Skywalker Posted October 25, 2004 Share Posted October 25, 2004 I had this enlightening experience yesterday on the range. I was there, training to call my shots because I am still not able to do it 100% of the time. I was shooting 8" paper plates @ 15m, since I really need to shoot steel without waiting for the feedback "ding", and thought this exercise would have helped me to call my shots. I was half-way through the session, when I started shooting by habit (if you read THE Book, you'll know what does this mean). As soon as I realized it, I also realized where my biggest problem lay: I was not calling some shots because as soon as I got a clear sight picture in the plate center, before I even started to pull the trigger, my eyes were leading to the next plate. I can recall, after having stopped, this vivid memory of myself pulling the trigger on a plate while moving my eyes away from it onto the next one. It looked like I was voluntarily looking away from the shot. I then heard Obi Wan Kenobi's voice (or was it BE's one?) through the earmuffs telling me "visual patience, do you remeber this? Followthrough, do you know that? Here they mean staying with the front sight until the shot breaks". Having realized this, I went back to staying with the front sight until the shot broke: then, I was consistently capable of hitting all 5 plates in the low 4s, with first hit in about 1.5 secs. I guess now I know what I have to look for when I'm missing the targets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnshapiro Posted October 25, 2004 Share Posted October 25, 2004 Yup. Couldn't agree more. I find that my shots go exactly where I'm looking. However, I'm not always looking at the spot on the target I want to hit I overshot a target a match recently with my eyes on a transition. The bullet hit the dirt exactly where I was looking. I gotta work on it too. Joel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mas Posted October 25, 2004 Share Posted October 25, 2004 I'm new, but I've been paying a lot of attention to visual patience....I definitely know when I am not employing it, that's for sure....in practice, I do fine and am calling most of my shots....but upon mentally reviewing a match I shot yesterday, I realized that I wasn't seeing the sights on follow up shots for close targets....when I though about it, I realized that I was looking for bullet holes (which I almost never do in practice) and occasionally my eyes went to the next target before the shot broke. Great learning experience..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted October 25, 2004 Share Posted October 25, 2004 Skywalker, It is pretty cool when you "get it". And, your last sentence seaks volumns!!! I guess now I know what I have to look for when I'm missing the targets. There is...by far...the biggest clue. Missing is a DEAD GIVEAWAY. I see it all the time. Unless the gun is broken...it is impossible to miss when the sights are on the target...as the bullet leaves the barrel. Simple. For those that miss...and swear up and down that the sights were on target... Mako Mozo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulW Posted October 25, 2004 Share Posted October 25, 2004 I often judge my performance at a match to how well "my vision" was for the day. Usually good vision days equal good results. Never do bad vision days equal good results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Ankeny Posted October 25, 2004 Share Posted October 25, 2004 We all have countless experiences we could share when it comes to visual patience. We had a club level match yesterday and the classifier was the El Pres. I told a couple of my buddies I was going to go into warp drive and go for broke. I spun around, fumbled the draw (tension) then started shooting. I had a crap reload (trying) and when the last shot was fired I had 5.03 seconds on the clock. The targets told the tale, 3 alpha, 3 charlies, 3 deltas and 3 misses. The deltas and most charlies were on the right side of the target, shooting left to right. At day's end I shot the El Pres. over at a relaxed pace. Buzzer went off, had the same miserable draw, shot the targets calling each and every round, performed a less than stellar reload, then shot the last six calling all of the shots. I knew the shots were there. This time I had a 5.28 second run down three. There is a lesson in there somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmitz Posted October 31, 2004 Share Posted October 31, 2004 There's a lesson I can learn from this topic esp. since I left a local match today with five misses, all due to Visual Impatience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalmas Posted November 1, 2004 Share Posted November 1, 2004 Unless the gun is broken...it is impossible to miss when the sights are on the target...as the bullet leaves the barrel. Before I started to put a small piece of tape on my glasses I would have 3 sets of sights and targets if I used both eyes and I'm dead sure that I always had at least one set on target during every miss I've shot... just not the correct one all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chp5 Posted November 1, 2004 Share Posted November 1, 2004 Unless the gun is broken...it is impossible to miss when the sights are on the target...as the bullet leaves the barrel. Before I started to put a small piece of tape on my glasses I would have 3 sets of sights and targets if I used both eyes and I'm dead sure that I always had at least one set on target during every miss I've shot... just not the correct one all the time. You're not alone on that type of vision! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
short_round Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 There's a lesson I can learn from this topic esp. since I left a local match today with five misses, all due to Visual Impatience This reminds me of something I was going through in practice today. Even though I had the patience to wait for the sight to become what I wanted to see before I let my next shot go, I certainly wasn't waiting patiently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 Even though I had the patience to wait for the sight to become what I wanted to see before I let my next shot go, I certainly wasn't waiting patiently. That sounds like a technique issue that might need to be addressed? If you are having a lot of "down time" before the sights get to where you want them, perhaps a look into the grip and stance is in order? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmitz Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 That sounds like a technique issue that might need to be addressed? If you are having a lot of "down time" before the sights get to where you want them, perhaps a look into the grip and stance is in order?In addition to Visual Impatience, this seems to be a good advice for me! esp. grip&muscle memory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
short_round Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 If you are having a lot of "down time" before the sights get to where you want them, perhaps a look into the grip and stance is in order? It's a long sad story that started with the slide on my open gun cracking so now it's being fixed. In the meantime I'm shooting limited for the first time in 5 months. After dusting off the .40 toolhead and finally finding the .40 conversion kit at the bottom of a drawer I'm ready to start making .40 ammo again. I load a few of these and chrono them at 176 pf. oops. Those loads are what I shot all this weekend. Basically, you're right. I use a more neutral grip pressure shooting open which doesn't work to well with 176pf limited. I have to learn to shoot limited again. ... I miss my dot and compensators Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 That sounds about right. Might be time for some of the Timing Drills that Burkett has in the tips section of his site? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
short_round Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 That sounds about right. Might be time for some of the Timing Drills that Burkett has in the tips section of his site? or another open gun Yeah ... that's the ticket! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 What's the challenge in that? LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 .... In my experience, in matches, the most eroded fundamental is followthrough - physical, mental, and visual. But I'm sure you know the three aren't different. So make the goal of your next match to see each shot finish. Wha'da'ya got to lose? be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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