Tuesday, October 21, 2014

CCLSC Hole-oween

This week, we celebrated Halloween a little early, by carving pumpkins.  "Carving" we interpreted as shooting pumpkin targets.  Everyone had a great time! I was having such a good time I didn't get too many pictures of the laughter.  But, here are the CCLSC targets -

Kanani testing the pumpkin targets earlier in the day.

Julie and Michele with their targets.

Chrissy, new to CCLSC Mondays shooting her pumpkin.

Nicole and Shellie watch while Hollie shoots her target.

Marina showing off her target.

Nicole and Shellie with their targets.

Friday, October 17, 2014

CCLSC For The Win!

Last night was the final of sorts for the Women's 101 class and the Advanced Pistol class.  The 101 class had 38 students when it began four months ago and ended up with 22 finishing all four classes.  The Advanced Pistol class had two ladies, both were CCLSC shooters.

CCLSC has been working in the fundamentals with students during Monday practices and refining their skills.  Top issues have been trigger control and "the flinch".  There have been some good information posted on our Facebook page about these trouble spots.

I am also pleased to announce that the two ladies who tied in 101 were both CCLSC shooters and ended up doing a shoot off at 10 yards.  Congratulations Cari and Hollie!  Hollie came out victorious in this bout.  The tie breaker was a result of both ladies shooting an amazing 90 points to tie.

Cari (left) and Hollie (right) moments before the shootoff!  Congratulations Hollie!
You did an awesome job shooting!

Thursday, October 9, 2014

CCLSC Shot-tober

I would like to welcome new member Kristi to CCLSC.  WELCOME!

CCLSC is always looking for new lady shooters.  In order to participate, you must be enrolled/competed the Women's 101 class offered at Tacti-Cool Gun's & Gear.  If you don’t want to wait until the end of/start of the New Year, Tacti-Cool offers an “Every Friday class” that meets, you guessed it, every Friday.  The next class is a 4 hour class beginning at 2:00 pm ending about 6:00 pm when the shop closes.  This class is the same material as the Women’s 101 without the benefit of being in an all women environment, range pass or the option to win a pistol. The other drawback is that it is a little more expensive than the Women’s class (which is $100).  The Friday class is $75 and then you pay for your range time, rental, ammo and target.  This adds about $35-40 to the cost of the class.  However, the Friday class is limited to 6 students so you’d have a smaller class instead of the 30 students in 101. 

Mellissa taking aim.

New member Kristi loading her handgun.

Cari shooting the M&P shield.

Nicole shooting her brand new AR-15 for the first time.

Kristi showing Nicole how to load her revolver.

Hollie shooting her XD.

Cari and Heather calculating their scores on their target.

Friday, October 3, 2014

Tip of the Week: 90% of the Game is Mental

90% of the Game is Mental – We’ve covered a lot of different topics in our emails.  I never know what will get people inspired or answer unasked questions.  For this week, I want to take a little break and offer some of my own advice.  Do not underestimate the mental game in shooting.  It is a delicate balance between proven confidence and thinking you’re better than you are.  I’ve shared with you information regarding stress and shooting and how it can affect your skills.  This is where your mental stamina needs to be exercised as well as your physical muscle memory.  I can say through personal experience my skills have suffered greatly under pressure.

How do we increase our mental strength?  Not sure if it helps, but I guess you could imagine the target naked.  But seriously, visualizing the target coming at you or imagining yourself in an emergency situation can help.  When testing my skills, I make sure I understand what I’m being asked to do.  I repeat the instructions if I am unsure.  Then, I perform the skill at a comfortable speed.  Finally, I imagine myself in a life or death situation.  If this was the “real deal” what would I be doing?  Can I see my target, can I hear further instructions, do I see the people around me, did the shot go where I want it, can I see if I missed, am I functioning on autopilot?  These are all questions I try to think of, while shooting as accurately and fast as I can.  At the same time take a breath and understand that it is all “play” in friendly competition.  That should help to take the edge off.  See what I mean by a delicate balance?


It’s a lot to think about.  In a few weeks, many of you will be thinking about this as you enter the range on a Thursday.