My plan for sucking less

[JTMaddox]

Spent about 4 hours shooting at a friends place today. We set up a 3 gun stage starting low ready with rifle at some 50 yard paper targets, then move and reload to some 100 yard steel targets from behind a barracade, then transition to pistol on (6) auto reset 5" steel plates at 15 yards, reload and shot them again, transition to empty shotgun, move and load to engage 8 steel plates from around barrels.

We ran that like 10 times improving each time. My weakest part was the 5" plates at 15 yards with the pistol, so I shot that part several more times. I think I'm squeezing too hard with my strong hand.

Then we set up 8-5" plates at 15 yards about 3' between each one. We started with an empty shotgun at low ready, loaded 8, then engaged the 8 targets. We did that one for quite a while, my best time running it clean was 10.05 seconds, average was probably right under 12 seconds. Not sure how good that is, but I was pretty happy with it.

 

[Hitokiri03]

Sounds like some good practice.

Sounds like some good practice.

 

[JTMaddox]

Got an hour of pistol instruction this morning. He pointed out about a dozen things I could be doing better. About half the time was spent in a classroom with him having me draw and dry fire and working to fix what he saw wrong. The rest of the time was spent on the indoor range drawing and firing with him correcting issues as we went. There was a noticeable improvement from when we started to when we finished. I think I'll go back again after about a month of practicing what he showed me.

Came home and spent some time shooting out back trying to apply what I learned. Set up to shoot a row of 5 hanging steel plates at 15 yards. Draw shoot 5, draw shoot 5.... Then I did 2 rounds of Dot Torture at 5 yards. I saw an improvement on where I was. Had a few on the lines, but the only misses I had were on the one hand and weak hand stuff. Then set up 5 paper targets along a path blocked by trees so you had to move to see them. Ran through that 5 times with my pistol putting 2 on each one as quick as I could go. Then ran it 5 times with my rifle doing the same concentrating on quick pairs. Finished off with some .22 group shooting with my mkII at 20 yds.

Going to start keeping round count for each day on here:

9mm = 300
.223 = 50
.22 = 50

 

[JTMaddox]

Spent a couple hours making more target stands and setting out targets behind the house. Set up a short shotgun stage and ran through it a couple of times.

Spent about an hour in the basement working on pistol, dry firing, and shotgun reloads

12ga = 50

 

[JTMaddox]

Went to a friends farm where he has room to shoot out to about 350 yards after work. Got my rifle rezeroed at 100 yds and figured out my holdover for 150, 200, 250, 300, and 350 shooting from a bench. I worked on my offhand at each distance after I figured out my holdover. I have a lot more confidence where my rounds are going to go at those distances now.

.223 = 100

 

[JTMaddox]

One hour of shotgun weak hand and strong hand reloading, pistol draw and dry firing, and pistol reloading drills.

 

[JTMaddox]

Was able to spend a good solid 3 hours out back shooting this evening. Set up a 25 target shotgun jungle run kind of thing, set up an all pistol stage shooting around barricades, and then an all rifle stage with 8 paper targets spread out along the trail hidden behind trees that I had to shoot around.

Going to spend some time in the basement dry firing pistol and getting ready for monthly match tomorrow at CMMG.

12ga = 150
9mm = 200
.223 = 106

 

[Sundance]

Ok being the new guy here what is 3 gun?

 

[drmitchgibson]

Ok being the new guy here what is 3 gun?

3-Gun: pistol, rifle, shotgun. It's a competitive shooting sport, where shooters engage targets with one to three guns per stage. Not all stages use three guns, and not all stages use two guns, but you get to run all three during the match. A stage is an area with targets set up in arrays. Stages are timed, to 0.01 second accuracy. It's basically the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

 

[JTMaddox]

I'm thoroughly disgusted with myself. Just finished the 3 hour drive home from The CMMG monthly match. Pretty sure it was my worst performance to date. I don't know if I was pushing too hard or what, but I really blew it out my ass today. My shotgun was solid. Although I had a few FTN when going fast (only one of two rounds on IPSC target heads when body was behind cover) I think my rifle improved, feeling a lot more solid and was able to go 1 for 1 on most all the stuff at 100 - 350 yds, BUT my pistol killed me. I missed everything... I left targets, I missed targets, I had to go back and pick up targets, I couldn't hit anything. It started off bad and went down hill from there. At first I think it was from trying to push myself faster and focusing more on what was next than what I was shooting, then I started questioning everything I was doing and trying to make adjustments to my grip, my trigger pull, my sight alignment...I **** you not, it took me 6 shots to knock down the last 5" plate at no more than 7 yards on the last stage... 36 rounds on a stage with 14 god damned targets all inside 15 yards? WTF?

12 ga = 70
.223 = 49
9mm = 230 ( probably more than twice what I needed for the match)

 

[JTMaddox]

Pistol practice out back this afternoon.

