[Brazos SC Shooter]

I have been contemplating this diary for some time now. Having seen first hand how quickly a focused and dedicated training regiment can drive improvement, I decided it was time to go to work.

Quick Background

* Shot my first IDPA match in February of 2006, was totally hooked after one outing
* Shot my first USPSA match in April of 2006, became totally addicted to action pistol shooting
* Classified as Sharp Shooter in IDPA
* Classified as a C shooter in Production

I have had some success with division and match wins in IDPA at the club level but have been very much a "middle of the pack" guy in USPSA.

In December I decided to make the leap to Limited Division ordered a Brazos SC Limited gun.

Last weekend I classified as a "B" shooter in Limited and that really got me fired up about improving. (A little healthy competition from Pharaoh Bender threw some gas on that fire as well)

2007 Goals
1. Make "A" Class in Limited by July 1, 2007.
2. Make "M" Class in Limited by December 31, 2007.
3. Make "M" Class in CDP & SSP by December 31, 2007.
4. Shoot 4 major matches (2 IDPA & 2 USPSA) in 2007.
5. Maintain a minimum of 4 days of dry fire and 1 day of live fire practice per week for the rest of the year.
6. Lose 15-20 lbs by July 1st. (Will require me to get off my fat arse and put the beer and pizza down )

Here is some comparison video
Oct 06 Ohio Sectional Vid 1

Mar 07 Miamisburg Classifier Vid 2

3/16/07

Woke up at 5am this morning and couldn't get shooting out of my head. Decided it was time to begin the quest for my "M" card.

I have done some dry fire practice in the past but I get bored quickly or rush through the drills. I realize it is so much more about doing it right rather than doing it fast.

I bought Steve's book at Christmas and will incorporate it over the next week.

5:30 am - 1 hour of dry fire
45 min - focused on slow draw and good site picture
15 min - slow reloads working on good mechanics and getting the mag in clean every time.

12pm - 200 rds live fire
I created 1/3 size targets and put them out at 15, 20 and 30 feet. Did some sight picture transition work. Slow and smooth ensuring good hits, but of course not all were. I also did two shot transitions at a medium and quick pace.

I have always noticed my live fire practice has lacked clear objectives. Mostly because I am shooting indoors and cannot do any SOTM (thx PB). I can practice drawing and for now I need to work on drawing and breaking A zone shots everytime.

10pm-12am - Dry fire
I figure I should strike while the iron is hot. I geared up and watch B-Ball tonight. Practiced drawing and taking a good site picture on players. Triple checked the gun as to not blow a hole in my TV. I also worked on keeping a center of mass site picture on the moving targets. After the games I went back to the basement and worked on reloads on the move. These need much work. I figured this is enough for one day.

This post has been edited by Texas HK shooter: 16 March 2007 - 09:46 PM

[Pharaoh Bender]

Rock on brother! Make it your overall goal to be a better shooter at the end of the day than you were when you woke up.

[Mick]

Why restrict yourself?
Go for it now!
A class is but a brief 2 month step into M class!

Shoot till your arm hurts!
I did...

[Brazos SC Shooter]

Pharaoh Bender, on Mar 16 2007, 12:35 PM, said:

Rock on brother! Make it your overall goal to be a better shooter at the end of the day than you were when you woke up.

I will do my best. I have to say that seeing the difference in you between the Jan. match we shot and this last one pushed me over the edge. We shot very close in Jan. and then you left me in the dust this month. I hate losing so thanks for getting me motivated.

Mick, on Mar 16 2007, 01:13 PM, said:

Why restrict yourself?
Go for it now!
A class is but a brief 2 month step into M class!

Shoot till your arm hurts!
I did...

I don't see it as restricting myself but rather being realistic. I am am not sure how fast 1-2 additional classifiers a month will move me along. If I am lucky I will shoot two USPSA matches a month and one IDPA match.

If I get there earlier all the better but this is not only about achieving the goal but performing at that level consistently once I get there.

[jkushner1]

Texas HK shooter, on Mar 16 2007, 10:53 AM, said:

Pharaoh Bender, on Mar 16 2007, 12:35 PM, said:

Rock on brother! Make it your overall goal to be a better shooter at the end of the day than you were when you woke up.

