IDPA. Time vs. Accuracy

...hitting the submit button too soon?


As one Master class shooter says, it is not how fast you shoot, it is how fast you do the other stuff while you are not shooting. You can save seconds on target acqusition and transition and moves instead of tenths on the splits.
 
I thought fast was good, ha. When I learned a shot in the "A" area was worth 5 points and a miss was a -10, well, let's just say that my scores were negative for all stages............
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M4BGRINGO, don't despair! In my first two matches, I came in dead last because I was such a nervous shooter mostly. We both know what dividing by zero gives you on a stage....

It sucks, because in practice alone you know how much better you are. Just keep shooting and practicing including dry firing until everything is like driving a car. Part of the fun is to watch yourself improve at matches and work your way up in the ranks and classifications. Just don't sweat it, have fun and not worry about it.
 
Barring game specific math, which I do like the 10% target PD, speed for any action shooting is regulated by the same thing. Speed is dictated by your front sight. At some point you will naturally transition to where you can break that rule and start doing stuff like point shooting, target focus, les refined sight pictures without thinking about it. But start at the front sight.

New shooters who shoot too fast for their ability outnumber those who shoot too slow by a factor of ten. I have personally doubled someone's ability in their first match by simply pointing out that those GMs in the squad really were seeing their sights for each of those shots and it was permissible for the new guy to slow down a little and focus on quality.
 
the moments in a stage when you are not shooting actually waste most of the time. Learn a smooth draw and reload then work on making it faster. Move quickly but under control between positions. Don't waste time getting to the shooting.
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As one Master class shooter says, it is not how fast you shoot, it is how fast you do the other stuff while you are not shooting. You can save seconds on target acqusition and transition and moves instead of tenths on the splits.
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Yep - the OP asked about accuract/speed, but we'd be remiss if we didn't also point out that efficiency in movement is very important. Move fast, shoot slow is much more efficient than the opposite.

New shooters who shoot too fast for their ability outnumber those who shoot too slow by a factor of ten. I have personally doubled someone's ability in their first match by simply pointing out that those GMs in the squad really were seeing their sights for each of those shots and it was permissible for the new guy to slow down a little and focus on quality.
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Watching other shooters or youtube vids can be a good learning experience if you watch how they move & when they shoot. It can take you down the wrong road entirely, however, if all you take in is their trigger speed.
 
I shoot these type of matches through out the summer and enjoy the heck out of them but they do seem to stress speed more then accuracy.

Maybe its because subconsciously I think the accuracy should be stressed more because I'm slow or maybe its the old cop in me (cops have to account for missed rounds flying all over the place).

Anyway, I think they should add more time for misses or targets not engaged.

An example, lets say it takes you a certain amount of time to reload. You have two targets left, If you don't shoot the targets you get 5 seconds added. If it takes you 11 seconds to reload, you're better off not engaging the targets and taking the misses.

"Same thing with hostage targets, you get 5 seconds added if you hit a hostage, but some stages you can do better time wise if you just spray the area hitting all targets including the hostage.

Here's another one which I actually did. Last year we had a three gun match. In the rifle phase you had to hit three targets with two rounds each. In with the three targets were three hostage targets. I was brain dead when it was my turn and shot all three hostage targets skipping the bandit targets. But because it was a rifle, and I am a rifle shooter, I smoked the stage time wise. Looking at the bulletin, I actually beat some people who took their time and got good solid hits on the bandit targets not hitting the hostages.

But I don't make the rules, I'll just keep shooting and having fun. Keep practicing concentrating on accuracy while increasing my speed."


Come on. This sounds like it's coming from someone who thinks he knows how matches are scored and timed, but hasn't actually competed in the matches. And if you have actually competed in these matches and this is the conclusion you have come to, well you didn't learn much. 11 second reloads? Another guess? Shoot all the hostage targets, not shoot the targets for score and beat the other rifle shooters that hit the correct targets while not getting penalized for hitting the non threats, sure. Mark
 
You have two targets left, If you don't shoot the targets you get 5 seconds added. If it takes you 11 seconds to reload, you're better off not engaging the targets and taking the misses.
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I don't know where you are shooting but in regulation IDPA not reloading to finish the stage is a 20 second Failure To Do Right on top of the misses.
You can reload in less than 20 seconds, can't you?
 
I guess you could use my first El Presidente to prove Rottweiler's quote; SO explained the CoF and I went all out on my first string, hitting precisely thrice. Wrote it off to nerves and seven years of rust from having not shot anything since Iraq. My second string was better, but the third I made myself slow down to what I felt was a glacier's pace and apply my fundamentals, lo and behold I scored better overall.

I was the youngest guy there by at least two decades, and I kinda expected to be snubbed and meet a lot of elitist attitude but I have to say that EVERYONE there was really awesome about getting me up and running, and being comfortable with shooting (not getting shot at helped) in these games. I can't wait to get back out; I'm hooked and wishing that I'd started it ages ago.
 
I was the youngest guy there by at least two decades
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Whipper-snapper!. Welcome to the sport. I have said many a time its worse than crack, so addicting, can't wait to shoot the next match!:D
 
I look at it sort of like a sine wave, push speed until accuracy falls off the once it comes back at that speed, go faster, you can win with either. So I always try to "push" at club type matches so speed is more of an objective, once accuracy falls off, shooting 3's, (a complete miss or FTN from multiple 3's is a no no for sure) it's time to pull back. If you are shooting nothing but zeros and getting beat by more accurate shooters its time to speed up.
 
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My philosophy is to shoot as fast as you think you can and still get 75% of your hits in the -0 zone. I don't want to be over-anal about getting perfect hits, but I also don't want to be a complete hoser.

It helps to also know your gun so well that you know at what distances you can index shoot vs. when you need to use your sights.
 
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