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Has anyone gotten worse?


kcult

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Please bear with me as I piss and moan about my perceived deterioration of skills in a relatively short amount of time.

I have been shooting for over 30 years, but it has always been plinking, shooting at bottles, cans and other assorted garbage. The pistol I ended up shooting the most was a Browning Hi Power. I know that gun like the back of my hand. My BHP is satin nickel with an adjustable rear sight. The sights were also satin nickel, but that didn’t seem to be a problem.

I was talked into shooting at the local, unsanctioned match. I did and was hooked. There were two or three guys that were always on top after scoring, but for the rest of us (other enthusiasts that were mostly coworkers,) I was typically the one to beat. Well, because I didn’t want to subject that gun to the rough and tumble that was run and gun, I opted for a Glock Gen 4 model 17. I was still the one to beat.

I joined USPSA and started attending matches where the big boys and robots play. I would usually place below half way on the score card, but accepted that I was a little fish in a big pond, the opposite of the outlaw match. But something else was happening. The friends that I would beat on a regular basis were catching up to me at the outlaw match. It seemed like the more I shot, the worse I got. A couple of them even asked me what was going on. I couldn’t explain it. I just wasn’t hitting my targets like I used to. I made another change. I moved from the G17 to a Gen 3 G35. I didn’t want to give up points shooting Minor. All the while, I was getting even worse. I shot in a classifier this past Saturday and finished last in Limited in several stages. I did have a couple of snafus with mags, but the biggest problem was not hitting the target.

Some would say I just need to practice, but I thought I had natural talent? I mean, what is so difficult about hitting a big ol’ piece of cardboard with a bullet? Besides, I’ve shot more in the last three years than I had the previous 25. That’s got to count for something, right?

How can I be getting worse and how do I turn this around? Is it mental? Is it the gun? Is it Obama’s fault?

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As we get older, it gets harder. I realize that @ 73 I can't shoot as well as I could 15 years ago. Keep up with getting your eyes checked more frequently and try to work out some so you can still hold the gun fairly steadily. Old age and treachery only works so far !! :roflol:

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The friends I would beat were catching up to me . It seemed like the more I shot, the worse I got. the biggest problem was not hitting the target.

Took me a few minutes reading thru your post, but I found your answer -

YOU answered the question: Missing the Target is a NO-NO.

My first match, I hit everything, but very slowly. 2nd match, I picked up speed to

emulate the speed of the good shooters - started Missing The Target.

You're trying to go faster than you can see the sights - slow down a LITTLE - and

hit the targets, as quickly as you can. :cheers:

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Oh, I also apologize for the wall of text. I tried to create paragraphs, but the site doesn't seem to want to let me. Is there a trick to it? I even typed it all in Word and copy/pasted into the text box and it still crammed it together. Also, thanks for the replies.

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The friends that I would beat on a regular basis were catching up to me at the outlaw match. It seemed like the more I shot, the worse I got.

I've definitely seen guys lose heart and wonder what was going wrong when their friends were dry-firing and practicing away from the local matches where they all competed. If your friends are improving, and you measure yourself against your friends, you can feel like you're moving backwards, when you're simply not improving at the same pace.

I moved from the G17 to a Gen 3 G35.

That's not a big change, but, as a rule, changing equipment is not the answer. Every change sets you back while you adjust to it.

How can I be getting worse and how do I turn this around? Is it mental? Is it the gun? Is it Obama’s fault?

I think you're on the right track, blaming your political enemies. That, or the gun. No need to look further. ;)

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Sometimes...I like to magic the bullets onto the target Sights? Trigger control? pffftttt.

Then reality sets in. It's all about the fundamentals.

1. Learn how to shoot Alphas, all the time.

2. Then, decide to shoot Alphas...all the time.

(the 2nd thing is harder than the first)

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I don't know how old you are but you mention you've been shooting for 30 years. When this happens to a guy at my club he is usually back to his old self after a trip to the eye doctor. Everyone loses the ability to focus close as the lens that adjusts focus in their eye stiffens. You need a glasses setup that lets you focus at the distance to your front sight.

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the amount of rounds you shoot has nothing to do with getting better ... what are you doing when you train? Do you video you training session so you can see what you are doing or are you just assuming you're doing things correctly? Our sport is about shooting 2 alphas as fast as you ... not about going as fast as you can and shooting 2 alphas or anything else ...

Reread Flex's post, it has all the answers you are seeking although it may not be very obvious at first glance ...

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The same thing happened to me, and I wondered what I was (or wasn't) doing to cause it. Then it became obvious. They were actually practicing! I usually attend one to two USPSA matches per month and that's it. They were attending three or more, dry firing, live fire practicing, etc. Once I realized that I could say "I don't practice anymore," I wondered if I should start shooting that other sport. ;) But instead, I decided that I just need to start practicing and dry-firing. Actually doing what I've decided to do has yet proven a little elusive. :unsure:

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"Shoot every run as if you were on your last magazine before quitting. Shoot every shot as if your life depended on the attention you were giving it. Never get caught in the trap of practicing haphazardly". Brian Enos

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I think many people focus more on the amount of shooting they do vice what they are learning every time they pull the trigger. Since I've been caught a little short on primers I've cut back on the number of rounds I shoot each training session and I'm learning more because I'm more focused on what's happening with each round. Best thing that ever happened to me .. Just returned from Area 6 where I shot the classifier 21% higher than my current classification .... A direct result I believe of my new focused training since The Fl State match in Feb ... Not even sure I'll go back to a higher round count once my primers come in since this is working rather well ...

