So I've decided to get into USPSA pretty heavy this coming year. I've shot matches in the past, but fairly casually, and want to up my game, get classified, etc.

My usual practice routine consists of Bill drill, Blake Drill, reload drills, draw and fire type drills for draw time, etc.  I also dry fire and work on reloads at home.  I have plenty of target stands and access to a range with bays that are around 50 yards long and 30 yards wide. Anyone care to share their practice routines to give me some insights and allow me to mix things up a bit?

Stoger

Dry fire is best even if you have a Dillon 1050 and a pile of money.

The Steve Anderson’s books and podcast is what you need. He’s funny and excellent at teaching the mental game, which is all shooting is anyway...

Be prepared for dog noise, fake laughter, fart jokes and Van Halen.

If you buy in, you WILL improve dramatically. You’ll be beating Hottie McHotdog at your local matches in no time.

The first 12 drills in his “firstest book”, refinement and repetition, will get you to GM if you put in the work. I’ve basically gone from D to B in a few months with limited time.

I change up my practice, depending on what I need to work on.  I spent a few hours at the range on Friday and did drills that focused a lot on movement.

I used the Stoeger books to make GM.

I still use them all the time to construct my training programs.

They are worth their weight in gold.

You really need to decide on if you want to be competitive in matches, or highly classified. There are a TON of GM shooters out there who get regularly spanked by A and M shooters because they just shot classifiers.

You then need to be honest about where your weaknesses are. Definitely get into an area match, take photos of the stages, and recreate the harder bits. Maybe your local club is GTG, maybe not, but a lot of local clubs don't really add the variability you see at the larger matches.

A good way to approach it in your first year, is train the skill dry fire, and evaluate your progress with live fire. You should be doing 10 - 20 reps dry for every one rep live fire, since so much of shooting at a high level is refined muscle memory. Add a lot of movement.

What really separates the top shooters from everyone else is their efficiency in moving through firing positions. Most guys can, in a year or two of hard pratcice, catch up to top shooters in things like draw time, reload time, splits, bill drill, etc. Thats not what wins matches (only classifiers). Matches are about getting very quickly to the different shooting positions, getting adequate hits, and getting to the next firing position.

Great drills and stuff i do when i travel to a practice an hour away.

I fail to employ those things when I’m at my own club.

I do have 2 guys I’m getting into USPSA/3 Gun, so my(our) training is getting better.   I feel like by telling more novice (new) shooters the basic stuff that i know I should be doing, helps me to actually do it!

Slow down, get your hits.  My one buddy like to go FAST and try to beat my time.  Problem is, he’ll MIKE 2,3-5 times to beat my time.  I had to teach him what the Hit Factor was to slow him down a little.  In turn, it helps reinforce it in myself as well.  (Who doesn’t like blazing through a stage!)

You have to shoot >90% of the points so start there. Let your sights tell you how fast to shoot and then find ways to enter and exit positions faster.

In practice, find your breaking point. Then find out what your fast/controlled speed is. What is the difference between them in performance AND what you are seeing and doing.

Last point....in dry fire, don't cheat. See your sights and learn what they are telling you.

Dry fire, practice

Dry fire, practice

Shoot matches

Dry fire, practice

Dry fire, practice

Dry fire, practice

Dry fire, practice

Shoot matches

Dry fire, practice

Dry fire, practice

Thanks for all of the input.  I've been focusing more on dry fire practice using the Anderson dry fire drills at home.  I'm already seeing some improvement on my draw and first shot time and accuracy.  It's also becoming easier to see the front sight more quickly (if that makes sense).

Got sick of having to tape targets at the range, so I had some steel targets made that are 5" x 10" to replicate an Alpha zone, but slightly smaller.  My range is about 5 minutes from my office, so I'm trying to get to the range at least 3x per week before work.  I want a high classification, but far more, want to kick everyone's ass at matches.  I'm a competitive sucker.

Here's a pic of the target setup from this morning with the A zone sized steel targets.  Was working draw and shoot and bill drill.  Movement drills tomorrow morning.
Attached File

Nice.    My steel should be here for my Friday practice.  I don’t mind taping targets, but it’ll be nice to add some steel.

When i first started (April) I couldn’t clear a plate rack with 2 mags and I didn’t want to shoot them anymore. Haha
My last match i won the plate rack stage.

I’m bummed the season is over up here.