Posted: 1/27/2011 9:16:25 AM EDT
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In an effort to make this forum something other than a place for interesting dribble and practical jokes, and to keep the benevolent dictator (our fearless moderator).......benevolent. I offer up this.
Want to learn how to shoot faster and more accurate? Easy....process information faster. Your brain is like a computer CPU. If you want your computer to perform faster...u upgrade to faster processors that can perform more functions per second. So how do we upgrade the human processing unit otherwise know as our brain? Actually, we don't need to. Our brains already have all the information we need to shoot faster and more accurate, we just need to learn how to "see" the information faster. I intentionally put "see" in quotes as it's not a matter of actually seeing faster, we see plenty fast enough. It's more about becoming aware of what we are seeing. Some shooters don't realize what they are seeing while others see the information, but don't recognize how to process what they are seeing. Each has it's own remedies. For example, and I 've used this one before, I can put you in a completely dark room with a number/letter/or symbol written on the wall. If I triggered the flash from a camera, in that very short burst of light, you would see the image on the wall, comprehend the image, and be able to tell me what you saw in that fraction of a second. Clearly, your vision is fast enough to see the physical event, be it the camera stobe example or how the front sight on a pistol tracks during the recoil process. The difference is how effectively your brain is processing the information it's getting. In the example of the camera strobe, your brain is processing information that it's very familiar with "seeing" i.e.- numbers/letter/symbols. In the example of a front sight, we know the brain is physically getting the information, but it's not processing the information. We need to teach our brains to recognize and process the information faster. How do we do this? The front sight. It's not enough that we see the front sight at the time of the shot, we need to focus our attention on the front sight as it travels throughout the arc of recoil. That is, the entire path the front sight makes the instant the recoil process begins. The front sight should arc upwards in recoil to some point in space between 12 and 2 o'clock and return. In a perfectly tuned and setup pistol, the pistol will have what we call neutral tracking, meaning the front sight will return to the exact same point it was at the instant the recoil process began. If the pistol is not neutral, the front sight will hang high or dip slightly below the rear sight plane and thus will require a slight manipulation to bring the sights back into the alignment needed to make the hit we desire on the target. Learning to process this tracking information is the key to shooting faster and more accurate, and the key to processing this information is to first, see the physical information (the path of the front sight during it's arc of recoil) and second, processing the information we "see" (the relationship between the front and rear sights at the end of the recoil process) and whether or not a slight correction is needed before triggering another shot. Learn to process the arc of recoil information faster and you will have learned to shoot faster and more accurately. USSA-1 |
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Great post.
I took your fundamentals class last Feb. and you and Tod spent a good amount of time demonstrating and explaining to us the "rhythm" of our pistol. I have been paying a lot of attention to this over the last year. It has definitely helped me focus on faster and more accurate follow up shots. I took a class with Tom Givens a few years ago and he actually brings a laptop with a visual powerpoint presentation that illustrates what you see and how you process the info. |
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Quoted: So are you pulling the trigger just before the sights 'settle' to time the sights coming into alignment as the firing pin strikes the primer? This would be for the second shot in a double tap during a match. 7mm All you need to do is align the sights "enough" to hit your target. "Enough" is dependent on a lot of things like your target size, distance, and skill at "calling your shots." http://www.shootingusa.com/PRO_TIPS/STRADER1-3/STRADER1-3_PRINTER/strader1-3_printer.html The fun part is having the discipline not to pull the trigger if you know that your shot won't get the score you need on paper or the hit that you want on steel. (My post is not aimed at gunfighting) The best way for me to to see what I could get away with was to disregard gigantic paper targets and practice shooting at smaller things. Then on the day of the match when all of the targets are huge, I'm still shooting small ones in my mind. |
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Great write up and uncanny timing.
