Eric Grauffel

Crosswind

Crosswind

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It's not likely for a visitor of the Action Shooting forum to not know who Eric Grauffel is.

Winner of hundreds of major handgun matches all over the World.
Open Division Champion of the last 5 IPSC World Shoots. You heard heard that right; this guy won his first World Shoot when he was under 20 years old and has won every World Shoot since. An Obvious Shooting Genius.

However, the main reason for this post is not to regurgitate commonly-known information.

Seeing how IPSC open division is Eric's specialty, in the back of my mind (and I think in the minds of many other shooters), if Grauffel were given a production gun, he would be exposed as a mere mortal just like the rest of us, subject to the same minor missteps, blunders, and luck factors (that can often determine the winner).

Well guess what, at the 2012 Extreme Euro Challenge in the Czech Republic (about a week ago), Eric Grauffel was shooting production.

HE WON PRODUCTION DIVISION AND THE PRODUCTION DIVISION SHOOT-OFF!

To me, that is just absolutely mind-boggling! How does a person, who probably practices with an open division gun everyday, make the switch to an iron-sighted un-compensated gun and win a high-level international competition in such a short period of time; compared to other high-level International grandmasters that have been shooting for years with production division as their specialty?!

Just had to get that off my chest.
 
Crosswind said:
How does a person, who probably practices with an open division gun everyday,
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Not to dilute Eric's prowess; but he announced at the WS in Greece he was switching to production and I can assure you that he has been practicing intensely with his production gun ever since.

I was lucky to take one of his courses; one thing I learned from him is everything is planned and examined to the most minute detail. There's no way he would just drop one gun and pick up another to shoot a major match. He would have invested serious time, ammo and thought into the process.

A truly great talent. His dedication to his sport and training is amazing.
 
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it also helps that the platform he uses, uses the same trigger guard /frames, etc.. THat is why I try and stick to one platform for all of the divisions I shoot in...(open, standard, production)...He also knows those guns inside and out. The next world IPSC production champion will be shooting a tanfoglio,...or he or she SHOULD be...LOL.
 
Had a fee long talks with him in Czech about this very thing. He said he was having way more fun shooting PD as he had no expectations. Just shoot and see what happens. I also asked him if he changed anything in the way he'd attack a stage, nope, shoots them just like he was using his open gu, or standard gun. The only difference was frequency of mag changes and location of first two mags on his belt. It was great to watch him shoot, and to see him so relaxed and not stressed out.
 
Crosswind said:
It's not likely for a visitor of the Action Shooting forum to not know who Eric Grauffel is.

Winner of hundreds of major handgun matches all over the World.
Open Division Champion of the last 5 IPSC World Shoots. You heard heard that right; this guy won his first World Shoot when he was under 20 years old and has won every World Shoot since. An Obvious Shooting Genius.

However, the main reason for this post is not to regurgitate commonly-known information.

Seeing how IPSC open division is Eric's specialty, in the back of my mind (and I think in the minds of many other shooters), if Grauffel were given a production gun, he would be exposed as a mere mortal just like the rest of us, subject to the same minor missteps, blunders, and luck factors (that can often determine the winner).

Well guess what, at the 2012 Extreme Euro Challenge in the Czech Republic (about a week ago), Eric Grauffel was shooting production.

HE WON PRODUCTION DIVISION AND THE PRODUCTION DIVISION SHOOT-OFF!

To me, that is just absolutely mind-boggling! How does a person, who probably practices with an open division gun everyday, make the switch to an iron-sighted un-compensated gun and win a high-level international competition in such a short period of time; compared to other high-level International grandmasters that have been shooting for years with production division as their specialty?!

Just had to get that off my chest.
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If you research a bit more about his history, you'll find out that he does not practice only with his open gun. He also practice with standard guns and production guns in a reasonable amount of time and attend those matches as well. Iron sight for him is not new at all :)
 
Crosswind said:
subject to the same minor missteps, blunders, and luck factors (that can often determine the winner)
Click to expand...

I think it would be a mistake to think that in any particular division luck plays any more role than in other divisions.
If anything, in Open any mistake is punished more severely than in any other division (just because 1 lost second would cost you more in points).
 
