Independence Weekend Range Time

After shooting two IDPA matches in the past week, the only shooting-related activity I had planned for the Independence weekend was gun cleaning. But then a friend texted Thursday evening asking if I wanted to hit the range Friday morning. As much as I prod my friends to practice, I really wasn't in a position to say "no."

We met early in the morning, and except for someone shooting what sounded like a cannon on the rifle range, we had the place to ourselves. No range officers to tell us we're shooting too fast, or remind us about target rules. (The latest decree from on high is that "Targets supported by wooden fabricated stands are less acceptable because of the debris that might be left.") We set up our "less acceptable" stands and had a couple hours of fun and good practice.

The end result of a good practice

Most of our range time consisted of drawing from the holster and firing one, two, or three hits on the target. After each mag's worth of shooting we moved to shoot a different distance, to mix it up a bit; shoot at 7 yards, move to 15, to 10, to 20, etc  That's about as much "training" we're allowed to do there. Despite the limits, we both still considered it a beneficial practice, and fun.

This was also chance to get more feel for shooting without my (now incorrect) prescription shooting glasses. It's a little odd to not see the targets and other distant objects clearly, but at the same time, it's quite thrilling to see the sights in sharp focus. With the old mono-focus prescription, I did need to squint the non-dominant eye when shooting from beyond 12-15 yards. Without any Rx, that's not necessary. Even with the out-of-focus targets, at 25 yards I was able to put 8 of 10 shots in the down 0 zone, with the remaining two in -1. (Disclaimer: Results in practice are no indication of future results in competition.)

I think I was able to shoot as accurately and as quickly, if not more so, than with the prescription inserts. Perhaps I've been forcing the issue in trying to see both distant and close up through my shooting glasses. Without my glasses I can see in the distance well-enough to find targets, and recognize people, although I wouldn't drive a car without them. Even fairly close in, I couldn't pick out the holes appearing in the target, but I was also usually aware when I pulled shot. I'm looking forward to more shooting and experimentation with vision and sight picture. (Fixed it.)