Johann the Horrible

Started again after 12 years. All those years ago I sucked and still battle to shoot good scores. Last Saturday I shot a 60%+ for the first time in my life. It was my 29th competition for the year and will shoot my next match on the 5th of January. I am in no position to hand out brilliant advice but a truth I found was to shoot as much competitions as possible. While I still have squadrons of large birds in my stomach when I step on the line I am not reduced to a blathering idiot anymore. Read the advice you get on this forum, it is maybe some of the best in the world. It is worth every sent you pay for it. (Here in South Africa internet is not cheap) Mostly enjoy your shooting, its why you do it! PS: Bring a friend to shoots, spread the addiction as widely as possible

Welcome to the Best sport in the World. In my other life I am a advanced instructor and that includes tactical. Shooting started out embarrassing in the extreme. What I found was that taking the "A"`s helped. In real life you cannot miss fast enough to survive. I am still at the bottom half of the club ladder but am slowly but surely getting faster. Just remember you cant miss fast enough to win. We all watch the Super Squad and try and emulate them, to our detriment. You are not shooting against the Super Squad, you are shooting against yourself. Get the score first, the time will come.

you better believe it, my "good" mag takes 17 rounds and two others 16 each. One of these days I will install a "Dustcover" on the frame. This will add another 500g or so to the front and then I will have no "Muzzle flip" out of my old .45. The top guys with their 40`s go up to 20 rounds.

Some people(like me) does not have the imagination to suck a original screen name out of their thumbs. We just use that we find along the road. I am not a Horrible shooter but I do have a abysmal sense of humor, and I love every second of it. Hell everyone is telling me to change my name, maybe I should, this will baffle everyone at the club. This just may even deliver some uninformed into the clutches of my finely developed sense of fun. You try and pull a gun out of your speedrig after the RO locked it. Picture this: target patcher-uppers busy downrange out of sight behind equipment. RO(me) in my best paradegroud voice: RANGE IS CLOSED....SHOOTER ARE YOU READY?......STANDBYYYY..... Notice no "you may make ready". Everyone at the range expects this from me now....but maybe with a new name??? Ahh the old one are always the best ones.

As a South African citizen I read the forum avidly. (It does give me tips to shoot much better.) What I did notice is that I would not be allowed to shoot "Standard Gun" in the USA as you do not have a division like that. Standart Gun is basically no optics, no comps and has to fit the box. We also shoot to 170 factor except for Racegun. Damn and I always dreamed of shooting against the best in the USA one day. On a personal note, I will be the best Standart Gun shooter as I will be the only Standart Gun shooter. When you guys come over to Port Elizabeth give me a call- I have a couple of spare guns and we shoot a match every Saturday.(Except if Saturday fall on Christmas- then we just PARTY)

Good. Now change that damn name! OK, how does Hagar the Horrible sound?

I have been shooting IPSC for 2 years now. I managed to go to the early 50% fairly soon but seemed to get stuck there. I have been a forum member for two weeks and the tips I picked up here allowed me to shoot 60.16% in a competition on Saturday(It was my 29th competition for the year- previous best for the year-55.24%- the top guys in the club was at Nationals so it does not mean that much). What makes it all the more satisfying is that the winner was the current South African Standard Gun Champ. I spoke to Alex after the shoot and he said he was going well and shot to form. (What a humble, nice and helpful person he is) . This means that my score would probably have been similar if it was during the SA Champs. Thanks guys, you helped me turn a corner here- my next goal is to win Silver class in my Province and then get to Gold asap.)

Try 230 RN, no-one on my club shoots a .45 with SWC any more, they just don not feed as good as RN.

I shoot a Para .45 in "Standard gun" class. One of the-top ends I have, has low profile sights and this makes the gun "shorter", so short that with my best mag (a 17 round mag) it still fits the "box". If I put my Gold Cup top-end on the frame it does not fit the "box" any longer with the 17 rounder or any of my 16 round mags. Last Saturday I changed guns halfway through the match because I could not hit the side of a barn(from the inside of the barn) and immediately shot streets better. Were talking about 10-17%. Now I am fixing the sight "problem", as the gun was shooting left high. But now I am wondering: Do I take the advantage of the "big" mags and the "pain" of the smaller sights or so I go to better sights and rework my mags to fit the "box" and loose the advantage of big mag capacity? I took 2 A`s at 20 meters with the Gold Cup top-end right next to a no-shoot target(it covered about half the "A" zone) with confidence. On the down side, I had a few stoppages with the Gold Cup top-end that played havoc with my time. (The other top-end is 100% reliable) Any thoughts on this matter?

Noooo!!! After much "explaining" I managed to convince my wife that been hit by a bullet is not always the same as getting shot.(This took me a loooong time). I think the main difference is in the "eye of the shootee". If the ricochet counted as being shot I will have been shot 5 times and that is clearly excessive.