HE WON PRODUCTION DIVISION AND THE PRODUCTION DIVISION SHOOT-OFF!
Click to expand...

To me, that is just absolutely mind-boggling! How does a person, who probably practices with an open division gun everyday, make the switch to an iron-sighted un-compensated gun and win a high-level international competition in such a short period of time; compared to other high-level International grandmasters that have been shooting for years with production division as their specialty?!
Click to expand...

Wow, many shooters of NON-OPEN think that shooting open is easy...well it is not and that is why the best shoot open.Pick up an open gun... seems easy, now try to go hyperspeed with it? A mistake in open is a disaster as you now drop 10 places, a mistake in std or production is just a mistake the same as everyone else makes all the time.
Also shooting open allows the shooter to see what is possible, how to shave every possible millisecond of their times, not to limit their mindset to just stand and shoot, to NEVER think I must get closer or I will miss, to realize that shoot on the move is actually easier than just standing there. Shooting open at a hifgh level makes fot the best all round shooters...don't beleive me then try it and see how much you suck at first but also how much you can learn if you try.
 
I'm convinced that Eric could win with a slingshot.
Just goes to prove that shooting is mostly a sport of the mind. The equipment is ultimately unimportant. The best shooters will always be so.
 
Watching Eric snap from target to target, even when almost 180 degrees apart is amazing, he torques his entire upper body, using his legs and hips to drive him, and then stop him. It's like watching a tank turret sometimes. If I remember correctly he had a penalty target and a couple deltas at this match. He smiled the whole time I saw him as well. I was in the squad behind with Angus, Lars, Rasmus, Maria etc.
 
My post wasn't in any way meant to disrespect different IPSC divisions.

The luck factor that I was talking about was in terms of split times. In open division, for example, customizations such as compensators and light triggers means that competitors' equipment are closer together in terms of performance compared to production division (where different pistols will have different recoil characteristics and trigger travels, thus resulting in a greater range of split times depending on target size/range and shooter experience/skill).

The item I wanted to impress upon was the fact that Eric Grauffel WON a high profile match just half a year after announcing that he'd be shooting production. Nobody had any doubts that he would be competitive, but to win against high level shooters that have focused on production division for years is just plain hardcore bad ass!

Ipsik said:
Wow, many shooters of NON-OPEN think that shooting open is easy...well it is not and that is why the best shoot open.Pick up an open gun... seems easy, now try to go hyperspeed with it? A mistake in open is a disaster as you now drop 10 places, a mistake in std or production is just a mistake the same as everyone else makes all the time.
Also shooting open allows the shooter to see what is possible, how to shave every possible millisecond of their times, not to limit their mindset to just stand and shoot, to NEVER think I must get closer or I will miss, to realize that shoot on the move is actually easier than just standing there. Shooting open at a hifgh level makes fot the best all round shooters...don't beleive me then try it and see how much you suck at first but also how much you can learn if you try.
Click to expand...
 
Max Michel has done the same thing switching from Open to shooting SS this year, I believe he's won every major he has shot so far except the SS nationals.
 
PH Racing said:
Max Michel has done the same thing switching from Open to shooting SS this year, I believe he's won every major he has shot so far except the SS nationals.
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Devils advocate here...he is an awesome shooter obviously. He shot production and did not do as well as I thought he would. Accuracy is rewarded in production more so than other divisions...but I find OPen rewards saving time more so....So maybe we can say speed is more important than accuracy for Open,...production is more about points,...and shooting standard in Canada helps you do better in L10...:p

........just waiting for the #### storm....LOL
 
Across the top shooters in any division its pretty much got nothing to do with the gun and everything to do with the shooter. In Production Division this is just as true. People like to mystify PD for some reason, it's the same as any other division, shoot as many points as possible as fast as you can. Yes we get hit harder for C and D shots, but so does everyone in the division so it's a wash. Like I said Eric didn't change how attacked stages with his gun, and his times were not far off Open, which is as it should be.
 
just goes to show that money talks, Max is actually shooting a gun made by SIG, Eric is shooting a gun that can be sold to wider market. JJ is shooting a Caracol. The top shooters are not at the top because of their gear.
 
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