How do you develop 'control'

[kimmie]

Sooooo many things to work on I have the basic skills. In live practice, I'm accurate and steady. I dry fire (though not as much as I should). Now I'm trying to work on things like movement, where are my arms when running(thanks guys for the good advice), developing a plan and sticking with it - picking spots to run to, where to reload, etc. But each match, it seems something new rears it's ugly head. At my last match, at some point I realized that I was just pointing my gun in the general direction of the target and firing. I knew this. But I couldn't seem to stop it. It showed with a ton of charlies and delta's. On one stage I had ONE alpha I saw my front sight for steel and tight shots, but otherwise........ I read an article recently where someone defined a 'hoser'. That was me. There was a thread awhile back about accepting charlies and deltas. That was me. But I couldn't stop it. Why? Maybe it's the psychological part of knowing it's a MATCH so you can't shoot like you're practicing, i.e. slow and steady. But.......if I did, I'd do soooo much better!

I realize how much of the mental process is so important in this game. So why can't I get it? Why, when the buzzer goes off do I 'lose my mind??????'

How do people overcome this? My friend and I have decided to compete for A's. Saw that in another thread on here. Whoever gets the most A's, buys lunch. But I think there has to be something deeper going on here. How do others deal/handle/fix this??????

Donna

[kevinj308]

Check out this thread http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=91236

I've got the same issues. Sometimes I get the better of them, sometimes not. I do better when I do shoot like I do in practice, there's no reason we can't.

Kevin

[lugnut]

I wish there was an easy way to embed the front sight into our eye balls.... but short of that... for now anyway. ALWAYS, ALWAYS use your sights.. no matter how close. Eventually on close targets you won't need to. It not always easy... but if you practice over and over again making yourself use the sights it will come togehter in practice.

In practice (or even if you do it in a match) pause until you refocus on the sights. If you start hosing.. stop again. It's not always easy!

One other thing that will help you get used to the fact that most times the target will NOT be in perfect focus... get a target and bring it home. With an UNLOADED gun... focus on the sights. Move the target around... draw, etc. Get used to the sight picture!

Edited September 23, 2009 by lugnut

[smokshwn]

The simple answer to your question is time and practice.

Think of your shooting as a cup that can only hold so many skills at any one time on the clock. You may have more skills individually than can fit in the cup but at any one time your capacity to control all of those skills is still limited by the size of your cup. As you practice and refine each skill it will take less of your conscious mind to perform that skill. Thus creating room for the next skill in the cup.

Keep practicing those individual skills until you can perform them at an unconcsciously competent level (takes approximately 7000 perfect repetitions). Along that way you will see that you will be able to increase not only the number of skills but the complexity of those skills in your cup.

Good luck, Craig

[Duane Thomas]

Honestly I think it has a lot to do with index. If you can't see your sights, and your shots are all over the target, the two most likely explanations are (1) a failure of trigger control i.e. when you pull the trigger you're putting way too much energy into it and moving the gun around, and (2) a failure of index. In respect of the latter, if you can't see your sights, and your shots are all over the target, it might because your technique, especially your grip, isn't pointing the gun straight ahead of you when it's mounted (i.e. you're in your shooting stance and grip). By contrast when your technique brings the gun up with the front sight perfectly aligned in the rear notch, and the sights automatically return to that state after every shot, it's actually fairly easy to track the sights in recoil.

In dry fire, try closing your eyes, drawing the gun to eye level, then open your eyes. Do you see the sights right there, perfectly aligned, or very, VERY close to it? If not, adjust your arm position, adjust your grip, whatever it takes until, when you open your eyes, you do see that. There, that should keep you occupied in daily dry fire for awhile.

On the range, to start with you don't even need a target. Start out with the sights perfectly aligned, close your eyes. Fire a shot. Open your eyes. Are the sights still perfectly aligned? If yes, great. If not, again, change your technique until when you open your eyes you see that the sights have returned to a perfectly aligned state between shots. This should keep you amused on the range for several sessions.

