Nimitz's Journey To Shooting Greatness

[Nimitz]

Open is a very different game vs any iron sight division .... Lots of people think that switching to open it will magically fix their fundamental shooting skill issues but if you were a crappy iron sight shooter you'll be a crappy open shooter. In fact, as you pointed out, speed is much more heavily weighted in open than production and you won't just magically become fast because you switched to a dot ....you'll think you're faster comparing to irons but that's the wrong meter stick.

I had never even heard of SC until a shooting coach suggested I try it to help with my iron shooting. Once I started shooting it I discovered I liked it and for whatever reason I got better much faster training for SC than USPSA so I decided to focus exclusively on it and see how far I could go. Since I only started shooting at 52, focusing on a sport where I could rise relatively rapidly appealed to my competition desires.

Having said all that, I'm looking forward to shooting USPSA matches again starting in Aug and see where the almost 2 year layoff has put me ... At least on the level 1 scene ....

[ZackJones]

Funny. I've made the decision to quit USPSA matches (with rare exceptions) and focus all of my efforts on Steel. I like USPSA matches okay but it's not my passion like steel is. The ammo I spend on USPSA match could go towards steel practice. It will be interesting to hear how it works out for you.

[Nimitz]

I don't expect any negative impact since all I plan to do is shoot 1 USPSA match a month on a day which would otherwise be an off day for me. It's my one time a month to just shoot and screw around. I realized a while back that all I do is train and shoot matches so I decided I needed one day a month to just shot for fun with no competitive goals. I'll probably pick some fringe goal for each stage like have the fastest stage time or shoot an 'all alpha stage' just to give me something to do ....

[Nimitz]

So after taking the last week off and reassessing my training I picked up with a 1.3 hr dry fire session tonight. One of the changes I've made is a renewed focus on visualization. Over the last couple of months I've been focusing more on quantity of dry fire rather than quality ... Something I struggled early on with my USPSA training. Trying to crank out the reps inside of just focusing on learning something on every rep, regardless of how many I do ... I have also gotten away from visualization during training, ignoring how powerful a tool this is. So tonight I made sure I visualized every rep before performing it. This did 2 important things, first it forced me to slow down and analyse each rep to make sure I learned something and second, it ensured that at least half of all my reps in the session were done perfectly since they were visualized. And since the subconscious mind can not tell the difference between something real & something visualized I actually performed many more perfect reps in the session then in the past.

I've also got my first session with my new sports phycologist this coming week and I'm looking forward to getting on track with a solid mental management training program. I'v heard people whisper the name "Phil Mickelson" in connection with some of my major match performance and it's not a compliment ..... I realize I won't fix these issues overnight so I've established a goal of the end of the year to be where I need to be ....

And on my favorite topic of Outer Limits transition time penalty for non movement I got the chance to run a bunch of Outer Limit runs and record transition times for myself & shooters who are only A & B class at my monthly organized club practice session and the results continue to bear out what I've said all along .... Namely that even a 1.5 sec penalty is WAY too generous. The best I could manage while staying within my control zone on runs that averaged around 4.3 secs was 1.8 sec transitions. when I pushed as hard as I could and cranked out several 3.6 sec runs my transitions never got any better than 1.58 secs. For everyone else, who was shooting run times over 5 secs, their transitions were never under 2 secs. That's a 10.8 sec stage time and my transitions never approached 1 sec. A 1 sec transition time would have pushed my stage time to 9.3 secs which is just not realistic .... Shooter's perception of transition time is just not correct ....

I'm starting to think that maybe Dan's idea of a penalty based on classiifcation would be way more realistic then a blanket 1 sec or even 1.5 sec penalty for everyone. And just for fun I ran a couple of runs just standing in the center box and my SLOWEST time was my first cold run of 2.9 secs. Once I got going I was putting down times of 2.6 - 2.7 secs with ease .... Give me that 1 sec penalty per run and I'll be putting up an 11.1 sec stage times .... . I may need to find a fake cast before my next match ...

