How to practice Drop Turners?

[rr4406pak]

Having a problem with drop turners. Especially at longer distances.

I always get one A and the other is off the paper (over the top I believe).

Don't have any drop turners in my backyard.

How can I practice for these?

Thanks.

[Steve J]

You're probably rushing your second shot. Be patient and wait for the second sight picture.

[lugnut]

You're probably rushing your second shot. Be patient and wait for the second sight picture.

Yep so true, but yet so hard to deal with mentally. With most swiingers, drop turners you have more time than you think.

[boz1911]

I don't know of any drill that will help but the most common problem is watching the moving target and not your front sight. I have a swinger on my practice range and I shoot it a lot. Shooting this swinger really helps with any moving target for no other reason than one has to focus on the sights to be sucessful.

[wide45]

Ideally, you are going to look where the target will appear, and drive the sight onto it as it appears. Fire the shots like any other target.

All kinds of opportunity to rush the shots if things are not ideal.

For practice, just work on your transitions, and do extra work with some distance.

Are you are thinking of the drop turner in this years A7?

Drop turners usually trip very quickly when activated with a door. You need to be set up on the targets as the door opens. Opening the door, and then stepping into the doorway will be slow. Know where the drop turner is, and get the gun moving there as soon as you can.

[G-ManBart]

The first question that comes to mind is whether you're having a problem timing them between other shots, i.e. hit the activator, shoot a paper and then go the drop turner, or just activator then drop turner?

At first it's probably smarter not to try and hit anything after the activator and before the drop turner...just transition directly to the drop turner and you'll be waiting for the target when it opens up to you. During the walk through try to see how high the center of the target is when it's as fully exposed as it's going to be. See if you can find something that will let you index on that spot so you'll automatically be in the center of the A-zone when it becomes visible.

If you're shooting other targets in between the activator and the drop turner, it's really a matter of shooting them more, getting a feel for how long the exposure is and knowing that you don't have to rush the second shot. It's likely that the exposure is something like half a second and most folks can shoot a .5 split without too much trouble but your mind is telling you "it's going to disappear, hurry up!"....all you can do is accept that it's going away and know you have plenty of time to make the second shot and call it like you would any other hard shot that you know you can't afford to miss. That means a hard front sight focus at longer ranges.

I know it's not much help, but target presentations like this get easier over time and eventually you won't really care if it's a drop turner, swinger, bobber through a port etc....you'll learn what you need to see to make the shot. If your club ever has practice days ask them to set up a drop turner or, better yet, offer to set up a short stage with a drop turner, a swinger and a couple of activators and shoot them until you start to get comfortable with them.

Just like a Texas star they're really only there to mess with your head and often don't pose a much harder shot than any other...but they look like they do

[38supPat]

Set it up on your timer as a par time. Start aimed at a target with a second target (simulated drop turner) a small distance to the left or right. Pick a time that you can comfortably shoot this in. On the start signal, fire one shot on the paper you are aimed at then transition to the other, the second beep is the simulated time the DT disappears. Work this for a few strings then reduce the time. You can vary it up by moving the targets closer and further apart and closer and farther away from your shooting position. Keep track of your split times on target and your transitions. This will give you an idea of whether or not you will be able to make the shots in a match. You might find you have time to shoot another target, or maybe you really only have time to get one on it at your current skill level. Remember, if you are only able to get one shot on it, plan it and make it an A instead of trying to fling two at it and getting only a C or D and a miss.

[Dan Burwell]

Set it up on your timer as a par time. Start aimed at a target with a second target (simulated drop turner) a small distance to the left or right. Pick a time that you can comfortably shoot this in. On the start signal, fire one shot on the paper you are aimed at then transition to the other, the second beep is the simulated time the DT disappears. Work this for a few strings then reduce the time. You can vary it up by moving the targets closer and further apart and closer and farther away from your shooting position. Keep track of your split times on target and your transitions. This will give you an idea of whether or not you will be able to make the shots in a match. You might find you have time to shoot another target, or maybe you really only have time to get one on it at your current skill level. Remember, if you are only able to get one shot on it, plan it and make it an A instead of trying to fling two at it and getting only a C or D and a miss.

