Accuracy Drills for Steel?

[prickett]

I am looking to training techniques to help my accuracy when shooting steel. Generally, I just aim at the plate. But, I now want to aim small. The problem is that the plates don't have anything to aim at. Does anyone have training tips for how to go about aiming at plates when there is nothing to aim at?

TIA

[Loves2Shoot]

buy some paint

[ben b.]

Aim at the middle of the plate instead of at the plate. Or at that little wrinkle in the paint in the middle of the plate. And keep it there until the sight comes up.

[centermass]

The problem is that the plates don't have anything to aim at. Does anyone have training tips for how to go about aiming at plates when there is nothing to aim at?

Staple 6-8" paper plates to cross member or target stand uprights. Cheap and easy...

[inkballedtarget]

The problem is that the plates don't have anything to aim at. Does anyone have training tips for how to go about aiming at plates when there is nothing to aim at?

Staple 6-8" paper plates to cross member or target stand uprights. Cheap and easy...

i like this!! its the simple things in life!

[prickett]

The problem is that the plates don't have anything to aim at. Does anyone have training tips for how to go about aiming at plates when there is nothing to aim at?

Staple 6-8" paper plates to cross member or target stand uprights. Cheap and easy...

i like this!! its the simple things in life!

The problem with all these suggestions is that they get me used to shooting (aiming) at something that isn't going to be present on match day. What I'm trying to achieve is - when transitioning from plate to plate I can subconsciously be aiming at something smaller than the whole plate. Our plates have 2 bolts through them that would be good for aiming at, but are located an inch from the top and sides of the plate, leaving a small margin of error.

[ben b.]

The problem is that the plates don't have anything to aim at. Does anyone have training tips for how to go about aiming at plates when there is nothing to aim at?

Staple 6-8" paper plates to cross member or target stand uprights. Cheap and easy...

But it sure tears up the target stand uprights or cross pieces. It's better to staple them to cardboard between the wood sticks.

[sirveyr]

Practice shooting 4" plates instead of 8" plates.

[Wilfred]

4" plates and 8" plates = Fun to shoot

Edited September 6, 2011 by Wilfred

[CHA-LEE]

Here is a drill that will force you to earn your hits on steel. Manny Bragg showed us this drill in a recent class we took from him…..

Equipment Needed

Two stationary pieces of steel (Fixed plates or propped up mini poppers).

Two target stands with lath

Two paper targets

Stage Setup

Set steel 10 – 15 yards apart and out to at least 15 – 20 yards from the shooting area.

Set up target stands and paper targets so that the no shoot side is facing you. The targets and target stands are used as barricades instead of shoot targets.

Stand in the center point between the two steel and then set one target stand to the left and right of you at arms length. You should be able to touch the inside edges of the targets when standing in between them. Target stands should be set back from the steel about 15 – 20 yards.

It should look like the basic text graphic below. P = Plate/Popper, T = Target Stand, S = Start position.

P..............P

...T...S...T...

Shooting Area

Drill Stage Procedure

Start Position – Standing in between targets stands with one hand touching each target stand. Gun is loaded and holstered.

Drill Procedure – On start signal move to the extreme right side of right target stand and engage right steel with one shot then move to the extreme left and engage the left steel with one shot. Repeat right and left movement until you have 10 successful one shot hits on the steel. Only one shot can be taken from each side of the shooting area. If you miss the shot you can not take a makeup shot while staying on the same side. Only one shot can be taken from each left or right side when you get to the shooting position. If you miss you have to move to the other side before shooting again. Its important to move aggressively from side to side to minimize the overall time the drill takes. A perfect run with no extra shots needed and moving aggressively from side to side should take about 20 seconds to complete.

This drill works best when you have another shooter ROing you who can keep track of your total hits and keep you verbally motivated to stay aggressive as you are moving from side to side and not over aiming on the steel. Doing this drill will quickly teach you how to properly respect and earn your hits on the steel since every miss costs you at least 2 seconds in additional movement time from side to side. If counting up to 10 hits doesn’t get you sweating enough you can make it even more evil and subtract hits every time you miss. This drill can really kick your butt if you are not hitting solidly on all cylinders. This simple drill leverages many different shooting and movement skill sets which are directly associated with the type of shooting and movement we do in matches. So it’s a pretty effective skill test/workout.

[MTSCMike]

The problem with all these suggestions is that they get me used to shooting (aiming) at something that isn't going to be present on match day. What I'm trying to achieve is - when transitioning from plate to plate I can subconsciously be aiming at something smaller than the whole plate. Our plates have 2 bolts through them that would be good for aiming at, but are located an inch from the top and sides of the plate, leaving a small margin of error.

