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Knowing how you stack up

Tam:

The average shooter is never presented with an opportunity to find out how bad they are, because things like scores and timers are foreign to their experience. It is possible to go to the range monthly for years and years and never see any meaningful improvement because it’s hard to improve that which you do not measure.

13 Responses to “Knowing how you stack up”

  1. The Neon Madman Says:

    I suspect the focus of Tam’s remark is in combat pistol, but there’s a lot of other varieties, too – trap/skeet, long range target, smallbore target, blackpowder. I do see a variety of shooters at my range – some of the scattershot types she describes, but also a good number of serious and capable marksmen. The good ones usually do have some type of benchmark, be it group size, consistency or whatever. On any given day, I’d probably say that more than half of the people at the range are pretty decent.

  2. Deaf Smith Says:

    100 percent agree.

    Long time ago, while I was in IPSC, a department director who was a friend of mine went shooting with me.

    We put up to targets and did a quick draw. Stood side by side and I let him draw first. Tried many times but he could never even clear the leather before I ‘shot’ him dead. He had a Python (they were not that expensive back then) and I had a 1911 .45.

    These guys just go target shooting, not combat shooting, and they never get the taste of competing against others.

  3. comatus Says:

    “These guys just go target shooting, not combat shooting, and they never get the taste of competing…”

    It’s nice to visit in Pistolero-World, but I’m not sure I’d want to live here. It’s kind of cramped.

  4. nk Says:

    Yeah, I have no idea how I’ll do if a bunch of metallic silhouettes ever jump me when I’m armed with a $5,000.00 1911 held to my belt with half of a plastic cigarette case.

  5. AJ187 Says:

    Plenty of dirtbags are 6 feet under from a lot of people that never knew a shot timer existed. Do it if you makes you happy, but I’d rather do training in actual combative arms than this competitive sport any day.

  6. Will Says:

    Lack of experience/training/practice doesn’t always equal poor combat performance.
    NRA Armed Citizen story from near a century ago: Large gang hit a business, and took out the husband. Wife, who the news article claims had never fire a gun before, picks up a gun in each hand and goes to work. When she was done, so was the gang. IIRC, none left under their own power.
    Wish I still had that book available.

  7. Tam Says:

    I do get a chuckle how everyone immediately jumps to TACTICS! and COMBAT! and RAWR!

    The study was merely measuring the ability of people to hit a target with a gun, something many people seem to vastly overestimate their ability to do. Sometimes they make excuses for that inability by saying “TACTICS! and COMBAT! and RAWR!” and, hey, if that gets you through the night.

    Personally, I’m setting out to learn wingshooting. I hope I don’t suck at it. I guess I’ll be prepping for if I ever get attacked by clay pigeons.

    The gun-owning community (as distinct from the shooting community; there’s your argument starter 😉 )is in dire need of an enema right in the Lighten Up, Francis hole.

  8. M. Murcek Says:

    Heisenberg (the physicist, not the teevee star) farts in your general direction…

  9. Joe in Houston(area) Says:

    Well I have no illusions about my shooting: I suck.

    That barn’s sides shall develop holes from rot before I ever hit it.

  10. PawPaw Says:

    Timers and splits are all well and good. It’s part and parcel of my shooting. However, it’s not the end-all. There are times when I just want to relax, get a little trigger time, and not give a damn how long it took me to fire that bullet.

    One caution: You can’t miss fast enough to win.

  11. Firehand Says:

    Paw, that’s one of the reasons for the Martini .22; fast it’s not, but it’s wonderful for one-at-a-time placing holes in a target

  12. KM Says:

    Tam, if you’re going to bust things with a shotgun, put what you know about rifle & pistol shooting in a password required file.
    Then forget the password.

  13. DocMerlin Says:

    Most cops I have shot with are terrible. Also in tactical situations, cops tend to be worse than non-cops (they hit the wrong person at a 30% higher rate (11% to 8% likelyhood of hitting the wrong person.)

Remember, I do this to entertain me, not you.

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