New Sights, Both Eyes Open, Follow Through & Other Stuff

[anonymouscuban]

Lately I've been really trying to focus both my dry fire and live fire training on getting my sight picture and alignment down as quick as possible from the draw. I've also been working on follow through and tracking my sights between shots too. 

 

I was really struggling with flinching and blinking in anticipation of the recoil. The last couple trips to the range, I wore ear plugs under my ear muffs. I also really tried to stay relaxed and pay attention more to what was happening AFTER the trigger pull. Not sure which one helped but I'm mostly keeping my eyes open during the recoil, seeing the front sight go up and then settle back down. I also noticed that the flinching has improved. 

 

One thing I do sometimes that is really frustrating is that I hesitate to fire and in that split second, I lower the muzzle a bit. I then fire and my shot is off several inches. I'm not sure if this has more to do with follow through or what. I don't do it often but when I do, it's really frustrating. I've really fought the habit I developed early on of looking to the target after each shot. Maybe this what I'm doing on these occasional lapses? Not sure. Gonna work on that at the range tomorrow. 

 

The other thing I did recently is I changed out the night sights on my SP-01 to a fixed rear black sight and a front fiber optic sight. Man has this made is it a lot easier for me to quickly acquire the front sight and really get it in focus. Huge improvement. One thing I noticed today during dry fire practice is that outside, in daylight, I'm able to easily focus on my front sight with both eyes open, getting a nice sight picture and alignment. However, when I come inside, I struggle with double vision, my focus getting lost, etc. I'm gonna try the tape over my weak eye on my glasses to see if it helps. I think it will because if I just squint slightly with my weak eye, I'm able to acquire my front sight nicely. 

 

Not really sure why I'm posting this. I guess just to share my progress with you guys. My wife is tired of hearing about it. LOL

[R1_Demon]

It sounds to me that when you hesitate to fire in that split second that you are still anticipating the recoil and lowing the muzzle a bit and that is why when you do finally fire you are off (expectedly).  It does sound like you are improving, which is great, but you need to keep up the dry fire practice and possibly have your wife (if she doesn't mind helping you) load some of your live fire mags and put in a couple of dummy rounds here and there so you don't know when to expect it and then have her video tape you (phone, GoPro, whatever) so that you can watch EXACTLY what you are doing.  It is one thing when someone tells you what you are doing wrong (and it is helpful to a certain degree), but it is much, much more advantageous if you can actually see (and review, several times) what you are doing...exactly.  I am actually looking at having my wife do this or using my GoPro to do this very thing.  So, I can review, over and over, what I'm doing right or wrong.  Everyone can always improve.   But I think that will help you and I think if she can load your mags and put in dummy rounds so that you don't know when to expect them, that you can see if you truly are still flinching and dropping the muzzle expecting that recoil (or trying to fight the recoil) when you hit the dummy round.  Maybe if you see yourself doing that on video, it might help you a bit better.

 

Oh and I definitely understand about the wife getting sick of hearing about it...trust me on this.  LOL!!!!!  You aren't alone in that boat!  LOL! 

[anonymouscuban]

Thank Demon. I think you're right about the flinch. It's funny because since this post, I started pushing things a bit at the range as far as the cadence of follow up shots. What I mean is that they don't allow rapid fire. So I've been testing to see what I can get away with. What I noticed is that when I fire a few rounds in quick succession, I don't flinch and I don't get flyers. Again, that reinforces that I'm flinching. When I slow fire, I have more time to think about the recoil. 

 

I'm going to take my wife to the range next time. I just picked up a SA 1911 Loaded Target chambered in 9mm and I want her to shoot it with me. I will have her load some dummies and shoot some video. I agree that this will help me see where I need to improve. I will post the video for the forums critique as well. 

 

Alex

[MemphisMechanic]

Work really hard on seeing the front sight stay stationary until the recoil lifts it. Learning to really truly keep the gun still (despite rapid trigger movement and the impending recoil) is the most important skill when it comes to shooting accurately.

 

You will develop a "post ignition push" without realizing it as a subconscious response to muzzle rise, and you are obviously starting to.

 

Typically when you push the rapid fire envelope at an indoor range, a staff member will show up behind you. If those rounds are all staying in a fist-sized group at 7 yards... I have never had anyone say anything. 

 

No rapid fire is actually "stop hammering rounds into our walls and ceiling" in most cases. All the more reason not to shoot faster than you can aim. Ever.  

 

Edited May 25, 2017 by MemphisMechanic

[anonymouscuban]

Work really hard on seeing the front sight stay stationary until the recoil lifts it. Learning to really truly keep the gun still (despite rapid trigger movement and the impending recoil) is the most important skill when it comes to shooting accurately.
 
You will develop a "post ignition push" without realizing it as a subconscious response to muzzle rise, and you are obviously starting to.
 
Typically when you push the rapid fire envelope at an indoor range, a staff member will show up behind you. If those rounds are all staying in a fist-sized group at 7 yards... I have never had anyone say anything. 
 
No rapid fire is actually "stop hammering rounds into our walls and ceiling" in most cases. All the more reason not to shoot faster than you can aim. Ever. [emoji6] 
 

Thanks. Gonna continue to work on these things.

I have gotten to know the guys at the range and I try to go midweek during the day, when there's no one there. They seem to ignore me for the most part so hopefully I can keep under their radar.

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