Missing first target

[nagantino]

I have had this problem for quiet a while now....the problem is when shooting a stage, any stage, I consistently miss the first target but hit well on all subsequent targets. Sometimes I miss with both shots, sometimes just the one. I am a slow shooter, so slowing down even more goes against everything I am trying to achieve. If I shoot one set of targets then move to another set in the same stage, there it is again......... Micheal! Do I just accept I need to slow down and guarentee the hit. I can feel those seconds ticking away.

[Flexmoney]

Everybody falsely thinks "slow down"...that is not it.

See more! See what you need to see for each and every shot. Smoothly actuate the trigger while seeing.

Front sight and trigger press.

[392heminut]

I used to do a drill for this that helped a lot. I would set up an 8" steel plate at 12 yards that would not fall when hit. I would then set my timer for random start and hang it on my pocket or belt. I would then go through at least 200 rounds each session like this;

push the start button

beeper goes off

draw and fire one round on the plate

safety on, holster the gun and check my time

same thing again

I concentrated on making sure each round hit that plate, and nothing else. This was the drill that taught me to concentrate on the front sight for that first shot!

Edited March 23, 2011 by 392heminut

[benos]

I have had this problem for quiet a while now....the problem is when shooting a stage, any stage, I consistently miss the first target but hit well on all subsequent targets. Sometimes I miss with both shots, sometimes just the one. I am a slow shooter, so slowing down even more goes against everything I am trying to achieve. If I shoot one set of targets then move to another set in the same stage, there it is again......... Micheal! Do I just accept I need to slow down and guarentee the hit. I can feel those seconds ticking away.

Before "each" first shot, pause... just long enough to know you have paused but not long enough to start thinking or trying anything.

be

[Dwight Stearns]

Without disturbing the sights, press the trigger as soon as you see an acceptable sight picture. By waiting any longer the conscious mind begins to over-think the shot and the mind becomes more and more uncomfortable with the shot. The more uncomfortable the mind gets, the greater the probability the mind will just say "%!&@-it" and yank the trigger. (Result= pre-ignition push, shots go low and away from the shooting hand) It sounds to me like you may be consciously thinking about the first shots but after the first target you are pressing the trigger without conscious thought as soon as sight picture is recognised. I'll bet the shot(s) just seem to go off.... almost by themselves. Now you just need to let that same thing happen on the first target. If I am correct, slowing down will most likely just make it worse.

[Dan Hefta]

Welcome to the Forum!

[Mark R]

Try dry fire practice...alot! Print out a small USPSA target, stick it on the wall. Concentrate on draw, sight picture, and trigger...watch where the sights are when you hear the click of sear/striker release/hammer fall.

[aztecdriver]

I do this on occasion too. It's like the hands are driving without the feedback of the eyes - for the first second - then after that second they synch back up. It's like you are looking at your first target focused on the target and never transitioned to focus on your sight until the gun grabs your attention "lookie here -- "

What BE said makes sense when I look at it through that thought process. That pause will let your mind know on that first shot you should be looking at the sight.

[pjb45]

As Mike Seeklander once told me, "you have trained yourself to miss."

As an sometimes IT person, Mike put into analogy that works for me. He said, "during a match, you subconcious mind is running a subroutine. You have trained your subconcious mind with your concious mind to run that subroutine. You have to delete that subroutine and replace with one that works correctly!"

Mike refers to this as a training scar.

So a millon .22 rounds later I no longer have that training scar. I went from shooting around 50% A to 90% on many stages. A huge improvement. Mike gave me the plan and BE gave me the solution/technique.

BE offered a suggestion to rid yourself of that training scar. So you need to replace that old bad subroutine with a new one. That takes an overt effort to do it everytime.

Take a look at Mike's and Brian's books. They are well worth the investment.

[E K]

I do this on occasion too. It's like the hands are driving without the feedback of the eyes - for the first second - then after that second they synch back up. It's like you are looking at your first target focused on the target and never transitioned to focus on your sight until the gun grabs your attention "lookie here -- "

This is my exact problem. I just started shooting last fall. It seems to take me a target to get my mind focused. I will remind myself to focus on the front sight prior to starting but as soon as that darn buzzer goes off my plan goes out the window for the first target. I'm sure it gets better?

[aztecdriver]

I do this on occasion too. It's like the hands are driving without the feedback of the eyes - for the first second - then after that second they synch back up. It's like you are looking at your first target focused on the target and never transitioned to focus on your sight until the gun grabs your attention "lookie here -- "

This is my exact problem. I just started shooting last fall. It seems to take me a target to get my mind focused. I will remind myself to focus on the front sight prior to starting but as soon as that darn buzzer goes off my plan goes out the window for the first target. I'm sure it gets better?

It does. Doing some of the suggestions helped me. The biggest and easiest for me was dryfire. I played sax in my youth and I relate working on those aspects to learning a difficult part. You take the specific aspect, slow it down and break it apart, work on each part, put it back together, then increase the speed slowly.