Inconsistent

[Neomet]

Not sure if this will just be a question or if it will devolve into a whiney rant but here goes.....

I'm a three month Open shooter. Hitting mid C to low B classifiers scores. The thing is that I feel like I am really inconsistent. Some times I can rip a stage and other times I feel like I couldn't have done worse if I had been blindfolded at the "Make ready" command. Never just one thing. Sometimes I am yanking the trigger, sometimes yu could use a sundial for how long it takes me to find the dot, tonight it was not being able to call my shots or even tell if I had hit the steel. The swing can be during a single match where I shoot a couple of stages well and a couple poorly. Othertimes I will have a good match and then an ugly one.

Is this just the normal progression of a C shooter, a function of learning Open, me pushing too hard to "go fast" instead of just shooting what I see, or something else?

[Vulture]

Your first sentence answered your question. You are a 3 month open shooter. Learn to walk before you run. Keep practicing, learn from your mistakes and don't get discouraged. Next year some new shooter is going to ask you for advice on how to be more consistant.

[Supermoto]

When I started in Open last year, I had the same issues. Alot of it was from trying to go to fast, thinking I could keep up with the fast guys by shooting faster. If I saw brown, I pulled the trigger. Sometimes I would get lucky and get good hits, sometimes I would miss all over the place. What I learn was that I needed to slow down my shooting but do everything else fast.

Having visual patience and calling your shots is a must, it doesn't take any longer to do it, it just seems like it does when you try to shoot to fast. Dry fire practice will insure the dot is there everytime

Edited May 21, 2008 by Supermoto

[38supPat]

Dryfire, dryfire, dryfire.

[Flexmoney]

Shooters that go to Open often have a period of..."I ought to be able to go faster cause this is an open gun".

They ignore the fundamentals. They focus on the speed.

There is not much sense in shooting an Open gun unless you are going to use the dot. Figure out how to present the gun such that you don't have to hunt for the dot. (I've covered this over the years...let me know if you can't find it with a search.)

Once you have that down. Figure out how to hit an Alpha. Execute the fundamentals. Get your focus on your fundamentals, and the rest will start to fall in place (as long as you keep the focus there).

Then, repeat.

[badchad]

Sometimes I am yanking the trigger, sometimes yu could use a sundial for how long it takes me to find the dot, tonight it was not being able to call my shots or even tell if I had hit the steel.

Can you explain the 3 extra shots you took at a plate rack that was already knocked down?

I've got to think an answer has something to do with that.

[Neomet]

Can you explain the 3 extra shots you took at a plate rack that was already knocked down?

I've got to think an answer has something to do with that.

Hahahaha... yeah, that was a riot. I nailed the plate rack but it looked like there was still a plate up to me. I should qualify my question with the additional information that I've got proliferative retinopathy, have had four retinal surgeries and also have colorblindness issues. My vision is at a minimum, shall we say, challenged but I don't want to use that as an excuse.

Joe offered to get me a shooting eye dog after that stage.

;

[G-ManBart]

Consistency goes hand in hand with improvement. The better you get, the less often you'll have wide swings in performance. Dry fire with cure the problem of finding the dot. Brian's book has a great section on natural point of aim and working to get to the point where you can close your eyes, draw, open your eyes and find you're right on target. Open takes a while for many people...some take to it like a duck to water, but many people find it a harder transition. The guns are loud, they blast you in the face and you're seeing a lot more happen with the dot seemingly move all over the place. It all adds up to sensory overload in the beginning. Take your time, track the dot and call your shots...it'll all start coming together after a while. R,

[G-ManBart]

Forgot to add that I could probably get my wife to shoot matches if we allowed seeing eye dogs....LOL...her vision is fine, but she's a dog addict! Problem is she'd probably end up beating me

Edited May 21, 2008 by G-ManBart

[brospizza]

one thing that helped me alot when i was starting out was a quote from saul kirsch

"don't try and go faster or look good , but stay in control of your sights and your shots"

i would write that down before a match just to remind myself to do it

man that just struck a chord and i think thats the way to shoot

[AWLAZS]

Dry fire will help with the dot problem. Go slow at first.

When you "try" to shoot a stage well they tend to fall apart. The best thing you can do is make your plan based on your skills program it in and shoot at the speed your sight dictates.

