What to work on

[38supPat]

We get numerous questions here about technique and there are thousands of little areas we can improve when shooting IPSC. But how do you know where to start, or what will be most beneficial to your scores?

Start by looking at what you either do most often. then look at where the biggest gains can be made. In a match, lets say there are 10 stages, 200 rounds, just to keep round numbers . 2 speed shoots, 4 medium courses and 4 field courses. You are going to draw 10 times, some of those will likely be table draws (lets say two), so out of the holster 8 times. If you are shooting production, SS or Limited 10. you will have to reload between 15 and 20 times depending on lay out, perhaps more. You will shoot 100 splits on target (assuming no steel) and transition at least 70 times (removing reloads and movement), and move over 30 times. Thats including movement if you had to draw from a start position and move into a box. In at least one case at our up coming provincials there is a speed shoot with 4 targets that requires three movements before shooting, from the start to the gun, gun to mag, mag to shooting position.

Now lets look at those numbers to see where you need to work.

Accuracy. First off, there is 200 rounds to shoot, they all need to find the A zone so accuracy should be at the top of the list. If you are taking too long to fire, firing lots of make up shots or just plain dropping points your score will suffer from lack of points and slow times.

Splits. You will have 100 of these so good splits are important. HOWEVER! If on close to medium targets you are shooting 75% of the splits of a GM, this goes to the bottom of the list. If a GM is pulling .15 splits on a close tartget (5m to 7m) and you are pulling .20's there is some gains to be made, but as we soon will see it pales in comparison to other gains you can make, Over the course of 100 splits, at .05 is 5 seconds. GM to GM thats huge, but if you are A or lower, not as important as other areas.

Transitions. Here is where we start to see a big difference. Typically on close targets a GM might be .20 target to target (I know I have seen and done faster too, but for the sake of arguement) while an A or below tend to be a lot more, but lets say it's a .10 difference (.30 instead of .20) multiplied by 70 transitions that is 7 seconds. If you are shooting transitions .40 between targets, that becomes 14 seconds. A half a second transition? 21 seconds!! Thats huge, and it only gets worse as the targets get farther away.

Movement. A good friend of mine, who is a B class shooter, is .40 slower than me position to position. Over 30 movements in this imaginary match and you are looking at 12 seconds. If a single field course has 5 positions, that's 2 seconds alone. Here's a drill you can try at the range. Start with the gun loaded and pointed at a target with a good sight picture in the A. Use a timer and on the beep fire the shot. Typically you should be around .21. Now bring the gun down to a low ready and on the beep, fire an A....how long did it take? That is the difference between entering the box with the gun up and ready to shoot as opposed to having it down as you enter the box...I'll bet there's a half a second difference, at least, that's 2.5 seconds on a field course and 15 seconds in the match. That is not even taking into account how you left the previous position or how efficient you moved...that's just having the gun ready!

Reloads. Thes come up more in Production, SS, and Limited 10, but even shooting Open you should put the same weight on reload practice. You reload almost every time you move and the movement eats some of the time out of the reload. You only really lose if you don't have it in before you get to the next position and the gun is not up (see above) That being said, you reload almost as much as you move, so a half a second difference in reload really costs time, 10 seconds in the match. Work on them!

Draws. You only do 10, so a half second here is worth 5 seconds. It's important, but far outweighed by other factors. Dryfire the crap out of it at home, then check it at the range.

In the big picture you want to work on everything, it all costs time. If you add up the differences listed here you see how much every little thing effects you. A grand total here would be 49 seconds MORE than a GM in the match. And given that the gm probably shot it in about 80 to 90 seconds you end up at 64%

Put yourself on a timer through some drills that test your movement, splits, transitions, draw and reloads. Track your numbers and ask a GM what his are. You will quickly see where your biggest improvements will be found (psst, it's rarely two shots on target)

[burninator]

Great 'big picture' view which I need but am not advanced enough to identify yet!

Definitely a few good things now to conciously think about when going about trying to practice or shoot!

[dcarter]

I like the break down. Nice post.

