What is the single most important thing to practice when preparing to shoot IPSC?????

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I am in the process of getting involved in the local USPSA chapter and would like to know the single most important thing I should practice being a newbie. I can shoot fairly well under pressure, and i can draw fairly quickly what shoudl I practice?
 
Safety. Read the rules of the game and follow them. No one will care how well you shoot; just how safely you handle the handgun while doing so.
 
Absolutely safety...

Be able to handle your gun in a safe manner..show awarenss of your gun's muzzle when moving left or right, reloading, clearing malfunctions. Keep your finger off the trigger when moving, drawing, manipulating props, malfuction clearances.

You see it often..a new shooter..gets going and loses their awareness of the muzzle or their finger and something unsafe happens...breaking the 180, sweeping themself, AD..
It isn't just new shooters either..I have seen shooters..with years experience with guns; range shooting, NRA instructors, etc..as soon as the timer comes out and a crowd is watching..something happens...

after that...practice shooting As..speed comes over time..but accuracy you need to practice..

have fun..I got hooked on the shooting sports a long time ago..and still have a blast everytime I am at the range.
 
Absolutely true about safety. It's a hard thing to practice though.

After safety, the biggest challenge I see for relatively new people are the number of misses they have. Actually I still have the problem too! :banghead: See how it goes though. You definitely need to get your hits. Once you have that, you can speed up and hose like everyone else.
 
Mega Ditto Safety.

You cant go fast till the gun handling issues become unconscionsely competent.

Once that's wired then next most importnt skill is calling your shots.
 
As the others have said, Safety is No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3.

After that, just realize that you need to take your time in your first matches. Speed comes from repetition and experience. You aren't going to set the USPSA world on fire at your first match. That said, you'll find that the more experienced shooters will all be willing to help a newbie and cut him/her a little slack as they learn the rules and procedures of the sport.

A successful match for me is a safe one (disqualification is not an acceptable outcome:cuss: ), one that I've learned something new at and one that I've had fun at. It's also a great way to meet some new, very friendly people with at least one area of interest in common with you.:)

Good luck on your first match. You're going to live it!:cool:
 
You need to be able to draw, load, unload, and holster while keeping the gun pointed in a safe direction and not pointing it at your body, your other arm, or any other person. Do it slowly and carefully over and over, watching to make sure the muzzle never crosses your arms or body.
 
Assuming you are a safe shooter.......

For me right now I need to go faster. I shoot as many or more points than the guys that are beating me, often besting them by a good many points. I shoot basically 90% or more Alpha hits. I am working on shooting faster and faster trying to see where my hits start to fall off. I am very accurate, as accurate if not more accurate than most including the M and GM shooters, but am turning in average or slightly better than average C class times. I need to find out where my speed/hit quality threshold is, if I were able to practice that is where I would focus all of my energy right now. My only practice is in club matches, and pride won't let me 'go for broke' and sacrifice decent placings, so I have been turning it up one notch at a time for the last couple matches.

Weak hand only is also another place where I am lacking, but I am only seeing that on classifier stages so it is taking a back seat to speed for the moment.

What do you need to practice? DamnifIknow. What part of your shooting is keeping you from placing higher right now? If you can identify one or two things that are the worst part of your game you will be well served by practicing them until they don't hurt your scores. Then move on to the next weakest area.

Only you or a good shooter familiar with your performance after the buzzer is really qualified to tell you what to be practicing for the most benefit.
 
Did anyone say safety? ;) Many habits of casual military gun handlers will get you fried on a USPSA range. Pay attention to the experienced shooters and the RO.

Other than that the thing to practice is staying within yourself, that is drawing, shooting, moving etc. at whatever speed you can maintain with absolute consistency. Speed of thought always has to be a little faster than the speed of anything else you do. Go at a comfortable pace to you, get your hits and have fun. As you get experienced your speed will greatly increase and you won't even feel it happening. Most common newbie mistake is haste, shooting too fast leads to poor hits, doing everything else too fast leads to running by targets, possibly pointing the gun the wrong direction, etc. I have told many newer shooters to find the sights after every shot, they just assume the key to shooting like the top hands is to just pull the trigger faster. Oh yeah, and read the link to BE.com that someone provided.
 
Don't just read the link. Buy the book and read EVERYTHING on that forum.

You probbaly understand safety is a priority after post #2, but it's not answering your question in full. Buy Brian Enos' book, and learn to watch your sights lift and call your shots. You can shoot only as fast as you can see.
 
Safety #1 of course.

#2? SLOOOOOWW DOOOOWN

You won't be able to go as fast as most of those guys, don't even try.

Speed kills new IPSC shooters. Aim each and every shot. Take your time,
shoot all A's at whatever speed it takes to get that done.

Speed comes much later.
 
Yeah, we had a lot of new shooters at IDPA last night. A common fault was to shoot fast and move slow. I always tell new shooters to walk before they run, literally, and many of these guys were doing so. But then they got to the next target exposure and tried to make up time by pulling the trigger as fast as they could. Hits were not good.
 
My thoughts

I agree with Tex slow down and focus on your hits. When I started I was really trying to go too fast. It was fun to fast, and I have some great times, but I was plagued by missed and D hits. This last spring I really started doing some serious practicing. I would setup a 16 round field course and shoot it over and over again writing down all of my hit factors as I went. This really allowed me to get a feel for what I needed to do to maximize my HF. Looking at the time and at the points seperately is almost a waste of time. HF is God and should be looked at when you are practicing. Do a lot of dry fire practice at home it will save you a ton of money in ammo. I would recomend starting out in Production or Lim 10 and working up from there if you want to. It can get a little old doing all those mag changes, but it is good to learn the basics.
 
Train accurasy, if you dont hit the target, it doesent matter how fast you are missing.

warth0g
 
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