Edited July 18, 2016 by Nimitz

[ZackJones]

And on my favorite topic of Outer Limits transition time penalty for non movement I got the chance to run a bunch of Outer Limit runs and record transition times for myself & shooters who are only A & B class...

I know you didn't mean it that way but when I read that I thought "only A-B", hmm isn't he "only" an A in Open .

Regarding the penalty for Outer Limits. He's the issue. The rule states the competitor requests penalty in lieu of stage procedure before their attempt at the stage. The RM can elect to apply a procedural penalty (3 seconds per string) or some other penalty (adding X.XX seconds to each string) or waive the penalty all together.

In at least one match Dan requested a penalty and the RM elected to not apply any penalty. It's my understanding is Dan wants to have the ability to have a penalty applied even though the RM elects to not apply one and that's how I attempted to word it in the new rules. I was hoping to work through it all with Dan and Troy and WSSC but Dan isn't coming this year.

For a penalty per classification what would you propose for each classification?

As an MD/match staff member I've encountered this issue twice. Once at our local club match and I elected to not apply any penalty and at FL State the RM elected to add time to each string.

[Nimitz]

But I am just an A class open shooter ...

2 things concern me about this. First, I've yet to see anyone but myself produce any actual test data on OL transitions, and although it is limited at the moment, my data clearly shows that the transition takes way longer than people think ... Myabe Max or KC can run a 1 sec transition on command but a typical C/B and even A class are not doing 1 sec transitions and not even 1.5 sec ones.

The 2nd is that this penalty cannot be optional. If a competitior has a physical limitation which prevents them from moving, the penalty gets applied, period. If the penalty is not realistic you'll very quickly have people claiming all sorts of physical issues which can't be verified like if they were in a wheelchair or have an artificial leg/foot. The last thing you want is people getting a competitive advantage by taking a penalty. I hear about and see competitors at every match who complain they don't move very well which is very different from "can't move". Not being able to 'run' should not be a cause for taking the penalty which ends up giving the competitior a better time because it was unrealistic. This will unfortunately have to be an RM call that the competitior is unable to move vice can't move very fast. One is cause for the penalty, the other is just unfortunate that you are slow.

I've shot 5 majors and in 3 of them someone on my squad was wheelchair bound and/or had an artificial limb rendering them unable to move, thereby requiring a penalty be applied to be fair ... It was handled differently in every match .... That is not good .... The penalty must be consistent and appropriate ....

Edited July 19, 2016 by Nimitz

[ZackJones]

I get what you're saying. I will discuss it more with Troy. The simple solution is to say "If a competitor does not move between shooting boxes on Outer Limits a 3-second procedural penalty shall be applied, per string."

That way there's no variance in how the rule is applied. If you don't move, for whatever reason, you take a 3 second procedural. In your case where you shoot it in 2.6 seconds your best time would be 16.8 seconds which is an A class time in Open and B class time in RFPO.

Applying this to Dan's run at the 2015 WSSC he would have have dropped from first to around 30th in the overall rimfire results on Outer Limits.

[Nimitz]

I think doing that eliminates 95% of my concerns ... The one remaining is that it may not be "fair" to shooters who literally can not ( not don't want to) move. there are a few 'handicapped" shooters who are probably good enough that the 3 sec/string penalty is not fair to them & I'm not sure how to address that other than to go to dan's "classification based penalty" which I think would just create other problems ...

The only other thing I can think of would be to collect transition data at the WSSC and then use that to determine what a fair & realistic no movement penalty would be. It wouldn't be that hard to assign a staff person to the OL stage & have the RO call out transition times for competitiors & have them recorded to be analyzed later .... I'll go out on a limb and say that based on my limited data you'd be looking at a penalty somewhere around 2.5-3.0 secs when all is said and done anyway ....

