Caution: This is an entry about things that go boom. It’s NSFW (well, at my work, anyway)
So, for my bi-weekly time to myself, I choose to go to The Gun Warehouse (a.k.a “Bud’s Gun Shop”) in Lexington and try out some techniques I saw here:
Bud’s was busy (as typical of any Saturday), but I got on the range about 11:30am. If you’ve never been in a busy gun shop, it’s truly an experience: Excitement, fear, bravado from customers and staunch professionalism from the staff. Can’t recommend the place enough.
First I did the two-in-the hole drill at 3 yards, and results weren’t encouraging. [Excuses] I was wearing my glasses today after having pinkeye this past week. I’m also trying to shift from using my right eye primarily (which I’ve used to shoot all my life) to going to my left eye, which is my dominant eye. I’m also trying to learn the isosceles stance,[/Excuses]
Anyway, I was basically unable to hit two in one hole at 3 yards, so I moved on to the X drill. It was actually really neat. I’ve never intentionally worked on my shooting before, particularly with a handgun and the X drill was a great way to observe what I was doing at 3 yards. I was very erratic–I hit low left, high right, and everything in between. I did notice that as I was more intentional about my breathing and my hold, the better I got, ending with some punching the center of the X. I was never taught to focus on the front sight and the sight picture, so being intentional there yielded results.
I did two rounds of the X drill, and then I kicked up to the 5-10-15-20 drill. Overall, I was pleased..I consistently got shots on the center (“Center mass?”) of the target, and I was able to take a few potshots at the head with good results.
My body seemed to reject using my left eye, so I’m calling it a work-in progress.
Overall, it’s surprisingly hard to hit something consistently with a handgun from what’s a trivial distance with a rifle. It’s also a pretty significant adrenaline hit being on a range full of people shooting (and people just blazing away 2 stalls over). I was buzzed most of the remaining afternoon :-)
My G19 and I are still getting comfortable with one another. Yes, it’s an incredible design, and as easy to take-down & clean as Hickok demonstrates. I can’t shake the feeling that it’s not the ultimate handgun for me. I still have significant SIG lust ($$) and my mind seems to grok Double-Action/Single-Action autos much better than strikers. I’m a definite n00b…I don’t pretend to be anything more.
I’m looking forward to getting better.