Making the most of the rounds we fire.

[synergy]

Through my work, I get to see a lot of different shooters of different backgrounds and experiences. I get to see people who've never handled a gun before, to guys who've been shooting for 50 years. I get to see people who can shoot 1 hole groups...and people who need help just getting the bullets into the backstop.

The thing I've noticed, though, is that time spend behind the trigger, doesn't always make you a better shooter. In fact, the majority of the poor shooters I see...are ones who've had poor formal training in the past (mil and LE, with too high of a student:instructor ratio, with the focus on just passing a qual), and have either forgotten the key ingredients to shooting well, or never learned it correctly in the first place.

Essentially, experience doesn't translate directly to skill.


I've been working my way though a book on shooting, by J Michael Plaxco called Shooting from Within. I highly recommend it to anyone who takes their shooting seriously. One gem he scribed was:

Practice makes permanent...only perfect practice, makes perfect. (or words to that effect)

With that in mind...what I'd like to create here, is a list of what people have found to be efficient uses of ammo....what drills, tips, concepts...do you practice, and how has that helped your shooting?

Aside from the fundamentals of FS focus and trigger press....what techniques have positively impacted your speed or precision? What do you think about when you transition from target to target? What little modification to your reloads made you faster/ smoother? Things like that...

What drills do you think are worth spending your ammo on...and why?


------

I'll start off with a tip that helped me with a grip separation problem I was having with larger caliber handguns. What I visualized, was that my support hand was actually squeezing my firing hand and gun together, and PULLING the gun out away from my body (I know, Weaver shooters will shake their heads...). What this got me doing was locking my support hand down on the gun better, and helped me out a lot with recoil management.

As far as something I feel is worth spending my ammo on... I like drills that re-enforce the balance between speed and precision. One drill I'll do is take a bunch of small targets and arrange them from big - small, or small to big. At 5 yards I'll do a 1" dot, a 1/2 of a business card, a full business card, a 3x5" card, a 5" plate, and a 8" plate....etc. The idea is to just hit the targets as quick as you can, but you MUST hit the targets. You can arrange the targets differently to track the gun from left to right, or up to down...etc. But I think this helps us better understand what we need to see, to hit a given size/ distance target.


Ok, now it's YOUR turn!

[PA Rifleman]

Originally Posted by synergy

....what techniques have positively impacted your speed or precision?

Learning to shoot flintlocks (AKA "flinchlocks") accurately completely eliminated all flinch with smokeless guns.

[XUSNORDY]

Practice makes permanent...only perfect practice, makes perfect. (or words to that effect)

Strange......just watched a baseball training dvd last night with my step-son. It with Cal and Billy Ripken.......they said the very same quote. Said that their father often said it....only a bit different..

Practice dosen't make perfect......only perfect practice makes perfect.

[Mr_Anderson]

the Boy Scouts taught me to shot. they pressed me about taking your time, and breathing. If you can not control your breathing you will miss. This was on .22 bolt action rifles. Last summer i bought a .22 and i went right back to shotting dime size groups at 25 yrs. pretty happy with that

[synergy]

I just shot another IDPA match tonight...and it re-affirmed some things for me that I'd like to share.

The Tortoise won the race, not the Hare.
I so often see shooters who focus on speed. They run from target to target, spend hours shaving .01's off their draw time, they weight their pockets so their cover garment clears faster...etc.....but they miss the target (a-zone or head box), often. So the penalties add up...and sometimes it pays, often it does not.

Working 1 shot at a time, and doing things by the numbers has paid off for me. I seldom fumble, I don't miss much (I have my ups and downs), and I almost never have to back-peddle because I ran past my cover.

Focusing on the task at hand is what makes the "slow is smooth, and smooth is fast" mantra worth repeating.

Efficiency of movement is more important than speed of movement. If you rush, only to fumble and do things you don't need to do...it takes longer. Ever come home, hear the phone ringing at the front door, and fumble to get the key in the lock? Every other day it goes right in, right? Letting the urgency of the situation distract you from the task at hand DOES NOT make you any "faster."

Shoot the match one shot at a time.
New shooters often revel at a more experienced shooters ability to shoot "double taps" and how "fast" they are. I gotta say, everything I needed to know to perform well, I learned in a basic level pistol course. In no special order....
1) line up your sights, focus on the front sight, and press the trigger w/o moving your sights.
2) watch your front sight before during and after the shot breaks
3) keep your gun up in your workspace during reloads and only move what you need to move to accomplish it.
4) as soon as the muzzle clears the holster start driving it out to the targets (as situation dictates) (none of that "point at the ground and sweep up" BS)
5) don't press the trigger till you have a sight picture that ensures a hit.
6) if the gun stops working, fix it. (reload, or malf clearing)

The penalty for misses in IDPA is measured in half-seconds. The penalty for misses in a gunfight is measured in lives.

