Problem with training

[FlyinFMJ]

So, here's my problem...

I was able to go to a great firearms training class many months ago. We started at the beginning with gun safety and then moved to some dry fire drills and then progressed through the weekend to moving targets, then we moved while firing, and completed the training by tying all of these skills together firing around and through objects. Our instructor would describe the drill and then we would do it until we completed it. Doesn't sound like a problem, does it?

Thus the problem. I'm now back and go to the range, send a target down range and then start shooting. I try to focus on different skills, but it is just not the same, there is not a sense of anticipation or direction.


So, to the question...
What do you do to practice and how do you keep it fresh?

Any help would be greatful. Thanks.

 

[SIG_Fiend]

The only difference between an advanced shooter and a beginner is the level of mastery of the fundamentals. It's actually really that simple. The problem is, people psych themselves out by all of the self defeating mindsets, constantly doubting one's self, etc. The 2 most important factors when it comes to firearms training are:

-Perfect Practice Makes Perfect
-Consistency

Now repeat that 100 times and think about it until it makes sense. Seriously, it's that simple. When practicing a technique and attempting to perfect it, move slowly at first. Make sure you exercise that technique properly, no matter how slow you have to go. Once you start building consistency, push yourself to go a little faster. Keep up this incremental approach, and eventually you will build up speed and consistency. There is no combat ninjitsu at play with more advanced shooters (tactics aside), they simply have a greater level of mastery and consistency than an amateur shooter.

In order to become a better shooter, you need to have an intuitive understanding of the fundamentals of shooting a firearm accurately. Take handguns, for example. At typical pistol distances (usually inside 25yds), it is technically as simple as proper sight alignment, proper sight focus to insure this perfect alignment, and a proper trigger pull. In short, put the front sight in the rear notch, focus on front sight, pull trigger smoothly, you will hit exactly where you are aiming. Any deviation in impact is a result of incorrectly exercising one of the fundamentals. Once you gain a better understanding of how and why with these things, you will be able to start diagnosing on the fly, immediately knowing if you do something wrong (knowing when you yank a shot, have less than perfect sight alignment, etc). Once you are able to start problem solving it, then you can start exercising the "Perfect Practice" concept through various drills to start helping you build that consistency in exercising the fundamentals.

The last thing I'll say before this post gets too big is you need to have a good, consistent understanding of the fundamentals, and need to be able to exercise them pretty consistently. Everyone will still have the occasional flier, and that's fine as long as you have a relative amount of consistency. Unless you have this good, consistent base of fundamentals, NOTHING else will matter. Until you have this, I would not even waste time on run and gun stuff, incorporating movement, etc. Crawl, walk, run is the proper order of training evolution.

 

[West Texas]

+1000!

 

[VWGuns]

My first question for you regarding training is what is your goal? Better fundamental marksmanship? Defensive tactics / marksmanship? Competion shooting - what style / type? Sig Fiend has it right regarding perfect practice makes perfect. Start slow, get the basics, speed will come with time and practice. A very old refrain is that a slow hit beats a fast miss. While not always true in a defensive situation where you can get the bad guy ducking, it is a generally accurate. Set goals for your practice session. Basic markmanship is a motor skill, it requires repetition, 3000+, to set motor memory. Vary your target size, target distances. If the budget will allow, especially if you are a new shooter, get a something in 22 long rifle and practice with that. There are 22LR conversions for Sigs, Glocks, and 1911's that will allow you to put more rounds downrange at less cost than centerfire ammo, while using your same receiver. Once you have sight alignment and trigger control down, then you can work on tactics, whether they are tactics for competition shooting or defensive tactics.

 

[SIG_Fiend]

Also, the whole saying slow is smooth, smooth is fast is actually a bit incorrect. True, once you've built some muscle memory and gotten a little closer towards perfecting the fundamentals, or a technique, etc you will gain a little speed. However, to get significantly faster, you will have to actually push yourself otherwise you will never make any significant gains in speed. First you want to start moving towards mastering those fundamentals a little bit better. Once those things start to feel like second nature to you, and you find yourself doing them without thinking about it, then start to push a little faster. It's like running a sports car at the limit and trying to keep it there. The closer you run to your performance "edge", you will start to have more failures, more yanked shots, etc. That's fine, that's all part of the learning process. Push yourself a little bit more every time, then when your results start to suffer a little bit, figure out if it's your technique or fundamentals and then work on them (do more reps dry firing, practicing draw stroke, etc). Start to see what I'm getting at? It is a very mechanical and simple process, it's just a matter of paying attention to detail, do your due diligence by getting plenty of reps to improve mastery, push yourself again, learn from any more failures, go back to the drawing board, train, do it all over again........

An important thing to remember is, if you truly want to get serious about improving your performance and excelling above the average shooter, you need to start finding ways to measure yourself and measure your current performance level. Use those things as benchmarks. This will give you accurate data to constantly determine your current performance level and what improvements you are making. There are lots of shooting drills and non-shooting drills (dry fire, draw stroke, etc) that help with that. This is a good place to start:

pistol-training.com

 

[West Texas]

Go back to STEP ONE.

Get your mind right, shooting range is about perfecting putting a piece of lead on a spot on a target...and making it be the spot YOU WANT it to go on. Think through the shots you are going to take before you ever leave home. The only way you can get your body to "memorize" how it should be acting is to get those actions drilled in to your head first....then work on the FEEL of them...not hard, but it does take time!

 

[kaiserb]

You may want to check out the book "With Winning in Mind" by Lonny Bassham. I think you will find many solutions to your issues in this book.

 

[fm2]

Did you take notes during the class? That's a valuable resource for your practice. If you didn't, make some notes now and work from them. You can re-create the drills and shoot them for a baseline score for time & accuracy. Then you can work on them and measure your progress. If you check your notes you can work on drills or parts of drills that you had difficulty with. You can also re-create scenarios from real events and work on them.

 

[eliska]

Make it fun

I found I was in a practice rut. Spending time at the range and shooting lots of rounds, but w/o any sense of improvement or purpose. So a few guys from my office and I are forming a practice group. We'll pick out drills and do them together. Naturally, there will be some competitive aspect to it. But for most of us, that means we'll focus more and improve faster.

 

[FlyinFMJ]

Sig_Fiend - thanks so much for the info. It helps me get some direction and a process to follow. I checked out the site and there are a bunch of good articles and drills. I printed some to take the next time I get to the range.

VWGuns - Starting out, I was most concerned with the ability to protect my family from a break-in (as we have had some recently in the neighborhood) and learning how to be safe with a firearm and how to have them in the house with small children running around. At least they are safe in the house, my wife and I feel safe handling them and we are accurate enough at close distances. Now I'd like to become a better fundamental marksman. I like the goal idea and I didn't know that you could get a 22 conversion for a Glock. That would help the budget a lot. Thanks.

FM2 - I did take notes, some I don't understand what I was writing :-0, but most of it makes sense. It was the first time I had ever shot a pistol. I like the idea of tracking progress. Thanks.

Well, I wasn't expecting such a great response. I really appreciate you all helping out the new guy!!

 

[fm2]

Here's a good article by Claude Werner. How Should You Practice After Training?