Everything To Do With My Shooting

[JD45]

Another match revealed what a piece of crap shooter I am. Tight shots reveal all. Either you can shoot or you can't. I'm even beginning to think that dryfiring is making me worse.

At this point I hate it all. I hate my gun, my gear, my reloads, no-shoots, hardcover, Limited-10, counting rounds, walking backwards in every F'n stage so the muzzle will be downrange, my shooting glasses, my truck, my rear and front sight both, and especially my own no-skill self.

[Calamity Jane]

Another match revealed what a piece of crap shooter I am. Tight shots reveal all. Either you can shoot or you can't. I'm even beginning to think that dryfiring is making me worse.

At this point I hate it all. I hate my gun, my gear, my reloads, no-shoots, hardcover, Limited-10, counting rounds, walking backwards in every F'n stage so the muzzle will be downrange, my shooting glasses, my truck, my rear and front sight both, and especially my own no-skill self.

AAHHH Self loathing. Been there and done that. Hang in there! Hope the rant has helped clear your mind.

[uscbigdawg]

Sounds like you need a break from the pistol stuff bro. I usually go through this at least once a year and use trap/skeet as a nice break. Too, just going back to the 15-25 yard line and some good ol' fashioned plinkin'.

Most times all of this is psychological. Good shooting is a skill that is taught. We just learn at various rates and most of all RETENTION. You know how to shoot and shoot well. Don't beat yourself up on that.

Heck, try a different clubs/matches. That might help break the funk too.

Rich

[dsb45acp]

I'm with USCBigDawg. Take a break! I think at this point your into a "self fulfilling prophecy" mode. You think that you are a horrible shooter, so that is how you shoot. Cut yourself some slack; everybody has at least one positive point in their skill toolbox. Didn't you say something about "walking backwards " on every stage to keep your muzzle downrange? That seems to me to touch on THE most important aspect or our sport: SAFETY! So you're doing at least one thing right! Give yourself some down time and remember someone's signature line on the forum: "Think you can, think you can't; either way you are right."

[HSMITH]

Dryfire can only hurt if you are not 'shooting' each shot perfectly in dryfire. Clean up your dryfire routine to all center A hits and watch what happens!!

[ima45dv8]

I'm with USCBigDawg. Take a break! I think at this point your into a "self fulfilling prophecy" mode. You think that you are a horrible shooter, so that is how you shoot. Cut yourself some slack; everybody has at least one positive point in their skill toolbox. Didn't you say something about "walking backwards " on every stage to keep your muzzle downrange? That seems to me to touch on THE most important aspect or our sport: SAFETY! So you're doing at least one thing right! Give yourself some down time and remember someone's signature line on the forum: "Think you can, think you can't; either way you are right."

Yep.

[G-ManBart]

Been there, done that...more with golf than shooting, but they're pretty similar in many ways.

I was so pissed off one day after leaving the course that I swore I was quitting and was already mentally listing all my stuff for sale on a golf forum. As I was nearing home I started to pass a driving range and decided that if I was going to quit, I might as well hit one last bucket. Went in and just hit the freakin' ball without caring much where it went. All of a sudden I was firing on all cylinders and the next morning had a round within one or two strokes of my best ever game.

Sometimes the fact that you're passionate about something can work against you....you care about it, so you try too hard. Don't try, it's not something you can force....let it happen one sight picture and one trigger press at a time. You'll get it sorted out and be better for it!

[Precision40]

The only time I dry-fire or live-fire anymore is on match day and I haven't shot a match in about 4 months. Take a break, re-focus on your core skills and don't sweat the small stuff.

I usually do much better once I have some down-time. Been doing this going on 7 years now and it gets harder and harder to stay motivated each year, so consequently I find myself shooting less and less to keep from burning out.

Last couple of matches I shot, I found myself just wanting to get through the stage, running completely by arrays, getting mikes on close targets etc...So sometimes a break is a good thing.

[38superman]

I feel your pain.

May I suggest that you need to stop and refocus.

Let go of the dry fire and forget the run and gun stuff for a bit.

