steel challenge

[Xander]

There's a monthy all Glock clubshoot here that has a man vs man format, each has to drop there respective plates 6pcs on each side, usually 8" plates and the last plate is 3" and the plates are places "zig-zag" style @ 10-15 meters. It starts sitting down then run towards the table load mag, rack and start shooting. I just joined them recently, and during my run I had a hard time engaging my 1st plates and all my other shots was not consistent. Any tips on how to this type of drill? TIA:)

[Flexmoney]

Do you have a hard time hitting those type of targets at other times?

[MTSCMike]

Plates don't lie, plates don't know what "close" means, plates go down when you hit them right and when you don't they just sit there and mock you. Plates are evil but they are great fun to shoot.

Slow down and aim. New plate shooters tend to shoot in a hurry because they think that is what they have to do and when they miss they tend to speed up to make up for the time lost by missing. Actually what you have to do is hit the plate no matter how long that takes. Load the pistol, bring it up to face level, extend to first plate while finding the front sight, deliberately aim at the very center of the first plate and while maintaining complete focus on the front sight and maintaining the sight picture, press the trigger without interrupting that sight picture. The plate will fall...guaranteed. Then eyes to the next plate followed very shortly by the pistol, repeat, repeat, repeat.

Plates are the ultimate proof that a shooter "can't miss fast enough to win". However fast you can shoot and still knock every plate down with one shot is your current limiting factor. If the other shooter can do that faster then they will win...it's that simple. If you try to shoot faster than that you will actually be taking longer because making up a missed shot will always take longer than it would have taken to aim and hit it the first time. Don't take longer than you need to get that good sight picture but take the time to get it.

Also, assuming the plates don't have to be taken in strict order, don't wait to see the plate fall or hear the "ding" before moving to the next plate. You have to just "know" you've hit it and move to the next. If you are waiting to see it fall you are wasting time. The only exception is when the plates must fall in a specific order or if you must confirm all plates are down before hitting a "stop plate".

Don't miss and have fun!

[Xander]

Do you have a hard time hitting those type of targets at other times?

I think so oz when I pratice them I usually get them 2 out of 5 tries.

[shred]

#1 "plates have no C-zone"

#2, don't aim at the center of the plate. Really. Aim about 2/3rds up the plate in the middle. When (not if), you mash the trigger a little hard and pull a shot low and left (or right, for lefties), it has a better chance of still hitting the plate.

Following #2 will also have you aiming at a particular spot on the plate, not just vaguely aiming at the whole thing which is critical for good hits.

[Xander]

Plates don't lie, plates don't know what "close" means, plates go down when you hit them right and when you don't they just sit there and mock you. Plates are evil but they are great fun to shoot.

Slow down and aim. New plate shooters tend to shoot in a hurry because they think that is what they have to do and when they miss they tend to speed up to make up for the time lost by missing. Actually what you have to do is hit the plate no matter how long that takes. Load the pistol, bring it up to face level, extend to first plate while finding the front sight, deliberately aim at the very center of the first plate and while maintaining complete focus on the front sight and maintaining the sight picture, press the trigger without interrupting that sight picture. The plate will fall...guaranteed. Then eyes to the next plate followed very shortly by the pistol, repeat, repeat, repeat.

Plates are the ultimate proof that a shooter "can't miss fast enough to win". However fast you can shoot and still knock every plate down with one shot is your current limiting factor. If the other shooter can do that faster then they will win...it's that simple. If you try to shoot faster than that you will actually be taking longer because making up a missed shot will always take longer than it would have taken to aim and hit it the first time. Don't take longer than you need to get that good sight picture but take the time to get it.

Also, assuming the plates don't have to be taken in strict order, don't wait to see the plate fall or hear the "ding" before moving to the next plate. You have to just "know" you've hit it and move to the next. If you are waiting to see it fall you are wasting time. The only exception is when the plates must fall in a specific order or if you must confirm all plates are down before hitting a "stop plate".

Don't miss and have fun!

Great, I'll keep this in mind, thanks a lot

[Flexmoney]

Do you have a hard time hitting those type of targets at other times?

I think so oz when I pratice them I usually get them 2 out of 5 tries.

2 of 5 hits per plate?

How do you do on paper? For example, can you shoot a 2-3 inch group on paper at this distance?

[grapemeister]

I’m no expert, but here are my thoughts on a few things I’ve learned that may help you.

First of all, you have to break everything down to the fundamentals. Start with examining your body position and stance in front of the table. Are you getting a good shooting stance before or as your picking up the gun? Getting a good shooting stance should start with thinking about how you’re entering the box, or shooting position in front of the table. Think about exploding towards the table when the timer goes off, but gearing it down as you take your 1st step into the shooting position, so your coming in for a soft landing, and obtaining that perfect shooting stance. Practice doing that in dry fire practice over and over until you get it down. Videotaping yourself would help, too, if you don’t have anybody to watch you. As your coming into position you can be reaching for the gun, but for a while separate the two, and then practice it as one motion; reaching for and picking up the gun as your coming into position.

Next, as you’re picking up the gun are you getting a good grip on the gun? You may be in such a hurry that you’re not doing that. This is another thing you need to work on in dry fire practice. As your getting a grip on the gun and getting a sight picture on the 1st plate are you shifting your body or head again? Shifting the upper body or head while obtaining your 1st sight picture can be very difficult for some shooters to hit that 1st plate.