Then add a target. Five yards is a good distance to start. Align the sights in the center of the target's highest scoring area. Close your eyes. Fire two shots, slow fire. Open your eyes. Are the two bullet holes close together on the target? If not, if one of them (the first) is centered and another (the second) is somewhere else, again, adjust your technique until, when you open your eyes, you see two bullet holes close to each other in the center of the target.

Then make the time between shots a bit shorter. Do your two shots still stay together? Pay attention to what it feels like when the gun flips and comes right back down to the same spot. Strive to feel that every time. Make the splits a bit shorter, do that until the shots stay together. Keep doing that, incrementally shortening the splits until you're shooting as fast as you can pull the trigger, with your eyes closed, and still hitting center with every shot.

When you can do that, progress to opening your eyes. By now you've got a very solid index, and you've got the gun tracking very consistently. At this point, when you don't even really need your eyesight to hit, and you then ADD your eyes into the equation, you'll find that, when you start out with the sights perfectly aligned, and the sights return to perfect alignment after every shot, that tracking the sights is EASY because they're THERE TO SEE, you don't have your front sight invisible because it's off to one side or below the rear notch.

[The_Vigilante]

Duane, thanks for the best advice I've received in a long time as far as an explanation as to what indexing is and how to develop and practice it. I've got a lot of work to do.

[Supermoto]

Stop thinking about time and start focusing on the sights. You are throwing deltas because you are trying to get to the next target before you are finished with the first. Give every target the attention that it deserves, no more, no less.

[AR Gunner]

Honestly I think it has a lot to do with index. If you can't see your sights, and your shots are all over the target, the two most likely explanations are (1) a failure of trigger control i.e. when you pull the trigger you're putting way too much energy into it and moving the gun around, and (2) a failure of index. In respect of the latter, if you can't see your sights, and your shots are all over the target, it might because your technique, especially your grip, isn't pointing the gun straight ahead of you when it's mounted (i.e. you're in your shooting stance and grip). By contrast when your technique brings the gun up with the front sight perfectly aligned in the rear notch, and the sights automatically return to that state after every shot, it's actually fairly easy to track the sights in recoil.

In dry fire, try closing your eyes, drawing the gun to eye level, then open your eyes. Do you see the sights right there, perfectly aligned, or very, VERY close to it? If not, adjust your arm position, adjust your grip, whatever it takes until, when you open your eyes, you do see that. There, that should keep you occupied in daily dry fire for awhile.

On the range, to start with you don't even need a target. Start out with the sights perfectly aligned, close your eyes. Fire a shot. Open your eyes. Are the sights still perfectly aligned? If yes, great. If not, again, change your technique until when you open your eyes you see that the sights have returned to a perfectly aligned state between shots. This should keep you amused on the range for several sessions.

Then add a target. Five yards is a good distance to start. Align the sights in the center of the target's highest scoring area. Close your eyes. Fire two shots, slow fire. Open your eyes. Are the two bullet holes close together on the target? If not, if one of them (the first) is centered and another (the second) is somewhere else, again, adjust your technique until, when you open your eyes, you see two bullet holes close to each other in the center of the target.

Then make the time between shots a bit shorter. Do your two shots still stay together? Pay attention to what it feels like when the gun flips and comes right back down to the same spot. Strive to feel that every time. Make the splits a bit shorter, do that until the shots stay together. Keep doing that, incrementally shortening the splits until you're shooting as fast as you can pull the trigger, with your eyes closed, and still hitting center with every shot.

When you can do that, progress to opening your eyes. By now you've got a very solid index, and you've got the gun tracking very consistently. At this point, when you don't even really need your eyesight to hit, and you then ADD your eyes into the equation, you'll find that, when you start out with the sights perfectly aligned, and the sights return to perfect alignment after every shot, that tracking the sights is EASY because they're THERE TO SEE, you don't have your front sight invisible because it's off to one side or below the rear notch.

Great advice, Duane. Well said. Thanks!

[atbarr]

Honestly I think it has a lot to do with index.

Duane, what a GREAT post.

Thanks,

A.T.

[CHA-LEE]

Really think about what your mental/physical trigger is for breaking your shots. What do you see when your brain says that its "OK" to break the shot? Are you looking at the target? Your sights? The next target?