I had a target tonight which I hit in the -1 (low left)...in reality, that gutshot would NOT have taken a determined attacker out of the fight, he'd have still been trying to kill me. I decided to shoot him again once I saw the low hit...it "cost me more than it gained" to quote the SO...meaning it took me more than .5 secs to deliver that hit from my last shot...so my score would have been better off taking the mediocre hit. Tactically I decided he still needed shooting, so I gave him a third hole...I'm glad I did this, and it's just too bad that the scoring system doesn't reward what makes sense tactically, but oh well.

I had a headshot on a target that skirted the hitbox...that might have f*ed up a guys jaw...but it wouldn't have turned out the lights. 1" left and it could have hit an innocent....

We ain't getting -3's when the chips are down...it's either going home, or a pine-box.

Fast misses hurt more often than they help, in competition...and they have unspeakable consequences on the street. Shoot the target, one square hit at a time...you're not gonna miss fast enough to catch up.

Here's a friend of mine trying to rush through a drill...


Here's me just walking at a normal pace and just thinking about putting my sights on target...


Who was "faster"?

Out of the habit of shooting consistent accurate rounds, comes efficiency. You don't have to think about it, you just do what you've always done. Put the sights on the target and shoot, one bullet at a time, till the match is over. Before you know it, they stage is over and people will be wondering how you got to be so "fast".

[andrewjs18]

Lycanthrope!

No seriously, the man is full of great information.

He has helped me tremendously and it's been all online help with photos without a single physical instruction....


I'm beginning to take my time, load less rounds into the magazine and shoot slower. Before I talked with Lycanthrope, I'd go burn 100-150 rds at the range and not really think about correcting my problems. I thought that if I'm getting trigger time in, it's better than no trigger time at all. I guess in a sense that's not bad, but it sure as hell ain't cheap to shoot anymore so I now make my money last longer and worth shooting....

I also think that shooting with people who are experienced and are willing to critique you is a big help!!!

just my .02

[DPB]

A lot of these are more "concepts" than "drills":

Synergy is absolutely right. Nothing on your resume makes up for looking incompetent with a gun in your hand.

When you first get to the range, you need to run some kind of drill cold. This will give you an idea how you can perform on demand.

Before you do anything live fire, you need to have dry fired it, either immediately before or in a previous practice session.

Aside from your marksmanship drills, everything needs to be done on a timer. Even if you are not doing something for time, it gets you used to starting action on an external stimulus.

Another good book is Brian Enos's "Practical Shooting: Beyond Fundementals." You will not understand everything the first time you read it. One of his most important concepts is understanding that every shot does not require the same sight picture, and that the difficulty of the target will determine the quality (and time required) of that sight picture.

My most basic sight picture/trigger control drill is: Start at the high ready with a loaded handgun. Target is a 3 inch dot, distance is seven yards. Extend, aquire the sight picture, break the shot, acquire the follow through sight picture. Return to high ready. Repeat many, many times.

My most basic speed drill: Handgun in the holster, IPSC/IDPA target at 7 yards. On the timer, draw and fire one/two rounds into the A/-0 zone as fast as you can. Reholster. All A/-0 zone hits are equal. If you are hitting the C/-1, you need to slow down and see the sights.

There is a huge advantage to using the more common handguns (Glock, M&P, 1911, SIG) because you have much more choice and availability in your support equipment. You may have saved some cash getting something else, but now you're waiting three months to get some mags or can't find a good holster.

.22 conversion slides are one of the best training aids ever created.

I haven't done this, but at some point I want to start videoing training sessions. That way, I can see what I'm doing wrong.

The only way to do fast, reliable reloads is to practice doing reloads.

Someone once told me "If you're not shooting, you're wasting time." Everything that is not shooting needs to be done a quickly and efficiently as possible.

You need to learn to call your shots. If you call a miss, you make it up immediately. If you are looking for holes in the target, or waiting for the sound on steel targets, you are wasting time.

Becoming a good shooter takes money, there isn't any way to do it cheap. Buy ammo by the case.

I prefer USPSA to IDPA, but both are worthwhile. Never forget that competition helps you get good technical skills, it does not teach you tactics.

I'll post more if I think of any.

[synergy]

Originally Posted by DPB

A lot of these are more "concepts" than "drills":

Aside from your marksmanship drills, everything needs to be done on a timer. Even if you are not doing something for time, it gets you used to starting action on an external stimulus.

