Short Sleeves At the Range

There were still piles of snow scattered about, but the sun was shining brightly when I set up at the range on Saturday. Despite the car thermometer reporting 63 degrees, I was the surprisingly the only one there, other than a lone fisherman across the pond. I did a double check for any "Range Closed" signs but then quickly took advantage of the empty park.

With the first USPSA match of the season just a week away, I wanted to "shake out the cobwebs" and work on some basic movement drills; drawing while stepping into position, turn and draws, reloading on the move. I had one of my PVC pipe shooting boxes with me and set that at the 10 yard line with a couple of targets at the berm. The few magazines were spent stepping into the box, engaging one target from the box, and the second target while exiting that position. A few surrender starts while facing up range mixed it up.

Most of the rest of my time was spent engaging one or both targets from 15 yards, then reloading as I sprinted to the box at 10 yards to engage one or both targets. I decide before each run what combination and in what order (left or right) I'd shoot the targets, mixing it up to avoid getting into a pattern. Running the drill 25 or 30 times allowed me to really see some places for improvement, such as when I was leaving position too soon, or shooting too early when arriving. And for the first time in many months I was actually sweating at the range instead of suffering with cold fingers! 

Since I was the only one at the range, I didn't have to worry about being told I was shooting too fast, and I could practice in private without worrying about other shooters. I was pretty happy with this practice session and think it was even beneficial. This would most likely be the last live fire practice before the first 2014 match next weekend.

Of course, there was no timer, no one was watching, and my score wasn't being recorded— it's not a wonder that I shot well.