Range Day

I love range day.

I try to go during the week, because the range I use (East Alabama Gun Club) is full to overflowing on the weekends.  Of course, for entertainment sometimes I go watch the SASS and IDPA events when they have them, but most of the time, I go alone and I shoot alone.  I actually like it that way.

This time, I brought a Go-Pro Session camera with me mounted to my hat.  While I wish I had adjusted the camera a little better (I could have used my iphone to see what it was seeing, but that did not occur to me until I was viewing the footage later and cursing myself).  But I still got a little useful footage.

I don’t post this video to brag.  And some of you are going to look at it and go “MY GOD I HOPE NOT!”  This is because you never see yourself screwing up until afterwards, like when my wife came in as I was editing the footage and said “you know your two handed grip on the M&P really sucked!”  Yeah, thanks Dear, so helpful of you to point that out.

They say that it is important to adhere to fundamentals like grip, trigger press, and the like, and I try to implement those as faithfully as I can.  But I still screw up from time to time and don’t get a good grip on my pistol.

On this last range day I was shooting my Ruger GP-100 Match Champion .357 and I was shooting .357 Magnum rounds through it.  I figure, why have one if you’re only going to train with .38 special?  Just buy a .38.  So I actually had a pretty good day with the .357, even though it hurt my recently fractured and even more recently healed wrist.  Still, I got all the shots in the 10 ring, and I could that as a win.  Not that I carry that pistol.  It stays in the safe most of the time.  But I do keep it handy in the event of the Zombie Apocolypse.  I did all this shooting from between 7 and 10 yards.

I also shot my Glock 19, but I did not get any footage, mostly because I forgot the damned camera until I was finishing up with the M&P toward the end of the session.  That would actually have been good footage because they have steel targets and I hit every one of them with the Glock, but then again, that’s my usual carry gun.  So, the video is very selective and selectively edited to make me look less like a complete loon.   So, here’s the footage.  First the .357, because that was probably the best of the ones filmed

Now the shots at center of mass using the M&P.

Now, head shots using the M&P.

Again, none of this video is too pretty, but here is what it taught me.  A Go Pro should be a regular part of my shooting practice because it allows me to see my mistakes in real time if I use their app and view the footage from the phone.   As training aids go, it serves as a substitute for a coach, because I can assure you no one is going to be as hard on me as I will be.  I’m almost ashamed to post this video, but, if you don’t have integrity, what do you have.