#1 Lesson Learned

[zsavage81]

#1 No matter what else happens, the most important thing is to look good while you're doing it.

Funny! One of the buddies I shoot with regularly is a former Army Ranger (3/75) currently working on a diplomat passport in far away places doing things he can't talk about. When we run long guns and I start asking questions about foot work or whatever his most common response before giving me the real answer to the question is, "the first rule of gun fighting is to look cool. The second rule of gun fighting is when in doubt refer back to rule #1". Seems yall are on the same page here!

[dover0020]

My #1 lesson is "you have to shoot each stage with no fear". I don't mean shoot it reckless but you have to know and be confident that all the hours spent on the range practicing and all the hours spent dry firing have prepared you for any stage you may come across. This is a lesson I am still trying to learn.

[southtexaswoman]

#1 lesson...I don't have to have all perfect shots although I want to. There's fun in going faster as long as I don't crash and burn.

For those not up in the M Class (as I am not) you have to push and see your limits and challenge those limits ever so often.

[dover0020]

You are exactly right you have to push the limits to see improvement.

[firemantj]

Thanks to whoever revived this post. After reading, I have quite a bit to think about.

I vote to make this a sticky.

[Guest]

“Fear not the speed, only the hole it leaves” -

I can't claim that, it was on a tee shirt. But, it is true and is a corollary to what others have said about calling shots. Another is to only focus on targets you want to hit. Never focus on the noshoots, hardcover, or props. It’s like snow skiing through the trees, you look at the holes where you want to go, not at any individual trees. Once you focus on a tree you will surely be smacking into it!

Cool topic, BTW

[HOOLIHAN]

There is no try.....there is only do.

[leemoe83]

Try everything, figure out what works for you.

[Vincerama]

Glad to see this 8 year old thread still kicking!

I'm a newbie, but here is a tip for the experienced guys;

"Remember about sportsmanship"

I've only shot 4 matches, so I'm unqualified to give tips on improving your score, but as a newbie I noticed a few things.

On my 2nd match, I tried to shoot single stack with my unmodified RIA 1911. I'm not a very good shot with it. On one stage, there was a polish plate rack, which I'd never seen before. I didn't know there were spinning, moving things in this game! Anyway, I had one heck of a lot of trouble trying to finish this thing. I had 5 mags on my belt when I started this thing, and one in the gun. When I hit the last plate off the rack, the rack had stopped moving and the plate was hanging at the bottom. I took a breathe, aimed and hit the final plate. As I did so, my slide locked back on my last magazine. It took me 48 rounds! My friend was standing behind me holding one of his mags, just in case. It took me almost 3 minutes to do this one thing. I thought I'd get ridicule from the other shooters, but instead, I got a lot of "Hey, way to stick with it! Glad you didn't give up!". My time was the lowest on that stage, but there were a few people who just gave up on it and if anything else, I beat them! I was surprised at the support I got from the other shooters and it made me enjoy the fact that I stuck with it and did finally hit that target, even though my score was crap.

In contrast, on my last match, one of the better shooters breezed through most of a COF and confidently shot at a rack of 6 plates, he missed one, but didn't notice until he started leaving the shooting box. When he sees that he missed, he just stopped. He shot that plate, then walked over to the next targets and just nonchalantly shot them wherever and finished the COF at a casual pace. It seemed to me that since he figured that the missed plate cost him enough time that he would just give up on it (and the match, for that matter). I lost a lot of respect for the guy at that point. Maybe he figured it wasn't worth trying since he couldn't be at the very top of the score. Maybe that's true, I mean it IS a competition. It just seemed to me to be an attitude of "Well, if I can't win then why even try?". I'm convinced that he could have recovered from that miss to get a score that was decent.

My impression of these two short incidents is that, whether you do well or not, you should be a good sport about it. Congratulate the newbie for trying hard, even if his score sucks. Don't just give up because you can't get the best score, you can still get a pretty good score.

I know it's a competition and you're there to win, but don't be a baby about it if you aren't the winner.

I think playing fair and being a good sport makes the experience good for everyone there. Remember that you do this sport because you ENJOY it.

[co-exprs]

#1 Lesson learned: That only 20% of what we do is shooting. Don't get too hung up on pulling .01sec off your splits, or shaving another .1sec off your draw. There is considerably more opportunity to shave time off the clock, when you look at the other 80%.

[mackey]

#1 for me was to slow down, make your hits. cant make up mikes with time.

#2 i think would be to work on things that eat up the most time while still being accurate and precise. work on the biggest weakness in your game where you hemmorage time, not the minor stuff that may get you a tenth here or there like a draw or reload speed.

slow is smooth, etc

Edited April 6, 2012 by mackey

[KyroWebs]

#1 Keep the wife happy so I can still enjoy Sundays with my friends doing the things I love.

