Jewish Shooters Needed for European Maccabi Games!

Attention all Jewish Marksmen!  Today I received the following from Jed Margolis,Executive Director of Maccabi USA:

We have been invited to bring a shooting team to Berlin for the European Maccabi Games. To date no one has applied. We are submitting our Entry Form #2 tomorrow with our team participation. If you know of anyone who might be interested please let me know right away. Thank you.

Contact Jed at jmargolis@maccabiusa.com, and please let me know if you are going so I can report!

Must See Ethiopian Israeli Mauser!

An easy fast to all who will be fasting this weekend.  But before you run off to dinner and schul, you need to see this one:
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=444196397

I wouldn't even venture a guess as to price.  Good luck and buyer beware!

Exposing Dan Slott - Jewish Marksman's Thoughts

This blog continues to serve as a Hall of Fame for Jews involved in shooting sports, 2nd Amendment advocacy, and other firearms-related activities.  However, on rare occasions when a Jewish public figure deserves it, I induct them into Jewish Marksman's Hall of Shame.  Today's inductee is Dan Slott, a comic book author, currently working on several titles for Marvel, including Spider-man.

Slott frequently espouses his distaste for guns and gun owners on Twitter.  Like most opponents of the Second Amendment, Slott's arguments are purely emotional and devoid of logic.  Recently he expressed his displeasure with Americans' rights to own more than one firearm, thereby amassing an "arsenal".  Specifically, Slott argued that the danger presented by a mentally ill person is proportionate to the number of his/her accessible firearms.  Slott mentioned Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook school shooter, as an example.

Yours truly responded on Twitter directly to Slott by pointing out the logical and practical fallacy of this argument, to wit, that a human being can only simultaneously fire so many weapons at once, proportionate to the number of hands he/she has.  By way of analogy, is an alcoholic owning only one car any more of a DUI risk than an alcoholic owning 100 cars?  I also pointed out that Lanza only used two firearms during his rampage, a rifle to kill others (requiring 2 handed operation) and a single shot from a pistol to kill himself.  I am no expert on mass shootings, but I cannot recall an incident where a single crazed gunman utilized more than 2 or at most 3 firearms.  Considering a single firearm can be reloaded with a fresh magazine almost instantly (as fast or faster than switching to another firearm), I fail to see why a crazy person with two or three guns is any more or less dangerous than the same person with one gun and two or three loaded magazines.  In short, logic suggests that laws limiting the number of guns a person can own have no potential to save lives should that person become criminally insane and rampage.

Slott, like most anti-gun activists, can't tolerate logic and reason.  He wrongly accused me of lying about the number of firearms Lanza fired, made outlandish caricatures of my arguments, and banned me from his Twitter feed.  I have attempted to piece together the twitter conversation below (it seems it did not all occur in one Twitter thread so I have done my best to piece it together from a couple threads...you get the gist):

Uninformed, irrational and divisive people like Slott do nothing to advance the society's dialogue about firearms.  There are plenty of other comics creators out there, so I'll be avoiding anything written by this schmuck.  

Jewish Marksmanship Update and Scatt Analysis

Thanks to all those that have asked about my well being.  All is well.  As I mentioned in previous posts, work has been a bear, making weekend free time precious.  So for the time being matches take a back seat to daddy-daughter time.

However, I'm still training several times a week with the Scatt, focusing on the standing position.  I'm using a new laptop that has wifi (my old laptop died) so I can share screen captures now.   Here is a recent model shot, simulating 200 yards standing:

Time is represented by color, from Green->Yellow->Blue->Pink Shot->Red

If you follow the green line from the top left, you see I approach and actually first cross through the 10 ring but don't fire.  Should I have fired then?  The rifle looped up in the 9 ring (yellow line) and and crossed through the X ring (blue line).  As you can see, either the rifle was moving fast or my release wasn't early enough, so the shot hit just on the edge of the 10 (the pink dot).