You should be watching your sights to call your shots and once you see a valid sight picture on the target that should trigger the "OK" in your mind to break the shot. You need to train your brain into seeing a valid sight picture as the "OK" or "Not OK" validation for breaking the shot. This is what Brian Enos talks about in his book for “Looking the shot off”.

The more optimized your shooting index is the faster your gun will be on target with the sights aligned. So if you find yourself putting the gun on target and then fishing to align the sights you know that your shooting index is not optimized.

[kimmie]

Thank you - this is some great advice. And Duane, thank you so much for taking the time to answer with such a detailed and informative post.

I'm definately going to incorporate your suggestions into my practices. I think maybe it's time to go back to the basics before I get too far out of control and ingrain these bad habits!

Supermoto - I am looking to the next target - what you said made me realize that. And Cha - that's sort of along the same lines as me accepting c's and d's. I'm not seeing what I should be seeing when I break the shot. I know it. But I don't do anything to fix it.

Donna

[Singlestack]

Ahhh....

The Difference.

[JimmyZip]

So you're not saying trigger control, or recoil control, but rather total control over the whole shooting act.

Seeing what you need to

Index

Calling the shot

Movement.

Man that there is alot. I hope when I get all of this figured out, I'm at least a B.

[Nik Habicht]

Some of it comes down to deciding what's important to you. If the hits are important, then spend some time in practice figuring out what you need to see to be certain of shooting alphas. Someone --- I think it might have been Max Michel --- once suggested practicing with three targets: one at seven yards, one at 15, one at 25. Set them up with the seven in the center, and several yards in between the targets laterally; you want a transition, but not an exaggerated one, you also don't want the targets to appear to be standing shoulder to shoulder.

Now draw and fire two on each --- near to far; far to near; left to right; right to left. After each six round string tape the targets. Fire each string a bunch of times in a row -- and try to develop a feel for what sight picture you need for alphas. (The seven yard target in the center should require less of a front post in notch picture, your splits should be faster than on the other two.....)

Now imagine if you just focused your whole attention on being aware during each run and then correlating that awareness with what you see on the targets as you tape them --- how much could you learn here?

If you're having trouble finding the A-zone on this drill, tape it off with hardcover tape, or paint the outline with a wide magic marker for the first or second session. Once you can find the A-zone, shoot on clean targets. When you think you can't learn anything else, add hardcover or no-shoots in varying amounts....

[Duane Thomas]

Folks, thanks for the compliments.

Y'know, after completing that post, I thought to myself, "With just a bit of tweaking, that could make a Blue Press article," especially since I already had a photo on my computer that could illustrate the topic. So I transferred the text over into Office Word, did a rewrite, attached the text file and the photo to an emal and shot it off to Mark Pixler at Dillon. So if you get The Blue Press, you're probably going to be seeing this advice again.

[atbarr]

Folks, thanks for the compliments.

Y'know, after completing that post, I thought to myself, "With just a bit of tweaking, that could make a Blue Press article," especially since I already had a photo on my computer that could illustrate the topic. So I transferred the text over into Office Word, did a rewrite, attached the text file and the photo to an emal and shot it off to Mark Pixler at Dillon. So if you get The Blue Press, you're probably going to be seeing this advice again.

Good, pictures help.

A.T.

[kimmie]

Ahhh....

The Difference.

Absolutely.

I just read your thread and realize this is something of a knock off. Except the speed factor (well, maybe a lack of) isn't an issue for me. What's really enlighteneing, for me anyway, is that some of these issues apply to anyone from a lowly D shooter like myself, all the way up the line. That means that it's not that I can't shoot! That's not the issue. The issue is my approach to this game. Not practice, but HOW to practice and WHAT to practice and knowing that. A GM shooter that I shoot with here in Massachusetts once told me that there's nothing he does with his gun that I couldn't do. I laughed, of course. Yeah, in my dreams. But now I'm starting to understand what he was saying.

