When brains go bad

[Mike Auger]

Often when we get a brain fart or bad mag change we foolishly speed up to make up for lost time, usually throwing a couple of D's a miss and maybe a noshoot for good measure

I guy from the US Air Force team told me a good thought to keep in the back of your head...

" when you screw up, try to shoot all A's from that point."

Too simple, it must work.

[Phil Dunlop]

As soon as the potential hit factor drops with wasted time, the points become more important.

P.D.

[38supPat]

Hey Mike, glad to see you've joined us here. For anyone who doesn't know Mike, he is probably one of the best people I know for asking technical questions, from making a finiky gun work to load development. As well as being one hell of a shooter.

Welcome aboard.

Pat

[Flexmoney]

Mike,

Glad to have you on board.

Matt Burkett has an article on his website.  It talks about hit factors and the balance between time and points.  (I don't have the link.)

I suppose a person ought to figure out, before the stage, what they will do if they have trouble.  Speeding up sure doesn't help.  I don't know why I think I can start shooting faster after I have screwed up on a stage.  It really isn't practical.

I guess Brian's words of wisdom would fit great here.  Just shoot what you see.

Brian also talks about not "thinking" during a stage.

I think that I will give Brian's book another read.  Your post made me realize that I am getting away from some of the fundamentals (and beyond).

[Phil Dunlop]

Kyle,

see Matts shooting tips , Comstock Factoring,

http://www.mattburkett.com/5.html

and thanks for the tips Matt.

P.D.

[Detlef]

I guess *do not speed up* after a fu..-up is a good rule. But *shoot only As from there on* is of course not. From a state-of-mind point of view, I always found it easiest to just continue and follow my plan as originally visualized. But the mind seems to be perfectly capable of *storing* not only plan A, but also plans B and C. That doesn't help against unexpected screw-ups, but many courses have natural *breakage points* (e.g. what if you don't get that swinger on first pass? what if you had to make up a few shots and can't do with just one mag? etc. asf.). I found it quite workable to follow another preconceived plan when something like that *broke*....

--Detlef

[benos]

It seems, often - "natural is right" - however, just as often, it seems - "natural is not right." We speed up because  we "feel behind" after a screw-up. This is totally natural because it's almost impossible to not have a preconceived notion in our head regarding "how fast" we would LIKE to have shot the stage. It's a case where we should counter our natural tendency with the mind of experience. The "mind of experience" can develop a mental resolution pertaining to a specific area - like resisting the temptation to still shoot our "goal time" when we have malfunction. For these resolutions to actually work, we have to have given them a considerable amount of "consideration time"  - beforehand. Think and imagine (the jam) from every perspective. Consider all the posts on this thread, and try to come up with every possible alternative of what you could do when the gun jams. What can you do? Really not a whole lot more than calmly clear the jam and get back to your original game plan. Easy to say but hard to do when we have an excess concern over results. That's when it's helpful to have your resolution ready to command with some sort of mental cue. It could be a mental/verbal command, like "front site," or "shoot the center," or whatever, but the important thing is - take control - don't let your mind get the best of you. It helps me if I cue a "return to calm" feeling with an exhalation as the gun is coming back into shooting position.

be

[Mike Auger]

I agree with Brian but I would also add that after a screw up most people will do what they always do after a screw up unless you actually practice shooting calmly automatically after screw ups.

Once you get a screw up you are no longer shooting subconsciously so a thought you could use to get yourself back on track " like shoot A's now" seems to be a good idea.

Besides how often have tried a real or practice run and said to yourself " I am going to shoot all A's this run" and then actually did?

If you actually did you were lucky or slow or too good to listen to me.

[ErikW]

This just happened to me yesterday, right at the beginning of a stage. I cleared the jam, then reacquired the second target. I couldn't remember whether I had hit it once or twice before the jam, so I hit it twice and continued the stage like nothing happened. (Turns out I hadn't yet engaged that target, I needed both of those hits!) Only dropped 3 points and salvaged third overall.

Once your time goes to hell, you can't get it back. Don't kid yourself, you were already shooting as fast as you could. You know if you go any faster you are going to drop Ds and Misses because the only way to go faster is to accept less desirable sight pictures. The only thing you can do to salvage the stage is rack up the points.

Don't shoot angry. Easier said than done when Murphy has just paid you a visit.

[Nik Habicht]

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Quote: from Mike Auger on 5:49 pm on Oct. 22, 2001

Once you get a screw up you are no longer shooting subconsciously so a thought you could use to get yourself back on track " like shoot A's now" seems to be a good idea.

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I disagree.  I think if you are really shooting subconsciously, then the jam won't throw you out of that.  You'll just see it and clear it and go on to shoot the rest of the stage.  I think I'm getting the hang of that.  I've always gotten stressed in the middle of a stage when I made a mistake, and let it affect the way I finished the stage, and sometimes let it affect me for the rest of the match.  Sunday shooting a 24 round field course I had a jam where the slide failed to fully chamber a round.  Thinking that I didn't want to jam it shut, I racked the action and gently let the slide forward, creating the same jam over; then I did it a second time before finally remembering to let the slide go on the third attempt.  My attention was totally in the gun and as soon as the slide closed I was able to shoot and move through the stage as I had planned before the buzzer.  I shot 23 A's in 27 seconds, about seven seconds slower than what I had hoped for. And not until I had holstered the gun did the F word leave my mouth......

Now, I'll admit that I'm slow (kind of like molasses running uphill in the winter time LOL) but I've been trying to focus on two things this year ---- fundamentals of shooting and my mental state during a match.  As the year's gone on, I've been calmer, and it seems like I'm more able to flow through stages in one cohesive movement, instead of having to stop and think about what should come next, in several places.  Last Sunday convinced me that it's possible to shoot a stage subconsciously even if you have a problem.  I may not be able to repeat that on demand, but I'm working on it.

[benos]

I'm with you Nik. Some people rattle easier than others. If you know you're an easy rattler, it might help to have a plan. On the other hand, if you're down and calm, you may just stay that way.

be