2013: New Year, back to work...

2013:  Considering that the last post here was from approximately March in 2012, I'm thinking I got a little lazy with regard to keeping on track to get better.

Time to fix that.

Quick recap of the rest of last year:

• Handgun problems seem to be fixed:  Got a Gen 4 Glock 34, changed the sights, put the new trigger in, grip plug, and replaced the barrel with a KKM drop-in.  This doesn't make it a "competition racegun" by the way---other than the barrel, my carry guns are similar.  (Or at least I change out the trigger springs, if not the whole trigger assembly.)  My Gen 4 G17 was okay at distance in terms of accuracy.  The G34 was---weird.  And the distance accuracy was SIGNIFICANTLY upgraded with the KKM barrel.
• Multigun went ok, here and there.  Got a Mossberg 930 JM Pro, and I actually like shooting shotgun now.  Not enough to actually practice, mind you, but at least it is now fun when actually shooting.
• Got 1st Master at DoubleTap and Area 3, and 2nd Master at Area 5. Our Sectional got canceled, so that was unfortunate.  USPSA Nationals went decently well---still didn't shoot up to my capability, but at least somewhat made up for the debacle of the previous year.
• Did a considerable amount of personal practice for CCW, and CQT stuff.  Taught significantly more firearms classes than in 2011.  (Almost five times as many students.)
• Decided that I was going to go back to actually WORKING ON GETTING BETTER at shooting skills, and competition skills, including dryfire and live fire practice in a coherent, planned fashion.

So---for 2013, some GOALS:

Conceptual:

1. Shoot major matches at my capability level
2. Spend time studying specifics of firearms self-defense situations, with an emphasis on statistical probabilities with respect to prioritizing skills
3. Re-work PRT curriculum for shooting skills, in particular creating an intermediate class for people past the Intro level but not ready for the Fundamentals course.

Measurable:

1. Keep my percentage of total points at or above 90% during local matches
2. Get my Smoke & Hope time (before adjustment) under 10.00 seconds
3. Perform at least 15 minutes of dryfire a minimum of 3 times a week.

...which means it should be a pretty busy year.


For the Measurable Goals:

Goal 3: Three years ago, I spent some good focused time doing dryfire--and it made a significant difference.  We all know that dryfire works well, and because I'm also running a dryfire practice/feedback program for 5 students, it motivates ME to dryfire practice more also.  The goal is to NOT merely go gung-ho for 5 weeks and then quit, but instead consistently practice throughout the entire year.

I've got some different ideas of what I want to practice and how I want to practice, collected from my own methods, Anderson's book, and Stoeger's new book (which really DOES have some seriously good stuff in it).  We'll see how it works, and how much I improve.

Goal 2: My fastest S&H so far was 10.20. I KNOW I can get it faster. Just need to drop 0.2 seconds, a mere .05 per run.  I can DO that.  What I really want, however, is to do it consistently, not merely once by luck.   Consistent draw, snappy transitions, and perfect trigger control on the stop plate.

Goal 1: Unfortunately, I have already blown this.  [sigh]  Our first USPSA match of the year was this past Sunday, and I got a 89.15%---two less D-hits (C-hits instead of D-hits) would have made all the difference.  And in BOTH cases I knew they were poor shots when I pulled the trigger.

However, that doesn't change the fact that my goal is to continue to try to get above 90% of the possible points in each match.  For most of last year, I stayed at 85-89%, and it really did hurt.  If I want to consistently do well in matches, I need to force myself to be more precise in my trigger control, and get points.  So---a focus on 90% or above--and since I won't be able to figure the numbers during a match, I need to simply shoot LOTS of A-hits, and make myself control the trigger to not have Ds. 

While maintaining my speed. 

This is actually possible, with more discipline--about half of my screw-ups can be fixed by consistently keeping my trigger control at the level of capable of, and the other half are about keeping my focus so I don't just let one go here and there without putting it on the spot on the target that I want to hit.


For the Conceptual Goals:

Goal 3: Re-work PRT curriculum---Julie has been telling me that we really need a class between the Intro class, and the Fundamentals class.  People go through the Intro class, but then don't necessarily spend lots of time at the range (after buying a gun) and don't work draws or reloads or anything, because they really don't know HOW.  The Fundamentals class really expects some basic skills, then we work on expanding and analyzing those skills---so some people aren't ready for that class.

