tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77564641422200524852011-07-30T18:29:29.998-07:00vinco contendoDaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.comBlogger451100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-59119539076604236702009-08-08T14:42:00.000-07:002009-08-08T14:46:34.723-07:00

I now have Practice Decks in stock in the DR Performance website store! Retail price on them is $19.95. If you need to pay by check, drop me an email ;)Also, look for the decks showing up at several of your favorite retailers soon! Burkett Video, Brazos Custom, Freedom Gunworks, and DoubleAlpha Academy will all be stocking these in very short order.

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-82913275411652748952009-08-05T20:06:00.000-07:002009-08-05T20:08:09.618-07:00

I recently filmed a tutorial for a buddy of mine on how to set up a CR Speed holster for USPSA / IPSC competition. Check the vids out on the DR Performance Shooting site!

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-68978666012076336422009-03-31T19:26:00.001-07:002009-08-05T14:31:53.958-07:00

I've shot the Double Tap Championship 4 times now, and the match has never failed to be a fun and challenging experience. It didn't hurt that I had one of the best performances of my career, too. The theme this year was "Indiana Jones", and was a 13 stage, 348 round contest that was mostly more straight up than most matches. Sure, there were the usual Robert Porter embellishments, based on the

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-80380781180853660152009-03-20T14:41:00.000-07:002009-03-30T08:00:00.134-07:00

If you just landed here from reading my article on the CrossFit Journal, welcome! If there's anything I can do for you, or any questions I can answer about Practical Shooting, shooting in general, or how to apply CrossFit training to firearms applications, feel free to send me an email at dave@drperformanceshooting.com.I'm on the road, heading back from Wichita Falls and the 2009 Double Tap

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-68866926392584631242009-03-19T15:36:00.000-07:002009-08-05T14:28:41.204-07:00

Looking back, I think I could've at least partially predicted my 2008 season. Coming out of a pretty good 2007 season, I achieved a life long goal... making Grand Master in USPSA's Open division. It was the culmination of a lot of investment (hard work, money, mental energy, you name it). Achieving that goal comes pretty easily to some folks, less easily to others. My improvement was gradual, but

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-49355088835063961172008-12-10T08:33:00.000-08:002009-08-05T14:19:59.288-07:00

Phoenix in November is a beautiful thing, no doubt about it. The Area 2 Championship (aka, the Rio Salado Desert Classic) has a strong reputation for being a quality match with a superb prize table. This was my first year attending the match, and I can tell you that, for the most part, it lived up to the hype. First, the vid - then hit the DR Performance Shooting site for the rest!

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-56105820937976055742008-12-10T08:01:00.000-08:002009-03-20T16:28:57.593-07:00

Yeah, unfortunately, the blog has been dormant a while. When you start thinking about all the things you'd like to see and do in your life, make sure one of them is "free time"! Otherwise, you start getting what you asked for... in spades... and you have no notion of this "free time" thing anymore!So, what's on tap? I should have Area 2 video up today, along with a match review. I may add in some

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-20735868616394558472008-07-23T10:17:00.000-07:002008-07-23T10:21:49.028-07:00

Jake Di Vita is a Grand Master out of Fenton, Michigan - he's also a major contributor over on the Benoverse. Jake has been been posting a "dryfire WOD" (WOD = Workout Of the Day) on his blog. If you need some ideas or inspiration for dry fire practice, check out Jake's blog and hook up on the WODs. You can post your par times to the comments as a way of getting involved and providing a little

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-52945942061197343642008-07-01T13:37:00.000-07:002009-08-05T14:01:34.327-07:00

Still wondering how fitness is important to this shooting sport? At the 2008 Area 1 Championship, we got a solid demonstration of why having a broad, general, inclusive fitness program is an important part of any well rounded shooting program. Stage designer Chuck Anderson threw us a curve ball on stage 9 in the form of a Breaching Technologies, Inc. Ram Breaching Door. Check out the vid - a few

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-11524650811128871092008-07-01T11:06:00.000-07:002009-08-05T13:57:10.102-07:00

Held in late June, near Portland, OR, the 2008 Area 1 Championship was hot... damn hot... and full of the types of stages that really demanded you exercise the "Diligentia" aspect of the sport (that's accuracy, of course). Several folks asked about adding in some video commentary and descriptions of the stages, so that they could what in the heck I'm shooting at in the videos - I tried to that

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-62258930344499848192008-05-23T12:26:00.000-07:002009-08-05T13:54:12.086-07:00

The 2008 Texas Open was held May 9-11 in Waco, TX at the Central Texas Rifle and Pistol Club. This match hadn't been held in several years - and apparently may not happen again very soon, for various reasons. But, the match offered a rather significant prize table ($1000 cash to the winner of Open and Limited divisions, and cash back to 1st through 3rd in all classes in each division), and

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-85468579877484015122008-04-29T14:26:00.000-07:002009-08-05T13:51:17.947-07:00

I mean, really... Are you? I'm not. I'm fairly handy with tools - even the dreaded Dremel. I can read plans and specs, and I have a pretty mechanical mind, so I can grasp how most of our competition guns actually work internally. But when it comes to taking a set of parts and making a properly working, accurate, reliable firearm out of them, I know better than to delude myself about my abilities.

