My Split Times Suck!

[Flexmoney]

Chris,

How is your grip and stance?  Describe them in as much detail as possible and the folks here will be able to help out.

[Shooter Grrl]

Also tell us what gun you're using - some of them just can't go faster

[Ron Ankeny]

It is a bit tough to practice "splits" in dry fire unless you shoot a double action revolver. There are a lot of drills for high speed shooting over in the Training Drills section. Dot drills, trigger bar drills, etc...

A drill that I find helpful for transitions and splits can be seen at:

http://www.brianenos.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard...=5&topic=65

[bonedaddy]

   Chris, I may be totally out to lunch with this advice.  But hey,  that's the chance you take when you pose questions on an internet forum to fellas with handles like Flexmoney and bonedaddy, right?    

   Several competent shooters I've had the pleasure of training with had a similar affliction.   I'm quite sure you could easily work the trigger on that CZ in .22 seconds.   Maybe, just maybe,  the reason your splits are slow is that you're sort of "obsessing" over the sight picture.    

     Forget about shooting "A"s  for 300 rounds or so.   Just turn the badger loose and hose 'em.    At .45 splits you are probably "seeing much more than you need to see" to fire the shots.   At 7 yds, it doesn't matter if there is an equal amount of daylight on each side of the front sight.   Once you get used to it, a good seven yard sight picture may be simply that you just "see" your front sight.  Just for kicks, tape  'em up and point shoot some Bill Drills.   You'll be suprised, and I hope over-joyed,  at what you can get away with for a sight picture and still shoot all "A"s.  

        Drive it like you stole it!      

                    -Sam  

PS: you'll be a little slower at ten yards than seven, but work at seven for a while and learn to trust the speed.

 

(Edited by bonedaddy at 5:27 pm on Sep. 2, 2002)

[ErikW]

Fast splits are all about grip and vision. You must have a firm but neutral grip... it sounds like yours may be too light. When you can watch the front sight bob up and down, always returning to the same position, you can work on the vision thing.

Brian could write a whole 'nother book on the vision thing. He goes into it pretty deep on the bonus tape in the Matt Burkett tapes.

I'll just say you don't have to see a perfect sight picture, you just need to see enough for that shot.

.45 splits at 10 yards doesn't suck for IDPA. You can't shoot fast enough outside the 0 ring; you've got to keep them in there.

[BigDave]

start with the target close, like <1yd, go as fast as possible, but be aware of what your gun is doing here.  Then keep walking back from the target in, say, 1 yd incriments.  That's what I did.

just my $.02.  your results may vary...

[BSeevers]

I got a lot from firing rounds into the backstop at 5 yards as fast as I could, no targets. Its kind of learning what it feels like and what you "can"do and then applying that to actual shooting. As mentioned vision and awareness is real important and you probably need to see more. Developing trust can be a hurdle also.

[Flexmoney]

I would also do some five yards, no target, into the berm stuff.  I'd try to be aware of what I saw and felt.

Here is the thread that has the Avery cadence thing:

http://www.brianenos.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard...=5&topic=65

and here is Matt Burkett's timing drill:

http://www.mattburkett.com/10.html

[benos]

Chris,

All this excellent advice should get you going.

Thanks guys!

be

[Duane Thomas]

Well, I may just be boring you with stuff you already know, but here goes. Your basic grip and stance sound solid. It sounds to me like what you're doing is overworking the trigger as you go for speed. Read Avery's article in this month's Front Sight on the components of firing an accurate shot. It can be difficult to continue to isolate your trigger finger from the rest of your hand as you go for speed. Your accuracy - or lack thereof - at speed is probably cause by crushing and heeling and pulling down and pushing up on the gun as you're pulling the trigger....everything except simply pulling the trigger straight to the rear with the rest of your hand motionless.

The way I was taught to practice my trigger control is, while dry firing, to get the gun into your free-style platform, everything, stance, grip, sight alignment. Then prep the trigger, apply almost as pressure as necessary to drop the hammer but not quite. If this is a four pound trigger pull, you should have 3-1/2 pounds on the trigger. Apply the last 1/2 pound to fire the shot, then hold the trigger to the rear for two seconds as you follow-through on the front sight. Since there's no ammo in the gun, the slide won't cycle so you're going to have to do it by hand. Pull the slide to the rear, resetting the hammer. Continue to hold the trigger to the rear. Reacquire your grip and sight alignment. Slowly let the trigger go forward til you hit the "link" where it clicks and you can fire another shot, but no further, then prep the trigger again. Just keep doing that, over and over again.

Even if you already understand the concept of hitting the link and prepping the trigger, if your trigger control is not working for you in live fire, we're going to have to start all over, building your techhnique from the ground up. Watch your sights as the hammer drops. Assuming a right-handed shooter, if they move to the left it means you're crushing the gun (as the trigger finger curls to pull the trigger all the other fingers curl as well), if it moves to the left you're heeling the gun (pulling with your entire hand while simultaneously bending your wrist back), if it dips you're probably pulling down on the trigger as the end of the pull, if it moves up you're doing a variation of crushing the gun, only instead of bending back your wrist you're shoving the base of the heel of your hand into the bottom of the grip. Stop all that stuff. When you pull the trigger, the only thing that moves is the trigger finger. Really, even the entire trigger finger doesn't move, it's only the first two joints. From the second joint back your hand is entirely motionless.

Then, once you get it grooved into your nervous system where the link is, how much you can prep the trigger before it drops, the sights aren't moving as the hammer falls, start making the interval you hold the trigger to the rear shorter and shorter, til you can hit the link and prep the trigger WHILE you're cycling the action. By the time the slide is forward you're reset, prepped and 1/2 a pound away from firing the next shot.

Practice the trigger pull/trigger reset drill, oh, thousands of times. When you get out on the range live fire, start out doing this drill and, again, hold the trigger to the rear for two seconds as you follow-through on your front sight. FEEL the trigger as you're pulling it. It should travel straight to the rear. Also, you're working again on learning where the reset point is on your particular gun, what it feels like to hit it, and how far you can prep it before the gun fires - only now you're doing it with live ammo. As time goes by and your muscle memory starts to kick in on this technique, begin making the interval you hold the trigger to the rear shorter and shorter. Eventually you'll be firing accurate shots and, by the time the gun is down out of recoil it'll come right back to the same spot with the trigger reset, prepped, and 1/2 pound away from firing the next shot.

Good luck! Let us know what happens.

[Carlos]

One more thought that worked for me: getting the balance between left hand/right hand - grip pressure was tough and I found that I was gripping too much with the right - and thus slowing the speed at which my trigger finger could actuate the trigger. My splits suffered. In order to really get my weak hand (in my case, the left hand is my "weak hand") into play and firm up the left grip pressure, I mentally visualized drawing with the right hand and as the weak hand formed its grip, I imagined passing the gun over to the weak hand. This both firmed up the weak hand grip and relaxed my right/strong hand. With the strong hand somewhat relaxed, I was able to actuate the trigger MUCH faster and every following split time was lower - no matter how many shots I fired. I no longer "think" about passing the gun right to left, I simply do it instinctively as part of the draw.

I would not say that my strong hand is totally "relaxed", rather, I think I am closer to Brian's suggested 50/50% left-right grip pressure.