"Are you ready? Standby..."

[beginner shooter]

I can hear this in my head as I sleep. That first match really was a good time. Now I keep overplaying the events of the day in my mind to think what I can do better next time.

[Sarge]

I would say, relax. Fundamentals are fine to go over in your head but particular stages it does not do too much good because the next set of stages will be totally different. It is kind of hard to visualize something you have never seen before. If your club posts the stages in advance you can run those in your head a little but more often than not they are not what you envisioned once you actually see them.

[beginner shooter]

I was talking more about draw, sight picture, and proximity to the targets. I saw a few open guys shoot the entire stage from the box, but I tried to run up to the targets as close as I could to get good solid A's. I think is it worth the extra time to shoot guaranteed A's or is it better to shoot farther away and get C's and D's with a faster time. So much to think about. BTW, I was 'talked to' about getting close enough to blow off the pasting tape.

[maineshootah]

I think is it worth the extra time to shoot guaranteed A's or is it better to shoot farther away and get C's and D's with a faster time. So much to think about. BTW, I was 'talked to' about getting close enough to blow off the pasting tape.

Well... that is part of the DVC triad.

You are not competing against the open shooters (unless you are shooting open) so do not worry about what they do.. shoot what you can shoot.

What you need to figure before you shoot is two things.

A ) How long will it take you to shoot the stage from the box with C and D hits.

B ) How long will it take you to run up to each target to get all the A hits.

Let us assume the stage has 5 targets, with a total of 50 points available to you.

Situation A:

Say you can see them all from the box and it would take you 10 seconds to shoot them all, with 50% C and 50% D hits (based upon what you said above).

5 C hits (Major PF) 20 points.

5 D hits (Major PF) 10 points.

30 points, divided by 10 seconds = Hit factor of 3.

Situation B:

Say you want to run around and it would take you 18 seconds to run to each one and shoot them all, with 100% A hits (based upon what you said above).

10 A hits: 50 points divided by 18 seconds = 2.777 HF.

You have better hits, but loose to the shooter who goes for the C and D hits shooting from the box. In fact you would need to shoot them all under 16 seconds to beat the person in example A. Six seconds is not a long time to run to each target and blow the pasters off.

Yeah, I made a ton of assumptions here with this explanation, but the logic is sound.

This sport is a lot more than shooting, welcome to the party!

Edited April 6, 2010 by maineshootah

[benos]

I would say, relax.

Yes.

Tell yourself to stay calm and relaxed right through the buzzer, and maintain that feeling as you fire a unhurried, centered first shot.

be

[MemphisMechanic]

[Flexmoney] What if you practiced until you could shoot all A's from the box, quickly? [/flexmoney]

Edited April 14, 2010 by MemphisMechanic

[Corey]

[Flexmoney] What if you practiced until you could shoot all A's from the box, quickly? [/flexmoney]

Thats what im gonna start trying to practice

Being fairly new to the sport myself (5 matches in the books) I know the jittery, cant-sleep feeling you have. what you need to look back on (video of your matches is pricesless here) are your draws, reloads, etc. things you can re-create in dryfire and things you need to do everytime. As someone else said. you can run over a stage in your head a 1,000 times but it wont help much when you show up to your next match and its not there, haha. Of course the excecption would be classifier stages. Sooner or later, you'll see them again.

[beginner shooter]

[Flexmoney] What if you practiced until you could shoot all A's from the box, quickly? [/flexmoney]

Thats what im gonna start trying to practice

Being fairly new to the sport myself (5 matches in the books) I know the jittery, cant-sleep feeling you have. what you need to look back on (video of your matches is pricesless here) are your draws, reloads, etc. things you can re-create in dryfire and things you need to do everytime. As someone else said. you can run over a stage in your head a 1,000 times but it wont help much when you show up to your next match and its not there, haha. Of course the excecption would be classifier stages. Sooner or later, you'll see them again.

Good advice here. Do you think it would be out of line to ask someone to video my stage while I shoot it? I just dont want to give the impression that I'm 'that guy' who comes off as needy and was wondering if this would be a socially acceptable thing to do.

[Corey]

im sure someone would be willing to help you. a buddy of mine and i shoot together so we video each other when not shooting. we actually a 3rd friend come with us last week to check things out and he filmed us both, haha.

The one thing ive learned thus far is that people will usually go out of their way to help a new guy get into the sport and well.

[McAllyn]

[Flexmoney] What if you practiced until you could shoot all A's from the box, quickly? [/flexmoney]

Thats what im gonna start trying to practice

Being fairly new to the sport myself (5 matches in the books) I know the jittery, cant-sleep feeling you have. what you need to look back on (video of your matches is pricesless here) are your draws, reloads, etc. things you can re-create in dryfire and things you need to do everytime. As someone else said. you can run over a stage in your head a 1,000 times but it wont help much when you show up to your next match and its not there, haha. Of course the excecption would be classifier stages. Sooner or later, you'll see them again.

Good advice here. Do you think it would be out of line to ask someone to video my stage while I shoot it? I just dont want to give the impression that I'm 'that guy' who comes off as needy and was wondering if this would be a socially acceptable thing to do.

As long as a person didn't step on someone who is going over their pre-run routine, I personally would have no problem with someone asking me to video them. If you're friends with someone on the squad, you might want to work out a tit-for-tat scenario, or even plan ahead to record each other at the next match.

Mac

[Flyin40]

I was talking more about draw, sight picture, and proximity to the targets. I saw a few open guys shoot the entire stage from the box, but I tried to run up to the targets as close as I could to get good solid A's. I think is it worth the extra time to shoot guaranteed A's or is it better to shoot farther away and get C's and D's with a faster time. So much to think about. BTW, I was 'talked to' about getting close enough to blow off the pasting tape.

Pretty much all the time its quicker to run up on the targets. Sometimes there might be a stage that its better to stay back but I'm an Open shooter and I'll always run forward. It seems like it would be faster to stay back but your add all your splits, transitions etc from way back there it tends to be faster to move forward. I have only found a couple of stages that it was worth staying back.

Flyin

[beginner shooter]

Well, my second match is tomorrow at 0800. I still need to reload about 500 rounds tonight, but the blaster is clean and everything else is ready to go. Wish me some luck and if you have any pointers Im all ears.

[Corey]

Well, my second match is tomorrow at 0800. I still need to reload about 500 rounds tonight, but the blaster is clean and everything else is ready to go. Wish me some luck and if you have any pointers Im all ears.

small pointer for pre-match stuff: Don't leave 500 rounds to be loaded the night before. Mr Murphy decides to break crap at the perfectly wrong time. I like to have plenty loaded so i can grab what I need when getting my gear bag ready and be done.

As for tomorrow, safety first and don't forget to enjoy yourself!

[MemphisMechanic]

Load 500 rounds, case-gauge and inspect it so that you KNOW it's good to go. Tape that box shut and keep it somewhere climate-controlled.

Why? I broke a cheap part on my press the night before a big match on the 47th round I loaded, and had to use factory ammo. Totally odd recoil impulse. Sights tracked all wonky. It was a big match.

Now I have 'rainy day' match ammo for two weeks of shooting at all times. Dillon sends you whatever you need, but it takes time to get there.