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Old August 5, 2006, 03:50 PM   #126
Jeff22
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multiple targets

To do good at shooting multiple targets, you need to practice shooting multiple targets. And you need to practice it more frequently than I have this summer . . .

I shot a USPSA Special Classifer match this morning and blew two stages because I went too fast. Trigger jerk and poor follow-through were probably the cause of my problems. I hadn't done much practice on multiple targets the last few months, and I noticed that I just didn't feel smooth at the beginning of the match today.
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Old August 13, 2006, 02:33 PM   #127
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What I learned from my last match

was about barrel mirage. I was shooting a CZ 452 17HMR in 96* heat. There was only one relay so my barrel never got cooled down. The last course of fire was a 20 shot slowfire prone. After 10 shots I had 9 shots in the ten ring and one shot in the nine ring. Then my next 10 shots all grouped very nicely to the left about 2 inches. Instead of shooting a 198 or thereabouts I wound up with a very disappointing 186.
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Old August 14, 2006, 01:02 AM   #128
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follow through

I shot another USPSA special classifier match on Sunday.

(I'm still firmly in the middle of C class in Production)

I had some guys watch me as I shot, and almost all of the misses or "no-shoot" hits I had on any of the stages were on the second round fired when engaging paper targets. I'd usually get an "A" zone hit with my first shot, and then if the subsequent shot wasn't wild it was a "C" and if it was wild, it went into hard cover, or (once) into a "no shoot" or (once) was a clean miss.

Actually, for the most part I shot pretty good (for me). My game is being smooth and accurate because I'm not particularly fast. I did blow one very easy stage just by trying to go too fast. (and I wasn't consciously trying to press for speed -- it just happened).

For the most part I concentrated on smooth trigger manipulation and good follow through. I have to practice more on multiple targets, to work on follow through on multiple shots, and to smooth my target-to-target transitions a little bit. Today flowed fairly well, for the most part, but there is room for improvement.

I REALLY like shooting classifiers . . . .
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Old August 16, 2006, 12:48 AM   #129
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Don't even think about smirking at the 5'-nothing middle aged lady who brings a 1911-style 10mm to the IDPA shoot.

Sure enough, she knew what she was up to. Thank God her gun's in a different class than my 226.
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Old August 17, 2006, 05:12 AM   #130
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As an RO you can never take your eyes off anyone on the range at any time.

(Had a newer shooter behind me, preparing to come to line by drawing and inserting a magazine, I happened to turn around and caught him before he racked the pistol)
(short day's shooting for that GUY!)
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Old August 20, 2006, 08:59 PM   #131
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1. I need to make sure to count my shots. I was shooting L-10 for the first time today, and I hit a popper that triggered 2 disappearing targets with the last round in my mag. I transitioned to the DTs and...click!

2. The scrimping and saving that I did for 4 months of layaway to get my new Wilson pistol was worth every penny. I've only had it for a week and I was only able to get out to the range once with it before the match and shoot 100 rounds. Even with that little experience I still did very well. That gun's got me looking good, and I'm only gonna get better as I use it.

3. There's never one right way to shoot a stage. We had a very complex stage today with a fence with the portholes and targets on both ends. For the brave souls among us, all targets could just barely be hit through one of the three available ports. I chose discretion over valor.

4. Most important thing I learned today, don't wear a brand new , unbroken-in pair of undies. They were riding up on my junk all day!
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Old August 23, 2006, 06:53 PM   #132
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Valor all the way baby! The better part of discretion is valor. The better part of valor is cleaning and lubing you gun before the match so you don't have FTE! That's right, I did not clean my CZ for two months; it in not the round count but how long the gunk sits that effects performance.
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Old August 23, 2006, 08:10 PM   #133
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Wut I lernt...

Don't take ANY shots from outside of the box until that foot gets in there, unless you wanna blow the stage. Shooting boxes will now be glowing in my brain when I plan!
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Old September 18, 2006, 05:42 AM   #134
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RH & Glock,
You guys should have seen my re-shoot on "shoot for lunch". Dick gave me a few tips and I was able to make round count in 46 while clearing a misfeed!

Very valuable tip (at least for me): The strong hand creates the sight picture, but the weak does the aiming.
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Old September 19, 2006, 07:19 AM   #135
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To my surprise, Glocks actually do jam. I don't shoot a Glock, but I saw a Glock 17 jam time after time during different stages. In fact, a top speed shooter's Glock (don't know what model) jammed as well. But, for me the thing I learned was...SLOW DOWN. Easier said than done.
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Old September 26, 2006, 06:52 AM   #136
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speed?

I discovered that if I am at a match, and I'm in a squad with a bunch of shooters who are significantly faster than I am (which is nearly everybody . . ) after watching them shoot, I UNCONSCIOUSLY shoot faster, without making an attempt to do so. In fact, I shoot faster even after telling myself to "slow down".

Unfortunately, "shooting faster" is not the same as "hitting better" . . . .
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Old October 2, 2006, 05:29 PM   #137
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You can't miss fast enough.

Practice strong and weak hand only. You can really tell the guys that do and the ones that don't.

Practice reloads endlessly. That's one of my biggest advantages. The fresh one is the gun before the empty is on the ground.