I'm happy with the hold (more or less), but clearly I need to work on being more aggressive and get comfortable with firing as I see the rifle just cross the 9 ring.  By the time I see that 10 it's too late, the rifle is going to move out of the 10 if I can't find the courage and confidence to know it will be in the 10 when the shot goes.  From reading David Tubb's book, this is an especially important skill to develop for shooting standing in windy conditions.

Jews, Comic Books,Guns and Marksmanship

Superheroes in America

Like most American kids born after WWII, I grew up with superheros as part of popular culture.  As a kid in the 1980's, some of the my favorites were Spider-man and Batman (the latter in re-runs of the live-action show with Adam West). I also remember watching cartoons of the Justice League of America, and the Fantastic Four.  Those shows did a great job of communicating strong American (and in-fact, historically Jewish) values and ethics to American kids.  Values and ethics like: standing up for the weak, bravery, fighting against evil, modesty, humility, work-ethic.

Jewish roots of American Superhero Mythology

Of course, anyone with a modicum of knowledge about the superhero "industry" in the US will grant that much of it was created through the work of Jews, and Jews remain actively involved and influential.  Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber), although not observant, is still at the top of the food chain and a creative giant with Marvel comics (Captain America, Spider-man, etc..) .  His wildly popular X-Men series, in particular, contains all sorts of Jewish themes, including major characters who are explicitly Jewish.  On the DC Comics (a rival publisher) side, Superman had a Jewish creator, as did Batman, just to name a few.

And what does this have to do with Guns?
Many people misunderstand the 2nd Amendment, and the reasons so many Americans own guns.  The reason is simple: we choose to be strong, brave and to fight against evil.  We refuse to be victims of crime.  We refuse to be victims of tyranny.  And this attitude was shaped, in part, by our childhood superhero stories.

The American superhero stories teach a life lesson very clearly: the weak can and will be abused and enslaved by the strong.  In order for the weak to defend themselves, they need to level the playing field.  They need powers.  To emphasize that point, every comic book hero's lore includes an arc where the hero loses his or her powers, and becomes vulnerable (think Superman and kryptonite).  We can't take pills (yet) that give us Superman's powers, but we can learn to use guns to level the playing field with the bad guys.

and Marksmanship?
Through Spider-man, Stan Lee (again, born Stanley Martin Lieber) tells Americans that "WITH GREAT POWER THERE MUST ALSO COME--GREAT RESPONSIBILITY!" That means developing excellent safety habits and marksmanship skills.  Another value taught to American children through superhero stories.

Currently my 4 year old daughter and I are enjoying a number of animated superhero series on Netflix, including "Spider-man and His Amazing Friends" and the "Incredible Hulk."  Her favorite is the mutant Fire Star, of course.  These are great shows we can watch together, and discuss the moral and ethical conflicts that the shows address.  Unlike "Barney" and other politically correct garbage fed to kids today, she is learning that indeed there are good guys and bad guys in the world, and we must all stand up to the bad guys.  On her own, she commented that "people shouldn't be afraid of the Hulk just because he looks different, they should talk to him and learn that he is really very nice and a good guy."

I'm enjoying using Marvel's Marvel Unlimited app to explore their library...there are plenty of comics that are interesting for adults.  Check it out!

Jewish Marksman's Status Report

Work has kept me extremely busy, and unfortunately I needed to work some weekends that coincided with matches, meaning I could not attend matches for the past few months.  That really stinks because this time of year in Florida is great for matches weather-wise, because it tends to be not so hot but the winds pick up to make the matches more challenging.  Hopefully this month or next I'll get back in the game.

In the meantime, I've been practicing with the SCATT system and really making some changes to my standing position for improvement:  

• I have taken to keeping my trigger-arm elbow to my side instead of winged out, which makes for a tighter and more stable position.  
• I've also set my front sight to it's narrowest iris, allowing for very little white around the bull, and that has really tightened my hold as well.  
• I've moved my grip much lower on the grip handle, which allows me grip a little tighter and really isolate the trigger finger's movement.
• Lastly, I've really focused on making my approach to the bull more efficient and quicker, trying to get the shot off in 3-6 seconds once the rifle is "on target".

