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New to the sport - what should I work on?


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I just started shooting USPSA last summer. Currently, I'm sitting at a C (54%). Help me find my low hanging fruit.

 

These were from a match at the beginning of the month. Here is the match break down:

20170524_175237.png

 

 

Stage 6 - 38 shooters - 9th overall - 2nd open

What I Noticed: This stage I had a few mental issues.

1)I inadvertently relocked my holster after the make ready. 

2) accidentially bumped my thumb safety on between p2 and p3, and didnt realize it right away.

3) forgot my planned reload after leaving p4, resulting in a standing reload.

4)forgot a target from p5, and had to move back to engage.

 

Stage 4 - 4th overall - 2nd open 

What I Noticed: I dont see anything that stands out

 

 Stage 3 - 19th overall - 5th open

What I Noticed: 

1) double tapping the mag, when I should have just downloaded

2) failed to fire due to a single issue of hammer follow 

 

Stage 2 - 17th overall - 4th open

What I Noticed: 

1) slow finding the dot a couple times.

2) shot while moving up to p3. Should have ran up and shot standing. 

3) standing reload after p3

 

 

Any glaring issues? Anything that would help my quest for B class?

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Are you following a good dri fire plan? What I see in all the videos

 

loosing a lot of time in movement

 

drawing the gun when you get to the first position 

 

Standing still reloading instead of moving 

 

transitions burned a lot of time

 

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Thank you so much for NOT dubbing in crappy music in your videos.  Just being able to hear your splits and transitions, I could tell you are C class.

 

In my opinion, you are just not aggressive enough, both in your movements and your trigger.

 

You need to be pissed off like each one of those targets owes you money.

 

Maybe your non-aggressiveness comes from not being confident or not being comfortable yet???

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Your personal summary hit the big points:

1.  fix mechanical gun problems (hammer follow)

2.  ride the top of the safety with strong hand thumb (so you don't accidentally bump it up/on)

3.  more dry fire to "find your dot".  I like Brian's Awareness Exercise in his Practical Shooting book (page 169)

4.  execute your stage plan.  I haven't found a "drill" for this...just comes with doing it and developing your visualization skills.  

 

 

The only other thing i noticed is you need to work on EXPLODING out of positions & run like hell to the next one.  The biggest time savings you can get is reducing the "non-shooting time":  drawing, reloading, exiting a position, moving to the next position, getting into next position, & transitioning between targets.  Focus on making these things happen faster before worrying about shooting faster.    

 

  

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On 5/28/2017 at 1:32 PM, tanks said:

 

Double tapped the mag after reload here as well.

Yeah, Im trying to break that habit. I had a mag not seat a couple times last year, and for some reason Im having a hard time kicking the habit. I never do it in dryfire though.

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On 5/28/2017 at 7:10 AM, uewpew said:

Your personal summary hit the big points:

1.  fix mechanical gun problems (hammer follow)

2.  ride the top of the safety with strong hand thumb (so you don't accidentally bump it up/on)

3.  more dry fire to "find your dot".  I like Brian's Awareness Exercise in his Practical Shooting book (page 169)

4.  execute your stage plan.  I haven't found a "drill" for this...just comes with doing it and developing your visualization skills.  

 

 

The only other thing i noticed is you need to work on EXPLODING out of positions & run like hell to the next one.  The biggest time savings you can get is reducing the "non-shooting time":  drawing, reloading, exiting a position, moving to the next position, getting into next position, & transitioning between targets.  Focus on making these things happen faster before worrying about shooting faster.    

 

  

Im getting better at sticking with my plan. I used to solidify my plan, and then change it last minute based on something another shooter did. Now, Im staying with it, and trying to only pay attention to the better shooters footwork...as I know thats a weakness.

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2 hours ago, thepunishur said:

Yeah, Im trying to break that habit. I had a mag not seat a couple times last year, and for some reason Im having a hard time kicking the habit. I never do it in dryfire though.

 

Then you need to figure out how to up the intensity in dryfire and make it more like match conditions for you (mentally).

 

Draws reloads and other gunhandling aspects should be the first things that begin to occur just the way you dryfire them.

