The next 405 days..

Posted on by stevefostershooting

The World Speed Shooting Championships (WSSC) concluded on May 19th 2019.  Being exactly 1 second from a World Title, I knew I needed to build a plan to shoot sub-60 seconds to have a chance at a world title in 2020. Immediately following this match gave birth to the plan below, Road to 60 seconds (or 59.95):

StageStage #DivisionPersonal BestPeak TimeRoad to 60Avg String
5 to GoSC-101Rimfire Rifle Open8.2910.5             8.00            2.00
ShowdownSC-102Rimfire Rifle Open6.327.5             6.25            1.56
Smoke and hopeSC-103Rimfire Rifle Open5.257             6.00            1.50
Outer LimitsSC-104Rimfire Rifle Open10.4411.5             9.65            3.22
AcceleratorSC-105Rimfire Rifle Open7.729             7.80            1.95
PendulumSC-106Rimfire Rifle Open8.469.5             8.00            2.00
Speed OptionSC-107Rimfire Rifle Open8.129.5             8.00            2.00
RoundaboutSC-108Rimfire Rifle Open6.437.5             6.25            1.56
Total Time61.03                 72.059.95

Starting on the left, the first column is the Steel Challenge Stage name, followed by the Stage Number, Division, my personal best times from classification, the peak times for 2019 (at the time), the stage times to shoot sub-60 (in this case 59.95), and finally the average string times needed to shoot sub-60.  Please note times are rounded to the nearest hundredth.

The weekend after the match, I sat down with Chris Barrett and his dad and I said, “we need to talk about something.”  “Steel Target Paint needs to be on the top spots of the podium in 2020 at the next WSSC and here is the roadmap to shoot sub 60.”  We all started to smile and reviewed the road map of how we were going to make this happen.  We first had to assess the times to make sure they were reasonable and we agreed they were.  We thought about moving some times around from bucket to bucket, but agreed the goals and plan were solid.  Then, we went to work.  Every practice session was calibrated by the ability to hit these times.  For me, I knew I had to be stronger on Outer Limits because this was my largest gaps in time and so this is what I did.  I studied every movement, broke out the video camera, and examined every nuance of the stage.  Footwork is only part of the success of the stage, albeit an important one.  The rest, well, I have left some tips on the podcast and on some of my other blog posts for consideration.

Below is a summary of the Road Map to breaking 60 and my stage times from Saturday 6/27/2020 at the Little River Sportsman’s Association in Valdosta Georgia.

I knew I shot the match pretty clean only taking 2-3 makeup shots into my score, but I was not ready for what the ‘pad’ revealed.  I thought it was 60 seconds or maybe a hair under, but a rush of emotion hit me when it displayed 58.42 seconds.  Admittedly, I immediately validated all stages were scored and there were not an errant time.  Needless to say, as of the writing of this post, 58.42 seconds is the new watermark for Steel Challenge.

Words cannot express how grateful I am for the loving support of my family and sponsors who have helped me reach this goal.  It was all that more special because I was shooting with friends and my oldest daughter Vanessa.  My message from this experience is if you build a plan and put in the work, great things can happen.  Additionally, now that I have been here, I know the path and it will be easier to find my way back.

A quick gear review:

Steel Target Paint

ELEY Force

Magnum Research Switchbolt

Powder River Precision Trigger

Tandemkross Fireswitch, takedown knob, and Kross pins

Vortex Razor 6 MOA

Hunters HD Gold Velocity eyewear

SteveFosterShooting Compensator – manufactured by Wiland USA

SteveFosterShooting Bolt stop pin/buffer

Pro Ears

CelCal Cerakote Basepads

Hogue rifle bag

Transported on my Range Tactical Gear Cart

Targeted Innovations Magazine caddy

See you out on the range soon!

Steve

Sometimes you need to take a close look at things..

Posted on by stevefostershooting

Back in 1995 I turned 18 years old and I had aspirations of conquering the world.  First of all, I have always wanted a corvette, so I found one!  You know, it was a status symbol people around the immediate area recognized success with.  There was a 1976 Corvette sitting at a mechanics garage with a for sale sign on it.  I must have driven past the car 100 times on the way to the local place to eat during the summer, Rudy’s.  This car was a unique color being a brown and gold two-tone finish.  One day, I had the courage to drive into the establishment and started to look around as if I was an expert car guy.  The Paint was in great shape, the fiberglass was all solid, but the interior needed some long overdue loving.

After peaking through the windows, a burly guy came out and asked if he could help me.  I said I was considering buying a corvette and I have seen this one sitting by the road so many times and wondered why it had not sold yet.  He said that the interior needed to be replaced, but the engine was where the value was.  It was a 350 bored out, cam, blah blah blah.  I sat in the car and started it for the first time.  It started quicker and more effortless than any other car I have ever placed a key in the ignition of.  You could clearly tell there were a lot of ponies under the hood that wanted to get out to run.  He said he dyno’d the car and it made over 400hp.  I asked him how much he was asking and he said he just dropped the price down from $7500 to $5000 but he needed it gone.  I told him he was a little strong on price and I would offer him $3500.  He politely said no.  I told him to take my number down and call me if he changed his mind. 