[JeffWard]

Excellent post. I need to get out and practice WITH a timer. I know I'm doing a few of these things wrong, and it interesting to see where I'm losing so much time... For me? Entering the box, gun down, and in transitions.

JW

[RangerTrace]

THANKS Pat, that is good stuff

[tripwire]

Excellent post of how to look at the big picture. I am new to USPSA and have started a mediocre dry firing regime to improve my draw and first shot splits. This has helped me open my eyes to the fact that I need to start working more on movement and transitions.

I love the time savings that can be had from just coming into the box with the gun up, it is something I hadn't thought about and didn't focus on. It will be an easy way to make up some time.

Thanks

Trip

[CHA-LEE]

Great job Pat!!!

[JimmyZip]

Thank you.

[jimd]

Excellent post... I have been shooting for ~8-9 months, and have reached a plateau trying to figure out how to improve and what to work on... outstanding information.

[scottrebello]

Excellent breakdown. As a new shooter I really appreciate post like this. I try to have one of my last thoughts on deck... shoot slow do everything else fast (as fast as I have practiced). Thanks

[leam]

Agree with all the above; great post! Hadn't thought to value things and then multiply them by expectations t get relative importance.

Thanks!

Leam

[xsniper]

Thanks for a very timely post. These are just the thngs I need to be thinking about.

[STI2011]

Thanks for taking the time to write that all down

[spideysteve]

This is an older thread but thought I would just say thanks for taking the time to break that down Pat. Gives me a place to put some focus, as opposed to "going to practice" ...

[Dillon b]

That's a great post. Thanks for bringing it back. I believe there are a ton of shooters that could benefit from reading it. Its already made me start thinking of some new drills to run that would help me out quite a bit

[nick romero]

great post,thank you!

[38supPat]

Thanks guys!

[Wilkenstein]

Great post, thanks Pat!

[Ripper10]

Excellent post. Thank you.

[azlou66]

As a beginner all I say is wow that is alot to think about AND practice. Thanks for the right up.

[Garyg19]

Pat

For a new shooter in production would it be accurate to prioritize time spent training the techniques above as follows:

1.Accuracy

2.Movemement

3.Transitions

4.Reloads

5.Draws

6.Splits

Have I interpreted things correctly?

Thanks

[38supPat]

Pat

For a new shooter in production would it be accurate to prioritize time spent training the techniques above as follows:

1.Accuracy

2.Movemement

3.Transitions

4.Reloads

5.Draws

6.Splits

Have I interpreted things correctly?

Thanks

I would be tempted to order it like this:

1.Accuracy

2.Transitions

3. Movement

4.Reloads

5.Draws

6.Splits

Transitions are pretty important in any division and putting movement and reloads together makes sense when you are running 10 round mags since almost every time you move you will be reloading, certainly every time you make a big movement.

[Garyg19]

Much appreciated Pat!

[jun_1911]

Pat, what would you suggest to a production C shooter like me?

Those 6 areas I believe are overwhelming to work on at the same time.

Would it be advisable if say I focus on accuracy and transition first.

I dont know how to go about it.

Thank you.

[Nimitz]

Pat- thx for the great post. For those wondering the specifics of what to train I'll put in another plug for mike seeklanders training program (and no I don't get anything from mike).as someone new to both shooting and competition I had no idea where to start. I was lucky to meet mike early and was able to bring him to our club for his 2 day class but that is not a program. I then picked up his book and videos to start training. He's done all the hard work designing a complete program from start to finish. All you have to do is follow it. I'm sure there is other great training out there but for me I wanted something that was already put together by an expert . Check out the training techniques forum if you want to see what one forum member has been able to accomplish doing mike's program ...

Btw, I've been following Mike''s program for 3 months now and on my first match I finished dead last out of 25 shooters, last overall and last in production. During a match I just finished today I managed to win one stage of the match in my division, finishing 12 seconds ahead of the 2nd place finisher ... It's definitely working ....

Edited April 21, 2012 by Nimitz