Critique me please!

[Dave Gundry]

I've been making slow improvements throughout the year, but lately I'm having trouble sticking with a focused plan of what I need to work on. I know my transitions are slow, reloads are low, I point shoot sometimes, don't square up on positions and am very slow into and out of positions... So, care to watch a video (or several) and help me pinpoint one or two area's that will help me focus on what to practice?

Here's the latest vid (I am the first shooter):

Stage designs here:

http://www.wisconsinshooters.com/uspsa_cof.htm (Aug 24th Match)

Results:

Stage.Name.................................A.......B......C......D.....M..Time Total Points Hit Factor Stg Pts Place

1P......The Star Stage..................14..............2......1..........21.79 80 3.6714 44.6649 5

2P......Obligatory Hoser Stage.....19.....4......9..................24.35 147 6.0370 152.4471 3

3P......Around the World.............13.............5..............2...15.52 65 4.1881 65.7576 4

4P......Carnival............................24.............7.......3..........28.51 154 5.4016 149.3903 3

5P......Works For Me.....................4.............3.......2.....3...10.28 6 0.5837 6.7600 7

6P......The Hexagon....................14.............5.......1.....2...22.78 72 3.1607 83.5260 4

And my page on youtube can be seen by clicking my name in my signature.

Thanks for any advice

[Flexmoney]

Shoot Alphas. Call shots.

[Neomet]

C shooter here so you probably shoot better than me. I will comment that I think it looks like your RO is too far to the left. Can't see your trigger finger from where he is. (I know this because being a lefty every RO starts off on my right, sees I'm a lefty, and then moves over to the left so they can watch the trigger finger.) JMHO.

[Paul Santiago]

Also a C-shooter here, but one thing i noticed that I am working on is keeping the up near eye level during reloads rather than dropping down to chest or waist level. I can keep my eye on the gun for reload and still see the targets.

Edited September 1, 2008 by pas44

[waxman]

The RO's job is to watch the gun , while not interfering with the shooter, not watching the trigger finger. I am probably the RO in one of these videos. It is very hard to look at a stage from a video and tell where the RO should be. Please reserve judgement, unless you saw the stage first hand.

If I may offer some humble advice. I think you shoot faster then your front sight. I am guilty of this myself. I dont see alot of flaws in your planning, or movement, just in your trigger moving faster then your eyes. Remember, this is free advice, take it for what it is worth.

[JThompson]

I stopped it after a couple... here's is what I saw. Not all the time, but a lot of it you engage a target and then you move to the next with your arms and upper body. Once you have the triangle/ shooting position with your arms, wrist, elbowsand shoulder orbit... You keepthose intact as long as you can... use you knees to index left and right. Keep the triangle... you have your sight and position... if you break it you have to find it again before you can shoot. Look at the best... they move everything, but their upper body... it remains stable.

Edited September 1, 2008 by JThompson

[Flexmoney]

You can watch the video of Ben shooting those same stages. That should give some comparison on movement and such.

But...that is separate from the shooting. You need work on the shooting. Alphas and shot calling.

[Neomet]

The RO's job is to watch the gun , while not interfering with the shooter, not watching the trigger finger. I am probably the RO in one of these videos. It is very hard to look at a stage from a video and tell where the RO should be. Please reserve judgement, unless you saw the stage first hand.

Sorry I wasn't clear. I did really mean that it just looked like that. I should have mentioned camera angle as well which is what I was alluding to. My bad. Also I am not an RO and so not qualified on that subject either. It is just that all the ROs. that have worked with me have moved to my left and a couple have said it was so they could be sure my finger wasn't on the trigger as I moved.

(slight thread drift mode off.)

By the way thanks for posting vids like this and for the comments. They help a lot more than just the poster.

[Ron Ankeny]

I watched the videos, then I looked at your scores. I am with Flex. I think your first priority is to gather up a whole lot more points across the target faces.

[Dave Gundry]

Thanks for the help guys It is appreciated.

Looking at those scores now, all the mikes seem really horrible, but I'll clarify a few of them (to the best of my memory)

Around the World - 2 mikes, both into half hardcover targets (one on each side).

Works For Me - 3 mikes - that was just plain dumb. I shot that one ~68% shooting Limited Minor a month ago and thought I could push it. Went way too fast and think I only saw my sight on 1 shot.

