Book Review:” Champion Shooting: A Proven Process for Success At Any Level” by Ben Stoeger and Jay Hirshberger

This is a quick and easy to read book. The verbage is simple and easy to understand. This book brings out some of the overlooked areas of practical shooting.  I first heard of this book through Ben Stoeger’s facebook link and decided to download the e-version for the iPhone/iPad kindle application. This is not a book full of pictures. This is not a book full of techniques on how to stand, hold the gun, or how to perform necessary skills for practical shooting. This is definitely a great reference tool for the practical shooter that is looking to up their game. This book includes drills to follow along with par times that are quite challenging. This is definitely a book for the intermediate and advanced practical shooter. As a competitive shooter for approximately three years, I am always looking for ways to up my game and further my advancement in the USPSA classification system. I believe that if you read this book it will help you hone some of your skills to become a better shooter. One MUST be able to stick with the drills and MUST strive to become better. The authors explain that in order to improve you must be willing to work hard and be able to push yourself. The book also includes some of the most common misconceptions of the sport. This book has a lot of different quotes and ideas that are easy to remember.  They also include what their weekly training schedules are. In my opinion this is great for the average shooter to know due to the fact that you can see what they do day to day to maintain their skills as champion shooters.

In conclusion, I highly recommend this book to all shooters no matter what level of shooter you are. I believe that everyone who reads this will have some form of benefit: Whether it is from the live fire drills, dry fire drills, or from the quotes throughout the book. We have incorporated some of the live fire drills as stages at our local Monday night skills building match and find them quite fun! Get this book, be dedicated to your shooting game and become a better shooter now.

This book can be purchased in an e-version for kindle applications or by paperback. Available through Amazon at the link below.

http://www.amazon.com/Champion-Shooting-Proven-Process-Success/dp/1480271632/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1353297964&sr=8-1&keywords=Ben+Stoeger

ACTION PISTOL NIGHT!

Ryan here from Team CGS. Action Pistol Night has been a success so far! Been a good crowd of our friends and fellow competitors! Action Pistol Night has become a night where you can get into the shooting sport of practical shooting as well as refine your skills!

There are reactive targets, mandatory reloads, ports, walls, tables, chairs, weak hand, strong hand, and so many more skills and props that come up in out competitions.

Are you looking to come out and try practical shooting? If so we encourage you to come out on a monday night to see what we do. Due to strict policies, unexperienced shooters are not allowed. If you have prior IDPA, USPSA, IPSC, Steel Challenge, or are a Law Enforcement Officer, Military, CCW holder, or have some other form of holster training we welcome you to come down and try the sport out.

Training classes will be offered shortly through our cooperating partner Shell Core Ops in the near future. Classes will include gun basics, USPSA prerequisite course, and any other form of training needed with any type of firearm.

Hope to see you all out there soon!

APN is hosted on Monday Nights from 7PM-10PM. It is recomended you be there by 6:30 to help setup and be ready for the first shot fired at 7PM

Need more information or want to preregister? Send an email to apn@customglockshooters.com

Shooting Tip #3: Equipment

Equipment. The most essential part of shooting is your equipment. It is the tools that allow you to perform the best that you can. Equipment can be defined as necessary items, tools, items needed for an activity, personal resources for success, and tools of the trade. Without the proper equipment you will not be able to succeed in this game.

 

With any game, there are its limitations or restrictions. In USPSA, we have many rules that each division has to abide to. Production and Single Stack are great examples. Holsters and magazine pouches must be at the hip bone or to the rear of the hip bone. Limited, Open, and Limited 10 divisions have another set of rules to abide by. The rules are far less strict. All divisions have specific measurements that the equipment can be placed so far from the inner belt.

 

With all that being said, there are specifics that any competitor should look for when buying equipment. Whether it is a holster, belt, or magazine pouches.You should look for adjustability, fit, and feel.

 

Adjustability is by far the most important thing that is needed in this sport. You need to be able to fit your equipment not only to your style but to your body. Look for adjustability on all axises. Look for tension adjustability. Are you able to adjust how tight the gun draws out of the holster? How tight the magazines come out of the pouches. Are you able to rotate the magazines? Are you able to place the magazines with ammunition pointing parallel to the belt or perpendicular to the belt.

 

You should always check for fit. Not only for fit on your belt or body but how the gun fits and the magazines fit.

 

Feel is the last thing to check. Without the adjustability and fit being able to be correctly adjusted to your body and style, feel will never be there. Does the equipment feel comfortable? Does the equipment allow you draw the gun and magazines in a safe and fast manner?

 

All of these things are important when it comes to you buying equipment. Always check your rules of your sport to make sure your equipment is legal in your division. Without the proper equipment you will not be able to perform to your ultimate potential.

