Patrick's Practice

Hope you find this useful.

Patrick

Good article.  Thanks Pat!

That is a good article. The gist of it is get out and pull the trigger. My gun club has trap and skeet and I've jokingly thought about shooting it with my 3 gun shotgun, but now I'm seriously considering it.



The other suggestion I have is to hunt with your 3 gun gear. I've killed 2 deer with my shotgun and a few groundhogs with my rifle.

Thank guys!

I failed to add hunting with your 3 gun gear, good call.

Patrick

Great article Patrick.

My off season started about a month and a half ago when my wife announced that we were leaving California and that we're moving to Arizona because her company is transferring her and she picked AZ so that I could shoot more (yes...I'm lucky).  

As it's been well over a year since my last major 3-Gun event and inspite of shooting a lot of pistol matches, the reality is that the games skill level has gone up since the last time I've shot and I see that I need to bring my skills up accordingly.  The goals for this winter are completely targeted to reach their Apex at the SMM3G.

Pistol:
- I'm firing 500 rounds a week (about 250 out of my Tactical Solutions upper/about 250 center fire rounds)
- Focus has been on accuracy, transitions and all those fundamentals that we don't want to practice (strong hand, weak hand and 50 yard standards)

Rifle:
- Firing 500 rounds a week of solely 22 ammo.  
- Focus has been on off hand positions and transitions
- Not too concerned about the long range stuff as I have also spent the last year shooting a lot of LR/Sniper matches and well...300/400 yards is not much more than a subtle annoyance any longer.

Shotgun:
- Shooting about 100 rounds a week
- I shoot a lot of skeet and 5 stand because of the gun manipulation and 5 Stand to me is like IPSC with for the shotgun shooters as our club has 10 throwers on the range and remembering them can at times be a chore based on your station.
- Additionally, focusing on transitions on steel.  The old days of casually ensuring hits is no longer.  Y'all are driving the steel down and so, I need to pick it up a bit.

3-Gun Specific Practice:
- Shotgun Reloads
- Gun transitions:  I see a TON of time lost by folks just between going from one gun to the next.
- Shotgun Reloads
- Positional Shooting:  We have a Cooley barricade and so contorting ourselves through this veritable Iron Maiden makes for quick decisions making even simple shots a challenge.
- Shotgun Reloads
- Movement:  Advanced skill but shooting with the shotgun and rifle at medium distance and reloading on the move.  We do it without thinking on the pistol.  Gotta carry that skill over.
- Shotgun Reloads

Great article and keep up the great work!

Rich

Nice offseason outline, Rich.  Will you be shooting at Rio Salado?  

Congrats on making the move to AZ.  Get ready, its going to be a fun ride!

Kalani

Yes sir.  I'll be a regular at Tuesday Night Steel and everything else in the Valley.

I used to live in Scottsdale and have regretted leaving every day.  The house we got in Mesa is 25 minutes from the range, so yeah...I'll be out there...A LOT!

Rich

I used to like you Rich, but with you moving to shooting Nirvana I am officially... Jealous. Congratulations my friend.
(the rest of us are now in trouble)

Patrick

good article Pat!

Nice article.  I agree that a plate rack is a great practice tool, probably the best target for practice.  
I have one that I can only shoot with pistol and shotgun, but the amount of variations you can come up with
is virtually limitless.  Shoot one, reload, shoot another.  Shoot two with shotgun, then transition to pistol.
Start with two shells, shoot one, load four, shoot the rest.  Etc., etc.   I love the plate rack!  

How about an article on how to find time to practice with a job, wife, three kids and two dogs?  

When I finally have time to practice I'll be so old I'll be shooting from a scooter.