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-380343755780794622008-04-23T07:39:00.000-07:002009-08-05T13:47:21.740-07:00

Another road trip, another big match! Area 6 is known for putting on a high quality championship match, and this year did not disappoint. The match was full of testy, challenging stages that bit back if you didn't pay attention. It was everything you expect an Area match to be, in the end.Here's the video - visit the DR Performance Shooting site to read the rest!

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-39003266225004489752008-04-05T14:54:00.000-07:002009-08-05T13:42:45.337-07:00

The last weekend in March, March 28-30, marked the 4th annual Double Tap Championship held at the Double Tap Ranch in Wichita Falls, TX. The DTC is generally considered to be the exact polar opposite of the Florida Open match. Whereas the Florida Open contains solely "Classic" style targets (with no upper A/B zone - that's the "head"), and generally has a lot of long shots on wide open targets.

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-47709148185598921612008-03-21T06:09:00.000-07:002009-08-05T05:53:57.772-07:00

...man who aim at published stage descriptions, miss.It seems like a discussion periodically appears on the Benoverse around someone trying to determine the best way to shoot the stages of a major match solely based on the information presented in published courses of fire. The latest one at the time of this writing occurred in the thread for the 2008 Area 6 stages. Usually, the discussion is

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-24045354961979231152008-03-20T06:52:00.000-07:002009-08-05T05:48:32.068-07:00

Well, faithful reader, its been a while since my last post. I apologize for the delays - its been a busy couple of weeks over here. I've been thinking about the subject of this post for quite a while. I'm making a semi-controversial statement here, and only sharing my experience - not the results of some massive, scientific study I've undertaken, or anything insane like that. Well, this whole

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-82640653032704403202008-03-04T05:49:00.000-08:002009-08-05T05:43:42.249-07:00

We spend a lot of money on this sport, and if you're active at bigger matches, a decent portion of that budget goes towards match entry fees, hotel, gas, rental cars, airfare, food, etc, while attending those big matches. We all want to go to a big match and do well, don't we? Why else would we spend that time and money, and do things like, I don't know.... practice? And yet, many of us travel to

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-82184730082572383522008-02-22T13:00:00.000-08:002008-03-04T07:27:09.263-08:00

Last Sunday I shot the Alpha-Mike match in Bulverde, TX. It took me a bit to get the video finished - I didn't have the scores on hand, and then had to go out of town for a funeral. I prefer to get these things up while they're still fresh in my head, but, as the prophet Jagger said... You can't always get what you want ;)Ok - I won high overall at this match, and Open division. There were a

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-27378905745310939892008-02-12T09:42:00.000-08:002009-08-05T05:39:25.018-07:00

Wow, what an intense match. The 2008 Florida Open was shot over the weekend of February 8-10 at the Universal Shooting Academy, in Frostproof, FL. Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, this match is the traditional season opener, and is known for its trademark stages where there aren't any no-shoots or hardcover targets, but the shots are generally long and sneaky difficult. This year was

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-28544216720324409922008-02-05T10:10:00.000-08:002008-02-13T13:53:56.252-08:00

I put up several client testimonials from my training/coaching alter-ego, DR Performance. Check 'em out!

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-32180228291386810472008-02-04T09:41:00.000-08:002008-02-13T13:53:23.281-08:00

Well, sorry folks, no video on this one. I got the range and found my camcorder battery totally flat... D'oh. That's OK, though - not much to show you this time. I didn't really connect with my performance on Saturday. I could make excuses, etc, but heck, its not worth lying to either of us. Just wasn't a good match.However - I got about 500 sharp rounds of practice in following the match, and

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-81098055094063333602008-01-28T06:37:00.000-08:002009-08-05T05:34:45.971-07:00

I'm not one of those folks who can stand and do 10 million draws in a row. I get bored, lose focus, and start working bad habits, instead of refining technique. Its just one part of my mental temperament. Here's one of the ways I keep things more interesting - note that I left a couple of key points out when I shot the vid, so check out the comments following it...For the comments, hit the DR

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-35149007183688632032008-01-28T06:21:00.000-08:002008-02-13T13:53:23.282-08:00