The results have been scatt averages of 95+, which is great for me.  I think also getting away from the matches for a while has also changed my perspective a little bit...got my mind off the game and more focused on enjoying the process.  

Hannah and Josh Black Profiled in CMP Article

The Civilian Marksmanship Program recently ran an in depth article on Jewish Marksmen Hannah and Josh Black (http://www.odcmp.org/1213/default.asp?page=THEBLACKS).  Interestingly, the article made a point of discussing their Jewishness:

Religion is important to both Hannah and Josh as well. Having grown up with a strong Jewish background, they both directly state that it impacts their everyday lives – it affects how they view the world.
Josh is involved with a Jewish youth group at a Chabad synagogue and is a founding member of a Jewish Scout group. He can also chant Torah.
For Hannah, choosing to go to college at Texas Christian was worrisome at first, but she soon learned that TCU is very accepting of all students, even their Jewish students.

Check it out! (Thanks to Mike for sending the link!)

What has the Jewish Marksman been up to?

I've received a few emails inquiring into the blogging slow down.  The past few months I've been busy with a few things: work-related travel and marathon training.  I completed the marathon a couple weeks ago, finishing in 5 hours.  Not bad for 39, and weather that reached the 80's.  I did see one Israeli guy (well I assumed he was Israeli given the Star of David on his running shirt) so I yelled Shalom and gave him a high five as I passed.  Training for the marathon took up a lot of my time.

In training on the SCATT I seemed to have maintained my score level, in fact, I think I've made some improvement and will blog about that soon.  Now that the marathon is done I'll have more time to focus on improvement in shooting and blogging about it.

Jewish Gunsmith Budd Gardstein Passes

Sad news.  Perhaps the only contemporary American Jewish gunsmith, Budd Gardstein of Kentucky, has passed away.  From his obituary:

CORBIN — Budd Henry Gardstein, age 65, of Lily, passed away Sunday, Nov. 10, 2013 at Saint Joseph London.
He was born Jan. 12, 1948 in Brooklyn, N.Y. to the late Seymore Gardstein and Helen Cohen. He was a self employed Gunsmith, a member of the Lily Volunteer Fire Department, Air Force Vietnam Veteran, and was of the Jewish Faith.
He was preceded in death by his first wife, Edna Hensley Gardstein.
He is survived by wife Shirley Haynes Gardstein of Lily, two sons, James David Gardstein of Indiana, Matthew Daniel Gardstein of Florida, two stepsons: Matthew Hejnar and Daniel Hejnar, both of Philadelphia, Pa., stepdaughter, Jessica Hejnar of Lily, and sister Ronnie Gardstein of Washington, D.C.

Baruch dayan ha'emet.

Israeli Mauser Watch 11/5/13

Currently on gunbroker.com there is a nice German captured Israeli Mauser.  This one has the markings I like: the Star of David and a visible attack on the Nazi eagle (scroll down in the listing to see the pictures).  Markings like that, in my opinion, are what collecting those are all about.

No bidding yet, but my estimate is that this one will go for $600-$800.  As always, buyer beware!

Jewish Gun Blogging Round Up

Just a few quick interesting posts by fellow Jewish gun-bloggers:

• Hap Rocketto recaps the 2011 debut of the Black Hawk Bagel Boys.
• Robert Farago muses whether antisemitism is "good for gun rights?"  (you can find my comments in disagreement.)
• Bogie put together a cool shotgun.
• Gabby shares thoughts on concealed carry.

Enjoy!

Maccabi USA Gives Jewish Marksman the Cold Shoulder!

