Follow thru...

[TommyC]

Hi all.  I come from a background of competitive indoor archery.  I competed for almost 20 years untill problems with my sholder caused me to "retire"  The thing that made the biggest difference in my scores was when I felt what a properly executed shot Felt like for the first time.  It was almost magical the first time everything came together and I shot my first 60X 300.  What stuck with me the most was that after releasing Every shot I had control of the bow without even thinking about it.  All I had to think about was holding my aim until the arrow was in the target.  I would Love to develope that kind of feeling with my pistol shooting, I'm just not sure where to start.  Is there a Correct follow thru with a handgun?  I think it is obvious that lerning good trigger control is paramount, but when I practice I tend ot get overwhelmed!  I'll admit to being very new to this, but I Reallly want to do as well as possible at it.  Thanks for a great forum and learning tool!

[George D]

Tommy,

Invest in a copy of Brian's Book. Read the book and cruise this forum and you will find all you need to know.

It's entirely normal to be overwhelmed at the start, so take your time and concentrate on the basics until the are ingrained. I have noticed that many good shooters concentrate on accuracy at first and let speed develop as a by-product.

Follow through in pistol shooting is recalling what you were seeing when the shot broke. It's all in THE BOOK.

(Edited by George D at 10:54 am on Dec. 8, 2002)

[Ron Ankeny]

TommyC:

Your first 60X 300...holy crap, I have shot several 300's but never 60X. You definately have the mental and visual skills required to be an awesome precision handgun shooter.

I'll echo George's recommendation about buying the book. But the great thing about this site is that you can find a wealth of information while you wait on the mail, lol.

For starters, read Brian's words and Expanded Tips on the regular Web site. Some of us spend so much time on the forums that we forget there is an entire BE.com website.

The URL's are:

http://www.brianenos.com/pages/words.html#words

http://www.brianenos.com/pages/words.html#expanded

The follow through that we talk about in archery also exists in pistol shooting, but it often loses it's identity because it gets lumped together with the concept of "calling your shot".

With a lot of beginner pistoleros the concepts of follow through and shot calling often erode or take a back seat  to the quest for speed. You have a distinct advantage over a lot of folks. Good luck.

[Paul Sharp]

Definitely check out of the above and also check out the drills section of the forum.  Particularly Patrick Sweeney's thread on shotgun drills.  I've been doing that one with shotgun, handgun and rifle.  Great exercise for follow-through and transitions, all rolled into one.

Have a good one.

[Flexmoney]

Ditto on all of the above.

Two quick things...

In our game, you will have to be able to overcome the body's tendency to blink/flinch...gotta see the sights lift and return.  And, you will have to develop the follow-thru in the face of the clock.  The visual patience that you had to hold the shot until the arrow hit the target...that needs to translate into the "calling each shot" in action psitol.  Shooters have a tendency to rush to the next shot when on the clock.

Those two things (and learning when to reload) should carry you into B class or better.

It is all in Brian's Book.  Nobody explains this stuff better than BE.

[mcoliver]

"When the arrow flies, so does the indian" was what BE said in one of the threads here.  I never really got it but somehow this thread helped me put some sense into that line.