Where to start?

[tracker]

Hello,

I am looking for advice on where to start. What class? I believe production would be the place to start? Since I have a stock M&P 9L. I have looked over some of the rules but have not found much on what I can modify internally. The trigger in particular, how much trigger work can be done? And I would be limited to 10 rounds?

I plan on attending our local new shooters clinic May 1. I am sure many of my questions will be answered there. Does anyone have any advice about what I should practice? Draws, reloads etc.? What ammo? Gear?

Thank you, Rich

[Jman]

Good place to start...

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=78927&st=0&p=913533&hl=beginner&fromsearch=1entry913533

[mlmiller1]

Production division would be a good place to start. Practice safety, draws, reloads,safety, reloads, reloads, & if possible, safely moving & shooting. Production (which requires 10rds in the mag when the buzzer sounds) requires lots of reloading. The common saying among good production shooters is "if you are moving, you are reloading".

Class is referring to your skills, not the equipment, division is the equipment you are shooting.

Good luck, welcome to the addiction!

MLM

[G-ManBart]

Hello,

I am looking for advice on where to start. What class? I believe production would be the place to start? Since I have a stock M&P 9L. I have looked over some of the rules but have not found much on what I can modify internally. The trigger in particular, how much trigger work can be done? And I would be limited to 10 rounds?

I plan on attending our local new shooters clinic May 1. I am sure many of my questions will be answered there. Does anyone have any advice about what I should practice? Draws, reloads etc.? What ammo? Gear?

Thank you, Rich

The tips for newbies thread JMan linked is a great start...lots of folks have added good info there.

In Production you can do as much trigger work as you want, but you can't remove things like internal safety devices (like the firing pin safety plunger in your M&P 9L). For an M&P, throwing an Apex sear and FPS plunger in it will give you a pretty nice trigger for limited expense or trouble. Yes, you'd be limited to 10 rounds in any magazine after the start.

You can go another route and shoot Limited (Minor since it's a 9) and load your mags to full capacity, or even get extensions to add a few rounds. That would let you worry more about shooting and moving and not so much about reloading.

For now, any ammo is probably good enough as long as the gun shoots it reasonably accurately and extremely reliably. In the beginning I think working on accuracy (that never really goes away), draws and reloads are core skills. After you get those pretty solid it's mostly a game of efficient movement and learning to develop and stick to a plan....in other words, lots to learn

[Aldrin]

You can go another route and shoot Limited (Minor since it's a 9) and load your mags to full capacity, or even get extensions to add a few rounds. That would let you worry more about shooting and moving and not so much about reloading.

What everyone has said is great info but I really like this point in particular. You'll have more fun doing this to start out and you can get by with fewer mags. It's also important to get some good instruction as soon as you can.

[old506]

If you haven't found it yet. Ben Stoeger has a nice little website. As a beginner myself, I enjoyed his step by step process and felt that I learned quite a bit. His articles are nice in that he writes about where he screws up in a match and then there is a video link. I watch other videos of great shooters and it all seems like a blur but after reading the article his tips and screw ups pop and I could pick them out and then see adjustments that he made down the line. I particularly like that you could see the footwork better. Many videos just show the targets/torso of the shooter. His videos seem to show more footwork and body movement.

One other thing that was great was a couple of videos in particular that show, if I remember correctly, a D shooter and maybe an A? and him a GM. Watching each go through the same scenario it was obvious where points were made up outside of accuracy. He again walks you through those subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle differences.

[tracker]

A HUGE thank you to all!

Awesome advice!Great collection G man. I checked out Ben Stoeger's site, that looks very informative! I look forward to learning, I hope that some day I can help others as well!

Rich

Edited April 18, 2010 by tracker