This is my 2nd USPSA match, and I am looking for some strong constructive criticism. My first match I just plain shot too fast, and I wasn't making my points. And this is the way I started the first two stages of this match. But for the other 4 stages and slowed it way down and worked the front sight like summer job. And because of that the number of alphas went through the roof. Both of these videos were mostly alphas, unfortunately I was dead slow. But I know that will come with time, right now I want my points. Please tell me what you see and what I need to work on.
Cheers
MadMan

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=ruskin+uspsa+guncraft&sitesearch=#

My first comment to you would be to forget about trying to be speedy. Speed comes with practice and experience. If you focus on the fundamentals of shooting and get your Alphas, the speed will follow naturally. Good technique will never slow you down, bad technique will inhibit your ability to improve.

I am by no means a speedy shooter, and usually am in the middle of the pack at our local weekly shoots so take anything I say with a grain or salt... The first thing I noticed is that you seem to stand still or slow way down when reloading. Possibly some reloading drills while moving would help. Also, take a class from Bruce Gray if you can. It seems like he is plastered all over this forum and that it's the local flavor of coolaid, but it really helped me. (Hooked on trigger prepping worked for me) I actually took one of his classes prior to joining this forum, all of the other students kept asking what my sig forum handle was. My shooting was literally improved overnight, and I felt like I was given the tools to continue to improve on my own.

Hey there. From watching your video, a few things jumped out at me. First and formost, by watching the grainy video, its tough to judge the most important element, trigger control. Trigger control is the key element that causes the most missed shots. Far more than sight alignment. You can see your sights well enough to hit any target on that range, but if your trigger control is shaky at best, you don't do well.

The big things I did notice is grip and stance. Although, you are using the best grip out there, it seemed a bit awkward for you. I also noticed that there was grip from the pistol showing between the meat of your strong hand and the index point along the thumb of your weak hand. The grip should be a fluid 360 coverage of the pistol, with no more pressure than needed to support the pistol. Closing the gap between the two hands with aid in recoil management.
In dynamic shooting, try to keep your body square with the target if you are going to shoot isosoles. When you blade your body and don't point your toes at the target, or in the direction you are shooting, it takes away from your stability to run the pistol at speed. Good form is placing some of the weight on the balls of your feet, knees slightly bent, and push your behind out slightly. The upper body should be relaxed and you should notice the absence of muscular tension in your shoulders. Tension most often leads to tremors, and fatique, which detracts from your ability to perform to your expectations.

Also, if you have to load or reload from the table, place the magazine on its spine. This allows you to index the magazine with your index finger and use it as a guide into the index point in the mag well.

Hope this helps. Jones

What are ways that I can increase my recoil control? I would like to be able to keep the muzzle down better. jljones can you allaborate on my grip a little more? Do you mean there is a lack of coverage where the back of my strong and left hand meet? basically the part of my hands just beyond my wrists? Just sitting here with an airsoft gun, I think I know what your talking about. So I need to slide my weak hand back more to cover the far side of the grip? That makes sense and feels my stable.
Thanks
MadMan

Practice your reloads. You want them to be very fluid and smooth. Do you know how to index your mags when you reach for them on your belt? Your mag changes should be as smooth as your draw. Lots of new guys practices the draw and forget the mag changes. Remember your only draw once but will likely change mags more often.

Can't say anything more about grip and stance that jones didn't already say.

Have your read the article by Bruce Gray on dry firing? If not read it.

http://www.graygunstraining.com/8.html

quote:

Originally posted by SigMadMan:
What are ways that I can increase my recoil control?
MadMan

Don't try and fight the recoil. Accept it and let your gun fall back on the target. A good grip is very important. Your gun should fail back on the target and during this time you should be prepping the trigger for the next shoot.

Watch this video by Todd Jarret on proper grip. Watch is as much as you need to until you understand the proper grip. This is what is tought by every major school and instructor today.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-45843328568670...CZO0rgLNsNTDCg&hl=en

quote:

Originally posted by SigMadMan:
What are ways that I can increase my recoil control? I would like to be able to keep the muzzle down better. jljones can you allaborate on my grip a little more? Do you mean there is a lack of coverage where the back of my strong and left hand meet? basically the part of my hands just beyond my wrists? Just sitting here with an airsoft gun, I think I know what your talking about. So I need to slide my weak hand back more to cover the far side of the grip? That makes sense and feels my stable.
Thanks
MadMan

That's the one. If you allow your grip to have a gap between the meat of the two hands, it doesn't allow you to manage recoil as well as you can. Todd Jarrett's video link says far more about it than I can, and probably does a better job of elaborating the point than I can do over the internet.

