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How to shoot a Classifier


JAB

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so what's the Secret to shooting classifiers do you take your time and try for A,s or shoot fast and hope for A and C I have a match with 5 stages and there all classifiers

Edited by JAB
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Classifiers test your general skill level and gun handling skills… Of course you can game it, but for the most part it shows you where you're at. Go out there and shoot as fast as you can accurately and see what percentage you earn. It's as simple as that. As you become a better shooter and more proficient, your classifier percentages will increase.

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Shoot them no differently than you shoot any other stage.

This. Its simply a shorter stage of the match.

Yes, I've gone "hero or zero" before. Rarely works out in my favor and even when it works, does it really "help" me? I've never understood why people want to shoot exceptionally high classifier scores and try to shoot differently than the rest of the match. If you simply want a higher class for ego, then go for it. But If you "hero or zero" them and you get lucky a few times, then you'll be up a class higher than your skill level really is and you'll get smashed at any bigger matches by people who are actually at that skill level (or the ones who should be even higher than sandbagged down- thats another story, lol).

Shoot it like a normal stage and as your skills progress, your classifier scores will follow.

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Like others have said, it is just another stage. Call your shots and shoot as fast as you can . . . just like the prior stage. You don't want to be classified higher than you can shoot a match, do you?

I often shoot with a revolver shooter that spent an entire summer shooting classifiers. Yes, over and over again. He made Master last spring and is constantly getting beat by A and B shooters. By constantly I mean each and every match!

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Shoot them no differently than you shoot any other stage.

I agree with this, and it seems that pretty much every GM says the same thing, whereas the guys stuck in A and B say 'hero or zero' (believe me, I've been one of those guys too). My best classifiers at matches have been the ones where I just looked at my sights, and pulled the trigger when they told me to, and kept aiming the gun until the shot went off.

To move up in class while calling your shots will probably require one to actually train on seeing the sights and shooting faster, but that will of course benefit your overall match performance as well.

Edited by motosapiens
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so what's the Secret to shooting classifiers do you take your time and try for A,s or shoot fast and hope for A and C I have a match with 5 stages and there all classifiers

I've never found "hope" to be an effective strategy in any endeavor in life ... Shooting is no exception.

You need to shoot alphas as fast as you can ...

Edited by Nimitz
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so what's the Secret to shooting classifiers do you take your time and try for A,s or shoot fast and hope for A and C I have a match with 5 stages and there all classifiers

The secret to shooting good classifier scores is that there is no secret.

Classifiers test your ability to perform the fundamentals at speed, that is pretty much it. Dry fire lots of draws (hands at sides and wrists above shoulders), lots of reloads, turn-and-draw, and strong hand/weak hand only. If you can do those things, and shoot mostly alphas, then you will shoot good classifier scores.

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A while back (there is a thread around somewhere with my woes) I was really struggling with classifiers. They did not accurately represent the skills I was showing on the other stages in a match. My head was in the way of my performance on the classifiers. I treated them differently and put pressure on myself in the classifier that I did not do in other stages. I have since relaxed and got my mental game under control. A classifier is simply the next stage in the overall match. I shoot them at the same speed and with the same desire for accuracy as every other stage and let the chips fall where they may. I am now finishing the classifier around the same overall ranking as all of my other stages (mid 40s most of the time out of ~100 shooters). If I have a classifier where I finish way out of what I did for the rest of the match (either high or low) I am going to review what I did very closely and either try to make it permanent or fix it. :)

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You did not mention if you are classified now but my suggestion is if you are not classified yet just take your time. This should prevent hitting no shoots you hope. So slow and make your shots and get classified first. You want to get classified first then you can grip and rip more after that you have a classification.

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You did not mention if you are classified now but my suggestion is if you are not classified yet just take your time. This should prevent hitting no shoots you hope. So slow and make your shots and get classified first. You want to get classified first then you can grip and rip more after that you have a classification.

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I agree with taking your time on classifiers, but I don't agree with "once you are classified then you can grip it and rip it." I think shooting with that mentality will end in failure a fair amount of the time, compared to just shooting within your abilities and executing the fundamentals. Draw, 5 splits, a reload, 5 splits. That's pretty much what most classifiers are composed of. If you can execute those actions well and in control, you will shoot good classifiers.
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Don't take your time. Just go out there and shoot the targets.