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The year that i was able to practice all the time, i actually got worse too.I shot 3 years as a b class shooter, and no matter what i did i was not improving. I finally got over my hardheadedness, and listend to guys like Ben stoeger, and lucas webster (gm's) .It sounds stupidly simple, but what it took for me was less live fire, and way more dry fire.I followed Ben's dry fire drills, and worked diligently on gun handling. In 5 months of this I not only broke out of B class, but made it to master. It worked for me, give it a try.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have been flying rc helicopters for 10 years. One thing I noticed is that improvement is not linear. It plateaus. Sometimes there is a regression. It is usually when I over do it. So I have learned to take it easy/take some time off when this happens. I still try to keep my skills up with just a bit of practice. But when I come back to it, it comes back in full force.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Shoot Alphas. You know how to do it, you said you were doing it before.

Go back to what you were doing before.

One way to determine definitively whether you are regressing or if your friends are simply closing the gap on you is to go back through all the match scores from prior matches and calculate your RAW points percentage for every match. Not your hit factor points, but your raw points shot before penalties. If that percentage is going down, then you are regressing and it is not movement, or speed, or anything other than failure to shoot accurately. If, on the other hand, your raw percentage is consistent or even going up and you are still losing to people you used to beat then yup, they done caught up to you! :goof: In that case, keep shooting alphas, just learn to do it faster.

The stats ALWAYS hold the answers. Learn to mine them.

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++++ 1

When match results are posted the first thing I look at are the: % points shot. This tells me if my accuracy is getting better or worse and is the one thig completely within my control. The type of stages is of some interest -- we're they easy, short hoser stages or long, complicated field courses but in the end this is your pure accuracy measure. Are you getting 2 alphas on every target or not. If this number is not at least 90% for a match then you know where your problem is.

The big boys typically aim for 95% points shot but for the rest of us 90% is usually a good standard. Once you can consistently shoot 90% pts shot you can then start pushing the speed while MAINTAINING That 90% number. Do that and usually nobody will touch you at the local level ...

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Sometimes...I like to magic the bullets onto the target Sights? Trigger control? pffftttt.

Then reality sets in. It's all about the fundamentals.

1. Learn how to shoot Alphas, all the time.

2. Then, decide to shoot Alphas...all the time.

(the 2nd thing is harder than the first)

This is the definitive post. This is it, period. Not saying I can do it all the time, but as a high A, I get it now.

Edited by Chris iliff
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the amount of rounds you shoot has nothing to do with getting better

I think you're overstating things a bit. There are better and worse ways to train, but shooting more generally improves your shooting skill.

+1

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My shooting has gotten worse also...

When I bullseye shoot with no time limit...just for fun, I can really concentrate on the sights...alphas are easy at 25 yards.

In competition, I freak out, go too fast and start looking only at the targets. I know I'm floundering when I'm seeing the holes appear on the paper. On the other hand, when shooting for accuracy, slow fire, I usually never see the holes appear on paper.

To top it off...at 48 years old, my vision has begun to really fail me. I can not see anything close anymore to the point where I can not clearly see crisp daylight on either side of my Trijicon front sight post...or level across the top.

I am now trying to discover if my reading glasses are going to help...with them I cant see anything far away and get a little vertigo moving.

Eye doc has recommended a soft focus (long distance prescription with +.75 to make front sight clear) for dominant eye and long distance prescription for left....so each eye has a different prescription. Trying that too....

Also trying inverted bi-focal, where the bi-focal for up close vision is at the top of the lens. The rest of the lens is long distance.

With all these changes...I'm currently taking steps back, but I know I will improve once I find a groove and obtain the correct set of glasses.

Kills me....I used to have 20-15 uncorrected. I now envy the folks who have perfect vision. I will never use bad vision as an excuse, because I think its lame and I hear people use it as an excuse all the time. If I can correct my vision, I can shoot. In the process now.

Don't give up and have fun.....02

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I use a monocular setup, dominate eye front sight, non-dominate distance. This setup works very well for me. YMMV

The inverted or golfer bi-focals were slow for me and could give me a kink in the neck.

Practice time and amount of matches that I can shoot has directly affected my performance, I need to work on that. (I can still hit targets a distance, so far it has only affected my speed.)

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Very much so.

A few things put together,

an injury resulting in 75% strength and range of motion in my right hand and some loss of fine motor,

and the old age/reading glasses after a lifetime of perfect vision,

both hit in the middle of my 40s.

Like you I may be a pretty good shot compared to a bunch of regular guys,

but not compared to a bunch of guys that are of good shots and shoot regularly.

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the amount of rounds you shoot has nothing to do with getting better

I think you're overstating things a bit. There are better and worse ways to train, but shooting more generally improves your shooting skill.

+1

It is amazing the amount of ammo that can be wasted "training". making once fired brass does not take much skill.

If you are going to spend the time, effort, and money to practice then your session needs to be structured, focused training.

There is a big difference going to the range to have fun and shoot some, vs. a practice session :)

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