AustinMike Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 What a horrible morning I had. Took my "new to me" open gun out to my second IPSC match shooting open. I'm fairly new to competition shooting (started last summer) and got the open gun recently because I've had a number of people tell me it can help improvement by training you to present the gun consistently, etc. Anyway, the first course of the morning today was a set of par timed strings. Two seconds to draw and fire at a paper target, then 4 seconds draw and shoot a popper, reload, shoot another popper, then 4 seconds to draw and shoot a six plate rack. At this point, I'm lucky to get a good draw and acquire the dot in 2 seconds, much less hit anything. Threw a Mike on paper, got one popper down, and didn't even get a shot on the plate rack. Couldn't find the dot under pressure and froze up solid, didn't even bother pulling trigger. I felt like such an idiot and would have crawled under a rock if I could. My confidence was shattered after that and I was about to just bag and call it a day for shooting. The guys told me to go to the safe area and just practice draws for a while. Over there, without the pressure of the clock I could calmly draw and find the dot. So, I told myself to ignore the clock, just go have fun and do what I could. I got my hits and disregarded time completely. To remove all pressure, I didn't even look at my times, just the hits. No misses after that. The rest of the stages progressively felt better and I was glad I stuck it out. I doubt I did very well in the overall results, but at least I was able to bring back the enjoyment of an afternoon of shooting. I definitely need a LOT more dry fire practice. The problem for me is that my work schedule is so full that I just don't have time to do much dry fire practice right now. And the last thing I need is to make a second job out of shooting. I'm wondering if it might be better to shelve the open thing until I have more time to spend learning it? Or just say the heck with how well I do and just go out there to the matches I can make, forget about scores, and just have fun and learn at my own pace? Not sure this fits in the Match screw-ups category. I think I needed to vent more than anything! Maybe someone else will at least benefit from knowing that it is indeed possible to mentally recover from even the most heinous stage performance! I sure would have liked to have had my iron sights today! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aclundwall Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 Mike, It was good meeting you today. I was not terribly happy with that stage either, and I'm sure we are not in the minority. But, they can't all be 32 round stages, I guess. Still, it was a long way for either of us to drive for a 90 round match! I don't shoot open, so I don't really know how frustrating it must have been. But I do know that even when I'm not shooting well, I still have fun shooting. I suspect that you do too. So, my uninformed opinion is to stick with it, and you'll pick it up soon enough. On second thought, maybe you SHOULD give up the open gun. In fact, you probably need to get it out of your house. I'll keep it in my safe for you till you have enough time. I'll even take it out and shoot it occasionally, just to keep it in tip-top shape. just a thought..... Art Lundwall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinMike Posted April 16, 2006 Author Share Posted April 16, 2006 On second thought, maybe you SHOULD give up the open gun. In fact, you probably need to get it out of your house. I'll keep it in my safe for you till you have enough time. I'll even take it out and shoot it occasionally, just to keep it in tip-top shape. just a thought..... I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for being willing to take on that burden! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 Well, the stage design was pretty bad... expressly forbidden by the rules and all... And definitely not a good "warm up" stage... I think pretty much everyone experiences this frustration with the dot (esp. C-More) when they first get started w/ an Open gun. Good that you were able to stay in the game - and you won 3rd (something - can't remember what class you're in w/ Open??). Can't have been too bad a finish Wicked frustrating to not be able to sight the pistol, though BTW - the "go to safe area and drill" thing is a good way to get your head straight sometimes. I'm glad that worked out for you. I had to do that a little bit after stage 2, as well... You can at least start to address this without any dedicated dry fire time, if you want... Any time you're in front of the TV, have the gun with you. Hold it in your left hand - then, pass it to the right, establish a grip, raise it up and then push it out to the TV and put the dot where you're looking (say, your least favorite sports person or something...). You're working the critical part of the draw for finding the dot - grip consistency, and presentation. If you did that for a week for 10-15 minutes while watching TV, you'll be finding the dot like a champ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinMike Posted April 16, 2006 Author Share Posted April 16, 2006 can't remember what class you're in w/ Open? No classification yet, this was my second open match. If you did that for a week for 10-15 minutes while watching TV You say that like I've got time to watch TV. Man, I barely managed to squeeze in an hour this past week to reload so I'd have something to shoot yesterday! I'll definitely try to get in more dry fire opportunities. Might just have to be 10 minutes before going to work instead of that extra cup of coffee. Ugh... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38superman Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 If you're really that busy, just go to a match when you can and forget about the score. Just consider it practice. It may take a while but you will get up to speed. I know many people will take exception to this but I have never been a big fan of dry firing. I have always felt that the best practice was running live fire drills. Dry firing seems like trying to become a better swimmer by standing next to the pool and pretending to do the breast stroke. O.k. now I've spouted blasphemy. Go on and light me up. Tls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 You say that like I've got time to watch TV. D'oh.. I figured you were finding a little couch time in there in the evening or something... I'll definitely try to get in more dry fire opportunities. Even if it's only a couple times a week, it'll make a huge difference, but... Might just have to be 10 minutes before going to work instead of that extra cup of coffee. Ugh... Blasphemy!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlamoShooter Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 Mike I have shot with you and YOU are a better shooter that I was when I started out. No one thought I get to be anything better than just Ok. You are very lucky in that the Austin Club has so many top rate shooters. I sugest you shoot the gun that gives you the most pleasure. I shoot Iron Ok but I like the dot...I like shooting long shot. Give yourself some credit and build a good shooting foundation that will hold you up when you get old like me. Some guys & girls learn very fast and easy, I had to work at it. And If you were going to start a new 'work out' shedule most of us would get up an hour early to get the time 'at the gym' in before we go to work. Try getting up early one or two days a week and put in 15min of you time with your gun. Every thing has a price = how bad do you want it. Some stages at a match find a shooters weekness. some stages every shooter can learn on them. And some stages are just stages. Every time I shot with you you were controled and deliberate, that somthing you can build on. = Keep it up Jamie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyin40 Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 All it will take is 25 draws in the morning and 25 in the evening, it would take all of 5mins in the morning and 5mins in the evening. After a week or two you'll notice a difference. Since you don't have any time 10mins a day will have to do. You could also skip the match and just practice. The match last what??? probably 4 hrs and you shoot 125 or so rounds with probably 5 or 6 draws. You know what you could do in 4 hrs of practice. One shot draws and transitions just getting used to see the dot. I'm thinking of doing that exact thing this coming weekend. Theres a classifier match and I might skip it and just practice. Flyin40 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aclundwall Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 You could also skip the match and just practice. The match last what??? probably 4 hrs and you shoot 125 or so rounds with probably 5 or 6 draws. You know what you could do in 4 hrs of practice. Flyin40 Boy, that's the truth! Yesterday, being Easter Sunday, there were no matches to go to, but the range was still open. I went alone, and had the whole range to myself. I got there and setup by about 2:00. I brought 500 rounds for my IDPA rig, and 550 rounds for my Limited gun, and I had gone through it all by 5:30, doing nothing but drills practicing stuff we went over in last weeks class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinMike Posted April 17, 2006 Author Share Posted April 17, 2006 You could also skip the match and just practice. The match last what??? probably 4 hrs and you shoot 125 or so rounds with probably 5 or 6 draws. You know what you could do in 4 hrs of practice. One shot draws and transitions just getting used to see the dot. I'm thinking of doing that exact thing this coming weekend. Theres a classifier match and I might skip it and just practice. I'm going to try and get a practice day while everyone is off at Space City in a couple of weeks. I'd like to set up a par timer so I can practice under clock pressure too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightloop Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 It was a learning experience, not one you want to experience again, but a learning thing nevertheless.