Consistent Focus Drills?

[Z-man]

While running through some drills at the range today I was thinking about training my focus for consistency. When shooting at long distances (20+ yards) I need a sharp focus on the sights and have found that this focus can get a bit sloppy during a practice session and can also disappear during a match. This usually happens when changing distances and/or sight pictures/focus types. Does anyone have any tricks or drills they use to improve this ability for consistency?? Is this something that can be improved by a specific drill or is this one of those mental skills you just have to ingrain?

[Loves2Shoot]

I setup up 18 targets (mostly partials and no shoots mixed with steel) at various distances from 10-35 yards no closer than 3 yards together and do one shot on each target and reload and repeat, par time of 20 seconds.

[Matthew_Mink]

I think this is one of those things that comes from experience. One day I realized that all I had to do was take the minimum amount of time needed to make the shot and thats all I can do. Any faster than that amount of time results in hopers and any time slower than that results in slower times. Experience will tell you where that fine line is, and that line moves around depending on distance and difficulty.

[Matt Griffin]

Based on my recent work, I think this is very much a skill that has to be "burned" in. The more I do it in practice, any practice, the more it happens without thought during matches.

H.

[Z-man]

That's what I was thinking too... I was just trying to think of some good drills that will help me learn what the maximum/minimum amount of time needed to break an accurate shot is at different distances. Right now I'm thinking bill drills at varying distances or else setting up 3-4 target arrays with each target at a different distance.... any other ideas??

Thanks!

[BigDave]

You might try implementing the Practical event from Bianchi into your routine. It works like this.

Two targets about 2ft apart. 3 strings at each 10, 15, 25 and 50 yds.

String 1 - 1 shot each target, String 2 - 2 shots each target, String 3 - 3 shots each target.

Now, at Bianchi, this is shot with par time. But, for USPSA/IPSC/IDPA type shooting, you could just use Comstock. The goal is to shoot As. You might even use the upper A/B zone.

The reason I suggest this is that one thing I noticed when I first went to Bianchi and watched the top guns shoot (all of the matches except the Mover are shot 3-4 shooters at a time), they all had nearly the same cadence. When I made that observation here on be.com, the response from Brian was that [para] "...they all know exactly how long it takes to make an accurate shot"

If those distances don't work for you, I'd go ahead and mix others in also.

[Lurper]

Z

It's a skill that you build off of the range. You can do this two ways. One is to focus your concentration, the other is focus your vision. I cannot tell you here how to focus your concentration, it would take too long. I can send you some information later on. But, there is an exercise you can use.

Materials needed: Stopwatch (not absolutely necessary), blank sheet of paper, red pen or fine point marker.

Take a red pen or fine tipped marker. Place a small dot in the center of a blank sheet of (white - preferrably unlined) paper. Place the piece of paper on a table with the stopwatch next to it. Sit down at the table and get comfortable. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Clear your mind, then open your eyes, hit the start button on the stopwatch and focus on the red dot. What you are trying to achieve is the point where the little voice in your head is silent. Then you have focused your concentration. The second you hear the little voice, stop and start over. Your first goal should be to reach 15 seconds, then 30, 45, 60 and so on. When you reach that level, only the dot will exist. It will actually seem to grow in size as you focus. It is much harder than it sounds and much more effective too.

To focus your vision, try these two techniques:

Point your empty pistol at a blank white wall. Don't cock the hammer or anything else, just point it at the white wall. If you use optics, make sure they are turned on. With optics, focus on the wall but "see" the dot. With iron sights, focus on the front sight. When I am focused, I can actually see the serrations on my front sight. Again, the idea is to turn off the little voice in your head. Build the length of time that you can hold that focus in the same way you did in the exercise above.

The second way is to find a quiet spot to sit down and relax for about 10 minutes or so. Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths and relax. When you are relaxed, picture your front sight in your mind's eye. See it in crisp, clear, perfect detail. See everything clearly. Then, see the rear sight appear blurry with the front sight still in crisp focus. Also keeping the front sight in focus, see the alignment of the front sight in the rear sight notch. Then, see the sight picture in perfect alignment move up and to the right as the gun recoils, see it come back down to where it started from. Then see it move as the gun recoils and you drive the sight to the next target. Then see it settle after you stop shooting. Keep it focused for a while longer, then let it go. The goal again is to quiet that little voice (your conscious mind). The entire process should take about 10 minutes or so. If you do that at least 3 times a week, you focus and performance will improve.

[Jake Di Vita]

Triple Six could be used as a great consistency drill.

[Flexmoney]

That's what I was thinking too... I was just trying to think of some good drills that will help me learn what the maximum/minimum amount of time needed to break an accurate shot is at different distances. Right now I'm thinking bill drills at varying distances or else setting up 3-4 target arrays with each target at a different distance.... any other ideas??

Thanks!

It kinda sound like you want to go in with some pre-determined way to shoot...that you have already decided for various distances.

Instead, I'd suggest letting your vision (sight picture) tell you all you need to know.

------------

Lurper...nice mental drills.

[Rosshooting]

What about dry practice of focus variations? I think it will help to improve times in real course of fire

[Flexmoney]

What about dry practice of focus variations? I think it will help to improve times in real course of fire

I believe that to be a staple of the skills needed to be covered in dry-fire. For me, it's not about memorizing positions and shooting a cadance, it's about trianing the vision to constantly be moving...out to the target spot...back to the sights

[Rosshooting]

What about dry practice of focus variations? I think it will help to improve times in real course of fire

I believe that to be a staple of the skills needed to be covered in dry-fire. For me, it's not about memorizing positions and shooting a cadance, it's about trianing the vision to constantly be moving...out to the target spot...back to the sights

That's exactly the point that I mean.

[FranDoc]

... What you are trying to achieve is the point where the little voice in your head is silent. Then you have focused your concentration. The second you hear the little voice, stop and start over. Your first goal should be to reach 15 seconds, then 30, 45, 60 and so on. ...

Having had WAY too much practice in high-efficiency multi-tasking, the 'little voice' kicks in instantly.

Any specific suggestions for shutting that down, or is this a matter of will, practice, letting go, repetition ... until there's finally some breakthrough in changing the pattern? At this point, I'd probably do best with rudimentary and concrete exercises (will keep trying exercises in the prior post).

The constant background noise in my head is making my shooting progress more slowly (I believe) than it might if I were able to shut down the rabble and get to some point of quiet, somewhat detached, observation.

[Z-man]

Thanks for the drills Lurper. I'll give them and Triple Six a shot. If you have others, I'd appreciate it. Flex- I understand what you're saying. What I'm looking for isn't a set cadence or a standard split time at different distances, but just some drills that will teach me and practice my ability to break each shot (as Matt said) without any wasted time but with a sufficient sight picture.