How the heck do I get better ?

[lknbigfish]

some great info here

[kirbinster]

Caspian38 (and others) thanks lots of good advice given. Unfortunately I can really only dry fire this type of practice as my indoor range does not offer the opportunity to move. I think one of my biggest problems is that I am not trusting myself and I too often take a shot and then wait to check it out before taking the next shot. I know I should not be doing this, but I don't seem to be able to break myself of this habit. I took video of 5 or 7 IDPA stages I shot this weekend, battery died cause I left the camera on too much (lesson learned on that). With the exception of one stage where you had to fire 5 shots while retreating I see that I am watching too much. For some reason on those shots I was able to just let it rip and did well. Also had one stage were I totally messed up by checking that my feet were behind cover when I re-positioned my kneeling and fired two more down zero shots into the next to last target and did not engage the last on as I picked up the wrong target - doh! Any way, if anyone wants to look these over and make some suggestions I would appreciate it.

http://youtu.be/JdhOlMDYVrE

http://youtu.be/6HnHeMwk2fc

http://youtu.be/2-pRorBlCNc

http://youtu.be/Mpy2HDP-4g4

http://youtu.be/WFiEcVV_wtk

[motosapiens]

I think one of my biggest problems is that I am not trusting myself and I too often take a shot and then wait to check it out before taking the next shot.

Like you're switching your focus to the target to see where the hole is? If so, that's a colossal waste of time, and you should stop doing it immediately.

[kirbinster]

I agree! I tell myself not to do it, the problem is myself just does not seem to listen to me

[DoubleL]

For me, dry fire provided the best way to correct what I call "the Kilroy".

Be honest and don't let yourself peek over the pistol while doing dry fire. I stacked items that I should be looking at so as to almost not give my brain the time needed to look at the stupid target taped to the wall! Like first the sights then the magwell then the sights and run the timer. You'll know right away if you're cheating! So far, everything I've tried in dry fire has just about directly implanted itself into my live shooting so be careful what you practice! No cheating to beat the beep!!

Some really good advice in the thread. I'm about to start the 10foot movement drills and begin putting more focus into footwork and efficiency. Most really good shooters I watch use the efficiency in their movement to reap huge gains in hit factor.

[caspian38]

A couple of easy things I noticed on the video. For me touching cover hardly ever helps with my accuracy, and slicing the pie can be done in one slice.Your starting your slicing from the begining and it caused you to lose track of what targets you had shot and not shot.. It also adds a lot of extra time and thinking/energy. Slicing the pie doesn't mean taking slices it just means starting from one side and shooting what comes into view as you come around a corner.

Try to think outside the box. On stage 4 (when you started seated and holding the ammo box ) could you have moved forward as you shot that target ? If not once you shot the target your forward movement should have been at maximum speed.

It's hard to critique helmet cams. I think you will get better / more feed back if you can get some one else to wear/ use your helmet cam as you shoot.

What are you trying to get better in USPSA or IDPA?

I personally don't shoot IDPA becuse I think it interferes with to many IPSC skills. It's like switching guns every other week it doesn't tend to help you improve your IPSC shooting in my opinion. I do think IPSC will help your IDPA shooting though.

[kirbinster]

Thanks. Not sure I understand what you mean above when you say "slicing the pie can be done in one slice", could you elaborate on that.

The stage that started seated with the ammo box required that you shoot before you could move, otherwise I would have done as you suggest.

I am trying to get better at everything, I like shooting both USPSA and IDPA and do both. I know what you mean about one impacting the other as there are many things you should be doing differently in each. I try to have my head in the match I am at and concentrate on doing it the right way for the sport but it probably is not helping me in either doing the other.

That last part really hits home, as I switch guns and calibers quite a lot. For IDPA I generally use one of two guns and shoot ESP, either my CZ75B with competition hammer and light springs or my STI Trojan CDP both in 9mm. For USPSA I really mix it up. The STI gets used for Single Stack minor, the CZ75B for Limited 10 minor, a Glock G35 for limited 10 major. I have also used my Kimber 1911 for single stack major. But it gets worse, I have a Glock G34 on order to shoot production.

