Let's talk about Multigun first...
This past Sunday was our first Multigun match of the year. Four stages: Rifle/Shotgun, Pistol/Rifle, Shotgun/Pistol, and Rifle. Fairly high round count, too. Stages were creative, fun, and challenging.
And my shooting was plagued with issues.
First, on the rifle stage, my right toe touched the ground outside the shooting box while I was prone for five shots, so there were 25 extra seconds of penalty time. Plus, after the first two shots of the stage I had a failure to feed (ah, the joys of Wolf ammo) that took six seconds to clear. Without those two things, I would have had a time of about 121 seconds. As it was, I ended up with 157 seconds. (Ouch.)
With regard to actual SHOOTING, the close-range targets were easy, and I was fast. That's all good. The 100-yard targets were not. Had significant troubles with wind, barricade swaying, and breath control. (Note to self: you can't hold your breath for a full minute after you've just sprinted 30 yards, so remember to breath between shots.) In general, just need practice at 100 yards. Good thing, though---I can GET some practice at that. My gun-and-scope combination will work just fine for it, I just need to do my part. You'll see the 12 (13?) missed shots on that part that I had to make up, and the amount of time it cost me.
Second stage: Rifle/Shotgun (I designed this stage.)
All went well, up until the shotgun. My rifle was good, had all hits, my movement was a little slow and I need practice at mounting the gun faster, but overall not bad. The shotgun shooting was fine, but the gun wouldn't feed correctly, so I lost several seconds making it feed three times. And I missed being first on the stage for my division by 2 seconds.
Third stage: Pistol/Rifle
Actually did quite well on this stage. Guns worked like they should, and I worked like I should. Little slow and jerky on movement, pulled a couple of shots on steel that I should not have, and again, mounting the rifle took too much time and needs practice. That all being said, I'm still happy with the stage.
Fourth stage: Shotgun/Pistol
We were originally told that this stage was going to be thrown out, so we just decided to shoot it for fun. As such, I didn't spend much time thinking about it, other than "Shoot shotgun here, shoot pistol there." ...which was a mistake. I borrowed someone else's shotgun, so there weren't any shotgun problems other than I missed a target once (that I shouldn't have!) necessitating an extra shell load that cost me about 3-5 seconds. However, once I got to the pistol part I hadn't counted the targets, and needed 24 shots to finish---but I only had 22 in the pistol. This is normally not a big deal since I'm used to reloading on the move---but I didn't know about it, so there I was at the end with one target left, performing a standing reload. Probably could have saved several seconds there.
And you know what? The stage was left in. So it counted, and wasn't as good as it could have been.
[sigh] Placed second overall, and second in my division, which is good. However, did not do NEARLY as well as I should have. Some errors were mine, some errors were not, but very few of the errors were actual shooting errors, which actually makes me more annoyed. If I make a shooting mistake, that happens. But STUPID errors set me off.
Anyway, here's the match video:
On to Practice Week:
It is now Tuesday night of Practice week, and thus far, I've put about 700-800 rounds downrange in the past two days. Not quite what I had originally planned, but not too bad considering it has been raining for the past two days.
In the main, I've been getting good practice in. Overdid it a bit today--my concentration was going, and the last 50-60 rounds or so did NOT help. In general, I'm working on trigger prep, and trigger control. From the draw, from transitions, from near targets, from far targets, on splits---it is all about trigger control. I'm not even doing any movement.
The good: I'm getting better at making it reflexive again.
The bad: I'm finding it really difficult to make myself wait and perfect the trigger work when the target is RIGHT THERE and I know my shot will hit even with bad control. [sigh] I've moved the targets out farther (been working with a steel at 40 yards, even) and that helps, plus the fact that I've been shooting at either 2" dots or 3x5 cards. Nonetheless, making myself work "trigger control" instead of "shooting the target" isn't being easy.
More practice coming. Two more days of good solid solo practice this week.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Friday, March 16, 2012
Practicing carefully..
Shoulder is better, though not back to 100%. As such, I can shoot, and move. However, any sudden abrupt motion is----contraindicated.
