blopez50 Posted November 24, 2013 Share Posted November 24, 2013 I had a disappointing afternoon today... BUT, I'll start the story with yesterday. Yesterday I took a little "shooting on the move" clinic at a local range. It was a great day and I shot REALLY well. I've been dry-firing as much as possible and doing quite a bit of live fire practice so it was great to see that pay off. Tonight, I decided to go to a small "steel challenge" match. 7 targets, 1 round on each, 5 runs. I had pretty high hopes after the way I shot yesterday. Well, I sucked it up. I think my best time was right about .08. I just couldn't make my hits and I felt horrible coming out of the holster... I felt like a totally different shooter. I guess my point to all this is that I hated the way it felt. It's time to get serious and add some consistency to my shooting. I've got a few books on the way to me and I'm going to start a range diary here so I'll have something to be accountable to! Any other things you guys think I NEED to do? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZackJones Posted November 24, 2013 Share Posted November 24, 2013 Perhaps break it down into baby steps and analyze the problem that way. You said you didn't feel right with your draw why? Were you not getting a good grip? Was the holster out of position compared to normal? Could the fact that you were shooting steel versus cardboard have some factor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimo-Hombre Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Mind games bro. A guy shoots really well, then next time out, or next stage or what have you.... Shoots terrible, Your skill didn't evaporate,, your mind did. How to fix that? When you figure that one out please share. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkeeler Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Two completely different games. Steel challenge is less forgiving on the draw than USPSA. You just found a weakness in your draw that just doesn't show up when shooting USPSA. Most of the time in USPSA matches you are drawing while going to another position, so the draw doesn't hurt the time like a stand and draw for steel challenge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blopez50 Posted November 26, 2013 Author Share Posted November 26, 2013 Two completely different games. Steel challenge is less forgiving on the draw than USPSA. You just found a weakness in your draw that just doesn't show up when shooting USPSA. Most of the time in USPSA matches you are drawing while going to another position, so the draw doesn't hurt the time like a stand and draw for steel challenge. I hadn't thought about that but in retrospect, it's very much the case. I'm gonna hit the draw a little harder this week! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirbinster Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 I am far from an expert, but I think you need to concentrate on accuracy and then let the speed develop. I just started shooting less than a year ago, and play all the games. I am amazed at how fast some of the shooters are, but see they have lots of Charlies and Dogs and even some Mikes. Yea they smoke my times, but I get almost all Alphas with a couple of Charlies. I am confident that my times will improve with more practice. That said shooting steel is just like trying to make sure you get all Alphas. As the saying goes you can't miss fast enough to win. Work on making your hits and then start to push yourself for speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted November 27, 2013 Share Posted November 27, 2013 If you are going to focus on USPSA type shooting then you will need to learn to shoot accurately at speed. I would not focus on accuracy first and then speed. These need to be worked on together because as one great shooter has said ... "shooting accurately is meaningless if you can't do it fast". Remember, this sport is about only one thing: shoot all alphas as fast as you can. My approach would be to first take a class from a well known GM instructor. This will provide a baseline of where your shooting is today and what your major weaknesses are. More than likely you will then need to learn to stand and shoot accurately at speed. Ben Stoeger's book has a section in it called "10 drills to master" which are all stand and shoot drills. BTW, these are the same skills you'll need to perform well in classifiers. After being able to shoot those at 90% As within the advanced times you are ready to start to learn to move and shoot accurately at speed. This is where you'll learn how to move efficiently though a stage to execute it in min time. Most people skip the "stand and shoot accurately at speed" training because its 'boring" compared to running around and shooting. However, the people who usually win matches did not skip this training ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ropsitos Posted December 2, 2013 Share Posted December 2, 2013 I shot an all steel match last month (25-30 targets/stage) and the club has left the stages setup for winter practice. Everything from 3" squares to the large size poppers and spinners. I shot the stages thanksgiving day morning for practice, and was able to keep and eye on my splits. What I noticed is that misses on steel appeared to cost me a lot of time. From reading the timer i swear it was 0.75-1 sec. Shooting faster vs fast and I was saving only small amounts of time per target. 1 miss burned up all my savings from shooting faster. Obviously if you are quicker with your make up shots then the time exchange is different. Point I'm trying to make is that sometimes you need to go slow to go fast and you should know how that works for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcc7x7 Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 I'm told the difference between B class and Master is consistency?!?!?!?! I heard Rob L. says this about 25 years ago. " the more I practice the luckier I get!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilBunniFuFu Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Difference between missing paper and missing steel is that you see the steel didn't fall. Take your time and get your hits then practice going incrementally faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solidgun Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Shooting 4in x 4in steel at 20-25 yds for 3 gun this year has really changed the way I focus on small targets. I had to learn to judge the distance and use the top of the sight (not F/O insert) to line up the shot. The color of the bare steel has also been an issue for me as the color doesn't pop out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjb45 Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 The book (some of you do read) called The Outliers, explains very nicely about what it takes to achieve results----10,000 hours of work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPeel Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 Tonight, I decided to go to a small "steel challenge" match. 