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Partly obscured targets


JeremiahD

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I have run into a mental conundrum.  Not sure I'll be able to explain it adequately

How does one go about "ignoring" no-shoots, hard cover, etc?
Better question, since they really cant be ignored as they have to be "seen" and processed to adequately assess your appropriate target area, how do you not psych yourself out in the process? 

 

There's an A zone, and that's ideally what I should be aiming for consistently, regardless of weather or not C (for example) is partly covered by a NS.  For whatever reason, I have noticed when a target is partly obscured, its almost a reflex to change my point of aim slightly away from the NS, not wanting to hit it, resulting in misses or D's.  Its a pretty typical mental block for me.  How do you overcome it?  Sheer repetition?

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I have always kept in my mind center of the brown. Whatever is exposed I want to hit center of that or as close to it as possible. So weather it's partially cover or fully exposed all I see is brown cardboard aim center.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

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If you're like me then you're probably jerking the trigger and trying to compensate by moving away from the NS.  You just have to be confident that your shots go where the sights say they're going to go.   That takes practice.  Split the remaining available brown and take two controlled shots.  

Edited by TravisNC
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First off, even in Production you get 60% of the points for a fast safe C-zone hit that's a foot away from the noshoot, rather than trying to snake them into the Alpha right next to it.

 

Posting up and meticulously placing two Alphas in the center of the available A-zone is what we all do when we're new. It frequently gives up most of the benefit to your score because it takes so much extra time when it does pay off, and when it doesn't pay off you hit the noshoot.

 

The typical advice you'll get from a highly skilled competitor will be to hold in these locations:

 

IMG_1963.thumb.JPG.44c8e60bc60e676f359dc4729eecd8a6.JPG

 

IMG_1964.thumb.JPG.d3263935f9a42766c9ab730fa2b5dc02.JPG

Edited by MemphisMechanic
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I try to remember the only target is what I can see.  Part of the cardboard is covered but the target is only what you can see.  Its a mind trick but if you are thinking "dont hit no shoot, dont hit no shoot" thats also a mind trick aiming for your failure.  What you see is the target.  It may be big, it may be small but that is the only thing to aim for.  Small target, aim small.

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Ok good points. So basically, I need to move away from worrying about A and getting weirded out about white and focus on the center of the available brown and let the rest become part of the background?  

If so, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks, I'm still learning my way along here.

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10 hours ago, mlmiller1 said:

If you are thinking "dont hit no shoot, dont hit no shoot" thats also a mind trick aiming for your failure.  

 I know it. I've been running with the goal of no misses/no shoots so when I do my walkthrough and note them of course I'm going to shoot them. (Or overcompensate and miss). Kind of like looking where you don't want to drive and ending up in a tree.

thanks!

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10 hours ago, MemphisMechanic said:

First off, even in Production you get 60% of the points for a fast safe C-zone hit that's a foot away from the noshoot, rather than trying to snake them into the Alpha right next to it.

 

Posting up and meticulously placing two Alphas in the center of the available A-zone is what we all do when we're new. It frequently gives up most of the benefit to your score because it takes so much extra time when it does pay off, and when it doesn't pay off you hit the noshoot.

 

The typical advice you'll get from a highly skilled competitor will be to hold in these locations:

 

IMG_1963.thumb.JPG.44c8e60bc60e676f359dc4729eecd8a6.JPG

 

IMG_1964.thumb.JPG.d3263935f9a42766c9ab730fa2b5dc02.JPG

Thank you, those are very helpful.  I look forward to updating after my next match/practice session 

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I figured they would be. It's hard to make yourself knowingly aim at the border of the C zone at first.

 

Aiming at a spot where you're still able to shoot fast and will probably have to eat some Cs in return for the speed is much more consistent.

 

Hitting a noshoot results in a 10 point penalty, so go ahead and peel two good Alphas off of another target in your mind. In addition to that, if you didn't make it up, you're missing the 5 points you would have gotten for an A... plus another 10 point penalty for the miss (mike).

 

Shooting a target with a score of Alpha/Mike/Noshoot is the same as having shot five fewer As in that stage. It hurts. Tons.

 

Keep the holes you punch WELL clear of the white targets.

 

 

Edited by MemphisMechanic
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19 hours ago, MemphisMechanic said:

First off, even in Production you get 60% of the points for a fast safe C-zone hit that's a foot away from the noshoot, rather than trying to snake them into the Alpha right next to it.

 

Posting up and meticulously placing two Alphas in the center of the available A-zone is what we all do when we're new. It frequently gives up most of the benefit to your score because it takes so much extra time when it does pay off, and when it doesn't pay off you hit the noshoot.

 

The typical advice you'll get from a highly skilled competitor will be to hold in these locations:

 

IMG_1963.thumb.JPG.44c8e60bc60e676f359dc4729eecd8a6.JPG

 

IMG_1964.thumb.JPG.d3263935f9a42766c9ab730fa2b5dc02.JPG

Agreed. Shoot center of mass at full speed is better than taking slower dead aimed shots

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What if I told you you can hit alphas in this context almost as fast as settling for Charles, and that the decision to do so should be based on a risk assessment considering the relative difficulty of the other targets in the stage as well as the projected hit factor?

Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk

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3 hours ago, wtturn said:

What if I told you you can hit alphas in this context almost as fast as settling for Charles, and that the decision to do so should be based on a risk assessment considering the relative difficulty of the other targets in the stage as well as the projected hit factor?

Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk
 

First, I'd thank you for the Morpheus / Matrix flashback...

