IVC
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There is a basic "fast trigger pull" drill - align sights on a target and on beep fire as fast as you can without missing. You should be at 0.2 seconds or below to consider yourself being able to "pull the trigger fast without disturbing the sight picture." Now, find out the smallest target where you're at around 0.2 seconds with this drill. You'll notice that very small targets require you to use the "benchrest press" technique since small disturbance will make you miss, so there will be a limit on the target size that you can hit with "fast trigger pull." Anything smaller and you'll have to use much more static technique. This will be your "action shooting accuracy" limit.
When this limit becomes significantly smaller than the area covered by your "front sight while still within the notch of the rear sight," only then can you start using "front sight within the rear notch" as your gauge for "accurate enough" shooting. Until then, you have to work on your technique, primarily grip and trigger pull.
The problem with newer shooters is that even if they see the correct (acceptable) sight picture, many won't hit the target because they don't have refined enough trigger pull. So, it seems as if they are not seeing what they need to see, yet the problem is not in seeing the sights, but in pulling the trigger. You need to get to the point where your limit is not the trigger pull, but the sight picture. That's why you absolutely must confirm your dry fire with live fire quite often, and you have to compare sight pictures that you consider acceptable in dry fire with the hits you get in live fire. Once you have mastered this, dry fire becomes much more productive because you can push the limit and know that you will get hits in live fire since you know that you have good trigger pull that will not disturb the sight picture that you worked so hard to acquire at speed.
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The only visible place where you initially have to be a decent shot is steel. On paper, you (1) won't know where it hit (for a long time), and (2) there are C and D zones to pick up some of the loose change.
Learn to keep shooting and leave some steel up if you are having hard time with accuracy. It's not worth using up two magazines, then have to take all sorts of penalties for not having ammo to engage the last part of the course.
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I have both TKC and Hogue in both lengths and it comes down to which one is out of the way while you shoot. The strong-hand thumb seems to be the deciding factor - you obviously don't want to rest it on the release, but you also don't want it too close under it as it will scrape and draw blood. The one that doesn't work for me is the long Hogue.
For opening cylinder, they all work pretty much the same.
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Are there any Southern CA matches that are happening regularly? The ICORE site links to Apple Valley and Palm Springs, but there seems to be nothing on the calendar for those clubs on their websites. Before I start calling around, I figured I'd ask here.
I shoot USPSA regularly (L10, B class) and have shot several matches in Revolver division (early on, when my primary gun was getting fixed), but not enough to get classified. Going to an all-revolver match would be fun since I practice with revolvers from time to time to work on my grip and trigger pull in general, but don't want to keep swapping divisions in USPSA until I am way better.
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I'll go slightly against the grain on "marking a blank target" to learn shot calling.
Marking a blank target doesn't really make one see the shot. If you can see it, you can see it without marking it. If you cannot see it, you won't be able to see it just because you are trying to mark the target. Instead, trying to mark the target is a workaround to make you pay extra attention to the shot itself so you concentrate all the way until it is fired. This is the same "trick" as when telling inexperienced shooters to "concentrate on the front sight" - it's all in the trigger press and not the sights, yet "staring at the front sight" makes them not think about breaking the shot, so they end up pressing the trigger without disturbing the sights.
While "marking targets" works, there are other ways to force attention directly on the "overall sight picture" at the moment the shot is fired.
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I started on a squad with 3 Ms and at least 5 As (we had 5 Ms and a GM last weekend) and have never changed - I figured out early that I can only learn from people who are better than me. My goal is to learn and get better, not to beat random guys. Beating guys is the result of getting better, not the motivation for getting better. .
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Visualization is a technique (like anything else in shooting), so there are nuances that can make it much better. Three things that helped me a lot and that I picked up by talking to various M/GMs:
(1) Visualize entry and exit at each position - this ensures you don't miss any targets since you'll know, e.g., "last target - shot while leaning hard" or "shoot open target while slowing down." It also makes your overall movement *much* better.