[caspian38]

I spent a year switching between open , limited and production. I always felt switching hurt my overall performance in the long run. Each gun has a diffrent feel and timing . You might try sticking to one for a couple months and see if it helps.

Slicing the pie: It looked like you where looking at a target array ,and then losing sight of it ,and then looking at it again on your way to the next aray. I re watched the videos ,and it may have been when you said you were checking your foot placement. Either way you had way to many instances where you had to start over after looking / shooting part of an array. You either ran out of ammo or readjust after shooting two or three shots. When shooting production /IDPA if I have to move more than a couple steps I reload. Getting to each target position ready to shoot it completely will help with flow of each array, and will make your reloads faster since they will be planned. Unplanned reloads take extra time.

As to switching between both IDPA and USPSA it brings to mind the saying "jack of all trades master of none ". I personally didn't feel I could do both, and preform or improve at the levels I wanted. I found steel matches to be helpful as they don't usually reinforce anything negative for USPSA or IDPA. If IDPA is what you want to improve in I think the speed element of USPSA can and will help.

Setting some specific goals might also help you improve. I have wasted a lot of ammo over the years by shooting without specific goals in mind.

[GM2B]

Practice alot and shoot as many local matches as you can with the best squad there is at the match. Then shoot major matches and shoot with the best squad you can get on. Then practice some more!

[GM2B]

Also, practice on small steel targets they are quite humbling!

[Nimitz]

Jumping all over the place WRT to divisions is a big issue in my opinion. The other your lack of ability to call your shots. Next to trigger control I would put ths as the most important skill to master if you eve expect to really get better. It is very hard and frustrating to learn to do well and takes a TON of training but the rewards are literally immeasurable ....

[Nimitz]

You also said that you are trying To work on everything which I think is also a mistake. You need to break down your training into smaller pieces and only work on one or two things at a time. Once you truely master them, then move on to the next problem. You can't eat an elephant in one bite ...

Edited April 20, 2014 by Nimitz

[klee]

I think I remember you were in our squad at the March OB match, Howard right? I remembered being your RO for many of the stages. Some of the stages you were only down a few points but the time is what's hurting you. And then when you tried to rush on a few stages, either FTEs and mikes were there. I would recommend you seek help from Aaron @ DVCperformance.com. He does private classes, I've heard a lot of great reviews and a really nice guy. I know he is a M in Open and I think also in Limited.

During winter months, we dry fire a lot which I believe helps a lot. But you need to know how and what to dry fire. Otherwise to undo all the wrong or bad habits is just as bad. Just hang in there and you will get better.

[kirbinster]

I think I remember you were in our squad at the March OB match, Howard right? I remembered being your RO for many of the stages. Some of the stages you were only down a few points but the time is what's hurting you. And then when you tried to rush on a few stages, either FTEs and mikes were there. I would recommend you seek help from Aaron @ DVCperformance.com. He does private classes, I've heard a lot of great reviews and a really nice guy. I know he is a M in Open and I think also in Limited.

During winter months, we dry fire a lot which I believe helps a lot. But you need to know how and what to dry fire. Otherwise to undo all the wrong or bad habits is just as bad. Just hang in there and you will get better.

Yup that was most likely me. I know speed is my problem. I believe I switched guns for that match to my Glock G35 to shoot L10 Major, I normally use either my CZ75 or STI Trojan and shoot minor. My stupid thought process was if I shot major I could push the speed and not worry about the accuracy as much - bad idea. I only went slightly faster and my accuracy really went to hell. The problem I have is partly that while I know what I should be doing it sort of all goes to hell at the buzzer and when I try to pick up the speed I don't pick up my rear (yes rear) sights. I agree with you that Aaron is a great instructor. Well maybe not so great when you hear what I have to say next - I spent about five hours with him one day Actually you should have seen how bad I was before that. I learned a lot from him, I just need more practice.

