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From completely new to hopefully GM?


SlvrDragon50

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I was told that sometimes you have to go for the head A zone? Is that not true? 

I would definitely always prefer shooting for the center of mass A zone. I think these targets are good practice to work on not always having a bullseye and just working on groups. 


If you can get the classic / turtle targets, those are great for practice as the A zone is no quite as easy to hit but still very generous. Generally speaking eating 2 BC vs 2A will usually be preferred as the speed you can engage should be better for hit factor than the added points. Try for the A but don't insist on it


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GM is a lofty goal and I know many people aspire to it without necessarily talking about it much.  Me, sure I want to be a GM.  Question is, how bad do I want it?  Am I willing to dry-fire 2 hours per day and shoot every match I can possibly make it to?  Will I be smart, disciplined and consistent about my live fire practice? Will I get some one-on-one instruction from one or more GMs I know?  Will I go to some bigger matches that I've avoided so far?  Will I keep at it even if I feel a little burned out and frustrated at times?  Will I do all of this knowing I might still never get to GM?

We'll see!  Good luck to you in your quest!

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8 minutes ago, bronson630 said:

Making GM is not that hard. Being an actual GM is much much harder.


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I agree with my fellow Open shooter :) that it isn't that hard to make GM. People that are legit in the running to win nationals are effectively a class above the normal cohort of GM.

Edited by Jake Di Vita
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Haha yea. I think A or M is a more realistic goal considering my lack of funds to travel to the larger matches. I just figure set my goals high and reach the lower ones :P

Unfortunately I broke my trigger spring so no dry fire practice for a while.

Edited by SlvrDragon50
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53 minutes ago, Jake Di Vita said:

Blasphemy. You don't have to be dropping a hammer to get something out of dry fire.

I will probably be practicing reloading, but my dry fire practice has otherwise mostly been working on DA pulls since it's not very smooth yet. I am not too sure how to practice without dropping the hammer! If you've got any suggestions I'm all ears.

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1 hour ago, SlvrDragon50 said:

Haha yea. I think A or M is a more realistic goal considering my lack of funds to travel to the larger matches. I just figure set my goals high and reach the lower ones :P

Unfortunately I broke my trigger spring so no dry fire practice for a while.

You can make GM without ever shooting a Major Match.  If fact you could shoot the same club match every month and make GM.  There are extreme variations in the amount of talent shooters have.  Some make "A" or higher on their first classification, but most start low and slowly work their way up.  For most people, the speed at which you improve your classification simply depends on how much time/money you have to put towards live fire, dry fire and matches.  It's a great goal to have and I hope you make it.

 

I would suggest finding another range that will let you shoot faster than 1 round per second.  You also need to be able to set up multiple targets to work on transitions.  Most ranges like that won't let you draw from a holster either.  Wherever you shoot, I would suggest shooting USPSA style targets most of the time and aim for the "A" in the center of the "A" zone.  And you need to be able to shoot the top "A" zone because there are times when that is the only part of the target available.

 

For your weak hand shooting, I would suggest doing it a lot in dry fire and live fire.  I was told by a National Champ that shooting weak hand will help your free style shooting as much as it will your weak hand shooting.  As far as technique goes, just be sure to anchor your free hand on your chest.  

 

And the best advice I can give you is to find a local GM or one of the Big Names and take a class ASAP before you end up having to "unlearn" some bad habits.  

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12 minutes ago, SlvrDragon50 said:

I will probably be practicing reloading, but my dry fire practice has otherwise mostly been working on DA pulls since it's not very smooth yet. I am not too sure how to practice without dropping the hammer! If you've got any suggestions I'm all ears.

What I'm saying is getting better at pulling the trigger is only like 25% or less of the benefit you get from dry fire. Off the top of my head, here are some things that you can practice in dry fire without pulling the trigger: Draw from any start position, presentation, transitions, reloads, shooting on the move, and entering/exiting positions.

In my training I really take to heart the concept of trying to do the common uncommonly well. I want to be as precise, economic, and consistent as I possibly can doing absolutely anything with the gun. Looking at dry fire in that way, there is something you can work on no matter what the condition of your gun. By all means fix it and get back to pulling the trigger in dry fire, just don't feel like you need to stop training while you wait to replace a spring.

And, as Trace said above, you're gonna have to find a range that doesn't have a rounds per second restriction.

Edited by Jake Di Vita
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Draws of all kinds, table starts, reloads, movement , entries, exits on and on. I would recommend a dry fire book such as Steve Anderson's or Ben Stoegers. The content in those books should keep you busy for years to come.


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I have the dry fire book, though I'm not entirely sure how the timings work since I will be DA in every trigger pull. Or do I just pretend I pull the trigger?

I plan on changing ranges next semester or next year. At the moment, my accuracy still isn't where I want it so I don't mind slow firing at the range right now, but I definitely agree on needing a range with fewer restrictions. I didn't join this year because they had poor rules on bringing friends to the range :(

 

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I used to bring a lot of friends to the range, now I try to not bring any body as much as possible so I can selfishly practice.


