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The balance of speed and accuracy


kcobean

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I shot my first match of the season last weekend and all in all it was a disaster. I made B class at the last match of the season last year (December) and have been dry firing once or twice a week, but not near as much as I should be, I know.

I made a decision to push my speed at this match. My times were on par with the top 10 shooters overall, which were GM/M/A guys. The flip side is that I had quite a few mikes and one or two no shoot penalties that put me finishing 14th out of 23 shooters in Limited division and 47th of 94 shooters overall.

On one stage, I finished 5th overall behind Todd Jarret and a couple of A shooters. Then on another stage I finished 82nd of 94.

So....wild inconsistency in my shooting. I'm clearly shooting faster than I can see and I'm not calling my shots.

My question for you all is, should I try to "see faster" and keep my speed up, or slow down so I can see more?

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Pretty hard on the Self Esteem, isn't it. Let me introduce you to the single best post on this website....

Because of the high-speed nature of IPSC shooting, if one comes to IPSC without a good background in the fundamentals of shooting, I've noticed a pattern during the learning curve.

Typically we start out blazing away, so we never really learn what it means or the importance of calling each shot precisely. Then after shooting for some time, maybe years, we start to realize that hitting the targets is more important than going fast, because "you can't miss fast enough to win." During this hosing phase, we ingrain bad visual habits because the targets do not challenge our weaknesses, and after some time we just kinda point shoot most everything. Then, as we start to open up to the fact that calling is important, we're so used to looking at the wrong things while "going fast," it feels like we must really slow down in order to see enough of the sights to call the shots. At this point it becomes a psychological battle, because there's no way we're going to shoot slower.

At this point hearing a good explanation and believing in it become a factor. Furthermore, you must prove it to yourself in practice before you'll ever trust enough to do it in a match.

Spread 6 or 8 targets around the range between 8 and 15 yards, and stick no-shoots, right next to the A-boxes, on a couple of them. Draw and shoot one shot on each left to right, right down your time, then do the same thing right to left, then repeat both strings for a total of four strings. Then figure your score using the time-plus method, adding .2 of a second for each point dropped. Do this forever or until you figure out what you must do and how you must see in order to get the best score.

be

Don't worry, we all need it from time to time.

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Well done guy....I think you are on the right track to become a great shooter by recognizing opportunities.

During our Practical Shooting 1 course at our club, we advise to have the sights dictate how you engage the targets. I don't use the word "slow" only "refine".

Refine your AIM based on the shot given.(Partial,hard cover, close far, smaller.. etc )trigger control is important facet , not to be ignored) If it requires more time, so be it.

Keeps you from "slowing down" because if you think "slow" you will BE slow.

Edited by flack jacket
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This may sound harsh and for that I apologize in advance, but you got exactly what you asked for when you:

" made a decision to push my speed at this match."

You asked your body/mind for speed and you got it.

As for your question, choosing to slow down is just as bad as choosing to go fast and will not (on its own) solve the problem.

See more. Decide to call every shot. Make that the priority. It will feel slow.

If it IS slow (which will be determined AFTER the match) then fix the speed in training.

SA

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This may sound harsh and for that I apologize in advance, but you got exactly what you asked for when you:

" made a decision to push my speed at this match."

You asked your body/mind for speed and you got it.

As for your question, choosing to slow down is just as bad as choosing to go fast and will not (on its own) solve the problem.

See more. Decide to call every shot. Make that the priority. It will feel slow.

If it IS slow (which will be determined AFTER the match) then fix the speed in training.

SA

Thanks Steve. I was hoping I'd hear from you. On a couple of the stages, I remember thinking afterward, "Steve would kick my butt if I told him what I saw on that stage while I shot it." You're exactly right that my decision to "go fast" was equally a decision to abandon all of the stuff I learned in your class and I got exactly what I strived for...a fast stage, and nothing else.

Edited by kcobean
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And you did it anyway because you haven't yet trusted it.

