Blinking and pre-ignition push on first shot only

[Hammerdown77]

Guys,

I was hoping I could get some advice and maybe practice drills that will help me with a particular problem I have. When I'm shooting a multi-shot string, my first shot (either after the draw or after punching out from compressed ready) is pushed low and left (I'm a righty) and I'm blinking and losing the sights for the follow-up. If I shoot a string (two or more, or a Bill Drill), my eyes stay open for subsequent shots and I can see the front sight bobbing up and down. But if it's just one shot at a time, or the first in a string, I'm blinking. This has been confirmed by others watching me shoot.

I can put all my shots on a note card at 15 yards if I take all the time in the world to press the trigger, but it's the speeding up that is giving me problems.

Any advice to help me eliminate the first or solo shot blink, and the "NOW!" first shot push?

[Erik S.]

I think more dryfire practice. Also, before your first stage, visualize what the front sight does after the shot as well as how the gun feels and sounds. That will help mentally prepare you for what's about to happen. There's no easy fix to this. Just alot of dryfire and livefire practice. The more you shoot, the less "scared" your brain will be of the blast. I know YOU'RE not scared, but it's a natural reaction that's engrained in each one of our brains. Maybe some others can chime in with drills, but I'd say bill drills is a good one to practice. Be careful how MUCH you practice bill drills as they can lead to teaching the brain "speed over accuracy"

[jaredr]

i've found practicing with a .22 rimfire to be helpful with any of the drills that I'm working on - allows me to focus on sight picture & trigger control first, then when I've got the cadence and accuracy I'm looking for I can move up to centerfire ammo and add in recoil management challenge. also easier on the wallet - I can burn through 1/2 a brick of cheap .22 for $10, still cheaper than reloading (measured in $ and time), As to specific drills, woudl reccomend bill drills (as you've noted above) or any other course of fire where you've got at least 2-3 following shots after your initial round on target (so you can work on breaking the initial shot and then developing a cadence).

[Hammerdown77]

i've found practicing with a .22 rimfire to be helpful with any of the drills that I'm working on - allows me to focus on sight picture & trigger control first, then when I've got the cadence and accuracy I'm looking for I can move up to centerfire ammo and add in recoil management challenge. also easier on the wallet - I can burn through 1/2 a brick of cheap .22 for $10, still cheaper than reloading (measured in $ and time), As to specific drills, woudl reccomend bill drills (as you've noted above) or any other course of fire where you've got at least 2-3 following shots after your initial round on target (so you can work on breaking the initial shot and then developing a cadence).

Haven't shot the .22 in a while, this would be a good time to dust it off. I have a Ruger 22/45 to emulate the 1911 grip angle and control position, but I see Colt is coming out with a new .22 1911 pistol (made by Walther through Umarex), so maybe I have a good excuse now to buy it!

Getting into a rhythm is definitely an issue. Once I fire off the first and second shot in a Bill Drill, it feels like I get in the zone and I'm seeing the sights and the shots all impact in sort of the same place. It's just jump starting that on the first shot, rather than the third, that I need to work on.

[ParaGunner]

Sounds like you need to practice first shots. Put a target out 7-15yards and draw fire one shot then reholster and repeat as many times necessary. Make your target small so you have to force yourself to aim and call your shots,a 8 inch plate would be perfect.

[JakeMartens]

If you are blinking and have a pre-ignition push you have a flinch

If you are pushing your shots low left you are squeezing you whole right hand (all the fingers) when you are pulling the trigger.

You need to practice dry fire, most of your grip needs to come from you left hand, you hold tighter with your left hand.

You need to practice pulling the trigger and not squeezing all your fingers

The only way to work thru a flinch is to shoot and condition yourself. Same with the blinking

[Hammerdown77]

If you are blinking and have a pre-ignition push you have a flinch

If you are pushing your shots low left you are squeezing you whole right hand (all the fingers) when you are pulling the trigger.

You need to practice dry fire, most of your grip needs to come from you left hand, you hold tighter with your left hand.

