Calling Your Second Shot at Speed

[peterthefish]

I'm struggling with my second shot going low.... It's not every time , but I have found that consistently it lands low C or high D..... Of course it's the equipment and not me lol.

Equipment solution - lighter recoil spring so your gun doesn't dip as much on recoil.

Kentucky windage solution - shoot faster splits so you get the second shot off before the gun dips down.

Technique solution - call both shots. You're probably letting off the second shot as you get a snap sight picture while the gun is still moving down from the slide closing - that's not the same as calling the second shot.

[Firefight5243]

I'm struggling with my second shot going low.... It's not every time , but I have found that consistently it lands low C or high D..... Of course it's the equipment and not me lol.

Equipment solution - lighter recoil spring so your gun doesn't dip as much on recoil.

Kentucky windage solution - shoot faster splits so you get the second shot off before the gun dips down.

Technique solution - call both shots. You're probably letting off the second shot as you get a snap sight picture while the gun is still moving down from the slide closing - that's not the same as calling the second shot.

I have the heavy recoil master in my STI now, I am looking to replace with a Dawson too less and 12lb spring...

I am working on calling that second shot, I get the sight picture and the. Tap, and idk if I am pushing the gun down or if I'm feeling the slide and tap the other.

[rowdyb]

every trigger pull gets a sight picture. i've found i'm faster if i am shooting "click click click" like a metronome than 'bang bang pause bang bang"

the reason this is was explained to be that when you shoot two double taps in a row you're hoping the second shot went where you want and that you're losing the front sight and needing to visually reacquire it before doing your next double tap on a target.

i find it easier to have my splits and transisitons be closer to matching if i have a sight picture for every triggger pull.

recently i found i was pulling my eyes and attention off targets too soon. i was trying to be fast and this resulted in basically my second shot on each target being a guess essentially. all cause i was trying to "be fast". i worked on an array of 4 targets in front of me from 7 yards to 25 yards.

i worked really hard on not blasting away with double taps on each target but giving each shot it's sight picture. knowing more what i was doing rather than hoping. building stronger visual patience. trying to be what i call robotic or machine like. just a constant click click click click.

and like we often find, it's paradoxical in that what feels slow or sounds slow when i look at the timer and my hf i end up being better off than a fast double transition fast double and so on.

[wtturn]

The first step is to realize that there is no such thing as a "Double Tap". That is if you want to get good and consistent hits on your second shot.

This past weekend at a Match, I thought I could double-tap

Charlie said it. You need to divest yourself of the entire concept of a "double tap". There is no such thing.

every trigger pull gets a sight picture.

Yep.

[JimmyZip]

The first step is to realize that there is no such thing as a "Double Tap". That is if you want to get good and consistent hits on your second shot.

You need to change your visual patience to observe and break two separate shots. The best test of this is to create shooting challenges that force you to break the "Double Tap" habit, by adding or subtracting shots required for each target. Such as shooting only one shot on each target, or 3, 4 or 5 shots per target. Doing this will quickly expose your double tapping habits so you can work on eliminating them.

I like creating 3 shot per target stages for matches because it immediately exposes the "Double Tappers" because you hear their shooting cadence as "BOOM, BOOM.............. BOOM". This is because they double tap out the first two shots then actually have to consciously decide to break a third. Verses simply treating each shot as its own separate event and being visually patient enough to allow each shot to happen at its own pace.

So good to use this as a drill. I think if you consistently drill in dry-fire practice one sight picture per shot break, it really ingrains not only shot calling and respecting the shot, but also the make up shot times go down. You can see on breaking that shot, you erred because you know where your sights were when the shot broke and you just line up and break again.

Edited July 31, 2015 by JimmyZip

[GunBugBit]

The Internet is good for something: finding people who will calmly discuss not rushing. At every match last month I heard guys telling me or someone else they should go faster. I think I can go a little faster but I'll do it on my terms and within my own accuracy parameters, not anyone else's. The scores tell me all I need to know about whether I tried to go faster than I should. Actually I don't have to wait to see the scores, I can see it as it's happening. The scores just confirm what I observed.

Edited August 4, 2015 by GunBugBit

[CHA-LEE]

Rushing and trying to "Go Fast" is vastly different than aggressiveness deployed efficiently as the primary means of doing the next thing as soon as possible.

Yes, some shooters need a swift kick in the ass to get them to put any amount of urgency in their movement or shooting. You need to perform shooting, gun handling and movement skills with aggressiveness. But that aggressiveness shouldn't come at the price of degrading the fundamentals, such as NOT seeing the sights lift on every single shot.

[GunBugBit]

I see younger beginners with athletic gifts being aggressive, showing that sense of urgency, looking like they practiced reloads a good bit. Maybe they are imitating the movements of top shooters whose YouTube videos they've seen. Some of the things they do, they should keep doing. A young guy who played high school sports and can really move his feet, should keep moving his feet like that. He has something I'll never have again. I can be fast for my age but I will never beat an athletic 21-year-old from box A to box B. On the other hand, I can and am beating some of these young'uns in other ways that count toward better scores. They will have to figure out what it is I'm doing if they want to beat me on a regular basis as we progress out of the beginner phase. Chances are, they will, and they will always be able to do things that take time off the clock that I cannot imitate. As my skills go into slow decline due to cruel aging processes, their skills will continue to increase.