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Thread: Vet / Comment on My Live Fire Practice Plan

  1. #1
    Site Supporter JFK's Avatar
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    Vet / Comment on My Live Fire Practice Plan

    So I am making a big effort to make Master in IDPA and A class in USPSA next year. I have been looking at what I do with my limited practice time due to travel and realize that maximizing what time I have outside of just dry fire is gong to be important. Here is the training plan I came up with. Please give me your thoughts.

    Goal: Have a meaningful live fire training session that practices all the fundamentals of competition shooting skills. The training session should be repeatable, easy to set up, and take minimal time out of the day. The training session should be trackable and easy to record to monitor progress. Total time from leaving the house to returning should be no more than 2.5 hours including drive time. Should be affordable and around 200 rounds per session.

    To meet these goals I have decided to get away from using paper target as much as possible. I had 9 8" steel targets made that stand on 2x4s. My thought process is the 8" steel is the size of a down 0 in IDPA. All my times and practice will be recorded as time and hits or misses. This way I put more of a premium on accuracy and don't have to tape anything. I still need one paper target to act like a barricade and I do need it for some of the distance fundamentals and the FAST drill. I keep this stuff in my truck. The range is 20 min from my house, and this takes me about 10 - 15 min to set up. That gives me Over an hour of shooting time. I hope to get this down so door to door I am only taking 2 hours out of my day.

    Here is the plan:
    String 1: Fast Drill cold @ 7 yards (2 to the head, slide lock reload 4 to the body) 6 Rounds
    • Test on demand performance. Benchmark


    String 2: Walk Back Drill. *Fire three rounds each at 3, 7, 10, 15, and 20 yards with no time. 15 Rounds
    • Enforce fundementals of grip, trigger, and sight picture


    String 3 - 5: 1 Reload 2 @ 10 Yards x3. 9 Rounds
    • Speed
    • Reloads
    • Sight Picture
    • Trigger


    String 6 - 7: Fire 2 rounds each, reload fire 2 rounds each @ 10 yards. 24 Rounds
    • Speed
    • Reloads
    • Target transitions


    String 8 - 9: Fire 2 rounds each while moving @ 10 yards, reload fire 2 rounds each @ 15 yards while moving 24 Rounds
    • Shooting while moving
    • Reloading while moving
    • Distance transitions


    String 10 - 11: Fire two rounds each @ 10 yards, slide lock or speed reload. Fire 2 rounds each @ 15 yards. Tactical reload while moving to 12 yards fire two rounds each. 36 Rounds
    • Position entry and exit
    • Moving under time pressure
    • Various reloads


    String 12 - 13: Fire two rounds each strong hand, reload, fire two rounds each weak hand @ 10 yards. 12 Rounds
    • Strong and weak hand shooting
    • Pistol transitions
    • Grip and single hand trigger control


    String 14 - 15: Fire two rounds each strong hand, reload, fire two rounds each weak hand @ 15 yards. 12 Rounds
    • Strong and weak hand shooting
    • Pistol transitions
    • Grip and single hand trigger control


    String 16: Fire two rounds each left side of barricade, reload fire two rounds each right side of barricade. 12 Rounds
    • Barricade transitions
    • Shooting from cover


    String 17: Fire two rounds each left side of barricade left hand only, reload fire tow rounds each right side of barricade right hand only. 12 Rounds
    • Strong and weak hand shooting
    • Pistol transitions
    • Grip and single hand trigger control
    • Barricade transitions
    • Shooting from cover


    String 18: Fire 8 rounds on the paper targete @ 40 yards, no time. 8 Rounds

    String 19: Fast Drill @ 7 yards (2 to the head, slide lock reload 4 to the body) 6 Rounds
    • Benchmark



    Total of 200 rounds.

    Attached is the range set up.

    Thanks for your input.

    Jay

    Name:  Screen Shot 2017-11-23 at 8.37.37 AM.jpg
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  2. #2
    I used to use the old IDPA Classifier. Maybe once a month, I would shoot it from start to finish. I would score and paste after each string not stage. I have kept a record since 1997 on how I do. I can go back and look at each string and see what I need to work on. I only needed to hang 3 targets and throw down some sticks to mark the distances. I mostly used the first 2 stages for practice.

    Another one I use is draw and fire 2 at each reload, either slide lock or speed, then 2 at each.

    I have used an IDPA target with the USPSA "A" zone drawn on it to see the difference.

    To practice for IDPA you need to get a lot of points. In USPSA you can let a few points get away if you are fast enough.

    With just the steel, how will you know where your misses go?
    Last edited by BN; 11-23-2017 at 01:33 PM.

