I like to meet new people at the range, enjoy getting to know them, and after twenty-some years of experience at IPSC competition I still can appreciate the struggle to learn how to shoot a pistol safely, accurately, and quickly.
Those three factors are a difficult combination to achieve, and after twenty years of trying I'm still struggling. Because I'm getting older and slower, and I just don't have the talent, I probably won't move up to a higher class. However, I know many of the things that need to be known to be competitive, and even if I can't apply them beyond a certain level I flatter myself that I can share the basics with new shooters and perhaps help them progress more rapidly than I have.
I am especially interested in these two new shooters because they are shooting Revolvers.
Six shots, slow reloads.
This is perhaps the most challenging equipment choices in IPSC; and because it just feels so good to do well with 'difficult' equipment, perhaps the most rewarding.
I have no use for a revolver, beyond certain applications for which I am told (but do not believe) they were not originally designed: bud vase, door stop, hammer. I shot a revolver in IPSC competition one time, in a winter concealed-carry match, and it was an embarassing, frustrating experience. The only good part of it was that I won my division. I was the only fool who showed up with a revolver on that day.
Now these two new fools are showing up with six-shot revolvers, to shoot IPSC!
While I admire their gritty determination, I recognize that they rightly belong in a "Special Needs" group. Nice guys, a little soft in the head, and they already know that they are bound to be frustrated when they watch people using pistols with magazines so jam-packed with ammunition that they rarely have to reload during a course of fire, except for the occasional Classifier stage.
Consequently, even though my knowledge of revolver shooting is nil I'm unable to resist giving them some advice from time to time. When they ask for it. (Or when they can be backed into a convenient corner.)
Because most of that advice is equally applicable to any new shooter, I am going to modify it slightly and post it here for the dubious benefit of anyone who is so desperate for coaching that he or she will take advice from an admitted Geek:
I carry a first aid kit in my range bag. When the inevitable scrape or cut occurs, you are entirely welcome to first aid and advice, both of which are free but not of equal value.
The bandage is immediately beneficial.
The advice, however, is of no use until you figure things out for yourself. Then a little Aha-bell goes off in your head, and you realize "Aha! So that's what they were talking about!" It helps to have been told what to do and how to do it.
Even if you think you are dismissing the free advice; even if you resent the implication that you're not a naturally excellent shooter; even if you're consciously allowing the Old Poop to pontificate because you're too polite to cut him off cold -- somebody needs to tell you these things so you'll know when you've re-invented a useful tool
Shoot Accurately:
After Safety, at this stage of your development, accuracy is the most important thing.
It's even more important for revolver shooters, because when you have to make up a missed shot your whole game plan goes out the window. It takes something like five hundredths of a second longer to make *sure* you have a good sight picture and trigger control. Compared with an extra two-second reload, that's nothing. People who are shooting pistols usually have an edge, because they can often afford a miss or two before they have to reload. Still, you can count on a quarter of a second to several seconds lost because you have to (a) realize you have missed, (b) decide whether you should make it up, and (c) take the extra shot. Since you are aware that you are burning stage time, you'll probably hurry the make-up shot and have to take another one.
Missing is not good. Avoid it.
The speed will come, but usually not today unless you are unusually gifted.
You're not unusally gifted. You can shoot accurately, but you think you can shoot accurately AND quickly AND safely.
You can't. But you will. Trust me on this point.
Focus on your shooting.
You can't afford to just wing shots downrange in pedal-to-the-metal hopes of connecting with the target. You have to get your head into the shooting. Brian Enos calls it "focus". You don't CONCENTRATE on your shooting, because then you start to over-think it. Thinking while you're shooting a stage just tenses up your muscles and reduces the natural flow.
You probably already know how to make the shot. You think you have to do it quickly, so you push yourself to shoot quick. That's how you get into trouble, because you have to make up missed shots.
Your job isn't to push yourself to shoot quickly; your job is to just follow along and watch things happen. Call your shots, be aware of where the sight is when the shot breaks. That way, you don't have to listen the [clink!] when you hit that little plate, you just know whether you were on-target when you took the shot, and can immediately either make up the shot or move on to the next target.
Ron Avery refers to it as "see what you have to see" because every shooting challenge is different and it's not just the sight/target relationship. It's an awareness of everything that's going on, with yourself and the gun and the targets and movement and props and the RO and bystanders. Most important, it's focusing on the target you're currently engaging, not worrying about the target you just finished and not hurrying to get to the next target. Focus on THIS target, do what you came here to do, and then move on to the next action ... index to the next target, move to the next shooting position, reload, whatever it is.
Never look back.
It's hard not to worry about a mistake you may have made. The solution is not to make the mistakes. (Carpenters call this the "Measure twice, cut once" rule.) If you missed the target, go ahead and make it up. Take the extra shot immediately, without thought or self-doubt.
If you find that you move your attention from the target you should be shooting to the target you just left, you're wasting time and you're breaking your focus. You called your shot, you were right in your evaluation. No second thoughts. You may occasionally be wrong, but as you gain experience you'll be right more often than not and you WILL get your hits and you will NOT waste time and ammunition on 'insurance shots'.
Try to shoot every target in the A-zone, but don't try to make up a C-zone or D-zone hit. It isn't worth the time, and you may need that round in the next few seconds anyway. Don't worry about it.
Why are you spending your weekends on the range, anyway?
When you put it all together, and it all works, you get that occasional stage where you did everything perfectly and it's like an out-of-body experience. We all say we like to shoot, and we like the company and the fresh air and the exercise and the competition. That's not really why we keep showing up at the rock quarry.
We're there for the endorphin rush.
It's not at all like the effects of adrenaline caused by knowing that everybody is watching you, and being self-conscious. That's just nerves, and what the effect you're seeking is the complete opposite. It's being in The Zone and at complete peace. You marvel at how well things happen, but you don't think about them or try to make it happen.
Sometimes, when you get very close to The Zone, you notice little things. The most rewarding thing to notice is the "Hey, I can shoot this faster" moment, so you do, and it works just as well with absolutely no effort at all. It just takes a little nudge, like shifting from second gear into high gear. You're not pushing yourself to rush, you're just allowing yourself to move into a different rhythm.
It's all natural. It's not forced. You can't make yourself shoot faster, and maintain an acceptable degree of accuracy. You just let it happen, and when you're really ready you know it.
"You can't miss fast enough to win."
Whatever it takes to shoot accurately, do that.
Usually, it'll take a little more time than you would wish to spend, because you're aware of the passage of time. You can't afford to worry about anything while you're shooting, because that's a distraction and distractions make you lose your focus.
Don't try to save time by shooting fast.
You can save time by learning to reload quickly, which is something you practice at home while you're dry-firing.
(Standard precautions about dry-firing apply: triple-check that you have an unloaded gun, no ammunition in the same room with the gun, always put your aiming point on a wall that you can't shoot through even if you screw up the first two precautions, never point a gun at a person even if the gun is unloaded, etc.)
When you're shooting a stage, you can save time by saving steps. Learn to reload on the move. Keep track of how much ammunition you have left in the gun; pre-plan WHERE you will reload, and if you're using a limited-roundcount gun you can expect that every time you're moving, you're reloading.
You'll eventually figure out all of this for yourself, and it won't be real to you until you re-invent the wheel.
But remember, you heard it here first.
Now, go out there and win one for The Geek.
But remember, it's only a game.
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