So of course I took my shotgun out and ran 100 shells through it a couple of days ago.
I know, not brilliant. However, it was necessary---the first multigun match of the year is this Sunday, and I hadn't shot it in about 5 months. (And a good thing, too, because it is having feeding issues that I need to fix. Otherwise I have a single-shot for Sunday's match...)
Back to pistol practice: I have done almost no dryfire shooting at all in the past two weeks, which is extremely bad. In my defense, with being hurt plus the fact that Hapkido started back up, it wasn't exactly easy to find time. That being said, it is still unacceptable---dryfire practice is necessary, because my main priority issue is lack of trigger control, and good dryfire practice will solve that. Matter of fact, good dryfire practice is probably more important than live fire practice in terms of volume of practice.
On the good side, I have managed to get to the range a number of times in the past two weeks---between 2 and 3 times a week. Spent around 200-300 rounds each time, with some decent practice. Primarily working on trigger reset and prep, with 3x5 cards as targets. Worked draw, transitions, also put two steel targets out at 15 and 50 (!) yards.
When I used proper trigger control, I could hit them all, and even managed consistent hits on the 50 yard steel popper. When I didn't---well, that went badly. The transition practice in particular seemed to be very useful in terms of working proper trigger control.
My draws---and still hit and miss. (With all too many unfortunate misses.) The good side is that when I say "miss" I mean "an inch or less from the 3x5 card." The bad side is it still means "missing the 3x5 card."
Just started spring break. Going shooting today, tomorrow, match on Sunday---and then it is going to be Range Week for me. I'm planning on spending Monday through Thursday at the range, from about 8:30 to 11:30 in the morning, and about 1:30 to 4:30 in the afternoon, shooting about 300-400 each session. Going to be a fun time!
And the entire point of it is trigger control. No, my movement isn't what it was, my reloads aren't, etc. However, by far the major problem I have is trigger control---and I can work in secondary practice at movement, reloads, etc, while I practice the trigger work.
Several thousand rounds of trigger work repetitions, done well with concentration, over several days SHOULD make a significant difference.
Plus, it'll be fun.
After that---Aim Fast, Hit Fast class next weekend. FAST drill---and a challenge coin.
So of course I took my shotgun out and ran 100 shells through it a couple of days ago.
I know, not brilliant. However, it was necessary---the first multigun match of the year is this Sunday, and I hadn't shot it in about 5 months. (And a good thing, too, because it is having feeding issues that I need to fix. Otherwise I have a single-shot for Sunday's match...)
Back to pistol practice: I have done almost no dryfire shooting at all in the past two weeks, which is extremely bad. In my defense, with being hurt plus the fact that Hapkido started back up, it wasn't exactly easy to find time. That being said, it is still unacceptable---dryfire practice is necessary, because my main priority issue is lack of trigger control, and good dryfire practice will solve that. Matter of fact, good dryfire practice is probably more important than live fire practice in terms of volume of practice.
On the good side, I have managed to get to the range a number of times in the past two weeks---between 2 and 3 times a week. Spent around 200-300 rounds each time, with some decent practice. Primarily working on trigger reset and prep, with 3x5 cards as targets. Worked draw, transitions, also put two steel targets out at 15 and 50 (!) yards.
When I used proper trigger control, I could hit them all, and even managed consistent hits on the 50 yard steel popper. When I didn't---well, that went badly. The transition practice in particular seemed to be very useful in terms of working proper trigger control.
My draws---and still hit and miss. (With all too many unfortunate misses.) The good side is that when I say "miss" I mean "an inch or less from the 3x5 card." The bad side is it still means "missing the 3x5 card."
Just started spring break. Going shooting today, tomorrow, match on Sunday---and then it is going to be Range Week for me. I'm planning on spending Monday through Thursday at the range, from about 8:30 to 11:30 in the morning, and about 1:30 to 4:30 in the afternoon, shooting about 300-400 each session. Going to be a fun time!
And the entire point of it is trigger control. No, my movement isn't what it was, my reloads aren't, etc. However, by far the major problem I have is trigger control---and I can work in secondary practice at movement, reloads, etc, while I practice the trigger work.