Take a couple of sessions at your local range just doing slow fire for accuracy.

Take your sweet time, focus on the sights, breathing, trigger control and squeeze them off.

After you get your accuracy mojo back (and you will), try another session doing bill drills, or shooting steel.

Again, don't rush just put them in the A zone.

Next session run more bill drills at your normal speed.

Everybody goes through this frustration when you hit a wall and nothing seems to work anymore.

Don't jump off a bridge.

It will pass.

Tony

Edited April 9, 2007 by tlshores

[John Dunn]

This is where having a shooter like Bonedaddy available is a great help. He is a very calming influence when he's not pressuring the heck out of you!

Don't hate your shooting, approach it as a scientific experiment. Why are you missing? If it is the gun, sights, reloads...those things are easy fix, they just take time and money. If you can make all those tight shots with no time pressure, sounds like visual patience needs some attention. Also, remember that expectations are generally performance killers. If you can't make those shots even with unlimited time, do some accuracy drills until you can.

I try to remember why I shoot...for fun. If it's not fun, try something else for a while.

[JD45]

This is why I ask ya'll first. All of your replies are really helpful. Thank you.

I shot a friend's gun just to see if I could discover anything new. That confirmed that the problem is 100% me and not the gun.

I also noticed from the match results the majority of the shooters shot a great deal worse than usual. It must have been a tough match. Still, no excuse though. If you learn how to shoot you can handle any match.

Nothing gets under my skin worse than hitting no-shoots and missing targets. I've got to figure out how to call every shot. I can call a shot on a 25-50yd. target much better than a five yard target. If there was not a timer involved and I had all day, I could shoot a perfect shot on any target at any match I've seen, as long as it's not moving(swingers). Of course I suppose the same is true for most shooters.

The timer can be one ugly muther sometimes.

[dajarrel]

The timer can be one ugly muther sometimes.

One of my shooting buddies who couldn't shoot the AL state match asked me to be sure and tell another club member to "forget the timer" This guy had become engrossed with getting a good time to the detriment of his hits.

Might help if at the next match you shoot that you "forget the timer." Shoot your game getting your hits.

I'm not shooting up to par right now and I know that if I shoot behind a really good limted shooter or open shooter, I'm going to try to shoot as fast as they did. What's really dumb about that is that I'm shooting Revolver right now

So knowing that the timer is contributing to your problem is a great start. Gives you something to work on.

Good Luck

dj

[John Dunn]

I can call a shot on a 25-50yd. target much better than a five yard target. If there was not a timer involved and I had all day, I could shoot a perfect shot on any target at any match I've seen, as long as it's not moving(swingers).

I was breaking down a stage at Area 1 a couple years ago with a very experienced shooter (Sam). It was one of those run down a hallway and shoot thru ports on either side at big close targets, then at the end of the hall were some long shots with hard cover or No-shoots (can't remember which). Sam pulls me aside and tells me that the long shots are where folks are going to mess up on this stage because they are coming off a hoser pace and will want to rush the shot. He advised me to not to slow down, but to transition to a hard front sight focus and to take the time necessary to make the shot. I remember he said it would feel like it was taking forever, but not to rush.

Long story short, I shot the hoser stuff as fast as I could on index/target focus, changed up at the end of the hall to a hard front sight focus and cleaned the stage. Best stage of the match for me, I think I came in second in Limited on that stage behind Ara(GM), no one has ever mistaken me for a GM. Tons of people rushed those long shots and paid the price.

If you can make the shots, the battle is over half won. Not everyone can say they can hit all our targets with confidence. I've seen folks reload multiple times to a 15 yard plate rack, or just give up on 30 yd paper.

Next time you analyze a stage, look at each target and visualize what you need to see. Say, " I'll take these two with a target focus, get back on the front sight for those plates, then switch to bullseye precision mode for those No-shoot bracketed targets. Then do it! To hell with the timer! As Ron Avery says, "See what you need to see to make the shot." We don't do this because it feels slow, but it is deceptively fast to have confidence.