Subconscious Flinch on Steel Arrays?

[Rez805]

I've been reviewing a bunch of my past videos with a lot of emphasis on the 3rd person video. It has helped me tremendously with respect to movement.

 

I just reviewed some 1st person video from my most recent match and noticed something strange: On rare occasions, I seem to flinch on a piece of steel when there is more than one (e.g., a plate rack or multiple poppers/falling steel in succession). It's very bizarre and I have no idea how to explain why it happens. I'm not even aware of it until after I review video. Thinking back, this has happened before, but I didn't know what to make of it since I was able to hit the steel immediately after the flinch.

 

I was able to find 3 instances in the past year (almost 365 days since I first noticed it).

• On one occasion, the flinch seemed like I was trying to "drag away from the target" (first video. oddly enough, that was dragging in the "wrong direction"--so to speak).
• On two occasions, the flinch was more of a "dip". As if I caught myself before I could get everything lined up.

 

Examples:

Queue at 0:09 seconds

 

Queue at 0:33 seconds

 

Queue at 0:16 seconds

 

Does anyone else do this? Any idea why it happens or how to stop if from happening? I sure hope to kick this habit before April (Berry's Steel Open). 

 

Granted, three instances against . . . I can't even imagine how many steel arrays I've engaged in the past year seems insignificant. It's just so strange that it's subconsciously happening. And with the seemingly positive result, perhaps I should just leave well enough alone and file this one under ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[MemphisMechanic]

Call every shot.

 

On steel in particular, call them clean. Are you focusing on seeing white steel ALL the way around the front sight?

 

If not, try it. Don’t accept a sight picture less than 3” from the center.

[Rez805]

On 2/28/2018 at 10:36 AM, MemphisMechanic said:

Call every shot.

 

On steel in particular, call them clean. Are you focusing on seeing white steel ALL the way around the front sight?

 

If not, try it. Don’t accept a sight picture less than 3” from the center.

Interestingly enough, I have found myself "cutting it close" with respect to seeing white due to steel challenge. It seems that the "muscle memory" (or "mental memory") seems to spill over from that style of shooting into USPSA. But I guess that's no real excuse.

 

I just shot a disaster of a USPSA match with the same culprit: pulling off of steel before calling the shot clean. Sadly, no matter how many instances I see of this . . . I can't seem to convince myself that the extra 0.xx-0.1x second required to:

• see what I need to see
• ensure a good grip (this should already be accounted for regardless of target type)
• pull the trigger without disturbing the sights

far outweighs the alternative:

• miss the shot
• process the miss
• decide to re-engage or come back if there are more targets in the array

Perhaps this is something I'll have to beat into my brain in practice.

Edited March 11, 2018 by Rez805

[Pistolpete9]

I have a similar issue at times and it is definitely a steel challenge thing for me too.  I get caught up trying to do a "glory run" and forget that the difference between my best splits and a well lined up shot is usually literally .1 second :(.  However, steel challenge is my favorite and so I'm just going to work on telling myself to make it more like my first run (I always make sure my first run is all hits)

[MemphisMechanic]

Interesting. I found steel challenge to be highly helpful in shooting USPSA stages cleanly.

 

Here’s the difference: in Steel challenge you get a mulligan, which somehow lulls pretty much everyone into shooting 1-2 misses they have to make up on every other run. They’re shooting faster than they are seeing. Just barely out of control.

 

Your average B/C class is shooting out of control trying to go fast, because speed is the goal right? Speed. Much moreso than they’re actively trying to clean the plates.

 

Here’s the thing. In USPSA you need to shoot the steel targets at the pace you’d shoot steel challenge in order to shoot four 100% clean runs in a row.

 

Take the “mulligan mindset” away and go shoot some steel for practice. Your goal is to waste no time while shooting 5+ clean runs in a row.

 

If you actually try that... you’ll be amazed how differently you operate.

 

Edited March 20, 2018 by MemphisMechanic

[Foxj66]

Judging by how often you are hitting the steel, I wonder are you getting trigger freeze and just reacting to the recoil by forcing the gun down?

 

Have you ran any bill drills? does it happen then?

[Blackstone45]

Man I actually get the exact same thing when shooting plate racks. My hit rate just goes way off. I suspect it's to do with shooting reactive targets. I think my eyes end up looking past the sights and onto the target, expecting them to fall down.