Penny Dropping Moments

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bluechucky
Posts: 39
Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2005 9:13 am
Location: Victoria, Australia

Penny Dropping Moments

Post by bluechucky »

I'm sure you've all been there at one time or another. You've read, and been told all the things you need to concentrate on when standing to deliver a shot, but no amount of tuition can help you until the penny drops and you full grasp the true meaning of the instruction you are following on faith alone.

It happened to me two weeks ago. I actually had two moments of Zen at the line in one Match.

Just to fore-warn you, I'm an inexperienced shooter, who due to the frustration of using sub-standard club pistols (at this point I'm not allowed to own my own air pistol), haven't put in the time I realy would like to into training.

During the comp, I realised two things:

1. It's a hell of a lot easier to bring the pistol down when aiming then moving it back up if your aim shifts too low. In the past I would slowly try to move the aim back up and then let the shot off, resulting in a lot of flyers in the 10 - 2 o'clock positions. I've since learnt that if I have mistakenly brought the gun down to far, the best course of action is to just abort and start again.

Interestingly, I've never realy been taught that, and I'm not sure if its valid, but it works for me with definite results.

2. I've always been taught to pick a stance/feet position, mark it on the ground, and religiously stick to it throughout the match. I guess this is sound advice for those of you who have settled into a fixed grip, arm raise and stance position, but as I'm just trying to find my feet (pun intended) in this sport, it probably is a rule I stick too ridgedly to. As a result, due to some unexpected change to the grip with the varying club guns I need to use, as well as fatigue, sweat etc, I was finding that my aim position which was initially smack bang in line with the bull of the target would start to vary one way or another after a string of shots. I then tended to pull or push my arm to correct the wayward aim which resulted in flyers left or right. By a very minor shift in the rear leg, I was able to re-adjust my aim, and thus reduce the amount of flyers.

With these two moments of Zen, I was able to improve my personal best by 22 (admittedly from a low previous PB) and walk away from the comp a very happy and content shooter, eager for more shooting.

Any one else wish to share their moment of clarity, or to question the above?
Steve Swartz

Post by Steve Swartz »

My "moment" of enlightenment is every time I realize, then write in bold letters in my logbook:

"ALIGN THE SIGHTS"
"ACCEPT THE SETTLE"
"RELEASE THE SHOT"

Seems like I have this epiphany about once a month or so . . . (sigh)

Steve Swartz

(You are correct on both points; too bad you didn't know earlier. Who told you your natural point of aim was some kind of static alignment that could be chalked up; immutable? Don't seek advice from those people. And yes, you are correct about the loft vs. sag observation. Several of the better books talk about positive vs negative muscle tension. Not the adductor/abductor stuff but the stability of decreasing tension vs. instability of increasing tension thing as you noted. What are you reading for your coaching?)
Guest

Post by Guest »

Hey Bluechucky, you've twigged something a lot of shooters don't understand. Yes you can bail out of a shot. I can tell you its often hard to do. I suggest you go to one of Jack Holden's coaching clinics which were advertising in the last VAPA News. He'll explain better than I as he's a state coach.
Re the need to change position of the feet, that could be due to the fact that fatigue is setting in and your muscles are shortening which would move your group slightly. It is not so much of a problem in experienced guys. Of course the other variable is, have you actually picked up the pistol exactly the same. A different grip will alter grouping.
ColinC
Posts: 258
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2005 11:28 pm
Location: Victoria, Australia

Post by ColinC »

Sorry there
I was the guest but forgot to log in.
kiwi47
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2005 7:00 pm
Location: Napier, New Zealand
Contact:

Post by kiwi47 »

Aaahh....Grasshopper! Now you know the Buddha really does live in your air pistol!

kiwi47
Andy Osborne
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2005 9:54 am

Post by Andy Osborne »

Your point 1 is absolutely correct, always raise above the target and lower to your area of aim. If you go to low and you have plenty of oxygen in your system it is OK to raise above that target again and re-lower to your area of aim or if you are feeling like you don't have the oxygen leave the 10 in the barrel, lower the pistol and begin again.

My last realization was "To some extent forget maintaining careful front-rear alignment of the sights, close can be good enough, a smooth constant trigger press is more important, a slightly jerked trigger will destroy even the most perfect alignment."