You need to practice pulling the trigger and not squeezing all your fingers

The only way to work thru a flinch is to shoot and condition yourself. Same with the blinking

I have a flinch when I try to shoot quickly, on demand. Actually, after shooting this weekend, I noticed it's not there right away. It creeps in after a few magazines. I caught myself when I had the slide close on an empty chamber (thumb interfered with the slide stop) and I dipped the muzzle down and to the left as the trigger broke. If I slow down, and preeeeessssss, no push (confirmed this with a ball and dummy drill). So I need to condition my brain to disconnect the "get the shot off NOW" thought with the impulse to squeeze all the fingers in my firing hand. Easier said than done.

[dsmw5142]

I suspect Jake is 100% correct. I suggest MUCHO dry fire practice while concentrating on your sight picture before, during and after the trigger break. While you are dry firing concentrate on your trigger finger and grip.

Make sure you're not squeezing (milking the grip) with your strong hand and/or tightening the finger TIPS of your off hand while pulling the trigger. Trigger finger should be the only thing moving.

Make sure you follow through with a good sight picture before during and after the shot in live fire, just like you did in dry fire.

Practicing with a .22lr may help your flinch. You could also try double plugging with ear plugs and decent shooting muffs in live fire drills.

Ultimately, you have to make sure you're forcing yourself to keep your eyes open and watch the front sight lift and drop back down in to the rear notch. If you don't see it, your eyes aren't open. Work on it a shot at a time until you can see it and then switch to two shots at a time and confirm you're still seeing it. Don't worry about a target, in fact, don't put one up at first. Just shoot at the berm.

[Hi-Power Jack]

Guys,

Any advice to help me eliminate the first or solo shot blink, and the "NOW!" first shot push?

There's another posting today about a drill called "Dot Torture".

It sounds like a great way to cure our problem - I just printed

up five of the targets, and going out to the range this morning

to try it out - sounds like just the thing you and I both need:)

Jack

[Erik S.]

Not sure if this will help, but I'll share a little of my experience:

I was having trouble getting the sights to reset but I WAS seeing them. The post just wasn't resetting in the notch. I tried changing the grip strength in my hands gradually and tracked what was happening with my sights. I ended up having a good solid grip (but not death grip) with my left hand and felt like my left was actually holding my right hand tight as opposed to gripping with my right hand. In other words, My right (strong) hand was gripped but my left hand was actually holding my right hands fingers tight. I would call it a 70%/30% grip if I had to describe it that way. It might just FEEL that way since my left hand is weaker, but that technique allowed my strong hand to loosen up a bit and allow my trigger finger to be more relaxed, thus eliminating gun movement as I pulled the trigger. The sights also went from wobbling around to bouncing straight up and down. I also feel alot more relaxed when I'm shooting, more like I'm just shooting things with my hands as opposed to conciously knowing that I'm shooting a gun. I was always under the impression that you have to FIGHT recoil, but you don't. As long as you see the sights and your grip is allowing the gun to reset, that process will happen fast enough to make whatever split times you want. Yes, your subconcious does make you do a post-ignition push, but you can't really tell that when you're doing live fire. It is very hard to explain and perhaps the reason grip and SEEING the sights is so difficult to teach or learn. Bottom line, go to the range and play with your grip some. Then once you find what works, dryfire that way to set it in your brain.

This is my person experience only and it has made me a better shooter, so take it in stride. May not work for you. It's your mindset that allows your body to figure this type of thing out, not learning to DO it.

[Hammerdown77]

Made a little progress today. I focused on keeping my firing hand loose, just tight enough to press the trigger, and gripping primarily with my support hand. It helped me to envision opening my other fingers on my strong hand AS the trigger finger pressed rearward. Just focusing on this kept me from tightening my grip as I pressed the trigger. I soon found that I could sense my other fingers were relaxed and the only thing moving was my trigger finger, back and forth. This was zen-like and only happened a handful of times, but I recognized it when it happened.

I also doubled up on hearing protection, which I've been doing lately. This DEFINITELY helps with the conditioned flinch response. It's almost like someone else's gun was going off, far away, and mine was just moving in my hand.

