2016 Dryfire Challenge!

[JTH]

Well, another month gone!  How's it going ?

Ok, I don't have to be the ONLY one who can respond here!

This last month did not go well, in terms of practice.

In my defense, if you are so sick that you can't stand up without wobbling, you probably shouldn't be holding a gun.

That being said, I still had five days in which I didn't get any practice at all, which is significantly NOT meeting my goal for myself.

Hopefully this coming month will be better, and I'll do a better job.

Taking a look at the last three months....

If I consider each color a "gun event," (which makes sense, as each color was a different gun handling session, even if there were two colors in one day) then I had:
32 events in 31 days in January
33 events in 29 days in February
27 events in 31 days in March

In the 91 days in the first three months of 2016, I've done at least Drill Zero 48 times, longer dry practice 22 times, gotten to the range for live fire practice 15 times, and shot 7 days in competition.

Why the heck am I not BETTER??  [sigh] 

Actually, looking at the last couple of competitions I've done, a couple of things jump out in terms of "needed practice" so I'm changing my version of Drill Zero a bit in terms of eye focus requirements.  (Starting with a near focus, taking a step as I transition my eyes to a far small target, then back to a near focus on the front sight as I work the trigger on that far small target.)  Still freestyle/SHO/WHO, still 10 reps each, but working eye focus a bit differently.

I note that I HAVE seen a significant improvement in my SHO and WHO shooting skills, and they have come in handy in a couple of competitions---noticeably so.

For my live fire practice, I'm also going to be starting almost every practice with 50 rounds on the Dot Torture target.  If I clean it twice in a row (on two consecutive live fire practice days) I'll move it out another yard.  I'll start at three yards, and go from there.  I'll stay at the same distance until I clean it twice in a row.  (This is going to be discussed in a different thread.)

I've been doing about 5:1 ratio of competition gun:carry gun with respect to my dry practice.  The difference doesn't seem to be any big deal other than I can transition the G17 faster than the G34 (at least it feels faster).  Of course, there is a reason that my competition gun and carry gun have the same frame, sights, and trigger... 

This month, the goal is more live fire, and getting back to dry practice every day.  One thing that will help is that with better weather, I can take 150 rounds to the range after work, run Dot Torture, then spend another 30 minutes with the other 100 rounds working on a specific skill or two.  In other words, I don't have to wait for a weekend day or something to run a long practice, I'll just run to the range for a quick hour on one or two skills, but do it more often.  Twice a week would be nice, but at least once a week.  (Hopefully still getting in an extended practice at least once or twice this month.)

Ok, how about someone ELSE post how they are doing here!!

(Note that my record includes a couple of day in April, but my written stats don't.  I CAN count.  Really!)

[abbafandr]

Maybe it's down to us 2

[Dan W]

JUST TESTING THE NEW VIDEO AUTO EMBED MOD

[JTH]

Originally in this thread, these people said they were giving it a try:

Lorimor
tstuart34
abbafandr
HuskerXDM

...so how's it going?

And that isn't a "put up or shut up" it is instead a "how is it working out?  is the report format helping track/motivate your practice?"

Did you start strong but fade off?  Only get in practice once every three weeks?

Here's the thing, though:  Whatever you did or did not do earlier in the year doesn't change that you can start NOW.  Or restart NOW. 

Practice makes a difference.  Folks who are just reading this thread for the first time---try it out!  Get the report and start today.

Drill Zero takes less than three minutes and you just need an empty-and-cleared gun and a safe direction...you can do this!

[Lorimor]

I had a long dry spell.    I was fighting a vicious cold and lost interest for awhile.  Plus, I was getting too good. 



I have been finding that switching platforms, i.e., Glock vs 1911, I get screwed up, particularly when I push speed.  After working with the Glock, the 1911 sights are too low and suddenly, the 1911 trigger is SUDDEN!  No crunch, crunch grind sproink BOOM!    And after working with the 1911, the Glock sights are waaaayyyy up there. 

So, there's that.   

[JTH]

I had a long dry spell.    I was fighting a vicious cold and lost interest for awhile. 

I completely understand that.  One of the reasons I made myself the dryfire report in the first place is because once you get out of the habit of doing the practice, you don't realize how many days in a row you've missed!  (At least, that is what happens to me.)

So with the report, I can see the gap and tell myself "shut up and do the work!  I don't care if you don't feel like it!" ---because without seeing directly what I've missed, it is hard to get myself to do it sometimes.

Plus, I was getting too good.

I have never had that problem.  Unfortunately.

I would like to have that problem.

I have been finding that switching platforms, i.e., Glock vs 1911, I get screwed up, particularly when I push speed.  After working with the Glock, the 1911 sights are too low and suddenly, the 1911 trigger is SUDDEN!  No crunch, crunch grind sproink BOOM!    And after working with the 1911, the Glock sights are waaaayyyy up there. 

You know, when I shoot someone else's 1911 or 2011, I find I don't really have a problem with the grip angle and sights, probably because during the draw/press-out I focus on the front sight, which means if I don't see it I raise the muzzle as the gun is moving outward so it moves into the proper position. 