A month went by and the phone rang at our house.  My mom answered the phone and said some person wanted to talk to me.  It was the owner of the Corvette.  He said that if I got down there today with $3500 it was mine.  I had to talk my dad into driving me down, but he reluctantly did.  He got out and said it was the ugliest color combination he had ever seen.  I told him, we could change all of that!  I drove the car home and as I type this you can’t get the smile off my face.  When we got home, I told my dad he should drive it, it had a ton of power.  He said those cars do not make much power.  I told him to stand back and watch.  I dumped the clutch and pressed on the gas and after burning the tires in 3rd gear I let out of it.  All I could see in the rearview mirror was my dad holding his head with his hand and shaking his head.  I made a victory lap and said, that was cool huh?!

The next day I brought the car out of the garage to wash and wax the car.  While washing the car I started to notice the minor imperfections of the paint here and there, definitely did not see this when I first looked at the car.  With every motion of the soapy rag I found every single nuance in the paint and fiberglass.  It was not perfect, but it was still amazing!

A few weeks ago I was training a student who is a Grand Master in multiple Steel Challenge divisions.  On the surface they were a bit intimidating to watch from 7 feet away.  As we started to document our string times, evaluate his match and stage management we started to see all of the slight imperfections.  As I shared with him, we all have a Shooting Tendency and we needed to figure out what his was.  It was important to spend the time and effort to look closely at his total shooting performance so we could identify these areas of opportunity and make them better. 

The next time you are out at the range practicing, think about how you are practicing and critically look at your shooting performance to see where you have opportunities to improve.  If you do not look at how you are shooting, it will be challenging for you to get better at the pace you would like. Sometimes you need to take a close look at things.

See you out on the range soon!

Steve

Suggestive Shooting…

Posted on by stevefostershooting

It was not too long ago I was offered an opportunity to open a new facility with my current company.  The plan is for a largest facility in our network, with state of the art automation, and industry leading processing.  This new location was 45 miles further than my current drive so my prized pickup truck which gets 13.9 miles per gallon would have to be parked in favor of something with better fuel economy.  After doing some searching I landed on a Toyota Camry XSE which is a little sporty but would realize 33 MPG on the highway.  It was at this point in time when I did not recall seeing many Camrys out on the road.  After I made my purchase, I was driving down I 75 in Atlanta and I saw one.. two.. ten.. twenty Camrys in a 10 mile stretch of interstate.  Were they not there before or did I not notice them?  I think the answer is they were always there but the power of suggestion unconsciously made me aware to look for similar Camrys on the interstate.

 

Last night I concluded a training session with a new student.  This student is a fellow Grand Master in Rimfire Rifle Open (RFRO) and Pistol Caliber Carbine Open (PCCO).  After doing some analysis of his match scores and times we setup Outer Limits to gain the most improvement.  I shared with him at the beginning of the session everyone has a “Shooting Tendency” and we would find out what his was, identify it, embrace it, and make improvements.  Being a top tier shooter his Shooting Tendency was a little bit more difficult to figure out, but through observation and discussion he was able to put into words what I was seeing.  On the first plate all of his shots were within a 1” circle 2/3rds up the plate.  After the first stage worth of shooting I had him put a round on the far plate dead center.  I did this because sometimes people would sight their guns in at 10 yards not realizing the bullet was still climbing.  As he fired the test round it was a bullseye on plate #2.

 

My next observation was he was missing the back right plate (the 18” x 24”).  After watching his shots several were just off the left side at 9 O’Clock.  His Shooting Tendency is he was not pulling the trigger when he needed to.  It was a slight delay from when his eyes saw the dot on the plate to when this message went to his brain, to when the brain sent a message to his trigger finger to pull the trigger.  It was very interesting to watch in person.

 

The interesting part of the training session was when I told him I would shoot the stage and it was an exercise of knowing where your Targeted Edge Dial was and when to turn it.  My first string was at my 85% at 3.55 seconds.  I then told him I would turn my dial to shoot a 3.25-3.3.  Sure enough, I shot a 3.27 but something interesting happened.  I missed the back right plate in the same exact location he had.  Right off the plate at 9 O’Clock. I told him I was going to name this, maybe after him, but I wanted to write this up for some time, so here I am.  I then loaded my next magazine and said I would back my dial back to a 3.50 second run.  This next string was 3.58 seconds and you would not believe it; I missed the back right plate in the same exact spot.  I would wager a paycheck you could cover his misses and my two misses with a quarter.

This phenomenon is Suggestive Shooting.  We consciously tell ourselves not to do something and our subconscious overrides our actions while shooting.  Some other examples of this are:

  • I always don’t shoot well if I start on Smoke and Hope.
  • I won’t shoot well if I don’t practice once a month.
  • I won’t shoot well at a larger match because I have not shot a major match in 3 months.
  • Hey Steve, why do you shoot pendulum that way, aren’t you afraid of missing plate #3? No, because I have not missed plate #3 in a year.  Then I proceed to miss plate #3 in the next Three out of Five strings.
  • I will shoot well if I only shoot one gun per session.
  • You have a squad that is not shooting well at a major match after a long break due to COVID 19 and you tell yourself to shoot your match and then you go to the shooters box and lose your fundamentals of shooting on the first string.
  • Etc

 

Have you ever had a conversation with someone and they told you not to say something or a word and at a later point you say it anyway.  Then you are dumbfounded you said what you were not supposed to say?  You work hard at consciously telling yourself not to do something and your subscious does it anyway.  There is not a magic pill that I have found.  It is something you have to be aware of and find strategies to mitigate Suggestive Shooting.

 

See you out on the range soon!

Steve