Transition Drills

[shws]

Hey guys,

I am looking to pick up time on my transitions. Just wanted to get a feeler out on what drills(live or dry) you guys found helped you most improve your transition times. Also, if you have tips you found useful when working on them.

Thanks in advance,

Sam

[my00wrx1]

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=109493

[FTDMFR]

The dry fire drill that helped my transitions the most was a Blake Drill using a metronome.

Set up three targets, turn on the metronome, and put two on each target, one shot per click.

Start slow, say 60 bpm, so there's plenty of time to confidently call the last shot on a target, snap your eyes to the next target, drive the gun there, and then call the first shot on that target.

Gradually increase the tempo and repeat. Don't cheat on the shot calling. And practice in both directions.

This drill is how I learned how to move my eyes first and then the gun.

[MemphisMechanic]

The dry fire drill that helped my transitions the most was a Blake Drill using a metronome.

Set up three targets, turn on the metronome, and put two on each target, one shot per click.

Start slow, say 60 bpm, so there's plenty of time to confidently call the last shot on a target, snap your eyes to the next target, drive the gun there, and then call the first shot on that target.

Gradually increase the tempo and repeat. Don't cheat on the shot calling. And practice in both directions.

This drill is how I learned how to move my eyes first and then the gun.

That sounds like a great drill!

[cooper74]

The dry fire drill that helped my transitions the most was a Blake Drill using a metronome.

Set up three targets, turn on the metronome, and put two on each target, one shot per click.

Start slow, say 60 bpm, so there's plenty of time to confidently call the last shot on a target, snap your eyes to the next target, drive the gun there, and then call the first shot on that target.

Gradually increase the tempo and repeat. Don't cheat on the shot calling. And practice in both directions.

This drill is how I learned how to move my eyes first and then the gun.

Great drill. Seems to be helping already

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

[JusticeOfToren]

The "Hopkins" is a great transition drill for dry fire.

[Clay1]

The "Hopkins" is a great transition drill for dry fire.

Please elaborate, thanks

[Clay1]

Double, cell phones - ug!

Edited June 26, 2016 by Clay1

[CrashDodson]

The dry fire drill that helped my transitions the most was a Blake Drill using a metronome.

Set up three targets, turn on the metronome, and put two on each target, one shot per click.

Start slow, say 60 bpm, so there's plenty of time to confidently call the last shot on a target, snap your eyes to the next target, drive the gun there, and then call the first shot on that target.

Gradually increase the tempo and repeat. Don't cheat on the shot calling. And practice in both directions.

This drill is how I learned how to move my eyes first and then the gun.

In this drill are you drawing and running a blake drill, then holster and repeat? Are you drawing on one of the beats? Or do you draw and wait for a beat to start the timing?

Would you get any benefit out of running the drill over and over with only one draw until you start losing the timing or not pressing on A's? Like target 1 2 3 - 3 2 1 - 1 2 3 -3 2 1 vs a single blake drill over and over?

[Maximis228]

Metric -- Plate Rack -- Metric

Metric A | 1 2 3 4 5 6 | Metric B

Draw to metric A, shoot 2, transition to closest plate (1), transition to metric B, shoot 2, transition to closest plate (6), transition to metric A, shoot 2, repeat...

So it would be something like AA, 1, BB, 6, AA, 2, BB, 5, AA, 3, BB, 4 - 18 rounds.

Saw Coley post this up a while back on FB.

[FTDMFR]

The dry fire drill that helped my transitions the most was a Blake Drill using a metronome.

Set up three targets, turn on the metronome, and put two on each target, one shot per click.

Start slow, say 60 bpm, so there's plenty of time to confidently call the last shot on a target, snap your eyes to the next target, drive the gun there, and then call the first shot on that target.

Gradually increase the tempo and repeat. Don't cheat on the shot calling. And practice in both directions.

This drill is how I learned how to move my eyes first and then the gun.

In this drill are you drawing and running a blake drill, then holster and repeat? Are you drawing on one of the beats? Or do you draw and wait for a beat to start the timing?

Would you get any benefit out of running the drill over and over with only one draw until you start losing the timing or not pressing on A's? Like target 1 2 3 - 3 2 1 - 1 2 3 -3 2 1 vs a single blake drill over and over?

When using the metronome, I don't start from the holster. I start aimed on the first target.

When I was shooting a lot of IDPA, I did the 1-2-3-3-2-1 version to practice shooting in tactical sequence.

