Target Transition Problem

[scorp]

Hi guys,

I'm a newbie in pistol handling and I wanted to learn to shoot faster but I'm having a problem with my target transition.

Whenever I tried to shift from target to target, I find that my sight are not aligned anymore and it's taking so much time in realigning the sights.

Is there any type of practice or technique that could help me with my shooting.

Could you please give me some advise on how can I improve my skills. I always practice turning with my lower body like others told me to.

I always lock my upper body also when turning but something seems to be wrong.

Please help.

Thanks in advance.

[HSMITH]

Not an expert by any means, but here is what I would try.

Transition in slow motion while dry firing. At first ride the sights with your eyes a couple times, see where it is getting messed up. Correct that, then slow motion for a couple dozen reps. Slow motion is tiring, don't get tired and sloppy, make sure it is right each time. Gradually bring the speed in and make darn sure you are snapping your eyes/head to the next target before transitioning once you have sorted out the misalignment thing.

[BSeevers]

Cadence drills and Bill drills help greatly

[Micah]

Cadence drills and Bill drills help greatly

Also not a Master like Bill, but think of a metronome...tick..tick..tick..tick...

Your shooting should strive to follow the same beat. Your shots and transitions should be equally in rhythm. LOOK at the next target, and allow the gun to float to that spot, don't ride the sight picture all the way over.

By the way, welcome to the forum! There is no better place to learn about our sport than on BE!

Edited September 12, 2006 by Pharoah Bender

[TimBoettcher]

+1 what Bender said. You have to make sure your eyes are fixed on your next point of impact before you move your gun to it. If you do both at the same time, you will be "fishing" for your target and that will cost time and points!

[want2race]

There is a good section in Brian's book that would help you with this. It's going to take some serious dry fire time. Get your sight picture, close eyes and memorize what everything "feels" like. That's the start.

I don't have it down pat yet, but I've been working on the following: Fire one, reload and fire one with my eyes closed. I can reload just as fast without my eyes open but my second shot is still not quite where I want it.

If you do transitions with your eyes closed, where is the gun pointing when you open them? Remember that and do it again. Before you open your eyes make the adjustment based on what you saw last time. Open and check where your sights are. Closer? Too much? When I started doing eyes closed transitions my hands and gun where too low. I remembered what my shoulders felt like after I moved the gun up. I just kept doing this until the corrected position is the one I ended up in after a transition.

Does it help in a match? I have no idea, but it gives me something to do at home.

Wife laughs everytime I dryfire. She thinks it's just silly. She was in tears when she saw my dry fire draws on the video camera. Whatever.

[LdyGunner]

I had this problem, and have been working on correcting it.

The biggest thing that helped me was realizing that I was trying to transition using my arms and wrists rather than moving from my knees or waist. Once I consciously started keeping my upper body in position I got better at transitions. When I remember to move from my knees rather than driving the gun with my arms, and remember to snap my focus to the next target rather than follow the gun there, I actually have decent transition times. Now I'm working on enough dry-fire practice to get it fixed in the subconscious rather than having to stop and think about it.

[R.Elliott]

Try this drill:

Set up two 8" paper plates, ten yards apart at chest height, and ten yards from your shooting position. Stand equidistant between the two targets and adjust your npa to whichever target you plan to shoot first. Set up in the high ready position to avoid the added confusion of practicing a draw. Push out and shoot one shot on the first target, index your eyes only to the center of the second target and THEN move your knees until the gun sights come into alignment with your vision. The gun should essentially snap into position in the center of the target if that is where you are looking, and your peripheral vision will pick it up as it moves into position, so you will automatically adjust the slow-in so that it stops in the correct place without overshooting. Fire your second shot and immediately repeat the exercise in reverse back to the first target without stopping the drill. Continue for ten rounds....five per target.

It's a great transition drill, and it can be practiced in your basement dry-fire with a couple of post it notes for targets.

