I wouldn't call making B class 'easy' in the big scheme of things, let alone A, M, or GM.
I am 2 consecutive hundos away from GM in Limited, minor, concealed, but that is likely to turn out to be pretty far away...
I wouldn't call making B class 'easy' in the big scheme of things, let alone A, M, or GM.
I am 2 consecutive hundos away from GM in Limited, minor, concealed, but that is likely to turn out to be pretty far away...
Technical excellence supports tactical preparedness
Lord of the Food Court
http://www.gabewhitetraining.com
I really wanna say something very offensive to you all MMMM-classmen but my manners prevent.
Can say this though: as somebody who dry fires most days of the week, and usually does once a week static live fire, and who shoots between five and eight classifiers per year (not per match), and who generally doesn't reshoot them during a match (and if I reshoot, I submit the first run anyway), and who of late prioritizes match placement over the classification, I don't see myself ever getting out of B class, especially with these new updated hit factors.
Last edited by YVK; 09-13-2018 at 08:09 PM.
Doesn't read posts longer than two paragraphs.
@YVK, I hear you. USPSA classifiers are no bullshit. Getting out of B is especially tough because almost all your scores count, for better--or often--worse. I like your focus on match performance, and am focusing on that myself right now. When I was a B, I felt like match and classifiers were totally different skills. Not so much now. Most of the stuff I worked on so hard to make M are used on a regular basis in matches: draws, reloads, transitions, doubles, SHO, WHO.
The most frustrating part of my training was the 3+ month delay between working on something, and seeing progress in a match or on a classifier. It's still frustrating, but at least I know that's the way I learn.
I'm confident you will make A. It's good to have a goal in sight.
"You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
Shabbat shalom, motherf***ers! --Mordechai Jefferson Carver
B is a hole. Once you get out of it (and you will if you practice, rest assured) it's a bit smoother sailing. I lucked out (for real, initially I classified above my match skill level) and skipped from C to A and dodged an extra eternity stuck in B
Last edited by Peally; 09-13-2018 at 08:43 PM.
Semper Gumby, Always Flexible
I’ve been thinking about this thread quite a bit and reading it with interest. I’ll comment on the difficulty of making M after I get the hit factor stuff off my chest.
Like I wrote before, I think hit factor scoring is the best method currently used for measuring practical pistol shooting performance. But I think, as a training tool, it has limitations. For me, I’ve become a big believer in practicing skill sets in isolation rather than practicing drills or stages exclusively. Trying to hit a high hit factor by repeatedly shooting a stage or drill can be an exercise in frustration as you are essentially tring to improve all things at once. That’s a very hard thing to do and can take a lot of time and excessive ammo expenditure because you can’t focus on any one skill, you have to focus on them all.
Let’s look at the Bill Drill as an example: I shot Bill Drills at almost every live fire session, but doing that alone didn’t help, i couldn’t shoot it clean in under two seconds. I had to change up my training to consistently break that barrier. I struggled with it for two years until I really got serious about working on draw speed, grip, and split speed in isolation. I had to work draws hard in dry practice, with .6 and. 5 par times. Grip I also worked in dry practice, making sure that maintaining very high grip pressure became normal, every day, every practice. For split speeds I did a lot of berm training and metronome training.
It wasn’t until I did those things in isolation that I am now consistently under 2 seconds on my Bill drill, with 1.8’s being the norm. That might not seem great to some of the shooters here, but it was a big win for me and solidified in my mind that breaking down the components necessary to achieve success in this sport is the right path to follow. So again, train the components in isolation, and measure the progress by known drills and hit factors. Or better yet, match performance.
And regarding it being hard making M; I had to work at it virtually daily with 10-20minutes of dry practice for three years, plus live fire training and matches before I made M. I don’t consider that easy, but I can tell you that the effort I need to put in to make GM will be extreme!
Last edited by Clobbersaurus; 09-13-2018 at 10:26 PM.
"Next time somebody says USPSA or IPSC is all hosing, junk punch them." - Les Pepperoni
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Not taken in a wrong way, Les. It is quite possible that I've not done my dry fire correctly, although I do try to check my work for quality, so to speak. I also think that shooting 6.5 classifiers per year on average and not reshooting might be part of a reason too. Starting to shoot USPSA after the age of 45 and in a height of professional career doesn't help either. Regardless of classification, I am enjoying the process, and starting to compete with decent A shooters for match placement is a good enough positive reinforcement.
Doesn't read posts longer than two paragraphs.
I’m a lowly A, not a GM. I’m turning 54 soon, which doesn’t help, and have way too much conflict with job and biz travel - the going has been a little tough this past year. I started USPSA around 50. I’m just learning HOW to train, but sadly I am in the mode of insufficient dry fire, maybe weekly live fire, and maybe a Classifier a month.
Age is huge - I compare myself to my shooting buddies who are mostly 20-30 years younger than I am, and some are also more athletically gifted. I work WAY harder for my gains than they do. It’s just an inescapable fact. The process of myleination gets slower as you age and your eyes and reflexes simply aren’t what they once were. What I have is more resources and more maturity in my approach.
Dry fire for me comes in fits and spurts - I get serious for a while then life happens and I just can’t hold it all together. I need to work on that. This is something that I can control
I had a shot at making Master not long ago but slipped and USPSA has changed the game. I haven’t really gotten my head around how the changes affect me yet.
No worries, I enjoy the chase. I’m hoping to get to a place where I can refocus my training efforts.
Last edited by GuanoLoco; 09-14-2018 at 11:13 AM.
Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the Doodie Project?
B is the most difficult place to be. As other mentioned, almost all the classifiers you shoot are counted even if something goes wrong, (malfunction, for example). But I think the biggest issue is not shooting enough classifiers. 6-7 classifiers a year is just not enough. I think I shoot over 30 matches a year. Probably more actually.