stevepitt

Working with Steve Broom a little over a year ago, he indicated the grip is worth 50% of your stage performance. I still over estimate the importance of speed of the draw and under estimate the importance of the quality of the grip. Funny thing, relaxing on the draw improve my grip AND speed! Go figure... it's not like I haven't heard that a thousand times before Steve Pitt

I'll second (third, fifth, whatever we're up to) all the great things about Stuart. He was one of the guys I really looked up to when I started this sport, and he still is! Way back then, my wife kept asking me what "wicked fast" was (don't know where I picked up the term)... the only answer I had was "Stuart Wong". God, now's he's watching the front sight too... we'll never have a chance Steve Pitt (oh, and Stuart, I got to shoot your gun today at the range with Lizard... SWEET!!!)

Slight thread hijack.... "Take what you need and give what you can." This sure brings back some memories... I once had a woman tell me "Take what you want, but want what you take".... What she had in mind I can't print here, but it was memorable Steve

WOW! Does this thread bring back some memories!!! My first major match, I had 9 jams. About the 5th one, I figured out brass was hitting my left thumb. (I'm a lefty too!) Once I figured it out, my buddies all offereed to cut my thumb off, a solution that would work, but I declined It took me awhile to figure out it wasn't a gun problem. At some point, I had changed the position of my thumb. In trying to point it forward, it was actually bending up. By paying attention to it, I was able to train myself to keep my thumb down. You might want to video tape yourself. Especially shooting fast, or anything might might add tension to your grip. Steve Pitt p.s.- At the 2005 Open Natl's, I experienced another lefty unique issue. I had a piece of brass bounce off a wall, hit my hand and jam between my trigger and trigger finger. (My finger was momentarily out of the trigger guard for movement). I shot the rest of the stage (10 shots) with that brass lodged there! It's tough to shoot fast that way!!!

At the risk of being ridiculous, since groups are measured center-to-center, a 1 shot group has a group size of .000 Now that's an impressive group! Steve

Rob, That's an awesome way to notify users of results. Someone else mentioned the unofficial combined results. For the 6 clubs I shoot at, we always send those results in email, then notify that the "official" individual results are on the USPSA web page. This would simplify what we do, except for the combined results. I suspect a lot of clubs do this. I know it's been asked and answered in the past, but any chance of allowing the combined results to be posted on the web page? (sorry to ask that for what is probably the 1000th time, but I get asked that routinely locally). Steve Pitt (local match scorer)

XRE, Since I wasn't there to witness the "wind" call first hand, I wasn't commenting on whether there were other ways to make the call "within" the rules. I agree with you on that part.... make the call via the rules. My comments were directed more to the replies that indicated a RO should NEVER make a call outside of the rules. As you noted, there are exceptions. Does this call fall into one of the "exceptions"? I don't know, since I wasn't there. It would seem to me that there were enough extenuating circumstances to understand why the call was made the way it was. This doesn't seem to be a case of blatant ignoring the rules, as the tone of some replies imply. Steve Pitt

I'll try not to offend anyone with my reply, but I probably will. While I'm not one to ignore the rule book, I'm also not one to use it at expense of doing the right thing. This whole discussion reminds me of a discussion I've had about obeying the law.... If there is a stop sign at a "T" in the desert, AND you can see both ways, nothing is coming, do you stop, or yield? I'll yield ever time.... even though it's illegal. (Note: it's a theorical discussion- GIVEN that you CAN see both ways). If others want stop, fine, but I'll never understand the logic.... I don't want to live in a world that as free adults, we are not allowed to use our brains. Gary Stevens and others got it right... attempt to do the right thing... If I'm wrong then, I can live with it! If I'm blindly following rules when I KNOW it's the wrong thing, I'm nothing more than a robot..... From previous replies, it's obvious not everyone will agree with me Steve Pitt

Earlier advice: What about the following: tell the hospital that your gf is fine, she needs no money, but she'd like them to (financially) take care of the pour sould with advanced lung cancer whose films got mixed with your gf's ones. At least something good could come out of this story. ********************************** Awesome! And it's the one lesson I KNOW my kids actually took from me: One time they asked how they could pay me back for something I did for them... I told them to just help someone else when they could.... Best lesson in life! Pay It Forward! Steve Pitt

