New shooter. Open class?

[JAMES77257]

I have shot handguns for 15 years. I have shot 4 IPSC matches and practice every weekend (500 rds.) I built a G35 race gun (I like shiny things) w/C-More, comp BBL, trigger, etc. I shot open class last month, and got 17th out of 26 shooters (overall). I used to place 10th-14th out of 30 or so shooters (overall) shooting limited.

Should I go back to limited, or try to get better shooting open?

Edited August 10, 2007 by JAMES77257

[Kingman]

Open is an entire different ball of wax.

[GentlemanJim]

You should place higher in open you have more advantages.

Shoot it for a while and give it a chance...you will most likely get better

Jim

[JAMES77257]

You should place higher in open you have more advantages.

Shoot it for a while and give it a chance...you will most likely get better

Jim

Don't they score differently in different classes? I also have trouble keeping the dot in the window, any advise?

[shred]

You should place higher in open you have more advantages.

Shoot it for a while and give it a chance...you will most likely get better

Jim

Don't they score differently in different classes? I also have trouble keeping the dot in the window, any advise?

The "combined" results don't have official standing because it's possible to flip-flop the order of shooters from 'by division' standings to 'combined' standings. In reality, that happens only rarely.

If you spent the time and effort to make an Open gun, I'd give it more than one match.

If it turns out you do better in limited, you'll at least know it for sure

Learning where the dot is is a very important skill for Open shooters.

[AlamoShooter]

NAwww Open is Eazy real eazy like no skill required eazy Its ben some time sence I shot Iron sights. I think several kinds of shots are better / quicker with a Limited gun over the dot. = like most of the targets inside of 7 yards Its the comp that helps most with a 1/2 tenth of a second in recoil.

If you could pick up an open gun and shoot it as good as the gun you have your foundation in and do that in six months ...I think that would be very good.

But I learn slow, and I have no skill as I shoot mostly Optic sights. It can't be hard if I can do it well kind of do it.

How much coaching have you gotten with the Open? How many books ? & More than 3,000 rounds a month to help the learning curve? You gotta put the time in

And maybe the other guys are training harder & smarter than you are. so you could continue to drop in the %% game.

I still feal like a beginer

[HSMITH]

If I had started in Open I would be a 3 or 4 division Master now, instead I started with irons and am a 3B 1A shooter. I have been shooting Open since March, and I am sick of it, but doing it teaches me something every time I am open to learning something. It has gotten me to recognize several severe flaws in my shooting, taught me how to press out each shot when I have the self control to do so, and taught me to watch the sight lift and really be able to call a shot. These are HUGE strides to me.

Open lets you learn how to SHOOT, the iron sight divisions require gun management and things like that while you are shooting and take away from the shooting IMO. Open isn't for everyone, it isn't the thing for me, but I am learning a LOT shooting Open and when I go back to the iron sight guns I will be a lot better off for the experience.

Shoot a season Open, it will help.

[G-ManBart]

Open guns take a while to get used to, but once you do, they'll often help your iron sight shooting. It's hard to describe, but it seems to be true for most people. Give it a little time and you'll be finding the dot with no trouble. The drills in Benos' book about practicing just drawing and finding the front sight work equally well for a dot. Work until you can look at a target, close your eyes, draw with your eyes closed and open them to find the dot right where you were looking before you closed your eyes. You have to work up to that, but it's not terribly difficult...dry draws and dry firing will make all the difference in the world and in some ways, will help you more than live fire at first.

[JAMES77257]

Thanks for the good advice everyone. Maybe I need to practice with an open shooter, as well as pick up a few books.

[38superman]

I have been shooting Limited and L10 for several years and starting playing a bit in Open division this spring.

I usually place higher in Limited although I feel I shoot better with the Open gun.

The reason is that Open is a top heavy division.

It is loaded with GM, M and A shooters (and a few others that ought to be).

It's not uncommon for me to go to a club match and have a strong day only to find that I placed 16 of 23 or something like that.

This is because most people gravitate to open after they have been in the sport for a while and are much more polished shooters when they get there.

If you have been shooting in another division, you probably have been moving up the score sheet as your skill improved and more newbies are filling in the sheet behind you.

Not the case when you jump to open.

Even with decent ability you may often find yourself in the lower tier.

Once you learn the gun and adapt to the nuances of the division you will begin to move up again.

Tony

Edited August 10, 2007 by 38superman