What has made the biggest difference in your performance?

[Airic]

For me, the realization that there is no "shooting form" just aligned sights on the target before I break the shot. USPSA/IDPA will put you in a lot of funky positions, my goal is to always be able to "call" my shots.

Also, the fact that I dont actually need to shoot faster to be faster. All the little things that go into my time on a stage was more important than firing the gun fast. I once RO'd TGO at Rio Salado during a club match back in 2001, he had a knee brace on and when he finished....I could have swore that it was the slowest thing I had ever seen. My Dad was with me and he taped TGO running the stage. I watched it over and over and could not believe how smooth and deliberate he was. He won the stage. It wasn't that he was shooting fast, it was that he did everything else to perfection.

 

[jtischauser]

Taking Classes!!!

I took Red Neck Tacticals 3 gun class from Kurt Miller and Trapr Swonson after my first debacle of a 3 gun match at the 2009 AR Section Championship. I then went to my first major and finished 17th following the class.

I took Competition Pistol at USSA from Mike Seeklander and Pat Doyle. I then went to my first major match the 2009 Area 4 championship and took 2nd in my class/division (if it wasn't for Robert McDaniels sandbagging ass I would have been 1st )

Then I took Phil Straders Beginner and Advanced competition pistol classes and went on to win my limited divison for the first time here at the local level. Every time I take a class I take the next step. I am really looking forward to a little more 3 gun training with Kurt this Spring. I also hope Phil has another level of pistol classes offered this year as well.

 

[Kid Colt]

Practice, practice, practice...

Of course the ideal is perfect practice, but you get the idea. Practice even dry firing on your hold, your breathing, your sight alignment, trigger release and sight picture are key. When you participate in competition, you'll automatically do what you practice so use the time and get it right and then repeat, repeat, repeat!

I would also say that one thing that really made a huge impact on me as far as realizations go was when the USMC Shooting Team gave a instructional talk during the Western CMP Games at Camp Pendleton back when I was on a Battallion level team. I'll never forget Sgt. Mario Lozoya giving us a demonstration on how much more important sight alignment was in comparison to sight picture... especially as it related to pistol shooting. He used a laser to show us on stage the practice of holding perfect sight picture even when doing a figure eight to hold over the target. It was amazing to see him demonstrate how large accentuated arm movements while holding perfect alignment could still hold the impact to within the black vs. just a slight sight picture misalignment on the short axis of a beretta 92 would cause a complete miss. Of course Sgt Lozoya went on that year to win the National Championship so his guidance is as good as gold in my book. It just made a big visual impact on me with pistol shooting to realize that proper trigger and hold technique was so much more crucial than a perfect picture. I think sometimes we focus so much on making sure that the sight picture is perfect that we lose touch with ensuring we have perfect alignment and technique for shot relase that won't disturb that.

 

[Airic]

Practice, practice, practice...

Of course the ideal is perfect practice, but you get the idea. Practice even dry firing on your hold, your breathing, your sight alignment, trigger release and sight picture are key. When you participate in competition, you'll automatically do what you practice so use the time and get it right and then repeat, repeat, repeat!

When I dryfire, I do every rep in slow motion. As close to perfect as possible. I go for the memory "burn in". After many, many reps I do a full speed test to keep me honest, its resulted in reloads like this:

http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c336/airicg/?action=view&current=VIDEO_046.mp4

 

[Kid Colt]

When I dryfire, I do every rep in slow motion. As close to perfect as possible. I go for the memory "burn in". After many, many reps I do a full speed test to keep me honest, its resulted in reloads like this:

http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c336/airicg/?action=view&current=VIDEO_046.mp4

That's a pretty sweet reload. You're definitely doing something right. I like the slow motion concept for muscle burn in like you say.

 

[MISph1t]

Realizing that, like I read somewhere (think it was from JT on another forum), I can't miss fast enough to win. Last match I really tried to slow down and get good hits. I made a big jump in improvement.

I'm really ready for the next one to see if it was a fluke or if I really made that much improvement.

 

[jtischauser]

Realizing that, like I read somewhere (think it was from JT on another forum), I can't miss fast enough to win. Last match I really tried to slow down and get good hits. I made a big jump in improvement.

I'm really ready for the next one to see if it was a fluke or if I really made that much improvement.

The heartland match is the worst match out there about penalizing you for an off center hit, miss, or no shoot. If you study the scoring system and the scores that win you will see that the guy that wins isn't always the fastest. The difference between 1st and 5th us usually an off center hit or two or a Mike. I shoot much slower at that match than any other match. Heck two months ago when Stephen Pineau won the match he was a stage slower than several of the top 5 guys but he shot it clean because he shoots a lot of USPS and he beat us all despite being from TX. Dont miss next match and you will do better than you have ever done.

 

[mike cyrwus]

I hate to say it, but if I had never broken down and took some professional instruction, Id have never gotten near as far along in shooting as I am now.

 

[Airic]

I hate to say it, but if I had never broken down and took some professional instruction, Id have never gotten near as far along in shooting as I am now.

What do you think you benefited from the most in this professional instruction?

 

[jtischauser]

What do you think you benefited from the most in this professional instruction?

