Hallelujah

My husband reads all my post and he laughs and tells me I am brilliant, cuz he is awesome that way.

However, yesterday after reading my post Bad, Bad, Day, he vetoed the body guard idea.

So, having to rely on my own skill and since I was not all that confident in it, I headed back to the range.

It turns our my man knows what he is talking about.  I organized all of my magazines and placed my target on the stand, took a deep breath and shot and shot and shot.

Looks pretty good and it certainly is a ton better than Saturday, but it wasn’t where I was aiming.  I shot a ton of rounds and still could not get it in the center or even higher than the center.  I think at one point my hands were completely over my head and still, I was shooting below where I aimed.

I understand I have a lot to lean and far to go on this journey, but shooting straight is fairly easy once you get the basics down and I have had the basics down and have shot straight before, so this was very annoying to me.

I kept saying to my husband I don’t understand.  I am looking at the front site, it is lined up, the target is fuzzy and I know I am not jerking my hand to the left or down.

The more I shot the more frustrated I became.  It wasn’t that I need more practice or that I was making a mistake that was bothering me.  Of course, I need more practice and, of course, I am going to make mistakes. I was frustrated because I had not clue how to fix what was wrong.  I kept aiming and shooting and yes, it hit in the same spot and was a nice little group, but I am perfectionist and kind of want to hit what I am aiming at.  I am sorta funny that way.

My husband told me to keep shooting and I did.  He was watching my arm and my hand and he said, I was not pulling, jerking, or anticipating, so he said “this is suppose to fun, just shoot”.  So, I did, then he shot a few rounds and then me, then him, then me and then, it finally hit him, my grip. 

MY GRIP

I was griping tight(but not too tight, settle down) and doing all the things I was suppose to, but my strong hand(for me that is my left) was not tight against the dovetail thingy, so when I pulled the trigger, it naturally was at an angle pointing downward.

See the little 5 target in the upper left corner?  See all the shots below it?  Those are mine before the grip change.

Please, nobody tell my shooting instructor.  I vaguely remember, from the ringing that is still in my ears, him yelling, I mean talking to me about my grip.

Also, don’t tell anyone it had been about 2 weeks since I had been to the range and clearly, 2 weeks was waaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to long.

See all the shots on the 5 and pretty close to the it?  Those are mine after I corrected my grip.  I think I could have improved upon that, but I was out of ammo.  Only brought 250 rounds.  But, I left there with a big ol smile and a huge sense of relief.  I had a reason and something I could work on. 

Feeling mighty fine, we went home and my man made me a celebratory drink.

Gin, shaken, not stirred.

Then we cleaned

P.S.  I had one drink, I did not drink and clean, time had passed and there was no ammo.  I did not mix alcohol and guns in case you are wondering.