 

Edited by MemphisMechanic
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The biggest place I see wasted time in your shooting (not discussing moving) is your incredibly slow target transitions. 

 

Absolutely practice something like an el prez at home with three post-it notes or mini USPSA targets on the wall and work on going across them with .2 between shots AND .2 between targets. Make yourself snap the gun to the next target instead of swinging over to it casually.

 

Learn how fast you can physically get four shots into two close targets: right now that is killing you. bangbangbangbang with no pause is easily possible on close things.

 

Watch how quickly Charlie snaps the gun  between multiple close targets:

 

 

 

Edited by MemphisMechanic
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I think threads like this are actually extremely productive; we get to see a little bit of what everyone else is looking for when analyzing  shooting footage, which inevitably is always varied and different.

 

Yourself and others have already mentioned the slow setup and finding of the dot into position, but one thing I haven't seen mentioned yet, is hesitation on exit of position (I'm trying to be more specific than just "you're moving slow").  I see your exit "slowness" as being fairly significant across most of the stages posted, but specifically on Stage 2.  Not sure if this is a product of not being confident on your last shot, not being confident in your plan, or not realizing how slow you're actually moving out.  When you've taken your last shot from a position, you don't need to wait for the firearm to recoil and track the sight back to the target (just like when you're transitioning between targets, your sights should already be moving to the next target through recoil, or in this case, you should be breaking off to the next position).  

  • If you're not confident on your last shot being a good hit, you should be making it up immediately, not mentally deciding if it was okay or not, and certainly not waiting to look at the target to see if you hit it (IMHO).
  • If you're not confident on stage plan, then you need to be doing better prep to ensure that you know exactly where you're headed next.
  • If you're not realizing how slow your movement is, then make a conscious effort to try and explode to your next position, both in dry fire and any specific athletic exercises.

This may seem like small potatoes, but just for example, on Stage 2, there were 4 positional exits.  I'd estimate the time lost at likely somewhere around .5 seconds lost on each exit = approx. 2 seconds lost on this stage (that may be fairly conservative as well, hard to just isolate the exit versus the whole movement).  Time stamps on the video show approx 28 seconds of time on the stage, which could have been closer to 26 by our previous logic of 2 seconds lost, which means you would have been as much as 8-10% better on the stage, just by paying more attention to how you left your positions.  Keep in mind, this is without changing literally anything else.

 

In the video of Charlie posted above, you can see how quickly he leaves positions - the instant his last shot breaks, he's breaking his head off the gun, readjusting his footing and exploding away from the position.

 

Here's another video for reference.

Positional Exists

Edited by GorillaTactical
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On 5/30/2017 at 1:47 PM, GorillaTactical said:

I think threads like this are actually extremely productive; we get to see a little bit of what everyone else is looking for when analyzing  shooting footage, which inevitably is always varied and different.

 

Yourself and others have already mentioned the slow setup and finding of the dot into position, but one thing I haven't seen mentioned yet, is hesitation on exit of position (I'm trying to be more specific than just "you're moving slow").  I see your exit "slowness" as being fairly significant across most of the stages posted, but specifically on Stage 2.  Not sure if this is a product of not being confident on your last shot, not being confident in your plan, or not realizing how slow you're actually moving out.  When you've taken your last shot from a position, you don't need to wait for the firearm to recoil and track the sight back to the target (just like when you're transitioning between targets, your sights should already be moving to the next target through recoil, or in this case, you should be breaking off to the next position).  

  • If you're not confident on your last shot being a good hit, you should be making it up immediately, not mentally deciding if it was okay or not, and certainly not waiting to look at the target to see if you hit it (IMHO).
  • If you're not confident on stage plan, then you need to be doing better prep to ensure that you know exactly where you're headed next.
  • If you're not realizing how slow your movement is, then make a conscious effort to try and explode to your next position, both in dry fire and any specific athletic exercises.

This may seem like small potatoes, but just for example, on Stage 2, there were 4 positional exits.  I'd estimate the time lost at likely somewhere around .5 seconds lost on each exit = approx. 2 seconds lost on this stage (that may be fairly conservative as well, hard to just isolate the exit versus the whole movement).  Time stamps on the video show approx 28 seconds of time on the stage, which could have been closer to 26 by our previous logic of 2 seconds lost, which means you would have been as much as 8-10% better on the stage, just by paying more attention to how you left your positions.  Keep in mind, this is without changing literally anything else.