 

Thanks for tuning in for this shooting tip. Stay tuned for the next shooting tip coming soon!

Demo Night at Field Time Target and Training

Its been a hectic last couple weeks here with Team CGS. Lots and lots of new and exciting things coming up! Check out our newest video and please check out Field Time Target and Training. Let them know that Team CGS sent you!

We are assisting FTTT with setting up an action pistol night where fellow competitors can come down and practice their skills. Last night was a demo night and we filmed a short video of it!

LATEST NEWS!!! FIELD TIME TO OPEN THIS MONTH!!!

This is directly from Ted at Field Time Target and Training! Visit the link on our website. www.customglockshooters.com

After two years of waiting…
It is with great pleasure that our management and staff are announcing two exciting events coming up in the next few weeks at Field Time Target & Training in Stanton, California.
Two-Day Open House
Saturday, May 19th from  10:00AM – 5:00 PM  and  Sunday, May 20th from  10:00AM –  4:00 PM
Join us for food and drinks and many chances to win great prizes. We are raffling off a Mossberg home-defense shotgun, a Springfield XD-40, and a Ruger 10/22!  But there is much more!  We are going to include a lot of other terrific prizes including apparel, and firearm accessories... This open house does not involve any shooting, so you can leave your guns at home. Click here to send us a note to tell us if you plan to come, so we have enough food on hand.
Once you have paid for your (pre-reserved) membership, you get a free raffle ticket.  If you are not a member, you can still participate by purchasing a ticket for $5.00 – every ticket will provide three chances to win a firearm** and a lot of chances to win other great stuff. As an added bonus, we will also be selling Field Time Target & Training ammunition at a one-time special;  two-day open house sale price!
Join us for a tour of the largest and most modern public indoor shooting range this side of the Mississippi.  We do not plan to offer any new memberships at the open house.  Please do not request a membership via email or through the information request on the site. That won't work; the regular memberships are all reserved.
GRAND OPENING  
Saturday, May 26th from 10:00AM-10:00PM
This is it.  This is the official Grand Opening.  Bring your firearms, and we’ll provide the place to shoot. 
If you reserved a membership on-line, you will have two weeks from this date to come in and show proper ID, sign the waiver and range rules, and pay your annual fee.  The fee was quoted to you in your confirmation letter.  Bring that with you to speed things up.
We do not plan to offer any new memberships at the grand opening. Please do not request a membership via email or through the information request on the site. That won't work; the regular memberships are all reserved.
 ** To be eligible, you must be able to legally own a firearm in the State of California.

Shooting Tip #2 Part 2

Welcome back to part two of Team CGS' Shooting Tip number two. In part one, I described some areas of the draw that are time killers. In the upcoming posts I will use video to demonstrate these principals and show you time differences.

In this part of the two-part segment, I will be describing techniques that will help you shave times off of your scores with reloading and getting into position.

The Reload:

The essential key to reloading is to do it while you are moving to your next shooting area. If you are standing and having to do a reload, you are killing your time. The most important part of this is your pre-stage routine. As you are doing your walk through you should be counting your shots as you are looking at the course of fire. Remember, per USPSA rules there are no more than 8 shots per area of shooting. So for you Limited 10, Production, and single stack shooters, there will always be an area to reload at plus one-two-three shots extra (one or three if you top off). Remember DO NOT STAND AND RELOAD.

Always be aware of your muzzle while doing this. Get comfortable reloading to your weak side. What I mean by this is, if you are right handed and you have to move left be aware of where the muzzle is pointing. YOU DO NOT WANT TO GET DQ'ed due to a 180 degree violation. If you have the option of moving right through out the course, do so (if you are right handed, left if you are left handed.). This will make reloading faster with a completely balanced feel. If your reloading while moving to your weak side you will naturally slow down because it is awkward to reload and think about muzzle direction at the same time. Just remember to practice moving both directions and reload while doing so.

The second thing I always see with newer shooters is low reloads. I see so many newer shooters who are reloading the gun near their belt. You are costing yourself time by moving the gun down to your belt. How you ask? First by moving your gun down to the belt level you have to take your eyes off of the target and move your head into a crouched position. This doesn't allow for a smooth transition to your next shooting area. You are able to move faster and quicker with your arms and head at a more comfortable position. Move the magazine to your gun and not the other way around. In stages where one would have to stay in a shooting area and do a mandatory reload, keeping your head up and eyes near the same level as the target will result in faster reloads.