 

Then I'd say I would be interested to  hear other strategies if for no other reason than having another option to keep in mind during the stage walkthrough.  For now, I'm sticking to simple points, no penalties

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12 hours ago, MemphisMechanic said:

I figured they would be. It's hard to make yourself knowingly aim at the border of the C zone at first.

 

Aiming at a spot where you're still able to shoot fast and will probably have to eat some Cs in return for the speed is much more consistent.

 

 

 

Actually now that you pointed it out, it makes considerable sense, I'll just have to mark out my target area mentally during the walkthrough rather than focusing on what I shouldn't be hitting.  I was getting my accuracy goals wrong ;)

 

12 hours ago, MemphisMechanic said:

Hitting a noshoot results in a 10 point penalty, so go ahead and peel two good Alphas off of another target in your mind. In addition to that, if you didn't make it up, you're missing the 5 points you would have gotten for an A... plus another 10 point penalty for the miss (mike).

 

Shooting a target with a score of Alpha/Mike/Noshoot is the same as having shot five fewer As in that stage. It hurts. Tons.

Keep the holes you punch WELL clear of the white targets.

 

 

Don't I know it.  My last practice match resulted in 50 A, 8 B, 13 C, 3 D... and 4 penalties... all on the same target...  for 5.9625.  Trading those penalties for D hits would have netted me 6.9420.  C's? 6.9846.  Ouch, indeed.

 

I took a good look at why I'm missing and that's why the post :)

 

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3 hours ago, MemphisMechanic said:

I'd tell you that this is a correct yet much more advanced approach to things... and that you're in the beginners forum. ;) 

 

 

whoops, tapatalk strikes again.

 

penalty avoidance is probably the appropriate beginner strategy, but don't convince yourself that dropping points is okay.

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On 3/28/2017 at 11:05 PM, MemphisMechanic said:

I figured they would be. It's hard to make yourself knowingly aim at the border of the C zone at first.

 

Aiming at a spot where you're still able to shoot fast and will probably have to eat some Cs in return for the speed is much more consistent.

 

Hitting a noshoot results in a 10 point penalty, so go ahead and peel two good Alphas off of another target in your mind. In addition to that, if you didn't make it up, you're missing the 5 points you would have gotten for an A... plus another 10 point penalty for the miss (mike).

 

Shooting a target with a score of Alpha/Mike/Noshoot is the same as having shot five fewer As in that stage. It hurts. Tons.

 

Keep the holes you punch WELL clear of the white targets.

 

Hitting Charlie's and even Delta's are far better than Mikes or No Shoots. That's super advice right there.

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I would aim in the same place in three gun. You want to stay well clear of missing off the edge of the target, and well clear of white, and do it fast.

 

The mindset is to make your errors into Cs (and As a bit closer to the noshoot than you were aiming)... and to quit shooting noshoot penalties. You know, the ones you currently incur by aiming at the center of the remaining A zone?

 

Edited by MemphisMechanic
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On ‎3‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 11:05 PM, MemphisMechanic said:

I figured they would be. It's hard to make yourself knowingly aim at the border of the C zone at first.

 

Aiming at a spot where you're still able to shoot fast and will probably have to eat some Cs in return for the speed is much more consistent.

 

Hitting a noshoot results in a 10 point penalty, so go ahead and peel two good Alphas off of another target in your mind. In addition to that, if you didn't make it up, you're missing the 5 points you would have gotten for an A... plus another 10 point penalty for the miss (mike).

 

Shooting a target with a score of Alpha/Mike/Noshoot is the same as having shot five fewer As in that stage. It hurts. Tons.

 

Keep the holes you punch WELL clear of the white targets.

 

 

Wanted to pass along a quick word of thanks to you and Sarge. Been visualizing my target area per your advice and have reduced the M/NS considerably.  Shot a match last night with no penalties on almost all partly obscured targets, and in at least one case excellent groupings exactly where I wanted them between the NS and the edge of the target on the border of A.  Cant ask for more than that, points-wise.

Now to work on speed..

 

thanks gents!

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/28/2017 at 10:42 PM, JeremiahD said:

 I know it. I've been running with the goal of no misses/no shoots so when I do my walkthrough and note them of course I'm going to shoot them. (Or overcompensate and miss). Kind of like looking where you don't want to drive and ending up in a tree.

thanks!

 

Jeremiah - It is akin to riding/racing a sportbike or even cars on a track.  You look where you WANT to go, not where you don't want to go.  It is called target fixation.  It happens a lot to people that ride on the street.  They will see an oil patch or dirt patch on the street and focus on it, so what happens?  They ride directly into it instead of riding around it like they "wanted" to do.  You will go wherever your eyes go or fixate on.  Happened a lot when I rode with people in the canyons (and happened to me as well before), they fixated on a small patch in the road or something else and then were too late to setup for a turn and crashed.  Or people on a track saw someone crash and followed right after them because they "watched" or "looked" at them, so their bike went right where their eyes went.

 

Same type of principle that they are talking about here with shooting.  Don't worry about the no shoot or the white or whatever...put your eyes in the middle of the brown or where you want the rounds to go and that is where you will go.  Of course there is a bit more to it, but I think you get what I mean.  If you look at the white, guess where the firearm is going to point to and your aim is automatically going to go to?  Yup...you guessed it.  So, as MlMiller basically said, aim small, hit small.  Your arms, hands and firearm will naturally want to go in a straight line where your eyes are focusing towards.  It isn't a perfect science and I'm not saying that all you have to do is look at something raise your hands and shoot and you will hit it, but you know what I'm getting at.  Similar to what Memphis is stating. :)

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