Practice Routine

[D.carden]

Went to the range Monday after Christmas for my "first" day of IPSC shotgun'n.

I set-up 5 paper / 3 steel and used the barricades that were already there from a previous match.

There was about 15 yards of movement from start to finish for this so-called stage.

Ran it about a dozen times and "really" got the hang of it.

The question IS.

What is a good practice routine?

Target arrays?

Drills?

Basically, what should i be doing in regards to match practicing?

Dan.......

[D.Hayden]

Dan..

Don't forget the long (think bay 1) slug paper stuff.

Know the zero for 40-60 yds.

Try to practice loading as much as possible.

I use some clay target stands to help too.

just as an aside.. you should call me so I can practice too!

[lynn jones]

don't know for sure...but check out matt burkett's video.

hey matt, what ya thing, plug for a dvd?

pm me for my address.

lol

lynn

[George]

For shotgun, practice shooting plates and clays in arrays while standing and while walking. Shooting on the move is a huge ability to have. Work on shooting as fast as possible without missing a single plate/clay.

Work the platerack until you can burn it from low ready in under 3.5 seconds at 10-15 yards, then work on doing it clean in under 2.5 seconds, which is where the big dawgs run.

After that, practice loading and then practice loading some more and then practice loading even more ;-)

Practice slug selects as you will be changing to and from slugs within a COF occasionally.

Practice dryfire acquisition of orange dots at home until you can stop on a dime and move to the next dot cleanly without overswinging when transitioning the shotgun.

Practice your mount from port arms until it's a reflex action with the shotgun always aimed right at the intended target after the mount. Speed shoots are common in shotgun and the ability to pour it on from port arms, or low ready in a split second is a good one.

[D.Hayden]

Dan.. just in case you missed it, practice loading...

Find someone with a shotgun loader to make you some dummy rounds, for 'dry loading' at home.

Edited December 30, 2005 by BerKim

[mike.45]

Dan,

Welcome to IPSC shotgun!

In the UK and Europe a lot of IPSC shotgun is shot (mainly because in the UK we only have shotguns ) and to be honest there isnt really a vast difference detween IPSC pistol and shotgun - we still use pistol type stages, apatures, foot faults etc etc.

Most Pistol stages are a shotgun stage and every pistol paper stage one is a slug stage ! - dont change the stage just shoot slug ! If any poppers / steel under 40m are to be shot with slug they will either have to be removed or pushed back to the 40m mark. Also I have never seen slug at distances on paper or steel past 40m in any IPSC match so if its IPSC you are doing I would shoot out to this distance and only occasionally practice past this.

Re steel, again just substitute whatever steel you have for the paper and you are good to go. IPSC shotgun matches are the same as pistol in that if it is a 12 stage match: 6 stages will be short - up to 10 targets, 4 medium - up to 20 targets, and 2 long - up to 28 steel / frangible or 30 slug (15 paper).

In IPSC shotgun we sadly dont do multi ammo type stages, e.g mix bird and slug - but do use all 3 types of ammo: bird, buck and slug. A typical buck stage would be a long one engaging both big steel at distance and paper combined.

Did anyone mention practice loading ?

The advice re practicing already given is good, I would also practice a lot of shooting on the move and also set drills like: shoot a steel, move 10 feet, loading 4 and then shoot another steel - with practice this should be easily achieveable in sub 6 secs - I will not tell you what the big dogs do this in - it only depresses me thinking about it !!

Good luck, and the European Level IV IPSC Shotgun Championships are in Greece in August 2006 - hopefully see you there !