What should you see and feel when you are reloading? Once that shot is fired and you know that you need to reload, you should automatically do two things: Your support hand should go to the next available magazine while your strong hand is activating the magazine release. As the magazine is dropping out you should bring the gun closer to your face and angle the magwell towards the new magazine at a 30-45 degree angle. Magazine is inserted and your support hand will then couple back up with the strong hand and push out to the target to acquire aim. You may ask, where should my eyes be looking? You should transition your focus from the target to the magwell and then to the target. If you do not transition your eyes you will be asking for a fumbled reload. You might be able to practice enough to the point where you see this out of your peripheral vision, but I highly recommend that you transition your eyes.

Transitions to Shooting Areas:

A big time killer I see is shooters moving with two hands on the gun in a low-ready position as if they were in a tactical situation. First and foremost you will be able to move much faster when you separate your support hand from the grip of the gun. This will allow you to achieve an athletic stance and position to RUN to the next position. The faster you can get to the next shooting area the faster your time will be. Remember to do this safely as you do not want to slip and fall.

Once you are in the next shooting area you should be firing the gun. There should be no wasted time on raising the gun up to the next target from the previously described low-ready position. Just as you are ready to enter the shooting area, your eyes should be seeing the target that you want to engage. Once your eyes have focused on the target, you should be stepping into the shooting area and pushing the gun out towards the target and firing the shots needed.

In your walk through of the course of fire, you should practice and feel where you will be able to engage the target from, while entering the box or shooting area. Remember to gain target acquisition, then push the gun out and acquire your aim. Just as with the reload, eyes acquire first then the gun.

You will loose time if you enter the shooting area and then try to figure out how you are shooting it.

So in conclusion, the smoother your motions and the least amount of movement you make will allow you to lower your times while shooting. Always lead with your eyes whether is it is doing a reload or stepping into a shooting area. Always be aware of your muzzle during a reload and don't forget to practice reloading while going to your weak side.

Until next time, stay safe, shoot straight and have fun!

Ryan M.

Shooting Tip #2 Part 1

Ryan here from Team CGS, bringing you a new shooting tip. Many people at our local matches ask how do I shoot so fast or how to get better times while competing.

My number one thing that I can recommend for people is to minimize any movement that is more than needed.

You loose time on the draw by moving your head and shoulders while drawing your gun from the holster, moving your gun down to belt level for a reload, and lifting the gun up after stepping into a shooting position.

Now that we have identified three areas that you may be losing time on, the remaining question is how do we overcome those issues and improve on our techniques..

First the draw. First things first..The shot timer. Once the RO has started the timer there is time lost due to a reaction of the shooter to the sound of the timer. I quote Travis Tomassie, a world renowned practical shooter, at the 2012 Shot Show during a demonstration. Hey says in order to react well to the timer you need to react on the 'b' of the word beep and not the 'p'. This is very true in the sense that the timer takes a few tenths of a second to completely sound.

The reaction is only one of many areas of the draw that Can be improved on. One other area is minimizing the movement of your head and shoulders while drawing. I watch a lot of newer shooters who react to the timer and sort of hunch down. Their shoulders go down, head retracts to the shoulder level, and body seems to completely tense up. Remember tense muscles are slow muscles, thus adding time to your draw. The movement of you moving your shoulders and head is costing you time.. Sometimes up to two tenths of a second. So what do you do to improve on this? One drill that I do to combat these issues is to practice drawing (unloaded and with no ammo around) in front of a mirror. Place a small price dot label (the kind you price garage sale items with) on the mirror at nose level. Make sure this is done in your shooting stance height.. Now practice drawing towards the mirror while keeping the dot on your nose. Doing this a few times will help you overcome moving your head during the draw..

You now may be asking your self, "does this apply during a turn draw or stages of fire that involve moving to a shooting box off the draw?" The answer is yes. This is true because this will help you bring the gun up to eye level consistently versus the eye level to the gun.. Changing your eye level changes your target focus, which creates a loss of time.

Let's move on to the shoulder movement. Keep your shoulders relaxed and in one position. Once the timer sounds you need only to move the arms along their pivot points. If te entire shoulder is moving up, this may cause the head to move changing your target focus. If you watch many of the pro shooters, they only are moving their upper arm along the pivoting point at the shoulder socket. There is no additional movement of the pivoting point. So remember anchor the pivoting point in your shoulder and allow the arm to smoothly go for the grip of the gun.

So in reality, how much time are we saving? Well let's find out. Say your loosing two tenths of a second on the reaction, a tenth on the head movement, and up to two tenths of a second on the shoulder movement.. That's a total of a half second.. Now of course this is looking at a newer shooter. The pros have hundredths of a second they work on.

Stay tuned or part two of this segment. I will cover the loss of time with reloading and stepping into positions during your course of fire.

Until next time, stay safe, shoot straight and have fun!

Ryan M.