I will do my best. I have to say that seeing the difference in you between the Jan. match we shot and this last one pushed me over the edge. We shot very close in Jan. and then you left me in the dust this month. I hate losing so thanks for getting me motivated.

Mick, on Mar 16 2007, 01:13 PM, said:

Why restrict yourself?
Go for it now!
A class is but a brief 2 month step into M class!

Shoot till your arm hurts!
I did...

I don't see it as restricting myself but rather being realistic. I am am not sure how fast 1-2 additional classifiers a month will move me along. If I am lucky I will shoot two USPSA matches a month and one IDPA match.

If I get there earlier all the better but this is not only about achieving the goal but performing at that level consistently once I get there.

If your getting board with dryfire, two recommendations: Matt Burketts website, pull down menu to "tips". Really cool live movement dry fire drills, also audio with standard RO stage language and beep, you can adjust par time, etc. I also have a rovatec laser that for DA guns (I shoot Pd) can be used on multiple shot drills, SA guns, its still great for draw and speed/accuracy - the rovatec is firing pin activated and throw a quick laser pulse downrange,
TY
Jon

[Chris Keen]

Texas HK shooter, on Mar 16 2007, 10:39 AM, said:

I have had some success with division and match wins in IDPA at the club level but have been very much a "middle of the pack" guy in USPSA.

That's because IDPA is .............. uh, nevermind

Texas HK shooter, on Mar 16 2007, 10:39 AM, said:

6. Lose 15-20 lbs by July 1st. (Will require me to get off my fat arse and put the beer and pizza down )

Who's got the beer & pizza ???

[Brazos SC Shooter]

[/quote]
That's because IDPA is .............. uh, nevermind
[/quote]

Why you got to be trippin Chris?

It is just different. I have a loyalty to it since it is what brought me in to the shooting sport to begin with. Since I am very competitive, the improvement that USPSA has brought about in me as a shooter makes it fun to do well IDPA.

I am sure die hards on this side will say it is isn't challenging enough.

[Chris Keen]

Cause I'm a DAY TRIPPER ................ one way ticket, yeah!

[BSeevers]

CHRIS KEEN, on Mar 16 2007, 09:50 PM, said:

Cause I'm a DAY TRIPPER ................ one way ticket, yeah!

and a dream believer

[Sunuva]

Quote

and a dream believer

she was a one night stand yeah

[Brazos SC Shooter]

3/17/07

Either I need to get my journal entries in sooner, so the track on the correct day, or practice earlier.

30 minutes of dry fire. Smooth draw was the name of the game. Began using Steve's book and logging baseline times.

Loaded up 400 rds for tomorrow's match at Rayner's.

I am very excited to participate in the rifle side match. It will by my first so I practiced SOTM with my AR. I also did a few reloads. I do not have the full tactical gear so it will be interesting doing reloads from my hip pocket.

This post has been edited by Texas HK shooter: 17 March 2007 - 09:34 PM

[Brazos SC Shooter]

3/18/07
Rayner's puts on a great match and Tom's place is just awesome. Today was a huge wake up call for me. There is so much work to do.

The only way I can describe my shooting today is that it was an out of body experience, and not in a good way. It was more like "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". I would lose focus and sometimes multiple times in a single stage. When this would happen my muscle memory would resort to the only thing it knows which is "Production" equipment placement. This was also my first match in Limited outside of the classifier match and I blew reloads on 3 out of 5 stages by losing focus. In each case, on the first reload, I reached for the 3rd magazine on the belt which is where the first one use to be. Now I am totally aware of my mistake and more focused on the F* up rather than finishing each stage strong.

It made me think that golf and shooting are much closer than anyone would believe. The mastery necessary to shoot well day in and day out takes an extraordinary amount of dedication, determination and practice. It is maddening to shoot well one match and then 5 days later shoot like you have never held a gun. I guess that is why I started this range diary. It was never more apparent then on the classifier stage Steely Speed VII. I just shot this last weekend and scored 66% on the National site. I will barely break 41% as a result of today's run.