[Supermoto]

You need to change the way you practice. Work on transitions and movement, leave the shooting speed the same.

[alma]

I haven't read all of the responses but how honest art you wish your sight alignments during dry fire practice?

Perhaps you shot devote some of your time to just heating proper sight alignment without the trigger pull.

I found that in a rush to get to the "click" can sometimes accept less than a perfect sight picture. That means that I am not pushing myself in practice to get my sights aligned where they need to be so my match draws can be much slower.

I guess that brings up the question about your dry fire practice times versus what you see in a match. How do they compare? I just picked up one of the Stoeger books that has a lot of specific dry fire drills to perfect various skills. You should take a look at it if you needs to improve your dry fire training routine.

[kirbinster]

I have a SIRT laser trainer and sometimes use that for dry fire so I am able to verify shots. What I find at match time is that tend to either take too much time to verify I have perfect sight picture or try to go too fast and only have my front sights. I need to find that happy medium. I also need to trust myself as I find to often I am checking for where the shot went before taking the next one.

[alma]

I just watcher your video and was thinking the same thing. It looked like you were unsure on your shots something you were staying on the target a long time before making a non-committal move to the next. Get enough alignment before pulling the trigger and know where the front sight was when the shot went bang versus looking for holes. Whew you transition make sure that you are finding the target with your eyes/head first. You were pretty slow on a of those transition like you were following the sights all the way over.

Your grip looked very inconsistent with nothing your strong hand and week hand. It can be different on draws, after reloads, and it's inconsistent stage to stage. You need to fix this. I have a video that I made that I can post that might help.

[kirbinster]

Thanks. Not sure what you are saying about grip but I would welcome the video.

[alma]

Here is the video. I will see if I can pull some examples about your grip. It was hard to see how low you had your left hand but It looked a bit low as well. It all applies but my CCZ grip is around the 3:50 mark.

Edited April 22, 2014 by alma

[kirbinster]

Thanks for the video. I do know that is the way I should be doing things, and I thought I was. Which video did you notice my grip was bad? I know sometimes when i rush my draw I don't get the best grip. It's funny because just the other day I was demonstrating what you presented to a woman in the next port over. I noticed her grip was horrible and her shots were all over the place. After three minutes I had her shooting two inch groups. I guess I must not have been applying what I know if you saw I was not holding it that way. Will have to recheck the films.

[alma]

What I am seeing mostly is a difference in positioning of your strong hand thumb. sometimes it is right on the frame but other times it is on your weak hand. On a couple of stages you even did both on either side of a reload.

It may just be due to perspective but when slowing the video down to 25% it really looked to me like your gun was tracking inconsistently which would can be the result of an inconsistent grip. Not sure if that is a contributor but it would certainly make it more difficult to shoot reliably at speed.

[kirbinster]

Ok thanks for pointing that out I will have to take a closer look

At that and try to be more cognizant of it during matches. I have no issue with it when taking my time at the range but do known grip can be an issue when at a match. My video has helped a lot as I had found that I was loosening my weak hand after each shot a while Ago and have at least fixed that.

[alma]

Here are some screen caps in order. Look at the difference in positioning of your thumb. Also, from the angle of your weak hand thumb it looks like your weak hand isn't high enough on your gun but I would have to see another angle to confirm. See if you can get more of your weak-hand palm into that grip and move that left hand a bit higher. It should help a lot in addition to practicing draws, sight pictures, reloads, and transitions.

[kirbinster]

Here are some screen caps in order. Look at the difference in positioning of your thumb. Also, from the angle of your weak hand thumb it looks like your weak hand isn't high enough on your gun but I would have to see another angle to confirm. See if you can get more of your weak-hand palm into that grip and move that left hand a bit higher. It should help a lot in addition to practicing draws, sight pictures, reloads, and transitions.

grip.JPG

Wow you've got a good eye to have picked that up. Thanks so much!