Originally Posted by
trajectory
Success depends on many things, equipment is just one component.
Beginners to pistol shooting seem to either love it & dedicate time effort & money to it if they get the bug. If they have the good fortune to have an accurate pistol & get good instruction or coaching progress & results can improve quickly which is both pleasing & encouraging. This is similar to many sports or most learning processes. However as time progresses the rate of improvement usually slows down. Now this is where I think it gets interesting. Some just can't understand why they don't seem to be getting better & interest wanes. Others persevere & gradually improve albeit slowly, but steadily. Others might think its not them & it must be something else that's holding them back. Perhaps if they have bought good entry level equipment & see better shots using something more expensive they can convince themselves that more money = better scores more easily, & so they buy the latest gear thinking that's the answer. There's other reasons why progress might be impeded but I think some may recognise these.
There's psychological barriers too, whether it's pressure in a competition or in practice where you know you can beat a PB score or something like that. Different people might impose their own 'barriers' & there are different ways to try & get around them. Sometimes you can sort it out yourself, sometimes a bit of advice or coaching can help.
Sometimes a break for a few weeks can help.
Sometimes revisiting basic principles is worthwhile.
Some may think that an average of x points per card is ok for them & are content, counting up their points to see what they scored.others look at how many points they lost ie instead of counting a 9 as a 9 they count it as 1 off the possible 10. That's the way to do it there 100 points per card available to everyone & that's how you have to think of it. You are after 10 points per shot.
Good kit is better than most of us can shoot, excellent kit certainly is better than most of us, & so as has been said already the impediment to progress is the shooter.
It's a tricky discipline & that's the appeal in all it's complexities.