Goal Update

Wow! I was reviewing my goals and some of them I either completely forgot about or haven't been doing correctly. Here's a breif update on how the goals for the year are going.

Goal: Write commentary/reviews of at least the larger matches I attend and any shooting classes I participate in. Include stage times, scores, and anything that went exceedingly well or exceedingly poorly and why.

Update: I have actually written reviews of most of all of the major matches I've attended this year. Some of them included my scores/placing etc. but many did not. I could go look those up and add them to the entries, and I believe I will do so. Perhaps that will give me an idea of how I've improved and what I need to work on.

I haven't been as analytical as I probably should be on many of the matches. I am not very good at picking out exactly what I did wrong. I should practice that and suggest possible fixes.

Goal: Gain knowledge of guns other than Glocks. Handle 15 different types of hand guns over the year—either in a store or out on the range. For each, work the safety, magazine release, wrack the slide, lock the slide open (where possible).


Update: I handled about 5 different handguns at the NHA introduction to firearms class and it was really useful. I still have a lot to go though. Even though I have not handled as many new handguns as I would like, I have got to shoot a bunch of different rifles and shotguns that people let me try out. :D

Goal: Look up (via the internet) and research the following “major” handgun manufactures and their various models: Smith and Wesson, Ruger, CZ, Beretta, Colt, Sig, Springfeild, Glock, Browning, and HK. Ultimate goal is to be able to recognize the maker of a specific handgun on sight.

Update: Completely have not touched this goal, I will work on it.

Goal: Learn to manipulate my Glock 19 in limited vision. This could be when it’s dark, when I don’t have my contacts in, or for some other reason I can’t see.

Update: I am actually pretty good at this. As long as I can get my hand on the gun with a normal shooting grip, manipulating it becomes really easy as there's a lot of muscle memory involved.

Goal: Work on being able to shoot with combat accuracy and not competition accuracy.

Update: Getting better, but I still feel the need to shoot "A"'s all the time.

Goal: Read 10 books on Defensive Tactics or self defense over the next year. For each, write a short summary and thoughts in my DT blog.

Update: I have not even started. Eeek!

Goal: Be able to manipulate a shotgun and a rifle as well as I can manipulate my pistol. Practice loading, unloading, locking it open, and making safe etc.

Update: Getting better, but I am still not as good as I am with a pistol. I have hard time clearing it at the end, especially. :/

Goal: Make C Class in USPSA.

Update: DONE! 43%! Woo! :D :D :D

Goal: Work on transitioning from one target to the next. Take out the pauses where I tend to try and find my hits on the target.

Update: I have been working this one a lot in dry fire. Improvements are being made. :)

Area 3 Championship

I went to the Area 3 Championship this year in Grand Island at their public range there. They did a great job, especially for such a new club, and running the logistics of a public range couldn’t have been easy. Really, they have a beautiful range there.

The stages were well put together and a ton of fun to shoot. I do have to say though, 14 stages in one day is just a bit much, it really is. On RO day we shot from about 9:30 to 6:30-7:00 and still had one stage to shoot in the morning. Other squads and four and five stages to shoot the next day. Yikes.

Before I go on, Sabumnim was nice enough to film me shooting and put together this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFgnIUCq_qU

You see stage 8 there? That one there with the two ropes you had to pull, I bet you’re wondering why I holstered and ran backwards? Well, that falling target up front was FAST, seriously fast, I couldn’t even get one shot on it, so I had to go back to get the rope to pull it back up—there were no disappearing targets for the match. Well, those ropes had A LOT of slack in them. I had to lean all the way over that rail to get the ropes and pass them between my hands to get all the slack out. I was just too short to do it one handed, and I couldn’t think of a way to do that safely without holstering. So I did. It wasn’t random. :)

There were a lot of stages with weird things like that throughout the match, the “doctor bag” stage, one where you attatched yourself to a line to shoot strong hand only (the one I missed a shot on), etc. You can see it on the video! I personally like things like that, but some people don’t.

I was standing too high a lot of the time-- okay pretty much all of the time. So, that’s something to work on. Also, I don’t always make a plan. I get tired or frustrated with myself and it makes my shooting suffers. I have started doing a weird thing with my grip, putting my weak hand thumb up, but not my strong hand, which results in an overlap and thus a gap. Need to work on that two. On the plus side, I have gotten faster, my new sites have helped me a lot, and I haven’t lost any accuracy!

For the match I had 12 Deltas and 1 Mike. The rest were Alphas and Charlies (302 and 53 respectively). In that way not a bad match. I really wanted to shoot the match clean, with no Mikes, Procedurals, or No Shoots, but I still think I did really well.