Another good book is Brian Enos's "Practical Shooting: Beyond Fundementals." You will not understand everything the first time you read it. One of his most important concepts is understanding that every shot does not require the same sight picture, and that the difficulty of the target will determine the quality (and time required) of that sight picture.

I haven't done this, but at some point I want to start videoing training sessions. That way, I can see what I'm doing wrong.

The only way to do fast, reliable reloads is to practice doing reloads.

Someone once told me "If you're not shooting, you're wasting time." Everything that is not shooting needs to be done a quickly and efficiently as possible.

You need to learn to call your shots. If you call a miss, you make it up immediately. If you are looking for holes in the target, or waiting for the sound on steel targets, you are wasting time.

Never forget that competition helps you get good technical skills, it does not teach you tactics.

On concepts versus drills, you're quite right. IMO, the mental approach to shooting helps you out a lot more than practicing certain drills. When you approach those drills with the right mindset, THEN you're getting the most out of them. Shooting the drills but not thinking about efficiency of movement, or trying to rush...doesn't benefit the shooter as much, IMO.

The timer is a huge benefit, I saw a signifigant improvement in my shooting when I started to use one. When my buddies and I shoot, we use a timer...and the friendly competition pushs us all to get better.

Video is huge. There is no denying what you watch yourself do with your own eyes. I never thought I moved excessively during my reloads....I do. I never noticed a problem with them, I did them quick and got the gun back in the fight well. BUT, having seen myself on video, I now know I can do them even faster once I get all that excess movement out.

I'll augment the reload comment by saying: practice doing fast EFFICIENT reloads. Have a friend watch you, or video yourself. Otherwise you'll probably practice less than ideal reloads, and have to relearn them....like me

Time spent not shooting is certainly time to be minimized. Focus on the task and hand and get the next shot ready with a minimum of action. The feet don't move more than they need to, the gun doesn't go down to a low ready...get on target as efficiently as possible. Rushing has its pitfalls, initially. Once your opperating on auto-pilot and don't have to think about effecient movement, then you can start trying to move a little quicker. IMO, putting the cart in front of the horse here, really screws your score.

Calling misses is big. Something I still am not 100% on, but want to be.

Tactics are certainly not taught by competition...that's for damn sure. I giggled to myself while shooter after shooter had to fumble with their footwork and presentation because they got TOO close to the cover. Lucky for them it was a tarp, and they pushed it aside with their arms. My muzzle didn't extend past the cover, or if it did, it wasn't by much....I didn't have to do anything but pie out from cover. Not only is this good tactically, but it probably made me a good bit faster on the clock, too. I don't "burst" from cover to cover...but I make my time up once I get there.

DPB, thanks for sharing. You made a lot of good points. I haven't read Enos's book, I'll try and find a copy. If you haven't read Plaxo's, I highly recommend it.

Cheers!

[Rule10b5]

Speaking of which, are the scores up from last night?

[DPB]

I think I've read Plaxco's book. There are a couple others that are helpful, but I don't remember the names and I won't be home until after the first of the year. I'll post them if I manage to remember any of them.

Calling your shots is a very perishable skill. You need to practice it regularly to be able to do it without having to focus on doing it. Dry firing helps alot.

I always laugh when hit with the "you didn't use cover" line. I usually counter with "Put your earmuffs back on and I'll demonstrate why this isn't cover." No one has taken me up on it yet. People need to remember that a whole lot of stuff doesn't stop bullets.

The reload drill I usually do starts with a round in the chamber and an empty mag in the gun, with a loaded mag on my belt. On the signal, fire, reload, fire. You can use whatever distance and target you want, but you still want to get good hits. Also, you should be consistent in your distance, so you can track improvement. After the drill, you will have a partially full mag in the gun, and a round in the chamber. Drop the full mag, HOLSTER THE GUN, pick up the empty mag, put the empty mag back in the gun and the loaded mag back in the mag carrier. Repeat until you're out of ammo.

One other thing that takes a while is that you have to "know what you've got, when you've got it." When the slide, or in the case of a rifle, the bolt, is locked back, you need to go into your reload or transition procedure immediately, not stare at your gun for two seconds. If your gun fails to lock back on an empty mag and you get the "click," again, you need to respond appropriately and immediately. Same with malfunctions.

One way to do this is to load several mags unevenly and randomly distribute them to your gun and carriers. Or, have your buddy load the mags. Either way, you won't know in advance when you are going to go dry.

Another benefit of having a shooting partner is that you alternate setting up drills or courses of fire. At some point, you need to be shooting something that someone else made up, that forces you to do stuff you wouldn't have thought of, or stuff that you're weak at.