This is what I would have recomended if there is no way you can beg, borrow, or.......make your own. The best practice for drop turners or swingers is live fire on drop turners and swingers. Shhort of this Pat's recomendation of using a par time is what you need to do.

The other thing I have found helpful, is keep a stop watch on you at matches, when you see a target time it. You will quickly see they are not as fast as your mind first says it is. If you practice and write down you splits and transistions at varying distances and you have a stop watch at the match, all you have is a simple match problem to solve and will then have the confidence you need to make two aimed shots rather than the Alpha something you are doing now. Be warned this does take some of the fun out of shooting a stage.

[38supPat]

This is what I would have recomended if there is no way you can beg, borrow, or.......make your own. The best practice for drop turners or swingers is live fire on drop turners and swingers. Shhort of this Pat's recomendation of using a par time is what you need to do.

I agree, drop turners are the best practice for drop turners....barring that, if like the OP stated you don't have any available, you can use par time.

[Mistral404]

Ambush the drop turner. You should see the vertical thin part of the target. Line your sights on ths axis. As the turn exposes, usually on your left side, fire before the target is fully exposed, then along the same veritcal axis as before you can move your gun slightly to your right. This will give you a wider A zone.

You can practice this in dry fire with three targes. The one on the left has only the thin visible edge, the middle target is at an angle so see part of the A zone, the third target is the fully exposed version. Put you timer on delay, on beep transistion to the middle partially exposed angled target, then to the third target.

The idea is get your subconcious mind to seeing something other than the optimal fully exposed sight picture as being ok to fire.

Work this drill a few times, coupled with the stop watch and you mind will adjust and you will stop rushing the second shot.

Our club does a lot of single exposure drop turners. So it is a real challenge to get your hits with one showing.

After you get this basic approach learned, the next steps are outlined by Bart. You overall timing improves, you hit the activator, then a static, then the drop turner first showing, move to another static, then back to the drop turner for the second exposure. Forceing this drill really gives you the confidence to never worry about a drop turner again. You will adapt to any drop turner.

[Dan Burwell]

I agree, drop turners are the best practice for drop turners....barring that, if like the OP stated you don't have any available, you can use par time.

I think I missed making my point with my own words.

I didn't have any drop turners to practice on so I went and made my own same with a swinger. I kept getting my butt handed to me on any CoF with either, so rigged up a couple that worked for me to practice on they don't need to be match grade just so it works about right most of the time.

[Paul Burtchell]

http://www.mattburkett.com/flashfiles/swinger1.html

Not a drop turner , but still good practice..

Edited August 6, 2009 by baerburtchell

[CHA-LEE]

Track the A zone as the target appears and drops down and call both shots. Most people aim at one place when they first see the target appear and throw two rounds at it hoping that they will both be hits. If you track the movement of the target its a lot easier to get two clean shots on it. Also time the speed of the drop turner. How long is it really exposed? How long does it take to get actuated and present the target after you shoot or trigger the activator? Most of the time you will see that there is plenty of time to get two solid shots on the target. If its ultra fast then you may only get one shot on it before it disappears. Some times its not even worth taking the time to engage a drop turner if it is disappearing and you will get two no penalty Mikes by not engaging it. It all depends on the stage and target engagement sequence it can be engaged in. If it does not flow with the engagement of the other targets and keeps you pinned in a shooting position for too long then some times it makes sense to blow it off. But that is where you would need to look at the average hit factor of the stage. If its a fast stage with a very high hit factor (such as 10+) then you can probably get away with blowing it off and having a faster stage time. At a 10 Hit Factor you are shooting 10 points a second. So if it takes longer than a second to engage the Drop Turner with two Alpha hits then you are wasting time and will end up with a lower hit factor. If you get an Alpha/Delta or two Charlie hits or worst yet an Alpha Mike on it then it makes it even more of a waste of time because you are not getting all of the available points for the target. For a lower Hit Factor stage it may make sense to take a little extra time to engage it to collect as many points as possible. But like I said, that is very stage specific.