About
My name is Tom Jones. I’ve been a gun owner for about 20 years, but until recently I wasn’t really a shooter. In the Fall of 2007 I decided to get a concealed handgun license. As part of the training required for my permit I began to appreciate the distinct difference between owning a handgun and being able to use one effectively. In early 2008, I discovered pistol-training.com and decided to get “serious” about shooting. Since then I’ve attended over 300 hours of formal firearms training (most of it handgun), including classes from Larry Vickers, Magpul Dynamics, Todd Green, Ken Hackathorn, and Paul Howe.
Despite all this training, I’m not a very accomplished shooter. My best official F.A.S.T. score is 7.93. I’ve shot the IDPA classifier twice (Fall 2009 and Spring 2010) both times with a score almost exactly in the middle of the sharpshooter range. I was lamenting my rather mediocre IDPA classifier performance to ToddG, and he commented that I should easily be shooting expert or higher. He’s right. The reason I’m not is because other than shooting IDPA twice a month and at an indoor bullseye league once a week, I’m not practicing.
During a long drive home from a recent training class, I decided I wanted to train (be it dry practice or live fire) every day for a full year and post a daily log on the internet. I figured announcing this to the world (even if only a handful of people were aware of it) would make me accountable and keep me on track. I originally planned to start at the beginning of 2011, giving me enough time to ensure I had an adequate ammo supply on hand.
I mentioned my plans to ToddG and he said he might be able to help me out with the ammunition. He also said that he’d be happy to host my journal at pistol-training.com and encouraged me to start the project after the Aim Fast, Hit Fast class in Los Alamos at the end of August. Two weeks (and one very large check) later, a pallet with 52,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition was delivered to my house.
So, I’m just a regular 42 year old guy who works as an engineer and is not particularly gifted or athletic. I want to see how far and fast my handgun skills can progress with some dedicated and focused practice. My goals for the coming year are:
- IDPA: SSP Master classification
- F.A.S.T.: consistently under 6 seconds
- Conventional Pistol (NRA Bullseye): Master classification
This project will be starting on Saturday, 2010-08-28. There will be daily posts of my training activities here and weekly or monthly updates at pistol-training.com. Jim D has generously offered to let me use a thread at firearmstrainingandtactics.com for ongoing discussion of the project. Please stop by there and leave any questions, comments, or advice.
I’m looking forward to starting this project. It should be fun and will definitely be a lot of work. Wish me luck!