As for recoil management. If you have a good stance and grip, you have done about all you can to manage recoil. Let the gun do what it will. Your job is to prep the trigger and get back on the sights most ricky tic. There are fine tuning you can do to help mitagate some of your recoil, a proper grip, and posture will go along way to maximizing it.

Shoot me an email if I can help you further. Jones

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:

That's the one. If you allow your grip to have a gap between the meat of the two hands, it doesn't allow you to manage recoil as well as you can. Todd Jarrett's video link says far more about it than I can, and probably does a better job of elaborating the point than I can do over the internet.

As for recoil management. If you have a good stance and grip, you have done about all you can to manage recoil. Let the gun do what it will. Your job is to prep the trigger and get back on the sights most ricky tic. There are fine tuning you can do to help mitagate some of your recoil, a proper grip, and posture will go along way to maximizing it.

Shoot me an email if I can help you further. Jones

Thanks again jljones. I love how someone 1000 miles away can pick up on something like that. I have been sitting here with my 2009 looking at my grip for a while, and I realized that my support hand is not even making much contact with the left side of the grip. It is wrapped around, but it is entirely on three fingers of my strong hand. It now feels more solid with my weak hand further back on grip where it should be. I have a USPSA match in two weeks. I'll be working on altering my grip and staging the trigger. I read about Bruce's dry firing drills working on trigger prep with closed eyes. I think this will really help speed up my shots while still using the front sight to determine my speed.

No prob, man. Good shooting.

Get a stop watch, yeah, like they use for track and field events.

From the start buzzer to your first shot it took you 5.09 seconds.



USPSA scoring is points divided by time. Your raw time in seconds is the denominator, it has a huge effect on your hit factor!... your score.

So you are just pissing away hit factor taking so long to pick up an empty gun, insert a mag and rack it back.

Yes, the video is grainey.... ARGGGhhh... Was that Windows Movie Maker for the editing?

I think your first mag was loaded up with 11 rounds.

I think you fired 10 from the first array and technically, I think???, your gun should have been at slide lock. And then you should have done a reload.

Unless the gun just didn't lock back, but then I think you would have had to racked the slide to get a fresh round into the chamber.

I take it you were shooting production??

As far as recoil control, the biggest issue I noticed was how "broken" your elbows are.

You need to extend your arms further and try to rotate your elbows upwards.

Check out this Pro Tip from Jerry Miculek here:

http://www.shootingusa.com/PRO_TIPS/MICULEK3/miculek3.html

Scroll down that page, IGNORING everything except for the last 2 or 3 photos and descriptions at the bottom of the page.

You turned the one corner and it looked like you stopped flat footed to complete your reload.

Wassup with 'dat?

If you're shooting production, if you are moving, you are reloading.

You should have dropped the mag as soon as you left the second array, spiked the can of spray paint in the trash can, and then with your weakhand scooped up a fresh mag off the belt as you hauled a$$ to the third and final array.

I am looking at your second video here:

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=ruskin+uspsa+guncraft&sitesearch=#

Why start squared up to the bay or to the stage?

The CoF probably said start with toes on the X's, right?

Angle your body, hips, torsoe, and get going to where you are headed to first, quickly.

Why take two or three steps out of your way and then backtrack?

When you do a walk through you need to get a good idea of how many steps it is to that last array in the 2nd video.

Your right foot should have been firmly planted on top of the fault line, at that corner, which would have kept you from leaning out so far, all awkward like.

quote:

Originally posted by SigMadMan:
What are ways that I can increase my recoil control? I would like to be able to keep the muzzle down better.
MadMan

Hiya! I'm late coming in here but will offer some observations for you.

1) You seemed to be thinking your way through the course as you went, as evidenced by your final, anxious visualization in the shooting box and hesitant movement, choppy target transitions and late reloads. Being willing and able to permit your subconscious to guide you assertively through the course is a key skill that will separate you from your competitors once mastered. I suggest you train yourself in visualization and application. Learn to replace conscious thought about the course of fire with a simple, interested observance of the sights...and nothing else. Visualize the course in a vivid, serial manner, then set it aside & trust your subconscious to guide your movements. Even a simple draw and fire excercise is too complex to think your way through in real time.

2) Your body attitude suggests you tend to track the sights between target transitions. If true, this habit will make your whole performance more conscious and choppy. The appearance of aligned sights on the next target is what prompts you to fire a controlled shot. If you track the sights, you add an extra, more conscious step in this process that invites tension and hesitation.

