How many of you shoot more than one devision often

[champ198]

question I been wondering about that I have seen at matches.

do you shoot multiple different divisions.

say one month you shoot Production, then the next month shoot open, next month shoot carry optics and maybe one month PCC.

I was curious to this as I heard a guy talking once that had shot production the previous month and current month he was shooting open. and his response was that it keeps his skills up on multiple platforms.

was just something I was curious about your alls thoughts that have way more experience than me

[Chris Keen]

I don't do it for skills training, although that's not a bad idea. Especially if you typically compete in a division with optics, but don't use an optic carry gun, etc. My carry gun has a laser grip, but since I don't normally compete with iron sights, I can see why shooting an iron.sight division once in a while could be good training. 

 

No I mostly just do it based on if I have enough ammo on hand to shoot whatever division, and how lazy I feel about loading more ammo that night before, or the morning of a local match. Sometimes I might have a gun at the gunsmith, or I haven't zerod my optic, then I'll revert to something else just for a change. 

 

But mainly ..... #AlwaysShootOpen

[GOF]

Alternating guns won't fine tune you for one gun. But, if it's fun, why not.

At an earlier age I focused on one gun to pile up trophies. Today, age has caught me. I mostly shoot Steel Challenge and may shoot a couple of matches with one gun, whether RFRO/RFPO/RFPI/PCCO/CO/Rev, and then change two weeks later. I have fun, and get to shoot my guns. Why not.

I'm sure the "high-speed low-drag" trolls will vehemently disagree. But, I shoot to have fun, and challenge myself by shooting different guns. I figure... if I can't have fun, why make the drive and pay the match entry fee?

Edited July 30, 2019 by GOF
original interrupted by "update"

[Rnlinebacker]

question I been wondering about that I have seen at matches.
do you shoot multiple different divisions.
say one month you shoot Production, then the next month shoot open, next month shoot carry optics and maybe one month PCC.
I was curious to this as I heard a guy talking once that had shot production the previous month and current month he was shooting open. and his response was that it keeps his skills up on multiple platforms.
was just something I was curious about your alls thoughts that have way more experience than me

I change divisions at local matches and shoot them for fun to break up the monotony of Limited Division training. Been doing majors every month since March and nationals is the ultimate goal.

This year, I dedicated myself to training harder and doing less local matches so I can do well at the major matches in my preferred Limited Division. It's paid off BUT it gets boring and monotonous. I don't really care for long periods away from shooting as college football instilled a strong work ethic.

So, from following Stoeger and Perez teachings this year I've learned that conceptually I can have success in any division. I prefer the hi cap divisions as stage planning is the same just have to aim a little harder in minor vs major. Good grip, good trigger pull and transitions are the foundations to success in any platform. Everything else comes after that such as sight alignment, shot calling, etc.

Will I shoot single stack major (like this upcoming weekend) the same speed as limited, open or CO? Absolutely not. I understand the division will be inherently slower but I'll stage plan around 3-4 targets (max 8 shots) rather than 8-10 targets in limited. The constants will be my grip, trigger and transitions. I train with my limited gun in dry fire everyday and live fire twice weekly. I make sure to mix a different gun though at the end such as CO or single stack as I did today.

"Respect the points and CONTROL the time" is what Gaston said with Ben Stoeger on PSTG. It's helping tremendously with mentally managing the game. You should try it if something piques your interest! I was contemplating switching divison for Area 8 and 5 but I won't be bumped before nationals unless I hundo both lol.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

[shred]

If it's fun to switch guns, by all means go for it, but just know you aren't likely to be as competitive as if you picked one and practiced.  Some people care about that, some don't.

 

I get bored with one gun for too long, so switch around every so often, but it takes a week of live/dry practice for me to get up to full speed (Master-ish) with a different division that I've previously been good at (assuming it's something significant like SS to Open or CO or whatever.  Lim to L10, not so much).  Some of the top dudes do it in an afternoon at the Steel Challenge or back-to-back Nationals.