  3. #3
    I would just shoot the IDPA classifier, it's 72 rounds. Then look at all my numbers for low hanging fruit and start working on those.

  4. #4
    Use paper targets, they show where you miss the 0 or A. Pick only 1 or 2 drills per session and work on pushing your self and fixing mistakes. Shooting 10-20 rounds on 10 different drills is an assessment, not practice. You will not learn anything and it will slow you down setting up drills. Don't get stuck on single target drills, there boring, limited, and lack transitions.

  5. #5
    Member MVS's Avatar
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    You stated your goals, where are you at right now? I agree with the above posters who said make sure to use some paper targets. I also would consider what HopetownBrown said about just shooting the classifier if that is really your main goal.

  6. #6
    Site Supporter JFK's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Nesbitt View Post

    With just the steel, how will you know where your misses go?
    Some what of my thought process of forcing accuracy. Only accepting hits. Working on accuracy at speed for the bulk of practice. Aim small miss small theory. Also at this point when I miss I have a pretty good idea exactly what I did when I broke the shot.
    Last edited by JFK; 11-23-2017 at 10:09 PM.

  7. #7
    Site Supporter JFK's Avatar
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    I guess I should also say I am trying to reach Master at IDPA by way of match bump.

    I understand the use of the old classifier, but I have been doing that for years and have no progress in match performance as I am loosing more time in movement and position set up than points down.

    Maybe I should look at throwing some more paper in for tracking misses, or down points. Or create a second regiment to throw in the mix as I don't want to get board with this either.

  8. #8
    Site Supporter taadski's Avatar
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    I’d strongly steer you away from the idea of shooting steel as a primary target type for this process. For some of the reasons already mentioned, but also because learning to evaluate your shooting visually (while you’re doing it) is a very important part of higher level shooting. And having a steel target giving audio feedback can substantially hinder (read distract) you from that process. I’d plan on shooting predominantly paper for that reason.

    Your comments about “only accepting hits” and “aiming small, missing small” are all well and good. But the process of you getting better at these sports is going to require you to push past what you’re currently capable of speed-wise and actually allow yourself to shoot misses. Surfing back and forth in the gray zone between, on one hand, what you can shoot with high reliability and, on the other, the pace where your shooting starts to outrun what you can see, is where you need to be training if your interested in getting faster.

    Take to heart the comments above about shooting the classifier and then evaluating where your low hanging fruit lies. It’s a long course of fire that contains many of the required skills to be successful. It’s a good barometer and will help direct where you need work. I know you mentioned you’ve been shooting it for years. Now’s the time to do so with an open mind re where you’re deficient compared to those shooting it at the levels you’re looking to achieve. It’s not about going through the motions; it’s about picking apart every detail to see where you’re not keeping up with the joneses.

    You’ve already mentioned a few weaknesses (movement and positional setups) you’ve identified. Now prescribe some drills evaluating your ability in those specific realms and start crushing them in practice. The key to getting better is truly learning to self evaluate and self coach.

    More than anything else, prepare yourself to commit to a scheduled dry fire regiment and submit to doing the work and putting in the reps. Buy a timer if you don’t already own one and pick up Stoeger’s Skills and Drills and Steve Anderson’s Get To Work and read them diligently. Then follow their prescription. They’ll shortcut a lot of misguided effort and put you on the correct practice path.

    Good luck with your goals! I look forward to watching your progress!

  9. #9
    Site Supporter JFK's Avatar
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    Great feedback. Thank you.

    I think my next step will be a paper based training set as well. I will then experiment with both.

    Something that is important to me and that has been hindering my live fire practice is time and lack of direction. Dry fire is easy. Getting to the range collecting gear etc. is a hassle. There have been many times when I have skipped live fire because I know that I would be rushing or not have enough day light, or insert time based excuse here.

    Perfect practice is great, but I am also looking for something that I know I can do quickly and easy to lessen the excuse monster for getting my time in.

    I have some time off over the next couple of weeks so I think I am gong to try the program above, the classier approach, and a more custom paper based approach and measure the time invested and effort involved.

    The knowledge and advice is solid, but I am wiling to sacrifice some of the ideal situation for encouraging me to get to the range more.

  10. #10
    Having a training plan is great- so many people just run out and punch holes in paper, call it good and leave.
    My only comment/question- is that your plan for a whole year? I would think the training might get stale after you do it 2-3-4 months in a row. Kind of like lifting weights- a little bit of variety can lead to better results.

    Maybe leave some extra ammo and shoot the Drill of the Week that Gabe White puts out. Also- start a training journal on the forum. I've found that it helps keep me on track with dry fire.
    Last edited by holmes168; 11-24-2017 at 09:13 AM.
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