7 targets, 1 round on each, 5 runs. .........Well, I sucked it up. I think my best time was right about .08. I just couldn't make my hits and I felt horrible coming out of the holster... Am I reading this right - your best time on 7 plates from the holster was 0.08 seconds? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktm300 Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 I am far from an expert, but I think you need to concentrate on accuracy and then let the speed develop. I just started shooting less than a year ago, and play all the games. I am amazed at how fast some of the shooters are, but see they have lots of Charlies and Dogs and even some Mikes. Yea they smoke my times, but I get almost all Alphas with a couple of Charlies. I am confident that my times will improve with more practice. That said shooting steel is just like trying to make sure you get all Alphas. As the saying goes you can't miss fast enough to win. Work on making your hits and then start to push yourself for speed. USPSA is speed and accuracy. Working on one and expecting the other to show up is not a good plan. Yes you have to make hits but you have to do it efficiently. I can shoot all A's on every COF if given enough time. I am far from a spray and pray guy but a few C's are OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lawboy Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 (edited) Work on your shooting. Sounds like your shooting is not where you would like it to be. Learn what it takes to make A hits or hit steel at different distances and with different presentations. By what it takes, I mean time and sight picture. Both are different for every distance/presentation. Many times I see shooters shooting way to fast for the challenge presented. You don't even need to go look at the target to know that they have hard cover mikes, or no shoots, or that they are going to burn a mag on the 4-piece steel array shooting at that pace simply because it is way to fast for the their ability given the challenge presented. A lot of this game is judgment -- knowing how fast you can go and still perform the task at hand with the first shot. That speed is the fastest possible on the challenge. Any other speed is a losing strategy over the course of a match. Edited December 26, 2013 by lawboy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikethor Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 Tonight, I decided to go to a small "steel challenge" match. 7 targets, 1 round on each, 5 runs. .........Well, I sucked it up. I think my best time was right about .08. I just couldn't make my hits and I felt horrible coming out of the holster...Am I reading this right - your best time on 7 plates from the holster was 0.08 seconds? This - 0.08 from the holster is smoking, hell I would be happy with an 0.80 draw from the holster onto paper ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonOfSpartans Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 I would be more inclined to think the OP means eight seconds total for seven steels, (0:08) but I will wait to see the response..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 The trick to shooting steel targets well is to imagine you are shooing at paper targets. Or in other words, call your shots by reading the sights, rather than by listening for, or the absence of, the ding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirbinster Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 The trick to shooting steel targets well is to imagine you are shooing at paper targets. Or in other words, call your shots by reading the sights, rather than by listening for, or the absence of, the ding. Ding ding ding......that sounds like great advice. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hi-Power Jack Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 Try the Dot Torture Drill (I know, that's my preferred answer to most questions on this Forum:)) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZackJones Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 The trick to shooting steel targets well is to imagine you are shooing at paper targets. Or in other words, call your shots by reading the sights, rather than by listening for, or the absence of, the ding. Ding ding ding......that sounds like great advice. Thanks! Tisk, tisk, tisk....Didn't Brian just say to not listen for the hits on steel . That's some great advice though. I plan to use it in the Steel Challenge match this coming weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 When me and Mike Henry practiced for the first Steel Challenge (1981), we did not have, nor could we afford, steel targets. So for the targets that were round discs, we stapled paper plates to target sticks. And for the 18 x 24" rectangles, we just shot at IPSC targets. The goal was to shoot your 5 runs, then go check for 5 hits on each paper target. It was quite difficult to have 5 hits on every target. Practicing like that may have been why we both finished very well, at our first major, out-of-state match: http://www.brianenos.com/pages/phsc.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobS761 Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 The trick to shooting steel targets well is to imagine you are shooing at paper targets. Or in other words, call your shots by reading the sights, rather than by listening for, or the absence of, the ding. This was my first season shooting Steel Challenge. One of the first things I noticed was that almost everyone couldn't transition until they heard an impact on steel. But knowing isn't the the entire battle. BE just gave me a nugget, though, read the sights! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steel1212 Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 I don't shoot a lot of steel challenge but I do use it for practice. If your getting sloppy with the sights steel will kick your butt quick! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chanman Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Yes , yes it will. The only time I like steel is when im shooting rimfire open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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