This week, on the podcast, Facebook, and blog, we’ve been extolling the virtues of dry fire for making you a more gooder shooter and overall raising your effectivitiness, but we would be remiss if we didn’t cover, at least in passing, the serious negative consequences of regular, focused dry fire. Sure spending a mere fifteen minutes a day with just you, the target, and the gun, and a holster, and a timer will be a …

I shot an awful stage today. In IDPA terms, I was down 26 with two failures to neutralize. That means, of the six targets, I totally missed one and only got edge hits on another. I got more points down on this one stage than the other five combined. And all the targets I whiffed on were less than two paces away. Here’s why. I ascribe to the “call the shot” school of practical shooting. …

This month’s issue of Front Sight, the official journal of USPSA, hit my doorstep a few days ago, and I’ve found it to be particularly full of interesting tidbits. In his column, USPSA Pres Phil Strader reminds us that IPSC, the international body that includes USPSA as a national member for the US, is having their World Shoot in Florida this October. What I didn’t realize is that the last time the US hosted the World Shoot …

Military strategists have a term for who in a conflict is acting, and who is reacting, who is currently in control of the conflict, and they call this the initiative. If you have the initiative, you are choosing what you want to do; if you’ve lost it, then you are often limited to reacting to your opponent’s actions until you can enact a reversal and take it back. The initiative is not the same as winning, but …

Another martial arts concept from George Leonard’s Mastery is the symbol, borrowed from the dojo, of consciously accepting your student status, opening yourself to be enlightened and putting on the white belt of the novice. There may came a day when you will earn another belt in your particular discipline, but when beginning something anew, you must always be willing to put on the white belt. The beauty of the white belt is that it shields …

In this week’s podcast, I hesitated at one point and then chose my words very carefully. We were talking about the process of shooting a lot of matches, gaining a lot of experience, and improving your skills in competition shooting, and the phrase I used to describe this was “walking the path of mastery.” This is a deliberate crib from George Leonard and his excellent book Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment. It is …

Today, during yoga (yes, yoga is good for competitive shooting), talking to another guy in the class, he made some excuse for not being able to do something because he is “short.” My internal reaction to what he was saying is that it was ridiculous. As someone who started yoga after someone twice my age was able to kick my ass in a variety of strength, flexibility, and balance skills, I realized that who you are …

So the Day-Night-Day is tomorrow, and I’ve got my gear just about squared away. Which is to say, I’ve figured out which gun to shoot and I already have enough stuff on hand that it should be a breeze. Gun and gear Around this time last year, I’d had my 1911, a Springfield TRP, for a few months but wasn’t quite ready to shoot my second D-N-D with a brand new gun (smart or scared? …

NC Senator Kay Hagan is spinning up the press machine to push for what she’s calling the Sportsmen’s and Public Outdoor Recreation Traditions Act (geddit? SPORT!). Here’s an overview of the bill, which at least in summary appears to be pretty unequivocally positive. The two main provisions of interest to recreational shooters include one about reserving more funds to build shooting ranges on federal land, and a second stipulating that the EPA can’t regulate “shot, bullets …

Yesterday we talked about Steel Challenge, and today we’ll revisit the topic with the aid of video. This is a clip from the 2009 World Championship, on the Accelerator stage, so named because the big 18″x24″ sheet targets lure you in to shooting faster before your last shot on a 12″ plate at 15 yards. Check out the first piece of the video to see the stage diagram and get a flavor for the shooting. …