Accuracy Good but still finishing below middle of the pack!

[JayBees]

Shot my 1st USPSA match of the year yesterday. I was somewhat pleased with my performance because I felt my shooting was quite accurate. I ended up with 2 no shoots (1on a swinging target, the other on "can you count" by a datgum millimeter) and a procedural. When I got home and was looking over the results, I saw that only 3 others had more "A" zone hits than me. Out of 39 shooters, I finished 30(Woo!!Hoo!!). I looked back on my first 4 match results and it was pretty close to being the same...decent shooting, bad finishes.

I'm 42 so not a spring chicken anymore but I'd like some idea of how to run these courses a little quicker. I'm still what most would call relatively new to the sport but it has really got my competitive juices flowing. Don't want to end up in the bottom 3rd or 1/4 Everytime. I have my own little range and have built quite a few props i.e., walls, target stands, swinging targets, etc. I reload and cast so I feel like I can live fire practice just as much as dry fire.

So....in summation.....anybody got any tips, tricks, practice regimens to help me get through these runs quicker???

Thanks in advance.

[MemphisMechanic]

You are making the new guy mistake. There’s little correlation between points and your time.

 

Shooting composes perhaps 1/3 to 1/2 of the time you spend on most stages

 

Draws. Reloads. Moving to the next position. Pushing the gun out and acquiring the sights in each position. Unloaded starts. Moving your feet between one target and the next.

 

All of that eats time. Do all of that stuff faster. MUCH faster. Move like your ass is on fire. Then shoot delibrately. Repeat until finished.

 

A lot more goes into the above once you get decent, but for novices that is the short version.

 

EDIT: Also understand that noshoot hits are brutal death to your placement on that stage. Avoid at all costs. They hurt more than you think.

 

Edited February 17, 2019 by MemphisMechanic

[Furrly]

Do everything else faster and continue to shot as your, shooting speed will come with experience . You will climb that match result board quicker then you think. 

[Joe4d]

2 no shoots and a procedural are not decent shooting.. Even more so if they were Miss, hit no shoot... can kill ur score quick
  Move faster, but shoot slower.

Edited February 17, 2019 by Joe4d

[Rnlinebacker]

Shot my 1st USPSA match of the year yesterday. I was somewhat pleased with my performance because I felt my shooting was quite accurate. I ended up with 2 no shoots (1on a swinging target, the other on "can you count" by a datgum millimeter) and a procedural. When I got home and was looking over the results, I saw that only 3 others had more "A" zone hits than me. Out of 39 shooters, I finished 30(Woo!!Hoo!!). I looked back on my first 4 match results and it was pretty close to being the same...decent shooting, bad finishes.
I'm 42 so not a spring chicken anymore but I'd like some idea of how to run these courses a little quicker. I'm still what most would call relatively new to the sport but it has really got my competitive juices flowing. Don't want to end up in the bottom 3rd or 1/4 Everytime. I have my own little range and have built quite a few props i.e., walls, target stands, swinging targets, etc. I reload and cast so I feel like I can live fire practice just as much as dry fire.
So....in summation.....anybody got any tips, tricks, practice regimens to help me get through these runs quicker???
Thanks in advance.

Ben Stoeger's latest book is a great explanation and the how and why of practical shooting. practicing stages is not honing fundamentals. His approach is scientific as well as relevant to practical shooting

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[JayBees]

Thanks for the POSITIVE replies fellers.

[teros135]

When you ask a question,  expect to get honest answers.   You may not like them,  but they're usually going to be helpful.  

[B_RAD]

Tell us what your prowctice regimen is.

 

 

[JayBees]

2 minutes ago, B_RAD said:

Tell us what your prowctice regimen is.

 

 

I wouldn't say I really have one. I try to shoot three to four times a week which is mainly just drawing and shooting and then maybe some draw shoot reload shoot.I would say the majority of my time is spent setting up fun little stages and just running them and see how low I can get my time

[JayBees]

1 hour ago, teros135 said:

 

 

Edited February 18, 2019 by JayBees

[pskys2]

Fundamentals, learn to call your shots.  then do it faster.

[B_RAD]

10 minutes ago, JayBees said:

I wouldn't say I really have one. I try to shoot three to four times a week which is mainly just drawing and shooting and then maybe some draw shoot reload shoot.I would say the majority of my time is spent setting up fun little stages and just running them and see how low I can get my time

I would suggest getting Been Stoegers Dry fire reloaded and start practicing the drills in that book. I'd also suggest finding some quality instruction.  