Several thousand rounds of trigger work repetitions, done well with concentration, over several days SHOULD make a significant difference.
Plus, it'll be fun.
After that---Aim Fast, Hit Fast class next weekend. FAST drill---and a challenge coin.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Minor Twinges, but able to shoot...
After a week or so injured, my shoulder was finally well enough to at least work some careful dry fire, and I did manage to make it to the range briefly to work a couple of things. (Such as the P-F DoTW 22: http://pistol-forum.com/showthrhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifead.php?3303-DotW-22-SHO-FAST-(or-25yd-SHO-bullseye-practice)&p=56673&viewfull=1#post56673)
That being said, practice wasn't very significant for the last two weeks. That's gonna change...
Today was the March USPSA Pistol match at ENGC, so I had fun shooting that. Some good points, some bad points:
Good points: No problems with the shoulder while I was shooting. Movement went fairly well. Didn't crash on any one particular stage. Times were actually fairly good.
Bad points: Accuracy was low (87% of possible points.) Had a significant mental issue on one stage that cost me 2.5 seconds or so. Reloads were sluggish. Having the gun ready to go at the end of movement didn't happen, so that added extra time.
Things to stress in practice:
Trigger control (Trigger Control! TRIGGER CONTROL!!)
Transitions
Shooting on the move
Still going to work on draw to low% target, emergency reload, and accuracy at distance WITH proper trigger followup/reset/prep---none of this "pin-it-back" stuff.
Things to stress after the AFHF class:
Speed reloads with the competition rig
Draws with the competition rig
Movement to a firing position
...plus the rest from above.
I have my spring break from school the week before I go to Kansas for the AFHF class, so I'm planning on a serious shooting course for myself that week---Monday through Thursday, 3 hours in the morning, 3 hours in the afternoon. Time and reps enough to ingrain a significant increase in my trigger control. (Among other things.) I'm planning about 300-400 rounds per session, so about 800 rounds a day. (Possibly up to 1000.) Have a lot of reloading to do before the class! (Because I'm bringing 1500 to the class, too.)
I'm going back to USPSA Nationals one last time, this year, and I'm going to make up for the debacle that was last year. To do that, I'm going to put in some serious practice. I know that Ardi and Julie will be joining me here and there, but I'm going to be solidly working on my own shooting issues this summer.
We'll see how far I can go.
That being said, practice wasn't very significant for the last two weeks. That's gonna change...
Today was the March USPSA Pistol match at ENGC, so I had fun shooting that. Some good points, some bad points:
Good points: No problems with the shoulder while I was shooting. Movement went fairly well. Didn't crash on any one particular stage. Times were actually fairly good.
Bad points: Accuracy was low (87% of possible points.) Had a significant mental issue on one stage that cost me 2.5 seconds or so. Reloads were sluggish. Having the gun ready to go at the end of movement didn't happen, so that added extra time.
Things to stress in practice:
Trigger control (Trigger Control! TRIGGER CONTROL!!)
Transitions
Shooting on the move
Still going to work on draw to low% target, emergency reload, and accuracy at distance WITH proper trigger followup/reset/prep---none of this "pin-it-back" stuff.
Things to stress after the AFHF class:
Speed reloads with the competition rig
Draws with the competition rig
Movement to a firing position
...plus the rest from above.
I have my spring break from school the week before I go to Kansas for the AFHF class, so I'm planning on a serious shooting course for myself that week---Monday through Thursday, 3 hours in the morning, 3 hours in the afternoon. Time and reps enough to ingrain a significant increase in my trigger control. (Among other things.) I'm planning about 300-400 rounds per session, so about 800 rounds a day. (Possibly up to 1000.) Have a lot of reloading to do before the class! (Because I'm bringing 1500 to the class, too.)
I'm going back to USPSA Nationals one last time, this year, and I'm going to make up for the debacle that was last year. To do that, I'm going to put in some serious practice. I know that Ardi and Julie will be joining me here and there, but I'm going to be solidly working on my own shooting issues this summer.
We'll see how far I can go.
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