Transition Problem

[Rising Sight]

I have been having a problem when I try and transition from targets.If I am moving from left to right then my front sight ends up off to the right when I stop to make a shot.Moving from right to left the opposite happens. I did a search and can't seem to find where anybody else has been having this problem.

Any help would really be appreciated. Thanks.

[mcoliver]

How do you transition? Can you feel your shoulders/forearms tensing when you do or can you conciously feel your legs doing the job? How about your stomach muscles, are they also tense?

I'd hazard a guess you might be muscling the gun with your upper body. If you think you are, try playing with your hips and legs and keeping your upper relaxed.

Good luck.

[Rising Sight]

I'm really not sure. I'll try and pay attention to that tonight and see what happens. Thanks.

[Pierruiggi]

Make your torso movement with your knees and ankles, try to maintain your hip as squared to the target as your elbow.

There really shouldn't be a reason to move your arms one they're at extension.

I'm not sure I'm being clear enough.

[Schutzenmeister]

Typically, what I have found in this situation, is that I'm trying to find the target with my gun and not my eyes. The result is that by the time the eyes have found the target and the brain recognized it, the gun has overswung it.

On short swings, try holding the gun still and turning your eyes to the target ... Fix on where you want to shoot, THEN bring the gun smoothly to that point.

On longer swings, try turning your head slightly to the next target, then move the gun as above.

Either way, you'll need to practice this slowly and delibertly at first as it is something new and, apparently, not natural. Once it becomes engrained as muscle memory, the speed will return and your accuracy should improve.

[Loves2Shoot]

Muscles don't have a memory Rely on your eyes.

When you are "following" your sights it is harder to stop them on the center of the target.

Don't over complicate things. Use your eyes to find the target, don't be afraid to let go of the sights, once you get your form down correctly they will appear like magic on the spot you want to shoot.

[Rising Sight]

Finding the target with my eyes first is a little bit awkward. I'll try working on that for a while and see where that goes.

Thanks.

[Flyin40]

When you intially practice leading with your eyes start my gun raised on target, shoot then leave the gun on the same target then move your eyes to the next target. Pick a spot on the target then bring the gun over and once you have a good sight picture, fire. Do this over and over, you can eventually speed it up. Flex showed me this drill and its a great way to start learning to lead with your eyes.

Flyin40

[Tangram]

Here is a quote from from a thread when I asked a transition question.

Your eyes (only) move to find the targets, and your body naturally follows. For most targets and most situations, once your pistol and upper body are in position (the "index") nothing should move independently of anything else. (Meaning don't move your head.) Once your index is established, moving it only breaks your index.

After some years of training, your index will do much of the work for you.

be

[JD45]

While dryfiring today, outside on real targets, I started to see some things more clearly. I also have trouble with transitions. It seems that I always let my eyes lead but force the gun to the next target...hard. Today I tried snapping my eyes to the next target and stopped trying to move the gun fast. When I stop trying to move the pistol so hard, the sights appear on the next target as soon as my eyes settle and are aligned better and stop in the right place easier. It's like you just move your eyes and the sights are there. I'm really looking forward to trying this in live-fire.

[Rising Sight]

I was at the range today working on doing transitions with my eyes. I need to really work on this. I am very slow doing transitions like this. It does seem like I am getting better hits though.

[eric nielsen]

I sped up a lot with iron sites once I worked on pointing my hips at every target the same way every time. The sites stayed lined up when I did that.

Since most of us grip our left hand in front of our right hand, our index is usually something like 1 inch left of our belly button. Whatever it is for you, address each target that same way. You'll find it's a lot more work for your knees & ankles than what you're used to. Stick with it & you'll develop those muscles & movements.

When you practice, start slow. Pop your eyes to the next spot you want to hit and then WAIT. Your index and sights will catch up. It's effortless when you do that, but slow - to start with. Keep at it & you'll transition fast - and effortlessly.

[EricW]

I've been going through this exact problem on long transitions. Flexamundo had the cure.

Bend your knees. Over exaggerate if you have to. This will transfer the stress in turning from your shoulders to below your hips, and all will be right with the world. I actually have to remember to bend my knees before I hear the beep.

Once your knees are bent, practice leading with your eyes. It is NOT instinctive, unless you ride motorcycles (I don't). I think this is why so many dirt bike riders are good IPSC shooters. Don't just look at a target. See a point on the target and your gun will follow your eyes to it. It takes a long time to program yourself to do it. I'm still working on it. Be patient.

[Rising Sight]

I have been working on this quite a bit lately. My transitions are getting much better now. I would like to thank you all for your input.

Leading with my eyes is definatly something I have to think about while I'm doing it. I'm sure this will become more ingrained into my shooting style after some more practice. This is something that I will need to keep working on.

Thanks again.

[Austin Bradley]

At the junior camp Jerry Miculek covered this topic. The main idea was to keep your knees bent and swing from target to target with your legs. He described it as like a "turret" where your arms arent doing the side to side movement.

[MikeFoley]

This could also be due to your stance. "Square to the target" may be different than what you have imagined it is. I read somewhere, maybe on this forum, that the way to test this is to get in your stance and aim your gun at an object, then close your eyes and move from side to side at the waist, then stop and acquire the target again and open your eyes. If you are not indexed on the target, move your foot up to square differently to the target and repeat. I found that my right foot has to be about one inch ahead of my left for proper alignment every time, and for years I was shooting one inch behind, then totally square. I also read that TGO does this exercise every morning.

David Sevigny also taught in his class squaring to the target by moving your body and feet, not pivoting by twisting yourself. He showed us both ways in class for every shooter, and when I could finally quit twisting, my times with A hits improved even though I was moving more.

Not sure if this is the answer for everyone, but it is something I have discovered that helped me.

I also think it is great that Austin is sharing what he learned from Jerry at camp, way to go!