 

Setting up stages and practicing them might sound like a good idea but you might be better served breaking down stage aspects and isolating those skills. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[teros135]

I'll vote for Stoeger's training books also, or anybody else who has the credentials.  Fundamentals, dry fire,  live fire.  Stages are just a series of fundamentals strung together. 

[JayBees]

Awesome advice. I really really appreciate it.

[Rnlinebacker]

Awesome advice. I really really appreciate it.

It may be some tough love you get from people on here but it's just to save you the headache and frustration we've all went through at some point. kudos to you for being humble enough to ask for help. Wishing you lots of success! Get the book and commit to it

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[amokscience]

You're too slow. The game is points per second. If you want to finish near the top, your total time needs to be like the leaders. You aren't in the conversation until your time gets closer. As far as points, misses and no shoots and procedurals take away ~twice as many points as you can earn. 

 

You hit a no shoot at almost contact distance. We all make mistakes like that but that should haunt you and you need to take steps to fix that. A procedural likely means you are ignorant of some rule or didn't read the stage briefing correctly. Plan better. That's a 100% avoidable error. 

[waktasz]

Post links to match results and get video and post it here. You will get a lot of good advice. It's pretty easy to see the big time wasters once you start looking at video

 

[waktasz]

Also, no one mentioned this...your score is your points per second, called your hit factor. That's what you are chasing. Work on shooting mostly Alphas, but don't worry about some charlies in there. Deltas can really add up fast and misses are obviously bad, so avoid those, but this is not a bullseye match.  As you gain experience you'll be able to determine when you can get good hits on a target with a somewhat blurry sight picture and when you have to have a solid fundamentals (sight picture, trigger press) to make the shots that matter.

[ChuckS]

48 minutes ago, waktasz said:

Post links to match results and get video and post it here. You will get a lot of good advice. It's pretty easy to see the big time wasters once you start looking at video

 

Better yet, start your own thread in Range Diary: https://forums.brianenos.com/forum/155-range-diary/

That way you will have only one place to post and receive feedback. It save searching everywhere! There are beginners to GM's there! Good stuff!

 

 

[crmcdm]

If you have a little disposable income and want some GREAT, specific advice, check out the Practical Shooters Training Group https://www.practicalshootingtraininggroup.com/ .  You will spend a few hours there and get more to think about and work with than you can imagine.  Bottom line: time & effort.  But this will make it smartly invested.  And just to be clear I have no affiliation with the site - I'm just a slightly older version of you trying to get better.

[Hi-Power Jack]

What gun are you shooting ?  

 

Any modifications to it ? 

 

Reloading yet ?

 

Have you thought about dry firing ?   (How many rounds/week are you shooting ?) 

[motosapiens]

3 hours ago, JayBees said:

I wouldn't say I really have one.

 

I think I found your problem.

 

There are several good resources out there, from steve anderson's dryfire books and podcast, to stoeger's books, to charlie perez' books and some others too. I would purchase one of these fine resources for less money than you spend on a single live-fire session, and get some direction.

 

Bottom line is that if you want to not suck you need to dryfire regularly. Draws, transitions, movement, strong and weak hand, etc... In live fire you need to do almost anything except setting up stages and seeing how fast you can run them (although even that has benefits some times).

[RJH]

I agree with the books ideas, but also see if the better shooters in your area practice some where and try to go with them.  Also some shooters don't like being bugged but many will help you out at a match and give you pointers.  a lot of times you just don't know what you don't know, so see if one of the better shooters in your area will give you some insight and then apply that to what you are working on in dryfire with some books. 

 

Also buy a timer.  practice without a timer is better than none, but the timer proves things out.  You might think one way is better but with a timer you will know which way is better

[davsco]

no-shoots and misses are costly.  a no-shoot wipes away two A hits on another target.  a miss also costs you two A hits, plus you don't get points on that shot you missed.

 

as noted above, actually shooting is a small percentage of your stage time.  every time you stop and re-start moving, that takes time, so don't make an unnecessary stops.  also, while tempting, don't push your gun into ports or breaks in walls, because you then need to pull back out, again, time.

[rowdyb]

Get  a mentor who you can regularly train with. Find someone local to you who is M or GM who knows what they're doing and can articulate it back to you. You need both a better sparring partner and coach than you currently have, which are no-one and yourself respectively.