As Tom Redhead the UK NSRA national coach told us on a recent course, "Don't be a Chicken hearted Pea balancing trigger wimp"

The NSRA Basic pistol course was the best use of a training day I have ever made and well worth the cost.

Andy Osborne
F. Paul in Denver

Post by F. Paul in Denver »

bluechucky,

You've just hit upon what keeps most of us coming back to this sport - the ability to self diagnose and make improvements and then walk away from the line with that really good feeling that comes with accomplishing something.

Regarding sagging - for me it's usually a very reliable indicator that I've been holding a shot toooo long. I recommend aborting the shot.

I DO NOT agree that you should try to ease the gun back up over the target and then lower it again since doing so would be major deviation from your original shot plan. Doing this also takes time which means you may end up holding too long - again. I am a firm beleiver that after we first settle onto the target, we all have a narrow window when our hold is steadiest. Finding your optimal window of opportunity is a very rewarding challenge.

Sometimes even when I'm not holding too long, I notice that the gun just likes to settle either low or high on the target. When this happens, I try to adjust my breathing by taking in and holding just a little more or less air into my lungs in preparation for the shot. When I adjust how much air I hold in, I notice that the gun tends to settle in at a different point as I ease down on the target. The more air I hold, the higher the aiming point at which the gun tends to settles. Think of it as resting your shooting arm on a big soft balloon.

If you think about human anatomy for a moment it makes perfect sense. The amount of air in your lungs has a tremendous impact on the musculature of the upper body including shoulders/arms etc. I think it is entirely possible to regulate where the gun will settle down by how much air you keep in your lungs. It works for me anyway.

I credit this advice to Brad Lightner who is one of the most proficient pistol shooters I know.

F. Paul in Denver
BadMOJO
Posts: 16
Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2005 3:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma City

Post by BadMOJO »

The key is consistancy. Sounds like you are finding techniques that work well for your style of shooting. I played with moving my sights from top to bottom but I found that I expend less energy by simply bringing the gun up to the target picture. Whatever you decide to do, consistancy is the thing you have to keep in mind. For example, if you have the habit of pushing the trigger, it only becomes a problem if you don't do it the same every time. Hang in there. The Zen moments make the sport worthwile.
Mark Briggs
Posts: 583
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2004 8:35 am
Location: The Frigid North - Ottawa, Canada

Post by Mark Briggs »

F. Paul - your last post has just created a "penny drop" moment for me - thank you! I hadn't drawn the line to connect actions with results; your statement did that for me and made the relationship as plain as could be.

It's interaction like this that makes this board such a great place to visit. Thanks to one and all give of their time to educate and inform others.
Benonymous
Posts: 21
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2005 7:06 pm

and another thing....

Post by Benonymous »

Isn't it hard to get that sequence of actions down pat?! I make a mental checklist but I often get distracted by a stray thought. I make my best shots when I lower the gun whilst exhaling, as suggested in this thread. One of the things that the club captain impressed on me early was "if you can't confidently make the shot, lower the gun and start over" This breaks the action/reward compulsion that we have as humans. I found this very useful. The other thing he pointed out to me was to find my natural head position and most importantly r-e-l-a-x. If you're all tense and in a hurry the results will be baaad. Here's my checklist.

grip
stance
loose hand hooked on belt
extend arm
raise past target
gain sight picture
lower/exhale
take up first stage of trigger
focus on front sight
achieve smallest arc of movement
squeeze
shot breaks as a surprise
maintain sight picture (follow through. Needs work:-))
lower gun to bench
cock/load
repeat

fourteen steps!
Steve Swartz

Post by Steve Swartz »

My $0.02:


Change "Achieve minimum arc of movement" to "ACCEPT minimum arc of movement."

I plateaued for a lo-o-o-o-ong time thinking that I could actually do something about my wobble area on match day.

On match day, you get what you get. You can help your holding through training, but for any individula loft/shot you are going to get a certain minimum wobble area . . . the key is to 1) recognize it when it's there; and 2) accept it and let the shot go.

