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How often do you practice? What class are you?


MC1

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I live fire practice once a week, usually with 200-300 rds working on specific skills. I dry fire practice for 15-90 minutes every single night, even after matches or live-fire practice. I try to shoot at least 3 matches a month.

I'm currently A class, but will hopefully be moving up to M as soon as they update the database. I just started this practice regimen about 2 months ago after a 3 year break from shooting. Before that, I dry-fired for 15-20 minutes 3-4 times a week and practiced live-fire a couple of times a month.

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If your body is telling you that 1 hour df sessions are too much, then you can either scale back the time, or you can hurt yourself, then scale back the time.

I personally think 1hr is a long time. If you are only doing it 3x a week you should be able to cut things back to 30min 5x week and not lose much, or not lose anything.

I tried cutting the routine in half to 30min daily but my elbows were sore the 3rd day so I had to rest the 3rd and 4th days and Df again the 5th. The sum total was the same as 3x a week but the risk of injury was great. I think Im needing the day in between to rest my tendons. Years before, in my 40s I Df 1hr 3x a day 6 days a wk. It was not long before my elbows began to give way. Thereafter, it was a long ardous battle between training and healing the injury to no avail. It was only late last year that I began to temper my training, telling myself that I donot intend to be a pro or a GM. Edited by BoyGlock
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The year I made gm I was shooting 1000 rnds a week and dry firing everyday. I do believe I wasted a lot of that ammo as I didn't have any formal training. In the beginning My training sessions were just throwing rounds down range without a definite direction/skill. It wasn't till I focused on specific skills in my training that I made big gains. It took a while to figure out that it wasn't the amount of rounds I shot but the quality of the practice I did.

Nowadays I don't practice much but many of the skills/abilities have remained just not quite as sharp as they used to be. With that said my match results have not suffered that much.

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I dry fire about 30-45 min per day. Live fire practice about 1-2 times per month. I have never been to a uspsa match. Been to 2 idpa matches. I'll be going to 1-2 uspsa matches per month now. Last El Presidente practice I was averaging 5.8 sec & 49 points.

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My initial classification was B Limited shooting 10 round mags in 1911s back in the mid 90's.

Floundered in B over the next several years, shot fast but not accurate. Matches were my practice. Very little dry fire.

Finally got serious about learning, read Brian Enos' book, took a "class" from nice a guy, started practicing 1 or 2 times a week, dry firing a few times a week, finally made A. After B for about 8 years (with a three year shooting break in the middle).

Got access to a good range 5 miles from my house, practiced live fire 3 or 4 times a week, 200 to 300 rounds per session, plus weekend matches, took a GOOD class from a couple great GMs, dry fired almost every night..... reread Brian's book a few times. Made M. Almost GM %, a couple points away. Did ok at club level.... but had a hard time being competitive at bigger matches..... but then again I wasn't pushing myself the same, at that point, and coasted.

Now 8 or 9 years later I hardly ever practice, shoot maybe 3 or 4 club matches a year, never dry fire (unless I get a new gun) and if I showed up at a Major would be last M by a mile. Probably hardly a good B.

It's a perishable skill, my friends, stay with it; and getting old, fat, and losing your eyesight doesn't help either.

Time to lose some weight, get better glasses, and reread Brian's book I guess! Maybe I'll even fit some practice in there somewhere ;)

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I've been laid off for the last month, short on money, lots of free time.

I've been dry firing for at least an hour a day, 5-6 days a week, not much practice range time, a few SC matches and a USPSA match. I shot my first 60% classifier last month. I will be shooting an all classifier match Sunday, I should make B.

This reinforced my dry fire even more, I haven't shot much but have seen major improvements in my shooting game.

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  • 1 month later...

Until this year not really any practice. Random 15 min of dryfire a couple times a month. 1-2 matches a month. No live fire between. Made M this way. This year I'm trying to dryfire about 15-40min a night pretty regularly. Only have had 2 practice sessions and still doing 1-2 matches a month. I've really picked up consistency with dryfire. Match shooting seems pretty easy now as far as difficulty of making shots. Looking forward to improving.

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Still in my first calendar year of IPSC, am a D class, my 3rd match is in 3 weeks from now, and after a poor preformance at my last match, kinda swore to not waste a RO's time if I couldn't practice smart and practice hard.

