Newbie Advice

[Shay1911]

I have been shooting IPSC for three months now, handguns for less than a year, but I shoot a lot. I shoot a single stack .45 1911. I know I picked a difficult first division.

During our local practice matches, I am usually -2 or -3 for each stage, as in all Alphas and two or three Charlies. The problem is I am super slow. I have been told I am getting too many Alphas.

I think I am solid C, although I have not shot qualifiers yet. I usually shoot with the C's and occasional B's. When I compare my points to the rest of the shooters, I am a few points above the GM's and M's (all classes), but about 20 seconds behind them:)

My problem is that a lot of people are kicking my behind overall, even though their score is 20-30 points below mine, but they are 10 seconds faster.

I have a lot of work to do on my mag changes, draws, transitions and movement.

Am I better off keeping up the accuracy and shaving time off gradually? Or am I better off going for speed and accepting lower hits?

I just want to make sure I am on the right path...

Thanks in advance for the help.

[EZ Bagger]

The first thing is always safety. Going fast but losing track of the trigger finger or the 180 isn't worth it.

But, if you are physically able, try faster so that you'll know what it feels and looks like. When you start throwing Mikes, slow it back down. But, if you never try to push yourself it will take longer to get faster. And, faster doesn't just mean draws, reloads and splits.

Have fun!

[G-ManBart]

I think you're on the right path. If you can shoot accurately, you can learn to shoot fast. There are people who can shoot really fast, but never learn to be very accurate and they won't go far in the sport. A lot of the best instruction now seems to be focusing on developing skills at reduced speed until they're pretty much perfect and then speed up as a natural progression over time.

[AikiDale]

You might try recording your points for each stage. If you are getting less than 90% of the available points you may want to slow down and see what you need to see. Read Brian's book. And Welcome! to the game.

[Shay1911]

You might try recording your points for each stage. If you are getting less than 90% of the available points you may want to slow down and see what you need to see. Read Brian's book. And Welcome! to the game.

Last night, I got 97% and 98% of available points on two stages. The third stage was weak hand strong hand shooting, so didn't do as well:)

My goal is to shave off 5 seconds from the average stage that we shoot and then another 5 seconds eventually.

You think I should aim for 90% as fast as I can? Is that an OK goal? I guess I can always come back to accuracy.

I did read Brian's book:) and Saul's and Steve's.

[EZ Bagger]

You might try recording your points for each stage. If you are getting less than 90% of the available points you may want to slow down and see what you need to see. Read Brian's book. And Welcome! to the game.

Last night, I got 97% and 98% of available points on two stages. The third stage was weak hand strong hand shooting, so didn't do as well:)

My goal is to shave off 5 seconds from the average stage that we shoot and then another 5 seconds eventually.

You think I should aim for 90% as fast as I can? Is that an OK goal? I guess I can always come back to accuracy.

I did read Brian's book:) and Saul's and Steve's.

Picking 5 seconds is a tough goal to achieve because it's a result, not an input. My suggestion would be to plan on doing 1 or 2 specific things faster. For example, when there is movement plan on MOVING FAST. Another example is to pick a couple of targets that are close in and shoot them on the move rather than standing still.

Just those two things may be enough to drop your times by 5 seconds on a field course.

[mjbine]

Welcome to the forum and keep shooting Alphas. That is the name of the game. Keep practicing and dryfiring and your speed will pick up.

[AikiDale]

One of our GM's, Chuck Bradley, is sometimes quoted as saying "Shoot slow. Do everything else fast." Keep shooting A's and the speed will come. One thing I've noticed is that some shooters shoot very deliberately, then also move very deliberately between targets, shooting positions and reloading. Be able to change from getting your hits to moving more quickly the rest of the time.

[JThompson]

Welcome to the forum and keep shooting Alphas. That is the name of the game. Keep practicing and dryfiring and your speed will pick up.

+1 Funny, I just wrote the same advice on another thread.

