[doc540]

(this probably isn't the right place to post this, but here goes:)

ESP (Combat Commander ran well)

Overall score - 175.86 = Marksman

38.68 short of Sharpshooter.

they inverted the stages and began with stage 3

3 - 67.89

2 - 41.92

1 - 66.05

I started strong, shot accurately and didn't rush.
Shot well on stage 2.
But in spite of what I knew in advance and reviewed on my notecard, I still managed to rush and miss head shots on Stage 1. What was up with that??

I knew better and was disappointed with blowing what should have been my best stage.
Strange how that happens.

Thanks to everyone here who has offered advice.

Guys at the match were super good people and put up with all my noob questions and antics.

I know I can shoot much better than Sharpshooter, and can't wait to shoot again.

Really enjoyed my first IDPA match.

This post has been edited by doc540: 07 November 2009 - 04:40 PM

[Duane Thomas]

That's still impressive performance. Most guys who've been into this sort of shooting for the short time you have wouldn't have been able to make the standards for IDPA Marksman. Good job!

[jwayne]

Congrads,,,,,it will get much better with time! And the more matches you can shoot the more fun it will be. I have been shooting IDPA for 4 years now and it gets better ever year!!!

[doc540]

thanks for the encouragement

I really have mixed feelings about exposing my shooting mistakes, but I guess that's the only way I'm gonna learn, right?

(that 26 pts down on stage 1, the last stage I shot is hard to swallow now)

What's your analysis from the scoring data?

This post has been edited by doc540: 07 November 2009 - 06:19 PM

[G-ManBart]

That's a pretty good start....congrats.

Since this is the shooting questions section, where's the question?

Edit to add: there really is a reason for asking that beyond the humor.

This post has been edited by G-ManBart: 07 November 2009 - 07:33 PM

[Duane Thomas]

It's difficult to answer your question because it's such a big question. Obviously there are a lot of things you could be doing better. This, by the way, is not necessarily bad news. You'll find it's really easy, when you're first starting out, to make huge strides in improvement because as a newbie you're doing so many things wrong.

Obviously the big areas in which you could improve that I see are draw speed, accuracy, and Stage 3 could really use some work. The raw times on S3 could be a lot faster, and the points down are killing you. Probably your transitions (target movement speed) on everything in the classifier are slow, that's where a lot of people lose the most time. Clean up those few areas, you'll find those 38 seconds you need to chop to make Sharpshooter gong away fairly easily.

For your very first classifier, those are impressive times. You could make Sharpshooter easily just be keeping the same level of speed and cutting down on the number of dropped points. You realize you dropped 107 points, right? That's 53.5 seconds added to your time right there. I'm not saying "slow down and get the hits." I'm saying stay just as fast, or faster, and tighten up your accuracy.

I'd really suggest getting a 1911 Airsoft, maybe building yourself a plate rack. That, and daily dry fire practice, are the two things I can think of that would help you the most. Practice all the things, the draw, left hand only, right hand only, shooting while moving, etc. that you can't practice on a standard range. The only thing you can't practice is reloading, the mags won't take it without cracking. (Though there are people who do it - I can only assume they have a large quanity of replacement feed lips and floorplates on hand.) Everything else you can get a LOT better at, without even leaving your home, and the buy-in for the gun, and pellets and gas (if you use propane) is dirt cheap compared to real guns and ammo.

[G-ManBart]

doc540, on Nov 7 2009, 08:18 PM, said:

(that 26 pts down on stage 1, the last stage I shot is hard to swallow now)

What's your analysis from the scoring data?

I think Duane did a great job of breaking down the various areas to work on etc, so I have a more basic question.

Why is 26 points down hard to swallow? Is it that you called the shots that way or you didn't know until the targets were scored? It's one thing to see the areas you (or anybody) needs to work on, it's another to know why you need to work on them. We all know points are paramount, but many of us struggle with the actual cause of dropped points....not seeing anything (normally on the second shot) or seeing we're dropping points and not being able to make ourselves do something about it. Some might call that the difference between ability and discipline, but I'm not sure it's always quite that clear cut. R,

[Nik Habicht]

You've already analyzed it for yourself for the most part. Stage 1 should be cleaner --- but you shot it last and (I'm guessing) were getting tired. So, I'd work on each stage individually in practice for a while. Maybe spend a day and 150-200 rounds just learning how to do the mozambiques on stage 1, then another day of all headshots, and so on.

Once you have the hang of it, start putting things together. Tape the targets often --- ideally after every run.

You're losing time on the El Prez style stages -- I'm guessing it's the reload, but it could be all of it. (My early slidelock reload was ~ 6 seconds ten years ago....)

See if it's harder for you to hit any of the targets than the others.....

Stage 1 really needs to be shot clean. (And by the way -- that's 53 points down out of a possible 150, which translates to 26.5 seconds, cleaning that up gets you 2/3 of the way to your goal.)

Stage 2 should also be clean/really close to clean.

Stage 3 -- that'll be the hardest.....

I'm thinking that to hit your goal you need to shoot for 30 seconds on stage 1, a little less than 30 seconds on Stage 2, and less than 60 seconds on Stage 3, inclusive of penalties. Then you'll need to smooth out 1&2 and chip away at Stage 3 to progress....

All in all impressive. I squeeked into Marksman in SSP ten years with a time of 209.xx.....