Sent from an iDevice. Please forgive any grammatical or spelling errors. If the post doesn't make sense or is not amusing then it is technology's fault and most certainly not operator error.

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I used to bring a lot of friends to the range, now I try to not bring any body as much as possible so I can selfishly practice.


Sent from an iDevice. Please forgive any grammatical or spelling errors. If the post doesn't make sense or is not amusing then it is technology's fault and most certainly not operator error.



I do the same. The only exception is bringing a friend who's going to be running the same drills and practicing with the same mindset.
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On 9/7/2016 at 1:00 PM, SlvrDragon50 said:

I am not too sure how to practice without dropping the hammer! If you've got any suggestions I'm all ears.

You simply press the "dead" trigger for the many many reps of dry-fire trigger presses you'll be doing.  It's explained in resources such as those offered by Steve Anderson and Ben Stoeger, names already mentioned in the thread.

Avail yourself of these resources as soon as you can and apply what you learn.  You'll be doing yourself an enormous favor.

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Got a CGW trigger spring installed today as well as the 11.5# main spring. My DA pulls are a lot faster. I also swapped in a 10 lb recoil spring which I like.

My first target was just getting used to shooting again, nothing special. 5 yards for the center and 7 yards for the head. I'm still struggling to hit the A zone on the first shot because I have trouble seeing where the lines are

.q3mPlPq.png

I worked on some more 5 yard DA first shot, SA second shot shooting and did better though I'm shooting low.hCkdUwu.png

I finished off with some 7 yard head hits in DA which I'm pretty happy with. Again, I struggled to see the lines.

44bpcKg.png

I tried out my Kadet Kit next and practiced some single hand strong hand shooting at 5 yards and did pretty well. I think my sights need to be adjusted though:e7Tt0Lp.png

I closed off with some 5 yards weak hand shooting on the head and did much better than I expected.

1zyZXka.png

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15 hours ago, SlvrDragon50 said:

 I'm still struggling to hit the A zone on the first shot because I have trouble seeing where the lines are

I try to just shoot for the middle of the brown, using the orientation of the head as a center line, fudging a little high.  Especially when the targets get further away, you can't see the lines, so use your vision to maintain the front sight to rear sight relationship.  

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18 hours ago, SlvrDragon50 said:

Got a CGW trigger spring installed today as well as the 11.5# main spring. My DA pulls are a lot faster. I also swapped in a 10 lb recoil spring which I like.

My first target was just getting used to shooting again, nothing special. 5 yards for the center and 7 yards for the head. I'm still struggling to hit the A zone on the first shot because I have trouble seeing where the lines are

.q3mPlPq.png

I worked on some more 5 yard DA first shot, SA second shot shooting and did better though I'm shooting low.hCkdUwu.png

I finished off with some 7 yard head hits in DA which I'm pretty happy with. Again, I struggled to see the lines.

44bpcKg.png

I tried out my Kadet Kit next and practiced some single hand strong hand shooting at 5 yards and did pretty well. I think my sights need to be adjusted though:e7Tt0Lp.png

I closed off with some 5 yards weak hand shooting on the head and did much better than I expected.

1zyZXka.png

Yeah, quit worrying about the lines and shoot for the center of the target.  The "A" doesn't move.  When you progress to shooting matches, you're going to be extremely focused on the front sight, so it would be very difficult to see the perforations.  I would suggest buying a few real USPSA targets and a set of C&M Target Systems mini USPSA targets and poppers for your dry fire practice.

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41 minutes ago, RangerTrace said:

Yeah, quit worrying about the lines and shoot for the center of the target.  The "A" doesn't move.  When you progress to shooting matches, you're going to be extremely focused on the front sight, so it would be very difficult to see the perforations.  I would suggest buying a few real USPSA targets and a set of C&M Target Systems mini USPSA targets and poppers for your dry fire practice.

That's the plan! I wish I could shoot actual USPSA targets, but no cardboard allowed in the range :(

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3 minutes ago, SlvrDragon50 said:

That's the plan! I wish I could shoot actual USPSA targets, but no cardboard allowed in the range :(

We covered that already, you gotta find a new range.  Anyway, if you're like most of us, you will have more time/money for dry fire than live fire anyway, so you'll get a lot of use out of the targets at home.  I think I've got like 15 of the C&M targets and 6 poppers.  I use them to set up the various stages in the dry fire books.  It worked better in my last house because we had a bonus room upstairs which was nothing more than my dry fire range.  

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Just now, RangerTrace said:

We covered that already, you gotta find a new range.  Anyway, if you're like most of us, you will have more time/money for dry fire than live fire anyway, so you'll get a lot of use out of the targets at home.  I think I've got like 15 of the C&M targets and 6 poppers.  I use them to set up the various stages in the dry fire books.  It worked better in my last house because we had a bonus room upstairs which was nothing more than my dry fire range.  

Yea I know. Unfortunately living on a graduate student stipend doesn't really allow for much freedom to change ranges not to mention winter is coming in pretty soon. I also have a very small room so not really space to set up stages on than 5' in front of me on my bedroom wall.

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