 

[2Alphamikenoshoot]

4 hours ago, champ198 said:

4 hours ago, champ198 said:

question I been wondering about that I have seen at matches.

do you shoot multiple different divisions.

say one month you shoot Production, then the next month shoot open, next month shoot carry optics and maybe one month PCC.

I was curious to this as I heard a guy talking once that had shot production the previous month and current month he was shooting open. and his response was that it keeps his skills up on multiple platforms.

was just something I was curious about your alls thoughts that have way more experience than me

Theres a lot to shooting. There are so many nuances you cant put more weight on one beneficial characteristic over the other. Motor skills, mental plasticity, or visual acuity, processing speed, whatever it may be. There is a ton to it. So with that being said, its a huge visual game. And to me its like working out. You cant tell a dude hes gonna get fast and strong and only work out a few times a month. So to me reps matter. You gotta get the reps in. There is no substitute. So if you can shoot two divisions at a local and can afford the ammo and double entry for match fees, do it. Youre already committed for time that day to the match. May as well get double the trigger time. 
I used to shoot a lot of limited and PCC. And now i shoot a lot of Open and PCC. Both combinations offered pretty interesting results. Obviously with open and pcc youre more target focused with a dot. But with irons and then flip flopping back and forth with a dot it was interesting to see how it compared stage to stage. Its also been an interesting game to see how my runs compare shooting major power factor compared to minor. I have to be a lot more deliberate shooting minor. But another thing as well is you can shoot stages differently. Instead of absolutely committing to a stage plan and going with it, you can choose to shoot it a different way with the other division in order to learn some things. Practiscore competitor has been pretty interesting in this aspect because i can go back and analyze this stuff. 

[Hi-Power Jack]

When I lived in a ridiculous state, I shot Limited with 15 round mags in my state,

but slipped out of state into a "friendly" state, and shot my OPEN gun there.

 

Took a little practice session to get ready to make the transition from metal to dot,

but shooting is shooting - even iron sights can be fun.      

 

Now that I live in a "friendly" state, I shoot only OPEN .

[outerlimits]

shot open, basically, since mid 80's.  had a limited gun  built a few years ago and find it a hoot to shoot, even with aging eyes.  so i do both now.

[cas]

I used to switch divisions/guns every month.  Had tons of fun.

 

Then I followed the "stick with one gun to get better line" and had a lot less fun.

So I shot a lot less.

 

[jeremy kemlo]

I have shot production and open at the same match and carry optics and pcc at the same match. 

Lots of fun. I did drop a mag after only shooting 6 round from my open gun while going into a different position.  Hard to break the habit of reloading when moving especially then I had shot the production gun 5 min before open gun. You have to be really focused to shoot different stage plans, reload at different places, shoot at different speeds, and focus on sight vs target. Good focus training.reloading 

[PatJones]

I shoot revolver for two months prior to the local ICORE regional. The rest of the year I shoot a division where other folks will come out and play.

[Jman]

I shoot CO and pop the periscope off and shoot production a ~1/3 of the time. Fun. And, minor sucks

[Loudgp]

SS, Limited(major), Limited 10(major), Just started in open. 

Edited July 31, 2019 by Loudgp

[Keepkool]

the way it was put to me when I asked the same question is, If you want to have fun shoot everything. If you want to get better stick with one.

[tbarker13]

I move around a lot - Production, Single Stack, Limited, Carry Optics. But I'm just in this to have fun.

Not going to be a national champion, an area champion , or even a state champion. So if I get the urge to change divisions, I change.

But if I were a more serious shooter, I'd be sticking with one division.

 

[IVC]

I found some cross-training to be quite valuable, particularly when it's the same platform in different divisions. 

 

For example, I have the same style gun for Open and Limited, so it's the same holster, grip, trigger, controls. Practicing dry fire with the dot helps with misalignment during indexing with irons, where I see the sights correctly, but don't read the amount of misalignment properly. The dot is either on the target or not. What's important here is that it's exactly the same draw from the same holster and with the same grip and controls, so it doesn't change the movement or indexing. 