I survived been shot 4 times(OK on one occasion it was with a rubber bullet). I survived Cancer. I survived several shootouts as a cop. I survived(and was wounded) during a contact with terrorists(wich is more than what several of them can say). I survived Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I shot a rapist(Steti Keswa) at 1400 meters with a Heavy barreled FN/FAL. I ran the one of the most successful Crime Prevention and Suspect Tracing Units ever and I now run the BEST Coffee shop in Port Elizabeth. I have a winning mindset, I just enjoy laughing at my own and everyone else's screw ups. Life is too short to be taken seriously(hell the average South African Male lives to about 57!!) I don't care that Alex kicks my butt every Saturday- he puts in the hours and hours of practice AND has all the natural ability to shoot at the level were he is at. But I ENJOY my shooting, I ENJOY laughing at other shooters ruining their Saturdays trying to win at all cost. And last but not least I ENJOY laughing at life in general. When I sing, I sing loudly and when I fart you don't want to be standing behind me.

You have to see it from my side, phoned my wife from the hospital to tell her I would be late, and to only tell her about the fine line about ricochets and been shot when I got home. Big mistake, the moment she answered the phone she asked me,"what are you doing in hospital?" Things kinda went downhill from there, way down. Now I take "her" daughter shooting on Saturdays too. No cell reception at the range, and that is one of the main reasons I shoot there. Just had a shoot from hell. The first stage I got lead splattered time and again as I was the RO in the detail. Stupid bloody stage. Draw and shoot first 4 gongs and two targets weak handed. After that freestyle. So one of my friends lets one go into the furniture and get sent home. Damn. So after everyone else has shot the poor RO gets to "strut his stuff". By this time I am so concerned about lead splatter that my Mantra goes "not more lead- not more lead". At the buzzer I grab the gun and lets rip, with my right hand only. That ended -80 in penalties. In my defense- I wright left handed and shoot right handed. The RM just would not accept that- bloody unfair if you ask me. From there the shoot went down hill fast. I even made a wrong call about distances on the Standards range and that caused the range to be "pulled from the results". Man I am the most popular RO in the Province at the moment. Just before I got home I hit a camera trap- doing a 100!! (in a 60 zone). Yesterday in Church I was the last of the Church board members to walk into the church. As I lead the singing I sit right in front beneath the pulpit. As I walked in, nodding to people as I went along, I managed to walk into one of the pews and fall down, in front of the whole congregation- much to the great delight of the whole congregation. As I drove home I considered shooting myself in the foot but had to refrain as I probably would have missed.

The moniker is a reflection on my sense of humor- I just love taking the "Mickey" out of people. My problem is that the more I practice the lower my score goes but I feel I am shooting better and better. I got hit by a ricochet a few months ago and maybe that also plays a role.

The Horrible part refers to my sense of humor that for, for some people, is quite horrible. I got DQ`ed a while ago for letting a shot go during a reload. The shot hit the A zone of the target at 7 meters. The next time me and the RO went hunting together I fed him some Biltong(like jerky just drier) and after the hunt told him it was made of Baboon meat. He still does not eat anything I bring to the club.(I told him I still have the baboons brain.)

I shoot in a club were 2 of the top 5 shooters in the country shoots. I started last year and after some hard work I got myself into the 50% range, and stayed right there. I keep on working and shoot better but my scores are not reflecting that. The problem is that even though I am working hard, Alex(The Champ) is working even harder. My score is worked out as a percentage of his. If it carries on like this I will die a "Bronze class" shooter. Is there a way that I can measure my progress(if any) against myself and not the other shooters in the club. We shoot a competition every Saturday and the "good" shooters is there every Saturday. All the Provincial shooters are also club members. PS I am now back to the 40` again Johann the Horrible

Went to a Provincial shoot at a neighboring Province a wile ago. I had a problem with what I perceived to be a 180 trap. I was shouted down by the other competitors and decided to rather leave and drive the 300km (about 190 miles) back home. As I had some guys that drove through with me I stupidly allowed myself to be convinced to stay and shoot. While waiting my turn at the stage with the 180 trap I took my Safety glasses off to wipe my face. (It was cooking hot). Before I could get the glasses back on I was hit between the eyes by a ricochet. I ended up spending the weekend in Hospital in a strange city. I also made page two in the local Sunday paper with the paper gong to town about guns and safety - as a "top" shooter could get hurt during a "National" shoot. After being discharged I had to driven home in my own car with my wife following behind in her car. I`m afraid this soured her to shooting. Have to say I looked a mess with two black eyes and several stiches to the bridge of my nose. Johann the Horrible

Me, I just count, gets pretty hairy when I shoot my 17 round .45 mag. Shooting barefoot will definitely help!!