How to improve split times.

[dpeters8445]

I have been shooting USPSA for almost two years now. I am constantly improving through mental training and practice and I have not yet hit any brick walls yet.

In the past few months, I have been paying closer attention to my split times and I have not seen any improvement. On hoser range targets my splits are consistantly .18 to .20 while calleing the shots.

I have heard comments hear on the forum that splits are not important and there are many other things to improve on. I agree that there are many other things that I can improve on besides splits, but at the end of the stage it is your total time that counts. If I am shooting .20 splits and the next guy is shooting .15 splits, at the end of a 32 round COF, if my math is correct, that is a 1.6 second difference. That is HUGE.

I have had happen to me before a hand full of times, in a match never in practice, an untra-fast split. Each time that this happened to me, I ended up shooting the target for a 3rd shot because during that ultra-fast split I was not ready for it and never called the shot.

This brings me to timing drills in practice. If I can not shoot a .15 split in practice, so that I can understand the recoil and sight picture, when the .15 split does occur it only makes things woure because I can't call the shot.

I have a few questions that maybe you all can help me out with.

What is considered a good split time while calling the shot at hoser range?

How fast are the top GM's splits?

What can I do in practice to learn how to shoot faster splits?

Can some people simply work the trigger faster then others?

How much does the guns cycle time affect your splits?

How much does the guns setup and trigger affect splits?

Like I said, I understand that there are many other aspects to the game that I have much room to improve upon besides splits. For now, I would just like to understand splits a little better.

Thanks, Doug

[Flexmoney]

Doug,

Tension & trying slow things down. They also slow down your vision.

I suspect that these are, and will be, your hurdles.

From you post...you say that you have recorded faster splits, but couldn't call the shot. That little piece of info is vitally important. It leads me to think that it is you vision that is holding you back. And, I might guess, that you vision is being held back by tension and trying.

Relax, and expand your seeing.

(I have some thoughts on equipment. I shoot a Glock in 40 Major...big time flipper. But, I don't think equipment is much of a factor in this case.)

[Loves2Shoot]

"If I could make myself shoot .20 splits, I could win any match there ever was." Second hand quote from Rob Leatham.

I wonder all that really means. I know it means, your splits arent holding you back.

The fastest splits I've recorded in string of 10 shots are in the .10-.12 range, and the only way to do that for me is to be focused on what my sights tell me to do. No "trying" involved.

Personally I shoot much faster overall if I keep my splits to as fast as I can see my sights on the target. I think it is Saul Kirsch that says, "Let your front sight be your speedometer."

Your math is wrong unless you are putting all 32 shots on one target. In a 32 round course of fire there are generally 16 splits and 16 transitions (no steel.) So, on splits alone you would be .8 seconds down. Someone blazing .15's are not going to get all A's you can get all A's with .2's. You are way ahead to shoot for the A's and get the points.

The gun will cycle faster than you need it to.

Some people can work the trigger faster than others, but shooting isn't about the that, because you have to hit your target, and you can only do that as fast as you can see it.

A good trigger might not help you with your splits, but it will help you hit what ou intend to.

Most people don't call their shots at hoser range, the great ones do.

Most GM's can do incredible splits when they, but watch them in a match and they seldom do. There are a couple of multiple nationals winners that have .18 splits. They go between tagets much faster than most, that is where the time is to be saved, starting and stopping fastest.

Good luck.

[Sterling White]

Just some thoughts....slower split times can add up but misses kill your overall score. Time savings can be found between boxes or in transition on a field course.....things I'm always trying to improve.

[shred]

I believe TJ says he never has less than a .16 split in matches, and it doesn't seem to hurt him much.

[Steve Anderson]

If you're looking to learn fast splits from a purely feel perspective, get a .22 with a decent trigger and just shoot full mags into the berm.

Or, if you don't mind the expense, use your regular ipsc gun/load.

There is some value in doing these kinds of bill drills to get the feel for that kind of shooting.

You can also do dry fire bill drills to get over trigger freeze to some extent.

You are getting some great advice from the others, but it seems like you won't be happy until you record a .15 split ot two. (and that's OK )

I came up with an interesting shooting analogy while driving yesterday. I was on the offramp, looked down and realized I had shifted from 5th to 3rd with no recollection of doing so. This is akin to subconsciously changing focus while shooting, and is pretty cool if you ask me.

