Well, here goes -- Trying USPSA and first match musings

[dogcaller]

@dogcaller

Nothing to feel bad about there. Your runs looked solid. Glad you’re motivated!

If you’d like to consider trying the SWYNTS drills I can help out there.

Working with @Moylan and @JCS over the years they’ve benefited I think from some of the specific coaching and when they put in the work, good things have happened!

Thanks, JCN. I've always been impressed by your skill and generosity. I lurked on the SWYNTS thread for awhile, but the pace was such that I just didn't think I could keep up. That was awhile back. I'm more invested now. Did some dryfire after work today. Mostly just presentations (to an aimed shot) and reloads. My presentations to an adequately aimed shot on a reasonably small target averaged ~1.55 sec. My standing reloads were averaging ~1.33 picked up on the timer, with probably another .15 to get back on target. I'm not sure how people time their reloads. ~1.33 was from the buzzer to the seating of the second mag. I was surprised and pleased at how even 5 minutes of sustained practice brought my times down ~.20 and increased my consistency. During my presentations, in addition to a consistent, smooth presentation to my eyeline, I was trying to focus on improving my grip and shot calling. I watched a Seeklander WC video on grip before I started. I was taught the push/pull of the Modern Technique, but never really focused on the actual grip itself, and I have a deep groove in my brain from many reps and I need to forge some new neural pathways. So, draw/grip, eyeline, target-focus and call my shot. Maybe too much to focus on at once, but it felt manageable to me. I could definitely notice the difference in the dot at the shot when I had my grip right--didn't dip.

Still need to order some dryfire targets. Well, actually, I'll need full size USPSA targets as well. Do USPSA shooters generally practice with official cardboard targets, or paper facsimiles?

[JCN]

@dogcaller you can start the phase 1 SWYNTS any time and I guarantee it’ll help your foundations and index accuracy.

I usually practice max speed reloads on a 4 aces drill because I know my draw close double from SWYNTS and can subtract out the time for reload on a par.

So for example if I do a 2.0 par for draw double, reload double.

And I know what my close draw double and splits are… for me that leaves about a 1.0 second reload.



You can break it down and scale it to your own skill level.

But start with the SWYNTS phase one.

I recommend using circles for targets for most of your training and then take that to USPSA targets later.

CZC and others can mill CZs for optics. I did a 75B and P01s.

[CraigS]

I can't help much w/ the skills but have a few thoughts on your LTT92. Not being sure of it's age check to see if it has the LTT trigger bar. Older ones had the Wilson bar before LTT designed theirs. The LTT trigger bar gives you a very short reset.
https://langdontactical.com/products...series/?page=2
If you need to upgrade go for the NP3 coating and it would be worth while to go for an NP3 trigger job in a bag.
https://langdontactical.com/products...-96-m9-series/
Order a 12# and an 11# hammer spring. For me the 12 has been 100% reliable w/ Federal and CCI Blazer ammo. The 11 needs to have the firing pin spring cleaned out periodically to stay reliable. These parts will get you a super smooth DA pull right around 5# w/ the 12 spring and a few ounces lighter w/ the 11. I am not real familiar w/ USPSA rules but if you are allowed to run a light do so. The extra weight out front helps.

[dogcaller]

I can't help much w/ the skills but have a few thoughts on your LTT92. Not being sure of it's age check to see if it has the LTT trigger bar. Older ones had the Wilson bar before LTT designed theirs. The LTT trigger bar gives you a very short reset.
https://langdontactical.com/products...series/?page=2
If you need to upgrade go for the NP3 coating and it would be worth while to go for an NP3 trigger job in a bag.
https://langdontactical.com/products...-96-m9-series/
Order a 12# and an 11# hammer spring. For me the 12 has been 100% reliable w/ Federal and CCI Blazer ammo. The 11 needs to have the firing pin spring cleaned out periodically to stay reliable. These parts will get you a super smooth DA pull right around 5# w/ the 12 spring and a few ounces lighter w/ the 11. I am not real familiar w/ USPSA rules but if you are allowed to run a light do so. The extra weight out front helps.

Thanks, Craig. I will check into the trigger bar. Other than the overall size of the grip (which is certainly manageable), any issues I have with the Beretta at this point are software problems, not hardware problems. It's also a carry gun, so I wouldn't want to do anything that could effect reliability.

[JCN]

@dogcaller I think this has come up a couple times but in general I don’t recommend competing with a carry gun if serious improvement is the goal.

