Shooting On The Move

[Overkill]

I'm looking for suggestions for drills designed to develop greater skill at shooting on the move.

I'm thinking of either dry practice skills or skills that can be practiced on the range with two or three targets but no other props.

[gunny]

If you are asking about shooting a shotgun on the move, it is generally best to move into a position that allows you to shoot the most targets. Group your targets into a bare mininum of shooting positions.

With that being said, sometimes it is expedient to shoot a single target on the move.

[benny hill]

If you can, never stop moveing when shooting a shotgun, you're just that futher along the stage. Oh! never stop when loading either.

[mhearn]

Overkill

Superstition 3 gun in 04 we had a run and gun pistol shotgun stage (Stage 8). Mainly shotgun. I tried to set up in a position and shoot multiply targets. I also kept the gun mounted throughout the stage. It went O.K. , but not great.

I watched Bennie Cooley take second in tactical on that stage. He never stopped running. He swung the gun back and forth. He also took it down off the shoulder while not directly engaging a target and then snapped it back into place when a target came into view.

To practice this, I try to shoot plate racks while walking back and forth parallel to them. I also try mounting and unmounting the gun as I go. I don't shoot the plates starting from one end and going down the line. Instead, I switch from end to end and finish in the middle. At the local club, we have two plate racks side by side. This makes the drill a bit more challenging. More transition area between targets and some reloads come into the equation.

Enjoy.

MHearn

[George]

Dryfire on a treadmill. Not perfect, but it does help. Teaches you to just shoot the sights and forget about anything else.

[TMC]

Its almost always faster to shoot on the move.

Break down a typical stage as it relates to time. In a typical stage you have to go from point A to point B, you have to shoot so many targets. What most people overlook is that there is time involved in shooting the targets. 20 targest with .50 splits and transisions is 10+ seconds, add that to the start and stopping and your burning time. If you run to a spot, stop, shoot a bunch, run, stop, shoot some more you have shooting time and moving time. If you walk and keep shooting you use you just have the time it takes to get from A to B.

[Jake Di Vita]

I'd just like to point out that it is NOT always faster to shoot on the move.

Sometimes it is....but a lot of the time I can shoot faster with better hits while stationary...I will also cover the ground a heck of a lot faster when I am not shooting.

It definetely takes a fairly experienced shooter to know when it is most advantageous to shoot on the move and when not to.

[Tengu]

A simple drill I like to shoot is to set up two or three targets at 5-10 yards from box A, and two or three the same distance from box B. Leave 10-15 yards between the boxes, and experiment with shooting the same target set on the move vs. running from box to box and shooting only within the boxes. Play around with adding hard cover and no-shoots on the targets to see how it affects your time/score. This excercise will help to develop your skills at shooting on the move, as well as comparing differences between shooting on the move and simply running from point A to B before engaging targets.

[TMC]

It definetely takes a fairly experienced shooter to know when it is most advantageous to shoot on the move and when not to.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm a lowley a top 15 finisher at the big 3-gun matches I've shot, so at the next match I'll ring you up for advice so I know what to do.

[George]

I agree with Jake that there are times for everything. If you can find a sweet spot or two, emptying the gun while standing still is always gonna be a bit faster than shooting it dry on the move will be. It all depends.... Shotgun ain't that differnt' than pistola in many respects ;-)

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Regards,

[Steve Moneypenny]

Shooting a shotgun is a lot different than a pistol far more reloading and a bigger (thought not as big as one wants to believe) margin of errors.

Overall match placement does not make a watermark for perfection. I did not see that as a personal attack, so why be defensive? Congrats on your top finishes. I hope everyone can stay open to advise it makes learning so much easier that way.

To the question at hand. Shooting Rifle/Shotgun on the move is much harder than pistol as it locked to your body in most cases not allowing your shoulders elbows and wrists to act as shock absorbers.

I think the best practice for a rifle or a shot gun on the move would be to watch your sights and keep them steady. OR. the same water bottle trick.. maybe glued to a 2x2 or 4 held like you would hold yoru shotgun that will keep you very steady.

[Religious Shooter]

Ahh... TMC was just tooting his horn.

As far as moving, you gotta take into consideration this isn't a USPSA/IPSC only game where hit factors are used.

You have IMGA scoring where any two hits (be it D's or A's) count the same. As long as you hit the paper twice that's all that is required. You are not gonna get rewarded more for two A's vs. two D's.

[George]

Shotgun, rifle, pistola, all require the same basic requirements to hit. Sight picture and trigger control/timing. Get a sight picture good enough for the target in question, snap the trigger, get a hit.

Pretty simple way to shoot and move sucessfully is to "always" just shoot the sights. Pretty good way to hit the targets while standing still is to "always" just shoot the sights ;-)

Shotguns only really diverge from the pistola and the rifle in the loading schema's needed to manage a poorly engineered re-charging system. All the basics of sight picture, follow through, movement management and so on apply 100%. Loading just takes longer so time management is a larger factor.

Dry fire while walking with whatever gun you want to get better at this with is about the best way to gain some skill here. A treadmill works OK at home. To be any good at this sport you have to be able to shoot standing and on the move and you absolutely need to know when to do which ;-)

I disagree that the pistol shooter has any advantage in rotational flexibility while walking.

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Regards,

[kurtm]

TMC:

Almost always faster to shoot while moving????

DARN RIGHT!, as you well know! At least 99% of the time!! and as Benny pointed out, load while you aren't shooting. The problem with "sweet spot" shooting is the time it takes to load the shotgun. You can shoot and sprint, but you will now be doing "flat footed" reloads; way slow! I have seen this time and again at international shotgun matches and it is always slow!

The best practice fo this, is to move while shooting. If you only have a few paper targets to shoot at, shoot slugs, if you can shoot clays on your range, get thee to Wal-Mart and get a few cases and place them around the range, and shoot while moving. There isn't any one set drill for this sorry to say, but just get moving. It is unwieldy at first with long guns, but after a bit of practice, it is way faster than with a pistol, and by the way, it is darn easy to get two As with a rifle or slugs while moving with a modicom of practice if you happen to find yourself at a uspsa sponsored 3-gun match.

I feel placement at major matches is indicitive of what works. If the top shooters are moving and shooting, it is a good indication that it works. KURT MILLER

[TMC]

Not defensive nor hurt feelings here. I said it with a smile

[Overkill]

I understand that sometimes its faster to move quicly between shooting spots and shoot flat footed, but part of what I'm dealing with is a back injury that prevents me from every really moving quickly. So I'm trying to work on shooting on the move as a way of making up for not being able to move really fast.....Kind of a tortise and the hare approach to shooting a stage.

I like the treadmill idea but that would NOT go over well at the gym.

I also like the idea of putting out tons of clays on the berm and practice shooting them while moving around the range.

One of the things I'm considering is getting a mount so I can put my eotech on my 10/22. I'm thinking that would make a great training tool for cheeply developing move/shoot skills.