I never was in that position---I taught myself to shoot, so from the beginning, I studied everything I could, and started practicing it all on my own.  It hadn't really occurred to me that people who went through the Intro class would WANT to keep learning and shooting, but wouldn't actually do it by themselves.

I think she has a point.  So----need to write that new class. 

I'm also going to give in to marketing pressure, and change my "Fundamentals of Handgun Shooting" class name to "Handgun Shooting Skills".  [sigh]  I don't want to, but I KNOW that a number of people haven't taken the Fundamentals class just because that name makes them think that they already know WAY TOO MUCH to ever need that class.

Which is ridiculous, because everyone needs a continuing analysis of their fundamentals.  I don't know anyone who doesn't---and every seriously GOOD shooter that I know continually analyzes their fundamentals, and works them.

I don't want to change it, but I'm going to.  So, we'll have an "Introduction to Handguns" class, a "Handgun Techniques" class, and a "Shooting Skills" class, in order of increasing expectations and difficulty.

Huh.  I should probably add an "Advanced Shooting Skills" class---I bet that several people who really are at about the "Handgun Techniques" level would take it, thinking they were all at high skill levels.

[sigh]  I need more time.  I'd like to offer the CCW-201 and DT-101 and 201 much more often---but I don't have TIME.  And since we are going to be offering the Nebraska State CCW course in the near future, that'll mean even LESS time. 

I need to retire from my full-time job, and just do this all the time.  :)

Goal 2:  In the past 20 years, I've spent a considerable amount of time studying self-defense.  In that time, I've collected a lot of data about violence.  However, in the past two or three years, I've been busy so I haven't kept up on the latest lethal force trends as much as I have overall violence trends.  And while I doubt they have actually changed much in the past 3 years (things have been pretty stable for the previous 5)  that doesn't mean I should just assume such.  So---adding more time reading and collecting studies about lethal-force-level violence, to understand their circumstances and outcomes, is on my list.

As part of that, I'm going to start taking some classes to pick up and Associate's Degree in Criminal Justice.  Don't really need it for anything, but having more information never hurts, and it obviously is an interest of mine.  Metro offers a really good (according to national stats) program, particularly since it can be completely online, which will be nice for me.  [sigh]  I just need to figure out how to get it started, since I'm pretty sure many of my existing credits will transfer so I won't have to take basic gen-ed classes. 

Goal 1: Last year, I won 1st Master twice, and 2nd Master once, at the major matches I attended.  And yet, I still didn't necessarily shoot at my level.  The DoubleTap was okay, but I did blow a stage or two (as did everyone else), A5 I completely blew one stage (horribly embarrassingly badly in front of two squads of people), and A3 went pretty well, but I still did poorly on two stages.

That really isn't acceptable.

Awhile back I did an analysis of shooters at last year's nationals, and one of the things noticable was that in general, GMs had higher speed AND accuracy compared to M-level shooters.  M-level shooters had higher speed AND accuracy than A-level shooters.  And so on...

So it really wasn't as if M shooters were as accurate but not as fast, or were as fast but not as accurate--there was often a solidly quantifiable difference in both categories.  Looking at it, a comment I made at the time was about mistakes: "GMs and Ms tend to both make mistakes.  However, Ms tend to make mistakes on stages, while GMs make mistakes on targets."

That really isn't overstating the case very much.  When an M loses it, he tends to blow an entire stage.  When a GM loses it, he screws up a particular target.  That may drop him significantly relative to the other GMs---but that's about it.  When an M screws up a stage, that drops him often relative to the Ms, As, and Bs who shot it consistently.

In general, last year I shot solidly M-class for my major matches.  (Even Nationals, which was okay if not great.)  And yet, it was NOT consistently to my level.  At every major match, I blew at LEAST one stage completely badly.  And that is just not acceptable.  I'm better than that---and I ALSO think on the move really well, so there is NO excuse for having a stage where one mistake cascades into a whole string of them that cause me to screw up overall.

So this year:  No blown stages.  Yes, I make mistakes.  Everyone does, and I'm certainly not a GM, so I'm not going to be perfectly accurate at speed.  However, making a mistake on a target, or even a target array (with respect to timing and such) is very different from completely blowing a stage. 

Some of the new dryfire (and live fire) sequences I'm planning on using for practice should help with that, too.

Shoot to my level.

And preferably, RAISE that level over the year.

I'm going back to Production Nationals again for one last year (I should have won a slot from my class win at Area 3 in 2012)---so:  shoot to my level.