[leam]

The other day I went to the range to specifically to work on speed. I noticed a mental debate going on while firing.

Eyes: "The sights are on target."
Brain: "Are you sure."
Eyes check again. "Yup."
Brain: "Okay, keep it there and I'll tell the finger."
Eyes: "Will do."
Brain: "Hey finger, go ahead."
Finger: "Woo-hoo!"

This might explain why my shots are accurate but very slow. Any suggestions on how to make the process go a little faster?

Thanks!

Leam

[G-ManBart]

Try shooting at a medium distance (try 15yds) and intentionally throw the sight picture off before you shoot (this is done slow fire). Line up normally on the center of the target, then adjust it so the front sight appears to be solid against the left side of the rear sight, take a shot, see where the impact is. Then do the same where the front sight appears to be solid against the right of the rear sight. Then do the same with the sight picture maybe half as misaligned. See where the shots go (you'll be surprised). You're teaching your brain how far from perfect the sight alignment can be and still get a solid hit. You'll probably find that you don't have to be nearly as precise as you thought to get an A....your brain wants "perfect" so it's waiting for it before you shoot. In reality there never is perfect because you're moving all the time...it's just shades of less than perfect

[Duane Thomas]

Clear your mind. Do nothing consciously but watch the sights. Stance, grip, and especially trigger control, don't TELL yourself to do it, LET yourself do it. Fire the gun as fast as you can. Have faith that, if you watch the sights, everything else will happen as it needs to.

Conscious thought slows the mind so that, when you're firing at maximum speed, by comparison to slow conscious thought, gun and sight movement seems to be happening very fast. Occupy the conscious mind with watching the sights, so that it can't interfere, turn everything else over to the subconscious mind which is capable of operating MUCH faster, and by comparison gun and sight movement seems to be not occurring very fast at all.

If your technique is solid, in short order you'll find you literally can't outrun the sights, you always feel like you're waiting on the gun. Even with splits in the high .1s - which is about as fast as I can shoot - you literally can't accomplish the motor skills necessary to fire the next shot faster than you can track the sights and KNOW that every shot went where it needed to go.

When I'm doing it right, I have a sense almost of disconnectedness from the shooting, like it's not me shooting the gun, the gun is shooting itself, and I'm just a passive observer, sitting back and going, "DAMN, that gun can shoot good!"

[lugnut]

Interesting... I've heard a few shooters with similar issues. I on the other hand have the opposite issue... I often get a tad "impatient" and don't always get a sight pic that I should have! Now I will say that I can usually group shoot with the best of them in slow fire.

I think one of the biggest draw (no pun intended) to this sport (IDPA/USPSA) is finding the correct balance between speed and accuracy. I personally find it fun to shoot fast.. so I tend to prep and then pull the trigger when it looks "good enough" for what I need. But that itself takes lots of practice and experience. What exactly is "good" enough for an A shot? If you compete it also varies depending on the division you shoot in if you shoot USPSA for example. I know you should always go for As... but in Limited major it's not as bad getting a C as it is in Production... plus it depends on the HFs for the stage.

What I would do? Get a target and start at say 10 feet. MAKE yourself shoot as fast as you can while getting all As. You will find that you don't need a perfect sight pic. Then move to 15ft, etc. Find what you need to see at various distances. If your groups are all real tight and centered in the A zone you need to push it faster!

I do have a good saying that I've heard:

Action shooting requires you to trade off some accuracy for speed... but if you don't have accuracy you have nothing trade off!

[benos]

leam, on Sep 11 2009, 02:28 AM, said:

The other day I went to the range to specifically to work on speed. I noticed a mental debate going on while firing.

Eyes: "The sights are on target."
Brain: "Are you sure."
Eyes check again. "Yup."
Brain: "Okay, keep it there and I'll tell the finger."
Eyes: "Will do."
Brain: "Hey finger, go ahead."
Finger: "Woo-hoo!"

This might explain why my shots are accurate but very slow. Any suggestions on how to make the process go a little faster?

Thanks!

Leam

Look at the front sight with ALL of your attention like you've never seen it before. If you do that - it is not possible to think at the same time.

Train attention at home, or anywhere for that matter. Pick something familiar and look at it like you've never seen it before. Be aware of everything about it. Then quickly turn your attention around back to your own mind. And notice how you weren't thinking about anything while you were fully aware.
be

[Taildraggerdave]

Practice at home until you can line up the sights on target with your eyes closed. When you open your eyes, the sights should be on target...lamp shade, painting, whatever you have in your safe practice area. Then, when you get to the range, practice that again on targets. When your index and natural point of aim are conditioned, you won't have to double check your sight alignment.

Take care,
Dave


PS--- Buy Brian's book. All this stuff is in there

[kaiserb]

A good drill that helped me get over the "It's not perfect, don't pull the trigger" syndrome was the tried and true Bill Drill. After a few days of practice I was able to watch the front sight, get a good view of the guns timing, and speed up my overall splits.

I can now do a Bill Drill in about 2.3 - 2.7 seconds with 0 down. I know that is a bit slow for some, but it is quick for me, last year my speed on the the 0 down Bill Drill was around 4-5 seconds.

[Duane Thomas]

It's hard to imagine any drill that could allow a person to practice getting the sights tracking correctly, watching the sights and calling the shot, all when firing fast, than the Bill Drill.

[G-ManBart]

Duane Thomas, on Sep 12 2009, 02:11 PM, said:

It's hard to imagine any drill that could allow a person to practice getting the sights tracking correctly, watching the sights and calling the shot, all when firing fast, than the Bill Drill.

Yep. Whenever I feel just a little off in timing or sight tracking I run a few Bill Drills and just let them happen...always seems to settle things down even though I'm shooting fast.

The only negative thing about them is that it's easy to get your gun way too hot....a good argument to use when justifying that identical backup gun! R,

[leam]

When I finish working on Maggia, she'll be the back up to Boopsie.

Went to the range today and worked the plate rack at about 10 paces. Started slow, really tried to become one with the front sight. Seems like I did a little better but it's still a long way off. Did the "shoot when sights are not perfectly aligend" thing and that was fun. Most of the shots hit fine.

Thanks guys! Some good stuff to practice. Bill drills are probably next. Also some dry-fire practice at home.

Leam