 

In the video of Charlie posted above, you can see how quickly he leaves positions - the instant his last shot breaks, he's breaking his head off the gun, readjusting his footing and exploding away from the position.

 

Here's another video for reference.

Positional Exists

 

This weekend was a 3 gun match, so I was trying to focus more on movement. Ignore the part in the video where I realized I forgot an array, and had to run all the way back (~14 seconds of wasted time), and the malfunctions on the shotgun (another 9 seconds or so).

Take away those two things, and I would have been 4/52 not 24/52.

 

I feel like my movement in general is getting slightly better.

 

 

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30 minutes ago, thepunishur said:

Any drills for position entry/exit that I need to be working on?

 

Thanks again for sharing and accepting critiques.  Please don't take this as overt criticism, but I still see quite a bit of the hesitation in the more recent 3 gun video you've posted. Take a look at 00:35 and 00:43.  Do you see how your body is sort of just floating in position for up to a second or so after your last shot is fired in the respective positions?  Even as you turn at the table and take a step or two into the second shotgun array...that could be much more explosive and shave off a second or so.  That's what I'm seeing that could be immediately improved.  

 

Honestly, this is a particular area that I've been working on quite a bit over the last 3-4 months, so I might be getting a bit of tunnel vision respective to other areas for potential improvement (just keep that in mind :rolleyes:).

 

So as a point of reference (and I'm by no means the best at this, but feel I've improved quite a bit recently, enough where you might gain some value in watching this video), check out this video.  It's a recent match I shot - Just look at my feet and my legs (don't worry about the shooting or the speed of shooting - focus on how my legs move).  Watch what my legs and feet do as I exit positions (I'm not the best at quick shots on entry, that's the next thing in my personal development I'm working on).

  • I really isolate my movement into two types/styles of movement
    • A - A quick stutter step/shuffle step (for short distances or positional shifts)
    • B - Loading up and exploding into a run or burst (for distances more than just a few steps)

With respect to training and practicing this, I suggest starting it without a gun at all (I found that  useful for myself).  It will allow you to isolate the thing you're focusing on, and allow your body to focus on explosive movements (graduate to air-gunning and then to dry-fire, etc).  You can just setup some spots in your backyard at various directions and intervals, and work on moving between them as quickly as possible (mentally think about the mechanics of what will allow you to better accelerate when exiting a position, like re-planting a leg, loading up on that leg, and then exploding off).

 

One other thing - just another observation - the area outside the shooting area isn't hot lava!  You could have cut the distance run to the table almost in half by just running out of the shooting area and direct to the table.  Just a point of consideration :ph34r:

Edited by GorillaTactical
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I'll have to give that a try. I've been trying similar drills. The problem is, it feels like Im doing things "right" while I'm doing them. Then I look at the match video and see thats not the case. Maybe I'll start videoing the training sessions for immediate feedback. I can review after a couple of runs, and adjust accordingly. 

 

As far as cutting the corner...my local club gives a procedural if you step out of bounds at all during the course of fire. I specifically asked the RO if I could run across during the walk through. He said no. 

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2 minutes ago, thepunishur said:

I'll have to give that a try. I've been trying similar drills. The problem is, it feels like Im doing things "right" while I'm doing them. Then I look at the match video and see thats not the case. Maybe I'll start videoing the training sessions for immediate feedback. I can review after a couple of runs, and adjust accordingly. 

 

As far as cutting the corner...my local club gives a procedural if you step out of bounds at all during the course of fire. I specifically asked the RO if I could run across during the walk through. He said no. 

 

Videoing in training is good - like you say, putting everything together at the match can be difficult, you're worried about the stage plan, your shooting, your movements, safety...there's a lot going on.  If you can start to get it right in training, then much like the muscle memory you're developing on the actual shooting, the movements will start to become second nature IMHO.

 

RE the lava that apparently exists in Green Bay...LOL!  :bow: All hail the lava gods.

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