Today's 3-Gun match...

No video today, folks. Forgot the camera. (I'm sure you are heartbroken.)

So, in a typical 3-gun match---3 stages, one each for pistol, rifle, and shotgun. I shoot the Limited division, which means iron sights on everything, and no speed-loaders for shotguns. It does mean I get to load my pistol magazines all the way, so that is nice---not limited to 10 rounds per magazine for this type of match.

Here's how it normally goes for me:
Rifle stage: decent, around lowest of top third of everyone
Pistol: pretty good, middle of top third of everyone
Shotgun: horrible, top of lowest third, if that high

I'm not too bad with a rifle, just haven't practiced a lot---so I am decently accurate and decently quick, just not incredibly special with either. Pistol--I do pretty well with pistol. Shotgun, however---I can shoot quickly, I can move quickly, I transition well---but I can't reload quickly to save my life. Like I said in my last post, I reload like an arthritic sloth. And no, I didn't get a chance to practice before today's match.

Today was cold and extremely windy in gusts, so we set up all three stages on the big bay, and shot the exact same targets for pistol and for rifle. This meant the rifle stage was fairly close-in, and the pistol stage was fairly far out, as targets go for those respective firearms. This was actually a bad thing, since I'm no faster on close targets for a rifle than I am on longer-range targets--without practice, I pretty much have to go through the extra same aiming process on each. People in practice will shoot closer targets faster. Not me, though.

And long-range pistol? Well, lately I have been having accuracy troubles (apparently, the concept of "trigger control" is escaping me, though I am working on it) so long-range targets, lots of them, doesn't really help.

And since shotgun is almost always really bad, you see where this is going, right?

Oddly enough, today really didn't go that badly. My rifle was consistently A/C on each target, with a fairly fast speed. (I think I ended up fourth out of the 12 people there today---us hardcore types who would brave today's weather.) It was strange---the sights just made sense today, and I had no trouble finding them, and keeping them aligned. I need to practice some more on rifle, because that felt really good today, and it wasn't as if I had been practicing! Probably going to take my rifle out and just do some dryfire transition-and-aim/squeeze drills to see if I can make that keep happening in the future.

Then we shot pistol. We were shooting in random order, and I think I shot 7th or so--and had three clean misses. Ow! Of course, at the time that was the lowest number of misses anyone had shot yet, so I didn't feel too incredibly bad about it--though I really should have. There was no reason for me to miss any of those targets. My time was good, but had I slowed down and taken five extra seconds but hit those targets, my scores would have been much higher.

Points ARE time. [sigh] I need to bear that in mind.

Overall, though, the pistol stage went ok. Not great, but not too bad.

Then the shotgun stage came up. As usual, from the beep I came right up to target, from start to finish never missed a target (knocked down every single steel on the first shot each), shot quickly and transitioned quickly---and reloaded like an OLD arthritic sloth.

I'm getting really tired of that. Actually, I suppose I shouldn't be too unhappy--my times are getting better, and I'm nowhere near as horribly slow as I used to be. I just need to reload reload reload reload reload reload reload so that my hands know what to do.

I know what I have to do to get better---I just need to do it. I even have the drills already worked out to practice. That time thing, though----not good.

This past week, what with teaching Hapkido Monday through Thursday, the Janich seminar on Friday, open practice at the dojang on Saturday, and the competition today, I just feel like I've been running all week. I know I've actually had time to practice every day, but running this much makes me feel tired, even though I'm not actually. So---up for this week: scheduling time better to both give me breaks, and to allow me to practice. I've been doing some of the dryfire practice I want to---but not what I had originally scheduled.

This week, then: try for at least 5 minutes of dry fire practice per day. With the new software I have (the RUReady software that simulates a start timer, including voice sounds for ready and standby) being able to do par times, I can really work on good dryfire practice now.

So that's the plan---good pistol dryfire, some comfortable dryfire with the rifle including transitions, and reload reload reload reload reload reload with the shotgun.

Because I don't have enough going on in my life.

February ENPS Match...

Well, February has started, and it is CERTAINLY true that my practice thus far has not helped.

Well, maybe---but you certainly couldn't tell from the match today. Don't get me wrong, I still had as much fun as I always do. However, the first stage was one of the types where I normally do exceedingly well--except apparently this time I decided to not aim until the second stage. Ug.

The rest of the stages were okay. Not spectacular, but okay. My accuracy was acceptable (but not great) and my speed was mediocre. Well, actually, a little slower than mediocre.

Apparently, concentration was just lacking. Here are the videos:



However, being February, this is The Great Dry Fire Practice Month, so we'll see how that goes. I've started some practice, but this week the full schedule kicks in that I've planned. Today: 5 minute practice, tomorrow, 25 minutes, and so on. Have the schedule all written out with specific drills and foci, so we'll see if it makes a difference for next month's match.

Oh--one last thing. Kirk brought the most fun little go-cart I've seen. Julie and I have to get two of these things...



Excellent!

Next match in two weeks: 3-Gun. (The only thing I'm really working on for that is my shotgun reloading. My pistol is fine, and my rifle is average---but my shotgun scores SUCK. Most likely because I reload like an arthritic sloth.)