Watch my last match and give me some tips

[Texas45]

These are the ones I could post, that were not too big for the site, to illustrate the finger problem. The only reason I added these is because I was doing the exact same thing and could not believe I was, UNTIL …..BANG>>>> into a wall. I can tell you I was DQ'd and rightfully so and I have never done so again. Put tape on the side of the gun so I can feel where my finger is. PLEASE listen to the people that are just trying to help.

Edited March 25, 2014 by Texas45

[Texas45]

Another picture

[Texas45]

I could only add one picture per post. Refer to first post for my reason to post.

[Kyle7735]

Apart from the previously mentioned safety issues one thing that i noticed was although your grip was mostly proper from the draw (though a little lower on the backstrap than i prefer) after every mag change it shifted further up and occasionally around. as well as inconsistent offhand placement after the mag seating.

[BeerBaron]

look, to be fair you want advice.

you need to work on basic gun handling skills.

that will improve your safety AND your scores.

there were a bunch of DQ offences and I am pretty shocked that at a state titles match you were not sent home. safety is not negotiable. there were also some bad angles coming out of ports and some possible sweeping (hard to see for sure). Having said that poor RO'ing is not your fault. it's not up to you to send yourself home.

it's quite common people get a bit fixated on finger on the trigger. it needs to become natural that trigger goes into the trigger guard as you are aligning the sights for a shot. shot breaks, and in the case of a double tap you reset the trigger, watch the front sight and fire again. finger then comes back out of the trigger guard to a spot on the frame, or event better just out in the air half an inch off the frame (easier for RO's to see, but personally I lay it straight along the frame, on my pistols i index it to the tip of the slide stop that sticks out that side).

the reloads were quite slow and not consistent. sometimes gun was up, sometimes it was way down low. sometimes muzzle was pointed almost 90 degrees to the left, sometimes fairly straight.

in terms of shooting you were doing ok. stage plans obviously went to hell, that's something to work on. plan the reloads and understanding your limitations plan in contingencies. eg, "if i take a back up here, move my reload to this piece of movement"... etc

probably the biggest easy gain I can see is close stuff. it looks like you are getting a sight picture on those really close targets (like the low ones just the other side of a port etc). anything less than 5 yards you can point shoot easily. for those you can switch to a target focus. the gun will (or should) index where it always does (muscle memory) and you get a very rough sight down the top of the slide. that's enough to hit A's at 5 yards. watch your splits. some of those really close targets had the same cadence as ones that were probably 10 yards or more. assuming you're hitting the 10 yard+ stuff that tells me you are shooting the close stuff way too slow.

in the case where you ran dry with 1 shot left to take you'd just taken 3 shots at the first target in that array. then you decided to reload and then put 3 more into the last target which only required 1 more shot. it may not seem like long, but having burned a few seconds on the reload it's another half a second+ you didn't need.

you also went a bit careless with muzzle angle at ULASC. try not to switch off until gun is cleared and back in the holster. at one ULASC you hold it basically 90 degrees to your body before showing clear.

Grip consistency will help. your strong hand thumb position changes quite a bit through the video.

best of luck. work on the safety. that's really the most important part for all of us.

[Vanniek71]

I agree with the finger stuff, also noticed you shot to slide lock quite a bit, and those reloads cost you seconds, which add up. Always try to reload with a round in the pipe so you don't have to take that extra time to rack the slide.

Practice the basic gun handling so you don't have to think about it and your game will improve.

[BitchinCamaro]

Before I read any of the other responses I flinched when I saw the trigger fingered on that same reload, and stopped the video to post. I'm glad I'm not the only one!

I started the video again and noticed parts where I personally would focus if that were my run- primarily transitions between closer targets.

Your transitions between targets at 10-15 yards are many multiples of your splits between shots on any one target. What I've been working on is getting all those shots to have the same split times. Basically the transition between 2 targets = one split.

I saw that a lot of your targets were partial no-shoots, but all the hit zones were still in the middle and mostly just restricted horizontally. Learning to call your shots on targets like that will help you hose the array like you do steel poppers , or at least chop your transitions considerably.

Additionally, I stopped counting after the first course but I thought that you were reloading a ton- maybe too much.

Anyway, none of this is to say that I would definitely have done any better or worse at that match, but that's what I would personally have taken as points for my own improvement.

Please do take everyone's notices about safety as absolute though.

Edited March 29, 2014 by BitchinCamaro

[Vanniek71]

Additionally, I stopped counting after the first course but I thought that you were reloading a ton- maybe too much.

It's a production thing.

[BitchinCamaro]

Additionally, I stopped counting after the first course but I thought that you were reloading a ton- maybe too much.

It's a production thing.

Gotcha.

My very first pistol match was an IDPA event. After dropping a partial mag and getting a procedural, I developed a mental glitch about trying to game my reloads in non-IDPA events.

[skargoh]

Yikes

[lknbigfish]

some great info here