Sin-ster
GM of 4 Letter Outbursts
March 10, 2011
Range
Toying with format ideas...
Focus
Accuracy. Tight, consistent groups before fatigue sets in.
Issues
Shots pulled to 9 o'clock. (Lazy support hand.)
Recoil Management. (Sights won't realign! Keep working on hand and wrist strength and tension.)
Session
200 rounds, all 7 yards. Until the center bullseye starts disappearing, we're staying at this range most of the time.
25 strong hand, 50 weak hand. 125 "slow fire", with some controlled pairs and 5 shot dumps for reference and to break the monotony.
Approximately 1 hour total, with 15 minute break after 75 rounds.
Observations
ProHands and wrist curls has helped, but hands and wrists are still fatigued from so much focused work. Suggested that you taper this back before any kind of competition unless significant endurance gains reveal themselves. Fatigue noticed ~50 rounds earlier than normal.
With focus on a firm grip and wrist tension, the groups become tighter but fliers get worse. Possible anomaly, but NOT perception-- even had a couple of hits at the outer edge of the 9. All shots called and felt. Theory-- "bear grip" will take more strengthening and getting used to, and all twitches result in dramatic misses.
Coupled with past weeks sessions, the sights are finally starting to align again on their own. Still not sure WTF caused this, but focus on crystal clear front post and firming up the grip has apparently solved it. Fired some AMAZING pairs and short strings today, without a single unacceptable one either. VERY happy with this progress.
Developing a strange... habit, obsession? Form of anticipation, difficult to line up POA/POI shot. Literally have to force myself to raise the pistol and not use a 6 o'clock hold. Even MORE aggravating than the previous issue. NOTE-- not an issue with pairs/follow ups, but slow fire and the 1st shot only. Mental failure-- how are we going to fix it? Dry fire should help; loading one round per magazine seemed to help. Perhaps try shooting flat colored targets, instead of bright red centers? Don't know, that sounds like avoiding a problem instead of addressing it; distant steel plates won't be any different...
"Shooting the reset" seems to have settled in quite nicely. No longer waiting for the "click", but naturally reaching that point without conscious effort. Continue to feel it out during dry fire, but turn majority of your focus elsewhere.
Strong hand was oddly erratic today for the first 5 shots. Group tightened up very well with focus on trigger press and (more importantly) a firm grip. Weak hand was alright, but whatever tendon is a bit inflamed in that hand is definitely playing a factor in this regard.
Suggestions
Continue to feel out "failure point" of hand/wrist exercises. Be sure to formulate a more formal regiment, instead of the "pick it up when idle" method you've been using. For now, ease up on thumb-to-palm squeeze and Trigger Pull exercise on the left hand, as they seem to be aggravating that tendon.
Clean that "range mag", and rotate it with one of the others. The idea of pushing it to the failure point can still work while spread across the other 2 mags purchased for this purpose.
Work some presentation, drawstroke and reload drills during dry fire. It's been a while. Consider video again after a couple of focused sessions.
Continue to focus on proper grip while dry firing, and don't get lazy with stance either. It's likely that your lack of dry fire in the past few months, coupled with subpar practice has caused all of these glitches to suddenly appear.
Try to stockpile some 9mm for the range-- starting to get sparse. Don't use its presence as an excuse to go shoot it up!!! 200 rounds seems to be your optimal point right now-- perhaps 250 if you're bored or it's been a while.
Pull out the USPSA targets for some dry fire when time permits. Sight picture on these needs to be reestablished if you plan to shoot some matches in the future.
Range
Toying with format ideas...
Focus
Accuracy. Tight, consistent groups before fatigue sets in.
Issues
Shots pulled to 9 o'clock. (Lazy support hand.)
Recoil Management. (Sights won't realign! Keep working on hand and wrist strength and tension.)
Session
200 rounds, all 7 yards. Until the center bullseye starts disappearing, we're staying at this range most of the time.
25 strong hand, 50 weak hand. 125 "slow fire", with some controlled pairs and 5 shot dumps for reference and to break the monotony.
Approximately 1 hour total, with 15 minute break after 75 rounds.
Observations
ProHands and wrist curls has helped, but hands and wrists are still fatigued from so much focused work. Suggested that you taper this back before any kind of competition unless significant endurance gains reveal themselves. Fatigue noticed ~50 rounds earlier than normal.
With focus on a firm grip and wrist tension, the groups become tighter but fliers get worse. Possible anomaly, but NOT perception-- even had a couple of hits at the outer edge of the 9. All shots called and felt. Theory-- "bear grip" will take more strengthening and getting used to, and all twitches result in dramatic misses.
Coupled with past weeks sessions, the sights are finally starting to align again on their own. Still not sure WTF caused this, but focus on crystal clear front post and firming up the grip has apparently solved it. Fired some AMAZING pairs and short strings today, without a single unacceptable one either. VERY happy with this progress.
Developing a strange... habit, obsession? Form of anticipation, difficult to line up POA/POI shot. Literally have to force myself to raise the pistol and not use a 6 o'clock hold. Even MORE aggravating than the previous issue. NOTE-- not an issue with pairs/follow ups, but slow fire and the 1st shot only. Mental failure-- how are we going to fix it? Dry fire should help; loading one round per magazine seemed to help. Perhaps try shooting flat colored targets, instead of bright red centers? Don't know, that sounds like avoiding a problem instead of addressing it; distant steel plates won't be any different...
"Shooting the reset" seems to have settled in quite nicely. No longer waiting for the "click", but naturally reaching that point without conscious effort. Continue to feel it out during dry fire, but turn majority of your focus elsewhere.
Strong hand was oddly erratic today for the first 5 shots. Group tightened up very well with focus on trigger press and (more importantly) a firm grip. Weak hand was alright, but whatever tendon is a bit inflamed in that hand is definitely playing a factor in this regard.
Suggestions
Continue to feel out "failure point" of hand/wrist exercises. Be sure to formulate a more formal regiment, instead of the "pick it up when idle" method you've been using. For now, ease up on thumb-to-palm squeeze and Trigger Pull exercise on the left hand, as they seem to be aggravating that tendon.
Clean that "range mag", and rotate it with one of the others. The idea of pushing it to the failure point can still work while spread across the other 2 mags purchased for this purpose.
Work some presentation, drawstroke and reload drills during dry fire. It's been a while. Consider video again after a couple of focused sessions.
Continue to focus on proper grip while dry firing, and don't get lazy with stance either. It's likely that your lack of dry fire in the past few months, coupled with subpar practice has caused all of these glitches to suddenly appear.
Try to stockpile some 9mm for the range-- starting to get sparse. Don't use its presence as an excuse to go shoot it up!!! 200 rounds seems to be your optimal point right now-- perhaps 250 if you're bored or it's been a while.
Pull out the USPSA targets for some dry fire when time permits. Sight picture on these needs to be reestablished if you plan to shoot some matches in the future.