On August 22, 2013, I sent an email to the Maccabi USA leadership:

To: jmargolis@maccabiusa.com, amonson@maccabiusa.com, ssorkin@maccabiusa.com, sfeinstein@maccabiusa.com
To Maccabi USA:
... I am a Jewish American actively competing in several shooting sports.  I also operate a blog called Jewish Marksmanship, at http://jewishmarksmanship.blogspot.com.  As you might imagine, I have become something of a "hub" for the social network of American Jews active in shooting sports.
As you know, no Americans participated in the shooting sports events at the recent Maccabiah Games in Israel.  I submit to you that the primary reason for this absence was that many of us Jews in the shooting sports community were simply unaware that shooting events were being held.  Some who competed at Maccabiah Games decades ago thought shooting sports had been eliminated, and did not bother to inquire this year.  Others, like me, were disappointed to learn about the inclusion of shooting sports only after the fact.
Indeed, in communications I have recently had with Israeli national shooting team members, they were quite disappointed and surprised at the lack of American turnout.  The Israeli shooters often travel to the US for international competitions, and were keen to build friendships.  They wrongly assumed that perhaps few American Jews compete in Olympic-style shooting.
In fact, many young Jewish Americans have been recent Olympians in shooting sports, and compete on their college rifle or pistol teams.  There are also many amateurs.  Here is a sampling:
In the teen and "young adult" category:
Sandra Fong, Danielle Fong, Abigail Fong - With  Sandra notably competing at the Olympic levels.
Hanna Black, Josh Black -  Hanna competes at the collegiate level in Air Rifle, Josh at the junior nationals level in Air Rifle and Pistol.
Jessica Levine - Won national awards at Camp Perry a few years back in smallbore.
Laura Spector - Olympic biathlete.
Sharon Barazani - Up-and-coming international shooter (not sure, she may technically have been born in Israel...?).
Adults:
Dmitriy Shteyman - International pistol disciplines.
Sloane Milstein - Air pistol.
The "Blackhawk Bagel Boys" - An entire 2011 team of Jews at the national championships in smallbore prone.
This list is by no means all inclusive, there are dozens of amateurs.  I happen to know that many of these athletes have made pleasure-trips to Israel, and will do so again in the future.  I cannot say to have spoken with all of them, but suspect that ignorance of shooting sports in the Maccabiah Games explains many of their absences.
I pose these questions because some of the Israeli shooting clubs have expressed an interest in building ties with American Jewish shooters, independently of the Maccabiah Games if necessary.  Myself and a few others have resolved to better organize the Jewish American shooting sports community, and build greater ties with our Israeli brothers and sisters in the sport.  The question is whether Maccabiah USA is the right vehicle for us.
It is against this background that I make several inquires of Maccabiah USA.  Put simply:
1. Does Maccabiah USA welcome the shooting sports as Maccabiah Games events, and consider them equal to others?  I have spoken with some who suspect (I hope without cause) that as an organization, Maccabiah USA would prefer to distance itself from all firearms sports.  It would go a long way with me and others if you could state the organization's position.
2. What is the future of shooting sports in the Maccabiah Games?
3. What are the requirements to send a contingent of American shooters to the next games? (i.e. number of entrants, etc.)
Certainly, I for one have limited resources to make trips to Israel for the purpose of shooting competitions, and I'm sure others feel the same, as competitive shooting is already a financially expensive sport.  That being said, can you make the case as to why American Jewish shooting sports competitors should coordinate through Maccabiah USA, instead of doing something directly with the Israeli shooting clubs?
I look forward to your response.

To date, I have received no response.  I know it was received because I received an automatic vacation message from one of the recipients.  I will let readers draw their own conclusions from this, but I am personally drawing a very negative impression of Maccabi USA.

But kvetch not loyal readers, because the wheels are in motion for other options.  A rough sketch of the idea is that every few years, one or more of the Israeli shooting clubs will host a tournament for world Jewry, independent of the Maccabi Games.  If you would like to help be a part of the long term planning, please let me know.

Gabby at ArmedCandy - Jewish Markswoman and Gun Blogger

The list of Jewish gun bloggers continues to grow.  You can now add Georgia resident Gabby from the blog http://www.armedcandy.net  Gabby has posted several times on topics relating to Jews and guns:

Self Defense and Jewish Ideals, Are They Mutually Exclusive
Concealed Carry in Places of Worship
FIDF & ArmedCandy Make New Girl Gunners

I would characterize her blogging as being a personal blog that shares her various thoughts on gun issues with her readers, as opposed to being technical or focused on any particular shooting-related topic.  The blog seems to be associated with the "Gun Nuts" blog network, which appears to be commercial in nature.  Take a look!