Everyone is telling you to see whay you need to see and shoot the speed you see, and they are right. You may need to shoot faster before you learn what it looks like.

I know I was shooting very fast before I saw the pretty arc of the front site and then later the dot...

Bless the journey,

SA

[Ron Ankeny]

I suffered from trigger freeze for about a year. Every time I tried to go faster, I would fail to reset the trigger and gun no go boom. At the time, my splits weren't that terrible but the trigger freeze was kiling me. Eliminating excess tension allowed me to maintain a neutral grip and the trigger freeze vanished. Now I shoot monster splits like a bat out of Hades, but who cares? Those low teen splits are really only good for bragging rights and I don't think they have ever made a difference in a match.

[dpeters8445]

The reason that I asked the question, "How to improve split times?", is partially because Practice and proper technique has gone a long way for me improving on other aspects of the sport. Example, " Do 10,000 draws with proper technique and your draw gets faster." Do 10,000 reloads with proper technique and your reloads get faster." And so on and so forth.You get the point. I just thought that maybe someone might have a formula to improve splits.

I will have to try ripping off some rounds into the hillside without aiming at anything or maybe closing my eyes to see what my current speed limit is without calling the shots.

L2S, Yeh your right about my math being off. I never had the oppertunity,"or mag capasity ", to shoot a 32 round Bill Drill. But you get the point, split times add up.

[Detlef]

use the search feature here and you'll get a ton of threads on splits, and why they mostly don't matter. Some good stuff, though...

[Loves2Shoot]

L2S, Yeh your right about my math being off. I never had the oppertunity,"or mag capasity ", to shoot a 32 round Bill Drill. But you get the point, split times add up.

I know, but they don't add up to much once you get the in the .2 - .18 range. Seriously if you want the fast splits, just watch the front sight rise and fall, it will be faster than closing your eyes and burning a mag into a berm. If you can see the sight rise and fall for a whole mag on full afterburners, you will have just had a major breakthrough, and it will be fassstttttt.

[dpeters8445]

L2S,

But the splits do indeed add up. Lets use the March online match for example. There were 21 splits throughout the COF. My Hit factor was 7.180851 which put me in 7th place overall so far. Now lets pretent that my splits averaged .05 faster for each split and my points stayed the same. With 21 splits, thats a 1.05 savings in time. That would of brought my hit factor from 7.180851 to 7.6056338, Which would take me currently from 7th place overall to 3rd place overall.

[shred]

Did you shoot all A's? At a 7 HF, each point down costs you 0.14 seconds.. One C will soak up 3 fast splits.

Splits are fun, but points are what wins.

Of course if you feel splits are your weakest link, then by all means work on them. The only way to get good is to work on what you're bad at. We're just suggesting that there may be other hidden time-suckers that might have more effect.

[short_round]

If you want to work on the fast twitch muscles controlling your trigger finger go to your local arcade and play Time Crisis 1, 2, or 3 and pull the trigger as fast as you possibly can until you run out of quarters.

... example of March online match continued:

Draws: 5

Transitions: 5

Reloads: 4

Draw improvement of .2 sec = -1.0 sec

Transition improvement of .1 sec = -0.5 sec

Reload improvement of .2 second = -0.8 sec

-----------------------------------------------

Total improvement = -2.3 sec overall

Splits: 22 (1 counted 22 rather than 21)

Split improvement of 0.05 = -1.1 sec overall

What does this all mean? I'm not entirely sure since the math will change depending on the stage. For me personally, I'm at the point where taking .4 off my draw is more realistic than taking 0.05 off my splits without sacrificing accuracy so I'm working harder on that. I'm working on target transitions the most right now - even slowing down my splits just a little bit but overall I come out ahead. Don't get me wrong though, I still work on improving my splits too

I guess the most important thing is to know your times so you know what to practice to make the greatest impact and remember that "you can't shoot fast enough to make up a miss."

[kevin c]

Try MB's drill: three shoulder high targets side by side about three feet apart. If your splits and transitions are all .2's, you will run the targets, two each, in one second from the first shot. If you are like most people breaking into the game, your transitions will be much higher than that, adding much more time than what you might whittle down by taking off a few hundreths on the three splits on the drill. Add in the draw and maybe a transition to an identical array, and all of a sudden saving .3 seconds by doing .15 splits is only a small part of the whole improvement package.

