Tips for Single Stack newbie USPSA?

[chiggynoodlesoup]

Been competing in local USPSA matches for the last 2 years, just started shooting Single Stack in December. I've been to a couple matches away from my local range, and actually managed to win Single Stack C class at the 2021 Northern Arizona Classic. I would really like to step up my shooting skills, and aside from dry and live practice (which is a a bit hard cause of ammo prices right now), was wondering what "tactics" or methods I might be able to implement into my stages. I am currently shooting one match a month, and am trying to increase my dry practice time. Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks

             - Landon

[chiggynoodlesoup]

I'm just realizing that I put this in the ENTIRELY wrong spot...

[ima45dv8]

Where do you think it should be?

(I can help with that)

[chiggynoodlesoup]

Idk, once I started looking at the other topics in USPSA/IPSC Shooting, I just didn't think it belonged here. Maybe it is fine lol.

[motosapiens]

I spent a while shooting SS, and I really enjoy it, but it definitely held me back in terms of getting better at shooting. Having more capacity in limited not only gave me better competition, but it let me shoot more aggressively and learn to call shots and make them up when needed as opposed to shooting in bullseye mode alot because a makeup shot might mean a standing reload.

 

So now I shoot Limited most of the time, and switch to SS a month or two before nationals, or the big local 1911 match.

[chiggynoodlesoup]

Yeah, I agree that it holds me back on speed, I was originally shooting Production, and wanted to move up to a nicer gun. I've always like 1911's, but I wanted the challenge of reloads with 10rnd mags. (I guess I like making it harder on myself.) Should I start running local matches as quickly as I can without missing 20% of my shots? I'm fairly accurate to begin with, I just don't have the speed that I see in other SS shooters. (Practicing reloads more often will help I am sure.)

[jwhittin]

No matter what division you shoot, I'm learning that its really important to identify and prioritize what skills you really need to focus on.  That can be difficult to self assess.  Are you able to take a training class or do a focused session with a M or GM that is a good instructor?  I'm finding that has been helpful for me. 

[PatJones]

I'm a revolver and single stack shooter. With a low cap gun you have to spend a higher amount of your time reacting to your sights. With more available make up shots, you can shoot faster and correct the mistakes you see.

 

To be fast in singlestack you have to be able to shift between two different ways of shooting depending on how much extra ammo you have for each individual array.

 

Check out the link below.

 

[motosapiens]

step 1, learn to shoot accurately faster. for example, learn to consistently put 2 shots in a 3" circle at 7 yards with splits under .30, and learn to *see* both shots and be confident they went where you intended. 

 

step 2. Learn to do step 1 quickly from the draw, or when stepping into a new position.

 

step 3. Learn to do step 2 on multiple targets.

 

step 4. Learn to do step 3 while moving.

 

step 5. Learn to reload hella fast and without fumbles.

 

 

[Racinready300ex]

You'll be reloading a lot so be really good at it. Work reloads standing and moving every day

[Bakerjd]

Basicly exactly what @motosapiens said. I did a couple stages from this past locap nats videos of me shooting and another higher class shooter running the same stage and found that both of us had the same cadence as far as each shot but the biggest difference was going in/out of the position and shooting while coming into a position. 

 

Another thing is getting really smooth at reloads. Which you shouldn't have much issues with being that you already shot 10rnd mags. Only difference really is the magwell opening in the gun is a bit smaller. I personally open the bottom of the frame/magwell a good bit and then sand it smooth as I can then polish. Even the rear corners are rounded out. And i bevel the front lip as well. That has helped my reloads a lot. Well that and practicing them every night. I do 15 reloads from each mag carrier on the belt 3x every dry fire practice. 

[chiggynoodlesoup]

Ok, wow! I don't reload that much during dry practice, I guess I will add that on. I do have a Dawson ICE magwell on my SS so that helps. I will definitely start doing some drills incorporating what @motosapiens said as soon as I get some range time worked out. Thanks!

[motosapiens]

28 minutes ago, chiggynoodlesoup said:

Ok, wow! I don't reload that much during dry practice, I guess I will add that on. I do have a Dawson ICE magwell on my SS so that helps. I will definitely start doing some drills incorporating what @motosapiens said as soon as I get some range time worked out. Thanks!

reloads are vital. not just reloading, but reloading and getting to the shooting as quickly as possible. I break the reload down into 2 steps (based on steve anderson's 'pause and effect'. First stap is aggressively get the mag out of the pouch and lined up with the magwell, basically a burkett reload. second step is in one smooth motion to insert the mag, rebuild the grip and present the gun to the available targets. You sometimes have to reload with very little space between positions, so every tenth until you start shooting again is just wasted time.

