Training Update

It's been relatively quiet on the training front here the last while. The extreme cold precluded outdoor training until now. One session in the cold weather left me quite disheartened. Constant spasming of muscles initially prevented the establishment of a strong and useful zero position, made clean trigger control impossible and eventually led to the deterioration of focus and follow-through. After this, when I couldn't live-fire, I spent a lot of time dry-firing onto a dot in front of a mirror. The outer position was constant, solidly composed and comfortable, though there's some minor refining to do around the trigger hand arm in terms of elbow positioning, but it felt alright. The problem was that after that live fire session, any time spent dry-firing created doubts with regard to the inner position and its consistency, and I'm certain that it was a counter-productive experience in terms of creating self-doubt, with no possibility of reassurance in the form of the feedback live fire provides. I managed to fit in a live fire session at the range this afternoon however, only a handful of shots, but enough to reassure myself that the inner position wasn't a huge issue and that provided I could get a good sight picture, the hold and zero would be solid enough to deliver good shots. I have a club match on sunday, an informal event which will hopefully provide solid reaffirmation. Following that, I have a training session with my new coach, with whom I intend to discuss my plans for the year and my current approach. I'll update with the results of that meeting. I expect it will be very interesting. There is one dramatic failing in the technical aspect of my shooting at the moment and it's in the aim. What I think of as a good sight picture still delivers nines and I'd like to see the movement more clearly. To this end, I'm going to order a sight extension tube as soon as I get a micrometer to measure the barrel. I'll be ordering it from Eric Upragrafft. His are low-profile and don't require sight raising blocks and are lightweight. I'm looking forward to seeing the results it brings. The extra small weight at the muzzle might also be beneficial in terms of controlling recoil movement. Hopefully this is going to be a good year now.