This was the first match with the new gun, and the first monthly match of the year in Waco. Arthur Brown runs a fine match! I won this match, even with some difficulties. Here's the video - comments follow...Here we see one example of why its not a good idea to take new equipment to a big match. Obviously, this was just a local match - I use local level matches as match practice, so its an

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-56797937888092527312008-01-25T09:20:00.000-08:002009-08-05T05:30:17.487-07:00

In addition to introducing you to the new machine, let's chat a bit about evaluating new equipment. This subject has come up in recent conversations - seems to be a theme.First, the new "toy"!! Back in late 2006, shortly before the Open Nationals, the range where I practiced was shut down, leaving me without a venue to hone skills for the impending match. I was bummed pretty seriously. A couple

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-79054788546207545692008-01-17T06:38:00.000-08:002009-08-05T05:23:23.366-07:00

Specificity. That's what this really comes down to. High level performers set specific goals that give a clear direction to their efforts. In a solid goal setting program, there are no vague, directionless goals - the goals become like a ladder, pointing a constant, straight, unwavering upward path.Goals set in this fashion will be appropriate and attainable, and will mostly be "performance goals

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-11379880499626211132008-01-09T08:14:00.000-08:002009-08-04T20:46:31.126-07:00

How many times have you been mid-stage, and something goes a little wrong? You do what you need to do to correct it, and move on - but now you're improvising, off your original plan, and somehow things go from a little bad, to a lot worse? You look around and think "Where am I? And why am I in this handbasket?"Head over to the DR Performance Shooting site to see the video and read the article!

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-69079440199416411882008-01-06T15:26:00.000-08:002008-01-06T15:57:40.585-08:00

Not a bad little match for the first foray of the year. The weather around La Grange, TX started off overcast and a bit cool, but warmed to the mid-70s and cleared to partly cloudy skies by 11:00am. I won the Open division in the match, and was High Overall. Here's the video - my comments follow....This was the typical 5 stage local match. My squad started on Stage 5, so that's where the video

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-52172106030316251532008-01-06T12:11:00.000-08:002008-04-23T08:36:04.140-07:00

For the folks who are interested in following along, this post will track my 2008 match and training calendar, and will have pointers to video and results from the matches I shoot this year...DateEventJanuary 5ALSPPC USPSA Match - 1st Open, HOA - match video includedJanuary 12-13Teaching Competition Pistol with Matt BurkettSherman, TXJanuary 19Waco USPSA Match - 1st Open, HOA - match video

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-65392282842525197792008-01-04T12:39:00.000-08:002008-02-13T13:54:59.573-08:00

If you do, sound off!!! Feel free to leave comments here - possibly the best way is to talk this blog up in other places. Feel free to link to articles here, tell other folks about it, etc. I need all the help I can get from you to make this blog a vibrant, active breeding ground for ideas, techniques, and strategies to play these shooting games. For starters, think about subscribing to this

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-56460459111558586032008-01-04T10:50:00.000-08:002009-08-04T20:24:50.432-07:00

The Forum on brianenos.com - aka, the Benoverse. I've been editing and re-editing this post for a while, now (like, since the inception of this blog), cause I'm finding it hard to be succinct. I could go on for days...Hit the DR Performance Shooting main site, where I'll go for ten minutes, anyway... ;)

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-19330292343246116812008-01-02T21:37:00.000-08:002009-08-04T13:45:58.899-07:00

Inevitably, any discussion about the mental game gets into the concept of Self Talk. Put simply, Self Talk is all of the things you say to yourself. Sounds a little nuts, I know. Try this, though - for one 24 hour period, consciously monitor every thought that runs through your head. You'll probably find that you really do talk to yourself a lot - and if you've never done this exercise before,

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-63790721791641777022008-01-02T10:03:00.000-08:002008-02-05T09:31:09.780-08:00

I've wrestled a bit with exactly how to announce this. In the end that usually means I should just stop quibbling with myself and spout it out. So....I'm now (officially) available for shooting training!

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-34455915625488408612007-12-27T20:32:00.000-08:002009-08-04T13:35:42.640-07:00

Following my original post on Versatile Target Arrays, I received a PM from Eric Stanley on the Benoverse with some up to date notes on the practice array he's currently using.Eric's full thoughts are over on the DR Performance Shooting main site!

