How do I Slow Down?

[dbxdm9]

Just started shooting IDPA and USPSA. Scores not bad - usually in middle of pack or higher. But... I can't slow down and ensure I get the correct sight picture before firing. Usually by the second or third stage I get better, but then it starts up again a few stages later. Once that timer goes off - I am off to the races.

What's the trick?

[Vlad]

No trick, just visual patience and that takes a bit of time to develop. Try focusing on the A zone and consider that to be the entire target, consider everything else a miss. That way you may slow yourself down a bit to make sure you have proper sight picture.

[Matt Griffin]

You have to start desiring to see a certain sight picture on every shot, rather than desiring to get a bullet downrange as quickly as possible. It's entirely up to you what makes your trigger finger break the shot.

H.

[BSeevers]

Your end goal is to Call Your Shot. This is to know exactly where the bullet impacted, instantly or as the shot occurs. This is the most important element in winning long term and becoming a great shooter

On the way there let the sights become your speedometer and don't shoot til they "let" you

[sifu128]

The best advice I can offer is make sure that you have a full sight picture before you pull the trigger no matter how long it takes. Speed will come in time and it doesn't take as long as one would think

[Flexmoney]

You will struggle with "slowing down" if that is what you are thinking of. That is a speed focus (be it fast or slow). Replace it with the true goal.

I saw where HeadHunter had this quote in his signature:

"Focus on the object, not the obstacle."

[Ron Ankeny]

Have you tried dry fire drills without pulling the trigger? I picked that up from Steve Anderson and it goes a long way towards training vision separately from the mechanics of the trigger.

[benos]

Also check this thread (about 9-10 threads below this one) for some good info on this topic.

Also check this topic.

be

[dbxdm9]

Flexmoney's advice did it for me.

Thinking a negative - "slow down", wasn't working at all. Instead, I replaced it with positive goal - "Call your shots".

Shot another IDPA match tonight - made a big difference.

Thanks very much to all for their help.

[Dave S]

Usually for me it's trying to "beat" someone on the squad or match. If I quit thinking of the competition and focus on my shooting it automatically slows me down. Amazing how "fast" I shoot when I "slow down"

[Corey]

slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

This is a problem for me right now as well. dveloping the visual patience to ensure the sights are where I need them to be before i break the shot. (this sounds better than what I had been saying-"im going way to fast").

[McAllyn]

I'm in the process of teaching myself to actually see the "A" in the A zone before I break the shot. Having a visual cue to work off of is helping me get my head on straight, and stop point shooting.

Mac

[Sarge]

You could take lessons from me!

Come on laugh!

Just like many have said. I have not perfected it by any stretch of the imagination but last weekend I felt I was shooting pretty well and decided to pick up the pace on the classifier. Worst stage of the match by a long ways.

Next stage I made a commitment to see my sights and call shots and guess what? I smoked it.

It can be done.

[Corey]

You could take lessons from me!

Come on laugh!

Just like many have said. I have not perfected it by any stretch of the imagination but last weekend I felt I was shooting pretty well and decided to pick up the pace on the classifier. Worst stage of the match by a long ways.

Next stage I made a commitment to see my sights and call shots and guess what? I smoked it.

It can be done.

that is what i need to engrain in my head. see the sights where i want them before i let'er rip. Im seeing the targets and my gun in front of it, but not clear enough yet...

[Chris iliff]

Flex hits the nail on the head. What Steve A. says really does it for me when I apply it. It goes....."Shoot "A's" at your natural speed." Until you figure a way to EXCLUDE thinking in terms of fast or slow, as Flex says "a speed focus", you are going to experience this problem.

[djeffers]

Usually for me it's trying to "beat" someone on the squad or match. If I quit thinking of the competition and focus on my shooting it automatically slows me down. Amazing how "fast" I shoot when I "slow down"

Kind of reminds me one of my dads friends said you can slow down and race faster (re: dirt track racing). He said some people would go so fast around the track that they were on the verge of being out of control, slow down, make the turns a little better, and your lap times should improve (very simplistic, but gets the point accross).

