There and Back Again: A Shooters Tale by BostonBullit

[BostonBullit]

I am going into this months match with a renewed attempt to focus on nothing but two simple goals: no penalties and 90%+ of available points. No goal about overall placement. No goal about classifier performance.

<snip>

The one goal I drop off my list for the match is the one goal I accomplish. Shot a 72.2647% on the classifier which edges me over the B/C line with a 61.39% average. From near the top of the C heap to the bottom of the B barrel.....Maybe I'll scrap all my goals for my next match so I can finish 1st

[BostonBullit]

Spent this weekend taking the NROI level 1 seminar in an effort to become a legit timererer guy. passed the field test, just have to do the written and send it in and I'll be officialized (assuming I pass). Learned a lot of good stuff, had some of my bad stuff corrected, and got some new people acquainted with my home club. Was a bit hectic coordinating the class and all but well worth it.

best part was when I shot the "field test" stage this morning...I went first and laid a round just on the non-scoring edge of a no-shoot, a perfect class learning opportunity. put it exactly where I wanted to.....or that's what I told everyone anyway

[BostonBullit]

Sometimes you have a match for the ages, a match where you're just in the zone and cannot be denied no matter how difficult the course of fire. The buzzer goes off and everything goes into Max Payne bullet-time slow motion as you drill the A zone and knock down the steel. You're moving so fast that everything around you seems slow and when you hammer down and holster you've shot a clean stage and taken all points available. Last Sunday was not one of those matches, instead it was a total chitshow.

After having not touched the gun in nearly two weeks I started the day on a stage with a lot of lateral movement and a mix of close shots and some 60' stuff. I set and engaged an array of three targets fanned out behind one no-shoot and my fourth shot of the match dipped and went square through the no-shoot just above the upper A-zone. I took a make up shot and had a clean miss, or was the third shot of the day a miss and the make up scored? who knows. I had a miss on a swinger and another on a static target through a low port. just a garbage stage.

I did ok on the next stage, a few more make up shots on the steel than I'd prefer but it was a step in the right direction and the reloads felt ok.

Next was a combo of two stages in one pit with no break in between. I did ok on the first one, three close and wide open paper needing two on each, a step to the right and reload, then 4 steel at min allowed distance. But when the buzzer went off on the classifier I had another moment of mental flatulence. CoF was two strings with two targets each string wide open up close. Draw, 5 shots on a target, reload, 5 shots on the other target, holster and do it again with two more targets next to those. came of the holster well and put 5 into the A zone then went right to the next target and squeezed off two shots before I remembered I was supposed to reload. I got disgusted with myself and stood there for a few seconds, then decided to put two more into the target without reloading. I decided to shoot the second string like nothing happened just to see how I could do and of course I forgot to actually charge the gun so I drew and dropped the hammer on an empty chamber. yea, good times.

next stage was a memory game type stage with a long wall with a bunch of ports. you could get all the targets from two positions but I decided to play it safe and make extra stops along the way. It would have been a good run except that I once again had a shot dip low and into some hardcover for a mike.

last stage of the day went ok, only issue was I decided not to go for a third popper in a set of 3 that only had a little bit exposed behind a barrel. I spent a couple extra seconds moving to my right and reloading to take it from an easier position.

Just a discouraging match overall but I have to make the decision to either dedicate the time I need to in order to get better, especially at home with dry fire practice, or accept that my match performance is going to be very uneven and just enjoy the time spent with friends on the range.

[lugnut]

I think a big part of making a big step up in this sport comes down to a strong mental preparation before stages. We all have lapses.. but IMO you could jump a bunch of slots in matches just by preparing better. I have not been at my best but here are some things that I do BEFORE the shooting starts.

- After each run or before the match begins, check all your equipment and make sure ALL ammo carriers are FULL to div capacity. WE HAVE ALL MADE this mistake at least once. It never ends well.

- KNOW what you are going to do when the buzzer goes off. KNOW when you are going to reload, where you are going to step, WHEN you are going to engage the targets, etc. On the walk thru, get in all the positions you plan on shooting in. If you have steel around a wall- get into the position you will shoot in. FEEL it. Visualize your run in your mind as much as you can. Don't overlook or take anything for granted. If you have a table start with an empty gun, don't forget to visualize the loading part. Most of this sport is NOT the shooting so think of the efficient use of all that time as almost free points.

- if you make a mistake, which we all do, don't panic and start doing anything that wasn't in your plan. Improvising is NOT something this is easy to do once the buzzer goes off. If you take 3 extra shots on a popper- continue your plan, even if it means reloading after you only engaged one target off a fresh mag. How many times have you seen shooters take extra shots on a steel and then have every single reload after that happen at slide lock?

- Don't expect peak performance after watching someone burn down a good run when you haven't been putting in the hard work. I know this all too well.

Importantly, after a bad run, laugh it off. Sometimes I will seriously laugh out loud. NOTHING can be done to fix a bad run, it's in the past, let it go. Try not to let it get you down, figure out what happened on the ride home… but focus on nailing the next stage.

Most important- have fun. Even when tired or frustrated try to realize winning and/or failing IS part of life. The failures are what make winning so special. Here is a quote that makes me smilie from time to time:

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." Churchill

Now I have to go heed my own advice.

