Mitch Gibson - Learning to be a shooter

Burk Cornelius · Jun 15, 2016

Mitch Gibson said:
Last night I dryfired Four Aces for about 30 minutes. Just drill after drill after drill, no breaks. During the reload, when I was able to get my hand to my mag at the same time that I got my thumb to the mag release button, it cut my reload time in half. I am guessing a .4 second time savings. Pretty big deal. It actually wasn't a session full of successes and decreased times. There was a lot of ****ing up. Mostly ****ing up, really. It was very productive, but I think that I need to separate draws from reloads for a day or three, and then put them back together.

Do I have to say the words?

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drmitchgibson · Jun 15, 2016

Let someone who can shoot say the words.

Burk Cornelius · Jun 15, 2016

Mitch Gibson said:
Let someone who can shoot say the words.

Fix your grip

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hunter_dmw12 · Jun 15, 2016

Mitch is the new ask the semi pro go to guy. I mean he is an internet you tube sensation making the DQ list and all.

drmitchgibson · Aug 22, 2016

The thing I learned about Nationals is that it is very competitive. I was actually surprised by that, because you have to follow the scores to see it. Mistakes that you can recover from at local matches can't be recovered from at Nationals, unless you are top-tier. It did not feel like such a big deal to be there except on the first stage of each day. There was a lot of pressure there. Otherwise it was just like shooting any other match.

It was a fun trip, and the Oklahoma crew did alright. I did not know what to expect, but what I got was great stages, just fantastic stages. All 19 stages were good to great. Most stages were way under 30 rounds. Lots of partial targets. Lots of windows/ports. A few drop-turners. A few max-traps. A few swingers. A fair number of poppers, with a fair amount of hardcover in front of them. Zero plates. Zero plate racks. Zero Texas Stars. Zero Irish plate racks. Zero Polish plate racks. Paper and poppers made up easily the best pistol match I've ever been to. I did not see anyone get popper-****ed. The poppers were set very light, and positioned such that they would not move or settle.

I wasn't too focused on anything other than adhering to my stage plans. Going in, I wanted to call every shot, but I did not keep focued on that goal, and I am OK with that. I spent quite a bit of time recording my Oklahoma and Arkansas squadmates, but I don't think I'll do that next year so that I can focus on the shooting. We got to watch the super squad shoot their last stage, which was phenomenal.

DD78 · Aug 23, 2016

With regard to major matches, I had a question.

I started shooting in 3 gun and USPSA in April/May of this year. Since then, I've gone from placing in the middle of the pack....so in a 90 person event, I come in 40-46th. In a 60 person event, just under 40th. Recently over the last month or so, I've jumped up quite a bit to where I'm in the first half of the field. Whether that be from getting better at shooting, or being far more comfortable running my ass off from position to position with a gun in hand, or a combination of both, I don't know. Probably a combination of everything.

With that being said, how soon should a new shooter get involved in these major types of matches? I skipped out on the Area 5 championship because I wasn't sure if it would be worth going to considering how new I am to the sport. Should I wait until next year and then start going to them?

LuckyDucky · Aug 23, 2016

As soon as you feel comfortable with the game, and enjoy it, you can do whatever you want.

The major matches are a good place to get better, shoot a lot, and see how the pros do it.

Wall · Aug 23, 2016

Major USPSA matches have classes gm thru u. So even someone who's only been doing it a short time can be competitive in their class (except U).

drmitchgibson · Aug 23, 2016

DD78 said:
With regard to major matches, I had a question.

I started shooting in 3 gun and USPSA in April/May of this year. Since then, I've gone from placing in the middle of the pack....so in a 90 person event, I come in 40-46th. In a 60 person event, just under 40th. Recently over the last month or so, I've jumped up quite a bit to where I'm in the first half of the field. Whether that be from getting better at shooting, or being far more comfortable running my ass off from position to position with a gun in hand, or a combination of both, I don't know. Probably a combination of everything.

With that being said, how soon should a new shooter get involved in these major types of matches? I skipped out on the Area 5 championship because I wasn't sure if it would be worth going to considering how new I am to the sport. Should I wait until next year and then start going to them?

If you can run around with a gun safely, you can shoot any match. It's a lot easier if you can hit everything you aim at.

By saying the match was competitive, I mean in terms of scoring, hit factor. So any variation that you would see as neglible or recoverable at an Area match or below, like seconds of time here or there or a missed shot, made a significant difference in finishing position at Nationals. Points were HUGE. It was interesting to see that play out.

The match did not feel super-competitive while shooting it. It was like shooting any other match, but a lot more fun. There was definitely tension in the air around name-brand shooters, but it didn't affect us no-names.

DD78 · Aug 23, 2016

Mitch Gibson said:
If you can run around with a gun safely, you can shoot any match. It's a lot easier if you can hit everything you aim at.

By saying the match was competitive, I mean in terms of scoring, hit factor. So any variation that you would see as neglible or recoverable at an Area match or below, like seconds of time here or there or a missed shot, made a significant difference in finishing position at Nationals. Points were HUGE. It was interesting to see that play out.

The match did not feel super-competitive while shooting it. It was like shooting any other match, but a lot more fun. There was definitely tension in the air around name-brand shooters, but it didn't affect us no-names.

Cool thanks! Part of the reason I enjoy shooting in competitions so much is because it's a lot of fun, but I also want to be "competitive".

There aren't too many more opportunities to experience a major type of match this year, but the first one within driving distance next year I'm definitely going to. That'll give me the whole winter to dry fire and get out to run drills at the range.

I honestly didn't think that I would take to shooting competitively as I have, but I'm glad that I gave it a shot. Now whenever there's a weekend where there aren't matches around I feel like a crackhead lol.