The first pistol class I took opened my eyes to the big ones. Trigger prep and sight watching/shot calling.

 

[Chambers]

What do you think you benefited from the most in this professional instruction?

Uh...everything?

I haven't been doing this long. In fact this week marks 6 months since I started competing. I got professional instruction from TDSA about a week after I shot my first USPSA match, and I can tell you that I would be a third of the shooter I am today without it.

Aside from learning proper technique from the pros, experience. For the first 4 months there I would shoot about 50% of the stages clean and have huge breakdowns on the other half. They were mental problems -- failures to plan, walkthrough and vizualize. In the last 6 weeks or so I haven't finished outside the top 10 overall in a handgun, rifle or 3 gun match, and I'm getting better and more confident every day.

When you take a class, you learn PROVEN methods of doing things. After you know what works, you practice it until you can execute. Because I took the class so early, I didn't waste months or years screwing around trying to figure out the proper techniques on my own.

Here's a saying I like...it takes a wise man to learn from his mistakes, but an even wiser man to learn from the mistakes of others.

There is no substitute for training.

 

[mike cyrwus]

What do you think you benefited from the most in this professional instruction?

Simply, How to shoot.

 

[Steeltanto]

I know both USSA and TDSA have phenomenal courses, both competitive and combat pistol. If you could only take one (because of finances) which would you take to become a better IDPA/IPSC type shooter?

 

[jtischauser]

I know both USSA and TDSA have phenomenal courses, both competitive and combat pistol. If you could only take one (because of finances) which would you take to become a better IDPA/IPSC type shooter?

That's like choosing your favorite kid! If you are on a budget you might look into the training group stuff at USSA.

You should look into Phil Straders classes as well. The ones he offered last year were under $400 and excellent.

 

[Spiff]

I'm planning to hit a class or two sometime this year. I'd like to hit Kurt's class (whatever it is) and Phil's if he offers one.

 

[mike cyrwus]

I know both USSA and TDSA have phenomenal courses, both competitive and combat pistol. If you could only take one (because of finances) which would you take to become a better IDPA/IPSC type shooter?

You take the basic pistol class first; in tdsa's case it will be ap1.

Take one of these before you take Phil's or any other competition class.

 

[bigbrowndog]

you have to be honest with yourself, i have a saying its a bit long but really shows how we as people operate.
its excuses and reasons, we make up excuses to tell ourselves or others because we are weak, and do not want to face the truth, if we are strong we tell ourselves and others the reason, and we are much better for it.

What that translates into for shooting is, when you miss you have to figure out the reason or have someone that can watch and see you shoot tell you the reason if you can't be honest with yourself then you'll make up an excuse, you won't improve. Its simple to say well I jerked the trigger, or I prefer to do it this way, or whatever. If you can figure it out or someone tells you what you did wrong and you can learn from it then you will improve. A lot of good shooters do not make good teachers because they cannot tell you why or how to shoot better because they can't watch and see what you're doing wrong, some of them can't tell you honestly why they shoot well.
In order to learn to shoot better, you have to be able see what you are doing that is counterproductive, its very hard to see yourself so having someone that can watch you that can see the fine minute details of what you are doing and can then show you is what makes a good teacher, you then have to be able to accept the criticism in order to improve.
You have to eliminate "I can't" and operate solely on "I can".

The example about Robby, is astute, I've shot man on man against him and beaten him, but only after he throttled me on every bout the first year, I watched him very closely and realized that he wasn't very fast on the trigger, but he rarely missed. I also realized that in the first year he had beaten me before we ever fired a shot, simply due to the pressure I had put on myself. I mean heck it was Robby freakin Leatham, I was shooting against.
But I saw what I needed to see, learned, improved and gained a whole bunch of confidence.

trapr

 

[tbird63b]

When I dryfire, I do every rep in slow motion. As close to perfect as possible. I go for the memory "burn in". After many, many reps I do a full speed test to keep me honest, its resulted in reloads like this:

http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c336/airicg/?action=view&current=VIDEO_046.mp4

 

[tbird63b]

Dang! Thats pretty quick

 

[Airic]

Uh...everything?

Your "that guy" aren't you?




I have to agree with Trapr's post, and I have applied something similar to my personal training over the years. Honesty with myself. I have never felt the need to take a class or get "professional instruction". I bought BE's book and read it so many times I had to buy a new one. I bought Saul Kirsch's book and wore it out. I bought Steve Anderson's book and used it as a basis for my dry fire. I had a demanding dry fire schedule for years, ever day I dry fired. I video taped myself and knew what my weakness's were and worked on those 90% of the time instead of the things that might be "fun" or that I was good at. Like I've stated before, I dry fire in slow motion, perfect repetitions. It wasn't fun, it was grueling. Try practicing reloads in slow motion for an hour, its not the fun way to practice.

But it worked.

Now I am defiantly not saying that I would not benefit from instruction in competition shooting. I just haven't been able to fit it into my schedule in the last 6 years due to a demanding Army/LEO training schedule. Every time I had a chance to think about USPSA/IDPA, I wanted to shoot a match. I hope that I will be able to do it some day soon.