Drills to improve Shot Calling

[ES13Raven]

What are some good drills (live & dry fire) to improve calling your shots?

[Smitty79]

Enquiring minds want to know.

[justpaul]

http://youtu.be/9q1XC8k-tZc

Best drill at 2:15

[Nimitz]

yep, that's the only drill I've ever seen to learn to call your shots .... it's what I use and while it is easily the single hardest practical shooting skill to learn, in addition to accuracy, it is also the most important if you ever expect to progress much past B class

[FWSixgunner]

I dry fire my DA revolvers one-handed against a white background. No aim point, just practicing trigger control, but it's easy to call shots against the white background.

I fully cycle the cylinder 10 times, swapping hands between each for a total of 120 (6-shot revolver)

[JulieTheCat]

That is not a drill. That's just him showing that he's good at something.

[CZinSC]

Two of my favorites are the Frank Garcia Dot drill:

http://pistol-training.com/drills/frank-garcias-dot-drill

and this one from Leatham :

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YLRxohRdIys

For Leatham's, you will burn through a lot of ammo, but it's fun. i have a piece of steel that is the size of an A Zone, so i put it on the target and put the target at 8 yards ( leatham never says the distance in the video ). It's easy to tell when you miss because of the steel. When i do the drill, if i miss going up, i go back to the start. I don't recall ever getting higher than 8.

[Nimitz]

what makes you think this is not a drill? You setup a target at a distance where you cannot easily see the holes (15 -20 yds or so). Then on the timer draw & fire 2 shots & immediately turn to the target next you and mark where you believe the hits are based on how you called the shot. Then check where the hits actually are ... more then likley you'll be very surprised ... keep doing this until you can call 10 pairs of shots accurately then move to drawing & shooting 4 shots and repeat the entire process ... you may have to slow down a bit a first until you start seeing everything that is happening when teh shot breaks .... you may be surprised to discover that you're blinking or flinching in which you need to stop immediatley and fix the blinking or flinching first before moving on or you'll never progress ... unless you are already an A class shooter expect to be doing this drill for a very long time before mastering it ...

Since shot calling is easily the most important practical shooting skill to learn, this can be easily considered the single best drill there is ...

[JulieTheCat]

Going fast and getting 2 hits C or better is the most important practical shooting skill.

The targets we shoot are huge.

[CHA-LEE]

A major missing link for most shooters if figuring out how to call their shots is knowing how displaced sights equal a particular on target hit at any given distance. If you don't understand how "aligned" or "misaligned" the sights can be in order to produce a particular hit at any given distance then you will never fully understand how to call your shots while shooting at speed.

When we are shooting and transitioning aggressively there is no time to wait for the sights to settle to a perfect alignment or on target sight picture to settle into a perfect registration. The sight alignment and on target sight picture is always moving in these aggressive shooting conditions. This means that you need to fully understand how much the sights or sight picture is displaced from "Aligned" and it still producing the desired hit.

The first step in this process is to setup 5 targets at varying distances. I like to use 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 yard target distances. Then use the rear notch to aim at the middle of the target and manually displace the front sight to the left or right until there is no more light bar on one side. Then cleaning break a shot with the sights manually displaced at all 5 distances. Repeat this process with the front sight manually displaced Left, Right, Up, and Down. Doing this will give you the on target hit data points to know how "Aligned" do the sights have to be in order to produce an A Zone hit, or a C, or a D, or a Miss at any given distance. Since every sight configuration is different (front sight Width, Height, Light Bar size, etc) the results from this testing will vary from one gun to the next. You need to put in the range time and testing to figure out how your particular configuration responds to this testing.

From working with many students on this drill, if you have standard size competition sights, If there is ANY light bar seen to the left or right that will usually yield an A-zone hit out to 15 yards, then start creeping into the C and D zones as you get out to 20 and 25 yards. The same could be said for the fiber optic rod in the front sight. Usually, if the fiber optic rod is contained within the confines of the rear notch from an Up/Down perspective, that will also yield A-zone hits out to 15 yards and start creeping into the C/B and D zones as you move further out. The first time my students do this drill its usually a huge eye opener in how good the hits are given how much they perceive the front sight being displaced in the rear notch. This also gives them confidence in pushing their aggressive shooting boundaries to allow them to break a shot without the sights perfectly aligned.