9mm = 50
.22 = 50

 

[JTMaddox]

Did that (shoot - load 8 - shoot) shotgun drill for a while with my new timer. Best time = 6.92 seconds, consistently under 8 seconds. That's about 2 seconds better than the last time I timed that (using sure fire iPhone app). Worked moving while loading 4 shells, shooting the gun dry, dropping the bolt, loading 4 while moving, pulling the trigger, racking the bolt, shooting 4, .....

Set out a bunch of plates from 15 to 25 yards and worked on shooting them with my pistol. After I ran out of 9mm I switched to .22 on the plates, then I did some group shooting at 20 yds working on trigger control.

12ga = 64
9mm = 135
.22 = 440

 

[JTMaddox]

Went out back with the pistol this evening. Did (2) rounds of dot torture drill, still at 5 yds due to the one handed parts. Worked on shooting steel plates from 15 -25 yds.

Spent some time in the basement as well. Loaded 6 shell caddies up with shells and worked on loading while moving. Emptied all the caddies and then filled them back up (10) times. Then worked on pistol draw and dryfire at scale IPSC targets stuck on the wall. Did 50 slow/perfect form draw and dry fire, then gradually worked on speeding it up for 10 minutes. Then i did (20) sets of reloads using (5) mags. I would draw, dryfire at the left most target, change mags, move to the target to the right, change mags, move to the target to the right, change mags, etc..then alternate moving from right to left. I need to figure out how to do par times on my timer and start setting times for these drills.

9mm = 300

 

[JTMaddox]

Shot the local NRA High Power Rifle match yesterday with my 3-gun rifle to get some more practice. All Positions were fired from 100 yds (they only have a 100 yd range). I came in 2nd out of 28, without a sling, shooting jacket, spotting scope, or any of the other fancy accoutrements that don't really seem necessary at 100 yds (although i suppose a sling would have tightened up my groups a bit from sitting and prone). Admittedly it wasn't the strongest field, but I was fairly happy with my performance. I think I still need more practice with offhand shooting. I think I have finally found an offhand position that I am comfortable with, I just need some more practice shooting from it.

.223 = 50

 

[JTMaddox]

Set up the "slats and bats" stage from the Nordic tactical shotgun championship and ran it as many times as I could with the 100 shells I had on hand. Best time was 16.4 seconds, I need to go back and look at my score from the match and see how it compares. Set up 5 hanging plates on shepards hooks at 20 yards and just practiced drawing and shooting the 5 plates with my pistol over and over again working on transitioning from plate to plate. Then did some close in work on paper with rifle working on moving and shooting.

Spent time in the basement doing shotgun loading while moving. Loaded 8 (50) times with a par timer set at 8 seconds. Easily beat the timer every time, but working on being as smooth and perfect as I can. I'll gradually reduce the par time each session until it feels like I'm pushing.

12ga = 100
9mm = 200
.223 = 39

 

[Sundance]

I'm thoroughly disgusted with myself. Just finished the 3 hour drive home from The CMMG monthly match. Pretty sure it was my worst performance to date. I don't know if I was pushing too hard or what, but I really blew it out my ass today. My shotgun was solid. Although I had a few FTN when going fast (only one of two rounds on IPSC target heads when body was behind cover) I think my rifle improved, feeling a lot more solid and was able to go 1 for 1 on most all the stuff at 100 - 350 yds, BUT my pistol killed me. I missed everything... I left targets, I missed targets, I had to go back and pick up targets, I couldn't hit anything. It started off bad and went down hill from there. At first I think it was from trying to push myself faster and focusing more on what was next than what I was shooting, then I started questioning everything I was doing and trying to make adjustments to my grip, my trigger pull, my sight alignment...I **** you not, it took me 6 shots to knock down the last 5" plate at no more than 7 yards on the last stage... 36 rounds on a stage with 14 god damned targets all inside 15 yards? WTF?

12 ga = 70
.223 = 49
9mm = 230 ( probably more than twice what I needed for the match)

When I used to play golf a lot and practiced too much before a tournament it hurt more than it helped. I found that if I gave it a rest I would do better. Sounds like you practice quite a bit so don't over do it. Plus everybody just has a bad day now and then.

 

[JTMaddox]

When I used to play golf a lot and practiced too much before a tournament it hurt more than it helped. I found that if I gave it a rest I would do better. Sounds like you practice quite a bit so don't over do it. Plus everybody just has a bad day now and then.

Probably good advise...

 

[JTMaddox]

Not much time tonight, just worked on shotgun. Set up an area downstairs to engage 6 targets on the left travel 15 feet while loading 8 shells and engage 5 targets on the right. Did this (50) times.

 

[JTMaddox]

Pistol live fire today. Shot 100 rounds at hanging steel plates at 15 yards working on target acquisition from the draw and transitioning from target to target. Then did 2 rounds of dot torture.

9mm = 200

 

[JTMaddox]

Shotgun live fire today out back. Set up a 35 round jungle run and ran it twice. Then set up 13 steel targets, empty gun start, load 8, shoot 7 from start position, load 8 while moving to second position, shoot remaining 6 targets. Ran that until I ran out of ammo.

12ga = 200