The Pressure Is On, Only 3 More Matches This Year

[oldracer]

I am afraid I have gotten too serious with this black powder shooting and our monthly matches. I have been shooting them for 6 years now and each year have one the "paper - medallion" (6 total) part of our match and some how have also won a gold, silver and bronze medal with the 50 yard mini steel targets part of our matches. So far this year I have won a silver and 3 bronze with one of the bronze from a 3 way tie for first! So now I am getting antsy that I might not get the gold this year so I am forcing myself to try to relax and not worry about it and get stressed but I don't know? Do any of you competition shooters have this problem

[mazo kid]

Relax John, and good luck! You can do it.

[indian joe]

I am afraid I have gotten too serious with this black powder shooting and our monthly matches. I have been shooting them for 6 years now and each year have one the "paper - medallion" (6 total) part of our match and some how have also won a gold, silver and bronze medal with the 50 yard mini steel targets part of our matches. So far this year I have won a silver and 3 bronze with one of the bronze from a 3 way tie for first! So now I am getting antsy that I might not get the gold this year so I am forcing myself to try to relax and not worry about it and get stressed but I don't know? Do any of you competition shooters have this problem

yeah and it affects my scores negatively too - got no solution to the problem either cant force yourself to relax - two things work for me 1) somebody gets up my nose and I get mad as hell - usually shoot better ....2) dont give a hoot, couldnt care less, been there done that, lets just put this one in the middle for fun - sometimes works.....
Spare a thought for the other blokes you have been beating into the dust for six years - maybe they should get a turn.?
Heres another thought - take one of the bottom end shooters and coach him - you will feel really good as your shooter rises through the ranks

[arcticap]

If there's a time limit, sometimes it a good idea to spread out the timing of the shots to allow for you to use the maximum amount of time allowed.
When people rush or make hasty or forced shots, they tend to make more mistakes, or to take less then their best shot.
Some of the best shooters that I've met used the maximum amount of time allowed, especially for timed slow fire events.
Experience can help people to pace themselves.
This isn't true for everyone as some people do fine by firing at a faster pace. But a good shooter shouldn't mind being the last one to finish shooting either.
Try to use any time allowed to your advantage by not letting others affect your pace.
That can also help to give the muscles a chance to recover after each shot.

[oldracer]

Naw, our matches don't have a time limit and even if someone comes a bit late they are allowed in. We've even had folks shoot the paper target after the steel as they came late (usually it is first) so time is never an issue. I have been guilty of what folks call "bulls eye fixation" and it tends to screw me up some. I have tried more practice and none and that seems to never make a difference so...….relax!
John

[bob208]

I did n ot get to any matches this year had a stroke in feb, just now getting back to normal. I will get them next year. I use a cheap h & a underhammer.

[oldracer]

Strokes are a real pain in the ******! I had a "mini stroke" five years ago last month and it had been creeping up for a couple months it seems but I still was doing well in our matches? I looked and so far in the 6 years competing, I have won the paper target match in April every year? Seems strange but usually in Jan. and Feb. the best shooters show up so I guess that means I am in the top 4 or so of the shooters. Shortly after the stroke I had quad bypass surgery so after the 4 month down time with no shooting I was feeling better and even shot a bit better. I hope you can get completely over the stroke and that you have some great doctors taking care of you.
John

[bedbugbilly]

I haven't shot in a match for a number of years - mainly because I've seen guys get so stressed out and competitive about it that they have actually gotten physically sick - my brother was one of them. My question is . . why? It's fine to be competitive but to carry it overboard and put pressure on yourself because you "think" you have to win every time, IMHO, is just spoiling the fun that you should be enjoying. I shot with a group of guys one time and there were two fellows who were good shots . . but they knew it . . . and both were so competitive that everyone else in the group just started "fading away" - after all . . . if it isn't fun anymore, well, folks just move on. Another group I shot with was very casual . . . we just gathered, threw a trinket on the trade blanket and at the end of the day, according to how well you shot determined who had first choice, etc. Two of the members were well known rifle builders . . . and usually, we all got out shot by a fellow who had a H & A under hammer in .32 calibers - he carried all of his shooting supplies in a musket cap tin. We joked and posed at each other as we shot, we kidded a lot . . . but nobody took it too serious and the experienced shooters found greater joy in seeing the newbies have a good day - the smile on their faces as they shot well made all of us "old farts" happy as a clam and we encouraged them on.

You've obviously have shot well, won prizes and awards . . . so why are you worried about winning them all? All those awards and medals just take up space and your kids will have to dispose of them at some point . . . so why stress out and make it sooner than needed? Good luck but have fun . . . that's what it's all about.

[oldracer]

The point about the stress is right. I tend to want to win and that has been my nature in everything I do weather building model aircraft when a teenager to racing bicycles or motor cycles or even building kites where I finally ended with the largest box kite in America and now with muzzle loaders. I guess it is part of my brain that developed that way since I was born in WW2 and my first few years were different than what kids get now days as far a food and everything? My main reason in posting was to see how others handle the shooting stress and such.

By the way, I won the match today and got a gold medal for this year's collection which made me happy especially since we have 4 or 5 young U.S. Marines shooting with us and they tend to rib us "old" guys that were "never trained to shoot properly"! I told them we had but since our training was done by Daniel Boone so we had forgot a lot of it!!!!
John

[pulaski]

Oldracer ,
The gold , silver , bronze or "just participated" will happen . Controlling your insides is the only part you can control . Go back to the fundamentals of load , lift , shoulder , sight picture , squeeze . With your focus where it should be the chips will fall to the prepared one . On your way to the shoot try to envision success . When you get there it will happen .
JM2C
Steve

[oldracer]

Thanks Steve, I do think about the match on the way and sometimes even the day before when trying to figure which rifle to use and such. Last night the match even showed up in one of my weird dreams that I get due to the cholesterol medicine which mostly have Navy ships in them due to the 20+ years I was in the Navy but generally by an hour after wake up they are gone. I have been feeling poorly again like I did before my quad-bypass a little over 4 years ago. I had a cancerous cut removed from my right forehead up near my hair line and have a lump in front of my right ear which the surgeon said was due to cutting out some stuff down the side of my head?! That was back in August, which was a bad month for us as my wife fell and hurt her side very badly and then on the 20th our youngest daughter died from a subarachnoid hemorrhage stroke in her bed room as she was living with us helping to take care of my wife. Seems she had not been taking her high blood pressure medicine and those strokes are 100% fatal! Fortunately September has been a whole lot better and we are getting back to normal.
John