Range Trip - 3-30-2014

 

Very nice day to head to the range.  Sunshine, 58*F . . . what more could someone in the Midwest want!!  It’s been a bit since I put up a traditional range video.  This is a typical process to just kick the dust off a bit.  I always warm-up with my Ruger .22/45 then I worked on my draw and presentation to be ready for the PPOTH course coming up on April 12,13.  I did a bit of video on this trip – an intro on the way, a Jeep “selfie” video on the way to the range and then some video of the warm-up and some of the 9mm work.  Nothing special really but I want to present it as an example to new shooters of how they can self-document their trips so they can review their trip when they get back home.

The still camera is simply my cell phone, a Samsung Note2.  In fact self-facing camera is what I used to take the “selfie” in the Jeep.  The range video camera is attached to the right side of my hearing protection and is the Contour ROAM 1600.  It’s a great piece of gear.  Take a look through the Gear Reviews for a better look at it.  That said, there’s some perfectly fine gear for much lower prices to get the new shooter started.

Intro to today’s range trip!

.22/45 Warm Up – Left Side Only

.22/45 50ft and 25m

Here’s the results from the warm-up round with the .22/45:

Triangles were shot at 5m, squares at 7m and the circles at 10m.  The center chest box was shot at 50ft and the pelvic box was shot at 25m.  My personal goal is 80% so I met the goal and worked out some of the rust.

When you hit the range for the first time after a layoff – don’t rush it.  We’ve all seen shooters step into the box or up to the table and just hurry through their session.  Some of this is nervous energy.  Most is that they arrive without a plan.  Make a plan.  Review it on the way to the range.  Take your time to move to your lane, lay out your gear.  Visualize each part of your plan before you execute it.  Then, just shoot your plan.  Then, at the end of your trip you’ll be able to see if you met your goals.  And, you can compare it to your last trip.  Did you improve?  Stay the same? Did you find areas that need work?  THAT is the purpose of the photos and videos.

Next I did 15 one-round engagements from the draw from 5m, 7m, 10m and 50ft with my Glock 17.  Let’s take a look:

Glock 17, 1-round engagement 5m

Glock 17 Multi-round Engagements

Glock 17 50ft.

Here is where you can begin to “rationalize” your hits.  Virtually all were “combat effective” (they would do real damage to an oncoming threat) with the exception of one round on the 50ft target that slide out to the left.  Otherwise the the majority of the rest were high, center chest but some rounds fell outside of “the box”.  For the new shooter, this is where you can begin to push yourself to simply do better.  Good hits?  In a gunfight, I’ll take all of them (well . . . with the exception of the one that slid out to the left.  But, when you are training . . . when I’m training . . . I expect better.  And that will be part of the work for my next range trip.  Again, that’s the benefit of images.  You can review your performance, compare it to past trips and to provide you “footsteps” on your shooting journey.

So, hit the range, have a plan, take some images, record your results and then . . . use the information to improve your shooting!