How many rounds to ‘Win’ ??

[J-BAR #18287]

How many shots to win?  Can't answer.

 

How many shots to improve?  None, if you practice right.

 

We have been told that reducing transition times is the smart way to reduce one's times.  What helped me the most (not that I consider myself a champion shooter; just saying it helped me reduce my times) was dry fire practicing transitions with a par timer.

 

An example: pistol to pistol transition--

Set a challenging par time on the timer, with a delayed beep.  Start with empty pistol in hand, cocked, aiming at a target on the wall. At the beep, pull the trigger, holster, draw second pistol, and dry fire one shot before the second beep.  Repeat until you can no longer reduce the par time.  Practice duration may be two minutes or an hour.  Keep a record of the par times for each transition.  When the times can't be reduced further, you have either hit your personal limit or you need to try a different technique.  Similar routines can be devised for every possible transition.  
 

And, at a time of increased prices for powder and primers, and all components generally, improving times while conserving ammunition has to be appealing.

 

Also...

 

Dry firing for a few minutes on an unused stage before a match begins is a great way to warm up.  Concert musicians, athletes, warm up before performances.  It helps shooters too.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 3 by J-BAR #18287

[Three Foot Johnson]

Depends on your category and the size of the match. I'm aware of one "state or higher" match this year that was so poorly attended, there were actually more SASS categories listed in the Shooter's Manual than shooters. 

[Griff]

In the "Way Back Machine" I talked to a multi-year winner of EOT in preparation for a "Chronicle" article and was told he fired 50,000 rounds in practice (not including any matches) during the year preceding his first EOT win.  About the same for his 2nd, but more time working on transitions.  The only other respondent to my inquiries indicated about the same number of practice rounds.  Both indicated that the "quality" of practice is probably more important than the quantity.  One & two shot drills with a timer were important, as was shooting complete "stages".  Both also shot multiple monthly matches each month in addition to practice.  But, this was at a time when matches were decided in "rank points", not overall time. Wherein they went all out in practice sessions and dialed it back in matches.  This was also a time when only one handgun was used.  Fast times were in the low to mid 20 seconds.  With fast times in the low to mid-teens, I'm not sure "dialing it back" is possible.

 

Back when I could practice, I probably never shot more than 5-10K rounds in practice, and never finished better than 3rd in my category (FC) @ EOT.