My Quest for C Class

I’ve been doing the Wall Drill for almost a week now, and when I did it one handed with my left hand, I was reminded of something I already knew, from training class, and from USPSA classifiers where I had to shoot with my left hand – I suck shooting one handed with my left hand. It really is my weak hand. The gun looks like I have some kind of muscle control issues.

I’ve never thought of my left hand as particularly weak, but the truth was staring me in the face.

So, one day last week I decided to take some action. I was out of the office to call on a client, and I happened to be about an hour early for my appointment. As fate would have it, my client’s office was one exit down from a big box sporting goods store. There I found the Everlast Hand and Finger Strengthener. It has separate spring loaded posts for each finger, and a backstrap that looks a lot like a pistol grip.

I’ve been using it while I work, and I’ll report how my Wall Drill results fare.

Photo courtesy of pistol-training.com

My Quest for C Class

I’ve learned enough in this world to know that it’s all been done before. I’m not going to invent anything new on my road to shooting improvement. The best I can hope for is to take what has already been revealed by the best, and make it my own.

So I started my quest with some research on the interwebz by looking at what the best shooters were doing to improve. Naturally, Caleb Giddings’ Quest for Master Class drew my attention. Caleb pointed me to a great post by ToddG at pistol-training.com, where Todd builds a month-long training routine around the venerable Wall Drill.

The Wall Drill takes the simple dry firing act and isolates the firing action itself, by removing all focus except the front sight and the trigger. Quoting ToddG:

Holding your unloaded pistol in a normal shooting grip and stance, press the muzzle to the wall until it just barely makes contact, then back off about an inch. Because you are using a blank wall as your backstop, you effectively have no target. There is nothing for you to focus on except your front sight.

From this position, practice your trigger manipulation. The goal is to press the trigger straight back with consistent pressure until the “shot” breaks without disturbing your sight alignment throughout the process. Remember, that is the key to accuracy — a proper trigger press that doesn’t mess up your sight picture.

He then builds several training routines around this drill – with both hands, strong hand, weak hand, from retention, from the holster, with movement, and while clearing jams and malfunctions. Taking about 10 minutes to perform, these drills don’t take up much time, and most importantly, they’re too short for me to get bored.

So, I started from the beginning, and I’ve completed Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I practice in a paneled office, so I taped a sheet of plain paper to the wall to take away any point of focus.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, said the Master. I’ve take three.

Last fall, Caleb Giddings at Gun Nuts started a series of posts, which aired on Michael Bane’s Down Range TV, called The Quest for Master Class. I thought they were informative and a good insight into what it takes to work hard to be the best.

I’ve never been threat to make Master in any of the groups I shoot with. While I did win a couple of matches a few years ago, recently I have been content to place in the middle of the pack. In fact, in GSSF, I’ve come in at the top third the last match I shot, and I have steadily improved for a few years.

But I’ve never come in last in a match. Until now.

This past weekend, I came in dead last in the Production division at a USPSA match.

Let this be a lesson to you, dear reader. You cannot cruise in any sport.

I admit, I did not practice at all since my last USPSA match. Yes, I had a couple of visits to the range, and I even shot my USPSA pistol. But I didn’t practice. Practice is doing something inherent to the sport that will build muscle memory, or ingrain a concept. Just shooting is not practice. Shooting while paying attention to sight alignment, or trigger reset, or with my arms bent simulating a difficult stance is practice. I didn’t do any of that.

When I saw the scores, I was surprised. There have been times in my life when I didn’t practice much, and still did better. But I guess times have changed, and the competition is better. And let’s face it, I’m older.

One thing is for sure, though – I am embarrassed, so much so that I considered not even blogging about it. I thought, if anything, I could use the impetus of this failure, this feeling, to drive me to improve. Then, in a few months, after I work my ass off and finish in the top half of a match, I can blog about the time I came in dead last, and used it to drive me to improve.

But I also know myself. It would be so easy just to stay where I am, not say anything, and not improve, if I’m not accountable to anyone.

But if I share this, then I’m officially on the hook, as it were. I know there are people who read this, and I can rely on them for feedback, either for ideas and encouragement, or not to read any more, which is feedback in itself.

So, starting today, look for a post at least once a week about My Quest for C Class. Because, officially, I can’t get any worse.