[lugnut]

Nothing much I can add... except... Getting bumped is fun and shows improvement no doubt.... and sometimes that by itself can be a good motivator- I have set goals like that in the past... recent past as well. However- I challenge you to not get too caught up by the classifier scores. Instead focus on the skills to become a more proficient shooter in matches.... and in general (the classifier does test many of them, but not all). I know some guys that practice classifiers but haven't done well in major matches-which is where your "real" skills will shine.

And the most important thing- keep it fun!!! Sounds like you're on your way. Congrats!

[Nik Habicht]

In the beginning, practicing the classifier by breaking it down to its elements, can help you improve overall, not just on the classifier. Eventually though, you'll need to change it up, and practice some other stuff....

On the whole though, the IDPA classifier comes pretty close to testing the whole shooter --- especially if you start shooting some of the stages at longer distances....

[doc540]

"Why is 26 points down hard to swallow?"

I just shot the head shots inaccurately. At that distance I can shoot them easily and consistently on the practice range.

The notes I'd taken on my notecard said, "Make all headshots...shoot accurately". One of the veterans had repeated that before I shot the string. He told me to make all the headshots because misses counted so much.

I was relaxed, confident, and looking forward to that part of the match since I'd already done well enough on the "hard" stages. Or so I thought.

I have no clue as to why I shot so inaccurately, especially on T1.

It just made no sense. I slowed down and deliberated aimed knowing the headshots were so important.

Right on the shooting line and perfectly centered with T2 was a large ant bed. (maybe I was distracted)

Rather than stand to either side of it, I simply stood behind it to remain centered but added about a yard to the overall distance to the target. I should've made those shots with no problem, and I didn't.

Perhaps when I upgrade the simple, military blade/groove sights my accuracy will get some support from that area.

I really did enjoy myself today, and I'm not beating myself up, just curious more than anything.

Can't wait to shoot again next Wednesday evening, the first available match here in town!

This post has been edited by doc540: 08 November 2009 - 12:17 AM

[Duane Thomas]

Quote

I have no clue as to why I shot so inaccurately, especially on T1.

It just made no sense. I slowed down and deliberated aimed knowing the headshots were so important.

You have your answer right there. You slowed down and turned the shooting over to the incompetent conscious mind. If you had shot at the speed you knew you could shoot, you'd probably have cleaned the head shots, and in much less time to boot.

[chirpy]

Something else to look at. How long had it been since you had food or drink (too soon after eating/drinking can be a problem as well as too long and eating/drinking wrong)? Were you tired (that being the last stage)?

The small sights and the position of the sun/shade can screw things up also. Added to that, the good advise above.

Glad you had fun. Good shooting.

FWIW

Richard

PS: I'm almost 63 and have been at it for 25+ years and it still is fun and a rush sometimes.

[FLgrl]

Wow you did really well the first time! I just did my first IDPA yesterday and I pulled a 309. So Novice still. But, I have only been shooting for a month and that was my first match ever so I feel ok about it. I dropped most of my points on stage 3. I am very small and had a hard time with that barracade. Plus they forgot to record my head shots on the first stage. I only missed one, had to do it again and missed three. The most important things... I had fun... I was safe.... and I learned alot. And after I got to shoot some differnt guns from others. It just a fun time all around!

PS I know when I stand there to long I start to over think. I know that is why I missed those head shots too. I wanted to really make them count so of course that made it worse and I missed two, knowing full well I could hit them. Mind over matter.

This post has been edited by FLgrl: 08 November 2009 - 05:20 AM

[1frontsite]

doc, i am new to this also. i started shooting end of march this year, made marksman first try, sharpshooter 2nd try and hopefully expert by mach 2010. here is what i found. practice single taps, practice double taps, practice transtions, all live fire. practice draw, sight alignment and reload every night. don't get caught up in the speed chase and shoot for accuracy. also don't get caught up in the classifier but enjoy the matches.

p.s. make some of your practices long distance shooting like 25 - 30 yards. after you shoot that awhile 7 yards feels like a gimme. my 2 cents

[Duane Thomas]

Doc, how's the practice coming?

[MemphisMechanic]

To echo Duane's comment in points down, my first Master classifier was 12 points down. I have never seen a master classifier work with more than about 20 down.

Don't think fast, or accurate. Think "shoot alpha as fast as I can".

This post has been edited by MemphisMechanic: 16 December 2009 - 09:01 AM

[Duane Thomas]

Quote

I have never seen a master classifier work with more than about 20 down.

I have, but the shooter was just ungodly fast. This was the very first time I ever saw anyone shoot a Master classifier. (Come to think of it, I've never actually watched anyone else but this guy shoot a Master classifier.) This was at my first-ever IDPA match, which, I do believe, was the first IDPA match ever held in Washington state. Jim Meisner was the shooter's name. After his first few strings, which were fast but not particularly accurate, I said to him, "You might consider slowing down and shooting more accurately." That pissed him off so much he absolutely BLAZED through the rest of the classifier, actually missed the entire target three times, if memory serves, and still scored, also if memory serves, an 83.XX final score in SSP with his Glock 17 carry gun.

[lugnut]

Not to get too far off target but my first Master classifier was 31 points down with a 77.9s raw time. No misses and a couple down threes. On stages three I have a bunch of real close down ones... kind of funny actually. My goal is to work on shooting cleaner but it's so fun going fast.

OT- I remember my first classifier too... somewhere in the high 180s. Expert looked like lightning to me back then.

Take criticism positively, set goals, work hard and you will be shooting better real soon.

WRT shooting the head shots real easy in practice and not in the classifier... performance anxiety. Seriously. It happens. Practice, confidence and experience will help.

Just keep having fun!!