As for shooting:

My #1 lesson is "you have to shoot each stage with no fear". I don't mean shoot it reckless but you have to know and be confident that all the hours spent on the range practicing and all the hours spent dry firing have prepared you for any stage you may come across. This is a lesson I am still trying to learn.

I had one of "those moments" when shooting A5 with Carmoney last year. He was explaining to me how he was there to win and playing it safe on each stage won't do it. You have to know what you are capable of and go after it. A couple of months later I got my first stage win at a major. Guy knows his stuff.

Edited April 11, 2012 by KyroWebs

[Flexmoney]

Still a good thread. I would like to see some of the posters respond now and see if there are additions or changes to their previous thoughts....

I had to read what i said. I still like it. Alot.

If I were to tweak it now, it would be along the lines of knowing. Which, is really being aware of what is actually going on.

[beltjones]

Glad to see this 8 year old thread still kicking!

I'm a newbie, but here is a tip for the experienced guys;

"Remember about sportsmanship"

I've only shot 4 matches, so I'm unqualified to give tips on improving your score, but as a newbie I noticed a few things.

On my 2nd match, I tried to shoot single stack with my unmodified RIA 1911. I'm not a very good shot with it. On one stage, there was a polish plate rack, which I'd never seen before. I didn't know there were spinning, moving things in this game! Anyway, I had one heck of a lot of trouble trying to finish this thing. I had 5 mags on my belt when I started this thing, and one in the gun. When I hit the last plate off the rack, the rack had stopped moving and the plate was hanging at the bottom. I took a breathe, aimed and hit the final plate. As I did so, my slide locked back on my last magazine. It took me 48 rounds! My friend was standing behind me holding one of his mags, just in case. It took me almost 3 minutes to do this one thing. I thought I'd get ridicule from the other shooters, but instead, I got a lot of "Hey, way to stick with it! Glad you didn't give up!". My time was the lowest on that stage, but there were a few people who just gave up on it and if anything else, I beat them! I was surprised at the support I got from the other shooters and it made me enjoy the fact that I stuck with it and did finally hit that target, even though my score was crap.

In contrast, on my last match, one of the better shooters breezed through most of a COF and confidently shot at a rack of 6 plates, he missed one, but didn't notice until he started leaving the shooting box. When he sees that he missed, he just stopped. He shot that plate, then walked over to the next targets and just nonchalantly shot them wherever and finished the COF at a casual pace. It seemed to me that since he figured that the missed plate cost him enough time that he would just give up on it (and the match, for that matter). I lost a lot of respect for the guy at that point. Maybe he figured it wasn't worth trying since he couldn't be at the very top of the score. Maybe that's true, I mean it IS a competition. It just seemed to me to be an attitude of "Well, if I can't win then why even try?". I'm convinced that he could have recovered from that miss to get a score that was decent.

My impression of these two short incidents is that, whether you do well or not, you should be a good sport about it. Congratulate the newbie for trying hard, even if his score sucks. Don't just give up because you can't get the best score, you can still get a pretty good score.

I know it's a competition and you're there to win, but don't be a baby about it if you aren't the winner.

I think playing fair and being a good sport makes the experience good for everyone there. Remember that you do this sport because you ENJOY it.

You will always have different types of competitors in the sport, and different people enjoy things different ways. Have you ever been on a golf course with someone who yelled at himself after every shot? It's annoying, and you can't imagine why he would keep coming back, but it's his way of playing the game.

The key is not letting how other people play the game influence how YOU play the game. If someone else is super fast and accurate, great. You still shoot your match. If someone else acts like a baby, great. You still shoot your match. If someone else complains about the difficulty, if they argue for a reshoot or convince an RO to grant a double, great. You still shoot your match.

[Chris iliff]

Sometimes, your just gonna have to bite the bullet and shoot more!

[rooster mcbee]

I can still hear Michael Plaxco back in 1989 saying over my shoulder "Front sight, prep the trigger, front sight, prep the trigger, front sight, prep the trigger." This instruction has been the most helpful thing that I was ever taught about shooting. Doug

[mikeg1005]

Pay attention pretty well sums it up.

Mike.

[Ewilson224]

Erik,

Funny that you say that ... what got me from B to M was to trade speed for sight focus and actually see the dot for both shots! You cannot shoot faster than you can see.

I guess we all reach the same point, just from different directions!

Leo

I agree with L9x25... Close shots you can get away with shooting quick shots without gaining a sight picture, but for those further shots, for me, I have to atleast get some sort of picture. The saying there is more than one way to skin a cat definitely comes into play with this.