Viewer Discretion is Advised!

When I first started shooting matches, I bought a video camera, a cheap little camera that easily fit into my range bag — one of my Accessories.  Like the coach that records Friday night’s football games, I record my matches and watch the playback in order to learn from my mistakes. Whether you’re a top notch pro or just starting out, recording yourself shooting, or even dryfiring.  Just the other night I set up my tripod and camera to watch myself dryfiring to see what I was doing wrong when I had a bad reload.

Here are some videos where I learned some things:

Lesson #1 – Make sure you read and remember the stage break down.  If you noticed the RO tapping the barrel while my back was turned…he was telling me “Um…Beth…the ready position is back here.”

Lesson #2 and #3 - I love that she was there to help and watch her Momma shoot, but if you’re going to put your (at the time this video was shot) 9-year-old daughter run the camera, get her a tripod.  Also, I noticed that I was jerking the trigger a bit when I got to the set of targets by the Barricade.  Plus, I moved before I was ready to move.  Slow down, sister, and make the shot before you move on.

Lesson #4 -  Know which direction you’re going to shoot the targets.  You can’t see me hit the steel in this video because the glasses angle was crappy, but you can hear them fall. In this match at the 1911 Honorific I shot last year, I shot the paper targets than the steel.  Others on my squad shot a paper target, than a steel, than a paper, etc. I think they lost some valuable time doing that.

Lesson #5 – Know how to properly wear/angle your video glasses so you don’t make crappy videos!  I still haven’t located mine, by the way which sucks!

Lesson #6 – Remember to have fun!  This is my buddy Scott Lane who shoots for Team RangeLog shooting a stage called the Semi-Circle.  It was awful!  Scott made it look so easy with an Open gun though.

Remember to shoot safe and shoot often — Have fun everyone!

Beth