Terrible shot!

t-astragal · Oct 23, 2019

Andyd said:
I

I shot UIT / ISSF pistol matches but a link in German might not help the forum members as much as this one in English .

Are you in Texas? We have a few bullseye match opportunities in the state. Houston, Austin, Dallas, Terrell, Wichita Falls, Amarillo, Midland. Maybe a few others. Come shoot with us.

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Andyd · Oct 23, 2019

I shoot accuracy only for leisure nowadays but just got some new Aguila standard velocity ammo for my Hämmerli 208 to try out.

When I introduced new shooters to the sport, I started them out with .22 l.r. handguns. It is much easier to concentrate on the basics, like grip, trigger pull, and stance, with a low recoiling firearm. Following the motto "a kid has to learn to crawl, before it runs".

RevolverGuy · Nov 2, 2019

Dry fire daily with noting but a white wall as your “target”.

Keep your eye focused on the front sight and try to make the trigger break without moving the front sight.

Try not to hold too long. The longer you squeeze, the more your gun will wobble. Recognize that the sights will never be perfectly still. You want to get the shot to break during what’s called the “arc of minimal movement”, which occurs shortly after you bring the gun up and settle into sight alignment.

Ask yourself where the front was when the trigger broke. Was it slightly towards 11:00, 4:00, etc.?

Practice this as much as possible. This will teach you better habits than burning 100 rounds a day and costs a whole lot less.

I know this sounds boring, and it can be, but motor skills are learned through repetition. As you practice this drill, your subconscious will learn how much pressure and movement are necessary to make the shot break and be able to apply it all at once rather than slowly squeezing. This is what Col. Cooper referred to as “the nudge.”

CodyK · Nov 13, 2019

I practiced almost every day with the snap caps and had an awesome member of this forum help me, and after a lot of fun shooting at the range, it finally all came together. A lot of my problem was trigger pull. I guess I was jerking it. I slowed everything down, to the point that it almost surprises me when it finally breaks. It’s like night and day. I went to shoot today, and shot the center out of my target. (It was only 10 yards away but it’s a start). If y’all would have seen me the first few times I shot, oh man it was bad. I thought I was aiming dead center and the shot was 8” low and 8” left!

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benenglish · Nov 13, 2019

Once the fundamentals come together, you can start adding things to the shot process. Most people try to add speed and they do too much and too early. If you've overcome that, stay slow for a while. Let the fundamentals become fully-ingrained habit. When you do that, you'll find a little speed sorta sneaks in all by itself.

Then you'll start deliberately working on layering on additional things, according to whatever you prioritize. That might be speed or better accuracy or movement or competition mindset or anything else you need.

CodyK said:
I practiced almost every day with the snap caps

And never give up this habit. I don't care how advanced any shooter becomes, this is still a key component required to keep old skills and gain new ones.

I'd also like to put in a good word for shooting with others, either practicing with friends or shooting in some sort of competition. Having your results visible to people who will notice or who are keeping score tends to keep you honest.

Keep up the good work!

Frank59 · Nov 13, 2019

Dam good thread here. I'm interested to know what caliber is best for training purposes only (basic accuracy training). 9-40-45? Open question for all our instructors and marksman!

t-astragal · Nov 13, 2019

Frank59 said:
Dam good thread here. I'm interested to know what caliber is best for training purposes only (basic accuracy training). 9-40-45? Open question for all our instructors and marksman!

Honest answer? A 177 pellet gun. There’s no better way to learn accuracy. 22 is also an excellent training tool. After that pick up a center fire caliber, doesn’t matter which one.

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TheDan · Nov 13, 2019

Frank59 said:
I'm interested to know what caliber is best for training purposes only (basic accuracy training). 9-40-45? Open question for all our instructors and marksman!

.22

Frank59 · Nov 13, 2019

TxStetson said:
I usually try to shoot with at least one eye open.

LoL

Frank59 · Nov 13, 2019

benenglish said:
Bring your readers when we get together.

Another good point I would like to hear about. When I use my readers I can see the sights well but the target at +10 feet not so much. When I go without readers I can see targets well but after about 100 rounds or so the sights get blurry. Any comments are welcome.

