pwalker

Continuing this discussion about the importance of mental state, let's also consider the impact of an "audience" at the match. Humans, being very societal animals, place great stock in social acceptance. This leads to one of our major fears: the fear of looking bad in front others. Therefore, when we have an audience, even if it is only just our fellow squad members, this generates another fear to course adrenalin through the veins and distract from the task at hand. I am sure most of us perform much better with no one watching. I know I do... At the start of a stage, when facing down-range, it is possible to try to forget that people are watching you. This approach is not very successful and becomes very difficult when doing an up-range start. You can always start up-range by staring at your shoes but this is not going to help much. The zen solution is not to care what others think about you. But, as this fear is ingrained into our conscous mind from birth (I blame my mother ) and is probably a strong part of our subconscious mind, ignoring it is very difficult to do and takes Buddhist months many years to achieve. I am not sure that there is an answer for IPSC - maybe just increase one's confidence through training and preparation so that you can convince yourself that you are unlikely to embarrass yourself. Pat: Thanks for your training and pre-start suggestions. I do all those things. But I think that you are focusing on these issues in a mechanical sense, instead of exploring the underlying mental issues. My understanding of this thread is that it is discussing the state-of-mind and its impact on shooting. This is a topic close to my heart because I am looking for an edge that may help overcome my lack of physical speed and my relatively late-in-life entry into this sport. Of course, all the mechanical things are important and, for example, I do train with the starter set to random, but I think that the paydirt is somewhere beyond that for me. I know that I can not physically beat the hot young shooters, but if I can find a mental game that gives me accuracy and efficiency on every stage, I might be able to pin back some of the gap in the overall results. Brian: I think there is a lot of validity in your comments about the "the set". In looking back at good performances verses less-than-good performances, I find that the first shot is often critical. An accurate, fast, first shot sets a pattern that usually lasts for the rest of that stage. This supports your assessment that the mental state between the timer beep and the first shot is probably the most critical. Finding the right pattern that puts the mind in the right state is the challenge. Regards Peter

Brian, Very deep and insightful. Clearly comes from Buddhist philosphies. I also try to follow the lifestyle teachings of Buddha, in a modern context. I have also tried applying it to shooting sports. So far, I have had good results applying it to target shooting. I can achieve a detached state-of-mind on the shooting line and avoid many of the internal and external distractions. I watch the gun fire, almost in slow motion, as if someone else is pulling the trigger. The results show that it works. But, I find it harder to apply it to IPSC style competition. I run into 3 problems: 1. The starting beep completely jars my mental state back into one of anxiety; 2. I am so relaxed that I float through the stage at a ridiculously slow pace, scoring double As all the way, but way too slow; 3. Because I spend the last minute after the LAMR preparing my mind and not rehearsing the stage plan one last time, I forget my stage plan and do something stupid like missing a reload. I guess that I am not attaining the right mental state. Maybe I have not yet honed my IPSC skills so that I can be confident that I know how to do everything. But, these Buddhist techniques definitely work when applied to lifetsyle. How else would I be able to drive through Bangkok's traffic everyday and remain sane. Regards Peter

Here in the Thailand IPSC region, we have decided that we need some new members to ensure the future of the sport. (We have about 80 to 100 active members but only see 2 or 3 new longer-term members each year). One suggestion, in addition to some other ideas, is to encourage some police or military teams. I am thinking of putting a promotion package together and taking it to some generals and senior police officers. Most individuals in the police and military here, typically don't have enough money for a sport like IPSC. So, they might need to be sponsored by their organization. There are a few organizations (e.g. SWAT, Border Security Force, Kings Guard, Queen's Guard, Seals), whose leadership might be persuaded that this is good training for their guys. One or more of these units might put together a small (4 or 5 members) team. However, in the past, attempts to attract and keep such teams have failed. Once, a team from SWAT came to a couple of matches but were never seen again. Another time, a navy seal team came to some matches over 6 months. The problem was that they got beaten, badly. I watched one SWAT guy shoot a 32 round stage in 87 seconds with a bunch of mikes, whereas the average IPSC guy was taking 30 to 40 seconds. I am sure that they were embarrassed when all their guys ended up on the bottom of the list. That kind of thing could be damaging to the sponsoring leader's career. So, they walk away... Has anyone cracked this problem in the past? Maybe we could set-up seprate matches (the day before or after the normal match), scored separately, until they had put the basic skills together? Maybe we could offer a long-term IPSC training program for them before they compete? Anyway, I'd like to hear of other places that have succeeded with this and how they did it. Regards Peter

