Competition Training Help

[chibabs]

Hello! I am new to the scene and the forums. I am interested in getting better handling guns and do competition level in the future.

I want to do the speed and accuracy or practical shooting. I really don’t know what you call that but the competition that is usually on youtube.

I took the intro and basic handgun class and don’t know what to do from here.

What can you recommend for me? Please bear with my english.

 

[JCSR]

Get this book and work this winter.

Books | Anderson Shooting

Purchase all Steve Anderson Training Books here.

www.andersonshooting.com

 

[natdscott]

Hello! I am new to the scene and the forums. I am interested in getting better handling guns and do competition level in the future.

I want to do the speed and accuracy or practical shooting. I really don’t know what you call that but the competition that is usually on youtube.

I took the intro and basic handgun class and don’t know what to do from here.

What can you recommend for me? Please bear with my english.

Rifle or pistol or shotgun?

Or all three?

 

[chibabs]

Rifle or pistol or shotgun?

Or all three?

Pistol.

 

[natdscott]

Pistol.

Then I will withhold most advice except:

1) Don't be afraid to buy books and teaching instead of "better" pistols and ammo.

2) But don't be afraid to put down the internet and just go shoot.

3) There's probably nothing wrong with your sights, and everybody knows it, so find a different excuse.

4) Dry fire, go to the gym, do mechanics drills, put post-notes on the living room walls to drill transitions right/left/up/down, constantly work to improve. It takes 3 days of good practice per week to maintain, 4-5 to BEGIN to make progress, and 6+ to break "plateaus" (unless the plateau is from overtraining, which is a thing).

5) Don't work so hard that it loses its fun.

Are there hard days? Days when you don't feel like that 5 am practice? Days when you're tired after work, or don't shoot as well as you'd hoped in a match?

Well, yeah. Of course there are, when trying to combine a normal life with an elite sport.

But don't push so hard you lose sight of the happiness of a full mag, and burn out.

I ASSURE you, from a fairly significant background in touring competition: it's a thing.


-Nate

 

[chibabs]

Thank you so much Nate for the recommendation! I really appreciate it.

 

[Twangbanger]

Hello! I am new to the scene and the forums. I am interested in getting better handling guns and do competition level in the future.

I want to do the speed and accuracy or practical shooting. I really don’t know what you call that but the competition that is usually on youtube.

I took the intro and basic handgun class and don’t know what to do from here.

What can you recommend for me? Please bear with my english.

Since you're in Indy, peruse the forums for an upcoming USPSA shoot, make contact with the match director and let them know you're new, then just show up. Don't make a plan to go "next spring." Don't go to "watch how a match works." Take the equipment you have (belt holster and a few mags, in your pants pockets if need be, and a magazine loader), and show up. There are less competitors in the cooler weather, and that's the perfect time to get substantial individualized attention.

It's really a self-help program. Once you've got the "newness" of it past you, you will learn by watching others and watching yourself. You will learn what you need to work on, and just go from there. You will learn more practical info in your first one or two matches, than you could get from reading books all winter.

 

[shootersix]

My best advice is…shoot a match! And for your first few, focus on being safe! Learn the basic rules of the type of matches you want to shoot!, be safe!, have fun!

No match director is going to turn you away because you’re new, and no match director should turn you away because you don’t have the right equipment or skills! (Unless you’re not safe!), now you might end up shooting “not for competition” depending on what you bring! If you showed up to a idpa match with a full blown USPSA open class rig and gun, our Md would let you shoot but “nfc”

Don’t waste 300 or more dollars taking a class till you figure out what discipline you want to shoot (idpa, USPSA, steel challenge) because each has different skill sets and while some will work on all sports, lots won’t!

But please if I can give you my best advice, it just go shoot! Bring your gear!, don’t under any circumstances say to yourself “I’ll just watch!”…that’s the biggest mistake you can make! I’ve heard plenty of people say “I wish I’d brought a gun and shot!” But I’ve never heard anyone say “I’m glad I didn’t bring a gun!”

And I’ve heard “I want to get better before I shoot a match”…and never seen them again! Don’t be that guy!!!

Don’t be intimidated by your competitors! You will get better! I promise! I shot my first idpa match in November 2019 and came in second from last!…I shot two weeks ago and came in 5th!, I shot my first steel challenge match in 2015 and walked in thinking “you might as well call me the winner and send everyone else home”…yep I came in 43rd out of 45!…last month top 10! So you will get better in whatever you shoot!

