Imagine being in one place, with more than 700 women who also like to shoot, and at least 100 instructors for three solid days of training. I recently attended my sixth A Girl and A Gun Women’s Shooting League Annual Conference in Grand Junction, Colorado, and it was as amazing as it sounds.
There were so many names I recognized but hadn’t met yet, as well as old friends to meet up with. I ran across Gabby Franco, Walther pro-shooter, in the parking lot. We just had a quick chance to say hi to each other as we both were running off to our classes – me to learn, her to teach. Then on Monday after the event was over, we ran into each other again. This time at the gate at the small Grand Junction Regional Airport. We sat and chatted for around an hour about all kinds of things. It was especially nice because most of the time when I talk with her, I am interviewing her for an article.
The class I was heading to when I ran into Gabby was “Target Transitions,” taught by Nick Young. Nick is a member of the Walther Arms Defense Division Team and he competes in multiple shooting sports. I know that I can be slow to transition between targets, so I was excited to learn from him. Here’s the class description: “This session will teach you to work your mind, your eyes, and your trigger to engage multiple targets. You will learn what is required of your vision and visual processing to make fast and accurate hits. Participants will be able to put it all together and tackle multiple targets in a flash!”
This was my first time using my new Walther PDP F-Series 3.5-inch model at the conference. I thought about Gabby’s advice from a previous interview (Gabby Franco: Three Drills for the Walther PDP F-Series) where she said, “Your brain will always gravitate to what it is familiar with, like a firearm you have practiced with for a long time. Therefore, you have to give your brain time to adjust to a new pistol by doing precision shooting to make meaningful adjustments when needed.” Remembering this, I gave myself grace and patience in learning to use my new gun.
The first thing we worked on was gripping the gun properly because it does no good to get our eyes between targets faster if we have a poor grip. Nick had us shoot just a couple of shots from low-ready and reviewed our targets with us one at a time, to talk about what we may be doing wrong, and how we could correct our grip. I had to laugh when he looked at mine, then pointed to my left arm and jokingly said to me, “You shoot like this thing is just here for decoration.” I found that hilarious because I’ve always said about my left arm, “It’s just here for decoration and balance.”
So obviously I know this is something I struggle with so I really had to work on paying attention to my left arm and hand and MAKE them work harder, particularly with this new gun.
Finally, the transition drill we worked on last was four targets placed at varying distances. We were to choose one target as our “home” target. We were to shoot two shots on it, move to another target and shoot two shots on it, move BACK to the home target and shoot two shots on it, move to a different target and shoot two shots on it, back again to the home target for two shots, shoot two shots on the third target, then back for two shots on the home target again.
This drill really gives you the chance to see where you are jerking between targets instead of moving smoothly and to see if you are moving too quickly and passing by the target and wasting time by having to come back to it.
The class called for 300 rounds and we used almost all of them, but it didn’t feel like it, and it also didn’t feel like it took three hours. It was a fun and very useful class. Nick did an excellent job working us through each step and helping us increase our ability to transition between targets, exactly as the class description said.
I appreciate Nick Young taking the time to come to the conference and share his expertise with us.
Find your perfect carry gun at Walther Firearms.
Nancy Keaton is a retired college administrator, president of her local gun club, competitive shooter and freelance writer whose work has appeared in A Girl and A Gun Women’s Shooting League, "American Shooting Journal," "American Concealed," "Northwest Meetings + Events," and other publications. She enjoys writing about a wide variety of topics and interviewing ordinary people doing amazing things. To see a compilation of her writing, check out her website at www.nancykeaton.com. View all posts by Nancy Keaton
