secound match

[JeremyV]

OK so Sunday I shot my second pistol competition of my life... it was a 4 stage event it was a themed event so they traded out the traditional targets for zombie targets.. we had a few movers and Popper's as well.. I shot well and had 4 c hits and one miss for the day... I also missed a magazine change and went dry one time...

What I'm wondering is how you guys gauge how fast you can shoot each stage and What risks to take? What kind of mental training do you use to keep yourself from going too fast? That one miss cost me the win and I ended up second place.. if I would have took 3 seconds for That shot I still were would have won so by going too fast I lost.. the guy who won was a master class shooter and I'm guessing had better speed control.. any thoughts on how to work on this?

[dover0020]

Some of it depends on what you are shooting ( major versus minor scoring) but a good rule of thumb I go by is try to shoot as fast as you can and still get 90% of the point.

Example: if the stage has 100 target points I try to shoot it as fast as I can and still get 90 target point. That means in major you could shoot 10 C but in minor you could only shoot 5.

Hope this helps, I'm sure others will have different ideas. Good luck.

[JeremyV]

Well in our local club an a is zero a c is one second and a miss is 10 seconds. There are no categorys so no major or minor.

[Hi-Power Jack]

Well in our local club an a is zero a c is one second and a miss is 10 seconds. There are no categorys so no major or minor.

What's a D?

[Guest]

Sounds like you shot a match that uses a version of Time Plus scoring like what is used in multigun matches.

Might want to do a search for “Time Plus Scoring” or something similar and read some of the threads on that. Sometimes you only need to get one A hit, or two hits anywhere to neutralize a target, so if you are accurate just shoot each target once for the A. Conserve ammo and save time. Shoot as fast as you can get A’s, when in doubt or if you call a C/D/M - double tap it.

It is a slightly different mindset than when using the standard USPSA scoring rules. Dover explained it well.

Get 90% or better of the points as fast as you can. Unless there something unusual about the match (like the Monster Match) the match winner will almost always have between 90-95% of the match points with minimal penalties. Shoot smooth, move quick.

Go to more matches. Enjoy.

[lumpygravy]

...

What I'm wondering is how you guys gauge how fast you can shoot each stage and What risks to take?

The decision/plan on how fast to shoot and acceptable risk is based on experience and what you know you can do on demand.

...

What kind of mental training do you use to keep yourself from going too fast?

Mental training to avoid hosing when you shouldn't? Exercise personal discipline to call each shot.

...

the guy who won was a master class shooter and I'm guessing had better speed control.. any thoughts on how to work on this?

How to work on controlling your speed? Shoot more matches to put more experience dollars in your match experience wallet.

These answers may sound flippant, but if the overriding concern is speed, the result will usually be crashing and burning more often than not. I used to shoot like this. Once in awhile, I'd totally burn one down, but consistency stage to stage is what wins matches.

Personally, I don't plan to shoot at any speed. I look for the sights to be aligned on an acceptable area of the target and don't pull the trigger until I do (see the sights). Do I always exercise enough discipline to pull it off? Of course not. That's part of the challenge of this sport.

With more experience, one might come to know that they can shoot a particular target array in a particular time with acceptable points. That might be helpful if one is shooting a USPSA classifier or something that is standardized, but I rarely find I can apply times on a known target array directly to a particular stage at a match. So I keep it simple: I make it my goal to shoot As and go one-for-one on steel as fast as I can see each shot and let the time elapse wherever it will.