My Experience at the S&W Indoor Nationals

[sbcman]

After seeing those guys shoot, what do you think really separates them from the rest? Obviously they are good enough to get the chance to do it for a living only to keep getting better, but is it faith in their equipment and shot placement? It'd be interesting to see if there was a particular intangible that those top-tier guys had and something else/other to work towards.

Well, when I get there I can tell you For now, here's what I've observed.

In my opinion, it's three things.

1.) They NEVER stop trying to improve. Whether it's stance, gear, loads whatever, they ALWAYS seek an edge.

2.) They SEE everything in a course. This is a thing that I am working on hard. Jerry explains in one of his vids that he does a lot of depth perception training. He goes on to say that once you understand the mechanics of the gun to the target, it's your sight that will take you to the next level. You've probably noticed that most guys will shoot fast up close and slow far away. The guys at the top shoot the same speed whether close or far because they've conditioned their sight. Also, they have every target in view when the shoot- not that they're aren't focusing- just that they know immediately where they are going without hesitation. This is one of those things that I know "what" they do, but I haven't mastered "what" they do. It's tough to do and often happens to me out of the blue. I can't repeat it on command- yet.

3.) They WORK hard. I'm not a top level shooter, but for example, from January to the Nats I shot 9 matches across 3 states. The week before the match I burned through 1k live fire rounds. From January to the nats I went through my dryfire routine 6 days a week, 2 time minimum, 3 times often. Very few guys are truly natural shooters. Most of us have to work hard if we want to improve. I think this last one ties in with wanting to improve and wanting to excel. That's where the dividing line lays, in my opinion.

There's an associated issue with the 3rd, and that is knowing when you are peaking from your training. The last couple of days before nats I would go to practice and everything just went smooth and fast. When that happened twice in a row, I stopped and went on to something else. I want to save that last top of the mountain performance for the match

ETA: Forgot to mention, none of the top guys at nats shoot for a living except Miculek and Vogel.

ETAx2: They all shoot S&Ws as well

 

[looney2ns]

Yep, they was there! I got to chat with Jim a bit as he was coming in from a break. He was disgruntled about a stage, saying something about " I just told the SO I'm done and I went 137 points down on that stage" Don't know when it will be aired, but everyone should catch it. You'll get to see the dreaded cosmic bowling scene as well as motion activated movers

Good deal! They seem to get shoots edited and on air fairly quickly. It will probably air in the next 60 days.

 

[Bigtanker]

I do believe this was on Shooting USA originally aired on the Outdoor Channel on 9/25/2013. It was replayed on Thanksgiving evening. Watching it now on my DVR.

 

[Bigtanker]

So was the Shooting USA fellas there filming? Are we going to get to see all this in glorious color soon?

Awesome job Tj, simply awesome!

See above post.