Pitfalls

[cztn]

After reading threads till my eyes are blurry, as a beginner what are some of the pitfalls to avoid in practicing as well as matches. The one I have seen the most is not let speed become your main goal. What are other ones that a beginner needs to avoid?

CZTN

[spook]

Improving your weaknesses. A lot of shooters (myself included) have a hard time working on the things you're not good at.

Many just practice what they're good at.

[Catfish]

Don't solely focus on drills or practice sessions you like to do or that are fun. I think you HAVE to have some of that, but you will also need to put time into doing those things that you're not good at and/or don't enjoy doing.

For example, shooting weak hand only or at 50 yards....

Also, don't fall into the trap of trying to buy your way into being a good shooter by picking up the latest and greatest high speed, low drag stuff.

Get gear that is 100% reliable, fits you well, and is safe. And spend your money on ammo.

[G-ManBart]

Good advice so far!

In practices don't be content shooting anything but A's. Of course, you're going to have some C's, but an A and a C in practice often becomes a C and a D/Mike in a match.

During a match, don't feel that you need to shoot a stage the way the "fast" guys do. If you have some experienced shooters that will help you break down a stage and you're comfortable with their plan, then go for it, but if it makes you worry (as in, I'm afraid I'll forget to pick up that far target before I leave) then do it in a way that gives you confidence.

I saw this at the recent Western States Single Stack match. A couple of people had a very cool way to shoot the stage, but it just confused the heck out of me. I knew their way could be faster if done perfectly, but I also knew I had about an 85% chance of forgetting something. I did it my own "slow" way that was totally straightforward and wound up third overall on the stage.

Once you've decided on how you're going to shoot a stage, burn it into your memory until you can see it in your head with your eyes closed. Then, no matter what happens, even if you see someone in front of you do something brilliant, stick to your plan unless you've got a lot of time to burn the new plan into your head. If you change at the last minute, you will almost definitely make a mistake, miss a reload, reload too early, forget a target, etc, etc....it happens all the time.

[Odie]

If you've set up something to practice, and you've screwed up a few runs, don't get mad, reload and run it again just to be doing it. THINK about WHY you screwed it up in the first place. THEN run it again. Also, take the effort to actually figure the hit factor on some of the stuff you practice. Sometimes just running it fast and gettting crappy hits will fool you. You will find a lot of the time with good points it will be a better run even though it is considerably slower. Later, you'll find that you can actually shoot faster aiming than you can NOT aiming.

[BSeevers]

Learn the proper techniques such as draw/reload/etc from the beginning cause unlearning is 10 times as long and hard.

Practice accuracy and understand that it is a trigger not a button.

Don't be afraid to practice speed if thats your weakness.

Set goals and have fun.

[jasmap]

1. Work on accuracy.

2. Work on accuracy.

3. Dryfire (includes dry draws, reloads, transitions, etc..)

4. Work on your weaknesses in practice (mine are plenty)

5. Work on accuracy.