But when I give new shooter meetings the first things I say are
1-be safe!
2-have fun!
3-be safe… the ro/so doesn’t want to send you home! But we will if we have too! And if you get a dq, don’t get mad at the ro/so!, don’t get mad at the range!, and don’t get mad at the match!…you dq’d yourself! All we do is point out what you did!

 

[Cameramonkey]

My suggestion is also "just go shoot a match."

Its a bit of a drive for you, but will be worth the trip. Go hit a Steel Challenge match down at Hoosier Hills Rifle and Pistol Club. Its a GREAT group of laid back folks who are VERY friendly and helpful. There are a few of those members here.

Home

www.hhrp.org

And Steel Challenge is very easy and not gear heavy. Probably one of the easiest practical shooting sports to get into.

 

[shootersix]

My suggestion is also "just go shoot a match."

Its a bit of a drive for you, but will be worth the trip. Go hit a Steel Challenge match down at Hoosier Hills Rifle and Pistol Club. Its a GREAT group of laid back folks who are VERY friendly and helpful. There are a few of those members here.

Home

www.hhrp.org

And Steel Challenge is very easy and not gear heavy. Probably one of the easiest practical shooting sports to get into.

this!!!!
Steel challenge is probably the easiest competition to get into!, only one stage where you move on the clock, one where you move off the clock, and all the rest are standing still! And it’s the easiest shooting sport to track your progress in! Plus since all the classifier stages are the same, it very easy to judge how you shoot vs people all over the world! And there are classes for just about every center fire pistol caliber and 22 long rifle!, and I do mean all over the world! Indiana is home to quite a few of the top 20 ranked scsa shooters! (In multiple classes and divisions!)I spent about 5 months in the top 20 rimfire rifle open b class, then cut a 1/2 second and jumped to a class! (I know a few guys who shoot this just to work on the draw and target transitions!)

Idpa and USPSA will have a stage for one match and that’s it! You’ll never see that stage again!

 

[Cameramonkey]

this!!!!
Steel challenge is probably the easiest competition to get into!, only one stage where you move on the clock, one where you move off the clock, and all the rest are standing still! And it’s the easiest shooting sport to track your progress in! Plus since all the classifier stages are the same, it very easy to judge how you shoot vs people all over the world! And there are classes for just about every center fire pistol caliber and 22 long rifle!, and I do mean all over the world! Indiana is home to quite a few of the top 20 ranked scsa shooters! (In multiple classes and divisions!)I spent about 5 months in the top 20 rimfire rifle open b class, then cut a 1/2 second and jumped to a class! (I know a few guys who shoot this just to work on the draw and target transitions!)

Idpa and USPSA will have a stage for one match and that’s it! You’ll never see that stage again!

And being brand new, I have no doubt the crew down at HHRP would gladly let you not move if you arent comfortable doing so yet. Worst case you have to shoot without scoring you since you arent technically playing by the same rules as everyone else. But dont let that worry you.

Lots of guys in the PSS are laid back and forgiving of new guys. I've shot IDPA several matches where somebody brand new was allowed a reshoot when they werent supposed to because they screwed up in a way that was not unsafe. Nobody was worried about him outscoring anyone, so the whole squad agreed to a reshoot just so he could score that stage properly.

 

[shootersix]

And being brand new, I have no doubt the crew down at HHRP would gladly let you not move if you arent comfortable doing so yet. Worst case you have to shoot without scoring you since you arent technically playing by the same rules as everyone else. But dont let that worry you.

Lots of guys in the PSS are laid back and forgiving of new guys. I've shot IDPA several matches where somebody brand new was allowed a reshoot when they werent supposed to because they screwed up in a way that was not unsafe. Nobody was worried about him outscoring anyone, so the whole squad agreed to a reshoot just so he could score that stage properly.

I’ve don’t that in steel and idpa for new shooters, I don’t want new shooters to get turned off because of a bad stage or gun problem, I want them back and shooting again! I was at steel challenge match and a guy was having tons of problems, determined that it was a fresh build, he said he had another gun in the car, so I let him get it and reshoot the stage, I wouldn’t do that for serious competitive shooters (and I don’t want them to do that for me!) if I see you at every match…clear that jam, fix your stuff and keep shooting!

And I was shooting the idpa 72 round classifier, I had a jam and I hear “stop”, go reload your mags, because the classifier is a judge of your skills, not your equipment! So I got a reshoot!