How to simultaneously walk and shoot like a pro

[Innavedaw]

...The fact that most of those sports are in real life now basically run by closed communities in Canada doesn't help anyone, I've only seen a few efforts to broaden them out to more members. It might be nice to have a small tight group for one's advanced activities but it doesn't help the larger sport or promote firearms ownership in general. .

This has not been my experience at all. I spent several years on the outside looking in but a few years ago I decided I wanted in. I reached out to a couple of match directors via PM here on Gunnutz and they couldn’t have been more accommodating...and that experience has been consistent despite the discipline, 3Gun, CQB, IDPA, IPSC...The biggest barrier in my experience is ourselves. Often when starting out, we don’t know anyone who’s competing in these disciplines and it seems a bit intimidating as a newbie. If you are interested, reach out to someone who’s putting on matches in your area and see what they tell you...Odds are you will find them very accommodating and open to new competitors.

 

[Big Bad]

This has not been my experience at all. I spent several years on the outside looking in but a few years ago I decided I wanted in. I reached out to a couple of match directors via PM here on Gunnutz and they couldn’t have been more accommodating...and that experience has been consistent despite the discipline, 3Gun, CQB, IDPA, IPSC...The biggest barrier in my experience is ourselves. Often when starting out, we don’t know anyone who’s competing in these disciplines and it seems a bit intimidating as a newbie. If you are interested, reach out to someone who’s putting on matches in your area and see what they tell you...Odds are you will find them very accommodating and open to new competitors.

Glad to hear that you had those positive experiences but the fact is that you first had to know those sports existed in the first place and most people don't; I was thinking of the value of an active advertising and recruitment approach. And come to think of it, such things as I've seen done have involved getting people who are already qualified and experience shooters, ie police and military units, participating in 3 Gun and similar things (the Smiths Falls gun club for instance has excelled at that). I'm saying that we would have more gun owners in Canada if people knew you don't have to just stand and shoot at paper.

 

[CV32]

Most people don't get to see those things happening however, it's a weakness in the Canadian firearms community if you ask me. Back at the beginning of the 90s, a show called 'Shooting USA' featured the early startups of all those sports and competitions and because they were on a channel that most every cable service carried in Canada, they were much better known to everyone, gun people and antis alike- the antis raged that the new sports were thinly veiled attempts to arm everyone and make guns good things. Then Rolling Stone magazine bought the channel and when they realised how popular they were they shut down the gun shows and awareness faded in Canada. The fact that most of those sports are in real life now basically run by closed communities in Canada doesn't help anyone, I've only seen a few efforts to broaden them out to more members. It might be nice to have a small tight group for one's advanced activities but it doesn't help the larger sport or promote firearms ownership in general. Oh hey, I got off on a rant. What else is new I guess. Standing back, while hoping sofrep will post some other similar stuff.

My experience, and advice, is that if you want to get involved in action shooting sports - where you can practise the skills that are the subject matter of the thread - you can make it happen. I am not aware of any such "closed communities", and cannot reconcile your statement that they do not promote the shooting sports or the firearms community generally. Quite the contrary. At my gun club there was already an IPSC section, but a group of us started an IDPA section - the first to be organized east of Ontario - and now, nearly 10 years later, its a very active and thriving component of our broader gun club. We also dabble in two-gun, three-gun and cowboy action events to add flavour, and regularly organized and host events that include the general membership of the gun club. New shooters are warmly welcome, and this fact is advertised in both new member orientation (at the gun club generally) and on a regular basis. If a person is unaware such opportunities exist, they simply aren't looking.

This has not been my experience at all. I spent several years on the outside looking in but a few years ago I decided I wanted in. I reached out to a couple of match directors via PM here on Gunnutz and they couldn’t have been more accommodating...and that experience has been consistent despite the discipline, 3Gun, CQB, IDPA, IPSC...The biggest barrier in my experience is ourselves. Often when starting out, we don’t know anyone who’s competing in these disciplines and it seems a bit intimidating as a newbie. If you are interested, reach out to someone who’s putting on matches in your area and see what they tell you...Odds are you will find them very accommodating and open to new competitors.

Bingo. Agreed wholeheartedly.

 

[beltfed]

Get low. If your thighs start to burn, then you are doing it right....Just because you are walking doesn’t mean you can skip the fundamental

I can appreciate an instructor adding cardio and/or resistance training as making a point about working those elements of personal conditioning into a regimen of shooting fundamentals, but whoever is teaching you that ‘you should feel the burn’ is off target.
You should be in a comfortable walk, not unnecessarily taxing your muscular or skeletal system - this is part of the fundamentals of shooting. Your advanced shooting techniques should build on the fundamentals, not conflict with them. Ymmv.

 

[Clobbersauras]

.......Ymmv.

Yes, I guess it does.

I’m not talking about conditioning, or cardio, or anything other than shooting on the move. When I do the box drill I posted above, and if I don’t want the sights to bob around like a clown on a pogo, I’m Keeping my knees flexed and I’m rolling through my steps. After a few steps I begin to feel it in my thighs. It’s the best way I’ve found to keep the sights more stable, especially if the pace is faster than a slow walk.