I have a match to shoot this weekend, and it got me to thinking about my preparations. Since my goal in 2011 is to improve as many aspects of my competition as I can, I thought I would begin at the beginning.
Assuming I have done the work in practice, there is still a lot of things I do to get ready. Before now, I just did them, but now I have my checklist.
Since it's already starting to get warm, I have been drinking water all day today, to get my body ready.
Here's what I will do tonight:
> Detail strip my Glock 17 (Bruce) and inspect all parts
> Change the factory connector for the (-) connector. (Bruce does double duty as a home defense gun and my competition gun. I keep the factory trigger connector in for home defense, so the trigger pull matches my other Glocks. Changing the connector to a (-) connector lowers the trigger pull about a pound.)
> Brush out but don’t clean unless it is very dirty
> Clean the fiber optic front sight with water only
> Lubricate the gun, using grease on the rails and connector
> Re-assemble the gun and dry fire it and practice drawing. Fix any problems
> Check mags – for damage, springs, followers
> Check holster and mag pouches - make sure that everything is adjusted correctly
> Load all my magazines to 10 rounds
> Make up some sports drink in plastic bottles, and put one bottle in the freezer
> Check my hearing protection and eye protection
> Make sure I have a clean towel in my shooting bag
> Make sure my knee pads, hat, and spent shell bag are in my shooting bag
Finally, make sure I have directions to the range, since there are about half a dozen ranges in the Atlanta area with USPSA or GSSF matches.
Tomorrow is a Steel Challenge match at Creekside Firing Range. I will try to live tweet it at @FillYerHands, so "stay tuned."
