Classifier results analysis, slightly different angle

[YVK]

Bill, thanks for advice.
As I am reading this thread over, I am coming to conclusion that there is no "single universal" way of training for various performance measurements, be it IDPA match, FAST, LAPD qual or RSS. Seems like dedicated training towards each specific parameter is needed.

Maybe this is a good time to ask, what is your goal?

If you don't have the ability to shoot in a practical way when you practice, then competition will help you work on skills that are important to any application beyond bullseye shooting.

The goal is to be a best all-around shooter I can be.
Let me turn it around a bit in regards to rate of progress and resource utilization. A potential relative "waste" of 230 rounds on weekly basis to me is insignificant comparing to a loss of 6 hours every Saturday - which is how long local USPSA matches last and why I shoot IDPA (3 hours match, once a month). Hence, static training and dry fire mostly. Note that being a static shooter, I still scored SS in my first classifier, even though I am unhappy.
Based on your responses and advice, you seem to have ability to train practically and shoot matches a lot more often than I can. What has your progress been in relative and absolute measures? What's your round and time expenditure?
I am not asking to figure out what shooter you are, Rob, I ultimately don't care about anybody's else performance but mine; I am simplytrying to find an optimal and realistic range/match/classes/dry fire ratio.

[ToddG]

I have to disagree vigorously with the suggestion that working on fundamental skills ("single lane shooting" ) is a waste. While there are certainly some things you cannot practice that way, few of them are really stressed in the IDPA Classifier.

Also, while opinions vary, the shooters I know and respect the most tend not to use a shot timer as part of their dry practice most of the time. Dry practice is an opportunity to get lots of perfect reps, building neural pathways that you can then "trigger" on demand.

Shooting stages as practice will certainly help with stage strategy and execution. It won't have nearly as much impact on broader skill building. Its the equivalent to running an obstacle course versus working out at a gym.

Learning where the scoring zone is and saving time finding it (or adjusting for it) will gain you time as well as points.

[gringop]

Transitions is also what I can't set up without private range. I shoot pin matches occasionally as a transition practice but that's not the same. This is not just about classifier, but about the fact it is a skill I want to work on. The distance between targets, the staggered height - all is relatively foreign. Don't know how to practice it on one lane of indoors range.

It not a good as real targets with a wide transition but I always used 4" dots on copy paper at 7 and 10 yards when I shot indoors. Set them up as wide as is safe and practice transitioning back and fourth. Shoot, call the shot, snap the eyes over while transitioning during recoil, confirm sights on other target, shoot, repeat. Make sure to do strings of 3, 4 and 5, not just 2.

You can set up a position behind the barricade so you can see all three yet maintain the cover? Both sides of a barricade?

I lean my body a lot on barricade work (my shoulders go to 45 degrees) and use the "bend the forward knee" to move outward. As long as I'm no further than an arm's length back from the barricade, I can see all 3 targets at 20 yards, both sides. I'm also pretty tall, 6' 3".

[Stuffbreaker]

A practical question, don't know if it is answerable, but I'll ask anyway: given the data (115 sec raw, 44 points down): in practice and preparation, slow down to get better hits, speed up trying to maintain at list the same number of misses, or what? The question is driven by the fact that the overall winner of the match had 71 points down yet beat me by 17 seconds...

I shot two classifiers this year trying this very tactic. My raw times were about 15 seconds apart, but my scores were virtually identical. I placed mid SS in both, but got a match bump to Ex in a later match. I'm currently placing among the Experts in IDPA and B shooters in USPSA Production, so I don't consider my Classifier scores to be the best indication of my skill set. Nevertheless, I'm striving to be a paper Master.

Being an indoor shooter, the transitions in the Classifier were the biggest challenge for me as well. I've found Steel Challenge incredibly useful for improving my transitions. I shoot both rimfire and center fire divisions, getting over 500 rounds of drawing and transition practice per match. A significant part of my indoor range sessions is devoted to transitioning between ovals on a 530 target. Its helping. Shooting outdoors usually involves an hour drive, so I try to do this at least once a month.

