Greg Derr wrote:Gerard: You have a lot going on, most of it good.
Thanks Greg. I really appreciate your offer of analysis and suggestions and will try to respond thoughtfully.
Greg Derr wrote:Now some things to change. First treat your arm like that of a baseball pitcher. Don't pitch a complete game one day and try to pitch the next day. You should rest a day after shooting a match and or playing( more on that later)Overworking your arm is a killer. When I was training at my peak I would shoot every other day and lift light weights and run the other days.
Good point. I am often somewhat guilt-driven, whether in work or in training, resulting in over-training and over-working and sometimes burning out. I will make a solid effort to schedule my training in a safer and more disciplined way.
Greg Derr wrote:Don't keep score- this is also a killer. Think in terms of group. Try training on a target without scoring rings. Black out the rings with a marker( numbers too) At this stage you should be working on consistent groups not score.
Already been doing this for a while. I often shoot on the back of a target, sometimes draw a target-scaled black circle with a compass and scribble it in with a fat Sharpie so as to emulate the ringless SUIS type paper shot on at major competitions and just to avoid the temptation of scoring. I shoot better on blank white paper, but find it less valuable than on the black spot in terms of translatable results when going back to scoring in the next session.
Greg Derr wrote:When you train have a plan- for example I write down in advance what I want to train- like hold for endurance. To do this I raise the pistol on target, settle and hold. Without breaking a shot or dry fire, I raise the pistol up again above the target without setting it down, and settle, hold then release a dry fire shot. Then rest on the bench.
Some good tips. I'll write this and some other drills out and include these as part of my training.
Greg Derr wrote:Just shooting is not really training.
Yeah, I know. I've been improving my groups lately thanks in large part to putting more emphasis on a particular element of my shot plan, with visualization during sighting being the element getting the most attention and follow-through coming a close second.
Greg Derr wrote:After a training session try this- write down three things you were satisfied with in training, then write one thing you were not satisfied with.
The last thing on the list is what you should train the next session.
My notes haven't been this detailed for the most part, so I'll have to be more thorough in the thinking and note-writing after training it seems.
Greg Derr wrote:The last thing on the list is what you should train the next session. Do not train when you are tired, irritated with work, kids or life. This will only frustrate you and cause you to compromise your training or deflate your ego.
I'd like to address this together in a comment below, regarding mixing play and training with the same pistol...
Greg Derr wrote:Next- if you making a change to equipment. Do not shoot a few shots and give up on it. If you thought you needed to make an adjustment, give it a real vetting. If you don't you will have it in the back of your mind at a later date- not good.
Usually this is what I do, giving any modification at least a day or two, often a week before letting myself reverse it or tweak it further. But the trigger angle was just obviously too much, had to pull it back or the pistol was pulling far to the right as shown in those vertically aligned 8's but also in the previous warm-up targets.
Greg Derr wrote:On playing with guns. I never shot my FP or AP as recreation. It's a special tool. You can destroy a lot of sub conscience training that way. Want to play pick up a non target gun. Tools are for work, toys are for play.
I haven't gone plinking since I was 14 years old. 36 years ago. My brother finally bugged me enough that it was time, the kids are old enough for a taste of shooting, so we packed up a Tempest, a Gamo Center, an Diana 6M, and my Baikal 46m and Pardini K10, a bunch of Lifesavers and beer cans for targets (along with some 10metre paper targets but those we didn't use much, the kids liked them more), and we spent a fine afternoon blasting candies at all sorts of ranges. My feeling about this in terms of target shooting? Something John Robinson told me last year resonates nicely: "Don't forget to play!" When I was shooting the Webley Tempest or the Gamo or the Diana, I hit the candies just about as easily as with the Baikal or the Pardini (well okay, not so much with the Tempest - the thing kicks like a .22" sport pistol. But they bugged me, as none of the three sporting pellet pistols really fits me all that well and each has its own quirks which get in the way of comfortable shooting. I found it much more relaxing and enjoyable using a pistol which fit me well. And more importantly for my serious side, I found that exploring the subtleties of sight estimation at 30 yards and beyond made me understand the Pardini better. I was feeling out the trajectory, finding myself getting more involved with how the sights looked with naked eyes instead of a shooting lens and iris and blinder, and trying various stances on rough ground with largely equal success. It really was fun. And I came home and shot one target and got a tighter group than I'd shot in many weeks, scored at 96. I came back refreshed, and more 'involved' with my main pistol owing to having explored how I handled it at various elevations and ranges.
In my opinion, for the way I learn things, this was all good. Similarly, and this is referring to your above quoted comment on states of mind when practicing or training, I will often shoot a target or two specifically
because I am in a bad mood, or distracted, or otherwise compromised. My take on this is that I cannot depend on my mood for a match. I have no control over others or the environment generally at a match. For instance being stuck next to a heavy breather whose snorting, half-choking gasps for breath before every shot (there's this one guy... drives me nuts) bring up such anger in me that I find it difficult to shoot a 7, never mind a 10. But I must, right? Somehow I must prepare myself to shoot 10's regardless of match conditions. I must be ready to calmly shoot my best match, whether my socks feel itchy, my customers are bugging me too much, whether I'm annoyed with yet another stupid decision from our corrupt government, or whatever is making part of my mind pull me away from the job at hand. To me, this sort of brief session of shooting is a form of discipline-building exercise. My kid sitting beside me asking two or three times every shot about whether it was a 10, whether the next one will be, why caterpillars are so easy to squash, or whatever it is which drives fathers of little boys nuts, that stuff helps me to learn my form of meditative discipline, helps me to be ready for anything. A sort of mild torture testing to harden my mettle. So on this point I very respectfully but stubbornly disagree. I'll play, and I'll shoot while distracted, and in both instances will observe my inner workings and learn from my experiences.
Greg Derr wrote:Is this OK for now? Greg
You are, as they say, a scholar and a gentleman. Thank you for this honest and generous critique and the good advice which followed.