Dot tracking drill

[Acsr]

As the title says, looking for a good drill to teach the eyes to track the dot better/faster.  Seems like my short 2 and a half month hiatus from shooting due to life, cost me some points and time which equals better finish, I shot most of a match and could tell it had been a while, I had been dry firing, but that doesn't really help tracking in my experience.  Live fire was lacking although I am getting that scheduled.  So what has helped others out there? 

[user293]

I think a simple drill that wouldn't eat too much ammo would be to draw and fire on two partial targets ( covered with no shoots) from a respectable distance. Take two shots on each, then reload and take two more on each. Get your A's .With the partial targets it will make you track the dot and call your shots. Reloads and draw in there to get good at finding the dot when it goes away. That's what comes to mind. I may be way off. Live fire is gonna be the only way to help the dot tracking. Just get used to what your sight picture does during recoil. Repetition. 

Edited February 9, 2017 by user293

[ShortBus]

I don't track the dot. I look where I want to shoot, when the dot gets there I smash the trigger, when it comes back down and I see the dot again I smash it again. 

 

Yoi can track iron sights because no matter where where they are in the recoil cycle they are always visible, a dot is not. I'd imagine tracking an object that disappears and then reappears would suck. 

[caspian guy]

I focus on the target i see the dot, when the dot lifts off i know where the shot went. When the dot gets back to the area of interest i shoot again.   When it lifts again i imediately move me or the dot where it needs to be next. Repeat as necessary.

 

 

Since the dot and the target are on the same focal plane (more or less) that allows you to shoot with target focus.

 

With iron sights for best results I have to focus on the front sight...

 

the 2 activities require slightly different approaches...

 

The start to it is do you see the dot rise and fall when you shoot?  if not go to a empty berm and look at berm shoot a full magazine make sure you see the dot.   once you do,  I'd shoot some bill drills . Then id move to the drill suggested above.

Edited February 9, 2017 by caspian guy

[selecw]

Set up three 1/3 size USPSA targets in your TV room - about 5 yards away and 2 yards apart. Draw to the first target and fire two rounds, which to T2 and then T3.

 

The trick is to maintain awareness of the next target in your peripheral vision, and then snap your eye to it as soon as you have broken your second shot on the previous target.

 

Your gun will follow your eyes. 

 

Make sure you are looking at a specific spot on the target.

[Acsr]

All great advice thanks guys. 

[BeerBaron]

You'll certain have heightened awareness if you let a few shots rip in the tv room!!

 

ps I assume you mean dry fire.

[taco2000]

if the dot disappears , that means it's time to work on your grip strength. dot shouldn't be disappear in any red dot sight.

[ShortBus]

4 hours ago, taco2000 said:

if the dot disappears , that means it's time to work on your grip strength. dot shouldn't be disappear in any red dot sight.

 

 

Although it may seem to not disappear, I bet you 20 Enos dollars it is. 

[Acsr]

3 hours ago, ShortBus said:

 

 

Although it may seem to not disappear, I bet you 20 Enos dollars it is. 

That's my thoughts, a gun can be pretty darn flat, but I would venture to say most if not all dots leave the glass, but maybe the eyes are not fast enough to catch it.  I think the dot returning to a expected place is more percievable and realistic.  Although I agree about grip.  I tell my self at lamr,  grip the gun, but seems like at the buzzer I am not sure I have the death grip I use in dry fire.  I have read that your support hand should be a little fatigued at the end of a stage due to grip, I am euther really tuff  (not likely) or not griping tight enough. 

[dogtired]

I am just learning the open gun but I made a  cardboard target roughly 4' x 6' and have 12-8" circles on it.  Prior to drawing I pick out a shot order and then execute two shots per circle.  Order would be corner to corner, etc to get the gun moving, then back to another dot.  It has been helpful for me.

Edited February 9, 2017 by dogtired

[teros135]

50 minutes ago, Acsr said:

That's my thoughts, a gun can be pretty darn flat, but I would venture to say most if not all dots leave the glass, but maybe the eyes are not fast enough to catch it.  I think the dot returning to a expected place is more percievable and realistic.  Although I agree about grip.  I tell my self at lamr,  grip the gun, but seems like at the buzzer I am not sure I have the death grip I use in dry fire.  I have read that your support hand should be a little fatigued at the end of a stage due to grip, I am euther really tuff  (not likely) or not griping tight enough. 

 

In my experience,  at least, you need a "firm" grip but not a "death grip" on the gun.  If you're trying to muscle the gun into compliance you're not going to be able to do it the same way each time, and it won't help that much.  Having a good and consistent grip is a lot more helpful, and having the gun set up properly (springs, load, etc.) does a lot to tame the dot.

[teros135]

9 hours ago, taco2000 said:

if the dot disappears , that means it's time to work on your grip strength. dot shouldn't be disappear in any red dot sight.

 

That's true, in my experience.  In a good setup the dot should rise pretty much straight up and come straight back down.  It won't leave the scope (c'mon, does anybody really think we can't see if it goes above the glass - we can see it all the rest of it's movement).  I'm not sure that "absolutely flat" exists, although some folks seem to have gotten pretty close to it. 

[ShortBus]

2 hours ago, teros135 said:

 

That's true, in my experience.  In a good setup the dot should rise pretty much straight up and come straight back down.  It won't leave the scope (c'mon, does anybody really think we can't see if it goes above the glass - we can see it all the rest of it's movement).  I'm not sure that "absolutely flat" exists, although some folks seem to have gotten pretty close to it. 

 

 

Film it with yoir your smart phone in slo motion. If the dot doesn't leave the glass at all shooting major freestyle I'd love to see it. 

[teros135]

2 hours ago, ShortBus said:

 

 

Film it with yoir your smart phone in slo motion. If the dot doesn't leave the glass at all shooting major freestyle I'd love to see it. 

 

No, I'm not going to do your work for you.  You've asserted (above, in response to taco2000)  that the dot does leave the glass, you prove it. 

 

I said that FOR ME I don't see it leaving.  Either way, I don't care. 

[ShortBus]

You may not see it but it is leaving. I know it leaves so why would improve to myself something I already know? You guys are gonna have some poor sole give him self tendinitis trying to keep his dot in the glass. 

Edited February 9, 2017 by ShortBus

[teros135]

26 minutes ago, ShortBus said:

You may not see it but it is leaving. I know it leaves so why would improve to myself something I already know? You guys are gonna have some poor sole give him self tendinitis trying to keep his dot in the glass. 

 

Then it doesn't matter if it does or doesn't.  Goes up, comes back down.  Bang...bang. 

[BeerBaron]

forget dot tracking in dry fire. it's a live fire thing. bill drill is about the bet thing you can do to observe dot tracking. try it at different distances too. just don't end up dot fixated. the whole point of the red dot is that you can shoot with a target focus.

[jacala]

Shoot some "el presidente !!??

[BeerBaron]

El prez is more a transition drill (and general skills drill). If you need to improve dot tracking ripping shots at speed into a single target is a way to gain some dot awareness. If that fails do the bill drill into the berm. No target. Just observe the dot.

[34shooter]

2022,  but I am just starting out with a dot. 

 

This thread was very informative, and answered several of my concerns. 

[Cuz]

It’s got me thinking that a lot of the drills I did in my early years just shooting into a spot on the berm to work on flinch control and observing how the front sight tracked up and back should probably be repeated now that I’ve transitioned to a dot. They would probably be helpful learning to track the dot and see how it moves and reacts to the shooting. 
 

Sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward. 

[shred]

Shoot Enos transition drill.  Then do part 2.  Then add part 3 -- turn your dot down to half it's previous brightness and repeat part 2.