When I do this drill, I keep track of two different tempos. The first tempo is the fastest I can go while still calling all As. The second is how fast I can go while calling anything anywhere on paper.

I don't keep running the drill until I start losing the tempo. That sounds like it could get frustrating, since by definition every rep of the drill ends in a failure.

[motosapiens]

I don't keep running the drill until I start losing the tempo. That sounds like it could get frustrating, since by definition every rep of the drill ends in a failure.

not if you define success in some other way than keeping up with the metronome no matter how fast it runs......

I define success as getting a little faster than the last time I ran the drill (increasing the speed at which I can no longer keep up with metronome).

the way i do this (or maybe it's a similar-ish) drill is to start with the gun already out, and shoot at a steady cadence, so the transitions and splits are the same time. i usually use 3 targets but you can use 4 or more too. when i get to the end, i pause 2 beats and then go back the other direction. after 3 or 4 sweeps back and forth. i rest for 5-10 seconds then do it again.

[tha1000]

I pause for two beats as well before headed back the other direction, usually at "high ready". I generally run it until fatigue prevents me from keeping time, then rest and repeat for the duration of the time I intend to run the drill for the day. Usually 3-5 minutes.

Another variation I like with the metronome is keeping the beat the same but making the targets further apart.

Edited July 6, 2016 by tha1000

[FTDMFR]

I don't keep running the drill until I start losing the tempo. That sounds like it could get frustrating, since by definition every rep of the drill ends in a failure.

not if you define success in some other way than keeping up with the metronome no matter how fast it runs......

I define success as getting a little faster than the last time I ran the drill (increasing the speed at which I can no longer keep up with metronome).

the way i do this (or maybe it's a similar-ish) drill is to start with the gun already out, and shoot at a steady cadence, so the transitions and splits are the same time. i usually use 3 targets but you can use 4 or more too. when i get to the end, i pause 2 beats and then go back the other direction. after 3 or 4 sweeps back and forth. i rest for 5-10 seconds then do it again.

The person I was responding to was talking about shooting the targets over and over again at a given tempo until he can't keep up anymore. Basically taking a 3-4 target drill and turning it into an potentially infinite target drill.

Running the drill like that adds a second metric in addition to the tempo - how long you can keep doing the drill at that tempo before you fail. I'm not sure that's a useful metric in this type of drill. It changes it from a visual speed type of drill into an endurance drill.

I prefer running the drill with only 3-4 targets per rep.

To add difficulty, I'd rather increase the transition angles instead of just doing the drill for longer per rep.

Edited July 6, 2016 by FTDMFR

[motosapiens]

The person I was responding to was talking about shooting the targets over and over again at a given tempo until he can't keep up anymore. Basically taking a 3-4 target drill and turning it into an potentially infinite target drill.

Running the drill like that adds a second metric in addition to the tempo - how long you can keep doing the drill at that tempo before you fail. I'm not sure that's a useful metric in this type of drill. It changes it from a visual speed type of drill into an endurance drill.

I prefer running the drill with only 3-4 targets per rep.

To add difficulty, I'd rather increase the transition angles instead of just doing the drill for longer per rep.

that makes much sense, and I agree with you. I also think that in general, uspsa shooting is more like 'shoot a bunch of things, then do other stuff then shoot a bunch of things again then do other stuff' and stop after 3-6 cycles, so doing things several times makes more sense to me than doing them until i can no longer do them properly.

[nadurra]

Transitions have been a bear for me, can get my splits decently accurate at 10 yards .16-.18 with my limited gun but have struggled hardcore to get my transitions consistently lower than .25. Going to try to incorporate this into my training and see if I can get my transitions to match my splits.

Edited August 7, 2016 by nadurra

[koideath]

more importantly than transition speed is learning how to come into a shooting position. If you come in to fast you risk building up to much energy in your body causing improper sight alignment. You have to learn to absorb that energy by creating a lower and wider center of mass and then explode to your next position. A great drill I use requires a plate rack. I set up a P1 and P2 and shoot one plate per transition. Alternating back and forth until all the plates are down. I am shooting 8 inch plates at 15 yards with the positions about 7-10 yards apart.

[TheSandMan491]

Some great drills in this thread. Thanks folks

[BenBreeg]

The transition drills I use in my dry fire are:

Widening transitions

Up and down transitions

Hopkins drill

Metronome transitions