Once you perform the above testing to figure out how much sight displacement = A,B,C,D,M hit at whatever distance, THEN you can truly start understanding and processing the sight alignment and on target sight picture data your eyes are seeing when you are shooting aggressively. Without knowing this sight displacement data you will significantly hobble your efforts in trying to learn how to call your shots.

Just an FYI, I have probably shot 10K+ in ammo over the years using this sight displacement process and then shooting drills at these varying distances to "Burn In" what I am seeing verses what the hits are data points. So there is no "Quick Fix" or "Doing it Once and be done" associated with learning these sight displacement and shot calling skills. There IS a crap ton of work that is needed to be done to hone and perfect the shot calling skills.

Edited June 15, 2015 by CHA-LEE

[CHA-LEE]

I should also back up a little bit before we get the cart before the horse. The vast majority of shooters who are not currently calling their shots don't even KNOW what shot calling is. Calling your shot is the ability to observe the sights or sight picture AS the shot breaks to instantly KNOW where the hit will be on target without needing to look at the target to confirm/validate your hit.

The majority of shooters who think they are calling their shots but really are not are either seeing their sights before or after the shot but not during the shot. For a lot of shooters, they simply turn their brain off (stop observing the sights) as soon as they decide to pull the trigger because they want the BOOM event to be over with as soon as possible. Once the shot fires and the gun cycles they turn their brain back on and see that the sights returned to an aligned position on target post shot so they figure that since the sights returned to the target after the shot then they were also there during the shot. Blinking during the BOOM will also produce this exact same situation.

Then another significant group of shooters aim hard and call the first shot properly, but then simply row their finger a second time as quickly as they can assuming that their grip mechanics will return the sights back to an aligned state on target for the second shot. These are the shooters I call "Double Tappers". If your on target hits are congenitally an A on the first shot then an inconsistently displaced second shot then you are Double Tapping and not breaking and calling two separate shots. Its super hard for most shooters to understand that the top shooters are shooting two separately aimed and called shots in rapid succession on the same target. They think that you are simply rowing your finger twice at the same target and hopping that your grip mechanics and recoil management are keeping the hits on target.

[CHA-LEE]

Lastly, the whole purpose of Calling your shots is to allow you to perform the next task IMMEDIATELY after the current shot breaks and you call it "Good", "Marginal" or "Bad". When you Call your shots it allows you to do the next thing as soon as possible. This could be observing the sight picture to break another shot on the same target, Initiating the transition to the next target, initiating an explosive exit from the shooting position, Initiating a reload or whatever the next thing is.

The top shooters are usually gaining a significant amount of stage time on others because they are calling their shots which allows them to do the NEXT thing as SOON as possible. They are not shooting any faster than most others, they are simply doing the NEXT thing SOONER.

[ES13Raven]

Great insight Cha-Lee

[CHA-LEE]

Great insight Cha-Lee

Unfortunately reading about what needs to be done on a forum and actually going out to the range and embracing the "Suck" are two totally different things. Hopefully some shooters will take this advise to heart and actually go out and do it so their shot calling skills can be improved. But my guess is that the majority of people reading this info are still waiting for the "Skills Fairy" to stop by some night and magically grace them with improved skills with zero effort put into it on their part.

[Nimitz]

Going fast and getting 2 hits C or better is the most important practical shooting skill.

The targets we shoot are huge.

uh ... that's 2 skills .... and unless you learn to call your shots you'll never be able to "go fast" and have any idea of what your hits actually were ...

[Nimitz]

A major missing link for most shooters if figuring out how to call their shots is knowing how displaced sights equal a particular on target hit at any given distance. If you don't understand how "aligned" or "misaligned" the sights can be in order to produce a particular hit at any given distance then you will never fully understand how to call your shots while shooting at speed.

When we are shooting and transitioning aggressively there is no time to wait for the sights to settle to a perfect alignment or on target sight picture to settle into a perfect registration. The sight alignment and on target sight picture is always moving in these aggressive shooting conditions. This means that you need to fully understand how much the sights or sight picture is displaced from "Aligned" and it still producing the desired hit.

The first step in this process is to setup 5 targets at varying distances. I like to use 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 yard target distances. Then use the rear notch to aim at the middle of the target and manually displace the front sight to the left or right until there is no more light bar on one side. Then cleaning break a shot with the sights manually displaced at all 5 distances. Repeat this process with the front sight manually displaced Left, Right, Up, and Down. Doing this will give you the on target hit data points to know how "Aligned" do the sights have to be in order to produce an A Zone hit, or a C, or a D, or a Miss at any given distance. Since every sight configuration is different (front sight Width, Height, Light Bar size, etc) the results from this testing will vary from one gun to the next. You need to put in the range time and testing to figure out how your particular configuration responds to this testing.

