Is this a good idea?

[Nimitz]

Dec will mark 1 year in this sport for me and given that I only started shooting a pistol 1 year and 1 month ago I've been on a very steep learning curve doing Mike Seeklander's 3 phase training program. I'm reasonably happy with my progress but the one area I'm stil struggling with is shot calling, specifically I'm having trouble taking make-up shots when I call a bad shot. Just telling myself to do it isn't working so I've come up with a drill but I'm not sure about it as it may be negative training ...

So here it is ..l Set up one target at 15 yds and on the timer fire 2 shots. As the beep goes off my training partner will call out either "good" or "bad". When I hear "good" I just execute 2 good shots, if I hear "bad" I purposely misalign the sights on the second shot but still pull the trigger, I then take the make-up shot ....

If this is not such a hot idea please suggest some other drill to work on this skill ... Thx!

[Amerflyer48]

Would be better for you to shoot and have your spotter call the shot as it happens so you can concentrate on the feel of the shot and where your sights etc. were when the shot broke,

if you view your spotter calling your shots as "training wheels" while learning to call your shots by correlating feel of the shot with their call so you can learn to call your shots then it is an OK idea. then move to calling your shots out loud to have the spotter verify what they see and hear from you.

When the timer goes BEEP for real your spotter will not be there and you will have to become your own coach and make instant judgements and corrections,.. this ability will make you a much more competitive opponent vs. someone who has a rigid style and cannot or will not call their own shots.

John

[h4444]

Just shoot some Bill Drills, if you're having trouble with shot calling, that is a great way to work on it.

Shoot Bill Drills focusing on getting A's as fast as you can see the front sight. Then,,,,,since it is practice, PUSH yourself harder/faster (use a time/par timer). Find out where/when you start losing the ability to call the shot/see the sight. Then get repetitions to learn how to see and process the information that is available to you faster.

I wouldn't intentionally add sight misalignment on an audible que,,,,you're striving to avoid losing your front sight to call the shots, strive toward perfection, don't intentionally introduce a bad habit to improve.

Eventually what you want is enough repetitions so that you've basically reprogrammed your trigger finger to squeeze the INSTANT you have an acceptable sight picture. Once you have the adequate repetitions in and have trained yourself to "see", you WILL have a moment in practice of in a match when you engage a target,,,,,then as you're transitioning to another you'll realize,,,,"hey, I fired 3 rounds there because I had to make up a shot but I didn't slow down". When that happens and you are completely smooth, you've got it. It'll almost feel like you're watching the action 3rd person....

Good Luck....

Good question.

Byron

[Nimitz]

thx guys! I had a feeling what I had come up with was not the greatest idea ... I'll start incorporating these into my training plan ...