Practicing suggestions

[blutch]

I have shot two IPSC matches at the OKC Gun Club. I'm not very good at it, but really enjoy it.

I have started reloading, I am now a member of the OKC Gun Club. Olyeller should be done tweaking my comp gun soon.

I am setup to practice and practice a lot. I'd like to hear some suggestions as to how to do that. As a member of OKCGC can I just go out and use one of the bays in the action pistol area? I realize i will have to provide targets, but what about the target holders? The steel bases. are members allowed to use them?

How do the serious shooters practice and get better. I'm really looking to get down to it.

Thanks!

B

 

[Shadowrider]

I have shot two IPSC matches at the OKC Gun Club. I'm not very good at it, but really enjoy it.

I have started reloading, I am now a member of the OKC Gun Club. Olyeller should be done tweaking my comp gun soon.

I am setup to practice and practice a lot. I'd like to hear some suggestions as to how to do that. As a member of OKCGC can I just go out and use one of the bays in the action pistol area? I realize i will have to provide targets, but what about the target holders? The steel bases. are members allow to use them?

How do the serious shooters practice and get better. I'm really looking to get down to it.

Thnanks!

B

I'm new to action competition too. I used to shoot silhouette informally a lot a few years ago but got out of shooting for a few years. Think kids and funding problems here.

I'm a member at Tri City. They have the target holders already there. They are big enough for me to staple up about 12 or 14 paper plates. This allows me to concentrate on obtaining a quick site picture, multiple hits on the same target, and transition to other targets quickly. All in one setup.

It's helping, at last night's match I didn't have any mics and I didn't hit any no shoots. That's a first.

Just an idea.

 

[Matthew77]

I have had a lot of good competitors tell me that 90% of your practice will be dry. Drawing, reloading, malfunctions, aiming from behind cover, crouching to aim, ect... With that thought, I try to practice some of these as often as I can. (Especially with the long gun.)

With that sadi...I wait for the family to go to bed. Double, Triple, Quaddruple check that my magazines, guns, magazines, guns, magazines are not loaded. I then practice moving, coming from behind cover, double feeds, or whatever else I can think of might be in the match or did in previous matches.

I have all of my gear on that I will be wearing and such. I figure this is the place to find out what works and what doesn't.

 

[KurtM]

More to the point, Yes you can use the bases and stands. We even leave out some of the mini poppers for you to use, BUT be careful and don't shoot them closer than say around 15 yards as they have taken a beating and sometimes send fragments back. Have fun, but remeber please clean up after yourself, to include putting the target stands back so when we mow they aren't in the way and people don't shoot up the target sticks. While practicing please make sure your bullets impact into the berm as much as possible, not skipping half way down the bay. DO NOT SHOOT RIFLES AT THE STEEL!!

How do the serious shooters practice and get better?

While dry fire is important, your time at the range is also important. In general pick a few skill based drills ( like a Gun Site School Drill, Standard controllability test, Bill Drill etc.) Get a timer and do them. I wouldn't try all the fancy stuff...shooting and moving, crouching tiger, leaping dragon...etc. ( all ment in fun guys) untill you can make the base times of your selected drills, AND have AT LEAST 85% A zone hits. ACCURACY, ACCURACY, ACCURACY! Get with someone who KNOWS how to do it right and have them show you a propper presentation (draw).

Don't go over more than 100-150 rounds in practice, after that you really aren't helping yoursef, and could be learning bad habits from fatigue. REMEBER a double tap is TWO seperate shots, each one aimed! Not one sight picture for two rounds. I like to start every practice with a know drill cold and strive for accuracy, at the end I like to once again do an accuracy based drill. Mag changing practice is a dry fire drill, and that is where you build the foundation, and it should only be reaffirmed in live practice.

In general save some ammo to go home with, and don't pick up your brass with out a loaded gun on you. Hey you are out there alone and it is a ways from town. Just a thought for you!

 

[Lance Jensen]

+1 on what Kurt said.

Save yourself a huge expense and seek professional training now. It will be well worth your time, effort and MONEY! Learning the correct way to do things early on will expedite your learning curve. Remember it all starts with the basics and a foundation of accuracy.

We still have some spots open in our AP1 class in March. Otherwise hit me up at a match and I'll be glad to give you some pointers!

 

[jtischauser]

on addition to what Kurt, Lance, and Spencer said you can by ipsc targets and mini targets at target barn. I would also suggest taking a look at the books the Brian enos gas for sale. There are several that give you dry and live practice drills. The book Brian wrote is a great fundamentals of competition shooting book. I suggest you read it ASAP and then take a competition pistol class at TDSA or USSS this spring.

 

[grwd]

to round out the tuesday morning peanut gallery, I will emphasize keeping a limited round count during live fire, like Kurt said.

-The best practices are the ones where emphasis and focus is placed on every single round sent downrange. Make each shot like it were your last.
If you can only keep your focus for 50 rounds, then leave after that 50 rounds.

-start and end with accuracy work; get the targets out to as far as you can get them, and shoot a slow, aimed group. DO the same at the end of the practice. If you end up tighter than you started, its a good thing. To start the next practice where you left off, is even better.

-Have a plan before you go to the range. Account for every round you plan on shooting. This will keep your costs down, and get you out of the bad habits of just loading mags and aiming at stuff and plinking away. Practice doesnt make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.

-practice on the things you suck at, rather than the things youre good at.

Dink around for a few weeks on your own and then when you seem to hit a roadblock, call for professional help. TDSA is a great place to start, and there are other good schools.

 

[Glocktogo]

To add to the noise: get a timer. You'll have no idea how you are progressing without it. Par time is your friend. Start with simple drills like draw and fire one shot in the A zone at 7 yards. Start with a generous par time and then drop it down once you can get your hits before the second beep each time.

Use drills that maximize your ammo. An example would be a drill I do where you draw and fire 2 to the body, 1 to the head, reload, and repeat two more times on two more targets. That's a draw, split, head transition, reload, split, head transition, reload, split, head transition all for only 9 rounds expended. Doing it on one start signal gets you working on flow and rhythm. You get the idea from there.

Any time you're struggling with a particular skill, stop and focus on it. Perform the action several times in slow motion, working on correct form. Then do it a few times without the timer before you reintroduce the stress of the timer. This helps reinforce correct form.

Always remember, practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

 

[BAPD193]

On the Timer Issue,

If you have a Iphone you can download the Surefire Shot Timer app for free. Its not a great timer but it gets the job done on a budget.

 

[rockon71385]

Go here http://www.brianenos.com/store/books.html

And buy Steve Anderson's Refinement and Repetition. It's like a workbook for practice drills. You can do them both dryfire and live, and it has places for you to record your times for each drill.Olyeller told me to buy that book about two years ago, and it's the reason I suck less now than I ever have before.

If you want to do a little more reading, buy Practical Shooting: Beyond Fundementals by Brian Enos. It's pretty much like the Bible of action pistol shooting. It goes over how to practice, and gives VERY detailed descriptions of specific techniques like the draw, reload, transition, etc.

Seriously, these books were a HUUUUUUGE help to me. Also, try to squad with the best shooters you can and watch them. Good luck, and welcome to the game!