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlamoShooter Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 I'm going to try and get a practice day while everyone is off at Space City in a couple of weeks. I'd like to set up a par timer so I can practice under clock pressure too. Mike Dave could tell you better than me but, ...I thought your "shooting" time was fine plenty fast. It is your getting to the shooting that is slow/ easyest to improve on. Runing with Sissors is the sport that we do. I do not shoot that much faster than you do ...I just get to the shooting faster. For the Team shoot that we do I practced Sprinting/ running to get to the shooting. I did that in the back yard. Trim away any movment that does not help the shooting. Trim away the movment and you trim away the time. But I may not know nothing Jamie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 (edited) Since when am I qualified to instruct anyone on anything??? My experience is that any sort of practice would help out - but for me, I get a lot more out of dry fire when trying to refine a new technique. I have to take it live at some point to burn it in and insure that I'm being honest about my hits, etc. But, learning the mechanics of the change are much easier for me when I can focus purely on the mechanics in dry fire. Otherwise, I have a tendency to hone in on the timer and getting good hits, instead of the mechanics. Mike, if you find some time to dry fire, check out the "dry fire timer" on burkettvideo.com in the Dry Fire Drills section. You can configure a par time there, and it gives the range commands as well. It's actually pretty effective at setting up some "pressure" No need to wait until you can hit the range to practice against a timer... Certainly, most time that most people can make up doesn't have anything to do with the shooting itself - and initially, we tend to shave that time off in draws, reloads, etc. Later, we find it hiding in movement, entry/exit and setup, etc. As a new dot shooter, finding the dot consistently on draw, reload, SHO, WHO, etc, is hyper-critical (and frustrating until you get the work done - which is what Mike's lamenting above). If I were going to setup a live fire session for Mike, right now, say on a weekend day when no one else is around, I'd have him dry fire for about 20-30 minutes, breaking the draw down and focusing on consistent grip and presentation. Then shoot some groups at 15 and 25 yards to work some on trigger control and target vs. dot focus (can't go much longer on some ranges - do some longer stuff, if so). Then do some timing drills to get more familiar with the gun and tracking the dot. Finally, since finding the dot is difficult right now, and he wants to practice under some timer pressure, I'd have him do draws to a 10y target, A-zone hits only. No par, at first, just focus on the draw and finding the dot. After the dot is showing up consistently, then move to a generous par (start at, say, 2 or 3 seconds) and work it down until he can't meet the par. That ought to be a full day and 400-500 rounds... BTW, Mike, one thing that hasn't been mentioned that might be hindering you, too, is holster position. You want zero head and shoulder movement when you draw the gun - otherwise, consistency will be difficult. You can check that by putting the rig on and do some draws in front of a mirror slowly - you'll be able to see movement (and not just up and down, but forward/backward, side to side, etc). You may find you need to move the holster forward slightly and up or down. Make sure you keep the grip in line with your arm when your hand is on the gun while it's holstered, too. Just something else to take a look at - that Ghost is so damn adjustable, you can get it into a position that feels good that really doesn't work, in the end... Alternately - if you have a few minutes this weekend, I'd be happy to get together and see if we can't get you squared away... Edited April 17, 2006 by XRe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 I also don't particularly like dry-fire, but doing some ultra-slo-mo dry draws works great to see what's going on, as well as doing them backwards starting with the dot on target and going back through the positions are great helps when learning the C-more. If you don't want to be waving guns around the house, you can also pull the slide off the frame and practice with the remaining frame and scope (slowly lower the hammer first) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinMike Posted April 17, 2006 Author Share Posted April 17, 2006 If you don't want to be waving guns around the house I prefer to do it at work! Seriously, too bad I can't dry fire here when I have spare moments. The slow motion thing did seem helpful at the safe area the other day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve J Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 You could also skip the match and just practice. The match last what??? probably 4 hrs and you shoot 125 or so rounds with probably 5 or 6 draws. You know what you could do in 4 hrs of practice. Flyin40 Boy, that's the truth! Yesterday, being Easter Sunday, there were no matches to go to, but the range was still open. I went alone, and had the whole range to myself. I got there and setup by about 2:00. I brought 500 rounds for my IDPA rig, and 550 rounds for my Limited gun, and I had gone through it all by 5:30, doing nothing but drills practicing stuff we went over in last weeks class. You should have come down to Texas Tactical. We heathens had a great match on Easter morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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