High 'C' Prod Shooter - What Aspect of My Game Can Get Me to 'B'

[TrackCage]

So I thought I would add an update. Was able to get out for another match yesterday (windy, rainy, and muddy... but those are all excuses). Anyways, It was a 5-stage match and my squad was lucky enough to get to shoot the classifier first stage of the day. At first, I was not happy shooting the classifier cold, but it turned out alright for me in the end. It was CM 13-05: Tick-Tock (stage 2 in video). You start with gun and mags on the table, having to pick up the unloaded gun, insert mag, rack, and engage 4 targets. Then another mag change from the table and same 4 targets again. I finished with a 10.39 sec, 7.1222 hit factor (66% production national rank). So it turns out all I need to get to B is to not muck up the classifier LOL. This is by far my best classifier and a solid 2-3 sec faster than most of the guys I would consider to be my closest competitors.

 

Overall, the match was more competitive than most that I have shot before (traveled to a new club this week). I'll probably go back and keep shooting there as getting into the mix with good competition is going to help me get better. I have also stepped up my dry fire quite a bit with the help of the Stoeger book and scaled dry fire targets. I'm still not to the par times on a lot of the drills, but I can already see noticeable improvement.

 

A couple other stages: Stage 4 FELT great, but shot too many 'C's' which drug down my score a bit more that I'd have liked. My hands were cold from a rain spell that slowed us down here, but again... excuses.

 

Last stage of the day and first time shooting a Texas star (first stage in the video). Felt like I was having a pretty good run but wad plagued by a double feed, which cost me valuable time to clear. 

 

 

And finally, some results. I finished 9th out of 26 in prod and 37 out of 83 overall. I was happy with how I did, considering the heavier competition there that day. Still, there are a number of things where I know I cost myself a couple seconds or threw a shot I should have hit in the 'A' zone, etc. Here are the production results:

 

Edited March 7, 2017 by TrackCage

[Foxj66]

Movement looks to be a big area, you want to get moving and get shooting as soon as possiable. Also a couple of times your reloads didn't start until you were already moving, then you stood there completing them wasting time. 

 

Entries, exits and reloading while moving are what I would focus on.

[TrackCage]

14 hours ago, Foxj66 said:

Movement looks to be a big area, you want to get moving and get shooting as soon as possiable. Also a couple of times your reloads didn't start until you were already moving, then you stood there completing them wasting time. 

 

Entries, exits and reloading while moving are what I would focus on.

Yes, I definitely could be more fluid in my movements. I still struggle doing both the reloading and movement actions at the same time. My brain wants me to move to where I need to be next, but in doing so, I wind up completing the back half of my reload standing and waiting to shoot.

[MemphisMechanic]

You ability to move and load? Both? Quickly?

 

Its killing you. Your walk slow because you load slow. My advice is to spend the whole time before the next match just crushing reloads and then FILM YOURSELF running down a hall in your house to the next dryfire target.

 

You will be shocked how fast it feels, and how slow your movement looks - human minds don't interpret time and speed very well until viewing it from outside. I promise you that you'll be moving three times the speed you're going now before it finally looks fast. That would have easily chopped 5 to 10 seconds off your overall time. That's huge.

 

You can't do anything about shooting faster right now. You gave up 15As and 5 Ds to the winner, so going any faster will make a bad problem even worse.

 

Move faster. Shoot straighter. Don't worry about how fast you do the shooting things in each position right now. Work on getting to each position faster. Load the gun twice as fast so you can run instead of slowly stroll.

Edited March 10, 2017 by MemphisMechanic

[levellinebrad]

18 hours ago, MemphisMechanic said:

You ability to move and load? Both? Quickly?

 

Its killing you. Your walk slow because you load slow. My advice is to spend the whole time before the next match just crushing reloads and then FILM YOURSELF running down a hall in your house to the next dryfire target.

 

You will be shocked how fast it feels, and how slow your movement looks - human minds don't interpret time and speed very well until viewing it from outside. I promise you that you'll be moving three times the speed you're going now before it finally looks fast. That would have easily chopped 5 to 10 seconds off your overall time. That's huge.

