Trigger control with speed--advice for a newbie?

[Tom C]

Some years ago, Massad Ayoob wrote "Stress Fire". One point he made was that, if you practice under stress then when you have to shoot under stress basically the stress is reduced or gone. His point was to never "practice" but always shoot for something. Every hit outside the "A" zone costs you $0.50 or $1.00...Shoot with a friend and loser buys lunch...make practice cost..You will find it de-stresses that nasty starting buzzer.

Wow, I really would be $broke$. Lol. I use par times on drill when i am working on speed.

It is hard to equal match stress. I feel i need to add some stress.

Steve Anderson had his ex-wife flash him at the timer beep. Does that add a "match stress" factor or does it just teach you to keep doing what you need to do despite distractions?

Actually Mr.Ayoobs point of making practice cost was geared more toward real world shooting. I stole it and used in in my practice for matches and just trying to get better at controlling my shots. I admit that, each time I hear and react to the timer, my adrenallin pops throught the roof.

[Nimitz]

I got into this sport last Jan and I train 3x/wk plus 2 matches a month. Last month, after 13 straight months of completely ignoring time and speed I 've started to focus on the speed aspects of the sport and pulled out my PACT timer for training. Funny thing happened during the last year .. I got fast without 'trying'. I did a 5 yd draw and fire one shot drill just to get a baseline ... My time ave was 1.05 secs with production div equip. I never would have believed that was were I was.

Bottom line: the ONLY thing that matters at this point is accuracy ... 90-95% As, period ...

Stick itch it, it wil happen

[Sleepswithdogs]

You didn't say what pistol you are using. Many pistols can be improved considerably and still be in stock/production classes. There are improvements to triggers and reduction in recoil springs that can make significant differences in the way a pistol shoots.

IMO a stock Glock leave a lot to be desired, yet with a new trigger bar, some different trigger and recoil springs they are very nice shooting. If you are using a G, I would suggest a lightened and longer tipped SS striker to accompany the lighter striker spring if you aren't already using them.

Something like the $0.25 trigger job that can be found on youtube, and also what I call the $0.50 trigger job ( the addition of aligning the cruciform) also makes a very big improvement.

Of course, the importance of increasing your grip and overall strength as mentioned by previous posters, can not be understated. Pushups and pullups are ideal exercises for increasing upper body strength. If you have access to a gym, all the better. Free weights, using less reps and more weight will make a rapid increase in power/strength. Lighter weight with more reps builds endurance/strength but, IMO, is not as beneficial for this sport as the former.

i remember back when I first started shooting pistol, I had a friend that got me into it. He was about 5'6" and weighed around 240# an auto mechanic, very strong guy with a professional grip, I will never forget, when he shot my .45 it never moved in his hands. For me it was a process of bringing the barrel back on target after every shot, but for him, it was like he was shooting a .22 That 1/2 second or so it takes to recover the target on every shot sure adds up by the end of a stage.

Lastly, with Homeland Security buying 1.6 Billion rounds of ammunition, along with the civilian hording that is currently going on, I don't know about your area but here any ammo or components are extremely hard to come by, so the importance of dry fire practice grows even larger.

Tar

Edited March 17, 2013 by Sleepswithdogs

[meshugunner]

Grip strength training pays off big in all sorts of ways not just shooting. Even small gains will bring big benefits. If your muscles are working near their limit it's very hard to have good form. These days, most people, men and women, have underdeveloped hand strength. Not saying that this alone will make anyone into an ace but it's an easy thing to improve and well worth it. I highly recommend reading the grip strength/ recoil control thread.