Steve Swartz
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Fred Mannis
Posts: 1298
Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2004 8:37 pm
Location: Delaware

Post by Fred Mannis »

To add my two cents to what Steve just said:

I would replace "accept minimum arc..." with 'achieve correct sight alignment'. Sight alignment is something you can control.

Written procedures are important - I am still working on mine - but can be a little misleading in that some of the steps occur as others are being performed. I have left 'squeeze' out of my sequence since it is happening all the way from 'take up first stage' to 'shot breaks..'. Also it is something I want my subconscious, not my conscious mind, to perform.
ColinC
Posts: 258
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2005 11:28 pm
Location: Victoria, Australia

Post by ColinC »

Bluechucky,
Benonymous wrote of his 14 step plan before executing his shot.
I suggest it be expanded out to more like 25 steps.
Try this:
1. Get stance right
2. Get the grip right
3. Load the pellet/magazine etc.
4. Focus on what you are about to do
5. Settle the body, lower shoulders (sag, if you like, to lower centre of gravity)
6. Put non shooting arm in pocket, hooked onto belt etc.
7. Lock the wrist and arm
8. Take two deep "belly" breaths at a slow steady breathing rate.
9. Start to take a third breath.
10. Focus on the back of your hand/rear sights/ front sight (whichever works for you but NOT the target)
11. Raise your arm well above target using only the shoulder muscles.
12. Start to let your breathe out
13. Start lowering the gun
14. Pick up your front sight.
15. Hold your breath when about half exhaled.
16. Do not physically lower your gun to get to point of aim, just slowly let out more air.
17. Take up first stage on trigger
18. Get sight picture right, hold breath (If point of aim is too low, bail out and start again)
19. Maintain minimum movement
20. Continue squeezing trigger, maintaining sight picture
21. Bang
22. Hold sight picture
23. Call your shot
24. Slowly lower gun as you take next breath
25. Relax

The whole thing about having such a plan is to recognise when something is not right and learn to pull out of the shot. If you miss a step, start again.
I did read somewhere once of an Olympic free pistol shooter having a 42 step plan.
Guest

Post by Guest »

25 steps - Sheesh... Sorry, gotta break away from the ZEN moments for a moment.

The human mind can only clearly cocentrate on one thing at a time. If you walk up to the line trying to concentrate on 25 things EVERY time you'll probably drive yourself nut. THUS, there's only one conscious step. Most shooters will say this is focusing on the front sight.

OK, there can be a lot of steps, but most of them need to be trained into the muscles. You can do this with one of those cheesy 3 lb hand weights they sell in sporting goods stores.

It'll seem REALLY funny, but you can do 60% of your training standing in your living room watching TV.

Orient yourself to the TV, lift the weight from the resting position to the normal firing position, let it settle, picture the shot, then lower. Repeat (several hundred times.) Note you might have to raise your TV, but it works.

Once the muscles become accustomed to doing this, everything else is mental and fine tuning the training of the muscles.

OK, I have a pattern, like most, but it's trained into my routine, so I don't think about it, pretty much ever. However, I'm aware of it enough that if I'm doing something completely stupid and out of routine, I can discover it and go back to the beginning.

In slow fire, my routine is this (assuming the gun is loaded):
- Look at the floor
- Take a deep breath and release
- look at the front sight and confirm my grip is comfortable (not too tight)
- take another deep breath and release (say to self inwardly "sight alignment, trigger control, RELAX")
- raise the gun taking another breath, picking up the front sight visually.
- exhale to a comfortable point while the gun settles into the target.
- Look at the front sight till the gun goes off.

Of course, your trigger finger needs to work on it's own. Yes, this sounds crazy, but you can practice this, too. Basically you train the finger to gradually increase trigger pressure when the sights are aligned, and to hold what it's got when things go whacky. Eventually, your conscious mind leaves the equation, and your finger just does it. EVERY TIME that this happens on it's own is my ZEN moment.
To me, this is the most difficult part of MY shooting, because my hyperactive brain usually jumps in and starts yelling crazy things to me. this is the time to put the gun down and start over.


I agree with the rest of the folks who said nice going. If you make too many rules to follow, you won't have time to focus on the front sight. You can shoot reasonably well from the most uncomfortable, unnatural position by looking at the front sight. You won't hit squat if you do 24 steps of a "plan" correctly and don't look at the front sight.