[shooter_rob]

I was told by an old shooting mentor many years ago that "you can only shoot as fast as you can see", if you don't see the proper sight picture, or achieve proper sight allignment, then you should not be firing the shot. He also added that the way to use this and improve overall time is to shoot slow as needed to get the hits, but move as fast as possible between possitions. A field course can be broken down into multiple speed shoots, so if you can plan the stage out in your head, set up, take good shots, then break down and explode to the next possition, you will see huge results.

[benos]

I do everything I do better and more consistently if I'm never in a hurry.

be

[SkyScrapin]

I do everything I do better and more consistently if I'm never in a hurry.

be

If I'm in a hurry, then everything I do is not consistent or better.

Preston

[Torogi]

I just started a few months back, first few matches took it easy to get used to the game especially 180 and watching the muzzle. then right after that i started picking up alot of bad habits, like pulling the trigger too fast (because of watching too many open guys going at it on the stage), too many misses, too many mikes just because of going too damn fast for my current skill level.

Then i learned about benos website and started reading threads. I read threads about watching the front site as it lifts, call shot, sight picture, trigger freezing (when going too fast), basic gunsmithing, too many things that is helping me now.

going too fast i think has something to do with adrenaline rush too. its a matter of controlling that. Excitement, adrenaline, just the mere focus and to be able to stick to your plan, thats a handful to handle in 30 seconds or so.

i remember when i started in taekwondo, i look at my senior black belts and when they kick, they kick sooo fast, so smooth and powerful. of course, as a kid i tried it too, but ended up injuring myself, or just bad bad form. then few years of training, i get the chance to teach kids about 5 and up and teach them basic principles and dynamics of a kick, i get to appreciate the importance of my basic.

so yep.. slow is smooth, smooth is fast. if you are a member of USPSA and get the front sight magazine, there is a good column about sight picture on the current issue.

[benos]

And yes, "you can only shoot accurately as quickly as you can accurately call the shot" is a good axiom to always keep in mind while shooting.

be

[CHA-LEE]

Once you understand and experience that you can see WAY faster than you can physically manipulate the gun, the truth of the situation will be blatantly evident. In order to call your shots you will ALWAYS be “waiting” to some extent or another for the proper sight picture for every shot. The more refined your shooting index is (Grip, arm position, stance, etc) the less you need to “wait” for the proper sight picture to appear which allows you to break and call the shot. The sooner you can call the shot, the sooner you can start working on the next shot. Refine your skills so you can do things sooner, not faster.

For example if Joe Blow’s shooting index allows the gun to consistently track the front sight right back to an aligned state post shot he can call the next shot as soon as the sights are aligned on the target. There is no time wasted on realigning the front to rear sight to one another because the gun is tracking consistently back to the same aligned state after every shot. If John Doe has a poor grip and he has to realign the front sight to the rear, then align the sights onto the target he has to wait for an extra step to complete before getting to a point where the shot can be called. Joe Blow is able to shoot sooner than John Doe because his grip has eliminated this single extra step of aligning the front sight to the rear.

The golden nugget in the above example is that I didn’t once mention that either shooter was doing something “Faster”, only “Sooner”. Doing thing “Sooner” by being more efficient may result in things happening in less time, but it really does not have much to do with trying to do it in a fast or forced manner. If you take anything form this post, take this. Don’t try to do things faster. Simply optimize things so you can do them sooner.

[Torogi]

thanks cha-lee for sharing your experience. im in the stage where i have to slow down and learn that perfect sight picture for the second shot. i was getting away lucky from the last match it became a habit to not call the shot after the first shot. this is one reason that is holding from switching to the dark side. if i dont shoot well on limited, how can i perform on the dark side (open). what foundation do i have, you know,. but now it looks like its two different division. anyways, thanks for sharing.

[Dancin Dan]

When I start going to fast. I start practicing with targets all blacked out except the A zone it makes me slow down and really call my shots. A added benefit to this is when you shoot full targets it's much easier!

[mra8541]

Just started shooting IDPA and USPSA. Scores not bad - usually in middle of pack or higher. But... I can't slow down and ensure I get the correct sight picture before firing. Usually by the second or third stage I get better, but then it starts up again a few stages later. Once that timer goes off - I am off to the races.

What's the trick?

Don't slow down but do get under control... Todd Jarrett has some good videos on YouTube about how to stop, shoot on the move, double taps and so on... Your score is based on time so don't slow down, just get under control... Practice his tips, I've shot with him and he is really impressive...