Trying for me means rushed shots, missed positions and blow reloads. If I stay calm/relaxed I can run my plan and shoot well

[jkatz44]

Not sure if this will just be a question or if it will devolve into a whiney rant but here goes.....

I'm a three month Open shooter. Hitting mid C to low B classifiers scores. The thing is that I feel like I am really inconsistent. Some times I can rip a stage and other times I feel like I couldn't have done worse if I had been blindfolded at the "Make ready" command. Never just one thing. Sometimes I am yanking the trigger, sometimes yu could use a sundial for how long it takes me to find the dot, tonight it was not being able to call my shots or even tell if I had hit the steel. The swing can be during a single match where I shoot a couple of stages well and a couple poorly. Othertimes I will have a good match and then an ugly one.

Is this just the normal progression of a C shooter, a function of learning Open, me pushing too hard to "go fast" instead of just shooting what I see, or something else?

Im a junior shooter who shoots production. Ive shot probobly 4 matches. sometimes i nail every target but sometimes im everywhere. i think i need to slow down

[Flexmoney]

Im a junior shooter who shoots production. Ive shot probobly 4 matches. sometimes i nail every target but sometimes im everywhere. i think i need to slow down

Nah...you need to see more of your sights. Make "seeing" the one and ONLY priority. As a by-product...you may end up slowing down a bit (or not).

But, don't go with the attitude of slowing down...you will end up being just what you asked for...slow.

Go with the attitude of "seeing", instead.

[AlamoShooter]

Im a junior shooter who shoots production. Ive shot probobly 4 matches. sometimes i nail every target but sometimes im everywhere. i think i need to slow down

Nah...you need to see more of your sights. Make "seeing" the one and ONLY priority. As a by-product...you may end up slowing down a bit (or not).

But, don't go with the attitude of slowing down...you will end up being just what you asked for...slow.

Go with the attitude of "seeing", instead.

Great post Flex

I hear slow down man times from as advice for young shooters and it is good advice less than 1/2 the time.

[Duane Thomas]

Consistency goes hand in hand with improvement. The better you get, the less often you'll have wide swings in performance.

Truer words have never been spoken - or typed, in this case. Years ago in Robbie Leatham's GunGames interview, the interviewer asked him, "If there's one thing the average shooter doesn't know about Master shooters, what would it be?" (At the time there was no Grand Master rank, so Master was as high as you could go.) Robbie's reply went something like this: "We're not as good as you think. We're just more consistent. Anyone can do a sub-one second draw. I could give you 100 sub-one second draws in a row." By the way, shortly thereafter the editor of American Handgunner, Cameron Hopkins, said to Robbie, "Prove it." So Robbie went out to the range and gave him 100 sub-second, seven yard A-hits in a row, with an average time of .90 second.

[Nik Habicht]

Is this just the normal progression of a C shooter, a function of learning Open, me pushing too hard to "go fast" instead of just shooting what I see, or something else?

All of the above --- it sounds like you have expectations.....

Let them go. Before you shoot focus on preparation --- make and learn the best plan possible for Open. Once you get to Make Ready, focus on seeing what you need to see to shoot 2 alphas on every target and to knock down each piece of steel with the first round. Let that focus dictate your time --- your times will improve as you get more grooved into the gun and the new approach to shooting stages....

The last year in nursing school has been rough --- there's been no time to practice. I shoot two matches a month, don't pick the gun up in between, and half the time have to shoot through a couple of stages and rush toward my desk or study group. That focus on something else though has led to me getting my own head and thinking out of the game. I have no expectations, I'm there to have a good time. Oddly, I'm shooting better than ever --- because my head's in the right place, and I've learned where to focus my attention....

[benos]

Shooters that go to Open often have a period of..."I ought to be able to go faster cause this is an open gun".

Good one. Compared to the stock 45 I'd been shooting, when I got my first compensated 38 super, my background thoughts were typically... "man, I'm gonna tear the place apart with this thing"! I took me a couple months to just settle down and let what I saw dictate how fast I shot. Only then I did start tearing it up with the new blaster.

be

[betterment]

+1 for Flex's post.

Thanks Flex, I need a little of that too.

Phil