What should I be working on?

[Northern]

I haven’t yet participated in a USPSA match but plan to do so once the dates for matches line up with my schedule — this fall. I’ve been working toward more accurate five shot groups at 5, 7, and 10 yards, increasing the speed as I go. For those of you who run USPSA, what do you think would be helpful for me to focus on at this point?

In case it matters, I have been preparing with a CZ P-01 omega as well as an HK VP9SK; open sights on both.

[Wideload]

There is a long list of things that you can work on including being able to efficiently engage 35 + yard shots, strong hand and weak hand shooting,  shooting on the move and shooting moving targets. 

Most importantly, need to be safe with your firearm, as you will be moving and engaging targets under time pressure.
This includes, keeping your trigger finger outside the trigger guard when ever you are moving or reloading, maintaining awareness of the 180 line and making sure that your muzzle does not break it.  These skills can be practiced at home along with your draw and presentation as a series of dry Fire drills.

As to live fire practice, figure out the sight picture you need to get Alphas at 5, 10, 15, 25 yards and greater distances.  If you have a range where you can draw from a holster, work on the skills you practiced in dryfire.

When you get to your first match, you may have some fast shooters on your squad.  Don't let their speed get in your head.  Shoot as fast as you can see an acceptable sight picture.

[Northern]

This is very helpful thank you.
I forgot to mention, I do work on strong/weak/one-hand. Yes, safety is my absolute priority always, but it’s still useful to know that I have work to do (with safety) to shoot while moving. That’s something I can’t practice with live fire often but when alone at the outdoor range may be able to work on some, as well.

[azlefty]

While observing new participants to USPSA and similar action shooting, the safety issues usually need the most work. Seems like when the timer goes off,the mind goes blank. Especially regarding reloading,and reloading on the move. An example would be a right handed shooter moving from right to left on a stage while reloading.They will invariably twist their gun hand clockwise which will point their muzzle toward the side berm. Couple that with the fact that they are moving left,and they can easily break the 180.

Practice reloading with the handgun pointed downrange during safe dry fire(unloaded firearm-unloaded magazines - no ammo in the area). When you are at a match determining how you are going to run a certain stage, being aware of which way you will be moving during a planned reload, and focus on keeping the muzzle downrange even if you move a little slower that you would like..

[George16]

Dry fire, dry fire and dry fire some more. Buy books by either Ben Stoeger or Steve Anderson and do the drills they outline in their respective books. The books not only talk about dry and live fire exercises but also discuss the intricacies of practical shooting.

By putting all the work outlined in the books and understanding the ins and outs of practical shooting, it helped me go from an Unclassified to Master in USPSA within 18 months. The most important though is to be safe and have fun.
 

[tdogg]

Yes to all that had been said above.   We have few new shooters and I'm done giving warnings for safety violations.

Biggest issue is finger in the trigger guard during movement and reloads.  Make sure you are deliberate with the trigger finger,  straight and high up on the slide so the RO can see it when not shooting.

The second thing is one shooter keeps sweeping his weak hand during holstering.   He is an older gentleman and he must have had a leather flap holster for a long time because he keeps reaching around to the holster with his weak hand even though he has a plastic holster now.  He is getting dq'd the next time I see him sweep himself.

I highly recommend Steve Anderson's dry fire books.  Dry fire will make the gun handling skills unconscious and you can focus your attention on shooting.   Just make sure you practice dry fire just as you would in live fire,  meaning keeping your trigger finger out when not shooting and being conscious of the 180.  Practice this way will burn in the safety so it becomes unconscious.

As for the actual shooting, make sure your gun is sighted in at 25yds (freestyle, not rested).  Work on accuracy first.  How big of group are you shooting at 25yds?  If you are shooting a 3 inch group,  that is plenty good enough.  Have confidence you can hit the targets out to 25yds.  The rest will come with practice.

Don't stand there and dump a magazine trying to knock down that steel popper,  if you can't hit it in three shots move on.  It's frustrating but you'll save ammo and get a better score.   Again work on accuracy and confidence at distance as needed.

Most importantly, be safe and have fun!  No reason to worry about how you placed or how well you shot at first.  If you aren't enjoying it why do it in the first place?   You'll get better with practice and that takes time, focus on what you did well and build upon those things.

Cheers,
Toby

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[Togmaster]

Dry fire on a regular basis.  I second the Steve Anderson's books. Here is a link. https://www.andersonshooting.com/product-page/refinement-and-repetition

[Northern]

Really appreciate the advice in this thread. I’ll probably be doing a lot of dry fire practice this month with Mantis, and now paying extra attention to trigger discipline and 180 during dry fire practice.

[2morechains]

You shoot your first match yet?