Shooting Open

[moverfive]

The key thing that shooting open will do for you is to improve your timing.

While you must be fundamentally strong in any division, there is usually less room for error in Limited than it is in Open. But in open, you must be quick.....always. So each division has its own twist that must be mastered.

But what open gives you that you cannot easily get by just shooting limited is a quicker timing. And conversely, shooting limited will make you a fundamentally stronger open shooter.

But one word of caution - as people get faster in limited, they usually need to change their gun accordingly. Many limited guns that work well for C and B class shooters are totally unacceptable for A's and M's. The gun must always be able to shoot faster than you can.

I say that as a lot of limited guns are not configured to shoot fast enough for M's and GM's.

[AustinMike]

I say that as a lot of limited guns are not configured to shoot fast enough for M's and GM's.

Better not let Dave Sevigny know that! Equipment plays a significant role, certainly. But there are more than a few M's and GM's that shoot at that level with Glocks or other guns not far off from stock. It's what's between your ears that accounts for most of your shooting ability, IMO. If I've got my head on straight that day, I can shoot as well or better with my production gun as I can with my open gun (I am only shooting at a C level though. ). Both platforms teach me skills that complement each other. I hesitantly dropped the cash for a used open gun earlier this year and I can't say it's made me a better shooter per se, but it's brought out my weaknesses very clearly and given me things to work on that carry over into my Limited/Production shooting. To me anyway, the open gun is a very unforgiving beast on bad draws, indexing, etc. At my current level of shooting development, I view the open gun as a cruel, unrelenting trainer that will amplify my flaws if I don't stay absolutely focused and consistent. I currently enjoy iron sight shooting more, but as I switch between the two, my iron sight shooting steadily improves. I think open shooting is helping remove some of the slop from my iron sight shooting.

Edited September 24, 2006 by AustinMike

[Flexmoney]

ahhh...

[hdgun]

Do any of you think this holds true for Revolver?

[Mick]

Do any of you think this holds true for Revolver?

Not sure about revolvers but why not?

OPEN WILL improve the LTD shooter! I got stuck at 93% years ago in LTD when wonder boy JoJo Vidanes wrote or said something about shooting OPEN with the far side of the lense covered. I shot like this in practice and on stages with the muzzle side of the C-More taped over. It taught my left eye (I'm right eye dominant) to look down range while my right eye focused on the front sight. I got my M card in OPEN and went back to LTD. I jumped to 98% very fast, mostly due to my eyes working correctly on the targets and the sights plus the trigger speed I had learned.

OBTW I just finished a plate match with two other GMs, We got beat by the GM Glock shooter who runs plates as fast as anyone I know. There are 4 GMs at the Dallas club but the Glock shooter usually but not always beats the other three who shoot STI/SV guns...

His gun is pretty much a stock G35 with a 9mm Barsto barrel in it.

[MattBurkett]

I fully believe that shooting open makes you a better overall shooter and way better at iron sights. Might even be in my book from a long time ago. Not sure.

For me - open jumped my shooting 10% in one day. Adding a dot sight back in 1991 was a massive boon to my shooting.