 

You can't do anything about shooting faster right now. You gave up 15As and 5 Ds to the winner, so going any faster will make a bad problem even worse.

 

Move faster. Shoot straighter. Don't worry about how fast you do the shooting things in each position right now. Work on getting to each position faster. Load the gun twice as fast so you can run instead of slowly stroll.

This right here. I was having much the same problems so I finally took my dry fire outside. I use four scale targets, 2 each on the right front side and right rear side of my house. I use sticks as fault lines. I draw and shoot 2 targets, mag change in 1 step, haul ass to the fault line and shoot the last 2 targets. I do this moving right and then I do it moving left. It is imperative to have that magazine changed within 1 step, then I can focus on the spot that I want my plant foot to land. I'm an old fat bastard but this drill has taken an average of 7 seconds off my match times on a 5 stage match.

[waktasz]

You don't need to have the mag change done in one step if it means you are moving slower. 

[MemphisMechanic]

6 hours ago, waktasz said:

You don't need to have the mag change done in one step if it means you are moving slower. 

What he's saying is... always run fast. Whether you're done loading or not.

 

Eventually you'll learn to load fast enough you have the mag seated as you finish pushing off. I'm currently focusing solely on this aspect of my movement game as an A class Production guy. But until you have that wired, stop slowing your running down in order to complete your agonizingly slow reloads in the first couple of casual steps.

 

Learn to stop jogging and start running. Just get a reload in there wherever you can.

 

Edited March 14, 2017 by MemphisMechanic

[rowdyb]

3 hours ago, MemphisMechanic said:

What he's saying is... always run fast. Whether you're done loading or not.

 

Eventually you'll learn to load fast enough you have the mag seated as you finish pushing off. I'm currently focusing solely on this aspect of my movement game as an A class Production guy. But until you have that wired, stop slowing your running down in order to complete your agonizingly slow reloads in the first couple of casual steps.

 

Learn to stop jogging and start running. Just get a reload in there wherever you can.

 

As we just shot together recently, I was 16.8 seconds faster than you over a 6 stage match. Where would you have made the difference up between us? The reason why I ask is in evaluating your own shooting you can find insight into helping others. I just want  you to have more insight, seeing if your advice is as good for yourself as it is for others.

 

And it was a pleasure shooting with you. Next time I'll shoot Prod and bring my own coat. hahahaha.

[MemphisMechanic]

3 hours ago, rowdyb said:

As we just shot together recently, I was 16.8 seconds faster than you over a 6 stage match. Where would you have made the difference up between us? The reason why I ask is in evaluating your own shooting you can find insight into helping others. I just want  you to have more insight, seeing if your advice is as good for yourself as it is for others.

 

And it was a pleasure shooting with you. Next time I'll shoot Prod and bring my own coat. hahahaha.

 

I'm supposed to say that you cheated and brought an optic and 21-round mags. But you'd have still won if you shot production. There's a reason I'm an A and your accurately classified as M.

 

I'll move this to our text message conversation so we don't clutter up his post.

 

Prepare to be drowned in self-criticism.  

Edited March 15, 2017 by MemphisMechanic

[TrackCage]

OP here, sorry... I haven't been keeping up with this post as regularly as I should. Absolutely no question that I'm giving up a ton of time in my movement and in non-shooting activities in general (reloads, draw, you name it). Great suggestion to incorporate more movement into my dry fire routine. Thus far, most of my dry fire has been focused on reloads (which are getting significantly better), transition between targets, and draw time. But it's all been stationary. I will add a hallway to my routine for sure. 

 

The sad truth is that I feel like I am moving between shooting positions much faster than I did before. I probably am, but you're right - the human mind works in funny ways. What feels fast to me is still painfully slow to others watching.

