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Mentally overcoming the urge to reload - Production


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Yesterday was a pretty short course of fire with one target at the first position followed by 3 targets at the second. Therefore, no reload was necessary.

 

However, every time I move, I feel the urge to reload, and all four times I ran the stage yesterday I reloaded even when I consciously went into the stage telling myself to NOT reload. That said, I was able to reload before entering the next position since it was a more difficult movement as I had to run backwards a bit which took some extra time so I don't think it made a big difference time wise. However, I know it affected my shooting as all I could think about was "Why did I reload??" and I attempted to shoot faster than I could to make up for it which messed up my scores.

 

I'm finding that the more I focus on not reloading at the start of the stage, the more it will impact me if I do end up reloading. Is this just something that will go away as I become more experienced? I definitely got overloaded yesterday as this was the first stage where I had to worry about breaking the 180 on the movements. with lateral and backwards movements.

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Honestly, it's not a terrible thing to reload while moving.  Specially if it's not slowing you down.  The worst side is forgetting to reload and then going to slidelock when you don't want to.  

 

 

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I should post the video.



This was my last run going the route I struggled with. All three runs I went this way I missed a lot of targets. The one run I had that did go well was when I chose to run left instead of right which has a slightly longer route and I allowed myself to reload. The other three runs to the right I told myself to NOT reload which resulted in two 0s and a 1.4. My good run to the left had zero M and a score of about 3.1.


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It's a visualization problem. You should be memorizing that stage plan over and over again in your head before it's time to go. If I had to guess, you weren't doing this because it was such a short stage you felt you didn't have to.

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First, reloading when you don't need to/don't intend to is a problem and it needs to be fixed. I had that problem at one point because I never practiced moving without reloading. Dry fire, live fire, matches, it didn't matter, every time I moved I reloaded. Doing movement drills where you aren't reloading can help you develop better movement skills and can help break the mental habit that every time you move your feet you drop a mag.

Also, as the poster above said, you have to visualize it a lot. When I made the switch from production to limited, I would walk and visualize the stage and find myself in my visualization dropping a mag when I didn't intend to. When that happens, go back over it again until you can get it right again and again.

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1 hour ago, waktasz said:

It's a visualization problem.

Agreed... that is almost always the case. Whenever we don't do what we wanted to do it's because we did not visualize it enough to make it what will happen.

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I have never been able to practice moving with a gun except for matches as I haven't had a place to practice it. However, I think I will be joining a new club here where I will be able to do it!

 

I think the visualization is definitely key, as I know sometimes when I would practice walking through the stage I would subconsciously make the reloading motions as well. I guess my issue is I expect this change/skill to happen overnight, but it's making other aspects of my shooting suffer when I think so much about the NO RELOAD. I know I have even less of an excuse since I can shoot the same stage multiple times whereas traditional USPSA matches that isn't true. Is it more important to make multiple walk throughs or just try and run it through your mind? I know I didn't make as many walk throughs as I usually do yesterday.

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1 hour ago, SlvrDragon50 said:

Is it more important to make multiple walk throughs or just try and run it through your mind? I know I didn't make as many walk throughs as I usually do yesterday.

Both.  Utilize your time before your squad starts to shoot to walk through the stage and determine your stage plan.  Then in between pasting and resetting, visualize the stage plan as many times as possible.  I typically will do a walk through again when I'm on deck.  

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On 5/10/2017 at 7:21 PM, SlvrDragon50 said:

I have never been able to practice moving with a gun except for matches as I haven't had a place to practice it. However, I think I will be joining a new club here where I will be able to do it!

 

You don't have a living room, bedroom, kitchen, garage, shop, or private yard?  Dry fire this and practice it somehow.  Until you learn to move without reloading you will struggle to do so.  It is another learned skill as well as a visualization problem.

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You don't have a living room, bedroom, kitchen, garage, shop, or private yard?  Dry fire this and practice it somehow.  Until you learn to move without reloading you will struggle to do so.  It is another learned skill as well as a visualization problem.

Nope. Live in a small apartment with a small bedroom.


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31 minutes ago, SlvrDragon50 said:


Nope. Live in a small apartment with a small bedroom.


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If you have room to take two steps you have room to move.  Sounds like you could move from the hallway to the bedroom.

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36 minutes ago, waktasz said:

You sound like my 14 year old. Either you want to improve or you don't. Make it work.

??? Are you really trying to give me that attitude?

 

I DID ask for tips on how to improve. Is it really my fault I'm pursuing an MD/PhD and can't afford to get a house? You've got to be kidding me. Sorry for prioritizing my academics over a hobby. 

 

Certain posts have been useful like visualization and walk through more. Your post, useless.

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1 hour ago, SlvrDragon50 said:

I do use small targets, but I have three roommates so I don't really want to walk around with my gun in the hallway.


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First, you should be running, not walking.  Running hard.  Second, do it without a gun if that's what it takes.

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15 minutes ago, SlvrDragon50 said:

??? Are you really trying to give me that attitude?

 

I DID ask for tips on how to improve. Is it really my fault I'm pursuing an MD/PhD and can't afford to get a house? You've got to be kidding me. Sorry for prioritizing my academics over a hobby. 

 

Certain posts have been useful like visualization and walk through more. Your post, useless.

If you're OK being an average + shooter then you'll be ok with standing and shooting at tiny cardboard targets in your room.  If you're looking for more than that then wake up before your roommates do and use any common areas for practice.  Given your academic pursuits this may not be a huge priority for you (understandably).  

 

But back to the original post, you don't ever need to touch your pistol to be able to perfect visualization when doing stage prep.  That's just mental repetition and focus.  

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21 minutes ago, SlvrDragon50 said:

??? Are you really trying to give me that attitude?

 

I DID ask for tips on how to improve. Is it really my fault I'm pursuing an MD/PhD and can't afford to get a house? You've got to be kidding me. Sorry for prioritizing my academics over a hobby. 

 

Certain posts have been useful like visualization and walk through more. Your post, useless.

 

Hey man, you asked.  You only need a few feet of space. Flip the mattress against the wall  of the bedroom, should be enough space.

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19 minutes ago, fastluck13 said:

Sorry, shots. 8 round arrays or 10 round mag capacity. I usually shoot SS and have a major and a minor gun so I always have a count going with walk throughs.

10-4.  Are you saying you count shots during your run or just your walkthrough/visualization?

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2 hours ago, SlvrDragon50 said:

I do use small targets, but I have three roommates so I don't really want to walk around with my gun in the hallway.
...

 

Get an airsoft or a blue gun. Problem solved.

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1 hour ago, TravisNC said:

10-4.  Are you saying you count shots during your run or just your walkthrough/visualization?

Count through the walk-through. During the run, I count misses. If I know I need them all, as soon as I have an extra shot I can expect the reload.

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