If I had instead been used to the 1911 and went to the Glock, that problem wouldn't automatically fix itself because I'd be seeing the sights from the beginning, and it wouldn't be as obvious that the alignment was off.

Trigger, on the other hand....have you done anything to smooth out the Glock trigger yet?  If it is still going "crunch grind" you CAN fix some of that, you know....

...whenever I shoot a 2011, I find that I have to be a LOT more careful on the trigger because I'm used to using the takeup of the Glock trigger to get tension on the trigger finger (because that can help stabilize the hand/finger) prior to finishing the shot.  And yeah, 2011s and 1911s don't really let you do that much.

"Okay, sights are align.."-BANG-"..ed.  Well.  Mostly.  Dang it."

[Lorimor]

It's sorta like learning a new language, you begin to understand your native tongue better.  It is helping me understand the importance of picking up the front sight on the pressout. 

I haven't touch the trigger.  Just been dry firing it some and some range time. 

Sproink!

[abbafandr]

Getting too good is definitely a problem I would love to have.
So far I've only missed one day.
3 days of live fire, 13 competition events.
I think there has been a small improvement but there is a lot of room there.
Planning on selecting a drill or 2 and run them as a measurement of the progress, (or lack thereof).

[abbafandr]

Well, another month under the belt.  I think there is some improvement.  Not getting to the range for testing as much as I need to.  But I have noticed some flashes of mediocrity
How is it going for the rest of you?

[Captdad17]

First off, I like the dryfire report.  Nice layout and easy to read.  Hope you don't have any copyrights to it, cause I'm stealing it.

Second, not sure if it's been discussed here before, but I was wondering if anyone out there has had any success with the LaserLyte dryfire training system?

Third, looking for suggestions for best dryfire drills (or direction to be pointed in somewhere else in the forums).

[JTH]

First off, I like the dryfire report.  Nice layout and easy to read.  Hope you don't have any copyrights to it, cause I'm stealing it.

Well, I did post it so other people could use it.    You might take a look at the PRT blog entry that goes with it for some ideas regarding its use if you haven't already.

Second, not sure if it's been discussed here before, but I was wondering if anyone out there has had any success with the LaserLyte dryfire training system?

I'm not a real fan of that one---the laser tends to die really easily, and the consistency of aim is...problematic, from what I've seen.

I have a much higher opinion of Laser Ammo than pretty much any other version of laser hardware.  (I also like switching out my normal gun with a SIRT pistol periodically.)  Using Laser Ammo and SIRT, along with the LASR software (developed by people here in Nebraska) is some seriously good stuff.  I don't use it often, but periodically I supplement my regular dryfire practice with some drills using LASR.

http://lasrapp.com/

Third, looking for suggestions for best dryfire drills (or direction to be pointed in somewhere else in the forums).

For shooting skills, probably the two best books out there for dryfire practice are Steve Anderson's Refinement and Repetition: Dry-fire Drills for Dramatic Improvement and Ben Stoeger's second practical pistol book. 

Anderson's book:  http://www.amazon.com/Refinement-Repetition-Dry-fire-Dramatic-Improvement/dp/1930847769

A good starter pack for dryfire (especially for competition, but it will help ALL shooting skills) is here:  http://benstoegerproshop.com/dryfire-book-combo-pack-dry-fire-training-for-the-practical-pistol-shooter-paperback-book-and-scaled-targets/

Ben has a number of different books out for practice, the first of which (Champion Shooting, a Proven Process For Success at Any Level) is also very good.

My PRT article that gave the dryfire report also talked about the fact that many people excuse themselves from daily dryfire practice because they say they don't have time---and so I came up with Drill Zero as something people could do every single day no matter what.  Later, I made another video and blog entry with some variations on Drill Zero that could also be done (regular Zero one day, a variation the next, etc). 

Drill Zero (and its variations) aren't substitutes for more rigorous (and more varied) dry practice, but it IS a good drill to make certain that every day, you are working on getting better.

[JTH]

Well, another month down---and THIS time I finally managed to get through a whole month without missing any days!  (March was----bad.  April, however, I got some good practice in.)

Oddly enough, none of the effects of that practice showed up in the MATCH that I just shot (which was the worst overall classifier match that I've shot in about 5 years, I think.  Literally, by percentages), but that doesn't surprise me--what I screwed up at the match wasn't what I had been working on in dryfire. 

Apparently, I need to add another particular issue/topic to my dryfire practice.   

(More on that in a different post, in which I also talk about Dot Torture.  I know, I already said once that I'd write about it.  Haven't had time yet!)

....in general, the things I've been practicing in dryfire have gotten better.  The things I've been practicing in live fire have demonstrated gains based on my dry practice. 

And I still have a long way to go.  But I knew that already. 

[JTH]

Been awhile---but I've kept practicing, and have been keeping up documenting my practice.  How about everyone else?  Still doing it?

There have been about 196 days so far this year, and I've missed practicing on 11 of them.  (Like I said, March was a bad month, and gave me almost half of those missed days.)

You can certainly tell when my summer schedule started!  All those reds...interestingly enough, I need to actually spend more time on my dryfire, even when I can get to the range.  I can push myself in dryfire considerably more than I'm comfortable with in live fire, and if I don't dryfire, then I don't push as much.

