Practical Shooting comes easily?

[little_kahuna]

Does practical shooting (USPSA) come easily to anyone?

I know a lot of things come easily to me, coloring in the lines, playing video games, falling on my a$$ while skateboarding, but I don't think practical shooting comes easily to me. What's up with that?

So I say again: Does Practical Shooting come easily to anyone?

[JThompson]

Does practical shooting (USPSA) come easily to anyone?

I know a lot of things come easily to me, coloring in the lines, playing video games, falling on my a$$ while skateboarding, but I don't think practical shooting comes easily to me. What's up with that?

So I say again: Does Practical Shooting come easily to anyone?

I think if I would have start 30 years ago it would have.

[ahudson]

I don't know if if i would say easy but i think some have a knack for it more then others. I have shot around 8 to 10 USPSA and 2 idpa matches. Here are my results from my fourth match ever. Before the year 2009 i had maybe 200 rnds down the barrel of any pistol in my life. All my time has been spent on long guns for fun.

Here are my results of my fourth match ever under production.

I'm listed as Andrew Hudson

http://www.miamirifle-pistol.org/forums/in...php?topic=397.0

Edited July 15, 2009 by ahudson

[BritinUSA]

It's like chess. You can learn the basics in an afternoon and spend the rest of your life getting better at it.

[CJDOUBLETAP]

It's like chess. You can learn the basics in an afternoon and spend the rest of your life getting better at it.

+1

Nick, if I practiced as much as you it probably would be pretty easy.

[Jman]

Does Practical Shooting come easily to anyone?

No, not me. I keep coming back to fix what I screwed up last time. Their's always something.

Jim

[Neomet]

If anyone means me..... no, heck no. But that is sort of the appeal to me. If I could become a GM in 6 months I would miss out on the years (many apparently) of seeing myself improve from low D on to whatever level I peak out at. Now of course it wouldn't break my heart to be climbing the ladder a little quicker........

[kgunz11]

I'm interested to how Matt Cheely would answer this question. That fugger's initial classification was what??? Master?

Edited July 15, 2009 by kgunz11

[Cy Soto]

SA Friday and I were talking about this very topic this past weekend and we agree that there are those persons that can be cataloged as "natural shooters" and there are those that are "systematic shooters". Regardless of the type of shooter that you would fall under (and understand that this is a very simplistic approach to try to catalog shooters), there is only one path to the top, and this is with lots and lots of practice.

I read this in a book many years ago and it lends itself quite well to this sport:

The elevator to success is out of order; you have to take the stairs... One step at a time!

Edited July 15, 2009 by Cy Soto

[Chris Keen]

I'm interested to how Matt Cheely would answer this question. That fugger's initial classification was what??? Master?

At least ..............

And then you got Bob Vogel whos initial classification was GM.

[JThompson]

I'm interested to how Matt Cheely would answer this question. That fugger's initial classification was what??? Master?

At least ..............

And then you got Bob Vogel whos initial classification was GM.

I say we frag'm both.

[lugnut]

I don't believe someone just starts out in this sport and make M or GM... I just don't. They had to have traing a significant amount beforehand.

And no.... I don't think this comes natural to me at all...

[Adam B]

I think Matt was either a M or GM when he first got classified, he shot PPC a lot when he was a kid, his dad was a cop

[Graham Smith]

Does practical shooting (USPSA) come easily to anyone?

No.

Not much of an answer but truth be told, very few things do come easily. Take riding a bike; for some it takes less effort that others but it always takes time and a few skinned knees. But bike riding doesn't take constant practice either - and that's the other part of this.

Some parts of the sport come easier to some people than to others. I'm fairly good at point shooting so I can do pretty well on some stages with a lot of close in targets I can hit on the run. On the other hand, those little poppers and plates just screw with my brain something fierce and make me miss shots that I swear I had a good shot on even when they are at the minimum allowed distance.

Edited July 15, 2009 by Graham Smith

[xsniper]

I don't think it comes "easy", but I think for some it is "easier". I swear I have to work twice as hard to get half the gains of one of my shooting partners. He can not practice for a month and have much less deterioration of skills. Things just really seem to flow more naturally for him.

[Jake Di Vita]

Matt initially classified as an M. Ben initially classified as a GM.