Have you completely stopped breathing after coming into position? Again, I’m no expert, but I’ve found that if I exhale about half the air in my lungs before firing the 1st shot, I do a lot better on steel plates. If you completely stop breathing and or exhale most the air in your lungs before you obtained the 1st sight picture it may be hard to concentrate on the sights all the way through the end of the string. Again, another thing to practice while dry firing, or live firing.

Are you aiming at a spot on the plate or the entire plate? Remember that old saying, “Aim Small, Miss Small.” And, are you seeing the front sight lift out of the notch on every single plate. Remember, you can only shoot one plate at a time. Be patient, if you don’t have the correct sight picture, and that front sight isn’t crystal clear on that tiny spot in the middle of the plate, it’s not time to pull the trigger. Train yourself to call the shot (hit or miss) on every plate. You call the shot off the front sight, not the sound of the bullet hitting the steel. If you double plug (ear plugs, and ear muffs) this may help you to call the shots without verifying a shot by the sound of the bullet hitting the steel. I sometimes use paper plates for that reason, but I use small paper plates or cut the big paper plates down to about 5”, so in the match the steel seems huge.

I guess the number one things for me, and I sometimes say it out loud to myself before the timer goes off is to only shoot one plate at a time.

Well, those are my thoughts. I’m sure others can cover fundaments or techniques that I haven’t, and maybe explain things better than me. Practice, practice, practice, and more practice!

Chris

[Sin-ster]

I shoot a man-on-man plate match every Friday night, and every bit of help you've received so far is spot on!

Several weeks ago, my performance completely went to crap. I went from absolutely killing it to being eliminated without winning a single round. I just couldn't get the plates to fall! I didn't feel like I was trying to go any faster, so I brought a timer in to confirm. Sure enough, my splits and draw had not sped up from when I was destroying the rack easily. At the same time, I wasn't having any of these problems in USPSA matches-- on steel or paper.

It turned out to be a combination of factors. First and foremost, for some reason, my trigger press had fallen apart. I painstakingly fixed that across a week of heavy practice and dry fire, and expected a solid performance that Friday. Not so much.

Next, I opened up my visual awareness-- which was a difficult process to say the least! The stress of another shooter taking down plates next to you tends to shut your mind off to a relaxed state of perception. I was only catching glimpses of what was going on-- and then misinterpreted what I was seeing. I noticed a few times I had a clear sight picture, but was actually holding between two of the plates. To me, this meant I was too intent on the front sight and not on the actual target index-- akin to "shooting brown" on an IPSC target.

Well, it turns out I wasn't seeing much of anything at all! As the weeks passed and I didn't see any improvement, I decided just to pay attention to what I was seeing and nothing else. My vision was erratic, to say the least. Sometimes, it was pure target focus; others, it was fixation on the front sight. Most of the time though, I was (clearly) seeing nothing at all-- focused somewhere in between the post and the plate. Generally speaking, I was NOT seeing what I needed to see.

This past Friday, I decided I would actively see everything one step at a time. The first plate during the draw, the front sight clearly after index. Call the shot, follow through completely. See the next plate clearly for the transition, then find the front post clearly again-- sight lift, follow through. Rinse and repeat until the rack was clear. Joy of joys-- I started going 5 plates in 5 shots again.

This exaggerated focus had slowed my times down by .5-1 second, but I knew I'd get into the groove and the speed would come back. Sure enough, after 4 or 5 runs, I got back into "the zone" of a few months ago and started putting up times like I had been in the past! All was right in the world.

The main point is that you've got to figure out just what it takes for YOU as a shooter to be able to sweep the rack in one pass. Get your trigger press sorted out first-- it eliminates any type of guess work. Whatever problems you're having after that will be visual. Force yourself to slow down and get the hits-- and pay specific attention to what you're seeing. You may find yourself speeding up naturally, until you hit the failure point. You may very well have to force yourself to reach this breaking point. At any rate, it's up to you to find that groove and figure out how to stay in it at all times.

Good luck, and stick with it. The plates are a blast, and it sounds like the extra stuff you guys do after the buzzer is pretty fun as well. I've gotten a TON of drawstroke practice out of our Friday match, and you'll be getting some valuable table start repetitions yourself.

[Xander]

Do you have a hard time hitting those type of targets at other times?

I think so oz when I pratice them I usually get them 2 out of 5 tries.

2 of 5 hits per plate?

How do you do on paper? For example, can you shoot a 2-3 inch group on paper at this distance?

2 out of 5 run on all the plates with one hits.

Yes, I an do 2-3" groups at 10-15m, thanks.

[Xander]

btw, just for clarification, after seeing the sight lift at the first shot, do I have to let it come back as in calling the shot and head to the next target?

[MTSCMike]

btw, just for clarification, after seeing the sight lift at the first shot, do I have to let it come back as in calling the shot and head to the next target?

The shot should be called when the sight lifts instead of when it settles back into the notch. To me the settling back into the notch tells me that my grip, alignment, balance and pressure were correct and that determins when I'm ready for the next shot if it were a double tap. The sight settles so quickly that it should be back in the notch just as my eyes head for the next plate.

[Xander]

btw, just for clarification, after seeing the sight lift at the first shot, do I have to let it come back as in calling the shot and head to the next target?

The shot should be called when the sight lifts instead of when it settles back into the notch. To me the settling back into the notch tells me that my grip, alignment, balance and pressure were correct and that determins when I'm ready for the next shot if it were a double tap. The sight settles so quickly that it should be back in the notch just as my eyes head for the next plate.

Ok I see, thanks