I won 2nd D class. :)

Great Plains Sectional

I participated in the Great Plains Sectional this year which was hosted at the Eastern Nebraska Gun Club. I also helped work it and set it up. Set up, tear down, ROing, and palming are all a lot of work and it wasn’t exactly comfortable out when we were there.

Despite the heat and the humidity the match was a ton of fun—as always the stages were well put together and interesting.

So, the real questions is, how did the match go? Actually—I really don’t think that I shot as well as I could have. I had a couple of stages that were just disastrous. Stage five, which was the bowling ball stage, I couldn’t seem to get anything right. I could remember which targets I was shooting, I couldn’t get the door open (it’s a PUSH door), I couldn’t reload, I missed one WHOLE target, and that hurts. Disaster. Throughout the day, I had a couple of misses that I should have made up and didn’t and a couple shots I made up that I just should have left.

Perhaps I should have just let it go. That’s really hard for me, leaving a shot that I KNOW isn’t there. I would say that right now, one of the things that I need to work on the most is my mental game. I have a tenancy to do one of the following things a) make a plan and forget it, b) make a plan and decide to change it part way through or c) not make much of a plan at all.

I am lucky enough that I don’t really get nervous for big matches. I just like to have fun shooting. I do get down on myself if I do badly—but I don’t feel nerves before a stage. If I have fun, and don’t get DQed, it’s been a good day. I am a little too hard on myself sometimes.

I did better in the match than I thought I did—I got first D-class shooter! It’s nice to go from the bottom up, my practice is paying off, I’m getting better! And I think I can be better still.

I will very likely be C-class the next time classifications go through. If not C-class then very very close to it. Very exciting. :D

Range Officer Class

This weekend I attended an RO class out in Grand Island, Nebraska at the Heartland Public Shooting Range, with Julie. The GI range is new, and it’s looking really nice out there. They have a lot of extra space to grow if they so choose, also. They have paved roads, lots of parking space, and some really nice ranges. The pistol bays are nice and close together (which will be really nice for Area). One of the best features is an onsite club house with central air and running water. That’s a big deal in this sport.

The course was run over two days, as it usually is. The first day was spent completely in the classroom and the second day, classroom with a little bit of range time. Our class was small at less than 15 people.

They provided us with donuts! Mmmm!

The teaching of the class itself was pretty good. It was run fairly smoothly, with enough chances for breaks (8-5 sitting in a chair makes for a long day). The PowerPoint had some neat videos in it. It was pretty interactive, and the instructor used an orange practice gun to simulate some of the things people do wrong. There was a lot of emphasis placed on scoring targets and using score sheets. Perhaps not TOO much because at the end of the day, I’m not sure some people got it. However, for me it was a bit monotonous.

I would have liked to see more videos of people doing things wrong. I think it would have been helpful if they showed a few videos and asked what procedurals the person would have incurred, or if they made a safety violation.

Perhaps there should have been some examples of what people will try to get away with that is illegal. What things will we likely run into as RO’s? I think most of these things apply to big matches with extremely competitive shooters and not to local matches, but I like to know what is likely.

The shooting part was fun. What was interesting is that other than scoring we didn’t have any hard calls to make. No one made a 180 breach (although it was close), no one dropped a gun or took extra shots… Every person was the shooter, the RO, and the assistant RO (scorer). Many people had a problem with the commands. If you shoot a lot, you hear them so much they become ingrained. (I personally have trouble not saying, “slide forward” because it is said a lot at my home range.)

Many of the people who shot with us are brand new to the sport, not even members of USPSA yet. Julie and I outshot most of them by getting all 12 of our alphas. I didn’t feel right offering them advice though; I myself am not a great shooter. I am consistent shooter an improving shooter and I have good solid basics, but I wasn’t sure if they would take offense. Usually, in the sport, help is usually appreciated if you’re new. I wasn’t sure how it would be received, however. It is interesting to me that there is a sort of “shooting culture” among people who do this sport.

Overall, I think the class was well done and I learned a lot. I knew a lot of things already, but it is nice to know exactly what your rights are as a shooter. I would recommend the class to anyone who is involved in the sport—but not necessarily to brand new people. I would recommend you shoot a bit in the sport before taking the class or some of the shooting “jargon” is lost. It isn’t fair if you have to figure out what the basic rules are while trying to learn the intricate ones. Being familiar with guns in general before you take the class is also a good idea. Knowing how different guns work (especially how the safeties/mag releases work) might be necessary as an RO, and is important as a shooter.

CQT Class at NHA

The Nebraska Hapkido Associate (Read: Sabumnim) held a Close Quarter Tactics (CQT) class at the Dojang awhile back.