[Supermoto]

Being able to focus after having a bad stage is very important, especially in a big match. I usually shoot the next stage full retard at 100%, trying to get back into the fight. It rarely ends well, now I'm 2 stages down. I have now switched my thinking to get back into the fight through points and not time, works much better and work very well for all stages.... it just happens to be a very boring way of shooting

[BostonBullit]

I'm pickin up what you guys are puttin down, I just need to execute it. Looking back through my 3 seasons (this is my fourth) shows how inconsistent I am; the only consistent thing is the inconsistency. If you factor out any equipment issues then the only reason for inconsistency is lack of discipline so that's what I've been trying to focus on this season. I'm not just talking about being able to shut out a bad run and move on, it's all the stuff Lugnut is talking about + what needs to be done outside of a match...the dry firing, the reload practice, building the proper muscle memory and focus, doing specific drills at live fire. I'm doing almost none of that and I need to start. I did fairly well at not letting my garbage first stage ruin the rest of my match last weekend so that's some progress on that front. But then I had a mental breakdown in the middle of the classifier when I forgot the reload when I should have just done the reload and finished the string. two steps forward, one step back.

Last nights club practice was a miserable from a weather standpoint, high 40s with a cold wind and drizzle. The three of us that were there to shoot all have a few seasons under the belt so we worked on some actual drills meant to hone specific skills rather than setting up a mock stage. It was great conditions to work on mental discipline because you had to block out the cold and crap. I started off horribly...have you ever been shooting and the sights are bouncing around everywhere but you're still squeezing the trigger and at the same time thinking "why am I taking these shots right now??" but you keep doing it? that was my first run at two open targets at 7yrds on opposite sides of the pit (practicing long transitions). I settled down after that and only broke a few shots that I shouldn't have. We also worked on putting two on a target, side stepping 4', two on another target, repeat. that drill went better but I still had a few flyers.

I seem to have developed a flinch I need to work on with some dry fire practice, it has me dropping shots into the low C and resulted in a mike no shoot and mike into hardcover at the last match. ain't nobody got time for that....

[lugnut]

I started off horribly...have you ever been shooting and the sights are bouncing around everywhere but you're still squeezing the trigger and at the same time thinking "why am I taking these shots right now??" but you keep doing it?

You aren't the only one to encounter this phenomena! Still happens to me and many other I can assure you. Hey, the reality is most shots are very manageable in USPSA matches given "enough" time. Once you introduce time in the equation… things can get ugly…. but that's the intrigue of the sport- finding the elusive perfect balance between accuracy and time.

It takes incredible discipline to really let the sights dictate your shooting. But when you figure that out good things will happen. Ask Mr Supermoto about this.

I always say this, and maybe I'd be a better coach that I am a shooter but- push for speed/times in practice NOT in the match. At the match speed will just happen but let the sights dictate the actual shooting. Speed focus at matches never turns out very well for most shooters...

[BostonBullit]

Spent a few hours at the range yesterday with a buddy working on some drills. We setup three targets in one array, left 7y, center 3y, right 7y then another box to the right with paper left, mini-popper center, paper right. all shots freestyle but the closest target in the left array was head only. We took turns doing runs and I kept track of times and scores for each run along with some basic notes about how I did it (head shots first, etc). It was really helpful to have someone there to keep track of the simple stuff, like when there were two holes in the paper but one was high and one was low which shot came first. When I was running out of time we switched to three 3y targets, two on each, reload, two on each. Did a lot trying to keep them all in the A zone and then on the last run just kind of went as fast as I could and managed a 5.05 with some Cs and Ds. I think it's good to push it a bit after a practice that focuses on accuracy over speed....but I'm a just barely B shooter so take that for what its worth

I need to do more practices like that; just need to find a way to fit them into the schedule.....oh, and maybe some dry fire....yea, that too

[BostonBullit]

I finally had a reasonably good match. At my clubs match this past weekend I accomplished my goals for the first time: 90%+ of available points, no penalties, B level or better classifier. The classifier one is the least important and I may have just made it by the skin of my teeth at 60.3% so I'm not completely happy there, two deltas killed the run. I almost blew it on my second to last stage which had a long row of 13 targets with a narrow fire zone along them just inviting you to go as fast as you could and HOSE. I lost sight of the plan and started going faster than I should have which led to loosing track of my round count. I then gave back the time I gained by rushing through those targets by waiting for the two swingers to be in just the right spot before breaking shots on those but it kept me from having mikes there so I guess that was the right choice.

So what did I do differently? not sure. I've been a bit more focused at practice shooting the same thing over and over during a session rather than changing it up like we usually do and I think that's helped. I didn't feel like I was going fast and reviewing the stage results shows that I was going at about the speed I should be. My times were behind the top Production shooters but my scores were in line with theirs and better than most others. Stages that I placed well on it was mostly due to getting better hits rather than faster times; I edged out faster guys in a few instances. One stage I benefited by the mistakes of others as their times were faster and hits as good but they racked up penalties in the process.

The gun ran 100% as well, it's such a different game when you're not worrying about your equipment! So now I need to carry the momentum into next weekends Mass Classic out in Monson. This one will be interesting because it's a "no tape" match where the fee is higher than a local but you get 10 stages and you don't do any work at all; they tape and reset everything. I haven't had the opportunity to shoot a match without either scoring or running shooters in a long time so I'm looking forward to being able to focus 100% on my own performance and see what the results are.

[Dan Sierpina]

Pete,

I'm thinking you stopped overthinking everything, and shot your game. Unless you have equipment issues, the conscious mind keeps you from performing to the level that the unconscious mind knows you can achieve.

[BostonBullit]

Pete,

I'm thinking you stopped overthinking everything, and shot your game. Unless you have equipment issues, the conscious mind keeps you from performing to the level that the unconscious mind knows you can achieve.

That could be it Dan, but it's also probably because I stopped trying to win. I'm always telling the newer guys not to get caught up in trying to chase down a Master level shooter and just race their own race; finally taking my own advice! Don't get me wrong, I'm still competing and paying attention to what the better shooters are doing but I'm not going balls out trying to keep up