Name one thing you learned at your last match...

The two smartest things...

We're lucky enough at our club to have an IDPA 5-Gun Master in residence, and we're also lucky enough that he'll share what he knows with those of us less accomplished.

As a shooter, I am usually the guy who shoots fast and, when things aren't working, whose hits looks like rat crap in a dresser drawer. I usuall find that whenever I shoot poorly, its because I'm not doing one of the two things that he's told me I need to work on. The ideas are his; the phrasing is my own.

1. The weak hand is poorly named. In a two-handed firing grip, a "weak" support hand makes for a weak platform, and makes your firing hand grip harder. Because tension in the fingers is sympathetic, your trigger finger is also more tense, causing a loss of trigger control. Furthermore, with a weak platform, recoil is less mitigated, making second shots less accurate and sight reacquisition slower.

In short, make your support hand solid, tight, and strong.

2. Draw the gun the same way every time, whether you're wearing a cover garment or not, no matter the range, no matter your position or movement situation...but take your time with the shot.

Said another way, "fast on the gun, slow on the trigger"

From me, I'd tell you:

- see your sights
- slow down a little; it will cost you a lot less time than you think, and it'll reflect in the quality of your hits.
- practice doesn't make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect, so learn how to practice effectively and efficiently.

And finally, SHOOT AS MANY MATCHES AS POSSIBLE!

--
Ken
Anchorage, AK
 
I learned that you can shoot too accurately. I shot my first match this weekend, and got penalized twice for having groups that were too tight. Don't get me wrong, I was way too slow anyway, but I was a little annoyed when every shot went into the A zone at all three targets (25 yards, 50 feet, 21 feet) except for, according to the scorer, I totally missed the closest target with one shot, even though the rest of the group was about the size of a small tangerine. Even the owner of the shop pointed out that one of the shots appeared enlarged. :rolleyes: On the third stage I actually purposely shot looser! I got a few "c" points on that one!:D

OTOH, it was nice to see the ol HK P2000 shooting nice tight groups against a bunch of competition guns with longlides and target triggers!

Anyway, I learned that I must be much faster. So I ordered a Pact Timer tonight. I will be hell on em' next time!:D
 
shooting on steel

The last match I shot was all steel, mostly U.S. Poppers (a USPSA sanctioned 2/3rds scale "pepper popper" steel target) with a few full size pepper poppers thrown in. There were 25 different targets engaged from four different firing positions, about 6 of the targets partially shielded by "no shoot" targets, which were full size "pepper popper" targets painted red.

Having the whole match on steel made it very quick to score. What shooting position you employed depended upon which firing point you were at. The first required shooting from a sitting position through a port, the second required shooting from around both sides of a high barricade, the third required firing from kneeling and prone, and the fourth required shooting from around both sides of a low barricade. You had to move laterally left-to-right or right-to-left as you engaged the targets.

So anyway, what did I learn?

(1.) I really love shooting on steel.
(2.) Trigger control is critical.
(3.) Follow-through is critical.
(4.) When shooting on steel, establishing a good rhythm is critical. Just keep engaging the targets without waiting to watch for them to fall, and then clean up any remaining targets in that array before moving to the next firing position.
(5.) The hurrier you go, the behinder you get . . .
 
Went to my first "Practical Pistol" shoot yesterday. What did I learn? Matches that are supposed to start at 8:00 AM might actually get going more around 10:30. Organization is an option. Stage instructions aren't necessarily rules, they are more like suggestions. Wheelguns are outnumbered 8 to 1... guess who the 1 was. A standard duty belt with a 6" K-38, 4 speedloaders and a double dump pouch is only "concealed" if you are wearing a trench coat.

Was a lot of fun though, looking forward to it again next month.
 
Don't forget your sunscreen.
Headshots are not as easy as they sound.
Guns don't always have to be able to make tiny little groups to win.
 
All types of competitive shooting improve your skill at all other types of competitive shooting.

There was one couple at today's IDPA match who are primarily cowboy shooters, and another older couple that are primarily bullseye shooters.
They weren't as fast as the rest of us who just shoot practical sports, but they were so much more consistently accurate that their scores were as good if not better.

Also, the hardest part about shooting in prone position isn't the shooting, it's getting down there without dropping your gun or busting your a$$.:eek:
 
1. I can still find mud, slick spots with gravel, water, vines that reach out from edges of trails.

2. I fall "real nice".

3. They still do not award "Style Points".
If they ever do, I am going to be racking up points.


~~
Shotguns
Trees will grow in a nanosecond where I need to (1) shoot a bird and /or (2) needing to swing/ follow through.

~~

I can still walk smooth into a parked vehicle taking note of a Sidearm strapped onto a Pretty Lady.
 
3 Gun Shoot ...

Rules I know

1. May not shoot a rifle while wearing a pistol!
2. Must have a red flag thingy to show the rifle is 'clear'
3. .303 bolt action is difficult when shooting agains time!
 
I'm beginning to see mostly "A" hits, but I need to step up on speed, because that is where I'm falling behind in finish order.
 
Learned at my last match: Competing with a good range master on a range full of positive people is really fun. Competing with a bad range master on a range full of hostile, negative people is no fun at all!

