BassCliff
Ronin
Hey gang,
It's me, the bandwidth hog. I had a little practice session earlier, just before this class. Hopefully I'm good and warmed up for some scootin' and shootin'. Today we had to sign a new waiver to travel beyond the bays and get downrange. I put my kit on #3.
I had ordered up a couple cases of this Remington and I think I like it.
There were 10 students in the class today. We started with some simple "3 to 5" hits at 5, 7, 10, 15 yards, sometimes pivoting 90° or 180°.
About halfway through the exercise I had only a couple outside the "vital" zone.
When we checked our targets at the end of the exercise, I had started a big raggedy hole. I like those.
The next exercise was called the "Ten by Ten". It consisted of a 10" square, from the draw, putting 10 hits in the square in less than 10 seconds, from 10 yards. My target is #3 from the left.
I like to practice my 10-10-10 drills so I did pretty well with this one. This is after the first 10 hits.
This is after the second 10 hits.
Yep, all 20 hits are in and well under par time. This next drill was a new one for me. What did they call it? The "Progression Drill", maybe? Five targets on the diagonal, from about 3 to 20 yards, putting three hits on each target, closest to farthest, then reverse. Two students shot this exercise at the same time, one on either side.
Standing in one spot, the goal was to vary your pace so that you could make good hits on all the targets, closer targets faster, farther targets a little slower.
The instructor noticed that when I started closest to farthest, my pace was pretty much the same for all targets. When shooting farthest to closest, my pace sped up the closer I got. Not a bad thing, just an observation. If you miss, it doesn't matter how fast you shoot. The instructors always stress, make good hits. Speed will come with repetition and practice.
The next exercise involved multiple shoot/no-shoot targets, walking across the range putting three hits on the bad guys while missing the bystanders, and NOT flagging them.
I have video of me doing this exercise. The next exercise reversed the targets, putting the bad guys up front. We had to walk across the range, shoot all bad guys, and avoid hits on the bystanders behind. I put all head shots on my bad guys for this exercise. The instructor was impressed.
We ended the session with the standard "Fletcher Drill"; three to the chest, two to the head, reload, repeat on the second target. It's a timed drill. Yes, it's a variation of the Failure To Stop drill with a couple extra shots and an extra target.
We each did two runs of this drill. I have my runs on the video as well. Here's the old noob himself, getting ready for an exercise.
These were my two targets on the end.
The close up shows only one hit out of the score zone. That miss was on my first run.
My second run was clean with a time of 8.25 seconds. I needed a time of 8 seconds or less to qualify for the "advanced" patch. Maybe next time. I'll end this report with my video. The first exercise is the multiple target shoot/no-shoot with motion. Then you'll see both runs of my timed "Fletcher Drill". I not only had one miss on the first run (half second penalty), I had a little foible. My big fat thumb was on the slide release and did not allow the slide to lock back. This has happened before so I knew to fix it quickly and "stay in the fight".
We followed up with a debrief back in the classroom. Next month we'll be able to take this class at our outdoor sister range. That should be loads of fun, more room to run'n'gun. Until then, may the Lord bless you and keep you.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
It's me, the bandwidth hog. I had a little practice session earlier, just before this class. Hopefully I'm good and warmed up for some scootin' and shootin'. Today we had to sign a new waiver to travel beyond the bays and get downrange. I put my kit on #3.
I had ordered up a couple cases of this Remington and I think I like it.
There were 10 students in the class today. We started with some simple "3 to 5" hits at 5, 7, 10, 15 yards, sometimes pivoting 90° or 180°.
About halfway through the exercise I had only a couple outside the "vital" zone.
When we checked our targets at the end of the exercise, I had started a big raggedy hole. I like those.
The next exercise was called the "Ten by Ten". It consisted of a 10" square, from the draw, putting 10 hits in the square in less than 10 seconds, from 10 yards. My target is #3 from the left.
I like to practice my 10-10-10 drills so I did pretty well with this one. This is after the first 10 hits.
This is after the second 10 hits.
Yep, all 20 hits are in and well under par time. This next drill was a new one for me. What did they call it? The "Progression Drill", maybe? Five targets on the diagonal, from about 3 to 20 yards, putting three hits on each target, closest to farthest, then reverse. Two students shot this exercise at the same time, one on either side.
Standing in one spot, the goal was to vary your pace so that you could make good hits on all the targets, closer targets faster, farther targets a little slower.
The instructor noticed that when I started closest to farthest, my pace was pretty much the same for all targets. When shooting farthest to closest, my pace sped up the closer I got. Not a bad thing, just an observation. If you miss, it doesn't matter how fast you shoot. The instructors always stress, make good hits. Speed will come with repetition and practice.
The next exercise involved multiple shoot/no-shoot targets, walking across the range putting three hits on the bad guys while missing the bystanders, and NOT flagging them.
I have video of me doing this exercise. The next exercise reversed the targets, putting the bad guys up front. We had to walk across the range, shoot all bad guys, and avoid hits on the bystanders behind. I put all head shots on my bad guys for this exercise. The instructor was impressed.
We ended the session with the standard "Fletcher Drill"; three to the chest, two to the head, reload, repeat on the second target. It's a timed drill. Yes, it's a variation of the Failure To Stop drill with a couple extra shots and an extra target.
We each did two runs of this drill. I have my runs on the video as well. Here's the old noob himself, getting ready for an exercise.
These were my two targets on the end.
The close up shows only one hit out of the score zone. That miss was on my first run.
My second run was clean with a time of 8.25 seconds. I needed a time of 8 seconds or less to qualify for the "advanced" patch. Maybe next time. I'll end this report with my video. The first exercise is the multiple target shoot/no-shoot with motion. Then you'll see both runs of my timed "Fletcher Drill". I not only had one miss on the first run (half second penalty), I had a little foible. My big fat thumb was on the slide release and did not allow the slide to lock back. This has happened before so I knew to fix it quickly and "stay in the fight".
We followed up with a debrief back in the classroom. Next month we'll be able to take this class at our outdoor sister range. That should be loads of fun, more room to run'n'gun. Until then, may the Lord bless you and keep you.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
