Pitt Bull Posted February 7, 2005 Share Posted February 7, 2005 I have just decided to start competing. My local club has a ppc type shoot once a month. The main part of the course consists of knocking down five 8 inch square plates at 15 yards in under 8 seconds with five shots. Thats how you get a perfect score. Shooting is started from the low ready. I can do it in an average of six seconds, but sometimes I go over because I take my time and really concentrate on sight picture and trigger control. I know I should be able to do this easilyin under 6 seconds easily. So I speed up and start missing. I know I am hitting low and to the right when I miss. This is caused slightly jerking the trigger to speed up the hammer falling. Should I start shooting higher on the plate to make up for the slight jerk? I aim directly at the middle of the plate now. Should I aim 3/4 of the way up to compensate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougCarden Posted February 7, 2005 Share Posted February 7, 2005 Welcome Pit Bull, you are in the right place. First off, dry fire with your gun until you can come up on a paper plate on your wall with a good grip and hit the plate dead center on command. If you have your grip and trigger stroke down then you wont need to compensate with your sights. A common problem I have had with the plates is that I try to speed up. Remember that you have to shoot each plate one at a time. Each plate is a total focus on the target. If you dont shoot each one separately then you will miss the last couple consistently, due to lack of focus. Been there, done that..... When you trust in your sight picture and work the trigger smoothly you will be able to clean the rack faster than you ever have before. It will take a lot of dryfire and live shooting, also make sure you arent shooting magnum-level loads, as that will hinder your performance for what you want to do. Once you master the grip, sight picture, and trigger stroke, then you will be able to shoot whatever you want to well. Good luck, and once you master that set another goal and keep going! Good luck, DougC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loves2Shoot Posted February 7, 2005 Share Posted February 7, 2005 Do you know what trigger prep is? If you prep the trigger (that is take up the slack on a 1911 stle trigger) you won't miss the plates It is all about focus Shoot the middle of each plate, one of a time. 8 seconds is forever so KNOW you can't miss and you won't And ditto to what Doug said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook Posted February 7, 2005 Share Posted February 7, 2005 Focus on hitting the plate instead of beating the time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhino Posted February 7, 2005 Share Posted February 7, 2005 If you have to go that slowly to hit them, but you CAN hit them when you do, it sounds like you may be trying to get a "perfect" sight picture on each shot which 1) can make you miss and 2) is slow. Try to learn to press the trigger as soon as you see the plate vaguely centered behind your front sight. It's all about trigger control. You can get away with a crappy sight picture and an imperfect sight alignment on plates that big at that distance as long as you have good trigger control. Another problem may be that when you're trying to go fast, you may be shifting your focus from the front sight (where it should be) to the plate itself (where it should not be). I have this problem, but I'm getting better about it by just "chanting" in my head "front sight, press" each time I move to another plate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Di Vita Posted February 7, 2005 Share Posted February 7, 2005 I like what spook said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dajarrel Posted February 7, 2005 Share Posted February 7, 2005 One thing I did to help me on my plate shooting was to have 6 plates made up at 6 inches instead of the normal 8 inches and I don't paint them either. Not painting them makes you concentrate on your plate more (via the front sight) and shooting 6 inch plates makes the 8 inchers look like garbage can lids when I go to a match. FWIW dj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasonub Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 call the shot. let the sight lift on the plate and return to it before moving to the next plate. this ensures proper shot calling. you have a lot of time hitting those Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leroy Posted February 21, 2005 Share Posted February 21, 2005 5 plates at 15 yds is plenty of time. in action shootin we shoot 6 8 inch round plates 10yds 6 sec 15 yds 7 sec 20yds 8 sec 25 yds 9 sec. It can get tough especially at 20 yds... The way i pratice is use my timmer but dont set the par time I just go on the buzzer and go slow and get best results and get them in plenty of time... A good friend told me slow is smooth and smooth is fast... It seems like the slower i go the faster i get.. Hope this helps. Leroy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeFoley Posted February 21, 2005 Share Posted February 21, 2005 Don't rush it, call every shot. Don't let cadence and momentum get the better of you, especially near the end of the rack. I most often miss the last two plates when I get an easy first four, so I really have to see the sights every time. My fastest ever run was with a Glock 26 at 2.60, but I ran 3-4 every time Sunday with a Glock 34. I tend to do this better with any gun other than my STI, but I think it is because I have to focus more with the other guns. I went to a steel challenge match a while back with an 8 round single stack and did OK. You just have to make every shot count, the time will be faster than you think. I just watched an episode of Shooting Gallery at the Steel Challenge where Rob Leatham, Todd Jarrett, Dave Sevigny, and Jerry Miculek all had a bad day with many extra shots for most of them. It really emphasizes that smooth is fast. Stick with the fundamentals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Carter Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 Don't be satisfied with just the sights on the plate, make them be in the center of each plate when the shot breaks, I like to imagine I'm shooting at a 4 " x ring in the middle of the plate. Never ever let your focus leave the front sight, if you do you will miss a plate, maybe not that one, but you will start missing. Plates should be the easiest thing to shoot, the challenge is not allowing your focus to go out to the plate and not letting up on your concentration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harmon Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 A good friend told me slow is smooth and smooth is fast... only half of that statement is true. fast is fast, there is no other way around it. that slow is smooth, smooth is fast is a roadblock.. at some point your going to have to "get on the gas" to shoot faster. with steel the best(read fastest) is one shot per target, as fast as you can see the sights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skywalker Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 Pitt Bull, besides the great advice that has already been given, I'll offer my 2c worth. You need to build confidence that you can knock down the plates in the allotted timeframe. This will help you in focusing on the trigger/sight relationship forgetting about the time. To do this, you will need a good dose of dryfiring with your timer. Try to set up the same stage in your basement, and set a par time on your timer that you're confident with. Then start doing the drill, focusing on the above mentioned relationship: I mean, you don't have to do the following in separate steps, look for the sights, find the perfect sight picture, then start squeezing the trigger as a result of your desire to let the least possible elapsed time between the perfect sight picture and the shot being released. You should work it by applying a steady, consistent trigger pressure while driving the sights with your eyes on the target, until the shot breaks unexpectedly. The whole operation is a single step: you steadily pull the trigger all the time, concentrating on holding the sights on the target while doing this. If you are able to do this (and you'll learn it perfectly by dryfiring), and to followthrough your shots by seeing the front sight lifting in recoil on the plate, there is no way you're going to miss. Besides, by working this all in dryfire, as your par times will become shorter and shorter, you'll be building confidence in your ability to knock down all the plates in the right time, without ever feeling pressured (this will lead to being tense, rushing the shots and eventually missing). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasonub Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 when i was shooting plate racks i try to beat my old par time 3.15 seconds from the draw. when i try and try again it gets worse. 3.49,3.99,4 5 seconds. then one day i just shot it saw what i needed to see and got my personal best on my limited pistol 2.59 seconds. for beginners. wait till the shot breaks and return the sight to the point of aim, then move on. this ensures proper follow through and not rushing the shot. good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitt Bull Posted February 24, 2005 Author Share Posted February 24, 2005 with alot of dry fire and just slowing down I am now easily making time. thanks for all the help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paladin Posted February 26, 2005 Share Posted February 26, 2005 the trick to shooting plates is to shoot them as if they are A zones paper target and raise your visual input to call the shots.. learn to not use the sound as a hit confirmation.. scary but can be done!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acolt45 Posted March 6, 2005 Share Posted March 6, 2005 Practice makes perfect Also practice at 25 yards then when you get closer you should never miss – plus you will be surprised at your times. try Bowling Pin Shooting – Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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