The Hexagon - 2 mikes, one into some close hardcover, and one on the way back far away (30 yards?) targets.

I do need to slow down and actually look at my sight. Most of the bad shots I called during that match were not that bad (far C's) and the following make up shots were not completely necessary.

I played around shooting Lim Minor for a few weeks, and really tried to shoot nothing but alphas without much success. My times were horribly slow, and the scores weren't much better, if at all. Perhaps I just need to work on my blinking/flinching issues. I think one big part of my lack of accuracy also stems from shooting off balance - which is why I mentioned my need to square up on targets in the original post. Which could also explain why I can shoot B classifiers but usually finish amongst the C's in matches with field courses... any other thoughts?

[JThompson]

I watched the videos, then I looked at your scores. I am with Flex. I think your first priority is to gather up a whole lot more points across the target faces.

I didn't even look at the hits... Ya get on those sights as both Ron and Flex say.

[HoMiE]

You don't need to slow down, you just need to use your eyes and take the shot when the shot is there and know its there. I have news for you if you can't shoot from off balance positions, better get used to shooting other than having a perfect stance, grip, body position, you have to be able to adapt to any position required. When you move to next position, MOVE.

[Rocket35]

I would echo the comments about the points. One thing I noticed was your lack of a platform in most of your shooting. You seem to be in a poor stance unnecessarily most of the time. Feet close together and you seem to have a weird habit of having one foot propped up on your toes even with shots right in front of you. Develope a better stance and you will improve your shot to shot consistancy and the ability to move quicker. Try to keep you feet under your shoulders and balanced as much as possible. Watch top shooters like Travis Tomasie and Max Michel. They are some of the most technical shooters out there. Speaking of Ben- heck yeah, squad with him when you can. You will learn a ton watching him shoot and talking with him. Hope this helps, keep up the good work!

[bwit]

I also thought the RO was almost directly behind the shooter a lot, where he couldn't see the gun at all times, as he should be doing.

[Rocket35]

I also thought the RO was almost directly behind the shooter a lot, where he couldn't see the gun at all times, as he should be doing.

Not to mention looking and talking to someone behind himself taking his eyes off the shooter as a whole several times...sorry, didn't mean to point fingers.

[Flexmoney]

I do need to slow down and actually look at my sight.

Forget the slowing down. That is a speed focus. You aren't going to manage a vision focus while you have a speed focus dominating your mind.

Just see.

I played around shooting Lim Minor for a few weeks, and really tried to shoot nothing but alphas without much success. My times were horribly slow...

Of course. You told yourself to "slow down".

...and the scores weren't much better, if at all. Perhaps I just need to work on my blinking/flinching issues.

If you have a blinking/flinching issue...then you must correct that. First and foremost. You can't call the shot while your eyes are closed!

(Please know that "Calling the shot" is NOT looking at the holes in the target. Calling the shot is reading the sights as the gun fires and the bullet leaves the barrel.)

I think one big part of my lack of accuracy also stems from shooting off balance - which is why I mentioned my need to square up on targets in the original post. Which could also explain why I can shoot B classifiers but usually finish amongst the C's in matches with field courses... any other thoughts?

Yeah, you have some work to do there. But, none of that comes before correcting your flinch...then learning to call the shot.

[Neomet]

+1 on what Flex just said. One of the greatest pieces of advice I have gotten both here and from my coach is to throw away my attachment to speed, either going faster or slower. Shoot your sights. When I see what I need to see break the shot. Not only is it the simple (and hard) truth of the matter, it became one less thing to clutter my mind with when the buzzer drained the IQ from my brain.

[Dave Gundry]

I also thought the RO was almost directly behind the shooter a lot, where he couldn't see the gun at all times, as he should be doing.

Not to mention looking and talking to someone behind himself taking his eyes off the shooter as a whole several times...sorry, didn't mean to point fingers.

Jay, when Dave turned around, I think he was signaling to another RO about what just happened - the swingers contacting each other... I don't blame him one bit for doing so. I think I was one of the first shooters on that stage, and that was the first time (not the last) that they did that. Shit happens when RO'ing - sometimes we need confirmation of what to do or that another witness saw an incident. But this thread is about me - not the RO's...

Sorry Dave, didn't mean to bring you into this.

