I think I'm burned out

[BWT]

You know that’s why I quit competing in 2-gun matches.

It was about an hour drive each way. I was getting good enough my total match time was 60-90 seconds (depending on the stages). I burnt about $100 on bullets, match fees, gas, and breakfast on the road.

I want to start competing in USPSA sometime this year or next. But that’s because it’ll push me to practice, it’ll push me to drill/dry fire, and I’ll be practicing under stress.

But the actual match? That’s just confirmation on how good or bad your practice and gear configuration is.

Jiu Jitsu was like that. Drilling was great, but rolling is where you found out where you really stood.

I miss that too. Someday.

I’d like to find out what I can do and how I measure up with a pistol only.

[Snapshot]

IPSC / USPSA type matches have a pretty low time-spent-shooting to time-spent-not-shooting ratio. Some are better than others but around here typical squads are ten people, even a slow shooter on a big stage is done in < 60 seconds but the squad is on the stage for 60+ minutes. That is why I enjoyed the little practice stages with buddies - the time spent shooting was much higher, even though we could only do simple drills instead of big complicated stages. But if you can hit the target...

In addition to IPSC I started shooting what we call CQB matches. This was short range (< 30 yards) with a combination of AR15s and handguns on military (Figure 11) targets, shot as a relay (up to 10 shooters, each with a spotter) on a military range under the auspices of our provincial rifle association. It was great - fast, movement, different positions, many magazine changes (a Canadian specialty), a broad range of competitors, lots of rounds down range, done including range cleanup usually by 1400. The course of fire was standardized and gaming was not tolerated, so quite different than IPSC and similar. If you get a chance to try something like this I highly recommend it. Sadly for us in Canada this is finis now because of prohibitions on the AR15 and all other rifles that would be suitable for this type of match that were introduced 2020-05-01.

[rob_s]

I will say that I always hated competitive shooting, for exactly the reasons outlined above: I get so fucking bored standing around waiting to shoot, I'm about to crawl out of my skin.

FWIW, I hear this, and have heard this, a fair amount with regards to competition shooting. if you'll forgive me... you're doing it wrong.

Those times in between are actually what you're there for. Just like when you're golfing you're not there for the swing, you're there for the cart time between swings, or when you're fishing you're not there for the reeling-in but for the paddle to the spot, or the motoring to the spot.

If you're a loner type, shooting matches are a great time to watch other shooters, see what works for them and what doesn't, evaluate gear, watch how they "solve the problem, etc. or reflect on your own performance (have someone record you and watch it back).

If you're a marginally social type, take a friend. stand off to the side and make fun of the timmies and the competition-obsessed weirdos.

If you're super-social, a match can be a great way to spend a weekend. Particularly in a new world order of social isolationism that was happening even before COVID.

[Casual Friday]

It's okay to do other things that make you happy and not shoot guns very much. I've gone through the typical cycle that most everyone else has. Shoot a lot, go to classes, read about shooting, get good, then back off due to different circumstances that life brings about.

I find that I enjoy taking my family and our M&P 15/22s up in the woods with a cooler full of sandwiches and drinks much more than the idea of going to another multiple day carbine/pistol class, or just going and burning down targets by myself with real rifles. As I get older, hanging out with strangers just because we like guns ranks very low on the priority list.

I've never really been able to get into competition shooting due to schedules. Local matches are always Saturday or Sunday, and with my wife almost always working Saturdays, I'd be home with the kids doing Dad stuff. Sundays are church and family days. The matches I've attended are nearly a whole day of standing around waiting for the opportunity to shoot in 30 second bursts. I always felt like there was something else I could have been doing. I'm not much of a small talk with strangers guy, so the downtime could be downright painful if I was around a Chatty Chet and Talkative Terry.

The last real passionate thing about shooting for me was transitioning to a RDS pistol. I found it challenging and rewarding, with almost immediate positive feedback. Even though moving from irons to RDS wasn't mandatory/necessary, I'm glad I did it and still enjoy shooting a RDS equipped pistol.

For now I'm content with shooting enough to maintain the level of proficiency that I'm comfortable with. Maybe I'll shoot more in the future, maybe I won't.

[Maple Syrup Actual]

FWIW, I hear this, and have heard this, a fair amount with regards to competition shooting. if you'll forgive me... you're doing it wrong.

Those times in between are actually what you're there for. Just like when you're golfing you're not there for the swing, you're there for the cart time between swings, or when you're fishing you're not there for the reeling-in but for the paddle to the spot, or the motoring to the spot.