I was the RO in the second scenario.... In retrospect, I believe I either wasn't clear in my explanation to Chris, or I actually told him wrong. (BTW, he accepted what I said without argument, was a good sport and shot it "right"!) I agree with the above posts, in Comstock, stacking is ok, as long as you "re-engage" the targets after the reload, and the course description doesn't forbid it. What I was trying to tell Chris was that with the wide spread of the targets, as an RO, I can easily tell if he "re-engages" the targets or not... In other words, if he fires 6 shots (2 ea. of 3 targets) and the gun muzzle doesn't move left or right, then he didn't engage 2 of the targets... SO... in order for the shooter to stack, then "re-engage" in the general direction as fast as he can, it's actually SLOWER than shooting the stage without stacking.... I didn't mean to say he couldn't do what he proposed in the original note, just that he needed to make sure he actually re-engages after the reload (in other words, sling shots in the general direction of the targets). Sorry Chris... hope this explanation makes more sense. Steve Pitt

ooops... I didn't mean to get that smiley in my previous reply next to the "shoot targets static" line.... Depending on the scale, shooting targets on the move is what I would like to do. I think it would be faster.... but that's why we call it freestyle. There are others that would definitely not shot it "my way". Again... good job on your stage design. If this is your first stage, you should have some really good ones waiting in the wings. Steve

Well, I like this stage and think it has several options! Good job! The ONLY suggestion I would make is to add " T1, T2, T3 must be activated BEFORE engaging them" to the stage instructions. (I think that was the mover target #'s). With that addition, then options I see (and there may be more).... 1) go through door (or not). 2) shoot targets on move (or sweet spot) 3) engage T2 (or not).... definitely activate it. 4) T4-T13 has several different engagement choices... a) Shoot one side static, other side on move. Shoot both sides static. c) Shoot all on the move (alternating sides) Some of the choices are dictated by scale, but I bet this stage is shot more than one way regardless of scale. I like the fact the "going through the door" isn't forced. I'd kinda like to hear from the designer what her thoughts are now with the feedback. Steve Pitt

BountyHunter, I have to disagree with you.... Sounds like lane conditions in bowling is analagous to weather in shooting. Rain in the morning, wind in the afternoon, etc. Of course, my high score ever in bowling was a 186, so could be I don't know what I'm talking about Steve Pitt (I practiced in 4 degrees last week, 70 degrees 2 days after that, same range.... winter in Colorado!)

Benny, Well said! (I'm sure I'll get flamed for my reply too). Steve Pitt

One of my favorite stage descriptions was "standing somewhere".... You did have to shoot everything through a port, but where you started was TOTALLY up to you. This opened up amazing possibilities on how to shoot the stage Since some ports were angled, both sides of a port could be used to shoot targets. Targets were spread out over the entire berm. Very cool freestyle stage! I agree with Bruce Gary's interpretation.... and so I don't thread drift, the guns in the picture would not be a legal start, since we aren't allowed 2 guns! Sorry, couldn't resist! Steve Pitt

I had a similar problem with my 650 loading 38 Super Comp. I called Dillon and they suggested I might have the shell plate adjusted too tight (too low). I backed off the adjusting screw (in the middle of the shell plate) about 1/4 turn. Problem gone! One tell-tale symptom I had was the shell plate return pawl (I think that's the name) was wearing a shiny spot on the bottom of the shell plate. Steve Pitt

Good advice so far... in addition, probably the most common thing I see new shooters do is aim, aim, aim, aim, aim, jerk the trigger. I've had great success explaining that once the sights are aligned on target, refining the aiming and pressing should happen together. Not sure how to write that! Aim, press, aim, press isn't right. Sounds like it's still 2 separate operations. Basically, people spend too much time aiming and too little time (and awareness) pressing the trigger. As skill increases, the trigger press time decreases. Ok, it's easier to explain in person (they can watch my finger). Steve Pitt

