Some Practice At The Range

Between the temporary range closure, and a busy schedule, it's been three weeks since I made it out to the range for some live fire practice. I've been doing my dry fire practice religiously, and did get to both a USPSA match and an IPDA event in the interim. However, I wanted to work on a few specific skills, so I was happy to find the time to shoot a bit Sunday afternoon.

I decided this day to work on getting the first shot off quickly and accurately after the draw. This is something that I've been concentrating on during dry fire. While there might be just 6 or 7 draws during a match, saving even 1/4 or 1/3 of second each time can add up. Take into account any lost points from an innaccurate hit, and it's a skill not be ignored.

In order to gain that fraction of time, I've been trying to be better at prepping the long double action trigger pull on that first shot. During our recent class, the instructor admonished me for not beginning the trigger pull until the gun is on target, so I've been working on that in dry fire too. I was pretty pleased with the results on the range, though there's still much more work to do to speed that up.

I also spent a little time doing 25 yard drills. These shots were taken at a pace closer to what I'd do in competition, rather than slow fire, while still taking care to maintain a smooth trigger press. I hit 16/20 in the A zone at this distance, with the remainder just outside in the C scoring area. I'm seeing regular improvement at the longer distances, which I'll take as tangible proof of the value of the dry fire practice.

It was a good afternoon at the range. I was happy with how I shot, and the weather was extremely pleasant. As is often the case, I left thinking, "Now if I only shot that well during a match..." But as someone told me recently, "When you're shooting by yourself, you're the best shooter on the range." I look forward to putting the skills I've been practicing to use at the NC Sectional match later this week.