Stirring the Pot
I was bored and posted a comment about quarter matches with little response. A quarter match is the WFPG. The organizers have tried to eliminate accuracy, mental toughness, luck of the draw from the competition so that the only factor left is speed, so it is really just 1/4 of a CFDA match, hence a quarter match. To me it seems to be a noncompetitive speed exhibition. Shady and I have had a disagreement for quite some time whether shooting blockers would be helpful for the CFDA shooter. I always thought that seeing every hit was so important that shooting blockers would be helpful. However, in December I attend a qualifying session at the camp. As the day went on I got worst and worst until I finally quit in disgust. Maybe Shady is right. I am not fully convinced yet, but do know that it is just the opposite of the system. With the system you should get better and better as the day goes on, not worst and worst.
The Texas State should be a good test. There will be at least 3 or 4 quarter shooters there and 3 or 4 Alleluia shooters. We see how they all do. Hope I don't trip on my spurs.
Gunfighter Rating: One of our tough gunfighters here in the Valley of the Sun is Javelina Hunter, age 7. He is a 9 shooter hitting off the table at 90%. He consistently finishes in the top 1/3 which is consistent with his rating of 1.0 (.1+.9). A rating of 1.0 and above will put you in the top 25% of CFDA shooters. We also have several mid three shooters that never seem to make it to top third bracket which is also consistent with their rating of .95 (.65+.30) The point is that this is a sport that combines accuracy, mental toughness and speed. The query is does emphasizing speed over all else help or hinder the CFDA shooter?
Training New Shooters: Shady and I have been training a half dozen or so new shooters on the mountain. All have been making great progress. Yesterday one shooter in only his second session had a really good locked elbow draw. It was short, compact, and quick. He started the day missing low. Shady and I both kept urging him not to change his draw. Same Draw! Same Draw! We worked exclusively on his alignment. Same Draw! By the middle of the session he was practicing missing high. I got frustrated and put him on the bucket (cardboard at 5 feet without the light). He immediately began to hit 2 inch 5 shots groups just a little high. I had him balance forward a bit which brought the group down into the target zone. His last 5 shot group was a 2 inch group dead center in the target zone. That group would have been clustered around the light at 5, 10, 15, 21 or 30 feet. The point of this little tale is to show what our potential is when we take away the stress of having to hit the target and take away the stress of the clock. We are all better than we shoot. We worry about hitting and therefore miss. We worry about going fast and therefore are slow. Shoot the system. Don't worry about hitting. You are lined up, just shoot! Don't worry about speed. You are what you are, worrying about speed only slows you down.
"Never ever slow down!" Alleluia Ruah
"80% is just average!" Alleluia Ruah
"Quick don't matter much, if you don't hit that which you are trying to be quick about!" Virgil Cole
The Texas State should be a good test. There will be at least 3 or 4 quarter shooters there and 3 or 4 Alleluia shooters. We see how they all do. Hope I don't trip on my spurs.
Gunfighter Rating: One of our tough gunfighters here in the Valley of the Sun is Javelina Hunter, age 7. He is a 9 shooter hitting off the table at 90%. He consistently finishes in the top 1/3 which is consistent with his rating of 1.0 (.1+.9). A rating of 1.0 and above will put you in the top 25% of CFDA shooters. We also have several mid three shooters that never seem to make it to top third bracket which is also consistent with their rating of .95 (.65+.30) The point is that this is a sport that combines accuracy, mental toughness and speed. The query is does emphasizing speed over all else help or hinder the CFDA shooter?
Training New Shooters: Shady and I have been training a half dozen or so new shooters on the mountain. All have been making great progress. Yesterday one shooter in only his second session had a really good locked elbow draw. It was short, compact, and quick. He started the day missing low. Shady and I both kept urging him not to change his draw. Same Draw! Same Draw! We worked exclusively on his alignment. Same Draw! By the middle of the session he was practicing missing high. I got frustrated and put him on the bucket (cardboard at 5 feet without the light). He immediately began to hit 2 inch 5 shots groups just a little high. I had him balance forward a bit which brought the group down into the target zone. His last 5 shot group was a 2 inch group dead center in the target zone. That group would have been clustered around the light at 5, 10, 15, 21 or 30 feet. The point of this little tale is to show what our potential is when we take away the stress of having to hit the target and take away the stress of the clock. We are all better than we shoot. We worry about hitting and therefore miss. We worry about going fast and therefore are slow. Shoot the system. Don't worry about hitting. You are lined up, just shoot! Don't worry about speed. You are what you are, worrying about speed only slows you down.
"Never ever slow down!" Alleluia Ruah
"80% is just average!" Alleluia Ruah
"Quick don't matter much, if you don't hit that which you are trying to be quick about!" Virgil Cole
Sorry, I had forgotten some Hitchenese with the quarter match. When I think quarter match I think of what Gentleman George presented to us for practice just to change things up from just going and shooting, which helps, but not if it is done without purpose. Loverboy is correct about that one and it needs to be emphasized more. The quarter match I refer to is a good teacher of the system. On the loading table along with the normal things is a can or bucket. The match is run in normal fashion, but every time a shooter misses a quarter is dropped in the bucket. At the end of the match, the match winner and the shooter with the highest hit percentage split the pot. Haven't done it in a long time, but I still have a sock full of quarters wating next to my gun bag just in case.
ReplyDeleteNow addressing CFDA shooters and blockers. A qualifying match for WFPG is not a CFDA shooter shooting on blockers and demonstrates my theory. A CFDA shooter shooting blockers should have the light in the blocker set at center height of the distance being shoot by CFDA rules and should shoot the system at the light at the best speed he can muster. A small group around the light with the bigger target for reference and allowing a hit for the occasional flyer. The one time I got to practice at the camp, that is how I practiced and I firmly believe it helped me. It improved my speed and gave me confidence that I could shoot at that speed. CFDA shooting, never change your draw, never slow down, hit the light.
ReplyDeleteWFPG qualifying match is using blockers the way they were designed, but not for what they were designed. Blockers design purpose was to be able to practice balloon shooting with blanks, but using wax to avoid the expense and hassle of black powder smoke and noise and having to replace the target every shot. Kinda like practicing shooting a stationary clay target with a shotgun by shooting at a 30 inch target with a rifle. Hitch interpretation: a blocker is designed to be flailed at and that is how the WFPG uses them.
Now my theory is one can push faster than the mechanics of one's finalized draw allow at any given time. Never slow down and the speed of you mechanics will slowly increase. Try to go faster and your mechanics can't keep up and missing is the result. At the qualifier you weren't practicing the system and never slowing down, you were trying to consistently hit that .370 mark--pushing trying to go faster than your mechanics are comfortable. A comfortable, consistent .380 shooter trying to hit .370 becomes an inconsistent .360 shooter. When one pushes to go faster after the shot the gun is in a different location than when one is not slowing down and that causes misses. Trying to go faster induces more/different movement, a little deeper crouch in the stance, a little extra hip thrust, a little more pop in the shoulders, any or all of these are different than your finalized draw to gain speed so you have just changed your draw. What is the grail, who does it serve?
Good comments, thank you. I have always thought those camp shooters should be great gunfighters with the big 8 by 32 foot wall but it has not worked out that way. I think they must just focus on speed so much where they hit does not matter.
DeleteWell tripped on my spurs, lost to three camp shooters at Rio. Worst was a cimplete fluster. Need to listen ti myself. Did go through 6 shooters in shootoffs before Shady got me on quickness.
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