11 replies to this topic

[Aglifter]

I've been, mentally, trying to move toward being able to shoot as easily as I drive, and I started thinking that, perhaps, that's the main, perhaps the only, difference between a GM, and a non-GM shooter.

If the average person was as proficient w. a gun, as he is w. a car, would he be a GM?

(I've been thinking that shooting must be in its infancy as a skill. Really, until the founding of IPSC, there wasn't a sizable group dedicated to developing pistol skills. )

[Skydiver]

The way I understood that section about driving was letting the unconscious take care of the mechanical skills once the skills have been trained in. Like as a new driver, I had to be focused mentally on keeping on eye on the RPMs, letting go off on the gas, pressing in the clutch, shifting to the next gear, releasing the clutch, and then getting on the gas again. With experience, that set of operations becomes automatic based on perception of speed/engine sound.

I do think you are on to something about thinking of skill levels. I think an average driver with good skills will be surprised that there is still more to learn when getting behind the wheel of a go cart and learning other techniques like entry and exit angles, keeping on the gas, and braking with the other foot, etc. So probably an average driver with good defensive driving skills will be a B or C class, but a driver with racing experience will be in the A, M, or GM classes.

[benos]

If the average person was as proficient w. a gun, as he is w. a car, would he be a GM?

Routine daily driving seldom poses the chanllenges that high-speed IPSC shooting does. I really get into driving. When I'm driving, I'm just driving - my full attention is on driving and everything around me. But even so, I only have to keep track of what's in front of me, what's approaching behind me, and my speed. Which is realatively easy compared to how many different things I'd be keeping track of while shooting a complex stage.

Nevertheless, keeping your full attention on driving - or in each moment, on whatever it is that you are doing - will do nothing but help improve your shooting. My goal was and still is to learn to everything I do the same way - in full attention - then I don't have to do anything "special," to do any one thing, to my full ability.
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[Storz]

I was heavily into autox and rallyx for years, and from reading in the Zen forum on here I can tell you that many of the same feelings and state of mind happens during a high performance driving event. Your fastest runs often feel slow, you tend to almost drive on autopilot etc and feel as if the car is an extension of your body.

[benos]

I was heavily into autox and rallyx for years, and from reading in the Zen forum on here I can tell you that many of the same feelings and state of mind happens during a high performance driving event. Your fastest runs often feel slow, you tend to almost drive on autopilot etc and feel as if the car is an extension of your body.

Nice. That is the beauty of level of experience. A word that once came to mind for when one is fully engaged - immersion. When the tool, the actor and the action become one.
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[mackey]

I was heavily into autox and rallyx for years, and from reading in the Zen forum on here I can tell you that many of the same feelings and state of mind happens during a high performance driving event. Your fastest runs often feel slow, you tend to almost drive on autopilot etc and feel as if the car is an extension of your body.

same feeling when i was racing at a semi-competitive level. its almost robotic and a few times i was thinking of things other than hitting my marks

[Stuck in C]

If I drove like I shoot, the police and tow trucks would have to follow me around on the road to pick up the wrecks and the injured...

[fuentesd99]

If I drove like I shoot, the police and tow trucks would have to follow me around on the road to pick up the wrecks and the injured...

[wide45]

I'm an excellent driver.

[Chris iliff]

I've been, mentally, trying to move toward being able to shoot as easily as I drive, and I started thinking that, perhaps, that's the main, perhaps the only, difference between a GM, and a non-GM shooter.

Well there you go. I think you have it.

So, the question becomes, "What do I need to do in/for my shooting, in order for me to feel that same confidence and level of comfort as I feel while driving?"

[Skydiver]

On a tangent about shooting being like driving: http://www.brianenos...dpost&p=1695165

[peasant]

Good topic...thanks...