What, to you, is a good shot ?

[RobStubbs]

OK folks another question with a mental leaning. I'm not really looking for score based answers rather what you are happy with. Perhaps even without seeing where the hole is, can you still be happy with the shot ?

I've deliberately left the question vague as I'd like peoples opinions without adding my personal bias, just yet <g>.

Rob.

[Ernie Rodriguez]

In 1977,when I was shooting at Camp Perry,I met and chatted with the officer in charge of the Marine pistol team.His name was Frank Higginson,and he was a top master.He told me he teaches his teams to be very aggressive on the trigger.I always try to achieve this on every shot.I notice that when I do-it is a surprise shot,and more often than not,it is a nine and sometimes a ten.When ever I touch off a surprise shot,produced by an aggressive trigger pull,and the sight picture is fairly good-for me,it doesn't get any better than that.Erod

[Steve Swartz]

As the gun comes down, the front sight settles smoothly into the wobble area. The rear sight aligns, and the aligned sights waver gently under the aiming bull. As the front sight deepens in intensity, the shot is released effortlessly.

Anything other than ALIGN-SETTLE-ACCEPT-RELEASE is a complete failure.

Note: As the gun comes down, the front sight settles away from the wobble area ABORT or requires conscious steering into the wobble area ABORT or the rear sight requires effort to align ABORT or my eye seeks to align the front and rear sights with the target ABORT or the front sight lessens in intensity ABORT or I apply pressure to the trigger ABORT or at any time my mind is aware of anything at all ABORT . . .

is also a completely successful shot. "The shot not taken" as it were.

Steve Swartz

[bluechucky]

Great post as always steve. Simply put, but when you look deeper you can see so many fundamentals coming into play. Realy Makes you think.

I also liked Ernies response. Last comp I was a bit timid and my scores amplified it. I know I shoot a lot better when I'm determined and focused (some call that aggressive)

[F. Paul in Denver]

Indeed it would be hard to add anything very useful to Steve's brilliant post which is a definite keeper.

Let me try though - my idea of a good shot is one where I can continue to see excellent sight alignment right thru the release of the shot and just as the gun begins to recoil.

Even if the sights were not as well aligned as I would like, I consider it a success (albeit lesser) if and when I was able to see precisely what the sight alignment looked (even if it wasnt good).

While I prefer the former scenario, the latter at least allows me to take some comfort in knowing my eye was focused on the front sight which is where it should have been.

Tens and X's to y'all

[Mark Briggs]

F. Paul raises a good point in determining shot quality. If all goes well, Steve's ideal shot is indeed executed. There are times though when things don't go off exactly according to plan, and the shot breaks in that few hundred milliseconds of time between when you subconsciously recognize there's something wrong and when your trigger pressure decreases, signalling the beginning of the abort sequence.

When this happens, the next most important quality of a good shot is the shooter's ability to accurately and instantly diagnose the errors in the shot process and use them to accurately determine where on the paper that shot should have landed.

Having gone through some physical challenges with shoulder stability, I spent the better part of a year and a half in which I had to accept huge amounts of movement. During this period my scores took a huge beating, because no matter how well I aligned the sights and executed good trigger technique, often the shot broke when I had wobbled out of the black. BUT - dealing with these challenges taught me to focus on shot execution, not on the result. Now I can call my shots to a degree I never would have thought possible. When I can't call the shot it truly is a bad shot!