When practicing indoors for the Classifier, I do my best to mimick the stages. Shooting while moving can be mocked by walking in place in the stall. Stage 3 can be simulated by leaning to each side of the stall as if you were pieing around cover. SHO & WHO transitions can be done on a 530 or other target with multiple target zones.

Edit: I shoot around the barricade in Stage 3 without moving my feet. Shooting around the left side is hardest for a shooter who is right eye dominant because you have to poke your head further out to line up the sights. I found dry fire practice to be especially helpful for this stage. I hang my wife's yoga mat from the ceiling and practice dry firing around it. I put three dots on the wall to the exact scale of the Classifier targets so the movements are virtually identical to what is needed in the Classifier. Using reduced size IDPA targets for dry fire will help you get an intuitive feel for the position of the target zones.

It helps to know the rules and carry a copy of the rulebook. In both of my Classifiers, the SOs tried to give me a procedural error for leaving cover before stowing my magazine after a tac load in Stage 3 String 2. This technique is a common tip in various threads about the Classifier, but the rulebook is vague on this and many SOs are not aware that it is legal to leave cover once the mag is seated and stowe on the run.

[ToddG]

When practicing indoors for the Classifier, I do my best to mimick the stages.

Practicing the Classifier isn't the best way to improve your Classifier score, especially at the high-SS/low-EX level. You know the COFs. Building up the component skills (draws, accuracy at speed, plus reloads and 1H shooting to lesser extents) is going to give you both better Classifier results and better overall shooting skill.

In the time it takes you to run (or simulate) the Classifier you could easily have worked through 2-3 times as many reps of those key component skills.

[Corey]

My own experience backs up what Todd says. I shot my first IDPA match and classifier last April and made Sharpshooter (there is a thread about it here somewhere) on the classifier and finished 26th overall. Since then I have worked on skills practicing weekly on an indoor range. Organized and planned my practice sessions and did drill of the week regularly as well as some dry fire. In August I shot a local steel match and I made to a couple of local fun matches that were IDPA style on an indoor range. Shot my second IDPA match and classifier last Saturday and moved up to expert on the classifier and was 5th overall in the match.

Practicing skills instead of drills really does work!

[YVK]

I was hoping you'd say how you progress was. Glad you got the EX!

[Stuffbreaker]

Practicing the Classifier isn't the best way to improve your Classifier score, especially at the high-SS/low-EX level. You know the COFs. Building up the component skills (draws, accuracy at speed, plus reloads and 1H shooting to lesser extents) is going to give you both better Classifier results and better overall shooting skill.

In the time it takes you to run (or simulate) the Classifier you could easily have worked through 2-3 times as many reps of those key component skills.

My next Classifier is in two weeks. Though I have not done much Classifier-specific training since May, I plan to devote most of next week's training to Classifier preparation. This week my training is biased slightly toward the Postal Match, which my club runs this weekend, weather permitting. I have little experience shooting from the prone position as required in the Postal Match, so my dry fire training includes work in this area. My broad training routine tends to get more sport-specific relative to the type of match I'm running on any particular week. Do you suggest I forego any type of match-specific training in the final days leading up to a match?


Caleb's take on practicing the Classifier is worth noting. http://gunnuts.net/2011/12/27/why-pr...pa-classifier/

Though the article hints at the notion of not practicing it exclusively at the upper levels, this statement is particularly interesting: "Of my IDPA road matches I finish 9th, 3rd, and 2nd*, and 14th at the World Championship... Practicing the classifier as a way to build fundamental shooting skills is what got me to this point"

[ToddG]

My point is that it takes ~30 minutes to fire 60 rounds executing lots of different skills in the Classifier. With that amount of time, I could get in a lot more dedicated practice of my fundamentals. With that amount of ammo, I'd be a lot more specific about what I practiced. If you can do the 2+1 strings of fire easily but you struggle at the 20yd line, why would you put time & ammo into all that close range wide open practice when you could instead focus on the stuff you're not as good at?

It's like Dot Torture. People who use it as "practice" are completely missing the point. It's not practice. You don't do any one thing (other than "hit a 2in circle at 3yd") enough to get in satisfactory reps. It's a test. You do it once in a while to measure your performance.

It's like working out. Do you do one of every exercise you know each day, or do you focus each day's workout on more reps of certain exercises?