I just got back from Florida where I shot Steel Nationals. I have not shot Steel Nationals since 2007, when I won my one and only national title. That was mostly luck, and I have not actually shot 10 steel matches in my life, so when I talk about shooting steel competitions, I do not consider myself an expert on it.
I entered Carry Optics and Limited Optics, one division on each day, using the same gun. I shot my LTT P30L LEM, with an SRO on top. It performed perfectly though I think I was the only person shooting a DAO gun! I used the Limited Optics run on Saturday as a warm up and training session for my Carry Optics run on Sunday. Most of the best steel shooters were at the match, but I managed to come in 7th in Limited Optics, and 6th in Carry Optics. Considering that I didn’t get to train much at all, and never shot all 8 stages in a day, I’m very happy placing as well as I did against guys who train this stuff night and day. I’m a bit biased, but I think it speaks well about the idea of training for on demand performance.
During the match, a few things jumped out at me from a training perspective that I may not have talked about before. Going one for one on the steel is very hard, but is essential if you want a good score. This is what makes it a marksmanship match, rather than a speed match. On stages that I went really fast, but had to take a makeup shot, I did not do as well in the long run as stages where I simply shot the pace I could hit all the time. Having the discipline to shoot at your pace, is critical.
When you do have to take a makeup shot (everyone does, no matter what), it is important that you not let it disrupt your flow. I would note the miss, then come back to it when it made sense, rather than stuttering on the plate over and over and interrupting my transitions more than needed. Along those lines, you have to call your shots and not wait for visual or auditory confirmation of a hit. Some competitors mentioned that they could not hear hits on some of the plates. This is the wrong way to go about it. I have no idea what sound the plates made, I just called my shot and moved on. It is much faster this way, and it helps you develop as a shooter.
You will get a bad grip and have a bad draw, maybe a bunch of them. I like to pride myself on having a very repeatable, consistent draw at all speeds, but match pressure will make you mess that up from time to time. Dealing with it and making it work is what counts. I had more bad draws in this match than in the past several years of shooting. The pressure is real, and the consequences of messing up can range from a miss or a slower time, to dropping your gun. If you drop your gun, you are disqualified from the match. Most people in their practice will never feel that level of stress and is why shooting competitions outside your comfort zone can be so beneficial.
When you step into the shooting box to make ready, it doesn’t matter if you have practiced a ton, or like me, not very much at all. You should go through the stage once with your unloaded gun, making sure you know the order of the targets and are happy with your positioning and dot brightness. I do this at about 75% speed. Once that is done, I load my gun, verify my dot one last time, and then holster and let the range officer know I am ready to shoot. That’s it. It should not take more than 15 or 20 seconds, and you should not use all day to rehearse your draw over and over and over. This is not helpful mentally or physically, and makes you look unprepared and weak.
Finally, though shooting relaxed is useful for high speed stuff, it is very hard to do when going as fast as you can and while under pressure. Steel challenge can be a good way to get reps in on trying to stay relaxed while moving as fast as possible. I was reasonably relaxed for some of the strings, but noticed the tension increasing on others. When that happened, I made sure to shake it out before starting my next run. Though I do not believe in wasting time while in the box, it is your match and if you need a few seconds to relax your shoulders and arms and reset your mental game, take that time. There are no awards for rushing through.
Ultimately, getting to shoot head to head with the best in the world is a tremendous learning experience and it reminded me of many aspects of shooting and training that many of us forget too easily. Putting yourself under pressure and in slightly uncomfortable situations is critical to our development as shooters.
Congrats on the spectacular finish dude. It would be very interesting to see you put in some serious training time for next year, and, maybe use a DA/SA gun (you know which one I mean). I think you’d climb much much higher up the ladder.