So now I dryfire a ton, and have ramped up my training lately. Getting in better shape, have more stamina, accuracy has improved, draw is smoother, upgraded my equiptment and have C class in my sights by September.

I have my worst score sheet taped to my ammo box right now, reminds me that last time I really defeated myself. And hot damn do I have a desire for a little mini plaque or certificate.

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I have my worst score sheet taped to my ammo box right now, reminds me that last time I really defeated myself.

Do yourself a favor and tear that shit up. Find something positive; a goal or something you did particularly well and put that there instead. Seriously...

t

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I'm in my first calendar year of USPSA and I am currently pending 'A' class. I practice once a weekend on most weekends that I don't have a match and when I can I'll try to slip in a second training session. I spend about 30 minutes a week dry firing and practicing index and reloads (usually the evening before my match). I'd love to do more dry fire practice because, I feel, my reload has been one of my least consistent parts of my weapons manipulation game. I always seem to spend more time making excuses as to why I can't rather than doing the work. Nothing to it but to do it, I suppose.

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I have my worst score sheet taped to my ammo box right now, reminds me that last time I really defeated myself.

Do yourself a favor and tear that shit up. Find something positive; a goal or something you did particularly well and put that there instead. Seriously...

t

You know what, your right. Had thought it would be there as a reminder to move forward and not beat myself up like I did that day,

but I think I have learned my lesson enough. Printing out a stencil that says B class to paint on it instead. Got a ways to go, but by next summer if I keep at it, I am sure I will get there

Thanks for the good advice,

Brad

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I have my worst score sheet taped to my ammo box right now, reminds me that last time I really defeated myself.

Do yourself a favor and tear that shit up. Find something positive; a goal or something you did particularly well and put that there instead. Seriously...

t

You know what, your right. Had thought it would be there as a reminder to move forward and not beat myself up like I did that day,

but I think I have learned my lesson enough. Printing out a stencil that says B class to paint on it instead. Got a ways to go, but by next summer if I keep at it, I am sure I will get there

Thanks for the good advice,

Brad

Brother, the brain is a super powerful thing, that's all. Focusing on the negative can absolutely limit your progress. Stay positive and confident, work hard and crush those goals.

t

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I shoot a match once a month on average. I livefire practice maybe 100 rounds a month, and the night before a match I belt up and practice draw and reloads. I should have made B class with my last classifier. I know shooting more often and having purposeful livefire sessions would be incredibly helpful. It's weird to shoot a match where you are about to start your first stage and the last time you pulled the trigger was up to a month ago and you have lost the muscle memory for the feeling of recoil. There was one single time where I went and did livefire the evening before a match, and during that match it was great to step up to the line and when the RO asked "Shooter Ready?" I felt like I was actually truly READY.

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Lol. Well, shooting is my #1 hobby and I probably spend way too much time reading about it. But with limited time and funds, and priorities that place the wife and kids at the top, being gone most of every Saturday to do my own thing just isn't an option for me personally.

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1 match a month, MAYBE 2. 1-2 live fire practice sessions of about 100-150 rounds per month. Dryfire is hit or miss. Some weeks I get in 3 or 4 sessions. Last week, I never touched a gun or magazine. Made Master late last year and knocking on the door of GM now. Consistency is my problem

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I'm a IDPA SSP Expert / USPSA Production B class shooter, probably on the cusp of SSP Master / Production A.

I dry fire 4-5 times a week, usually for an hour, sometimes two one-hour sessions in a day. I live fire maybe once a week. Right now, I don't have access to a live fire range where I can draw, move, set up stages, etc., so all my live fire practice is at a square indoor range. I shoot at least a match every Saturday, with the occasional Sunday match as well.

I've only been practicing this much for about 6 months, and I think it has really helped. My goal is to become SSP Master / Production A by the end of the calendar year.

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Ltd A: Typical week is 4 dry fire sessions and one live fire session of 200 rounds of drills. Two matches a month on average. Been at this pace a couple years and used Ben's training principles, even before reading his books.I stagnated in B for a while concentrating too hard on perfect sight pictures in dry fire. Started focusing on pure speed and made A shortly after.

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