Do You "push" The Gun When Shooting Smaller And Far Targets?

[Religious Shooter]

Lately I've been limited to shooting at an indoor range that prohibits rapid firing. So I've been working on shooting small groups at 25'. My goal for this drill is to have 5-10 shots in one ragged hole.

In order to achieve this I have to let the gun "hit me". In other words I'm conciously not timing the recoil and pushing the gun down. If I "push" the gun I can't get to my goal of that one ragged hole. If I push the gun I can get close but it opens up and usually there is one or more fliers and the main hole is bigger.

I can get away with rapid fire at 50' at the range --- my splits are slow enough at that range to not draw attention from the range staff . Usual drill is to have two targets. Two on the body and then transition to the head on next target for two shots. If I push the gun I get about 70% hit rate on the head. If I let the gun hit me it goes to about 90%.

(NOTE: When I mean say pushing the gun I don't mean transitioning to the next target. I'm referring to the follow up shot(s) on the same target.)

I've noticed by practicing the non-pushing technique I'm noticeably loosing that built up timing and push to counteract the effects of recoil. When I get a chance to do rapid fire the gun feels like it is recoiling and flipping more and the sights aren't going or being driven back to the target as fast as before.

I don't know if I should a) push the gun at all times or if I should push the gun on fast targets and then switch to letting the gun "hit me" when I transition to smaller and farther targets. When you guys are shooting at smaller/farther targets are you "pushing" the gun at all times? Or are you switching?

[ihatepickles]

Just my personal habits, I've taken the words and ideas of others and made them my own. A big piece of what you're asking is how each shooter mentally deals with different challenges.

I assume you're not talking about especially slow fire, but how to tighten groups in a USPSA setting?

When I'm shooting longer than 25 yards I need to control my breathing, a lot. This give me a better view of my sights lifting. The better I see my sights rise, the better my hands do at auto-steering the sights back to origin. If I don't see the sights rise then I do a poor job of getting back to the target in all manual mode. It's a little thing, but in my mind it's the biggest thing.

Here's the kicker though, I can't shoot groups well without a definite point of aim. A silhouette isn't a good enough aiming point for me to drop shot after shot into a small group, I need a bullseye and use a 'pumpkin on a post' sight picture. Therefore, I don't personally worry about tight groups on silhouettes, just A's.

If you want to shoot tight groups, try a better target.

[HSMITH]

Make sure youre weak hand is cammed in as much as you can get it. Do the Burkett timing drills. They will teach you how to shoot fast, how to time the gun, and hit what you want to hit faster than you think you can hit things.

I recently saw video of myself shooting for the first time and my gun stays pretty flat. I have no sensation of pushing, I do have the sensation of the gun 'hitting' my hand on each shot. I top out at about .18-.20 splits, and even at that pace I don't feel any push of the gun. In doing the Burkett timing drills I found that if I just hold the gun and watch what it is doing that it will lift the front sight and return it right back where I started a LOT faster than I can muscle it back into place. Combine that with a good prep of the trigger and two shots will land very close to each other at a respectable speed.

[justinwb]

Make sure youre weak hand is cammed in as much as you can get it. Do the Burkett timing drills. They will teach you how to shoot fast, how to time the gun, and hit what you want to hit faster than you think you can hit things.

I recently saw video of myself shooting for the first time and my gun stays pretty flat. I have no sensation of pushing, I do have the sensation of the gun 'hitting' my hand on each shot. I top out at about .18-.20 splits, and even at that pace I don't feel any push of the gun. In doing the Burkett timing drills I found that if I just hold the gun and watch what it is doing that it will lift the front sight and return it right back where I started a LOT faster than I can muscle it back into place. Combine that with a good prep of the trigger and two shots will land very close to each other at a respectable speed.

Those drills are good, I just found them yesterday and I know what I will be doing when I practice.