IMO:
1. I don’t like high round counts on carry guns. Stuff will fail eventually.
2. Gamer ammo requires gamer springs to match the dynamics. It’s like matching shocks to the tires / grip for race cars.
3. Well, why not just run full power ammo for gaming? It’s an option but the strength of competition IMO is comparing apples to apples without excuses so you can tell when it’s skill and tell when it’s equipment limitation. That’s also why USPSA from concealment IMO is not great. You don’t want to add fudge factor for learning.
4. It’s easier to learn timing and coordination with soft guns and ammo. It’s like slow pitch softball. If you can’t hit that, training with fastballs isn’t going to help.

Again JMO.

[CraigS]

This is my solution to the possiblity that I might need to change hammer springs at a match. It would also allow you to quickly change from a competition 11 or 12# spring back to a 13# for defensive use.

See the small hole at the bottom of the grip panel. This lets me pop out the pin, remove the cap and spring and reinstall a different spring.

[DaBigBR]

Impact Machine for CZ75 milling...

[dogcaller]

Your feedback is always welcome and appreciated


A month or so ago I took a 2-day course with Charlie Perez (Big Panda Performance). It was really interesting, and I'm glad I took it. He started out by saying that we would not necessarily improve by taking the course, but that we would learn what to practice, and that the improved practice would lead to improvement, and I understand and agree. It was definitely a "how to be a better USPSA competitor" class as opposed to a shooting class. I think he determined early on that all of the participants had a baseline of skill that would make them able to benefit from the course, and after that, there was no real work on shooting skills. We did shoot drills to help us SWTNTS at speed and distance, and quite a bit of time on stage strategy, footwork, body mechanics, mindset, etc. All well-presented, demonstrated, and very helpful.

I am working to add these skills into my practice and matches. I really wish I had started this 15 years ago, but, alas...

I shot a match a couple of weeks ago and, while I'm not happy with my overall performance, I did benefit from some of what I learned in the class, particularly the stage planning and footwork.

As I evaluate my shooting and performance, listen to podcasts, etc., it really seems to me that I need to improve my grip and general accuracy at distance. I think my grip is contributing to too many close A/C's that should be A/A's. I'm working on the shooting sooner, rather than faster, and I see the utility of that, but that also results in me taking longer shots--and these lead to C's and D's.

I also still need to move faster between stages. It feels fast in my head, but the video doesn't lie. It's not fast.

I definitely need to do more dry practice, and I have ordered the Stoeger dryfire targets/book kit. I'm not sure how to dry practice for accuracy at distance, but I'll try to find that. I seem to be interpreting the messages I'm getting as: "You can shoot faster (at distance) than you realize, so do it!" and also, "Shoot slow enough to guarantee the hits." I realize that both of these things can be true, but I don't think I have the skill (yet) to fully understand or incorporate these seemingly contradictory messages. Also, I'm not sure what to do about my grip. There are many different practices, by successful and respected shooters. I think I need someone to watch me and show me.

Video links are below. Stage notes and scores are in the video description.

Stage 1a and 1b

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4


I should probably learn how to put all of these together in one video...

[ECK]

OP, I watched your videos. Here’s a few observations, but I admit I still have things I am working on myself.

Stage 1a and 1b, I noticed that you turn and draw away from the gun. I think you’ll find that many shooters prefer to turn into the gun, in other words if the gun is on your right side we turn to the right. This does two things: 1) it allows you to draw sooner, 2) helps keep you from breaking the 180 or drawing while still facing uprange.

Stage 2: Watch that 180 on the reload when you go from the center to the left. The video angle is not definitive, but without some conscious thought at some point you may break the 180 since you’re moving against your natural side and many of us rotate our wrists to the left when we reload.

Later in the stage when you’re moving to the right you keep looking for the center target to find the right spot to engage it, then swung to the right to engage the target on the other side of the blue barrel stack. What I probably would have done was to aggressively charge that target by the blue barrel first and engage it as I was coming into position. That same position would have set you up to swing to the left and engage the downrange target in the center.

Stage 3: You soaked up the draw with movement to the left, that was good. But you came into position standing up right and your gun dipped down when you came to a stop. You might want to practice coming into position with the gun up and on target but flex your legs more to let them be shock absorbers. Take two big steps as you come off the start position and draw the gun. Then get down into a groucho marx crouch for your next step or two as you come into position while bringing the gun up on target. You want glide into a smooth stop with the gun indexed on target and not make it a herky-jerky stop. That saves time and reduces the shock of stopping abruptly which means you can engage the target sooner.