[Nimitz]

Shoot my monthly Volusia County Gun Club match on Saturday. this is the one with open squadding so I just show up about an hour after shooting starts and head to any open bay. Even shooting 2 guns, since I'm by myself i can usually finish the 8 stage match in about 2 1/2 hrs. i prefer this so that I can work on & focus under match conditions without any distractions. Short an 82.70 in RFPO & a 117.90 in Open the open score represents another new personal match best for me. Not too long ago I was in the mid 120s so we're making progress. interestingly, in open, my 8-stage classification score & my match scores are less than 5% apart; in RFPO they are currently running about 10% apart. Also, my scores at Volusia are always a little better than other matches due mostly I think to the fact that I can shoot the match fairly fast & never have to wait to shoot a stage. I always seem to do better when I don't have to stand around a lot ...

This morning I decided to work on Roundabout to see if I could figure our something related to my transitions ... cold stage run in RFPO was an 8.46 which was pretty good considering I had as miss on the first run. Time to first plate on my first shot +1 drill averaged .57 secs. Spent some time working on my 4-1 target transition as I've realized that is what is keeping me from getting anywhere near the 7 sec mark on this stage. After looking at a lot of video I realized I was hesitating after engaging the #4 plate before transitioning to the #1 plate so I set some par times to see if I could push this transition down and after a while I was getting the transition from 4-1 to be almost the same as from 5-4. Using this new technique I then proceeded to shoot some complete stage runs and the first 4 runs out of the box were 1.77, 1.8, 1.85 &1.78 secs. Shooting 1.9 - 2.0 sec runs is not that difficult at this point but I've had a lot of trouble figuring out how to break the 1.8 barrier. this new technique easily knocks .1 - .15 secs off my time and so now in dry fire I'll be working on this pretty hard. This is the same thing i did to push down my Speed Option times when I finally figured out how to execute the 3-1 transition better.

Edited July 25, 2016 by Nimitz

[Nimitz]

spent the remainder of this week working on Showdown & Accelerator with a specific objective for each. Even though these are 2 of the easier stages and I usually shoot them well, I recently discovered something on each one that is keeping me from pushing my times down on them. For Showdown, its rushing & for Accelerator it's hesitating on #5 before transitioning to #4 Cold stage runs for Showdown was a 7.88 and a 9.45 for Accelerator. Both of these times were only a few tenths off personal match bests and were a result a applying my corrective techniques. For Showdown, I focused on transitioning between each target so that the transition time was the same for each. Just like doing a Blake drill. Forcing myself to make each transition time identical helped me to not rush & get ahead of myself which is what typically causes me trouble on this stage. I also need to keep ignoring my perception that I'm not going fast enough which is another thing that sometimes bites me. First shot times were between .55-.6 secs which is where they should be.

For Accelerator i was focused on not hesitating as I come off of #5 and into #4 and also not rushing that transition. I also applied a similar technique of trying to shoot the transitions all around the same time so that I keep the gun moving and not decelerate too much, which ends up costing me around .15 secs for each run. Not hesitating also seems to keep me more relaxed, making it easier to transition as well. I then finished up with an 'end of session stage run and put down an 8.87 sec Accelerator time which I believe may be my first sub 9 sec time .. i actually had a 1.94 sec 5th string but missed the stop plate of all things ... i could also tell i was letting the pressure get to me a little since my runs started with a 2.14 & a 2.19, then went to 2.25 & 2..29 because i was letting my conscious mind get in the way and starting to think about a sub 9 run .... I have to keep working on the mental aspects if i want to keep pushing my times down.

And speaking of that, I'm registered in Lanny Bassham's 2 day class in TX on 3-4 Oct ... really looking forward to getting to work with the Master himself ...

I hope folks have been getting something out of my Front Sight articles .... I just submitted #3 in this 5-part series last week, about the same time as #2 came out. I've also started writing a Steel Challenge training book which hopefully will be out by the end of the year. These FS articles are parts of some of the chapters from the book. At some point I'll need to get with Ben to pick his brain about publishing. I've done a lot of magazine article writing over the years but have never had a book published so I'll need to figure all that out eventually ...

