USPSA practice and training?

[ChootEm]

Ok I have shot a couple of USPSA shoots and want to do more.

I have started doing some off site practicing and have come to a funny point. I get anxious with the initial start. So here is what I am asking and wanting to know if I am off base. I am thinking I am better off practicing slow deliberate draws and target contact until the muscle memory kickes in or should I start with a fast draw and adjust the nerves from there? I am afraid if I start out fast I will screw myself for life....or until I fix something already ingrained....but the other thought is...this is what my body wants to do adjust for it until it comes together?

 

[crispy]

There is a shooting sports forum.

 

[g00n24]

1st, go to the shooting sports forum

2nd, buy this and start here. http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Pis...F8&qid=1439330772&sr=8-3&keywords=ben+stoeger

 

[ChootEm]

Sorry I was unaware.... Could a nice Friendly Mod. Please remove this post and I will do some reading there before I post again...

Thanks

 

[RobbyMaQ]

I'm no expert. You shoot as fast as you safely can, scoring hits. When you start missing, you slow down.
Practice has a way of working itself out. I need more practice.

Nerves are always in play for the average shooter, to an extent. There are certain fundamentals I learned from training with Coach (here on INGO) that give you a guideline to aim for. Literally. The nerves are less noticeable (when focused on the task at hand) in my experience. Specifically on the draw, sighting the target, and trusting yourself when you break the shot (vs looking to see if you did).

Perhaps a training session is in order?

 

[Twangbanger]

Ok I have shot a couple of USPSA shoots and want to do more.

I have started doing some off site practicing and have come to a funny point. I get anxious with the initial start. So here is what I am asking and wanting to know if I am off base. I am thinking I am better off practicing slow deliberate draws and target contact until the muscle memory kickes in or should I start with a fast draw and adjust the nerves from there? I am afraid if I start out fast I will screw myself for life....or until I fix something already ingrained....but the other thought is...this is what my body wants to do adjust for it until it comes together?

You sound a lot like me. I think you are correct, fast is bad at this point in your skill development. Somebody on here says it all the time; slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.

And I rationalize it to myself by the following: you usually only draw the gun once per stage. The draw is the minor contributor to your overall time (more important on stand & shoot qualifiers with low round count). There are plenty of places for me to squeeze out time, without getting all jittery on the draw.

I'd go slow and don't worry about it for now. (I'm a C-class nobody so this is worth what you paid for it).

 

[Rob377]

Slow is slow and slow is not fast.

USPSA is a speed game. I'd suggest practicing and training accordingly.

 

[rvb]

The most important thing gained from practicing draws isn't the draw speed itself, but developing a rock solid index. I tend to think a rock solid index is one of the most important aspects of the sport. Improving draw speed will be a by-product of that.

The first step of the draw is getting your hand on the gun. it's also the most critical because it sets up your index. So to figure out where/how to grab the gun, work backwards... start with your ideal grip/sight alignment and go backwards through the draw steps so you can see what your hand/arm/elbow/shoulder position needs to be to get a good first grip. And remember, the less movement the better. No part of you should move other than your hands/arms. If part of your draw includes getting the rest of your body into position (moving your head down, knees, shoulders, etc), you will be slow.

Personally, I don't see how you can work to improve w/o a timer. I recommend CED 7k. You'll have to spend a couple nights establishing your baseline.... at what par time setting can you draw and align the gun on target w/ a perfect sight picture. Then start to work that time down. every night do some draws at your baseline + .1 or .2s. then some at your baseline, then some -.1 or -.2. Those should push your ability and you will start to see errors at the increased speed, but if you pay attention and can figure out what's going wrong and work to fix that, very soon the -.1 or -.2 will become your new baseline.

Look to Anderson's dryfire book or one of Stoeger's books. This is all done in dryfire. You don't always have to even pull the trigger, just getting the finger on it is enough, though some trigger pulling is good to make sure your index or trigger finger position isn't contributing to bad shots.

As Rob says, going slow for the sake of being slow is, well, slow.

But just ripping the gun out of the holster can be slow, too, if you have to spend time finding the sights and adjusting your grip as you shoot.

Focus on developing that index so you are getting your sights aligned as quickly as possible. That's really the goal. there's not much else left to worry about in the draw itself other than details about when you bring your hands together, how much you push out, how soon you start trigger prep... those things will work themselves out, imo, as a byproduct of trying to see aligned sights faster...

-rvb

 

[Grelber]

Hmmm, doesn't Max Michel do 70% of his dry fire practice at about half speed ?

Or did I dream that up somewhere ?

A pleasant aspect of aging is that you do not have to settle for the real reality.

 

[sdunsworth]

+1 for Ben's book

+1 for dry fire practice

+1 for get a timer

but also ... https://www.indianagunowners.com/forums/tactics-training/330327-hand-gun-traing-grand-master.html

 

[partyboy6686]

Might suggest taking a training class with either Coach or Max Bedwell. I took the class with Max Bedwell and it was worth the $100 for 4 hours of training.

Link to Max Bedwell: https://www.indianagunowners.com/forums/tactics-training/371924-uspsa-training-grand-master.html