How to get faster?

[Alaskapopo]

Ok I am slowly improving but I need to get faster. I am a C class shooter in USPSA. When I started I was in the 45% range and I have worked up to the 53% range in limited and limited 10. But some of my friends have passed me by getting their B class. I am accurate and usually shoot 95% A's on any given courses of fire. But my times are slower than I want. Most of my training has been as a leo. What schools do you guys recommend for competition shooting to get faster while maintaining good accuracy. I want to get to B class sometime.
Pat

[Jay Cunningham]

http://pistol-training.com/

[ToddG]

T_K, thanks for the plug.

Pat -- Getting faster is something that you need to do in stages. There isn't a single thing that makes you fast, and certain lessons need to be learned and ingrained before you can move on to the next effectively.

• Right off the bat, to be accurate when going fast you have to be accurate when going slow. It sounds like you've got that covered.
• You can't go fast if the gun is out of control. Grip (and to a small extent stance) play a major role in keeping the gun in control. Note that "in control" doesn't mean unmoving. Recoil happens. Recoil is not bad. Recoil does not make you slow. Lack of control makes you slow.
• You can't shoot faster than you can pull the trigger. Learn to reset and prep during the recoil of the gun. By the time the gun is back down on target, you should be at the breaking point with the trigger.
• You can't get good hits faster than you can see your sights. No matter how fast you can yank the trigger, it's nothing but making noise unless you are controlling where the bullets fly. Your front sight is like a traffic light. Learn when it's showing red, and learn when it's showing green. Learn to track the front sight as it leaves the rear notch, follow it up, follow it back down, and break your next shot as soon as the green light comes on.
• You can't determine how fast you're going just by how it feels or how it sounds. You need a shot timer. Better yet, get a shot timer and a video camera. Watch yourself, analyze where you're adding wasted motion or pauses in your technique. This is where the old mantra of smooth is fast really proves itself. You'll quickly find that your fastest runs on a drill are the ones that feel slow and relaxed, while the ones that felt fast & tense are always slower.
• At a certain point, the only way to get faster is to go faster. That means pushing yourself, accepting that you'll have misses, and forcing your eyes/finger to speed up to meet your pace. "It's OK to miss sometimes" is a hard lesson for a lot of shooters to learn, but it's a necessity if you're going to make major gains in speed. The problem is that it's also a siren song, and soon people start compromising their marksmanship fundamentals in the name of speed. Your bullseye accuracy should never suffer because of your speed training. If you find that suddenly you can't shoot as accurately as you used to even when slowing down, it's time to put fast on hold and work on those fundamentals more.
• Along the same lines, always work on basic accuracy/marksmanship every time you go to the range. You don't have to make your eyes bleed, but shoot some groups or some walkback drills or similar slow-paced accuracy-intensive drills. Your marksmanship should always be improving, regardless of whether you're also working on improving your speed.
• Finally, learn when to be fast and when to be slow. There is no one speed for shooting. Hitting a 12" circle at 10yd can be accomplished very fast with little or no aiming and little or no trigger control. Hitting a 1" circle at that same distance is a whole different story. Speed up when you can, slow down when you must.
• IPSC is a game that rewards speed at the cost of accuracy; if you want to excel at it, you've got to accept that Alpha-Charlies win matches at the C/B level more than Two-Alphas do. It's messed up, but it's the way the scoring system works.

There are specific drills you can use for each of these steps, but neat drills are easy to come by. Understanding what you're trying to accomplish, setting realistic goals, and pushing yourself to achieve them are what take real effort.

Of course, the above only addresses shooting faster. Winning in IPSC is more about foot speed, game tactics, set-ups, etc. than shooting speed. People who move fast and shoot slow will always win over people who shoot fast but move slow.

[gringop]

The only thing that I can add to the excellent advice above is to learn how to relax at the start of the stage. Any excitement/peer pressure/performance anxiety that you have will negatively affect your performance.

You should understand that all preparation and speed increases are accomplished in your practice sessions. At the match, forget any worries/expectations and just shoot. I find that autogenic breathing at the LAMR helps me out tremendously.

Not to be too zen/yoda/mystic but this really does work.

Gringop

[Alaskapopo]

Thanks guys. I do need to work on target transitions and some of the other things you mentioned.
Pat

[Bryan W]

[*] IPSC is a game that rewards speed at the cost of accuracy; if you want to excel at it, you've got to accept that Alpha-Charlies win matches at the C/B level more than Two-Alphas do. It's messed up, but it's the way the scoring system works.[/list]

Todd's post overall had some very nice pointers. Good work Todd. But, a concern I have is with the last bullet point about accepting the alpha/charlie hit more than 2 Alpha. I think at a club level match you might slip by in the OK category using this thinking, but at a major USPSA event that one just won't cut it...

No matter what the opinion is about USPSA/IPSC awarding wins to sloppy fast shooting, it just is not correct. At the upper ends of this sport, you have to be fast and accurate. What this means is that overall in a major match you had better be shooting over 90% of the available points on paper - 95% is even better. At a club match, you might get away with it but you won't at a major. It's just that simple. Want proof? Go check out the major match results on USPSA.org and take a look at the top 10 results from any major match.

Lastly, shooting max points at speed is even more important if you're shooting production. With minor scoring, even at low end matches, you had better be shooting lots of A's.

[ToddG]

BW -- I don't disagree that, to quote you, "at the upper ends of the sport" you need to be hitting Alphas. My comment, which you quoted, spoke to C/B-class shooters. In my experience, speed trumps accuracy fairly often in those classes.

[Wayne Dobbs]

Patrick(popo),

If you haven't read Brian Enos' book Practical Shooting: Beyond Fundamentals, you should. I will tell you up front that it's a pretty tough read at times, but while I'm no Grand Master, this book helped me learn more in less time about high level shooting performance than has anything else out there. You might also try to find a copy of Mike Plaxco's Shooting From Within if you can locate a copy (out of print).

Finally, if you're on the GM card quest, you probably should pony up the money and time for a really solid trainer (or three) to work with you in formal training sessions. You've already come a long way!

[Alaskapopo]

Patrick(popo),

If you haven't read Brian Enos' book Practical Shooting: Beyond Fundamentals, you should. I will tell you up front that it's a pretty tough read at times, but while I'm no Grand Master, this book helped me learn more in less time about high level shooting performance than has anything else out there. You might also try to find a copy of Mike Plaxco's Shooting From Within if you can locate a copy (out of print).

Finally, if you're on the GM card quest, you probably should pony up the money and time for a really solid trainer (or three) to work with you in formal training sessions. You've already come a long way!

Thanks Wayne. I will look into those books. Which trainers do you recommend. I would love to spend some vacation time learning from a pro.
Pat

[Bryan W]

Todd,

I don't discount your points at all - you made some very good ones. At the club level matches you can get away with that level of accuracy in B/C - even M/GM to some degree. At the major matches you are much less likely to finish strong even in C class if you're shooting that many C's. No biggie - we can agree to disagree on this point.

Alaska,

Ron Avery - Practical Shooting Academy is as good as they get out there. He will come to your location if you host. Max Michael, US Army Marksmanship Unit is great if you can get him, and Manny Bragg does a great course. I'm partial to Avery, though.