From working with many students on this drill, if you have standard size competition sights, If there is ANY light bar seen to the left or right that will usually yield an A-zone hit out to 15 yards, then start creeping into the C and D zones as you get out to 20 and 25 yards. The same could be said for the fiber optic rod in the front sight. Usually, if the fiber optic rod is contained within the confines of the rear notch from an Up/Down perspective, that will also yield A-zone hits out to 15 yards and start creeping into the C/B and D zones as you move further out. The first time my students do this drill its usually a huge eye opener in how good the hits are given how much they perceive the front sight being displaced in the rear notch. This also gives them confidence in pushing their aggressive shooting boundaries to allow them to break a shot without the sights perfectly aligned.

Once you perform the above testing to figure out how much sight displacement = A,B,C,D,M hit at whatever distance, THEN you can truly start understanding and processing the sight alignment and on target sight picture data your eyes are seeing when you are shooting aggressively. Without knowing this sight displacement data you will significantly hobble your efforts in trying to learn how to call your shots.

Just an FYI, I have probably shot 10K+ in ammo over the years using this sight displacement process and then shooting drills at these varying distances to "Burn In" what I am seeing verses what the hits are data points. So there is no "Quick Fix" or "Doing it Once and be done" associated with learning these sight displacement and shot calling skills. There IS a crap ton of work that is needed to be done to hone and perfect the shot calling skills.

every class I've taken with one of the 'top tier' instructors they go over this exact process exactly becuase most people still do not understand what "proper sight alignment" means WRT Practical Shooting .... when I get asked that question my answer is always the same: "it depends" ...... on target distance, target difficulity & my current shooting abilities.

It has become very easy over time to spot someone who has not done what Cha-lee has recommended since they are basically using the same sight picture before breaking EVERY shot .....

[FTDMFR]

On Steve Anderson's latest podcast (dated 6/15/15), he describes at length a drill for shot calling. I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds really good.

[FTDMFR]

A major missing link for most shooters if figuring out how to call their shots is knowing how displaced sights equal a particular on target hit at any given distance. If you don't understand how "aligned" or "misaligned" the sights can be in order to produce a particular hit at any given distance then you will never fully understand how to call your shots while shooting at speed.

When we are shooting and transitioning aggressively there is no time to wait for the sights to settle to a perfect alignment or on target sight picture to settle into a perfect registration. The sight alignment and on target sight picture is always moving in these aggressive shooting conditions. This means that you need to fully understand how much the sights or sight picture is displaced from "Aligned" and it still producing the desired hit.

The first step in this process is to setup 5 targets at varying distances. I like to use 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 yard target distances. Then use the rear notch to aim at the middle of the target and manually displace the front sight to the left or right until there is no more light bar on one side. Then cleaning break a shot with the sights manually displaced at all 5 distances. Repeat this process with the front sight manually displaced Left, Right, Up, and Down. Doing this will give you the on target hit data points to know how "Aligned" do the sights have to be in order to produce an A Zone hit, or a C, or a D, or a Miss at any given distance. Since every sight configuration is different (front sight Width, Height, Light Bar size, etc) the results from this testing will vary from one gun to the next. You need to put in the range time and testing to figure out how your particular configuration responds to this testing.

From working with many students on this drill, if you have standard size competition sights, If there is ANY light bar seen to the left or right that will usually yield an A-zone hit out to 15 yards, then start creeping into the C and D zones as you get out to 20 and 25 yards. The same could be said for the fiber optic rod in the front sight. Usually, if the fiber optic rod is contained within the confines of the rear notch from an Up/Down perspective, that will also yield A-zone hits out to 15 yards and start creeping into the C/B and D zones as you move further out. The first time my students do this drill its usually a huge eye opener in how good the hits are given how much they perceive the front sight being displaced in the rear notch. This also gives them confidence in pushing their aggressive shooting boundaries to allow them to break a shot without the sights perfectly aligned.

Once you perform the above testing to figure out how much sight displacement = A,B,C,D,M hit at whatever distance, THEN you can truly start understanding and processing the sight alignment and on target sight picture data your eyes are seeing when you are shooting aggressively. Without knowing this sight displacement data you will significantly hobble your efforts in trying to learn how to call your shots.

