Adam Mann won Stage 1 this weekend (and the match as well).  Ad hoc analysis of videos from the stages show that the biggest factor was his shot splits – very fast.  Those of us shooting uncompensated guns probably can’t hope to accurately match his shot splits, but there are a few things I learned from watching Adam (& John Allen) on video that any of us can use to finish stages faster.

Let’s go to the tape!

The start position was “holding a rifle”… Here is a series of other shooters:

and here is Adam:

Lesson… don’t succumb to “normal”, always do what is faster and within the rules. There was no requirement to hold the rifle at port arms. Why not hold it next to your pistol?  Advantage… small – maybe 1/2 a second.  But… multiply that kind of stage planning by 8 stages and that is a 4 second advantage – before any shot is fired.

Next “schooling”….   Same stage, a few second later…

Here is Adam:

Things to note… Look at the drop targets – they are down, he shot the activating popper on the way to this position. When he is done shooting the bank of poppers, he does not have to shoot the activator and wait a second for the targets to appear.    Adam was the only person in the match to NOT have to wait for the drop targets, they were waiting on him.

Second thing to note… he only went as far as he had to shoot the left IPSC target. No further. Movement is slow – shooting fast. 

Just to pick on myself a bit…. check out where I am at the same part of the stage:

I’m 7 feet farther. The activator is still up. And I moved while shooting the poppers, causing a couple of misses.  “Tactical looking”, and a heritage of my initial IDPA “have to move while shooting”, but not effective for the sport I was playing at the time!

So thanks Adam for an excellent lesson!