You are over thinking this. The change that needs to happen is between your ears, not on the plate.

Instead of thinking "put the front sight on the plate and press" try thinking "put the exact top center of the front sight post on the exact center of the plate and press". Do your drill with approx 6 freshly painted 8" plates at 15 yards and shoot the first run just like you were shooting each plate for a dead center group like you would on a slow fire target...very slow and very deliberate, perfect sight picture and slow squeeze. When you set the plates back up, take notice of where your shots struck the plates. If any are more that an inch or so from the center then repeat until you get nicely centered hits on each plate. This will drill into your brain the sight picture you should try to achieve for each and every plate without any tricks or gimmicks.

Now speed up the next run a little...and the next a little more until you find shots that get within an inch or so of the edge of the plate. When you reach that speed then that's your sweet spot for now. If you go any faster then you are going to start missing plates. Just like a dragster trying to hook up on the track. There's an optimum speed and if they exceed that they are just spinning their tires.

Just learn how to focus and get "tunnel vision" that seeks the exact top center point of the front sight (not the whole sight) resting at the exact center of the plate (not the whole plate). To increase your future speed you just have to learn to achieve the sight picture faster, not shoot faster. It's all in how you think about it.

Edited September 6, 2011 by MTSCMike

[dagger10k]

I like to try to think of plates just like paper. When you shoot at paper, you don't just fling a shot at it, you try to hit the middle of it (A zone).

Do the same thing for steel. I find that it doesn't take much more time to hit As than Cs on paper, and doing the same thing for steel should help reduce the number of makeup shots by a lot. That, and call your shots to a specific part of a plate like you would for paper.

(This is hard, I know. I can't really do it every time, but I am working on it.)

Edited September 6, 2011 by dagger10k

[kalaur]

Here is a drill that will force you to earn your hits on steel. Manny Bragg showed us this drill in a recent class we took from him…..

Equipment Needed

Two stationary pieces of steel (Fixed plates or propped up mini poppers).

Two target stands with lath

Two paper targets

Stage Setup

Set steel 10 – 15 yards apart and out to at least 15 – 20 yards from the shooting area.

Set up target stands and paper targets so that the no shoot side is facing you. The targets and target stands are used as barricades instead of shoot targets.

Stand in the center point between the two steel and then set one target stand to the left and right of you at arms length. You should be able to touch the inside edges of the targets when standing in between them. Target stands should be set back from the steel about 15 – 20 yards.

It should look like the basic text graphic below. P = Plate/Popper, T = Target Stand, S = Start position.

P..............P

...T...S...T...

Shooting Area

Drill Stage Procedure

Start Position – Standing in between targets stands with one hand touching each target stand. Gun is loaded and holstered.

Drill Procedure – On start signal move to the extreme right side of right target stand and engage right steel with one shot then move to the extreme left and engage the left steel with one shot. Repeat right and left movement until you have 10 successful one shot hits on the steel. Only one shot can be taken from each side of the shooting area. If you miss the shot you can not take a makeup shot while staying on the same side. Only one shot can be taken from each left or right side when you get to the shooting position. If you miss you have to move to the other side before shooting again. Its important to move aggressively from side to side to minimize the overall time the drill takes. A perfect run with no extra shots needed and moving aggressively from side to side should take about 20 seconds to complete.

This drill works best when you have another shooter ROing you who can keep track of your total hits and keep you verbally motivated to stay aggressive as you are moving from side to side and not over aiming on the steel. Doing this drill will quickly teach you how to properly respect and earn your hits on the steel since every miss costs you at least 2 seconds in additional movement time from side to side. If counting up to 10 hits doesn’t get you sweating enough you can make it even more evil and subtract hits every time you miss. This drill can really kick your butt if you are not hitting solidly on all cylinders. This simple drill leverages many different shooting and movement skill sets which are directly associated with the type of shooting and movement we do in matches. So it’s a pretty effective skill test/workout.

Ran this drill yesterday, just as brutal as the first time. It really forces you to move as quickly as you can, but to take your time and respect the shot on the steel. Each miss costs you about 2 seconds, so they'll basically kill your time in this drill. If you're not huffing and puffing after this drill, you're too slow, or REALLY fit :-)

[PrinC]

I see this as a very good drill that I will use to improve my skill in this area. I got a whooping yesterday at the range doing an all steel drill, using my newly owned G35.Other shooters had mostly STI's and one Tangfolio.I definitely need competition sights rather than the three dot sights my G35 has presently.