Box to box/side to side drill?

[IronEqualizer]

There seems to be two different ways of entering a box directly from one side or the other. Let's assume you are moving from left to right. Do you brake just outside of the box with the left foot and fire as you pick the left foot up after the right is planted or, do you brake inside the box with the left foot and fire as soon as the right foot lifts before it is settled (Burkett style)? I have been told both ways but this morning experimenting with both slowly in dry fire it seems for a direct side entry that the Burkett way is the way to go, as it seems to me I get a lot less sight movement once on target that way. I am curious to others thoughts on this and how you do it.

[Flexmoney]

Either way, you need to be getting ready to stop a few steps out.

Once you have one foot in the box, as soon as the foot that is outside the box clears the ground, you should be smoothly settled enough to get on the sights. That trailing foot then just gentle touches down.

[L9X25]

Either way, you need to be getting ready to stop a few steps out.

Once you have one foot in the box, as soon as the foot that is outside the box clears the ground, you should be smoothly settled enough to get on the sights. That trailing foot then just gentle touches down.

What Flex said - but the target plays a part in this too. If you have hoser targets you will start breaking shots as soon as the trailing foot lifts. For longer/harder shots you might acquire the sights and stabilize and fire as soon as you plant the second foot.

Edited June 19, 2007 by L9X25

[dirtypool40]

Leo (L9x25) has it nailed, and I agree with his agreeing with Flex who agreed with...some other guy.

For me movement is all about firing a quality shot as early as I can / am allowed. On tough / tight ones, it's going to be as soon as I am stable (TJ left foot first, soft entry), and on a close / easy shot it's going to be as soon as I'm "allowed" which also plays to the same left foot first, soft entry technique.NOTE THAT NONE OF THIS IS MY OWN CREATION. I think it's the right way, but I don't take credit for anything.

TJ fried my brain with this stuff, he was big on "sneaking" into the box. That last foot fall is soft enough it doesn't disturb the sites, and you are already on balance.

I take this approach. In your example of left to right, the earliest I am legally allowed to fire by the rules is my left foot planted and trigger the shot just as my right foot breaks ground behind me.

Brake early, get the gun up and sights on target, waiting for that rear foot to break ground. Once it does it's a fast countdown timer "seeing what you need to see" for that first shot.

Just two cents, and free advice isn't worth what you paid for it, but it is what works for me and I see a lot of top guys doing.

Edited June 19, 2007 by dirtypool40

[ChuckS]

Not that I am a speed demon or anything, but I like the plant the left foot in the box first when moving left to right. I found that I have to slow down quite a bit to make the right foot plant to work without inertia trying to make me overshoot the box. I am a big guy so inertia is an issue for me! You get the left foot in and the right foot off the ground outside the box and start firing. That's how I have done the classifier "Times Two" with good (for me) results.

Later,

Chuck

[IronEqualizer]

OK......so from what I am gathering so far is planting the braking foot in the box or fault line and shooting as the right foot is lifting off the ground. Done smoothly, have the gun up, and see what you need to see. Braking in the box seems to get/keep me stable quicker/longer.

[Brazos SC Shooter]

Another thing to account for, per the inertia comment, is the distance you are running between boxes. Longer runs with more speed require bigger braking distances. My grasp of the obvious is underwheling isn't it.

I have a drill I run where the boxes are about 7 yrds apart and I can brake on the last step before putting my right foot in the box when moving left to right. At the Indiana Sectional there was a good 20-25 yrd sprint to a shooting box that required 2-3 steps of braking before entering so that my sight picture was solid when and I was able to fire when my first foot planted in the box and my other foot came off the ground.

Edited June 20, 2007 by Brazos SC Shooter

[ktyler]

I teach if you are moving left to right, you plant the left foot in the box and use it as the brake, absorbing the force like a shock absorber. As you bend you knee to bleed off the speed/force stay at the same elevation when you start shooting. Don't wait to stand up to start shooting, it just waistes time. Having said that, you must also take the ground surface into consideration. This technique does require some leg and knee strengh to do aggressively.

I was told by a very high level shooter at a class he was teaching at hat I was wrong in using this technique. I explained the reason I use it is becasue it works on every surface well. I further told him because I shoot on grave a lot it really helps. I showed him that if I move from left to right and plant the right foot to bleed off the speed it will slide out. I was still told I was wrong, I thanked him for showing me his way of entering a box.

The next day I watched this shooter run from right to left at the Area match and as he planed his right foot in the box/shooting area it kept on sliding and it cost him about 1.5 secords. Moral of the story....do what works for the surface you are on. Also if you can practice one way that works for most situations you can limit the skills you need to work on. If you can break your skill sets down to easily repeatable skills that can be done on demand, you are way ahead in the game.

Learn both and use the right technique for the situation

Ktyler

[dirtypool40]

yeah, and nobody look at my avitar or that video.

[IronEqualizer]

yeah, and nobody look at my avitar or that video.

So true.....I like the hand brake technique you use also.....what do you grab when there is no wall there? Maybe I shouldn't have asked that.

