As a kid in Moscow no one in my family was into shooting. My grandfather hunted for many years but quit around the time I was born; he and my uncle both had gas pistols (can't legally have a real gun in Russia) that they never carried; but I spent my childhood playing with bb guns that were considered just toys and you could even take them to school with you. Once in the US in my early teens I thought guns were cool but I didn't know anyone that had any so it wasn't until a college friend graduated and got an LTC that I actually got out to the range and had a ton of fun. Still, it took a couple of years for me to get around to applying for a license, which I got from Boston just over two years ago (I actually applied two weeks before Sandy Hook... great f-ing timing). Back then, about three years ago, background checks and AWBs seemed perfectly reasonable at face value. However, once I put in for my LTC, I started reading and the snowball built up very quickly. Before long I was spending my lunch breaks and evenings reading about world history, US history, the revolution, the founding fathers, the constitution, firearms laws past and present, WWII history, crime statistics, different firearms, training techniques, etc etc. Anything gun related became my passion and as I learned more, my interest only grew and this continues to this day.
About a year ago I realized that standing at a range bench on a nice sunny afternoon and carefully aiming at paper or bottles/cans would never prepare me for any sort of defensive scenario and it wouldn't make me a better shooter. This became blatantly obvious when I showed up to a 3 gun match and missed half the targets. After that, about 8 months ago, I met with Stu (Cloverleaf), who showed me that what I thought were at least decent fundamentals were actually junk and I'd been practicing the wrong things. Over the course of two hours my shooting improved and since then I've been working at really solidifying those fundamental skills. I also got into IDPA this year and, once again, saw how far behind everyone I really am. This has done nothing but further spur me to improve and really TRAIN instead of just shooting. I dry fire several times a week and I try to get out to the range nearly every weekend. I'm getting better but I'm not at the point where I want to seek out more training yet - I need to reach certain goals first.
I've also taken a couple of no-fire classes at MFS to start working on my mental capabilities. For now I'm working on fundamentals (especially trigger control), as well as some holster work, reloads, and malfunctions (the things I encounter at IDPA). I've resisted the temptation to modify my go-to pistol in any way.
As for other types of firearms, I shoot a lot of skeet and generally considered myself to be beginner-proficient with a shotgun (came in 3rd at the shotgun stage at the aforementioned 3 gun match). I do want to get into shotgunning more seriously and start training with it though. Rifles are on hold really until I become better at everything else, particularly pistol, and until I move out of Boston.
Stu - at some point I do want to get your take on my improvements, if any, since we met. Like I said though, I have certain goals to reach before coming back for more training/instruction.