Something I noticed when I used to shoot Bullseye is that there seems to be more than 1 NPA. (for those not familiar, bullseye is shoot everything stronghand). "old style" bullseye shooters use a stance where the body is sideways to the target. I'm left handed too, so my left side would be towards the target. "new style" bullseye shooters use more of a quartering stance, turn 1/2 way to the target, feet pointing about 45 degrees. I noticed I would have a good NPA with either stance, but slightly off from either stance and I would lose my NPA. I have seen the same thing with IPSC stances. If I position my left foot fwd, I can find another NPA. The only thing I can figure is I'm using different arm/shoulder muscles in the different stances. You might try moving your left foot farther back than normal. I've also seen a difference in NPA depending on where my toes are pointed, not just foot placement front to back.... In conclusion, like others have said, do what works for you!

I agree with all that's been said so far. Thread drift! When I first saw the title, I thought the topic was lefties during walk throughs. (against the grain) Some stages, I feel like a fish swimming upstream. My shooting buddies laugh at me, but I usually get one of them to "block" for me. They stop traffic so I can get an unobstructed walk through. Anyone else experience this? Steve Pitt

5.7 of Universal Clays is pretty hot! Have you chrono'd this load yet? My load is 180gr MG JHP, 1.170" OAL and 5.1gr Universal Clays. It chrono's at 168 to 169 PF. I'll probably bump it up .1 gr. Chrono's real close to the same out of 2 different 5" STI's and a 5" Caspian. Steve Pitt

chp5, I had the same problem that took me forever to figure out. I shot bullseye for years with one eye, so I figured I just was trained that way. But as I shot with 2 eyes open more, I realized it was the near stuff I was having problems with. A trip to the eye doctor revealed I had a verticle alignment problem. It was worse with the near vision than far vision. I had prism's added to my prescription, and I never had problems with shooting close stuff with both eyes open again. (ok, no wise cracks from anyone who's seen me miss 3yd full targets!!!). I still close one eye occasionally for precision distance shots. Steve Pitt

Ron, Interesting post. My draw has actually slowed down in the last 6 months. I used to be right at 1.0-1.1 on steel at 10 ys. Lately I've been in the 1.3- 1.4 range. Recently I started thinking about where I'm losing the time. I am a believer in pushing the gun out softly at the end, so I didn't want to speed up that part. Naturally, I tried speeding up getting the gun out. I got so jerky, I would either miss the grab, or miss getting my support hand on the gun. So my next level of attention went to getting my support hand to my belly as quick as I could. That sped up my strong hand, but didn't make it jerky. I then redirected the attention to being soft at the end. Now I'm at 1.1-1.2 consistent at 10 yds. Not good enough, but shows me I'm on the right track. So I think you might be onto something as far as break throughs. I think it does require some level of redirecting attention. For me, it was also important what NOT to pay attention to. Steve Pitt p.s.- I came from a Bullseye background, so I know what you mean by redirecting concentration, instead of attention. Totally different.

Steve, The first thing I would do is get rid of your big stick, you dont' need it! I'll graciously take it off your hands for free There's not many of us Caspian shooters left!! Actually, it depends on your confidence and the stage. I will occasionally use the big stick with only 1 round to spare if it means not having to do a static reload (bad stage design, but I see it). I would generally agree, use the smallest mag that gives you the margin of comfort (unless it's lots of steel, 3 rds. extra should be plenty).

You might also try to work the draw backwards. 1) From a ready position, push the gun out softly like others mentioned. When you have this down. 2) Holster the gun, hand on gun, draw, push gun out softly. 3) Gun holstered, hands off gun, put it all together. Repeat as necessary This helped me a lot.... Start a slow speed to get the technique, then speed up...

I agree with what's been said about using your match load at local matches. I've also seen the subculture that likes to go right to the edge. After going minor at the first Nationals I shot in 95 (174.98) I always leave a buffer... On a side note, we here in Colorado have a slight advantage, in that we shoot regularly with Chronoman. Once in awhile he'll set up at a local match, so we get to use his setup... He gets to test everything before he uses it at a major match, and we get to test our loads using the same chrono we'll face later! I chrono'd 172.2 in CO, 172.4 in Oregon for this years Natls. (it also helped that the altitude is about the same)....