All is well with Jewish Marksman!

I know that my blogging has been a little slow lately, but that is just because of the High Holidays and heavy work load.  But don't despair dear readers, I have a number of great posts in the pipeline:

• A day at the range with an Israeli national team shooter
• Update on efforts and plans to create more interaction between Israeli and diaspora Jewish shooting sports competitors/hobbyists
• Another Jewish gun-blogger
• An interesting Jewish arms importer/collector

And more!  My shooting has been going well, last weekend at a 50 point XTC High Power practice match, I was just 8 points shy of High Master.  I actually physically practice less because of time constraints, but mental rehearsal and management is filling the gap and scores have gone up!

Stay tuned!

Mental Training Update 08/29/13

After my last match, I took about a week and a half off from actually shooting the rifle with the SCATT.  Instead, I focused solely on the mental training aspects in Basham's "With Winning in Mind" program.  This consisted of reading my Directive Affirmation often, and visualizing shots.  A couple days ago I picked up the rifle again.

Before I even began shooting, I noticed two things.  One, despite over a week off, the rifle did not feel the least bit foreign to me...I still felt sharp.  Visualization is indeed a means to maintain physical skills to some extent.  I also felt my Directive Affirmation kicking in, i.e. part of me really does start to expect 96%+ scores, but I cannot say that has reached 100% just yet.

Shooting-wise on day 1, I shot 3 sets of 10, each with an average score of 93%. That is a very good average considering the time off.  Usually with time off, my first day of training is pretty rough, as in sub-90%, but the next day I'm much better.  So I was shooting 4 10s on average, with 8s creeping in.  I have to admit that I sometimes forgot to run a Mental Program on each shot, and when I did, the chances of a 10 were lessened.  I also struggled with one of the concepts of Basham's Mental Program, a stage called "Intention" or "Aggression".  After visualizing a 10, then the steps to get a 10, the next step is to adopt a mentality of "Intention" or "Aggression".  I understand this intellectually, as over-holding is a common problem for shooters, as is "chicken-finger" and other mental barriers that keep a shooter from dropping the hammer on an otherwise acceptable sight picture.  But I come from a background of contact sports (ice hockey, jui jitsu) so "Aggression" means something different than what I think Basham is getting at.  Truth be told, when I heard him talk about it, I did not completely understand the idea.

Well as luck would have it, one of my readers pointed me to another book on Mental Training, called "Peak Performance" by Charles Garfield.  I have only read the first few chapters, but one of the early chapters talks about an athlete's "volition", as in the emotions he or she experiences when intentionally achieving a peak performance.  The athletes describe the emotion at that time as one of being in complete control, of absolute confidence.  So it occurs to me that this is what Basham means by "Intention" or "Aggression", not necessarily as something physically active, but instead an emotional state of absolute confidence and control over the situation.  I think a good term for it might be "swagger."  And yes, when I remember the feeling of shooting an X on demand in the past, it is something like that.  What Garfield and Basham are saying, I think, is that it's not about feeling that way after you randomly shoot an X.  Make yourself feel that way before you shoot the X, and the X is likely to follow.  And this makes sense, as the supremely confident athlete expects a certain result, he/she does not have to fight for it mentally.

So the next day of shooting, I did just that.  I ran the Mental Program, but this time during the "Intention" phase, I would tell myself things like, "I am in control of this rifle...it may move but I am controlling it", and "I have absolute confidence that my trigger will fire when it needs to," and "my trigger breaks are always clean"  If I had any emotional sense of doubt creeping in, I would put the rifle down and start over.  The result was a 10 shot string of 98% (eight 10s), with excellent releases on every shot.  I had some shots where the hold was unsteady, but my trigger release was quick when a 10 sight picture appeared.  I had some shots where the hold was steady, and the release was slightly more deliberate but a clean surprise break.  It was shooting that just felt great, both from a technical standpoint, but also from an emotional standpoint.  It seemed easy and effortless.