 

In the spirit of keeping some videos coming (again, great feedback from everyone so far), here was one from my latest match two weeks ago. I blew the first couple stages HARD, but felt a little better as the match progressed. I was between stage plans, made a change a couple shooters before it was my turn (mistake), and then did not execute either plan. Sort of fell somewhere in the middle, got flustered, missed a couple shots on steel and cost myself a standing reload. I also had more mikes in this match than I do typically. They were on the first three stages. 

 

I am now classified at 59.97% in production, so I am certainly on my way to 'B.' I guess this thread has evolved a bit into my journey and progression in general, and not so much just focused on making 'B.' 

 

 

[calebj06]

Reloads are looking much improved. 

[MemphisMechanic]

Everything's noticeably better.

 

From someone who is Production A trying to push himself to M (so just a little ahead of you on the journey)? 

 

Keep watching video of your movement and reloads and comparing them to the various production Ms and GMs on YouTube. 

 

Be critical, and use it as motivation to work on hand speed and foot speed.

 

As I've suggested often: unload your gun and run back and forth across your largest room in the house that has good footing, and film yourself. Or do it in the back yard airgunning with your cleats, if your house is tiny.

 

When you learn what a fast looking sprint actually feels like, it's a huge eye opener.

 

Edited April 18, 2017 by MemphisMechanic

[Hi-Power Jack]

Your main problem is obvious - amazed no one has pointed it out to you, yet  

 

You're shooting with the weak hand - try placing that gun firmly in your right hand,

and you'll shoot much better and faster    

[TrackCage]

LOL, thanks for the kind words. FWIW, I did make 'B' class after my last match - now 62%. I've been working a lot more on dry fire practice, specifically reloads and transitions. I've said it before, but have not yet taken action - your point about using corners and hallways around the house is a good one. I usually only dry fire practice in the garage where the movement is almost completely static (from a footwork perspective). I haven't captured any good match video in a while, but am shooting this weekend. Will report back then with some new video that (hopefully) shows my improvement.

 

Thanks again everyone for the tips! 

[TrackCage]

As promised, here is some fresh video from this weekend. I shot like garbage on the first set of steel (takes me a few shots in the morning to get warmed up). I suppose that sounds like an excuse - and it is - but I need to see if I can find a spot to send a couple rounds down range first thing in the morning before we get started. I think it will help. Thoughts here from others? Is that common for ranges to allow competitors that privilege. My guess is that varies by range.

 

A couple other notes... I focused on my movement between shooting positions, as advised from the above posts. Hopefully that shows through. I made an effort to move swiftly, and in the few spots where there was a long way to move, I got my sprint on. Still have some work to do on footwork during small movements and shooting boundaries. I missed my mark a couple times and had to readjust, costing me time.

 

For the record, I shot fairly well compared to my past matches, but I was a bit further down in the field. This is due to the fact that Golden Bullet is coming up, so there were about double the amount of usual shooters at this match. I was pleased to see that I was not beaten by any lower classified Production shooters. I was of course beaten by a couple 'B' shooters, as I just made 'B,' but I also took out a couple 'B's' and 'M's.'

 

Second video is the classifier only (from same match). My best score so far (73.6% Prod).

 

EDIT TO ADD: I compared my scores and times against the few 'B' class shooters that beat me. I was consistently a few seconds behind them. Scores were similar, but need to be more efficient in my use of time if I want to catch them... 

 

 

 

CM 13-04: Roscoe Rattle. Just a hair under an 'A' class production score.

 

Edited May 8, 2017 by TrackCage

[AlphaCharis]

On 4/18/2017 at 3:56 AM, Hi-Power Jack said:

 ..... try placing that gun firmly in your right hand,

and you'll shoot much better and faster    

???

[MemphisMechanic]

You either need to shoot that classifier faster with those kinds of hits... or shoot it clean. Shooting .30 or so splits like that, you should be able to shoot 17-18 As and 2 or 3 Cs.

 

Get your gun up much much earlier when you move to a new position. See first stage when you leave the plate rack and enter the 2nd shooting area for a really slow example.

 

Learn to call shots. You're looking at targets to see if they got hit, instead of getting that information from your sights.

 

Edited May 10, 2017 by MemphisMechanic