(2) Create reference points for each position so you "run a pattern" on the ground. Any time you go to the next position, know where you want to stop and path you are taking. Reference points can be on the ground, relative to the fault lines, or can be based on visibility of targets. It's amazing how much time you can save if you think of your stage movement pattern the same way you think about order of engaging targets - something that is part of the stage plan and not winged on the spot.
(3) On "close positions" (up to three steps) where you can do a shuffle, count the steps and use it as a part of your stage plan. Knowing, e.g., "lean right for the last target, two shuffles to the right, lean left for the far right target on the next array" will create one cohesive unit of not only two separate positions, but the movement in between. The top guys connect all positions, movement and targets this way and do not improvise their movement.
These are just a few big ones that made a huge difference for me. I'm a basic B shooter with less than 2 years of USPSA experience, so take it with a grain of salt.
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Find the cant and elbow bend that minimizes movement. Then work on grip - location and pressure of the thumb, fingers, palm. Finally, start working the trigger. Initially, just do the "benchrest press," where you add pressure until it goes off.
When you get better, start working on "quick pull without disturbing the sight picture." This one is tricky because your instincts are all wrong for the weak hand - you have to think of it the same way you think of the strong hand when shooting free style, not as the support it provides to the strong hand.
For me, the biggest improvement happened when I found out that slightly more cant and slightly more elbow bend help me minimize the arc of movement, followed by using thumb in a more vertical position and pressing into the gun to counteract the torque of the (not-so-good) trigger finger. I'm sure that if I wanted to practice to become (almost) ambidextrous there would likely be better ways to do this, but I was looking for a quick improvement that yields good-enough results.
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I had to take a break from dry firing early on because I didn't "confirm it" in live fire and ended up much like you - missing.
After doing just live fire for a period of time, I was able to go back to dry fire and understand much better what I needed to see on each shot. The key is that you have to do *both*, dry fire and live fire. At least until you can fully call the shots in live fire, so you're not cheating in dry fire.
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I'll give you three reasons for the discrepancy in the draw.
First, the second beep is 0.2 - 0.3 long. It's easy to feel that you "beat the buzzer" when in reality your sights are settling in as the buzzer goes off. Because of that, I monitor my dry fire times only for improvement, not so much for the actual value. I go down by 0.1 when I can get the same combination of "visual (sights) + audible (buzzer)" at 0.1 lower par time. Whether that's the actual time of the draw doesn't matter, it's a 0.1 improvement.
Second, the "acceptable sight picture" is the event you're trying to match to the leading edge of the second buzzer signal. The sights are settling down into the acceptable sight picture as a continuous, not binary event. The sights "flow" into position. Because of this, not only do you have to detect the leading edge of the buzzer, but you also have to be brutally honest about where the sights were and whether they were stable enough and in good enough position. Much like in the first example above, as long as you use the same standard while lowering your par times, you are measuring improvement.
Third, you're not pulling the trigger in dry fire. It's not so much that the trigger pull of a fully preped trigger adds much time, it's that you have to time it with acquiring the minimal acceptable sight picture. You have to mentally commit to pressing the trigger a moment before it is actually pressed. If you see acceptable sight picture, then you press the trigger, you've added a bit of time. The only way to avoid this in live fire is to "time it" - you know where the sights will be in the next moment when the gun goes off.
For reference, my working par time for dry fire draw is 0.6. My actual draw time at 7 yards A zone is around 0.9 (0.85 - 0.95), which is about the same for A+C silhouette at 10 yards. At 15 yards A zone steel it's about 1.1, with a higher spread (1.0 - 1.2). Nothing spectacular, but good enough to the point where my limitations are elsewhere.
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3 minutes ago, MemphisMechanic said:
There’s a noticeable increase in traction when going from Salomon/Innov8 trail shoes to a cleat (with softer rubber spikes) when running on gravel. I was surprised.
How do they hold on firmer surfaces? From this thread it seems that cleats would be a "specialty shoe" for very soft surfaces and that they would be tricky on anything hard-packed, particularly if it's slippery.