I'm especially happy with what happened on the last shot.  Obviously I could not ignore that I was shooting well.  The number 96 was sort of in the back of my mind, and of course an 8 on the last shot would give me a 96, but a 10 would give me a 98.  So I took some deep breaths and cleared my mind, and imagined that I had already shot the 10, and now a whole new match was starting and I have no score and am on my first shot.  I focused on fixing that feeling in my mind.  And bam, shot a 10.  Having done that, I am beginning to feel more confident that noticing I'm shooting well is not going to sabotage my scores as much.

Well the moral of the story is some things are beginning to click, and it's important I think in Mental Training to synthesize more than one program, because sometimes the way one author explains something might be misinterpreted, even though he is intending to say the same thing that reader understands correctly as put by another author.  And I have to emphasize, I don't think any of this is making me technically better.  For months or maybe even a year now I've seen on the SCATT that I have pretty darn close to a 10 ring off-hand hold.  But that's taken years of physical practice to achieve.  What's happening is more of a feeling that clouds are being lifted that were keeping me from capitalizing on making the most of those technical abilities.

Israeli Mauser Watch 8/26/13

There are a couple of very nice looking Israeli Mausers currently for sale on Gunbroker:

This one (click here) has a very cool Czech action, with the beautiful lion crest.  Now, unlike many of these Czech actions I've seen, this one actually has a Star of David stamp on the side, which I love.  It seems like someone did some restoration work on this one.  With matching numbers, I see this one selling over $1K, the starting ask is $750.  Too rich for my blood, but man I wish a stripped action like that one would go for sale sometime.

The other (click here) is a Belgian with the IDF crest.  Other than the fact this one is clean looking, I'm not sure what justifies the $950 ask.  I've seen the Belgians in that condition go $600-$800, and at that high end only when super clean.  I see that the seller is the same for both rifles, perhaps he confused the two ask prices. 

As always, buyer beware!

Jewish Marksman's Directive Affirmation 08/21/2013

As I discussed in previous posts, according to Lanny Basham's Mental Management system, one of the keys to my shooting better in competition is going to be changing my Self Image circle.  In order to shoot 96+ standing in competition, I need to inherently believe and expect that is exactly what will happen, because "it's like me" to to shoot 96+ in competition.  Basham sets forth a technique to get there called the Directive Affirmation:

The Directive Affirmation is a paragraph written in the first person present tense that describes a person's goal, pay-value of the goal, plan to reach a goal and habits and attitudes affecting the goal.  It is rehearsed repetitively, causing the Self Image to change.

So following his steps to develop the Directive Affirmation:
Step 1. Define the goal.  To always shoot 96% or better in the standing stage at matches. [This is only 2 points higher than my personal best, lower than my bests in practice, and only 1 point higher than my practice average.  I think it is realistic and achievable.]
Step 2. Set the time limit.  March 31, 2014.  [I shoot 2 matches a month, so by that time, I'll have shot 16 matches, assuming none get rained out or other interference.  This is plenty of time.]
Step 3. List the personal pay-value of reaching the goal.  I have taken my next step toward earning High Master classification.  The personal pay-value of earning High Master is:

• the great sense of personal achievement
• inspire my blog readers to pursue shooting sports excellence

Step 4. Outline the plan to achieve the goal.

• Run a Mental Program (more on this in a moment) on each shot.
• Visualize taking 10 perfectly executed shots in the morning when I wake up, and before I go to bed.
• During practice, visualize myself having shot several 10s in a row, and then shooting another unfazed or influenced by the prior shots.
• Keep a written reminder to dryfire every 3rd shot in competition to ensure I am flinch-free and only the muscles in my trigger finger are activated in the shot.
• Read and visualize my Directive Affirmations daily.