First, I want talk about CQT a little bit and the nature of guns. We talked about these things in the class, but also just in Hapkido as a whole.

A lot of gun people who teach CQT classes tend to focus entirely on the gun and shooting. They show you how to draw from concealment, maybe some hip-shooting/”indexing”, car scenarios/getting out of the car, verbalization and perhaps some disarming techniques. These things are important, but they aren’t the most important thing. The most important thing is this: Don’t Get Dead.

Yes, a gun is a useful tool—like a fire extinguisher, a pocket knife, or a flashlight. However, in CQT it is not the only answer. If you can’t draw your gun, you can’t use it. Sometimes even if you can, it won’t be enough or it’s more risky than leaving it where it is. Sometimes you will need to use other tools like your arms and legs instead. CQT isn’t about learning how to use a gun, it’s about learning to be effective with a tool in self defense.

The bottom line is, although this class was geared toward learning to use your gun (the tool) in very close situations, it is not a gun class. We used our Hapkido techniques to gain space (in distance and time) but it isn’t a Hapkido class either. It’s a self defense class.

In the class we used our real carry guns. Each person was required to have a barrel blocker, no ammo was allowed in the room and you had to show your partner clear before every drill. Yes—I find breaking the gun laws to be generally a bad thing, but in this case, to learn it was necessary. The guns were made as “safe” as possible.

As always, Sabumnim was sure to talk about the legality of using a gun. This is important. Know your self-defense law. Know your rights. You can’t just shoot someone who’s yelling at you across the street. However, as always, protect yourself from the attacker first and the courts later. Keep yourself safe.

A lot of the drills we ran had to do with knowing when to use the gun. We did drills in which the “attacker” (a Hapkido classmate) ran forward at you. You had to draw your gun and pull the trigger before the attacker was close enough to either smack the gun away, or attack you. The space you need is more than you think, and one shot may or may not stop them. The drill was useful though, you learn really fast that you need a lot of space, or you have to back up! We did another drill where they ran forward and us backward. Running backward in a curve is better than straight; it’s harder for them to follow.

After we had worked with a draw from concealment, and some situations where the attacker was running straight toward us, we worked with some where the attacker was within arms reach and had a knife. This adds another level of difficulty, as you must first either gain enough space to draw and shoot (completely disengaged) or at least get them under enough control that you can draw and get off a shot or two.

It is embarrassing to have someone shoot you with your own gun—which we had happen. It is difficult to shoot with someone jamming your gun hand against your body. Being cut does not being being dead. Having a gun does you no good if you get knocked out and killed before you can draw it. Even someone who isn’t experienced can get in a lucky shot. As was emphasized—use your self defense skills not just your gun skills.

These situations are difficult. When someone is attacking you with a weapon in many cases you must neutralize their’s before drawing yours. There were some cases, when running these drills that I never drew my gun at all. Sometimes I could get away, take the knife or immobilize them some other way. I got cut a couple times, but never enough that I really would have died.

Most people will focus on the weapon and not on the fact that they have other extremities they could use to defend themselves: don’t fall into this trap. As we learned, this can sometimes be difficult.

We also worked on some wounded shooter drills and such—how to wrack the slide with one hand, how to reload with one hand, how to shoot from the ground, briefly about mag-retention. I don’t think mag retention is the most important thing and it wasn’t stressed much in the class. Unless you’re in an all-out gun battle I wouldn’t take the time to retain it.

All around the class was really useful—I will be looking forward to any CQT 2 Sabumnim decides to put on. There are so many situations and so many things to learn. And there is ALWAYS more practice you can do. I think more important than quantity of topics is quality/depth of instruction and the number number repetitions you get in. You need to train yourself not to panic under pressure, and staring down the barrel of a real gun is quite the eye opener.

We went over each exercise several times and Sabumnim watched and talked with us about what we could have done differently, or better. As I said before, the number one rule is Don’t Get Dead. If you lived, from an SD perspective no one can tell you, you did it “wrong”.

I am not sure how effective this class would be for someone who knows nothing of body movement or self-defense technique. There are so many things you would need to learn before you could really learn the things we learn. You could learn to draw from concealment. You could learn about the legality, but when it got down to “grappling range” there are other things you need to know.

And not just know HOW to do them, but have enough repetitions under your belt that you WILL use them. You can’t afford to think about how to do a block during self defense. Just do the block. The things I generally used for the class generally boiled down to this: blocks, jams (as in using your body to tie up the other person), knees, and elbows. I saw some others attempt locks or holds, but I never got around to it.

Shooting Class with Manny Bragg

Following the Double Tap, Sabumnim stayed for an extra day to take a class from Manny Bragg. Manny is one of the top shooters in the country, a Grandmaster in USPSA. Besides that he’s a great guy and a good teacher.

