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Questions and Answers for week ending:
March 19th, 2004
| Submitted By: |
Tony Uylett of Kingston, Jamaica |
| Category: |
Training & Practice |
| Question: |
I am concerned about my 'adaptability' whilst shooting a
course of fire. If the first shot is tough, I am usually accurate
throughout but slow; if the first shot is easy I am fast but accuracy
suffers. How do I change gears? On steel, however, I
am usually very accurate and fast. |
| Rob's Quick Response: |
You must analyze the needs of each and every shot
individually. |
| Rob's Complete Answer: |
Great question! It sounds as
though you are shooting a pace. There can be no fixed pace to
shoot all targets in a stage, a position of a stage or, for that matter,
a drill you practice on. A pace causes you to fire some shots
before you should, or after you could on others. You must analyze
the needs of each and every shot individually. Most shooters place
targets in either "easy" or "hard " categories. This is a
simplification, but works for most.
The trick is to understand the problems and have a process for dealing
with them. An example: A stage has 4-5 shooting positions.
In each position, you have what you label as easy and hard shots.
I, from practice, recognize I must see the sights stop on the target on
a hard shot. I need only "feel" the gun stop on easy ones.
In the amount of time it takes me to "feel" the gun stop, I will SEE
what I need, and the gun will, from that, fire. A hard shot will
need a longer stop to allow me to correct slight errors in alignment.
This "stop" I create by requiring the visual task of recognizing the
target and its shape or scoring zone, and the alignment of the sights
and their placement on the said target. This happens much quicker
than I can type it!
In practice, set up simple drills with easy and hard shots. Run
them repeatedly until you see what you need to do on each shot.
You should begin to recognize a pattern of missed shots and what kind of
target causes them. Now practice on just that segment of the drill
and find what you must see and do to give you the shot you want.
This must be done on every conceivable shot. Pay attention to
targets and arrays that cause you grief at a match and then practice
those scenarios. Set up what causes you problems and find your
process to handle each one.
At this point we have only concerned ourselves with the difference
between easy and hard shots. Ultimately, your goal in practice is
to remove that kind of grading and simply recognize each shot for the
mechanical test it offers. Hard and easy will change to slower or
faster. What makes practical such a great shooting sport is that
you have to change gears and deal with variations you did not foresee.
RL |
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| Submitted By: |
Greg Wodack of Fairfax, Virginia |
| Category: |
Guns |
| Question: |
What's your take on these short open guns that are
popular these days? |
| Rob's Quick Response: |
I didn't like short slide comp guns 20 years
ago when I shot one in .45 and I still don't now. |
| Rob's Complete Answer: |
If they are liked by their user then that is
the most important thing. I personally think they look
too short. That's my real problem with them.
They are cool if you want an open gun as light and short as
possible, but there are other factors, like balance and port
positioning, that are affected. When Eric, Max, Todd
or JJ start preferring one, then I might be persuaded
differently. Until then, I don't like them.
You must remember that open guns are so easy to shoot, that
any configuration will do fine. The difference is very
little amongst all variations. I like the balance and
pointability of longer barrels. Shortening everything
and sticking a scope up on top makes the thing too top and
back heavy for me. I didn't like short slide comp guns
20 years ago when I shot one in .45 and I still don't now.
RL |
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