On the road to USPSA “B” class.
I’m pretty sure I’m solidly there.
In dry work I’ve been focusing on two main things:
- draws at 10 yards
- reloads
Again, I’m trying to focus on dry fire as the time where I put in the work, and live fire where I evaluate how the work is going and where work need to go next.
So live time today showed that in fact my 10 yard draw work is panning out. I’m still not as fast or consistent as I’d like to be. I smoked one in 1.2 seconds — one — but found myself more in the 1.7-1.8 range on a consistent basis. That’s still a strong improvement, but certainly a ways to go (I’d like to be CONSISTENTLY around 1.5).
Reloads were better as well. Whereas I’d be hitting in the mid-3’s, I was hitting in the low-2’s, and that’d be at 7-10 yard distances. I did some “4 Aces” work at 3 yards and was hitting 1.7-ish reloads there. So all in all my reloads have improved strongly, but still a WAYS to go. I can tell for sure this is about smooth mechanics because I’d be trying to move quickly and be “jittery”, and just not being smooth with it all — a little bump trying to get it into the mag well, a little hesitation getting back on the gun, a little pause to reacquire the sights and ensure a settled in shot, etc.. Smoothing things out and being reliable and consistent here should take me where I want to be.
And while I wasn’t working on it, split times were getting better too at closer distances. For example, on the “4 Aces” runs I’d hit .15 splits. At around 5-7 yards .25-ish. But back at 10+ yards, because I’d be more worried about accuracy, I’d be maybe 0.4-ish. So again, improvement, but a ways to go still.
One cool thing was a drill I ran at 10 yards really became all about “calling your shots”. Having that front sight crystal sharp, tracking it, and based on what I saw THERE knowing what happened (or what I need to do) and knowing from that where to go. It was a bit of a magical moment. As I let myself go and trusted my sight picture more, things really improved. I still suck in the grand scheme, but today was some pretty cool improvement.
As for what to work on next, I think it’s the same: keep working on my 10 yard draws and my reload mechanics. Work on my eyes being properly focused where they need to be, so even in dry work I’m calling my shots more.
That said, I’ve also got some classes coming up soon, so I’m probably going to shift gears a little bit in both dry and live work to prep for class. Get out of the competition mindset and more into the defensive mindset.
Good stuff. Good stuff.
Stuff From Hsoi 
Every range I know of in this area does not permit the very things one needs to do to self evaluate such as drawing from concealment and “rapid fire” which is normally defined as more than one shot per second. So where do you go to do this? A-Zone?
Yes. I’m blessed with that access.
That said, most of my skill work actually comes out of dry fire, which hopefully is workable for you.
What a lot of people do to get around the live range limitations then is shoot where they can shoot in such a manner. It may be taking classes (even one you’ve taken before — because then you can more focus on your needs vs. pure curriculum), or it may be shooting matches. And you don’t have to shoot the match for the game itself. Yes, you have to abide by rules and be safe and all that of course, but you don’t have to be “out to win” but more giving you a venue in which to work on whatever it is you want to work on, y’know?