I also went down in flames on a stage with all of the shots at 35+ yrds. Perception vs. reality is a b!tch. I thought I took additional time, saw clean shots break but ended up with 5 misses and 4 no shoots. I zeroed the stage. major bummer.

Today's lessons learned
1. I need to have a short term memory regarding mistakes. I can't let them distract me from finishing a stage strong or following me around for the rest of the day.
2. I need tons of dry fire practice to engrain my new equipment location.
3. Determine the disconnect between the sight picture I thought I saw and the actual results.
4. Added after ready PB's thread. Refrain from swearing when I make mistakes during a CoF or afterwards for that matter. I have caught myself 2-3 times in the last few matches cussing when I am having trouble hitting targets, typically steel. This is also a part of improving on #1 above.

This post has been edited by Texas HK shooter: 18 March 2007 - 12:26 PM

[Brazos SC Shooter]

3/19/07

25 min on the eliptical
30 minutes of dry fire

I am trying early morning work outs this week to see if it works better. I will likely have to break my dry fire into a morning and evening session in order to get the kind of time in I would like.

[Brazos SC Shooter]

3/20/07

1 hour of dry fire.

I have only gotten through the first 7 excercises. I continue to work on establishing all of my par times for all the excercises.

I would guess that as I become more familiar with all of the excercises I will progress through more of them in my sessions.

In reading the introduction to Steve's book again I am going to look at using full size targets if I can configure the basement properly. I am currently using 1/3 size targets so if the drill says 30 feet I am using 10-15 feet. One the single target drills this might not be such a big deal.

However, on the multiple target drills I could see less than maximum benefit being achieved. If I am using 1/3 size targets at 10 ft with 1 ft spacing then the transitions are smaller and I don't get the same effect.

If anyone has any comments on this please chime in. I can use the help.

This post has been edited by Texas HK shooter: 20 March 2007 - 06:58 PM

[Chris Keen]

No, it sounds like you are on top of things.

[Brazos SC Shooter]

3/21/07

20 minutes on the elliptical- it is amazing how out of shape I have become in the last 9 months.

30 minutes of dry fire - I was able to make my way through more excecises in a shorter time today. Starting to commit more and more of Steve's excercises to memory. I marked off the right distances for my 1/3 size targets today to ensure I keep the correct ratios. I had been "eyeballing" it and was off a little bit.

I continue to catch myself bouncing my focus from target to front sight. I noticed that I am slow to move from focusing intently on the target prior to the buzzer to the front sight. My alignment is good and the sight picture is still correct when the front sight is in focus but I am know this hesitation costs time so I must correct this.

This post has been edited by Texas HK shooter: 23 March 2007 - 06:23 AM

[Brazos SC Shooter]

3/22/07

I had to get to work earlier than usual this morning so I will do my dry fire session this evening.

I also finally got the results from the match at Rayner's last weekend. It was not a good outing. As expected I placed poorly. 6 out of 9.

Place
5 Limited 83 0 21.79 3.8091 54.9271 64.62%
4 Limited 138 0 43.62 3.1637 103.9111 71.66%
9 Limited 49 90 19.41 0 0 0.00%
6 Limited 107 0 34.18 3.1305 67.892 61.72%
1 Limited 82 10 23.92 3.01 85 100.00%
4 Limited 30 0 7.22 4.1551 23.2687 77.56%

I am happy about the one stage win. The goal will be to NOT repeat this performance for the rest of the year.

I am probably not doing myself any favors by using a 13 rd gun in Limited. I did not want to wait for my new blaster before making the move to limited. If it isn't here before the next match I am going to move back to production. My dry fire will still be with my limited set up.

This post has been edited by Texas HK shooter: 22 March 2007 - 05:42 PM

[Brazos SC Shooter]

Dry fire - 1 hr 45 min
This was a good session. Establised par times on three more drills in addition to working on #'s 1-7. I am beginning to see improvement on seeing my front sight but I noticed that when it came to drills 8 & 9 I was focusing on the target. I am doing that less and less on drills 1-7.

I had a dry fire partner tonight. My son, who is 2 1/2, had is toy gun down in the basement and wanted to practice too. I was getting him to start at a low ready and then point it at the target when the timer went off. He hung with me for about 15 min. There is nothing better than having a little boy look up at you and say "Can I do it too Daddy?"

