A Range Trip to Beat the Monday Blues

After a fun weekend away, I faced not only Monday, but a yard in need of mowing. Getting home from work I knocked out the grass, with still enough day left to get out to the range for a bit of practice. I had considered taking along some "terrorist targets" to mark the day, but opted to stick with the standard IDPA targets as I had specific drills planned. Again, I took along my current favorite guns, the two SIG P320 pistols.

The fun started with the Compact pistol from the 15 yard line. Right off the bat, the day was looking better with the first 10 rounds all hitting tight in the -0 zone. Feeling confident, I moved closer to the 7 yard line, and started working on strong hand and weak hand only shots, using the head zone of the target. Still, I was in the zone it seemed. I finished the rest of the box of ammo back at the 15 yard line.

Switching to the Full Size P320 for the rest of my time, I again started at the 15 yard line and then moved in for the SHO and WHO drills. Interestingly, I think I shot the smaller gun a bit more accurately when using just one hand.

Since I hadn't shot from distance very much recently, I ventured back to the 25 yard line. Shooting about 50 rounds from 25 yards, I was feeling good with my shooting. Good hits increase the pleasure of the rang time. Now confident and perhaps a bit cocky, I hiked the target down to the 50 yard berm. Just seeing the target at that distance is a challenge for me. A return hike after 10 rounds fired from 50 yards beat back my confidence a tad. Hitting paper 6 times, but with 5 in the -1 zone, led me to decide to work on that more. Another day.

Returning to a more sensible 15 yards, I worked on drawing from the holster and trying for a shot on target as quickly as the distance would allow. The session was capped off with a magazine's worth of fast pairs from the holster on the 10 yard target.

Overall, it was both a satisfying and fun practice session. The range has overly strict (IMHO) rules on fast shooting, a limitation I am trying to make some use of for mental preparation. I often find myself shooting too fast in the heat of competition, and getting ahead of my sights. Perhaps if I tell myself, "range speed" during the match I'll have better results. At the very least, successful practice sessions make for fun memories when relaxing with a beer later in the evening.