Pushing on the gas

[mreed911]

So I'm at my first match besides a local - a level II. I'm shooting a bit more consistent - the pressure is helping - and I find a stage that's a good one for me to gut check where I'm at (I'm in no danger of hurting my chances of winning the match - there's no chance of that). I'm shooting Single Stack Major.

I see my squad of A and B shooters shooting in 15-23 seconds. I tell myself I'm going to push my speed, which would probably be around 30 seconds, to 25 or less. 23.XX seconds later I'm done.

No M's, but a lot more C-C/C-D and a lot fewer A-A/A-C. I was definitely shooting faster than I could call anything more than "M or not M." It didn't help my hit factor to earn fewer points faster.

It was a good gut check. My speed wasn't reckless but it wasn't helping.

I see Bill drills in my future.

Edited June 12, 2016 by mreed911

[mlmiller1]

Quick thought.... move fast, shoot slow.

IOW,only shoot as fast as you can see. Most real speed gains are not in the actual shooting but everything up to & around the shooting.

[mreed911]

Quick thought.... move fast, shoot slow.

IOW,only shoot as fast as you can see. Most real speed gains are not in the actual shooting but everything up to & around the shooting.

Great advice. Part of that is going to be losing weight for me (one of the reasons I started - to get more active and set a goal). Past that, my draw is slow and second shots are slow. Accurate, for the majority, but slow.

Good example today - max trap I wasn't fast enough for. Made the two head shots on the exposed A/B though. Just ate time getting there and then doing it.

Do need to work on move-shoot-move in terms of positions.

Probably slow too because I don't want to DQ my first bigger event.

[mreed911]

Finished with only 3 mikes on 12 stages and over 300 rounds.

177 A / 3 B / 73 C / 10 D / 3 M, 47/47 steel

Average stage time over 30 seconds.

Decidedly too slow. I need to work on shooting as I come into position vs getting there and shooting.

Had fun. Got past the "don't DQ" jitters and trust my gear (it's the longest I've run it in one match). Looking forward to the next one!

Edited June 12, 2016 by mreed911

[Hi-Power Jack]

After my first MAJOR match, I never thought of any local match as being "pressure" ...

You sure shoot a LOT of A's, and Very Few D/M's .... GREAT!!!!

[mreed911]

After my first MAJOR match, I never thought of any local match as being "pressure" ...

You sure shoot a LOT of A's, and Very Few D/M's .... GREAT!!!!

It's much easier to do flat-footed.

I was probably overly careful for this match but I really was worried about form and rules. I didn't want to DQ my very first match and set that in my mind for the next one. Now that I know I need to push speed, I know what to work on.

To your point, this tells me my accuracy is on point, more or less. It tells me push push push.

[motosapiens]

disciplined bill drills will help speed up your second shot. you will learn to grip the gun so that you can track the sight better and it will return more consistently to where it belongs. sounds like you are on the right track as far as analyzing what you need to work on. Good luck!

[IHAVEGAS]

Watched Alex Gutt run a stage with a squad of a's and m's a couple weeks ago. Was scorekeeping that stage so I had opportunity to see a lot of good shooters run it well besides just the one squad.

Tried to understand why he was significantly faster than everybody else.

Right or wrong, my perception was that he was better at always doing two things at once, aiming while firing, turning toward the next thing as soon as aiming was sufficient, that kind of stuff.

Reminded me of watching vintage Larry Bird, no perception of superior speed or other exceptional physical ability, just seemed like his mental picture was one frame advanced.