I'm not advocating going slow by saying take your time, more "don't shoot the no-shoots or throw a stupid mike."

Jab, some math to support why I think Hero-or-Zero is a failing option:

99-11, El Presidente has a high hit factor of 10.26, in Production. This means that you need all the points in 5.84 seconds. That seems really really fast, until you break it down.

With a fairly generous 1.4 second draw, followed by a 1.4 second reload (which are both fairly quick, but very easily achievable with dry fire), you only have to shoot .30 splits and transitions to get 100% on this classifier.

Let's say you go for the balls to the wall approach, and shave half a second off your time (5.34), but in shooting outside your comfort zone you drop 2 charlies and a delta. Now your HF drops to 9.74, because you were "trying" instead of just Jake's advice and just going out and shooting the targets.

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I guess I have different thoughts on this. I switched to open and quickly found out you really have to shoot classifiers fast to even budge at all. I grip it and rip it but for me that's still not lightning fast so I typically get my hits I'm just too slow( for open).

I also recommend to newer shooters to slow down if they are stuck in C or D. I often watch them blaze away and have way too many Charlie's etc. my thought process is to show them on a calculator they can shoot to their next class by just taking their time and get their hits. If a D shooter wants to move up to C he doesn't have to shoot Elprez in 2 seconds!

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I guess I have different thoughts on this. I switched to open and quickly found out you really have to shoot classifiers fast to even budge at all. I grip it and rip it but for me that's still not lightning fast so I typically get my hits I'm just too slow( for open).

I also recommend to newer shooters to slow down if they are stuck in C or D. I often watch them blaze away and have way too many Charlie's etc. my thought process is to show them on a calculator they can shoot to their next class by just taking their time and get their hits. If a D shooter wants to move up to C he doesn't have to shoot Elprez in 2 seconds!

Shooting fast and shooting within yourself are different. What is fast for you as an A open shooter and what is fast for a D production shooter are very different. But I bet if you did the breakdown exactly like you say you do for the C or D shooters for yourself, you might see that it is very possible with practice to shoot your next higher class as well.

As people improve, their mental idea of "fast" changes, and what they consider "normal" shooting speeds up. You shooing your "normal" pace is way faster than a C production shooter's "normal." Yes the HHF's in open are fast, but your perception of "fast" is also changing. We might not agree but that's how I see it at least.

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I guess I have different thoughts on this. I switched to open and quickly found out you really have to shoot classifiers fast to even budge at all. I grip it and rip it but for me that's still not lightning fast so I typically get my hits I'm just too slow( for open).

do you do much speed training? where you forget judging accuracy and just try to run the gun faster, while still calling your shots? I've been doing that a bit the last 5-6 months (not counting the month or so for hand surgery and recovery), and it has made a big difference in what feels 'fast' vs what feels 'normal'.

I find that if I shoot without knowing where the bullets are actually going, I don't have much success.

Edited by motosapiens
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so what's the Secret to shooting classifiers do you take your time and try for A,s or shoot fast and hope for A and C I have a match with 5 stages and there all classifiers

Do or do not, there is no try - Yoda

If you try and pull off a miracle you will be incorrectly classified for your actual skill level. If you try and fail completely you will be incorrectly classified. Just shoot it to the best of your skill level.

Full Disclosure: I only recently got my USPSA card so I am unclassified, but I generally finish high B, low A. My goal is GM - legit, competitive GM.

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Do or do not, there is no try - Yoda

I wish Yoda had tried to improve that saying. :closedeyes:

Before you can pull a lot of things off, you first must have tried. In some cases, you still might never do. Trying and not getting there is better than never trying.

I crossed a time/accuracy threshold on a certain drill a few weeks ago. Before I got there, I had to first try. My overall skill level is helped only a little by how I can do on this drill but at least I have experienced something I wouldn't have if I hadn't tried, and now I have more confidence that I'll be able to increase my skills in other ways -- through trying.

On a classifier, I don't want to try shooting at a new personal best skill level. I want to be within my skill level but definitely not messing around and not taking it easy. If I've never gone out and tried hard to stretch my skill level, and am not willing to execute classifiers at or very near the edge of my current ability, I have no hope of raising the bar in my classifier scores.

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