Fidelity and marksmanship

[PumpGunGuy]

After years of playing the field with various guns, I settled down last July with a Glock 19 gen4. I have resisted other tempting models, taken AFHF, and worked on our relationship. Alas, today my neglected LesBaer .45 conned me into a range trip. I have never shot it better. Maybe I have never shot any pistol better. All those rounds through a Glock have made my trigger skills a lot better. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Is happy polygamy an option, or should I choose one and be done?

[Kobalt60]

I feel your pain. I have a Series 70 Colt Gold Cup N.M. that is my range queen. I shoot it better than any of my Glocks, but I'm not about to carry a pistol that big with only 7 rounds. I might shoot it in IDPA for a while so it doesn't feel abandoned. I just need an ambi-release and some 8 round mags for it.

[fixer]

Although not ideal, I've been carrying a Beretta lately (last few months). I shoot them better than striker fired polymers. I choose to carry something that I'm more accurate with, and reliably accurate, than something that conceals better. I also can't support my normal range trips anymore. So my practice has to be super focused and I have to utilize a platform that I am more geared to.

[David Armstrong]

I feel your pain. I have a Series 70 Colt Gold Cup N.M. that is my range queen. I shoot it better than any of my Glocks, but I'm not about to carry a pistol that big with only 7 rounds. I might shoot it in IDPA for a while so it doesn't feel abandoned. I just need an ambi-release and some 8 round mags for it.

How times change! Not a dig at you, Kobalt, but just life in general and how the shooting world has changed over the years. When I started the 1911 was not considered a big gun at all, and having 7 rounds on board was considered quite sufficient. Makes one realize just how far we have come with firearms design as well as shooter expectation in a relatively short time.

[jar]

How times change! Not a dig at you, Kobalt, but just life in general and how the shooting world has changed over the years. When I started the 1911 was not considered a big gun at all, and having 7 rounds on board was considered quite sufficient. Makes one realize just how far we have come with firearms design as well as shooter expectation in a relatively short time.

And a 10 second El Pres used to be considered hot shit. Now that's something most IDPA Sharpshooters can do.

[NickA]

Reminds me of something I read several years ago when poker was all the rage. The article talked about how in the old days it took years to get good, because you had to find games and play a lot. With the advent of online play, someone can literally play hundreds or thousands of hands a week from their living room. It doesn't completely translate to live play, but you could at least build a base skill level in much less time.
Same with shooting (and I guess everything else these days), the availability of information is just so much higher than even 10 years ago. As long as you can separate the signal from the noise, a new shooter can get on the right path with relative ease.

[BenEnglish]

As long as you can separate the signal from the noise, a new shooter can get on the right path with relative ease.

Even if you can separate the signal from the noise, there's enough contradictory (yet legit) signal to confuse anyone, not just a newbie.

As a random example, take grip and maybe trigger control. Now pick disciplines and compare.

• In Men's 50M (former known as Free) Pistol, your grip is roughly comparable to shaking hands with a 4-year-old girl. Your finger may or may not be on the trigger before the sights are on the target, depending on whether or not you have an electric trigger with a light-sensor safety.
• In Conventional Pistol, the grip is firm but the heel of that 1911 is way over towards the thumb so that the lower corner of the pistol is in contact with as little soft tissue as possible. Many experienced shooters, with plenty of practical/tactical time, will experience hand cramps. Your finger is definitely on the trigger long before the sights are on the target.
• In IDPA, you actually get to use two hands. Amazing!
• In silhouette, where I grew up, I learned that the proper way to shoot a pistol is one-handed, lying on my back, feet toward the target, and the barrel steadied against my calf.

How's a newb supposed to sort all that out? More to the point, how is anyone supposed to sort out how the background of a particular instructor is subtly influencing their technique and teaching in ways that may be sub-optimal for a particular student?

I said all that to say this bit that's actually on-topic for the OP: I've come to believe that getting good means specialization or, as the OP put it, fidelity. Having lots of toys and playing with them all is fun but I'm on the verge of paring down my active arsenal to just the things I know or want to know how to shoot. That number is surprisingly small but I currently believe that's the only way I'll achieve acceptable (to me) competence.

Future experience may change my mind but that's the way I'm leaning at the moment.

[ToddG]

Ben -- That's an interesting point. The saving grace, I think, is that most folks have a pretty solid idea of why they're getting into handguns in the first place. Folks who want to become Olympic 50m shooters probably won't take a Tactical Basic Level 3 Ninja Carbine class. Guys who want to learn about self defense aren't likely to look at Free Pistol for their training.

[41magfan]

There's a very old axiom that states (I'm paraphrasing) "Beware the man with one gun ..... because he likely knows how to use it." I think that has merit for most people, though it's certainly not an absolute. It plays to my common sense personally that the more time you spend shooting a particular gun or platform, the more likely you are to benefit from the repeated exposure.

[jlw]

Even if you can separate the signal from the noise, there's enough contradictory (yet legit) signal to confuse anyone, not just a newbie.

As a random example, take grip and maybe trigger control. Now pick disciplines and compare.

• In Men's 50M (former known as Free) Pistol, your grip is roughly comparable to shaking hands with a 4-year-old girl. Your finger may or may not be on the trigger before the sights are on the target, depending on whether or not you have an electric trigger with a light-sensor safety.
• In Conventional Pistol, the grip is firm but the heel of that 1911 is way over towards the thumb so that the lower corner of the pistol is in contact with as little soft tissue as possible. Many experienced shooters, with plenty of practical/tactical time, will experience hand cramps. Your finger is definitely on the trigger long before the sights are on the target.
• In IDPA, you actually get to use two hands. Amazing!
• In silhouette, where I grew up, I learned that the proper way to shoot a pistol is one-handed, lying on my back, feet toward the target, and the barrel steadied against my calf.

How's a newb supposed to sort all that out? More to the point, how is anyone supposed to sort out how the background of a particular instructor is subtly influencing their technique and teaching in ways that may be sub-optimal for a particular student?

I said all that to say this bit that's actually on-topic for the OP: I've come to believe that getting good means specialization or, as the OP put it, fidelity. Having lots of toys and playing with them all is fun but I'm on the verge of paring down my active arsenal to just the things I know or want to know how to shoot. That number is surprisingly small but I currently believe that's the only way I'll achieve acceptable (to me) competence.

Future experience may change my mind but that's the way I'm leaning at the moment.

It doesn't have to be cross discipline for there to be debate over technique though. Just look at the thread from here a few weeks ago over the science of the draw. A newbie wanting getting into handguns for self protection purposes can run in circles trying to learn whatever "the way" is when there are multiple "a way" that are legit.