Later in the stage you had to back up to find a target when you went down the right side of the stage. That target probably should have been engaged prior to moving forward into that middle position. Its hard to see from the camera angle but anytime you’re hunting and pecking for a target you’re burning time.

Stage 4: No real comment about that stage. I will say that your splits seem fine provided your hits are decent (two A’s or at least close C’s).

Overall, I commend you for putting your videos up for our viewing. Your shooting cadence (speed) is fine, I wouldn’t try to speed that up right now bc invariably your hits are gonna suffer if you try to improve your splits. If your not happy with your hits then I agree your grip is probably not what it should be. I’m not into the math of trying to achieve a 30/70 or 40/60 split with grip strength between SH/WH, rather I just try to tell myself to grip the gun hard AF. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t do everything else at warp speed (movement, coming into position, be ready to fire as soon as you clear an obstacle, reloads) and nailing down a smooth stage plan where you’re not having to hunt and peck or be herky-jerky with your footwork.

Good shooting overall and it looks like you’re having fun.

[dogcaller]

OP, I watched your videos. Here’s a few observations, but I admit I still have things I am working on myself.




Stage 2: Watch that 180 on the reload when you go from the center to the left. The video angle is not definitive, but without some conscious thought at some point you may break the 180 since you’re moving against your natural side and many of us rotate our wrists to the left when we reload.

Yup, agreed. Noted that in the comments, as the RO warned me about it after the stage as well.

Later in the stage when you’re moving to the right you keep looking for the center target to find the right spot to engage it, then swung to the right to engage the target on the other side of the blue barrel stack. What I probably would have done was to aggressively charge that target by the blue barrel first and engage it as I was coming into position. That same position would have set you up to swing to the left and engage the downrange target in the center.

Yup, mostly agree. It would have been a tough angle to get A's on the target behind the barrels while moving in, but I could have charged that target/foot location with gun up, taken that first, then swung around to the second target before moving to final shooting position. I kept looking down because I was trying to find my "mark," the position I had decided to shoot from, to avoid shifting feet once I landed there. I hope this doesn't read as defensive--far from it--I'm laughing at myself.

Stage 3: You soaked up the draw with movement to the left, that was good. But you came into position standing up right and your gun dipped down when you came to a stop. You might want to practice coming into position with the gun up and on target but flex your legs more to let them be shock absorbers. Take two big steps as you come off the start position and draw the gun. Then get down into a groucho marx crouch for your next step or two as you come into position while bringing the gun up on target. You want glide into a smooth stop with the gun indexed on target and not make it a herky-jerky stop. That saves time and reduces the shock of stopping abruptly which means you can engage the target sooner.

This one wasn't actually me shooting the stage. It was the one stage that I forgot to have recorded, and one of my more successful stages (figures). I uploaded the video to remind myself of the stage and so others could see and critique. My notes about this and all of the stages are in the notes section below the video itself. Sorry for the confusion. That being said, your advice is spot-on, exactly what Charlie Perez tried to teach me.

Later in the stage you had to back up to find a target when you went down the right side of the stage. That target probably should have been engaged prior to moving forward into that middle position. Its hard to see from the camera angle but anytime you’re hunting and pecking for a target you’re burning time.


This one wasn't actually me shooting the stage. It was the one stage that I forgot to have recorded, and one of my more successful stages (figures). I uploaded the video to remind myself of the stage and so others could see and critique. My notes about this and all of the stages are in the notes section below the video itself. Sorry for the confusion.

Stage 4: No real comment about that stage. I will say that your splits seem fine provided your hits are decent (two A’s or at least close C’s).

Overall, I commend you for putting your videos up for our viewing. Your shooting cadence (speed) is fine, I wouldn’t try to speed that up right now bc invariably your hits are gonna suffer if you try to improve your splits. If your not happy with your hits then I agree your grip is probably not what it should be. I’m not into the math of trying to achieve a 30/70 or 40/60 split with grip strength between SH/WH, rather I just try to tell myself to grip the gun hard AF. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t do everything else at warp speed (movement, coming into position, be ready to fire as soon as you clear an obstacle, reloads) and nailing down a smooth stage plan where you’re not having to hunt and peck or be herky-jerky with your footwork.

Good shooting overall and it looks like you’re having fun.

Thanks for taking the time and providing feedback--I appreciate it!