TargetTalk

Hi All-

I'm stuck in a rut. My scores have been about the same for a long time. Mediocre at best. I've never had a coach and don't have access to one. Imagine that this forum is my coach, and I'm an intermediate shooter, not a novice and definitely not an expert. Can anyone give me a brief list of training exercises or drills which might be of general help in various aspects of the shot process? On-range, at home, live fire, dry fire, does not matter. I'm thinking of a summary list, for example:

Hold exercises:
prolonged dry-fire lift and hold without trigger manipulation
...

Sight alignment exercises:
blank target shooting
...

Trigger control exercises:
shoot from a rest
...

Grip exercises:


Wrist immobilisation exercises:


Could this be restricted to simple, practical drills which I can add to my practice/training time? Thank you.

-Ricardo

[quote="lurker"]Hi All-

I'm stuck in a rut. My scores have been about the same for a long time. Mediocre at best. I've never had a coach and don't have access to one. Imagine that this forum is my coach, and I'm an intermediate shooter, not a novice and definitely not an expert. Can anyone give me a brief list of training exercises or drills which might be of general help in various aspects of the shot process? On-range, at home, live fire, dry fire, does not matter. I'm thinking of a summary list, for example:

Hold exercises:
prolonged dry-fire lift and hold without trigger manipulation

>>>Prolonged only as a weight training exercise. No trigger only in a study mode. Don't teach yourself to not pull the trigger.

...

Sight alignment exercises:
blank target shooting

>>> Not just for sight alignment. The whole shot process.

...

Trigger control exercises:
shoot from a rest


>>>Don't teach yourself to expect perfect sight picture from a rest.
...

Grip exercises:
Wrist immobilisation exercises:

>>>It does not take great strength. Better is the training and discipline to do it right and not relax in the middle of the shot.


Could this be restricted to simple, practical drills which I can add to my practice/training time? Thank you.

>>> Yes once you understand what results you need and the techniques to accomplish them.

-Ricardo[/quote]

Hi: Sounds like you are moving along alright, but you do need some help it seems. If you will contact me off-line at bawilli@attglobal.net I may have some info to help you, and perhaps find a coach in your area. Don in Oregon

I listed several possible ideas only as an example of the kind of response I hoped to get. Of course there are limitations to each. They're just examples. While I appreciate the feedback, and will keep your criticism in mind, I do not want this post to become a debate on the merits of what one another posts. If you have a drill or exercise that fits my description, please share. I think there are many of us who would like some well directed, *practical* suggestions at the intermediate level. Preferably uncluttered, without too much focus on the purely mental aspects. Believe me, this forum does not need another debate about the relative merits of what one another has to offer. Gracias.

-Ricardo

Ricardo:

Do you have the ability to search TT for threads (including archived content)?

I think you will find a bonanza of various training drills for both general and specific needs . . . including the invariable "yes it is - no it isn't" argument attached to each one.

Steve

Steve-

I have performed such searches, and sometimes had luck prying out the pertinent information. Most often, I have found the results to be thick and gooey, difficult to sift through. That is why I asked for a brief list which is well organised and to the point, of short descriptions of drills and exercises directed at specific parts of the shot process. I have not found such an animal in my searches through the TT archive. Maybe that sounds too tedious or redundant for the more advanced shooters on the board, but surely there are many of us less advanced who could find immediate benefit from such information in such a format.

What are your favorite training drills for trigger control, sight alignment, etc? What drills would you prescribe for a group of intermediate shooters if you were our coach? Imagine that we meet once per week for 4 hours and that we have competitions once per month. Each of us will practice/train for another 4 hours per week independently. None of us has perfected any aspect of our shooting, and you may assume that we all have equal weaknesses in each aspect of the shot process.

-Ricardo

"but surely there are many of us less advanced who could find immediate benefit from such information in such a format. "

I'll second that!!

In terms of exercises, the U.S. Marine Corps pistol training program (for bullseye, not combat!) has proven pretty darned useful for me. It sets a series of specific, practical goals to accomplish one after the other. This is the program that they use to select new members for their pistol team. It's available on the Web through the site of Gunnery Sgt. Brian Zins, their top shooter, as a Word file. You'll find it under "Downloads" in the menus. It's 135 pages so don't print the whole thing all at once. And don't let the number of pages intimidate you -- it's mostly ruled areas to make notes plus the exercises, not all kinds of instructions.

http://www.brianzins.com/

There's an extensive list of training drills written by the former New Zealand ISSF Pistol coach at http://www.pistolnz.org.nz/pdf/traindrills.pdf. The "holding card" described is a white circle on a black background (easy enough to create using MS Paint or similar).

Here's the document that Ed's referencing - http://www.brianzins.com/USMCShooter.php

You might benefit from one of Zin's clinics, or attending something similar where you can get a specific diagnosis of your technique.

While I haven't done a comprehensive survey of drills, the majority of those I'm familiar w/ seem designed to assist developing shooters - i.e. they focus on very basic aptitudes. Drills intended for ongoing training are more often designed to address specific deficits.