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-51014256834134361122007-12-25T20:05:00.000-08:002009-08-04T05:58:51.351-07:00

Why in the world would you want to start doing power lifting exercises? I mean, what in the shooting sports even begins to look like doing a deadlift? A dead what??? A dead back, maybe??? Well, not if you do it with proper form, and an appropriate amount of weight. The picture at the right is me, deadlifting 295#. That's not an extreme amount of weight - the current world record is over three

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-41521833986758565412007-12-25T17:39:00.000-08:002009-08-03T14:40:41.835-07:00

When do you see the hardest shots? When you arrive at a match, do you feel like the targets suddenly got smaller, or farther away? Does the A-zone look like its about 2" across. What about those tight shots with no-shoots all around? If you've had those sensations, its quite likely that the target arrays you practice are simply too easy...Hit the DR Performance Shooting site for an introduction

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-41027412386609377632007-12-25T17:30:00.000-08:002009-08-03T14:34:34.190-07:00

Goals. Dreams. Desires. Wants. Needs. Ambitions. What do these words mean to you? In just about anything we do, we all have some ideas about what we want out of it. I'm going to talk about this in the context of shooting, of course - it is a blog about shooting, after all - but these concepts can apply to anything in our lives. I mean anything, from the serious and important (say, career, or

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-84011513995386456232007-12-17T19:40:00.000-08:002009-08-03T13:55:21.784-07:00

One of those FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) that seems to pop up on the Benoverse every so often is something to the effect of "I'm a new shooter, what should I read?". Many of us have our favorites, of course - Brian Enos' Practical Shooting: Beyond Fundamentals, for instance, or Saul Kirsch's Thinking Practical Shooting perhaps.Those books are awesome resources, without any doubt. But both

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-63499443928153146672007-12-15T13:46:00.001-08:002009-08-03T13:12:59.739-07:00

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't seen Fight Club and plan to - the article linked here contains some spoilers.... My good friend, and sometimes student, "Calamity Jane" Ball posted a link to an article on http://stronglifts.com earlier today in her Range Diary on the Benoverse. She actually got the link from Derrick "Catfish" Birdsall - another bud of mine. Not only is it a good, short read

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-39504019063151982642007-12-07T15:58:00.000-08:002009-08-03T12:57:51.804-07:00

What does the word "Standards" make you think of? Torture? Inhuman cruelty? Sadistic match direction? Or, does it inspire thoughts of confidence? Smug satisfaction at free match points? I'll bet its one of the first ones, isn't it? Why do standards exercises invoke such fear and concern in most people? Hmmmm... Can it be that we've forgotten how to actually SHOOT in the midst of all of our

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-11376459429893550682007-11-30T15:01:00.000-08:002009-08-03T11:55:45.482-07:00

For most complex activities, the learning curve is steep and riddled with plenty of chances to strike off in the wrong direction. "Back in the day" (which, for our purposes here, means pre-2005), most of us picked our way up the curve through trial and error, question and answer, and lots of fits and starts as we discovered that we were on a dead-end path. Things like match preparation,

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-58559588429582671872007-11-30T15:00:00.000-08:002009-08-03T11:38:20.364-07:00

Making a decision about what skills you need to practice is crucial to seeing your best performance improvements. Most of us go to the range and practice the things we like to do - after all, the whole point is to have fun, right? Usually, though, what we like to do is what we're already good at, leaving the neglected skills we don't enjoy (cause usually we're not already good at them, or they're

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-2917379819308765192007-11-29T13:27:00.000-08:002009-08-03T11:26:18.050-07:00

With the season opener - the 2008 Florida Open - coming up fast in two months, its time to start dusting off the gear, running drills, and generally getting things back in order after a well deserved Winter Break. With a sport that seems to have no well defined "off season" (as opposed to, say, baseball, or football), it might be curious to some folks why you'd really want to take a break. I mean

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-46444030235565164512007-11-28T13:14:00.000-08:002009-08-03T11:14:01.321-07:00

Efficient drills that you can use to track progress from practice session to practice session are important. The vast majority of us don't have days to spend on the range moving targets and other range props around - efficient use of time is really important. With just three target stands and a few targets, you can run a wide variety of drills, with varying degrees of difficulty, and basically

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-62983162759693308772007-11-27T11:10:00.000-08:002009-08-03T10:59:01.291-07:00

For a lot of folks, the terms "shooting" and "fitness" don't usually seem to go together. Mention shooting to your average Joe, and he gets this image of Larry the Cable Guy running around in the woods, decked out in camo, beer in hand, blasting away at anything that moves (and some stuff that doesn't move, too). Not the pinnacle of fitness, obviously. Mention fitness to most shooters (the vast

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756464142220052485.post-15943174911114140222007-11-26T11:34:00.000-08:002007-11-27T15:00:03.003-08:00

With all the various shooting related resources out there, why would I want to fire up yet another one - one that I have to maintain, and put effort into? There's no simple, short answer. But, if you'll read along, I'll try to highlight what I'm doing here, and what I hope to get across to you, faithful reader, on this little blog journey...2007 saw a lot of progress in my shooting, without a

DaveRehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14903201890711887761noreply@blogger.com5