Need suggestions for plates (20 & 25yds) Production class

[Csbassplayer2003]

I have been trying to up my plates score for a long time and im not getting any better (actually getting worse...). The farther 2 ranges are killing me badly. At a practice match today, I went 10 of 12 at 15 (both misses I rushed and knew it), I got 4 of 6 on my first set at 15 yrds, then 2 of 6 on the second set (un characteristic right there, but ok, chalk it up to bad luck, I normally do better). But at 20 and 25yds, I usually stand, and I barely clear 30 plates on an average run, so less than half if I do ok at 10 and 15 (best in a match ever was 35, ironically on my first ever), and those two distances always hurt me bad. TODAY, I tried going prone after some practice beforehand, and it went from bad to worse. For one, Im a bigger guy (6ft 1, 260), so I had to prone at 45 degrees to get my head down enough. As it turns out, this wasn't even enough and I had to raise the gun up so much to get a sight picture that I had to stack my right hand on top of a fisted left hand to get it high enough. This obviously was terrible for rhythm, speed, and stability. I cleared a total of 24 plates of 48 today, and again, 10 of those were at 10 yards. At 15, 20, 25 I went 14 for 36. Not good. Im not sure what to do. Im not accurate/consistent enough standing at those ranges to do well, and prone seems to be even worse. I am shooting a production gun, so no prone pad for me (Glock 34). Its not the gun, its not ammo, it isn't anything other than technique/me. I can slow fire them if I have all the time I need without that much issue, I just can't do it at timed at that range with any degree of accuracy. And prone seems to be counter productive/worse. Anyone have any ideas what to do? Should I keep trying prone? Something else? Just try standing even though it will probably always leave me mediocre?

[gm iprod]

Dump prone until you are 100% certain you can do it tidily and easily get to the sights. Height and weight are not your problem, it is where the weight is. If in the middle section you are essentially pointing down hill from there. If you are wide and flat then the problem will not exist as you will be pointing uphill to the shoulders. I am unfortunately the former, very shoulders down.

What pistol? Do they make a factory extended (plus 2 maybe) magazine for your handgun, if so get them and use them. You are allowed to modify / replace the sights, get the highest sights possible. To minimize the drop in the head position get the sights up as far as you legally can.

Any practice you do at the plates standing will be good practice for the mover, as the 10 ring is the same size.

If you decide to persevere with going prone at 20 and 25, then make sure you can get those sights sorted out and inline. Then just start at 25y with no end time, just shoot good ones without dawdling, but at the same time keep a good sight picture and trigger control, onc youget all 6 in about 10 seconds you will find you can speed up a little, you will baturally go faster in a match until you really get control.

Don;t sight in just taking one shot gently at a time. paint the paltes and do 4 strings at 25 until you are certain that you have a cfully confirmed sight picture and aiming point, or know what the sight adjustment is from the other matches.

Keep at it.

[Resjudicata]

Listen to the above.

When practicing don't worry about the par time. Just go off the beep of a timer.

Work on only doing what you have to do rather than trying to go fast. This will get your time down without trying or rushing the shots.

Prep the trigger on each shot. Not only take up the slack but put half the pressure on the trigger required for it to break. Pause for a tiny fraction of a second to confirm sight picture and then finish the squeeze.

If you want to shoot prone then find the prone position that works and then make sure you can get to that position quickly every time. I wouldn't worry about prone for a while. Work on the above till you are consistent and use prone for the last tiny bit of points.

My 2 cents,

Chris

[toothguy]

When ever it's allowed, going prone is a huge advantage to standing. You need to come up with a prone technique that works for your body type or limitations. If you can try laying straight first, to provide a taller base with your support hand, stick your thumb straight up and your index finger out, curling your last three fingers for the grip to set on. Squeeze the butt of the grip between your index finger and thumb, resting on the last three fingers and heal of your palm for height. Depending on the size of your hands, wrap your strong hand pinky around your weak hand index finger, locking or connecting the two hands. If this is not enough height laying straight on, then you need to experiment with turning the mat and laying on your side.

You're a big guy so get some hard plastic knee pads, stand so that your knees just hit the edge of the mat as you slide into position. This should keep the mat from sliding on you and provide enough room so your hands don't go off the end of the mat. Work on getting smooth, keeping your eyes on the center of the plate, not the ground or the mat. At 10 yrds, depending on your load, usually you need to aim slightly high to hit the center of the plate. A nice black mark directly in the center of the plate sets up an aim point for the rest of the course.

Not sure where you live, but if you can, show up for one of the Green Valley matches before the Cup and talk to James Avenell. He is one of the top shooters and has the slickest prone technique.

Edited March 20, 2016 by toothguy

[Toolguy]

Whenever you are having a problem making hits, go back to the basics. Sight picture, trigger. Over and over. When shooting a reactive target like plates or bowling pins the movement of the target draws your eyes to it. It's a basic instinct to look at anything that moves. Was that a threat, food, friend? You will always miss the next target after you look at the last one that moved. That's because you are looking downrange, not at the sights. You have to train yourself to stay on the sights and not look at the target till you finish the string of fire. Every shot fired is now history. Stay in the moment and make the current shot with no regard for the results of the previous one. If you can hit any targets at 25 yards, you can hit them all. Practice this on paper without target movement, then to back to plates and do it there. Get good on the plates and all your paper scores will go up too. Execute the basics over and over.

[toothguy]

Whenever you are having a problem making hits, go back to the basics. Sight picture, trigger. Over and over. When shooting a reactive target like plates or bowling pins the movement of the target draws your eyes to it. It's a basic instinct to look at anything that moves. Was that a threat, food, friend? You will always miss the next target after you look at the last one that moved. That's because you are looking downrange, not at the sights. You have to train yourself to stay on the sights and not look at the target till you finish the string of fire. Every shot fired is now history. Stay in the moment and make the current shot with no regard for the results of the previous one. If you can hit any targets at 25 yards, you can hit them all. Practice this on paper without target movement, then to back to plates and do it there. Get good on the plates and all your paper scores will go up too. Execute the basics over and over.

+1, you can make a plate rack using Dollar Store desert paper plates (7'' dia) and staple them to a 2x4.