Our local matches are typical CA desert. The top gets loose over time, but the base can have all sorts of hard grooves that solidify after rains. A sort of ankle twister with gravel on top, giving it a mix that seems to be problematic with either plain hiking/running shoes (not enough traction in loose spots), or with too aggressive soles, e.g., metal cleats (too rough on hard clay). The "trail running" variety looks like the best overall type of shoe for the local conditions.
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I started shooting USPSA last year after going to a few local steel matches to learn the ropes.
My first gun at the match was a CZ TS in 9mm that had trigger work and sights done by CZ Custom some years ago. It was a very nice (an understatement) range gun for me, so it seemed like a good candidate. After shooting first two matches in Limited minor and learning from the guys on my squad about minor vs. major, I remembered I had a .45 Tanfoglio Limited Elite in my safe, sitting pretty much unused. EAA had a .40 conversion in stock, I ordered it, installed it, changed sights, added magwell and *thumb rest [generic]* and it's been my primary gun since.
For us in CA, options are very limited. We have to work with what's "allowed," or we can shop used guns from other CA residents. This makes the process extremely frustrating and inefficient.
To have a backup, I got a CZ TS in .40. It's one of the few Limited guns we can get new in CA. This is the "old TS," with fixed rear sight, plain black front, plastic trigger, etc. It takes some work to get it to match condition, but it's worth it in the end.
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On 11/1/2018 at 11:18 AM, S&W686 said:
I have wide feet and Salomon shoes hurt my feet.
Slightly off-topic, but Salomon makes a separate model, "Speedcross 4 Wide." I have very wide feet (and high volume, with high arches) and was somewhat skeptical, but at 25% off during holidays I ordered a pair and they fit like a glove. Had I known they'd fit, I would've gotten two pairs - that's what I usually do with any shoes that I find to fit my feet.
They will be replacing my Merrel hiking shoes - I love the fit, but they lack a bit of traction on loose gravel so I wanted to try something new. Baseball cleats seem to be a bit too radical, although I might give them a try in the future and use them from time to time when the conditions are right.
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After lurking for a long time, mostly ending up back on the forum when searching for anything from obscure shooting technique details, to hardware recommendations, I finally created an account so I can track the posts. I figured a quick introductory post would help as a future reference if anyone wanted to look me up.
I live in Temecula, CA, and have started shooting USPSA at Pala last year in April, so it's just over a year and a half. I made B class last October, seven months after my first match, and have been there ever since. Since I live in a stupid state, I started in L10 minor, quickly switched to L10 major and that's what I still shoot. My primary gun is a Tanfoglio Limited Elite, not so much a matter of choice (I like it a lot though), as it is a matter of availability in CA. Similarly, my backup is a CZ TS in .40 since I cannot get another Tanfoglio. Another courtesy of the stupid state and the "roster of handguns."
From reading the sitickies, it appears that L10 discussion here is limited (no pun intended), so I'll just write a few observations from someone who shoots it regularly. The hardest pill to swallow is that it's the regulatory environment that forces many choices for us in CA, rather than being a free will choice. With that said, L10 requires the same strategy as Production on regular stages, but is virtually identical to Limited on classifiers (unless you miss a lot of steel), so it's an odd mix. When I look at match scores, I compare myself to the top guys, regardless of division (let alone class), then I look at how I did compared to Limited guys (disadvantage on stage planning and slight disadvantage with reloads) and Production guys (major vs. minor, slight advantage on draw and reloads). The only thing I wish is that the classification system would have Limited/L10 combined since it's the same anyways.
I've shot a few classifiers in Single Stack and Revolver and I've shoot a few matches in Revolver division when both my Limited guns had issues. That was last year.
Separately, I'm an NRA rifle and pistol instructor, an RSO and NROI RO. My online activity is mostly on our local CA forum, CalGuns, where we deal with all the CA-related legal "goodies."
Grip for Sweaty Hands
in Handgun Techniques
Posted
With so many different aftermarket grips available and with all sorts of products that prevent slipping, sweaty hands should be no problem. Find combination of grip/product that prevents slipping and you'll be able to diagnose your own problem.