Step 5. Write a Directive Affirmation

March 31, 2014.  I always shoot at least 96% in the standing phase of competition.  I have taken my next step towards earning High Master classification.  I always run a Mental Program on each shot in practice and in competition.  I visualize taking 10 perfect shots when I wake up and when I go to bed.  When I practice, I visualize myself unfazed by the fact I am shooting 10s, because shooting 10s for me standing is as normal and like me as shooting 10s in prone.  In competition I dryfire after several shots and my body simply flows with the rifle's recoil.  The muscles in my trigger finger are the only muscles in my entire body that move during a shot.  I always shoot at least 96% in the standing phase of competition.

Step 6. Write down the Directive Affirmation in my own handwriting on cards, at least 5, and put them in key locations each day.  Every time I encounter a card, I read the Directive Affirmation.


That's it!  As for the Mental Program, that is basically a mini-mental rehearsal for each shot.  I have started using this technique but not consistently.  Sometimes my mind is just blank, which is OK I think.  When I find myself thinking about anything else, I run the Mental Program.  It is probably better to run the Mental Program every shot, so I will start keeping track.  Basham gives a Mental Program for shooting in his book, so I'll just use that.  Basically, you just visualize yourself and how you feel after making a perfect shot.  Then you visualize yourself doing it.  Then you focus your attention on what you need to do to shoot and shoot. 

Jewish Marksman's Mental Training Begins

Readers following the blog know that I have been struggling to get my off hand scores in competition to match my practice scores.  Put another way, I have not been shooting as well in competition as I do in practice.  This past weekend's match was a typical example.  My first two sighter shots standing were a 10 and an X.  I was calm and focused for my first record shot, a 10.  Then suddenly my pulse began racing, and I shot two 8s. Those two 8s were a sort of pressure relief valve, letting me be calm again.  My next 6 shots were 9-10-9-10-X-10.  So not withstanding the two 8's, my score is 84, with a potential 94, which would match my personal best in competition.  For my final shot I was not nervous, but somehow shot high with a 7, finishing with a 91.  In practice I am shooting 96+, and there is no logical reason I shouldn't be shooting at least that well in competition.  In fact, I have the SCATT set to make it harder to score in practice.

Enter Lanny Bassham and his "With Winning in Mind" book and Mental Management CD seminar.  Bassham is a former Olympic gold medalist in shooting, who developed a "mental management" system for training the brain for top performance.  I first read his book several years ago, and dismissed it as Tony Robbins-like feel-good nonsense.  But recently I read the autobiography of former Navy Seal sniper trainer Brandon Webb, and he wrote that initially he had the same doubts about Bassham, but sniper trainees were greatly benefiting from Bassham's books and CDs, setting new course records.  So I decided to give Bassham another shot, and was able to find his seminar CDs for sale used, from a very accomplished shooter who gave the CDs high marks.  It turns out that Bassham's CD seminar goes into much more detail than his book, and won me over to try it.

The core of the system is Bassham's model of mental performance.  He identifies three "circles", the conscious, the subconscious, and the self-image, which need to be in balance.  The conscious and subconscious circles are fairly self-explanatory, i.e. the former is focus and concentration, the latter is the muscle-memory skills developed through hours of practice and repetition.  But the self image circle?  Bassham says that how you see yourself influences how well you will shoot, and that self image will propel you or pull you back.  Even if you have the conscious and subconscious ability to shoot 96+, if your mental image of yourself is that you typically shoot 92, you will typically shoot 92.  If you start shooting better than that, your nerves and subconscious will pull you back.  If you start shooting worse, you'll focus more and bring the score up to that average.  Your self-image basically anchors your performance, in that you will experience debilitating discomfort and distraction any time you are shooting worse, or motivating energy when shooting worse, than your expected performance.  Bassham says that shooters with my dilemma are very common, he calls them the "frustrated experts" who shoot outstanding in practice but not in competition.