Vince, I hope that you are writing all these stories down and keeping them for when you write your book... Regards Peter

I'd love to see the Japanese LAMR skit. But, I am already laughing as I visualise it in my head. I used to work in Japan and recall being totally nonplussed about the whole greeting process. Fortunately, as an ignorant geiging, I did not need to participate in most of it... The cultural challenge with ROing here in Thailand arises from the subtle class system. As you know, our ROs are mainly the ex-army sergeants that are employed to manage the shooting ranges. We pay them to RO the match. But, they come from a very different background and wealth-bracket from the competitors. It is very hard for a "lowly" ex-army sergeant to DQ a multimillionaire member of the Thai elite. In the past, they would DQ them in really obvious cases, like an AD, but prefer to turn a blind eye to other transgressions. The newly-formed Thai NROI directors, including myself, have started a program of warning the competitors that some of things that were toloerated in the past, will not be allowed in the future. We are working with the RO team to teach the ROs that it is actually in everyone's best interest to enforce the rules. For example, a Thai competitor was DQ'd at our recent level III for handling ammo in a safety zone. If the safety zone rules had been strictly enforced in previous local matches, this might not have happened. But, of course, we still want this sport to be fun for everyone so we are treading softly, softly... Regards Peter

Vince, I was wondering why rule 9.4.1 is worded the way that it is. 9.4.1 Scoring hits on IPSC targets will be scored in accordance with the values approved by the IPSC General Assembly. (See Appendices B and C). All the rules are approved by the IPSC General Assembly. Why specifically mention that the scoring values must be approved by the General Assembly? Was there once a rogue region that used scoring values other than the ones approved by the General Assembly? And why have the scoring values in an Appendix? Why not just place the values in the mainstream of the rules? A=5, etc... And, while I am on the topic of wondering why; why does Appendix B1 make such a fuss about cutting off the tops of the target sticks. Not only does it suggest that cutting them off makes them look better, but it devotes a whole page to showing the difference between a non-cut-off target stand and a cut-off one. Granted, they do look nicer, but why devote a whole page with a big diagram? There has to be some historical background behind such a page. Did the IPSC President once scratch himself on a non-cut-off target stand stick???? Regards Peter

Here in Thailand, we are now translating the new 2004 handgun rule book. The rule book will be as close as possible to the English version, with some modifications to avoid phrases that don't make much sense in Thai. (For example, there is no phrase in Thai that is similar to the English phrase, "as the case may be", so it is clearer to write that part of the rule twice, once with the first case and once with second case.) We are also officially adopting the English range commands in all our matches, even the level 1 and 2 matches. The Thai ROs, most of whom are army sargeants and speak almost no English, are all struggling to get their tongue around, "If you are finshed, unload and show clear". But they are getting there... Regards Peter

Nothing. I tried a Hogue grip. I tried some skateboard tape. Took them all off. Like most things about the Glick, I found the Glock grip is just fine out of the box...

