Shot another steel match the other day. Weirdly enough, did very well (competitively) even though for the most part, I thought I shot really badly.
There were runs here and there that went pretty well, and stage 5 was good---but for many runs, I had many misses, jerked shots, and so on. I ended up with good times (again, competitively speaking) but I could have done much better--I am capable of doing much better.
On the good side, my draws were generally smooth and fast, hitting the first shot. (Except for stage 2, where I apparently couldn't hit anything at all.)
In the future, I AM going to be smart enough to wear tinted shooting glasses when it is incredibly bright out---for those first 2-3 stages, I really was having trouble seeing anything.
Here's the video:
...as you can see, fast shooting. And fairly fast overall times. But you've got to wonder what my times would have been had I slowed down just slightly enough so that all of my shots had been on target? So that I would not have had to repeat shots?
Everyone says it, but I'll say it again (hoping it'll stick in my brain): Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.
Move quickly, shoot carefully. (The normal phrasing is "shoot slowly" but I don't like thinking "slow,"--I much prefer thinking "carefully." If I'm careful, the speed will take care of itself.)
Back to practicing. Regular USPSA action pistol match in a couple of weeks---have to make sure that I 1) have fun, and 2) don't give as poor of a showing as I did last month!
For our anniversary last year, Julie gave me an airsoft gas gun modeled on a Glock 17. (Note: our anniversary occurred while I was at the Area 3 shooting competition, and Julie didn't shoot me for being busy on our anniversary---which tells you a lot about the tolerance of my wife.) I have a holster and rig for it just like I use for my Glock 34 in competition, and since it is a blowback style, it actually recoils. The sights are a little bit different, but not enough to really make a difference.
So I've been practicing with it. It isn't the real thing, but with winter around here, the "real thing" is also a "really cold thing" if your range is an outdoor one.
At that same Area 3 last year, I noticed that Tom Drazy of Drazy Metal Works had some plate racks and poppers for sale for use with AirSoft guns---smaller versions of the ones we use for USPSA. After some thinking about it, I ordered 10 plates and 4 poppers about a month ago. Cost about $120. I then went to Menards, and about $35 later, had what I needed to create some stands for individual plates, poppers, and two 3-plate racks.
Here is what the individual plates look like:
Next time I'll probably make the wooden attachment to the plate a little bigger, so I can use a larger hinge. However, I think this will work pretty well for quite awhile. When I shoot them with the gas gun, there isn't much strain on the hinge---more occurs when the plate fall over and hits the back of the stand.
Here is a stand for one of the poppers:
You can see that I've put some thick sponge on the back of the stands to absorb some of the bounce of the plate/popper when it falls---I'm hoping this minimizes the torque on the hinge caused by the falling/bounce of the metal.
Here are the 3-plate racks I made:
Ended up working out pretty well, I think. Those small plates and poppers really take some aiming, particularly at 10 yards---so it'll be good practice for me. Here's the whole set:
...and here is a short video on the same thing.
What with the reset trigger on the real gun, and this practice with the gas gun, I hopefully should be able to get in some good practice.
I also note that a major part of the decision to buy these plates/poppers is that I can use them for firearms training classes---people can start with the electric ones that we have, for practice on paper, then work a bit with the gas gun (being much louder and actually having a tiny bit of recoil) before we take them out to the range to shoot a real firearm.
Good way to install safety discipline, I think. And for people who aren't ready for the real thing, some "steel challenge"-type stages will be fun. I can take these targets to my dojang and set them up for a fun diversion on some Saturday---matter of fact, I may do that at the end of this month during open practice. Hmm...
...and the results show that dry-firing isn't necessarily enough if you don't dry-fire in the correct manner.
NOT a good shooting day. A good day shooting, but that doesn't mean the same thing, unfortunately. In other words, I had a lot of fun, but shot really badly for the most part.
So---note to self: Just because I'm dry-firing doesn't mean I'm instilling the right motions, mental focus, and visual cues. Practice does not make perfect. Practice merely makes habit. Only perfect practice makes perfect.
I realize that is really pompous sounding, but it is important--and I'm an idiot. I just got done telling that to my students (elsewhere) for very good reasons, but apparently I forgot it myself. I was working so hard on good trigger control when dry-firing in the last two weeks that I ignored completely all of the other things that I should have been practicing also, at the same time.
And it showed. Two no-shoot hits, lots and lots of C hits, and some pretty dismal shooting. Not really bad, exactly, just not up to the level I should be shooting. You can see some of it here:
So---putting the reset trigger back in the gun tonight, and doing some good dry-fire practice in the next two weeks.
Looking back over the video (and taking a couple of stills from it) we see the following:
...so what does this say about my reloading? On the good side, I'm looking at the right things. On the bad side, 1) I'm lowering my gun too much, and 2) it is taking me WAAAYYYY too long to get the new magazine ready to put into the weapon. My hands should be faster than that.
I noticed it on the classifier---I shot faster and drew faster than Dennis did, but my overall times were slower. Looking at these pictures--it was obviously my reload. I knew my reload wasn't fast, but I didn't know it was this bad. It generally goes fairly smoothly, and because it occurs normally during movement, I didn't really notice how slow it was--it was done by the time I got to the next shooting part, so I didn't think about it.
Apparently, I need to think about it. And work on it more.
In other news, I got the 10 plates and 4 poppers from Drazy Metal Works for AirSoft practice. Drilled the mounting holes on Friday, and bought the wood and fixtures for the stands yesterday. Hopefully this week I'll get them finished: two 3-plate racks, four 1-plate stands, and four popper stands. Should be lots of fun to shoot! Pictures forthcoming when they are completed.