 

Here's an example from a recent major match. There were ways to shoot the stage with fewer reloads, but they all seemed awkward and involved too much hunting/pecking and wide transitions, so I opted to do the extra reload but try to do it quickly. Also figured I was already losing time, so I might as well get decent points. It's super easy to drop charlies and deltas on the ipsc targets. I still ended up with 3C and 1D, but 27A, so I guess I'll take it.

 

 

[MikeBurgess]

C class, don't take this the wrong way but you likely need to work on everything, the tricky part is figuring out what you suck at the most. If you can find a class or good shooter to work with even for a day to get good info on where your biggest deficits are and how to fix them that would be a good place to start.  

 

generic answers, are you by nature, fast or slow? accurate or sloppy? look at your results are you loosing more on points shot or time? are you shooting OK but your stage plans go to poop? do you have lots of misses or penalties? are you super inconsistent stage to stage (as in some good results some bad) over time do these stages have anything in common?

 

if your slow but accurate spend some time doing live fire way faster than your comfort zone, set some par times that are well beyond what you would normally do on a drill and meet the time regardless of hits (like I don't care if you hit the target at all just need to be safe) , you need to know what it feels like to go fast also as you do this you may find that as you speed up the hits don't get as bad as you think they will.

 

if you sloppy but quick, shoot some groups do some dry fire where you pay way more attention to your sights, work on not shooting 2 shots for 1 sight picture (that comes later, sort of)

 

if you do well at one kind of stage that's what you need to practice least if you suck at another kind of stage practice that. emphasize in practice what your bad at, its not as fun but it pays off.

 

 

[chiggynoodlesoup]

2 hours ago, MikeBurgess said:

C class, don't take this the wrong way but you likely need to work on everything, the tricky part is figuring out what you suck at the most. If you can find a class or good shooter to work with even for a day to get good info on where your biggest deficits are and how to fix them that would be a good place to start.  

 

generic answers, are you by nature, fast or slow? accurate or sloppy? look at your results are you loosing more on points shot or time? are you shooting OK but your stage plans go to poop? do you have lots of misses or penalties? are you super inconsistent stage to stage (as in some good results some bad) over time do these stages have anything in common?

 

if your slow but accurate spend some time doing live fire way faster than your comfort zone, set some par times that are well beyond what you would normally do on a drill and meet the time regardless of hits (like I don't care if you hit the target at all just need to be safe) , you need to know what it feels like to go fast also as you do this you may find that as you speed up the hits don't get as bad as you think they will.

 

if you sloppy but quick, shoot some groups do some dry fire where you pay way more attention to your sights, work on not shooting 2 shots for 1 sight picture (that comes later, sort of)

 

if you do well at one kind of stage that's what you need to practice least if you suck at another kind of stage practice that. emphasize in practice what your bad at, its not as fun but it pays off.

 

 

I definitely agree, I have a lot to work on, some things more than others. I'm decently fast, (I'm 15 so I have fast movement, but I shoot kinda average, not fast, but I could be slower.) I was fairly happy with my hits at my last match, except for the 11 total misses in twelve 30rnd stages. I believe that most of my misses came from me not wanting to waste time looking at targets, (I would shoot and move on, I'm past staring at my targets, but I need to make sure I am more accurate.)

 

Most of the time, I run my stages according to plan, however I feel as though I could have a bit better of a stage plan. At least half or more of my most recent stages I was happy with scores on, while the other half I know I could have done better on.

 

I would probably say that I shoot at a decent speed, but I would like to get quicker, and that I am mostly confident with my hits, I just need a bit more accuracy. I will work on both of those tips so I can improve both areas of skill. I definitely want to save some money and take a class, I just don't know who/where I would take it with.
 

Last question. For iron sights, should I have both eyes or only one eye open? I usually have one eye closed on farther shots or covered targets, but close targets I am mainly just pointing and shooting. Is there some sort of standard for when you should have one/both eyes open, or is it just based on comfort? For reference, I have a red fiber optic front sight, and blacked (no dot) rear sights. I find it difficult to pick up on the fiber optic quickly with both eyes open, as it gets a bit confusing with no rear dots to line it up with. I do however, (with one eye closed) prefer the blacked out rear sights, as it allows me to find and focus on my front sight easily.
 

Thanks again

[motosapiens]

21 minutes ago, chiggynoodlesoup said:

<snip> I believe that most of my misses came from me not wanting to waste time looking at targets, (I would shoot and move on, I'm past staring at my targets, but I need to make sure I am more accurate.)

<snip>
 

Last question. For iron sights, should I have both eyes or only one eye open? I usually have one eye closed on farther shots or covered targets, but close targets I am mainly just pointing and shooting.