Nobody is arguing that you won't save time by routinely doing faster splits. It's just that it's one of many things that can be worked on, some of which may yield more time savings and points than spending a lot of effort just to hit the magical .15.

just my two cents worth

[Ron Ankeny]

dpeters:

I just noticed you shot open. On a stage like this there should be very little difference in time between the two of us. While I agree a faster split would move you up, the whole package is what its all about. Even with .13-.15 splits, you would have still been beaten by two guys (who probably can not maintain those splits) who shot iron sights. This is only one stage and I wouldn't presume splits made the whole difference, although they certainly help.

[Loves2Shoot]

L2S,

But the splits do indeed add up. Lets use the March online match for example. There were 21 splits throughout the COF. My Hit factor was 7.180851 which put me in 7th place overall so far. Now lets pretent that my splits averaged .05 faster for each split and my points stayed the same. With 21 splits, thats a 1.05 savings in time. That would of brought my hit factor from 7.180851 to 7.6056338, Which would take me currently from 7th place overall to 3rd place overall.

21 splits, a 42 round stage, that is huge!!! Probably only 10 splits, which means at most with the same hits .5 seconds saved. Splits are on the same target, not target to target. Those are transitions, and I'll bet there is more time to be saved there.

[dpeters8445]

As I said in my first post on this topic, I understand that there are many things that I have much room to improove on besides splits. I guess what I was looking for was how do I drive myself out of my comfort zone with my splits in practice so that eventually they will get faster. Driving myself out of my comfort zone has helped me improve on many other aspects of the sport.

[ong45]

Doug,

I have a two part plan for improving splits.

1. learn to see better as this will get you a green light sooner for the next shot.

2. work on improving your grip. This can involve grip strength and consistency ,getting it so the dot (or front sight ) tracks consistently.

James

[Ron Ankeny]

Doug:

I guess I never really answered your question. Try this out the next time you are at the range. Shoot a Bill Drill. As soon as you do the presentation, shift your attention into your hands. Keep a relaxed, neutral grip and conciously manipulate the trigger as quickly as possible without inducing any excess tension. In other words, direct your focus into the act you are wanting to perform, trigger manipulation without an increase in grip pressure. Watch the dot tracking, but the visual input is secondary to the physical act of slapping the ever living crap out of the trigger. When I do that my splits are pretty quick.

[mcoliver]

With the comfort of my flame-retardant suit on, I'd say to the original poster's question: "The heck with everything and start shooting those sonic splits. Pull the trigger faster in the range and pull it even faster when dry firing. And when everything's done, hope that you learned something from the excercise."

I also feel the "several thousand correct technique excercise will make you faster" statement is incomplete. It should state something like: ""several thousand correct technique excercise will make you faster" THEN you hit a plateau. My personal opinion, you just have to keep pushing it and establish new levels of comfort zones.

Good luck.

[DogmaDog]

I think Matt Burkett's timing drill is probably a good way to improve your split times through familiarization with the "timing" or recoil pulse of your gun, and developing your recoil control/recovery. Getting the sights back onto the target quickly has to be an important component of your split.

The other part is seeing that the sights are back on the target. I'm getting better at that just by shooting.

DD

[dpeters8445]

The other part is seeing that the sights are back on the target. I'm getting better at that just by shooting.

DD

DogmaDog,

I agree that seeing that your sights are back on target plays a big part in a persons splits, especialially at longer ranges or difficult shots. Most of this topic has been based upon hoser range targets. For me anyway, there is a much greater difference between a hoser split and say a 30 yard split. It seems that with the very top shooters, this window of splits between hoser targets and long or difficult shots gets much smaller. I'm sure this has a lot to do with a persons ability to get the sight back on target, and not just how fast a person can pull the trigger.

I think that I am going to put more effert in practice on the speed of which I can shoot and transition on long and difficult shots with still calling the shots. I think that I can probably gain more here easier then learning to shoot sub-sonic spits at hoser range.

[Flexmoney]

Doug,

In my first post, I talked about tension and trying. Those thing not only kill vision, they kill speed.

For me to get fast splits, I have to let the shooting happen.

They usually come when my focus is one something else (the split comes from the sub-conscious).