TargetTalk

I have an experienced (ISSF) team mate who has a severe trembling problem when sighting; when he brings his pistol up his sighting is steady for about 2 seconds max. then the trembling starts: once the shot is fired the trembling stops and he is steady again with his follow through.

He is using a Morini CM22 and his trigger weight is correct, slightly above 1000 grams. The problem seems to only appear once the pistol is loaded, if he sights and dry fires their doesn't appear to be any problem. To me, altough I am not qualified, seems to indicate that the problem could be of a psychological nature.

If anybody has experience with this sort of problem, I would appreciate any comments and assistance in trying to correct his problem

Well if all the details you say are correct and there is no physiological reason for the trembles that only leaves mental.

Does he shoot any other pistol ie Air? Does it happen in Air? Maybe its a psychological reaction to the anticipated noise and recoil from the .22. You can always try the cap and ball excersise with him (load his mag with a mix of live ammo and snap caps).

I do suggest he go get checked out by a doctor just to make sure there is nothing wrong.

Physiologically speaking it is highly possible your team mate is gripping the pistol too tightly, probably through his thumb muscle rather than fingers, and he has a weak wrist in comparison (so no compensation).

One technique is to squeeze the grip as tight as possible and then gently relax, an optimum stillnes will result - if it does not your team mate needs to discipline himself with mental training. This MUST be practiced; I use a 'firm/stress ball' - brilliant and you can use it on the bus without getting SO19 on your case!

Do you have a coach who can offer to 'look at' technique?

....not forgetting of course, that he might have an injury..

I missed the dry firing bit, too quick you see.

If it only happens with a loaded, then chances are it is anticipation of the shot , there is bound to be a coach on here who'll advise on that.

However, years ago I used to train an Army pistol team using the 9mm - bit different but principle you see will be the same.

When soldiers anticipated the shot, they trembled, flinched, snatched etc - especially when live firing. So I would load a magazine with drill 9mm safely pass them the pistol, and ask them to take a deliberated, smoothly relased shot. Of course they did not know whether it was loaded live or drill or not, so the anticipation actually became worse. Hmm... I thought.

We then practiced trigger technique; knowing your trigger release is very important albeit subconciousl; and found that once they 'knew' where the release was (about 4lbs on Browning!) the anticipation faded away. We then reverted back to the loaded mag mystery test and saw huge improvements in shot release. It might be the trigger is electronic and your team mate is more familiar with mechanical?
Why not try these practices and also strength exercises for wrists - 60 shots can be an awfully long time.

That's all I have.