Patrick Garner's diary

[pcg]

First post.

Shot "Walls of Steel," my first steel competition, on 10/26/14. Wallum Lake Rod & Gun Club, Harrisville, RI. Decent weather but cool: 50 F plus some wind. Category: Stock auto. Shot a Beretta 92 FS.

Six stages with about 25-27 targets each. 151 plates total. Great ROs and great organization.

I placed about 3/4s back in the pack. I found I was accurate but slow. Shot average was about 1.2 rounds per plate. Took down the Texas Star in 7 shots; amazed myself.

Lessons learned: Speed PLUS accuracy counts. Smoothness does not translate into speed. All of my fast draw practice didn't matter: we started in easy ready position on all stages.

Have to learn to drive the gun's sights to the targets at high speed during live practice. Hm, 20,000 rds (50,000?) to get there & achieve both speed and accuracy? Can hear Ben Stoeger shouting in my ear... Dry fire, dry fire!

Edited November 11, 2014 by pcg

[Richc2048]

Awesome Job Patrick! I learned very quick as well that speed AND accuracy are needed to start getting results. I started in May shooting IDPA and USPSA and learned that the speed will come when you practice the fundamentals. I tried just working on speed but it did not work out well for me. The fundamentals being better is what is helping me with speed. Getting a front sight picture faster only improved for me as I worked on my grip and stance. I couldn't practice getting a front sight picture faster no matter how much I tried. I think that speed is the happy result and not the problem at hand. Your practicing may vary though. Just getting used to the speed may in fact be what you need. It wasn't for me unfortunately.