Next week I'll be working on Pendulum, 5 To Go & Outer Limits ....

[Nimitz]

somehow managed to pick up a colon infection last weekend which kept me from doing any training until yesterday ... shot 5TG and worked on continuing to even out my transitions vice trying to speed up. Cold stage run was a 10.33 with an ave first shot of .63 secs. After spending some time focusing on shooting each transition at teh same pace I went to shooting complete stage runs again and put down times of 2.29, 2.14, 1.93 & 2.17. The 1.93 sec run was a .61 first shot followed by transitions of .3, .33, .33, .36; proof positive that all I need to do is shoot the stage at a steady pace & i can put down a blistering run without a lot of effort. Very worthwhile session as this is the same conclusion I came to for Accelerator. I'm going to be spending a lot of time here coming up on focusing shooting with an even pace ...

Shot my monthly SC match today and put down a 74.12 sec 7-stage time which included Outer Limits & not Speed option. Overall a good match. My main focus for this match was to not rush & not have expectations on what I should be shooting for times on the stages. I did a good job of maintaining that focus for the match & my stage times reflected this. I've also changed up my pre shoot mental routine slightly after reviewing something in Lanny's book and it seemed to help me focus as well. Out of 27 individual strings for the match there were only 4 were I didn't shoot to my normal time: one on 5TG, one on ACC and 2 on PEN.

I've also decided to make a major change WRT my open div training. Even though I shot a new personal best on 5 To Go, I still am really not progressing as quickly as I want to because of my draw. the bottom line is that until my draw starts to approach at least the 1.2 sec range vice where it is now I can't even make Master since chopping 11.7 secs of my time puts me at 86% and 11.7 secs just happens to be .3 secs x 39 draws ....

Also, I've forgotten (or maybe just ignored) one of my bedrock beliefs .... "while you can be good at a great many things, you can only be great at one thing". Since I have no interest in being good at a lot of shooting things I'm going to refocus on just RFPO and the only serious training I will be doing in open is working on my draw. I'll refocus all the other open training time I was doing against RFPO and just add to my training time there. Once I get my draw down to where it should be I'll then pick up with serious overall training in open again ...

Not sure what I'll be focusing on next week just yet ... need to think some more about today's match & then go from there ....

Edited August 7, 2016 by Nimitz

[ToddKS]

I also seem to have my better runs on a more even pace. I have had people tell me I need to do it differently, but those people have strengths in different areas than I do. They also are shooting slower times.

I like your plan to focus on just RFPO for a time. I am interested to hear how that goes. I am in a similar spot with RFRO vs Prod.

[ZackJones]

Kind of surprising to hear you're going to concentrate on RFPO versus OPN. YOu're already a GM in RFPO so I would have thought you would put your training efforts into OPN. If I were smart I'd give up RFPO and concentrate on RFRO and PCCO but I'm not so I'll keep shooting all 3. Looking at my classification percentages it's pretty obvious that I shoot long guns better:

RFPO - 69.XX

RFRO - 80.XX

PCCO - 72.XX

I do suspect PST's for RFRO and PCCO to change later this year though. I think we're a bit too generous with some PST's in those divisions.

[Nimitz]

As Ben has told me more than once, there is a big difference between being a GM and being competitive at the national level. While I will admit I get a lot of pleasure knowing that currently I am ranked 17th in the country out of about 600 in RFPO but that is just the start. And while being a 2 division GM would be cool, particularily with all the 25 something shooting groupies out there, I have other goals which are much more important to me ....

After making GM, Ben said it was another couple of YEARS before he was competitive at the national level ...

There's currently a pretty big gap between the top 5 and me and I'll be spending my training focusing on that .... As an example, I've shoot roundabout, showdown and smoke and hope at sub 8 in matches plenty of times but that is a far cry from sub 7 secs which is where I need to be ............

Edited August 7, 2016 by Nimitz

[AA-Wolf]

Ken,

If you have been shooting Steel Challenge for over 3 years how did it take you "only 17 months" to make GM in Rimfire? Where did the other almost 2 years go? Those years pulling the trigger don't count?