Also, put three sheets of printer paper end to end, vertically, on my cardboard target today. So I had a tall, narrow white column as a backdrop for my sights. For some reason, this really allowed me to see what the sights were doing in recoil. I wasn't aiming at anything in particular, just the top area, middle, and then bottom, so I could devote most of my focus to what the front sight was doing. I saw how different grip force on the gun made the front sight return in a slightly different place. How moving the support hand heel up a bit, rotating it more forward, had one effect, and bringing it down a bit on the grip had another. I think for me, not getting so high up on the left side of the gun with the support hand makes the sight track straighter, but I'll need more testing to verify that. It's just something I thought I picked up on today.

I'm realizing that it is not only seeing that's important, but recognizing what you are seeing that is crucial as well. But you guys already know that

Edited March 26, 2011 by Hammerdown77

[ima45dv8]

Made a little progress today. I focused on keeping my firing hand loose, just tight enough to press the trigger, and gripping primarily with my support hand. It helped me to envision opening my other fingers on my strong hand AS the trigger finger pressed rearward. Just focusing on this kept me from tightening my grip as I pressed the trigger. I soon found that I could sense my other fingers were relaxed and the only thing moving was my trigger finger, back and forth. This was zen-like and only happened a handful of times, but I recognized it when it happened.

I also doubled up on hearing protection, which I've been doing lately. This DEFINITELY helps with the conditioned flinch response. It's almost like someone else's gun was going off, far away, and mine was just moving in my hand.

Also, put three sheets of printer paper end to end, vertically, on my cardboard target today. So I had a tall, narrow white column as a backdrop for my sights. For some reason, this really allowed me to see what the sights were doing in recoil. I wasn't aiming at anything in particular, just the top area, middle, and then bottom, so I could devote most of my focus to what the front sight was doing. I saw how different grip force on the gun made the front sight return in a slightly different place. How moving the support hand heel up a bit, rotating it more forward, had one effect, and bringing it down a bit on the grip had another. I think for me, not getting so high up on the left side of the gun with the support hand makes the sight track straighter, but I'll need more testing to verify that. It's just something I thought I picked up on today.

I'm realizing that it is not only seeing that's important, but recognizing what you are seeing that is crucial as well. But you guys already know that

Good stuff.

[Erik S.]

Made a little progress today. I focused on keeping my firing hand loose, just tight enough to press the trigger, and gripping primarily with my support hand. It helped me to envision opening my other fingers on my strong hand AS the trigger finger pressed rearward. Just focusing on this kept me from tightening my grip as I pressed the trigger. I soon found that I could sense my other fingers were relaxed and the only thing moving was my trigger finger, back and forth. This was zen-like and only happened a handful of times, but I recognized it when it happened.

I also doubled up on hearing protection, which I've been doing lately. This DEFINITELY helps with the conditioned flinch response. It's almost like someone else's gun was going off, far away, and mine was just moving in my hand.

Also, put three sheets of printer paper end to end, vertically, on my cardboard target today. So I had a tall, narrow white column as a backdrop for my sights. For some reason, this really allowed me to see what the sights were doing in recoil. I wasn't aiming at anything in particular, just the top area, middle, and then bottom, so I could devote most of my focus to what the front sight was doing. I saw how different grip force on the gun made the front sight return in a slightly different place. How moving the support hand heel up a bit, rotating it more forward, had one effect, and bringing it down a bit on the grip had another. I think for me, not getting so high up on the left side of the gun with the support hand makes the sight track straighter, but I'll need more testing to verify that. It's just something I thought I picked up on today.

I'm realizing that it is not only seeing that's important, but recognizing what you are seeing that is crucial as well. But you guys already know that

Boy, am I glad to hear somebody put it into words like that! Great post. This one should go in the bookmarks just because of how you explained it. I don't know if it just made sense to me or if it works for other shooters as well, but describing grip is so hard. You did a great job!

Now if I could only execute that perfect grip from a lightening fast draw and keep it that way throughout the stage!