Jump to content
Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

The most important thing


benos

Recommended Posts

I am trying to come up with the best sentence to communicate, what I feel, is the competive shooter's most important thing to always do.

By "best," I mean come up with a sentence that communicates the message, clearly, completely, and simply.

Most of you know I am talking about the importance of calling each shot.

It doesn't matter what your grip or arm position is, whether you are shooting iron sights or a dot, or whether you are looking at the sights or the target when the shot fires. If you know whether or not the bullet will hit the target without waiting to see the bullet hole or hear the ding from a steel target, you will do whatever you need to do next, more quickly. Whether it's shoot a recovery shot, transition, do a mag change, or leave a position.

If I said - The most important thing is call each shot. That would be a good sentence if you understood what calling the shot meant. If you didn't know what calling the shot meant, it wouldn't mean anything to you, because it wouldn't give you anything to work with.

If I said:

The most important thing is to know is if the shot will hit the target before it gets to the target.

or...

The most important thing is to know if the bullet will hit the target before it gets there.

or...

The most important thing is to know if the bullet will hit the target before it arrives.

They give you something to work with.

What do I need to do or see to know if the bullet will hit the target, without relying on hearing the steel ding, or seeing the hit on paper?

Depending on target size and distance, do I need to see the front sight lift? Do I need to confirm that the slide was pointed at or "on" the target (before the shot fired)? Do I need to see the dot on the target? Do I need to see the dot lift off the target. Or do I just need to see "brown through the scope"? Or in the case of an extremely close target, do I need to see anything at all?

Calling each shot and hitting each target, in a sense are related, and in a sense have nothing to do with each other.

At this point, this is my favorite:

The most important thing is to know if the bullet will hit the target before it gets there.

Please add your favorite single sentence that communicates the message.

be

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 105
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

The most important thing to see is where were the sights when the shot broke.

To me this asks a lot of trust from what I saw, from my sights. It never lies.

I think part of what BE was saying is that calling your shots is not limited to the sights.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unfortunately, it is hard to put into words. Recently, I've experienced true "shot calling" during or in the middle of some stages. When it happens, It's a mind blowing, eye opening experience. I'm in the process of learning to do it on each and every shot and it's taken me three years to learn how to do it.

I've been shooting with some really good bullseye guys lately and this is how I try to explain it to them:

Shooting one shot accurately is fairly easy for most experienced shooters. The only difference is having the visual patience to wait for that same input while shooting the rapid spits required in practical shooting. It should be simple, but.............. :sight:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I find "The most important thing is to know if the bullet will hit the target before it gets there." to be wordy. I like "Call your shot."

I read your reasons, I understand what you mean by leaving the recipient with something to work with. However, I think both answers will puzzle the recipient, so better to keep it short n' sweet.

Some personal experience with this, I thought "call your shot" was complete baloney and BS when I first heard it. Then I practiced a bit. Then I practiced a bit more. Sure enough, you can call shots. Who knew? Well, you knew of course.

My point, was that if "calling your shot" confuses someone, so will "the most important thing is to know if the bullet will hit the target before it gets there".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brian,

I think you can take it one step earlier and say you know where the bullet will impact before the shot is fired.

Then it's up to the shooter to figure out how they are going to do that.

JT

No, not really, before the shot is fired there are a number of things that can effect where it goes when it is fired and not have it end up where you thought it would. When the bullet actually leaves you need to know where it is headed, good or bad. Technically you can't know where the bullet will impact before it is fired, only where you would like it to impact and these two things are not always the same.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brian,

I think you can take it one step earlier and say you know where the bullet will impact before the shot is fired.

Then it's up to the shooter to figure out how they are going to do that.

JT

No, not really, before the shot is fired there are a number of things that can effect where it goes when it is fired and not have it end up where you thought it would. When the bullet actually leaves you need to know where it is headed, good or bad. Technically you can't know where the bullet will impact before it is fired, only where you would like it to impact and these two things are not always the same.

Sure you can Pat because you don't fire it until you know where it's going to go... of course you might upset that and call a bad shot, but I think you have to commit to making the shot go where you want it and not just in the general direction thereof.

JT

EDIT: Let me expound on this a bit... I think that most shots are either hit or missed before the trigger is ever pulled. You have to have the mental patients to do what it takes to make the shot and resist the urge to accept anything less than your A. 9/10 times I don't shoot an A it happened long before I plled the trigger. It happened when I either moved to far over a target or not far enough, high, low whatever and decided that was good enough and pulled the trigger. That Miss or C was earned before I ever went to the trigger.

So again, I say the most important part of the deal is the mental commitment to shoot the A and not be seduced by an acceptable C or worse.

J

Edited by JThompson
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The most important thing to know, is that you shouldn't really know anything while you are shooting.

or

Knowledge of the thinking mind must be transferred into intuitive thought, so you don't have to think about knowing anything.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



×
×
  • Create New...