Managed to get some range time in yesterday to put the Para through its paces. This was the pistol I was supposed to have all this time. Only one hiccup, and that was the infamous "ride the trigger" event where you can lock the pistol up if you only halfway release the trigger after a shot. My fault, though and not the pistol's.
I was watching people left and right of me miss at 7 yards. I couldn't help but peek at their grips to see if I could discern anything. Some were "tea cupping" and one guy was holding his wrist with his offhand. Looked weird. Two younger girls were getting trained by what I hope was their father and not some old pervert, and it was funny that they were shooting quite well. They shot .22 and .38 from what I could tell.
My shooting was... adequate. I started off with a pattern at 15 yards that would have made a shotgun laugh, then I started chanting "grip 20% harder, grip 20% harder" and then tightened up right away. When I remembered to "aim 3/4 high", I started nailing the center pretty well. At 25 yards, I ... ok, I need help. I can't understand why 15 yards I can keep it within the 7 ring but at 25 I have a hard time staying on target. I admit I had had too much coffee in the morning and had a small case of the shakes, but that shouldn't have seen so many fliers.
It's a mental thing, I'm sure. I have to remind myself that if I can hit the 9 ring at 10, I can hit the 8 at 15 and the 7 at 25 as they're all the 'same size'.
At 7 yards, I pretty much obliterated the center. At 10 it was more of the same, except I had some breathing issues and plenty of low shots (again, not paying attention to aiming 3/4 high).
All in all, I shot well enough. Not good enough to kick everyone's butt in IDPA or IPSC, but well enough to not place last. Unfortunately with the holidays, I can afford ammo components or IPSC membership, but not both right now, so it'll probably be February until I can shoot competition again.
Good. Plenty of time to practice that 25 yard problem!