[Chuck Merriam]

A grandmaster told me transitions are where they make up their time...not actually firing the shots. So this will not be the easiest thing to learn quickly. Unless you are on the way to being very good. On the other hand you will improve with time and experience. I see a lot of new shooters with your particular problem...I think they concentrate on the sights and less on the feel of the shooting and gun. When I feel like I am shooting my best I look at the targets and watch the holes appear. The front sight is a red blur in my foreground. I do not shoot Fiber Optic rears for this reason. I only really concentrate on the sights when the targets are small and far. I shoot with the feel of the gun and so I am looking at the targets and sort of point shooting looking over the top of the gun. You might be surprised as to how fast and good you can shoot looking mainly at the target with both front and back sights blurry. I also find that if shooting standing still, I am faster from right to left because my left eye (non dominate) can pick up the target comming into view without the gun being in the way. I hope this helps....oh and practice does help.

I almost forgot...both eyes OPEN!

Edited September 15, 2006 by chmerr

[MattBurkett]

This is a fairly standard problem that most shooters don't spend enough time on.

The thing that most shooters don't realize is that there are different kinds of transitions and one needs to know how to do them all well.

A small list (not all inclusive)

Close range targets, under 10 yards, with less than a yard between them.

Same set up with about 10 yards between them. Major angle trans.

Plate rack.

Plate rack then a stop plate.

50 yard standards with 2 on each of three targets.

Inside of a port with a wide angle between targets.

There are many more types.

Learning them is not an overnight deal - it is an ongoing process of continual development. You can practice with your eyes even driving to work!

Starting with my dot drill (in my book) build up the ability to see and focus faster. The eyes are the first thing that needs to be trained. You need to start seeing differently. Learn how to focus on a small spot as quickly as possible. Moving the eyes around. It is tiring work to see in a rapid focus mode. Try to spend at least 5 minutes 3x a day on this kind of a drill.

Next start working wide transitions that require using your whole body. A true wide trans is when you can't see the second target without moving your head. Eyes first, head and then body follows. Find the target with your eyes then focus on exactly where you want the bullet to go. As a drill take two 10-12" plates place them 12 yards downrange then at least 10 yards off the centerline. They should be far enough apart to block the view of the second plate. Basically you need more than an 80 degree angle between them. Shoot a couple of times so you have a baseline of what your transition times are so that you know improvment is occuring.

Start with your gun (no ammo) on P1 and place your eyes on P2. Slam the gun over then start hitting the brakes just outside the plate so that you can finess it to a stop. Work this at least 20-30 times each direction. This will start building the major body mechanics needed for fast transitions.

Next same as above but with ammo.

You should be seeing the gun show up in your periphery vision. This will help you guide it into the right spot.

Now that it hopefully has settled in a bit, start doing a full transition between the plates. Gun on P1, break the shot trans to P2. DON'T start going back and forth between the plates. Leave it on P2 for a few second and reflect on what you saw. Then repeat.

Get your times with one and two rounds on the trans. plate.

See where the shots are breaking and figure out what kind of adjustments you need to make. Are you shooting a bit early and missing inside? Are you shooting a bit late and missing on the outside? High? Low? What can you get to happen consistently?

Video yourself and watch in slow motion and see what the gun/your head/your body are doing. Are you slightly dropping the gun during the swing?

Now start working the other major type of transitions, the close ones.

Start with some cadence drills (some info on my site or on Practical Shooting V4 How to shoot faster). One target about 5-7 yards then add another close target about 6" to the side. Do multiples on target and with transitions working on keeping the same splits. The goal is moving the gun under recoil. A trick to learning it is to have a transitional distance that is the same as the muzzle flip of your gun.

Could write another book just on these but don't have time. Hope the above helps.

Take care,

Matt

[scorp]

Hi guys,

Thank you so much for all your reply.

Wow!!! I feel like I've already been here for a long time.

I've tried your suggestions and so far everything works, specially during slow motion drills.

I've tried riding the sights... works most efficient for me but not fast enough.

I've been trying to improved the sight first and let the gun move to where i'm focused at but i'm really having a hard time with it. Even tried feeling my every movement but still to no avail. waaaa

Although a funny thing happens to me at the range last weekend.

Tried shooting 6 steels at 17-20m and it happened, My eyes got to the plates first before my sights. Did it without a miss.

I think I'm improving a little.

The only problem is, i didn't know what i'm doing right at the range and what i'm doing wrong during dry fire. I guess i will try again everything step by step by step.

Thanks again guys for the reply. Its really great to be here and wow, discussing my shooting problems with guys that i only usually see on videos.

Thanks a lot.