Camp Perry 2018 AAR, and Thanks!

So after four years of playing around in bullseye, something clicked this year. I finally earned EIC points in SAFS, and now I'm hungry! 

Many of us have chased gear, technique, and tried to dissect what will make us better. When we plateau, we ask around, and someone better than you might give your their advice. It may or may not work for you, but you don't know until you go down that path for a while. I've met some pretty awesome people over the years, but I had two interactions this year that I feel will alter the way I shoot forever. Maybe it was just the right time to hear it, but, at least once, my scores went up within minutes.

During SAFS, Patrick Sleem was gauging my skill level and trying to figure out what I needed to work on. I shot a decent slow fire, then commented that it was all going to go flying out of the window after that. He assured me it wasn't, then saw- that is EXACTLY what happened.  He quipped "So that's where you lose ALL your points, isn't it?" then proceeded to give me a mental cue to slow down. Once I slowed down a bit he saw something. Apparently during sustained fire, I let my sights settle completely before initiating any trigger squeeze. Between that and me rushing, it was causing some pretty bad pulls. He told me that immediately after recoil, I need to start pulling the trigger. That by the time my sights settle in the target, I've already completed most of the pull. He warned me that I would rip shots high while I worked on the skill, but that it was necessary to get my scores up. Moments later, I was already loading the mags for the actual M9 match. I didn't have time to dwell on it, I just had to shoot. During the pratice match, I shot a 40 something and a 50 something on timed and rapid. During the official match, I shot an 88-3, 79-0, and 73-1. Apparently, a 240-4 was good enough for 10th overall, and (after sweating all night to see where the cutoff score was) my introductory leg.

As much as I tried to force it, I couldn't get my mind to apply the concept to Sasha (my 1911) during the Service Pistol match on Saturday. However, the next day, I was talking to Charlie Petrotto, and told him that "my instructor told me something that really made a huge impact. I can't get it applied to my gun yet, but I'm pretty excited about it." He kinda raised an eyebrow and asked "what did he tell you?" I've been there before, and I've shared, then had someone tell me the COMPLETE opposite of what I just thought I learned, and I've left confused.    Instead, Charlie thought about what I was trying to work on, and gave me some training situations that I could set up to practice THAT skill. I'm not sure why, but it never occurred to me that I could practice that during dry fire. When I dry fire, I always get that perfect, slow, practiced sight picture. Generally, dry fire is strictly how I pull the trigger during slow fire. I only get to practice sustained like once a month when I shoot live rounds. He suggested that during dry fire I angle the gun up and left off target, and roll down to the black, all the while pressing the trigger. When I start getting it to break in the black consistently, (instead of breaking high) I could project an animation of turning targets on my TV and practice it there as well to get the timing right.

All in all, I wanted to send my thanks out there to Patrick and Charlie. I know it's a small community, and it may not have come across then because of the Camp Perry rush, but I really appreciate it. I'm shooting for Distinguished this time next year- there are a lot more points up for grabs at Perry! Hope to see you all out there next year!

Thanks,
Carlos Felix
CMP#228315

Carlos, I like that idea of your dry-fire technique and will try it tonight. Where did you find a way to project a turning target on your tv ?
 Stan

There's an Android app called Bullseye Timer. If you have a tablet/phone HDMI adapter, or a TV that does apps, you can get it to show up on the TV.

Thanks Carlos, I never thought about doing that. You know that target on my phone if I put it at about 15 ft distance, is equal in scale to 25yrds for the regulation target. I used the 1 shot drill tonight for that dry-fire technique, that's a bit fast, I think I'll train with the rapid fire stage for a while and move the phone up to 5 ft away.
 That is challenging but fun, it keeps dry-firing real interesting.
 If you want to make a reduced size target this formula works:
(full size target in inches / by distance in inches) X your new distance in inches = reduced target size. I just use a 9 ring size dot on a piece of paper and practice on the black area at 10 ft. 
 The formula is 5.5" / by 900" (25yds)X 120" (10ft)= .73"
                       .0061x120=.73333"
 I should use all the rings including the 5 ring sometime.
Stan

There are printable correct scale 21 ft targets online.
I'll try and locate the URL.