Also learned at my last match: Don't over-think the stage. If you spend 30 minutes thinking about how you're going to run the stage, and then you change the order of your targets or the direction you're going to move at the last minute, you WILL NOT complete the stage properly, and you WILL get a procedural. Look over the stage once, 5 minutes before you shoot. Pick a plan, and then stick to the plan.
 
I shot my first club-level match a while ago. Minimal handgun experience, borrowed gun (a sweet CZ-75B) and equipment. We shot courses with steel plates and paper targets, and I did surprisingly well for myself. Landed a solid midfield in the final rating, although I blew two stages rather badly.

What I learned was not to underestimate myself, and to approach the whole thing with fun in mind. And that's what I had - lots of fun. So much fun that I am going to do this regularly, and maybe enter our domestic/provincial league at some stage. Pity our club only does the handgun shoot every 3 months, the other 2 are shotgun and rifle.
 
IDPA Classifier

I shot the IDPA Classifier at my club last Saturday.

I shot a Colt Combat Commander .45 Auto in CDP division and a Browning P-35 9mm Auto in ESP division.

The last few times I had fired the classifier, I had shot way too fast on Stage III and my score suffered greatly as a result. This time I slowed down, and had MUCH better hits. I only dropped 32 points for the whole match with the Colt and only 14 points for the whole match with the Browning HP.

My times weren't anything spectacular, so I'm firmly in the upper 1/3rd of "marksman" class in both divisions.

Both guns have new extractors since the last time I shot them competitively back in March. The Colt ran with nary a bobble. The Browning still had a couple of minor failure-to-extract malfunctions. I'm going to shoot it some more and see if the problem continues. The extractor looked okay when I inspected it, but maybe it needs to be replaced anyway . . .
 
Always walk with the scorers and check out your targets after shooting... _especially_ in IDPA if the scorer/RO also shoots IPSC. I have caught many instances where IPSC scoring is used in IDPA (e.g. PE for every shot, non-threat hits per round, fail to give FTN, etc.)

I hate it when targets are pasted up befre I had a chance to see it and when its not alpha-alpha or -0. Fortunately this dones't happen much, but it is annoying.
 
IPSC match

I shot a 5 stage USPSA match on Sunday morning. It's the first match I've shot since the end of June.

I borrowed a friend's Wilson Combat SA auto in 9mm and shot in the "Limited 10" division.

The trigger on that gun is NICE. Probably breaks at about 3-1/2 lbs. Maybe (?) too light for defensive use, but very pleasant to shoot.

I found the Wilson to be MUCH easier to shoot than the DAK Sig or Glock 19 that I usually compete with. My accuracy scores showed it, although I didn't shoot particularly fast. (I never do. I'm just not that speedy).

It's nice to be able to compete with a different gun once in a while.

In 2008 I hope to get classified in IPSC and IDPA in all the different revolver categories, just for something different to do.

My duty gun is still going to remain my primary competition gun for most applications, however . . .
 
Revolver

I shot my S&W 625-3 in .45 ACP for the first time in a match last night.

I can shoot the gun really well, because that big N-frame soaks up lots of recoil. It'll take me a while to get used to all the intricacies of loading & unloading & reloading with the full moon clips.
 
Jeff22, you might benefit from loading up some moonclips with dummy rounds and having someone time you to see which technique(s) are best for you; there are two main ways of doing a moon-clip reload, and I found one a whole lot faster than the other, but that may just be me. The first way is the Miculek-style reload, where the shooter transfers the revolver to his off hand and dumps the empties with his off-hand thumb while he grabs the fresh clip with his gun hand, loads, and pops the cylinder back in to get back into business. This obviously works VERY well for Jerry, and I couldn't be qualified to carry his range bag for him, but I found that no matter how hard I practiced with it, I couldn't twist the revolver back over to the outside far enough to make dropping in the fresh clip fast and easy. So, I ended up going with the OTHER main way of doing a moonclip reload. In that method, I push the cylinder latch in with my off-hand thumb while pushing the cylinder out with my trigger-finger. Then, use the palm of my off hand to smack the ejector rod to dump the empty clip, and, while I'm bringing the revolver down to make the reload easier, I grab a fresh clip with my off hand. Drop it in, squeeze the cylinder back in, and you're back in business. I find this also ensures a consistent grip and hold, so I don't need to "adjust" after every reload. There are plenty of very fast shooters that also use this method, so give them both a try to see which works best for you.
 
A LOT. I went to my second IDPA match today, my first was actually a qualifier (ranked Marksman in SSP my first go). This one was pretty fun, quite a bit of running and gunning, never done it before.

- I need to put in some serious time practicing 10+ yards from behind cover.
- I need to put in more time practicing from 15 - 25 yards period
- I shoot better weak hand than strong hand only...weird
- Breath control really is important, especially 10+ yards away
- I need to learn to focus on the 0 ring as much as the head for headshots (if there's a no shoot in front of "BG targets" I go for headshots and rarely miss up to 15 yards BUT when I shot COM same scenario I was more likely to hit the NS).
 
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