Tip of the Week

Tip 1
When aiming at a target, don't just see a brown or white mass, sight the exact point of impact that you are looking for

Tip 2
When shooting on the move, try and keep your head at the same height with your knees bent and your arms bent to bring the pistol closer to your body, increasing the amount of shock absorption to your sight picture. Don't forget, Back's straight!!

 

Tip 3
To improve your weak hand shooting, start using it for everyday tasks that require some form of dexterity (drinking, using a screwdriver, brushing your teeth). *Not recommended for surgeons or proctologists.

An additional weak hand tip from Des Lilley

By playing table tennis with the weak hand which greatly improves eye and hand coordination, something I picked up in Ecuador over a few drinks with other Regional Directors, it is being used in their Junior training programs

Tip 4
For a faster second shot with iron sights, you should be seeing the front sight dropping back into the rear sight notch while you are squeezing the next shot, not after it
Tip 5
To practice shooting on the move, stick a patch onto a wall and try and keep your dot or front sight inside the area of the patch. Keep your knees bent and backs straight

Tip 6
When ever you are shooting targets with poppers, shoot the poppers first so that you can ensure that they have fallen in your peripheral vision while shooting the targets

Tip 7
Don't expect to improve dramatically by simply shooting stages week after week. You must practice the elements separately and use the weekly stages as an indicator as to how well you're practicing and what you have to concentrate on. Remember that if you don't regularly practice your accuracy it will deteriorate over time
Tip 8
After shooting a stage, replace the used magazine into your mag pouches backwards, that way you won't try and go through a 32 round stages with 28 rounds 'cos you forgot to reload (mentioning no names....)

Tip 9
Always have a "go to" plan for when things go wrong during a stage. Obviously, if your pistol jams, you slip or have to go back to a target you will lose time but not points. Always think "A"s if it all goes wrong in the heat of competition

Tip 10
Don't change your stance when shooting strong hand or weak hand only. Using your usual freestyle stance will make sight acquisition and muzzle control much easier
Tip 11
It's not how fast you can move, it's how quickly you can get there ready to shoot
Tip 12
Never try and compete against other people at a match. You have no control over how well they shoot. Your only opposition is a series of stages, and it is up to you to extract as many points as quick as possble from them. Concentrate on your own perfromance, not that of others
Tip 13
Check your grip. Is the heel of your left hand in contact with the grip of the pistol? Try and ensure that you have skin contact with the entire circumference, this will aid recoil control and consistent aiming
Tip 14
From time to time, set up some seemingly impossible shots at the range. Take your time and make the shots, misses are NOT acceptable. By doing this you will increase your self-belief in your ability to make tight shots.

Tip 15
Learn how to "read" a stage. As we all know, hit factor is King is IPSC. The easiest way to start doing this is to choose another shooter who you feel is similar to your own ability. Make a note of what time they go through a stage in. Then take the maximum amount of points available on that stage (32 rounds=160 points) and divide this by your shooting buddys time (say, 25.4 seconds). This gives you a hit factor of 6.299.
So how does this information help? Well, you now know that each second is worth 6.299 points - meaning that if you went through the stage in 22.4 seconds you would be able to have 9 more "C"s than you buddy and still beat him (6.299 x 3 secs=18.9 points and 9 minor "C"s equal 18 points). Or there could be a disappearing target that would take you 2 seconds to shoot but the hit factor of the stage was 7.5, so you run past it, losing the possible 10 points available from that target but gaining 15+ points in your time.
Another scenario - Two windows, 1 metre apart and 3 targets through each window, 12 rounds. Shooter 1 goes through in 5.7 seconds getting all "A"s (60 points) getting a hit factor of 10.52. Shooter 2 looks at the stage and decides that she will be quicker if she does not do a reload. She goes through in 4.1 seconds with 10 "A"s, 1 "C" and obviously a miss from when the gun ran dry. Who won?

Shooter 1 - Hit factor of 10.52 (60 divided by 5.7)

Shooter 2 - Hit factor of 10.73 (44 divided by 4.1)

Shooter 2 wins by thinking outside of the box

Tip 16
On each stage that you shoot, see what type of timer the R.O. is using and how he/she is using it. Is it an instantaneous or random countdown activation? Does the R.O. tend to go with a short delay? Make sure that you are not surprised when the buzzer goes off, but ready to start shooting.
Tip 17
When shooting swingers, work out where the target is going to the easiest to shoot and select something in the background at this point to aim at, then simply pick up this point during the course of fire and wait for the swinger to arrive
Tip 18
When walking through a stage, start to remember exactly where the targets are, especially the first one that you intend to shoot. This means that you will be in a position to shoot as you are coming in, rather than after you've arrived
Tip 19
Learn to maintain your speed throughout a match. Quite often after shooting a good stage you will be tempted to try to go even faster - this is the main cause of inconsistent performance
Tip 20
Never actually try and win a stage, this will lead to you pushing too hard and will inevitably lead to mistakes and misses. Often match winners don't win too many stages but are in the top 3-4 in all stages
Tip 21
When shooting windmill-style moving targets, always shoot to the side where the target appears from the top. This way you can clearly see it appearing and gauge your timing. If you choose the side where it appears from the bottom your vision is obstructed by your pistol
Tip 22
Never put your pistol inside ports or windows. Not only does it increase your dwell time it is quite common for an ejected case to ricochet off of the port surround back into the open ejection port, causing a jam
Tip 23
When planning how to shoot a stage, ensure that you use a visual trigger to perform a magazine change rather than just, "I'll drop the mag when I leave that position". This way programs your sub-conscious to "automatically" drop the mag when your eyes see the "trigger" - (can be anything, a piece of wood, a prop, a mark on the ground, etc)