Just wondering after I saw that on your website...

[Nimitz]

That was 17 months of dedicated steel challenge training. While it has been 3 yrs since the first SC match I ever shot I only started dedicated steel challenge training less than 2 years ago and for 5 months of that I was out recovering from wrist surgery ...

[Nimitz]

Here's another way to look at it ...

I've had a custom woodworking business for 25 years .... I built a one-of-kind, fully functional miniature craps table that functions as the coffee table in my living room a while back. It took me 11 years to complete it. Now, for 9 of those years it just sat in my shop and I never touched it so, did it take me 11 years or 2 years to build ....? It's just how I see the world ....

Edited August 8, 2016 by Nimitz

[AA-Wolf]

So, you are a round down kind of guy when it's convenient. That's fine. Even your 3 1/2 years of shooting steel becomes 3 years.

And as for your example, it's 11 years imho no matter how you slice it.

A 69 Camaro took 5 years of weekends to complete. Your logic, it was only a little over 1 and a half years of time... Sure felt like 5 years as it was not able to be driven. Same for your table that dragged out. Wasn't able to be used for 11 years so 11 years to complete. "Complete" being the key word.

3 1/2 years to become a rimfire GM. "Become" being the keyword.

Just how I see the world.

Was confused by your website by now I understand... Just how you see the world - Logic be damned!

Have fun Big Dog!

[Nimitz]

Hmmmmmm ...... What is your classification again?

Don't bother responding since I've added you to the 'blocked forum members' list and will never be able to see another post from you ....

Obviously I should of went with my initial instincts when I read your first post and just ignored it but I thought you might actually being asking a ligit question vice just trolling ......

[AA-Wolf]

Was trying to figure your 17 month logic. Now I see you can't have anyone question you.

[AA-Wolf]

Better question from you... What are my times... Classification doesn't really mean too much to me in steel, just performance.

See you out there...

[Nimitz]

Worked on Roundabout today to continue to focus on the critical transition that is the key to shooting this stage fast .... 4 - 1

Cold stage run was a 8.13. First shot +1 drill averaged .85 secs with the first shot ave of .55. I then moved to shooting just the 4-1 transition with an ave time of .39. Next was a first shot +2 drill which was 5-4-1. Ave time was right at 1.2 secs. I then finished up the session shooting stage runs of 1.79/1.77/1.82/1.83 with 1 miss/1.86 for a stage time of 7.24 secs. I had a few rds left so I decided to try one of Brian Enos LHF runs ... Run came in at 1.48 secs with a miss on plate #1. .46 first shot/.21/.33 (miss)/.21/.19

I also worked on my open draw. Started out with one cold run of 2.75 secs. I then did a bunch of 1 shot draws, ave time with 1.16 secs. Then switched to a draw +1 drill with an ave draw time of 1.14 secs and a 2 shot time of 1.43 secs.

As with 5 To Go and Accelerator, my best times were always when I executed even transitions. Eliminating the hesitation I had after engaging #4 always helped push my times down ...

[BeerBaron]

tough crowd!

Not sure what Mike is in SC but he's a 5 division USPSA master which is (to me) a pretty significant achievement regardless of whether it took every weekend over 5 years or once a fortnight over 10 years!

[BeerBaron]

BTW are you shooting roundabout 5-4-1-2-3 (assuming 5 is the closest right most plate, I can't quite think off the top of my head does the rear right plate look further right than the close one from the box, been a while since I shot SC)?

[AA-Wolf]

BeerBaron,

Not to steal Nimitz thread, but...

My time in Open for 2015 US Steel Nationals was 99.69 and in 2016 was 102.72 - eating a penalty miss on Pendulum.

For Rimfire Open I usually run very low 80's with a best time of 77.60. Last time I ran Rimfire at a large match was the 2008 Florida State and I won the Rimfire division.

Back to Ken's regularly scheduled program.