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Jinn · 09-19-2007, 11:33 AM

Six parts to shooting:

Position
Grip
Breath Control
Sight Alignment
Trigger Control
Follow Through

The trick is doing ALL six consistently. You should be perfectly practicing, rather than just practicing.

If you mess up one of them before the shot, back it off again and try the whole process again.

Sight alignment and trigger are the most important, but you shouldn't forget about the other four.

A few tricks:

Position; have someone watch you from behind. Unless you're shooting Weaver or modified Isoceles, they should be able to see a perfect isoceles from shoulder to shoulder and out to hands. I have a terrible habit of cocking my head to one side, and they should be able to see that all your muscles are mostly relaxed. If you feel yourself "flexing" any muscle, STOP. You're going to introduce muscle tremors into your shot. Their inherent unpredictability gives unpredictablity to your shot.

Grip; this one is pretty simple. Make sure it's comfortable and that you're not getting grip marks in your hands from squeezing it so hard.

Breath control; you can do full lung, empty lung, half full lungs. Just breath until it's comfortable to shoot and do so. Don't hold it more than 3 - 4 seconds, or you'll be getting muscle tremors.

Sight alignment; since you can only focus on one thing at a time (damn you depth perception), you should be focusing on the FRONT sight -- not the target. A good drill is back sight, front sight, target, front sight. Once you reach the end, you should be ready to shoot.

Trigger control; like above, have someone behind the line watch your hands/gun only. They'll see which way you're pulling pretty easily. I can't do tip of index-finger shooting, even on a govt 45, becuase of how big my hands are. You need to find the sweet spot in your finger that lets you pull STRAIGHT BACK.

Follow Through; this is the one that screws me up most often. There's time between trigger pull before the bullet exits the barrel. If you move too soon, who knows where you're moving it before it exits?

A neat drill I do to work on follow through (and compensation) is called ball and dummy. With a semiauto, have someone load one or no rounds into the mag, and throw it in. After they hand you the pistol, ready and fire. If there's no round in it and you're expecting there to be, your partner will immediately see your compensation. "click", and you slam down the barrel a few inches expecting a round to go off. It's amazing how fast you can build up a compensation if its been a while since you shot. I have to remember it everytime I go out.

09-19-2007, 11:33 AM	#10 (permalink)
Jinn Lover - Protector - Teacher Location: Seattle, WA	Six parts to shooting: Position Grip Breath Control Sight Alignment Trigger Control Follow Through The trick is doing ALL six consistently. You should be perfectly practicing, rather than just practicing. If you mess up one of them before the shot, back it off again and try the whole process again. Sight alignment and trigger are the most important, but you shouldn't forget about the other four. A few tricks: Position; have someone watch you from behind. Unless you're shooting Weaver or modified Isoceles, they should be able to see a perfect isoceles from shoulder to shoulder and out to hands. I have a terrible habit of cocking my head to one side, and they should be able to see that all your muscles are mostly relaxed. If you feel yourself "flexing" any muscle, STOP. You're going to introduce muscle tremors into your shot. Their inherent unpredictability gives unpredictablity to your shot. Grip; this one is pretty simple. Make sure it's comfortable and that you're not getting grip marks in your hands from squeezing it so hard. Breath control; you can do full lung, empty lung, half full lungs. Just breath until it's comfortable to shoot and do so. Don't hold it more than 3 - 4 seconds, or you'll be getting muscle tremors. Sight alignment; since you can only focus on one thing at a time (damn you depth perception), you should be focusing on the FRONT sight -- not the target. A good drill is back sight, front sight, target, front sight. Once you reach the end, you should be ready to shoot. Trigger control; like above, have someone behind the line watch your hands/gun only. They'll see which way you're pulling pretty easily. I can't do tip of index-finger shooting, even on a govt 45, becuase of how big my hands are. You need to find the sweet spot in your finger that lets you pull STRAIGHT BACK. Follow Through; this is the one that screws me up most often. There's time between trigger pull before the bullet exits the barrel. If you move too soon, who knows where you're moving it before it exits? A neat drill I do to work on follow through (and compensation) is called ball and dummy. With a semiauto, have someone load one or no rounds into the mag, and throw it in. After they hand you the pistol, ready and fire. If there's no round in it and you're expecting there to be, your partner will immediately see your compensation. "click", and you slam down the barrel a few inches expecting a round to go off. It's amazing how fast you can build up a compensation if its been a while since you shot. I have to remember it everytime I go out. __________________ "I'm typing on a computer of science, which is being sent by science wires to a little science server where you can access it. I'm not typing on a computer of philosophy or religion or whatever other thing you think can be used to understand the universe because they're a poor substitute in the role of understanding the universe which exists independent from ourselves." - Willravel