NRA HQ Range Report

I went to the NRA shooting range at Fairfax Virginina NRA HQ, this week. I wanted to check it out. Range rental is $12 an hour for members. Not too shabby. A yearly open-range membership is close to $300, so if i wanted to spend that kind of money I'd just use Gilbert's nearby.

To use the range you have to take a short open book test about range safety and sing a waiver. They sell ammo, cleaning supplies and targets there.

While there I wanted to get some time in with the .S&W 686 .357 revolver. I need more practice with handguns, and the rifle has been taking up a lot of my time recently, so this was a nice change. MBtGE was there with a bunch of handguns and I got to try a S&W 9mm pistol he's had since 1979. I did much better shooting with that one that I thought, but it was a Single Action semi-auto and most of my revolver practice was Double Action. So that was fun.

With the 686 it was not bad, but not good, shooting. I need lots more practice. Recently I found a shooter error analysis target picture for lefties, on a website called Aaargh, The Home of Jonah's Two Military Guys. Jonah is Jonah Goldberg, a proud and serious pundit/columnist for the Los Angeles Times. The two military guys saved Jonah's life in the Nam or something. I'm fuzzy on the details. Apparently they are the go-to guys for this powerful Beltway talking-head whenever he needs the military angle on something.

Here is the analysis:

Here is a typical target for my evening:

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And that is aiming dead center, Double Action. I pull a bit to the right, clearly. It's not the sights, as MBtGE doesn't have the same issue, and on single action and on a good steady shot I do much better. The Analysis says that finger placement was wrong and that hadn't occurred to me at the time. What DID occur to me was Pushing and Jerking. I can only rarely surprise myself with the trigger squeeze and when I go I hit very well (those are the halfway decent hits in this group.) When I try to shoot the 'seventh' bullet in the six shooter I see the push and the flinch, too. I need to work on that with dry fire and live fire drills to correct that. I need to count too so I don't keep shooting after six and actually do something useful like reload. I let that slide this time because I liked the diagnosis a dry fire was giving me. Not a good habit for the future, take a note.

Anyway, I don't think the flaw is in the trigger finger placement but with jerking hte trigger and anticipating recoil. I will keep and eye on all 3 next time out though.

These are all at 7 yards. I shoot as well or better with the rifle at 100.

Update: Hmmm, just checking old records. ALL my shots on EVERYTHING are low and right. Jerking the trigger, prolly. Not surprised by the trigger break often enough. And when I drill with snap caps I do better because my brain knows that there ain't gonna be no boom. There are 3 drills I know of. Bump Drill, Wall Drill, and Modified Russian Roulette (load one or two into a revolver, randomize, but point it down range, not at your melon.) I need more drilling and more drills.