Just an FYI, I have probably shot 10K+ in ammo over the years using this sight displacement process and then shooting drills at these varying distances to "Burn In" what I am seeing verses what the hits are data points. So there is no "Quick Fix" or "Doing it Once and be done" associated with learning these sight displacement and shot calling skills. There IS a crap ton of work that is needed to be done to hone and perfect the shot calling skills.

every class I've taken with one of the 'top tier' instructors they go over this exact process exactly becuase most people still do not understand what "proper sight alignment" means WRT Practical Shooting .... when I get asked that question my answer is always the same: "it depends" ...... on target distance, target difficulity & my current shooting abilities.

It has become very easy over time to spot someone who has not done what Cha-lee has recommended since they are basically using the same sight picture before breaking EVERY shot .....

Yeah, if you're doing this right, then your splits should get noticeably shorter as targets get closer and closer. This gets pretty apparent on IDPA "running man" type arrays.

[Hi-Power Jack]

Great insight Cha-Lee

the majority of people are still waiting for the "Skills Fairy" to stop by some night and magically grace them with improved skills with zero effort put into it on their part.

I've been waiting for the "Skills Fairy" for six years now. :roflol:

[Nimitz]

try Ben's Accelerator drill or his "Close, far, close" drill. If the sound of that drill is a constant cadenace then ...."you're doing it wrong ..." ...

[CHA-LEE]

If you are shooting and not learning with every shot, then you are probably doing it wrong.

[Smitty79]

try Ben's Accelerator drill or his "Close, far, close" drill. If the sound of that drill is a constant cadenace then ...."you're doing it wrong ..." ...

I do criss-cross instead so I don't have to walk as far to tape. It still does the type of aiming change up.

[Miranda]

ok lets make a distinction.

cha-lee, you describe what I would label " shot clairvoyance"

and while that may be a skill one can grow with much practice

what you describe is well beyond shot calling.

When It comes to teaching you have to start with what your students already know.

and build on that. Then ask them to do what is the next step.

People who can't call a shot will not be able to anticipate where the sights will be.

miranda

[FTDMFR]

ok lets make a distinction.

cha-lee, you describe what I would label " shot clairvoyance"

and while that may be a skill one can grow with much practice

what you describe is well beyond shot calling.

When It comes to teaching you have to start with what your students already know.

and build on that. Then ask them to do what is the next step.

People who can't call a shot will not be able to anticipate where the sights will be.

miranda

Isn't what CHA-LEE described the textbook definition of shot calling? If you know what the sight picture and sight alignment were the instant the shot broke, then you should be able to instantaneously predict where the bullet will hit the target.

Although, in a sense, I guess shot calling is a sort of clairvoyance, since in theory you can see the sights lift and process that information faster (13ms) than it takes the bullet to actually reach the target (34ms, for a bullet traveling at 880ft/s towards a 10 yard target).

Of course, being able to call shots well and and pulling the trigger when the sights are actually acceptable are two different skills. I've gotten pretty decent at the first, but I still need a lot of work on the second.

[Miranda]

I once read that Rick Mears controled tire temperatures

by how he would slide the car in the corners.

as a car and race technique would you call it power sliding?

the control in a slide to decide which tires are heated more

is well past power sliding through a corner in terms of skill.

so while Cha-Lee does state what shot calling is and I'll quote it;

"Calling your shot is the ability to observe the sights or sight picture AS the shot breaks

to instantly KNOW where the hit will be on target without needing to look at the target to

confirm/validate your hit."

keep in mind I agree that is shot calling.

what he describes in his drill/practice....

is well past that definition of "shot calling"

he adds to the skill set considerably when he states;

" If you don't understand how "aligned" or "misaligned" the sights can be

in order to produce a particular hit at any given distance"

that is advanced aiming... it is useful no doubt and hard to do all by itself.

and he uses that skill to advance even further.... ooof

he goes on to add this next part...

"The sight alignment and on target sight picture is always moving in these aggressive shooting conditions."

what is moving? the pistol sights AND the shooter's eye.

if you expect to hit a target while you are in motion...

you must be able to see and understand the sights and how you are moving

to KNOW when you are "on target." this means you have to be able to predict

when the shot will be broken and hit the target.

shot calling will tell you, wait for it, you have done the clairvoyance correctly.

miranda