If you're a loner type, shooting matches are a great time to watch other shooters, see what works for them and what doesn't, evaluate gear, watch how they "solve the problem, etc. or reflect on your own performance (have someone record you and watch it back).

If you're a marginally social type, take a friend. stand off to the side and make fun of the timmies and the competition-obsessed weirdos.

If you're super-social, a match can be a great way to spend a weekend. Particularly in a new world order of social isolationism that was happening even before COVID.

I get what you are saying, but I'm just not wired that way.

When I fish, I'm there for the strike. If they aren't biting, I'm gone. I like having a fast boat, because I want to go WOT to a productive spot and get the gear in the water. I can't golf, I go nuts waiting around. I can hike, but it has to be a fast grind up a steep slope.

I'm medium-social. I can talk with people and enjoy it, but it wears me down. I want to do the thing, then move on. If I'm sitting around relaxing, my skin begins to crawl.

Time between is just not my thing.

[Trooper224]

I shot bullseye for over ten years before I hung it up, entirely due to burn out. I dominated the local league for most of that time and there was only the occasional shooter who offered a challenge, so it got pretty boring in that sense. I ran the league for the last five years and that sucked the last bit of fun out of it for me. I decided it was time to move on to other things. A couple of years later I went back, competed in one seven week string. I won, but it wasn't any more fun than it had been when I quit. Sometimes things just run their course.

[rob_s]

I get what you are saying, but I'm just not wired that way.

When I fish, I'm there for the strike. If they aren't biting, I'm gone. I like having a fast boat, because I want to go WOT to a productive spot and get the gear in the water. I can't golf, I go nuts waiting around. I can hike, but it has to be a fast grind up a steep slope.

I'm medium-social. I can talk with people and enjoy it, but it wears me down. I want to do the thing, then move on. If I'm sitting around relaxing, my skin begins to crawl.

Time between is just not my thing.

I was like that for a long time. Learning to find the joy in those between times in the last few years, or realizing where it existed all along, has been very good for me. and the rest of my family. To the point that it's almost like a religious mission to get folks to see that. In some ways I didn't learn it soon enough, and in other I learned it just in time.

To the example above of Sporting Clays... my wife and I now both shoot, and we take the kids along as trapper and scorekeeper. I obviously enjoy the part where we pull the trigger, but the in-betweens are exponentially more valuable.

[Maple Syrup Actual]

That's cool if that works for you, but there's a million things I'd do ahead of shooting competitively, if the main thing was the in-between times.

Which is exactly what ended up happening.

[Snapshot]

I was like that for a long time. Learning to find the joy in those between times in the last few years, or realizing where it existed all along, has been very good for me. and the rest of my family. To the point that it's almost like a religious mission to get folks to see that. In some ways I didn't learn it soon enough, and in other I learned it just in time.

To the example above of Sporting Clays... my wife and I now both shoot, and we take the kids along as trapper and scorekeeper. I obviously enjoy the part where we pull the trigger, but the in-betweens are exponentially more valuable.

It is great that you found a way to enjoy the in-betweens, and especially with family. I usually find myself on squads of people that I don't know, or only know from matches, also many are in ethnic groups where I don't speak the language. And I am not at all social, so more like MSA wanting a different pace with less downtime. I don't mind the set-up, or the scoring and patching, or the clean-up, or even the safety briefings, because I see all of these as directly facilitating the match. Other than a few A and Master class, watching other dudes shoot just doesn't hold my attention as a fellow competitor.

Another way I was able to engage more in IPSC was by training and working as a range officer. Learning how to do this (ongoing) was interesting, and there was a time we were really hurting for ROs in this area, so more ROs helped get more matches. Most matches here have dedicated officials, i.e. they are not part of the squad as I have seen in some USPSA matches, so in small matches you would shoot half the day and work the other half. Big (level 3) matches have dedicated officials for the whole match, officials would usually shoot the day before the match started. But it is a bigger time commitment, and mostly on weekends when it is more difficult for me to get time off work.

There are no perfect solutions, and a solution that works may stop working as things change.

[Adam]

PF is full of shooters that work harder than I work to be better at shooting than I am, who are more focused, dedicated and skilled, who practice more for and attend more matches than I do. And I'm okay with that. Shooting has been my main hobby for 30 years, and a couple years ago I just was less enthused. I started shooting a recurve bow in the back yard pretty much every day. Step out the back door, 3-50 arrows, come back inside. If you asked me what I would rather do right now more than anything, I'd say go fly fishing with my wife, not shooting.

This shouldn't be work, life is too short. Take a break if you want and see if your excitement comes back. Or change your focus to some other kind of shooting. Maybe 100 yard steel with a rimfire pistol. Have fun again.