Looking for Critique

[Tizzo]

Hey guys,

This is my first season, just got back from my third match. Looking for any tips and for people to point out what I could be doing wrong or should focus on.

Thanks

[RangerTrace]

Looks pretty darn good for your third match.

One thing I noticed immediately was the placement of your right foot. I doubt that is where you'd put if you were trying to shoot a group. But, every time you set up on an array, you had the right foot pretty far behind you and were up of the toes. Or at least that is what it looked like to me.

[OpenDot]

Great Start! I've only completed 3 qualifiers myself.

[EurAzn12]

what sv-cop said, square up your stance a bit more and you'll gain a bit more stability than that lean you've got goin on (from what it looked like). Otherwise pretty solid shootin, speed comes with time and practice- slow is smooth and smooth is fast

[Tizzo]

what sv-cop said, square up your stance a bit more and you'll gain a bit more stability than that lean you've got goin on (from what it looked like). Otherwise pretty solid shootin, speed comes with time and practice- slow is smooth and smooth is fast

Thanks for all the feedback. I've had my leaning pointed out to me before, I typically square my stance with my left foot slightly forward. I'm not sure what's causing me to lean so far forward.

[CHA-LEE]

Tizzo> Your exaggerated forward bias stance is a subconscious habit of wanting to get the gun as close to the target as possible. This is usually a waste of time because the extra 2 - 3 feet closer you get the gun to the target makes ZERO difference in shot difficulty. If you stood back one pace from the walls and ports then forced yourself to shoot from a solid stance your shooting speed and accuracy would greatly increase simply because you are shooting from a more solid platform. A very common bad habit for new shooters is to crowd walls and ports when its not needed. If you can see and engage targets from a little further back its usually way faster than running further forward and getting bound up in a shooting position because you are crowding walls/ports/barrels or whatever.

When you look at the stages you always need to make an objective assessment of each shot and their relative difficulty. The vast majority of the time you will notice that being a few yards closer to any target does not make the shot any more or less difficult. But moving closer will cost you more time to travel through the stage. Let the bullets do their job of reaching out and touching the targets way faster than you could ever run and get there.

[AR Gunner]

Tizzo> Your exaggerated forward bias stance is a subconscious habit of wanting to get the gun as close to the target as possible. This is usually a waste of time because the extra 2 - 3 feet closer you get the gun to the target makes ZERO difference in shot difficulty. If you stood back one pace from the walls and ports then forced yourself to shoot from a solid stance your shooting speed and accuracy would greatly increase simply because you are shooting from a more solid platform. A very common bad habit for new shooters is to crowd walls and ports when its not needed. If you can see and engage targets from a little further back its usually way faster than running further forward and getting bound up in a shooting position because you are crowding walls/ports/barrels or whatever.

When you look at the stages you always need to make an objective assessment of each shot and their relative difficulty. The vast majority of the time you will notice that being a few yards closer to any target does not make the shot any more or less difficult. But moving closer will cost you more time to travel through the stage. Let the bullets do their job of reaching out and touching the targets way faster than you could ever run and get there.

Agreed. Get your feet planted and distribute your weight so that you're in an athletic shooting stance. It's harder to balance on one foot.

[mikeg1005]

As stated... Don't stick your entire body/gun through openings/ports... standing 2 feet back will 9/10 times give you the same visibility but give you the ability to move to the next array faster... and like stated... always try to be in a square athletic stance so you can move faster... Also in your walk through attempt to find a location where you can see all the targets from one position, this will avoid that one step adjustment to see the last target.

Do you practice via dry firing???

You ALWAYS want to focus on the front post... not the target. Set up a few targets and practice target transitions while focusing on the front post... having it in your mind how a target A zone should look while you are looking at your front post... this will save you a lot of time since right now it looks like you are moving and then pausing because you can't find your sights/correct sight picture.

In addition to front sight focus... Remember this is a timed event... and the A zone is big.... never go faster than your skill/own pace but you don't need a "perfect" A zone shot... if you know that you will hit the A zone, pull the trigger, don't wait for a better shot.. it just takes up more time but gives you the same points(I'm not sure if you are doing this or not but its just a thing to remember)

MIke.

