Epic Shooting Moments

[el pres]

What are your most memorable shooting moments. Be specific, those certain rounds, stages, mags,etc..

that at the instant you saw or felt it your shooting changed forever. That something you caught out of the corner

of your eye or felt in your hands. For example mine would have to be the specific round when I saw the sparks

come out of the barrel and realized my eyes were closed the whole time. Or the first time I videoed myself and

realized I look like a dork, I mean moved too slow...

[Rocket35]

When I saw the fiber optic fly out of the front sight during a practice session. It was wild- guess I was calling my shots.... Or another practice when I felt the tungston guiderod let go... It is amazing the awareness you get when you practice enough and open yourself up to everything!

Edited February 8, 2008 by Rocket35

[boz1911]

About half way through last years Georgia State match. Something clicked when I had a really good run on a very difficult field course and the RO(a GM) said "Nice Run". After that it seemed that I no longer had to be slow on field courses. I could move and shoot all at the same time without having to tell myself to do so!

[spook]

- Winning a stage with a very slow time and great points.

- An RO being really obnoxious, pissing me off, causing me to nearly win the stage in Open (shooting a revolver)

- Forgetting a target at the biggest match I have ever shot

These are the first things that come to mind.

Specifically on shooting the first thing that comes to mind is drawing my gun/practicing transitions and keeping my index finger outside the trigger guard when dry firing. This made me realize which parts of my hands are gripping the gun and that the trigger finger is not a part of that.

Edited February 8, 2008 by spook

[Madcap Magician]

Larry Vickers 1911 class last October. We were shooting a drill and I distinctly remember the sight picture, bang, sight tracking, back on target for another sight picture, bang, continue... Haven't been the same shooter since.

[JThompson]

The first time I strapped on a rig and heard that buzzer go. I remember shaking so bad I couldn't keep the dot on the paper.

[Jake Di Vita]

22 round stage at the Tennessee Section match a few years ago. Hopalong was ROing me...I think it was stage 8.

Absolute best stage I've ever shot....I don't think anyone could have hung with me on that one.

[outerlimits]

RO'ing a buddy on a shotgun stage and watching his TEC loader blow up his benelli.

[AlamoShooter]

Edited February 10, 2008 by AlamoShooter

[Matt Griffin]

2007 Double Tap, I opened the door twice, but when I started shooting the dual counter-rotating stars, everything went pure for me. I remember hearing steel being hit and not even knowing I had pulled the trigger. I distinctly remember transitioning to a plate, my eyes already locked on it, when something fired my gun and hit another plate on the way. Good times.

H.

[Flexmoney]

The moment when I learned why my transitions were taking half a second, and that they didn't have to.

[JThompson]

The moment when I learned why my transitions were taking half a second, and that they didn't have to.

Well why were they Flex? Not snapping your eyes or what?

[spook]

The moment when I learned why my transitions were taking half a second, and that they didn't have to.

Well why were they Flex? Not snapping your eyes or what?

Yeah, it sounds pretty sweet. How about some details?

[joecichlid]

A few weeks back I set up a stage that had five full sized poppers spaced about a foot apart with three mini poppers in front of them at about eight yards through a port, these were in the middle of the stage but at the start location. Instead of moving to the left and an array of paper targets I opted to take the steel first. I remember the buzzer and my draw, fired eight rounds at the eight steel and KNEW I hit them. The odd thing was I never saw the first one fall more than half way before I was on to the paper at the left, the other seven steel never moved at all (to me) before I was gone. I was just on that steel.

After all the shooters were done and before tear down I tried it again just to see if I could do it again. Second time I fired nine rounds at the eight steel and it just didn't seem as fast even though with the nine rounds fired it took right at 3.5 seconds with a draw. Looked at the timer and the 1.5 second draw killed me but the transitions were in the 0.25 range give or take 0.01.

Joe W.

[Steven Cline]

Winning my first IDPA stage (beating some Master level shooters in the process- letting me know it was possible to shoot that fast and that accurately).

Hearing my first squib load when ROing a small local match and only being able to say "Whoa," I was so afraid the shooter was gonna pull the trigger again. (He was actually starting to shoot another round)

Edited February 10, 2008 by PhoneCop

[tgibson]

Mine was almost a "matrixesque" moment. I was shooting bill drills out behind the shop, and doing it pretty quickly too I might add. While I was shooting, I could see all of the brass out of the corner of my eye just sort of sitting there suspended in mid-air. It was at this point that I realized that my perception of speed while shooting is so warped I can not worry about trying to shoot fast. I just need to worry about getting the sight picture I need to pull the trigger and then do so. My body will automatically go fast. Man that was a sweet moment!!!

TG

[BBoyle]

The first stage that I ever had shot and dropped "0" points!

The first time I was in the zone and seeing everything. I was actually pissed at myself, I would try and pull the trigger and accept a C but the gun wouldn't go off. I felt like I was slow and so was the gun but when it was over I had easily won the stage and everyone was clapping. They said it sounded like I was full-auto.

[benos]

The first epic moment I can remember came when I saw the first picture (face shot) of myself shooting a stage in a match. My face was so tense... my lips were all curled up - I looked like some sort of psyco-moron on crack. I remember thinking, man - there's no way I can do anything that requires any sort of precision if you're looking that stupidly-freaked-out in a hurry.