Practice clearing a malfunction. Something about lying down on your back while reaching around a barricade with your weak hand only makes malfunctions due to limp wristing a possiblity. Learn to clear it.

When the stage says one hand only, even for reloading, never, ever let the slide forward. I had to use the rear sight and a barricade to rack the slide (cringe).
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Old October 3, 2006, 03:03 AM   #138
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If you're going to shoot at a club you've never been to before, try to get the info sooner than the day before the match. Otherwise you may find a deserted shooting range and find out the next day that the match was cancelled. It's ok, though, because I was going to shoot my first 100 reloads, and I shot them at the range instead and discovered I'm doing something wrong because about 20% of them didn't feed. I'd have embarassed myself terribly judo-chopping the mag floorplate every other round throughout five stages in front of a bunch of guys I don't know.
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Old October 3, 2006, 03:30 PM   #139
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Fired my first IDPA classifier last month. I suxed.

Lessons learned:

Aiming is good - aiming is our friend.

And, the old standard, you can't miss fast enough.....
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Old October 4, 2006, 03:19 PM   #140
Glenn E. Meyer
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Usually shoot IDPA but one of our local venues shut down. Thus, I shot my first IPSC type match.

It was loads of fun.

1. Don't try to shoot faster as the guys with ray guns can do it so much faster.
2. If there are 18 targets in one stage, be sure not to forget one. Duh - did that twice and saw others do it.
3. Old knees don't run fast, so don't bother to kill yourself
4. Have fun and don't get tied up in millisecond planning if you aren't into that.

Differences in the two.

1. IDPA - kind of realistic but obviously not the real world - good hits, reasonable cover are fun to do.

2. IPSC, no cover, a nice emphasis on practicing fast hits - so it is good practice for that skill. Airgunning the stages weakens the validity of a tactical training scenario. It is more about hits, sights and trigger.

I use one of my carry guns - a Glock 19 as my goal is to shoot well with it.

Since I have done a lot of FOF for a plain old dude - I don't think I will learn bad habits that will get me killed - a claim in some gun publications.

I regard the matches as great fun and trigger time practice for component skills.

I feel good the rest of the day after a match - even if tired. Very cathartic and I always have met the nicest folks. One thing about South Texas is that the group is very diversive in all dimensions and that is a great thing. To sound hokey, it makes me feel good about humanity in general, esp. when I read some of the raving we see on gun lists with hidden ethnic agendas. Sigh.
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Old October 5, 2006, 05:39 AM   #141
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glock,
speakin' of which....Hell's half acre this weekend and I've got a friend who wants to join us. PM me.
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Old October 5, 2006, 10:58 AM   #142
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Shot my first semi-IDPA match last weekend. I was using my S&W 686 snub with thumb-break holster and HKS speedloaders. Everything was going great until I got to the line for the first stage, when I discovered that I had an ammo problem and shells had to be pushed into the cylinder. Put enough crimp on your reloads!

Fortunately I had brought a backup gun and ammo. From that I learned that while you may get hazed about your Ruger P97, it will perform flawlessly and will feed ammo that a certain 1911 choked on.

Had a great time, though.
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Old October 12, 2006, 01:13 AM   #143
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I shot Bullseye for many years - my last match was last season and I learned I didn't want to do it anymore. Sold my guns, GunHo box and scope. I just got tired of it.
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Old October 12, 2006, 06:05 AM   #144
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I just got the results from last month's CRAPS shoot and found out that I performed better on the classifier than I thought I did.
The key was to not get any penalties. Most of the field sent more lead downrange than I did within the time limit, but they also picked up penalties that negated that advantage.

RH & Glock,
You guys gonna be at the CRAPS shoot Sunday? I'm going to try to bring Katie (revolver girl) along.
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Old October 16, 2006, 06:06 AM   #145
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If you're cold, your hands will shake. If your hands are shaking, you may pull a shot and hit a no-shoot even though you are aiming very deliberately to miss said no-shoot.
The moral of the story: It is better to keep a cover garment that interferes with your draw than to ditch it in cold weather.
If you do ditch it, take the precision shots first so you can get them out of the way before you start shivering.
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Old October 16, 2006, 12:49 PM   #146
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They aren't interchangable.

When you're shooting 2 guns make sure you keep the .45 and the 10mm ammo seperate. The 45's won't feed very well in the 10. Since I wasn't the shooter it was pretty humorous to watch though, especially after he figured out the problem.
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Old October 17, 2006, 10:43 PM   #147
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I learned that it's very important to practice movement and transitions when shooting IPSC revolver on field courses. I shoot standing stages reasonably well (3.5 to 4.0 hit factor), but having to stop to acquire targets and reload cost alot of time on the field courses.
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Old October 18, 2006, 07:21 PM   #148
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The sights are for aiming. I decided to try out that particular peice of advice and got about 95% A's. Also, I have learned that after about the first couple of shoots on close targets in a row I can speed myself up.

I also called my shot for the first time. It was one of those Charlies, the only one on the classifier!
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Old November 19, 2006, 12:40 PM   #149
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The Texas Star should be banned as a particularly inhumane torture device.
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Old November 19, 2006, 01:52 PM   #150
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Quote:
The Texas Star should be banned as a particularly inhumane torture device.
Only when you try to shoot it from the bottom and working up.......everyone's done that at least once.
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