Manny was nice enough to let me tag along with Sabumnim and watch the class. He even let me film a bit (for our use, not for the web). A big Thank You to Manny for allowing me to do that!

The drills they did were one’s I had never seen before, but some were along the same lines as things I had done. Each drill built on the previous one, allowing everyone to practice skills they’d just learned. Manny spent some time watching everyone and I thought he was a good teacher. In our sport a lot of people are good shooters—not all good shooters are good teachers.

Along with drills he talked a lot about trigger prep, which is something I struggle with.

He taught everyone how to shoot swingers. Which I am STILL not sure if I can do, but it looked easy when they did it. =)

He also went over a lot of the things he had learned about movement. Sometimes in the sport it pays to know “x is faster than y”. He talked about a lot of those experiments he had done, finding out which kinds of movements work the best.

Manny is a wonderful example of someone who never stops learning. His enthusiasm for the sport and the training he does is really very impressive. My overall impression of the class is that it was well worth the time and I learned a lot just standing there.

Double Tap Championships

Sabumnim and I went down to the Double Tap Championship in Texas this year. The Double Tap range was nice and they obviously put a lot of work into the match. The theme was Flinstones and the props were just awesome. They had a Flinstones car, a dinosaur-crane, and a lot of really interesting details—like a bowling ball painted to look like it was carved from granite, and clubs, all sorts of cool things. They even had a podium made to look like it was carved from stone.

The day we got there, it was gorgeous. It was sunny and 70 degrees with a little wind and no humidity. We walked the stages, wrote out our plans, and browsed at the vendors a little. By that evening it was chilly and rainy

The next day when we shot it was freezing, snowing, windy, and pretty much unbearable outside. The targets were bagged for the first part of the morning and they burned spent targets in barrels all day so people could keep at least momentarily warm. I melted my gloves sticking them to the sides of a barrel and almost caught my hair on fire twice. It was worth it to be warm. :D

The wind was terrible too. The range is sort of cut into an alley and the wind just goes right down it. We only shot 6 stages the first day instead of 8 as planned to get everyone out of the cold.

The second day was a little better, but still terrible and it warmed up in the afternoon. When it did thaw the mud stuck to our shoes at the stages were just a mess. We all wandered into the Holiday Inn carrying our shoes and begging for plastic bags.

It would be interesting to run the numbers and see how much better the people who shot in the first session when the weather was beautiful instead of the second where it was miserable.

You know, it’s a real shame that the weather was so bad because the match was really well put together. The stages were interesting and fun, the props were great, the lunch was good, the staff and organization was good. The prize table was outstanding—every person who shot got something and I bet each prize bucket was worth half the match fee or more. I won an STI slide via random drawing! (Not that I have a gun for it, so if you’d like one, I have one to sell :P)

I shot about par with my normal shooting—finishing in the top of the bottom third. I think I could have done better in warmer weather.

Shooting Goals for 2010

I did a lot of shooting this past year, and a lot of different types of shooting.

I went to several USPSA and IPSC style matches and some regulation steel matches. I made a few larger competitions and almost all of our local club competitions. I started participating in Three Gun (which I hope to continue next year) and also went to several Defense Tactics classes, both taught by Sabumnim and by outside instructors.

I didn’t make any goals last year, but this year, I would like to have a few, both related to USPSA competition and related to Defensive Tactics style shooting.

Goals:

Write commentary/reviews of at least the larger matches I attend and any shooting classes I participate in. Include stage times, scores, and anything that went exceedingly well or exceedingly poorly and why.

Gain knowledge of guns other than Glocks. Handle 15 different types of hand guns over the year—either in a store or out on the range. For each, work the safety, magazine release, wrack the slide, lock the slide open (where possible).

Look up (via the internet) and research the following “major” handgun manufactures and their various models: Smith and Wesson, Ruger, CZ, Beretta, Colt, Sig, Springfeild, Glock, Browning, and HK. Ultimate goal is to be able to recognize the maker of a specific handgun on sight.

Learn to manipulate my Glock 19 in limited vision. This could be when it’s dark, when I don’t have my contacts in, or for some other reason I can’t see.

Work on being able to shoot with combat accuracy and not competition accuracy.

Read 10 books on Defensive Tactics or self defense over the next year. For each, write a short summary and thoughts in my DT blog.

Be able to manipulate a shotgun and a rifle as well as I can manipulate my pistol. Practice loading, unloading, locking it open, and making safe etc.

Make C Class in USPSA.

Work on transitioning from one target to the next. Take out the pauses where I tend to try and find my hits on the target.