NicVerAZ Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 (edited) After screwing my classifier for the fourth time while doing better and better (and having a lot of fun at it) in the other, "regular" stages, it dawned on me that USPSA is actually two sports in one: run-and-gun and classifier . I need to start working more on my classifiers. I know, it sounds stupid to mostly concentrate on that, but I would like to qualify somewhat higher than my current skill level, (believe I am a C+ or maybe a B-) while I am ready to qualify as a D. That is once I have at least 4 qualifiers with a score over 0, because I have scored two 0s already. Doing all sorts of idiotic things, on top of that, due to overthinking the darned thing. So I am going to get some mini targets and also a few paper targets (now that I have PB privilege) and do a bit of dry and live fire drills What are your suggestions? Thanks and, yeah, it came to me as a very late epiphany. Edited August 27, 2012 by NicVerAZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calvary45 Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 I think of classifiers as more of fundamentals than qualifiers, and before you be great at running and gunning you have to have solid fundamentals. I have recently backtracked to practicing low round count high intensity practice on my fundamentals. How many GM do you know that can run and gun and not have solid fundamentals(classifiers). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 what is a qualifier, and what are you qualified for ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LINC Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 (edited) yep two sports. Edited August 27, 2012 by LINC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motosapiens Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 I'm a bit of a newb, but so far I'm finding my classifier scores are better when I slow down, especially the ones that have no-shoots. I went painfully slow on 'oh no' yesterday, making sure of every hit, and was afraid i'd left some time on the table, but ended up with 47% (tied for my best classifier score so far). Previously, I was trying to go fast, and missing or hitting no-shoots as a result. Now i'm trying to just make good hits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicVerAZ Posted August 27, 2012 Author Share Posted August 27, 2012 what is a qualifier, and what are you qualified for ? I meant classifier and you know it I just fixed it. Funny guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diehli Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 They're not different sports, they just test different subsets of skills (which can be subsumed under speed & accuracy). Club matches tend to skew towards field courses because that's where round count is. If you want more stages like Classifiers at your club, sign up to design stages & design Speed Shoots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 what is a qualifier, and what are you qualified for ? I meant classifier and you know it I just fixed it. Funny guy. Well, you asked for suggestions. So, I'd suggest calling it by the right name. And, with that, making a mental note that it absolutely doesn't qualify you for anything. By that I mean that it doesn't matter at all. Since most of them are about 10y...and I assume you can hit the A-zone at 10y... Put the hits right in the middle of the Alpha...ever...freakin...time. Quit thinking of them as something special. They aren't. That is just a distraction from the shooting. Instead, think of them as Alpha hits that are there for you to collect. Shoot Alphas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicVerAZ Posted August 27, 2012 Author Share Posted August 27, 2012 I just checked out my time on Steeler Standards and it is a 3 strings classifier: free style-reload-free style, freestyle-reload-strong hand, weak hand. My total time is 17.80", which is the 4th fastest out of 20 in production only, and of course the 20th score (zero). I looked at the open division and I shot my 3 strings faster than half of these guys. Obviously, I got this all wrong. I have to indeed get back to the fundamentals and relearn to shoot accurately rather than fast on these darn *qualifiers* (I have keyboard dyslexia). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JakeMartens Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 it is just another stage and should be shot the same way as the rest of the stages. if you are looking at it any other way then you are probably going to tank them all they do is test a set of skills that you use in every other stage or part of a stage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 The type of stage never matters. When you have the real epiphany (shoot Alphas...always) your scores will improve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicVerAZ Posted August 27, 2012 Author Share Posted August 27, 2012 I mostly shoot alphas but on a stage I shot 182 points, no penalty and placed 12th. It was a 40+ round stage. The top shot, a GM, had a lower point score but ran it in about half the time, close to 1/2" per round. I don't think it is all about alphas, but it does matter in production or minor more than in major, I would agree. Yet I have the opposite approach with classifiers. Maybe because I am too eager to classify high rather than classify at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Griffin Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 The type of stage never matters. When you have the real epiphany (shoot Alphas...always) your scores will improve. This. The biggest secret is no secret at all, and your classifiers will immediately max out for your skill level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 I mostly shoot alphas but on a stage I shot 182 points, no penalty and placed 12th. It was a 40+ round stage. The top shot, a GM, had a lower point score but ran it in about half the time, close to 1/2" per round. I don't think it is all about alphas, but it does matter in production or minor more than in major, I would agree. Yet I have the opposite approach with classifiers. Maybe because I am too eager to classify high rather than classify at all. What the top GM did has nothing to do with you. No matter how fast you hosed, he still would have smoked you, right? It is NOT speed vs. accuracy. Shoot Alphas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coach Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 I mostly shoot alphas but on a stage I shot 182 points, no penalty and placed 12th. It was a 40+ round stage. The top shot, a GM, had a lower point score but ran it in about half the time, close to 1/2" per round. I don't think it is all about alphas, but it does matter in production or minor more than in major, I would agree. Yet I have the opposite approach with classifiers. Maybe because I am too eager to classify high rather than classify at all. Whou you believe it is about alphas being shot fast? Speed and accuracy are both necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogtired Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 Points divided by time. Concentrate on having similar points as the top shooters, regardless of the time. The time will come later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JakeMartens Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 I was thinking another book needed to be written on this, then I thought a paper could cover this.... Then after thinking about this a little longer figured a pamphlet could do it....... But instead I just tore off a piece of paper and wrote this down to cover it (selling these for $50) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coach Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Points divided by time. Concentrate on having similar points as the top shooters, regardless of the time. The time will come later. Is the speed going to automatically come? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhunter Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Learn to get your points, then learn to get your points faster, not the other way around Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sturmruger Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 I like to setup classifiers at my range and practice them 30 times. Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfish Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 If you are trying to pickup speed in classifiers , especially production, the easiest way to do that is do alot of dry fire practice working on the draw and reload. Pretty much most of the classifiers will require those two things and if youre new to uspsa chances are you can probably take aleast .75 sec off each one of those if you work at it. That would be 1.5 sec saved on a classifier. Dry fire is free exept for your time and you dont need to worry about giving up points to gain speed there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twodownzero Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Points divided by time. Concentrate on having similar points as the top shooters, regardless of the time. The time will come later. Is the speed going to automatically come? I'm still waiting for mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P-Zak Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 I think Jake covered it. I found myself staring at the front sight between shots ensuring the alphas. Trust what you see when you see it and move on... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbbean Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 I was thinking another book needed to be written on this, then I thought a paper could cover this.... Then after thinking about this a little longer figured a pamphlet could do it....... But instead I just tore off a piece of paper and wrote this down to cover it (selling these for $50) Can I get that in audiobook format? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogtired Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 (edited) MPoints divided by time. Concentrate on having similar points as the top shooters, regardless of the time. The time will come later. Is the speed going to automatically come? Well Coach is that your style? Of course you will have to work at that but not at the expense of accuracy. My only point, perhaps more succinctly stated by the post from zhunter... In some cases the speed will automatically come, not mine of course. Edited August 28, 2012 by dogtired Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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