That being said, right now my main emphasis is on trigger control during recoil, for which I need live fire.  (It is one of the few things that you can't do in dryfire.) 

Just shot the Great Plains Sectional this past weekend, and on half the stages what I've been practicing showed clearly----my times were good, and my accuracy was excellent.

On several others, I was mediocre, and obviously sometimes wasn't doing what I needed to do.

On two stages, however, I completely ignored what I've been practicing, and when everything started going wrong, I didn't change what I was doing and it hurt me horribly at the match.

[sigh]

So much more work to do. 

I just signed up for the Kansas Sectional match on August 27th, and that should be interesting--their matchbook shows a LOT of hardcover and no-shoot partials, which means that exactly what I'm working on now will be necessary to do well.

....I'm off to the range to try to suck less.

(I'm still going to post about Dot Torture elsewhere.  Eventually!)

[abbafandr]

Dang, had a nice semi coherent reply and made it disappear somehow 

I have missed 4 days.  2 were medical ( surgery, yada yada).  2 were other.
June was a lot of WHO practice since minor strong hand surgery limited me.

I truly need to work on accuracy at distance and second shot accuracy.   When A class or better shooters ask " do you even see your sights on the second shot"  or similar remarks, you kind of figure what needs work

I think this is helping but I have long way to go.

[JTH]

When A class or better shooters ask " do you even see your sights on the second shot"  or similar remarks, you kind of figure what needs work

You double-tap a LOT. 

Often your first shot is solidly aimed---but you just rip the second one off immediately in a lot of cases, including on targets where *I* certainly would only use a seriously aimed shot.  (Which is why you get a lot of Alpha-X targets, where "X" is normally something not-A.)

Making the second one aimed just takes a tiny bit of extra time (seriously, less than 0.2 almost always) and the increase in points will be SIGNIFICANT.

[abbafandr]

You double-tap a LOT. 

Often your first shot is solidly aimed---but you just rip the second one off immediately in a lot of cases, including on targets where *I* certainly would only use a seriously aimed shot.  (Which is why you get a lot of Alpha-X targets, where "X" is normally something not-A.)

Making the second one aimed just takes a tiny bit of extra time (seriously, less than 0.2 almost always) and the increase in points will be SIGNIFICANT.

You were one of the shooters I was referring to, among others .  I definitely know at least one thing to work on

[abbafandr]

Another month gone by, way too fast.  Only missed 2 days this year (yeah).  I have had 24 competition days and 14 live fire.  Still managing to get at least a little bit of dryfire real regularly. 

Probably should look into some more extensive drills, but a little bit of practice  is better than none at all.

How's it going?

[JTH]

Boy oh boy, did I get behind on this!

Don't have a new scan of my report, but....it DOES have a big, week-long gap at one point.  I flat-out took a whole week to not do ANYTHING useful.

It wasn't actually a good idea.  While I was feeling burnt out, I wasn't actually burnt out on shooting or dryfiring, I was burnt out due to other things.  Taking a week off shooting (and practicing) of all types didn't actually help anything, so that was a week of practice that I missed for no useful purpose.

Recently, I've had to change my practice a bit, since I've been shooting PCC in various places.  So, I've been working on my PCC gun-handling skills, and alternating that with working on my pistol gun-handling skills---but instead of mostly using my G34 (competition gun), I've been working my carry gun from concealment.

It isn't that much different, really.    There's a reason my competition gun is a G34---because my carry gun is a G17.  Same frame, same sights, same trigger (glock parts, polished), so once I have my hand on the gun itself, it pretty much feels the same to me.

How is everyone else doing? Still getting the dryfire done?  Doing better than I did with my time off? 

Anyone new start up dryfire?

[wallace11bravo]

Thomas,

Have you considered making an exercise in the LASR Community? Just curious

[JTH]

Thomas,

Have you considered making an exercise in the LASR Community? Just curious

Um, it hadn't actually occurred to me.     Folks are welcome to link to my dryfire videos and posts, though!

I really like the LASR software, and it can help in a number of ways, in my opinion.  My posts were more for the folks who (like me) often have a "I'm really tired, I'll get to it later, I really WILL" response to the idea that we should dryfire more, as opposed to the group that already is good with pulling up the LASR software daily. 

It is certainly true that doing Drill Zero 10 times from a tone using the LASR software, recording the average time (for good hits), practicing Drill Zero for a couple of weeks, then checking it again would be an interesting and useful way to track progress---particularly if you did the same for SHO and WHO, since most people will probably see the largest improvement in time and accuracy in those just because most people are really BAD at those.  :/

The LASR software makes it really easy to take all sorts of standard dryfire drills, and turns them into data-gathering situations, which is really helpful to people who want to get better in the most efficient manner they can.  (Not to mention, the ability to have the software give you start times, par times, call your shots and reloads, and all the other things means you can make all sorts of good things happen.)

It just hadn't really occurred to me to post about it there.   (I'm not exactly sure where it is, actually---I haven't been there in quite awhile.)  Most of those folks already have motivation to dryfire!