If your feet feel funny, move them. If the gun always seems to line up to the left, rotate your feet to accomodate. If you pick up the gun with your eyes closed and it feels comfortable, open your eyes and see where the gun is pointed. Adjust your feet so the gun's centered on target. then try again.

that's my 3 cents worth.
bluechucky
Posts: 39
Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2005 9:13 am
Location: Victoria, Australia

Post by bluechucky »

some great stuff in this thread. My personal thanks to all of you who took the time to write and express your thoughts.
ColinC
Posts: 258
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2005 11:28 pm
Location: Victoria, Australia

Post by ColinC »

Guest, you sure have a lot to say for someone not willing to log on as a member.
If it was all as simple as concentrating on the front sight, we'd all be scoring 590 plus
Steve Swartz

Post by Steve Swartz »

ColinC:

No, not 590 plus- but at least 586 (from personal experience).

Yes, actually; it *is* as simple as concentrating on the front sight.

Try it for 10,000 shots or so and see what I mean.

(Or, on the other hand, try changing your pellet brand, buying another pistol, changing your diopters, buying another set of self hypnosis tapes, changing your shoes, changing your point of aim, changing what you have for breakfast, or attending another "clinic" hosted by "experts." Your call.)

Not that I agree *totally* with "Guest," but I don't reject the perspective out of hand either . . . been there, done that, Got The T-Shirt.

(Difficult) <> (Complicated) and (Simple) <> (Easy)

Steve Swartz
ColinC
Posts: 258
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2005 11:28 pm
Location: Victoria, Australia

Post by ColinC »

Thanks Steve,
I agree that concentrating on the front sight is vital but I believe that before you get to that you have to go through a process of how many steps you might want to think out.
Initially it may seem cumbersome but eventually the subconscious takes over and these steps become automatic. If you leave one out for some reason or get too far below your point of aim, your subconscious gives you a reason to pull out of the shot and start again.
With practice, the steps become a process (you don't actually have to think about pulling the lever back, pulling the pellet in, closing etc. because you have done it so often. Same with each step.)
Once all is well and your sight picture is right (here your focus on the foresight needs to be 100%) "the gun goes off" as the anonymous Guest wrote.
Why does it go off? Because you have trained your subconscious through a step by step process to steadily apply pressure on the trigger when the sight picture is right.
Steve Swartz

Post by Steve Swartz »

ColinC:

Certainly not a thing to disagree with there. And I apologize if I got a little "short" in my last post. Please accept my apology.

I didn't "agree totally" with Guest because I myself went through the "disassemble into component parts and analyze" phase more than once. I think we all do at some point.

However

Here's (IMNSHO) the key: yes, it all boils down to ALIGN (with FOCUS on front sight)-ACCEPT (whatever wobble you're getting)-then RELEASE (the shot subconsciously) . . . BUT . . . everything you do has to be tied DIRECTLY to those last 200 milliseconds when you ALIGN-ACCEPT-RELEASE.

IF you agoing to "analyze" anything, you need to make absolutely sure you are analyzing from the perspective of "Does it help me in those last 200 milliseconds."

Don't create complications where you don't have to (like "Which Gun has Faster Lock Time" or "Which Pellet Gives me Tighter Groups" or "Which Aim Point Does Nestruev Use") unless you know for certain that it ties *directly* into ALIGN-ACCEPT-RELEASE.

If you do that- ALIGN-ACEPT-RELEASE- the rest of the BS we argue over on this board won't amount to a hill of beans.

Because if we all did that, we ALL would be shooting 570+ on a regular basis.

Period, dot, end of paragraph, fin.

O.k., let's go back to talking about how many medals were won with the Toz-35 or LP-10 . . .

Steve Swartz
strazzman
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2005 5:04 am
Location: Australia

Post by strazzman »

What about pre-match routines, I find good sex before a big match really helps me to relax and focus on the fundalmentals of shooting. And other than concentrating on the foresite, not dwelling on what previous shots have done and what future shots need to do, just on the shot about to make the big jump into hyperspace, via the 10 ring
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