Flex, I think my flinch is almost completely under control. I thought that was why I was having problems on the star, but after reviewing the video, I am attributing my performance to being off balance... Check out Ben's video review of me from earlier this year to see just how bad that flinch was...

I really thought my A-C ratio was getting much better, and more in line with the norm - but seems like I have much more work to do there than I thought. Eliminating mikes has been my primary focus and will continue to be right up there. I'm starting to think I should maybe skip the WI sectional so I can afford a few decent practice sessions - something I haven't done in a while. Any recommendations on specific drills? I've been doing a few Ronin Drills lately and will continue those unless a more productive option comes up...

[Rocket35]

Jay, when Dave turned around, I think he was signaling to another RO about what just happened - the swingers contacting each other... I don't blame him one bit for doing so. I think I was one of the first shooters on that stage, and that was the first time (not the last) that they did that. Shit happens when RO'ing - sometimes we need confirmation of what to do or that another witness saw an incident. But this thread is about me - not the RO's...

Sorry Dave, didn't mean to bring you into this.

Flex, I think my flinch is almost completely under control. I thought that was why I was having problems on the star, but after reviewing the video, I am attributing my performance to being off balance... Check out Ben's video review of me from earlier this year to see just how bad that flinch was...

I really thought my A-C ratio was getting much better, and more in line with the norm - but seems like I have much more work to do there than I thought. Eliminating mikes has been my primary focus and will continue to be right up there. I'm starting to think I should maybe skip the WI sectional so I can afford a few decent practice sessions - something I haven't done in a while. Any recommendations on specific drills? I've been doing a few Ronin Drills lately and will continue those unless a more productive option comes up...

Sorry for commenting on my observation about the RO'ing.

Being off balance is what I saw as well, as I mentioned earlier. I would work on that. Practice movement drills and coming into positions or into a box with a correct stance. As far as your shot calling and using your sight as a speedometer, that just takes practice varifying your sight picture before you squeeze the trigger and seeing the sight alignment's relationship to the target is as the hammer falls. This can be practiced everytime you shoot in dryfire and livefire. No specific drill is required to work on those skills. But shooting groups comes to mind as a good way to isolate it.

Edited September 2, 2008 by Rocket35

[Ben Stoeger]

I'm starting to think I should maybe skip the WI sectional so I can afford a few decent practice sessions - something I haven't done in a while. Any recommendations on specific drills?

That may be wise. You really need to budget your money and time so that you have an effective training program.

I would recommend skipping some matches or whatever if it means you get to practice some.

Try shooting groups, bill drills, and el prez drills. =)

[Dave Gundry]

New video:

I was really trying to stress importance on movements and stance while shooting. I think I did fairly well in that aspect. However, I was still rushing things a bit, and threw a misc mike on one of the courses, and hit a post causing a mike (watch the barrier move on the second stage) which really threw me off (hence the awkward exit).

Any further help is appreciated

[Flexmoney]

If you go to Brian's webpage (not the forum), and look under words, he explains "fundamentals".

Read that. Understand it on some level. Then, copy and paste it here.

[HSMITH]

This is supposed to be fun. If you have fun practicing and really honestly feel that you must get better now skip some matches. If you like shooting matches keep shooting them, including the Sectional. Keep it fun or you will burn out unless you are some sort of OCD have to make GM type......

[scribble]

This is supposed to be fun. If you have fun practicing and really honestly feel that you must get better now skip some matches. If you like shooting matches keep shooting them, including the Sectional. Keep it fun or you will burn out unless you are some sort of OCD have to make GM type......

I agree with Howard completely on this. I really hate actually practicing as it is so boring compared to shooting matches. This sport is about having fun and shooting with great people. If you want to make GM or M on your next classifier then stop shooting matches and starting practicing and dry firing every waking moment, if not shoot matches and have fun learning from other fellow shooters. I learn something new every match I attend, it is not harmful in any right to shoot matches.

Edited September 7, 2008 by scribble

[Sean Gaines]

no one mentioned reloads, loads are low. move faster, shoot your sights. if you want to speed up your shooting speed, speed up your eyes, do eye exercises, you can get alot of info on the net in regards to eye exercises, which you can do off the range. like others have said skip some matches work on some drills, I would recommend box to box, accurracy always, dry fire at the house especially on those loads, also work on foot work. other than that good vids, keep up the good work