Flagler Cup, Bianchi Cup and Training

JAG and I shot the Flagler Cup last weekend, and Bianchi this past week. Flagler went well and I shot a 1914, which was good enough for second place, and one of my better match scores. First place went to AMU shooter, Chris Huddock, who shot a 1918. JAG shot a 1909 and placed High Woman. I was shooting in Production Optics as usual, and JAG shot in Open, as usual. Though I understand the appeal of open, it is not for me, but more on that later.

At the Bianchi Cup, neither of us did as well as we would have liked; JAG shot an 1899 and I shot a 1906. Somehow I still managed to place third in Production Optics. I should be more precise and say that neither of us prepared to shoot any better, so we shot pretty well all things considered.

Preparation is what we are here to talk about today, and my second year at Bianchi really drove home some points for me.

1. There is no substitute for the confidence you get from effective, recent, relevant training. I shot the entire Action Pistol course of fire about 6 times this year. I shot a few of the individual stages in practice a total of about 12 times. This does not lead to excellence. Life gets in the way of training, but if you want to excel, you have to make the time to train. We thought we were going to train this year, but it just didn’t work out. It doesn’t matter why, but we need to make it more of a priority. That is not always possible, so I’m not suggesting you neglect your real responsibilities or the people in your life, just that you do whatever you can to make it happen. If not, don’t be surprised or disappointed with your results.
2. What you can do on your home range, or in a smaller competition, is not indicative of what you will do at nationals. If you have not trained to be as close to perfect as you can be, you cannot expect to execute at the highest level under match pressure. Bianchi has match pressure to spare. People walk on and off the line shaking with adrenalin. I have not seen that at other national competitions. If you are completely confident in your abilities, based on lots of relevant practice, you will shoot to that level more often than not.
3. I shot a better score at Bianchi this year than I did last year. I placed exactly the same. Where you place in a competition is part skill, part luck, and mostly completely meaningless. You need to shoot to your ability, anything less is a waste. If your ability lets you win, that’s great, but if you win and you do not shoot to your ability, you have shortchanged yourself. My third-place finish this year was mostly a matter of luck. I did not shoot to my potential and it is my fault. If I am going to spend a week on the road competing, it just makes sense to put the work in to ensure a good performance. If someone then beats me, it is because they shot better than me, not because I shot worse than I could have.
4. Do not compare yourself to others. What’s the point? They won’t be with you when you need better shooting ability and they won’t go home with you after the match and tell you how great you are. One of the great things about Action Pistol is that you are shooting for a score. You can always improve your score, but you have no control over other people so don’t look at their performance, just focus on improving yours.
5. Equipment is not the answer, but it can help a little. I choose to shoot Production Optics rather than Open. I prefer the guns and I prefer the experience. I do recognize that I am leaving points on the table, but that just gives me more room to improve my skills. Within Production Optics, I am probably shooting the least competitive gun on the circuit. My LTT P30L is a wonderful shooting machine and it gives me great joy and confidence every time I pick it up. That doesn’t change the fact that it is a lightweight, polymer-framed gun with a heavy double-action trigger. I could shoot a heavier striker-fired gun with a magwell and maybe pick up a couple of points here or there. Maybe I will at some point, but since I prefer the LTT P30L, I enjoy the process more. I improve my shooting more by shooting a more difficult gun. I also think that the P30L, especially when worked on by LTT, is possibly the highest-quality duty-grade gun on the market. All of mine are incredibly reliable and as accurate as a match grade 1911. That kind of ability is worth learning a DA trigger for. I even wowed some of the other competitors, who, after trying my gun, have decided that I’m either crazy or really strong. One even said I should get a medal for it! I told him that they gave me third place;-)

Competition offers many great benefits for the serious shooter, but if the competition is your practice, that may not be the best way to get better. On the other hand, for a guy who focuses on “on demand performance”, competition, even without much useful practice, can still be very beneficial. For the next two weeks though, I’ll be trying to get ready for my first Pistol-Training class. I expect some small speed bumps as I get used to the timing on some of the things I have planned, but it will be nice to get back to my bread and butter and leave competition behind for a little while. I also expect we will have a new FAST coin winner or two, so stay tuned.