Ron Ankeny Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 Warning, long post ahead with questionable value. A little back ground first. Last month I spent a lot of time working on my reload with my single stack, but I haven't done much (if any) dry firing for about 3 weeks. I have been doing a lot of live fire though. So what's the problem? Well, I am between competition pistols right now so I have been doing alot of close yardage range work with carry guns. I have been shooting a snubbie wheelgun some and a baby Glock pistol a lot. I have also been shooting a 1911 some, but most of that is on 18X24 Steel Challenge rectangles as close as I dare get to them without eating the lead after the impact. I am now a point shooting maniac and I haven't seen a front sight in the past 3,000 rounds. I have mutated into a mall ninja with CQB pistolcraft skills to rival the best liars on the Web. I bet all of the experienced shooters know where I am headed with this. I went to a little get together yesterday, kind of an abbreviated club match. Just some guys with some targets scattered around shooting for giggles. I show up knowing I can smoke the reload, and I know I will own the hoser stuff. Well, I have worked myself right into spray and pray heaven and I missed evey single reload because I didn't pay attention. I don't recall seeing the magazine well until after the top round was hung up on the front of the frame. A steel plate at 12 yards did little more than drive my ammunition bill sky high. The close paper targets were hosed with reckless regard for Mike and the Delta squad. I called shots good that weren't even on the paper. The point after rambling for so long? I have engrained some really bad habits in my quest for speed. We all know as the speed goes up, our fundamentals erode. During my time off, I fell into the trap of practicing what was fun (at the moment) and I let my vision backslide. My fire control sucks. All of this brought on by hosing like a bat out of Hades for the thrill of speed. Beware the trap of high speed plinking. I guess I need to leave the 18x24 rectangles in the shed and get back to the business of shooting the A box. Maybe I should shoot at a plate rack for a little while, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loves2Shoot Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 I hear you loud and clear, one of the better posts I've seen in awhile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 Nice post Ron. Very good message. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dunn Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 The match was an eye opener for me as well. I thought I was to a point I didn't need to practice my reloads much, that I could count on them to just "be there", I guess a Spring tune up is in order. I also completely psyched myself out when I overheard someone in the background commenting on how fast I was about to shoot a stage. Someone should be able to yell "BOO!" right in my ear as I'm shooting, and if I'm really dialed in, it shouldn't matter. Why do I let chatter (and it was POSITIVE chatter) even factor? I do retarded things like shoot with a time in mind, instead of just shooting As and letting the time land where it lands. From previous hard lessons learned, I now load my match mags from boxed ammo (after I put the reloads into boxes I scrutinize the rounds for high, crushed, backward primers). So, of course, yesterday I throw some mags I had sitting around loaded (for practice I stuff mags from a .50 cal ammo can), and sure enough a flipped primer ruins what would have been a decent run. What made it worse was the clearance....click....was that a squib?.....didn't feel like a squib....rack the slide....nope that case had a bullet in it still...might as well finish the stage. Very smooth. The weird thing is, I still had a ball. There's something to this shooting stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clay1 Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 I shoot my qualifier and am focused like there is a connection between the gun, my eyes and the target that is a solid rod of steel. I shoot two of the 4 or 5 stages (I forget) absolutely clean. I drop 1 A zone and shoot a single B on another stage. I'm not blazing but by shooting very clean I do fine. Then comes the next match. If I shot that clean I should speed up and shoot a few more Bs but make up that with speed. Speed for me is the lure of false hope. My shooting didn't go down just a little and I didn't have a chance at all to make up anything. The amount of misses could not be made up. Next match comes. I know that I can shoot faster than I did and still get good hits. I focus on rythm of the shoots and moving quickly. I don't hit very well. Next match same thing until the last stage and I said, forget the time and shoot all As. I didn't shoot all A's but shoot the course cleaner than anyone else on the squad and guess what? The time wasn't bad at all. Finally at a match yesterday. I said forget the speed altogether and hit everything that you shoot at. I did try to get from box to box efficiently and plan the stage for the least movement. Brian's comments on shooting all A's as fast as you can really hit home this season so far for me. I place much higher in the standings this way too. Still have a long way to go in the shooting game, but one huge leason learned for me. Make up the time by stage planning and shooting smart, but take the time your need and only the time you need to shoot A's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcoliver Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 ...mutated into a mall ninja with CQB pistolcraft skills to rival the best liars on the Web. Dang! This made me laugh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j1b Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 Great thread! Ron, your points are tried and true. Valid too. Steel is a dangerous practice companion (for me at least). I know that for my own good I should shoot steel more. Speed has never really been a strong point of mine and while I've been competitive at times I've always inherently known I wasn't the fastest in the field. Steel would help with this issue - it breeds speed. But to your point, all practice sessions have their flaws and steel has its own unique set of flaws that IMO can be as detrimental as beneficial. Despite my handicap, I've never practiced, and don't forsee practicing with, steel. You guys have nailed it, pay attention and all will fix itself. I find it ironic that most of us in this forum will shoot better matches early in the season as we "get back to the fundamentals and utilize visual patience." Later on we "hope" because we are deeper in season and more in touch. Generally - that can be a trap where we end up shooting worse. Wow - it sucks when you know what to do, but you decide not to do it JB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loves2Shoot Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 Steel is too big for IPSC practice, the A zone is much smaller than a plate. I always have a problem when we go from steel (winter) to paper for a few matches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 Steel is too big for IPSC practice, the A zone is much smaller than a plate. Why not simply move the steel back? Anybody here think shooting a 10" round plate at 20 to 35 yards inspires hosing? Steel is a good tool for learning. Just because we abuse the tool doesn't mean there's anything inherently wrong with it. Besides, who said we couldn't make A-zone size rectangles and hang those off the stand? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loves2Shoot Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 Steel is too big for IPSC practice, the A zone is much smaller than a plate. Why not simply move the steel back? Anybody here think shooting a 10" round plate at 20 to 35 yards inspires hosing? Steel is a good tool for learning. Just because we abuse the tool doesn't mean there's anything inherently wrong with it. Besides, who said we couldn't make A-zone size rectangles and hang those off the stand? I actually have two 5"x5" steel plates on both sides of a 5" x 14" rectangle on a stand that I use for IPSC practice. I was speaking about traditional steel challenge type plates that we shoot in the winter instead of IPSC targets, when I made my coments. Move those targets out far enough and you are right. Getting used to the clang part is what I really don't like about practicing on steel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aXXman Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 I like pretty much any target that clanks, breaks or falls over... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcoliver Posted March 15, 2005 Share Posted March 15, 2005 Regarding steel practice, be careful about practicing on poppers that you set not to fall down (because it's tiring to keep walking down ragne to reset them.) After only a few range sessions with those, I noticed I was starting to develop the tendency to listen to the ring to ensure a hit. YMMV, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted March 15, 2005 Share Posted March 15, 2005 Train attention inefficiently, and that error will compound itself under pressure. be Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detlef Posted March 15, 2005 Share Posted March 15, 2005 IMHO, any training that breeds familiarity with what is encountered in a match is beneficial. As such, I use steel in practice. If nothing else, it teaches you how bad your practice is. Yes, it's very easy to get carried away by the speed factor with steel, but hell YOU WILL KNOW ABOUT IT! You can move the steel out to 25 and 50 y, and that gets rid of the "too big" issue. But you can also move it up close and get instant feedback on how fast you can really go, and what level of attention and seeing is necessary. After all, you don't want to spend more time on close steel than necessary (but surely not less, either ) --D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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