[wide45]

I teach if you are moving left to right, you plant the left foot in the box and use it as the brake, absorbing the force like a shock absorber. As you bend you knee to bleed off the speed/force stay at the same elevation when you start shooting. Don't wait to stand up to start shooting, it just waistes time. Having said that, you must also take the ground surface into consideration. This technique does require some leg and knee strengh to do aggressively.

I was told by a very high level shooter at a class he was teaching at hat I was wrong in using this technique. I explained the reason I use it is becasue it works on every surface well. I further told him because I shoot on grave a lot it really helps. I showed him that if I move from left to right and plant the right foot to bleed off the speed it will slide out. I was still told I was wrong, I thanked him for showing me his way of entering a box.

The next day I watched this shooter run from right to left at the Area match and as he planed his right foot in the box/shooting area it kept on sliding and it cost him about 1.5 secords. Moral of the story....do what works for the surface you are on. Also if you can practice one way that works for most situations you can limit the skills you need to work on. If you can break your skill sets down to easily repeatable skills that can be done on demand, you are way ahead in the game.

Learn both and use the right technique for the situation

Ktyler

Something is messed up here...

I teach if you are moving left to right, you plant the left foot in the box and use it as the brake

I showed him that if I move from left to right and plant the right foot to bleed off the speed it will slide out.

The next day I watched this shooter run from right to left at the Area match and as he planed his right foot in the box/shooting area it kept on sliding and it cost him about 1.5 secords.

[Steve Anderson]

Any method will work when it becomes subconscious, and no method will work until then.

I really like Burkett's method of the outside foot entry, mainly because it gave me something to practice.

You could do just as well on the inside foot, I just don't prefer it.

The principle is to begin shooting as soon as you are not out of the box. How you achieve that matters very little really...

One caution is not to become so into one technique that you use it to the exclusion of other possibilities. Been there, done that, wrote a book about it.

SA

[HSMITH]

The thing I was recently told/reminded of that helped a TON was that the first thing you need to do is SEE the exact SPOT where you intend to stop. LOOK at it and you can hit it, if you don't look RIGHT AT that spot when you are coming up on it hitting it is going to be really really hard.

If you don't stop on the right spot it won't work, so pick a spot and look at it as you are coming in. In the last couple steps your vision goes back out to what you need to do next and your body will stop where it needs to without much effort on your part. Then work it down where you can shoot the instant you are there, that takes 'smooth' and I have a really hard time with that but the effort is worth it.

[IronEqualizer]

One caution is not to become so into one technique that you use it to the exclusion of other possibilities. Been there, done that, wrote a book about it.

SA

Cool......I thought I read that somewhere recently.... I think I may need to read through it a 3rd time though. You are my dry fire hero. and Micah of course.

Edited June 20, 2007 by Flexmoney

[IronEqualizer]

I teach if you are moving left to right, you plant the left foot in the box and use it as the brake, absorbing the force like a shock absorber. As you bend you knee to bleed off the speed/force stay at the same elevation when you start shooting. Don't wait to stand up to start shooting, it just waistes time. Having said that, you must also take the ground surface into consideration. This technique does require some leg and knee strengh to do aggressively.

I was told by a very high level shooter at a class he was teaching at hat I was wrong in using this technique. I explained the reason I use it is becasue it works on every surface well. I further told him because I shoot on grave a lot it really helps. I showed him that if I move from left to right and plant the right foot to bleed off the speed it will slide out. I was still told I was wrong, I thanked him for showing me his way of entering a box.

The next day I watched this shooter run from right to left at the Area match and as he planed his right foot in the box/shooting area it kept on sliding and it cost him about 1.5 secords. Moral of the story....do what works for the surface you are on. Also if you can practice one way that works for most situations you can limit the skills you need to work on. If you can break your skill sets down to easily repeatable skills that can be done on demand, you are way ahead in the game.

Learn both and use the right technique for the situation

Ktyler

Something is messed up here...

I teach if you are moving left to right, you plant the left foot in the box and use it as the brake

I showed him that if I move from left to right and plant the right foot to bleed off the speed it will slide out.

The next day I watched this shooter run from right to left at the Area match and as he planed his right foot in the box/shooting area it kept on sliding and it cost him about 1.5 secords.

Why can't I quote like this? Mine always come out screwed up looking. What's the trick?

[ktyler]

Yep, there is something wrong in my posting. I should not be typing in a hurry and rushed. Lol

When moving left to right I place the left foot in the box to brake. In my experience when placing the right foot in first while moving from left to right usually results in the foot sliding out from under me.

Sorry about the confusion if there was any. Please forgive me, I was publick educaket and I wok 4 da govrment

ktyler

[wide45]

Yep, there is something wrong in my posting. I should not be typing in a hurry and rushed. Lol

When moving left to right I place the left foot in the box to brake. In my experience when placing the right foot in first while moving from left to right usually results in the foot sliding out from under me.

Sorry about the confusion if there was any. Please forgive me, I was publick educaket and I wok 4 da govrment

ktyler

That is what you wrote the first time.

I'm assuming that you would use the right foot when moving right to left.

Then you wrote this;

The next day I watched this shooter run from right to left at the Area match and as he planed his right foot in the box/shooting area it kept on sliding and it cost him about 1.5 secords.