Week 193: The Humbler (700-Point Aggregate)

[JHC]

Kevin B offered me a tip to try the Humbler out at 15 yards before jumping into the deep end of the pool.

Between holidays, travel, family visiting and some rain I haven't worked this in yet. Still undecided to take his good advice or take the plunge.

[okie john]

Go for it.


Okie John

[Big Iron]

Happy New Year! If everyone will pardon the intrusion I would like to participate a bit and I like the idea that this can start to hold me accountable for my mediocre abilities and give me something to look at and work to improve. This drill is the first to close so I tackled it first. This is my first attempt at the humbler and I apologize for not reading Mr. Whites instructions closer to begin with. After my printer was out of ink, I abandoned the idea of a separate target for each string, and pretty much just stayed at 25 yards and shot the whole thing. I did score string one...90 points with one X. Right away I felt the wheels kind of come off for rapid fire. When I got done and then saw that the instructions clearly said score each string it was clear right off that I didn't learn as much as I could have from this.



Hope that picture shows up...I come up with 512 points out of a possible 700. I have a problem with most everything being left...other than that one I yanked almost plumb off the paper, low. Sorry if this post is too long. I should probably start a training journal to ramble in!

[okie john]

What were the details: pistol, load, holster, sights, etc.?


Okie John

[Big Iron]

Sorry! Thanks for pointing out what I forgot. Pistol is a P2000 LEM, factory 3 dot sights and I blacked out the rear dots with a sharpie. Load was Speer 124Gr+p Gold Dot. Holster is JMCK OWB1 at 3'o'clock. These 70 rounds put me at 195 rounds through this pistol.

[okie john]

This drill is called The Humbler for a reason, and most people won't even attempt it. I see several things to consider as you look at this score:

• 512 is a solid first run. It's over 70%, which is better than a lot of people can do even with practice.
• Nearly 50% of your total round count with this pistol was on this instance of this drill. Your score will almost definitely go up sharply as you shoot this pistol more. That's doubly true if you're new to the LEM trigger.
• You're shooting at 25 yards, which is a challenge with anything.
• Try to look at your performance in different contexts. The extreme spread of your overall group is probably about 15". If the group were centered on an IPSC target, then you'd have some Bs and Cs, but a LOT of A-zone hits.
• The Humbler is a test of fundamentals, and one fundamental that entirely too many people overlook is having a good zero. The center of the group on this target is in the 7 ring at 10 o'clock. I'd spend some time shooting slow-fire groups at 25 yards to figure out exactly where this pistol is zeroed, then do what is required to center the group on the X. That could mean drifting the sights or getting new ones, or using a different load, or using a different sight picture. When you've done that, you'll have a baseline to understand any flaws in your technique. If you look at the runs I posted, the ONLY difference is that the load I used for the first run has a different POI than the load I used for the second. I scored 72% on the first run and nearly 78% on the second. So yeah, zero matters.

It might not hurt to sit down and make a list of every question you have about your performance on this drill, then spend the time, money, and ammunition it takes to start answering them. Post those questions here. We'll help where we can.


Okie John

[MVS]

G19 w/RMR Tula 115 ammo. AIWB, pullover concealment

Stage 1; 90/100 2x
Stage 2; 86/100
Stage 3; 78/100
Stage 4; 37/50 high left
Stage 5; 28/50 2 fliers low
Stage 6; 38/50
Stage 7; 29/50 decent group, way left
Stage 8; 41/50
Stage 9; 35/50 shot way too fast
Stage 10; 41/50
Stage 11; 43/50
Total; 546/50

I kept putting this off because it scared me, but I figured what the heck. Overall not a great performance, but it could have been worse. Rushed too much when I didn't need to. Kneeling and prone are something I almost never do with a pistol and there is some room there for easy improvement. WHO was awful. Way to the left, I will try to put a pic below.


I put my gun over my range bag and shot a 10 shot group to check my zero afterwards. All shots were in the black, centered in windage but a tick high. That lets me know all the problems during the Humbler were my trigger press, not the gun

[DocGKR]

Equipment used: G19 w/RMR06 and KKM barrel firing Fed 147gr FMJ AE9FP; JMC AIWB holster under a Gore-Tex rain jacket, fleece vest, and untucked shirt (it was raining and cold).

Score for each string:
Stage 1 - Slow Fire: 100-7x
Stage 2 - Timed Fire From The Holster: 93-2x (had trouble with my draws from under all the clothing--rushed one shot and put it in the 8 ring at 1 o'clock and jerked another one into the 8 ring at 7 o'clock)
Stage 3 - Rapid Fire From The Holster: 89-1x (two in the 8 ring at 7 & 10 o'clock, and another two in the 7 ring at 1 & 10 o'clock)
Stage 4 - SHO Slow Fire: 48-0x
Stage 5 - SHO Timed Fire From The Holster: 41-0x (strangely all at around 1 o'clock right on lines between rings)
Stage 6 - SHO Rapid Fire From The Holster: 39-0x (don't know if I over compensated from the string before, but this got really weird, as all were at 10-11 o'clock)
Stage 7 - WHO Slow Fire: 40-0x (everything stringing out at 9 o'clock-6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ring)
Stage 8 - Kneeling Slow Fire: 47-1x (three 9 rings at 1 o'clock)
Stage 9 - Kneeling Timed Fire From The Holster: 45-0x (two 8 rings and one right on the 8-9 line all at 2 o'clock)
Stage 10 - Prone Slow Fire: 50-2x
Stage 11 - Prone Timed Fire From The Holster: 49-1x (put one into the 9-ring at 1 o'clock)

Total score for all strings combined: 641-14x

Anything you noticed: Ran this cold (literally and figuratively) after not shooting for 4 weeks. I had some problems with my draws, as I am not used to wearing so many layers of clothes. Had NO problems with the RMR despite the rain. Slow fire and supported fire (kneeling and prone) are strong points for me, faster shots from the holster are where I begin to break down and make more mistakes--definitely need improvement on making quicker draws and better accuracy at speed. As previously noted, shooting an RDS equipped pistol on longer range drills like this gives the illusion that I am a better shooter than I am in reality. It is clear I really need to spend more time on SHO and WHO shooting, as I have neglected these areas over the past year...