[calishootr]

we do intro to USPSA shooting courses out here on the left coast, and I tell the people in the class, the only difference between them and I, is that forthe past what???20 yrs now I have been toiling at this sport, at one point i had a gun in my hand 7 days a week, the difference between you and the GM's right now Donna, is that they 'know' thru experience and skill level what they are going to do or how they are going to shoot, where you are still mentally asking those questions and costing yourself time on the course.

+1 to what duane said(great post btw) the too many C's are an index problem, not seeing the sights all the way to the A zone, seeing a C as an acceptable shot and pulling the trigger

I noticed that on a stand and shoot(or what i call squirt stages) set-up in the box is the key, if your foot placement doesnt allow you full range of motion to the far left and right targets you will pull up short on those targets, and ive done it more than once, tried to leave before finishing the last shot and pulled off target because i wanted to be somewhere else....pay attention, it will pay dividends in the end

[Flexmoney]

kimmie,

You covered a lot of ground in your opening post.

Now I'm trying to work on things like movement, where are my arms when running(thanks guys for the good advice), developing a plan and sticking with it - picking spots to run to, where to reload, etc. But each match, it seems something new rears it's ugly head.

It is common, when working on new aspects, that other skills that you had a good grasp of...they will slip a bit. You have skills that aren't yet honed and...more importantly, perhaps...aren't yet burned completely into your subconscious mind. Meaning...they aren't just automatic, they require some oversight.

You only have a certain amount of mental energy available to watch over your actions. (If you think about all that goes on, it is kind of amazing what all we actually do.) So, when you divert a lot of that mental energy...consciously...into one area, another area is likely to take a back seat.

In live practice, I'm accurate and steady.

vs.

i.e. slow and steady.

Clearly, you are equating accurate to equal slow.

Everybody seems to do that. It is easy to mentally base accuracy as a component of speed.

...at some point I realized that I was just pointing my gun in the general direction of the target and firing. I knew this. But I couldn't seem to stop it.

Likely because your conscious mind...whether you were really aware of it or not...had some other goal, besides getting good hits on the target.. The conscious mind can hold one thought at a time. It will give you what you ask for. The trick is to TRULY ask for the right thing.

My friend and I have decided to compete for A's.

That is a good way. Do that, and you have changed the focus. You can then cut a new groove. (Instead of trying to break an old habit, just replace it. Groove in the new habit.)

[Flexmoney]

BTW...I was just going to type one word (with regards to getting your hits)...

Desire.

[benos]

Why, when the buzzer goes off do I 'lose my mind??????'

Join the club! For most IPSC shooters, that battle never ends. It never did with me. I remember, long ago someone said, "when the buzzer went off I reacted like someone jammed a cattle prod up my ass." That one stuck with me.

Once you rehearsed the stage and know what you're going to do, spend the rest of your time before you shoot calming yourself down. With phrases like, I don't care what my time will be, I'm just going to relax and let the sights tell me when to shoot.

be

[kimmie]

Desire - oh yes!!!!! I am just developing it in the past year and that's probably why I'm working on so many different things. What you say is right on. Yes, things that aren't a total muscle memory suffer when you move on to something new too soon. And I keep seeing that - things that I could do pretty well last month seem to nose dive when I start working on something else. Spreading my 'mental energy' too thin trying to focus on too many things at the same time. No can do. No wonder I'm floundering and frustrated. I kinda like the visual of Smokshwn's cup of skills!

Thanks

[benos]

There ya go. Just settle in for a fun, nice long ride.

be

[kimmie]

There ya go. Just settle in for a fun, nice long ride.

be

O.k. Inspite of everything - this is the most 'funnest' thing I've done in my life! And I plan to keep on trying!

Thanks

[Flexmoney]

I kinda like the visual of Smokshwn's cup of skills!

I liked that one too.

And, another popped into my mind. Those performers on stage that twirl plates on sticks...or jugglers.

What is juggling? It's throwing a ball (or whatever) into the air and then catching it. Repeat. Heck, I can juggle one ball pretty well.

Same thing with twirling plates, I'd think. Once you learned how to twirl a plate on a stick and keep it going... you would have the basic skill set.

When you start adding balls or plates...then you have to spread your attention around.

Ha...crazy youtube has everything: