guess there is no real reason for me to keep it to myself anymore. The last thing I want to do is offend friends, though, and what I’m about to say is really just my point of view, I respect people wanting to get trigger time shooting IDPA, it just is not for me. I also realize that my point of view is shaped by my own experiences, and don’t represent IDPA across the U.S. so mileage may vary. Giving credit where credit is due, IDPA is how I got started with shooting sports.

I’ll start with the simplest one. To me, IDPA is as much or more a social club than it is a shooting club. I see people getting together to shoot, there is not a ton of competition, and my experience in watching a couple of weeks ago, is that I saw very little improvement from many shooters. I saw a policeman come in with his duty gear and his Kevlar vest. More power to him. People enjoyed the shooting, had a great time, but from my untrained eye, I saw very few people who seemed to have practiced since the last time I shot with them. I understand wanting to get out of the house, go have some fun, and hang out with friends, but if I’m going to invest my time, I want more than just going to the range to pull the trigger a few times. USPSA is competitive, more so than IDPA. When I was regularly attending Skills & Drills class, the attendees were mostly USPSA shooters. Mind you, I don't want this to sound like arrogance, but USPSA to me, is a more challenging and competition driven event.

The rule book is my next major offender. I took the time to read some of the IDPA rule book, both the old version and the new version that went into effect 10/1/13, and I’m convinced that the rule book was written to be confusing, and to allow Safety Officers as much leeway as possible. A few months ago I posted on Facebook, asking about the XDM with the Powder River Precision Trigger kit, asking what division I would be allowed to shoot the gun in. At first, the IDPA’ers jumped in telling me that it was always ESP, and I pointed out the changes in the new rule book that determine that the XDM has moved into SSP. I think that was tough for them to swallow, as they had their minds made up, based on the XDM being a longtime ESP gun. The topic of the PRP Trigger Kit was another moment that had me laughing. The IDPA’ers jumped in stating that it’s an internal modification therefore it has to be ESP again. They told me, correctly, that the only modifications that can be made are to items you can get on a factory gun. I then pointed out to them, that the PRP kit is an OEM part, and in theory, you can get a factory gun with those exact parts in it. In their minds, too bad, OEM or not, factory available or not, it’s ESP. So basically, I could go to a match and shoot it SSP as long as the Match Director agrees that it should be SSP, but I could go to a Major Match, and if the Match Director disagrees, be DQ’d for shooting out of division. This is a joke. Rules that don’t make sense and a governing body that won’t make a ruling for a popular gun and modification.  Hate saying it IDPA’ers, but your own rule book pretty much says if I can get it from the factory, then it’s SSP legal, so PRP kit has a pretty valid argument as being SSP legal.  I did hear from a couple of other MD’s, who had split opinions, one who I highly respect told me that he’d call it ESP, and gave me his reasons, and another that I respect told me he’d call it SSP.

                                                                       Russian IDPA?

There was another recent situation, which does not bear getting into, where a few local shooters traveled to a match, and the MD changed a SO call from a procedural to a Failure to Do Right, and announced it to the shooter not at the stage, but later on. It was a bad call, and it was handled poorly, but again, the IDPA Rule book is written to be unclear.

Anyone who shoots competitively has heard the phrase “It’s just a Club Match”, as a reason, or excuse to bend the rules. It may be common, but I find it far more common in IDPA than in USPSA. I've seen more illegal stages in IDPA than you would believe. There are some pretty firm rules regarding distance, amount of no shoot targets per regular targets, and rounds per stage. I think it’s a common occurrence for IDPA locally to disregard the rules they don’t like, and justify it saying “Our members like it, it’s fun, so it’s okay.” I totally understand doing things to have fun, but I’d respond with a fairly simple question: If your sport has to bend the rules in order to have fun, what the hell are you doing shooting it? Aren't you admitting that the rules as written are not fun enough?

Call it an Outlaw match, make your own rules, do whatever, but if I’m paying my money, and I go to a USPSA match in Florida, I expect the same USPSA rules to be enforced that my local club does. A club match should be a representation of the sport every single match, with no exceptions, and I don’t often see that as an issue with USPSA. It feels like a better structure, and that’s having shot at 5 semi-local clubs in 3 different states.

IDPA has its place, and I hope everyone who shoots it enjoys it. I’d remind any local member who reads this and is offended, that I was one of the guys there who helped move all your gear, in fact I was one of the few who did it, as there was not a lot of IDPA member help. (When our USPSA Club moved, there was a surfeit of help.) I helped because I think there are good people who shoot IDPA, and I like them, and whether or not I shoot it, I’d like to see it succeed. I’d recommend IDPA for people who are not sure if they want to get involved in a shooting sport, but want to try a match, but I’d also tell them that the minute they want to get competitive and improve their own skills, they really should make the jump to USPSA.

I hope the club, and the sport itself succeeds. They've got a bad rule book, but good people, so that’s at least something to start with. To me though, the only comparison that I can reasonably draw, is that IDPA is like a sandlot kids baseball game, and USPSA is the more organized, and professional sport, where you really do have to invest some time beyond a match in order to compete.  Enough said.

For me, Saturday dry fire practice was only 15 minutes since it was going to be an “off” day, but I wanted to get some more work, and keep the feeling I got from my Friday live fire session. I had some nice runs, and wanted to drill that home.

Sunday is a full 30 minute session, doing the exact same rotation of drills as I have been doing, with a focus on the front sight, and picking up some speed. Note the gear check for practice going forward. I'm doing anything I can to help!

Live Fire Practice Night

Practice Night

Last night Dave and I made it up to Alpha to get our live fire practice for the week, to validate our week of dry fire work at home. We hit the range at around 7ish, and worked for an hour and a half and shot 150 odd rounds of .22, maybe a hair more, but we definitely got to see what dry fire is doing for us.

El Pres

We started out at about 10 yards, 3 plates down range set up to simulate an El Presidente drill, with the plate being the “A” zone. We’d been working this at home, with the 2.80 second par time, and that’s where we started out. I was a little rough getting started; I was coming in between 2.78 and 2.90 seconds, with transitions around .61 and follow-up’s in the neighborhood of .40. I felt sluggish, but I was getting all my hits, and was very consistent with that.  We each loaded up 3 mags, and repeated the drill 3 runs, meaning we each shot 9 magazines.

For part two of the drill, we moved up to 7 yards, bumped the par time down to 2.5 seconds, and got busy. All of a sudden, things came to life for me, and I started running times out between 1.86 seconds to 1.98 seconds. My transitions were between .36 and .41, and my follow up shots were consistently about .21. This is exactly what I was looking for. I was staging the trigger as soon as I heard the beep, and as soon as I saw the target in front of the front sight, the shot was breaking. Following my second shot I was staging the trigger again while transitioning, and the shot would break just as I got my front sight to the second target. I had a couple of runs with a miss, but most we ran this 3 times, so again 9 magazines, and 6-7 runs were clean, all hits, and fast times.

To close out the night, we moved back to about 15 yards, and left the 2.5 second par time. I had to slow down my transitions a bit, but I kept most runs between 2.42 and 2.55 seconds, meaning I’m about where I want to be. My fundamentals of sight picture, and trigger manipulation were right on the money. One week of consistent dry fire showed me that I can definitely improve these fundamentals, and build some confidence. Practice session was a definite win.

Today I outfitted my M&P 22 with Dawson Precision rear sights, and I’m thrilled with the way they look, essentially replicating my rear sight for the PPQ. After some testing Les and I found that at 10 yards, with a 6 o’clock hold I’m about an inch high. This is the bad news, because I am not used to a 6 o’clock hold, so in reality, I’m going to be nearly an inch and a half high compared to my PPQ. Dawson is closed today, so I’m going to have to call on Monday, and find out what taller sight options I have. Our next live fire session is Tuesday night, and Les made the comment I need to get this fixed, because he does not want me to practice aiming low. Good point…..

In addition, today was my NRA Basic Pistol class. We spent 8 hours learning about what a bullet is, how a gun functions, and how to grip a gun. Pretty basic and fundamental stuff aimed at people who have never touched a gun, and for people who are going to do a lot of shooting on an NRA range. It was worthwhile, but I suspect taking the class before I started shooting would have been better. Four Leaf Training however is absolutely top notch, and despite the dryness of the subject, kept it lively and entertaining throughout. This completes the first 8 hours of training I need for my Illinois Conceal Carry Permit, and prepares me for the 2^nd 8 hours of training covering range time, and IL law.

That’s all for today folks!

MISS Match Re-Cap

MISS Match Re-Cap

Safety, the number one thing that we pay attention to when we are out at the range, and last night I ran into my own safety problem. During a stage I was looking at the Kindle and had my head turned, and got caught in the corner of my eye with a piece of steel. It’s not uncommon to catch a little steel when a lot of steel targets are up, but it’s almost amazing that I got a little piece beneath my shooting glasses. I spent some time looking at them today, and I realize they are too big, and they don’t touch my face in a few spots which is what made yesterday possible. I rinsed it out, and eventually got it, but my eye itched, and hurt, and only today feels okay. Safety is not something to screw around with, so I’ll take steps about getting some proper eye wear.

The match itself was a disappointment for me, but as usual, I learned a few things. First stage I shot, I went out and blazed, I had a very good time, I had a great cadence, and other than the first few targets, I did not hit a thing. Very simply, I lost my front sight, and I was trying to keep my practice cadence into the first stage. My cadence in practice is great, but in practice there is no recoil, no muzzle flip, and so on, and I never let myself get ahead of it. I had a grin on my face after shooting the stage, thinking I shot a baller round, only to be in shock when I realized what I did actually do.

Second stage I got a little more accurate, but I forgot a piece of steel. I meant to take it from the first port, not the outside, because I could take it, and be in a position to back out of the port easily. This is a case of me not walking it properly, and committing it to memory. My time again was pretty solid, but that was a crucial mistake that really was embarrassing.

My third stage was a little slower, but I got on my game, and had pretty solid hits, nothing I did not like, I’m sure I could have gone a little faster, but I found a spot where speed and hits were where they should be.

Last stage was the classifier which is a new one.  Many folks felt that sitting to shoot it was ideal, save some time standing up. Before the match we were watching the “Super Squad” shoot it on liveshots, and only Matt Mink shot it sitting, the rest of the people stood up. I get that sitting may be some extra support, but I figured that if standing is good enough for Eric Grauffel, it’s good enough for me. My time at 7.96 was not great, but I had, almost, my best accuracy run of the night with 7 Alpha’s, however on my first shot on the last paper target, I transitioned over into the white “no shoot”, and broke my shot. I knew it when I did it, and I got the “head” of the target. If there was not a no-shoot, it would have been another Alpha. Instead, I had a meager hit factor, and essentially blew the stage. Disappointing a little, but I was happy the rest of the stage was solid.

I've got some work to do, Thursday has been a “rest” day, and tomorrow I’ll do some dry fire before heading up to Alpha for an evening practice session with Dave. I’ll leave this blog with a video of Les at Nationals, the smoothness with which he shot it, it what I’m striving for, that’s a great cadence.

Conceal Carry in Illinois

Conceal Carry in Illinois

Because I shoot, this topic seems to always get brought up with friends; they all feel that I must have a strong opinion on the topic. I find that I rarely discuss this with friends I shoot with, not because we don’t have opinions, but for us, shooting is a sport, not a political volleyball that gets batted around. Being honest about it, I’m not sure that I had very strong opinion, in large part because concealed carry was not part of the scope in which I was considering owning a firearm.

I loosely followed the debates, and then earlier this year got more involved, because I felt that it was a fundamental right that was being denied to residents of Illinois. Every major credible crime statistic did nothing to prove to me that concealed carry would increase crime, or shootings. Then again, I don't think it will eliminate it either, in all honesty though, I don't think we'll see it's true impact until a few years down the road, and that's when I would expect the data to start to show a decrease. Go figure that Chicago has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the United States and there are more homicides by gun than anywhere else. By contrast, Houston is a similar city from a demographic standpoint, they have concealed carry laws, but the homicide rate is far lower. Do I believe that is because citizens have the ability to carry a firearm? Honestly? No, it may play a part of it, but it’s not the sole reason. People don’t want to go beyond numbers and look at why certain areas have crime, but if we examine those, I think we’ll see greater contributing factors.

When I go to a major match, I’m around 200 to 300 people, all with guns in holsters on their belts, and I feel absolutely safe. I know that the competitors are safe, and that the match staff is keeping them, and everyone else safe. I noticed it at my first match, it’s now unremarkable to me. Most gun owners responsibly own, their firearms. Competitors have to have a degree of gun safety to compete.  It’s a different environment, but it surprises people when I tell describe having 300 people with guns around me, and I don’t think a thing of it.

Let’s be honest, background checks fail, the Washington Naval Yard shooter? He legally owned the shotgun he had, despite having mental health issues. I happen to have heard that at least one Illinois resident who had applied to teach concealed carry was approved, and then had his credentials pulled; the word is that there was something in his history that should have flagged him. There will always be people who slip thru the cracks, who are going to own guns. No system is perfect. Am I saying don’t try? Absolutely not, but I’m also not naive enough to believe that criminals will stop owning and using guns, much less that they will suddenly respect the law.

Personally, I debated if I ever would, and it was not really until August of this year that I decided that eventually I would. I can’t have a firearm in my work vehicle, and I have no intention to bring one, I don’t expect I would carry a gun that much. I hope I never have an occasion to need a gun, but if I did, I’d rather have one than not. Ultimately it came to me deciding that I would do it, because I could. I want the choice. That does not mean I think I need to go armed everywhere, or that I will, but if I choose to, I can. I don’t know if it makes me safer, I do know it’s a responsibility above and beyond the basic 16 hour class I must take in IL. There are some pretty deep questions there, like “could I use this gun if I had to?”, and that answer had better be yes, otherwise you are probably better off not doing it at all. There is a moral, an ethical, and a personal level of questions and comfort to be considered. I still have not worked my way completely thru it, at least to my own satisfaction just yet. I want to take some specific classes, because most of what I have done is competition oriented.

Walther PPS

My wife is still on the fence, and she’s not ready to consider it yet, both for what she does, and on a personal level.  She makes some pretty good points, and it makes me realize that CCW is a personal choice. There are going to be people out there who carry irresponsibly, just like in other states, there will be people who will be conscientious, and there will be people who will choose not to. I will take the class, and leave myself the future option to carry, or not to carry. 

MISS Match tonight, video in tomorrow’s update.

Practice note, Dave is going all in, doing his drills strong hand, weak hand and so on. I’m not quite there yet, I’m going to drill down my par time until I can consistently hit 1.9 seconds, and then I’ll start adding some off-hand/strong hand to my drills, probably once a week, for 10 minutes each time. It’s a valuable skill, and there are stages and classifiers where you have to do those things. I need those skills too, but I'm just not quite ready to add those yet. Give me a week or so.

Practice Runs

Practice Runs

I know the adage is that “Practice makes perfect,” and we've all heard that from the time that we were little kids. The bigger question then, is why don’t more people expend some energy on practice to improve? I appreciate that it’s a time commitment, I really do, but if you want to improve at something, then you need to commit to doing just that. Your words and heart may want to improve, and say the right things, but unless you commit to doing the right things, you simply don't progress.

I mentioned a few blogs ago how this fall I was seeing people I thought were good shooters last year, and now I realize that they are not anywhere near as good as I thought that they were. Some of these folks I've seen in Skills and Drills classes, and last Wednesday at the MISS match, I asked a friend, another instructor (not Les!) a pretty simple question: “How do you feel teaching some of these people month after month, and having them make the same mistakes they have for the past year?” He gave me a tight grin, and made a good point, a teacher can teach, but it’s up to the student to put in the work to learn it. If the only time you practice something is at a class, it’s going to be a long and slow struggle to learn something. Sure, I’d agreed to be taught by Les, and to put in the time, but that remark hammered home what is happening. Unless I do my part, then I’m not going to magically get better. It’s up to me.

Yesterday I broke my 30 minute session into two 15 minute groups, one in the morning and one in the evening. Right now I’m focusing on a sight picture, and on keeping my sight picture across three targets, meaning target, and two transitions. I started out in the morning with a 2.8 second par time from low ready and did that for 5 minutes. Putting this in perspective, you could do 20 of these repetitions in a minute at 3 seconds each, but figure I was doing 15 repetitions per minute, that’s 75 repetitions per 5 minute period. The next 5 minutes I moved closer to the targets and lowered my par time down to 2.2 seconds, and worked that. Lower par time but closer was easy enough. For the last 5 minutes I moved further back and kept the 2.2 second par time and worked it from a distance. I admit, the first few runs were not ideal, but I was able to get, and keep it there. Now it’s not just sight picture, but I’m learning the cadence I need to pull the trigger at to hit those par times. So, in those 15 minutes, I probably ran the drill about 225 times, which is far more than I’d ever do in live fire. As I was doing the drill, I had to be honest with myself, and I’d ask if the sights were moving as I was pulling the trigger. This made me work to keep a smooth trigger pull to not disturb the sights; I was surprised how often my trigger pull was causing a sight to move. In order to hit the par time, I also had to start taking up the trigger while I was coming up, so just as I saw the A zone, I could break the shot. Same with the transitions, after the second shot, start the take-up to the break, so when I get to the second target, my shot was ready to break.

In the evening I repeated my exercise from the morning, and actually went for an extra ten minutes. Linda came down to practice as well, and she started out just getting a good sight picture and transitions, not even pulling the trigger, just seeing what she needed to see. While I closed with what I did in the morning, she worked it as well, and slower, but she found out how much she was moving the gun to pull the trigger, and how much she needs to work on that as well. I’m glad she did it, and she has a few other fundamental things she needs to work on, but thankfully Kozy offered to help her out for an hour or so on Friday. It won’t fix everything, but if she practices what she is being shown, and does it consistently, she’ll see some progress. For me, with Day 1 complete, I have now done over 500 repetitions, and am gradually seeing some improvement. I’m seeing sights, my pull is much smoother, with less sight disturbance, I’m moving quicker, and I’m moving more hips than just arms, which is making it smoother and easier. I knocked off my Tuesday morning session early, and will practice again on Tuesday afternoon or evening to complete the cycle.

Why does this keep popping up?

Yesterday I also started loading 124 grain Bayou Bullets. I switched over because they are cheaper, and for less money I get 500 extra rounds. For purposes of this project, I think it’s smart to shoot as affordable as possible. I’d consider going back to the 147 grain for the next summer’s Major Match season. However that's something that does not bear consideration until next spring. No more loading a week in advance either, I’ll take a little time and load up 300-400 rounds a day and keep a ready stock of about 2,000 rounds. This will keep me well ahead of the game, and with a little effort now, I can focus on practice, not on having to do something in order to practice.

I also came up with a list of 13 Major Matches that I want to shoot next year. I realize that I won’t get all of them, and that probably half of them make for a reasonably aggressive plan. I picked those majors because  some are close, or are ones I’d like to make a vacation out of. There is a major match in Florida in St. Augustine, and I love the town, and it’s not all that far from Orlando, so could the family go down, I shoot the match in a day, and take them to Disney for a few days? Just maybe that would work.  I would feel guilty spending the time away, and money on myself to attend all the matches, so I want to find cost efficient, as well as some places I’d like to show Linda and Lauren. Heck, match in Mesa Arizona at the end of the year, and I’d love to show them my old Arizona State stomping grounds! I sent the list to Kozy and Les to see what they have on the agenda, and I’d like to shoot a few majors with them this year. I know them, I learn by watching them, but I also don’t want to be the “tag along” who slows them down. I understand how they have to be focused, and the last thing I want to do is get in the way. I do however want to shoot at least one major where I am not with them. It’s nice to meet new people, but observing people that I don’t see shoot all the time is beneficial to my learning, and for myself, I want to approach a match with no support, come up with my own stage plans, and apply everything that I've learned. When I have that sense of independence, then maybe I’ll have something more that I can contribute.

Here is what I am looking at:

4/3 Area 6

4/11 Battle In The Bluegrass

May Buckeye Freedom Blast

June Area 5

June Double Tap?

July Indiana Sectional

August Area 3

August Michigan Sectional

August Illinois Sectional

September Wisconsin Sectional

September Area 4

October Production Nationals

November Area 2 (Only if in AZ)

Practice tonight, MISS match tomorrow!