The past few months I have been working very hard on calling my shots. Without doing what you discuss above you simply can't do it. I have just recently begun to be able to do it enough to make up a shot as the sights settle without giving up time. I'm still not doing it every time for sure, but more and more and it's a gratifying feeling when I do. Of course you also have to retain other information such as CoF, since I was so happy on Sunday when I called a bad shot and made it up, putting it right in the zero....as the whole squad went "oooooooooh". It was then I remembered it was a standards course and that little make up shot cost me 3 seconds in an effort to get 1.5 back 
I have worked hard at what you wrote about, and it's was amazing to me after starting to reload how that changes with the timing of the gun after a change in powder, bullet, or 0.1gr change in your load. How do I know? I SEE it. Proof is in the results. In the past 3 months I've driven my bill drill times down from mid to high 3's to doing it last night in 2.53, but I did drop one by ~1/3". My better half has driven hers down from mid to high 4's to doing it last night in 3.03 CLEAN. Is it b/c we're pulling the trigger faster? Nope. It's b/c we see and process what's going on. As I said, uncanny timing, and there's my testament that it works. |
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Quoted:
The best way for me to to see what I could get away with was to disregard gigantic paper targets and practice shooting at smaller things. Then on the day of the match when all of the targets are huge, I'm still shooting small ones in my mind. I've been practicing with small targets too (2" circles, 3"x5" index cards) and this has helped me focus. Todd Green has a bunch of small targets and drills that are downloadable on his site. I find that if I practice with an 8" circle, my groups expand when I do not wait for the front sight to settle back on target. My shots climb up the target as I fire faster. I know some of this can also be solved by a stronger grip that reduces recoil. |
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Quoted:
i too took one of your classes where you talked about this. I have come to the conclusion that I blink when I shoot and can see nothing :( any tips for that. (besides shoot enough till I stop flinching?) You answered your own question .....Shoot till you're so used to guns going off that it becomes background noise. Unless you're real name is Ted Turner, I'd recommend rimfire practice till you can shoot a string without blinking before moving up to a centerfire. |
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Quoted:
i too took one of your classes where you talked about this. I have come to the conclusion that I blink when I shoot and can see nothing :( any tips for that. (besides shoot enough till I stop flinching?) For me it kinda depends on the gun & trigger. With my air rifle I flinch like hell.  It takes a lot of concentration not to flinch it. With my AR its about 50-50. I think its because of the spring going twang in both guns. Hell if I know.
However w/ my pistols its not a problem. Again I'm guessing here but I have a lot more trigger time w/ my pistols than my rifles. 
Also for me if I really focus on the front sight / scope cross hairs / dot's placement on the target and squeeze the trigger, the breaking shot is not noticed except for that last image of the sight on target. Dry firing a pistol w/ an empty piece of brass on the slide or front sight really helps too. There your concentrating on smoothly squeezing the trigger so the brass doesn't fall. Its a bitch but it can be done. This tip courtesy of LA Vickers. Caught that on his show once & have tried it with most of my pistols. I tried it w/ a 50's vintage S&W Chief's in DA. So far I'm 1 in eleventy billion with that long heavy gummy trigger.
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Quoted:
i too took one of your classes where you talked about this. I have come to the conclusion that I blink when I shoot and can see nothing :( any tips for that. (besides shoot enough till I stop flinching?) I used a beater 38 and spun the cylinder with only two live rounds in it. The rest were spent shells. If I pulled the trigger, got a click, and flinched oops. It made the boom a surprise and I quit flinching after a while. I have no idea if this is recommended or anything but it worked for me. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Quoted: Quoted: i too took one of your classes where you talked about this. I have come to the conclusion that I blink when I shoot and can see nothing :( any tips for that. (besides shoot enough till I stop flinching?) I used a beater 38 and spun the cylinder with only two live rounds in it. The rest were spent shells. If I pulled the trigger, got a click, and flinched oops. It made the boom a surprise and I quit flinching after a while. I have no idea if this is recommended or anything but it worked for me. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile Oh please tell me this story involves alcohol. |
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Quoted: Quoted: i too took one of your classes where you talked about this. I have come to the conclusion that I blink when I shoot and can see nothing :( any tips for that. (besides shoot enough till I stop flinching?) I used a beater 38 and spun the cylinder with only two live rounds in it. The rest were spent shells. If I pulled the trigger, got a click, and flinched oops. It made the boom a surprise and I quit flinching after a while. I have no idea if this is recommended or anything but it worked for me. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile I can see this working hippie, my wife had a problem flinching while shooting a pistol. She never believed me till I threw a snap cap into the magazine. When that was chambered and she squeezed the trigger, she looked like a professional boxer trying to knock somebody out when she flinched. She is getting better but it is not gone all the way. I do it every once in a while when I get nervous especially during a match. |
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I was also at the fundamentals class in Feb. where you all not only discussed this in great detail, but spent some time individually with each shooter on the line to be sure they were seeing the arc of recoil. The way you present the info really drives the point home. The camera flash with letters on a chalkboard is a fantastic analogy!