[mcattack]

Three months probably seems like a long time to you but most people do not start picking up speed for 6 months or more. I agree with one thing someone said. Pick certain things to work on. Target transition is one area most shooters can gain speed. And this can be done in dry fire practice. Leaving and getting into shooting areas as quickly as possible with the gun steady and on target is a good way to save time but work on one skill till you feel comfortable that you have gained some knowledge then try something else. Down the road shoot one match deliberate and the next match go for speed sometimes you can see things that cost time. Always ask the more seasoned shooters for advice as your are going through the stages. I have never been to a match that you could not get someone to coach you on stages and ways to save time. Maybe even ask some of the better shooters if they would be willing to help you at a practice and not in a match. Video cameras area good tool for seeing areas where you are losing time. Video yourself and some of the better shooters and compare them to see where you lost time. It was 6 months before I started climbing of the bottom of the score sheet. Speed will come in time.

[Blueridge]

My suggestion goes along with the majority. Don't go for speed to the detriment of accuracy. I recently started shooting IPSC (revolver division), and shoot accurately but too slow myself. As suggested by others I plan to shoot at my current pace, but do other things (reload, move between positions, etc...) with a bit more speed.

You want a balance of the best accuracy and speed that you can muster. That is the way that I see it anyway.

[trevoro]

It sounds like you already have the ability to shoot accurately. I think you should put all your attention on speeding up. If you can cut 1 second off a 10 second stage, you can affort to shoot 10 C's and get the same score. If you never try to go fast, you'll never find out how much you can push and still end up with an acceptable alpha count. Based on you shooting 98% of the available points, I bet you can push it a lot!

In your case, shaving 5 seconds off a 30 second stage will improve your score by almost 17%. Assuming it was a 100 point stage, are you going to shoot 17 extra C's to save that time? I don't think you will. Just don't throw any Mikes.

I agree with the other advice about speeding up everything but your shooting too. Be willing to give up a few points coming into and out of shooting positions. Start shifting your weight towards the next position as you break your last shot (depending on how far out the target is). You might shoot some C's, but you will save half a second each time. Also take the extra time to get your feet set where you can see all or most of the targets you intend to shoot from that area. Shifting your feet as you transition from target to target will cost you lots of time. I think it is pretty generally agreed that the top shooters win with their transitions, not their splits. Do everything you can to cut down on your transition time and you will be able to afford an increase in time for your splits. If you watch the USPSA promo. video, you will see that the top shooters actually have slower splits than some of the other shooters in the video.

There is a very wide range out there of what people consider to be the ragged edge. Some people feel on the ragged edge if they shoot a single D. Some people only think they are on the edge if they throw more than one M. It sounds like you are on the extreme conservative end of this scale. Try shooting a match shooting for the AC zone instead of the A zone and go as fast as possible. I bet you jump up a long ways in the overalls.

To get into M class, you will need to figure out how to shoot A's fast. But I think you can shoot A/C's fast and make it as far as A. You can always put some attention back on accuracy after you have found the speed. Shooting slowly won't get you out of C class, no matter how accurate you are. The fewer points on the stage, the more true this will be.

For what it's worth. I can't even tell you that I follow my own advice. I just shoot towards the center of the target and hope to get my hits.

[cave_canem]

What are the opinions on picking up the speed and when/if the accuracy starts to suffer, ratchet back the speed a little bit? I am thinking this would allow a person to start progressing in speed but retain accuracy as well because when the accuracy suffers, you slow down a notch. Of course this assumes that speed goes up more than a "notch"...

[HoMiE]

What are the opinions on picking up the speed and when/if the accuracy starts to suffer, ratchet back the speed a little bit? I am thinking this would allow a person to start progressing in speed but retain accuracy as well because when the accuracy suffers, you slow down a notch. Of course this assumes that speed goes up more than a "notch"...

You gain speed by being ready to shoot as soon as you can. Keeping the gun up, being ready before you get to that next location. You don't slow down, don't think of it as racketing back anything. Think of it in terms of watching the sights and see what you need to see to hit that A-zone. As a couple of people have already stated, you need to push it every once in a while to see how fast you can go, but I'd rather do that in practice instead of a match. The front sight is your speedometer, it tells you how fast you can go.

Edited October 29, 2007 by HoMiE