Thanks for all the input and advice. Eventually I solved the problem by applying a number of the techniques discussed here: I did enough dry-firing to create blisters on my slide racking fingers; I went to the range several times and fired lots of rounds, focusing on my finger action, especially around the trigger reset; I intermingled some dummy rounds into my mags and monitired my hand movement when the dummy caused the gun to not fire; and I did a series of Bill Drills, starting very slow but gaining speed on each run. All that practice helped build my confidence and reduced the tension. Last weekend I shot my first match in Production division with the Glock. Only screwed up once when, in the excitement of a long-distance stage, I forget that I was not shooting an open gun. I missed the first 6 shots and then said "F...ing trigger" out loud and got myself back under control enough to finish the stage, albeit with a very low result on that stage. The Glock passed the 5lb trigger pull test, with a bit to spare so I am going to do a bit more polishing... Thanks for all your help. Regards Peter

Crocodile Dundee - Muggers approach with small knife, Paul Hogan pulls out huge Bowie knife and says something like: "You call that a knife? Now, this is a knife!". Monty Python - Holy Grail: The whole movie is brilliant but the scene with the killer rabbit and the holy hand grenade is priceless. The car chase scene down the San Francisco hills in Bullet with Streve McQueen. The scene in Mask with Jim Curry when he is in the bar being menaced by gangsters then pulls out a fistful of the meanest looking automatic weapons and the "bang" flag pops out.

Thanks for all the suggestions and tips. I'll check out the trigger ideas. But I am sure that the problem and solution is in my index finger. To continue with the Jedi analogy, I need to find the force within me... I do dry-fire a lot but I don't think that it helps much with this kind of "rapid fire" issue. I need to have the gun cycle itself while I prepare my trigger finger for the next shot. But, the good news is that, 300 rounds later, I am getting closer to a solution with significant improvements in accuracy and speed. I have to undo the open gun training and condition my trigger finger for the semi-double-pull required to control the Glock trigger at speed. On Saturday, I had some success at the range by starting slow and then cranking up my speed in subsequent runs. I reckon that, in another 200 or 300 rounds I'll be ready for my first production division IPSC match. I wonder what will happen when (if) I go back to my open gun.... Regards Peter

Vince, With the 3.5lb connector and the NY1 spring, does the Glock pass the 5lb trigger pull test? What is the actual trigger pull weight? Regards Peter

Only took me about 30 minutes to fit the Ghost Rocket 3.5 connector. All you need is a vise, a good metal file, a polishing stone and the armorers orange plate. The instructions are downloadable from Ghost's website and are very understandable. Having shot the standard factory 3.5lb connector for a couple of years in IPSC matches, I find the removal of Glock's inherent over-travel to be very beneficial for trigger reset and second-shot accuracy. Would not surprise me if we see Glock taking up this connector design in future models. To improve the smoothness, you just need to slightly adjust the angle of the bottom of the connector so that it is not pressing too hard against the trigger bar. Then, some polishing with a fine ceramic polishing stone in about 4 places where metal touches metal and you have a lovely, smooth 3.5lb trigger with a a clean break and no over-travel... Regards Peter

I have purchased and learned from all the previous Mark Burkett DVDs. However, IDPA does not exist in my part of the world. Can anyone tell me if there are things on this DVD that an IPSC competitor will find useful or is it purely IDPA techniques and tips. Regards Peter Bangkok, Thailand

After a year of shooting IPSC with an STI open gun, I have decided to move into the Production division with a Glock 17. In IPSC rules, the trigger weight must be 5lbs or greater. The Glock trigger (Ghost 5lb Tactical connector) feels very heavy and spongey compared with the light, crisp trigger of the STI. I have been practicing at the range and dry-firing the Glock but I have a problem. When I shoot fast, I pull the shots into the lower, right corner of the target. This is not a flinch problem. I can slowly shoot 49 out of 50 rounds into the 8, 9 and 10 of a bullseye target at 25 meters. But as soon as I turn on the timer and shoot faster in IPSC mode, the hits all start appearing towards the lower right corner. At 8 meters the hits are in the lower right A/C zones, at 15 meters the hits are in the lower right C/D zone and at 25 meters the hits are on the lower right edge of the target. I think that the problem is worse on my second shot at the target. Yes, I am trying to double-pull the trigger, but I do have problems doing this quickly. Yes, I am holding the trigger back after each round and clicking-off the reset before the next shot. Yes, I am seeing the sights lift. I can fix the problem by aiming the sights at the upper-left corner of the target but this requires a different amount of adjustment depending on the target distance. I can not see that being a sustainable fix in the excitement of running a stage in a match. So, I need to find a solution. I need to be able to aim at the center of a target, shoot quickly and know that the shot hit the target, To date, I have fired 300 rounds looking for a solution. Can anyone suggest some exercises or tips that might help me solve this problem quickly. First match of the year is one week away - meanwhile, when you are all pondering your answers, I will go back to the range and try again. Maybe the solution is just more firing until my trigger finger "gets it".... Regards Peter