I think it largely depends on your mind set.

For me, getting better was pretty easy, but I was 100% devoted to it. When you are dry firing 4 hours a day, it is pretty easy to get better. When you are focusing on the wrong areas or have the wrong mindset, then you almost start working against yourself.

I've always said that how good you become as a practical shooter has nothing to do with where you are starting, but with how much you are willing to sacrifice along the way.

[fasteddy]

Matt initially classified as an M. Ben initially classified as a GM.

I think it largely depends on your mind set.

For me, getting better was pretty easy, but I was 100% devoted to it. When you are dry firing 4 hours a day, it is pretty easy to get better. When you are focusing on the wrong areas or have the wrong mindset, then you almost start working against yourself.

I've always said that how good you become as a practical shooter has nothing to do with where you are starting, but with how much you are willing to sacrifice along the way.

+ 1 it is truly a mind set that makes this sport easy!

[JeffWard]

Some people are "naturals", and most are not. Same in many sports. My Dad shot even par the 4th time ever played golf, and went on to play as a pro. I've seen people shoot 3-4" groups at 20 ft the first time they fired a gun. With USPSA, I think the movement, transitions, and reloads take practice, practice, practice for anyone. Some learn faster than others... But I doubt there are any "naturals" who would make M the first time they picked up a gun... Make GM in a year? Possible.

I've always been a good shooter (accuracy). It's getting my brain out of the way doing everything ELSE this sport demands, that sows ME down!

LOL

JeffWard

[Aristotle]

Not I. I work my ass off just to get above the fold.

[03k64]

For some maybe, but it has taken a lot of work for me to reach this level of crappiness.

[al503]

I've been shooting since '05. I had no prior shooting experience before then. I have about 35K rounds downrange in live fire and about 4-5 hours total dry firing due to time constraints and laziness.

I made it up to A class in open last year by winning B open at Area 1. My classifier average is just over 75% now and I can't seem to get it any higher with the amount of shooting (8-10 matches and about 8K rounds in practice a year.)

I'm sure that there are others in similar situations that shoot a lot better than I can. Looks like I'll have to start dry firing more (or dump the wife, honeydoos around the house, honeydoos around my parent's house, and get an 8-5 job) if I ever want to get out of A class.

[Silver_Surfer]

Really depends............If you're just shooting to have some fun or tring to reach GM.

[STI2011]

For some maybe, but it has taken a lot of work for me to reach this level of crappiness.

+1

It's taken me a lot of work to be mediocre.

[BillGarlandJr]

The guys we might say are "naturals" often have one thing in common....most of them are natural athletes and possess the physical abilities attributed to that gift. They are quick, have good hand eye coordination, good vision, and some strength. If you ask them you will likely learn they have been successful in other sports. Combine their athleticism with the desire and discipline to be great at our sport and you have a guy who will get this pretty quick and go up in classification faster than someone who may have the same discipline and desire, but lacks the natural athlete's physical abilities. Does that mean you can hand a great athlete a gun and they will shoot awesome their first time out. No. They must first learn how to apply their physical gifts to our game. But if they put their mind to getting good at it they will progress quickly.

When I lived in Texas I shot with a guy some of you probably know...Adam Popplewell. He was a great example of what a really athletic guy with determination and discipline could do in our sport in a relatively short time. If my memory serves me, he was pretty much self taught and made GM in Open in nine months.

[nashvillebill]

While I have never been very athletic, seemingly unrelated skills that you have before taking up this sport can speed your way up the ladder and make you appear to be a natural. I learned how to hit a target with a pistol at a pretty young age, but probably had not shot a thousand rounds (mostly .22) in my life before I took up practical shooting at 44 years old. However, I understood muscle memory, how to practice and have pretty good hand strength and co-ordination from being a musician for thirty years. Needless to say I don't suffer from "stage fright" as some do shooting in front of strangers. I studied Tai-Chi long ago, although I don't ritually practice it, I try to maintain the balance and movement concepts in my daily life. Twenty five years of restoring musical instruments has helped developed my problem solving skills. Besides all that I am obsessive and competitive. I 'm not saying practical shooting comes easy to me, there has been a lot of study, quite a bit of practice, and a lot of matches in the last two and a half years. But, there are a lot of less than obvious factors that can help someone along.