Please answer the question how much do you shoot in competition?

[Solid]

I train as much as I can, but competition is not training ,its a game. When you tailor your way of shooting to beat a timer or win the game you do yourself a disservice and create bad habits. If you like the game you should stick to proven learned responses and techniques and not short yourself. just my 02.

The trick is using your training in the competition.

Who cares if you get point/time deductions for deviating from COF. Just use the experience to test your skills under stress. Only when you start trying to win will you develop those bad habits.

[hodman]

Well having let this run for several months now it seems clear that about half of the people who answered the question are into competition. It has also sparked some great talks about the good of competition. I have been giving some thought about training and what is training vs shooting. I am working on another poll about training.

Thanks to every one for taking part in this poll.

Jon

[azazal911]

I envy people who can spend all their time shooting.  I would shoot alot more if I did not live in town.  Luckily, someone invinted Airsoft, other wise my trigger time would be few and far between.  I would shoot more IDPA, but my area club has lost its cooridinator.  Plus I have to drive an hour to shoot IDPA.  Until gas goes down, the budget will not allow me to pay for gas and ammo.

I have been practicing alot here lately, becasue I am trying out for an instructor position with a top notch training facility.  If God reads chat rooms, then insert a small preyer here...Amen

[JAFO]

I answered 6 to 12 times a year, but our club runs two matches a month, so it's really more like 12-24 times a year.

[Gossamer]

I have just taken up cowboy shooting and sadly have only gone to one match this year. I am looking foward to when school starts back up and I have a more rigid schedule. My local club shoots indoor during the winter w/o the shotgun and it is great fun. I am not sure how much of a training value there is to it but it is good to shoot under the stress of a clock and fellow shooters watching.

[Sponsor]

[Tyler Durden]

I am shooting at least once per weekend.  Sometimes both Saturday and Sunday.

At my local club, we have 2 steel matches a month.  The match fee is only a buck and we shoot 8 stages.  NOPE!  Not necessarily the Piru 8, but 8 stages nonetheless.

Also, at my local club we have one USPSA match a month.

At another club, we have an IDPA style match every Thursday night, at least til the sun starts setting too soon.

Some shooting buddies and I carpool and go to the other "local, club" matches.

As far as the training vs. competition goes, ME? what do I think?  I think the mall ninja tactibilly's have their ego's too easily bruised when they have their butts handed to them in a competition.

That's why they poo-poo IDPA and USPSA so much.  In my opinion.

Speed is a tactic, and a pretty good one at that.  

[DesertMarine]

Tyler,
Watched your videos.  Pretty interesting and looks like fun.  Guess I better check and see if we have anything like that.

[CybScryb]

The only way to keep your skills up is regular competitive shooting.  I shoot ICORE and IDPA once a month in each discipline and try to get in three or four 3-Gun and 600 yard competitions per year too.  Yeah, it costs, so much that I had to take an evening part-time job to pay for ammo and now, gas to drive out to the range.  But my shooting skills are far better than they were five years ago when I resumed shooting and my confidence is back where it belongs too.

I get my butt kicked by far more experienced shooters every month but I also learn something from these guys and am now to the point where I can visualize the shot before it's taken and know where a shot may well cover a bystander in an actual threat event.  Next year (2009) comes a pair of visits to Gunsite or Thunder Ranch and then onwards and upwards from there.

[tombogan03884]

Tyler, glad to see you back. You are a lucky dog to be able to shoot so often.

[sixpumps]

I shoot IDPA twice or three times a month ( my club has 3 matches a month, I can usually make 2 of them, sometimes all 3 ). I also try to dry practice 1-2 hours a week, just to practice things I can't do on the range. ie= drawing from a holster or moving while firing.