Plate Rack Transitions

[EricW]

Yet another un-original dryfire drill that I just reinvented last night.

The Drill:

Bianchi Rack (or 8" paper plates on 20" centers) at 10 yards. Plates are mentally numbered sequentially from 1 to 6. You choose whether plate "1" is on the left or right.

Draw and shoot 1, then 6, then 1, then 5, then 4...etc. Drill ends on plate 2.

Then reverse the drill. This is a particularly interesting drill with irons in low light, because you have to "use the force" on the way to the plate. You only see your sight alignment and stop position after you're on the plate.

You could do this drill further back, but that kind of only makes it "easier" in the sense that you're reducing the angle between the plates. It seems like an easy drill, but I sure learned a lot doing it. It really teaches you to look ahead and *see* the exact center of what you're going to shoot. I did this drill after doing what seemed like a couple hundred El Prez, and Vice Prez drills, and it really shows how you can fall into the trap of pre-programming yourself for a fixed transition. I spent a couple frustrating minutes totally blowing past plates until I started picking my aiming points again.

No par times yet. I'll try it with the timer today. I'm going to see if I can rig my plate rack so that the plates are fixed and give it a whirl live fire too.

[GuildSF4]

The Drill:

Draw and shoot 1, then 6, then 1, then 5, then 4...etc.  Drill ends on plate 2. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Do you mean "shoot 1, then 6, 1, then 5, 1, then 4...etc ?

[EricW]

I mean as one continuous string:

Draw

Shoot #1

Transition to #6

Shoot #6

Transition to #1

Shoot #1

Transition to #5

Shoot #5

Transition to #1

Shoot #1

Transition to #4

Shoot #4

Transition to #1

Shoot #1

....

Transition to #2

Shoot #2

/End of Drill

[Jake Di Vita]

I'm assuming the plates are set so they don't fall?

[EricW]

Jake,

Right now, it's just a dryfire drill for me. For live fire, I'm going to rig my rack so the plates do not fall.

[GuildSF4]

I understand now...

[EricW]

OK, my current par time is 8.0. I can't break that and do everything *perfectly*. And you have to be perfect shooting plates. The instant you back off your sight picture, the hacking begins. The plate rack has taught me that much by now.

BTW, "perfectly" means:

- sights land on the *exact* center of the plate (or whatever picture gets the bullet to the center). Edge sight pictures don't count.

- Crisply seeing the front sight, every single sight picture. No hoser sight focus allowed.

I *really* like this drill. I thought I was doing a good job of looking ahead to the next plate before I did this drill. Not even close to doing it right. This drill will teach you to seek targets if nothing else will. I also learned that I was not consistently retracting my focus to my sight. 10 yards is far enough that you have to do that for a guaranteed hit. I also tried 7 yards, and the "ultimate" 15 yards. I still like 10 yards better. At 15, it's too easy to see the next plate. 7 yards is just too close.

This is a great drill to simulate shooting steel gardens where you have to pick poppers that activate other targets out of a morass of identical targets.

Can't wait to take this one to the range.