Try shooting in the dark and watching the muzzle flash and the sparks that fly out of the ejection port. I learned this technique by coincidence. Some military friends of mine here in Thailand, respect an old, long-deceased Thai admiral by, once a year, meeting at a cliff-top at dusk and firing 19 rounds each out to sea. They invited me to join them a couple of years ago. After watching the muzzle flash of others, I concentrated on watching the muzzle flash of my gun when it came to my turn to shoot. Since then, I have always been able to keep my eyes open to watch the sights lift. Although, I occasionally get distracted by watching the sparks fly out of the ejection port... Regards Peter

One drill that I found helped me with swingers (I used to be "completely" hopeless at swingers - now I have progressed to "occasionally" hopeless), is to set up an activator and a slow swinger that is visible for about 60 percent of its swing. Fill your biggest magazine with rounds. Shoot the activator. Then shoot two rounds into the swinger everytime it appears until your magazine is empty, following the movement of the swinger with your sights/dot. After a couple of shots, you get into the rythmn of the swing. Then count the holes. When the number of holes equals the size of your magazine minus one, your confidence increases dramatically. Then adjust the swinger's balance for a faster speed and do it again. When you can do this drill on the fastest swing speed and get 100% hits, you'll never fear a swinger again... maybe... This drill can also show up a pattern of hits on the swinger which can tell you, like it did for me, that you are aiming too low on the swinging target. I think that, in my case, I was subconsciously aiming low beacuse the lower part is moving slower and looks wider. My group of hits were all low and to the left, mainly in the lower left C/D area. I now try to aim at the top right of the A zone on a classic target. Regards Peter

For more information about the match, to review the match results or to learn about future IPSC events in Thailand, please visit: http://www.thpsa.com/

The 2003 Thailand IPSC Level III match is over. 213 competitors from 12 countries competed over 18 stages during this 3 day match. With guests, supporters, organizers and family members, over 400 people were involved in this superb sporting event. The IPSC regions represented included: Australia, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, our hosts Thailand and the USA. The Thai Practical Shooting Association (THPSA) and the Hua Hin Shooting Association jointly hosted the match at the magnificent Hua Hin shooting range. The range is situated just outside of the beach resort town of Hua Hin, providing a lovely setting for the match and access to great restaurants and nightlife during the evenings. The THPSA provided exciting course design and match operations, while the Hua Hin Shooting Association provided course construction and decoration by professional stage designers and the logistics of moving and housing the competitors. The gun imports were successfully accomplished by issuing a temporary gun permit through the local district office and the Thai police provided gun transportation and storage. The Airports of Thailand company provided a greeting booth at the airport. The match Range Officers came from a variety of countries, ably led by Range Master, Chepit Dulay, from the Philippines. The THPSA gratefully thanked the IROA and the NROI of the USA, Philippines, Indonesia, PNG, Sri Lanka and Singapore for jointly providing us with an excellent group of officials. The stages were challenging and creative. A theme of “Tourism in Thailand” inspired the stage designs, so competitors found themselves shooting from upon a banana boat, trekking through jungle, sitting at a beer bar, sprinting through a market and starting from a real buffalo cart. Some of the shooting challenges included single-handed techniques while hanging from a shower rail, starting lying on one’s back on a bamboo river raft and pressing a computer keyboard in an internet café to select your target color. The course designers outdid themselves and built a series of moving targets that bobbed, swung down, slid sideways and rolled across the stages. On the final day, a fast-paced and well-received “Steel Games” match and the traditional Shoot-Off nicely capped a long weekend of excitement, challenge and fun. As is typical for December in Thailand, the weather behaved itself, with deep blue skies and a gentle tropical 30 degrees Celsius each day. Finally, a series of excellent social events accompanied the match, including an opening ceremony with Thai music, a parade of nations and an official match dinner and award ceremony that went long into the night, with music, dancing and several exhibitions of Thai culture. Beautiful “benjarong” ceramic vases on an inscribed teak-wood base became prized trophies for the first, second and third place winners in each of the divisions, categories and team competitions.

