Need to improve my transistion speed Advice please

[Alaskapopo]

I was given some constructive critisim at my last match saying my double taps were good but my target transistions were slow. What is a good drill to speed this up. El Prez? something better let me know.

Pat

[Jake Di Vita]

Focus on snapping your eyes to the center of the next target as quickly as possible after you call the previous shot.

The biggest thing that will help you is a desire of seeing the next target at the earliest possible time while still calling every shot. Once you have that down, dry fire a lot using that principle.

[HSMITH]

I think it was Jake that helped me a TON with this a couple years ago. I don't remember what the exact advise was but here is what I interpreted it to be.....

Shoot a cadence, say 25 or 30 splits, get the feeling of that cadence. Put two targets out at about 10 yards and a couple feet apart. Shoot two on one and shoot the second target without breaking the cadence. Use the cadence to FORCE yourself to get your eyes on the target and then the gun before it goes off. If you don't snap your eyes you won't get there before the gun goes off, if you don't snap the transition over you won't get there before the gun goes off. It is a forceful way of training this, but it worked wonders for me. When you can do it reasonably well spread the targets out further, knowing the gun is going to fire before you get there is a great motivator.

Normally I don't advocate shooting a cadence, but it can be a powerful training tool.

[Jake Di Vita]

Yep, that is a good drill to use for sure...however make sure you only use the cadence as a tool for improving your transitions. Don't ever practice it so much that you revert to a cadence in a match.

[JThompson]

I think it was Jake that helped me a TON with this a couple years ago. I don't remember what the exact advise was but here is what I interpreted it to be.....

Shoot a cadence, say 25 or 30 splits, get the feeling of that cadence. Put two targets out at about 10 yards and a couple feet apart. Shoot two on one and shoot the second target without breaking the cadence. Use the cadence to FORCE yourself to get your eyes on the target and then the gun before it goes off. If you don't snap your eyes you won't get there before the gun goes off, if you don't snap the transition over you won't get there before the gun goes off. It is a forceful way of training this, but it worked wonders for me. When you can do it reasonably well spread the targets out further, knowing the gun is going to fire before you get there is a great motivator.

Normally I don't advocate shooting a cadence, but it can be a powerful training tool.

Now that's the stuff I'm talking about.... That drill is up for tomorrow.

Thx guys

[Ben Stoeger]

I was given some constructive critisim at my last match saying my double taps were good but my target transistions were slow. What is a good drill to speed this up. El Prez? something better let me know.

Pat

Good advice from the other guys, but you may want to give plate racks a run as well. They can really help you get the gun moving.

[Jake Di Vita]

Plate racks do help but since the transition distance between them is so short, it is of limited value to improving your transitions as a whole. Working some in there can't hurt though.

[Ben Stoeger]

Plate racks do help but since the transition distance between them is so short, it is of limited value to improving your transitions as a whole. Working some in there can't hurt though.

The reason I picked plates was becuase you don't double them (so it would take the double tap issue off the table)

[Jake Di Vita]

What double tap issue? Transitions operate totally independently of splits - it shouldn't matter at all.

[Hoofy]

In the words of the exhalted Ghost Dog of all things Zen,

"THE ORIGINAL DRILL:

Set up 3 IPSC targets at 10 yards, about a yard a apart, edge to edge. Only hits in the A box count. On the buzzer draw and shoot one shot at each target - left to right, then repeat left to right, then repeat again left to right - for a total of 9 shots. Check your time, add a half second for each non-A, and note your score. You don't really care about your score that much, just remember it for later. Shoot a 6 - 10 strings, to establish an average score. While you're establishing your average - you're just shooting like you normally would. Don't try any new tricks or anything at all. In the end just know your average score for the drill."

Part II can only be obtained by PM'ing BE himself

Hint: Listen to Jake

A great drill, I use it at the range and in dryfire.

Edited April 9, 2008 by Hoofy

[Ben Stoeger]

What double tap issue? Transitions operate totally independently of splits - it shouldn't matter at all.

I think if you read Alaskas post, he uses the term "doubletap". This could be an indication of the one sight picture 2 trigger pull mentality. Thats what I mean by "double tap issue" Cadence drills would be the first reccomendation to work on that. The very next thing that comes to my mind is working the plate rack.

[HoMiE]

What about shooting a plate rack 1-4-2-5-3-6 or 6-3-5-2-4-1?

[Ben Stoeger]

What about shooting a plate rack 1-4-2-5-3-6 or 6-3-5-2-4-1?

Sounds pretty sweet.

[steel1212]

What about shooting a plate rack 1-4-2-5-3-6 or 6-3-5-2-4-1?

Sounds pretty sweet.

That is what I do. Plates don't need to be taped and just a pull resets them. We also have 2 of them about 6 feet apart so I can do 1 then 6 on the right one then 2 on the left etc.

[Harmon]

shoot steel challenge..its all about transitions.

[JxMxFxPx]

What double tap issue? Transitions operate totally independently of splits - it shouldn't matter at all.

I think if you read Alaskas post, he uses the term "doubletap". This could be an indication of the one sight picture 2 trigger pull mentality. Thats what I mean by "double tap issue" Cadence drills would be the first reccomendation to work on that. The very next thing that comes to my mind is working the plate rack.

That's exactly what I was thinking,Ben.

I think the OP is having issued with the "one pic/two pull" mentality, and learning cadence is the surest way to break himself of this.

I'm not really sure I understand Jakes thinking on this but cadence and transitions absolutely go hand in hand.

Maybe Jake can break it down further because not "reverting to cadence" isn't very clear.

If the OP is going out and double tapping everything, there is no way to effeciently improve transitions.

Well he might be able to speed them up some but they will never be as efficient as they would be if he drops the doubletap mentality.

After the shot breaks on target "A", move your eyes to target "B" while the gun is still in it's recoil cycle and you are prepping the trigger.

After your eyes are on target "B", drive the gun to target "B" so that the moment your gun recovers from recoil, it lands on target "B"

then of course, verify sight,press, continue.

Do this drill between target "A" and "B"-"B" and "A", back and forth....it will help.

Edited April 19, 2008 by JxMxFxPx

[HSMITH]

Jx, what Jake is warning against is shooting a cadence in a match. It is REALLY easy to do when you use a cadence drill to learn some skill, the cadence will burn in quickly, ask me how I know........

Shooting when it matters absolutely HAS to be controlled by the front sight or the dot. A cadence is a powerful tool for advancing certain skills, but it will bite you hard if you try to do it in a match.

[Jake Di Vita]

When less experienced shooters use a cadence they tend to shoot more off of that than their vision. In other words they let the shot fly without necessarily having the gun on target - and even if they do they don't know it.

[Matt Griffin]

To overcome mental blocks, I use this drill:

Set up a target on either side of the range, hopefully 45 degress apart or so, as big a swing as you can manage.

Next, start a timer and shoot both targets. Do it a few times, then review and note the transitions.

Now, line up on the first target. You're getting a free shot, the first shot is going to be an A, period. Start your timer, let the beep go off, but don't shoot. We just want the timer recording the transition, the first shot doesn't mean anything.

Get your mind focused on the transition. Shot breaks-GO! The timer is recording, waiting for you, so squeeeeeeze the first shot, much slower than you normally would. When it breaks, transition and shoot the other target, as fast as you can.

Come back and tell us what you learned. Once you've done that, I'll tell you what I learned.

H.