Not knowing what else to do, I started placing all my attention in my face when I was practicing and competing. And the problem fixed itself.

I realized that your face is pretty closely connected to your brain, and is kind of a mirror for what's going on in there.

be

[AikiDale]

....

I realized that your face is pretty closely connected to your brain, and is kind of a mirror for what's going on in there.

be

[el pres]

Being a guitar player, all of my guitar buddies and myself would all make fun

of each other about our faces. We called it solo face. Its when your really ripping it

up during a guitar solo and cant control your face expressions !!!!

We always said that the face you make during a solo is probably the same

face you make when you (??? x-rated)...

[Flexmoney]

The first epic moment I can remember came when I saw the first picture (face shot) of myself shooting a stage in a match. My face was so tense... my lips were all curled up - I looked like some sort of psyco-moron on crack. I remember thinking, man - there's no way I can do anything that requires any sort of precision if you're looking that stupidly-freaked-out in a hurry.

Not knowing what else to do, I started placing all my attention in my face when I was practicing and competing. And the problem fixed itself.

I realized that your face is pretty closely connected to your brain, and is kind of a mirror for what's going on in there.

be

I remember shooting plates at my first Bianchi match. I was loading for the second run at 20y and I noticed how tense I was through the neck and shoulders. I recall thinking..."how could BE have shot over 500 of these plates?"

That was another lesson.

[Bill Nesbitt]

For me it was the 1999 IDPA Nationals. The match was over and they had just posted the scores for shooters to check for mistakes. They were posted by final score not by divisions. I started looking for my name about the middle of the first page and went down. I couldn't find it. I then looked higher on the page and there I was, 8th overall. First SSP Expert. I got my Master card in the mail a few days later. Then I knew I was a contender.

A little background. That summer I had been having strange heart palpatations. The DR told me to stay off work and do nothing until all the tests were run. I was imagining open heart surgery etc. I was trying to decide who to give my slot to.

It turned out I only had a potassium deficiency and needed to drink orange juice to fix it. Needless to say I was happy. I went to the Nationals just happy to be alive and healthy. I had fun shooting. I wasn't "trying" to do anything, just having fun shooting. That was my best finish ever up until that time. I'm pretty sure there is a lesson there.

[j0hn]

First time I won a stage. It was about a year ago when I was 16 and I beat all of my elderly shooting buddies all of which who are very good and the rest of the group at a steel match. You shot the stage three times and they discard one of the times. I shaved off a second each runs and did one smoldering run.

[benos]

I remember shooting plates at my first Bianchi match. I was loading for the second run at 20y and I noticed how tense I was through the neck and shoulders. I recall thinking..."how could BE have shot over 500 of these plates?"

I was able to relax by that year. Which I learned at the BC, two years before. (I bet I've posted this somewhere but I couldn't find it.)

It was 1981, at my first BC. I'd shot the Practical, the Barricade, and the Plates, all pretty much like crap. So going into the Mover I had nothing to lose.

It's not like you can "go for it" on anything at the Cup; but thinking back on it now, being a super-experimenter, maybe that freed my mind a bit while shooting the COF.

So I'm shooting the Mover, and I think it was on the first pass at the 20 yard line, I realized that the sights were vibrating all over he place - everything I saw looked like absolute crap compared to what I saw practicing the stage. For some reason, on the next pass, I heard the word "relax," soothingly said, in my mind as I drew onto the moving target. What I saw then not only blew my mind, it fundamentally altered my entire approach to shooting. The sights just floated, perfectly aligned, right along with the target; as each shot fired I watched the front sight slip up out of the rear notch and then slide right back perfectly down in perfect position on the target. It was so beautiful to see - and easy - the gun was firing itself. I think I dropped a total of about 19 or 20 points on the Mover, most of which were before that moment.

I walked off the line so excited... In a bold extroverted move for me, I walked up to the CRO of the stage (John Gordon) and told him I just learned something so exciting - I was going to come back and win this match next year. To which he responded with a crazy belly laugh.

That night I was in the match hotel bar drinking beers with Leonard Knight. I was still so excited I couldn't stop talking about the experience. I remember trying to convince him that what happened was so truly extraordinary - that even he'd better watch out - I was a new man from this day on. He didn't really say much, just nodded a bit now and then. I'm laughing now remembering it... the vibe I got from him was "Just relax and drink your beer son."

be

[Bwana Six-Gun]

Several years ago I was shooting at the LA Sectional down in Gonzalez. Only time I had been able to go there. Shooting a revolver that I had been using about two years. last stage of the match, a 32 round field course with a couple of poppers at the start mised in with paper. At the end you had to go through a door and put two on four papers at close range. I had been having trouble with the gun for a couple of months, turned out that the timing was off. Buzzer goes off, I start shooting and all I can think is gun don't fail me now. When I finished the run, the RO told me I was only the second shooter to score all A's. As I walked off, there were some members of the Air Force shooting team waiting to shoot the stage. As I passed one of them said, "Nice run". Made my match, and made me work that much harder with the wheel gun. May not sound like much, but it was great for me.