Thanks for reporting and congratulations!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
paul-mf
After another week of delay due to personal travel I finally got my first training course done yesterday, a 90 minute private instruction session that was intended to: a) replace the 3-hour group course for new gun owners; b) help correct any bad habits I may have been forming with my solo practice sessions; c) possibly also add some level of LTC preparation. Thank you @
SouthNarc and others who recommended The Range At Austin. I couldn't be more pleased with my instructor, and the facility itself is also quite impressive.
Bottom line, I did better than I'd hoped on the back of my reading, youtubing, and limited IR laser dry fire practice sessions. With 75 rounds fired at a mix of 5, 10, and 15 yards, I managed 60 alphas, 12 charlies, and 3 deltas, with all of the deltas and most of the charlies occurring when the instructor pushed me to 1-second shot intervals at 10 and 15 yards. I can't remember the term the instructor used for repeated hits to the same spot, but when firing at slower intervals I had enough consistency to put 7 shots through prior in-stage shots. The instructor thought I could probably pass LTC even now, but I will definitely want to practice quite a bit more first.
Key takeaways from the session for me were:
- I have a tendency to let my primary hand thumb go loose, and when firing longer multi-shot sequences my support hand also starts to loosen up.
- My trigger smoothness is apparently unusually good for a newbie, perhaps due to all the hours of piano practice and coding as an IT nerd
- I'm incredibly slow getting from table start or holster start to a site picture eligible for moving my trigger finger into position
- I start moving my head or turning my wrists rather than using my elbows/arms when under time pressure
- Reading, youtube, and dryfire practice has been helpful in net and not (yet) introduced any egregiously bad habits
- Overthinking is the enemy -- I did better on my 2-second shot groupings than on my unlimited-time groupings.
- My handling is pathetic, particularly on reloads and in recognizing malfunction or empty mag situations. I won't worry about this for now, with higher priority on getting from draw to sight picture and on consecutive shot speed with consistency.
The plan from here is to do daily handling and dry fire practice, and bi weekly ranch live fire practice for 6 or 8 weeks, then return to the range for a group LTC course.
Thank you again to everyone here for all of the advice and guidance. I am starting to feel like I may be on the right path.
I say this as someone who strives to instruct/teach as a volunteer at a local club: great to hear you followed through-welcome to the path. One can go far, and training can be somewhat addicting.
Your list above has a number of things to unpack, but I’ll paraphrase others with a few thoughts:
First, I don’t know and don’t much care about your weapon of choice, but practice handling it safely. And by that I would respectfully refer you to Coopers “4 rules”. Learning is good, but an injury or tragedy brings it to an end.
Dry practice is great! But my experience is life can get in the way of it daily. You seem busy -family, work travel-got it. So, 2-3 simple sessions a week will put you way out in front of a lot of carriers. A lot of us here have circumstances where we can do it; it’s our job and/or we super enthusiasts. I guess what I’m trying to say is don’t burn yourself out or beat yourself up if you miss a few days. Scheduling it works for me.
I looked the Texas LTC qual; I’m a confessed drill/qual nerd. Respectfully suggest if you have a private range(ranch?), you take a run or two at it before your class test. The version I read doesn’t have draws, reloads(although you’ll have to reload during the course of the qual)or time standards. So, to me your last line kinda is a summary: focus on an efficient presentation and reasonable accuracy in time frames.
A lot of us here at PF are super enthusiastic, and I’ve learned a lot even though I was shooting handguns for 30+years before. I’ll finally recommend looking up Claude Werner, the “tactical Professor “. Full disclosure: he’s a friend, but I think he has a lot to say to folks who are serious about living with a gun.
Best of luck with your shooting