ZX9RCAM · Nov 13, 2019

I also have problems seeing a black/white target.
I use safety glasses from Amazon which are magnified (essentially readers).
I turn the target around and place 1" orange dots on it.
Works much better for me.

t-astragal · Nov 13, 2019

Frank59 said:
Another good point I would like to hear about. When I use my readers I can see the sights well but the target at +10 feet not so much. When I go without readers I can see targets well but after about 100 rounds or so the sights get blurry. Any comments are welcome.

Believe me, no one can see (full focus) both at the same time anyway. It’s not possible. So you don’t need to focus on the target your eyes know where you want to hit. Your task is only seeing the front blade and then “permit” the gun to go off.

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Frank59 · Nov 13, 2019

ZX9RCAM said:
I bought shooting glasses with magnified lenses.
Now my sights are clear.

I just saw your post above.....Will check amazon for magnified shooting glasses

ZX9RCAM · Nov 13, 2019

Frank59 said:
I'm going to look into this. Where did you get yours?

Here is one....

Link not working.

Google Amazon magnified shooting glasses.

Frank59 · Nov 13, 2019

ZX9RCAM said:
Here is one....

Link not working.

Google Amazon magnified shooting glasses.

What magnification did you go with Cam? 1.75?

benenglish · Nov 13, 2019

t-astragal said:
So you don’t need to focus on the target your eyes know where you want to hit.

QFT.

There are any number of exercises that can be used to help students understand they need to trust the natural way their eye/brain connection works. Still, it's counterintuitive. People hear "Just look at the front sight and don't worry that the target is blurry" and they can't process it. They're trying to put holes in the target, to interact with the target. So, it's entirely natural to want to look at the place where you're trying to produce results.

Shooters who even realize they need to overcome that instinct are far more rare than they should be. That's understandable. What's not understandable is how few instructors put sufficient emphasis on this.

benenglish · Nov 13, 2019

Frank59 said:
When I use my readers I can see the sights well but the target at +10 feet not so much. ... Any comments are welcome.

What comment needs to be made?

Sharp front sight + blurry target + acceptance that this is the way things work == good hits.

Yeah, OK, there's a lot more to this. As one small example: How do you pick a spot to aim if the target is blurry? We could spend an hour on that, working through how to best combine the sighting technology atop your firearm, your mindset, your goals, your venue, and a host of other things.

For the brevity desirable online, though, the simple equation above is good enough. When it comes to fundamental marksmanship, it's OK if the target is blurry but it's not OK for the front sight to be blurry.

ZX9RCAM · Nov 13, 2019

Frank59 said:
What magnification did you go with Cam? 1.75?

Do you use readers already?

If you don't know what you need, walk in to a drugstore, or someplace that sells them, and try them out.

I have bought 1.0, and 1.5.

Wildcat Diva · Nov 13, 2019

benenglish said:
QFT.

There are any number of exercises that can be used to help students understand they need to trust the natural way their eye/brain connection works. Still, it's counterintuitive. People hear "Just look at the front sight and don't worry that the target is blurry" and they can't process it. They're trying to put holes in the target, to interact with the target. So, it's entirely natural to want to look at the place where you're trying to produce results.

Shooters who even realize they need to overcome that instinct are far more rare than they should be. That's understandable. What's not understandable is how few instructors put sufficient emphasis on this.

So, when I shoot with both eyes open, focusing on the front sight, I see two rear sight pictures, and the right one of those is the true one. I see two blurry targets, and the left picture is the true one. I’ve had to learn that. Isn’t that something?

benenglish · Nov 13, 2019

Wildcat Diva said:
Isn’t that something?

Absolutely. Two-eye shooting is a subject all by itself and congrats to you for being open to understanding it.

Cody, however, is working on the most basic principles. Already in this thread, t-astragal has pointed out the use of occlusion of the off eye when learning formal, traditional target shooting. I have no problem telling people that I nearly always shoot with two eyes open but when I'm teaching someone new or when I'm trying to precisely place shots on a bullseye target, my left eye can't see my sights or target because there's an occluder in front of it.

I think that's the right way to start learning to shoot a pistol.

Oddly, I find that transitioning to using both eyes is easier if you start this way. I haven't quite figured out why, though.

Terrible shot!

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