Jones is right about trigger control, and everyone needs to work on that primary skill no matter what level they have reached.

I hope this helps! Feel free to contact us and we'll advise you more personally.

-Bruce

Thanks for the replys Chills and Bruce, I didn't see your posts. I have a match tomorrow so I will post some current clips for everyone to look at. Those two videos were taken before I started dryfiring. I see a huge difference in my shooting since then, even though it will only be two matches later. Chills I am shooting Production, and I did shoot 10 rounds in that first array. 11 rounds in the first magazine, shoot 10, magazine is now empty but with one in the pipe. So I would have been slide lock if I fired that last round.
Check in late tomorrow.
Cheers

This is the result of todays match, my 4th USPSA meet.
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=uspsa+ruskin+8-17-08&emb=0#
To say the least I was not having a good day. I found a big thing that I need to work on, strong and weak hand shooting. I wasn't feeling good about my shooting and the scores don't look very well. Sorry for the video quality, two of the clips were shot on low resolution some how... There is also one stage that is not shown which was a 40yd, 25yd, 15yrd freestyle, strong, weak sort of deal.

A few things that I do see.. My gun handling skills are improving. My draws and reloads are much faster and are coming more naturally. I have been changing a lot with my grip and I am running a new belt, so my consistancy with these two are still coming along. You can see I blew a few reloads and on the last stage I couldn't seem to find the gun

Also, the stages that were set up were not my favorite. I like stages that involve more movement and action. I seem to do better with them and enjoy them more. Everything was a bit wet down here in FL so they designed that characteristic out of the match.

I feel like my recoil control has greatly improved and I am a lot happier with my grip now. Although everything is always a work in progress.

I couldn't get into the zone and get a good FS concentraion today. But the one time I did was the second stage with the steel. I was seeing the FS lift and really had a good focus going. And you can see the result.

I have been working on my eye snap. And I can really see it working during dryfire, the gun stops right where it needs to. But I need a lot more practice for it to happen subconsciously. So I will be working on that quite a bit. My trigger control also needs work. My strong hand shooting was awful, and actually worse than my weak hand shooting. I was also shooting a bit left most of the day. Time for some wall drill dryfire and reevaluation of my trigger finger placement.

Please, I am here to learn so point out anything you see. It is because of Jones on this thread that I realized my grip needed a serious overhaul.
Cheers

Did you get enough sleep?

The way you shot and how you described it up above as not being in the zone is what typically happens to me when I don't get enough sleep the night before.

Caffeine does help with that and so does listening to the right music on the car ride up to the match.

The correct tunes can get me all pumped up for a match.

Yes, weakhand only and strong hand only stages is where "they separate the men from the boys".

At the 2007 IDPA Nat's I dropped a total of 100 points for the match. Forty-nine of them came from the standards stage.

So right there I could have shaved off 25 seconds off my final score.

To be quite honest with you...it is kind of painful to watch your videos, and I'm just a B class shooter.

It looks more like you're just going through the motions and you have no sense of urgency transitioning between arrays and doing reloads, simultaneously.

I learned a hard lesson a while go. If I am squadded up with lesser skilled shooters, I am way... way better off NOT watching them shoot a stage if they are up before me. It only screws with my head to see and hear them shoot which in turn messes up my run at the stage.

I am more inspired by watching and hearing someone who is classed above me shoot the stage.

Sorry...

Thanks Chills. And you are actually spot on. I passes out somewhere around 3:00 AM, I couldn't get to sleep to save me life. Can you point out particular stages where I need to pick it up? The video is in order of how I shot them. The first was not good at all. And the second had me slow way way down on the weak hand because of the mikes I pulled on the 1st stage. I also noticed that I was late on multiple reloads. Especially at slide lock, it took me way to long to notice I was empty before initiating a reload.
Thanks again.

I've had my best matches when I have gotten the most and best-est sleep the night before...

You have probably posted the same video analysis request on the Brian Enos forums again... so I will have to duck over there to see what they said.

I really don't feeling adding any more comments when it is so obvious you didn't have your head in the game.

Once you post video that makes it look like you're motivated to shoot (better?), then you will have my attention and I'll actually review it and post comments.

For next time though, a separate thread would be nice and a link to the results or doing a cut and paste of the applicable results in your thread would be nice.

Or if you're good at the video editing thing, you could add in text with the stage, your raw time, points earned, points possible, and your hit factor.

I take it their is a GM, M, or an A class shooter in production at your club who kinda sets the pace. If so, including the results with the thread would give me a better idea of where you stand.