 

2 separate points to address here. First, the time to be looking at targets is *while* you are shooting them, not afterwards. Probably the single most important thing you can do to get better is to learn to see where the sights are as the gun fires, so you know approximately where the shot hit (calling your shots). This requires not blinking, which takes a while to learn, and it also requires paying attention, which also takes a while to learn. You also need to see the sights for BOTH shots on a paper target, otherwise you are just guessing. Guessing works pretty well out to 5-7 yards, but then it starts getting pretty unreliable after that. You will save yourself alot of frustration if you learn to call every shot.

 

second, regarding both eyes open, in general it is better to have both eyes open. it is also generally better to see the sights even on close targets. It doesn't take any longer to see them, and you may not need to really *aim* at close targets, but it still a pretty darned good idea to see the sights on every shot.  Some people adapt very quickly to shooting with both eyes open. It seems to me like these are people with a strongly dominant eye. I do not have a strongly dominant eye, so I have never been able to shoot at any kind of speed with both eyes open and iron sights until I learned the trick from a badazz gm of putting a little half-inch square of scotch tape on my glasses to keep my non dominant eye from seeing the sight/target, but allowing it to see everything else (like the next target, the magwell, where my feet are going, etc...). Some very high-level shooters just close one eye or squint when shooting. You'll have to figure out what works for you, but I would advise at least trying to shoot with both eyes open and see what happens.

 

[chiggynoodlesoup]

Ok, so, work on not blinking, keep both eyes open, always "aim", know where my shots are hitting as I am firing (calling my shots), and really freakin fast reloads. I'll start working on some of that as soon as I can! Thank you guys!

Edited May 26, 2021 by chiggynoodlesoup

[chiggynoodlesoup]

WOW the tape helps SO MUCH. Thanks again!

[MikeBurgess]

21 hours ago, chiggynoodlesoup said:

I was fairly happy with my hits at my last match, except for the 11 total misses in twelve 30rnd stages

Make a goal to get this to zero, misses are very costly in our scoring system do whatever you can to avoid them. Yes the best shooters still end up with the occasional miss but they are few and far between for most

something to keep in mind is as your shooting, if something doesn't feel right on a shot (sight picture, trigger press, grip whatever) if you have the extra bullets in your plan (low cap this can be harder) send a make up,  3 alpha hurts way less than alpha, mike.

[chiggynoodlesoup]

8 hours ago, MikeBurgess said:

Make a goal to get this to zero, misses are very costly in our scoring system do whatever you can to avoid them. Yes the best shooters still end up with the occasional miss but they are few and far between for most

something to keep in mind is as your shooting, if something doesn't feel right on a shot (sight picture, trigger press, grip whatever) if you have the extra bullets in your plan (low cap this can be harder) send a make up,  3 alpha hurts way less than alpha, mike.

Yeah, I for sure know the point pain that mikes give, and I know that number is no where near acceptable. I need to be able to call my shots better so I don't miss as much, and if I do, I can make it up without wasting time looking at the target to try and find my hits.

[PatJones]

7 hours ago, chiggynoodlesoup said:

Yeah, I for sure know the point pain that mikes give, and I know that number is no where near acceptable. I need to be able to call my shots better so I don't miss as much, and if I do, I can make it up without wasting time looking at the target to try and find my hits.

Calling shots is knowing where each shot went based on what you saw your sights do, this is different than missing less.

 

It sounds like you need to get to the point where you can shoot a match penalty free. Can you hit all the targets in a typical match if you remove the time pressures?

[Boomstick303]

8 hours ago, chiggynoodlesoup said:

I need to be able to call my shots better

 

Make sure you understand shot calling.  Some make the mistake of not knowing the difference between "my sights (or dot) was in the A zone when I pulled the trigger" versus "my sights (or dot) were in the A zone when the sights (or dot) lifted" as when the shot left the gun.  There is a distinct difference.  

 

 

[PatJones]

58 minutes ago, Boomstick303 said:

 

Make sure you understand shot calling.  Some make the mistake of not knowing the difference between "my sights (or dot) was in the A zone when I pulled the trigger" versus "my sights (or dot) were in the A zone when the sights (or dot) lifted" as when the shot left the gun.  There is a distinct difference.  

 

 

This.

 

And remember, there is a difference between where your sights are when you begin to pull the trigger and where they are when you're done pulling the trigger.

 

Aiming doesn't stop when you make the decision to pull the trigger, you must continue to aim -while- you pull the trigger. The excellent 1911 trigger can be a crutch that hides this fault in your shooting.

[MikeBurgess]

8 minutes ago, PatJones said:

This.

 

And remember, there is a difference between where your sights are when you begin to pull the trigger and where they are when you're done pulling the trigger.

 

Aiming doesn't stop when you make the decision to pull the trigger, you must continue to aim -while- you pull the trigger. The excellent 1911 trigger can be a crutch that hides this fault in your shooting.

this, is so true

 

I think of aiming and trigger press as parallel programs because you do them together