[Chris Keen]

Quote

"Can I do it too Daddy?"

He won't be saying that when it's time to MOW THE GRASS!

Nice that you let him in to your practice session. Pharaoh Bender never takes me with him to Tuesday Tactical Training @ Sim Trainer!

[Brazos SC Shooter]

CHRIS KEEN, on Mar 22 2007, 08:49 PM, said:

Quote

"Can I do it too Daddy?"

He won't be saying that when it's time to MOW THE GRASS!

Nice that you let him in to your practice session. Pharaoh Bender never takes me with him to Tuesday Tactical Training @ Sim Trainer!

I have heard PB say he was your "Daddy", I just thought that was smack talk.

We just recently moved to some land that requires a riding mower, but when the time comes I am sure it will be a grudge match to get him to do the lawn. He does like to ride the tractor as well.

[Brazos SC Shooter]

3/23/07

25 minutes on the elliptical
35 minutes of dry fire

Tracked additional par times on more of Steve's drills. These morning sessions are getting easier to get up for, but 5:30am sure comes around early.

It is very interesting to notice the increase in tension when I go from the first 7 drills to the next few with drawing, transitions and reloads. I am glad I can feel the difference, now I just need to work on making it smooth and relaxed.

Unfortunately I will not be shooting a match this weekend. I hope to get some lengthly dry fire session in.

This post has been edited by Texas HK shooter: 23 March 2007 - 06:22 AM

[Brazos SC Shooter]

3/24/07

45 minutes of dry fire

I am seeing improvements in the speed at which I am able to lock on and bring into sharp focus, my front sight. That has me excited. It lets me know that this is helping and I am making progress.

This post has been edited by Texas HK shooter: 25 March 2007 - 07:34 PM

[Brazos SC Shooter]

3/25/07

2 hours of live fire.

Focused on the following.
1. Live fire times on the first 7 drills from Steve's book. This is another great check to see how the descipline is coming along with a good sight picture. There is still plenty of work to do here.
2. Draw 2 Relaod 2. I did this quite a few times. Reloads are still in need of improvement.
3. Ran Bill Drills about 6 times. I will post some times tomorrow.

Here are some of my practice targets from the session and some results from the Bill Drills.


Draw +1 shot
I didn't score these after each since a shots are all that I should go for. Here are some of my times, unfortunately I don't have corresponding hits. I have attached the target though.

Times were - 1.21-1.28. I really pushed it and got a .95 and .89 but I don't recall where those hit.
 3_25_07_Draw_1_shot.jpg (537.42K)
Number of downloads: 28

Bill Drill
#1 - 2.12 sec - 1.18 draw and .19 splits = 4-A, 1-B, 1-C
#2 - 2.35 sec - 1.19 draw = 1-A, 1-B, 3-C, 1-D (not good)
#3 - 2.47 sec - 1.24 draw and .22-.27 splits = 4-A, 1-B, 1-M (tried to slow down. I got back some A's but also had the mike.
 3_25_07_Bill_1.jpg (492.27K)
Number of downloads: 21
 3_25_07_Bill_2.jpg (517.21K)
Number of downloads: 16

The weather was so nice I would like to have been at a match.

I have to go to NYC on business tomorrow evening. I am going to take my blue gun and my entire rig to practice in the hotel. I am hoping they don't hassle me to much about the blue gun. You never know how those TSA folks will be. I will check the back just in case.

This post has been edited by Texas HK shooter: 26 March 2007 - 07:25 AM

[Chris Keen]

You might want to check your airlines policies on firearms, and comply 100% even though it is not a real gun.

They might not care or know the dif.

I would rather be safe than sorry when it comes to TSA and airlines.



They migh even appreciate your concern, and forethought into the matter .... much more than they would if you just check the bag with a "gun" in it .............. blue or not.

[Brazos SC Shooter]

Quote

They migh even appreciate your concern, and forethought into the matter .... much more than they would if you just check the bag with a "gun" in it .............. blue or not.

Thanks for tip. You are right, I will save myself some heartburn and lock it up as if it was a real one.

This post has been edited by Texas HK shooter: 26 March 2007 - 07:05 AM