first idpa classifier, fourth idpa match

[Alex Brown]

hey all,

thought i'd post a video of my first match this year (fourth ever)... i've been stuck with just airsoft for months now, since the local ranges are all outdoors and were covered in snow. i have totally neglected my reloads-with-retention in dry fire, among other fairly obvious things (moving and shooting, for example), but i thought perhaps some of you more experienced types could give me some things to focus on this year.

i dropped a heck of a lot of points in stage 3 (first stage I shot in the match, but 3rd on video), and I'd love to attribute that to lack of trigger time lately, nerves, and an apparent eye warm-up period, but i don't know. How many points? Let's just say that excluding the points dropped on the third stage would probably have nudged me into expert...

in any case, I'm glad to have a classification, and I'm excited to do some shooting this year and get better. I welcome all criticism (from USPSA shooters and IDPA shooters alike)

without further ado,

[lugnut]

Not bad for your first classifier! You know what you need to work on and you are correct. Heal/toe, heal/toe while walking forward. vice versa backwards. Work on all your reloads, not just from retention. With retention isn't easy with jeans. Lots of extra feet movement- when doing el pres and strong hand only. On strong hand only keep your feet where you want them to be. When shooting behind barrel try dropping outside leg only- more stable and allows you to slice the pie easier. Slight hesitation before transitions. Work on them and you will get to Ex easy- then more tweaking for MA.

Edited March 8, 2010 by lugnut

[MemphisMechanic]

If it helps for comparison, I have an SSP Master classifier run posted in the IDPA forum here on benos. Its from a hatcam, though, so you wont see the shooter.

IMO, watch ben stoeger shoot it in half the time required for master with only a handful of pts down, and learn from it. Compare his run to yours. Shooting at his speed is out of the question, but theres no reason you cannot be as smooth on the move, or as fast on the tacload if you dryfire enough.

Edited March 12, 2010 by MemphisMechanic

[MemphisMechanic]

Okay, first post was on my phone at lunch, so I didn't say much.

Stage 1 string 4 (0:53)...

Your transitions totally suck. That's okay, because every SSish guy has this issue.

See how your head is aimed at the sights when you swing between targets? Break the second shot, snap the eyes and turn the head to the next target, and WHIP the gun there like you're slapping it with the front sight post. Don't swing the sights over to the next target and keep looking through them... Get the eyes ahead of the sights. You'll get there faster if you can see where you're going.

Stage 1 (1:28)...

Turning draw looks decent for a midlevel guy. Reload killed you. Work on them in dryfire, and my best advice on getting quicker? WATCH THE EMPTY MAG FALL OUT OF THE GUN. This will draw your eyes to the magwell. Keep them there until the new mag is halfway in. Work on getting the weak hand to feed the mag ASAP. Look up a 'burkett reload' ... Do a bunch of them before practicing the complete reload. Great for teaching the weak hand how fast it can really be on the magazine draw.

My compliments to you for the pause on the third shot at 1:35. Most shooters would have broken that shot because they were shooting in a cadence, not shooting their sights.

Stage 2 String 1 (2:00)...

The footwork on the draw-while-moving was ugly. See how your shoulders sway side-to-side while advancing on the target? Get lower, bend the knees and walk with your feet one in front of the other. This will really help those sights stabilize. Notice how your splits are much faster than the transitions? Again, snap the eyes and drive the gun. You can shave a second off that string without shooting any faster. Just get the gun on-target like you mean it. bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang ... not bang-bang...bang-bang...bang-bang.

The bolt-upright frankenstein walk is even more awkward when backing up. Same advice as before, but roll from toe back onto your heel while doing so.

If you're going to blade your body so severely for the strong-hand string, start like that. Don't take a step back while drawing.

You covered string 3 pretty well yourself. If you're going to tacload into your pocket, jeans are bad. I like tucking it into my waistband (Sevigny does this

if you haven't seen it). It looks like you might be skinny enough for it to work. The advantage here is that it's the fastest if you can nail it every time, and works with almost any pair of pants. Edited March 13, 2010 by MemphisMechanic

[Alex Brown]

Thanks! This is good stuff.

I had been practicing the waistband stash a few weeks before the classifier, but I got a nice new belt right beforehand, and its stiffness made it feel awkward to toss the mag in, so I switched back. My third match, which I shot in December, was a low-light, and stashing in the waistband caused me to drop the mag and almost earn a PE. I heard the clang just as my sights were back on target. Need more practice!!!!

The frankenstein walk? I have no idea where that walk came from (and i swear it didn't feel like i was doing that at the time... haha), but your description is dead-on. I'll have to work on that more once I get out of this tiny apartment and the temperatures warm up.

As for the transitions-- I've been working on these assuming that if my peripheral vision can grab the next target, I should leave my head attached to the 'turret' and just snap my eyes to the target before bringing the gun there. this is the way I shot the transitions in this match (albeit slowly, I must admit). Are you saying it's faster to move my head, even if the transition is a short one like in the el prez?

thanks!!!

[JorDanO]

On your turn and draws you're taking a bunch of little steps to get turned up range. I like to keep my feet closer together with my weight already on the leg I'm going to pivot on. That way it's all one fluid motion at the buzzer.

[Dan Burwell]

Until you get those transistions ironed out the other stuff is chump change. I know it is easier to practice the reloads and the draws but the time you are wasting between targets is where the money is.

[Alex Brown]

Until you get those transistions ironed out the other stuff is chump change. I know it is easier to practice the reloads and the draws but the time you are wasting between targets is where the money is.

got bricks of .22 waiting for this silly rain to let up...

[Ben Stoeger]

You look pretty good man!

You need to work on the same things as everyone else. Gunhandling and accuracy. Its funny that no matter how good you get you always work the fundamentals.

[MemphisMechanic]

As for the transitions-- I've been working on these assuming that if my peripheral vision can grab the next target, I should leave my head attached to the 'turret' and just snap my eyes to the target before bringing the gun there. this is the way I shot the transitions in this match (albeit slowly, I must admit). Are you saying it's faster to move my head, even if the transition is a short one like in the el prez?

thanks!!!

Snap the eyes to the next target as soon as the front post lifts. The head will take care of itself. It will turn when and if needed. Thinking about that is one more distraction from just shooting. And as Ben pointed out, which the rest of us totally glossed over because it's so obvious, you need to focus on getting all the points as fast as possible.

Just like the rest of us.

Reloads are just more fun to practice than hitting the damn target. Feel me?

Edited March 17, 2010 by MemphisMechanic

[MemphisMechanic]

Its funny that no matter how good you get you always work the fundamentals.

The bitch of it is that you have to work them much harder for much less improvement once you get good. But you know that far better than I do. The jump from Sharpshooter to Expert (Or from D to C or B ) is fun. Go up a couple of classifications and it's a lot more work.

Edited March 17, 2010 by MemphisMechanic