Pete, A few weeks ago, in my credit card company's bonus-points gift catalog, there was a video camera. It was obviously a "cheapie" as I did not recognize the brand name (Che-ez Movix). But, it was not going to cost me any real money so I ordered it. I am guessing that it would be about the $200 to $300 price range. I thought that I'd use it for IPSC training and recording matches and tested it doing some dry-firing practice at home. What a waste! The quality of the image is so poor that I can not see enough details. It is not comfortable to watch. You can not freeze frame and if you play it in slow motion on the computer, it is so blurry and jerky that I could not analyze my movements. The sound is awful. Basically, the camera is not capturing enough data for it to be useful. But, seeing the potential of using a video for training, I then went out and spent some money on a good video camera (about $1000) from Sony. Yesterday I taped a practice session with it and then loaded the clips into my computer. It is great to be able to step through the actions one by one. And, I like this new toy so much, that I'll think I'll also make some family movies... Regards Peter

Rhino, Could a normal citizen of Thailand get off a plane in the US and carry a loaded gun? I doubt it. In any case, as you already know, that wont be possible here. Your gun will be delivered to you at the range by friendly police escort. But, don't worry. This is one country where you don't need to carry a gun to be safe. The crime rate is tiny and what little crime occurs is usually within families or business associates. Thailand is one very safe country. Regards Peter

Rufus, We will have a revolver division in the match but I don't think that there will be many entrants. So, if you want to increase your probability of taking home a trophy (beautiful Thai ceramic on an engraved base), bring your revolver. If you want lot's of tough challenging competition, bring your open gun... Regards Peter

Vince, Thanks for picking up the typo. 2002 it is. Must have hit the wrong key. By the way, when you are preparing the PDF version of the new rule book, would it be possible to create/ test the PDF file so that it is PDA-friendly. I carry the current rule book on my Palm but some of the tables and diagrams don't display well. I believe that there is a way to create a PDA-friendly version of PDF documents, so that the same document works well on all platforms. Regards Peter

Rufus, Vince is correct. We will be using version 14 - September 2000 of the IPSC rule book for the Thailand Level III this December. At our local match last weekend, all the Standard division guys were checking their gun in the box to make sure that they are in compliance for the Level III match. (The Production shooters were also testing their trigger weight and the Open shooters their 170mm magazine lengths). The length of the magazine in Standard division is not measured, as long as the gun, with the magazine inserted, fits into the box. If your Standard gun does not comply, do you have an alternative? Or, would you like to borrow a Standard gun from one of the shooters here. Many of the guys shooting in Open division also own a Standard gun. I am sure that I can arrange a good quality loaner if you need one. You could arrive here a day or two before the match and practice with the loaner gun to used to its timing and sights. Regards Peter

Venezuala, Either an echo or someone shooting in the next bay. If the timer is not tuned right, you can pick up echos from the berm or from stage props like barrels. Either way, you need to adjust the sensitivity of the timer. There should be some small adjustment screw with a + and a - sign. Turn it a little towards the - sign. With the CED, the amount of adjustment required is tiny (about a 15 to 30 degrees turn of the screw) but other timers have a different adjustment range. Regards Peter