 

Similarly, I have shot a few matches with Revolver and plan on doing it occasionally in the future. Working with long trigger pull helps quite a bit with training the support hand to be the primary hand for keeping the gun still during the pull. It's too easy to be sloppy with the support hand when the trigger is sub 2#. Also, practicing revolver reloads is a fun dry fire exercise. Like learning a new trick with cards. 

 

As for being competitive, it always makes me chuckle when everyone says on one hand that a good shooter will outshoot you with any gun, and on the other hand that you won't be competitive if you shoot different guns. Both statements are true, but I would say that learning to shoot well is orders of magnitude more important than the nuances of different divisions. The level of "non-competitiveness" you give up by switching matters mostly at the top level and if you're really pushing for the last ounce of performance. Otherwise, if you're a good shooter, you're a good shooter. 

[11MM]

I tend to focus on one set-up, one division at a time for the most part. Doesn't mean you cannot, just is how I have been doing it for years now. Cost is a huge factor as well. 

[Lucreau]

I’ll shoot open as my primary, and every so often bring out my CO gun for the gun of it as a second gun

[B21]

I'm straight production, and am committed to staying there until I achieve some goals I have set for myself.  I used to jump around from production, to limited, to PCC and was always changing gear within those divisions.  At that time that was completely fine, because I was honestly just shooting for the "fun factor".  Once I really got into the sport, I knew that to get good I needed to quit switching guns / divisions.  At some point I would like to play around in CO.  I have a third Tanfo just waiting to get the slid milled, but not till I'm a competitive M class production guy. 

[ampleworks]

PCC and Limited Glock 35 for any monthlys that offer second runs. Any single runs or big matches will always be PCC. I simply pull off the Blade-Tech holster (I don't like race rigs) and change to different magazines. 

 

I stuffed magazines for almost 15 years of Production, I'm done with that nonsense now

[2Alphamikenoshoot]

On ‎8‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 2:55 PM, IVC said:

I found some cross-training to be quite valuable, particularly when it's the same platform in different divisions. 

 

For example, I have the same style gun for Open and Limited, so it's the same holster, grip, trigger, controls. Practicing dry fire with the dot helps with misalignment during indexing with irons, where I see the sights correctly, but don't read the amount of misalignment properly. The dot is either on the target or not. What's important here is that it's exactly the same draw from the same holster and with the same grip and controls, so it doesn't change the movement or indexing. 

 

Similarly, I have shot a few matches with Revolver and plan on doing it occasionally in the future. Working with long trigger pull helps quite a bit with training the support hand to be the primary hand for keeping the gun still during the pull. It's too easy to be sloppy with the support hand when the trigger is sub 2#. Also, practicing revolver reloads is a fun dry fire exercise. Like learning a new trick with cards. 

 

As for being competitive, it always makes me chuckle when everyone says on one hand that a good shooter will outshoot you with any gun, and on the other hand that you won't be competitive if you shoot different guns. Both statements are true, but I would say that learning to shoot well is orders of magnitude more important than the nuances of different divisions. The level of "non-competitiveness" you give up by switching matters mostly at the top level and if you're really pushing for the last ounce of performance. Otherwise, if you're a good shooter, you're a good shooter. 

agree 100%. I mean look at JJ for nationals this year. Incredible. I mean being that focused for all 3 divisions. Pretty awesome stuff.

[GunBugBit]

I'm boring, have only shot Single  Stack and a tiny bit of Limited.  Am back to Single Stack only.  Will shoot more Limited in the future.

[rovpilot337]

I shoot limited as my main division but recently began shooting PCC as well. 

[Aforum55]

Shooting a Dot is a target focused sight picture where irons are sight focused. I often switch back and forth after shooting irons exclusively for the last 3-4 years. I think repetition is what makes you proficient in your division and swapping mental focus ever couple matches makes it difficult if you want to compete. I'd say you should plan your season so you shoot division 1 for half the season and Div 2 the other half. Might be the best of both worlds unless you're just shooting for fun.