"You're exactly right that my decision to "go fast" was equally a decision to abandon all of the stuff I learned in your class and I got exactly what I strived for...a fast stage, and nothing else."

Right.

Now how many more matches are you going to waste before you trust me and just call your damn shots?

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My question for you all is, should I try to "see faster" and keep my speed up, or slow down so I can see more?

If you aren't fast, it doesn't matter how accurate you are... or so the great Rob Leatham once told me.

You need to learn to be fast AND accurate. You are already fast. Good for you. Work on hitting the target, that is the hard part anyway.

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Go for accuracy first. Speed will come. Not the other way around.

Why?

Well since both aspects are equally important, there may not be a good reason to choose one over the other.

However, for the weekend shooter (like me), leaving points on the table (or incurring miss and no-shoot penalties) is probably the biggest difference between a low to mid pack finish and a top tier finish. I can pretty much count on others of my skill level to crash-n-burn somewhere during a match so as long as I get all of my hits, move with reasonable efficiency and don't have any major brain farts or gun troubles, I will have a decent finish.

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Go for accuracy first. Speed will come. Not the other way around.

Why?

Well since both aspects are equally important, there may not be a good reason to choose one over the other.

However, for the weekend shooter (like me), leaving points on the table (or incurring miss and no-shoot penalties) is probably the biggest difference between a low to mid pack finish and a top tier finish. I can pretty much count on others of my skill level to crash-n-burn somewhere during a match so as long as I get all of my hits, move with reasonable efficiency and don't have any major brain farts or gun troubles, I will have a decent finish.

This and ever heard the saying a slow hit is better than a fast miss? Also different different types of speed. Shooting fast and entering and leaving fast. The later is Probably More Important.

Edited by Silver_Surfer
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How is speed the one thing that comes with time and with out practice?

speed and effiency are not the same thing. a faster shooter can beat a more efficent shooter.

The greatest is effiency and speed.

to be fast you must practice fast. just like any other aspect of our sport.

Edited by juan
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I made a decision to push my speed at this match.

There's your mistake. You can't shoot fast enough to make up for misses.

I know, I've tried it many times and can't remember once when it worked.

Edited by GigG
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And you did it anyway because you haven't yet trusted it.

"You're exactly right that my decision to "go fast" was equally a decision to abandon all of the stuff I learned in your class and I got exactly what I strived for...a fast stage, and nothing else."

Right.

Now how many more matches are you going to waste before you trust me and just call your damn shots?

Well, I can honestly say this is the first match where I purposefully just "went fast and damn the consequences". The results prove that I'm wasting my time if I do it again, so to answer your question, I'll say "none".

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You could always try shooting production. It will force you to learn to shoot accurately. With minor scoring you have to get mostly A's to be just to be competitive. When I switched from limited to production I was competitve in limited. I shot the same way in production as I did limited with times often faster then everyone else and didn't win matches. After that I started to focus on A's and started to win.

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Learning to shoot in a pace that allows you to call every shot may be the most important thing.

After turning off my computer last night, I decided I liked this better...

Learning to shoot in a state of mind that allows you to call every shot may be the most important thing.

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Learning to shoot in a pace that allows you to call every shot may be the most important thing.

After turning off my computer last night, I decided I liked this better...

Learning to shoot in a state of mind that allows you to call every shot may be the most important thing.

I truly wish I knew what that meant.

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Alright Bean, you're close to a breakthrough so stick with this.

We did shot calling excercises and you were able to do it very well. In fact as I recall, you may have been one of the best in the group.

Remember the first time through, the whole group was very inaccurate in both shooting and calling the shots.

Third or fourth time through, remember the groups shrinking and the drawings becoming much more accurate?

We weren't judging speed or accuracy, we were just calling the shots and really OBSERVING the sight pictures and sights lifting.

You can and should shoot your whole match this way.

Some call it the zone... It will feel slow, and that's why many are afraid to trust it.

I'll PM you. we need to talk.

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