How long did it take you be "good"?

[Fuzz]

Just to clarify I added in the part about how many shooters where their to try and show it was sarcasm. I know I wasn’t the best shooter on the range that day.

Fuzz, your actually someone I’m trying to chase. I saw you shoot at one of my first matches and I thought you were a great shooter. You are a consistently good shooter. I’m usually riding the edge of doing good and a dumpster fire. When I watch you shoot I can see you have much more control than I do.

Do I expect to have wins in my first season? No. If I tell myself that it’ll take five years to get the the point that I’ll be “good” or win then I’ll give up now.

I’m shooting in competitions to be competitive. My goal when i started was to be in the mix of people in my division. I’m not their yet.

I tried to be encouraging so you would not take it personal. It was not meant to be.

Understand what most here are sayin is you are shooting against yourself and your own mind.

Remember if you make it more than your are capable of you will not enjoy it and it will eat you from the inside out.

 

[sv40sw45]

Wait a minute. I know you have been good for many many years and still make mistakes! LOL

Yeah well I blame that on OLD AGE I was 54 when I made GM in Open, Eyes got bad so I gave up on trying to make GM Limited.

 

[Trapper Jim]

I've been shooting IDPA and USPSA for a while now and I'm leaps and bounds better than I was five months ago. I still look at my competition locally and feel like I'm not "good". I say "good" because I don't know how you define it. How do you personally define good? What happened in your shooting that made you feel like you were "good"?

This is a very "good" question. I preface by stating that as humans we all have our own personal best. Reflexes, eyesight, hand/eye coordination, thought processes and character. To top all this off as a citizen we have many other things to deal with like employment, family, finances and etc. These can restrict how you define good. Good depends on your measuring stick. The one very sure way to get better is to face your fears....shoot what is hardest for you. With each game that you play there are limitations.

USPSA...you have to shoot faster than you can read the sights sometimes but good for freestyle shooting..
IDPA.......accuracy over time but restricting in scenario cooking.
Precision Pistol......boring but is the best way to learn yourself the four step process to an accurate shot. One handed style.
IHMSA or similar....200 yard trigger control
Steel challenge ...king of transitions.
Casual Matches..lets you experiment
Training camps if you can afford them.
Practice, Practice and Practice.
Personal Training One on One

The list goes on for rifles, shotguns, revolvers, CAS, and Black Powder shooting. I was lucky enough to be a working farm boy as a youngster growing up around Rochester Indiana. We used guns as a practical way of life. I ran a trap line with a .22 rifle, put down coyotes and ground hogs, an occasional farm animal when needed. I had no idea that I was any better or worse than anyone else until I won my very first pistol match. There was 10 of us outback of Anderson's sporting goods in Tippecanoe when my 8 inch Nickel Plated Model 29 scored 94 points on a NRA target. All I had to do was hang on and put in place the fundamentals. Did I mention I used Denny's load of 2400 and a 250Gr Kieth Style bullet. During the last 52 years of being a student and sportsman of shooting I have had peaks and valleys but I am till trying to get good overall at shooting everything and not confining myself to just one sport. This is where the work becomes fun for me. Sure, if you want to win the Indy 500 then you might not have time for NASCAR. I understand the expense in money and time and commitment or just one shooting style let alone everything. So pick your pleasure but shooting one game may make you good at that match but how does that compare to larger measuring stick?

Earlier in this thread TwangBanger has a good post...I too have seen so many Great high scoring shooters get to the top of one game and burn out and get into HAM radio or watching Dancing with the Stars Marathons.

Many of today's shooters are inspired by defense and/or action pistol programs. When one puts the reason before the fundamentals, he confines himself to the playing field. Absorb it all, learn and practice everything you can then apply it to ANYTHING you want.

I have gotten something "good" out of every game and practice session I play and I hope I can keep learning by doing. As a trainer, MD, CRO and CSO I have learned many things from my students and competitors alike over the years.

It amused me on another thread that deals with where to shoot in the winter months, hmmmm no one told me it was cold outside....

Being good comes to you when you put in the work.

I hope this helps and see you on the range.

 

[cedartop]

While there is no time frame here, as it can vary WIDELY by individual here is a chart where John Hearne throws out some comparisons on what "good" is. The point of this was not really to measure if x is better than y, but what role automaticity plays in this type of thing.

 

[Hawkeye7br]

Great topic.
The improvement rate is not a straight line as seen in a typical graph. It is a bell curve. At the bottom of the bell, the slope is gradual and improvement comes quickly. The vertical part of the bell comes much slower, improvement requires a lot of focused practice.

Take track & field as an example. Every decent high school cross country runner can do 800 meters in 2:10 (two minutes and ten seconds).but to improve 10% means running 1:57, very few get there. 15% improvement will win NCAA.

Set short term goals and focus practice sessions toward those goals. Long term goals kinda take care of themselves.

Coach is spot on in comparing yourself to others. Big fish in small pond is medium fish in bigger pond. Just work toward steady improvement.

 

[Tanfodude]

that must be why your not winning the locals after all these years....saving it up for the majors! lmao

I'm a measly B shooter. That's also probably why you don't shoot majors. Let alone work one.

 

[JJM7288]

How long does it take to be "good"? I'm in my third year now, I'll get back to you when I'm "good". Am I having fun and spending time with good people, yup very good at that!

Keep after it.

 

[Steel and wood]

I just started and wish I was 50.

64 when I started shooting

Yep started this year at 64 and it sucks being old

 

[marvin02]

Yep started this year at 64 and it sucks being old

Watching my grandkids grow up is definitely better than the alternative. Besides, I am not old I am enhanced by my life experience.