[Tizzo]

As stated... Don't stick your entire body/gun through openings/ports... standing 2 feet back will 9/10 times give you the same visibility but give you the ability to move to the next array faster... and like stated... always try to be in a square athletic stance so you can move faster... Also in your walk through attempt to find a location where you can see all the targets from one position, this will avoid that one step adjustment to see the last target.

Do you practice via dry firing???

You ALWAYS want to focus on the front post... not the target. Set up a few targets and practice target transitions while focusing on the front post... having it in your mind how a target A zone should look while you are looking at your front post... this will save you a lot of time since right now it looks like you are moving and then pausing because you can't find your sights/correct sight picture.

In addition to front sight focus... Remember this is a timed event... and the A zone is big.... never go faster than your skill/own pace but you don't need a "perfect" A zone shot... if you know that you will hit the A zone, pull the trigger, don't wait for a better shot.. it just takes up more time but gives you the same points(I'm not sure if you are doing this or not but its just a thing to remember)

MIke.

I do dry fire practice, though as I posted in a dry fire thread, I'm looking for advice on a "curriculum" or "lesson plan". Right now I'm picking drills at random.

I also have a hard time finding the front sight, that is exactly what the pausing is, I hope dry firing helps this. I also sight with one eye only, which I'd like to change to two eyes open.

In general I feel as though I am improving, here's a video from this last Saturday.

[bradthegunmaniac]

Hey I shot with you didn't pick up on you name lol

[CHA-LEE]

Get the gun out of the holster and up ready to shoot 2 - 3 steps BEFORE you get to the shooting position. Running to the shooting position, stopping and then drawing the gun wastes a lot of time. You missed the first popper 987389423479 times because you were in a hurry and tried to shoot it quickly. For those kind of shots its well worth the extra time to aim hard then smoothly press off the shot to ensure that you hit the target on the first shot. I can tell that you are not calling your shots because you do not try to move off the steel until you hear the "Ding" or see the popper start to fall. You are simply slinging lead until you hear a ding. You must learn how to call your shots if you want to shoot both accurately and quickly without wasting time.

[Heckler]

I also have a hard time finding the front sight, that is exactly what the pausing is

Are you by chance left eye dominant? My nephew who is right handed but left eye dominant used to pause to find the front sight like you say you do. With practice he can now use his right eye to sight with.

[bradthegunmaniac]

This was a steel match man vs man people always try to shoot to fast. You could not draw till in the box.

[Tizzo]

Hey I shot with you didn't pick up on you name lol

Were we in the same squad? Is your MNGT name the same?

Get the gun out of the holster and up ready to shoot 2 - 3 steps BEFORE you get to the shooting position. Running to the shooting position, stopping and then drawing the gun wastes a lot of time. You missed the first popper 987389423479 times because you were in a hurry and tried to shoot it quickly. For those kind of shots its well worth the extra time to aim hard then smoothly press off the shot to ensure that you hit the target on the first shot. I can tell that you are not calling your shots because you do not try to move off the steel until you hear the "Ding" or see the popper start to fall. You are simply slinging lead until you hear a ding. You must learn how to call your shots if you want to shoot both accurately and quickly without wasting time.

I've been trying to call my shots, I guess the confidence isn't there to actually do it. Earlier in the day I was transitioning off the targets slightly before breaking the shot, this probably caused me to wait for the ding even more so during this stage.

I also have a hard time finding the front sight, that is exactly what the pausing is

Are you by chance left eye dominant? My nephew who is right handed but left eye dominant used to pause to find the front sight like you say you do. With practice he can now use his right eye to sight with.

I believe I'm right eye dominant. I do the tests and it appears I'm right eye dominant, or have no eye dominance? With the test drawing a triangle made by your fingers back to your eye(s) I always end up between my eyes. When I test by covering a distant object with my finger it's obvious that I'm right eye dominant.

[Dan Hefta]

Hey guys,

This is my first season, just got back from my third match. Looking for any tips and for people to point out what I could be doing wrong or should focus on.

Thanks

I hope you had fun at the match, I was the MD for that match... Looks like we have another USPSA addict on our hands... hope to see you at some more MAPSA matches. Dan

[bradthegunmaniac]

Ya I was the guy with the Cz. I PM you about helping you out. My MGT name is brado.