SC new shooter - rule question - pass on a target allowed?

[SWHlctx]

I'm new to SC and have a rule (or procedure) question. I've shot one match and most of it went OKish since I'm not the best shooter, but I had a mental meltdown on a couple of plates and just could not hit them. Being hard headed I decided I would keep shooting until I hit them. Not a good plan as I wasted a lot of ammo and had horrible times. I'm shooting a 9mm with iron sights.

So here is my newbie question - If I take a couple of shots at a plate and don't hit it, can I just pass and take the penalty?

And if "passing" on a plate is allowed, how do you do it or I guess another way to ask is how do you (I) declare it so the the SO isn't standing there waiting for me to continue to take shots? Do I say somethinig like "PASS"?

[kmca]

Just shoot the stop plate. The RO will apply the proper penalties.

If you can't hit the stop plate, just tell the RO you're done

Edited July 11, 2014 by kmca

[Hi-Power Jack]

Have you identified the reason you couldn't hit the plates?

Too far? Too small?

Your trigger? Ammo? Gun? Sights?

Shooting too fast?

I'd get out to the range and try those similar shots again in practice -

figure out what's going wrong, and correct it.

[hornetx40]

You are not doing anything different than any other new shooter does. Practice will bring your round count per match way down. It doesn't have to be live fire. Practice your draw and first shot. That will give you the most improvement. Don't pull the trigger until you have the sights just right. The speed will come. It is much faster to shoot 5 shots on 5 targets, than to shoot 10 or 12. It is a 3 second penalty for any plates not hit before the stop plate and it's a 30 second penalty for not hitting the stop plate. Go slow until you learn how to draw the gun safely and shoot accurately. the speed will come with time.

[SWHlctx]

Thanks for the clarification. I didn't see anything in the SC rules that strictly prohibited not shooting a target, but I sometimes get lost in the "legalize" interprutation of rules.

The SC match where I got into the "I'm gonna hit that SOB no matter what!" mode was some months ago. I haven't had a chance to shoot another. Hope to shoot one tomorrow. I'm pretty confident I'll score a lot better. I have spent considerable time and effort on the basics since then.

I think what happened on a couple of targets is after a couple of misses all reason flies out the door. Instead of passing or taking a deep breath and insuring everything is correct (grip, sight picture, trigger finger, etc) rage and max frustration ensues. I put a death grip on the gun and blast away. I've seen it happen acouple of times to good shooters on an IDPA stage when there is a "steel must fall" target in the COF.

Of course it doesn't help to know your "buddies" are somewhere behind you falling down laughing as you empty an entire mag on one target.

Thanks again folks and good shooting.

SWH

[kmca]

I know what you mean

Nerves, frustration, determination all add to the misses.

I'm pretty sure you're kidding, but, I'll bet your friends were really rooting for you to hit the target no friend would laugh...maybre later with you. We've all been there.

Edited July 12, 2014 by kmca

[ZackJones]

Skip it if you can't hit it. No need to tell the RO. You'll get 3 seconds added to your time for that string for each miss unless you miss the stop plate and it's it a fat +30. On the other hand I would take a different approach. I'm assuming this is a club or tier 1 match. If so the RO is permitted to provide assistance if you ask for it in advance. What you could do is when it's your turn to shoot tell the RO you're new and request assistance. Tell him if he see's your shooting high or left or right or low or whatever to help you out a little bit. With our new shooters we'll typically only call out a miss if they shoot at and miss a plate. Sometimes they go back and sometimes they don't. Hang in there and before you know it you'll be going 5 for 5 in no time.

[Pasley]

If I miss the first make up shot, I take a deep breath, get a perfect sight picture and squeeze off a shot. At that point I know the run is not very good anyway. It helps reinforce the fact that if I actually look at the sights and press the trigger properly I can hit every target.

The first couple matches I shot it occurred to me that I would have probably scored better on a couple of the harder stages if I had just drawn to the stop plate and took the 12 seconds of penalties. Not much fun in that though.

I'm still not very good at steel challenge but my scores have improved a lot over the ten monthly matches I've shot.

In addition to my timed score I also keep up with round count as a personal measure of performance.