A few other students and I were talking at one of the recent classes (not sure if it was the rifle or pistol, since they were so close together) about training in general. We were discussing how sometimes you'll learn a technique that for whatever reason or another you missed in your progression as a shooter. Sometimes it could be a little tid bit of info, or it could be something big... either way, the door opens, light bulbs come on and you're off. I specifically mentioned the arc of recoil during this converstaion b/c it was one of those moments for me. Sure we've all heard thousands of times to focus on the front sight, but like you say, this really is entirely different. Occasionally I was watching the arc of recoil, but that was primarily during longer strings of rapid fire. I didn't know what to look for, so I wasn't processing the information on each shot. Now I know what it is, and that I can see it each shot...if I look for it. It certainly has made a HUGE difference in my speed and accuracy over the past year. On those longer shots I find it easy to get carried away going too fast sometimes, but the target doesn't lie. When those rapid fire groups start to open up (or the steel ain't ringin'), you know you aren't doing something right.... that or you've found your 'edge'. Thank you! |
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Quoted:
I can see this working hippie, my wife had a problem flinching while shooting a pistol. She never believed me till I threw a snap cap into the magazine. When that was chambered and she squeezed the trigger, she looked like a professional boxer trying to knock somebody out when she flinched. She is getting better but it is not gone all the way. I do it every once in a while when I get nervous especially during a match. Exactly. I was pushing down and to the left along with a bit of torso twinge. That stopped for the most part. I had to add rules about re-spinning the cylinder on either click or boom because I caught myself calculating spacing of rounds and probability of boom. I still jump some when I am concentrating on my stuff and another lane goes off but I am getting better about that over time. Quoted:
Oh please tell me this story involves alcohol. Nah, that was the Russian Roulette with the Hi-Point night!
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Excellent read with outstanding points and information.
At work, we had a storage trailer that developed a leak. Something in the order of 30,000 rounds of Speer Frangible .357SIG was "contaminated". Since the frangible stuff doesn't use sealed primers and the like, this resulted in many dud rounds. I used the hell out of that ammo for training. With the frequency of misfires (you'd get about 5 or so in a 50rd box), you were checking your trigger control at the same time you were getting in malfunction clearance drills. |
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So are you pulling the trigger just before the sights 'settle' to time the sights coming into alignment as the firing pin strikes the primer?
The short answer is yes, assuming I have a neutral recoiling pistol and I"m shooting multiple shots at the same target, but this also leads us down the path of another discussion about visual patience. A shooting tip for another time. 
I have come to the conclusion that I blink when I shoot and can see nothing :(
any tips for that. (besides shoot enough till I stop flinching?) Try simply shooting the pistol into the backstop with no target. Just aim at the dirt. With nothing to shoot at....try to watch the front sight during it's arc of recoil. Give your mind only one thing to focus it's attention on, the front sight's arc of recoil. Try to see where it's path leads (i.e.- 12, 1, or 2 o'clock.) If you see it then you didn't blink. If you're having trouble seeing the front sight, then try looking at the back of the slide or try watching the brass eject from the pistol. Both events happen just as fast as the front sight movement, but they are a bit bigger and easier to see. If you're still having issues with blinking, try going back down to a .22 pistol. It's perfectly understandable that your eyes want to slam shut. There is literally a controlled explosion happening 2ft. from your face! Once you find something interesting to watch during the moment the pistol fires...you'll stop blinking during the shot. USSA-1 |
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Quoted:
Excellent read with outstanding points and information. At work, we had a storage trailer that developed a leak. Something in the order of 30,000 rounds of Speer Frangible .357SIG was "contaminated". Since the frangible stuff doesn't use sealed primers and the like, this resulted in many dud rounds. I used the hell out of that ammo for training. With the frequency of misfires (you'd get about 5 or so in a 50rd box), you were checking your trigger control at the same time you were getting in malfunction clearance drills. Sounds like my first experiences in reloading for 9x21 Major. Some rounds good, some HOT, some weak & some squibs. Made for an interesting training day. 7mm |