 

[gregkl]

Another one starting older. And I haven't started yet. Since I turn 60 in December, if I start I will be at least 60 and I will do steel challenge first then move up to IDPA. And that would be as far as I go with pistol sports.

 

[cmann250]

How long did it take you be "good"?

The common thread I see in shooters I perceive to be better than myself are more experience and more rounds in competition.

Be a student of the game. And shoot Limited if USPSA is your game hahaha


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[flatlander]

Did my first non-military match this year. Last military match I did was 20 years ago when I was 41ish. Things have changed a whole bunch since then!

Bob

 

[nakinate]

Good is a funny term. I am a good shooter compared to where I have been in the past. I am good compared to your average gun owner for sure. I don't think I'll ever be "good enough" in my own mind and that's a good thing. I'm sitting here as a C class Limited Minor shooter. How good can I be if I'm not even smart enough to shoot major in that division?

B class Limited Minor is my next goal though. I've got one B classifier under my belt and I intend to get more. It takes time to fully understand the sport. It's pretty complicated for the layman and I am just now feeling like I understand what I need to do to accomplish my goals.

 

[romack991]

How do you personally define good? What happened in your shooting that made you feel like you were "good"?

I tread on this subject lightly since typically when you leave people out of the good discussion, they assume you think they're bad. I'm not one for participation trophies, but just about anyone at the match is going to be better than the average gun owner. The last thing I want to do is discourage someone from coming to a match as it's likely the match is the most practice / challenging situations they will put themselves in.

Not to sound all high and mighty but i did get high over all at the last uspsa at acc ( no one needs to know that only 24 of the usual 100 showed up).
...
I just like to get to get in the heads of the other crazy people who spend too much time and money putting holes in cardboard.

Congrats on the win. Regardless of the circumstances, that's a fun outcome.
I've put a lot of holes in cardboard. If you are serious about improving, "good" is too arbitrary of a metric.

 

[MuncieFud]

Good is a funny term. I am a good shooter compared to where I have been in the past. I am good compared to your average gun owner for sure. I don't think I'll ever be "good enough" in my own mind and that's a good thing. I'm sitting here as a C class Limited Minor shooter.

We shot together last weekend and watching you shoot I thought you were "good". You are definitely a more accurate shooter than I am. Adjusted for power factor we actually went back and forth all day. I think we suffer from different problems. Going off coach's thought you are getting to that B class level that he defines as "good".

I think I have MY personal answer for what "good" is.

 

[Goodcat]

Ten years of on and off work. I win or 2nd place most of my local club matches, but it’s fairly small. I’d probably get eaten alive in the real game.

 

[nakinate]

We shot together last weekend and watching you shoot I thought you were "good". You are definitely a more accurate shooter than I am. Adjusted for power factor we actually went back and forth all day. I think we suffer from different problems. Going off coach's thought you are getting to that B class level that he defines as "good".

I think I have MY personal answer for what "good" is.

I'd say I'm competent right now, not good, but I appreciate the compliment.

 

[gregkl]

I tread on this subject lightly since typically when you leave people out of the good discussion, they assume you think they're bad. I'm not one for participation trophies, but just about anyone at the match is going to be better than the average gun owner. The last thing I want to do is discourage someone from coming to a match as it's likely the match is the most practice / challenging situations they will put themselves in.

So, how does the average gun owner become better than average without coming to a match? Do you advocate they train and practice until they are better than average? And how will they know when they cross that threshold?

What about the person who doesn't want an award, but they want to still participate? I assume there will always be people who finish near the bottom and one at the very bottom.

Do some folks shoot matches for the express purpose of becoming better with no intent of actually being competitive?

When I was in high school, I asked the swim coach if I could come to swim practice because I was not a good swimmer. He said yes and being exposed to coaching and the team improved my abilities rapidly to the point he started putting me in meets. I can can still swim Iron man distances and I even beat some pros at the last IM I did. That big step out of my comfort zone got me hooked on swimming and competing.

Could that happen to someone who came to a match?

 

[nakinate]

So, how does the average gun owner become better than average without coming to a match? Do you advocate they train and practice until they are better than average? And how will they know when they cross that threshold?

What about the person who doesn't want an award, but they want to still participate? I assume there will always be people who finish near the bottom and one at the very bottom.

Do some folks shoot matches for the express purpose of becoming better with no intent of actually being competitive?

When I was in high school, I asked the swim coach if I could come to swim practice because I was not a good swimmer. He said yes and being exposed to coaching and the team improved my abilities rapidly to the point he started putting me in meets. I can can still swim Iron man distances and I even beat some pros at the last IM I did. That big step out of my comfort zone got me hooked on swimming and competing.

Could that happen to someone who came to a match?

Yes, it could happen. I started shooting matches to simply improve. Honestly, I still just want to get better than I was the previous match.

That being said, I’m starting to see improvements and it’s making me consider to start “playing the game” a bit more to see what I could do.

 

[romack991]

So, how does the average gun owner become better than average without coming to a match? Do you advocate they train and practice until they are better than average? And how will they know when they cross that threshold?

What about the person who doesn't want an award, but they want to still participate? I assume there will always be people who finish near the bottom and one at the very bottom.

Do some folks shoot matches for the express purpose of becoming better with no intent of actually being competitive?

When I was in high school, I asked the swim coach if I could come to swim practice because I was not a good swimmer. He said yes and being exposed to coaching and the team improved my abilities rapidly to the point he started putting me in meets. I can can still swim Iron man distances and I even beat some pros at the last IM I did. That big step out of my comfort zone got me hooked on swimming and competing.

Could that happen to someone who came to a match?

I think you misunderstood my post. We're saying the same thing.