The key, according to Bassham, is that I must change my self-image.  The practice data says I can shoot a High Master off hand score.  So why shouldn't I think of myself as High Master off hand shooter?  If I really saw myself as a High Master off hand shooter, then I wouldn't start to get nervous as soon as I start shooting well off hand in competition...after all, shooting 10 after 10 in competition is normal for a High Master.  I know I can shoot High Master scores in prone.  My first 9 shots prone this weekend at 600 yards were 10s and Xs, and I didn't get nervous or flustered...that's "like me" to shoot well prone...I finished this weekend at 96%, just shy of High Master.  I have to convince myself that it's "like me" to shoot well standing off hand.  In other words, make my self-image guide the scores, and not the other way around.

Bassham says the self image can be changed, and he sets forth a plan and techniques to change it.  The first step is to write down an "affirmation statement" that is sort of the goal to be achieved.  I want to re-read what he says about developing that statement before I write mine out.  More to follow...

Time to Train the Brain

This weekend was a turning point in my shooting development.  I am now convinced beyond any doubt that I have the technical skills to shoot at the High Master level.  What is lacking, and what I need to change, is my mental preparedness to shoot at that level.  This post I will illustrate the problems, and in subsequent posts I'll discuss my progress in training techniques, all coming from the "With Winning in Mind" books and tapes of Lanny Basham.

Readers know that I recently gained insight into my standing off-hand technique by watching video clip of Israeli shooter Sergey Richter.  My most recent match started very well.  As a reminder, I am using a .308 bolt action rifle with metallic sights.  My two sighting shots were both 10s, just a little left (this was a 100 yard reduced match, so the 10-ring is 3.35" and the X is 1.35") :

So I adjusted 4 clicks to the right for my record shots, and the first two were on the money:

Now it hits me.  For off hand shooting, both my sighters and record shots are super tight.  My zero is near perfect.  My hold today is super tight and slow.  I could shoot a perfect target if this keeps up....

My pulse starts to pick up a bit...but I use some of the relaxation techniques  know, and continue shooting, but I sense my hold is widening:

In the scope I wasn't sure if those shots to the left were 9s or 10s, but they would be good 9s.  I'm doing fine!  Until:

Ouch!  That shot was barely on paper, and counts as a miss.  My concentration was so intent on my new trigger technique, that I abandoned my prior mental shot plan which involved an anti-flinching step, as well as dry-firing my fifth shot, and as a result, flinched on the shot.  Ok, no biggie, I can recover, and my next four shots found the 9 and 10 ring:

Well that made me feel much better!  That's a target on pace to shoot a 85 or 86, which is still good shooting, and I think to myself, without the miss it would be 95 or 96, which is damn good.  So on my final shot what should happen but:

Yep, another off-target miss caused by flinching, because I forgot to dry-fire a couple shots to immunize myself.  Lesson learned.

But despite the rough start, I did fairly well in the sitting and rapid-fire prone stages of the match.  Then came prone, where I continue to get better and better each outing.  The first 17 shots, I did everything mentally right, had no thoughts of score, and shot all 10s and Xs.  Then I started to think about the fact that I might be about to shoot my first clean target.  I considered not checking the scope any more for the final 3 shots, but decided that would be a "cheap trick" and should just shoot as normal.  Shots 18 and 19 disappeared into the 10-shot hole I was building around the X-ring, and this is what I saw in my spotting scope:

Just 1 more shot...1 more and after years of competition I'll finally have a clean target!  And guess what I did:

Arrghhh!  Never mind that I haven't shot an 8 at 100 yards for months.  It's all a blur now, I can't even explain how it happened.

Anyhow, the point of the pictures above is to demonstrate my need to win the mental game--I've got the physical skills.  In future posts I'll talk about what I'm doing to get there.  Wish me mazal tov!

Awesome Video Tour of Israeli Tavor Factory

As readers know I'm not exactly in a rush to go out and buy a Tavor.  But right now it's one of the most sought after rifles in America.  Here's a great video from MAC, where Tim visits Tel Aviv and takes a tour of the IWI factory where Tavors are made.  Very cool scenes from Tel Aviv, very clean and efficient factory, full auto demos of the Tavor and other Israeli-made rifles...what more can you ask for!  Check it out:



The Tavor is proving to be quite the Israeli ambassador!